Technology Blog

1. Battery Life
Battery life was a major issue when the iPod came out. Now, they managed to have a decent playing time with most of their models. The Zune needs to provide a battery life similar to the iPod. We already know that both players have the same kind of battery. What we don’t know is how much power the Wi-fi and the bigger screen are going to drain.

2. Hype around Movie Downloading
With the introduction of movie downloading at iTunes store, Apple could create a buzz strong enough to put a shadow on the Zune player. Microsoft already announced that they would not be able to download movies from the Zune Marketplace anytime soon.

3. Weight
Weight is a major issue with portable devices. Even a small fraction of an ounce can make a difference. We know that the Zune is heavier then the iPod, but only the future will tell if users are annoyed by that Zune “overweight”. Another important aspect is that Microsoft does not have a light version of the Zune like the Nano or the Shuffle.

4. Ease of use
One of the key features of the iPod is the ease of use. The seamless integration of iTunes with the iPod is certainly the top reason why the iPod was a huge success. You don’t need to be a computer geek to use it. Zune users do not expect anything less from the Zune player and software.

5. Prototype look & feel
Even more with the brand new design of the iPod, Zune fans are expecting a very attractive and professional design from the Zune. At this point, photos and videos are not enough to have a good idea of the quality of the design.

6. File Formats
By turning their back on Playforsure, Microsoft is going against their own fans. This is usually not a good thing! Other formats like .aa are also not currently supported by the Zune player.

Labels: black zune, microsoft zune, mp3 player, zune

Posted by Aadi at 11:34 PM | Permalink | Comments

Portable DVD Players

Undoubtedly, DVD players are one of the most popular electronic gadgets. PDAs, plasma televisions, laptops, personal computers and cell phones are some of the other popular electronic gadgets. With the DVD players you can enjoy watching movie without conceding home comfort.

Viewing a popular entertaining movie during journey relieves you of the boredom. Portable DVD player offers you an opportunity to view your favorite movie even during plane, bus or cruise ship journey. A headphone is the common feature of portable DVD players. This helps you avoiding distractions caused by the chatters of co-passengers.

You must check for the following whenever you are buying a portable DVD player.

• Select the portable DVD player with your desired screen size

• Consider the weight and dimensions of portable DVD player

• Confirm about the disc formats (CD-RW, CD-R, DVD-R etc) supported by portable DVD player you intend to buy.

• Check for the output offered by the DVD player based on requirement (either for audio or video)

• Check that portable DVD player has built-in screen. Many portable DVD players come with this feature. Larger screen are considered as best option.

• Portable DVD players with virtual surround sound offers you clear sound and enhance the enjoyment of viewing movie.

Usually, LCD screen with 16:9 wide screen ratio active matrix is used in most of the portable DVD players.

Portable DVD Player Reviews: Many reviewers agree that picture quality, screen size, quality of batteries (life, size and connectivity) used in the portable DVD player, sound quality are the main features of portable DVD players. You will find number of portable DVD player reviews on web sites. Not necessarily all the reviews will be in agreement with the consumers as a particular portable DVD player review may be posted on the site with an aim of product promotion.

Dual Screen Portable DVD Player: As indicated from the nomenclature, these dual screen DVD players have two separate LCD screen. This type of DVD players is manufactured primarily for use of car travelers. Both screens are connected to the common DVDE playback unit via video/audio cables. Usually, screens are mounted on the back side of front seat. These dual screen portable DVD players have two sets of wireless headphones. If the batteries of DVD player exhaust, you can power it with the help of cars electric port. Two screens can be used independently as per your requirement. For example, you can enjoy the viewing of movie on one screen and your kids can play video games on other.

Dual screen portable DVD players are more popular amongst kids and teenagers. The reason behind this popularity is that children can play video games or view movie during journey and they can take it to outdoor weekends.

Best portable DVD Players: Portable DVD players with following features are regarded as best portable DVD players.

• Built-in stereo speaker system with cordless headphones for optional quiet and personal listening

• DVD players that provide movie viewing option in progressive scan on LCD through s-video or AV output connection. Some portable DVD players have feature of Dolby Digital sound decoding system with digital coaxial audio output connection

• Portable DVD players that have anti-skip protection to ensure the optimum viewing quality

• Portable DVD players with weatherproof bags. These weatherproof bags protect the DVD player from damaging effects caused by dust, moisture and water.

Portable car DVD players: Dual screen portable DVD players are considered most suitable for travelers who undertake frequent car journeys with their families. In fact, apart from necessity, it has become a symbol of status. To attract more customers, some car manufacturers offer built-in portable DVD players in their new models. Portable car DVD players are nice way to lessen your boredom during journey. You can spend some pleasant time while viewing your favorite movie and children can enjoy their video games (if you have dual screen portable car DVD player. Some of the DVD players are quipped with digital picture zoom interactive feature. 3D virtual surround, Slow motion (1/8, 1/4 1/2) and parental locks are the common features of most of portable DVD players.

Labels: car, dvd, dvd players, portable dvd players

Posted by Aadi at 11:11 PM | Permalink | Comments

The first thing you must do is "get connected" to the internet. The two primary connection types we will deal with are Dial-up and Wireless. With dial-up the biggest advantage of an internet connection is its low cost. However, increased competition in the high-speed internet market has driven broadband prices down making high-speed pricing more comparable.

The disadvantage is that dial-up is the slowest internet connection available. Slow connections are limited in that you may not be able to access some content intended for faster connections.

Unlike broadband which is always connected and ready, dial-up connections usually take a few minutes to dial-up and establish a connection with your internet service provider before you are able to connect to the internet.

Dial-up requires that you tie up a phone line when connected to the internet. You can add an additional phone lone dedicated to internet access, but you'll most likely have to pay your phone provider for the second line.

With fixed wireless the advantage is that your wireless internet connections are capable of extremely high speed.

The disadvantage is that set-up costs may be expensive depending on the hardware required by your wireless Internet service provider.

Once you have your high speed Internet connection up and running, you'll probably want to add a wireless router. A wireless router will allow you to access your internet connection without the wires. A wireless router will open up a whole new world of amazing products.

You may want to protect your wireless network from unauthorized users through one of the wireless network security encryption methods. You need to be aware of the ability of other computers to access your cyber communication that is private and personal.

The choice you make depends on what is important to you. Be sure that you are not only protected but you get the capability of the service you want from your own personal needs.

Labels: Broadband, cable, Dial-up, internet, wireless

Posted by Aadi at 11:03 PM | Permalink | Comments

Researching Internet For these 10 last years, Internet has become part of our everyday life. What was in the beginning a tool rather used by the institutions of search for came a medium without precedent for the regular commercial and social practice. With a number of Web pages exceeding 12 billion now, it is thus extremely difficult to find information without using the search engines.

The search engines appeared almost immediately after the birth of the WWW. The first pilot search engine, called archie, was created at the University of Montreal in 1990 and was used for research of the files located in spaces ftp. The first true search engine was created for crawler and to index the textual files on the Web, the Wanderer World Wide Web or Wandex (the Vagrant of the Web), and was launched in 1993.

It functioned on the same principles as the current search engines. But it was only at the end of the Nineties that the search engines became the major tool of research of the Web. Before that, WHOIS databases like Yahoo! or BestOfTheWeb were used to find Web pages. And that did not take a long time so that the Net surfers recognize the utility of research on Internet, once the algorithms of indexing had reached a development such as the search engines were able to provide relevant results quickly.

Relevance of the results All is question of relevance of results. Their beginnings, the search engines were extremely vulnerable to the abuse. With the origin, the search engines indexed the titles of the files then the metas-tags. And that did not take a long time so that these titles and metas-tags are victims of stuffing of very popular key words, without any connection with the contents of the page. When a Net surfer requested from the search engine a key word, this last had results to him which did not satisfy it any more.

For this reason the WHOIS databases whose Web pages were classified by human beings were much more useful than the search engines of this time. The problem of the relevance became increasingly important with the increasing commercial use of the Web. The benefit of the commercial Web sites depend on their exposure and if there is something which can help to improve their visibility in the results of research, this method must be employed. And the first attempts to influence the results of research by popular but nonsuitable key words appeared to generate traffic.

With the evolution of data-processing technologies the search engines became able to index the whole contents of a page. But it was always possible to deceive the results of research by using the stuffing of key words, the invisible optimized texts or any other technique of sp@m. But to base itself only on the contents of page did not make it possible to ensure the relevance of the results of research, and of more sophisticated algorithms appeared.

The SEO: optimization for the search engines But even the sophisticated algorithms of the modern search engines are not perfect and cannot guarantee a relevance at 100%. There are always loopholes which can be exploited to operate the results of research. The handling of the results of research is not necessarily a contrary action with ethics. Let us not take example the three larger Internet of voyage. They provide a whole a service of reservation of a similar quality and are also relevant for key words like “holidays” or “plane tickets”.

Nevertheless, they differently line up all in the results of research, and it is normal that a site less better positioned tries to improve its positioning by employing techniques of optimization SEO. Optimization for the search engines, or SEO, is what defines the factors influencing the positioning of a page in the results of research, and makes it possible to adjust these factors to obtain a better result.

To optimize the relevance of a page, you must adjust the density of the key words, add key words in the titles, use the heavy type… That must seem however normal: the stuffing of key words can have negative effects. To improve popularity of a page you must obtain bonds entering (backlinks) with key words targeted the anchor text, and to be sure that these bonds are on pages in connection with the topic of yours, and not since farms of bonds (sites FFA).

The SEO is an extremely dynamic field. Once a fault in the algorithms becomes notorious and intensively used, the search engines change their algorithms to neutralize his effect. Each update of algorithm can fatally affect the positions and the traffic of the sites employing of the strategies nonin conformity of optimization. Such strategies are based on the recently discovered faults, which make it possible to better position a page and very quickly.

But their effect lasts only until the following update of the algorithm. Another approach, much longer to implement, is the creation of Internet sites with a great quality of contents, according to the alleged directives of quality of Google. This approach underlines the value of a Web site for the Net surfers and makes it possible to dissuade employment from techniques to handle the results of research.

In short, “the good” sites would position better. But that takes years and tons of efforts to make a site popular in this way. Certain sites are, by their nature, difficult to position this way. For example few grocers can have the means of transforming their Web sites into true gates of grocers. But the use alone of the SEO cannot guarantee a durable effect.

And not to use the SEO of the whole requires too many efforts for positioning a site well. The most intelligent manner to make a site popular remains the diffusion of useful contents for the visitors, to obtain backlinks of quality and especially not to forget to grant the contents of your page with the suitable key words.

Labels: internet, Seo

Posted by Aadi at 10:59 PM | Permalink | Comments

Laptops have often been thought of as simply a small, portable computer that can be taken anywhere you go (within reason!). There are actually four different types of laptops varieties currently available however, and it is important to know the differences between them, as prices, features and performance can vary greatly between these laptop genres:

Ultra light Laptops – Known as sub notebooks or ultra-portables, these laptops usually weigh no more than 4 pounds, and people who travel frequently usually love these types of laptops. Because these laptops weigh very little, they are easy to lug around in a backpack or laptop briefcase...but they are also very small. Typing on Ultra light Laptops, especially if you have large hands, is downright difficult and uncomfortable...make sure you bring along an external keyboard that you can hook up to your ultra light once you arrive at your destination. Ultra light laptops usually lack a CD Rom drive as well, so make sure you have the proper attachments before leaving home. Battery life on Ultra light laptops is usually excellent however!

Notebooks – This type of laptop usually weighs between 4-6 pounds, with screen sizes from 12-15". As the laptop grows in size, battery life usually goes down as there are usually more devices and a larger screen to power. The Notebook is considered a 'regular' laptop, and usually has a large opening on the side where you can plug-in different devices like a CD-Rom drive, floppy drive, or wireless PCMCIA cards.

Standards – These laptops are the most commonly purchased types of laptops...they offer a full range of built-in features, including wireless connectivity, CD/DVD drives, network interfaces, multiple USB 2.0 ports, nice sized screens (usually 15") and a keyboard that is easy to type on. You won't need to pack along a lot of extra attachments for the standard laptops which is nice. Also, the best deals, discounts and prices can usually be found on standard laptops from all of the major laptop manufacturers.

Extra Large/Gaming – These bests are best suited as a 'desktop replacement'. They are usually much faster, louder and have 17" screens in most cases. The battery life is only about 1-2 hours as these laptops really burn through the power. Their faster processor speeds, larger screens, larger keyboards and heavier size makes them perfect 'home / gaming machines'. Expect extra large laptops to weigh in excess of 8 pounds. These specialty laptops are also some of the priciest, and will almost always have all options built-in...no need to pack around an external keyboard or CD-ROM drive with these laptops...just make sure you bring a couple extra batteries though!

Make sure you purchase the laptop that will work for your needs, whatever they may be…buying a laptop that is too heavy if you are a frequent traveler will leave you exhausted from hauling it around. Buying an Ultra light laptop if you are a gamer will leave you disappointed. Make sure you evaluate your needs before purchasing your next laptop, and you’ll be smiling instead of grimacing in frustration!

Labels: laptops, notebook

Posted by Aadi at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments

A basic WiFi home network can be assembled fairly quickly. However, many homeowners aren't aware of all the options available for making their network better. The wireless network can have its capability, performance and security improved. Consider these tips for improving your wireless home network.

1. Upgrade or replace with correct hardware

In addition to the basic WiFi equipment such as the router and the wireless card, which may be upgraded with newer, faster or more compatible equipment as it comes on the market, other wireless gear such as video cameras, game adaptors and print servers are fun to consider. Do the research and get the best quality equipment for a good price.

2. Install the access point strategically

Assembly of the wireless home network can be done easily—so easily in fact that some people rush into the project only to discover that it won’t work in parts of the residence. Or, perhaps the network works just great until it crashes every time a cordless telephone or microwave is activated. So non-techies are afraid to try to fix the poor performance of the network because they might make it worse. By moving the wireless router or access point to another location, many of these common WiFi networking problems will be solved.

3. Change the channel number

Another tip for improving a wireless home network is to vary the channel used. In the United States, as well as in most other nations, WiFi equipment can send signals on a variety of channels. Wireless routers usually are shipped with a default channel and many homeowners do not realize it can be changed. If the neighbor’s router or other electronic equipment causes radio interference, try changing the WiFi channel.

4. Upgrade access point firmware

The built-in programmable software of the wireless router or access point is called the firmware. The factory installed firmware typically works for a time, but usually needs to be upgraded or replaced periodically to get improved performance, more reliability or security enhancements.

5. Improve strength and range of the access point

Sometimes the wireless signal of the WiFi router or access point is just not strong enough. This can be caused by distances or home construction features such as brick walls. In order to solve the problem the WiFi antenna on the router can be upgraded or a wireless repeater can be installed.

6. Improve strength and range of WiFi clients

The signal strength of WiFi clients can also be improved. When treating a WiFi client that has a short range in comparison to the other devises, you may want to choose this option. This same method can improve laptop computer’s ability to connect to hotspots.

7. Improve wireless network security

Many homeowners consider their wireless network a success when basic file and Internet connection sharing are functional. However, if proper security features are not in place, the work of network setup remains unfinished.

While the basic setup and equipment of the wireless network may be perfectly satisfactory to the homeowner, part of the fun of technology is the opportunity to make good better and better best.

Posted by Aadi at 11:35 AM | Permalink | Comments

The casino in the United States has a long and often illustrious history. Gambling plays a part in American history from the beginning of the colonies, in the lore of the Wild West, in the history of the underground bars during prohibition, and more. Laws concerning gambling have changed over time, with growing prohibitions against gambling followed by a relaxing of laws.

Attitudes toward gambling varied in the early American colonies. Puritan-founded colonies, not surprisingly, disapproved most strongly of all forms of dice, cards and gaming. Colonies founded by the English were quite tolerant of gambling, and it was treated as an innocent pastime. By the early 1800’s, gambling, and even gaming houses, or casinos, had evolved in the newly founded United States. New Orleans, in particular, was a center for gambling, and casinos and saloons in New Orleans evolved games we still link with the old west, including poker and blackjack.

During the California gold rush, gambling was both legal and widespread, as government offices regulated and licensed the saloon and the casino. Faro, bluff, and dice games were popular. While New Orleans had been the gambling capital of America forty years earlier, San Francisco replaced it as the main site for gambling and casinos due to the free flowing gold of the California gold rush.

During the period between the late 1850's and early 1900's, California progressively criminalized gambling. It remained legal in Nevada until 1910; however, the casino never reached the glory in Nevada that it had in San Francisco. Gambling was also criminalized elsewhere in the country during this period. Needless to say, gambling did continue, but it was a phenomenon kept behind closed doors. During the era when gambling was widely illegal, casinos remained in operation in speakeasies, private clubs, and more.

Gambling once again began to be legalized in 1931, starting with Nevada. During the 1930's, some 21 states legalized racetrack gambling. Gambling continued in Nevada, and with low stakes bingo elsewhere. Casinos began to spring up in Atlantic City, NJ in the late 70's. In 1987, the Supreme Court made a fundamental decision allowing gambling on Native American reservations, and in the years since, casino gambling has spread throughout the country with modern and thriving casinos in many states. Riverboat casinos began to spring up on major rivers in many states during the same period, bringing gambling full circle to its early roots with riverboat gamblers on the mighty Mississippi in the early 1800's.

Labels: casino, History, united states, US

Posted by Aadi at 11:34 AM | Permalink | Comments

Are you can fan of motor sports? If you are, there is a good chance that you enjoy stock car racing. Stock car racing includes a wide variety of different events, including NASCAR and local dirt track racing. Whether you enjoy NASCAR or dirt track racing, there is a good chance that you keep up with the all of the other sports that have a focus on cars. If this is the case, you may have heard of Formula Drifting before.

Formula Drifting, also commonly referred to as Formula D, is a sport that is sometimes termed as a racing sport. This has led many individual to believe that it is a form of stock car racing; however, the reality is that it isn’t. Although the two sports do have certain things in common, they are quite different. If you are unaware of the similarities and the differences, you may be wondering what they are.

Perhaps, the greatest similarity between stockcar racing and Formula Drifting is the fact that cars are used. That is why these sports are commonly referred to as motor sports or auto sports. Although driving ability is important with stockcar racing, a focus is mostly placed on the cars, especially at the professional level. With Formula D, the cars are important, but they are not nearly as important as a driver’s skills. In fact, Formula D requires drivers to manipulate their cars. This manipulation often causes their cars to loose traction and slide in a particular direction, in other words a drift. Essentially, a Formula D driver’s skills are ten times more important than what is underneath the hood of their car.

In addition the way that the cars are used, stock car racing and Formula Drifting take place at different venues. Professional stock car racing, such as NASCAR, often takes place only on asphalt tracks. While Formula D events also take place on asphalt, they do not always use the full track. In fact, Formula D events do not always require the use of a track. In the past, Formula D events have taken place in large parking lots or on city streets.

With stockcar racing, the object is to finish in first place. This is not the case with Formula D. As previously mentioned, Formula D requires the creation of a drift. In competition, drivers are judged on their drifts, as well as a number of other factors. These factors most commonly include their speed and the ability to stay on the track. When you think about it, there is quite a difference between the two sports.

From a fan perspective, it is also important to examine the ability to attend or view these events. When it comes to stock car racing, especially on the professional level, it is fairly easy to attend events or watch coverage on television. Formula D is a little bit more difficult. They currently operate on a limited schedule; thus limiting the number of events and stops. Formula D is shown on the television network G4TV, but besides that, the sport receives little coverage. Although it may be harder to attend a live Formula D event, when compared to stockcar racing, you are find that the events are often easier to afford. In most cases, admission to professional Formula D events is only around twenty to twenty five dollars, a person.

As you can easily see, there are a number of differences, as well as similarities, between Formula Drifting and stock car racing. In addition to the above mentioned similarities and differences, there are additional ones. The best way to familiarize yourself with these differences is to give each sport as chance. After a close examination, you will find that both offer fun, excitement, and action; just what you need in a motor sport.

Posted by Aadi at 9:59 PM | Permalink | Comments

It means hosting that is provided on Linux/Unix operating systems platforms. There isn't much difference between these two types of operating systems because Linux/Unix is an improved version of Linux/Unix operating system. When just applying for web hosting companies for web hosting that is based on Linux operating system it doesn't matter which one you are using on your computer as it is commensurable with any operating system.

Usability

Some years ago Linux operating system used to be available only for professionals and if you were not an experienced user you had no future with this OS. In the last couple of years the situation has changed. Providers have done their best to make users' web sites administrating more comfortable and easier. In case you're just a beginner you'll find friendly control panels that include Web-interface. And if you are an experienced user you can control your site by means of shell.

Reliability

Experts claim that Unix-based platform is one of the most reliable ones but it will mainly depend on maintenance stuff professionalism. Thus quality and stability of Linux-based web hosting won't depend on some sudden system bugs and the operating system consistency itself secures your web site operating dependability.

Functionality

In this area Linux differs the most from other popular platforms. It can handle a lot of processes that happen at the same time. This gives you a possibility to get more from the server.

What Scripting Languages Are Available For Unix?

Unix supports a wide variety of application languages, more than any other operating system. The most common applications of such kind include C, C++, Shell, Perl, Tcl, Python, Java and PHP.

What Databases Does Unix Support?

Databases available for Unix are mSQL and mySQL. The one you choose would depend on your own needs and your Host Provider's offers. This is important for you to review when choosing a hosting company.

Cost

Linux operating system was developed by Linus Torvalds as an alternative to other operating systems and is being improved by many specialists all around the world. Most of its versions are free of charge. This circumstance makes Linux-based hosting much cheaper than any other. As for Linux versions they are sometimes called Linux Distributions. The most popular Distributions are RedHat and Mandrake. Which are easy to install have a lot of different utilities and suitable for any web hosting type.

Why choose Linux/Unix-based hosting?

So, as it was mentioned before using this platform is cheaper and more convenient than others. All existent scripts, like PHP, function best when using the Linux-based web hosting. Linux/Unix based web hosting upgrading possibilities increase when using Shell and Telnet access. The Linux/Unix-based platform is probably the most stable and reliable.

Labels: Linux/Unix, Web hosting

Posted by Aadi at 9:38 PM | Permalink | Comments

Chelsea’s latest excursion into the transfer market has left many fans thinking this season’s title race is already a foregone conclusion.

On the face of it Chelsea appear to have signed two genuine world class stars in Michael Ballack and Andriy Shevchenko to add to their growing number of A list players.

Ballack has been the driving force for both Bayern Munich and the German national team for several years and has always resisted the temptation to move until now.

Ukrainian Shevchenko proved his worth in Italy with AC Milan after spending his early years learning his trade at Dynamo Kiev.

Indeed, following the decline of Brazilian superstar Ronaldo, Shevchenko has emerged as possibly the world’s most feared striker.

But both new signings are approaching the autumn of their careers. They’ve been successful at previous clubs, gathering an impressive collection of medals between the pair of them. Whether the fire continues to burn only time will tell.

As one of the few home grown players, Frank Lampard will be hoping to put a mediocre World Cup behind him and find a return to his old Chelsea form.

Though Lampard has come in for some stinging criticism from the English press, you don’t become a bad player overnight and Frank will be eager for a good start to the season.

The evergreen Claude Makelele flourished in the France midfield during the World Cup alongside Zinedine Zidane.

Makelele will again be hoping to provide the steel in the Chelsea engine room, allowing the more offensive players the opportunity to hurt the opposition.

We can only hope their nearest challengers put up a greater fight than last season when the title race was won at a canter.

All said and done, if Chelsea’s star names play to anything like their potential, it’s difficult to see any outcome other than a third consecutive title for the Londoners.

Posted by Aadi at 3:19 PM | Permalink | Comments

Below, are 10 benefits and reasons to use Bluetooth technology.

1. Wireless
As you probably already know, there are many benefits and advantages to using wireless devices. Along with improving safety as a result of eliminating wires you don't need, wireless also offers you plenty of other advantages. When traveling with your laptop or other wireless devices, you'll no longer have to worry about bringing connection cables.

2. Bluetooth is actually inexpensive
The technology of Bluetooth is cheap for companies to implement, which results in lower costs for the company. These savings are then passed from the company on to you.

3. Bluetooth is automatic
Bluetooth doesn't have you set up a connection or push any buttons. When two or more devices enter a range of up to 30 feet of each other, they will automatically begin to communicate without you having to do anything.

4. Standardized protocol
Bluetooth is standardized wireless, meaning thata high level of compatibility among devices is guaranteed. Bluetooth will connect devices to each other, even if they aren't the same model.

5. Low interference
Bluetooth devices almost always avoid interference from other wireless devices. Bluetooth uses a technique known as frequency hopping, and also low power wireless signals.

6. Low energy consumption
As a result of Bluetooth using low power signals,the technology requires very little energy and will use less battery or electrical power as a result.This is an excellent benefit for mobile devices, as Bluetooth won't drain the battery.

7. Sharing voice and data
The standard for Bluetooth will allow compatible devices to share data and voice communications.This is great for mobile phones and headsets, as Bluetooth simplifies driving and talking on your cell phone.

8. Instant PAN (Personal Area Network)
You can connect up to seven Bluetooth devices to each other within a range of up to 30 feet, forming a piconet or PAN. For a single room, you can also set up multiple piconets.

9. Upgradeable
Upgradeable is the standard for Bluetooth. Thereare newer versions of Bluetooth in the works, which offer many new advantages and backward compatible with older versions.

10. The technology stays
Bluetooth technology is a world wide, universal wireless standard. With it being as popular as it is, you can count on it being around for years to come. As more and more devices start to use Bluetooth technology, more manufacturers will be eager to make their products compatible. A chain reaction will occur, making Bluetooth the standard for cutting edge wireless.

Labels: benefits, bluetooth, technology

Posted by Aadi at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments

Multiple Myeloma

In multiple myeloma, abnormal plasma cells (myeloma cells) build up in the bone marrow, forming tumors in many bones of the body. These tumors may prevent the bone marrow from making enough healthy blood cells. Normally, the bone marrow produces stem cells (immature cells) that develop into three types of mature blood cells:

1. Red blood cells that carry oxygen and other materials to all tissues of the body.
2. White blood cells that fight infection and disease.
3. Platelets that help prevent bleeding by causing blood clots to form.

As the number of myeloma cells increases, fewer red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets are made. The myeloma cells also damage and weaken the hard parts of the bones. Sometimes multiple myeloma does not cause any symptoms. The following symptoms may be caused by multiple myeloma or other conditions. A doctor should be consulted if any of the following problems occur:

1. Bone pain, often in the back or ribs.
2. Bones that break easily.
3. Fever for no known reason or frequent infections.
4. Easy bruising or bleeding.
5. Trouble breathing.
6. Weakness of the arms or legs.
7. Feeling very tired.

A tumor can damage the bone and cause hypercalcemia (a condition in which there is too much calcium in the blood). This can affect many organs in the body, including the kidneys, nerves, heart, muscles, and digestive tract, and cause serious health problems.

Other factors affecting prognosis

There are other factors that can affect your prognosis, apart from the stage of your cancer. One consideration is how well you are overall. Doctors call this your ‘performance status’. You may see this written PS. A score of 0 means you are completely able to look after yourself. A score of 1 means you can do most things for yourself, but need some help. The scores continue to go up, depending on how much help you need. This is relevant to survival because overall, the fitter people are, the better able they are to withstand their cancer and treatment. This is particularly important in myeloma because fitter patients can withstand more intensive treatment.

What is chemotherapy?

Chemotherapy uses anti cancer or ‘cytotoxic’ drugs to destroy cancer cells. They work by disrupting the growth of cancer cells. As they circulate in the blood they can reach cancer cells wherever they are in your body.

Chemotherapy by mouth

Your doctor is more likely to suggest treatment with tablets if you are aged over 70 or are not fit enough to have a stem cell transplant. You will usually have the chemotherapy drugs melphalan or cyclophosphamide. Doctors often give a steroid drug called prednisolone with this chemotherapy. So you may see or hear it called MP or CP.

Occasionally doctors use chemotherapy tablets as initial treatment for people going on to have a stem cell transplant. They might use the chemotherapy drug idarubicin (Zavedos) with steroids. This combination is called Z-Dex.

Posted by Aadi at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments

Posted by Aadi at 11:51 PM | Permalink | Comments

What do you do in Las Vegas during the daytime after an evening in the Casino? Enjoy a buffet breakfast in your favorite restaurant, take a walk, see some attractions, then...
a must do...relax, take a Swim and get a tan.

Here are the TOP TEN POOLS in Las Vegas with a brief description of their offerings and themes. Did you know many visitors to Las Vegas book their Hotel based on their favorite pool? Seems like most first time visitors to Las Vegas have the impression that it is at least 100 degrees here year round. Well, it isn’t. Most outdoor pools are open from March/April to October/November! We’ve listed Hotels that have year round indoor pools or heated outdoor pools.

THE TOP 10 POOLS IN LAS VEGAS

10. The Palms Night Time Fun! Be Cool! Hang out! 75,000 square feet of pool, 21 Cabanas, The “Skin Pool Lounge”, music, dance by the pool, enjoy “Wet N Wild” after dark!

9. Luxor - The Luxor has created a 7 acre, Egyptian theme complex that is nothing short of spectacular! Outstanding poolside service, open year round! Be treated like King Tut!

8. Venetian - Known to be the ultimate romantic destination for couples. 5 full acres of pools, fountains, flower gardens and statues. Relax, get a tan, be in love. Even get married. That’s AMORE’!

7. Bellagio - What can we say? Prestige, Ritzy, Swanky just what you would expect from
a Billion Dollar setting! 85,000 square feet of 6 pools, beautiful fountains, colors, flowers and Premier service. Be pampered in an elegant refuge for the rich!

6. MGM Grand - A longtime favorite of Hollywood Movie Stars, a 27,000 square foot complex of beautiful pools, spas and “Backlot River” where you can have a drink and take a leisurely 3 MPH float around the complex! Get a tan where the stars of “Le Femme” hang out!

5. Flamingo - From the dreams of Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel in 1947 to the posh pool fun of today. Enjoy the lush Hawaiian theme with water slides, stone water falls, even shade! Luxury at it’s finest. Try their specialty drinks!

4. Caesar’s Palace - Roman decadence in the Garden of the Gods! 3 pools covering 5 acres of Italian opulance! Have a drink by stone pediments and be served frozen grapes by Goddesses (weekends only). Or, have your photo taken by the pool with Caesar and Cleopatra! Very cool!

3. The Mirage - A Polynesian tropical jungle lagoon. Amazingly beautiful foliage amidst waterfalls, 3 waterslides, hidden alcoves covering 5 full acres of jungle. An afternoon of sunshine and cool fun you will remember for years to come.

2. Hard Rock - Want to party? This is the place you want to be! Vegas’ party central. The Pool Party runs from 10:00 AM to Midnight 7 days a week! Hang out with Rock Stars, Movie Stars and the “Beautiful People” or play Las Vegas’ only blackjack tables in the water! Pools, hot tubs, 37 cabanas, a float river and Party, Party, Party!

1. Mandolay Bay - Mandolay Bay went all out in creating an 11 acre lagoon of lush greens. They hauled in 1,700 tons of sand to create Vegas’ only Wave Pool with 6’ waves of bodysurfer paradise. 4 pools, waterfalls surrounded by a jungle atmosphere where you can take a ¼ mile RiverRide or relax the day away and come away with a Las Vegas tan!

We give full credit for the Pool Rankings to the kind folks at The Travel Channel. The comments are from the editor of Las Vegas $Discount$.

Hotels with Pools Open Year Round

Bellagio (1)Wynn (5)Venetian (1)
Las Vegas Hilton (1)Monte Carlo (1)Paris/Bally’s (1)
Rio (1)Mandolay Bay (1)Luxor (1)
Flamingo (1)Caesar’s Palace (1)Red Rock (1)
Green Valley Ranch (1)Tropicana (1)Ritz Carlton (1)
Stratosphere (1)MGM Grand (1)Hyatt Lake Las Vegas (1)

During the winter months all of these pools are maintained at 74 to 82 degrees and nearly all offer one or more Jacuzzi’s.

This article may be re-printed in its entirety as long as this active link is displayed.
http://www.lasvegas-discount.com

Copyright 2002-2007 DEN Publishing Co. Las

Posted by Aadi at 9:48 PM | Permalink | Comments

Bigdaddy, Google’s new data center, isn’t news to most webmasters; both Search Engine Watch and Webmaster World’s forums have discussed the technology since late 2005, and even Google’s own Chief Search Engineer Matt Cutts has blogged the topic extensively. Even the reason behind the naming convention (one of the Google staff’s kids call him Big Daddy at home) is out in the open.

How Bigdaddy will affect page rankings within Google however, still remains to be seen, although there is a lot of speculation floating around the Net. Mr. Cutt’s blog states that the new foundation will improve canonicalization, which is the computer code that tells a search engine that

www.domain.com
domain.com
domain.com/index.html
www.domain.com/index.html

are all the same web site. It is also reported that the data center will positively impact 302 redirects, which have been a known issue for some time.

What wasn’t anticipated with the update though were the chaotic and oftentimes strange behaviors the search engine has displayed, most notably over the past several months. Although some of Google’s previously-indexed sites dropping off the face of the engine may be associated with their reported lack of server space and others due to Google’s “different datacenters get different data at different times” statement, many of the problems seem surreal, without explanation.

For instance, Webmaster World’s forums have reported large SERPS drops, changes in supplemental result handling, “home page only” results and pages dropping right out of the Bigdaddy index, while the Digital Point forums are asking if Google has cleaned their index and why the supplemental problem is reoccurring.

What little information is available on the subject is only the information that webmasters are providing each other; little explanation is coming from Google themselves right now. Some experts have shown that the supplemental deletions across the data centers have been gradual over the past several months, with the idea that perhaps the supplemental results are being deleted to free up server space. Others have noticed the inclusion of longer URLs with multiple variables, such as database-driven pages (which were not previously indexed), and the product-based sites like BizRate and Amazon generating higher search results than previously found.

Right now, the only “fixes” seem to be either contacting a member of the Google team (most notably posting in Mr. Cutts’ blog), ensuring your website doesn’t fit within the “too similar” Google guideline (as it seems that sites with slightly different page text are doing better than most) or hitting up Google’s site for a re-inclusion request. Without more guidance from Google though, there isn’t much webmasters can actively do at the moment, other than sit back and watch Bigdaddy work out the search engine-retrieval bugs, talk over the situation with other webmasters, and stay as informed on the subject as possible.

Posted by Aadi at 9:04 PM | Permalink | Comments

Are you a Formula D Racing fan? If you aren’t already, are you thinking about becoming one? Whether you are already a fan of this popular sport or you are looking to become a new one, there is a good chance that you would like to watch Formula D Racing events, as well as others programs focused on this popular sport. If that is the case, you are in luck. Formula D Racing, also commonly referred to as Formula Drifting, has partnered with G4.

Labels: car, formula d racing, racing

Posted by Aadi at 9:13 AM | Permalink | Comments

There is no doubt that http://MySpace.com has grown into a worldwide phenomenon and it seems that every day, there is a new story being published about the site.

In November 2006, MySpace became the #1 website in the world in terms of monthly page views, having surpassed Yahoo and this online giant shows no sign of slowing down.

With over 130 Million people currently using MySpace worldwide, it's no wonder that this social networking colossus has had its share of negative publicity as some less than desirable characters have made it a homebase from which to launch some of their illegal activities.

Still, just like millions of people use email and online banking safely on a regular basis, MySpace can be a safe place to spend your time on if you follow a few basic guidelines.

Here are 5 tips you can follow and apply to make sure you are safe and that your information remains private while on MySpace:

1. Become intimately familiar with the information located at the privacy and Safety Tips links located at the bottom of every page on MySpace. There are also some great government information links on those pages which will provide you with general instructions on how to stay safe on the Internet.

2. Make sure that you do not reveal any information on your profile or via a message that you will regret later (this includes private information such as your email, private messenger ID, etc.)

3. Log into your profile and from the Home page of your profile, click on "Account Settings." From there, you will see a series of profile settings including Privacy Settings, IM Privacy Settings and several other options that you may want to adjust to increase your own degree of privacy.

4. Do not believe everything you read on MySpace. Not everyone is who they claim to be. As such, do not agree to meet anyone physically or reveal your address to anyone without being completely sure of who that person is and what their intentions are.

5. If at any point you feel uncomfortable with the way someone is approaching you - do not be afraid of blocking that person and if you feel it merits a more severe action, simply click on the link at the bottom of every page on MySpace that says "Contact MySpace" and inform MySpace about the incident.

In conclusion, staying safe on MySpace involves following some basic guidelines and applying a good degree of common sense.

As the whole online social networking wave keeps growing and more people get on MySpace, it pays to have good safety and privacy habits - most of which can also be applied to remain safe on any other Internet site.

Posted by Aadi at 9:05 AM | Permalink | Comments

Honda has come up with the most amazing 4-wheel-drive system, not for off-roaders but to improve the handling and stability of fast cars. It is being used first in the new Acura RL (Honda Legend).

Why is it so advanced? This SH-AWD system has the potential to increase cornering power and cornering safety by leaps and bounds. It will be ideal for supercars as well as luxury coupes.(More information about super cars at http://www.fast-autos.com/supercars.html )

First, it allows the amount of power sent to the wheels to be varied from 30% front and 70% rear to 70% front and 30% rear. True, some other systems get near that, but this allows the system to adjust itself to completely different conditions. On top of that, it can alter the torque from zero to 100% to the left or right rear wheel.

In other words, all the power can one to the right wheel one minute, and if necessary can be reversed so that all the power goes to the other wheel in an instant. This might be needed in slushy or snowy conditions, where there was a patch of bare road for a bit on one side offering good grip, but a bit later on a bare patch on the other side.

In addition to those features, the outer rear wheel can be speeded up so that it goes faster than the inside wheel! All done continuously depending on conditions. A few years ago this would have considered desirable, but science fiction.

More power to the rear wheel for acceleration

Confused? Well, let's start with the front-to-rear power. When you accelerate, the weight of the car is thrown on to the back wheels by the force of acceleration, so you want more power to go to the back wheels - if it all goes to the front you get wheel spin. When cornering, you generally want as much or more power to the rear wheels. SH-AWD does that.

On the other hand, when you are cruising along, you want more power to the front wheels as this increases stability. SH-AWD also does that.

More power to outer rear wheel for better cornering

The side-to-side variation in power is used to improve cornering power and stability. For example, when you accelerate through a corner, extra power through the outer rear wheel counteracts under steer, letting the car corner on rails. In fact, stability control systems used on many cars now do this by reducing the amount of torque sent to the inner wheel - this means that you actually corner slower than you could do. SH-AWD lets you corner faster.

On the over-run, you don't need that, and less power is sent through the outer wheel for optimum stability. But that isn't enough because when a car corners, the outer wheels have to travel further than the inner ones - by 5-10% on very tight corners, so the outer wheel normally goes slower.

Honda overcomes this with some gears in the back axle gear set which actually drive the outer wheel faster when cornering! This improves maneuverability and cornering at low speeds.

Electro-magnetic multi-plate clutches

All this is accomplished by multi-plate clutches operated electro-magnetically - a world first - and the gear/clutch set used for acceleration. In fact, these gears also serve as the rear differential.

An advantage of the electro-magnetic clutches is that the electronic controller does not need to control a hydraulic actuation system as used normally but an electric actuator - this reduces cost and weight.

Is this the best thing since sliced bread? For the person who wants to have stability and control, and doesn't want to know what is happening to the car -yes. Such a system is bound to reduce the input the driver gets from the road.

He will be less aware of whether the surface is slippery, or whether the car is under steering more than usual because the SH-AWD system is correcting things all the time.

Posted by Aadi at 7:57 PM | Permalink | Comments

Microsoft’s next-generation operating system is coming in early 2007, offering improvements that are both impressive and unprecedented in the Windows world. On Apple’s side of the world, Tiger, the 5th incarnation of Apple’s legendary OS X operating system is still up to challenge as to what Vista has to offer, even if it’s already two years old.

Although Vista and Tiger are almost playing in the same field in terms of features and technology, there’s a major difference in the strategy that the two companies made in delivering their next-generation operating systems. Microsoft wanted to bring everything new and shiny to the table all in one big package, while Apple slowly built and perfected a world-class operating system by frequent, less dramatic, major upgrades. This explains why while Windows XP stayed for 5 years without a major upgrade, OS X had 3 major upgrades to its original incarnation in roughly the same time frame.

User Interface

The most noticeable improvements happen here, and rightfully so, since improvements in the user interface are the ones that affect the users first and foremost. Vista seems to have taken many pages from the Tiger book of slick features but also has some features of its own that’s missing from the Apple operating system. I think it’s fair to say that some similarities are really just inevitable end results of improving the current state of the UI in both platforms.

Vista’s icons are now as slick as its Tiger counterparts, supporting icon sizes of up to 256 by 256 pixels. Tiger on the other hand, currently supports only up to 128 by 128 pixel icons. But Vista takes it even further, using what is called as live icons. A live icon visually resembles the actual contents of the document it represent so that a folder’s live icon is shown as a folder icon padded with the thumbnails of the actual files that you’ll see inside the folder. This is very helpful in skimming through your files and folders without opening them. Tiger can only show previews of graphic files.

In Vista, the “My” way of naming user folders such as My Documents, My Music, etc. has been dropped. Now you will only have user folders named Documents, Music and Pictures. Not unlike what Tiger has.

Aero, the user interface of Vista brings to the Windows world lots of transparencies. Application windows in Vista show a translucent border that lets you see through it. This is a feature that OS X once had, but was taken out in Tiger.

Expose, which is perhaps the most innovative UI feature of Tiger, elegantly addressed the window-management problem most users had, especially those who work with lots of windows open. At the touch of a button or at a flick of the mouse, all your windows are miniaturized and smartly tiled across the screen. Vista offers its own take, with a feature called Flip 3D. In Vista’s version, windows are miniaturized and stacked on top of each other, and angled such that you can see enough of each window’s content distinctively, and you use the scroll wheel to go through all the stacked windows. Tiger’s implementation is more usable and convenient than its Vista counterpart.

Widgets vs Gadgets

In Tiger, the days of opening full-blown applications for simple, specific tasks have long been gone. Thanks to Dashboard. With Dashboard, you can install and run mini-applications called widgets that are specially designed (using a relatively easy language) for certain tasks. Widgets include calculator, stocks, dictionary, yellow pages and many others. At the touch of a button, all these can auto-magically appear when you need them, and as quickly, disappear to let you go back to what you’re doing.

Vista sports the same feature, only the mini-applications are called Gadgets, and the Vista version promises more integration with Microsoft’s online service http://Live.com.

Desktop Search

When Vista was first announced many years ago under the code name Longhorn, one of the most impressive promises that Microsoft made about the new operating system is its desktop search capability. However, Apple beat them to the punch in implementing the much needed search technology (and interface).

Tiger’s spotlight search won the hearts of analysts and reviewers when it debuted in October 2004. Both in the main OS’s shell and in the individual applications, Spotlight brought lightning-fast desktop search to the Apple users. The system-wide Spotlight item on Tiger’s menu bar provided a quick way of opening files and applications. With Spotlight, users didn’t need to know exactly where their files are since they can find and open them using a simple and single user interface – the spotlight search field. Vista’s desktop search also promises all the things that Spotlight has, including its integration with Windows Explorer and Control Panel, in the same way that Spotlight integrates with the Finder and the Preferences. In Vista, the desktop search has been placed in the improved Start Menu. Saved searches (in Vista) or Smart Folders (in Tiger) are different implementation of the same kind of innovative feature that both systems have – a way for creating folders that are defined by a certain search criteria, and the contents of which are files that match that certain criteria. Both are live-z.

Security

This is where Tiger has long beaten Windows, but with Vista, Microsoft want to change that, and perhaps even leapfrog what OS X is offering.

In Vista, Internet Explorer (the source of many security headaches) will run in a low rights mode to prevent malicious software entering through the browser from illegally writing files or changing the registry. Vista will also support computers with TPM (Trusted Platform Module) Chips which starts a computer in a secure way such that the hardware and applications are protected from being run by unauthorized users. One of Tiger’s security strengths, the feature that asks for the administrator password when changing critical preferences, has also found its way to Vista. When changing important settings or files, Vista now warns the users and asks for the administrator password. Both Tiger and Vista has support encrypting data on users’ hard disk.

Conclusion

This Post tried to compare some of the different aspects of Windows Vista and OS X Tiger, wherever it made sense, since each has its own way of doing things. Tiger has been out for almost two years now, but still holds up its own against Vista. It’s no doubt that some of the features that Vista is promising are better than its Tiger counterpart, but Vista won’t be out until 2007, and by the same time Apple probably would no doubt have at least shown its latest weapon, the upcoming Apple OS X Leopard.

Posted by Aadi at 10:31 AM | Permalink | Comments

Nothing is more exciting than the joy of expecting a baby! In fact many expectant mothers and fathers can’t simply wait to hear the sound of their child’s heartbeat. Today parents who can’t wait and parents who want to share the wonderful experience of listening to the beating sound can buy a baby heart monitor known as a fetal Doppler.

In short, a fetal Doppler uses sound waves to detect the sound of the infant’s cardio activity. The sound waves bounce off of the little baby’s heart and are sent back to the listener. Also known as high frequency waves, the baby heart monitor sends these sounds, into a hearing device attached to the machine. Since the high frequency waves don’t travel very well it is necessary to use a gel or oil to help things along. After which the sound conductor is applied directly to the mother’s tummy and the baby heart monitor is placed over the area and moved until sound is detected.

The little heartbeat is amplified through an earphone and speaker built right into the baby heart monitor. On wearing the earphones one can hear the infant’s beats and enjoy every precious moment, at least until someone else wants a turn.

The baby heart monitor is very safe to use, it has been tested and released by the United States governmental agencies that are responsible for such regulations. There has been no negative affects found in over thirty years of its use. The baby heart monitor is the same technology used in hospitals day after day on thousands and thousands of patients. While some may argue that there are wonderful benefits for using the device others think that too many sound waves may not be good for the developing fetus. The Food and Drug Administration recommends that you talk to your doctor and get permission before using a home baby heart monitor. This is always good practice.

While the baby heart monitor can be quite a costly investment for such a short-term item a lot of parents choose to rent one. This option of renting a baby heart monitor is much cheap and the parents can always change their minds and purchase the unit if they later want one. The renting option is an appealing feature offered by the manufacturers and the option to purchase the item gives parents even more incentive to try the product. After all, majority of families have a baby in their future plans, no matter if it is immediate or extended. A baby heart monitor is always a wonderful item to have!

Posted by Aadi at 10:07 AM | Permalink | Comments

Well, it was only a matter of time until web search became a hit on cell phones. Yahoo! and Nokia have been working together over the past year to get web and image search results on your cell pone.

This feature is now available in 10 languages on a variety of Nokia phones including the N80, N70, N93, N71, and a number of other phones.

There are many great features on the Nokia N-series that it is hard to know where to start. There's the 3 mega pixel camera for starters which is really powerful for a phone camera combining fun, functionality and style in one, being one of the best-looking smart phones on the market today. Supporting Email client, internet browser, and Wi-Fi makes it a powerful business device as well. The sliding keyboard reveals the dial pad when opened which keeps the overall size of the N-series down. Yahoo’s mobile search software for Nokia cell phones is a simple, convenient, and easy way to find and connect to local internet services, web sites, images, mobile content and ringtones. Partnership has already started to drive customers’ usage of mobile search. The Nokia mobile search also increases consumer discoverability of search on mobile devices as in many cases search will be accessible directly from the menu screen. This pact is an expansion of an already strong cooperation between leading players in their fields.

"Nokia is extremely focused on providing the multimedia computer user the easiest route to explore the Internet and find what they need while they are on the go, such as images, facts, restaurants and addresses," commented Ralph Eric Kunz, vice president, Multimedia Experiences, at Nokia. "Combining Yahoo!'s proven expertise in search on the web with Nokia's understanding of mobile user interfaces, makes the Nokia Mobile Search experience unrivalled in the industry of ringtones."

Posted by Aadi at 5:34 PM | Permalink | Comments

Unless you’ve been on vacation all summer, the brawl between Google and Microsoft should be old news. New developments, however, have occurred with publication of the non-compete agreement signed by Kai-Fu Lee.

Google v. Microsoft

Earlier this year, Kai-Fu Lee quit Microsoft to go work for Google. In doing so, Lee allegedly violated a non-compete agreement he had signed with Microsoft. Predictably, Microsoft sued Lee to prevent the move and the brawl began. Microsoft landed the first punch by getting a temporary restraining order preventing Lee from working for Google until the case is resolved.

Non-Compete Language

As matters have moved forward, the language in the non-compete agreement has become public knowledge. Generally, Lee agreed not to work for a major competitor of Microsoft if he left the company for a period of one year. The specifics of the language, however, are grossly entertaining

In signing the non-compete agreement, Lee agreed:

1. “…not to accept employment or engage in activities competitive with products, services or projects…of Microsoft…I worked on or …learned confidential or proprietary information or trade secrets while employed.”

2. All litigation arising from the non-compete agreement would occur in the State of Washington.

Mr. Lee and Google have a serious problem. California courts rarely enforce non-compete agreements, while Washington courts do. Since Microsoft sued first and Lee specifically agreed to Washington jurisdiction, this case should remain in Washington. Google is trying to move jurisdiction to California, but Microsoft beat it to the punch. Google’s attorneys simply blew it.

Prediction

Predictions in legal disputes are iffy at best, but Mr. Lee and Google have really fallen on their face in this one. Why they didn’t sue Microsoft in California court before Microsoft could react is mind boggling. The deck is now stacked heavily in favor of Microsoft and you can expect an outright victory for Microsoft or a settlement on terms set by the company.

Posted by Aadi at 5:02 PM | Permalink | Comments

A new message reveals itself whenever there is a change within our society or culture. This is the effect of a new medium. With this early warning, one can identify the new medium before everyone knows it – which could take months, years or even decades.

As Marshall McLuhan, many regard as the Prophet of the Electronic Age, reminds us, "Control over change would seem to consist in moving not with it but ahead of it. Anticipation gives the power to deflect and control force."

News of Google entering the payment arena broke in the third week of June 2005. This author’s article "Search Engine Wars – a Different Perspective", two weeks earlier, made some allusion to it.

Google and Yahoo plans to index all classified ads from online newspapers. Readers can easily draw some useful conclusions.

Hints from Mountain View suggest that if your site does not accept ads from you-know-who, your site’s rankings may tank. Readers can then deduce there are a limited number of popular keywords and with a growing list of ads, they have to find lots of Internet real estate (web sites) fast as outlets.

This author’s take

Does anyone notice that Google News favor a few European sites and a Middle-eastern site? Is politics also a criterion in rankings?

This author’s site received its PR ranking on Bastille Day, 2005. A day later, the ranking dropped a notch. This evidence clearly made nonsense of some Google’s spokesperson official statement the rankings are updated once in a few months. Perhaps, it is just another day from DMV (Drunkards of Mountain View) as Joe Nogood stated. [Shame on you if you have not read this master class (well, almost master class) tutorial on keywords and relevancy written with original jokes. The folks at Redmond and Sunnyvale voted it as the best article of the year – just joking.]

Yahoo and MSN correctly favored originating sites when it comes to ranking same documents like free-reprint articles. Google has different ideas on origin sites - maybe, there is some truth that its search engine runs on burgundy, brandy and so forth – their search engines on occasion becomes tipsy. Is Google really serious on promoting original content?

MSN is the fastest when indexing new documents. However, after a week, Google inevitably will catch up and index more documents than MSN. Does the MSN search engine runs on Iraqi oil?

Search engines are works-in-progress. Compare this to the history of Windows – 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 3.10, 3.11. WfWg, 95, 95OSR2, 98, 98SE, ME, XP and XP-SP2.

Content originality is of prime importance. Fine-tuning with optimized keywords can be done gradually. When search engines become more "human", your site does not need major surgery.

Google’s open-source / software patents dichotomy (contradiction) somehow doesn’t rhyme with their mantra of do-no-evil. This author would very much like to be proven wrong on this matter.

Do not fret over rankings. Intel has a PR10, yet when you search for "cpu" or "microprocessor", guess who never appear in the top 10. Doubtless any surfer can find Intel’s site even if Intel is given a PR of -2**256 (the decimal value for this number first appeared on the Internet in "A Gentle Introduction to Cryptography").

Consider getting more links as a priority through fair and legal means.

Nothing is more boring than a single item site. Consider adding variety like starting a community project, providing resources for your hobbies or pet issues. Getting visitors with similar interests to visit your site may pay dividends – some may become your customers.

Consider the possibility of exchanging links with your competitors – fair competition without rivalry.

For the record, this author does not own a single share in any of these three companies. The personal observations are written without fear or favor, based on results obtained by using the Open Source Marketing Plan.

Stan Seecrets’ Postulate: "How does any ant bring down a giant – by releasing its toxins into a certain part of the giant’s anatomy where the sun has hardly shone on." (This is an example of an exploit as defined in the field of cryptography – vulnerability.)

Posted by Aadi at 4:50 PM | Permalink | Comments

Seasoned investors are familiar with “The trend is your friend”. Knowing the current trend is vital to search engines consultants, website owners and investors, especially those with their 401K’s and life savings invested in these companies.

Since this author’s last article, some noted events have transpired which deserve further comments.

Industry watchers should be well-versed with IBM and the seven dwarfs (Sperry, Burroughs, GE, CDC, NCR, Honeywell and RCA). In much less than a lifetime, these seven computer challengers became mere footnotes.

Then the mighty IBM had a few stumbles and finally surrendered the mettle to a young upstart from Redmond.

Microsoft reigned supreme in the 1990’s when it first introduced the Windows platform.

Are we to see to passing of the mettle to Mountain View when Bill G. recently commented that those guys (Google) are operating from a higher I.Q. level. This admission from Redmond given its brainpower assets is surprising.

Besides, Microsoft’s Office and Internet Explorer will embrace open standards like XML. Perhaps, Redmond could reseize the initiative, by declaring their crown jewels as open-source instead of surrendering bit-by-bit and thus see their once-mighty empire wither away into insignificance.

On May 31, 2005, Google announced its Summer of Code initiative to reenergize the open source community. The estimated $1 million outlay ($4500 for each successful applicant) is less than Google’s profit in two hours. From the chatter in various forums, this initiative will be a resounding success.

This is a foraging party’s raid involving about 200 young, fervent, energetic, idealistic cadres, excuse me, programmers. This is not what the powers in Redmond wanted to hear – the proprietary Windows platform will be under renewed siege.

One cannot but admire such deft application of Chaos Theory, best explained by the oft quoted example of a butterfly fluttering its wings in Peru and causing a tornado in Texas, a few months later.

Imagine the effects that will be unleashed when Google decides to increase this outlay by 100 times – an amount within normal R&D or business promotion expenditures for a typical company of similar size.

After reading Google’s corporate philosophy and history, anyone can be excused from feeling mesmerized by it. However, the phrase “collective consciousness in real-time” is, for lack of a better word, chilling.

When a search engine can feel the pulse of a country’s collective consciousness, the pollster’s relevance in society will suffer the same fate as the singing cowboys. The search engine can indeed be a presidential candidate’s best friend.

With hindsight, it is clear why the powers at Armonk and Redmond could not sustain their positions as leaders of the digital world. They could not define the new frontier with clarity nor communicate well to win the hearts of the masses. Instead, they cling on to monopolistic behavior typical of big, ugly, rude corporations of the conventional world.

In contrast, the weltanschaung (German word for world view) from Mountain View (pun intended) is refreshingly clear and easily understood.

People, please take a bow. Hail to the new king of the digital world in Mountain View.

For the record, this author does not own a single share in either company. He does not have any “Deep Throat” sources. Instead, he relies solely on his trusty RSS news feed reader. Google gave his site a #1 ranking for a particular keyword, MSN #8 and unknown ranking in Yahoo. Whether he is a Google-phile, a Microsoft-groupie or whatever, let readers be the ultimate judge.

Stan Secrets’ Postulate: “Crypto will be a search engine’s nightmare.”

Posted by Aadi at 4:45 PM | Permalink | Comments

1. It Doesn't Crash

Linux has been time-proven to be a reliable operating system. Although the desktop is not a new place for Linux, most Linux-based systems have been used as servers and embedded systems. High-visibility Web sites such as Google use Linux-based systems, but you also can find Linux inside the TiVo set-top box in many living rooms.

Linux has proved to be so reliable and secure that it is commonly found in dedicated firewall and router systems used by high-profile companies to secure their networks. For more than ten years, it has not been uncommon for Linux systems to run for months or years without needing a single reboot.

2. Viruses Are Few and Far Between

Although it is possible to create a virus to target Linux systems, the design of the system itself makes it very difficult to become infected. A single user could cause local damage to his or her files by running a virus on his or her system; however, this would be an isolated instance rather than something could spread out of control.

In addition, virtually all Linux vendors offer free on-line security updates. The general philosophy of the Linux community has been to address possible security issues before they become a problem rather than hoping the susceptibility will go unnoticed.

3. Virtually Hardware-Independent

Linux was designed and written to be easily portable to different hardware. For the desktop user, this means that Linux has been and likely always will be the first operating system to take advantage of advances in hardware technology such as AMD's 64-bit processor chips.

4. Freedom of Choice

Linux offers freedom of choice as far as which manufacturer you purchase the software from as well as which application programs you wish to use. Being able to pick the manufacturer means you have a real choice as far as type of support you receive. Being open-source software, new manufacturers can enter the market to address customer needs.

Choice of application programs means that you can select the tools that best address your needs. For example, three popular word processors are available. All three are free and interoperate with Microsoft Word, but each offers unique advantages and disadvantages. The same is true of Web browsers.

5. Standards

Linux itself and many common applications follow open standards. This means an update on one system will not make other systems obsolete.

6. Applications, Applications, Applications

Each Linux distribution comes with hundreds and possibly thousands of application programs included. This alone can save you thousands of dollars for each desktop system you configure. Although this is a very small subset, consider that the OpenOffice.org office suite is included as well as the GIMP, a program similar to (and many people say more capable than Adobe Photoshop); Scribus, a document layout program similar to Quark Xpress; Evolution, an e-mail system equivalent to Microsoft's Outlook Express; and hundreds more.

For the more technically inclined, development tools, such as compilers for the C, C++, Ada, Fortran, Pascal and other languages, are included as well as Perl, PHP and Python interpreters. Editors and versioning tools also are included in this category.

Whether you are looking for Instant Messaging clients, backup tools or Web site development packages, they likely are all included within your base Linux distribution.

7. Interoperability

More and more computers are being connected to networks. No system would be complete if it did not include tools to allow it to interoperate with computers running other operating systems. Once again, Linux is very strong in this area.

Linux includes Samba, software that allows Linux to act as a client on a Microsoft Windows-based network. In fact, Samba includes server facilities such that you could run a Linux system as the server for a group of Linux and Windows-based client systems.

In addition, Linux includes software to network with Apple networks and Novell's Netware. NFS, the networking technology developed on UNIX systems also is included.

8. It's a Community Relationship, Not a Customer Relationship

Other operating systems are the products of single vendors. Linux, on the other hand, is openly developed, and this technology is shared among vendors. This means you become part of a community rather than a customer of a single manufacturer. Also, the supplier community easily can adjust to the needs of various user communities rather than spouting a "one size fits all" philosophy.

This means you can select a Linux vendor that appears to best address your needs and feel confident that you could switch vendors at a later time without losing your investment--both in terms of costs and learning.

9. It's Not How Big Your Processor Is...

Because of a combination of the internal design of Linux and development contributions from a diverse community, Linux tends to be more frugal in the use of computer resources. This may manifest itself in a single desktop system running faster with Linux than with another operating system, but the advantages go far beyond that. It is possible, for example, to configure a single Linux system to act as a terminal server and then use outdated hardware as what are called thin clients.

This server/thin client configuration makes it possible for older, less powerful hardware to share the resources of a single powerful system thus extending the life of older machines.

10. Linux Is Configurable

Linux is a true multi-user operating system. Each user can have his or her own individual configuration all on one computer. This includes the look of the desktop, what icons are displayed, what programs are started automatically when the user logs in and even what language the desktop is in.

And lastly no Bill schmendrick character telling you what you can and cannot do.

Posted by Aadi at 4:37 PM | Permalink | Comments

Myspace is one of the most popular names in the social networking community. However, the domain name Myspace.com was not attractive in its first launch and was forced to close, but, the present venture has gained the confidence of the people, within a short span of years. Now, Myspace is the name of a social networking website, which has accounts of more than 100 million people. Tom Anderson was the man behind this new venture. Myspace came into being in July 2003. Now, Myspace is under the ownership of News Corporation, and headquarters in Santa Monica, California.

Myspace used to denominate it as a website for interactions, where people can meet with new people across the world. However, the factors behind its real success are many. Its growth from a mere chat forum to an individualistic site, with unique features, seems to be the major reason. It is a fact that people have different taste and it is very difficult to satisfy, at least a handful of them. Then, in the case to impress the billions, it will be a real magic. Its integrative nature, with the right proportion of entertainment and the platform to have the freedom of expression, will add on it.

Myspace primarily provides you a space of your own in the web, where you can add on your interests, hobbies, activities or anything else you want to let others know. You can upload pictures, music, videos, word documents, and even your short films. If you are poor in creating a webpage, called profile, of your own, don’t get worry, you will get HTML tutorial from Myspace itself, and start to create the profile with lay out, background and music, of your preferences. You can invite your friends, have personal chat or group chat, share your views, and search for new friends in the site, too. To add on, have an internal email id too. Isn’t the whole package nice? And what about if all these facilities are available free for the user. It will be really fascinating and no wonder in attracting about 100 million people.

In the website, Myspace you can find also search for the new comedies, films, books, and listen to music and music videos. Games, horoscopes, blogs and chat rooms are also available, in which you can search for any thing. In the career section, you can paste your resume or may find out, if any of the available vacancies can be put in your your space. Myspace immediate messenger is also newly added up in the public section. Myspace also have many special exclusive events, which are featured regularly. Now, many of the new as well as established artists, musicians, and comedians, view Myspace are as a perfect pitch to get started off or to gain popularity. To utilize the wide viewer-ship, you can also advertise in these sites.

Many other websites also may claim for all these ingredients. But, the real feature, which attributes a unique place for Myspace, is its commitment to give out the best for its users, which was again proven in the heat wave issue. The security tips and necessary assistance is provided in the site itself, and if any specific query to be rectified, a full fledged customer assistance department is available. The site seems to be particular about its quality and remove personal abuses, threats and pornographic comments from listing, even without notice.

Myspace can be the best site for you, if you are interested in interactions and seek entertainment,or else to entertain others.

Labels: community, myspace, network

Posted by Aadi at 11:02 PM | Permalink | Comments

1.Loving face-to-face relationships –You will never be satisfied with porn. It is important to touch, to laugh with and “be with” your partner, friends, and family. Porn addiction leaves you with a hole in your soul. Real relationships with will fill that hole.

2.Self-Respect – Are you tired of promising yourself you’ll quit porn only to find yourself dying for your next fix? Porn rewards you with self-hatred. Imagine waking up in the morning loving the way you feel about yourself and happy to be alive. That’s the life you deserve.

3.Self-Image – You probably secretly feel you are a scum bag or a big time loser. Your porn addiction will make you feel lower than a snake’s belly. Living in the shadows of addiction makes you feel unloved, unwanted and unworthy. You are none of those. You are just as deserving and loving as anybody else on the planet.

4.Fulfilled Dreams – You can’t get the pornographic images out of your head, right? You feel like you live in a black void. Freedom from porn will bring you time to use your talents, to reach your goals and become part of something bigger than yourself.

5.Achievement of Something Great – Who do you admire? Do you have a hero or heroine? You are just as capable of making a difference in the world. The fastest way to get off the pity pot is by getting back on the right track. After you get the help you need and gain the freedom you deserve. You’ll be able to make a difference in the world as well! Until then we both lose.

6.Love & Romance – Porn lacks love and romance. Until you have a healthy relationship you lose out on love and romance. Love includes, romance, kind deeds, loving thoughts and actions, and everyday pleasure and surprise. Do you really want to miss out on that?

7.Stress Free Living – When you aren’t sneaking around, lying about where and what you’ve been doing life becomes calm and peaceful. Shame and pain melt away. You don’t have to constantly worry about being found out. Imagine that!

8.Less Debt – Porn may start out free but once hooked you spend money. The porn industry gets richer and you get poorer. Think about one way more money would improve your life. Would you be willing to let go of your porn addiction to get it?

9.Time – How much time does your addiction steal from you, your friends and family? What area of your life suffers the most because you don’t give it your undivided attention? Freedom from porn can change that. Reclaim your mind body and soul. You will never be the same again.

10.Your Life – The porn industry owns you. If you don’t believe me try quitting. You probably have hundreds of times. You are 100% responsible for your life don’t waste it. You deserve the best life has to offer. Go get it!

Posted by Aadi at 7:27 PM | Permalink | Comments

Ipods have become synomnous with music. However, with its 30 to 60 gigabytes, the iPod can handle more than just music. In addition to listening to your favorite tunes, you can also store up to 25,000 photos as well as 7,500 videos.

Some owners are even using their IPod with Microsoft Outlook Express or Outlook to assist in coordinating their calendar and contacts.

You can transfer files with your iPod. For example, when the memory on your digital camera becomes full, you can upload pictures from your camera to the IPod, freeing up camera space to take more pictures. After uploading pictures to your iPod, your pictures can be viewed as a slideshow. But if you want to view something more exciting, for a nominal fee, you can also download movies and TV shows off the internet.

Although, not up to par with the graphics of Playstation or Xbox, the iPod also has four different games you can play that include Music Quiz, Solitaire, Brick and Parachute.

Need a recorder? If iTalk, BelkinVoice or Podzilla are installed, your iPod can be used as a small audio recorder. Purchase an FM transmitter and you can hear your favorite music from your iPod on your car radio.

Turn your iPod into a flashlight with iBeam software. Install a program called Podtender onto your iPod, and with more than 900 recipes for mixed drinks, you will become your friends’ favorite bartender. Install Podgoumet which has 260 recipes, with an additional 277 recipes for vegans, and become a gourmet cook.

iPod Weddings has become a popular way to save money on the wedding reception. Rather than hire a DJ select your own songs to be played in the order that you wish. At the end of the wedding you’ll have the recordings of all the songs played on your special day.

And the list goes on. You can also use your iPod as an alarm clock and read audio books. With the right software and an abundance of resources on the internet, you’ll find many exciting things to do with your iPod.

Posted by Aadi at 7:07 PM | Permalink | Comments

When the Xbox 360 was first released there were a large number of individuals who waited for hours in hopes of being able to purchase one. In fact, Xbox 360s are so popular that is likely that you have one inside your home right now. No matter how old you are it is always fun to play video games on an Xbox 360.

Despite the fact that individuals of all ages play Xbox 360 games, the majority of players are teenagers. Teenagers love video games and the Xbox 360 is one of the most popular ways to play those games. Many teens and parents of teenagers wonder which Xbox games they should purchase. Below is a list and summary of ten of the most popular Xbox 360 games for teens.

1. The Elder Scrolls: IV Oblivion

The Elder Scrolls: IV Oblivion is the sequel to The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. The third game in the series won multiple awards and it is apparent with Oblivion's popularity that the fourth installment is just as good, if not better. The Elder Scrolls is role playing at its best. This one player game allows players to choose exactly who they want to be, whether it be good or evil.

2. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter

Set in the future, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced allows teen players to use new weapons to avoid the traps that are set for soldiers. Standard Xbox 360 setup allows one to four players, but Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighters is also compatible with Xbox Live. Xbox Live makes it possible for up to sixteen players to play a game together, even when they are located on opposite sides of the world.

3. Call of Duty 2

Call of Duty 2, the sequel to the original Call of Duty, is an amazing war game with outstanding visuals. The game is based around World War II and players must overcome enemies and other obstacles. Due to a split screen feature, Call of Duty 2 can be a multiplayer game. Up to eight players can play together via Xbox Live.

4. EA Sports: Fight Night Round 3

Sports fans will enjoy playing the popular game from EA Sports that is titled Fight Night Round 3. Fight Night Round 3 allows players to become their favorite boxer. Boxers can be customized and fights from the past can be reenacted with changed outcomes. EA Sports: Fight Night Round 3 is designed for one or two players; however, it is also compatible with Xbox Live.

5. Project Gotham Racing 3

Unlike the above mentioned Xbox 360 games, Project Gotham Racing 3 is not rated T for Teen. The game is rated E for Everyone, but it still has teenagers in mind and is a great alternative for those who dislike fighting games. Players are able to select and customize their own cars to race around the world in multiple race settings. Project Gotham Racing 3 is a one or two player game, but it also works with Xbox Live. In addition to more players, Xbox Live also introduces new racing challenges that are not available offline.

6. Battlefield 2: Modern Combat

In Battlefield 2 Modern Combat players are literally dropped into the middle of disaster. Players must decide which side they want to be on and then fight to win. The game is designed for one player, but additional players can be added with the use of Xbox Live. In fact, up to twenty-four players can compete with or against each other online.

7. Burnout Revenge

A large number of teenagers are unable to drive, but even if they were there are some things that you just can't do in a car that is unless you are playing Burnout Revenge. In Burnout Revenge players select the car of their choice and set up car crashes. With Xbox Live four drivers can pit their cars against each other and with offline play up to two players can compete. Burnout Revenge is rated E for Everyone.

8. Kameo: Elements of Power

Kameo: Elements of Power is a game that combines action, adventure, and fantasy all into one. Players become Kameo. The goal of the game is to help save her family from an evil troll king. Players can change their character in to multiple monsters to defeat enemies. Kameo: Elements of Power is a one or two player game that can be played on or offline.

9. NBA 2K6

NBA 2K6 is rated E for Everyone, but it is a game that is highly popular among teenagers. At first glance, NBA 2K6 appears to be another sports game, but the reality is that it is so much more. In addition to playing basketball, it is the player's responsibility to generate extra income through product endorsements. Once money is made players can use to it purchase new items for their homes. NBA 2K6 can be played with one or two players.

10. Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie

Players, whether they enjoyed the King Kong movie or not, are sure to love playing Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie. When playing the game, players are able to be the human character, Jack, or the gorilla, Kong. Whichever player a character chooses to be there is excitement, battles, and enemies waiting on the other side. Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie is a one player Xbox 360 game.

All of the above mentioned Xbox 360 games are highly rated among teenage gamers. Do you need a gift for a teenager or do want to purchase a game yourself? If so, then check out the large collection of Xbox 360 games designed for teens.

Posted by Aadi at 7:02 PM | Permalink | Comments