TECHNOLOGY AT ITS BEST

AMD's ATI Radeon Runs into Trouble

2008-10-31T17:17:00.000-07:00

It's just been a few days of lau It's just been a few days of launch and AMD's ATI Radeon HD 4830 GPU has run into problems. Apparently, some units of the graphics card sent out by their partner, HIS was adjusted to run with a pre-production version of BIOS. Older BIOS meant that the streaming processors were disabled to 560 instead of specified 640 which restricted the full potential of the card.

However, the good news is that AMD has identified the issue and claims that around 400 units of HIS boards are affected by this problem which can be easily resolved by a BIOS update.

Through consultations with AMD board partners, it has been determined with a high degree of certainty that fewer than 400 ATI Radeon HD 4830 boards from one AMD board partner, HIS, have reached the market with the pre-production BIOS incorrectly provided by AMD. As only a small number of HIS-branded ATI Radeon HD 4830 cards are impacted, we ask any customers that purchased an HIS-branded ATI Radeon HD 4830 to test the board using the GPU-Z utility (available at Techpowerup.com ). If the GPU-Z utility reports fewer than 640 shaders, please visit the HIS website for information on how to update the card BIOS via a downloadable install utility."

Nokia XpressMusic 5320

2008-10-31T17:10:00.000-07:00

The XpressMusic Series of phones from Nokia got hotter with the release of the Tube now christened the XpressMusic 5800. However, we still don't have it with us as it's yet to hit the Indian market sometime in this month. Today we look at one of the smartest XpressMusic phones I've come across after a really long time - XpressMuic 5320.

I was not too impressed with the looks of the XpressMusic 5320, but I'll leave that for the end-user to decide.

The phone though does have an appeal by the kind of convergence it offers, which is exactly what helps this phone grow onto anyone who uses it. Being one in the intermediate range of handsets, it will create quite a stir in the sales of Nokia phones.

Bundle

Nokia XpressMusic 5320

Stereo Headset (3.5mm jack)

512 MB microSD card

USB Data Cable

Software & Manual

Specifications

XpressMusic

The 5320 XpressMusic phone has some added features as compared to the other phones in the XpressMusic series. Apart from the whole application bundle, there are two other factors that give the 5320 the edge in the series, even though it just an intermediate phone - Say & Play and N-Gage. So a quick word on its specialties.

Say & Play

The Say and Play XpressMusic feature is quite unique, one that I haven't seen in any other phone before. Say and Play works with you telling the phone which song to play and it plays it, much like a voice command. A recording begins once you keep the Own key pressed. You then have to mention the artist name and song, and you will be provided with a list of songs under his/her name.

You can further narrow it right down to just one song or album by adding the name of the album or song after the artist name. Just the name of the song or the artist won't do. Soon hopefully it will even recognize song names and take just that for a 'Say and Play' command.

N-Gage

The 5320 XpressMusic phone also supports the N-Gage platform. With an 8-way navigational D-Pad and gaming keys the phone is all ready to game. However, with the kind of games that are being designed for phones, it requires more than just the keys and the support.

It needs the power and very frankly the 5320 is very capable of it. I tried a couple of games and they ran smooth just like the phone houses a 3D Hardware accelerator. Though no mention of it has been made and I won't be surprised if it did.

It's not a very expensive device, at around €220 (£180 / $360) before tax and subsidy. And to a certain extent you can tell that there have been a few trade-offs when it comes to design. The QVGA resolution display is 2" in size, the camera has a flash but no autofocus and talktime is just 2.5 hours on 3G. Video capture is 320 x 240 pixels at 15 fps. It's certainly not as good as an N-Series device.. but then it is a lot cheaper.

The Nokia 5320 XpressMusic phone sells for around Rs.10,000 with a 1-year warranty. The phone may not be one of the most appealing to the eye but it sure has quite a good number of tricks under its sleeve.
You have to use the handset to know what it is capable of. The 5320 XpressMusic is mainly a music centric device, though it's capable of more.

The only competition I see from the Walkman is the W580i and given an option I would go in for the XpressMuisc 5320 for its features. But if its music quality, nothing beats the in-earplugs offered default in the package of the W580i. Maybe a 1GB card in the 5320's package could turn the tables on the W580i.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1

2008-10-31T17:06:00.000-07:00

The XPERIA runs on the Windows Mobile OS - v6.1 and it runs smooth and being a Windows Mobile OS it's not something tough to get used to. If you remember I did mention in the HTC Touch Diamond review that the phone has opened this whole new avenue for Windows Mobile Devices. Well that's what it is exactly with the XPERIA.

However, there were few things that I didn't quite like. I had earlier mentioned the call hang button held down locking the phone. I prefer to have the list of options like in the HTC Touch Diamond. So I can choose to Lock the Phone or go to Communication Manager or Enter Flight Mode etc. I hope to see it implemented in the final release.

As enjoyable it was typing on the XPERIA's QWERTY keypad I would have wanted a touch pad because the phone is pretty responsive and it does have a screen that can fit on it easily and would eliminate the need to use a stylus.

The XPERIA's 3.2 MP camera is an autofocus module assisted with flash. The camera is just a 3.2MP, which is the disappointing bit, but has enough options to keep you fiddling around. Its options are much like the G900. The camera quality is not one that I can give an opinion on because it's a prototype, but the images were pretty good.
The music player of the phone is another thing that was disappointing.

It was so basic that other than the look of it I couldn't believe it was a Sony Ericsson. So much so that it's not possible to believe that the makers of the Walkman could come up with something so bland. I hope there are more options in the Media player. The screen resolution (800 x 480 pixels) of the phone is such that it makes it good for watching widescreen movies. However, there is no support for DivX or XviD and I don't see it happening for even the final version. Hope the X2 supports all formats.

The highly-anticipated Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 smartphone has been approved by the FCC and helpfully posted on their website so I can spend my Saturday mornings combing through confusingly bureaucratic PDF files looking for announcements like this. The specific model vetted by the fatcats in Washington probably isn't the one we'll be seeing here in North America: it's referred to as the X1i, which in Sony terms means Europe, and it's not yet equipped with 3G. Still, this is a good indication that we will be getting the X1 before 2009, though it'll still be after those shifty Europeans.

The Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 is not yet available in the Indian market and will be here only in early November. The expected price tag for the phone is anywhere between 35K - 40K, which is quite steep. I feel it's better to look at it as any other premium Sony Ericsson phone, which when launched is highly priced and later on sees a price drop.

The HTC Touch Diamond is slow and sells for a much lesser price. We will also see the Touch Pro, which should be faster and has perfect competition with the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1. Also, the X2 is expected to feature early next year, which may demand the price of the X1 to drop. But until then it's a long wait.

Samsung I900 omnia

2008-10-31T17:03:00.000-07:00

This phone features Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional as its base operating system with the TouchWiz Interface working as a face.

It's been over a month since I reviewed the Samsung TouchWiz F480 and the more I used the phone I realized that the full touch interface from Samsung was worthy of appreciation. Now we've got our hands on the Olympiad i900 from Samsung, better known as the Omnia.

This phone features Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional as its base operating system with the TouchWiz Interface working as a face. Let's see if the Windows Mobile platform can help the TouchWiz interface get any better than the Original TouchWiz phone - the F480.

Bundle

Samsung i900 Omnia (8GB)

Stereo Headset

1GB microSD card

USB Cable

Charger

This is what we received along with the Samsung Omnia handset as its bundle.

Specification

The Samsung Omnia sells for Rs.33,500 with a 1-year warranty. After seeing the price of the TouchWiz F480, a non Windows Mobile device from Samsung for under 20K, this pricing seems rather steep. The phone does have a lot to offer with regard to its functionality.

But as I see it, the use of Windows Mobile is what has increased its price. At this price you get a lot of phones and the choice is not limited. Almost every other phone is accessible, the N95 8GB a great phone for 24K is also available but it doesn't feature DivX/XviD support.

Nevertheless, if you want DivX/XviD support you can get it by just paying a little extra for decent software. Then there is the Viewty for under 20K, however, that too misses out on Wi-Fi and its interface isn't the best. Now these options can be attained for well under the price that the Omnia is selling for.

So the question is whether you can sacrifice one of the features these phones have to offer. If you can't, then the Omnia should be able to satisfy your needs. However, if you want to save some money then it's better to go with something much cheaper than the Omnia, depending on what you want from your phone.

1,00,000 Sony Laptop Batteries Recalled

2008-10-31T17:01:00.000-07:00

You've been using Sony batteries in your HP, Dell and Toshiba notebooks.

Sony's battery woes don't seem to end. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a voluntary recall of Sony batteries sold via laptop manufacturers like HP, Dell, and Toshiba.

The recall was issued after a few reported incidents where the lithium-ion batteries overheated and caught a small fire resulting in minor property damage and injuring two people with minor burns.

There are around a 35,000 affected batteries sold in the US through HP, Dell and Toshiba, while the remaining 65,000 have been sold worldwide as separate battery packs. Sony has acknowledged the battery recall and issued a statement for the same.

"It is believed that most of these incidents were related to manufacturing line adjustments made from October 2004 to June 2005, which may have affected some battery cells produced during that period. In addition, there were some incidents that may have involved a raw material flaw."

India get hands on Nokia N79

2008-10-31T16:58:00.000-07:00

As promised, Nokia has started shipping its N79 for the Indian market. The phone was unveiled in August this year.

The N79 is aimed at the style-conscious multimedia phone users. For the same, the phone comes with a range of features that include integrated navigation, music with FM transmitter, high-speed connectivity capability, Web browsing, 10 pre-loaded N-Gage games.

For the style-factor, the phone will be bundled with three 'Xpress-On' swappable smart covers -- available in 5 colors: Light Sea Blue, Espresso Brown, Olive Green, White, and Coral Red.

The N79 is a candybar phone sporting a 2.4-inch screen with a resolution of 320 x 240 pixels (QVGA). It measures 110 x 49 x 15 mm and weighs 95g. Like the others in the Nseries, this phone too is powered by the Symbian operating system (OS 9.3, Series 60 v3.2) and also features a 5-megapixel camera with a Carl Zeiss autofocus lens.

The phone is 3.5G (GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, WCDMA) ready and can also keep you connected through Wi-fi. It also bundles a Micro-USB connector (USB 2.0) for data transfer and a 3.5 mm AV connector.

Nokia N79 comes preloaded with 'Anthems 1998-2008', a compilation of 19 all-time favorite classic club songs, and 17 new age music videos (by the Ministry of Sound).

The phone also bundles along a 4GB microSD memory card to fill the void of the paltry 50 MB internal memory.

The company claims that the N79 offers up to 372 hours of battery time in standby, and 5 and a half hours while talking.

The Nokia N79 is available for an approximate price of Rs. 23, 000.

Dell launched new subnotebook: Inspiron Mini 12

2008-10-31T16:51:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, the Dell Inspiron Mini 12, a larger version of the Mini 9, makes its debut—in Japan. Dell had reached an exclusive agreement with VIC Camera, Kojima, and SofMap—all Japanese retailers—to make the early announcement overseas. According to Dell, the Inspiron 12 will ship in the United States by mid-November. The Mini 12 is officially the first netbook to house a 12-inch wide screen; the largest so far have been 10-inch models such as the Lenovo IdeaPad S10 and the MSI Wind. The screen offers 1,280-by-800 resolution, higher than the typical 1,280-by-600 netbooks. Its shape is like a wedge, measuring 9.0-by-11.8-by-0.92 inches, becoming thicker towards the back. The weight starts at 2.7 pounds, with a 3-cell battery. A 6-cell battery will be available later on and will likely bring the weight over 3 pounds.

Like the S10 and the Wind, the Mini 12’s feature set includes three USB ports, a multi card reader, Ethernet, VGA-Out, and a 1.3-mega pixel camera. Hard drives aren’t the meager solid state ones offered on the Mini 9; you have a choice of 40GB, 60GB, and 80GB spinning drives. Although it doesn’t have the antenna infrastructure to support WWAN, an empty slot is available for it, like on the Mini 9. In the meantime, the Mini 12 has both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth built in. Like the Mini 9, the new Mini uses Intel’s Atom platform: The 1.33-GHz Z520 and the 1.6-GHz Z530 Atom processor are both available come November. The Mini 12 is one of the few systems to run Windows Vista Basic, which will be the only choice for operating systems at this time. The Vista system starts at $550.

Source: Computer World

Future of Mobile - Google Android Phone

2008-10-31T16:45:00.000-07:00

The main event of the night, was Google’s presenter Justin Baird on the future of mobile. He started off by presenting some interesting stats such as there being 1.3Billion people having internet access versus 3.3Billion having mobile phones. Obviously, mobile presents a wealth of untapped opportunites. there are more people sending SMS than using search engines. Everyone in the developed world has a mobile - if not one, than two!

Justin talked about a bunch of other stuff, but the only stuff which I remember was what we had all been waiting for - The Andriod - Google’s answer to the Apple Iphone. A very cool device I must say. Again, this bordered on being a product pitch, but that’s what happens when you attend a marketing event.

The Android is really different to any other phone because it an open source product, which I found rather interesting. The Apple Iphone or any other phone, is a static device because you only use the applications already found on your mobile i.e. they have already been preprogrammed on there. Being capable of open source, means that new developments and applications can be constantly added. Google is adopting a similar practice to its igoogle portal which has open source for its applications. I’ve got a igoogle portal, and I’m fascinated by the amount of widgets they have developed for it. You name it, and they’ve got it. If they dont have it, you can develop it, if you have the necessary know how. That is one of the reasons facebook is so popular, because new apps are constantly being developed by the user community.

I think we will see a lot more mashup apps involving google maps. What the phone does is triangulate your position using cell towers, giving you a fairly good idea of where you are. The thing that really blew me away was compass function using google maps. Imagine having a screen showing you where you want to go. When you move, the phone acts like a compass and adjusts the picture based on where you have moved, giving you a real picture. Very cool.

In addition, because Google is behind it, you know that search has to be incorporated somehow. the stats really surprised me. The click through rate for display ads on google typically is 0.2%. However, on mobiles, that rate is 2%. That’s a 10 fold increase. I tell you why - because the ads become even more relevant based on your location. If your current location is say Parramatta, and you search for restaurants and ads come up for that area, you are more inclined to click on those ads on your mobile. With the unleashing of True Local, we will really see the power of geographic based ads.

From the presentation and my own experience overseas, Australia is really behind globally in the mobile experience. But we are catching up. I remember friends of mine in New York, using blackberries to search for places using google maps. In the U.S they also have unlimited data ability for their phones. Phone data charges here are quite prohibitive - the carriers have to work together to find a way to somehow get to the level of unlimited data downloads. But its probably not going to happen because we can’t get enough people onto the network to make that feasible.

After this presentation, I really do think there are lot more marketing and innovative opportunites we can use with mobiles. I mean more people have mobiles than computers. A mobile is our social currency and keeps us attuned with our friends and family. It is only natural that it becomes even more extended into our lives. Once we can get full internet functionability on our phones, we will really see the true power of mobiles. And there really won’t be a distinction between online and offline. We’ll always be connected.

Android phone already vulnerable to attacks

2008-10-31T16:40:00.000-07:00

Less than a week after the release of Google’s T-Mobile G1 smart phone, security experts detected a serious security flaw in its Android operating system that leaves it wide open for hackers to launch drive-by attacks on users’ devices.The security vulnerability, detected by researchers at Baltimore, Maryland-based Independent Security Evaluators, follows last week’s release of Google’s T-Mobile G1 phone Oct. 22, which is powered by the Android operating system.

“These phones will currently ship with the vulnerability present and may pose a security risk to their users until and update becomes available,” said Miller in his posting. According to the advisory, Google Android relies on more than 80 different open source packages. And the security error stems from a buffer overflow vulnerability in some of the older, more vulnerable versions of the open source software. Subsequently, an unsuspecting user could be successfully exploited simply by accessing an infected Web page using with a vulnerable operating system, experts say. Once a user in infected, attackers could then obtain access to any personal information accessible from the victim’s browser — including cookies, information entered into Web application and saved passwords — in order to steal a bank account numbers, Social Security information and other sensitive data.

Source: CRN

Robotic Surgeons

2008-05-15T12:29:00.000-07:00

The first generation of surgical robots are already being installed in a number of operating rooms around the world. These aren't true autonomous robots that can perform surgical tasks on their own, but they are lending a mechanical helping hand to surgeons. These machines still require a human surgeon to operate them and input instructions. Remote control and voice activation are the methods by which these surgical robots are controlled.

Types of instruments used
by the da Vinci Surgical System

Robotics are being introduced to medicine because they allow for unprecedented control and precision of surgical instruments in minimally invasive procedures. So far, these machines have been used to position an endoscope, perform gallbladder surgery and correct gastroesophogeal reflux and heartburn. The ultimate goal of the robotic surgery field is to design a robot that can be used to perform closed-chest, beating-heart surgery. According to one manufacturer, robotic devices could be used in more than 3.5 million medical procedures per year in the United States alone. Here are three surgical robots that have been recently developed:

da Vinci Surgical System
ZEUS Robotic Surgical System
AESOP Robotic System

On July 11, 2000, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the da Vinci Surgical System, making it the first robotic system allowed to be used in American operating rooms. Developed by Intuitive Surgical, da Vinci uses technology that allows the human surgeon to get closer to the surgical site than human vision will allow, and work at a smaller scale than conventional surgery permits. The $1 million da Vinci system consists of two primary components:

A viewing and control console
A surgical arm unit

In using da Vinci for gallbladder surgery, three incisions -- no larger than the diameter of a pencil -- are made in the patient's abdomen, which allows for three stainless-steel rods to be inserted. The rods are held in place by three robotic arms. One of the rods is equipped with a camera, while the other two are fitted with surgical instruments that are able to dissect and suture the tissue of the gallbladder. Unlike in conventional surgery, these instruments are not directly touched by the doctor's hands.

Photo courtesy Intuitive Surgical.
Surgeon's view when using the da Vinci Surgical System

Sitting at the control console, a few feet from the operating table, the surgeon looks into a viewfinder to examine the 3-D images being sent by the camera inside the patient. The images show the surgical site and the two surgical instruments mounted on the tips of two of the rods. Joystick-like controls, located just underneath the screen, are used by the surgeon to manipulate the surgical instruments. Each time one of the joysticks is moved, a computer sends an electronic signal to one of the instruments, which moves in sync with the movements of the surgeon's hands.

Another robotic system that is close to being cleared by the FDA is the ZEUS System, made by Computer Motion, which is already available in Europe. However, both the da Vinci and ZEUS systems must receive governmental approval for each procedure that a surgeon plans to use it for. The $750,000 ZEUS has a similar setup to that of the da Vinci. It has a computer workstation, a video display, and hand controls that are used to move the table-mounted surgical instruments. While the ZEUS system has not yet been cleared for American use beyond clinical trials, German doctors have already used the system to perform coronary bypass surgery.

The ZEUS system employs the assistance of the Automated Endoscopic System for Optimal Positioning (AESOP) Robotic System. Released by Computer Motion in 1994, AESOP was the first robot to be cleared by the FDA for assisting surgery in the operating room. AESOP is much simpler than the da Vinci and ZEUS systems. It's basically just one mechanical arm, used by the physician to position the endoscope -- a surgical camera inserted into the patient. Foot pedals or voice-activated software allow the physician to position the camera, leaving his or her hands free to continue operating on the patient.

Robots and Artificial Intelligence

2008-05-15T12:27:00.000-07:00

Artificial intelligence (AI) is arguably the most exciting field in robotics. It's certainly the most controversial: Everybody agrees that a robot can work in an assembly line, but there's no consensus on whether a robot can ever be intelligent.

AI in the Movies

2001: A Space Odyssey

Bicentennial Man

Blade Runner

Demon Seed

The Matrix

Short Circuit

The Terminator

Westworld

Like the term "robot" itself, artificial intelligence is hard to define. Ultimate AI would be a recreation of the human thought process -- a man-made machine with our intellectual abilities. This would include the ability to learn just about anything, the ability to reason, the ability to use language and the ability to formulate original ideas. Roboticists are nowhere near achieving this level of artificial intelligence, but they have had made a lot of progress with more limited AI. Today's AI machines can replicate some specific elements of intellectual ability.

Computers can already solve problems in limited realms. The basic idea of AI problem-solving is very simple, though its execution is complicated. First, the AI robot or computer gathers facts about a situation through sensors or human input. The computer compares this information to stored data and decides what the information signifies. The computer runs through various possible actions and predicts which action will be most successful based on the collected information. Of course, the computer can only solve problems it's programmed to solve -- it doesn't have any generalized analytical ability. Chess computers are one example of this sort of machine.

Some modern robots also have the ability to learn in a limited capacity. Learning robots recognize if a certain action (moving its legs in a certain way, for instance) achieved a desired result (navigating an obstacle). The robot stores this information and attempts the successful action the next time it encounters the same situation. Again, modern computers can only do this in very limited situations. They can't absorb any sort of information like a human can. Some robots can learn by mimicking human actions. In Japan, roboticists have taught a robot to dance by demonstrating the moves themselves.

Some robots can interact socially. Kismet, a robot at M.I.T's Artificial Intelligence Lab, recognizes human body language and voice inflection and responds appropriately. Kismet's creators are interested in how humans and babies interact, based only on tone of speech and visual cue. This low-level interaction could be the foundation of a human-like learning system.

Kismet and other humanoid robots at the M.I.T. AI Lab operate using an unconventional control structure. Instead of directing every action using a central computer, the robots control lower-level actions with lower-level computers. The program's director, Rodney Brooks, believes this is a more accurate model of human intelligence. We do most things automatically; we don't decide to do them at the highest level of consciousness.

Photo courtesy Kitano Symbiotic Systems Project
Kitano's PINO
"The Humanoid Robot"

works. Developing AI isn't like building an artificial heart -- scientists don't have a simple, concrete model to work from. We do know that the The real challenge of AI is to understand how natural intelligencebrain contains billions and billions of neurons, and that we think and learn by establishing electrical connections between different neurons. But we don't know exactly how all of these connections add up to higher reasoning, or even low-level operations. The complex circuitry seems incomprehensible.

Because of this, AI research is largely theoretical. Scientists hypothesize on how and why we learn and think, and they experiment with their ideas using robots. Brooks and his team focus on humanoid robots because they feel that being able to experience the world like a human is essential to developing human-like intelligence. It also makes it easier for people to interact with the robots, which potentially makes it easier for the robot to learn.

Just as physical robotic design is a handy tool for understanding animal and human anatomy, AI research is useful for understanding how natural intelligence works. For some roboticists, this insight is the ultimate goal of designing robots. Others envision a world where we live side by side with intelligent machines and use a variety of lesser robots for manual labor, health care and communication. A number of robotics experts predict that robotic evolution will ultimately turn us into cyborgs -- humans integrated with machines. Conceivably, people in the future could load their minds into a sturdy robot and live for thousands of years!

In any case, robots will certainly play a larger role in our daily lives in the future. In the coming decades, robots will gradually move out of the industrial and scientific worlds and into daily life, in the same way that computers spread to the home in the 1980s.

The best way to understand robots is to look at specific designs. The links on the next page will show you a variety of robot projects around the world.

Homebrew Robots

2008-05-15T12:25:00.001-07:00

In the last couple of sections, we looked at the most prominent fields in the world of robots -- industry robotics and research robotics. Professionals in these fields have made most of the major advancements in robotics over the years, but they aren't the only ones making robots. For decades, a small but passionate band of hobbyists has been creating robots in garages and basements all over the world.

Homebrew robotics is a rapidly expanding subculture with a sizable Web presence. Amateur roboticists cobble together their creations using commercial robot kits, mail order components, toys and even old VCRs.

Homebrew robots are as varied as professional robots. Some weekend roboticists tinker with elaborate walking machines, some design their own service bots and others create competitive robots. The most familiar competitive robots are remote control fighters like you might see on "BattleBots." These machines aren't considered "true robots" because they don't have reprogrammable computer brains. They're basically souped-up remote control cars.

More advanced competitive robots are controlled by computer. Soccer robots, for example, play miniaturized soccer with no human input at all. A standard soccer bot team includes several individual robots that communicate with a central computer. The computer "sees" the entire soccer field with a video camera and picks out its own team members, the opponent's members, the ball and the goal based on their color. The computer processes this information at every second and decides how to direct its own team.

Check out the official RoboCup Web site for more information on Soccer robots, and Google > Computers > Robotics > Competitions for information on other robot competitions. Google > Computers > Robotics > Building will give you more information on building your own robots.

Adaptable and Universal
The personal computer revolution has been marked by extraordinary adaptability. Standardized hardware and programming languages let computer engineers and amateur programmers mold computers to their own particular purposes. Computer components are sort of like art supplies -- they have an infinite number of uses.

Most robots to date have been more like kitchen appliances. Roboticists build them from the ground up for a fairly specific purpose. They don't adapt well to radically new applications.

This situation may be changing. A company called Evolution Robotics is pioneering the world of adaptable robotics hardware and software. The company hopes to carve out a niche for itself with easy-to-use "robot developer kits."

The kits come with an open software platform tailored to a range of common robotic functions. For example, roboticists can easily give their creations the ability to follow a target, listen to voice commands and maneuver around obstacles. None of these capabilities are revolutionary from a technology standpoint, but it's unusual that you would find them in one simple package.

The kits also come with common robotics hardware that connects easily with the software. The standard kit comes with infrared sensors, motors, a microphone and a video camera. Roboticists put all these pieces together with a souped-up erector set -- a collection of aluminum body pieces and sturdy wheels.

These kits aren't your run-of-the-mill construction sets, of course. At upwards of $700, they're not cheap toys. But they are a big step toward a new sort of robotics. In the near future, creating a new robot to clean your house or take care of your pets while you're away might be as simple as writing a BASIC program to balance your checkbook.

Autonomous Robots

2008-05-15T12:24:00.002-07:00

Autonomous robots can act on their own, independent of any controller. The basic idea is to program the robot to respond a certain way to outside stimuli. The very simple bump-and-go robot is a good illustration of how this works.

This sort of robot has a bumper sensor to detect obstacles. When you turn the robot on, it zips along in a straight line. When it finally hits an obstacle, the impact pushes in its bumper sensor. The robot's programming tells it to back up, turn to the right and move forward again, in response to every bump. In this way, the robot changes direction any time it encounters an obstacle.

Photo courtesy NASA
The autonomous Urbie is designed for various urban operations, including military reconnaissance
and rescue operations.

Advanced robots use more elaborate versions of this same idea. Roboticists create new programs and sensor systems to make robots smarter and more perceptive. Today, robots can effectively navigate a variety of environments.

Simpler mobile robots use infrared or ultrasound sensors to see obstacles. These sensors work the same way as animal echolocation: The robot sends out a sound signal or a beam of infrared light and detects the signal's reflection. The robot locates the distance to obstacles based on how long it takes the signal to bounce back.

Urbie's view

More advanced robots use stereo vision to see the world around them. Two cameras give these robots depth perception, and image-recognition software gives them the ability to locate and classify various objects. Robots might also use microphones and smell sensors to analyze the world around them.

Some autonomous robots can only work in a familiar, constrained environment. Lawn-mowing robots, for example, depend on buried border markers to define the limits of their yard. An office-cleaning robot might need a map of the building in order to maneuver from point to point.

More advanced robots can analyze and adapt to unfamiliar environments, even to areas with rough terrain. These robots may associate certain terrain patterns with certain actions. A rover robot, for example, might construct a map of the land in front of it based on its visual sensors. If the map shows a very bumpy terrain pattern, the robot knows to travel another way. This sort of system is very useful for exploratory robots that operate on other planets (check out JPL Robotics to learn more).

An alternative robot design takes a less structured approach -- randomness. When this type of robot gets stuck, it moves its appendages every which way until something works. Force sensors work very closely with the actuators, instead of the computer directing everything based on a program. This is something like an ant trying to get over an obstacle -- it doesn't seem to make a decision when it needs to get over an obstacle, it just keeps trying things until it gets over it.

Mobile Robots

2008-05-15T12:24:00.001-07:00

Robotic arms are relatively easy to build and program because they only operate within a confined area. Things get a bit trickier when you send a robot out into the world.

Photo courtesy NASA
NASA's FIDO Rover is designed for exploration on Mars.

The first obstacle is to give the robot a working locomotion system. If the robot will only need to move over smooth ground, wheels or tracks are the best option. Wheels and tracks can also work on rougher terrain if they are big enough. But robot designers often look to legs instead, because they are more adaptable. Building legged robots also helps researchers understand natural locomotion -- it's a useful exercise in biological research.

Photo courtesy Fujitsu and K&D Technology, Inc.
Fujitsu's HOAP-1 robot

Typically, hydraulic or pneumatic pistons move robot legs back and forth. The pistons attach to different leg segments just like muscles attach to different bones. It's a real trick getting all these pistons to work together properly. As a baby, your brain had to figure out exactly the right combination of muscle contractions to walk upright without falling over. Similarly, a robot designer has to figure out the right combination of piston movements involved in walking and program this information into the robot's computer. Many mobile robots have a built-in balance system (a collection of gyroscopes, for example) that tells the computer when it needs to correct its movements.

Photo courtesy NASA
NASA's Frogbot uses springs, linkages and motors to hop from place to place.

Bipedal locomotion (walking on two legs) is inherently unstable, which makes it very difficult to implement in robots. To create more stable robot walkers, designers commonly look to the animal world, specifically insects. Six-legged insects have exceptionally good balance, and they adapt well to a wide variety of terrain.

Some mobile robots are controlled by remote -- a human tells them what to do and when to do it. The remote control might communicate with the robot through an attached wire, or using radio or infrared signals. Remote robots, often called puppet robots, are useful for exploring dangerous or inaccessible environments, such as the deep sea or inside a volcano. Some robots are only partially controlled by remote. For example, the operator might direct the robot to go to a certain spot, but not steer it there -- the robot would find its own way.

The Robotic Arm

2008-05-15T12:23:00.001-07:00

The term robot comes from the Czech word robota, generally translated as "forced labor." This describes the majority of robots fairly well. Most robots in the world are designed for heavy, repetitive manufacturing work. They handle tasks that are difficult, dangerous or boring to human beings.

Robotic arms are an essential part of car manufacturing.

The most common manufacturing robot is the robotic arm. A typical robotic arm is made up of seven metal segments, joined by six joints. The computer controls the robot by rotating individual step motors connected to each joint (some larger arms use hydraulics or pneumatics). Unlike ordinary motors, step motors move in exact increments (check out Anaheim Automation to find out how). This allows the computer to move the arm very precisely, repeating exactly the same movement over and over again. The robot uses motion sensors to make sure it moves just the right amount.

An industrial robot with six joints closely resembles a human arm -- it has the equivalent of a shoulder, an elbow and a wrist. Typically, the shoulder is mounted to a stationary base structure rather than to a movable body. This type of robot has six degrees of freedom, meaning it can pivot in six different ways. A human arm, by comparison, has seven degrees of freedom.

Your arm's job is to move your hand from place to place. Similarly, the robotic arm's job is to move an end effector from place to place. You can outfit robotic arms with all sorts of end effectors, which are suited to a particular application. One common end effector is a simplified version of the hand, which can grasp and carry different objects. Robotic hands often have built-in pressure sensors that tell the computer how hard the robot is gripping a particular object. This keeps the robot from dropping or breaking whatever it's carrying. Other end effectors include blowtorches, drills and spray painters.

Industrial robots are designed to do exactly the same thing, in a controlled environment, over and over again. For example, a robot might twist the caps onto peanut butter jars coming down an assembly line. To teach a robot how to do its job, the programmer guides the arm through the motions using a handheld controller. The robot stores the exact sequence of movements in its memory, and does it again and again every time a new unit comes down the assembly line.

Most industrial robots work in auto assembly lines, putting cars together. Robots can do a lot of this work more efficiently than human beings because they are so precise. They always drill in the exactly the same place, and they always tighten bolts with the same amount of force, no matter how many hours they've been working. Manufacturing robots are also very important in the computer industry. It takes an incredibly precise hand to put together a tiny microchip.

Robot Basics

2008-05-15T12:21:00.000-07:00

The vast majority of robots do have several qualities in common. First of all, almost all robots have a movable body. Some only have motorized wheels, and others have dozens of movable segments, typically made of metal or plastic. Like the bones in your body, the individual segments are connected together with joints.

Photo courtesy NASA
A robotic hand, developed by NASA, is made up of metal segments moved by tiny motors. The hand is one of the most difficult structures to replicate in robotics.

Robots spin wheels and pivot jointed segments with some sort of actuator. Some robots use electric motors and solenoids as actuators; some use a hydraulic system; and some use a pneumatic system (a system driven by compressed gases). Robots may use all these actuator types.

A robot needs a power source to drive these actuators. Most robots either have a battery or they plug into the wall. Hydraulic robots also need a pump to pressurize the hydraulic fluid, and pneumatic robots need an air compressor or compressed air tanks.

The actuators are all wired to an electrical circuit. The circuit powers electrical motors and solenoids directly, and it activates the hydraulic system by manipulating electrical valves. The valves determine the pressurized fluid's path through the machine. To move a hydraulic leg, for example, the robot's controller would open the valve leading from the fluid pump to a piston cylinder attached to that leg. The pressurized fluid would extend the piston, swiveling the leg forward. Typically, in order to move their segments in two directions, robots use pistons that can push both ways.

The robot's computer controls everything attached to the circuit. To move the robot, the computer switches on all the necessary motors and valves. Most robots are reprogrammable -- to change the robot's behavior, you simply write a new program to its computer.

Photo courtesy NASA JPL
NASA's Urbie climbing stairs

Not all robots have sensory systems, and few have the ability to see, hear, smell or taste. The most common robotic sense is the sense of movement -- the robot's ability to monitor its own motion. A standard design uses slotted wheels attached to the robot's joints. An LED on one side of the wheel shines a beam of light through the slots to a light sensor on the other side of the wheel. When the robot moves a particular joint, the slotted wheel turns. The slots break the light beam as the wheel spins. The light sensor reads the pattern of the flashing light and transmits the data to the computer. The computer can tell exactly how far the joint has swiveled based on this pattern. This is the same basic system used in computer mice.

These are the basic nuts and bolts of robotics. Roboticists can combine these elements in an infinite number of ways to create robots of unlimited complexity. In the next section, we'll look at one of the most popular designs, the robotic arm.

How Robots Work

2008-05-15T12:16:00.000-07:00

On the most basic level, human beings are made up of five major components:

A body structure
A muscle system to move the body structure
A sensory system that receives information about the body and the surrounding environment
A power source to activate the muscles and sensors
A brain system that processes sensory information and tells the muscles what to do

Of course, we also have some intangible attributes, such as intelligence and morality, but on the sheer physical level, the list above about covers it.

A robot is made up of the very same components. A typical robot has a movable physical structure, a motor of some sort, a sensor system, a power supply and a computer "brain" that controls all of these elements. Essentially, robots are man-made versions of animal life -- they are machines that replicate human and animal behavior.

In this article, we'll explore the basic concept of robotics and find out how robots do what they do.

Robot Image Gallery

Photo courtesy NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
NASA's Urban Robot, Urbie, features software-controlled cameras and sensors that allow it to operate autonomously in many types of terrain. URBIE checks out areas that would pose potential risks to human investigators.

Joseph Engelberger, a pioneer in industrial robotics, once remarked "I can't define a robot, but I know one when I see one." If you consider all the different machines people call robots, you can see that it's nearly impossible to come up with a comprehensive definition. Everybody has a different idea of what constitutes a robot.

You've probably heard of several of these famous robots:

R2D2 and C-3PO: The intelligent, speaking robots with loads of personality in the "Star Wars" movies
Sony's AIBO: A robotic dog that learns through human interaction
Honda's ASIMO: A robot that can walk on two legs like a person
Industrial robots: Automated machines that work on assembly lines
Data: The almost human android from "Star Trek"
BattleBots: The remote control fighters on Comedy Central
Bomb-defusing robots
NASA's Mars rovers
HAL: The ship's computer in Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey"
Robomower: The lawn-mowing robot from Friendly Robotics
The Robot in the television series "Lost in Space"
MindStorms: LEGO's popular robotics kit

HowStuffWorks has several articles on other types of robots:

How Robotic Surgery Will Work
How Robonauts Will Work
How Snakebots Will Work
How Rumble Robots Work
How Stinger Missiles Work

All of these things are considered robots, at least by some people. The broadest definition around defines a robot as anything that a lot of people recognize as a robot. Most roboticists (people who build robots) use a more precise definition. They specify that robots have a reprogrammable brain (a computer) that moves a body.

By this definition, robots are distinct from other movable machines, such as cars, because of their computer element. Many new cars do have an onboard computer, but it's only there to make small adjustments. You control most elements in the car directly by way of various mechanical devices. Robots are distinct from ordinary computers in their physical nature -- normal computers don't have a physical body attached to them.

Web Conferencing Features

2008-03-13T11:52:00.001-07:00

Web conferencing programs come with a tremendous variety of features and capabilities. Some can merge with a company's existing e-mail, calendar, messaging and office productivity applications. Some allow attendees to view the presentation in their regular web browser without installing any additional software.

Depending on the software, people can:

View slide presentations from programs like PowerPoint
Draw or write on a common whiteboard by using their computer mice or typing
Annotate images and diagrams using the same whiteboard principle
Transmit still pictures or video to other attendees via a webcam (This increases the required bandwidth and can sometimes slow the transfer of the presentation.)
View information from the moderator's computer desktop using screen sharing
Share documents, often even if attendees don't have the software that created them, using application sharing
Hold interactive question-and-answer sessions that integrate video and audio
Send public or private messages through instant messaging
Annotate or modify documents and spreadsheets from compatible applications
Transfer files between attendees
Ask and answer questions through audio chat (as an integrated part of the software) or by phone

Some web conferencing programs
can replicate real-world whiteboards.

Since these meetings take place over the Internet, programs include options for security and encryption. Most programs require moderators and attendees to use a login name and password to access the meeting. Some use SSL or TLS encryption to protect data. Some companies also host web conferences on internal servers so that the data stays behind the corporate firewall. The moderator or host can monitor who is participating in the conference through sign-in logs and roll calls.

A Typical Online Meeting
Web conferences can vary dramatically depending on software, hosting and how the moderator runs the meeting. Here are the basic steps used with many meeting programs:

The moderator gathers content for the meeting, including spreadsheets, documents and presentations from other applications.
The moderator sets a time and date for the meeting and uses the meeting software to invite attendees via e-mail.
The attendees accept the invitation, and their calendar programs add the meeting to their calendars.
The meeting moderator opens the conferencing software before the meeting is scheduled to start and makes sure the connections and content are working properly.
When the meeting time arrives, the attendees click on the URL in their invitation email to go to the meeting.
The visual portion of the meeting takes place in the meeting software or in a web browser.
The moderator and participants communicate by phone, voice chat or instant messenger during the meeting.
At the end of the meeting, the moderator and attendees close their programs or browser windows and sign off.

Teleconferencing Online

2008-03-13T11:51:00.000-07:00

Web conferencing allows people to communicate through text and video in addition to audio. The simplest web conferencing methods use chat and instant messaging programs to host text-based group discussions. More sophisticated programs exchange visual information with webcams and streaming video. Some allow people to share documents online.

Companies can either purchase conferencing software and host their meetings themselves or use a hosting service. Hosting services provide the software and server space on which to conduct meetings. Either way, the company or the hosting service must have software to coordinate the meeting and ample server space and bandwidth to accommodate it.

Web conferencing programs combine tools already common to web pages and Internet communication. They bundle these tools into one interface to create an interactive meeting environment. These tools include:

HTML, XML and ASP markup
Java scripts
Flash animation
Instant messaging
Streaming audio and video

Some programs are entirely computer- and Internet-based. Others use the telephone system to distribute audio content. To participate in the online meetings, participants must have:

A computer
An Internet connection
A telephone, if audio content is not provided online

If the conferencing program relies on Internet-based audio chat and webcam feeds, the participants' PCs should have:

Microphones
Webcams
Video capture cards

In general, every online presentation or meeting has a moderator and attendees. The moderator sets the time and date of the meeting, prepares the content and makes sure everything works properly before the meeting begins. Attendees can either view the presentation without giving feedback or can collaborate, based on the settings and capabilities of the programs. Often, moderators can record the presentation for later viewing and can pass their moderator capabilities to attendees during the meeting.

But what can people do in these virtual meeting rooms? Let's find out.

Other Uses for Web ConferencingWeb conferences aren't just for businesses. Hospitals can use audio and video conferencing to supplement their emergency room staff. For example, some Massachusetts hospitals use video conferencing to allow neurologists to confer with stroke patients. Web conferencing has also allowed deployed soldiers to communicate with their families and even get married.

How Teleconferencing Works : Introduction to How Teleconferencing Works

2008-03-13T11:50:00.000-07:00

In the past few years, corporations have gotten bigger and more spread out. Many American employees -- more than 44 million in 2004 -- also do at least some of their work from home [ref]. Since offices and employees can be thousands of miles apart, getting everyone into the same room for meetings and training has become decidedly impractical for a lot of companies.

That's why teleconferencing -- the real-time exchange of information between people who are not in the same physical space -- has become such a big industry. The American audio conferencing industry alone reported $2.25 billion in revenue in 2004 [ref]. Through teleconferencing, companies can conduct meetings, customer briefs, training, demonstrations and workshops by phone or online instead of in person.

In this article, we'll look at different types of teleconferencing, from conference calls to online meetings.

The simplest phone teleconference is a three-way call, available in many homes as a service from the telephone company. Another very simple (but not necessarily effective) method is to have two groups of people talk to one another via speakerphone. The limits of three-way calling and the sound quality of speakerphones make both of these options impractical for most businesses.

Conference calls let groups of people -- from a few to hundreds -- communicate by phone. Banks and brokerages often use conference calls to give status reports to large numbers of listeners. Other businesses use conference calls to help coworkers communicate, plan and brainstorm. To connect to the call, attendees call a designated number (MeetMe conferencing), or an operator or moderator calls each participant (ad hoc conferencing).

Conference calls connect people through a conference bridge, which is essentially a server that acts like a telephone and can answer multiple calls simultaneously. Software plays a large role in the bridge's capabilities beyond simply connecting multiple callers.

A company can have its own bridge or can contract with a service provider for conference call hosting. Providers frequently offer add-on features for conference calls, such as:

Attendee polling
Call recording
In-call operators or attendants

Companies using Voice over IP (VoIP) telephones can also host conference calls themselves if the VoIP software supports them.

Many phone conferencing systems require a login and personal identification number (PIN) to access the system. This helps protect confidential and proprietary information during the call.

Video phones can add a visual element to conference calls, but businesses often need to share other visual information.

Use of VoIP in Amateur Radio

2008-03-13T11:43:00.000-07:00

Think of amateur radio, or ham radio, as an early version of the Internet. Using a worldwide network of radio towers, antennas and transceivers, amateur radio enthusiasts are able to communicate with fellow hobbyists around the globe, sometimes by voice and sometimes by Morse code.

Amateur or ham radio operators can use VoIP technology to set up temporary stations such as this one used by the Red Cross following Sept. 11.

Amateur radio is limited by the distance that radio waves can travel. To send a signal to the other side of the world requires calculated timing and more than a little bit of luck. Every 11 years, for example, there's a peak in the number of sunspots produced by the sun, which increases the intensity of something called ionospheric propagation [source: International Solar Terrestrial Physics Program]. By bouncing radio signals high into the ionosphere, ham radio users can send long-distance messages. During off-peak years it's much more difficult.

Now amateur radio fans are using VoIP technology to link users around the globe. Here's how it works. Ham radio has always relied on FM repeaters, large radio towers that act as base stations for accessing the radio network from home. By attaching an Internet-connected PC to these repeater stations, people can communicate with the repeater using VoIP.

Several amateur radio fans have developed special software that helps connect home radio transceivers to the Internet. Users can connect their ham radio transceivers to their PC sound card and use the computer software to search for available repeater stations across the world [source: ARRL]. No longer are ham radio fans limited to the closest repeater station. If you live in Indiana, you can call into a repeater station in Mozambique and chat with local amateur radio aficionados instantly.

There are also software programs that allow you to communicate with other amateur radio users directly from your PC, without having an actual ham radio [source: ARRL]. Some ham radio purists wouldn't call this amateur radio, while others hope that this new technology will draw more young people into the hobby.

VoIP Cell Phones

2008-03-13T11:42:00.000-07:00

VoIP-enabled cell phones are just entering the consumer market. In the United States, only T-Mobile's HotSpot@Home service allows customers to make cell phone calls over a VoIP network. HotSpot@Home relies on a device called a dual-mode cell phone.

Image courtesy of T-Mobile
HotSpot@Home lets you make cell phone calls over your home WiFi network. Learn how this useful technology integrates seamlessly between two networks.

Dual-mode cell phones contain both a regular cellular radio and a Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g) radio. The Wi-Fi radio enables the cell phone to connect to a wireless Internet network through a wireless router. If you have a wireless Internet router in your home, or if you're sitting at a Starbucks with wireless Internet access, you can use your cell phone to make VoIP calls. Here's how it works:

When the cell phone is in range of a wireless Internet network, the phone automatically recognizes and connects to the network.
Any calls you initiate on the wireless network are routed through the Internet as VoIP calls. With HotSpot@Home, all VoIP calls are free.
If the phone is out of range of a wireless Internet signal, it automatically switches over to the regular cellular network and calls are charged as normal.
Dual-mode phones can hand off seamlessly from Wi-Fi to cellular (and vice versa) in the middle of a call as you enter and exit Wi-Fi networks.

Similar to dual-mode cell phones are Wi-Fi phones. Wi-Fi phones aren't technically cell phones because they only have a Wi-Fi radio, not a cellular radio. Wi-Fi phones look like cell phones (small, lightweight handsets), but can only make calls when connected to a wireless Internet network. That means all Wi-Fi phone calls are VoIP calls.

Wi-Fi phones are useful in large companies and offices with their own extensive wireless networks. And could prove to be the next big thing, with the expanding market for municipal Wi-Fi. [source: Dr. Dobb's Portal]. Imagine that your entire city was covered by a high-speed wireless network. That means cheap (if not free) VoIP calls wherever you go.

In England, a company called Hutchinson 3G (or simply 3) has partnered with the popular VoIP service Skype to introduce the 3 Skypephone. The Skypephone allows users to make free cell phone calls to other Skype users. The phone can also make regular cell-phone calls to non-Skype users for the normal fees. Here's how it works:

To make a Skype call using the 3 Skypephone, you have to be on 3's cellular network.
To initiate a Skype call, find a Skype user in your phone's address book and press the big "Skype" button.
The call first goes over 3's cellular GSM network to a fixed Internet line, which then connects the call to Skype [source: mobileSift].
From your 3 Skypephone, you can make free VoIP calls to other Skype users whether they have a Skypephone or not. You can talk to Skype users on their PCs or using other Skype VoIP products.

The 3 Skypephone isn't currently available in the United States.

VoIP Call Monitoring

2008-03-13T11:39:00.000-07:00

VoIP has its distinct advantages and disadvantages. The greatest advantage of VoIP is price and the greatest disadvantage is call quality. For businesses who deploy VoIP phone networks -- particularly those who operate busy call centers (customer service, tech support, telemarketing, et cetera) -- call quality issues are both inevitable and unacceptable. To analyze and fix call quality issues, most of these businesses use a technique called VoIP call monitoring.

VoIP call monitoring, also known as quality monitoring (QM), uses hardware and software solutions to test, analyze and rate the overall quality of calls made over a VoIP phone network [source: ManageEngine]. Call monitoring is a key component of a business's overall quality of service (QoS) plan.

Newer Skype services are
equipped to handle
VoIP protocol.

Call monitoring hardware and software uses various mathematical algorithms to measure the quality of a VoIP call and generate a score. The most common score is called the mean opinion score (MOS). The MOS is measured on a scale of one to five, although 4.4 is technically the highest score possible on a VoIP network [source: TestYourVoIP.com]. An MOS of 3.5 or above is considered a "good call" [source: ManageEngine].

To come up with the MOS, call monitoring hardware and software analyzes several different call quality parameters, the most common being:

Latency -- This is the time delay between two ends of a VoIP phone conversation. It can be measured either one-way or round trip. Round-trip latency contributes to the "talk-over effect" experienced during bad VoIP calls, where people end up talking over each other because they think the other person has stopped speaking. A round-trip latency of over 300 millisecond is considered poor [source: TestYourVoIP.com].
Jitter -- Jitter is latency caused by packets arriving late or in the wrong order [source: SearchVoIP.com]. Most VoIP networks try to get rid of jitter with something called a jitter buffer that collects packets in small groups, puts them in the right order and delivers them to the end user all at once. VoIP callers will notice a jitter of 50 msec or greater [source: TestYourVoIP.com].
Packet loss -- Part of the problem with a jitter buffer is that sometimes it gets overloaded and late-arriving packets get "dropped" or lost [source: TestYourVoIP.com]. Sometimes the packets will get lost sporadically throughout a conversation (random loss) and sometimes whole sentences will get dropped (bursty loss) [source: TestYourVoIP.com]. Packet loss is measured as a percentage of lost packets to received packets.

There are two different types of call monitoring: active and passive. Active (or subjective) call monitoring happens before a company deploys its VoIP network. Active monitoring is often done by equipment manufacturers and network specialists who use a company's VoIP network exclusively for testing purposes [source: VoIP Troubleshooter.com]. Active testing can't occur once a VoIP network is deployed and employees are already using the system.

Passive call monitoring analyzes VoIP calls in real-time while they're being made by actual users [source: VoIP Troubleshooter.com]. Passive call monitoring can detect network traffic problems, buffer overloads and other glitches that network administrators can fix in network down time.

Another method for call monitoring is recording VoIP phone calls for later analysis. This type of analysis is limited, however, to what can be heard during the call, not what's happening on the actual network. This type of monitoring is usually done by human beings, not computers, and is called quality assurance.

Advantages of Using VoIP

2008-03-13T11:38:00.000-07:00

VoIP technology uses the Internet's packet-switching capabilities to provide phone service. VoIP has several advantages over circuit switching. For example, packet switching allows several telephone calls to occupy the amount of space occupied by only one in a circuit-switched network. Using PSTN, that 10-minute phone call we talked about earlier consumed 10 full minutes of transmission time at a cost of 128 Kbps. With VoIP, that same call may have occupied only 3.5 minutes of transmission time at a cost of 64 Kbps, leaving another 64 Kbps free for that 3.5 minutes, plus an additional 128 Kbps for the remaining 6.5 minutes. Based on this simple estimate, another three or four calls could easily fit into the space used by a single call under the conventional system. And this example doesn't even factor in the use of data compression, which further reduces the size of each call.

Let's say that you and your friend both have service through a VoIP provider. You both have your analog phones hooked up to the service-provided ATAs. Let's take another look at that typical telephone call, but this time using VoIP over a packet-switched network:

Click "Play" to see how packet switching works.

You pick up the receiver, which sends a signal to the ATA.
The ATA receives the signal and sends a dial tone. This lets you know that you have a connection to the Internet.
You dial the phone number of the party you wish to talk to. The tones are converted by the ATA into digital data and temporarily stored.
The phone number data is sent in the form of a request to your VoIP company's call processor. The call processor checks it to ensure that it's in a valid format.
The call processor determines to whom to map the phone number. In mapping, the phone number is translated to an IP address (more on this later). The soft switch connects the two devices on either end of the call. On the other end, a signal is sent to your friend's ATA, telling it to ask the connected phone to ring.
Once your friend picks up the phone, a session is established between your computer and your friend's computer. This means that each system knows to expect packets of data from the other system. In the middle, the normal Internet infrastructure handles the call as if it were e-mail or a Web page. Each system must use the same protocol to communicate. The systems implement two channels, one for each direction, as part of the session.
You talk for a period of time. During the conversation, your system and your friend's system transmit packets back and forth when there is data to be sent. The ATAs at each end translate these packets as they are received and convert them to the analog audio signal that you hear. Your ATA also keeps the circuit open between itself and your analog phone while it forwards packets to and from the IP host at the other end.
You finish talking and hang up the receiver.
When you hang up, the circuit is closed between your phone and the ATA.
The ATA sends a signal to the soft switch connecting the call, terminating the session.

Probably one of the most compelling advantages of packet switching is that data networks already understand the technology. By migrating to this technology, telephone networks immediately gain the ability to communicate the way computers do. It will still be at least a decade before communications companies can make the full switch over to VoIP. As with all emerging technologies, there are certain hurdles that have to be overcome. We'll look at those in the next section.

VoIP: Packet Switching

2008-03-13T11:37:00.000-07:00

A packet-switched phone network is the alternative to circuit switching. It works like this: While you're talking, the other party is listening, which means that only half of the connection is in use at any given time. Based on that, we can surmise that we could cut the file in half, down to about 4.7 MB, for efficiency. Plus, a significant amount of the time in most conversations is dead air -- for seconds at a time, neither party is talking. If we could remove these silent intervals, the file would be even smaller. Then, instead of sending a continuous stream of bytes (both silent and noisy), what if we sent just the packets of noisy bytes when you created them?

VoIP phone users can make calls using their Internet connection.

Data networks do not use circuit switching. Your Internet connection would be a lot slower if it maintained a constant connection to the Web page you were viewing at any given time. Instead, data networks simply send and retrieve data as you need it. And, instead of routing the data over a dedicated line, the data packets flow through a chaotic network along thousands of possible paths. This is called packet switching.

While circuit switching keeps the connection open and constant, packet switching opens a brief connection -- just long enough to send a small chunk of data, called a packet, from one system to another. It works like this:

The sending computer chops data into small packets, with an address on each one telling the network devices where to send them.
Inside of each packet is a payload. The payload is a piece of the e-mail, a music file or whatever type of file is being transmitted inside the packet.
The sending computer sends the packet to a nearby router and forgets about it. The nearby router send the packet to another router that is closer to the recipient computer. That router sends the packet along to another, even closer router, and so on.
When the receiving computer finally gets the packets (which may have all taken completely different paths to get there), it uses instructions contained within the packets to reassemble the data into its original state.

Packet switching is very efficient. It lets the network route the packets along the least congested and cheapest lines. It also frees up the two computers communicating with each other so that they can accept information from other computers, as well.

VoIP: Circuit Switching

2008-03-13T11:36:00.001-07:00

Existing phone systems are driven by a very reliable but somewhat inefficient method for connecting calls called circuit switching.

Circuit switching is a very basic concept that has been used by telephone networks for more than 100 years. When a call is made between two parties, the connection is maintained for the duration of the call. Because you're connecting two points in both directions, the connection is called a circuit. This is the foundation of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN).

Click "Play" to see how circuit switching works.

Here's how a typical telephone call works:

You pick up the receiver and listen for a dial tone. This lets you know that you have a connection to the local office of your telephone carrier.
You dial the number of the party you wish to talk to.
The call is routed through the switch at your local carrier to the party you are calling.
A connection is made between your telephone and the other party's line using several interconnected switches along the way.
The phone at the other end rings, and someone answers the call.
The connection opens the circuit.
You talk for a period of time and then hang up the receiver.
When you hang up, the circuit is closed, freeing your line and all the lines in between.

Let's say you talk for 10 minutes. During this time, the circuit is continuously open between the two phones. In the early phone system, up until 1960 or so, every call had to have a dedicated wire stretching from one end of the call to the other for the duration of the call. So if you were in New York and you wanted to call Los Angeles, the switches between New York and Los Angeles would connect pieces of copper wire all the way across the United States. You would use all those pieces of wire just for your call for the full 10 minutes. You paid a lot for the call, because you actually owned a 3,000-mile-long copper wire for 10 minutes.

Telephone conversations over today's traditional phone network are somewhat more efficient and they cost a lot less. Your voice is digitized, and your voice along with thousands of others can be combined onto a single fiber optic cable for much of the journey (there's still a dedicated piece of copper wire going into your house, though). These calls are transmitted at a fixed rate of 64 kilobits per second (Kbps) in each direction, for a total transmission rate of 128 Kbps. Since there are 8 kilobits (Kb) in a kilobyte (KB), this translates to a transmission of 16 KB each second the circuit is open, and 960 KB every minute it's open. In a 10-minute conversation, the total transmission is 9,600 KB, which is roughly equal to 10 megabytes (check out How Bits and Bytes Work to learn about these conversions). If you look at a typical phone conversation, much of this transmitted data is wasted.

Using VoIP

2008-03-13T11:35:00.000-07:00

Chances are good you're already making VoIP calls any time you place a long-distance call. Phone companies use VoIP to streamline their networks. By routing thousands of phone calls through a circuit switch and into an IP gateway, they can seriously reduce the bandwidth they're using for the long haul. Once the call is received by a gateway on the other side of the call, it's decompressed, reassembled and routed to a local circuit switch.

Although it will take some time, you can be sure that eventually all of the current circuit-switched networks will be replaced with packet-switching technology (more on packet switching and circuit switching later). IP telephony just makes sense, in terms of both economics and infrastructure requirements. More and more businesses are installing VoIP systems, and the technology will continue to grow in popularity as it makes its way into our homes. Perhaps the biggest draws to VoIP for the home users that are making the switch are price and flexibility.

With VoIP, you can make a call from anywhere you have broadband connectivity. Since the IP phones or ATAs broadcast their info over the Internet, they can be administered by the provider anywhere there's a connection. So business travelers can take their phones or ATAs with them on trips and always have access to their home phone. Another alternative is the softphone. A softphone is client software that loads the VoIP service onto your desktop or laptop. The Vonage softphone has an interface on your screen that looks like a traditional telephone. As long as you have a headset/microphone, you can place calls from your laptop anywhere in the broadband-connected world.

Most VoIP companies are offering minute-rate plans structured like cell phone bills for as little as $30 per month. On the higher end, some offer unlimited plans for $79. With the elimination of unregulated charges and the suite of free features that are included with these plans, it can be quite a savings.

Most VoIP companies provide the features that normal phone companies charge extra for when they are added to your service plan. VoIP includes:

Caller ID
Call waiting
Call transfer
Repeat dial
Return call
Three-way calling

There are also advanced call-filtering options available from some carriers. These features use caller ID information to allow you make a choice about how calls from a particular number are handled. You can:

Forward the call to a particular number
Send the call directly to voice mail
Give the caller a busy signal
Play a "not-in-service" message
Send the caller to a funny rejection hotline

With many VoIP services, you can also check voice mail via the Web or attach messages to an e-mail that is sent to your computer or handheld. Not all VoIP services offer all of the features above. Prices and services vary, so if you're interested, it's best to do a little shopping.

Now that we've looked at VoIP in a general sense, let's look more closely at the components that make the system work. To understand how VoIP really works and why it's an improvement over the traditional phone system, it helps to first understand how a traditional phone system works.

How VOIP works ?

2008-03-13T11:33:00.000-07:00

If you've never heard of VoIP, get ready to change the way you think about long-distance phone calls. VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol, is a method for taking analog audio signals, like the kind you hear when you talk on the phone, and turning them into digital data that can be transmitted over the Internet.

How is this useful? VoIP can turn a standard Internet connection into a way to place free phone calls. The practical upshot of this is that by using some of the free VoIP software that is available to make Internet phone calls, you're bypassing the phone company (and its charges) entirely.

VoIP is a revolutionary technology that has the potential to completely rework the world's phone systems. VoIP providers like Vonage have already been around for a while and are growing steadily. Major carriers like AT&T are already setting up VoIP calling plans in several markets around the United States, and the FCC is looking seriously at the potential ramifications of VoIP service.

Above all else, VoIP is basically a clever "reinvention of the wheel." In this article, we'll explore the principles behind VoIP, its applications and the potential of this emerging technology, which will more than likely one day replace the traditional phone system entirely.

The interesting thing about VoIP is that there is not just one way to place a call. There are three different "flavors" of VoIP service in common use today:

ATA -- The simplest and most common way is through the use of a device called an ATA (analog telephone adaptor). The ATA allows you to connect a standard phone to your computer or your Internet connection for use with VoIP. The ATA is an analog-to-digital converter. It takes the analog signal from your traditional phone and converts it into digital data for transmission over the Internet. Providers like Vonage and AT&T CallVantage are bundling ATAs free with their service. You simply crack the ATA out of the box, plug the cable from your phone that would normally go in the wall socket into the ATA, and you're ready to make VoIP calls. Some ATAs may ship with additional software that is loaded onto the host computer to configure it; but in any case, it's a very straightforward setup.
IP Phones -- These specialized phones look just like normal phones with a handset, cradle and buttons. But instead of having the standard RJ-11 phone connectors, IP phones have an RJ-45 Ethernet connector. IP phones connect directly to your router and have all the hardware and software necessary right onboard to handle the IP call. Wi-Fi phones allow subscribing callers to make VoIP calls from any Wi-Fi hot spot.
Computer-to-computer -- This is certainly the easiest way to use VoIP. You don't even have to pay for long-distance calls. There are several companies offering free or very low-cost software that you can use for this type of VoIP. All you need is the software, a microphone, speakers, a sound card and an Internet connection, preferably a fast one like you would get through a cable or DSL modem. Except for your normal monthly ISP fee, there is usually no charge for computer-to-computer calls, no matter the distance.

If you're interested in trying VoIP, then you should check out some of the free VoIP software available on the Internet. You should be able to download and set it up in about three to five minutes. Get a friend to download the software, too, and you can start tinkering with VoIP to get a feel for how it works.

Acer Launches the Aspire 5315

2008-03-13T11:30:00.000-07:00

Acer has now announced the launch of its latest entry-level consumer notebook (NB) -- Acer Aspire 5315 in the country.

The new Aspire 5315 runs on the Linux operating system (OS) and is powered by the latest Intel Celeron M550, supporting Intel Wireless WiFi Link network solution. It comes equipped with 120GB HDD, 1GB of RAM, DVD super multi 8x double layer, and inbuilt CrystalEye Web cam for video conferencing.
The notebook has a 15.4-inches WXGA Acer CrystalBrite TFT LCD display, and comes equipped with a battery life of up to 2 hours, while ePowerManagement allows users to choose power management settings to extend the battery time.

Acer SignalUp and GridVista technologies have been incorporated into this notebook for reliable wireless connectivity as well as optimized feature driven display management, the company said.

The Aspire 5315 also features Acer's CrystalBrite technology and 3D Sonic Sound System promising a home theatre style, visual and audio experience. It also offers latest technology like 10/100 LAN and easy-to-use system utilities like easy-launch buttons for WLAN, email, Internet, and user-programming.

The Aspire 5315 notebook will be available in major cities across India for a price of Rs 22,219.

Dell Launches its First Rugged Laptop

2008-03-13T11:29:00.000-07:00

Dell has unveiled its first fully ruggedized laptop, the Latitude XFR D630.

The rugged laptop, intended for government and commercial customers, is available in the U.S. and starts at $3,899.

The Latitude XFR D630 meets MIL-STD 810F standards from the Department of Defense for products that operate in extreme temperatures, moisture and altitude. The system shares common images and components with Dell's current line of Latitude laptops to greatly simplify deployment and maintenance.

"The Latitude XFR D630 represents a tectonic shift towards simplicity in the ruggedized laptop space," said Brett McAnally, director, Dell Product Group. "We are taking a multi-dimensional approach that focuses on simplified deployment, service and durability without sacrificing performance. Major competitors focus their efforts on 'rugged' only."

The Latitude XFR D630 also features outdoor readable screen at 500 nits, integrated resistive touch technology to easily interface with the system, shock isolated mounting to help protect hard drive, LCD and core electronic elements, dual locking butterfly mechanisms for easy access to components and a sealed keyboard designed to withstand driving rain and dust.

Logitech Announces Speakers for Gamers

2008-03-13T11:15:00.000-07:00

Logitech today expanded the G-series of PC gaming peripherals, with the Logitech G51, a 5.1 speaker system featuring 360-degree surround sound with dual Matrix modes for a more immersive gaming experience.

Using Logitech's proprietary Matrix surround sound technology, the G51 speakers split the audio signal into six channels of sound, without degrading the audio quality. That means, even if their game doesn't provide six-channel audio, people can enjoy it anyway. As a result, gamers can gain the competitive advantages of surround sound - first-person-shooter gamers; for example, can now hear enemies creep up behind them. If they're being shot at, they'll know what direction the bullets are coming from.

With 155 watts of total RMS (root mean square) power, the G51 speakers feature Frequency Directed Dual Driver (FDD2) technology, which produces a uniform sound field by housing two drivers in each satellite. FDD2 overcomes high-frequency overlap that leads to uneven sound - a major barrier to dual driver speakers in the past. The result is uniform, intense sound from any place in the room. And with laser-tuned audio drivers, the speakers provide clear audio with less distortion.

G51 Surround Sound Speaker System is available at a suggested retail price of Rs. 12,995 with a warranty of 2 years.

Paramount Movie Clips on Facebook

2008-03-13T10:46:00.000-07:00

Paramount Pictures has decided to make video clips of its movies available for use over the Internet through Facebook.

An application called "VooZoo" developed by FanRocket, now allows Facebook users to access footage of thousands of Paramount movies including "The Ten Commandments" and "Forrest Gump" to send to others on the popular social networking site.
The clips last from a few seconds to several minutes, and cover the gamut of expressions right from Eddie Murphy's guffaws in "Beverly Hills Cop" to Audrey Hepburn's pleas over her 'no-name slob cat' in "Breakfast at Tiffany's".

This also makes Paramount Pictures the first major studio to make video clips of its movies available for use on the Internet. In addition, the company is using this as a marketing platform for promoting and selling DVDs of its upcoming movies.

However, users will have to wait for some more time, as the company will need over a year to make their choice from thousands of video clips in their archives, and tag them with search terms.

In a separate announcement, Facebook has announced the launch of a French language version of the site to join the Spanish and German language versions.

Similar to the Spanish and German versions, the French version is also made by the French-speaking members of the site.

Microsoft Confirms Going with Bluray

2008-03-13T10:45:00.001-07:00

Just two days back, we reported that Sony is busy wooing Microsoft to add Blu-ray support to its Xbox 360 gaming console.

The effort's paid off (or so it seems) -- with Microsoft now confirming that it's trying to figure out the best way to connect with Blu-ray. The company also seems to be working on ways to include device driver support for Blu-ray drives in its Windows operating system.
Incidentally at the Mix '08 conference in Las Vegas, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said, "We have already been working on, for example, in Windows, device driver support for Blu-ray drives and the like, and I think the world moves on."

"Toshiba has moved on. We have moved on, and we will support Blu-ray in ways that make sense," Ballmer had said rather pointedly.

Before Toshiba went public with withdrawing its HD DVD format, Microsoft had HD DVD players as add-on along with their Xbox 360 gaming consoles.

But with HD DVD all but dead and Blu-ray the winner, Microsoft had no option but to stop manufacturing HD DVD drives for its Xbox 360 console.

What wasn't clear though was whether Microsoft would finally go with the Blu-ray format. The latest admission from the company clears that confusion.

WD Intros My Passport Essential HDDs

2008-03-13T10:43:00.000-07:00

Western Digital (WD) have today introduced their "My Passport Essential" portable USB drives.

These new drives are designed to complement WD's 'My Book' family of external drives. They introduce a sleek new form that WD claims feels good in your hand, as well as fits neatly into your pocket or purse. "My Passport Essential" portable drives sport a glossy black finish, and put nearly a third of a terabyte of digital storage into the palm of your hand.

At less than five ounces of weight, the drives are truly light and portable; they also don't need an external power adapter as they're bus-powered. They come equipped with Windows only-compatible sync and encryption software. Despite their dimunitive size, they are capable of securely carrying thousands of songs, videos, and photos, WD claims.

With WD sync software, consumers can carry desktop content along with them by way of simplified synchronization of essential personal files and Microsoft Outlook data on PCs. In the event drives are misplaced, data remains protected with 128-bit encryption. The drives have Google software allowing users to quickly locate files with Google Desktop Search, manage photos with Picasa photo organizer software, and simplify Web searches with Google Toolbar search bar.

Speaking at the launch, Sharad Srivastava, director sales (India and South Asia) of Western Digital, said, "The newly designed 'My Passport Essential' drives are the perfect travel-friendly storage device to hold the rich media content generated by higher resolution photos and HD videos and music."

The drives are available at select WD distributors across India, retail stores, and online retailers. They retail for Rs 9,500 (320GB); Rs 6,800 (250GB); Rs 4,700 (160GB); and Rs 4,200 (120GB).

They are bit costly but what if one is getting an unmatched quality at a slight upper cost. In my choice its the best deal.

Samsung Unveils 5 New Phones

2008-03-13T10:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Samsung Telecommunications appointed actor Aamir Khan as Brand Ambassador for their mobile phones in the country.

Making the announcement, H B Lee, president and chief executive officer (South West Asia) of Samsung, said, "The Samsung brand stands for qualities of innovation, change, discovery, self-expression, and excellence in performance. And these very same qualities are epitomized by Aamir Khan, whose quality and depth of work as well as versatility as an actor, have made him a much-loved and respected actor in India today. We are indeed very proud and privileged to have him as our Brand Ambassador."

Also announced was the all new brand positioning for Samsung mobiles reflected in the spunky new tagline, "Next is what?" As part of this initiative, the company launched five spanking new phones spanning across multimedia, business lifestyle, and popular categories.

Samsung's new music phone, the SGH-i450, is a dual-slider which claims to offer a mobile theater experience. It offers 3D surround sound powered by ICE power amplifiers by Bang and Olufsen. The phone introduces a revolutionary music wheel.

The SHG-i450 is priced at Rs 15,000.

Next up is the SGH-G800, touted as the world's first five mega pixels camera phone with 3x optical zoom. The G800 is an addition to Samsung's Metal series, and has advanced camera features such as face detection, Xenon flash, and Wide Dynamic Range (WDR).

The SGH-G800 is available for Rs 21,799.

Meanwhile, the i550 is a 3 mega pixels camera phone powered by the Symbian S60 operating system. The phone has an in-built GPS receiver; five hot keys for music, camera, navigation, Internet, and main menu; trackball for 360-degrees movement on the screen; and support for Bluetooth audio streaming -- among other features.

The i550 comes for Rs 25,000.

The fourth new launch, the D880, is a dual GSM Sim phone with 3.2 mega pixels camera, 2.3-inches wide-screen LCD, Bluetooth, and stereo FM radio. This phone is shipping for Rs 13,799.

The last of the five new phones, the J210, is a stylish and compact 2 mega pixels camera phone with FM recording and Bluetooth music streaming. The J210 is priced at an affordable Rs 6,649.

Microsoft Intros Wireless Laser Desktop 7000

2008-03-13T10:34:00.001-07:00

Microsoft has launched a new keyboard-and-mouse desktop combo, the Wireless Laser Desktop 7000, and an independent keyboard, the Digital Media Keyboard 3000. Both are designed to complement Vista-based PCs, in the sense that they give quick access to Flip 3D.

The Wireless Laser Desktop 7000 features an ultra-thin Comfort Curve keyboard; Comfort Curve is a design that's been much appreciated over the past few years -- it has a slight (six-degree curve) that makes typing more comfortable. The keyboard features a Vista Aero-inspired translucent design and three "Floating" My Favorites keys, meaning the user can push and hold a key to assign it to the current destination (such as a local folder or a Web site).
The rechargeable mouse of the Wireless Laser Desktop 7000 set has a horizontal charging station that provides a sturdy base; there's a battery status indicator that lets users know when it's time to charge the device. The 2.4 GHz wireless communication frequency means users can expect virtually no interference. In addition, the set is capable of frequency-hopping in the case of interference being encountered. The range for the mouse is as much as 30 feet.

The Digital Media Keyboard 3000 gives users one-touch access to photos and to Windows Media Player. It also has keys for zooming in.

The Wireless Laser Desktop 7000 will retail in the US in April for around $130 (Rs 5,000 approx) while the Digital Media Keyboard 3000 will retail in June for about $30 (Rs 1,200).

YouTube All Set to Expand Reach

2008-03-13T10:33:00.000-07:00

YouTube seems to have had enough of its share of daily traffic, so much so that it has actually decided to share it with other sites: the Google-owned site has released a suite of tools and features that will allow developers to fully integrate YouTube into their own sites and applications.

Earlier, developers were only able to embed and stream the videos onto their sites. They will now be able to customize the player, meaning they'll be able to control what the videos look like. Owners of sites were unable to play videos they had created, or to send comments to YouTube about what they'd watched -- that too, has now changed.
With this development, YouTube has become an open, general-purpose video services platform, available for use by just about any third-party Web site, desktop application, or consumer device. For users, this means they will now be able to stream videos, search the YouTube gallery, and upload, share, comment upon, and rate videos -- all without leaving the Web site they're at. This means an expanded YouTube; this means it's now easier to share your videos.

They've made it possible to access YouTube from anywhere, but Google still says it's about user experience and not about monetization.
Developers taking advantage of this opportunity will get a bonus in the form of access to YouTube's extremely large user base spread across the globe. Some companies already working along these lines include Electronic Arts (EA), Casio, and Logitech.

EA has enabled gamers to capture videos of user-generated creatures from their upcoming game, 'Spore', and publish them directly onto YouTube. TiVo will also allow users to access and upload YouTube videos from their TV sets. Casio and Logitech are creating cameras that will allow uploads directly to the site.

Lenovo Engineers 'Idea' NBs, Desktops

2008-03-13T10:26:00.000-07:00

While Lenovo's 'Think' is essentially an enterprise-oriented brand, the company has today truly forayed into the consumer segment with its 'Idea' brand of laptops and desktops. 'Idea' was first showcased at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) at Las Vegas in January this year.

According to Lenovo, its 'IdeaPad' notebooks and 'IdeaCentre' desktops complement its ThinkPad notebooks and ThinkCentre desktops. The new laptops and desktops supposedly make a bold design statement with frameless screens, touch-sensitive control surfaces, and unique textures. They marry cutting-edge technologies and Lenovo staples like face recognition and Dolby Home Theater surrround sound with dedicated gaming controls.
Speaking at the launch, Liu Jun, senior vice president and president (Consumer Business Group) of Lenovo, said, "We're bringing Lenovo's expertise in design and engineering to consumers with our Idea-branded PCs. Lenovo designed its Idea-branded PCs for the way people live, work, and play with cutting-edge features."

As of now, Lenovo has launched its IdeaPad Y510 notebook and IdeaCentre K200 desktop in the country.

With the 'IdeaPad Y510', Lenovo has attempted to break from tradition in giving the notebook a progressively-styled light-weave texture for a classy textured black look.

The 'IdeaPad Y510' is a 15.4-inches wide-screen notebook featuring: Dolby 4.1 Home Theater speaker system, touch-sensitive pad to control multimedia features, in-built TV tuner card for instant television connectivity, Veriface face-recognition software for a secure way to log on to the PC, one-key recovery to restore factory settings, keyboard inspired by the ThinkPad design, and extended battery management. The 'Y510' comes with Intel Centrino processor technology, integrated graphics, WLAN connectivity, five speakers including a sub-woofer, integrated camera, battery life indicator, and DVD-RW optical drive.

The other India launch, the 'IdeaCentre K200' desktop features Lenovo Bright Vision for eyesight protection, anti-bacterial keyboard, card reader support, and Lenovo Vantage technology with one-key recovery, one-key anti-virus, and file management -- among others.

More 'Think' models will be launched next month.

These include: the 'IdeaPad Y710' notebook for gaming enthusiasts that features a 17-inches wide-screen, Game Zone with enlarged directional buttons and four user-customizable buttons for enhanced game play, Halo Lighting wherein the notebook can be set to emit a different color light from the side bezel and the logo in front, secondary display showing system information such as CPU speed, performance control switch with Turbo mode for maximum power and quiet mode for energy savings, and hot-swap with two hard drives for easy storage and transfer of data. The notebook has a smooth metallic Blue finish, and is equipped with Intel Centrino processor technology, ATI graphics, WLAN connectivity, and five speakers including a sub-woofer.

Also launching next month is the 'IdeaPad U110' ultra-portable notebook that features an 11.1-inches back-lit LED display, extensive computing time with additional battery, and Active Protection System which is an air-bag like device that parks the hard drive to help protect data during a fall. The 'U110' has a textured design embedded in a red aluminium alloy top cover.

Yet another April launch will be the 'IdeaCentre Q200' desktop, positioned as a living room digital performance PC with a 'new form'. The 'Q200' will sport a slim design based on a harmony of straight lines and pure colors underlying the visible world, drawing inspiration from artist Piet Mondrian. The desktop will incorporate Lenovo vantage technology with one-key recovery, one-key anti-virus, file management, and Lenovo Bright vision for eyesight protection.

While the 'IdeaPad Y510' NB and 'IdeaCentre K200' desktop are currently available at all Lenovo authorized storefronts; the 'IdeaPad Y710', 'IdeaPad U110', and 'IdeaCentre Q200' will be available next month onwards. Pricing for the IdeaPad range starts at Rs 42,000 while that for the IdeaCentre range starts at Rs 23,050.

MotorStorm 2 : Will soon Hit The Market

2008-03-13T10:22:00.000-07:00

Buckle up, because you'll soon be on a bumpy, off-road, ride-of-frenzy -- courtesy Evolution Studios.

It's come from the horse's mouth this time around: a sequel to the immensely popular PS3-exclusive racing game "MotorStorm" is arriving this fall (meaning towards the end of September or a little later), says Sony's PlayStation blog.
The blog has also revealed some of the features of "MotorStorm 2". There are going to be no major rules for this one -- simply choose your mode of transport from a humongous range of dirt bikes, ATVs, sand rails, rally cars, monster trucks, and what not, and make it to the finish line as fast as you can -- somehow.

Instead of racing in a mountainous desert as in the earlier version, "MotorStorm 2" will take you to the terrains of a lush Pacific island replete with thick swamps, dense jungle, towering peaks, and steaming volcanoes. To add to that, there will be 16 new multi-route tracks, so 16 players can race head-to-head online. A four-player split-screen mode is also said to have been included.

There will be more updates from developers regarding the features as the release date nears. Till then, practice some real driving!

Microsoft Ships IE8 Beta for Developers

2008-03-06T08:42:00.000-08:00

At the ongoing MIX08, Microsoft's Web designer and developer conference, the software giant has shown the first IE 8 beta and announced its availability for download by developers.
IE 8 beta 1 is a developer preview for Web designers and developers to help prepare their Web sites for the new version. Some of the features designed for developers include a developer toolbar and improved interoperability and compatibility.

The integrated developer tools will help quickly debug HTML, CSS, and scripts in a visual environment. Two days ago, Microsoft also announced that IE 8 will be set to render content using methods that give top priority to Web standards interoperability -- and this will be the default. The new version includes two new features, Activities and WebSlices. "Activities" are contextual services that will provide quick access to external services from any Web page.

The feature will look up information related to data on the current page and send content from the current page to another application. "WebSlices", as the name suggests, will enable Web sites to expose portions of their page that users can subscribe to, and bring that content with them on their links bar wherever they are on the Web. Users will be able to receive update notifications when the content changes.

Developers interested in trying out their hands on IE 8 Beta 1 can visit this Microsoft page.

AOL Launches Open AIM 2.0

2008-03-06T08:40:00.000-08:00

AOL has announced the launch of Open AIM 2.0, offering developers access to the AIM instant messaging (IM) network, and the ability to integrate it into their Web sites and applications in their own ways. Open AIM 2.0 offers free SDKs and APIs that support third-party chat services, as well as instant messaging applications designed for mobile, enterprise, and international use.

Put simply, Open AIM program that was first launched in 2006, enables developers to create one unified instant messaging application that supports multiple chat services so that users can organize all their buddies in one place. Popular chat services like meebo and eBuddy have signed on to build the AIM APIs into their Web-based applications. David Liu, senior vice president (Social Media, Messaging, and Homepages) of AOL, said, "Our mission for AIM is to facilitate the world's online, real-time conversations.

We are giving developers the tools and the flexibility they desire to build innovative and meaningful applications around instant messaging for Web users around the globe. In addition, third-party developers can also build custom software designed for enterprise- as well as regular- users, who access the AIM messaging network from cell phones. Until now, multi-platform IM desktop clients like Pidgin or Adium have generally relied on hacking and reverse engineering access to chat networks run by AOL, Yahoo!, Microsoft, and others.

Not only is this bad for developers since it means more work, it also means that such clients often can't use all the features of a particular network. So with Open AIM 2.0, AOL has opened the gates to third-party developers allowing them access to all of the network's features.

AMD Opteron Ready for Launch

2008-03-06T08:38:00.002-08:00

AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) has announced that its quad-core Opteron chip (previously codenamed "Barcelona") for servers is ready for launch. The company will start shipping the B3 version of the chip to channel and distribution partners this week.

Earlier, a 2007 release was announced for the quad-core chip but due to a bug discovered in the chip before its launch, the B2 version was distributed only to a select high-performance computing market. The company declared a 2008 release last December. And now that the bug problem is said to have been solved, AMD will start pushing out its product to a wider audience.

It is learnt that system vendors like Dell and Hewlett-Packard (HP) will be adopting AMD's quad-core chip. The chip will be integrated in their upcoming servers to be made available in the second quarter of this year. HP s upcoming ProLiant DL585 will be using the processor.
The Opteron is AMD's first quad-core chip for servers; Intel being the first to introduce its quad-core chip for servers in 2006. Intel implemented the method of putting two dual-core chips together to create its quad-core chip. AMD, on the other hand, has integrated all four cores onto a single chip.

AMD Opteron Ready for Launch

2008-03-06T08:38:00.001-08:00

Microsoft Brings Down Vista Prices

2008-03-06T08:35:00.000-08:00

In an effort to push up sales of the ill-fated Vista, Microsoft has announced a slash in the prices of stand-alone Windows Vista packs. This announcement will be effective along with the shipment of its first update to Vista, Service Pack 1, in March.

The strategy will be different in developed and emerging markets. Price-drops in the US and other developed markets will be for the upgrade versions, and many people might not even see a difference, if one factors in already-existing discount offers. In emerging markets, like India, Microsoft will eliminate the distinction between the full and upgrade versions of Vista Home Basic and Home Premium.
The strategy for poorer countries seems to make sense because many people in these markets have never bought a genuine copy of Windows; if Microsoft wants to see some of that happening, a price-cut is in order, and so is the elimination of the distinction between the upgrade and the full versions. In developed markets, the reduction in price will range from 20 to 48 percent, but like we've mentioned, it will not make a difference to a majority of would-be buyers because of existing promotions.
Still, Vista Ultimate will now cost $219, down from $299; Home Premium goes down to $129 from $159. But remember that as of now, only 10 percent of stand-alone Vista packs are sold through online and offline retailers. There will be no price cuts for PC manufacturers who install Vista on their machines.

Analysts have been surprised by the move: "I can't remember a big price cut like this," said analyst Chris Swenson, who tracks retail software sales for NPD Group. "It's very unheard of." Microsoft's new Windows Consumer Marketing Vice President, Brad Brooks, has pointed to the increase in sales when the company made a price cut (to manufacturers) for Windows XP Media Center Edition.

It was initially pitched as a high-end version, something above XP Professional, but when Microsoft lowered the price to not much higher than Windows XP Home, it became the dominant consumer version: "It went from a run rate of about 1 million (copies) a year to a run rate of several tens of millions a year," Brooks said. We can't possibly expect anything like this for Vista, of course, for reasons starting from driver compatibility and going all the way to the question of why upgrade "when XP's fine". In fact, the price-cut seems to be yet another giveaway of Microsoft recently admitted, though not officially: that they knew Vista wasn't ready.

i dont know why vista is such a big flop in india agreed that its 10% slower than xp and eats up your pcs resourses but still...most people i know who got original vista it with their laptops are formatting it and installing xp(no so original) on it.

Google Gears Goes Mobile

2008-03-06T08:33:00.000-08:00

For those of you who aren’t exactly sure what Google Gears is capable of or what it is – it's an open source browser extension that lets developers create web applications that can run offline.

Gears provides three key features:
- A local server, to cache and serve application resources (HTML, JavaScript, images, etc.) without needing to contact a server
- A database, to store and access data from within the browser
- A worker thread pool, to make web applications more responsive by performing expensive operations in the background What this essentially means is that in case you’re one of those people who like to take their work with them wherever they go and that would include places that have no access to the net, Gears will allow you workaholics to get things down without being connected.
At the moment since it's still in a developmental stage, Gears is being designed for only Windows mobile devices that run on a Windows Mobile 5 and 6 OS. This mobile version supports Internet Explorer on Windows Mobile handsets and is restricted to just such devices. The devices would also have to have applications that are compatible with Gears in order for it to function correctly. Considering this is just an early phase, I’m sure it wont be too long (hopefully) before they’re able to adapt Google Gears for other Operating Systems and handsets.

This means that other smartphone users, such as those using Apple's iPhone, or people using other popular mobile browsers, such as Opera, won't be able to use Google Gears. But Google has said that it plans to expand support to other browsers and cell phone platforms, including its own Android software.

Nike, Apple Send iPod to Gym

2008-03-06T08:30:00.000-08:00

Nike and Apple are making the iPod compatible with gym equipment.The companies announced Tuesday that they are working with gym equipment manufacturers and health clubs to allow members to plug their iPod Nano into cardio equipment to track workouts, set goals and upload the information to a Nike Web site.

The new technology is expected to hit gyms this summer.It's another major partnership for Nike Inc. and Apple Inc., which created Nike+ technology more than a year ago. The wireless system allows some Nike shoes embedded with a sensor to communicate with Apple's iPod Nano.

Pakistan's government has banned access to the video-sharing Web site YouTube because of anti-Islamic movies that users have posted on the site, an of

2008-03-06T08:20:00.000-08:00

Olympus has just launched their new portable DSLR, the E-420. Weighing 380 grams, the E-420 is 20 to 40 percent lighter than competing DSLRs. It also includes Live View, which enables users to hold the camera away from their faces and interact with their subjects.
This lightweight 10-megapixel DSLR offers a bigger 2.7-inch LCD and fast On-Screen Autofocus, Face Detection, Shadow Adjustment Technology and Perfect Shot Preview to get the most out of the Live View experience. "The Olympus E-420 delivers the professional-grade image quality of a digital SLR with the simple operation of a point-and-shoot camera," said John Knaur, senior marketing manager - DSLR, Olympus Imaging America Inc. "Thanks to the camera’s small size and lightweight body, users can take the E-420 everywhere, and they will never miss another shot because the of the camera’s straightforward controls. Additionally, our innovative technologies help consumers get more from Live View.

"The world’s smallest DSLR deserves a similarly compact lens, and Olympus has it - the ultra compact Zuiko 25mm f2.8 digital specific lens. This 0.9 inch-thick lens offers a fixed 50mm equivalent angle of view. The E-420’s Face Detection feature distinguishes between people’s faces and the background. It tracks up to eight faces within the image area and automatically focuses and optimizes exposure for sharp portrait pictures. Even if your subjects are moving, the camera continuously tracks their faces.
Shooting scenes with shadows can be tricky because of the extreme contrast between dark and bright areas.

The E-420 addresses this challenge with Shadow Adjustment Technology that compensates for extreme contrast when shadow areas are underexposed and lack visible detail. Users can preview and capture images with the same fine contrast they see with their own eyes.Olympus' TruePic III Image Processor produces clear photos using all the pixel information for each image to provide the best digital images possible for every photo with accurate color, true-to-life flesh tones, brilliant blue skies and precise tonal representation in between.

TruePic III also lowers image noise by one step to reduce graininess in images shot at higher ISO settings, enabling great results in low-light situations.Accepting both CompactFlash Type I & II, Microdrives, and xD-Picture Cards, the E-420 provides a choice of data storage options for enhanced flexibility, and it is possible to transfer image files from one card to the other right inside the camera.The Olympus E-420 Digital SLR will be available in the US by May 2008. It includes: E-420 Body, USB Cable, Video Cable, Li-Ion Battery Pack (BLS-1), Li-Ion Battery Charger (BCS-1), Shoulder Strap, Olympus Master Software CD-ROM, Manuals and Warranty Card.

U.S. Pricing/Product Configurations
E-420 body Estimated Street Price: $499.99
E-420 with ED 14-42mm f3.5/5.6 Zuiko Digital Zoom Lens Estimated Street Price: $599.99
E-420 with ED 25mm f2.8 Zuiko Digital Lens Estimated Street Price: $699.99

Pakistan Blocks YouTube

2008-03-06T08:17:00.000-08:00

Pakistan's government has banned access to the video-sharing Web site YouTube because of anti-Islamic movies that users have posted on the site, an official said Sunday.The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority told the country's 70 Internet service providers Friday that the popular Web site would be blocked until further notice.
The authority did not specify what the offensive material was, but a PTA official said the ban concerned a movie trailer for an upcoming film by Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders, who has said he plans to release an anti-Quran movie portraying the religion as fascist and prone to inciting violence against women and homosexuals.

The PTA official, who asked not to be identified because he was not an official spokesman, said the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority also blocks Web sites that show controversial drawings of the Prophet Muhammad. The drawings were originally printed in European newspapers in 2006 and were reprinted by some papers last week.

The PTA urged Web users to write to YouTube and request the removal of the objectionable movies, saying authorities would stop blocking the site once that happened.Pakistan is not the only country to have blocked access to YouTube.In January, a court in Turkey blocked the site because some video clips allegedly insulted the country's founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. It is illegal to insult Ataturk in Turkey.

Last spring the Thai government banned the site for about four months because of clips seen as offensive to Thailand's revered monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej.Moroccans last year were unable to access YouTube after users posted videos critical of Morocco's treatment of the people of Western Sahara, a territory Morocco took control of in 1975.

Explaining the YouTube blockage for an hour the world over after this ban, the BBC News website's technology editor, Darren Waters, says that in its attempts to block Pakistan's citizens from accessing YouTube it is believed Pakistan Telecom "hijacked" the web server address of the video site.
God help them .....

Backlinks To Your Sites Are All Important To Your Google PR And How To Place Them Effectively

2008-03-01T10:27:00.000-08:00

Backlinks are probably one of the most critical factors when getting a high PR rating by Google. Gone are the days of meta tags and in came the introduction of keywords, but spammers obviously soon started to exploit this. A backlink is simply your link at the bottom of another websites page.

But how does this work?
HOT TIP: Type your keyword into Google and then click on the number one ranked site. Email the site and ask them if they would be willing to exchange links with your site. This means that you will have a link to their site and they will display a link to yours.
The Googlebots interpret this as page A voting for page B. Fads are born and fads die out, they do on Google too. If page A who is number 1 votes for page B, then page B must be popular and so your site is moved higher in the search results. Page B's vote for page A will help page A stay at the top of the search results, so both websites will benefit from exchanging links.
Google rank link popularity above most other factors these days so a site with a high PR score (page rank) will send you flying up the search results. Do this with as many sites as you can. Most sites at number 1 will have a PR5-6 score, any site with a PR2 score will get spidered every day by the Googlebots.
The worst any webmaster will say is no, so email every site you find; Play the law of averages!
What if I can't find a site that will exchange links with me?
Well don't worry, there is an alternative.
Blogging
This method of advertising is hugely overlooked by a lot of webmasters. This is again critical to your sites success. www.Blogger.com is owned by Google. Google have a PR10 (highest) score so the PR score of Blogger.com is god damn high, and will send you soaring up the search results. Start a blog again using the most popular keywords as the title/domain of your blog. Update your blog on a regular basis.
IMPORTANT- I really don't want to keep saying the same things but I really can't stress how important it is for your ranking to have unique quality content in your blogs. Google have very intelligent computers systems and formulas to spider your content, if it is unique they will rank you highly and 'page A' (your blog) will be casting a vote for 'page B' (your site).
Do this for as many keywords as you can and make sure to include links in your content that flow with conversation.
Placing links on sites with relevant content will get you placed higher in the searches, but searching for places you can place your backlink can be very time consuming as I found out (again the hard way).

How To Develop Effective Link Building Using Commenting?

2008-03-01T10:13:00.000-08:00

There are many ways of link building techniques which provide good traffic and SERP results. Among them one of the most important techniques is through commenting in blogs. Commenting in blogs is an effective way to get most targeted traffic. Along with a link back from that blog, you will be getting traffic through that comment. Recently after Google considering the "nofollow" tag to reduce spamming, there has been a decrease in the commenting in blogs.
But actually there is an unknown fact that even though Google does not index links with "nofollow" tags, but the remaining search engines will consider links even with those tags. So it is really worth commenting in blogs even if they are with nofollow tags. But right now there are many blogs which are removing nofollow tag from their blogs. One main advantages of removing nofollow tag for web masters is, increase in the traffic stats and advantage with commentators is, they will be getting a back link which will be followed by search engines (including Google). So commenting is really a good way to develop long term traffic and page rank.

Here are some useful tips on how to get good results using commenting:-

1) Try to write comments regularly in blogs so that the blog owner will visit your link often.
2) Right now many blogs are using top commentators list which will provides top 5 commentators. Hence if you comment on same blogs often then you will come in top commentators list. Once you are in that list then you will be getting extra traffic.
3) Try to write useful comments which are 2 lines are more as some blogs use spam filter. So once you pass the spam filter then your comment will start giving traffic.
4) The more relevant the comment and useful the more traffic you will be getting to your link.
5) Try to find new blogs and mostly "DOFOLLOW" blogs as you will be getting some value for the link. If you are not sure where to find these blogs then there are some search engines which will provide these blogs.
6) There are many blogs with which are not popular but use top commentators. Hence if you find those blogs, then try to write just 5 to 10 comments each month and you can get a link in a home page.
7) Its is better if you write comments on the blogs that are related to your niche then you will be getting most targeted traffic which really convert most of the visits to sales (if you are an affiliate marketer).
There are some useful tips which are most important which actually help in website or blog development using comments. If you want to know more about these effective site development techniques then visit here.

Hope this will help you...

8 Powerful Ways Of Getting Ton's Of Back Links For Your Website

2008-03-01T09:59:00.000-08:00

Guys i found this article stating the potential ways of getting a nice traffic to your blog or website... and i strongly bilieve in them..

Once your website is up and running pertaining to your online business, now you needs visitors to your site to start making profit from your online business. The best place of getting your website noticed and start getting plenty of visitors to your site is the search engines. So you must be thinking how you will get your website listed in search engines? The solution to this question is getting plenty of high quality back links to your site. Since most of the search engines gave value to the sites which is having more and more quality back links pointing to their site.
One question arises in the mind of new people when they arrive in the world of internet is: "How they will get other sites to link to their sites?" In this article I am going to tell you few techniques which I have tried and tested. Some of the techniques are free and for others you may have to pay some amount of money.

1.Website Submission:The first and foremost steps you should attempt in getting a link back to your site is to submit your website to web directories. There are thousands of web directories available online which will allow you to submit your site. Two most powerful web directories are DMOZ.org and Yahoo.

2.Article Marketing: The best and most commonly used solution for getting one way link to your website is by writing useful and quality Articles and submitting it to highly ranked article directories. Most article directories allowed you to leave a link to your site in the resource box.

3.Forum marketing: Join forums in your niche and start discussing the hot topic on the forum. Many forums will allow you to use your website link in your signature. Always try to be as simple and straight while doing discussion, don't spam the forum.

4.Classified Ads: Advertise your website with the classified sites. There are thousands of classified sites available but choose the highly traffic classified site to get benefited like freeadvertisingblog.com, USFreeads.com, Craig's List or Precharge.net and freeadvertisingforum.com.

5.Use social Bookmarking sites and submit your site by yourself to these sites to get one-way link to your site. Del.icio.us, Digg.com, Furl.net, faves.com, backflip.com, linkroll.com, wink.com, spurl.net, bibsonomy.org these are few which you can use.

6.Use Yahoo Answer: This site is one of the great methods for getting some amount of traffic to your site. Join the site, find questions related to the topic of your site and answer them but don't forget to include link back to your site in source box.

7.Use social networking sites like Facebook, MySpaces, Squidoo & Bebo to place your website link from your profile pages to your website.

8.Find blog related to your niche and comment on these blogwith link back to your site. Don't spams be real and nice otherwise your comment will not be approved by blog owner.

feel free to write your comments.. i m here to help you out in watever way possible.. for more information about auther of this article... visit his site
These are solid eight tips which he said if you apply properly then you certainly on a way to getting quality one way link for your website.

BLOG traffic exchange

2008-02-29T08:06:00.000-08:00

After doing up nice websites with interesting contents, the webmasters' dilemma is usually one of attracting visitors to their sites. Having more visitors is gratifying; it is a reward that website owners deserve for putting time and effort into their sites.Traffic exchange networks were designed to promote visitor traffic to websites or blogs.

The idea is simple – members of the network surf each other's sites. Upon setting up an account with a traffic exchange program, you will be entitled to earn 'credits' by manually surfing other members' sites. Depending on the program, you may have anything between 0.5 to 1.0 credit for every site you visit. There is a timer at the top or bottom frame of the page to compel you to remain at the site for a period of time. This can range between 10 to 30 seconds. You are then required to click one of the images to correspond with the given image in order to proceed to the next random site. This is to prevent autosurfing hacks that may cheat the system.With the 'credits' you earn, you can assign them to your blogs. For every visitor you get to your blog, 1 credit will be deducted until all your 'credits' are spent. In a nutshell, the more blogs you visit, the more visitors you get to your blogs.Alas, no program is perfect. While the concept of traffic exchange sounds good, there are the negative aspects that you should consider as well. I'll summarize the good and bad points of traffic exchange.

Pros of traffic exchange

1. The programs are free, that is if you are not buying the 'credits' but earning them.

2. For some programs, you can specify the category of blogs you would like to view or the sort of visitors you would like to have. The traffic is therefore targeted.

3. While viewing other member blogs, you may come across a couple of interesting ones that you can re-visit or learn from.

4. Since the programs work well only if they have a wide network of members, the administrators often conduct mini contests and games to interest the members. You may find some fun in these communities.

Cons of traffic exchange

1. The biggest negative point is that such traffic exchanges run counter to many advertising programs, especially those that pay you based on impressions you get to your site. A notable one is Google AdSense. If your site's traffic is mainly through traffic exchanges, be prepared to receive reminders like this from the Google administrator:-“It has come to our attention that invalid clicks or impressions have been generated on the Google ads on your site(s) through users of third-party programs paid or provided with other incentives to visit your site. Such programs may include, but are not limited to auto-surf, pay-to-surf, pay-to-read, or pay-to-click sites.”

2. A number of the sites that register with traffic exchanges are new sites and are not worth the time reading. Many of the established ones that have a good following of readers do not need such traffic exchange programs to boost their traffic.

3. After surfing for a while, you would also find yourself looking at the same sites over and over again, simply because only a fraction of the members are active users. It may be boring in that sense.

4. While I make it a point to read some sites, I believe that many people don't. They may be doing their homework or watching television, and mindlessly clicking the image after every 30 seconds or so. You may be getting more visitors but these are not the people who appreciate your blog contents.

Blog Traffic Exchange sites

If you want to have a go at it, here are the ones I think you can consider.

Blogmad
This has a 1:1 ratio, which means that for every site you visit, someone will visit yours. The surf timer is 25 seconds and the site layout, ideas, and image icons (with the two big eyes) are pretty nice.

Blog Explosion
The surf ratio is 2:1, i.e. for every two blogs you visit, one person will visit yours. The saving grace is that they have about close to 50,000 blogs registered, although I have an inkling that only a small percentage of these are active. They do run contests like Battle of the Blogs which add to the fun of using their service.

Blog Soldiers
Another 2:1 ratio traffic exchange. Nothing fanciful about the site, and the administrators should do more work to build up their membership base.Blog Advance Their surf ratio of 1:1 sounds attractive, and like a few other programs, they throw in free bonus points when you log in or surf. What I didn't like was their lack of response. I raised a technical problem concerning adding a site and despite 2 messages, they have not replied. Such a contradiction to their statement that “at Blog Advance your voice doesn't fall on deaf ears.” Also, I received error messages on a few occasions despite having clicked the correct surfbar images and was unable to proceed to subsequent blogs. I guess there are unresolved bugs in the coding of their program. (Update: This service is no longer available and link is therefore removed.)

EasyHits4U
This is another 1:1 traffic exchange site that seems to have more commercial sites registered with them than blogs. It has a 30-second timer giving viewers a lot of time to view the blogs. The thing that stands out is that they pay you cash for active surfing ($0.50 for 1000 sites viewed)

TrafficG
This is not blog specific, and you will see a number of non-blog websites. The ratio of 1:1 is good, and the longer surf time of 30 seconds means that you might get more quality traffic, people who browse your blog contents.Blogazoo They have a 4:3 ratio, and credit incentives to read blogs and find the 'gazoos'. (Update: This service is temporarily not available and link is removed.)

Essentially, when you register your blog with them, other members can review your site, give a rating and post comments. The more sites you visit or review, the higher your blog rank will be, and the more likely that your blog will be seen by others. Unlike the other programs, you will expect visitors to go through what you write in order to review your blog.

New HDDs from Fujitsu, Hitachi

2008-02-28T05:43:00.000-08:00

Fujitsu has announced the newest addition to its 2.5-inch hard disk drives (HDD) - its new series MHZ2 BT 2.5-inch 500GB 4200RPM SATA HDDs.

Touted as fourth-generation high-capacity 4200RPM SATA drives, the MHZ2 BT series drives require only 1.8 W of power for read and write operations, thus getting ranked as amongst the most power-efficient drives in their class.
With global spread of digital broadcasts and Internet-based video distribution, along with increased storage requirements, there is an increasing need for high-capacity hard disk drives that can handle high-volume data storage. Meanwhile, with growing concerns over global warming and other environmental issues, there is simultaneously, increasing demand for hard disk drives that consume lesser power. Addressing these concerns, the new HDDs spin at speeds of up to 4200 RPM, offering improved power efficiency, and running quieter than older 2.5-inch SATA drives. More importantly, they do not require built-in fans.

The new series will be available in 400GB and 500GB capacities, and can be used in PCs, Digital Video Recorders (DVRs), Set Top Boxes (STB), and external hard disk drives. The series supports Serial ATA 3.0 Gb/s interface for high-speed data transfers. It will start shipping by end of May 2008. Apart from Fujitsu, Hitachi has announced new 2.5-inch 5400 RPM notebook hard drives with maximum available capacity of 320GB.

The Travelstar 5K320 hard drives feature optional Bulk Data Encryption and altitude-sensing Thermal Fly-height Control, which is fourth generation perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) head technology for increased data security. The SATA interface of the hard drives provides a faster 3Gb/s data transfer rate, allowing them to be used in a wide variety of applications. Like the Fujitsu drives, the Hitachi drives too consume 1.8W of power when reading and writing.

The Hitachi Travelstar 5K320 series is available in single or dual-platter configurations, in capacities ranging from 80GB to 320GB.

Marching Ahead with Ubuntu

2008-02-28T05:35:00.000-08:00

Canonical, developer of Ubuntu, the much-adored Linux distro, yesterday unveiled details of an upcoming version of Ubuntu. Due out sometime in October, it will sport as funky a name as its earlier counterparts - it'll be called "Intrepid Ibex" a.k.a. version 8.10. Intrepid Ibex is intended to significantly improve mobile computing and desktop scalability. In this version, the developers have paid attention on the aspect of the pervasive Internet, through which users will be able to remain connected irrespective of where they are in a connected city.
This version will enable your computer to tap bandwidth no matter where you are

- we Indians will have to wait a bit, though -- it'll let your computer hop from broadband to Wi-Fi and skip back to broadband as you move around. Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth said -- in the mail he wrote announcing version 8.10 -- that the development planning of Intrepid Ibex will happen at the next Ubuntu Developer Summit (UDS), an open event where members of the Ubuntu community gather to define the development strategies of upcoming versions. This year, the event will be at Prague from 19th to the 23rd of May.

Canonical has released new versions of Ubuntu every six months since its inception. The version called "Hardy Heron" is due in April. This one will be the company's second "long-term support" version, which provides users with commercial support as well as bug fixes for five years on the server and three years on the desktop. Intrepid Ibex, however, is expected to have support for 18 months, which is the case with most Ubuntu versions.

Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360) Will be out in November

2008-02-28T05:34:00.000-08:00

Microsoft has made it official at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2008 that Gears of War 2 will make it to the Xbox 360 in November. The GDC is the largest annual gathering of video game developers. Rumors regarding a sequel to the blockbuster Gears of War have been doing the rounds for a while now, and gamers everywhere seem very happy indeed. Gears of War 2 is said to be a larger-than-life story of epic proportions revolving around survival, loss, and such major things. It continues the story of Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad, who are locked in a desperate battle for the survival of humanity.

The sequel is being developed by Epic Games for Microsoft Game Studios. The announcement of the sequel was made by Cliff Bleszinski, lead designer of Epic Games, at the GDC. According to Bleszinski, "Gears of War 2 is an even bigger, better, and more badass experience than the first game, and we can't wait to get it in the hands of eager gamers this November." No specific details about the game have been disclosed -- except, of course, for the fact that the battle will continue -- but you can find more info about GOW as well as GOW2 here.

The first Gears of War was released in November 2006, and sold 3 million copies worldwide in the first 10 weeks of its release. In fact, it became so popular that New Line Cinema went ahead and acquired the rights to make a movie based on the game.

Google to Help Build Web Sites

2008-02-28T05:27:00.000-08:00

Typically, if you were looking for a particular Web site, you'd 'Google' it. However Google is looking beyond in that it now wants to help you 'build' Web sites as well. Today, the company is debuting a free service that promises users a simple way to share information with others -- those who're working in the same company, or attending the same class in school.
Commenting on the service, Dave Girouard, general manager of the division overseeing it, said, "We are literally adding an edit button to the Web.

" That's how Google is envisaging its new service. According to Girouard, the service will enable just about anyone to set up and update a Web site with just a few clicks. What's more, the Web sites created in this way will feature a wide array of pictures, calendars, and videos from Google's YouTube video-sharing Web site. Meanwhile, the concept of helping users build Web sites isn't entirely new to Google. The search giant inherited a couple of Web site building tools when it acquired Silicon Valley-based start-up, JotSpot last year. Besides, it has also been gradually ramping up the number of free applications it offers to consumers and businesses in the past two years or so.

The Web site building tools in general, and the service debuting today in particular are simply add-ons to Google's ongoing efforts at siphoning away revenues from Microsoft, which makes the most of its moolah from software sales. Incidentally, the service being introduced today happens to be an alternative to a similar service dubbed 'SharePoint', that Microsoft plans to debut soon at a conference in Seattle. 'SharePoint' of course, will charge licensing fees. And, like most other Microsoft programs, it will be installed on individual computers.

By contrast, Google prefers to install its programs on its own machines for users to access them from anywhere. Whether Google debuts its new service or not, Microsoft has made no bones about wanting to get even with the search giant. The recent bid for Yahoo! (which of course Yahoo! rejected) is a case in point. Meanwhile, Microsoft has made it clear that it doesn't intend giving up on that offer.

Acer to Launch Bluray Disc NBs

2008-02-28T05:21:00.000-08:00

Less than a fortnight ago, Blu-ray emerged winner in the long-running format war; with Toshiba having gone public about withdrawing the HD DVD format. Having to no longer decide between rival formats, most major HD DVD supporters have lost no time in crossing over to the Blu-ray side. And Acer is next on the list to pledge support to Blu-ray. The company plans to launch two BD (Blu-ray Disc) notebooks (NBs) in the second quarter this year; one with an 18.4-inch panel, and the other with a 16-inch panel, according to DigiTimes.

The newbies will support full HD quality images, and will be priced between $1,900 and $2,240. Acer predicts that a sales boost in Blu-ray drives will be seen first in notebooks rather than stand-alone players. Today, most households are not equipped to view full HD (1080p) content. This is why Acer feels notebooks with Blu-ray drives will play a major role in boosting sales. All said, Blu-ray might have emerged winner in the format war but its adoption rates aren't picking up as fast as Sony expects -- not yet.

Add to that a whole lot of industry speculation around future success of the format. Meanwhile, Acer's said it plans to launch large-size BD notebooks in the Asia Pacific region (including Taiwan) in the first half of 2008.

Nokia N95 - A True Mobile Music Experience

2008-02-25T06:32:00.000-08:00

Equipped with an amazing 5 megapixel camera, music player, large QVGA display, built in speakers, support for HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access), integrated GPS plus 8GB of internal memory. The Nokia N95 8GB truly is a remarkable device. And it's only slightly heavier than it's counterpart the N95 and also has a larger display.

The Camera boasts a plethora of features including auto focus, red-eye reduction, flash, self timer, Carl Zeiss Optics and there's also a 20x zoom plus resolution of 2592 x 1944. Supported image formats are JPEG and Exif.

Take superb quality photos and video clips with your Nokia N95 8GB, share them with your friends and family or for the big screen experience why not show them on a compatible TV with the TV output feature.
If you're after music on the go then you wont be disappointed with the Nokia N95 8GB. It supports a host of audio formats: AAC, AAC+, eAAC, eAAC+, MP3, MP4, M4A, WMA, AMR (NB-AMR), MIDI Tones (poly 64), RealAudio 7,8,10, SP-MIDI, True tones (WB-AMR), plus audio streaming and has an audio recorder.
You'll never get lost again once you own a Nokia N95 8GB thanks to the integrated GPS and map application!

HOW to Increase blog traffic with RSSHugger ??

2008-02-25T06:13:00.000-08:00

A new site called RSSHugger is providing multiple services that can assist you to increase your blog traffics as well as maximizing your blog visibility. The mentioned services are such as:
* Top 100 traffic ranking for heavily visited blog. This is similar to 45n5.com/Top100
* Sending or receiving traffic to and from RSSHugger may improve your ranking with RSSHugger. This is similar to backlink or linkback sites.
* RSS Subscription from RSSHugger may increase your blog readership. This is similar to FeedBurner.com
* Owning a blog page with RSSHugger. This is similar to a member profile page found in MyBlogLog or BlogCatalog.
By becoming a member of RSSHugger, you may accomplished the following benefits:

Raise awareness of your blog
Send tons of visitors to your blog from RSSHugger
Share traffic with the RSSHugger community
Be part of a viral/buzz marketing campaign
Build deep-links for your blog posts to help with search engine optimization
Get new interested RSS subscribers who view your content on a regular basis.

How to join RSSHugger
If you want to join for free, write an unpaid review on RSSHugger (like this post) or you can paid them $20.00 to get listed in their directory or services.

What is RSS?
RSS (Rich Site Summary) is a format for delivering regularly changing web content. Many news-related sites, weblogs and other online publishers syndicate their content as an RSS Feed to whoever wants it. RSS solves a problem for people who regularly use the web. It allows you to easily stay informed by retrieving the latest content from the sites you are interested in. You save time by not needing to visit each site individually.

RSS Hugger is helping bloggers and the general public find new and exciting blogs on the internet. It helps all users have a chance to send their own individual message and thoughts to a bigger audience who would most likely never find your blog.

The layout is easy to follow, with a casual look to make your experience smooth and easy. Sign up just takes a minuet and your ready to start promoting your blogs.

One way that they give all new and old bloggers a chance of getting visits based on a random blog link. I use the site on my spare time to read new interesting content all in a single click of the “Random Blog” button.
The best part of RSS Hugger is the fact that it originally was a pay service but now is free for the general public!
Please visit www.rsshugger.com today.

NVousPC launched Oscar Zapata

2008-02-25T06:04:00.000-08:00

Oscar Zapata has launched a company called NVousPC company. Former engineer of Alienware has come up with his own idea of customizing people's Laptops with any image or color paint you want. You can make a really good looking gadget of your laptop.You can choose to paint different parts of your laptop differently. Just choose a part you want to customize and choose what you want to do to it; by the way, bottom can also be customized.

You can not only change the color of your laptop you can also upload images you want to be printed on your device on their website and they will do that for you.There are two ways to get a customized laptop. First of them is that you can buy one from them and order what paint job you want to be done. Their laptops' price tags start at 9. The other way is to send them your old piece and customize it in any way you want it. Customization prices start at 6.

Apple introduces The World's Thinnest Notebook - MacBook Air

2008-02-25T05:49:00.000-08:00

The brilliance of multi-touch.
MacBook Air includes an oversize trackpad with multi-touch technology. You can pinch, swipe, or rotate to zoom in on text, advance through a photo album, or adjust an image. This gesture-based input so successful on iPhone and iPod touch now comes to MacBook.
A smart LED display.
The backlit LED display allows for an even thinner build. It provides instant full-screen brightness the moment you open MacBook Air. The mercury- and arsenic-free display is also more power efficient, which translates to longer battery life.

Thin is in the details.
The innovative now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t port hatch flips down to reveal (and closes to hide) all the ports you really need: a USB 2.0 port, a headphone jack, and a micro-DVI port that supports DVI, VGA, composite, and S-video output. Even the MagSafe power connection has been reconsidered and slimmed to fit MacBook Air.
So thin yet so expansive.MacBook Air comes with a way-more-than-generous 2GB of RAM built in — ample memory for working with your favorite applications. The 80GB hard drive provides plenty of storage space. And you have the option to upgrade to a 64GB solid-state drive, which has no moving parts for enhanced durability.Micro. Chip.
MacBook Air performance is as impressive as its form, thanks to its 1.6GHz or 1.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor. This chip was custom-built to fit within the compact dimensions of MacBook Air.

Built-in iSight camera.Unlike most other ultraportable notebooks, MacBook Air includes a built-in iSight camera. It’s so smartly integrated, you hardly notice it’s there. The iSight camera and iChat software make video chatting easy anywhere there’s a wireless network.

The battery is slimmer.The performance isn’t.

Lenovo IdeaPad Y710 notebook - An Idea that can change your life.

2008-02-25T05:23:00.000-08:00

With 2GB memory standard and advanced Intel® dual-core processors, the Lenovo IdeaPad Y710 17" widescreen notebook will quickly become your personal mobile entertainment center. The Y710 features discrete graphics options for fast, crisp visuals, plus integrated Wireless LAN, hard drive options up to 500 GB, a CD/DVD writer and much more.Since it's from Lenovo, the IdeaPad Y710 is packed with innovative features that are hard to find in other notebook PCs.

The Dolby® Home Theater™ premium audio system gives amazing, theater-style sound. And the best gets even better thanks to five speakers, including a sub-woofer.
An integrated 1.3 megapixel camera and Lenovo's VeriFace™ face recognition software can make your face your password and help control access to your notebook by recognizing when you are sitting at the keyboard, even recording the face of others who try to access your system.

Lenovo's Secondary Hard Drive solution gives you two, totally separate hard drives, one of which can be hot-swapped and used in other systems (via slot or cable).
An elegantly designed Multimedia Control Center offers a one-stop, total entertainment environment, with a convenient Shuttle Key that puts volume and equalizer controls within easy reach.But Lenovo IdeaPad Y Series notebooks offer more than just innovative features. They've got a fresh, new look, and special design features that set them apart from the competition:
The hinge and logo areas are illuminated by colorful halo lighting, giving the Y710 an exciting, "living" appearance.
Additional multimedia functions (see Multimedia Control Center above) are available via "hidden" touch-sensitive controls across the top of the keyboard.
An innovative Frameless Screen gives these notebooks a unique, clean appearance, with a glossy screen surface that extends to the very edges of the top cover.
The Lenovo "touch" even extends to a full-size keyboard — similar to that on legendary ThinkPad notebooks — that gives great feel on each key-press.And what good is a new PC if you've got to worry about keeping it running? The Lenovo IdeaPad Y710 notebook offers many peace-of-mind features:
While running on battery power, the Energy Cut tool lets you adjust system performance when you need more time unplugged.

Concerned about environmental quality? Key components of the IdeaPad Y710 are lead-free. And it meets the European Union's Reduction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) standards.The Lenovo IdeaPad Y710 is available only for $1199.99.

HD-DVD is Dead, Long Live Blu-ray!

2008-02-24T07:49:00.000-08:00

Putting an end to all speculation, Japanese electronics maker Toshiba today announced that it is withdrawing the HD-DVD format, thus clearing the decks for rival Blu-ray, which is backed by Sony Corp. The HD-DVD vs Blu-ray format war has been on for what seems like ages now.

With Toshiba's withdrawal of the format it has vehemently supported so long, the battle between the two camps comes to a decisive end. Blu-ray is, now, the last man standing in a home high-def video market estimated to be worth nearly $24 billion.
Announcing the withdrawal of the HD-DVD format, Atsutoshi Nishida, president and chief execu

tive officer of Toshiba, said, "We carefully assessed the long-term impact of continuing the so-called 'next-generation format war', and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market develop . Toshiba will begin cutting down shipments of its HD-DVD players and recorders, targeting closure of its HD-DVD business by the end of next month. Meanwhile, the company will continue to provide services to all owners of HD-DVD products. It said it is in the process of calculating the monetary impact of shutting down its HD-DVD business.

Consumers can now be more clear-headed than before, since practically all of the high-def format confusion has now ended. As regards the downfall of HD-DVD, Toshiba had already slashed prices of its HD-DVD players in an effort to compete with Blu-ray. However, the tide truly turned against the company starting with the defection of Warner Bros to Blu-ray last month, and major US retailers the likes of Best Buy, Target, Netflix, and Wal-Mart choosing Blu-ray over HD-DVD.

A day before Toshiba's formal announcement today, Microsoft had said it does not expect sales of the Xbox 360 to suffer if Toshiba actually went ahead with its decision. Now that HD-DVD is officially dead, it remains to be seen how Microsoft will react.

Toshiba, the maker of HD DVD players has pulled support for HD DVD and almost all major movie studios have moved to Blue-Ray. With Toshiba's announcement the rest will have to follow. Netflix and Blockbuster are Blu-Ray only now as well. Walmart has dropped support for HD-DVD players and media. Face it Joe, HD-DVD is officially dead. There may be a few players still floating around, but it will become increasingly more difficult to find any new movies until there just simply won't be anymore.

Universal Scrambles to Blu-ray Side

2008-02-24T07:45:00.000-08:00

No sooner has Toshiba withdrawn the HD DVD format to let Blu-ray emerge winner in the long-running HD DVD vs Blu-ray war, one of HD DVD's staunch supporters, Universal Pictures, has lost no time in defecting to Blu-ray. A Reuters report quotes Craig Kornblau, president of Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Universal Pictures Digital Platforms as saying, "The path for widespread adoption of the next-generation platform has finally become clear. The emergence of a single, HD format is cause for consumers, as well as the entire entertainment industry, to celebrate."

Universal values the close partnership it shared with Toshiba, however it's time now to turn the focus on releasing new and catalog titles on Blu-ray, Kornblau said. Now that Universal has stepped across to the Blu-ray side of the fence, it is expected that other HD DVD supporters including Viacom, Paramount Pictures, and DreamWorks Animation will follow suit. Paramount seemingly is the immediate next after Universal. The company has always been confused over which format to support. In the initial days, it supported HD DVD, then switched to Blu-ray in 2005, then again back to HD DVD in 2007.

Meanwhile, analysts had time and again predicted that Blu-ray had the potential to become Hollywood's next preferred standard for high-definition content. Apparently, the growing popularity of Gen-Next gaming consoles resulted in the raging conflict between the two formats. By that standard, Blu-ray's success can be credited -- at least in some measure -- to Sony's PS3 which comes equipped with a Blu-ray DVD player.

Asus HDTV Suite-HDMI

2008-02-24T07:41:00.000-08:00

Let's face it -- viewing true Hi-definition (HD) content in India is still a luxury and a distant dream for many. However, it doesn't hurt (or does it?) to learn about HD-related advancements people in other parts of the world are enjoying. ASUS, the Taiwan-based electronics company, has unveiled their HDTV Suite-HDMI for people who'd like to avail HD quality on a monitor of any size bigger than 15-inch.

HDTV Suite-HDMI, a standalone TV box, when attached to a monitor enables users to use their monitor as an HDTV. When connected with a monitor with a resolution between 1024 x 768 and 1920 x 1200, it effectively transforms the resolution to 1920 x 1200; the device can up-convert any signals it receives to 1080p. The product comes with a built-in TV engine with latest technologies that enables it to produce quality picture output. It includes adjustments like Advanced 3D Comb, Flesh Tone Correction, Dynamic Deblocking, and Dynamic Anti-flicker Brightness Adjustment.

These adjustments, ASUS says, make it produce even better quality pictures. For high quality video playback, it features ASUS Splendid Video Intelligence technology. The source input selection for the device includes HDMI as well as RF, DVI/VGA for PCs, S-Video, composite and component. Its hub supports plug-n-play connection options that let users connect to gaming consoles and DVD players.

Since it also outputs via DVI/VGA and line-out, the Suite-HDMI also permits using a monitor as part of a multimedia center without ever having to turn on the computer also attached to the device. No word on the price and availability of this innovation yet. But once this product is out in the market, you may not have to burn your pockets for an HDTV, of course, provided the cost of this product itself is reasonable!

XFX First to Introduce 9-Series Graphics Cards

2008-02-24T07:39:00.000-08:00

XFX has launched its first 9000 series graphics card in India, featuring PureVideo HD technology enabling HD-DVD and Blu-ray video playback. The GeForce 9600 GT claims up to 90 percent greater performance than any GeForce card in its class.
The card offers support for DirectX 10 and is HDMI-capable. It features Nvidia's Quantum Effects technology, the Lumenex engine, as well as a Unified Architecture, which is good news for those who want to play the latest games. The GPU runs at 650 MHz, with XFX-overclocked versions available in the Extreme and XXX editions, pushing it to 680 and 700 MHz respectively.

Compatible with PCI-Express and PCI-Express 2.0, the GeForce 9600 GT promises top-notch capability and performance for OpenGL applications. Users can expect realistic game effects in titles such as Crysis, Unreal Tournament 3, and more.
Naturally, the card also promises a premium 3D experience with Windows Vista and Windows Media Center. According to XFX, the dual dual-link DVI support enables the 9600 GT to drive the industry's largest and highest-resolution flat-panel displays up to 2560 x 1600, and also supports High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP).

The GeForce 9600 GT and 9600 GT XXX (overclocked) editions are available from Rashi Peripherals at an estimated street price of Rs 13,990 and Rs 14,990 respectively.

Intel Delivers 8-Core Platform for PC

2008-02-24T07:33:00.000-08:00

For those craving more performance than can be delivered by four processing cores and a single graphics card, Intel has introduced the new Dual Socket Extreme Desktop Platform. Formerly codenamed "Skulltrail," this platform supports two Intel quad-core processors, and offers a choice of multi-card graphics solutions. First unveiled at the 2007 Intel Developer Forum, Skulltrail combines Intel Desktop Board D5400XS and Core 2 Extreme QX9775 processors, and is mainly targeted at power-hungry gamers, who can use multiple graphics card solutions from either Nvidia or ATI. In addition to PC gamers, the new platform is also targeted at 3D animators, digital audio artists, and high-definition (HD) video editors who create video games for consoles and desktops.

As HD video becomes more prevalent than ever, encoding and editing is a task that more power users are looking to their PC to do for them. Intel believes that this eight-core platform is capable of handling such workloads with ease. Each QX9775 processor offers 12 MB of L2 cache, a 1600 MHz system bus, and four cores each running at a brisk 3.2 GHz. According to Shervin Kheradpir, director of Intel performance benchmarking, this platform is the fastest desktop PC ever tested in their labs.
It reached a score of 6481 on 3DMark06 CPU and 20,160 on Cinebench 10 -- even while running at the standard 3.2 GHz. To create a Dual Socket Extreme Desktop Platform, users would need an Intel Desktop Board D5400XS (which can support two quad-core processors), and two Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9775 processors. The QX9775 is available at a maximum street price of $1,499, while the D5400XS board comes for an estimated street price of $649.

Windows Live SkyDrive Soars To 5 GB

2008-02-24T07:31:00.000-08:00

As an addition to its Windows Live service, Microsoft has launched Windows Live SkyDrive. The service provides users with free, password-protected online file storage with an option for it to be shared with other people. Prior to today, Windows Live SkyDrive was available in Beta with a 1 GB storage cap -- only in the US, the UK, and India. Microsoft says this service is beneficial for Indian users due to the increase in the number of people using the Internet, irrespective of their owning a computer.
It allows users to upload 5 GB of data, with a 50 MB limit on each file. Illustrating the 5GB data-holding capacity of SkyDrive, Microsoft cites that the service will enable users to store approximately 1,000 songs, over 30,000 Microsoft Office documents of average size, or 30,000 digital photos at a resolution of 1200 x 1200.

SkyDrive offers users three ways to store and share files by means of Personal, Shared, and Public folders. Personal folder lets users password-protect their data and keep it to be accessed only by them; Shared folder allows them to share files with people they choose; while the third option of Public folder allows anyone on the Internet to access the data.

To access the SkyDrive service, one needs a Windows Live ID.
In order to share folders, people who need to access the files also need to have a Windows Live ID. From today, the service has also now become available in 35 new countries and regions.

FXLabs, Zapak, Sify Launch "Agni"

2008-02-24T07:26:00.000-08:00

Game company, FXLabs, has launched its first PC adventure game, "Agni" starring Malaika Arora Khan as the lead character. For which, the company has partnered with Zapak and Sify. FXLabs claims "Agni" is the first PC game developed in India. "Agni" is designed as a third person shooter-role playing game or TPS-RPG that features more than 10 original scenic stages, and four different characters named Tara, Ghayab, Adhira, and of course, Agni.
Speaking at the launch, Sashi Reddi, founder and chairman of FXLabs, said, "Agni will provide Indian gamers with international quality, and content with local flavor at Indian prices. We have followed international 'AAA' production standard that rivals the best PC games in quality."

Zapak will be the Buzz Marketing Partner (360 degrees) for "Agni" and will promote the game both online and offline via Gameplexes. While Sify will market the game online and through their GameDromes.

Also present at the occasion, Arun Mehra, chief marketing officer of Zapak Digital Entertainment, said, "We would get our users to sample the game through a 60 minutes trial version, which we will launch on Zapak.com soon.
We will be promoting the game offline through our Gameplexes in 11 cities and host a tournament around it, to be flagged off by Malaika Arora Khan in Delhi next week." Meanwhile, those who want to try their hand at "Agni", can download the game from the FXLabs Web site.

The Technology Behind Digital Cameras

2008-02-23T05:46:00.000-08:00

Technology has revolutionized the concept of capturing live images. The earlier concept of producing permanent photograph was based on pure chemistry. In 1830, Louis Daguerre, devised the first practical way of producing permanent photographs. Today we are talking about the computerized photo imagery in the filmless picture taken by a device that is smart in electronic intelligence and in appearance - digital camera.A digital camera takes video, still photographs, or both digitally.
It records images on a light sensitive sensor. Instead of using a film, an arrangement of charged-coupled devices-light sensitive semiconductors, which stores electrical charges,-does the job. These digital sensors-composed of pixels -transform the light from the scene snapped into an analog signal which is then converted into a digital version. One electronic filtering system regulates color and other picture components.

Another system reduces the picture. The image is finally sent to a temporary storage area and ultimately onto a memory card. Many compact digital cameras can record sound, video and still photographs.The images are transferred to a computer where they can be modified, printed, attached to email, inserted in web pages, etc. The most significant advantages of a digital camera are its memory capacity and ability to screen the images taken on a tiny video monitor.The technology of the digital camera relates to the same technology of Video Tape Recorder.

The first VTR in 1951 captured images from the television by converting the information into electrical impulses (digital) and subsequently saving them onto magnetic tape. It was in 1960s when NASA had made a major breakthrough by converting analog to digital signals by means of the space probe for mapping the surface of the moon. Also digital imaging had its other uses in spy satellites.
Kodak scientists invented the first mega pixel sensor capable of recording 1.4 million pixels. In 1991, Kodak released the first digital camera system- a Nikon F-3 camera equipped with 1.3 megapixels aimed at journalists. The first digital camera for the consumers which worked with a home PC via a serial cable were the Apple Quick Take 100 camera(1994), the Kodak DC40 camera(1995), the Casio QV-11 with LCD monitor(late 1995) and Sony`s Cyber-Shot Digital Still Camera(1996).The main features of a digital camera can be summarized as follows:

Resolution: Resolution means sharpness of a picture. The higher the number of pixels, the higher is the resolution.
Memory: The pictures are stored like a data file in a digital camera. The size of the memory determines the number of picture which can be taken, stored and downloaded in the computer.
Flash Type: Most digital cameras have a built in flash of a range around 10 -16 feet which is required to provide extra light needed to take photographs in insufficient light.
Optical Zoom: Normally two types of zoom lenses are used viz., digital and optical. The optical zoom lenses serve more purpose like adding detail and sharpness.
Compression: This process helps to reduce the file size.Lens: The length of a lens determines how much of a scene will fit into a picture.

Notebook Features And Capabilities

2008-02-23T05:45:00.000-08:00

Computers have now become best friends of man. This magical technologically advanced device provides us with those facilities which otherwise would have been possible only in our dreams. Computers come in two forms: desktop and laptop/notebook.
The second type is a more stylish, handy, and slick form of the first type. It is also known as notebook computer or simply notebook. It is considered as a small mobile computer. Its weight is somewhat around 1-6 kilograms (2-18 pounds), which varies with size materials and other factors.
They are also available in different beautiful colors. Apart from being stylish and slick it is also portable as it is much smaller in size than a desktop. Unlike desktops a notebook more often than not operates on a single main battery and with the help of an external AC/DC adapter, which assists in charging up the battery along with sourcing power to the laptop computer itself. Both a desktop and a laptop perform the same tasks as personal computers.

They possess all the components of a desktop in a miniature format (the components are-modem, CD-ROM drive, speakers, etc) and are optimized for mobile use. They have efficient power consumption facilities. Initially laptops were priced higher than desktops but now they are almost equally priced.Most of the Notebook computers have liquid crystal display and make use of different memory modules intended for their RAM (Random Access Memory).
Contrasting desktops laptops exploit a built-in keypad, touch-pad or a pointing stick although external keyboard and a mouse can also be put together. Before this polished and stylized portable computers were introduced, the world`s first commercially on hand portable computer known as Osborne 1, came out in the year 1981, which made use of CP/M operating system.
Unlike today`s laptop it was a bit heavy with a small monitor. Nonetheless, debatably the first true notebook was known to be GriD Compass premeditated by Bill Moggridge in the year 1979-1980, which was launched in the year 1982. It had plasma display and bubble memory. In the year 1983 Compaq introduced their first Compaq portable and eventually with the improvement in technology others came forward with their produce, which provided us with our familiar notebooks in their present form.
Nevertheless laptops have certain disadvantages also: Laptops are more complex than desktops and other electronics as some parts may cause some difficulties in their replacement or repair function. Compatibility is another issue here.
In many cases it has been seen that most of the internal parts produced by notebook producers are not interchangeable with other manufacturers and it is so because the manufacturers want the customer to buy the same manufacturers component for their laptops.
Upgradeability of laptops is very much limited both in terms of technical and economic reasons.

Do Wonders to Your Business with Sony Laptops

2008-02-23T05:43:00.000-08:00

In today's world of stiff competition, everyone wants to stay ahead and win the race. However, to beat others in the competition you need a lot of mobility and control over the business you run or the profession you are in. It's not possible to supervise the office staff and at the same time attend the important meetings outside your office premises. However, with the advent of laptops, things have become totally different now. While one was supposed to stick to the office throughout the day to manage the business some years back, with laptops now they can keep moving from places to places yet keep an eye on their business. The market is now simply flooded with various vendors selling various laptops with unique features. Though the market is full of various brands, but the hype around Sony laptops seems to be just going on and on and on...

Sony VAIO laptops that come with great features such as the LCD monitors, integrated camera, and a lot more provide you with the mobility you might be looking for to be a winner. The range offered is so vast that you can pick just any laptop that matches you needs and style. These sophisticated gadgets provide you with mobility as well as more freedom as you don't have to stick to one place to get the job done. The latest laptops from Sony include advanced machines likeVGN-FJ57GP, VGN -S56GP/S and more. Not only can you keep track of the work but also enjoy music, videos, and playing games with your laptop. The laptops from Sony are light weight, sophisticated, and come with a clearer & comprehensive display. For more fun, these laptops also come integrated with the camera, microphone and other imaging features so you can rejuvenate yourself if feeling so exhausted from the work all the day. Enjoying playing back theCDs and DVDs with the instant AV-Mode button that these gadgets incorporate!

With Sony laptops, you can surely do wonders to your business that too without being in the office throughout the day. What else do we need? Mobility, speed, connectivity, efficiency and fun to make things even better!
TO KNOW MORE ....
Sony VAIO Laptops
Sony VAIO VGN-BX41XN
Sony VAIO VGN-TX5XM/B

Should You Build Your Own PC, Order A Custom PC, Or Ask your Friend to Help You?

2008-02-23T05:37:00.002-08:00

As computer hardware becomes cheaper and cheaper, and your rust bucket of a PC is getting older, some of you may be shopping around for a new PC, or you may be wanting to build your own PC, or have a geeky tech-savvy friend help, because you and him know a little bit about computers, but aren't quite sure if you should leave it to the professionals.
Build Your OwnIf you have a personality that enjoys learning, and want to strive to get the most knowledge, usability, and usefulness out of your PC, and yourself as possible you should seriously consider building your own PC. The experience and knowledge one gains from building their own PC is immeasurable by any of the other previously mentioned options. Not to mention the pride and joy you get from building your own. And who knows, this could also lead you down the road to a new hobby, or even maybe a future profession.

Pros:
- You'll know your computer better than anyone else.
- You can learn a lot from building your own computer, like repairing, troubleshooting, and upgrading PCs.
- You get bragging rights for building your own. (You may know one or two people that have built their own PC, but the rest of your friends will be amazed)
- You can easily make room for future upgrades, and when the time comes you'll know how to upgrade your computer.
- You'll get a good bang for the buck when putting together your own computer, and if you have a lot of buck you'll get a lot of bang.
Cons:
- Any problems you encounter will have to be solved by yourself and a clever use of the world wide web.
- There's a chance that some parts you order will be DOA (Dead on Arrival) which means you'll have to send them back and wait for a replacement part
- Operating Systems aren't cheap, unless you're going with Linux.

Ordering A Dell
This option is good for those that simply don't have time to mess around with all this techno-stuff, and would rather just get on with using their computer, not learning anything new. This is the lazy way out. Luckily, for the lazy people Dell has a nice website setup to help them 'assemble' their new computer, pay for it, and have it shipped to them in a week or so, though this usually comes with a premium price tag.
Pros:
- It's an easy way to get exactly what you want, without any hassle or problems.
- Tech Support will always be there when you have a problem.
- Comes with a warranty.
Cons:
- If you have a problem, you can't fix it without voiding your warranty, and if you don't have a warrant you'll probably spend big bucks at Geek Squad getting your computer 'fixed'.
- Recommended upgrades, hardware, software on the website is extremely expensive, and usually not needed, or do not offer the performance increase for the price.
- Prebuilt systems usually cost more.
- Sometimes it's hard to find your exact system specs if you want to upgrade your PC yourself, or if you do certain hardwares may not be compatible with your manufactured system.

Using Your Trusty FriendIf you have a tech savvy friend that knows more about computers than you do, you could try asking him to help you build a system, it's a good way to get the benefits of a custom PC, while having a backup check and recheck all your work to make sure you don't do anything wrong or make any problems. Chances are, if you ask your friend he will say yes, but you have to make sure you're ready to put in the work, because he will put in his fair share (Hopefully). Don't forget to reimburse your friend for the time and effort that he'll put to help you get the PC you want, it is hard work to put together a PC, even if he is enjoying don't forget to say thanks for his hard work or take him out to lunch or something, and don't take him for granted. Tech people usually get put into that category of service people that will help you out with all your tech problems, and have no feelings, or no need for any reimbursement or thanks, because they just simply enjoy helping you out with your problems.
Pros:
- Your friend is probably the easiest and most trustworthy tech support you can find.
- A good second judgement to correct any mistakes you've made or are about to make.
- You also get many of the benefits from the Building Your Own section
Cons:
- Friend may be lazy and not want to help you.
- Your friend could lack the knowledge needed to build a complete system, and will get you stuck halfway through the process.
- He may be unreliable in helping you with the computer.

So what you think ??

Upgrade Windows XP

2008-02-23T05:37:00.001-08:00

If you upgrade it would be a very good choice: it would speed it up, but you should use the free tools windows have, such as disk cleanup, disk defragmenter, get a registry cleaner and use scandisk to fix errors that can cause slow boot time, just for the basics. The list of such programs builds up over time and we need a windows registry cleaner to clean the registry of these redundant files and programs. Besides finding incorrect or obsolete information in the registry, most registry cleaner utilities provide backup or restore function, allowing users to backup the whole Windows Registry so that they can use the backup to restore the registry to the current status in case they encounter serious system failure.
This information is recorded in the registry and needs to be cleaned with a windows registry cleaner regularly. The investment in a good registry cleaner can do the most good for your computer, as it will allow you to concentrate on actually using your PC instead of spending time reinstalling windows in an attempt to eliminate errors and make your computer faster.
Sometimes using the System Restore feature in Windows can fix problems, so for the less technically experienced this might be the more painless route to go if the above scanning solutions don't work and you don't want to play around with the registry. If you are having problems in running any particular task or program, try bringing up the Windows Task Manager screen by pressing the Ctrl (control), Alt and Delete buttons at the same time, and check to see if you are running any programs that you did not actual start or do not recognize. Given that scenario, it is not a stretch of the imagination but in fact a point of logic to conclude that the broken windows theory should be applied to business, as it was to the problems of crime in urban areas.
The windows registry often encounters problems, but it is programmed to automatically back up essential data that can be restored automatically at a later time when a critical error manifests itself. Registry cleaner software not only scans and fixes Windows Registry, but also provides advanced diagnostics tools for locating serious computer problems before they happen.

Voice Over IP Warrior

2008-02-23T05:30:00.000-08:00

Some companies take it easy, they enter markets with low barriers to entry, low development costs, low infrastructure problems and proven technology. And then there are companies like Audio Codes that invest millions to create new and unproven technology and products like Voice Over IP network. Ten years ago if you mentions Voice Over IP at a party, chance are nobody would know what you were talking about. While Voice Over IP is not exactly a house hold word, the millions of people using Voice Over IP use VoIP to make calls could care less.

Here's a profile of Audiocodes - Voice Over IP Warrior… Since its inception, AudioCodes has been a leader in the development of Voice Over IP networks since 1998. In Voice over IP terms, we are talking ancient history. From a leading provider of voice over IP solutions, AudioCodes' products have become integral parts of systems sold by leading telecommunications and networking manufacturers. Its customers include the leading telecom and Voice Over IP equipment providers globally. from algorithms and chip development to communication boards and modules, AudioCodes provides Voice Over IP OEMs on-going product innovation to ensure a long-term relationship.

Voice Over IP - Products AudioCodes Voice Over IP products include Packet chip processors, VoIP PCI and cPCI communication boards and VoIP media gateway modules (PMC form factor) and Analog Media Gateways (2/4/8/24 ports). These Voice Over IP products are integral to the most advanced and reliable Voice over IP and Voice over ATM platforms on the market, and have been implemented successfully by leading telecommunications and networking manufacturers worldwide. Also Voice Over IP & Telephony Communication Boards - Supporting all major industry standards and protocols. With a unified API, the boards enable quick and easy implementation of enhanced voice services.

Voice Over IP - Media Gateway Modules
AudioCodes provides the primary building blocks for Voice Over IP development and next generation equipment such as media gateways, VoIP enabled class 4/5 switches, Voice Over IP enabled conferencing bridges, IP PBXs, and Voice Over IP enabled routers. The rich variety of Voice Over IP functions including voice compression, packetization, media processing, signaling processing and standard control protocols assures a fast time-to-market solution with reduced development risk. The modules utilize AudioCodes award-winning and field-proven TrunkPack software.

Public Relations for VoIP

2008-02-23T05:28:00.000-08:00

Perhaps you have seen all the voice IP commercials on TV? They are quite good indeed and millions of Americans have signed up for voice IP telephone service. Unfortunately voice IP also take up significant bandwidth and this can cause problems with the service making people very upset.
Of course you cannot argue with the price especially if you were one who uses a lot of long-distance calling each month. Nevertheless, simple advertising on television maybe very good marketing to increase voice IP subscribers for a voice IP telephone company, but it is not enough. In fact many of these companies lack a real robust public relations and community goodwill program.

All companies need to participate in some form of public relations in order to remain good corporate citizens. One thing a voice IP company can do is help those people who are blind or hard of hearing use their system better and perhaps discounts the extra equipment that will be needed for them to use. Voice IP phone companies must compete with long-distance telephone service companies who work very hard to promote their public-relations strategies.
If voice IP telephone companies do not participate in public-relations strategies they will not be looked upon favorably in the marketplace and this might be their undoing in the future. Perhaps you might consider this in 2006.

Why Not Opt For Computer Spring Cleaning

2008-02-23T05:26:00.000-08:00

Computer technology is pretty common these days,today every one is dependent upon the computer systems for their work. Computer systems let us store the various kinds of documents and even make us available with different kind of information. It is all about a magic machine that enables us to find out solution for every problem. Apart from its usage and utility it is also necessary to clean up the computer system. Computer cleaning is something used for the better performance and in order to obtain positive results.

Computer cleaning is a thing that helps our computers to run faster and to obtain more productive results. Generally, we relate cleaning with the cleaning of the outer portion of the computer but with cleaning here we are about to mention the tips for the internal cleaning process of the computer files and its various functional units. It can allow our computer to work even faster and efficiently. Every one faces several odd situations with their computer systems as corrupted files and outdated working system can create some serious problems. So in order to avoid all these problems we need to take care of these problems properly.

The most important thing in computer cleaning here is to avoid using such programs that are not necessary for you apart from this you are also required to delete all kinds of files that may be harmful to use often, try to associate files with their related programs that will ease up your work and will make you less troubled in maintaining the records. It may be possible that we sometime download such files that may not be very helpful for us and they are occupying a large amount of space in your computer system. So we are basically required to maintain the balance of the space for the necessary files. Try to delete all the unnecessary files from your computer in order to prevent the space from storage of the unwanted material.

Secondly it is necessary to De fragment your computer and wither away your old files in order to make your computer more productive and well working. While searching the web make it clear that you have cleared all the temporary files that you tend to download without your concern while browsing and loading the material. After cleaning of related files it is also necessary to upgrade the various software and hardware system. Always keep your software and hardware system up to mark in order to obtain the highest performance. It may be possible that you may find it difficult in the process of computer cleaning to clean up your hardware system as well as the software system too. You may even lose some of the important system files while upgrading. So it is important to follow the upgrading process cautiously and calmly.

Why Do I Need to Fix Corrupt Registry Files

2008-02-23T05:24:00.000-08:00

It's really great to buy a new computer! With it you can do all the things you were unable to do on the old one. All your former limitations are left behind you. You have the resources to do any computer operation now. The sky's the limit. Get any program you want, your computer can deal with it. You're up to date and then some!
This was pretty much the attitude, and logically so, of a customer of mine who told me about his PC that had become very slow in a very short time. He had a good virus/spyware cleaner and had been using it regularly. Still, the computer acted like it was being dragged down; like something was eating its resources.

We're talking about a fast computer here! This guy didn't make the mistake many people do when they buy too much based on price instead of quality. This computer has 2Gig RAM!

Onboard memory is critical, but...
Several times I ran into the problem where a new computer was slow simply because, even though it was brand new, it had Windows Vista and only 512MB RAM. This is not the case with this computer. It is P4 Humming around at 3.3 MHZ and even has a dedicated gamer video card!
When I told this fellow he ought to get a good registry cleaner because he probably has some corrupt registry files, he became sort of indignant! "The computer's new!" he pleaded, "we just got it two months ago!"
I understand how he felt. The computer was new and it wasn't cheap. He thought he had left old his old lack of speed problems behind, but unfortunately, the fact a computer is new doesn't make it maintenance free.

Why is there corruption?
The nature of Windows operating systems is the registry becomes corrupt during what is considered normal use. This is not only true of Windows Vista but also of Windows XP and all the other Microsoft Windows platforms as well.
The problem is, as these operating systems have evolved, they have become more and more complicated and use more and more memory just to be functional. There was a time, the Windows 95 era for instance, when registry corruption could go on a long time without being noticed because a few more kilobytes of memory would push the O.S. to work around this corruption.

XP and Vista use a lot of resources
Now, with Windows XP and Vista, it takes a lot more memory to push corruption aside and get the computer to slog through it. Also, the fact drivers are so much bigger, the programs new computers run are so much more resource dependent and newer microprocessors are required to perform so many more functions, this corruption can't be very effectively worked around any more.

Bring back the 486!
So, does this mean you should convert to an Intel 486SD with Windows 3.11? No not at all! However, like your brand new car still needs to have its oil changed once in a while, your new computer still needs to be scanned for viruses and spyware and it needs to regularly have its registry scanned for and repaired of corruption.
This is not a monumental task, nor is it cost prohibited. There are many spyware and registry programs on the market today. Just remember, like you wouldn't put used crankcase oil in your new Lexus, you wouldn't get some non-guaranteed freeware program to deal with your registry corruption; would you?

It's just regular maintenance
These days, you need to scan for viruses and spyware regularly, and you need to scan for and repair registry corruption regularly, as well. Normally, this requires two separate programs, a virus/spyware program and a registry cleaner. Scan for viruses/ spyware first, then do a registry scan and clean because if you have any spyware removed, this will leave registry corruption.

So, the happy ending to the story is; our friend is back up to 100% speed because he had a ton of registry corruption repaired. In a short amount of time, he, his wife, their two teenage daughters and their boyfriends had flown around the Net almost endlessly. As you might have predicted, there was some registry file corruption left behind. Still, everything is fine since the registry cleaning.
New computers are absolutely wonderful. I am a big fan of the biggest and fastest in the world of computing, but their maintenance is more critical than ever. This is just a way of life.

Keywords Are King

2008-02-23T05:23:00.000-08:00

There are a number of different tactics that people use in their online businesses, but there is one thing that ties all of these tactics together. Every single tactic used by a business today successfully is successful primarily because somewhere in that tactic there are keywords that make the tactic work.

Keywords determine almost everything imaginable on the internet and that is exactly why Keywords are King in the land of online internet marketing and home based business online.ImportanceThe importance of keywords has to do with search engines.

How many times have you been interested in learning about a specific something and then searching online for that specific something in a search engine like Google, Yahoo or MSN? If you are like most people that have used the internet, the answer is quite often. While some people might exclusively search online encyclopaedia's and other products like that, at the same time most of the people will use search engines to look over the internet and this amounts to hundreds of millions of people conducting billions of searches each day.
The keywords that you use on your website are going to be the keywords that they put into the search engines if you do the keyword placement correctly and that ultimately means that keywords are directly linked to search engine success and this is exactly why they are so important in the grand scheme of things.Plan of AttackHaving a plan of attack for your keywords when you set up your website is always a good idea.

The best way to formulate that plan of attack is to first thing of keywords directly related to the website that you are building. For example, a website on Slim-Fast would greatly benefit from keywords like "weight loss", "diet" and "diet drink". Once you have a list of very obvious keywords, your goal is then to run those keywords through keyword tools and figure out what people have been searching for in relation to those words and compile a list of keywords in this way. Then, come up with synonyms and search for the synonyms.

It is a good idea to have at least 100 keywords for a website before you formulate your plan of attack and going through this process will ensure that you probably end up with a lot more.Search Engine OptimizationPart of your plan of attack has to revolve around getting those keywords into places on your website where they will attract the interest of the search engines and the process of doing this is known as search engine optimization. Search engine optimization essentially means getting important keywords into the titles and sub-titles of the website pages that you have and also making sure that keywords are sprinkled throughout the text in appropriate percentages. All of this is very difficult to master but easy to learn the basics of, so if you are putting together a website learning the basics of search engine optimization is a very good idea.

Dell Laptops

2008-02-23T05:19:00.000-08:00

Small Is Beautiful. The general conception that the computers are intelligent falls flat when one observes and deals with the errors generated by them. The computers can at the best be termed as a good executer of orders. Orders issued by the human masters. However, the computers all by themselves are incapable of creating any intelligent output. The issue has been debated many times and still continues to enthrall a select audience who believe that the computers can be trained to think smartly. More likely that the computers would be taught to obey smartly. However, the computer keeps shrinking and the smaller it gets the more powerful it seems to become. It have captured the imagination of the younger and older generation and both have embraced the Laptop with gusto albeit for difference purposes.

The Dell Laptop
The desktop to laptop transformation saw the scientific and technological community create new path breaking advancements. Laptops were required to fit in all the components that formed a part of the Desktop computer and also remain lightweight enough to be carried around comfortably. The constraints were overcome by adopting innovative approach and creative restructuring of the Components. The components right from the motherboard to the ports, add on cards and the DVD drives were compressed to an optimum level and installed on the Laptop. The Dell Laptop also created similar series of Laptops which were at par with the Laptops available in the market.

Dell Laptop Performance.
These have topped the chart with their heartwarming features and steady performance. These have been creatively designed in order to provide the user with a comfortable experience while carrying or while using it. The external contours have been carved with an aim to provide a firm grip and strong hold in case of a Bag arrangement. These laptops has been specially designed to withstand shock, vibration, humidity, temperature variations and even minor water splashes. The Dell Inspiron Laptop is customizable and provides the user the facility to choose a favourite colour and apply the skin to the Laptop. It also includes the wireless option which provides freedom for wires and provides connectivity through wireless networks.

Future of Dell Laptops.
The modern day Laptops are made to order machines that can be customized as per the user taste. The Hi Definition multimedia experience on them is to be experienced to believe. The display has also been optimized for Hi definition gaming and viewing. The latest Graphic cards maximize the visual impact and the Dell exclusive AGEIA PhysX Mobile Technology accelerates the games to a new level. The best part about them is that apart from delivering great products these people also provide excellent and prompt customer service which makes the experience of being a Dell Laptop owner unique. The spill resistant keyboard is another technological marvel that provides the liberty to use these Laptops in every environment. The present day Laptop technology is progressing at a very rapid pace and it is always advisable to accept a product that is provided by the best in the field. When you buy a one you are sure you have the best.

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