Celebrity News| Technology News | Sports News | Spiritual News

Nokia Lumia 800 mobile review | Nokia Lumia 800 windows os mobile

2011-12-10T02:01:00.000-08:00

The good: Attractive design; fast camera; Nokia Drive for free turn-by-turn navigation.

The bad: Camera quality not great; lacks Internet sharing (for now); non-removable battery.

The bottom line: Nokia's first Windows Phone is not drastically different from its competitors' offerings, but gets a slight edge thanks to an attractive design.

Review: The Nokia Lumia 800 is the Finland-based company's first smartphone based on Microsoft's mobile operating system (OS). It has just gone on sale in Europe andwill be available shortly in Asia with an estim

Samsung Focus S Review

2011-12-08T03:29:00.000-08:00

The good: The Samsung Focus S has a gorgeous, large touch screen; a good 8-megapixel camera; a front-facing 1.3 -megapixel camera; and HSPA+ speeds.

The bad: Thin and less than 4 ounces in weight, the phone lacks durability.

The bottom line: Bolstered by a brilliant display and strong hardware specs, the Samsung Focus S is arguably the best Windows Phone ever released. The Windows Phone OS has arrived on a number of good handsets, but none of the manufacturers has yet been able to produce a killer

Windows

HTC WILDFIRE S REVIEW

2011-12-08T01:18:00.000-08:00

The good: The HTC Wildfire S is a beautifully built Android 2.3 handset with a decent 5-megapixel camera and lots of additional software features.

The bad: Without compatibility for MetroPCS' LTE network, the Wildfire S is stuck at slow-as-slugs 2. 5G speeds. Its small size makes it trickier to maneuver the Web.

The bottom line: Despite its small stature, the HTC Wildfire S is well-crafted and easy on the eye. Unfortunately, a slow data network holds it back.

Sony Launched a New Cyber-shot DSC-W570

2011-12-07T11:30:00.000-08:00

The above entry-level compact camera segment is by far one of the most populated segments, as far as cameras in general are concerned. Brands cater to this audience by offering relatively affordable cameras that boast of neat features, such as high megapixel sensor, HD video recording, etc, all in a stylish design. Earlier this year, Sony launched a range of cameras from their W series. One of the cameras launched was the Cyber-shot DSC-W570, which features 720p video recording, 16 megapixel sensor, 5x zoom and various other features. Here is a closer look at this compact camera.

Design and Build Quality
The size of the W570 is the feature, which appealed to us the most. It is merely the length of a business card and can fit easily in any pocket or purse. The depth of the camera measures at 19.1mm making it really thin as well. Apart from its compact form factor, it is extremely stylish, too. The lens located at the front flushes against the body ensuring that it retains its slim profile. Besides the lens, the front of the camera features an LED flash and an AF assist.

The 2.7-inch screen is located at the back of the camera and besides it are the camera’s controls. The controls at the back comprise of a circular 4-way navigational pad, playback button, an option for the camera's menu, erase button and buttons for wide angle and telephoto. Sony has added a slider button at the back, which allows one to navigate between camera options such as photo, panorama and video recording. Besides the slider, all keys found on the camera have a silver finish. This adds to the stylishness of the camera.

The shutter release button along with the power button is located at the top of the camera. Connectivity options comprise of a single proprietary USB port, which is located at the bottom of the camera. The bay for the battery and memory card are located at the bottom and the flap for it feels sturdy. The flap features a locking mechanism ensuring that the battery does not slide out accidentally. One can easily capture images with the right hand and this is all due to its small form factor and weight, which at 116g counts as lightweight. Summing up the design and build quality, the DSC-W570 is a stylish looking camera that can appeal to both genders and it is pretty sturdy as well. A few accidental drops should not have a huge impact on this camera.

Features
For a camera priced at this amount, it has quite a decent list of features. The camera features a 16.1 megapixel CCD sensor with Sony’s BIONZ processor. By featuring this processor, Sony claims that during image capture there will result in less image noise. This is a good feature and would be extremely useful during indoor photography. Sony has fitted a 5x optical zoom on this camera and one can shoot images well from a relatively far distance with reduced amount of blur because of Sony’s Optical SteadyShot feature.

The interface of the camera is pretty simple and there is no dedicated screen displaying the option. Instead, there is a bar that lines up the side of the screen, which overlays the scene. There is a dedicated screen, though for the help section, which displays an onscreen guide. The W570 can record videos in 720p allowing one to capture videos in high definition. The ability to capture videos at this resolution is pretty good for a camera that sells at this price. One can also shoot in a panorama mode on this camera by merely moving the slider to this mode, clicking the shutter release button and panning the camera to the direction of the arrow onscreen.

The camera has various preset scenes allowing one to capture images in scenes, such as high sensitivity, gourmet, pet, soft skin, underwater, beach, etc. Images are captured in the JPEG format, while videos are recorded in MP4. Photos can be stored on the bundled-up 4GB SD card that came along with this camera and this is a fairly sufficient amount of storage. Overall, the features of this camera are good. Let’s move on to the performance to gauge how well it fared in different environments.

Google chrome os announced

2009-07-08T02:45:00.000-07:00

Today google blog made an announcement that they launching Google Chrome Operating System ‘a natural extension of Google Chrome.

According to the blog,Google Chrome OS an open source, lightweight operating system targeted at netbooks.The company trying to open-source its code later this year for netbooks.in the second half of 2010 OS will be available for consumers.

They made a statement in thier blog that the key aspects of the google chrome is speed, simplicity and security.The told that they are completely redesigning underlying security architecture of the OS,so that users don't have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates.Google Chrome OS run on both x86 as well as ARM chips.They also mentioned that they are working with multiple OEMs so that they can bring a number of netbooks to market by next year.

Google Chrome having a software architecture so simple,its runs with within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel.

Personal Info posted by MI6 Chief's Wife on face book

2009-07-06T01:39:00.000-07:00

Sir John Sawers was appointed as head on last month to take over Secret Intelligence Service in November.The wife of new head posted pictures of her family and friends on social networking site Facebook,this information can be viewed by all.The agency popularly known as M16,emerged in recent years,but its employees are following strict secrecy rules.

n what the Mail on Sunday called an "extraordinary lapse", the new spy chief's wife, Lady Shelley Sawers, posted family pictures and details of where they live and take their holidays and who their friends and relatives are. The details could be viewed by any of the many millions of Facebook users around the world, but were swiftly removed once authorities were alerted by the newspaper's enquiries. Foreign Secretary David Miliband made light of the incident. He denied there had been any security breach and gave the incoming spy chief his full support. "It's not a state secret that he wears speedo swimming trunks. For goodness' sake, let's grow up!" Miliband told the BBC. Security experts were aghast. "It is a most distressing and unfortunate security lapse that will take a great deal of money to put right," said Professor Anthony Glees, director of Buckingham University Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies. Glees said the Sawers family would almost certainly need to be re-housed and the children may require extra protection. The incident was the latest in a string of security blunders, lapses and leaks by officials that have embarrassed the government of embattled Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The timing, less than two weeks after Brown launched Britain's first national cyber security strategy, was particularly inopportune.

The Mail on Sunday, publishing the story on its front page and the pictures on a double-page spread, said the information "could potentially be useful to hostile foreign powers or terrorists". Edward Davy, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, called on the government to launch an inquiry into the matter and question whether Sawers was up to the job of running Britain's oversees spying operations. "Normally I would welcome greater openness in government for officials or politicians, but this type of exposure verges on the reckless," he said.

Spammers exploit Jacksons death

2009-07-02T23:09:00.000-07:00

Death of Micheal Jackson's shocked the entire world and his fans.It is the end of era.Hackers and spammers are using his name and death to spread malware .

Sophos encountered a mass-mailing worm that sends spam messages with the below characteristics:

Subject: Remembering Michael Jackson Attached file: Michael songs and pictures.zip

this is email comes from sarah@michaeljackson.com,saying that the attached file contain secret songs of Michael Jackson and his photos.

When you open the attachment,it spreads malware to your computer,whenever your computer get infected.it will be spreading the worm to the other internet users.Besides spreading via email,this malware is also capable spreading as an Autorun component on USB memory sticks (an increasingly common trend for malware as use of these devices has become more and more popular).

Sophos software detects this malware as Mal/ZipMal-B and Mal/VB-AD.

In 2004 a Trojan horse was spammed out which contains photographic evidence of Jackson abusing a young boy.the following year a malware spammmed out which contains break news that the music star commited sucide.

Hackers Hacked Indian Goverment Website

2009-06-30T23:46:00.000-07:00

Hackers hacked the indian government website which is operated by the Institute of Remote Sensing.It has been compromised for malware purposes says Finjan Inc,one of the big company which provides web gateway products,and a provider of unified web security solutions for the enterprise market.

This Hacking is made on two fronts,first attack has happened when Indian government stepping up security on its hosting servers.secondly cybercriminals have added script into the site that adds an iFrame attack to the page,"said Yuval Ben- Itzhak, Finjan's chief technology officer.

"The page then re-routes to a LuckySploit-infected server in Texas that fires off multiple attacks across the Internet.Reports says that site hack and re-route infected several thousand users around internet.

Ben-Itzhak said the LuckySploit toolkit uses variety of methods that infect users and it uses a complex encryption system to hide what it is doing.bad news is that the infected pages can only detected by 4 out of 41 anti-virus engines on the Virustotal.com code checking portal.

Finjan's malicious code research team has notified the Indian CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team) operation about the problem saying that "More than anything, this infection teaches us that any site can be compromised and serve malicious code without the site owner knowledge".Thats why Web protection utilizing real-time content inspection will be needed for business which will prevent such attacks and protect thier valauable data from the hackers.

Ben-Itzhak suggests that "Individual users must consider installing a URL-checking browser plugin such as Finjan's free-to-use SecureBrowsing tool"

mozilla Launchs firefox 3.5 today

2009-06-30T04:15:00.000-07:00

Mozilla prepared to launch its new latest firefox browser today,that is on 30 th june.Codename for firefox 3.5 is Shiretoko.List of new features for firefox 3.5 includes a new privacy mode called as 'porn mode'.(This mode is already introduced by Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, Apple’s Safari, and Google’s Chrome.)location aware browsing, and video rendering without plugins.This version of 3.5 will be avialable for some time,with postive reports in terms of speeds and performance.

Google India Not Liable For Material on Blogger

2009-06-23T01:03:00.001-07:00

Google India, the Indian subsidiary of US-based software giant, on Monday contended in the Bombay High Court that it does not control the publication of content on blog-hosting website 'blogger', and is not liable for the same.

Earlier, a single judge of High Court had restrained Google from hosting any blog containing defamatory material about Dr Ashwin Mehta, a city-based cardiologist.

Though the offensive blog-posts were removed, the Google India has now filed appeal against this order before division bench, saying that blog-hosting company can not monitor what is posted on blogs all the time.

Secondly, Google India, the Indian subsidiary, is not responsible for defamation through blogger, said its lawyer Iqbal Chhagla.

"Blogger service is provided by Google Incorporation (based in US). We (Google India) are not a party to agreement between Google Inc and those who use blogger... We have no liability or responsibility for content of blogger," he argued.

Chhagla further argued that unlike the publishers in print media, the blogging service, which facilitates publication of a blog, can not control what is being posted all the time.

Mobile Browser Skyfire 1.0 Launched

2009-05-28T04:09:00.000-07:00

Skyfire, the makers of the samename browser for mobile devices, has announced the launch of its 1.0 version now available for free download at get.skyfire.com.

Skyfire allows uses to use their phones to watch web videos and live events, stay connected with friends, share web pages instantly, and use the full-featured PC versions of their favorite websites. It also supports popular web standards and plug-ins such as Flash 10, Silverlight 2, Ajax, Javascript and more.

Skyfire users can customize the start page with RSS feeds from their favorite websites, integrate their Facebook and Twitter accounts to import status updates and tweets, and publish their status to these networks.

Improvements specific to the Skyfire 1.0 release include enhanced navigation, zooming and interaction as well as faster launch, power optimization, and new search functionality.

As the new version starts-up, users can type a search or URL in the Superbar even while Skyfire is connecting in the network.

"We were absolutely floored by the initial response to the Skyfire Beta," said Nitin Bhandari, CEO. "We knew people wanted the PC web on their phones and this was clearly confirmed in the significant user growth and engagement during our beta period. We achieved our goal of delivering both a better and faster mobile browsing experience. However, bringing it to over 1M consumers exceeded our expectations of a beta, especially since they were all acquired organically by buzz and word of mouth. As we experienced explosive growth, we also experienced significant uptake in user engagement. People were using Skyfire more often and more people were making Skyfire their default browser – for all of their mobile browsing, not just video consumption."

Consistently, the top websites used on Skyfire are the top websites used on PCs – such as the full-featured Hulu, YouTube, Facebook, Myspace, Google Docs, full-featured Gmail, and professional sport leagues' full websites.

Skyfire runs on more than 70% of the worldwide installed base of smartphones, based on figures from a March 2009 Gartner report. These include smartphone devices made by HTC, LG, Motorola, Nokia, Palm, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, TMobile, to name a few, and newer models with VGA and WVGA screen resolutions all running on Windows Mobile or Symbian platforms.

Skyfire has plans to bring their browser to more smartphones and recently launched a Private Closed Alpha program for the BlackBerry platform. The company will announce plans for a Public BlackBerry Beta at a later date. This step will offer an approximate twenty-one million BlackBerry users the opportunity to access the PC web on their phone.

Asus Launches Mobos For HTPCs

2009-05-28T04:04:00.001-07:00

Asus today released its new M4A78-HTPC series motherboards developed specifically for use in Home Theater Personal Computers (HTPCs).

The motherboards are based on the AMD 780G chipset, which fully integrates HDMI/DVI support to display HD videos smoothly.

"The Asus M4A78-HTPC Series motherboards are especially designed keeping in mind the requirements of a good HTPC and hence have built in features to provide an unparalleled user experience", said Vinay Shetty - Country Head - Component Products, Asus (India) about the launch of these motherboards in India.

Samsung S8300 Ultra Touch

2009-05-28T04:00:00.000-07:00

Samsung’s on a roll with this, the Ultra Touch being the third mobile handset bearing an 8 megapixel camera lens. They’ve gone with an amalgamation of form factors with this one – it has a touchscreen like the Pixon and it’s also a slider like the INNOV8. But enough talk let’s get on with the review.

Form Factor
What I love about the handset is that it’s extremely slim and sleek even though it comes as a slide down keypad that’s totally unnecessary, and it also has an 8 megapixel camera with an LED flash. It’s well designed for most part but there are few things that I was not too happy with. The 2.6-inch AMOLED capacitive touchscreen features a 240 x 400 pixel resolution with 16 million colors and a built in accelerometer and sensor. The display is also scratch resistant and very responsive.

What I didn’t like was the fact that the handset didn’t have a hot swap slot for the microSD card. Worse still you’ll have to remove the battery if you need to access it. Another problem I had was with the all-in-one micro USB port. If the battery was low I was unable to listen to music while charging. Thankfully the microphone adapter with the handsfree had a 3.5mm earphone socket so I was able to use my own set of earphones. On the same side as the USB port is a screen lock key followed by the camera key. Volume/Zoom keys were on the other side.

The reason I mentioned that the keypad was unnecessary was because the design was too flat and too thin, which made typing a little uneasy. Typing was not easy also because the delete key was onscreen (not physical). The distance between the keypad buttons and the delete was a little too far. I’ll also explain further on in the review how redundant the physical keypad actually is. The handset’s available in a Platinum Red or Platinum Blue option which gives it a very fresh look.

Features and Performance:

Interface
The TouchWiz UI is well worked out and very finger-friendly. The responsiveness of the large screen coupled with the large options for selection on the UI make it a very user friendly handset as well. TouchWiz comes with a widget section on the desktop for those who aren’t aware. This section is loaded with quick access icons you can dump onto the desktop for one touch activation of features. The Widgets section can be neatly tucked away when not needed and the shortcuts can be customized. Very handy.

The one place that Nokia has most handset manufacturers beat is when it comes to screen rotating via an accelerometer. It does tend to be a little silly to have only specific screens rotate and the choice not to be in your hands. If a handset has an accelerometer, it should make allowances for rotating the entire menu and not just what the company deems fit for this purpose.

Some screens like the Photo Browser can only be viewed in landscape and like the Pixon you can tilt the handset to either side and watch the images slide on by. It’s easier to select the first image and use the flick control to navigate. But if your picture is in portrait, well, there’s nothing you can do about it from this menu. The tilt system also works from here. But the good thing is the categorization. The system can sort files out according to file name, time and even colors. This app takes its own sweet time to render hi res images sometimes.

Now, the reason why I believe that the Ultra Touch could have possibly been slimmer as well as lighter (not that it’s heavy at all) is if the physical keypad were non existent. The handset also has an onscreen keypad which is user friendly but if you make a mistake or need to make an addition in your text, getting to a specific point is not easy. This is the only time I’d go with a stylus. At least the iPhone and Arena offer a small preview for cursor placement and others usually have a nav-pad to move around. This is one of the two times the UI pi**ed me off.

The second was while web browsing and I had to enter data into a field. I tried using the slide down keypad and suddenly realized that there was no erase option for when I made a mistake. It was quite unnerving, till I tapped the screen twice and it pulled up an onscreen keypad. In landscape mode, the onscreen keypad stays in alphanumeric mode. There’s no QWERTY option. I’ll say it again. The keypad is practically useless. The only use it has for the upper portion is that it covers the camera lens.

Warner Bros. Comics Now on iPhone, iPod Touch

2009-05-25T03:18:00.000-07:00

Warner Bros. Digital Distribution has announced the availability of the division's first digital comic book "Terminator Salvation" for the iPhone and iPod touch.

Published by IDW, written by Dara Naraghi ("Lifelike") and art by Alan Robinson, this multi-part graphic novel details a series of events that have transpired since Judgment Day and culminates with the story found in "Terminator Salvation" from Warner Bros. Pictures.

The digital graphic novel is now available on the Apple App Store for $0.99 for each of five episodes or $3.99 for the full collection.

Created by developer Genus, the "Terminator Salvation" prequel uses the powerful Kamikaze: Le Edition engine. This technology allows comic book images to be scaled down without loss of resolution or fidelity. It also provides comic book fans with the ability to easily flip through pages by shaking their wrist and zoom in and out by "pinching" the screen.

"We see digital comics as an exciting new growth category," said Thomas Gewecke, president, Warner Bros. Digital Distribution. "Consumers want to extend the print experience to their handheld media devices and the iPhone and iPod touch are ideal platforms for delivering rich, immersive, visual experiences. We expect the "Terminator Salvation" prequel to be the first of many digital comic releases over the coming year."

The "Terminator Salvation" prequel, which includes a comic adaptation of the film's opening scene, is the first of many digital comics that will be launched on the Apple App store from Warner Bros. Digital Distribution. Future series will include classic cartoons as well as well-known action titles.

Google Sync Announced for S60 Handsets

2009-05-25T03:12:00.000-07:00

Every mobile handset is a communication tool for more just conversation. Emailing has become THE most important service to mankind since sliced bread and for Nokia and Google Fans, things just got more interesting with the announcement of the Google Sync service for the Series 60 Operating System. With a Google account and a Mail for Exchange service and apps handy on the handset, you’re good to go. Users will now be able to synchronize their Google Contacts and Calendars with their handsets over the air. This means changes can be made to their contacts and calendar on the phone or desktop Google account and they would be updated immediately.

Nokia 1100 Banking Hack Replicated by Investigators

2009-05-25T01:04:00.000-07:00

About a month ago we reported that certain Nokia 1100 handsets, one of the company’s most basic handsets that was seemingly designed for emerging markets, was hacked by criminals to steal bank account passwords and other such valuable data. The reason authorities picked up on the system was because of the sudden rise in cost of the handset among the criminal underworld. We had also mentioned that investigations were on going at the time to try and figure out how this was being done.

A small hack in the handset’s programming would allow criminals to use someone else's phone number and receive their SMS. Thus, in certain countries where banks would send a one-time password called an mTAN (mobile Transaction Authentication Number) to a person's phone in order to allow the transfer of money to another account etc. the hacked cell phone users would gain access to accounts. The company in charge of the investigation, Ultrascan, managed to acquire a handset from the specified factory with specified firmware for testing and successfully reprogrammed the device to do exactly what the criminal would have it do.

Intex Launches Handset with 5 LED Torch Feature

2009-05-25T01:01:00.000-07:00

Intex has launched a new handset into the Indian market – the Intex Hero. A robust mobile phone with what the company claims can offer users up to 45 days of stand-by battery life. Nokia’s 1100 with its torch feature may have been one of the handiest handsets for the lower end market segment in areas with frequent power cuts, but the Intex Hero is going to beat that feature silly with its not one but 5 LED lights, count ‘em, FIVE LEDs.

Announcing the launch, Sanjay Kumar, DGM-Telecom, Intex Technologies, said, “Out of the total subscriber base for mobile phones, more than a quarter comes from rural India. INTEX Hero promises to address their basic needs of convenience and communication and signifies a focused brand line expansion to offer more value to our customers."

The Hero has 1800mAh rating battery that should provide more than adequate battery back up. The company is actually claiming that it will be able to offer users, on a full charge, a talk time of up to 9 hours. This would make it particularly apt for the consumers in tier II & III regions. Other features include an FM radio, camera, expandable memory, MP3 audio player, a 1000 contacts phonebook memory etc.

The handset is priced at Rs. 2,999 (MOP) which seems a like a great deal if it comes through with the battery life.

Mobile Web, Cloud to Attract Tech Spending

2009-05-25T01:00:00.000-07:00

The next wave of technology spending is expected to flow toward gadgets and software that help people access the Internet from any location, and interact online in more innovative ways.

While the global economic downturn has forced companies to cut back on spending and favor technology like "cloud computing" that helps save costs, executives at the Reuters Global Technology Summit forecast growth in new wireless and online arenas. Ralph de la Vega, head of mobility and consumer business at AT&T Inc, said he expects a wider range of devices, from digital cameras to automobiles, to offer direct Internet access and smarter social networking capabilities. "Just about everything you touch will have the capability to be connected and to talk to other machines and other devices, in the next generation of wireless growth that is in front of us," he said.

Well-known venture capitalist Tim Draper said he was enthusiastic about companies like ShareThis, which have developed widgets to helps Internet users share online tidbits with friends through sites like Facebook and MySpace. Many executives cited Apple Inc's iPhone as a game changer for the industry, and SanDisk Corp Chief Executive Eli Harari said he expects the best features of the popular touchscreen phone to be replicated and improved upon by handset makers and software developers. "It's a sophisticated computer with a sophisticated operating system, with third-party developer applications that are dramatically changing the mobile handset," said Harari, whose company makes chips used in cameras and cellphones. "And you are seeing, under the surface, a tremendous amount of activity to match or exceed its capabilities."

But with few confident to forecast a sure economic rebound this year, executives said cost-saving technologies would likely remain the focus among corporate customers. Companies need to invest in "cloud computing," a technology that allow people to access computers and software online and spend less on hardware, space and energy, they said. "I think that the productivity, the innovation that the tech sector will bring to the table will have a big part of helping pull us out of this global economic problem that we're in," said International Business Machines Corp Chief Financial Officer Mark Loughridge.

IBM plans to launch several cloud computing services this year, joining companies like Amazon.com Inc, Google Inc and Salesforce.com Inc which were among the first to offer storage and computing over the Web. Along with cloud computing, Loughridge forecast strong growth in IBM's analytics software and consulting business that helps customers run their businesses more efficiently. Shoei Yamana, senior executive officer at Konica Minolta Holdings Inc. said that lean economic times have made it even more crucial to show customers how products can improve their lives or businesses. "We have to map out and show scenarios, such as how customers can enrich people's lives, improve productivity, or become more creative, by integrating services and software with products," he said in Tokyo. "Even when the economy shows some recovery, technologies alone won't be enough to boost your competitiveness.

Google Revs up Chrome

2009-05-22T03:55:00.000-07:00

It's been about 8 months since Google Chrome was launched and Google has now increased their focus on speed and added some of the most-requested features.

While some of the improvements made it into the Beta version that was released in March, Google is moving the Beta version to the stable channel for all users to enjoy.

Some improvements are -

- Improved New Tab Page: The most requested feature from users was the ability to remove thumbnails from the New Tab page. Now you can finally hide that embarrassing gossip blog from the Most Visited section.

- Full Screen Mode: If you've ever given a presentation or watched a large video using Google Chrome, you might have wished you could use every last pixel on your screen for the content. Now you can hide the title bar and the rest of the browser window by hitting F11 or selecting the option in the Tools menu.

- Form Autofill: Filling out your information in forms over and over again can be tedious. Form autofill helps by showing information you've previously entered into the same form fields automatically. If at any point you want to clear out your information, that's easy to do from the Tools menu.

Google has also increased Chrome's stability by fixing over 300 bugs that caused crashes since its launch. It's also faster now with a new version of WebKit and an update to their JavaScript engine, V8.

Those already using Google Chrome, will be automatically updated to this new version soon. Those who aren't, can get the latest version here.

Researchers Create DVDs With Massive Storage

2009-05-22T00:49:00.000-07:00

"Five-dimensional" discs with a capacity 10,000 times greater than current DVDs could be on the market within 10 years, researchers reported on Wednesday.

A team from Swinburne University of Technology in Australia said that by harnessing nanoparticles and a "polarisation" dimension to existing technology, storage can be massively boosted without changing the size of a current disc. The researchers, who have signed a deal with Samsung Electronics, said the technique had allowed them to store 1.6 terabytes of data on a disc with the potential to one day store upto 10 terabytes. One terabyte would be enough to hold 300 feature length films or 250,000 songs. "We were able to show how nanostructured material can be incorporated onto a disc in order to increase data capacity, without increasing the physical size of the disc," Min Gu, who worked on the research, said in a statement. "These extra dimensions are the key to creating ultra-high capacity discs."

Discs currently have three spatial dimensions but using nanoparticles the researchers said they were able to introduce a spectral - or color - dimension as well as a polarisation dimension. The researchers, who published their findings in the journal Nature, created the color dimension by inserting gold nanorods - which form so-called surface plasmons when hit by light - onto a disc's surface. Because nanoparticles react to light according to their shape, this allowed the researchers to record information in a range of different color wavelengths on the same place on the disc. Current DVDs are recorded in a single colour wavelength using a laser, the researchers said.

The researchers also created an extra dimension using polarisation, a technique in which they projected light waves onto the disc, to record different layers of information at different angles. "The polarisation can be rotated 360 degrees," another member of the research team James Chon, said in a statement. "So for example, we were able to record at zero degree polarisation. Then on top of that we were able to record another layer of information at 90 degrees polarisation, without them interfering with each other." Some issues, such as the speed at which the discs can be written on, need further work but the scientists said their research could have immediate applications in a range of fields. For instance, they could help store extremely large medical files such as MRIs as well as financial, military and security areas by offering higher data densities needed for encryption, they added.

iPhone 3rd Gen Expected July 17th 2009

2009-05-22T00:45:00.000-07:00

Word of the new iPhone Third Generation, has been floating around for a long time now and we had mentioned that a possible due date could be July of this year i.e. two months from now. Reports are coming in now that a date has apparently been set (not yet confirmed though) that the next gen iPhone will make its debut on 17th July.

A few images are also making rounds showing off the new handsets latest rear panel material. From steel to glossy black and now apparently matt black is the new look. Other rumors are talking about the Apple logo being able to light up like the laptops. Stay Tuned for more on the new iPhone.

Indonesian Clerics Want Rules for Facebook

2009-05-22T00:35:00.001-07:00

Muslim clerics are seeking ways to regulate online behavior in Indonesia, saying the exploding popularity of social networking sites like Facebook could encourage illicit sex.

Around 700 clerics, or imams, gathering in the world's most populous Muslim nation on Thursday were considering guidelines forbidding their followers from going online to flirt or engage in practices they believe could encourage extramarital affairs.

Inside Facebook, an independent Palo Alto, Calif.-based blog dedicated to tracking the site, says Indonesia, a nation of 235 million, was the fastest-growing country in Southeast Asia for the site in 2008, with a 645 percent increase to 831,000 users.

It is already the most visited site in Indonesia, and with less than 0.5 percent of Indonesia's citizens wired, there is a huge potential for growth.

"The clerics think it is necessary to set an edict on virtual networking, because this online relationship could lead to lust, which is forbidden in Islam," said Nabil Haroen, a spokesman for the Lirboyo Islamic boarding school, which was hosting the event.

Though followers could still be members of the networking site, guidelines dealing with surfing the Web and Islamic values are urgently needed, he said.

"People are typically using Facebook to connect with their friends, family or learn about local and world issues and events," said Debbie Frost, a Facebook spokeswoman. "We have seen many people and organizations use Facebook to advance a positive agenda."

Ninety percent of Indonesians are Muslim and most practice a moderate form of the faith.

An edict by the clerics would not have any legal weight. But it could be endorsed by the influential Ulema Council, which recently issued rulings against smoking and yoga. Some devout Muslims adhere to the council's rulings because ignoring a fatwa, or religious decree, is considered a sin.

Amidan, who heads the Ulema Council, said the growing number of Facebook users in Indonesia was a controversial subject among Muslim leaders and that he favored a ban because of possible sexual content.

"People using Facebook can be driven to engage in distasteful, pornographic chatting," said Amidan, who was monitoring the two-day conference in the town of Kediri, in eastern Java.

Many clerics are concerned that "inappropriate content" on Facebook could be accessed by children, said Amidan, who like many Indonesians goes by a single name.

Facebook is the top ranked site in Indonesia, ahead of search engines Yahoo and Google, according Alexa.com, which tracks Internet traffic. Nearly 4 percent of all Facebook visitors are from Indonesia, making it the largest source of visitors after the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Italy.

Websites Retain Photos Deleted by Users

2009-05-22T00:29:00.000-07:00

Social networking and photo-sharing websites retain photographs deleted by users, reveals research by Cambridge University.

Researchers uploaded photos on 16 popular websites - including Facebook, Yahoo's Flickr and Google's Picasa - noting the web addresses where the images were stored and then deleted them.

The team said 30 days later, it was able to find them on seven sites, including Facebook, using the direct addresses even after the photos appeared to have gone, BBC reported Thursday.

Facebook, however, says deleted photos are removed from its servers "immediately".

Joseph Bonneau, one of the PhD students who carried out the study, said, "This demonstrates how social networking sites often take a lazy approach to user privacy, doing what's simpler rather than what is correct.

"It's imperative to view privacy as a design constraint, not a legal add-on."

The Cambridge University researchers said sites such as Flickr, Picasa did better and Microsoft's Windows Live Spaces removed the photos instantly.

But a Facebook spokesman defended the company's approach saying: "When a user deletes a photograph from Facebook, it is removed from our servers immediately.

"However, URLs to photographs may continue to exist on the Content Delivery Network after users delete them from Facebook, until they are overwritten. Overwriting usually happens after a short period of time."

Yahoo Eyes Social Networking Acquisitions

2009-05-21T00:43:00.000-07:00

Yahoo is looking to buy companies that will allow it to become a bigger player in social networking and revamp its family of products, Chief Technology Officer Ari Balogh said on Wednesday.

Yahoo has had conversations with companies about partnerships and "more interesting" possibilities, said Balogh, who is executive vice president of products at Yahoo. "I can guarantee you there will be some acquisitions, and we will do some stuff in house," said Balogh, speaking by videolink to the Reuters Global Technology Summit in New York. Yahoo will introduce new products this fall that will make its network of websites easier to use and showcase the company's strategy to grow again, he said.

The company is striving to revive its fortunes as sales decline because of the recession and competition from other Internet
heavyweights, including Google Inc. In January, Carol Bartz took the reins as Yahoo CEO, succeeding co-founder Jerry Yang.

Nokia, Intel Team up For Linux-based Mobile OS

2009-05-21T00:42:00.001-07:00

Intel and Nokia have jointly announce the oFono project, an open source project for developing an open source telephony solution.

oFono.org will bring developers together around designing an infrastructure for building mobile telephony (GSM/UMTS) applications.

oFono includes a high-level D-Bus API for use by telephony applications of any license and also includes a low-level plug-in API for integrating with Open Source as well as third party telephony stacks, cellular modems and storage back-ends.