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Showing posts from April, 2006

Blogging Stocks: AOL Blog Experiments bearing fruit

Jason Calacanis seems to have done it again. First he launched a successful blog network and sold it to AOL for an undisclosed sum. His latest venture includes couple of Finance Blogs devoted exclusively to popular stocks. Excellent idea - it will not only bring more advertising revenue for AOL but also provide them a backdoor entry into the Google Finance portal. Read details. AOL Money & Finance together with Weblogs Inc network have launched new blogs focussed on the most popular American stocks including Apple AAPL , eBay EBAY , GE , Google GOOG , Microsoft MSFT , Time Warner TWX , Wal-Mart WMT and Yahoo YHOO . The blogs are tightly integrated with the AOL Finance website pulling live Stock quotes and market information. The key difference is that WeblogsInc bloggers would be writing for Blogging Stocks and not AOL staffers. There's money in blogging Finance blogs and websites get some of the highest paying advertisements because finance websites are less frequented by t

Zinio Reader in Microsoft's Crosshairs with Times Reader

Most magazines and newspapers are now offering a digital edition that's essentially an electronic replica (including fonts, typeface and layout) of the print version. The digital versions can be read in either Acrobat Reader (PDF) or the Zinio Reader format. While the print circulation continues to decline, digital versions of magazines and e-newspapers are registering a healthy growth because they can be searched, archived and are easily available in any corner of the world. Yes, you can read the latest issue of Penthouse in Saudi Arabia or even China. No wonder, Microsoft is now looking to even tap this digital publishing market. At the American Society of Newspaper Editors's conference in Seattle, Billl Gates showcased the Times Reader, an Onscreen Reader software for Windows Vista that resembles very much like the Zinio Reader. Virtually any newspaper, magazine or book can be formatted into an electronic version and read online or offline with the Times Reader. Once users

Office Genuine Advantage: WGA comes to Microsoft Office

This download is available to customers running genuine Microsoft Office. Please click the Continue button to begin Office validation. - Don't be surprised if Microsoft pops this message while you were downloading an Excel Invoice Template from Office Online Website. Office downloads on Microsoft Websites will be blocked for pirated Microsoft Office users - Microsoft has started another WGA like validation program called Office Genuine Advantage to check if people are using genuine Microsoft Office XP and Office 2003 suites. This essentially means that your copy of Microsoft Office will be validated (using ActiveX) before letting you download Office updates from Microsoft download center. What data is collected ? As part of the OGA validation process, your PC's hardware profile, Windows Product key and the Office Product key will be collected during the validation process. OGA vs WGA Office validation is separate process from Windows validation. Office validation only valid

Use Pirated Software ? Treat Your Employees Right

Employers who use pirated software in their organizations must quickly learn to treat their employees with respect and instantly offer a nice pay hike. Disgruntled staff and angry workers could otherwise seek revenge with surprise BSA Software Audits. A YouGov poll commissioned by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) found that three-quarters of workers would consider informing on their company if they felt that their boss had treated them unfairly. In addition, a quarter said a poor pay rise could lead them to tip off the BSA. BSA is using the results of this to attract employees report the use of illegal software within UK businesses. The BSA is offering a reward of up to £20,000 to anyone who reports illegal software usage in an organisation before the end of June. People can submit confidential leads via www.bsa.org/uk/report - all those who report illegal use remain anonymous. Once a report comes in, BSA calls the software company whose programs have allegedly been pirated. The

Google Adsense Currency Exchange Rates Error

For local currency checks, Google Adsense calculates the exchange rate for payments based on prevailing United States dollar bank rate at the time of conversion (date of writing the cheque). EFT payments are converted on the day that they are wired from Google's account. However, this payment cycle, Google Adsense made an error for some accounts while converting the US Dollar to the local currency. Instead of multiplying the payment amount with exchange rate ratio, Google performed a division. Google has acknowledged the issue and sent an email to the affected users : We wish to inform you that the exchange rate used for your April payment was incorrect. We're working hard to investigate this error and will update you once we have additional details on how we intend to resolve the issue. If you normally receive communication for us in a language other than English, we will provide additional information in your preferred language next week. We apologize for the inconvenience

Daredevil wins the Firefox Flicks Video Contest

Mozilla today announced the winners of its Firefox Flicks video contest at the San Francisco International Film Festival. DareDevil received the first prize. " Daredevil " was directed by Pete Macomber, depicting the youthful energy and approach to life of a girl whose "other browser is a surfboard." Source: Mozilla Press Release

Microsoft releases Windows Media Encoder Studio Edition with VC-1 codec

Ever heard of the Windows Media Encoder ? It is one of the most secret yet a powerful Microsoft software for creating screencasts and encoding audio-video. WME 9 can perform live capture, audio-video streaming and screen capture. Today, Microsoft released another iteration called Windows Media Encoder Studio designed for experts who want to encode the highest quality content for distribution on CDs, DVDs, High Definition (HD) DVDs, and video-on-demand. It uses the new codec VC-1. The Studio edition supports audio-video encoding from multiple sources and also supports multiple audio tracks. The Studio Edition Beta is very focused on content professionals working with uncompressed video sources, and with a need for segment-based re-encoding.

Adobe, give Macromedia FreeHand MX to the developers

When Macromedia Adobe dropped Freehand MX from the Macromedia Studio 8 suite , it became clear that Freehand won't survive in the battle with Adobe Illustrator. The Adobe Products website doesn't mention Freehand MX though it has links for all other Macromedia Products. And now a recent FreeHand to Illustrator Migration Guide posted on the Adobe Design Center just confirms that the days of Freehand MX are numbered. Once Adobe eliminates Freehand MX in favor of Illustrator CS2 CS3, what should the community do ? Corel is already trying hard to attract Freehand developers . My suggestion is that either Adobe sells the product to another Vector Illustration software company like Xara or every better - make Freehand open source - let the community handle further development of Freehand. This will cheer the Freehand loyalists, Adobe will win the heart of OS community and a great product like Freehand MX will continue to live forever.

Samsung gets a bite of Apple iPod

Samsung will now occupy a seart the heart of the Apple MP3 player . Apple has choosen Samsung to design the iPod chips replacing previous iPod chip maker, PortalPlayer . Samsung is already supplying NAND Flash memory chips for the Apple iPod nano and iPod shuffle models. The winning design chip is based on 32-bit processor technology from ARM Holdings plc. Don't buy an Apple iPod immediately Source: EETimes | iLounge

Microsoft limits Vista Firewall - for their own good ?

Unlike the current Windows XP SP2 Firewall which only watches incoming data, the new Windows Firewall in Windows Vista supports both incoming and outgoing traffic. Unfortunately, Microsoft will turn off the ability to block outgoing traffic by default and set the new firewall to block incoming traffic only. Microsoft is doing this at the request of corporate customers and government departments who would like to manage this feature from an administrator level. Configuring the Vista firewall to stop local spyware from connecting to the internet won't be an easy job. Though Microsoft is citing corporate users as a reason to limit the Vista Firewall, I am not really convinced with their arguements. Reason: Microsoft plans to release several different versions of Windows Vista for home and business users - if their business customers are requesting a feature, why don't they incorporate it only in the Vista Enterprise or Vista Business editions ? Why touch the Vista Home editions

Newsgator Email Edition: Turn Outlook Express or any POP3 email client into RSS Reader

Mozilla Thunderbird has inbuilt support for reading RSS content in a way that is very similar to reading email messages. Microsoft Outlook doesn't support RSS feeds yet but third party RSS add-ons like Newsgator Inbox or Attensa Outlook convert your Microsoft Outlook into a full-fledged RSS Client application. Outlook 2007, part of Microsoft Office 2007, will have an integrated RSS newsreader . It is also expected that Microsoft Outlook Express 7.0 (renamed as Windows Live Desktop), which will be available as part of Windows Vista , will have built in RSS Reader functionality. But what if you are on Mac, Linux or can't wait until Vista ? Or use a different email software like Eudora, Pine, The Bat, Pegasus, Microsoft Outlook Express, Apple Mail, Netscape Mail, WordPerfect Mail, Entourage (or any email client that supports POP3) ? Good news is that reading RSS content inside any email program is possible with the Newgator Email Edition - The email client must support th

Tiny Mouse for Small Children

This optical Tiny Mouse has a playful appearance and is about half the size of a standard computer mouse - just right for smaller hands. The colored dots on the buttons help out children who haven’t quite mastered their lefts or their rights. To further reduce a preschooler's confusion with all the buttons, you can place a raised sticker, like an adhesive-backed earring, on the left mouse button so the child can feel where to click. Source: Tiny Mouse Optical | via

Generous Google releases Sketchup CAD software for free

Earlier they acquired Web Analytics company Urchin and released their expensive package Urchin for free rebranded as Google Analytics . When Google acquired @Last , not many would have predicted that Google would release the popular 3D software for free. Google has given the same treatment to SketchUp. Google has released a free version of Google Sketchup (a basic stripped down version of original Sketchup Software) that lets you create detailed 3D models for Google Earth (kmz files) and share them with other Google Earth users using Google 3D Warehouse - an online repository of Sketchup drawings and models accessible from the Sketchup Interface. The 3D drawings can also be printed. At the same time, Google has released SketchUp Pro 5 which has all the original features of Sketchup like Animations, walk throughs, 3D export formats, sandbox and free tech support. SketchUp Pro users also get access to ruby script support and large-format, high-resolution printing. Both Google SketchUp an

WGATray.exe - Genuine Windows Advantage (WGA)

wgatray.exe runs in the background to validate your Genuine Windows XP software against a list of serial numbers that are blacklisted by Microsoft. If your system is running pirated XP, the wgatray process will show a pop-up warning - "This copy of Windows XP is not genuine" - this is no error or virus, its a reminder from Microsoft to go original. Though you can temporarily disable Windows Genuine Advantage notifications by removing wgatray.exe or wgalogon, this is never recommended since you will not be able to download important security updates and patches from Microsoft Updates website. If you are running a counterfeit or illegal version of Windows XP, rather than hunting for a wga workaround, just get the authentic GGK kit from Microsoft to convert your pirated XP into Genuine software by changing the XP product key - completely legit way to make Windows genuine and you need not reinstall your Windows XP. The WGA patch is installed if the user has opted to automaticall

Google Sitemaps on Blogger Blogspot Blogs

Google Sitemaps introduces new method to Verify Sites - There's some extremely good news for sites hosted on Google Blogspot or other platforms that do not allow normal users access to their webserver. Earlier, it has been impossible for Blogspot users to try Google Sitemaps as the Site verify process required a special file (like google11e5844324b7354e.html) to uploaded to the blogspot top level directory. But responding to popular feedback, Google Sitemaps team has introduced a new verification method that doesn't require you to upload any file to your webserver root directory. Just add a sitemaps meta tag to your homepage and tell Google about it . Done! Site Verified: Your site or blog can start receiving Sitemaps statistics immediately. You can even remove the sitemaps META tag information later. (very similar to how you claim a blog on Technorati) <meta name="owner-v1" contents="unique_string"> The unique string would be a base-64 encoded SH

Google sending Alerts: Hey Webmaster, your site has some problem

Honest webmasters should not loose sleep thinking that Google might penalize their websites one fine morning without giving any reason. Register your website with Google Sitemaps and Google may send you an email if you site is removed from Google index but could be legitimate. You can submit a site reinclusion request within the Sitemaps Control panel. However, there is equally bad news for spammers. Matt Cutts has clearly said that Google will penalize and throw websites out of their index without any prior warning if the webmasters don't confirm to the Google Webmaster Guidelines. Keyword Stuffing, deliberately misspelling words or hiding text from users which is otherwise visible to search engines - Any such tricks to game Google could lead to an immediate ban with no warning. And Google does have lot of resources now as Matts' said: In the early days when Google had 200-300 people there was no way we could do everything we wanted to do. But as Google grows, we get more of

Windows PowerShell: Monad leaves Microsoft Building

Microsoft Command Shell Monad (msh), a powerful shell scripting environment for Vista has been formally renamed as Windows PowerShell. They have even changed the name of the shell program msh.exe with PowerShell.exe while the new file extension is .ps1 For those not familiar, Monad or Windows Powershell is powerful command line shell (like CMD.exe or BASH, KSH, CSH) plus a scripting language (like Perl, SED, AWK) with one major difference - contrary to cmd.exe and Unix/Linux shells, Monad operates on objects, not text when passing data between scripts and executables. Here are some practical examples of using the Monad Shell vs Korn Shell: Example 1: Change the case of a string from lower to upper ksh: $ echo "this is a string" | tr [:lower:] [:upper:] MSH> "this is a string".ToUpper() Example 2: To stop all processes that begin with the letter "p" ksh: $ ps -e | grep " p" | awk '{ print $1 }' | xargs kill MSH> get-process p* | s

Adobe Premiere with Nokia N93 Camcorder Cellphone

There's some good news for Amateur videographers - you need not invest in a separate video editing software for simple editing tasks like adding Video Transitions, remixing Audio-Video or putting Scrolling Titles and Credits. All your need is a Nokia N93 Camcorder phone to create that personal video masterpiece. The Nokia N93, specially designed for creating quick but professional looking home videos, now ships with Adobe Premiere Elements 2.0 - a light version of Adobe Premiere Pro which is the most popular video editing software for Windows XP. You can connect the Nokia N93 directly to your TV for a widescreen movie experience or upload your images to Flickr directly. Nokia N93 features DVD quality MPEG-4 VGA video capture at 30 frames per second. The N93 also operate on Wi-Fi and 3G networks. The Nokia N93 runs on S60 3rd Edition software on Symbian OS, and will be available this July for around $682.00. Source: Adobe Premiere Elements | Nokia Press Release Nokia N93 High Res

Managing software licenses may get easier: Microsoft Acquires AssetMatrix

Asset tracking companies like EasyVista, Centennial, GASP and WebCensus may soon find the going tough as Microsoft is making a grand entry with acquiring AssetMatrix - a software asset management firm. AssetMatrix creates Audit-ready software inventory and fixed asset tracking reports for your organization. Microsoft already has a popular Microsoft Software Inventory Analyzer tool to generate an inventory of core Microsoft products installed on your local computer, or throughout a network. But the MSIA software will locate only Microsoft software while Asset Matrix will help admins track even non-Microsoft software installed on user computers and networks. Asset Metrix offers software inventory, license management, license expiration tracking, license compliance, alerts and/or warnings and automatic updates to inventory database when new software is installed or removed for organizations with less than 50 to over 5000 employees/users. AssetMetrix identifies the product IDs, applicatio

How to run Yahoo! Go for TV anywhere in the world

Yahoo! Go for TV Media Center software is based on Meedio Pro which was initially selling for $45. Yahoo! bought the company and released the popular PVR software for free. The moment I installed Yahoo! Go for TV, I admit I was very impressed. Yahoo! Go for TV has a better interface (see screenshot below) and offers many more features than Dell Media Experience Center and the Pinnacle PCTV Stereo which I currently use. Yahoo! Go can play DVDs, show Flickr photo galleries, run slideshows of pictures on your PC, play MP3 files or Music CDs and lets you watch videos locally stored on your hard drive. Plus, if you computer has a TV Tuner Card, Yahoo! Go for TV can convert your PC into a personal DVR - watch Live TV or record TV shows for later viewing. Best of all, Yahoo! for TV is compatible with TiVo - just connect to a different Video In port on your TV. But there is some bad news for non-US Yahoo users. Yahoo! Go for TV is currently available inside the U.S. only . But befor

GMail users rejoice: Google ditches Goodmail

What could be a major setback to Goodmail, Google has decided not accept payment from approved bulk mailers to ensure their emails reach Gmail users' Inbox bypassing any filters. "Gmail has a superior spam detection system that gives users ultimate control over the messages that are filtered into their spam folders," said Eileen Rodriguez from Google Corporate Communications. AOL and Yahoo have already signed deals with Goodmail Systems but Google has finally refused to implement an email certification system like Goodmail's Certified Email ending months of speculation. Related: What is Goodmail Certified e-mail Source: No Goodmail For Gmail

Hands-free computing: Human tongue to interact with the PC

Military researchers believe the tongue could be key in their quest to create the super warrior of the future, giving soldiers sensory powers similar to owls, snakes and fish. By routing signals from helmet-mounted cameras, sonar and other equipment through the tongue to the brain, they hope to give elite soldiers superhuman senses. With infrared-tongue vision, divers, soldiers, or pilots could see behind themselves or move in the dark without night-vision goggles. The Defence Department funded research group plans to officially demonstrate the system to Navy and Marine Corps divers in May. Source: Signals from Tongue to Brain | Newsfactor

eBay begins assault on Google with eBay Express

We have heard of eBay forming secret alliances in a major bid to prevent Google from grabbing eBay's marketshare in the online payment and classifieds business . The intentions of eBay go public today with eBay announcing an instant-purchasing service called eBay Express that aims to take on Google Base. Sellers would be required to accept Paypal. eBay has also reduced the insertions fees though fees for eBay stores remain the same. Listing that would qualify for the new site, such as Store and Fixed Price items, would be cross promoted on both eBay and eBay Express. To be included on the new site, a seller would need to have 98 percent positive feedback or better, as well as a feedback score of 100 or better.

WGA Notifications: This copy of Windows is not genuine

Imagine you are running a great business presentation with some prospective clients and suddenly the computer screams - "Stop using Pirated WIndows XP" - You will surely miss some business. This is no wild imagination but a real possibility - Microsoft has big plans to irritate and even embarrass users who have installed pirated Windows XP on their computers. As part of the WGA program, Microsoft has developed a Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications software that notifies you through annonying pop-up messages if your copy of Windows is not genuine (see screenshots) Following download and installation of the "Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications" tool, users of a pirated copy will see alerts at startup, login and during their use of the operating system. The WGA Notifications patch is installed if the user has opted to automatically update Windows via the Windows Update Website or if a XP users manually downloads the latest Windows updates. The frequency o

BBC Website to show ads to non-UK visitors

BBC Websites receives 3.5 million page views per day and the news company is getting ready to capitalize on the growing popularity of their online content. The BBC News website does not include advertising at present but that may soon change. Once the BBC survey is done, BBC webpages will be "decorated" with advertising banners for the international (non-UK) traffic. Here's an example of how he international front page of the BBC News website might look with the advertising - Two leaderboards, 1 wide landscape and 1 medium rectangle - that's just too many ads. BBC has so far not commented on their Advertising partner. Source: BBC News

Don't stop browsing the Internet at work

We had one smart guy in our office who would browse for hours during office time. If he saw the boss approaching his desk, he pressed CTRL+Z that minimized his browser (NetCaptor or CrazyBrowser) to the system tray and no one would notice what he was doing. Office netizens guilty of non-business-related web activity have a ray of hope now - a court has said that employees cannot be fired for surfing the internet during office hours so long as this does not interfere with their overall work performance. Saying surfing the Web is equivalent to reading a newspaper or talking on the phone, the judge has suggested that only a reprimand is appropriate as punishment for a city worker accused of failing to heed warnings to stay off the Internet. The ruling came after Mayor Michael Bloomberg fired a worker in the city's legislative office in Albany earlier this year after he saw the man playing a game of solitaire on his computer. Source: Web-surfing worker can't be fired

Rucksack Style Laptop Bag with Trolley wheels

Travellers and commuters who frequently carry their 'heavy' laptops and would immediately fall in love with the trendy but very practical Lindy Laptop Bag that doubles as a suitcase (see picture) The Lindy notebook bag has a built-in roller trolley and does not even look like a computer bag. It has rucksack-style straps that allow you to balance the weight across both shoulders. There is enough room for a change of clothes, personal belongings, books and files along with a laptop. Lindy Notebook Trolley Backpack

How to Insert Ads into podcasts ? Ask Apple

Since podcasting first started catching on, people have been trying to find a way to generate revenue with it. First came Fruitcast, the Adsense for Podcasts that automatically adds a 10-15 second spoken ad either the beginning or end, or both into the MP3 file (podcasts) that your listeners downloads. Fruitcast follows a CPM (cost per impression) approach. Now Apple plans to introduce advertising in iTunes, the most popular Podcasting client. Though Podcasts can be played in any MP3 player, most subscriber prefer to download shows in iTunes and then sync to their iPod. Steve Jobs has always supported the idea of ad-supported podcasts. Initially, Apple will show ads only in the lower-left corner of the iTunes library while users listen to podcasts from their computers rather than from portable devices. But it requires no analyst to guess that Apple may ultimately walk into individual podcasts and embedded ads in some of the podcasts offered via iTunes . ESPN Radio, which supplies som

Print Google Calendar, Save as PDF

There's a secret but extremely useful feature in Google Calendar that most of us are unaware of. Surprisingly, even the Google Calendar Help fails to mention the feature - Generate PDF on the fly Google Calendar lets you save any calendar view as a PDF file without any third-party application like Adobe Acrobat - you can directly print the google calendar to a PDF file . Here's how you create a PDF file of your Google Calendar events. Select the Month, Day, Week, Next 4 days or Agenda view and click the "Printer Icon" (see screenshot) Depending on your web browser settings, either the generated PDF will open in a new browser window or open the associate Acrobat Reader or FoxIt Reader. The 11' x 8.5' PDF Version 1.4 file is optimized for printing and supports Acrobat 5.x and later. For the curious, Google Calendar internally uses iText 1.3 - a free Java-PDF library for dynamic PDF document generation. Google Calendar Quick Tip: If you are logged into Google c

Free Google Adwords Voucher for new Advertisers

To attract small and medium scale companies to their Adwords program , Google is giving a free Rs 1000 voucher to any new Adwords customers in India. Though it's the first time that Google Adwords launched Free voucher codes in India, the company has regularly been offering free vouchers in in other countries (see links below) A new advertiser can activate their AdWords account with just US$5.00 (INR 225), and can then choose a maximum cost-per-click (CPC) from US$0.01 - US$100. Rs 1000 Google Adwords Voucher 50 Euro Adwords Vouchers: Sweden , Italy , France , France , Netherlands Google Adwords Japan - 4000 Yen Voucher

Currency Converters: Convert Adsense Earnings to local currency

Google offers local currency checks for most countries but the Adsense control panel displays the earning data only in the US Dollar. So how do you convert the Google Adsense Earnings in your local currency ? When I started this post, I just wanted to share adsense foreign currency conversion techniques but actually, this has become a general post not just for adsense publishers. All currency conversion tricks mentioned here are useful for everyone including adsense people. OK, let's now look at some some immensely useful but free web based currency convertors: The famous approach to convert currency Type your USD earnings in xe.com online currency converter. The primary currency is USD by default in xe. Just choose the destination currency and click convert. Research oriented Online Currency Conversion I actually find the Yahoo Finance Currency Converter more useful than the xe currency convertor due to the following reasons: First, Yahoo displays a historic exchange rate char

Intel Viiv Review

Intel explains Viiv (pronounced like "five") as a combination of hardware and software that would combine functions of the TV, the DVD player, the VCR and the videogame console. Intel says Viiv Chipset is still developing and that the best Viiv devices are yet to come. But the Intel Viiv Technology has failed to meet the expectations - Roger Pegoraro shares his experiences with Viiv here Viiv doesn't look much like that initial vision.

Dorkbot Meetings: Artists, Techies, Geeks, Musicians come together

Dorkbot is a BarCamp like forum for the exchange of creative technological ideas that is developing a cult following around the world. The motto for Dorkbot is people doing strange things with electricity. Dorkbot meetings [a.k.a DorkFest] typically involve presentations by people from diverse backgrounds - from engineers and computer scientists to artists and musicians, followed by open discussions. Meetings are free and open to the public. Dorkbot meetings are also about networking, getting inspired by other peoples work and giving people a possibility to introduce their work in a public venue. Word of caution: demos of commercial software are not appropriate, unless you wrote the software or you are making it do something particularly novel or interesting. Interesting Dorkbot find - Here's an electical model illustrating a Mind have a Will but capable on only two ideas: Start a Dorkbot group in your city More on Dorkbot Meetings @ NYTimes and Yahoo!

Blogstar: Subscribe to Celebrity Blogs

Blogstar is a new concept that connects rich and famous stars with their fans worldwide using cellphones. Imagine that Paris Hilton finds her dog, blogs about the discovery and also send you a copy of her post on your mobile phone. That how how the Blogstar service works. The celebrities blog about their lifestyles using camera phones and post pictures, text and even video to their personalized mobile blogs hosted on Blogstar . Fans can subscribe to any of these celebrity blogs and Blogstar will send daily updates from your favorite stars to your mobile phone . BlogStar has worked out agreements with models, socialites, athletes, Hollywood celebrities including Jessica Simpson, Alicia Silverstone, Nicky Hilton, Ashlee Simpson, Nick Lachey, Kelly Slater, Bam Margera, and Juliette Lewis. Blogstar is available to subscribers of T-Mobile, Cingular and Sprint cellular services . Access to each blog costs $5 per month. Subscribers receive alerts when new posts are uploaded, to whic

$1000 Reward for Blogspot Blogger

ISN, Prince Edward Island's Internet Company, is offering $1000 reward to anyone who reveals the identity of Concerned Islander , an anonymous blogger writing for peiliberal.blogspot.com . Kevin O'Brien, owner of the internet company Island Services Network, says both he and his business have been targeted by the blogger. The blog has also attacked the provincial Liberal party and the Charlottetown Guardian newspaper. The Guardian says it's considering legal action if the identity of the blogger can be uncovered. Source: Reward offered for Blogger

Yahoo! Video Editing Tool Hints at Future Plans

Yahoo has launched a web based video editing tool to reedit, repurpose, remix and mash up an array of clips from selected Festival films. Remixes are then posted back to the site for others to view and enjoy. Using the Yahoo Video tool, people can preview portions of films in this year's festival and extract snippets and place them in a clip bin. The clips can then be organized into a one-minute film. I think Yahoo has made an intelligent move here. It has never been easier to share videos. Google and YouTube enjoy a good hold in video sharing business but unfortunately, none of them offer any kind of video editing tools. The San Fransisco University experiment clearly hints that Yahoo is actually planning to take a step further and offer web based video editing tool to all users. 19 film directors from Brazil, Canada, England, Macedonia, the Philippines, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, and the United States agreed to allow their films to be sliced and diced by the Yahoo remixers. In

Google Doctor offers advice for a healthy living

Don't slouch on the couch with the laptop. Limit non-essential computer use. Stretch your arms, hands, neck, and back during breaks. Breaks should be taken every 30-45 minutes for at least 5 minutes. Dr. Taraneh Razavi (seen here sporting a GMail T-Shirt) is the official Google Physician. She shares tips and links to some good software utilities that help you prevent repetitive stress injuries at work: That goes in my essential reading list. And don't forget to blink!

Laptops Stands for Airport Tray Tables

Kenamics have developed Aviator Notebook stands for air passengers - the stands can be placed on the food tray even when the seat in the front is in reclined position. The same company has also desinged eWheelie Laptop stand with wheels to give the comfort of a desktop. Wheels allow frequent changes in posture as well as more efficient use of desktop area. Keyamics Laptop Stands | BoingBoing

Turn Off Computer: Standby PCs bleed power

Whether it's the computer, music system or the TV set, the modern home is permanently on standby, full of equipment that sits "half on", waiting to spring immediately to life when we ask it to. Windows XP no longer tells you when it is safe to shut down your computer. We sometimes leave our computers in Standby or Hibernation mode and forget to turn them off completely. Shutting down using hibernate or standby is the same as leaving your computer on . A PC or any other hardware device like TV or printer is always using energy unless it is totally switched off . According to BBC, a PC can consume power anywhere between five watts to 60 and beyond. If a million PC users switched to a more efficient power supply, it would save almost the equivalent of 250 million litres of gasoline a day . PCMag adds that even if a PC is not being used, the monitor, printer, and various Ethernet and FireWire devices running and wasting energy. They suggest a modern power strip like the BiTS

This is not the perfect time to buy an Apple iPod

If you plan to buy an Apple iPod in coming days, try to defer your purchase for some more time. Here are some possible reasons: Reason 1: Apple has suddenly decided to change their iPod chips supplier - though it may not affect any of the design or functions of iPod, it may be better to wait and watch who the next supplier is ? Reason 2: New Higher Capacity iPod Nano models are coming . Analysts for American Technology Research on Monday said checks show Apple Computer to be planning a new iPod nano with twice the storage for its September quarter. Reason 3: There are Apple Video iPod models in sight yet but the launch of iPod Mobile Phones Apple iPhone is "logical and inevitable" Reason 4: Declining costs of iPod primary components like LCD screens and flash memory could bring down the overall cost of manufacturing. Apple therefore expects the average selling price of iPod to decline in the current quarter. Reason 5: Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster is saying that A

Adobe Messenger Bag: Laptop Carrying Case

If you thought Adobe only makes software for Creative Professionals, look at this impressive Adobe Messenger Leather Bag. The bag was specially designed for carrying the hardware [notebook, MP3 player, CDs and accessories] of Creative Professionals. Best of all, the bag was designed using only Adobe Creative Suite software. Design Specifications | Buy Adobe Messenger bag Process: How the Adobe Bag was designed

LadyBag for young, busy but absent-minded working women

The Ladybag fabric purse , aimed at young professional women, could put an end to leaving the house without the cell phone, house keys, or wallet. The Ladybag is embedded with sensors that alert its owner when it detects certain missing items. The owner's keys, wallet and cell phones are tagged with radio frequency identification devices (RFID), and when those items are taken from the bag, a small screen on the bag shows which object is missing from its contents. The LadyBag can also detect and display its owner's emotions on a light-emitting diode (LED) screen on the bag. If the owner hugs the sides, the bag's display screen will show a happy face emoticon. If she fiddles with the zipper, it shows a nervous emoticon. Source: Project Ladybag | Discovery | Working.com

Adobe Flash Player 9 announced on Adobe Labs

Adobe has decided to rename the next release of Macromedia Flash Player as Flash Player 9. During beta releases on Adobe Labs, this player was known as Flash Player 8.5. Flash Player 8.5 9 will add a new virtual machine [performance enhancements], AVM2, and a new programming language, ActionScript 3.0. Clearly, Adobe wants to sync the version numbers of Flash Player and the upcoming Macromedia Flash 9 Authoring tool (dubbed Blaze). Like Adobe Flex, Flash Player 9 will also be available for download this summer. The Adobe Flash 9 wishlist is also accepting entries. Download Macromedia Flash Player - Version 8,0,24,0

Windows Live@edu: Plan is to catch them young

When Google launched GMail for Domains, they picked the San José City College as their testing playground . Microsoft took a step further and launched a similar college hosting email service called Windows Live@edu. While Google experimented with just a single college, Microsoft managed to get 72 colleges sign-up for the Windows Live@edu service. Live@edu provides a familiar interface to many students as it is patterned after Hotmail. However, students do not receive a hotmail.com or msn.com e-mail address, as the accounts it carry the domain of their respective school. Microsoft move is clearly aimed at creating loyal Windows Live users while they are still in college. Another potential source of revenue is advertising. Microsoft promises most colleges not to display ads while the students are in school, but then will turn on the ads once they graduate, creating a pool of young, educated and potentially wealthy consumers for advertisers to target. Sources: CNet News | BetaNews

Adobe enters CAD arena with TTF

Adobe today acquired Trade and Technologies France ( TTF ), a little known CAD software development firm. TTF develops CAD file viewers, CAD software interoperability translators and libraries for converting between different CAD formats (like AutoCAD DWG to Solidworks or CATIA). Though the TTF acquisation may help Adobe in the further development of Adobe Acrobat 3D , it may be the first clear signal that Adobe could plan for a place in the highly-lucrative CAD business dominated by AutoDesk.