Your Windows 7 Free Ride Is Coming To An End

Windows Phone 7, a dramatic upgrade of Microsoft's mobile operating system, looks fairly impressive out of the gate. In addition to a stylish user interface that's strongly influenced by the underappreciated Zune HD media player, Windows Phone 7 is tightly integrated with Redmond's Bing search engine.

Tap the Search button on a Windows 7 device, for instance, and a Bing window appears. Microsoft says the Windows Phone interface is locked, that its hardware partners won't be allowed to replace the UI. Might those rules extend to the default search engine too? It's a given that Bing, not Google, will be the default search engine for every Windows 7 phone that ships. Users will likely have the option of digging into the settings to select another search tool (e.g., Google or Yahoo), but most won't bother.

Android vs. Windows Phone

Mobile devices are the latest battleground in the search wars, and a revitalized Windows Phone 7 would make for a more bruising fight. Google, of course, is gaining mobile market share too. Its Android OS is slated to debut on dozens of mobile devices this year, all of which will have tight hooks into Google Search.

As for Apple's iPhone, rumors persist that Bing may soon become the device's default search engine. Cupertino's relationship with Google continues to sour, particularly in light of Google's Android push and its iPhone-like Nexus One handset.

A Google vs. Apple battle may be very, very good for Bing. Healthy sales of Windows 7 phones wouldn't hurt either.

HCL's PVC-Free Notebook ME 40 Arrives

HCL Infosystems Limited has unveiled India’s first PVC free HCL ME Series 40 Notebook. The eco-friendly ME notebook has been designed and manufactured with materials completely free of harmful chemicals like Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), a hazardous toxin, absence of which makes recycling of electronic products safer and environment friendly.

“With decades of pioneering technology innovations, HCL ME Series 40 is just another step towards a green revolution in the IT hardware industry," George Paul, Executive Vice President, HCL Infosystems Ltd said.

The new notebook is based on the Intel Core 2 Duo processor. HCL ME 40 notebook is available for Rs. 41,500 /- + applicable taxes.

Google's Big Fiber Play: What Gives?

Search and advertising giant Google plans to build and test super fast fiber-optic broadband networks in a few communities around the U.S., promising up to a one gigabit per second service — a hundred-fold increase over what most Americans currently can subscribe to.

A 1 Gbps could let a user download a HD movie in minutes and is more than 1000 times faster than AT&T’s basic DSL offering.

The company, whose experience running a ISP is limited to a small, free wireless service in its hometown of MountainView, California, called the intiative an “experiment” in keeping with what it urged the FCC to do with its upcoming national broadband plan. The company is asking municipalities to apply to be candidates and said it will offer a competitively priced service to 50,000 to a half a million people.


Google is doing at least three things here:

1) It’s demonstrating to the public and to regulators that really fast broadband isn’t nearly as hard as companies like AT&T and Verizon pretend it is.

2) It’s sending a warning to large telecoms that they better start working to reduce prices and increase service or they might face a competitor they dont’ want to go up against, and

3) By partnering with municpalities, it’s learning/showing the nation how to bypass the current dominant telecom players by creating municipally-owned fiber infrastructure that can be rented to multiple service providers, who can then duke it out on price and service. If successful, that could create a model where Google uses its huge cash surplus to finance municipally-owned fiber optic networks, undermining its telecom rivals and speeding up the nation’s internet without ever having to run a consumer-grade network or learn how to do customer support.

Adobe Flash, Reader, Acrobat Vulnerable

Adobe Systems on Thursday warned of new critical holes in Reader and Flash Player, released a security update for the Flash hole, and said a patch for Reader would come next week.

Updates for the following software are coming on Tuesday, according to Adobe's prenotification security advisory:

* Reader 9.3 for Windows, Mac, and Unix
* Acrobat 9.3 for Windows and Mac
* Reader 8.2 for Windows and Mac
* Acrobat 8.2 for Windows and Mac


The Tuesday updates will also address the Flash issue, Adobe said.

Meanwhile, the company released a security update to fix a hole in Flash Player version 10.0.42.43 (and earlier versions) that could "subvert the domain sandbox and make unauthorized cross-domain requests," according to a security bulletin.

Adobe recommends that users update to Flash Player 10.0.45.2 and update to AIR version 1.5.3.1930.

The company also issued a security bulletin to resolve an important vulnerability in BlazeDS 3.2 and earlier, which also affects LiveCycle, Flex Data Services, and ColdFusion.

Bill Gates criticizes the iPad

Count Microsoft chairman Bill Gates among those who are unimpressed with the iPad.

Gates said Apple's new tablet-style device is too bare bones to offer a full computing experience for most users.

"You know, I'm a big believer in touch and digital reading, but I still think that some mixture of voice, the pen, and a real keyboard—in other words a netbook—will be the mainstream on that," Gates said in an interview with business blog Bnet.

Gates said the iPad doesn't offer anything that Windows-based tablets can't do.

"So it's not like I sit there and feel the same way I did with the iPhone where I say, 'Oh my God, Microsoft didn't aim high enough,'" said Gates. "It's a nice reader, but there's nothing on the iPad I look at and say, 'Oh, I wish Microsoft had done that.'"

Though Gates isn't the only iPad critic—numerous observers have knocked the device for its lack of a camera, Flash support, and phone functionality—his comments might have to be take with a grain of salt.

Microsoft is, after all, aggressively pushing Windows 7-based tablets from partners such as Hewlett-Packard and Acer. Indeed, CEO Steve Ballmer demonstrated a prototype HP tablet powered by Windows 7 last month at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

"It's almost as portable as a phone, and as powerful as a PC running Windows 7," Ballmer said at the time. "This emerging category of PCs really should take advantage of the touch and mobility capabilities of Windows 7," he said.

Samsung Omnia HD Gets Major Firmware Update

Samsung Omnia HD owners will be pleased to know that they will be able to download the JB1 firmware update via PC Studio 7, where this firmware will see the introduction of kinetic scrolling to the smartphone, although it does not apply to the whole interface, but in parts only. Apart from that, additional improvements are a zippier web browser, better camera settings and a slew of bug fixes. You might find performance to be pretty sluggish after that though, since the firmware update will leave your system with just 17MB of memory left instead of 30MB prior to this firmware update. Be sure to make a backup before you continue, lest Murphy's Law strikes!

Google introduces smut censor for YouTube

Popular video sharing site YouTube has introduced a new parental control like feature to its service. Dubbed as Safe Mode, this new feature is an opt-in setting that aids users to screen obscene content. All the obscene, graphically violent, or suggestive videos that don't meet Community Guidelines can be filtered out. Again, Google makes a point to note that Safe Mode isn't a fool proof measure - means you can't have 100 percent guarantee that the kids or any other family member won't stumble over objectionable content.

YouTube now gets the Safe Mode which is also available while searching Google Images. It filters out the obscene content once the user logs in using YouTube or Google account and turns the Safe Mode to On. The new Safe Mode can act as Parental Control remote at home and will turn YouTube to Safe-For-Work mode instead of getting one embarrassed.

The Safe Mode is located at the bottom of the page and is being rolled out to users now.

Watch this Safe Mode demo from YouTube:

Google's Buzz sets internet humming

Google Inc. launched a new service to bring social updates such as photos and Web links into Gmail and some Google mobile products, in a challenge to Facebook Inc. and other social media sites where people go to check up on their friends.Dubbed Google Buzz, the service allows users to post and browse content from people they regularly communicate with over Gmail in a new stream-like interface. People can choose to follow content from other Google users and Google tries to figure out what's relevant, surfacing some updates directly into a users' inbox. People can consume the stream of information through a left hand menu under a user's inbox. Beginning soon, they will also be able to post and view updates from Google's mobile Web site or Buzz mobile software application.

IBM games highlight benefits of 'Smarter Planet'

IBM Corp. in collaboration with Walt Disney has unleashed a resource-efficient datacentre which is being exhibited at the Big Blue’s “Smarter Planet” exposition at the Walt Disney’s EPCOT Theme Centre Park in Florida, according to the Datacenter Journal.

The idea behind the initiative is to let people realise how modern technology has impacted their lives, even in spheres pertaining to routine activities. The company has put its signature modular datacentre in the exhibition and has more power than what is required to run the exhibit.

In a bid to showcase the notion of energy efficient planet, the surplus power produced by the datacentre is passed on to the World Computing Grid where it would be used for a range of purposes.

The EPCOT Theme Park, which has largely been associated with the exhibition of video gaming and other such related content, is now portraying a vision of Smarter Planet

It shows how technology would play a pivotal role in tackling myriad of modern day’s problems, like road traffic congestion, substandard local water supplies, as well as city crime.

Microblogging may replace email

Analyst firm Gartner is out with five predictions for social software, the net of which shows that social media functions will both succeed and fail in the enterprise.

Gartner believes that social services will be embraced, but perhaps not in the way we thought they would. In boiling down the various social mediums into mechanics such as interpersonal communications or performance analysis, it becomes a bit clearer how these services will be adopted in the enterprise. It also gives a glimpse into areas start-ups can target to solve business problems.

Gartner's five social software predictions for 2010 and beyond:
* By 2014, social-networking services will replace e-mail as the primary vehicle for interpersonal communications for 20 percent of business users.
* By 2012, over 50 percent of enterprises will use activity streams that include microblogging, but stand-alone enterprise microblogging will have less than 5 percent penetration.
* Through 2012, more than 70 percent of IT-dominated social media initiatives will fail.
* Within five years, 70 percent of collaboration and communications applications designed on PCs will be modeled after user experience lessons from smartphone collaboration applications.
* Through 2015, only 25 percent of enterprises will routinely utilize social network analysis to improve performance and productivity.

Infosys to get new board in 2014

Seems its time Infosys HR starts setting ground for next-generation
leadership. For, the existing board is left with four years in offic
e before they retire.

In an interview to CIOL Nandita Gurjar, SVP and global HRD head, Infosys Technologies said that the company strongly believes in succession planning, as most of the board members would retire in 2014.The company reportedly has already got the next level of executive council in place, which it started building in 2008.

The present members of the executive council include BG Srinivas, senior vice president, manufacturing; product engineering; product lifecycle and engineering solutions; Ashok Vemuri, senior vice president and global head, banking and capital markets, strategic global sourcing; Subhash Dhar, senior vice president and head, global sales, alliances and marketing also head, communications, media and entertainment; and Chandra Shekar Kakal, senior vice president and global head, enterprise solutions.

Incidentally, Infosys plans to continue the rollout of its iRace program under which the company’s staff are required to wait longer for their promotions so that only the professionals with proven managerial skills can lead project teams.

The new HR initiative — iRACE (Infosys Role and Career) — was introduced by the company last year. Some employees, who the company says form 5% of the total workforce, had resisted the initiative.

Eye-Fi Launches 2 New Wi-Fi Enabled Cards

Towards the latter part of 2007, a company called Eye-Fi launched the first Wi-Fi enabled memory card. The idea was to make uploading images and documents more convenient. But from a single 2GB wireless card the company has decided it’s time for more and has expanded their list of Wi-Fi Memory Cards by adding 2 more.

The Eye-Fi Home is designed to be used with a home network to upload images etc to your PC’s desktop using specific software for the same. The second card called the Eye-Fi Explorer should give you a small clue as to its use. In case you aren’t sure, the Explorer is equipped with a GeoTagging feature from Skyhook. The very first Eye-fi card is of course still available.

The three cards are of 2GB capacities and retail for - $129 (Rs. 5,341) for the Explorer, $99 (Rs. 4,100) for the Home and the first Eye-Fi card is still priced at $79 (Rs. 3,271). They aren’t here yet, officially, but let’s hope it doesn’t take too long.

Amazon.com Cuts Kindle Price by $40

The $399 Kindle launched last November and sold out in hours. Amazon sorted out its supply chain and manufacturing problems, and the device was back on sale in April.

Amazon spokesman Drew Herdener said Tuesday that Amazon's cost of manufacturing the Kindles dropped as it increased the number produced. He would not say how many of the e-book readers have been sold to date.

The Kindle's new $359 list price is still higher than Sony Corp.'s competing Reader, which retails for $299.

Dell Launches Digital Forensics Service for Police

Dell Inc, the world's second-biggest maker of personal computers, launched a service on Tuesday designed to help law-enforcement agencies convict more criminals as digital evidence proliferates.
The company said its digital-forensics offering would help police reduce backlogs that can be as long as two years, as it would allow multiple analysts to work simultaneously on the same data, while preserving an audit trail of evidence-handling. "Law enforcement agencies across the world have told us about the enormous challenges they face in analysing huge volumes of data on seized digital devices," Josh Claman, head of Dell's European public-sector business, said in a statement. James Quarles, Dell's head of public-sector marketing in Europe, told Reuters customers remotely accessing criminal evidence in parallel from Dell datacentres could gain a crucial time advantage, for example when legally constrained as to how long they could hold terrorism suspects without evidence.

Dell made about $15 billion in sales to the public sector last year, including hospitals, government, education and defence - about a quarter of its total revenue. The company cited estimates by research firm IDC that the U.S. digital-forensics market would be worth $630 million this year, up from $252 million in 2004, while the international market would be worth $1.8 billion by 2011. Partners in Dell's offering include data-storage gear maker EMC Corp, chipmaker Intel Corp, business-software maker Oracle Corp, security-software maker Symantec Corp and privately held digital-forensics specialist AccessData. Dell will present the new service to Britain's Association of Chief Police Officers on Tuesday.

ZyXEL intros green wireless N-router

ZyXEL Communications has introduced the NBG 419N Wireless N Home Router that's compliant with 802.11n technology.

Equipped with User Experiences on Network Gaming and Multimedia Streaming, Easy Mode and Expert Mode for Quick Navigation and Setup, the router is a green product with wireless control for energy savings and Wi-Fi protected set-up.

The key features of NBG 419N Wireless N Home Router include:

* Detachable Antenna
* Pure AP mode with full WDS
* The latest 802.11n technology to offer a cost-effective solution for users
* upgrading their networks to the next generation.
* NBG-419N's six-level output power control capability makes it a good wireless neighbor.
*64/128-bit WEP, and WPA/WPA2 are supported to provide stringent protection for wireless transmissions.
* With Wi-Fi Multimedia (WMM) technology, the NBG-419N can enhance users' experiences for audio, video and voice applications over wireless networks.

The NBG 419N Wireless N Home Router is priced at Rs. 8500.

Google shows off Chrome OS tablet ideas

On Monday, Glen Murphy, a user interface designer for Google's Chrome browser and the Chrome operating system based on it, pointed to image and video concepts of a Chrome OS-based tablet that went live two days before the iPad launch. Apparently nobody noticed initially, because only now did Murphy tweet, "Apparently our tablet mocks have been unearthed."

The site also shows the array of devices Google envisions for Chrome OS.

"While its primary focus is Netbooks, Chrome OS could eventually scale to a wide variety of devices. Each would have vastly different input methods, available screen space, and processing power," according to the Chromium form factors site. Chromium is the name of the open-source developer project that underlies the branded Chrome product.

It's possible that Chrome OS could be an easier sell on tablets than on Netbooks, the class of device on which Google said it plans to launch Chrome OS. Netbooks often are used as general-purpose PCs, so the browser-based philosophy of Chrome OS is a more jarring transition.

Today's tablets, in contrast, tend to focus more on a collection of specialized uses such as reading books, surfing the Net, and chores that only require light typing. With that approach, Chrome OS's break from the PC world could be less jarring. The tablet market isn't as big as the Netbook market, though.

The ideas are only mock-ups, but Google has established itself as a real if not dominant force in the computing industry. Its Android mobile phone operating system is increasingly influential, and its Chrome browser continues to steadily grow in usage.

iPhone OS -Multitasking Intel does

Here's been a lot of discussion lately about the iPhone OS's lack of multitasking. That is, the iPhone OS can only let one app run at a time, and this is a frustration for many people, myself included.

The introduction of the iPad has led to an increase in this chatter, largely because the assumption is that this device, too, will be limited to (essentially) running only one app at a time.

The iPhone DOES Multitask

To be clear, the iPhone OS supports multitasking just fine. It shares its core with Mac OS X and obviously that runs multiple apps without any concern. The iPhone OS is no different, and many apps DO run in the background including Phone, Mail, Safari and a few others. The problem is these are all Apple's apps, and no third-party apps have been granted permission to do this.