Jussi Rantala of the University of Tampere in Finland along with colleagues have come up with a way to simulate a braille on the screen of a device, using vibrations. They simulated a braille character by representing a raised dot as an intense vibration, and the absence of a dot as longer but weaker pulsed vibrations. Braille encodes characters as a 2×3 grid of dots, where characters are represented based on which dots are raised. People trained to read braille can read the patterns using their finger and hence can read texts even without sight. This innovation promises to bring this marvelous.

To enable this they developed software for the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet, which has piezoelectric¹ material built into the touchscreen. They tested two modes of operation for this virtual braille, one in which the reader places his finger on the left side of the screen and sweeps horizontally to read the rest of the dots, and the other in which the reader keeps the finger fixed on one location, and the dots vibrate in and out sequentially in that spot. The first one seemed to be quite difficult to read however. Much like many screen reading software read out the text displayed on the screen, they hope to present the screen content in braille form.

This is a wonderful innovation for touchscreens, as they can finally become more accessible to the visually impaired. This technology can have pretty interesting applications otherwise too. Using vibrations they can also indicate the presence of buttons and controls on the screen, allowing people to control their devices without looking at them.

Source : Digit

I hope to see many of you people there..

The two models i saw there were the N110 & the R470. As i first saw the N110 i was amazed to see the build quality and the interface which samsung has provided with the basic notebook series.
So, N110 being a netbook comes with 93% of original keyboard, 10.1 inches screen & 160GB harddisk& a GB of RAM .. the best feature was the 10 hour battery backup which drew my attention to it..the another great feature i liked was the SRS sound with 2.1 speaker system,  the other models in the league were N120 and N310..

http://netbookboards.com/tag/samsung-r470/

After the netbooks i went on for the R470.. it was love at first sight for me.. what a finish, the Gloosy 16:9 screen pattern with 14 inches widescreen display. looking at the configuration i found that it comes up with 2 Gb ram, the Core2 Duo T6400 Processor which runs at 2.0 Ghz Ghz  & 250 GB of HDD. This amazing notebook comes with the latest in mobile innovation the Nvidia Geforce 105 chip with 256mb DDr3 ram.. what else would you want for gaming ? This laptop came a 6cell battery pack , which was nicely utilized  and gave me approximately 2.5 hrs battery backup on normal usage.. which was pretty nice for me as i move a lot..

With all other basic features incuded like a webcam, a ODD, bluetooth, LAN, wLAN, this laptop gives you something more.. when it comes to connectivity & usability this one has a HDMI port, 3 USB, a SD-mmc card slot & the best is that i comes with HD sound( SRS 3d technology) with 3W stereo speakers as 1.5W x 2 . At last it comes up with Microsoft windows Vista home premium which completes the combo & gives you a 100% of what you want..

So if any of you are planning to buy this laptop or already has, Come and share your experience here. and lets discuss the oppurtunities. Comments are most welcome.

http://www.samsung.com/in/consumer/detail/spec.do?group=informationtechnology&type=notebook&subtype=rseries&model_cd=NP-R470-FS01IN&fullspec=F

If you want the perfect combo as i did you should take a look at this one..

Challenging market leader Google — which in turn is looking to break into Microsoft’s core software market — is a long-term project, said Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer.

“We have had some very good initial response,” Ballmer said at a conference in Detroit. “I don’t want to over-set expectations. We are going to have to be tenacious and keep up the pace of innovation over a long period of time.”

Microsoft grabbed 12.1 percent of U.S. Internet searches for the work week June 8-12, according to data released by industry tracker comScore earlier on Wednesday.

That is up from 11.3 percent in the June 1-5 period — the week in which Bing was launched — and up from 9.1 percent the week before that.

For comparison, Google got 65 percent of U.S. searches in May, the last full month for which figures are available, followed by Yahoo with 20.1 percent and Microsoft with 8 percent.

Analysts and investors are keenly awaiting data for all of June to see if Microsoft can hold onto early gains.

Ballmer acknowledged the tough task of beating Google, which he referred to as “a big dog competitor”.

The world’s largest software company has long been determined to play a major role in the lucrative Web search market after watching upstart Google take a stranglehold.

At the same time, Google is looking to take advantage of its popularity to launch software that competes with Microsoft’s, which has created a new source of tension between the two companies.

Microsoft ratcheted up that tension on Wednesday by claiming that Google’s new Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook software – which allows users to share data between their Outlook e-mail and Google’s online offerings — disables a key function in Outlook.

“The installation of the Google Apps Sync plugin disables Outlook’s ability to search any and all of your Outlook data,” Outlook product manager Dev Balasubramanian wrote on a Microsoft blog. “It is also important to note that uninstalling the plugin may not fix the issue.”

The problem, though relatively unimportant to users, represents a crucial struggle between Microsoft and Google for e-mail customers.

Google’s new product allows business users to continue using Outlook for email and other tasks, but the back-end functionality and data storage moves to Google, instead of residing on a company’s internal servers running Microsoft software.

Google acknowledged the Outlook problem identified by Microsoft, and several other issues where its software does not mesh well with others.

“We’re working with Microsoft and other partners to help fix these issues and support additional Outlook features like multiple calendars,” said Google Apps senior product manager Chris Vander Mey in a blog post. “We’ll keep you posted on our progress.”

Microsoft shares closed up just less than 1 percent at $23.68, while Google’s fell 0.2 percent to $415.16, both on Nasdaq.

source : ciol.com ©Reuters

So, what now, if i tell you that now you can just go to the website for : http://www.consumermate.com and browse through the sorted listing of laptops and buy the specefic one you need within minutes , what would anyone say ? , So while wasting my 5 days in search of my lapppy, i came across a initiative from 9.9 media group ( consumermate.com ) , my first visit made me think a lot, the website contained options by which you can assort your deals, by your price range, specefic models, configuration, screen size, amount of RAM, harddisk etc., after that you think of a rated lappy, the laptops are rated by the DIGIT test centre team.

So what you should do for starters is that you just click on the laptop GURU ICON  and it will get you started, all the options appear like a wizard and you select the most appropriate selections and there you go, all five days work within minutes, when it comes to buying , the site provides you with the HOT DEAL on laptops  & it supports almost all of the major brands. But the most great thing is the ASKUS section which you can use for any query, it might be pricing, a particular feature, which you might not be seeing on the web or anything..

So, go visit the consumermate today @ http://www.consumermate.com

REDMOND, Wash. — May 28, 2009 — Microsoft Corp. today unveiled Bing, a new Decision Engine and consumer brand, providing customers with a first step in moving beyond search to help make faster, more informed decisions. Bing is specifically designed to build on the benefits of today’s search engines but begins to move beyond this experience with a new approach to user experience and intuitive tools to help customers make better decisions, focusing initially on four key vertical areas: making a purchase decision, planning a trip, researching a health condition or finding a local business.

The result of this new approach is an important beginning for a new and more powerful kind of search service, which Microsoft is calling a Decision Engine, designed to empower people to gain insight and knowledge from the Web, moving more quickly to important decisions. The new service, located at http://www.Bing.com, will begin to roll out over the coming days and will be fully deployed worldwide on Wednesday, June 3.

The explosive growth of online content has continued unabated, and Bing was developed as a tool to help people more easily navigate through the information overload that has come to characterize many of today’s search experiences. Results from a custom comScore Inc. study across core search engines show that as many as 30 percent of searches are abandoned without a satisfactory result. The data also showed that approximately two-thirds of the remaining searches required a refinement or requery on the search results page.

“Today, search engines do a decent job of helping people navigate the Web and find information, but they don’t do a very good job of enabling people to use the information they find,” said Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO. “When we set out to build Bing, we grounded ourselves in a deep understanding of how people really want to use the Web. Bing is an important first step forward in our long-term effort to deliver innovations in search that enable people to find information quickly and use the information they’ve found to accomplish tasks and make smart decisions.”

A New Approach to Internet Search

Based on the customer insight that 66 percent of people are using Internet search more frequently to make complex decisions,* Microsoft identified three design goals to guide the development of Bing: deliver great results; deliver a more organized experience; and simplify tasks and provide insight, leading to faster, more confident decisions. The new service, built to go beyond today’s search experience, includes deep innovation on core search areas including entity extraction and expansion, query intent recognition and document summarization technology as well as a new user experience model that dynamically adapts to the type of query to provide relevant and intuitive decision-making tools.

The new brand portfolio will include the following changes to existing Microsoft programs:

Microsoft is committed to building better tools to help people find the shortest distance from their initial search query to the point of making an informed decision. Bing is an important first step toward this long-term vision and a strong indicator of Microsoft’s commitment to move search technology forward for customers.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Source: Microsoft Presspass

“As we’ve said many times, quality is our primary goal,” Guggenheimer said. “We announce each milestone once we’re confident of where we are in the development cycle and that it is ready to be shared with customers and partners. We’ve received great feedback from our partners who are looking forward to offering Windows 7 to their customers in time for the holidays.”

In addition to this, Guggenheimer announced that Microsoft will make available an upgrade option, so partners can offer customers the ability to purchase a Windows Vista-based PC and install Windows 7 when it’s ready.

“Microsoft has been working closely with partners to help our mutual customers be able to enjoy the many benefits of Windows 7,” he said. “With that in mind, we’re excited to say that there will be a Windows upgrade program available. Consumers can buy that new PC, whether for a student heading off to college or just because they need a new one, and know they’ll get Windows 7 as part of the deal.”

The actual start date for the program will be announced when it is ready for consumers, and partners are ready to provide details to customers.

Today’s keynote address is Guggenheimer’s second at Computex. The last time he spoke at the show, he had just taken over the helm of OEM, the division that works with hardware manufacturers worldwide to integrate Microsoft technologies and bring PCs, laptops, mobile handsets and other devices to life.

Although the economic realities of the past year have created new challenges for customers, partners and the IT industry, Guggenheimer says the power of innovation, through both software and broad collaboration with partners, will continue to benefit consumers, the industry and the economy at large.

“What we’re doing with Windows will continue to improve people’s lives so that that technology enables them to communicate better, make tasks simpler and new things possible,” he says. “Our partners in the hardware space, our competitors in software — the entire industry is doing incredible things.”

Casting a Wider Net

To illustrate the point, Guggenheimer points to the evolution of small notebook PCs (often referred to as netbook PCs), the ensuing emergence of a new class of “consumer Internet devices,” and Microsoft’s collaboration with “smart” appliance maker Fugoo LLC, which was first announced at CES in January.

The broad adoption, Guggenheimer says, shows that small notebooks are answering a market need, especially given the economic situation. It also reflects that they have evolved a great deal in a short time to become powerful personal computers as opposed to the basic Web-surfing tools they were initially.

“A year ago when these smaller PCs first came onto the scene, many in the space were saying consumers wouldn’t want or need these devices to be full-featured,” he says. “In fact, the exact opposite turned out to be true. Consumers really do want small notebook PCs to work like their laptops and desktops. Windows provides a familiar and easy-to-use experience that consumers want and demand from these devices.”

Asked why consumers are choosing smaller PCs with Windows, Guggenheimer says, “Because Windows makes life simple. It’s easier to use, just works out of the box with people’s stuff, and ultimately offers more choice. Over the last 34 years, we’ve learned a lot about what people want from their PCs, and we’ve worked with OEMs to provide an experience that meets those needs.”

Guggenheimer says the economy may also be facilitating growth in the small notebook PC space. Buyers are becoming increasingly cost-conscious and mobile, and laptop sales are soon expected to outstrip desktop PC sales in developed economies.

“Fortunately, the breadth of the Windows platform gives device manufacturers a host of options when it comes to designing new devices to suit new forms of consumer demand,” he says.

Already, several OEMs have announced plans to issue new small notebook PCs designed for the Windows 7 operating system.

“They are finding that even on the scaled-down hardware of the small notebook PC platform, Windows is running smoothly and delivering the experience consumers are asking for because it just makes things simpler and tasks easier,” says Guggenheimer.

Devices Building New Market Segments

An example of new devices is in the broadening class of consumer Internet devices, which fall somewhere between smartphones and the full-featured small notebook PCs running Windows today.

“This next generation of smart, connected, service-oriented devices will give people mobile access to a rich set of media and information,” he says. “Using Microsoft technologies like Windows Embedded CE, Visual Studio, Silverlight and Expression Blend, we can enable devices such as personal navigation devices, portable media players, set-top boxes and networked TVs to provide a rich browsing experience and a dynamic, immersive user interface.”

Guggenheimer says the first such devices will connect to what Microsoft calls consumers’ “digital lifestyles,” such as files, pictures, music and video, that are currently stored primarily on Windows-based PCs.

“Soon these devices will become even more connected, working not only with PCs but also with cloud services from third parties and Microsoft, such as Windows Live Services,” he says.

At Computex this week, Kevin Dallas, general manager of the Windows Embedded Business, will showcase the potential of consumer Internet devices with a demonstration based on NVIDIA Tegra computer-on-a-chip technology, which works with the Windows Embedded CE platform for specialized, small-footprint devices.

Another bid to create a useful class of consumer devices is Fugoo. The Fugoo platform uses a version of Windows in conjunction with widely available Web “widgets,” which publish everything from the time and weather to currency exchange rates and horoscopes.

Fugoo’s prototype devices integrate that software functionality into home appliances to create dynamic displays in clocks, picture frames and even coffee makers.

At Computex, Fugoo is announcing that its first commercially available product, a digital picture frame launched in partnership with Pandigital in the U.S., will be available on the market this summer.

The frame is Web-enabled and can download photos from social networks or online photo services. It also allows users to download photos directly from a PC or digital camera.

Broad Partner Opportunity on Windows Platform

Whatever PC device consumers and businesses choose to use, ultimately, Guggenheimer says, Windows will support the entire spectrum of devices easily.

“With the release of Windows Server 2008 R2, companies of all sizes will get big improvements in virtualization, Web and management,” he says. “These areas, along with several features that improve scalability and reliability, help deliver a strong value proposition on the server side to complement Windows 7.”

To address OEMs’ request for a server product suited for smaller businesses, Guggenheimer points to the recent release of Windows Server 2008 Foundation. This will be offered pre-installed on hardware products from Acer Inc., Dell, Fujitsu Technology Solutions, HP, Lenovo, IBM Corp. and NEC Corp. later this year, and will be available initially in 40 countries and several languages.

“We expect this new server platform to be popular in markets across the globe, with its modest cost making it possible for small companies to grow, innovate and stay competitive, which in turn can ignite growth for their local economies,” he says.

OEMs will get another big boost with the Windows 7 Device Stage feature, which is expected to prove especially useful as more and more consumers hope to connect and use multifunction devices such as printers, cameras and cell phones with their PCs.

“Microsoft has been working to enable Windows to work well with all these devices for some time, and we think partners are ready and excited to deliver,” Guggenheimer says. “Ultimately our greatest strength here, both for us and our partners, is the depth and breadth of the Windows ecosystem — a universe that took more than three decades to build.”

Source : Microsoft presspass

Microsoft on Tuesday confirmed its plans to take on the iPod Touch with a new, touch-screen Zune that will be able to surf the Web, play high-definition movies, and tune in to digital radio.

The Zune HD, which will be available in the U.S. only starting this fall, features an HD Radio tuner as well as an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) touch screen, Microsoft said. It is based on Windows CE and will use a version of Internet Explorer customized for its touch screen, Microsoft said.

The software maker did not announce pricing or capacity, though it said the device will use flash memory and attempt to take on Apple’s high-end iPod models.

“This device is created to go head to head with the iPod Touch,” Chris Stephenson, general manager of global marketing for Microsoft Zune, said in a telephone interview on Tuesday. Zune buyers will also be able to play HD content on their TVs via a dock, Microsoft said.

The software maker also said that at next week’s E3 trade show in Los Angeles it will announce details on a new Zune-branded video service for the Xbox that will replace the current Xbox Live marketplace for TV and movies. The company didn’t announce details or specifically say that content will be playable on both Zunes and the Xbox.

Currently videos purchased via the Xbox can’t be played on a Zune, although both stores use a similar back-end infrastructure to serve up content. Over time, Stephenson said the goal is to move toward a world in which content purchased once can be played on a variety of devices.

Microsoft plans to offer the new Zune video service in a number of European markets, in addition to North America.

Microsoft’s Zune HD will be released this fall in the U.S. The software maker has not announced pricing or capacity.

(Credit: Microsoft )

As for the Zune HD, Microsoft is doubling down on its bet on a radio tuner as a distinguishing feature. Stephenson noted that the current Zune’s FM radio is its second most popular selling point. Adding support for HD Radio, a free over-the-air digital radio technology, represents both a risk and opportunity.

“It’s really one of the first portable HD radio receivers out there,” Stephenson said. “It’s going to be important for us to communicate the value of HD Radio since it is a fairly nascent technology.”

One of the big unanswered questions is what sort of gaming abilities the Zune HD will have. There has been speculation on the topic, but Microsoft refused to comment ahead of E3 saying it had no details to share at this time.

Microsoft plans to continue selling its hard drive-based model, which will have a software QWERTY keyboard, but said it plans to eventually discontinue its other flash models in favor of the Zune HD.

“Expect to see the Zune HD…become the definitive Zune product going forward,” Stephenson said. “You will continue to see the hard drive product in the market. (The Zune HD) will take over from existing flash devices.”

Although Microsoft has said it isn’t building a ZunePhone, the company does want to be able to offer its Zune service on phones. However, Stephenson said that is a longer-term goal that will take at least until next year to fulfill.

“This is enough work for us this year,” he said. “Going forward, Zune will start to surface on multiple platforms across the ecosystem. Expect to see it pop up in many different places.”

source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10249364-56.html

1. No matter what you do, you will encounter a computer error at some point in your life.
2. You can easily avoid a large number of these errors by performing regular preventive maintenance of your PC.
3. Many computer application errors can be solved without spending any money if you spend some time learning.

Most of the errors related to computer applications fall in the last category of errors that can be easily taken solved by you. Most computer applications owe their speed and user-friendliness to files known as EXE or executable files. These files are at the beck and call of computer applications and perform specified tasks in just one click. Basically, they are useful because EXE files have the capability to run codes on your PC. Any error related to these files can hinder the normal functioning of the application or even the PC itself.

Malware programs, such as viruses and spyware, are one of the most common causes of application errors. Many viruses are known to infect EXE files to prevent them from working normally and generate errors. Spyware program on the other hand may download several malicious programs on your PC and cause it to slow down dramatically and generate several undesired errors. To combat these files and eliminate them from your PC, you need to use reliable antivirus and antispyware tools. To ensure that this malware scan, detection, and removal process is more effective, you need to update these tools on regular basis. And, also for better protection you must keep real-time protection feature of these tools enabled and schedule periodic full system scans.

Many applications related problems occur when processes, such as wdfmgr.exe, sprtcmd.exe, and Windows Defender msmpeng.exe, eat up valuable system resources. You may perform one of the following to deal with such processes:

• Most of these unwanted processes are loaded at system startup. So, you can use the System Configuration Utility or a reliable third-party startup programs manager to disable these processes.
• If you want these processes to load only when you need them, then change the startup type from Automatic to Manual to ensure that they load only when they are required. If you don’t need them at all, you may change the startup type to Disabled.
• If a process is not used at all, it is best that you use Add or Remove Program or a reliable third-party uninstaller tool completely remove the program that is associated with these unwanted processes.

Failure to update software may also result in PC errors. Starting from your Windows operating system to various PC maintenance tools, your applications and device drivers are updated on a regular basis. These updates help in patching up any bugs in the software and also help prevent malware that infiltrate your PC by exploiting these bugs. Almost all third-party products released today comprise options to enable you to update them. You can update your Microsoft products by ensuring that the Windows Automatic Update feature is always enabled. Lastly, you may use reliable driver scanner tool to ensure all your drivers are always up-to-date.

To prevent application errors, you must also regularly clean and defrag your registry. The most efficient and easiest method to do this is by using a good registry cleaner tool.

EXE errors, such as rundll32.exe problems may occur if the program you are trying to use has corrupt files. You can resolve such errors by replacing the corrupt files. If this does not work, it is best that you first uninstall and then reinstall the problem software. To be able to fix the problem, it is essential that you ensure complete removal of the software when you uninstall the software. This means that all registry entries related to the program and the program folder should be completely deleted from the PC. If you are unable to achieve this goal by using the Add or Remove Programs utility, you may opt to use an efficient third-party program uninstaller. It is also a good idea to clean up the registry with the help of a good registry cleaner to ensure that no orphaned program entries are left behind.

It is essential to update your software to ensure that your programs are free of bugs and have no outdated files. However, at times, you may encounter svchost.exe errors if the files of the Automatic Update utility on your computer are corrupt or some of the dependent services are unable to start. To resolve this issue, you may need to replace the bad Automatic Update files on your system with healthy files on your CD. You may also need to rename the current Software Distribution folder, so that a new folder is created to save the update files.

EXE errors due to virus and spyware infections are one of the most common occurrences on your Windows computer. The main reason behind them is the capability of EXE files to execute code on your computer, which is exploited by viruses to run malicious codes and cause problems with your PC. To combat virus and spyware problems, you need efficient virus and spyware scanner tools on your PC. You must keep these tools updated with the latest definitions to protect your PC against the latest threats.

Lastly, if you get an EXE error you cannot understand, as mentioned earlier, you can search the Internet. There are several EXE error directory Web sites that carry valuable data on how to fix various EXE errors.