Digg to Release its Own Toolbar

Posted by Prem Godara | 2/28/2009 10:50:00 PM | , , , | 2 comments »

There is hot news running around the blogsphere that Digg.com may soon bring its own toolbar like StumbleUpon, to attract more people who are still not addicted to the Digging phenomenon.

Digg Toolbar

This new toolbar will allow you to Digg, Bury, share the page that you are on and will show you, how many Diggs the page has already received. There is Random option which will work the same way as in StumbleUpon toolbar. The Related pages option will take you to related pages dugg by the Digg community.

One interesting feature, that this toolbar offers is TinyURL-like functionality, which will allow you to create shorter URL such as "http://digg.com/xxxxxx”(six character code). This shortened URL will be used when you share a particular page via Twitter or Facebook.

If you look at the above image, the toolbar looks like an browser plugin but it isn't actually. Rather, it is an i-frame across your entire page shown from Digg.com and you can get rid of it by clicking on the "X" option in the toolbar.

Currently, this toolbar is in beta testing stage and we have to wait little more time for the final version to get released.


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Google's popular email service Gmail, which has over 110 million users worldwide, went offline for more than two hours, affecting Cyber users throughout the world, especially in Europe and India. Apparently users accessing the web version of the email were experiencing problems, with the POP (Post Office Protocol) downloading and mobile access through iPhone and Google's own G1 it was working fine.

Gmail LogoGoogle posted on its support page that, "We're aware of a problem with Gmail affecting a number of users. This problem occurred at approximately 1.30 a.m. Pacific Time. We're working hard to resolve this problem and will post updates as we have them. We apologize for any inconvenience that this has caused,".

For this, a Galway man today filed a €47,000,000 lawsuit against Google for the outage to its Gmail service. Critics of the lawsuit have pointed out that Gmail is an entirely free service and as such people don’t really have any right to complain.

However, O’Toole’s lawyer, Dan O’Mahony, told us “Wherever there is the slightest injustice we shall be there. When the smallest offense is made, no matter how trivial or frivolous it seems to anyone with half a brain, we’ll be there to bleat and make sure that everyone knows we will not stand for it. They might call us pathetic, half-witted grudge-bearers with a transparent agenda but we don’t care”.

Experts say the chance of success for the lawsuit are slim but Google will be hoping to avoid such problems because Microsoft were ordered to pay over €2,750,000 to a Cavan man, who complained against Vista.


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Social Networking Sites Harmful to Children

Posted by Prem Godara | 2/25/2009 01:31:00 AM | , , | 0 comments »

Nowadays, most of the children spend their free time in front of their computers. But its an stunning news that a scientist research says that this might harm children brains. Social networking websites are causing alarming changes in the brains of young users, an eminent scientist has warned. Sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Bebo are said to shorten attention spans, encourage instant gratification and make young people more self-centered.

Baroness Greenfield, an Oxford University neuroscientist and director of the Royal Institution, believes repeated exposure could effectively 'rewire' the brain. Computer games and fast-paced TV shows were also a factor, she said. She argued that exposure to computer games, instant messaging, chat rooms and social networking sites could leave a generation with poor attention spans.

'I often wonder whether real conversation in real time may eventually give way to these sanitized and easier screen dialogues, in much the same way as killing, skinning and butchering an animal to eat has been replaced by the convenience of packages of meat on the supermarket shelf,' she said.

She pointed out that autistic people, who usually find it hard to communicate, were particularly comfortable using computers.

A study by the Broadcaster Audience Research Board found teenagers now spend seven-and-a-half hours a day in front of a screen. Educational psychologist Jane Healy believes children should be kept away from computer games until they are seven. Most games only trigger the 'flight or fight' region of the brain, rather than the vital areas responsible for reasoning.

She also added that, 'I'm not against technology and computers. But before they start social networking, they need to learn to make real relationships with people.'


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Nokia N86 - 8MP Camera Phone

Posted by Prem Godara | 2/24/2009 07:42:00 PM | , , , | 0 comments »

As already expected to be announced, Nokia has set out to make the best mobile imaging device by launching Nokia N86 in the second quarter of 2009. Nokia N86 is a 8Megapixel camera phone. It combines wide-angle Carl Zeiss optics and an 8 megapixel sensor, resulting in performance comparable to a stand alone digital camera. The Nokia N86 8MP mobile camera phone is designed to excel in both bright and low light conditions, and it's optimized for both video and still imaging. Its high-speed connectivity ensures easy and convenient sharing.


"People demand mobile cameras that take excellent pictures in all light conditions," says Juha-Pekka Sipponen, Director, Nokia N series. "That's why the aperture of the Nokia N86 8MP is comparable to that of a high-quality, stand-alone digital camera. Whether it's running with the bulls in Pamplona or capturing the panoramic beauty of a sunrise over Sydney, the Nokia N86 8MP mobile phone will take brilliantly clear, wide-angle images that are instantly geotagged to be uploaded onto sites like Ovi Share or Flickr."

The N86 really does pack a punch and take superb quality digital photo's that it can only be compared to that of a stand alone digital camera. There are some other fantastic features on the Nokia N86 other than the already mentioned brilliant 8 mega-pixel camera feature. There is a built-in music player system with dedicated music keys which supports MP3-MP4-eAAC+-WMA music file formats plus an FM Radio with RDS technology and an FM transmitter. Music can be enjoyed through the built-in stereo speakers or the Bluetooth stereo headset.

For other entertainment purposes the user can enjoy the Java MIDP 2.1 gaming facilities presented on the Nokia N86 mobile phone, especially with the N-Gage motion gaming feature which takes the gaming experience to a whole new level of fun and entertainment.

For the detailed specifications visit here. Lets wait for some more months to try hands on with this fantastic Nokia N86!!!


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Make Money Online with Blogsvertise

Posted by Prem Godara | 2/23/2009 08:04:00 PM | , , , | 1 comments »

Many people are looking towards Internet from where they can make good money, but there is also a negative side in it. Many people get trapped towards the scam sites which tells us that they will pay lot of money, but end up cheating.

People have to be very careful in choosing from where they can earn money on Internet so that they don't get cheated. There are many ways by which money can be earned on Internet, among them Paid to Blog is one of the ways by which you can earn good money if you are a Blogger.


Blogsvertise is a blog advertising site where both bloggers and advertisers can meet and benefit each other. Through this website, bloggers can earn money by writing reviews about various products and publish it on their blogs. Bloggers will be paid in the range of $4-$25 per review. Advertisers too benefit from this since vast number of people will come to know about their products.

Here are the rules which bloggers must remember while using Blogsvertise:
  • Bloggers will be assigned tasks by the administrator to write reviews in their blogs which must include at least 3 links to the website URL.
  • Minimum of 100 words or more are required for a blog entry to get approved.
  • All allocated tasks must be completed within 5 days after it is assigned to you.
  • All the reviews which are published on your blog must remain permanent on your blog.
How it works:

When bloggers are assigned a task, they will have to write review about the specific product or service and then submit it for review so that it can be approved. After approval, the review must be published on their blogs and the bloggers will be paid every month for the entries which were approved through PayPal.

Don't waste any more time, just register with Blogsvertise and start earning!


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The world's biggest phone maker Nokia and the Internet calling company Skype has joined their hands to preload Skype software into some of the Nokia smartphones. Cell phone bills can get expensive, so people try all kinds of things to keep talking without spending too much. With the increase in capabilities in cell phones, VOIP is becoming a viable option.


Putting Skype on handsets will give users low-cost calls to landlines and mobile devices. The N series will feature Skype and it will be built into the phone’s contact manager enabling the users to easily see when their Skype contacts are available online. The first phone to feature Skype pre-installed will be the N97. Nokia uses the Symbian S60 OS in its phones which should allow the application to run in the background so you can get your Skype calls on the go. The app will run on both Wi-Fi and on 3G.

“Making Skype available everywhere through mobile devices is essential to fulfilling our vision of ‘enabling the world’s conversations’,” said Scott Durchslag, Skype’s chief operating officer.

Jose-Luis Martinez, vice president at Nokia's N series division, said in a statement: “With more than 400 million Skype users worldwide, the integration of Skype on Nokia N series mobile computers is a significant step in bringing converged Internet experiences from the desktop to the world’s most advanced mobile computer."

Skype will be rolled out on other devices after the Nokia N97 goes live in the third quarter. New Nokia N97 devices will have it pre-installed, whilst early versions will be able to get it through a software upgrade. Other select N series devices are also likely to come with integrated Skype functionality which includes Skype contacts, Chat, VoIP and Presence.

This is a cool little feature that should distinguish Nokia phones from others. Lets wait till the launch of the first N97 with Skype.


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Google Launches Multiple Inboxes For Gmail

Posted by Prem Godara | 2/16/2009 12:24:00 AM | , , | 3 comments »

Google updates to Gmail Labs have been coming so thick and fast that one could even believe Google is considering bringing the product out of beta. Every day another feature gets added through Google Labs. Since the beginning of January users have been given additional capabilities such as offline access, easier labelling techniques and video via Gmail chat etc., Now Google has announced the most exciting one: Multiple Inboxes.

This feature makes it possible for users to have more than one 'inbox' in their default Gmail view. The look of Gmail changes so that you have your traditional inbox on the left and then a right pane with the emails you want (or need) to see separately.

It’s creator introduces it in his blog post saying:

“I’m seriously into filters and labels. All the email I get related to Flash goes under my “flash” label, everything about paragliding goes under “flying,” and they all skip my inbox because that’s how I like to stay organized. But when new email arrives I have to switch to the “flash” label first, then click on “paragliding,” etc. I wanted a way to see it all at once.”

To select this feature, head over to Google Labs section and enable Multiple Inboxes. Once enabled, it will automatically bring up your draft emails in the right pane but you can configure the feature from Settings so that you can see starred emails or particular folders (which of course Google calls Labels).


You can obviously choose how many inboxes you want. To do the same go to settings and select the Multiple Inboxes tab (after you have enabled the feature). There is great personalisation. You can select the labels and even the number of posts you want to see so that you’re screen isn’t too cluttered.

I think it’s an awesome feature because its almost like having 2/3 screens at once as far as mail is concerned and makes it very convenient if you’re using a lot of labels. This feature was created by Octavian “Vivi” Costache in his 20% time that Google offers their employees.


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Is Nokia Going to Launch 8 Megapixel Phone?

Posted by Prem Godara | 2/15/2009 11:42:00 PM | , , , | 1 comments »

It looks like Nokia will be revealing a 8 megapixels Nokia Nseries phone with Carl Zeiss lens at the upcoming Mobile World Congress a few days from now. This can be judged from the sample photo posted on the Nokia NSeries blog which is said to have been taken from the said device.


The doubts come when you analyze the image's EXIF data. The photo is 3274×2448 pixels which equals to 8 megapixels. If you see the below image, it displays "Make and Model" as "Nokia Undisclosed (Carl Zeiss)" which raises real doubts that Nokia is finally coming with a 8 megapixels phone.


So lets keep close watch on the upcoming Mobile World Congress for Nokia to make this announcement.


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Make Money Online Using PayingPost

Posted by Prem Godara | 2/15/2009 10:40:00 PM | , , | 1 comments »

Are you one of those users who is new to blogging and want to monetize their blog so that you can earn handful amount of money using Internet? Well, to help you people one such site has come up called as PayingPost.

Now, let me tell you little bit about PayingPost and how it works. PayingPost is a UK based blog advertising site which can be used by both bloggers and advertisers to benefit each other.


This site lets bloggers write reviews about various websites, products and companies which is relevant to their blog content and publish it on their blogs so that the visitors to your site will get to know about that particular service. This platform of advertising is very convenient for advertisers because it reaches vast amount of audience through out the internet and the result brings smile on both the bloggers and advertisers face.

In case, if you are a advertiser looking to promote your website, service or company, then PayingPost is the right choice because you need not have to keeping looking for adversting options, here through PayingPost you can find vast number of bloggers waiting to promote your service each one writing unique review for you at any desirable cost.

Many people might say that there are many other sites present like this who offer the same service but the unique thing about PayingPost is that even if your blog is very new, it will easily get approved. So, Happy news for even new bloggers.

I think the above is enough the make you feel comfortable to choose PayingPost as the right option for advertising or earning money. Now, lets see how to get started.

1) Just visit PayingPost and create an account.
2) Submit your Blog Name and its URL so that it can be reviewed for approval by PayingPost.
3) Wait till your blog gets approved and then install a piece of code on your blog so that you can get started.
4) Go to "Open Opportunities" Tab, to Reserve your opportunities so that you can write reviews and start earning money. :-)
5) After writing the review, publish it on your blog and submit the title and URL of the same so that it can be reviewed by PayingPost.
6) That's it, work done.

You will be paid to your Paypal account at the beginning of each month if you review gets approved.

This is not the end, there are more offers for you. There is one more way "PayingPost Direct" by which you can get reviews. In this method, the blogger has to place a badge on their blogs, so that they can directly get reviews from the advertisers.

If you still want more, then last but not the least, PayingPost also has an affiliate program through which you will get paid $15.00 if your referees first review is approved.

What are you waiting for? Just visit PayingPost and get started.


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Locate Your Friends Using Google Latitude

Posted by Prem Godara | 2/14/2009 11:24:00 PM | , , , | 0 comments »

Google Latitude  is a useful way to track your location on a mobile phone or GPS laptop. But you can get roughly the same sense of fleeting privacy on any old Wi-Fi PC. Latitude is a new feature of Google Maps that lets users see the real-time location of friends and colleagues. Users can also communicate with each other through Latitude, if they wish.

Now before the privacy people get all worked up, Google built in robust privacy settings, allowing users to share their precise location, a general city-level location or no information at all. You can even lie about your whereabouts. So privacy is not an issue here: you decide who knows what and when. Latitude is currently available in 27 countries and it works on a big list of cell and smartphones, with more coming.

You can use your Google account to sign in and easily invite friends to Latitude from your existing list of contacts or by entering their email addresses. Google Talk is integrated with Latitude, so you and your friends can update your status messages and profile photos on the go and see what everyone is up to. You can also call, SMS, IM, or email each other within the app. Check out this video to see Latitude in action.

Mainly there are two primary ways to use Latitude right now:

   1. On your mobile phone: visit google.com/latitude from your phone's mobile browser to download Google Maps for mobile with Latitude. Currently most of the popular smartphone platforms are supported: Android, Blackberry, Symbian S60, and Windows Mobile, and iPhone will be added to the list soon. It will be available through Google Mobile App, and you'll just need to download or update the app from the App store to find Latitude in the Apps tab.

   2. On your computer: go to http://google.com/latitude from your browser and add the Latitude gadget to your iGoogle homepage. If you've installed Google Gears or if you're using Google Chrome, you can choose to automatically share your location from your laptop or desktop computer -- no smartphone required!

Google Latitude and similar services like BrightKite and Loopt are yet more proof that the future of the Web will be all about maps.


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Google Earth is also used to dig the past histroy. This is been proven by the recent news that, using Google Earth, a Los Angeles-based musician named Nathan Smith thinks he's found a lost treasure ship that sank somewhere north of Corpus Christi during a hurricane in 1822. But the owners of the land won't let him dig unless a court permits.


A recent book called "Lost Treasures of American History" got Smith to investigate around on his computer and an intriguing pattern near the small town of Refugio made him to drive nonstop to the Gulf Coast with a metal detector in hand.

According to the Houston Chronicle, Smith told a federal judge that Where he had walked he was able to find gold, silver in his initial visit to the site itself. When he stepped out of that area, he could see nothing.

Adding to Smith's convictions is the fact the creek is named Burgentine or Barkentine Creek. The lost Spanish (or maybe Mexican) ship was said to have been a barquentine, a type of three-masted sailing vessel.

Ron Walker, the attorney representing the family that owns the land, says to ABCNews.com, "It was offensive that somebody could go on Google Earth, look down and see what they think, I guess see, under the ground and see a ship and come in and say, 'I want to dig up your property', also they have no proof anything is there and no experience."

The judge plans to rule next month on whether Smith can ask the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for permission to dig. But even if he does find something, he might be in for more legal fights. The state of Texas is already preparing to file a claim, and the Spanish government recently sued professional treasure-hunters over another long-lost military shipwreck.


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Samsung Unveils Blue Earth Solar Powered Phone

Posted by Prem Godara | 2/14/2009 11:16:00 PM | , , | 0 comments »

Samsung Electronics has unveiled a solar-powered full touchscreen phone called "Blue Earth".  Samsung's Blue Earth handset might just be taking the green thing to a whole new extreme. Made from PCM, a recycled plastic from water bottles, the phone boast an "eco" mode for efficiently adjusting screen brightness, backlight duration and Bluetooth usage, and an "eco walk" app / built-in pedometer to tell you how much CO2  emission you've saved by walking instead of driving.


Both the handset, and its charger, are free from harmful substances such as Brominated Flame Retardants, Beryllium and Phthalate. Samsung says the Blue Earth comes with a unique user interface designed "to draw attention to preserving our fragile environment".

With recycled packaging, and energy efficient charger, the Samsung Blue Earth will be available in the UK during the second half of 2009. We're waiting on more specification information about the handset from Samsung and will update the story when we have it. Not a word on price has been specified yet.


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'Organic' Computer Chips From Carbon

Posted by Prem Godara | 2/02/2009 12:29:00 AM | , , | 1 comments »

Scientists have found a new way to modify graphene to make it act as an insulator, a major breakthrough which they claim could soon pave the way to build "organic" computer chips from carbon, rather than silicon.

Graphene, carbon arranged in atom-thick sheets, is already known to be an excellent conductor, but electronics requires the ability to insulate too, as well as electrical properties in between those two extremes.

Now, a team at Manchester University has shown that graphene, carbon arranged in atom-thick sheets, can be easily modified to act as an insulator by adding hydrogen atoms to its surface, the 'New Scientist' reported.

In fact, the new material, called graphane, is made by exposing a graphene sheet to ionised hydrogen gas for some two hours, the scientists have found.

"The semiconductor industry exploits the 'whole periodic table' to manufacture its components. But what if a single material is modified so that it covers the entire spectrum needed for electronics? Graphene could be that material," lead scientist Konstantin Novoselov said.

Using a single material could simplify construction and allow near-seamless interconnections between conductors and semiconductors, currently as much of a headache for the chip manufacturers as the need to shrink transistors, the scientists said.

Experts have welcomed the findings. Alex Savchenko of the University of Exeter said: "In electronics, all digital elements -- transistors -- switch signals on and off, so they should have a large difference between the open and closed -state resistances."


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Top Secret Phone - Zumbafone Leaked

Posted by Prem Godara | 2/02/2009 12:07:00 AM | , , | 2 comments »

We have not heard of the Zumbafone yet, but its makers are confident it could revolutionize the way we communicate. The Zumbafone is currently considered top-secret and hence they are not revealing us much more.

The Zumbafone is a carefully shrouded device being developed by a British company called IA Technologies. The company manufactures military technology and a bunch of other stuff too.

The Zumbafone is the size of a credit card and contains two interlocking pieces. One half snaps off to function as an all-inclusive earpiece-phone. The other, when connected, offers a more traditional keypad and screen.

Once we attach the earpiece half, the Zumbafone links us to an "Internet portal" that holds all of our information. Say the name of a contact, and we're instantly connected. By tapping a button, we can speak out a text message and have it sent wherever needed. Incoming text messages are displayed on the screen half of the phone if we have it attached, or spoken aloud if we're wearing the earpiece.

The device is slated to be on store shelves by the end of 2009. Visit PCWorld site for more details.


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Apple and Adobe to Bring Flash for iPhone

Posted by Prem Godara | 2/01/2009 11:52:00 PM | , , , | 0 comments »

Adobe has joined its hands with Apple to develop Flash for the iPhone. Adobe chief Shantanu Narayen made this revelation in an interview with Bloomberg at the Davos, Switzerland event. "It’s a hard technical challenge, and that’s part of the reason Apple and Adobe are collaborating," he says.

He also added, while no specific details were given as to the parameters of their teamwork, it was mentioned that Flash Lite will not be an acceptable alternative as it’s too feature-limited as opposed to the real thing. However, Flash itself is resource-heavy which is too much for the small processor of the iPhone or any smart phone for that matter to handle which is the real challenge in making the much-awaited feature finally available on Apple’s mobile phone.

As to whether it will be offered as a 3rd party app or plug-in, the chances of that happening is near impossible as the iPhone SDK’s guidelines strictly prohibits 3rd party app from serving as plug-ins. It’ll most likely debut as part of a firmware update, but no information regarding as to when this will all happen.

For more details visit Apple insider site.


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iPhone - The Most Popular Phone For Downloading Games

Posted by Prem Godara | 2/01/2009 11:23:00 PM | , , | 1 comments »

Apple's iPhone stands in the first place again. ComScore, a reputed market research firm, reported that, among the top ten phones used to download games in USA, the first, second, third and seventh spots are taken over by four different models of the Apple iPhone. The 8GB Apple iPhone 3G took over the number one spot followed by the original 8GB and 16 GB version. The old 16 GB iPhone is in the seventh position.

PC World report says that the iPhone and iPod dominated the list of finalists recently named in a competition sponsored by the Independent Games Festival Mobile. A total of about 1.1 million U.S. owners of the four iPhone models have used the device for downloading games, according to comScore.

According to comScore analyst, Alistair Hill, "the main reason behind this popularity is Apple's sound marketing strategy. Now, hundreds and thousands of people know about the App Store which is also very easy to use. Apple also allows gamers to develop games in a very easy and transparent way. Prior to that, mobile phone companies tried to gain large amount of revenue from mobile phone gaming. As a result, developers had to develop hundred different versions of one game to be used in different mobile phones. Apple changed that scenario."


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Windows 7 will be Released Without Beta 2

Posted by Prem Godara | 2/01/2009 03:40:00 PM | , , , | 0 comments »

Microsoft has announced that there won't be a second beta of Windows 7, saying that the next test version of the operating system will be a near-final release candidate. Windows engineering head Steven Sinofsky announced the move in a blog posting on Friday, confirming that Microsoft would stick to earlier plans for just a single beta.

Given the estimated release date for Windows 7, we all expected that there would be only one beta before an RC. Microsoft proved the community right. Microsoft says, "With the RC, this process of feedback based on telemetry then repeats itself. However, at this milestone we will be very selective about what changes we make between the Release Candidate and the final product, and very clear in communicating them. We will act on the most critical issues. The point of the Release Candidate is to make sure everyone is ready for the release and that there is time between the Release Candidate and our release to PC makers and manufacturing to validate all the work that has gone on since the pre-Beta. Again, we expect very few changes to the code."

They still have not yet said anything about the release date. Although that is believed to be the goal, Microsoft has told partners that it is still too soon to commit for a 2009 release and it could yet be pushed into early 2010. Officially, Microsoft has said that it will have Windows 7 out within three years of the general availability of Windows Vista, which hit its two-year anniversary on Thursday.

In the meanwhile, for those who have not tried hands on Windows 7, the download availability for the Windows 7 Beta is still active.


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As a result bringing a kind of solution for the content blocking ISPs, Google has introduced Measurement Lab. Measurement Lab (M-Lab) is an open platform for researchers to deploy Internet measurement tools. By enhancing Internet transparency, it aims to help sustain a healthy, innovative Internet. Now Google, the New America Foundation's Open Technology Institute, the PlanetLab Consortium, and academic researchers are taking the wraps off of Measurement Lab (M-Lab). The network diagnostic tool, meanwhile, can measure the speed of a user's internet connection.

The open platform is still in its infancy, Google says. But it is providing 36 servers to researchers in 12 locations in Europe in the United States, with the hope that they can come up with new applications to improve internet transparency. An application that allows users to monitor if they are being obstructed online isn't new, but Google says M-lab stands for more than just a throttle test - it provides the infrastructure for developing other tools to measure connectivity.

"M-Lab is intended to be a truly community-based effort, and we welcome the support of other companies, institutions, researchers, and users that want to provide servers, tools, or other resources that can help the platform flourish," Google vice-president Vint Cerf and principal engineer Stephen Stuart said on a Google blog.

For more details visit Google Official Blog.


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After the Mumbai attack, the talk of the town was about theGoogle Earth has helped the terroists who involved in the attack. Google Earth is a virtual globe, map and geographic information program that was originally called Earth Viewer, and was created by Keyhole, Inc, a company acquired by Google in 2004. It maps the earth by the superimposition of images obtained from satellite imagery, aerial photography and GIS 3D globe.

During the month of November, there happened a deadly attacks in Mumbai by the terrorists. Sources says that Google earth was used by the terrorists for the exact map and location and distance etc., Google completely disagrees with this slipshod logic.



Google says, that terrorists can use maps, electronic or otherwise anything, for Evil, which isn’t Google’s fault. The evilness is in the philosophies and the desires of those that want to do evil. They will use the tools at hand to do that, whether it’s throwing a Molotov cocktail, or shooting a rifle or using some piece of technology as part of the process.

Post-Mumbai, Google Earth has been called “the Google threat.” Even the venerable British Army has expressed concern about the program. But we don’t understand how it can. Are we to ban cellphones because, you know, Bad Guy 1 can SMS his location to Bad Guy 2? Or maybe we should shut down Casio for creating the alarm clock that awoke Bad Guy 3 on the day of an attack? It’s silly.


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MAINGEAR Computers, award-winning builders of high performance custom computers for PC Enthusiasts, announced the availability of the next generation high performance Remix Workstation which can be used for graphic design, video production, pro audio and other creative professions.

Starting at $2,000, the Remix Workstation features high-end audio and graphics features, liquid cooling and sound insulation to minimize noise.

The system is designed to maximize a number of visually intensive functions, including:

* Bringing fluidity to image navigation. The Remix enables real-time image rotation, zooming, and panning. Also, on-screen compositing of both 2D and 3D content, ensuring smoothly anti-aliased results regardless of zoom level. Brush resizing and brushstroke preview, 3D movement, high-dynamic-range tone mapping, and color conversion are also accelerated.
* Accelerate high-quality video effects such as motion, opacity, color, and image distortion. The Remix also enables faster editing of multiple high-definition video streams and graphic overlays and provides a variety of video output choices for high-quality preview, including DisplayPort, component TV, or uncompressed 10-bit or 12-bit SDI.
* Accelerate a variety of creative effects. Effects accelerated include depth of field, bilateral blur effects, turbulent noise such as flowing water or waving flags, and cartoon effects. The Remix with the Quadro CX takes advantages of these workflow enhancements.

Audio Editing Features – MAINGEAR Remix’s sound insulation is designed for audio editing in the studio. Remix also offers M-Audio audio interfaces designed to handle the needs of project and professional studios.

Some of the other Features which are included in the Remix workstation are

* Studio quality sound insulation – Advanced insulation materials keeps the noise in and dense mesh air filters keep the dust out
* Powerful components - Latest technology from NVIDIA, Intel, M-Audio
* Advanced Liquid Cooling – MAINGEAR partnered with CoolIt Systems to equip the Remix with advanced Liquid Cooling

Creative Professionals can purchase the MAINGEAR Remix at MAINGEAR's website. The base price for Remix is $1,999.99 ($3,999.99 with NVIDIA Quadro CX) and is available in Black, Silver, Electric Blue, Inferno Red, Alpine White, and Speed Yellow.


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Future Economy will Depend Upon Cell Phones

Posted by Prem Godara | 2/01/2009 02:45:00 AM | , | 0 comments »

Predictions says that very soon most of the economic functions will be carried out through mobiles. Already cellphone credit(the transfer credit between phones with a simple text message)has partly replaced cash to in some parts of the African continent, a paper now predicts that more economic functions will soon come to be carried out through mobiles all over the world.

The paper has been submitted to a workshop on the future of social networking organized by W3C, the body in charge of global web standards. It says that the next step is to give cellular phone users the equivalent of social networking websites like Facebook.

Gloria Ruhrmund, a South Africa-based mobile social media consultant, envisages that combining social network-style services with existing mobile credit transfer systems may further take over from traditional banking systems. According to her, such mobile social networks may provide new routes to pay salaries, provide health advice, mobilize voters, and to connect and educate isolated communities.

Some social mobile tools, such as instant messaging service NokNok, are already established in Africa, reports New Scientist magazine.


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AMD is planning to release more phenom 2 processors this year by increasing the stock clock speeds in increments of 100 MHz (0.5x multiplier) with a string of SKUs post Phenom II X4 950. This announcement comes after AM2+ exclusive Phenom II X4 940 showed impressive overclocking potential, while shipping with a clock speed of 3.00 GHz. According to the insider sources, a German website called AMD News caught up with this news.

For those who are not aware, the Phenom 2 is the new line of processors from AMD. They are built on the 45nm technology. They have a 2MB L2 cache and a 6MB L3 cache. They have a lower power consumption that their predecessors.

AM3 means that those processors support DDR3 memory. If those processors are used in AM2+ motherboards, they can also be used with DDR2 memory.

All the upcoming processors will be built on the AM3 package, making them compatible with DDR3 and DDR2 memory standards. With the Phenom II X4 950 being clocked at 3.10 GHz, succeeding SKUs take 100 MHz steps, starting from a Phenom II X4 960 at 3.20 GHz to a Phenom II X4 990 at 3.50 GHz. Despite the high clock speeds, the chips will continue to maintain rated TDPs of 125W. At some point within the succession, AMD will crank up the HyperTransport interconnect speed from 1,800 MHz to 2,000 MHz. The launch-schedule for these processors will be spread throughout 2009.

The models in the new series consist of:
  • Phenom II X4 950 (3.10 GHz, 15.5 x 200)
  • Phenom II X4 960 (3.20 GHz, 16 x 200)
  • Phenom II X4 970 (3.30 GHz, 16.5 x 200)
  • Phenom II X4 980 (3.40 GHz, 17 x 200)
  • Phenom II X4 990 (3.50 GHz, 17.5 x 200)
Till now, no AM3 motherboard are out but are expected next month.


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Fannie Mae Escaped Rajendrasinh Makwana's Logic Bomb

Posted by Prem Godara | 2/01/2009 02:23:00 AM | , | 0 comments »

Rajendrasinh B Makwana, an Indian National, was employed by a subcontractor for OmniTech as a Unix engineer at Fannie Mae's Urbana, according to an affidavit by the FBI agent investigating. On October 24 at about 1:30 pm, Makwana was fired by Fannie Mae for inadvertently writing a script that switched up permissions on the company's Unix servers. He told his supervisors at OmniTech and turned in his badge and laptop to Fannie Mae around 4:45 pm that day.

FBI agent Jessica Nye says "Makwana created a erroneously computer script that changed the settings on the Unix servers without the proper authority of his supervisor."

As per the U.S. district court Makwana integrated a malicious code with the legitimate code and malware set to trigger off at 09:00 am on 31st Jan 2009. Company served from heavy loss by an engineer who detected the malware and its activities. It detected after several day it was planted. Companies must also find ways to secure the data concerned with various operations, he added.

RB Makwana was indicted on 29th Jan 2009. For unauthorized computer access after allegedly installing a malicious script on fannie mae's computer server. The script called a logic bomb, was executed on 31st Jan 2009, was discovered by Unix engineer accidentally. the script has potential to wipe of the institution's more then 4000 server clean, and also causing millions of dollars in damages and ability to shutting down the computer at least for a week.

For this little stunt R B makwana is now facing up to 10 years in prison. Click here for more information about Rajendrasinh Makwana.


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Windows 7 is still in the public beta process, and will be for some months to come. The purpose of true beta testing is to isolate and identify serious problems (we should know). During this testing, an unbelievable flaw in Windows 7 beta and Microsoft's User Account Control (UAC) feature, allows its protection to be defeated by any malware which happens to infect the system.

The malware needs only to send a series of false keystrokes from a Visual Basic script to activate the UAC dialog, move the slider bar to the disable position, and then save the changes. After that, the program can access protected functions or even reboot the system, thereby gaining full total system access on restart.

This type of security breach has been in use for as long as there have been PCs. In the old DOS days, a terminate and stay resident (TSR) program could invoke the system BIOS functions, wait for the password screen to appear then start issuing interrupt 16h instructions (which send fake keystrokes). Doing so would mimic the effect of a user pressing keys on a keyboard, and old DOS programs like Sidekick used to do this as part of their feature in order to provide DOS with copy-and-paste-like functionality, as well as pop-up abilities like a calendar, calculator, etc. Sidekick would intercept and send its keystrokes in this way.

Windows uses a message-based communication system internally. When a user presses a keystroke on the keyboard, the keyboard controller identifies which key was pressed (or released) and sends a signal to the motherboard, which then issues a hardware interrupt signal to the CPU. The CPU stops what it's doing (processing a spreadsheet, drawing some graphics in a game, whatever it is), and then retrieves the keystroke - sending it to the appropriate software algorithm (an internal keyboard handler). Such a handler allows keys to be remapped, intercepted, and all kinds of other things which allow for abilities macros, etc. But ultimately, the keystroke message, such as "KEY 'X' IS DOWN WHILE THE RIGHT-SHIFT KEY IS PRESSED," are sent to the appropriate program (or, more precisely, the appropriate "window" in Windows).

There is a simple fix to this problem. Microsoft can implement without sacrificing any of the benefits the new UAC model provides, and that is to force a UAC prompt in Secure Desktop mode whenever UAC is changed, regardless of its current state.

The discoverer wrote some simple code and also notes that this is apparently a Microsoft-purposed design feature of Windows 7, as related inquires appearing on Microsoft's beta page are all marked "closed."


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Samsung's S3500 to be Released Soon

Posted by Prem Godara | 2/01/2009 01:33:00 AM | , , | 0 comments »

Samsung is expected to introduce its new entry-level sliding handset, the S3500 soon. Recently gaining approval from the FCC, chances are that will be available from AT&T or T-Mobile in the US although nothing is finalized yet. Features of the Samsung S3500 include,

  • Quad-band GSM/EDGE connectivity (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
  • QVGA display with 262K colors
  • Music player
  • FM radio
  • 2 megapixel camera
  • Bluetooth and USB
  • WAP browser, email
  • 35MB internal memory
  • microSD memory card slot
There is no word on pricing, but its expected to be an affordable one.


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If you had noticed today, there was an error occurring in the Google search results which listed all the search results along with a appended warning message as “This site may harm your computer”.

Google’s VP of Search Products Marissa Mayer has just responded to the issue today that marked all Google results with the warning “This site may harm your computer” and advised users not to visit them. The problem, she says, "It was simple human error: when importing the malware list from StopBadware.org, the URL ‘/’ was unintentionally added, meaning that every website would be included".

She also added that, "We do this to protect our users against visiting sites that could harm their computers. We work with a non-profit called StopBadware.org to get our list of URLs. StopBadware carefully researches each consumer complaint to decide fairly whether that URL belongs on the list. Since each case needs to be individually researched, this list is maintained by humans, not algorithms. We periodically receive updates to that list and received one such update to release on the site today. Unfortunately (and here’s the human error), the URL of ‘/’ was mistakenly checked in as a value to the file and ‘/’ expands to all URLs."

She also said, "Thanks to our team for their quick work in finding this and fixing this within 40 minutes. And, our apologies to any of you who were inconvenienced, and to site owners whose pages were incorrectly labeled. We will carefully investigate this incident and put more robust file checks in place to prevent it from happening again."


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Is Premium Games Section Headed to App Store?

Posted by Prem Godara | 2/01/2009 01:06:00 AM | , , , | 0 comments »

Are you a serious gamer on iPhone. If so, then there is a good news for you. Apple may be planning to add a new "premium games section" to the App Store which will offer games for the iPhone and the iPod Touch around the range of $20 USD after Apple recently noted that the store had hit a half billion downloads and was home to 15,000 applications.

This section will be open to a restricted number of commercial game publishers such as Electronics Arts, so that iPhone can be represented as a "serious gaming" hand held.

Most games in the App Store currently come from low budget publishers or casual coders, and many sell for 99 cents to $9.99 USD, so this initiative of locking out the smaller developers would appear to clash with the ideals by which the store has operated to date.

In an interview published this week, Apple vice president of iPhone and iPod product marketing Greg Joswiak spoke directly to this end, noting that the one of the benefits of the App Store is the low overheard required to become an influential player in the market.

App developers don't need a publisher, he said, "It's not somewhere you have to be represented by somebody; you have to be in the development programme, which is very inexpensive."

Asked if smaller developers are really competing with the established players, Joswiak said: "What we'd like to do is show off the games - the 3D and the casual ones. Everyone from the big developers is excited -- the EAs, the Gamelofts, Hudsons and Segas -- but what's also cool is the small guys.

"You get the one or two-developer shops like the Pangeas, who are doing a great business, with anecdotal stories like paying off their home mortgages after a month or two of being in the store," he said.

Apple has not confirmed the report, and neither has any large publisher, but it is believed that the Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) would be a likely launch date.


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Today the world's number one search engine stumbled with a Malicious Software Warning for sometime around the evening. If you had guessed it Google, you are right. When any text was searched, the list of search results appeared normally as it used to. But every search result had a warning below it saying "This site may harm your computer".

The most peculiar thing was that, even when the text Google was typed in the search box, the same warning was given for google website itself as shown in the below picture. And inspite of the warning when the link was clicked from the search result, the Malware Warning page was displayed.



This problem was fixed in an hour by Google after which the search process became normal. Generally this warning message will appear with search results as when that site might be dangerous that it may install malicious software on your computer.


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