IRFAN

Ufone- Incoming Call Bonus Offer ???

2009-10-07T17:59:00.001-07:00

At the beginning when mobile telecom services were growing in Pakistan receiving call were also charged and some early operators made a lot of profit on it. But now we see Ufone coming up with this Incoming Call Bonus Offer where you can earn free balance on receiving incoming calls.

With Ufone’s Incoming Call Bonus Offer, when you receive a call from any other network, local, nationwide or international for more than two minutes you will earn a free balance of 25 paisa per call. Details can be found at Ufone website.
Like all promotional offer a company gives, ultimately is for a bigger return. The big question is:
“In this offer where Ufone is giving 25 paisas, what return are they getting on it and how?”
I think I have an answer to this but lets see what do you think. Post your answers in comments.

Key European legal advisor says roaming caps can stick

2009-10-03T05:20:00.001-07:00

European mobile roaming caps are legal, says expert

Europe’s mobile operators saw their arguments against the implementation of roaming price caps subjugated on Thursday, after a key legal advisor to the European Court of Justice green lighted the proposals.
Four of Europe’s largest mobile phone operators - Vodafone, Telefónica O2, T-Mobile and Orange – had challenged the validity of the EC’s Roaming Regulation before the High Court of England and Wales. This court then asked the Court of Justice whether the EC’s regulation was in fact legal.
The Roaming Regulation established maximum prices that can be charged by mobile operators for calls received and made by a user outside their home network, and is based on 2007 proposals seeking to reduce roaming charges by up to 70 per cent.
In his assessment on behalf of the European Court, advocate general Miguel Poiares Maduro confirmed that the EC was entitled to adopt the Roaming Regulation.
“The differences in price between calls made within one’s own Member State and those made while roaming could reasonably be regarded as discouraging the use of cross-border services such as roaming,” he said.
“In these circumstances, imposing a price cap on roaming services can legitimately be said to be serving the establishment of the internal market by removing obstacles to cross-border economic activity.”
Maduro also confirmed that action at EC level was required, because national regulators have neither the power to regulate prices charged by foreign networks to networks from their Member State, nor the incentive to regulate wholesale prices charged within their territory to foreign networks. However, he contends that the issue of retail prices, charged by the home network to their roaming customer, is somewhat less clear, and suggests that once wholesale prices have been fixed, then retail prices could be regulated by national authorities.
However, Maduro considers that it was “expedient and appropriate for the Community to regulate retail prices” and notes that the EC intervened as a last resort.
The legal expert noted that some operators were making profits of above 200 per cent for calls made while roaming and of 300 per cent or 400 per cent for calls received, labelling this income as “excessive charges” and resulting in an acceptable and proportionate response from the EC.

Late night discussions in politics

2009-10-03T05:19:00.001-07:00

Browsing the ‘Academic’ blogs section for this weeks BlogCatalog Spotlight I could not help but stop at this political science blog from Norway, particularly since I’m from Norway myself. It’s called Nachspiel at Polemarchus by Sverre Midthjell. Polemarchus may be familiar to anyone who has read Plato’s work The Republic, one of the most fundamental works of western political philosophy, but what is this Nachspiel?

Having lived in Germany for much of my life I have to say that the word Nachspiel is actually one of the worst aberrations of the Norwegian language, because it is taken from German, where it actually means ‘afterplay’, that is, whatever a couple does after it has…well…coupled. However, the Norwegian meaning is ‘afterparty’, that is a gathering between friends after having been to a party, and it is often at such late night or rather early morning afterpartys that the real political discussions take place.

On a sidenote, conversely, in Norway there is also a Vorspiel, aka ‘foreplay’, also taken from German, where it means, well, what it says it means, but in Norway it means having a get-together before going to a party. So if you ever come to Norway, and someone invites you to come to a Vorspiel, remember, it is a social invite, not a sexual invite.

But now I am digressing, so back to the blog:

“Nachspiel at Polemarchus” is a blog on political science, politics and related topics. I intend to write based on my academic work as well as personal thoughts and opinions. Some of the stuff will certainly be academically oriented, but I intend to try and present things in form that will be readable even to people without a master’s degree in political science.

Yeah…right. After reading most of the posts I have to say that while a Master degree in Political Science may not be required, it is certainly highly recommended. That said, the blog has quite a number of interesting posts, among which the most recent post, referring to the NYT POTUS tracker, showing how President Obama is currently spending his time, and what issues are getting the most attention.

Following Sverre’s posts back in time, there is also a funny, or actually sad story about how cost-benefit analyses never work out in economics nor do they work out in real life. I work a lot with cost-benefit in my dayjob, and this is a story I will remember.

Surprisingly, the blog deals less with Norwegian politics than I thought, perhaps not more than one out of ten posts are dedicated to the blogger’s home country. The rest is anything else, and Malaysia seems to be a favorite country.

I admit that this BlogCatalog Spotlight is not a a blog for the big masses, but perhaps for the few selected. On the other hand, isn’t that what the BlogCatalog Spotlight is about? To find obscure blogs that would otherwise continue their obscure life were it for their brief moment of fame in the BlogCatalog Spotlight? The more I read Nachspiel at Polemarchus, the more I enjoy it, and hopefully you will, too.

PTCL Double-Up And Financial Results

2009-10-03T05:18:00.001-07:00

It has been another year of mixed results for PTCL but it is clearly getting on a stable track – Rs. 9 billion profit is not bad. Because of its breadth of coverage, it can offer some interesting services – for example see their latest Double Up package, which has been criticized by other ISPs as unfair. It would get really interesting if PTCL came up with a package offer which includes wireless (voice and/or data) as well. Ufone, its mobile phone arm has shown decent performance, though it could have done better.
In summary, anyone looking for a long term investment should consider PTCL.
PTCL’s Double-Up Unlimited Package offers:

Unlimited On-net calls & 1Mbps broadband connectivity with unlimited downloads for monthly charge of Rs.1,999.
unlimited on-net calls & 2Mbps broadband connectivity with unlimited downloads for monthly charge ofRs. 2,999.
unlimited on-net calls & 4 Mbps connectivity with unlimited downloads only for monthly charge of Rs. 5,999.

Unlimited on-net local & NWD calls include PTCL to PTCL and PTCL to Vfone.
Dawn has more on PTCL financial performance.

Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited announced profit-after-tax amounting to Rs9.151 billion for the year ended June 30, which was in line with many analysts’ expectations.
Earning per share (EPS) stood at Rs. 1.79. The previous year, the telecom had drifted into loss of Rs. 2.825 billion, translating into loss per share of Re0.55.
The board did not announce a final dividend; the company having already paid an interim cash dividend at Rs1.50 per share.
Given substantial cash holdings, some analysts were looking forward to a bit of more with the final accounts.
The revenue of PTCL for the year under review stood at Rs. 59 billion, which represented 11 per cent decline over the revenue of Rs66 billion earned in FY08.
The dwindling of fixed line subscriber base was thought to be the factor in declining revenue, but sector analysts said that increase in international and broad-band revenues might have prevented a greater fall.

BlackBerry Desktop Manager Will Run on Macs

2009-10-03T05:17:00.001-07:00

In a move that could impact its sales among both consumer and business Mac users, Research In Motion announced Wednesday that a BlackBerry Desktop Manager for Apple's Mac will be released on Friday. The free software syncs contacts, calendar appointments, and notes on a Mac with BlackBerry smartphones.
The software works with Mac programs such as iCal, Address Book, Microsoft Entourage, and others. It also enables a user to schedule backups automatically, add or delete applications, encrypt backup files, and install software updates for the BlackBerry.
Until now, BlackBerry Desktop Manager has only been compatible with Windows machines.
'A Long Time Coming'
BlackBerry Media Sync can also be managed within the desktop manager. With media sync, users can transfer their iTunes music, including playlists, song information, and album art, from a computer to a BlackBerry.
Avi Greengart, an analyst with industry research firm Current Analysis, said the Mac version of the manager was "a long time coming."
He said it probably doesn't change the appeal of the iPhone to Mac users, but it "makes it easier for BlackBerry owners who are in a business environment" or in a home where Macs are used. Greengart noted that the Mac's market share is still in the single digits, although notebook users in the U.S. are above the global share.
It's the U.S. Mac notebook market, he added, that RIM needs to tap into. Greengart noted that, since most of RIM's sales these days are to consumers, this is actually more of a consumer play than a business one.
Keeping Up
While RIM is looking more toward the consumer market, Apple has been busy making its iPhone more compatible with businesses. Newer Mac software enables the iPhone to work with Microsoft Exchange and standards-based servers, allowing a user to utilize a company's e-mail, calendar and contacts. It has also been working...

Researchers propose $30 portable fuel cell charger, we don't hold our breath

2009-09-30T06:47:00.001-07:00

If you believed all the fuel cell talk that's been bandied about in press releases over the years you'd have thrown away your plug-in chargers by now and started squirting alcohol into all your gadgets. Many promises have been broken, so please take this news of a supposed $30 fuel cell charger for cellphones and other mobile devices with a suitably large chunk of salt -- or some sodium-free flavor enhancer if your doctor has imposed such dietary restrictions. Scientists at the Industrial Technology Research Institute in Taiwan have created a prototype charger that runs on small tubes containing solid-state hydrogen, "plasticized" so that it is only released when mixed with water. The canisters are said to sell for $.30 a pop, leaving one researcher to say: "They could be sold at 7-Eleven." We want to write a skeptical response analyzing the feasibility of to such pricing but instead got distracted researching information about Taiwanese convenience stores. Did you know there are 4,807 7-Eleven franchise locations around Taiwan? Amazing!

Ubuntu How to Print Screen with Menu Selected

2009-09-30T06:46:00.001-07:00

When compared to Windows, one of the really cool features of Ubuntu is to use the Print Screen, PrtSc, PrtScr without having to install really complicated or expensive software. In reality, the print screen functionality in Ubuntu comes with the main distro installation package and gets installed by default. So, to Print a Screen any Ubuntu user just needs to press PrtSc key of the keyboard, usually located on the top right corner. On Laptop keyboards, to have the same effect, users usually have to press fn key + PrtSc key, the fn key is located on the bottom left corner and the PrtSc key is located in the top right corner.
This is how a screenshot looks like:

Since I have 2 screens connect to my Ubuntu, LCD screen and LCD TV you can actually see that in this screenshot. My computer screen, the left part of the screenshot as a resolution higher than the LCD TV screen, the right part of the screenshot. One is playing Startrek and the other one is playing District9.
Once you press the Print Screen key, the print screen utility pops up in order for us to save the png file with a different name or in a different location. And it looks like this:

So far it was easy. But if you try to print screen with a menu activated then the print screen button will not work.... i.e. of a PRTSC of active menu.

To achieve the above screenshot, to print screen active menus you need the Take Screenshot Manager, available in Applications »» Accessories »» Take Screenshot

Once in the Take Screenshot Manager we need to delay the screenshot action, let's say 5 or 10 seconds, just enough time for you to open all necessary Menus and wait for the screenshot.

A New Way to Shop: Sample Sale Websites

2009-09-30T06:41:00.001-07:00

It used to be that only New Yorkers (and those visiting New York) had access to shopping the hottest sample sales – purchasing authentic designer items from such names as Carlos Falchi, Kate Spade or Versace for 50% off or more. But thanks to the Internet, all savvy shoppers who yearn to look designer-delicious for half the price have access to the same type of stylish bargains.
Sample sale websites have reached great popularity over the last two years, hitting the retail market just as the economy began to take a turn for the worse. Most, if not all, are member-only retail websites; with about half requiring an invitation from an existing member in order to join, while the other half require no such invitation and anyone can sign up.
“Sites that require an invitation to shop their sales have managed to retain the feeling of being a savvy shopper in the know, privy to an exclusive insider event,” explained Elle U., creator of SimplySampleSales.com. Elle also created a Designer Sample Sale Guide, which lists every sample sale website in existence. “While, both open-invitation and invitation-only sample sale sites have become increasingly popular, I’ve found that the latter has created a much bigger buzz, bringing in potential shoppers attracted to their privileged events,” she finished.
In addition, to a thorough guide, Simply Sample Sales also includes links with active invitations. So, if you’re in need of an invitation to shop, the Simply Sample Sales Designer Sample Sale Guide is the way to go. Elle’s goal is to make sure shoppers are always looking their best. In addition to the sample sale guide, Elle and her team of blogging fashionistas also post current information on other retail sales and giveaways.
Gilt, Rue La La, Portero Private and Hautelook appear to lead the pack as the most popular sample websites, offering trend-setting fashion brands as well as luxury items (think Chanel) for anywhere from 25% to 80% off the original price. Other sample sites also gaining in popularity include ideeli, Editor’s Closet, Billion Dollar Babes, The Top Secret and Beyond the Rack. However, more appear as each month passes and one wonders, is it worth signing up for all the sample sale sites? And, which ones are the best ones?

Elle’s top ten sample sale website picks are: Haute Look, Rue La La, Billion Dollar Babes, Gilt Groupe, Gilt Fuse (an extension of Gilt Groupe), Beyond the Rack, Editors’ Closet, The Top Secret, Reverse and Juxzy.
I have personal experience shopping at Gilt, Rue La La and Hautelook, and at all three sample sale websites I’ve had great experiences. But because of that, I’ve not made a purchase at any other sample sale website. However, I am signed up as a member at all the others. I don’t mind the extra email. That’s something to consider when deciding how many sample sale sites to join.
At Gilt, Rue La La and Hautelook, I nabbed great bargains, found fabulous fashion, experienced impressive service and satisfactory shipping. If you are concerned about trying out a sample site, search the Internet for reviews, including comments on Twitter. Also, continually visit sample sale websites and read their blogs. The information provided on their sites and blogs, or lack of, will be a clear indicator as to the professionalism and accountability.
Elle had more advice for curious shoppers, “While sample sale shopping has become the newest ‘must’ for all frugal fashionistas, there are still a few drawbacks to some that a shopper should keep in mind. For example, some sites have a ‘you bought it, you keep it’ policy. That means no returns or exchanges. There are quite a few sample sale sites (such as Gilt and Rue La La) that offer returns, free returns in some cases, on almost all items available. Also, there’s usually no such thing as free shipping in the sample sale world. If you’re already dishing out a few hundred dollars for an ‘it’ handbag, the extra shipping cost shouldn’t be a deal breaker. But, if you’re spending just a few dollars on a small purchase, you can expect to add another $5-$10 for shipping and handling,” she said. Readers should take note that at The Top Secret, you can receive $15 off your order by using code: Simply Sample Sales.
Elle added, “Another thing to keep in mind is that some sites charge a monthly fee for membership. If you’ve found incredible deals in the past that you’re too afraid to miss out on in the future, the fee may be worth it. With so many sample sale sites now offering a chance to find coveted designer items at up to 90% off, I would suggest joining them all but leaving the extra membership costs for the true die-hards.” In addition, bookmark and visit SimplySampleSales.com for guidance and information regarding online sample sale websites. And, good luck shopping!

Glow Sponsors Racing Event

2009-09-30T06:37:00.001-07:00

Considering the popularity of Motor Sports amongst the youth, Warid’s Glow brand has scored points by sponsoring a racing event called Pakistan Racer Hunt. This is a smart campaign by Warid to attract attention, create buzz and engage their target audience: affluent youths. Click below to see a higher resolution ad.

Pakistan Racer Hunt is an event where teams from Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad will be competing with each other to win the Go-Kart race. People from the three cities will be short listed through a theory and practical test and then would compete for the Grand Finale to be held in Lahore. To participate in the event one needs to buy an Entry Pack worth Rs 2,999 (that will only be available at Warid Business Centres and at Espresso Cafes). GLOW is the main sponsor of the event whereas it is co-sponsored by Bank Alfallah.
For rules and for more details visit Pakistan Racer Hunt web site.

HowTo Manage your networked devices using Python and Pexpect

2009-09-30T06:36:00.003-07:00

This is my first release of ldNetDeviceManager.py. The ldNetManager.py tool gives you the ability to manage your network devices with out having to purchase a product like Cisco's LMS or go through the planning phase of deploying a product like func. Each of the tools I mentioned before, only have the ability to manage devices in their realm. Func supports Linux devices and Cisco LMS supports only Cisco devices.
This tool has one goal. And that is to update your devices with out deploying any software to your remote devices. All you need is either telnet or ssh access to your devices and Python2.4 or better with Pexpect installed. Once you have those 2 requirements fullfilled, then you are pretty much ready to go.

You will need Python 2.4 or better and Pexpect. ( has not been tested with Python 3+ )
You can get Python from http://python.org and Pexpect ( I'm currently using Pexpect 2.3, which you can get from SourceForge.

For support. please check the forums, http://www.linuxdynasty.org/forums/LD_Network_Device_Manager .
Here are the release notes..
Revision .20 09/27/2009

Support for Cisco Devices and Linux Operating Systems
Support for telnet and ssh or both
Knows if you passed sudo, su, or enable
Can pass either 1 device or multiple devices
Can pass 1 command or multiple commands through a text file.
Can pass 1 device or multiple devices through a text file.
When running show commands on Cisco devices, the script will know to send a ( space bar ) to get more info

Download ldNetDeviceManager.py

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Here is an example of running LdNetManager.py against 3 of my servers..
In the examples below, you will notice I am not passing a password and I'm using the root account. The script will know if you have ssh keys installed on the remote servers.

python ldNetDeviceManager.py --login="root" --dlist=gfs.txt --command="chkconfig --level 3 snmpd on" --term="ssh" --out
file list gfs.txt

connecting to 192.168.101.107
 using ssh 
 root@192.168.101.107 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 
 chkconfig --level 3 snmpd on
[root@gfs1 ~] connecting to 192.168.101.111 using ssh 
 root@192.168.101.111 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 
 chkconfig --level 3 snmpd on
[root@gfs2 ~] connecting to 192.168.101.113
 using ssh 
 root@192.168.101.113 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 
 chkconfig --level 3 snmpd on
[root@gfs3 ~] Total host that passed 3 192.168.101.107
192.168.101.111
192.168.101.113 Total host that failed 0
Total host that had either incorrect login or passwords 0
Total host that could not connect 0

Another example, this example shows that snmpd is set to on ..

python ldNetDeviceManager.py --login="root" --dlist=gfs.txt --command="chkconfig --list --level 3 |grep snmpd " --term="ssh" --out
file list gfs.txt
connecting to 192.168.101.107 
 using ssh 
 root@192.168.101.107 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 
 chkconfig --list --level 3 |grep snmpd 
snmpd           0:off   1:off   2:off   3:on    4:off   5:off   6:off
[root@gfs1 ~]
connecting to 192.168.101.111
 using ssh 
 root@192.168.101.111 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 
 chkconfig --list --level 3 |grep snmpd 
snmpd           0:off   1:off   2:off   3:on    4:on    5:on    6:off
[root@gfs2 ~]
connecting to 192.168.101.113
 using ssh 
 root@192.168.101.113 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 
 chkconfig --list --level 3 |grep snmpd 
snmpd           0:off   1:off   2:off   3:on    4:on    5:on    6:off
[root@gfs3 ~]

Total host that passed 3
192.168.101.107
192.168.101.111
192.168.101.113

Total host that failed 0
Total host that had either incorrect login or passwords 0
Total host that could not connect 0

Another example. This time logging into Cisco Devices and runnign a show cdp neighbor..

python ldNetDeviceManager.py -l "localadmin" -p "pass" -D 1host.txt -c "show cdp neighbor" -t "both"  --tout=3 --out
file list 1host.txt
connecting to 192.168.101.6
 using ssh 
 localadmin@192.168.101 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 .6

ssh key already in host file
Authenticated
before while loop 2
show cdp neighbor
Capability Codes: R - Router, T - Trans Bridge, B - Source Route Bridge
 S - Switch, H - Host, I - IGMP, r - Repeater, P - Phone

Device ID        Local Intrfce     Holdtme    Capability  Platform  Port ID
2W_9thFl_South   Gig 0/24          143           T I      AIR-AP113 Fas 0
2W_4507R
 Gig 0/1           167          R S I     WS-C4507R Gig 5/14
L_904A_SW3
>
connecting to 192.168.101.7
 using ssh 
 localadmin@192.168.101 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 .7

TIMED OUT, could not connect to 192.168.101.7

connecting to 192.168.101.8
 using ssh 
 localadmin@192.168.101 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 .8

ssh key already in host file
Authenticated
before while loop 2
show cdp neighbor
Capability Codes: R - Router, T - Trans Bridge, B - Source Route Bridge
 S - Switch, H - Host, I - IGMP, r - Repeater, P - Phone

Device ID        Local Intrfce     Holdtme    Capability  Platform  Port ID
2W_4507R
 Gig 0/24          136          R S I     WS-C4507R Gig 4/22
L_805A_SW1
>
Total host that passed 2
192.168.101.6

192.168.101.8

Total host that failed 0
Total host that had either incorrect login or passwords 0
Total host that could not connect 1
192.168.101.7

Here is the default output of ldNetDeviceManager.py

python ldNetDeviceManager.py
-l, --login         Your user name to the device. Example below..     
-l 'admin', --login='admin'
-p, --passwd        Your password to the device. Example below..      
-p 'passwd', --passwd='pass'
-e, --enable        Your enable or su or sudo password to the device. Example below..
-e 'passwd', --enable='pass'
-D, --dlist         List of devices you want to run this script against. Example below..
-D '/home/test/switches.txt', --dlist='/home/test/switches.txt'
-d, --device        The devices you want to run this script against. Example below..
-d '192.168.101.1', --device='192.168.101.1'
-C, --clist         List of commands that you want to run ithis script against. Example below..
-C '/home/test/commands.txt', --clist='/home/test/commands.txt'
-c, --command       The command that you want to run. Example below.. 
-c '/sbin/netstat -tln', --command='show vlan'
-t, --term          What terminal you are going to use (ssh or telnet or both. Example below..
-t 'ssh', --term='ssh'
-o, --output        The default is to run all the commands with out outputting them, this will enable output
-o, --output        
-h, --help          The will display this help file                   <

Examples Below..   
python ldNetDeviceManager.py -l dynasty -p 'passwd' -d 192.168.101.11 -C './cmd.txt' -t ssh -e 'p\@55wd' --output --tout=2
python ldNetDeviceManager.py --login=dynasty --passwd='passwd' --dlist='./switches' --clist='./cmd.txt' --term=both --enable='p\@55wd' --output --tout=2
python ldNetDeviceManager.py --login=dynasty --passwd='passwd' --dlist='./switches' --command='service snmpd restart' --term=ssh --enable='p\@55wd' --output --tout=2
python ldNetDeviceManager.py -l dynasty -p 'passwd' -d 192.168.101.11 -C './cmd.txt' -t ssh  -o --tout=2
If you have SSH Keys then you do not need to pass a password unless you have to get root access or sudo access. example below..
python ldNetDeviceManager.py -l dynasty -d 192.168.101.11 -C './cmd.txt' -t ssh  -o --tout=2
python ldNetDeviceManager.py -l dynasty -p 'passwd' -d 192.168.101.11 -c 'sudo service snmpd restart' --term=ssh  --output --tout=2

Warid giving 64K sims to incoming MNP users

2009-09-30T06:36:00.001-07:00

Waridtel is giving 64K sim cards to all incoming number portability users.

Currently warid mnp costs 50rs, and when you join Warid network they give 65rs balance. But with this they are also giving 64K sim cards free.

Benefits of 64K sim cards are, 500phonebook contacts and 50sms storage capacity, where all other networks are using 32K sim cards which can store about 250phonebook contacts and 30sms.

Dell brings wireless recharging to laptops

2009-09-29T06:36:00.001-07:00

The Latitude Z on wireless charging station, and wireless dock adapter on the right.

(Credit: Erica Ogg/CNET)

That Dell is releasing a new laptop for business customers is the opposite of surprising. But the fact that it contains notable features not seen in any other laptops certainly is.
Most everything about the new Latitude Z is expected: It's yet another very thin notebook (a metric which PC manufacturers keep using to try to one-up each other), with a different kind of exterior finish (soft-touch, in this case), and comes in a black cherry. It measures 16 inches across, and is 14 millimeters thin at its most narrow point.
But you probably wouldn't guess that the Latitude Z charges wirelessly. And as far as we can tell, it's the first laptop to do so. Surprised that this is coming from Dell? You're not alone.
The wireless charging is handled elegantly enough. An inductive pad that's built into a laptop stand can accomplish a full recharge in "about the same amount of time" as a standard-issue cabled charger, according to Dell. While smartphone maker Palm has a similar (albeit smaller) wireless charging system for the Pre, and companies like Visteon and Wild Charge have debuted wireless charging accessories for phones, no PC maker has incorporated the idea until now.

The wireless charging stand.

(Credit: Erica Ogg/CNET)

It's part of what Dell is terming its new "wireless eco-system." Besides being able to get juice without wires, the Latitude Z will also be able to dock without them. A smaller separate adapter can hook up the laptop with any accompanying monitor, whether it be one in a cubicle, or in a conference room.
Both cost extra, and are by no means cheap ($199 for each), but the intention is for companies to buy, not necessarily individual consumers.
Other cool things Dell is introducing: touch-sensitive controls on the screen's bezel, and its first take on "instant on."
The sliding touch controls--not visible to the naked eye--are located on the right side of the bezel and appear when contact is made. Any controls can be customized and placed there, such as screen brightness, volume, or easy access to specific applications. When controlling an application like Excel or a Web browser, the right side of the bezel can be used as a sort of touchpad for scrolling through a spreadsheet or Web page.
The instant-on capability works exactly the way it sounds. Instead of waiting for Windows to boot up, the computer uses a second smaller motherboard and a separate ARM processor. Through a separate, non-Windows interface, it allows e-mail, contacts, calendars, and a Firefox-based Web browser to be accessed right away. E-mail, contacts, and calendars are always running in the background and are constantly being synced.
The ARM processor doesn't have access to the main motherboard or the ports, which should alleviate security concerns, according to Todd Forsythe, vice president of Dell's commercial client product group. The secondary processor--used mostly in smartphones--also draws much less power than a more robust desktop or notebook processor and so while it's running in the background it doesn't drain the battery as fast: using just the instant-on mode will provide up to two days of battery life; when using Windows and the accompanying Intel Core 2 Duo processor, it will get four hours.
Companies like DeviceVM and Phoenix have built businesses out of instant-on capabilities--basically a quick-booting interface built right into the computer's BIOS that isn't dependent on Windows. Dell said it decided not to go with either of those because they wanted to use the separate low-power processor for the background syncing.
What Dell, and DeviceVM, and Phoenix, and plenty of others are doing is part of a trend that's gaining steam: doing a sort of end-run around Windows. HP came out with its own interface on Touchsmart PCs last year that allows for quick sorting between photos, e-mail, and Web browsing on a few models. Lenovo recently introduced a new touch-screen interface for its tablet, and Asus has its own for its popular Eee PC Netbooks and touch-screen desktop called TouchGate.
Most people aren't used to seeing Dell trying new things like this, some of it actually ahead of competitors. Last year, we wrote about how Dell was starting to be a little more risky about the types of products it was trying out. Not new to the market, just new to Dell, which has traditionally had a habit of waiting, analyzing the market's response to new products, and jumping in later with a more efficient, and less expensive way of making that product.
But that way of doing things is over for Dell now. The company has struggled to find the right mix of products and now has less opportunity to be picky. But it's a good sign that the company is trying out smaller, more innovative, and more practical ideas like wireless charging, docking, instant on, and touch interfaces. Though it's only in the Latitude Z right now, we hear these features are stirring a lot of interest in other product groups at Dell. It's easy to see how, for a cheaper price (the Z starts at $1,999), these new features could find much broader acceptance with retail customers.

UK iPhone price war expected as Apple signs up Vodafone

2009-09-29T06:33:00.001-07:00

Now that Vodafone has got the iPhone a price war is expected in the UK

Californian electronics manufacturer Apple continued its push to get the iPhone out to the mass market on Tuesday, with Vodafone UK and Ireland set to introduce the device in early 2010.
This latest move makes it more than likely that all the UK mobile operators will be offering the device by next year, and probably pre-empts a price war over the iPhone.
Informa principal analyst Dave McQueen, said that pricing would now be of the upmost importance with the UK iPhone market set to turn into a free for all. In fact, only the US (AT&T) and Germany (T-Mobile) have held onto iPhone exclusivity agreements to date.
But in the UK, the proposed merger between Orange and T-Mobile will also be of importance as it’s thought that the move would give the new entity a data optimised network to better handle all that extra iPhone traffic and compete on Quality of Service rather than pricing.
Although Chris Larmour, chief marketing officer for network engineering firm Actix, does not think the merger to be of importance due to overlap between Orange and T-Mobile’s networks. “Network coverage is built up in areas of high demand,” he said, “So the first thing the two operators will do is remove cell sites where they have overlap.”
Larmour noted Ofcom’s recent 3G coverage maps, which showed the UK operators up as having “pathetically weak networks.
“Data load is growing exponentially, and over 50 per cent of network traffic is now data,” Larmour said. “And on 3G it’s trickier to add capacity. If you add more cells you get more interference, so you need to make the network more efficient, make it work better.”
Larmour reckons operators are hitting capacity on their 3G networks only because of their configuration and there is plenty of headroom still available, “We could squeeze 30 per cent more out of existing hardware,” he said.
On Monday, Orange UK announced that it too will be offering the iPhone 3G and 3GS before Christmas. This could also mean proposed network partner T-Mobile (and its network partner 3) also get the iPhone, making the device available to the entire UK population by early 2010.

Wine 1.1.30 released

2009-09-29T06:31:00.001-07:00

The Wine development release 1.1.30 is now available. With Wine it's possible to run Windows applications on top of Linux.

What's new in this release:

Support for OpenAL.

Many improvements in HTML and JavaScript support.

Many common controls fixes and improvements.

More Direct3D 10 work.

Better MAPI support.

Various bug fixes.

The source is available from the following locations:

http://ibiblio.org/pub/linux/system/emulators/wine/wine-1.1.30.tar.bz2
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/wine/wine-1.1.30.tar.bz2

Binary packages for various distributions will be available from:

http://www.winehq.org/site/download

You will find documentation on http://www.winehq.org/site/documentation

You can also get the current source directly from the git
repository. Check http://www.winehq.org/site/git for details.

Here you can read the complete release info of the 1.1.30 release.

Telenor and Bloggers

2009-09-29T06:30:00.003-07:00

Telenor has always focused on its brand’s presence whether its online or offline. To align their brand marketing with the growing trends, Telenor went on to launch their Weblounge Service first in the bloggers meet-up held in major cities in the second week of August. We had appreciated the initiative of Telenor Pakistan as it was the first of its kind to provided a platform for bloggers to interact and give their feedback on services being offered from Telenor. It was along this launch that Telenor Pakistan also announced a blogging competition for the interested bloggers. As is the case with new experiments, it takes some fine tuning to get to the objective.
The initial results of the blogging competition were received on 28th August, 18 days after the start of competition in which Telecompk.Net was ranked third. The email also stated that the competition will end in the last week of September.
During the Eid vacation, some bloggers discussed on the much awaited competition results on twitter and decided that the if Telenor fails to give the prize, the issue will be brought up on blogs.
Yesterday all the participating bloggers were informed that the competition has been extended for a month, now ending on 31st October and have also put a limit of 1000 referrers to qualify. However in order to encourage and appreciate the efforts of bloggers they are sending in gift hampers. Perhaps the low traffic during Ramadan and Eid could be the reason behind this.
Nevertheless, the change in competition rules has come as a surprise. But its not a big issue for those bloggers who blog with a purpose in mind. Prizes are nice but its more important to be a credible source of quality information. We at Telecompk.Net beleive that extending the date doesn’t mean a change in game plan. We think that this interesting experiment should be allowed to conclude in good faith and good spirits for all, not to be criticized with aggression like another breaking news blog did. Its always more important to talk about core issues rather than creating hype on non-issues.
Telecompk.Net has always provided a platform to share information. We welcome Telecom Pakistan to have their say with us.

File Extension Changer .NET 1.0

2009-09-29T06:30:00.001-07:00

File Extension Changer .NET integrates into the context menu of files and makes it simple to change file extensions. You can obviously do it manually in Windows but in that case either you have to enable the property of displaying file extensions which will make them always visible or use other techniques like Command Prompt and type it out manually. File Extension Changer .NET avoids both and provides an easy way to do it. Furthermore, it does not install any shell extensions for context menu integration instead it uses the registry. Thus your system resources are not used unnecessarily.

Download Now

Samsung's SCH-W880 12 megapixel phonecamera with 3x optical zoom

2009-09-28T06:36:00.001-07:00

In a welcome reversal of trends, Samsung just stuffed a 3G cellphone into a 12 megapixel camera making this M8920 / SCH-W880 more of a camera than most 12 megapixel cameraphones can claim. While this presumed follow-up to Samsung's Pixon 12 (M8910) isn't official, the announcement looks imminent based on the leaked collateral above and the spyshots that emerged over the weekend. What's impressive here is that extending 3x optical zoom -- something carried over from the SCH-B600 -- and dedicated camera controls like a mode dial, shutter and zoom, and big 3.3-inch WVGA AMOLED display. Rounding out the specs are HD (720p presumably) video, HSDPA data, WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth, microSD slot, and DMB mobile television; that latter spec making this Korea-only whenever it does launch. See her in the wild after the break.

Windows 7 coming to netbooks in all its myriad forms

2009-09-28T06:35:00.001-07:00

It would seem that the humble netbook owner's Windows 7 options just keep improving as the grand new OS comes closer to release. After plans to limit netbooks to running three apps at a time were thankfully scrapped, Microsoft has now confirmed with us that it is going to allow OEMs to splash any version of Windows 7 they desire onto their Atom-powered miniature laptops. That's right, you can totally rock Windows 7 Ultimate and Aero visualizations on a machine that can handle neither. Joking aside, it's pleasing to see the Redmond brain trust steer clear of arbitrary limitations on customer choice.

How to watch a cricket match without electricity? Mobilink TV – a life saver

2009-09-28T06:33:00.001-07:00

Pakistan vs India cricket match is always a popular event to watch not only in these two countries but everywhere else cricket is played, understood and liked. I was also very excited about the match on Saturday but was also afraid of the possible power failures. It went great for the initial hours but when the match reached the climax at midnight, power company employees showed their dutifulness and switched the power off for an hour.
Now what?
Quickly I tried a few options. First of all, I tuned into a good old FM radio channel that was quick and convenient. At least I could get live score and updates. In addition, I had a few other options for live score updates, for example:

Cricinfo.com on my mobile browser (http://m.cricinfo.com)
Cricinfo.com widget on Snaptu, a mobile app that is much more cool than a website.
Mobilink cricket companion that is a J2ME app for your phone
Cricinfo’s own J2ME app available from Plusmo

All of the above are text based cricket score tools and eventually were much slower than that of FM radio. I was still missing the TV as I knew that the power is not going to be available. Then I recalled a service that I tried several months ago. Yes, Mobilink TV. I simply directed my browser to Mobilink TV’s wap site and launched the sports channel on my phone. Within a few seconds I could watch the match live. That was the best thing that happened to me in several days :)
It was an amazing experience. I watched the match for almost 45 minutes. But I must warn and inform you about a few facts here:

The service is very expensive but at that time, it was worth it. It costs Rs. 6/megabyte plus tax. According to a careful calculation, it must have costed me around Rs. 100 or more for these 45 minutes. (I’ll post the exact amount once I get my bill)
The TV transmission sound was crystal clear but you need external speakers for better experience.
The quality of video for a 3 inch screen was moderate. I could hardy read the score at the bottom of the screen but could clearly understand what’s going on in the game.
Like any other internet video solution, there were points when video got stuck for data buffering. May be a few seconds pause every couple of minutes.
There was around 25 seconds delay as compared to normal TV or radio’s live coverage.
And yes, there is a specific set of compatible handsets that runs this service. Not all smart phones are compatible. Even the BlackBerries are not :(
Last but not least, there is a separate access-point setup needed to access these TV streams. Make sure to get the settings by calling the helpline.

In short it was fun to watch cricket without electricity. Lets see how much fun it will be to pay for it :)
Please share your experience if any.

Bluetooth chat messenger for java and symbian phones

2009-09-28T06:32:00.001-07:00

I just got a kind “interesting” of feature in Mobile Instant Messenger called as Imania Messenger. Not like others Instant Messenger Mobile Client that usually used “others” IM Services such as Yahoo, AIM, Google or else, Imania Messenger is “independent” instant Messenger Service. It has own profiles, own IM service and others.
BlueTooth Instant Messenger
Of course as Instant Messenger, you need to connect to the internet to use Imania Messenger. But there is an interesting features in Imania Messenger that can be useful for free IM Service. Imania Messenger can connect (make communication text) using your mobile bluetooth. That means only with bluetooth we can make an IM’er with our friend. Though the space max for blue tooth only about 10 meter long. You can also use wifi.

The use of Imania Messenger only with bluetooth is completely free, and you will be able to communicate with your friends up to 10 meters of range.

Others Features in Imania Messenger: Send or Receive Archives, Images, or Video for Free (using UMTS/GPRS or others data would apply charge), IMS (Imania Message System), this is what we call as independent IM Services, Chat Long 1000 letters and more.

Download Imania Messenger
For Computer User that you want to transfer the Imania Application (java / symbian) from your mobile phone using your computer (cable data, bluetooth, infrared or else) you can download:
ImaniaJava.jar (rar extractor needed)
Download directly to your mobile phone you can use this link:
Imania Java
Official website: www.imaniamessenger.com
Compatibility Mobile Phone: as long as your mobile phone works with java or symbian, Imania Messenger would great for you.

Nokia 5530 XpressMusic Specifications & Features

2009-09-28T06:26:00.001-07:00

Nokia 5530 XpressMusic Specifications & Features

Imaging
3.2 Megapixel Camera
Digital Zoom
LED Flash
Auto Focus
Dedicated Camera Key
Video Player (MPEG4, 3GP & WMV)
Video Recording
Video Settings
TV Out

Screen
2.9 Inch 16 Million Color
Touch Screen (640 x 360 Pixels)
Messaging
SMS (Text Messaging)
MMS (Multimedia Messaging)
Email
Instant Messaging
Predictive Text

Sound
Music Player
Album Graphics Display
Stereo Speakers
Music Selection (Album, Artist, Composer & Genre)
Playlist
Volume Key
FM Radio RDS
MP3, AAC & Polyphonic Ringtones

Entertainment
Java™ Games
Embedded Games
Downloadable Games

Connectivity
WLAN Wi-Fi
Bluetooth® A2DP
Micro USB
EDGE
HSCSD

Network
Quad Band (GSM 850, GSM 900,
GSM 1800 & GSM 1900)

Internet
WAP Browser
HTML & XHTML
RSS Feeds

Memory & Talk Time
70 Mbytes Memory plus 4
Gbytes MicroSD™ Card &
Supports Up To 16 Gbytes
4.9 Hours Talk Time
336 Hours Standby Time
27 Hours Music Playback Time

Weight & Size
107 g
104 x 49 x 13 mm

Microsoft gets cleverer with multitouch screen keyboard

2009-09-27T03:10:00.001-07:00

Oh, those smart rascals at Microsoft are on a roll. I love their Courier tablet concept, and now they may have found the way to make on-screen multitouch keyboards actually work great--even for touch typists like me.
The problem with screen keyboards is that you actually have to look at the screen to hit the keys correctly. With real keyboards, touch typists have a physical reference to position their hands. That's why they type blind. With a flat screen keyboard, however, you lose the physical reference frame.

The patent for this screen keyboard, however, uses multitouch technology to automatically align the keys to the position of the hand. Since the keys are always in the same relative position to your fingers, you will always have a physical point of reference: Your own hand. That way, you can blindingly hammer your keys against the screen, knowing that your fingers will always hit the keys they are aiming for.
The patent also details the way this virtual keyboard would appear anywhere on the screen: Just place your hands as you would normally do while typing, and the keyboard will pop up. [USPTO via WMPowerUser]

C++, the GPU, and Thrust: Sorting Numbers on the GPU

2009-09-27T03:04:00.001-07:00

Version 1.0 of Thrust was released in May 2009 and is available under the Apache License version 2.0. There is a NOTICE file which also contains the Boost license and a small paragraph by Hewlett-Packard Company. So it appears there is really a mixture of open source licenses applied to the Thrust library. Thrust is completely implemented in header files, so installation for development consists of downloading the zip file and expanding it somewhere.
Fedora 11 ships with gcc version 4.4. Unfortunately, at the time of writing, the current CUDA release did not support gcc version 4.4. To get around this you'll need to install a 4.3.x or lower version of gcc and modify your CUDA installation to use the older gcc. To get an older gcc, you could yum install compat-gcc-34 and then apply the changes below. Note that only the gcc34 directory and the links contained within are required if you are not planning on compiling the examples from the CUDA SDK.

$ mkdir ~/gcc34
$ ln -s /usr/bin/gcc34 ~/gcc34/gcc
$ ln -s /usr/bin/g++34 ~/gcc34/g++

$ su -l
# cp -av /usr/local/cuda/sdk/common/common.mk /usr/local/cuda/sdk/common/common.mk.original
# vi /usr/local/cuda/sdk/common/common.mk
...
CXX        := g++34
CC         := gcc34
LINK       := g++34 -fPIC
...
NVCCFLAGS := --compiler-bindir ~/gcc34

The below code is based on the first example from the Thrust website with additions to show the input and sorted output on standard error. Notice that there is a host_vector and device_vector, these represent std::vector like containers which use the main memory and VRAM respectively. The thrust::sort() call with transfer control from the CPU to the GPU and the sort will be processed on the graphics card. Once the sort is complete, execution will begin again on the CPU at the line after thrust::sort() call. As the second last line of main() shows, you can directly access an element from the device vector from code running on the CPU, but as it involves accessing the VRAM from the CPU it will be a slow operation. It is faster to copy the whole device vector back into main memory (a host vector) before iterating over its elements.
You can clearly see the host and device (RAM and VRAM) vectors used in the code to move the input and output data around. You might be wondering where are these kernel functions that were mentioned in the introduction of the series. The closest you get to one in this example is the invocation of thrust::sort which provides the same functionality as std::sort. While the outcome is the same, thrust::sort compiles its code to work on the GPU, in particular a version of thrust::less is used for element comparison.

#include 
#include 
#include 
#include 
#include 

#include 
#include 

int main(void)
{
  // generate random data on the host
  thrust::host_vector h_vec(20);
  thrust::generate(h_vec.begin(), h_vec.end(), rand);
  std::cerr << "input..." << std::endl;
  std::copy( h_vec.begin(), h_vec.end(), std::ostream_iterator(std::cerr, "\n") );
  std::cerr << "" << std::endl;

  // transfer to device and sort
  thrust::device_vector d_vec = h_vec;
  thrust::sort(d_vec.begin(), d_vec.end());

  // show result
  thrust::host_vector h_result = d_vec;
  std::cerr << "output..." << std::endl;
  std::copy( h_result.begin(), h_result.end(), std::ostream_iterator(std::cerr, "\n") );
  std::cerr << "" << std::endl;

  std::cerr << "third item in sorted data:" << d_vec[2] << std::endl;

  return 0;
}

So the in program above, the thrust::sort line will execute on the GPU, accessing the device_vector d_vec and sorting it's contents.
The commands below will compile and run the above example. Assuming CUDA is already installed on the machine. If your Linux distribution does not use gcc 4.4 then you can leave out the compiler-bindir argument to nvcc. CUDA programs have the extension .cu instead of .cpp. The gcc compiler is not invoked directly to compile a source file which uses CUDA, but the nvcc executable is used, which itself uses gcc behind the scenes.

$ nvcc --compiler-bindir ~/gcc34   website-example.cu -o website-example
...
$ ./website-example 
input...
1804289383
846930886
1681692777
1714636915
1957747793
424238335
719885386
1649760492
596516649
1189641421
1025202362
1350490027
783368690
1102520059
2044897763
1967513926
1365180540
1540383426
304089172
1303455736

output...
304089172
424238335
596516649
719885386
783368690
846930886
1025202362
1102520059
1189641421
1303455736
1350490027
1365180540
1540383426
1649760492
1681692777
1714636915
1804289383
1957747793
1967513926
2044897763

third item in sorted data:596516649

The program shown below is the first benchmark, comparing an NVidia 250 GTS card with an Intel Q6600 for sorting a vector of numbers. Both integer and floating point numbers are tested to see what performance impact there is using wider data types with a floating point less than operation.
The main() function simply calls the bench() template function with a specific numeric type and the size of the vector to use. Note that the only thing that the program does differently in order to use the GPU for the sort is copy the vector into a device_vector, use thrust::sort() instead of std::sort(), and copy the device_vector back to the main memory of the machine. The Benchmark class starts a timer whenever an object is created and stops the timer before printing the interval whenever an object is destroyed. It is used in a Resource Acquisition Is Initialization (RAII) design pattern where the object scope determines when the benchmark is started and stopped.

#include 
#include 
#include 
#include 
#include 

#include "bench.hh"

template < class T >
void bench( const std::string& n, const int SZ )
{
    cerr << "-------------" << endl;
    cerr << "bench() " << n << " SZ:" << SZ << endl;
    
    Benchmark dbm("bench function total....");
    thrust::host_vector h_vec( SZ );
    thrust::generate(h_vec.begin(), h_vec.end(), rand);

    // transfer to device and sort
    {
        Benchmark dbm("GPU process and copy-to-and-from-device");
        thrust::device_vector d_vec;
        
        {
            Benchmark dbm("GPU process and copy-to-device");
            d_vec = h_vec;
            {
                Benchmark dbm("GPU process");
                thrust::sort(d_vec.begin(), d_vec.end());
            }
        }
        
        thrust::host_vector t = d_vec;
        T xx = t[3];
    }

    // sort on host, CPU only.
    {
        Benchmark dbm("CPU only process");
        std::sort( h_vec.begin(), h_vec.end() );
    }
}

int main(void)
{
    bench( "int",          1 * 1000 );
    bench( "int",         10 * 1000 );
    bench( "int",        100 * 1000 );
    bench( "int",       1000 * 1000 );

    bench( "double",          1 * 1000 );
    bench( "double",         10 * 1000 );
    bench( "double",        100 * 1000 );
    bench( "double",       1000 * 1000 );
    
    return 0;
}

The results of the above program for integer vectors is shown below. Both axis are on logarithmic scales, the X-axis showing the vectors from one thousand to one million elements, the Y-axis recording runtime. The blue line represents time for the GPU to sort the vector from VRAM. The red line includes both the GPU processing time (blue line) and the time taken to transfer the vector between main memory and VRAM and back again. The purple line is the time taken by the CPU to sort the vector (std::sort).
By the time your vector contains 10,000 elements, using the GPU is faster overall, but only slightly. Notice that the GPU doesn't change a great deal between 1,000 and 1,000,000 elements. This seems to indicate that the parallelization offered by thrust::sort has not hit the limits of the GPU hardware at a million elements. Performance wise, once your vector has a million elements, using the GPU is about 10 times faster! Not a bad return for changing a few lines of C++ code.

Sorting a vector of floating point numbers is shown below. This gives very similar results to sorting integers; a crossover at 10,000 elements where using the GPU becomes more attractive for sorting and at a million elements the GPU is about 10 times faster.

I created a small program to test the performance of copying memory between main memory (memcpy), from main memory to VRAM, from VRAM back to main memory, and between two VRAM buffers. The later three use cudaMemcpy() to perform the copy. The benchmark performs 100 copies using blocks of memory ranging from 100,000 to 100,000,000 bytes. The timings for copies from VRAM to VRAM are left off the graph because they were all below 4 milliseconds. The times for main memory to main (blue), main to VRAM (red), and VRAM to main (purple), are shown below. Note that both axis use a logarithmic scale. Although copying to VRAM was slower than copying to main memory, it was not by a huge factor. Copying back from VRAM to main memory was slower, perhaps because most games only send data to the graphics card.

Tune in next time when we'll take a look at sorting vectors of strings instead of numeric types.

Helpful Tools for Software Developers

2009-09-27T03:03:00.001-07:00

When software developers get together, chatter quickly turns to shop talk. Developers regale one another with tales of hair-pulling bugs, demanding clients, cheap hardware, and fantastic hacks. Conversation includes esoteric debates, too: the advantages of one processor versus another, or the aesthetics of indentation. There’s even proselytizing: Emacs or vi? Mac or not Mac? RMS: angel or devil? And of course, no professional gathering would be complete without a discussion or three about the tools of the trade. Indeed, of late, there seems to be a veritable explosion of great tools for developers. The ubiquity of the Web has democratized the marketplace for such tools, but Web application development is sufficiently refined that propping up a new product online is quite tractable and inexpensive. Moreover, leasing an online service such as Github is cheap compared to purchasing licenses, installing software, and maintaining internal servers. And, in a boon for developers, the cost of switching from one online service to another is relatively slight. All things combined, these are heady days for software developers.
This week, I list some of my favorite software development tools. There are the usual suspects: an editor and a debugger, but I also highlight some tools that are far less technical but no less vital to the job.

Operating systems

Since this is Linux Magazine, it’s no shock that I consider Linux essential for the job. Virtually every tool and package is available on the platform, and since much of the software I use originates on Linux, its my canonical reference for operation. A bug in a Linux package installed via apt-get likely means the bug exists on all platforms. Software installation is also a snap, the source to every utility and library is readily available, and hosting is cheap. For software development, there is no equal.
However, coding is often just a fraction of the time developers spend on software development. There’s project management, reporting, email, documentation, billing, and more. Linux offers some solutions, but the king of productivity platforms is the Mac. From email to drawing tools such as OmniGraffle, the Mac is my preferred platform for daily work. On its surface, the Mac offers rich and GUI applications; at its heart, it’s a FreeBSD system that operates identically to my Ubuntu server.
I have a suite of preferred tools on the Mac. Parallels runs virtual instances of Linux and Windows on my Intel-based MacBook. Navicat, Seequel Pro, and MySQL Workbench peer into MySQL. Navicat is a power tool, but I find the minimal Seequel Pro more convenient of late. OmniGraffle creates diagrams and wireframes with ease and has no equal on any platform. And Textmate and BBedit are permanent denizens of my Dock. Textmate is incredible for Rails coding, but I prefer to write HTML and text documents in BBedit. I also run lots of little gems: PTHPasteboard Pro minatains a near-limitless less of clipboards; Teleport lets me use one mouse and keyboard to span a desktop full of Mac machines; and Billings keeps track of my billable hours.
I also find the new debugging tools in Safari 4 to be quite good. The Web Inspector benchmarks Web page download performance and can even debug JavaScript, although Firebug is more transparent.

Debuggers

Speaking of Firebug, it is my preferred tool for debugging client-side Web application code. I suppose it would be more correct to recommend Firefox, since Firebug is simply an extension. The third-party add-ons and extensions make Firefox a hands-down winner for application development. Y!Slow provides insight on non-performant Web pages, and SenSEO not provides similar metrics for search engine optimization (SEO) benchmarks. Just point SenSEO at a page and it advises how to improve the metadata accessible to the search engines.
On the server-side, I prefer debuggers over printf and inspect statements. Both irb and rdebug suffice for Ruby development, while embedded debugger calls help to debug Rails applications running under the standard Rails Web server. Stalwart gdb tackles C.
Related to bugs, I currently use Lighthouse to track bug reports. One of its advantages is the email gateway: Others and I can submit new tickets, make amendments, and track progress all via email. Other tracking software, including Jira, also provide email portals, but this feature and the simplicity of the Lighthouse user interface. Another option is Sifter, which features an even more attractive and approachable user interface. Prices are comparable: each is around $20 per month for a few projects, disk space, and seats.

Software Services

Lighthouse and Sifter are just two of many services now available online. Task management is the strong suit of Basecamp and a similar tool named Redmine. Basecamp is free or cheap and great for project management. It too features an email gateway: replies to certain messages are automatically appended to ongoing conversations.
Gthub and Beanstalk provide Git and Subversion hosting, respectively. I continue to use Git from the command-line, but I’ve switched to Versions on Mac OS X to interact with Subversion. Both version control systems seem popular, with some projects on one or the other. I suspect I use Git more, simply because its cool among Ruby aficianados, and its operation is something of an analog to traditional utilities like mv, rm, and the ancient Revision Control System (rcs) found on Unix systems back in the day.
Glancing at my bookmarks, I also use Twitter to follow projects, companies, and people. The advantage of Twitter and a Twitter client like Adium or TweetDeck is the immediacy: its flags a tantalizing message for me. I often forget to catch up on my RSS Feeds (read via NewsFire), so Twitter is an adequate substitute for instant updates. Many lay people use Twitter; others do not get it. For me, Twitter is an essential channel for me; otherwise, I’d miss a lot of important patches, releases, and security alerts.

And Lots More

I typically write about my arsenal of tools in this column. Recent entries included articles on Sunspot for search, Typekit for better fonts, and CSS frameworks to jump start Web page development. In no specific order, here are other favorites I am tinkering with now.

Eliot Horowitz wrote about MongoDB this week. I’ve applied it to store everything from email messages to user profiles, two examples of data that can vary in size and content. MongoMapper is an ActiveRecord-like interface to MongoDB for Rails applications and I highly recommend it. Mongo drivers and software is also available for Java, Python, and PHP, too, at a minimum. I will write about MongoMapper next week.
JQuery is my preferred JavaScript Ajax library. jQuery is powerful and quick to learn. I do wish at times that JavaScript was not the only language that ran in the browser—but multilingual browsers seems like a Pandora’s Box.
Stack Overflow is a great place to post questions and provide answers to assist your fellow geek. Each correct answer you post earns you some street cred and karma. If you’re in a jam, post here and look for a suitable Google Group for your topic. You should also consider IRC. Yes, it’s old school, but if lots of others are online, a quick chat can also provide a solution to some vexing issue in the middle of the night.

Proper Fuel

Finally, developers need proper fuel. Some run on cola, others on coffee, and still others on microbrews. My power source of choice is Thai food. With it, I can code and play the keyboard like Linus and Linus, that is Torvalds and Van Pelt, respectively.
If you have a favorite fuel or an application you cannot live without, drop me a line. I’d love to hear about it.

Intel Wants to Put the Internet Inside Your TV

2009-09-26T03:36:00.001-07:00

The dream of taking Internet TV to an actual TV seems a no-brainer to consumers: a screen's a screen, and a monitor's just another screen, after all. However, there's more to the technology than meets the eye or fits the couch potato's view. Even so, Intel made a huge step toward plugging the Internet TV play on Thursday when it unveiled Atom processor CE4100, its 45nm System-on-Chip for Internet TV. Code-named "Sodaville," the CE4100 processor is the first 45nm-manufactured consumer electronics SoC based on Intel

Cellular Backhaul over Satellite

2009-09-26T03:35:00.001-07:00

Mobile operators face intense pressure to expand networks and win new subscribers but this presents

challenges as they build into rural and remote areas with smaller populations that generate less revenue and

incur higher operating costs. Today, the boom in IP technology combined with new satellite backhaul and

mobile infrastructure developments are making such expansions economically viable.

For satellite backhaul, IP-TDMA has proven to be particularly useful, giving mobile operators a tool to cost

effectively reach new subscribers, expand coverage and maintain organic growth beyond urban areas.

This paper looks at the strategies of operators in rural and remote areas as well as available backhaul

technologies and how these are enabling profitable networks to be deployed in underserved areas. It includes

four case studies from mobile operators that have used satellite backhaul to connect remote areas and

generate new revenue.

Click here to download this paper: idirect-white-paper-v1fin

Palm Pre comes to Europe October 13

2009-09-26T03:33:00.001-07:00

Palm Pre comes to Europe October 13

European carrier Telefonica has confirmed plans to launch the Palm Pre in mid-October in Germany, Ireland and the UK.
O2 Germany will be the first operator to get its hands on the Pre on October 13, while O2 UK and O2 Ireland will have to wait until October 16.
Despite the fact that O2 UK is the exclusive carrier of the Apple iPhone in the UK, the Palm Pre, which is also an exclusive, will be pitched at an identical price point and tariff. The device will be available for free on a 24 month contract as well as the higher end 18 month contracts, bundled with unlimited mobile data usage.
Touted as a serious competitor to the iPhone and Nokia’s flagship N97, the Pre packs a slide out keyboard and touch screen interface and is available with wifi and GPS. It boasts 8GB of storage and a 3 megapixel camera and probably a handset first in the shape of an inductive charging unit.
The device is also the first Palm gadget to run the company’s flagship webOS platform. Jumping on the cloud computing bandwagon, webOS allows consumers to pull their contact, calendars and personal information down from the internet on any device. A key feature of the alm platform is synchronisation of information between multiple services, so if the same contact is listed in the user’s phonebook and on their social networking sites, both contact details are pulled into the same interface. Likewise with multiple conversation platforms such as text message and email, as well as calendars.
Across the Atlantic however, there is some doubt as to whether US carrier Verizon Wireless will go ahead with plans to launch the Pre on its own network early in 2010, with reports coming in of weak sales of the device on Sprint’s network.
Palm recently cited strong performance from the Pre however.

Google adds anchor links to search results

2009-09-26T03:32:00.001-07:00

Web pages have long included anchor links, which, when clicked, send you to a specific section of the page. Wikipedia uses them heavily to help users jump between headings and navigate the sometimes large articles more efficiently. Google has announced that it is now including these anchor links in search results. This is right in line with Google's mission of helping users to find the information that they are looking for as quickly and accurately as possible.

Google calls out the headings (Overview, Requirements, Important reactions, See also) in this Wikipedia article on nuclear fusion.

(Credit: Screenshot by Harrison Hoffman/CNET)

For an example of how this works, try searching for "nuclear fusion." As you can see, Google pulls out the headings in the article, so if I was really interested in the requirements for nuclear fusion, I could jump straight there. This is a great addition and really helps in cases where you are dealing with long, text-heavy pages.
If you are a Webmaster and want to set up your Web pages to identify sections to Google, then read this post on Google's Webmaster Central to get you started.

Telenor Customer Service Via Facebook

2009-09-26T03:28:00.001-07:00

Djuice, the youth oriented brand of Telenor is using Facebook to connect with its customers. See an example below where Djuice answer questions about how to block unwanted / annoying sms messages. Makes a lot of sense as Facebook is where most of Djuice users are likely to hang out.

Warid: Youth Blog Zones

2009-09-26T03:27:00.003-07:00

Riding the social wave is a favorite for mobile phone companies. Warid’s Youth Blog Zones are interesting but I am not sure if blogging via phones will become popular or not. Perhaps a twitter application will make more sense here.
On a related note, looking at the page for Youth Blog Zone reminded me how companies make wrong use of the real estate on their website. Heavy focus is on ‘how’ and not enough on why is this service useful for me? For example, I don’t see any screen views or specific example of how this blog zone will help someone find something cool, get some piece of information or discover interesting content.
Waridtel now brings the concept of traditional blog websites to mobile phone in-order to create a unique experience for its customers. Now Warid subscribers can register to “Youth Blog Zone” and express their views on a common forum. Members of “Youth Blog Zone” can find out about latest gossip and happenings, keep track of fashion trends, get recent information about movies, music, sports, business, politics, entertainment & much more.
With this service, members of “blog zone” can post questions of their interest and can also leave opinions/comments on blogs.
The Way Forward!
Simply send “Youth” in an SMS to 1166 & get registered. Once you have registered for this service, you are eligible to initiate discussions and receive blog messages/thoughts from members of blog zone.
Charges: Rs. 10+tax/registration.

Zong ~ Yari Call

2009-09-26T03:27:00.001-07:00

Yari Call an innovation from ZONG, allows ZONG subscribers the ease of calling even when they are out of balance or have insufficient balance.
Subscribers have the option of making whom they’re calling pay 100% charges by dialing 11 before the desired number..
When 11 is dialed before the desired number, complete call charges will be deducted from the recipient. For example if you are party A and you dial Party B’s number preceded with 11, then party B will pay complete charges for the call.
It is free of charge, easy to use and provides instant communication between the two parties but can be misused. Its still unclear if the party B knows before receiving the call that it will be charged for it. The website doesn’t have any information on this, it simply says dial 800 to manage your Yari Calls.

Free and Open Source 2D Animation Software for Linux

2009-09-26T03:26:00.001-07:00

After featuring some of the best Free and Open Source 3D animation software, it's time to take a look at some 2D computer graphics program for Linux users who are into creating two-dimensional models. These free 2D animation software is as capable as those that are commercially available so do take time to try them first before emptying your wallet.

Here are a few Free and Open Source 2D animation software for Linux that you may like:

Synfig
Synfig is a 2D vector graphics and timeline-based computer animation program that was originally the custom animation platform for the now discontinued Voria Studios. The main goal of the project is to create a program that is capable of producing "feature-film quality animation with fewer people and resources." The program offers an alternative to manual tweening so that the animator doesn't have to draw each and every frame. Synfig is capable of simulating soft-shading using curved gradients within an area so that the animator doesn't have to draw shading into every single frame.

Learn more about Synfig HERE

KToon
KToon is a 2D Animation Toolkit designed by Toonka Films animators for aspiring animators. It is designed to function in a similar way to popular proprietary animation packages, like Macromedia Flash. It currently lacks a scripting language like Macromedia's ActionScript, but it can export movies as AVI files and Flash animations. KToon uses OpenGL and Qt toolkit as programming resources.

Learn more about KToon HERE

Pencil
Pencil is a drawing and 2D animation software that is written in C++ and is based on QT. It uses a unique bitmap/vector drawing interface to produce simple 2D graphics as well as animation. Pencil is also available for Windows, Mac, and BSD.

Learn more about Pencil HERE

If you know of other free and open source 2D animation software that I failed to include here, please share them with us via comment.

10 Things New About Ubuntu Karmic Koala Worth Taking Note Of

2009-09-26T03:25:00.001-07:00

Yet another major Ubuntu release is on the anvil. It is called Ubuntu 9.10 codenamed Karmic Koala. There is nothing really to get excited about this new release to be frank. And probably no major changes to the user interface. Canonical had promised major changes to the UI for Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron, but even after two more major releases now, no upgrades have shown up yet. Lets take a look at the list of changes with this new Karmic release.
Ubuntu One File Sharing Service

Ubuntu Karmic Koala comes with Ubuntu one file sharing service as default. Ubuntu one is a file synchronisation service and also a network storage service.

New Community Contributed Themes

A bunch of new community contributed thems are also on the way and hopefully will make its cut into new Ubuntu Karmic. They include four really good themes and two icon sets.

Grub 2 by Default

Grub 2 is completely rewritten from scratch, includes a lot of improvements like cross-platform installation which allows for installing Grub from a different architecture, portability for various architectures etc.

Grub 2 is the default boot loader for new installations of Karmic, replacing the previous Grub Legacy boot loader. Existing systems will not be upgraded to GRUB 2 at this time, as automatically reinstalling the boot loader is an inherently risky operation.

New GNOME

Gnome 2.28 will come as default and you could even get a chance to test Gnome 3 in Ubuntu Karmic. Here is a quick preview on what actually Gnome 3 would be like. (pretty nice). [ Video Courtesy: Gotbletu ]

Popout
New Login Window

New 'not that bad' login window. It may not look exactly like this, but this will give you an abstract idea. You may also want to check out 20 other exceptional looking GDM themes available out there.

[screen shot courtesy: OMGUbuntu ]

New Splash Screen

A lot improved splash screen.

Better Looking Networking Manager

Small changes like these does matter. What do you think.

Empathy as the default IM Client

IM Client Empathy is going to replace Pidgin as the default IM Client for Ubuntu 9.10. There is a lot of discussion going around on this change, but i think it is not a bad decision after all.

New Linux Kernel

The newest Linux Kernel 2.6.31 will be included in which even constitutes USB 3.0 support (WOW!) and a whole lot of other improvements.

Faster Boot Times

New Ubuntu Karmic comes with still faster boot times. That is a welcome development and lets hope, sooner than later, boot time will reach sub 10 second levels. In my case boot up time is an atrocious 40-45 seconds now.

LinuxCon: Desktop Should Be Better Than Windows

2009-09-23T19:53:00.000-07:00

There are three big areas of opportunity for Linux in the near future: cloud computing, mainframe, and Linux' future on the desktop. That was one of the main messages of a keynote from IBM's Dr. Robert Sutor, who addressed the morning crowd at LinuxCon Monday.

Sutor, VP of Linux and Open Source, initially walked the crowd through why he believes Linux is already an effective cloud platform. A good cloud OS should provide cloud-friendly applications; storage, processor, and platform resources; standard APIs, and excellent quality of service. All of these are aspects Linux has now, Sutor explained to the crowd.

Because Linux supports multiple hardware platforms, it can be implent on all sorts of devices, from embedded devices to supercomputers. It is also easily virtualized, both as a guest and host OS. It's modularity and open development allow it to be very nimble and flexible.

The virtualization aspect of Linux is a big part of the reason Linux is well-suited for the mainframe. In fact, Sutor explained, IBM began researching virtualization in the 1970s just for the purposes of increasing the efficiency of its product line at the time. While the technology was slow to take off then, IBM hopes to capitalize on it hugely now, pushing energy and cost savings to its customers with more efficient datacenters.

It was Sutor's remarks on the desktop that drew the most commentary from attendees and the media.

Sutor outlined several possible scenarios for Linux on the desktop:

The Linux desktop goes away.
Users stop using desktops, so who cares?
The Linux desktop becomes a tactic instead of a strategy.
One Linux desktop distribution ends up with 90% market share among those using Linux desktops.
One Linux desktop distribution ends up with 90% market share among all desktops.

Sutor also joked that one possible future would be equal 33% / 33% / 33% parity with Microsoft Windows/Apple Mac OS X/Linux, plus or minus 32.9%.

These remarks on their own were broad enough not to raise eyebrows, but Sutor's next statement did: "I think making it a complete drop-in replacement is a dead-end strategy," he said, referring to Linux as a Windows replacement.

What was not picked up as much in the media was his next sentence: "we need to make something better."

Sutor did not seem to be advocating the end of the Linux desktop, but rather was making a call to the desktop community to stop following Windows and OS X and begin a unique line of innovation.

If this were done, Linux on the desktop would be a viable contender for this segment of IT, Sutor maintained.

Why Linux succeeds while other open source projects fail

2009-09-23T19:44:00.000-07:00

From the 'Strategies for Success' files:

One persistent topic that crops up at many open source conferences is a discussion of what it takes to be successful.

At the LinuxCon conference (Webcast from Portland), Intel's Dirk Hohndel, chief Linux and open source technologist, gave what I thought was one of the best versions of the 'how to be successful in open source' talks I've ever heard.

Hohndel used Linux as his model for how to be successful.

His basic premise is that a combination of innovation, vision, focus and persistence are the keys to success. If you're lacking in any of those key areas, the project isn't likely to succeed.

"Whenever you think you found a niche, you will find that someone else is already doing it," Hohndel said. "Linus is not the first to come up with an open source operating system but he managed to shine. When it comes to vision there are lots of missionaries out there, I can't turn on the TV without meeting 25 of them."

Hohndel added that vision is critical but it's easy because anyone can make stuff up. You need the competence to implement and you need to know how to get to where you want.

It makes a lot of sense to me.

Ideas alone just aren't enough if you don't have the skills and determination to build momentum.

That's where open source can also help for adoption. If a project, like Linux does become successful, it provides more incentive for users to use the application as a way of future proofing their technology investment.

Hohndel noted that when IBM decided to discontinue its OS/2 operating system, there were many enterprises (including a German Bank that he was working for) that were left hanging.

"Open source means that will never happen to you," Hohndel said.

Even if one particular vendor or developer failed, since the project code is open an enterprise could continue on with a particular technology if they so choose.

In the final analysis, the success of a project is really all about users and giving them what they want.

"You need to think about your whole vision and you need to go where others haven't gone," Hohndel said. "You actually have to listen to the user and when user says this isn't what I wanted ... the answer should be why."

New Windows 7 launch video breaks bizarre barrier

2009-09-23T19:41:00.000-07:00

Several months back I wrote about Microsoft's Songsmith video that hit all the wrong notes. It was a weird (to say the least) attempt to humanize software that failed so terribly I still find it hard to believe it was real.

Enter the latest Windows 7 launch video, which looks like the Food Network threw a cooking party only to have it geek out and go completely sideways.

Maybe all the pressure to make Windows 7 successful has removed all sensibility to marketing efforts that seem like good ideas until they are actually created.

Tutorial Tuesday: GNOME Hotkeys

2009-09-19T18:30:00.000-07:00

GNOME is a desktop environment and an international project that includes creating software development frameworks, selecting application software for the desktop, and working on the programs which manage application launching, file handling, and window and task management. GNOME is part of the GNU Project and can be used with various Unix-like operating systems - most notably those built on top of the Linux kernel and the GNU userland.

General Shortcut Keys
Alt + F1	Opens the Applicantions Menu .
Alt + F2	Displays the Run Application dialog.
Print Screen	Takes a screenshot.
Alt + Print Screen	Takes a screenshot of the window that has focus.
Ctrl + Alt + right arrow	Switches to the workspace to the right of the current workspace.
Ctrl + Alt + left arrow	Switches to the workspace to the left of the current workspace.
Ctrl + Alt + up arrow	Switches to the workspace above the current workspace.
Ctrl + Alt + down arrow	Switches to the workspace below the current workspace.
Ctrl + Alt + d	Minimizes all windows, and gives focus to the desktop.
F1	Starts the online help browser, and displays appropriate online Help.
Window Shortcut Keys
Alt + Tab	Switches between windows. When you use these shortcut keys, a list of windows that you can select is displayed. Release the keys to select a window.
Alt + Esc	Switches between windows in reverse order. Release the keys to select a window.
F10	Opens the first menu on the left side of the menubar.
Alt + spacebar	Opens the Window Menu .
Arrow keys	Moves the focus between items in a menu.
Return	Chooses a menu item.
Esc	Closes an open menu.
Ctrl + Alt + right arrow	Switches to the workspace to the right of the current workspace.
Ctrl + Alt + left arrow	Switches to the workspace to the left of the current workspace.
Ctrl + Alt + up arrow	Switches to the workspace above the current workspace.
Ctrl + Alt + down arrow	Switches to the workspace below the current workspace.
Ctrl + Alt + d	Minimizes all windows, and gives focus to the desktop.
Panel Shortcut Keys
Ctrl + Alt + Tab	Switches the focus between the panels and the desktop. When you use these shortcut keys, a list of items that you can select is displayed. Release the keys to select an item.
Ctrl + Alt + Esc	Switches the focus between the panels and the desktop. Release the keys to select an item.
Ctrl + F10	Opens the popup menu for the selected panel.
Tab	Switches the focus between objects on a panel.
Return	Chooses the selected panel object or menu item.
Shift + F10	Opens the popup menu for the selected panel object.
Arrow keys	Moves the focus between items in a menu. Moves the focus between interface items in an applet also.
Esc	Closes an open menu.
F10	Opens the Applications menu from the Menu Bar , if the Menu Bar is in a panel.
Application Shortcut Keys
Ctrl + N	New
Ctrl + X	Cut
Ctrl + C	Copy
Ctrl + V	Paste
Ctrl + Z	Undo
Ctrl + S	Save
Ctrl + Q	Quit

How to install android sdk 1.6 on Ubuntu 9.04

2009-09-19T18:23:00.000-07:00

Google has recently released version android SDK 1.6. This tutorial will teach you how to install it on ubuntu 9.04.

1 Installing Java
Android SDK is built around Java . So, you have to install Sun Java before trying to install Android. Look at this post for details about installation of sun java development kit on ubuntu 9.04.

2) Download android sdk. The current version ( 1.6 R1 ) is available as a tar.gz file from google. Look at this link . You will be prompted to accept android licence and if you accept it, you will be redirected to another link which will permit you to download the sdk. ( It is around 222MB)

3) Unzip the tar.gz file .
I unzipped it to my home folder with the following command

$ tar -xzvf android-sdk-linux_x86-1.6_r1.tgz

All the files were unzipped to a folder named android-sdk-linux_x86-1.6_r1
If you look at the directory now , you will see the following files and folders.

$ ls android-sdk-linux_x86-1.6_r1

add-ons docs documentation.html platforms RELEASE_NOTES.html tools

The tools for android development is under the tools directory.

4) Test drive the android emulator

Since all the android tools are kept under android-sdk-linux_x86-1.6_r1/tools, we must modify the PATH environment variable so that it includes the above directory too.Open a terminal and execute the following.
fermi @Jaunty:~$ PATH=${PATH}:~/android-sdk-linux_x86-1.6_r1/tools
fermi @Jaunty:~$ export PATH
You can also add the above line to your ~/.bash_profile or ~/.bashrc , so that the setting is available always.

My PATH variable looks like this after the above command.

fermi @Jaunty:~$ echo $PATH
/home/fermi/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/home/fermi/android-sdk-linux_x86-1.6_r1/tools

Now you can test fire your set up . It is a good idea to keep all your android related files in a separate folder. I created a new folder named ANDR for experimenting. All the commands below are executed in that folder.

The virtual phones created by android SDK are called AVDs ( android virtual device) .Let us start the experiment with a virtual SDcard and a Virtual Phone.

Let us create a virtual SDcard

$ mksdcard 2048M SDCARD
If you look at the contents of the folder you will see a 2GB file named SDCARD

Next, create an android virtual phone named FERMI_PHONE.

$ android create avd -n FERMI_PHONE -t 2
Android 1.6 is a basic Android platform.
Do you wish to create a custom hardware profile [no]

Press enter to choose no. You will get back the following message.

Created AVD 'FERMI_PHONE' based on Android 1.6, with the following hardware config:
hw.lcd.density=160

Now start up android emulator.
$ emulator @FERMI_PHONE -sdcard SDCARD

Your virtual phone pops up as below. ( Another window which asks you to participate in a survey also pops up, you can close it.)

Wait for a moment , your screen will change to the one shown below.

You can press menu button to unlock the phone.

You can flip the phone with CNTRL+F11

Now let us browse on the android phone.

5 )Starting development with SDK.

The easiest way to start development on android is via eclipse. The eclipse version shipped with jaunty is some what old. ( Version: 3.2.2-5ubuntu3) . You need a later version for installing the ADT ( android Development tools ) for eclipse. I downloaded Eclipse 3.5 (Galileo) from the eclipse site and installed it . Then completed the following steps.

Start Eclipse, then select Help > Install New Softare.
In the Available Software dialog, click Add....
In the Add Site dialog that appears, enter a name for the remote site (e.g., "Android Plugin") in the "Name" field.
In the "Location" field, enter this URL:
```
https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/eclipse/
```
Click OK.
Back in the Available Software view, you should now see "Developer Tools" added to the list. Select the checkbox next to Developer Tools, which will automatically select the nested tools Android DDMS and Android Development Tools. Click Next.
In the resulting Install Details dialog, the Android DDMS and Android Development Tools features are listed. Click Next to read and accept the license agreement and install any dependencies, then click Finish.
Restart Eclipse.

Now modify your Eclipse preferences to point to the Android SDK directory:

Select Window > Preferences... to open the Preferences panel
Select Android from the left panel.
For the SDK Location in the main panel, click Browse... and locate your downloaded SDK directory.
Click Apply, then OK.

Now your development environment is ready.

For running a hello world application, read this entry from the developers guide. Here is a screen shot of my hello world application.

Happy Hacking.

LG New Chocolate BL20 makes dramatic video debut

2009-09-18T18:06:00.000-07:00

We've already had a pretty clear indication that LG was about to followup its stylish BL40 Chocolate Touch with a slightly lower-end BL20 model, but it looks like any doubt has now been cast aside by a just-revealed promo video, which shows off the new New Chocolate phone in all its swishing and swooping glory. That includes a brief look at the phone's sliding keypad (it's red), a quick once over of LG's various widgets, confirmation of a 5-megapixel camera, and a look a somewhat unique feature called Text Scan, which promises to let you capture clear images of notes or memos (though it doesn't seem to provide actual character recognition). But enough with the words -- there's two minutes of sound effects and visual overload after the break.

Video: DFI hybrid motherboard runs two whole systems... simultaneously!

2009-09-18T18:01:00.000-07:00

These days, the word "hybrid" gets tossed around like a rag doll. We've got hybrid cars, hybrid SLI and hybrid image stabilization -- and that's just for starters. But friends, this hybrid is one worth paying attention to. DFI has been working overtime in order to concoct the next great mainboard, and if this thing can really deliver as advertised, we'd say the gurus responsible for it will succeed greatly. The Hybrid P45-ION-T2A2 motherboard can actually house a complete Atom / Ion-based system on one side, while handling a traditional Socket 775 CPU system on the other. In other words, this single motherboard can power -- let's say -- a low-power server system and your next gaming setup. At the same time! We're still waiting on a firm release date and price, but 'til then, hop on past the break for a swell demonstration vid.

Linux-based picture frame adds Internet radio, widgets, multimedia

2009-09-18T17:58:00.000-07:00

The DreamScreen 100, said to be shipping now, is equipped with a 10.2-inch screen while the 13.3-inch HP DreamScreen 130 is due later this fall. Instead of offering a Web browser for unrestricted Internet access, the DreamScreen provides widgets that deliver partner sites and services, such as Facebook, Pandora Internet radio, and the Snapfish photo site, says HP.

Equipped with a remote control, the DreamScreen can stream photos and music from a PC, or users can copy photos, music, or video to the tablet and/or a connected storage device for local playback, according to HP. Although the device is billed as distributing PC multimedia anywhere in the house, it does not appear to run on batteries.

HP DreamScreen 100
(Click to enlarge)

The tailored services approach along with the lack of a touchscreen -- users interact via a series of navigation buttons and/or a remote -- is somewhat similar to that used by the Linux-based Chumby alarm clock computer and push-based Chumby service. According to an HP spokesperson, however, the DreamScreen is not based on one of the recently introduced Chumby DPF reference designs or any other third-party designs. Instead, the DreamScreen was "built ground up within HP's Futures and Innovations group, and we are using the software experiences from TouchSmart and MediaSmart software suites of applications that come on our PCs," the spokesperson added.
DreamScreen 100 with remote

The spokesperson also confirmed that the device runs Linux on an undisclosed ARM processor, but said the distribution is not based on the Ubuntu-based HP "Mi" distro used on HP's "Mini" netbooks.

DreamScreen 100 (rear view)

The DreamScreen provides 2GB of flash memory, of which 1.5GB is user-accessible. The device also includes two card readers -- one compatible with SD/XD/MMC/Memory Stick/Memory Stick Pro formats, and the other compatible with Type I/II CompactFlash cards and Microdrives -- plus dual USB ports. Access to the Internet and a networked PC are provided by WiFi and Ethernet connections, says HP.

The device's remote control nestles behind the screen, while touch controls, which become visible on demand, are located along the display's border. A stand and wall mount are also supplied, as is a power adapter, the company says.

DreamScreen 100 running Pandora

The DreamScreen includes stereo speakers, as well as headphone and speaker jacks. The device supports standard music and photo formats, as well as video formats including MPEG 1/2/4, AVI, M-JPEG, H.264, and MP4, says the company.

Music playback features are said to include search by artist, album or genre, with album cover art displayed simultaneously with music. The Pandora Internet music service is also available, letting users rate songs or artists to refine personalized music selections. In addition, the HP DreamScreen offers the HP SmartRadio service, which is said to aggregate streams of live Internet broadcasts from more than 10,000 radio stations.

DreamScreen 100 photo display

A slideshow mode displays photos simultaneously with music that is either stored on the device or streamed from a networked PC, says the company. Additional features include five-day weather forecasts, a calendar, and an alarm clock with digital or analog displays, dual time-zones, and multiple alarms.

Specifications listed for the HP DreamScreen include:

Processor -- ARM-based
Flash memory -- 2GB (1.5GB usable)
Expansion:

1 x SD/XD/MMC/Memory Stick/Memory Stick Pro reader
1 x Type I/II CompactFlash reader (Microdrive compatible)

Display -- 10.2-inch or 13.3-inch 800 x 480 display
Audio -- Stereo speakers; line in; line out
Networking -- 10/100 Ethernet
WiFi -- 802.11b/g
USB -- 2 x USB ports
Other features -- Remote control; navigation buttons; stand; wall-mount
Operating system -- Linux

Stated Satjiv S. Chahil, SVP, worldwide marketing, Personal Systems Group, HP. "With HP DreamScreen, social media, web services and digital entertainment can be enjoyed in more areas of the home."

Availability

The HP DreamScreen 100 is now available in the U.S. for $250 from online distributors including BestBuy.com, Amazon.com, and HPDirect.com, and will be available at Best Buy retail outlets starting on Oct. 11. The HP DreamScreen 130 is expected to be broadly available this fall in the U.S. for $300.

NSN claims first call on commercial LTE kit

2009-09-18T17:55:00.000-07:00

NSN claims first call on commercial LTE kit

Next generation wireless standard LTE continues to pick up steam, with infrastructure vendor Nokia Siemens Networks this week claiming to have made the world’s first call using commercial and standards compliant LTE kit.

NSN said the call was made via base stations with fully complaint software to the 3GPP Rel.8 (March 2009 baseline) LTE standard at the firm’s R&D Centre in Ulm, Germany, and gives a good indication of the behaviour of future commercial deployments.

The vendor is optimistic about LTE adoption and foresees the first deployments of the technology taking place before the year is out, with volume rollouts of commercial networks in early 2010. NSN said it has shipped LTE compatible Flexi Base Station hardware to over 80 operators already.

But despite the traction LTE is gaining in the market, analysts are wary of overly optimistic rollout expectations for the technology in the face f the economic crisis. Mike Roberts, principal analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media warns on the effects of the global downturn, which have boosted HSPA+ but slowed LTE, with a number of major mobile operators who are vocal in their support of LTE also quietly admitting that the downturn and other factors have delayed their LTE rollout schedules by several years. “WCDMA/HSPA operators are now focusing more on HSPA+ upgrades, which will bring major improvements in capacity and data speeds, at a much lower cost than deploying LTE,”

Google Launches DoubleClick Ad Exchange

2009-09-18T17:54:00.000-07:00

Google is about to launch its most potent weapon to date in the battle over the $15 billion market for display ads—the pictorial banners and videos that support most major Web sites. On Sept. 18 the search giant will launch its new DoubleClick advertising exchange, a sort of stock exchange for online ads it has been developing since early last year.

Google's (GOOG) exchange lets Web sites offer space that ad agencies and online brokers called ad networks can bid for in an automated auction system. Advertisers hope to get a wider choice of ad space and the ability to target ads more precisely to the most likely prospects. Publishers hope to net higher rates than they can from the hundreds of ad networks—which generally pay very low rates—and sell more of the ad space that today goes unsold. As BusinessWeek reported three months ago, Google's ad exchange has been widely anticipated because of the company's growing influence over online ads.

The goal for Google is to make display advertising, which currently requires a lot of time and effort to create and distribute on thousands of sites, much simpler to deploy so that many more advertisers and publishers can run the ads. Because of the existing complexity, as well as advertiser uncertainty over display ads' effectiveness, text search ads such as Google's have grown far faster than display in recent years. "The idea is to grow the overall display-advertising pie," says Neal Mohan, Google's vice-president for product management. "Display advertising is still not living up to its full potential."

It's far from certain that Google will succeed with its new exchange. The giant dominates the market for search advertising, garnering about half the industry's total revenues. But it has struggled to expand into new fields, such as radio and print advertising, and its efforts in display ads have seen little success so far. Search ads still constitute over 95% of Google's revenues. The company's display-ad exchange, an early version of which Google picked up early last year when it acquired online ad-placement firm DoubleClick for $3.2 billion, will face competition, too. Yahoo! (YHOO), Microsoft (MSFT), and others already operate their own exchanges.

An "Enormous Advertising Base"

Google has one big edge, though: Nearly all of the major Web publishers already use DoubleClick's services. Ad agencies hope those publishers, whose large audiences they find attractive, will make more of their premium ad space on frequently visited pages available on DoubleClick's exchange. To prime the exchange pump, Google is making ad space on hundreds of thousands of other sites on its Content Network, where it already places search ads, available through the exchange. "They have an enormous advertising base that will make the marketplace liquid," says Marc Goldberg, vice-president for business development at About.com, a site that offers experts on a wide range of topics, owned by the New York Times Co. (NYT).

Video: Joules robot rides shotgun, helps pedal on two-person bicycle

2009-09-17T21:41:00.000-07:00

There's "desperate for companionship," and then there's "just plain cool." We're going out on a limb here and suggesting that the scenario you see unfolding above is a case of the latter, with modder Carl developing a robotic partner that not only rides shotgun on this tandem bicycle, but also helps pedal. A PMG-132 electric motor is connected to Joules (that's the robot, just so you know), and thanks to an array of nuts, bolts, joints and the promise of a better life in Carl's garage, Joules has graciously agreed to help power the bike for as long as his owner decides to exercise. Trust us, there's a truly touching video waiting for you after the break, and you'll immediately lose five nerd points should you choose not to head down there and look.

Enable Flash Support for Chromium in Ubuntu Linux

2009-09-17T21:37:00.000-07:00

Chromium Web Browser( Google Chrome for Linux ie ) has already won a lot of accolades among Ubuntu/Linux users and we have already seen how easy it is to install chromium web browser in Ubuntu. I am so impressed with this new chromium web browser, that i may even use it as my regular browser. Flash support is not available by default, but by a little bit of tweaking, you can enable it too. Here is how.

Make sure you have installed package flashplugin-nonfree. Best way to know that is by trying to install the package once again. Goto Terminal and do.

sudo apt-get install flashplugin-nonfree

Now copy libflashplayer.so into chrome-browser directory. Simply copy-paste the following in Terminal (Applications> Accessories > Terminal).

sudo cp /usr/lib/flashplugin-installer/libflashplayer.so /usr/lib/chromium-browser/plugins/

Thats it. Now to start Chromium with flash support, goto terminal and type as follows.

chromium-browser  --enable-plugins

Adding shortcut for Chromium Web Browser

But going to terminal to start an application every time is kind of overkill. All you need to do is creating a shortcut on the top panel. Here is how we do it.

You can add Chromium with Flash support in the top menu in your Desktop like in the screenshot below.

Here is how it can be done. First right click on top of the menu and click on Add to panel.

Now select Custom Application Launcher from top of the menu.

Now in the Command menu, type in the command to start Chromium with flash support which is, chromium-browser --enable-plugins.

That is it. Start Chromium Web Browser from top menu of your desktop and enjoy chromium web browser experience in Ubuntu.

Chromium Browser in action

New Seesmic Desktop supports Facebook fan pages

2009-09-17T21:35:00.000-07:00

The new Seesmic Desktop app lets Facebook fan page managers update them in sync with Twitter.

There are a handful of Twitter apps out there that can also update Facebook statuses, and no clear market leader, but the new build (version 0.6) of Seesmic Desktop may soon be the app of choice for marketers who use Twitter and Facebook for brand promotion. That's because it can now manage activity on Facebook's "fan pages" as well as personal profiles, meaning that the operators of these pages can update them in sync with Twitter accounts.

"With the Facebook Page feature, you have greater control on how you market your business, oversee your brand, listen to your fans and build your community," a release from Seesmic explained. Facebook, it should be noted, has launched its own feature to push fan page updates directly to Twitter.

If you're an ordinary Facebook user who doesn't manage any fan pages, Seesmic Desktop can also track status posts from those that you subscribe to.

Seesmic Desktop was built after parent company Seesmic, which had previously built a video-commenting company, acquired Twitter desktop app Twhirl.

Founder Loic Le Meur also announced that 2.5 million people have now downloaded Seesmic Desktop, and that Seesmic has partnered with Twitter image-sharing app Yfrog to be its default image provider. It's the second partnership deal for Yfrog in a month, having inked a deal with URL shortener Bitly a few weeks ago. That's probably disconcerting news for Yfrog rival Twitpic, once the unequivocal big player in Twitter image uploads.

OCZ's PCIe SSD Z-Drive finally starts shipping

2009-09-17T02:47:00.000-07:00

Call it coincidence if you will, but on the same day that Super Talent announced that its 2TB RAIDDrive would begin shipping next month, OCZ has finally confessed that its Z-Drive is shipping... right now! Originally shown in prototype form back at CeBIT, this PCIe card is equipped with four SSDs linked in a RAID 0 configuration. We'd originally assumed that just a few capacities of the same device would be available, but we're learning today that two iterations will be produced: the Z-Drive p84 will be MLC-based and tout a 750MBps maximum read rate / 650MBps maximum write rate, while the SLC-based Z-Drive e84 cranks that to 800MBps and 750MBps (respectively). Also of note, both models will be available in 256GB and 512GB sizes, though the 1TB flagship will be p84 only. We've checked Amazon again and it's still showing "1 to 3 months" before release, but hopefully there's a memo waiting in some admin's inbox to remedy that.

LG's WIDEBOOK laptop series for 16:9 party people

2009-09-17T02:44:00.000-07:00

In the never ending quest to capitalize on the book metaphor, we bring you the WIDEBOOK from LG. It's wide see, 16:9 wide for what LG call's a cinematic experience. Oh, just you never mind that cinematic typically refers to 21:9 -- this is marketing-speak, not science. Anywho, the five new models are LED backlit with Intel Core 2 Duo procs and include the 15.6-inch R580/R560, 14-inch R480/R460, and affordable 13-inch R380 that boasts a "Smart On" feature for five-second boots. The R580 (with Blu-ray) and R480 are premium models while the R560 and R460 lay claim to the "workhorse" moniker. The laptops come in either 1600x900 or 1368x768 pixel resolutions with up to 4GB of DDR2 memory and 500GB disk, 802.11n and HSDPA data, e-SATA and HDMI interfaces, 1.3 megapixel cams, and 1GB of NVIDIA GeForce graphics. Expect to see 'em make the jump to the global stage throughout September. Until then we've got pics, lots of pics, and the full specs from the press release below.

Show full PR text

INQ brings social networking phone to Singapore

2009-09-17T02:41:00.000-07:00

SingTel will be first to get the INQ Mini 3G

Hutchison Whampoa’s handset development studio has broken into Asia under a deal with SingTel that will see the Singaporean carrier launch INQ’s latest handset.

SingTel will be the first carrier in the world to launch the INQ Mini 3G, which hits stores on September 19, following the same social media focus as its predecessors – the INQ1 and the Chat 3G, known colloquially as the ‘Facebook Phone’and the ‘Twitter Phone’ because of the social networking capabilities around which they were designed.

The Mini 3G features the company’s carousel-style menu interface, giving one click access to popular social networking applications such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as SingTel’s own music service and instant messaging tools.

In keeping with the trend for unified message streams, the Mini 3G also merges contacts on the mobile phone and Facebook as well as messages in the inbox to include Facebook messages, pokes and requests, as well as emails and SMS.

Commenting on the launch of the original INQ handset, Hutchison’s 3 UK, the first operator to roll out the INQ1, said that its strategy of close integration of applications and an easy to use interface means that consumers using an entry level handset, often on a prepay tariff, are keen to access data services at levels typically reserved for much more expensive smartphones. And for the operator this means higher margins and ARPU because it is paired with lower subsidy and network load costs.

Make your own ringtones online

2009-09-16T19:24:00.000-07:00

Audiko is like many of the services in this roundup. You can upload an MP3 file, pick your favorite 30-second span, and have the site create a ringtone for you. Once it's ready, you can have it sent to your phone. The site supports messages to phones on most major carriers. You can also opt to download the MP3 file to your computer. The whole process is free.

But the most compelling feature Audiko boasts is the ability to take a clip from a YouTube video. The site allows you to input the video's link. It then downloads it, analyzes the audio, and lets you choose which part of it you want to be your ringtone. It was a great feature. And like the other uploads on the site, it took no time to create the desired clip.

Audiko helps you find the portion of a song you want.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

Mobile17: Mobile17's design is great. The amount of content you can access is outstanding. But unfortunately, it takes too long to get the ringtone.

When you first get to Mobile17, you have the option of downloading popular songs that users have recently turned into ringtones. To do so, the site links you to Amazon's MP3 Store. If you already have an MP3 that you want to turn into a ringtone, you can upload the track and pick the portion of the song you want. It's after that that Mobile17 breaks down a little.

To get your ringtone, Mobile17 requires you to register for the site. Once complete, you'll find that it takes a long time to get your ringtone sent to your phone. In fact, when I picked a clip in a song I wanted, the site told me that it would take 43 minutes to get it. That was the single issue with Mobile17, but it was a big one. At least the site is free and it works with your iPhone.

Mobile 17 will help you pick the clip you want.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

Myxer: Myxer is a fine site if you're looking to find ringtones that you can quickly send to your phone. It has a slew of ringtones worth checking out.

If you're looking to create your own ringtones, it does a pretty nice job at that, too. When you get to the site, you'll find an option to make a ringtone. Simply upload an MP3 file, choose the portion of the song you want to turn into a ringtone, and you're all set. Myxer doesn't take nearly as long as Mobile17 to send a song to your phone. Even better, most of the tracks you can download are free. The "premium" tracks--mostly new, popular songs--cost between $0.49 and $2.99 per download. If you create your own ringtone, you won't need to pay anything.

Phone calling coming to Twitter

2009-09-16T19:23:00.000-07:00

Twitter users on Thursday will, for the first time, be able to make voice calls directly to each other through the microblogging service.

A new third-party offering from Jajah known as Jajah@call is expected to go into beta Thursday morning that will allow Twitter users to initiate a two-way voice chat with other users by typing "@call @username"--where "username" is someone's Twitter ID--into any Twitter client. During the beta period, the company said, the calls will be limited to two minutes, but the company will evaluate that length during beta. However, it sees the two minute period--after which the call will end--as "the verbal equivalent of a tweet."

According to Jajah, an Internet communications provider with tens of millions of users, the service will allow a user to place a call to any other user, so long as the second person follows the first on Twitter and both have Jajah accounts. The service is free to use and is expected to work on any Twitter-enabled device, from PCs to smart phones.

One important element of the service is that users can keep their phone numbers private, yet be able to have voice chats with just about anyone on Twitter. To be sure, since the calls are initiated by one person, the recipient may well not be online, or may choose to ignore the call if they don't want to talk.

There are currently several applications that allow users to create voice-to-text Twitter posts--known as tweets--but it does not appear that anyone has yet made it possible to initiate voice communications directly between Twitter users.

Coming on the heels of the announcement earlier this week that Facebook users will now be able to communicate with each other via voice--using a third-party application from Vivox--it's clear that there is a strong interest, among service providers, at least, in taking leading social networks beyond strictly text communications. Whether large numbers of users choose to get on board is unknown at this point, of course. And given that neither the Facebook nor the Twitter voice services are being provided by the social networks themselves means that some users will choose not to get involved for fear of privacy, stability or other concerns.

Still, if these third-party services end up being successful, it would be natural to expect that Facebook and Twitter may decide they need to step up and directly embed such technologies into their offerings. And there is a precedent for such a move. After Vivox began offering Second Life users a third-party voice solution, the virtual world's publisher, Linden Lab, decided it needed to take advantage of the technology. Today, thanks to a formal partnership, Vivox's voice service is formally integrated into Second Life.

And while it may be some time before such a thing happens with either Facebook or Twitter, or any other major social network, one would have to think that it's only a matter of time.

EBay, Yahoo, Facebook among Top 10 most trusted companies - study

2009-09-16T19:12:00.000-07:00

EBay is the most trusted company in terms of privacy and Yahoo and Facebook are among the Top 10, according to a new report released on Wednesday.

Following eBay is Verizon, the U.S. Postal Service, WebMD, IBM, Procter & Gamble, Nationwide and Intuit, with Yahoo and Facebook in the ninth and tenth spots, the study from the Ponemon Institute and Truste says.

Here are the list of the most trusted companies in privacy, according to a study by the Ponemon Institute and Truste.

(Credit: Ponemon Institute/Truste)

It was Facebook's debut on the list, as well as the first time a telecommunications company and a government operation cracked the top three.

While the list ranks the most trusted companies based on consumer brand perception it doesn't necessarily translate to the list of the most trustworthy companies, Kevin Bankston, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told CNET News.

"They really ought to do one ranking for the poll and a separate one for the actual privacy evaluation," Bankston wrote on Facebook. "Blending them together makes these rankings rather useless, IMHO."

Basically, privacy practices were analyzed and ranked only for a list of 23 companies that were highly rated in a survey of more than 6,000 U.S. consumers earlier this year, according to Truste spokeswoman Carolyn Hodge. The Top 20 from that survey were analyzed and that included 23 companies because of several ties, she said.

So, the latest study most accurately reflects which companies were deemed to have the best privacy practices among a list of companies that consumers perceive as being trustworthy.

"It absolutely is based on consumers' perception of specific brands. That's what we're trying to get at," Hodge said. "The idea behind this research is to promote consumer education about privacy and to promote adoption of best practices by companies... We understand consumers are probably going to name companies they trust and there may not be a clear correlation with privacy."

Regardless, Hodge and Larry Ponemon, founder of the institute that bears his name, said the companies on the list deserved recognition.

"None of these companies is doing badly at privacy," said Hodge. "We're talking about the best companies out there."

"Clearly there can be variance between perception and reality," Ponemon said. But, he noted, Verizon recently adopted a new more consumer-friendly privacy policy, eBay does a good job on data security and Facebook has made great improvements lately on user privacy.

"I'm not a big fan, but what Facebook is is an experiment ... they've had issues and come a long way on privacy," he said.

In assessing the level of trustworthiness of the popular brands, Truste staff looked at 40 criteria, Hodges said. The criteria included things like whether a company: has a clear, readability and easy to find privacy statement; provides adequate access to account information; uses cookies and discloses that to users; shares data with other companies and affiliates; has a data retention policy; has a chief privacy officer; whether they disclose a user's e-mail during password reset; and whether they use Web beacons.

In addition, representatives from the Ponemon Institute called companies without identifying themselves and asked questions about privacy practices to see how well their customer service representatives respond to consumer inquiries about that.

Here is the list of the most trusted companies from December 2008.

Good News Voice chat coming to Facebook

2009-09-15T17:47:00.000-07:00

Look out, Facebook users: Here comes voice chat. Sometime in the next few weeks, the social network's tens of millions of users will begin to be able to have high-quality voice conversations, even as its third-party developers are able to start including voice in their applications.

Vivox plans to offer free dial-in numbers that will allow anyone to call into an existing conversation.

The new technology is not being offered by Facebook itself, however. Instead, it's from Vivox, a Boston-based company that provides the integrated voice service for virtual worlds like Second Life and EVE Online, and which already has more than 15 million users worldwide.

The service, which is currently in closed beta, will allow Facebook users to have high-fidelity conversations with anyone on their friends list. Each user, however, will have to download Vivox's plug-in. But once installed, the service works almost seamlessly with Facebook, and is intended for everything from one-to-one chat to large group discussions.

Further, even non-Facebook users will be able to participate, as Vivox plans to offer free dial-in numbers that will allow anyone to call into an existing conversation, much as is possible today with call-in phone conferences.

Perhaps more importantly, according to Vivox co-founder Monty Sharma, the company is making its technology available to any third-party Facebook application developer, meaning that almost any app, from games to utilities, can have a voice component.

For now, it's not clear how many of Facebook's users will choose to adopt Vivox's technology, and for the time being, at least, Facebook is not involved in any way in promoting the new service. But while some people may decide that they don't want to use a tool that requires a plug-in, many others may well find that it's worth the trouble in order to be able to easily start a conversation that rivals, or even betters, phone call quality.

One person who may be an early adopter is Charlene Li, a well-known social media consultant, and the co-author of the book Groundswell.

"I would (use voice service on Facebook)," Li said, "because I see it as a continuum of communications with the people I want to stay in touch with."

Another social media expert, Gnomedex organizer Chris Pirillo, was even more effusive about the potential for a full-fledged Facebook voice chart system.

"It is about time," Pirillo said. "I guarantee you this is going to bite into Skype."

For Pirillo, the Vivox system will provide a valuable incentive for Facebook users to streamline their friends lists since it's likely that they won't want to be getting voice chat invites from people they've friended but might know only peripherally.

"When these tools come about," Pirillo said, "it becomes less valuable (to have too many friends) and actually promotes a cleaner ecosystem."

Great for retailers To Li, giving third-party Facebook developers the ability to integrate voice chat into their applications may mean a big victory for retailers. She pointed out that a company like Overstock.com may find it extremely valuable to put out a Facebook app with voice built-in--without having to build the voice system themselves--because it would give people a way to quickly and easily chat with their friends about products they see.

"Retailers don't have to put in chat themselves," Li said. "They can just put in Facebook chat. That's where it starts getting very interesting."

And to Pirillo, the ability for Facebook friends to have a voice chat during, say, a game of Scrabble, is a very "smart" innovation that means users can streamline the number of different tools they're running simultaneously.

To be sure, Vivox's offering is not the first to make voice possible for Facebook users, though it may well be the most seamless.

Other options have included Equals' Party Line, which offers group chat for up to five people, and, of course, a work-around like Skype.

Vivox argues that its technology rises above anything else available today because of its scope and scalability. For one, the Vivox system has been proven on services like Second Life and EVE Online -- and is about to be built into a series of online Electronic Arts games, beginning with Command & Conquer 4 Tiberian Twilight -- and has been shown to support thousands of simultaneous users on a single channel.

Further, the company said that because it already has more than 15 million users, it doesn't anticipate any problems handling the flood of new users that could come when the Facebook system is rolled out.

But while experts like Li and Pirillo think that voice chat is a natural extension for Facebook, there are some who feel that the technology make take some time to catch on in certain segments of the Facebook ecosystem, particularly one of the most popular, social games.

There are millions of people who play social games from developers like Zynga, Playfish, and others, and together the segment makes up one of the largest on the social network. But because social gaming is largely asynchronous--meaning users don't have to be online at the same time to enjoy playing games against each other--voice chat may not present as much utility.

"For social games, I don't see a strong need for (voice chat) yet," said Siqi Chen, the CEO of Social Business, a leading Facebook social games developer. "I do see a shift for more synchronous game play over time, but it hasn't really been happening for most games."

In part, Chen said, that's because among friends who like to play games together, it's fairly uncommon to be online at the same time. In addition, social games are built around short play sessions.

But he allowed that over time, as people spend more and more time on Facebook, there may well be an opportunity for social game developers to launch more engaging games that are built around longer session times, and which might work well with voice chat.

At Vivox, no one is expecting that tens of millions of users will immediately start using its voice chat technology. But the company is aware that it will likely see a significant spike in usage, and is ready to handle it when it comes, said co-founder Sharma.

And Sharma suggested that while it may be too early to know exactly how the company will monetize its Facebook integration, there are some obvious opportunities in microtransactions and audio ads that users would hear before being put into a voice channel.

For now, it's also too early to tell just how much of a game-changer any new voice chat system will be. But based on Vivox's track record, it is certainly one of the few companies well-positioned to jump headlong into a community as large as that of Facebook.

And to Pirillo, adding a seamless voice chat system is a natural, and just one step on the path toward where we may well be going in the near future: fully functional video chatting across the entire social network.

Tech Beat Intel Begins Vetting Execs For CEO Role

2009-09-15T17:42:00.000-07:00

Chipmaker Intel is looking for a few good CEO candidates. The company on Sept. 14 announced a management shakeup that kicks off a three-way race to succeed current CEO Paul Otellini.

Though the 58-year-old executive doesn’t face mandatory retirement for at least seven years, Intel begins grooming replacements well in advance. The board in the past also has shifted the retirement age for its chief executive. The company in a statement said the reorganization will give Otellini more time to focus on corporate strategy, moving him away from day-to-day governance of the world’s largest chipmaker.

The move also will streamline the executive reporting structure and begin grooming the next generation of executives for bigger roles. On a structural level, the Santa Clara (Calif.) company will consolidate chip design and marketing operations into a new unit called Intel Architecture Group. The remaining Technology and Manufacturing Group will be headed by former chief financial officer Andy Bryant.

Executive Vice President Sean Maloney will head up business and operations of the core Architecture group. Dadi Perlmutter, another executive vice president, will head up product development. Six executives will report to them.

The shakeup coincides with the surprise departure of Pat Gelsinger, who co-headed the company’s lucrative enterprise computing group. Gelsinger, also a former chief technology officer, had been considered in the running to replace Otellini. But he was named Sept. 14 by EMC Corp. as president and chief operating officer of EMC information infrastructure products.

Company insiders have said Maloney is the leading candidate to replace Otellini. He previously headed sales and marketing, but has held a number of operational roles typical of someone being groomed for the top job.

Bryant has said previously in interviews with BusinessWeek that he wasn’t interested in the CEO’s job, but he, too, has wide operational experience.

Still, there may be an opening for Perlmutter and others. Otellini has been both president and CEO since becoming Intel’s fifth chief executive in 2005. Intel watchers will look to the time when he relinquishes the president’s title to another executive. Such a move often leads to the departure of other potential CEO candidates and sets the person who get the job up for eventual succession.

There’s also a chance that Intel’s board will for the first time hire outside the company to replace Otellini. The chipmaker has been attempting to leverage its pc roots into new markets such as handhelds, devices with relatively cheap chips embedded in them and other consumer electronics. They increasingly are becoming more pc-like, but the going has been slow for Intel. It faces stiff competition from many entrenched players, including Qualcomm, Texas Instruments and Broadcom.

Intel also announced the departure of general counsel Bruce Sewell. And Tom Kilroy, a senior vice president, will take over sales and marketing from Maloney.

Send Free Text Messages Via E-Mail

2009-09-14T21:40:00.000-07:00

The person receiving the message still has to pay for these—but you won't have to, and that's what counts, right? Simply enter the person's phone number, along with the appropriate carrier-specific e-mail address from those listed below, into any e-mail client. The result will appear on the person's phone as an SMS text message. Note: All phone numbers are 10 digits with no dashes (example: 2125551212).

Alltel: [Phone Number]@message.alltel.com
AT&T: [Phone Number]@txt.att.net
Nextel: [Phone Number]@messaging.nextel.com
Sprint: [Phone Number]@messaging.sprintpcs.com
T-Mobile: [Phone Number]@tmomail.net
Verizon: [Phone Number]@vtext.com
Virgin Mobile: [Phone Number]@vmobl.com

Flickr adds new photo-sharing idea: Galleries

2009-09-14T21:18:00.000-07:00

Flickr galleries let members 'curate' a presentation of up to 18 photos and videos.

(Credit: Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)

Flickr has added a new feature called galleries to showcase photos--and this time not just your own shots.

Galleries, announced on Monday, lets Flickr members assemble collections of up to 18 photos. The photos are shown on the page along with the gallery curator's comments.

Flickr has a reason for the 18-image limit: it wants to emphasize quality, not quantity.

"While it might seem like an arbitrary number, we want to give our members an opportunity to engage in activity that is similar to what a curator of a gallery or museum might undertake," the company said on its gallery FAQ site. "Even a sprawling retrospective of a genre or specific artist wouldn't include every single piece of work available. A curator takes the time to choose a selection of artwork that together becomes something in itself."

Unfortunately, Galleries does not lift one limit I see for Flickr. It's good for sharing photos with others, but not so good for assembling multiple members' photos from group events--say, a family's photos from a vacation or attendees' photos of a wedding.

That use seems well-aligned with Flickr's vision. As a half-measure, Flickr users can create unusual tags to link photos from multiple people, but that's kind of nerdy, doesn't offer a lot of control over presentation, and is open to problems with other people using the same tag.

Of course, a member might have concerns about having his or her photos included in somebody else's gallery. But Flickr provides a mechanism to remove a photo from a specific gallery and a preference setting to keep a user's photos out of galleries in general.

Overall, the idea of Galleries reinforces some of the social and exploratory aspects of Flickr that help it rise above just a place to stick your photos online. I just hope that the average folks out there can figure out the distinction between Flickr's sets, collections, galleries, and photo streams. Heaven forbid they add albums to the mix.

Microsoft reiterates case against Word injunction

2009-09-14T21:09:00.000-07:00

Microsoft on Monday reiterated its case in an appeal of an injunction ordering it to stop selling Word in its current form and argued against fines totaling $240 million for patent infringement and willful infringement.

The software giant is trying to get the federal appeals court to reverse a ruling in favor of Toronto-based I4i. That company sued Microsoft in March 2007 alleging that the software giant violated its 1998 patent (No. 5,787,449) by including in the program XML code, which eliminates the need for manually embedded formatting codes.

In May, a federal jury in Tyler, Texas, ruled that the custom XML tagging features of Word 2003 and Word 2007 infringed on I4i's patent. Last month, a federal judge in Texas issued a permanent injunction barring Microsoft from selling Word with the code.

Microsoft appealed and in early September, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C., granted Microsoft's motion for a stay of the injunction.

Last week, I4i defended the case, the trial outcome and damages, saying they accurately reflected its patent ownership and Microsoft's infringement.

In its counter reply, Microsoft again argued that the lower court rulings used erroneous claim construction and definitions and applied the wrong legal standard to the case.

In addition, the damages verdict of $200 million is not a reasonable royalty amount and can not be sustained, and there is no basis for the $40 million award for willful infringement, the filing said.

A hearing is set for September 23 in the case.

Get your questions answered with these resources

2009-09-13T22:52:00.000-07:00

Get your Q&A on

Ask Me Help Desk Ask Me Help Desk has an extremely active community that seems constantly willing to answer your questions.

When you get to Ask Me Help Desk, you'll need to first click on the category that best matches your query. So if you want to ask a question about business or technology, you'll have to click on either option. From there, you can ask any question that might be related to a particular topic on the site.

Since the site's community is so active, it's likely that you'll find a question that someone has already posed that's either exactly the same as yours or quite close. If you still want to ask your question, you can, but I found in my queries that finding the right answer was made easy by quickly searching the site.

I asked several questions to see how the site performed on different topics. I asked how many dog breeds there were (about 400, according to the top answer), looked to see if anyone knew what HTTP stood for (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), and more. In almost every case, except for a medical question for which I'm still awaiting an answer, the question was already asked, and the answer was available on the site.

Ask Me Help Desk is a great service that will let you access answers for free. I just wish registration wasn't required to ask a question.

Ask Me Help Desk will answer just about any question you have.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

Askville Amazon's Askville is another take on the many question-and-answer sites on the Web. But unlike most of the other services, which allow you only to ask a question, Askville, which is free to use, will let you input details about your question to get a more desired response.

I found that when I used the detail option in my queries, I received the best response. I was able to ask the community a better question. For example, instead of asking how many dog breeds there were, I used the detail option to also ask Askville users how many terrier breeds are currently recognized by the American Kennel Club. It worked: there are 27 terrier breeds recognized by the AKC.

Askville's biggest issue is its design. It doesn't have a simple, easily navigable menu system like many of its competitors. Unfortunately, the site's front page is dominated by an enormous logo, a huge search box, and random questions that most people probably won't care about. A sleeker navigation pane would have been preferable. Besides that, I like Askville. The answers I got were generally informative. And thanks to such a large community, many of the questions you might ask are already on the site.

Askville features a little too much empty space.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

Blurtit Blurtit is a free, well-designed question-and-answer site that unfortunately doesn't have the number of users it takes to make it a top contender in this roundup.

Blurtit is a free service, so you can immediately start asking and answering questions as soon as you get to the site. But after using it a while, you'll find that many of the questions you ask won't be answered.

For example, I asked it the dog breed number question. Blurtit offered a selection of questions that matched my query. When I clicked on them, no one responded. That's not to say that there aren't answers to questions (one query, for example--"what are the most dangerous animals on Earth?"--featured four answers, each containing a nice list of the animals you need to watch out for.), but considering that so many of my "simple" queries didn't have answers, it did take away from an otherwise nice service that, with more users, could be a real contender in this space.

Blurtit needs more answers to questions.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

Mahalo Answers Mahalo Answers takes the standard question-and-answer formula and changes it up a bit by rewarding those folks who provide the best answers.

Although you can ask questions for free, you can also offer a "tip" to those who give the best answer to your question. When you do so, you'll need to upload some cash to Mahalo to exchange for Mahalo Dollars. The provider of the best answer receives 75 cents on the dollar; the remaining 25 cents of each Mahalo Dollar stays with Mahalo.

That reward system helps deliver some of the best answers of any service in this roundup. For example, I spent some considerable time sifting through the extremely informative answers found in the site's Business category. Everything from learning how to start a laundromat to investing in financial-services firms was included. And thanks to an active community, you should find that the site's users provide quick answers to your questions.

See CNET's full review here.

Mahalo Answers uses cash to get better answers.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

KGB If you're on the go, and you're trying to find an answer to a pressing question, KGB might be a decent option.

By text-messaging a question to the company's 542542 (kgbkgb) number, you'll receive a response within 24 hours. According to KGB, those responses are sent by experts that research your topic to find you the best answer. Questions can range from where to find good food in your area to more pressing topics, like who your senators are. I sent a few queries to KGB, but so far, I've yet to hear back. KGB, which charges 99 cents per answer, is available only in the United States and Canada.

KGB's site features some of the most recent questions asked through the service, so you can find answers to topics you might care about without being charged for asking your question. It's a nice feature. I found topics ranging from a love-quote request (Aristotle's "Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.") to who won the 1961 World Series (The New York Yankees). Check it out.

KGB shows you what its users care about at any moment.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

WikiAnswers WikiAnswers is one of my favorite Q&A services on the Web. It features great content, interesting answers, and an active community.

When you input a question into the query box at the top of the WikiAnswers page, you'll be brought to those questions that other users have asked and have been answered. By doing so, I found information on different breeds of dogs, the most popular cars of the 1960s, and more, without waiting for a response.

If your query is unique, you'll be able to post your question in one of the many categories on WikiAnswers. I finally found a unique question--what size swimming pool should I buy?--that so far hasn't been answered. It should also be noted that you don't even need to sign up for the site to answer questions.

Questions and answers can be shared around the Web, giving the site a slightly more social feel than some of the other services in this roundup. Answers can also be improved, if other users find that they aren't descriptive enough. It's a nice option, since some sites feature answers that aren't quite as useful as they could be.

WikiAnswers has an extremely active community.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

Yahoo Answers Yahoo Answers is one of the most reliable services in this roundup. It's also one of the most informative sites included here.

When you first get to Yahoo Answers, which you can access for free, you have the option of browsing all the questions that have been answered, seeing some of the best answers, or asking a question yourself.

The sheer number of questions on Yahoo Answers is incredible. Everything from stopping a particular dog breed from pulling on a leash to getting help with a math problem is there for the taking. And for the most part, the answers the community gives are spot-on. Thanks to a voting feature, determining the best answers given is quite easy.

In what might be a testament to the value of Yahoo Answers, I had a very difficult time finding a unique question that hadn't already been answered by the site's users. It became so bad that I tried asking questions about ancient history (what was the capital of the Roman Empire in 150 A.D.?).

Much to my surprise, the site had an answer. So suffice it to say that if you want an answer to your question, and you don't want to wait, Yahoo Answers is the place to be. But if you're lucky enough to ask a unique question, time stamps on the answers indicate that you won't have to wait too long--many of the answers I saw were added within a couple hours of a query hitting the site.

There are several unique questions on Yahoo Answers.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

My top 3

1. Yahoo Answers: With so many users and so much content, Yahoo Answers proves its worth time and time again.

2. Mahalo Answers: By rewarding people for offering the best answers, Mahalo Answers delivers a compelling service.

3. WikiAnswers: It might not be as useful as Yahoo Answers, but WikiAnswers delivers an experience that is tough to beat.

USB Gladiators: PTCL EVO and Wordcall EV-DO go to war

2009-09-13T22:24:00.000-07:00

: Khooni Muqabla

A few months ago I wrote a review about PTCL’s then brand-spanking-new EV-DO service. And if memory serves, I was pretty high on it. Since then, I’ve been travelling internationally much of the time and haven’t had an opportunity to use it much or to followup on the numerous comments and alternate perspectives that were presented in the original review’s discussion section. A lot of folks felt that it wasn’t working as well and many opined that Wordcall might be the better option.
So with the spirit of sacrifice firmly entrenched in my heart, I ventured out to perform yet another noble public service that TechLahore has become world renowned for… I purchased a Worldcall EV-DO USB device. Now I could put the two competing dongles in a glass jar, seal said jar with an impregnable carboard-and-rubberband lid and watch as both dongles played out their enmity by beating each other black and blue. Hehehe. Which dongle would survive?
I was incredibly disappointed when – even after my best efforts and much verbal prodding – both dongles just lay lifeless in the glass jar. A kid whose candy had been snatched from him, was I. The smile that anticipation of impending violence had put on my face was wiped clean in moments. It was quite clear. These damn dongles had no fight in them at all… pathetic little sissy boys. Thus, I was forced to take alternate measures.
Alternate measures, of course, were the handy Speedtest.net service, something I’ve used in the past to measure PTCL EV-DO performance. With both dongles now out of the glass jar, I was well positioned to test the sworn enemies side by side and finally form an informed opinion about which provides better service. First to enter the ring was new contender and wannabe pretty boy, Worldcall… weighing in at just over a 1Mbps download.

Worldcall EVDO performance, measured between Lahore and NYC on Speedtest

And now, weighing in at 1.54 Mbps, the reigning champion, the mean machine… PTCL EV-DO!

Stand up... for the champion!

So there you have it folks, PTCL bloodied Worldcall’s nose, twisted its arm and only got jabbed unconvincingly in response. A one sided affair if I ever saw one. EVO comes in at 1.52Mbps vs. 1.1Mbps for Wordcall; PTCL is 38% faster on the downlink. PTCL is able to upload at .47Mbps while Wordcall maxes out at 0.34Mbps, here again PTCL is 38% faster. Only in the latency dept. does Worldcall show slightly better performance, at 308ms vs. 345ms for PTCL.
The point to note here is that this is the best I’ve seen Wordcall perform so far. I did these tests in the am when probably not too many people use it. Generally, through the day, Wordcall suffers a 50% performance degradation and seldom goes beyond .45Mbps for downloads. PTCL stays above 1Mbps in all cases I’ve measured so far.
As I concluded my tests the Wordcall dongle which had now turned black and blue, but was thus-far lying in the typicaly unassuming fashion that USB dongles lie, suddenly shook, vibrated, did a little jig and winced… I could hear it saying, “The battle may be over, but the war is far from won… muahaha..*cough*..hahahah!”
We’ll just have to see about that, Wordcall, we’ll just have to see about that.

Super Ghanta – Is Ufone Being Fair?

2009-09-13T22:21:00.002-07:00

We had earlier discussed the Ghanta race and its TV commercial being very sarcastic. With Super Ghanta Ufone became the only carrier to extend promotions to PTCL landlines and Vfone numbers.
Like they say it: It’s all about U. Being a subsidiary of PTCL, Ufone is the only operator that can offer such a promotion. Other operators have taken this offer as unfair and not being part of a healthy competition. The issue is also being taken up with the authority (PTA).
Now, Ufone has extended the time window of Super Ghanta Package to whole day for the month of Ramadan which otherwise was from 4am to 5pm which enabling its customers to call from Ufone to all Ufone, PTCL and Vfone numbers nationwide for Rs. 3.5/hour.

Informing about this latest Ramadan offer by Ufone, Mr. Ali Ikram, Head of Pricing & Strategy Ufone, said “This Ramadan, we are pleased to provide a special treat to our valued users by facilitating longer duration communication between friends and family members not only at night but throughout the day without the mental burden of calculating minutes and rates.”
The strategy already used in the Super Ghanta offer, as discussed is unfair and with this extension to 24 hrs makes it even more unhealthy and unfair in terms of competition. Also, if we talk about pricing Ufone says its about reducing the mental burden of calculating minutes and rates at the same time they have started to charge 10 Paisas+tax on balance inquires and here by increasing the burden on consumers of calculating minutes and rates.
The reason given at Ufone website for this extra charge is to cater the high service quality needs of consumers. Is it again fair to charge consumers for the quality of network?

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Telenor Contributes To Declaration on Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2009

2009-09-13T22:21:00.001-07:00

We previously covered Telenor Khuddar initiative. As a follow up to that, there was recently a declaration calling for the ratification of United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), which was endorsed at the National Leadership Conference for Persons with Disabilities. Held at the National Institute for Special Education (NISE) from 12-14 Aug 2009, the conference was organized by Special Talent Exchange Program (STEP) in partnership with Telenor Pakistan’s flagship corporate initiative “Khuddar Pakistan.”
The conference (see pictures below) attracted attended by 50 Disabled Persons Organizations, International organizations, key leaders from the disability rights movement, state officials, disability advisors, volunteers as well as Telenor Pakistan management.

Telenor shared information through a press release:

Managing Director Pakistan Bait ul Maal, Zamurd Khan, Ex Director General Special Education Khalid Naeem, Country Director Sightsavers International Mr. Niazullah Khan, President STEP Atif Sheikh and Syed Hasnat Masood, Director Corporate Communications & Responsibility, Telenor Pakistan, termed the declaration a historic document because of the consensus behind it. The International panelists included Director of Japenese Society of Rehabilitation of Disabled persons, Masako Kuhira, Director International Foundation For Electoral Systems, Susan Palmer, Diasability advisor, Handicapped International, Virginia Robson and motivational speaker, Dr. Todd Shea.
Commenting on Telenor Pakistan’s support for the conference leading up to the declaration, Hasnat said: “Telenor Khuddar Pakistan is an initiative that promotes awareness, integration, and inclusion of persons with disabilities in the corporate sector as well as in the overall society. We are blessed with partners who are committed to consolidate grass-roots initiatives such as this declaration, which would hopefully help the rights movement of persons with disabilities in Pakistan. Only through a dignified acceptance of the rights of persons with disabilities, can we progress.”
The document titled “Islamabad Declaration on Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2009” was devised after panel discussions that spanned three full days and enjoyed active participation from the attending audience. The declaration urged the government to consider all Persons with Disabilities as full and responsible citizens of the country and to ensure that they enjoy the same rights, privileges, and opportunities as other citizens.
The declaration called upon the government to take necessary measures to ensure access to justice for persons with disabilities and reflect their issues in judicial policy, governance reforms and administrative structures. The declaration devised that this constituency of citizens of Pakistan also needs representation by persons with disabilities in the political arena. It was petitioned that a mechanism be developed for implementation of the 1981 ordinance on disabled persons and the 2002 policy on Disability and National Action Plan 2008, in addition to the cabinet decision of 8th June 2009 and Directives of President of Pakistan issued on 1st July 2009.
Civil society organizations were prompted in the declaration to include programs for persons with disabilities in their development agendas. It was suggested that they should work with electronic and print media to highlight and communicate issues of disability and generate awareness.
The corporate sector was asked to ensure employment according to the stipulations of the 1981 Ordinance of Disabled persons. It also endorsed accessible inclusion in employment environments and provision of assistive technologies. Most importantly, the declaration pressed upon persons with disabilities to educate and apprise themselves of existing laws and regulations relation to persons with disabilities.

Python Appuifw Module examples

2009-09-13T22:19:00.000-07:00

Appuifw Module examples

MultiQuery Input Example

import appuifw

data1,data2 = appuifw.multi_query(u"Type your name:",u"Type your number:")

print data1

print data2

Selectionlist Example

import appuifw

# define the list of items (items must written in unicode! -> put a u in front)

L = [u'Table', u'Chair', u'computer', u'Mobile', u'pen', u'screen', u'camera', u'Homekeys']

# create the selection list

index = appuifw.selection_list(choices=L , search_field=1)

if index == 0:

 print "Table was selected"

else:

 print "Better Luck next time"

Multiselection Example

import appuifw

L = [u'Table', u'Chair', u'computer', u'Mobile', u'pen', u'screen', u'camera', u'Homekeys']

index = appuifw.multi_selection_list(L , style='checkbox', search_field=1)

Lnew = index

print Lnew

Screen Examples

import appuifw

import e32

def exit_key_handler():

 app_lock.signal()

round = appuifw.Text()

round.set(u'hello')

# put the application screen size to full screen

appuifw.app.screen='full' #(a full screen)

# other options:

#appuifw.app.screen='normal' #(a normal screen with title pane and softkeys)

#appuifw.app.screen='large' #(only softkeys visible)

app_lock = e32.Ao_lock()

appuifw.app.body = round

appuifw.app.exit_key_handler = exit_key_handler

app_lock.wait()

Create Menu Example

import appuifw

import e32

def exit_key_handler():

 app_lock.signal()

def item1():

 print ""

 round.set(u'1st item was selected')

def subitem1():

 print ""

 round.set(u'Now first subitem was selected')

def subitem2():

 round.set(u'Second subitem was selected')

app_lock = e32.Ao_lock()

round = appuifw.Text()

round.set(u'press options')

appuifw.app.screen='large'

appuifw.app.body = round

###### create the application menu including submenus###

appuifw.app.menu = [(u"item 1", item1),

 (u"Submenu 1", ((u"sub item 1", subitem1),

 (u"sub item 2", subitem2)))]

appuifw.app.exit_key_handler = exit_key_handler

app_lock.wait()

Create Listbox Example

import appuifw

import e32

def exit_key_handler():

 app_lock.signal()

# define a callback function

def shout():

 index = lb.current()

 print index

 print entries[index]

# create your content list of your listbox including the icons to be used for each entry

entries = [u"Signal",u"Battery"]

lb = appuifw.Listbox(entries,shout)

# create an Active Object

app_lock = e32.Ao_lock()

# create an instance of appuifw.Listbox(), include the content list "entries" and the callback function "shout"

# and set the instance of Listbox now as the application body

appuifw.app.body = lb

appuifw.app.exit_key_handler = exit_key_handler

app_lock.wait()

Form Example

import appuifw

import e32

# create an Active Object

app_lock = e32.Ao_lock()

def forming():

 # create a list to be used in 'combo' selection mode

 model = [u'6680', u'6670', u'7610', u'N95', u'N73']

 # define the field list (consists of tuples: (label, type ,value)); label is a unicode string

 # type is one of the following strings: 'text', 'number', 'date', 'time',or 'combo'

 data = [(u'Mobile','text', u'Nokia'),(u'Model','combo', (model,0)),(u'Amount','number', 5),(u'Date','date'),(u'Time','time')]

 # set the view/edit mode of the form

 flags = appuifw.FFormEditModeOnly

 # creates the form

 f = appuifw.Form(data, flags)

 # make the form visible on the UI

 f.execute()

def exit_key_handler():

 app_lock.signal()

# set the title of the script

appuifw.app.title = u'Form'

# call the function that creates the form

forming()

appuifw.app.exit_key_handler = exit_key_handler

app_lock.wait()

Create Tabs

# This script creates tabs that let you switch between different applications

# lb app, lb app and draw app

import appuifw

import e32

from graphics import *

# define application 1: listobx app

# create your icons for the lb content

icon1 = appuifw.Icon(u"z:\\system\\data\\avkon.mbm", 28, 29)

icon2 = appuifw.Icon(u"z:\\system\\data\\avkon.mbm", 40, 41)

icon3 = appuifw.Icon(u"z:\\system\\data\\avkon.mbm", 30, 31)

icon4 = appuifw.Icon(u"z:\\system\\data\\avkon.mbm", 32, 33)

icon5 = appuifw.Icon(u"z:\\system\\data\\avkon.mbm", 34, 35)

icon6 = appuifw.Icon(u"z:\\system\\data\\avkon.mbm", 36, 37)

icon7 = appuifw.Icon(u"z:\\system\\data\\avkon.mbm", 38, 39)

# create your content list of your lb including the icons to be used for each entry

entries = [(u"Signal", icon1),

(u"Battery", icon2),

(u"Sirene", icon3),

(u"Waste", icon4),

(u"Helicopter", icon5),

(u"Train", icon6),

(u"Auto", icon7)]

# create the lb callback handler

def handler():

print "done"

# create an instance of appuifw.Lb(), include the content list "entries" and the callback function "handler"

app1 = appuifw.Lb(entries,handler)

# define application 2: lb app

# define the list of items as pop-up menu content

L2 = [u"Stefan", u"Holger", u"Emil", u"Ludger"]

# create the lb callback handler

def handler_L2():

print "ola"

# create the pop-up menu

app2 = appuifw.Lb(L2, handler_L2)

# define application 3: draw application

def app_3():

global draw

img=Image.new((176,208))

img.line((20,20,20,120),0xff00ee)

img.rectangle((40,60,50,80),0xff0000)

img.point((50.,150.),0xff0000,width=40)

img.ellipse((100,150,150,180),0x0000ff)
img.text((100,80), u'hello')

# define your redraw function (still belonging to app 3)
def handle_redraw(rect):

#global draw
draw.blit(img)

# define the draw, include the redraw callback function
draw =appuifw.Draw(event_callback=None, redraw_callback=handle_redraw)

appuifw.app.body = draw

def exit_key_handler():

app_lock.signal()

# create a tab handler that switches the application based on what tab is selected

def handle_tab(index):

global lb

if index == 0:

appuifw.app.body = app1 # switch to application 1

if index == 1:

appuifw.app.body = app2 # switch to application 2

if index == 2:

app_3() # switch to application 3

# create an Active Object

app_lock = e32.Ao_lock()

# create the tabs with its names in unicode as a list, include the tab handler

appuifw.app.set_tabs([u"One", u"Two", u"Three"],handle_tab)

# set the title of the script

appuifw.app.title = u'Tabs advanced'

# set app.body to app1 (for start of script)

appuifw.app.body = app1

appuifw.app.exit_key_handler = exit_key_handler

app_lock.wait()

Write the data of appuifw.Text() into a file

import e32, appuifw

def __exit__( ):
APP_LOCK.signal( )

def doSave( ):
try:
f = open( 'c:\\yourFile.txt', 'wb' )
yourText = appuifw.app.body.get( )
f.write( yourText.encode("utf-8") )
f.close
appuifw.note( u'Saved :)', 'conf' )

except IOError, e:
appuifw.note( u'Wrong file path!', 'error' )

except UnicodeError, e:
appuifw.note( unicode( e ), 'error' )


if __name__ == "__main__":
APP_LOCK = e32.Ao_lock( )
appuifw.app.title = u'Text to file'
appuifw.app.exit_key_handler = __exit__
appuifw.app.body = appuifw.Text()
appuifw.app.menu = [( u'Save', doSave ),
( u'Exit', __exit__ )]
APP_LOCK.wait( )

Forget about thin clients and terminals!

2009-09-13T22:18:00.000-07:00

ASTER is a program (and only a program!), which enables several users to work with one computer as independently as if each of them had their own PC.

ASTER is a software solution and does not use thin clients and terminal stations.

Software dealers and representatives are very welcome to cooperate with us

We would like to cooperate with permanent partners in various countries of the world. Kindly contact us if you feel interested in our innovative product!

Due to availability of several software editions designed for a different number of additional workstations, ASTER is being successfully applied not only for equipping computer classes, libraries, accounting departments (approved for application by the 1Ñ company), offices, and Internet-cafes, but also for home use!

Examples of the software-based solutions

The program ensures stable operation with a standard set of office, accounting, and training software, graphic applications, and even net games.

To set up each workstations, one connects another monitor (a TV set), another keyboard and an extra mouse to the available computer. After installation and start-up, ASTER will present a separate desktop on each monitor and users will be able to work with the computer as independently as if each of them had their own PC.

Easy way to record Linux desktop movie as gif animation

2009-09-13T22:17:00.000-07:00

The Byzanz application lets you record your desktop, a window, or a selected area of the screen as a movie. The resulting file is an animated .gif, so is viewable in almost any web browser ever made. You could attach it to a forum posting if you’re asking for help, for example. The only downside is that the resulting movie file can be large, depending on the area you’ve selected and the length of the movie. Full desktop recordings can easily run in at double-digit megabytes, in fact.

In Ubuntu Hardy, the package can be installed using Synaptic—search for byzanz. Or type the following command in terminal to install Byzanz.

sudo aptitude install byzanz

Once installed, right-click a blank spot on the top panel and select Add to panel. Then select Desktop Recorder from the list. Note that Byzanz won’t work correctly if desktop visual effects are enabled—to disable them, click System —> Preferences —> Appearance, and then click the Visual Effects tab. Then click the None radio button. When you’ve finished recording using Byzanz, repeat, and click the Normal or Extra.

Once the application’s icon appears on the panel, click the small down arrow to select to record the desktop, an area of it, or a particular window. When selecting to record an area of the desktop, the screen will turn black and you should click and drag to de?ne where you want to record (the screen turning black is an unfortunate bug, and you’ll have to try and remember where on the desktop it is you want to record). If you select to record a program window, the mouse will turn to a crosshairs—just click on the window you want to record.

Following this, recording will start. The Byzanz icon will turn to a red circle to indicate this. When you’ve finished, click the red circle to stop recording. You’ll then be prompted to save the movie file.

Bear in mind that resulting movie .gif won’t play in Ubuntu and Linux mint's default image viewer (Eye of GNOME), which will open when you double-click the image. You’ll see nothing but the first frame. Instead, you must play them in Firefox to see the full animation. To do this, right-click the ?le, and select Open With —> Open with “Firefox Web Browser”.

Source ubuntugeek.com

Open Source Photo Processing Comes of Age

2009-09-13T22:16:00.002-07:00

People who enjoy digital photography as a creative outlet are very familiar with software products from companies like Adobe, Corel, ACD Systems, Bibble Labs, Light Crafts, and even Google. Most of them are also likely familiar with what until recently was the premier open source photo editor, the Gimp. Unfortunately, the Gimp has lacked a very important feature for a lot of photographers, 16 bit per channel editing. Because of that, most serious photographers do not consider the Gimp a viable alternative. True, there is also Cinepaint, which forked off of the Gimp a few years ago, and it does offer 16 bit per channel editing. Unfortunately, its interface leaves a lot to be desired and does not seem to be heavily maintained.
Happily, there is now another open source alternative with 16 bit mode editing capabilities which appears to be getting ready to give the big guys a run for their money – digiKam. I have personally only recently discovered digiKam. Well, I had tried it before, but only since I tried its KDE4 edition did I think it was ready for my use. I was actually quite surprised to see how much it has improved and how many features have been included with it. Some of its features are:

16 bit per channel support.
Curves and levels tools.
Color management support.
White balance tool with color picker.
Lens correction tools.
Aspect Ratio Crop tool with several standard formats available.
Proper black & white conversion tool.
Batch processing.
Tagging and searching features.
Export to Facebook, Flickr, Picasa, etc.

And there are many, many more that I just don’t have time to even mention. Of course, digiKam is not perfect. And there are a couple of items that I expect to be improved or corrected soon. But, I assure you that if you are into photography, you are going to be hearing a lot more about digiKam in the future and, hopefully, you will be enjoying its use too.
Now, allow me to take you trough a quick tour of what it is like to work in digiKam. I am currently using digiKam version 1.0.0-beta4 as found in PCLinuxOS KDE4 repositories.

RAW Editing

For this tour I decided to use this photo because of its somewhat challenging lighting.

This is a RAW image taken with my old Pentax istDS*. This is how it looks in digiKam’s editor, which by the way exists as a standalone application as well called showFoto.

If you are familiar with histograms, you may have noticed that the histogram on this picture seems rather odd. The reason for that is that digiKam can show two different types of histograms, linear and logarithmic. The one displayed here is the logarithmic histogram, but most people are only accustomed to the linear type. One can switch between histogram types by clicking their respective little buttons above the histogram. Unfortunately, when clicking on the linear histogram button for this image all I get is a flat line. This is what digiKam’s documentation says regarding this:

“for images that contain substantial areas of constant color a linear histogram will often be dominated by a single bar. In this case a logarithmic histogram will often be more useful.”

I am sure there are technical reasons for this, but I do wonder why other programs, like Cinepaint, are able to show a linear histogram for this image just fine. I mention this because I know that some people do rely on the histogram a lot and I do think that the linear type is more useful. But I agree that having the logarithmic histogram is better than nothing. So, since this is not really a show stopper lets move on.
I am by far not a post processing expert. My normal work-flow when editing an image is to edit the levels, adjust the saturation, crop or resize, and then sharpen the image. So, lets try to do that with this image.

Levels

First lets use the levels tool found under Color > Levels Adjust.

I basically just added a bit of contrast by moving the left lever (below the second histogram) to the right and lighten the image by moving the right lever to the left. The preview window adjusts automatically as I make my adjustments so that I know what the result will be.

Saturation

Now, lets increase the saturation to try to bring out the color a little. For that we use the saturation tool found under Color > Hue/Saturation/Lightness.

I don’t like the “Disney” look that some point and shoot cameras default to with supper saturated colors. I like to keep my images somewhat realistic looking. So I don’t like to bump the saturation too much. I feel that, for this picture, that amount of saturation is just enough to give it a bit of life without going too far into cartoon land.

Cropping

Now I am going to crop the image. This is really an important step if you are planing on printing the image. If you have ever taken your DSLR images to be printed without cropping them first, you may have been unpleasantly surprised by the fact that they were not centered correctly, or that an important part of the image was left out. The reason for this is that the image you gave them did not have the same proportions as the paper you asked them to print it on. And so they had to crop it for you. To prevent that from happening you need to crop your images to the same proportions of the paper you will be printing on. Yes, that means that you will need a different image if you want to print 8×10 than if you want 5×7, 14×20, etc. Fortunately, digiKam makes this step a breeze with its aspect ratio crop tool found under Transform > Aspect Ratio Crop.

As you can see I chose to use the “Golden Ratio” option for this image, but digiKam has predefined settings for all the common printing paper ratios in the market and even allows you to choose a custom ratio if you desire.

Sharpening

The final step in my photo processing work-flow is to sharpen the image. I am used to using the “Unsharp mask” method for this purpose, but in reading digiKam’s documentation I was surprised to learn that they actually recommend the “Refocus” method as a way to obtain better results. This is how the Sharpen tool looks like, found under Enhance > Sharpen.

As you can see you can change the sharpening method used with a drop down button. You can zoom in to the image as much as you want using the Zoom button, and you can move the zoom window around in the small preview image above the settings area. I was conservative in the amount of Circular sharpness specified because I could see in the preview area that going for more would result in a lot of grain being visible. This amount improved the sharpness significantly while still retaining the smooth look of the overall image. This is my final result.

As you can see, there is quite a bit of improvement over what we started with.

Auto-Correction

Normally I would have been content with leaving it at that. But since I am still in the exploring digiKam mode, I decided to test some of the Auto-Correction tools available. To do that, I went back to the original RAW image, and after importing it, I went straight into Color > Auto-Correction. This is what it looks like.

As you can see, there are five automatic correction levels that you can choose from to improve your image. In most images that I have tried this with, the Auto Levels option gives the best results. However, in this particular image the result was too dark. I had not seen any image for which the Equalize option resulted in an improvement, but for this particular image the results it gave me were surprisingly good. This is what the digiKam documentation says about the Equalize method of Auto-Correction:

Equalize: this method adjusts the brightness of colors across the selected image so that the histogram for the Value channel is as flat as possible, that is, so that each possible brightness value appears at about the same number of pixels as each other value. Sometimes Equalize works wonderfully at enhancing the contrasts of an image. Other times it gives garbage. It is a very powerful operation, which can either work miracles on a image or destroy it.

Well, looks like they were not kidding. My image turned out much better using this method of correction instead of my normal level adjustment step. This is how the image looks after adding saturation, cropping it, and sharpening it.

Conclusion

Without a doubt digiKam has a lot to offer for the photographers among us. Unfortunately, it still has one glaring omission – a clone tool. You may have noticed that the original RAW image had some dust specks in the sky above the trees and in other parts of the clouds. In digiKam, the only tool available for trying to remove such things (other than cropping them out as I did here) is a tool called In-painting, found under Enhance > In-painting. However, that tool is not easy to use and is rather slow. With a proper clone tool, as available in most other photo editors, removing such items only takes a few seconds. The good news is that the digiKam developers have acknowledged this omission as a bug and we can expect to see it implemented in a future version of digiKam. In the mean time we can use the Gimp to take care of these items as a final touch up step.

Standard & Poor’s Raises Rating on Pakistan’s Mobilink

2009-09-13T22:16:00.001-07:00

Why did S&P raise ratings for Mobilink, despite the tough economic conditions in Pakistan? Two reasons: reduction in capital expenses and savings resulting from suspension of management fees to Orascom. From Cellular-News.

Mobilink continues to remain exposed to the weak macroeconomic environment, external liquidity position and security situation in Pakistan. However, they expect the recent improvement in macroeconomic environment to result in better operating performance. Also, in the near term, S&P expects Mobilink to face less funding challenges as it is expected to register positive free operating cash flows through significant reduction in capital expenditure and suspension of management fees to Orascom Telecom. Pakistan’s cellular market continues to face intense competition, resulting in lower subscriber numbers and market share for Mobilink. Nevertheless, Mobilink has maintained its No. 1 market share both in terms of subscribers and revenue in Pakistan’s wireless market.
S&P believes parent Orascom Telecom would continue to provide support to Mobilink, if required, considering: (1) the cross-default clause at the parent company in the event of a covenant breach of material subsidiaries, including Mobilink; and (2) Mobilink is the second-largest operation of Orascom Telecom by most financial measures and accounted for 20.6% of the consolidated EBITDA for 2008.
This follows Standard & Poor’s decision to raise the long-term sovereign credit ratings on Pakistan (B-/Stable/C).

Nokia 5530 XpressMusic: Will The New Interface Win Over Youngsters?

2009-09-13T22:15:00.001-07:00

Realizing that the future belongs to touch screens, Nokia is coming up with models which combine touch screens with entertainment. The newly introduced 5530 XpressMusic reflects this approach. Xpress 5530 is a compact music device that uses a touch interface for accessing people and content on the homescreen. However it is still an S60 based phone. As you read below, you will see that Nokia has tried really hard to make this handset appealing to youngsters. Users like to hop on to the Wireless LAN or WiFi to use the services available at no cost. We at TelecomPk.net think that Nokia needs to find ways to make data access easier for its target users.
The ‘scrolling’ Contacts Bar provides direct access to 20 people and their latest conversations and media updates. The Homescreen also features one touch shortcuts to content and popular social networks, like Facebook and MySpace. The Nokia 5530 XpressMusic follows in the footsteps of the top-rated Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, expanding the touch XpressMusic phone range with a youthful device that has a solid stainless steel frame finish and comes in five vivid colors.

Nokia touch phones started off with the extremely popular device 5800 Xpress Music and now with NOKIA’s 5530 XpressMusic we have brought the touch technology to lower price point. We believe that Touch phones are the future for youth and XpressMusic being the most popular brand is a natural fit. With the new Nokia 5530 consumers can enjoy their media on 2.9 inch widescreen which brings to life sharp picture quality at a touch. Sporting a sleek design, Nokia 5530 XpressMusic is available in vibrant colors.
Afzal Shahabuddin
Head of Marketing, Nokia Pakistan

At the core of the Nokia 5530 XpressMusic is the music and entertainment experience. It is an ideal device for those who wish to quickly and easily access, share and mix a huge selection of media. In true XpressMusic form, the Nokia 5530 XpressMusic is a great music player with 27 hours of playback time, excellent audio quality and a 4 GB memory card for storing music and other media. Videos, either self made or from social media sites such as YouTube and Facebook can be enjoyed on the brilliantly clear 2.9 inch widescreen display. New music can be purchased through the Nokia Music Store, either directly on the phone or through a PC. The music collection is easily managed and can be synchronized with the PC using the Nokia Music for PC application. Calls and music can be conveniently managed and listened to with the Nokia Stereo Headset WH-205 with tangle-free cable.

The phone features a ‘people carousel’ feature which shows thumbnail images of up to 20 close friends and provides easy access to them and their communications history including emails, phone calls, photos or other social media updates. The Nokia 5530 XpressMusic also features the pop-up Media Bar so music, photos, videos, Internet and on-line sharing applications such as Ovi Share, Flickr and VOX are just a touch away.

Nokia N86 8MP software version 11.043 released

2009-09-13T22:14:00.001-07:00

This software release lets you download content for your device with Nokia Ovi Store, which replaces Download! This release also includes improved landscape orientation functionality in Nokia Maps and improved imaging in video mode. Other improvements include Browser, Share Online, Camera, and Settings Wizard enhancements. You may be able to automatically receive the latest application and firmware update suggestions directly to your Nokia N86 8MP. Go to Applications > Software Update. This software release is available for updating with a PC and the Nokia Software Updater: www.nokia.com/softwareupdates.

Nokia N97 software version 12.0.024/12.1.024/12.2.024 released

2009-09-13T22:13:00.001-07:00

This software release includes improvements in updating software using your device. Other improvements include an adjustment to the size of the browser cache, to save space. This release also includes an updated Nokia Ovi Store application. Also, Mail for Exchange has updates available from the device's software updates application, and other widgets have updates available through Ovi Store. To get this software through your device, select Applications > SW Updates and choose the software you want to update. Note that some versions may require you to install an Over-The-Air enabling patch called "Install Before Phone Software" first. Alternatively, this software release is available through the Nokia Software Updater.

Sony Ericsson Has Shifted To Windows Mobile

2009-09-13T22:12:00.000-07:00

Despite Nokia World grabbing the lion's share of the wireless industry news this week, Sony Ericsson stole some of the spotlight with its Xperia X2, a new Windows Mobile 6.5 smartphone that focuses on 24/7 multimedia communications. A Windows device marks a shift in strategy for Sony Ericsson.
The X2 lets users synchronize their mail and calendar and open and edit Microsoft Office Mobile documents. It also offers a SlideView feature that gives users a quick overview of missed calls, e-mails and text messages so they don't miss an important contact. The Xperia X2 has QWERTY messaging.
"In the fast-moving world we live in, the need to stay connected has never been so important," said Sumit Malhotra, marketing business manager at Sony Ericsson. "We constantly rely on our mobile phones as an extension to the office, and the Xperia X2, debuting with Windows Mobile 6.5, allows users to work quickly and efficiently while on the move."
Partnering with Microsoft
The communications-centric Xperia X2 hosts Skype, Mytopia, Google, games, CNN, Windows Live, and lots of other application panels to help users stay up to date on their interests. The phone's touch interface has been improved and a new 3D signature panel makes way for categorization of business, fun and communications functions.
"Windows phones allow people to manage their whole world -- from work to home to play -- on a single handset," said Stephanie Ferguson, general manager of product management for Microsoft. "The Xperia X2 taps the powerful messaging and multimedia capabilities in Windows Mobile so customers can be in touch, productive and entertained wherever they are."
Although the X2 focuses on communications, there are plenty of entertainment features, including an 8.1-megapixel camera with instant upload to Facebook. The phone also offers the ability to play music, shoot videos, or play games.

What is a Proxy?

2009-09-13T22:11:00.000-07:00

There are times when several internet sites at work or at school refuse to open and you find it hard to access a website. A Proxy is an unblocking service provider that can help you access a designated website of your choice. With the numerous filters these days many sites are blocked hence the need for a place where people can be helped to access the blocked sites.

None of the filters present have been able to block the proxy services provided by this company. Proxy releases new proxies frequently, meaning that by trusting on the services rendered you can access blocked sites. By signing up to the proxy services this will be the last place to worry about blocked sites.

What is VoIP Codec?

2009-09-13T22:10:00.002-07:00

A codec refers to an algorithm that is used to decode and encode voice conversation in VOIP. The sound and voice that human beings hear is in analogue form and has to be converted to digital to make it possible to transmit it over the internet. The sound or voice has to be converted back to analogue once it reaches the receiving end so that it can be heard.

There are various ways that the decoding and encoding can be done but the majority of them use compression. This method ensures that the bandwidths are reduced. If the compression is heavy, there is usually a delay in the conversation because it takes time. It is possible to find a VoIP codec that will take a minimum amount of time.

How To Setup Proxy Server

2009-09-13T22:10:00.001-07:00

A proxy server receives requests that are intended for another one when the server and client are incompatible making direct connection impossible. This may happen if the client is not able to meet the requirements needed for security authentication.
To setup a proxy server, you have to have a web browser that will support the automatic configuration of the proxy using a script. An email account on Sparta, cs, Owlnet, IS, math, stat, ECE, CAAM, or MEM will be necessary to set up the proxy server.

If you are using windows, Mozilla, Opera, Internet Explorer and Netscape 6.x are compatible and if you are using Macintosh, Safari, Mozilla, Netscape 6.x and other MacOs browsers are compatible. For Unix Netscape 4.51 and Mozilla are compatible.

Update – Talkshawk Discount Offer

2009-09-13T22:09:00.001-07:00

After being pointed out on their advert for the latest Talkshawk Discount Offer, Telenor has come up with an updated ad. Now showing the subscription charges at the end.

Ubuntu Related Links

2009-09-13T22:08:00.001-07:00

Ubuntu is a community developed, Linux-based operating system that is perfect for laptops, desktops and servers. Whether you use it at home, at school or at work Ubuntu contains all the applications you need - a web browser, presentation, document and spreadsheet software, instant messaging and much more.

Ubuntu is and always will be free of charge. You do not pay any licensing fees. You can download, use and share Ubuntu with your friends, family, school or business for absolutely nothing.

Ubuntu is designed with security in mind. You get free security updates for at least 18 months on the desktop and server. With the Long Term Support (LTS) version you get three years support on the desktop, and five years on the server and there is no extra fee for the LTS version.

I recently helped a friend switch to Ubuntu and he wanted a list of Ubuntu-related links. I compiled the following list for him and thought it might be useful to others.

Ubuntu-related links:
Community Support
GetDeb - Ubuntu Linux
Paid Support
Planet Ubuntu
Psychocats Resources
Report A Problem
ShipIt
The Fridge
Ubuntu
Ubuntu Archives
Ubuntu brainstorm
Ubuntu Documentation
Ubuntu Download
Ubuntu Forums
Ubuntu Hardware Support
Ubuntu News
Ubuntu Spotlight
Ubuntu Training
Ubuntu Tutorials
Ubuntu Wiki
Using APT
What Is Ubuntu?

Extra links useful in Ubuntu:
Gnome Themes
Nautilus Scripts

I'd be happy to make a similar post for other distros if someone would kindly email me a similar list of links.

Opera 10 - A first look at this fabulous web browser

2009-09-13T22:06:00.000-07:00

Opera 10 has been released. This release of Opera sports a number of alluring, new features, many of them not seen in any of its contenders. The enhancements to look out for in Opera 10 are as follows.

Opera Turbo

Opera Turbo when enabled will boost your browsing speed by a significant factor. This increase in speed is more pronounced when you are browsing on a slow Internet connection like a dial-up. Opera achieves this by acting as a web proxy to your client. The servers at Opera will retrieve your web page, compress it and then send it to your browser thus reducing the size of data and consequently boosting speed. Among other means, the compression is achieved by image down-sampling therefore some level of distortion in graphics may occur.

Opera 10 is much faster

Opera 10 is upto 40% faster than its predecessor. Check out the web specifications supported in Opera presto 2.2 - the web engine powering Opera. Though this benchmark puts it a little (6 percent) behind Google Chrome 2.0.172.

Improved speed dial settings

Now you can configure speed dial to show upto 25 of your frequently visited websites. And you can provide a custom background too.

Visual Tabs

Innovative visual tabs display web pages in thumbnails. To see the visual tabs in Opera 10, just stretch the tab border south and the tabs will be magically transformed into ones with visual appeal.

Web mail integration

Opera now allows you to choose your preferred web mail such as Gmail, Yahoo or any of the scores of web mail services as your default mail client in Opera. This means that when you click on a email link, Opera opens your preferred web mail instead of the default email software on your machine. This is true for all your RSS feeds as well. If you use Google reader to subscribe to websites, then you can configure Opera to import all your RSS feeds into Google reader by default.

Rich text support for Opera mail client

Opera 10 has support for rich text editing in mail client. You can use bullets, change the font properties of characters as well as insert images inline.

These are the major, albeit a subset of new features in Opera 10.

Opera is available for multiple platforms including Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, FreeBSD and Solaris; As well as some lesser known operating systems such as QNX, OS/2 and BeOS. And it comes in more than 43 different languages. Opera has always strived for full standards compliance. Not surprisingly, Opera 10 boasts of a 100/100 score in the Acid 3 test.

It is remarkable really that Opera, a company which has just one product - namely a web browser - has been so successful in making money. It's annual revenue stands at a significant $79.5 million dollars. [Source : Business Week].

How to install Opera 10 in Ubuntu

If you are using Debian or one of its derivatives like Ubuntu, then there is a repository for Opera from which you can download Opera 10 using apt-get or dpkg. Visit deb.opera.com for details. Of course, you can also download Opera 10 for your Linux distribution directly from its website.

Opera 10 for Linux is built using Qt3. But a Qt4 port is also available for download at the following location.

Opera 10 Reviewer's guide

Finally, here is a very well made video showcasing all the important features built in Opera 10.

Popout

Telenor has come up with their kind of version of the popular Ghanta Offers

2009-09-13T22:05:00.000-07:00

Telenor has come up with their kind of version of the popular Ghanta Offers. The latest from them is the Talkshawk Discount Offer, but this again with a catch in their advert (officially received). Like we had pointed out earlier at their 7 Hour 7 Rs Campaign, telenor has been tricking the consumers in their ads.

In the 7 Hour 7 Rs offer ad headline was misleading, in that they only showed the subscription rental charges (RS 7) whereas the call charges of 20 Paisas per 30 Second was missing.

Now check out this ad for the Talkshawk Discount Offer.

In this one they show the call charges of 10 Paisas per 30 Second but miss on the subscription rental charges of Rs. 7 per day.

The details of the offer can be found on their website here. I guess its time now the authority plays its role in these misleading advert campaigns.

Simple File Locator 1.2

2009-09-13T22:04:00.000-07:00

Simple File Locator (sFL) is a simple tool to search files in the current folder by file name without an index. It may be very useful to search for a file if you have a lot of files in certain folders and you know the file name. This program is free and may become Open Source later.

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PTCL Conference Call Service

2009-09-13T22:03:00.000-07:00

This recent ad of PTCL Conference Call service reminded me of the fact that even though mobile telephony is very common, some other services such as conference call services have been slow to take off. What took it so long? was it the lack of demand by business?

Play game online Bubble Trouble

2009-09-13T21:56:00.000-07:00

Movie Player 1.0

2009-09-13T21:55:00.001-07:00

Movie player is an extremely easy to use software which can play almost any audio/video file in almost any format including vob, rmvb, mp4, 3gp, wmv, mov, xvid, divx, avi, mpg, flv, mkv. Mp3, aac, flac, wma, m4a, ac3, wav etc. It acts as your DVD decoder too. This player associates itself with all these formats so all you need to do is double click on the file which you need to be played. You can also create, edit, open and save playlists. There are various other options available like changing video ratio to fit it on screen, synchronizing audio/video, synchronising subtitles, frame steps etc.

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Mobilink CEO – Nominated For WCA CEO Of The Year

2009-09-13T21:54:00.000-07:00

This year the CEO of the year category in World Communication Awards (WCA) has a nomination from Pakistan – Mr. Rashid Khan, President and CEO of Mobilink Pakistan.

Rashid Khan took over as CEO of Mobilink Pakistan in October 2008. He previously served as chief executive of Bangladeshi mobile operator Banglalink, also an Orascom company.
“In this moment of recession he has shown his skills to manage the sinking ship Mobilink and put it to road of success,” said one of Khan’s supporters.
“Excellent vision and knowledge of the industry with a vast experience in telecom industry,” added another.
The awards would be held on 25th November 2009. You can cast your vote and see the other nominations here.
The WCA are held every year to recognize the companies and individuals responsible for the innovations, achievements and great new services that are helping to build tomorrows industry.

New Windows Mobile 6.5 Phones Coming in October

2009-09-13T21:53:00.000-07:00

The first phones with the Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system will be released Oct. 6. Microsoft said the new devices will feature improved interfaces, better browsing, and access to such services as Windows Marketplace for Mobile and Microsoft My Phone.
The worldwide rollout will include new hardware as well as existing models. In North America, new Windows Mobile phones will be released by wireless operators AT&T, Sprint and Verizon Wireless, and from manufacturers HP, HTC, LG Electronics, Samsung and Toshiba.
Marketplace, My Phone
Microsoft said the new Internet Explorer Mobile browser has been redesigned and carries a new engine as well as built-in support for Adobe Flash Lite. The redesign will make it easier to do such things as check in for a flight, pay bills, or find directions, according to the software giant.
Two new mobile services will be launched. Windows Marketplace for Mobile will provide a centralized location for finding and downloading "approved and certified" applications. Although Microsoft has said it has more than 20,000 applications for Windows Mobile devices, many users may not have noticed, because the apps have been scattered across a variety of outlets. This follows the trend of mobile platforms to create their own App Store, following the highly successful model of Apple's iPhone.
And the free My Phone service lets users back up their phone-based content to the Web automatically, so photos, music, contacts or text messages can be managed either from a phone or a PC. If a phone is lost, the idea is that a user's PC can be used to manage reloading the lost files onto a new phone.
Users of Windows Mobile phones can also customize their interface with designer themes, widgets or their own photo.

Gain more battery life from your Linux-based laptop with powertop

2009-09-13T21:52:00.000-07:00

If your laptop is running Linux you might not be happy with the battery life you are getting. There are numerous reasons for the possible extra drain on your battery. Some of the biggest issues are: Hard drive spin-downs, interrupts, and power management. Figuring out how to make these adjustments to your kernel (or subsystems) to gain a bit of extra battery life would take more time googling than you would probably prefer. Fortunately there is a single application available to take care of this for you. Powertop is one of those tools every user of Linux on a laptop should have installed – especially if your laptop depends primarily on its battery for life.
Powertop was created by Lesswatts.org with the sole purpose of helping users find those programs and/or systems that are using too much power. The end result? More battery life for you to enjoy. Power top is easy to install and use. Powertop is a curses-based application so it is run inside of a terminal very much like the Top application. Don’t expect a fancy GUI here, it’s text-based but still user-friendly. In this article you will find out how to install Powertop and use it to get the most out of your battery.
Installing Powertop
So long as you are using a modern release, you should find Powertop in your distributions’ repositories. And since Powertop is a terminal-based application, I will illustrate how to install via command line.
The steps are simple:

Open up a terminal window.
Issue the command sudo install powertop.
Click ‘y’ to okay the installation.

That’s it. Powertop is now ready for you to use.
Using Powertop

Figure 1

With your terminal still open issue the command sudo powertop to start the application. You can not run Powertop as the standard user because Powertop has to collect and modify information that the standard user has no access to. Fortunately sudo will do the trick.
What you see will differ, depending upon your distribution, installation, configuration, etc.
As you can see ,in Figure 1, Powertop has a few suggestions to aid my laptop. The biggest issue is wakeups and Powertop is giving me the top causes for wakeups.
As you can also see, Powertop offers suggestions to solve the various problems. Not only does Powertop make suggestions, it will offer to take care of the suggestion for you. In the instance above you can see Powertop is suggesting I disable the hal system from polling my CD drive. You can do this with the command:
hal-disable-polling –device /dev/cdrom
or you can just hit the ‘K’ key and Powertop will take care of this for you.
Once you take care of this suggestion (whether you let Powertop take care of it or you do it manually) Powertop will then suggest another way for you get more power from your laptop and will offer to take care of the issue for you. You can continue on like this until Powertop has resolved every issue it can find.
Final thoughts
Powertop is an effective means of helping your laptop gain more battery life without having to recompile a kernel, manually edit a configuration file, or issue any commands (outside of starting the application). After following the suggestions of Powertop you should experience a noticeable difference in your battery life.

Active@ Partition Manager 1.3+

2009-09-13T21:51:00.002-07:00

Active@ Partition Manager is an application that helps you manage storage devices and the logical drives or partitions that they contain. You may create, delete, format and name partitions on your computer without shutting down the system. In addition, most of the configuration modification you perform will be applied immediately. Features include: Format a logical drive or partition (FAT16, FAT32, NTFS); Create FAT32 partitions greater than 32GB in size (up to 1Tb); Format a Flash memory as NTFS. Assign or change partition attributes; Mark partition as active. Create several partitions on a USB flash memory device; View the properties of a partition, logical drive or hard drive device.

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What is Processor Speed?

2009-09-13T21:51:00.001-07:00

The processing speed of a computer’s CPU is a vital factor of consideration when acquiring one. The speed is measured in number of cycles per second and the measuring unit is called hertz. The higher the speed the more desirable the CPU is as it takes shorter time to execute commands. When selecting a computer CPU it’s important to first consider its use as heavier uses need faster speed.

The processor speed of a computer can be determined in a matter of seconds. The internet provides a testing application through ‘Test My CPU Speed’ which instantly gives accurate ratings. The speed can also be determined at boot where specifications of the computer are given or by physically looking at the listings on the slot processor.

High-End Double-Screen Laptop Targets Engineers, Creative Types

2009-09-13T21:50:00.000-07:00

An Alaska technology company hopes to hit the market with the world's first laptop boasting two identical 15.4-inch displays by the end of this year. At nearly 12-pounds and equipped with two 15.4-inch screens and a full-sized keyboard, gScreen's planned $3,000 Spacebook series definitely doesn't track the "smaller is better" ethos prevailing in the notebook space these days. However, it could have a place in the high-margin world of desktop replacement notebooks, especially for engineers, graphic designers and others who require the additional display space.

Unsolicited, Fraudulent and Obnoxious Communications Regulation Introduced In Pakistan

2009-09-13T21:49:00.002-07:00

After a long deliberation, PTA has announced promulgation of new regulation, “Protection from Spam, Unsolicited, Fraudulent and Obnoxious Communication Regulations, 2009”, to protect the consumer interests as mandated under the Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-organization) Act 1996. This regulation also include a “Do Not Call” registry. Mobile companies have been asked to inform their customers abou this.

The objective of these regulations is to protect telecom consumers from spam, fraudulent, unsolicited and obnoxious communications including calls and SMS. It remains to be seen if this regulation will benefit consumers or will it become one of those laws which remain on paper. Click below to read details in Urdu.

Pakistan To Launch New Communication Satellite In 2011

2009-09-13T21:49:00.001-07:00

PAKSAT International (Pvt), announced at 9th ITCN ASIA event, held in Karachi between August 11 to 13, 2009, that Pakistan’s new and powerful communication satellite PAKSAT-1R is scheduled to be launched in 2011.

PAKSAT-1R will replace the existing satellite PAKSAT-1 at 38 degree East, which will remain operational till the end of 2011 ensuring service continuity to current PAKSAT customers till PAKSAT-1R becomes operational. The new high power PAKSAT-1R satellite is specially designed for Pakistan and the region with strong C and Ku band footprint and coverage over South Asia, Middle East, Africa and Europe. This satellite will be ideally suited for broadcast, direct to home (DTH), telecom, data and internet services in the region.

This satellite will be ideally suited for broadcast, direct to home (DTH), data and internet services in the region.

It is not clear if the SLV will originate from Pakistan.

Pakistan's Indigenously developed Babar Cruise Missile.

2009-09-13T21:47:00.000-07:00

Pakistan's Indigenously developed Babar Cruise Missile. This is now being integrated with Pakistan's Naval Ships.

This really got my goat! A friend just pointed out that the NYT has published a highly accusatory article about Pakistan’s latest ship launched cruise missile tests. The basic thrust of the story is that Pakistan has developed a new missile which was recently tested, but not officially announced. US officials ”leaked” the news to the New York Times (gotta love those leaks!!), stating that what was tested was most likely an “unauthorized” modification of a Harpoon missile. These are the very same Harpoons President Reagan had delivered to his comrade, that staunchest of staunch allies, President Zia of Pakistan in the early 1980s.

Of course, in typical NYT style when it comes to articles about Pakistan, the accusation is not justified with even a shred of evidence beyond the “leak”. But why do they need proof, I ask? I mean it’s not like those brown skinned idiotic Pakistanis are capable of inventing anything? Right? I mean it’s not like they’ve developed nuclear weapons, IRBMs, fighter aircraft, UAVs, tanks of other sophisticated military gear?!

So, though I want very much to tell the NYT where they can stuff their nonsense, instead, let me attempt to reason through this. In order for the story to make sense, the basic premise of modifying Harpoons has to at least be justified with a legitimate goal or need the Pakistani military has. For why else would they perform the modification? So, let’s first look at what the Harpoon is. It’s a sea and air launched anti-ship missile with a maximum range of between 100-300km depending on the platform it is launched from. The payload it carries is non-nuclear – it is simply designed to take out a ship. Payload capability is around 450lbs, which is really not sufficient to carry a nuclear weapon. If you wanted to increase range, it would likely come at the cost of the payload anyway, thus further reducing the 450lbs down to 250 or 300lbs.

The allegation, then, is that a) the Harpoon missile has been modified to take out land targets and b) that the P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft has been modified to carry out land attack missions. I am sure the discerning amongst my readership familiar with military issues will be rolling on the floor, consumed by laughter by now. But for those still able to sit straight and read, let me continue with my disection of this insidious and ridiculous allegation.

Now, as the idiots at the NYT should know, Pakistan has already developed its own cruise missiles, Raa’d and Babar. These are air launched and ground launched respectively. These have been shown on TV multiple times being launched from Mirage jets, fired from mobile launchers etc. The external design and form of both these missiles is completely different to the Harpoon. Their payload capacity is larger than the Harpoon’s, their guidance system is more modern and accurate, their range is greater and so on and so forth. In sum, there is absolutely no connection between these missiles and the Harpoon. They are in fact, better across multiple points of comparison, and of course, are also nuclear capable, unlike the Harpoons.

The Raa’d has been mated with Mach 2 capable Mirages and is now being integrated with Pakistan’s new fighter, the JF-17. The missile can be launched from a stand-off distance of almost 500km and employs more sophisticated guidance than the Harpoon. Why would Pakistan want to attack land targets with a slow, bulky aircraft like the P-3, firing shorter range Harpoon missiles, when it’s air force already has almost 175 Mirage aircraft with Raa’d cruise missiles and recently added in-flight refuelling capability? It makes no bloody sense
Popout
The Pakistani Raa’d Air Launched Cruise Missile being tested from a Mach 2 Mirage jet

So, where is the rationale? What would Pakistan gain from this? Why would we – with a limited inventory of 165 Harpoons – modify a weapon system completely unsuited to land attack in line with NYT’s toxic insinuations? The Air Weapons Complex, NDC and other weapons labs in Pakistan have bigger fish to fry.

It is, in fact, quite amusing, that buried deep inside the article, a researcher from Janes Defence Weekly, a premier defence publication, is quoted as saying:

“They’re beyond the need to reverse-engineer old U.S. kit,” Mr. Hewson said in a telephone interview. “They’re more sophisticated than that.”

The Air Weapons Complex at Kamra has added in-flight refuelling capability to the Mirage fleet. The refuelling probe is visible to the left of the cockpit.

Exactly. When the M1A1 failed field trials in Bahawalpur, we built our own Al-Khalid tank. When the F-16s were embargoed, we developed the JF-17. When we were sanctioned on account of the nuclear program, we completed not only weaponization but also delivery capabilities. And now when the Predator is being denied for anti-terror operations, you will see Pakistani scientists and engineers develop and deploy a UCAV rapidly.

It would perhaps be a more productive use of their time if the NYT and the unnamed “US officials” who were the source of this “leak” would learn a thing or two about missiles – and even more importantly, about good old fashioned common sense. It would serve them better the next time they want to start spewing such bunkum. I will assume that this story resulted from a lack of education rather than a desire to sabotage Pakistan and create difficulties for it. Since we are close allies, that would just be ridiculous… wouldn’t it?

Four More Cool Word Processors

2009-09-13T21:46:00.002-07:00

If you've seen one online word processor--or even a handful of them--you haven't seen them all, not by a longshot. In addition to Google Docs, Zoho Writer, and emerging competitors such as EtherPad, other online offerings you might want to try include AjaxWrite, Writeboard, picoWrite and MonkeyTeX, to name a few.

As we've talked about in previous articles, online word processors can provide certain advantages as alternatives to Microsoft Word over non-Web-enabled counterparts like OpenOffice.org and Sun's StarOffice.

To sum up quite quickly, because online word processors are browser-based, they can often operate easily on just about any PC running just about any operating system (OS), including Linux. Generally but with some exceptions, documents can be stored either online or on your own machine, and they can be shared collaboratively regardless of which OS your friends and colleagues are using.

AjaxWrite drew a lot of fanfare on its initial rollout way back in 2006. The other offerings we'll explore in today's article are newer, and lean very strongly in collaborative directions. Writeboard is one of the easiest-to-use collaborative writing and editing environments you're likely to find anywhere.

The now emerging picoWrite, on the other hand, emphasizes rich functionality, through features ranging from multicolumn text layouts to serverless doc sharing. For its part, MonkeyTeX is tightly focused on simplifying (and even teaching about) implementation of LaTeX, a document prep system tailored to pulling together scientific and academic reports.

Yet much as in the word processing software arena, the online offerings are in various stages of their respective life cycles. picoWrite is now in private alpha testing, with a public beta release not slated until the end of this year. Writeboard and MonkeyTeX are both already available, while still in the process of ongoing development.

Writeboard

Unlike EtherPad, a collaborative environment now under way by ex-Google staffers, Writeboard is entirely free of charge. Produced by 37signals--the makers of Backpack and several other crossplatform Web 2.0 applications--Writeboard is “guaranteed compatible” with the Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer (IE) 6.0 browsers. But it won't function with IE 5.0, and “may or may not work” with other browsers, according to information on the Writeboard site.

To get started on creating a document, all you need to do is assign a name to your own “writeboard,” give it a password, and type in your e-mail address for ID purposes. If you'd like to share your writeboard with others, just enter their e-mail addresses, and they'll be sent a link to the writeboard, along with the document password.

Writeboard does lack certain features you'll find in some other online word processors, such as color-coding by author. You can't import text from an external source, either, although you can cut-and-paste text from outside. But Writeboard is especially adept at versioning.

Each time you (or one of your collaborators) makes an edit, a new version gets added to the sidebar. You can conjure up a visual comparison between two different versions by first clicking on the versions you want, and then clicking on a “compare” button.

Everything that's been deleted will be grey and struckthrough, while everything newly added will show up in green.

AjaxWrite

AjaxWrite was the brainchild of Michael Robertson, a developer who had previously challenged Vonage and Skype with his work on SIPphone and Gizmo Project. Upon initial launch three years ago, AjaxWrite was widely hailed as a possible eventual replacement for MS Word. But now as then, the program is a lot leaner and less capable than the nemesis from Microsoft.

A spellchecker planned at the outset has never been implemented in AjaxWrite. The find/replace function is similarly greyed out. Moreover, AjaxWrite still works only with Firefox, despite initial intentions to expand support to other browsers.

Yet AjaxWrite does remain a handy online alternative for basic word processing tasks on either Linux, Windows, or Mac OS X.

AjaxWrite is free, and you don't even need to register to use it. You can import and export documents in popular formats, including PDF and Microsoft's .DOC. You can save your work to your computers, and you can highlight word and phrases with bolding, italics, and underlining.

You can change font colors and sizes, too, although AjaxWrite currently provides only about 17 built-in font styles.

AjaxWrite is now part of a suite which also includes AjaxSketch, AjaxTunes, and the AjaxXLS spreadsheet.

picoWrite

picoWrite is a new designate for supplying full MS Word-like functionality online. Although this Web-based offering is still in alpha, its creators envision what-you-see-is what-you-get (WYSIWYG) functionality with “pixel-true” rendering in the final product.

Advanced word processing features are also in the works, including multi-column text layout, zoom, footnotes, undo/redo, and online/offline functionality with Google Gears support.

picoWrite is one component in an online suite now under development by Tom Wies, a professor at the University of Dusseldorf in Germany who formerly worked on projects with KDE and Trolltech.

The forthcoming picoScribe suite will run on far more than just Firefox, according to Eric Hellmich, who heads up the German-based company behind picoScribe. Support is also planned for Safari, Opera, Internet Explorer, the iPhone browser, and ultimately, Google's Chrome.

picoWrite will also carry a few other twists of its own, Hellmich said in an interview. Although Web server-based collaboration will be supported, too, serverless collaboration will be furnished through P2P.

Also, through close integration with picoCalc, picoScribe's spreadsheet, you'll be able to embed spreadsheets into your word processing docs, a feature which Hellmich views as particularly useful in invoicing, for example.

An online presentation package dubbed picoShow is underway, as well. And Hellmich is looking to eventually add document management capabilities, along with an online application for managing mathematical formulas.

MonkeyTeX

Much like James Allen's ScribTex, Precipice Technologies' MonkeyTeX lets you work online with LaTeX, a macro-based document preparation language designed for consistent formatting. MonkeyTeX, however, is distinguished by the educational slant it takes to LaTeX.

On the MonkeyTeX Web site, you can upload, create, and perform crossplatform sharing of LaTeX files. You can also convert them to PDFs. If you're collaborating on LaTeX documents with colleagues and co-workers, you can view changes to documents as they're being made.

But MonkeyTeX also includes both a “LaTeX Tutorial” and “LaTeX Cheatsheet” in its online help section. Moreover, if you inadvertently break a LaTeX rule, an error message is likely to spring up, trying to explain to you just what went wrong.

MonkeyTex offers a particularly elegant and uncluttered user interface (UI), too. BibTeX is supported for bibliographical references, and an application programming interface (API) recently saw the light of day.

MonkeyTeX is free. Registration is required, but all you have to do is supply your e-mail address and create a password for gaining entrance to this collaborative Web site.

Around the Corner

In a future article, we'll consider a few other online word processors geared to across Linux and other OS, including Peepel WebWriter, FlyWord, and JDarkRoom.

7 Reasons to Use Debian

2009-09-13T21:46:00.001-07:00

1. Stable
Any application needs time to be used and tested enough time in order to make it stable. One of the greatest goals of Debian is stability. It's released when it's ready and applications included in the repositories have enough time to be tested through.

2. Debian offers stable, old stable, testing, *and* sid
Why should this be an advantage? First, because there is a stable release, which will fit both desktops and servers. Since Debian stable releases happen rarely, software can get a little old. So any can get to choose 'testing', which is tagged that way because applications are tested more but they are still usable. Sid is bleeding edge, which means applications get in usually as soon as they are released, so you get the newest software only by installing a testing weekly snapshot and upgrading. Considering the stable and old stable offer software which has been tested and stripped for critical bugs, testing usually proves to be the perfect alternative for a user who wants to use up-to-date tools and applications, which include the latest features.

3. The DFSG
Maybe this doesn't say much just when you see it, but Debian has been around since 1993 and it still is as it was. Although the social contract changed a little over the years, it still retained it's originality. It's open, it's free, it follows the GPL entirely, it respects the community needs.

4. Debian is one of the oldest distributions
Although this doesn't necessarily make you wise, take a look at Debian: it's been up for over 15 years and there are a lot of distributions out there who take and eventually expand Debian's work, take Ubuntu or DSL for example.

5. Very rich documenation
Except for the official documentation, there are hundreds of respectable websites which provide Debian tutorials and general documentation. There is usually no problem which can't be solved in Debian or at least which hasn't somewhere an answer.

6. Many distributions are based on Debian
Debian offers a solid base and a powerful system of managing software. Distributions like Ubuntu and DSL use the APT packaging system, which was invented by Debian for easier management of installed software. In turn, everything user-friendly or useful from Ubuntu will get eventually into Debian.

7. Great community
Being one of the oldest distributions out there, Debian has a strong community. Take the IRC channels, both on Freenode and OFTC, take all the Debian-dedicated forums or the mailing lists, consider that there are gurus out there who worked with Debian for years and they will usually offer support and share knowledge.

TV Time - Linux Software

2009-09-13T21:45:00.001-07:00

tvtime is a high quality television application for use with video capture cards on Linux systems. tvtime processes the input from a capture card and displays it on a computer monitor or projector.

Packages of tvtime are included in many major Linux distributions, including Debian, Fedora, Gentoo, and SuSE. You may want to check with your distribution to see if packages are available.

Source code releases

tvtime 1.0.1 (8 September 2005)
tvtime 0.99 (19 April 2005)
tvtime 0.9.15 (30 October 2004)
tvtime 0.9.12 (22 November 2003)

Waridtel's new package (4 Say 7 Special Rates Par Baat)

2009-09-13T21:44:00.000-07:00

I just got an email about Warid’s “4 say 7 Special Rates Par Baat”, which is an offer which “allows all Warid Prepaid customers to make On-net Calls at just Rs. 2.5+tax/30 Minutes from 4pm to 7pm throughout the month of Ramadan.” Just notice the 5 pieces of information packed into this sentence: Prepaid/postpaid, on-net/off-net, rate, hours of the day and the duration of the offer.

This made me think, how many packages are enough? If you have 5 companies and each one has multiple packages for pre-paid and post-paid then at any time you can have 20-30 packages, all with different rules, expiration dates and charges. The rates are usually mentioned in a time unit which makes it attractive to market the package (30 seconds, 30 minutes ….).

One can argue that an average consumer only deals with one or two companies and therefore the choices are between 5-10 packages. Even that can be confusing. No wonder why so many people complain about wrong billing and are not happy with the service. And the time needed to calculate the savings or value may not be worth it. Or may be this is a good way to keep the minds of our youth sharp and busy. It helps when the ad makes it clear though!

PTA to launch 3G in Pakistan to boost telecom further

2009-09-13T21:42:00.000-07:00

PTA has recently announced that it plans to launch 3G services in Pakistan very soon. Though no dates or time frame has been given and the word soon remains undefined. According to this news-release, launching 3G services is one of the steps it is taking to keep the upward trends in telecom growth, a sector that is already contributing 2% of the GDP and it is expected that it will grow up to 3% in the coming years.

My question is, that a country with a tele-density of 62%, mobile penetration of 94 million subscribers with a population of around 180 million, can we still expect more subscribers to sign up?

I believe we are already reaching a kind of saturation point. Please consider the following facts before answering my question:

There is a big number of subscribers who carry more than one active sims
Pakistani population between ages 15 and 64 that most probably uses phones, is less than 60%