University Releases The Annual Banished Words List For 2009

Lake Superior State University (LSSU) compiles the banished words list annually since 1975 and this year banished words include “Green”, “Maverick”, “First Dude” and more. Stop using the words from next year or forever.

“The Banished Words List” started as a fun project on December 31, 1975 and now it has became an annual event. LSSU Public Relations Director Bill Rabe and his colleagues came up with this idea to banish the overused words and phrases by the public.

Rabe distributed the list to his colleagues and it became an instant success, more recommendations came in. So, he decided to hold this event annually.

This year’s list was compiled after they received thousands of nominations from visitor through their University’s website Lssu.edu/banished. There is no deadline for nominations, they are accepted through out the year. Once the nominations are collected, a committee selects the list and the reasons for their banishment for the next year.

This year collection includes which will be very much familiar to DJ readers, they have been mentioned several times in the articles this year.

The banished list of words and phrases for the year 2009 are:

• Green
• Carbon footprint or carbon offsetting
• Maverick
• First dude
• Bailout
• Wall Street/Main Street
• Monkey
• A love sign < 3
• Icon or iconic
• Game changer
• Staycation
• Desperate search
• Not so much
• Winner of five nominations
• It's that time of year again

The word "Maverick" was widely used this year for John McCain, the word was one of the many reasons he lost the elections.

The user who nominated the phrase “Winner of five nominations” gives the following reason to ban it:

"It hasn't won an Academy Award yet. It has only been NOMINATED!" John Bohenek, Abilene, Tex.

Make this as a first resolution for the next year, never mention these words or phrases again next year.

Do you have any other word or phrase that you feel that were overused and should be banished next year? I have one “Joe the Plumber”.

Turn Your iPhone Into A Flashlight with Flashlight. App

Flashlight., a flashlight application for iPhone.

Now you can easily convert your iPhone into a Flashlight and don't have to struggle opening your door in the dark. The iPhone application Flashlight. converts the iPhone into a decent flashlight by tweaking the brightness feature.

The application Flashlight. (with a period next to it) was developed by John Haney.

The Flashlight. increases your iPhone's brightness to full level by making the entire screen full bright, thus it acts like a rectangular flashlight as shown in the video down below.

You can adjust the brightness of the flashlight by sliding your finger up and down. You can also adjust to different colors in the screen and also use it as a strobe light, SOS, and Emergency light options.

If you are in the theater and want to search for missing keys or tabs this Flashlight. application will come in handy.

Best of all the application is free and you can download it from the link here in iTunes.

Besides this there are number of other flashlight application, but this one seems to be the most popular one.

Thanks to tip from iPhoneHacks.com.

For more useful iPhone apps articles, click here.

Get nine free Random House e-books for your iPhone, PDA or PC

Whiskey Rebels, Cover. Photo Cnet.com

The eReader, an eBook seller is offering for a limited time nine free fiction e-books for free. The eBooks from eReader can be read in Palm, iPhone, Windows mobile, Symbian, iPod Touch as well as for Macs and PCs.

The eReader, owned by Fictionwise.com is offering nine books as a holiday promotion. The eBooks available are from established authors with good reviews from Amazon.com readers.

The promotion reads the following:

Tis the Season...for Giving. Random House is offering 9 free eBooks.

Authors include Alan Furst, Julie Garwood, Charlie Huston, David Liss, Laurie Notaro, Arthur Phillips and Simon Rich. We've include some seasoned titles like Liss' "The Whiskey Rebels", Notaro's "The Idiot Girl and the Flaming Tantrum of Death", along with some recently-published titles like Rich's "Free-Range Chickens". The e-books include the full text and are not abridged.

There are no other purchases necessary to get this promotion. You can download these books from the link here.

If you are visiting eReader.com for the first time, then you can register it free. You will need software to read these books; depending on your device you can download the suitable eReader software from this link.

So, hurry before the offer ends soon.

The eReader has also updated the eReader version for the iPhone (eReader for iPhone v1.3), now you can read eBooks from Fictionwise.com, eReader.com and also eBooks from other sites in your iPhone. You can download the latest version here.

Top 10 Incredible Animal Videos in 2008

You must have seen a number of animal videos this year in YouTube. Here are the top 10 best animal videos for the year 2008 compiled by Wired.com.

Enjoy.



10. Chickens Policing The Rabbits.


9. The Great Beagle Dog Escape.


8. Dolphin playing with bubble rings.


7. Gibbon Taunts Baby Tigers.


6. Hedgehog Eating a Carrot


5. Hamster Eats Popcorn on a Piano


4. Gin the Dancing Dog


3. Transformer Owl


2. Super Smart Dog


1. Lion Reunion

Top 500 Worst Passwords of All Time

1Password, a password management tool for Apple macs.

Some people use computer passwords so common, hackers don’t have to use tough tools to guess them. Many use passwords that are very easy to guess. A website has revealed the worst offenders.

Whatsmypass.com, a password recovery and information site, has listed the 500 worst passwords to use. About 1 in 9 people use at least one password from this list and one out of 50 use one of the top 20 worst passwords.

Some of the worst passwords are 12345678, password, dragon, qwerty, baseball, football and more.

The hackers thrive on such passwords; they don’t have to use complex tools to break in a system because just a few simple guesses would be sufficient to crack into someone's account.

Check the 500 worst passwords in the list and if you have any of it in that list, make sure you change it and use a complex one. These passwords are quite common that many have used it several times.

Others passwords are even more obvious:

ncc1701 The ship number for the Starship Enterprise
thx1138 The name of George Lucas’s first movie, a 1971 remake of an earlier student project
qazwsx Follows a simple pattern when typed on a typical keyboard
666666 Six sixes
7777777 Seven sevens
ou812 The title of a 1988 Van Halen album

I use AI Roboform for password management in Windows and 1Password for Mac; both are excellent tools that create complex passwords difficult to guess.

Also, check your password strength with a Hackosis password calculator in the link here.

AT&T Sells Refurbished iPhone 3G 8GB For $99 and 16GB For $199

Apple was originally rumored to sell the iPhone for $99 but till that one turns true, AT&T will be selling refurbished iPhone 3G for $99, available only for new iPhone customers.

Apple and Wal-Mart were originally rumored to sell $99 iPhones but instead Wal-Mart will begin selling iPhones from Sunday for $197. AT&T will be offering $99 pricing for the refurbished iPhones.

The refurbished iPhones are as good as the new ones and it comes with a contract. For those who are not familiar with refurbished phones, they are the following:

Refurbished phones are previously owned devices that have been unused or lightly used and returned during the 30-day trial period. Each refurbished phone is independently quality tested and loaded with the latest software to meet current factory standards. Some refurbished iPhone 3G devices will have minor scratches.

Refurbished iPhone 3G devices carry a warranty of 90 days or more. For details about the warranty on your refurbished iPhone 3G go to www.apple.com/support/oss/.

This special pricing is available for new customers with a 2-year contract.

Also, the refurbished 16GB model is available for $199, down $100 from the original price.

You can purchase the $99 iPhone 3G refurbished model from the AT&T link here.

Laser helps reduce body fat

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

A laser method is used to reduce body fat. After five to six laser scanning exposure, the patient reduces body fat considerably according to the doctors. A non-intrusive technique, many would love to have for weight-loss.

John Lennon promotes 'One Laptop per Child' project

Beatles legend John Lennon makes an appearance in a television commercial 28 years after his death. He promotes “One Laptop per Child” (OLPC) charity and urges others to make a purchase donation.

With John Lennon’s wife, Yoko Ono’s permission, the OLPC project synthesized Lennon’s voice and image and used it in a commercial.

He says in the video ad:

"Imagine every child no matter where in the world they were could access a universe of knowledge. They would have a chance to learn, to dream, to achieve anything they want. I tried to do it through my music, but now you can do it in a very different way. You can give a child a laptop and more than imagine, you can change the world,"

This ad is based on his famous song “Imagine”.

He urges the audience to buy the OLPC's XO laptop and donate it to the world’s poorest children.

You can either buy the OLPC's XO laptop directly from their website or from the Amazon site here.

Seeing a dead person in a commercial looks strange, but this is for a worthy cause and for a noble purpose, John Lennon would certainly approve.

Vatican launches iBreviary a prayer book application for iPhones

iBreviary, daily prayers application for iPhone.

Now you can read Christian prayers in your iPhone, thanks to iBreviary, an iPhone app developed by an Italian priest and a web designer. The application is available in Italian, English, Spanish, French and Latin languages.

A technologically savvy Italian priest, Rev. Paolo Padrini and an Italian web designer created this iBreviary application for iPhones, a book of daily prayers.

The iBreviary application available through Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Social Communication includes the Breviary prayer book, prayers of the daily mass and various other prayers.

It is available in Italian, English, Spanish, French and Latin languages, other languages like Portuguese and German will follow soon.

The iBreviary costs $0.99 and the proceeds go to charity and you can download it from iTunes link. In Europe it costs 0.79 Euros ($1.10) with free upgrades for all according to Rev. Padrini.

Monsignor Paul Tighe, a secretary of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Social Communications told Associated Press:

The Church is learning to use the new technologies primarily as a tool or as a
means of evangelizing, as a way of being able to share its own message with the
world."

Pope Benedict XV wants to reach out to youth through the new media. This iBreviary is a good application to have in iPhone. There are also bible and other religious e-books available for iPhone.

How to Print Photos in iPhone

Print Photos from your iPhone to your Wi-Fi Printer with "HP iPrint Photo" App in iTunes.

HP has announced a good new application for iPhone, HP iPrint Photo. You can print photos from your iPhone with your Wi-Fi equipped printers.

You can grab photos with iPhone on the fly and print them directly to your Wi-Fi printer without printer cables, thanks to HP.

The iPhone App “HP iPrint Photo” is available now and you can download it free at iTunes.

The application in iTunes says it works with Wi-Fi equipped HP printers only but I think they should work fine with other Wi-Fi equipped printers also.

At the HP site, it provides the following information about the new App:

HP iPrint Photo is a free downloadable software application that allows you to quickly and easily print 4" x 6" photos. Images stored on your iPhone or iPod touch can print on most HP networked ink jet printers connected to a local Wi-Fi network. Wireless printing is a fun extension of the iPhone / iPod touch's easy photo capture and viewing experience.

According to SlipperyBrick.com, the HP app is compatible with Apple Bonjour technology and utilizes the multi-touch interface for easy and fast printing.

It is a great application to have in iPhone. I hope HP also have similar print functions from other applications in iPhone.

Also, recently two more applications were added in iTunes, "Mint App", financial management tool and AccuWeather App, weather application tool. Both are free to download at iTunes link here.

Just follow the pictures here, it gives you step by step instructions to print photos from iPhone.

1) Click on the HP iPrint icon

2) Choose the photo album where your picture is stored

3) Select the photo

4) Select the "Print" option in the lower portion of the screen

5) You should now be printing a 4" x 6" or 10 x 15 cm photo from your HP Inkjet printer*.

Note: If this is the first time printing to a specific printer, select the desired printer from the list of available printers. You will not be required to complete this step again in order to print additional photos on the same printer.

Spruce Up Your Holidays With Gmail

Gmail has excellent tools to make your holidays worthwhile. Check out some of the tools available in Gmail that can make your friends and family happy.

Gmail is just not email after all, it is much more.

Official Gmail Blog: A holiday break to play with all the new stuff

Cellphone Hacked To Analyze Blood And Detect Diseases

U.S. researchers have modified the cell phone to bring a portable device that can analyze blood and detect disease on the spot at rural places and developing countries.

Dr. Aydogan Ozcan, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and his team have hacked the cell phone to make them as portable medical devices that can be used to analyze the blood in patients and detect any disease.

Such devices will come in handy in villages and in developing countries where medical instruments, medical labs and hospitals are scarce and expensive.

Dr. Ozcan converted the regular cell phone by adding a light-emitting diode (LED), a plastic light filter and wires and converted into a portable blood tester that is capable of detecting HIV, malaria, and other illnesses.

The phone images blood cells sample with a camera sensor built and is lighted with a filtered-light source (coherent light). This image is then analyzed with Dr. Ozcan’s custom software and interprets the results within minutes. This eliminates the need to send the samples to labs and wait hours or days to get the results back.

The picture below shows a Sony Ericsson cell phone converted into a LUCAS (Lensfree Ultrawide-field Cell-monitoring Array platform based on Shadow imaging) imager. The protrusion at the back is the light source to illuminate the samples for imaging purposes.


Cellphone used as a portable blood detector. Photo: Wired.com

The second picture shown here connects the cell phone to the computer for analyzing the blood sample. This is for demonstration purpose, eventually the software will be downloaded into the cell phone to get results directly.


Cellphone uses a software to analyze blood. Photo: Wired.com

LEDs And Smart Lighting Can Save Trillions Of Dollars

Philips' Living Colors LED Lamp. Photo: Philips.

U.S. Scientists predict that Light-emitting Diodes (LEDs) and Smart Lighting techniques could save trillions of dollars in the next few years if more embrace them instead of the fluorescent and Compact Fluorescent lamps.

E. Fred Schubert and Jong Kyu Kim, professors at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have written a report and firmly believe LEDs will revolutionize the lighting industry the same way transistors did for the electronics industry.

Recently there have been number of innovations and when they are adopted in the coming years we can save trillion dollars in costs savings coupled with a massive reduction in the amount of energy required lighting homes and businesses worldwide.

The professors predict that a new generation of lighting devices based on LEDs will replace the light bulb in the next few years and will help us save considerable amount of money and also have environmental benefits. LEDs are safer than the fluorescent lamps and compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) and consume less energy than both.

The LEDs consumes 20 times less power than conventional light bulb and five times less power than CFL.
Schubert and Kim have written a paper on this subject called “Transcending the replacement paradigm of solid-state lighting” in the December 22, 2008 issue of Optics Express.

They expect LEDs will be widely used in healthcare, transportation systems, digital displays and computer networking areas.

Another advantage the LEDs have is that they can be tweaked to work in any situation.

Schubert and Kim believe that if all the light bulbs in homes and businesses are replaced with LEDs in the next 10 years, they derive the following benefits:

• Energy savings of 1.9 × 1020 joules
• Electrical energy consumption would be reduced by terawatt hours
• Financial savings of $1.83 trillion
• Carbon dioxide emissions would be reduced by 10.68 gigatons
• Crude oil consumption would be reduced by 962 million barrels
• The number of required global power plants would be reduced by 280

They want the industry and researchers to work together and develop a comprehensive LEDs lighting system technology.

Schubert and Kim wrote in the paper:

"Deployed on a large scale, LEDs have the potential to tremendously reduce pollution, save energy, save financial resources, and add new and unprecedented functionalities to photonic devices. These factors make photonics what could be termed a benevolent tsunami, an irresistible wave, a solution to many global challenges currently faced by humanity and will be facing even more in the years to come,"

The smart light application with LEDs can not only be used in homes but also can be used for rapid biological cell identification, interactive roadways, boosting plant growth and reduce the risk of certain type of cancers.

We can expect LEDs to be a major force in the next few years.

Find Cartoons and Cliparts Using Google Image Search

Google search has added new features in its image search section; we can now find cartoons and clip arts in images besides faces and photos.

Previously Google Image Search added a face search in images, where the images are sorted only with face pictures. It also had a photo search in images.

Now it has added two more features to find cartoons and clip arts in images.

Google blog mentioned the following about the new features:

"Many of us use Google Image Search to find imagery of people, clip art for presentations, diagrams for reports, and of course symbols and patterns for artistic inspiration. Unfortunately, searching for the perfect image can be challenging if the search results match the meaning of your query but aren't in a style that's useful to you,"

Now you can find almost anything in images.

Here is an example, when you search for Bush, you can search images by news content, then it shows the following:


Search images by news content in Google.

If you search by Clip art, then it will provide some arts pictures.


Search clip art images in Google.

If you search by Line art, then it provides cartoons of Bush.


Search cartoons in Google Images.

Similarly you can restrict images search by faces, photos, or by any content (which is default in Google Image Search).

To choose the various option click the drop-down tool next to image sizes below the search tool.

Google image search has just become a powerful tool by able to analyze the images by faces, photos, line drawings, cartoons, signs and other characteristics present in images. Only thing is missing is the “Creative Commons” tag, because not all images are copyright free images.

Doctors fear a rise in 'Wii injuries'

British researchers have warned playing long in Wii is bad for health and causes a variety of injuries including the most common type of injury “Wii knee”.

British doctors are seeing a rise in patients suffering from injuries after playing with Wii, the popular game device. It causes them to have sprains, fractures and backaches.

One group have even coined the term “Wii knee” for a specific injury caused by playing long hours in Wii. The Osteopaths at the Leeds Teaching Hospital saw an increase in the number of patients suffering from back aches and blamed it on them for trying to play long hours with their children on Wii.

Another group, The British Society for Surgery of the Hand (BSSH) also has seen an increase in the number of hand injuries caused by excessive use of Wii.

The doctors expect there will be even more patients after Christmas. Wii has been selling really well this year especially in the U.S.; it sold 2 million units in November.

Richard Milner, of the BSSH and a consultant plastic and hand surgeon told The Telegraph:

"We treated a patient this week who had injured herself using a Wii. She was playing tennis with a partner and fractured one of the bones in her finger when he hit the back of her hand with the control."

Dr Andrew Coley, a pediatrician at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, suffered an injury after playing with Wii, so he advises caution to Wii users.

"This patient had got a Wii for Christmas, hadn't exercised in a while and overdid it. I hurt myself by trying to get an Ace on my serve in the tennis game."

If you are a Wii user, be careful don’t over do it.

Do you have similar injuries after playing Wii games?

Young Belgian wins UNICEF Photo of the Year 2008 honors

21-year-old Belgian took a snapshot of a young Haiti girl without thinking twice about the surroundings; it turned out to be a winner in the 2008 UNICEF Photo of the Year Competition.

Belgian Alice Smeets feels shocked that her photo was chosen but it was an incredible picture showing the situation in true colors.

The girl in the photo stands in polluted waters in a Haitian slum with no shoes, no money but with apparent grace. The surroundings are filled with trash, tins, plastic bags and old shoes. Two wild pigs even find these surroundings a food source.

Alice Smeets told SPIEGEL, German newspaper that she took the snapshot of the girl, while telling her to stand still. After the photo was taken the girl ran to her friends at the other part of this muddy lake.

The girl’s name or her whereabouts is not clear both to Smeets and UNICEF. Smeets met her only at that instant when she took the photo.

That photo was chosen by the United Nations Children’s Fund as the 2008 photo of the year.

Photo wins the UNICEF year of the photo honors. Photo: Unicef.org.

More than 1,449 photos were submitted by 128 photographers from 31 countries for this competition. All the photos must be recommended by other organizations or magazines. In Smeets’ case she was recommended by GEO photographer Tina Ahrens.

Along with Smeets’ photo, you can see great photos from other photographers, they are equally commendable.

Other Winning Photos.

Second place went to Israeli photographer Oded Baililty for his depiction of a child in the Chinese Province of Sichuan 10 days after the earthquake in May 2008.

The Hungarian photographer Balazs Gardi took third place with a scene from Kunar province in northwestern Afghanistan.

Twenty-nine million American children live in poverty. Although government funded food stamps help these children get food, they often lack the knowledge to make healthy nutritional decisions. Photo: American photographer Brenda Keneally.

In August 2008 the smouldering conflict over whether South Ossetia belongs to Georgia escalated into open hostilities. Thousands of Georgians fled from South Ossetia after having lost all their belongings and sometimes their relatives.

Her name is Mui. She is a practicing Buddhist and lives with her five-year-old son in Hanoi. They are homeless. They own absolutely nothing. Still, Mui's care for her son knows no boundaries. She always manages to find him something to eat.

Recruiting childern under the age of 15 as soldiers is a war crime under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. This fact doesn't seem bother warmongers much.

The hurricane that rampaged through New Orleans in 2005 led to a radical change in the social structure of the city. The former social-housing residential areas in the city center were torn down by private real estate companies.

The first six years of Danielle's life were spent locked away in a walk-in closet in Florida. She never learned to speak, to eat or to walk. Her mother largely ignored her. An anonymous caller informed the police, sadly much too late.

"Society doesn't give me anything, so it can't expect anything in return," says José. Neither him nor his gang members get anything for free in Cartucho, the most brutal quarter of Bogota, which at night is peopled by beggars, drug dealers and others

A daughter in a malaria coma. French photographer William Daniels has occupied himself for two years with the effects of the malaria epidemic in Africa, South Ossetia, and Latin America. This picture comes from Sierra Leone.

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	Blue Planet (IMAX) [Blu-ray] Price: $12.60 List Price: $28.99

92-year-old woman throws away million dollar lottery ticket, clerk saves it for her

The grandmother bought some scratch-off lottery tickets and thought she didn’t win anything asked the clerk to dispose the tickets. But the clerk checked the tickets only to find one of the tickets was a million dollar ticket.

Mary Alice Fallon, 92-year-old great-grandmother and mother of seven children went to the local supermarket as part of her routine and bought three scratch-off lottery tickets. She ticked them and thought they are not the winning tickets, so he asked the friendly clerk Chris Connelly, 24, to dispose the tickets for her.

Chris Connelly before throwing the tickets ways decided to double-check the tickets and scanned the tickets only to find one of them was a 1 million dollar ticket.

Connelly did the right think by calling Mrs. Fallon who was heading out of the supermarket and told her she has won more than $1,000. And when he scratched of the squares in the ticket Mrs. Fallon had missed, it then showed that it was a $1 million ticket.

She couldn’t believe it at first that she was a winner but when Chris showed her the winning ticket she was happy. She was also very happy with the clerk’s honesty.

She told NY Post:

"If it wasn't for Chris and his honesty, I could have thrown away $1 million without knowing it. I guess someone was watching out for me,"

Connelly said he did the right thing, he never thought of pocketing the money for himself.

He told NY Post:

"I know this woman well...She comes in every day. It would have been bad karma if I kept it."

Connelly graduated from Siena College two years ago currently is working at his parents’ grocery store.

Mrs. Fallon is planning to distribute the money to her seven children; each of them will receive about $32,000 a year for the next 20 years.

The children of Mrs. Fallon each gave Connelly a $100 gift for his honesty and Mrs. Fallon promised she will be giving him more once she starts receiving the money.

YouTube Adds HD Videos Category

Ghostbusters Animation in HD.

YouTube has added a specific category to browse all High definition videos in one place. It also added a bigger window screen for the High Definition videos.

Click this link to see the high definition category videos.

You can see an example here.

Watch the "Ghostbusters Animation" video in normal version and click the "Watch the HD" link below the video to watch it in high definition. Or watch Adam Samberg's funny SNL song, click the "Watch in HD" link to watch in high definition. You can notice a big difference between the two videos.

Unfortunately we can't watch high definition videos outside YouTube, the quality has improved with bigger video embed sizes outside but still not high definition. For now we are restricted to watch HD videos in Youtube at this link.

NASA plans to give away space shuttles after 2010

The space shuttle Discovery touching down at Kennedy Space Center on June 14, 2008. NASA now says it is going to solicit proposals for how to display the shuttles once the program ends in 2010. (Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News)

The space shuttle program of NASA will come to a close in 2010 and the space shuttles phased out. NASA is looking for prospective buyers for the two space shuttles, orbiters and other shuttle parts.

NASA wants to give away the space shuttles probably to a worthy buyer or buyers who can maintain them properly after their mission is over in 2010.

The buyer most likely will be an educational institution, science museum like the Smithsonian or other private charity organizations.

NASA issued a request for information (RFI) on Wednesday to solicit ideas from officials and decision makers how best to give away the space shuttles and main engine kits they have in their possession.

NASA said in a press release:

Sponsored by NASA's Office of Infrastructure, the RFI seeks input from appropriate officials and decision makers from museums, science centers, institutions, and other organizations dedicated to education or educational outreach with experience in public display of space hardware and nationally-recognized historical artifacts,"

From the RFI, NASA will decide the appropriate buyer for the space shuttles and the space shuttle main engine display kits.

NASA is requesting the prospective buyers to respond by March 17, 2009.

Microsoft Releases Patch For Critical Internet Explorer Security Flaw

Microsoft has released a critical patch for the serious security flaw found in the company's Web browser. Without the patch, hackers can easily manipulate user’s data using malware.

The vulnerabilities were exposed by Web experts from Trend Micro and others on Monday. At that time, they urged everyone to stop using all versions of Internet Explorer and use other browsers like Firefox, Chrome, Safari or Opera.

Early today, Microsoft announced it will release a patch soon, and since then they actually released it.

You can download the patch at the Microsoft's site here, but it requires Internet Explorer to download and install the patch. If you have Firefox, you can use the IE Tab Firefox Extension to visit this link.

The flaw called the “zero-day” exploit was in circulation since the beginning of this month and may have already infected a broad range of users according to CNet.

You should download this patch as soon as possible. Even if you don’t use IE, it is still recommended you download this patch because some programs force you to use that browser.

This flaw affects all versions of Internet Explorer.

Convert Emails to Documents With a Click in Gmail

Gmail has added a new labs feature that enables you to convert emails into documents with just one click.

At times, we like to save emails as documents. Previously we used to copy and open the word program and start a new file and paste it. With Gmail, all you need is one click; it saves your email as a new document in Google Docs.

To make this feature work, follow the simple steps:

Visit your Gmail account --> Click Settings --> Click Labs --> Enable "Create a Document" labs feature --> Click Save.

Once you do the above steps, go to any email you want to convert them to a document and click the "Create a document" button shown below, which you will see your email on your top right window screen.



When you click the "Create a document", Gmail saves the email in your Google Docs account and you can edit or keep the document as it is.

Or alternatively you can do the same with another method:

Click "Settings" --> Click "General" tab --> Enable "keyboard shortcuts on" --> Click Save.

And go to the email you want to convert it into a document and click keyboard characters "g" and "w" together, it will open a new documents file. But in the second method you have to employ copy and paste technique.



Official Gmail Blog: New in Labs: Turn an email into a Google doc

Google Maps adds YouTube videos for specific locations

Google Maps with Photos, Wikipedia and now YouTube Videos.

Google has added user-generated YouTube videos to locations on its map service. Now you can see photos, Wikipedia articles and YouTube videos related to a particular location.

Some users will find this very useful, as they'll now be able to get more knowledge about a particular location while using Google Maps. Users can now see selected user-generated videos that relate to the location for which they are searching.

Here is one particular location in New York City, where you can see photos, Wikipedia articles and YouTube videos.

The videos are smaller than normal, but they fit well within the map.

To see the video options, you have to enable them in the “more” menu section and you'll have to choose “videos” as shown below.



Videos in Google Maps For Specific Locations. Photo: Cnet.com

Once you enable the videos, you will see small TV screens in Google Maps if there are any YouTube videos available in that area.

It's yet another useful feature you may want to check out before you travel.

Experts: Internet Explorer Contains Serious Security Flaw, Switch Web Browsers

IE logo.

Web security experts say they found a serious security flaw in Internet Explorer. They are advising users to stop using IE and use other browsers until the situation gets resolved.

Anti-virus software maker Trend Micro has found a serious vulnerability in all versions of the Internet Explorer web browser and nearly 10,000 websites have been compromised.

The big problem with this vulnerability is that attackers are able to steal passwords. For now, malicious programs are mostly stealing computer game passwords, but experts say that can easily be adopted to steal other things.

Microsoft has urged its users to be vigilant and the company said it's working to create an emergency patch to resolve this problem.

Until it gets resolved, experts urge users to work with other browsers such as Firefox, Safari, Opera or Chrome, which have not demonstrated the same weakness.

Richard Cox, chief information officer of anti-spam body The Spamhaus Project and an expert on privacy and cyber security, also warned users to be vigilant and use alternate browsers for now.

PC Pro magazine’s security editor, Darien Graham-Smith, told BBC there is a virtual arms race happening on the Web and hackers are always on the lookout for vulnerabilities:

"The message needs to get out that this malicious code can be planted on any web site, so simple careful browsing isn't enough. It's a shame Microsoft have not been able to fix this more quickly, but letting people know about this flaw was the right thing to do. If you keep flaws like this quiet, people are put at risk without knowing it."

Graham-Smith warned the flaw may creep up in other browsers in the future.

Nearly 70 per cent of all Web users use Internet Explorer. If you are one of them, it's time to use other browsers like Firefox, Chrome, Safari or Opera. They are much faster, safer and security flaws are fixed faster.

Sony to launch 'Touchscreen Walkman' in 2009

Sony is planning a touch screen Walkman next year, it will have Wi-Fi, OLED, WQVGA screen display and will come in 16GB and 32GB versions.

According to Sony Insider, Sony will reveal this new touch screen Walkman in the upcoming CES 2009 show.

The new Walkman has a number of features besides playing music, it will play videos, show photos and probably have browsing capabilities.

It will have Wi-Fi that allows downloading music and videos directly and will boast a touch screen with WQVGA wide screen display.

The Walkman will carry the new OLED instead of an LED screen and will have touch screen capabilities. The OLED will be able to display better color resolutions far beyond the LED screen can provide.

Sony Insider states that the new Walkman will have many of the features of the previous models but will have more features added to it because of the Wi-Fi connection. Users when playing the music will have the option to search the artist’s videos on YouTube and can play it on the screen directly. The owners can purchase the music directly from their Walkman via Amazon.com.

The Walkman will also be capable of updating audio podcasts and video feeds directly via Wi-Fi.
It will play the following formats:

Audio codec support includes MP3, WMA, AAC, PCM, while video codec support is AVC (h.264), MPEG-4 and WMV.

Besides all the above features, it has FM radio, an S-Master digital amplifier built-in the device and a digital noise canceling button.

A very late entry by Sony but the new Walkman looks like a better alternative to iPods except for the iPod Touch, which has the added advantage of 1,000 applications and more in iTunes.

View PDF Online in Gmail Without Adobe Reader

Google added a PDF viewer without the need for any desktop software like Adobe Reader or a Firefox Extension to open PDF documents online.

This is an excellent addition to open incoming PDF attachments in emails without the need for the bulky software like Adobe Reader. You can instantly open PDF documents online with Gmail’s built-in PDF viewer.

Previously, the only way to see PDF documents is either by saving PDF documents and opening it via a PDF application like Adobe Reader or to have Firefox extensions like PDF Download. Now it is not necessary to install or download any application -- Gmail will automatically open your PDF documents.

This is how it works.

When you receive a PDF attachment, you will see the following:


Click view in Gmail to see the PDF attachment.

Click the “view” link, the PDF document opens in Google Docs as follows:


PDF Viewer for Gmail. Ref: Mashable.com

It opens fast and the quality is as good as any PDF reader both online or offline application. There is a “Zoom” function, you can open pages in a book view format (two pages side by side), print the PDF or open the page in a HTML format.

It works well in both Firefox and in Chrome browsers.

Get Holiday Art From Google

You can get holiday art from Google from this link here. Have a Happy Holidays. Cheers :)

Jennifer Aniston poses nude in GQ

Actress Jennifer Aniston gave an interview about Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, and also posed nude in the upcoming issue of GQ magazine.

The 39-year-old actress wears just a tie and poses nude in the January issue of GQ magazine. She wears a black fleece tie by Brooks Brothers in the photo and in one of them poses nude with two guys.

The cover shows Aniston nude with just a tie and is titled “Is it just us or is Jennifer Aniston getting hotter?”

You can click this link to see the pictures.

She talks about the media attention given to herself, ex-husband Brad Pitt and his partner Angelina Jolie and makes fun of the attention lauded on them.

She said she hardly talks with Brad Pitt and doesn't chat at all with Angelina.

Regarding the comments from Jolie when she said she fell in love with Pitt during the filming of Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Aniston hesitated initially to give a response to GQ but later told them: "Considering the source, nothing surprises me." Aniston was still married to Pitt at that time. Soon after the movie they divorced.

You can read her full interview here.

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Google: 10 Million Chrome Browser Downloads in 100 Days

Google Chrome Browser. Photo: Cnet.com.

Google has removed the beta from the Google Chrome with the new update. It has been downloaded by 10 million users in just 100 days of launch.

Google made this announcement today. Google said the Google Chrome browser was downloaded by 10 million active users worldwide and has released 14 updates so far.

Today it removed the beta label from the Google Chrome with its fifteenth release.

Google Chrome initially had a few glitches at the beginning like the flash video and pdf download problems. But thanks to its automatic crash reports, Google employees were able to diagnose it and fix them quickly.

The new Chrome will have improved stability after this update, if you already have the browser it will update automatically or you can download the latest Chrome browser from the link here.

Compared to the previous version, the new Chrome browser runs faster, starts up and loads pages quickly. The SunSpider benchmark testing showed the Chrome’s V8 JavaScript engine runs 1.4 times faster than the first beta and 1.5 times faster on the V8 benchmark test. You can see more speed improvements in the near future.

The updated browser also has improved bookmarking features, so you can import bookmarks from any of your current browser, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, Opera and more. Google provides some useful tips here how to import the bookmarks from other browsers.

The browser also has improved the safety features with its sandbox technology, so you can browse safely without any worries in the web. It helps you against phishing and malware attacks in the web.

The next step for Chrome browser is the extensions like the Firefox extensions. Google is working actively on it and the new extensions will be available soon.

Google Chrome is an excellent addition to have, it is much faster than any other browser, safe and crashes very little. To get the best of Chrome, here are some simple video tutorials.

Gmail Enables 'SMS Messaging For Chat' Feature

Gmail has enabled the SMS feature through its Labs for users in the U.S. People can send SMS messages directly from their emails and the service is free, except for the data charges the receiving party may incur.

Previously Gmail introduced an SMS feature but it faced some hiccups; it had to disable it temporarily. Now, it appears they have fixed the problems; it is available for most of the Gmail users in the U.S. For other countries this feature will follow very soon. If you have any American friends and know their phone numbers, you can still send SMS messages from anywhere in the world.

With Labs, Gmail has become more powerful than any other application. We can chat either via text, voice or video from Gmail, and now it has added the SMS feature so you can chat with your friends on their phones when they are not connected to the Internet. Sending SMS messages from Gmail is free for the sender, but the receiver might be charged for the text messages, so make sure it is OK before sending the SMS messages.

To enable the SMS feature, go to “Settings” --> Click “Labs” --> Enable the “Text Messaging (SMS) in Chat” feature --> Click “Save”.

Go to Chat Window and type the number to send your SMS message as shown below:



Type the phone number to start SMS in Gmail. Photo: Gmailblog.blogspot.com.

Gmail pops out a new window to enable you and your friend to have the SMS message conversation.



Gmail opens a new window for SMS chat. Photo: Gmailblog.blogspot.com

After you finish the conversation, Gmail saves your friends’ numbers in Contacts. When you chat the next time it remembers the number or name and you can send SMS from there.

When your friend receives the text message, Gmail assigns a 406 area code number for each Gmail account. They can save the number for future SMS conversations.

If you want to stop having conversation from a particular sender, you can reply with the word “BLOCK”. If you don’t want to get any SMS conversations from Gmail, you can reply with the word “STOP”.

I tested the service it works great so far.

Chinese Farmer Builds Dozens Of Robots From Scrap

Walking Robot built from scrap. Photo: Weirdasiannews.com

A Chinese farmer has created an army of robots slightly more than four dozens of them. He built it himself with little education and with scrap materials.

Wu Yulu loved designing robots from a young age. He became interested in robotics since the age of 11. He was watching his fellow villagers walk by his home, he then came up with the idea of building a robot that walks like a man. He built a walking robot years later as shown in the video and the photo.

Yulu has designed these robots with hardly any technical education or any government help.

His robots can climb walls, serve water, light cigarettes, play musical instruments and write calligraphy.

Since Yulu doesn’t get funding from elsewhere, he has to spend mostly from his monthly income from farming. In some cases he had to sell his robots to pay off bills.

He loves his robots so much, he has named the robots after him by calling them Wu No.1 to Wu No.26.

If the Chinese government tap his ideas and give him adequate funding, Wu can create even more advanced robots.


Walking Robot Demonstration.

Search New York Magazine, Popular Mechanics and others in Google Book Search

Google has partnered with various magazine publishers to make their archives available in Google Books search. You can browse archives of Popular Mechanics, Ebony, Jet, New York Magazine and others.

If you are a history buff or want to research topics in old magazine articles, Google Books provides a convenient platform to browse old magazine articles. Google is now partnering with magazine publishers to digitize millions of articles.

Google Books search has the following magazines available: Popular Mechanics, New York Magazine, Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, Ebony, Jet and others.

There are no sub directories to go to specific magazine archives, but you can find them by starting with a simple magazine search, then by clicking one of the magazines available, and finally by clicking “About the Magazine” to find the archives list.


New York Magazine archives in Google.

Google incorporates some ads in the sidebar, but they are not intrusive so you can just focus on the magazines without interruptions. Google most likely will have a revenue-sharing agreement with the magazine publishers.

The Google blog states they will be adding more magazines in the coming days and will also try to blend the Google Book search results with the main Google.com search results.

You can also search newspapers and archives in Google in Google News archive search.

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Google Street View Provides Coverage For Almost All of United States

Google Maps provides full coverage of the U.S.

Google Street View now provides near-full coverage of the United States. It also has added coverage for Australia, Japan, Spain, France, Italy and New Zealand.

Google Maps provides a “Street View” option but previously it was only available for a limited number of cities. Now, it's available for almost all of the United States.

Google said the following about the new map coverage in its blog:

Every time we add imagery for a new city or town, we're not just benefiting its citizens, who now can preview their driving route or check for parking meters outside their dentist's office, but anyone traveling to that place or teaching about it or simply curious to see more of the world...

Today marks our biggest launch of Street View imagery to date: we're doubling our coverage in the United States. Several states — Maine, West Virginia, North Dakota, and South Dakota — will be getting the Street View treatment for the first time.

Google Maps also added coverage for Memphis, Charleston (SC), Birmingham and other cities. Google has also filled in gaps between many cities, such as in rural places.

If you are planning to travel you can use Street View to familiarize yourself with a location before you go there. Google Maps provide Street View options for a number of countries such as Australia, Japan, Spain, France, Italy and New Zealand.

Here is Street View for Eiffel Tower, Shibuya, Tokyo and Pantheon.

Since Google Maps provides its code as an open-source API, many have created great new uses for Google Maps such as how to use Street View, simplifying real estate searches, showing bike paths, creating adventure games and more.

Some have complained about privacy concerns of being photographed in Street View, but Google has blurred many of the Street View images, faces and license plates.



View Larger Map
A Panorama of the Colosseum.

Muslims Celebrate Eid al-Adha In Kashmir

Photo from Reuters.

A photo of Muslim Children celebrating Eid al-Adha in Kashmir. I hope peace reigns in Kashmir instead of violence.

Gmail Adds A To-Do Tasks List

The most requested feature “Tasks” by the users is finally in Gmail. The feature was added by Google today via Gmail Labs.

Gmail is getting more sophisticated with their “Labs” feature. You can voice chat, add themes, SMS chat, see your Google Calendar and Docs in Gmail, vacation responder and more by enabling the Labs settings.

Previously Google added the “To-do” list via Remember The Milk, a third party application, now Google introduces this feature themselves.

To enable this new feature, go to your Gmail account and click the “Settings” --> “Labs” --> enable “Tasks” --> click “Save”.

The “Tasks” feature will appear next to “Contacts" link in Gmail as shown in the picture.

You can type in new task easily, just type the task activity and click enter. To use keyboard shortcuts for Tasks click here, you can indent the tasks and categorize them by clicking Actions --> Indent the task as shown below.

You can create a number of Task lists by clicking the right the “Switch List” shown at the bottom right button.

It is a good start, the next step they should integrate it with Google Calendar so we can get reminders. In Google Calendar also you can add “To-do” tasks.

You have three options now to do “Tasks” in Gmail, one with Gmail, Google Calendar and Remember the Milk.

Add tasks in Gmail. Photo: Gmailblog.blogspot.com

Tattoos From The Sun?

Sun Tattoo. Photo. Inventorspot.com.

Yes, a Taiwanese designer has come up with a novel idea of using Sun to create complex tattoo designs on the human body. Unlike the regular tattoo art, this is not painful, just needs a specially designed cloth.

Previously designs in the body were created with either tattoo, make up or body art (like Henna). Now we can add the "Sun Tattoo" along with it.

Designer Yu-Chiao Wang has come with this "Sun Tattoo" idea. The person to be tattooed wears the "cloth stencil" a robe with a specific designer pattern according to their choice.

Wang states in her blog:

"Sun Tattoo is a soft stencil which can be used for making the tattoo pattern on the skin by sunshine. It's better to use it with sunless tanning cream."

The person with the cloth stencil is exposed to the sun for some period or use UV rays to create the tattoo on the body. Only the exposed parts have designs on it, other parts are blocked by the cloth stencil.

Sounds like a cool idea but be careful about the over exposure to the sun.

How To Pronounce Foreign Names Correctly?

Do you have trouble with foreign names pronunciation? If yes, then a website helps you how to pronounce it correctly with an audio file.

A name is special thing to any one, if you either forget their name or mispronounce their name; it is like a huge slap in their face. So, try not to forget their names and pronounce them correctly.

If you want to pronounce the name correctly, then visit HowToSayThatName.com. This site has thousands of names from languages like Chinese, Vietnamese, English, German, Korean, Russian and also some Indian names.

The site has a huge audio database of people’s name and helps you to pronounce them correctly.

The site doesn’t have all the names in the world, but I have asked them how to add names for those that are not in the list. They can have a suggestion button to add audio files for the names not in the list.

If you have a co-worker with a difficult name, visit the site HowToSayThatName and impress him or her and please don’t slaughter their names.

Ref: Labnol.org.

Angelina Jolie best-paid movie actress in Hollywood for 2008

Hollywood star Angelina Jolie is the highest paid movie actress for the year 2008, she supplanted previous winner Reece Witherspoon.

Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie commands a $15 million a movie. She recently starred in Clint Eastwood’s Changeling and in Wanted.

Her contract states that in case of a sequel, she is expected make $20 million according to Hollywood Reporter.

Jolie will make more than Julia Roberts and Reece Witherspoon. Jolie finished second in 2007.

Other stars like Nicole Kidman and Halle Berry don’t get paid as much as Jolie, they make less than $10 million. Cameron Diaz, Katherine Heigl, Kate Hudson, Anne Hathaway and Jennifer Aniston are ahead of them both.

Overall, the male stars make more money than their female counterparts. Will Smith tops the list with $25 million per movie. Jolie’s husband Brad Pitt makes $20 million for a movie.

Angelina Jolie in Changeling - Trailer.

Wanted Movie Trailer.

EyeDrive Unmanned Ground Vehicle - An Introduction

EyeDrive, unmanned ground vehicle. Photo: Defense Update.

The EyeDrive is like a mini-robot that can navigate difficult terrain and can even carry up to 16 miniature rockets to shoot out the bad guys.

The unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) called EyeDrive is a powerful vehicle, every SWAT team, Army and the police would love to have to nab the armed bad guys.

The EyeDrive is remotely controlled with a special 360 panoramic video technology and a patented Point & Go sensor guidance mode to move in any directions and eliminate any human targets from 90 feet apart according to their Israel-based company ODF Optronics.

They can be used either separately or together with other K-9 units or special forces for reconnaissance purposes.

The video shows its spectacular handling capacity in a variety of tough environments, it even hops over 3-foot obstacles.

Currently it is used mainly for reconnaissance but in the near future it will carry 16 0.3 inch miniature rockets (40 grams each) in a quad launcher that weight just a little over half a pound.

This EyeDrive will prevent unnecessary loss of human lives and will help to pin point the whereabouts of the bad guys inside and relay it back to the unit.

Also, iRobot does a similar job in helping the army.

EyeDrive Demo.

Researchers Find Thousands Of New Species From A Tiny Tropical Island

Squat Lobster. Photo: National Geographic.

Finding a few or finds tens of new species might be normal, but finding thousands of new species at the same time in one tiny area is just impressive. A team of scientists found these new species in a tiny remote South Pacific island.

About 153 scientists from 20 countries did a Santo 2006 biodiversity survey in the Espiru Santo island in the Republic of Vanuatu. They are located in the South Pacific region.

The survey was partly sponsored by the National Geographic Society’s “Committee for Research and Exploration.”

In a five month period, the researchers collected more than 10,000 species for research and cataloging purpose. About 2,000 of them are newly discovered.

The squat lobster, shown below was found in water 150 meters (492 feet) deep is one of the new ones.


Squat Lobster. Photo: Nationalgeographic.com

A majority of the 10,000 species about 600 were crab species, the two-horn box crab is a unique one, it is able to crack and peel open snails’ shells with a sharp tooth on its right claw to cut open the shells and the long, slender fingers on the left claw to yank its prey from inside.

Two Horn Box Crab. Photo: Nationalgeographic.

Here are more species pictures:


Sea Urchin. Photo: Nationalgeographic.


Sundial Snail. Photo: Nationalgeographic.com

Cockle

Snapping Shrimp

Boxer Crab

Nutritionists warn 'salt is as bad as cigarettes'

A Salt mine in the Salinas Grandes in Argentina. Photo: Flickr.

Nutritionists and doctors are worried that Australians are consuming too much salt than necessary, which may harm their health just like cigarettes do.

Nutritionists believe Australians are consuming too much salt than recommended. They are getting this high salt content not only from fast foods but also from canned foods.

Some of the foods found high in salt content were bread, processed meats, baked beans, canned vegetables, table sauces, some breakfast cereals and fast food.

They found that less than 5 percent of all sausages and beef burgers sold in the supermarkets in Australia contain acceptable levels of salt.

The nutritionists from Australia and from other parts of the world met and discussed this issue at the Nutrition Society of Australia Conference.

Jacqui Webster, senior project manager for “The George Institute for International Health” told at the conference that Australians are eating more than the recommended 6 grams (0.21 ounces or 0.01 lb) of salt a day.

She said despite many health warnings, many Australians are ignoring the recommendation and eating too much salt.

She told the conference:

"Consuming too much salt, or sodium, can lead to serious health problems including high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, stroke, osteoporosis and stomach cancer...There is also some evidence that it adds to the severity of asthma symptoms.''

There was a survey done in 2007, the Australian National Children’s Nutrition and Physical Activity survey. The results shows the boys were consuming about 9 grams (0.32 ounces or 0.02 lb) of salt daily compared to the girls 6 grams (0.01 lb) of salt.

Ms. Webster is confident from the above conclusion that adults will be eating more salt than the average children.

A similar research in United Kingdom found that processed foods contained about 75 percent of salt in a person’s diet, 10 percent of salt came from natural foods like fish and vegetables and the remaining 15 percent came from adding salt at the dinner table.

Ms. Webster concluded that everyone should maintain the right salt balance and pay close attention to it.

Surgeon performs amputation surgery in Congo with help of text messaging

A British doctor volunteering in Congo sought the help of a fellow surgeon to do an emergency amputation to save a boy's life. Using text messaging, the doctor was able to perform the surgery successfully.

Dr. David Nott is currently doing medical volunteering in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in Rutshuru. He is a vascular surgeon in Charing Cross Hospital in west London.

Nott recently found himself helping a 16-year-old boy, who required emergency amputation to save his life. The boy only had a few days to live, as his arm was ripped off in the gun battle between government and rebel forces and it was badly infected and gangrene set in.

Nott had to perform a forequarter amputation and was planning to remove the collar bone and shoulder blade. Since he hasn't performed this surgery before, he contacted an expert -- Dr. Meirion Thomas, from London's Royal Marsden Hospital. Thomas texted the step-by-step instructions to Nott.

The surgery is very complex and requires an Intensive Care Unit to provide support operations and a hefty blood supply to the patient. Since there was neither an ICU nor any emergency blood supply, Nott was left with no choice but to follow the instructions. The operation was a success and the teen has recovered fully.

Nott was very happy and thankful the surgery went well. He told the BBC:

"I don't think there's more than two or three surgeons in the UK who can do this. It was just luck that I was there and could do it. I don't think that someone that wasn't a vascular surgeon would have been able to deal with the large blood vessels involved. That is why I volunteer myself so often, I love being able to save someone's life."

Nott is back in London and recently saw the boy's face in MSF and was very happy to see that he is doing well now. He volunteers with MSF for a month every year.

Get 8-16% permanent discount on express/ground shipping from Fedex.com

For a limited FedEx is offering this unique discount plan. If you are home shipping or shipping from your business, then you should join this special savings plan called "FedEx Save Now". This plan is applicable for both new and existing customers.

I joined it and within a few clicks you get approved quickly.

Click the link to proceed with this savings plan, you get up to 16% off express shipments and 8% off ground shipments.

You get 16% discount for the following FedEx express services:

• FedEx International Priority®
• FedEx International Economy®
• FedEx Priority Overnight®
• FedEx Standard Overnight®
• FedEx 2Day®
• FedEx express Saver®

You get 7% discount for the following FedEx Express Services:

• FedEx International Priority® Freight
• FedEx International Economy® Freight
• FedEx 1Day® Freight
• FedEx 2Day® Freight
• FedEx 3Day® Freight

You get 8% discount for these FedEx Ground® and FedEx Home Delivery® services:

• FedEx Ground®, Zones 2-8
• FedEx Home Delivery®, Zones 2-8

They have not provided any deadline for this offer, but get this approved right away so you can enjoy savings for a long time.

FedEx usually provides a big discount for large shippers, but for others the above plan would be a great place to start.

Nokia unveils N97 Smartphone

Nokia N97 Smartphone. Photo: Engadget.com.

Nokia launches N97 to compete against Apple’s iPhone 3G, BlackBerry Storm and Google Android phone. N97 has a slew of features every Smartphone user would love to have.

Instead of just producing another phone, Nokia produces a good one that compares well with the popular iPhone 3G. You can see some of their main features in the videos posted here.

Nokia calls N97 not just a phone rather as the “world’s most advanced mobile computer.”

It has a 3.5 inch screen just like the iPhone 3G screen, but has a 640 x 360 pixels (16.9 aspect ratio) resistive touch screen display compared to 480 x 320 pixels touch screen in iPhone.

The users can input data either via tactile feedback or with a QWERTY keyboard that opens under the main phone.

Other specs for N97 are the following.

1.) It has HSDPA, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth radios.
2.) A-GPS.
3.) 3.5 mm head jack
4.) 32GB Onboard memory with microSD expansion (up to 48GB total memory)
5.) Battery will hold up to 1.5 days of continuous audio playback or 4.5 hours video
6.) 5 Megapixel Camera with Carl Zeiss Lens.
7.) DVD quality video capture at 30 fps.

The N97 will be available first quarter of 2009 with a retail price of $693 (€550).

N97 has impressive features, a worthy competitor for iPhone 3G.

For more information about Nokia N97 click NokiaN97.org.

They practice what they preach; bride and groom will kiss only after marriage

Melody LaLuz kisses fiance Claudaniel Fabien, but only on the cheek, during their rehearsal dinner party Friday night in Elmwood Park. (Tribune photo by Charles Cherney / November 28, 2008)

A U.S. couple who are abstinence counselors for teens in public schools decided to practice what they preach; they will kiss only after being wed.

Claudaniel Fabien, 30, and Melody LaLuz, 28, married this Saturday when they kissed for the first time. They both teach abstinence courses for teens in Chicago Public Schools. They wanted to practice what they preached.

Fabien and LaLuz came up with the “no-kissing” rule after they decide to date last year. They wanted to set this rule to keep their relationship under control.

When they dated, they made sure they were never alone together. When they watched movies at home, they watched them as though they were in the theater, sitting straight up in chairs and not lying on sofa to avoid any temptation.

Fabien told Chicago Tribune:

"It really tested us and encouraged us to grow closer in our hearts and our minds, just expressing things verbally."

He showed his passion for her in other ways, such as cleaning her car and washing the dishes.

Their fist kiss would be magical according LaLuz said before getting married. She told the Tribune:

"I don't know how long it'll last, but it'll be great."

They will be going to Bahamas for their honeymoon and have no worries about abstaining.

When asked about the “test drive the car before you buy” theory, LaLuz replied smartly with her own philosophy, saying, "You can't take the car out of the parking lot until you pay for it."

Good luck to them.