The IT - Mart

Nintendo Wii

2007-12-30T05:13:00.000-08:00

The Wii (pronounced as the English pronoun we, IPA: /wiː/) is the fifth home video game console released by Nintendo. The console is the direct successor to the Nintendo GameCube. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3, but it competes with both as part of the seventh generation of video game systems.

A distinguishing feature of the console is its wireless controller, the Wii Remote, which can be used as a handheld pointing device and can detect acceleration in three dimensions. Another is WiiConnect24, which enables it to receive messages and updates over the Internet while in standby mode.

Nintendo first spoke of the console at the 2004 E3 press conference and later unveiled the system at the 2005 E3. Satoru Iwata revealed a prototype of the controller at the September 2005 Tokyo Game Show. At E3 2006, the console won the first of several awards. By December 8, 2006, it had completed its launch in four key markets. During the week of September 12, 2007, the Financial Times declared that the Wii was the current sales leader of its generation.

Launch

On September 14, 2006, Nintendo announced release information for Japan, North and South America, Australasia (Oceania), Asia and Europe, including dates, prices, and projected unit distribution numbers. It was announced that the majority of the 2006 shipments would be allotted to the Americas, and that 33 titles would be available in the 2006 launch window. The United Kingdom suffered a large shortage of console units as many "high-street" and online stores were unable to fulfill all pre-orders when it was released on December 8, 2006. As of March 2007, some UK stores still had a shortage of consoles, and as of June 2007, demand still outpaced supply in the United States.

Nintendo announced that it would release its console in South Korea at the beginning of 2008.

Features

The console contains a number of internal features made available from its hardware and firmware components. The hardware allows for extendibility through expansion ports while the firmware can receive periodic updates via the WiiConnect24 service.

Wii Menu

The Wii Menu operating system interface is designed around the concept of television channels. Separate channels are graphically displayed in a grid and are navigated using the pointer capability of the Wii Remote. It is possible to change the arrangement of the channels by holding down the A and B buttons. There are six primary channels: the Disc Channel, Mii Channel, Photo Channel, Wii Shop Channel, Forecast Channel and News Channel. The latter two were initially unavailable at launch, but activated through firmware updates. Additional channels are available for download from the Wii Shop Channel and also appear with each Virtual Console title. These include the Everybody Votes Channel, Internet Channel and Check Mii Out Channel.

Backward Compatibility

The Wii console is backward compatible with all official Nintendo GameCube software, as well as Nintendo GameCube Memory Cards and controllers. Compatibility with software is achieved with the slot-loading drive's ability to accept Nintendo GameCube Game Discs. The console supports progressive-scan output in 480p-enabled GameCube titles. Peripherals can be connected via a set of four GameCube controller ports and two Memory Card slots concealed by removable flip-open panels. The console therefore retains connectivity with the Game Boy Advance and e-Reader through the Game Boy Advance Cable, which is used in the same manner as it was used with the GameCube. This feature can only be accessed on those select GameCube titles that previously utilized it.

A Wii console running a GameCube disc is restricted to GameCube functionality. As such, a GameCube controller is required to play GameCube titles, as neither the Wii Remote nor the Classic Controller functions in this capacity. A Nintendo GameCube Memory Card is also necessary to save, as the Wii internal flash memory will not save GameCube games.

Backward compatibility is limited in some areas. Online and LAN-enabled features for Nintendo GameCube titles are unavailable on the Wii, as the console lacks serial ports for the Broadband Adapter and Modem Adapter. The console uses a proprietary port for video output and is therefore incompatible with Nintendo GameCube composite video, S-Video and component video cables. The console also lacks the GameCube footprint and high-speed port needed for Game Boy Player support. The Wii was initially compatible with the GameCube Action Replay, which would work with GameCube titles. The firmware update to 3.0 has caused restrictions to this device along with various unlicensed freeloaders, however.

Nintendo DS Connectivity

The Wii system supports wireless connectivity with the Nintendo DS without any additional accessories. This connectivity allows the player to use the Nintendo DS microphone and touchscreen as inputs for Wii games. The first example Nintendo has given of a game using Nintendo DS-Wii connectivity is that of Pokémon Battle Revolution. Players with either the Pokémon Diamond or Pearl Nintendo DS games are able to play battles using their Nintendo DS as a controller. It has also been announced that the Nintendo DS will be able to play game demos downloaded from the console, which they would receive from Nintendo, similar to a DS Download Station. The console is also able to expand Nintendo DS games.

Online Connectivity

The Wii console is able to connect to the Internet through its built-in 802.11b/g Wi-Fi or through a USB-to-Ethernet adapter, with both methods allowing players to access the established Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service. Wireless encryption by WEP, WPA (TKIP/RC4) and WPA2 (CCMP/AES) are supported. AOSS support was discreetly added in firmware update 3.0. Just as for the Nintendo DS, Nintendo does not charge fees for playing via the service and the 12 digit Friend Code system controls how players connect to one another. Each Wii also has its own unique 16 digit Wii Code for use with Wii's non-game features. This system also implements console-based software including the Wii Message Board.

The service has several features for the console including the Virtual Console, WiiConnect24, Internet Channel, Forecast Channel, Everybody Votes Channel, News Channel and the Check Mii Out Channel. The console can also communicate and connect with other Wii systems through a self-generated wireless LAN, enabling local wireless multiplayer on different television sets. Battalion Wars 2 first demonstrated this feature for non-split screen multiplayer between two or more televisions.

Parental Controls

The console features parental controls, which can be used to prohibit younger users from playing games with content considered unsuitable for their age level. When playing a Wii or Virtual Console game is attempted, it reads the content rating encoded in the game data; if this rating is greater than the system's set age level the game will not load without a correct override password. The parental controls can also restrict Internet access, which blocks the Internet Channel and system update features. Since the console is restricted to GameCube functionality when playing Nintendo GameCube Game Discs, GameCube software is unaffected by Wii parental control settings.

European units mainly use the PEGI rating system, whereas North American units use the ESRB rating system. The Wii unit supports the native rating systems of many countries, including CERO in Japan, the USK in Germany, both the PEGI and BBFC in the United Kingdom and the OFLC in Australia and New Zealand.

Voice over Internet Protocol ( VoIP )

2007-12-25T05:13:00.000-08:00

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a protocol optimized for the transmission of voice through the Internet or other packet switched networks. VoIP is often used abstractly to refer to the actual transmission of voice (rather than the protocol implementing it). VoIP is also known as IP Telephony, Internet telephony, Broadband telephony, Broadband Phone and Voice over Broadband. "VoIP" is pronounced voyp.

Companies providing VoIP service are commonly referred to as providers, and protocols which are used to carry voice signals over the IP network are commonly referred to as Voice over IP or VoIP protocols. They may be viewed as commercial realizations of the experimental Network Voice Protocol (1973) invented for the ARPANET providers. Some cost savings are due to utilizing a single network to carry voice and data, especially where users have existing underutilized network capacity that can carry VoIP at no additional cost. VoIP to VoIP phone calls are sometimes free, while VoIP to public switched telephone networks, PSTN, may have a cost that is borne by the VoIP user.

Voice over IP protocols carry telephony signals as digital audio, typically reduced in data rate using speech data compression techniques, encapsulated in a data packet stream over IP.

There are two types of PSTN to VoIP services: Direct Inward Dialing (DID) and Access Numbers. DID will connect the caller directly to the VoIP user while access numbers require the caller to input the extension number of the VoIP user.

History

Voice over Internet Protocol has been a subject of interest almost since the first computer network. By 1973, voice was being transmitted over the early Internet. By Technology for transmitting voice conversations over the internet has been available to end users since at least the 1990's. For instance, in 1996, a shrink-wrapped software product called Vocaltec Internet Phone Release 4 provided VoIP, along with extra features such as voice mail and caller id. However, it did not offer a gateway to the analog POTS, so it was only possible to speak to other Vocaltec Internet Phone users. VocalTec is significant for their breakthroughs in realtime voice compression, which was vital at a time when the majority of users had at most a 28.8 kb/s dialup modem. In 1997, Level 3 began development of its first softswitch (a term they invented in 1998); softswitches were designed to replace a traditional hardware switchboards by serving as the gateway between two telephone networks.

Functionality

VoIP can facilitate tasks and provide services that may be more difficult to implement or expensive using the more traditional PSTN. Examples include:

The ability to transmit more than one telephone call down the same broadband-connected telephone line. This can make VoIP a simple way to add an extra telephone line to a home or office.

3-way calling, call forwarding, automatic redial, and caller ID; features that traditional telecommunication companies (telcos) normally charge extra for.

Secure calls using standardized protocols (such as Secure Real-time Transport Protocol) Most of the difficulties of creating a secure phone over traditional phone lines, like digitizing and digital transmission are already in place with VoIP. It is only necessary to encrypt and authenticate the existing data stream.

Location independence. Only an internet connection is needed to get a connection to a VoIP provider. For instance, call center agents using VoIP phones can work from anywhere with a sufficiently fast and stable Internet connection.

Integration with other services available over the Internet, including video conversation, message or data file exchange in parallel with the conversation, audio conferencing, managing address books, and passing information about whether others (e.g. friends or colleagues) are available online to interested parties.

Sony Ericsson W910i

2007-12-24T03:42:00.000-08:00

The Sony Ericsson W910 is an HSDPA Walkman phone that is designed for entertainment; whether music, 3D games, video, or high-speed Web access. It’s also geared to let you choose your music, your way. Select Shake control and just flick the phone to control games or skip and shuffle between tracks. Or opt for SensMe and discover music to match your mood and tempo. A potent combination of slim UMTS phone and high performance media player, the W960 Walkman phone packs enough punch for up to 8,000 songs and includes a Walkman player for finger-touch navigation around playlists on the large screen. The Sony Ericsson W910 Walkman phone will be available in either Hearty Red or Noble Black from Q4 2007.

Overview

Your portable sound machine

The Walkman player turns your phone into a powerful portable music device. Organize your favorite music via playlists, listen to audio books and access podcasts. Try new ways to choose track. SensMe lets you pick a song or create a playlist by mood. To randomly select a song by the flick of your wrist, use Shake control.Horizontal or vertical - your W910i lets you view and play as you like. Just make your choice and enjoy it on the bright, large and crystal-clear screen.

Shake control

Want to change track at the flick of your wrist? Move forward in your track list by flicking your phone one way, go back by flicking the other. Shake control also lets you change at random - you just shake to shuffle.

Walkman phone

Have your favourite sounds with you – always, whenever, wherever you go. Your Walkman phone is not only a mobile phone. It's a portable music device, too.

Flight mode

Function that inactivates radio transmitters and receivers so that some functions can be used in places such as planes and hospitals.

3-click music downloads

Audition and buy the Top Ten ringtones in three clicks. PlayNow is the fastest and easiest way to download a premium ringtone.

Integrated camera

Built-in digital camera with screen viewfinder, dedicated menus and direct interaction with in-phone imaging and messaging features.

Web wherever

Truly mobile Internet lets you enjoy browsing the Web and manage your email effectively with the convenience of your phone, wherever you are.

Features

The Sony Ericsson W910i Black has features including:

Bluetooth for Voice
Bluetooth for Data
Video Camera
Video Downloads
Colour Screen
Java Technology
Music Player
Polyphonic Tones
FM Radio
Internet
Email
MMS
2 mega pixel camera
Slide Phone
Digital Zoom
Video Messaging
MP3 Ringtones
USB
Wallpapers

Video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmkDkfVeTJ8

Autodesk Maya

2007-12-20T07:12:00.000-08:00

Maya is a high-end 3D computer graphics and 3D modeling software package originally developed by Alias Systems Corporation, but now owned by Autodesk as part of the Media and Entertainment division. Autodesk acquired the software in October 2005 upon purchasing Alias. Maya is used in the film and TV industry, as well as for computer and video games.

In 2003, Maya (then owned by Alias|Wavefront) won an Academy Award "for scientific and technical achievement", citing use "on nearly every feature using 3-D computer-generated images."

Overview

Maya is a popular, proprietary integrated node-based 3D software suite, evolved from Wavefront Explorer and Alias PowerAnimator using technologies from both. The software is released in two versions: Maya Complete (the less powerful package) and Maya Unlimited. Maya Personal Learning Edition (PLE) is available at no cost for non-commercial use, although rendered images are watermarked.

Maya was originally released for the IRIX operating system, and subsequently ported to the Microsoft Windows, Linux and Mac OS X operating systems. IRIX support was discontinued after the release of version 6.5. When Autodesk acquired Alias in October 2005, they continued Maya development. The latest version, 2008 (9.0), was released in September 2007.

An important feature of Maya is its openness to third-party software, which can strip the software completely of its standard appearance and, using only the kernel, can transform it into a highly customized version of the software. Apart from its intrinsic power and flexibility, this feature in itself made Maya appealing to large studios which tend to write custom code for their productions using the provided software development kit.

A Tcl-like cross-platform scripting language called Maya Embedded Language (MEL) is provided not only as a scripting language, but as means to customize Maya's core functionality (much of the environment and tools are written in the language). Additionally, user interactions are implemented and recorded as MEL scripting code which users can store on a toolbar, allowing animators to add functionality without experience in C or C++ programming and compilers, though that option is provided with the software development kit. Support for Python scripting was added in version 8.5.

The core of Maya itself is written in C++.

Project files, including all geometry and animation data, are stored as sequences of MEL operations which can be optionally saved as a 'human readable' file (.ma, for Maya ASCII), editable in any text editor outside of the Maya environment which allows for a tremendous level of flexibility when working with external tools.

A marking menu is built into larger menu system called Hotbox that provides instant access to a majority of features in Maya at the press of a key.

History

Maya is the culmination of three 3D software lines: Wavefront's The Advanced Visualizer (in California), Thomson Digital Image (TDI) Explore (in France) and Alias' Power Animator (in Canada). In 1993 Wavefront purchased TDI, and in 1995 Silicon Graphics Incorporated (SGI) purchased both Alias and Wavefront (due to pressure from Microsoft's purchase of Softimage earlier that year) and combined them into one working company, producing a single package from their collective source code. In the mid-1990s, the most popular pipeline in Hollywood films was a combination of tools: Alias Studio for modeling, Softimage for animation, and PhotoRealistic RenderMan for rendering. This combination was used for numerous films, such as Jurassic Park, The Abyss and Terminator 2: Judgement Day. The combined company was referred to as Alias|Wavefront. It took Alias|Wavefront two more years after the merger to release the highly anticipated Maya.

Both Alias and Wavefront were working on their next generation of software at the time of the merger. Alias had taken a Macintosh product, "Alias Sketch!", moved it to the SGI platform and added many features to it. The code name for this project was "Maya", the Sanskrit term for "illusion." The first scene ever animated with Maya was the cave-mouth from Disney's "Aladdin". Maya was developed in close collaboration with Disney and the GUI was all customizable as a requirement from Disney so they could set up their own GUI and workflow based on decades of animation experience and without giving up the technology to Alias. This had a large impact on the openness of Maya and later also help the software become the de-facto industry standard, this since most facilities implement extensive proprietary customization of the software to gain competitive advantage.

After much discussion it was decided to adopt Alias' "Maya" architecture, and merge Wavefront's code with it.

In the early days of development, Maya used Tcl as the scripting language. After the merger, there was debate amongst those who supported Tcl, Perl and Sophia. Sophia was much faster than the others and won out. However, once error checking was added, it ended up being equally slow.

Upon its release in 1998, Alias|Wavefront discontinued all previous animation-based software lines including Alias Power Animator, encouraging consumers to upgrade to Maya. It succeeded in expanding its product line to take over a great deal of market share, with leading visual effects companies such as Industrial Light and Magic and Tippett Studio switching from Softimage to Maya for the animation software.

Later Alias|Wavefront was renamed Alias. In 2005 Alias was sold by the cash-strapped SGI to the Teachers' pension fund of Ontario and the private equity investment firm Accel-KKR. In October 2005, Alias was sold again, this time to Autodesk, and on January 10, 2006, Autodesk completed the acquisition and Alias Maya is now known as Autodesk Maya.

Maya has been used to animate popular television shows. It is used in combination with CorelDRAW to animate the cartoon South Park, and has been used to make 3D segments on Futurama and games such as Xenosaga, Resident Evil, and character models in F.E.A.R. Every episode of VeggieTales after Larry-Boy and the Rumor Weed was animated using Maya. It is now used to do the 3D modeling in Channel 4's Grand Designs.

Maya has also been Crystal Dynamics' (US game designers) main software, creating such titles as Tomb Raider: Legend, Tomb Raider: Anniversary and Prince of Persia. The software was also used to create the best selling game The Sims.

Official Maya Learning Tools

Along with the history of Maya the company has produced Maya learning tools which date back to the earlier Alias days. Beginning with an internally produced newsletter on Maya software techniques and workflows, the tradition continued with the internally produced Art of Maya book and training videos and tutorials. In response to strong user demand the company's education department further developed instructional books and video-based learning content referred to as learning tools. Autodesk continues to develop learning tools with content developed both by internal product specialists as well as industry professionals. The company's video-based learning tools have recently moved away from physical production and are now strictly available as digital downloads from the Autodesk site.

Vodafone Essar

2007-12-17T07:00:00.000-08:00

Vodafone Essar, previously Hutchison Essar is a cellular operator in India that covers 16 telecom circles in India . Despite the name of the company, the marketing brand used is simply Vodafone. It offers both prepaid and postpaid GSM cellular phone coverage throughout India and is especially strong in the major metros.

Vodafone Essar provides 2G services based on 900Mhz and 1800Mhz digital GSM technology, offering voice and data services in 16 of the countries 23 licence areas.

Ownership

Vodafone Essar is owned by Vodafone 52%, Essar Group 33%, and other Indian nationals, 15%.

On 11 February 2007, Vodafone agreed to acquire the controlling interest of 67% held by Li Ka Shing Holdings in Hutch-Essar for US$11.1 billion, pipping Reliance Communications, Hinduja Group, and Essar Group, which is the owner of the remainding 33%. The whole company was valued at USD 18.8 billion . The transaction closed on 8 May 2007.

Previous Brands

In December 2006, Hutch Essar re-launched the "Hutch" brand nationwide, consolidating its services under a single identity. The Company entered into agreement with NTT DoCoMo to launch i-mode™ mobile Internet service in India during 2007.

The company used to be named Hutchison Essar, reflecting the name of its previous owner, Hutchison. However, the brand was marketed as Hutch. After getting the necessary government approvals with regards to the acquisition of a majority by the Vodafone Group, the company was rebranded as Vodafone Essar. The marketing brand was officially changed to Vodafone on 20 September 2007.

In Mumbai, it was earlier known by the name Orange, a brand that used to be marketed by its former owner, Hutchison. Still earlier it was known as Max Touch and AceTel even before that.

On September 20, 2007 Hutch becomes Vodafone in one of the biggest brand transition exercises in recent times.

Vodafone Essar is spending somewhere in the region of Rs 250 crores on this high-profile transition being unveiled today. Along with the transition, cheap cell phones have been launched in the Indian market under the Vodafone brand. There are plans to launch co-branded handsets sourced from global vendors as well.

A popular daily quoted a Vodafone Essar director as saying that "the objective is to leverage Vodafone Group's global scale in bringing millions of low-cost handsets from across-the-world into India."

While there is no revealing the prices of the low-cost Vodafone handsets, the industry is abuzz that prices might start at Rs 666, undercutting Reliance Communications' much-hyped 'Rang Barse' with cheap handsets beginning at Rs 777.

Meanwhile, Vodafone Essar sources said there would be no discounts or subsidized handset offers -- rather handset-bundled schemes for customers.

Incidentally, China's ZTE, which is looking to set-up a manufacturing unit in the country, is expected to provide several Vodafone handsets in India. Earlier this year, Vodafone penned a global low-cost handset procurement deal with ZTE.

Growth of the company as Hutchison Essar

In 1992 Hutchison Whampoa and its Indian business partner established a company that in 1994 was awarded a licence to provide mobile telecommunications services in Mumbai (formerly Bombay) and launched commercial service as Hutchison Max in November 1995. Analjit Singh of Max still holds 12% in company.

By the time of Hutchison Telecom's Initial Public Offering in 2004, Hutchison Whampoa had acquired interests in six mobile telecommunications operators providing service in 13 of India's 23 licence areas and following the completion of the acquisition of BPL that number increased to 16. In 2006, it announced the acquisition of a company that held licence applications for the seven remaining licence areas.

In a country growing as fast as India, a strategic and well managed business plan is critical to success. Initially, the company grew its business in the largest wireless markets in India - in cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata. In these densely populated urban areas it was able to establish a robust network, well known brand and large distribution network -all vital to long-term success in India. Then it also targeted business users and high-end post-paid customers which helped Hutchison Essar to consistently generate a higher Average Revenue Per User ("ARPU") than its competitors. By adopting this focused growth plan, it was able to establish leading positions in India's largest markets providing the resources to expand its footprint nationwide.

In February 2007, Hutchison Telecom announced that it had entered into a binding agreement with a subsidiary of Vodafone Group Plc to sell its 67% direct and indirect equity and loan interests in Hutchison Essar Limited for a total cash consideration (before costs, expenses and interests) of approximately US$11.1 billion or HK$87 billion.

1992: Hutchison Whampoa and Max Group established Hutchison Max

2000: Acquisition of Delhi operations Entered Calcutta and Gujarat markets through ESSAR acquisition

2001: Won auction for licences to operate GSM services in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Chennai

2003: Acquired AirCel Digilink (ADIL) which operated in Rajastan, Uttar Pradesh East and Haryana telecom circles and renamed it under Hutch brand

2004: Launched in three additional telecom circles of India namely 'Punjab', 'Uttar Pradesh West' and 'West Bengal'

2005: Acquired BPL, another mobile service provider in India

Hutch was often praised for its award winning advertisements which all follow a clean, minimalist look. A recurrent theme is that its message Hello stands out visibly though it uses only white letters on red background. Another recent successful ad campaign in 2003 featured a pug named Cheeka following a boy around in unlikely places, with the tagline, Wherever you go, our network follows. The simple yet powerful advertisement campaigns won it many admirers.

Turbo C++ Compiler

2007-12-17T06:33:00.000-08:00

Turbo C++ is a Borland C++ compiler and Integrated Development Environment (IDE), famous for its high compilation & linkage speed - hence the term "Turbo". It was a part of Borland's highly popular family of compilers including Turbo Pascal, Turbo Basic, Turbo Prolog and Turbo C. Turbo C++ was a successor of Turbo C, expanding the compiler similarly to how Turbo Pascal 5.5 added object functionality to the earlier Turbo Pascal versions. Unlike Turbo Pascal, however, Turbo C++ always adhered to C++ language standards of its time. The MS-DOS product was never capable of compiling ISO-standard C++, however, because development on it was discontinued before the standard was completed.

Borland has recently brought back the "Turbo" product line with all-new versions of Turbo C++, Turbo Delphi (including a special .Net compatible version), and Turbo C# for Win32 and .NET programming.

Version History

The first release of Turbo C++ was made available during the MS-DOS reign on personal computers. It came up in versions 1.0, running on OS/2 and version 1.01, released on February 28, 1991 , running on MS-DOS. The latter was able to generate both COM and EXE programs, and was shipped with Borland's Turbo Assembler compiler for Intel x86 processors. The initial version of the Turbo C++ compiler was based on a front end developed by TauMetric (TauMetric was later acquired by Sun Microsystems and their front end was incorporated in Sun C++ 4.0, which shipped in 1994). This compiler supported the AT&T 2.0 release of C++.

Turbo C++ 3.0 was released in 1991 (shipping on November 20), and came in amidst expectations of the coming release of Turbo C++ for Microsoft Windows. Turbo C++ v3.0 first came as an MS-DOS compiler, supporting C++ templates, generation of DOS & protected mode executables, as well as generation of code targeting specific legacy CPUs, such as Intel 80186. The language implementation was updated to the latest AT&T release of C++.

After Windows 3.0 became available, Turbo C++ was sold with MS-Windows support. First Windows-based IDE was Turbo C++ 3.0 for Windows, followed by Turbo C++ 3.1 and Turbo C++ 4.5. It's possible that the jump from version 1.x to version 3.x was in part an attempt to link Turbo C++ release numbers with Microsoft Windows versions; however, it seems more likely that this jump was simply to synchronize Turbo C and Turbo C++, since Turbo C 2.0 (1989) and Turbo C++ 1.0 (1990) had come out roughly at the same time, and the next generation 3.0 was a merger of both the C and C++ compiler.

With version 3.0, Borland introduced a distinction between "Turbo C++" and "Borland C++". The former was marketed as a somewhat low-end product, while the latter was geared toward professional applications (it included additional tools and a stronger optimizer).

Version 4.0 was released in November 1993 and was notable (among other things) for its robust support of templates. In particular, it was instrumental in the development of the Standard Template Library, expression templates, and the first advanced applications of template metaprogramming. With the success of Delphi, Borland ceased work on their Borland C++ suite and concentrated on C++ Builder for Windows, which used the same rapid application framework as Delphi but largely the same back-end compiler technology, and that change in emphasis led to the end of active development on Borland C++/Turbo C++ (until 2006, see below).

Turbo C++ v1.01 for DOS is currently freely distributed by Borland, and can be downloaded from their Antique Software web site.
Currently, Borland also offers Borland Turbo C++ 4.5 in a package called Borland Turbo C++ Suite in their shop. This suite categorized in their Classic Products.

Turbo C++ 2006, a subset version of Borland C++ Builder, was released on September 5, 2006 and is available in 'Explorer' and 'Professional' editions. The Explorer edition is free to download and distribute while the Professional edition is a commercial product.

StyleXP

2007-12-17T06:23:00.000-08:00

StyleXP is a computer program designed to modify the graphical user interface of Windows XP. As of version 3.19 features include modifying themes, explorer bar, backgrounds, logon screens, icons, boot screens, transparency, cursors and screensavers.

Created by TGTSoft, StyleXP is an alternative to other skinning programs such as Stardock's WindowBlinds and Object Desktop.

How It Works

StyleXP works by patching a DLL file named uxtheme.dll. Uxtheme.dll by default prevents users from installing themes that are not digitally signed by Microsoft. By patching this DLL, StyleXP can install themes that are not digitally signed. Earlier versions of the program patched the uxtheme.dll file on disk, while newer ones do so in memory.

Popularity

The program's popularity has risen in the last several years, with several sites opening up that provide free skins to the public. These skins have also become more popular after a patched uxtheme DLL file was released that does not require the user to purchase StyleXP to use the skins.

FlashGet

2007-12-16T02:30:00.000-08:00

FlashGet (formerly known as JetCar, from the literal translation of the Chinese phrase 快車) is a freeware download manager for Microsoft Windows. It was originally available in either paid or advert-supported versions, the latter of which included an Internet Explorer BHO and led to some labelling it as spyware.

Features

Integration with web browsers such as Internet Explorer, Opera (Internet suite), Netscape, Mozilla, Mozilla Firefox, SeaMonkey, Avant Browser, Maxthon

Can download a sequence of files

Download a file from multiple locations

Split files to download into sections, and download each section simultaneously.

Integrated web crawler

Language support

Support HTTP, FTP, Microsoft Media Services, RTSP, BitTorrent and since version 1.8.4 eDonkey downloads

Manages downloaded files easily

The latest 1.9.6.1073 version has a "FlashGet recommends" column which some find irritating, however there is an option for it to be turned off.

Kaspersky Anti - Virus

2007-12-14T10:11:00.000-08:00

Kaspersky Lab is a computer security company, co-founded by Natalia Kaspersky and Eugene Kaspersky in 1997, offering antivirus, anti-spyware, anti-spam, and anti-intrusion products. Kaspersky Lab is a privately held company headquartered in Moscow, Russia with regional offices in the UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Japan, China, Korea and the USA.

In 2005, Red Herring magazine listed Kaspersky among "Red Herring 100 Europe", a selection of the 100 private companies in Europe and Israel that play a leading role in innovation and technology.

According to AV-Comparatives, Kaspersky Anti-Virus (formerly known as AntiViral Toolkit Pro) rates highly amongst virus scanners in terms of detection rates. In 2006 Kaspersky Anti-Virus was ranked second, and was the recipient of the TopTenReviews Gold Award. In addition, Kaspersky has passed all Virus Bulletin comparative tests since August 2003. According to PC World magazine, Kaspersky antivirus software provides the fastest updates for new virus and security threats in the industry.

Kaspersky Anti-Virus engine also powers products or solutions by other security vendors, such as Check Point, Bluecoat, Juniper Networks, Sybari (now acquired by Microsoft), Netintelligence, GFI Software, F-Secure, Borderware, FrontBridge, G-Data, Netasq, and others. Altogether, more than 120 companies are licensing technology from Kaspersky, which makes it one of the most widely used antivirus engines in the industry.

Media claims

In early 2005, Kaspersky Labs revealed that it was contacted by "a user asking how to disinfect the onboard computers of several Lexus cars... The user said that the infection occurred via a mobile phone".

On 5 April 2007, Kaspersky Labs claimed to have found a virus that infects Apple's popular iPod music player. The press release stated: "It should be stressed that in order for the virus to function, Linux has to be installed on the iPod." Kaspersky Internet Security 7 includes a built in option called "Roll-back" technology. When an infection is detected, it will give you the option to "Roll-back", which will take your computer back right before the infection was detected, so its as if it never touched your computer. Having this option makes it be able to get rid of threats other software can't. An example being Smitfraud-C., which was an epidemic for most companies.

Product

The current line of Kaspersky products consists of Kaspersky Internet Security 7 and Kaspersky Anti-Virus 7, released on August 1, 2007.

Kaspersky products are widely used in Eastern Europe and Asia, but have not been strongly marketed in North America and Western Europe. However, US-based magazine PC World recently awarded Kaspersky Anti-Virus 6 the Editor's Choice in its 2007 anti-virus comparative (partnered with AV-Test.org), a move which will likely result in more widespread use in the Western Hemisphere. For example, it is now being marketed by Sam's Club in tandem with the Symantec Norton product line, which has been more popular in the USA.

The latest line of Kaspersky products is certified for Windows Vista.

Kaspersky Anti-Virus

Kaspersky Anti-Virus (Russian: Антивирус Касперского; formerly known as AntiViral Toolkit Pro) is an antivirus program developed by Kaspersky Lab. It is designed to protect users from malware and is designed for computers running Microsoft Windows.

Features

Kaspersky Anti-Virus has a variety of features, including:

protection, detection and removal of viruses, trojans, worms, spyware, adware and keyloggers
heuristics analyzer for detecting unknown threats (included in version 7)
detection and removal of rootkits
protection from viruses when using ICQ and other IM clients
real-time scanning of e-mail, internet traffic and files
self-defense of the program to prevent it from being stopped or disabled
tools for creating a rescue disk
free technical support and community support via dedicated user forum

The program is well known for its high detection rates. According to AV-Comparatives, Kaspersky Anti-Virus rates highly amongst virus scanners in terms of detection rates. Since 2003, the program has also passed all Virus Bulletin tests. In addition, PC World recently awarded Kaspersky Anti-Virus 6 the Editor's Choice in its 2007 anti-virus comparative.

Kaspersky Anti Virus 7.0 was "A-listed" by the prestigious UK PC journal PC Pro in late 2007, where it scored very highly for detection and removal of malware. PC Pro attribute this to “a combination of the software’s heuristic scanning and uncompromising approach to database updates. While many packages check for new virus signatures on a daily basis, Kaspersky runs to an hourly schedule, improving your PC’s chances of being immunized before an infection reaches it.”

Kaspersky Anti-Virus generally has a fast response rate, being able to provide signatures for new viruses in zero to two hours after outbreak on average.

How Google Earth Works

2007-12-13T10:54:00.000-08:00

What is Google Earth?

Google Earth is currently available for download as a desktop application, although you need to be connected to the Internet to use it. Every time you open Google Earth, it automatically connects to Google's servers, giving you access to terabytes of geographical, political and social data. For instance, you can view a city with certain "layers" turned on, including topographical information, population data and crime statistics for the area. The layers and all of the map navigation buttons, including zoom, tilt and rotate, are all located in the Google Earth frame.

The big deal right now is the basic version of Google Earth is completely free. Of course, this could change in the future. So let's all start by downloading the free version of the software located at Earth.Google.com while it's still free. If your computer runs Windows, Linux or Mac OS X 10.3.9 or higher, and it's fewer than five years old, you should have no problem meeting the system requirements. If your computer can't run the application, read on to find out what you'll be able to do once you update your equipment.

Once you open Google Earth and start moving around a bit, you'll immediately notice one of the biggest "whoa" aspects of the program: some of the information is 3-D, and the stuff that isn't 3-D is still a photograph -- there are no illustrated maps here. The baseline visual data comes from satellite imagery and aerial photographs taken by aircraft.

While Google Earth comprises an array of features that would probably take months to fully utilize, the basic features fit loosely into the following categories:

Mapping/directions
Local search
Sightseeing

Basic Functions

The best way to get to know Google Earth is to start with a location and see what Google Earth will tell you about it. So let's start with HowStuffWorks headquarters in Atlanta, Ga. If you type "3350 Peachtree Rd. Atlanta, GA," into the Google Earth search box and click "Search," you zoom in from space to HowStuffWorks headquarters. You are now looking at a photograph of the location.

To get more information and turn the photograph into a real map, the next step is to turn on some layers. Available layers include dining, lodging, banks, roads, terrain, malls, grocery stores, gas stations, parks, transit, schools and geographic features.

To create a nice, functional map, you might just turn on the "roads" layer. If you zoom out a bit, you've got yourself a good driving map of the broader area surrounding 3350 Peachtree Rd. in Atlanta.

Let's say your little tour of Atlanta includes a stop at HowStuffWorks headquarters followed by a trip to the Georgia Dome to check out a Falcons game. A click on the Google Earth directions button reveals two slots: one for the starting address (3350 Peachtree Rd. Atlanta, GA) and one for the ending address (1 Georgia Dome Dr NW, Atlanta, 30313). Clicking "Search" reveals both written directions and a highlighted route on the map, which has automatically zoomed out to accommodate the entire route from HowStuffWorks to the stadium.

Google Sky

Google Earth wows users with its ability to fly to and from anywhere on Earth. In August 2007, Google introduced Google Sky, giving users the ability to actually take to the stars.

With one click of the mouse, a Google Earth user can switch to Sky Mode and reverse the perspective. With hi-res images from NASA, the Digital Survey Consortium and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, Google Earth has put together an accurate and fascinating look at outer space. Users can fly around, just like in Earth mode, to search the far reaches of space.

As with the Earth portion, Google Sky has lots of layers you can display. You can find constellations by name or see them drawn out on your screen. The Backyard Astronomy layer references three astrological catalogs to give greater detail on some of the more well-known space objects. You can highlight galaxies, nebulae, star clusters and famous visible stars to get information on location, history, classifications and even links to NASA's database of information. There is also a Hubble Showcase that provides images taken from the Hubble Space telescope, along with some detailed data about the objects.

Two very cool features of Google Sky are the Moon in Motion and Planets in Motion layers. These show the paths of the moon and the planets across the sky from your given location on Earth. NASA took pictures once every hour for three months to make sure the paths were accurate. A slider bar lets you choose the span of time you want to view. Then, you just click to see the moon or planets move. If you click on the moon itself, the program pinpoints its location on that date, the phase, how far it is from Earth and how bright it may look in the sky. Click on the planets, and you can find out their size, distance and magnitude.

Google Sky also provides two very interesting tours of outer space. The User's Guide to the Galaxy takes you on a trip through a number of well-known galaxies. The Life of a Star tour shows the lifespan of a typical star, from birth to death. A fact list shows what happens to each star and how it fits into the cosmic soup. In both tours, you can either click on one at a time, or download it for one long trip through the universe.

Orkut

2007-12-12T10:36:00.000-08:00

Orkut is an Internet social network service run by Google and named after its creator, Google employee Orkut Büyükkökten. It claims to be designed to help users meet new friends and maintain existing relationships. Similar to Facebook, Friendster and MySpace, Orkut goes a step further by permitting the creation of easy-to-set-up simple forums (called "communities") of users. Since October 2006, Orkut has permitted users to create accounts without an invitation. In April 2007, Orkut introduced polls in communities.

The initial target market for orkut was the United States, but the majority of its users are in Brazil. In fact, as of November 2007, 62.9% of the traffic come from Brazil, followed by 19.2% from India. In December 2007, Google dropped orkut from the drop-down menu of its international homepage.

Features

A user first creates a "Profile", in which the user provides "Social", "Professional" and "Personal" details and determining

Scrapbook

"Scrapping" is popular among the Orkut community as a form of offline and online communication. From dec 2007 using the settings we can see a scrap alert immediately in the bottom when we receive a scrap msg thus orkut became a online communication too.

Communities

Another feature of Orkut are "Communities". Anyone with an
Orkut account can create a community on anything. One can post topics, inform users about an event, ask them questions or just play games. There are more than one million communities on Orkut with topics ranging from pizza to pasta or from film star to superstar. The first five communities on Orkut were started within 24 hrs of the site's launch. Users can upload photos into their Orkut profile with a caption. Users can also add videos to their profile from either YouTube or Google Videos with the additional option of creating either restricted or un-restricted polls for polling a community of users.

Other Miscellaneous Features

Users have options to rate their friends in the order of "Best Friends", "Good Friends", "Friends", "Acquaintances" and "Haven't met". Further, each member can become fans of any of the friends in their list and can also evaluate whether their friend is "Trustworthy", "Cool", "Sexy" on a scale of 1 to 3 (marked by icons) and is aggregated in terms of a percentage. Unlike Facebook, where a member can view profile details of people only on their network, Orkut allows anyone to visit anyone's profile, unless a potential visitor is on your "Ignore List". Importantly, each member can also customize their profile preferences and can restrict information that appear on their profile from their friends and/or others (not on the friends list). The highlight feature is where any member can add any other member on Orkut to his/her "Crush List" and both of them will be informed only when both parties have added each other to their "Crush List".

When a user logs in, they see the people in their friends list in the order of their logging in to the site, the first person being the latest one to do so. Orkut's competitors are other social networking sites including MySpace and Facebook. Ning is a more direct competitor, as they allow creation of Social Networks which are similar to Orkut's communities.

Adobe Dreamweaver

2007-12-11T01:20:00.000-08:00

Adobe Dreamweaver, or simply Dreamweaver, is a web development application originally created by Macromedia now currently owned by Adobe Systems, which acquired Macromedia in 2005.

Dreamweaver is available for both Mac and Windows operating systems. Recent versions have incorporated support for web technologies such as CSS, JavaScript, and various server-side scripting frameworks.

Features

As a WYSIWYG Presto-based editor, Dreamweaver can hide the details of pages' HTML code from the user, making it possible for non-coders to create web pages and sites. A professional criticism of this approach is that it produces HTML pages whose file size and amount of HTML code is much larger than they should be, which can cause web browsers to perform poorly. This can be particularly true because the application makes it very easy to create table-based layouts. In addition, some web site developers have criticized Dreamweaver in the past for producing code that often does not comply with W3C standards, though this has improved considerably in recent versions. Dreamweaver 8.0 (the version prior to the recently released 9.0 within CS3) performed poorly on the Acid2 Test, developed by the Web Standards Project. However, Macromedia has increased the support for CSS and other ways to lay out a page without tables in later versions of the application, with the ability to convert tables to layers and vice versa.

Dreamweaver allows users to preview websites in many browsers, provided that they are installed on their computer. It also has some site management tools, such as the ability to find and replace lines of text or code by whatever parameters specified across the entire site, and a templatization feature for creating multiple pages with similar structures. The behaviors panel also enables use of basic JavaScript without any coding knowledge.

Dreamweaver can use "Extensions" - small programs, which any web developer can write (usually in HTML and JavaScript). Extensions provide added functionality to the software for whoever wants to download and install them. Dreamweaver is supported by a large community of extension developers who make extensions available (both commercial and free) for most web development tasks from simple rollover effects to full-featured shopping carts.

Syntax highlighting

As of version 6, Dreamweaver supports syntax highlighting for the following languages out of the box:

ActionScript
Active Server Pages (ASP)
ASP.NET
C#
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
ColdFusion
EDML
Extensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML)
Extensible Markup Language (XML)
Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLT)
Java
JavaScript
JavaServer Pages (JSP)
PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP)
Visual Basic (VB)
Visual Basic Script Edition (VBScript)
Wireless Markup Language (WML)

It is also possible to add your own language syntax highlighting to its repertoire.

In addition, code completion is available for many of these languages.

Adobe Photoshop

2007-12-11T01:11:00.000-08:00

Adobe Photoshop, or simply Photoshop, is a graphics editor developed and published by Adobe Systems. It is the current market leader for commercial bitmap and image manipulation, and is the flagship product of Adobe Systems. It has been described as "an industry standard for graphics professionals." Although originally designed to edit images for paper-based printing, Photoshop can also be used for a wide range of other professional and amateur purposes.

The current (10th) iteration of the program, Photoshop CS3, was released on 16 April 2007. "CS" reflects its integration with other Creative Suite products, and the number "3" represents it as the third version released since Adobe re-branded its products under the CS umbrella. Photoshop CS3 features additions such as the ability to apply non-destructive filters, as well as new selection tools named Quick Selection and Refine Edge that make selection more streamlined. On April 30th, Adobe released Photoshop CS3 Extended, which includes all the same features of Adobe Photoshop CS3 with the addition of capabilities for scientific imaging, 3D, and high end film and video users.

Releases

Continual revisions were made to the program, with new versions released in the following years. In November 1992, a Microsoft Windows port of version 2.0 of the software was released, and a year later it was ported to the SGI IRIX and Sun Solaris platforms. In September 1994, version 3.0 was released, which introduced layers and tabbed palettes. This version's logo also introduced the "eye" motif seen until version 8.0 of the program. In February 2003, the program shipped with the Camera RAW 1.x plug-in, which allowed the user to import RAW formats from different digital cameras directly into Photoshop.

In October 2004, the program was renamed Adobe Photoshop CS. The name uses the abbreviation CS for products in Adobe Creative Suite. The logo focused around a feather, which was also used in 9.0. The 10th version, Photoshop CS3 was released on April 16, 2007, with an icon modelled after periodic table elements, matching the new icons of other Creative Suite products.

Photoshop is written in the C++ programming language .

Features

Photoshop has strong ties with other Adobe software for media editing, animation, and authoring. Files in Photoshop's native format, .PSD, can be exported to and from Adobe ImageReady, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Adobe Encore DVD to make professional standard DVDs and provide non-linear editing and special effects services, such as backgrounds, textures, and so on, for television, film, and the Web. For example, Photoshop CS broadly supports making menus and buttons for DVDs. For .PSD files exported as a menu or button, it only needs to have layers, nested in layer sets with a cuing format, and Adobe Encore DVD reads them as buttons or menus.

Photoshop can utilize the color models RGB, lab, CMYK, grayscale, binary bitmap, and duotone. Photoshop has the ability to read and write raster and vector image formats such as: .EPS, .PNG, .GIF, .JPEG, Fireworks, etc. It also has several native file formats:

The .PSD (Photoshop Document) format stores an image with support for most imaging options available in Photoshop. These include layers with masks, color spaces, ICC profiles, transparency, text, alpha channels and spot colors, Clipping paths, and duotone settings. This is in contrast to many other file formats (e.g. .EPS or .GIF) that restrict content to provide streamlined, predictable functionality. Photoshop's popularity means that the .PSD format is widely used, and it is supported to some extent by most competing software.
The .PSB (Photoshop Big) format is a newer version of .PSD designed for files over 2 gigabytes.
The .PDD (PhotoDeluxe Document) format is a version of .PSD that only supports the features found in the discontinued PhotoDeluxe software.

Photoshop CS3 is marketed with three main components of improvement over previous versions: "Work more productively, Edit with unrivaled power, and composite with breakthrough tools." New features propagating productivity include streamlined interface, improved Camera Raw, better control over print options, enhanced PDF support, and better management with Adobe Bridge. Editing tools new to CS3 are the Clone Source palette and nondestructive Smart Filters, and other features such as the Channel Mixer and Vanishing Point were enhanced. Compositing is assisted with Photoshop's new Quick Selection and Refine Edge tools and improved image stitching technology.

CS3 Extended contains all features of CS3 plus tools for editing and importing some 3D graphics file formats, enhancing video, and comprehensive image analysis tools, utilizing MATLAB integration and DICOM file support.

Bose In-Ear Headphones

2007-12-10T11:13:00.000-08:00

Bose In-Ear Headphones provide high quality audio from a comfortable in-ear headphone design. Full, rich sound with distinct clarity and warmth. Comes with soft silicone tips in three sizes for a personal fit.Now enjoy high quality in-ear headphones—engineered and developed by Bose, the most respected name in sound. They're the only in-ear headphones with the rich audio and comfortable fit not available from conventional designs.

A new standard for in-ear headphones

Hear your music with more range, realism and clarity than with most conventional earbuds. Bose research and engineering are at the core of the remarkable performance of Bose® in-ear headphones. That includes our proprietary TriPort® acoustic headphone structure for greater output of low notes from a small headphone.

Better Sound, Better Fit

Bose in-ear headphones are designed to be worn comfortably for extended periods of time. Many people experience discomfort from traditional earbuds. But our engineers have developed innovative, soft silicone tips shaped to rest easily in the outer bowls of your ears, not the pressure-sensitive ear canals.

Tips come in three sizes for a more personal fit. You may find using a different size tip for each ear the most comfortable option. (See video on selecting tip sizes.) The headphones also come with a lanyard and clip for enhanced stability when you're on the move.

Better on the go

Bose in-ear headphones are engineered specifically as music headphones for use with laptops, MP3 players and CD players. The audio cable's 3.5 mm angled plug also fits directly into Apple® iPhone™ and other sources with recessed headphone jacks. And the headphones come with a sleek, protective carrying case—with enough extra room for a portable MP3 player.

Features

Comfortable in-ear design
High quality, earbud-style headphones with soft silicone tips that rest gently in your ears.

TriPort® acoustic headphone structure
Proprietary Bose® technology produces a full range of sound, including lower notes, in a compact in-ear design.

S, M and L removable silicone tips
Color-coded tips in three sizes for a more personal, comfortable fit.

Extensive compatibility
Angled plug fits directly into most MP3 players, including iPod® and iPhone™ models, as well as laptops and portable CD and DVD players.

Stability enhancement accessories
Lanyard and clothing clip included to help keep headphones in place when you're on the move.

Carrying case
Sleek, protective case for storing headphones and a portable MP3 player.

Mozilla Firefox

2007-12-10T10:57:00.000-08:00

Mozilla Firefox is a fast, full-featured web browser that's easy to use. It has lots of great features including popup-blocking, tabbed-browsing, integrated search, improved privacy features, automatic updating and more. Plus, thanks to the PortableApps.com launcher bundled in the Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition, it leaves no personal information behind on the machine you run it on, so you can take your favorite browser along with all your favorite bookmarks and extensions with you wherever you go.

Some Advantages of Firefox over Other Web Browsers

Popup Blocking

In this day in age, an internet browser without a popup blocker is like having a broadband connection without a fireball. “Firefox stops annoying popup windows dead in their tracks”, according to Mozilla.org, and that’s exactly what it does. Visiting a popup blocker test page, Firefox’s built in popup blocker was able to close all popup windows while the page loaded and during the page's onload() event. At http://www.popup-blocker.info’s test page, several test can be ran to prove your popup blocker’s power. Mozilla Firefox’s built in popup blocker was able to handle the “Stress Test”, which according to pop-upblocker.info… “[Stress tests] attempts to overcome your pop-up killer by trying to spawn large numbers of windows as quickly as possible.” Firefox’s popup blocker was able to close all 200 popup windows without even breaking a sweat. Trying this with IE and no popup blocker would probably bring your pc to its knee’s. You can also easily access the list of websites that the popup blocker blocks and altering it’s state by a simple click.

Download Manager

A feature which I thought was going to be integrated in Internet Explorer 6 was a download manager. Download managers allow you to manipulate and take control of your downloaded files. Mozilla Firefox’s download manager contains just the essentials to allow you to control your downloads. You can pause your download and continue it a later time, something which is not possible with IE’s download manager. Apart from sporting a nice look, the download manager stores the information such as size and location of your downloaded file. When the download is complete, a small notification is displayed in the lower right side of the screen.

Tabbed Browsing

Because having too many windows open at a time can be a bit annoying, not to mention time consuming, Firefox features tab browsing. Here’s more on tab browsing from Mozilla’s homepage…”Tab-Browsing changes the way you use the internet by allowing you to open links on a page in background "Tabs" and then read them when you're ready. No confusing new windows, no need for context menus, just hold down Ctrl when clicking a link, or use your middle mouse button (if you have one).”

Integrated Search Engine
Now why didn’t the IE programmers think of this? Mozilla Firefox comes with a built in search engine. The default search engine is Google’s, of course, with the ability to add others. The search entry takes up a very small space, which is a plus when compared to those huge toolbars out there.

The Maya Hayuk Series

2007-12-10T10:32:00.000-08:00

Sony has been rolling out a lot of VAIO releases over the last few months. The latest to join this rash of releases is the new 15.4 inch FZ laptops. These new machines come with surprisingly funky designs and feature a graphic splash on their bodies. Sony is calling these laptops the Vaio Graphic Splash Maya Hayuk Notebook and releasing it in two models namely the 'Grow' and 'Neverstop'. Sony goes on to say, "The Grow edition captures the feel of an organic forest with deep green, blue and purple flower-growing wildly across the top of the notebook while 'Never Stop' is a colorful, kaleidoscopic design that is decked in interlacing lines and spherical shapes."

These new laptops are based on the Santa Rosa platform. Both of them feature a 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 processor, up to 4GB RAM, 200GB 4200rpm hard drive, Blu-ray burner, a 14 inch screen with a native resolution of 1280x800, Nvidia GeForce 8400M GT graphics card with 1GB memory, a/b/g/n wireless, Bluetooth, and Vista. Both the models will be available later this month and will retail for USD$ 2500 upwards.

The design of the VAIO FZ Series Graphic Splash "Grow" Edition feels like an organic forest, there is a deep green, blue, and purple flowers that seems to be growing wildly across notebook lid. Hayuk's artwork is not only found outside the notebook but inside as well. The VAIO "Grow" Edition includes a wallpaper that matches the design outside of the notebook and comes with a certificate of authenticity with Hayuk's original signature. The chasis of the VAIO FZ series notebook is encased in durable and super lightweight magnesium alloy, reducing the weight of the laptop but also serves as a durable shell.

The VAIO FZ series Graphic Splash "Grow" Edition has a 15.4 inch WXGA LCD screen, 2 GHz Intel Centrino Duo Processor, 2 GB DDR2 memory upgradeable to a maximum of 4 GB, 200 GB hard disk drive, BD-RE/DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/DVD-RAM optical drive, Sony Sound Reality audio enhancer, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GT GPU Graphics Card, HDMI, VGA and S-Video Out with Smart Display Sensor Interface, Built-in Bluetooth, Intel PRO/Wireless 4965AGN Network Connection, and built-in web camera. The VAIO FZ-series "Grow" Edition has these ports included: Memory Stick Media Slot, Secure Digital Slot, Express Card Slot, Headphone Jack, Microphone Input, 3 USB 2.0 Port, VGA Output, Modem Jack, Ethernet Port, and i.LINK Connection.

Nokia N95

2007-12-10T10:15:00.000-08:00

The Nokia N95 is an impressive device, and one that is set to become the top high end smartphone for 2007. What impresses about the N95 is that so many features have been packed into a relatively small device. Within a device little bigger than the N73 is a 5 megapixel camera (with VGA video capture too), connectivity options galore (USB, Infrared, Bluetooth, GSM, WCDMA, HSDPA and WLAN), integrated GPS, 150MB of internal memory (expandable via a microSD slot), and a feature packed and application laden software platfrom - S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1. But what's it really like to use? Here are some first impressions.

On picking up the N95 for the first time, it is evident that this is a smartphone that has gone a diet compared to some of its predecessors. It is light in the hand and, as is typical of slider phones, has short stubby dimensions. The N95 manages to fall into the camp of phones that feel smaller than their dimensions suggest. Compared to both the N80 and N93, the N95 feels considerably smaller. It compares favourably with the Nokia N73 (it's shorter, but slightly wider). There's a large 2.6 inch screen which looks absolutely great, below this are the main control keys. First impressions are that these keys are well laid out and easy to use. The big S60 application key is particularly good. A quick push on the bottom of the device pushes the screen up to reveal the full keypad. Each row of keys is on its own ridge and there is good tactile feedback. They feel a little cramped after the large keypad on the N93, but are a big improvement over the N73's and N80's keypads.

On either side of the device there are Speakers. These produce surprisingly good stereo sound - certainly giving some of the best speaker-only audio output I have heard on a phone. The left hand side also houses a 3.5mm audio jack. It really is good to see Nokia adopting standard jacks like this. In the box a remote control / microphone unit is supplied, which means it is still possible to use the phone in hands-free mode. There is also a microSD card slot, which takes card up to 2GB in size. On the right hand side of the device there are various keys used in conjunction with the camera (capture, gallery and zoom).

The camera, which is 5 megapixels and uses Carl Zeiss optics, is on the back of the device and is accompanied by a 'ring-slider' which open and closes the shutter. Opening the shutter activates the camera application. To take pictures, the phone is held horizontally with the screen used as a view finder, as on the N73. In this mode, the capture key is on the top right of the device. This means the N95 is used in the same way as most point and shoot digital cameras, and it captures this experience more closely than its predecessors. The camera application has a number of extras, camera options now include 4 ISO settings, contrast and sharpness adjustment, and an enhanced burst mode (now with gaps of up to 15 minutes).

The GPS functionality is the major addition to the N95 and marks a step forward for convergence. The onboard software is the key to this. The new Maps application allows you to browse around maps (which are downloaded onto your device over the air) in 2D or 3D and do route planning. The map coverage varies by country, but many places are covered down to street level. The software includes the ability to find addresses and location by street name, location and postcode. The onboard GPS allows you to jump to your current location and track yourself as you go. Automatic turn by turn voice instructions are a premium service that can be upgraded to from the handset (other premium services include city guides), but basic route planning and tracking (i.e. manually stepping through the route) are free.

Other features include finding the nearest location in a certain category from a Point Of Information database (e.g. finding your nearest public transport station), storing landmarks (favourite locations), and switching to night colours. Maps is a very impressive application, which we will be covering in more detail later. In use, I found the GPS took a few minutes to 'lock on' when inside (next to a window) from a cold start; outside it was much quicker, as expected, and soft starts were faster still (a matter of a few seconds). A subjective first impression suggests the N95 has similar capabilities to SIRF II GPS chipsets. As with any GPS, performance will vary on your location and degree of visibility of satellites.

The N95 retains and adds to the Multimedia capabilities of previous Nseries devices. A new way to access these is provided by a redesigned menu, accessed by pressing the multimedia key. This carousel-like launcher is fully customisable - you can add or remove applications, bookmarks and radio presets. Music Player, Visual Radio and Real Player are used to playback music, listen to FM radio and watch video respectively.

Audio output via the audio jack is excellent, and the N95 now has the option to stream stereo music over Bluetooth (A2DP). However, for video, the N95 has an extra trick up its sleeve in the form of a new application called Video Centre. This gives easy access to videos from various online sources. By default there are two services available - Nseries (various Nokia themed videos) and Internet videos. The latter is essentially an RSS videocatcher, it allows the downloads of video via RSS feeds with enclosures. Thus any video source that provides RSS feeds can be used in this section provided the format is supported by the N95. For example you can add the AAS videocast feed here and download them direct to the phone. I'm sure in time more services will be added. I imagine Nokia are talking to video providers like YouTube and Blip.tv as you read this.

The N95 runs S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1. This is the latest version of the S60 software platform, and although only a relatively minor update compared to the changes between 'Editions', still manages to add a number of new features. There is a new version of S60 browser than combines Services and Web into one application and adds a number of new features, including improved RSS and Flash Lite support and a quick access toolbar. There is also support for more Bluetooth profiles (including the aforementioned A2DP stereo audio profile), while SIP functionality (for VoIP) becomes a standard part of the platform. There have been a number of UI changes too, these include a notification graphic over the icons of applications that are open, more application layout options (accessed via an extended Themes application) and a redesigned and reordered Settings application (hoorah!).

Microsoft Surface

2007-12-10T09:57:00.000-08:00

Picture a surface that can recognize physical objects from a paintbrush to a cell phone and allows hands-on, direct control of content such as photos, music and maps. Today at the Wall Street Journal’s D: All Things Digital conference, Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer will unveil Microsoft Surface™, the first in a new category of surface computing products from Microsoft that breaks down traditional barriers between people and technology. Surface turns an ordinary tabletop into a vibrant, dynamic surface that provides effortless interaction with all forms of digital content through natural gestures, touch and physical objects. Beginning at the end of this year, consumers will be able to interact with Surface in hotels, retail establishments, restaurants and public entertainment venues.

The intuitive user interface works without a traditional mouse or keyboard, allowing people to interact with content and information on their own or collaboratively with their friends and families, just like in the real world. Surface is a 30-inch display in a table-like form factor that small groups can use at the same time. From digital finger painting to a virtual concierge, Surface brings natural interaction to the digital world in a new and exciting way.

The Human Touch

Microsoft Surface puts people in control of their experiences with technology, making everyday tasks entertaining, enjoyable and efficient. Imagine ordering a beverage during a meal with just the tap of a finger. Imagine quickly browsing through music and dragging favorite songs onto a personal playlist by moving a finger across the screen. Imagine creating and sending a personal postcard of vacation pictures instantly to friends and family, while still wearing flip-flops.

Surface also features the ability to recognize physical objects that have identification tags similar to bar codes. This means that when a customer simply sets a wine glass on the surface of a table, a restaurant could provide them with information about the wine they’re ordering, pictures of the vineyard it came from and suggested food pairings tailored to that evening’s menu. The experience could become completely immersive, letting users access information on the wine-growing region and even look at recommended hotels and plan a trip without leaving the table.

Surface computing at Microsoft is an outgrowth of a collaborative effort between the Microsoft Hardware and Microsoft Research teams, which were struck by the opportunity to create technology that would bridge the physical and virtual worlds. What started as a high-level concept grew into a prototype and evolved to today’s market-ready product that will transform the way people shop, dine, entertain and live. It’s a major advancement that moves beyond the traditional user interface to a more natural way of interacting with information. Surface computing, which Microsoft has been working on for a number of years, features four key attributes:

•	Direct interaction. Users can actually “grab” digital information with their hands, interacting with content by touch and gesture, without the use of a mouse or keyboard.
•	Multi-touch. Surface computing recognizes many points of contact simultaneously, not just from one finger like a typical touch-screen, but up to dozens of items at once.
•	Multi-user. The horizontal form factor makes it easy for several people to gather around surface computers together, providing a collaborative, face-to-face computing experience.
•	Object recognition. Users can place physical objects on the surface to trigger different types of digital responses, including the transfer of digital content.

Intel Core 2 Duo Processors

2007-12-10T09:11:00.000-08:00

Maximum everything. Energy-efficient performance. Multimedia power.

Based on revolutionary Intel Core microarchitecture, the breakthrough Intel Core 2 Duo processor family is designed to provide powerful energy-efficient performance so you can do more at once without slowing down. With Intel Core 2 Duo processor, you'll experience revolutionary performance, unbelievable system responsiveness, and energy-efficiency second to none. And, you won't have to slow down for virus scan, multiple compute intensive programs, or multimedia downloads—these desktop processors are up to 40 percent faster with improved energy-efficiency.

Features and benefits

Delivering the best overall performance. Period.

With Intel Core 2 Duo processors powering your desktop and laptop PCs you'll get the latest arsenal of performance-rich technologies, including up to 4MB of shared L2 cache, up to 1333 MHz front side bus for desktop, and up to 800 MHz front side bus for laptop, you've got the future of computing now, and only from Intel:

	Intel® Wide Dynamic Execution, enabling delivery of more instructions per clock cycle to improve execution time and energy efficiency
	Intel® Intelligent Power Capability, designed to deliver more energy-efficient performance and smarter battery performance in your laptop
	Intel® Smart Memory Access, improving system performance by optimizing the use of the available data bandwidth
	Intel® Advanced Smart Cache, providing a higher-performance, more efficient cache subsystem. Optimized for multi-core and dual-core processors
	Intel® Advanced Digital Media Boost, accelerating a broad range of applications, including video, speech and image, photo processing, encryption, financial, engineering and scientific applications

Information Technology , an Introduction ..

2007-12-10T08:51:00.001-08:00

Information Technology (IT), as defined by the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), is "the study, design, development, implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems, particularly software applications and computer hardware." IT deals with the use of electronic computers and computer software to convert, store, protect, process, transmit and retrieve information, securely.

Recently it has become popular to broaden the term to explicitly include the field of electronic communication so that people tend to use the abbreviation ICT (Information and Communications Technology), it is common for this to be referred to as IT & T in the Australasia region, standing for Information Technology and Telecommunications.

Today, the term information technology has ballooned to encompass many aspects of computing and technology, and the term is more recognizable than ever before. The information technology umbrella can be quite large, covering many fields. IT professionals perform a variety of duties that range from installing applications to designing complex computer networks and information databases. A few of the duties that IT professionals perform may include data management, networking, engineering computer hardware, database and software design, as well as the management and administration of entire systems.