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Will new iPod incite a video revolution?

2005-10-15T11:22:00.000-07:00

Got a desire for "Desperate Housewives" while on the "L"? Then Apple Computer Inc. has something for you: a video version of its hot-selling portable digital music player.

But in unveiling its new video iPod on Wednesday, the company did more than show off its latest gadget. It also highlighted, in dramatic fashion, the seismic shifts taking place across the media spectrum. The days when what we hear or see is pre-determined by a static program schedule are going by the wayside.

Instead consumers, more than ever before, are firmly in control of their media, choosing content that is "liquid" and can flow through multiple devices.

But that freedom comes at a cost: $1.99 per video from Apple's iTunes site. That's a dollar more than Apple's highly successful music downloads--a business that reshaped the traditional music industry almost overnight.

"I think this is going to be a real ground-shifter," said Carl Goodman, director of digital media at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York. "It could completely alter the relationship consumers have with their video media. If you're talking about the DVD player or the VCR, those are toast. "

And that has huge implications for everything from television and advertising to movies and videos.

In fact the ABC television network wasted no time jumping aboard Apple's bandwagon. Episodes of the network's hit shows "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost" will be available for download the day after they air on television, Apple and ABC announced Wednesday.

"It's a huge deal," said Andrew Swinand, an executive vice president at Chicago-based Starcom USA, which buys advertising for several Fortune 500 companies. "It's the tipping point" for content.

"Consumers are demanding options," he said. "They're going to get the content in an environment that fits their schedule. So if I can TiVo it and watch it at home, or if I'm mobile and don't have that luxury, I'll get it in another format. If I watch it every week and I happen to miss it this week, I'll download it."

Although there are other portable video players on the market, the limited selection of programming available on the Internet, coupled with slow download times and complicated file formats, has kept them from widespread popularity.

Apple, which remade the music business by making high-quality digital files available on the Internet and offering seamless downloads to the iPod, now believes it can take the same route with video.

Apple noted that the iTunes store catalog has grown to 2 million songs since its launch in 2003. More than 600 million downloads have been recorded.

"We've gained a lot of credibility in the industry in the past 2 1/2 years with what we did with songs," said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of applications. "And that's what we're trying to mirror in the video space."

The new iPod, starting at $299 and available next week, will allow consumers to download thousands of music videos and other content.

"This is the first giant step in making content available to more people in more places more often," said Robert Iger, chief executive of The Walt Disney Co., which owns ABC. "It is the future as far as we're concerned."

Disney and ABC share a long relationship with Pixar Animation Studios Inc., which is also headed by Apple chief Steve Jobs and will offer short films via the iTunes store.

TV shows offered on iTunes will be free of advertisements. Other kinds of entertainment may soon be sold this way, too, analysts said.

"The TV deal is just the beginning," said Jim Grossman, who helps manage $63 billion and owns Apple shares at Thrivent Financial in Appleton, Wis.

With morning commuters catching the local news, friends sharing views about the latest videos around the water cooler and parents seeking to entertain children on long car rides, the iPod could help reshape the video landscape.

John Collins, a manager at Prosound car audio in Chicago, said Apple has sounded the death knell for the car DVD player, beloved by parents everywhere.

Source

Apple fans all agog over new video iPod

2005-10-14T10:07:00.000-07:00

The telephones were ringing almost nonstop yesterday at the Apple Computer store in Shadyside. Consumers wanted the latest incarnation of the iPod, the new video version of the portable digital music player that's taken the world by storm.

Just a day earlier, Apple unveiled the much-anticipated video iPod, which now is available only online and won't show up in the stores for weeks.

"It's on my gift list," said Nate Huwar, 10, of Indiana Township, outside the store. He is one of Apple's increasingly broad audience, which takes in baby boom executives and stay-at-home moms along with their music-loving children.

Nate already has an earlier version of the iPod, which holds music he likes, such as the bands Green Day and AC/DC. He said he would enjoy downloading his favorite TV shows and videos as well.

"It's really neat," he said.

The introduction of the video iPods, which come in two versions selling for $299 to $399 and are capable of holding at a minimum 7,500 songs, 25,000 photos or 75 hours of video, coincided with Apple's agreement with Walt Disney Co. that will let users download commercial-free TV shows offered by Disney's ABC network, including the popular "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost."

The video player is the latest iteration of popular iPod technology that has helped to transform Apple from an also-ran computer maker into a cutting-edge entertainment and communications giant that is one of the world's biggest sellers of digital music. Some observers even can see a day when the iPod acts as an all-in-one entertainment system.

Fueled by record sales of the iPod and strong back-to-school computer sales, Apple this week reported record fourth-quarter earnings that surged more than 300 percent to $430 million on sales of $3.68 million, and annual earnings of $1.335 billion on sales of $13.93 billion. Both the quarterly and annual sales and profit figures were the highest in the history of the company that started the personal computer revolution.

"Apple has scored a huge home run with the whole iPod product line," said Bill Pearce, a former marketing executive who has done work with Apple and now chairs the marketing department at La Roche College in McCandless.

Mr. Pearce expects the new video player to change the movie and television industries much as Apple's online iTunes music store -- which allows users to download songs for 99 cents a pop -- is helping to change the way the music industry reaches consumers.

Imagine, he said, what similar technology could do to the neighborhood video store. The current deal with Disney allows iPod video users to pick only among five ABC commercial-free shows, a day after they are broadcast, for $1.99 per episode. It also allows users to select from some 2,000 music videos from various bands at the same price.

"You're looking at the front end of a whole new delivery system," said Mr. Pearce, who envisions businesses video-conferencing as well as movie fans carrying film libraries in their pockets that can be watched on the go or shown with adapters on larger TV screens.

"I would buy one tomorrow if I thought I could download 'West Wing.' I'm a 'West Wing' fanatic," said Mr. Pearce, who is working on making his courses available for iPod users. "What this does is it opens up media on demand, personalized media, if you want to look at it like that."

But unlike the Apple's previous iPod models, the iPod video will have to demonstrate whether or not if it has the universal appeal of its music players.

Apple's latest version of its music player, the small and sleek iPod Nano, was an instant bestseller because it combined just about everything that previous versions lacked.

Carrying the storage space of its larger forbears, it's small enough to be held during exercise. The color screen and Apple's signature easy-to-use software and generally accessible price tag ensured it's success.

Mr. Jobs was confident that the video player will enjoy similar success. "Because millions of people around he world will buy this new iPod to play music, it will quickly become the most popular portable video player in history," he said.

Avowed Apple-lover Oscar Huber, 39, of Pittsburgh, isn't sold. He loves music, not videos, and said he doesn't figure he needs to upgrade to Apple's latest darling.

"I'm not much of a TV person," he said. "I'm happy with what I have."

And while Mr. Jobs told reporters on Wednesday that he is convinced the people will buy the iPods because they are "the best digital music players in the world," what really matters is if the consumer public agrees.

Dr. Jim Sequin, professor of communications at Robert Morris University, thinks consumers will buy them. He imagines kids using them to watch comic book animation and travelers cooped up in airports or on municipal buses turning to videos just as they now tune into iPods, CD players and portable FM tuners.

"I think it's an idea whose time has come," said Dr. Sequin. "I think it's going to be a huge success."

Clearly, the buzz surrounding the iPod and Apple generally is welcomed by the folks at the Cupertino, Calif., company, which despite its pioneering status and Mr. Jobs' reputation was by the mid-1990s, a seeming has-been lost in the shadow of software behemoth Microsoft and a flood of cheaper Windows-based PC knock-offs.

But the iPod -- and a jazzed-up computer lineup led by the colorful iMac that Mr. Jobs introduced shortly after he came back in 1997 to run the company -- has helped to change all that. The pocket-sized jukebox single-handedly transformed Mr. Jobs and Apple into comeback kids, leading the charge to land consumer entertainment into the palm of your hand.

"I think Apple sees themselves as a communications and lifestyle facilitator more than just a computer company," said Kurt Schimmel, a marketing professor at Robert Morris University.

Students view the iPod in all its various forms as an extension of the computer, he said. They already use computers to e-mail their friends and family around the country and as a storage place for their music and video collections.

"This is just an extension of that, providing the consumer with a portable service that is based on the technology they already had," Dr. Schimmel said.

Apple is an example of successful companies that are introducing new products more oriented toward what consumers want rather than just evolving existing technologies, said Peter Boatwright, co-author of the book, "The Design of Things To Come."

"You might have thought of them pre-iPod as Apple computer and lo and behold, they didn't bring out the next computer, they brought out something [else] that consumers wanted," said Dr. Boatwright, an associate professor of marketing at Carnegie Mellon University.

"They are transforming not just Apple, but the iPods have really helped people recognize a better definition of innovation. It is not about advanced technology, but increasing consumer value.

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2005-10-12T18:17:00.000-07:00

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Site Announcement

2005-10-11T16:21:00.000-07:00

We will now only have three last posts on the blog on the main page. You can find Previous news on right navigator menu and older news can be find under Archive section.

Hard Product for Apple- Apple will replace cracked IpodNanos

2005-10-11T16:16:00.000-07:00

Apple Computer cried "uncle" Tuesday, and promised it would replace defective iPod nano screens that have cracked. It won't, however, deal with users who claim that the device's case scratches easily.

According to reports in the Wall Street Journal, a "vendor quality problem" caused cracking on a small number of iPod nano screens, said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing. The problem affected "less than one-tenth of 1%" of the nanos shipped, Schiller said.

Users had posted messages on Apple's own support forums as well as other sites -- including financial services consultant Matthew Peterson's flawedmusicplayer.com -- detailing horror stories of new nanos' cracked and scarred screens.

After Peterson's site was cited in several media reports Monday, an Apple representative contacted him and said the company would make a "one-time warranty exception" and send him a replacement.

Tuesday, Apple changed its tune.

"It is sad that it took a website and a lot of publicity before they finally investigated but at least future Nano users with the same problem I had will not be subjected to the same treatment that I was," wrote Peterson on his revamped site Wednesday. "This was a real issue and most people tried to ignore it."

Affected users can contact AppleCare, Schiller told the Journal.

The other issue that has some iPod nano users hopping mad -- the ease with which the case scratches -- won't be addressed, Schiller confirmed. The nano's case and screen aren't any more susceptible to scratching than earlier iPods, and Apple has received few complaints, he said.

Users, however, disagreed. They continued to post messages on Apple's iPod nano message forum about extreme scratching. "I bought iPod Nano [sic] a week before. I have treated like baby, but still I got so many scratches, now looks very ugly. I hate this," wrote one poster Wednesday.

Many of the posts were from users sharing tricks on how to keep their iPod nanos scratch free, which ranged from covering the screen with vinyl to wrapping the entire case in kitchen cling wrap.

That last brought hoots from at least one iPod owner. "$250 bucks for a 2005 model MP3 player and you've wrapped it up like a 1970's velour sofa?? You REALLY think that's a 'solution?' How about a recall?"

Battle Between Two tech empires.

2005-10-11T16:12:00.000-07:00

It makes no sense for Google to try to compete with Microsoft on the desktop, and any sign that Google is getting into that business would be evidence that Google has jumped the shark.

As all good couch potatoes know, "jumping the shark" is what happens when a good television show goes bad. The name comes from an episode of the 1970s sitcom "Happy Days," where teen idol Fonzie does a waterski jump over a tank full of sharks, to demonstrate how courageous and cool he was. As if that wasn't ridiculous enough, he did it wearing swim trunks and his trademark leather jacket and T-shirt (because nothing says "cool" like a guy wearing swim trunks with a leather jacket).

Like TV shows, software companies can jump the shark. It starts happening when the upstart company attracts cheerleaders that say the upstart is the company that's going to take Microsoft down. Microsoft starts believing the hype, and begins to target its massive resources on destroying the upstart. Eventually, the upstart itself believes the hype--and that's the beginning of the end. The software company loses focus on its customers, and instead starts focusing on beating Microsoft. Eventually, the company gets fat and bloated, hemorrhage money, loses market share and customers and--in the final stage--top management bails out, often accompanied by the company being acquired. It happened to Borland, Novell, and, most famously, Netscape.

So now Google is acquiring its "Kill Bill" cheerleaders. As reported in this week's InformationWeek, Google cut a deal with Sun to offer Java combined with the Google Toolbar. Prior to the announcement, there was widespread speculation in the blogosphere that Google might be offering Sun's OpenOffice.org, and the two companies fueled that speculation by saying their deal included joint marketing and development of technologies including that office package.

One question for those who think Google will offer an office package to compete with Microsoft:

Why?

Oh, sure, I know why you want it. You hate Microsoft, or at least you want to see some competition for the big ol' monopolist. But why would Google want to get involved in peddling office suites? It's a tough business, requiring companies to maintain and update large amounts of complex code. Moreoever, that code resides on users' desktops, outside of the vendor's control. And getting aggressively into the desktop software business violates one of the secrets to Google's success: the code for its strategic products resides on servers owned and operated by Google, where the company can more easily update and maintain it.

Yes, I know that Google offers Google Desktop, a search tool that resides on the user's desktop. But that's the exception; the company's strategic products reside safe and sound on its own servers.

If Google gets into the desktop software business in a big way, it'll be competing with Microsoft at Microsoft's own game. Microsoft has nearly a 15-year head start on Google in offering office suites, and Office is the worldwide standard. Yet, even Microsoft is finding the office business to be a tough one. Microsoft's Information Worker business unit, which includes Office, grew revenue only 2% in fiscal 2005, compared with 17% the year before.

Nonetheless, the rumors about Google becoming a desktop vendor persist. An article I wrote about the subject in April, 2004 still holds up. In it, I quote blogger Jason Kottke, who says: "Google is building a huge computer with a custom operating system that everyone on earth can have an account on." Kottke said more than 2-1/2 years ago: "Google's money won't be made with search. That's small peanuts compared to selling access to the world's biggest, best, and most cleverly-utilized map of the web."

Kottke's prediction then jumps the shark when he speculates about Google selling cheap PCs running Gnome and Linux, tailored to take advantage of the Google service, running their own office suite with built-in Internet collaboration, and priced cheap, cheap, cheap.

Why on Earth would Google want to do that, given that Microsoft, Apple, and various desktop Linux vendors, are already supplying desktops for Google users, and assuming all the R&D and support costs without costing Google a penny?

If Google is smart--and they do appear to be very smart indeeed--Google will stick to the server-based software model that it's built its success on. If Google is smart, they'll let Microsoft continue in the increasingly-difficult business model of licensing software that users install and run on their own machines. Microsoft is having problems on its 30th birthday; the best thing you can do when your enemy is having problems is just stand back and watch.

For an example of Google doing what it does best, see Google Reader, Google's Web-based feed reader for RSS and Atom feeds. I thought I was addicted to feeds before, but since the product was introduced Friday, I've been spending more time than I care to think about just sitting at my desk, tapping the J on my keyboard (which moves the Reader's focus from one item to the next), and browsing my collection of 237 feeds. Behavioral psychologists teach us that the best way to re-enforce repetitive behavior is to offer rewards at random intervals, and that's how Google Reader works. You sit there tapping that J key, and you see interesting articles (the reward) mixed in with boring ones, to create that random re-enforcement.

Google needs to stick with innovative, server-based technology like Google Reader. If it decides to get aggressively in the desktop software market ... well, can I suggest that Google's own Froogle service would be a good place to shop for waterskis, swim trunks, and a leather jacket?

(Source: IW)

Few of my google search Tips

2005-10-11T16:08:00.000-07:00

Google gained popularity primarily because of the accuracy and speed of its search. The new Personalized Search feature promises to improve its accuracy even further.

To use the feature, you'll need a Google account. Create one, or if you already have one, sign in to it. (To create an account, go to https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount.)

Once you have an account, go to Google, and click "Search History" in the upper right-hand part of the page. You'll come to a blank Search History page. Click "Resume." From now on, Google will keep a record of all your searches and which pages you clicked from those searches. As it learns what you click on and what you search for, it will begin to shape its search results to your search behavior. At first, that most likely won't be noticeable, but over time, you should notice that your searches return more accurate results.

The feature does more than fine-tune your searches, though. It also lets you easily revisit pages and searches you've already done, and to search only through your previous search results. This is particularly useful when you remember that you once performed a Google search that gave you good results, but you can't remember the query or the site you visited.

When you turn the feature on, all your searches are saved, as shown in the nearby figure. To get there, go to Google and click "Search History," or else go to http://www.google.com/searchhistory. Once you're on the page, to revisit a site or search, click it. You can also revisit all the searches you performed on a given day by using the calendar on the right side of the screen.
Search History

What makes this page particularly powerful is that you can search only through your search history instead of the entire Web. To do it, type in a search term and click the "Search History" button. You'll search only through your previous results.

There's really only one problem with this feature—it can quickly become cluttered. To clean up the page, you can remove any searches or sites. Click "Remove items," and from the page that appears, check the boxes next to any item you want removed, and then click "Remove."

This Content is copyrights of TW

Google Plugs Cross-Scripting Security Hole

2005-10-11T16:04:00.000-07:00

Google has fixed a cross-scripting flaw that opened user accounts to hijacking, the search giant confirmed Monday.

According to San Jose, Calif.-based security vendor Finjan Software, the bug in two unnamed Google sub-sites could have allowed attackers to grab a Google user's cookie. If the user was currently logged on with their Google account -- necessary to use Google's Gmail and new RSS Reader, for instance -- the stolen cookie would have let the attacker access some Google services, including viewing the user's saved searches or alerts, and/or use their identity in Google Groups.

"The cross site scripting vulnerability could have allowed a remote attacker to take over victims’ Google Accounts, or fake the site’s content in order to deceive end users into downloading malicious content or providing personal and confidential information," said Limor Elbaz, Finjan's vice president of business development, in a statement.

Finjan said that it informed Google of the vulnerability in late September, and provided the search giant with proof-of-concept code.

Google has since fixed the flaw. "Google was alerted to this issue…and we worked quickly to fix the problem, which has now been resolved," a Google spokesperson said in an e-mailed statement.

Google also said that it believed no user data was compromised.

(Source: IW)

Sony VAIO T350P- CNet Review

2005-10-10T10:34:00.000-07:00

If you're a small-business owner, a road warrior, or an employee who must remain in frequent contact with the office at any cost, then you're a prime candidate for the ultraportable Sony VAIO T350P. The VAIO T350P's tiny case, extended battery life, and ample connectivity options (including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and--a first for a consumer laptop--built-in cellular) help you get your job done while you're away from the office.

Measuring 10.5 inches wide, 8 inches deep, and 1.2 inches thick and weighing 3.1 pounds, the VAIO T350P consumes as much bag space as a hardcover book. It's stockier than the Dell Latitude X1, which lacks an integrated optical drive, and a bit slimmer than the Fujitsu LifeBook P7010D. Even with its demure 0.72-pound AC adapter, the VAIO T350P won't be an undue burden when standing in airport security lines.

While no ultraportable laptop's keyboard is spacious enough for long typing stints, the VAIO T350P's is particularly small, though you can compose e-mail and surf the Web for a while without cramping your hands. The touch pad is surprisingly large for an ultraportable, though the mouse buttons are on the small side. A useful wireless on/off switch sits on the laptop's front edge, next to volume up, down, and mute buttons. The rounded screen hinge contains five additional buttons for controlling playback from the integrated DVD drive. The DVD buttons are accessible even while the lid is closed, letting you manipulate DVD play when the VAIO T350P is hooked up to an external monitor. We wish you could connect the laptop to a TV as well, but the notebook lacks the requisite S-Video-out port. It does, however, offer a sufficient connector selection. You get FireWire, VGA, and two USB 2.0 ports; headphone, microphone, 56Kbps modem, and 10/100 Ethernet jacks; one Type II PC Card slot; and a flash memory card slot that unfortunately supports only Sony's Memory Sticks.

The VAIO T350P's most intriguing feature is the unobtrusive cellular antenna attached to the right side of the display. After signing up with Cingular's Laptop Connect program, you can use the VAIO T350P to send data through the EDGE GPRS cellular network--a particularly handy feature if your travels take you to places that lack Wi-Fi access. The convenient Connection Manager utility shows a signal-strength meter and lets you establish connectivity settings, including a VPN pass-through and specific profiles for your frequent haunts. The big downside is the plan's exorbitant monthly cost, which starts at $20 for a scant 5MB of data transfer and ends at $80 for unlimited data transfer. Unlike most Wi-Fi hot spots, Cingular doesn't offer a cheaper alternative to users who want one-time access to the cell network. Another drawback is slow data transfer speeds: in our anecdotal tests using the CNET Bandwidth Meter at various locations around the San Francisco Bay Area, we never achieved a transfer speed faster than 445Kbps, which pales in comparison to the average 11Mbps speeds of the slowest Wi-Fi networks. One final beef: the antenna would be less susceptible to damage were it integrated into the case itself.

An antenna on the lid lets users connect to Cingular's cellular data network.

Sony sells the VAIO T350P in preconfigured versions only. You can pick one up on the Sony Web site, at dozens of online resellers, and at local computer stores. CNET's VAIO T350P series review lists the particulars of the different available configurations.

Our midnight-blue VAIO T350P test unit cost $2,300 (as of May 2005)--a high price to pay for several average components. The unit included an ultra-low-voltage, 1.2GHz Intel Pentium M 753 processor; 512MB of slow 266MHz memory; a cost-cutting Intel 855 GME chipset with an integrated graphics subsystem that borrows up to 64MB of VRAM from main memory; a small, 10.6-inch display with a fairly fine 1,280x768 native resolution; a midsize, 60GB hard drive spinning at a sluggish 4,200rpm; and a standard Intel 802.11b/g Wi-Fi card. This generally average lot does include a few standout components, such as the cellular antenna discussed above, integrated Bluetooth, and a built-in, multiformat DVD burner.

In CNET Labs' mobile benchmarks, our VAIO T350P ran neck and neck with the older-generation VAIO T150 and the Fujitsu LifeBook P7010D--both of which carried a 1.1GHz Pentium M processor. However, the 1.1GHz Pentium M-based Dell Latitude X1 performed a bit faster than all three. The VAIO T350P's battery lasted for a fantastic six hours in our Labs' drain tests, compared to the three hours of the Latitude X1's much smaller battery and the five hours of the LifeBook P7010D's only slightly smaller cell.

Our test unit shipped with Microsoft's Windows XP Professional OS and Works 8.0 mini office suite. Of course, it wouldn't be a Sony without a slew of the company's multimedia applications in the mix. The long list includes DVD creation and editing titles such as Click To DVD and DVGate Plus; music mastering and organizing apps such as SonicStage Mastering Studio; and image editing through PictureGear Studio. We also appreciate the laptop's SmartWi software utility, which lets you toggle between Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and cellular connectivity by clicking an onscreen button.

Though more and more corporate notebook manufacturers have begun to standardize on a three-year warranty, the VAIO T350P ships with only a single year of return-to-depot service. Unfortunately, toll-free phone support lasts for a mere year as well. You can extend the warranty and phone support with a number of options, such as a four-year term for both. As usual, Sony's subpar support Web site lacks any specific FAQ on the VAIO T350P, nor does it offer the helpful user forums and chatting features found on many other manufacturers' support sites.

Source: Cnet

This week!

2005-10-10T10:31:00.000-07:00

Hello.

This week i will be posting information on NoteBooks.

My thoughts on google future developements

2005-10-10T08:13:00.000-07:00

I was wondering if google will provide domain names in future. It wouldnt be a such a bad idea. well we will see.

Google Launches RSS Reader

2005-10-10T07:39:00.000-07:00

Google has unveiled a beta of its Google Reader, a web-based RSS reader, to the search engine's registered users.

The reader is similar to the online service offered by NewsGator, allowing users to subscribe to RSS feeds and receive a notification when a website publishes an update.

"We often get asked how anyone is supposed to keep up with the firehose of stuff launched from the web's spigot, so we're offering Reader as a way to help, " said Chris Wetherell, software engineer for the Google Reader, on his blog.

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In addition to an overview of multiple feeds, the service allows users to perform targeted searches based on news sources or topics.equity loan
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Google already enables users to subscribe to RSS feeds on its personalised homepage.

A beta of the personal front page was released in May and the project 'graduated' from Google Labs last week to become a finished product.

Google unveiled the service at the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco.

(Source: Vnunet.Com)

New iPod Nano will add to the long success of Apple

2005-10-09T19:39:00.000-07:00

When Apple unveiled a new batch of digital music gadgets this month, the major release was supposed to be an "iTunes phone" that could play songs downloaded from Apple's iTunes Music Store. But its big news turned out to be something a lot smaller - the iPod Nano.

This tiny digital music player, barely 1/4-inch thick and weighing a scant 2 ounces with its headphones, is roughly the size of a candy bar and about as hard to turn down. It packs in almost all the functions of the model it replaces, the iPod Mini, while adding a bright, sharp color screen and a few extra programs.

The Nano comes in two colors, white and black, and two sizes: a $199, 2-gigabyte model and a $249, 4-gigabyte version. (A 4-GB unit actually clocked in at just over 3.7 GB.) Its ingenious "Click Wheel" control lets you select commands and whirl through hundreds of tracks - tunes ripped from CDs or purchased from iTunes Music Store, as well as podcasts and audiobooks downloaded from iTunes - with a tap or wiggle of your thumb.

The Nano's flash-memory storage, unlike the hard drives used in regular iPods, has no moving parts to suffer from skips. The Nano even kept playing after suffering a fall hard enough to cause half of the iPod's screen to go blank.

Apple advertises the Nano's battery life as 14 hours, but my test unit ran one hour longer.

This gadget's color screen, 1.5 inches diagonally, reproduces enough detail to make viewing album cover art or your digital photos - automatically copied to the iPod by Apple's iTunes software - pleasant. Unlike full-size iPods, however, the Nano can't plug into a TV to show your snapshots on a larger screen.
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The iPod Nano carries a bag of other tricks beyond music playback. Like other iPods, it can store addresses and appointments (although the test Nano took its time opening a calendar that spanned several years), plus text notes. It also includes a world clock and stopwatch/timer programs and a nifty utility to lock and unlock itself.

People who see and touch the Nano tend to fall into something of a swoon. But some may not find as much to like - and not just the executives of Apple's competitors.

For one, music can be transferred to a Nano only via a USB connection - which means that FireWire users or those whose computers have only the older and slower USB 1.1 ports will spend a long time waiting for their music to transfer from computer to Nano. (Apple was still shipping computers without the faster USB 2.0 ports in spring 2004.) It took most of an hour to copy 1.5 gigabytes of music via an iMac G4's slower USB 1.1 link.

The iPod Nano is also pickier in its stated system requirements, Windows 2000 or XP and Mac OS X 10.3 or 10.4. Older iPods also accept OS X 10.2. (Note that the Windows iPod software defaults to sharing your e-mail address with Apple.)

Because the Nano lacks a remote-control jack, many iPod accessories won't work with it - although it does use the same dock connector as other iPods.

And the iPod Nano's rechargeable battery, hidden inside its sealed case, can't be easily replaced by users. Apple charges $59 for battery replacement - although by the time any iPod Nano will need that service, after a few hundred discharge-and-recharge cycles, Apple will probably be selling versions that store 20 or 30 gigabytes of music.

Since the first iPod, Apple has maintained an impressive winning streak in the music business. And as long as this company can invent products with the art and utility of the iPod Nano, it should continue to be successful.

(Source: RelishNow)

All human Life is indexed on the Web

2005-10-09T18:12:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone check out this link.

Click here

Wired says"Making Free IPods Pay Off"

2005-10-09T18:05:00.000-07:00

Unless you're extremely gullible, the promise of getting a free iPod from FreeiPods.com looks extremely dubious.

But surprisingly, the site appears to be legitimate. The program almost certainly isn't a dodgy pyramid scheme; it's a new form of online marketing supported by companies like eBay, AOL and Columbia House.
And while lots of happy customers are popping up all over the internet brandishing new iPods, analysts are skeptical of the economics.

Here's how it works: FreeiPods.com promises an iPod or a $250 gift certificate to anyone who signs up for various online promotions and persuades five other people to participate.

Subscribers are given a choice of 10 different offers, including a 45-day trial of AOL and a two-week trial of Ancestry.com's genealogy service. Typically, the offers are free and easily canceled.

Once the trials are over -- for both the main subscriber and the referrals -- the free iPod is dispatched.

"Of course I was skeptical, but I didn't see any harm in trying," said Collin Grady, 22, from Salem, Oregon, who received his free iPod earlier this month and wrote about it on his blog.

"They never once asked for a credit card number and I didn't have to pay shipping," he said. "I just told them where to send it.... All in all, a very painless process."

Indeed, some customers are so delighted that they've set up affiliate websites, called "conga lines," to persuade others the program isn't a swindle.

"So many people on the web think FreeiPods.com is a scam; I just wanted to prove them wrong," said John Sauer, a 19-year-old student at Boston's Berklee College of Music, who runs Free iPods and FlatScreens .com.

Another site, 17-year-old Tyler Derheim's FreeiPodGuide, features pictures of the delivery truck outside his house, his receipt and, of course, his new iPod.

FreeiPods is one of several websites run by Gratis Internet, a Washington, D.C., "customer acquisition" company owned by Peter Martin and Rob Jewell.

"I can definitely understand the skepticism," said Martin. "A lot of people believe there's no free lunch, but it's definitely not a scam. It's 100 percent legitimate. We're shipping (iPods) every day."

In a joint interview, Martin and Jewell denied the site is a pyramid scheme, like the myriad matrix schemes advertised on eBay, which also promise free iPods.

Instead, they explained, Gratis Internet is paid a bounty for sending potential customers to sites like AOL, eBay or RealNetworks.

"We're a marketing firm," said Jewell. "We're sending these people to our advertisers. We cringe when we hear 'pyramid' or 'scheme.' We're more closely associated with viral marketing, with the subservient chicken, than Amway."

They declined to specify the bounty, and said the firm doesn't deal directly with the companies involved. Rather, Gratis Internet is commissioned by third-party marketing agencies, such as San Francisco's Adteractive.

For the last four years, Gratis Internet has operated customer-acquisition programs through FreeCDs.com, FreeDVDs.com, FreeVideoGames.com and FreeCondoms.com.

The company has sent out more than $3 million worth of free merchandise, Martin said, including 5 million to 6 million condoms.

Since the launch of FreeiPods.com in June, the site has dispatched more than 2,500 iPods, Martin said, worth more than $1 million.

But in the last few weeks traffic has exploded. Martin claimed nearly 1 million people have recently enrolled in the program, though he said the majority are using phony names and/or addresses.

Apple's New MP3 Player Drives Down Market Prices

2005-10-09T16:47:00.000-07:00

Hit by the successful launching of Apple’s iPod nano, the prices of local MP3 players have fallen by up to 30 percent over the last two weeks.

The price drop is most apparent in the flash-memory models with storage capacities of from1 gigabyte to 4 gigabytes. The nanos, Apple’s newly introduced sleek music players, are being sold at 230,000 won for a 2-gigabyte model and at 290,000 won for a 4-gigabyte one, which are much lower than those of rival products with similar storage capacities and functions. Samsung Electronics is reportedly supplying the flash memory chips to Apple at specially discounted prices.

According to danawa.com, a price-comparison Web site, an online shopping mall sold Cowon System’s 2-gigabyte model at 209,000 won early this week. The price of G3s had been set around 290,000 won before the arrival of the new iPods two weeks ago.

Two leading South Korean brands, Samsung’s Yepp and Reigncom’s iRiver, also saw drops in price of their flash-memory devices. The price of Samsung’s 2-gigabyte player YP-T8QB has been cut down to 324,000 won from 380,000 won as of mid-September, and Reigncom’s 1-gigabyte T20 also is being sold at 209,000 won on the Internet, 6,000 won lower than two weeks ago.

The manufacturers, however, deny that they intended to lower the prices of their products, and said that it was the distributors’ decision in order to get rid of their stockpiles.

``It seems that the online vendors sold their outdated stocks at really low prices. We have no control over the retailing prices, because the market is so complicated and there are so many sales channels,’’ said Ham Yun-ho, Cowon’s public relations manager.

``It is an open market as in other countries, and the sellers can set the price as they want and we are not related to it,’’’ said Samsung’s official Hwang Jin-oh.

The Korean brands will feel more pressure from next week, when the second shipment of the iPod nanos arrives from the United States. So far, experts estimate that around 10,000 nanos have been sold since Sept. 26 in South Korea, and there are many orders on the waiting list so customers have to wait two to three weeks to get the product.

Google localizes online maps service

2005-10-09T16:45:00.000-07:00

Google Inc. is combining its popular online maps with its local search features, continuing a quest to increase its already rapidly rising advertising revenue.

The new features are expected to be available Thursday at either http://maps.google.com and http://local.google.com.

With the change, Google's local search tools for the United States and Canada are being taken out of the "beta," or testing, phase, said Bret Taylor, the product's manager. The company's local search engines for the United Kingdom, Japan and China remain in beta — a label that technology companies attach to products that don't have all the bugs worked out.

The hybrid service blends addresses, phone numbers, maps, driving directions and other details, like user reviews and credit card information, on the same Web page. Google also offers a satellite-mapping option that provides an aerial view.

By combining maps with local search, Google is following its rival Yahoo Inc., which already provides a similar package, said industry analyst Greg Sterling of the Kelsey Group.

"Yahoo has been in the local (search) space a little longer than Google, so it has some things that are a little more developed," Sterling said.

Mountain View, Calif.-based Google remains the most widely used search engine with a 37.3% share of the U.S. market through August, according to comScore Media Metrix, a research firm. Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo ranked second with 29.7% share followed by Microsoft Corp.'s MSN at 15.8%.

The heavy volume of inquiries is crucial for Google because its financial health depends on the ads displayed beside search results. The company earned $712 million on revenue of $2.6 billion through the first half of this year.

Google's maps also have made significant inroads since the company began testing the service early this year.

In August, Google's maps attracted 14.3 million unique U.S. visitors, ranking second behind America Online's better established Mapquest, which drew an audience of just under 39 million, according to Nielsen/NetRatings, another research firm. Nielsen stopped tracking Yahoo maps after company fused the navigation tools with its local search features.

Google's maps have proven so popular that some developers have used them to chart crime patterns in local neighborhoods or pinpoint places selling the least expensive gasoline.

All the search engines are striving to make it easier for visitors to quickly find helpful information about local businesses as more consumers turn to the Internet instead of the Yellow Pages. The Kelsey Group expects the trend to generate $3.4 billion in local advertising sales by 2009.

Credit- This Article was emailed us by one of our visitors. Thank you for Submission.

Google's New Feature

2005-10-09T16:38:00.000-07:00

As we all know google always surprises with new features in time to time. Now this time Google has released its new freeware software Google Earth.
Here is some Information taken from Google Earth Page

The idea is simple. It’s a globe that sits inside your PC. You point and zoom to anyplace on the planet that you want to explore. Satellite images and local facts zoom into view. Tap into Google search to show local points of interest and facts. Zoom to a specific address to check out an apartment or hotel. View driving directions and even fly along your route. We invite you to try it now.

Features:

* Free for personal use.
* Sophisticated streaming technology delivers the data to you as you need it.
* Imagery and 3D data depict the entire earth - Terabytes of aerial and satellite imagery depict cities around the world in high-resolution detail.
* Local search lets you search for restaurants, hotels, and even driving directions. Results show in your 3D earth view. Easy to layer multiple searches, save results to folders, and share with others.
* Layers show parks, schools, hospitals, airports, shopping, and more.
* KML – data exchange format let your share useful annotations and view. thousands of data points created by Google Earth users.

Use it for:

* Planning a trip
* Getting driving directions
* Finding a house or apartment
* Finding a local business
* Exploring the world

You can download Google Earth at http://earth.google.com/

After you have read this you might just say "Go Google Go" thats what i thought. :)

Credit- This information is taken from Google Website. We are not affiliated with Google. Google Earth is Trade Mark of Google Co In.

The Nobel Prize for Physics

2005-10-09T16:25:00.000-07:00

It takes a nominee to understand how the Nobel Committee works. It is a secret committee within the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences comprised of eminent scientists. Its deliberations are supposedly secret for 50 years but there is a loop hole: by tradition, information is leaked to the nominee and, through him, to the media if needed.

When a potential nominee is spotted a group of nominators is formed within the Academy to take care of the formalities. I had three principal nominators and it appears they were not members of the Nobel Committee. That makes sense to allow objectivity on the part of the Committee. However, they all used pseudonyms to avoid breaching the rules of the Committee when they had to leak information.

They were supposed to have read my work but they asked for a single paper on the topic, Grand Unified Theory. I had to have my website fixed to selectively display only non-strictly confidential messages before the formal announcement of the nominees or winners. Another channel of communication is the Internet chatroom.

Apparently, copies of my entry paper were made available to the members of the Academy although some asked for an advance copy and a short essay on why I think I deserve the Nobel Prize. Comments from members of the Academy were all favorable. There were other experts who made some comments on my work in general and they ranged from very favorable through "controversial but imaginative," "somewhat controversial" and unfavorable. One comment by a famous physicist says.

"You have beaten me in the race to define the Grand Theory of Everything. Although you have made a couple of bold assumptions and some mistakes [particularly in the nature of the prima] in your theory, I submit to the superiority of your thesis . . ."

Another said, "Congratulations for being a frontrunner for the Nobel Prize for physics."

From Norway came this message: "I have read your submission and I share my colleagues’ praise for your work. You truly are a genius. Good luck on your Nobel Prize nomination!"

A local expert said, "Your work is all imagination. Why do you publish in journals nobody reads? You will never be nominated, not in a million years!"

The next message has a mixed tone, "I am an admirer of your work and I am among many who have nominated you for the Nobel Prize for physics. However, I am concerned of certain rumors in the academy that pressure has been put by the University of the Philippines Math Department to strike your nomination.

I have received, as have many members of the academy who support you, very strongly worded letters on why you should not receive the Nobel Prize. I am also sickened that the Philippine media have been harshly asking for interviews regarding the Nobel ‘hoax.’"

I think someone here misrepresented the Philippine media and posed as their spokesman.

Then comes this optimistic note, "It appears that you are a front runner for the Physics Prize having garnered nearly 40 percent of ballots cast. I do not wish to divulge this as early as now with the official announcement in October, but it is tradition to congratulate the winner in secrecy. It normally takes 35 percent to win the award. Your nominators, lead by Academician Hieber certainly made a good case for the merits of your work . . ."

It appears that no one outside the Nobel Committee really knows its decision until the winners are announced as the next message shows:

"Warm greetings. I am aware that members of the academy have leaked the results of this year’s Nobel Prize. It is a secret tradition for nominators to congratulate their nominees but everything should be kept under wraps until after the official announcement.

"No one actually knows for certain who has won, even if the front-runner is known.

"Please exercise restraint in prematurely announcing anything related to the Nobel Prize."

Of course, I did not win the prize and the inevitable question is: did my detractors have a hand on the outcome? I don’t think so. For one thing, they don’t affix their signatures on their statement but simply identify the source as "University of the Philippines Mathematics Department." Another reason is: if the Academy members checked their website, they wouldn’t have found a single name they could recognize. In contrast, my over two-dozen papers in mathematics and physics reached every region of the world.

I think the Nobel Committee went for the more traditional results in quantum mechanics and that this is not the right time for my work yet. My other sources say that many winners missed the Prize the first time around and that some won it on the fifth nomination. Another said that he knows a nominee who had not won it after having been nominated five times.

My sense is that physics cannot reach the final theory without breaking the present limits set by quantum mechanics and astronomy.

Credit: ABS-CBN News

Google's small steps, giant leaps

2005-10-09T16:20:00.000-07:00

or years, Microsoft has been able to use its money and size to muscle aside its competitors.

Now it’s facing a competitor it can’t push around so easily – Google.

The popular search engine is mounting what may be the most serious challenge yet to Microsoft’s desktop dominance.

While most everyone agrees the battle is shaping up to be epic, the front lines aren’t clear yet. Microsoft traditionally makes desktop software. Google is known for its search engine. But both sides are quickly encroaching on each other’s turf.

Jordan Rohan, an analyst for RBC Capital Markets, said Google has larger ambitions than most people realize. And those ambitions will put it squarely in Microsoft’s path.

“Google has pulled off the greatest obfuscation in the history of Silicon Valley: Everyone thinks they’re a one-trick pony,” he said, referring to the firm’s search engine roots. “They’re going after Microsoft in a big way.”

The two firms are converging on the Internet and on the desktop. Microsoft, which has made most of its money by selling software, is increasingly embracing the Internet by creating its own search engine and online advertising service. As such, it will be competing with Google for people’s attention as well as corporate ad dollars.

Google, which makes its money from Internet advertising, is rolling out new products at a furious pace, many of which would traditionally be viewed as software. Basically, Google aspires to offer many of the same capabilities Microsoft does, except it wants to deliver the software over the Internet rather than sell it on a disk. In many ways, the competition boils down to the old way of selling software and the new way of selling, or more accurately, “distributing,” software. Microsoft sells shrink-wrapped boxes of software. Google delivers it to you over the Internet.

It’s expected to be a classic business brawl that includes personal animosity, evidenced by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s promise to “bury” Google after the Mountain View firm seduced away one of the Redmond, Wash., firm’s top technologists, according to court documents.

Google’s accelerating growth and widening ambitions were recently in the Bay Area spotlight. First, the firm inked a surprising deal with the NASA Ames Research Center, in which Google will build an enormous corporate campus next to the former military base at Moffett Field. The agreement should help the firm accommodate its hyper-growth while collaboration with the space agency on far-reaching research should help Google take on its nemesis to the north. That was followed by a proposal in which Google offered to blanket the city of San Francisco with free wireless Internet access, called Wi-Fi. San Francisco is reviewing the offer along with more than a dozen others.

What Microsoft is up against is nothing less than a supercomputer, according to Stephen Arnold, author of the new book, “The Google Legacy: How Google’s Internet Search is Transforming Application Software.” He believes that Google, which was founded by former Stanford students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, has up to 170,000 servers to help return results for user queries in a fraction of a second.

The partnership with NASA will give Google access to even more supercomputing expertise from rocket scientists.

Google has used its computer network to introduce a succession of new products this year, including instant messaging, Internet telephone calling, blog search, maps and a video download service. Arnold, a technology consultant, believes that much more is possible.

Google’s ambition, he said, is to have its supercomputer take over an array of jobs now performed on desktops. All users have to do is plug into Google over the Internet to take advantage. The idea, called network computing, isn’t new. At its essence, it dates back to the earliest mainframe computers. More recently, efforts to bring back network computing by companies such as Oracle and Sun Microsystems, have failed to catch fire.

If Google’s strategy succeeds, it will transform how computing is done, Arnold said. Microsoft could be left scrambling because fewer people would need to buy its software.

“I don’t think Microsoft has figured out how to replace the desktop business,” Arnold said.

This year, Google has introduced some software hybrids that mix data from the desktop and the Web, including a search engine that scans computer hard drives. A product called Google Sidebar, a small panel that appears on desktop screens, offers quick access to news, photographs and a scratch pad for making notes.

Arnold argues that Google could ultimately introduce its own, free, Internet version of Microsoft’s Office, used by millions for word processing, among other things. Computer security software could also be on the horizon, he said.

Such products aren’t far-fetched, according to Arnold, who points to other features that he said lay the groundwork.

Google quietly introduced security software for wireless Internet users recently that could be made to work with other kinds of connections, Arnold said. Code that allows users to write on Google’s e-mail offering, G-mail, could be reused for a program similar to Word, he added.

As a policy, Google doesn’t discuss future products.

That Microsoft, along with its founder, Bill Gates, may have finally met its match is a frequent topic of technology executives. Rightfully so or not, Microsoft has carried the stigma of being technology’s “evil empire” for nearly two decades. Google, with its exuberant “Don’t do Evil” corporate motto, is being held up by many as a white knight.

The smart money realizes neither stereotype is true. But many take pleasure in the possibility that Microsoft – a company at the top of the U.S. corporate food chain – is on the defensive.

“For most people, it’s interesting to see Microsoft have a rival,” said Jim Voelker, chief executive of InfoSpace, a Seattle company that licenses an array of online directories, entertainment and search to other companies.

Microsoft shouldn’t be placed in a casket just yet. With $37.8 billion in cash and nearly 14 times Google’s 4,200 employees, it’s still the most powerful technology company.

And, as usual, Microsoft is fighting back against its latest challenger with two fists.

Last month, Microsoft started rolling out a rival to Google’s lucrative search engine advertising business. Executives are also banking on an internal reorganization for help. In an effort to become more nimble, the company recently said that it would streamline its business from seven divisions to three.

Analysts widely believed the move was in response to Google, which is known for pivoting like a startup, identifying hot, new market opportunities, and getting products to market quickly. In contrast, Microsoft is considered a lumbering Goliath that can take years to put out new versions of its products.

Adam Sohn, a Microsoft spokesman, responded to his company’s skeptics by underscoring that it has a huge base of users. He emphasized Google’s inexperience in building online communities and the possibility that it could lose its focus on search.

“The more interesting question is whether Google can compete with MSN (Microsoft’s Web portal) and other industry leaders in communications and information services other than search,” Sohn said.

Irrelevancy for Microsoft is a long way off, if it ever happens at all, analysts said. Microsoft has a stranglehold on the desktop software market, helped by deals that ensure its Windows is bundled with new computers.
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Tensions at Microsoft

Microsoft, if court documents can be believed, is especially sensitive to Google’s poaching of Microsoft employees, the subject of a lawsuit currently being litigated by the two companies.

Microsoft’s Ballmer erupted into a tirade after being told by an employee that he was resigning to join Google, according to a sworn declaration. Ballmer, who was said to throw a chair during the exchange, then vowed to “bury” Google’s chief executive, Eric Schmidt.

“I have done it before, and I will do it again,” he said, according to the declaration, referring to Microsoft’s success in surpassing Novell and Sun Microsystems, two of Schmidt’s former employers.

Ballmer called the account a gross exaggeration.

Microsoft executives acknowledge failing to recognize the importance of search early on. Only this year did the company release its own engine instead of using a partner’s.

So far, the new engine has failed to catch on. Microsoft’s share of the U.S. search market has dropped to 15.5 percent in July, down half a percent from January, just before the new engine’s launch, according to comScore Networks, a consumer behavior consulting business.

Google’s market share, in contrast, has edged up over the same period by nearly 1.5 percent to 36.5 percent.

Hello and Welcome

2005-10-09T16:05:00.000-07:00

Good Morning.
Welcome to my Blog. In this blog I will try to post information on techonology. I'm just a bored person who has nothing else to do, hehehehe. So often come to visit this blog. Thanks for visiting my blog.