Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Google's What's New - Take a tour of iGoogle's new features

 

iGoogle A note on the recent changes to iGoogle

Recently we rolled out some new iGoogle features, including full-screen gadgets and a left-side navigation bar. We've gotten a lot of feedback since then, not all of it positive, and we've been listening. We appreciate how passionate many of you are about your iGoogle homepage, and your opinions matter a lot. So we'd like to explain more fully what changes we've made, why we've made them, and why we hope that over time most of you will agree that they improve the iGoogle experience.

Full-screen gadgets

Up until now, iGoogle has been focused on quick, at-a-glance access to the information you care about, and smaller gadgets fit that philosophy. But we recognize that sometimes quick updates aren't all you're looking for, so we've created a feature that lets you expand all your gadgets to full screen, or "canvas view," and thus experience much more, and much richer, content.

Gmail gadget

Now, for instance, you can do a quick email check in your Gmail gadget, or open it to canvas view to write and respond to emails from within iGoogle. You can check the temperature in your weather gadget or expand it to get a detailed forecast for a weekend trip. You can watch videos, play games and use countless more rich applications, all in full screen, and all from inside iGoogle. (Here are some examples of gadgets you might want to check out.)

Expanding and minimizing your gadgets

Expand your gadget to full-screen by clicking its name on the left-side navigation bar or the maximize button on the gadget itself. Click the button or gadget name to return to your regular iGoogle view.

weather gadget

Similarly, your RSS gadgets now offer both a quick glance at a given topic and a full-screen multimedia view of material you want to explore more fully, including inline videos and photos. If you have Google Reader, you can also keep track of what you've read and star your favorite feeds.

Google reader

Left navigation bar

All this new gadget functionality made it important to look more closely at how we help you find and use content on iGoogle. Based on your feedback, it's clear that the new left-hand navigation bar is the most controversial change we've made.

The new left nav shows you all your subject tabs (for Sports, News, Music, etc), neatly organized with the gadgets for each tab listed underneath. We think this new format makes it much easier to find specific gadgets (especially as your number of collected gadgets grows) and quickly click them in and out of canvas view.

But this new navigation also reflects our belief that, over time, the web in general and iGoogle in particular will become more personalized but also more social -- more focused on connecting us with our friends through shared online activities. We're working on a number of new features that address this mission. For instance, we're planning on integrating a chat feature into iGoogle, and we think you'll want to have easy, persistent access to it, just like you have on your Gmail page today.

In short, we want iGoogle to grow right along with the web. The newest iteration of this evolution may seem jarring to some people today, but we believe that over time, a better-organized and more socially connected iGoogle homepage will be essential to helping us all make the most of all that the web has to offer.

Google Talk gadget

We hope this page has helped to explain the thinking behind iGoogle's new features and offered some useful ideas on how to make the most of your web content. Thanks again for your feedback; it's a crucial aspect of our product development process, and we'll always take your views into account as we continue to work to improve iGoogle as much as possible.

Cheers,

The iGoogle Team

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Serious security flaw found in IE

Users of Microsoft's Internet Explorer are being urged by experts to switch to a rival until a serious security flaw has been fixed.

The flaw in Microsoft's Internet Explorer could allow criminals to take control of people's computers and steal their passwords, internet experts say.

Microsoft urged people to be vigilant while it investigated and prepared an emergency patch to resolve it.

Internet Explorer is used by the vast majority of the world's computer users.

"Microsoft is continuing its investigation of public reports of attacks against a new vulnerability in Internet Explorer," said the firm in a security advisory alert about the flaw.

Microsoft says it has detected attacks against IE 7.0 but said the "underlying vulnerability" was present in all versions of the browser.

Other browsers, such as Firefox, Opera, Chrome, Safari, are not vulnerable to the flaw Microsoft has identified.

Browser bait

"In this case, hackers found the hole before Microsoft did," said Rick Ferguson, senior security advisor at Trend Micro. "This is never a good thing."

As many as 10,000 websites have been compromised since the vulnerability was discovered, he said.

"What we've seen from the exploit so far is it stealing game passwords, but it's inevitable that it will be adapted by criminals," he said. "It's just a question of modifying the payload the trojan installs."

Said Mr Ferguson: "If users can find an alternative browser, then that's good mitigation against the threat."

But Microsoft counselled against taking such action.

"I cannot recommend people switch due to this one flaw," said John Curran, head of Microsoft UK's Windows group.

He added: "We're trying to get this resolved as soon as possible.

"At present, this exploit only seems to affect 0.02% of internet sites," said Mr Curran. "In terms of vulnerability, it only seems to be affecting IE7 users at the moment, but could well encompass other versions in time."

Richard Cox, chief information officer of anti-spam body The Spamhaus Project and an expert on privacy and cyber security, echoed Trend Micro's warning.

"It won't be long before someone reverse engineers this exploit for more fraudulent purposes. Trend Mico's advice [of switching to an alternative web browser] is very sensible," he said.

PC Pro magazine's security editor, Darien Graham-Smith, said that there was a virtual arms race going on, with hackers always on the look out for new vulnerabilities.

"The message needs to get out that this malicious code can be planted on any web site, so simple careful browsing isn't enough."

"It's a shame Microsoft have not been able to fix this more quickly, but letting people know about this flaw was the right thing to do. If you keep flaws like this quiet, people are put at risk without knowing it."

"Every browser is susceptible to vulnerabilities from time to time. It's fine to say 'don't use Internet Explorer' for now, but other browsers may well find themselves in a similar situation," he added.

Magnetic-Shield Cracks Found; Big Solar Storms Expected

An unexpected, thick layer of solar particles inside Earth's magnetic field suggests there are huge breaches in our planet's solar defenses, scientists said.

These breaches indicate that during the next period of high solar activity, due to start in 2012, Earth will experience some of the worst solar storms seen in decades.

Solar winds—charged particles from the sun—help create auroras, the brightly colored lights that sometimes appear above the Earth's poles.

But the winds also trigger storms that can interfere with satellites' power sources, endanger spacewalkers, and even knock out power grids on Earth.

"The sequence we're expecting … is just right to put particles in and energize them to create the biggest geomagnetic storms, the brightest auroras, the biggest disturbances in Earth's radiation belts," said David Sibeck, a space-weather expert at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.

"So if all of this is true, it should be that we're in for a tough time in the next 11 years."

Into the Breach

Data from NASA's THEMIS satellite showed that a 4,000-mile-thick (6,437-kilometer-thick) layer of solar particles has gathered and is rapidly growing within the outermost part of the magnetosphere, a protective bubble created by Earth's magnetic field.

Normally the magnetosphere blocks most of the solar wind, flowing outward from the sun at about a million miles (1.6 million kilometers) an hour.

"The solar wind is constantly changing, and the Earth's magnetic field is buffeted like a wind sock in gale-force winds, fluttering back and forth in response to the solar wind," Sibeck said this week during a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.

Earth's magnetic field lines align themselves in different directions over various regions of the planet.

Courtesy : NGC, For More News

Yahoo should stop trying to take on Google, and instead go after Microsoft by joining forces with Adobe to create online desktop applications

Microsoft is no longer interested in buying Yahoo but remains open to acquiring the company's search business, according to press reports and statements from Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer.

Too bad—at least for Microsoft (MSFT) shareholders. Buying Yahoo (YHOO) would block the company from attacking Microsoft's desktop franchise.

Yahoo? Attack Microsoft? That's right. The prospect of Yahoo trying to erode Microsoft's lead in applications for the desktop is a lot less far-fetched than either company beating Google (GOOG) in the search/advertising market (much of the reason Microsoft went after Yahoo in the first place).

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Get faster Gmail with a faster browser






Browsers are getting faster and better at running web applications like Google Mail that use browser technology to its limits. In order to get the best experience possible and make Google Mail run an average of twice as fast, we suggest that you upgrade your browser to one of the fastest Google Mail supported browsers that work on Windows.






Download Firefox 3 Download Google Chrome

Note: A faster version of Internet Explorer, IE8, is in development and available in a beta release

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Google's 2008 top 10 Searches

Here is a look at 2008 through the collective eyes of the Indian users on the web. We retrieved the most frequently-searched terms for the period across many categories like Bollywood Celebrities, Holiday destinations etc. In addition we also looked at the top 10 fastest rising search words in India "Katrina Kaif is not only the most searched for Bollywood celebrity, she is also the fastest rising search item across categories in India." said Google country head Vinay Goel, "She is more popular in Pakistan than In India. So if she's ended up in the Top Ten list in India, she's in the top two or three list in Pakistan."

Fastest Rising:
1)youtube, 2) orkut, 3)katrina kaif, 4) cricket, 5)irctc, 6)facebook, 7)genelia d'souza, 8) beijing 2008 olympic games, 9) sixth pay commission, 10) ipl

Most Popular:
1) orkut, 2)gmail, 3)yahoo, 4)google, 5)youtube, 6)yahoomail, 7)indian railways, 8)rediff, 9)cricket, 10)katrina kaif

Top searches on Mobile:
1)orkut, 2)yahoo, 3)waptrick4)gmail, 5)games, 6)katrina kaif, 7)rediffmail, 8)yahoomail, 9)namitha, 10)google

Top Bollywood Celebrities:
1)katrina kaif, 2)aishwarya rai, 3)salman khan, 4)hrithik roshan, 5)kareena kapoor, 6)shahid
kapur, 7)deepika padukone, 8)shahrukh khan, 9)mallika sherawat, 10)genelia d'souza

Top holiday destinations:
1)goa, 2)kerala, 3)kashmir, 4)dubai, 5)singapore, 6)australia, 7)london, 8)shimla,9)switzerland, 10)manali

Top 'how to' searches:
1)how to reduce weight, 2)how to kiss, 3)how to earn money, 4)how to get pregnant, 5)how to learn english, 6)how to gain weight, 7)how to play guitar, 8)how to create a website, 9)how to impress a girl, 10)how to tie a tie
 
 

Google Top 10 searches from India

Google has announced its India Zeitgeist, a look at 2008 through the collective eyes of the Indian users on the web. The 2008 year-end India Zeitgeist offers a unique perspective on the year's major events and hottest trends based on searches conducted by users in India.

“Different people find different things to do on the web, so these lists are a good representation of the unique ways in which Indian users mine the Internet. Given the popularity of mobiles, this year we also looked at what people searched for while on the move through their mobile phones.” said Vinay Goel, Head of Products, Google India.

Surprisingly, not even a single BJP leader’s name figures among top ten political celebrities during 2008. Mahatama Gandhi is still the number one  politician followed by Raj Thakeray , Sonia Gandhi, Indira Gandhi , Rahul Gandhi , Abdul Kalam , Manmohan Singh and Mayawati.

instead of searching for Atal Behari Bajpayee and L.K.Advani Indians searched for  Sarah Palin  and Barack Obama. Raj Thakeray who earned hatred and ire of North Indians is the second most searched political figure during 2008. Gandhis still rule Indian minds as three of the Nehru’s family and Mahatma Gandhi have been listed as top most searched  Indian political figures.

Katrina Kaif  is the most searched Bollywood celebrity during 2008 followed by Aishwarya Rai , Salman Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Kareena Kapoor, Shahid Kapur, Deepika Padukone ,Shahrukh Khan ,Mallika Sherawat and Genelia D’souza.

“Actresses hold the spotlight this year. The interest around Katrina, Aishwarya and Salman is still going strong.  Shahid makes his debut on our list, while Salman Khan maintains his ‘online’ popularity over King Khan ,” Vinay Goel said.

The Internet seems to be the one stop shop for all personal searches be it the beauty , love, money or romance. Among top 10 popular ‘how to do stuff’ queries are about weight reduction , kiss , earn money, get pregnant, learn English, gain weight, play guitar, create a website, impress a girl and how to ties a tie.

YouTube becomes the fastest rising search term in 2008; Orkut and Gmail remain the most popular networking and communication properties for Indian users . Mobile optimized websites like Waptrick and mobile games are becoming very popular.

Indian users , says Vinay Goyal are also sticking to government websites for information. Among the most popular government websites are irctc.co.in, indianrail.gov.in ,cbseresults.nic.in , incometaxindia.gov.in ,mca.gov.in ,incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in , passport.nic.in  ,tn.gov.in , cbse.nic.in , sebi.gov.in  and indiapost.gov.in .

“Google analyzed various aspects of the search queries to understand what was on the minds of Internet users in India. We retrieved the most frequently-searched terms for the period across many categories like Bollywood Celebrities, Holiday destinations etc. In addition we also looked at the top 10 fastest rising search words in India. This was done by reviewing several thousands of 2008's most popular searches and ranking them based on how much their popularity increased compared to 2007. Taken together, we believe that all these lists define the true Zeitgeist or the "spirit of the times."  Vinay Goel said .

 

Friday, December 12, 2008

Google Chrome's Out of Beta. Now What?

While other products are in beta for years, Google has turned Chrome into a final product in months. What does it have up its sleeve?
 
Just three months after the release of Chrome, Google is following through on its vow to remove the "beta" label from its upstart browser -- making it a rare final product from a company notorious for its seemingly endless beta cycles.

Since its inception, Chrome has served as a test bed for new browser technologies, such as security models, Web standards support and transfer protocols -- experiments that Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) has said it hadn't wanted to attempt in connection with other, established open source efforts, like Mozilla Firefox. The company has issued 14 updates to its browser, almost at a rate of one per week since its release.

Now, with release 15, Google has dropped the beta label from Chrome, signaling that it considers the browser a "general availability," or final, product.

However, this doesn't mean that Chrome won't continue seeing improvements.

"We are by no means done," Linus Upson, engineering director at Google, told InternetNews.com. "We still have to add auto fill [for Web forms], better RSS (define) handling is on deck and we're also doing bigger things like getting it running on Mac and Linux and adding an extension system."

Google has steadily made improvements in Chrome's features since its debut, addressing audio and video handling, hardware conflicts, render speed and JavaScript performance. The company also added a bookmark manager for power users who maintain up to thousands of links.

Chrome eventually will get features from the Google Toolbar that's available for Internet Explorer and Firefox, the company said. But the effort won't entail a direct port of the toolbar, which offers utilities like a pop-up blocker, translation and Web-based bookmarks -- instead, Chrome will just incorporate some of its features.

Upson also said there would not be any integration or tying of Chrome to Google Apps.

However, Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies, thinks Google has more up its sleeve. "There's no question there's a lot of browsers out there, but at the same time, from Google's standpoint, when they go into anything, it has a strategic end in sight," he told InternetNews.com.

"Today, with a browser like this, they are clearly putting a stake in the ground. Over time is when you have to watch what they do with it," he added. "If it's a strategic issue today, they will want to integrate it with Apps in the future."

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

UPDATE 2-More mobile phone makers back Google's Android

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Fourteen of the world's largest mobile phone and chip makers, including Sony Ericsson, Vodafone Group Plc (VOD.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and ARM Holdings Plc (ARM.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), joined the Open Handset Alliance on Tuesday to support the Android mobile device platform developed by Google Inc (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

The new members' pledge to back the Android software is a significant feat for Google in the mobile phone industry, as its T-Mobile G1 phone takes on rival Apple Inc's (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) popular iPhone 3G.

But despite the big-name additions to the Open Handset Alliance, analysts say what matters is whether the new members introduce more Android-supported smartphones in 2009 and 2010 to edge out competitors who also use open-source Linux software for mobile phones, such as Nokia-owned smartphone software maker Symbian.

"It's great to get these folks on board...now (the Open Handset Alliance) has to make sure these licenses actually ship products," said research firm Jupitermedia's vice president of mobile strategy, Michael Gartenberg.

The first company set to introduce a mobile device that uses the Android operating system is Sony Ericsson, a joint venture of Japan's Sony Corp (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Sweden's Ericsson (ERICb.ST: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz). The company said on Tuesday it plans to introduce the Android-supported mobile phone in mid-2009.

"Android is set to become a significant application framework for mobile phones," Ericsson's head of mobile platforms, Robert Puskaric, said in a statement.

The Open Handset Alliance said on Tuesday that each of its members commits to developing applications and services for mobile phones and handsets using the Android platform or designing Android-compatible mobile devices.

Taiwan's Asustek Computer Inc, Toshiba Corp (6502.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Garmin Ltd (GRMN.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) also pledged their support, bringing the total number of companies in the Open Handset Alliance to 47, the Alliance said. These companies join earlier members of the Alliance, such as the world's biggest chip maker Intel Corp (INTC.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and mobile phone makers Motorola Inc (MOT.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) .

Both Google and Apple have wooed developers to create applications for their mobile devices, but Apple keeps a tight grip on the iPhone's hardware and operating software. Google's Android is open to being changed by outside developers.

The addition of new members to the Open Handset Alliance gives Google-developed Android more heft in the battle over who will dominate the mobile phone software market in coming years. Android's biggest competitor is Symbian, which controls half of the market and was acquired by Nokia (NOK1V.HE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the world's biggest mobile phone maker, earlier this month.

Nokia contributes Symbian's assets to a not-for-profit organization similar to the Open Handset Alliance, the Symbian Foundation. Members of the Symbian Foundation have royalty-free access to Symbian's software.

So far, 59 companies have said they plan to join the Symbian Foundation, including Japan's third-largest wireless carrier, Softbank (9984.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) .

Android also competes with Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system, which has been gaining ground.

With a range of companies jumping into the Alliance, such as portable navigation device maker Garmin Ltd, Android has the potential to be featured on devices other than mobile phones. Each mobile phone maker also can modify the Android open source software, which leaves the opportunity open for many future mobile phones.

"What's fascinating about Android is it's this malleable thing. As these phones come out from other carriers it looks and operates differently," said Greg Sterling, a Web analyst with Sterling Market Intelligence. He added, "It seems more people will jump on the bandwagon." (Reporting by Jennifer Martinez, with additional reporting by Sinead Carew in New York and Tarmo Virki in Helsinki; editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Carol Bishopric)

Monday, December 8, 2008

Bermuda Triangle

THE PHENOMENON
Neither the Coast Guard nor the Navy officially recognizes any geographically defined area called the Bermuda Triangle; however, it does have an official statement on the topic providing a brief history and likely explanations. Interest in the phenomenon stemmed in part from a December 1967 press release by the National Geographic Society detailing, incorrectly at times, mysterious accidents that occurred in and around the Triangle.


  • The name “The Bermuda Triangle” was placed in the cultural lexicon by a May 1964 Argosy magazine article by Vincent Gaddis.
  • In addition to its current name, the Bermuda Triangle was also known as “The Devil’s Triangle” and “The Hoodoo Sea.”
  • The most famous case attributed to the Bermuda Triangle is the disappearance of Flight 19 and a search plane sent after them on December 5, 1945. In all, 27 men and 6 aircraft never returned home.
  • The first documented encounter in the Bermuda Triangle was by Christopher Columbus who encountered mysterious lights and compass malfunctions on his first voyage through the area.
  • Much of the Bermuda Triangle mystery was put to rest by a book titled Bermuda Triangle: Mystery Solved by Larry Kusche, a researcher at the University of Arizona. Kusche found many of the supposed mysteries of the Triangle either occurred in other parts of the ocean or in adverse weather conditions.
  • One of the most popular recent theories to explain the Bermuda Triangle involves an electromagnetically induced fog that wreaks havoc on passing ships and planes.
  • Self-styled physicist John Hutchison claims to have accidentally created the electronic fog that supposedly plagues the Triangle in his apartment as part of a phenomenon he has dubbed “The Hutchison Effect.”
  • The Gulf Stream, which runs the length of the Bermuda Triangle, can quickly move debris from a boat or plane accident away from scene, eradicating any trace of the incident.
  • The Bermuda Triangle regularly experiences weather conditions such as thunderstorms, waterspouts, and hurricanes that can be potentially lethal to any craft caught in their path.
  • Recent satellite research has proven the rogue waves, single waves reaching 80 ft or higher, occur with relative frequency in open ocean areas such as the Bermuda Triangle. These waves can damage or destroy even the largest ships.
  • Though figures vary widely, a conservative estimate puts the Bermuda Triangle at 440,000 miles of open sea, an area larger than Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana combined.
  • Many advocates link the Bermuda Triangle to the disappearance of the USS Cyclops in 1918, to this day it remains one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in US Naval history.
  • Spatial disorientation, sensory confusion in a pilot, is a rare but well known factor in a small percentage of flying accidents. 87% of such accidents result in fatalities.

How to be top of the search engines

Can some artfully placed keywords attract billions of bloggersand instant fame? Not any more, say the experts. The dark arts of the Webhave grown more subtle, and new media are not so different after all

Not long ago, my work colleague Charlie Brooker wrote a column dismissing9/11 conspiracy theories. Brooker is popular anyway, regularly attractinghundreds of comments on the Website of the Guardian newspaper which we bothwork for, but that week the site was overrun.

Thousands took to their keyboards to object. In the brave new world of digital media this is, ofcourse, exactly what we all want — lots of traffic, lots of hits, lots ofeyeballs on those ads. So the next week Brooker went further. If all ittakes is a word, or a phrase, why not pack the piece with them? His columnbegan thus: "Miley Cyrus, Angelina, Israel vs Palestine, iPhone, 9/11conspiracy, Facebook, MySpace, and Britney Spears nude."

This week it was announced that of the billions of searches typed intoYahoo.com over the last year, Britney Spears was the most popular, followedby World Wrestling Entertainment, and only then Barack Obama: one could, intheory, tweak that Brooker opening line to read: "Britney Spears, WorldWrestling Entertainment, Barack Obama, Miley Cyrus, RuneScape, JessicaAlba, Naruto, Lindsay Lohan, Angelina Jolie, and American Idol" (ie, therest of the top 10, once terms such as Google, or sex, or porn, have beenremoved), then just sit back and watch the tide come in.

Unfortunately, and with all due respect to my esteemed colleague, thingsaren't quite as simple as that. At a very basic level, we relate to theInternet in one of three ways: active, i.e., typing words into searchengines, a method limited — I use the word advisedly — by our ownimaginations; passive, i.e., checking in on the front page of the Guardian,the BBC, or the New York Times to see if our world has changed, then goingaway again; and interactive, i.e., things like the blogosphere.

In the prehistory of the Internet age — about 1995, say — that firstmethod of relating was paramount, and you could write "Britney Spears" (ormore likely "Spice Girls") 20 times in a first paragraph and stand a goodchance of having your article pop up at the top of the Yahoo results page.

But then Google came along, in 1998, and rewrote the rules. Now when youtype in a word, Google ranks the results according to how popular a site orarticle is, and it judges that not by how many hits it's had, or how manytimes a keyword appears, but how many times it's been linked to, and passedon: in effect, as Danny Sullivan, editor in chief of searchengineland.com,and an acknowledged world expert in "search", puts it, according to "thequality of links, and the context of those links".

So a piece consisting entirely of popular keywords might get lots ofhits, but it would also have a very high rate of "bounce" — people wouldexit as quickly as they'd entered, and definitely not pass it on to theirfriends, or link to it on their Website, or use it as a hyperlink in ablog. It would, in effect, be nearly invisible to a search engine such asGoogle — and, indeed, Brooker's piece doesn't show up when you type any ofthose key words in. Also, he only got the usual number of comments by doingit, instead of the 1,778 of the week before, when most of the traffic wouldhave arrived at the Guardian through communities of people discussing thecolumn, getting cross about it, and passing it on to other people who mightget cross.

'Keywords alone won't work'
Relying on keywords alone, says Scott Karp, formerly director ofdigital strategy at the Atlantic magazine, now CEO of Publish2, aWeb-based newswire, "is a losing game".

But how to win? That, of course, is the billion-dollar question, andarmies of people tackle it, every day: the dark art of manipulatingGoogle's algorithms, otherwise known as search engine optimisation (SEO),has become a big business in the last 10 years. "A common way to get a lotof links very quickly is by getting people in India or somewhere to makethem for you," says Paul Roach, the Guardian's head of SEO.

There are more aggressive, automated ways, too — scripting, usinghijacked computers to add links to blogs, hacking messageboards — but theseare referred to, in somewhat Disney-esque fashion, as "black hat" methods,and Google thoroughly disapproves: in fact, if you're caught using them,you're immediately banned. "We're what you call white hat," says Roach. "Wefollow Google's terms of service. Then again, we've got no reason not to —Google trusts the Guardian, so we generally do all right."

Other than that the answer, insofar as there is one, is internal to thepiece. "You just have to write great content," says Roach, blithely. Whichis easier said than done — and not just for the age-old reason that writinga good piece is a difficult thing to do. The fact is that a good piece onthe printed page is not quite the same as a good piece on the Internet,because the Internet is changing the way we read, and the way we write.

Ages-old argument
It is also, argued Nicholas Carr in a recent issue of the Atlantic,rewiring our brains: because we can move so fast, and our sources ofinformation are so disparate, "the Net is chipping away [our] capacity forconcentration and contemplation." Many of us might instinctively agree —but these are arguments that have been made over the millennia, fromSocrates, who objected that writing things down would damage our oralmemory, to Gutenberg's critics, who felt that the easy availability ofbooks would lead to intellectual laziness, to those who were worried thatnewspapers would cause a shallow cacophony that drowned out proper thought.The fact is that, Internet-wise, it's still early days; the jury is stillout.

It's not, for example, a question of vocabulary. "The impact of theinternet on the English language has been very, very small in terms ofgrammar and new words," says David Crystal, a linguist whose most recentbook is Txting: The gr8 db8. There are words such as mouse and click, butonly several hundred of them — which in the context of a language with amillion words is neither here nor there. And in terms of optimising search,new words can be a hindrance.

"Old words are better than new words," says Jakob Nielsen, an expert on web usability, "because they are morestraightforward and more likely to match the way people think." Karpteaches blogging, and emphasises a conversational tone - he tells hisstudents to imagine they're talking to someone just across the room fromyou.

Nielsen's general advice, for those of us who like a well-turnedsentence or a subtle argument, makes slightly depressing reading. "Stick tosimple presentation formats in all ways: a logical progression of thestory, mainly active sentences, simple words, short sentences, and a plain,scrolling page. Also, keep people looking down the page by scatteringattractive elements throughout the page in the form of subheads andbulleted lists. Plus, of course, use user-oriented keywords for bothheadings and subheads, emphasising the eternal 'what's in it for me?'perspective. Web users are selfish and brutal in rejecting material thatdoesn't immediately serve their purposes." Short pieces work. Lists workeven better. Long, thoughtful, investigative pieces don't.

Problem of generalisations
Then again, not everything on the Web is trying to impart usefulinformation as fast as possible. Crystal warns: "The problem of theInternet is the problem of generalisations. (There's such a range) from theWeb in all its fecundity to the opposite extreme of Twitter — let alone allthe interactive sites like YouTube. It's obviously making us learn lots ofnew literacies, and it's changing very, very fast. Whatever generalisationyou make today is going to be out of date tomorrow."

From a newspaper point of view, this is both an opportunity and a headache.There is, for example, the great tension between what people think theywant, and what we think they need to know. Newspapers used to be able tojust tell people things, and count on them listening. If a story was on afront page, that was what people read, and what people talked about — andeverything that wasn't on the front page got carried along with it, and wasread in its wake.

"Now," says Karp, "everything is up for grabs", and every piece has tofight for attention on its own merits. It isn't enough just to publish it:you suddenly have this "whole idea of actually having to market the news —how do you get it emailed around? How do you get it on to Twitter, or Digg(a content-sharing site)? And whose responsibility is it to flog stories?The PR department? The editorial staff? It's what bloggers do — they're outthere hustling, interacting with each other a lot. You actually have toengage in a more social dynamic."

Karp compares old and new media to the difference between standing in front of a room and giving a speech, andgoing to a party: it isn't enough just to walk into a room — you have toget stuck in there, and start talking to people, and try to work out whatthey're interested in, and what they want to hear.

Which is more possible than ever before. We can track exactly whatpeople are reading, and how many are reading it, almost in real time,through page impressions on Websites such as Google Trends.

While I was writing this piece, I knew for a fact that the most-read piece on theGuardian Website was about Roy Keane resigning as manager of the footballclub Sunderland AFC in the north of England, closely followed by a pieceabout beauty pageants. "Now, you could take a really vicious economic viewof it, and print only that type of story," says Karp. "But there are thingsthat journalism does because they're important, not because they'repopular. Which is a public service argument, not a business argument." Andin an increasingly difficult economic climate, an argument that is becomingharder to make.

Then again — you guessed it — it's not that straightforward. The wisdomof crowds may tend towards the obvious (football, Britney Spears) but itdoesn't always, and can't be predicted. Last year, a short BBC Websitepiece about a Sudanese man being required to marry a goat turned up on overa million other websites. It was the kind of piece that might get picked upby Digg, which has an average of 35 million users a month, and tendstowards the quirky, fratboy end of the spectrum (yesterday videogames, foodfights, and movie one-liners were doing well), and thus climb the searchlists — but deliberately aiming to appeal there would bend the Guardian'sprofile completely out of shape.

You could track Google Trends, and make absolutely sure you always havea story on the most popular subject that week, as some newspapersapparently do — but that way madness lies, if only because, as Sullivanpoints out, "by the time you catch up, people may not be searching for that(topic) any more." Not to mention the fact that a newspaper should reallybe setting the trends, not following them. The big spike in Britneysearches this month was in part caused by traditional media — she releasedan album, and appeared on The X Factor.

No help writing great headlines
More profitably, you can study exactly how people put words togetherwhen they're searching for things. Traditionally, and very enjoyably,newspaper headlines have tended toward the witty and playful — but it's nohelp to be writing variations on "Asian wave of death," as, reportedly, theNew York Times was in December 2004, until it was pointed out to theheadline writers that "tsunami" was actually the word people were searchingfor.

But even that wouldn't necessarily be enough. Google News doesprivilege large news organisations, but on a big story like that it has4,500 or so such organisations to choose from, and it is, to a largeextent, pot luck (otherwise known as a non-human Google algorithm) as towhich one ends up on top.

You could, to follow that party analogy, just stand in the middle of theroom and shout, tendentiously. And it might work very well, depending onhow you do it: Not long ago, Karp says, he put a piece up on his blogcalled, "Why I stopped using Twitter - because 'Twitter's a massive wasteof time'". It was actually more nuanced than that, but —I did kind ofwrite it knowing it was going to be big, as a joke: let's see if I can hackthe blogosphere. It went viral."

But that's clearly a method with diminishing returns — although, inadvertently, it also points to onerelatively failsafe way of getting lots of traffic: the Internet lovestalking about itself. For a while last week, if you put the word "pirates"into Google, it was coming up with a piece about Internet piracy instead ofSomalis because although the latter were the big story of the day, theblog-savvy tech community were spending a lot of time telling each otherabout the other sort. It is conceivable, for example — though not in theslightest bit predictable — that this piece could do better than anotherpiece about Britney Spears, or Obama.

Unless, of course, that piece was real news, and the more surprising thebetter. When I ask Sullivan how I might write a story that could beguaranteed to come top on every search engine, and every most-read list onthe planet, the answer is quite simple. "You would want to have a newsstory that was unprecedented," he says, "on a topic that would attract tonsof people and was your exclusive - like, let's say, 'Obama has decided toquit tomorrow.' You'd have huge amounts of traffic." Which is not sodifferent from traditional media after all.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Intel Core i7 launched worldwide

Based on a completely new architecture, the Core i7 processors are markedly different from their predecessors and have many advantages over them.
It is here; the Intel Core 17 processors have finally been launched worldwide. As part of the worldwide launch there was also a lavishly arranged function here in Mumbai at the Taj President on Tuesday.
Prakash Bagri, Director - Marketing, Intel South Asia said, "Intel has delivered the fastest desktop processor on Earth to the most demanding users on Earth, the ones who are using their PCs for video, gaming and music. When you couple, what is Intel's biggest leap in chip design, with other incredible innovations like Intel's solid state drives, the Core i7 processor has refined the computer of tomorrow".

Based on a completely new architecture, the Core i7 processors are markedly different from their predecessors and have many advantages over them. There is the increased parallelism with the processor being capable of executing 33% more concurrent micro-ops simultaneously.

There is also the faster unaligned cache access and faster synchronization primitives. Intel has also implemented a new 2nd level branch predictor to avoid situations when execution units stand idle. Yet another improvement is the cache sub-system that has been redesigned from scratch.

There is a 2nd level 512 entry translation look-aside buffer (TLB) in addition to the 1st level TLB to reduce the TLB miss rate. In addition to this, there is also three-level cache hierarchy: 64KB L1 (32KB for data and 32KB for instructions), 256 KB L2 cache per core, 8 MB L3 cache (2 MP per core) shared by all cores. This is different from what Intel used to do until now - all cache on the processor.

The Core i7 processor also marks an end of the legendary FSB (Front Side Bus). These processors feature the new Quick Path Interconnect (QPI) bus, which is Intel's answer to AMD's Hypertransport 3.0 and a three channel memory controller supporting 1066 MHz DDR3 memory is present on-chip.

Multi-threading technology (similar to hyper-threading of the NetBurst architecture processors) is also featured on these CPUs with SSE 4.2 instructions. These are capable of handling up to eight software threads on four processor cores. With a TDP rated at 130 W, these also have energy-saving features and you can shut down unwanted cores to reduce power consumption.

Turbo Boost technology allows the cores to bump up the clock speeds when deemed necessary. This quad-core chip is manufactured using the 45nm process, sporting 731 million transistors.

Combined with the Intel X58 chipset-based motherboards with LGA1366 socket, these are incompatible with older motherboards. Currently, these can only be used with motherboards based on the Intel X58 chipset.

Intel has released three different models of the Core i7 - all quad core variants with hyper-threading :

* Core i7 920 clocked at 2.66 GHz priced at $284 (approximately Rs.14,063),

* Core i7 940 clocked at 2.66 GHz priced at $562 (approximately Rs.27,830),

* Core i7 965 XE (Extreme Edition) clocked at 3.2 GHz priced at $999 (approximately Rs.49,470)

(Prices are per unit in lots of 1000)

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Intel Core I7 Review

Introduction:

About this time last year Intel launched what was the fastest 45nm quad core CPU on the planet, the Intel Core 2 Quad QX9770. Well, guess what, Intel has done it again with the latest architectural achievement, the Core I7 Extreme 965. What the two have is common is that they both are based on Penryn cores, they both are 45 nanometer chips and they both run at a clock speed of 3.2GHz. After these things what you have is a whole new animal. Gone from this chip is the twelve megabytes of L2 cache, this is replaced by a third level of cache at 8MB. Slow and inefficient it is not. With the addition of an integrated memory controller, the memory bandwidth is expected to be huge by comparison to today's top of the line processors, somewhere close to two to three times the peak bandwidth. SMT (Simultaneous Multi Threading) has made a return on the Core I7 generation. This will enable the processor to run a total of eight threads at one time. Some other new features are Dynamic Energy Management, new SSE4 instructions, three level cache with a shared 8MB L3 cache and improved branch prediction. Many are interested in the new efficiencies and features, while many think this generation will be the Holy Grail of processors, Let's find out just how it performs. That's the question that is on everyone's mind.

Closer Look:

When you look at the Nehalem CPUs by themselves you have to wonder what makes them so much different than the previous generation. On the left is the I7 965 Extreme Edition that features a non turbo multiplier of 24 and is unlocked both up and down. Couple the 24 multiplier with the 133MHz base clock frequency and you end up at 3.20GHz. The I7 920 is at the other end of the spectrum and has a maximum non turbo clock multiplier of 20 for a base clock speed of 2.66GHz, in turbo mode this will jump as high as 22 for a turbo speed of 2.93GHz, the same base frequency of the I7 940. To accommodate this massive chip the socket pin count is up to 1366 from the Core 2 processors 775 pin count.

In the pictures above the increase in the size of the die is not readily apparent. The die size on the Nehalem processor core has increased to 263mm2 with a total of 731 million transistors. Comparing the size of the I7 965 to a socket 775 processor makes the size increase that much more dramatic.

While both the I7 965 and i7 920 are engineering samples, the I7 920 was shipped with a retail heatsink. The size increase of the processor die necessitated a larger cooling solution as well. The same concept is used to cool the Nehalem chips that was used on the socket 775 processors, just larger. The copper center slug is surrounded by an aluminum fin matrix to shed the heat generated by the processor. Big is good when it comes to cooling!

Processor? Check! Motherboard? Check! It's time to see just what these little bits of silicon will be paired with to generate some performance numbers.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

India makes history, launches Tricolour on moon

India marked its presence on Moon tonight to be only the fourth nation to scale this historic milestone after a Moon Impact Probe with the national tri-colour painted successfully landed on the lunar surface after being detached from unmanned spacecraft Chandrayaan-1.

Joining the US, the erstwhile Soviet Union and the European Union, the 35-kg Moon Impact Probe(MIP) hit the moon exactly at 8.31 PM, about 25 minutes after the probe instrument descended from the satellite in what ISRO described as a "perfect operation".

Miniature Indian flags painted on four sides of the MIP signalled the country's symbolic entry into moon to coincide with the birth anniversary of the country's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, observed as Children's Day.

"It will signify the entry of India on Moon," an ISRO official said. The MIP is one of the 11 scientific instruments (payloads) onboard Chandrayaan-1, India's first unmanned spacecraft mission to Moon launched on October 22 from Sriharikota spaceport.

Developed by ISRO's Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre of Thiruvananthapuram, the primary objective of MIP is to demonstrate the technologies required for landing a probe at the desired location on the moon.

The probe will help qualify some of the technologies related to future soft landing missions. This apart, scientific exploration of the moon at close distance is also intended using MIP.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Talk face to face with Gmail voice and video chat

Voice and video chat
 
Gmail has launched New video chat. Let chat with ur friends and family with face to face..
See and hear family and friends right inside Gmail
 
 

It's free and installs in seconds

System requirements: Windows XP or later

  • Chat more ways than ever from within Gmail
  • Look and sound your best with high quality audio and video
  • Get started easily -- all you need is a webcam

 

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Google analytics new features are now available in your account! Let's take a deeper look, starting with Motion Charts.

Google has analytics is available free for all google users in a new look and more features.
 

New Pyramid Found in Egypt: 4,300-Year-Old Queen's Tomb

A new pyramid has been discovered deep beneath Egyptian sands, archaeologists announced today. The 4,300-year-old monument is believed to be the tomb of Queen Sesheshet, the mother of Pharaoh Teti, the founder ancient Egypt's 6th dynasty.

Once nearly five stories tall, the pyramid—or at least what remains of it—lay beneath 23 feet (7 meters) of sand as well as a small shrine and mud-brick walls from later periods.

The discovery is the third known "subsidiary" pyramid to the tomb of Teti. It's also the second pyramid discovered this year in Saqqara, an ancient royal burial complex near current-day Cairo.
 
 

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Mars Lander Pronounced Dead, Despite "Lazarus Mode"

After five fruitful months, the Phoenix Mars Lander is believed to have sent its last dispatch to Earth, said NASA scientists who announced the end of the mission Monday.

There is a slight chance, though, that the lander's energy-saving "Lazarus mode" could allow Phoenix to be rise again after the long Martian winter, albeit in a limited capacity.

The craft might have lasted till December, but frigid temperatures and lack of sunlight, largely due to a dust storm, are draining the lander's solar-powered batteries, perhaps permanently.

Researchers haven't heard a peep from the craft since November 2.

"At this time, we're pretty convinced that the vehicle is no longer is available for us to use," said Doug McCuistion, director of NASA's Mars Exploration Program.

But Phoenix scientists are in no mood to brood.

Launched in August 2007, the Phoenix Mars Mission was designed to study the water history and potential for life in the ice-rich soil near Mars's north pole.

The mission accomplished "99 percent of what we proposed to do," said mission principle investigator Peter Smith off the University of Arizona.

The lander has exceeded expectations overall, he said. The mission was to last 90 sols, or Martian days, which are 24 hours and 39 minutes each. Phoenix stopped communicating after 150 sols.

"It's really an Irish wake, rather than a funeral," McCuistion said. "We should celebrate what Phoenix has done and what the team has done."

MORE >>

Courtesy: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/

 

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Browser Wars: Six Test Drives, Starting With Google's Chrome

Chrome, Google's shiny new Web browser, has some eye-catching features. (MCT HANDOUT / September 4, 2008)

We've had two months to try out Chrome, Google's foray into the world of Web browsers, and what's clear is that there's a full-fledged battle for the hearts and minds of Internet surfers. It's a high-stakes game, with losers often left as mere technological footnotes: Remember Netscape Navigator? We took six of the most popular free browsers for a test drive:

Chrome

We all know Google will eventually control the universe, and Chrome is the next stage in the quest.

Forward: The "incognito" mode, which prevents the browser from recording your searches, is handy for off-the-record browsing and helpfully pops open a distinct dark-blue-bordered window whenever it's in use. But be warned: It won't prevent your IT department from spying on you at work. Thumbnail images of your nine most-visited pages are displayed whenever you open a tab. (This technique was introduced to Web users with Opera's Speed Dial.) Users can also designate multiple pages to launch as tabs when the browser opens.

Stop: Chrome is in Beta testing, so it still has kinks: The browser freezes for several seconds frustratingly often. Some critics have concerns that Google is watching what Chrome users are searching for, but if you're someone who can't live without Gmail, odds are you'll want to Chrome up.

Firefox

Nearly four years after it showed the world that Internet Explorer wasn't the only way to browse, Mozilla's Firefox still provides an adaptive, innovative experience that's tough to top.

Forward: Mozilla encourages its users to create add-ons for Firefox, which are small pieces of software that expand functionality. Want a Speed Dial-type feature such as Opera's or Chrome's? A free add-on does it for you. Ever accidentally closed your browser with six tabs open? Firefox helpfully prompts you to save before doing this; the next time you open Firefox, you'll be back where you left off.

Stop: That last part about add-ons throw you off? Some users won't appreciate the change-it-yourself nature of Firefox, preferring a browser with the pre-loaded features of Chrome or Opera.

Flock

"The social web browser" is built from Firefox's template and caters to social networkers who want to access their various Web 2.0 accounts simultaneously.

Forward: For those deep into the Flickr-Twitter-Blogger- Facebook (Flitterblook?) community, Flock uses the left side of the browser window to display friend lists, status updates, e-mail and RSS feeds. The Flickr mini-bar occupies the top of the screen and displays photos posted by friends on any site you're signed in to. Flock's blogging tool lets users post entries from any browser window, so you don't have to navigate to the blog's home page.

Stop: When using all of the features, toolbars occupy more of the screen than regular Web content: It renders the information-gathering function of the Web an afterthought. If anything, Flock helps users procrastinate, with the constant distraction of media harming the browser's ability to make life on the Web easier.

Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer 7 was highly uninspiring; with Version 8, the makers of the world's most popular browser (in terms of market share) still have work to do.

Forward: Add-ons finally make an appearance in the IE universe, as Microsoft gives users room to innovate. Credit the developers for advancing the concept of tabbed browsing by automatically grouping tabs by subject. IE 8 also adds tools called Accelerators, which let users take information such as a business address from one page and enter it on another site, such as Mapquest, with a single click.

Stop: Like Chrome, IE 8 is in beta test mode; unlike Chrome, it feels like it. Many features, such as Web Slices — a tool designed to monitor specified sites for updates so users can track changes without having to visit the site — are difficult to configure and use. If the goal of a browser is to let people customize their Web experience, why does IE 8 pester users to enable certain features that were intentionally disabled?

Opera

This is the best browser that most people haven't heard of. It has all the functionality of its peers with none of the fanfare. There's even a mini version for mobile phones.

Forward: Opera's Speed Dial feature is difficult to live without; you select your favorite sites, and the browser catalogs thumbnails of them whenever you open a new tab. Veteran file sharers will love the built-in BitTorrent downloader, great for downloading media. And if you use Opera on multiple devices, Opera Link automatically syncs your Speed Dial choices, bookmarks and search history.

Stop: Because of Opera's relative obscurity, some popular Web sites don't completely work with it. For example, updating Yahoo Sports Fantasy Football rosters relies on a series of outdated pull-down menus that most other browsers have long outgrown.

Safari

Apple acolytes will love this; everyone else will wonder what all the fuss is about.

Forward: Apple has earned a reputation for making software that simply ... works. Safari is no exception. Pages seem to load slightly faster, on average, than with Firefox, Opera or Internet Explorer, and the browser seems virtually crash-proof. It has a functional design that skips many of the perfunctory toolbars that clutter other browsers. Like Chrome, it offers a Private Browsing feature that keeps your searches off the record.

Stop: Perhaps Safari's best-selling point for casual users is that there's nothing particularly fancy about it. If you're overwhelmed by talk of add-ons and Speed Dials, Safari might be just your speed; if you want bells and whistles, it might be underwhelming.