Typo, Takes A German Tourist 13,000 km Out

A 21-year-old German tourist who wanted to visit his girlfriend in the Australian metropolis Sydney landed 13,000 kilometers (8,077 miles) away near Sidney, Montana, after mistyping his destination on a flight booking Web site. Instead of arriving "down under", Gutt found himself on a different continent and bound for the chilly state of Montana.

The hapless tourist, who had only a thin jacket to keep out the winter cold, spent three days in Billings airport before he was able to buy a new ticket to Australia with 600 euros in cash that his parents and friends sent over from Germany.

[via CNN]

Tokyo's Ginza Famous Shopping Area Tagged Using RFID

The Tokyo Ubiquitous Network Project seeks to install RFID, infrared and wireless transmitters throughout Tokyo's Ginza area, which is the most famous shopping area in the capital. The tags and transmitters will provide location-related information to people carrying prototype readers developed for the trial, said Ken Sakamura, a professor at The University of Tokyo and the leader of the project.

The system works by matching a unique code sent out by each beacon with data stored on a server on the Internet. The data is obtained automatically by the terminal, which communicates back to the server via a wireless LAN connection and requests the data relevant to the beacon that is being picked up.

Sakamura envisages the system will be able to provide users with basic navigation and information about the shops and stores in the area in at least four languages: Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean.

[via PcAdvisor.co.uk]

Play Playstation in Your Windows Mobile

Engadget reported that hackers have figured out a way to make the Playstation emulator for PSPs more useful. Now you can play pretty much any Playstation ISO on a PSP, and not just the titles you can download from Sony's online store.

In other news, FPSCE, a Playstation emulator for Windows Mobile devices has been updated to include support for Windows Mobile 5.0. The latest version is also optimized to take advantage of the Intel 2700g graphics accelerator in Dell Axim X50v and X51v models.

Flaws Found in Windows Vista

Microsoft is facing an early crisis of confidence in the quality of its Windows Vista operating system as computer security researchers and hackers have begun to find potentially serious flaws in the system that was released to corporate customers late last month.

Computer security researchers and hackers have found more flaws in Windows Vista, the long-awaited update to the Windows operating system, according to CNN Monday.

One programmer said it was possible to increase a user's privileges on all of the company's recent operating systems, including Vista, while a computer security firm said that it found five other vulnerabilities, including one error in the software code underlying the company's new Internet Explorer 7 browser.

On Saturday, Nicole Miller, a Microsoft spokeswoman, said the company was investigating the reported browser flaw and that it was not aware of any attacks attempting to use the vulnerability. Microsoft officials were not immediately available for comment on Monday.

Vending Machine for Books?

CNN writes about a $50,000 machine that can print books on demand. It can print up to 550 pages and put a binding on the book in seven minutes. It will be debuting in a select number of U.S. libraries in 2007.

The machine is the 'output' end of a service called On Demand Books, which is also just debuting. Initially, some 2.5 million books are now available - about one million in English and no longer under copyright protection. On Demand accesses the volumes through Google and the Open Content Alliance, among other sources.

Xbox Live Video Beats iTunes Store

Microsoft has finally announced their online video entertainment strategy for the Xbox 360. Xbox 360 owners will be able to buy and rent over 1,000 hours of programming using the new Xbox Live Video Marketplace. The Marketplace will see Microsoft selling programming from CBS, MTV Networks, Paramount Pictures, Turner Broadcasting, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and Warner Bros.

Microsoft's plan to combat Apple's offering rests in the added value of the complete Xbox 360 package. iTV's features are not yet known, but a premium Xbox 360 with an additional wireless network adapter is $480, $180 more than iTV, but considerably more capable.

Microsoft has also said that users will be able to re-download content for free, in the event that users delete content to make space for new purchases, or even if users want to sign in to Xbox Live and download the show on another console. Shows will be attached to a user's Xbox Live gamertag.

[via arstechnica]

Where is the Fox?

Referring the Mozilla Firefox 3.0 Gran Paradiso website, the Firefox logo doesn't have fox in there. So where is the fox?

Firefox 3.0 Hit Alpha, Ready for the Next Battle

Not long after Firefox 2.0 released, Firefox 3.0 with codename Gran Paradiso hits the alpha milestone. Several enhancements are in development for the successor to Firefox 2. One new feature planned to be in the new browser is called "places", which takes a new approach to bookmarks and page history. Reportedly, these items will be transitioned to the left side of the browser, sort of like Internet Explorer 7.

Also, some of the new features include the use of Cairo as the graphics library, Cocoa Widgets on Mac OS X, and improved SVG specification compliance.

Firefox Shows Its Star in Europe

According to a research by French firm Xiti Monitor, Firefox browser continues to grow in Europe with 23.2% of European web surfers, compare to 19.4% in April. However, there is quite some variation within the continent. Slovenian and Finland have the largest Firefox based for about 40%. On the other hand, Brits along with the Spanish and the Dutch are the least Firefox friendly Europeans as the map shows. Meanwhile, one third of the web surfers in Germany, Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia are using Firefox.


Another stats show that the use of Firefox generally goes up at the weekend, suggesting that people have the browser on their home PCs and may get what they're given at work.

[via TheInquirer]

HP Crossfire is An iMac Killer?

HP and AMD is teamed up for readying Windows Vista launching in January 2007. The HP IQ770 Crossfire, the first mass market touchscreen desktop PC, surely good for taking advantage of Vista's integrated tablet functionality.

The features are as follow:

• 19-inch touchscreen,
• AMD Turion 64 X2 dual core TL-52 processor,
• 2GB SDRAM,
• 320GB drive,
• NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600,
• WiFi, Bluetooth,
• integrated 1.3 megapixel camera,
• integrated FM and ATSC HDTV tuners,
• a DVD±RW / DVD-RAM burner with LightScribe,
• Pocket Media Drive bay,
• wireless keyboard,
• mouse,
• stylus,
• front media reader,
• Ethernet,
• two FireWire,
• six USB 2.0,
• one with HP printer power Y-cable connector,
• 5.1 + digital audio out,
• IR out,
• mini-VGA, and
• inputs: FM coax, TV coax, ATSC, and two S-Video.

It also features some new widget-like dashboard interface, featuring HP new SmartCalendar, which serves as a central point for virtual fridge notes and shared family calendars; as well as Photosmart Touch, a new image editing and printing interface.

The price? Expect $1799 - $1899.

[via Engadget]

X'Mas Present from Google, $50 AdWords Coupon

Are you expecting something from Santa this Christmas? If yes, get this free $50 AdWords coupon from Google.

Be quick, sign up yourself!

Also, There are nine tips, culled from the experiences of retail industry experts, can help make your AdWords campaign as profitable as possible this Christmas season.

5 Apple's Products We Never Seen

For every Apple product we see on the shelves, there are dozens that never make it to production. Sometimes, these rare gems surface on the web for us to take a look at, and ponder what might have been. Scouring through the interweb, I’ve compiled this list of 5 Apple products that only the most hardcore of hardcore MacAddicts have ever stumbled across.

Surprisingly, some of these products, over 10 years old, are still being speculated about in one form or another to this day. Will we see new products based on these old prototypes? It’s far more likely that anything resembling the devices listed below have been rebuilt from the ground up, but still, it’s fun to look back on the products that didn’t make it to the mass market.

[Full story at AppleGazette.com]

X'mas Spirit from Live.com

Christmas is just around the corner. Get more spirit by adding Windows Live.com Happy Holidays Christmas Template to your Live.com


Get the template from here.

[via LiveSide.net]

Google Answers is Dead

Google Answers, the service where you could ask questions in exchange of a sum of money, is now officially dead. "We considered many factors in reaching this difficult decision, and ultimately decided that the Answers community's limited size and other product considerations made it more effective for us to focus our efforts on other ways to help our users find information."

The problem? While Google Answers is almost invisible, Yahoo Answers is a big success, produces results for many search results page and has a big community. The big difference between the two services is that Yahoo Answers doesn't involve money: no one pays or gets paid. While Google's researchers give more detailed answers, Yahoo uses the advantage of having a strong community" and sorts the good answers.

So what happened to Google Answers?

[Full story at Google Operating System]

High-Tech Toys Make Kids Smarter?

Fran Molloy, The Age Australia, wrote an article about the impact of high-tech toys to kids.


It starts in utero, intensifies when babies are learning to crawl and hits a frenzy about the time they are learning the alphabet: the push to get smarter has created a global industry dedicated to training young brains.

And if you think you're off the hook when your children are out of nappies, think again: a new generation of tech toys for the elderly means that, from cradle to grave, the relentless push to make you smarter never lets up. Tech toys aimed at improving intelligence are designed for the under-10s, and particularly for the ages when children are learning to read, write and count.

It's here that manufacturers are reaping big dollars from anxious parents who are more than ready to part with their hard-earned cash to make sure their children have a winning edge in the brain race.

Toys are no longer purely about fun and entertainment: smart kids are what it's all about.

[Read Full Story]

Singapore to Build Training Facilities for Space Tourists

Sebastian Rupley from PC Magazine, wrote an article about Singapore that is currently building a spaceport which will provide suborbital flights and astronaut training facilities for space tourists. The $115 million facility’s construction is being financed by Space Adventures (which has already launched private explorers into space) and a consortium from Singapore.


Prices for the suborbital spaceflights aren’t set yet, but tourists who take off from Spaceport Singapore will reach a maximum altitude of 100km and will experience up to 5 minutes of continuous weightlessness. As many as five space tourists will be able to travel together.

In addition to these flights, the spaceport will offer various high-altitude simulation activities. These will include parabolic flights that induce weightlessness, G-force training in a centrifuge, and simulated space walks in a neutral buoyancy tank. Myasishchev Design Bureau, a Russian aerospace organization, is overseeing the development of the aircraft and space systems.

If you’re Earth-weary, start saving your pennies.

3D Golf Simulator

Interested in playing golf indoor. A golfer's inn in Manheim, Germany offers a 3D Golf simulator that allows you to play golf like a real golf. Here is the video clip on how it is work:

[via GolferManual.com]

Top 10 Worst Internet Acquisitions Ever

James Nicholson has his own analysis about the top 10 worst Internet acquisitions. The factors that he considered to be the worst are money and contribution to the acquiring company in its long term strategy.

So, here's the result: (1 = the worst)

1. Broadcast.com - acquired by Yahoo! in 1999 for $5 billion.
2. AOL - merged with TimeWarner in 2000.
3. Excite - acquired by @Home in 1999 for $6.7 billion.
4. GeoCities - acquired by Yahoo! in 1999 for $3.56 billion.
5. Netscape - acquired by AOL in 1998 for $4.2 billion.
6. Lycos - acquired by Terra Networks in 2000 for $4.6 billion.
7. BlueMountain.com - acquired by Excite@Home in 1999 for $780 million.
8. MySimon - acquired by CNET in 1999 for $700 million.
9. Skype - acquired by eBay in September 2005 for $2.6 billion.
10. Hotmail - acquired by Microsoft in 1998 for about $400 million.

Based on the list, Yahoo is the most company which wasted money for $8.56 billion to acquire GeoCities and Broadcast.com, and ended up with nothing.

Windows Vista Custom PC Design

Microsoft and Dell recently teamed up to create a super-cool customer PC in celebration of Microsoft releasing Windows Vista to manufacturing earlier this month.

Here are the system specs:

• Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 Processor
• 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX
• 4GB RAM Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM @ 667mhz
• 1Terabyte RAID0 SATA HDDs (2x500MB)
• 48x Combo + 16x DVD+/-RW Double Layer Burner
• Dual TV Tuners (Analog)
• Dell 30" Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor
• Full 5.1 Surround Sound

[via: WindowsVistaBlog]

Cannot Access New Microsoft Homepage?

Since couple weeks ago, Microsoft has closed the access to its new homepage via http://preview.microsoft.com. Now that page is being tested by a randomly selected set of users, so you must be lucky enough to be one of them :)

For you that still want to access the new homepage: Don't give up, my friend. You still can access the new homepage from Microsoft Labs.

The new homepage itself is due to the end of this year.

Remove Windows Vista Shortcut Arrow

Unlike Windows XP, in which you can remove the shortcut overlay arrow using TweakUI. In Windows Vista, currently there is no native way to remove the shortcut overlay arrow or to even customize it in Windows Vista.

Rich Crusco has written the Vista Shortcut Overlay Remover utility to enable you to do just that. You can download this util for free from his blog.

Keyholder for Him, and for Her?

If you are looking something new to decorate your house or your bedroom, you might consider this keyholder.


This keyholder is made from metal and has size 80(w) ×110(h) ×15(d) mm. When the interior is small with such design will give your room a uniqueness :)

[via Youmos]

International Clock

Need to travel all the time? And getting frustrated to adjust your clock to the correct time? Why don't you get yourself an International clock? Just rotate your clock to the city where you are. See the picture below.


However, this International clock has a limitation in handling daylight saving time. Some countries in the different hemisphere have a reversed schedule and the starting times vary from country to country.

If you want to create one by yourself, this website has a step by step instruction. Have fun :)

"Get a Mac" Turning Japanese

If you have ever watched the Mac ads featuring John Hodgman and Justin Long and wondered what their Japanese counterparts must look like, the Japanese have their own versions of the ads.

Basically, the ads are similar to the American version, except with two funny Japanese dudes talking in Japanese. If you prefer to watch the high-quality videos go to Apple website, or watch the lower-quality versions with English subtitles here.

Who is the Real "iPod Killer"

Just days after Microsoft released Zune which touted as an "iPod killer", TimesOnline.co.uk reported that the real treat to iPod domination is came from far east not from Redmond.

Hundreds of sleek and cheap MP3 players made by dozens of manufacturers in Taiwan and China are flooding Western markets. Many are just as slender, powerful and good looking as the iPod Nano, some as powerful as the Zune.

Moreover, those devices only cost between $20 and $100, are soaring on eBay and Amazon and at big US stores such as Wal-Mart and Target, with British retail outlets expected to follow.

A group of “open-source” software developers is creating a universal operating system to make the cheap devices more reliable and just as versatile as their expensive competitors.

MSN Search Restored After 4 Hours Outage

Silicon Valley reported that Microsoft’s MSN search engine stopped working for about four hours Thursday. Microsoft spokesman Justin Osmer said in an e-mail that the company was still trying to determine what went wrong.

During the outage, which began about 8:30 am and was being restored as of about 12:15 pm, users who tried to find Web pages were told the service was unavailable.

Microsoft’s MSN Search is the No. 3 search provider in the United States, according to Nielsen/NetRatings, behind market leaders Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. Nielsen/NetRatings said MSN provided 10.7 percent of all U.S. search results in February, compared with 48.5 percent for Google and 22.5 percent for Yahoo.

Filed in: MSN Search

Microsoft Gives Apache A Shock

Microsoft IIS gains 4.7% web server market while Apache loses 5.9% to 62.72, according to the latest web server survey by NetCraft. The move is driven by changes at GoDaddy.com, which has just migrated more than 3.5 million hostnames from Linux to Windows and also make GoDaddy becomes the world's largest Windows Server 2003 host.

Warren Adelman, president and COO of GoDaddy.com said that Microsoft provides an efficient and scalable operating platform as well as significant improvement of performance that needed to handle extraordinary growth.

Filed in: Apache, IIS, Microsoft, Web-Server

Honda Japan Will Add Google Earth to Cars

Honda will soon add Google Earth to its ‘internavi Premium Club’ navigation service in Japan. The navigation service will interface Google Earth with high quality resolution satellite images of cities. The information will be transmitted to the cars via wireless connection that is integrated with the navigation service. However, Honda still has no plan to market the technology in the U.S.

Volkswagen also recently showed off by partnering with NVIDIA to bring Google Maps to car navigation systems. The company promised the technology would make it to showrooms very soon.

Source: Engadget

Filed in: Google Maps, Honda

Do Consumers Trust Microsoft Brand?

According to Forrester Research's 2005 Technology Brand Scorecard, Microsoft brand was only ranked 20th out of 22 consumer electronics and computer makers. The research represented 4,732 U.S. households and conducted during September and October 2005. The research included companies like Apple Computer, Sony, Intel, Nintendo and Panasonic.

The study found that Microsoft, Sony, Panasonic and Hewlett-Packard were brands that have highest adoption from consumers. However, when it comes to brand that consumers trust, only HP cracked the top five alongside with Dell and Apple Computer.

Source

Filed in: Microsoft

"Hall of Shame" 2006 Admits Top American Brands

An independent branding consultant has released an annual branding "Hall of Shame". Surprisingly, several big-name brands are among the list. According to branding expert, Robert Passikoff, the companies who had branding bloopers are those that have been struggling to grow profits. The companies that committed a marketing blooper are Wal-Mart, Ford, Gap and Microsoft.

Ford the automaker made a tremendous marketing blunder by pulling ads from magazine that caters gay community because of pressure from Christian group. Moreover, decision to put the ads back made it even worst as it would have a big negative impact on its potential customer, both from the gay community and the Christian group.

Microsoft the largest software company is even terrible by calling its own customers "dinosaur heads". Even though the idea behind is to tell its customers to upgrade so they will not miss new features and benefits, however it is silly and doesn't work.

Wal-Mart the giant retailer was featuring singer Beyonce which is a big mistake as Wal-Mart's core customers are not upscale consumers. Wal-Mart's always been about low prices and the company should refocus on which they once were to the customer.

On the other hand, some brands like Motorola, American Express and Office supplies chain Staples get a thumbs-up. According to Kelly O'Keefe, CEO of O'Keefe Brands, those companies are doing a great job by changing the look and feel of the brand, maintaining long-term consistency of the image and being innovative.

Source: CNN Money

Filed in: Hall-Of-Shame Brands, Ford, Microsoft, Wal-Mart

Fujitsu Plans 200GB Laptop Drive for Q3

Fujitsu keeps its promise to begin shipping a 200GB hard disk drive for laptop computer in the third quarter. The release schedule is earlier than what Fujitsu predicted last year, when it said such drives wouldn't be available until 2007.The drive may be available in systems for end users this year.

Fujitsu will utilize a Serial ATA (SATA) interface for the new hard drive, not unlike its current 160GB hard rive. Fujitsu targets market for the laptop, music players and digital video recorders, which is expected to see strong growth over the next few years.

Source: Computer World

Filed in: Fujitsu Hard Drive

Free Student & Teacher Tool For Microsoft Office

A free program as companion to Microsoft Office is provided by Microsoft which designed to help students work through their school assignments and to help teachers put together effective lessons and handle administrative tasks. This tool called Learning Essentials comes in two flavors: one for student and one for teacher.


Microsoft also provides Content Development Kit (CDK) that allows you to build your own project-based teaching tools. The CDK contains wizards, forms, and toolbars to create tutorials and templates, and project assistance to guide students and teachers in completing projects.

Download Program | Download CDK

Filed in: Microsoft Office Plug-Ins

Apple's Nightmare in Europe

Apple's problems in Europe are likely getting worse and worse. After the heels of France’s legislative to push DRM interoperability of its popular music store, Denmark is thinking along the same line. According to Maersk, Dansk Supermarked's product manager, Henrik Olesen, the DRM interoperability would be a win-win solution and would not hurt Apple.

"We would like to ask the politicians to follow the route they're taking in France, so that it becomes as easy as possible for the consumers to purchase music legally. This will in the end mean larger gross sales for all music stores," he said.

At the moment, Apple locks in its consumer with its iTunes + iPod combination. If you shop from iTunes music store, it can only be played on iPod and impossible to transfer to another player.

Last year, Apple refused to open its iPod DRM music format to competitors. As a result, US Congress is considering requiring all technologies and music labels to use a single DRM format for music. Apple failed to appear at the Congressional hearing.

Source

Filed in: Apple DRM Lawsuit

Manga Go Mobile

With about 80 million people in Japan are using their mobiles from texting to surfing the Internet and making video calls, there are plenty rooms to expand. Another string that has been released recently in Japan is mobile manga that is a service that allow mobile phone's owner to read manga (Japanese comic) in their mobile phones.

For starter, there are a number of sites that offer subscription fee of $10 to $15 a month. You can download every genre, as many as you like. Bandai Networks is one of the largest publishing outfits with 20,000 users subscribing to a catalogue of 400+ titles.

According to Mahota Asunuma of Bandai Networks, mobile users are becoming used to doing more and more with their phones, so the transition will be smooth. Also, the improvement of mobile screen that uses liquid crystal display will make people get less tired than they used to reading books on a phone. This new technology will significantly help to improve the market penetration.

Source: BBC News

Filed in: Manga, Mobile Phones

Microsoft Producer for PowerPoint 2003

Microsoft released a free tool for Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 which can help you easily capture, synchronize, and publish audio, video, slides, and images. This tool will be very extremely useful when you fancy about creating attractive presentation.


Following the features that Microsoft Producer offers:
- Support a wide variety of audio and video formats
- Capture live audio and video
- Select various video effects and transitions
- Supports importing timeline from external source
- Embedding presentation in HTML
- Automatic creation and publication of project files
- Share your presentation on intranet, internet or by CD
- Create a project archive by using the Pack and Go Wizard
- Integrate your presentation in a FrontPage Web

After you create and preview a Producer presentation, you can publish it so that it can be viewed in your web browser. Microsoft Producer is also available for Microsoft PowerPoint 2002.

Source | System Requirement | Download

Filed in: Microsoft Office Plug-Ins

12 Years Old Student Built A Google Desktop Plug-In

A seventh-grade student of Lake Country Christian School, Adam Faulkner, created a plug-in for Google Desktop that displays the verse of the day from BibleGateway.com. He submitted the plug-in to Google earlier this year. Google tests each plug-ins and posts ones that conform to the company's plug-in guidelines.

His plug-ins now is featured along with another 150 plug-ins listed on Google's plug-ins website. Adam is rewarded as a Google Programmer and also received a Google Desktop t-shirt. Adam said he is happy about his plug-in and seeks room for the improvement of the version 2.

Source: Start Telegram

Filed in: Adam Faulkner, Google Desktop Plug-Ins

Nintendo to Offer 1000 Classic Games

Nintendo Revolution, the next generation console from Nintendo, is going to rely pretty heavily on the past. The company plans to offer 1000 classic games from Sega and Hudson Software and makes it available to download using its online service called the Revolution Virtual Console.

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata in a keynote speech at the Game Developer Conference said that classic games are brand new for young player, where for older players those classic games will bring back their memories.

Nintendo has to be innovative to gain its position back as a leader in game industry, before the crown was taken by Sony PlayStation. Overall, Sony has sold 101 million PlayStation 2 worldwide, following by Microsoft's Xbox which made 24 million sales. Meanwhile, Nintendo's GameCube has sold just 21 million.

Filed in: Nintendo Revolution, Games Console

Samsung Says No to Hard Drive

Samsung, Korean electronics giant, said that it will only be a matter of time before your computer comes without a hard drive. Samsung is planning to sell 32 gigabyte flash memory chips for laptops by 2008. The price will be between $200 and $250. Comparison to hard drive, flash memory is more expensive but it is lighter and uses 95 percent less power. Microsoft's new Origami will likely uses flash memory for data storage.

Samsung demonstrated a notebook powered by one of the new Flash memory at CeBIT. Apple also utilizes flash memory to power its iPod Nano.

Source: MobileMag

Filed in: Flash Memory, iPod Nano, Origami, Samsung

Windows Vista Delays Sluggish Mac Sales?

Windows Vista delays will not only affecting Windows users. Analysts said that since Apple switches to using Intel chips in Macs, many Mac users hoped to run both Mac OS X and Windows on their machines which mean that Windows Vista can actually boost Mac sales.

Even though, recent Microsoft's announcement that Vista will not support EFI booting shocks the owner of Intel Macs who had hoped they would be able to dual-boot between Windows Vista and OS X. However, hackers have figured out to get Windows XP running on Intel Macs. Apparently, the concepts will likely work with Windows Vista as well. Intel Macs only support EFI booting.

Filed in: Windows Vista, Intel Macs

Nokia Targeting Apple iPod

Nokia plans to push MP3 players and video camera to cell phones and readies to steal Apple iPod's market shares. Last year, Nokia shipped 100 million camera phones and topped Nokia as the world's largest camera maker. With music player and camcorder integrated with the cell phones, Nokia hopes it can win the battle, given the convenience of a single device with much functionality. In the meantime, NEC has developed a new chip that allows cell phones to play music for up to 50 hours. That would be a big improvement over iPod, which claims a battery life of up to 20 hours.

Source: Engadget Mobile

Filed in: Nokia, iPod, MP3 Players

Windows Vista Build 5342 Screenshots

Microsoft released a new build of Windows Vista Build 5342 to beta testers. This version includes an extensive collection of drivers and the exclusive sidebar. Glass is also a feature that we all have come to respect and love, along with the 3D flip. The official version number is 6.0 Version 5342.winmain_idx04.060321-1730. Internet Explorer version number is Version 7.0.5342.2. Nice features include a new "Paint" and redesigned network center. This version also includes an "Ultimate Extras" services (live update, windows live) for those who "own" a copy of window Vista.

Visit X64Bit.net for the screenshots and more info.

Filed in: Windows Vista Screenshots

NEC Extends Mobile Phones' Battery Life to 50 Hours

A chip called “uPD99910” is designed and developed by NEC Electronics to optimize the music playback function of the application processor to allow 50 hours of continuous music. The chip also incorporates an SD Memory Card interface and supports Content Protection for Recordable Media (CPRM) copyright protection technology whose SD-Audio function enables music data to be downloaded and played without copyright infringement.

By employing this chip, the manufacturers will be able to offer a cost-effective mobile phone solution without compromising performance. In previous models, CPU in the application processor were used to play back music and also for other types of processing such video processing that resulted at the expense of power efficiency.

Source: SlashPhone.com

Filed in: NEC, Mobile Phones

Windows Vista Release Delayed

Microsoft will delay Windows Vista for the second time and plans to release Windows Vista consumer edition in January 2007. However, the enterprise version will remain on track that will be released in November 2006.

In conference call with media, Jim Allchin, the co-president of Microsoft's Platforms and Services Division, said that the major reason for this delay is to give Microsoft more time to improve the quality of the Windows Vista. He also stated that certain partners asked Microsoft, not to sold Vista in December as they needed time to manage overseas manufacturing of their PCs.

In the meantime, rumor was spreading in the Internet, saying that the reason behinds Vista delay is 60% of Windows Vista code need to be rewritten; due to one of the key components of Windows Vista consumer version has major problems.

On the other hands, InternetNews.com reported that the rumor is not correct and 100% false. Microsoft flatly denied the report and said that the report is "speculation with no demonstrable basis in fact". The company is working on security, testing and polish, not writing new code.

Filed in: Microsoft Windows Vista

Windows XP on Intel Mac without Emulation

Windows XP now run on Mac machine natively after a winner of Intel Mac content announced. It made Apple computers become the first machines that can run three different operating systems: Windows XP, Linux and Mac OS itself.

To install Windows XP on Mac, hard drive must be reformatted and repartitioned to include separate partition where Windows XP will be put in. Then follow a couple of steps to modify Windows XP boot loader that will let Mac to recognize it. Once it's done, Intel Mac machine will be able to do dual-boot between Windows XP and Mac OS X without any emulation software such as VMWare.

If you are interested in, you can download the boat loader from OnMac.net

Filed in: Windows XP, Intel Mac

Swap Songs With Stranger, Will You?

Automatically adding new favorite songs to your digital music player while you are walking in the street will soon become a reality. A new technology called Push Music is developed by Viktoria Institute in Gothenburg, Sweden, allows WiFi enabled MP3 players to automatically transfer copies of songs when they come within 20 meters of each other.

When two or more Push participants come within WiFi range, their MP3 players set up a conference that allows them to exchange music files. To ensure people end up with songs they are likely to enjoy, each MP3 file is accompanied by a data file containing information about the song and how often it is played. Furthermore, to protect copyright holders, Push technology will self-delete the copied songs after a few days, forcing users to buy songs if they want to keep them.

The co-creator Maria Hakansson said that Push technology is a technology to allow music to find the user, instead of the user always looking for the music. During this project, WiFi enabled PDA was used as WiFi enabled MP3 player is still not available in the market.

Filed in: MP3 Player, WiFi

Windows Vista Build 5308 Image Gallery

Windows Vista moved to "feature complete" status, which means no new features will be introduced into future builds. Here you can browse 62 screenshots of the new features in Windows Vista build 5308.

Filed in: Windows Vista Screenshots

Mitsubishi to Use Green Plastic

In an effort to help stop global warming, slow the depletion of oil reserves, and protect forests; Mitsubishi has developed a bamboo-fibre reinforced plant-based resin for use in automobile interiors to cut carbon dioxide emissions through-out the vehicles life cycle.

This plant-based resin product is called polybutylene succinate (PBS) was developed with co-operation between Mitsubishi and the Aichi Industrial Technology Institute.

Mitsubishi plans to substitute the plant-based resin product for materials such as petroleum-based resins and wood hard-boards used in car interiors. A new concept mini-car will be the first concept car that uses those parts as the interior. This car will be introduced in Japan in 2007.

Filed in: Global Warming, Mitsubishi Motors

Bill Gates, World's Richest Person 2006

Bill Gates, once again, is nominated as the wealthiest people in this world by Forbes. The annual report, that provides ranking of the very richest people on the planet, uncovers new 140 billionaires within three years period. Total 793 billionaires are reported this year and they are worth a combined $2.6 trillion.

Bill Gates retains his title as the world's richest person for the twelfth straight year for making $50 billion. His buddy, Paul Allen also listed in number six with total net worth is $22 billion.

Meanwhile, Google founder, Sergey Brin and Larry Page named in number 26 and 27 respectively with total worth $25.7 billion.

Filed in: World Richest People, Bill Gates

Microsoft Secret Project Unveiled

Yesterday, Microsoft Secret Project codename Origami was unveiled. It is not an iPod replacement or whatsoever. It is a transformation of Bill Gates' vision of an ultra mobile PC: a device with all-day battery life, yet small enough to fit in a pocket and much cheaper than a laptop.

Don't get me wrong, it is just Bill Gates' vision. This first generation device is not that powerful, yet so big, expensive and power hungry. However, this device is still promising. Origami just needs time to unfold and will transform to amazing device in the future. If you remember the first generation iPod, you'll notice that iPod was not so special and had so many limitations.

This is only the beginning.

Filed in: Microsoft, Origami

Demographic Targeting, Google's Response to MSN adCenter

Google quickly added a new feature to answer MSN adCenter. Now, advertisers can target the audience by age, gender, income or other factors using AdWords Demographic Site Selection.

"The demographic site selection option is found on the ‘Identify sites’ page when you create a new site-targeted campaign, or on the site tool in an existing site-targeted campaign. In both cases you’ll also be able to use two other options to find sites: listing site URLs and describing topics that match your ad. We recommend using those methods along with demographic site selection to identify the very best sites for your ad to appear."

Merely US customers can enjoy demographic site selection and yet this is applied to Google AdWords Content only. Meanwhile, Google still has no plan to expand demographic targeting into its search.

On the other hand, MSN is affected very much as previously demographic targeting is one of adCenter main turfs.

Filed in: Google AdWords, MSN adCenter, Demographic Targeting

Stop Eating Sushi

Sushi is a Japanese food that is more popular than ever before, however studies say that it has become the new Russian roulette in term of safety. These studies held by a California group show in some fish used by sushi may contain high mercury level that is very dangerous.

Samples were taken from six popular sushi restaurants in Los Angles for testing. As a result, most of tuna fish had mercury level about 88% higher than FDA (Food and Drug Administration) level.

Sushi restaurants mostly use big-eyed tuna and blue & yellow-finned tuna, because those tuna are considered best suited for sushi. Moreover, these kinds of tuna have longer live are suspected carrying more mercury than others. Whereas, seafood like shrimp and salmon do not pose any mercury risk as their life spans are very short.

Mercury is very risky as it can cause permanently damage the nervous system in fetuses and temporary memory loss in adults.

Meanwhile, according to the restaurant owner, sushi is still healthy to eat regardless of high mercury level. It is definitely safer and healthier than beef and chicken.

Source: MSNBC

Filed in: Food, Health, Sushi

Windows Live Expo Beta Lives U.S Nationwide

Microsoft makes Windows Live Expo Beta available to all U.S consumers last Monday. Windows Live Expo provides set of expansion to the traditional classified ad concept by providing social networking and community features through a trustworthy, convenient and free online service.

This beta includes the following marketplace features:

• Tight integration with MSN Messenger and Windows Live Local that makes it easy for customers to access, search for and locate listings and services they are looking for. Ultimately Windows Live Expo will be integrated with Windows Live Search, Windows Live Spaces and Live.com.
• Ability to choose to post items for sale or purchase among only MSN Messenger Contact List and/or e-mail groups, adding a level of trust and familiarity.
• The integration with Windows Live Local allows products listed in Windows Live Expo to be geo-tagged which can help users to locate the site of seller. It will be very helpful customers who want to buy or rent apartment / house.
• Advanced search methods that allows customer to provide more than one keyword. For example, when searching a house customers can search on other qualifying characteristics such as square footage, price range and location.

Windows Live Expo is available for free and it is very easy to setup. Customers can list their product in fewer than four steps by using a very efficient user interface. To learn more about Windows Live Expo you can visit Expo Website.

Filed in: Windows Live Expo

Windows Live Local Preview

The latest preview of Windows Live Local is so fabulous. After offering a bird-eye view, now you can enjoy the street level view by driving a sport car or walking. You can simply control the direction using either keyboard or mouse.

Every time you change the direction, it will refresh the background on top screen. It is like playing driving simulation game. In some stage, it offers wonderful sights of the city. However, this preview only supports map of San Francisco and Seattle.

Filed in: Windows Live Local

A Chameleon Keyboard

Keyboards with additional keys are very common. Usually, those additional keys are located on top of standard keys. You can also assign what applications will be launched once you pressed those keys.

But this keyboard is different. The keys can be transformed according to the application you launched. Amazingly, it can also be transformed based on the OS’ language setting. Say, if your language setting is Japanese, it will show Japanese character instead Latin. :D Saving money, don't have to buy additional keyboard though. Another thing is the keys are animated and colorful. Make it so beautiful.

This keyboard is called Optimus and developed by Art. Lebedev Studio. It is the largest design company in Russia. In addition, Optimus keyboard is expected to be released and available globally by the end of 2006. How about the price? Not known yet, but according to its website, it will not cost more than a good mobile phone.

Reduce Website Response Time by Implementing CSS

There are massive sluggish websites out there. Their loading time, oops, very slow.
If you are web designer / developer, you should aware that there are still tons of web users still using dial-up modems.

Despite of the facts I am in broadband connection, as a web developer, I always test my website response time with slower connection such as dial up. Response time is one of accessibility aspects. Your visitor will definitely close the browser or type another URL if your website still has not finished loading in certain time. Don't believe me? Try it yourself, and let see if you are still patience enough :)

I have some tricks that you can apply to your web site:

Avoid using images in HTML instead try to use background images and CSS
It's possible to achieve advanced presentation effects using CSS without putting any images in HTML, for example site navigation, web site background, etc. The advantage of doing this is when the browser loads web pages; it downloads the HTML part first. After it displayed, it continues downloading the CSS file and the images as well.

Design your web site layout using Layer + CSS, not tables.
Tables are considered very slow compared to HTML layer such as DIV. Moreover, layer needs less HTML code thus the amount of HTML code can significantly reduced. It means the response time can be reduced. Normally, before displaying the web site content, browsers need to read through tables twice, first to figure out the structure, and then determine the content. Once again, this process just slower the response time.

As I described, CSS offers many advantages in designing web. It also gives great flexibility, for example web designer can easily changing the layout and web site theme in the future without changing the HTML code.

Quaero, European Answer to Google

Following French President Jacques Chirac statement to media last week, The Quaero project is prepared as a search engine for European Union. This initiative is taken to match US domination in media search. At the present, most of search engines giant such as Google, Yahoo and MSN are based on US.

Last December, Japan government also unveiled their plan to launch their own search engine to lessen Google dominance.

Filed in: European Search Engine, Google, Quaero

Making Profit from PPC Advertising?

As click frauds are considered as one of the biggest threats to Pay per Click advertising model, you might think that advertising through PPC program such Google AdWords just a waste. Despite of the facts, PPC for some of people still one of the best way to drive the traffic and generate sales.

The writer of Cash from Your Camera Robert Hartness experienced that PPC advertising still efficient. Regardless the click frauds, choosing good PPC providers are a matter. In his experiment, his Google AdWords campaign drove fewer visitors than Kanoodle; however, Google AdWords resulted in better conversion rate.

Good Bye Passport, Welcome Windows Live ID

A new Microsoft's InfoCard technology will back up Windows Live ID service to provide authentication service for Windows Live family by 2007. A Microsoft spokesperson said that Windows Live ID would play a large part in making upcoming services possible. However, the service launch date is not known yet.

Windows Live ID was first revealed at RSA Conference earlier this month. Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said that InfoCard was intended to replace Passport. InfoCard technology will provide integrated place for personal data and payment information.

Miva Joins Contextual Ad Program Battle

Recently, Google is facing more and more competitors. After Yahoo successfully introduced Yahoo Publisher Network to answer Google AdSense. Last Monday, Miva, a performance marketing network, joined the battle by launching a beta global contextual ad program.

Not like the others, Miva gives publishers more control, letting them generate content while protecting their brands’ integrity. Miva also offers automated and manual system. Using automated system, Miva’s contextual engine dynamically serves relevant ads based on the page’s content, whereas the manual system allows publishers to select keywords manually to match ads to both content and visitor demographics.

Filed in: Contextual Ad Program, Google, Miva

Click Fraudsters Earn Billion Annually?

Internet ad-traffic scams become one of the hottest topics these days. Business Week reported that a web consultant, Greg Boser, created a software program as a clickbot to create the fake clicks. It routes traffic all over the Internet through anonymous proxy server, creating the false impression that visitors are from all over the world.

While companies such as Google and Yahoo are doing enough to reduce the number of fraud clicks, in fact, the fraudsters are always one step ahead. As a result, Google stock was downgraded last January. On the other hand, senior director of Yahoo! product management confidently said that click fraud is still manageable as Yahoo! system continually improve and update to any new patterns and problems. Meanwhile, Google employs teams to monitor fraud click activity.

Security experts agreed that it is trivial to filter out some not legitimate traffic. However, it will get more complicated when a hacker utilize a worm to infect thousands of vulnerable PCs to route traffic from actual computer all over the world to his sites. This technique is nearly impossible to identify.

Ssstttt... Microsoft' Secret Project

Microsoft has a secret... BetaNews reported, Microsoft registered www.origamiproject.com early this week. However, don't expect to see any product information there. If you wonder, Microsoft provides a few hints that might help you to guess. Once, you open the website, a flash animation will greet you and pop up 4 questions: "Do you know me? Do you know what I can do? Or where I can go? Or how I can change your life?" And finally, it ends up with the text: "you will learn on 3.2.06"

Several industry watchers are speculating Origami could be a new type of wearable PC or small digital camcorder referring prototype demoed at COMDEX 2001 or perhaps Microsoft answer to Apple iPod. Who knows?

Anyway, we'll know the answer soon...

Windows Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2 Preview

A long waiting browser from Microsoft, finally hit its milestone.. the beta 2 preview... With massive new features such as tabbed browsing, built-in RSS support and importantly the security enhancements, IE7 is worth to try.
However, most of the new features are not really new for me. I have been enjoying such features through Mozilla Firefox.

Despite of the facts, the new features of IE7 still look great. Importantly, it is not as greedy as Firefox in term of memory consumption.

If you are interested, you can download the beta 2 preview from: http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=4521302

Please note:
- Installation will involve windows validation. If your windows is not valid, just forget it :)
- The installation will replace IE6, and you cannot rollback the installation. So, just install if you are ready.

World's Most Expensive Chocolate

Ever wonder what is the most expensive chocolate in the world? For sure, it is not Godiva. Just give you an early shock, this chocolate costs you US$5.200 per kilogram. What does make this chocolate so expensive? As the maker said, "It's made of 70% Valrhona cacao, which is blended into a creamy ganache with truffle oil. The truffle is then hand-rolled with a dark truffle on the inside and dusted with cocoa powder."

This chocolate company is Knipschildt Chocolatier that was founded in 1999 by Fritz Knipschildt, who got his culinary education as a chef in Denmark. You can call this chocolate: Chocopologie. If you interested in, and want to know how does the worlds's most expensive chocolate taste? Go and buy... Visit the website: www.knipschildt.com