Alienware is an American computer hardware company and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dell.It mainly produces desktops and laptops specialized for video editing, audio editing, and gaming. Alienware is also a producer of computer peripheralsThis is the first Core 2 Duo/SLI laptop available, and its speed blew our minds.The new Alienware Area-51 m9750 is with Core 2 Duo T7600 processor and dual 512MB Nvidia GeForce Go 7950 GTX GPUs (in an SLI configuration) to be fast--but the numbers were off the charts. This is the first (and only, at test time) Core 2 Duo/SLI laptop available, and the speed this potent combo delivers makes the m9750 our hands-down pick for gamers. The 17.1-inch 1920 x 1200-pixel widescreen is one of the glossier ones we've seen and is prone to reflection in bright environments.
Alienware offers a Blu-ray drive option to put the gorgeous screen (and Nvidia Purevideo HD technology) to work. The display can handle full 1080p HD resolution, and high-def movies showed visual pop and excellent detail in shadow areas. The screen's good viewing-angle performance makes the m9750 ideal to share (again, just watch for reflections from lights and windows). Sound quality from the 2.1 sound system was better than what most laptops deliver, and volume was adequate Vista is available on this model, but (surprisingly) Nvidia had not yet finalized SLI drivers for use with it. Two 7,200-rpm hard drives deliver a total of 400GB of space.
Maxtor Corporation was an American manufacturer of computer hard disk drives founded in 1982 and acquired by Seagate in 2006. As of December 2005, just prior to the acquisition, Maxtor was the world's third-largest manufacturer of hard disks. It now operates as a subsidiary of Seagate.In the last few years, hard drive manufacturers have had to come up with ingenious ways and incorporate more and more features in order to make a "difference" in the market. One of the giants in hard drives is Maxtor, the company that pioneered the revolutionary "push-button" approach to data storage backup.The company has developed an interesting feature designed to let computer users back up their files and folders with just the touch of a button. And while it sounds easy to use, it's also just as easy to setup. The One Touch II is the newest addition to Maxtor's very good, external drive family.
WHAT it is and HOW it works
The One Touch Backup system was originally developed at Quantum laboratories, before that company was acquired by Maxtor in early 2001. Maxtor simply had to improve the system before releasing it onto the market.
The process starts when the user presses the button on the One Touch external drive, initiating the backup process. It's simply the fastest way possible to perform a backup, faster than CD or a removable cartridge system and certainly faster than floppies. Backup and Restore is handled exclusively by Daunt Retrospect software.
Simplicity
Throughout the entire backup or restore process, you won't find any complex menus or commands and there's no need for any technical knowledge in order to set up and use the Maxtor One Touch II drive. Even installation of the One Touch software is a matter of a few clicks with the mouse and some simple questions such as the user's name and preferred language.
By leaving everything to default settings, Retrospect backs up everything on the local drives, including Internet favorites, address books, my documents folders, outlook express mail folders, operating system folders, applications, etc.
Retrospect allows for two modes of backup called Comprehensive and Duplicate. The backup files created by Retrospect when doing Comprehensive backups are compressed automatically and their format is such that they are not accessible directly. Only with Retrospect can the administrator of the PC access all the backed up files and restore any particular file or files back to the PC. Comprehensive backup creates restore points so that the user can for example create a backup for each day of the week rather than simply overwriting the previous backup.
With Duplicate backups, older saved files are overwritten with newer versions.
Retrospect also includes a disk self management facility that makes best possible use of available disk space on the the Maxtor One Touch, erasing any unnecessary files and always keeping free space at a maximum.
The Maxtor One Touch drive - just press the button and your files are backed up in one, simple step. It's simply the fastest backup.
Drive Lock Security
Maxtor offers a new Drive Lock feature for greater data protection. This is a password protection scheme that can keep unauthorized users from viewing sensitive data. Once the original user switches off the computer or the drive is disconnected from the system, access to the drive will be denied until the right user name and password are provided. This is something extremely important for professionals and power users where security is necessary.
Restore
When the worst happens and data is lost, restoring files from a previous back up on the Maxtor One Touch is a very simple task. It is a three step process:
* First, you are asked for the preferred time of the restoration point, which can be any time we had a backup.
* Second, you must choose what will be restored, either individual files or folders, groups of files and folders, or even the whole disk.
* And finally you must choose where on your system the files will be restored.
Friendly Interface
The graphical interface for One Touch software has been redesigned by Maxtor since the previous version, making setup and restore, drive management and security settings a lot easier to manage.
Connection
Maxtor's One Touch II is easy to install, requiring only power and a USB 2.0 or Firewire connection.
It is expandable, making it easy to connect up to 63 drives via Firewire, or 127 USB 2.0 drives with the use of USB.2.0 hubs.
Needless to say, the drive is hot-swappable (thanks to the USB and Firewire interfaces) making it easy to connect to and disconnect from any computer at any time.
All the connection ports are conveniently located on the back of the device for easy connection with the PC. However, something that may be worth considering is the inclusion of a connection on the front, since quite a large number of users may want to connect their digital cameras or DVD camcorders for example, directly onto the drive to download their media files.
The drive is made from high quality anodized aluminum and gives the impression of a device that will last.
The One Touch II, features a handsome, rugged aluminum enclosure with a single illuminated push-button on the faceplate. The push-button activates the automated backup process. The construction is "bulky" but by no means heavy, making it easy to transport from location to location.
You're also not likely to hear any noise from the drive itself, since it is barely audible except during intense disk activity when you can hear the odd muffled whirring noise.
The first generation of One Touch drives lacked a power switch, which meant that there was no easy way to turn the device on and off. The new design adds a switch making it easier to power up or down the drive under all possible conditions
Orchid 512MB USB Sunglass MP3 Player.Get a Sunglass, Pendrive and MP3 Player all in one.
Here comes a brand new Sunglasses with build-in MP3 Player, an amusing digital audio eyewear. It gives the wearer extreme freedom to enjoy music or receive phone calls during activities. It is wireless, nothing to dangle and tangle. Three-way adjustable earphone and flip-up lenses which let you carry on a conversation easily. Lightweight frame material offers you all-day comfort.
Fashion Sunglasses with Polaroid lens which block harmful UV radiation, comfortable design, leading fashion for this summer.
It acts as a MP3 player that store up to 120 songs; enjoy music never bored, super capability could be used as removal disk
If done right, the Gphone and not the iPhone will be the one to change the face of the wireless industry.
Apple’s iPhone, at least in its initial release, has not upended(turnover) the wireless industry, particularly in the United States, as much as hoped. The iPhone certainly has pushed the cell phone envelope a bit further, and it hints at what’s to come, but so far the iPhone is still playing by the rules.Google, if it enters the fray as expected with its so-called Gphone, may truly rewrite the rules. What it plans to do is an ongoing topic of discussion and speculation on the Internet, not unlike Apple’s plans for the iPhone before its release at the end of June. The Gphone may be announced as early as next week and may debut as early as the first quarter of 2008. The anticipation will be as fervent as it was for the iPhone, without the Steve Jobs showmanship.
gphone concept is to editGoogle in positioning itself for the future. It’s conquered search on the Internet, revolutionized advertising with AdSense, and opened the door for the development and acceptance of Web applications like Gmail and Gcal. At the same time Google is leading a media renaissance with the acquisitions of YouTube, Blogger, Picasa.Google could sit tight and count its pennies, not unlike what Microsoft did during its heyday, or it could push forward, beyond the desktop and into the mobile world, where content and information are meeting voice communication and the cell phone.It’s a natural fit. Google takes what it has pioneered on the desktop and through the browser and applies it to mobile lifestyles, providing a seamless transition for people on the go. At the same time it opens up new opportunities for search and advertising, expanding the “Googleverse” (and bottom line) even more.Unlike Apple, which positioned itself as hardware-focused and consumer-friendly with the iPhone, Google is diving much deeper into the world of telecommunications and many wonder if it plans to become a wireless carrier just like Verizon or AT&T. Google has been lobbying the U.S. government for changes in wireless policy. While it did not achieve as much as it wanted in the planning for the upcoming 700 Mhz spectrum auction in January, it did push for the fact that consumers in the U.S. can buy any phone and use it on any carrier in the future.
Google is also expected to bid on the spectrum, pledging upwards of $5 billion in an auction that may net the government between $10 billion and $12 billion. What Google plans to do with the spectrum, and how it might fit in with Gphone plans, is the focus of media and Internet speculation.
If done right, the Gphone will change the wireless industry, at least in the U.S. If not done right, the Gphone will be just another cell phone with some advanced features.
gphone concept The big rumor is that Google is working on its own operating system, which would make sense if Google is to tie all of its applications and properties together in a cell phone. Back in 2005, Google purchased the mobile software company Android, started by Danger cofounder and former president Andy Rubin. The Android/Google team supposedly has developed a Linux-based mobile OS, which one expects will integrate tightly with Google’s interests to provide a satisfying user experience.
To be truly carrier agnostic and international, the Google phone will have to support CDMA and GSM standards. Could these be built into the same phone or will there be several models available for the different carriers? Come to think of it, if Google is successful in its bid for some of the 700 Mhz spectrum, what will it do with it and how will it affect the Google phone?
The Google phone most certainly will support Wi-Fi and most likely 3G for wireless data transfers. Apple has come under fire for not supporting 3G immediately in the iPhone, although this is expected to change with the phone’s next release. The use of 3G also will make the Google phone attractive internationally.
Google’s Gtalk is a VoIP service, allowing people to hold phone conversations over the Internet. Many are hoping and praying that the Google phone will support Internet telephony, either through Gtalk or maybe even Skype.
While larger-screen cell phones have been around for many years, the release of the iPhone has drawn attention to an elegant, crisp display that measures a generous 3 inches by 2 inches, eclipsing all cell displays to date. With the amount of data expected to be accessed on a Google phone, it would be stupid not to include a large quality display.
gphone with keyboardPeople are split on the subject of input. Should the Google phone have a touch screen interface like the iPhone, should it have a tiny QWERTY keyboard like a BlackBerry, should it have a stylus/touch interface like a PDA, or should it have a slide-out keyboard found on newer cell phone models?
No matter which direction Google goes, somebody will be unhappy. What Google should keep in mind is this: make input as easy and enjoyable for the user as possible. Remember: People will be interacting with the Google phone in many ways, accessing and using a large amount of data, and creating content, so crummy input will severely impair the device.It also has a good fun stuff.......The iPhone sports a 2 megapixel camera. Google should at least match this, or maybe go one better if it’s feasible cost-wise. One way Google could differentiate its camera from others is not through megapixels but through image stabilization, which is now found on many point-and-shoot cameras and high-end lenses for digital cameras. Camera shake is prevalent in cell phone cameras — especially, it seems, on the iPhone — and including IS would do wonders to minimize shaky, soft, and slightly blurred images.Video cameras on cell phones are nice to have, and are becoming more relevant in the era of YouTube. But cell phone video cameras suck. The “film” is grainy and its hard to do anything with the content other than watch it on the phone. A cell phone that could shoot 640 x 480 video, in an acceptable standard (like H.264), and allow people to do something with the content (email, download to a computer, upload to YouTube) would usher in a new wave of mobile content development.Finally, the Google phone must include GPS, which is another complaint of the iPhone. The iPhone uses Google Maps, a nice-to-have application that falls short of being truly useful without GPS capabilities. Imagine GPS on the Google phone: Addresses in Gmail or in Gcal are automatically mapped and plotted for real-time travel. Another benefit of using GPS is the coming of location-based services and proximity-based notifications.There’s been very little speculation about the Google phone having a built in MP3 music player and video-playback features like the iPhone and iPod. Music playback is not unlikely, and one can be certain that YouTube will be built into the phone. Whether it can play other video is uncertain.
There’s no doubt that Google will showcase its suite of applications and properties: its many varieties of Search, Gmail, Gcal, Gtalk, Gchat, Documents and Spreadsheets (part of the so-called Goffice), Google Groups, Google Notebook, Google Maps (and maybe even Google Earth), YouTube, Blogger, Picasa, and so on.
But let’s hope that Google doesn’t go all “Googlely” on us. In other words, promote the “Googleverse” as much as possible but leave the Gphone platform open for third party developers, something that the iPhone lacks. If someone wants to use AOL’s Instant Messenger or Yahoo Chat instead of or in addition to Gchat, let them download and install applications so the phone truly fits their needs.
Google needs to be smart. It has an opportunity here to redefine the relationship between a mobile device, applications, and the customer experience. For the most part, mobile applications today are just extensions of desktop programs. Google should take the opportunity to rethink and tweak its applications to work well in mobile and desktop settings.
gphone gmailGmail and Gcal, as previously noted, can integrate more closely with Google Maps when people are mobile.
The digital camera application, Picasa, should not only upload photos directly to Picasa but also be flexible enough to upload to non-Google properties such as flickr. Picasa might also provide a few rudimentary editing and image manipulation tools.
The digital video camera application, whatever it may be called, should also upload directly to Google’s YouTube and maybe even supply rudimentary editing tools as well.
By the way, editing — cutting and pasting on a cell phone — should be as easy as possible because people will be moving information between all sorts of Google applications, including Google Groups and Google Notebook. Cutting and pasting is currently not available on the iPhone.
To be truly revolutionary, the Google phone should play nice with the other kids, especially in a social setting. Not everybody is using Google’s social network, Dodgeball; in fact, many people use more than one social network — MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Bebo, Twitter — and these should be available on the Gphone through third party developers. Google is rumored to be working on a social aggregator as well, which could certainly work on the phone.
So what if Google doesn’t deliver the right Gphone? What if it has only some of the features and functions discussed above? The Gphone could still revolutionize the wireless industry, but not by itself.
What if Google and Apple are in cahoots? Google’s Eric Schmidt already sits on Apple’s board of directors. And there’s cozy integration between Google and Apple in the iPhone, AppleTV, and in iLife ‘08. Could Google and Apple — two outsiders — take on the wireless industry and change it? Lets find out, as soon as Google delivers the Gphone.
The eagerly awaited Sony Ericsson K850i should have been the best camera phone ever, with a 5 megapixel camera, xenon flash, autofocus & automatic lens cover. But problems with the keypad and camera mean that we can't in all honesty recommend it.
Sony Ericsson's Cyber-Shot™ range of phones have been a massive hit. The K800i quickly gained a reputation as the best camera phone on the market; the K810i changed the styling but not much else; the K850i is the one that moves the technology forward to the next stage, with its 5 megapixel camera and high-speed 3G (HSDPA).
First, the looks. Looks like Sony Ericsson were determined to restyle the phone. It's definitely less bricklike in its looks, and it's slimmed down a lot since the K800i days, which is a welcome change. It has a funky blue gizmo on the front and side, which you may or may not like (tip - buy the "Velvet Blue" model pictured and not the hideous "Luminous Green" option.) Now a word about the keypad design. We're really happy to see that Sony Ericsson have finally dumped the horrible joystick that marred both the K800i and K810i but whose idea was it to position the navigation pad in the middle of the keypad so that it overlaps the buttons? And why the small buttons when everyone knows that bigger is better? Grr! And why have Sony Ericsson introduced touch-sensitive keys that everyone hates? We have to say it: we hate the keypad!
OK, so let's talk about the camera. This is tricky. On paper, the K850i is clearly way ahead of the competition. It has high quality Cyber-Shot optics. It has a whopping 5 megapixel resolution. It has a xenon flash (superior to the LED flashes on other camera phones). It has autofocus (to keep your subject sharp) and an automatic lens cover that fixes the problem that the K800i had with the lens cover opening by itself. The camera also has a BestPic™ feature which can automatically take nine photos in a second, so that you can then choose which one to keep. There's also a picture stabiliser, which helps to reduce camera shake. A new switch on the side of the phone lets you switch easily between camera modes, much like in a real digital camera. Used carefully, the K850i can take pictures that improve on the K800i and are even better than the Nokia N95.
Why then is the camera the thing that most of our user reviews have complained about most? Read the reviews below for yourself: there are a lot of disappointed Sony Ericsson fans who have upgraded to the K850i only to find that they end up with badly exposed or totally black pictures. The problem, we suspect, lies with the flash. The design of the flash makes it very easy to place your fingers in the wrong place and completely mess up the flash, resulting in a dark picture. To avoid this you need to hold the edge of the phone (not the best way to hold a camera steady). But we suspect that there's more than this behind the problem, and that the flash itself may have fundamental problems. Whether these can be fixed by firmware releases, we don't know, but for us, a product whose unique selling point is potentially flawed is a fundamentally flawed product. For this reason, we'd recommend that you stick with the K800i or K810i or try the Nokia N95.
Anyway, moving on to the phone's other features, the display is a very high quality TFT ultra-high resolution screen and is very large at 2.4 inches. The media player is fully featured, despite not being a Walkman phone. There's also an FM radio equipped with RDS. MP3 and AC ringtones are supported.
The K850i is also the first of the Cyber-Shots to support accelerated 3G (HSDPA), which enables you to access the web and download files at broadband speeds. Nice to see that feature available to Sony Ericsson users at last. As this is a 3G phone, video calling is enabled too, and the video quality is pretty good, using a front-facing second camera.
Connectivity is excellent with full support for Bluetooth and USB, so it's possible to listen to music on a wireless headset and making it very easy to transfer music files between phone and PC. Battery life is pretty good, with a quite high powered battery to power the big screen and 3G. The built-in memory is just 40 Mbytes, but this is expandable to 4 Gbytes with a Memory Stick Micro™, and there's also support for the microSD™ format cards too.
So, in conclusion, the K850i is a 5 star phone that fails to live up to expectation. The flawed keypad design and problems that people are experiencing with the camera mean that we cannot recommend the K850i.
Serial ATA is the way to go! The transition from SATA to IDE drives has more than 50% complete in the market. All power supplies now come with the SATA power connectors. Most motherboards now have built-in SATA controllers. Most of them even provide SATA cables.SATA hard drives are faster, use smaller cables, and cost about the same as the IDE drives now. These have made the choice easier. Half to one year ago, this was not quite clear.
Normal hard drives like we are all used to using are Parallel ATA (PATA). There is a new standard called Serial ATA which boosts transfer speeds up to 150MBs [and up to 300MB/s bursts with SATA2 technology) as opposed to a max of 133MBs with parallel interface. The SATA standard also improves airflow in the case because wide ribbons are no longer needed and a somewhat thin compact cable is used instead. Additionally, SATA2 offers a few features like Native Command Queuing, eSATA and other. However - using SATA means you will need a SATA controller, a SATA drive, and a SATA power cable/adapter (often not included on power supplies yet). The actual speed improvement of SATA vs PATA is not much noticeable with current drives unless you are talking about the high end SATA drives using RPMs higher than 7200 which can burst through a wider channel than PATA. If you are building an average/upper end system there is currently no pressing reason to go SATA unless you are building for the future. PATA standard is slowly dying out and high-end motherboards stop even including PATA support for hard drives, they still include one, though, for CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drives that are still in their majority use PATA interface.
However, be careful in where you buy. Some manufacturers have restrictions on how warranty is done with OEM hard drives. Some of them only honor the three-year warranty if they are purchased from an authorized distributor or registered reseller.
There is only a small price difference among 80, 120 and even 160 giga hard drives. It is suggested getting as large a hard drive as possible if you don't care to spend $10 or $20 more for 20 or 60-80GB more space! That's cheap! Especially consider a 8 or 12GB hard drive used to cost $120 only a few years ago.
If you are working with a limited budget a 80GB or 160GB drive is plenty for many people! However, nowadays people buy 320GB more often because this size offers the best price per Gigabyte for now.
Speed of today's hard drives are around 7200 RPM (that is rotations per minute). Previous generation offered 5400 RPM and this speed is becoming rare for desktop drives but is a new feature for notebook hard drives. Hard drives with 7200RPM is a good choice today. Raptors (a special model of Western Digital) offer up to 10,000 RPM and are very fast SATA drives, though they are a bit pricey for a regular customer but a must for a performance PC.
Hard drives can be noisy, they rotate faster than previously. However, each manufacturer has their own technology to reduce the sound. Some work better than others. When choosing a hard drive look for special notes attributed to reduced noise in the premium models. A low noise hard drive is worth its extra price in the long term.
Many new PATA and SATA hard drives offer a bigger cache than usually. Older hard drives were offering 2MB-4MB and new generation is offering 8MB-16MB of internal memory in the hard drive itself. This "cache" memory is a buffer for recently read information and if the file is read sequentially then hard drive can simply send out data from the buffer rather than re-reading it again.
Ultra DMA EIDE is a fast technology, with an average access time of 9-12ms. (Ultra DMA is another name for ATA such as ATA66/100/133 on PATA) In comparison, SCSI II (often also referred as Ultra or narrow SCSI) hard drives typically have an average access time of 8ms-9.5ms. In our opinion it is not worth the extra money to go with SCSI II. The standard PATA drives using ATA100/133 speeds are just fine for most applications. You can also get a small boost by using the new SATA standard. Some SATA drives using high RPMs may have better access times as well (compared to PATA). SCSI is considered a professional hardware and is much more expensive than SATA or PATA solutions, also, it takes a bit more effort to install SCSI and make it all work.
RAID can be used either to increase drive performance(RAID 0), improve data integrity (RAID 1), or some of both (RAID 10). For RAID you need 2 or more similar drives and a RAID Controller which can either be in the form of a card, integrated motherboard feature, or software (server operating systems). Those looking for extra performance, and those doing large applications such as Database/Server work are encouraged to look into these Redundant Arrays of Independent Disks. RAID controllers exist for both EIDE & SCSI. More likely than not that every motherboard with a price tag of $80 and above will have some sort of on-board RAID capability for SATA drives.
Most common among users is the RAID 0. You would need 2 drives of the same size (hopefully of the same model) and capability to run RAID on your hardware. "RAID 0" writes a half of data on one drive and another half on the other drive. Thus, it takes nearly half the time to record or read data in such a setup. Problem is when one drive fails then the data on the second hard drive becomes unusable and, thus, loss of one hard drive results in a total loss of all information.
The solution to RAID 0 lack of redundancy problem is to feature a third hard drive that will record byte differences and the ability to easily recover data if any of the 3 hard drives fail becomes possible. This is RAID 10.
Those who are afraid to lose any data even with a single drive the mirror RAID 10 comes into play. It requires 2 similar hard drives where all of them have the same data. Thus, if one drive fails then another will still have all the information.
Nevertheless, any RAID solution does not become a substitute for back-up. Best back-up drive is external that is connected during back-up and kept away from the system any other time. This is done in case of fire or water damage. Rarely a system suffers from a power failure that destroys all the components. If the back-up drive is kept in the server, it would be a toast also.
If you are serious about access speed for running databases and servers, consider using Ultra-wide SCSI III (often referred to as "wide"), which have a typical access time of 7.1-7.5ms.
Microsoft on Thursday announced it is increasing the openness of its software to appease antitrust regulators and please businesses trending toward more diverse computer systems.
Microsoft said it is making "broad-reaching changes" to its technology and business practices to enhance the ease with which its software interacts with partners, customers and competitors.
"These steps represent an important step and significant change in how we share information about our products and technologies," said Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer.
"Our goal is to promote greater interoperability, opportunity and choice for customers and developers throughout the industry by making our products more open and by sharing even more information about our technologies."
Microsoft's newly announced principles apply to all its top-selling software and fit a patent framework addressed by European courts, said Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith.
"Microsoft is taking all necessary steps to make sure we are in full compliance with European law," Smith said in a conference call.
"The interoperability announcement represents the changed legal landscape for Microsoft and the technology industry."
EU competition regulators responded with a skeptical statement that "takes note" of Microsoft's "intention" to improve the compatibility of its software with rival products but still voiced antitrust concerns.
"This announcement does not relate to the question of whether or not Microsoft has been complying with EU antitrust rules in this area in the past," the European Commission said.
The commission has long accused Microsoft of abusing its dominant market power by making software that is incompatible with products made by its rivals.
EU regulators slapped a fine of nearly 500 million euros (741 million dollars) on Microsoft in 2004 for abusing its dominant market power.
A new European Commissions investigation targets the interoperability of a broad range of software, including Microsoft's popular Office package, with rival products.
Microsoft CEO Ballmer said in a conference call that the firm is backing its words with actions, posting more than 30,000 pages of previously safeguarded software protocol information online for anyone to view.
"Today's step is certainly qualitatively and quantitatively different from any step that we as a company have taken in the past," he said.
"We realize it is committing the company not just to mere words, but to actions that will live up to these principles completely."
Microsoft said it would post thousands of additional pages of software protocols on its website in coming weeks.
The protocols, previously only available for fees, show software engineers how to enable applications to communicate and exchange data with popular Microsoft programs such as Outlook.
A test of Microsoft's move will be whether developers can mine useful nuggets from the mountain of information, said analyst Michael Cherry of private firm Directions on Microsoft.
"If we really wanted to sit down today and do something, how long would it take us? And if we have problems, who do we ask?" Cherry said.(very glad they accept their faults)
Microsoft's senior vice president of server and tools business, Bob Muglia, told AFP to expect the firm's software to be increasingly molded to work with other companies' products.
"These announcements are like McDonald's releasing the recipe for its secret sauce," said AR Communications strategic consultant Carmi Levy.
"This announcement signals that Microsoft is finally ready to commit to an entirely new business model. This is a radical shift from Microsoft's traditional bull-in-a-china-shop strategy."
Microsoft said its new principles include ensuring open connections, promoting data portability, increasing support for open connections, and fostering closer ties with the open-source community.
Open-source applications consist of software considered public property and freely available for people to use and modify.
People will be able to freely customize programs to work with Microsoft software, but if they sell applications for others to use, Microsoft will extract fees, according to Ballmer.
"In some sense we are opening up, and yet we retain valuable intellectual property rights," Ballmer said.
Blu-ray Disc (also known as Blu-ray or BD) is an optical disc storage media format. Its main uses are high-definition video and data storage. The disc has the same dimensions as a standard DVD.The name Blu-ray Disc is derived from the blue-violet laser used to read and write this type of disc. Because of its shorter wavelength (405 nm), substantially more data can be stored on a Blu-ray Disc than on the DVD format, which uses a red (650 nm) laser. A Blu-ray Disc can store 50 GB, almost six times the capacity of a DVD.Blu-ray was developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association, a group of companies representing consumer electronics, computer hardware, and motion picture production.
WAL-MART, the largest U.S. retailer, said it would phase out the sales of HD DVD offerings and exclusively offer high-definition Blu-ray hardware and DVDs by the middle of this year.Wal-Mart's rejection of HD DVD is a sign that Blu-ray is catching on with retailers. Best Buy earlier this week said it would recommend users to buy Blu-ray products, though it would continue offering HD DVD products. Movie rental chains Netflix and Blockbuster recently abandoned HD DVD in favor of Blu-ray DVD offerings.Six of eight major movie studios publish Blu-ray DVDs, including Walt Disney, Fox, Lionsgate, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Sony and Warner Bros. Only two major movie studios, Paramount Home Entertainment and Universal Studios Home Entertainment, publish in the HD DVD format.The Blu-ray format has also seen a spate of victories in the gaming and consumer electronics industries, with companies like Philips adopting the format over HD DVD.
Blu-ray supporters include Sony, Panasonic and Samsung, while Toshiba, Microsoft and Intel are among the companies supporting HD DVD.
Its an agreement made,that all films released by MOTION PICTURES,WARNERS BROS.,COLUMBIA PICTURES WILL BE IN BLU RAY DISC,replacing DVD
German automobile manufacturer BMW has installed the Active Cruise Control system in its 5 and 6 Series cars, which automatically stops the vehicle to avert an accident without having to use the brakes.The system uses a radar beam to constantly measure the distance to the vehicles in front of it. A driver can set the desired speed and distance to be maintained from the car in front, and then sit back and do next to nothing.Once activated, the system enables the car to drive on its own, with the only exception that the driver needs to control the steering. It can slow the vehicle a complete stop when necessary, and later scoot back up to the set speed as soon as traffic allows.The system breaks the car even when someone veers across three lanes to cut you off.
A camera hidden behind the rear-vision mirror reads white or yellow lines on the road. Just in case the system senses that the driver is veering out of his lane, it vibrates the steering wheel to alert him about the same.
The only time when the driver will have to break is when there is no car in front of the vehicle. To get going again, all the driver is required to do is to hit the "resume" button.
Technology reaching heights,we have rolling keyboard,piano,electronic gadgets.etc now to world of
ROLL UP TV using OLED TECH
Roll up TV is a developing technology, in which a television screen or computer display is modified to display on a paper thin surface that can be rolled up and stored. The display uses organic LED (OLED) technology, which is highly energy efficient without sacrificing image quality.The electroluminescent and photoconductive properties of the thin film of organic chemicals a fraction of an inch thick, turn an electronic signal into a television picture. Flexible roll up displays are not yet available in the consumer market.....................
Many companies like Sony,Samsung,Toshiba,etc. are in research..........................
MOSTLY EXPECTED TO REACH THE MARKET IN SPAN OF 3 Yrs.
Google's expected partnership with Nokia for a WiFi device could be seen as a bet on the trend of more communities installing wireless Web connections.
World's largest cellphone maker Nokia has tied up with Google to facilitate web search on its products, even as it launched models offering new services, moves that could consolidate its leadership position.
The integration will begin in select markets on Nokia N96, Nokia N78, Nokia 6210 Navigator and Nokia 6220 classic. Google search will be extended to additional models in the future.
Ultimately, Nokia will make Google search available to its customers in over 100 countries around the world, serving mobile owners speaking more than 40 languages.
Nokia also is talking to other companies about incorporating their Internet communication software onto the device, according to The Wall Street Journal.
ddr3 ram started rocking,but new version pulled it down
Don’ t think about the ddr 3 ram. Don’t worry about the reported Windows Vista 3GB ram bug either wherein only Windows Vista 64bit can run ram above the 3GB threshold (4Gb of Ram on Windows 32bit will only show 3GB ram); instead, worry about getting 8GB of ReadyBoost as soon as possible to make your Windows Vista rock.
DDR3 ram may be faster than ReadyBoost overall but for non-sequential quick information access, ReadyBoost would definitely make your experience so much better.
Microsoft is releasing on June 22 a Windows Vista update which enables Windows Vista to fully utilize 8GB or more of SD cards which could all be used for ReadyBoost. Also, improvements in SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) and SDIO (Secure Digital Input-Output) are included in the update as well.
Sandisk and Microsoft previously promised a partnership on building the next generation of SD cards and hopefully this coming update may allow these cards to run perfectly; though a Sandisk Vista patch could easily be released.
Nevertheless, this update would make vendors develop higher capacity SD cards for the growing market of Windows Vista.
well they r also new motherboards that support 8gb ram of 667MHz
even mac OS moves on 8gb ram...............
Irish phonology varies from dialect to dialect; there is no standard pronunciation of the language. Irish phonology has been studied as a discipline since the late 19th century, with numerous researchers publishing descriptive accounts of dialects from all regions where the language is spoken. More recently, theoretical linguists have also turned their attention to Irish phonology, producing a number of books, articles, and doctoral theses on the topic. One of the most important aspects of Irish phonology is the fact that almost all consonants appear in pairs, with one member of each pair being "broad" and the other "slender". Broad consonants are velarized, that is, the back of the tongue is pulled back and slightly up in the direction of the soft palate while the consonant is being articulated. Slender consonants are palatalized, which means the tongue is pushed up toward the hard palate during the articulation. The contrast between broad and slender consonants is crucial in Irish, because the meaning of a word can change if a broad consonant is substituted for a slender consonant or vice versa. Irish shares a number of phonological characteristics with its nearest linguistic relatives, Scottish Gaelic and Manx, as well as with Hiberno-English...............
India's software revenues from exports are seen crossing $40 billion in FY08, says National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM).
In FY08, the total software and services revenues, including domestic market, is seen rising more than 33 percent to reach $64 billion.
Earlier, it had estimated software services revenues to rise 24 percent to 27 percent to $49 billion to $50 billion in the year to March 2008. While NASSCOM announcing the key findings of the Strategic Review 2008, it expressed that positive market indicators and a strong track record strongly support the optimism of the industry in achieving its aspired target of $60 billion in software and services exports and $73-75 billion in overall software and services revenues, by FY2010.
The Strategic Review 2008 will be formally released at the NASSCOM's upcoming conference - India Leadership Forum, scheduled from February 13-15th 2008 in Mumbai.
Commenting on the key findings of the Strategic Review 2007, Lakshmi Narayanan, Chairman NASSCOM and Vice-Chairman, Cognizant, said "The robust growth of the Indian IT-BPO industry by over 33 per cent in the current fiscal year reinforces the confidence of global corporations in India. As we move towards 2010, trends indicate that the industry is firmly poised for broad-based growth across industries and service lines, thereby strengthening India's leadership position as the primary sourcing location for software, IT infrastructure and business process- related services."
Som Mittal, President, NASSCOM said, "The Indian IT industry has been rapidly evolving; growth is on track to achieve, if not exceed the targets for 2010. The trends are interesting and findings indicate that the domestic market is poised for growth with IT spends trending upwards, particularly by the Government. We also see an increasing level of specialisation within the industry both in IT services and BPO, exhibiting signs of a rapidly maturing industry. However, there are global macro economic challenges; talent, manpower and infrastructure issues will need to be addressed and resolved, collectively. The industry has shown resilience and has taken several steps to mitigate the impact."
Express ur Feelings - Story
A Sad Love Story telling us not to be afraid of expressing our Feelings.
I have a boyfriend who grew up with me. His name is Jin. I always thought of him as a frienduntil last year, when we went to a trip from a club. I found that I fell in love with him. Before thattrip was over, I took a step and confessed my love for him. And soon, we became a pair oflovers, but we loved each other in different ways. I always concentrated on him only, but byhis side, there were so many other girls. To me, he was the only one, but to him, maybe I was just another girl…
“Jin, do you want to go watch a movie?” I asked.
“I can’t”
“Why? You need to study at home?” I felt disappointment grabbing me.
“No… I am going to meet a friend…”
He was always like that. He met girls in front of me, like it was nothing. To him, I was just a girlfriend. The word ‘love’ only came out from my mouth. Since I knew him, I had never heard him say ‘I love you’ before. To us, there weren’t any anniversaries at all. He didn’t say anything from the first day and it continued till 100 days…200days… Everyday, before we say goodbye, he would just hand me a doll, everyday, without fail. I don’t know why…
Then one day…
Me: Um, Jin, I …
Jin: What…don’t drag, just say..
Me: I love you.
Jin: ……you….um, just take this doll and go home.
That was how he ignored my ‘three words’ and handed me the doll. Then he disappeared, like he was running away. The dolls I received from him everyday, filled my room, one by one. There were many…Then one day came, my 15th year old birthday. When I got up in the morning, I pictured a party with him, and stranded myself in my room, waiting for his call. But… lunch passed, dinner passed… and soon the sky was dark… he still didn’t call. It was already tiring to look at the phone anymore. Then around 2am in the morning, he suddenly called me and woke me from my sleep. He told me to come out of the house. Still, I felt joy and I ran out happily.
Me: Jin…
Jin: Here…take this
…Again, he handed me a little doll.
Me: What’s this?
Jin: I didn’t give it to you yesterday, so I am giving it to you now. I’m going home now, bye.
Me: Wait, wait! Do you know what today is?
Jin: Today? Huh?
I felt so sad, I thought he would remember my birthday. He turned around and walked away like nothing had happen. Then I shouted… “Wait…”
Jin: You have something to say?
Me: Tell me, tell me you love me…
Jin: What?!
Me: Tell me
I put my pathetic self behind and clung on to him. But he just said simple cold words and left.
“I don’t want to say…that I love someone so easily, if you are desperate to hear it, then find someone else.”
That was what he said. Then he ran off. My legs felt numb… and I collapsed to the ground. He didn’t want to say it easily… How could he…. I felt that… Maybe he is not the right guy for me…
After that day, I stranded myself at home crying, just crying. He didn’t call me, although I was waiting. He just continued handing me a little doll every morning outside my house. That’s how those dolls piled up in my room… everyday.
After a month, I got myself together and went to school. But what made the pain resurface was that… I saw him on a street… with another girl… He had a smile on his face, one that he never showed me…as he touched the doll… I ran straight back home and looked at the dolls in my room, and tears fell… Why did he gave these to me… Those dolls are probably picked out by some other girls…In a fit of anger, I threw the dolls around. Then suddenly, the phone rang. It was him. He told me to come out to the bus stop outside my house. I tried to calm myself down and walked to the bus stop. I kept reminding myself that I am going to forget him, that… it’s going to end. Then he came into my sight, holding a big doll.
Jin: Jo, I thought you were pissed, you really came?
I couldn’t help hating him, acting like nothing had happen and joking around. Soon, he held out the doll as usual…
Me: I don’t need it.
Jin: What….why…I grabbed the doll from his hands and threw it on the road.Me: I don’t need this doll, I don’t need it anymore!! I don’t want to see a person like you again!I spitted out all the words that were inside me. But unlike other days, his eyes very shaking.
“I’m sorry” He apologized in a tiny voice. He then walked over to the road to pick up the doll…
Me: You stupid! Why are you picking up the doll?! Just throw it away!!!
But he ignored me and just went to pick the doll. Then…
Honk~ Honk~
With a loud honk, a big truck was heading towards him.
“Jin! Move! Move away!” I shouted… But he didn’t hear me, he squatted down and picked up the doll.
“Jin, move!” HONK~!! “Boom!” That sound, so terrifying.
That’s how he went away from me. That’s how he went away without even opening his eyes to say one word to me.
After that day, I had to go through everyday with guiltiness and the sadness of losing him… And after spending two months like a crazy person… I took out the dolls.
Those were the only gifts he left me since the day we started going out. I remembered the days I spent with him and started to count the days… when we were in love…
“One…two… three…” That was how… I started to count the dolls…
“Four hundred and eighty four… four hundred and eighty five…”
It all ended with 485 dolls.
I then started to cry again, with a doll in my arms. I hugged it tightly, then suddenly…
“I love you~, I love you~” I dropped the dolls, shocked.
“I….lo..ve…you??” I picked up the dolls and pressed its stomach.
“I love you~ I love you~” It can’t be! I pressed all the dolls’ stomach as it piled on the side.
“I love you~”
“I love you~”
“I love you~”
Those words came out non-stop. I…love you… Why didn’t I realize that….That his heart was always by my side, protecting me. Why didn’t I realize that he love me this much… I took out the doll under the bed and pressed it’s stomach, that was the last doll, the one that fell on the road. It had his blood stain on it. The voice came out, the on that I was missing so much…
“Jo…Do you know what today is? We’ve been loving each other for 486 days. Do you know what 486 is? I couldn’t say I love you…. Um… since I was too shy… If you forgive me and take this doll, I will say that I love you… everyday… till I die… Jo… I love you…”
The tears came flowing out of me. Why? Why? I asked god, why do I only know about all this now? He can’t be by my side, but he loved me until his last minute…
For that… and for that reason… to me… it became courage… to live a beautiful life….
Yahoo Inc's board will reject Microsoft Corp's $44.6 billion takeover bid after concluding the unsolicited offer undervalues the slumping Internet pioneer.
The decision could provoke a showdown between two of the world's most prominent technology companies with Internet search leader Google Inc looming in the background. Leery of Microsoft expanding its turf on the Internet, Google already has offered to help Yahoo avert a takeover and urged antitrust regulators to take a hard look at the proposed deal.
If the world's largest software maker wants Yahoo badly enough, Microsoft could try to override Yahoo's board by taking its offer - originally valued at $31 per share - directly to the shareholders. Pursuing that risky route probably will require Microsoft to attempt to oust Yahoo's current 10-member board.
Alternatively, Microsoft could sweeten its bid. Many analysts believe Microsoft is prepared to offer as much as $35 per share for Yahoo, which still boasts one of the Internet's largest audiences and most powerful advertising vehicles despite a prolonged slump that has hammered its stock.
Yahoo's board reached the decision after exploring a wide variety of alternatives during the past week, according to the person who spoke to the news agency. The person didn't want to be identified because the reasons for Yahoo's rebuff won't be officially spelled out until Monday morning.
Microsoft and Yahoo declined to comment on the decision.
google saved, terry semel to continue as chairman of yahooooooooooo
Tata Motors plans to introduce its ultra-cheap Nano car to the European market in four years' time, the head of compact car projects at Tata Motors told German magazine Focus.
"We will develop a successor model in four years time, which will meet the Euro 5 emission regulations and the crash standards in Europe,"
The main target was to reduce the car's fuel consumption to three from currently five litres per 100 kilometres (62.5 miles)
Tata Motors unveiled the $2,500 Nano, the world's cheapest car, in January and said the new four-seater would roll out later in the year from its factory in West Bengal.
Tata has said it will initially produce about 250,000 Nanos and expects eventual annual demand of 1 million units. Tata has said it would focus on the home market for two to three years before considering exporting the Nano to countries in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia.
Global car makers, initially sceptical that Tata could produce such a low-cost car, are now scurrying to make their own versions to meet the needs of cost-conscious consumers in emerging economies such as China, India and Russia.
Yahoo started in 1995 by JERRY YANG & DAVID FILO, Ph.d students of Stanford University, is booming GLOBAL INTERNET SERVICES company.According to the latest survey yahoo has been the most visited websites of internet with more than 130 million unique users per month.Operating at Revenues of $6.7billions.Microsoft and Yahoo pursued merger discussions in 2005, 2006, and 2007, that were all ultimately unsuccessful. At the time, analysts were skeptical about the wisdom of a business combination. On 1 February 2008, after its friendly takeover offer was rebuffed by Yahoo, Microsoft made an unsolicited takeover bid to buy Yahoo for US$44.6 billion dollars in cash and stock.Proposed to be "The online advertising market is growing at a fast pace, from over $40 billion in 2007 to nearly $80 billion by 2010"
MICROSOFT PLAN:A combined Microsoft and Yahoo could pose a real challenge to Google overseas and in hot new ad markets such as mobile Internet.Microsoft said it had identified four areas that would generate at least USD 1 billion in annual synergies for the combined entity. Microsoft 'bear hug'(Considered as the biggest bid in tech sector) for Yahoo could create Google-beater.
Yahoo Inc employees fretted that their fun-loving culture could get quashed by the comparatively stodgy software behemoth.TERRY SEMEL steps down as yahoo chairman....
do u think microsoft should accquire yahoo???wats yahoo's reply for software giant's bid???will this change the fate of google???
