My thoughts...

How goibibo cheated me (goibibo.com)

2015-03-07T22:35:00.000-08:00

*Update on the issue: Goibibo was kind enough to contact me on Sunday itself. They have agreed over phone to reverse the excess amount. Still to get any written communication on that!

THE ISSUE:
Many of you are familiar with the travel website "goibibo.com". Site is set up wonderfully, with so much options like a mobile app and user friendly website. But all these purely to cheat customers.

I was checking for a hotel in Coorg to spend the summer holiday wit my family. Since goibibo was guaranteeing the best price, i searched their website, came across a good resort for my holiday. They charged Rs 5374 per night for 2 adults and my baby girl who is 5 year old. I confirmed the booking and paid the same through their website - strictly believing in their policy of guaranteeing the lowest price.

After booking confirmation, I went to travelguru.com to reconfirm the price and to show my wife that we got the best price. To my utter surprise, travel guru.com offered the same for Rs 4,168 per night. Thats almost 30% less than what goibibo.com offered. I felt cheated and decided to check few other websites. This time i went to yatra.com and they offered the same for Rs 4,539 per night.

This is what goibibo.com is doing, cheating customers, who trust them.

My advise - never go for goibibo.com. You have better options and better prices elsewhere. Opt for travel guru.com or yatra.com.

goibibo.com - pure cheating.

I don't know whats going to happen once i reach the resort!

screenshots attached for your reference.

travelguru.com (goibibo.com cheated)

yatra.com (goibibo.com cheated)

8 Core Beliefs of Extraordinary Bosses by Geoffrey James

2012-04-24T04:34:00.001-07:00

The best managers have a fundamentally different understanding of workplace, company, and team dynamics. See what they get right.

1. Business is an ecosystem, not a battlefield.

Average bosses see business as a conflict between companies, departments and groups. They build huge armies of "troops" to order about, demonize competitors as "enemies," and treat customers as "territory" to be conquered.

Extraordinary bosses see business as a symbiosis where the most diverse firm is most likely to survive and thrive. They naturally create teams that adapt easily to new markets and can quickly form partnerships with other companies, customers ... and even competitors.

2. A company is a community, not a machine.

Average bosses consider their company to be a machine with employees as cogs. They create rigid structures with rigid rules and then try to maintain control by "pulling levers" and "steering the ship."

Extraordinary bosses see their company as a collection of individual hopes and dreams, all connected to a higher purpose. They inspire employees to dedicate themselves to the success of their peers and therefore to the community–and company–at large.

3. Management is service, not control.

Average bosses want employees to do exactly what they're told. They're hyper-aware of anything that smacks of insubordination and create environments where individual initiative is squelched by the "wait and see what the boss says" mentality.

Extraordinary bosses set a general direction and then commit themselves to obtaining the resources that their employees need to get the job done. They push decision making downward, allowing teams form their own rules and intervening only in emergencies.

4. My employees are my peers, not my children.

Average bosses see employees as inferior, immature beings who simply can't be trusted if not overseen by a patriarchal management. Employees take their cues from this attitude, expend energy on looking busy and covering their behinds.

Extraordinary bosses treat every employee as if he or she were the most important person in the firm. Excellence is expected everywhere, from the loading dock to the boardroom. As a result, employees at all levels take charge of their own destinies.

5. Motivation comes from vision, not from fear.

Average bosses see fear--of getting fired, of ridicule, of loss of privilege--as a crucial way to motivate people. As a result, employees and managers alike become paralyzed and unable to make risky decisions.

Extraordinary bosses inspire people to see a better future and how they'll be a part of it. As a result, employees work harder because they believe in the organization's goals, truly enjoy what they're doing and (of course) know they'll share in the rewards.

6. Change equals growth, not pain.

Average bosses see change as both complicated and threatening, something to be endured only when a firm is in desperate shape. They subconsciously torpedo change ... until it's too late.

Extraordinary bosses see change as an inevitable part of life. While they don't value change for its own sake, they know that success is only possible if employees and organization embrace new ideas and new ways of doing business.

7. Technology offers empowerment, not automation.

Average bosses adhere to the old IT-centric view that technology is primarily a way to strengthen management control and increase predictability. They install centralized computer systems that dehumanize and antagonize employees.

Extraordinary bosses see technology as a way to free human beings to be creative and to build better relationships. They adapt their back-office systems to the tools, like smartphones and tablets, that people actually want to use.

8. Work should be fun, not mere toil.

Average bosses buy into the notion that work is, at best, a necessary evil. They fully expect employees to resent having to work, and therefore tend to subconsciously define themselves as oppressors and their employees as victims. Everyone then behaves accordingly.

Extraordinary bosses see work as something that should be inherently enjoyable–and believe therefore that the most important job of manager is, as far as possible, to put people in jobs that can and will make them truly happy.

Original article can be found here:
http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/8-core-beliefs-of-extraordinary-bosses.html

Why employees leave organisation?

2012-04-16T21:59:00.001-07:00

WHY EMPLOYEES LEAVE ORGANISATIONS ? - Azim Premji, CEO- Wipro

Every company faces the problem of people leaving the company for better pay or profile.

Early this year, Mark, a senior software designer, got an offer from a prestigious international firm to work in its India operations developing specialized software. He was thrilled by the offer.

He had heard a lot about the CEO. The salary was great. The company had all the right systems in place employee-friendly human resources (HR) policies, a spanking new office,and the very best technology,even a canteen that served superb food.

Twice Mark was sent abroad for training. "My learning curve is the sharpest it's ever been," he said soon after he joined.

Last week, less than eight months after he joined, Mark walked out of the job.

Why did this talented employee leave ?

Arun quit for the same reason that drives many good people away.

The answer lies in one of the largest studies undertaken by the Gallup Organization. The study surveyed over a million employees and 80,000 managers and was published in a book called "First Break All The Rules". It came up with this surprising finding:

If you're losing good people, look to their manager .... manager is the reason people stay and thrive in an organization. And he 's the reason why people leave. When people leave they take knowledge,experienc e and contacts with them, straight to the competition.

"People leave managers not companies," write the authors Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman.

Mostly manager drives people away?

HR experts say that of all the abuses, employees find humiliation the most intolerable. The first time, an employee may not leave,but a thought has been planted. The second time, that thought gets strengthened. The third time, he looks for another job.

When people cannot retort openly in anger, they do so by passive aggression. By digging their heels in and slowing down. By doing only what they are told to do and no more. By omitting to give the boss crucial information. Dev says: "If you work for a jerk, you basically want to get him into trouble. You don 't have your heart and soul in the job."

Different managers can stress out employees in different ways - by being too controlling, too suspicious,too pushy, too critical, but they forget that workers are not fixed assets, they are free agents. When this goes on too long, an employee will quit - often over a trivial issue.

Talented men leave. Dead wood doesn't.

What is the major reason? Comment your opinion!

Emirates airline online UAE visa

2011-12-25T04:15:00.000-08:00

Emirates airline online UAE visa

Emirates has launched a new online visa system for people from 56 countries, including India, Pakistan and the Philippines, visiting the UAE.

a step-by-step guide.

Step 1

After you book tickets click on "Manage a Booking" on www.emirates.com and follow on-screen instructions. One-way flights are not eligible. Pay $57 (Dh209) for a 30-day visa and $44 (Dh162) for a 96-hour visa (plus $17 (Dh62) service charge and sales taxes for both). Residents of some countries may have to pay deposit of Dh1,000.
Step 2

Upload copies of passport bio page, photograph and proof of residence for transfer to Dubai immigration.
Step 3

Track status of visa application on "Manage a Booking" using visa application number.
Step 4

Visa will be delivered electronically within four days. All payments are by credit card. Deposit will be reversed on credit card upon confirmation of exit from the UAE.

Thinking Out of the Box - A True Story

2011-11-28T06:25:00.000-08:00

Thinking out of the box!

Thinking Out of the Box - A True Story

There are two kinds of imagination: first is the idealistic or utopian imagination; second is the practical imagination. Here are some examples of this second kind of imagination.

Some time ago I received a call from a colleague. He was about to give a student a zero for his answer to a physics question, while the student claimed a perfect score. The instructor and the student agreed to an impartial arbiter, and I was selected. I read the examination question:

Question: Show how is it possible to determine the height of a tall building with the aid of a barometer.

The student had answered,“Take the barometer to the top of the building, attach a long rope to it, lower it to the street, and then bring the rope up, measuring the length of the rope. The length of the rope is the height of the building.”

The student really had a strong case for full credit since he had really answered the question completely and correctly! On the other hand, if full credit were given, it could well contribute to a high grade in his physics course and to certify competence in physics, but the answer did not confirm this.

I suggested that the student have another try. I gave the student six minutes to answer the question with the warning that the answer should show some knowledge of physics. At the end of five minutes, he had not written anything. I asked if he wished to give up, but he said he had many answers to this problem; he was just thinking of the best one. I excused myself for interrupting him and asked him to please go on.

In the next minute, he dashed off his answer which read:“Take the barometer to the top of the building and lean over the edge of the roof. Drop the barometer, timing its fall with a stopwatch. Then, using the formula x=0.5*a*t^^2, calculate the height of the building.”

What to think and what not to think.....!

At this point, I asked my colleague if he would give up. He conceded, and gave the student almost full credit. While leaving my colleague’s office, I recalled that the student had said that he had other answers to the problem, so I asked him what they were.

“Well,” said the student, “there are many ways of getting the height of a tall building with the aid of a barometer. For example, you could take the barometer out on a sunny day and measure the height of the barometer, the length of its shadow, and the length of the shadow of the building, and by the use of simple proportion, determine the height of the building.”

“Fine,” I said, “and others?”

“Yes,” said the student, “there is a very basic measurement method you will like. In this method, you take the barometer and begin to walk up the stairs. As you climb the stairs, you mark off the length of the barometer along the wall. You then count the number of marks, and this will give you the height of the building in barometer units.”

“A very direct method.”

“Of course. If you want a more sophisticated method, you can tie the barometer to the end of a string, swing it as a pendulum, and determine the value of g at the street level and at the top of the building. From the difference between the two values of g, the height of the building, in principle, can be calculated.”

“On this same tact, you could take the barometer to the top of the building, attach a long rope to it, lower it to just above the street, and then swing it as a pendulum. You could then calculate the height of the building by the period of the precession.”

“Finally,” he concluded, “there are many other ways of solving the problem.

“Probably the best,” he said, “is to take the barometer to the basement and knock on the superintendent’s door. When the superintendent answers, you speak to him as follows: “Mr. Superintendent, here is a fine barometer. If you will tell me the height of the building, I will give you this barometer.”

At this point, I asked the student if he really did not know the conventional answer to this question. He admitted that he did, but said that he was fed up with high school and college instructors trying to teach him how to think.

The student was Neils Bohr and the arbiter was Ernest Rutherford.

“Truly Amazing Story!!!”

Reproduced from:

http://www.amazingposts.com/2008/10/thinking-out-of-box-true-story.html

Murphy's laws

2011-10-17T04:20:00.000-07:00

Murphy's Law

We laugh when we stumble across one of Mr. Murphy's laws because these short maxims describe so poignantly the fickleness of fate which confounds all of us in our earthly endeavors. The postulation of the Law is attributed to one Capt. Ed Murphy who was a development engineer for the Wright Field Aircraft Lab. He referred to a technician who had allegedly induced a malfunctioning, when he exclaimed in frustration: "If there is any way to do it wrong, he will"

Most people do not realize that Murphy's Laws are actually the manifestation of events triggered by what is probably the most fundamental of all of the Laws of Nature: The Second Law of Thermodynamics, also known as Entropy

The Basic Law: Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong

Corollaries and Derivatives:

Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong and at the worst possible moment.

Everything takes longer than you think.

Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse.

Once a job is fouled up, anything done to improve it only makes it worse.

Everything put together falls apart sooner or later.

Once you open a can of worms, the only way to re-can them is to use a larger can.

Any wire cut to length will be too short.

After an instrument has been assembled, extra components will be found on the bench.

Any error in any calculation will be in the direction of the most harm.

No books are lost by lending except those you particularly wanted to keep.

If you throw anything away, you will need it as soon as it is no longer available.

When the plane you are on is late, your connecting flight is on time.

Toothaches tend to start on Friday night.

The other check-out line always moves faster -- and immediately slows down after you change lines.

Any given computer program will expand to fill all available memory.

Computers are unreliable but humans are even more unreliable.

The chance of the bread falling with the buttered side down is directly proportional to the cost of the carpet.

Enough research will tend to support any theory.

If enough data is collected, anything may be proven by statistical methods.

In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence. --- Work is accomplished by those who have not as yet reached their level of incompetence.

The man who can smile when things go wrong has thought of someone he can blame it on.

Nothing is impossible for the man who does not have to do it himself.

Anything good in life is either illegal, immoral or fattening.

The three faithful things in life are money, a dog, and an old woman.

Don't worry about being rich or not, as long as you live comfortably and have everything you want.

No man's life, liberty or property are safe while the legislature is in session.

Steve Jobs - A Genius, A Legend, A Visionary

2011-10-06T04:48:00.000-07:00

Steve Jobs
(1955 - 2011)

Today world lost Steve Jobs, a human being worth following. I am more than happy to say that I am a proud user of ipod, iphone and macbook pro. Each time I use these products, I can feel the magic touch of this inspirational leader. Just as Steve Wozniak (Apple Co-founder) said, How many times can you remember products from a company that just made you happy every time you used them?

I have read his book called iCon. iCon is a truly inspirational story - a real rags to riches story. For people who don't know much about Steve's past, He was given away by his biological parents soon after birth, founded Apple Inc in a garage, was thrown out of the company later, founded animation studio Pixar and Next, came back to Apple. Apple under his leadership introduced products which changed the way we looked at gadgets.

Before iphone, many of us would have never thought of buying a smart phone. ipad? All the products which Apple made and marketed existed before... still Apple was able to revolutionize the products.

He is survived by his wife of 20 years, Laurene, and their three children. Jobs also has a fourth child from a past relationship named Lisa, after whom he named Apple's "Lisa" computer in 1983.

So let me salute the true visionary, legend and more over .. a Super Sales man..... Steve Jobs! Rest in Peace boss.

Statements from Family, Friends and Mentors

A statement from Jobs' family reads, in full:

"Steve died peacefully today surrounded by his family.

In his public life, Steve was known as a visionary; in his private life, he cherished his family. We are thankful to the many people who have shared their wishes and prayers during the last year of Steve's illness; a website will be provided for those who wish to offer tributes and memories.

We are grateful for the support and kindness of those who share our feelings for Steve. We know many of you will mourn with us, and we ask that you respect our privacy during our time of grief."

Jobs has been instrumental in many of Apple's hit products, stretching back to 1976 with the Apple I, all the way to the modern-day iPhone and iPad. He revealed to Apple employees in 2004 that he'd been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and underwent a liver transplant in 2009. In late August of this year, Jobs stepped down as CEO of Apple.

Apple's board of directors has issued the following statement:

"We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today.

Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve.

His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts."

Another statement on Apple's website at apple.com/stevejobs reads:

"Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of use who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.

If you would like to share your thoughts, memories and condolences, please e-mail rememberingsteve@apple.com"

New Apple CEO Tim Cook sent the following e-mail to Apple employees:

"Team,

I have some very sad news to share with all of you. Steve passed away earlier today.

Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.

We are planning a celebration of Steve's extraordinary life for Apple employees that will take place soon. If you would like to share your thoughts, memories and condolences in the interim, you can simply email rememberingsteve@apple.com.

No words can adequately express our sadness at Steve's death or our gratitude for the opportunity to work with him. We will honor his memory by dedicating ourselves to continuing the work he loved so much.

Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Laurene and his children during this difficult time.

Tim”

Over on TIME.com's business section, Jobs' obituary reads, in part:

"Steve Jobs, whose death was announced on Wednesday night, wasn't a computer scientist, He had no training as a hardware engineer or an industrial designer. The businesses that Apple entered under his leadership — from personal computers to MP3 players to smartphones — all existed before the company got there.

But with astonishing regularity, Jobs did something that few people accomplish even once: he reinvented entire industries. He did it with ones that were new, like PCs, and he did it with ones that were old, such as music. And his pace only accelerated over the years."

Click here to read the rest of the obituary.

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has issued the following statement:

"I'm truly saddened to learn of Steve Jobs' death. Melinda and I extend our sincere condolences to his family and friends, and to everyone Steve has touched through his work.

Steve and I first met nearly 30 years ago, and have been colleagues, competitors and friends over the course of more than half our lives.

The world rarely sees someone who has had the profound impact Steve has had, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come.

For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it's been an insanely great honor. I will miss Steve immensely."

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has issued the following statement:

"Steve, thank you for being a mentor and a friend. Thanks for showing that what you build can change the world. I will miss you."

Google co-founder Sergey Brin has issued the following statement:

"From the earliest days of Google, whenever Larry and I sought inspiration for vision and leadership, we needed to look no farther than Cupertino. Steve, your passion for excellence is felt by anyone who has ever touched an Apple product (including the macbook I am writing this on right now). And I have witnessed it in person the few times we have met. On behalf of all of us at Google and more broadly in technology, you will be missed very much. My condolences to family, friends, and colleagues at Apple."

Google co-founder Larry Page has issued the following statement:

"I am very, very sad to hear the news about Steve. He was a great man with incredible achievements and amazing brilliance. He always seemed to be able to say in very few words what you actually should have been thinking before you thought it. His focus on the user experience above all else has always been an inspiration to me. He was very kind to reach out to me as I became CEO of Google and spend time offering his advice and knowledge even though he was not at all well. My thoughts and Google's are with his family and the whole Apple family."

Google chairman Eric Schmidt has issued the following statement:

"Today is very sad for all of us. Steve defined a generation of style and technology that's unlikely to be matched again. Steve was so charismatically brilliant that he inspired people to do the impossible, and he will be remembered as the greatest computer innovator in history."

President Obama has issued the following statement:

"Michelle and I are saddened to learn of the passing of Steve Jobs. Steve was among the greatest of American innovators - brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it.

By building one of the planet's most successful companies from his garage, he exemplified the spirit of American ingenuity. By making computers personal and putting the internet in our pockets, he made the information revolution not only accessible, but intuitive and fun. And by turning his talents to storytelling, he has brought joy to millions of children and grownups alike. Steve was fond of saying that he lived every day like it was his last. Because he did, he transformed our lives, redefined entire industries, and achieved one of the rarest feats in human history: he changed the way each of us sees the world.

The world has lost a visionary. And there may be no greater tribute to Steve's success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented. Michelle and I send our thoughts and prayers to Steve's wife Laurene, his family, and all those who loved him."

Walt Disney CEO Robert Iger has issued the following statement:

"Steve Jobs was a great friend as well as a trusted adviser. His legacy will extend far beyond the products he created or the businesses he built. It will be the millions of people he inspired, the lives he changed, and the culture he defined. Steve was such an 'original,' with a thoroughly creative, imaginative mind that defined an era. Despite all he accomplished, it feels like he was just getting started. With his passing the world has lost a rare original, Disney has lost a member of our family, and I have lost a great friend. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Laurene and his children during this difficult time."

Ed Catmull and John Lasseter of Pixar said:

"Steve Jobs was an extraordinary visionary, our very dear friend and the guiding light of the Pixar family. He saw the potential of what Pixar could be before the rest of us, and beyond what anyone ever imagined. Steve took a chance on us and believed in our crazy dream of making computer animated films; the one thing he always said was to simply ‘make it great.' He is why Pixar turned out the way we did and his strength, integrity and love of life has made us all better people. He will forever be a part of Pixar's DNA. Our hearts go out to his wife Laurene and their children during this incredibly difficult time."

Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang said:

"Steve was my hero growing up. He not only gave me a lot of personal advice and encouragement, he showed all of us how innovation can change lives. I will miss him dearly, as will the world."

Twitter CEO Dick Costolo said:

"Once in a rare while, somebody comes along who doesn't just raise the bar, they create an entirely new standard of measurement."

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg issued the following statement:

"Tonight, America lost a genius who will be remembered with Edison and Einstein, and whose ideas will shape the world for generations to come. Again and again over the last four decades, Steve Jobs saw the future and brought it to life long before most people could even see the horizon. And Steve's passionate belief in the power of technology to transform the way we live brought us more than smartphones and iPads: It brought knowledge and power that is reshaping the face of civilization. In New York City's government, everyone from street construction inspectors to NYPD detectives have harnessed Apple's products to do their jobs more efficiently and intuitively."

Dell founder Michael Dell issued the following statement:

"Today the world lost a visionary leader, the technology industry lost an iconic legend and I lost a friend and fellow founder. The legacy of Steve Jobs will be remembered for generations to come."

AOL co-founder Steve Case said:

"I feel honored to have known Steve Jobs. He was the most innovative entrepreneur of our generation. His legacy will live on for the ages."

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak told CNN:

"It's like there's a big hole left in you, and it's very hard to go back and reflect on all the feelings... Everyone knows what he did—how much life he brought to the world. I think if he had a goal, he certainly far, far overachieved any goals he had from the start of things.

I think Steve Jobs would have had hopes and visions for the future, and he set up Apple Computer really to continue on in his dreams. And I hope that Apple always finds great leaders like him. He made a lot of people happy. How many times can you remember products from a company that just made you happy every time you used them?...

So many people are just so thankful for the life that Steve Jobs largely brought us."

Steve Jobs, from his 2005 commencement speech at Stanford University:

"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything—all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure—these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma—which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice."

How to upgrade HTC HD7 to 32 GB

2011-08-09T01:53:00.000-07:00

HTC HD7 Memory upgrade

WARNING : this tutorial needs you to open up your smartphone completely, and may invalidate your warranty. If you upgrade your HD7, you do it at your own risk !!

Read this tutorial entirely before starting. !!! This memory change will completely erase the contents of your phone. Backup it !!!

Thanks to Wolfman017 at XDA-developers.com

You will need the following tools :

- A HTC HD7 (yeah, easy...)

- A Sandisk MicroSD 32 GB Card : Warning !! Ony some references are compatible. Check the compatibility list at the end of this tutorial.

- A Torx screwdriver - Size : 0.4

- A little plastic card, like a fidelity card (small size)

- Tweezers

- A piece of paper

Remove the battery cover, the battery itself, and you SIM card :

Now, you need to remove the bottom cover. To do this, insert the plastic card inside, and pull upside gently. It will be a little hard, just do it quietly until it "clics". Do the same on the other side, and finish removing the cover :

Take the screwdriver. At minimum, you will need to remove the 3 screws marked by red arrows. Personaly, I remove the 3 screws marked by the green arrows too for more confort. One of the screws is hidden by a VOID sticker (which unvalidates the warranty if you remove it). Either you don't remove this sticker, the other black screws will scratched by the screwdriver, and you will lose warranty in all cases.

Now, pull the plastic framework upside with your finger, to get access to the MicroSD card reader :

The MicroSD card is protected by a "metallic" sticker. Unstick it, and tear it below the plastic framework. You cannot remove it completely :

If you don't want to be annoyed by this sticker, place your piece of paper on it. Now push the memory card in his reader with the tweezers : you will here a clic. Release, the card will be ejected :

Take the MicroSD card with the tweezers, and remove it :

There you are. Now insert your brand new memory card, and reassemble your phone following the previous steps.

Once your phone is reassembled, put your SIM card, the battery, and close the cover.
To turn it on, push the two volume buttons, and keep them pushed while pressing the Power button :

Keep the volume buttons pressed until you see this message :

Press the Down Volume button to confirm the Hard reset :

Press again the Down Volume button to restart the phone. Follow the Windows Phone configuration wizard, then reboot your phone again (just a simple reboot).
And "voilà" ! A HTC HD7 with full memory !!!

Updated on 28th April 2011 :
Compatible 32GB card :
- Sandisk SDSDQ-032G-J35 (Class 4 - Asian market)
- Sandisk SDSDQM-032G-B35 (Class 2 or Class 4)

Avoid these references :
- Sandisk SDSDQ-032G-E11M (Class 2 or 4)

[Thanks to Wolfman017 at XDA-developers.com]

How to install Mango (beta) in your WM7 phone (ver 7712)

2011-08-07T10:14:00.000-07:00

Finally, I did it. I installed mango beta in my HTC HD7. No doubt this is a great great leap forward for microsoft. But still we need much much more...

How to install it? I will explain the process. but - I won’t be responsible if you end up damaging your device. Make sure to follow the steps without fail. Because i was able to install mango beta without any issues by following these steps.

Let me thank windowsphonehacker.com and addictivetips.com for this.

Requirements:

1. You must have at least 60% battery remaining in your phone. I completed the entire process by having less than 50% - but its recommended to have 60% or full battery.
2. Remember that the minimum hardware requirements for Mango beta are the same as Nodo (the last official update to microsoft - which gave you cut-paste option). If your device only supports pre-Nodo versions of WP7, then this procedure is not for you.
3. Go to this page, and download the file.

Instructions:

1. If you have a 32-bit system, go to this link, while for 64-bit, here. Download the tool suite provided on the respective links.

2. Install the developer tools you just downloaded and then exit setup.

3. Now we turn our attention to the “Mango For All” tool downloaded in step 3 of our requirements. Unzip the file if not a zipped, just copy the four contents), and save the unzipped contents to your system drive (c drive).

4. Using your phone’s USB cable, connect to your PC. This will automatically open up Zune. If not do nothing.

5. If Zune opens up, Exit Zune without doing anything.

6. From the “Mango for all” folder, run “update.bat” file. This will open up a series of option screens, follow the instructions that do the following for you:
Create a backup of your phone
Provide your with enough rights to update to Mango
Save your backup copy in the “Mango for all” folder (will take approx 600 secs)

7. This will open Zune all by itself, and you will get an update notification. That’s the Mango beta. After you apply it (update - 1), and reopen Zune, you will see again an update visible there (update - 2). This is the sought-after Mango beta 2. Install this and you now have Mango beta 2 on your WP7 Nodo device! (approx 20 - 30 mins)

Important:

You must restore to NoDo before the Mango update is released, according to Microsoft. This applies to everyone, including registered developers.

Restore NoDo
To restore NoDo, run the Restore.bat file, or follow the instructions in Readme.txt.

Do not, at any cost, delete the premangostate folder in your C Drive. This is required to restore the Nodo version - once mango is officially out.

Update: Your Zune will not detect the new mango OS. You have to download and install New Zune for Mango form here. Both old Zune and New Zune can be installed side by side. No problem.

Thanks to :

1. www.windowsphonehacker.com

2. www.addictivetips.com

Get 25 GB Cloud Storage (How to use Skydrive as Network Storage)

2011-08-04T02:52:00.000-07:00

I was searching for a cloud storage application for my laptop, which can work just like my C drive or D Drive. What i mean is a cloud storage were I can drag and drop my files.

So.. I came across Skydrive. This is a cloud storage service from Microsoft.

What all you need to start this?

1. A live.com ID from Microsoft. (Click here to get one)

2. Get the WebDAV access address for your Skydrive account. For this there is a simple portable tool called SkyDrive Simple Viewer developed by Mike. Run the tool and login to your Skydrive and select the folder which you want to map.

Once these are ready,

1. Run the Skydrive Simple Viewer.

Click on your folder you want to network and copy the address from right hand side.

2. Goto your my computer and click on the Map network drive on the top.

3. Now Click on the "Connect to a website that you can use to store your documents and pictures" link.

4. Click Next in the window that pops up.

5. Click on Choose Custom network location and click Next

6. Paste the web address you got from Step -1 above. in the address bar.

7. Click next

8. It will prompt you to enter the Windows Live credentials after attempting to connect to Skydrive.

9. Now the network drive will be connected and you can see the drive in Window Explorer.

And thats all... you have a 25GB cloud storage in your computer. Just drag and drop the files.

How Osama bin Laden Was Located and Killed - NY Times

2011-05-03T11:27:00.000-07:00

Osama bin Laden Was Located and Killed
After nearly a decade of hunting Osama bin Laden, a breakthrough came in August of 2010 when Bin Laden’s most trusted courier was located and identified. What followed was eight months of painstaking intelligence work, culminating in a helicopter assault in Abbottabad, Pakistan by American military and intelligence operatives that ended in the death of Bin Laden.

The Assault on Bin Laden’s Compound
The raid of Bin Laden’s compound lasted about 40 minutes. He and his family had been living on the second and third floors of the main building, which was the last area to be cleared by American forces. Bin Laden resisted and was shot in the head in the final minutes of the gun battle. Three other men and a woman were also killed.

Finding the Town Where He Was Hiding
While Bin Laden had long been rumored to be hiding in remote tribal areas along the Pakistani-Afghan border, he had been living near the Pakistani Army’s military academy in Abbottabad, a medium-sized city.

Photos of the Compound

Intelligence Leading to Bin Laden’s Killing

Four years ago — American intelligence for the first time uncovers the name of Osama bin Laden's trusted courier but cannot locate him.

Two years ago — American intelligence identifies areas in Pakistan where the courier and his brother have operated but cannot pinpoint exactly where they live.

August 1, 2010 — American intelligence locates the brothers' residence, a compound in Abbottabad. The compound is so large, secluded and secured that analysts conclude it must shelter a high value target.

September 1, 2010 — The C.I.A. begins to work with President Obama on assessments that lead them to believe that Bin Laden may be located at the compound.

Mid-February 2011 — United States government authorities determine that there was a sound intelligence basis to pursue this aggressively and develop courses of action.

March 14-28, 2011 — Mr. Obama holds a series of National Security Council meetings to develop options for capturing or killing Bin Laden.

April 29, 2011 — Mr. Obama authorizes the operation before flying to Alabama to inspect tornado damage.

May 1, 2011, 4-4:30 p.m. ET — United States forces raid Bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad around 1 a.m. Pakistan time. Bin Laden and three other men are killed in a firefight. A woman was killed when she was used as a shield by a male combatant.

May 1, 2011, 11:35 p.m. ET — Mr. Obama announces Bin Laden's death to the world.

Click here for original article

Sathya Sai Baba

2011-04-24T22:50:00.000-07:00

Sai Baba

Yesterday world woke up hearing the sad news about Satya Sai. Many would be wondering how I can believe in such human gods? In fact, I don’t. As per the philosophy, for a hungry man, food is GOD. So, Sathya Sai provided free medical treatment, Surgeries, Water projects to not millions, but billions. So he is GOD.

Some people talk in such a way that the definition of GOD is man who does miracles. Yes, Satya Sai did that miracle, he fed the empty stomach, treated the poor and provided spiritual advice to millions. Remember we are living in a age where people are just concerned only about them. How I can make more money. For Eg, Raja. He was the elected representative of the people for the people and by the people. He was suppose to serve the people. Instead, he served many corporate companies and took his share of profit. That profit alone is required to provide free food for the entire Indian population for the next 60 years.

This website provides good info about Sai Baba:

So who is Satya Sai? Few insights into Satya Sai -

Sathya Sai Baba is the figurehead to a number of free educational institutions, charitable organizations and service projects that are spread over 10,000 centers in 166 countries around the world. It is a Rs 40,000 crore empire. Sathya Sai Baba supports free schools and other charitable works in 166 countries

The Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning in Prashanti Nilayam is the only college in India to have received an "A++" rating by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council

The Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences in Puttaparthi (also known as the Super Specialty Hospital) is a 220 bed facility providing advanced surgical and medical care free of cost to the public.

The Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences in Bangalore is a 333 bed facility with advanced operation theatres, ICUs and CCUs meant to benefit the poor.The hospital has served 250,000 patients, free of cost, from January 2001 to April 2004.

The Sri Sathya Sai General Hospital was opened in Whitefield, Bangalore, in 1977 by Sathya Sai Baba to provide free care to poor local villagers.It is a 35,000 sq ft (3,300 m2) building thatprovides complex surgeries, food and medicines free of cost. The hospital has, since its inception, treated over 2 million cases.

The Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust runs several general hospitals, two super specialty hospitals, dispensaries, eye hospitals and mobile dispensaries and conducts medical camps in rural and slum areas in India

The Trust has also funded several major drinking water projects. The first drinking water project, completed in 1996, supplies water to 1.2 million people in 730-800 villages in the drought-prone Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh.The second drinking water project, completed in 2004, supplies water to Chennai (formerly known as Madras) through a rebuilt waterway named "Sathya Sai Ganga Canal".The third drinking water project would supply water from the Godavari River to half a million people living in five hundred villages in East and West Godavari Districts. Other completed water projects include the Medak District Project benefiting 450,000 people in 179 villages and the Mahbubnagar District Project benefiting 350,000 people in 141 villages.

20 Ways to Use Gmail Filters - by Leo Babauta

2011-03-27T22:31:00.001-07:00

One of the coolest things about Gmail is its filters — set up properly, filters can add loads of functionality to your already-powerful Gmail account. Save time and space, rid your inbox of unwanted emails, and turn your Gmail into a multi-functional tool with simple filters.

There are some limitations to Gmail's filters that I'd like to see improved in the future, including:

· the inability to mark a post as read

· the inability to create live "smart folders"

· difficulty in adding a large number of email addresses to a filter

But all in all, the filter function is very cool. Here are some ideas for how to use it:

· Killfile. If people send me too much junk mail (jokes, chain mail, etc.), they get added to my killfile. It's a simple filter that looks at the "from" field and deletes the message if it's one of the addresses I've added to the filter. Every now and then I'll decide to add someone to my killfile, and I'll just open up the filter and add their address.

· Booleans. The filter works much like Gmail's search function, in that you can add search terms such as AND or OR or NOT. So I can look for addresses that are from a number of people (using OR), or emails that must include all of the words on a list (using AND). Use search operator symbols to make it even easier: "|" for OR, space for AND, "-" for NOT, and parentheses to group different terms in your search string.

· Other search terms. Beyond the common terms above, your filters can use other terms such as "from:", "to:", "has:", "is:", "filename:", and "label:", among others. Using these terms, you can make your filters even more powerful.

· Send reminders to someone. One of the things I wish Google would add to Gmail is the ability to send a delayed email. This would allow me to send reminders to someone at regular times. Instead, I sign up for a reminder email service to send reminders (meant for other people) to my gmail address, and then set up filters to forward the reminders to various people depending on the subject or content of the email. It's not perfect, but it allows me to send reminders to different people on a regular basis.

· Calendar and log. I set up Google Calendar to send me reminders of events. You can set up a label ("events") so that your calendar reminders go straight to the label, star the message, and skip the inbox. Now not only are your events in one place, instead of scattered through your inbox, you can unstar the message when you complete the task or event, and now you also have a log of all the things you've done.

· To-dos. This is a commonly used function, but you can email yourself tasks that you need to do, and then set up a filter that has your email address in both the "to" and "from" boxes, that applies the label "to-do" to the message. This will allow you to view all your to-dos in one filter. Or, if you're a GTD fan, you could set up to-dos for each context (@work, @home, @errands, @phone, etc.), by creating different labels for each, and then setting up filters for different email addresses. Email yourself at yourname+work (you don't need the @gmail.com part), and set up the filter to label that address "@work", and so on for each context.

· Follow up. Even if you're not a GTD fan, having a follow-up label is a must. Simply set up a filter with an email address such as "youname+follow" and put it in the "has the words" filter field, and have this filter label it "@follow" and skip the inbox. Now when you send out an email that needs to be followed up on, put yourname+follow in the "bcc" field, and it'll go into your "@follow" label. Be sure to check this label once a day so you can follow up on your emails.

· Send spam to trash. Instead of having Gmail-filtered spam go into your Spam folder (and have the annoying count of unread spam by the folder's name), set up a filter with "is:spam" in the "has the words" field (just click "OK" on Gmail's warning dialog box when you click next step) and "Delete it" as the action. Now all spam messages will go in your trash.

· Archived bookmarks. If you use del.icio.us and other bookmarking services, you can archive them all in a Gmail label ("bookmarks"). Get the feed urls for each of your bookmarking services, enter them in a forwarding service such as rssfwd.com, and then set up a filter to label them all "bookmarks". Now all your bookmarks are in one place, with Gmail's great search.

· Attachments. If you're like me, you like to go through your old emails and delete a bunch of them at a time. I do common searches during the cleanup process, such as "has:attachment", so that I can look through all my bigger emails and delete them. Make this process quicker by making a label and filter for this search, and for any of your common searches, for that matter.

· Media. If you get a lot of media sent to you, such as music files, videos and photos, set up filters ("filename:wmv | filename:mov" for videos, "filename:mp3″ for music, filename:jpg | filename:gif" for photos, or "filename:pdf | filename:doc" for documents). Now you can quickly find any media.

· Backups. Create a second Gmail account for storage, and create a filter to automatically forward any emails with attachments ("has:attachments") to this second address. Now you can delete your old emails without guilt or worry.

· Newsgroups or feeds. You can set up filters for your newsgroups, so they don't clog up your inbox. Or forward your favorite feeds to your Gmail, and automatically label and archive them for later reading. Now you can not only access them from anywhere, but you can search them too.

· Bloggers. If you run a blog, you can have all your blog's comments and pingbacks automatically archived and labeled ("blog"), so your inbox doesn't get filled up fast. Also have your blog stat reports mailed to you and shunted to this label, so you can get a quick look at your blog's success at a glance.

· Delete old sent emails. There's no reason, in most cases, to keep your really old sent emails. Delete them. Create a filter with "before:2006/06/01 label:sent" with "Delete it" as the action (you'll need to click "OK" to Gmail's warning dialog). Every month or so, update the date of this filter.

· No delete. Some emails you don't want to delete — those precious ones from your kids, for example, or maybe ones from your boss. Set up a label ("nodelete") and a filter that puts the nodelete label on emails from (or to) the addresses you want. Now, some of the above filters, add the string "-nodelete" so that it doesn't show these emails. Now you can delete your old sent emails, or your attachment emails, for example, without worry that your kids' or boss' emails will be trashed along with the rest of the riffraff.

· Flickr. Forward your Flickr account's feed to your Gmail, with a filter to automatically label it, and now your photos are searchable through Gmail. You can also set up filters to send notices that certain tags in your Flickr account has new photos to certain relatives.

· Notes. Email yourself notes on web research, on meetings, on books you're reading, on classes you're taking. Set up a filter to archive and label them (if you send notes to yourname+notes, for example). Now they're searchable and archived and accessible from anywhere.

· Twitter. Use your mobile phone to send text messages or IM messages to Twitter, with a keyword at the beginning of each Twitter message (NOTE, TODO, BLOG, FOLLOW, etc.). Forward your Twitter account's feed to your Gmail, and set up filters for each type of keyword ("note twitter" will be labeled "note" for example). Now you can use your mobile device to send notes, to-dos, follow-up reminders and more to your Gmail through Twitter.

· Wildcard. Use the wildcard character (*) for companies that use multiple types of address from the same domain. One great use I've seen is to use the wildcard character for vendors such as Amazon or eBay to make it easier to track online purchases. Create a label ("online shopping") and a filter with such email addresses as "*@amazon.com|*@ebay.com|*@paypal.com|*@barnesandnoble.com".

Original Link: Click here

Job mails - Job Frauds - www.icicihire.com

2011-03-22T03:30:00.000-07:00

This time I got an email, as if from ICICI bank HR dept, to send in my resume for various posts starting from Cleaner to President. Such idiots still exist in this earth!!! The entire email is very much similar like our old reliancevacancies.com emails.

The person's name changed - from Roger Turner to Thomas Dsouza.. may be change in management :)

How ever, both follow the same "thought of the day" quote - ‘Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm’

Just wondering how people can survive on such frauds... should quit my job and try such excellent ideas...

<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

from	ICICI Career
to
date		Tue, Mar 22, 2011 at 12:32 PM
subject		Requirements in Accounts/ Finance/ Tax & Audit
mailed-by		yahoo.com
signed-by		yahoo.com

hide details 12:32 PM (1 hour ago)

Requirements in Accounts/ Finance/ Tax & Audit
Dear Sir/ Madam,
This is to inform you that we are hiring candidates for Accounts/ Finance/ Tax & Audit .

Following are the requirements. Only interested candidates to find further details and location please login to www.icicihire.com and post your latest tailor made resume according to job.

Current Requirements :
Accounts Executive
Sr. Manager Taxation
Manager Finance & Administration
ASSISTANT MANAGER ACCOUNTS
Senior Manager / Chief Manager - Head Internal
Audit for Corporate
Finance Manager
Payroll/Tax Service - Manager.
Sr.Executive/Assistant Manager/Manager - Fiscal
Accountants Executive
Intercompany Reconciliation Analyst
Centre Accountant (Malad & Kandivali)
Senior Manager -Banking & Financial Management
Coromandel
INTERNAL AUDIT TEAM LEADERS-
Sr. Accountant
ASSOCIATE [CORPORATE]
Senior Accountant
Junior Accountant
Finance & Accounts Officer(Automobile Industry)
Financial Controller / Accounts Manager/ Accountant

With Best regards
Thomas Dsouza

Note : You are getting this mail as you are registered with us. If you do not wish further notifications please mail us subject : unregister to HYPERLINK "mailto: accounts.hrworld@gmail.com" accounts.hrworld@gmail.com

Thought of the day
'Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm'

The sender of this email is a recruiter. You are getting this mail as you have registered with us. Please note that we DONOT endorse any requests for money payments, or sharing of bank account details etc.etc.
To receive further information on new job openings please mark this mail as "not spam" in your email account.

Android Wifi issues - No solution till now.

2011-02-16T00:23:00.000-08:00

Think before you buy

My issues with the Android OS is continuing. Wifi is unable to provide a trouble free performance. Just wondering at many messages saying Android is a superior operating system. If some one asks me, I will tell this is crap. This is the worst performing OS i have ever seen (after Symbian). The scrolling is not as smooth as iPhone, there are bugs every where in the software. I think our beloved Google has lost count on the number of bugs Android is having. Will be using this phone for a couple of months, before listing it on eBay.

Just laughed a lot yesterday, when a hardcore Android fan sent me a message saying that this is a long resolved issue. Come on, how can a long resolved issue be there in the Android phone i bought two weeks back with factory loaded Android Froyo 2.2? You must support your favorite OS, but must accept the demerits of the same.

Yesterday read the latest issue of Stuff and was really amused at how they were going on explaining the merits of Android OS over iOS. Infact, after reading many reviews and articles, I went and bought the new Dell Streak running factory loaded Android Froyo 2.2 two weeks back. I was using iphone 3GS for the last 1 year and pretty much satisfied with its performance. But gave it up to experience the so called superior OS – Android.

Buy Android and face "no solution yet" issues

After I bought Android, I started to realize the demerits of that OS over iphone OS. The first and foremost issue that started annoying me was related to WIFI. Googling the same provided some insights into that issue. A million more people are also affected by the wifi issues starting from Android 1.4. I initially thought this was a problem with Streak. But reading forum after forum, blog after blog I came to the conclusion that this issue is not unique to streak. Even Nexus one, Droid, Samsung galaxy and galaxy tab, all are having the same issue. Dell is purposefully taking out the wifi issue related complaint I raised in the forum – may be because I raised the issue in the US forum and am located in UAE.

If wifi was my problem, another group was having issue like phone freezing soon after getting a call or sms. Some having problem with Bluetooth, some with applications crashing. My wifi issue was strange. Even if my default connection is there, android will go on searching for the network and finally disconnects itself. The Default connection status will be "disabled" or "disconnected". You can check the same in the youtube video (caught with my iphone).

Every time after wakeup (phone waking up from sleep mode), the connection with the default connection will be disabled in spite of whatever you set in the wifi sleep policy menu.

No idea why Google is not providing bug fixes. I saw many work arounds in the google android market. From many forums I learned that many people are cashing in on this bug by providing fixes – some work, some wont. Thank god, only free applications are available in the android market in UAE. Else I would have spent more money buying fixes. Google is going on developing new versions of existing buggy OS. I said this because, even after the introduction of 2.2, this issue is not cleared. I can very well say that Android will sure grow in numbers. This is not because the OS is very good and Bug free, but there are phones as cheap as 500dhs running android. So anyone can afford android and they will definitely go for an android smartphone. However, the bug free environment (I squeeze my iPhone with applications and it has never let me down) and the glitch free performance of iPhone can never be repeated by an Android Phone. I can’t find any issue in iphone software-wise as well as after dropping the phone for almost 6 times.

Android bugs

History repeats – It was microsoft windows with 90% market and we always complained about the bugs in the OS. Still it used to be the number one OS in the market – not because of performance, but because it was cheap to own a windows powered PC/ lap – any next door geek can build you one. But Apple OSX was best – performance wise, but it never came to the top position because not all can afford an apple. Similarly, Android will be the top selling OS even with all the bugs and issues. Because we always tend to forget some problems for a few bucks we save!

Totally disappointed with the performance of Android.

Honda City versus Volkswagen Vento

2010-12-20T05:14:00.000-08:00

Honda City versus Volkswagen Vento

original article: Click here

Heavy lies the head that wears the crown. It’s an old saying. The Honda City has ruled the roost with an invincible dominance of the premium C-segment. Who could fault its combination of attributes: style , the Honda badge , good fuel-efficiency , effortless performance and the aura of being the ‘Car of the Year’? The swagger was inevitable.

But then stepping out of the shadows and into the spotlight comes a car with huge ambitions. The Volkswagen Vento is a car we’ve all been waiting for. We drove it and loved it. Now it must scale the ramparts of Fort Honda in an attempt to usurp the crown.

Beauty , ‘tis said , lies in the eyes of the beholder. The Vento is the newcomer here , yet , in my eyes , the City is the better looking of the two. That’s not to fault the VW in any way; its taut lines and crisp detailing are austere. In comparison , the City appears festive. Open and shut the doors to feel the difference. While the current City is a big step up from its tinny-feeling predecessors , the Vento feels like a mini tank in comparison.

It is when you step inside that the Vento appears to unleash a series of fast jabs. I’ve never been a fan of the City’s interior. Its plastics and colour scheme never did appeal to me. In comparison , the black interior with chrome highlights on the Vento look so much more appealing. Yes , some of the buttons , like those for climate control , feel a bit old-school and straight from Volkswagen AG’s parts bin , but just run your hands over the dashboard to feel the grain and texture and you immediately know the difference. Use any of the switchgear and this sense of quality gets only heightened.

The City has nicer looking upholstery , though , and the seat cushions are softer into the bargain. While the City may feel plusher at first , it is the Vento which will be more widely recommended by the chiropractor. Both have amazingly voluminous interiors , but the City just ‘out-spaces’ the Vento in rear knee room , recording a maximum of 930 mm to the German’s 890 mm.

On the move , the two cars transcribe completely different sensations to your being. Honda’s iVTEC engine is a jewel , endowing it with remarkable flexibility. Numbers don’t lie and the City out-punches the Vento in every department. Not only is it over a second quicker in the sprint to 100 km/h , it takes six seconds less in the fourth-gear slog from 40 to 100 km/h. The braking figures are similarly much better in the case of the City , although , to be fair , the Vento was hampered by a damp surface and our test car was not equipped with the anti-lock braking system (ABS).

In terms of numbers alone , the Vento suffers a bloody nose at the hands of the City. Then there’s fuel-efficiency. Despite producing greater outright power , the Honda engine is much more fuel-efficient too , returning 17.7 km per litre overall to the Vento’s 14.1 kpl , which is a difference of more than 20 per cent. Simply put , for every fivekilometres you’ll travel in a Vento , you’ll do six in the City. That the City sounds nicer when revved up is an added bonus.

But then there are other aspects to be considered too. The Vento is a better car to steer , for example. The feel through the ‘wheel is better judged and more precise , which is a good thing when you’re at speed on the highway. In comparison , the City’s lighter steering might not feel as confidence-inspiring on the highway , but it is much easier to steer through traffic. The Vento fights back with a better ride quality too , especially over the jarring sharp-edged potholes of our monsoon-ravaged roads. You need to watch out for the Vento’s nose , though , which has a pronounced overhang like its little sibling Polo.

Thus far , this is a fight which has been progressing from round to round with both throwing some heavy punches. But is there a knock-out waiting to be delivered?

Just as the City appears to be taking a breather after a frantic rounds early on , the Vento unleashes a left hook that just might stop the king in its tracks: price. At Rs 9.26 lakh (OTR , Pune) , the German car is a cool Rs 1 lakh cheaper than the Honda City. Spec for spec , the two are evenly matched , with the Vento actually having bonuses such as climate control and a seat adjustment lever in the rear. One hundred thousand rupees is no laughing matter , mind , and for value , the Vento has the City licked.

This bout will have to be called on technicalities; neither party seems to be able to knock the other to the canvas just yet. It’s been hard and fast , bloody and thrilling. A match well fought and fought fair. In the end , though , by a hair’s breadth , I’d hand it to the Vento. The City is a staggeringly good car , but the Vento’s no pushover either. At Rs 9.26 lakh , it’s almost a bargain in comparison.

Windows 7 Shortcuts

2010-12-19T05:54:00.000-08:00

Windows Phone 7 shortcuts

Original article By Damian Koh, CNET Asia (click here)

Basic controls

How to	Shortcut
Unlock phone	Slide up on the locked screen to key in passcode.
Set ringing mode to silent	Press the volume button to silence the ringer; press the power button to silence ringer and switch off screen.
Set ringing mode to vibrate	Press the volume button and tap on the Ringer icon.
Display the status bar	Tap the top edge of the screen.
Return to home screen	Press the Start button.
Open a context-specific menu	Tap and hold on the screen.
Pin a Live tile on home screen	Tap and hold on the screen to bring up "pin to start" option. This works for applications, pictures, songs, map locations, favorite Web sites, OneNote notes and contacts.
Unpin a Live tile on home screen	Tap and hold on the screen to highlight the tile then select the unpin icon on the top right corner.
Rearrange tiles on the home screen	Tap and hold on the screen to highlight the tile then move is to desired location.
Do a voice search	Press and hold the Start button. Typical commands include "call name", "call phone number", "find search term" and "openapplication".
Access advanced options	Tap on the row of three dots at the bottom of the screen.
Quickly call someone from phone history	Tap the Call icon to call the person at the current number.
Jump to a letter in contacts	In People, tap any letter in the colored box and then the desired letter in the alphabet grid.
To bring up in-call options	Tap on the Down arrow to access the speakerphone, mute, hold and add call options.

Messaging

How to	Shortcut
Access common punctuation symbols	Tap and hold the period button and slide your finger to any of the /, :, ", &, + or - punctuation.
Activate onscreen cursor	Tap and hold the screen near the text you want to change.
Delete multiple emails	Tap on the far left of an email to bring up the check boxes.
To quickly add a period	Tap Space twice.
Turn on Caps lock	Tap and hold or double-tap the Shift key. Tap once more to turn it off.
Replace word you've type	Tap on the word to bring up the suggested list.
Send a multimedia message	Tap on the Attach button to pick a photo or start the camera for a new picture.

Web browser

How to	Shortcut
Zoom in/zoom out on Web page	Pinch/reverse pinch or double-tap to zoom in on a particular section.
Bookmark a Web page	Tap on the Star icon with a + sign.
Toggle between multiple windows	Tap on the multiple page icon.
Access common domain names	Tap and hold .com button and slide your finger to any of the .org, .edu and .net selections.

Multimedia

How to	Shortcut
Zoom in/zoom out when viewing photos	Pinch/reverse pinch or double-tap.
Share photos via email/SMS/or upload to Facebook/SkyDrive	Tap and hold the picture or tap More and select the Share option.
Access music playback controls	Press the volume key to bring up a mini player control.
Activate the camera when phone is locked	Press and hold the camera shutter.

Wikileaks cables!

2010-12-19T00:27:00.001-08:00

Click here for The Guardian’s compilation of the WikiLeaks U.S. Embassy cables on India. The cables also include assessments sent by U.S. embassies in South Asia.

The Guardian's compilation can be accessed at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/series/us-embassy-cables-the-documents

Click here to download. (.7z can be unzipped using winzip)

Stem Cell replacement cures AIDS patient!

2010-12-15T23:29:00.000-08:00

Scientists from Germany claim that stemcell transplant can cure AIDS. But the viability of this as a mass treatment for AIDS is still doubted.

Timothy Brown, 42-year-old, is an American who is living in Berlin, underwent a blood stem cell transplant and chemotherapy in 2007, in order to treat her leukemia, after this condition was developed after he was diagnosed of acquiring HIV virus. Three years later, experts were been amazed that there is no any trace that he still has both of his illness. He was believed to be totally cured on both of his AIDS virus infection and cancer.

Experts believed that brown is the first person to be cured from acquiring HIV illness, and believed that the treatment may help them to develop a new approach to fight the virus in the future

WikiLeaks under attack - the definitive timeline

2010-12-08T03:36:00.001-08:00

On 28 November Wikileaks began releasing the first of its 2,50,000 leaked U.S. embassy cables. Almost immediately, a hacking attack known as a “DDOS” — distributed denial of service — attack tried to knock it off the net. These are the attacks that have followed in the succeeding days.
Sunday 28 November — Tech: DDoS attack hits WikiLeaks as first set of U.S. diplomatic cables is published.
Wednesday 1 December — Tech: Tableau Software, which offers free software for data visualisation, removes the public views of graphics built using information about the diplomatic cables. It is the first company to distance itself from Wikileaks, and admits that the reason was pressure from Senator Joe Lieberman, an independent senator with ties to the Democratic party.
Politics: Lieberman, chairman of the Senate’s committee on homeland security, calls for Wikileaks to be taken offline. “I call on any other company or organization that is hosting Wikileaks to immediately terminate its relationship with them. Wikileaks’ illegal, outrageous, and reckless acts have compromised our national security and put lives at risk around the world. No responsible company — whether American or foreign — should assist Wikileaks in its efforts to disseminate these stolen materials.”
Tech: Amazon removes Wikileaks’s content from its EC2 cloud service, but later insists it did so because the content could cause harm to people and did not belong to Wikileaks ? and that it was not due to political pressure or the hacker attacks against the site.
Friday 3 December — Tech: Wikileaks.org ceases to work for web users after everyDNS.com, which had provided a free routing service translating the human-readable address into a machine-readable form, ends support.
Wikileaks shifts to a backup domain registered in Switzerland but actually hosted in Sweden, at Wikileaks.ch, though the cables are hosted in part by OVH, an internet provider in the north of France.
EveryDNS claims that the DDOS attacks against Wikileaks were disrupting its service provided to thousands of other customers. The company says it is “following established policies so as not to put any one EveryDNS.net user’s interests ahead of any others. Lastly, regardless of what people say about the actions of EveryDNS.net, we know this much is true — we believe in our New Hampshire state motto, Live Free or Die.”
Politics: French industry minister Eric Besson writes to internet companies warning them there will be “consequences” for any companies or organisations helping to keep WikiLeaks online in the country.
Saturday 4 December — Money: PayPal, owned by U.S. auction site eBay, permanently restricts account used by WikiLeaks due to a “violation of the PayPal Acceptable Use Policy”. A spokesman said the account was suspended because “[it] cannot be used for any activities that encourage, promote, facilitate or instruct others to engage in illegal activity.” You can still donate at Commerzbank Kassel in Germany or Landsbanki in Iceland or by post to a post office box at the University of Melbourne or at http://wikileaks.ch/support.html
Tech: Switch, the Swiss registrar for Wikileaks.ch declines pressure from U.S. and French authorities to remove the site or block access to it.
Sunday 3 December — Tech: The Pirate Party in Sweden says that it has taken over the hosting of the Cablegate directory of Wikileaks after the server in France at OVH, which had been hosting the contents of the U.S. diplomatic cables released so far, goes offline.
Monday 6 December — Money: Credit card company Mastercard withdraws ability to make donations to Wikileaks. “MasterCard is taking action to ensure that WikiLeaks can no longer accept MasterCard-branded products,” the credit card outfit says.
Tech: Wikileaks’ servers in Sweden attacked by distributed denial of service attack.
Money: Postfinance, the Swiss postal system, strips WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange of a key fundraising tool, accusing him of lying and immediately shutting down one of his bank accounts. The bank says that Mr. Assange had “provided false information regarding his place of residence during the account opening process.” Mr. Assange had told Postfinance he lived in Geneva but could offer no proof that he was a Swiss resident, a requirement of opening such an account. Postfinance spokesman Alex Josty told The Associated Press the account was closed Monday afternoon and there would be “no criminal consequences” for misleading authorities. “That’s his money, he will get his money back,” Josty said. “We just close the account and that’s it.”
Tuesday 7 December — Money: Credit card company Visa withdraws ability to make donations or payments to Wikileaks. “Visa Europe has taken action to suspend Visa payment acceptance on WikiLeaks’ website pending further investigation into the nature of its business and whether it contravenes Visa operating rules,” said a spokesman.
Copyright: Guardian News & Media 2010 - View the original article here

Acer announces 4.8-inch Android smartphone

2010-11-30T03:33:00.000-08:00

(Credit: Acer)
At a press conference this morning in New York, Acer introduced a number of new touch devices, including a very eye-catching Android smartphone that's due out in April 2011.
According to Acer, the yet-unnamed device has the "soul of a tablet" but the capabilities of a smartphone, with one of the hallmark features being its 4.8-inch, 1,024 x 480-pixel touchscreen. The company says the 21:9 aspect ratio display will provide the same user experience as a PC, so you won't need to zoom in and out and scroll left to right on Web pages.
Though Acer did not disclose which version of Android would run on the handset, the Web browser offers support for Adobe Flash 10.1, multiple windows, and multitouch.
Other goodies include a 1GHz processor, an 8-megapixel camera with LED flash and a front-facing 2-megapixel camera for video calling, DLNA support and Dolby Mobile Technology, Wi-Fi (802.11n), and Bluetooth 3.0.
The smartphone is a quad-band GSM handset and has HSPDA support, but there was no mention of carrier at this time.
Via Android Atlas

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Apple reportedly planning iOS 4.3 in Dec with app subscription

2010-11-30T03:12:00.000-08:00

Damian Koh | Nov 24, 2010

Apple is said to be targeting a iOS 4.3 release, which will enable subscription billing for applications as early as December 13, according to blog site MacStories. It is also believed that The Daily, a joint effort between Apple and News Corp, will be the first app to support a recurring payment mode.

Earlier reports had confirmed that News Corp was working on a daily tablet-only digital newspaper, which will cost US$0.99 per week. The Daily is expected to be unveiled in December with a launch slated for early 2011. Daring Fireball's John Gruber speculated that an update to the iOS may be required to support the subscription billing APIs. This would give developers and publishers the avenue to charge users for daily, weekly or monthly content updates.

In June this year, Apple announced it was building a server farm facility in North Carolina. Many in the media surmised that the data center, which is on schedule for completion year-end, will form the backbone for Apple's cloud services. This seems to corroborate with the release of the rumored iOS 4.3.

An anonymous source also told MacStories that Apple was already planning to release a new build of iOS 4.x in mid-December. This was even before the Wi-Fi issues on iOS 4.2 were discovered, which subsequently delayed the launch of the update. The source added that iOS 4.3 should include "bug fixes and maintenance of the code" and will likely address initial issues with the wireless streaming feature AirPlay.

The source also suggested that the new data center will lead to a "mass expansion of all services, iTunes, MobileMe, activations, retail services and any cloud services they [Apple] might go with in the future".

This could possibly allay future download hiccups, which some users experienced when iOS 4 was first released in June.

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Site under cyber attack, says WikiLeaks

2010-11-28T10:31:00.001-08:00

AP File photo of Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks. The webite is apparently down after a suspected cyber attack. The whistle-blower website WikiLeaks has said its website is under a cyber attack. The website, in its Twitter feed has posted this: "We are currently under a mass distributed denial of service attack."

The website had earlier announced that it would publish more logs on Iraq war on Sunday.

Several countries including the United States, have asked Wikileaks to halt the release of the classified documents of the State Department.

In its latest Twitter feed, Wikileaks has assertained that it will go ahead with its plans. "El Pais, Le Monde, Speigel, Guardian & NYT will publish many U.S. embassy cables tonight, even if WikiLeaks goes down," reads its Twiiter feed.

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Rare Apple computer sells for $210,700

2010-11-28T07:04:00.000-08:00

This Apple-1 sold at a Christie's auction for $210,700.
(Credit: Christie's)
Talk about a smart tech buy. An Apple computer purchased more than 30 years ago has sold for 425 times its original selling price.
An Apple-1, one of only about 200 such machines built in Apple co-founder Steve Jobs' parents' garage, sold at Christie's auction house in London today for 133,250 pounds (about $210,700). The Apple-1, which didn't include a casing, power supply, keyboard, or monitor, originally retailed for $666.66 in 1976. Apple discontinued the model in 1977.
Christie's called the computer a "historic relic" and said the auction included all the original components, including its 8K bytes of RAM, in its original shipping box, as well as a signed letter from Jobs to the original owner.
The winning bidder was Italian businessman and private collector Marco Boglion, who made his offer over the phone, according to the Associated Press.
In a time when most personal computers were sold as self-assembly kits, the Apple-1 broke new ground as the first personal computer sold with a fully assembled motherboard.
Fellow Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, who attended the auction in London, threw in an autographed letter with the sale. Wozniak said he was proud to have his work auctioned alongside such technologically notables as an Enigma, the World War II German code-making machine, and documents from British mathematician Alan Turing, a pioneer of modern computing.
"Today my heart went out as I got to see things auctioned off like the Turing documents and the Enigma machine--and the Apple I," Wozniak reportedly told journalists after the auction. "It really was an important step, (even though) I didn't feel that way when I designed it."
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Kindle vs. Nook vs. iPad: Which e-book reader should you buy?

2010-11-28T06:48:00.000-08:00

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)
Editors' note, November 26: This story has been updated since its original publication to reflect the latest Kindle, Nook, and Sony models, and to address reader comments.
Yes, it's true: now is a better time than ever to be in the market for an e-book reader. Hardware prices are more affordable, and more titles are available electronically--anywhere from hundreds of thousands to millions, depending on whether you include the huge library of free public-domain titles--than at any point in history.
The market has consolidated around a handful of major players: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Sony, and Apple. Recently updated products from the first three include excellent options in the sub-$250 (and even sub-$150) price ranges. Also, a flood of new reading-centric apps continues to solidify the Apple iPad's position as the premium media tablet of choice--even as a likely wave of competing Android tablets appears on the horizon.
With these new variables, now is a perfect time to re-evaluate the e-book reader landscape and figure out which product is best for you. If you're an experienced shopper, you can jump straight to our current recommendations--or check our lists of top e-book readers and top tablets. If you're looking for a more in-depth discussion, read on to consult this quick guide, which boils the purchase decision down to eight questions:
At the bottom of the price scale, you'll find lesser-known readers such as the Aluratek Libre, Kobo eReader, and the Sharper Image Literati that now cost as little as $99 to $129. However, we strongly steer bargain hunters toward the latest versions of the Amazon Kindle (CNET Editors' Choice) or the Barnes & Noble Nook. They're priced at $139 and $149, respectively.
As you approach the $200 price point, you can step up to an e-book reader with built-in cellular data that lets you download books, magazines, and newspapers anywhere there's AT&T coverage. You'll pay a $50 premium on top of the Wi-Fi-only models mentioned above to get their otherwise identical 3G equivalents: the $189 Kindle (CNET Editors' Choice) or the $199 Nook. (There's no charge for the wireless service itself--see question 4 below for more details.)
If you want to pay a premium for touch-screen support (and ultimate portability), check out the new Sony Reader Pocket Edition PRS-350 ($179). Unfortunately, it lacks any sort of wireless option, so you're required to download books to your PC first, then transfer them via a USB cable. (For touch-screen support plus built-in Wi-Fi and 3G, you'll need to spend $299 on the Sony Reader Daily Edition PRS-950, which also features a larger 7-inch screen.)
Sitting in the middle price range of the e-reader category is the $249 Barnes & Noble Nook Color (CNET Editors' Choice). This Android-powered color LCD touch-screen reader straddles the gulf between the entry-level e-ink readers mentioned above, and more expensive--and versatile--tablets discussed below.
Amazon's large-screen Kindle DX and the Apple iPad dominate the high-end e-book reader market. The Kindle DX costs $379, whereas the iPad ranges in price from $499 (16GB, Wi-Fi only) to $829 (64GB, Wi-Fi plus 3G). Yes, both of these devices are considerably more expensive than the aforementioned readers, but the iPad is more of a Netbook or laptop competitor than it is an e-book reader competitor. The iPad offers a variety of step-up features--via tens of thousands of downloadable apps--that currently aren't available on more-affordable mainstream e-readers. That said, the Nook Color also delivers some of the same Web browsing and multimedia features as the iPad, and it may become a more formidable competitor as more Nook-compatible apps are introduced in 2011.
We know there are a variety of competing e-book readers available that we didn't mention, including the Entourage Edge and the Alex eReader. That's because we don't consider any of them truly competitive with the Nook, Kindle, Sony Readers, or iPad at their current prices. However, the arrival of new tablet models could change that in the very near future.
Best e-book readers (under $150): Amazon Kindle (Wi-Fi), Barnes & Noble Nook (Wi-Fi)
Best e-book readers ($150-$200): Amazon Kindle (3G/Wi-Fi), Barnes & Noble Nook (3G/Wi-Fi)
Best color e-book reader (under $250): Barnes & Noble Nook Color
Best e-book readers ($350 and above): Apple iPad, Amazon Kindle DX
Even if you plan to never leave home with your e-book reader, you should consider its size before buying one. Since you hold the device in front of you whenever you want to read, the weight and size can be an issue.
The smallest and lightest dedicated e-book reader we've seen to date is the aforementioned Sony Reader Pocket Edition PRS-350, which has a 5-inch touch screen and weighs just 5.5 ounces (without a case). With its 6-inch screen, the latest Kindle is a svelte 8.7 ounces (without case)--15 percent lighter than its predecessor. The E-ink Nooks--also with a 6-inch screen--round out the "light" group at 11.6 to 12.1 ounces.
The Nook Color boasts a larger 7-inch screen, but it weighs almost a full pound (15.8 ounces). The Sony Reader Daily Edition PRS-950 also has a 7-inch screen (e-ink), but tips the scales at an impressive 9.6 ounces.
If you want a truly large (9.7-inch) screen, you'll want to buy the Kindle DX or Apple iPad. However, at 1.2 pounds and 1.5 pounds (without case), respectively, some people find these devices to be too heavy to hold for long reading sessions.
Remember, all e-book readers let you adjust the font size of the content you're reading, so even a small screen can display much larger type than you're used to seeing in a book, magazine, or newspaper. In other words, a smaller screen does not mean you need to sacrifice readability.
Lightest e-book readers: Sony Reader Pocket Edition PRS-350, Amazon Kindle (Wi-Fi), Amazon Kindle (3G/Wi-Fi)
Large-screen readers: Amazon Kindle DX, Apple iPad
E-ink: As close as you'll get to a printed page
Dedicated e-book readers such as Nook, Kindle, and Sony Reader use an e-ink screen. However, e-ink screens have some drawbacks: they're black and white, and the pages don't refresh as quickly as an LCD does. However, they do an excellent job of reproducing the look of the printed paper. With few exceptions, they're not backlit--so you can't read in the dark--but you can read them in direct sunlight, which is something you can't do on an LCD screen (a fact Amazon is keen to point out in its advertising).
If you prefer to read at night with e-ink, however, all is not lost; cases with built-in lights are available for the Kindle, Nook, and Sony Reader models.
(Credit: Apple)
LCD: Bright, backlit--and potentially tiring
In contrast, the iPad's LCD screen is a bright, colorful, beautiful display; the Nook Color has a smaller but still brilliant color LCD as well. Both are full touch screens (the e-ink Nook has a small LCD touch screen that's used for navigation, but its larger e-ink display doesn't respond to finger swipes). But those advantages have trade-offs. The iPad's reflective screen makes it hard to read in bright light, and many people find that the backlight tires their eyes over long reading sessions.
So, which screen is better for reading: e-ink or LCD? We can't answer that question for you. (See LCD vs. e-ink: The eyestrain debate.) If you don't have a problem staring at your laptop or LCD monitor screen for hours on end--or if you enjoy reading in low light without an external light source--you'll probably like the iPad's screen. Likewise, if you enjoy reading Web sites, magazines, and newspapers, and if you want support for interactive children's books, you'll want to go with color. However, if you prefer the look of newsprint or if you enjoy reading outside, an e-ink display is your friend.
Touch screen: Prevalent but not universal
A related concern: is touch-screen support a must-have? To date, the 2010 Sony Readers (starting at $179 with no wireless) are the only worthwhile e-ink touch-screen models we've seen. Conversely, the Apple iPad's capacitive color LCD touch screen is arguably the standard against which all touch screens are judged. Meanwhile, the smaller Barnes & Noble Nook Color is the best color LCD touch-screen we've seen on a sub-$250 reading device. The entry-level Nook splits the difference with a touch-screen color navigation pad that sits below a black-and-white e-ink screen.
We expect touch-screen support to become standard by the end of 2011, whether on LCD or e-ink models. In the meantime, you'll pay a premium for touch-screen support.
Whether you're checking your preference for e-ink versus LCD or touch screen versus keyboard controls, we'd strongly recommend that you try a few devices before you buy one. You'll find most major e-book readers (Kindles, Nooks, Sony Readers, Apple iPads) under one roof at your local Best Buy. (Note that the Kindle and Sony Readers use the new and improved "Pearl" e-ink screen, whereas the one found on the e-ink Nook models is one generation older.)
Best e-ink screens: Amazon Kindle (Wi-Fi), Amazon Kindle (3G/Wi-Fi), Sony Reader Pocket Edition PRS-350, Sony Reader Touch Edition PRS-650, Sony Reader Daily Edition PRS-950
Best LCD color screens: Barnes & Noble Nook Color, Apple iPad
Best touch screens: Barnes & Noble Nook Color, Apple iPad, Sony Reader Pocket Edition PRS-350, Sony Reader Touch Edition PRS-650, Sony Reader Daily Edition PRS-950
The entry-level Nook, Kindle, and iPad models only have Wi-Fi for going online; the $189 Kindle, the $199 Nook, the Sony Reader Daily Edition, and the more-expensive iPads have access to AT&T's 3G cellular network in addition to Wi-Fi. Notably, the 3G data service on the applicable Nooks, Kindles, and Sony Readers is free. On the iPad you'll pay a monthly fee to AT&T, but it's a prepaid monthly service, not a long-term contract; in other words, you can cancel or restart any time, without paying an expensive early termination fee.
The 3G premium on the Nook and Kindle is $50 each; on the iPad, it's $130, plus the monthly data bill. Is the extra money worth it? As with the screen decision, this is a personal preference. Personally, I think Wi-Fi is adequate for an e-book reader. If you plan to take a long trip to a remote area--the desert, mountains, moon, wherever--you can always download and purchase a long list of books in advance and take them with you on the reader.
For the iPad, which offers a wide range of additional online features--such as e-mail, video, a full Web browser, social networking, and so on--a 3G data connection may be a more useful feature. However, with more phones offering Wi-Fi hot spot functionality and establishments such as Starbucks offering free Wi-Fi, there are plenty of ways to get seamless online coverage with your reading device without it having 3G network support built-in.
Best Wi-Fi readers/tablets: Amazon Kindle (Wi-Fi),Barnes & Noble Nook Color, Apple iPad (Wi-Fi), Barnes & Noble Nook (Wi-Fi)
Best 3G readers/tablets: Amazon Kindle (3G/Wi-Fi), Barnes & Noble Nook (3G/Wi-Fi), Apple iPad (3G/Wi-Fi)
One of the advantages of having your reading collection "in the cloud" is that you can access your books on multiple devices, though some e-book vendors offer better cross-platform support than others do.
The Android Kindle app
(Credit: Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)
Amazon and Barnes & Noble are currently neck and neck when it comes to device support. In addition to their respective e-book readers, both vendors offer free apps on the iPad, iPhone/iPod Touch, Android phones, BlackBerry phones, Windows PCs, and Macs. So even when you leave the e-reader at home, for instance, you can pick up your book right where you left off and continue reading it on your phone or PC screen.
Sony currently offers Windows and Mac versions of its software (currently called Reader Library, soon to be rebadged as "Reader Desktop Edition"). The company has pledged to offer iOS (iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad) and Android Reader apps before the end of 2010.
For now, you can only read Apple's iBooks on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch.
Kobo also has good cross-platform e-book support. In addition to Apple iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch, you can get a Kobo app for BlackBerry, Android, and Palm Pre phones.

The bottom line is that Amazon and Barnes & Noble currently have the best support for a wide variety of devices. But since this software is free, you can mix and match e-book stores as needed. You can also "try before you buy" as each platform offers hundreds, if not thousands, of public-domain books that you can download and read for free.
Best cross-platform providers: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo
Most versatile hardware readers: Apple iPad, Apple iPhone/iPod Touch, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Android phones with full Android Market support, Android tablets with full Android Market support
Each of the readers listed above can download and display books from their respective online bookstores, and the iPad works with several (Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and iBooks, to name a few). However, there's also an open e-book file standard known as EPUB. Using this format, you can obtain loaner books from certain online local libraries, as well as download free (mostly public domain, pre-1923) books from a variety of sources, such as Google Books.
Of the leading e-book readers, only the Kindle can not read files in the EPUB format. If that's a must-have feature, then, you'll want to steer clear of Amazon's reader. That said, thousands of the most desirable public-domain titles are available on the Kindle for free. As a result, we don't consider the Kindle's dearth of EPUB compatibility to be a black mark on the device. (Note: Expert users can convert EPUB files to Kindle-friendly format using the freeware Calibre software.)
Best EPUB support: Anything except Amazon Kindle
Not every e-book store has the same selection of titles. Moreover, comparing the relative numbers of titles in each store is difficult, because some of them count periodicals, games, and--most importantly--free, public domain books. But by most estimates, Amazon's Kindle store has the best selection of books overall, with over 700,000 titles. Barnes & Noble is second, and Kobo, Borders, and Apple bring up the rear.
Note that not every book is currently available electronically. Also, some publishers delay the electronic version of the book for weeks or months after the publication of the paper version (a process known as "windowing").
How can you tell if your favorite author or favorite books are available on a given format? Thankfully, most e-book stores can be searched through a standard Web browser:
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Borders
Kobo

The one exception is iBooks (Apple). To search Apple's selection, you'll need the free iBooks app on a compatible device (iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch).
Ironically, the most popular e-book readers offer compatibility only with one store each: Kindles only work with Amazon's store, Nooks only work with Barnes & Noble. Tablets and smartphones that offer wider app support are the closest thing to "universal" readers. The iPad, for instance, can toggle between reading apps from Apple (iBooks), Barnes & Noble (Nook), Amazon (Kindle), Kobo, and many others.
The same is true for the Samsung Galaxy Tab, which has access to the Android Market. The Kindle app is pre-installed, and you can also download the Nook, Borders, or Kobo apps. (Don't expect to ever see Apple's iBooks app offered on the Android Market.)
Most versatile hardware readers: Apple iPad, Apple iPhone/iPod Touch, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Android phones with full Android Market support, Android tablets with full Android Market support
This is basically the "dedicated e-book reader or multifunction tablet?" question. Though the Kindle and e-ink Nook can do some other things, their Web browsers and onboard games pale in comparison to what you can do on tablets like the iPad, the Galaxy Tab, and even the Nook Color.
The Nook Color is the big wild card here. It's not as versatile as those tablets, but it's already got a worthwhile Web browser, works as a decent media player (for some audio and video files), and supports Pandora's free music streaming service. Barnes & Noble is pledging to deliver more apps in 2011, and--since the Nook Color uses a version of the Android operating system--porting existing Android apps should be pretty straightforward. The addition of (for instance) a good email app, social media apps (Facebook, Twitter), and real Flash support (already promised) could go a long way to making the Nook Color a "good enough" tablet for users who don't want to pay for the far more expensive likes of an iPad or Galaxy Tab.
So, for the time being: If you're only interested in reading books (plus newspapers and magazines), an e-book reader is the way to go. The Nook Color is a great choice if you want to add some light Web browsing--and the potential for more functionality in the future. If you're looking for something that approximates a laptop--e-mail, Web browsing, streaming media, games, and so forth--you should consider paying extra for a full-fledged tablet.
As of November 2010, CNET has bestowed its Editors' Choice award on two e-book readers: the current Amazon Kindle (both the 3G and Wi-Fi-only models) and the Barnes & Noble Nook Color. The Kindle is our pick for those who prefer e-ink screens, the Nook Color is our recommendation for those who prefer color (at the sub-$250 price point).
With its newly improved firmware, the Barnes & Noble Nook remains a worthwhile choice for e-ink fans (if you prefer EPUB compatibility), though we wish Barnes & Noble would offer it with the better Pearl e-ink screen found on the Amazon and Sony models.
If you want a more full-featured tablet that can double as an e-book reader, the Apple iPad is an excellent choice. The same is true of the Samsung Galaxy Tab. Both offer free Kindle, Nook, Borders, and Kobo reading apps, with full access to those e-book stores. Additionally, the iPad offers Apple's own iBooks application.
Best overall e-ink e-book readers: Amazon Kindle (Wi-Fi), Amazon Kindle (3G/Wi-Fi)
Best color touch-screen LCD e-book reader (under $250): Barnes & Noble Nook Color
Best tablets for reading: Apple iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab
Depending what features are important to you--color versus black and white screen, backlight versus readability in the sun, touch screen versus not, cheap versus expensive, 3G versus Wi-Fi, lightweight versus heavy, reading-only versus full-featured--the device you prefer may be different from ours. However, there's no arguing that the range of choices for e-book readers is better and more affordable now than it ever has been.
Share your thoughts and experiences about e-book reader preferences in the comments below.
Additional reading:
Best e-book readers
Best tablets
Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble Nook Color earn CNET Editors' Choice Awards
LCD vs. e-ink: The eyestrain debate
How to self-publish an e-book
How to find free e-books for your Kindle
See all recent e-book reader reviews

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