The service will allow publishers to make money by including adverts linked to the content of a PDF document in a panel at the side of the page.
It is Yahoo's latest way of expanding the places it can advertise online following deals with the auction site Ebay and the cable TV group Comcast.
The advertisements will not appear if the PDF document is printed.
It is the first time that Adobe has allowed dynamic adverts into its PDF (Portable Document Format) files.
Dynamic adverts can be changed for particular audiences or rotated to make sure that a particular user never sees the same advertisement twice.
PDF files can be created by a range of software and can then be read by people who have a PDF reader, such as Adobes Reader.
The PDF format has proved popular with both companies and home users, and has been used to produce large reports and shorter newsletters, as well as preparing documents for printers.
Nvidia has postponed its upcoming GeForce 8800GTS GPU from the original launch date of November 19 to December 11, according to sources at graphics card makers.
The new GeForce 8800GTS 512MB cards will replace the previous generation GeForce 8800GTS 640MB cards with a 65nm process GPU supporting PCI Express 2.0, HDMI and PureVideo Gen2. The GPU will have 128 streaming processors, 970MHz GDDR3 memory frequency, 650MHz core frequency and a maximum TDP of 140W, according to the sources.
Since the G92 graphics chip on which the GeForce 8800GTS is based has shown good performance after overclocking in the recently launch 8800GT series cards, several graphics card makers are planning to launch overclocked versions of the 8800GTS to boost demand.
GeForce 8800GTS 512MB cards are expected to be priced around US$299-349.
KDE users, here’s a neat application that creates a ’service’ in your file manager that allows you to easily convert videos to other formats using ffmpeg.
ffmpegmenu is what you need. After copying the simple script into the right directory, an action will appear in the sidebar of either Konqueror or Dolphin (your choice), which easily allows you to convert selected video to DVD, MPEG or into iPod format with a couple of clicks.
The script itself is very simple, such that it’s definitely possible to edit it to customise the commands it runs to make your own ffmpeg conversion options. It does require you have ffmpeg and the necessary codecs to convert to DVD, MPEG and iPod already installed, as it is just a loader which calls ffmpeg. But enough of that, how do you actually install the script?
Well, first of all, download it from KDE-Apps, direct download link here.
When that file opens, save it as ffmpegmenu.desktop and put it on your desktop. All we now need to do is to copy the file into place.
You’ll probably need to be root to do this, so run su - first (or Ubuntu users, prefix the cp command below with sudo).
# cd /home/yourusername/Desktop
# cp ffmpegmenu.desktop /usr/share/apps/konqueror/servicemenus
# cp ffmpegmenu.desktop /usr/share/apps/d3lphin/servicemenus
Feel free to omit either the Konqueror or Dolphin command depending on whether you want this installed in one, the other, or both. Once installed, highlighting a .avi file should show the following in the sidebar (this screenshot from Dolphin):
And it’s done!
If you want to uninstall, simply remove the ffmpegmenu.desktop files as root, like so:
# rm /usr/share/apps/konqueror/servicemenus
# rm /usr/share/apps/d3lphin/servicemenus
Pidgin is a multi-protocol Instant Messaging client that allows you to use all of your IM accounts at once.
Pidgin is free software. It is licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2. This means you are free to use it and to modify it, but if you distribute your modifications you must distribute the modified source code as well.
If you are a Wikipedia fan then you are going to love this amazing trick to read Wikipedia Offline. All you need is a bit of Gearsmonkey magic, ala a combination of Google Gears, Greasemonkey and Firefox. By using Gearsmonkey you can take your favorite website offline using Google Gears.. Well here is what the developer had to say :
SourceSites with a lot of static information — Wikipedia, any API documentation, web-based email — would be great to be able to use when no internet connection is available. But what if you’re a user that always has an internet connection? Then adding Gears to a site doesn’t do much, right? Wrong. Imagine your favorite website is now stored on your computer, and it syncs whenever there’s altered content. Whenever you look at the site, your browser is grabbing everything straight from your hard drive. Did you just make a search for your best friend on Facebook? Don’t wait 5 seconds the next time that search runs, have the results immediately! Meanwhile, save the webmasters’ precious bandwidth/server power!
Here’s the Greasemonkey script for Wikipedia (requires Firefox + Greasemonkey + Gears). For each Wikipedi article you want to save, click on “cache page” and the script will save the text and the images. It would be nice to make it work with any site.
Well If you have read my previous Hack Attack on How you can download Windows Vista SP1 through a Hack and it worked for you then here is another Hack that will allow you to download Windows XP SP3 RC1 directly from Microsoft.
Windows XP SP3 will be the final service pack that we will see for the World’s biggest Operating System from Microsoft. SP3 will bring a host of bug fixes and some new features borrowed from Vista.
Follow the instructions carefully and you’ll be running Windows XP SP3 in no time. Grab yourself a cup of Coffee as you do this..
Don’t fret too much, this won’t take much time. I can assure you that..I tried this on Windows XP Machine and this hack worked like a charm. Let me know if this works for you.. If you can’t wait for Microsoft to release SP3 officially then this hack is for you.
Spread the word around, so that many more people can download the 3rd Service Pack.If you are PC user, running Windows Vista, then you must be aware of the various multitude of problems that Vista faces. Well Microsoft plans to release the first service pack for Windows Vista sometime early next year. If you are the impatient kind, then you might want to install SP1 beta right away on your Vista PC.
Well there are two options for you to install Vista SP1, one is the legal way and the other illegal way. Illegal way involves downloading the service pack from torrents, which I am not going to tell you about here. Rather lets focus on the way Microsoft wants it beta testers to download the Service Pack .Well someone on demonoid posted a Windows Update Hack that would allow anyone running a legal Vista installation to install SP1.Well the trick is pretty much straightforward, so grab yourself a coffee as you do this. Sure this won’t take much time.
Download this file (SP1Beta_Hack.cmd - Right Click and Save as to Download) and run it with the Administrator Privileges. You should see a successful message displayed on screen in Command Prompt.
Now, over the past year or so there has been a real move to push applications that live on the desktop into the online world.
Adobe made news a few months back by announcing that a basic version of Photoshop is to exist as an online application.
And now they have bought a company which has developed a sophisticated online word processor.
And it is creating quite a buzz as its name would suggest.
Buzzword is a flash-based application which - as it lives on the web - does not require any download onto your PC, apart from the basic Flash player that is.
In its look and feel it is definitely way ahead of Google docs. The menu system is in the form of toolbars which whizz across the screen once you have selected one.
It looks great and while it does not have the functionality of, say, Microsoft Word, you can do things like automatic spell checking as you type as well as insert tables, images, and lists.
And while a few basic features are notable by their absence, like word count and copying and pasting to and from the desktop applications, support for new features are being added all the time.
Once you have finished your document, you can save it in a regular .doc or .rtf format and import it into your desktop word processor.
Online tool for making anti-aliased rounded corners for your logos and images. Simply upload a picture from your PC (or get it from URL) and click “Round It”. Once uploaded you can customize the look of corners by setting desired corner size and background color.
Overview
* Upload a picture from the web or hard drive
Measuring 4.2 by 2.4 by 0.6 inches and weighing 3.9 ounces, the 8310 is the same size and shape as the 8300. It also has a 320-by-240-pixel QVGA display and a light-sensing feature that adjusts brightness levels depending upon whether you're indoors or outdoors, just like Apple's MacBook Pro. The 8310's trackball is as easy to use as on other Curve and Pearl models, and its backlit keyboard offers nice-size buttons and a satisfying tactile response.
The Curve is a superior voice phone, too, delivering strong reception and dependable voice quality in both directions on my tests. The speakerphone is plenty loud for outdoor use, and it sounded fine—though a bit hollow—with a Sound ID SM100 Bluetooth headset. Push to talk (PTT) is available for the few AT&T subscribers who still use it.
The real news here, as mentioned earlier, is the GPS chipset. To test the TeleNav GPS Navigator, I embarked on a drive from Queens, New York, to central New Jersey and back, comparing the Curve with the Garmin nüvi 350 a dedicated GPS device. The 8310 held its own, with detailed voice prompts and reasonably fast navigation. But the device took a beat or two longer than the nüvi 350 to announce the next maneuver after any given turn. TeleNav also announces street names, but not consistently. For example, many times the BlackBerry's software said "turn right," or "continue, then turn left," whereas the nüvi 350 always pronounced the street name. Like all GSM devices, the 8310 also caused an irksome GSM buzz in my car's stereo speakers. On the plus side, I like that the 8310 asks right up front what kind of route you want: fastest, shortest, prefer streets, prefer highways, pedestrian, or traffic optimized.
Although the 8310's TeleNav implementation excels as a navigation system, its traffic reporting needs work. Five separate times, the system told me to exit a highway due to congestion on Staten Island, on the Garden State Parkway, and on the expressway back in New York. The device was wrong in every instance—each time, I took a risk and kept going, only to find no traffic jam ahead. And once the device has its mind set, there's no easy way to get it out of traffic mode. The 8310 will tell you over and over again to exit until you stop it and reprogram the route—not something you want to (or can) do while driving at highway speeds. Another time the device was accurate, however: I landed in a jam about a minute after I missed an exit it wanted me to take, but by that point I had little faith in its directions. Skip the traffic reporting and you'll be happier.
TeleNav, however, has added some new goodies this time around. The GPS Navigator now integrates restaurant reviews from yelp.com; you can search for eateries by popularity in a given range, then decide which of the search results are worth the trip. You can also rate restaurants from the phone itself, and TeleNav incorporates its own database of ratings with yelp.com's. Another useful feature: You can share your location with any friends who have a cell phone, so you can meet up. And if those persons also have TeleNav, your location will be shown on their GPS-enabled map, and they'll get real-time directions to help find you. Otherwise, the other party will receive an SMS message that opens a WAP page with a map. They can then input their location and get static directions. One drawback, though, is that the 8310 sometimes takes a while—on the order of minutes—to lock onto your location, something I noticed more often while walking the streets of New York City than while driving. Often I couldn't get a lock at all in my Queens neighborhood.
Other facets of the 8310 still impress. Its 3.5mm stereo headset jack means that you can upgrade to quality earbuds from a wide range of manufacturers. My test unit sounded passable when paired with a stereo Bluetooth set of Etymotic Ety8 earphones and absolutely stellar with wired Creative Zen Aurvana earphones. The Curve plays MP3 and (unprotected) AAC files, but not DRM-encoded tracks. Its 2-megapixel camera and built-in LED flash combine to take surprisingly usable, if somewhat soft, pictures, even indoors with low light. The 8310, like the 8300, still doesn't record video.
Like all BlackBerrys, the 8310's e-mail handling is sublime. You get lightning-fast push e-mail out of the box, with support for Web-based mail, POP/IMAP, and BlackBerry e-mail accounts, not to mention integration with Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Domino, and even Novell GroupWise. As always, its BlackBerry OS is fast, responsive, and streamlined, but third-party app support is still scarce. The built-in browser is passable, but I also loaded Opera Mini, which rendered miniature versions of full Web pages that I could zoom in on and read. You can use the 8310 Curve as a tethered laptop modem as well, though you'll quickly lose patience waiting for its glacial EDGE radio to deliver information.
The BlackBerry 8310 Curve is an excellent value at $199 with a two-year contract. The Curve may lack the Motorola Q9h's built-in document editing and high-speed data radio, but superior e-mail handling, a responsive OS, and a sleeker design make the Curve a great alternative. The 8310's 2-megapixel camera is also a good reason to skip the BlackBerry 8800, especially now that the 8310 includes GPS, the 8800's original draw. Since AT&T is iPhone country, it's worth noting that the Curve 8310 is a better messaging device and voice phone than Apple's first phone. Power users in the Microsoft camp who require 3G should look at the powerhouse AT&T Tilt or Q9h, and iTunes and video fans should naturally check out the iPhone. For just about anyone else, the BlackBerry Curve 8310 is a top-flight pick.
No sooner has the Windows Live Wave 2 suite been released than the first Wave 3 beta begins - Windows Live Messenger v9. Unlike the betas that have just finished, the Messenger v9 beta is being run from Microsoft Connect as a private
beta, meaning that, for the moment at least, unless you receive an invite, you won't be able to participate.
So what's new? While the goodies aren't yet available, we've heard about Multiple Points Of Presence (MPOP) support, which allows you to signin from multiple devices, ie be online at two places at once.
More coming soon!I was lucky enough to get an invitation..here is the screenshot of my invitation...na na..not id...Hope i get accepted. Got ma finger crossed..
It's the gadget of the day: Amazon's homegrown Kindle, the latest attempt to make the e-book reader from quirky oddity into something for the mainstream. Will it fly this time time around? Amazon's got a long road ahead of it, but first appearances would seem to indicate that this is the best e-book reader to date.
Amazon is unabashedly looking to the iPod for inspiration, attempting to make a piece of hardware that needs minimal expertise to run and that ties specifically to its own store, in this case, Amazon.com, which will offer 88,000 book titles for sale at launch. Even better, the Kindle is designed to be usable sans computer. It connects directly to a special Sprint-powered cellular network called Whispernet (not Wi-Fi) and lets you download directly from the web. However, there are no additional monthly service fees for the privilege.
The big question with these devices is always the screen. Kindle uses the same display technology that the similar Sony Reader uses, called E-Ink. The screen looks as much like paper as electronic displays get; it also allows for exceptional battery life since, once a page is generated, it requires no additional power to keep it displayed.
But there's a dark side of Kindle, which is already drawing heaps of abuse for its design, which can charitably be described as heinously ugly. The vaguely trapezoidal gizmo with oddball keys certainly doesn't share any kinship with the elegant iPod, but iPod 1.0 was hardly the beauty it's become of late. I'm going to chalk it up as a first stab at a design, and I'm all but certain the 2008 version will look nothing like it.
Weighing just 10.3 ounces, the Kindle is lighter than most paperbacks, which should make extended reading no problem. You can store hundreds of titles on its built-in memory and add SD cards for additional room. Titles you buy ($10 for best sellers and new releases) are backed up on Amazon, so even if you have to delete one, you can always download it again later. And if books aren't your bag, the Kindle also does blogs, newspapers, and more (though for additional fees). There are also some very basic music and web browsing features.
So will Kindle fly? People who aren't complaining about the design will likely complain about the price. Even if you're saving $6 off the purchase of each book, it will take more than 60 purchases for the $399 Kindle to pay for itself. Consider also the Sony Reader, which has been a modest success: Sony claimed it was "exceeding expectations" and that e-book sales were outpacing music sales at its online store, as of January 2007. That said, who buys music from Sony's online store? Sony reportedly has a new, wireless Reader in the works, too, so there appear to be at least some legs in this market.
The jury's out on whether Kindle will really make an impact with consumers, but Amazon's launching it at the perfect time, and tying it to the world's largest bookstore is certainly a smart move. The price is the real trick: Many Amazon shoppers are loyal to the site because of its exceptional bargains, but $399 puts it at (or above) the price of most gaming consoles. So would you like an e-book reader or a Nintendo Wii underthe tree this year?
Ever sent an email you later regretted writing? We all have, but it can be especially bad when those emails are sent to the wrong person or get leaked on the Internet. You might not know this, but there are many providers that offer self destructing email services. These services give you complete control over who reads them, how long they exist, or whether they can be printed, copied, or forwarded.
Hey, you don't have to be a secret agent to send self-destructing emails, just a very smart geek with a reputation to maintain, so check out what these four services can do for you:
There are many others like the ones above, so if you want other options check out Tech[dot]Blog, who rounded up a great list of self destructing email providers.
Well, USB fans, things are going to get even more interesting and soon. USB 2.0 may be fast enough right now, but with
more high-definition video products arriving and bigger and bigger files being transferred, that won't be the case forever. Enter USB 3.0, which moves the bandwidth needle from 480Mbps to roughly 4.8Gbps, 10 times faster than the current version.
The new standard, which was recently demonstrated using a new optical cable (but the same connector), will be backward compatible with older USB formats and promises better power efficiency, too, in order to decrease the load on portable devices. Possibly in the works: Better ability to charge devices over USB, some of which still require an A/C adapter or
two USB connections to draw enough juice.
Specs are planned to be delivered early next year with commercial availability for 2009. Just do us a favor and clearly label USB 3.0 products with an appropriate logo this time! (USB 2.0 got caught up in a mini scandal when vendors started labeling USB 1.1 products as "USB 2.0 capable," with vendors later claiming they only meant the products worked with USB 2.0
connections. Fail!)
So you just bought a training video and popped it into your computer. You click on the menu in the autoplay dialog and it opens up Firefox, your default browser. Now you are staring at a blank screen.
What now?
Player plugin installed for Firefox, so all we need to do is install it.
Note that you'll usually have the same problem anytime you try and view video files in FIrefox using Windows Media format, such as .wmv files.Installation
Just download and run the plugin installer linked below. You'll probably want to close Firefox during the installation.Verifying Plugin Installation
After running through the very quick installation wizard, you might be curious if the installation actually worked. While the easiest method is to just open a Windows Media video, you can also type the following into the address bar to see the list of loaded plugins:about:plugins
And you should see the Windows Media Player plugin in the list. You can also see which file types Firefox will use the plugin on.
And now I can view this Windows Media format video file in Firefox…
Technical Notes
In case you have any issues with this installer, you might want to take a look at this list to help with your troubleshooting:
Samsung has been teasing us for months about its upcoming dual-format HD player; first, there were only rumors, then word came in April that the Blu-ray/HD DVD player was, indeed, actually coming, but Samsung didn't reveal much beyond that. Today, however, we're getting the main specs, some pictures, a release date (before year's end) and a price: $1,049. Ouch. The first pictures of the BD-UP5000 are pretty much what you'd expect—a big black box with a your standard digital readout and some blue glowing buttons. Under the hood, however, is the good stuff, including full compatibility with the HDi- and BD-Java-powered interactive extras on both Blu-ray and HD DVD discs, neatly fixing a problem that plagued LG's spotty combo HD player, the BH100. You'll also get full 1080p output for Blu-ray and HD DVD (including 24 frame-per-second playback on Blu-ray discs, making for smoother, more film-like picture), the latest in high-def audio formats (Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD), and an HDMI 1.3 port (which can send both video and Dolby TrueHD/DTS-HD sound to your receiver). The BD-UP5000 could be a silver bullet for your Blu-ray/HD DVD compatibility woes if money's no object; for the rest of us, however, the $1,049 price tag is simply too high. Why? Because for a total of $800, you can pick up a 60GB PlayStation 3 with a built-in Blu-ray drive ($500) and a cheap Toshiba HD DVD player ($300). Yes, that's two boxes compared to a single BD-UP5000 player, but you'll be getting a next-gen gaming console in the bargain. A Samsung rep admitted to me that the company may lower the BD-UP5000's sky-high price tag depending on market prices in the next few months; let's hope Samsung follows through on that.
This fully customizable calendar with notes, tasks, alarms and contacts provides seamless integration and interactivity with the desktop background. You can organize your data in layers and share them with other people on a local area network.
The program can integrate with Outlook to show its appointments and tasks on the desktop. There are options for changing calendar icons, fonts and colors, marking weekdays of choice and marking dates with notes and/or alarms. You can have a text only version of the calendar and choose between displaying one, two or three months on the desktop.Recurrence patterns are available for both notes and alarms. An alarm can be stand alone or attached to a note. If interactive desktop option is enabled, the program accepts direct clicks on dates, notes and tasks displayed on the desktop. You can set each note to normal, private or invisible desktop view. Private notes are displayed as generic text reminder and
invisible notes are not displayed at all.
Google Calendars are supported through direct connection with their iCal addresses. Special desktop pictures option will let you add some of your pictures to existing desktop background. For importing and exporting calendar data the program supports iCal and comma separated values CSV formats. Tablet PC users should not worry as the program detects desktop orientation changes automatically. Finally, Active Desktop Calendar comes with world clock screen saver that shows your computer's system time, plus five major time zones around the world.
Features:
Blends data with desktop wallpaper
Calendar, notes, tasks, alarms, contacts
Many recurrence patterns for notes/alarms
Interactive desktop interface
Fully customizable (icons, fonts, colors)
Data export/import/print (CSV, iCal)
Included preset calendars with holidays
Detects Tablet PC desktop orientation
Dual/multi monitor systems supported
Group calendar data in layers
Share data layers on a local area network
Direct connection with Outlook®
Google® calendar support
Automatic data backup
Many icons available for marking notes
Download Full Version(divshare)
Download Full Version(zizfile)
What if you could control and monitor all aspects of your computer, from the power supply to the chassis, in order to boost its performance? The concept isn’t new to power users, who sometimes go to elaborate lengths to maximize their PCs’ speed. But a new open standard, Enthusiast System Architecture (ESA), spearheaded by nVidia, might help make this component information easier to access.
“ESA enables components such as chassis, power supplies, and water-cooling systems to communicate status and control in real time,” said Waleed Zamel, nVidia’s technical marketing manager, in a statement. “ESA-compliant applications provide enthusiasts with unprecedented software control to achieve better performance [and] optimal thermal and acoustic operating environments.”
nVidia's partners in promoting ESA include system builders and component manufacturers such as Asus, Cooler Master, Dell, Falcon Northwest, Gigabyte, HP, and Thermaltake. At press time, CoolIt Systems was offering its Freezone Elite CPU Cooler, which features the MTEC Control Center module. ESA-compliant motherboards and desktops should be available by the time you read this.
“By providing ESA-compliant [equipment], it enables users to exploit the full potential of the hardware,” said Zamel in the statement. “This kind of engineering cooperation is targeted to enable our mutual enthusiast customers to push the technology to new heights.”
Don't want a big, ugly, boxy laser printer on your desk? The $199.95 Samsung ML-1630 lets you add monochrome laser printing to your work area with style. This low-profile device looks more like a cross between a scanner and the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey than a typical printer. Best of all, the designers didn't put all their efforts into its appearance: The ML-1630 offers excellent print quality, fast startup, and reasonably good print speeds.
Setup is a snap. Attach the power cord, connect a USB 2.0 cable (not included), and drop in the toner cartridge. The toughest part is trying to remove the annoying sticker affixed to the top of the otherwise-stylish, shiny piano-black plastic casing.
The ML-1630 takes up about as much desktop space as a typical laser printer, at 13 inches wide by 14.7 inches deep, but it's only 4.8 inches tall. Powering on the printer reveals a slick blue LED readout that shows the current page count and any error info. The body sports just two touch-sensitive controls: power and cancel.
Print quality is above-average for a consumer laser printer. Text at both 600 dots per inch (dpi) and 1,200dpi is crisp and readable, even at small font sizes and in gray-scale output. Graphics look very good, and although dithering is evident in photos (which is typical of most monochrome lasers), we noted almost no banding in any of our image tests.
True to Samsung's rated engine speed, printing was consistent at 17 pages per minute, whether we were printing plain text or elaborate full-page graphics. Unlike some printers that take 20 seconds or more to warm up before they begin printing, the ML-1630 spits out its first page within 8 seconds. Though it's not truly “silent” as claimed, it's noticeably quieter than other personal lasers we've tested.
The ML-1630 ships with a 1,000-page starter cartridge. Replacement cartridges cost $69.95 and are rated to last 2,000 pages, which works out to an affordable 3.5 cents per page. The paper tray holds just 100 sheets, so you'll need to reload paper fairly frequently. The tray will accommodate paper as small as 4.1x5.8 inches and as large as A4, but the ML-1630 doesn't support printing on envelopes.
Given the printer's emphasis on design and style, it's no wonder that Apple and Samsung worked out a deal to offer the ML-1630 exclusively in Apple stores through the end of December. Many of Apple's hardware devices share another quality with the printer: The ML-1630 also costs more than similar devices in its performance class. For the same price, you can find monochrome lasers that offer faster printing, larger paper capacity, or networking ports. But none of those will look half as good on your desktop.
CNET has a review of Sony's new Cyber-shot DSC-T2 up, and the verdict seems to be "well above average," with a 7.4 score. The case is bit on the podgy side, although if you don't mind that it's well designed otherwise with a hefty lens protector taking up the front and a large 2.7-inch touchscreen taking up the back. That touchscreen has problems, with the review pointing to responsiveness issues. The 4GB internal storage is also nice, but the ridiculous proprietary cable means if you lose the one in the box during your vacay, you're screwed. Image quality and performance is nothing to go crazy over, and you'll probably be happy with it if you've used an equivalently priced digicam recently. Overall, the flaws in the integrated storage and the touchscreen mean this is a bit of a letdown. Go for the T200 instead.
Source
So it looks like Sony is about to break us off with a very nicely spec'ed little waif of a camera, the 8 megapixel Cyber-shot DSC-T200 (pictured left). Oddly enough, SonyStyle Canada has all the juicy details about this unannounced, significant upgrade to the DSC-T100 -- and its little brother, the DSC-T70 (pictured right) -- posted up for the world to see before a single press released has passed our desks; we're talking 3.5-inch touchscreen, 5x optical zoom (3-inch / 3x on the T70), claimed 3200 max ISO, VGA video at 30fps, automatic face detection, and even optical image stabilization, all in sub-160-gram packages. No wireless radios onboard, unfortunately, but you are getting the ability to dock with Sony's optional CSS-HD1 Cyber-shot Station for TV, allowing images to be viewed in their full glory on high definition sets. Despite the mounds of info and images displayed on these microsites -- along with overseas enthusiast site e-Photographia -- there are still no pricing / release details to be found, so we'll keep our eyes open. You can check out the T200, lens cover down, after the break...
Source
For the last six months, I've been using this small, directional USB adapter to hit marginal hotspots when parked. I'm traveling full-time now in a big bus/RV, so I've been everywhere and anywhere, and it really does work. One example: I was in a remote Alabama campground and their little access point was perhaps a few hundred feet away. With the internal Wi-Fi adapter in my Thinkpad (it's Mac/PC compatible), no go. With the Wi-Fire aimed carefully I got a solid, workable signal. I just rotate it around until I get the best signal. It does seem highly directional, too: an eighth-turn can make a huge difference and it's much, much stronger than with the internal adapter (the company claims up to 1000ft.). The big advantage, aside from the price, is that it uses a standard USB cable, so it can easily be extended and moved around unlike a Wi-Fi antenna which needs special cabling, connectors and isn't compatible with all Wi-Fi adapters. I keep dreaming up ways to do the ultimate, automatic long range communications antenna on the bus, but until then...
Source
High Quality Photo Resizer is an easy-to-use freeware for batch resizing of digital photos. With High Quality Photo Resizer you may make high quality small photos for publication on the internet or to send to friends and family. It supports many input formats: BMP, DIB, EMF, GIF, ICB, JPG, JPEG, PBM, PCD, PCX, PGM, PNG, PPM, PSD, PSP, RLE, SGI, TGA, TIF, TIFF, VDA, VST, WBMP, WMF. It supports 8 output formats: JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP, TIF, TGA, WMF, EMF. It also enables you to add up to 37 effects (Sharpen, Mosaic, Tweak RGB, Colorize, Spray, Emboss, Blur, Gray Scale, Negative, Soften, Swirl, Tile, Wind, Contrast, Noise, Anti Alias, Fish Eye, Flip Horizontal, Flip Vertical, High Pass, Neontrace) to your photos.
As a computer field tech, I use the remote desktop program UltraVNC quite often. I utilize it mostly to connect to offsite computers so I can run diagnostics and repair remotely, if needed.
Recently, I ran into an issue with UltraVNC and Vista. I was able to connect but the desktop was slow to the point of being almost non-responsive. There was no way I would be able to diagnose let alone repair anything over that connection.
After adjusting various color depth and screen resolution options without any noticeable improvement in speed, it dawned on me that I was connected to an Aero enabled Windows Vista machine. Sure enough , when I disabled Aero, the remote desktop sprang back to life.Here’s how disable all Aero features for UltraVNC sessions.
Disable Visual Effects
Right click on Computer, and choose Properties.
Click on Advanced System Settings, and then under Advanced, click Settings.
Select the "Visual Effects" tab, and then click “Adjust for best performance” and OK.
I've found that this dramatically speeds up the remote connection. Note that you should probably re-enable the old setting
after you are done.
Looks like OneCare 2.0 could be going gold very soon. As well as it showing up on Amazon.com with a retail release date of next week, an email sent to OneCare users tonight suggests that a web release will be even sooner than that. On top of that, the OneCare installation page has been unavailable for several hours tonight, which is always a good sign that a release is right around the corner.
For those of you already using OneCare, you should be prompted to upgrade once the new version is available, though you can still upgrade manually once its out. If you haven't been testing the OneCare 2.0 beta, you should read up on the new features before it launches - new features include multi PC management, centralised backups and much more. You never know, it might just catch your eye... ;)
So many people said: I wish I had a simple button to translate a web page when I need it! Imagine: you browse for the latest digital camera information and before you know it, you end up on a Japanese web
page and you don’t understand what it says. Did you bookmark the URL to a web page translator? Wouldn’t it be convenient to just get an English translation of this Japanese site with a simple mouse click?
If it happened to you before that your browsing experience crossed over to a specific language, your Windows Live Toolbar button will remember the last language you needed a translation for. E.g. if it was from
Japanese to English, a simple click on your button wil l now give you anEnglish translation in our unique bilingual view along-side the Japanese original site. If you are, however, not in need of a Japanese-->English translation, but landed on a – say - French site, you can easily adjust the language selection in the bilingual viewer’s language drop down box. Or: you can expand the little downward arrow next to the toolbar button: 
and choose which language selection you would like to see applied when the button is clicked:
With this toolbar button, web page translations are literally only a mouse click away. It doesn’t get much easier than that!! Try it out.
In an ideal world, every video, movie and TV show you ever wanted to
watch would be available for download direct from the source and you
could watch it where ever you pleased. But as long as that world
remains a fantasy, Miro 1.0 may well be your best alternative.
Miro is essentially an online video browser, aggregator and player.
Find content you like, turn it into a channel in Miro and the software
will monitor RSS feeds, alerting you whenever new videos are posted.
Once they download via the built in BitTorrent client, watch the videos
right inside the Miro player. Pretty much like you imagine internet TV
should be. The software is free, cross-platform and open-source.
On Tuesday morning, Miro released version 1.0 of its client. The
release comes after a long period of beta testing during which the app
has gained a cult following. If you’ve been using the recent preview
releases, you'll know what to expect, but if you haven’t checked out
Miro since it changed its name from Democracy Player, there’s a bunch
of new stuff to discover.
As part of the release, Miro has put a nice list of features, inspired by and somewhat similar to the one Apple released for Leopard.
For a full review of Miro, check out our earlier write up, but here’s run down of some new and often overlooked features:
Video Format Support — Miro claims it can play
just about anything, MPEG, Quicktime, AVI, H.264, Divx, Windows Media,
Flash Video, and more. I've yet to encounter a file that didn't play in
Miro.
Video Playlists and Watched Folders — We raved about this feature
last time and nothing has changed. Even if you aren’t grabbing all your
video content through Miro, just tell the app where you’re storing it
and it’ll show up in your playlists regardless of where you got it.
BitTorrent and RSS support — Miro can download
individual BitTorrent files and torrents that are in feeds and you can
subscribe to any video RSS feed you like. There’s even a setting to
auto-download new videos whenever they show up in a subscribed feed.
Saved Search Channels — like smart folders
essentially. If you search for a something specific across sites and
you like the results, you can add it as a channel and new videos will
appear that meet the saved search criteria.
Social site integration — Got a video you like
and want to tell the world? Every video in Miro has quick links to post
to Digg, Reddit, del.icio.us, and Video Bomb.
Miro 1.0 also takes a bold stand against main competitor Joost. The
revamped front door of the site has a huge banner reading "Better Than
Joost."
In terms of interface and functionality, Miro has Joost beat (unless you're really big on chatting while you watch videos). However, Joost has a slight edge when it comes to exclusive content.
Of course the value of Joost's exclusive content is open to debate
as it depends entirely on individual taste. Perhaps as a step toward
the aforementioned utopia, someone will figure out a way to get Joost's
content into Miro's interface, but as far as I can tell that’s not
possible at the moment.
Still, when it comes to searching, finding and actually watching video, Miro is head and shoulders above Joost.
Anybody who has ever tried to change the theme in Windows will
already know that you have to hack the uxtheme file in order to install
themes into XP that aren't digitally signed by Microsoft. If you would
rather not or are unable to patch your system you might be interested
in these unofficial themes created by Microsoft.
There might be other themes out there, but these are the ones I know
about. Feel free to inform everybody in the comments if you know of any
others.
Royale
This theme is really bright and blue… Just look at all that blue…
To install this theme you'll need to download, extract the zipfile,
and then run the installer. When prompted for the location to save the
files, leave it set to default.
Now you can go into your display settings and change the theme from the list.
Download Royale Theme from Softpedia
Royale Noir
This theme was supposed to be a darker version of the regular Royale
theme, but it wasn't really finished before somebody from Microsoft
published it, and it spread all over the web.
After downloading and extracting the zipfile, you'll need to copy
the royale_noir folder into C:\Windows\Resources\Themes and then
double-click on the Luna.msstyles file found in that directory and
change the settings to match the above screenshot.
Download Royale Noir theme from istartedsomething.com
Zune Theme
This theme was released to celebrate the Zune launch, and you'll
notice it's very similar to Royale Noir, except for the kinda ugly
orange start button. Long time readers will note that we've mentioned this theme before.
Installing this theme is really simple… download and run the installer.
