A Dream Home for the True Blue Apple Fan

Way back in 1950, science fiction giant Ray Bradbury wrote a short story, "There Will Come Soft Rains," about a smart house that did just about everything for its resident family -- including cooking breakfast and keeping track of the bills. Unfortunately, all members of that family, along with all inhabitants of the town, were obliterated by a nuclear explosion. The house, though, kept right on going, complete with robotic mice cleaning the floor. Apocalyptic foreshadowing aside, who hasn't fantasized about a house that makes day-to-day life easier? Certainly the trendy guy on the Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) commercials looks more relaxed -- and like he's having a lot more fun -- than his frumpy, brown-suited, PC counterpart. Perhaps it's because Mac Dude's house is full of gadgets that streamline a busy urbanite's hectic schedule. Maybe he lives in a house something like this one ... Gather Round the Hearth As in many homes today, the centerpiece of Mac Dude's living room is a huge, wall-mounted, high-definition TV. The brand and technology (plasma, LCD) matter less than the size. Fifty inches is a minimum. Compared to this, the small, white Apple TV unit sitting on the shelf below barely is noticeable. Through that little box, though, stream movies, TV shows, and video podcasts to the big screen, all from iTunes. When the host and his guests don't care to watch the glowing screen, they still can listen to audio podcasts and, of course, music through the audio speakers scattered through the house and linked into the home theater system via WiFi . They control all this through the Remote app for iPhone, which also transmits over the house's wireless network. Who wants to carry two clickers around? Cranky Converts Apple TV is the best media convergence device for those who consume most of their media through the iTunes service, Adam Christianson, host of the popular podcast MacCast, told MacNewsWorld. However, some of Mac Dude's friends aren't quite on the all-Apple-all-the-time bandwagon. They love their Macs, but they also like to play by their own rules. One neighbor has manipulated her Apple TV box so she can play any non-DRM content using open source media center software Boxee. Her friends are jealous, because the open alpha phase of Boxee won't be open until Jan. 8. Another friend has a grudge against any type of pay TV. In anticipation of the February deadline for the national conversion to digital television, he got one of those federal government coupons for a converter. Then, he spent US$99 for Roku's Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) Player and linked it into his wireless network at home. For the price of less than two months of cable or satellite TV, he brags, he's set to go for movies and TV series. Another option for those who consume media from a variety of sources -- Hulu, Netflix, iTunes, etc. -- is to use a Mac mini as the hub of a home entertainment system, said Christianson. The Inner Sanctum Regardless of their television politics, though, everyone in Mac Dude's gang wants iPod-based media within an arm's reach at any time. In our hero's house, each room has some sort of speaker system, either standalone or with other functionality. It all begins with the iHome alarm clock system that wakes him; a similar model is available in many hotel rooms. The clock-radio-speaker combination continues as the top-selling iPod speaker device in the U.S., Evan Stein, vice president of marketing for SDI Technologies, makers of iHome products, told MacNewsWorld. Mac Dude usually lets the shuffle function on his iPod choose a wake-up tune for him, but he sets the radio tuner on the device to his local NPR station. Sometimes, though, he wants to listen to far-flung radio stations while folding laundry, so our Apple fan downloaded the Public Radio app for the iPod touch he usually keeps in the bedroom. Through this American Public Media program, he can listen to a live stream of any of hundreds of public radio channels whenever he's within range of WiFi. High-Fi Reycling Around the house, Mac Dude has a range of other speaker setups, from lower-end JBL sets to high-fidelity Altec Lansing units. All of them have adapters for the whole iPod family, from the classics up to the new chromatic nanos. Mac Dude has a trusty classic model that won't hold a charge, so he leaves that one seated in its speakers and uses it as a stationary music player. A couple of shuffles have met similar fates in other rooms. It's better to use them than either throw them out or try to hack a battery replacement, he figures. When lounging in the tub, Mac Dude sometimes likes to listen to audiobooks. He's had one too many experiences with valuables going for a dip in the bubbles to trust his iPod touch that close to water, though. He bought one of AquaPac's waterproof MP3 cases because it fits even his older generation iPod nano, and he doesn't like to fuss with sliding iPods in and out of their specialized casings.

Wipro buys Citi Tech for $127m

BANGALORE: Wipro, the country's third largest IT company, on Tuesday announced that it is acquiring Citi Technology Services (CTS) for $127 million (about Rs 600 crore) in an all cash deal. This is Wipro's 16th acquisition since 2002. All of these have been in the IT space, except one Unza in the consumer goods business. CTS, started in 2005, is Citi's India-based captive provider of IT services and solutions to the bank's entities in 32 countries. It has facilities in Mumbai and Chennai, with an employee strength of about 1,650. The company is expected to end this calendar year with a revenue of $80 mn, up from $53 mn in 2007. As part of the deal, Wipro will deliver IT services and solutions to Citi for a period of six years. This agreement, the companies said, will see the delivery of at least $500 mn in service revenues over the period of the contract. Wipro said the CTS acquisition will help in enhancing its remote infrastructure management capabilities and domain expertise. "The application development and maintenance services strengths will help us grow in investment and retail banking," said Girish Paranjpe, joint CEO of Wipro's IT business, at a media conference here. For Citi, the sale of CTS means an exit from all technology related services in India. In October this year, the troubled bank sold its Mumbai-based BPO business, Citigroup Global Services, to TCS for $505 million. Wipro's takeover of Citi Technology Services (CTS) comes at a time when the financial sector across the world has seen a literal meltdown. Girish Paranjpe, joint CEO of Wipro's IT business, said the markets are volatile now, but will give more visibility by mid next year. "In the last 12 to 18 months, the BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance) sector has been the worst hit and will be the first to recover. It will start to recover in 2009," he predicted. As with most other IT companies, Wipro gets the largest proportion of revenues (27%) from the BFSI sector, and this segment has been under severe pressure. Wipro said that apart from providing services to Citi, it will use CTS to look at newer opportunities. "This will add to our recent BPO deal win in Citi's institutional clients group (ICG)," said Soumitro Ghosh, senior VP for finance solutions in Wipro. Analysts say the deal has been reasonably priced and will help the company in its growth and expansion plans. "This is a good decision. Wipro has paid a reasonable amount. They have utilised their cash, which will positively affect their topline and bottomline. And in the expansion mode, this will help the company in vertical growth," said Nilesh Kotak, CEO of financial services firm Dhanvarshaindia.com. Harit Shah, IT and telecom analyst at Angel Broking, agrees the price is not too expensive as CTS is a profitable company. "Also, with the additional agreement Wipro has signed, they have an assured stream of revenue. The area of expertise of CTS -- managed services -- is a growing area and has scope for future opportunities," he said. Last year, Wipro had acquired IT infrastructure management company Infocrossing for almost $600 million, a deal that some thought was too expensive. But Shah said the CTS deal cannot be compared with the Infocrossing acquisition since they are in separate verticals and "are reasonable in their own domains both for value and growth opportunities."

As Intel ships 160GB SSD, pricing nags buyers

Intel is now shipping 160GB solid-state drives as it vies with Samsung and Toshiba to deliver high-capacity SSDs that rival hard-disk drives in capacity. Price, however, remains a big obstacle for many consumers. Intel said Monday that it will add 160GB versions of its X25-M and X18-M Serial ATA (SATA) solid-state drive. To date, Intel has limited shipments to its 80GB versions. Laptop-size 2.5-inch versions of the 160GB drive are shipping now; 1.8-inch models for ultraportable laptops will ship next month, Intel said. Larger-capacity drives from other SSD suppliers are also on the way. In November, Samsung said it had begun mass production of 256GB SSDs. And Toshiba recently said it would show a 512GB drive at the Consumer Electronics Show in January that would ship in the second quarter of 2009. Solid-state drives are generally faster at getting data than hard-disk drives (and in some cases, much faster) but pricing is a big hurdle for consumers. Toshiba indicated last week that sample quantities of its new solid-state will range in price from $220 for the 64GB drive to $1,652 for the 512GB drive. That kind of pricing--even if it's for pricey sample drives--is hard to swallow when a laptop-class 500GB hard-disk drive sells for well under $200. "Introductory" pricing for the Intel 160GB solid-state drives is $945 for less than 1,000 units, Intel said. Currently, adding an Intel 80GB solid-state drive option to an HP EliteBook 2530p ultraportable laptop adds $659 over the cost of a 5400RPM 1.8-inch 120GB hard disk drive. Adding a 128GB solid-state drive to an Apple MacBook Air ups the price by about $500.

iPhone Nano cases appear online

Has a rogue case manufacturer once again jumped the gun on an Apple iPhone announcement? XSKN has a section of its Web site that promises an "iPhone Nano" case alongside cases for the iPhone 3G and the first-generation iPhone, as noted by MacRumors. Earlier this month a Chinese Web site called iDealsChina reported that XSKN was working on a case for a purported iPhone Nano that is supposedly shorter and thicker than the iPhone 3G. It still seems a stretch that Apple would be gearing up to release such a device, given the screen size on an iPhone Nano would make typing a chore and could present problems for developers who designed applications with a different screen size in mind. These rumors are not new, however, and it has always seems evident that Apple planned to roll out a family of iPhones over time. An iPhone Nano certainly would give Macworld 2009 a bit of a boost. XSKN prematurely revealed its case designs for the iPhone 3G before that device made its debut in June, so they've at least got a track record of scooping Apple. At the moment, the link on their site for the iPhone Nano case is generating errors, and it may not be long before it disappears entirely.

Sony teases with mystery laptop

CES 2009 is fast approaching, and rumors of new laptops are everywhere. This week though, the focus is on Sony. Though enterprising news outlets have dug up hints at new products from the likes of Dell and Lenovo weeks before the big gadget exhibition, Sony is outing itself as having a new portable PC that will "change the way you think about laptops." A clock counting down the days and hours until January 9, when the new product is scheduled to appear, popped up on Sony's New Zealand site, as pointed out over the weekend by Engadget. Putting the teaser in context of the photo of the oddly-shaped Sony device that popped up on the FCC's Web site two weeks ago, it certainly seems likely that this will be a notebook unlike what others are offering. But the question is, will it be a Netbook? Sony has been conspicuously absent from the Netbook market among its Windows-wielding brethren. (Apple has held out too, but it's not price-matching with other PC makers.) Netbooks have taken off in the past 12 months, moving from a quirky offering from Asus to the form factor that's giving the PC industry a whiff of hope. All the major manufacturers are on board, and it's paying off now since the price tags are cheaper than standard notebooks. However, how it will hurt them in the long run (dragging down average prices of notebooks, cannibalizing lower-end laptop models) is still to be determined. The argument for Sony keeping out of the low-end fray is certainly there. Sony--like Apple--fancies itself a maker of luxury devices and is loath to get into price wars with the likes of Dell and HP. (Of course, it didn't want to wrestle with the lower-tier Vizio and Westinghouse in LCD TVs either, but the reality of the HDTV market forced Sony's hand.) The electronics giant has also objected to the Netbook concept several times publicly. In February, Sony's head of its Vaio group in the U.S. called the Netbook movement "a race to the bottom," though by July Sony Electronics President Stan Glasgow refused to confirm or deny plans for such a product. Most recently, though, a Sony exec in the UK told ZDNet UK that Sony is "not in for the moment" when it comes to Netbooks, clearly not ruling it out completely. Netbooks, are they are now, "are not properly designed for consumer needs," Nicolas Barendson told ZDNet. Does that mean that they have an entirely new design that will meet the needs of people looking for a Netbook-like device? Perhaps. But the key will be the price, and low-cost laptops are not Sony's cup of tea. So if they do edge into Netbook-like territory, expect them to market it like something other than a laptop, and more like another kind of portable consumer device.

Microsoft grants Windows XP a reprieve

Some PC makers now have an extra four months to sell Windows XP. The BBC reported Monday that Microsoft has extended the deadline for smaller PC builders and resellers to obtain licenses for the discontinued operating system from the previous deadline of January 31, 2009 to May 30, 2009. "Microsoft is making accommodation through a flexible inventory program that will allow distributors to place their final orders by January 31, 2009; and take delivery against those orders through May 30, 2009," a Microsoft representative said in an e-mailed statement. "This is not an extension of sales." Even after May 30, however, it's still not the end of XP. The operating system will be available on ultra-low-cost PCs until June 30, 2010, and the low-end Windows XP Starter Edition will continue to be available in emerging markets until the same date. Plus, big PC makers plan to offer PCs with Vista Ultimate and Vista Business that have been factory downgraded at customers' request until July 30 next year.

Lenovo ThinkPad X301

Earlier this year Lenovo released their ThinkPad X300, a great notebook for the business minded. Recently, the X300 has been updated to the ThinkPad X301 model. With many improvements from its already great predecessor, you can expect great things from the X301.

Performance : The base configuration is equipped with 2GB of RAM and an Intel Core 2 Due (1.4GHz) U9400 Ultra Low Voltage processor. The ThinkPad X301 achieved a PCMark Vantage score of 3157, which is 400 points higher than most ultraportables. It’s a great score, but still falls about 60 points shy of the Sony VAIO VGN-Z530N’s and almost 500 points shy of the Lenovo ThinkPad X200.

Wi-Fi and Battery Life : The 802.11a/g/n Wi-Fi moves data at an excellent speed of 20.8 MB/s at a distance of 15 feet from the access point, and 18.7 MB/s at 50 feet. These are nice improvements over the 16.7 MB/s and 16.1 MB/s averages presented by the X300, and made for a pleasant surfing experience. Although the default configuration does not include integrated mobile broadband, you can add a 3G connection from AT&T ($80) or Verizon Wireless ($150), which also features integrated GPS. The X301 will support WiMAX and Ultra-Wideband technologies when they become available. When it comes to long battery life, the X301 definitely falls short by quite a bit. Its six cell battery lasted only 3 hours and a half during tests. On the same test, Sony’s VAIO VGN-Z530N lasted 5 hours. A little more should be expected out of ultraportable laptops when it comes to battery life (at least 4 hours). The X301 didn’t fare so well on all of its graphics tests. On the 3DMark03 benchmark, the X301 (which is powered by an Intel GMA X4500MHD graphics card) netted an 1812, a score that’s 400 points higher than its competitors and its predecessor the X300. However, the 3DMark06 score was 200 points less than other machines in its category. F.E.A.R was also tested in auto-detect mode, and the game ran at a miniscule 14fps. When the settings were increased to maximum, it ran at only 6fps. W.O.W ran at 27.4fps, which is okay, but it is important to remember that this is not a gaming laptop, and should not be expected to out perform Alienware, for example. Lenovo’s X301’s boot-up time was a little slower than expected. The X301, with its 64GB SSD, took about 1 minute and 37 seconds to boot-up Windows Vista, almost 30 seconds slower than the average ultraportable and 48 seconds slower than the older X300. The SSD did not disappoint and definitely lived up to its fast transfer time copying a 5 GB folder in about 2 minutes and 40 seconds, however. The SSD has a transfer rate of 32.4 megabytes per second, which is miles ahead of the 13.4 megabyte per second transfer rate of competitors using mechanical drives. If 64GB does not fill your needs for capacity, an upgrade option is available for a 128GB SSD, which costs $400.

iPhone users love their Wi-Fi

A new report from the mobile advertising company Admob says that 42 percent of iPhone Internet requests came from Wi-Fi hot spots rather than AT&T's 3G wireless network in November. This is quite a bit higher than most Wi-Fi capable phones, which typically average about 10 to 20 percent.

Several bloggers say they think iPhone users are gravitating toward Wi-Fi more because AT&T's 3G network is not up to snuff. Om Malik at GigaOm said AT&T's 3G service was as unpredictable as Lindsay Lohan's mood. But I don't really think that is the issue. Personally, I haven't had many problems accessing the data network from my iPhone in New York City. I have had dropped calls. But for the most part, whether I'm on Wi-Fi or AT&T's 3G network, downloading e-mail or accessing the Web from my phone works pretty well. I think there are two reasons why iPhone users are opting for Wi-Fi when it's available. And these reasons could provide some interesting lessons for phone manufacturers and wireless carriers. For one, accessing a Wi-Fi access point on the iPhone is easy. I have Wi-Fi access turned on on my phone. Whenever I fire up the browser or download e-mail, a list of available networks pops up. If I'm home or in a network I've already been on, most times the phone will automatically connect via Wi-Fi instead of the 3G network. I don't have to really think about it. It just happens. So most times, as a user, I'm not consciously deciding to use Wi-Fi or not. But whether I choose a Wi-Fi network or not, downloads from the Wi-Fi network are noticeably faster, which is why I have the Wi-Fi option turned on in the first place. So what does this really mean for wireless operators? I think it's pretty obvious. Wireless users want fast networks, especially when they're using a device like the iPhone, which is made for the Internet. They want to browse Web pages and download e-mails quickly. If Wi-Fi is the fastest network available, then people will use it. If AT&T is able to significantly increase the speeds on its network, which the company promises it will do soon, then people will use that network. I also think Admob's findings might serve as a cautionary signal to Verizon Wireless, which has opted not to support Wi-Fi on some of its hottest phones, such as the BlackBerry Storm. Verizon said the Storm, which is a touch screen smartphone that competes head-to-head with the iPhone, didn't include Wi-Fi support because it would eat up too much battery life and make the device too bulky. But I think the lack of Wi-Fi may prove to be a negative for the Strorm, as it could be one factor that pushes some consumers toward the iPhone, if they're considering both devices. The thing is I'm not really sure why Verizon is resisting Wi-Fi. It's true that a device with Wi-Fi capability may access free hot spots rather than the 3G cellular network, but since AT&T and Verizon Wireless require customers sign up for data plans when they purchase these devices, I don't see the carriers really losing any money if consumers use free Wi-Fi hot spots for data downloads. In fact, the carriers may actually benefit from their customers using Wi-Fi more, because it puts less strain on their wireless data networks. The real issue could be that Verizon is afraid of voice over IP services like Skype and Truphone, which allow users to bypass the carrier network to make free and low-cost phone calls.

Toshiba to show 512GB solid-state drive at CES

Toshiba said Wednesday that it will showcase a 512GB solid-state drive at the Consumer Electronics Show next month and begin shipments in the second quarter of 2009.

To date, this would be one of the largest-capacity solid-state drives for use in laptops and come close to matching the size of mobile hard-disk drives. Samsung has begun mass production of a 256GB SSD and Micron Technology is readying a 256GB drive that will ship in March. Toshiba said it is releasing a broad family of "fast read/write SSDs" based on 43-nanometer Multi-Level Cell (MLC) NAND flash technology that will be showcased at CES. MLC technology allows solid-state drive makers to deliver higher capacity drives at lower prices. In addition to the 2.5-inch 512GB drive, the new series of Toshiba drives also includes capacities of 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB, offered in 1.8-inch or 2.5-inch drive enclosures or as SSD Flash Modules, the company said in a statement. Samples of the new drives will be available in the first quarter of 2009, with mass production slated for the second quarter, in the April to June time frame, according to the company. No pricing information was immediately available. The drives achieve a maximum sequential read speed of 240MB per second (MBps) and maximum sequential write speed of 200MBps. This is roughly the same read-write speeds offered by Samsung on its 256GB SSD. Toshiba said it sees SSDs growing to approximately 25 percent of the notebook market by 2012.

Canon PowerShot SX10 IS Review

The Canon PowerShot SX10 IS is the newest 20x ultra-zoom camera on the block, and the first such model from Canon. Offering a massive focal length of 28-560mm, the Canon SX10 also features a sensible 10 megapixels, built-in image stabilisation, tilting 2.5 inch LCD screen, and a full range of manual shooting modes. Gavin Stoker ventured out into the murky grey world of a British winter to find out what the PowerShot SX10 IS has to offer. Website: Canon PowerShot SX10 IS Review

Adobe releases Photoshop Lightroom 2.2

Adobe has updated Photoshop Lightroom to Version 2.2. The latest version extends RAW support to the cameras included in the recent Camera RAW 5.2 release. The latest update also builds-in the camera profiles, previously available from Adobe Labs, that attempt to mimic the camera manufacturers' intended output.

Click the below link to download Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.2 http://www.dpreview.com/news/0812/08121602adobelightroomupdate.asp

Pentax announces limited edition white K2000

Pentax has announced a limited edition of the K2000 (K-m in Europe) in white, bundled as a double zoom kit with the camera body and two kit lenses. Both Pentax DA L 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 AL and Pentax DA L 50-200mm F4-5.6 AL lenses and the K2000 body sport a white finish with black trim. The kit will be made available on a limited basis in February 2009. UK MSRP is £50 above the recommended selling price of the standard K-m. In addition, Pentax has also released an online game for prospective K2000/K-m users to learn more about the camera and have a little fun. UK MSRP: £449 with 18-55mm kit lens, £549 with both 18-55mm and 50-200mm lenses.

Additional features on the newest digital K2000 SLR body include a 10.2 megapixel CCD, a 2.7 inch, 230,000 dot high resolution, wide-view LCD panel, and an ultra compact design that facilitates one handed operation. The body also features the same Pentax-developed Shake Reduction technology found on more advanced K series digital SLRs. Pentax Shake Reduction is compatible with more than 25 million Pentax lenses to deliver sharp images even when handheld at slower shutter speeds. The K2000 also features the powerful Pentax-developed Auto Picture Mode, which selects from Portrait, Landscape, Macro, Action, and Night Portrait modes to tailor the camera settings for any photographic situation. The camera also has a comprehensive Dust Removal system to help keep images spotless. A dedicated programmable help button clearly explains current camera settings to guide and teach the user about digital SLR photography. The lenses included with this Pentax K2000 system are the white versions of a newer series introduced with the DA L designation. This DA L series offers the same optical performance and compatibility as the current smc Pentax DA 18-55mm II and smc Pentax DA 50-200mm lenses. This stylish, limited edition white Pentax K2000 kit will be available on a very limited basis in February 2009 at a price to be announced.

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Apple to ditch Macworld gathering

In a surprise move, Apple said it is to abandon its annual tech gathering Macworld after this January's event. Meanwhile news that the keynote address will not be given by CEO Steve Jobs has reignited speculation about his health following cancer four years ago. Concern was raised earlier in the year when Mr Jobs appeared at the firm's developer conference looking gaunt. Apple spokesman Steve Dowling refused to discuss the issue and said shows like Macworld were no longer relevant. "Apple is steadily scaling back on trade shows and in recent years is reaching more people in more ways than ever before," Mr Dowling told BBC News. "Every week 3.5 million people visit our retail stores. And like many companies, trade shows are a minor part of how Apple reaches its customers." Mr Dowling also said that as the company had scaled back on such shows, it had ramped up "stand-alone launch events like the September iPod launch seen by millions of people on the internet". IDG which runs the show put a brave face on things. "We are on track for a terrific show with strong attendance numbers and nearly 500 exhibitors showcasing their products," Paul Kent, general manager of Macworld Expo told the BBC. "The conference and expo has thrived for 25 years due to the strong support of tens of thousands of members of the Mac community worldwide. We are committed to serving their interests," he said. "Greatly exaggerated" Macworld is regarded as a highlight for Apple fans with new product launches fronted by Mr Jobs.

When Mr Jobs went on stage at Apple's world wide developer conference in June, his physical appearance shocked many. He appeared thin and emaciated and speculation became rife that he had suffered a setback after a bout of pancreatic cancer in 2004. Later in the year, he joked about it on stage in San Francisco when he launched the new range of iPods. At one point in his demonstration he appeared in front of a giant screen that displayed the words "the reports of my death are greatly exaggerated". This was in reference to an obituary that had been mistakenly published. But analysts are again pointing to the possibility that Mr Jobs's health is an issue. "I think Steve's health is a factor," analyst Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray told MarketWatch. "I think it means there's a change of power at Apple... Steve Jobs is playing less of a role. And that is not up for debate. "Apple could have dismissed a lot of rumours by having him give the final keynote and they opted not to." The keynote will be presented by Phillip Schiller who is Apple's senior vice-president of worldwide product marketing.

Hackers 'aid' Amazon logging scam

Hackers have helped logging firms in Brazil evade limits on tree felling, says a Greenpeace report. The hi-tech criminals penetrated a computer system designed to monitor logging in the Brazilian state of Para. Once inside the system, hackers issued fake permits so loggers could cut down far more timber than environmental officials were prepared to allow. Greenpeace estimates that 1.7m cubic metres of illegal timber may have been removed with the aid of the hackers.

Yahoo throws down data gauntlet

Search engine Yahoo is to cut the time it stores personal data from 13 months to three. It is hoping its decision will provide a benchmark for industry. Currently Google stores data for nine months and Microsoft for six months. International data protection officials have been urging firms to do more to protect the data of users. Privacy advocates have welcomed the move and challenged rivals to go even further. "I would challenge industry to move to 30 days across the board. People should demand that their information is expunged as rapidly as possible," said Simon Davies, head of Privacy International. A recent rash of data leaks has left users concerned and organisations embarrassed, he said. "The less time data is online means less risk that rogue companies can establish dangerously comprehensive profiles on users," he added. Yahoo said its decision to cut the time it stores information gathered from web surfing came about following a "review of its data practices". "This policy represents Yahoo's assessment of the minimum amount of time we need to retain data to respond to the needs of our business while deepening our trusted relationship with users," said Anne Toth, Yahoo's head of privacy. As well as anonymising user log data, the policy will also apply to page views, page clicks and ad views and clicks. But the search giant has reserved the right to keep data for up to six months if fraud or system security are involved. Privacy campaigners have argued that firms are currently keeping data unnecessarily. Mr Davies is sceptical about what he described as "mixed messages" from industry. "Only last year, firms were saying that they couldn't go below 15 months but the logic of what Yahoo has done suggests there is no reason why they can't go even lower," he said.

Firefox update

The update is something of an unusual move for Microsoft and underscores the seriousness of the zero day flaw. The company rarely issues security fixes for its software outside of its regular monthly patch updates.

Meanwhile Mozilla has released a scheduled update for its open source Firefox web browsers for at least 10 different vulnerabilities. The bugs in the browser could have been "used to run attacker code and install software, requiring no user interaction beyond normal browsing," said Mozilla. It is also reissuing calls for users to upgrade from Firefox 2.0 to Firefox 3.0 as soon as possible and said it is "not planning any further security and stability updates for Firefox 2". This means Mozilla will no longer support the Firefox 2 browser against future online scams and attacks.

Microsoft issues patch to fix IE

Microsoft has issued a security patch to fix a critical vulnerability in its Internet Explorer browser it said has attacked over 2m Windows users. The flaw is believed to have already infected as many as 10,000 websites. The "zero day" exploit let criminals take over victims' computers by steering them to infected websites. Microsoft's Christopher Budd said the software giant "encourages all IE customers to test and deploy this update as soon as possible". He also said the threat lead Microsoft to mobilize security engineering teams worldwide to deliver a software cure "in the unprecedented time of eight days". The company's security response team said the patch consists of more than 300 distinct updates for more than half-a-dozen versions of IE in around 50 languages. "Even with that, the release Emergency Response process isn't over," said Security Response Alliance director Mike Reavey. "There is additional support to customers and additional refinement of our product development efforts." Microsoft stressed that the flaw was proven to exist only in IE 7 on all applicable versions of Windows, but that IE 6 and the "beta" release of IE 8 were "potentially vulnerable". Users who have automatic updates turned on will receive the patch over the next 24 hours while others can access it via a download. "Wildfire" The AZN Trojan has been making the rounds since the beginning of December but became public knowledge in the last week . Unlike other exploits, users only have to visit a malicious site with Trojans or other malware in order to become contaminated. Once an infected web page is opened, malicious downloaders are installed on the computer designed to record keystrokes and steal passwords, credit card details and other financial information. The sites affected are mostly Chinese and have been serving up programmes to steal passwords for computer games which can then be sold for cash on the black market. Internet Explorer is the world's most widely used web browser with nearly three quarters of the market share. Microsoft estimated that one in every 500 Windows users had been exposed to sites that try to exploit the flaw and the number of victims was increasing at a rate of 50% daily. Researchers at the software security firm Trend Micro said attacks were spreading "like wildfire". "This vulnerability is being actively exploited by cyber-criminals and getting worse every day," said the company's advanced threat researcher Paul Ferguson. Microsoft labelled the bug as "critical," the most serious threat ranking in its four-step scouring programme.

Serious security flaw found in Internet Explorer

Users of Microsoft's Internet Explorer are being urged by experts to switch to a rival until a serious security flaw has been fixed. The flaw in Microsoft's Internet Explorer could allow criminals to take control of people's computers and steal their passwords, internet experts say. Microsoft urged people to be vigilant while it investigated and prepared an emergency patch to resolve it. Internet Explorer is used by the vast majority of the world's computer users.

"Microsoft is continuing its investigation of public reports of attacks against a new vulnerability in Internet Explorer," said the firm in a security advisory alert about the flaw. Microsoft says it has detected attacks against IE 7.0 but said the "underlying vulnerability" was present in all versions of the browser. Other browsers, such as Firefox, Opera, Chrome, Safari, are not vulnerable to the flaw Microsoft has identified. Browser bait "In this case, hackers found the hole before Microsoft did," said Rick Ferguson, senior security advisor at Trend Micro. "This is never a good thing." As many as 10,000 websites have been compromised since the vulnerability was discovered, he said. "What we've seen from the exploit so far is it stealing game passwords, but it's inevitable that it will be adapted by criminals," he said. "It's just a question of modifying the payload the trojan installs."

Said Mr Ferguson: "If users can find an alternative browser, then that's good mitigation against the threat." But Microsoft counselled against taking such action. "I cannot recommend people switch due to this one flaw," said John Curran, head of Microsoft UK's Windows group. He added: "We're trying to get this resolved as soon as possible. "At present, this exploit only seems to affect 0.02% of internet sites," said Mr Curran. "In terms of vulnerability, it only seems to be affecting IE7 users at the moment, but could well encompass other versions in time." Richard Cox, chief information officer of anti-spam body The Spamhaus Project and an expert on privacy and cyber security, echoed Trend Micro's warning. "It won't be long before someone reverse engineers this exploit for more fraudulent purposes. Trend Mico's advice [of switching to an alternative web browser] is very sensible," he said.

NVIDIA Unveils World’s First Personal Supercomputer

The world’s first personal supercomputer, which is 250 times faster than the average PC, has been unveiled. The NVIDIA Tesla Personal Supercomputer is based on the revolutionary NVIDIA CUDA parallel computing architecture and powered by up to 960 parallel processing cores.

Until now, supercomputers were massive systems made up of thousands of machines taking up entire rooms, which cost millions of pounds to build and maintain. By contrast, Tesla personal supercomputers will cost between £4,000 and £8,000 and look much like an ordinary PC. David Kirk, chief scientist at NVIDIA, the American company which has designed the new technology, said: “Pretty much anything that you do on your PC that takes a lot of time can be accelerated with this.” “These supercomputers can improve the time it takes to process information by 1,000 times. “If you imagine it takes a week to get a result [from running an experiment], you can only do it 52 times a year. If it takes you minutes, you can do it constantly, and learn just as much in a day.” The new computers make innovative use of graphics processing units - a technological breakthrough, which the company claims could bring lightning speeds to the next generation of home computers. Scientists also believe that the supercomputers could help them discover cures for diseases, such as cancer and malaria, much more quickly than using traditional research methods. We have already seen supercomputers that can perform laser surgery and desktop prototypes that are capable of computing speeds 100 times faster than current desktops, the technology is based on parallel processing on a single chip. This new release makes the supercomputing power easily accessible for the medical and other technical purposes.

Samsung i900 Omnia review

There seems to be a lot going on in the Windows Mobile world at the moment and we are finding ourselves inundated with great new devices to play with. This one is no exception, the Samsung i900 Omnia is a fantastic looking Windows Mobile Professional device but does it live up to all the hype and the tag of potential iPhone killer. Well first off it looks like the iPhone, it has a very similar form factor but is slightly smaller, read on for the full details. The Samsung i900 8 Gig, a standard Samsung battery as used on other Samsung Windows Mobile phones, mains charger, headset, data link cable, funky stylus and documentation. As we already know from previous Samsung reviews, they insist on using a proprietary connection for charging and headsets \ headphones. This one is no different but at least it comes with an adaptor that does give you a 3.5mm connector for your own headphones.

The phone looks as we have previously said like the iPhone, it is the same form factor with a large 3.2 inch screen, it is a very glossy looking phone and feels great in the hand, it really is a nice size and weight. Looking at it face on, there are three visible buttons, the phone send and end keys along with the now infamous Samsung mouse. For those that haven’t seen this before it is very similar to a laptop track pad, it is not a D-Pad, you stroke it with your thumb and an on screen cursor moves just like a mouse. It is the equivalent of Windows Mobile Marmite, you either love it or you hate it. I personally find it very effective and easy to use but if you do not, you can change the settings to a virtual D-Pad.

The top of the device has the usual on / off push button along with a reset button which can be handy when you have installed some bad applications and have hit a system freeze. The bottom of the device is clear with the exception of the microphone hole

The left hand side has access to a lanyard attachment while the right hand side has a quick access button for the camera application which also operates as the picture shoot button, volume up and down keys and a quick access to the shortcuts which you can see later in the software write up

Removal of the rear cover which comes off very easily for a Samsung phone you can access the Micro SD card slot, the Sim Card slot and the battery compartment

The stylus, a bit different here as there is no place to store this actually inside the device like we are used too, instead it comes with a lanyard and you just let it dangle from the phone like a bit of phone bling. Not sure I like that idea. The stylus itself is pretty nice, its roughly 2 inches long in it’s closed state, pull the top part off and the stylus extends to about 3 inches but it is solid not like the cheap telescopic stylus’s we have seen on other devices

Positives : - Widgets and touch friendly additions - Accelerometer - 5 Mega Pixel Camera - Form Factor - HSDPA 7.2 mb/s - GPS Negatives : - No haptic feedback on the keyboard - Signal strength suspect at times - Strange screen resolution - Loose stylus and no where to store it - Proprietary connectors - No spare battery this time Samsung

HP Pavilion tx2000 Entertainment Notebook PC series- Overview

Overview : For the power of an entertainment notebook PC, the versatility of a tablet PC and the convenience of a touchscreen, the tx2000 has everything you are looking for - all wrapped in an attractive, sleek package

Features : • Featuring genuine Windows Vista® Home Basic or Premium for superior digital entertainment and advanced features • Featuring a 12.1 inch diagonal widescreen high-definition touchscreen display and a built-in digitiser for handwriting with a battery-less rechargeable eraser pen, you can use the tx2000 as a notebook PC or a handwriting tablet • AMD dual core processors and NVIDIA® GeForce® Go graphics provide the speed you need when you are on the move. • With three operational modes - PC mode for notebook computing, display mode for watching TV or movies and tablet mode for handwriting or gaming, the tx2000 is truly versatile • Weighing-in at just under two kilograms, the tx2000 is wrapped in a stunning new Echo HP Imprint design, a circular pattern that reverberates with energy as each ring spreads and connects with the others

Review of Apple MacBook (Core 2 Duo 2.16GHz, 1GB RAM, 160GB HDD, SuperDrive, black)

The good: Upgraded CPU for the same price; same great design; built-in Webcam and remote control; adds 802.11n support. The bad: Cutting-edge features are absent, including Intel's new Santa Rosa platform and LED-backlit displays. The bottom line: Apple's rightfully popular 13-inch MacBook gets a decent incremental upgrade, but we're still looking forward to the next version.

Price range: $1,497.48 - $1,799.89

Review of Alienware Area-51 m17x

The good: Highest-end components; imposing design; fantastic performance. The bad: Starting configurations are overpriced; touch controls are a bit wonky. The bottom line: If you're looking to drop some major change on a show-off gaming laptop, it's hard to do better than the Alienware Area-51 m17x, a mean-looking, high-performance black slab.

Product Review : Dell Inspiron Mini 9

The good: More configurable than other Netbooks; good battery life; XP and Linux OS options. The bad: Some awkward keyboard compromises; no SSD options larger than 16GB. The bottom line: Dell's entry into the Netbook market means it's time to take these low-cost, low-power PCs seriously. The Inspiron Mini 9 is an excellent example of the form, if not radically different from the competition. Specifications: Processor: Intel ATOM (1.6 GHz); RAM installed: 512 MB DDR2 SDRAM; Display: 8.9; Storage: 4GB ; Graphics Processor / Vendor: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950 ; OS Provided : Ubuntu Linux version 8.04.1 ; Price range: $349.00

Product summary : Acer Aspire 5735-4624

The good: Bargain-basement price; decent performance; 16:9 display will appeal to movie lovers; does Draft N Wi-Fi. The bad: Flimsy, plastic chassis; clacky mouse buttons; somewhat low screen resolution; keyboard feels a bit cramped because it must make room for separate number pad. The bottom line: A mainstream laptop at a Netbook price, the Acer Aspire 5735 provides the basics plus a movie-friendly 16:9 aspect display.

Laptop Advice

What constitutes the best laptop is different for everybody. Some people want a simple laptop that will handle the basics: word processing, email and Internet access, and other productivity tasks. Others are interested in a multimedia machine that can handle all the video, music, and movies they can throw at it. We’ve made an effort to find the best laptops for every kind of user, no matter what you want to do with it. Laptops are so versatile and varied, that there’s a model for all types of consumers, it can just be difficult wading through them all to find that needle in the haystack. We’ve done the wading, and we’ve found the needles. Just look below and see which of these best laptops suits you the best. The Mobile User: Asus Eee PC If you’re always on the go or just don’t want a big laptop cluttering up your desk, you should be looking for a mobile laptop. A number of brands offer laptops that are geared for mobility, and these lightweight, easily portable notebooks are capable of much more than their size may let on. Asus has been leading the charge with their Eee laptops, which is available in a number of models with screen sizes between 7 and 10 inches. They are ultraportable, and especially useful for business travelers. If that’s too small, then something like the 13-inch Apple MacBook might be more appropriate. The Student: Apple MacBook Pro Right now, the premier laptop for students would have to be the Apple MacBook Pro, available in 15 and 17-inch display models. Blending a stylish design with the easy-to-use Mac operating system, the Apple MacBook Pro has been a huge hit with a new generation of computer users. It can handle both productivity tasks like doing homework or surfing the web, and multimedia tasks like listening to music or watching video. The ‘Just the Basics’ User: Dell Inspiron Notebooks If you’re looking for a laptop that just works and doesn’t distract you with all sorts of irritating, useless gadgetry, you may be interested in a Dell Inspiron notebook. These affordable laptops are perfect for simple computing, but they are also capable of doing more if you wish. They are good computers to grow into. Available with screen sizes between 15 and 17-inches, they are excellent mainstream computers with lots of potential. The Multimedia User: Toshiba Qosmio Notebooks Toshiba’s Qosmio line is tailor made for consumers who want something a little more from their computers, who want to be able to store lots of music and video, and bring their computing into the 21st century. Qosmio computers can be connected to a television and used as a digital video recorder, they can be outfitted with Blu-Ray disc players for high-definition video playback, and they have top-of-the-line specifications that makes gaming a high-intensity experience.

Apple branching out in 2009?

Familiar Apple rumors are making the rounds again this week as Macworld looms in the distance, one month away. Trip Chowdhry of Global Equities Research put out a research note Monday morning spotted by D: All Things Digital saying that Apple plans to release something from "a completely new device category" next year. He fails to explain exactly what such a product might encompass, but speculates that it will be based around a processor designed by the former P.A. Semi engineering team. As a result, the usual rumors (Mac tablet, iPhone Nano, iKindle) are under discussion within the Mac universe. Chowdhry believes that Apple patent filings will be released early in 2009 that will make everything clear, and also notes that P.A. Semi should have an iPhone chip out around that time that improves performance and battery life. Earlier this year CEO Steve Jobs implied Apple was watching small-device categories like tablets and Netbooks to see if they actually take off as a mega-trend, but in the meantime the company had other priorities. Mac tablet rumors stretch back for years, and in the past Jobs has quickly shot down talk of an Apple-produced competitor to Amazon's Kindle, which has been interpreted as a sign Apple was doing just that.

Google chat afflicted by spotty service

Google's instant-messaging service suffered intermittent outages Monday, behaving inconsistently for several hours. The issue began about 10:30 a.m. PST and affected a subset of users of both the Web page-based Gmail Chat and the installed Google Talk software, spokesman Andrew Kovacs said. Because of the problem, sometimes when people sent a message they'd get an error message it wasn't sent and the recipient didn't receive it, but often resending the message worked, he said. "This issue has been resolved for most users, and we expect a resolution for all users within the next couple of hours," Kovacs said about three hours after the problem began. Google's core business is in search and advertising, but it's trying to expand to be a fuller-featured Internet destination with Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Docs, which collectively are offered to paying customers as Google Apps subscriptions. Google offers a service level agreement to those customers.

Google gives Gmail users a to-do list

Google has added a to-do list to Gmail to help users be more productive. When the new Tasks feature is enabled, a box shows up on top of the Gmail window. In it, users can add, reorder, and delete tasks. It's also possible to assign a due date to each action and even convert e-mails into tasks. The feature--announced Monday on a company blog--will also run outside of the e-mail program. Adding items is as simple as clicking on a vacant part of the box and typing. This may sound like a rehash of the many Post-It Note-like programs popular in the mid-'90s, but because most of us have morphed into e-mail junkies, this list is constantly in our face, reminding of things we wanted to get done. Since e-mail is where and how many of us get things done, both in our personal and professional life, why not add a list of things that we may not be able to get done via e-mail, such as a reminder to make dinner reservations? To enable Tasks, go to Settings in the upper right of the Gmail window and click the Labs tab. Click Enable next to the Tasks selection, click Save Changes. After refreshing Gmail, a Tasks link will appear under the Contacts link. Just click that Tasks link and you are ready to be productive.

Second Firefox 3.1 beta brings significant changes

Usually not much happens to a software product from one point release to the next, much less one beta version to the next. But Mozilla has made quite a few changes with the second beta of Firefox 3.1, released Monday. In the new version are support for video and audio built into Web pages, a built-in service for telling Web sites a user's location if users permit it, private browsing, Web worker support for more powerful Web-based programs, and my favorite feature, the TraceMonkey engine for running the JavaScript programs used to build sophisticated Web sites. TraceMonkey was released before, but now it's switched on by default.

The official announcement has more details for users, and programmers can check the developer site.

The finished 3.1 version, code-named Shiretoko, is expected to arrive in early 2009 after a third beta, Mozilla has said. It arrives during a period of hot activity for browsers. Apple is promoting its Safari browser for Windows as well as Mac OS X. Microsoft, the leader of the market, plans to release Internet Explorer 8 in 2009. And of course the biggest change is the arrival of Google Chrome, an open-source project that, like Safari, uses uses a project called WebKit for interpreting and displaying the basic HTML code used to describe Web pages. (Updated 10:05 p.m. PST to clarify that Chrome, not Firefox, uses WebKit.) Mozilla Chairman Mitchell Baker is unfazed by the competition, though. Largely because of search-ad-related revenue from Google, the organization behind Firefox, the Mozilla Foundation, pulled in $75 million in 2007.

Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 Review

You're hearing it here first, folks: The long-awaited Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 will be available in the United States on November 28 for an unlocked price of $799.99 through Sony Style stores. Go ahead, we'll give you a second to catch your breath from the sticker shock. For the last couple of days I have been playing around with what could arguably be the best Windows Mobile phone in business – Sony Ericsson’s Xperia X1. From the packaging to the diminutive USB charger to the sleek finish of the device itself, the whole X1 experience is flawless. It is a well-designed smartphone that is very well-engineered. It is no different than Sony VAIO laptops or Bravia TVs, and as such it’s no surprise that it’s expensive: $799. The device is going to be available in the U.S. starting Nov. 28 on Sony’s web site, Sony Style. It comes with a very comfortable slider keyboard, great connectivity options (WiFi, 3G, Quad-band GSM etc.) and is a multimedia powerhouse. The phone comes with a 3-inch WVGA display with resolution of up to 800 X 480 pixels screen, which means it can play back videos in almost DVD quality and makes it easy to play 3D mobile games. I love the photos taken by the 3.2 megapixel camera and the music playback is solid and clear. X1 has a pretty decent battery life — and yes, it beats the pants off the iPhone 3G battery. It got about 8 hours on AT&T’s 3G network — ahead of my iPhone — but lagged the Android G1. However, it had better GSM standby and talk times. But again, battery usage differs from person to person. One thing I hate about the device is that it lacks built-in memory, but the good news is that it can take up to 32 GB in a memory card. What will surprise you the most is that this phone is powered by Windows Mobile 6.1. Despite the torturous Windows Mobile interface, I found myself liking this device, which shows that with some creativity and lots of imagination, even Windows Mobile can stand up to assaults from Apple’s iPhone, RIM’s ( s rimm) Blackberry and Google’s Android. Of course Windows Mobile means that the phone syncs with Microsoft Exchange over the air. It can read documents, spreadsheets and presentations natively. I was surprised by how nimble the phone feels — I have yet to use another Windows Mobile phone that comes close to X1. The device gives you many ways to interact with the contact touch, full QWERTY keyboard, 4-way key and optical joystick navigation and panels. It is the panels which are awesome and function almost like how the applications are accessed on the iPhone. Well, we've actually had the smartphone for a couple of weeks now and have a few thoughts about it. So before you start saving your pennies or start looking for an alternative, read our full review of the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 for all the details and check out our hands-on photo gallery.

World Thinnest Notebook (Macbook Air)

Macbook pro is the amazing notebook due to its light weight and extra slim & Sleek design. People attract more towards this amazing thinnest laptop. I am sure this is best laptop if you talk for design and performence as well as.

Review of BenQ Joybook Lite U101:

The BenQ Joybook Lite U101 was first announced last month, and at the time it looked like another case of netbook-by-numbers. It’s only just now launched in Hong Kong, and according to these BenQ slides we may have missed a couple of distinctive features (as long as you remember that, in netbooks, “distinctive” can mean as little as an extra memory card supported). The screen is the key difference, being true 16:9 aspect rather than the more typical 16:10. That means more visible area when you’re watching widescreen content. Now while the thought of watching a movie on a netbook might be strange - after all, the U101 does only have an 10.1-inch LED-backlit LCD - it’s not so hard to imagine using them as a portable media player. In which case, you’d be even more loathe to give up any of that precious screen-estate to black bars. We also now know that the keyboard is 90-percent the size of a regular desktop QWERTY, which is still slightly behind the 93-percent of the Samsung NC10 but only a little. The WWAN option has also been fleshed out as 3.5G HSUPA (though I think BenQ mean 7.0 rather than 70Mbps, unless they’re confusing it with WiMAX) and unlike many netbooks there’s draft-n WiFi rather than just b/g. Still no word on pricing, however, nor when it will be available outside of Hong Kong.

Mio Launch Its First 3.5G Windows Mobile Touchscreen Phone

Mio, maker of popular consumer GPS products, is reportedly developing its own 3.5G Windows Mobile touchscreen handset in the first quater of 2009, according to the company sources. Mio’s GPS handset will be powered by 3.5G chipsets from Qualcomm and will also come with Mitac self-developed touch user interface called the spirit.

Like some of its currently existing GPS handsets, Mio’s upcoming touchscreen model will come with a 3.5inches touch screen , 3.2-megapixel auto-focus camera, and possibly the latest version of Windows Mobile.

The launch of Mio’s 3.5G GPS handset will probably run ahead of the planned launch of the Nuvifone handset by rival vendor Garmin slated in the first half of next year, according to estimates of market sources.

Nokia N79 Hands On Review

Nokia N79 is not just another candybar handset by Nokia, the new Nokia N79 which is believed to have succeeded and complemented the Nokia N78 features, is basically a lot more than just that. It comes with a 5MP camera & Carl Zeiss optics supporting dual LED flash. Its lens will be protected by a sliding camera cover. It also supports Geo tagging. Nokia N79 also has a FM transmitter just like the N78, also has a 3.5 mm audio jack and dedicated music keys. The handset supports up to 24 hours of audio playback. Nokia Maps 2.0 is also on board to make use of the built-in GPS receiver and a 4GB microSD card is included in the sales package. Looks wise the device looks great, simple yet stylish it has Xpress-On like covers and its 2.4-inch display.

Review of the Nokia 5310 XpressMusic

The Nokia 5310 XpressMusic is a music phone that makes us happy for a number of reasons. This isn't an iPhone competitor, which makes sense, considering the low, $50 price tag. But it is far better than most other so-called music phones on the market, and includes many features that should set the standard. We like the 3.5mm headphone jack, the included 1GB memory card, and the two-stage stereo headphones a microphone. We also liked this phone for regular calling, and found call quality and even its messaging capabilities were surprisingly good. There are phones at four times this price that don't have all these features, and though the phone lacks 3G networking and the accompanying services, when we focused simply on the music abilities, we were happy with what we heard. Release: May 2008. Price: $50. Pros: Slim design keeps the dedicated music keys, adds a 3.5mm headphone jack. Surprisingly robust messaging clients. Cons: No 3G networking means slow Web browsing, no advanced services. Transfer software needs a serious update to bring it in line with iTunes.

Sony Ericsson Presents W980i

The W980i is a stylish Sony Ericsson mobile phone which comes with easy-to-use external music keys which are circular in design. This handset comes with an external colour screen that allows the user to view the music and calling information even if the mobile phone is not in an opening position. This TFT external screen displays 262k colours with a resolution of 176x 176 pixel. It also has an internal screen whose size is 2.2 inches and has a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels. The feature that makes this widget stand tall among the other handsets is its built in music player. This player delivers true and clear sound that has the ability to soothe any body. Even if this mobile phone is in a closed position the listeners can relish the music on it and also view the music related information on the screen. Its external music controls help the users to rewind, play and put forward the music with ease. One can also rearrange the existing play list for a better play back experience. Other music related features on the Sony Ericsson W980i are the PlayNow, TrackID and SensMe. The PlayNow helps the user to down load new songs on this widget. However, this feature depends on the network provider of the area where the user resides. The TrackID helps the user identify the music he is listening to. It also helps him to make out the playback artist of the song, the title of the song and the album to which the song belongs. Besides these, the SensMe helps the user to create their own play list based on the tempo and style of the music. The presence of the shake control on it enables the user to switch to the next song that follows the song to which the listener is tuning in. This facility keeps the user free from the keys. One can be sure of faster Internet connectivity and faster data transfer from this device to other compatible devices as this device supports 3G HSDPA technology. Users often look for a hassle free electronic gadget and due to the presence of the Bluetooth on the Sony Ericsson W980i users can enjoy wire less connectivity and have hassle free experience. Flight mode is also a smart feature on the Sony Ericsson W980i that allows the user to keep working on some of it features while in a mobile phone restricted zone. Actually, this feature helps the user to keep the mobile off yet relish the features which are not harmful for the mobile free restricted areas. The data storage capacity of this smart phone is also quite sufficient as it supports 8GB of memory which can store handsome amount of data. When completely charged, its battery can give you 9 hrs. long talk time and if not in use, it can deliver 300 hrs. of standby time.

Second Firefox 3.1 beta due 'very shortly'

The second beta version of Firefox 3.1 is "due out very shortly," Mozilla programmer Ben Turner said Thursday. One big change in the 3.1b2 is the addition of "Web workers," a feature that lets the browser process tasks in the background. That feature, part of the still-evolving HTML 5 specification, adds another level of sophistication for programmers writing Web applications and gives multicore computers a better way to use their processors' abilities. "We've been hard at work with folks from Google, Apple, and others to get this new spec nailed down," Turner said of the Web workers work. Google and Apple also build their own browsers, as does market-leading Microsoft and ever-scrappy Opera. With the browser wars back in full force, those organizations are racing to outdo each other on features and performance. He gave one illustration of Web workers in action running a JavaScript program that emulates a decades-old processor design, the 8080. One thread emulates the processor in the background while another handles user interaction such as checking for typing on the keyboard. In a post on the Mozilla Add-ons Blog, Paul Rouget said: "Firefox 3.1 Beta 2 will likely be released the first week of December." He added: "We have added a Beta 3 to our schedule."

Koobface virus hits Facebook

A worm responsible for sending Facebook users malicious code appears to be limited in nature, although the social engineering attack may be used again, say experts. Facebook representative Barry Schnitt said the worm isn't new; it dates back to August, although the variant that first appeared on Wednesday targets only Facebook users. Craig Schmugar, threat researcher for McAfee Avert Labs, confirmed this in a call with CNET News and said that, in general, Koobface strikes only social-networking sites. After receiving a message in their Facebook in-box announcing, "You look funny in this new video" or something similar, recipients are then invited to click on a provided link. Once on the video site, a message says an update of Flash is needed before the video can be displayed. The viewer is prompted to open a file called flash_player.exe.

Schmugar said the prompt for a new player should be a warning. "The messages you tend to get from these sites don't look quite right." For instance, IE will tell you where the update is coming from, and usually it's not an Adobe site. If the viewer approves the Flash installation, Koobface attempts to download a program called tinyproxy.exe. This loads a proxy server called Security Accounts Manager (SamSs) the next time the computer boots up. Koobface then listens to traffic on TCP port 9090 and proxies all outgoing HTTP traffic. For example, a search performed on Google, Yahoo, MSN, or Live.com may be hijacked to other, lesser-known search sites.

Facebook's Schnitt said, "Only a very small percentage of Facebook users have been affected and we're working quickly to update our security systems to minimize any further impact, including resetting passwords on infected accounts, removing the spam messages, and coordinating with third parties to remove redirects to malicious content elsewhere on the Web."

A closer look at Nokia's would-be iPhone killer

Nokia's new N97 smartphone is cool, but it's still no iPhone

I got a chance to look at Nokia's latest smartphone, the N97, on Thursday at the company's annual Capital Markets Day here. While Nokia's marketing team wouldn't actually let me play with the phone, since it won't officially go on the market until 2009, I got a demonstration of some of the phone's features and functionality from Jukka Heiska, director of product management for the N97. A video of the phone demonstration will be posted Friday on CNET News as well as on CNET TV. In some ways it's unfortunate that every touch-screen phone that comes out these days is compared to Apple's iPhone. But given the popularity of the iPhone, especially here in the U.S., it's difficult not to do the comparisons. My first impression of the new N97 is that even though it has impressive specifications, like a total of 48 gigabytes of potential storage and a 5-megapixel camera and video recorder, the phone seems more like an evolution of Nokia's N-95 or N-96 smartphones rather than a ground-breaking new touch-screen device that could potentially be the next iPhone killer. For one, the touch-screen wasn't terribly sophisticated. Icons could be dragged and dropped using a finger, but unlike the iPhone, which allows you to pinch text to magnify it or reduce it, or even the new BlackBerry Storm that allows you to double click on text or images to make them bigger, the N97 didn't offer these features.

Design-wise the phone looked more like Sony Ericsson's Xperia X1. It has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and a tilted screen. In this way, it's an improvement over the N95 or the N96, which offer tons of features and functionality, but lack full QWERTY keyboards. That said, there are a few key features that the N97 offers that the iPhone doesn't. For example, the Nokia Web browser on the N97 supports Flash and Flash video, something that Apple's Safari browser doesn't support. And of course, heavy texters and e-mail enthusiasts, will like the full QWERTY keypad. I've had several iPhone owners tell me that they still carry around a BlackBerry for sending e-mails on the go, because they don't like the iPhone's virtual keyboard for typing longer messages. The phone, which Nokia's marketing team calls a "mobile computer" also offers a whopping 32GB of storage on the device with the option of adding up to another 16GB of storage through a microSD card. And then there is the 5-megapixel camera, which also records DVD-quality video. By contrast, the iPhone only offers up to 16GB of storage and users are unable to add additional storage via microSD cards. Also, the iPhone's camera is only 2 megapixels, and it doesn't offer video recording. The N97 also offers assisted-GPS services, which improves accuracy over regular GPS receivers, such as the one offered in the iPhone. The device also uses Nokia's mapping technology and virtual compass that allows the device to actually point users in the direction they need to go when they're using the turn-by-turn navigation.

Microsoft Metes Out Vista SP2 Beta to Wider Audience

Microsoft has widened the pre-release sampling of Vista's second service pack. It's inviting pro users to try it out and cautioning laypeople to wait for a finished version in early 2009. Though service packs may be diminishing in importance now that so many updates are routinely pushed out online, they do serve to make a statement about a product's maturity level.

'Green' phones remain far from reach, report says

Makers of mobile phones produce few "green" models with biodegradable, recycled, or fully recyclable materials. And although most vendors offer recycling options, less than five percent of the world's handsets will be recycled ethically in the end, according to a report released by ABI Research Monday. Cell phones are a growing source of potentially toxic electronics waste. Among some 150 million handsets retired every year, fewer than 20 percent are recycled, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

However, it's unprofitable for most companies to release dedicated eco-friendly models on a massive scale, the ABI report suggested. "Instead, the effort is towards compliance and the trickling down of proven green elements throughout entire product lines," Kevin Burden, the firm's research director, said in a statement. Expanded regulation and corporate initiatives have reduced the use of toxic ingredients in electronics. The European Union's Reduction of Hazardous Substances rules have pushed nearly all major vendors to cut or exclude heavy metals, PVC, and brominated flame retardants. ABI Research cited Samsung, Nokia, and Sony Ericsson as advancing efforts to make mobile phones even greener. Those brands also were at the top of the heap in the latest quarterly Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics. Samsung released three models encased in corn-based plastic this summer in Asia and Europe. Among this year's concept designs, Nokia's Remade flip phone cell uses recycled cans, plastic bottles, and car tires. Nokia says that up to 60 percent of the metal in its available handsets comes from recycled materials. Sony Ericsson described in September a GreenHeart concept comprising recycled and plant-based plastics. If produced, it would consume only 3.5 milliwatts in standby mode. A notable entrant in this year's Greener Gadgets Design Competition was the Bamboo concept handset. If buried in the ground, it would biodegrade, freeing embedded bamboo seeds to sprout a plant. The ABI report notes a Nokia survey in which 76 percent of respondents said they preferred to buy from businesses that promote environmental responsibility. Various other consumer polls have indicated that a small but growing percentage of shoppers seek to buy green electronics, and some will accept a price premium.