Study shows Microsoft's Internet Explorer to have highest security among browsers

What the latest research study has to revealed about the browsers? Now, the frank clear result from a research says it is MSIE 8 which is the most secure browser currently available.

 

The study conducted by US based security research company NSS Labs included testing for Google's Chrome, Firefox 3, the beta of Opera 10, Safari 4, and Internet Explorer 8.

 

Microsoft have been keen to stress the security features that its latest browser possesses, and this new report reveals that the software excels in blocking various phishing and malware attacks.

 

NSS Labs' study detailed that "Internet Explorer 8 and Firefox 3 were the most consistent in the high level of protection they offered", with Apple's Safari 4 performing the poorest in every test.

 

Interestingly Microsoft funded the entire report, casting doubt over the findings' legitimacy. NSS Labs did respond on the topic of sponsorship, stating that in order to carry out projects such as these, monetary support was required, and that they "invited Google, Mozilla, Apple and Opera to participate" but none of which responded.

 

And even if Internet Explorer is as safe as this report suggests, it still has some way to come before it's as fast as it's rivals.

Opera Mobile coming to Android too

The reach of the Opera desktop browser pales in comparison to Internet Explorer and Firefox; since the release of the Google Chrome browser, it has in fact fallen behind even more, and now lies 5th after IE, Firefox, Safari, and Chrome. 

 

 

When it comes to Opera on the mobile though, it enjoys the majority market share, with no near competitor. For the Java Mobile segment, the only option one usually has is the phone's native browser, or Opera Mini. Opera Mobile, Mini's more powerful counterpart has been available for Windows Mobile and Symbian, and now reportedly we will see it for Android too.

 

 

Opera Mini and Opera Mobile are both Mobile browsers developed for Mobiles by Opera. Opera Mini offers a smaller feature set, and is a Java ME application designed for some of the low power phones, it can run on any Java-capable phone with a simple GPRS connection. 

 

 

Since Opera Mini is a Java application and the Android platform is primarily programmed in Java, Opera Mini had been ported to Android simply by coupling it with MicroEmulator, a library which allows running of Java ME on in a Java SE environment, and by replacing standard Java graphics to Android graphics API.

 

 

Opera's turbo servers also ensure that you get the best browsing experience despite the low speed connections prevalent on phones. For people with 2G connections it is the only that that makes Mobile surfing even bearable.

Nokia N97 Mini is real, launch date, specs and price leaked

 

 

First of all, the N97 Mini is expected to be launched at the Nokia World 09 expo in Stuttgart on September 2-3. The gadget is also expected to retail at about 100 euros less than the N97, bringing its price tag to about 450 euros (Rs 31,ooo approximately).

 

The site, which is basing its report on a writer at Mobile-review.com, has also found out the reason behind the name: "Rumor has it that another major handset vendor was prepping the launch of a smaller version of its flagship phone with the 'Mini' suffix attached to it. So Nokia's marketing team decided on a spoiler and leaked their own version of Mini name first. Oh, the games those handset marketers play to go one up over the other."

 

The N97 Mini is also expected to cut down on the built-in memory, slashing its count to 8GB – half that of the N97. The screen, too, will be diminished to 2.9 inches, although the ability to display 16 million colours at 640x360 pixel resolution remains intact.

 

The slide-up form factor and the Qwerty keypad will remain, although the navigation pad of the N97 will be done away with in the Mini.

 

Ah, September cannot come around quickly enough…

 

Source: Unwired View

Blackberry Curve 8520 launched in India by RIM and Airtel

Airtel and RIM today launched the BlackBerry Curve 8520, a new addition to the BlackBerry Curve series of smartphones.

According to a press release, the BlackBerry Curve 8520 introduces a touch-sensitive track-pad, which makes navigation easy. It is also the first BlackBerry smartphone to feature dedicated media keys, which are integrated along the top of the handset. In addition along with mobile solutions for email, messaging (IM, SMS, MMS) and social networking and a full-QWERTY keyboard, the BlackBerry Curve 8520 comes with multimedia features, applications to help users stay organized and productive, full HTML browsing and Wi-Fi support.

The BlackBerry Curve 8520 smartphone from Airtel measures 109 mm x 60 mm x 13.90 mm (L x W x D) and weighs 106 grams (including battery). Airtel customers can sms 'BB' to 543210 to register to purchase the BlackBerry Curve 8520 and to get more information about the plans offered with the smartphone.

The Blackberry Curve 8520 will be available across the country from August 7th and will be priced at Rs. 15,990.

Windows 7 available to Business Users this September 7

Yet another good news about Win7. Microsoft has recently revealed that business customers can start ordering Windows 7 beginning September 7, slightly ahead of the general release of the OS on October 22.

Microsoft and its partners will take orders for Windows 7 from volume-licensing customers on that date, Microsoft Senior Vice President of Windows Bill Veghte revealed in a keynote Monday at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans.

Microsoft also will offer a limited-time discount on the software to volume-licensing customers in the range of 15 percent to 35 percent, depending on the size of the order, he said.

Windows 7 was one of several products highlighted at Microsoft's annual partner meeting. In his keynote, Veghte stressed for partners the opportunity to provide services based on the OS, which will be available worldwide to both businesses and consumers on October 22, and will be released to manufacturing later this month.

Citing numbers from various research firms, including IDC, Veghte said that there are expected to be 77 million Windows 7 shipments by the end of 2010, and 59 percent of enterprises are expected to use Windows 7 in three years.

Microsoft will not be able to provide services and support for all of these customers, which is where partners come in. "We do not have the services capability to support that," he said.

However, another research firm believes that Windows 7 adoption may not be as widespread as some analysts and Microsoft think, despite the fact that many businesses skipped over Windows Vista and are still using the nearly eight-year-old OS, Windows XP.

A new survey conducted by ScriptLogic, the results of which were revealed Monday, found that nearly 60 percent of businesses don't currently plan to adopt Windows 7. The results were based on feedback from 1,000 IT administrators. ScriptLogic provides network administration software for Windows-based networks.

This article is adapted from PCWorld.in.

Google Lists HP, Acer Among Chrome OS Partners

Google is already working with several companies to develop devices around the new Chrome OS, including Hewlett-Packard and Acer, the company said in a blog post late Wednesday.

The list displays a vast regional spread among PC vendors, from the world's largest PC maker, HP, to China's biggest, Lenovo, and two of Taiwan's top vendors, Acer and Asustek Computer. Noticeably absent was Dell.

Google also listed three mobile phone chip developers in the posting, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments and Freescale Semiconductor. The world's biggest chip maker, Intel, was not on the list.

"The Google Chrome OS team is currently working with a number of technology companies to design and build devices that deliver an extraordinary end user experience," the Google posting says.

HP could not immediately be reached for comment.

The new Chrome OS will compete against Microsoft Windows in netbooks, laptop computers and desktops. Google is developing the Linux-based operating system for heavy Internet users, and it will begin appearing in netbooks in the second half of 2010, the company has said.

Nokia N97 mobile phone review

As we take our first look at the Nokia N97 it certainly comes off as an impressive device. Despite being only the second device by Nokia to sport a touch-screen and the first ever in its N-Series it is no less of a finished product. Like all phones of the N Series it is a class above the other Nokia phones, with a 3.5-inch screen, a 5MP camera, and a slide-out full QWERTY keyboard. Apart from the keyboard, the number of physical buttons are minimal, at just three. 

The first thing that strikes you after you start up the device is a new widget-oriented home screen, where you can  add / remove widgets to personalize the display. The widgets appear as six horizontal bars, of which the first is fixed as a time, date and profile display, and the other five can be moved around. With preloaded widgets for News, email, weather, Facebook, and so on it is easy to get relevant content at a glance.

The touch screen isn't all. The phone also comes with an inbuilt GPS, and a magnetic compass for a wonderful navigation experience along with Nokia Maps, which comes preloaded with data on Indian Cities. Also included is a proximity sensor which turns off the touch screen when you are making a call, and an accelerometer for auto-rotation of the screen. Storage comes in the form of 32GB memory which can be expanded by up to 16GB, yes, that's 48GB on a mobile! Enough for the phone to run out of digits to show how many pictures can be taken. WiFi support enables a faster internet experience and lower costs when at home. A TV-Out feature is also present, but even with a device which costs as much as this one, a TV-Out cable hasn't been provided.

While the phone doesn't support  multi-touch, the touch features themselves are utilized quite well, and with a handy QWERTY keyboard around, available for use along with the touch screen, you wont miss much.

For a widget-centric design though, having just five predefined bars for widgets is a limitation. With Android's rather more powerful support for widgets, Nokia will need to do better in this department. The interface does have a few glitches, such as new menus items sometimes popping up out of place. These all are more of software issues, which we can expect Nokia to hopefully fix with firmware updates, which with their Firmware Over the Air feature, should be a trivial task.

The Nokia N97 doesn't take much getting used to, and most people will be able to immediately start working (or playing) with it, and even with the default suite of applications available in it you will be able to get enough done. As we get more familiar with the Nokia N97 we will take a deeper look at some it its key features and functionality.

This article is adapted from Thinkdigit.com

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This site presents a thorough comparision between Nokia N97 and iPhone 3G. Have a look.

Nokia N97 vs. iPhone 3g Head To Head! How Do They Match Up?

Intel Switches to Core i3 and Core i5 Chips

Intel's strategy to rename its chips and platforms has seen some opposition from chip enthusiasts, who say the new naming conventions are even more confusing.

The chip company this week announced it was making changes to the naming convention of Core processors, switching the derivatives attached to it. Tags like Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad will be replaced by names like Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7, depending on the type of PC and configuration.

Chips for entry-level desktops and laptops will carry the Core i3 brand, while chips for mid-level and high-end PCs will have Core i5 and Core i7 tags respectively. The Core i7 tag is already being used on Intel's Nehalem-based chips that go in high-end desktop PCs.

Intel said it will continue to use its Atom brand for low-power processors used in netbooks and smartphones. The company will also retain the Celeron and Pentium entry-level chips for mainstream laptops and desktops. The company said it would phase out usage of the popular Centrino brand to describe mobile laptop platforms by early next year.

"For PC purchasing, think in terms of good-better-best with Celeron being good, Pentium better, and the Intel Core family representing the best we have to offer," wrote Bill Calder, an Intel spokesman, in a blog entry. The change will make it easier for customers to differentiate and recognize brands in the future.

"The fact of the matter is, we have a complex structure with too many platform brands, product names, and product brands, and we've made things confusing for consumers and IT buyers in the process," Calder wrote.

But the glut of name changes has confused some users even more, who complained of the new names being incomplete. The changes would not fully reflect how the Core chip would perform, some people wrote in response to the blog entry.

"Too confusing. Make the names longer and more telling," wrote someone identified as Jonah, in a comment on the blog. Dismissing the new naming conventions as meaningless, multiple posters asked Intel to either retain the old names or change chip names to reflect the number of cores, clock speed and cache.

Calling the name changes "nonsense", another poster, John, wrote: "I buy a Core 2 Duo, I'm getting a 2 core processor made out of Core 2. Usually the clock speed is advertised as well. I buy a Core i5 who knows what the hell I'm getting except maybe Intel marketing."

In all the opposition, Intel found support from a few posters who said that the name changes could make it easier to distinguish chips.

"I can see how replacing the confusing mess of 'Core 2 Duo T6400' with 'Core i7' could make things easier for the typical consumer when browsing the laptops at Best Buy," wrote a poster, Colin.

Test adapted from pcworld.in

Genuine Validation for Windows Vista- is copy of your Windows legal?

Genuine Validation is required for Windows Vista

A properly licensed copy of Windows Vista that has passed Microsoft Genuine validation is required to enable certain product features and to obtain non-security updates and product support from Microsoft.

More about Genuine Microsoft Software can be found on Windows Genuine Advantage FAQs page.

French Hacker Cracks Into Twitter

Twitter should harden its security. This is the advice of IT security and control firm Sophos after a French hacker claimed he broke into Twitter's internal administration system, enabling him to access the accounts of millions of Twitter users - including Barack Obama, Britney Spears, Ashton Kutcher and Lily Allen.

The hacker - known as 'Hacker Croll' - claimed that he was able to access Twitter's internal administration system after stealing a password from a staffer at the micro-blogging website. It is alleged that by resetting the employee's Yahoo password after guessing his 'secret question', Hacker Croll found the information about the staffer's Twitter login credentials.

Claims appear to be confirmed by screenshot images uploaded to a French blog, which give a glimpse into the micro-blogging site's admin panel revealing that the likes of Kutcher and Allen have blocked other Twitter users, such as celebrity gossipmonger Perez Hilton, from contacting them. Amongst the private information accessible was the email addresses of compromised accounts, mobile phone numbers (if one was associated with the account), and the list of accounts blocked by the affected user.

Sophos advises that Twitter's internal security could be improved if staff were forced to log in using authentication tokens that provide a randomly generated key upon login, meaning that even if a staffer's username and password is compromised hackers would not be able to gain access. News article taken from PCWorld.in

Time for Windows 7, Developers geeting Windows 7 RC next week (May ‘09)

Some Microsoft developers will be able to download a near-final version of the company's Windows 7 operating system, probably first week of May 09. 

Starting on April 30, MSDN and TechNet subscribers will be able to download the Windows 7 Release Candidate, Microsoft said in a blog post. Release candidates are typically feature-complete and stable, and suggest that the final version of a product will be available very soon.

The company recently posted information accidentally on its Partner Program Web site saying that the Release Candidate was already available to developers and would be released to the general public on May 5. That page was quickly pulled because the software was not yet ready. 

In its blog post Friday, Microsoft has now confirmed that the general public will be able to download the release candidate on May 5. 

Analysts have been predicting lately that the final release of Windows 7 will appear sooner than expected. Officially, Microsoft says that it is on track to deliver Windows 7 three years after the release of Vista, which was in January 2007. But some analysts now say it could be available in September or October this year.

HP Still Getting Heat on Nvidia Chips

Months after the issue first surfaced in the US, HP laptop owners continue to complain about defective Nvidia graphics cards that could cause laptops to fail.

Some customers say that they have been treated unfairly by HP, in part because their laptops are not included on a list of affected machines that was issued last July by HP, so they are ineligible for a free repair or an extended warranty.

One laptop model with overheating problems is the Pavilion dv9500 line, with screens going blank or overheating, leading to system failure, customers wrote on one HP board. The laptop model isn't on HP's list of affected laptops, and in some cases HP is asking users to pay for repairs.

HP isn't moving quickly to add new laptops to the list of affected PCs, customers wrote. Users are asking HP to examine and update the list of laptops affected by the issue. Laptop failure may also result from components unrelated to the issue with graphics cards, but a trend among posted complaints points to laptops with Nvidia parts, said Matthew Hilsenrad, an HP laptop owner.

"I hadn't seen any post of ATI chips going bad, only Nvidia chips going bad," Hilsenrad said. "A whole lot of people [on the boards] who bought the laptop around the same time seem to have the same problem."

Hilsenrad owns a Pavilion dv9500 model with a Nvidia GeForce 8600 series graphics card, which he bought in September 2007. Many laptops not included in the list - including the HP Pavilion dv9500 and dv9600 series - bought in 2007 are now experiencing similar problems, Hilsenrad said.

He was asked to pay around $400 to replace a motherboard when overheating rendered his laptop screen dysfunctional. He called HP to request a fix, but the PC didn't fall under the extended warranty that HP issued for affected laptops.

After haggling with an HP case manager, he got the laptop repaired for around $215. However, the case manager said the affected laptop list could be updated to include the model he owned, in which case he would be refunded the amount.

Another poster, Salman Fateh, reported system failure and a blank screen on an HP Pavilion dv9500 with a Nvidia 8600 series graphic chip, which was purchased in October 2007.

"HP will not honour the extended warranty for this model. HP should honor customers and replace all laptops with defective Nvidia GPUs," Fateh wrote in a separate HP forum.

Customers echoed Fateh's opinion, saying that unless HP addresses the issue quickly, their laptops would become paperweights.

"HP needs to add the rest of these bad GPU units on the list, get them all repaired," wrote a poster with the screen name Sarah Locker on HP's board. "I don't want to blame HP for Nvidia's manufacturing fault, but it appears now that HP is the one that is dragging their feet."

HP didn't immediately comment on this story. Officials from Nvidia were not available to comment either.

Nvidia last July said that some of its graphics chips were overheating due to packaging material and the thermal design of some laptops. HP subsequently issued an advisory warning of possible laptop failure and a list of models affected by the Nvidia parts.

HP also issued a BIOS patch to keep system fans running longer to prevent overheating, and offered to repair laptops depending on certain symptoms. The affected laptops included some HP Pavilion dv2000, dv6000, dv9000 models and Compaq Presario V3000 and V6000 series laptops. HP also offered a 24-month warranty extension to affected customers in North America.

Other PC vendors, including Dell and Apple, had to address issues related to faulty Nvidia graphics cards. Like HP, Dell issued a software patch to control heating problems, but it attracted a fierce response from unhappy users, who accused Dell of shying away from addressing a larger problem of bad hardware. Apple offered a free repair of laptops with faulty Nvidia graphics cards.

Tech news from pcworld.in

Kaspersky Lab announces anti-virus for Windows 7

Kaspersky Lab, makers from Kaspersky Antivirus (KAV) has announced the Kaspersky Anti-Virus for Windows 7 beta users and plans to extend the compatibility with full release of Windows 7.

Kaspersky Lab’s suite of security offerings will be available to Windows 7 users immediately following the launch of the new operating system. According to the lab more than 300,000 people over two and a half months have installed the version of KAV for Windows 7. They have extended thanks to collaboration with Microsoft for receiving an exceptional amount of valuable feedback from beta testers that will enable them to ensure that their products are fully compatible with Windows 7 upon final release.

More news related to Kaspersky Antivirus and Windows 7 from previous posts on this geeklog.

New Bluetooth 3.0 devices to hit market later this year ‘09

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) has recently announced the new Bluetooth 3.0 standard to boost wireless data transfer between devices to 24Mbps from the recent data transfer rate of just 3Mbps for Bluetooth 2.1 standards. In fact, the Bluetooth 3.0 specification is an update from the Bluetooth 2.1 protocol, which was adopted by the group in 2007.

A standards group has approved specifications for a new Bluetooth standard that speeds up wireless data transfers between devices like smart phones and laptops. Bluetooth is commonly used to pair mobile phones with wireless headsets for hands-free talking. It is also used to connect a mobile phone to a laptop to synchronize data or transfer multimedia files without using wires. Over 2 billion devices have shipped with Bluetooth built in, according to Bluetooth SIG report.

The adoption of the standard, and devices based on the Bluetooth 3.0 specification could ship later this year ‘09 or by early next year ‘10 near the holiday season. However, post specification adoption might delay the products on the market. The faster data transfers could lead to its adoption in a number consumer electronics devices beyond just mobile phones.

The Bluetooth SIG has expected Bluetooth 3.0 to make its way into PCs, mobile phones, camcorders, cameras, TVs, digital presenters - devices that consumers use to transfer large data files like those of video, photographs and even entire music libraries.

The standard enables faster data transfers while using less power, giving consumers improved responsiveness and better battery life in mobile devices. It also stabilizes connections between devices, ironing out kinks from earlier standards when connections broke after a device like a cell phone was placed in the pocket. The Bluetooth 3.0 radio is based on Wi-Fi standards, which enables better data throughput while delivers power-saving benefits for mobile devices. It uses short bursts of Wi-Fi to send data, after which the radio is shut off until it is needed again.

More about Bluetooth from the Geeklog.

DSLR Battle Heats Up: Nikon Launches New D5000

Nikon Europe announced the introduction of its latest DSLR, the D5000. The D5000 has inherited the D90’s groundbreaking HD movie capability, Nikon’s proprietary D-Movie function (the D90 was the first DSLR to sport video recording). The 12.3MP sensor has sensitivity between ISO 200 and 3200 (can be extended to ISO 100 and ISO 6400 equivalent). The feature being touted is the 2.7-inch vari-angle LCD that allows you to take pictures easily from any angle. When combined with live-view (the ability to see the frame on the LCD screen) it 1gives a high degree of flexibility in composing shots with off-beat perspectives and macros.

The display can be closed to protect the monitor or place it in the standard position for regular shooting using the viewfinder. You can even reverse the monitor for effortless, perfectly-framed self-portraits. A 4 fps continuous shooting mode makes it a fast camera and it can shoot 67 JPEGs or 11 RAW files continuously.

Nikon has retained the 720p movie mode from the D70 but the rival’s 500D goes all out with full HD 1080p video recording. When taking still shots, the camera offers four types of contrast AF (wide area, normal area, face detection and new subject tracking) to make capture as easy as possible. In subject tracking AF mode, the camera will even restart tracking the subject once it leaves the frame and then returns, so your target will always be in focus.

With a total of 19 scene modes, the 5000D is more newbie friendly. To quote the press release, ‘simply turn the dial to ‘scene’, choose the appropriate scene mode setting and the camera will do the rest for you. The camera will even display a sample scene to make the scene selection easier for you’. Sensor cleaning is implemented with airflow control system (Canon uses vibration to get rid of dust on the sensor).

The press release did not specify the list price, but websites reported a price tag of $849 (approx. Rs. 42,450) for the D5000 with the 18-55mm VR kit lens. The Canon 500D has a list price of $899 along with the 18-55mm IS kit lens.

By PC World Team at pcworld.in

Yahoo, Google Set Up Web Sites For Election in India

Google and Yahoo have launched special sites dedicated to coverage of the General elections starting April 16 in a bid to build their brands among Internet users in the country.
The interest of the companies signals the growing importance of the role of the Internet in Indian elections. A number of Indian political parties are using Web sites, e-mail and videos on YouTube to reach voters.

Google, for example, estimates that 25 million of India's 45 million Internet users are of voting age and are actively looking online for information on the elections and other issues.
The Internet has emerged as an important medium for people to interact and debate with other voters, political parties and candidates, said Gopal Krishna, Yahoo's vice president for emerging markets and acting country head for Yahoo India, on Tuesday.

An estimated 100 million new, young voters will be qualified to participate in this election, and many of them are likely to be Internet users, Krishna added.
Last week, Yahoo set up a micro-site, Election '09 (http://in.elections.yahoo.com/), which offers election news coverage, schedules, online polls and discussion forums.

A tool on the site, called "Your Manifesto," also allows users to select issues of importance that let politicians know what interests them. "This feature will be of tremendous value for political parties, because it provides an insight into what is going on in the voters' minds," Krishna said.

Google launched on Monday an online elections center (www.google.co.in/loksabha2009) in both English and Hindi. The company has partnered with a large media company, Hindustan Times Media, to offer a co-branded site.
Find full text at http://pcworld.in/india/news/5996544/Internet/Yahoo,_Google_Set_Up_Web_Sites_For_Election_in_India

Update your geek knowledge, Video Editing terminology

This post contains terminologies and their definitions related to Video Editing in a Computer. For details, you are suggested to google them. The definitions are adapted from Nero 9. If you are looking for Disc Burning terminology, visit this post.

AVCHD
The Advanced Video High Definition is a new file format for HD captures on DVD, memory
card or hard drive. Especially new camera modules use high-resolution formats that capture
AVCHD in various variants (e.g. 1920x1080i or 1080p). The video material is compressed
with the MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 codec. Audio is saved in AC3 (Adaptive Transform Coder 3)
format or for the standard NTSC and PAL formats in Linear PCM format.

Bit rate
Bit rate refers to the amount of data (binary digits) that is transmitted within a time unit (generally
1 second), i.e. in bits/s. The higher the bit rate, the better the image quality.

Blu-ray
Blu-ray technology refers to burning on special data carriers. In comparison to DVD's, which
use a red laser in order to read and write data, Blu-ray discs are written with a blue laser.
The shorter wavelength (405 nm) of this blue laser makes it possible to position the laser
with greater accuracy. Data can be written in a more compact manner and takes up less
space on the disc. A Blu-ray disc can store up to 25 GB on a single layer disc and up to 50
GB on a dual layer disc.

Book Type
The book type defines the specification (e.g. DVD-, DVD+, DVD-ROM) of a DVD. In order to
ensure correct playback, the DVD specifications are defined in books so that all media can
be read correctly. The specifications are defined in the so-called Rainbow Books, which are
distinguished by means of their color (e.g. Yellow Book).

Capturing
The capturing depicts the transmission of, e.g. audio or video data in their original quality on
the computer. Here the data can then be further edited.

Digital TV Card
With a digital TV card, digitally transmitted content can be received. Digital TV signals are
compared to analog signals by their higher quality,

Disc format
Disc format defines the the format in which the data is organized on a disc. For example, the
disc format DVD-VR is only supported by and can only be used with DVD-RW and DVDRAM
discs. For example, Video CD (VCD), Super Video CD (SVCD), miniDVD and (if supGlossary
ported) HD-BURN can be burned to CD-R and CD-RW disc formats. The technical options
available, such as subtitle or multiple sound tracks, are a factor of the disc format.

Disc type
Disc type refers to different optical storage media with different specifications. The best
known are CD's and DVD's that can be written to once or multiple times, and which are manufactured
with different storage capacities.

Dual
The Dolby Digital compression procedure is a multi-channel sound system that is used on
DVDs, in cinemas.and on TV. It supports bit rates of 32 kbits/s to 448 kbits/s and permits a
high grade sound reproduction over up to 6 channels.

Dual tuner card
If you wish to simultaneously see a TV channel and wish to capture another one, then a second
tuner must be integrated in the TV card.

DVD+VR
The DVD+Video format recording (video mode) is a particular variant of the DVD-Video offering
three possibilities missing on DVD-Video: 1) On-the-fly capture of videos on the disc in
real time is possible. 2)The data on the disc can later be edited and altered. 3) More video
titles can be added if space is still available on the disc. This means that a DVD+VR is similar
to a video cassette, but of a far superior quality. Once the disc has been finalized, the
DVD+VFR format is essentially compatible with DVD-Video and can be played in most DVD
players. The storage capacity doubles for burning to a DVD+R DL disc as does the space for
the DVD+VR.

DVD-VFR
The DVD-Video format recording (video mode) is a particular variant of the DVD-Video offering
three possibilities missing on DVD-Video: 1) On-the-fly capture of videos on the disc in
real time is possible. 2) the data on the disc can subsequently be edited and changed. 3)
More video titles can be added if space is still available on the disc. This means that a DVDVFR
(video mode) is similar to a video cassette, but of a far superior quality. DVD-VFR (video
mode) allows you to create menus like DVD-Video, although without chapter menus and
playlists. A DVD-VFR is compatible with DVD-Video as far as possible after finalizing the
disc and can be played back on most DVD players.

DVD-Video
The DVD-Video disc format uses the MPEG-2 video codec for compressing video files onto
a DVD. This compression allows a 4.38 GB DVD-R/-RW/+R/+RW to hold up to 135 minutes
of video with significantly higher quality than that achieved with a VHS video or with a video
CD. The disc can be played on most DVD players, which means, for example, that you can
store home videos with very high quality. Computer DVD drives with appropriate software
can also play DVD-Video. A DVD-DL disc (DL = double layer) doubles the storage capacity
of a disc and, as a result, the space for a DVD-Video.

DVD-VR
The DVD video recording is a particular variant of the format of the DVD-Video, which offers
three possibilities that are missing on the DVD-Video: 1) the direct capturing of videos on the
disc is possible in real-time. 2) The data on the disc can subsequently be edited and changed.
3) If there is place still available on the disc, then further video titles can be added. This
means that a DVD-VR is similar to a video cassette, but of a far superior quality. The DVDVR
is specifically designed for capturing directly to disc. A graphics menu is not supported,
but playlists are created instead. Furthermore, the sound track cannot be changed, i.e. it is
not possible to edit or add to the existing track. DVD-VR is not compatible with DVD-Video
and can only be played on special DVD players.

FireWire
FireWire is an interface for the transfer of data at high speed; it was developed for hardware
such as camcorders or hard drives. The serial high-speed bus allows for transfers of 100 to
400 Mbit/s in the so-called IEEE 1394a or FireWire 400 standard and up to 3.20 Mbit/s in the
so-called IEEE 1394b or FireWire 800 standard.

Frame Rate
The frame rate denotes the number of pictures, which are shown per second. The unit is fps
(frames per second). The higher the relationship the more fluid the movements become.

Hybrid tuner card
A hybrid tuner card provides the possibility of receiving TV signals digital terrestrially as well
as analog via cable.

LPCM
The Linear Pulse Code Modulation permits the loss-free capture of digitally coded analog
signals. This technology makes possible the saving of up to 8 channels in different sampling
rates and sampling depths on a single DVD.

MPEG-1
The Moving Picture Experts Group defined this industry standard for video and audio codecs.
MPEG-1 is part of the MPEG compression family and has the highest compression rate.
MPEG-1 is the format for video CDs.

MPEG-2
The Moving Picture Experts Group defined this industry standard for video and audio codecs.
There is little difference between MPEG-1 and MPEG-2: MPEG-2 is a broadcast standard
and better for televisions that are interlaced. MPEG-2 is used as a video format for
DVDs.

MPEG-4
The Moving Picture Experts Group defined this industry standard for video and audio codecs.
MPEG-4 is the latest MPEG standard for video and audio. MPEG-4 combines several
functions from MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and other standards. Nero Digital™ Video and Nero Digital
™ Audio are based on this standard.

Nero Digital
Various MPEG-4 video and audio codecs are collated in Nero Digital and are fully compatible
with the standard MPEG-4. Nero AG is continuing to develop these. In this way a substantially
higher quality of the multi-media data is achieved. Further, additional features such
as subtitles have been implemented.

NTSC
The national television system Committee Standard is a standard for video and TV in the
USA and Japan. NTSC has more individual frames (29.97 frames per second) than PAL, but
has fewer horizontal lines (525 lines).

PAL
The Phase Alternation Line procedure is the TV standard applicable for Europe. PAL possesses
625 lines per screen and the film transmission speed is 25 pictures per second. These
are transmitted in the so-called line-jump procedure where a picture with all the odd lines
and then a picture with all the even lines are created. This corresponds to a half-picture frequency
of 50 Hz.

SmartEncoding
SmartEncoding checks whether your contents are compatible with the respective formats or
are coded into the respective format. This saves time so that coding of the formats can be
dispensed with. The file is not converted only "packed differently". Thus, the contents maintain
their original quality.

Super resolution
The interpolation with super resolution algorithms permits an increase of resolution in picture
and video material. Thus, for instance, old DVDs can be converted to HD material. The increase
in resolution is the result, among others of information on previous and following pictures.

TWAIN
TWAIN is a standard for the exchange of data between a picture input device such as a
scanner and a software for purposes of further editing.

VBR
Material encoded with a variable bit rate (variable data rate) generally provides a better quality
in contrast to normal saving of audio or video files with a fixed bit rate (CBR, Constant Bit
Rate). With a variable data rate individual time sections can be coded with differently customized
data rates. Movement area scenes in videos are stored with a higher data rate than
stationary pictures. Strongly moving scenes thus require more storage space that can be saved
with less mobile scenes.

VCD
The Video Compact Disc saves movies and audio/video data in MPEG-1 format. In doing so,
the video quality from a VCD is similar to a VHS video. VCDs can store up to 74 minutes of
video material including stereo sound on a 650 MB disc. Most optical PC drives and DVD
players can play VCDs.

WMV
The Windows Media Video format is a video codec from Microsoft. The coding is comparable
with the MPG-4 format. The copy DRM (Digital Rights Management) protection is also supported
by the WMV format.

If you are looking for Disc Burning terminology, visit this post.

Windows XP Support Ends Today

Microsoft will drop Windows XP out of mainstream support today, with the ageing OS moving into extended support as previously announced.

Microsoft's mainstream support, which is usually offered for only five years, actually ran for seven-and-a-half years because of Windows Vista's long delay. Two years ago, Microsoft also extended mainstream support for XP Home and XP Media Center until 2009, and the deadline for the follow-up phase, dubbed 'extended support', until 2014, to match the dates that had been set earlier for the business-grade XP Professional.

According to Microsoft, the transition from mainstream to extended support for Windows XP means that it will only provide paid support - on a per-incident basis, or through its various pre-paid support programmes - and will only offer non-security hotfixes for a fee, and then only to customers who have purchased the Extended Hotfix Support plan.

Microsoft will continue to generate free security updates for Windows XP, and release them via Windows Update, until April 8, 2014.

Windows XP's shift into the first phase of support retirement comes at a time when the operating system remains extraordinarily popular, especially among business users. According to a recent survey by Dimensional Research, 97 percent of the more than 1,100 IT professionals surveyed said that their companies and organisations are still running XP.

The move out of mainstream and into extended support also comes just days after a leaked Microsoft memorandum spelled out a relaxation of the rules for computer makers that want to continue selling new PCs with the aged OS.

OEMs will be allowed to advertise new systems as XP PCs, something that hasn't been allowed since June 2008, and can 'downgrade' a licence for Windows 7 - the operating system that hasn't yet been released - to XP for at least six months after the former's launch.

A Microsoft spokeswoman said that support for XP on a new machine is provided by the computer maker, not Microsoft. "Customers who purchased Windows XP pre-installed on their machines will receive support from their Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) per the OEM support policy at time of purchase," she said.

Google Improves Gmail on G1 and iPhone

Google has announced it has improved access to its Gmail webmail service from mobile phones running its Android operating system and Apple's iPhone.

Key to the updated Gmail, accessible through the browsers on iPhones and the Android G1 phone, are changes that let people use the service even while their mobile connections are flaky or unavailable, Joanne McKinley, a Google mobile engineer said in a blog. Users will be able to open recently read messages and compose new mails even when out of range of wireless service.

"All this is achieved with aggressive caching and by leveraging new browser technologies, like HTML5 and Gears. The full impact of this new architecture isn't visible yet, but it will enable us to significantly improve performance and quickly roll out new features in the near future," she said.

Such developments could make browser-based mobile applications more common, a trend that could help solve the fragmentation issues that are slowing down application development in the mobile environment.

According to Christy Wyatt, vice president of software platforms and ecosystems for Motorola, the web "could be a universal access platform" for mobile applications. Wyatt said developers currently need to rebuild their applications to work on the various platforms if they want a wide potential audience. The web could serve as an open development platform for applications accessible from any web-enabled phone so that developers don't have to rewrite their apps.

While there are shortcomings to building web-based applications for mobile phones - namely that mobile networks aren't always reliable and developers can't leverage all mobile phone capabilities in apps - the executives said those are not insurmountable problems.

Adobe's runtime environment provides offline capabilities so even when applications are web-based they can run offline, said Danny Winokur, senior director at Adobe.

Eventually, essentially any application that now requires software on the device will be able to be run from the web, said Sumit Agarwal, head of mobile product management for Google.

"What apps can you say can't use the browser? Before, you didn't have access to location [from the browser], now you do," he said. "Maybe soon we'll have access to the camera and the speaker. It's not clear to me what aspect of the device you won't have access to in the browser."

Winokur agreed. While there currently may be performance issues, extension capabilities within runtime environments let developers plumb many of the capabilities of the device up to the runtime layer, he said.

The Gmail update should also make the application work faster when users do things like open a message, navigate and search, McKinley said. It also includes a couple of other changes such as a 'floaty bar' that stays on the screen as users scroll through messages and that contains options to archive and delete messages.

Apple to Increase iPhone Storage, Says Report

Apple has ordered large amounts of Flash memory to be used in a new iPhone expected in June, according to reports. What makes this report interesting is that Apple is allegedly ordering twice as much Flash as it did last year, according to reports from DigiTimes. A large request for Flash from Apple backs the rumor of a larger capacity iPhone model, slated for early this summer.

The DigiTimes report continues claiming Apple ordered 100 million 1GB NAND Flash chips, mainly from Samsung Electronics. Apple could recombine these chips in the manufacturing process, creating 16GB and 32GB (Gigabyte) storing capabilities for new iPhone models. One hundred million 8Gb chips would be enough for 12.5 million 8GB iPhones or around 3 million 32GB devices.

Speculation around Apple's massive Flash memory order could mean that the long-rumored 32GB iPhone might be on its way and possibly a larger capacity 64GB iPod Touch. In the case of the iPod Touch, 64GB could mean a much higher price, somewhere around $500. A 32GB iPhone is feasible, especially as video-recording capabilities are expected in the new model (requiring more storage).

However, Apple uses this kind of NAND Flash chips in other of its products as well, like the iPod nano and Shuffle, so at the moment it is not very clear how the Cupertino company will use the 100 million chips. As previously reported, the new iPhone model is expected to feature a better camera (with video recording) and higher storage capacities, besides the 3.0 software improvements announced last month.

Update your geek knowledge, Disc Burning terminology

Bridge Disc
A Bridge Disc is a variant of a CD-ROM that can be read from CD drives but also from CD-I devices such as a Photo CD for example. It is defined in the White Book Standard and contains extra information in an XA (Standard Architecture) track on the CD-ROM.

FAT
FAT (File Allocation Table) is a file system developed by Microsoft. The FAT 12, FAT 16 and FAT 32 file systems are used on all types of mobile storage media (e.g. USB sticks, memory
cards).

ISO 9660
The International Organization for Standardization defined the Universal Standard 9660 which determines the features of the CD. This format is platform-independent and can thus be read by computers with different operating systems. In order to ensure universal readability, the file names used should be as short as possible. (In a DOS environment no more than eight characters may be used).

Joliet
Joliet refers to an extension of the ISO-9660 standard for file names. Joliet was designed by Microsoft in order to represent more characters. The file name can be up to 64 characters long and contain the letters A-Z, a-z, umlauts and the ß.

Multisession Disc
A multisession disc can contain several sessions that are not fixed. This way, more data can be added in new sessions at a later point in time, and the disc is not closed until it is full.

NTFS
New Technology File System is a Windows file system. Its advantages include differentiated access and rights management, as well as defragmented data storage, which allows the processing speed to remain high.

Packet-writing
Packet-writing refers to a procedure for writing to optical media incrementally. An optical medium, e.g. a DVD, can be used as a hard drive as a result. This way, files can be copied, moved, changed, or erased on the respective optical medium.

UDF
The Universal Disc Format is a platform-independent file system. File names can be up to 255 characters long; 8 and 16 bit character sets are supported.

Using Nero RescueAgent to recover corrupt, deleted files and older file versions

If you have been searching how to recover corrupt or deleted files from your PC, this article might be useful to you and end your search here for Nero RescueAgent.

With Nero RescueAgent you can quickly and easily recover files from storage media, that, for instance, have been corrupted by scratches or cannot be read correctly due to ageing. The following storage media are supported by Nero RescueAgent.

CD
DVD
Hard drive
USB stick
Memory card
Floppy

For multisession disks and disks formatted for the UDF file system capable of packet writing, Nero RescueAgent also provides the option of recovering deleted files and older file versions.

Working with Nero RescueAgent
The Nero RescueAgent Assistant helps you to restore files in just a few steps.
The following individual steps are necessary.

Select storage medium and scan level.
Search storage medium for files that can be restored.
Select files to be restored and define storage location for files.
Start Restore
Save log file (optional)

Then you can either start a new scan, scan the storage medium again, restore files or end Nero RescueAgent.

Nero RescueAgent is a Nero AG product. To purchase Nero RescueAgent or read details about it visit the official Nero website www.nero.com.

Lenovo Offers Workstations With Intel's Nehalem Chips

Lenovo has became the second major PC maker to announce workstations based on Intel's upcoming quad-core Nehalem chips, which are due for release next week.

The high-end ThinkStation D20 and low-end ThinkStation S20 workstations will run on Intel's upcoming Xeon 3500 and 5500 series dual-core and quad-core chips, the company said. The processors belong to the Nehalem-EP line of server and workstation processors that Intel plans to officially launch next week.

The announcement comes a few weeks after Apple became the first major PC vendor to announce Xeon-based workstations. Apple earlier this month started taking orders for new Mac Pro workstations also powered by Xeon 3500 and 5500 quad-core chips. The Mac Pro workstations will run Apple's Mac OS X operating system.

The PCs are targeted at users who need powerful systems to render high-end graphics, like digital content creators, game developers and engineers, said Kristy Fair, a Lenovo spokeswoman.

The D20 workstation is a dual-socket system, which allows up to two processors to work together, and it supports 96GB of memory. The S20 has a single-processor slot and supports up to 12GB of memory. The systems offer hard drive storage of up to 1TB.

The processors should enable faster application performance on the workstations compared to older Xeon chips. Nehalem cuts the bottlenecks of Intel's earlier Core microarchitecture to improve system speed and performance-per-watt. The microarchitecture integrates a memory controller and provides a faster pipe for the CPU to communicate with system components like a graphics card and other chips.

Each core can execute two software threads simultaneously, so a workstation with four processor cores could simultaneously run eight threads for faster application performance.

The workstations will run Xeon E5500 series chips, which will come with dual- and quad-core flavors, and the quad-core W3500, X5500 series chips that run between 1.86GHz and 3.2GHz. The systems will also run the quad-core W5580 chip that runs at 3.2GHz. The CPUs draw between 80 watts and 130 watts of power.

The workstations will include the OS options of Windows Vista Business and Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Graphics cards options include the Nvidia Quadro or ATI FirePro, where certain computational tasks can be offloaded from a CPU to the additional cores on a graphics processing unit for faster data processing.

The S20 model will start at US$1,070(Rs. 53,700) and dual-socket D20 starts at $1,550(Rs. 77,800). The workstations are scheduled to be available worldwide by the end of this month. From http://pcworld.in/india/news/5931504/Hardware/Lenovo_Offers_Workstations_With_Intel

Sennheiser launches three new series of headsets

Sennheiser has introduced three new families of headphones, the CX II, IE and MM series.

According to a press release, the CX II range includes products like the CX 300 II, CX 350 II, CX 400 II, CX 550 II and CX 6 among others. The new Sennheiser CX II earphone series are available in Street, Sport, Gaming, Travel and Style variants and sport different designs & colors. All of these are noise-isolating, in–ear canal headphones. The IE series' flagship model, IE 8, enables the user to fine-tune the bass response according to preference. Also included in this family are the IE 6 and IE 7 headsets which are powered by neodymium drivers. The MM series is specially designed for the iPhone and Nokia cell phones respectively. The MM 50 and MM 60 headsets are foldable and make for easy portability. 

Dual-Screen Laptop has Touchcreen Keyboard

Asus plans to demonstrate at CeBIT a dual-screen laptop which replaces the keyboard with an additional touchscreen display.    

The Taiwanese manufacturer said the prototype could be used as a conventional laptop, a multimedia hub or an an e-book reader.

The dual-screen laptop, which may not become a commercial product, is the result of the ideas contributed from users from around the world as part of Asus and Intel's Community Designed PC project.

"The dual panel offers a flexible working space in which users can adapt to suit their prevailing usage scenarios, for example adjusting the size of the virtual touchpad and keyboard," said Asus.

The use of the touchcreen provides an input mechanism that's both flexible and intuitive, according to Asus. The company said the system could be controlled using hand gestures, handwriting recognition and multi-touch.

However, by disabling the software-based keyboard, the laptop can also be turned into an e-book, which can be held like a conventional book in which pages can be moved through touch or gestures.

Also, the two panels could be combined to form a larger display for watching widescreen movies.

Nokia May Drop DRM from its Music Service

Nokia has revealed it may consider following in the footsteps of Apple by removing digital right management (DRM) from the music available through its Comes with Music service.

Nokia Comes with Music -- which is currently only available on a handful of mobile phones, including Nokia's XpressMusic 5310 handset -- allows users to download as many songs as they want from the Nokia Music Store for 12 months after they have purchased a compatible Nokia handset. Nokia says that users can then keep the music after the year is up.

The Nokia Music Store features tracks from four major record labels. However, the DRM prevents the tracks from being transferred to another digital music player or from being burned to CD.

A handful of Nokia phones feature the Comes with Music service.

Adam Mirabella, director of Global Digital Music Retail at Nokia, told Channel News Asia: "We have dialogues going with all of our partners and DRM-free is also on the roadmap for the future integration of Comes With Music.

"We always knew digital was the answer, but for all this time, we've never been able to figure out a model that actually makes money, given the fact that music is so available on the net or so freely available that people were getting the music they wanted, but not actually paying for it," he added.

Apple announced at the start of the year it would be offering music tracks in its iTunes store that were DRM-free.

Samsung’s New Mobile Phone Comes With an 8MP Camera

Samsung Mobile today announced the introduction of what they claim is India's first 8-megapixel touch screen camera phone, the SAMSUNG Pixon (M8800). The Pixon features the latest camera functions found in Digital Cameras, like Advanced Shake Reduction, Blink detection, Smile detection, Face detection , Panoramic shot etc. The photographs taken on the phone can be edited and users can even make a photo memo by scribbling on the photos.

The phone facilitates easy mobile blogging and makes it fun to see and share pictures - just by tilting the phone, pictures will scroll through for a great viewing experience.  It has video recording capability and TV output for both PAL and NTSC systems.The other touch screen phones in the Samsung product portfolio include Samsung OMNIA(i900), Samsung TouchWiz (F480) , both having 5 mega pixel camera resolutions as well as Samsung i780 ,which is a sleek smart device featuring a full QWERTY keyboard and full touch screen.

The 8.1cm WQVGA large full touch screen has Samsung TouchWiz user interface for intuitive tap, sweep, drag and drop operations  as well as live Home Screen Widgets like weather info , Google search etc. This 3G phone comes with an onscreen QWERTY keyboard and on screen handwriting recognition for emailing, messaging and other inputs. Samsung Pixon supports a wide range of video player formats including DivX, Xvid and mp4. It also sports an advanced Music Player with SRS 3D surround sound.

The SAMSUNG Pixon is priced at an MRP of Rs.28,750/-

Windows 7 to ditch Internet Explorer?

Microsoft may give Windows 7 users the option to remove its Internet Explorer (IE) 8 web browser from the operating system.

The Aero Experience blog says build 7048 of the operating system benefits from the new 'Windows Features On or Off' function, which could potentially let users get rid of the browser.

Internet Explorer has been bundled with Windows for many years, a move which has created controversy. In January this year, the EU Competition Commission charged Microsoft with distorting competition in the market for web browsers by bundling IE with the Windows operating system.

"Given that this change doesn't exist in Beta 1, the odds that this change will persist through to RC are quite high," says the blog.

"There is a catch: for now, this only seems to wipe the actual executable running Internet Explorer 8. In addition, this actually takes two reboots and a configuration step to complete, so there's definitely something going on behind the scenes (likely a remapping of where IE-related functions can be found for other elements in Windows so that Windows doesn't complain about IE's nonexistence)."

Source: PCWorld.in

iPhone-Controlled Car to Demo at Geneva Motor Show

It can send e-mails, play video, access the Web and snap pictures, but
control a car? Swiss automobile design house Rinspeed will unveil a
concept electric car controlled by an iPhone at next week's Geneva
Motor Show.

The iChange ditches car keys in favor of an iPhone, which clips into a
holder on the dashboard to the right or left of the steering wheel.
Once connected a green "start" button appears on the iPhone's display
and one push brings the iChange automobile to life. When you're
driving the car the iPhone can also be used for other control
functions, such as switching on and off the headlights.

But the car is about much more than just an iPhone. With it, Rinspeed
is trying to revolutionize the way people think of cars.

Most cars are designed to carry a fixed number of passengers in a
fixed number of seats and the entire vehicle is based around this.
Even if you usually travel alone, the vehicle's space never changes.
The aerodynamics of the vehicle, and therefore its fuel consumption,
are constantly tied to this fixed number of passengers.

But not the iChange. In its basic configuration the pod-shaped sports
car is a single seater but at the push of a button the rear of the
roof pops up to provide room for an extra two passengers.

The adaptive body concept is perhaps the biggest innovation in the car
but there are others. It's an all-electric car powered by Lithium Ion
batteries and there are two configurations: one with fewer batteries
for less weight and shorter driving and another heavier configuration
for longer distances. The 150 kilowatt Siemens-built electric motor
provides enough power to take the car from zero to 100 kph (kilometers
per hour) in 4.2 seconds, said Rinspeed.

The Harman/Kardon audio system is based on a low-power Intel processor
so it uses less energy and weighs less than standard systems and the
car navigation won't just calculate the quickest way to get to your
destination but the most eco-friendly route to get there in the car.

Designer Frank Rinderknecht, who came up with the iChange, is
well-known in his native Switzerland for creating interesting concept
cars. Last year it was the "sQuba," a sports car that can drive
underwater, that he unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show. The cars he
designs typically never make it to market so don't go looking for the
iChange at a car dealership anytime soon.

Yahoo, Vodafone to Distribute Opera Mini

Just as competition is heating up among mobile browsers, Opera hopes to grow its user base through deals with Yahoo and Vodafone.

Yahoo plans to begin offering downloads of the Opera Mini browser from its Yahoo Mobile Web site, which will launch in March. Opera Mini is a very small browser that works in conjunction with back-end servers that shrink Web content for easier delivery to mobile phones.

The browser is already offered free and used by 20 million people, according to Opera. But a promotion on Yahoo's Mobile site will likely boost the number of users.

Yahoo Mobile, introduced on Tuesday at the Mobile World Congress, is a successor to Yahoo Go, an application that serves as a portal for applications and news for mobile phones. The Yahoo Mobile application will become available for iPhones in March and for Java-based smartphones in May.

Opera is likely to rack up additional users through a separate deal with Vodafone. Opera plans to develop a custom version of Opera Mini for Vodafone, designed for low- and mid-priced phones. Vodafone will preload the browser on phones sold in some markets and will target it at people who are likely to connect to the Internet for the first time on their mobile phones. The browser will be available across Vodafone markets in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa, the companies said.

Also at MWC, Opera said it has joined the LiMo Foundation, the group developing middleware for Linux-based mobile phones.

All of the deals could help Opera better compete in the mobile market as browser makers continue to work to improve mobile Internet access. Microsoft announced at MWC an update to IE Mobile with features that let users more easily zoom into portions of Web pages. Also, Mozilla continues progress on development of its Fennec mobile browser.

Facebook Users Claim Content Victory

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg says the social network will return to its previous terms of service regarding user data ownership in the face of a barrage of criticism and planned legal threats from privacy organisations.

A user group protesting the change has claimed victory over the changes, after more than 70,000 facebook users joined forces to voice their complaint. The issue comes down to a couple of alterations within the company's terms of use that, it would seem, gave Facebook eternal ownership of your personal content - even if you decide to delete your account.

“Victory! You spoke, and facebook listened," shouts the Facebook user group page.

In a blog today Facebook's Zuckerberg said the move was only temporary "while we resolve the issues that people have raised".

"A couple of weeks ago, we revised our terms of use hoping to clarify some parts for our users. Over the past couple of days, we received a lot of questions and comments about the changes and what they mean for people and their information. Based on this feedback, we have decided to return to our previous terms of use while we resolve the issues that people have raised.

"Many of us at Facebook spent most of today discussing how best to move forward. One approach would have been to quickly amend the new terms with new language to clarify our positions further. Another approach was simply to revert to our old terms while we begin working on our next version.

"We concluded that returning to our previous terms was the right thing for now. As I said yesterday, we think that a lot of the language in our terms is overly formal and protective so we don't plan to leave it there for long.

"More than 175 million people use Facebook. If it were a country, it would be the sixth most populated country in the world. Our terms aren't just a document that protect our rights; it's the governing document for how the service is used by everyone across the world. Given its importance, we need to make sure the terms reflect the principles and values of the people using the service.

"Our next version will be a substantial revision from where we are now. It will reflect the principles I described yesterday around how people share and control their information, and it will be written clearly in language everyone can understand. Since this will be the governing document that we'll all live by, Facebook users will have a lot of input in crafting these terms.

"You have my commitment that we'll do all of these things, but in order to do them right it will take a little bit of time. We expect to complete this in the next few weeks. In the meantime, we've changed the terms back to what existed before the February 4th change, which was what most people asked us for and was the recommendation of the outside experts we consulted."

The backlash against Facebook's updated privacy policies was about to expand. The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) is preparing to file a formal complaint with the Federal Trade Commission over the social network's updated licenses, according to PC World.

Access e-mail On Your Phone for Cheap Through GooseBerry

GooseBerry has introduced a service with which users can access their emails on their mobiles, without an internet or GPRS connection. According to a press release, the service helps users receive and reply emails using SMS. Further, the Email content is compressed by up to 30% to ensure that users get only the important part of the email. This service works across GSM and CDMA networks.

The release further states that Gooseberry supports 37 email servers as of January 2009, including corporate emails, Gmail, Yahoo and Ibibo, among others. The service runs on any mobile on the planet without needing to install anything. Among other advantages that the service gives users, as mentioned in the release, includes the low cost of the service, the ability to create filters to prevent unwanted emails on your phone, no extra charges for roaming and easy installation. For more details you can go to http://www.gooseberry.in. 

Compare Windows 7 Versions - which edition of Windows 7 is the best?

Vista's SKUs can be reflected well in all these six editions of Windows 7 to be release towards the end of this year or the beginning of the next. Compare Windows 7 Versions - which edition of Windows 7 is the best?

1. Windows 7 Starter
2. Windows 7 Home Basic
3. Windows 7 Enterprise
4. Windows 7 Ultimate
5. Windows 7 Home Premium
6. Windows 7 Professional

Microsoft is recommending either Windows 7 Home Premium or Professional for most of its customers. 

Windows 7 Home Premium is for the average user and Windows 7 Professional -- replacing Windows Vista Business -- is for small businesses and people who work at home but have to operate in an IT-managed or business environment with security and productivity concerns, according to Microsoft.

Windows 7 Starter is a limited-functionality version of the OS that will be available worldwide but only as a pre-install by OEMs (original equipment manufacturers). This expansion of its availability -- Vista Starter was only available in emerging markets -- led one blogger to surmise that Windows 7 Starter is the version Microsoft will push for the netbook market. Netbook makers will likely choose this version.

Windows 7 Enterprise is Microsoft's SKU for its enterprise customers, while PC enthusiasts that "want it all," according to Microsoft, should purchase Windows 7 Ultimate.

Like Vista, Windows 7 also will have Home Basic edition that will only be sold in emerging PC markets "for customers looking for an entry-point Windows experience on a full-size value PC," according to Microsoft.

Making all editions of Windows 7 available on small form-factor PCs, widely known as netbooks, is an especially strategic move for Microsoft, as the same was not true for Vista.

For more news updates on Microsoft Windows 7, visit out Label: Windows 7 CLICK HERE.

Details about the new Microsoft OS Windows 7 from their official website: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/

How to Remove or Delete AutoPlay Handler from the Options List in Vista and XP

Before you continue to read this article about how to remove autorun virus or autorun options list, we would suggest you to visit our download section in a separate tab(Windows) and continue here.

This article or Windows action requires changing Windows Registry so please be advised to back up you registry before modifying any key.

AutoPlay or AutoRun dialog window will pop up when an removable drive, portable device such as digital camera and media player or CD/DVD disc been inserted into computer or placed into optical drive, with plenty of action choices in a list of options for users to choose to perform on the just connected drive and drive contents. Each item in the AutoPlay list is a handler installed by various applications to show as an option for a particular events or content types such as Pictures, Videos, and Mixed.

Windows by default has several AutoPlay handlers, and other third-party programs, especially media player such as MusicMatch Jukebox and RealPlayer, and image burning software such as Nero will add their own AutoPlay handlers and shortcuts into the list. Over the time, the AutoPlay list can get longer and longer, and some entries can become invalid or orphaned when the program has been uninstalled by the AutoPlay handlers are not removed.

To delete and remove an entry or item from AutoPlay menu, its corresponding handler in the registry has to be deleted. To make the management of AutoPlay entries easier, such as to delete and remove an unwanted or unneeded entry in AutoPlay menu, an AutoPlay cleanup utility is available. Alternatively, you can opt for third party utility tools- Autoplay clean up utility. Visit our download section.

It’s also possible to manually edit the system registry to remove the AutoPlay handlers. The AutoPlay handlers are stored at the following registry location:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\AutoplayHandlers\Handlers\

Above registry key stores handler settings, which is the action to perform when selected on AutoPlay.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\AutoplayHandlers\EventHandlers\

Above registry key stores various event names, which contains associated handlers. Which mean all entries added as the value for the event will be shown as an option when the particular event happens and trigger the AutoPlay menu dialog.

Note that any wrong modification to the registry may cause instability. So if you plan to remove any handlers directly from the registry, backup the key before modifying.

Suggested Readings:

Please, read about Windows utility programs such as Tuneup utility and Vista Manager. Since they are very easy to use programs, you should find them easy to accomplish almost all task to enhance your system.

Portion of this test is taken from PC Tips Box @ http://www.pctipsbox.com/how-to-remove-or-delete-autoplay-handler-from-the-options-list-in-vista-and-xp/

All editions of Windows 7 to run on Netbooks says Microsoft

Microsoft has recently made an announcement that it would be releasing six editions of the much anticipated Windows 7 and all of them will run on range of hardware, including Netbooks - laptops for effective Internet. The upcoming Operating System (OS) from Microsoft giant will emphasis on Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Professional, these two OS versions are supposed to be purchased by most customer.

Vista's SKUs can be reflected well in all these six editions of Windows 7 to be release towards the end of this year or the beginning of the next.

1. Windows 7 Starter
2. Windows 7 Home Basic
3. Windows 7 Enterprise
4. Windows 7 Ultimate
5. Windows 7 Home Premium
6. Windows 7 Professional

With Windows 7, Microsoft hopes it will be easier for customers to decide which edition of the OS is right for them. By doing so, the company once again seems to be trying to learn from mistakes it made with the release of Windows Vista, premium versions of which had special hardware requirements that hindered customers' transition from XP and confused users as to which edition they should purchase.

When Microsoft released Vista, premium versions such as Windows Vista Ultimate and Windows Vista Home Premium did not run on many PCs that already were running Windows XP. Microsoft tried to give hardware partners and customers fair warning of this and through a controversial program had OEMs put stickers on new PCs to let customers know which version of Vista those machines could run.

Still, many customers did not feel Vista hardware requirements were communicated effectively and Microsoft is still embroiled in a class-action suit over that sticker program, called "Windows Vista Capable."

For more news updates on Microsoft Windows 7, visit out Label: Windows 7 CLICK HERE.

Details about the new Microsoft OS Windows 7 from their official website: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/

Latest tech news with Obama Virus, GEARS OF WAR GAME, Firefox,

WORM FLOATS OBAMA'S HEAD ON YOUR DESKTOP
The odds are pretty good that this will never happen to you, but should a floating head of U.S. President Barack Obama pop up on your desktop Monday morning, know this: You've been hit with the Obama worm. Though it is not detected by any antivirus products right now, it is not considered to be a serious threat because it has infected so few systems. Because antivirus programs don't detect it yet, it's also hard to know when you've been infected. For more Google the news.

GEARS OF WAR GAME RENDERED UNPLAYABLE BY FLAWED DRM
The game Gears of War suddenly 'expired' on PCs on the 28th of January this year. The DRM (Digital Rights Management) associated with the game has a flaw which renders the game unplayable post that date. Gamers are angered by this premature expiry and the forum of the game developer, Epic, is abuzz with complaints. A 'super moderator' on Epic's forum has said "We have been notified of the issue and are working with Microsoft to get it resolved. Sorry for any problems related to this. I'll post more once we have a resolution".

FIREFOX 3.1 BETA 3 DELAYED AGAIN
The release of the third beta of Mozilla's Firefox 3.1 web browser has been delayed again after 18 bugs were detected in TraceMonkey - the browser's JavaScript engine. Mozilla was unable to confirm whether the delay, the second one this month, would affect the releases of the final version of the browser.

Test if your Electronic device is compatible with Windows Vista

It's not that bad when you suffer that the age old music only MP4 player is unsure of running well in Microsoft's Windows Vista. You can test almost all if not many hardwares, cameras,  printers, MFDs (Multifunctional Devices), Input devices, networking devices, TV devices, communication and storage devices including mobile phones and PDAs, graphic cards and components. Get the Windows Vista compatibility information for all types of hardware or software products. You will find graphic applications, PC games, printers, digital cameras and more.

Just make your visit to Windows Vista Compatibility Center @ http://www.microsoft.com/windows/compatibility/ and there you are with a lot of choices. The sites goes as:

Wondering if your favorite stuff works with Windows Vista? Here's where you can find out if it already does or if you just need a software upgrade or a new driver. You'll get details on thousands of software programs and devices and benefit from users' feedback.

You can use advanced search feature if you want to check if your specific electronic device is Windows Vista Compatible. Just check more links if you want to know more about Windows Vista Compatibility Center. Windows Vista Compatibility Center, hardware compatibility, software compatibility, Upgrade Advisor, drivers, device, peripherals, download software, applications, programs, Windows Vista all in one site.

Windows Vista Compatibility Center

• About ● Advanced search ● Send feedback ● Suggest a new product ● Report a compatibility issue ● Frequently Asked Questions  ● How partners can participate

Microsoft Adds Clickjacking Protection to IE8 RC1

Protection against malicious Web attacks and tweaks to a feature that lets users browse the Internet privately are among updates Internet Explorer users can test in the first release candidate for IE8.

Microsoft released the feature-complete version of IE8 to the Web. Microsoft added performance tweaks to existing features and one major security update to block Web attacks known as "clickjacking" that the company said makes IE8 the only Web browser to offer such protection.

Clickjacking lets hackers put a transparent filter on sites so they can view what information a user is accessing and what activities that user is doing, said James Pratt, an IE senior product manager at Microsoft. For example, if someone is on a bank Web site, attackers can use clickjacking to see the user's bank information and acquire passwords, and the user will not know the information is being viewed remotely, he said.

The security feature that thwarts clickjacking in IE8 RC1 allows Web-site content owners to put a tag in a page header that will help detect and prevent clickjacking. If a site that uses the IE8 tag detects clickjacking, it will give Web users an error screen letting them know that the content host has chosen not to allow that content, and gives them the option to open the content in a new window that is protected from the attack.

Microsoft also in RC1 expanded the functionality of a feature it introduced in the IE8 beta 2 release called InPrivate. InPrivate has two settings -- InPrivate Browsing, which lets users browse the Web without creating a record of where they've been or enabling cookies, and InPrivate Blocking, which has been renamed in RC1 to InPrivate Filtering.

InPrivate Filtering lets people set a threshold for how many times third-party content appears on sites they are browsing before the feature allows them to view information on how those third-party content owners are collecting information about browsing habits. That threshold can be set between three times and 30 times.

For example, Pratt said that if the same third-party advertisement appears 10 times on Web sites that a user is browsing in a session and the person's InPrivate Filtering threshold is set to 10, the user can then view how the third-party content owner is collecting information about browsing activities.

The Compatibility View introduced in IE8 beta 2 also got a refresh in RC1. The feature allows users to view Web sites that may not be compatible with current Web standards IE8 supports in another view so the sites render properly.

Microsoft added more support for current Web standards such as CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and RSS in IE7, but sites that were designed for previous versions of IE that didn't support these standards didn't work properly. One of Microsoft's chief goals for IE8 is to make it as Web standards-compatible as possible, but also to ensure older sites can be viewed the way they were designed.

In IE8 RC1, Microsoft built into the browser a list of common Web sites that it discovered must be viewed in Compatibility View mode to render properly, Pratt said. Now when someone browses these sites in IE8 RC1, they automatically appear in that mode without a user having to click on a "Compatibility View" button, as they had to in IE8 beta 2, he said.

Microsoft also tweaked browser performance features so IE8 RC1 opens faster as an application and also opens new tabs or Web pages faster, the company said.

Transcend introduces 1.8” Portable SSD in India

Transcend has announced the availability of its new 1.8-inch portable solid state drive (SSD) – the SSD18M in India. The Transcend 1.8-inch portable SSD is available in 3 different capacities of 32GB, 64GB and 128GB capacities. According to a press release, the SSD18M offers greater resistance to shock and vibration and comes with both eSATA and USB2.0 interface options.

The release further claims that the eSATA interface provides a maximum read speed of 90MB/s and write speeds of 50MB/s. The SSD18M features dimensions of 80mm x 50mm x 12.5mm and weighs 50g. The SSD also has built-in ECC (Error Correction Code) functionality.

The prices for the 32GB, 64GB and 128GB models are Rs. 7,000; Rs. 12,000 and Rs. 20,000 respectively and all the models come with a two year warranty.

The release quotes Austin Huang, Regional Head - Sales, SAARC & APAC, Transcend, " Unlike traditional hard disk drives, this handy device (SSD18M) is made of reliable NAND flash memory that contains no moving parts, which not only eliminates the possibility of mechanical failure resulting from vibration and shock, but also provides substantial weight savings and reduced power consumption."

Choosing the Best Bluetooth headset gadgets

Wanting to be on hands free device with Bluetooth headset enabled phones- this posts can act as a basic guide to you. Best devices for you (crème de la crème) can be purchased from Amazon. The choice is again yours whether you want a single ear piece or the both.

Motorola S9 Bluetooth Active Headphones

One of the best designs, user-friendly controls, better sound quality, built-in microphone for making phone calls

 

Jabra BT620s - Bluetooth Stereo Headset

best to listen music and make phone calls,  play music from your laptop directly on Jabra Bluetooth Stereo Headset

Plantronics Voyager 520

 

lightweight, comfortable, very good call quality, relatively cheaper

Plantronics Voyager 510 with Multipoint Technology

Lightweight, versatile headset, wearing comfort, clearer voice transmission, superior sound quality, deskphone adapter

Samsung WEP200 Black

compact ear-but Bluetooth headset, cozy buttons, adaptation needed to use

Aliph Jawbone and Jawbone 2

modern finishing, ear comfortable, noise-cancelling technology that senses vibrations in jaw to verify if the sound is coming from the user, best sound quality, no simpler volume changer

Motorola H 98689 T820 Bluetooth Stereo Headset

ultimate choice of audiophiles, music and phone calls seamlessly streamed, A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution Profile) & AVRCP (Audio Video Remote Control Profile) allow to stream music directly from laptop/PC, most PMPs including MP3,MP4 players

Sony Ericsson Bluetooth HBH-GV435

Sony's best Bluetooth headset using DSP (Digital Signal Processing) technology, clear sound, almost all sorts of noise canceled out, fast, automatic volume adjustment, auto pairing and redialing

Other worth mentioning Bluetooth headset/stereo devices include:

• SoundID SM100 Bluetooth headset
• Plantronics Voyager 855 Bluetooth headset
• BlueAnt V1
• Jabra BT8040

Further Links:

• The 15 Best Rated Bluetooth Headsets: It’s The Law by THE HOTTEST GADGETS
• Best Bluetooth headsets by CNET Reviews
• More articles about Bluetooth technology and usage from the geeklog