Tools for Success

Argiope Spider, New Caledonia, 2000 Photograph by Peter Essick Photo NationalGeographic.com.

An argiope spider awaits prey in its ornate web in the French South Pacific territory of New Caledonia. The thick webbing is called stabilimentum, a structural flourish which some scientists think serves to make the webs more visible to birds, which might otherwise fly into them.

"The good in you are the tools for your success,

The bad in you are the tools for your failure."

- Chris Veerabadran from “All Are One”.

Apple Ready To Open iPhone to Third-Party Applications

Apple will soon allow third party applications to its iPhone. It will launch the Software Development Kit (SDK) early next week, so others can start writing and develop applications for iPhones.

Till now Apple didn’t allow any third party applications like other mobile operating systems such as Windows Mobile and Palm Operating System. The main reason Apple gave was it wanted the iPhone to be as stable as possible. So, developers instead had to rely on creating web enabled applications for Safari browser, such as Google Docs, Gmail, etc.

Apple now is willing to open up its iPhone with a SDK so others can develop suitable applications for it. They will be launching this at the iPhone Software Roadmap on Thursday, March 6 at its main headquarters in Cupertino, California. It is sending out invitations for the developers.

The invitation boasts that Apple may release new enterprise features. If they do so, it will go head to head against Blackberry.

Avi Greengart, an analyst with Current Analysis, said Apple has to address a lot of issues with the SDK.

1. Can a developer post the application on their website or they can sell only through iTunes.
2. How will the user load the programs onto iPhones
3. Will Apple get a cut of application revenue?
4. Any restriction on the type of applications that can be written for iPhones.

Until we know the answers to these and other questions, Greengart noted, it isn't possible to estimate the impact that the much-awaited SDK might have on opening up the iPhone.

The Palm and Windows Mobile have a similar SDK, based on which the developers create special applications, so we can see a similar thing for iPhones in the near future. But with additional applications, iPhone might need more memory to run many things at once.

This is welcome news for iPhone owners, who would love to have other applications such as Office programs, EBook reader, Scientific Calculator, Dictionary, Games etc.

A 3 Year Old Girl Explains Star Wars Movie

A 3 year old little girl explains the movie “Star Wars” for those who haven’t seen it.

From the blog, Fistofblog.com, Her mother explains about her daughter:

“Here’s my daughter’s take on Star Wars. She was three at the time.

She explained the whole movie to me in much greater detail but unfortunately I didn’t have the camera going. When I convinced her to tell me about the movie again she delivered this version.”

George Lucas would have loved this review.

Google Gives Homeless Free Phone with Voicemail Service

Google will provide free voicemail service including a virtual personal phone number for all the homeless people in San Francisco. The homeless can use this number to receive calls from their loved ones, hospitals and agencies.

Google started GrandCentral last year; it is an online phone service that manages all your telephone numbers in one place. It assigns a personal number that is not tied to a phone or location but tied to you.

If you have a mobile, home phone, office phone etc., you can transfer the calls to this personal number and then forward it to the number you like. It also protects you from spam and has many services.

Google wants to provide this phone service for the homeless, so they can call this number from any phone and retrieve the voice messages from their loved ones or the agencies who might be trying to reach them. Since they don’t have a home number, at least others will be able to leave messages to make them call back.

As part of initial phase, they will provide the service to all the homeless people in San Francisco. They will get a unique life-long phone number and voicemail service for those willing to have it.
It is partnering with Project CARE and San Francisco city to provide this service. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and Google are very happy to provide this service.

How do you communicate as a homeless individual?...How do you expect your life to turn around if you can't even get information or if someone can't even get in touch with you?"

The homeless can forward this number to others, so in case of any job openings or opportunities available they can be reached at that number. Their family would have something important to tell them and they can leave a message to call back or they can contact that number via GrandCentral within the US for free. It will help the clinics to contact them about their hospital visits and appointments.

Craig Walker, senior project manager of Google.

It just seems exactly like any other voice mail…There's no stigma attached to it that 'hey this is a temporary thing' or 'this is an 800 number.' It's really just a local number owned by the user."

Walker said the program was ready to start right away.

One homeless man was happy to hear this news and he said:

Having your family, friends and loved ones being able to say 'here I'm thinking about you, I love you, I want you to know you're mine, and I miss you,' can have a monumental change in one's behavior."

If the program is successful in San Francisco the plan is to offer it to homeless people in cities across the state and country.

If other cities want to involve, contact Google they will be happy to provide this service for homeless people in other areas.

And the Greenest Car in America is

Honda Civic GX. Photo courtesy Wired.com.

The most environmentally friendly car sold in the U.S. is the Honda Civic GX, taking the place of the previous winner, the Toyota Prius hybrid. Among the top 12 greenest cars, there are nine Japanese cars and one American car.

The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, a Washington D.C. non-profit organization generated this greenest car list based on the car’s emissions, fuel economy, and pollution generated from the manufacturing process. You can get their complete green book here which lists the methodologies and the scores for each car.

The Honda Civic GX was found to be the greenest car among cars sold in America. It is a sedan, it runs on compressed natural gas and the company sold only 1,000 cars last year (mostly to the government and only in California and New York).

The previous winner, the Toyota Prius, came second this year followed by another Honda Civic Hybrid model. The top 12 greenest cars are:

1. Honda Civic GX
2. Toyota Prius
3. Honda Civic Hybrid
4. Smart ForTwo
5. Toyota Yaris
6. Nissan Altima Hybrid
7. Toyota Corolla
8. Mini Cooper / Clubman
9. Ford Focus
10. Toyota Camry Hybrid
11. Honda Civic
12. Honda Fit

All of them are small cars, four of them are hybrids and all have four cylinder, 2.5 liter engines. Wired.com reports that although they are ranked from number one to 12, their green scores are separated only by a little. Wired says any car would be suitable for an environmental conscious customer.

The council also listed the 12 meanest cars sold in America: The meanest car in this list is the Volkswagen Touareg, which is a 5 liter V-10 diesel engine. It is ahead of gas-guzzling cars like the Bugatti Veyron (8 liter, 16 Cylinder) and Lamborghini Murcielago (6.5 liter, V-12). Wired.com calls these 12 cars the dirty dozen.

1. VW Touareg
2. Bugatti Veyron
3. Mercedes Benz GL320 CDI
4. Jeep Grand Cherokee
5. Mercedes Benz R320 CDI
6. Lamborghini Murcielago
7. Mercedes Benz ML320 CDI
8. Mercedes Benz G55 AMG
9. Hummer H2
10. GMC Yukon 2500
11. Bentley Azure
12. Bentley Arnage

Most of these are diesel-powered cars. The council said diesel cars are good for fuel economy but emit too many pollutants. According to Wired.com, automakers are developing new diesel engines that are greener than those found in the Toyota Prius hybrid.

I personally hope we will see more American cars on this list in the future. However, it seems the manufacturers are not too keen on the idea of producing green cars.

Leonardo Da Vinci May Be Behind Chess Drawings in Pacioli's Manuscript

Researchers believe the paintings found in a lost Italian manuscript about chess may have been drawn by Leonardo da Vinci. The document by Italian mathematician Luca Pacioli contained diagrams of possible chess scenarios, supposedly drawn by da Vinci.

Luca Pacioli and Leonardo da Vinci were close friends and spent time together collaborating on manuscripts.

Last year, Pacioli’s “De ludo scacchorum” was found among thousands of volumes in a private collection in Gorizzia, in north-east Italy. It was supposedly written in the year 1500.

Pacioli wrote a book about various chess strategies and ways in which they can be solved using illustrations. The drawing is similar to those found in newspapers that provide puzzles for chess enthusiasts where a solution is offered a day later.

Pacioli provides these chess scenarios and with the help of a diagram, tells readers how to solve and win the game in a series of moves. The manuscript contains 48 pages of carefully drawn diagrams, each representing a possible chess scenario with solutions.

It seems at that time there were several books of that nature, but Pacioli’s book was unique in that it contained beautiful illustrations. The king, queen, bishop and knight are represented by elegant and distinctive symbols, colored in black and red ink.

When researchers analyzed these illustrations, they realized it looks like the work of a fine artist. Since Pacioli and Da Vinci were working with each other around the year 1500, they speculate the illustrations may have been done by Da Vinci himself. They also believe Da Vinci may have played chess at that time.


Illustration in the “De ludo scacchorum”
Researchers now want to get an independent assessment from experts in the United States.

The book of Pacioli is supposed to be the only surviving copy and if they confirm illustrations were drawn by Da Vinci, it will become a treasure.

Gmail Users Actually Have Two Email Addresses

Google provides two Gmail addresses automatically when you join. Photo Courtesy DigitalInspiration.com.


All Gmail users are provided with two distinct email addresses when they join. If you have example@gmail.com as your address, then Google also provides you with example@googlemail.com.

This feature apparently has been available for a long time in Gmail, but for some reason Google didn’t announce plubliciize it. But tech bloggers were able to dig this detail out.

With Gmail, you can create multiple email addresses (or aliases) with the same account and you can do this in the following three ways.

1. With a plus sign: Once you log on to Gmail, go to Settings --> Accounts --> Add another e-mail address --> then enter "example+example1@gmail.com" or “example+example2@gmail.com", so on.

2. By adding a dot sign: I have explained this procedure here. Gmail’s program code is set in a way it doesn’t recognize dots or periods in e-mail address. So you can add dots in between the e-mail address as follows: exa.mple@gmail.com or e.xample@gmail.com and so on by going to Settings --> Accounts --> Add another e-mail address --> then enter e.xample@gmail.com or ex.ample@gmail.com, so on.

3. Two e-mails in One: No setup necessary for this third method; when you register your account example@gmail.com, Google automatically registers an additional email account as example@googlemail.com. Both addresses will receive the e-mails at the same account. To separate them you have to use filters. For example, you can pass one of the email addresses to your close friends and filter them to a separate folder, and can give the other email addresses for shopping or websites.

Thus you can create 100s of email addresses from one Gmail account. Neither Yahoo nor Microsoft can match this feature.

Apple upgrades MacBook Pro with multi-touch feature and Penryn processor

MacBook Pro upgrades with Multitouch and Penryn Processor. Photo courtesy Apple.com.

Apple has upgraded both its MacBook Pro and MacBook computers. It has added Multi-touch facility and Core 2 Duo Penryn processors for MacBook Pro and added Penryn processors for MacBook with no multi-touch feature.

Apple released today upgraded versions of MacBook Pro and MacBook laptops.

The new MacBook Pro has a multi-touch feature similar to the one in iPhone and in the new MacBook Air. It has a large touchpad from which the user can do the following functions:

• Scroll
• Swipe
• Pinch and Expand
• Rotate
• Screen Zoom
• Swipe Tap
• Click and Drag
• Click, Drag and Lock
• Secondary Clicks

You can see a short movie of the above functions here.

The MacBook Pro also boasts 2GB of memory that can be upgraded to 4GB. It will have an upgraded processor as well, has the new Core 2 Duo Penryn processors between 2.4 GHz and 2.6 GHz with a 6MB L2 cache.

It has NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT and with a hard drive capacity up to 300GB. Prices range from $1,999 (15 inch model) to $2,799 (17 inch model). The MacBook Pro has an optional LED backlighting, but will have no SSD for the time being. They are available for sale here.

The MacBook laptop on the other hand won’t have multi-touch track pad, but has the 2.1 GHz or 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo Penryn processor with either a 120GB or 160GB hard drive. The RAM has 2GB as standard but can be upgraded to 4GB. The prices range from $1,099 to $1,499 for the black model.

Adding multi-touch will simplify some of the functions in the laptop, but in order not to damage the screen one should use suitable screen protectors.

Will we see this feature in Windows? Apple has some patents on multi-touch features so unless they pay royalties, it will take some time to see this function in Windows based laptops.

Love Rules Everyone

Mountain Stream, New Hampshire, 1995, Photograph by Medford Taylor.

Photo courtesy NationalGeographic.com.

"Love wants to rule everyone, but loves everyone it rules,

Hate wants to rule everyone too, but hates everyone it rules."

- Chris Veerabadran from “All Are One”.

Financial Times starts a Social Network with entry fee $3,300 per year

Financial Times newspaper has plunged themselves into a social network called “Executive Membership Forum” with a price tag of $3,340 per year (1700 pounds). The membership fee will include discounts at conferences and 12 month newspaper subscription.

Financial Times’s new social network aims at top level executives. It says at the welcome page that it is an “user-friendly, simple, efficient and secure system” for online networking.

The membership will enable them to maintain contact with peers and luminaries operating within their secor and keep in touch with the main issues facing their industry.

There are 3 FT Executive Membership Forums, one for the technology and media industry, the second is for the CEOs and the third is for the super rich (luxury).

The membership in any of these forums will provide the members with 20% discount on any of the conferences from the FT Global Conference & Events Portfolio, exclusive face-to-face members’ networking events, free access to speaker presentations and 12 month premium subscription to FT.com.

You can access this site here but doesn’t work well with Firefox, so try using Internet Explorer. According to Mashable.com, the free LinkedIn is a better business social networking tool than this paid FT account.

HBO launches official YouTube channel with some full shows

HBO Channel in Youtube. Photo Youtube.com

Home Box Office Inc., (HBO) the premium movie channel provider joins forces with Google Inc’s YouTube and will offer some full length shows of popular series and promotional content for others.

HBO made this announcement today that have negotiated with Google for an undisclosed sum to release full length videos of some of their popular series such as “In Treatment” and will feature video highlights from shows like “Entourage”, “The Wire”, and “The Flight of the Conchords”.

You can access this channel here and subscribe to it and get the latest videos. They have full length videos (first 4 episodes of In Treatment shown here) of the new hit show “In Treatment” starring Gabriel Burns (Usual Suspects), Blair Underwood, Embeth Davis and others. More episodes and other shows will be added later.

If you want to watch more full length shows from other channels, try Hulu.com.

Nice start by HBO, I hope they will add more shows. Google can probably start its own paid web channels online with partnerships like this.

Youtube has embed codes, but it is not playing, either you can click the link at the top of the video or you can click here to play all the videos.

Japanese Store Lets Customers Trade HD DVD Players for Blu-ray

Photo courtesy Digitalworldtokyo.com.

After Toshiba announced it will stop producing HD-DVD players, a Japanese Electronics retailer felt ashamed that they sold its customers HD-DVD players. So they are offering its customers to trade their players for Blu-ray DVD players.

The HD-DVD technology is dead, but there are plenty of customers who are stuck with their HD-DVD players and HD-DVD movies. While none of them here in North America have apologized to these customers, a Japanese company fully admits its error and is ready to fix the problem for disgruntled HD-DVD customers.

Edion is an electronics retailer in Japan is offering a trading promotion by which customers can trade their HD-DVD players for Blu-ray DVD players. The customers just pay only the price difference between the two players.

The customers can return any of seven Toshiba HD DVD decks and swap them for a BD unit from Sony, Panasonic or Sharp at Edion through out the month of March. If the Blu-ray DVD player is more expensive, customers need to pay the difference. But if it is cheaper they'll will get paid for the difference.

Many may doubt Edion’s intentions and say they are doing this for promotion sake. The prices are highly competitive in Japan and the margins are low, so even if the price of Blu-ray is higher, there still will be only a slight profit margin.

Gizmodo says if a US retailer would make such a move, they'd have them as a customer for life. Sorry Gizmodo, it will never happen in your life maybe in the distant future.

That’s a great customer service by Edion, if only others would do the same here. Till then HD-DVD customers here are stuck with a brand new player with no future movie releases and old movie titles. The sellers here will be only happy that HD-DVD technology is dead, they would be just glad to sell Blu-ray players to HD-DVD owners, instead of providing a great service like Edion.

Plants send Twitter messages when they need to be watered

Scientists have created a technology that lets plants either call you on the phone or send messages to your Twitter account when they need watering. The plants have sensors that detect the plant's soil moisture levels.

Botanicalls, the inventor of this technology, is a group formed at the New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program. Botanicalls had created a unique technology last year and were able to use sensors by which the plants were able to place a call to the owner when they needed water. You can see that in the video here.

Now the same folks have extended this technology to send Twitter messages to your account.

“It offers a connection to your leafy pal via online Twitter status updates that reach you anywhere in the world. When your plant needs water, it will post to let you know, and send its thanks when you show it love"

The plant has capabilities to send you messages if the following conditions are met:

1.) When the moisture level of the plant's soil drops below the satisfactory threshold, it will send a status update that the plant needs to be watered.
2.) If the soil moisture drops below a critical level the plant will twitter that it is urgently in need of watering.
3.) Any rapid rise in soil moisture will be detected as a watering event. The plant will then determine if the soil moisture has risen to the desired level for a proper watering. If it has, then it will twitter its thanks.
4.) If a watering event occurs, but the soil moisture has not reached the desired level, the plant will twitter to report that it was watered, but not sufficiently.
5.) Likewise, if a watering event occurs, but the plant was not in need of water yet, the plant will twitter to complain that it is being over watered.

To see how they do it with a complete block diagram and all the tools necessary check the link here. You can find most of these parts in RadioShack.

Plant lovers would love to have this technology. Maybe they can extend this technology to pour water automatically from a water source instead of calling you at the office. Animal lovers would also like to get hold of this technology if the application extended to household pets.

What Items Can and Can't Be Recycled?

Recycle Bin. Photo Courtesy Fairfieldcity.nsw.gov.au

Before you recycle, please make sure with your local recycling company what items can be recycled and what items can’t be recycled. When you put materials together for recycling, please see in the end they need people to sort out the items. So, if we do the things right it will make it easy for everyone.

Here is a sample list of things you can recycle and the things you can’t recycle. I got this information from my local recycling center.

THINGS YOU CAN PUT IN A RECYCLE BIN:

• Newspaper
• White paper
• Green, brown and clear glass
• Corrugated cardboard
• Paperboard such as cereal boxes, shoeboxes
• Plastic bottles
• Aseptic juice boxes
• Gable-top paper cartons such as milk cartons
• Metal food cans
• Aluminum beverage cans
• Aluminum foil (no food residue)
• Six-pack rings
• Magazines
• Junk mail and catalogs

THINGS YOU CAN’T PUT IN A RECYCLE BIN:

• Yogurt cups
• Margarine containers
• Frozen food trays
• Plastic wrap
• Plastic bags
• Styrofoam
• Phone books
• Stamps and stickers in junk mail
• Pizza boxes
• Plastic bottles that contain oil or hazardous substances

Recycle, but do the right thing. If you are not recycling, please do, even a little contribution will help.

It is not hard to recycle; you can make it a habit and do the wise thing for you and your children’s future.

To find the nearest recycling center click here.

To educate your children, here is a friendly recycle game.

“Keep the Earth Clean, it is not a Garbage Center.” - CV

Sergey Brin nervous about Microsoft’s bid for Yahoo

Sergey Brin, Google’s co-founder said that Microsoft’s bid for Yahoo is unnerving. He said if Microsoft is left to purchase Yahoo, they will force the customers to use more Microsoft products and limit others.

Sergey Brin made the comments after an event at the Google’s headquarters for the Google Lunar X Prize, a race to land a privately funded robotic spacecraft on the moon.

Brin said at the meeting:

The Internet has evolved from open standards, having a diversity of companies, and when you start to have companies that control the operating system, control the browsers, they really tie up the top Web sites, and can be used to manipulate stuff in various ways. I think that’s unnerving.”

If Microsoft purchases Yahoo, they will make their e-mails default in their operating system like they did with their Internet Explorer which led to Netscape browser’s death. With this they will dominate the operating system and web space.

Already Google has worries that in the Vista OS, Microsoft doesn’t let users to pick up Google’s desktop search and instead uses Live search as default.

Though Google cannot control whether Microsoft will purchase or not, they are raising doubts to regulators who may put a block on this Microsoft/Yahoo merger.

When Microsoft originally announced their plans to buy Yahoo, David Drummond, Senior Vice President of Google, said that this merger will stifle innovation.

Could Microsoft now attempt to exert the same sort of inappropriate and illegal influence over the Internet that it did with the PC? While the Internet rewards competitive innovation, Microsoft has frequently sought to establish proprietary monopolies — and then leverage its dominance into new, adjacent markets.”

Usually Google doesn’t worry about other companies mergers but in this case it seems to worry a lot. If Microsoft does go ahead and buys Yahoo, with their increased total number of users, it will really hurt Google in search and ad space.

True in Any Language

Pearl Station and Reef, French Polynesia, 1996

Photograph by David Doubilet Photo courtesy of Nationalgeographic.com

"A true statement translated in any language, remains true to the core,
A false statement translated even in its own language, will sound hollow."

- Chris Veerabadran from “All Are One”.

Genes connect native Americans and Siberians

Possible Migration to Americas from Siberia via the Bering Bridge. Photo courtesy Encarta.com.

U.S. scientists have found strong genetic links between inhabitants in Siberia and Native Americans, supporting the theory that humans first entered the Americas via the land bridge across the Bering Strait.

Scientists from Stanford University in California analyzed the genes of 938 people from 51 different places and compared the 650,000 DNA locations in each person.

Researcher Devin Absher from the Stanford Human Genome Center said this is the biggest study that has been done so far to analyze the genetic links between the two cultures

The study, published in Friday's issue of the journal Science, revealed similarities and differences among various populations.

One important finding from the study was the genetic similarities between the Yakut tribe in Siberia and several native populations from Mexico, Central America, Columbia and Brazil. This included the Maya in Central America, the Surui and Karitiana in Brazil.

Absher said this provided conclusive evidence for the shared ancestry.

This finding perfectly fits with the theory that the humans migrated into the Americas from Siberia via the land bridge across the Bering Strait between 12,000 and 30,000 years ago. The bridge no longer exists.

There wasprevious research done that suggested a genetic link between the native peoples in Siberia and Americas, but this study went deeper genetic details comparison and found similarities between the two.

This study appeared in the journal Nature along with two other important studies on human genetic variation. Scientists say these papers offer a strong evidence for the “Out of Africa” theory that humans originated in Africa and migrated to populate other parts of the world in various directions.

The study showed that human populations have less genetic diversity the farther they are away from Africa.

Google Health set to launch today

Google wanted to launch Google Health in cooperation with hospitals, patients, pharmacies for some time, and now it will launch a pilot program with Cleveland Clinic Hospital.

Associated Press made the announcement that Google Health will be launched today with Cleveland Clinic Hospital and will involve about 1,500 to 10,000 patients.

The patients have volunteered to transfer their records electronically for access through either their email or Google accounts.

The online health profile of the patient will contain the information regarding their prescriptions, allergies and medical histories and will be password protected by the patient. The patient will then share the information with the different parties, such as doctors, pharmacists or health insurance companies.

There are privacy concerns but as long it is safeguarded and sent in a secure manner between the patient and the doctor, then it should be fine. Records are already stored in paper form, where any one could pry into, but if they are locked up in a secure environment it will be beneficial for everyone involved.

The Cleveland Clinic already has its own online service called MyChart and so do many other hospitals. But if it is done across the country with a single service like Google Health, it will help both the doctors and the patients. The MyChart has more than 120,000 patients.

Those patients who are volunteering will now be able to get their health data anywhere quickly using their Google accounts.

Mayer said in a statement supplied by the Cleveland Clinic.

We believe patients should be able to easily access and manage their own health information.

The Cleveland Clinic decided to work with Google to create a more efficient and effective national health care system, according to C. Martin Harris, the medical center's chief information officer.

Also, Google’s archrival Microsoft has a similar service HealthVault it started late last year and AOL co-founder Steve Case has introduced Revolution Health. Both tools provide and share personal health histories.

Pam Dixon, director of the World Privacy Forum, is worried about the privacy. She said the third-party services like Google are not covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act or HIPPA. The act was passed in 1997 and establishes strict standards that classify medical information as a privileged communication between a doctor and a patient.

If Google Health complies with this strict HIPPA standard, then the privacy concerns can be solved and people won’t be forced by the government to reveal the records.

Google has not said how it will be monetizing this service. But with their huge servers across the nation, they can easily do it free like the Gmail service.

This is a good move by Google, in my opinion. They will of course follow the security medical standards, or HIPPA. This way the doctor can communicate with the pharmacy and get the right drugs instead of some scribbled notes and making plenty of mistakes.

It is also good for us to have medical records so we can share our health history with doctors and get prescribed the right treatment. Currently, if they ask us our records, we can only give them a general answer -- so why not have it online in a secure environment?

Is Google Health a useful or bad project?

Apple releases 99-Cent Movie Rentals Through iTunes

Apple offers $0.99 movie rentals. Photo courtesy of Apple.com

Apple notified its customers via e-mail that it will offer one movie rental every Thursday at a special price of $0.99. It also released a new version of iTunes (version 7.6.1) today with improved compatibility for Apple TV 2.0.

Apple informed its customers via its weekly e-mail they will be offering a special discount for one movie per week at a price of $0.99. The original rate for renting a movie in iTunes is $3.99 in the U.S.

This special rate will be available from Thursday to Monday when it will revert back to normal pricing.

This week’s movie is “Hours” starring Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore and Nicole Kidman. You can rent it here for $0.99. This will open iTunes in your computer and check for this special rate at the top window.

Once rented, you can watch this movie for up to 30 days.

The new update for iTunes 7.6.1 is available through Apple. The new release includes several bug fixes and improves compatibility with Apple TV 2.0, so you can seamlessly rent movies in iTunes and watch then on your big-screen TV through Apple TV.

If you don’t have Apple TV, you can still watch movies with DVD-like quality on your computer, iPhone or iPod. You can also hook your computer up to a TV screen if you prefer a larger screen.

Apple also offers American Idol songs from the latest show here.

I personally think this news is great and I hope they offer more movies for $0.99.

Firefox reaches 500 million downloads

Firefox celebrates 500 Million Downloads. Photo courtesy Spreadfirefox.com.

The Firefox Internet browser reached a golden target of 500 million downloads today, and their parent organization Mozilla is celebrating by raising money to deliver 500 million grains of rice for the UN World Food Program.

Mozilla has withstood the competitors’ onslaught (especially from Microsoft's Internet Explorer) and with perseverance, it has reached a golden target of 500 million downloads.

Mozilla is celebrating this download mark by trying to raise money to donate more than 500 million grains of rice on FreeRice.com. Mozilla asks users to participate in a word game and for every question answered correctly, Free Rice will donate 20 grains of rice through the UN World Food Program to end hunger.

Go play this game here and help fulfill Mozilla’s goal of 500 million grains of rice that will feed 250,000 people for a day.

Marketshare reported Firefox has more than 17 per cent market share and 150 million active users. Internet Explorer is still dominating but mainly because it is preloaded with every computer. It's dominance is slowly diminishing.



Mozilla released Firefox 3 beta 3 recently mainly for developers and its testing community. After testing it, many have said it is one fastest browsers available on the Web.

FREE Palm Z22 with purchase of Palm T|X handheld

Palm Z22 (left) and Palm TX (right).

Palm has announced this new promotion today, you get a Free Palm Z22 handheld with every TX handheld purchase! ($99 Value). For $299, you get two PDAs.

It is a limited time promotion until supplies last.

These are the conditions:

· Offer only valid while supplies last and is limited to sizes/styles available.

· Orders must be completed by February 29, 2008 11:59 PM (EST) to qualify.

· Offer is not applicable on orders placed through Group Sales.

· Offer cannot be combined with any other offer.

· Limit one per customer.

· Shipping charges may apply for the gift with purchase.

· This promotional offer may be modified or terminated at any time without notice.

HOW IT WORKS

To participate, simply add a qualifying Palm TX handheld to your cart and the free Palm Z22 handheld will automatically be placed in your cart. If you do not wish to receive the free gift, simply remove the item from your cart.

You can buy this product from this link here.

Microsoft HealthVault: Online Personal Medical Records

Microsoft HealthVault

Microsoft beat Google in this medical venture by introducing HealthVault, an online website for personal medical records to record and share medical conditions with doctors. HealthVault is open for everyone and can add records for family.

Microsoft launched HealthVault last year is available for everyone. It is a great idea to have a personal database on one’s medical conditions so it will give a better access to doctors, who can then tailor the medical treatments based on the medical history. The doctors can have access to the records only with the patient’s approval.

I browsed HealthVault, it is still a long way to go but a good start. By recording one’s condition over the years, these records can be accessed either from their own computers or doctors can have access to specific records (after the patient sends them their records) or can see in their handheld device. The user can also record their medications and allergy information in their account.


A sample health record.

Doctors after giving treatment to the patients can send the file to them, who then can update the medical history in their account. In the near future, Patients will have the capacity to permit hospitals, doctors, and clinics to insert information into their HealthVault records.

Early partners of HealthVault include the American Heart Association, Johnson & Johnson, the Mayo Clinic, and seven hospitals throughout the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area.
Unless the Microsoft standardizes the documents with all the doctors and hospitals, there will be compatibility problems with HealthVault. For now, users can enter manually and attach files, but there should be a feature to synchronize the account with external files, so the entries are automatically entered into specific table cells.

Google is currently working on a similar health initiative to record these details online for sharing with doctors and hospitals, but it hasn’t released it yet. Also, Cisco and Intel are working in this area, but no details have been given so far.

It is a great idea if done right with proper standards so both the patients and doctors can access the records and give the best treatment possible. Instead of creating different standards, they should create a universal standard, so everyone follows the same. Microsoft will not allow such standardizations, so one has to be wary about this for now.

Will you prefer such online health vault to record and share with your doctors?

Firefox Tip: Use Keyboard controls to navigate pages

Navigation Arrows in Firefox


This is a useful tip I learnt today and I want to share with you. Instead of using arrows with your mouse to navigate between pages (forward or backward), use the following:

Press the “ALT” key and then either the left arrow (to move to the previous page) or the right arrow (to move to the next page) in your keyboard.

Use (“ALT” + “-->”) or (“ALT” + “-->”) to navigate between pages.

Makeuseof.com says you can then remove the navigation keys in the toolbar, but I use them when you have to go backwards say the previous 10 pages.

Another interesting Firefox tips using your keyboard is the “Complete” Task. Instead of typing http://www.google.com on the URL or location bar (http://..), use “Ctrl” key and “enter” in the keyboard after you type Google in the URL. This is a much faster way.

To go to the location bar without using the mouse, press “CTRL” + “L” and then type Google and press “CTRL” + “Enter” button in the keyboard to go to Google.com.

For more tips click the link here, Firefox has listed the various shortcuts to boost your browsing speeds.

Other useful Firefox tips are:

· Spell Check any field in Firefox Browser

· Customized Google Firefox Extension Adds Infinite Scrolling for Google Search

Chair that keeps its feet on ground and students too

Chair that keeps the students from rocking it. Photo courtesy Dlbltd.co.uk.

A former school teacher tired of seeing students rocking their chair and refusing to obey orders has designed a novel chair that doesn’t rock. The maximum height students can lift the chair is 5 cm (2 inches) off the ground.

Tom Wates, a former math and physical education teacher, pleaded and demanded to his students to stop rocking their chairs, but they didn’t listen. So he decided to do something about it, creating his own chair that didn't rock.

The demand became so high that he quit his job and concentrated on the design and sales aspects of his chair.

According to statistics posted by this site, nearly 7,000 children are taken to hospital per year in the U.K. alone due to chair-related accidents. According to government stats, among these accidents, 70 per cent were as a result of rocking back and forth on a chair.

Wates has developed this new chair design called “Max Chair” in such a way that any person sitting on the chair can only lift it a mere 5 cm (2 inches) off the ground.

He told Britain's The Times newspaper:

For me this started out as a way of combating the irritation of the children rocking. But at nearly every school I've been to, teachers relate a story about an injury. It's a danger issue.''

The demand for this chair has skyrocketed in Britain; it is sold for $30 a piece here. I would bet this would also sell well in the U.S. and Canada if they offered it.

I think the idea is quite innovative and if it averts accidents, it's good for students. What do you think?

Post-It Note in your PC without Post-It

This is a great utility for your desktop PC or laptop. You can also carry around with your portable drive. The software program occupies less than 9 MB storage capacity.

Some of the screen shots are here.

Regular Notes

Scribbled Notes

Checklist Notes

You can download it from here or from Cnet location.

You can jot down notes, set an alarm, and have a list of “to-do” items.

Once you download it, you will see an icon at the bottom of your desktop; you can right click the icon, click “New” and choose any of the note, checklist note or scribbling note combination. Once you complete the tasks you can delete it. And later if you want to see the completed and deleted items you can see them at “Notebook/Archive” by clicking the Hott Notes icon.

To set the alarm, when you edit the note, you will see a clock icon, where you can set the time to play a sound or music of your choice or to make the notes pop up.

Instead of using paper, why not use Hott Notes.

iTunes to carry American Idol songs of semi-finalists

American Idol and iTunes join forces.

American Idol producers and Apple's iTunes have come to an agreement to sell songs of American Idol semi-finalists the day after their performance airs on Fox. Also, videos of their performances will be available for sale on iTunes.

Fans who like their American Idol participants can now download their songs from iTunes for $0.99 per song. The show’s producers and Apple announced Monday about this agreement.

You can check out the songs of your favorite Idol singers here.

The songs will be available the day after the show airs. That might boost the popularity of the singers in the show after it ends.

Also, a full video of the top 12 contestants will be available at the online store starting March 11 for $1.99.

This is a smart move by the Idol producers -- their songs become popular on YouTube after the show airs, and many fans would like to download some of those songs. The article doesn't say whether they offer royalties to the Idol participants and to the original song copyright holders.

Apple iPod shuffle price cut, now only $49

Apple cuts the price for iPod shuffle 1GB to $49 from its previous price. Apple is apparently planning to introduce an update for it 2GB the price however will be for $69 still a great bargain.

The 1GB iPod shuffle won’t remain the market for long so hurry up before they are sold out. You can buy it at Apple here for $49.

Other products of Apple iPod Touch and iPhone pricing will remain the same, but I hope they reduce their prices as well.

Search Numbers in Google

I needed to purchase mailing bags from Uline.com for my company, I wrote the serial number of a bag on the post it note and left it at the computer screen, so that I won’t forget about it later on. But I wrote only the number something like S-1164 without any description. Few days later when I looked at that number I was unable to remember what it was. It was frustrating, I knew it was important but couldn’t remember what it was. I searched everywhere couldn’t find what it was. Then I used the old reliable, not the Jeeves but Google, typed that number and voila, the first search result was the page at Uline.com with the serial number of that bag. Without Google it would have taken longer.

And not only you can search numbers like this but you can search other numbers as well. You can search Parcel tracking ID number, patent, Vehicle Identification number, area codes (like you saw in the previous article Google Phonebook), UPC codes and many other numbers.

To search the different numbers do the following:

1. UPS Tracking number: Just type the tracking number on the Google search page. E.g. “1Z9999W99999999999”

UPS Tracking in Google

2. FedEx Tracking number: Example - “999999999999”. Also sometimes FedEx leaves Door Tag numbers. You will be wondering who sent it before you call the FedEx. Just type the door tag number in Google, you will find the detailed information where it came from.

3. USPS Tracking Number: Example – “9999 9999 9999 9999 9999 99”

USPS Tracking Number search in Google.

4. Vehicle Identification Number: Example – “AAAAA999A9AA9999”

5. UPC codes: Example - "073333531084"

Searching Bar Code numbers in Google

6. Telephone area codes: Example - "650"

7. Patent numbers: Example - "patent 5123123" Remember to add the word "patent" before your patent number.

Search Patents in Google.

8. FAA airplane registration numbers: Example - "n199ua". An airplane's FAA registration number is typically printed on its tail.

9. FCC equipment IDs: Example - "fcc B4Z-34009-PIR". Remember to put the word "fcc" before the equipment ID.

You can also try other numbers in Google search. If you have any suggestions or any other type of numbers you want Google to search, you can contact them here.

Dubai to build the longest arch bridge in the world

Dubai boasts many new architectural projects unseen in other parts of the world and wants to add an arch bridge, longest and tallest in the world, by 2012. The project will cost an estimated 3 billion Dirhams ($816 million dollars).

Dubai wants to invest for the future that is not dependent on petroleum revenues as its oil reserves are depleting. It has built many advanced projects like the Burj al-Arab, the world’s tallest hotel, artificial islands that resemble the shape of the world, Hydropolis, the world’s first underwater hotel and many more.

And with this new arch bridge it will add another landmark to the impressive total it already has.

The world’s longest arch bridge will be built at a cost estimate of 3 billion Dirhams ($816.9 million dollars) and will be accomplished by the year 2012.

But is this project necessary? According to a recent environmental study the bridge which said it is a totally unnecessary project to improve the infrastructure and recommended the builders to work on sustainable development projects. The UAE rulers have other ideas and determine to complete it as planned.


Dubai Arch Bridge - World's Longest and Tallest Bridge.

Other salient features of this arch bridge are:

*The Crossing has a length of 1600 meters and a width of 64 meters.
*The Crossing consists of 12 lanes; 6 lanes at each direction.
*The giant arch has a height of 205 meters and a length of 667 meters; considered the longest arch-bridge in the world.
*The Green Line of Dubai Metro passes across the center of the Crossing.
*The Crossing rises 15 meters above the water level, allowing free navigation 24 hours a day.



The video shows the highlights of this proposed arch bridge in Dubai.

My Book Shelf

This is my Book Shelf, if you have any recommendations or any good books you can suggest please add it in the comments.

Thanks.

Spell Check any field in Firefox Browser

Do you have spell check problems in blogs, social sites, and websites? How do you manage the spell check in these areas?

If you don’t or not able to manage spell checking, then you should try Firefox 2.0 (Firefox 3.0 is also available but is in the beta stages). Firefox has a built in spell checker and dictionary and checks every word you type. Even you can add on words to this list for future spell checking.

This Firefox spell checker will underline the misspelled word as shown in the picture. To correct this word, just right click the underlined word with the mouse and you will see a list of suggestions at the top and you can choose one of the options.

This spell checker however works in larger area spaces only, for example it will work when you edit the blogs or in forum posts, but doesn’t spell check the title or one lined text areas such as the subject of the blog or a forum title.

To correct this and make the spell checker work in all areas of your web browser use the following steps and you will be able to spell check every time when you browse the web.

The steps are:

• Type this in the URL or the browser address bar (http://...): “about:config”
• You will see a list of options, just browse down and check the “layout.spellcheckDefault” in Firefox the default value is 1.
• Double click this and change the value to “2″
• Restart Firefox

That’s it you are done, after this you won’t make many spelling errors.

London Hotel Selling Water at $42 Per Bottle

Just Born Spring Water sold at $42 per bottle. Photo courtesy of Finewaters.com

Believe it or not, people are willing to spend $30 to $42 per bottle of water. A luxury hotel in London claims customers are demanding it, so the hotel now offers a selection of more than 30 luxury waters from around the world.

If you're looking for a place to spend $30 to $42 on a bottle of water, we found one. Water is considered a luxury item in Claridge’s hotel in London, England where patrons can purchase expensive bottles from a menu consisting of more than 30 brands from different sources around the world.

Claridge’s offers a Fine artesian water from Japan at $30 a bottle and a $40 bottle of Mahaol from Hawaii, which is described as a “rare deep sea water” and very old. And the most expensive water is from Just Born Spring Drops from India, selling at $42 a bottle.

The “Just Born Spring Drops” described their water as follows: "Crisp and clear it emerges at an altitude of 6,500 Sqft. cloud kissing peak of the Nilgiris Mountain. The spring flows from the catchments area through the mountain layers naturally filtered and emerges in an unspoiled ecological protected environment, pure and intact where it is bottled at source at 10 C that maintains its purity and freshness."

Claridge’s decided to start selling these wide varieties of water brands last year when a customer requested “Berg” water, which is harvested from the icebergs of Newfoundland.

Gill Christopers, Claridge’s public relations manager, justifies their selling these expensive water brands, telling ABC:

Breadth of choice is what Claridge's is all about, so it's not ridiculous at all…We're a business, so we wouldn't do this unless there was a demand for it. The guest is asking not just for a glass of water."

He said guests are accustomed to drinking specific brands, so they demand a specific brand when they come to the hotel. A customer may want 'berg water, glacial water, water with no sodium content or even water fortified with calcium and magnesium.

Elsenham, in London, is a pure spring water company. They claim their water is rich in minerals and say their prices are justified because of the complexity in the process of bringing water to ground surface; Elsenham water is drawn from 1,000 feet below the Earth's surface from a confined chalk aquifer that slowly filters the water over a 10-year period. After it is bottled, a batch is kept for 72 hours for laboratory testing before it is released for final packaging, according to the Elsenham website.

How do these special water brands compare with tap water treated from the Thames River? The water from Thames was ranked third out of 24 in a recent water taste test. Believe it or not, tap water even ranked higher than most of the fancy brands at Claridge’s.

Thames water London quality control manager said to the Associated Press:

If people wish to purchase bottled water, then that is their choice…It's just a thousand times more expensive and an equivalent taste from my perspective."

Is it absurd to buy the water $42 a bottle, or is it worth it?

Google is a Phonebook

I have stopped using phone directory for the past few years, why do we need a Phonebook when we can use Google as a Phonebook.

Google search helps us to find the phone numbers of friends or family we are looking for. With simple keywords you can find the phone number, address and map information. You can only search the publicly listed phone numbers not the private or unlisted phone numbers.

To search for a residential phone number, addresses, map information, use any of the following combinations in the Google Search Box or in the Google Toolbar. e.g. Phonebook: Smith, Chicago, Il

1.) Phonebook: first name (or first initial), last name, city (state is optional)

2.) Phonebook: first name (or first initial), last name, area code

3.) Phonebook: first name (or first initial), last name, zip code

4.) Phonebook: phone number, including area code

5.) Phonebook: last name, city, state

6.) Phonebook: last name, zip code

To have your residential phone and address information removed from the Google Phonebook, click here.

To search for a business phone number, we cannot use the same options, but instead try it at Google Maps; it will give plenty of options. If you have a mobile, you can call the phone number directly from the search result. Here is an example to search for Pizza in Chicago, Illinois.

If you have a good suggestion for the above, please add it in the comment area. Thanks.

Video ads now appearing on Google result pages

Google has added videos in the ads on its Google Search page results. The video ads relevant to search results will show up next to regular ads and will give visitors an option to watch them. Google has started to release video ads in their search page results on an experimental basis. The video ads will show up along with other regular ads in the page, and the ad content will depend upon the search term used.

Marissa Meyer, Google vice-president of search products, said to the New York Times that the text ads are suited for text-based results, whereas for images and video searches video ads might be more appropriate.

Meyer said the advertiser pays for the video ads when the users click to see the video, even if they never click the link leading to the advertiser’s site.

Some may not like visual intrusions, so Google has to tread carefully. But if the videos complement the search results, then the users will embrace the idea.

Here is a sample video ad:


Photo courtesy of Search Engine Land

I think it is a great idea -- instead of clicking to see what is inside that link, we can view a video to gauge whether the content will pique our interest.

What do you think about these video ads in Google search page results?

Google: Mobile searches in iPhones is 50 times more than other mobiles

Google search in iPhone. Photo courtesy Mashable.com.

Google reports that it receives 50 times more search requests from Apple iPhones than any other mobile phones in the market. It also said soon mobile search will out pace regular computer internet search in the next few years.

Google couldn’t believe the amount of search requests from iPhones, initially it thought there must be some errors. But later analysis proved that it did come from the iPhones according to Vic Gundotra, head of Google’s mobile operations.

Other phones with Windows mobile, Symbian, Blackberry and Palm operating systems also had the search capability for the past few years, but the search interface (or the browsing experience) was never as good as those found in iPhones. And that really helped iPhones to become number one in Google mobile search category.

Gundotra said if others follow the iPhone’s path and make the browsing more accessible, then we can expect the number of mobile searches will out pace fixed internet searches within the next several years.

This is good news for Google as well as other search engines; they will now focus more on mobile advertising. Though all have in some form, mobile advertising is still in the early stages. Google has some text links and banners but wants to make it more interactive like the regular internet search pages. If online advertising revenues are big, the mobile advertising revenues will be bigger in total volume.

Gundotra told the Financial Times that the mobile segment was growing “above expectations”, both in terms of usage and revenues. He said mobile search has changed significantly this past year:

The world is changing. Users want an internet without fences. They know how to type in Google.com if they want to get to it…Two years ago the operators were still playing the role of gate­keepers but that is no longer the role for them."

Customers expect in their mobiles the same experience they get from their computers and one of the main things they look for is Google search.

Gundotra wants to make this experience easy for the mobile users; hence they are working on Android operating system to bring the various products together in one fold on every mobile.

Google expects the first Android based mobile handsets from third party manufacturers will begin shipping during the second half of 2008.

Once we have a good browsing web experience in mobiles we will see plenty of services and applications in mobiles, with Google leading the way. iPhone has done a great job by providing the best web experience in mobiles, and others if they want to compete and stay in pace with Apple, should try to create a similar experience.

Love Solutions

Heart in Voh in 2006, New Caledonia, France (20°57' S, 164°41' E). Ref: Yann Arthus-Bertrand.

“Hate has solutions, that can’t even solve its own side,

Love has solutions, that can solve both.”

- Chris Veerabadran from “All Are One”.

George Clooney wants to avoid another Strike - Screen Actors Strike

Hollywood Actor George Clooney.

George Clooney doesn’t want another strike that will cripple Hollywood; he wants to avoid the screen actors strike and asks the Screen Actors Guild to negotiate before the contract ends by June 30th.

The writers’ strike is just over after three months of negotiations. The television audience had to endure many repeats and bad shows, also affecting many peoples’ livelihood that relies on the production of new TV shows. George Clooney doesn’t want the same thing to happen to Hollywood actors.

The Screen Actors Guild’s (SAG) contract with Hollywood end June 30th and there has been no new negotiations or agreement after that date. So, most likely there will be a strike by the actors.

Clooney wants the SAG to avoid a walkout by starting talks early with the studios and producers. He is joined by Oscar winners Robert De Niro, Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep. They have taken ads in Variety and the Hollywood Reporter urging SAG to negotiate with Hollywood as soon as possible and come to agreement quickly before the deadline.

During the last week’s Oscar-nominee luncheon, Clooney voiced concerns that if SAG delays with their talks, it will weaken the actors’ position.

Clooney spoke to the Variety magazine about this impending strike:

I think there's a lot of strike fatigue, and I think you actually start losing negotiating power…I would hope we in the Screen Actors Guild get back to the table."

SAG national executive director Doug Allen said on Wednesday that the union, which represents about 120,000 actors, would begin talks with studios "at a time that will most benefit our members."

The last strike of SAG lasted three months in 1980. In 2000 they had another strike by the actors in commercials which lasted for six months. During that time both Tom Hanks and George Clooney donated to the SAG Foundation’s relief fund.

Hope this call by Clooney and others will avert another strike and both Hollywood and actors are fair to each other for the good of the fans worldwide.

1 Awesome Gmail tip You Don’t Know about

There are plenty of Gmail tips you may find useful, but this one is very unique. From just one e-mail address in Gmail, you can create hundreds of variations to send to different groups.

Instead of opening separate e-mail accounts say for work, friends, family, subscriptions, shopping etc., you can use the same e-mail address and create multiple variations from the same G-mail account.

The article gives the following example GeorgeBush@gmail.com. This is just an example e-mail address, I am not sure it exists or President Bush uses this e-mail address. It is just for demonstration purposes only.

To create multiple variations of your e-mail address, just follow these steps:

1. Log on to your Gmail account.

2. Click “Settings” --> “Account” --> “Add another E-mail address”

3. In “Add another E-mail address” step, add the following variations by placing the dots between them such as "George.Bush@gmail.com" or "G.eorgeBush@gmail.com" or “Geo.rgeBush@gmail.com and so on. There is no limit how many variations you can add in Gmail.

4. When anyone sends e-mail to the above variation, you will still get the e-mail in your main e-mail address account.

Another important use in this is if someone accidentally types a period in between you will still get the e-mail. To sort out the variations in the e-mail addresses, just use filters in Settings --> Filters and put every e-mail variation in a separate folder such as “Family” or “Friends” or “Work” etc.

If you don’t want to add a period in the e-mail address, you can also do the same by adding a “+” such as "GeorgeBush+Amazon@gmail.com" and filter it when you shop at Amazon.com. You can use this to avoid Spam, and if anyone other than Amazon sends to this e-mail address, you will know that it is spam and you can delete that particular e-mail address any time.

Some sites don’t accept this “+” option, but you can use this in most sites, if not use the “.” option in the e-mail address and delete it if you receive too much spam from that address.

Netflix chooses Blu-ray format over HD DVD

Netflix announced today that it will no longer stock HD-DVD movies. The company issued a press release saying it will only ship Blu-ray high definition movies from now on. It's yet another blow for HD DVD in the format war.

Until now, online movie rental company Netflix provided both HD DVD and Blu-Ray high-definition discs since both formats came to market in early 2006.

But today, Netflix says it will only stock the Blu-ray format because the industry has "picked a winner in the face-off between the two competing high- definition DVD formats."

"The prolonged period of competition between two formats has prevented clear communication to the consumer regarding the richness of the high-def experience versus standard definition," said Ted Sarandos, chief content officer for Netflix in a press release. "We're now at the point where the industry can pursue the migration to a single format, bring clarity to the consumer and accelerate the adoption of high-def. Going forward, we expect that all of the studios will publish in the Blu-ray format and that the price points of high-def DVD players will come down significantly. These factors could well lead to another decade of disc-based movie watching as the consumer's preferred means."

The Blu-ray and HD DVD format war has been ongoing for years now, as both formats want to be the next generation DVD. However, the scales were tipped in Blu-ray's favor when Warner Bros. announced it would go Blu-ray exclusive. Four of six major Hollywood studies said they will release their movies exclusively in the Blu-ray format, and others are expected to follow soon.

Netflix's decision to do the same will no doubt affect Toshiba’s HD DVD format and buyers significantly. Netflix said it will phase out stock of HD-DVD movies by end of the year.

After this move, Blockbuster will be the only remaining rental company that provides HD DVD movies. It's expected the company will follow the Blu-ray lead.

Starbucks to Offer Free Wi-Fi With AT&T

Starbucks has joined with AT&T to provide free and paid wireless Internet service for its customers in more than 70,000 of its coffee shops nationwide. AT&T customers can access free Internet at Starbucks anytime.

Starbucks earlier used to provide Wi-Fi services with T-Mobile on an hourly or monthly paid subscription basis. But now Starbucks wants to offer both subscriptions free as well as paid Wi-Fi services options with AT&T.

With this Starbucks-AT&T partnership, customers can use Wi-Fi free for the first two hours and afterward either pay $3.99 per two-hour session or $19.99 per month. If the customer is already subscribing to AT&T Internet service, they can use it free at all times at Starbucks.

The monthly membership with AT&T also includes any of 70,000 AT&T’s hot spots worldwide. You can find the location of the nearest AT&T Wi-Fi hot spot here.

By joining with AT&T, Starbucks ends its existing relationship with T-Mobile.

It is a good move but Starbucks should make Wi-Fi free, like many coffee stores. This will provide healthy revenues for both Starbucks and AT&T. If you search the Web, there are plenty of coffee shops that provide free Wi-Fi internet services or you can try Jwire.com which provides a list of free Wi-Fi hotspots worldwide. They also have a Widget that you can access in your desktop to find the nearest free Wi-Fi hotspot.

Sleep Well with Shakti Mudra

This Shakti Mudra is supposed to produce a calming effect inside you, which is essential in order to have a good sleep. Worrying will not help sleep, so forget all the worries for the time being and just focus on this exercise; you will find a soothing effect.

These Mudras are flexible; you can do this even when watching TV, but is better if you do this in a quiet atmosphere.

Practice this Mudra three times a day for twelve minutes.

How to do Shakti Mudra?

· Place the ring and little fingers together little loose and with a gap between them.

· The other two fingers are loosely bent over the thumbs, which are placed in the palm.

· Focus on breathing and slow down exhalation a bit.

I have had no problems with sleep, so I haven’t tried this Mudras, but is recommended by the Yoga advisors. If you have done this, please leave comments for others to follow. Whether it worked successfully or not?

Ref: Indianetzone.

Translate languages instantly with Chat Bots via Google Talk

Google wants to help us communicate easily with other foreign language users. The Google Chat Bots will translate words in real time via instant messaging. Google is also planning to convert them into sounds for visually impaired users.

Translate foreign languages instantenously in Google Talk. Photo courtesy Google.

There are plenty of free translation sources available on the web and Google Talk offers an additional one, which many users may like when they chat with overseas friends or clients. Google Talk uses Chat Bots which are translation bots, a piece of software that acts as a chat contact and translates the words or sentences in real time.

In the picture you see, as soon as we type the words that need to be translated, the Chat Bots translate the words and sends an instant message. The Gmail also has Google Talk built in, so we don't need a separate desktop application to use this feature.

To do this we have to add this Chat Bot as our contact in Google Talk. In the picture above, which uses Spanish translation, one needs to add en2es@bot.talk.google.com, where the first part “en2es” refers to “English to Spanish”.

Google uses these abbreviations based on ISO codes.

You can use this as a foreign language interpreter in chat discussions or as a pocket translator to translate your words. This feature can be used in Mobiles like Blackberry as well. This may come in handy when you want to find a quick translation, no need to have a foreign language dictionary.

In total Google has the following combinations you can choose to translate (just add the bot.talk.google.com, after these abbreviations:

• ar2en (Arabic to English)
• de2en (German to English)
• de2fr (German to French)
• el2en (Greek to English)
• en2ar (English to Arabic)
• en2de (English to German)
• en2el (English to Greek)
• en2es (English to Spanish)
• en2fr (English to French),
• en2it (English to Italian)
• en2ja (English to Japanese)
• en2ko (English to Korean)
• en2nl (English to Dutch)
• en2ru (English to Russian)
• en2zh (English to Chinese)
• es2en (Spanish to English)
• fr2de (French to German)
• fr2en (French to English)
• it2en (Italian to English)
• ja2en (Japanese to English)
• ko2en (Korean to English),
• nl2en (Dutch to English),
• ru2en (Russian to English)
• zh2en (Chinese to English)

Other languages will be added soon.

The next step for Google is to use this machine translation and instant messaging features to make them convert to speech with AxsJax (Access Enabling Ajax language). This will help visually impaired users to hear them as they are translated in Google Chat.

Flickr fans join together to fight the Microsoft/Yahoo merger

Not all are happy with the proposed Microsoft/Yahoo merger including Yahoo’s main site Flickr.com. Many Flickr users have banded together to fight this merger by posting pictures against Microsoft.

Flickr.com is a popular photo sharing site and is one of the most coveted properties of Yahoo. And fans of Flickr.com want to maintain their status quo and don’t want to involve themselves with Microsoft, which is planning to acquire Yahoo in a forced merger. They think they will lose their identity if Microsoft is involved. Microsoft has its own photo site called Spaces in Live.com.

The Flickr users have started a group called, “Microsoft: Keep Your Evil Grubby Hands Off Our Flickr”, to voice their protests against Microsoft. The users post pictures ridiculing Microsoft. The group has 1,804 members so far according to Webware.com (1,917 members so far).

One Flickr user writes:

"I'm not a Microsoft hater…I just don't like the fact that there might be just another Internet monopolist."

Here are some pictures, you will find more at the above link.







When Yahoo initially purchased Flickr.com, users at that site did a similar protest, but Yahoo did a great job keeping the essential things intact.

The above effort against Microsoft alone won’t be sufficient to stop the merger, but some may migrate to a different picture site rather than remain at Flickr.com. Many of them are paid users at Flickr, so they have a right to voice their opposition.

Experts: Keep tortoises in the fridge for winter

The warm winters may be good for humans but for tortoises, it is causing problems and threatening endangerment. Experts offer a solution: Keep tortoises in the fridge throughout the winter.

Joy Bloor, owner of the Tortoise Garden in Cornwall, England, said warmer weather is posing problems for tortoises and is affecting their hibernation. The warm climate causes them to wake up and when the cold weather occurs again it disturbs their hibernation cycle.

Like other hibernating animals, tortoises eat a lot to keep them alive during their hibernation period. But when they are disturbed during hibernation (their body temperature is between 3 and 5 degree Celsius at hibernation) and their body temperature rises, they wake up and digest all the food they had consumed.

If tortoises then have to go back into hibernation, it may lead to their death because of starvation. If they wake up, the only option for pet owners and sanctuaries is to find a way to keep them alive.

Experts suggest tortoises be kept in the fridge with a reliable thermostat and without a freezing compartment because of worries that integral freezers may malfunction and freeze the whole unit and the tortoises.

Bloor said it is an ideal method to keep tortoises safe due to changing climates. She said it is becoming a popular method in England. However she warns not to keep them unattended for long periods and temperatures inside the fridges should be checked frequently.

She said dozens of tortoises in her sanctuary have woken up early this year. But since she has too many pets, it is not possible for her to keep all of them in larger fridges. Instead, she tries to keep them awake by feeding.

If the hibernation cycle is broken, the best option is to feed them and not put them back in the fridge, which will kill them Bloor says.

Here is a good article that suggests how to maintain a fridge for tortoises and other animals during their hibernation cycle.

New Weapon Against Terror: LED Incapacitator Flashlight

LED Incapacitator (LEDI) from Intelligent Optical Systems.


United States Homeland Security has paid a technology group almost $1 million to develop a next generation weapon, an LED Incapacitator (LEDI) for police and officials to use against rioting crowds or protesters.

Homeland Security has paid $800,000 to Intelligent Optical Systems to develop this LEDI and already law enforcement officials are calling it “controversial." ACLU officials are comparing it to the highly controversial Taser.

It was developed to handle protesters without using bullets, pepper spray, rubber bullets or Tasers.

Bob Lieberman, president of Intelligent Optical Systems, spoke to CBS13 reporter Brandi Hitt, saying the moment the flashlight is on, it will cause disorientation. Thus, it will be easy for the police to disable rowdy protesters quickly to make an arrest or to manage a crowd.

The LEDI causes nausea, dizziness and severe headache, as Hitt learned after being exposed to a LEDI on a trial basis. She said watching this in-person is irritating and will disorient you.

Lieberman said the LEDI flashes lights at several specific frequencies. It does not let the brain get used to a pattern, so it varies the frequencies rapidly. It also gives off multiple colors and random pulses. The cumulative effect makes a person disoriented.

Lieberman said the only way to escape these effects is to:

Close your eyes, put your hand up, turn your head away, all of which will give the user the advantage they need,"

U.S. Homeland Security wants to provide this device to the Coast Guard, Security Service, Border Patrol and Air Marshals. Los Angeles County Police will also be equipped with this device soon.

As CBS reports:

Commander Sid Hale with the L.A. County Sheriff's Department helped design the device over the last three years, and says this is something all law enforcement wants, especially at night and for crowd control, so they don't have to pull their guns.

This technology can also be extended from a gun-type device to be used in a variety of situations including in prisons to qualm riots and on vehicles to stop unruly mobs.

Others like ACLU’s Michael Soller, however, say if a user is not trained properly, the LEDI will become as lethal as Tasers, which have killed more than 300 people in the past few years according to the ACLU.

Lieberman said it will not blind a person, as it has built-in measures that prevent the light from going beyond a present threshold. Medical safety tests are already underway, and law enforcement field trials will likely start later this year.

Initially the LEDI will be available for law enforcement but later Intelligent Optical Systems may make this device available to the public. Already some are worried that it may be used by criminals.

You can see the main demonstration in a video here. The above video gives brief highlights of LEDI.

Apple releases 16GB iPhone, 32GB iPod Touch

Apple introduces 16GB iPhone and 32GB iPod Touch. Photo Courtesy Apple.com

Apple boosted the storage capacity for its iPhone and iPod Touch products today, it is doubling the memory. But there are no major differences or any significant additions between the existing models and the new ones except for memory and prices.

The new iPhone will have 16GB memory capacity and will be sold along with 8GB version unlike the previous one 4GB iPhone that was phased out. The price for this 16GB will be $499 and there are no changes in the price for the existing model 8GB which remains at $399.

The new iPod Touch will have more memory than 32GB and will retail for $499. The other models for iPod Touch 16GB ($399) and 8GB ($299) will be sold along with this new one.

Both the new models iPhone and iPod Touch are available for sale at Apple and the updated iPhones are also available for sale at AT&T stores.

Apple updated its software for iPhone and iPod Touch this January and the new models will come with this updated software. Apple increased its capacity probably to watch movies on them, the new models will have the ability to watch the movies from iTunes movie rental service.

Since Apple has no real competitors on this area, it is only providing marginal updates, it may satisfy some customers but not everyone.

Love Every Action For a Bliss in Life

Elephants & Egrets After Storm, Amboseli 2007

“Love should be in every action,

Like the blood in every cell.”

- Chris Veerabadran from “All Are One”.

Freeware Resources For Windows Mobile Devices

The below list from Mashable.com offers a list of comprehensive freeware for Windows mobile devices. iPhone may be a popular one, but Palm and Windows Mobile have many programs you will find it useful.

If you have any more additional sites, please do add it here in comments. I will be adding more in the coming days.

ByPaul.com - A large freeware application repository that also has themes, utilities and more.

FreewarePocketPC.net - This busy site boasts of housing over 6,300 freeware programs for your Windows Mobile based device.

FreewarePPC.com - Hundreds of freeware programs for your Pocket PC broken down by category or viewable as a browseable full list.

PDA-PPC.net - Large selection of apps; keeps you current on what’s been updated, and offers up the latest news in the world of Windows Mobile.

PocketPCCanada.com - Offers a far smaller selection of freeware applications than other sites, but is well organized and offers up news on the latest for Pocket PCs as well.

PocketPCFreeware.com - As of this writing, the database has over 1,600 freeware downloads for your Pocket PC powered device.

PocketPCSoft.net - Another site with a slightly odd design, but has numerous apps, hardware reviews and tips.

How to Change Gmail English Version to Other Languages

Gmail in different languages and for different occasions. Photo courtesy of Flickr.com.

Gmail adds new features almost daily but this new feature many would love to have, since English is not the only language spoken by many.

Gmail initially was available in English only and that too for US English only later it added UK English version. Now it is available in the following 39 languages:

Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Simplified Chinese, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Tagalog, Thai, Traditional Chinese, Turkish, Ukrainian, or Vietnamese.

How to view Gmail in other languages?

Just follow these simple steps:

1.) Log in to your Gmail account.

2.) Click Settings at the top of the Gmail page.

3.) Select a language from the Gmail display language: drop-down menu in the Language: section.

4.) Click Save Changes.

Your account now will reflect the language change. So you will see all the main headers in the local language you have selected. The pictures below demonstrate these above steps, I have chosen Hindi language interface for demonstration.

Though the language has changed all the messages you received will be in the same language you received them before. There won’t be any changes there.

Google says all the features that are available in the US’ Gmail version may not show up in these languages, but eventually all the features will show up soon.

So, test it out in your own language and leave a comment here, how do you like the language version compared to the English version.

Steps to change language in Gmail

Step 1: Click Settings.

Step 2: Click the display language window to choose your language.

Step 3: Choose Your language.

Step 4: Gmail displays in the selected language.

Researchers Implant Camera Inside Mouse's Brain to Study Parkinson's

Mouse's Brain. Photo courtesy of Nida.nih.gov

Researchers from Japan have implanted a tiny camera inside a mouse’s brain to study memory behavior. They hope the study will help them analyze and treat Parkinson’s disease and other illnesses.

Jun Ohta and his team, researchers from Kinkin University and Nara Institute of Science and Technology, implanted a special semiconductor camera inside the hippocampus of the mouse’s brain. The camera screen shows blue light whenever the camera captures memory activity in the brain.

The results are published in the Journal of Neuroscience Methods as well as in the Sensors and Actuators journal.

Ohta implanted this camera which is 0.1 inch wide (3 x 2.3 x 2.4 millimeters) inside the mouse’s brain to monitor memory activity. Scientists have used similar miniature cameras on human bodies to analyze the stomach and other areas before.

Ohta and his team successfully recorded memory activity by injecting a special substance that lights up whenever there is a brain activity in the mouse. The camera then captures and records the light and displays it on a screen for researchers.

The team’s next objective is to monitor memory activity when the mouse is walking.

Ohta told Reuters it will take about 10 years before they try this experiment on humans, but he says it will be helpful to see what happens when the tremors occur in the brain so proper treatments can be used for Parkinson's disease.