No iPod and Google for Steve Ballmer and his family

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in an interview by Fortune magazine answered to the question, Do you have an iPod?

"No, I do not. Nor do my children. My children--in many dimensions they're as poorly behaved as many other children, but at least on this dimension I've got my kids brainwashed: You don't use Google, and you don't use an iPod."



Well, you can't have everything.

"BBC stories used as bait for IE exploit" (from CNET)

CNET's article "BBC stories used as bait for IE exploit" outlines how spammers are using the flaw to gain access to systems and infect them with keystroke loggers to capture information like passwords. How to protect yourself? Disable Active scripting or use another browser.

64 GB USB Flash Drive !

Too good to be true? BUSlink has on their website a 64 Gigabyte USB Flash drive for sale at a price of $5000. Other sizes available : 16 GB for $1,500 and 8 GB for $800.

Found via Engadget.

Apple versus Apple : a continuing legal battle

An article in LegalZoom discusses the ongoing battle between Apple Corps, a recording company founded by the Beatles in 1968, and Apple Computers, founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak and introduced Apple I in 1976. The issue? Trademark violations, and Apple Corps has sued Apple Computers 3 times since 1981. The score so far is 2-0 in favor of Apple Corps.

Read more....

Your old Toshiba notebooks, LCD monitors and Pocket PCs for a new USB drive

If you have any old Toshiba notebook, LCD monitor or Pocket PC tucked away in your stash of electronic devices(working and non-working), then you might consider trading it in for a useful USB drive. This is Toshiba's way of rounding up electronic devices that end up in landfills and are not disposed of properly. Toshiba’s Environmental Recovery and Recycling Effort (TERRE) is the name of the program that aims to do good both for you and the environment.

Note: Canada only.

Open link for more details.
Found via Digg

Video Blogging with Vlog It!

Vlog It! is a video blogging software that handles the technical part of creating video content for your blog, presentation materials, video guides, etc.

Output resolution is up to 320 X 240 and video formats include Macromedia Flash(.flv), Windows Media Player (.wmv) and Real Player(.rm).

SpaceX's Falcon 1 launches but unsuccessful to reach space

SpaceX or Space Exploration Technologies Corporation launched its first Falcon rocket last March 24, carrying DARPA payload, but unfortunately the flight abruptly ended before the rocket even reached space.

Read more from MSNBC....

Tech Buzz Game : An addictive prediction market game

"The Tech Buzz Game is a fantasy prediction market for high-tech products, concepts, and trends

Predict the technologies people will be searching the web for in the future.

Put your (fantasy) money where your mouth is by buying stock in the technologies you believe will be popular and selling stock in the technologies you think will flop."

-----Yahoo! Research / Tech Buzz Game

The Tech Buzz Game is truly an addictive activity.....and I am currently a proud owner of Xbox, Fedora, Gnome, World of Warcraft and Creative Zen stocks.....

Try it out yourself.....

See "About" page for details on the game.....

Symbian OS versus Windows Mobile

Symbian powered Nokia phones have been known to be innovative, efficient and user-friendly. Windows Mobile on the other hand is gaining ground on the mobile OS market, as newer smartphones have the Windows mobile OS installed.

Here's a good comparison article to help you judge which one may suit you as ....Symbian and Windows Mobile champions head to head.

Waiting for the Da Vinci Code movie? Watch the trailer now.

If you're waiting for "The Da Vinci Code" movie, like most of us are, then you probably would like to catch a sneak preview.......and count the days to May 19th.

Video trailer from Yahoo! movies

Samsung's 10 megapixel camera phone + Smartphone with 8 GB of storage.

Samsung offers two firsts : the first 10 mega-pixel camera phone and the first smartphone to have 8 GB of embedded storage.


Tale of the tape:

SGH-i310

Standard : GSM / GPRS (900 / 1800/1900MHz) + EDGE
OS : Windows Mobile 5.0 for Smartphone
Camera : 2 Megapixel Camera with Flash
Display : 2.0" 240x320 65K Color TFT

Features:
8 GB HDD
Video Recording & Messaging (MPEG4 / H.263)
MP3 / AAC / ACC+ / ACC+(e) / WMA / WAV / OGG
Dual Speaker / Digital Power Amp / External Music Key / BT Stereo
Bluetooth® Technology / USB 2.0 / Voice Recognition
Document Viewer / TV-out / BT Printing

Memory : 8GB HDD embedded, External memory (microSD)

Size : 111.9 x 48.5 x 19.8 mm

Weight : 120 g


SGH-P910

Standard : CDMA 2000 1X EVDO (800 MHz)
Camera : 10 Megapixel Camera
Display : 2.2" 240x320 16M Color TFT LCD

Features :

Satellite Digital Multimedia Broadcasting
Video Recording & Messaging (MPEG4 / H.264)
MP3/ AAC / AAC+
Dual Speaker / Anycall Band
Bluetooth® Technology / PictBridge / Voice Recognition
Document Viewer / TV-output / BT Printing

Memory : External memory (MMCmicro)



Source for phone specifications : SAMSUNG INTRODUCES THE WORLD'S FIRSTS IN MOBILE

GameBoy CD player

Another cool mod! This guy put together an old GameBoy and connected it via cartridge to a controller board and out into a CD Drive. Check out the whole process and the working model.

Mechanical Turk : Artificial, Artificial Intelligence

Technology has allowed computers to solve complex mathematical problems, project cause and effects, simulate different environments and achieve "signs" of AI by relying on large amounts of data stored on databases and logic sequences. But for simple mundane tasks, computers are still dumb machines that rely much on human input.

Amazon, with Mechanical Turk (weird-sounding name, but nonetheless "appropriate") tries to create a network of humans working on problems and mimicking Artificial Intelligence in the process. And also, you get paid for answering queries of course, because your answers are actually being fed to other web services that require "human intelligence." What are the requirements to join? You just need to open an Amazon Account, and you can start to accomplish HITs (Human Intelligence Tasks), leading to accumulated HITs and earnings.

Its an interesting concept, and I think the data being gathered by the whole process could be used to develop real AI. Here's the FAQ page if you want to learn more.....

Another rumor coming true : Dell to acquire Alienware

From the CNET article Dell to acquire Alienware :

"There will be no cross-marketing of Dell and Alienware PCs on their respective Web sites, at least initially, said Jess Blackburn, a Dell spokesman. Some Dell-branded products that Alienware doesn't sell, such as monitors, might be sold on Alienware's site, but that hasn't been finalized.

The deal gives Dell a chance to tap into the profitable high-end PC gaming market, Blackburn said. The purchase is not material to Dell's finances, he said.

Alienware had considered raising capital through an initial public offering, but came to realize that being acquired by Dell would allow it to raise more money and to take advantage of Dell's supply chain and procurement expertise, Gonzalez said.

"We know our strengths and know our weaknesses, and one of our weaknesses has been supply chain," Gonzalez said. Both companies use direct sales models to reach customers, but Dell is well-known for its efficient manufacturing process."

Will this mean that Dell might abandon its XPS line, as that is in direct competition with Alienware gaming systems? Or they might just want to keep the competition between themselves.

iPhone coming soon?

Smarthouse, an Australian magazine, recently published a scoop on the next big Apple product : the iPhone. It's basically an iPod with integrated phone functions, and rumors about it have been circulating for a while now, but this article confirms that we might be seeing the phone sooner than we think.

So will the iPhone become another consumer standard? It will definitely have a niche, but phone manufacturers of today are also extending their imagination and the limits of technology to come out with innovative phones. We'll just have to wait and see.

Googlefight

Based on the number of search queries in Google, Googlefight compares results for two keywords. I've been playing around with it and it is fun looking at who, what or where wins. As an example, I made a Microsoft versus Google match, and Microsoft won by a small margin.

Koobox : Desktops + Linux

Koobox entirely ships desktops pre-loaded with Linspire, and will not offer OS alternatives (like Windows), which will test how the public will embrace the thought of leaving the confines of the Windows environment. Prices (without monitors) range from 299 to 499 and offer AMD processors (starting at an AMD Sempron 2800).

More details from the Koobox website.

CNet's Top 10 must-have gadgets

Taking a look at CNet's Top 10 must-haves, is definitely worth the time. Forgive me for salivating.

1.) Creative Zen Vision:M
2.) Sony PlayStation Portable
3.) Xbox 360
4.) Archos AV500 Mobile DVR
5.) Panasonic TH-42PHD8UK
6.) Slingbox
7.) Soundmatters MainstageHD
8.) Dell XPS M170
9.) Palm Treo 700w
10.)Canon PowerShot S80

Mastering GMail

Lifehacker's "Hack Attack: Become a Gmail master" is a very informative guide into maximizing your @gmail account.

Start becoming. Start hacking!

Does backing up your data online make sense?

With the prices of storage devices like USB Flash Drives and HDDs dropping while their capacity is ever increasing, the prospect of having your data saved online may seem impractical. Just buy storage and save or back-up all your data in there, or just burn 'em to a CD for a no fuss solution. But what about critical data that you want to access wherever you go, or data that you might want to share with your team or group?

Victor Loh at ExtremeTech has written a nice rebuttal, and it is an interesting topic most especially with Google speculated to release an online storage service that may or may not integrate with GMail and Writely. Currently there are many who offer online storage service, and most of them are free for the first few hundred MBs. I'm currently using Openomy, which gives you 1 GB of storage space, gives you tagging functions and allows you to use their service and integrate it with other applications through their API. I'm reserving a list of services for a future post, but one can easily obtain information on online file storage by googling it.

THG's AMD versus Intel Processor Comparison

Tom's Hardware Guide CPU charts help you compare AMD and Intel Processors, and you are the one choosing the benchmarks. Updated for 2005-2006.

How do CRT and LCD monitors work

Though this is not a definitive guide, the bit-tech article "How do CRT and LCD monitors work " focuses on explaining the concepts behind CRT and LCD monitors in the most understandable way. If you want to know more about both types of display, here are pages from Wikipedia about CRT and LCD. The last part of the article about the future of display tells about what new types of monitor we would using, which reminds me of Multi-touch interaction.

*****
Found via Digg.

Spend less time in document creation by using Office Templates

Use Office Templates to create content, whether in Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Publisher, OneNote, Access, Visio, etc. Using templates make it easier to create office documents or other personal requirements.

V for Vendetta tops the Box Office

As expected, V for Vendetta tops the box office. The movie was produced by the Wachowski brothers, who were responsible for the Matrix trilogy. Definitely a must-watch.

Read more from Wikipedia.

The Whiskey PC

Searching Google for PC mods as I was thinking of creating a modcase for my older system, I came upon an article about a Whiskey PC by Jason Marton. I was skeptical at first (and still am) that the components being shown would fit inside the glass confines of the whiskey bottle. Well, it did, and I must say that this is one cool mod.

Check it out yourself.

Multi-Touch Interaction Research : The future replacement for the "mouse and keyboard"

We've seen the concepts in movies. No keyboard and mouse, just a screen, using either a glove or touching the screen and moving windows around, expanding or minimizing an image by hand gesture, bringing up a virtual keyboard, waving it away when not in use.

Multi-touch Interaction is the future. And it is here already. Computer scientist Jeff Han and his team have designed and created a 36 by 27 inch flat display that knows and responds to 10 fingers or more, creating a "graphical interaction surface". And you can do with it what is described in the above intro. See for yourself.

Top U.S. High School Scientists awarded by Intel

What are high school students of today doing? Well, surprisingly some of them are into deep research and are hard in formulating theories of their own. In the recent Intel Science Talent Search, the top high school scientist, Shannon Babb of American Fork High School in Utah was awarded a $100,000 scholarship for his research on water-quality problems. Several others also won scholarships totaling $530,000.

Download Macbreak Special : XP on Mac

Download video of actual installation of Windows on Mac, hosted by Leo Laporte and Ben Durbin.

The buzz about Macs running Windows XP.

Now that Mac, because of a great hack, is capable of running Windows XP, the question is how many people will switch out of OS X and plunge into Windows XP. Only time will tell, but right now, its either you do it for fun or your intending to use your Mac in your own office network. Its just nice to know that the great abyss that once divided Apple and the rest of the world has been bridged, or is it a just a chapter in the Apple Saga? Reading the articles related to this, I just can't take out of my mind John C. Dvorak's much maligned article saying that Apple will eventually drop OS X and opt for Windows. Now its not far-fetched anymore, all that is lacking is the blessing of Microsoft, Apple and the speculative consumers.

Slacking vs. Multitasking

Anne Fisher in an article in CNN points out that Slacking isn't as bad as the reputation that it is given : You can't be creative if you don't have time to create something new!

Multitasking has always been given such a special role in companies as something that drives productivity, but doing the same things over and over again makes most people dull, and eventually overtaken in career and in life by those who have taken time to think and create.

Fact or Fiction? It may or may not apply to you, but it does hold true for a lot of people.

Found Via Digg.

TalkCrunch

Tech Crunch is definitely the ultimate guide to Web 2.0 concepts, sites and companies. Now, Michael Arrington enters the podcasting field with Talk Crunch. Interesting theme : Talk to different founders of Web 2.0 companies featured in the popular blog, which has a large following enough to make this podcast as successful. 1st episode is out , which will be about CL2, Google's Calendar service.

Paul Graham on Startup names

Choosing a good name for internet startups is a task that requires imagination....why? As Paul Graham says in his blog:

"One of the hardest problems new startups face is choosing a name. All the good domain names seem to be taken-- and not by other companies, but by domain squatters.

The good news is, the feeling that all the good names are taken is an illusion. It must be, because I felt it in 1995. Squatters have registered huge numbers of names, certainly, but they can't register names as fast as 26^n grows.

Because so many names have been taken by squatters, a strange new phenomenon has arisen. It's now uncool to have a name that was obviously bought from squatters. It's like running Microsoft software on your servers. It suggests you have more money than brains, and that's not a good thing for a startup brand to suggest.

Hence names like Flickr, Writely, and Del.icio.us. These are the stars of recent startupdom, and yet they're living in decidedly marginal name space. It's a bit like when fashionable people started living in lofts in industrial neighborhoods."


Read more from the blog entry

What to do if your monitor is damaged by a magnet (the screen that is)

How to fix your monitor if some idiot puts a magnet on it illustrates the effect when someone intentionally or accidentally (or just for the fun of it) puts a magnet on your CRT monitors viewing screen. Also tells you how to fix it, so if you have a tucked away monitor that has suffered the same fate....you could try to bring it to good use by trying the simplest solution. Fighting fire by fire, or in this case, fighting magnet by a similar or stronger magnet.

Chemical Silliness

Chemistry is a serious science, I should know as I took Chemical Eng'g in college. But who says chemistry cannot be fun? Read about real Molecules with Silly or Unusual Names and probably use a line or two in a conversation to appear knowledgeable and funny at the same time.

Examples as quoted:

" Moronic Acid - This is a triterpenoid organic acid that is found in Pistacia resin, and is therefore of interest to people studying archaeological relics, shipwrecks and the contents of ancient Egyptian jars. But why it's called moronic acid is still unknown... Derivatives of this are called moronates, as in 'which moron-ate the contents of this jar?

Erotic Acid - No, this isn't the world's best aphrodisiac. Its correct name is orotic acid, but it has been misspelt so often in the chemical literature that it is also known as erotic acid! Another name for it is vitamin B13. Apparently, if you add another carbon to it, it becomes homo-erotic acid..."

Okay, I guess I probably chose the wrong acids, or does moronic and erotic blend well...

Processor Specs Listing from Geek.com

Geek.com has an intensive listing of processor specs, which has been a useful guide and reference for me and a lot of others in the I.T. field. Not as updated as I want it to be...but we'll see. Lists 145 different proc types.

Forbes Billionaires List

Forbes annually compiles a list of the World's Billionaires, the most current (article dated 3.9.06) includes the following as Top Ten:

1. William Gates
2. Warren Buffett
3. Carlos Slim Helú
4. Ingvar Kamprad
5. Lakshmi Mittal
6. Paul Allen
7. Bernard Arnault
8. Prince Alwaleed
9. Kenneth Thomson
10.Li Ka-shing

Okay, now two on the top ten built their own fortune from one company - Microsoft founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen, both of which are also college dropouts. Diverse sources of fortune : from Tech to Investing, from Fashion to Media, from Telecom to Steel.

Google Desktop.....(no more beta)

The Google Desktop moves out of beta, offers new and updated features including the quick search box by clicking on CTRL twice.

More info from the Google Blog and the features page for Google Desktop. Want to be updated and in-the-know about present and future developments and news? Visit the Google Desktop Blog.

Remember Sasser? Here's another worm that causes a system reboot

Remember the Sasser/Blaster worm that infected pre-SP2 XP machines? Well, here's an encounter with another worm that causes a reboot whenever a download is initiated or keywords are opened in an Explorer window.

What is it called?

"Email-Worm.Win32.Brontok.a (Kaspersky Lab) is also known as: W32/Rontokbro.gen@MM (McAfee), W32.Rontokbro@mm (Symantec), BackDoor.Generic.1138 (Doctor Web), W32/Korbo-B (Sophos), Worm/Brontok.a (H+BEDV), Win32.Brontok.A@mm (SOFTWIN), Worm.Mytob.GH (ClamAV), W32/Brontok.C.worm (Panda), Win32/Brontok.E (Eset)"

What does it do?

It changes the registry so that it could have freedom to launch itself at startup, and prevent the user from removing it.

How does it infect?

Spreads itself via e-mail

How can I prevent it?

Best way to prevent viruses still is to have your AV software updated and be discerning in opening e-mail attachments (especially if it is blatantly an executable file.)


Resource: Brontok e-mail worm

Porsche's $150,000 watch

Porsche's $150,000 watch clearly is a work of art. It is the first mechanical watch to have a digital display, and can monitor how long before you need to wind it.

"SPECS: PORSCHE DESIGN INDICATOR
Size: 1.9 in. (w), 0.7 in. (h)
Weight: 4.86 oz.
Price: $150,000
Case Material: Titanium
Individual Parts: About 800
Number Made: 40 (in 2005)
Years in Development: 4
New Complications: 2
Accuracy: Within 4 seconds a day"

Popular Mechanics has a "How it works" on this $15o,ooo chronograph.


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When and how to use internet image formats

Creating and maintaining websites require the use of images, but not all clearly distinguish what image type to use. Here's a guide found via Digg that illustrates how each file format can be used to make images more appropriate for websites.

Resources:

When and how to use internet image formats


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LCD "Image Persistence" on Dell 2005FPW

An article from Widescreen Gamer describes and shows how an LCD screen could develop a "screen burn" or "image persistence when left to display the same screen image over a long period of time. The solution? 1.) Use screensavers that were really made to prevent CRT burn-ins 2.) Use Power saving options to turn off the monitor after being idle for 15 minutes (or whatever time you want to set it on) 3.) Change background images 4.) If there is already a "screen burn", leave the monitor off overnight, longer if possible.

Resources:

LCD Image "Screen Burn" on Dell 2005FPW (Article from WideScreen Gamer)
LCD article from Wikipedia


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