Daily Technology News

Yahoo tells Microsoft: 'Buy us'

2008-11-09T20:46:00.005+06:00

The Internet portal of the co-founder and CEO Jerry Yang made the remark despite the fact Yahoo rejected a $ 33 (£ 21) a share offer from Microsoft in May.

Mr Yang's suggestion also came hours after Google pulled out of an Internet advertising partnership with Yahoo.

"To this day the best thing for Microsoft to do is buy Yahoo," said Mr Yang.

"I do not think is a bad idea at all, at the right price, whatever the price. We are prepared to sell the company," he told a packed ballroom at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco.

During the conversation on stage in front of a standing-room only crowd, Mr Yang was asked why the company did not have the $ 33 a share offering in the summer. The company's share price closed Wednesday below $ 14 (£ 8.80) a share.

"They walked away from a public offering and were ready to negotiate. We wanted to negotiate an agreement. We believe that we are not far apart.

"At the end of the day, were withdrawn and have since been clear about not wanting to buy the company," said Mr Yang in a rare public appearance.

Microsoft, however, come back and offer to buy part of Yahoo search, but an agreement was never beaten.

Once again Mr Yang said the bid then it was not good enough, but that still remained open to persuasion.

"As far as dealing with a search goes, we are open minded about it. The last time he felt the agreement was not a good year for the company, but that does not mean that we are not going to make one."

When asked if negotiations were pending with the software giant, Mr Yang said: "No new news."

Microsoft declined to comment.

And when quizzes about a possible deal with AOL, Mr. Yang played coy with his host John Battelle.

"AOL purchase? I can not talk about that, John. If I told you have to kill you."

"Disappointed"

Although Yahoo remains the door open for Microsoft, Google closed one earlier in the day an agreement the two companies have beaten along the search-based advertising.

After four months of control of the Justice Department, Google decided to back out of that agreement had been formulated to provide advertising across the Internet portal's search results.

It has been estimated that the company would have been worth about $ 800m (£ 500m) a year for Yahoo.

"Pressing ahead not only run the risk of a prolonged legal battle, but also the damage to relations with valued partners," said Google chief counsel David Drummond.

Mr Yang said he was "disappointed that they [Google] do not want to defend this agreement."

However, he felt that in his mind, the government failed.

"I really thought that the government in this case do not understand our industry. They have a market definition that I think is too narrow and I think things like this tend to have unintended consequences for our entire industry.

"So clearly does not agree with what the point of view, that is, but they are the government and can decide on these things."

Mr Yang said that the alliance Google is not crucial to their bottom line and that is "incremental" to its global growth plans.

_______________________________________________

Watch Full Movies, Trailers & Reviews
______________________________________

Top 10 iPhone Apps We Wish Existed

2008-10-30T13:11:00.004+06:00

Yo, Mama automatically sends his loving mother a text message - right before he calls to ask why you never call.

OhYeah? A microphone-based utility that instantly translates an apartment in a line on a nifty Bon mot. Face!

iNebriate A voice analyzer in a drunken state that determines whether you are willows and turns off the phone before drinking, call your ex.

StarGazer A-GPS tracking application that ping when celebrities are in the vicinity - so that its stem.

iNewton turns your PC into a perfect recreation of PDA coolest in 1993.

CoryCaddyTM A sample of voice blogger Cory Doctorow continually remember that your iPhone is a pathetic piece of DRM-filled Crippleware. (It also functions as a ring tone).

WherzDaBoss? A-GPS monitoring system that provides real-time updates of their position of the head and warns the user when the Overlord is in the ear desktop.

Meta-4 craft of similes and metaphors faster than a $ 2.99 buffet India passes through your digestive tract.

Peril-Sensitive Screen Sentry Turns the display black if you get bad news via instant messaging, SMS or e-mail.

GPAss analyze the background of any chat room to tell you who the bastard. Can not find one? So it.

'Smart' appliances could ease electrical-grid woes

2008-10-29T22:44:00.003+06:00

Did you know that there is a drift in the refrigerator should run its automatic defrost cycle?

Well, look, there, and could help facilitate and stress in the local lattice of energy consumption during vrsnog hours, according to GE Consumer & Industrial.

Currently, GE refrigerator request demist automatic means of factors such as the doors open. But, according to the company, may build a refrigerator to slow the cycle, while the local network of electrical signals, it's a good off-road at the beginning to aspire for more electricity.

Refrigeration not only devices that can be programmed to wait for his show.

GE is testing a series of so-called "energy management-enabled devices with Louisville Gas and Electric Co. in Louisville, Ky., the company announced Wednesday. This includes ranges, mounting plate and dryer, dishwasher, and ready pećnici for mikrotalasnoj.

The devices are equipped with "Smart Meter" to communicate with the local power, and the running times during the off-peak period. Consumers remain the choice of whether to use a device from time vrsnog hours.

Program seeks to address the problem of the country of energy, which are overloaded power grids and increasing consumer use. For the problem of power concerns with regard to the increase in plug-in electric vehicles.

GE estimates that there are currently about 3,000 companies in the U. S. Many of them are based on their ability to space power, and some on the basis of Sele for-payment system to encourage off-peak electricity consumption. Program to help consumers avoid the rush hour can help save money, according to GE.

However, a catch. For those devices work, electrical grid, which should work to communicate with the device, "Smart Meter".

This means that the tools for the standardized system that allows household appliances to communicate with their grilles.

Microsoft announced Windows Azure, a version of Windows

2008-10-29T22:17:00.004+06:00

Microsoft announced on Monday a version of Windows that runs through the Internet from within Microsoft's own data centers.

Dubbed Blue Windows, is less a replacement for the operating system that runs on the PC itself what is an alternative for developers to write programs that allow living within Microsoft data centers rather than in servers of a particular company.

"It is a transformation of our software and a transformation of our strategy," said Ray Ozzie, a pioneer in the computer industry that now serves as the chief architect of Microsoft software. (For a play-by-play account of the speech by Ozzie, see "PDC 2008: Windows Azul live blog.")

Microsoft first outlined a change to "Live Services" at an event in San Francisco in 2005. The company has released a few little things, such as live mesh, but the announcement Monday marked the first real debate on how the Microsoft Internet disparate strategies among themselves.

The announcements come at the start of the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference here. On Tuesday, Microsoft plans to enter into more details about Windows 7, the successor to Windows Vista, due out by around January 2010.

With the launch of Blue, Microsoft will be in competition with other providers of Internet storage and computer services including Amazon, Salesforce.com, and Rackspace.

Ozzie said he was tipping his cap to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to innovate the model of the host computer. Amazon "established a base level of standard design, architecture models, and business models that we are going to learn from everyone," he said.

Microsoft Windows is doing Azul in the form of preview to developers, with a limited subset of the features that are planned in the final product before its release.

There were not many details about how Microsoft will charge for Blue, saying it will be free during the preliminary hearing. Final pricing, Ozzie said, "will be competitive with the market."

The company plans to offer businesses the option of running through the types of Internet software that traditionally run on a business' own servers. Microsoft already sells its Exchange corporate e-mail software in this manner, but that is only the beginning, says Microsoft Vice President Dave Thompson.

"All our software companies will be delivered as an online service as an option," said Thompson.

E! Entertainment selected EVS to go tapeless in their studio

2008-10-27T18:19:00.003+06:00

E! Entertainment EVS tapes selected to go to schools, and move files based on their full willingness of non-linear editor.

This project was originally intended to transfer the contents of E! Entertainment for studies of Avid to edit the item, the production of tapes of work, and give way to the studio to HD. This project includes the development of them to share a little between the divisions, including the two studies and other Web-based division.

"The solution is the only EVS we found that both the production of tools and the ability of a network that is needed," said Eric Salsman, engineers transmission technology of E!. "As the project grew to include additional features SVE show their ability to adapt to our needs with flexibility, upgradeability, and reliability is unmatched by other products tested." S compatibility with the solutions they want to be fully proven to be valuable in our manufacturing process. "

EVS whole team, including the XT [2] production server, natively supports many popular codec issue, including the mania of DNx codec. This means that the support of the original E! should not be content to turn a transfer of manufacturing, and publishers can start working on the ground to pick up the XT [2], although still in the process of registration.

Currently, the facility consists of four primary 6CH XT [2] Spotboxes, two IPDirectors, two XFiles and XTAccess transferred from a mania. Creation is split between two studios - Studio Studio A and B - each with two XT [2] s, an XF [2], and each IPDirector.

All XT [2] instruments related to the HD-Ready modernizing expected in 2009. In addition, the network is fully extended, so that when CEG to import the right spot survey next year, the location of all the studies will be able to share media quickly and easily.

"The EVS demonstrated in accordance with the environmental compatibility of study," said Fred Garroy, General Manager of U.S. EVS. "This is the first time EVS-hippeer manage the transfer has been made in development studies, and, as expected, has proved very successful."

Nokia confirms touchscreen N-series for 2009

2008-10-26T02:30:00.019+06:00

The 5800 XpressMusic may have stolen the thunder by being the first touchscreen S60 handset, but it will not be in the limelight for too long.

Devinder Kishore, director of marketing for Nokia India, was quoted in a recent event in New Delhi, saying the Finnish company "will have a large touch screen phones coming, including a series of N-device very soon." The phone is expected to be announced this year and will hit the market in early 2009.

Sure, we knew it was coming, but not before we knew it would be that, taking into account a recent Reuters report that said the 5800 XpressMusic will miss the Christmas shopping season in most developed markets. According to Nokia, the touch screen XpressMusic model will be available in Asia this quarter, starting with Singapore and Indonesia. Seeing how things are shaping up, we are willing to overlook the XpressMusic and wait for a swanky N-series model in place.

Dell readies Mini Vostro netbook for small business

2008-10-26T01:02:00.011+06:00

Dell is preparing an all-black version of its Inspiron Mini 9 NETBOOK this for a small business and to all vessels as the Vostro A90, according to a report by the Register of hardware.

Dell reportedly launched the machine in Japan today, and although the A90 is not yet available in the UK or U.S., Dell has already released documents support for the "new" model.

"New", of course, because the A90 is just a Mini 9 in color and all but name. The Mini A90 and 9 share the same 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270, 8.9in, 1024 x 600 display, 1GB of memory, 8 GB solid state drive, etc. No word on pricing on these shores, but the Windows XP only A90 retail in Japan for 92,830 yen ($ 972 / £ 606 / € 761), according to RegHardware. (What if you notice, is much more that 9 of the $ 349 Mini price here, and certainly beyond reason for the budget of Dell Vostro line.

It should also be noted that orders for the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 have been progressively rejected by the last few weeks, according to reports from around the web.

Windows 7 to get parallel-processing tweaks

2008-10-24T20:48:00.005+06:00

Microsoft provides bits and pieces, such as adding new features to develop tools to improve the parallel processing. However, in the next version of Windows Server and the client will take account of changes aimed at improving support for parallel computers.

Although Microsoft executives and those who have managed to acquire based on the principles of Windows 7 has focused mainly on the user in Windows 7, there will be some changes in the deal, too. Officers said that Microsoft's documentation deeper level changes between Windows Vista and Windows 7 should be minimized to ensure application compatibility and driver. However, officials admitted that Microsoft Win32, Windows kernel, is not suitable for asynchronous, concurrent computers.

Microsoft has taken the first steps towards solving this limitation, Windows 7, and the whole hip-brother, Windows Server 7 (of a product known as Windows Server 2008 R2). In the long run, as I blogger, the game plan is to find a way to exorcise the Windows Win32 and replaced by managed code - the best programming interfaces of all, which is better equipped to handle the parallel processing of tasks by many processors. (This is where the incubation of key projects redhawk, MinSafe Midori, and we all participate, but do not expect to see the fruits of any of these projects for now appears in Windows 8, at the earliest).

The next Microsoft Professional Developers Conference in late October, Microsoft executives are scheduled to discuss "the key changes architecture is to make the Microsoft Windows, so that the effective execution of parallel software, during the sessions, as described on the website the PDC.

A spokesman said: "Microsoft does not comment on the level of detail with respect to the Windows 7 yet."

"Win32 was never the intention of ultra modern, asynchronous processing," said Mundie

"Parallilismou the necessary adjustments at all levels of the stack," admitted Mundie. This is "repartioning various tasks in different layers .... So searching for the balance of features and runtimes. We need to formalize that in the operating system. Theï Expect the first cuts in the next generation of Windows."

For example, the Windows feature that needs this kind of balance, referred to Mundie user programming model. Move the Windows programmers are "very general," Mundie said. He noted that Microsoft has introduced a new model for testing for the development of robotics in time. Microsoft to launch a robot coordination and synchronization (RCC) and decentralized software services (DSS) Runtimes that are optimized for use on a PC or programming.

According to Wikipedia, Microsoft has already made some changes to the calendar in Vista:

"Windows NT operating systems use information from multiple queues. 32 priority levels are set from 0 to 31, the priorities of 0 to 15 is' normal 'priorities and the priorities of 16 to 31 at the time of the real priorities are soft, you must assign powers .... developer has changed in Windows Vista for the benefit of the series against the entry of modern processors to track exactly how many cycles is a thread of execution, rather than simply using a timer interrupt routine. "

Although today can handle Windows machines with multiple cores, and not for machines with 8, 16 or 32 + tests. I doubt that Microsoft is going to change much at a low level of the Windows operating system layer 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, in order to maintain the suspension of users to a minimum. However, the first seeds of Windows, for better parallel / asynchronous processing platforms sown, from 2009.

Any guess what can be done in the 7/Windows Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2, in order to improve the Windows term "parallel processing capability?

Hutchison 3G moves to extend high-speed mobile broadband coverage and capacity throughout Ireland

2008-10-24T00:02:00.001+06:00

Nokia Siemens Networks is expanding 3 Ireland's cellular network with a fast, reliable and green solution
Subscribers of Hutchison 3G Ireland Ltd., the operator of 3 Ireland network, are starting to enjoy high-speed mobile broadband services across the whole country as 3 expands its WCDMA/HSPA services in response to the growing demand for high speed broadband connectivity across Ireland.
Nokia is upgrading and extending 3's network and is also providing the innovative flat network architecture solution known as Internet High-Speed Packet Access (I-HSPA), a technology optimized for carrying huge volumes of data traffic, with its all-Internet Protocol (IP) backhaul. With the network extension, end users, whether they are on PCs, using laptops, or on the move with Internet enabled handsets will have access to high-speed and high-capacity wireless broadband, with enhanced voice, data and multimedia services, enabled by the High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) functionality. In addition, with the higher data rates and increased network capacity the subscribers of 3 will have access to a vast range of service offerings.

Abertis increases its stake in satellite operator Hispasat

2008-10-23T19:36:00.002+06:00

Spain-based infrastructure group Abertis has increased its stake in satellite service provider Hispasat to 33.4%. The infrastructure firm has reportedly paid around €35 million for buying a 5% stake which was previously owned by EADS/CASA. It currently is the biggest stakeholder in the satellite operator following its acquisition of a 28.4% stake in July 2007. Abertis also owns 32% stake in Eutelsat Communications, another shareholder of Hispasat. The new acquisition awaits clearance from Spanish authorities.

SureWest Communications to Report Third Quarter 2008 Results on November 6

2008-10-23T19:35:00.002+06:00

SureWest Communications (NASDAQ: SURW) will release financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2008 before the market opens on Thursday, November 6, 2008.
The company will host a conference call and live webcast at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, November 6, 2008. Open to the public, the webcast will be available live from the company's investor relations Web site at www.surw.com and via replay shortly after completion of the call. A telephone replay of the conference call will be available shortly after completion through Thursday, November 13 by dialing (888) 286-8010 and entering passcode 99179110. Visit www.surw.com for updates prior to the call.

Verizon Business Recognized as a Leader in Domestic North American Managed MPLS Services

2008-10-23T19:33:00.001+06:00

Forrester Research has recognized Verizon Business as a leading U.S. provider of managed multi protocol label switching (MPLS) services. In its October 2008 report, "The Forrester Wave(tm): Domestic North American Managed MPLS Services, Q4 2008," the firm states that among U.S. providers Verizon Business is "the overall leader," based in part on the company's strong placement in strategy. The report also states that: "Among U.S. providers, Verizon Business is first in service breadth, network performance, managed services definitions, and overall managed MPLS customer base."

Nokia Siemens Networks Selected to Create a Juniper Networks High Performance Infrastructure to Supply Advanced Ethernet Backbone for VOO

2008-10-23T19:31:00.001+06:00

Belgian Telecoms Operator Deploys Service-Enabling Network Infrastructure to Accelerate the Delivery of Revenue-Generating Multiplay Applications Nokia Siemens Networks and Juniper Networks, Inc., announced that VOO, has selected Nokia Siemens Networks to supply and support the Juniper Networks MX-series Ethernet Services Routers and EX-series Ethernet switches to create a high-performance, service-enabled network infrastructure. The new network will enable VOO to deliver fast, reliable and customizable multiplay services—including video-on-demand—to more than 1.2 million homes, providing competitive differentiation and driving profitability by delivering an exceptional customer experience.

Optus warns it will withdraw ifs investment if NBN deal is awarded to Telstra

2008-10-23T19:26:00.001+06:00

Australian company Optus has threatened to withdraw its investment in landline networks in case the government awards the National Broadband Network (NBN) tender to its rival Telstra in November. Optus CEO Paul Sullivan has said that the NBN tender offers the only hope for fair competitiveness in the country's landline infrastructure. The company is presently the biggest member of the Terria Consortium, which is vying for the NBN tender along with Telstra. Meanwhile O'Sullivan said that if the deal is awarded to Telstra, then Optus would be forced to eye other investment opportunities.

RIM to Bring the Power of the Web to BlackBerry Application Development..

2008-10-23T19:24:00.001+06:00

Research In Motion announced plans to introduce powerful new tools and technologies for web application developers to build highly-responsive, interactive, standalone web applications on BlackBerry smartphones. The new tools and technologies will include a new plug-in for Eclipse developers and new features for the BlackBerry Plug-in for Microsoft Visual Studio that support web development capabilities; as well as support for Gears, enabling web applications to run as standalone applications on BlackBerry smartphones. "As the BlackBerry Browser evolves to provide customers with a richer, more desktop-like experience, we are introducing powerful new web development tools and technologies to help developers create a more robust and optimal web experience for BlackBerry smartphone users," said Alan Brenner, Senior Vice President, BlackBerry Platform at Research In Motion. "Supporting web technologies and services is part of our ongoing commitment to providing best-in-class tools and services for mobile application development on the BlackBerry platform."

Apple's redone MacBook is another winner

2008-10-23T12:20:00.005+06:00

Apple MacBook white plastic equipment has been the most popular Macintosh sales to date. Therefore, it is hardly a surprise that Apple plans to keep right on the notebook being offered now for $ 100 less than $ 999.

However, the MacBook is the escalation in the situation. Last week, Apple unveiled two redesigned, including the $ 1599 model I'm testing. (The other gets $ 1299.)

The expense of buying extra loot you a bold new design of metal with a brilliant widescreen display with LED backlighting, buttonless wide trackpad Soup-up and Nvidia graphics for the players. You'll get the memory and storage, too. However, Apple and gives taketh away. The company removed the FireWire port that connects some camcorders and other devices. This is an agreement to break some of the people.

In many ways, these stylish computers resemble smaller screen versions, even more expensive cousin, the MacBook Pro. In fact, the MacBook Pro models are also produced from a single block of aluminum through a new manufacturing process called "unibody construction." Which makes them thinner, lighter and, according to Apple, more durable.

The MacBook I have no doubt that the test is robust. It is less than an inch thick and weighs 4.5 pounds, compared with 5 pounds of plastic to its predecessor. Apple is also trumpeting the machinery of the toxic material-free eco-friendliness.

However, Apple ticking exposures to users who rely on FireWire. Like many people, I still have a FireWire video camera, not to mention an external FireWire hard drive. Apple may want to drive customers the ability to FireWire MacBook Pro - models that start at $ 1999 - which are certainly better equipped for video editing.

The company also figures many of the friends who would do a lot of video editing latest camcorders own more than likely use USB instead of FireWire. Apple is not generous there, either: There are only two USB ports on the new MacBook.

You can still get FireWire in the entry-level MacBook plastic, but does not have the muscle for heavy-duty video editing.

I also wish Apple has included a memory card reader in their laptops. No.

Apple laptops tend to be more expensive than their Windows counterparts. But it is difficult to make a direct comparison. Windows Vista does not come close to measuring up to the rock solid Apple OS X Leopard operating system. Microsoft and its partners do not have a great answer Apple's iLife suite of digital media software, either, which is charged on all new Macs.

A closer look at the latest MacBook:

• Design. My test configuration has a bright, 13.3-inch screen, 2 gigabytes of RAM, 250 GB hard drive and a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, the same processor as in the less expensive MacBook Pro. As with other Mac laptop, has a built-in iSight camera, DVD recorder and a magnetic power connector that breaks out for sure if the same trip. The LED screen is bright, though I realized my thinking while watching a movie.

The most dramatic change - besides, perhaps, the metal box - is the new spacious trackpad, glass smooth. There are no buttons. Instead, this whole area is the "button". You can click anywhere on the pad, which may take a little getting used a. I tended to press the bottom of the trackpad, where the mouse buttons could have been otherwise. You can even "right click" by pressing on the bottom right of the trackpad area.

The wide trackpad also lets you use a series of "gestures". You can squeeze two fingers to zoom in or out of text or pictures, as in the iPhone. Or use three fingers in a swiping motion to navigate through photos. Not all the gestures feel natural. Rotating pictures with two fingers felt a little uncomfortable at first.

The backlit keyboard on my test model automatically turns in the dark, a feature not present in the cheapest MacBook. Typing on the keyboard felt good, but still prefer the keyboard of my old IBM ThinkPad.

• Graphics. Despite its popularity on college campuses, the MacBook age was never a player of the delicacy. NVIDIA GeForce 9400 graphics to help turn that around. I was pleased with the detail and fluid motion as I played Spore from Electronic Arts and Call of Duty 4 from Activision, Aspyr Media, and Infinity Ward.

• Battery. Apple claims up to five hours of battery life for the new MacBook, but the evidence does not factor in DVD playback. In my informal tests, I switched off energy-saving measures and simultaneously ran a DVD and Wi-Fi, something that would, for example, in an airplane. Even so, I have about 2 ½ hours before the battery gave way, enough to get through a movie. You can conveniently look at the indicator lights on the side of the machine to get a quick reading of the amount of battery power is left.

It is also easy to take off the case back to remove and replace the battery.

Apple has created a winner with the new MacBook. Unless you can not live without FireWire.

HP announces iPaq Voice Messenger and iPaq Data Messenger handsets

2008-10-23T11:56:00.005+06:00

The smartphone market is no longer limited to a handful of corporate executives stressed. We ordinary folk need for instant access to our e-mail at any time, be able to change our state of Facebook if the bus is thirty seconds late Twitter and our friends if we pass a stool especially impressive in the morning. Good, that might not last.

Now HP wants a benefit of consumers smartphone foot. Any kind. They do not want any riff-Raff mind, is aimed at "prosumers", which is the HP cunning mixture of "professionals" and "consumer". Therefore, it is presumed to ordinary people, businessmen or simply lazy.

Anyway, I suppose that if you fall into this category, HP has a treatment for you. Has announced the iPaq Voice Messenger and Windows Messenger iPaq data, two Windows Mobile smartphones to bring a robust set of features and specifications list to the table. They are not bad than good.

The Messenger of data is the most impressive of the two. To begin with a 2.8 "QVGA touch-screen interface, as well as WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth and quad-band GSM connections. 3.5G data connections are available, but it is also available only in tri-band.

Why not just use because there is work also has a 3.1 megapixel camera and a MicroSD slot for storing hours of self-motivation on the tape.

Compared with most of the terminals and BlackBerry iPhone is a little too much for the beast to 17.4 x 114.5 x 57mm - which is approximately the same size as a Nokia N96, so it is not difficult to manage, and packs a full QWERTY keyboard with a low slider. As expected, the touch screen is still very much on a stick, which clearly steps on the back.

The only other feature that really is a slider, which is used to mute the phone at the time of passage, when in a meeting. Lunch or power, if you prefer.

The iPaq Voice Messenger is basically more of the same, only with a sliding keyboard and touch screen are not. Like the Messenger of data that sports a five-Optical Mouse / button on your browser. Apart from that, it's the same all the specifications of form and very little to write home about.

These really are not the most exciting smartphones we've ever seen, but if you're hell bent on getting a phone WinME, you could do worse. Both are due out in November SIM free. Messenger will establish a database of around £ 399, while the Voice Messenger will cost £ 333.

India's first unmanned mission to the moon

2008-10-22T11:37:00.004+06:00

India launched its first unmanned lunar mission on Wednesday, following the footsteps of rival China, an emerging power in Asia known for its space ambitions and scientific skills.

Chandrayaan-1 (vehicle of the Moon), a cuboid spacecraft built by Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) cursed from the southern Indian Space Center shortly after sunrise to improve the country ambition to obtain more space for global business.

Chinese astronauts were feted as national heroes last month after his country the first to walk, and India does not want to be left.

"What started it was wonderful time," M. Madhavan Nair, chairman of ISRO, told reporters.

India and the national television broadcast live the event. Some scientists Thumper her breasts, hugged each other and applauded as the rocket soared into space.

Greeted the media in patriotism, to launch occurred Croatia has helped to restore their confidence, and it's a beating in recent weeks the signs of a slowdown in the economy, as well as international criticism against attacks Hindus against Christians.

Perhaps it is important for a country where hundreds of millions of people still live in poverty and despair of millions of children are still malnourished, the cost of the mission of the month is hardly a question.

"Destination Monday ... historic day for India", charted a TV channel on the screen.

Subject to a technical malfunction, the spacecraft to orbit the moon for two years and one month before scanning any evidence of water, and precious metals.

Month gadget called the impactor will land on the moon and causing some of the elements and tools for evaluating the particles of handicrafts, ISRO said.

An important objective is to be responsible for Helium 3 is a very rare Ted Allen to land, but called for the inclusion of the pwersa and can be an important source of energy in the future, some scientists believe.

He is thought to be more richly in the month, but this is still rare and difficult to implement.

The project cost 79 million dollars (47.7 million pounds), well below the Chinese and Japanese probes in 2007, said ISRO months mission to pave the way for India to claim a large piece of global business space.

The mission is expected to detail a summary of the month which provides for precious metals and water.

Of nuclear energy to power the space

For many Indians, is launching a new notch in the Philippines and aspirations into a global player. India has recently launched a civilian nuclear agreement with India, effectively passing the Defacto nuclear power station.

In April, India has 10 satellites in orbit by a rocket and said that ISRO is planning more launches planned before the mission checkpoints in the world, and then to Mars four years.

ISRO will include a number of countries, including Israel, a project in an ultraviolet telescope on the Indian satellite within a year.

It is also building a tropical weather satellite in French, the cooperation of Japan in a project to improve the management area, and the creation of a strong rise of satellite launchers, which hopes to use to launch more satellites Heavy in 2010.

India has 10 remote sensing satellites since 1998, has several satellites in space will move to 170 transponders and also has a light-weight satellites for Belgium, Germany, Korea, Japan and France.

T-Mobile and Google Introduce First Android Phone (G1)

2008-10-22T10:49:00.003+06:00

Google and T-Mobile have introduced the first Android-based mobile phone today called the T-Mobile G1. T-Mobile held a press conference which is available for online streaming. T-Mobile's press conference provided quick overviews of the device and seemed to position the device directly against the Apple iPhone with developers discussing the openness of the platform without any approval process. The phone will be commercially launched on October 22nd alongside a large marketing campaign.

I like the T - Mobile's customers for the current T - Mobile's goal in one day last month, announced that prior to using the big advantage is lost, and we win I think. If I were the first batch of orders in the days before computers to access or Wednesday, according to some reports, people have started yesterday and will need to. The T - Mobile is the latest in news, target one can pick up supplies, shops and markets of San Francisco tonight at 6pm Pacific Standard time is limited, Tuesday, Oct. 21. And the October 22, T - Mobile to be expected in the third generation of 3G coverage of the retailer's goal in a population of 1. If I in the case of today's Internet, in the head in order to save a person's body, rather than wait for hours in early November to gather ideas.

If the site can be online in order, 3G does not exist in the market, or for delivery to your home to the warehouse. If the line is going to be interesting as a target 1, iPhone was because of that, we geeks very, very constructive and I, the media reports that some have not seen a lot of goals 1 Know that many of the questions.

Maintenance of applications in the market for another interesting target for Google to display one of the robot, and once again re-appear, and some are new applications (MySpace Mobile). I have already sent a review unit I have and I for one's country, a little bit in front of the unit after waiting for the day. We have some of the major application is installed, I would like everyone to think of tomorrow, but we see what happens to the need to please.

Features discussed:

- Amazon mobile music store (press release) preloaded on the G1.
- Built in keyboard. Google Maps. Android Market, YouTube
- Launch on October 22nd
- No tethering option
- SIM-locked to T-Mobile
- Read Word, PDF, Excel files. No exchange compatibility, but 3rd parties could bring it.
- GMail is push, IMAP is pull
- No desktop application to sync
- Interface video
- Specs: 480x320 screen, 3.1MP camera, 5hrs talk time, 1GB MicroSD card preinstalled, GPS, accelerometer. Wi-Fi. 3G. Bluetooth.

Other notes:

- Physical keyboard. Typing "OK"
- Tied to Google web email, contacts, calendar. Support for 3rd party email too.
- "Won't win any beauty contests" but feels good in hand when closed
- Software slick, responsive
- Copy, paste
- Instant Messaging
- Very basic music player, Amazon MP3 downloads
- No built in video player, but you can download one from the Market
- Only comes with 1GB memory. Upgradable to 8GB.
- Removable battery.

BlackBerry Storm in Action on Video

2008-10-21T02:21:00.002+06:00

Verizon and RIM officially announced the BlackBerry Storm on October 8th. To keep your interest up, Verizon published video material of the BlackBerry Storm. We published the video in Youtube channel

The video shows in detail several key aspects of the first touch screen BlackBerry.

The typing on the virtual keyboard of the Storm looks in the video reasonably fast, but you have to of course stare at the screen at all times to hit the right keys. For BlackBerry power users this will not work well.

I think the Storm will have a hard time to compete with the iPhone. The BlackBerry Bold has a much easier walk to success.

There is still now final release date for the BlackBerry Storm on Verizon Wireless. Of course pricing is also still up in the air. More details about the BlackBerry Storm.

Researchers hack wired keyboards, hijack keystrokes

2008-10-21T02:07:00.003+06:00

The group of Swiss researchers say There are several ways to get the keys to the strikes the keyboard cable to measure the electromagnetic radiation when the pressure is the key.

In general, as well as a team of investigators from the security and encryption laboratory in Lausanne, Switzerland, found four different forms of partial or complete recovery Keystrokes with cables, keyboards up to a distance of 20 meters, even through walls.

Studies on the discovery will be published after peer review process. Team member Martin Sylvain Vuagnoux Pasini and explain the results:

To determine whether the cable keyboard and generate damage emanation, which measures the electromagnetic radiation emitted when pressure is the key. In analyzing the risks of radiation, usually used to control the pace and specific recipient. However, this method could not be better: The maximum does not include the universe, as well as a large amount of information is lost.

Our approach is to receive a signal from the antenna and work through the electromagnetic spectrum was arrested.

We found 4 different ways (including the fact that this attack. UPDF) full or partial recovery Keystrokes with cables, keyboards up to a distance of 20 meters, even through walls. We tested 11 different models of the keyboard with a cable purchased between 2001 and 2008 (PS / 2, USB and headphones). All of them are vulnerable and at least one of the 4-attacks.

We concluded that the keyboard cable is sold in stores generate damage emanation (mainly due to cost pressures in the construction). Thus, it is not safe for the transmission of information. There is no doubt that the attack could be improved to great extent, because they use relatively inexpensive equipment.

Panel to release two videotapes on the Internet (here and here) that the results of the investigation.

Google Chrome Adds Greasemonkey Support

2008-10-21T01:55:00.002+06:00

It seems that a recent building is chromium support for Greasemonkey - a very popular, and previously only Firefox browser plugin. Greasemonkey can be used by developers to make a lot of useful things such as the creation of math, the creation of themes, and the setting of the annoying problems on the websites without having to wait for the website owner to take his do it for you.

Google still has not provided a way for developers to create plugins for chrome, because doing so would open a Pandora's box with regard to security goes. Greasemonkey is an interesting addition to support because developers can now do essentially a plugin that works for specific sites instead of allowing global "browser-level" plugins.

Of course, Google has a day to allow the development of plugins world, but this is an important first step in the right direction.

NASA: More trouble with Hubble Space Telescope

2008-10-20T03:53:00.004+06:00

NASA's efforts to obtain the patient Hubble Space Telescope working again have hit a snag, and engineers are trying to figure out their next step. Officials had hoped to have the 18-year-old observatory back in business Friday, after it stopped sending pictures three weeks ago. However, a couple of problems that arose on Thursday and now the recovery operations are on hold.

Flight controllers at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, began the long process of restoration of data transmission on Wednesday. Everything was going well until late Thursday afternoon.

The problems posed by one of Hubble's cameras and the command and data handling system of instruments for science, said NASA spokeswoman Susan Hendrix. That system is not the end of last month and has prevented the telescope to capture and transmit the data used to create the stunning images of the cosmos that Hubble is known.

Because of the damage, NASA delayed its final Hubble repair mission by shuttle astronauts are set for October. The mission will not happen until at least February, possibly later.

The recovery effort that involved switching to a backup channel for the command and data processing system that had been dormant since the telescope was launched in 1990.

Hendrix said it was too early to know the seriousness of the most recent.

"If it is an error of command and to figure out, then you can bring a backup," said Hendrix. "But if it is more serious, we're going to need a little more time to solve problems."

T3's Top Ten Run down of the Best Digital SLR Cameras

2008-10-19T11:51:00.013+06:00

1.) Nikon D60

Recent winner of the T3 Gadget awards for best picture of gadgets, this is a great camera for beginners and experts alike. A 10.2-megapixel sensor with a 2.5in screen is more than enough for a good quality of lace, and the best news: you can pick it for about 350 notes.

2.) Canon EOS 450d

If you are buying a new camera, you might as well get that one can do everything and more. The Canon EOS 450d has an alarming feature list, but it feels very natural in your hand, there is also a 12.2-megapixel sensor post-production crop fun if you want to cut a family member out unwanted ...

3.) Sony Alpha 900

Perhaps you want to take pictures and really bring it later. Maybe you can not be bothered to get up from his chair to take a picture of his new car. Either way, packed together with a decent goal, this 24.6-megapixel camera can take full part in the shooting of miles away, allowing it fits the same size as a good ol '35mm device.

4.) Samsung GX-20

You can be a bit surprised to see the Korean name on this list, but thanks to a "technology partnership" with Pentax, Samsung has done a decent hash of the digital SLR market. The GX-20 is an example of this: despite looking and feeling like a re-badge Pentax K20D, it is cheaper and allow you to fly through their day to day needs of the camera.

5.) Olympus E-520

Sporting a super-clear 2.7-inch LCD screen on the back, this camera has the build quality is fantastic and beautiful vibrant images. It might have dropped the tilt and twist LCD of the previous models, but the Live View function and good housing will provide new buyers with a real blow to his ball.

6.) Nikon D90

Nikon is a company that knows how to make a splash in the market for cameras, and the new D90 is no exception, being the first digital SLR to offer video recording. Perhaps nothing but a trick, is well complemented by a 12.2-megapixel sensor, and a great scene recognition system for those moments when you forget you're in a car park or in the country.

7.) Canon EOS 1D Mark III

Ah, so you do not want to spend a small change in a camera? Then check the EOS 1D Mark III, which has been designed with the photographer in mind today. Hosting a smaller battery, a 21-megapixel sensor and a 3-inch LCD, this camera will sublime shots, even at ISO 100 - and things get mind blowing over that. It could be costly in more than two thousand, but at least you know you're paying for the actual quality.

8.) Nikon D3

The D3 is a comprehensive framework for digital SLR with a nice touch extra: is treated with a high level of glasses too. You can shoot nine frames per second to help you capture that perfect picture, and with more color and less noise. And in ISO 6400 (that is, frankly, a silly amount of light), he was just surprised with this behemoth of the camera world.

9.) Fujifilm S5 Pro

This could be a bit dated, having traveled in camera bags for over a year, but it is still a favorite scene in the photograph. Looking like the Nikon D200 (which makes sense considering that it is housed in a Nikon body) can crank things right up to ISO 3200, section 11 allows the automatic focus, and a battery that was just to give.

10.) Sony A350

Sometimes you want a camera that just feels nice. But sometimes you just want to really do a lot of things simply and that is where the Sony A350 steps in.

Next-gen mobile: InfoWorld's preview guide

2008-10-19T10:53:00.005+06:00

The iPhone from Apple redefined a mobile device, a true HTML, e-mail, and applications for smartphones. But after 18 months, the iPhone is facing its first real competition, which will begin shipping in late October.

Questions relating to Apple with its 2.0 software update, developers of complaints about its very controlled environment, and thus the company to give all support to the opening of a competition.

InfoWorld evaluates their relative merits, based on what we know today. Note that all the 3G networks of support, touch interfaces, accelerometers, and location-detection services. Are the newcomers actually keep their promises? Come to find out how to ship. Come back to our hands-on examinations.

Apple's New MacBooks - dtechnews

2008-10-19T00:31:00.002+06:00

The new Apple MacBook is finally here, and the characteristic of the updates that are more modest. The new portable Apple designs the sport slimmer, brighter and more energy efficient LED backlit screens, the new graphic systems, buttonless trackpads, and much more. The updates have led some to ask whether now is the time to move from one PC to a Mac.

However, as cool as are updates, Apple has not reached perfection MacBook. Here is a look at what Apple is right and what I would have liked to see. Done Right Construction Apple Studier stressed the building as one of the reasons for the development of its "unibody" manufacturing technique, and of course, the new MacBook is as robust as they come. Compare the new design with the former, who had an annoying tendency to crack.

The two different styles of MacBooks are like night and day, the old and creaky MacBook seems cheap in comparison. Simple, fast access Apple has done a good job that the MacBook components easily accessible. Just pop off the battery cover to get to the hard drive. Quite a few screws, and boom, there are memory, motherboard and optical drive. Do-It-Yourself upgraders will be happy with a new MacBook, although we would like Apple to reduce the number of screws guarding the form of guts.

Ports: What was Apple thinking? Now that Apple has eliminated FireWire MacBook (a decision that upset some users), the only peripheral connectors of the new models are two USB ports. If you own a printer, iPod, digital camera, external hard drive, or perhaps an external keyboard or mouse, you might run out of ports in trouble unless you buy a USB hub. An additional built-in USB port or two would have been a welcome addition. Pesky stains It's a little thing, but Apple includes a soft cloth to clean fingerprints and stains of the MacBook. You may want to keep it in your laptop bag, because you gonna need it.

The glass screen is a magnet for fingerprints, and the deposition of aluminum as well as user-friendly shows fingerprints. Good enough portability In a mere 4.5 pounds, the MacBook is sufficient light and compact enough to throw in your bag and take with you wherever you go. And, unlike his brother Flat MacBook Air, the new MacBook includes an optical drive and a more powerful processor.

Given the choice, I think I take the MacBook Air any day, even if it means another pound and average weight. A bright idea Love or hate the brightness, the MacBook screen is flat-that beautiful. The screen is bright and evenly lit, thanks to its LED backlighting. I found that the brightness is less an issue that some people might think. DisplayPort dilemma Apple DVI to DisplayPort pass - and a mini version, which - means that users will have to attach a dongle to connect your MacBook to the most current shows. Despite the fact that the adapter is not a new situation for the MacBook (the older models include a mini-DVI port), the current owners of Mac laptops will have to buy another adapter. I wonder if Apple of the adoption of DisplayPort standard will help with the capture of other manufacturers, however. Trackpad complicated While a buttonless trackpad is a novel idea and it works reasonably well, it does not work so well as I could.

The bottom of the trackpad is nice and Clicky when pressed, but the farther the trackpad to go, the harder it is to click. If you use the MacBook's trackpad just as you would any other use - click the button at the bottom of the trackpad with your thumb - you probably will not notice much difference. But if you press the trackpad with his finger pointing, you run into areas where it is impossible to push.

My initial reaction to the new MacBook? Apple put together a strong team. In a world of $ 800 laptops, the aluminum-clad MacBook can seem a little expensive, but it's a winner. Stay tuned for full examination and laboratory testing of the MacBook and MacBook Pro.

WiFi Technology

2008-10-17T20:05:00.002+06:00

What is Wi Fi?

A way to get Internet access, the term Wi Fi is a play upon the decades-old term HiFi that describes the type of output generated by quality musical hardware, Wi Fi stands for Wireless Fidelity and is used to define any of the wireless technology in the IEEE 802.11 specification - including (but not necessarily limited to) the wireless protocols 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g. The Wi-Fi Alliance is the body responsible for promoting the term and its association with various wireless technology standards.

What is a Wi Fi Hotspot?

A Wi Fi hotspot is defined as any location in which 802.11 (wireless) technology both exists and is available for use to consumers. In some cases the wireless access is free, and in others, wireless carriers charge for Wi Fi usage. Generally, the most common usage of Wi Fi technology is for laptop users to gain Internet access in locations such as airports, coffee shops, and so on, where Wi Fi technology can be used to help consumers in their pursuit of work-based or recreational Internet usage.

How Can I Use Wi Fi?

You must be using a computer or PDA that has Wi Fi connectivity already working. Most portable computers can add Wi Fi using an adapter that plugs into a PC card slot or USB port.

Will I need to have an account with a Wi Fi service provider?

Generally, no. You should be able to sign up with the provider at the location. Many providers will display instructions when browser software opens on a WiFi-enabled computer. If you don't have an account, simply start your computer and make sure your Wi Fi card is plugged on. Then, open a browser.

Is Wi Fi the same as Bluetooth?

No. While both are wireless technology terms, Bluetooth technology lives under the IEEE protocol 802.15.1, while Wi Fi falls under the 802.11 specification. What this means for consumers is that appliances using Wi Fi technology and those using Bluetooth technology are not interoperable. Bluetooth and Wi Fi are different in several ways, and are not necessarily in competition. Wi Fi technology boasts faster data transfer speeds and range, making it a good replacement for Ethernet (802.3) systems, while Bluetooth requires less power and is therefore more prominent in small appliances, such as PDAs.

The revival of the Hubble Space Telescope

2008-10-17T19:26:00.004+06:00

The revival of the Hubble Space Telescope is going "exactly as we hoped," a NASA spokesman said today, and the world's best-known orbiting observatory is expected to be back in business on Friday.

Hubble's science operations went on the blink last month when the main system for handling commands and data going back and forth between the telescope's instruments and the ground failed. Controllers could still send commands up to Hubble and receive diagnostic readings, but the flow of imagery that made the telescope famous was cut off.

The sudden, unexpected snag forced the postponement of the space shuttle Atlantis' final service call, which was due for launch this week.

To revive Hubble, engineers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center devised a plan to switch the flow of data from the main system that the 18-year-old telescope had always used, known as Side A, to a never-before-used backup system known as Side B. The space agency's top management gave the go-ahead for the remote-controlled switchover on Tuesday, and engineers went to work on Wednesday.

Engineers checked out Side B for the first time on Wednesday night, NASA spokesman Ed Campion told me today. "All that went exactly as we hoped, so after that, the Advanced Camera for Surveys and the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 were retrieved out of safe mode to establish that each of them has a good working interface to Side B," he said.

Hubble's reconfigured electronics passed that test as well. "Everything worked the way we hoped it would," Campion said. "Now we're going to send commands to begin internal exposures and calibrations of the science instruments."

The test pictures won't be scientifically significant. They'll merely show things like the illuminated insides of the telescope itself. But they will give scientists at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore some Side B data to compare with Side A data captured before the glitch.

The Side B data should be available for review by midnight ET tonight, and the before-vs.-after review should be completed sometime Friday morning.

"If all this goes as planned, we pretty much expect that science collection will resume sometime on Friday," Campion said.

Susan Hendrix, a NASA spokeswoman who specializes in following Hubble operations, said the telescope team hasn't yet decided what the first post-switchover scientific target would be. She also declined to speculate on when the first science images would be released. "I don't want to jinx it," she said. "It should be sooner than later."

Like many at NASA, Hendrix said she felt a personal stake in the telescope's ups and downs. "Hubble's been very near and dear to me," she told me. "It's kind of like an adopted child."

Even if Hubble resumes science operations, the child will still have to undergo some follow-up surgery: A spare unit is currently being tested at Goddard, and if that checks out, it will likely be brought up on Atlantis for installation (along with lots of other Hubble goodies) next year. Even when the new unit is in place, Hubble data will continue to flow through the Side B electronics, and Side A would become the backup. That's in line with a common-sense rule for engineers: "If it's no longer broke, don't try fixing it again."

Keep up with the latest news about Hubble's revival by checking the status reports on NASA's Hubble mission page. There's even an RSS feed that you can add to your feed subscription list (along with the feed for Cosmic Log, of course). And if you need to be reminded why Hubble is worth saving, check out our space gallery and especially our audio slide show retelling "The Hubble Story."

Brightcove, the popular internet TV platform announced Brightcove 3

2008-10-17T18:22:00.003+06:00

Brightcove, the popular internet TV platform announced Brightcove 3, the next-generation online video platform. Brightcove 3 is a major release of online video platform by Brightcove after 3 years of it's first beta launch.

To meet the varying needs of different organizations, Brightcove 3 has three editions. Basic, Pro and Enterprise.
Brightcove Console has been completely revamped and provides you faster, easier to use and more powerful set of UIs for managing online video sites and operations. Player architecture has been changed in this release with improvements such as- High Performance, faster, new XML-based framework for custom player, player plug-ins and localization.

Other new features in this release are-

Contextual video publishing
High-quality video
Open ecosystem / developers

Microsoft Hardware has launched Nine Stylish Computing Devices

2008-10-16T18:53:00.006+06:00

Microsoft Hardware has launched nine products to enrich the computing experience. The products include -- Arc Mouse, Explorer Mini Mouse, LifeCam Show, LifeCam VX-5500, SideWinder X6 Keyboard, SideWinder X5 Mouse, Wireless Mobile Mouse 3000, Wireless Laser Desktop 6000, and the Wireless Media Desktop 1000.

The Arc mouse, with its design, can be collapsed to reduce to nearly half in size, thus combining the comfort of a desktop mouse with the portability of a notebook mouse, says the company. It comes in two colour option -- black and red.

The product offering also includes an advanced tracking technology – the BlueTrack - with the Explorer Mini mouse. The BlueTrack technology tracks on more surfaces than both optical mice and laser mice combined, such as granite, carpet and wood.

"We have always ensured Microsoft Hardware products are not just purely functional but feature top of the line technology and design. Each of the products is designed keeping in mind the user's desire for comfort, style and technology. For example the Arc mouse is a user's dream, not only is it the best looking mouse on the block but also is a high precision pointing device," said Jaspreet Bindra, regional director, entertainment and devices division, Microsoft Corporation India Private Limited.

The LifecamShow is claimed to be the thinnest webcam on the market with a sleek design and a mirrored finish, the Sidewinder X6 keyboard is a gaming keyboard with a removable key pad.

Google received the royal seal of approval

2008-10-16T18:10:00.004+06:00

Google received the royal seal of approval on Thursday when it added a picture of the Queen to the logo on its British homepage to mark her visit to its London offices on Thursday.

The specially-commissioned image, called a "Google doodle", shows the Queen in profile and a golden crown above the letter E of Google.

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will tour the Internet search giant's British headquarters, a short walk from Buckingham Palace in central London.

"Doodles" on Google's search engine homepage change periodically to mark occasions such as national holidays and anniversaries of major events.

The royal party will meet Google executives and hear about the company's search engine, advertising and mobile phone technology. They will also learn how Google Earth, an online map, is being used to help save the Amazon rainforest.

The Queen will then be invited to upload a video to the royal family's official channel on YouTube, the video-sharing site owned by Google. The address is here

Royal e-mail

During the visit to Google's offices in Victoria, the Queen and Prince Philip are meeting Nikesh Arora, the president of Google's Europe, Middle East and Africa operations, as well as key UK staff.

They are being shown a series of demonstrations explaining Google's various operations, and meeting schoolchildren who won a competition to design new "doodles".

The Queen has kept up to date with technological changes over the decades, sending an e-mail for the first time when she visited an army base in 1976, according to Buckingham Palace.

In 1997 she launched the official royal website and in 2006 she made her annual Christmas message available for download as a podcast.

Last Christmas she launched a dedicated royal channel on YouTube which now contains 54 royal videos and has been visited by 1.6m people.

Windows 7: The next version of Windows

2008-10-15T10:52:00.003+06:00

In a page straight out of the Apple playbook, Microsoft has decided to capitalize on the name recognition surrounding the code name for its super-duper-secret Vista follow-on by simply sticking with the prerelease nomenclature and launching the product as Microsoft Windows 7.

Of course, when it comes to Microsoft product names, there's always more to the story. In fact, I did a little digging over the weekend and came up with the following list of ridiculous, yet plausible, explanations for the Redmond behemoth's fascination with the number 7 and its significance in relation to the next-generation Windows desktop OS:

Ø It'll take 7 minutes to boot. At least that's my guess based on nearly two years of experience running the Vista RTM bits. It was just a couple of weeks ago that I was lamenting how long it took to reboot my notebook while sipping my espresso in the Emirates Business Class lounge at Dubai International. The system just sat there, all but unusable, as the hard disk ground away at some "important" post-boot/login background task. And since Windows 7 is really just Vista warmed over, I'm expecting more of the same in the boot-time performance department.

Ø Perhaps if Microsoft would at least reduce the number of mandatory reboots –- for example, by making the network stack robust enough to survive a day's worth of wireless hotspot roaming without going "deaf" (requiring a warm boot to recover) –- I'll call it a wash. But, frankly, I'm not expecting much here.

Ø It'll garner roughly 7 percent of the enterprise desktop market before Microsoft starts talking about the wonders of Windows 8. Let's face it, Windows has lost nearly all of its momentum thanks to the whole Vista debacle. To think that Windows 7, which is essentially Vista R2 with an updated GUI and a slightly reduced disk footprint, will fare any better is simply naive. I'm predicting, right here and right now, that the post-PDC verdict will be generally negative and that the Save XP rhetoric will soon be resurrected. You read it here first.

Ø It'll take a minimum of 7 mouse clicks to enable a network adapter and connect to a new network. Fact is, this would constitute an improvement. I just tried this in Vista and, between navigating through the various Network and Sharing Center UI fluff and wrestling with UAC prompts, I must have spent a good dozen clicks connecting to my local wireless hub. Few areas of the Vista UI are more frustrating to a veteran Windows user than network configuration. Microsoft simply has to do a better job of exposing these common functions or risk a class-action suit from all of us carpal tunnel sufferers (ouch)!

Ø It'll run best in 7GB of RAM, though I'll round it up to 8GB for evenness. Yes, we've heard all about how Vista runs fine in 2GB. And yes, I know, all those 4GB notebooks at Costco –- the ones with Vista x64 preloaded –- are just an aberration. But seriously, no self-respecting Vista (or Windows Workstation 2008) power user is still running with less than 8GB, especially not with RAM prices so low.

So let's be honest and acknowledge that the new post-Windows Vista sweet spot for memory is 8GB, with the exception of the exclusive-super-ultra-special-basic-home edition that Microsoft has formulated specifically for all you fools who were duped into buying one of those crippled Intel 945-series Centrino notebooks -- you know, the ones that can never support more than 3.25GB of RAM, even with a 64-bit OS? Like my beloved XPS 1710? Am I bitter? Do I sound bitter? Well, maybe a little.

I could, of course, go on and on with such a list (for example: How many days will it be before the warez crowd cracks the latest WGA process? 7 days!). But the truth is I'm glad they stuck with the numerical naming convention. It's sort of a shout-out to those glorious NT builds of the past –- you know, back when the folks up in Redmond actually knew how to code for the enterprise desktop.

GIPS has just Extended Mobile Calling Technology to Video

2008-10-14T12:01:00.007+06:00

It's been obvious for some time that mobile VoIP is just the starting point for real-time mobile IP communications. In particular, adding video to the mix makes communicating via mobile devices much more interesting. Thus it comes as little surprise that VoIP software provider GIPS (Global IP Solutions Inc.) has just released technology that lets Windows Mobile users make video phone calls to one another. GIPS reported that the technology is getting a lot of interest from potential customers, and predicted that even cellular carriers will find mobile video more attractive than threatening. GIPS made its name making VoIP calls sound better. It provides software for processing voice audio for delivery over every type of network. Its technology makes adjustments for different bandwidth levels and network conditions, and compensates for jitter, delay and other threats to voice quality. It's especially useful in mobile environments, where bandwidth is limited and conditions are unpredictable. Users of GIPS voice technology include service providers such as AOL LLC, Gizmo5, TalkFree.com and Yahoo! Inc.; phone manufacturers Nortel Networks and Samsung; and chip-makers Infineon Technologies AG and Texas Instruments Inc. GIPS calls its new technology VideoEngine Mobile. It does the same thing for two-way mobile video, specifically handset-to-handset video calling, that GIPS voice technology does for VoIP. It pays particular attention to the unique demands of video, making sure, for example, that lip movements sync with sound. Its main use at the start will be to deliver video calling over wifi VideoEngine Mobile client software is currently available for Windows Mobile devices, with Symbian and iPhone versions in the works. The technology's target customers are mainly mobile-application developers and handset manufacturers. Those customers are showing intense interest, Hermansen said, because they think carriers themselves will see mobile video calling as an opportunity. If carriers do, it will contrast sharply with their current attitude toward mobile VoIP, which they view mainly as a threat. But it will also make sense, because while mobile VoIP can take away from carriers' voice revenues, video calling doesn't directly replace any service they currently have. Mobile video communication could thus turn out to be an attractive addition to their product offerings, and an undoubtedly lucrative one at that. "It does come down to wireless carriers' seeing a real opportunity to increase revenue and ARPU [average revenue per user], and reduce churn," said GIPS marketing manager John Gallagher. "There's a real push now from larger carriers to differentiate themselves, and video will be a real differentiator." connections, but there's no reason it wouldn't work on cellular data links should the demand arise, according to John Hermansen, GIPS marketing programs manager.

Mozilla will have unveiled the alpha release of its mobile Firefox browser

2008-10-14T11:36:00.003+06:00

By this time next week, Mozilla will have unveiled the alpha release of its mobile Firefox browser, codenamed Fennec.

But not too many people will be able to make use of it initially: the code will only be available for Nokia's N810 Internet Tablet. The alpha code is aimed at Mozilla community members, specifically to give the innovative touch user interface and the feature set a grueling workout, says Jay Sullivan, Mozilla vice president of mobile.

A release for Windows mobile is in the works, to be released "in the next few months," according to Sullivan. One possible interim option is a version to run on Windows PCs, in effect acting as an emulator.

Sullivan says there will likely be two or three additional alpha releases over the coming months before the beta version is released, presumably sometime in 2009.

Fennec is one of a growing number of full-featured Web browsers designed specifically for mobile devices.

As previously reported, the alpha Firefox for Mobile (it's official title) includes the "awesome bar" first introduced in Version 3.0 of desktop Firefox. The bar is a vastly smarter URL box that can be used to do keyword searches of your URL history and bookmarks. That's also a key innovation to make a mobile browser easier to use, by minimizing manual input.

Fennec uses the same core HTML rendering engine, Gecko, that's found in desktop Firefox, with full JavaScript capability and AJAX (a set of tools and features for building interactive Web applications). Gecko is also used in the ThunderHawk mobile browser, and the browser Nokia developed for the N810 tablet.

The alpha version will support fingertip touch interaction, with the browser designed to use the full device screen for content, with the control buttons and URL bar hidden but easily uncovered with a single swipe of your finger. The Nokia tablet supports direct touch and use of a stylus, according to Sullivan.

A major goal of the alpha release is to encourage developers to check out existing Firefox add-ons and create new ones especially for Fennec. Also new is a geo-location interface exposed via JavaScript. The intent, says Sullivan, is to make it simpler for developers to access various types of location information and incorporate that data into Fennec add-ons.

One add-on that will be introduced shortly is based on Mozilla's Weave project: the goal is to let a user seamlessly move from desktop to mobile Firefox.

Microsoft Corporation ready for Silverlight's second act

2008-10-14T11:17:00.004+06:00

Microsoft on Monday announced, as expected, that it is ready with a final version of its Silverlight 2 media player.

Silverlight 2 will be available for download starting Tuesday, Microsoft said. Among the new features are support for digital rights management technology, improved cross-platform support and deep zoom technology. Microsoft also announced a range of new partners including AOL, Blockbuster, CBS College Sports, Toyota, and Yahoo Japan.

Microsoft also disclosed some numbers for the Olympics work it did with NBC. Over a 17-day period, Microsoft said NBCOlympics.com had more than 50 million unique visitors, resulting in 1.3 billion page views, 70 million video streams, and 600 million minutes of video watched.

Overall, Microsoft said the Olympics helped boost Silverlight's U.S. penetration by 30 percent, the software maker said.

"We launched Silverlight just over a year ago, and already one in four consumers worldwide has access to a computer with Silverlight already installed," Microsoft developer unit VP Scott Guthrie said in a statement.

Still, that means Silverlight continues to have a very long way to go to compete with Flash, which is installed on nearly all Windows PCs.

On a conference call, Guthrie said that in some countries, Silverlight already has 50 percent penetration. He said he expected deployments would "accelerate quite nicely" as some of the sites that require Silverlight 2 get up and running. In all, he said he expects hundreds of millions of PCs to be running Silverlight 2 "very quickly."

"Certainly coming out with a new browser plug-in is an ambitious project," Guthrie said. "We knew it was going to take a couple of years to get where we need to be."

Guthrie said he feels pretty good that Silverlight is already at the one in four number and said that the company will continue to do deals to boost penetration, as it has with HP which includes Silverlight on its PCs.

Existing users of both Silverlight as well as the Silverlight 2 beta will be automatically be upgraded to Silverlight 2 over the coming weeks, he said.

Later in the call, Guthrie reiterated Microsoft's interest in trying to see Silverlight running on the iPhone.

"We have talked with Apple," he said. "We are very interested in being able to run on the iPhone."

However, he said that Apple ultimately controls what types of software run on the iPhone and right now they are not looking to enable browser plug-ins of any flavor. "They might in the future," he said. "Right now that isn't an option for any vendor"

Google's G1 Android phone is another story, Guthrie said. "That is an open platform," he said. "That is something we are going to look at."

As for compatibility with Google's Chrome browser, Guthrie said the initial release had a couple of issues with Silverlight, but he said that in the latest developer release of Chrome, Silverlight 2 works "fantastically well."

Vodafone to pay ZAR 22.5 billion for acquiring 15% stake in Vodacom

2008-10-13T09:48:00.004+06:00

South Africa-based landline service provider Telkom has decided to sell a 15% holding in Vodacom to Vodafone and list the remaining stake in the mobile operator on the Johannesburg stock exchange. Vodafone is willing to pay $2.4 billion to buy a 15% stake. This deal would increase Vodafone's stake in Vodacom to 65%. Vodacom presently operates in Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, Mozambique Lesotho and Tanzania. However, Telkom would first need to hive off its 35% holding in Vodacom to current Telkom stakeholders and list the firm on the stock exchange. This deal has secured the approval of the government of South Africa, which is the biggest stakeholder in Telkom with 38.9% stake.

NTT Com Asia buys APT Satellite from Singsat and Skywork

2008-10-13T09:47:00.002+06:00

NTT Com Asia, the affiliate of Japan-based communications carrier NTT Communications, has bought APT Satellite Telecommunications from Singasat and Skywork for nearly $21 million in order to expand the firm's Tai Po Data Centre. APTT delivers satellite communication services, transponder utilization services as well as satellite television broadband services to telecom service providers in Europe, Asia Pacific and the US. NTT Com Asia is likely to transfer APT to another affiliate of NTT Communications, NTT Worldwide Telecommunications, which runs the company's data center globally.

Huawei abandons its decision to sell its terminal division

2008-10-13T09:47:00.001+06:00

The ongoing meltdown in worldwide financial markets has forced China-based telecom equipment provider Huawei Technologies to abandon the sale of its device unit. The company said in its statement that it has called off this sale because of the prevailing uncertainty surrounding global financial markets. Earlier on this year, Huawei had put its terminal unit for sale. The division includes CDMA/WCDMA handsets and PC cards in addition to ADSL terminals. The firm had even received bids from PE (private equity) players Bain Capital and Silverlake. However, both the PE companies were offering 25% lesser price than what was being demanded by Huawei.

Kenya-based ISP Wananchi unveils the country's triple-play service

2008-10-13T09:46:00.002+06:00

Kenya-based internet service provider (ISP) Wanachi has unveiled what it says is the country's first ever triple-play broadband, television and telephony service under the Zuku brand. The ISP launched this service on October 7 over an optical fiber infrastructure under the Kenyan unified service plan. Wanachi, which previously used to focus on just corporate internet and dial-up services, said that it intends to spend more than $100 million to deploy its HFC network. The company also intends to re-launch its services under the broadband internet segment on a WiMAX network. Wanachi has already established nearly 20 WiMAX base stations in Mombasa and Nairobi and aims to deploy about 100 base stations by end-November. It plans to blanket 300,000 homes in these two cities. The ISP also plans to expand its triple-play access to Tanzania.

Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and Alcatel-Lucent create a chair on broadband multimedia technologies

2008-10-13T09:46:00.001+06:00

Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) andAlcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris et NYSE: ALU) have launched the new Alcatel-Lucent Chair, enabling the students of the last courses of UPMs Telecommunication Engineering Technical School to select a subject on the most relevant technologies the new broadband multimedia services and applications are based on. Gigabit Passive Optical Networks (GPON), service routing, applications based on the IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) and other new services will be some of the fields in which the students will be able to acquire a deeper knowledge and specialization thanks to this chair. The academic activities in the University will be completed with a period of practical studies at Alcatel-Lucent, after which the students will be trained in state-of-the-art solutions and technologies. Javier Uceda, Vice-chancellor of Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, pointed out that this agreement is one more step in the long and fruitful history of cooperation between Alcatel-Lucent and UPM, and will enable both entities to contribute to the development of R&D&I and quality education in the new communications services scenario.

Rubberduck and Tele2 unveil mobile television service in Estonia

2008-10-13T09:45:00.001+06:00

Tele2 has teamed up with mobile television operator Rubberduck Media Lab to unveil a new mobile television service in Estonia. Rubberduck is an affiliate of Aspiro, a mobile media services provider. Under the terms of the deal, Rubberduck would undertake the responsibility of managing Tele2's mobile television services in Estonia and would also take care of portal development, content sourcing and maintenance. Users would be able to both local and international videos which include Estonian news from Kanal2 and ERR in addition to entertainment content from MTV and Lastekas. The customers can enjoy the mobile television service in Russian as well as Estonian.

Mexico plans to tender telecommunications radio frequencies in the beginning of 2009

2008-10-13T09:44:00.000+06:00

A senior official of the Mexican government has announced that the country is planning to tender radio frequencies for WiMax, mobile phone as well as mobile internet in the Q1 (first quarter) of 2009. In an interview with the Reuters, Deputy Communication and Transport Minister Purificacion Carpinteyro said that the government remains committed to go ahead wit its decision to tender the spectrum. He added that the tender process is expected to commence by beginning of 2009.

Ericsson launches wind energy-based base site solution

2008-10-13T09:41:00.000+06:00

Telecom equipment vendor Ericsson has reputedly launched its new wind-powered base site solution under a research project for wind-energy based Tower Tube. The vendor is working with Sweden-based Uppsala University and Vertical Wind AB to develop this concept as part of its strategy to provide cost-efficient communications solutions. Tower Tube makes prudent use of renewable energy and utilizes wind energy through a four-based turbine with 5-meter blades that are vertically attached with the tower. The vertical blades are supposed to alleviate the load on the tower during its functioning. Ericsson plans to carry out trials to gauge the feasibility and cost effectiveness of its Tower Tube concept.

Road test: Does WiMax work in the real world?

2008-10-05T07:27:00.002+06:00

Just a couple short years ago, many people were abuzz over metro Wi-Fi experiments in Philadelphia, Houston, and San Francisco, only to see those efforts largely collapse as slow speeds, expensive deployments, and economic tussles between carriers and municipalities resulted in low adoption. But waiting in the wings for several years has been the promise of WiMax technology to deliver broadband connectivity wirelessly across entire cities with less equipment to deploy than metro Wi-Fi. After nearly two years of uncertainty, Sprint and its partner Clearwire are now starting to set up WiMax networks in several cities.

WiMax promises users a wireless connection that rivals wired DSL or cable links in speed and reliability. Does it actually deliver on those claims? To find out, I tested the Clearwire Mobile High Speed Internet service for about a month in one of the first deployment areas: Reno, Nev. The results were mixed: The WiMax service provided good connectivity and performance when I was working in a fixed location, whether at my home office or at a café. But I could not get it to work when I was on the move, such as when being driven in a car. (To be completely accurate, the Clearwire service is not officially WiMax but OFDM, the underlying technology behind the WiMax standard. Clearwire deployed the Reno network before the WiMax standard was final, but it is practically the same technology.)

Setup was straightforward: Run the installation CD and pop the PC Card into your laptop. I did have an issue with my company laptop because of security measures that disabled installation of unapproved applications, but that had nothing to do with the Clearwire product. If you're considering equipping your laptop users with Sprint or Clearwire WiMax service, be sure to work out the security issues on a test system first. Although Clearwire tried to help, the issue was beyond its scope, and the corporate security staff also couldn't figure out how to authorize the service on my company-issued laptop. The service installed with no problem on a personal laptop that didn't have such security measures applied to it.
WiMax performance is decent but not always consistentWith the software and PC Card installed on that personal laptop, I was good to go. The network connection established itself right after I inserted the PC Card. I was now able to connect wirelessly pretty much everywhere in Reno. A nice touch was that when you start up the PC, the Clearwire software lets you choose between connecting via WiMax or Wi-Fi; Wi-Fi is typically faster when it's available.
To see if the WiMax service truly met broadband speeds, I took speed tests throughout the day from my home office. I got consistent performance much of the time, with download speeds between 1.5Mbps and 2.0Mbps, and upload speeds between 275Kbps and 325Kbps. Sometimes, speeds dropped to less than 1Mbps down and 125Kbps up, but not for long, so they didn't affect my use. It's not clear what caused these occasional slowdowns, and they occurred both when the laptop was stationary and when it was in motion.

Location mattered somewhat in terms of performance. At Walden's Coffee Shop, a local café in west Reno, the Clearwire service came up quickly and worked well. At a medical office complex in southwest Reno, the service also worked well. In a shopping mall in central Reno, the Clearwire service came up readily, but its performance was quite a bit slower than most other locations. This might have been due to the heavy steel construction and high volume of electronic "noise" in the area -- both of which can interfere with WiMax signals. Network performance was fine, even though transmission speeds were a bit slower. At another building with significant steel and electronic noise -- a casino where those slot machines can be a nuisance -- the Clearwire service came up quickly and performed adequately for e-mail and other typical business usage, about the same as at my home office.

At their best, the Clearwire WiMax speeds compare to the landline broadband speeds I have gotten with DSL and cable modem services. However, the DSL and cable speeds are more consistent. Plus, cable service is much faster outside of peak hours. (As more folks in an area access the cable service, such as in the evening, the bandwidth for each user is reduced.)
The WiMax speeds are slower than what I get through my home office's 802.11g wireless network, but comparable to the Wi-Fi speeds I get at public hotspots such as T-Mobile's service at Starbucks. I can't compare the Clearwire WiMax service against 3G cellular broadband offerings from carriers such as Sprint and Verizon, since I don’t have such 3G service. But usage of various 3G networks on handhelds by InfoWorld's Tom Yager show that at best -- on the most modern networks -- you get between 700Kbps and 1Mbps connections, and at worst -- on the older networks -- you get less than 300Kbps.

I took the laptop PC to several locations around the Reno/Sparks area and found only one location where the WiMax service was not available: the Caughlin Ranch area in west Reno. I could not get a connection even when I attached the Clearwire antenna (which is supposed to increase signal strength) to the PC Card.

I did test the antenna several times in numerous locations and could not discern any difference in signal strength or performance whether the antenna was attached or not.
Overall, the performance was fine for business uses such as working with e-mail, file attachments, and Web sites. The speed was not sufficient for bandwidth-hungry tasks such as downloading large video files or trying to play high-end games -- but no wireless services support those uses today.

Quirks and quibblesWhile I liked the Clearwire WiMax service overall -- I could get good connections most of the time -- I did uncover a few quirks. None of them would be showstoppers, but they could be a nuisance.

The first quirk was that the Clearwire connection did not always reactivate after I woke up the laptop from sleep. This occurred both when I had moved the laptop from one location to another and when it remained in the same place. Fortunately, it only took a click on the icon in the lower toolbar to reinstate the connection. A related quirk was that the network connection sometimes took a long time to re-establish itself after waking up or restarting the laptop -- as long as 60 seconds. I didn't see a pattern as to why the time to re-establish a connection varied so much.
My second quibble was that connection times varied based on location. In some cases, the network started right up as the laptop finished its initialization processes. In other cases, the PC Card took quite a while to find the network service -- though never more than a couple of minutes or so.

Although WiMax is often thought of as a mobile broadband service, it's really a portable broadband service meant to be used while a device is stationary. The convenience is being able to take that device and use it in different locations, all with the same broadband service. The Clearwire WiMax service scored well on that count.

But it did not work in a truly mobile context: I tried to get a connection while traveling in the car in Reno and in Sacramento and could not connect to the network. That will limit WiMax's utility in trains, buses, and other commuter contexts.

Finally, I was reminded that WiMax's range -- though much, much greater than the range of Wi-Fi hotspots -- is, in fact, limited. I was in Sonoma County, Calif. -- about 240 miles from Reno -- and fired up my laptop. There's no Clearwire WiMax service there, so I had no connection. I had grown accustomed to being able to use the laptop pretty much anywhere in Reno, and suddenly being disconnected was a jolt. That issue will hobble adoption among many business travelers, who will likely consider 3G services that are more widely available or stick with Wi-Fi hotspots that are less convenient but also more predictable. Perhaps Sprint could offer 3G and WiMax as a bundle, so you're covered most broadly with one service and one PC Card.

Still, my test of the Clearwire WiMax service does demonstrate that it is a viable alternative to other broadband services -- where it's available -- for typical business usage. If your main use is for video downloads and 3D gaming, that's another story.

Author: Terry Retter Source :http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/09/29/40TC-wimax-road-test_3.html

Netherlands-based UNET awards next generation broadband contract to Nortel

2008-10-04T10:53:00.001+06:00

Netherlands-based telecommunication player MSO (multi-service operator) UNET has chosen Nortel Networks to provide it with a (ultra-high speed) internet system for businesses as well as homes in the country be leveraging a Nortel Ethernet Access solution. UNET, which offers its services n the broadband and next generational internet protocol segments, is focusing on wholesale as well as B2B markets in the European country. The firm plans to use Nortel Networks' Ethernet Access solution to overcome the obstacles encountered in last-mile. Nortel's solution makes use of the WDM-PON architecture and allows the transmission of multiple wavelengths on existing fiber. UNET plans to use its optical network to provide fiber-to-the business infrastructure to communities located outside key city centers.

USCarrier to expand its optical fiber network

2008-10-04T10:52:00.000+06:00

Atlanta's telecom company USCarrier Telecom has announced that it plans to extend its optical fiber network into Birmingham and Montgomery area for providing high-speed services to telephone firms. USCarrier has stated that it is planning to complete the fiber optic network expansion by early part of 2009. USCarrier presently has over 3,400 route-miles of fiber optic network which links over 40 cities in areas including Alabama, Georgia, Florida, the Southeast and Tennessee.

SES Astra signs framework deal with TeleCable to unveil Astra2Connect

2008-10-04T10:51:00.001+06:00

Europe-based satellite SES ASTRA has entered into an agreement with Spain-based cable service provider TeleCable for marketing its two-way satellite broadband service-ASTRA2Connect- in Asturias, a Northern part of the country. SES Astra signed this framework deal via its subsidiary ASTRA Broadband Services (ABBS). TeleCable intends to expand this service throughout Spain in the future, which would offer internet telephony and a high-speed broadband internet access. The company plans to deploy this service in the 1H (first half) of this month.

AIS cuts down investment on its 3G network infrastructure

2008-10-04T10:46:00.000+06:00

Thailand's telecom operator Advanced Info Service [AIS] has said that it plans to scale back expenditure on it upcoming 3G network infrastructure. According to the Bangkok Post, AIS has slashed its budget for 3G network infrastructure for FY09 to $150 million, just 25% of the originally allocated $600 million. The telecom player has also been forced to cut down the size of its new network, which means that it 3G network would now blanket only 10 provinces, as against 20 planned previously. This comes close to the heels of an announcement by the firm's rival DTAC that it was planning to defer the launch of its 3G network.

Motorola Wins Dual Honors at WiMAX World 2008

2008-10-04T10:44:00.000+06:00

Motorola, Inc. announced that its USBw 100 has won the Best of WiMAX World 2008 Award for devices/peripherals/application software and that it has been selected for the WiMAX World 2008 Industry Choice Award for the second consecutive year. Presented by xchange Magazine and Trendsmedia and judged by an independent panel of WiMAX industry experts, the Best of WiMAX World Awards honor the significant contributions of WiMAX industry leaders and their work in advancing the technologys adoption. The Industry Choice Award is given to the product or deployment chosen by the WiMAX World 2008 delegates to be the most innovative and esteemed of the year. The 16 Industry Choice finalists were chosen by the selection committee, and online voting was held on the WiMAX World 2008 web site prior to the conference and then at the show during exhibit hours yesterday. Motorola received the Best of WiMAX World USA 2007 Award for the Motorola WiMAX CPEi 850 Series Desktop CPE.

VoIP QoS for Mere Mortals | Cisco AutoQoS

2008-09-28T10:42:00.002+06:00

WANs often need Quality of Service (QoS) configured to ensure that certain traffic is classified as "more important" than other traffic. Until now, it took a serious Cisco guru to configure a network properly for VoIP if the network was at all bandwidth constrained. AutoQoS, a new IOS feature for Cisco routers, makes deploying VoIP easy, even on busy WAN links. In this article we'll cover the basics, what AutoQoS does, and some of its limitations.

With its first whack at AutoQoS, Cisco recognized the need to simplify VoIP traffic prioritization. VoIP is especially sensitive to any latency, jitter, or loss, and users will notice problems. To ensure the best possible VoIP call, the network must ensure that lower priority traffic does not interfere with time-sensitive VoIP. AutoQoS can be enabled on both WAN links and Ethernet switches to automatically provide a nice best-practices based template for VoIP prioritization.

How It Works

QoS allows a router to classify which types of traffic are most important, and ensure that that traffic passed as quickly as possible. If necessary, other traffic will be queued until the higher priority traffic has had a chance to pass. Before a router can know when to queue versus when to attempt to pass all traffic, it must be configured with bandwidth settings for each link.

Configuring QoS on a Cisco router normally involves a complex series of interactions, which require understanding not only the protocols, but a router's strange way of associating policies. The basic steps are:

* Use an ACL to define which traffic gets matched
* A class-map classifies matched traffic into classes
* A policy-map assigns priorities to the classes
* The policy-map is applied to the interface, which enables the processing of all packets through the ACL, class-map, and policy-map

Each of these "maps" are quite complicated and prone to error. Most sites are going to be duplicating effort because of common problems, like VoIP, needing QoS help.

Why AutoQoS?

QoS configuration is not simple. It requires understanding the protocols your network interfaces are using, as well as the type of data you're passing. To configure QoS for VoIP, for example, you must understand how VoIP works. In short, it requires a guru. If you're like me, you literally giggled out loud the first time you encountered the word, "AutoQoS."

AutoQoS enables any network administrator to just "turn on" a solid solution for ensuring VoIP is happy. VoIP is the pain point for most organizations, so that's what Cisco focused on first, and that's what we're focusing on here. Given the limited scope of AutoQoS, it's believable that it works well enough. In reality, QoS configurations generally classify many types of traffic, and then place a priority on each one.

The main benefit of AutoQoS is that administrator training is much quicker. It also means that VoIP deployments often go much smoother, and upgrading WAN links isn't usually required. Finally, AutoQoS creates templates that can be modified as needed and copied elsewhere for deployment.
Limitations

Before talking about how to enable AutoQoS, which is literally three commands, let's talk about where this works best, and what's required to use AutoQoS.

First and foremost, you can only configure AutoQoS on a few types of router interfaces. These interfaces include:

* PPP or HDLC serial interfaces
* ATM PVCs
* Frame Relay (point-to-point links only)

Cisco Catalyst switches also support an AutoQoS command to prioritize Cisco VoIP phones, but you cannot prioritize generic VoIP protocols with it.

Next, there are some limitations with ATM sub-interfaces. If you have a low-speed ATM link (less than 768Kbps), then AutoQoS will only work on point-to-point sub-interfaces. Higher speed ATM PVCs are fully supported though. For standard serial links, AutoQoS is not supported at all on sub-interfaces. A quick litmus test to see if AutoQoS will work on your desired interfaces or not is to verify that the service-policy configuration is supported. If not, you'll probably have to reconfigure some links.

AutoQoS will not work if an existing QoS configuration exists on an interface. Likewise, when you disable the AutoQoS configuration, any changes you may have made to the template after the initial configuration will be lost.

Bandwidth statements are used by AutoQoS to determine what settings it should use, so remember that after updating bandwidth statements in the future, you have to re-run the AutoQoS commands.
Making It Work

In the most standard situation, where VoIP isn't performing as it was promised, the network admin can quickly save the day by running the following on the WAN interface:

interface Serial0
bandwidth 256
autoqos voip

If it's the local network that needs tuning, the following can be run on Catalyst switches (if running Enhanced Images):

auto qos voip cisco-phone
auto qos voip trust

It really couldn't be easier than that. For the WAN example, we told the router that interface Serial0 has 256 Kbps, and to enable VoIP QoS. The switch example is similar, for Cisco phones.

The neat part about this is that AutoQoS is actually doing more than just generating a configuration for you and forgetting about it. If you run the command show autoqos interface s0, you will see much more than just your standard old interface configuration. It will show that a Virtual Template "interface" has been created, and that a class is applied to the interface. The same output will also show you the configuration of the template and class-map, with an asterisk next to each entry that was generated by AutoQoS. It's actually keeping track of what was done automatically so that you can learn what AutoQoS is doing. As mentioned previously, however, don't forget that removing the AutoQoS configuration will destroy all QoS settings on an interface, not just the ones that AutoQoS configured.

Finally, remember to enable QoS on both sides of a WAN link to truly prioritize VoIP packets. Don't forget to read through the Cisco documentation before deploying it, even though AutoQoS is simple, in comparison. It is simple, but the more prepared you are the easier it is to deploy.

Cisco will hopefully continue this trend of providing Auto features for complicated, but common tasks. AutoQoS for VoIP sure does enable a much larger audience to correctly deploy VoIP over a wide variety of networks.

At a Congressional hearing called today by U.S. Rep. Linda Sanchez, Chair of the House Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law, expert witne

2008-09-20T23:51:00.000+06:00

Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) today announced that Ed Hagenlocker and Jean-Pierre Halbron have resigned from the companys Board of Directors.Ed Hagenlocker's resignation is effective immediately. Jean-Pierre Halbron's resignation will be effective immediately after the close of the Board meeting, which is convened to approve the 2008 third quarter results.Their departure is in line with the communication made on July 29th, 2008 concerning the Boards reorganization. The Board of directors would like to thank both Ed and Jean-Pierre for their significant contribution to the company over the years.

Verizon Wireless Supports Cell Tax Fainess Effort for Wireless Consumers

2008-09-20T22:01:00.000+06:00

At a Congressional hearing called today by U.S. Rep. Linda Sanchez, Chair of the House Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law, expert witnesses extolled consumer benefits about the importance of prohibiting new discriminatory wireless taxes from being imposed. H.R. 5793, the Cell Tax Fairness Act of 2008, calls for a five-year moratorium from any new discriminatory wireless taxes. Steve Zipperstein, vice president and general counsel at Verizon Wireless, made the following statement after yesterday's hearing.

Global telecom market is likely to touch $2 trillion

2008-09-20T21:59:00.000+06:00

A new Gartner report has said that the global telecom market is expected to reach a massive $2 trillion by the end of this year. The report added that the Asia Pacific telecom segment is well placed to grow 8% this year to reach $513.1 billion, thus overtaking North America. However, Middle East and Africa is currently fasting growing region and is likely to achieve a CAGR of around 8.6% between 2007-2012. The report added that landline services would continue to slump, adding that mobile phones would beat landlines by a 4:1 ratio. In another study, Gartner, which reckons that the global mobile voice market would begin to stagnate by 2012, has said that the Indian telecom market is likely to reach $54 billion by 2012.

GeoEye-1 Earth-Imaging Satellite Launched by Boeing

2008-09-09T06:09:00.009+06:00

Boeing, through its commercial launch business, successfully launched the GeoEye-1 satellite on 6th September 2008 aboard a Delta II rocket procured from United Launch Alliance (ULA).

Liftoff occurred at 11:50 a.m. Pacific time from launch pad SLC-2W at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The ULA Delta II rocket deployed the spacecraft approximately 58 minutes after liftoff. GeoEye-1 will have the highest resolution of any commercial imaging system, capable of collecting images with a ground resolution of 16 inches (.41 meters) in panchromatic (black-and-white) mode. Virginia-based GeoEye [NASDAQ: GEOY] is the premier provider of geospatial information for the national security community, strategic partners, resellers and commercial customers.

"This launch signifies Boeing's continued commitment to provide our commercial customers with the Delta II vehicle, which has a 98.5 percent launch success rate," said Ken Heinly, director of Boeing's Launch Products & Services and Boeing Launch Services president.

About Boeing
Boeing is the world's leading aerospace company and the largest manufacturer of commercial jetliners and military aircraft combined. Additionally, Boeing designs and manufactures rotorcraft, electronic and defense systems, missiles, satellites, launch vehicles and advanced information and communication systems. As a major service provider to NASA, Boeing operates the Space Shuttle and International Space Station. The company also provides numerous military and commercial airline support services. Boeing has customers in more than 90 countries around the world and is one of the largest U.S. exporters in terms of sales.

Boeing has a long tradition of aerospace leadership and innovation. We continue to expand our product line and services to meet emerging customer needs. Our broad range of capabilities includes creating new, more efficient members of our commercial airplane family; integrating military platforms, defense systems and the warfighter through network-centric operations; creating advanced technology solutions that reach across business units; e-enabling airplanes and providing connectivity on moving platforms; and arranging financing solutions for our customers.

Headquartered in Chicago, Boeing employs more than 160,000 people across the United States and in 70 countries. This represents one of the most diverse, talented and innovative workforces anywhere. More than 83,800 of our people hold college degrees--including nearly 29,000 advanced degrees--in virtually every business and technical field from approximately 2,800 colleges and universities worldwide. Our enterprise also leverages the talents of hundreds of thousands more skilled people working for Boeing suppliers worldwide.

About GeoEye-1

Resolution
GeoEye-1 will have the highest resolution of any commercial imaging system and be able to collect images with a ground resolution of 0.41-meters or 16 inches in the panchromatic or black and white mode. It will collect multispectral or color imagery at 1.65-meter resolution or about 64 inches, a factor of two better than existing commercial satellites with four-band multispectral imaging capabilities. While the satellite will be able to collect imagery at 0.41-meters, GeoEye's operating license from the U.S. Government requires re-sampling the imagery to 0.5-meter for all customers not explicitly granted a waiver by the U.S. Government.

Accuracy
Besides unsurpassed spatial resolution of 0.41-meters or about 16 inches, GeoEye-1 is designed to be able to offer three-meter geolocation accuracy, which means that customers can map natural and man-made features to within three meters (about 9 feet) of their actual location on the surface of the Earth without ground control points. This degree of inherent accuracy has never been achieved in any commercial imaging system and will remain unchallenged even when next-generation commercial systems are launched in the coming years.

Agility
GeoEye-1, a polar-orbiting satellite, will be able to revisit any point on Earth once every three days or sooner. Though it stands two stories high and weighs more than two tons, GeoEye-1 is designed to deftly train the ITT camera on multiple targets during a single orbital pass and is able to rotate or swivel forward, backward or side-to-side with robotic precision. This unrivaled agility will enable it to collect much more imagery during a single pass.

Frequency
GeoEye-1 will make 15 orbits per day flying at an altitude of 681 kilometers or 423 miles with an orbital velocity of about 7.5 km/sec or 16,800 mi/hr. Its sun-synchronous orbit allows it to pass over a given area at about 10:30 a.m. local time every day. Given its altitude and sun-synchronous orbit, field of view and superior resolution GeoEye-1 can “revisit” any point on the globe every three days or sooner, depending upon the required look angle. The satellite will complement GeoEye's current IKONOS system and will collect imagery about 40 percent faster for panchromatic and 25 percent faster for multispectral collections. Together, the IKONOS and GeoEye-1 satellites can collect almost one million sq km of imagery per day.

Volume
In the panchromatic mode the satellite is capable of collecting up to 700,000 square kilometers in a single day, an area about the size of Texas, and in the multispectral mode 350,000 square kilometers per day; the equivalent of photographing in color the entire State of New Mexico. This capability is ideal for large-scale mapping projects. Our customers will have assured access to high-resolution, high-quality commercial imagery well into the 2015 timeframe.

Camera
GeoEye-1’s optical telescope, detectors, focal plane assemblies and high-speed digital processing electronics are capable of processing 700 million pixels per second. GeoEye-1's agile camera allows for side-to-side extensions of the camera's 15.2 kilometer (9.44 miles)-wide swath width or multiple images of the same target during a single pass to create a stereo picture. The camera and electronics represent a 5-times gain in power efficiency, a 10-times improvement in weight efficiency and 3-times advance in cost efficiency.

Products
GeoEye-1 customers will have a choice of ordering basic, ortho-rectified or stereo imagery as well as imagery-derived products, including Digital Elevation Models (DEM’s) and Digital Surface Models (DSM’s), large area mosaics and feature maps. These GeoEye-1 products will serve a wide variety of applications for:

Defense
National and Homeland Security
Air and Marine Transportation
Oil and Gas
Energy
Mining
Mapping and Location-based Services
State and Local Government
Insurance and Risk Management
Agriculture
Natural Resources and Environmental Monitoring

Ground Stations
GeoEye upgraded a centralized command and control ground station facility at its headquarters in Dulles, Virginia. This operations center will send tasking and operating commands to the satellite and receive data downlinks from it. Three other stations will be operated or leased by GeoEye in Barrow, Alaska; Tromso, Norway and Troll, Antarctica. The four ground stations will provide the primary data reception needed due to the large volume of imagery that will be captured by the satellite. The Thornton, Colorado regional operational facility has also been upgraded as a back-up ground station for GeoEye-1.

HTC Dream G1

2008-09-05T10:36:00.004+06:00

The HTC Dream G1 is deemed as the first handset of T-Mobile which is to run the Google Android as the operating system. There has been a little confusion about its launch date, but now it seems to be confirmed on the Oct 13th.

T-mobile is planning to take pre-orders from its online store, starting from the Oct 17th. Now, it’s got some leaked images which have been floating around the Internet. In the picture, the HTC Dream G1 handset seems to have a pretty unique design, which its bottom has a slight tilt and a trackball is found there too. But this adds extra length which tends to make it easily to poke out while it’s in the pocket.

It’s got a QWERTY. It’s a slider, which slides to the side to reveal its QWERTY. The keys on the QWERTY are neatly spaced, which lets your fingers easily type along. At the back of this phone, you can see the words “With Google”.

Apparently, the handset is to make use of the big name of Google to get itself more popular. T-mobile will offer this handset with pre-order price $199 after the instant rebate, and you’ll be bound with a 2-year contract. You’ll also need a GMail account to setup the HTC G1 handset. Since it runs on Android, do expect that it comes bundled with tons of Google services. What are known now are those common ones such as maps with Street View, You Tube, IM and text, Gmail. Other goodies you can find on this handset are a 3 megapixel camera, video playback, music player, memory card slot and an application store. And it’s equipped with a huge touchscreen that is likely to rival the iPhone’s.

Specification

Memory:

528Mhz Qualcomm 7201 processor

Data kit for USB connectivity in the box

128MB Internal RAM

256MB Internal ROM

1GB MicroSD card

Multimedia
3.1MP camera (no flash) 2048 x 1536
Video playback files - H.264, streaming, 3GPP, MPEG4, and Codec 3GP
Dedicated YouTube Player
Audio playback files - MP3, AAC, AAC+, WMA, MPEG4, WAV, MIDI, REAL AUDIO, OGG
Wallpaper supports JPG, BMP, PNG, and GIF
Speakerphone (mono, natch)
Ringtones (MP3, AAC, AAC+, WMA)

Network and Connectivity
HTTP, WAP Push, xHTML Bluetooth (class 1)
Picture Caller ID
SMS and MMS support (Take that Apple!) POP, IMAP, and SMTP, AOL, and GMAIL email
AIM, MSN, YAHOO, and GTALK messaging
Quad Band (850, 900, 1800, 1900)3G802.11b & 802.11g UMTS (1,4), HSDPA, SUPL

Battery
1150mAh battery

Weight - Height
Screen size is 3.17 with HVGA (480 x 320)

Handset 117 x 55 x 16mm5.6 oz weight - 158g
5 Row QWERTY keypad
Trackball
Dedicated camera button

Software
Sync capable with Google Calendar

Downloadable content via Android Marketplace

Google Streetview with built-in compass

Nokia N96

2008-09-04T21:23:00.003+06:00

The Nokia N96 offers the most personalized mobile internet experience to dateNokia announced the availability of the much anticipated Nokia N96, its flagship multimedia computer in the iconic Nokia Nseries range. It boasts live TV, 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, turn-by-turn voice navigation, 16GB of internal memory that can be increased to 24GB with an optional microSD card, superior sound and music, N-Gage gaming and a stunning 2.8" display. First shipments of the Nokia N96 have started and it will be available with an estimated retail price of EUR 550 before taxes and subsidies. "The Nokia N96 is mobile entertainment at its best, a fitting flagship for our Nseries range. It defines convergence by blending phone and multimedia options seamlessly with the unique Nokia Nseries dual slider that makes discovering and sharing experiences easy. Watch live TV and video, take high quality photos and geotag them to specific locations or directly upload them online via the fast internet connection - it is all about taking mobile entertainment and communication to the next level," says Jonas Geust, Vice President, Nokia Nseries.

Display and User Interface

2.8” QVGA (240 x 320 pixels) LCD TFT display with up to 16 million colors
User Interface: S60 3rd Edition, Feature Pack 2
Active standby screen, Multimedia menu
Media keys, Multimedia access key, lockswitch, volume key, numeric (ITU-T) keypad, menu key, clear key, soft keys, send and end keys, power key, caamera shutter key

Third Party Application Support

Operating system: Symbian OS 9.3
Nokia S60 third edition, feature pack 2
Java™ MIDP 2.1, CLDC 1.1 (Connected Limited Device Configuration (J2ME))
Flash Lite 3.0
C++ and Java SDKs
Downloadable third-party Java™ and Symbian applications
Support for Widgets

Call Management

Contacts: advanced contacts database with support for multiple phone and e-mail details per entry and thumbnail pictures
Speed dialing, voice dialing (speaker independent) and voice commands
Logs: lists of dialed, received and missed calls
Conference call
Integrated hands-free speakers

Data Transfer

WCDMA HSDPA with simultaneous voice and packet data (PS max speed DL/UL= 3.6Mbps/384kbps, CS max speed 64kbps)
Dual Transfer Mode (DTM) support for simultaneous voice and packet data connection in GSM/EDGE networks. Simple class A, multi slot class 11, max speed DL/UL: 177.6/118.4kbps
EGPRS class B, multi slot class 32, max speed DL/UL= 296/177.6kbps
GPRS class B, multi slot class 32, max speed DL/UL= 107/64.2kbps

Video & TV

Enhanced video center: central hub for video experiences
Access to last played video and easy resume
My videos: collection of stored videos
Access to Internet Videos, compatible with RSS feeds and video podcasts, with direct wireless updates and downloads
Video directory to discover new Internet Videos

Video Codecs and Formats

MPEG-4 Part 2 (H.263/SP), up to VGA 30 fps, hardware-accelerated codec, scaled to max QVGA on device screen, or max SDTV on TV-out
MPEG-4 Part 10 (H.264/AVC), up to VGA 30 fps, hardware-accelerated codec, scaled to max QVGA on device screen, or SDTV on TV-out
Windows Media Video (WMV9), up to CIF/QVGA 30 fps, hardware-accelerated codec, scaled to max QVGA on device screen, or SDTV on TV-out
RealVideo QCIF at 30 fps
Flash video support in browser
DRM support: OMA DRM 1, OMA DRM 2, WM DRM

Live TV

Broadcast Television (DVB-H) capable
-DVB-H based mobile TV with internal antenna
-DVB-H Class C, 470-750 MHz
Program Guide (OMA BCAST ESG), with automatic updates and channel discovery
Instant Replay of TV program (up to 30 seconds)
Recording of TV programs for later viewing
Reminder setting via Program Guide
Interactive services
Multiple subscription and payment methods (pay TV including previews, free-to-air, pay per view), channel and content protection

Browser-based video access

Support for download, streaming and progressive download
Support for Flash video

Other video enablers

2.8” display
16 GB memory
Hi-Speed USB 2.0 connectivity
Integrated kickstand and landscape-oriented speakers
Media keys

Music Features

Digital music player – supports MP3, AAC, eAAC+, WMA, album art
Playlist editing and sharing
Equalizer and visualization
Search, browse and purchase songs online in Nokia Music Store – with support for Windows Media DRM protected files

Radio and other

Stereo FM radio (87.5-108MHz, 76-90MHz) with support for RDS, Visual Radio™ and use of FM radio in offline mode
Internet Radio

Other music enablers

16 GB internal memory
Hi-Speed USB 2.0 connectivity
Support for standard 3.5mm headphones
Media keys
Integrated stereo speakers
Podcasting with direct wireless access to directory, feed updates and downloads
Listen to music wirelessly via Bluetooth stereo audio (A2DP)

Main camera

Up to 5 megapixel (2592 x 1944 pixels)
Carl Zeiss Optics: Tessar™ lens
Auto-focus, auto-exposure
F-number/aperture: F2.8
Focal length: 5.2 mm
Focus range 10 cm to infinity
Dual-LED camera flash, video light, recording indicator, auto-focus assist light

Secondary camera

VGA (640 x 480 pixels) sensor

Video Recording

Video capture in MPEG-4 up to VGA at 30 fps
Digital Video Stabilization
Video clip length: up to 90 minutes
Video file format: .mp4 (default), .3gp (for MMS)
Settings for scene, video light, white balance, color tone

Photography

Still Image resolutions: up to 5 Megapixel (2592 x 1944 pixels)
Still Image file format: JPEG, EXIF
Location tagging: automatic insertion of capture location into images
Settings for scene, flash, sequence, self-timer, color, white balance, contrast, exposure compensation, guides

Maps and Navigation

Built-in GPS receiver, with support for assisted GPS (A-GPS)*
Nokia Maps application
Free downloadable maps of over 150 countries, millions of locations, location details and satellite imagery**
Upgrades available for purchase: Multimedia city guides and Navigation services: Drive - voice guided car navigation, or Walk - pedestrian-optimized turn-by turn guidance. Limited time trial of premium Drive & Walk navigation service included
Maps can be downloaded dynamically over the air, or installed from compatible PC with the Nokia Maploader application

Sharing and Communication

Photos with view by tag cloud, month, album, slide show and photo editor
Online Share with connection to popular sharing services
Direct connection to compatible TV via Nokia Video Connectivity Cable (CA-75U, included in sales box) or WLAN/UPnP
Nokia XpressPrint: direct printing via USB connection (PictBridge), Bluetooth connectivity (BPP), and WLAN (UPnP) or via online printing
Video call and video sharing support (WCDMA network services)

N-Gage and Gaming

Rich gaming experience
Access to games showroom and multiplayer interaction in N-Gage arena
Portrait and landscape gaming modes
Gaming keys
Several try-and-buy games preloaded. Game activation included

E-mail and Messaging

Easy-to-use email client with attachment support for images, videos, music and documents
Support for SMTP, IMAP4, POP3, MMS, SMS. Unified SMS/MMS editor
Support for Mail for Exchange (downloadable separately)
Compatible with Nokia Wireless Keyboard SU-8W (sold separately)

Browsing and Internet

Nokia Web Browser with Mini Map, visual history, HTML and JavaScript support, Flash Lite 3.0 and Flash video support
RSS reader
Support for Nokia Download! to discover, download and install add-on applications

Digital Home

Home Media Solution on compatible PC and device: Powerful yet simple way to fill your device with new media from your compatible home PC or home media devices, automatically when you enter your home environment
Browse, search and access content on home media devices, conveniently and wirelessly (DLNA compliant, using WLAN and UPnP), and use your device as remote control

Other

Personal Information Management (PIM)
Search content in device and search on the Internet
Quickoffice document viewers (Quickword, Quickpoint, Quicksheet)
Adobe PDF viewer
Customization through themes, ringtones, applications
Portrait and landscape orientation modes; with transitions via dual slide operation, or auto-rotate controlled by accelerometer
Settings Wizard for easy configuration
Data transfer application for transfer of PIM information from other compatible Nokia devices
Nokia Software Updater for firmware upgrades over the Internet, with user data preservation
FOTA (Firmware over the Air Software Updater) (operator specific)

Connectivity

WLAN - IEEE802.11 g/b with UPnP support
Hi-Speed USB 2.0 with Micro USB type B interface
3.5mm stereo headset plug , TV-out support (PAL/NTSC)
Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP stereo audio and Enhanced Data Rates (EDR)
Nokia Nseries PC Suite connectivity with USB and Bluetooth wireless technology
Local synchronization of contacts and calendar to a compatible PC using compatible connection
Remote over-the-air synchronization
Send and receive images, video clips, graphics, and business cards via Bluetooth wireless technology

Standard Sales Package Contents
Nokia N96
Nokia Battery BL-5F
Nokia Connectivity Cable CA-101 (microUSB)
Nokia Video-Out Cable CA-75U (TV-out)
Nokia Stereo Headset and Remote HS-45, AD-54
Nokia Mobile Charger DC-4 (car charger)
Nokia Compact Travel Charger AC-5

The Future of TV

2008-09-04T18:34:00.003+06:00

When the first handheld portable televisions began appearing several decades ago, the world was not convinced. Picture and sound were poor to say the least, scanning between channels required surgical precision and lots of luck and reception was impossible unless you were sitting in your living room, feet away from an actual television set.

However, in recent years, with digital technology snowballing through electronics and coming to rest in the burgeoning handheld, mobile and wireless markets, people are slowly but surely warming up to the idea of watching television away from their living rooms. And now, with television syndication and broadcasting taking place increasingly online, many living room television sets are likely to be collecting some dust—but probably not much. The emergence of these new markets and their technologies has certainly had its challenges: speed and memory. Engineers have hit several walls in their search to expand and optimize memory and performance. But fortunately, engineers in handheld, mobile and wireless technologies are taking cues from computer manufacturers with compressed and improved chip design and hard drive and processor components, while combining them with several of their own industries’ breakthroughs like Wi-Fi and 3G.

But, like all other improvements before it, there are already obstacles ahead that are likely to demand serious and perhaps costly solutions. The closest and most difficult obstacle is bandwidth.

Bandwidth is a term used to describe the amount of data that can be transferred from one point to another in a given time, as well as the difference in hertz between the highest frequency the signal uses and the lowest frequency the signal uses. Though network servers, satellites and the like are being built at fevered paces to meet the demand placed upon them by new devices, bandwidth bottlenecks are formed on a regular basis as a communication path’s speed is compromised by strong demand. And as more and more pressure is put on various network servers and devices, these bottlenecks are likely to increase. And that is why handheld, mobile and wireless technologies are searching for ways around it—and succeeding.

As 3G and other technologies expand, they are likely to alleviate some of the pressure put on widely-used Wi-Fi networks, and with the hosting of data by websites (most Internet television sites already operate in this manner through “streaming”) handheld, mobile and wireless television use is likely coming to a pocket near you soon.

Show more: www.nsmusictv.com

Several Methods for Improving Streaming Speeds

2008-09-04T18:26:00.002+06:00

eMarketer reported that 70 percent of all Internet users watch online video. With most online videos viewed through streaming, as opposed to downloading, bandwidth bottlenecks are becoming more and more of a problem despite improvements in hardware components and connectivity. Though hardware and software components can improve or hinder your video streaming abilities, there are other solutions to improving video streaming abilities that don’t involve upgrading or purchasing a new computer.

Adjusting packet delivery size:

In some cases, improving connectivity is as simple as adjusting the size of the network packet. Configuring the packet size provides a choice between responsiveness and overall throughput. Larger packets provide less packet overhead and better throughput. Smaller packets are more reactive. An application can change the packet size by using the DB-Library DBSETLOACKET call. The packet size can also be changed while using the BCP and ISQL utilities, using the /a packetsize parameter.

Bit Accelerator applications:

There are dozens of products on the market today that operate by accelerating the transfer of data by utilizing a multi-connection algorithm. The multi-connection algorithm operates by simultaneously uploading data from various positions in the video and recombining it for seamless playback. Bit Accelerator applications can greatly improve streaming speeds. If your connection is slow or there is a bandwidth bottleneck, you will essentially be uploading various portions of a given video at the same slow speed.

Network Path Optimizer applications:

Several applications, like Asankya, improve streaming speeds by seeking the optimal route for delivering packets from one server to another, often rerouting it through multiple networks for the quickest possible delivery.

Check the connection:

Sometimes improving streaming speeds can be as simple as testing for a stronger signal in a different part of the house, or by ensuring that your network requires a key for use. Simple maintenance of your personal network can go a long way in improving streaming speeds.Although finding the solution that works best for you may require some trial and error, one thing is for sure - with the percentage of Internet users watching online videos likely to increase, streaming will probably never be as simple as pointing and clicking ever again.

HTC Touch Diamond

2008-09-04T17:25:00.005+06:00

TouchFLO 3D provides animated access to people, messaging, email, photos, music, weather and more. In addition, HTC is introducing a new innovative touch-sensitive control for interacting with Touch Diamond.

The device runs Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional and supports high speed mobile Internet access with HSDPA 7.2 Mbps and HSUPA wireless connectivity - including WCDMA 900 MHz and 2100 MHz. Other connectivity options include Bluetooth 2.0 EDR+ and WiFi 802.11b/g. The HTC Touch Diamond also comes with a built-in GPS

HTC is providing a new customized mobile Web browser that enables easy viewing and navigation of websites in the way they were designed. As part of this browsing experience users can zoom and pan Websites with one-hand and automatically view optimized content that has been specially created to fit the display. Turning the device sideways automatically rotates the web page view from a portrait to landscape view, thanks to built-in tilt sensors.

Features:
Display: 2.8-inch VGA touch screen
Camera: 3.2MP, with video calling
Internal memory: 4 GB
Internal Storage, 256 MB flash, 192 MB RAM,
Bluetooth: 2.0 with EDR
Wireless: WiFi 802.11b/g
GPS: GPS/AGPS
Interface: HTC ExtUSB

Dialog Telecom has selected Alcatel-Lucent’s convergent payment solution for the delivery of MVNO services

2008-08-23T08:35:00.007+06:00

A mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) is a company that provides mobile phone service but does not have its own licensed frequency allocation of radio spectrum, nor does it necessarily have all of the infrastructure required to provide mobile telephone service.

Dialog Telecom, one of the leading alternative telecommunication operators in Poland, has selected Alcatel-Lucent’s convergent payment solution for its Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) services.

The Alcatel-Lucent 8610 Instant Convergent Charging Suite (ICC), based on the Open Services Platform, will give Dialog the capacity to expand its convergent service offering with mobile prepaid and post-paid services. Alcatel-Lucent will also integrate the platform with the core network of a mobile network operator, acting as a host for Dialog’s mobile services, as Dialog, a virtual operator, doesn’t own a network.

“Dialog wants to be a leader in service convergence among independent operators in Poland. As one of the leading brands in the Polish telecommunication market we are in good position to integrate our fixed, Internet and multimedia services with a mobile portfolio and create a winning quadruple-play service bundle” said Piotr Mazurkiewicz, President of Management Board of Dialog Telecom. He also added that “We chose Alcatel-Lucent because we are convinced that the MVNO capabilities of their solution provide the performance and flexibility required for creating attractive and reliable services for our customers. It was also very important that Alcatel-Lucent has the references of a leading integrator of telecommunication systems, and these skills are vital for the success of this project.”

This MVNO factor is increasing more and more in the today cut throat economic Telecom market. This will ensure the optimal use of existing resources in the dynamic, unstable nature of telecom industry. In small counties only two to three operator are enough to provide mobile phone service. But telephone Regulatory board must ensure the price and quality of service to the consumers.

About Telefonia Dialog

Telefonia Dialog is one of the largest alternative fixed line operators in Poland. Over half a million clients have come to appreciate the company’s innovative telephony and Internet solutions and their high satisfaction level was reflected in independent customer satisfaction surveys. Over 120,000 subscribers are now using broadband DialNet Internet access.

DialNet is one of the best offers on the Polish market, with a competitive quality of service, transmission speed and unique features such as limitless transfers, assigned IP number on request, connection sharing at no additional cost, guaranteed pricing for the whole duration of the service agreement, as well as the possibility to manage the service remotely via a web page.
Dialog is the first telecom operator in Poland offering a truly standalone broadband Internet connection without telephony subscription or connection maintenance charges. Connection speed options available for DialNet solo range from 1 Mbps to 6 Mbps.
DialNet solo users can use the NewFon dialog Internet telephony instead of a traditional fixed telephone line. This service is available in all of Poland. Subscribers registered at http://www.newfon.pl/ can benefit from a telephone number received completely free of charge. Calls are billed by the second. A one-minute domestic or international call in the first zone costs 10 groszy, tax included.

In 2008, following multimedia services were added to the services portfolio: interactive television and video on demand. The newest offer — a service bundle including four DIALOGmedia services: telephony, Internet, digital television and online video rental makes for a true home communications and entertainment center.

3G Speed world wide (iphone)

2008-08-19T10:14:00.002+06:00

3G technology gives iPhone fast access to the Internet and email over cellular networks around the world. iPhone 3G also makes it possible to do more in more places: Surf the web, download email, get directions, and watch video — even while you’re on a call.

How it works.
iPhone 3G uses a technology protocol called HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access) to download data fast over UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) networks. Email attachments and web pages load twice as fast on 3G networks as on 2G EDGE networks.1 And since iPhone 3G seamlessly switches between EDGE, faster 3G, and even faster Wi-Fi, you always get the best speeds possible.

Talk and browse. At the same time.
iPhone already gives you mobile multitasking. But 3G technology lets you multitask in more places — without connecting via Wi-Fi. Since 3G networks enable simultaneous data and voice, you can talk on the phone while surfing the web, checking email, or using Maps. All from your 3G cellular network.

Go anywhere.
iPhone 3G meets worldwide standards for cellular communications, so you can make calls and surf the web from practically anywhere on the planet. And if you’re in an area without a 3G network, iPhone connects you via GSM for calls and EDGE for data.

More wireless. Less space.
iPhone 3G delivers UMTS, HSDPA, GSM, Wi-Fi, EDGE, GPS, and Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR in one compact device — using only two antennas. Clever iPhone engineering integrates those antennas into a few unexpected places: the metal ring around the camera, the audio jack, the metal screen bezel, and the iPhone circuitry itself. And intelligent iPhone power management technology gives you up to 5 hours of talk time over 3G networks.2 That’s some of the best in the business.

Experts say - U.S. at risk of cyberattacks,

2008-08-19T09:35:00.002+06:00

The next large-scale military or terrorist attack on the United States, if and when it happens, may not involve airplanes or bombs or even intruders breaching American borders.
Cyberattackers shut down one Georgian government site and defaced another with images of Adolf Hitler.

Cyberattackers shut down one Georgian government site and defaced another with images of Adolf Hitler.

Instead, such an assault may be carried out in cyberspace by shadowy hackers half a world away. And Internet security experts believe that it could be just as devastating to the U.S.'s economy and infrastructure as a deadly bombing.

Experts say last week's attack on the former Soviet republic of Georgia, in which a Russian military offensive was preceded by an Internet assault that overwhelmed Georgian government Web sites, signals a new kind of cyberwar, one for which the United States is not fully prepared.

"Nobody's come up with a way to prevent this from happening, even here in the U.S.," said Tom Burling, acting chief executive of Tulip Systems, an Atlanta, Georgia, Web-hosting firm that volunteered its Internet servers to protect the nation of Georgia's Web sites from malicious traffic.

"The U.S. is probably more Internet-dependent than any place in the world. So to that extent, we're more vulnerable than any place in the world to this kind of attack," Burling added. "So much of what we're doing [in the United States] is out there on the Internet, and all of that can be taken down at once."

Scientists working with NASA's Phoenix Lander are reasonably sure they have detected a toxic chemical in the soil near the north pole of Mars.

2008-08-12T14:02:00.000+06:00

But they say hearty strains of microbes might be able to live there anyway -- and even thrive on it.

"This is an important piece of the puzzle as we attempt to determine whether habitable conditions exist for microbes on Mars," said Phoenix principal investigator Peter Smith, of the University of Arizona. "In itself, it is neither good nor bad for life."

The chemical, perchlorate, is an oxidant widely used in solid rocket fuel, but can also be naturally occuring on Earth. It is found in soil of Chile's barren Atacama desert -- generally believed to be one of the most lifeless places on Earth -- but scientists have been able to isolate strains of bacteria living in that soil.

Such organisms are known as "extremophiles," because they have evolved to live in harsh environments. And if it could happen on Earth, why not Mars?

"This desert is a hyper-arid environment that rarely sees rain, and has no vascular plants, and is often used by scientists as a matter of fact as a Martian 'analog' site," Smith said Tuesday.