Most Expensive Computer in the World

The Japanese government estimates the Earth Simulator cost $400,000,000, making it the most expensive computer ever built. The budget for the Earth Simulator project was authorized for the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) and the Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corporation (PNC) in 1997, and NEC Corporation made the winning bid for the Japanese project.

By May 2002, the 640 processor node supercomputer was benchmarked with Linpack as having 35.86 TFlop/s performance. This gave it the top spot on the TOP500 Supercomputer Sites list until 2004 when IBM’s BlueGene/L supercomputer took its place using an architecture that cost less than half as much to implement.

Each processor node in the Earth Simulator contains 8 vector processors running at 500MHz with 16GB of shared memory, and the total main memory in the machine is 10 terabytes. The operating system running on the supercomputer is NEC’s UNIX-based OS called “SUPER-UX” which is used on NEC’s SX Series of supercomputers.

This expensive computer is used for a wide variety of international projects, most of which are related to atmospheric, climate, and oceanographic simulation.

ASUS R700t

The Asus R700t portable navigation system features a slim design and has an integrated traffic receiver. You also get a complimentary subscription to the traffic services, integrated Bluetooth, and 3D building renderings.

While best known for its computer components and motherboards, Asus is branching out to all sorts of consumer electronics, including GPS. The Asus R700t is one of its first portable navigation devices, and we must admit we're pleasantly surprised. The slim device is easy to use and features some great navigation tools that aren't commonly found in other PNDs. For example, the R700t shows 3D building renderings on its maps, and it has an embedded traffic receiver. In addition, you get a free lifetime subscription to the Traffic Message Channel. Given all these great features, we were shocked and ultimately disappointed that the system lacked text-to-speech functionality. If Asus adds this technology and fixes some of the performance glitches we experienced during our test period, the company could compete well in this space. The Asus R700t is available now for $325.

Design
At just 3.1 inches high by 5 inches wide by 3.1 inches high by 0.5 inch deep and weighing 7 ounces, the Asus R700t is one of the slimmest portable navigation systems we've seen in a while--quite a feat considering the number of features that are crammed into the device. On front, there's a 4.3-inch touch screen that shows off 65,000 colors at a 480x272-pixel resolution. The display has a light-sensing technology that will automatically optimize the backlighting for your current environment. During our test drives, we didn't have any problems viewing maps and the touch screen was responsive.

Features
The Asus R700t has an impressive feature list, though there's one omission that perplexes us (more on this later). To start, the R700t is equipped with a SiRFstarIII GPS receiver and comes preloaded with TeleAtlas maps of North America, including Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Canada. Planning a trip can start several ways. You can enter a specific address, coordinates if you know them, select a point of interest, or choose a location from your Favorites or History list.

Performance
As far as general performance, the Asus R700t could be sluggish at times, despite having a 400MHz processor. It takes several minutes for the Navigation application to start up, so don't freak out if you don't see anything happening for a while. Also, there were a couple of times where we had to reset the device after the system froze on us. It only happened twice but still, a little cause for worry.

Nokia Bluetooth Speakers MD-7W

One of the best things about reviewing gadgets is the chance to play with something you've never played with before. This time we're not talking about a particularly groundbreaking technology, but even so it's still pretty cool.

Though we've reviewed quite a few cell phone speakers, all of the models that we've examined have used a wired connection to the phone. So, we now turn our attention to the Nokia Bluetooth Speakers MD-7W. Simple in form and function, the MD-7W speakers are portable, easy to use, and offer decent audio quality to boost. At $179 they won't come cheap, but we couldn't help but like them.

As cell phone speakers go, the MD-7W speakers are on the larger side. Each speaker measures 4.13 inches by 2.6 inches by 2.04 inches and weighs 5.6 ounces. That means they won't slip into your pocket, but you shouldn't have any problem carrying them in a bag or purse. Thanks to magnets in each speaker, you can clasp them together in a single cube for even easier portability. Also, Nokia includes a carrying pouch for added protection.

Setup is beyond easy. The connecting cable is 15.7 inches, so you're given a fair amount of room to separate each speaker. Yet, we noticed that the speakers were the slightest bit wobbly. You can tip them backward with a gentle push so we recommend that you place them on an even surface.

The only controls are on the right side of the right speaker. There's a volume rocker, a power/pairing button, and a control that activates the 3D stereo-widening sound feature. All of the buttons are large and tactile. Below them are a charger port and a 3.5mm audio jack for the included line-in cable. You can use the cable with a non-Bluetooth phone or a Bluetooth phone that doesn't have a stereo A2DP profile.

To pair the speakers with a phone, you'll need to hold down the power button until the light behind the right speaker grille blinks rapidly. We took just a few seconds to connect our Nokia 5300 Xpress Music, and we were ready to go. The light will continue to blink slowly when music when music is playing; it will flash red when you're turning the power off.

When listening to music, you can adjust the volume both on the phone and on the speakers. The stereo-widening feature didn't make a noticeable difference, but it's a nice feature just the same. When using the line-in cable as an antenna, you also can use the speakers to listen to your phone's FM radio.

When testing with our 5300 Xpress Music, sound quality was quite satisfying overall. The audio was a bit bass-deficient, as is common on speakers of this sort, but our tracks were remarkably sharp and clear. What's more, the audio has a lot of warmth and was without any tinny effects. Besides the 5300, the Nokia Bluetooth Speakers MD-7W are compatible with other Nokia phones or most other handsets with a stereo Bluetooth profile. As mentioned earlier, you can use other phones with the speakers, but then you're not really getting your money's worth.

The MD-7W speakers run on four AA batteries (two in each speaker). If you're near an electrical outlet and want to save battery life, you also can power them with the included wall charger. Just be aware that the charger will not power rechargeable batteries that are in the speakers. That would be a nice, though not necessary, feature to have.

Yahoo Teams with McAfee on Secure Search

SAN FRANCISCO - Yahoo Inc. and McAfee Inc. are joining to offer alerts about potentially dangerous Web sites alongside search results generated at Yahoo.com.

With the new security feature — slated to take effect Tuesday — people who search the Internet using Yahoo will see a red exclamation point and a warning next to links McAfee has identified as serving dangerous downloads or using visitors' e-mail addresses to send out spam.

Dangerous downloads can include "adware," which shows unwanted advertisements; "spyware," which secretly tracks users' keystrokes and other actions; and other malicious programs that can give criminals control over users' computers.

Yahoo and McAfee hope the move will quell users' anxiety about accidentally clicking on malicious links.

"Yahoo users have clearly told us that among the most important concerns for them are all these lurking threats on the Internet," said Priyank Garg, director of product management for Yahoo's search division. "They know the damage they can do but they don't know how to protect themselves."

Yahoo has decided to simply nuke the worst offenders — sites that attempt "drive-by downloads," or trying to automatically install malicious code on visitors' computers by exploiting coding flaws in their Web browsers.

If McAfee has identified a site as having employed such tactics, Yahoo users won't see the link at all.

"When a user gets a set of search results, there's really no indication of who's a good guy and who's a bad guy," said Tim Dowling, vice president of McAfee's Web Security Group. "You're really leaping off a platform of faith that you're clicking on a site that's safe and not one that's bad. And the bad guys really try hard to look good."

The companies declined to reveal the financial terms of the partnership.

The deal represents the latest attempt by Sunnyvale-based Yahoo to lure more search requests, snap out of its recent financial funk and steal advertising dollars from search leader Google Inc. as it tries to justify its rebuff of Microsoft Corp.'s $47.5 billion (€30.72 billion) takeover bid.

Yahoo shares fell 15 percent Monday after Microsoft pulled out of merger talks over the weekend.

After Google, Yahoo operates the second most popular search engine among US users, with 21 percent market share compared to Google's nearly 60 percent, according to data for March, the latest available, from comScore Inc.

The deal gives Santa Clara-based McAfee a way to expose more Internet users to its security software and tempt them to upgrade to premium versions.

McAfee also benefits from teaming with Yahoo because it can use Yahoo's search data to identify sites to examine for security holes and include within its products, McAfee's Dowling said.

The McAfee technology being used on Yahoo's site is a stripped-down version of McAfee's full SiteAdvisor technology that also is available for free directly from McAfee. It uses red, yellow and green icons to label safe and harmful sites. A premium version adds other features.

Billions of sites have harmful content, and the criminal hackers behind them try relentlessly to manipulate search rankings to boost their links and ensnare more victims.

Yahoo's Garg said the company was doing experiments to identify malicious sites and bar them from search results.

But he said "security is not Yahoo's forte" and McAfee's technology gives Yahoo the breadth and depth "many orders of magnitude greater than what we had before." - AP

Lost Security Code Problem? Let's Solved

I have my N6630 cellphone which I lost my security code for more than 2 years, according to the Nokia Service center, if this kind of phone losses its security code, the only thing to solve it is to upgrade it or to reformat, and P560.00 is hard to find specially for the jobless professional like me. I suffer this problem for more than 2 years since it lost its security code, I can't change other SIM, I can't delete log details, and most of all, it will not accepted in all pawnshops, lol. Yesterday I tried to search the answers for this problem, and thanks God, by the help of the powerful spider of google, I've got the answers. I have the software that can identify the phone's security code. I'm so happy after installing it, after few seconds it tells what are my security code. Now I can change my old SIM, and I can use other network SIM also. I'm glad that technology is always changing, it solves day by day problem. I know I'm not the one having a problem like this, so if you want to retrieve your lost security code, just PM me.

Global Positioning System an Insight

Last year in our IT research subject, I conduct a research about the Global Positioning System or GPS, my research Title was “Locating Mobile Phone Using GPS” I’m studied the functions and use of GPS, how will it affect on human’s daily life. The results; GPS plays vital role in our daily life, Further research and more evidences proved the power this technology. In a definition, a typical GPS receiver calculates its position using the signals from four or more GPS. Four satellites are needed since the process needs a very accurate local time, more accurate than any normal clock can provide, so the receiver internally solves for time as well as position. Some people want to know more about this technology, why this is absolutely necessary and maybe this website that I’ve browsed earlier, can solve and answer those questions;

GPS Insight, a US-based company owned by the Arizona Corporation, managed a reliable GPS, navigation, and messaging technology in order to provide a custom solution which helps their company immediately with powerful reports and functionality. They are very well-known because of their hardware and web software-based vehicle tracking product which is the technical leader in the GPS tracking field. Their products such as GPS Insight vehicle tracking system plays vital role in the industry and vehicle products because of this reliability and effectiveness. Tracking vehicle is become easy through this technology.

GPS Insight gives their customer the variety of services to give reports about their company such as; Activity Detail, Fuel Consumption of their vehicle and machines, Speed Violations, Vehicle Performance(Trouble Codes), Landmark Activity, Odd Hours, Geofence Violation and many more. With these services, company owners can assure the real-time reports of their company.

Their unique solution is easily customized and expanded in order to solve a certain company's biggest automation challenges.

GPS Insight the following reports on Speeding, Engine Diagnostic Fault codes/alerts, Begin/End of day report (compare to payroll), Off-Hours Reports/Alerts, Landmark Reports (by landmark or by vehicle), Detailed and Summary activity reports, Miles Per Gallon / Fuel Consumption report, Stop reports with configurable idle stop times, Idle time report using engine diagnostic data, Service log with scheduled service alerts, Accurate odometer, speed, diagnostic fault codes, emissions, compliance, and fuel usage/MPG from the engine's computer, and Scheduled email reports/graphs, and automated alerts.
Plus, GPS Insight offer a 30 day money back guarantee on commercial sales, and often times willing to offer "free trials" in local markets. GPS Insight support wiki for customers, they are happy to work with our customers to find the best solution for their needs, and are willing to show every aspect about their product. To enhance more, they also provide Blog for GPS vehicle tracking, in which, most of the posts talks about GPS, and also customers feedbacks, and testimonials.

Puzzle Alarm Clock

How many times has your alarm clock started beeping and all you did was hit snooze? Maybe once or twice you hit the "off" button by mistake and wound up late for work or your appointments of the day. Or a thunderstorm hit during the night, spiking the power in your house and you wake up to a blinking "12:00" display long after you were supposed to be up and moving. Well, your worries are over, since the Puzzle Alarm Clock is here!

Guaranteed to wake you up, this alarm clock is as fun as it is useful. Even if you would try, you cannot sleep through this alarm! Here is how it works:

On the Puzzle Alarm Clock are four puzzle pieces. When the clock gets to where you have set it to go off, these four pieces get shot up into the air! Your job is to get those four puzzle pieces back into the alarm clock, because it won't turn off until you do! After a workout like that, who could go back to bed?

What a fun and safe way to make sure you make it to school, work, or appointments on time. All it takes to power the Puzzle Alarm Clock is 2 AA batteries and you can get your very own clock in 2-4 business days with express delivery. This alarm clock is an attractive piece and is travel friendly, too, since its compact design makes it easy to take with you when you are on the go.

End of the PC? No, iPhone is the end of the cell phone

You can read a lot from what the Apple iPhone will do, and surely there are a lot of glaring deficiencies. What can we read of them?
And what should we make of the iPhone's company on stage at this week's Macworld? Google, Yahoo, and Cingular. The best of the Internet, and arguably the worst of the cell and broadband wireless providers, albeit with some AT&T heft yet to be leveraged.
What this tells me is that Jobs and company are forging a bold stroke, and forcing a major confrontation. Ultimately, in the long run, would you as a business user and consumer rather have ubiquitous Internet access and VOIP, or the current piss-poor assemblage of mangled handset (but it's sleek and pretty!), hopscotch cell networks, analog-to-digital dreck, call drops and poor customer service, bad software, bad billing, and lack of integration to your PC and content?
The fact is that the needed convergence between handset makers, network providers, content aggregators, and software third-parties (including Microsoft, screwing around with Vista) have failed miserably — at least in the U.S. This has left a huge hole open through which Apple will drive the iPhone.
It's a longshot in the short-term, but if they succeed the cell industry will be soon shrinking rapidly into irrelevancy. All that wasted money! Too bad because all things will be Internet Protocol-based — the best true convergence. The Wi-Fi spots today will burgeon and blossom via new WiMax meshes, and later via satellite-based Internet canopies (for higher "roaming" cost, for sure). Your PC and iPhone (using the same guts and GUIs) will hop along an IP constellation, with certain "visitor" fees applied but no single-provider lock-in.
Connection costs should drop away; advertising-oriented services will pick up the economic slack. The true cost will be in buying the best devices, and pay-per-view content. You know, the Apple way plus the Google way.
The trick, as Apple well knows is to provide enough stick and enough carrot to drag the users to this inevitability. The design and feature set of the Apple iPhone as described is that combination of stick and carrot, and that best describes its odd selection of strengths and weaknesses. If successful the iPhone could destroy massive global industries while advancing the newer Internet-based companies, largely to the users' benefit.
Because if the software-hardware-UI designs are so compelling, as they seem … And if the voice capabilities can be good enough to just keep up with an existing mediocre cell service ecology … And if Google and Yahoo can provide the compelling content and services (and ad-based financial support) … Well, then the tug of the user may be enough to drag the telcos and others in the colliding industries along — or into the dust. The iPhone may be able to finally push all the convergence over to the top to all IP/VOIP/OS X all the time, everywhere.
And so what remains to sew up are the essential missing ingredients: the VOIP and sufficient WiFi/WiMax mesh. I expect that Google will soon unveil a beta VOIP offering. If they were smart they would share it with Yahoo, but not MSN. You recall that Google collects cell phone numbers when one signs up for certain Google "free" services, such as Gmail? These call numbers are convertible.
While I have been less then wowed by VOIP as a replacement for a landline, I expect that VOIP on a mobile device such as an iPhone would be an amendable transition from cell service, as long as I have sufficient mobile broadband. Google has most everything in place to do VOIP right, and, by the way, integrate its advertising and location capabilities right in there. Talk about a killer application.
Cisco will do quite well allowing these networks to work together well. They should get out of the way on the iPhone trademark and focus on the iRouter instead. One should know when they are a pick and shovel.
One corporation missing but not unfelt on the stage at Macworld was Intel. My blue-sky musing here would be pie in the sky without Intel as a behind-the-scenes kingmaker. Intel forges together the disparate architectures of the end point with the mesh. I'm thinking of the massive investment in time, clout and partnerships needed to bringing about the continental WiMax capabilities for the major metro markets. Perhaps the governments would like to weigh in? Would general productivity be in the national interest?
If this all somehow works out in near the fashion I envision then the U.S. approach could spread around the globe. That's right, no G3. No G3 ownership! Auction it all back and write off the loss. It all goes IP, and the same BRIC countries that like Linux may also like state-managed WiMax. The once-nationalize telcos will follow, no doubt.So in June, vote with your dollars and drop your cell phone and pick up an iPhone. It's the Internet. It's the future.
source: CNET

Apple Time Capsule

Apple's new Time Capsule is one of only two devices we know of that incorporates both a wireless router and a hard drive into the same product. The other, a year-and-a-half-old router from Asus, offers neither the same high-speed wireless bandwidth nor as much storage capacity as the Time Capsule, which comes in 500GB (for $299) and 1TB (for $499) varieties. In its niche, then, the Time Capsule is the most advanced product on the market. Its price is also fair compared with a separate router and network-attached hard drive. Mac owners and the space or design conscious should consider the Time Capsule if they're in need of a router upgrade. Windows PC owners should look elsewhere for more advanced storage capabilities, as should anyone that demands fast wireless performance.

This brings us to the Time Capsule's USB port. The Airport Extreme Base Station had one as well, so much of the functionality is the same. The idea is that you can plug pretty much any networkable USB device into the Time Capsule and share it across your network. It can also accept a USB hub if you want to attach multiple devices. We successfully added a USB flash drive and a USB hard drive, each of which created another distinct drive volume on our network. Apple offers no RAID capability with the Time Capsule (unlike the old Asus router-storage combo product), so it cannot mirror added drives or map them into a contiguous volume. Mirroring a drive already set to backup might be excessive, but it would be useful to create a single volume out of multiple drives.

Nokia N95

It's GPS. It's a photo studio. It's a mobile disco. It's the world wide web. It's anything you want it to be. Explore the internet with 3.5G ease. Navigate the world with interactive maps and purchasable local city guides. Download your favorite music tracks. And capture it all with 5 megapixel clarity and Carl Zeiss optics. Experience the true power of multimedia computing with the Nokia N95 multimedia computer.

Archos 705 WiFi (80GB)

In the world of portable video players, there are swift little cheetahs like the Apple iPod Touch, midsize workhorses like the Cowon A3, and then there are breathtaking mastodons like the Archos 705 WiFi. If you take your gadgets extra-large, the Archos 705 WiFi offers a boatload of entertainment in a sturdy design priced at $399 (80GB) and $499 (160GB).

Design
With its 7-inch, widescreen display, the Archos 705 WiFi is an intimidating, metal-clad gadget that is equally useful for playing videos and clubbing assailants--seriously, this thing is enormous. Unlike its fifth-generation kin (the Archos 405 and the 605 WiFi), the face of the Archos 705 WiFi is utterly devoid of buttons, relying on its touch screen to take care of everything from menu navigation to volume control. Headphone output, power adapter input, and buttons for power and TV output are located on the left edge of the Archos 705 WiFi, leaving the right and top edges bare. The bottom edge of the Archos 705 WiFi is packed with ports for USB transfer, USB hosting, and Archos' own proprietary jack used for accessories such as the company's DVR Station, FM receiver, and battery extender. Flipping over the Archos 705 WiFi, you'll find a metal fold-out kickstand for hands-free use and a removable battery pack (replacements run $29).

Features
The majority of the features found on the Archos 705 WiFi are identical to the excellent ones found on the Archos 605 WiFi (the recipient of a 2007 CNET Editors' Choice). Packed within the 705 WiFi's giant metal husk are a music player, a video player, a photo viewer, a PDF reader, a Wi-Fi video rental portal, and an optional Flash-enabled Web browser (Opera), as well as optional widgets such as games, weather, an RSS newsreader, and more

source: CNET.

The Morph concept phone

Morph, a concept cell phone co-developed by Nokia Research Center and the University of Cambridge, is among the projects featured in "Design and the Elastic Mind," an exhibition of art-meets-technology advances on display through May 12 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Morph is intended to demonstrate how nanotechnology might be used to make mobile devices stretchable, flexible, transparent, and easier to keep clean.

Announced in March of last year, the partnership between Nokia Research Center and the University of Cambridge is intended to initially focus on nanotechnologty applications. NRC has established a research facility at the university's West Cambridge site and collaborates with several departments, including the school's Nanoscience Center and Electrical Division of the Engineering Department. Although Morph technology likely will be incorporated first in high-end handsets, it eventually will find its way into low-cost mobile phones, Nokia says. source: CNET

Windows XP Service Pack 3 Released

Windows XP SP3 combines all previously released performance, security, and stability updates. It also provides a limited number of new and enhanced functionalities, although it does not significantly change the Windows XP experience or bring functionality from newer versions of Windows to Windows XP. The goals of Windows XP SP3 are to:
 Provide a new baseline for customers still deploying Windows XP, to help them avoid the inconvenience of applying individual updates.
 Fill gaps in the updates users might have missed by declining individual updates when using Automatic Updates, and to deliver updates not made available through Windows Update.
Windows Vista provides the most advanced security and management capability, but for PCs that cannot be upgraded to Windows Vista right now, Windows XP SP3 ensures these PCs have all available updates and allows these PCs to leverage some new Windows Server 2008 capabilities, such as Network Access Protection (NAP).
For more information about Windows XP SP3, go to Windows XP Service Packs.

Apple Unveils World's Thinnest Notebook Computer

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs on Tuesday unveiled an ultra-slim MacBook Air laptop computer that he billed as the world's leanest laptop.

In trademark theatrical style at the Macworld Expo opening in San Francisco, Jobs slid the laptop from a brown envelope typically used for inter-office mail.

A packed audience of notoriously cultish "Macintosh faithful" whistled, hooted and cheered for the laptop which came with a price tag of 1,799 dollars.

"It's the world's thinnest notebook (computer)," Jobs said with a smile. "We went out and looked at all the thin notebooks out there and tried to distill a best-of-breed."

MacBook Air is a lean wedge-shape, .16 inches (.40 centimeters) thin at the front and .76 inches (1.9 centimeters) thick at the rear. Jobs compared it to some of the market's thinnest laptops measuring .8 inches (two centimeters) at one end and 1.2 inches (three centimeters) at the other.

MacBook Air could easily fit inside its thinnest competitor, a Sony model, Jobs said.

World-leading computer chip maker Intel shrunk one of its fast dual-core processors by 60 percent at Apple's urging to fit the power into MacBook Air, according to Jobs.

"When we started this project we didn't think it was possible," Intel chief executive Paul Otellini said, briefly joining Jobs on stage.

"There were times we sweated over it, but at the end of the day we innovated."

Macintosh computers sales have surged due to what analysts describe as a "halo effect" from the company's trendy iPod and iPhone models. Apple has been aggressively trying to capitalize on the company's cache.

On the crowded Macworld show floor, author Arnold Reinhold autographed copies of his book "Switching to Mac."

The book has made it into the Top Ten best selling titles at online retailer Amazon.com and is in its second printing since it debuted with the release of the new Macintosh Leopard operating system in October.

"There are a lot of people switching," Reinhold told AFP. "If you had a Mac, you used to get resistance from PC people. Now, you get questions."

Reinhold predicts MacBook Air will add momentum to the trend of computer users switching from Windows-based personal computers to Macintosh models.

"We're a minority, but a growing minority," Reinhold said of Macintosh users, who represent about ten percent of total computer ownership.

"Just wait until somebody with a MacBook Air walks into a meeting room where people are working on some clunky PC laptops. That should get even more folks thinking of switching."

Apple has shipped more than five million copies of its new Leopard operating system for Macintosh computers since it launched in late October, according to Jobs.

"The MacBook Air could kick-start the ultra-portable laptop market," said Creative Strategies analyst Tim Bajarin, noting that laptop models already constitute nearly half of Apple's flourishing Macintosh computer sales.

"The Air will be a big hit with the Mac faithful but also be something that attracts PC users."

Jobs pointed out that the lean laptops have easily recyclable aluminum casing and electronic components made from non-hazardous materials.

The segue was an effort to polish Apple's dim reputation among environmentalists who accuse the company of falling short when it comes to recycling used electronics and using Earth-friendly materials.

MacBook Air features innovations inspired by Apple's iPods and iPhone, according to Jobs.

For example, the compact hard drives in the laptops are the kind used in iPods, while touch pad controls in the computers mimic touch-screen "gesture" capabilities in iPhones.

"We learned from the iPhone and put it in our other computers," Jobs said.

MacBook Air notebooks weigh three pounds and have battery life of five hours. The ultra-lean laptops will begin shipping in two weeks, Jobs said.source: www.msn.com

Mobile Internet

After nearly ten years of promising us the Mobile Internet, 2008 should finally see it arrive in a meaningful way. From the extremely bad days of WAP to the disappointment of 3G, we have new technologies coming on stream that finally make Web browsing on your mobile a reality and not just a gimmick.

HSDPA has already brought mobile data rates into the Mbps range (I currently get 2.6Mbps on my T-Mobile connection in the UK), and this can only increase through 2008. More phones will support HSDPA in 2008, and also Wi-Fi as well, providing broadband data rates direct to your mobile. Better still, WiMAX phones should start to make an appearance, giving us even faster data rates.

These faster data rates have combined with fully functional browsers, such as Apple's Safari or Opera's mobile browser, which offer a proper desktop Web experience on your mobile. Add to this improved processing power, bigger memory, and (finally!) a willingness by the mobile operators to open up their networks, providing flat-rate data tariffs rather than charging by the byte, and you have the recipe for explosive growth of mobile Internet devices and services.

Google's Android platform can only help to accelerate this process, and so by the end of 2008, the mobile Internet will no longer be the painful experience it can be today, or the preserve of people lucky enough to have expensive smartphones.

This in turn will lead to an increase in the number of mobile services and applications that are developed to take advantage of the new mobile Internet devices. If 2007's Web was the year of the social network and Web 2.0, then 2008 should be the year of the Mobile Web.

Nokia E90 Communicator

The Nokia E series has gained a reputation as a mean set of power smartphones for business users. Just take a look at the Nokia E61i and the Nokia E65 if you need proof. And now, you've got the granddaddy of them all--the mammoth Nokia E90 Communicator. A descendant of the Nokia 9300, the E90 brings solid performance and more features--Wi-Fi, GPS, the latest Symbian operating system, and more--to the corporate customer. That said, we couldn't help but be disappointed by the lack of 3G support on the E90, and the omission is even tougher to swallow when you realize it will cost you about $1,100 (though you can probably find it for a couple of hundred dollars less online, but still) for an unlocked version of this handset. The Nokia E90 Communicator is a sharp device, but if you're looking for a comparable and more affordable solution, check out the AT&T Tilt.

Design
The Nokia E90 Communicator is a mammoth. The handset measures a whopping 5.2 inches tall by 2.2 inches wide by 0.7 inch deep and weighs 7.4 ounces, so you can pretty much forget about slipping this into a pants pocket, comfortably anyway. On the upside, the smartphone has a solid construction and looks like it could weather some rough treatment. It's also got a decidedly no-nonsense, corporate look, which suits its intended audience of power business users.

The exterior of the E90 features a 2-inch diagonal, 16 million color display with a 320x240 pixel resolution. It's not a touch screen, but text and images are vibrant and sharp. Below the screen, you'll find a standard navigation array of two soft keys, Talk and End buttons, a shortcut to the Main Menu, a four-way toggle with center select key, and the alphanumeric dialpad. This is one area where the phone's bigger size is an advantage since the extra room allows for large buttons that are easy to press.

Aside from roomy controls, there's another benefit to Nokia E90's bulkiness. The candy-bar-style phone opens up to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard and a 3.6-inch wide internal display. The latter has a 16 million color output and 800x352 pixel resolution that makes for an impressive view. The wide screen also lends itself really well for browsing Web sites and reading documents and e-mails. Also, flanking the screen is another set of Talk and End buttons and two soft keys.

The keyboard shouldn't give users too many problems as far as typing with ease and accuracy. The individual buttons are roomy, so it's not an issue that there isn't much spacing between them. They also have a tactile feel to them; our only complaint would be that they're a bit stiff to press. In addition, there's a dedicated number row, and right below the display, you will find shortcuts to various applications, including Contacts, Messaging, Web, and Calendar.

On the right spine, there's a voice-recorder button and a camera-activation key, while the bottom of the device has a mini USB port, a power connector, and a 2.5-millimeter headset jack. On the back you will find the 3.2-megapixel camera and flash, and a microSD expansion slot.

The Nokia E90 comes packaged with an AC adapter, a USB cable, a wired headset, a software CD, and reference material. For more add-ons, please check our cell phone accessories, ringtones, and help page.

Features
The Nokia E90 Communicator is a workhorse. The brainpower behind the smartphone is provided by Symbian OS 9.2, Series 60 3rd Edition and comes packed with a host of applications for the business user. There's full support for viewing and editing Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents thanks to the Quickoffice suite. The E90 also features the Nokia Team Suite, which we saw debut on the Nokia E65, and lets you create "teams" and define members, conference call numbers, conference call PINs, and Web pages.

Other utilities and PIM tools include Adobe Reader, a Zip Manager, a calendar, notes, a calculator, a clock, a voice recorder, and a currency converter. Of course, with the openness of the Symbian platform, you have access to a large library of third-party applications. There's Download Catalog on the device or you can check CNET Download.com for more titles. The Nokia E90 has 128MB of user-accessible memory and the microSD expansion slot can accept up to 2GB cards. taken from: CNET

iPhone finds favor with business users

Wireless carriers offering the iPhone may be concentrating their efforts on consumers, but research suggests they shouldn't neglect business users, who apparently love the touch-screen interface.

The Apple device beats the competition hands down when it comes to user-satisfaction rates, according to a survey of enterprise smartphone users in the U.K.

More than half (59 percent) of iPhone-owning business customers said they are "very satisfied" with the device, according to the survey, by emerging-technology research company ChangeWave Research.

Research In Motion's BlackBerry--which has the lion's share of the enterprise market--ranked second, with just under half (47 percent) of those surveyed being "very satisfied" with the device. Nokia came third (with 40 percent), followed by Samsung Electronics (30 percent), Motorola (25 percent), and Palm (10 percent).

"It is a very interesting launch product and, once it has settled into use, the price should become more realistic," said Alastair Behenna, chief information officer at IT-management specialist Harvey Nash. "If nothing else, it will act as a catalyst to other manufacturers, and the competitive evolution of the iPhone will definitely be worth keeping a watching brief on."

In the U.K., wireless carrier O2 UK recently told ZDNet UK that it is working with Apple on hammering out rates for business users. O2 said it is hopeful the fee schedule will launch at some point this year.

IE 8 Launch Soon...

A number of Microsoft enthusiasts this week received invitations to a “limited technical beta program” for Internet Explorer (IE) 8 Beta 1.

According to the invitation, Microsoft is planning to make IE 8 Beta 1 available to the general public, as well. But before that happens, an invitation-only tet program will be conducted. The invitation describes IE 8 Beta 1 being focused on developers.

(ActiveWin is running the full text of the note Microsoft sent to some IE 8 beta invitees this past week.)

Microsoft officials have said they plan to show off IE 8 at Microsoft’s Mix ‘08 conference in early March in Las Vegas. Officials also have said they are planning to add a developer-selectable “super-standards” mode to IE 8 that would enable the browser to qualify as more standards-compliant.

Microsoft still has not offered a final-delivery target date for IE 8. Microsoft released IE 7 in 2006. Microsoft officials have said they are shooting to deliver more frequent, regular builds of IE. from CNET

Adobe to launch AIR 1.0

Adobe Systems on Monday is set to finally release Adobe Integrated Environment software, which is on the leading edge of a movement to make Web applications act more like traditional desktop applications.

At the company's Engage event in San Francisco on rich Internet application design, executives will announce the availability of AIR 1.0, a free download for Windows and Macintosh.

Also on Monday, Adobe will release Flex 3.0, its application development tool that is now free and open-source. Another development tool, called BlazeDS, for linking Flex applications to back-end business applications, will also be released into open source as planned.

Adobe has been working on AIR for at least two years, when Kevin Lynch, now Adobe's chief technology officer, first publicly spoke about it. The company plans to build AIR versions of many of its Web applications, including photo-imaging application Photoshop Express and Premier Express for editing video, he said.

AIR is software for making Web applications appear like more like desktop programs. Applications can run offline, access data on a person's hard drive, have a desktop icon, and run without the need of a browser.

Developers can use any Web development kit, such as Ajax frameworks, to write applications that will run on AIR or they can use Flex.

These Web-native desktop applications have become an active area of software development--Adobe says that there are over 100 AIR applications--and alternatives to AIR are starting to appear.

The Mozilla Foundation, makers of the Firefox Web browser, launched a project called Prism that brings offline access to Web applications.

Lynch said that AIR is far ahead of what Prism offers but he expects many other platforms that bridge the Web with desktops to emerge.

"We're just getting back the lost treasures of the desktop that we lost when we went to the Web," Lynch said.

He said AIR is not competitive with Microsoft Windows or other operating systems; it's a layer above operating systems that enables people to use Web development techniques and toolkits.

A version of AIR for Linux is expected later this year, he said. Adobe will also create versions that run on mobile devices in the future. more>>HERE

AWS Exam

Early this morning, I am one of the 24 ITE students take the AWS Aptitude Test,It is a 15 -year old IT Company which main office is based in Japan, After further presentation we are given 10 minutes break before the exam officially started.

The Exam categorized into three parts, Part 1 and 2 are Abstract Reasoning and the last part is mathematics. The first part is 40 items and we’re only given 10 minutes to solve, (Wow!) And when the time is up I only answered 27 items, but I’m pretty sure of my answers.

Second part of the exam is 30 items and 15 minutes to solve, and I got those items answered before the time runs out. Also for the third part which is mathematics, though basic but it is a mind boggling questions. Tomorrow we’ll know who’s got pass, and those who will pass the exam will be given another sets of exams and be a part of AWS Company, and have a change to work for Japan. Wow! Japan! But I’m not interested even if I pass the exam. I don’t want to go to other country, I Love to work here in the Philippines. I want to be with my family, my love one. Good luck to those who pass, start studying Nihonngo now, but for me Kirai desu! (I don't like it)