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Saturday, December 27, 2008

Top 10 of World Wide Everything...! Part # 2

Here you can find Top 10 of Everything listed on a single click. To make it easy to browse, I made it into parts and the rest of the Top 10 listed categories are following on the way.

Here is the part #2...
















Hope you find it intresting !... keep reading for more Top of the Tops.
Next coming list includes, Top Vacation spots, Automobiles, Business & Consumer products etc.,

Please do not forget to Send a mail or Comment / Suggestions or e mail to: telugumoviesjack@gmail.com

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

.NET Improvements in Service Pack 1 for VS 2008 and .NET FX 3.5

Performance improvements in Service Pack 1 for VS 2008 and .NET FX 3.5

We just announced the release of Service Pack 1 for VS 2008 and .NET FX 3.5. A major push for this release was continuing to enhance performance and reliability, as Soma noted in his most recent blog entry. I want to take a minute to drill into the major performance improvements you will find in this release of Visual Studio.
Framework Performance Enhancements

NET FX (CLR):

· New .NET Framework Client Profile - a smaller .NET Framework redist optimized for .NET client applications. The new redist weighs in at around 28 MB, enabling a smaller, faster, more reliable installation experience for .NET client applications on machines that do not already have the .NET Framework installed. The framework was refactored so that it now includes system core libraries and components (including LINQ), language support, XML, Windows Forms, WPF, Deployment, Web Services remoting and serialization, data access, and a few others. See the BCL Team blog for the full list and more details.

· Client applications should also see an improvement in cold startup scenarios especially for rich graphics WPF-based apps.We also made improvements to the working set of Ngen’d images, which also helps cold startup scenarios .

· Support for Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) on Vista and WS 2008. ASLR uses fast kernel mode virtual base address relocation to improve both memory layout and security.

WPF:

· Cold startup up to 40% faster, depending on the scenario and application size, without the need to modify any of your code.

· Additional support for text and graphics to deliver better performance. For example, effects like DropShadow and Blur were initially implemented using software rendering; with SP1 these are now implemented using hardware acceleration.

· Faster text rendering, mostly when used in specific scenarios such as VisualBrushes, DrawingBrushes, and Viewport2DVisual3D.

· Scrolling improvements with Container Recycling.

· Improved working set using TreeView virtualization

· A much improved WriteableBitmap that enables real-time bitmap updates from a software surface.

Jossef Goldberg’s blog is a great source of information on WPF performance tips and tricks. His detailed list of SP1 performance improvements is posted here.

WCF:

· Support for asynchronous HTTP module/handlers on IIS 7.0. Supports better thread management and improved throughput for systems with heavy backend processing requirements. (See Wenlong’s blog for the technical details.)

Windows Forms:

· General performance improvements, mostly due to underlying improvements in the CLR.

Data handling:

· Improved throughput in ADO.NET scenarios (2x+ requests/second for some scenarios).

· Performance improvements in XLINQ over XML containing many small elements.
Visual Studio Performance Enhancements

Visual Web Developer:

· Improved typing performance in the designer in complex pages (especially with MutiView control) 100x

· Fixed the issues with Switching to Design View.

· Opening Web Sites is up to 10x faster!

· Building Web Sites is up to 3x faster!

· Opening Web Forms is up to 2x faster!

· General performance improvements in startup and shutdown.

· Plus lots of new features and fixes (see the team blog).

Visual Basic .NET:

· Performance improvements in Intellisense and listing errors.

· Improvements in compiler and build throughput (most notably for projects with large amounts of XML comments in a single file)

Visual C#:

· Up to 2x improvements in bringing up Intellisense with a large number of types.

XAML Editing:

· Improved designer startup and form load time.

Debugging:

· Improvements in symbol and source downloading and the ability to cancel out of symbol download from a slow symbol server.

· Fix to a performance problem in the debugger when you are stepping through source code that is downloaded from Microsoft Reference Source Server that was caused by downloading the source files again for each breakpoint. Previously released as KB944899. (Please uninstall this KB before installing the SP.)

XML Editing:

· Loading XML is up to 3x faster!

· Improved editing performance.
Team Foundation Server:

In this Service Pack, a large part of the focus was to improve the performance and scalability of Team Foundation Server. Key changes include faster synchronization with Active Directory, improved check-in concurrency, a faster way to create source tree branches, online index rebuilding for less maintenance downtime and better support for checking very large sets of code.

TFS improved the number of projects a server can support. You should experience better scalability of the server, as well as the client experience when connecting to a server with a large number of projects on it.

· Opening Source Controlled Solutions is up to 2.5x faster!

· Deleting files is up to 2x faster!

· Improved Work Item performance (loading, saving, querying).

· Improved UI navigation performance.

· Improved performance working with TFS work items in Excel and Project

· Improved performance and reliability of the Visual SourceSafe migration tool.

· See Brian Harry’s BLOG for more about the Service Pack Release and Team Foundation Server improvements and scalability.
Other:

And, of course, there are lots of new features including the new Data Entity Framework, ADO.NET data services, support for SQL Server 2008’s new features, updated components for Visual Basic and Visual C++ (including a MFC-based Office 2007 Ribbon), and new designer capabilities that improve performance indirectly by improving developer productivity.



Some of these performance fixes were previously released as hot fixes (see our blog on the beta). If you installed some of those hot fixes you may need to remove them before installing the Service Patch. See the release notes on the download page for more information.

Should you encounter any performance problems we’ve missed, please continue to let us know here on the blog or by e-mail to devperf@Microsoft.com.

Secunia Personal Software Inspector 1.0 - will keep your software up to date.

Secunia Personal Software Inspector 1.0 - application
that will help you keep your software up to date.

The Secunia PSI works by examining files on your computer (primarily .exe, .dll, and .ocx files). These files contain non-specific meta information provided by the software vendor only. This data is the same for all users, and originates from the installed programs on your computer - never from their configuration. Please read the privacy statement available at the bottom of this page and through the Secunia PSI application for more details about how information from your computer is used by Secunia.

simple_overview

After examining all the files on your local hard drive(s), the collected data is sent to Secunia's servers, which match the data against the Secunia File Signatures engine (https://psi.secunia.com/) to determine the exact applications installed on your system.

This information can then be used to provide you with a detailed report of the missing security related updates for your system.

Purpose of the Secunia PSI

The Secunia PSI is an invaluable tool for you to use when assessing the security patch state of software installed on your system. It constantly monitors your system for insecure software installations, notifies you when an insecure application is installed, and even provides you with detailed instructions for updating the application when available.

It is NOT the purpose of the Secunia PSI to detect whether your system has already been compromised or if local changes, settings, or missing requirements could cause the Secunia PSI to report incorrect results. The Secunia PSI relies on the meta-data of executables and library files. The Secunia PSI does NOT conduct an integrity check of the individual files, rather, it checks whether a specific program is vulnerable according to the reported version numbers and not whether the files have been compromised or replaced by other users or programs.

The Secunia PSI is not a replacement for other security measures such as anti-virus or personal firewalls, the Secunia PSI is a great supplement to other security measures such as anti-virus and personal firewalls as it helps preventing exploitation of often overlooked exposures.

Additionally, it is important to understand that the process of identifying insecure software installations on any system involves many different factors and, in rare cases, may result in incorrect detections. Should you encounter such a situation, please send us your feedback and all relevant information at support@secunia.com.

Privacy Statement

Communication


All communication between your system (The Secunia PSI) and the Secunia servers (psi.secunia.com) is conducted via an encrypted connection (SSL). Effectively protecting against eavesdropping of the data and the results being exchanged with Secunia.

Data


All data sent to Secunia is treated as confidential.

The Personal Software Inspector collects unique text strings and data about executable files and installed applications on your system, including hostname and langroup, and Microsoft KB numbers. This data is analysed by the Secunia File Signature engine (psi.secunia.com) to determine the exact applications installed on your system. No other data is collected from your system.

This can in turn be used to provide you with a detailed report about the specific missing security related updates on your system.

The data sent to Secunia is non-personal data only. The data is generic, standardised, and originates from installed programs on your computer.

All data will be deleted automatically no later than 12 months after you terminate using the program or immediately after you cancel your registration.

Secunia will not share or sell specific data about individuals with any third parties. Only aggregate statistical which can't be related directly to any individuals will be published and shared with third parties.

Download Here


Read More...

Over 70% of youth never heard of globalisation

New Delhi: A section of Indian youth are still conservative in making friends outside their religious circles and more than a two-third have never heard about globalisation, said a report released here.

The report Indian Youth in a Transforming World: Attitudes and Perception was released by Centre of the Studies of the Developing Societies (CSDS) yesterday in collaboration with Konard-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS), an international organisation with German roots.

The report said that only 29 per cent of the Indian youth have ever heard about globalisation while 66 per cent of them still consider alcohol as taboo. About 48 per cent said they have strong faith in the democratic values while 27 per cent were indifferent to these issues.

Presiding the event, noted psephologist Yogendra Yadav from CSDS said "the survey exposes the underlying attitude of the youth and tries to study political and social values prevalent among the India's

youth population."

Family remains a key institution among the Indian youth with parental authority continuing to be crucial, with 60 per cent saying that final decision on marriage should be taken by parents.

"Family support system is invaluable." While 27 per cent of country's youth reported that they did not have friend from other gender, religion or caste.

Commenting on the fact that youth of the country is transforming but the politics

is not, Lok Sabha MP Sachin Pilot a panel member said, "India politics is also changing and we will see much transformation during the next decade."

"There is disconnection between golabalisation and the Dalit youth of this country because youths belonging to that segment of the society are still concerned about social and political security like right to vote," a panelist, Bhanwar Meghuvanshi of Dalit Adhikar Avam Ghumantu Adhikar Abhiyan from Rajashthan said.


Source : PTI

Tell a friend on Joomla, Moveable Type, Xanga, Expression Engine, FriendFeed and more…

Joomla, Moveable Type, Xanga, Expression Engine, FriendFeed, Identica

We just delivered a major upgrade! Among other things (which we shall blog about soon), you can now use Tell-a-Friend to publish to several new providers. Your users have added power to announce your content in many more networks. That should positively impact the viral possibilities of spreading your content. The new providers your users can publish to are:

Blogs/CMS: Joomla, Moveable Type, Xanga, Expression Engine

Social Networks: FriendFeed, Identi.ca

This can’t end here as there are several more networks to reach out to. We would love to hear from you which other Social Networks or Email/IM providers you consider important for us to add.

BTW, do you notice any difference in the speed of the widget?

Software Patches

Software Patch

A researcher at Technische Universiteit Eindhoven (Eindhoven, the Netherlands) has developed a software patch that can increase a car’s fuel effciency to a total fuel savings of 2.6%, without having to replace any of the parts of the car. Uploading a software patch to the car’s computer and adding one small cable suffices.

Via the patch, excess power can be used to charge the car battery. The generator can be turned off when it is inefficient for the engine to power it, which leads to reduced fuel consumption. The car can also brake electrically, generating energy that can be stored in the battery. Finally, it is possible to partly shut off the electric energy systems, such as rear-window and seat heating, for further improvement of the power supply system.

For more information, click here.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Google rolls out New Rival iPhone

Rolling out ... Google co-founders Larry Page (L) and Sergey Brin (R) wore rollerblades to the T-Mobile G1 launch / AP, Reuters

GOOGLE'S answer to the iPhone has been rolled out as the web giant makes its biggest stab yet at leaping from consumers' computers into their pockets with a device cheaper than rival Apple's.



US carrier T-Mobile introduced the widely anticipated G1 phone, made by HTC, which has a touch-sensitive screen, a computer-like keyboard, Wi-Fi connections and uses Google's new Android operating system.

Available in three colours - black, white and brown - it includes familiar Google services, such as Google Maps, Gmail and YouTube.

Like the iPhone and other "smartphones" the device is meant to broaden the appeal of web use on the go.

"If we see more mobile web usage we'll be happy," Google co-founder Sergey Brin said after arriving at the launch on roller-blades.

His company, a powerhouse in online advertising, would benefit if Android led more mobile users to spend time on the web, no matter which phone they are using.

Google is well ahead of rivals Yahoo and Microsoft in web search on computers, but it wants to use Android to ensure this dominance carries over to the phone when mobile web-surfing becomes more popular.

But while no clear mobile web winner has emerged so far, Google faces stiff competition from longer established phone players such as Nokia, Research In Motion's BlackBerry and Microsoft, as well as Apple.

Analysts saw the device as a "good first step" rather than an iPhone killer, but some expect as many as 400,000 to be sold in the US by the end of the year.

A T-Mobile executive said the estimate was "not incredible."

The first step

When it becomes available to US consumers on October 22, the G1 will sell for about $US179 ($214) - slightly cheaper than the entry-level price of $US199 ($230) for Apple's iPhone - with a two-year contract.

The G1 will be launched by T-Mobile's UK unit in November and other European countries such as Germany, Netherlands and the Czech Republic in the first quarter of 2009.

"The G1 doesn't threaten Apple now, but Android has raised the bar for competing mobile platforms. The bigger concern here is for Microsoft and Nokia if Google can win over the hearts and minds of operators and developers," said Geoff Blaber, an analyst with British firm CCS Insight.

It is not clear when Australia will see a phone running Google's Android system. 12 hours before the international unveiling of the Google phone, handset manufacturer HTC held a launch in Sydney for the Touch Pro, a product unrelated to Android.

"We have no explanation as to why Australia is not introducing the Google phone," an external HTC PR spokesperson told SmartHouse Magazine.

When asked about the Australian release, a Google spokesperson told NEWS.com.au the T-Mobile phone was just the beginning.

"Our hope is that that Android platform will spur the development of thousands of different kinds of devices. The T-Mobile G1 is just the first step.

"It's still too soon to tell what forms Android-powered devices will take, but we're excited about the possibilities this kind of open platform will bring, and the benefits that users will ultimately enjoy."

Open source

Both Google and Apple are wooing developers to create applications for their devices, but unlike Apple, which keeps a tight grip on the iPhone's hardware and operating software, Google's Android is open to be changed by outside developers.

Asked if the user interface of future Google phones would look anything like the first one, Andy Rubin, who developed Android for Google, said: "Its completely replaceable."

For example, T-Mobile US product development vice president Leslie Grandy saw the carrier selling a range of Google-powered phones in future, including more basic ones without a touch-screen or full keyboards.

The new phone features Android Market, where customers can find and download free applications to expand and personalise their phones.

Mr Grandy said the marketplace would eventually include applications that are sold for a fee.

"Because the platform is open, we think Android is somewhat future proof," Mr Rubin , Google director of mobile platforms, told the audience at the launch.

A similar strategy helped increase the buzz around Apple's second-generation iPhone, which can support more than 3000 applications available online.

Amazon.com's digital music store will be loaded on the G1, allowing users to search, download, buy and play more than six million songs, pitting it against iPhone's music player.

The competition

Android also competes with Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system, which has been solidly gaining ground.

HTC chief executive Peter Chou said his company, which has concentrated on Windows phones so far, is already planning more Android and Windows devices.

Mr Chou said he expected to have sold more than 400,000 G1 by the end of the year.

Android's biggest competitor is Symbian software, which represents 60 per cent of the smartphone market and which Nokia plans to buy out and open to other developers.

Nokia, which has about 40 per cent of the mobile phone market, has also branched into mobile web services such as mapping that compete directly with Google.

Speaking at a conference in Chicago this week, Nokia chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said he was not worried by new competition.

"The entry of Apple and Google - in fact today in a very concrete way - in mobile communications is the best possible illustration of the fact that there's a lot of possibility here," he said.

Links

For Bloggers: How to Distribute Your Blog through Amazon Kindle Store

This may come as a surprise but people do to read blogs on the go via Amazon Kindle.

kindle-blog

Amazon charges a monthly fee (around $1) per blog subscription but does offer some benefits in return. For example, Kindle subscribers are always provided with full blog articles (not excerpts) and second, Kindle will always download the entire blog content (similar to prefetching in FeedDemon) so subscribers can read blogs even while offline.

How to Get Your Blog on Amazon Kindle

Almost all famous blogs are available for subscription through Amazon Kindle but if you are just a small publisher and like to get your own blog listed on the Kindle store, here’s what you may do:

Step 1: If your current RSS feed includes advertising (like AdSense for Feeds) or you offer only partial feeds, create a new feed for your blog that is both full-text and ad-free.

Step 2: Go to Amazon.com and fill their interest form. This is the official approach but Amazon says they have a huge backlog so you never know how long will it take for Amazon to approve your blog for the Kindle store.

Step 3: Other than the official Amazon channel, you may also want to partner with Newstex. Become a content provider at Newstex by filling this form and they’ll directly work with Amazon to get your blog listed on the Kindle store.

That’s how iphoneunlocks got into the Kindle store. There’s no listing fees and Amazon will pay you 30% of the revenue per Kindle user who subscribes to your blog.

What Can Nokia do to trump Apple’s iPhone

I have been an iPhone user for almost 10 months now and have been thinking about getting a new phone. So when I started looking around for new models, I was amazed to see how none of the available phones would satisfy my requirements. Not even the super Nokia N97.



I am not sure if my usage pattern is unique but I tend to use my iPhone as a music player (podcasts mostly) more than as a communication device. My other iPhone activities would include checking emails, using Google Reader and Twitter (Oh yeah, follow me @acmhatre).

Back in 2005, Sony was the first company to introduce the concept of a walkman phone. Nokia soon followed Sony but both these companies faltered on the software and that’s the secret of iPhone’s success. What makes the iPhone so unique and loveable is not the highly responsive touch screen interface or the good looks - it’s the backbone - the iTunes software.

Unlike the half-baked software developed by Nokia and Sony, iTunes can hold its ground to be used a primary music management software so anything one does in iTunes gets synced to their iPhone. Similarly, iPhoto a great photo management tool and synching with an iPhone is a breeze. Before iPhone was introduced, nobody even talked about updating the firmware on a cell phone because it was just too difficult to be done by an average user.

I am not sure if Sony has the energy to stage a come back but I can see Nokia competing with Apple/ I am not taking about the revenue numbers or number of handsets sold. We all know that Apple is far from even competing on those grounds. I am talking about mindshare and perception based competition.

So what should Nokia do? How about Nokia using SongBird, a free and open source music management software from the Mozilla foundation to do everything that iTunes does for iPhone. It’s being positioned as an iTunes killer anyway.

Nokia, at least for its high end phones, should look into developing plug-ins that’ll allow people to manage and synchronize not only music but videos, photos and as a platform to provide firmware updates to Nokia users. Nokia needs to give its users a single point of interaction with their devices. Nokia should do negative of iPhone and do just exactly opposite. The iPhone App store is a closed environment; Nokia should open up a Symbian Appstore on SongBird and integrate it with Ovi. The solution just seems so obvious but sometimes it just is that obvious!

The writer, Aditya Mhatre, is based in Mumbai and hosts Indicast, a popular audio-video podcast show from India.


Free Office Suites for Web and Desktop

IBM offfers Lotus Symphony, a suite of free desktop applications that includes document, spreadsheet and presentation software

Google Docs is a suite of free web-based applications that lets users create, edit and upload documents, spreadsheets and presentations or create new ones from scratch

Yahoo! bought Zimbra - a start-up that specialises in online e-mail tools similar to Microsoft Exchange and Outlook, key parts of the Office family – in September . Link


IBM Lotus Symphony - Request Free CDs in India

IBM Lotus Symphony is free Office productivity suite based on OpenOffice.org and supports the ODF file formats. It includes a Word Processor, Spreadsheet and a Presentation program much like Google Docs or a starter edition of Microsoft Office - see screenshots.

ibm-lotus-symphony

Symphony software is available as a free download for Linux, Windows and Mac OS X systems but if you are using a slow internet connection, you can ask IBM to send you the Lotus Symphony installer CD for free.

Just fill in this request form and an IBM Lotus Symphony CD will delivered to your place free of cost. Valid in India only.


Monday, December 22, 2008

Creative Mobile Wallpapers Pack (240 x 320)

Creative Mobile Wallpapers Pack (240 x 320)

Creative Mobile Wallpapers Pack (240 x 320)
82 jpeg images

Friday, December 19, 2008

Cell phone money transfers going international

When online payment services like PayPal were first launched over a decade ago, the sudden and disturbing ease with which regular people could electronically transfer money between each other online was nothing less than miraculous. Not only was it faster and easier than withdrawing cash from an ATM or even doing a wire transfer, an average Joe could accept credit card payments from other users without having to invest in any sort of equipment or processing system. That phenomenon is happening all over again in the form of cash transfers via text message. If you live in a country where there's a participating carrier and banking institution that supports it, all you have to do is send an SMS to your friend in order for money to virtually change hands.

One such carrier is Vodafone, which plans to announce a partnership with Western Union today that will allow users to make international money transfers just by using their cell phones. The companies, according to the Wall Street Journal, will initially launch a pilot program in parts of the UK that will allow them to send money to friends and family in Kenya. Assuming the service is as popular as many expect it to be, Vodafone plans to expand the service to other countries as an add-on service.


This will be the first time a company has gotten into the international money transfer business using text messages, but domestic money transfers via SMS have been around for a while. Users in the Philippines and India have been transferring money domestically via cell phones for some time, and Vodafone runs a domestic money transfer service in Kenya, Tanzania, and Afghanistan called M-Pesa that now has some 4 million users.

The Chicago Tribune outlines the story of a Kenyan mother of two who normally has to travel an hour by bus to get to a money-wiring office to receive cash from her husband, but can now get the money easily by text message. "It saves time, it saves money and it is safer," she told the newspaper. Other Kenyans now depend upon M-Pesa to get paid by their employers, who no longer need to take the dangerous risk of carrying around bags of cash on payday (banks are few and far between in many rural areas).

But you don't have to live on the other side of the world in order to being playing around with mobile money transfers. Obopay, a US-based company, offers a PayPal-like service that allows users to send and receive money. However, Obopay also allows users to text message each other with virtual cash, something that PayPal doesn't offer quite yet (Update: it appears as if PayPal does offer SMS payments after all). The cool part about Obopay is that you don't need to sign up for an account in order to retrieve cash that someone has sent you—just enter your personal information and bank details for wherever you want the money transferred, and it will show up there.

Apple's new in-ear headphones set to ship in about a week

Apple In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic

Just yesterday, there were gripes about Apple's long-awaited, big-pimpin' new in-ear headphones and why they hadn't materialized. They were, after all, promised to arrive in October at the Let's Rock media event in September. This morning, however, AppleInsider brought it to our attention that orders are now being accepted via the Apple Store online, and the headphones are expected to ship in seven to 10 days.

Rumor has it that the headphones had to go back to the drawing board because Steve Jobs wasn't satisfied with the audio and build quality, despite saying in October, "I think we got it right this time." Though by no means cheap at $79, Apple's In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic include dual drivers for improved frequency response, volume and track control, and an integrated microphone for recording. Similar headphones from the likes of Shure or Audio Technica sell for about double that price and lack the remote control and mic features.

One curious detail is that Apple doesn't list the headphones as being compatible with any iPhone model—something that was confirmed to us directly by an Apple rep in September. This is apparently due to the fact the iPhones aren't designed to have the volume controlled remotely, though it seems like a firmware update could easily fix that. They are, on the other hand, fully compatible with the latest iPod classic, iPod nano, and iPod touch, however.

Whatever the delay issues might have been, Apple is now ready to sell you a pair, and should ship in plenty of time for the holidays.

AT&T now offering iPhone 3G online with at-home activation

Though rumors of in-home iPhone activations in September were quickly dashed when it was revealed that AT&T was simply offering a "pre-qualification" program, AT&T is now offering customers the chance to buy an iPhone 3G online and finish the activation process at home through iTunes.


If you'd rather not leave the house to pick up an iPhone 3G, AT&T has you covered.

A banner on AT&T's wireless website promotes online buying of an iPhone 3G for the holidays. Clicking though leads to a page to select an iPhone 3G model, and even offers free overnight shipping. It appears as though the offer only applies to new customers, however. Those with existing AT&T accounts are still directed to "purchase it at a store near you."

Though Gadgetell broke the news early this morning, the blog later posted an update that AT&T representatives were giving conflicting information about the offer. We verified with AT&T that this is the real deal, however. "The device ships activated," AT&T spokesperson Brad Mays told Ars. "But a customer must accept terms and conditions over the phone with customer care or online at att.com—the same process for other phones purchased online—after which he or she will simply sync the device with iTunes to use it."

Since the iPhone requires a contract and activation via a wireless carrier in most countries, Apple is not selling the iPhone online except in Hong Kong and the UK. In the US, AT&T is now the only way to get an iPhone 3G from the comfort of your own home.

Buzz up!

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Santa Claus World Championship


Participants of the 'Clau Wau - Santa Claus World Championship' pose in front of a 60 metres/197ft. high hot-air balloon in the village of Samnaun in the eastern Swiss Alps November 29, 2008. Some15 international teams are competing in events such as chimney climbing and donkey racing at the championship. [Agencies]

OrbLive streams live television to your iPhone

OrbLive for iPhone

Here at Gear Live, we’ve been big fans of Orb for quite a while. Back in the original days, they made an app that was only available on jailbroken phones that we really liked - we just knew it needed to run at 3G speeds to be useful when on the go. The time has finally come, though, as OrbLive has hit the App Store. To back up for a moment, Orb allows you to access files and media on your home computer while on the go. This means that any music on your home computer can now be played on your iPhone from wherever you are. Videos too. Oh, and if you have a TV tuner in your computer, Orb will even allow you to tap into that and watch live television on the go as well. Isn’t that off the hook?

The one caveat for the time being is that the Orb PC software is only available for Windows - but the Orb folks are promising that versions for Mac and Linux are coming soon. We definitely recommend this one - grab the full version of OrbLive for $9.99, or if you are on the fence, there is also a demo version, OrbLive Free.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

i unlocked my phone while i was in india a friend di...

Iphone unlock in India

G1 Hack Watch: Garage Door Opener

Looking for yet another cool use for your G1? How about as a garage door opener? The Android Guys wrote about this particularly clever G1 hack over in their weblog.

Android Hacker Brad Fitzpatrick created an Android Activity that scans for his home's WiFi, presumably by looking for its unique MAC address. When his G1 detects that the house is in-range as he drives home on his motorcycle, it sends out what he calls a magic HTTP request to the garage door's web server. Yes, you read that right. His garage door (as well as presumably most of his house) has been fully automated. The garage door server requires a timestamped HMAC-signed URL in order to authenticate the request and open itself. So even if Brad's mom decides to buy a G1, she's not getting in to re-arrange his furniture without getting past his secure system. Unless, I suppose, there's a power outage, a large handy prybar and local law enforcement willing to look the other way.

Brad has posted his Android Garage Opener as an open source github project. You will need to provide your own garage with its own web server.

So what's up next for Brad? According to this Live Journal post, he may next use in-house triangulation to detect which room he's in. Then he could turn his G1 into a "magic wand of light" to automatically turn on the lights for whichever room he enters.

Google updates, smartens SketchUp 3D modeling apps

3D modeling for the rest of us became a little more intelligent today with Google's announcement of SketchUp 7 and SketchUp Pro 7, new versions of its popular modeling software.

Amid a healthy collection of new features in SketchUp 7 and SketchUp Pro 7 is a new type of "Dynamic Components," or 3D models that "are aware of what they are and behave like the real-world objects they represent." Google uses the example of a dynamic staircase which can automatically gain or lose steps when using SketchUp's Scale too to increase or decrease its size. Dynamic Components also maintain resolution when scaling them, can be designed for easy configuration out of the box, thanks to a new Component Options dialog that allows for adjusting aspects without having to get one's hands dirty with modeling tools.

Also new in SketchUp 7 and SketchUp Pro 7 is the integration of the Google 3D Warehouse, a public area where users can upload and share models they have created. Google announced the 3D Warehouse when it originally released a free version of SketchUp in 2006, after the acquisition of the application from @Last Software.

Until now, however, Google 3D Warehouse and its millions of user-generated components could only be searched and accessed externally via a browser, outside of SketchUp. Along with this integration for Google 3D Warehouse, the company has also introduced an attribution layer to the warehouse that allows users to tag their creations with their name, ensuring that credit is given where due.

A number of other features have arrived for both SketchUp and its big Pro brother, including an Interact tool that can trigger built-in Dynamic Component behaviors like animations or color changes, custom templates, antialiasing for textures, various UI tweaks, and the ability to edit textures in external photo editors. SketchUp Pro 7 pulls ahead with tabular report generation, LayOut 2 (which brings the component out of beta) with Vector Rendering for resolution-independent drawings of large or complex models, editable paths for curves on any shape, image exporting options, a new Styles feature that can bring an organic look to models, and an "explode" mode allows users to perform more fine-grained tweaking.

Check out a new Google-produced video below that demonstrates the new features in SketchUp 7.

SketchUp has enjoyed a healthy amount of interest from users and the third-party community ever since Google purchased the software and introduced a free version. Besides the aforementioned 3D Warehouse that Google says is packed with millions of shared models, a wide variety of SketchUp plug-ins are also available, including one from Adobe that allows Photoshop CS3 Extended to search and work directly with models from the warehouse.

The base version of SketchUp 7 remains free for personal use, and is available for Mac OS X (10.4+) and Windows (2000/XP/Vista) users. SketchUp Pro 7 costs $495 for professional use.

iphone unlock is a very expensive brick

But we have reason to believe that Apple may go much further than just "breaking" the SIM unlocks that have been released so far. One move that the cat (or is Apple the mouse?) could make in this game would be to permanently and irreparably brick unlocked iPhones when they run this month's pending software update. It would serve as a warning shot to potential unlockers in the future—even if crafty hackers manage to rewrite their unlock apps to get around the changes made in the update, they could always be at risk of suddenly owning a shiny $400 chunk of metal and plastic.

We believe this is a significant possibility, so here's a word for those who have unlocked their iPhones: be extremely careful when the software update lands; let others be the guinea pigs before you run it. A software restore of the iPhone likely won't save you, either, as the radio baseband firmware used to identify the SIM card will still remain unlocked (as it stands now, those who have run unlocks can still do a software restore and have an unlocked iPhone). And if Apple writes its update to make changes to the radio baseband firmware based on what it was expecting, the iPhone will not react well.

Welcome to your new iBrick Extreme: the new paperweight from Apple.

Apple iphone Hacking is okay... sometimes

Apple's stance on stopping hackers is different depending on the hack. When it came to hacking the Apple TV and introducing the first set of native iPhone applications—something that cannot be done the "legit" way because of Apple's lack of a formal SDK for developers—Apple took a neutral stance. Apple's Greg Joswiak said last week that Apple wouldn't stop anyone from writing the apps or actively work against them, but the company would also not make an effort not to break the hacks when releasing its own software updates. After all, the hacks are not officially supported.

But when it comes to SIM unlocking the iPhone, the game changes drastically. Although Apple has less to lose by customers unlocking the device than AT&T, the company is bound by its contract to AT&T to do what it can to ensure that customers use the designated carrier. And Apple does have something to lose—the company is widely known to be getting a cut of subscription fees from AT&T for each person that buys and uses an iPhone. While it's unclear exactly how much Apple gets per customer, analyst estimates amount to millions of dollars per year in subscription fees going directly to Apple.

Apple's contractual obligations aside, consumers in the US are legally allowed to unlock their mobile handsets after the US Register of Copyrights approved an exemption to the DMCA late last year, noting that "The underlying activity sought to be performed by the owner of the handset is to allow the handset to do what it was manufactured to do—lawfully connect to any carrier." But don't tell that to Apple and AT&T—unless the government bars them from locking out the unlocks, there's virtually nothing stopping them from making sure that the unlocks mysteriously stop working.

Apple's fight against iPhone unlocks

Iphone unlocks

Apple will actively work against any SIM unlocks of the iPhone, says Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Jobs made the comments during a Q&A session that took place after yesterday's press event in London announcing availability details of the iPhone in the UK. When asked by a journalist whether unlocking was a concern for the company, Jobs said, "It's a constant cat and mouse game," according to ComputerWorld's account of the discussion. "We try to stay ahead. People will try to break in, and it's our job to stop them breaking in."

The break-ins that Jobs spoke of have been flying fast and furious in the last month or so. One of the first full SIM unlocks involved using a Turbo SIM card, a somewhat complex process for the average consumer. Then teenager George Holtz published a way to hardware unlock his iPhone with some soldering iron-fu and released instructions for other adventurous unlockers. But none of this was "big" news to the world until the first (commercial) software unlock of the iPhone was announced by iPhoneSIMfree. This sent waves through the iPhone community to push for a free unlock from the iPhone Dev Team, which was achieved just this week with the release of iUnlock, followed by the GUI app to go along with it, anySIM. This app began to appear in the third-party iPhone software update app, Installer, which enabled many iPhone users to install the unlock and experiment with ease.

Apple's fight against iPhone unlocks may result in expensive bricks


Tuesday, July 29, 2008

ReQall's iPhone app saves brain cells, cell phone minutes

If you're not the type of person to carry around a notepad or voice recorder with you, there are a handful of Web services raring to help you out if you've got a mobile phone.
ReQall, a service that launched back at Demo 07 has a great new iPhone application that does just that. I got in touch with Sunil Vemuri, ReQall's chief product officer who showed it off during one of today's CEO pitch sessions at the AlwaysOn Summit.
The application's killer feature is that it saves your notes both locally and to the cloud. It also sends these notes to ReQall's servers without using your voice minutes--that is as long as you can note down everything you want to say within the 30 second allotment. Previously you had to type them in to nix having to make a phone call. Vemuri says the service will transcribe them in just a few minutes, but since launching with the app store a few weeks ago, that time has gone up drastically--leading to some negative reviews. Vemuri told me they're working to get the time back to just a minute or two.
Another nice feature is the "Memory Jogger," which will pop up one of your upcoming reminders when you shake your phone in order to get you to start thinking about it ahead of time. It's fun, silly, and makes use of the device's accelerometer. I honestly doubt many people are going to use it, except by accident, but it sort of doubles like a flash card tester.
The new application is definitely a step up from the Web version that launched
back in early March. It'll let you swipe back and forth between things noted in time, things, and people categories. One thing that's missing, though, is integration with the phone's built-in calendaring tool. This is due to a limitation in Apple's iPhone SDK, something Vemuri hopes will be changed in later revisions. For now he says a good workaround is to subscribe to the calendar feed provided by ReQall in your Exchange-compatible e-mail client.


Reqall's iPhone app gets around the issue of using your mobile phone minutes to make notes by sending your reminder as an audio file instead.(Credit: reQall.com / QTech Inc.)

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

First kid to unlock iPhone unlocks it again



George Hotz, aka Geohot, aka the kid that unlocked the iPhone way back when, aka the kid that traded an unlocked iPhone for three regular iPhones and a Nissan 350Z is at it again.
This time instead of merely unlocking the iPhone, he’s unlocked the iPhone for the second time. For round two of iPhone Unlock Fest 07-08, Hotz found a very high vulnerable memory register and manhandled it with aplomb.
“I guess Apple thought big numbers were harder to guess,” said Hotz. Daaaaamn!
The hack is “not for the faint of heart” according to the Register but instructions are available here and here if you’ve got the grapes. Careful now.
Teen hacker re-unlocks Apple’s iPhone [The Register]

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Apple iPhone lithium-ion battery pack

Electric car pioneer ZAP says its iZAP battery designed for the Apple iPod is more useful for the energy intensive Apple iPhone. "The iZAP battery was a life-saver during my business trip to China last week," said Apple iPhone owner Steve Schneider, Chief Executive Officer for ZAP. "Frankly, if an Apple iPod runs out of power, losing your music and photo or video is not as critical to your business trip as the Apple iPhone. You lose your cell phone access, text messages, Internet and email access, time zone clock, business notes, scheduling software, driving maps, calculator and all the other news and information for which the Apple iPhone was designed."
ZCover announced that its versatile, resilient and user friendly new iSAglove cases for Apple's iPhone are now shipping. zCover’s iSAglove design is available in four functional combos and focuses on intuitive usability while offering protection for the Apple iPhone in its fullest form. The iSAglove will first be released in five zCover ice series colors: blue, purple, grey, pink, & clear, each one designed to work seamlessly with Apple iPhone's light sensor. The iSAglove design is a perfect fit for every feature of the Apple iPhone; that’s because it was designed from a real active Apple iPhone. zCover’s iSAglove for Apple Iphone is available in four functional combination packages.
iSkin announced the availability of the iSkin revo, the company's long-anticipated protective skin for the Apple iPhone. Designed as a complete protective solution, the revo includes a silicone protector, a touch-compatible privacy film and a ViSOR, an ultra-clear polycarbonate scratch resistant screen guard for the large Apple iPhone screen. Research studies have shown that the average mobile phone can contain substantial amounts of bacteria. The iSkin revo for the Apple iPhone features a premium silicone material with an embedded anti-microbial agent that protects the product by inhibiting the growth of microbes.

Apple iPhone in India - Your Questions on Unlocked iPhones

Airtel presents nationalroaming incoming at Re.1/m.STD at Rs.1.50 per min. Hurry! Get Airtel.www.Airtel.in


Want to buy an Apple iPhone in India ? Not sure if unlocked iphone works in India. Read this quick iPhone Guide before you purchase the iPhone from Indian mobile phone dealers.




1. Is the Apple iPhone available in India - Yes. you can easily purchase iPhone phones here.
2. If iPhone is available where can I buy i Phone in India
- Apple hasn’t introduced iPhone officially in India but you can grab one from Palika Bazaar of Delhi or Heera Panna shopping complex of Mumbai. Alternatively, some online sites are also selling unlocked iPhone in India. The iPhone was earlier expected to debut in India via Reliance Retail. Most online iPhone suppliers in India do not share their contact address.
3. Will Indian iPhone work with the GSM SIM card of Airtel, Idea, BSNL or Vodafone? Yes but you cannot use the Visual Voicemail feature of iPhone. Also, iPhone is GSM based so it may not work with Tata Indicom or Reliance CDMA network.
4. Can I buy an unlocked iPhone in US and use it in India - Yes, the iPhone bought in US (or UK or Canada) will be compatible in India - you can just buy a local SIM card in India and replace the AT&T SIM. Make sure you read the Apple policies as this may break the warranty.
5. What about HCL and Wipro selling iPhone in India legally? There was a rumor that iPhone may be available in India through a legal route from Wipro and HCL as they were expected to sign a distribution deal soon with Apple for selling iPhone in India. No confirmation still.
6. Does Apple official sell an unlocked iPhone - Yes, they have launched an unlocked iPhone in France and it could soon be available in India. No need to pay mobile phone dealers for unlocking iPhone cell phones.
7. What about Apple Store - The first store will open in Bangalore for selling Macbooks, iPod, Apple TV and other Apple products but they won’t stock iPhone.
8. What is the price of iPhone in India - It varies but the time of writing, the unlocked 4GB iphone was around 20k while the 8GB unlocked iPhone was 30k. (includes shipping and taxes)
9. Should I wait for iPhone or invest in BlackBerry or Nokia N95 ? Read this comparison of smartphones - iPhone vs Blackberry, N95
10. I have bought an iPhone and manage to unlock it. Now what - If you are connecting to iTunes for transferring music, videos and photographs from the computer to the iPhone, iTunes may suggest that you upgrade the iPhone firmware to version 1.1.1 - Cancel and do not allow iTunes to update your iPhone as it will get locked again and become useless. Update: The new unlocked iPhones are shipping in India with firmware version 1.1.1.
11. I bought an iPhone in US and traveling to India on a business trip. How can I save on iPhone international roaming charges while making phone calls in India - Do not use the AT&T call service, instead make phone call over VoIP using the Wi-Fi option of iPhone. You can use Jajah or even Skype to make cheap international calls over the internet.
iPhone is a quad-band GSM mobile phone so it will working internationally in countries outside the US though you’ll have to ask AT&T to turn on international roaming on the iPhone and that the places you’re going offer GSM coverage. If you want to learn more about iPhone, here are iPhone books and iPhone tutorial DVDs that you may buy from Amazon.

Airtel ties up with Apple to launch iPhone

New Delhi, May 12: India's largest mobile operator Bharti Airtel on Monday announced a tie-up with US-based Apple Inc to bring the popular GSM-based iPhone in the country.
"Bharti Airtel has signed a deal with Apple to bring the iPhone to India later this year," the telco said in a statement.
Sources, however, said that Airtel may start offering iPhones around Diwali festival to its over 65 million GSM-based subscribers.
Asked about the prices, they declined to give any details about the agreement, the company entered into with Apple Inc. But in the grey market the devices are available in the range of 500 to 600 dollars (about Rs 25,000), sources said, adding that these handsets procured from the grey market need to be unlocked.
Airtel's announcement comes on the heels of world's largest mobile phone operator Vodafone announcing last week to distribute iPhones worldwide including India.
iPhone is a mobile phone that allows its users to make calls by simply tapping a name or number in the address book.
It leads the customers to select and listen to voice-mail messages in whatever order the consumer wants.

Apple iPhone in India: Now on Airtel!

Recently Vodafone confirmed rumors that they were going to sell Apple iPhones in India, now Bharti Airtel, a top Indian telecom player has revealed plans to sell iPhone on their network in India.
Bharti Airtel released a press release that they “had signed a deal with Apple to bring the iPhone to India, later this year”. That surely heats up the race to sell Apple iPhones in India, since Airtel is India’s leading integrated telecom services provider with over 60 million customers!
Last year Apple iPhone premiered at Apple Retail Stores in US and instantly topped the most wanted gadgets lists worldwide. Now Indians can become proud owners of Apple iPhone thanks to Airtel and Vodafone.
You can buy an unlocked iPhone in India from the gray market for Rs.25000 ($600 approx), but soon you can buy iphones legally and flaunt it to your friends. Apple crashed the iphone prices by $200 last year and recently Apple doubled the memory, so a 8GB iphone is now available for $399 at Apple stores. Lets await the pricing in India with the call service pack…