Coming Soon: Supercharged EDGE!

While we still await the arrival of 3G here in India, here is some refreshing news for us EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution) users here for whom this has been the fastest available method of Internet access on our GSM networks.

Apparently, Nokia-Siemens Networks has developed an “enhanced” version of the existing EDGE technology, which it calls the “Dual Carrier EDGE” solution that will enable users to attain downlink speeds of up to 592 kbps on existing EDGE-capable GSM networks. For the uninitiated, EDGE was limited to a theoretical speed of 384 kbps with existing technology. While the speed jump might not be very substantial on paper, it will certainly help users who are solely dependent on EDGE connectivity while on the move. Another heartening piece of news is that the application of this version of EDGE does not require a hardware update on the networks side. The Downlink Dual Carrier happens to be software based solution that can be easily implemented.

There’s more good news. Nokia-Siemens Networks are also on their way to further enhance EDGE. They are also working on something known as EGPRS 2B which aims to quadruple the downlink and uplink speeds on EDGE. How do a 1.2 Mbps download and 473Kbps upload speed sound on EDGE? Sweet!

For those who thought EDGE is dead, think again. This new technology will help users to continue their 3G experience in areas where there is still no 3G coverage. Even if India does implement 3G in the very near future, the thought of a widespread coverage area is still a distant dream. How would you feel if you go off a 3G network while traveling away from the city to a place where there is no 3G coverage yet? EDGE is sure to play an important role in situations like these where users will demand continuity in services.

Techtree link

New rating system for Mobile chargers introduced

A group of mobile manufacturers has launched a common energy rating system for chargers, making it easier for consumers to compare and choose the one that saves the most energy. The star rating system developed and supported by LG, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung Electronics and Sony Ericsson is one of a series of measures being taken by the industry to reduce the environmental footprint of its products.

Many consumers are unaware that chargers consume electricity when disconnected from the phone but left plugged into the wall socket. Around two thirds of the energy used by mobile devices is wasted in this way. Manufacturers are addressing this by continually improving the efficiency of their chargers and in making it easier for consumers to pick the ones using the least energy.

The new rating system indicates how much energy each charger uses when left plugged into the wall socket after charging is completed. The ratings covers all chargers currently sold by the five companies, and range from five stars for the most efficient chargers down to zero stars for the ones consuming the most energy. If the more than three billion people owning mobile devices today switched to a four or five star charger, this could save the same amount of energy each year as produced by two medium sized power plants.

People will be able to visit the websites of each manufacturer to view and compare the results for every charger. The ratings are based on the European Commission's energy standards for chargers and the internationally recognized Energy Star standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency in the U.S. The ratings will be reviewed regularly and developed further in order to drive constant improvement.

Many of the manufacturers are also working on other ways to reduce energy consumption. Most major producers have begun introducing visual alerts into their devices to remind people to unplug the charger from the mains when the battery is fully charged.

The group of manufacturers was initially created as part of a European Commission Integrated Product Policy pilot project looking at how different industries could reduce the environmental impact of their products and inform consumers of better choices. Nokia proposed the mobile phone sector to the Commission and was joined by a number of manufacturers, operators and others in the industry.

Links

http://www.lge.com/about/sust[....]climate_energystar.jsp#battery
www.motorola.com/environment/chargers
www.nokia.com/chargerenergy
http://uk.samsungmobile.com/greenmanagement/energy.do
http://www.sonyericsson.com/c[....]/company/sustainability/energy

Schmidt says no to Tech Czar post

Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, in a recent television interview has stated that he has no plans to join the Barack Obama administration post the Presidential Inauguration scheduled in January. Schmidt was one of the high-profile supporters of Obama and his involvement in the Obama campaigning had sent rumour mills on fire with some even speculating he might end up in the administration as “Chief Technology Officer”.

The rumours though have been laid to rest now with the confirmation from Schmidt himself. In a television interview with CNBC host Jim Cramer, who had posed the question, Schmidt said, “"I love working at Google and I'm very happy to stay at Google, so the answer is no." As for who will be occupying the coveted post if not Schmidt, there is also a little rumor going on about Internet pioneer Vint Cerf , who has been Google’s chief Internet evangelist. Another prominent name coming up is Reed Hundt, a former regulatory authority official.

Via: Cnet

Gigabyte launches X58 Series of motherboards

Gigabyte has announced their latest X58 Series motherboards, the GA-EX58-EXTREME and GA-EX58-UD5 in India. Designed for Intel’s new Core i7 processors, these high-end motherboards are all set to burn the performance charts.

The new motherboards boast of a host of new features including the new QPI interface, 3 channel DDR3 support, 3 Way SLI and CrossFireX support, Ultra Durable 3 technology and an extensive range of overclocking features. Thw much touted QPI interface is actually a replacement for the Front Side Bus (FSB). The QPI has a transfer rate of 25.6 GB/sec which is double the bandwidth of the 1600MHz FSB thereby eliminating the communication bottleneck between the processor and chipset.

The X58 Series features Intel's Turbo Boost Technology, which is able to power down idle processor cores and dynamically reroute the power to the active cores for significant performance boosts, and at the same time, maintain greater energy efficiency.Additionaly, with 3 PCIe x16 2.0 slots, supporting both ATI CrossFireX™ and 3 Way NVIDIA SLI, this is a gamers dream come true.

Other Features

Visible Overclocking Reminder
OC-Alert LED indicates the level of CPU overclock from low to high.

Visible Temperature Reminder
Two sets of Temperature Alert LEDs indicate the current temperature level of the CPU and North Bridge

DualBIOS - Patented Dual Hardware BIOS Protection
DualBIOS is a GIGABYTE patented technology that automatically recovers BIOS data when main BIOS has crashed or failed. Featuring 2 physical BIOS ROMs integrated onboard, GIGABYTE DualBIOS allows quick and seamless recovery from BIOS damage or failure due to viruses or improper BIOS updating.

EasyTune6
Gigabyte has completely redesigned EasyTune6 to manage and monitor your hardware resources as well as tweak your system settings in order to achieve maximum system performance. It provides all the tools you need to quickly and effortlessly fine tune your system.

Precision OV - Hardware Overvoltage Control ICs
Gigabyte X58 Series motherboards also include Hardware Overvoltage Control ICs which provide more voltage control options than before for the CPU North Bridge and memory

As for the price, the Gigabyte GA-EX58-EXTREME and GA-EX58-UD5 Motherboards are priced at Rs.24650 and Rs.20400 respectively making it a stricly enthusiast -only board!

Aero shake on Windows 7 = Cool!!

While I did report on some of the most prominent changes that Windows 7 will see, there is this nifty little thing we missed out on. This is nothing revolutionary but useful nevertheless. I am talking about the "aero shake" feature that is set to make its debut when Windows 7 finally arrives in 2009.

As for the million dollar question what this is all about, take a look at the video!



The aero shake feature allows you to minimize all open windows with just a shake of the mouse. To reverse the changes, shake the mouse again! Its little stuff like these that made Macs cool to work on. Let us hope this will come minus the bugs.

Via: Gizmodo

Techtree Link

CNN's spooky hologram tech woos viewers!

Its election time and it’s not just the candidates who seem to be in a campaign to woo the public. Television networks too have been at their innovative best to ensure their viewers stuck to them for complete election coverage. CNN has been at the forefront with these geeky attempts.CNN had showcased its "Magic Wall" display where CNN hosts were able to "poke touch and wave" at the screen graphics earlier this year. The large touchscreen display had a plethora of information, which was easily accessible and could be easily manipulated by touch gestures. Quite similar to the iPhone multi touch gestures, these did leave viewers quite impressed.

With the Presidential polls approaching its last stages, CNN fired another salvo at rival networks with the introduction of what it calls a "Hologram". Now this is not some cheap multi-colored sticker job, but a complete 3D image of a CNN correspondent beamed live to the studio. The 3D image captured by some 35 -odd high-definition cameras placed all around the "scapegoat" correspondent Jessica Yellin was beamed to the studios where users could see Yellin interacting with the host, Wolf Blitzer. While Blitzer did not actually see Yellin in front of him, the viewers could see her and Blitzer together only after the two video feeds were merged together. The result is this eerie ghost image of a person standing in front of the host complete with a blue haze around her body which made the telecast seem more a Star Wars episode, much less a news telecast. The video will keep you engrossed for a while!

Techtree link

Nokia announces slight restructuring, Layoffs

Ok, this seems to be a never-ending saga. Just after I reported about EA laying off 6% of its staff, here comes more (expected) bad news.

Nokia has today announced plans for changes in some parts of its organization. The planned organizational changes would potentially "affect" 450 employees, according to Nokia.

Nokia is aiming for "changes in its sales and marketing activities in the Markets unit". The changes aim to strengthen the customer interface, ensure that resources are well allocated to meet the business needs and de-layer the organization. Nokia estimates that approximately 450 employees, maximum 100 in Finland, in the Markets unit will be affected by the planned changes.

Along with this, the Nokia Research Center (NRC), which specializes in long-term research activities within Nokia, is all set to focus on fewer but stronger research areas. The planned reorganization is estimated to have an impact on approximately 130 NRC employees globally, of which a maximum of 100 are in Finland.

Nokia has also announced that it plans to close off its Turku site in Finland and relocate those activities predominantly to Salo (Finland). Nokia currently has 220 employees working in the Turku office and the aim is that the employees would continue in Nokia's site at Salo or in the capital area in Finland. The closing of the Turku site is estimated to be completed by the end of January, 2009.

Other "global workforce adjustments" too are on the cards. These adjustments are estimated to affect approximately 35 employees, of which almost all are in Finland.

"Today's changes are part of Nokia's constant renewal where it is important to be close to our customers and ensure that our people are able to focus on the key business priorities. Also, our aim is to find alternative work within Nokia for as many employees as possible," said Juha Äkräs, Senior Vice President, Human Resources, Nokia.

Gloomy days, eh?

Its Raining pink slips! EA now

The layoffs continue . This time it’s EA, the publishing giant that has decided to lay off almost 6% of its staff. Amounting to a total of about 600 employees, the company announced this decision soon after its declaration of financial results for the quarter ended September 30.

With losses amounting to USD 310 million hitting the company hard, the decision was inevitable says EA. The company aims to save as much as USD 50 million with its newest cost reduction plans. Considering this is before the effects of the current economic crisis have begun trickling in, future prospects do look scary. However, company executives have confirmed that it is too early to determine the effects of the slowdown. They however did confirm a slowdown in their retail sales in October. This could mean more bad news in the future though.

John Riccitiello, EA's chief executive says, "Considering the slow down at retail we've seen in October, we are cautious in the short term. Longer term, we are very bullish on the game sector overall and on EA in particular. The industry is growing double-digits on the strength of three new game consoles and increases in the number of homes with broadband internet connections."

The company also plans to reduce new hires considerably for the time being apart from closing some positions entirely.

Via: Gamesindustry.biz

Obama's Tech Video woos Silicon Valley inhabitants

US Presidential candidate Barack Obama, in an attempt to woo techies released a last minute campaign video which shows him expressing his views on technology and what he aims to do once he is in power. The video contains excerpts from a speech he made exactly a year ago at the headquarters of Google at Mountain View, California.

Obama has promised to double the funding from federal agencies for basic research and implement policies in the speech which is almost three minutes long. Obama also assures broadband access to every American along with putting more government data online. It is a widely accepted fact that California -- especially the Silicon Valley has favored Obama against McCain ahead of todays polls. If thats not all, a recent study by blogger Robbin Harris from ZDNet has revealed that more than 90% of campaign donations made by employees of leading "tech" corporations have gone to the Democrats. These include giants like Apple and Google amongst others.



The US Presidential poll reaches its penultimate stage today when voters all across the US exercise their franchise and start off the Presidential poll process, which is set to culminate with the "Inauguration Day" scheduled for January 20, 2009. Post the voting, there is a rather long two-month gap before the world gets to know who the next US president would be!

Via: AFP

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

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

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

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

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

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: