Ubuntu 8.10 Out Today

Today marks the debut of the latest Ubuntu Desktop Edition. The latest version of the Linux Distro seems to be optimized for the "always online" world of today with the addition of some new features that would finally make Ubuntu, a truly mobile platform.

Jane Silber, COO of Canonical and head of Online Services for Canonical says "Ubuntu 8.10 sees us lay the groundwork for a radically different, more mobile, desktop computing environment over the next two years. Our rapid release cycle means we can deliver the elements to support this future faster, more fully realised, and more attractively packaged than the traditional OS vendors. Ubuntu 8.10 has many features that sign-post how Linux will provide the drive and innovation in desktop computing."

Here's a brief roundup of what's new:

Network Manager
The 8.10 release brings with it 3G Network support. The Network manager, christened Network Manager 0.7 in Ubuntu will help users to easily detect and connect to available 3G networks in range.

This is in case you are away from a wi-fi hotspot and more importantly, while traveling. The release supports a built in internal modem which delivers connectivity when coupled with a bluetooth dongle and a compatible mobile phone. A single interface for auto-detection of popular devices is seen as well.


USB Drive support
Till date, the only methods available to get Ubuntu on to your PC was to get the ISO image to a CD/DVD and install. That has now changed with the increased adoption of high capacity USB drives. Ubuntu 8.10 has a little application that will allow itself to be written to a flash drive. Additionally, it will also allow you to write a modified version of Ubuntu with your data as well --literally carrying your PC within the confines of a flash drive.

Guest Sessions
This is for those users who have friends who ask for a brief stint with your laptop while you are at a meeting or a party -- just for casual browsing or to check their e-mail. Guest sessions will not only enable you to keep your data safe, your friends can use the full system without any interference with your programs or data.

Media Player
Launching one of the Media players bundled with Ubuntu will also enable you to listen to selected content available from the BBC. A cocktail of high quality audio, video and podcasts from the BBC will be "aired". The service is region specific and will beam customized content depending on the area.
With the new version, Ubuntu also aims to gain inroads in to the mainstream computing OS platform. To that effect, In India, Dell is already shipping Ubuntu with its Vostro lineup of laptops.

The latest GNOME 2.24 desktop environment too makes it debut with the Ubuntu 8.10. With it comes a new IM client, a built-in time tracker and the latest edition of Ekiga 3.0 audio conferencing tool. On the hardware side, support for dual monitors has been introduced. All these coupled with an improved file management is bound to turn heads. Head to the Ubuntu website to download.


Via

Techtree Link

PDC 2008 Coverage: Windows 7 Previewed

As reported by me on Techtree earlier, it was expected that finer details of Windows 7 would be known to us by the end of the Professional Developers Conference(PDC) that is underway at Los Angeles. And true it was. We now have a fair idea of what and how the Windows 7 really is all about. The PDC also answers the biggest question people had in their minds... (and its not over yet!). Is Windows 7 just a "spruced up" Vista?

This is what it was considered to be, when we had a very restrictive initial look at the leaked screen shots that appeared few weeks ago. Well, that argument has been laid to rest now with Microsoft offering a "hands-on" to the journalists who attended the PDC. They had on offer a Dell Laptop loaded with a Windows 7 pre-beta Build 6801 to have a first detailed look at it. These are the initial impressions of what the Windows 7 is all about -- and what it is not.

To start with, it is not just another Vista rehash. Yes, it retains the "family look" but there are many underlying changes that makes it a far better OS than its predecessor. Although I still think they should have opted for a full design-change to alienate itself from Vista, Microsoft chose not to do so and I believe they have valid reasons for that decision. So, whats new? And what is not? Read on.

First off, the build 6801 that was showcased during the PDC is reportedly an older version. This meant that several of the new features that were seen in some screenshots were not present in this build. For the record, screen shots have revealed newer build versions; namely build 6926 and 6933 which seems to be a more complete package - albeit unstable ones.

Networking -the Windows 7 way
To start off, connecting to a wireless network is now far easier. In fact, it is just one click away from the task bar -- another Windows component that has more or less remained the same over the years. Not any longer! The good ol' taskbar "text" has given way to icons (which does impart a somewhat gaudy look to it). More on the taskbar improvement later. As for choosing a wifi network to hop on to, it is just a click on the icon on the task bar and you get a list of all the networks available. Click on the one you wish to hop on to and you're done! Now that’s nifty and was this not possible earlier? -- is all I wish to ask.

UAC remains; but subtler now
The dreaded UAC (User Access Control) pop ups still loom large. Yes, you had the option to turn them off.. However, Microsoft thinks there are folks who would still want their computers to be a bit more proactive and let you know what your background programs are up to. So what do they do? Give you a slider control and now you decide whether to turn UAC off completely or let it pop up only when a program (and not you) makes a change to the system settings. Nice! But they could have dropped that pop-up idea altogether.

Sidebar: Killed
I am unsure how many of you found the Vista sidebar irritating. For people with lesser screen real estate, it was a pain if you wanted to use the gadgets -- but without the accompanying sidebar that eats up your precious screen space. Now you have relief the sidebar has been officially shown the door but guess what? The gadgets remain -- and now, you are free to place them anywhere on your screen.

HomeGroups
This is one of those networking things that you might have been “oh so much" used to. You run the wizard and nothing actually works according to plan. Let’s hope this one does. Now, the Homegroup does what it says and is supposed to be a tool to share files and stuff over a small home network. Apart from sharing printers, it can also help share other hardware and make for seamless inter-machine connectivity along with added security: You decide what to share and what not to. Sounds familiar?

Device Stage
I had discussed about this earlier --when not much was known about this. We now have more details emerging. As expected, Device Stage is just an enhanced "auto play pop up" when you connect an external device to your computer. The only difference now is that, you have different interfaces for supported hardware. By supported hardware, I mean the devices which provides content for the Device stage will show up with "extra features" when connected instead of the plain jane auto play window that is seen now. It remains to be seen how device manufacturers pick this up.

Taskbar
Yes we're back at it. As mentioned earlier in the article, the taskbar has undergone a complete transformation after having been left unchanged since eons now. The quick launch has been discarded and now we have icons replacing the text that displayed running programs. The right click offers greater features and flexibility now -- giving options like opening recent files and related goodies.

Multitouch
Finally we have multitouch on the PC and prima facie, it seems to work pretty well. While you might need a slight learning curve to start off with it, it won’t take an user significant time to master it. And yes, it supports all the gestures you have in mind -- pinching, stretching and the others. Happy?

User Interface:
Ok, nothing revolutionary in here. It still looks like Vista (which most people might not like). But there have been changes. The Flip 3d remains along with the new taskbar (already previewed) Notable additions include the new windows resizing feature which has managed to turn some heads. And yes, the system tray has been "upgraded" as well. It now offers you more control over the (annoying) pop ups -- allowing you to decide if you want to display an item on the tray permanently or not.

Mac Users Boo (as usual)
While many have welcomed the changes, Mac users claim most of the new "features" on the Windows 7 are simply Microsoft’s version of existing OSX stuff. Yes, we have been hearing this ever since the Vista launch and now it has rather become a norm. Windows 7 is arguably the biggest change to the User interface that Windows have been through since XP and from what I see, it is a far cry from a rehashed Vista. With an expected 2009 launch it remains to be seen how it fares against the OSX SnowLeopard 10.6 due mid 2009.

A faster Windows?
Windows 7 will also aim to be leaner, faster and it won't crib for system resources -- a lesson well learnt from the Vista debacle. Remember the "Vista capable" labels? To prove this, Windows SVP Steve Sinofsky showcased his personal laptop duRing the keynote which ran the OS smoothly. The netbook reportedly ran at 1Ghz with 1 GB of RAM. Now that’s nice. There’s already a talk of frwsh set of system requirements for the Windows 7. This just might be the trump card for Microsoft!


Via: Gizmodo

Techtree Link

Windows 7: Windows Live Essentials

With Windows 7 comes news that it is set to contain fewer bundled applications than either Vista or XP. Microsoft has chosen to “package” all these application under the “Live” branding with which it also hopes to end the confusion surrounding it. You know, the Windows Messenger, MSN Messenger, and Windows Live Messenger headache.

The package christened “Windows Live Essentials” comprises the following:

· Windows Live Family Safety

· Windows Live Mail

· Windows Live Messenger

· Windows Live Movie Maker

· Windows Live Photo Gallery

· Windows Live Toolbar

· Windows Live Writer

· Microsoft Office Outlook Connector

Most of these applications are already shipping; while some are still in beta. The ultimate aim for Microsoft seems to seamless incorporation of the Windows Live banner for almost all the common tasks you use the Internet currently for. Let me explain with a simple example. While you may have a hotmail e-mail account, you might use Picasa for photos and facebook for social networking. The Live platform aims to unify these services under one banner even if they are non-Microsoft ones (Gmail for example). With recent news regarding the adoption of the OpenID platform by Windows Live, it will soon be possible to integrate all these services to one identity.
On a slightly different note, it was slightly ironical to see the Windows Live Application offering support to other webmail providers (POP and IMAP support) while Microsoft’s own Hotmail still do not support these! This is precisely the reason for the addition of Office Outlook Connector tool, which can read Hotmail e-mails.

Via: ArsTechnica

Techtree Link

The Chrome-Microsoft nexus!

Came across this image on a site.. notice the uncanny similarity??


Here's one more for the conspiracy theorists to ponder about!

Google Earth comes to the iPhone!

After fiddling around with Google maps, you now have the option to "swipe your finger and fly from Peoria to Paris, or anywhere in between" on your iPhone -- as Google puts it. Google has just introduced an iPhone version of its popular Google Earth application. The latest blog post on the Google blog has revealed some of the cool features of the application which is available starting today!

The application looks and feels virtually the same as its PC/Mac counterpart and is also compatible with the iPod touch. Having used it briefly, it is a breeze to use with the familiar finger inputs; pinch or double tap to zoom in and double tap with two fingers to zoom out.

The feature highlights include:
•Tilt function to "adjust" your view to explore mountainous terrain
• Panoramio photo layer and Wikipedia Geo articles enabled by default. (You can turn this and the wikipedia feature off)
•"Location" feature to fly to the current location
• Search functionality.




Available in 18 languages and 22 countries, the application is yours for free. Head to the app store in iTunes to download! Its worth a download even in a 3G-less environment and works pretty well -- although it might take a while to download. 

Techtree Link

Orkut - Scrap Conversations

Orkut has introduced a new feature where you can view our scraps as conversations -- in the typical Gmail style where e-mail conversations are grouped together. Prima facie, Google seems to be bucket testing this feature so it might be a while before everyone gets to see this. Here is a 

screen shot any way.

I know, this is not something very ground breaking -- but interesting nevertheless!

Optimizing Photo Sessions from Camera Phone

Camera phones are not a simple Point-&-Shoot digital camera that has standard & sophisticated features. While they are essential for a prized shot, camera phones have become the one only ever-present option to capture moments which are essential and of value.
Will you run for your Olympus DSLR when u see your Kid taking his/her first steps OR when u see your cousin slipping candy in his/her pocket when he/she is banned to eat anything Sweet??

One of reason why person erases photograph taken from phone's camera is because of the unsatisfactory end-results. These "results" include: blur, over bright or dark, also its object is partially cut. Here in this post, are common, but hereto ignored "tricks" to result a optimal qualified image:


1. Utilize largest Mega-Pixel measure available, The greater measure (pixel) photo, the greater detail it will get visually.

2. Use all objects in the vicinity, Many-A-times Camera-Yielding person (hereto referred to as Shooter) just focuses on its Primary photography object only, neglecting the environment around it.

3. Don't place object on the in the middle of the photograph, since with place object not in the middle image, making your more photograph "Mask" a lot of other objects that may be caught & enhance the effect.

4. Don't Utilize "Zooming" Facility as it surely will reduce image quality, notably to photograph distance object. This is because a Mobile-Camera uses a Optical Zoom, which only "Appears" to bring the image closer, which is not so in reality. Look for a Camera-Phone which has "Optical Zoom" preferably 3X & above.

5. Photograph at Close Distances, since phone's camera utilizes lenticular focus length (distance among center optical on lenticular with object) one that is regular. Long distances fall short (Pun unintended) & focus very short.

6. Before taking image, determine the line of falling light. If you have your Back to indigenous light object, it will cause the object to appear dark, & will fail to dazzle. Still, the best is if a luminous source is placed at Shooters back the Object will appear bright.

7. In many cases, you don't find desirable lighting condition. In such cases change the "White Balance" Setting to "Auto".

8. If image that is featured in phone's camera display appears over dark or over bright, try "Brightness Ruler" before taking image, specifically for object which has rich colors.

9. Avoid insufficient Lighting , since phone's Camera is hard to catch detail object in Poor Light condition. Even with aided flash, Many-A-Times its results are not optimal, since flash's average on phone just effective on semi distances up to one meter. Use an external source of Lighting if Possible to fill in the Gap & remember to keep the Object "Facing" the Light.

10. The Phone usually "Names" the shots in default name (Usually Date_Time). Hence make it a point to move photo to computer & rename to desired name. Thus you will save space on Camera & your Phone will be clutter free.

11. Maintain Exposure Value until –2.0. exposure's appreciative excelsior draws that resulting getting brightness. On the contrary if its point getting little minus, the image will get dark. Manage exposure's appreciative suiting with available object. Not all Phone-Camera have all the settings as above, but as always there are better setting that "ARE" available & rules corresponds to tips given above.

Happy Shooting.

Play ALL Java "JAR" Games on Nokia Phones [Adjust Screen Res]

How many of you have yearned to play a Very Good Java (.Jar) game on your Nokia NSeries (Having a resolution of 240x320) only to find a Resolution Mismatch.

We can definitely play the game, albeit the game seems either too Small (176x208) or too Large (352x416), thus game-play is distorted.


۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞
IN THIS CASE YOU MUST KNOW KNOW THE RESOLUTION OF THE ORIGINAL GAME & THE RESOLUTION OF THE PHONE ON WHICH THE GAME WILL BE PLAYED
۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞۞

Here I (or rather MobileCastle) has brought you a salvation. It is a very simple app meant to "Re-Size" the game to fit your Screen Resolution.

You will need ‘Microsoft. NET Framework’ installed on your PC. Thereafter Download Extract & Run (No installation here!!) "Change Resolution S60v3"

Here you are presented with Two simple Options as Shown Below:

Select the "Original Resolution" of the Target Game. Move on to Desired Resolution. i.e. Resolution of your Phone. Thereafter Click on Select & resize. Viola!!! The Jar Game is Re-sized to fit your screen.

Happy Gaming.

First working "Moorestown" platform showcased

At the ongoing IDF (Intel Developer Forum) at Taiwan, senior vice president and general manager of Intel's Ultra Mobility Group, Anand Chandrasheker in his keynote discussed how technology, innovation and strong industry collaboration have driven the digital economy for the past 40 years. Looking forward to the next 40, Chandrasheker sees the emergence of purpose-built devices, MIDs and hand helds that are set to deliver a targeted computing experience.

The Atom line-up of processors are being though of the first ones to be targeted at these "targeted" segments. The Atom is slowly gaining inroads in to the Netbook category with some chips already crunching numbers on devices ranging from a Home telephones to digital photo frames. The Moorestown platform is the obvious successor to the Atom line up with some basic differences. To start with, Moorestown has an SOC (System on Chip) called "Lincroft" which integrates the processor, graphics, memory controller on to a single chip and an I/O hub called the "Langwell".

This is different to the Atoms approach which splits the graphics off to the hub. The change in design is expected to result in better graphics performance with an overall reduction in size. The Langwell will also give way to an unified wireless module known as Evans Peak which is said to integrate all the wireless modules -- including WiMAX support. With the MID pie in sight, Intel has already confirmed 3G support -- thanks to its collaboration with Ericsson for HSPA modules. This, however is not the first time that Intel has fiddled with 3G. Its previous attempt at 3G chips with the Centrino back in 2007 was shelved owing to lukewarm public response. This time however, the target being MIDs and handhelds, the response is expected to be overwhelming.
Moorestown is all set to make its debut in 2009-2010 with elder sibling "Nehalem".

Techtree Link

New Arrivals: Self building circuits

A team of physicists at the Netherlands based Philips Research Laboratories have developed a small computer circuit that builds itself! The team led by Dago de Leeuw, a physicist himself used an organic molecule quinquethiophene to a carbon atom chain with a silicon group attached to the end. Later, they immersed the circuit boards with electrodes into a solution containing these molecules.

According to Hagen Klauk, an electrical engineer from the Max Planck Institute in Stuttgart, Germany, this latest technology is still in is infancy and needs a lot of fine-tuning before going "live". Additionally, in its present avatar, it offers no higher performance improvement over existing circuits. The next step to complement this new technique is to find a way to develop self-assembling electrodes. As for when you can get a hands-on the first "self assembled" computer, you've got to wait for a long time.
Via:ITexaminer

Malware authors targeting web 2.0 sites

A new malware is doing the rounds of the Internet. Nothing new? Except that, this one uses some nice tricks to try and fool even the most discerning of users. The latest example of a visual social-engineering spam, this e-mail poses as a legitimate Hi5 friend request and is even spoofed to appear as if it has really been sent from the Hi5 domain.

This particular e-mail though is in Spanish. There are various malicious links embedded in the email, which if clicked on, will download a Trojan to your PC and steals confidential logins for a popular Mexican bank. AV detection of this Trojan is very low and hence it is advisable that users keep a close watch ion any such requests they may receive. While this one has only been seen in Spanish, an English version might not be very far off. With the Facebook friend request spam e-mail issue being witnessed just a month ago, it is now clear that Web 2.0 sites too are being increasingly targeted by malware authors.

Via: Websense SecurityLabs

Techtree Link

Draconian US anti-piracy law draws flak

U.S President George Bush has recently signed The Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act of 2008 – thus making it a law. The act, which was previously criticized by the Department of Justice and the Department of Commerce, found support from some quarters, thanks to the ongoing economic crisis. There are now allegations that supporters of this act played the “save the economy” card to have this passed – instead of the usual procedure of verifying facts and then proceeding with the passage.

The new law will authorize the creation of what is touted to be the “copyright czar” with absolute rights to forfeit articles if suspected of being used in committing a crime. The “crime” here refers to suspected copyright infringement. Some of the claims that support the bill include things like how the law could create new jobs and save the $250 billion loss that Piracy costs the US annually. The MPAA, obviously in support of the Act had Mr. Dan Glickman say, “At this critical time for our economy, it’s important to send a message that the jobs created and maintained by the protection of intellectual property is a national priority.”

Public knowledge spokesman Art Brodsky who isn’t too happy with the act says, “Let's suppose that there's one computer in the house, and one person uses it for downloads and one for homework. The whole computer goes”. He was referring to the problem of having a law that provides absolute rights to the enforcer. He also argues that the bill is unnecessary at this juncture, because the recording and movie industry already have the rights to take the accused copyright infringers to court.

Via: TorrentFreak

Opera's MAMA results announced

Opera Software has led a first-of-its-kind project to create a search engine that tracks how Web pages are structured on the World Wide Web. When released publicly in the coming months, this engine will help browser makers and standards bodies work towards a more standards-driven and compatible Web.

Opera today announced results from its MAMA (Metadata Analysis and Mining Application) search engine, a brainchild of Opera engineers that indexes the markup, style, scripting and the technology used while creating Web pages.

The MAMA search engine scours 3.5 million Web pages, and the resulting data can answer questions such as “can I get a sampling of Web pages that have more than 100 hyperlinks?” or “what does an average Web page look like?”—a dream come true for Web developers.

“The Web is fragmented, complex and always evolving. MAMA’s vast database provides us with detailed information about how Web technologies are used,” said Snorre M. Grimsby, Vice President of Quality Assurance at Opera Software. "This is key in our efforts to test and ensure high-quality compatibility, stability and performance of our products, and we want to share it with our peers, so they can benefit from it too."

MAMA will help Web developers find examples of usage of features and functions, look at trends and gather data to justify technology to their clients or managers. This will also encourage standards bodies to take into account developers’ suggestions about what is happening on the Web in reality and will eventually raise the quality and interoperability of specifications, the Web and browsers.

MAMA can also respond to queries as general as "how many sites use CSS (Cascading Style Sheets)?" (80.4 percent of MAMA's URLs), or "how many markup errors does the average Web page have?" (47), or “how many characters does an average Web page have?” (16,400), to more specific queries such as "what country is using XMLHttpRequest, a critical component of AJAX, the most?" (Norway, with 10.2 percent, within MAMA’s URL set).

MAMA is up to the task of tackling vague questions that don't have easy answers, like "how many sites are mobile-ready?" or "how prevalent is Web 2.0?" Defining a page as being "Web 2.0" can cover a variety of sub-topics, including the use of micro formats, RSS, JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) and AJAX among numerous other criteria. MAMA is ready to provide the complex answers to indistinct questions where simple answers do not exist.

MAMA is an evolving project, and it will continue to provide statistics such as the ones above to help monitor trends and provide real-world, practical samples of the Web developer’s “art,” for inspiration and instruction.

For more information on Opera’s MAMA project, please visit: Here

Just Discovered: Black Silicon

In what could be a termed a quantum leap in terms of digital photography, physicists at the Harvard University have discovered something known as Black Silicon which according to them will change the digital photography, solar power and night vision industries for ever.

The new material was accidentally discovered when one researcher tensed up after concerns regarding the funding of a project loomed large and decided to write a new direction to the research proposal without actually thinking much about it. The Physicist Eric Mazur had actually directed the researchers to shine a powerful laser on to a silicon wafer. To intensify the effect of the beam, a coat of sulphur hexafluoride was applied to the wafer. Sulphur hexafluoride is incidentally used within the semiconductor industry as an etching agent in silicon circuitry. The laser, who’s output matches all the energy that the sun produces at a given moment in time made the silicon wafer turn “black” resulting in the what we now know as “black silicon”.

When observed under an electron microscope, the cause of this “blackness” were millions of spikes which were formed due to the effect of the laser. These spikes had a major effect on the light sensitivity of the wafer. The wafer was now 100 to 500 times more sensitive to light than “normal” silicon. The material now possessed the capacity to absorb about twice as much as visible light absorbed by standard silicon sensors as well as the ability to detect infrared light which has been so far invisible to the current generation of silicon based detectors.

With little change in the manufacturing process in producing “black silicon”, this is one accidental discovery that is set to make a big splash! Fore more on this head to nytimes.com
Via: Gizmodo

World Search Championship: Every second counts! My Foot!

You folks might be aware of the latest advertising buzz being carried out by Yahoo to spice up their search service. They call it the World Search Championship! No doubt, Yahoo has planned an intelligent advertising campaign here – luring users with irresistible prizes that include a customized laptop, a PS3 and an N96 up for grabs for the guy who uses “ANY” search engine to find the answers to the questions asked on the site as fast as possible. The rules are simple – answer as many questions as possible in the shortest possible timescale.

Now, here is the catch, there is a Yahoo search text box right below the question -- for your convenience so that you can avail their services, instead of turning to Google. Nice strategy! However, I think hard-core googlers will still turn to Google instead of using the Yahoo search option. I too, belonging to the same school of thought stuck with Google and it worked.. albeit I had to search a lil more harder because the answers for the questions were “optimized” with the Yahoo search results that would show the answers you need on the very first page!

I noticed this later and it did work! That brings me to another problem here. The contest has no doubt become popular owing to the juicy prizes up for grabs. That has also led to huge traffic heading towards the site and that seems to have affected its efficiency. It has become slow and unresponsive and too many “too many connections to the database” error messages are popping up. It would take at least five clicks to move away from the page -- once you answer a question. In my case, the page did not move further even after I entered the answer for the last question. The worst thing is the timer which continued to tick away -- making a mockery of the slogan seen on the top of the web page which says "Every second counts". DUH! On a slightly different note, I think Yahoo needs to do a bit of work on the QC part too. Spelling errors with error messages is the last thing they need! If you click the image below, see carefully what the error message says!


THAT for sure ain’t a good way to advertise your search engines Yahoo!

Update(15/10): Things have improved. Works fine now!

Coming Soon: Touchscreen N series

This is obviously not something groundbreaking..but anyway, at an event held in New Delhi recently, a senior official from Nokia confirmed the plans for a touchscreen N series device very soon. Hardly surprising--considering the debut of the Series 60 Fifth Edition with the 5800 XpressMusic.

What we would be really interested to know are the additions on the features front. The N96 is barely an upgrade to the N95 and certainly does not warrant an upgrade if you happen to be an N95 user now (Unless of course if you're the kind who like to flaunt stuff and have enough moolah to so)

So what would it be?? Time for my lil wishlist!

I have only one gripe with S60 --the interface! I would really like to see an upgrade as far as this department is concerned. C'mon Nokia we know how functional the platform is. Now, what we really need is some eye candy to go with that functionality! Is it THAT difficult t come up with one gorgeous S60 interface? Seriously!

Firefox to come out of the Computer

Yeah, thats correct! Crunchgear reports that the first ever "non PC" (as in not for a desktop computer or a laptop) version of Firefox is set to make its debut on the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet. And thats happening as soon as next week!

If thats not all, a Windows Mobile version too is expected in the not too distant future. Btw, let me just clarify that these are not final releases of the browser -- but just the alpha test version for the developer community.

Prima facie, it seems Mozilla wants to check out the touchscreen interface and plug in development on the Nokia Internet tablet owing to a very active developer community. The beta version of Forefox Mobole is expected to be out in early 2009. And yes, this one uses the same Gecko rendering engine that Firefox uses with full JavaScript and AJAX support.

Great news!

Give us the Opera Mini killer now. If thats possible!

New Vaio Z series lands!

Two new Z Sony Vaio Z series specimen have made their way into the crowded compact notebook segment. The latest entrants are the VGN-Z13GN/B and VGN-Z12GN/B – both aimed at the upwardly mobile business executive.

The models are said to be much smaller than “conventional” 13 inch models – and why not? Weighing in at a mere 1.48 kg, it is capable of giving some of the netbooks a lesson or two in reducing flab. The carbon-fiber body plays a major part in reducing the weight. The hinge discreetly houses part of the battery and the power switch as well – which is intelligently placed. Both the models come in a matte black finish.

As for durability, Sony’s G Sensor Shock technology finds its way in to counteract sudden movements helping to prevent damage and data loss. Sony’s Dynamic Hybrid graphics system too has been implemented with an Nvidia GeForce 9300M GS GPU for full graphics acceleration and Mobile Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD found doing duty in mobile situations. There are two graphic modes termed Stamina and Speed --, each of which can be activated using a switch on the keyboard –without reboot.

The VGN-13GN/B is equipped with a 4 GB DDR3 SRAM and a 320 GB hard disk drive while the VGN-12GN/B comes with 2 GB DDR3 SRAM and a 250 GB hard disk drive. Both models have Microsoft Windows Vista® Business pre-installed.

A biometric fingerprint sensor technology and proprietary hard disk drive password protection software to help protect data from unauthorized access completes the picture on the security front.

On the connectivity front, it is HDMI capable, has built-in 802.11n wireless LAN, three USB ports, Memory Stick® media/SD card slot and microphone and headphone jack and a PC Card (type-II) slot making it easy to transfer files from external devices.

As for the price, these are on the premium side with the VGN-Z13GN/B and VGN-Z12GN/B priced at Rs.124, 900 and Rs. 99,990 respectively.

For details, visit the Sony India Website

Techtree link

Google shares tumble!

Tech stocks continue to slide with the fall being led by none other than Google. Its shares at one point of time were down to about $353 – which is at March 2006 levels and becomes the lowest the stock has traded in recent times. This is a 5 percent drop over the levels the shares were at yesterday.

How long will this continue? Is the question the investor is asking himself.

While many analysts have started to cut back their earning estimates for the company, some are still bullish on Google as the company is the best positioned Internet company to take a hit even as others struggle to weather a slowdown in advertising spending. Barclays capital expects a 17 percent growth in Internet advertising spending to $24.8 billion in 2008. Impressive? Not if you consider the previous estimate of $26.2 billion. A drop of $ 2 billion sure doesn't sound funny.

Via: Techcrunch

Techtree Link

Operating Systems are Less Important: Opera

Opera CEO Jon S von Tetzchner is in India and I and My colleague Kunal had an opportunity to have a brief chat with him on behalf of Techtree.com

We talked about Firefox, Chrome, the Nintendo Wii, the DSi, mobile phones, cloud computing, open-source, and more.

The full interview can be read on Techtree.

Read more | Digg story

Opera 9.6 Out!

Finally, the much awaited Opera 9.6 has been released. It is available for download on the Opera home page now. This is the first update to the Opera ever since the launch of the Chrome and it remains to be seen how well the Browser stacks up against the competition.

As for the new additions, here is a summary of what to expect:

Opera Link – an enhanced version of the Opera link now supports synching of customized search engines across browsers. It also supports typed history. This means you can now “share” website addresses typed on one computer to another.

Feed Preview – Click on the feed icon to get a preview of the feed without actually subscribing or bookmarking it

Its faster! – Opera fans might notice the improved rendering along with ehnanced browsing speed


In Hindi...

As for Opera Mail, it gets the low bandwidth treatment this time with a dedicated low bandwidth mode.

You can now follow threads to keep track of your e-mail conversations. Additionally, you can also choose to ignore “discussion” threads that your colleagues might be having over e-mail

For India, there is now support for Hindi, Tamil and Hindi.

The entire change log Here  Download it here 

We will review it pretty soon and maybe even do a browser shootout of sorts. All this coming soon! Stay tuned!

In-built GPS on Dell Mini 9

An in-built GPS option is MISSING form Dell's Netbook is actually astonishing. One would have thought an ultra-portable Wi-Fi ready & Fast laptop ought to be equipped with this time-saving, embrassement-avoiding & macho-supporting (Remeber: Men Do not ask for Directions!).



However, fear not, folk as MyDellMini have put together a neat trick to actually FIT-IN ("no bulges or other outward indications") GPS unit & turn Dell Mini 9 into an Exccellent Navigational Tool.

Rejoice, now you can run into Train Tracks owing to full faith on GPS. But that said, I would really love a bright 9" Display showing & giving me Step-By-Step / Turn-By-Turn Directions. You & your co-passenger can now completly replicate Rally Racing. Cool!!!

via [MyDellMini]

Play with T Mobile G1..[Virtual]

Folks at T-Mobile could not bear to watch us suffering till October 22 (G1 availability). Hence then launched a working Flash based "Emulator" of G1 on their site to make us suffer some more (or is it for subduing our anticipation????).

Head over to: "Experience T-Mobile G1" for a 360 degrees view, visual guides instructions and a emulator. Yes, i have tried the emulator and it looks like the original G1, but most of the in-depth features give a "This Screen is not Fully Functional" Display :(. Have fun and remember to order your G1, brown, black or white.

Via [www.cellphonesignal.com]

Make music with the Pi!

This is what you get if you happened to be equally skillful at two unrelated subjects.

Paul Slocum, an artiste and musician from Texas, USA has managed to devise an innovative way to conjure up random musical notes using an old amplifier connected to a laptop. The musician with a secret passion for programming (and Math’s of course!) has developed a software, called the “Pi House Generator” which progressively calculates the sequence of digits in Pi. (For the numerically challenged, the value of Pi “starts” at 3.14 and continues until infinity). What the software does is to “calculate” the digits and feeds the results into an algorithmic music generator that stores what Paul calls his “structural criteria for house music.”

The result is an unending, non-repetitive stream of “house” music, which in theory, should go on and on. However, there is a problem. The number of processor cycles required to calculate the value of Pi too keeps on increasing with every digit added -- and at one point of time, the processor will lose steam and would be unable to calculate the digits fast enough to be “playable”. As for the fix, keep on upgrading your hardware (and pray windows won’t crash). With Moore’s law here to help, you can be pretty sure that the processor power per dollar increases at an exponential too. This will help you constantly increase the computing power and the song can be played indefinitely.

The software, originally intended for personal use could end up very soon in your download folders – should the creator relent.

Via: Noiseaddicts

Techtree link

Location Based Alarm for Symbian Phones

Location Based Alarms(LBS)

Let me define Location First:
Cell-Phones (GSM/CDMA) use a simple algorithm to decide to which tower it is closest to & "Hooks-on" to that tower. Villages usually have a single tower -- hence, wherever you will go, the "Hooked-on" Tower will stay (however weak the signal). Cities have numerous towers for two reasons:

1) Consumer density is high (Towers can only handle about 1000-5000 users, depending on the type & make of the Receiver & Transmitter mounted on it)
2) Provide Seamless connectivity wherever you roam in the city.

Many users must have felt the need to step out of their ancestral homes in villages just to "Catch" the signal better.

Now, a Cell-Phone Tower not-only provides access to the network (Airtel/Vodafone/Tata/Reliance) but also beams other services Like: GPRS/EDGE & also its own Location. This service is FREE (Indians Love this word!!), but to use it, your Phone should support it.

Location Based Services are applications which provide software solutions which are location sensitive.

Location Based Alert is a very useful kind of Location Based Service with which alerts can be set based on your location but not based on your time. So that when you travel long distances, you need not set alarm in your mobile phone based on your "expected / estimate" time to reach, Instead you can set alarm based on your destination and need not worry about the time delays in your travel.

Location Based Services are used the most only in mobile phones as Cell-Phone towers are a very reliable & automated way of judging where you "Physically" are.

Currently there are two different technologies that are used in LBS

1) Mobile GSM Network Signals
2) GPS device

1) Mobile GSM Network Signals

The approximate location can be predicted based on the network signals from the Mobile tower or based on the CBS (Cell Broadcast Service) known as "Cell Info Display" in Nokia or "Area Info" in Sony Ericsson. So what basically a Location Based Alarm application does is that it records all network cells that you visit and later use it to set alerts based on the already recorded network cells.

So that when u log into the corresponding network cell your phone will ring. Since this does not require any external hardware it is the cheapest location based service you can afford. The only investment would be the mobile application which is an one time investment.

There are lots of applications to this Location Based Alerts like

- Set alerts to notify you to switch to Silent Mode when you enter into the church
- Set alerts based on your destination when you travel long distances

and lots more like this

One such solution is already provided by mobyqube.com in which all you got to do is just download the mobile application Java to your phone.

Another, "excellent" software is "Geominder". This software works ONLY on s60 v1 Devices :(
"Geominder allows you to create location-based reminders that stay attached to physical locations."

I am still searching for similar App that works on s60 v3 Devices using "Cell Info Display" feature which is rudimentary in Phones.

Though, similar systems are already in use: Psiloc Photo tagger works in ways similar to Nokia N82's Photo Tagging or N95's in-built Location Tagging. However, all these apps require an "Extra" service: GPS to work.


2) GPS

GPS devices are devices that gives your exact Location in Latitude and Longitude approximate to + or - 1 Metre.
There are bluetooth enabled GPS devices from which the mobile phone can get the location data through bluetooth and use that location data for Location Based Services. The only hestitating factor is that you got to buy a separate GPS device in addition to your existing bluetooth phone for this to work. But since the GPS gives you the exact location data it is got lots of applications compared to the alternate solution for this GPS.

There are lots of GPS Location Based services provided by various companies
Check out: www.gpswatcher.com

Comments are Welcome. Please do suggest any App which works as desired on the s60 v3 Platform.

Google bucket testing popular searches?

Or so it seems. While browsing casually on my phone browser, came across the Google mobile home page and saw a link for something called "Popular searches". I am unsure if this is a new feature per-se, but I haven't seen anything like this on the "normal" Google web page yet --except for Google trends. Additionally, the link won't work! Gives me a 404 error page when I click on it.

Here are some screenshots.

The link wont work! Sigh!


Is this something new? Or are they just releasing the "most searched" terms for this year? 

Update: This is not working on the default s60 browser. However, on a PC, it worked and it does actually show up the most popular searches. Here's the screenshot:

XP stays alive - for another six months

Windows XP refuses to let go! Or so it seems looking by the happenings at Redmond. Apparently, recent reports coming out suggest that Microsoft is reconsidering the decision to stop shipping a Windows XP Recovery disk for customers of OEM systems - for now. If you're still unaware, customers having OEM systems shipped with Vista Business or Vista Ultimate pre-installed do have an option to "downgrade" to XP if they choose to. However, the last date for providing such media was 31st January 2009 for all OEMs. It is this date that has been reportedly postponed to July 31, 2009!

If thats not all, the company is considering extending the deadline even further. This comes at a time when Microsoft is busy promoting Vista with a 300 million dollar marketing campaign which like Vista, has not managed to hit the mark so far.

Prima facie, it seems this is an attempt to give users the option to stick with XP and then directly switch over to Windows 7, the Vista successor which is scheduled to arrive some time next year. It remains to be seen how good (or bad) a strategy this turns out to be.

Isexplayer & Ipornplayer: Share your story

It's been quite a while since I have written about this topic. But here's why I am going on about this once again. I have seen many hits to this blog of mine with people querying for Ipornplayer and Isexplayer ending up here. I am still wondering why no other web site has covered this rather important piece of news. This also makes me wonder whether what I experienced was just specific to my phone and connection only?

What I wish to know are the real user experiences after they install this suspect piece of software. No doubt, it's NOT a malware, but it sure does trick you in to installing it and all you need to do is "run" it and lo, you're automatic phone calls to unknown international destinations start. At least that is what happened to me -TWICE.

The first time, thanks to my adventurous friend, and the second time for testing purposes. I incurred call charges of more than 25USD just to pay for the services I never availed. Last time I checked, opening an application is NOT accessing a service! Thats correct, I had just opened the application - did not click on any of the links but still, they wanted me to "pay"! And what a nice way to extort money! Call an international premium rate sex line while you're taking a nap. I had as many as 13 calls made in a span of 24 hours before the alarm bells rang and I uninstalled the software.

For those who are not aware of what exactly had happened, my earlier two stories on this piece of software could help. Here are the links for the previous articles.

Initial report

Ipornplayer Update!

I would also like to hear from people who have had this installed and have experienced something weird. I am sure this does not happen with everyone who has this software installed. A friend from Malaysia tried it on his phone and nothing happened. If you have been affected in anyway by this either Isexplayer or the Ipornplayer, please post away your comments or just Shout! using the shoutbox you see on the right.

I would like people to come forward with their experiences with these software. I know it's still out there, Earlier, under the name iSexplayer which disappeared after I broke the story and Ipornplayer making an innocuous come-back just a few days later. What was your experience with Isexplayer/Ipornplayer? Post away!

AMD going DirectX 11 next year

At the ongoing CEATEC expo in Japan, AMD has officially unveiled its plans for 2009. And by the looks of it, we're all set to move to the 40nm manufacturing process -- along with the full fledged adoption of DirectX 11 and with it, Windows 7.




The highlights include the support for Apples's Open CL and with GDDR5, set to be the norm in 2009, things certainly are looking exciting! Wonder what Nvidia is upto? At the rate AMD is going, they seem to have a lot of catching up to do.

New touch-based communicator from Nokia?

With the introduction of the Series 60 5th edition with the launch of the Nokia Xpress Music 5800, Nokia has “arrived” as far as touch-screens are concerned. Yes, there was the now old 7710 which was the only device to run on the Series 90 platform – but how many of them are still around? Also, Nokia seems to have silently “retired” other platforms and seem to be concentrating only on S60 as of now. What else could explain the abrupt departure from the Series 80 platform with the launch of the E90, which happens to run on Series 60? The erstwhile communicators, the 9500 and the 9300, both used the S80 interface. There is also the much overlooked N series tablet platform which includes the likes of the N800 and the N810 variants. But these run on Linux and are an entirely defferent segment.

With the new launch, it is inevitable that the communicators will soon get the touchscreen treatment as well. At a webcast yesterday in the midst of the announcement of the Series 60 5th edition, Nokia dropped a teaser in the form of a touchscreen version of a future communicator bearing strong family resemblance to the E90 and its predecessors.



No official word from the company regarding any such device in the near future though. Lets wait and watch! Drool at the pictures in the meantime.

Via: Engadget

Google launches own Memetracker

Google has introduced a new home page for its Blog Search that resembles the popular news aggregator Techmeme's interface. The aim is the same – top stories from across various topics are displayed as soon as they are up on blogs/websites – worldwide.

For those who are not too well-versed with memetrackers, this Wikipedia write up should help. To put it shortly, memetrackers are the most popular and usually the best way to keep a track of breaking news stories around the world. They are designed to monitor multitudes of news sources at once from multiple sources and aggregate them under one common banner.

As for how successful the latest Google venture might turn out to be, well that depends on how well the service performs. New York times too had jumped into the memetracker bandwagon back in 2007 – with uninspiring results. The service known as Blogrunner has been largely ignored owing to the popularity and quickness of Techmeme. For Google to make any impact in this segment, they ought to play smart and the tool should be able to at-least offer everything what Techmeme does and probably, even more. Check out the new service here

Via: Tech Crunch

Techtree Link

Nokia Xpress Music 5800 Unveiled!

Nokia today launched its first Series 60 5th Edition touch screeen device, the much awaited Nokia Xpress Music 5800.

As usual folks at Engadget did a scoop "first look" at the device and they do not seem to be much impressed. Although pretty well-stacked up on the features front, it's far from an iPhone killer as most Nokia fans had made it out to be. Infact, it's the same good ol' S60 repackeaged into a touchscreen format. The old style menus and familiar S60 stuff are still there. Whats new with it is (obviously) the touch screen input and something called the "bars" that Nokia has introduced. There is a contact bar, a media bar and god knows what for quick access to your application of choice.

Specs wise, it's a pretty decent show. GPS, 3.5mm standard audio jack, TV-out and a microSD card slot are all standard.

More details as coming soon!

Nokia Phones & Feature Pack [FP1 / FP2 Confusion Cleared]

We all have heard that "Some of the functions may not work on pre-FP1 devices" OR "Fp2 required for application to work" OR "Older S60-smartphones without Feature Pack 1 or 2 (FP1 and FP2) cannot access the music-player buttons because of technical restrictions."

What exactly is this Feature Pack is not my topic for dissection here. Rather, general public should be made aware of the Nokia Models which fall under the:

a) Nokia S60 3rd Edition, Initial Release without FP

b) Nokia S60 3rd Edition, FP1

c) Nokia S60 3rd Edition, FP2

Click on the links given above to know under which category the vendor can easily throw you out citing: "Your phone does not have FP" Another one of the gimmicks adopted by NOKIA to wriggle out of obligations towards customer who pay hard-earned money (Well most of them!!) to get a grossly over-priced phone owing to word-of-mouth publicity.

By-the-way Nokia N73 is "Initial Release without FP" & Nokia n73 Music Edition is "FP1"

Windows 7: Optimized for parallel processing

The upcoming Windows 7 OS from Microsoft is slated to be the replacement for the Vista. The lucky few who got to see some of the early build versions have focused mainly on the UI tweaks incorporated. However, the differences are more than skin deep. Apparently, there has been a slight tweaking of the new OS’ core to better support parallel processing. However, to ensure application and driver compatibility, most of these under the hood tweaks have been kept to minimal levels. With the Windows core, Win32 being dismissed as being unsuitable for asynchronous, concurrent computing, Microsoft is facing a dilemma of sorts – whether to go for an all-out change ground up, or take the slower path to evolution where they will eventually “phase out” the good ol’ win32. The former however seems unlikely in the near future – thanks to the Vista debacle and fears of another backlash owing to the dreaded “non compatibility” ghost that has been hounding Microsoft ever since the mis-adventure that was Vista.

That said, for long term plans, Microsoft is inching ahead to find a way of dissociating Windows from Win 32 – albeit gradually and replace it with managed code which will add the much needed full fledged parallel processing support. Managed code here refers to a set of programming interfaces optimized for handling parallel processing tasks spanning multiple processors. Many incubation projects including RedHawk and Midori are already heading in this direction.

If things go as planned, the run of the mill Windows which is bound to struggle with future computers that could run on processors having as many as 8, 16 or 32 cores, will get a new lease of life. It remains to be seen what optimization techniques Windows 7 and sibling Windows Server 2008 R2 incorporates prior to the early release expected very soon!

Via: Zdnet

Techtree link

YouTube gets uploader upgrade, file size boost

In spite of being the market leader, YouTube had some glaring omissions in the form of missing features. This included multiple file uploads and the file size cap of 100 MB per video. Competing services like Vimeo and Viddler , although not as popular had better features than Youtube.

Not any longer. YouTube seems to be in a full fledged revamp mode with the company making its erstwhile closed Beta multiple file uploader as an option for all users. With the new uploader, apart from uploading multiple videos simultaneously, users can also add metadata like the the clips name and tags while uploading the Video.

The Video file size limit too has been increased to 1GB – although some users had the option introduced back in 2007 November. Check the new uploader here

Via: TechCrunch

Techtree Link