Geeks Tech

Download Torrent Files

2009-10-25T02:14:00.000-07:00

BitTorrent is becoming more popular day by day as it’s the most convenient way to download stuffs online, yet. Torrent files get downloaded much faster than normal HTTP, HTTPS or FTP downloads. Being peer-to-peer network, BitTorrents can give the maximum possible download speed with built-in supports like download accelerator, download manager etc. Since copyright issues revolve around BitTorrent files, it would be nice to check for legal issues before downloading torrent files. However, this tutorial is on the steps you need to take to download torrent files.

Many people complain that they have just downloaded the torrent file but it’s too small in size and does not open using any application. In fact torrent files are just like the ticket to download the full file. Once you have downloaded the torrent file, you need to open it using a torrent client. uTorrent, Azureus, are few examples of popular torrent clients. You can download torrent files from some large torrent sites such as TorrentBox, Demonoid etc.

Downloading Torrent Files using Torrent Clients:

Download any torrent client and install on your system
Download any torrent file and double click to open it using the torrent client
Choose a location to save the file
Now the torrent file download should start immediately
You are done.

You don’t need to involve yourself in downloading torrent files. It works in the background process and you can see a notification on the system tray area once your torrent client finishes downloading the torrent file.

Trick to Find Windows Vista Product Key Number

2009-10-25T02:11:00.000-07:00

There are occasions when we need to uninstall Windows Vista and make a fresh installation. In order to continue with either fresh installation or repairing Windows Vista, you need to have Windows Vista product key number. Windows Vista product key number is written over the genuine Vista CD or DVD. But if you have lost the original Windows Vista CD or DVD, you will find it very difficult to get along with Windows Vista installation.

Windows Vista requires a product key to verify the genuineness of the copy you are trying to install. After installation, the system stores the product key number in system registry but in encrypted format. It’s very hard to decrypt the product key number and use it during fresh installation. In order to get rid of this problem, you can use Windows Vista product key finder.

Product Key Finder is a tool that decrypts the information from system registry and shows the product key number that you used during Windows Vista installation. It’s pretty easy and takes less that 15 minutes for the Key Finder tools to find Windows Vista product key number. You can follow this tutorial to find lost Windows Vista serial key or product key easily. These tools are available for free download.

21 things you never knew about Windows, Microsoft and Bill Gates

2009-10-25T02:05:00.000-07:00

1. Windows 1.0 was released on 20th Nov 1985 and the hardware requirements were 256KB of RAM, DOS 2.0 and two floppy drives, two years late.
2. The retail price was $100, which is worth about $177 in today’s money – the same as Windows XP Home.
3. Microsoft sent out a press kit featuring a squeegee and a washcloth to announce the launch of Windows 1.0, a full two years before the product was launched.
4. If Bill Gates had got his way, he would have called it “Interface Manager”. 21 years later, I don’t think Interface Manager Vista, or Vista Interface Manager would have had the same ring to it….
5. When Vista was launched Microsoft were David fighting Goliath, and had to fight many court battles:
“We weren’t kidding that we bet the entire company on it,” Gates recalls. “The strange thing was we were a much smaller company at the time. We were competing to establish this platform with companies larger than ourselves.”
6. Windows 1.0 was only out for two weeks before it had to be patched to fix bugs (sound familiar?).
7. Windows crashes an estimated 25m times a day.
8. Windows 1.0 included a large number of utilities that are still part of Windows today – Calendar, Notepad, Terminal, Calculator, Clock, Windows Write and Windows Paint, Control Panel, and the Reversi game.
9. Support for Windows 1.0 was weak, and even Microsoft’s own apps didn’t support it. In fact, Excel and Word didn’t work with Windows until 1987 and 1989.
10. Windows 3.1 was the first stable release, which led to many hardware manufacturers preloading it on their computers. This proved to be a major turning point in Windows history and world domination.
11. Windows 3.1 (Pre-release name Janus) was released in March of 1992. In its first few months on the shelf it sold over 2 million copies (including upgrades). The Windows 3.1x OSs were groundbreaking for their time and they paved the road for today’s modern Microsoft environments.
12. Between 1986 and 1996 Microsoft’s stock soared hundredfold and it was estimated that Microsoft had created 10,000 millionaires by 2000.
13. Bill Gates earns $250 every second, $20m a day and $7.8BN a year.
14. If Bill drops a thousand dollar bill, it’s not worth his while to pick it up, as he’ll make the same amount in the time it takes him to pick it up.
15. If Bill Gates was a country, he would be the 37th richest country in the world.
16. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is the wealthiest organisation for charitable grants with assets of approx $65Bn.
17. Erik Noyes from Charles Schwab came up with the phrase Blue Screen of Death “BSoD” in 1991.
18. Bill Gates scored 1590 on his SAT. Paul Allen, scored a perfect 1600.
19. The Windows operating system has 50 million lines of code (a line averages 60 characters) and grows 20% with every release. It’s put together by 7,200 people, comes in 34 languages and has to support 190,000 devices–different models of digital cameras, printers, handhelds and so on.
20. An estimated 250-300K applications have been developed for Windows.
21. Over 5 million testers signed up for Vista’s release candidates

Microsoft's path to Windows 7

2009-10-23T02:39:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Corp launched its new Windows 7 operating system on Thursday. Here are some significant dates in the history of Microsoft and its development of the world's predominant computer software.

1975 - Microsoft founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen

1981 - IBM introduces its personal computer with Microsoft's

MS-DOS 1.0 operating system, which relies on typing commands

1983 - First version of Windows released

1985 - Windows 1.0 released, featuring bitmap display and use of mouse pointing device

1987 - Windows 2.0 released

1990 - Windows 3.0 introduced, features 16 colors and a new set of Windows icons

1993 - Windows NT 3.1 released, aimed at business computing market

Aug 24, 1995 - Windows 95 released, adds multimedia and mobile capabilities

June 25, 1998 - Launches Windows 98, aimed specifically at consumer market

Jan 13, 2000 - Steve Ballmer named Microsoft CEO

Feb 17, 2000 - Windows 2000 launched

2000 - Windows Millennum edition made generally available, aimed at home computer users with music, video and networking enhancements

Oct 25, 2001 - Windows XP launched, combines business and consumer operating systems

Jan 30, 2007 - Windows Vista launched

June 27, 2008 - Chairman and co-founder Gates retires from day-to-day role at Microsoft to spend more time on philanthropy at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Oct 22, 2009 - Windows 7 released.

Google To Launch Music Service Called Google Audio

2009-10-21T03:34:00.000-07:00

Google is set to continue on its march towards global domination of just about any space it feels like with news that the search giant is preparing a music service called Google Audio

Google is said to be in negotiations with the big music labels, although it’s not clear whether the service will be a streaming site (such as Last.fm or Grooveshark) or a store along the lines of iTunes, reported the Washington Post.

The entry into music isn’t a first for Google, with the company already offering a free ad supported music service in China. That site has the backing on the big four, so the relationship is already in place for a push into the United States.

The other unknown aspect is whether Google will be approaching the music service as it has with books: copy them all then offer the public domain items free of charge. The idea that Google might archive the world’s music is divine for a music lover, however the music industry may not be overly amused by the idea.

Microhoo

2009-10-21T03:32:00.000-07:00

The deal Microsoft and Yahoo made today to combine their ad and search efforts has its roots in the mid-1990s, near the dawn of the Web.

It was then Yahoo CEO Tim Koogle who made the decision that Yahoo would become a “portal,” a gateway to an internal Web world. All the smart guys in New York and in the mainstream media were urging this. Search, they said, was limited, it was techie, it was obscure. The real growth was in media.

Around the same time Microsoft decided it must “embrace and extend” its monopoly from Windows to Office to the Web, through Internet Explorer. Rather than selling what it made, it would bundle its monopoly products with its browser and dominate that way. This led to its antitrust case, and it has embraced, even extended itself into, the legal profession ever since.

So it was mistakes made long ago that created the new Microhoo. Yahoo will become the salesman and public face for Microsoft’s technology. The hope is this will slowly eliminate the technology, legal, and marketing mistakes both are known for, relying on the two firms’ complementary strengths.

That’s the theory. Many remain skeptical.

But there’s a more important lesson for you here. This lies in the nature of scaling, where Moore’s Law meets what some call Moore’s Second Law, the idea that as technology grows and scales it forces consolidation, and leads to limits on competition.

We see this in the chip market, where the number of viable companies declines as the cost to fabricate chips goes up. And we’re seeing it in search, where the increased complexity of the task means fewer-and-fewer search firms are viable.

This is not peculiar to technology. It’s true with any complex, mass-marketed product. The failures of Preston Tucker and, more recently, John DeLorean, show that the problems of scaling eventually snuff-out start-ups in the car market as well. At some point only government support can get a newcomer into the game.

In technology, however, this happens at Internet speeds.

Google, which picked up Yahoo’s rejected business plan in 1998, went in less than a decade from being a feisty start-up to one of the largest, and wealthiest, companies on the face of the globe. Now it has just one scaled competitor, along with small fry and regional competitors.

This pace is only accelerating. Any start-up must be ready for explosive growth, and hyper-evolution of the competitive environment, corporate lives measured in dog years.

Most people in the tech business understand this intellectually, but expecting it, planning for it, embracing it, those are challenges not just for entrepreneurs, but for customers and government as well.

Microhoo, uniting companies with a combined age less than my own 54 years, will now face months of scrutiny by U.S. and international regulators. When they’re finally finished, will the resulting company even be viable? Or will the growth of Baidu have made such scrutiny irrelevant?

Microsoft Launches New Phone Software

2009-10-12T17:01:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Corp introduced new software for mobile phones on Tuesday, promising a range of devices to compete with Apple Inc's iPhone and Research in Motion Ltd's BlackBerry.

The world's largest software company, in partnership with phone makers and phone companies such as Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, AT&T Inc and Vodafone Group Plc, said more than 30 new devices with the new Windows Mobile 6.5 software would be on the market in more than 20 countries by the end of the year. The new phones can play music, open Word and Excel documents, and be synchronized over the Internet. Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer played down recent industry talk that the company was developing its own smartphone. "We are not here to announce today that we are making phones," he said at an event in Paris. The market for phones is set to treble or quadruple in the next few years, Ballmer said, and Microsoft is ready to challenge other phone makers for market share. He added that Windows Mobile's share of the mobile phone market is equal to Apple's. "We and Apple are neck and neck and we're chasing the two other players," said Ballmer, referring to Nokia, the world's No. 1 smartphone maker, and Research in Motion. Microsoft also announced a new online application store, where users can buy 246 applications for their phones.

PCs Best For e-reading, No Device Planned

2009-10-12T16:59:00.000-07:00

Microsoft has no plans to develop a digital book reader to compete with the fast-growing popularity of Amazon's Kindle or a device that rival Apple is reportedly developing.

Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said Microsoft had no need for its own e-reader, since it already supplies the software that runs the most popular device for electronic reading. "We have a device for reading. It's the most popular device in the world. It's the PC," Ballmer said on Thursday on the sidelines of television show recording at Erasmus University in the Netherlands. The No. 1 software maker's Windows operating system runs nine out 10 of the world's personal computers. Ballmer also said Microsoft would also be willing to work with Amazon to bring more books to the personal computer, days after the online retailer vastly expanded its Kindle reading device's global footprint to 100 countries. "I would love to see companies like Amazon and others bring their books to the PC," Ballmer said. "Hopefully we can get that to happen with Barnes & Noble or Amazon or somebody," Ballmer said. "But no, we are not interested in e-readers ourselves." E-readers are expected to be a hot gift item in the upcoming holiday season, and industry research firm Forrester this week hiked its forecast for U.S. e-reader sales by 50 percent to 3 million units. Apple is reportedly developing a new device that can work as a digital reader, and technology watchers have said Microsoft may also be considering such a move. The software maker already markets its Microsoft Reader for PC-based book reading and supports tablet PCs.

Google India Offers Free Advertising Coupons to Attract Small Advertisers

2009-10-06T16:32:00.000-07:00

Google India is giving away free AdWords coupons to businesses who own a website but have never used the Google platform before to advertise their website on the Internet. Google will provide website owners with advertising coupons worth a certain value for free that they may use to advertise their site on Google search results pages and on external sites that run Google AdSense ads (like Digital Inspiration). Get Free AdWords Coupons Worth $50 If you are a small or media business owner based in India who also has a website, here’s how you can request Google for free AdWords coupons: 1. Call Google India at this number – 1860 266 6622. 2. Register your website with the Google AdWords India platform by providing details about your business and your contact information. 3. The Google India representative will now set up your AdWords account. Google will also credit INR 2,500.00 worth of advertising coupons to your AdWords account that you may later use for advertising your business on Google pages as well as other non-Google sites on the web. In addition to free coupons, you’ll also get customer support for one month to help you manage you online advertising campaigns. This move will probably help Google attract advertisers in India who have small budgets but have never experimented with online advertising before. They can now try the AdWords system without spending a penny and, if the outcome is positive, they’ll continue to do so even after they’ve redeemed all the free coupons. It looks like a very straight-forward process but I have not been able to test it since my site is already registered with the AdWords system. Google India Offers Free Advertising Coupons to Attract Small Advertisers

Google Puts an .EXE File on their Homepage

2009-10-06T16:27:00.000-07:00

This a screenshot of the Google homepage inside Internet Explorer. If you click the "Update Now" link on the Google home page, it will download an executable file – setgooglesearch.exe – on the desktop that will set Google as the default search engine inside IE. Now Google regularly uses that space to advertise their other products but I think its the first time that they have placed a direct link to an .exe file on the homepage. And since its not mentioned anywhere that the link points to an executable, most people would only realize it once they have clicked the link. Do you agree with this approach? Google Puts an .EXE File on their Homepage

YouTube makes money For You

2009-09-25T02:06:00.000-07:00

I have often wondered how does You Tube make money? They must be spending a fortune everyday with the amount of bandwidth they service. I am sure they are not really a charitable organization and hence are very profitable considering its massive appeal all over the world.

2 ways You Tube makes money :

When using You Tube, a user often replicates You Tube search exactly like Google Search. With keywords picked up by the search engine the relevant links to the videos are accessible.

You Tube has become a very vibrant medium for amateur videos to be accessed by a global audience. This actually allows people to put up their videos online and bid for keywords. This allows anyone with a You Tube account to be able to promote his/her video.
What works for amateurs also works for professionals. One of the most popular way Google search makes money is to display advertisements as links to websites on the side with search results. The same goes for You Tube. (Check out the pic below. The Red Arrow points to the advertisements.)

Future plans by You Tube to make money:
There are many plans afoot to make money out of You Tube. One of them is to try and show rental movies online by brokering deals with major Hollywood studios.

Another move which might not create a lot of buzz but might create billions in revenues is for You Tube to start charging their users money to show statistics of how many people have viewed their Videos. This will be critical for a subscriber to know how popular the video is before bidding for advertising.

The statistics could be available for 10$ per year to a user but would remain free for a video with less than 100,000 views.

Host A Windows 7 Meetup

2009-09-25T01:59:00.000-07:00

Windows 7, Microsoft’s upcoming operating system will be available on October 22. Earlier this month, Microsoft announced about Windows 7 Party. Now, there is another unique opportunity waiting for everyone (you need not be lucky this time!) to host a Windows 7 meetup and share what you know about Windows 7.

You’ve heard people talking about it. You may have experienced it first-hand. If you like it, share it.

Get a group of your friends or coworkers together and show them how everyday tasks are easier with Windows 7.

We tried to make it just as easy to host a meetup. Follow the steps below. There are only three simple steps involved in Windows 7 Meetup. Just head over to Windows 7 Meetup page and start inviting your friends and coworkes to the meetup.

Windows 7 Meetup Home Page

Simple Javascript to Change The Status Bar Message

2009-09-21T21:31:00.000-07:00

Here is the simple javascript to change the status bar message of your web pages.

I think it may be very useful to you.

New language saves home PCs from cyber attacks

2009-09-20T21:42:00.000-07:00

Geon Woo Kim and colleagues who developed the specific codes said home networks have only a single gateway from the Internet .

Scientists have developed a security language to protect home networks from cyber attacks.

Companies, banks and other organisations take internet security very seriously, erecting firewalls and IT departments to protect them from attacks. But domestic and small office networks are just as vulnerable to hacking, malicious computer code, worms and viruses.

Geon Woo Kim of the Electronics and Telecom Research Institute (ETRI) Korea and colleagues who developed the specific codes said home networks have only a single gateway from the Internet.

"Whenever a new access to the home network is found, it should be able to authenticate and authorise it and enforce the security policy based on rules set by the home administrator," the team said in an ETRI release.

To make such an approach effective but simple requires a way to consistently describe and specify the security policy.

The computer scientists first turned to a computer markup language, eXtensible Access Control Markup Language (XACML). XACML is a general purpose language and so it lacks the notation for security policies and authorisation rules.

The team has now developed a related language - Home security Description Language (xHDL) that includes the necessary notation for securing a home network.

Their report appeared in the International Journal of Ad Hoc and Ubiquitous Computing.

Game for green technology

2009-09-20T21:35:00.000-07:00

Would you pay more to buy green gadgets?
Going green is fast becoming a popular and meaningful trend. It is beneficial in the long run for us as well as for our planet. I would love to support organisations that bring out eco-friendly gadgets. So, yes, I would pay more, if need be, to buy green gadgets.

What was your first gadget and do you still have it?
Photography has always been my passion, and I always wanted to own a great camera to facilitate my hobby. My first gadget was the Yashica FX3 camera. It was also special because I bought it after saving money for one year after I got my first job.

Which is your latest gadget acquisition?
I recently purchased the BlackBerry Curve 8900. I actually upgraded to the gizmo’s newer version because of the promised higher battery life. It also looks a whole lot better.

Does your favourite gadget satisfy all your needs?
I am on the road most times. So the BlackBerry Curve 8900 certainly allows me to catch up with mails and news even while I’m on the go. It also helps me to stay in touch with friends and family through the chat and other instant messaging applications. It is fun too, as I have all my music on it, and it has a decent camera. But I wish it had a longer battery life.

What is the most expensive gadget that you have bought for yourself?
I have splurged on a Nikon SLR. It’s a great camera to possess for any photographer and totally worth the money. It has amazing features and is great to carry around on my travels.

Are you surprised by your children’s expertise with new technology?
I am completely taken aback by the comfort levels that youngsters today have with technology. My two young sons are very comfortable with all my new gadgets and get used to them in a jiffy. For them no technology or gadget is complicated.

Have you ever bought a gadget that could not justify its worth?
Not that I can think of.

What is the most useless gadget that you have been gifted?
Usually, I receive many desktop items like pen stands with digital clocks. Though I appreciate the gift, I don’t think they are too useful for me.

Recently I received this incredible digital photo frame which plays music and video too. It’s very trendy and stylish. But to be completely honest, I am unable to comprehend its utility.

Top 50 companies of 2009

2009-09-20T21:32:00.001-07:00

Rank	Company	2008 Revenue
1	IBM Global Services	$57,300,000,000
2	Sprint Nextel Corp.	$27,492,000,000
3	Accenture Ltd	$23,390,000,000
4	Hewlett Packard (Services)/EDS	$22,397,000,000
5	Verizon Communications Inc.	$21,126,000,000
6	Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC)	$16,500,000,000
7	Cap Gemini S.A.	$12,740,000,000
8	Northrop Grumman Corp.	$12,454,000,000
9	Lockheed Martin - Information Systems and Global Svcs.	$11,611,000,000
10	Deloitte Consulting	$10,980,000,000
11	NTT Data Corp.	$10,744,050,000
12	Motorola - Home and Networks Mobility Segment	$10,100,000,000
13	Citigroup - Transaction Services (includes The Bisys Group)	$9,620,000,000
14	SAIC, Inc.	$8,935,000,000
15	Automatic Data Processing (ADP)	$8,776,500,000
16	Xerox (Services)	$8,485,000,000
17	CDW Corp.	$8,100,000,000
18	Atos Origin	$7,753,570,000
19	T-Systems North America	$7,407,108,200
20	BAE Systems Technology Solutions & Services	$6,456,280,000
21	Cisco Services	$6,441,000,000
22	ITT Defense Electronics & Services	$6,283,300,000
23	Affiliated Computer Services, Inc.	$6,160,550,000
24	Dell Inc.	$5,715,000,000
25	Tata Consultancy Services	$5,700,000,000
26	EMBARQ Corp.	$5,569,000,000
27	Sun Microsystems (Services)	$5,262,000,000
28	Insight Enterprises Inc.	$4,957,729,000
29	EMC Corp.	$4,804,347,000
30	L-3 Communications	$4,638,450,000
31	Unisys (Services)	$4,603,600,000
32	Dimenson Data	$4,510,640,000
33	Booz Allen Hamilton Inc.	$4,100,000,000
34	SAP AG	$4,097,950,000
35	Staples - North American Delivery	$4,062,744,000
36	Fiserv (Services)	$3,616,000,000
37	Office Depot - Business Solutions	$3,580,399,368
38	CGI Group	$3,570,986,828
39	Oracle Corp.	$3,477,000,000
40	BearingPoint Inc.	$3,455,562,000
41	Fidelity National Information Services (FIS)	$3,400,000,000
42	WiPro Infotech	$3,390,000,000
43	Microsoft Corp.	$3,214,000,000
44	Diebold Inc.	$3,170,080,000
45	Getronics NV	$3,153,392,032
46	Amdocs	$3,026,609,000
47	Iron Mountain	$3,000,000,000
48	Cognizant	$2,820,000,000
49	Systemax	$2,795,441,000
50	Convergys Corp.	$2,785,800,000

5 Ways to Get Your Blog Indexed by Google in 24 Hours

2009-09-20T16:39:00.000-07:00

This is a guest-post from AdesBlog.com. We all know that content is king and that if you keep blogging… if you keep doing what you love… the traffic and the money will follow suit. While that’s partially true, there is also things that you can do to:

Index your newly launched blog fast by major Search Engines
Increase traffic to your blog
Improve your SERPs (Search Engine Result Positions)

Why wait right? Content can be king but waiting around for traffic to come by itself is not a good way to start blogging. So let’s start… Getting Indexed Let’s say you launched a blog today and want it on Google’s results tomorrow. Can this be done? Yes. Easiest way to get indexed by major Search Engines is to get mentioned by established blogs. This usually will get your blog indexed within 24 hours. But since we are new (i.e the newly launched blog of ours) I don’t think any blogger want to mention it. So instead of begging other bloggers to notice your newly launched blog, you just have to figure out other ways of getting indexed by Google fast. Can it be done? Absolutely! (All it takes a little effort on your side).

1. Blog Communities
There are few blog related community portals that have a very good rankings in Google and other Major Search Engines Results, they are: MyBlogLog, BlogCatalog, Blogged and NetworkedBlogs, particularly MyBlogLog. This means that if you get your blog on these blog communities, Google will have no other choice but to index your blog. So, go ahead and register for an account on these communities and list your blog on it. Once you are done you will have a page like this, this and this. What to pay attention: Your blog’s description (have a proper write-up), keywords & tags (add related keywords and tags to your listing, this will be used by other members to find your blog), branding (put your logo, avatars, screenshots etc. have a consistent branding everywhere), and list your blog in the correct category.

2. Site Valuation & Stats Sites
Some of those How Much Your Site Worth? sites have a good ranking in Search Engines. All you need to do is to go there and check how much your site worth. This would create a special page for your blog (like this) and consecutively it would be indexed by Google. Here is a list of worthy sites: WebsiteOutlook, StatBrain, CubeStat, WebTrafficAgents, BuiltWith, WhoIs, QuarkBase, URLfan and AboutTheDomain.

3. Feed Aggregators
List your blog’s feed in these feed aggregators Feed-Squirrel, OctoFinder, FeedAdage. Once you have submitted your feed to these sites, they will keep track of your newly published posts and index them in their site. Whenever someone clicks on the blog post title, he/she will be redirected to your original blog post sending you free traffic and getting your latest posts indexed by Google.

4. Social Sites
Registering account on Social Sites with the same username as your blog’s URL is very effective in getting your blog indexed by Search Engines. Especially for those targeted keywords. For example, if your blog’s name is WhiteElephant, it’s a good practice to register the same username at twitter as @WhiteElephant, and to create a page in Facebook at www.facebook.com/WhiteElephant. Having a consistent keyword-username on all major Social Sites will help get your blog indexed faster, and at a later stage it will also help build a “brand” for your blog.

So, get account on major Social Sites for your newly launched blog, namely: Twitter, Facebook (create a page for your blog), Digg, StumbleUpon, Delicious etc. By the way, it’s a good pratice to create a separate Social Sites account for each of your projects. This way you can stay focused and post messages that are related to your project. In the long run, this will help build a community that are like-minded around your project. Note from Darren: it’s worth nothing that many social media sites (like Twitter) use no follow tags on links which means the links don’t really help with SEO. Having said this - it’s still worth getting pages for your keywords/brand as these pages can rank in and of themselves in Google and can help you to have control over numerous search results for the same keyword.

5. Misc Sites
Squidoo is a community website that allows people to create pages (called “lenses”) on various topics. Creating a topic that is related to your blog and then including your feed in that page would help your blog get indexed by Search Engines. Squidoo used to have a really good ranking in Google results, but not so much today. But it’s still ranks well and it shouldn’t be neglected.

ChangeDetection is a website that monitors sites for changes. When you monitor a particular site using ChangeDetection, it will ask you whether you want the notices to be public or private. If you say public, it will be published in their news section. For example; AdesBlog.com got an update today, type of update: text additions etc. This of course will get picked up by Search Engines and Search Engines in return will index your blog.

Technorati is a search engine for searching blogs. According to Wikipedia, as of June 2008, Technorati was indexing 112.8 million blogs and over 250 million pieces of tagged social media. It’s a dying breed, but not just dead yet. You have to definitely register for an account and get your blog listed on Technorati. That’s it. Once you are done with creating accounts and submitting your newly launched blog in the above mentioned sites, you should see your blog in Google’s Search Results within 24 hours. Most of the time it will appear within the next few hours only. Lastly, getting indexed is one thing but sustaining that traffic is another. And this is where the Content is King phrase should truly be emphasized. Because, without a good and valuable content, all your effort will be just wasted.

I hope you have found this post useful.

New language saves home PCs from cyber attacks

2009-09-20T16:36:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON, USA Scientists have developed a security language to protect home networks from cyber attacks.

Companies, banks and other organisations take internet security very seriously, erecting firewalls and IT departments to protect them from attacks. But domestic and small office networks are just as vulnerable to hacking, malicious computer code, worms and viruses.

Geon Woo Kim of the Electronics and Telecom Research Institute (ETRI) Korea and colleagues who developed the specific codes said home networks have only a single gateway from the Internet.

"Whenever a new access to the home network is found, it should be able to authenticate and authorise it and enforce the security policy based on rules set by the home administrator," the team said in an ETRI release.

To make such an approach effective but simple requires a way to consistently describe and specify the security policy.

The computer scientists first turned to a computer markup language, eXtensible Access Control Markup Language (XACML). XACML is a general purpose language and so it lacks the notation for security policies and authorisation rules.

The team has now developed a related language - Home security Description Language (xHDL) that includes the necessary notation for securing a home network.

Their report appeared in the International Journal of Ad Hoc and Ubiquitous Computing.
©IANS

Back Up Information Efficiently

2009-09-20T16:33:00.000-07:00

Backing up any data that is found on your computer should be done regularly and often to make sure that you don’t lose anything. This is particularly important with sensitive files or important files. By backing up your data you can be sure that you can have copy of all your work. You will have copies even if your computer crashes or is stolen.

You should start by getting an external hard drive. You can make copies of any or all your files that are currently stored on your computer and transfer them to the external hard drive. If you buy an external hard drive it will most likely connect to your computer via a USB cable and port. You can click and drag the files that you want to back up. There are applications on your computer that will allow you to back up the whole computer such as Microsoft Backup or Apples Time Capsule. This is the easiest and most thorough solution.

You can opt for web storage. There are several websites that will let you upload all of your files and documents. Once you have uploaded everything they are saved onto servers that you can access whenever you want. This method is useful in the event of a fire or flood as your backed up documents won’t be on site.

The final option is to burn all your files to DVD-R disk. Each disk will hold up to 4.7GB so if you need to use a few different disks then try to keep a folder on each disk and not separate them between them. Remember to label your disks clearly for future reference. This method is the cheapest way to back up your computer.

Warnings and Tips
Make sure that wherever you store your backed up files is a safe place that cannot be found easily. It should also be protected from the elements such as fire or water.

Track your website's Traffic with Google AdPlanner

2009-09-19T03:27:00.001-07:00

I think that Google AdPlanner should be your first stop to check out any stats about a particular website. As it is mainly for advertisers looking at website statistics to see if it is worthwhile to advertise on a particular site, this makes it a great option to get accurate and reliable data.

Face it, what doesn’t Google know? They have data on nearly every website but that is another issue. Any Can tell how many visits we get and what type of people regularly read us. It is also good as you can select to show data from one particular country.

Visit Site

Facebook Groups Updates On SMS

2009-09-19T03:21:00.000-07:00

In an attempt to add more value for brands promoting their Facebook Group pages, Facebook had introduced the ‘Subscribe via SMS’ feature on its pages sometime back. This feature has recently been extended to users in India as well. Users may now subscribe to Facebook Groups via SMS from either the Group page or by sending an SMS, fan to +91-9232232665 (92FACEBOOK).

This can make terrific sense not just for the brands, but for Facebook as well. By opening up a new channel of communication with the users via SMS, Facebook can not only think of monetizing this medium (think 160by2 or Way2SMS!), but is also adding an additional piece of data about the users – their active mobile number; something that can give them information about their location which can possibly be integrated to their advertising engine for more targeted advertising! I have one suggestion though.

There needs to be a permalink that Facebook groups can use to promote their ‘Follow us via SMS’ ad campaigns. As of now, users will have to visit the group page and search for the ‘Subscribe via SMS’ link or send an SMS from their mobile phones; something I doubt many users will be willing to do.

Tata Tele, Airtel, RCom and others face Rs 136-crore penalty

2009-09-19T03:15:00.000-07:00

The government has proposed a penalty of over Rs 41 crore on Tata Tele, Rs 31 crore on Airtel and Rs 19.65 crore on RCom and others, totalling Rs 135.60 crore, for not rolling out network on time. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has lowered the total quantum of penalty from Rs 477 crore decided earlier to Rs 135.60 crore after repeated representations by the operators, giving a major benefit to all big private telecom players.

Windows 7 Touch Using Guide

2009-09-17T16:26:00.000-07:00

The Windows 7 Touch Interface
Here are touch screen features available with Windows 7.

Flicks: Their use is very common.Navigation and edit are two categories of flicks. An upward flick moves a page down, and a downward flick moves a page up. Use left or right flicks to navigate back and forward.

Tap and Double-tap: Touch and release to click. This is the most basic touch action. Can also double-tap to open files and folders. Tolerances are tuned to be larger than with a mouse. This works everywhere.

Pan: Touch and slide your finger on screen. This is similar to dragging with a mouse; icons around the desktop, it also moves windows, and selects text by dragging left or right, and so on.

Scroll: Drag up or down scrollable window content. This is the most used feature to use, as opposed to using the scrollbar.

Zoom: Touch two fingers together or apart to zoom in or out on a document. Use this when looking at photos or reading documents on a small laptop.

Two-Finger Tap: By tapping the screen with two fingers simultaneously it zooms in about the center of the tap or restores to the default zoom.

Rotate Touch: Two spots on a digital photo and twist to rotate it just like a real photo.

Press-and-hold: This is similar to the right click. Hold your finger on screen for a moment and release after the circle appears.

Press-and-tap: With a second finger just like you would click the right button on a mouse.

Paint: You can use Paint to draw with your fingers.

BlackBerry Services From Aircel

2009-09-17T16:18:00.000-07:00

Aircel, one of India’s growing telecom operator will now be offering BlackBerry services in partnership with Research In Motion (RIM) for its customers across Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and the rest of Tamil Nadu state.

According to an announcement made by the company, it will offer a range of BlackBerry smartphones and services for enterprise and individual customers on its network across all the circles it is operating in. Aircel customers will have the option of going for BlackBerry Bold 9000, BlackBerry Curve 8900, BlackBerry Curve 8310 and BlackBerry Pearl 8110 handsets.

Support Advantage
Dedicated Data Call Centre : A 24×7 dedicated data call centre ensures that no matter where you are and what time it is help is just a touch away.

On Call Home Service : In case you have any kind of technical trouble with your BlackBerry service, all you need to do is call us and an Aircel representative will visit your house to assist you.

BlackBerry Specialist at Aircel Outlets : A trained BlackBerry specialist at each Aircel outlet will help you solve any technical issues or problems you may have with your BlackBerry service.

Online Care & Support : For any unresolved queries or issues, you can easily get in touch with Aircel support through the website.

Purchase Advantage
Corporate Bulk Buying Schemes : Aircel offers specially-developed schemes to enable large corporate & enterprises to equip themselves with BlackBerry services on Aircel.

Advance Rental Scheme : For Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), Aircel offers easy Advance Rental Scheme to equip themselves with the power of BlackBerry.

Ease of purchase : All you have to do is to visit your nearest Aircel COCO or call at our Customer Care and you will soon be contacted by our Aircel Customer representative for your assistance. Aircel is currently offering two data plans for its BlackBerry customers.

Data 499 : 500 Kb free then 10p /10 Kb ( Rental is Rs 499)
Data 999 : Unlimited data upload and download ( Rental is Rs 999)

Tata Docomo had earlier announced the launch of BlackBerry services for its customers.

Clean Boot Your Windows System

2009-09-17T16:13:00.000-07:00

If you are having trouble with your computer crashing frequently or you have recently discovered a virus then it may be a good idea to give your computer a clean boot. Here is how to give your Windows system a clean boot.

1.Begin by pressing the Windows key and the R button together. The windows button is the flag logo. Alternatively you can go to start then run.
2.Put in the text field “msconfig” and then press enter. This will pop up the Microsoft Configuration Utility.
3.Click the Services tab and look for all the boxes that say “Hide Microsoft Services”. Click on them.
4.Then click on Disable All. This will disable all of the applications apart from the Microsoft Default Services. This will prevent any third party or malware software from creating problems with your PC next time you reboot.
5.If you want to stop any programs from opening when you start up then simply click on the start-up tab at the top and disable all the items.

Once finished, click Apply, OK and Reboot. Your Windows computer should now be in a clean boot state.

FaceBook Facts

2009-09-16T16:24:00.000-07:00

Facebook was originally named TheFaceBook and it was developed by Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg. The first use of the FaceBook was on the Harvard campus and it was limited only to Harvard students. Soon the FaceBook spread like wild fire around the other major U.S. Universities.

Mark Zuckerberg dropped the Harvard and pursued his facebook dream to become one of the 4th most-trafficked websites in the world with more than 90 million active users. The FaceBook website is built on PHP-MySQL technology and it is probably the most popular PHP website ever built. Interesting fact is that the facebook.com domain was purchased for $200,000 and FaceBook has more than 24 million photos uploaded daily.

Nokia Develops the Debit Card Cell Phone

2009-09-16T16:23:00.001-07:00

Today, the credit card has become a necessary item. As recently as 20 years ago, the credit card was considered something new and risky. Cash was the only way to go. This was mostly because many businesses simply did not accept credit cards. Today, everything is different.

You almost have to have a credit card. We can now charge an item and have the money taken directly from our checking and savings accounts. Credit cards give us easy money at the drop of a hat. It is interesting to note that of all of the new technology, only the cell phone as grown as quickly as the credit card.

Every day, the use of the cell phone grows larger and larger, just like the credit card. It seems like everyone has a cell phone, from the businessman right down to the 3rd grader with a pre-paid ‘mom phone.” It should not be surprises that someone has finally thought to put the cell phone and the credit card together. While some companies have attempted this before, Nokia is the first to initiate a plan.

They have partnered with several of large banks from Finland in order to test out the new product. If it works well and sees a lot of interest in Finland, the product may be imported to the US over the next few years. The new phone concept will be launched sometime in the next few months. Below is a basic breakdown of the credit card/cell phone combo.

Nokia’s latest phone will work much like a credit card. Technology will allow you to download cash right onto your phone. You can use it to buy movie tickets, train tickets or even pay for parking. You will just need to wave the handset near a reader. This unique phone uses “pay as you go” just like some of the bigger credit card companies.

For example, the phone was tested in Oula (a city in Finland) by senior citizens. They used the phone in order to purchase delivered meals by simply tapping the phone against the menu from which they want to order. This worked because the menu’s themselves where interactive (a technology that is sure to appear soon).

This new technology is an excellent concept. By combining the ease of credit cards with the popularity of the cell phone, the need for cash is being eliminated. As testing continues, it appears that the new concept phone will be a smashing success. We should see it here in the future!

Google FastFlip

2009-09-16T16:16:00.000-07:00

Google fast flip covers almost all news from popular magazines and web contents. It saves the time for the users, who don’t have time to read magazines and online news.

Google fast flip provides information on various categories like Popular, Sections, Topics and sources. Google fast flip provides news sources in a different page where all the news websites are listed according to its popularity.

How to Restart a Laptop

2009-09-13T16:59:00.000-07:00

Here are some handy instructions to restart or reboot your laptop computer.

Begin with your laptop in front of you.
There are two methods to deal with a restart (not for use with frozen laptops).
Method 1- Go to the start menu or apple menu and click on the restart button.
If your computer asks you to close down some programs before it can shut down then do as it asks.
Method 2- press the power button. Once the menu has popped up, select the restart option.
Again if the computer asks you to close any programs then do so.
For frozen laptops then try method 3. Be warned, this method may result in you losing unsaved work.
Method 3- Push down and hold the power button until the computer has completely turned off. Leave it for 10 seconds and then push the power button once again to start it back up.

Warning and Tips

Try to save all of your work often so that in the event that a freeze or crash may occur then you wont mind losing so little.

Simple Steps to Restart/Shutdown

2009-09-13T16:56:00.001-07:00

Microsoft Windows contains an application that will allow you to create an icon to restart or shutdown your computer. This program is called SHUTDOWN.EXE.

To create a shortcut for shutdowns right on your desktop simply:

Right click on the desktop in any open area.
Select New
Select Shortcut
Enter “Shutdown-s-t 00”
Click on the “Next” button
Enter a name of your choosing
Click the “Finish” Button

If you would like to create a reboot shortcut, simply:

Right click on the desktop in any open area.
Select New
Select Shortcut
Enter “Shutdown-r-t 00”
Click on the “Next” button
Enter a name of your choosing
Click the “Finish” Button

Disabling USB Ports

2009-09-13T16:53:00.001-07:00

You may choose to disable the USB, External CD-Rom, external hard disk or memory flash function – all of which use the USB port and do not affect the other Peripherals that also use the USB port like the scanner, printer, mouse, keyboard and more.

Follow the steps below in order to disable the USB Port by windows registry.

Click Start
Click Run
Enter “Regedit”
Click OK
Once in the registry editor, go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesUSBSTOR

Use the mouse to double click on Dword Start (located on the right). You will then replace Data Value from 3 to 4 and select OK.
Close the registry windows
After you restart your computer, your USB function will be disabled.

If you wish to restore this, repeat all of the steps above, but change the Value Data (step 6) from 4 back to 3.

Cellphones Without a Valid IMEI Number Will Be Blocked Starting December 1

2009-09-12T23:15:00.001-07:00

Close to 25 million cellphone subscribers could get disconnected because the Deparment of Telecom has asked cellphone operators to stop providing services to subscribers who don’t have a handset with valid IMEI. If you are new to the term IMEI, you might be interested in reading my previous post What is International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) code?

If you are one such subscribers who has a handset which doesn’t have an IMEI number or a valid IMEI number, you will be required to buy a new cellphone or go to any of the 1600 outlets which will be setup by the Cellular Operators Association of India. The outlets will be capable of implanting the IMEI number through a software. The COAI has tied up with Mobile Standard Alliance of India to set up retail outlets for this purpose.

The ban is aimed at new handsets being imported through illegal channels, mostly from China and Taiwan.

Mr T.V. Ramachandran, Director-General, COAI, said that, “We are activating all the 1,600-outlets right away so that consumers can start implanting the IMEI numbers. However, we feel that the November 30 deadline will be tough to meet. We will ask the Government for more time.”
DoT officials, however, said that the chances of extending the deadline were remote since the Government had already pushed back the deadline twice. While the DoT move is aimed at addressing the security concerns, it will also hit the handset grey market.
But handset makers said that the DoT should have ordered an outright ban on illegal handsets and not allowed operators to implant the IMEI. “This is like legalising unauthorised colonies. There is also a danger that anti-social elements could use the software to tinker with the IMEI numbers and mislead the security agencies. But Mr Ramachandran said the software was fool-proof and tested by the security agencies.

“The ban on new handsets without IMEI is in the right direction but more needs to be done to weed out grey market phones,” said a handset maker.

In the meanwhile, you can check if your cellphone has a valid 16 digit IMEI number or not by pressing *#06# on your cellphone.

Windows 7 Aero Peek Feature In XP & Vista With 7Peek

2009-09-12T23:06:00.001-07:00

If you have been running Windows XP or Vista, here is a free tool that adds Windows 7 Aero Peek feature to XP and Vista.

Aero Peek is a brand new feature available in Windows 7. One can use Aero Peek features to quickly preview the desktop without minimizing all your windows, or preview an open window by pointing at its icon on the taskbar.

To get Aero Peek feature in XP and Vista, just install the utility from the link given below. In our test, the feature was not very smooth (like in Windows 7), but it was good. Other than that, this feature might not work if you moved your taskbar from bottom location.

Note that some virus scanners such as MacAfee & NOD32 may report that 7Peek application contains virus. But it’s free from virus as we have tested the file with Kaspersky 2010, Symantec and also with 25+ other virus scanners. Choice is yours!

Download 7Peek

Set Background Image For A Folder In Windows Xp

2009-09-12T22:48:00.000-07:00

Here are 2 simple methods,
Method 1:

Just download and install Windowpaper XP v2.0 Beta 2
Run the application.
It is highly custamizable appz you can set image,Change folder Icon,Text colour.
That’s it!!! Simple way to set the image.

Method 2:

Click Start–>Run
Type cmd and hit enter.
Suppose you wish to set background for a folder “GeeksTech” in E:\ Drive
Type the following in command prompt

attrib +s E:\GeeksTech

Hit Enter
Close the command prompt.
Now open Notepad and paste following code:

[ExtShellFolderViews]
{BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC} = {BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}
[{BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}]
Attributes=1
IconArea_Image=Your Wallpaper Path
IconArea_Text=0×000000

Now change “Your Wallpaper Path” to the exact path of the wallpaper which you wish to set as background. Suppose the wallpaper is stored in “F:\Wallpaper\GeeksTech.jpg”, then the code will be as following:

[ExtShellFolderViews]
{BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC} = {BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}
[{BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}]
Attributes=1
IconArea_Image=F:\Wallpaper\GeeksTech.jpg
IconArea_Text=0×000000

NOTE: If you copy the wallpaper in the same folder which you are editing, then you can simply put the wallpaper name in the file. e.g. if you copy the “GeeksTech.jpg” file in “GeeksTech” folder, then the code will be as following:

[ExtShellFolderViews]
{BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC} = {BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}
[{BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}]
Attributes=1
IconArea_Image=GeeksTech.jpg

IconArea_Text=0×000000
“IconArea_Text” stands for the text color, you can change it to white, yellow, blue, black or any other color. Just replace the code in “IconArea_Text” section. A few most used color codes are:

Black – 0×000000
White – 0xFFFFFF
Green – 0×00FF00
Blue – 0xFF0000
Red – 0×0000FF

Now save the file with name “Desktop.ini” (including quotes) and copy the file in the desired folder which is “GeeksTech” in our example. Re-open the folder. Now it should show the wallpaper as background.

Blogger Implements Read More/Post Summaries (at last!)

2009-09-11T21:38:00.001-07:00

Post Summaries or the ‘Read More’ hack as it is most commonly known, has at last found its way into Google’s Blogger. One of the most requested features, the post summaries has has been implemented in Blogger Draft on the eve of 10th anniversary celebrations of Blogger.
What’s post summaries?

If you have just begun blogging, post summaries may be a new thing to you. Its where you show only a small part of the post on the main/archive/category page, and provide a ‘Read More’ link at the botttom. When the user clicks on this link, he can read the full post!
What are the advantages of using it?

Well, when a person need to view two pages to read a single post, it increases your page-views drastically! This feature also decreases load time of your home page. Also many blogger’s don’t prefer to overwhelm the blog’s visitors with ads on the homepage, but would like to show ads when the visitor goes to the post page. This feature allows implementation of such a system.
Until now there wasn’t any easy way to implement post summaries in Blogger. Many hacks were introduced by blogger’s all over the world, which relied either on CSS or javascript. However all of the hacks needed modification of the blog template, an idea many people weren’t much pleased about.

This feature is currently available only in Blogger Draft (http://draft.blogger.com/). The blogger team has given a short tutorial on how to use this new feature, which you may refer from here.

Transcend Launches New 7-Inch DPF

2009-09-11T21:27:00.000-07:00

Transcend has revealed a new full-featured Digital Photo Frame, the PF700. This 7-inch photo frame features a 16:9 aspect ratio screen and works with most mainstream SD/SDHC/MMC/MS memory cards as well as USB Flash Drives. Users can choose to view photos one at a time, in customizable slideshows, or in a tiled thumbnail view. Additionally, the PF700 features Transcend’s exclusive NaturaTone color modes, handy zoom and rotate functions, photo borders and themes. Austin Huang, Regional Head - Sales, SAARC & APAC, Transcend, said, “Aside from its pleasing display features, the PF700 can also function as a video player, an MP3 player, an attractive desktop clock, or an electronic calendar with important-date scheduling and reminders. For extra convenience, the PF700 has easy-to-use controls and comes with a compact remote that users can take advantage of to easily browse through photos, watch videos or change MP3 songs without having to get up to press buttons on the frame itself.” The device also features -

Full motion 30fps video playback
Built-in speaker for listening to MP3s, Audio out
Customizable Clock, alarm and calendar functions

Currently available in black and white versions, the PF700 is priced at Rs. 6000 with a 2-year product warranty (1-year panel warranty).

Download vLite For Windows 7

2009-09-11T21:19:00.000-07:00

We all have become busy bees these days. We love to automate or need to automate as much tasks as possible. As most of you will install Windows 7 RTM on your machines, here is a free tool to automate & customize Windows 7 installation.

The name of the utility is vLite. Basically this software was developed for Vista. But like most of the software, vLite for Vista works fine on Windows 7 as well.

Major features of vLite:

# Create unattended Windows setup
# Fine tune with tweaks
# Remove Windows features and programs
# Integrate hotfix, language pack and drivers
# Create bootable ISO and burn

Many of you might not be familiar with the vLite name. vLite is free program that lets you automate and customize Windows 7 installation, remove unwanted features and programs from installation disk, integrate drivers, and more.

Creating an unattended Windows 7 installation setup with vLite is pretty easy. We will show you all the possible tasks that can be done with vLite in coming days. You can download the vLite for Windows 7 from the link mentioned below.

Download vLite

Place Your Ad Here

2009-09-11T09:05:00.000-07:00

Hi,Friends are you a blogger,want to increase your traffic and you want more unique visitors to your site.Place your Ad here.

Size:
125x125 = ur image

Rates:
1 month = $5
2 months = $8 (you save $2)
5 months = $20 (you save $5)

To advertise contact us via geekstech09@gmail.com with full details .

Download DELL Windows 7 Drivers

2009-09-10T17:05:00.000-07:00

DELL, one of the largest PCs sellers, has published the dell drivers download page for Windows 7. With this DELL has started posting DELL certified laptop and desktop drivers for Windows 7, ahead of Windows 7 general availability on October 22, 2009.

Although DELL Windows 7 drivers have been posted in the DELL Windows 7 support page, the list is yet to be completed. According to this Dell blog, DELL will be posting additional drivers in the coming days.

To download DELL drivers for Windows 7, you can directly head over to the DELL Drivers page and select your model.

Make Your Windows XP Talk As You Type

2009-09-10T16:36:00.000-07:00

Its been a long time since I have written on Windows XP. So, I just came up with this one, its quite simple. Open a text file in notepad and copy the following code:

Dim msg, stp
msg=InputBox(”Enter your text”,”Talk it”)
Set stp=CreateObject(”sapi.spvoice”)
stp.Speak msg

Give the file .vbs extension, this will create a VBScript File.

Then, once you click on the .vbs file, it would prompt you for a text. Type in the text and click on enter.

Firefox 3.5.3 Available To Download Now

2009-09-10T16:31:00.000-07:00

Mozilla has updated its Firefox browser from 3.5.2 to 3.5.3 and the latest version of the open source browser browser is ready to download now.

Mozilla has addressed four major issues in Firefox 3.5.3:
# Chrome privilege escalation with FeedWriter
# Location bar spoofing via tall line-height Unicode characters
# TreeColumns dangling pointer vulnerability
# Crashes with evidence of memory corruption
# Several stability issues Although the latest version is available to download, you can also update to this version by choosing Help >

Check for updates option. As always, you can download the latest version from Firefox download page.

Join Google Adsense Official Community On Orkut

2009-09-10T05:59:00.000-07:00

If you are Google Adsense publisher then you must join the official Orkut forum, exclusively for Indian publishers. This community is managed by AdSense professionals working out of the Google office in Hyderabad, India. Here you can sort out problems of other publishers and if you need any help, Adsense professionals are always there to help you out.

In this community you have Direct communication with AdSense employees from Google office Share knowledge with other publishers and know more about AdSense Optimization inputs Better policy knowledge on AdSense
Know more about AdSense as a product I am surprised to see that this community was created on October 29, 2008 and only 82 users have joined it.

Click here to visit the community.

Note : You need to be an AdSense publisher to be a part of this community.

Windows 7 Logon Background Changer

2009-09-10T05:50:00.000-07:00

Windows 7 Logon Background Changer is a similar program as Windows 7 Logon Changer which we reviewed earlier this week. The software program which is compatible with both the release candidate and RTM release of Windows 7 can turn images that are located on the local computer system into logon background wallpapers that can then be shown during the Windows 7 logon process.

The program comes with the option to automatically resize images of a selected folder into the supported size so that they can be used as Windows 7 logon backgrounds. The processed images will be saved using a good balance between compression and image quality. The Windows 7 user can then select one of the available backgrounds for the Windows 7 logon process. No system files are altered by the program and admin rights are only required to create a folder and an initial Registry key.

Windows 7 Logon Background Changer is more comfortable than the previously reviewed Windows 7 Logon Changer. The program is based on the Windows Presentation Foundation which means it requires a decent video card to display the 3D animations smoothly. The software program can be downloaded from the developer’s website.

Change Number Of Recent Items To Display In Windows 7 Jump Lists

2009-09-09T06:36:00.000-07:00

If you are new to Windows 7, Jump Lists are lists of recent items, such as files, folders, or websites, organized by the program that you use to open them. In addition to being able to open recent items using a Jump List, you can also pin your favorite program to Jump Lists, so that you can quickly get to the items that you use every day.

By default, you can view only 10 recent items in Jump Lists. Once you get used to Jump Lists you always try to launch files and folders from Jump Lists only. So, to make the most out of Jump Lists, you need to increase the number of recent items in Jump Lists.

To increase/decrease the number of items to display in Jump Lists, follow the steps given below:

1. Right-click on Windows 7 Taskbar and select Properties to open Taskbar and Start Menu Properties.

2. Switch to Start Menu tab, & click on the Customize button.

3. In the Customize Start Menu dialog box, change the number next to Number of recent items to display in Jump Lists to 12 or 15.

4 Click Ok and exit the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties.

5. That’s all.

How To Dual Boot Windows 7 And Windows Vista

2009-09-09T06:33:00.000-07:00

In my opinion there is no reason why users should wait a few months for Windows 7 to bed in before upgrading, or for Windows 7 SP1 to be released as the product is good to use now. I’ve been using the Windows 7 RTM build on all my machines as my main OS for a few months now without any issues at all.

But, there are some people who will want to be more cautious and not fully leave Windows Vista or XP behind. If you have a big enough Hard Drive, then you can create a new disk partition to install Windows 7, so that when you start your machine you will be given the option of choosing Windows 7 or your older (inferior) OS. This is also a way to ensure you don’t delete any old files until you are sure Windows 7 is working fully.

To create a New Disk Partition to Dual Boot Windows 7:
1.Open Control Panel and go to Administrative Tools and then Computer Management
2.Click on Disk Management (under Storage). In order to install Windows 7 you need to shrink one of your existing disk partitions to make room for Windows 7 – I recommend freeing up at least 40GB
3.Right-click on your biggest partition and click on Shrink Volume. In the popup window enter the amount you want to shrink the disk by in the ‘Enter the amount of space to shrink in MB’. Remember 1GB is roughly 1000MB, so enter 40000 if you want to create a 40GB partition
4.After you’ve done this, ‘Unallocated’ space will appear in Computer Management. Right-click on this space and select ‘New Simple Volume’. this will create your new partition
5.To install Windows 7 to your new partition just boot your PC with the Windows 7 installation disk, and install it to the new partition.
6.Once finished, when you boot your PC you will be given a choice of which OS to boot into
7.If in the future you want to delete one of the OSs, just follow the instructions above, but in Computer Management delete the unwanted partition and then right click on an existing partition and choose Extend Volume to add the freed up space.

Smartphone, now an investigation device

2009-09-07T04:12:00.000-07:00

Smartphones have come a long way from sophisticated handsets with data, video, and voice built in. Today, among other functions, smartphones have become investigative tools as demonstrated by a unique relationship between Sprint and US Investigations Services, Inc. The two companies have teamed up to develop smartphones and applications that help USIS conduct background investigations for the federal government.

USIS is the largest commercial provider of security investigation services to the federal government, a provider of global commercial employment and drug screening solutions, and also a provider of information services to the insurance industry.

Partnering with Sprint, USIS supplies its field staff with Treo PRO by Palm smartphones as part of a program dubbed "iCompass" to increase efficiencies in coordinating case work in a real-time environment.

"Not only does the Treo PRO streamline the investigative work conducted on our current contracts, it lays the groundwork for future opportunities," says USIS CEO Bill Mixon. "Functions like production control and master scheduling give USIS a tangible advantage when handling its varied contracts. This device provides a single interface for existing case management tools and is scalable for growth."

With more than 7,000 employees working in all 50 states, U.S. territories and overseas, USIS provides a wide range of comprehensive security-based training, screening, litigation support and information management solutions to government customers. The company says it invests in its workforce and providing employees with the advanced technology and new tools needed to improve performance, including fleet cars, global positioning systems and other productivity tools.

Peru Distributes Laptops in Villages With No Electricity

2009-09-07T04:11:00.000-07:00

Peruvian authorities handed out 2,656 laptop computers to children in 73 villages without taking into account that 50 of them lack electricity, El Comercio newspaper has said.

"It's true that the majority of those villages don't have (electric) light," the president of the Junin regional government, Vladimiro Huaroc, said in a statement appearing on the daily's website.

The distribution of the computers was a joint project of the Junin administration and Peru's education ministry.

Acknowledging the oversight, Huaroc promised to invest $200,000 in the purchase of 100 solar panels to provide power in the 50 Ashaninka communities that are not connected to the electric grid.

He also said that his government is acquiring "more laptops for all the primary school pupils in the poorest areas of the Andes and central jungle".

Google Chrome OS announced coming up in 2010 !

2009-08-31T01:50:00.000-07:00

Google just announced on their blog that they are releasing an operating system called Google Chrome OS.Google Chrome OS is based on the open source model. It would be a light weight operating system and it would be targeted at the netbooks for now. Google stated that netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available the second half of 2010.

The focus of the OS will be on “speed, simplicity and security” as Google points out. Like all Google properties, the new OS will sport a clean UI and be extremely lightweight.
As per official google blog :
Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Later this year we will open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010. Because we’re already talking to partners about the project, and we’ll soon be working with the open source community, we wanted to share our vision now so everyone understands what we are trying to achieve.
and they also stated that :
Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We’re designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds. The user interface is minimal to stay out of your way, and most of the user experience takes place on the web. And as we did for the Google Chrome browser, we are going back to the basics and completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don’t have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work.
Google Chrome OS will run on both x86 as well as ARM chips.The basic model of this operating system is Chrome browser running on top of Linux kernel.

MySpace to Buy Web Music Service iLike

2009-08-27T04:43:00.000-07:00

News Corp's MySpace said on Thursday it has agreed to buy music recommendation service iLike, as the once-hot social networking site tries to reinvent itself as an entertainment portal.

MySpace declined to disclose financial terms of an acquisition that brings iLike's twin brother founders Ali and Hadi Partovi and Nat Brown into the MySpace fold. The site was backed by venture capital funds and Ticketmaster Entertainment. Several blogs, including AllThingsDigital, reported earlier in the week that iLike would be bought by MySpace for around $20 million. iLike is best known as a popular social music discovery service on Facebook, the social networking site that has overtaken MySpace as the top Web destination for friends and family to share photos, messages, video clips and other media. MySpace, which was once the most popular and fastest growing social networking site just two years ago, has lost ground with users who have moved onto Facebook or other sites. "We think that integration of iLike should help drive stickier traffic and ultimately improve monetization of MySpace user base," said JP Morgan analyst Imran Khan.

The acquisition comes as News Corp owner Rupert Murdoch has pressed to reinvent MySpace as an entertainment portal, taking advantage of its continued strength in areas like music and movies. While it is still one of the most popular video and music sites, data from Nielsen shows time spent by users on MySpace fell by 31 percent between April 2008 and April 2009. In the same period, user time on Facebook grew 700 percent. MySpace Chief Executive Owen Van Natta said on a conference call that iLike's social discovery technology can be extended to other areas for MySpace users beyond music -- areas such as entertainment, video and games. He explained this is why MySpace, rather than MySpace Music, made the acquisition. MySpace Music, which launched last September, is a joint venture between MySpace and the four major music companies EMI Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group.

China Mobile to Develop Phone With HTC

2009-08-27T04:42:00.000-07:00

China Mobile, the world's largest mobile carrier, will develop smartphones with Taiwan's HTC to compete with Apple Inc's iPhone, Taiwan media reported on Friday.

China Mobile will launch its Ophone running on the OMS (Open Mobile System) platform with HTC, the Economic Daily reported, citing China Mobile chairman Wang Jianzhou. China Mobile could also set up a procurement center to raise its purchases from Taiwan suppliers, the Commercial Times reported. The reports come a day after China Mobile posted its slowest interim profit growth since it listed in 1997 and said it expects average revenue per user to slide in the months to come. Wang will kick off a nine-day trip to Taiwan starting Friday, visiting the chairs of HTC and Mediatek, the island's top chip design house, it said. China Mobile said in April it was buying a 12 percent stake of Taiwan's Far EasTone for $592 million, in one of the biggest investments by a Chinese firm in Taiwan as ties warm between the former rivals.

IBM uses DNA to make next-gen microchips

2009-08-18T02:49:00.000-07:00

International Business Machines Corp is looking to the building blocks of our bodies -- DNA -- to be the structure of next-generation microchips.

As chipmakers compete to develop ever-smaller chips at cheaper prices, designers are struggling to cut costs.

Artificial DNA nanostructures, or "DNA origami" may provide a cheap framework on which to build tiny microchips, according to a paper published on Sunday in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

Microchips are used in computers, cell phones and other electronic devices.

"This is the first demonstration of using biological molecules to help with processing in the semiconductor industry," IBM research manager Spike Narayan said in an interview with Reuters.

"Basically, this is telling us that biological structures like DNA actually offer some very reproducible, repetitive kinds of patterns that we can actually leverage in semiconductor processes," he said.

The research was a joint undertaking by scientists at IBM's Almaden Research Center and the California Institute of Technology.

Right now, the tinier the chip, the more expensive the equipment. Narayan said that if the DNA origami process scales to production-level, manufacturers could trade hundreds of millions of dollars in complex tools for less than a million dollars of polymers, DNA solutions, and heating implements.

"The savings across many fronts could add up significantly," he said.

But the new processes are at least 10 years out. Narayan said that while the DNA origami could allow chipmakers to build frameworks that are far smaller than possible with conventional tools, the technique still needs years of experimentation and testing.

Transcend intros sensor equipped Memory Modules

2009-08-18T02:48:00.000-07:00

Transcend Information, Inc., a provider in storage and multimedia products, today announced the availability of server-grade DDR3 ECC DIMM and Registered DIMM premium memory modules equipped with thermal sensors.

The new product in thermal monitoring technology could enhance memory reliability, efficiency, and overall system stability, making these new modules perfect for use in dedicated servers as well as workstations, said a press release.

Austin Huang, regional head - sales, SAARC and APAC, Transcend, said, "We are extremely proud to have introduced our new DDR3 Memory Modules in India as they will offer unmatched performance and enhanced reliability to the end users."

He added with the information provided by the thermal sensors of these modules, the memory load could be adjusted so as to provide high performance while protecting the modules from crash and burn scenarios, which could prove to be extremely costly for organisations.

This allows motherboard chipsets to monitor the exact temperature of each memory module and adjust the memory load accordingly, ensuring the best possible system performance while at the same time protecting the DRAM modules from potentially catastrophic failure and compromised system stability.

Transcend's thermal sensor equipped DDR3 memory modules include ECC DIMMs and Registered DIMMs in both 1333MHz and 1066MHz versions, all of which comply with JEDEC (the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council) standards.

In addition, these modules are built to exacting specifications with the highest quality DRAM chips and components available, the release added.

DEN Networks To Foray Into Broadband

2009-08-14T04:19:00.000-07:00

Cable TV operator DEN Networks, currently serving 10.3 million homes pan-India, has plans to foray into broadband Internet market and acquire majority stakes in multi-system operators (MSOs) to expand its network.

Promoted by Raghav Bahl, managing director, Network18 and Sameer Manchanda of IBN18, DEN offers analog as well as conditional access system (CAS) services which is under the brand name ‘Digitelly‘. While it has predominantly analog cable TV customers (10 million), it also has 300,000 subscribers of Digitelly (as of December 2008, MPA Report 2009).

It services states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, National Capital Region and Kerala; Digitelly is present in 37 of 76 cities it covers. In January 2008, DEN and Star India set up a 50:50 joint venture called Star Den Media which is a content aggregator that leverages DEN’s distributor network.

To Invest Rs. 2B In Cable Network, Acquisition Strategy

Den, which is the first MSO in the country to go public, intends to invest Rs. 2.1 billion of the proceeds of its public offer in developing its analog and digital cable infrastructure.

The company has acquired majority stakes in 62 cable operators so far as part of its growth strategy and will continue to acquire them to widen its network coverage, both in the states in which it already has a presence and others “that have significant television viewership potential for increased digital cable penetration and revenue potential”.

Fluffing Its Offerings To Compete With DTH, But Can It?

Besides its Digitelly brand, DEN also has trademarked Excite and Cinetime as part of the value-added services bouquet it plans to offer its digital cable susbcribers, including pay-per-view services, interactive educational programmes, personal video recording and mosaic viewing.

DEN already owns the rights for 4,000 films and and is now growing its film, music and international programme collection. It plans to invest Rs. 100 million in buying content rights for them.

Other plans include

* offering more localised content - regional language films and local events
* launching a news channel, employing stringers (freelance journalists and TV crews)
* standardising the look and feel of our own brand television channels and improving the quality of the programming to attract more regional and national advertisers

DEN expects these initiatives will “reduce the likelihood of subscribers switching to another digital platform such as DTH satellite television.” There are 13 million DTH connections in the country, players include Airtel, Reliance’s BIG TV, Sun Direct, Dish TV, Tata Sky and the latest entrant - Videocon.

Foray Into Broadband

It has also obtained an all-India ISP (Internet Service Provider) license, according to its Red Herring prospectus and plans to offer broadband Internet. It has commenced a limited roll out in Bangalore, National Capital Region of Delhi and Kanpur. It intends to invest Rs. 250 million post the IPO in developing its broadband infrastructure and services in these regions. It has also entered into a tie up with Idea Cellular to use the latter’s fibre network within Delhi. DEN’s cable broadband will offer subscribers download speeds of 10 Mbps.

Our Take

Competition: We think DEN will have a tough task: It will be in direct competition with Airtel Broadband (offering 16 Mbps), Tata Teleservices Maharashtra (TTML)’s Power Launcher in Mumbai (100 Mbps), Reliance and Vodafone, which has recently received its ISP license. It will also be up against Hathway Datacom, private equity fund Ashmore Investment backed Digicable , InCable and Zee Network’s WWIL. Don’t forget that wireless broadband through data cards is also becoming popular.

Branding: The other challenge will be for DEN to build a brand - it is up against the common perception of cable TV operators as being untrustworthy and unreliable. Competition is red hot in both television distribution and broadband sectors - DEN will not only be competing for a share of the pie with the cable TV posse but aggressive DTH operators, cable broadband providers, as well as the BSNL and MTNL, who are also offering IPTV.

Targeting Tier 2/3 Cities: DEN plans to first tap its existing subscriber base to launch its broadband service, but for that, it will first need to digitise its own analog network. DEN should first invest in digitising its network in Tier-2 or 3 cities and towns where access to Internet is still poor, and perhaps look to target first time Internet users instead of metro cities.

Google Caffeine

2009-08-14T01:59:00.000-07:00

Google Caffeine- Google Search Improved

The net was ablaze with how Bing was trying to one-up Google. Then there was Wolfram and other “decision engines”, then there was Collecta and a huge list of other real-time search engines who would one-up Google. Twitter came on with the hope to be the pulse of the planet, and said “We’d like to do to Google, what Google did to others”. Bing included tweets. What did Google do? We’ve been following Google pretty closely, from their improvements on visual presentations to every new feature they’ve included. To some, it seemed like Google was losing focus. Apparently not. The company that made it big with search is back to fortify it’s stronghold on the industry. Say hello to Google Caffeine. There were several who feel that Bing does give better results than Google, though shifting is a major inconvenience. Google, of course denies that Bing has anything to do with it, merely stating that they’d be looking to better themselves for quite some time. The new initiative Google Caffeine, which users can test at http://www2.sandbox.google.com/, is visually the same. There are no snazzy make-overs, no major changes made in presentation. The difference, is under the hood, subtle but noticeable for those who bother. And Google wants you to test it out. Google says on its blog post “It’s the first step in a process that will let us push the envelope on size, indexing speed, accuracy, comprehensiveness and other dimensions”. Caffeine will redefine the core of the search infrastructure that Google utilises. There are several who’ve tried comparing with comments. I myself fiddled around with comparing results for WATBlog, Google Caffeine, myself and other strange queries. A few websites have compared and analysed the results. Supposed authorities on search engines like Bing includes Twitter in results – real time search? Not Quite How Google Always Gets it Right Baidu.com Becomes Second Largest Search Engine: Does Local Indian Search Players Hold the Same Potential Microsoft-Yahoo Search Deal Looks Imminent, Bing Coming Soon To Yahoo? Why Browser Is The Future Of Computing?
CommentsWATBlog Panel Discussion At IIM Bangalore On Ecommerce

Google Inc's Android OS comes calling for smart-phone attack

2009-08-03T21:50:00.000-07:00

The Androids are coming. Brace yourself.

Between now and the end of the year, a wave of new wireless smart phones running Android, Google Inc’s much-discussed but so far little-seen operating system, will crash onto US shores from makers such as Motorola Inc, Samsung Electronics Co and LG Corp.

The first of these, the inelegantly named “myTouch 3G With Google,” goes on sale from Deutsche Telekom AG’s T-Mobile unit next week. I’ve been trying the myTouch for a week or so, and while there are some nice touches, it isn’t going to make you throw aside your iPhone, BlackBerry or Palm Pre and run down to the neighbourhood electronics store to grab one.

Then again, that doesn’t seem to be Google’s game here: By making Android an open platform available to handset makers at no cost, it aims to establish the operating system as a de facto standard for the mass of wireless users intrigued by the new generation of smart phones but who haven’t yet made the leap.

Until now, the only Android phone in the US was the G1, a handset made for T-Mobile by Taiwan-based HTC Corp. The myTouch, which is already on sale in the UK, Canada, Germany and Hong Kong as the HTC Magic, is an improvement on the earlier model. T-Mobile is selling it for $199.99 with a two-year contract, starting August 5.

Narrower, Lighter, Thicker
The myTouch is narrower, slightly thicker and, at a bit more than 4 ounces (0.1 kilogram), slightly lighter than Apple Inc’s iPhone. Six buttons are arrayed below the bright, crisp 3.2-inch touchscreen, along with a trackball that in use seems a bit superfluous.

The slim size, which lets it fit comfortably into purse or pocket, can turn into a bit of a liability when it comes time to tap out an e-mail or quick text message. Unlike Palm Inc’s Pre and most of the BlackBerry models from

Research in Motion Ltd, there’s no physical keyboard, and the size may be pushing the limits of practicality for on-screen typing. Try as I might, I found the keyboard almost unusable in vertical, or portrait, mode. A quarter-turn counter-clockwise brought up a more comfortable landscape-mode keyboard that, of course, cut off more of the screen.

The myTouch includes a 3.2 megapixel camera and the ability to send photos and videos via text messages — a feat US iPhone users still await.

Pictures, videos and music are stored on a 4-megabyte microSD card. While the phone supports stereo Bluetooth, using the included earbuds or other wired headphones is a bit of a pain: There’s no stereo jack, so you have to use a special adapter that plugs into the same mini-USB port that the phone also uses for charging. In other words — another thing to lose.

Window Shades
The Android operating system on the myTouch uses a window-shade approach; program icons that you don’t keep on the home screen slide up from the bottom at the touch of an onscreen button, while the top can be rolled down to show various notifications. You can also slide the home screen from side to side, creating more desktop space for icons.

As befits a phone running software from Google, the myTouch excels at search. In particular, I had a fair amount of fun using the voice function, which worked surprisingly well in interpreting my spoken instructions.

Among other things, the myTouch accurately executed searches for “Mexican restaurants” and “hardware stores” using its global positioning system to tailor the results to my location.

Seamless Synching
Android’s wireless synching with Google’s Gmail, calendar and other Web services works seamlessly, but you needn’t be tethered to Google to get the most out of the phone; setting up Yahoo and even Apple’s MobileMe e-mail accounts were a snap, and the phone also synchs with Microsoft Outlook mail, though not its other functions.

After a slow start, the number of programs for Android phones is growing; it's now over 6,000. Apps are ordered and acquired wirelessly over the myTouch itself; while many seem to lack the polish of those available for the iPhone, that may change as more Android phones hit the market, building a broader audience that encourages more developers.

Much like the early personal-computer era, competitors are scrambling to establish beachheads in the smart phone market from which they can expand.

In that light, the myTouch 3G is probably less important for what it does than for what it represents: the vanguard of the Google invasion.

WiMAX Opportunities in India

2009-08-03T21:45:00.000-07:00

While 3G auction in India takes it’s own sweet time, WiMAX is setting a strong foothold (a report suggests that WiMAX subscribers in India will outnumber 3G subscribers). As per Infonetics report, India is the most ripe market for WiMAX with VoIP playing a key role in adoption. Few interesting insights from the report: India is the largest single-country WiMAX opportunity in the world, with most of the major operators actively pursuing WiMAX (BSNL, Tata, Bharti Airtel, etc); deployments are well-underway with acceleration in adoption experienced in many telecoms circles Russia is the ‘perfect storm’ for WiMAX: challenging geography, dispersed population, pent up demand for broadband and voice services, and a population able to pay for services; there are currently more than 10 WiMAX networks in operation or deployment in Russia Brazil is potentially one of the world’s most dynamic WiMAX markets, with a very mobile-oriented populace; The number of WiMAX subscribers is forecast to skyrocket from 184,000 in 2008 to almost 8 million in 2013 WiMAX Network Equipment Revenue in India Most countries in Central and Eastern Europe have WiMAX deployments underway and more than 20 operators offer VoIP over WiMAX service, a major driver of adoption There are over 80 networks now active in over 35 African countries, with demand for broadband and voice services driving deployment, despite challenges in terms of funding and low-ARPU business models Though the current market is very modest, if China’s 3G technology TD-SCDMA fails to ignite the market, a softening of the regulatory attitude to WiMAX could follow, leading to much more extensive WiMAX market growth In Japan, mobile WiMAX adoption is growing, with a battle brewing between operator UQ’s mobile WiMAX network (in partnership with KDDi) and NTT DoCoMo’s LTE rollout [link] The major hurdle for WiMAX/BWA penetration in India is lack of PC penetration, but even then it has a higher probability of success, as opposed to 3G, which has turned out to be an utopian dream. What’s your take on India’s WiMAX story? » Do check out Indian Startup Directory | Indian VC Directory and Active Startup Discussion Forum » Lets catch up on Twitter Topic for this fortnight (ending August 2nd): Social Entrepreneurship Advertise @ pluGGd.in WiMAX Opportunities in India – Time we stop going gaga over 3G?

Xara Web Designer 5.0.1

2009-08-01T03:05:00.000-07:00

Traditionally, constructing and hosting a website involved working with various web technologies and web standards. Technically speaking, since HTML and CSS are the backbone of any website, having some knowledge about them is a prerequisite. However, applications such as the Xara Web Designer, make construction of websites super-easy and very quick.

This software is designed primarily for people who want to make websites without having any knowledge of web technologies. The three most striking points of this application are the presence of ready-to-use web templates, being able to edit elements from within the application and most importantly, the price tag is impressive. In a little over Rs. 2000, you can make good websites quickly and seamlessly. Also, the various templates are quite intuitive and easy to use. Just shift through the ‘templates’ section, make your choice and get started in a matter of minutes.

Basically, this application manipulates the CSS at the backend and allows the user to make changes in the front end. Each element in the templates is replaceable and can also be manipulated or edited. Adding and replacing images, text and other elements is a piece of cake. Just drag and drop. You don’t need to worry about the code being prepared in the background—which doesn’t show itself in the forefront while you’re working. Although the intention was to perhaps have a solely GUI (graphical user interface) environment, an option to edit the code would add tremendous value—especially for advanced users. The absence of this option deprives a user of making fine tweaks to the code. Nonetheless this software will be highly appreciated by novice users and by people who want good results quickly.

The functionality of Web Designer is similar to that of both, an image-editing and page layout software such as Adobe Photoshop and InDesign. Changes to design elements and images can be made on-the-fly, so you won’t need to swap between different applications. Some of the features include, resizing and rescaling images, cloning elements, creating hyperlinks for images and text and so on. Basically it has most of the standard features that are required to design a website. You can preview the functioning of the ready website or webpage in the built-in browser interface. Once you’re satisfied, Web Designer—like other similar applications—lets you upload your website via FTP. Finally, it’s worth mentioning that if you need assistance, their website has many tutorial videos. Some of them are ‘beginner’s guide to Web Designer’, ‘resizing pages’, ‘photo rollover effects’, ‘flow text around’ and so on. All-in-all, at this modest price, Web Designer is a great application to have.

If you aren’t very keen on the HTML coding and CSS, but you want to make stunning websites the quick way, this software is definitely for you.

Yahoo’s Search Experience is Great, But ‘Powered by Bing’ will be an Awesome one

2009-07-29T22:42:00.000-07:00

If you are from Yahoo search team, you will surely love this statement from Carol Bartz ..but this deal will make the difference between a great Yahoo! search experience and an awesome one. Goes on to say how valuable is the Yahoo searchproduct in the eyes of Yahoo! Better everything else: With Microsoft powering Yahoo! Search, we’ll be able to focus on the things we do best -– being the center of people’s lives online with properties like our homepage, mail, finance, news, sports, entertainment, mobile, etc. Sure, we’re the world’s largest online media company and your loyalty has made that possible. But we’re not satisfied – we still want you to say “wow” a lot more often. And that’s what makes this deal especially exciting. Well, somehow I still do not understand the obsession with being the center of people’s lives. A startup (named Twitter ) has done wonderful things that made people built lives around it! Doesn’t happen the other way round. You do not make people love you, because you offer every product/service they need. People love you because you have one great product that they use daily. It’s that one F**king Cool experience that counts. What’s your opinion? Do you still buy the ‘center of people’s lives’ story? » Do check out Indian Startup Directory | Indian VC Directory and Active Startup Discussion Forum » Lets catch up on Twitter Topic for this fortnight (ending August 2nd): Social Entrepreneurship Advertise @ pluGGd.in Yahoo’s Search Experience is Great, But ‘Powered by Bing’ will be an Awesome one – Carol Bartz

Few Questions Before We Say GoodBye to Yahoo! Search

2009-07-29T22:40:00.000-07:00

Yahoo! has finally lost the search battle. It gave up its own search and now a month old Bing will power Yahoo!’s search. But before we write obituary of Yahoo! Search, there are a few immediate questions that come to my mind: Flickr and Image Search: Yahoo! had a fantastic integration of Flickr in Image Search which made it comparable to Google in terms of relevancy. Will Yahoo! open Flickr to Bing as well? Image search on Bing sucks big time Mobile Search and oneSearch: How about ‘oneSearch’? Yahoo! has a good mobile search product in oneSearch and its federated search result pages were a big hit, and had higher market share than Google in many local markets Local Search: What happens to Yahoo! Local Search? Or for that matter other search verticals like Jobs, News, Maps? Of all these, Yahoo! had poured a lot of money in Local Search, and I guess Bing is nowhere close to Yahoo! in these verticals. The minority of loyal Yahoo! search users is only going to shrink further if Bing powers these search verticals. A huge opportunity to compete with Google in these verticals (where actually Yahoo! was not lagging way behind of Google and was doing comparably well) goes down the drain Social Search: There was a lot of talk of integrating Del.icio.us with Yahoo! Search, which I thought had great promise. Search needs to be more social, and success of Twitter as search engine is for everyone to see. With a strong social bookmarking product like Del.icio.us with it, Yahoo! could have done a lot in search. Wonder what happens now with search technology getting outsourced to Bing? Glue: What happens to Glue? Yahoo! launched it last year as a new search product and Yahoo! India Search have Glue pages for a large chunk of popular queries These questions may be of no relevance once Yahoo! says that its technology is not the one which can provide the best search experience to its user. With that, Yahoo! writes-off all the investment and effort it had put over years in improving its search engine and adding those awesome search features like ‘Search Assist’ to latest one of ‘Search Pad’. With this, it also writes-off all the effort engineers there had put in building the search and its various features. Carol Bartz announced that there will be lay-offs in search team, and am sure elsewhere also in Yahoo! there will be a huge attrition now. May be Yahoo! should have just spun-off Yahoo! Search as separate company. That would have unlocked the real value of rest of Yahoo!’s businesses in which it is doing quite well (It is still the most trafficked portal in world. Display advertisement remains Yahoo!’s forte altogether). Market would have determined the right value for this separate search company, and am sure Yahoo! would have got a better price for it than what it has got in this deal. » Do check out Indian Startup Directory | Indian VC Directory and Active Startup Discussion Forum » Lets catch up on Twitter Topic for this fortnight (ending August 2nd): Social Entrepreneurship Advertise @ pluGGd.in Few Questions Before We Say GoodBye to Yahoo! Search

Time Warner buys Google's stake in AOL for $283 mn

2009-07-27T22:52:00.000-07:00

Time Warner Inc paid $283 million for Google Inc's 5 per cent stake in AOL, the Internet company said in a U.S. regulatory filing on Monday.

Time Warner, which plans to spin off AOL by the end of the year, bought the stake from Google on July 8, AOL said in the filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The price that the company paid for Google's stake implies that AOL has a total value of about $5.7 billion.

The filing is a registration statement with the government that AOL must file before its long-expected separation from Time Warner, and brings the company one step closer to ending a troublesome eight-year-old merger.

Brigantine Advisors analyst Colin Gillis said the implied $5.7 billion AOL valuation from purchasing Google's stake represents a "floor valuation" as AOL moves towards a spinoff.

"It shouldn't be anything lower than that," said Gillis.

Current Time Warner shareholders are expected to be holders of the new AOL shares once the company is separated.

AOL Chief Executive Tim Armstrong told Reuters last week the company will focus primarily on being a Web advertising business.

In its registration statement, AOL said that it expects to incur up to about $90 million of additional restructuring charges in the last nine months of 2009.

The company already incurred $58.3 million in restructuring charges during the first quarter of 2009, which it said were related primarily to layoffs and closing facilities.

Google, the number search engine in the U.S., purchased its 5 per cent stake in AOL in December 2005 as part of a five-year advertising partnership between the two companies.

Time Warner shares rose 2 cents to close at $27.60 on the New York Stock Exchange. Google shares fell $1.92 to close at $444.80 on the Nasdaq stock market.

Reliance Mobile Ties up With US Mobile Games Firm

2009-07-27T22:40:00.000-07:00

Reliance Mobile, part of the Anil Ambani group, Monday said it has tied up with US-based Gameloft, which specializes in developing mobile games based on celebrities and Hollywood movies.

Under the terms of the agreement, Gameloft will release a mobile game based on the life of American heiress and socialite Paris Hilton, called "Paris Hilton's Diamond Quest", the firm said in a statement.

As part of its tie-up with Reliance Mobile, Gameloft will also launch the mobile game version of its latest Hollywood offerings on the operator's CDMA and GSM networks.

"Our tie-up with Gameloft is part of our strategy to strengthen our gaming portfolio," said Krishna Durbha, head of value added services at Reliance Communications.

As part of the agreement, Gameloft will also offer Reliance Mobile, a portfolio of games based on Ferrari World Championship, Wimbledon 2009, Spider-Man Toxic City, and a few offerings based on popular television series.

GSM firms add 8.89 mn users in June

2009-07-25T21:53:00.000-07:00

In May, 8.3 million subscribers were added and the corrosponding figure for April was 8.9 million, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said in a statement.

Bharti Airtel, added 2.82 million, increasing its subscriber base to 102.4 million. Vodafone-Essar, recorded a lower net addition of 2.37 million in June, compared to 2.54 million in May.

The Aditya Birla Group telecom service provider added 1.61 million subscribers during the month, up from 1.3 million added in May, while Aircel has added 1.11 million new users during the month.

The data did not include additions by Reliance Communications, as the company, which operates both CDMA and GSM service, does not provide separate GSM numbers.

Microsoft takes on Google with free Office programs

2009-07-25T21:52:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Corp will release a free version of its dominant Office software that users can access over the Web, catching up with products that arch rival Google Inc launched three years ago.

The world's largest software maker will offer a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation software and a note-taking program with the same look and feel of their counterparts in the Office suites that it sells for personal computers.

It is the latest salvo in an intensifying war between the two technology giants. Google announced plans last week to challenge Windows with a free operating system. Microsoft introduced a new search engine, dubbed Bing, last month, that has taken a small amount of market share from Google.

A free version of Office could hurt sales of Microsoft's top-selling and most profitable business unit. One of Office's most popular titles is a home version that sells for $150. It includes the four programs that Microsoft will give away.

"Microsoft is in a tough spot. Their competition isn't just undercutting them. They are giving away the competitive product," said Sheri McLeish, an analyst with Forrester Research.

The Office division rang up operating profit of $9.3 billion on sales of $14.3 billion in the first three quarters of the software maker's current fiscal year.

McLeish said she expects Microsoft to overtake Google in the market as the hundreds of millions of people who use Office flock to try out the Internet version.

Microsoft will seek to make money by using it to lead those users to its ad-supported websites, including the Bing search engine. Analysts have said that Bing's early signs of success suggest Microsoft may be rounding the corner in efforts to turn around its money-losing Internet division.

Microsoft will release the free offering when it starts selling Office 2010, it next major release of the product, sometime in the first half of next year. Its current version came out in January 2007.

The software maker unveiled an early release on Monday at a conference for business partners in New Orleans. It will be distributed to tens of thousands of testers.

Company spokeswoman Janice Kapner said the free Web version will provide "a very rich experience" and probably have more functionality than Google.

Office 2010 is among a wave of upgrades to Microsoft programs planned over the next year. A new version of its ubiquitous Windows operating system is coming out in October and a new version of its widely used email server is also in the works.

Microsoft also plans two other Internet versions of Office for businesses.

It will host one of them at its own data centers, charging a yet-to-be-announced fee for that service. Businesses with premium service contracts will have the choice of running the Web-based version from their own data centers at no extra cost.

Microsoft Releases Windows 7 Code to PC Makers

2009-07-23T22:56:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Corp said on Wednesday it is releasing the code for Windows 7 to PC manufacturers, keeping the software company on track to have machines running its new operating system in the stores by late October.

The move means Hewlett-Packard Co, Dell Inc, Acer Inc and other computer makers can start to load up new PCs, laptops and netbooks with the operating system, the successor to the unpopular Vista. Both Microsoft and the manufacturers are hoping the full launch of Windows 7, scheduled for Oct. 22, will help lift PC sales out of the slump caused by the global economic downturn, and give the holiday shopping season an extra lift. Manufacturers have been testing early versions of Windows 7 for several months, but this week marks the release of the "gold code," according to a Lenovo Group Ltd executive, referring to the software industry jargon for the finished product. PC makers no longer have to fly discs in helicopters to their manufacturing plants, as the transfer is now done electronically. But it still marks a dramatic day as manufacturers hustle to get new products into stores in time for the release date. Machines that have Windows 7 installed, or devices that are compatible with it, will simply have the Windows 7 logo on them, a Microsoft executive said.

The company will not be splashing the word "capable" around in marketing efforts, after it received complaints at its last launch that some machines branded "Windows Vista Capable" could only run the lower-end versions of the software. Few industry watchers expect such problems to hit Microsoft this time around as the company has spent more time making sure PCs will be able to run the new software.

Emails Can Resurface After Deletion - in The Wrong Hands

2009-07-23T22:55:00.000-07:00

Beware, emails or Facebook posts or pictures can resurface months after they are deleted - in the wrong hands or at the wrong time, according to researchers.

"If you care about privacy, the internet today is a very scary place," said University of Washington (UW) computer scientist Tadayoshi Kohno. "If people understood the implications of where and how their email is stored, they might be more careful or not use it as often."

For instance, a lost cell phone can expose personal photos or text messages. A legal investigation can subpoena the entire contents of a home or work computer, uncovering incriminating, inconvenient or just embarrassing details from the past.

The team of UW computer scientists developed a prototype system called Vanish that can place a time limit on text uploaded to any web service through a web browser. After a set time text written using Vanish will, in essence, self-destruct.

Study co-authors include Roxana Geambasu, Tadayoshi Kohno, Hank Levy and Amit Levy, all with UW's department of computer science and engineering.

"When you send out a sensitive email to a few friends you have no idea where that email is going to end up," Geambasu said.

"For instance, your friend could lose her laptop or cell phone, her data could be exposed by a hacker, or a subpoena could require your e-mail service to reveal your messages. If you want to ensure that your message never gets out, how do you do that?"

Many people believe that pressing the "delete" button will make their data go away. "The reality is that many web services archive data indefinitely, well after you've pressed delete," Geambasu said.

Simply encrypting the data can be risky in the long term, the researchers say. The data can be exposed years later, for example, by legal actions that force an individual or company to reveal the encryption key.

"In today's world, private information is scattered all over the internet, and we can't control the lifetime of that data," said Levy.

"And as we transition to a future based on cloud computing, where enormous, anonymous data centres run the vast majority of our applications and store nearly all of our data, we will lose even more control."

Researchers compare using Vanish to writing a message in the sand at low tide, where it can be read for only a few hours before the tide comes in and permanently washes it away.

Erasing the data doesn't require any special action by the sender, the recipient or any third party service.

Tata Comm launches 10 Gigabit Ethernet service

2009-07-21T22:57:00.000-07:00

Tata Communications today announced the launch of a new 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10 GigE) service. Tata Communications said the service would help providers meet growing market demands for high speed, secure and cost effective bandwidth.

As part of Tata Communications' extensive Ethernet services portfolio, 10 GigE leverages Tata Comm's global network to satisfy large scale wholesale for high speed Ethernet technology across the Atlantic, Pacific and within Asia including India, said a press release.

Available in 25 major cities in 11 countries worldwide, the services connects all the key business centers over the self-owned TGN (Tata Global Network) cable system.

According to John Hoffman, head of Ethernet services, Tata Communications, this advanced Ethernet services is a cost-effective alternative for customers who need large bandwidths on a truly global scale. "Our availability in 25 cities worldwide is unmatched in the industry, " he said.

He added that this service gives customers the flexibility of using LAN Phy or WAN Phy interfaces. Most customers desire LAN Phy interfaces to further reduce costs but not all providers could offer these LAN Phy interface to their customers.

The 10 GigE service integrates seamlessly with Tata Communications global network infrastructure including regional cable systems such as TGN-Atlantic, TGN-Northern Europe, TGN- Western Europe, TGN-Pacific and TGN-TIC, the release added.

BSNL to offer WiMax services

2009-07-21T22:54:00.000-07:00

BSNL to offer WiMax services in Tamil Nadu by November

T E Narasimhan / Chennai July 22, 2009, 0:11 IST

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd - Tamil Nadu circle is planning to launch its wireless Internet service in the state by October or November.

Speaking to Business Standard, R Ganesan, principal general manager, BSNL, said that as part of the first phase, orders had been placed to procure 30 terminals for the proposed WiMax connection. These terminals will be procured from foreign vendors. Each terminal will cover a radius of 15 km. Around 22 locations, mostly rural parts of the state, will be serviced.

“The terminals are expected to arrive in August and we will start offering the service from October or November,” said Ganesan.

Under Phase II, the company would procure another 250-300 terminals.

Besides, to increase the Internet broadband connection in the state, the company would enhance the capacity by another 200,000 by September from the present 240,000 connections and focus on SMEs and other business institutions.

Microsoft takes on Google with free Office programs

2009-07-20T22:27:00.000-07:00

Symbian announces Symbian Horizon

2009-07-20T22:26:00.000-07:00

The Symbian Foundation today previewed Symbian Horizon, an application-publishing program on schedule for general availability in October 2009.

With Symbian Horizon, developers will receive assistance in building applications for Symbian devices and in placing those applications in the many global stores which reach Symbian customers, and will receive promotional assistance for bringing those applications to end users.

The goal of Symbian Horizon is to reduce barriers to success, while increasing the profitability of creating and delivering Symbian applications.

Upon general availability, companies and developers participating in Symbian Horizon will gain access to a variety of services that support the development, distribution, and marketing of mobile applications.

From application certification and in-store presence, to language translation services and marketing programs, Symbian Horizon works with developers to create a single point of management and distribution to the largest group of mobile consumers worldwide.

Symbian's Strength

According to a recent Gartner report1, the Symbian OS on which the foundation's open source platform is based is installed on over 70 different types of mobile handsets across 26 countries, and Symbian accounted for 49.3 percent of the worldwide smartphone market share in the first quarter of 2009.

Symbian is the only platform that supports a comprehensive runtime suite including Java ME, Adobe Flash Lite, native Symbian C++ and OpenC/C++, Python and a full web toolkit.

"Our goal is to encourage robust application development, increase revenue and application diversity in mobile stores, and improve the consumer experience, all for the greater benefit of the mobile ecosystem," said Lee Williams, executive director of the Symbian Foundation.

"And we can help North American developers reach markets in Asia and Europe where the Symbian platform is widely known and loved," added Williams.

Benefits for the mobile ecosystem

Symbian Horizon will provide new benefits to two primary communities within the Symbian ecosystem. The first community is made up of application store providers, either operator or manufacturer-based, such as Ovi Store by Nokia, Samsung Applications Store and AT&T's MEdia Mall.

"I expect Symbian developers to have broader opportunities to reach consumers at the Samsung Applications Store thanks to Symbian Horizon." said Yong-suk Moon, vice president and managing director of Samsung Electronics Research Institute based in UK.

The second target community for Symbian Horizon is comprised of developers ranging from individual developers to companies that want to reach a broader mobile consumer market.

The fizz is back

2009-07-19T22:50:00.000-07:00

The beverage majors are on a new high in India and setting a scorching pace of growth. Both Coke and Pepsi grew their sales by over 30 per cent in the quarter ended March, a feat they are expected to repeat in the June quarter as well, the figures for which are yet to be released.

The growth in the same quarter last year was 12 per cent. So what's driving the business? Atul Singh, President & CEO, Coca-Cola India, says "there's a lot of latent potential in the Indian beverage market, and as an industry, we have just about started to unlock the potential. The key to growth in this industry is to be able to provide consumers with the product of their choice at the right place at the right time and at the right price.''

That's the key difference from earlier years. ''The consumer today has lot more choice(from juices to colas to Nimbooz to Gatorade) and in different pack sizes (from affordable glass bottles to PET bottles if you are 'on the go', to slim cans). 'The industry is doing a better job in meeting the consumer's varied needs,'' Pepsico India Chairman & CEO Sanjeev Chadha says.

The weather gods have also been kind to them. The summer this year was strong and long, especially in North India, after winter finished abruptly in early February. ''The weather has been great for the soft drinks industry. Last year, May-June was a washout,'' says Ravi Jaipuria, one of Pepsico's largest bottlers in India.

The beverage majors have also been able to hold their price line even as commodity prices spiked. This, say experts, made the colas more affordable and encouraged relative indulgence. And finally, the industry got over the ghosts of the pesticides episode in 2006.

"Certain negative aura, which had got created due to the pesticide controversy, is now behind. The market is catching up to its potential,'' says an industry expert, who didn't wish to be identified. The industry has been growing at a nominal rate of 15 per cent, which declined during the pesticide controversy. ''Growth is coming back to normal. There was latent demand, which was egged on by the summer and pricing," he says.

The beverage majors have also stepped up investments in India in the last couple of years, which had slowed down when the companies were in trouble. Two years ago, Coke announced an investment of $250 million to be spent over three years to streamline bottling operations, enhancing infrastructure such as coolers and bottling lines and investing in sales, equipment, trucks and distribution.

PepsiCo is investing $220 million (Rs 1,000 crore) in 2009, its highest amount in India in the last 19 years, thanks to good growth and significant momentum. The company decided to invest an additional $110 million, taking its total investment in 2009 to $330 million. The proposed investment is part of the $500-million investment plan announced by PepsiCo global CEO Indra Nooyi last year.

Growth is helping justify investments. Coke achieved a volume growth of 31 per cent during the quarter ended March 2009, after boosting growth of 28 per cent during the quarter ended December 2008; its business has been growing for the last 11 quarters in volume terms. Pepsi has followed a similar trajectory. Chadha says the growth in 2008 was double that of 2007, and 2009 has been higher still.

''We believe that this growth has been led by our continued focus on the route-to-market strategy and ongoing investments in technology, infrastructure and consumer marketing,'' says Singh. Coca-Cola India has been working with its bottlers to ensure availability of chilled products, build capacity to service anticipated demand and offer innovative packages at affordable price.

What's helping them is market expansion through the launch of new products. Take PepsiCo's Nimbooz, a nimbu pani, which has clicked with the Indian palate. The response was so good that Pepsi was struggling to supply to the marketers and had to curtail the launch to a certain set of cities. ''It's asli nimbu and resonated well with the customer. There's no fizz; it appeals to the palate and culture. It's real, genuine and natural, which has appealed to a wider number of people,'' says Chadha.

''There have been innovations on new products (Nimbooz) and packages (Pepsi's slim cans, which have been a hit with the youth) and more chilling equipment. All this is showing results today,'' says Jaipuria who expects that volume growth in the quarter ended June to exceed that in the quarter ended March. Coke and Pepsi also say consumers today are more receptive to packaged beverages and are buying them more often than earlier. The cola majors would hope the good times last longer.

Online video ads let's you play

2009-07-19T22:47:00.001-07:00

Vdopia, an online video advertising solutions provider, is all set to take interactivity of online video ads to the next level.

The company claims that it is ready with a new feature, Talk to me, which will empower viewers to click on the various elements – people, product and objects – of an online video ad and enable them to interact with or alter it.

For instance, in a car video ad, consumers can change the colour of the car; alter the colour of the clothes worn by the people and roll the mouse to get more information about the car.

Not only this, users can also save the video ad in their computer, share it with friends through e-mail, blog or any social networking site and request for a brochure. Another option under the Talk to me feature allows an advertiser to offer multiple and different landing pages from a single video ad.

Interestingly, all these interactive features will be made available inside the video ad itself and users are not directed to any other landing page to do the alterations, get more information, share or store the ad.

Vdopia has the capacity to offer the new feature for not just video banner ads and video clips across all sizes, but also for display banner ads. However, right now, the company will offer this service for video ads only.

"Although advertisers can opt for either lead generation or brand building campaigns under the Talk to me feature, we will only sell advertising inventory on the basis of cost per thousand impressions (CPM)," Saurabh Bhatia, chief business officer, Vdopia, tells afaqs!.

He adds, "We will charge a premium of 25-40 per cent for these interactive features. A thousand ad impressions of 'Talk to me' video banner ad will be priced at Rs 200-350, while the interactive pre-roll video ad will be available at Rs 500 -1,250."

Vdopia has already roped in an information technology and an automobile company for the new feature in video banner ads. However, Bhatia is not ready to divulge the identities of the clients.

Google Reader adds Like, Search and Follow features

2009-07-19T01:25:00.000-07:00

Google has been revamping a lot of its products lately. We recently covered Google Finance’s new look and features here. But Google seems determined to stay in the news. From removing the beta tag from all its products, to challenging Microsoft’s OS supremacy with Chrome OS, Google seems to be on a roll. And now, they’ve revamped Google Reader. Google Reader is one of the most popular FeedReaders available today. Most people prefer to subscribe to RSS Feeds and Google Reader allows them to subscribe to their favourite sites. Google Reader has just added a few new features. This might a little in sync with Google recognising the importance of social networking. Recently, they added Orkut to their existing Google FriendConnect, and now have added Follow and Like Features to Google Reader. The following are the major changes Like Follow Share (with specific user groups option) Like is a universal feature (which basically means, if you like something, it’s made public - much like a digg). As of now, content providers know how many people view their feeds. Using Google Reader, they’ll also know how many people like what they read. Earlier, one could share an item with a comment. The like is an additional bookmarking tool. Is Google Reader attempting to do on feeds with Digg and Delicious did on sites? One can only wonder. Follow is the new craze. Twitter probably changed the ball game, and Facebook hopped on to it, and now it’s Reader’s turn. Earlier you could share stories you liked (with or without comment) and your friends (who followed you) could view it. Now you can choose to follow any individual and view what ever he/she has shared. To see whom to follow, you need to search for them (unless they are already in your gmail list). You can search for anyone who has their Google Profile enabled as public. A quick peek at Google Profile seems to only attest to Google’s fixation with networking. (Using profile can get your profile on the results if people search for you by name, it also allows you to share information, pictures etc. with others). Though I have not created a profile for myself, a quick look at the features will tell you that your profile on Google resembles any other profile on any other networking site. The benefit then? Search Engine Optimisation. One can also create user groups to share certain stories with certain groups (Tech news with work people, Jokes with friends etc). What’s Good about the new features : Taking Google Reader to the Social Platform. Already an integral tool how people read off the web, with millions subscribing to their favourite sites, the Like and Follow features will only improve. Unlike most other follow options, Reader is obviously less prone to unwanted content. Articles you wish to view are completely on a need-to-know basis. What next? Comment on the article using Google Reader itself? A search-as-you-go feature? Integrate tweets on the current article you’re reading with a twitter app? One can only wonder

Intel completes Wind River acquisition

2009-07-19T01:21:00.000-07:00

Intel Corporation today announced the successful completion of its acquisition of Wind River Systems Inc.

Wind River is a leading software vendor in embedded devices, and is part of Intel's strategy to grow its processor and software presence outside the traditional PC and server market segments into embedded systems and mobile handheld devices.

Embedded systems and mobile devices include smart phones, mobile Internet devices, other consumer electronics (CE) devices, in-car "info-tainment" systems and other automotive areas, networking equipment, aerospace and defense, energy and thousands of other devices.

"The acquisition will deliver to Intel robust software capabilities in embedded systems and mobile devices, both important growth areas for the company," said Renee James, Intel vice president and general manager of the company's Software and Services Group.

"This multi-billion-dollar market segment is increasingly becoming connected and more intelligent, requiring supporting applications and services as well as full Internet functionality," added James.

As a wholly owned Intel subsidiary, Wind River will continue to develop innovative, commercial-grade software platforms that support multiple hardware architectures that are optimized for the needs of its many embedded and mobile customers. The acquisition will boost Wind River's Intel-architecture focused sales as it gains access to Intel's technology investments, brand, employees and global sales force.

Wind River will continue with its current business model of supplying products and services to its customers worldwide. Wind River is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Intel, reporting to the Software and Services Group, added the release.

OnMobile Call On Telefonica Deal

2009-07-17T09:19:00.000-07:00

OnMobile is hosting a conference call on its Telefonica deal. We’re on the call, and reporting from it live. OnMobile CEO Arvind Rao: We’ve been working on this for the last 9-12 months. We initiatited the first call 10 months ago. It was initially just about RBT. Now we’ve signed up for just 22-23 services, rather than just RBT. It’s a 5 year contract, with a renewal clause built into it. There’s a wide range of responsibilities that the operator has also committed to. They’re going to push services into the markets where they’re well placed. Rationale for the transaction: The ROI on existing products sold in new markets is very high. A bulk of the platform expense was done a bunch of quarters or years ago. We’re really remonetizing existing platforms and products, so the margins are high. The leverage is high doing a centralized India based model. Vodafone were 100 percent of our revenues three years ago, and we want to take those down to below 50 percent. Given the way the revenue share models work, the adoption is slow. Quarter on quarter on quarter, the same products in the same markets show higher revenues. In this case, the variable cost of content is going to be picked up by the operator. For some the services we’re deploying, have market penetration of 0.4-0.5 percent in those markets, while in India we have 25 percent. Our targets are to reach half, if not comparable results. The operator will provide branding. We’ve tried to tailor services to the market - for example we have a Soccer Portal. We’re also dabbling with religion, and looking to put in hymns and bible on the cellphone. We haven’t done that in any other market in a substantial manner. We’ll be trialling new things. Another service we’re launching is Mobile Bazaar, under the Movistar brand name, allowing users to trade personal items. Huge potential. When we launch these things, the idea is to launch it in one market, and then launch i others. One key product is voice search - music, taxi etc. We’re going to launch it in both spanish and portugese, and in voice it will be exclusive with us. There are a whole bunch of other services. We have a team in place that is working with the local operators, for planning the deployment. The deployment will be in a phased manner. Based on country and services, starting in the first calendar quarter of 2010. Q&A Vodafone deal was a catalyst?
The vodafone deal had nothing to do with this deal. But that said, will this help us get a third deal? definitely yes. The word is spreading, but we treat each customer one at a time. By when will rollout be completed? If you dig a grid of 23 services in 13 countries. We hope that a bulk of that grid will be populated by Septemer 2010, but there’s a caveat there. I would say that between december 2010 and june 2011, we should be able to populate the entire grid. This contract is for five years, from the date we go live with these services. Investment that we plan to make? Varies on the deployment required. It will be front end loaded. Question is, how many of the services do we launch on day one? Within Latin America, how does the VAS market stand? The market there is focused more on data, not the kind of services we do. But Latin American market is music crazy. But what happened is, wherever it’s been deployed today, it either hasn’t been deployed completely, or uses inferior technology, which we will replace. Our Telisma unit in france has already developed a Spanish model. Customising and fine tuning it to the markets there is not going to take too much time. We want to take a mix - one in the Andean countries, and another in the north, for the rollout, so we can showcase to other countries once they go live.

Google India Plans Expansion, Integration And Education, As They Launch Free Voice-Based Servicevoice based services

2009-07-17T09:14:00.000-07:00

Google India plans to focus on three important brackets in 2009-’10. Parminder Singh, Business Head, Google India spoke to exchange4media.com about their priorities to expand their business. He also added saying that their major focus is on education, integration and expansion. “An initiative like ‘Digital Base’ – where we have held education workshop for advertisers in their offices to make them understand the power of the Internet.” They are also focusing heavily on social media given its tremendous growth and scope.

People are using technology in increasingly sophisticated ways, particularly around social media and social networks. The danger is that a large portion of the population will have less access to jobs, private records and digital databanks if they’re not well informed with social media.

Hence its a very good move to educated the masses and eventually expanding themselves, while integrations will follow. Although Google went mobile long time back – whether through Adsense for mobile applications or through India Maps – Google aims to leverage the significant growth seen in terms of traffic on Google through mobile Internet, and one of the ways of leveraging is to provide education about the medium to advertisers and make sure that the number of queries on mobile Internet reaches a critical point. Orkut and YouTube together are seen as providing very interesting ways for advertisers to reach out to their brands, particularly the younger lot.

We’ve constantly covered every possible news related to the Internet Giant - Google. Their expansion will create enormous opportunities for the advertising sector as well as the online social media. The recent move of going Indian introducing regional languages we presume might help them climb the steep ladder.

Google went mobile long time back. They recently launched their voice-based search engine services for India’s vast mobile services subscribers. The sound is converted to a digital file and sent to Google’s servers, which try to determine the words spoken and pass them along to the Google search engine. This service was initially limited to Blackberry services. They aim to maintain the growth seen in terms of traffic on Google through mobile Internet. One of the ways to maintain the significant growth is by providing education about the medium to advertisers and make sure that the number of queries on mobile Internet reaches a critical point.

Reliance & DreamWorks: First Movie

2009-07-17T09:07:00.000-07:00

Financially starved production house Dreamworks Studios will raise a total of $825 million (around Rs. 4000 crore) over the next three years with the help of Reliance ADA group chairman Anil Ambani who has injected $325 million as equity. Disney has also infused $150 million while the balance will be raised from banks and financial institutions, MoneyControl reports. Reliance ADA Group’s Big Entertainment owns 50% of Dreamworks. In return, Big Entertainment will hold all the marketing and distribution rights for the movies produced by it for India. This includes DTH, DVD and theatre rights. Dreamworks has tied up with Walt Disney to handle global marketing and distribution of its films for 6 years starting in 2010, but this will exclude India. IPO?

Reliance Entertainment may also be using this development to go public. ET says Ambani hinted at going in for a listing during the conference call with reporters after the meeting with media mogul Steven Spielberg, co-founder of Dreamworks and Stacey Snider, CEO of the studio. ContentSutra reports that the famous George Soros deal has still not been closed. Will it ever? Lower Valuation, Financing Woes, Movies In 2010 Rumours of this development have been doing the rounds since September, 2008, when the deal was valued at a much higher $1.2 billion. Then, the ADA Group was said to be investing $500 million in equity, and $700 million in debt through JP Morgan Chase. There was no formal announcement and Reuters now quotes Amit Khanna, chairman of Reliance Big Entertainment, as saying that the amount was revised as it was not needed and that future funding would be raised using the same balance of debt and equity. Dreamworks has been looking for monetary backing to run its operations after its partnership with Viacom company Paramount broke off following disputes between managements. With the funding, Dreamworks’ stalled movies such as Dinner for Schmucks and Cowboys and Aliens will begin to roll and are expected to be released in 2010 and 2011 respectively. Amitabh Jhunjhunwala, Vice-chairman, Reliance Capital and Alan Levine, entertainment advisor, JPMorgan and former CEO of Sony Pictures will be on the board of Dreamworks Studios. Dreamworks produces around 6 films a year

Anna University Results - May/June 2009

2009-07-13T16:16:00.000-07:00

Hi friends,are you an student of Anna University,then catch your May/June 2009 results

from the below link

Click To See The Results

Download Ultimate Firefox Manual

2009-07-11T22:00:00.000-07:00

Firefox has been the favorite browser of power users for years. If you have recently switched to Firefox browser, then you must read this free Firefox manual that uncovers all the features that you might not aware of.

This manual covers a range of topics from installing Firefox to securing your Firefox. This manual evolved during a two-day book sprint at the Doctrain West Conference. Twenty-five writers collaborated over two days in remote and real space to produce a book in two days.

You find topics on installing, updating, interface overview, user the location bar, live bookmarks, using tabbed browsing, sidebars, downloading files, use forms on the web, add-ons & plugins, customizing toolbars, managing add-ons, themes and security features.

It also covers some information that you didn’t know about Firefox and the team behind Firefox . You can read this manual online here or download it as PDF file from here.

Google's Chrome OS aims to kill Windows

2009-07-09T21:43:00.000-07:00

Google on Tuesday evening announced that soon it would be launching its popular Chrome Operating System (OS) for various range of personal computers.

Sundar Pichai, VP Product Management and Linus Upson, engineering director in a blog post said that later this year they would open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010.

He also mentioned that, they are already in talks with their partners and they will soon be working with the open source community.

The OS would run on both x86 as well as ARM chips. The architecture is based within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel. It would run all web-based applications automatically and as well support new application using any web technologies.

For application developers, the web is the platform. All web-based applications will automatically work and new applications can be written using favorite web technologies, blog added.

"These apps will run not only on Chrome OS, but on any standards-based browser on Windows, Mac and Linux thereby giving developers the largest user base of any platform," added the blog.

The company is working with various OEMs to bring a number of netbooks to market next year.

Clarifying the difference between Chrome and Android, the blog said, " Google Chrome OS is a new project, separate from Android. Android was designed from the beginning to work across a variety of devices from phones to set-top boxes to netbooks."

It further added that Chrome OS is being created for people who spend most of their time on the web, and is being designed to power computers ranging from small netbooks to full-size desktop systems.

However, it also agrees to the fact that there are chances of both the OS overlapping each other in some areas.

Russian Telco Yota To Enter Indias Wimax Scene

2009-07-06T22:49:00.000-07:00

Russian telecom operator Yota, backed by Intel Capital may form an alliance with Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. Yota currently offers WiMAX services in three major regions of Russia. They wish to offer WiMAX-based broadband services in Mumbai and Delhi from their partnership with MTNL and rest of the country from their alliance with BSNL. yota Companies looking to expand their international markets find India one of the key markets. Yota is one of them who will have the first mover advantage by partnering MTNL and BSNL. Besides, not having to buy spectrum through a competitive bidding slated for later this year would be an additional advantage. Mr Yegor Ivanov, Director, Business Development, Yota said that 20 Mhz of spectrum would not be enough for operators to provide broadband services. At least 30 Mhz of spectrum is required for WiMAX services to function without any issues. IPTV services are provided in Russia to the Yota’s broadband subscribers. While in India IPTV is available through copper or optical fibre cable infrastructure. Hence operators will have to invest more on infrastructure. Depending on the number of international players keen to enter the Indian broadband market, the Government are looking forward to auction spectrum for WiMAX services towards the end of this year. Not only Russian companies, Japenese and Malaysian companies are also looking forward to make best of these oppurtunities.

Reliance launches iStock on BIG TV

2009-07-03T01:19:00.000-07:00

Reliance BIG TV, in association with Reliance Money, launched a new interactive feature, iStock, India's first portfolio tracking application on DTH platform.

This zone will not only provide information about Indian and international indices, currencies, commodity, stock and market news; but also provide Reliance Big TV customers with value added services including a unique personal portfolio management tracker.

Mahesh Prasad, president, Reliance Communications, said, "The iStock launch is an excellent illustration of the Reliance ADA Group successful effort to draw synergies of its domain expertise across various sectors. The iStock application is part of our endeavour to offer customers unique and differentiated content and enhance their overall interaction with the Reliance BIG TV brand."

Sudip Bandyopadhyay, managing director, Reliance Money, said, "At Reliance Money, it is our constant endeavor to innovate and provide our customers with value added services and increased levels of convenience. As a part of our electronic channel strategy to meet this objective, Reliance Money is already present on the Internet through our trading kiosks and on the mobile. Embracing the DTH platform of Reliance Big TV was the logical next step in providing our customers the added advantage of being able to access Reliance Money's portal content from the comfort of their living rooms."

iStock features personal Portfolio Manager, which would enable users to add, track upward / downward movement of their stocks automatically and the overall gain / loss of their investments. The Portfolio Manager would allow users to add up to 16 stocks in the portfolio and monitor them independently with an option to edit/ delete/ replace the target stocks anytime.

Malayala Manorama launches education portal ManoramaHorizon.com

2009-06-29T21:06:00.000-07:00

26 June, 2009 ManoramaOnline, the online division of Kerala-based Malayala Manorama Group, has launched ManoramaHorizon.com, an education portal that will allow educational institutes to enlist their names on the website and provide details about the courses they offer.

According to C Mathew, deputy general manager, marketing, Malayala Manorama, about 4,700 colleges from all over India are already on ManoramaHorizon.com. “We are targeting to rope in 20,000 colleges in the next 12 months,” Mathew has said.

Apart from listing of colleges, ManoramaHorizon.com will also offer education related news and career guidance articles. Initially, the news content will be offered in Malayalam and later it will also be made available in English.

New Ionic-Cooling System For Laptops

2009-06-29T21:04:00.000-07:00

If you've ever used a laptop, you will be familiar with the whole concept of using built-in cooling fans to keep the laptop from overheating. And, as many of you know, a laptop cannot always really be classified as a "laptop".

The term in itself is conjures up the idea of being able to use the pc, while seating it on your lap. The problem with this is, and has until now been that placing the laptop on your lap while working is actually very impractical - at least for the device itself.

While the design differs from one laptop to another, most laptop cooling fans are mounted in such a position that it needs to draw in cool air from underneath the device. Now, if you consider that by placing the laptop on your lap, the possibility very really exists that the cooling fan may be obstructed or smothered, in effect rendering the whole cooling concept as quite an in-efficient exercise.

Effective cooling of all electronic components will always be an important factor influencing the performance greatly. With this in mind, a company called Tessera, based in San Jose, CA, provides innovative technologies that have the possibility of transforming future wireless, consumer and computing products.

Earlier this year, Tessera and the University of Washington presented the ionic-cooling system. This technology has the potential to be integrated with next generation laptops as a cooling solution, but not only that; the ionic-cooling system has the ability to disperse approximately 30 percent more heat than current conventional fan-based cooling systems.

Not only that, this new technology uses NO moving parts, and it is reported that the technology may ultimately consume only half of the power currently used. Now if we read that correctly, it would mean roughly a 30 percent increase in cooling efficiency, using about half of the power normally required. Sounds like a win-win situation.

The ionic-cooling system is based on the work done in 2006 by Alexander Mamishev (an electrical engineering professor at the University of Washington) and his colleagues.

Tessera licensed the technology in 2008, and the company has since modified it to be integrated into a laptop. The technology may also be modified to fit, projectors, game systems, and servers.

How it works: Tessera's ionic cooler is mounted close to a vent inside the device. Using the method of evaporation and condensation of a fluid, the heat pipes then draw the heat toward the ionic-cooling system, where two electrodes inside the ionic-cooling device have a specific function. One ionizes air molecules such as nitrogen, and the other acts as a receiver for those ionized molecules. The ions flow from the emitting electrode to the collecting electrode when a voltage is passed between the two, and as the ions move, the area is then cooled when their momentum causes neutral air molecules to flow across it.

'Bluetooth' Signals Show Airport Security-Line Waiting Times

2009-06-29T21:00:00.000-07:00

Researchers have used Bluetooth signals from cell phones and other wireless devices to track how long it takes travelers to get through security lines at the Indianapolis International Airport.

The research expands previous work that has focused on measuring motor-vehicle travel times and could lead to systems that help reduce waits at airport security checkpoints, said Darcy Bullock, a professor of civil engineering at Purdue University.

"This is the first time anyone has tracked Bluetooth signals to measure how long it takes travelers to get through security lines in the United States," he said. "We expect the data can be used to help airports make more accurate staffing decisions and aid security officials comparing wait times at airports across the country."

Bluetooth technology exchanges information for cell phone hands-free headsets, wireless keyboards, Internet access for personal digital assistants, and wireless networks for laptops and personal computers. The wait time estimation procedure detects and records "media access control" identification signals, or addresses, each time a Bluetooth device passes a detector.

The researchers used two electronic readers - one at the beginning and one at the end of the security lobby - to record signals from portable devices carried by ticketed passengers.

"This technique is more efficient than conventional methods and easier to implement because it automatically calculates waiting time," said Robert Spitler, director of security at Indianapolis International Airport.

The addresses consist of a string of numbers and other characters, but only a portion of each address was recorded to track people, preserving the privacy of travelers.

"It's kind of like writing down only part of someone's license plate," Bullock said. "You can't identify people by tracking only a portion of their addresses."

The data showed security wait times peaked at 20 minutes during the heaviest passenger processing times in Indianapolis, which occurred around 6 a.m. Wait times diminished rapidly after 6:30 a.m. and leveled off for the rest of the day at about six minutes per passenger.

"What we are really interested in is what is the worst-case scenario and how long does it take somebody to get through security," Bullock said. "What we saw in Indianapolis is that it really never takes anybody longer than 20 minutes. Most of the time, it's less than 10 minutes."

Researchers used the system from May 8 to June 1 to observe the impact of increased passenger traffic associated with the Indianapolis 500, Bullock said.

The number of passengers passing through Concourse B screening on Monday, May 18, was typical at 7,549. However, on Monday, May 25, the passengers passing through Concourse B totaled 10,568, an increase of about 40 percent.

Despite this surge in passengers, the Bluetooth travel-time monitoring showed that screening wait times remained less than 15 minutes throughout the day, Bullock said.

"We are fortunate in Indianapolis because we have a new terminal with spacious security checkpoint areas and multiple processing lanes, so passengers are able to clear security relatively quickly and make their way to the gate," Spitler said. "But from a technology standpoint, this Bluetooth system is an intriguing tool because it has the potential to provide continuous, real-time wait information at our fingertips. We have been debugging the process, and if it develops into a formal product that continues to work well, we might pursue using it in Indianapolis on a daily basis."

The system could be especially helpful for more congested airports and to manage unexpected surges of airline customers.

"This is a prototype, but I think the system could be put in every airport in the country," Bullock said. "As a traveler, I would love to know if one line is moving faster than another line or if I arrive at 6 a.m. I am going to have a 20-minute line, but if I arrive at 9 a.m., I only have to plan for a five-minute wait."

The researchers have used the same technology to measure motor vehicle travel time, and the Indiana Department of Transportation uses it to monitor traffic on Interstate 65 south of Chicago, where construction frequently causes backups. Motorists are alerted to delays on large electronic signs, providing an opportunity to exit the highway to take alternative routes.

"If you know what the delay is, you as a motorist or airline passenger can make an informed decision," Bullock said.

Future work may involve additional airport studies and may be expanded to additional sections of highway, Bullock said.

"This approach represents a treasure trove of valuable traffic information for monitoring travel time across a variety of transportation modes," he said. "The demand for this type of data is rapidly increasing, and small businesses are starting to enter this market. In fact, we used one of the commercial devices produced by Traffax Inc. for part of this study."

IBM, Siemens joins hands to offer integrated solutions

2009-06-25T02:13:00.000-07:00

IBM and product lifecycle management software and services provider Siemens PLM Software will offer integrated solutions to help companies deliver smarter products.

The two companies will together provide products that would help companies improve the management of products throughout their lifecycle, from design and manufacturing to end-of-life planning and recycling.

They will also help simplify the process of sharing key product data and manufacturing plans, said a statement.

Siemens delivers ready-to-use solutions built on its Teamcenter PLM software portfolio and IBM WebSphere and Information Management (DB2) making use of IBM's Product Development Integration Framework (PDIF) as a development platform and primary integration environment. PDIF also enables a richer integration between Siemens Teamcenter and Rational Software Platform for Systems. Besides, IBM and Siemens will jointly provide a comprehensive range of services including consulting and implementation, systems integration, and application hosting, the statement said.

According to Michael Wheeler, Vice President, IBM PLM and Supply Chain Solutions, "Siemens PLM Software's Teamcenter is the industry's first PDIF-ready platform to deliver tightly integrated IBM middleware offerings that reduce PLM software acquisition and lifecycle costs. By using a flexible software environment, companies have a framework for marrying key PLM business processes to technology initiatives that offer a structured approach to managing the life of a product."

It has been pointed out that, by exploiting the open computing flexibility of IBM's service-oriented architecture (SOA) and IBM's PDIF, companies can address the challenge of making sure millions of pieces of data and design plans are exchanged accurately throughout the product lifecycle communities.

Chuck Grindstaff, executive vice president of Products and CTO, Siemens PLM Software, said: "Companies now have access to the performance and reliability of IBM middleware combined with the scalability and instant access to product knowledge provided by Teamcenter. This combination presents a unique advantage for companies as they address the growing demand from their customers for more sustainable products."

IBM and Siemens PLM Software are also working closely with IBM's Business Partner network to deliver PLM to the small and medium size business community. The two will also be optimizing Siemens PLM Software applications that can run IBM server and storage devices.

iStream.in Provides Video Content To MSN, Sify, Bebo, YouTube, Dailymotion

2009-06-23T10:02:00.001-07:00

Video aggregation company A2Media (iStream.in) has inked deals with multiple content owners, and is providing video content from Times Now to MSN India. We came across a Times Now video on MSN (screencap), and contacted iStream for details.

Video content businesses that required consumers to pay to view content have shut shop over the past year or so - Tinselvision and GluTV (with Zee content) among them. JumpTV also had decided to move away from regional TV streaming to sports, though they appear to have launched TV Desi. The advertising supported model, focused on maximising views through distribution networks has gathered stream.

MediaNama spoke to iStream CEO Radhakrishnan Ramachandran about the partnerships they’ve struck, differentiation, and conflict on interest with content owners themselves taking on an aggregation role:

Content And Distribution Partnerships

Ramachandran, who co-founded iStream with Chellappa Dhanukodi, and IIM-A alumnus who was working with Oracle, said that they’ve deployed video content at MSN, YouTube, Bebo and Sify, and are in the process of tying up with other top tier portals. They have a library of close to 30,000 clips, and around 15 partnerships in terms of distribution. “Currently we’re looking at strengthening both content partnerships, as well as distribution partnerships. We’d like to have at least 25 partnerships closed by the end of two-three months, and covered all the key portals. ” iStream has YouTube and DailyMotion channels, and Ramachandran said they had launched Hindi and Tamil channels on YouTube a year ago. According to their website, their content partners include Times Now, Zoom, Raj TV, Filmy, NDTV Lumiere, Vissa, Kairali TV and Chandamama.

Differentiation?

Given that other content providers like Rajshri Media, STAR TV and the Times Audience Network are also looking to aggregate content for monetization, we wondered if there’s any differentiation - either in terms of exclusive content at iStream’s disposal, or in terms of exclusive relationships with websites that iStream is providing content to. Ramachandran declined to comment on details of exclusivity. Their differentiation, he said, is that they’re essentially a media company, and have managed content for various portals (including MSN India and Yahoo India) at India Syndicate, a content services firm that the Ramachandran also co-founded. “We understand the online space from a content point of view, and what works.

Conflict Of Interest?

But isn’t there a conflict of interest with the Times Audience Network, given that they’re aggregating Times Now content? Ramachandran said that iStream has tie-ups with both Times Now and Zoom, and will be working with TAN. “There is no conflict of interest. They’re primarily looking at how to monetize their content. There are lots of ways of working together instead of competing.”

How is this Content Monetized?

“As in any other case, it’s an ad driven model. I don’t want to get into too many details, though. We’ve been putting in a lot of effort over the last 1-1.5 years to bring in lots of content into the ecosystem. The monetization is left to the portals themselves.”

Our take: With a model that is advertising revenue based, the online video advertising revenue can possibly be get split between multiple stakeholders - the content owner, the aggregator, the publisher and the ad sales company/video advertising network. The business will need to scale significantly in terms of ad revenues (and possibly views), or someone might get taken out of the value chain. Bear in mind that this is our hypothesis, and Ramachandran declined to comment on details of how the revenue is split.

Intel may place OEM orders to motherboard makers

2009-06-23T10:02:00.000-07:00

BANGALORE, INDIA: The semiconductor industry is speculating that Intel might release ODM orders in place of OEM orders for the first time to Taiwan motherboard makers.

The grapevine says that Intel is gearing up place such orders with Foxconn Electronics soon. The chip making giant, meanwhile, has dismissed it as just speculation. However, the company said it is already into design and development of motherboards.

Industry reports said that the Intel move might help the company save R&D costs for its own-brand motherboards.

Intel, at the moment, boasts of annual shipments of around 4-5 million units. Intel, which has said that it would not stop making motherboards., makes use of its overall resources to meet the respective market needs.

Meanwhile, the 'speculative reports' added that Pegatron Technology, a Intel OEM partner for motherboards, will not be included in the new orders. Asustek Computer, an important client for Pegatron, is said to be increasing its outsourcing ratio to others maker to save costs.

This in turn stands to reduce Pegatron's motherboard shipments in 2009 to at least 25 per cent compared with the numbers recorded in year 2008.

'Internet is great marketing channel for us'

2009-06-22T02:05:00.000-07:00

CIOL: It's great seeing you back in Microland. Tell us about why did you move out of Microland?

Jawahar Bekay: Sure. Actually, that's an easy one. Microland had built several businesses and one of them was this company called Planet Asia.

So, I had moved from working on various Microland operations to running Planet Asia as a business sometime in 2001-2002 timeframe. As that company continued to grow, we decided to divest that company approximately three and a half to four years ago. During that time we found a company in the US where it made sense to merge Planet Asia into it.

So, in that process, since I was the CEO of Planet Asia, then it was, I guess, partly duty bound for me to go in there and ensure proper integration and transition; and secondly, the goal of the integrated entity was to significantly grow the business, and they wanted me to stay on and run Global Strategy as well as be the CEO the of Indian entity which I did.

At the same time, I never went away from Microland in the classical sense because I was always on the board. So, I had stayed on the board of the company right through and so kept in touch with what changes or what business that they were doing. So, once this got completed, I guess, it was kind of a good time to look back and say, "Look, what's happening here".

CIOL: During early 2000, Microland was one of the top 10 IT companies…and later on, Microland's visibility had come down. So, what went wrong in between…?

JB: Well, I won't necessarily phrase it that way as something went wrong; but if you go back to some of the chronology and if you look at some of the events that happened, it is quite interesting to reflect on that, maybe to see it in a different context.

So, you are right, in the system integration era, we were the market leaders, we brought in the networking as a phrase itself and as a concept into India, the first of several networks were built by us all over the country, whether it was banks, erstwhile Internet providers, and so on and so forth.

You went out and you bought hardware and along with hardware you got a whole bunch of services free, pretty much. So, it was done free as long as the hardware was supplied. And so we had to play to that tune in that sense, and that's why we were system integrators per se saying we will bring the best-of-the-breed technologies and through us, therefore, all the big names of the day, whether it was Cisco, Synoptics, Compaq, and many other such companies came in and we provided that to the end customer.

Then, over time, we realized that this market is going to get commoditized. Just like world over, as markets mature, hardware becomes commoditized; and somewhere along the way, we took a decision saying, "We don't want to play in that commoditized market space" though we were growing very well. We took, I think, a bold decision at that time to get away completely from supply of hardware and concentrate only on services.

So, that was a huge shift per se. Everything changes, right? Your cash flows change, the way you deal with business changes, and that took some time for us to put into play; and in the meanwhile, the Internet market started emerging and for us actually we see the Internet era as quite a successful period because of the launch of I think four or five really big brands at that time, whether it is Indya.com, Planet Asia, IT Space, and all of whom were successfully launched, executed at that time, brought in huge amounts of business in their own way.

And ultimately I think when we saw that there was this collapse happening around the Internet and that there was some questions around the viability of that whole economy at that time, we were able to go and in many of these cases put these companies into safe hands by selling them back. In the case of Indya, we sold it to Murdoch; in the case of Planet Asia, we have merged; IT space into what is today also a very successful group company of Euro RSCG where it resides right now.

So, I think that was a phase where we went through and did all of that and then moved to…I think around 2002-2003 is really what we called "third wave of outsourcing" if you look at it…and the third wave of outsourcing was I think built upon the fact that lot of things had changed in India by then.

MS foresees incremental growth opportunity

2009-06-22T02:04:00.000-07:00

GURAGAON, INDIA: Despite most IT majors going slow on their partner expansion plans, Microsoft is betting big time on the same segment to drive growth for them.

Sharing the learnings from last year when they unveiled the plan to tap into sub-distribution and for resellers to drive growth in India Rajesh Kumar, Director Marketing—SMB, Microsoft said, "We have made huge strides in the reselling segment and at the moment we are witnessing a 60 percent YoY growth here. We have witnessed incremental demand with the customers and with the help of our sub-distributors we have managed to provide a unique value proposition to our customers."

Throwing light on the sub-distribution spread in India he added, "From last year when we started off, we now have 40 sub-distis across the country. The model has worked well for our partners also since our credit terms works well for them and they are able to offer value additions to their set of partners. Our prime target segment is the SME segment, which is a huge opportunity.

According to our estimates there are around 4 million SME's in India at the moment. Since the market in the segment is in nascent stages, these clients need a lot of hand-holding and it is not possible for us to provide a direct touch to all of them. That is where our sub-distributor partners come into picture. We act as a consultant to our SD's by training their point people."

Sharing how SD partners are helping them he added, "For the last mile it is obvious that the reseller channels make sense. But for this community software is intangible and plus they need high level of engagement. That is where the SD partners come in handy since they have the local knowledge and reach, and when we train them they help us in spreading the message and getting the engagement with the last mile channel. This model has really worked well for us, recent reports that we have show that one out of every four resellers sells Microsoft in the country."

While most hardware vendors are banking on the B and C-class cities to drive the next round of their growth story, Microsoft is cautiously optimistic. Stating the reason for the caution Kumar said, "These locations are definitely on the growth curve but they require a different type of handling. We are at the moment learning how to position software in these markets as the way of doing and perceiving things is different in these centers. Having said that what I can tell you is that we are seeing growth but we do not expect a huge upsurge happening from these cities for us very soon."

Discussing the work that the company has put in its fight against piracy and other initiatives to push original software Kumar elaborated, "More than 50 percent people do not realize that they have pirated software. We are working hard to change the perception of people. We are looking at creating economic value for our partners and even people."

Talking about plans to increase partner base Kumar added, "At the moment we have about 40 sub-distribution partners and we are looking at taking the figure up to 60 or 65 by June 2010. It is no longer about adding a new bunch of people, but the emphasis is more about the ability to service newer markets."

Sharing the learning of dealing with the sub-distribution partners he said, "The learnings were a lot. While we have to manage these partners like our sub-distributors the training levels are the same that we would give to a channel partner."

Talking about the plans for the year ahead Kumar said, "SMB business is real and rife, it is a $2billion opportunity and we feel that channels are the way to reach, engage and monetize this. And to take a lead in that we are looking at ramping up our channel base by 45 to 50 percent in the next year."

ZHMICRO intros new Linux Visual 09 IDE

2009-06-22T02:03:00.000-07:00

BANGALORE, INDIA: ZHMICRO LLC, a provider of enterprise software development tools based on the C++ software development language, today announced availability of the new Linux Visual '09 IDE (Integrated Development Environment).

This Linux version has all the same features and functionality as the Z++ Visual '09 Windows version, said a press release.

Its features include a built-in Text Editor, Debugger, Compiler, Memory Leak Detection, and many other features that focus on simplifying the software development process, it added.

A complete list of these features are available at http://www.zhmicro.com.

"This latest product release of the Linux Visual '09 continues ZHMICRO's commitment to provide software developers with a truly complete Linux IDE that is feature rich, easy to use, and gives software development organizations a one stop solution that allows them to greatly reduce their development costs and make the most efficient use of their development resources," said Daniel Hatton, VP of Mobile Sales, ZHMICRO LLC.

ZHMICRO's Visual '09 (Windows and Linux) offers a comprehensive Integrated Development Environment (IDE) which gives the capabilities of extending C++.

When used with the Z47 Virtual Processor, applications written with Visual '09 are capable of running on multiple desktop and enterprise operating systems such as Microsoft Windows, Linux, and Unix as well as mobile operating systems such as Palm, Windows Mobile, and Pocket PC.

This combination of applications written with Visual '09, and the use of the Z47 Virtual Processor, allows for the rapid development of enterprise, desktop, and mobile Applications and the integration of these applications within a wide range of frameworks, added the release.

For more information visit zhmicro.com or contact ZHMICRO at zppsales@zhmicro.com .

Google To Introduce Orkut Promote? It Helps Google

2009-06-20T17:31:00.000-07:00

Google appears to be planning to introduce “Orkut Promote”, a self service advertising platform for its social networking site Orkut, reports Digital Inspiration. The platform apparently allows users regular Orkut users to promote their content to others in the community - whether photos, videos or text content. Advertisers will be charged for ads on the service, while Orkut users won’t have to pay a fee for promotion. Google appears to have since removed the page introducing Orkut Promote, but it still does show up on search results (screencap; thanks Amit). Readers should note that ibibo.com had also introduced a service called iScream, allowing their registered users to promote themselves on ibibo. In that case, however, usage of the service was being monetized via a premium SMS (charged at Rs. 3), of which Ibibo would most likely get a percentage cut. How Orkut Promote Helps Google

The issue with advertising on social networks has been that of a lack of monetizable intent: they’re on social networks to communicate with others, not looking for a service. The propensity to click on an advertisement is lower. However, if content or an advertisement is more personalized, then the propensity to click (hence generate revenues) is higher. That’s what something like Orkut Promote enables - by allowing users to either select or trash both content or advertisements, Google can understand user preferences better, and deliver ads based on the information they’ve gathered. Digital Inspiration suggests that Digg had also allowed users to dismiss ads recently. Remember that once upon a time, email services used to operate on providing contextual advertising based on user preferences identified while signing up; this is a reverse model, asking users to dismiss ads and content they are being served anyway or choose to keep those ads.

Narayana Murthy advocates two-party system in India

2009-06-20T17:29:00.000-07:00

Expressing happiness over a stable government coming to power at the Centre, Infosys Chairman N.R. Narayana Murthy said that a two-party system is good for India.

"We are all happy that there is a stable government at the centre," he told media n the sidelines of the 28th Annual General Meeting of Infosys Technologies here today.

When he was asked whether he supported a two-party system in the country, Murthy, citing examples of countries like USA and UK, said that such a system would be good for the nation.

He also said that inclusive growth is the need of the country at this point of time, so that sectors like education, healthcare would benefit more.

During his speech at the general meeting, Murthy said the entire world is going through a severe financial crisis that has led to a global recession, of a magnitude never anticipated by the critics of the free market system.

Later, while interacting with the media, when he was asked whether he is opposed to free market, Murthy said free market system is not a failure.

Pointing out that the global meltdown has severely impacted the industry, Murthy said Infosys' revenue in terms of US Dollar terms was less than the revenue guidance.

"We started the year with a revenue guidance of a growth of 19 per cent – 21 per cent in US Dollar terms. During the course of the year, we ran into a perfect storm of a global financial crisis, and growth and revenues were severely impacted… Despite these adversities, we ended the year with our revenues growing by 11.7 per cent," he said.

As per the dividend policy the company directors have recommended a final dividend of Rs 13.50 per share, making it a total dividend of Rs 23.50 per share for the year.

Pointing out that Infosys' banking solution Finacle is doing well, he also said the platform was named a Leader in the January 2009 report: 'The Forrester Wave: Global Banking Platforms, Q1, 2009'.

Murthy said many of the clients of Infosys are reducing their IT budget and this would impact the growth of the company during the current year. And hence there is a decline in its revenue guidance for the fiscal 2010.

"A recent survey of our top 135 clients indicated that a majority of them would downsize their IT budgets. Consequently, our revenue guidance, in US Dollars, indicates a decline of 3.1 to 6.7 per cent in fiscal 2010," he added.

Murthy also said Infosys has realigned its cost structure to protect margins and for the fiscal 2010, the company has "postponed any revisions in compensations and promotions to remain competitive in the current difficult circumstance".

He also informed investors that Infosys has filed 200 patent applications in the US and India, underlining the company's focus on research and innovation even during difficult times.

Silverlight wields new web experience

2009-06-19T03:39:00.000-07:00

Microsoft recently partnered with IPLT20 to offer live cricket matches to viewers through IPL website. With the help of the Silverlight platform, Microsoft's cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering next generation rich interactive applications on the web, viewers enjoyed the entire interactive video-experience through available web-browsers in the market.

In a recent interaction with Abhigna N G of CIOL, Arunjeet Singh, a consultant with Microsoft Global Services India talked about the development of compelling user interfaces for client applications which included applications delivered via the web (Silverlight) and those delivered as rich clients (WPF).

He also talked about the future of Silverlight applications and usage of Silverlight in mobile application. Excerpts:

CIOL: What made Microsoft to partner with IPLT20 to offer Silverlight during IPL?

Arunjeet Singh: While I wasn't directly involved in that initiative, I do realize that with Silverlight, we have a cross-browser, cross-platform version of the Microsoft .NET framework optimized for Rich Internet Applications (RIAs).

As the chosen technology partner, we wanted to let everyone on the action. Not only can fans of IPL watch the action anywhere they are, but with rich features like a Deep Zoom enabled image gallery and a highlights viewer which lets fans filter highlights by teams, players or dates, the experience is so much more than just TV on the web using Adaptive streaming.

IPLT20.com was also another chance for us (Silverlight was also used by NBC Olympics last year) to demonstrate the power and reach of the Silverlight platform and its readiness to deliver rich experiences to a large set of users.

CIOL: You mentioned about Adaptive streaming in Silverlight to stream live cricket matches. What are the difference between Adaptive Streaming and other video sharing services?

AS: When you normally go to a video sharing/web casting web site, you are asked to choose a bit rate that fits your Internet connection. Options range from Dial-up (56kbps), to DSL (256kbps) to broadband (1Mbps) and beyond that for HDTV streams. Once the choice is made, you either end up with blurry video in a postage stamp sized window (if the chosen bit rate was quite low) or lots of buffering and breaks in the video (if the chosen bit rate was too high).

The problem is that the two variables (quality and bit rate) are interrelated and you are forced to make the choice at the start. Adaptive streaming solves this problem by dynamically modifying the bit rate of the stream depending upon what is available at any given time.

You can play a high quality stream, but if your bandwidth dips, the video continues to play smoothly, just with a lower bit rate. As a result, all you have to do is connect to the stream and start playing, no decisions need to be made. The system adjusts quality to always provide the smoothest, highest quality viewing experience.

Microsoft Press Free Ebook For this June 2009

2009-06-18T02:05:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Press celebrates 25 years of publishing and offers free Ebook monthly. This June Microsoft press offers Programming for Unified Communications with Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 and Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Resource Kit.

Note : Free Ebook offers available for a week only, so download the e-books today.

Programming for Unified Communications with Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 by Rui Maximo; Kurt De Ding, Vishwa Ranjan, Chris Mayo, Oscar Newkerk, and the Microsoft OCS team. This book contains Step-by-step programming scenarios show you how to deliver high-quality VoIP, presence, click-to-communicate, and contextual collaboration across the enterprise and across time zones. This book is available for download in PDF file format which is around 7.1 MB of file size.

Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Resource Kit by Rui Maximo, Rick Kingslan, Rajesh Ramanathan, Nirav Kamdar with the Microsoft Office Communications Server Team. This book contains definitive resource for deploying, configuring, and supporting Office Communications Server 2007(fully updated). This book is available for download in PDF file format which is around 30 MB of file size.

Note : Registration is required, so Microsoft asks for sign up before getting ready for download.

TRAI Considers Bringing DTH Portability; Issues & Implications

2009-06-17T02:14:00.000-07:00

Telecom regulatory authority of India, TRAI, is planning to introduce portability to DTH set top boxes, DNA reports. If its suggestion goes through, competition will heighten amongst players as consumers will be free to switch between providers without needing to buy or install a new set top box. However, there are many questions that arise from such a decision. For one, if interoperability is enforced, who will have to pay for the change in the set top boxes (STB) - The consumer or the DTH players? And if a standard for STBs is defined, who will benefit? Will Portability Cost Consumers? Last year, the suggestion to make STBs interoperable was vehemently opposed by Dish TV, reported Business Standard. Dish TV and Tata Sky offer set top boxes with MPEG2 video compression while Airtel’s Digital TV and Reliance’s Big TV offer MPEG4, a more advanced technology. So either Dish & Tata Sky will have to upgrade their STBs or Airtel and Reliance will have to make theirs backwards compatible. If any of the operators will have to phase in new STBs, will subscribers be forced to pay more? If the logic that applies to mobile will be used in case of DTH - it wont work. The connection may be transferrable, but in DTH, portability is about the set top box. Reliance’s Dilemma New entrant Reliance had claimed in a comment to a consultation paper by TRAI that losses due to non-recovered STBs and refurbishment costs were burdening it. If it does not have a comprehensive network to recover STBs and costs, this step by TRAI will put it under more pressure. Bring In Independent Vendors? The issue last year was that which pair would have to ensure compatibility and which technology - MPEG2 or MPEG4 - was the standard. Now, technology has provided an answer with STBs that can play MPEG2, MPEG4 as well as other digital video formats. So all the players can phase out their STBs and bring in the new ones, if the Bureau of Indian Standards can conclude its work on making them the standard. But it has not yet done so. If it does, it could pave the entry for independent vendors of STBs. Bharti had noted that the DTH sector could replicate what happened in the telecom sector - just as handset manufacturers and cellular operators are independent entities, third party STB manufacturers could be allowed into the sector. Currently, the high refundable deposit is a barrier to entry for most consumers. If STB manufacturers are allowed to launch devices, then competition will ensure price reduction. Fix STB Price TRAI had recently asked DTH players if they would okay fixing a price for set top boxes in order to grow the market. Industry stakeholders denied the need for fixing MRPs of set top boxes, saying it would deprive DTH operators of flexibility and would not be in the interest of consumers as the STBs were being offered with huge subsidies. Considering that interoperability is now being introduced and there will be no lock-in, will it make more sense to set a fixed price now? Cable TV Tariffs To Be Fixed TRAI will be seeking public opinion on fixing cable TV rates, Business Standard reports. A questionnaire will be issued on whether wholesale and retail prices of TV channels should be fixed and what ceiling is to be prescribed. Customer affordability is the main theme of the questionnaire that will be put up on TRAI’s website. Related - DTH & IPTV Operators Reply To TRAI: On Clean Feeds, VAS, Radio & Other Issues - TRAI on DTH: Local Advertising, Value Added Services

TTSL to deploy ECI's IP-based broadband n/w

2009-06-17T02:12:00.000-07:00

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL) and ECI Telecom, a global provider of networking infrastructure solutions optimized for NGN migration, partnered to deliver fixed-broadband access network supporting speeds of up to 18 Mbps.

As part of the agreement, TTSL will deploy an all-IP next-generation network featuring ECI's, award winning, Hi FOCuS multi-service access node (MSAN) and SR9000 carrier Ethernet switch router (CESR) platforms.
This broadband access solution has already been deployed across eight cities: Hyderabad, Bangalore, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Vizag, Vijayawada, Surat and Baroda; for TTSL's 'Photon Pro' network.

ECI's solution, part of the company's 1Net framework to simplify networks and allow smooth transition to NGN, represents one of the most comprehensive multi-service, IP-based, broadband access networks that simultaneously supporting next-generation data, video and voice over both fibre and copper infrastructure.

The solution will enable TTSL to enable IPTV, video on demand, high speed broadband Internet, VoIP and other bandwidth intensive services.

A G Rao, president & CTO, Tata Teleservices Limited, said: "ECI's solutions will allow us to deliver a full spectrum of next-generation services today, well ahead of other operators in the market, while addressing our evolving needs as network architecture and technologies change in the future."

Rafi Maor, president and CEO, ECI Telecom, said: "ECI brings proven experience and excellence in the broadband access market, servicing and supporting some of the world's largest tier-1 networks."

YouTube XL for Big Screens

2009-06-16T02:14:00.000-07:00

How do you watch Youtube videos on large screens? Yotube has launched a new version called YouTube XL is optimized for watching YouTube videos on any big / large screen like a TV.

Be amazed by the large text, simple navigation and less cluttered screen as it has no advertisements (yet!), and no suggested video columns. Youtube XL promises to work on nearly any device that has a browser and can connect to the TV.

Another cool feature is that YouTube XL offers a continuous play feature - search for a topic, press “play” once and watch all the videos on that topic.

You can also control the action with a blue tooth enabled remote control, using apps like Gmote which turns Android mobile phones into a remote control for a computer, allowing users to run movies and music at a distance.

Get Wondershare Photo Collage Studio 4.2 for Free

2009-06-16T02:10:00.000-07:00

Wondershare Photo Collage Studio is a brilliant application that lets you create photo collages and digital scrapbooks with your photos.

This application offers a host of photo collages designs. With over 70+ professionally designed templates and collages layouts you can give heart-touching look to your photos.
Key features:
* 70+ designs
* Wordart, cliparts, stamps
* Photo retouching and effects
* Magic doodle drawing
* Tell your full story with multiple-page designs
* DIY personalized calendar
* Print and share anywhere

Give away of the day site is offering Wondershare Photo Collage Studio 4.2.9.1 as a give away for a period of 24 hours. You can grab it by entering offer page. Good thing is that you need not to register or fill any personal details to get this great software. So hurry up!
Don’t forget to read the activation details on the download page.

File Extension Database

2009-06-16T02:06:00.000-07:00

If you are looking to find out information of any file extension extensionfile.net gives you facility to search find out the information of any file extension.
For instance if you like to know what is .OCX file format and its explanation just enter OCX in search box, where you will get the complete information of OCX file and where it is implemented and history of OCX file.

Visit : File Extension Database

Install Windows 7 On USB Flash Drive

2009-06-13T22:29:00.000-07:00

Microsoft has been doing only right things with the much anticipated Windows 7 and the release candidate (RC) is available to download for free.

As you all know creating a bootable USB, or installing Windows 7 or Vista using USB is a piece of cake. It doesn’t take much time and effort to have a bootable USB. Now, after replaying to several e-mails about installing Windows 7 or Vista on a USB drive, I have decided to write this detailed guide.

Requirements to install Windows 7 on USB:

# An USB flash drive with a minimum of 6 GB disk space to install Windows 7 or Vista. You can use a 4 GB drive to install XP.
# Bootable Windows 7 USB or DVD.
# Free time
So let’s begin with the installing Windows 7 on USB procedure:
1. First of all, connect your USB to the machine and backup all the data from the USB drive.
2. Download VirtualBox portable, double-click on the executable file and extract the contents to your USB.
3. Now, go to the VirtualBox portable folder in USB, and execute the Portable-VirtualBox (.exe) file.
4. From here onwards, you need to follow the onscreen procedure to create a virtual disk and install Windows 7 on USB. Follow the install Windows 7 on VirtualBox guide to complete the process.
5. Once you finish the installation process, you can safely close VirtualBox and remove your USB drive.
6. You can now use this Windows 7 USB drive on any Windows machine that you want. To use Windows 7 on other machine, connect the Windows 7 USB, open USB drive, and run portable-VirtualBox file.