4 the Geeks

You have reached the river but the water has moved!

2006-02-05T03:13:00.000-08:00

Well guys and glas I have changed from Blogger to Wordpress for better service. The whole blog has been transfered to Geek's Bay (http://geeksbay.monzilla.info). If you have bookmarked this site then please make sure that you have your bookmark updated. Waiting for your feedbacks!

IE 7 Beta 2 available for download!

2006-02-03T18:07:00.000-08:00

Microsoft has released Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2 (Preview) to the public. Now anyone can go and download it from here !

The latest version works only with Windows XP Service Pack 2 and includes
many of the features Microsoft has been touting for months. Among them are new
security and privacy protection capabilities such as mechanisms designed to
combat phishing attacks, spyware and other threats.

Another new feature lets users clear their browsing history more easily
and thus wipe out passwords, form data and cookies in one click, the company
said.
Other features include RSS Support, more support for AJAX, Tabbed
Browsing, Shrink to fit Feature and some other Printing Enhancements.

Guess which OS google uses?

2006-02-01T08:31:00.000-08:00

We all have been keen to know what Google uses as their OS and their file format. There were many claims that they were using a modified version of the Ubuntu Linux and they named it as Goobuntu (What a funny name ). Well at last Google’s spokeswoman has come down to confirm it. Yeah they are using Ubuntu Linux! Infact only their engine. Here’s a quote:

“We utilize the Ubuntu technology for internal use, but have no plans to
distribute it outside of the company,” the spokeswoman said. She also denied the
company was using the name “Goobunto” internally for the software, saying, “It’s
just an internal system.”

As you can see they have not named it Goobuntu after all. Ubuntu means ‘Humanity to others’. Maybe Google is feeling humane and that’s why they are using Ubuntu while there are many better Linux alternatives. Anyway this is a great encouragement for Ubuntu.

MSN Messenger Live Beta Invites

2006-02-01T07:14:00.000-08:00

I got few more invitations for the MSN Messenger Live. Five to be precise. Reply with your e-mail address in the format username[at]domain[dot]com (to avoid spider logging your address). Reply fast!

Google Toolbar Beta Rock!

2006-01-30T07:41:00.000-08:00

Yeah Google released a new version of the toolbar beta ( I don’t get it. Every single cool service has a Beta tag with its name). Anyway getting to the point I don’t know when this cool thing was released but i grabbed the 600kb file the moment I heard about it and all I could say was WOW. Yeah you should really try it out. It has new buttons, well laid graphics and lots of new features.

All the images has been largely scaled down. Please click the image to see the real image.

Screenshot:

Keyword Suggest:

This is a cool new feature. As you type suggestions popup below it showing a list relevant keywords.

Auto Search bar expand

This is a very useful feature. If you are typing long combinations of keywords the search bar will start growing trying to accommodate the text also. See the screenshot to understand.

Live Bookmarks

Ah a much awaited feature. Now you can add live bookmarks, manage, view and access them from your own Google Toolbar!

Send To

Earlier Google toolbar could only send to your blogger account. Now you can Gmail and SMS your favorite pages also!

Add Buttons:

We can add our own buttons of our own site! and submit it here. After reviewing it Google will either disacard it or will post it on thier main page! Cool
But hey its Google. So large database and so large number of buttons available.

What are you waiting for Sonny? Go download it!

Google Toolbar beta Google Button Page

Geeks Bay

2006-01-29T00:23:00.000-08:00

4 The Geeks

Google introduces Search History

2006-01-29T00:19:00.000-08:00

I was googling when I noticed a yellow bar above the results. They introduced what they call as Search History. If you are signed in while searching Google will store your searches and slowly learn your preferences. That is, the more you search, better and more personalized results will be shown to you. Of course you can turn this feature of easily. Look what they have said in their own description of the new service.

What’s Personalized Search?
Personalized Search is part of Google’s
ongoing effort to make your search experience more relevant to you. Using
Personalized Search, you can:

• Get the results most relevant to you, based on what you’ve searched
for in the past• View and manage your past searches, including the webpages,
images, and news headlines you’ve clicked on
• Create bookmarks you can access from any computer

Personalized Search orders your search results based on your past
searches, as well as the search results and news headlines you’ve clicked on.
You can view all these items in your Search History and remove any items you’d
like.
Early on, you may not notice a huge impact on your search results, but
as you build up your search history, your personalized search results will
continue to improve.
To sign up for this service, just visit http://www.google.com/psearch
To
delete this service at any time, visit https://www.google.com/accounts/DeleteService?service=hist

This new feature is not limited to Google’s web search but is extended on all services such as Google News and other services. Use it and post your opinion here.

Beware of Kama Sutra!

2006-01-24T17:40:00.000-08:00

No I am not talking about that age old book but about the new worm thats lurking around. According to Information week the worm fool Windows by spoofing digital signatures. The worm which is also known by the name Nyxem.e, MyWife.d, Grew.a, and Blackmal.e create 18 entries in Windows registry and easily slips into the OS. Once the worm resides in a computer the computer becomes an easy target for an attack. The worm has already infected over 630,000 computers.

The worm is considered particularly dangerous because it contains code that triggers an overwrite of all .doc, .xls, .mdb, .mde, .ppt, .pps, .zip, .rar, .pdf, .psd, and .dmp files on the third of each month.
Information week 4 The Geek 4 The Geeks

Google News out of Beta!

2006-01-24T17:21:00.000-08:00

Google seems to have dropped the Beta tag from its Google News! Sources say that they have added many new features also. You should check it out, really.

Google News was introduced in September 2002 and their goal was to enable readers to get a broader perspective. To do this, they developed a service that delivered news by presenting it in "clusters" that displayed related articles in a single group. Google News has now grown to 22 regional editions in 10
languages.

In addition to taking Google News out of beta, Google is also introducing personalized news headlines. By further integrating Personalized Search into Google News, users can now receive recommended news stories based on their past news searches and articles they've read, giving them suggestions for stories to explore that they may not have discovered otherwise.

Users who want to receive personalized news headlines can simply sign-up for Personalized Search. Then, whenever they're signed-in to their Google Account, they'll see recommended headlines based on what they've read in the past. These results appear along the left hand column, but users can also get a full page of recommended stories by clicking on the section. All of this is done automatically using algorithms.

Source: Tech Tree 4 The Geeks 4 The Geek

First ever TV Channel for Mobiles!

2006-01-24T06:59:00.000-08:00

Reliance Infocomm, an India based CDMA mobile connection provider, released what they claim as the world's first TV Channel on mobile phones. Now Reliance is providing a channel called 'Times Now' a Times Group and Reuters 24 hour News channel (Times Now has not been released for Television viewers yet).

Reliance India Mobile (RIM) said that this service is currently available only to users of Nokia 6255 and 6235 and requires them to connect to R-World to see the streaming channels. Other mobile users will be able to see the web clips on demand.

Movies and channels on mobiles are still on heated debate because watching movies in a small screen is inconvenient and causes heavy battery drain. Even before people came to conclusion for this debate Reliance launched this cool service. Personally I think watching 24 hour news in the small screen of mobiles would be better than watching films in mobile phones. Anyway its cool to know that India is trying to get a global position in technology :D.

Go India Go! 4 The Geeks 4 The Geek

Windows "Vienna" to follow Vista.

2006-01-21T18:10:00.000-08:00

There has been many rumors about the next Windows OS. The latest one is Windows Vienna (formerly known as Blackcomb.) According to Wikipedia, Blackcomb was supposed to follow Windows XP but was delayed due to some unknown reasons. If you head to Wikipedia by clicking the link below you will understand why Blackcomb was supposed to follow Windows XP. Anyway as you all may know the only major difference in XP and Vista is the UI (User Interface). As sources say Vienna (Blackcomb) will completely change from XP right from the Start button to the explorer.

Read more: Wikipedia 4 The Geeks, 4 The Geek

Faithful Google!

2006-01-19T18:17:00.000-08:00

Google is faithful to us (users)! Yeah it really obeys what it said in its privacy statments. We can trust google with anything. The big bully Uncle Sam is trying to get search information and user details from Google but hurray Google is refusing!

Internet search giant Google has been quietly battling the Bush administration since last year after it refused to turn over details about its customers’ search activity, according to court records.

According to papers filed on Wednesday in U.S. District Court in San Jose, Department of Justice lawyers said that Google refused to comply with a subpoena for a wide range of search information. Published reports indicate that information
included a request for 1 million random web addresses and records of all Google searches from any one-week period.

With mountains of sensitive search and email information in its archives, concerns have been raised in the past by privacy and civil liberties organizations over Google’s stewardship of that information.

The government is hoping to gain information to help resuscitate the 1998 Child Online Protection Act, which was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court two years ago. The court held that the law violated free speech guarantees.
Source: Red Herring
Three chears for Google! 4 The Geek, 4 The Geeks

A clothy keyboard!

2006-01-19T04:54:00.000-08:00

Look at this cutie. Yeah that keyboard. Its made up cloth! Its a “smart fabric” portable keyboard developed by Brit company Eleksen Ltd., it’s a 2.4-ounce Bluetooth keyboard made out of a special touch-sensitive cloth material that’s water repellent. You can use it with you Laptop, PDA, mobile phone or any other Bluetooth devices!

Read about it 4 The Geeks

Firefox 2.0 Alpha to be released next month!

2006-01-18T08:37:00.000-08:00

Mozilla announced that they will release a beta (yet another) version of Firefox called as Firefox 2.0 Alpha. They say that there will be additional features. Only security enhancements, better history access and in user interface.

Read More: PC Pro 4 The Geeks

Yeah you are in heaven!

2006-01-17T08:27:00.000-08:00

Feeling lazy? Stressed Out? Suffering from Back pains? Have a burning desire to get a massage? Shell out $ 700 and reach heaven everytime you start to have such feelings !

There’s a special on the iJoy ZipConnect Massage Chair with built-in
speakers and subwoofer. Only $700 and it comes with a free ZipConnect module
(with retractable 18-inch cable and mini stereo plug) for playing any iPod, MP3,
portable CD or satellite radio. So, along with listening to music through the
speakers in the headrest and powered subwoofer in the base, you also get a
massage from the Human Touch Technology Robotic Massage, with Rolling, deep
Kneading, tapping Percussion and therapeutic Compression.

Source: Gizmodo 4 The Geeks

Vista 5270 build Screenshots!

2006-01-14T19:21:00.000-08:00

I didn't get Vista 5270 build, but i think a dude who calls himself rajas700 from Digit Forum got it. Anyway he posted these screenshots in there. Click on the images to see it larger.

Installation screen

Vista Desktop

My Computer

Control Panel

Media Player 11

There are more screenshots. You can see it in the Digit Forum. 4 The Geeks

Microsoft India launches Virtual Map!

2006-01-13T18:49:00.000-08:00

In MS's annual research symposium, TechVista 2006, Microsoft Research India
(MRI) demonstrated a multilingual interactive digital map of India. Microsoft
Research India and the Department of Science and Technology began collaboration
on this research project in 2005.

Microsoft collaborated with the Survey
of India, part of the Department of Science and Technology, on development of
this first-of-its-kind prototype, which also includes an online map of Bangalore
in several Indian languages. A special feature enables users to add information
relevant to their own communities tagged to specific locations on the map. This
is the first public demonstration of an ongoing Microsoft Research India project
that explores innovative ways to create and disseminate geo-spatial data.

Read full article 4 The Geeks

Blackberry to support Google Talk

2006-01-13T18:42:00.000-08:00

Research in Motion (RIM) announced on last Thursday that its BlackBerry platform
will support Google Talk instant messaging and Google Local for mobile.
Google also announced Google Mobile Personalized Home Page, while RIM said
it would distribute synch software for Macs.

Read full article 4 The Geeks, Geeks, Geeky

Intel Inside Apple

2006-01-13T18:27:00.000-08:00

Apple computers on Tuesday showed of two brand new computers all powered with Intel Dual Core processors. Apple Chairman Steve Jobs unveiled the new iMac desktop PCs which he claimed will work twice as fast as its current counterparts. He also unveiled Intel powered PowerBook laptops which works four to five time as fast as current Power Books. Looks like its good time for Intel. Intel is really leaping ahead this time.

Read more: Sac Bee Geeks, 4 The Geeks, Geeky

XBox 360 to support Blu-Ray

2006-01-12T18:18:00.000-08:00

In an attempt to crush the fame of PS3 which has not been released yet, MS has announced that XBox 360 will support Blu-Ray Drives. MS is readying themselves to ship Blu-Ray drives. They say if it can support HD-DVD then it can also support Blu-Ray.

The Register AV Info XBox, Blu Ray, HD DVD, Geeks, 4 The Geeks

Norton System Works uses Root kits!

2006-01-12T18:06:00.000-08:00

Symantec has admitted that one of its products uses 'root kits'. They said that Norton System Works uses a root kit to create a folder which is hidden bot from the user and the OS and this folder is not scanned during a manual or scheduled scan. This feature will help virus writers to plant virus into that folder and take control of your computer. Wicked Symantec right?

Read More:Vnu Net

Symantec, Rootkit, Geeks, 4 The Geeks, Norton System Works

MSN Messenger Live Beta Invites give out!

2006-01-12T17:52:00.000-08:00

Hi guyz and gals. I now have 4 MSN Messenger Beta Live Messenger invite (may get more soon). Post you hotmail or msn e-mail address as comments if you want those invites.

E-mail adress should be posted as name [at] domain [dot] com to avoid the prying eyes of bots.

Cheers!

AMD Athlon 64 FX out. The dual core master of AMD!

2006-01-10T08:49:00.000-08:00

Its been some time after this candy (for gamers) was released and all over the internet reviews are being rolled out. Reviewers are happy that Athlon 64 FX -60 Dual Core Processor is giving more than what it claimed. Be sure to check out its reviews.

Reviews:

Don't forget to Google it!

AMD, Athlon, 64 FX, Dual Core, 4 The Geeks, Geeks, Geeky

A small disk for you and a giant 500 GB for your computer!

2006-01-09T22:13:00.000-08:00

Quantum Computing, perhaps the buzzword of the year, has always fascinated the minds of many. Many stepped forward into the field but the leading one is Atom Chip. Ok i am not making you sleepy by telling long stories. I will get into the point straight.

See that picture? What do you get from it. Hmm 500 GB of storage in a small chip? Yep and its 'quantum disk' as they say. And the speed? Hold your breath for its 4 Gb per second!!! Cool right? It works with both Linux and Windows (no info about Mac) and this beauty was displayed in CES at Las Vegas. But don't start dreaming about it unless you can shell out $17500! All coolness gone? So that means that this little beauty is not for us atleast for now. Maybe you can choose a 500GB harddisk instead :D :D.

Quantum Disk, 4 the geeks, Geeky, Geeks, Storage, CES

MSN Messenger Live Reviewed!

2006-01-08T01:39:00.000-08:00

My friend (Navojsingh Singh) recently send me an invitation for the MSN Messenger Live-The future of MSN Messenger. I gladly accepted it and downloaded the 11.5 MB file ASAP. After installation I opened it up. I was spell bound and could only say 'cool'. Yeah its the visuals. The Messenger is simply cool to see. Look at the picture below (Since large images may slow down this already slow page i had to reduce the quality of the jpg files. Plz bear with me). Anyway the all new messenger is cool to see.

See the difference between MSN Messenger Live [left] and Messenger 7.x[right]

MSN Messenger is really spicy! Look at that 'forget me' link in the log in window. I am seeing such a thing for the first time. Its damn useful for those who don't know how to clear the temp 'cookies' of MSN messenger. Now we can erase our information with a single click. Its damn useful especially when you are using MSN from somebody else's computer or from a cafe.

As the previous messengers, this time also you will have to bear with the ads shown in the messenger.

The troubleshooting feature of MSN messenger is the best of its kind i have ever seen.

Though the visuals are not completely changeable by default, we can change that orange color on the top by clicking the small bucket icon on the top. There isn't much change in the chatting window from the previous ones except the visuals ^_^ .

Kato, my friend showing of his handwriting. The handwriting feature can be accessed by clicking the pen symbol. You have to write with the mouse! Who cares that when we have keyboard which is better than our handwriting ;-) .

Like Yahoo Messenger (I am comparing with YIM because that's my favorite IM) there are many features in MSN IM like Backgrounds. Backgrounds are IM environment equivalent of YIM. But there are many differences also. In YIM it requires that both of the people must load the theme where as in MSN IM only we need to load the IM and after loading it we can request our friend to load it also. Thats a good side in MSN IM.

There are many difference in Backgrounds and IM Environment of Yahoo!

Unlike YIM there is a wide selection of emoticons and besides that you can create your own! So theoretical there are infinite emoticons in MSN Live Messenger. So you will never be in short of emoticons and will find emoticons for every situation. Besides you can download extra packs from time to time. And there is also My Winks. Unlike Emoticons these and animations decipating something or action. They are really big and span throughout the Messenger window. But the bad thing is that there are only few animations available.

There are always many emoticons for every occasion for you to use!

My Winks are cool but have only few items.

Like YIM MSN Live Messenger (and MSN IM 7.x) also have features like Videos, file transfer, telephone calls, activities and games! Of course I tried Tic Tac Toe with Kato.

Me playing Tic Tac Toe with Kato. I trapped him see!!

So whats new?? There are some new features but most of them needs add-ons. There is one add-on that tell others in your contact list which music you are hearing in Windows Media player. Its an add-on for the Media Player. There there is another add on offering free virus scanning for the messenger only. I suppose its a part of Windows Live Security. Then unlike older versions you can send offline messages to your friends. Theres also a video chat option using your web-cam/digital camera.

So summing up i would like to say that the major difference between MSN IM live and MSN IM 7.x is only visuals. There are some other small differences but any way its always good to upgrade. So if you have enough friends in MSN IM time to get the Live IM. But i didn't find anything here to drool over. So either way it will go.

Thanks for Navajo Singh for the invitation and Kato (Karthik) for helping me to review this IM.

P.S I don't have any invitations left for MSN Live Messenger so don't pester me asking for an invitation. When i get some invitations to spare i will post it here.

MSN, Messenger, Live,4 The Geeks, Geeks, Geeky

Google Packs released!

2006-01-07T17:53:00.000-08:00

Google seems to have no limits in their aim of achieving overall supremacy. Their new product is for sure gonna make Bill Gates go around his chair. Google very recently released Google Pack (Beta). Its not a software but as the name say a pack of softwares guess what all it has?

Google Software

Google Earth
Picasa
Google Pack Screensaver (just shows your pictures as screensavers. BTW you customise it to show your pictures as a collage. Now thats something worthy right?)
Google Desktop
Google Toolbar for IE (Why for IE? I thought Google was supporting Firefox!)

Additional Software

Mozilla Firefox with Google Toolbar (See they never let down Firefox.)
Ad-Aware SE Personal (Spybot is better)
Adobe Reader 7
And hold your breath Norton Antivirus 2005 Special Edition!!!

And all this for free!!

Next Stop : Google Packs

(P.S: The software also includes an updater that updates the softwares automatically. Norton can be updated only for 6 months after which you will have to purchase it.)
Google Packs, Google, 4thegeeks, 4 The Geeks, Geeks, geeky

The Google-Yahoo war continues!

2006-01-07T02:40:00.000-08:00

Some damn hot thing happened in todays CES at Las Vegas. Today morning Yahoo unvieled a service that will bring the power of a PC to a TV and mobile phones and today afternoon Google unvieled their new service that will replace TV with computers (Well technically speaking it already has!).

Hoping to change the way people watch television, Google Inc. today unveiled a
video service that allows users to view a limited number of network shows online
for a fee of $1.99 per episode.
The service, called Google Video Store, gives the search engine a big infusion of first-rate programming from such sources as CBS and the National Basketball Association, something the Mountain View company did not offer in its free streaming service that premiered six months ago.

Source: SFGate.com

Yahoo Inc., the world's largest Internet media company, is unveiling a new service that allows mobile phones and TVs to control its Web services similarly to the way computers do now.Chief Executive Terry Semel on Friday will describe the new products -- marketed under the newly established Yahoo Go brand -- in a speech at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the U.S. electronics industry's largest trade show.
The products include Yahoo Go Mobile and Yahoo Go TV. A third product, Yahoo Go desktop, will tie the phone and TV services back to the most common way of using Yahoo services, which far and away remains the personal computer.

Source: Metronews.ca

Geeks, Yahoo, Google, TV, Video, 4 The Geeks

An ear piece smaller than your ear!

2006-01-06T03:43:00.000-08:00

Innovation. Yes that's the word. Only innovative products and ideas survive in this competitive world. Motorola has unveiled a rather cool innovative blue tooth ear piece called H5 Miniblue at CES. It easily fits inside the ear and has the diameter of a quarter. And how does it picks up our sound if its fitted inside the ear? Thats where innovation comes in. This little beauty picks up your voice from your ear canal!. It has a rechargeable batteries inside it that can provide upto 1.5 hours of non-interpreted talk time and can be recharged within 20 minutes by plugging the base! Cool right?

Miniblue Motorola Geeks Geeky small 4thegeeks 4 The Geeks

An eye for an eye, ear for an ear and billions of dollar for a million spams!

2006-01-05T17:49:00.000-08:00

An Iowa based ISP (CIS Internet Services) fined a Florida man by $11.2 billion (oh man) for senting 280 million illegal spams (is there legal spams then?). Sources say that the spam e-mails were about mortgages, debt-consolidation services, and pornographic and gambling Web sites.

Robert W. Kramer, III, the owner and operator of CIS Internet Services, was the one who filed a lawsuit against Miami, Florida-based James McCalla.

Read full article at : STT

spam, fine, Florida, Geeky, news, 4thegeeks, geeks

Faster than the fastest mobile unveiled.

2006-01-03T17:59:00.000-08:00

Samsung Electronics said Tuesday it has developed mobile phones for the High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) technology that reach download times of up
to 3.6 Mbps, twice as fast as current models.

Samsung integrated Qualcomm¡'s latest chip, Mobile Station Modem or MSM6280, so the phone takes only one minute to download 10 MP3 files. According to a press release, Lee Ki-tae, the firm¡¯s communication business chief, said Samsung, having already achieved the lead in the WiBro mobile Internet technology, was now well on its way to leading next-generation telecom technology.

The firm will showcase the phones at the 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to be held from Thursday to Sunday.

Source: Chosun

Samsung High Speed Downlink Packet Access HSDPA fast mobile 3.6 MBPS Geeks Geeky 4thegeeks

April fool so early??

2006-01-03T17:48:00.000-08:00

A very intresting news spread through the internet saying that Google is going to launch thier own 'budget' PC named as Google Cube. It was said that the machine is not only very cheap but also pre-loaded with Linux which would be a potential danger to Microsoft. Hold on don't get so happy (or sad if u are a MS fan).

The whole thing turned out to be just a rumour. On every April 1st Google would release some 'joke' news to fool people around the world. But today is certainly not April 1st and this news was not released by Google.

P.S The news is headlines in Google News :D

Google PC budget April fool Cube geek 4thegeeks geeky

An 105 inch display for IPod Video?!

2006-01-03T02:58:00.000-08:00

A company producing video display products for military and industrial uses has a new target. The iPod with Video!

eMagin Corp. cliams to have developed a wearable headset system that can be plugged into the iPod Video and display the video from it in front of one eye, using optical technology designed to give the picture a higher resolution and make it appear larger than on the iPod's screen.

This cool gadget, named as Eye Bud 800, comes under a catch. It costs more than the iPod itself. It costs a whacking $ 599 making it rather expensive device.

But eMagin's executives are betting that the notion of a virtual big screen will
win people over. With the proximity of the screen to the eye, and the magnifying
effect of the company's optical technology, the company says that using the
headset is akin to watching a 105-inch display from 12 feet away.
"Suddenly
you've got this big-screen, movie-screen, home-theater experience, wherever you
are," said Gary Jones, eMagin's president and CEO.
The EyeBud system uses a
separate control module, about the size of the iPod, which includes a
rechargeable battery pack. The headgear might garner curious looks when worn in
public. But eMagin executives say they expect people to get used to the
appearance, in the same way that Bluetooth headsets are no longer uncommon.

Source: Seattlepi.com

iPod Video EyeBud gadgets costly geeks 4thegeeks geeky

XBox 360 too hot

2006-01-01T17:54:00.000-08:00

You all know that XBox 360 is hot. But i am saying XBox 360 is hot. Don't get it? I meant it gets up overheated pretty fast. And after geting 'hot' the performence of the games is detroiated drastically. Gamers all around the world is concerned about it and many adopted water cooling kit to cool down XBox.

Cool It Systems will be showing the world their brand new device, world's first water cooling kit for XBox 360 next week in CES, Las Vegas. They boast that it can maintain a steady temperature and is even..shhh..silent. All those who own XBox 360, get ready to grab this thing.

Sujith Tom, XBox, 360,4 The Geeks, Technology, Geeks, Gadgets

Happy New Year

2005-12-31T04:58:00.000-08:00

Woah Woah Woah, time to say good bye to 2005 and welcome the new year. Hope you have made your new year resolutions. If so get ready to break all those resolutions b'coz its the new year! :D

Happy New Year! Have a geeky year ahead!

Intel Inside logo kicked out.

2005-12-29T22:49:00.000-08:00

The world's largets chip making company, Intel said yesterday that they are
going changing their previous logo showing a lowered 'e' to the logo with an
oval around the text 'intel inside'.

The phrase "Leap ahead" will supplant
"Intel Inside," which launched the Silicon Valley giant into public
awareness in the 1990's and helped it build the world's No. 5 brand, worth
an estimated $36 billion, according to consultancy Interbrand.

The company said that although the "Intel Inside" tagline will
disappear, it will retain a marketing program with that name in which Intel
helps PC makers advertise products that use its chips.
Source: Reuters

A mobile war is gonna start in India

2005-12-28T18:30:00.000-08:00

Today as i sat down to read the daily newspaper, i saw an ad in the first page about Airtel India's new 'lifetime' scheme. I was no surprised as it has been in the news for sometime and many cross examined the scheme. According to the scheme you will have to shell out Rs 999 (approx $24) and you will get incoming calls for whole your lifetime (or your mobile's lifetime) for free without recharching the (pre-paid) account and some other offers. This will help, those who had been shelling out Rs 330 (approx $8) or more every month just to receive calls and SMS.

Anyway let me get to the point. As i was going through the newspaper on the third page i saw a full page ad of !dea (pronounced as Idea, formerly Escotel) announcing the launch of their own 'lifetime' offer for Rs.995 ($23.65) and full talk time offer on further recharges. I was happy and surprised being an Idea subscriber. Then in the next page another as of BPL mots with their own life time offer. I suppose this craze was started by Tata by launching 2-year free incoming and full talktime scheme. Anyway i see all these companies competing each other in prices and features so expect a mobile war. So expect a cheaper, better communication future for India.
India Shining! :D

P.S. i really think that there are loop holes for these schemes. Loop holes for Airtel has been unearthed but if anybody finds any loopholes for Idea and BPL mots plz post it as comments and it shall be appreciated.

Lenova's own smartphone.

2005-12-28T03:35:00.000-08:00

Leanova, the company which grabbed headlines by buying the PC market from IBM is all set to jump into smartphone production. The photo alongside shows ET980 phone that will be available around March of 2006. The phone will run on Windows Mobile 5.0, have a 312MHz processor, 64MB of RAM, miniSD expansion and even sport a 4-megapixel camera.

But sadly this beauty will only be available in China, Japan, and Korea unless you import it.

MSN Messenger Beta Warning

2005-12-27T17:28:00.000-08:00

DON'T DOWNLOAD IT. Its a virus disguising as the new neta version of MSN Messanger. It was named as Virkel.F by F-Secure. It comes in a file called BETA8WEBINSTALL.EXE and sends the download link to your buddies after installation.

"It also connects your machine to a botnet server," F-Secure warned, meaning that a person's computer can be controlled remotely to attack other machines or send spam.

Sony a bad Santa.

2005-12-26T17:48:00.000-08:00

This year Sony decided to play Santa and distributed 'gifts' but sadly enough nobody like those gifts. So whats the gift anyway? What else could it be? The infamous rootkits. Don't get it? Remember last month when Sony ran into deep waters for distributing rootkits in Music CDs in an attempt to stop piracy.

US CONSUMER groups are fuming that Sony BMG continued to flog spyware
infected music in the pre-christmas rush. Sony has claimed that it has recalled
the CDs which are loaded with spyware to prevent piracy after getting itself
into PR hotwater over the issue.

This flies in the face of Sony’s website, here, which claims that Sony
was working with its retail partners to withdraw compact discs with XCP software
from distribution and retail chains. Sony says that it has asked retailers to cease sale of those discs and to return them.

Source: The Inquirer

So next time you buy music cds check it for those evil gifts from Sony.

Merry Christmas

2005-12-24T08:18:00.000-08:00

Its Christmas again! Oh such a wonderful moment. This is the time when everybody enjoys. Strangely enough even other religions also enjoys Christmas. It was reported in Newspapers that in Philipians muslim people is celebrating X'mas with bang. Even not so religious group enjoys this time. Their reason to celebrate? Santa Clause. Simply he is cool. Anyways it Christmas, chill out guys and gals. Merry X'Mas!

I am back!

2005-12-24T07:52:00.000-08:00

Hi guys and gals. I am extremely sorry that i could not post for the past one month. I was facing some extremely horrible problems. Anyways i promise that i will keep you updated on tech from now onwards! Anyways i think a vast number of happening has happened in the past few weeks including the great and useful change of G- Mail. Its cool to see it now. I am not posting a screenshot now because its already too late and almost all of you have a Gmail account. But that not everything. I said many things but this is only one?? This time its your chance readers! Since i was absent for the past one month, you know what happened more than me. So dear readers fill my head with information. Thanks!

P.S Thanks to my friend Qwerty The Maniac for solving the side bar problem. Next time you encounter such a problem scroll down to see the side bar, click Get Firefox, download it and view the site or wait till I figure out what the problem is :D

A doggy to help you.

2005-12-02T17:28:00.000-08:00

Its robots everywhere. Over the last two months we saw the rise of many robots. The latest on the list is this cute little puppy from Bandai and is called as Swiffer BN-17. Its not a silly pet dog who shows emotions and crave for your attention. He isa helper robot! Imagine your puppy cleaning your house rather than mess it. Imagine you dog checking your e-mail for you. Yeah he does this all! He'll clean up your house, provide you with companionship, and even check your email. Plus, he won’t leave a mess on the carpet.

Bandai's Swiffer Robot

- Sujith Tom

Google adds Virus scanning to Gmail.

2005-12-02T04:02:00.000-08:00

Google Inc. has added a virus scanning facility to Gmail Web mail service recently. Unlike most of the other services, Google check for viruses while attachments reside on their server

Now, Gmail will automatically scan all attachments users send and receive.

Gmail will attempt to clean or remove viruses from infected attachments so that users can access the attachment's information; otherwise, users will not be able to download the attachment. Gmail will also prevent users from sending messages with infected attachments.

Until now, Google protected Gmail users from viruses simply by blocking messages that carry attachments commonly associated with virus attacks.The lack of virus scanning may be the reason why Gmail is still in beta.

Link: Gmail Faq

- Sujith Tom

Quantum Computing gets a push.

2005-12-02T03:48:00.000-08:00

Austrian Scientists at the IQOQI (Institute of Quantum Optics and Quantum Information) have created the first Quantum Byte which consists of 8 Calcium Ions!

Quantum Computing is an undeveloped part in computing. The Quantum Byte will be a great step forward towards the Quantum Computer. Quantum Computers are super fast and solve problems conventional computers can not.

Links: Wiki Definition for Quantum Computing

SORA the secretary

2005-12-02T03:36:00.000-08:00

Meet SORA, the latest and greatest secretarial robot to come out of Japan. She has an integrated camera, microphone, speaker and business card scanner. She can take pictures of people and even act as a videoconferencing unit to communicate. But i doubt whether anybody will replace "I will do anything for a raise" human lady secretary.

Links : SORA, The Receptionist Robot

- Sujith Tom

Guess who is playing copycat this time?

2005-12-02T03:27:00.000-08:00

Microsoft, the big bad bully is not copying from Google for the first time. First it was Online programs and now its the Google Base. M$ is planning to compete with Google Base with its new service code-named 'Fremont' which will allow users to post their own classifieds ads and contact details.

According to sources, the service is only available to MS employees and MS is planning to release a public beta next month.

Links: Fremont

GNU rewriting their 'laws'

2005-12-01T08:24:00.000-08:00

GNU General Public License (GPL) is all set up to be re-written for the first time in History.They are planning to present their first 'draft up for discussion' the International Public Conference for GPL v3 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on 16 and 17 January 2006. This will be followed response and redrafting from the community to create more drafts and more editing. The finished GPL v3 is scheduled to appear in the spring of 2007.

'The guiding principle for developing the GPL is to defend the freedom of all users,' said Richard Stallman, founder of the Free Software Foundation. 'As we address the issues raised by the community, we will do so in terms of the four basic freedoms software users are entitled to - to study, copy, modify and redistribute the software they use. GPL v3 will be designed to protect those freedoms under current technical and social conditions and will address new forms of use and current global requirements for commercial and non-commercial users.'

Links: GPL V3

- Sujith Tom

New Ogo Messenger to embrace MSN Messenger

2005-12-01T08:06:00.000-08:00

IXI Mobile’s Ogo series of mobile devices known for its e-mail and instant messaging services announced that the most recent series of the mobile CT-10 will offer Hotmail and MSN Messenger services. It has a full screen, QWERTY keyboard, clamshell design very much similar to the Nokia 9500 series. They are offering you access to MSN, AOL and Yahoo! for e-mail and text messaging for $17.99 (Ouch!) a month. Its definitely not a steal for that price.

IXI Mobile Portable Messaging Device [Bios Magazine]

- Sujith Tom

One Care Live released by MS

2005-11-30T17:30:00.000-08:00

The latest addition to the Live products released by MS is this One Care Live. So what is it? They claim its a security package having Antivirus, Firewall and such usual things. It might be cool I don't know, I will let you know after i download it. They are providing a free 30-Day trial version (Bah!) . You must also need IE6 to download it. Looks like MS really don't like Firefox. You also need a Passport account (Their email service will do).

Windows Live Products

- Sujith Tom

R2 waiting for your orders

2005-11-30T04:37:00.000-08:00

First the light saber, now the R2 itself. Get the cuttie, funny little robot from the Star Ware series. This is simply cool. Here's a quote from Gizmodo:

"I know you’ve been waiting for this—don’t deny it. Finally, R2-D2 can be yours,
in your own home, and for only $119.95. Fully functional, R2 can roam around and
obeys over 40 voice commands (please refrain from asking him to project Obi-Wan
please). He also plays children’s games like tag with an IR sensor that can be
set to detect motion (which can also be set to sound an alarm for a watchdog
effect). Available at Hammacher Schlemmer."

But there is a problem. A really big problem. Its only 15 inches long making it a kid's toy. Sigh.

Star Wars R2-D2 Robot Replica On Sale

Review: Firefox 1.5 (RC3)!!

2005-11-29T09:26:00.000-08:00

First lot of guys won't believe that its the latest Firefox (as you can see in my last blog). So here see this:
.
The about screen

OK you see the version as 1.5? Do you believe now? Now i must apologize that this page will be very very slow due to this posts. Its full of images you know :D

Installation
Installation was a breeze. Just like previous version it had custom and default settings and they made it bit shorter this time. This time it all get installed very quickly. Plus it can retrieve information from other browsers. By information i mean everything not just Bookmarks as wee saw in Flock. Well you may say there is nothing new. Old firefox had it all. Well i am writing this for newbies also.

The installation screen

Features

Automated update to streamline product upgrades. Notification of an update is more prominent, and updates to Firefox may now be half a megabyte or smaller. Updating extensions has also improved.
Faster browser navigation with improvements to back and forward button performance.
Drag and drop reordering for browser tabs.
Improvements to pop-up blocking.
Clear Private Data feature provides an easy way to quickly remove personal data through a menu item or keyboard shortcut.
Answers.com is added to the search engine list.
Improvements to product usability including descriptive error pages, redesigned options menu, RSS discovery, and "Safe Mode" experience.
Better accessibility including support for DHTML accessibility and assistive technologies such as the Window-Eyes 5.5 beta screen reader for Microsoft Windows. Screen readers read aloud all available information in applications and documents or show the information on a Braille display, enabling blind and visually impaired users to use equivalent software functionality as their sighted peers.
Report a broken Web site wizard to report Web sites that are not working in Firefox.
New support for Web Standards including SVG, CSS 2 and CSS 3, and JavaScript 1.6.
Many security enhancements.

The Burning Edge has more detailed lists of notable bug fixes in each of the alpha and beta versions leading up to Firefox 1.5 RC3.

[Taken from Firefox Website]

So the most notable improvement is the addition of SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) which is very useful for better browsing experience and the drag and drop tab arrangement.

A site using SVG viewed through Firefox

The options window has all the same thing last Firefox had.

As usual the default page is the Firefox customised Google Search Page.

A view of 4 The Geeks in Fire fox

Conclusion
Though most of the new addition is not viewable, as it being mainly security updates and such, Firefox rocks as it ever does. It is a must download for Firefox fans and its time for other to migrate to firefox by now. Come on lets take back the Web!

Updates:
Here i will list my newly discovred stuffs in Firefox

Just realized that the Flock people copied the view of Firefox. Damn them! Yeah Firefox also shows error messages in style :D .
Installed Google Toolbar. Decided to dumb IE forever and for good.
Downloaded many extensions and themes. Phew cool one. Only one problem. I need a bigger screen now to view all these toolbars

Bugs-Need some pesticide!

So many bugs in the new version. Here are some i found.

Can't post in Blogsource Blog
Can't view recetly posted images in most of the blogs including Blogger, Wordpress etc.

The Fox is on loose

2005-11-29T03:21:00.000-08:00

The heat is on! And the source of heat is Firefox. Guess what?? The much awaited Firefox 1.5 RC3 has been released today. It promises new cool features and extra security.

The browser will include an improved updating system, faster navigation using
the "Back" and "Forward" tabs, and a redesigned Options/Preferences window that
increases the number of category icons and moves them from the left side of the
window to the top.
Firefox 1.5 also adds support for Scalable Vector Graphics
(SVG), JavaScript 1.6 and new versions of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
The update includes better pop-up blocking and a host of security improvements, plus the addition of Answers.com to Firefox's list of search engines and a Clear
Private Data function that allows users to quickly remove personal data through
a menu item or keyboard shortcut.

Source: Techworld

Links: Download Page [5MB]

- Sujith Tom

Need an 'e-hug' ?

2005-11-29T03:08:00.000-08:00

Do you want to hug your girlfriend or parents who are miles away? Till now it might be impossible but no longer it is thanks to the innovative invention of James Teh, interaction and entertainment research centre, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He developed a 'hug-suit' to hug anything ranging from humans to poultry.

According to Teh, people will soon be able to touch their pets or children
across cyberspace with his innovation, that seeks to transmit sensation via
the
Internet.

"Poultry Internet" is Teh's immediate focus, especially since he feels strongly about chickens, saying that though they are badly treated they make highly intelligent pets.
The "Hug" technology involves the pet fowl wearing a wireless, sensor-rigged jacket", moving inside its coop in the "home" set-up, and being tracked by a video
camera. The information is transmitted via the internet to the "office" set-up,
wherein a 3D model of the pet moves exactly like its live counterpart.
When the owner touches this model, the instructions are translated into data and reproduced as a series of vibrations, on the jacket worn by the hen. Teh said that the system which is being tested, will give the chicken the feeling of being touched by its owner. Teh has been working on this project for 2 years, along with center director - Adrian David Cheok and center manager - Lee Shang Ping.
Of course with the recent alarm raised over the possibility of an "avian flu" pandemic spreading across large parts of South East Asia, one wonders as to why anyone would want to touch a chicken... whether actually or virtually...
However Teh's "Poultry Internet" technology promises to be just a fore-runner to the real thing i.e. "human-to-human virtual hugging".
Teh plans for children to wear wireless, sensor-rigged "pyjama suits", similar to the chicken "jackets". Each suit will receive signals via the internet, and interpret the data to adjust to changes in pressure and temperature. In effect, children will
actually get a "hug" from their parents and vice-versa, if parents wear these suits as well.
Cheok expressed the view that there will be a huge demand for these suits, especially with parents going out frequently on business, and hugging and touching being considered inseparable parts of communication.

Source: Tech Tree

- Sujith Tom

200 GB optical drive

2005-11-29T03:04:00.000-08:00

Ricoh said that it will release a 200GB optical drive by 2008, according to today's Nihon Keizai Shimbun.
The technology will use eight layers rather than the two promised by Sony's Blu-ray and Toshiba's HD tech.
But - and here's the rub - the optical head uses a similar design to HD and Blu-ray, so Ricoh's tech will be able to work with these two competing camps.
But hey Maxell is releasing a 1.6 TB holographic 'floppy' right? So who needs a 200GB HD DVD?

Play to stay fit with the new treadmill for Gamers!

2005-11-28T07:35:00.000-08:00

A simply cool gadget. There is nothing so big thing in it but its simply innovative. This liitle treadmill allows you to play more, the faster you run. So you need to play? Then Run. Simply amazing. And you can boast to your friends that you shed off your weight by playing computer games!

Our special friends over at Kotaku found this little gem: a treadmill game
controller called the GameRunner. The faster your run, the more you get to play!
I mean this is obviously one of the better memes to come out of the gaming
industry in years. I’ve already seen an exercycle that with a few buttons so you
can play some hot games and this ads to the magic. Here’s how it works: you’re
thumping along in your t-shirt and shorts, you wig out, save up for a
controller, buy one, and then tell mom you’re exercising while you lay on your
old Sesame Street pillow and play CoD2 for fifteen hours straight. So
essentially these things improve the market for gaming peripherals.
- Gizmodo

Links:

Treadmill Joystick [Kotaku]

Product Page [GameRunner]

- Sujith Tom

Sony to add parental control to new PlayStation

2005-11-28T07:28:00.000-08:00

According to Entertainment Software Association (ESA) Sony is the latest video game consel to add Parental Control following the footsteps of Microsofts XBox 360. Thus all the three major video-game consels will have parental control, the other bien Nintendo. Earlier this month, Nintendo announced similar plans for its next-generation machine, Revolution, due out in 2006.

Read full article: Mail and Guardian Online

- Sujith Tom

Samsung makes the biggest flexible LCD panel ever

2005-11-28T07:17:00.000-08:00

Samsung developed a seven inch TFT LCD using thin pliable plastic to display 640x480 resolution colour video.

The panel is thinner, lighter and lasts longer than glass LCD panels and will maintain a constant thickness even when it is bent.

Samsung said that it will be used for notebook computers, cell phones and you will even be able to weave it into your clothes, if you have that bent (Wow right. A television in your shirt, or something that magnifies whatever is inside the dress :D )

Though there are some problems now like substrate's heat sensivity, which it overcame by using a low temp processing technique to make the amorphous thin film transistors (TFT), colour filters and liquid crystals much lower than glass based amorphous silicon.

But Samsung doesn't say when we'll see applications using the plastic LCD screens. Hope it will be soon :-)

- By Sujith Tom

Free CD's and DVD's

2005-11-26T23:17:00.000-08:00

This isn't exactlly a news but i thought this might be helpful to many. I got this from Think Digit Forum and was posted by a member called Siddhartha. Thanks Siddhartha.

10,000 books free DVD: Well, I know this for quite some time and most of you will be aware of it.. Yet this is for all newbies and those who don't know.. Get a free DVD/CD delivered to your home (devoid of postal charges) containing more than 10,000 eBooks.. It has everything.. From Arabian Nights to Robert Louis Stevenson.. Fill in the form here
UBUNTU Linux free CDs: Get yourself as many LINUX (Ubuntu) CDs you want for free. Keep some for yourself, distribute among your friends.. Click Here. [You need to make a free account first]

---------------------------------------------------------------

Free PETA DVD of vegetarianism
Free Photoshop Tutorials CD
Free WIN XP Service Pack 2 CD
Free Hindi/Tamil software tools from India Government
Aga-Rayburn free CD
Free Linux/Windows SEK CD sets
Free Trend Micro evaluation CD
Free Confucius Saying CD
Free Keil CD
Free Microsoft accesibility CD
Free Chipworks software demo CD
Free RJCooper Software demo CD
Free Nortel Networks CD
Free Daveschool Animation DVD
Free ChemSoft DVD
Free RAGNAROK Game CD [This is the Indian Version of Ragnarok. There are other versions of Ragnarok also which include an International one and Ragnarok run by private servers.]
Free Photoshop Academy CD
http://www.lynuxworks.com/
http://www.arteraturbo.com/
http://www.keil.com/demo/cdrom.asp

If you know any website that provides free cds or dvds other than listed above please post it as comment. Please report broken links or websites which have discontinued free service in comments. Thanks.

- Sujith Tom

N-Gage dead, buried silently

2005-11-26T16:55:00.000-08:00

Nokia announced that it will no longer put 'development time' on N-Gage meaning there will no more updates for N-Gage. Yeah you saw the last of the N-Gage. Nokia didn't specify why they were no longe giving attention to mobile gaming but said that it will come back to mobile gaming in late 2007.

Can anybody explain whats going on with Nokia?

[Read more about it]

- Sujith Tom

Mandriva Linux 2006 released!

2005-11-25T08:15:00.000-08:00

Mandriva formerly known as Mandrake released their 2006 version of the popular Linux distro.

Features:

Linux kernel 2.6.12-12mdk
KDE 3.4
Kat desktop search tool
OpenOffice 2.0
Interactive firewall
Official support for Intel’s Centrino mobile technology
Full integration of Skype
Auto-installation server
Smart package manager
Integration of Conectiva’s and Lycoris’s technologies.

It can be freely downloaded from here.

- Sujith Tom

Google Space

2005-11-25T07:49:00.000-08:00

Google has been very active in the past two months and still continues to be. News agenicies are saying that the next Google's product is Google Space. No its not releated to outer space but to air flights. Waiting for airplane espcially when its late is really boring and time consuming process. So Google in a mission to remove this boredom allows you to know more about your destination while you ae waitng.

Sadly enough the service is currently available only in Heathrow Airport in London. I hope it expands it service worldwide.

The 'pod' known as Google Space is situated in the Terminal One
departure lounge and consists of 10 Samsung laptops dedicated to Google
services.
Google staff "flown in from all over the world" are on hand
to answer any questions as well as monitor usage.
"We see it as a huge focus
group," said Lorraine Twohill, Google's European director of marketing. "For
many of our users, we have always been something in their computers and they
have never actually met us."
A survey conducted for the launch by Google has
shown that the average airline passenger wastes a day's holiday a year waiting
around in airports, some nine hours in total.

Source: VNU Net

- Sujith Tom

Google advertising to go Beyond the Internet

2005-11-24T17:39:00.000-08:00

Tech Web claims that Google.Inc is currently testing a service called 'click-to-call' service. They are saying that soon Google will put a phone icon below the sponsered advertisers who participates the program. A user can contact the advertisers by clicking this icon.

The telephone numbers are not shared with advertisers or anyone else, and
are kept on Google servers for no longer than four months after the last time a
person uses the service, the Mountain View, Calif., company said. Numbers are
deleted permanently after that time.

The advertiser's number, however, will appear on a person's caller ID
when Google makes the connection, giving the consumer the option of saving the
merchant's phone number.

Tech Web

- Sujith Tom

Simple Sharing Extensions by M$

2005-11-24T08:06:00.000-08:00

Microsoft Corp. is said be currently working on an extension for RSS feed. It is said to be named as Simple Sharing Extensions. The new extensions will add the pwer of calendring and sharing of contact lists between indivduals to the popular RSS.

The idea is to use OPML (Outline Processor Markup Language), which is used to
allow exchange of outline-structured information between applications and RSS,
to create a new format to allow exchange of data.
Ozzie explains that RSS on
its own is not sufficient as it is essentially a 'one way' transfer mechanism
aimed a broadcasting from a central point rather than his vision of a 'mesh' of
feeds between many different people.
SSE has already been discussed among
various interested groups within Microsoft. Now the company has published a
draft specification for SSE on its website for discussion.

Now a hundred dollar question. Sharing of contact lists? Aren't we feed up with having enough spam in our mail box?

PC Pro News Ray Ozzie's Blog

- Sujith Tom

And now a floppy with 1.6 TB storage space!!

2005-11-23T17:15:00.000-08:00

Forget all other storage medias like DVDS, CDs,, Blu-rays and even your hard disk because Maxell along with InPhase Technologies is coming out with a cool thing using holographics. Using cartridges (read: floppys), the new technology will support up to 1.6TB with data transfers at 120MBps. Yeah. That’s a lot of storage. It could even replace your hard drive if you think about how fast and big it will be.

“Holographic recording technology utilizes intersecting signal and reference
laser beams to store data in a number of 3D hologram images capable of saving
hundreds of data pages in a single location. In principle, laser beams can be
moved with no mechanical components, allowing access times of the order of 10
µs, faster than any conventional disk drive will ever be able to randomly access
data.”

Maxell Releases Holographic Storage Medium [OhGizmo!]

- Sujith Tom

Mommy is watching you son!

2005-11-23T17:10:00.000-08:00

Parents, PingAlert is perfect for your nerdy little kid. Next time he’s getting his ass kicked on the playground for lunch money, he can use PingAlert to give you the heads up. You enter a special number into a speed dial on the phone, and it dials the KidsOK service which then sends an SMS to your parents with your exact location. Then it terminates into a repeating loop where it orders pizza from Papa John’s and everyone is happy. Available in the UK, a year’s subscription, PingAlert for three mobiles and 10 free pings will cost about $45. Subsequent pings cost an extra 70 cents or so. Dumbest service ever. Just buy your kid some brass knuckles and no one will mess with him ever again.

PingAlert anti-bullying system [Shiny Shiny]

-Sujith Tom

Forget the $100 laptop. See this free computer!!

2005-11-23T17:00:00.000-08:00

The free iT does it one better. A stripped-down PC from Hong Kong-based website Asiatotal, the iT will be given away for free to small businesses and those of you in the lower income bracket. It comes with a keyboard, mouse, a 7-inch LCD monitor with speaker, smart card reader, mouse pad and all necessary cables and the entire thing is financed by sponsors. Why, you may ask? There are 14 “hotkeys” on the keyboard, and every time you press one, you’ll be directed to a different sponsor’s website. Of course, if you need a free PC, are you really going to buy anything from the sponsors? Chew on that, why dontcha’.

PC for free! Yes it’s true [Techticker]

- Sujith Tom

LaCie Lego Bricks

2005-11-22T17:18:00.000-08:00

Guess what these are? Lego bricks? Nope. Look again silly. No idea? Its desktop and mobile hard disks!!
Designed by Ora-Ïto, who has done crazy beautiful work for LG, Toyota, Swatch, and others, these stackable drives come in red, white or blue. The desktops range from 160-500 GB ($119-$399), and the mobile versions are 40-120GB ($119-$329). The red 250GB desktop brick is in stock now; the rest of the desktop drives are up for pre-order and ship in December. The Mobile versions come out in January.
But don’t go dropping your ducats just yet, because LaCie says this is just the first of several HDD products from famed designers that the company is introducing in the next 6-12 months.

Lacie Lego Bricks [Product Page]

XBox 360 finally unveiled

2005-11-22T08:52:00.000-08:00

Well, it’s finally here—the best thing in the world ever, until the PS3 comes out. Here’s
the massive bolus of coverage from all around the the world. All I can say
is
that Project Gotham Racing rox.
-Gizmodo Gadget Blog

Links:

In search of the Xbox 360 [Star Tribune]

Xbox 360’s Thrills Are Many but They Don’t Come Cheap [LA Times]

Q&A: The Xbox 360 [BBC]

The games to get for the Xbox 360 [Chicago Tribune]

The new Xbox 360 is the stuff of dreams, but most new games aren’t up to the challenge [San Fran Chronicle]

18 games for Xbox 360 [Detroit Free Press]

Initial Xbox 360 reviews good not great [TheRegister]

Gates: Xbox Live Will Become Windows Live [Spong]

Microsoft XBox 360 raises games stakes [TheBusiness]

The Xbox 360 rush is on [CNET]

PC and the New Power Generation: Xbox 360 [IGN]

Microsoft Xbox 360 Media Center Extender [PCMag]

[Tom] Reporting

Microsoft Office 'OPEN' for you!

2005-11-22T03:43:00.000-08:00

Microsoft was expected to announce Tuesday that it would seek approval to make the software formats behind its Office suite of applications an "open standard" that it would license free to competitors, partners and developers.
As a set of application principles endorsed by international standards-setting groups, the so-called Office Open XML format could be used by others to make applications and tools to work with Microsoft's popular office document programs, company executives said Monday.....

Read full Article: International Herald Tribute

[Tom] Reporting

FBI Warns of Email Scam

2005-11-22T03:17:00.000-08:00

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has issued a press note warning the public to avoid falling victim to an on-going mass e-mail scheme, wherein computer users received unsolicited e-mails supposedly sent by the FBI.
These scam e-mails tell the recipients that their Internet use has been monitored by the agency, and that they have accessed illegal web sites. The e-mails then direct recipients to open an attachment and answer questions.

The e-mail appears to be sent from the e-mail addresses of mail@fbi.gov and admin@fbi.gov. There may be other similarly styled addresses. The recipient is enticed to open the zip attachment, which contains a w32/sober.jen@mm worm.
The attachment does not open and its goal is to utilize the recipient's computer to garner information. The virus also allows the e-mail to be forwarded to all those listed in the recipient s address book. The FBI post goes on to cite an example of the spurious mails.

Dear Sir/Madam,

We have logged your IP-address on more than 30 illegal Websites.
Important: Please answer our questions! The list of questions is
attached.

Yours faithfully,
Steven Allison
Federal Bureau of Investigation-FBI- 935 Pennsylvania
Avenue, NW ,
Room 3220 Washington ,
DC 20535 Phone: (202) 324-30000

The FBI maintains that it takes this matter seriously and is investigating it. The release says, "These e-mails did not come from the FBI. Recipients of this or similar solicitations, should know that the FBI does not engage in the practice of sending unsolicited e-mails to the public in this manner." While the address and phone number for the FBI is correct in the email, users receiving e-mails of this nature are encouraged to report it to the Internet Crime Complaint Center via http://www.ic3.gov.

Source: Tech Tree

[Tom] Reporting

Intel launches 90-nanometer M18- NOR Flash Memory device

2005-11-21T18:03:00.000-08:00

Intel Corporation has launched 90-nanometer (nm) multi-level cell (MLC) NOR flash memory device. The new Intel StrataFlash Cellular Memory (M18) delivers faster performance, higher density and lower power consumption than the previous 130nm version to meet the increasing demand for feature-rich cell phones equipped with cameras, color screens, web browsing and video.
"Flash memory is one of the driving technologies in enabling the next generation of cell phone applications," said , Intel Flash Products Group vice president and general manager, Darin Billerbeck. "The M18 delivers to cellular designers the unique combination of performance,density and low power required for today's phones. Moreover, the M18 is built on Intel's reliable and cost-effective fifth generation MLC technology and 90nm process lithography."
The M18 offers the fastest read speeds, up to 133MHz, in the industry enabling the new flash memory to operate at the same bus frequency as next-generation cellular chipsets This speeds user application execution because the interaction between the chipset and memory operation is faster than in the 130nm version.
With write speeds of up to 0.5MB/second, the M18 supports 3MP (mega pixel) cameras and MPEG4 video. OEMs benefit from lower production costs that result from factory programming speeds of up to three times faster than prior 130-nm versions, states an official release.
The M18 consumes one-third the energy to program and about half the energy to erase than prior generation products, and offers the new Deep Power Down operation mode, all for improved battery life. The M18 also increases the NOR flash density reach, with single chip solutions of 256 Mb and 512 Mb and standard stacked package solutions up to 1 Gb.
Intel's industry-leading standard stacks combine NOR and RAM in multiple bus architectures, and improve OEM time-to-market and supply-line flexibility, the release adds.

Source: Indian Television

[Tom] Reporting

Google Analytics not sooo Hot!

2005-11-21T17:52:00.000-08:00

Whenever user tries to sign up Google Analytics, an error message flashes saying that Analytics is temporarily suspended. The cited reason is 'heavy demand'. Though google made it up with a text box asking you to enter your email address so that Google can notify you when the service is back.

Google Analytics

[Tom] Reporting

IE fumbles again

2005-11-21T17:35:00.000-08:00

Recently news reporters announced that an exploit code for a new flaw for IE 5.5 and IE 6 running on Windows XP SP 2 and Windows 2000 SP4 was relesed. The exploit code was made public in Monday. When a user visits a website with the malicious code, the exploit will be tiggered automatically which will enable the website to download any code to the user's computer.

Read the news: ZDNet

Get a 30Gigs without inviatation!

2005-11-21T07:36:00.000-08:00

All of you have been surfing around the net finding a way to grab a invite from 30gigs.com and also many have started offering a bypass script by which you can get a invite too.

I just found a simple and yet direct way to access 30gigs.com to get
invite yourself, actually this is not a invite, a direct registration
at 30gig.com, its simple as you read this blog.

Step 1 : Use the url http://www.30gigs.com/accept/79380/enter-any-name-here (see examples below)

Examples :

http://www.30gigs.com/accept/79380/google

http://www.30gigs.com/accept/79380/microsoft

http://www.30gigs.com/accept/79380/linux

http://www.30gigs.com/accept/79380/yourname

http://www.30gigs.com/accept/79380/getyourfreeinvite

http://www.30gigs.com/accept/79380/thanksdreamchaser

If you run short of ideas just give a big string of characters instead of google and microsoft like
/79380/4d8205897dec801b665b05223346297d

You can very well sign up, directly using the link put above, or by entering any character after /79380/ of your own wish. Its simple as easting a pie ?

Once you move to the step 1, the next is easy and the one which you do elsewhere to get a email account.

Step 2 : Enter the information that you will need toget started with your 30gig.com account!

No
more bypass and no more requests for invites on every forums you visit!
Happing mailing, though most of you are satisfied with your Google 1 GB
mail service, this for people who are just craze in signing up, that
comes as a invite (a trick that google used to create a hype, followed
by Yahoo! 360 blog, also seen at Orkut)

Source:

Also my observation is that you don't need a number 79380 to do this. Any five number combination will do.

Try these

http://www.30gigs.com/accept/74183/google

http://www.30gigs.com/accept/69580/microsoft

Also you can use this page also to create your 30gigs.com Account

http://www.funponsel.com/blog/30gigs-account-registration-tool/

TiVo moves TV shows to iPod and PSP

2005-11-21T07:27:00.000-08:00

"In an effort to boost its subscriber base, TiVo, the company
whose name
is synonymous with recording and storing your favorite TV
programs, will
announce today a feature to move recorded TV shows onto
Apple Computer's
newest video iPod and Sony's PlayStation Portable
(PSP).

The San Jose company did not sign any partnership agreements
with either
Apple or Sony. It said it is able to offer the feature to
customers through
its TivoToGo feature, introduced in January. The
feature uses a software
program that will encode the programs into a
smaller format so that they can
be moved to these smaller digital
devices."

Source: Mercury News

The Fox is on fire!!!

2005-11-21T07:25:00.000-08:00

The open source company Mozilla recently launched the latest version
of Firefox. The claimed that the new has a better and fast
navigation system and much improved security. The new firefox is
labbeled as Firefox 1.5 Release Candidate 3.

"Those additions include faster navigation, with upgrades to
back and forward button performance, as well as drag-and-drop
reordering for browser tabs, and improvements in general usability,
such as more descriptive error pages, a further redesigned options
menu, RSS feed discovery capabilities and a "safe mode" for enhanced
protection against potential threats. "

-Copied from e-week

Read full article

Google Print changes name to Google Book search

2005-11-21T06:03:00.000-08:00

Recently Google announced in its blog that it has changed the name Google Print to Google Book Search.

Here is a quote from that blog:

"What's in a name? Quite a bit, actually; what you call yourself
says
a lot about what you think you are. And we've been thinking lately
that
Google Print should really be called Google Book Search.

Why the change? Well, one factor was all the comments we got
about
how excited people were that Google Print would help them print
out their
documents, or web pages they visit -- which of course it
won't.
More important, the change reflects our product's evolution.
When we
launched Google Print, our goal was to make it easier for users
to discover
books. Now that we're starting to achieve that, we think a
more descriptive
name will help clarify what our users can do with it:
namely, search the
full text of books to find ones that interest them
and learn where to buy or
borrow them.
No, we don't think that this new name will change what some
folks
think about this program. But we do believe it will help a lot of
people
understand better what we're doing. We want to make all the
world's books
discoverable and searchable online, and we hope this new
name will help keep
everyone focused on that important goal."

About Book Search People's comment about Google Book Search

US retains hold of the internet nations.

2005-11-16T09:06:00.000-08:00

Negotiators worked late into the night on a deal

The US has won its fight to stay in charge of the internet, despite opposition from many nations.
In an eleventh-hour agreement ahead of a UN internet summit in Tunis, Tunisia, negotiators agreed to leave the US in charge of the net's addressing system.
Instead an international forum will be set up to discuss net issues, although it will not have any binding authority.
The deal clears the way for the summit to focus on how poorer nations can benefit from the digital revolution.
About 10,000 delegates, including world leaders, technology experts and campaigners, are expected at the three-day World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunis.

Read full article: BBC

We did not change anything on the role of the US government with regard to the technical aspects that we were very concerned about.
David Gross, US State Department

Google Base. Yet another service from Google!

2005-11-16T08:54:00.000-08:00

Several people report Google Base went live, or at least, its login-screen. The ambitious new Google Inc. service lets anyone upload almost anything to a publicly searchable database, potentially laying the groundwork for a foray by the Internet juggernaut into classified advertising.

Google Base is Google’s database into which you can add all types of content. We’ll host your content and make it searchable online for free.Examples of items you can find in Google Base:• Description of your party planning service• Articles on current events from your website• Listing of your used car for sale• Database of protein structuresYou can describe any item you post with attributes, which will help people find it when they search Google Base. In fact, based on the relevance of your items, they may also be included in the main Google search index and other Google products like Froogle and Google Local.”

About Google Base Google Base

$100 Laptop Snubs OS X, Goes to UN

2005-11-16T08:41:00.000-08:00

MIT Media Lab's research initiative, to build a $100 laptop for students across the globe is chugging along, with Nicholas Negroponte, laboratory chairman and co-founder, MIT, to demonstrate a working prototype to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan at a technology meeting in Tunisia. According to reports, Steve Jobs had offered to provide free copies of OS X to the project, but his offer was turned down because OS X is not open source and the creators want an operating system where the source code is open and can be altered and "tinkered with". Ironically, OS X is based on Unix which is open source.

Negroponte has said that this technology could revolutionize how we educate the world's children. The $100 machine will be a full-color, full-screen laptop that is Linux-based and running on AMD processors. These rugged laptops will be WiFi and cell phone-enabled, and will be able to do almost everything, except store huge amounts of data. Five corporate sponsors; the likes of Google, AMD and Red Hat, have contributed $2million each to the project. Negroponte reportedly came up with the $100 laptop idea, after seeing children in a Cambodian village benefit from having notebook computers at school, which they could also take home and use. Negroponte has said that the laptop is a cost-effective alternative to hiring additional teachers, and is aimed at helping children teach themselves.

Google Analytics, another cool service of Google

2005-11-15T08:31:00.000-08:00

Are you a webmaster? How many times have you payed through your nose to know what visitors are doing in your site, what they are reading and where they are going from your page? Here is the good news. You never will have to pay for it from now. Why? Simply because Google's new service gives you all these features for FREE!! This is simply cool and you got to check it out. I think google bought this thing from someone else just like Google Earth because they say that it was formerly called Urchin.

Google Analytics Features

The first Post

2005-11-15T07:58:00.000-08:00

Hi,
First i need to thank blogger for this space. Secondly, i am thanking Blogsource.com on which my earlier blog was created (http://click.blogsource.com). I am looking forward to use blogger. It simply seems to be cool!