InternUP- Internet UPDATE

சங்கமம்-2011

2011-12-11T20:33:00.001-08:00

சங்கமம்-2011

இணையச் சிலந்திக்கூட்டில் பல தளங்களில் இயங்கிக்கொண்டிருக்கும் நம்மை ஒரு கோட்டில் மீண்டும் இருத்திப்பார்க்க, இந்த ஆண்டும் ஈரோடு தமிழ்வலைப்பதிவர்கள் குழுமம் அழகானதொரு சந்திப்பிற்கான ஏற்பாடுகளைச் செய்து வருகின்றது.

வலைப்பக்கம்(blog), WordPress, Facebook, Twitter, BUZZ போன்ற பல தளங்களில் உறவாடும் இணைய உறவுகளை ஒன்று திரட்டி அகமகிழும் முகமாக ”சங்கமம் 2011” எனும் கூடல்த்திருவிழா ஈரோட்டில் நடைபெறவுள்ளது.

2009, 2010ஆம் ஆண்டுகளில் இது போன்ற கூடல்கள் மிகச் சிறப்பாக நடந்தது உங்களுக்கு நினைவிருக்கலாம். அதே போன்று இந்த ஆண்டும் டிசம்பர் 18ம் தேதி ஈரோட்டில் நடத்தத் திட்டமிட்டுள்ளோம். கடந்த ஆண்டுகளின் சங்கமம் குறித்த இடுகைகள்.

2009 சங்கமம்

2010 சங்கமம்

எங்கு, எப்போது, என்ன?

சங்கமம்-2011 நிகழ்வு 18.12.2001 ஞாயிறன்று, ஈரோடு, பெருந்துறை சாலை, பழையபாளையத்தில் உள்ள ரோட்டரி CD அரங்கில், மிகச்சரியாக காலை 10 மணிக்கு தொடங்கி மதியம் இரண்டு மணிக்கு நிறைவடையும் வகையில் திட்டமிடப்பட்டுள்ளது. நிகழ்வில் மிக வித்தியாசமான அங்கீகாரங்கள், மிகச்சிறந்த ஆளுமைகளின் சிறப்புரை, அர்த்தமிகு கலந்துரையாடல், மதிய விருந்து என எங்கள் குழு வடிவமைத்துக் கொண்டிருக்கிறது.

ஏன் சங்கமம்?

ஏன் இப்படியான நிகழ்வை மிகுந்த பொருட்செலவோடு, கடினப் பணிக்கிடையிலும் நடத்த வேண்டும் என்ற கேள்விகள் எப்போதாவது எழுந்தாலும், இணைய உலகத்தில் இதயத்திற்கு நெருக்கமாகக் கண்டெடுத்த எம் தமிழ்சொந்தங்கள் அந்தக் கேள்விகளை அகற்றி ஆண்டுக்கொருமுறை கூடிப் பழகவேண்டும் என்று ஆவலை நிறையவே ஊட்டுகிறது.

எல்லாச் சன்னல்களையும் திறந்துவிட்டு, இந்த இணைய சமூக வலைத்தளம் நம் பசிக்குத் தீனி போட்டு, உள்ளே உருண்டு, புரண்டு கொண்டிருப்பதை நம்மிலிருந்து வெளியே எடுத்து, தனக்குள் தாங்கி, பலதரப்பட்ட வகையில் அங்கீகாரம் அளித்து, புதியதொரு உலகத்திற்கான சன்னல்களைத் திறந்து வைத்திருக்கிறது. வெறும் எழுத்துகளாலும், படங்களாலும் மட்டுமே சந்தித்துக் கொண்டிருப்பவர்கள் எப்போதாவது நேரிலும் சந்தித்து மகிழலாமே என்ற ஆசையின் வெளிப்பாடுதான் இந்தக் கூடல்.

கலந்துகொள்ள:

முதன்முறையாக வலைப்பக்கம் (Blog / Wordpress) என்பதைத்தாண்டி FaceBook / Twitter / BUZZ போன்ற சமூக வலைத்தளங்களில் இருப்போர் என அழைப்பதில் பெருமகிழ்வு கொள்கின்றோம். அதே சமயம் அதில் எங்களுக்கு இருக்கும் சின்ன நெருக்கடி, அதிலிருந்து எத்தனைபேர் கலந்துகொள்வார்கள் எனும் சரியான எண்ணிக்கைதான். எனவே, சங்கமம்-2011 நிகழ்வில் கலந்துகொள்ள விரும்பும் அனைவரும், தங்கள் வருகையை 15.12.2011 வியாழக்கிழமைக்குள் erodesangamam@gmail.com என்ற மின்னஞ்சல் முகவரிக்கு

தங்கள் பெயர்
தொடர்பு எண் (optional)
மின்மடல் முகவரி
வலைப்பக்க(blog-Facebook-Twitter ID) முகவரி / பெயர்
..... ஆகியவற்றுடன் மின் மடல் செய்யவேண்டுகிறோம்.

இது கலந்து கொள்பவர்களின் எண்ணிக்கை எங்களுக்கு உறுதிப் படுத்தியதையொட்டியே நிகழ்வுக்கான இருக்கைகள், உணவு ஏற்பாடு செய்யமுடியும். இவ்வளவு வலியுறுத்திக் கேட்பதன் மிக முக்கியக்காரணம் மதியம் சைவ / அசைவ உணவு ஏற்பாடு செய்யப்படுகிறது. சரியான எண்ணிக்கை தெரியாத போது உணவு போதாமல் அமையவோ, கூடுதலாக அமைந்து வீணாகவோ வாய்ப்பிருப்பதை முற்றிலும் தவிர்க்கவே. நிகழ்ச்சியன்று அரங்கிற்குள் 9.30க்குள் தங்கள் வருகையை உறுதிசெய்யவும். நிகழ்ச்சியில் கலந்துகொள்ளக் கட்டணம் ஏதுமில்லை.

மேலதிக விபரங்களுக்கு:

தாமோதர் சந்துரு (தலைவர்) 93641-12303 ,
க.பாலாசி (செயலர்) 90037-05598,
கார்த்திக் (பொருளர்) 97881-33555,
ஆரூரன் - 98947-17185 ,
கதிர் – 98427-86026,
வால்பையன் - 99945-00540,
ஜாபர் - 98658-39393,
ராஜாஜெய்சிங் - 95785-88925,
சங்கவி – 9843060707

நிகழ்வின் வெற்றியும் சிறப்பும் தங்கள் கைகளில் மட்டுமே அமைந்திருக்கின்றது என்ற நம்பிக்கையோடு வரவேற்கத் தயாராக இருக்கின்றோம்

http://www.erodekathir.com/2011/12/2011.html

நாசாவுக்கே தண்ணிகாட்டிய திருநள்ளாறு !!!

2011-10-17T07:32:00.001-07:00

" இன்று பல நாடுகள் செயற்கைகோள்களை விண்வெளிக்கு அனுப்பி வருகின்றன. அவற்றில் செல்போன் பயன்பாடு, ராணுவ பயன்பாடு,உளவு என பல்வேறு காரங்களுக்காக பயன்படுத்தப்படுகிறது. சில வருடங்களுக்கு முன்பு அமெரிக்க செயற்கைகோள் ஒன்று பூமியின் குறிப்பிட்ட பகுதியை கடக்கும் பொது மட்டும் 3 வினாடிகள் ஸ்தம்பித்துவிடுகிறது. 3 வினாடிகளுக்கு பிறகு வழக்கம்போல் வானில் பறக்க ஆரம்பித்து விடுகிறது. எந்தவித பழுதும் அதன் செயற்கைகோளில், அதன் கருவிகளில்ஏற்படுவதில்லை.
இந்த சம்பவம் நாசாவிற்கு அதிர்ச்சி கலந்த ஆச்சரியதயை அளித்தது.

இது எப்படி சாத்தியம்??? - என்பதை ஆராய்ந்து, கிடைத்த முடிவு நாசாவை மட்டுமல்ல, உலகையே மிரள வைத்தது.

ஆம்! எந்த ஒரு செயற்கைகோளும் பூமியில் இந்தியாவின்-தமிழ்நாடு அருகில் உள்ள புதுச்சேரி- திருநள்ளாறு ஸ்ரீ தர்ப்பநேஷவரர் கோவிலுக்கு மேல் நேர் உள்ள வான்பகுதியை கடக்கும் 3 வினாடிகள் மட்டும் ஸ்தம்பித்துவிடுகின்றன.

அப்படி நிகழ்வதற்கு என்ன காரணம் ???

ஒவ்வொரு நாளும் ஒவ்வொரு வினாடியும் கண்ணுக்கு தெரியாத கருநீலகதிர்கள் அந்த கோவிலின் மீது விழுந்துகொண்டே இருக்கிறது.
இரண்டரை வருடங்களுக்கு ஒரு முறை நடக்கும் சனி பெயர்ச்சியின் பொது இந்த கருநீலகதிர்களின் அடர்த்தி மிகவும் அதிகமாக இருக்கும். விண்வெளியில் சுற்றி கொண்டிருக்கும் செயற்கைகோள்கள் இந்த கருநீலகதிர்கள் பாயும் பகுதிக்குள் நுழையும்போது ஸ்தம்பித்து விடுகின்றன. அதே நேரத்தில் செயற்கைகோள்களுக்கு எந்த  விதபாதிப்பும் ஏற்படுவதில்லை.

இதில்குறிபிடத்தக்க அம்சம் என்னவென்றால் இந்த கோவில்தான் இந்துக்களால் 'சனிபகவான்' தலம் என்று போற்றபடுகிறது. இந்த சம்பவத்திற்கு பிறகு நாசாவிலிருந்து பல முறை திருநள்ளாறு வந்து ஆராய்ச்சி செய்து விட்டனர். மனிதனை மீறிய சக்தி உண்டு என்பதை உணர்ந்தனர். அவர்களும் சனிபகவானை கையெடுத்து கும்பிட்டு உணர்ந்தனர்.   இன்று வரை விண்ணில் செயற்கைகோள்கள் திருநள்ளாறு பகுதியை கடக்கும் பொது ஸ்தம்பித்து கொண்டே இருக்கிறது."

இந்த செய்தியை கேட்டு பிரமிக்காதவர்கள் நம்முடைய முன்னோர்களை நினைத்து கட்டயம் பிரமிக்கவேண்டும். நாம் பல செயற்கைகோள்கள் கொண்டு கண்டறியும் சனிகோளின் கதிர்வீச்சு விழும் பகுதியை கண்டு பிடித்து அதற்கென ஒரு கோயிலையும் கட்டி , கதிர்வீசுகள் அதிகள் விழும் நாட்களையும் கணக்கிட்டு அதற்க்கான நாளை சனிபெயர்ச்சி என்று அறிவிக்கும் திறமையை,நம்மால் நினைத்துக்கூட பார்க்க முடியாத ஒரு தொலைநோக்கு பார்வை கொண்ட நம் முன்னோர்களை நினைத்து என்னால் பிரமிக்காமல் இருக்க முடியவில்லை.

இதை விஞ்சும் வகையில் ஒரு விசயம் கேள்வி பட்டேன்.

நீங்கள் எதாவது சிவன் கோவிலுக்கு சென்றால் அங்கே

நவகிரகங்களை நன்றாக கவனியுங்கள். அந்த சிலைகளின்மேல் கட்டப்பட்டுள்ள துணிகளையும் நன்றாய் உற்று பாருங்கள்!!

உங்கள் அறிவியல் அறிவையும் கொஞ்சம் தட்டிவிடுங்கள்!!

எந்த கோள் எந்த நிறத்தில் இருக்கும் என்பதை நம் முன்னோர்கள் கட்டிவைத்திருக்கும் அந்த துணிகளில் கண்டறியுங்கள், பிரமித்து போவீர்கள் பெரியோர்களின் அறிவாற்றலை நினைத்து, இந்தஅறிவியலின் அதிசயத்தை அனைத்து தலைமுறையும் அறியவேண்டும், அதற்காக அவர்கள் நம்மை பின்பற்ற வைத்ததுதான் கடவுள் மார்க்கம் என்றே நான் எண்ணுகிறேன்...

எது எப்படியோ??? நமது முன்னோர்கள் நம்மை விட கில்லாடிகள் !!!!

எப்படியா ??

அவர்கள் போட்ட புதிருக்கு இன்னும் விடை தெரியாமல்
அலைந்து கொண்டிருகிருகிறோம்.. அறிவியல் வளர்ச்சியோடு.

Install Google Analytics code in Genesis Theme from Studiopress

2011-10-11T09:56:00.001-07:00

Genesis makes it easy to install scripts and takes only a minute or so to run it live. Below is the way :

1. Copy your “Google analytics” code. See this post from Google on finding your tracking code.

2. Go to “Theme Settings” under Genesis (see the image below)

3. Now, paste the code at “wp_footer()” box (see the image below).

Install Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread (GRK39F) On Nexus One

2011-10-11T08:43:00.001-07:00

Below is the proceedure of the updating the Nexus One to Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread (GRK39F).

Download Android 2.3.6 Gingebread (GRK39F).
Rename the file to update.zip.
Connect your Nexus One to your computer and transfer update.zip to the root of your phone’s microSD card.
Turn off your Nexus One.
Keep the Volume Down button pressed and turn on the phone. Scroll down to recovery and press the power/lock button.
You should now see a triangle with an exclamation mark. Press Power + Volume Up button.
A menu will appear. Select sdcard:update.zip. The screen will say install from sdcard complete.
You must now select reboot system now.

Before going for this update, we always recommend two things :

Look to completely charge-up your device battery as you won’t like your device switching off in-between the update process.
Also, try to back-up your messages, contacts, application settings and whatever you can. If something goes wrong, this little step can save you from a lot of headache. See this post on backing up your Android phone.

Incoming Search Engine Terms...

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2 billion to 200 million in 2 days

2011-09-29T07:32:00.001-07:00

In the Tamil film, Arunachalam, challenge for the hero Rajnikanth is to spend 30 crores in 30 days so as to inherit his father’s wealth of 3000 crores. Rajni spend his money on betting horse races, buying lottery tickets, producing movies and even starting a political party.

Now, if that film is re-directed, one more scene, investing in stock markets will definitely be included. That too in the US Financial markets. No better way to lose money quickly than this one.

Stocks of Bear Stearns, America’s fifth largest investment bank, closed at 30$ a share last Friday in the New York Stock Exchange, down almost 47%, after it went bankrupt on Thursday. And then on this Monday, JPMorgan Chase with the support from US Federal Reserve agreed to buy Bear Stearns for 2$ a share, 93 percent discount to its closing pricing on Friday.

Pity, all those who hold the shares of Bear Stearns Inc…

Stock Ideas – Buy, Sell or Hold

2011-09-29T07:31:00.001-07:00

I’ve subscribed to Equitymaster Midcap Select Service. Its 1-year subscription costs Rs 2500 and they give stock recommendation every fortnight. So there’ll be 26 recommendations per year.

That translates as every stock idea costs about Rs 100. That’s how I did the math before signing up. But it’s not that straight and simple math.

The problem is that every now and then, they offer a HOLD recommendation. Well, my question here is, how they can give a HOLD advice for a stock that they had not given a BUY recommendation earlier and charge me Rs 100 for that.

I feel long-term oriented premium stock recommendation services should give customers only BUY recommendations. Any HOLD/SELL advice should be in addition to their regular BUY recommendations. If they give a HOLD/SELL advice for stocks, which they have not given a BUY call earlier, then it will not add value to their customers as they won’t own the stock. Ideally they should not charge customers for that right? What do you say?

BSE or NSE – Branding and Marketing Stock Exchanges

2011-09-29T07:29:00.001-07:00

You’ve decided to buy a stock after careful analysis, now if that particular stock is listed in more than one stock exchange, how much time will you spend to decide on the stock exchange? For day traders choosing stock exchanges might be that moment decision based on the best price but many small investors looking to buy and hold the stocks for long term, enter the market with their preferred stock exchange in mind.

For me, I made that decision once when I bought the first stock. After that for every other stock investment, I’ve always selected my preferred stock exchange even if the default option in my online trading account is the other one. And that decision to choose the stock exchange is driven more by perception, as there is no specific advantage of choosing one stock exchange over other for investment purposes and even if there are any, I’m not aware of that while making the decision.

A little bit of branding and marketing by the stock exchanges will help change the minds of small retail investors like me. Little drops of water make an ocean right; will BSE or NSE do more to woo small investors?

Windows Phone 7.5 Mango review

2011-09-28T07:59:00.001-07:00

Let's face it: Windows Phone, as we know it, has an enormous amount of potential, but it's a first-generation operating system. For the first eleven months of its existence, it's lacked many of the common features we've come to enjoy (and take for granted) on Android and iOS, but then again, even those platforms have taken their turn getting the major wrinkles ironed out. So it comes as no surprise that Microsoft's mobile darling -- the innovative rebirth of a weak and faltering Windows Mobile platform that was quickly falling into obscurity -- would need to go through a similar process.

It's finally time for Steve Ballmer & Co. to unleash its major annual update (not counting NoDo here), codenamed Mango, to a litany of devices both old and new. Also known as Windows Phone 7.5, the latest build delivers an onslaught of features -- no less than 500, according to Microsoft -- many of them we've been missing dearly. Three months ago we were given the opportunity to preview the new revamp and ogle over its smattering of new capabilities (see the full list of features here), and it's only proper for us to offer a follow-up with the update's final build. So how does the completely polished version hold up against the mobile juggernauts, not to mention its own first-gen offering? Follow us below to get the full scoop.

What's new

Our purpose in this review is not to go over every minor feature or change brought to WP7.5 -- head over to our in-depth Mango preview for all of the finer details -- rather, our goal is to highlight what Mango brings to the table and how it does so. The update adds over 500 features to Windows Phone, and unless you're a hardcore fan, you won't have any interest in roughly 470 of them. Sure, they're all nice to have, but the sheer majority of them won't do much to affect your experience on the OS.

The features that do make an impact on your everyday smartphone experience, however, do so in a major way. Microsoft's finally incorporating multitasking, social network integration, plenty of much-needed improvements to email and Exchange, new voice dictation features, and plenty more that we'll get into later. In short, Mango is precisely what we wish Windows Phone would've been from the beginning -- a platform that's capable of handling all of our needs, no matter how crazy they may be.

Hardware requirements

You may have noticed that almost every Windows Phone launched over the last year has been eerily similar in hardware specs, and most lack any significant customization. Microsoft exerts a lot of control over what equipment runs its star mobile OS (unlike, say, Google), and you're typically hard-pressed to find any large deviance between devices -- with the exception of handsets with physical QWERTY keyboards. None of that has changed with Mango, as Ballmer's Boys require a specific set of components.

All Windows Phone 7.5 devices will include a Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU (new devices will use 8x55 or 7x30, though existing ones that use an 8x50 CPU will be supported as well), DirectX graphics hardware support with hardware acceleration for Direct3D, a minimum of 384MB of RAM, at least 4GB of flash memory, WVGA (800 x 480) display resolution, a 3.5mm headphone jack, microUSB 2.0, WiFi 802.11 b / g support (n is optional), FM radio, Bluetooth and at least four required sensors (with more optional).

Upon reaching out to Microsoft as to why dual-core CPUs aren't supported by Mango, we were told that the performance gains weren't enough to justify the battery efficiency concerns and additional cost. It's looking into ways to incorporate the newer processors eventually, but it's still a work in progress and integrating them into Windows Phone will likely have to wait until Tango or Apollo at the earliest.

User Interface

One of Mango's more impressive feats is the fact that even with its myriad new features and functionality, it's nearly indistinguishable from its predecessor if you don't know exactly what to look for. This is because Microsoft's managed to preserve the signature Windows Phone look -- also known as Metro UI -- complete with two columns of tiles on the Start screen and the full alphabetical listing of apps after a quick swipe to the left. While the size and placement of these tiles haven't changed, the content displayed within them has; many of the native tiles contain more viewable information, and even third-party apps are able to turn their small bit of real estate into a live tile capable of being updated dynamically.

Live tiles are nothing new in Mango, but they've definitely been given more freedoms. Before, apps from the Marketplace were "live," though they didn't have the ability to add much dynamic content. Now, more stuff can be pinned to the Start screen, including multiple tiles from the same single app (as an example, you could have five different eBay bid tiles featured on Start, or the weather from two separate cities); these tiles can all deep link to the app's content. Previously, only native tiles could flip over or offer dynamically updated information, whereas all third-party apps will now be able to take advantage of the same functionality. The tiles can also receive push notifications more frequently than before. All in all, the Start screen is much more alive with Mango, which only serves to enhance the Windows Phone mantra of "glance and go." As Microsoft sees it, the faster and easier it is to view vital info, the sooner you can get back to your life and get other important things done.

Once enough apps are installed on the phone, you'll notice letters popping up in the app menu, similar to the way they show up in the People Hub. The idea is that it's much easier to jump to the app you're looking for, instead of taking ages to scroll all the way down to find it.

If you haven't been a fan of Metro UI before, the chances of you adopting a newfound fondness for Windows Phone with the newest update are pretty slim. When the platform launched last year, we enjoyed how fresh and innovative the design was, but the user experience just couldn't match up to what you can find on Android or iOS; Mango, however, has done an effective job of transforming Metro, turning it more into the "glance and go" device Microsoft has wanted it to become.

Amazon Kindle Fire tablet unveiled: Android-based, 7-inch display, $199 price tag

2011-09-28T07:42:00.001-07:00

Okay, so it wasn't much of a surprise, but Amazon finally has a tablet, and as expected its name picks up where the Kindle left off: Fire. Of course, rumors of an Amazon tablet date back to this time last year (if not before), but it seems that Jeff and co. have wisely chosen to get this thing out on the open market before having yet another wild and wacky holiday quarter. Bloomberg has curiously reported on some of the details before the event itself kicks off, noting that the 7-inch device will run a version of Android while acting much like a "souped-up Kindle." The real kicker, however, is the price -- at just $199, it's bound to turn heads, regardless of whether you were interested in a slate before. Naturally, that bargain-bin sticker explains the lack of an embedded camera and microphone, though consumers will find WiFi (no 3G, sadly) and a 30-day trial of Amazon Prime. It's also quite clear that Amazon's hoping to make a bigger splash on the content side of things than has been made already by Apple, and with the deals flowing like wine, we wouldn't be shocked if it does just that.

Update: Itching for specs? How's about a 7-inch IPS (!) panel, Gorilla Glass coating, a dual-core CPU and a chassis that weighs 14.6 ounces. There's also access to things you'd expect to have access to: Android Appstore, Kindle books, magazines, etc. -- all stored for free via Amazon Cloud Storage. Per Jeff: "Delete it and get it back when you want." Oh, and Whispersync now works with movies and TV shows! "When you get home, switch to your big screen TV. Your movie will be right where you left it."

While it's clearly Android underneath, the actual UI looks effectively nothing like it -- consideringTechCrunch's intel that Amazon went and did its own thing without Google's blessing, we guess that makes some level of sense.

Twitter announces October 12th developer event to discuss iOS 5 integration

2011-09-26T10:48:00.001-07:00

As noted by The Next Web, Twitter has announced two developer conferences coming up on October 12th, in New York and London, to discuss Twitter’s integration into iOS 5. Twitter’s Jason Costa describes the event:

There’s a lot going on in the ecosystem and we’d like to take this chance to share the highlights with you – including the latest developments with the platform, areas of opportunity that we’re seeing, and a heavy focus on the iOS 5 Twitter integration for developers. We’ll also be holding a Q&A session with members of the platform team, plus time to hang out with each other.

If rumors are true, these events will be shortly after the announcement of the iPhone 5 or/and iPhone 4S, and most likely after the release of iOS 5. There’s only 150 spots for developers, so grab your spot fast!

Skype on iOS has a big hole that can send your AddressBook to a hacker

2011-09-26T10:45:00.001-07:00

Security firm SuperEVR posts a video of their exploit which always makes it more real/scary.

I found that Skype also improperly defines the URI scheme used by the built-in webkit browser for Skype. Usually you will see the scheme set to something like, “about:blank” or “skype-randomtoken”, but in this case it is actually set to “file://”. This gives an attacker access to the users file system, and an attacker can access any file that the application itself would be able to access.
File system access is partially mitigated by the iOS Application sandbox that Apple has implemented, preventing an attacker from accessing certain sensitive files. However, every iOS application has access to the users AddressBook, and Skype is no exception.

I imagine the iPad app is also susceptible .

TechCrunch notes:

Skype says it is aware of the security issue, and had issued the following statement:

“We are working hard to fix this reported issue in our next planned release which we hope to roll out imminently. In the meantime we always recommend people exercise caution in only accepting friend requests from people they know and practice common sense internet security as always.”

The non-patronizing first sentence would have been sufficient, Skype.

Skype is on a #Winning streak since it got bought by Microsoft earlier this year.

The new iPhone…

2011-09-26T10:35:00.001-07:00

It’s time to show our cards.

If you crack open the casing of the new iPhone, you will find significant upgrades from the iPhone 4. The new iPhone features Apple’s dual-core A5 processor like the iPad 2 for even faster performance, better gaming, and drastically improved graphics. Apple didn’t stop there though. Unlike the iPad 2, the new iPhone packs 1GB of RAM, according to a source familiar with the SOC’s manufacturing. That not only means better web browsing, but more importantly, new background tasks that Apple will introduce in the new iPhone’s software will perform much better.

The new iPhone will also feature an upgraded camera system. In terms of hardware, the new camera is an 8 megapixel sensor that takes incredibly high-resolution and clear shots, even in low light conditions because it has a backlit sensor. Also, panorama photography references have been found in the iOS SDK on multiple occasions which means we’ll likely see that feature. Other than that, the camera front-end system is reportedly mostly the same.

The new iPhone also contains Qualcomm Gobi Baseband chips that allow it to operate on both GSM and CDMA networks. We can’t yet confirm or deny the rumors that Apple was building a virtual SIM card system or if it has an NFC chip yet, however.

Although some may be happy with the new iPhone’s substantial internal hardware boosts, the new device’s biggest selling point is actually a software feature called Assistant. As we first revealed, Assistant is Apple’s Siri-inspired, system-wide voice navigation system. It so far appears that iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS users will be left out in the fun, unfortunately, because the feature requires the A5 CPU and additional RAM.

Everything you could possibly want to know about Assistant is after the break…

From what we’ve heard, the Siri-based Assistant is described as the biggest game changer in this year’s iPhone. The system is the evolution of the Voice Control function that was introduced alongside the iPhone 3GS in 2009 and it is the fruit.

How it works:

To activate, the user holds down the home button for a couple of seconds (loads much quicker than Voice Control because of the A5 chip/RAM) and then the microphone interface “slides up” from the bottom in a clever animation. The speech interface doesn’t cover your entire view, just about the bottom fourth of the display – like the multitasking/app-switcher function. The feature even works from the lock screen.

As a disclaimer, we must note that the software was not finalized when the details were provided, so some features may change in the shipping version.

Since there are so few direct commands with Voice Control, Apple slides the command options by on a waveform. Assistant is packed with seemingly endless possibilities, so Apple instead has a small “info” button which one can click to view some of the most commonly spoken commands. This command view not only shows command types, but actually provides some sample phrases; Apple obviously wants their implementation to be as intuitive as possible. In the middle of the Assistant interface – next to the small command samples button – is a silver microphone icon with an orbiting purple flare. The flare notes that your iPhone is ready to receive commands.

Assistant taps into many aspects of the iPhone, according to people familiar with the feature and SDK findings. For example, one can say make appointment with Mark Gurman for 7:30 PM and Assistant will create the appointment in the user’s calendar. On noting events, Assistant also allows users to set reminders for the iOS 5 Reminders application. For example, a user could say “remind me to buy milk when I arrive at the market.” Another example would be integration with the iOS Maps application. A user could ask: “how do I get to Staples Center?” and Assistant will use the user’s current location via GPS and provide directions.

Another interesting Assistant feature is the ability to create and send an SMS or iMessage with just your voice. For example, you can say “send a text to Mark saying I’ll be running late to lunch!” – and it will send. This is a super compelling feature for people who cannot physically or safely take the time to type out a text message. Users can also choose to have Assistant read back unsent text messages to ensure the system interpreted the speech correctly. If the text is written correctly, the user simply says “yes;” if not the user says “no” and Assistant will ask the user to speak again. Apple is also working to allow users to ask for a specific song to be played. Voice Control only allows albums, artists, and playlists to be chosen with your voice.

One of the key elements of Assistant is the conversation view. The system will actually speak back and forth with the user to gain the most information in order to provide the best results. The user essentially can hold a conversation with their iPhone like it is another human being. For example, if a user is making a meeting with me, they will say “setup meeting with Mark” and the first “bubble” of the conversation thread will say that. After that, the system will speak back: “which e-mail address should Mark be notified at, work or personal?” This question will both be spoken out loud by the iPhone Assistant and shown as a new “bubble” in the conversation thread. The user will then respond with the email address they want to notify me at, and the appointment will be made. The iPhone will even show a quick glance at a calendar view to confirm the appointment. If the Assistant was sending an SMS, as another example, a mini SMS view would appear so the user has a quick glance at the SMS thread.

Assistant is literally like a personal assistant, but in your phone. The speech interpretation is so accurate that users do not even have to speak very clearly or in a slow and robotic tone, according to a source familiar with the software. Users can simply talk how they would usually talk to another person, and the iPhone with Assistant will do its best to interpret the speech and provide accurate results.

Another compelling feature relating to Assistant is “Find my Friends.” Yes, Find my Friends is realand Apple may have been waiting on Assistant integration to release it into the wild. Basically, if a friend of mine wants to instantly know where I am, they could say “where’s Mark?” and Assistant will locate me and share my location information. Of course, there will be privacy settings for this as we previously revealed.

Perhaps the coolest aspect of Assistant is its integration with Wolfram Alpha. For those unfamiliar with Wolfram Alpha, it is an online computational knowledge system. With its integration into the new iPhone and Assistant, one could essentially ask their iPhone facts or questions of all types and get an instant response. For example, you can ask your iPhone a math problem or ask how many feet are there in 12.75 meters, and get an instant answer. The whole idea of having an infinite amount of information at the sound of your voice is unbelievably convenient and powerful.

Going back to the hardware design, we’re hesitant to jump to conclusions at this point, but we do know that these next-generation iPhones are definitely floating around with shells that look identical to the iPhone 4. Because a report claimed that Apple is stuffing next-generation guts into iPhone 4 casings to throw off leaks, we don’t want to affirm that the new iPhone retains the iPhone 4 design. In addition, a new design has been rumored based on recent “iPhone 5″ case leaks.

In any case, expect Assistant, 1GB of RAM, the dual-core A5 processor, Nuance speech-to-text, and an 8 megapixel camera to make an incredible iPhone upgrade on October 4th.

Biggest Gainers On The Forbes 400

2011-09-23T21:35:00.001-07:00

The superrich on the Forbes 400 got even wealthier over the past year. Nine of the ten biggest dollar gainers on the 2011 list of the richest Americans are among the 20 wealthiest people in the country. The biggest dollar gainer of all is Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, whose net worth increased a staggering $10.6 billion since August 2010 to a current $17.5 billion. The reason: the private market valuation of Facebook nearly tripled to $66.5 billion. The jump in net worth lands Zuckerberg among the top 20 for the first time.

Hedge fund tycoon George Soros had the second largest dollar gain, a $7.8 billion increase to $22 billion. Soros had a good year, but the big jump was mostly due to new information that revealed he owns a much greater percentage of his funds than Forbes had previously estimated. Soros now ranks 7^th. It’s the first time he’s cracked the top ten.

Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson racked up the third largest jump in wealth — a $7 billion increase — thanks to soaring shares of Las Vegas Sands, which were up about 50% from a year ago. The Sands now gets nearly 90% of its operating profit from Asia, including from a casino resort in Singapore and Hong Kong-listed joint venture Sands China, which has three resorts in Macau.

Jeff Bezos clocked a $6.5 billion gain to $19.1 billion on the back of an impressive 55% rise in Amazon shares. He’s now the 13^th richest person in the U.S. Amazon is thriving, now selling more e-books than printed books.

Oracle founder Larry Ellison is up $6 billion from a year ago to $33 billion. Despite all the legal battles between Oracle and rivals SAP, HP and Google, Oracle stock was up 15% from last August when we took a snapshot of U.S. wealth on August 26. Ellison gave $50 million worth of Oracle shares to his Ellison Medical Foundation over the past year.

Bill Gates also racked up a big $5 billion gain in his net worth, bringing his net worth to $59 billion. Most of the increase is attributable to the performance of his investments outside of Microsoft, where 75% of his net worth now lies. Microsoft stock helped, too, perk up by 5% from a year earlier.

Buyout investor Harold Simmons of Texas saw his net worth jump $4.3 billion to $9.3 billion as shares of Valhi, his publicly traded buyout vehicle, climbed a staggering 250% in the year through late August.

Rounding up the top ten biggest dollar gainers: the three Mars siblings:Forrest Mars Jr., Jacqueline Mars and John Mars. The siblings inherited stakes in candy maker Mars, which became the world’s largest with its 2008 purchase of Wm. Wrigley. The net worth of each Mars sibling increased $3.8 billion to $13.8 billion. All three are tied at #20 on the list.

Here’s a table with the 21 biggest gainers on the Forbes 400 this year:

Name		2011 worth	2010 worth	Increase
Mark	Zuckerberg	$17.5 bln	$6.9 bln	$10.6 bln
George	Soros	$22.0 bln	$14.2 bln	$7.8 bln
Sheldon	Adelson	$21.5 bln	$14.7 bln	$6.8 bln
Jeff	Bezos	$19.1 bln	$12.6 bln	$6.5 bln
Larry	Ellison	$33.0 bln	$27.0 bln	$6.0 bln
Bill	Gates	$59.0 bln	$54.0 bln	$5.0 bln
Harold	Simmons	$9.4 bln	$5.0 bln	$4.4 bln
Forrest	Mars	$13.8 bln	$10.0 bln	$3.8 bln
Jacqueline	Mars	$13.8 bln	$10.0 bln	$3.8 bln
John	Mars	$13.8 bln	$10.0 bln	$3.8 bln
Thomas	Peterffy	$5.0 bln	$1.4 bln	$3.6 bln
Charles	Koch	$25.0 bln	$21.5 bln	$3.5 bln
David	Koch	$25.0 bln	$21.5 bln	$3.5 bln
Jeffrey	Hildebrand	$5.3 bln	$1.9 bln	$3.4 bln
John	Paulson	$15.5 bln	$12.4 bln	$3.1 bln
Jack	Taylor	$9.0 bln	$6.5 bln	$2.5 bln
Leonard	Lauder	$6.3 bln	$4.2 bln	$2.1 bln
Dustin	Moskovitz	$3.5 bln	$1.4 bln	$2.1 bln
Phil	Knight	$13.1 bln	$11.1 bln	$2.0 bln
Carl	Icahn	$13.0 bln	$11.0 bln	$2.0 bln
Len	Blavatnik	$9.5 bln	$7.5 bln	$2.0 bln

How To: Enable and Activate Facebook Timeline

2011-09-22T13:27:00.001-07:00

Facebook F8 Conference made many Facebook fans to say “wow” with all new set of services that facebook founder and ceo Mark Zuckerberg has announced during the event. Facebook Timeline is an important feature that is going to change the entire facebook experience here after. You will see all the updates that your friends make through the Timeline.

Discover what your friend is Watching
Discover what your friend is Cooking
Discover what your friend is Doing
Discover what your friend is Creating
Discover what your friend is Editing and so on..

How to Activate Facebook Timeline ?

In order to activate Facebook Timeline you have to visit the webpage “https://www.facebook.com/about/timeline“. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on “Sign me Up” to get Facebook Timeline invite when Facebook team is ready to roll out this awesome feature.

Now wait for sometime to get response from facebook. You will notice the Sign me up button hidden once you clicked on the button. Thanks for reading and please do share this post with your friends and followers in Facebook and Twitter.

Silver prices may rise to $150 in 18 months

2011-09-21T20:41:00.001-07:00

Silver prices are once again enjoying a run-up as they did from January through April. During that period they doubled and briefly touched $50 an ounce before settling back down to the low $30s.

As I write, Silver prices are back above $40 an ounce and that may be giving you the urge to sell. I would advise that you don’t. This recovery is for real, and it has much further to go.

While I have a price target of $50.00 by years end, I anticipate silver prices will peak at $150 an ounce in 18 months.

Central banks around the world are pushing lax monetary policies and this leads me to conclude that prices for all commodities (gold and silver in particular) will rise.

We've already seen this happen with Gold hitting a record high $1,923.70 an ounce on Sept. 7 and when gold goes higher; its baby brother silver quickly follows.

That's reflected in something called the gold to silver ratio, which shows how many ounces of silver it takes to buy one ounce of gold. Traditionally, this ratio acts as a price barometer for the two precious metals. And if you look at it right now, it's easy to see that $150 silver isn't far off. Gold and silver prices traditionally move together because both are considered stores of value in inflationary times and while the world considers gold as the premier store of value, other societies, most notably the Spanish empire in the Americas, Imperial China and Mogul India, used the silver standard and are therefore more focused on silver when inflation threatens.

In the 19th century silver and gold prices maintained a fairly steady relationship to each other in a ratio of 16 to 1. This was due to the fact that both gold and silver were viewed as currency. However, in the 20th century silver depreciated against gold. This was due to the fact that silver began to be seen as a commodity that was mainly used in industrial applications. While the two metals are chemically very similar, but Silver is much cheaper and therefore is more suitable for industrial uses.

By 2010, Gold traded well above $1,000 an ounce while silver traded at $12-$14 an ounce or a ratio of close to 80 to 1. This was unsustainable, and it resulted in the price of silver rising in 2010-11. At its peak, silver was trading for $50 an ounce and about a 30 to 1 ratio to the price of gold.

Going forward, we cannot expect the gold/silver price ratio to reach 16 to 1, as it almost did in 1980.

I believe the reason for this is the use of silver as an industrial metal has fallen off sharply when the price spiked. That freed up silver supplies while investment demand for gold soared.

The second reason is that the 1980 silver price spike was caused by the Hunt Brothers' attempt to corner the silver market. No such attempt is visible today.

So, I believe the peak ratio of silver to gold is much more likely to reach something closer to 25 to 1.

The peak in gold is yet unknown, but for supply/demand reasons it seems likely to be above $2,500 an ounce - today's equivalent of the 1980 peak, adjusted for inflation - but less than $5,000 an ounce - the 1980 peak adjusted for growth in world gross domestic product (GDP) or money supply.

That would suggest a silver price peak between $100 and $200 per ounce, with $150 an ounce the most likely outcome.

In conclusion, the market will not ultimately turn bearish until global monetary policy tightens. With the November 2012 U.S. Presidential election looming large on the horizon, we probably have at least another year of rising prices. However, we may not have two years to wait for politicians decide to get our fiscal house in order.

My recommendation would be to any silver holdings at least until prices reached $150 an ounce.

MCX mentha oil jumps 3% on fresh buying

2011-09-21T20:39:00.001-07:00

Mentha oil futures gained as traders crested fresh positions on firm demand from the pharmaceutical industries.

At MCX mentha oil October contract is Rs.1360 per Kg, higher by 3 per cent on 16:15 IST as against the previous close.

In the early sessions the contract traded at a range of Rs.1320.90-1369.90 per Kg. Open interest of the contract is 3030 lots and volume traded is 8085 lots for the time being.

Analysts said fresh buying by traders following pick-up in spot demand and lower arrivals from Chandausi in Uttar Pradesh mainly pushed up mentha oil futures prices.

Also rise in prices in the spot markets due to increasing export and pharmaceutical industries buying, pushed up the mentha prices in futures trade as well.

MCX Copper, Nickel up on Obama tax proposal

2011-09-21T20:37:00.001-07:00

MCX Copper and Nickelgained in afternoon trade on Tuesday as President Barack Obama’s plan to tax the rich. MCX Copper November is up by 0.52% and is trading at Rs 406.80 while MCX NickelSeptember is up 0.81% to trade at Rs 1021.70 as of late afternoon trade on Tuesday.

US president Barack Obama’s plan to “ensure that the rich pay their due” supported investor confidence that the US will be taking strong steps to lower its debt burden and boost its economy. The proposed action will help in cutting US deficit by $4 trillion over 10 years.

At COMEX, Copper futures for the most traded December contract is up by 0.02% at $3.80

MCX Nickel is up after latest data showed that stocks in LME fell by 1410 tonnes last week. Reports of a Nickel ETF in China also support prices.

Technical targets by Geojit Comtrade

- MCX Copper November: Rallies to 408/410 could call for 402/398.
S1 402 S2 398 R1 410 R2 416

- MCX Nickel September: Rallies to 1028 could target 1005/990 with s/l above 1045.
S1 1000 S2 980 R1 1028 R2 1045

GOLD22499(+52)
SILVER67790(+762)
COPPER409.5(+6.15)
CRUDE OIL4205(+35)

Building an Android App for your Blog

2011-09-21T11:21:00.001-07:00

I spent the past few days building an Android app for Digital Inspiration and am happy to share that the first version of the app is now ready for use.

If you have an Android based phone, open this link (apk file) in your mobile browser and app should install itself. Since you are not using the Android Market here, make sure the option Untrusted Sources under Settings –> Applications is enabled to allow installation of non-Market apps.

Before I get into the details on how I created the app, let me share a few features of the app that you may find useful:

#1. The app doesn’t just show you the recent items from the blog’s RSS feed but lets you browse through the entire archives – much like a real website.

#2. There’s a “Reading List” feature integrated into the app that lets you save articles for offline reading. While you are on a story page, just hit the Save button to download that story to your mobile phone and read it even without an internet connection.

#3. Alternatively, you may download any of the stories in a reader-friendly PDF format. Just go to Share –> Save as PDF.

#4. The app is integrated with Google Custom Search allowing you to search the content of this blog, and few other sites, from the app itself.

This is just the first version of the app and, based on your feedback, I do plan to include additional features and iron out the bugs.

How to Develop an Android App

I have worked on a couple of web apps before – like sleepingtime.org, ctrlq.org or theAdSense Sandbox – but developing mobile apps for the Android platform was a completely unchartered territory.

Fortunately, the process for building Android apps wasn’t complicated and anyone with knowledge of HTML and JavaScript can create a native Android App with some effort.

The big picture for this particular app is something like this.

You create a mobile-friendly page using standard HTML tags and fetch data into the page from WordPress with the help of RSS feeds. You then include the impressive jQuery Mobile library in the page to handle the styling (layout) and navigation across different mobile platforms. Next you convert this HTML page into a native Android App (apk) using Phonegap, another free and awesome tool.

Android App for your WordPress Blog

If you would like to have a native Android App for your own blog, here are some of the technical details that you should know. I created an app for WordPress but the process is similar for other platforms as long as they offer content through RSS feeds.

First you to get familiar with jQuery and jQuery Mobile. There are tons of online tutorials for beginners or get one of the excellent books to quickly get started.

The app is essentially an HTML document where each div section represents the various screen of the app. The page transitions, AJAX effects - notice that “page loading..” message when you move between pages - and even the screen layouts (or CSS styles) are handled automatically by the jQuery Mobile library.

The app fetches data (blog posts) from the WordPress blog using standard RSS feeds. These feed requests to WordPress are routed through Google Feeds API to bypass the security restrictions around cross-domain scripting. If you wish to display image thumbnails alongside the titles, make sure to add the Media RSS element in your WordPress feeds.

My working folder - that has the HTML code, image icons and the associated JavaScript files - is inside a local Dropbox folder and this comes really handy when testing across different screens. Dropbox provides me a public web link of the HTML file and I can use that to test the HTML document in any other desktop and mobile browser. If I change the local HTML file, Dropbox will sync the changes automatically.

If you want your app to work in an offline environment, you can use localStorage (or HTML5 Storage) supported in all modern browsers. This is exactly what I use for the “Reading List” feature of the app – when you hit the Save button, the story gets saved using localStorage that is accessible even in offline environment.

The jQuery Mobile library adds the “slide” transition to pages but this introduces flicker and thus you may want to disable it. I also had problem displaying YouTube videos inside the mobile app that used standard <embed src*> tags but this got fixed once I rewrote the video embed code to HTML5 compatible IFRAME code.

Once your basic HTML page for the Android App is ready, you need to convert that page into a native app (or the .apk file). This is actually the easiest part.

There’s a free tool called PhoneGap that takes your HTML, CSS and JavaScript code and packages them all into a native Android App in few easy steps. The Android developers site offers a collection of readymade icons (in Photoshop format) that you can modify and distribute the one you like with your own app.

A big advantage of using jQuery Mobile is that you write a single HTML document and it will be compatible will all major mobile platforms including Android, iPhone, BlackBerry, Symbian and more. I use can PhoneGap again to create a native iPhone or BlackBerry app using the same code base. That’s hopefully coming next!

Create a Mail Merge with Gmail and Google Docs

2011-09-21T11:19:00.001-07:00

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A mail merge program helps you send personalized email messages to multiple contacts in one go. Each message has the same content but some parts of the message can be customized – like you can greet each recipient by their first name.

Who needs Mail Merge? If you are organizing a party at your home, you can send personalized email invitations to all your friends with the help of mail merge. A person like Steve Jobs - see the following video - can use mail merge to effortlessly invite hisinner circle for the launch of a new product.

How to Create Mail Merge with Gmail

Microsoft Outlook with Word has Mail Merge functionality built-in but if you are a Gmail or Google Apps user, you may still use mail merge easily with the help of Google Docs.

And though the Mail Merge program using Google Docs, this is not limited to Gmail users. If you have linked your Hotmail or Yahoo! account with a Google Account, you may use that or any non-Gmail address with Mail Merge as well.

Mail Merge with File Attachments - Step by Step

This new version of Gmail Mail Merge program offers support for rich-text (HTML) email templates, you may add file attachments with the outgoing messages, there’s an option to BCC emails to yourself and better overall usability. Let’s get started:

Step 1: Open this Google spreadsheet and create a copy of the same in your Google Docs account (File –> Make a Copy). If you have trouble accessing the sheet, please try this link.

Step 2: Under the new “Mail Merge” menu, click on “Reset” to clear the canvas and alsoauthorize Google Docs to access your Gmail and Google Contacts.

Step 3: Open Google Contacts and create a new Group with all the contacts who you would like to send a personalized email. Alternatively, you may simply add the recipient’s name and email addresses manually in the Google Sheet.

Step 4: Click Mail Merge –> Import Google Contacts and type the name of the Google Contacts group that you created in Step 3. Google Docs will now automatically import all the relevant Gmail contacts into the spreadsheet.

Step 5: Fill the various fields of the email template (highlighted in white).

5a. You can compose an email template in rich text using the HTML Mail tool and then copy-paste the generated HTML code into the message body field of the Google Sheet.

5b. If you would like to add an attachment to your email messages – say a PDF file or an Office document – just upload that file to Google Docs and copy-paste the ID of the file into the Attachment ID field. You can find the ID of a Google Docs file in its URL.

Step 6: Go to the Mail Merge menu again and click “Start Mail Merge” – the status against the names of your Gmail contacts will change to “OK” for all email messages that were successfully delivered through Google Docs.

That’s it! You’ve just completed your first mail merge through Gmail and Google Docs.

Please note that Gmail has a daily sending limit and any messages that are dispatched using the Gmail Mail Merge program also count in that limit. You can send a maximum of 500 messages in a day and if you exceed that number, Google can temporarily lock your Gmail account.

The Best Tools for Taking Wikipedia Offline

2011-09-21T11:17:00.001-07:00

Would you like to download the entire Wikipedia on your computer or mobile phone for offline reading? Well, here are some good options to consider.

Download Wikipedia Articles for Offline Reading

Wikipedia, the world’s largest encyclopedia, offers downloadable copies (or database dumps) of all its wikis that one can download and thus access the entire Wikipedia content on computers that are not connected to the Internet.

The database dumps are frequently updated and include every single article that’s available on the main Wikipedia website. The dumps are available as .xml.bz2 files that you can easily open on your computer using the free and portable WikiTaxi software.

WikiTaxi ships with an importer that will first uncompress the Wikipedia database files (.bz2) and then converts them into a .taxi file format. Now you open these .taxi files inside WikiTaxi just like the way you open .doc files inside Microsoft Word and, if you are running low on space, the original Wikipedia dumps may be safely discarded.

A good alternative to WikiTaxi is Kiwix – this is also free software and available for Mac, Windows and Linux systems. You first install the Kiwix software on your computer and then download one of the Wikipedia editions – the articles are packaged as .zim files that’ll open directly inside Kiwix without requiring any conversion.

Kiwix is definitely easier to use than WikiTaxi and that packaged .zim files can read across all popular platforms but the downside is that, unlike the database dumps used by WikiTaxi, the .zim files aren’t very frequently updated. Also, the zim package for English Wikipedia doesn’t include every article though the packages for other languages are complete.

If you have an iOS device – like the iPhone, iPad or iPad Touch – you may grab the excellent Wiki Offline app and carry all the Wikipedia articles in your pocket. The app renders Wikipedia articles in a beautiful interface and supports tabbed browsing so you can open multiple articles side by side. Wiki Offline is also available in the Mac App Storefor your Mac OS X.

The other option for using Wikipedia offline is WikiReader – this is a 3.5” monochrome device with a capacitive touch screen and contains over 3 million Wikipedia articles. The updates to Wikipedia articles are released every quarter – you can update the device by connecting it to your computer – or you opt to receive updates on SD cards.

The WikiReader device costs $99 and though I haven’t tried it myself, it did get a huge thumbs-up from Ars Technica. You definitely don’t need this if you carry a smart phone that is always connected to the Internet but could be a good reference tool for the rest of us with an impressive battery life – much like the Kindle.

Finally, if all you want to do is download a handful of Wikipedia articles for offline reading, use the built-in book creator that turns multiple pages from Wikipedia into a PDF book.

Droid Bionic

2011-09-19T10:49:00.001-07:00

Droid Bionic review

It's been said that absence makes a heart grow fonder, so it was with very willing and eager hands this week that we received the Droid Bionic, Motorola's latest high-octane, robot-themed assault on Verizon Wireless subscribers. The phone was first announced at CES in the beginning of 2011 and we got to see it in the flesh just an hour later... but then the story took a tragic turn. The Bionic was attacked, killed and then reborn with all new internals.

Phoenix-like, the thing is now available for purchase on Verizon Wireless, $300 for a supposedly top-shelf device that packs both LTE connectivity and a dual-core processor. That makes it a first for Verizon, and it also happens to be the thinnest LTE handset yet to cross that carrier's airwaves. Oh, and it has the biggest battery yet, too. Was it was worth the wait, then? Maybe.

Droid Bionic review

Hardware

Users of the Droid X or Droid X2 will feel right at home here. Those phones and this one definitely share some design DNA and a similar layout. On the lower-left is the micro-USB and micro-HDMI ports, needed to power many of the wide array of accessories for this thing. On the upper-right lies a solitary volume rocker (no camera button here), while the power and headphone port can be found up top. Finally, an eight megapixel camera sits around the back -- packing the same number of pixels as its predecessors, but now able to manage 1080p video recording.

So it's familiar, then, but different. One big difference is the deletion of the physical buttons below the display, which we always liked but found a little too firm. The bigger change is the girth. The Droid Bionic is, at its thickest, 13.3mm (just a tick over half an inch) and it only tapers down a bit to 11.3mm (.45-inch). The X2 is less than 10mm at its thickest, and of course it goes way down from there. So, while this is Verizon's thinnest LTE phone, it's far from wafer-like. But, at 159 grams (5.5 ounces) it is at least not considerably heavier than the X2.

Indeed, in the hand it feels solid but not heavy, refined but not dull. It's definitely traipsing along a fine stylistic line that divides sophisticated and boring, but we'd say it's leaning more toward the former than the latter. The only bits of brightwork are the chrome volume rocker and power button, while a subtly polished metal ring wraps the screen and stretches out a bit below it. That screen itself is Gorilla Glass, as you'd expect these days, and it has an interesting beveled edge to it that means the extents of the surface are very subtly recessed below the edge of the phone's body. This serves as an excellent collection mechanism for pocket lint.

Up front is what looks to be the same 4.3-inch qHD display that wowed us on the X2, and it's still impressive here. Very impressive. It doesn't quite offer the eye-popping saturation of Samsung's Super AMOLED Plus displays, but that's not to say it's lacking in contrast, brightness or, indeed, resolution. Viewing angles are as close to 180 degrees as you need, and ultimately this is a screen that has the pixel count and the picture quality to stand up with the best of them.

Situated above the display is a front-facing VGA webcam and an LED status indicator, so you can be sure that if you have an unread email this phone will be blinking at you.

It's all powered by a 1GHz processor, which again sounds like the Droid X2 but this one is rather different. It's a TI OMAP chip, still dual-core but a bit of a departure from the more common Tegra 2 chips. As to why Moto made a change in maker here compared to its many other phones (including the recently released Photon 4G) we're not sure, and Motorola reps didn't have a solid answer for us, but it does do the business, and a 1,700mAh battery promises decent longevity. More on that in a moment.

There's 16GB of total storage built into the phone, about half of which is reserved for apps and other system needs. The phone also comes with a 16GB microSD card, though of course you can bump that up to 32GB if you so choose. Taking formatting and everything else into account you'll have about 23GB of empty space ready to accept your music and videos and whatever else you want to apply here, with about 4GB for apps.

Naturally this is an LTE device, so you have both that and CDMA on tap. Globe trotters will find dual-band CDMA (900 and 1,800MHz) along with 2,100MHz UMTS support, and all that is augmented by Bluetooth 2.1 and 802.11b/g/n WiFi. We found the Bionic to have good but not great signal reception, but calls were completed loud and clear, and the speakerphone on the back is more than loud enough for some ad-hoc conference calls -- or for stepping away from the phone when you find yourself on indefinite hold.

Performance and battery life

The Bionic makes room for a 1,700mAh cell beneath the thin husk of its back cover, the largest battery yet on an LTE device -- and yes, there's an extended cell coming too. In theory this will provide greater longevity than the current crop of 4G devices on Verizon's network, but given it's less than a 10 percent bump over the Droid Charge and only about 15 percent bigger than that in the Thunderbolt, don't go expecting miracles.

We found the phone to be more than adequate for a day of light to moderate usage -- e-mail, web surfing, the like. Mix in a lot of navigation or media streaming, however, and you'll likely be patting your pockets looking for that second battery. And, if you're looking to use this phone as a wireless modem for your laptop, you won't want to stray far from an outlet. We went from a full battery to completely dead in less than three hours of wireless tethering. The phone fared well on our standard battery rundown test (a looping video with the screen locked at 50 percent brightness), clocking in at just under six and a half hours but, as ever with smartphone batteries, your mileage may vary.

When it comes to performance we weren't disappointed by the responsiveness of this phone. The TI OMAP processor, running at 1GHz, is more than enough to load apps quickly, render webpages snappily and overall deliver an experience that won't try your patience. Synthetic benchmarks back that up, with the phone delivering a solid 2,150 on Quadrant, 50.5 MFLOPS on Linpack multi-thread (41.6 on single), 27.7fps on Nenamark 1, 46.7 on the second and churning through the SunSpider JavaScript test in a very respectable 3,926ms. These scores are all very close to the recent Photon 4G, and certainly won't disappoint right now, but we figure the latest crop of American Galaxy SII models -- not to mention the upcoming 1.5GHz devices -- will leave them both in the dust.

Software

The Droid Bionic is running a (lightly) customized version of Android Gingerbread (2.3.4) that includes the latest Google Talk with video chat. Unsurprisingly, there's also a selection of less interesting apps pre-installed here, things like Blockbuster and Let's Golf 2. We did have success uninstalling some of these, but for the others you will at least be able to hide them thanks to one of Motorola's Android customizations -- application groups. Just create a group of the apps that you do want to see and set the phone to display that set by default. Out of sight, out of mind.

It's certainly not all crapware. QuickOffice is a welcome addition to the stock build, and IT types will certainly enjoy the Citrix Receiver. MOTOPRINT is an app that will let you print directly to compatible printers on your local network, or to those more reluctant or non-networked ones through a piece of software that can be installed on a desktop. That software is unfortunately PC-only, but ZumoCast is available for OS X as well. This is an app that lets you stream media directly from your computer to your phone, handling all the transcoding and other mess internally.

The problem with this app (and with the Netflix app, which is compatible) is Verizon's relatively new tiered data plans. You can, of course, get cozy at home on WiFi and not worry about any surprises on your bill at the end of the month, but that rather defeats the purpose of having an LTE device in the first place. That's not a problem with this device alone, and it'll only become more of a concern as Verizon adds more LTE devices, but we're sorry to say that bandwidth anxiety is now joining battery anxiety to make us even less comfortable in getting the most out of our phones.

Verizon does thoughtfully include a data usage widget which updates in more or less real-time, so if you're heading over your limit you'll at least know before you hit the precipice. But, we've found this widget counts data used while tethered as well, which is a definite problem since you'll have two separate pools of data to keep filled.

The Android customizations here aren't restricted to widgets, though, with Android being skinned similarly to how it was on the X2. We generally liked the customizations there, and we do here as well. The predictive keyboard is reasonably accurate and, thanks to the healthy screen size, is friendly for even generously-sized thumbs. The five home screens are, naturally, completely customizable and, with a double-tap of the home button, you can zoom out to see them all at once.

The custom lock screen gives you easy access to mute your phone, and has the macho Droid look we've come to expect and, generally, tolerate on these devices. You'll also be treated to a typically red and swirly bootup animation should you start this thing cold -- which takes 50 seconds, by the way. In sleep mode the phone will still use a bit of battery life, but starts up in a much more teneable two seconds.

Again, overall we never felt like the phone was struggling under the software here, always acting responsively to our touch. We didn't encounter any repeatable bugs, either, which is always a concern on a new handset.

This seems to be the same eight megapixel unit that we saw on the X2 and the X before it, and it looks to deliver the same results here. Pictures are a bit underexposed at times, lacking contrast. The autofocus lens does do great work on close-up macro shots, but we did find focusing to be slow in some situations. This resulted in a few seconds worth of shutter lag in some cases, which made capturing images of our impatient canine models rather challenging.

Video recording has been bumped up to 1080p and the resulting quality improvement is noticeable, but we did see some focus hunting in the resulting footage, particularly when filming closer subjects. Still, it'll more than suffice for recording your two best friends taking turns chasing each other around the yard.

Droid Bionic sample shots

Accessories

As with the Atrix, Motorola really pulled out the stops for Bionic accessories, so prepare for eager salesmen and saleswomen who will be doing their best to up-sell you. Which add-ons are worth your time? Read on to find out, but it's important to note that almost all of these will only work with the Droid Bionic. Despite the plethora of Moto devices that offer the same micro-USB and micro-HDMI placement. So don't look at any of these as an investment that you can possibly use with your next Moto handset -- they'll be obsolete right along with your Bionic in a couple of years.

Droid Bionic accessories

Little here has changed since the Atrix on this, and while it is nice to see this little zombie laptop continuing on, it's disappointing to see the implementation hasn't changed a lick since before. You're still looking at a sleek, slim design housing an 11.5-inch, 1,366 x 768 resolution display plus a sizeable internal battery that will deliver between eight and 10 hours of life, even recharging your phone while it's plugged in. Those things are just fine, but sadly the keyboard is still unnecessarily small and cramped, the trackpad is big but unresponsive (and doesn't support gesture scrolling), the left and right mouse buttons frankly feel broken and -- most troublingly -- performance is simply not good.

Pop the phone in and you're greeted with the Webtop environment after a few seconds, which is again little-changed from before. You're presented with a windowed view of what's on the phone, which you can use the keyboard and mouse to clumsily interact with -- even sending text messages and the like if you wish. But, if you wanted to just use your phone you'd be far better off just pulling it out of the dock. The real point of this is to get to the few other apps that are accessible on there, with Firefox being the only one that's genuinely worthwhile.

We're talking Firefox 4 (a mere two major versions behind the status quo) with Flash 10 support, and performance here is only slightly worse than a $199 netbook doing its damndest to get by with an aged Atom processor. Chances are that netbook would have a better keyboard, too. We love, love the idea of plugging a phone into something and having it be the brains of the operation, and hopefully Google brings Android and Chrome OS together into some sort of beautiful partnership down the road, but as it stands this is simply not worth the money -- even with the $100 discount Verizon is offering should you opt for a tethering plan.

HD Station - $100

This is the most comprehensive of the various non-laptop docks that are available, and naturally the most expensive. For $100 you get a device with HDMI pass-through and three USB ports, plus a 3.5mm output for analog speakers, too. You can configure the Bionic to pop into webtop mode as soon as you dock in here, and with an external HDMI monitor plus a USB (or Bluetooth) keyboard and mouse, you can use this to turn your phone into a little desktop replacement. Assuming you spend more than $5 on that keyboard and mouse you'll find the overall experience to be preferable to the Lapdock, but you'll still have to deal with that lackluster performance.

The included remote control does mean you can control your phone from across the room, which could make this a compelling option if you're looking for a media player. But, the price here is just a bit dear.

Standard Dock - $40

This guy loses the HDMI output and the trio of USB ports compared to the HD Station, but keeps the audio output. This is is a great option if you're looking to charge your phone overnight and use it as an alarm clock or media player. Without a remote you'll need to stay within reach, but for the $60 savings we can probably manage to get up off the couch if we need to change playlists.

Vehicle Navigation Dock - $40

The Vehicle Navigation Dock is a fancy name for a fairly standard windshield or dash mount for your phone, including a micro-USB pass-through so that you won't have to manually plug in that cable every time you dock your phone. However, while it does include an audio patch cable, the dock itself does notinclude a 3.5mm audio out, meaning you'll have to jam that in the headphone jack on your phone every time you dock the thing. Still, we'd say this one is worth the money.

Webtop Adapter - $30

This is a little matchbox-sized thing that has micro-USB and micro-HDMI inputs on one side and micro-USB and micro-HDMI outputs on the other. World's least effective port expander? Not quite. Plug this guy in and you'll kick the phone into Webtop mode, providing video out to an HDMI monitor. The phone itself is turned into a big scrollpad, with the soft keyboard available as well. Or, you can connect Bluetooth peripherals if you're looking for something a bit more manageable. We certainly would.

Wrap-up

The Droid Bionic is exactly what we wanted the Droid X2 to be: that phone plus Gingerbread and LTE. So, happy day, right? Well, not quite. The X2 dropped over three months ago, and while that seems like just yesterday, given how quickly things are moving these days that's absolutely ages ago in the world of the smartphone. Since then we've been teased by the GSII and, with the Note, seen a glimpse of just how fast the next generation of phones is going to be.

The Bionic is a great choice for right now, the best combination of wireless and device speed that we've yet seen on Verizon. For that reason alone it's a smart purchase -- particularly if you've been hanging on to that OG Droid for months and months waiting for a phone like this to come along. But you should know that this isn't a world-conquering device, the kind of thing that will leave you walking tall and proud for months and months to come. If you're okay with that, then buy with confidence.

The 10 Greatest Entrepreneurs

2011-09-19T01:33:00.001-07:00

There is a tough truth that any small business owner has to face. Even in the best of times, the vast majority of small businesses fail. In this article, we’ll look at ten entrepreneurs who not only succeeded, but built vast business empires.

John D. Rockefeller: John D. Rockefeller was the richest man in history by most measures. He made his fortune by squeezing out efficiencies through horizontal and vertical integrations that made Standard Oil synonymous with monopoly - but also dropped the price of fuel drastically for the everyday consumer. The government broke up Standard Oil for good in 1911. Rockefeller’s hand can still be seen in the companies like Exxon and Conoco that profited from the R&D and infrastructure they received as their piece of the breakup. Rockefeller retired at the turn of the century and devoted the rest of his life to philanthropy.

Andrew Carnegie: Andrew Carnegie loved efficiency. From his start in Steel, Carnegie’s mills were always on the leading edge of technology. Carnegie combined his superior processes with an excellent sense of timing, snapping up steel assets in every market downturn. Like Rockefeller, Carnegie spent his golden years giving away the fortune he spent most of his life building.

Thomas Edison: There is no doubt that Edison was brilliant, but it’s his business sense, not his talent as an inventor, that clearly shows his intelligence. Edison took innovation and made it the process now known as research and development. He sold his services to many other companies before striking out on his own to create most of the electrical power infrastructure of the United States. While Edison is a founder of General Electric(NYSE:GE), many companies today owe their existence to him – Edison Electric, Con Edison and so on. Although Edison had far more patents than he did corporate ties, it is the companies that will carry his legacy into the future.

Henry Ford: Henry Ford did not invent the automobile. He was one of a group working on motorcars and, arguably, not even the best of them. However, these competitors were selling their cars for a price that made the car a luxury of the rich. Ford put America – not just the rich – on wheels, and unleashed the power of mass production in the bargain. His Ford Model T was the first car to cater to most Americans - as long as they liked black. Ford’s progressive labor policies and his constant drive to make each car better, faster and cheaper made certain that his workers and everyday Americans would think Ford (NYSE:F) when they shopped for a car.

Charles Merrill: Charles E. Merrill brought high finance to the middle class. After the 1929 crash, the general public had sworn off stocks and anything more financial than a savings account. Merrill changed that by using a supermarket approach - he sacrificed the high commissions to serve more people, making up his money on the larger volume. Merrill worked hard to “bring Wall Street to Main Street,” educating his clients through free classes, publishing rules of conduct for his firm and always looking out for the interests of his customers first.

Sam Walton: Sam Walton picked a market no one wanted and then instituted a distribution system no one had tried in retail. By building warehouses between several of his Wal-Mart stores, Walton was able to save on shipping and deliver goods to busy stores much faster. Add a state-of-the-art inventory control system, and Walton was lowering his cost margins well below his direct competitors. Rather than booking all of the savings as profits, Walton passed them on to the consumer. By offering consistently low prices, Walton attracted more and more business to where he chose to set up shop. Eventually, Walton took Wal-Mart to the big city to match margins with the big boys - and the beast of Bentonville has never looked back.

Charles Schwab: Charles Schwab, usually known as “Chuck,” took Merrill’s love of the little guy and belief in volume over price into the internet age. When May Day opened the doors for negotiated fees, Schwab was among the first to offer a discount brokerage for the individual investor. To do this, he trimmed the research staff, analysts and advisors, and excepted investors to empower themselves when making an order. From a bare-bones base, Schwab then added services that mattered to his customers, like 24-hour service and more branch locations. Merrill brought the individual investor back to the market, but Chuck Schwab made it cheap enough for him to stay.

Walt Disney: The 1920s found Walt Disney on the verge of creating a cultural juggernaut. A gifted animator for an advertising company, Disney began creating his own animated shorts in a studio garage. Disney created a character inspired by the mice that roamed his office, Mickey Mouse, and made him the hero of “Steamboat Willie” in 1928. The commercial success of Mickey Mouse allowed Disney to create a cartoon factory with teams of animators, musicians and artists. Disney turned that mouse into several amusement parks, feature-length animations and a merchandising bonanza. After his death, the growth has continued making Disney, and his mouse, the founders of the largest media company on earth.

Bill Gates: When people describe Bill Gates, the usually come up with “rich”, “competitive” and “smart.” Of the three traits, it’s Gates’ competitive nature that has carved out his fortune. Not only did he fight and win the OS and browser wars, but Gates stored up the profits that came with the victories – and Microsoft’s dominance – to fund future fights and ventures. The Xbox is just one of the many sideline businesses that the massive war chest has funded. The fact is that Microsoft’s cash and Gates’ reluctance to pay it out is a big part of what saw the company through hard times and funded expansion in good times.

Steve Jobs: Unlike most of the others on this list, it’s possible that Steve Jobs’ greatest achievements are yet unwritten. Jobs co-founded Apple, one of the only tech companies to offer a significant challenge to Microsoft’s dominance. In contrast to Gates’ methodical expansion, Jobs’ influence on Apple has been one of creative bursts. Apple was a computer company when Jobs returned to it. Now, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad are the engines of growth that have pushed Apple past the once unassailable Microsoft. When Apple surpassed Microsoft’s market cap in 2010, it became clear that investors that, with Jobs, the best is yet to come.

Conclusion: These 10 succeeded by giving the customer something better, faster and cheaper than their nearest competitors. No doubt, some like Rockefeller will always be on these lists, but there is plenty of room for the right person to find their place among the entrepreneur’s pantheon.

Sony Ericsson to bring 'lode runner' on Xperia Play

2011-09-18T20:11:00.001-07:00

Adding to its portfolio of partnerships for flagship gaming smartphone Xperia PLAY, Sony Ericsson has announced a new relationship with Tozai Games. The partnership will bring the console hit and gaming franchise "Lode Runner" to Android for the first time. From November 2011, the game will be available on Xperia PLAY and other Xperia devices.

Sony Ericsson continues to make Xperia PLAY available to more consumers in more markets around the world. The company announced that Xperia PLAY will be launched in Japan with NTT DOCOMO in Autumn 2011.

The Xperia PLAY is powered by Android 2.3 and is touted to be the world’s first PlayStation certified smartphone.

Lost iPhone just one headache for Apple security

2011-09-18T20:08:00.001-07:00

Wanted - experienced security professional. Must have plan to thwart Chinese counterfeiters, protect secret blueprints from spies and keep workers from leaving super-secret unreleased smartphones behind in bars. A day after a recent report surfaced that an Apple employee had lost a prototype for a new but unreleased iPhone at a Northern California watering hole, two job listings appeared on Apple's website for managers of "new product security."

Such workers would join a team at the $350 billion company that has included ex-FBI agents and other highly trained pros with backgrounds in intelligence and law enforcement. While a private security force might not seem in keeping with its user-friendly image, Apple and other companies in its league need the best protection they can buy, corporate security experts say. And lost iPhones likely don't come near the top of the list of anxieties. "Corporate espionage, that's big money. Billion-dollar money. The paranoia is justified," said Jim Stickley, co-founder of corporate security consulting firm TraceSecurity "Whatever they're trying to do, their competitors want to know. Everybody wants to know."

Apple declined to discuss its security operations in detail with The Associated Press, in keeping with the company's longstanding reputation for secrecy. Nor has the company confirmed the existence of the iPhone 5, the rumored latest model, much less a lost prototype.

But San Francisco police have said that four officers recently went to a home in the city's Bernal Heights neighborhood with two Apple employees, who met with the resident and searched the home for an iPhone prototype. Apple watchers say the company is known for creating many test versions of its new devices before they're released to see how they work in the real world. The reportedly lost iPhone likely would have been far from the only one in circulation.

Securing a Wi-Fi Network

2011-09-18T11:11:00.001-07:00

Once upon a time, it was considered safe, and helpful, to use an unlocked wireless network around the home. It made it much easier for people for household members to connect to the Internet and, if some random passerby happened by, the original family could be the good Samaritans who gave them a little free internet. Alas, those days are long gone. Even someone who means you and your family no harm can eat up large amounts of your bandwidth through innocent downloads which may raise your rates and slows down your web service. Even worse is someone who seeks to invade your privacy, steal your personal data and even carry out crimes with your own IP address. With all this mind it is vitally important that home or business owner learn how to secure their Wi-Fi Network against these possible threats. The tips below should, with any luck, render your network secure and untouchable.

Change the password

This first tip is rather obvious but it is something that many people forget about. A wireless router comes with a preset user name and password that, unfortunately, many people do not change. The list of these preset passwords are readily available on the web and so, if someone doesn’t change the password, they are leaving their network wide open for whoever wants to penetrate it. With only a few short keystrokes you can make your network much more secure.

Be careful of changing your SSID

A SSID is the default identification of your router. For example it could be Wireless48, or use a corporate name to identify it. Many people may be tempted to change it, especially those in larger population areas, so as to make it easier to identify their individual network. However, this can be an extremely bad idea. Some people actually go so far as to identify their location like “Apt3b” or “Smithfamily85”. These personal SSID’s provide location and personal data that can allow potential thieves to find, and exploit, your wireless network. While it is good to change it so that you can distinguish your network, avoid making it something that’s too obvious to an intruder looking in.

Better Network Protection

While someone may feel safe by adding an encryption service to their network, that can be false confidence. It’s important to see what, exactly, encryption is being used. If it’s WEP encryption, then it’s probably time to change it. WEP is the lowest tier of protection and, thus, is the easiest for people to hack into. It’s much better, and safer, to change to either WPA or WPA2. These use much harder encryption which will, hopefully, scare off opportunistic criminals.

Conclusion

The virtual world is a scary place at the best of times and having a Wireless Wi-Fi Network is opening a gate that anyone might be able to stroll in to see, and steal, your most important information and, in the worst case scenario, even your own identity. Thus, it pays to be extremely careful. With the above tips and tricks hopefully criminals will be discouraged with your protection and decide to move on to easier prey.