comScore on Thursday released search engine data from December 2011, with Bing surpassing Yahoo in the number of search queries for the first time.

However, Google sites, of course, continued to reign supreme, gobbling up 65.9 percent of search queries conducted in December, up 0.5 percent from November.

Microsoft’s Bing came in second, though not exactly a close second, claiming 15.1 percent of searches in December, a slight increase from the 15 percent it took home the previous month. Yahoo saw a decline from November to December, slippling from 15.1 percent in November to 14.5 percent in December, which allowed Bing to leapfrog Yahoo for the number two spot.

Rounding out the top five were Ask Network and AOL, hanging steady with 2.9 percent and 1.6 percent of search queries respectively.

comScore classifies these searches as “excplicit core searches,” which means they “exclude contextually driven searches that do not reflect specific user intent to interact with the search results.”

Additionally, comScore noted that more than 18.2 billion “explicit core searches” were conducted last month, a 2 percent increase. Google accounted for 12 billion of those searches (a 3 percent increase), Microsoft sites ate up 2.7 billion searches (a 2 percent increase), and Yahoo comprised 2.6 billion searches. Ask Network saw 531 million searches (up 3 percent), and AOL nabbed 287 million.

In all, 20.5 billion total core searches were conducted in the U.S. in December, a 3 percent bump. Google snagged 13.6 billion of those (up 4 percent), Yahoo had 3.3 billion (up 2 percent), and Microsoft took 2.8 billion (up 2 percent).

Google, however, might be in hot water for its search practices, as a result of its utter dominance of the market. The Internet giant recently began rolling out a new search initiative called “Search plus Your World,” which taps into content from its Google+ network to deliver personalized, social results.

Critics are accusing Google of unfairly favoring its own results over those of its competitors, and the update has prompted the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) to file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which could invite another probe into Google’s practices.

Building this first data center in Southeast Asia is an exciting step for us. More new Internet users are coming online every day here in Asia than anywhere else in the world. They are looking for information and entertainment, new business opportunities and better ways to connect with friends and family, near and far. We’re building this data center to make sure that our users here have the fastest and most reliable access possible to all of Google’s services, so they can do just that.

We are also really excited about the facility itself, as it will be one of the most efficient and environmentally friendly in Asia, built to the same high standard we use around the world, with each element custom designed to operate at optimal efficiency.

www.google.com/about/datacenters/locations/singapore/

Julian Persaud, managing Director for Google Southeast Asia, announces the start of construction of a new Google data center in Singapore along with other Google executives and Singaporean government representatives

SINGAPORE—Google Inc. will invest US$120 million in a data center in Singapore, the first of its kind in Southeast Asia, executives of the Internet search giant announced Thursday, in a move to significantly expand operations in Asia.

The data center, which is slated for completion in early 2013, will be the third of its kind in Asia, joining two others that will be built in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Google has pledged an investment of US$300 million in its Hong Kong data center and more than US$100 million in Taiwan.

Google said it hopes the addition of these data centers will provide users with a faster and more reliable user experience, as its services such as Gmail are currently delivered to users in Asia via data centers in the U.S.

“More new users are coming online every day in Asia than anywhere else in the world,” said Google’s head of Southeast Asia Julian Persaud at the groundbreaking ceremony of the facility’s site. “We’re building to provide our users here with the fastest and most reliable possible access to our services so they can do just that.”

The 2.45-hectare site, located in Singapore’s Jurong area, will aim to be energy-efficient and environmentally friendly despite challenges posed by Singapore’s humid weather, executives said.

The company declined to elaborate on what services would be delivered from and centered in the Singapore data center, but Google’s head of community affairs Matt Dunne said it expects to do more work around disaster relief, including providing satellite and street-view images as it did during the Japan earthquake and tsunami.

Though only a small team of computer technicians and engineers will be hired to staff the Singapore data center, the move represents a significant investment into Singapore, which is Google’s Asia-Pacific headquarters, and the region. This year, one in five employees of Google’s Asian operations was based in Singapore.

Singapore currently is home to approximately 50% of Southeast Asia’s data-center capacity, according to Jayson Goh, Executive Director for Infocomms and Media at the government’s Economic Development Board, a capacity that the board expects to grow “significantly over the next few years as new investment in data centers come online,” he said.

The theme park ride Transformers will have its world premiere at the Universal Studios Singapore on Dec 3, 2011.

Universal Studios Singapore will be launching the world’s first theme-park attraction based on popular sci-fi franchise Transformers on Dec 3, 2011.

Transformers The Ride will celebrate its world premiere at an exclusive evening event on Dec 2 with Michael Bay – director of the hit movies – headlining the launch party.

The ride will feature 12 scenes, blending sets, 3-D digital media and special effects together in what Resorts World Sentosa promised would be a ‘game changer’ for theme park attractions across the world.

Bay said: ‘I am very excited about the debut of this attraction at Universal Studios Singapore. Finally, Transformers fans will not only have the chance to watch the Autobots battle the Decepticons on screen; they’ll actually be part of the action.’

When Apple co-founder Steve Jobs stepped down from his role as CEO two months ago, the immediate question “was what happens to Apple next?” With Jobs’ passing yesterday, the company now faces that scenario.

From an outsider’s perspective, the near-term seems clear. The company says it has a succession plan, which it enacted in August at Jobs’ request, installing Tim Cook as CEO. The company also has a new iPhone–its hottest money making product–launching next week, followed a week later with what is likely to be another record setting quarter.

But what people wonder about is what happens years from now, or maybe sooner. Can Apple keep its mojo as the tech company that made an incredible comeback and affected change in nearly every industry it got into during the past decade? Can Cook carve out his own place in the company’s history, going beyond the role of changing how Apple puts together its products, into a role that defines what they are and how they’re perceived?

Steve Jobs, 1955 - 2011 | Founders of Apple, NeXt & Pixar

That’s a big unknown in part because Jobs has been Apple’s front man since his return to the company. While Cook filled in during Jobs’ medical leaves and ran the company’s day to day operations for years, to the public he’s now just beginning to get attention as the one who is going to lead Apple. There’s no more “Steve will still be involved with strategic decisions” to point at when something is deemed a success or a failure. And with future products and services, Apple now faces scrutiny of how much of a hand people think Jobs did or did not play in whatever long-term vision that was set up before he stepped down.

Ultimately this is a huge, finely run company with many strong executives. But the panache, the “vision thing” will be hard to replace. The loss of a founding executive can take years to have an influence for the negative, and it’s typically a more subtle one — the loss of energy, the loss of drive, the MBAs making decisions rather than the engineers. Will it happen at Apple? Impossible to say, but those are the risks in the years to come.

One of the first places people looked for any signs of change was the company’s iPhone event earlier this week. Critics panned both Cook’s inaugural performance, and the product itself, as dull, in part because they were comparing it with a certain ideal Jobs has come to make us expect. And the truth is, Cook may never get to get out of that shadow.

But as Tuesday’s event re-enforced, and perhaps we all should have picked up on a little sooner, is that Apple’s come to lean on its other figureheads to make the pitch, especially Phil Schiller and Scott Forstall, the company’s top marketing and iOS software executives, respectively. Schiller’s been Jobs’ right hand man in product demonstrations, even carrying the Macworld and WWDC keynotes in 2009 while Jobs was on medical leave. Forstall, meanwhile, has gone from helping to craft Mac OS X to becoming the one in charge of running Apple’s mobile software efforts, which have become a commanding portion of the company’s incoming revenue stream. There’s also deep executive bench with the recently promoted Eddy Cue who heads up the company’s Internet and software service, and Jeff Williams, Apple’s senior vice president of operations.

Perhaps of the most interest in the post-Jobs era though is Jonathan Ive, Apple’s senior vice president of industrial design. Jobs is credited with pulling Ive from designing prototypes of products that were going nowhere and bringing him into the inner circle of the company’s design efforts. The two men were also said to have had a mutual admiration and taste for design that’s driven the company to create some of its most iconic products. With Jobs no longer a part of that creative process, does Ive stay or strike out on his own?

There’s also curiosity into who Apple decides to replace as its retail chief, a part of the company’s business that started with just a handful of stores, and now stretches to 357 locations around the world. A big part of the credit for that goes to Ron Johnson, the company’s retail chief, who earlier this year announced that he was departing to become J.C. Penney’s CEO, a job he begins next month. Apple has not yet said who his successor will be.

Finally, there’s the uncertain future when it comes to Apple’s voice. People have come to look to Jobs to set the tone of the company, which went from a scrappy upstart to a giant, yet whose CEO and co-founder would still respond personally to e-mails from customers.

Because of Jobs, you could tell you were reading something from Apple almost immediately, from the verbiage in a legal filing to a document like the App Store guidelines. Jobs would also occasionally write technology missives posted to Apple’s Web Site, most recently “Thoughts on Flash,” an utter take down of Adobe’s Flash technology, which Jobs chided for being flawed, and a hindrance towards moving things forward. In truth I don’t see Cook penning something like Thoughts on Flash, but perhaps I don’t know him well enough.

One thing that’s for sure is that Jobs has left Apple with a foundation to build on its successes. Still ahead of it is a new campus set to be completed by 2015, a continually aggressive plan to expand its retail stores into new territories, and a digital empire that’s set up to sell an ever increasing amount of music, books, movies, TV shows, and software.

What comes after that, only Apple knows.

A new & improved HTC Sensation XE from the original HTC Sensation

Luke Westaway | CNET has decided to get all hippity-hop happy with its latest smart phone, the HTC Sensation XE. It’s a refreshed version of the brilliant HTC Sensation that packs Beats audio tech, as well as a faster processor and improved battery life.

Beaten Senseless

The Sensation XE comes with a set of in-ear Beats by Dr. Dre headphones. Plug these boisterous bad-boys in, and the phone switches to a different audio profile, doing some clever processing trickery to tune your music specifically to the earphones.

We suspect that will boil down to making your tunes sound a bit bassier, but we’re ready to be impressed — someexisting Beats audio products have delivered better audio quality than their garish colour schemes would suggest, so maybe this mobile can give your tunes a little extra punch.

Impressively, those headphones will come with a cable remote that lets you control music playback, or answer calls via a built-in microphone. No more fishing your mobile out your pocket to answer calls.

A Purchase of a HTC Sensation XE comes along with a free Premium Beats Earpiece

Souped-up processor

The HTC Sensation XE packs a more powerful processor than the existing version of the Sensation. While the current model has a dual-core 1.2GHz chip, the Sensation XE ups the voltage with a dual-core processor clocked at 1.5GHz.

The previous version was impressively fast, so we can only assume that this new iteration will blow our heads clean off our shoulders with its snappy performance.

Improved battery

We’re told the HTC Sensation XE packs a bigger battery, that should improve its chances of survival away from the mains. Smart phone batteries are rubbish in general and most modern mobiles need to be charged every day, so we’re interested to see if the Sensation XE can do any better.

As you can see in the photos above, the Sensation XE has been given a little lick of paint. We suspect the blood-red accents and Beats logo will be divisive, but we did think the all-grey casing of the first Sensation was a bit dull, so we appreciate that it’s been jazzed up.

Elsewhere we expect the Sensation XE to be running Android version 2.3 Gingerbread, and it should pack the same 8-megapixel camera that adorned the original.

With a more powerful processor and the promise of better battery life, the HTC Sensation XE could be much more than just a cheap branding tie-in. Stay tuned for the full review.

HTC says you’ll be able to get your hands on this powerful mobile from late September.

We’re hearing from a trusted source this afternoon that the next version of Android after Ice Cream Sandwich will be known as “Jelly Bean,” continuing Google’s longstanding tradition of naming Android builds after sweet treats in alphabetical order. What we don’t yet know is the version number — in fact, Google has yet to say what Ice Cream Sandwich’s version number will be, much less Jelly Bean’s.

Additionally, our source tells us he’s hearing that the “game-changing stuff” that had originally been scheduled for Ice Cream Sandwich is now being pushed to Jelly Bean, though we don’t know exactly what those big features are. Since its launch at Google I/O in May, the implication has been that Ice Cream Sandwich will help unify Android’s phone and tablet efforts — represented right now by Gingerbread and Honeycomb, respectively — into a single trunk, but beyond that, very little has been said about what ICS will bring to the table.

With rumors of the Ice Cream Sandwich-powered Nexus Prime from Samsung hitting a fever pitch lately, it seems likely that an announcement is imminent (in fact, Eric Schmidt has said as much), so hopefully we’ll get some insight on where these two builds shake out very shortly.

Update: We’re hearing from another well-regarded source that Jelly Bean is in the running for the name, but that the choice hasn’t yet been finalized by Google; for what it’s worth, the pickings are fairly slim for desserts with “J” names, so Jelly Bean seems like a solid choice. The source goes on to say that there are some fairly major architectural, functional, and design changes in Ice Cream Sandwich, so by all appearances, this is still going to be a big-time release. Of course, that doesn’t mean Jelly Bean (or whatever Google ultimately calls it) won’t have a big outing in its own right, but the indication is that ICS won’t just be a warmed-over Gingerbread or Honeycomb.

In the 2011 edition of the World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY) released Tuesday by the Lausanne-based Institute for Management Development (IMD), Singapore slips two spots to rank as the third most competitive country in the ranking.

Taiwan and the Chinese mainland also maintain their presence on the top 20 list as No. 6 and No. 19 respectively.

Also in the rankings, Sweden jumps to 4th place, highlighting the competitiveness of the Nordic model. Germany shines and gains 6 ranks to 10th position thanks to buoyant exports and a more flexible labor market.

“The world of competitiveness becomes more national. ‘World Competitiveness 2.0′ is thus characterized by a greater self-reliance of countries. It increasingly emphasizes re-industrialization, exports, and a more critical look at delocalization,” said IMD Professor Stéphane Garelli, Director of IMD’s World Competitiveness Center.

“This trend is triggered by the rise in commodity and transport prices and higher labor costs in emerging economies. National champions are favored everywhere and borders re-surface – again!”

Following are the top 20 competitive countries and regions as ranked by IMD.

Rank 2011	Country/Region	Score 2011	Rank 2010
1	Hong Kong	100.00	2
1	USA	100.00	3
3	Singapore	98.6	1
4	Sweden	94.1	6
5	Switzerland	92.6	4
6	Taiwan	92.0	8
7	Canada	90.8	7
8	Qatar	90.2	15
9	Australia	89.3	5
10	Germany	87.8	16
11	Luxembourg	86.5	11
12	Denmark	86.4	13
13	Norway	86.3	9
14	Netherlands	85.7	12
15	Finland	84.4	19
16	Malaysia	84.1	10
17	Israel	81.6	17
18	Austria	81.6	14
19	Chinese mainland	81.1	18
20	UK	8.03	22

Singapore's Marina Bay Financial Centre, ready by 2013

The survey showed that the average daily foreign exchange (FX) turnover volume in Singapore was US$266 billion ($360.38 billion) during April 2010 compared to US$242 billion in April

Meanwhile, the average daily turnover in over-the-counter (OTC) interest rate derivatives was US$78 billion during April 2010, 37 per cent higher than the US$57 billion recorded during April 2007. This ranks Singapore as sixth largest centre globally, up from seventh position in 2007 and underscores Singapore’s development as a key derivatives trading centre in Asia.

Mr Ong Chong Tee, Deputy Managing Director for the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said, “The BIS as well as the SFEMC surveys affirm Singapore’s consistent growth as a key foreign exchange centre in the world and in Asia. Trading of emerging market currencies including the Singapore Dollar grew significantly. Financial institutions based in Singapore, serving the foreign exchange needs of their clients in the region and beyond, are well-placed to capitalise on this growth.”

The BIS Triennial Central Bank Survey – FX and Derivatives Market Activity uses a data collection approach based on the location of the sales desks. 54 banks in Singapore were involved in the survey.

The HTC Vigor that was previously leaked through benchmark scores has surfaced again and this time through a decent pair of pictures, showing the entire front and rear side.

From the looks of it the phone does look a bit similar to the HTC Incredible S, particularly from the back. Then again, all HTC phones look similar these days. On the front is a large touchscreen rumored to be 4.3-inch in size and having a resolution of 1280 x 720, if the benchmark results that leaked last time are to be believed. There is also a front video call camera on the top right and on the top left is what looks like could be the Verizon logo, being edited out. The touch sensitive buttons below the display don’t seem like they rotate the way they do on the Incredible S.

On the hardware front the Vigor is expected to have a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor with Adreno 220 GPU, 1GB of RAM, 16GB internal memory and running on Android 2.3.4. It is also said to have the Beats Audio, the result of the recent alliance between HTC and the Beats by Dre brand.

All the signs suggest this is another one of the phones from Verizon’s DROID family but there could also be a GSM version, the Incredible HD, if you will. This is all we know for now though. More as it is discovered.

According to the NenaMark1 benchmark score, the Vigor with be available on Verizon’s 4G LTE network. It has a 1280 x 720 resolution display of unspecified size and a Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC with a 1.5GHz CPU and Adreno 220 GPU, quite likely the MSM8660 found under EVO 3D and the upcoming “Puccini” tablet. The device is also shown to be running on Android 2.3.4.

Now it’s rumored that this is a phone although it could very well also turn out to be a tablet. Maybe it is the CDMA version of the HTC “Puccini”. Having said that it will be far more exciting if the device turns out to be a smartphone, mostly because of the high resolution display. Hopefully we will find out more information about this mysterious device soon enough.

NEW YORK—Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. will invest $5 billion in Bank of America Corp., giving the nation’s biggest bank a much-needed vote of confidence amid questions about the credibility of its management.

The investment, which is similar to Mr. Buffett’s move with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. years ago, comes as the market and analysts have wondered if Bank of America would be able to raise enough capital to meet new global standards. The news sent Bank of America shares soaring Thursday and provided a general lift to financial stocks as well.

Bank of America Chief Executive Brian Moynihan had proclaimed time and again the past few months that the bank wouldn’t need to issue shares to raise capital, as it was already ahead of requirements and had noncore assets to sell. But with shares of the bank falling to new two-year lows, investors voiced uncertainty.

An investment by Mr. Buffett, one of the world’s most revered investors, assuaged those fears nearly immediately. The so-called Oracle of Omaha wasted no time in backing Mr. Moynihan.

“Bank of America is a strong, well-led company, and I called Brian to tell him I wanted to invest in it,” Mr. Buffett said.

“I am impressed with the profit-generating abilities of this franchise, and that they are acting aggressively to put their challenges behind them.”

Bank of America jumped 18% to $8.21, while the KBW Bank Index soared 5.3% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.7%. Berkshire’s Class A shares rose $356.01 to $106,706.01.

Under the deal’s terms, Berkshire will get 50,000 preferred shares that carry a dividend of 6% a year and are redeemable at a 5% premium, along with warrants to purchase 700 million Bank of America shares at an exercise price of $7.14 each. The warrants may be exercised in whole or in part in the 10 years following the closing of the deal.

“I remain confident that we have the capital and liquidity we need to run our business,” Mr. Moynihan said. “At the same time, I also recognize that a large investment by Warren Buffett is a strong endorsement in our vision and our strategy.”

Buffett’s investment in Bank of America mirrors a stake he took in Goldman Sachs during one of the darkest moments of the 2008 financial crisis. Just after the September failure of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and the emergency takeover of Merrill Lynch & Co. by Bank of America, Berkshire was able to demand 10% interest from Goldman in exchange for Berkshire’s funds and Mr. Buffett’s stamp of approval.

Goldman redeemed Berkshire’s preferred stake earlier this year. Mr. Buffett’s company still holds warrants to buy $5 billion of Goldman’s shares at $115. Goldman shares traded at $117.44, up 6.4% after news on Mr. Buffett’s latest investment.

Well what do we have here? It looks like the rumors of the Samsung Nexus Prime possibly being the next-generation Google Nexus 3 may be under attack from rival manufacturer LG. Earlier this week, Google’s Andy Rubin explained how multiple manufacturers would showcase their devices for the Nexus moniker, with only one of course getting to use the name.

LG Optimus Pro takes on Samsung Nexus Prime with Android Ice Cream Sandwich & quad-cores

The folks over at Concept-Phones have received the following leaked pictures from one of their tipsters. Called the LG Optimus Pro, it boasts a quad core Nvidia Tegra 3 unit with 1.5GHz of speed, next generation NOVA display with a 4.3-inch 1280 x 720 HD resolution, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, Bluetooth 3.0,  3D capability and 12.1 megapixel camera.

As CP points out, “front design of the handset reminds me a bit of the HTC HD7, maybe because of that speaker grille at the top.” Given how most of the large screen Androids are now just black slabs of glass on the front, it comes as no surprise.

The Samsung Nexus Prime is rumored to launch sometime this October so if we’re looking at the LG Optimus Pro possibly taking the title as the Google Nexus 3, it will need to launch first with Android Ice Cream Sandwich in tow. One of the major advantages the Optimus Pro would have over the Samsung Nexus Prime would no doubt be its quad-core chipset.

More on this as it develops.

As Of Monday, 22 August 2011 11:28

]]> http://www.muazrudy.com/2011/08/forget-samsung-nexus-prime-quad-core-android-4-0-phone-leaks/feed/ 0 http://www.muazrudy.com/2011/08/us-markets-fall-sharply-after-sp-downgrade/ http://www.muazrudy.com/2011/08/us-markets-fall-sharply-after-sp-downgrade/#comments Mon, 08 Aug 2011 15:10:20 +0000 Muaz http://www.muazrudy.com/?p=1763

(More)…]]> Market News | Daily Finance

08/08/11 10:46EDT

NEW YORK -The U.S. stock market joined a sell-off around the world Monday in the first trading since Standard & Poor’s downgraded American debt and gave investors another reason to be anxious.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 250 points minutes after the opening bell on Wall Street. It recovered some of those losses, then fell again and was down as many as 375 points in mid-morning trading.

Stock markets in Asia began the global rout. The main stock index fell almost 4 percent in South Korea and more than 2 percent in Japan. European markets opened later and fell, too, with Germany down 3 percent and France 2.5 percent.

It was the first chance for global investors to respond to S&P’s announcement late Friday that it was reducing its credit rating for long-term U.S. government debt by one notch, from AAA, the highest rating, to AA .

The move wasn’t a total surprise but came when investors were already feeling nervous about a weak U.S. economy, European debt problems and Japan’s recovery from its March earthquake.

In other early trading on Wall Street, the S&P 500 index fell 41 points, or 3.4 percent, to 1,159. The Nasdaq composite index fell 75 points, or 3.8 percent, to 2,435. The Dow was at 11,101, down 3 percent.

Fresh memories of the financial crisis three years ago are also driving investors away from risky investments and into what’s considered safer.

“Fear of a repeat of 2008 is what’s really driving investments,” said Gary Schlossberg, senior economist with Wells Capital Management.

Gold, which investors traditionally buy when they want a safe investment, rose above $1,700 per ounce for the first time Monday. Its price remains below its 1980 record after adjusting for inflation. Gold began the year at $1,421.40. It has climbed steadily as worries rose about high debt levels in both Europe and the United States. It went above $1,500 per ounce in late May.

Prices for U.S. government debt rose — even after S&P essentially said they were a riskier investment than the debt of some other major world economies — because Treasurys are still seen as one of the world’s few safe havens. Prices rise as demand increases.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell much of the morning, to 2.40 percent from 2.57 percent late Friday. A bond’s yield drops when its price rises.

Where Treasury prices finish the day will be more important than where they are at the start, Bill O’Donnell, head of U.S. Treasury strategy at RBS Securities, wrote in a report.

“We will learn more about the future path of Treasury prices at today’s close than we will by the open,” he said. “I want to see how the market clears and how it synthesizes the cacophony of news of late.”

Stocks in industries whose profits are most closely tied to the strength of the economy fell the most. Energy stocks in the S&P 500 fell 4.9 percent, and financial stocks fell 4.5 percent, for example.

The smallest losses came from stocks in safer industries whose profits tend to be steadier, regardless of the economy. Consumer staples stocks fell just 1.5 percent. Even in a bad economy people will still buy things like toothpaste and bread. Utilities, also considered a necessity for consumers, fell 2 percent.

The Vix index, a measure of fear among investors, shot up 23 percent to its highest level since May 2010. The index shows how worried investors are that the S&P 500 will drop over the next 30 days. It does this by measuring prices for stock options that investors can buy to help protect their portfolios.

Investors are worried that Spain or Italy could become the next European country to be unable to pay its debt. The European Central Bank said it will buy Italian and Spanish bonds in hopes of helping the countries avert a possible default.

Seeking to avert panic spreading across financial markets, the finance ministers and central bankers of the Group of 20 industrial and developing nations issued a joint statement Monday saying they were committed to taking all necessary measures to support financial stability and growth.

“We will remain in close contact throughout the coming weeks and cooperate as appropriate, ready to take action to ensure financial stability and liquidity in financial markets,” they said.

Crude oil, natural gas and other commodities fell on worries that a weaker global economy will mean less demand. Oil fell $2.84 to $84.04 per barrel.

Last week, the Dow Jones industrial average fell almost 700 points. That was its biggest point loss since October 2008, during the financial crisis. The Dow has dropped in nine of the last 11 trading days.

Worries about the U.S. economic recovery have been building since the government said that economic growth was far weaker in the first half of 2011 than economists expected.

The economy grew at a 1.3 percent annual rate from April through June, below economists’ expectations. It expanded at just a 0.4 percent rate in the first quarter. The first half of 2011 was the slowest since the end of the recession.

Then reports showed that the manufacturing and services industries barely grew in July. Job growth was better than economists expected last month. But the 117,000 jobs created in July were still well below the 215,000 that employers added between February and April, on average.

The Federal Reserve will meet on Tuesday, but economists don’t expect much to come out of the meeting. The central bank’s key interest rate is already at a record of nearly zero, where it has been since 2008. The Fed has also already said that it plans to keep rates low for “an extended period.”

The central bank finished a $600 billion program in June to buy Treasurys in hopes of supporting the economy. Chairman Ben Bernanke said last month that the Fed would step in to help the economy if it further weakened. But some Fed policymakers oppose more bond purchases, saying it could lead to higher inflation.

Fears about a weaker U.S. economy have overshadowed profit growth businesses have reported. Earnings rose 12 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier for the 441 companies in the S&P 500 that have already reported. Revenue growth has also topped 10 percent for the first time in a year.

Tyson Foods rose 0.8 percent after it reported stronger profit than analysts expected. The largest U.S. meat company said its net income fell 21 percent because of higher grain costs, but analysts expected a steeper drop.

Are they okay? I’m also wondering to take a sun rise photograph. – Muaz

Firstly, this HTC Sensation phone is running on Android 2.3 codenamed Gingerbread and has a pre-installed of the Sense UI. The new HTC Sense UI version 3.0. The HTC Sense 3.0 has a lot of difference compared to the previous versions. It’s really wonderful that it makes the consumer much more easier to use the phone.

On the other hand, the HTC Sensation has a blazing fast 1.2 GHz processor and is on top of the market chart right now. This super multimedia phone do have the capability of recording Full HD video of 1080p with a sharp 8 megapixels. Furthermore, there is a front facing camera for photography and video shoot with a VGA resolution.

This would be a prefect device. It also comes with a cinematic display of 4.3″ screen with a qHD display. The 4.3″ screen comes with a 16:9 resolution. The android device is made up of a aluminum body and has a contoured glass in the front. The 4 edges of the phone has a contoured curve so the screen would not get affected with the ground when facing downwards.

The add-ons of this powerful device. The HTC Sensation do comes with a 3.5 mm stereo audio jack. Play yourself a movie on this big 4.3″ cinematic display with a bulit in crystal clear Hi-Fi (High Fidelity) audio technology.

With a new Android operating system, a new HTC Sense UI, a blazing fast dual core processor, a sharp 8 megapixels, a capability of recoding a Full HD video and  a VGA front facing camera. It also has a Hi-Fi crystal clear audio technology. Remember this device, it’s gonna be a star. With a  superpower multimedia phone, HTC Sensation, a perfect phone to use. It even beats the Apple iPhone 4′s specs.

Amazing.

Now we’re on the brink of the next big shift. – Google Inc

Google unveiled a new digital wallet program Thursday that enables a cellphone to act just like a credit card, giving the search giant its first footing in the business of providing consumer financial services.

A chip inside new Android phones — for now, only one model has it — will allow shoppers to wave their devices in front of a reader to pay for clothes and food at the mall or grocery, the company said. Eventually, Google said, it envisions the cellphone to act as a personal financial hub for coupons, merchant loyalty points, payments and receipts.

The idea of mobile payments has intrigued smartphone makers such as Apple,Research in Motion and Google — and worried credit card firms. Until now, the cost of installing payment chips has kept carriers from signing on, as has haggling over how the transaction fees should be divided, said Michael Grossi, a telecom analyst at Altman Vilandrie & Co.

For now, Google has decided not to take a cut of these fees, which generate billions of dollars for the likes of Visa, American Express and J.P. Morgan Chase. Instead it will rely on revenue generated by the increase in traffic to its Web sites, its new coupon initiative and the sale of more Android phones.

In the past few thousand years, the way we pay has changed just three times—from coins, to paper money, to plastic cards.Now we’re on the brink of the next big shift.

Yet Google may face a challenge in persuading consumers to entrust the company with their financial information, some analysts said.

Social-media expert Josh Mackey said transparency for Google is key, particularly after itssettlement with the Federal Trade Commission over whether it violated consumers’ privacy when it launched its social networking service Buzz.

“They know that all eyes are going to be on them,” Mackey said.

In a frequently-asked-questions page on the Google Wallet site, Google said it will not have access to users’ financial information or purchase history. The company will record the time of a purchase locally on a user’s phone and have access only to which coupons a user has redeemed.

When asked if Google will be using the data for targeted advertisements, Google spokesman Nathan Taylor said, “No, we are not.”

Google’s electronic wallet will launch over the summer, with trials beginning in San Francisco and New York City. Sprint’s co-branded Nexus S 4G already has the payment chip inside.

Users will need to download the Google Wallet application to begin using the service. The first retailers that will accept the mobile payments include Macy’s, Subway, Walgreens, Toys “R” Us, Bloomingdale’s and Guess. The service can be linked directly to a Citi MasterCard, a Google partner in the initiative. Separately, the balance on Google Wallet can also be funded from any credit card.

Google said the chip cannot be accessed by passersby or by malicious software applications designed to steal information.

Users need a PIN to access the app, and financial data are stored on a tamper-resistant chip isolated from the phone’s hardware and software, MasterCard spokeswoman Joanne Trout said. At the point of purchase, the transmitter sends a unique, dynamic account number to verify the transaction.

“At the end of the day, it’s the same as a card,” Trout said. “If there are fraudulent purchases, customers have zero liability.”

The success of MasterCard’s PayPass system — which allows shoppers to simply tap their cards on a reader rather than swipe — shows there is demand for “contactless” payments.

“There will be demand for this technology as long as there are enough retailers and enough phones,” Grossi said.

GOOGLE ANDROID 3.0 Honeycomb Versus 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich

Google I/O certainly didn’t disappoint this year, with a heavy emphasis on the Android platform showing exactly where Google’s priorities lie. One of the main talking points was the unveiling of Ice Cream Sandwich – the next and most exciting version of the Android OS yet. Here’s how it’ll stack up to Honeycomb.

Google’s Mike Claren officially announced Ice Cream Sandwich (along with a neat new logo that makes me hungry every time I look at it) and labelled it the company’s “most ambitious release to date.” It won’t be shipping until the end of the year, so precise feature lists and even images were not forthcoming, but Claren did set out the new OS’s key attributes.

Suffice to say, Ice Cream Sandwich looks set to render Google’s current showcase Android OS, the tablet-bound Honeycomb, obsolete. Here’s how.

One OS for every device

“We want one OS that runs everywhere.” That’s Google’s thinking with Ice Cream Sandwich, as related by Mike Claren. Ask anyone – from fan to rival – what Android’s key weakness is and 90 per cent will come back at you with an ‘F’ word – fragmentation.

Android’s open source nature and inherent flexibility means it appears of a huge range of devices, including various smartphones and tablets. While this is the key to Android’s success, it also means that it lacks the unified app environment of Apple’s iOS. Ice Cream Sandwich will go some way to alleviating that because it will unify the two separate strands that have developed – smartphone and tablet.

Put simply, then, ICS will be like a super-scalable version of Honeycomb, capable of running on dual-core tablets and budget smartphones alike.

Just like Honey(comb)

Part of Ice Cream Sandwich’s task will be to bring the best bits of Honeycomb to smartphones. There are plenty of excellent design advances made in the tablet OS that could easily make the trip to the smaller screen – particularly the ones with similar dual-core processors.

Mike Claren confirmed some of the Honeycomb features that would make their way onto smartphone courtesy of Ice Cream Sandwich. For one thing, Honeycomb’s attractive ‘Holographic UI’ – or in plain English that attractive 3D interface that makes menu items feel so chunky and solid – will make the switch (if in a downscaled format), as will as other UI elements like the launcher and the Recent Apps multi-tasking menu.

Android smartphone users running on ICS will also be able to make use of those so-called “richer widgets,” as Claren puts it, which make Honeycomb’s front-end such a pleasure to use.

In all of this, elements like the action bar will intelligently scale according to the size of the device, so handset manufacturers won’t have to do any fiddling to get Ice Cream Sandwich running on non-tablet handsets.

Interesting new features

Google I/O certainly didn’t disappoint this year, with a heavy emphasis on the Android platform showing exactly where Google’s priorities lie. One of the main talking points was the unveiling of Ice Cream Sandwich – the next and most exciting version of the Android OS yet. Here’s how it’ll stack up to Honeycomb.

Google’s Mike Claren officially announced Ice Cream Sandwich (along with a neat new logo that makes me hungry every time I look at it) and labelled it the company’s “most ambitious release to date.” It won’t be shipping until the end of the year, so precise feature lists and even images were not forthcoming, but Claren did set out the new OS’s key attributes.

Suffice to say, Ice Cream Sandwich looks set to render Google’s current showcase Android OS, the tablet-bound Honeycomb, obsolete. Here’s how.

One OS for every device

“We want one OS that runs everywhere.” That’s Google’s thinking with Ice Cream Sandwich, as related by Mike Claren. Ask anyone – from fan to rival – what Android’s key weakness is and 90 per cent will come back at you with an ‘F’ word – fragmentation.

Android’s open source nature and inherent flexibility means it appears of a huge range of devices, including various smartphones and tablets. While this is the key to Android’s success, it also means that it lacks the unified app environment of Apple’s iOS. Ice Cream Sandwich will go some way to alleviating that because it will unify the two separate strands that have developed – smartphone and tablet.

Put simply, then, ICS will be like a super-scalable version of Honeycomb, capable of running on dual-core tablets and budget smartphones alike.

Just like Honey(comb)

Part of Ice Cream Sandwich’s task will be to bring the best bits of Honeycomb to smartphones. There are plenty of excellent design advances made in the tablet OS that could easily make the trip to the smaller screen – particularly the ones with similar dual-core processors.

Mike Claren confirmed some of the Honeycomb features that would make their way onto smartphone courtesy of Ice Cream Sandwich. For one thing, Honeycomb’s attractive ‘Holographic UI’ – or in plain English that attractive 3D interface that makes menu items feel so chunky and solid – will make the switch (if in a downscaled format), as will as other UI elements like the launcher and the Recent Apps multi-tasking menu.

Android smartphone users running on ICS will also be able to make use of those so-called “richer widgets,” as Claren puts it, which make Honeycomb’s front-end such a pleasure to use.

In all of this, elements like the action bar will intelligently scale according to the size of the device, so handset manufacturers won’t have to do any fiddling to get Ice Cream Sandwich running on non-tablet handsets.

Interesting new features

Ice Cream Sandwich won’t just trump Honeycomb through flexibility, though. There’ll be a host of new capabilities baked into it, some of which were touched upon during the opening Google I/O keynote. For one thing the already-impressive Honeycomb UI will be improved for all devices. In fact, Claren referred to it as a “State of the art UI.” For another, there’ll be a bunch of new APIs for developers to make use of.

The ones that were demonstrated at Google I/O made use of the Android device’s camera. One demonstration showed how head-tracking would be possible in ICS, the front camera using the movements of the user’s head to adjust the perspective on a 3D scene.

Another demonstration showed how facial recognition would be a part of ICS. The application shown notes where your facial features (eyes, ears, nose etc) are and lets you manipulate a live feed of your face in real time. It’s a trivial application, but the fact that the system understands how  your face is mapped out has some awesome implications. Finally, a “virtual camera operator” app was shown running, which caused the front camera to focus in on whoever was speaking within its field of vision during a video chat.

All of these new features show that Ice Cream Sandwich is going to do more than just unite the two strands of Android OS that have developed. It’ll be significantly smarter and more aware of its surroundings than the current king, Honeycomb. We look forward to the innovative applications this will inevitably lead to come Q4.

SINGAPORE - Results of General Election 2011 as they are announced.

Asia One | SINGAPORE GENERAL ELECTIONS RESULTS 2011

After years of the winning of PAP, party wins again this round.

PAP wins Mountbatten
Mr Lim Biow Chuan of the PAP has won the single seat constituency with 58.65 per cent of the votes, while Ms Jeanette Chong-Aruldoss comes away with 41.35 per cent of the votes.

PAP wins Bukit Panjang
The second result of the evening comes from Bukit Panjang SMC, with Dr Teo Ho Pin of the PAP winning with 66.26 per cent of the votes. The PAP won 20,349 votes, while the SDP won 33.74 per cent of the votes, which is 10,362 votes.

PAP wins Radin Mas

Radin Mas SMC won by PAP’s Tan Chin Siong, with 67.11 per cent of votes. This translates to 18,591 votes for PAP and 9,110 votes for NSP. Rejected votes were 669 or 22.69 per cent.

PAP wins Whampoa SMC

Whampoa SMC won by PAP’s Heng Chee How with 13,015 or 66.11 per cent of the votes.

NSP’s Ken Sun gets 33.89 per cent of the votes, which is 6,672 votes.

PAP wins Moulmein-Kallang GRC

PAP’s candidates of Yaacob Ibrahim,  Lui Tuck Yew, Denise Phua Lay Peng, Edwin Tong Chun Fai, have been elected back to power in Moulmein-Kallang GRC.

PAP obtained 44828 votes, or 58.56 per cent of the votes.

Workers’ Party obtained 31731 votes, or 44.41 per cent of the votes.

PAP wins Joo Chiat SMC

It’s yet another win for the PAP at Joo Chiat SMC.

PAP candidate Charles Chong won 9,630 votes, or 51.01 per cent of votes.

Worker’s Party candidate, Yee Jen Jong, obtained 9,248 votes, which is 48.99 per cent.

314 votes were rejected, a total of 19192 votes were cast.

PAP wins Hong Kah North SMC

The People’s Action Party (PAP) has won Hong Koh North SMC with 18,149 votes, out of a total of26,275 votes. It obtained 70.61 per cent of the votes. 573 votes were rejected.

PAP candidate Dr Amy Khor is the winner.

PAP wins Marine Parade GRC

The residents of Marine Parade GRC have chosen to return the PAP team back to power.

Giving PAP 78,182 votes, or 56.65 per cent, the team of Goh Chok Tong, Seah Kian Peng, Fatimah Lateef, Tin Pei Ling and Tan Chuan-Jin were voted back.

Meanwhile, the NSP team of Cheo Chai Chen, Ivan Yeo Tiong Boon, Nicole Seah Xue Ling, Abdul Salim Harun and Spencer Ng Chung Hon garnered 59,833 votes, which is 43.35 per cent.

3,080 votes were rejected while 14,195 votes were cast.

WP wins Hougang SMC

Workers’ Party’s candidate Yaw Shin Leong won the single constituency seat with 14,833 votes, or 64.81 per cent.

PAP’s Desmond Choo obtained 8,053 votes, or 35.19 per cent of the votes.

Rejected votes totalled 261 while 23,147 voted.

PAP wins Tampines GRC

PAP candidates Mah Bow Tan,  Baey Yam Keng, Masagos Zulkifli, Irene Ng, Heng Swee Keat won with 57.2 per cent of the votes. They captured 72,664 votes.

NSP’s team of Goh Meng Seng, Syafarin Sarif, Gilbert Goh, Raymond Lim Peng Ann and Reno Fong, obtained 54,337 votes, which is 42.8 per cent.

There were 3,074 rejected votes and a total of 130,075 votes.

PAP wins West Coast GRC

PAP wins West Coast GRC with 72,465 votes.

The PAP team comprises Lim Hng Kiang, S. Iswaran, Arthur Fong Jen, Foo Mee Har and Lawrence Wong Shyun Tsai.

Reform Party’s Kenneth Jeyaretnam, Andy Zhu Laicheng, Frankie Low Chiak Hun, Kumar Appavoo and Ho Soak Harn obtained 36,395, or 33.4 per cent of votes.

There were 2,820 rejected votes and a total of 111,680 votes.

PAP wins Sengkang West SMC
PAP’s Dr Lam Pin Min won the Sengkang West SMC with 14,667 votes, or 58.08 per cent.

Workers’ Party’s candidate, Koh Choong Yong, received 10,558, or 41.92 per cent of votes.

There were 437 rejected votes aand a total number of 25,689 votes.

PAP wins Ang Mo Kio GRC

The PAP won Ang Mo Kio GRC with a 69.3 per cent of votes, or 112,544 votes.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s team included Inderjit Singh, Seng Han Thong, Yeo Guat Kwang, Intan Azura Mokhtar and Ang Hin Kee.

The Reform Party with candidates Alex Tan,  Arthero Lim Tung Hee, Vigneswari Ramachandran, Lim Zi Rui, Mansor Rahman and Osman Sulaiman received 49,779 votes, or 30.7 per cent.

PAP wins Punggol East SMC

PAP’s candidate Michael Palmer wins the Punggol East SMC with 16,969 votes. This is 54.5 per cent of the total votes.

Worker’s Party Lee Li Lian obtains 12,765, or 41 per cent of votes, while Singapore Democratic Alliance’s (SDA)  Desmond Lim obtains 1,386 votes, or 4.5 per cent of votes.

There were 551 rejected votes and  a total of 31,671 votes.

PAP wins Yuhua SMC

Grace Fu from the PAP obtains 14,081, or 66.87 per cent of votes.

Singapore Democratic Party’s Teo Soh Lung receives 6,977, or 33.13 per cent of votes.

There were 530 rejected votes and a total of 21,588 votes.

PAP wins East Coast GRC

The PAP team, led by Lim Swee Say, also include Raymond Lim Siang Keat, Lee Yi Shyan, Mohamad Maliki Osman and Jessica Tan Soon Neo, won the East Coast GRC with  59,895, or 59.8 per cent of votes.

The Workers’ Party team, which includes Eric Tan, Png Eng Huat, Mohamad Fazil Talip, Gerald Giam Yean Song and Glenda Han, received  49,34, or 45.2 per cent of votes.

There were a total of 1,847 rejected votes and a total number of 111,084 votes.

PAP wins Pioneer SMC

The People’s Action Party has won Pioneer SMC with 14,581 votes, out of a total of 24,457 votes. It obtained 60.7 per cent of the votes. 446 votes were spoilt.

The People’s Action Party candidate in Pioneer is Cedric Foo.

The other party contesting Pioneer SMC was Steve Chia from the National Solidarity Party (NSP). Mr Chia got 9,430 votes.

PAP wins Holland-Bukit Timah GRC

The People’s Action Party has won Holland-Bukit Timah GRC with 48,682 votes, out of a total of 82,723 votes. It obtained 60.1 per cent of the votes. 1,719 votes were spoilt.

The PAP team in Holland-Bukit Timah GRC comprises Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Minsiter Vivian Balakrishnan and new candidates Liang Eng Hwa, Christopher De Souza and Sim Ann.

The other party contesting Holland-Bukit Timah GRC was Singapore Democratic Party, which fielded Tan Jee Say, Ang Yong Guan, Vincent Wijeysingha and Michelle Lee Juen.

PAP wins Chua Chu Kang GRC

This is a new GRC created from former Hong Kah GRC and Chua Chu Kang.

PAP has won Choa Chu Kang GRC with 89,605 votes, out of a total of 149,483 votes. It obtained 61.2 per cent of the votes. 3,061 votes were spoilt.

The PAP team in Choa Chu Kang GRC comprises Gan Kim Yong, Zaqy Mohamed, Alvin Yeo, Low Yen Ling, and Alex Yam Ziming.

The other party contesting Choa Chu Kang GRC was the NSP, which fielded Sebastian Teo, Tony Tan, Hazel Poa, Jeisilan Sivalingam and Nor Lella Mardiiiah. They got 56,817 votes.

PAP wins Sembawang GRC

In the previous GE in 2006, the PAP won 76.7 per cent to beat SDP. This election, the PAP won 84,185 votes or 63.9 per cent.

The SDP took 47,578 votes or 36.1 per cent.

There were 135,053 votes cast, 3,290 were rejected votes.

PAP wins Nee Soon GRC

This is a new GRC created from parts of Sembawang and Ang Mo Kio GRCs, Nee Soon Central and Nee Soon East.

The People’s Action Party has won Nee Soon GRC with 80,659 votes, out of a total of 140,482 votes. It obtained 58.4 per cent of the votes. 2,341 votes were rejected.

The People’s Action Party team in Nee Soon GRC comprises K Shanmugam (cabinet minister), Lim Wee Kiak, Lee Bee Wah, Muhd Faishal Ibrahim, Patrick Tay Teck Guan.

The other party contesting Nee Soon GRC was Workers’ Party, which fielded John Yam Poh Nam, Poh Lee Guan, Angela Faye Oon, Sajeev Kamalasanan, Watson Chong Cham Weng.

WP wins Aljunied GRC

Workers’ Party (WP) has won Aljunied GRC with 72,165 votes, out of a total of 133,685 votes. It obtained 54.71 per cent of the votes. 1,788 votes were spoilt.

The WP team in Aljunied GRC comprises Low Thia Khiang, Sylvia Lim, Muhd Faisal Abdul Manap, Chen Show Mao, and Pritam Singh.

The other party contesting Aljunied GRC was People’s Action Party (PAP), which fielded George Yeo, Lim Hwee Hua, Zainul Abidin Rasheed, Cynthia Phua and Ong Ye Kung. The PAP garnered 45.29 per cent of the votes.

PAP wins Jurong GRC

The People’s Action Party has won Jurong GRC with 76,489 votes, out of a total of 116,926 votes. It obtained 67 per cent of the votes. 2,703 votes were rejected.

The People’s Action Party team in Jurong GRC comprises Tharman Shanmugaratnam (cabinet minister), Halimah Yacob, Desmond Lee Ti-Seng, David Ong Kim Huat and Ang Wei Neng.

The other party contesting Jurong GRC was the National Solidarity Party, which fielded Christopher Neo Ting Wei, Ong Hock Siong, Noraini Yunus, Abdul Rasheed and Elvin Ong Beng Soon.

PAP wins Potong Pasir SMC

PAP’s Sitoh Yih Pin has won Potong Pasir SMC with 7,973 votes, out of a total of 17,327 votes, obtaining 50.4 per cent of the votes. 242 votes were spoilt.

The other party contesting Potong Pasir SMC was the Singapore People’s Party, which fielded Lina Chiam. She won 7,859 of the votes.

A tablet with HTC Sense

Capture life’s moments

Take great shots or videos with the 5MP camera and HD camcorder on the HTC Flyer. You won’t have any trouble finding your target on the extrasized 7-inch viewfinder.

Before hitting the states this summer, the Sensation will launch in the UK, Germany, and the rest of HTC’s “key” European markets in mid-May, with Vodafone scoring a Europe-wide exclusive for “a couple of weeks.” We can’t wait to put the Sensation through its paces in a full review, but happily we already scored some hands-on time with a near-final unit. Continue below the break for some early thoughts, full specs, and close-up shots of this superphone in action.

Update: We scored some hands-on time with a European model over at HTC’s launch event. Check the video here!

We quickly warmed to the Sensation’s contoured screen, whose concave shape and Gorilla Glass protection are designed to protect the precious device from picking up scratches when you set it face-down. As it happens, it’s also ergonomically ingenious, and makes for a comfy touch experience. Thanks to that dual-core CPU the phone felt responsive as we poked around menus, while the aluminum back cover gives it a solid, weighty feel. HTC says it’s also tweaked the algorithm in the onscreen keyboard so that it predicts words more accurately, though its appearance hasn’t changed from what you’re used to seeing in devices like the Incredible S.

As for the Sense UI, the customizable lock screens are eye candy, for sure, but also let you insert widgets for weather, stocks, and social networking, which you can glance at before you unlock the device. Launching apps from the lock screen is as simple as dragging them into a so-called activation ring (we promise this makes more sense in practice.) The new 3D flourishes are pretty too, though they don’t fundamentally alter the experience of flipping through the UI. Back in the realm of 2D, we did a double take when we saw a new home screen of Windows Phone-esque photo tiles. (HTC even uses that word to describe it!) Many of HTC’s widgets, by the by, take up an entire home screen. Personally, we find that less distracting than Motoblur, which peppers the screen with lots of smaller widgets, but we know plenty of folks will disagree. The weather app is now full-screen, a convenient improvement over previous versions. And thanks, HTC, for adding hourly info. Sure, Sense already lets you set the refresh rate to one-hour intervals, but it’s useful to see how the temperature might change throughout an afternoon.

At first blush the Sensation 4G looks promising, delivering the power and design panache of the EVO 3D, but with a screen that’s more utilitarian than gimmicky. Of course, we’ll reserve judgment until we get to take one of these bad boys home and see if it can really sensationalize our lives.

Instead of listing out reasons why we can’t do it, shift our thinking to ” How Can I Do It”. It is very powerful. – Robert Kiyosaki

Prince William has been made Duke of Cambridge and his wife will be the Duchess of Cambridge after their wedding, Buckingham Palace has said.

He will also take the titles Earl of Strathearn and Baron Carrickfergus.

The prince was given the titles by the Queen to mark his marriage. Catherine will also become her royal highness.

The title of duke is the highest rank in the peerage. The titles link the couple to England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Royal tradition

Giving new titles to members of the Royal Family on their wedding day is a long-standing tradition.

When Prince Andrew married, he became the Duke of York, Earl of Inverness and Baron Killyleagh.

Prince Edward became the Earl of Wessex and Viscount Severn on his wedding day in 1999.

While the Prince of Wales did not take any additional titles when he married Lady Diana Spencer in 1981, he was already Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland and Earl of Chester.

The Dukedom of Cambridge was created in 1801 but became extinct on the death of the 2nd Duke of Cambridge in 1904.

Genealogist Charles Kidd, editor of Debrett’s Peerage And Baronetage, said it was a good choice for the prince.

“Cambridge was generally spoken of as a high possibility. It has a long royal tradition, and is immediately recognisable as an English title, it’s one of those places everyone has heard of.”

Professor David Carpenter, of King’s College, London, said there may have been consideration of using the title of Duke of Clarence but it had some unfortunate associations.

“Queen Victoria’s grandson Albert Victor, who was second in line to the throne, was made Duke of Clarence when he reached full age, but he was a womanising philanderer who died in the 1890s.”

‘Doomed to failure’

The last holder of the title, Prince George, known as the 2nd Duke of Cambridge, was born in 1819 and was a grandson of George III and the only son of Prince Adolphus Frederick, the 1st Duke of Cambridge.

He served in the Crimean War and was promoted to commander-in-chief in 1887.

Indeed, once married, the newlyweds’ carriage procession will pass a statue of the last duke sat on a horse close to the Ministry of Defence in Whitehall.

The 2nd Duke of Cambridge refused to have an arranged marriage and declared such unions were “doomed to failure”.

He had an unrecognised marriage to actress Sarah Louisa Fairbrother in 1847, who at the time was already the mother of two of his children and pregnant with his third.

But the Duke did not seek the sovereign’s approval, the marriage was never recognised and Miss Fairbrother was never given the title the Duchess of Cambridge.

Instead she became known by the nickname Mrs FitzGeorge.

Strathearn has not been used as a title since the death of Alastair Windsor, the 2nd Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, who died in 1943.

By becoming Baron and Baroness Carrickfergus, the royal couple will be linked to County Antrim’s oldest town.

An Irish Viscountcy of Chichester of Carrickfergus now held by the Marquess of Donegall was created in 1625 but Carrickfergus alone only existed as a title between 1841 and 1883.

Kitty Donaldson & Thomas Penny & Svenja O’Donnell & Laura Price & Christopher Spillane in London.

Bloomberg Bussiness Week

Prince William and Kate Middleton are marrying in London’s Westminster Abbey as hundreds of thousands of people line the streets and an estimated 2 billion people watch on television around the world.

Middleton arrived at the abbey at 11 a.m. to cheers from the flag-waving crowd outside, many of whom had camped overnight to get a good view. Local officials estimated the crowd would swell to 600,000 people. The weather is dry, though forecasters say there may be showers later. It’s a British public holiday.

“We do these things incredibly well,” Prime Minister David Cameron, who slept on the streets the night before the wedding of William’s parents Prince Charles and Diana Spencer in 1981, said in a Sky News television interview. “People around the world will be watching and seeing some of the best of Britain.”

Middleton is the first woman from outside royalty or the aristocracy to marry so close to the throne for 350 years. When William becomes Britain’s monarch, she will be queen. Queen Elizabeth II, William’s grandmother, announced today that the couple will be known as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Kate will also become Princess William of Wales.

Today’s celebrations are the U.K.’s biggest royal event since the funeral in 1997 of William’s mother, Diana, who died in a car crash in Paris after her marriage with Prince Charles ended in divorce.

“We got a few hours sleep, on and off,” said Sheila Barton, 57, who started camping on The Mall at 5 p.m. yesterday after traveling from Sevenoaks, southeast of London. “We chose this spot so we have a good place to run into the park when they drive past.”

Photo: Royal wedding souvenirs in Trafalgar Square in central London on Friday. Credit: Glyn Kirk / AFP / Getty Images

Janet Stobart | Los Angeles Times

LONDON

In a packed Trafalgar Square for the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, Angela Cavalieri of Minnesota was wild with excitement on Friday.

“Where else would you want to be in the world?” the 31-year-old medical student cried. “I love the whole historical scene, the happily-ever-after romance.”

Her “gal pal,” 28-year-old hairstylist Haly Wildson, has a British boyfriend and is moving to London. “We love the whole royal scene,” she said. “We don’t have this back home, there’s no wedding that would be like this. … I think Kate and William keep the whole romance of the royal family going.”

Trafalgar Square was packed since early morning with a huge flag-waving crowd and street sellers of souvenir programs, flags and memorabilia. Two giant screens beamed the proceedings to the crowd.
Police barriers kept roads and crowds segregated, making it impossible to move from one area to another.

With the huge square filled to capacity, a sea of flags and even more crowds were just visible from Trafalgar down the lower part of Whitehall and past Downing Street.

Tuan Nguyan, 25, a media student from Vietnam, says he loves the royals. He and six or seven fellow students were thrilled to be waving flags in the square. “We love the royal family, we love the crowd here,” he said.

Sitting on the ground in the front row before one of the giant screens in the square, Catherine Fraser from Leicester in central England said she thought Kate “comes across as similar to Lady Di in that she’s beautiful and people love her, she also brings an emotional strength to the marriage.

“I think there’s a strength about how they will handle their life,” Fraser said. Unlike Prince Charles and Princess Diana, whose marriage “appeared almost as if it was arranged … they’ve known each other for a long time and are more mature.”

Royal Air Force stewardess Diane Guerin was marking her 30th birthday. “It’s a historical day — and this is the best way to celebrate.”

Local government employee Barbara Drayton, 66, “loves weddings,” she said. “I came for Charles and Diana and had to be here for this one.  I think these two are better suited than Charles and Diana , more mature, they’ve known each other longer and are better suiited.”

While Drayton was on her second royal wedding, others were new to the real-life celebration.

“My daughter brought me here,” said delighted New Hampshire social worker Harriet Resnicoff, 71. “I watched Charles and Diana on TV, but we decided to see this wedding in person this time.”

Said her daughter Susan Resnicoff, 42, who works in marketing in San Francisco: “I think Kate is a delight. I think both of them bring a love and feeling to a royal marriage.  They bring a glow and a sparkle to the royal family.”

Mom agreed: “I love how they interact with each other,” she said. “They’re very human.”

Boy oh boy, HTC is entering the tablet arena with quite a bang. The company has just taken the wraps off its brand new 7-inch Flyer Android tablet, which touts a 1.5GHz single-core CPU, 1GB of RAM plus 32GB of flash storage, an aluminum unibody construction, 1024 x 600 resolution, a tablet-optimized version of Sense, and… what’s this, a pressure-sensitive stylus! The HTC Scribe trademark we saw floating around in legal waters turned out not to be the branding for a tablet, it’s actually the name HTC gives to the technology enabling what it calls a “groundbreaking pen experience.” Other details include a 5 megapixel camera on the back paired with a 1.3 megapixel imager up front, a 4000mAh battery rated to last for four hours of continuous video playback, and memory expandability via a microSD card.

The Flyer will ship in Q2 2011 with Android Gingerbread 2.4 on board. HTC says it’ll be indistinguishable from 2.3 as far the end user is concerned, though we all know it won’t be quite as good as the 3.0 stuff. We’re told not to worry, however, since the new version of Sense being introduced with the Flyer will be the focal point of the company’s software offering. As far as HTC is concerned, Sense matters more than the underlying platform, and the reason Honeycomb isn’t the shipping OS here was explicitly stated as HTC not having enough time with the latest Google code to customize it to the full requirements of Sense. Guess that settles that.

There are a couple more software enhancements, both marking the introduction of the fruits of HTC’s recent deals: OnLive cloud gaming will be coming with the Flyer in the form of an app you open up to access the web-connected bored-relieving service, while that Saffron Digital acquisition has turned into an HTC Watch app for movie streaming and downloading.

We spent a bit of quality time with a Flyer unit recently, although we weren’t allowed to turn it on, and our early impressions are rather mixed. On the one hand, we do appreciate the ruggedness and durability that’s afforded by the one-piece aluminum shell, but on the other, the Flyer is quite the chunky beast in your hands. We’d imagine strapping in such an extra-speedy processor is the main culprit for its extra girth, though the Flyer is, ironically enough, not terribly light either. We found it heavier and generally a lot less polished from a design perspective than Samsung’s Galaxy Tab. Anyhow, HTC should have functional units for us immediately following its MWC presser this morning, and we’ll be delving in deeper with this super-specced device. Hang tight!

Update: Pictures of the Flyer can now be explored below and we have video awaiting your audience just past the break.

Update 2: HTC has tweeted that the Flyer will be updated to Honeycomb in Q2.

Recommended time of dua:

a. Friday and Friday night
b. On Wednesday between noon and afternoon
c. Time of night prayer
d. The first one sixth of midnight.
e. One third of the last hours of night
About recommended prayer after midnight, Imam Sadeq (AS) says:
“Don’t let your eyes fully enjoy sleep, for eyes are the least thankful to Allah.”

In this connection, the Holy Prophet of Islam has said:
“When a true believer rises up to please Allah with the recommended prayer after midnight, while slumber has overpowered his eyes, Allah speaks proudly to His angels saying: Do you see this servant of mine who has risen up to perform the prayer which is not obligatory! Therefore I take you as witness that I have forgiven his sins .”

f. Grand Night (Leylatolqadr)
g. Ahya Nights (spending night awake)
There are four nights during which keeping vigil is recommended.  These nights are:

1. The first night of Rajab
2. The night of fifteenth of Sha-baan.
3. The night of E’edul Fitr
4. The night of E’edul D’uh’aa

It is related that:
“It was surprising for Imam Ali (a.s.) to be idle on such nights and not to pray.”(meaning he would spend all night in Ebadat)

h.  Araf day
It is a day for prayer (Dua) and asking one’s need.  Hence although observing fast is highly recommended if one becomes too ill to pray, it is better to pray and not fast.
i.  When wind is blowing
j.  When call to prayer is made (Azaan)
k. When it is raining
l.  When the first drop of a martyr’s blood is dripped.

SINGAPORE: A Singapore Airlines flight bound for San Francisco ended in tragedy for one man on Saturday.

The man, whose name is not known at the moment, died on board Singapore Airlines flight SQ2 which was on its way to the US city from Singapore via Hong Kong.

Singapore Airlines said the man, who was holding a US passport, was found unconscious one—and—a—half hours before the flight landed in San Francisco.

Three passengers, believed to be from the medical field, answered the call for help from the air crew and tried to provide medical assistance.

They tried reviving him but their attempts were unsuccessful.

The cause of death could not be confirmed at the moment.

Singapore Airlines said it will provide any form of assistance needed by the man’s family.

—CNA/ac

On occasion, I’ve found myself in a neck of the woods I’m unfamiliar with, looking for a restaurant suggestion from friends instead of strangers on Yelp. In cases like those, I’ve taken to Facebook, to post a status update querying, “Know any great taco joints in Williamsburg?” or “Where should we go for drinks in San Fran?” Apparently, Facebook has caught on to lots of people using their statuses this way, and now, they’re launching a newmarketing gimmick feature called, “Questions.”

The new feature has been in beta-testing since July, but is only just now rolling out to all Facebook users will show up at the top of your News Feed and Profile pages as a share option, along with status updates, photos, links and videos.

According to Facebook’s Adrian Graham, the impetus for rolling out this new feature went a little something like this:

Fair enough. But then, why oh why did they decide to make this a feature that is only PUBLIC? In other words, when you post a question, it isn’t shown exclusively to your friends. Nope, it goes out to the entire Facebook community. Sure, Facebook will let you know what your friends think before they’ll give you strangers’ answers, but it seems suspiciously familiar to Yahoo! Answers …

You know, that strange site that comes up sometimes in Google’s search results. Like when you type in “relationships” and you get a bunch of related hits, some of which are from Yahoo! Answers … and most of those are like 13-year-olds asking complete strangers on the web about their personal lives, e.g. “Is my girlfriend cheating on me?” “What does sex feel like?” “Can I get an STD from a beach towel?” (No, that last one’s just a joke.)

Are we that clueless that we need to put out questions about our private lives to hordes of strangers online? I guess there are some practical uses for Questions, like if you’re a reporter (ahem) and you need to poll friends on, say, the quirky customs of their religion that makes them think they’re more or less likely to gain weight.

But for the average Jane or Joe, I’m not quite seeing how this is necessary/helpful. It just looks like another way to clue marketers into what you’re interested in/curious about. Pretty soon Zuck will be selling ad space to marketers to ask YOU questions about products you like. Helloooo… It’s another way for Facebook to rake in the dough. Just sayin’.

As for me, I think I’ll likely stick to addressing ONLY my friends by posting future Qs in a status update. If you value your privacy or have a fear of getting friend requests from strange weirdos or targeted ads from marketers who somehow know what’s going on in your brain, you may want to do the same.

Would you use Facebook “Questions”?

Facebook Questions allows users to poll their friends on everything from the best new movie to the closest Thai restaurant.

Facebook today announced it would introduce a rejiggered version of its Facebook Questions functionality – one that is fueled mostly by friends and family. The new Facebook Questions – or just Questions, for short – allows users to post queries to their Facebook feed, and view a graphic representation of the most popular responses. Think of the whole thing like an instant and accessible poll.

“We noticed that people were frequently asking for opinions (‘what are your favorite restaurants in New York?’) or hoping to learn about their friends (‘what was your favorite movie as a kid, something you watched over and over?’). For most of these questions,” Facebook’s Adrian Graham wrote on the Facebook blog, “experts weren’t going to be the best source for advice. The answers to these questions are meaningful or interesting because you know your friends and your friends know you.”

The updated Facebook Questions will be rolled out over the next few weeks. But if you want to get your hands on the feature immediately, you can download it here. Questions is being billed as a kind of alternative to Google – the idea being that Google is just a faceless algorithm, while the Facebook crowd actually knows your likes and dislikes, and can tailor its answers accordingly.

“Questions will also enable you to cast a wider net. Now, when your friends answer one of your questions, their friends can answer it too,” Graham noted. “For more unusual questions, you can get advice from a broader group of people, but to keep it most relevant we filter the answers to show you first what your friends think.”

Thoughts on the new Facebook Questions? Drop us a line in the comments section. And for more tech news, sign up for the free Innovation newsletter, which is emailed out every Wednesday morning.

Singapore's Marina Bay Sunset | Photo: Muaz Rudy Herman | Canon SX130 IS

SINGAPORE – The Clementi Mall is 100 per cent leased ahead of its project completion, with almost half of its tenants opening for business tomorrow (25 March) and the remaining tenants following soon after.

All the shops at Basement 1 and Level 1, including anchor tenant FairPrice Finest, have already started business operations since January 2011 after the mall obtained its first Temporary Occupancy Permit (TOP).

The bridge which links the mall directly to the Clementi MRT station on Level 3 will be open to the public tomorrow. Shoppers can access the shops via the Clementi MRT station during trading hours. Anchor tenants BHG and Foodfare foodcourt will also open their doors tomorrow and on Saturday respectively.

The much-anticipated Clementi Public Library is scheduled to open on 23 April. Other anchor tenants, such as Best Denki and Popular Bookstore will open in mid-April.

The mall offers a variety of well-loved brands for shoppers. Fashion and accessories labels such as Charles & Keith, Cache Cache, Cotton On, Denizen, Giordano, Skechers and Samuel & Kevin can be found on Level 3. Lifestyle, sports and electrical shops like Aussino, Arena, Challenger and World Of Sports will be on Level 4.

Family and kids brands such as Chateau De Sable, Kiddy Palace and Mini Princess will be on Level 5, where shoppers can also find the Clementi Public Library and Popular Bookstore.

Located at Clementi Town Centre, The Clementi Mall, owned by CM Domain, is a six-storey retail development totalling approximately 190,000 square feet of retail space, which includes a basement shopping level and a basement carpark with about 160 carpark lots.

For more information, please visit www.theclementimall.com or contact the Information Counter (located at Level 4 of the mall) at 66594118.

After the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan, there are alot of tremors and aftershocks that strike smaller and different countries. Examples like Tokyo was hit by a 5.0 magnitude earthquake and there’s floods there. Smaller earthquakes and tsunamis also hits countries like Hawaii, Indonesia, California, Philippines and many more.

As there are more natural disasters happening, the higher chance people will think that it is related to the trending topics of the 2012′s Apocalypse. But to my perception, I don’t really believe that 2012 is the time when Doomsday take place due to my faith and beliefs. Some do says too that because of the recent news on the ‘Supermoon’ (where the moon gets nearer to Earth), might affect the weather conditions, here on Earth. The winter season gets longer unlike the normal season periods.

As for now (24th March 2011), there’s a lot of breaking news on the earthquake that struck Northeast Myanmar and Thailand. It is reported that there will be no tsunami. Such a large 7.0 magnitude earthquake might cause a tsunami if the disaster occurs near the Indian Ocean. A tsunami might not occur as the Indian Ocean is miles far from the epicentre of the event.

All we can do now is just pray for everyone that is affected by the natural disasters and also pray to the whole world that we all will be hopefully safe and sound. God Willing.

#prayforjapan #prayformyanmar #prayforthailand #prayfortheworld

YANGON, Myanmar — A strong earthquake struck northeastern Myanmar on Thursday night, shaking buildings as far away as Bangkok. No tsunami was generated.

The quake struck along Myanmar’s borders with Thailand and Laos, about 70 miles (110 kilometers) from Chiang Rai. The northern Thai city sustained a little damage, according to Thai television.

The 6.8-magnitude quake was just six miles (10 kilometers) deep, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. At that strength and depth, the monitor said 600,000 people got shaking anywhere from strong to violent and that the buildings are considered vulnerable so moderate to very heavy damage is expected in homes.

Buildings swayed in Bangkok, about 480 miles (770 kilometers) south of the epicenter.

Max Jones, an Australian resident of the Thai capital, was in his 27th-floor apartment when his building started swaying so hard he had to grab the walls to keep from falling.

“It was bloody scary, I can tell you,’’ he said. Jones said he could smoke rising from nearby buildings and people running in the streets.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center says it was located too far inland to create a destructive wave.

Food aid flows in, residents building daily routines as nation works to heal after quake and tsunami

OFUNATO, Japan  — Food aid is flowing, refugees are restoring daily routines, and even mobile banks are appearing in north Japan as the nation rallies around victims of the March 11 double disaster.

Nearly two weeks after an earthquake and tsunami plunged the Asian nation into its worst crisis since World War II, an increasingly thorough and successful humanitarian relief operation is replacing the scenes of suffering and devastation.

“Things are getting much better,” says 57-year-old Tsutomu Hirayama at an evacuation center with his elderly mother, wife and three children in Ofunato city on the Pacific coast.

“For the first two or three days, we had only one rice ball and water for each meal. I thought, ‘how long is this going to go on?’ Now we get lots of food, it’s almost like luxury, like better than what we used to have at home!”

In a typical story for Japan’s 256,714 refugees, Hirayama lost his dry cleaning shop and home when the tsunami crashed in from the sea, obliterating whole towns in its wake.

Nearly 26,000 people died or are missing.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Sushi, grilled chicken, curry
At Ofunato, restaurants have been donating food to refugees — sushi, grilled chicken and curry. The military has given them food packets of hot soup and rice. Clothes have poured in.

At the junior high school gymnasium where Hirayama is staying, the nearly 200 refugees are neatly cordoned off in blocks by cardboard about two feet high.

In keeping with Japan’s highly ordered and disciplined society, shoes are neatly lined outside each living space, and people are arranged according to which ward they lived in.

Power and water services are back, meaning people can at last wash clothes. Yet because safety tests have not been run, they still drink water from tanks provided by the military.

Tasks are rotated according to three signs on the wall: “Preparing Food,” “Collecting Water” and “Toilets and Trash.”

In one corner, a makeshift library has been set up with children’s books, and there is a desk for youngsters to study.

Staff members feed residents at an evacuation center set up in a municipal gymnasium in Yamagata, Yamagata Prefecture, northern Japan on Thursday.

Phones installed, graves built
Refugees fill out forms for temporary housing already being built by authorities in the world’s third-richest economy.

Some of the evacuees say they have been told their new accommodation will be free of charge for two years, but they do not know when they can move.

Volunteers mill around the front, talking into megaphones with announcements. “There is bread left over from breakfast, so please come if you want more,” one announces.

Used to their independence, some refugees are reluctant to fall on the charity of others.

“We have relatives offering to put us up, but people tell us it’s uncomfortable,” says Hirayama.

Video: After tsunami, US oyster farmers reach out to Japan (on this page)

“It’s fine for one or two days, but you are there with no money, depending on them for food and taking away their privacy. Some people have gone and come back to the center.”

Whereas in the first days of the crisis, some of the elderly died from lack of medicine and blankets, there is now an abundance of medical aid.

At Otsuchi city, two medical teams are seemingly tripping over each other at a high school housing 600 evacuees.

At Kamaishi, trucks from the Lions Club charity unload clothes and supplies in a temporary warehouse already packed with goods.

Around the region, mobile phone operators have set up new transmission stations, and power company crews can be seen on rural roads fixing downed and damaged lines.

‘Bank in a bus’
The Japan postal system has dispatched small orange trucks to help people withdraw money from their bank accounts. Many people in the outer areas such as Iwate and Miyagi prefectures have their savings in postal bank accounts.

“We just started here today and once word gets out about what we are doing, we expect to be quite busy,” says Kazuo Nakamura, a local postmaster helping run the mobile service.

People can withdraw money from the vans called Posu-kuru, short for “come to the post office,” even if they do not have ID. “If we can help we will. This is a rural area and people know each other here,” Nakamura says.

The Sendai Bank has opened a mobile “bank in a bus” service for disaster victims. Like other banks, it lets customers withdraw money even without ID documents provided they can provide enough matching information.

Meanwhile, at the Jorakuji Temple in Kamaishi city, troops and construction workers are preparing land for the mass graves of hundreds of people killed in the tsunami.

Heavy machinery flattens land for the burials at a temple that was itself destroyed by the tidal wave.

(CNN) — A powerful earthquake hit Myanmar Thursday near its borders with China, Thailand and Laos, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The quake hit in eastern Myanmar, about 70 miles (110 km) from Chiang Rai, Thailand, the survey reported.

It had a magnitude of 6.8, the survey said, revising the estimate down from an initial reading of 7.0.

It was a relatively shallow quake, which can be very destructive.

The Geological Survey initially said the quake had a depth of 142 miles (230km), but it later revised its estimate to say the quake was 6 miles (10 km) deep, putting it fairly close to the surface.

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

A destructive tsunami is not expected, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said. In advice to government agencies, the center said the quake “is located too far inland and too deep inside the earth to generate a tsunami in the Indian Ocean.”

Myanmar, which is also known as Burma, has been badly hit by natural disasters in the past few years.

A powerful cyclone in 2008 left an estimated 100,000 people dead, and another one two years later left 70,000 people homeless, the United Nations estimates.

The quake struck Thursday night near the Southeast Asian country’s borders with Thailand and Laos, about 70 miles (110 kilometers) from the northern Thai city of Chiang Rai.

The U.S. Geological Survey says it struck at a depth of 140 miles (230 kilometers) – exceptionally deep. But it could be felt as far away as Bangkok, where buildings swayed.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center says it was located too far inland to generate a destructive wave.

The quake struck near the Southeast Asian country’s borders with Thailand and Laos, about 70 miles (110 kilometers) from the northern Thai city of Chiang Rai.

It struck at a depth of 140 miles (230 kilometers) — exceptionally deep. But it could be felt as far away as Bangkok, where buildings swayed.

Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press.

Government says AVA has stepped up surveillance of food imports

SINGAPORE – As global attention turned to the possible health risks associated with Japanese food imports, the Singapore authorities took further steps yesterday to allay concerns, reiterating that since the earthquake and tsunami struck Japan – crippling the Fukushima nuclear plant and prompting fears of radiation exposure – there have been no food imports from the affected regions.

In its second joint press release – issued by several agencies including the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA), National Environment Agency (NEA) and Ministry of Health (MOH) – the Government said that nevertheless, AVA has “stepped up its surveillance of food imports from Japan to ensure that they are safe for consumption”.

To date, more than 120 samples of fresh produce such as seafood, fruits, vegetables and meat have been tested. No radioactive contamination has been detected, the statement said.

On Monday, the World Health Organization said that the food contamination in Japan – as a result of its nuclear crisis – is “more serious” than first expected, prompting territories such as China, South Korea and Taiwan to impose stricter checks on imported Japanese food.

Photo Courtesy Of Health Sciences Authority's Applied Sciences Group

Earlier media reports had said that food products such as milk and spinach from affected regions in Japan, and fava beans exported to Taiwan, were found to have higher levels of radiation. The MOH added that “transient consumption of produce and animal products at current reported levels of contamination is also unlikely to have any immediate adverse health effects”.

Health and human security expert Bill Durodie told MediaCorp that there was a “very marginal possibility that radioactive iodine might settle” on some Japanese food products which have a shelf-life of about a month. “So, it could potentially reach the consumer within that period,” said the senior fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

But he stressed: “Having said that, there’s no real evidence so far, that … such radiation has reached the levels that should cause any concerns.”

Meanwhile, Japanese restaurants here have turned to alternative food suppliers. The Standing Sushi Bar has seen business dip by 10 to 20 per cent since the disaster.

While he was confident that food products exported by Japan are safe for consumption, the restaurant’s executive chef Roy Chee said that it has suspended imports from Japan for “a week or two” until the situation stabilises – to ease customers’ concerns. For now, it will rely on frozen stock and substitutes from Norway, Indonesia and Malaysia.

Sakae Sushi CEO Douglas Foo also expressed confidence in Japanese food exports. Mr Foo added that, in any case, the AVA and his company conduct separate food safety tests. About 20 per cent of Sakae Sushi’s products are imported from Japan.

However, Sakae Sushi’s suppliers are facing logistical issues, said Mr Foo. He added: “It will take a while for it to get back on track. All along we have contacts with other countries … in case any such incident happens – sometimes as far as Canada, New Zealand.”

In its statement, the Government also repeated its assurance that the likelihood of any radioactive plume reaching the country remains very low.

The NEA’s round-the-clock monitoring of radiation levels since March 14 shows an average reading of about 0.08 micro-Sieverts per hour – which is safe and “within the normal range of Singapore’s natural background level”.

SINGAPORE – Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Jetstar – the budget unit of Qantas Airways – have cut Tokyo services as a nuclear crisis dampens demand for flights to the Japanese capital.

SIA, the world’s second-largest carrier by market value, will suspend one of its two daily services to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport from March 27, it said on its website. Jetstar will redirect half of its 14 weekly Tokyo-bound flights to Osaka after a fall in demand, spokesman Simon Westaway said.

Cathay Pacific Airways, Korean Air Lines and SIA have also ended temporary capacity increases on Tokyo routes as demand cools. Carriers added seats out of the Japanese capital last week as overseas governments advised residents to avoid the city following an earthquake and an accident at a nuclear power plant in Fukushima.

“SIA’s capacity cuts show that it is taking concrete steps to match capacity to demand,” Mr K Ajith and Mr Eugene Ng, analysts at UOB-Kay Hian, said in an e-mailed note. “We expect other airlines to follow suit.”

The SIA cut represents about 13 per cent of the carrier’s Japan capacity, the analysts said. The airline could eventually pare other routes including Tokyo’s Narita Airport, Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka, they added.

SIA has returned to using its regular aircraft on Narita services after replacing them with larger planes through Monday, spokesman Nicholas Ionides said.

Last week, the carrier postponed plans to introduce Airbus A-380s on Los Angeles flights via Narita Airport. It will instead continue using smaller planes.

Qantas is maintaining its daily services to Tokyo from Sydney and its three-times-a-week flights from Perth, spokesman Luke Enright said. BLOOMBERG

MediaCorp earlier reported that 20 Singaporeans were in Sendai, located some 90 kilometres from the troubled Fukushima nuclear power plant. Singapore’s Foreign Affairs Ministry (MFA) has advised Singaporeans living within a 100-kilometre radius from the plant to leave for safer locations.

Singaporean Terence Neo said the Singapore embassy contacted him and provided him with a list of Singaporeans who were in Sendai. He contacted them and arranged for a bus to ferry them to Narita Airport in Tokyo.

Mr Neo spoke about his experience over the phone: ”They were very relieved when they see our bus. They have a lot on their minds, leaving behind their work. It was a sigh of relief, they were doing their best to find us. They are already in Singapore. I received one email from them, a thank-you email.”

Mr Neo and his Japanese wife plan to stay on, even though the MFA has urged those currently in Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures to evacuate immediately. Mr Neo, who works for a Japanese car parts company, said their home is about 60 kilometres away from the troubled nuclear plant, which is still considered safe.

He said: “Our thinking is that there is still family and friends to live for. It’s very emotional to leave just like that. We would leave, but only if the Japanese government tells us to evacuate. After the earthquake there is still a lot to be done. Many things still need to be done. A lot of things have been destroyed. We still need to clean up.”

Mr Neo said the disaster has been a learning experience.

“You must understand that Japanese people. They don’t panic. They queue for food. It’s not as chaotic as everyone expect. Japan has been through the world war and nuclear bombing. You will find that panic is useless over here. People are calling to volunteer themselves for anything. For me I still have a lot to learn from them.”

graduated high school.
smoked a cigarette.
gotten so drunk you passed out.
ridden every ride at an amusement park.
collected something really stupid.
gone fishing
watched four movies in one night.
gone long periods of time without sleep.
lied to someone.
done acid.
smoked weed.
snorted cocaine.
failed a class.
dealt drugs.
been in a car accident.
been in a tornado.
done drugs.
watched someone die.
been to a funeral.
burned yourself.
run a marathon.
cried yourself to sleep.
spent over $200 in one day.
flown on a plane.
written a 10 page letter.
gone skiing.
been sailing.
lost someone you love
had a best friend.
been to jail.
dangerously close to being in jail.
had detention.
skipped school.
got in trouble for something you didn’t do.
stolen books from the library.
gone to a different country.
dropped out of school.
been in a mental hospital.

watched the “harry potter” movies.
had an online diary.
fired a gun.
gambled in a casino.
had a yard sale.
had a lemonade stand
actually made money at the lemonade stand
been in a school play.
taken a lie detector test.
swam with dolphins.
gone to sea world.
voted for someone on a reality tv show.
written poetry.
read more than 20 books a year
gone to europe.
used a coloring book over age 12.
had surgery.
had stitches
taken a taxi.
seen the washington monument.
overdosed.
has a drug or alcohol problem.
been in a fist fight.
suffered any form of abuse
had a hamster.
pet a wild animal.
used a credit card.
gone surfing in california.
dyed your hair.
gotten a tattoo.
had something pierced.
gotten straight a’s.
been on the honor roll.
known someone with hiv or aids.
taken pictures with a webcam.
started a fire
developed feelings for a friend
gotten caught having/going to a party while parents were gone

A full moon sets over Hungary | Photograph by Tamas Ladanyi, TWAN

News National Geographic | Andrew Fazekas

It may not be faster than a speeding bullet, but tomorrow the moon will make its closest approach to Earth in 18 years—making the so-called supermoon the biggest full moon in years.

And despite Internet rumors, the impending phenomenon had no influence on the March 11 Japan earthquake and tsunami (see pictures).

The monthly full moon always looks like a big disk, but because its orbit is egg-shaped, there are times when the moon is at perigee—its shortest distance from Earth in the roughly monthlong lunar cycle—or at apogee, its farthest distance from Earth.

Likewise, because the size of the moon’s orbit varies slightly, each perigee is not always the same distance away from Earth. Friday’s supermoon will be just 221,566 miles (356,577 kilometers) away from Earth. The last time the full moon approached so close to Earth was in 1993, according to NASA.

The March 19 supermoon, as it’s called, will be visible “pretty much any time during the night,” said Geza Gyuk, astronomer at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago.

“Look for the full moon as it rises above the eastern horizon as the sun sets below the western horizon—it will be a beautiful and inspiring sight,” he said via email.

(See “Year’s Biggest Full Moon, Mars Create Sky Show [2010].”)

Though the supermoon will be about 20 percent brighter and 15 percent bigger than a regular full moon, the visual effect may be subtle, added Anthony Cook, astronomical observer for the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles.

“I doubt that most people will notice anything unusual about this full moon,” Cook said.

“Because the total amount of light is a little greater, the biggest effect will be on the illumination of the ground—but not enough to be very noticeable to the casual observer.”

Japan Earthquake Not Linked to Supermoon

Such a lunar close encounter can cause slightly higher than normal ocean tides and localized flooding—especially if there is already a storm surge, astronomers say.

A supermoon may even have some impact on seismic activity because of the stronger gravitational interaction between the moon, the sun, and Earth.

Even so, there is no clear evidence that any of these phenomena influenced theJapan earthquake and tsunami.

(Read more: “Can the Moon Cause Earthquakes?”)

“The earthquake in Japan happened when the moon was close to its average distance to Earth—there was nothing extreme about its position or phase,” Cook said.

“While some earthquakes seem to have tidal connections, this isn’t one of them.”

(Take a moon myths and mysteries quiz.)

There’s no need to get worked up over a supermoon, Adler Planetarium’s Gyuk added.

“We survived 2008 [an almost supermoon year] and 1993 just fine,” he said by email.

“Just keep in mind even this ‘extreme’ supermoon is not really that extreme!”

Much ado has been made about the so-called “supermoon” that will take place tonight. Tonight’s full moon will nearly coincide with the moon’s arrival at the perigee point in its orbit around the Earth, resulting in the closest and biggest full moon in our sky since March 1993.

Or will it?

On Saturday night, the moon will arrive at perigee at 19:09 UT (3:09 p.m. Eastern Time). Its distance from the Earth at that moment will be 221,565 miles. But just over three years ago, on Dec. 12, 2008, which was also the night of a full moon, the moon reached perigee at 21:39 UT (4:39 p.m. Eastern Time) at a distance of 221,559 miles, about 6 miles closer than Saturday night’s perigee distance.

So it seems Saturday night’s supermoon will actually be just a little less super than the full moon of Dec. 2008.

Despite this fact, Geoff Chester of the United States Naval Observatory says tonight’s full moon is still the winner for closeness of a full moon. How is that possible?

A lunar loophole

Chester points out that on Dec. 12, 2008, the moon reached fullness at 16:37 UT, while perigee was at 21:39. That’s a difference of just over five hours. So when the moon turned full that night, it was still five hours away from reaching its closest point to Earth; its distance at the moment it turned full was 221,587 miles.

In contrast, today’s full moon occurs at 18:10 UT, while perigee occurs at 19:09; the difference being less than an hour. So today, when the moon officially turns full, its distance from Earth will be 221,566 miles.

So even though the moon actually came a little closer to Earth in December 2008, if we compare distances when the moon officially turns full, today’s full moon wins out by a scant 21 miles.

But for North Americans … second place!

In all fairness, we should also point out that on Dec.12, 2008, the moment that the moon officially turned full was not visible in North America because it occurred during the daytime, when the moon was below the horizon.

And that very same circumstance will also occur at the moment today’s moon turns full (2:10 p.m. Eastern Time; 11:10 a.m. Pacific Time); the moon will again be out of sight for North Americans.
So back on Dec. 12, 2008 — as will be the case tonight — when millions of people cast their gaze toward the moon, it really wasn’t a “full” moon, but rather a waning gibbous moon. The same case will hold true tonight.

Certainly, to all of us who look up at it tonight’s moon, it will appear “full,” but keep in mind that the actual moment when the moon’s disk became 100 percent illuminated will have already passed many hours earlier. Although not readily perceptible to most eyes, tonight’s moon will be waning or diminishing in illumination. Rather than seeing it fully illuminated, tonight we will see it at about 99.8 percent illumination).

Who’s first?

In addition, the moon that North Americans will see with their own eyes tonight will actually run a very close second to that of Dec. 12, 2008, in terms of distance.
From Boston, for instance, when the moon comes over the eastern horizon this evening, it will be 221,580 miles away.

But on Dec. 12, 2008, at moonrise, Bostonians saw the moon ever-so-slightly closer, at 221,559 miles; again, just a scant 21 mile difference. That’s because in 2008, the moon took more than five hours to reach its perigee point after it turned full. The moon was arriving at the closest point in its orbit just as darkness had begun to fall and the moon was beginning to appear over North America.

As Geoff Chester has already pointed out above, today’s full moon and moment of perigee occur within less than an hour of each other, during the late morning/early afternoon hours for North America.

By the time darkness is falling and the moon begins appearing over the eastern horizon for North Americans, it will have already been slowly receding from Earth and so it will be a little farther away than it was in 2008.

But don’t let all this stop you from going out tonight and enjoying the sight of this, the “biggest moon of 2011.” The moon is, after all, our nearest neighbor in space, Earth’s eternal companion and friend.

And let’s face it … what’s 21 miles among friends?

In Phase 1, we studied one-to-one computing with Tablet PCs in the all-girls Crescent Girls’ School (CGS) and the all-boys Catholic High School (CHS). These schools have approximately 250 secondary students who have Tablet PCs and who had been using them for 5 (CHS) to 12 months (CGS) at the time of the study. Both schools have most of their textbooks digitized and are using Tablet PCs in most subjects.

The use of Tablet PCs in Singapore schools

They are describing the Tablet PC-based learning environment in order to learn about factors that support the success of the program, and to understand the role of the Tablet PC applications in the school setting.

Students used the Tablet PCs for organizing work, collaborating with others, communicating with teachers, and creating multimedia presentations and projects. They used Tablet PCs for doing their schoolwork more efficient.

Students also found the convenience of Tablets helpful in many learning practices.

Frequency of use in learning activities was related to learning across various subjects, student attitudes, and efficiency in schoolwork.

Interviews with teachers illustrate the importance of having time for them to create quality lessons that use the Tablet PC.

When teachers first start using the Tablet PC in school, they had questions about basic use, application use, classroom management, and hardware. As teachers become adept at Tablet PC use, their questions changed to understanding how to use the Tablet PC in specific lessons, and teaching traditional, high-achieving, and low-achieving students.

Several publications elaborate the study teams’ reported procedures and findings, including these:

Bienkowski, M. A., Haertel, G., Yamaguchi, R., Fujii, R., Gong, B., Molina, A., Adamson, F., & Peck-Theis, L. (2005). Singapore Tablet PC program study: Executive summary and final report, volume 2, technical appendicies. Menlo Park, CA: SRI International.

Bienkowski, M. A., Haertel, G., Yamaguchi, R., Molina, A., Adamson, F., & Peck-Theis, L. (2005). Singapore Tablet PC program study: Executive summary and final report, volume 1, technical findings. Menlo Park, CA: SRI International.

This review may seem familiar to readers of Tablet PC Education. It’s a rewrite of a previous post. I hope these revisions assist you design and evaluate your school’s mobile PC project.

The latest fire comes hard on the heels of three explosions and one fire at the nuclear complex which suffered damage after Friday’s massive earthquake and tsunami.

Tuesday’s fire at the No. 4 reactor was reportedly responsible for a dramatic spike in radiation to potentially harmful levels around the plant.

However radiation levels fell in the afternoon, raising hope that the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co.(JP:9501 1,221, 0.00, 0.00%) (TKECF 16.50, -2.50, -13.16%) had the situation under control.

Tepco has been struggling to keep the reactors cool after the country’s electric grid was damaged in the earthquake and the tsunami knocked out backup generators.

Meanwhile, China on Wednesday ordered the mass evacuation of its citizens from quake-affected areas of Japan, according to Chinese state media. Thousands of Chinese nationals are stranded in the region, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

Market Watch | Sarah Turner

Emerging-market stocks tumbled the most in eight months, currencies sank and borrowing costs rose as growing concerns of a nuclear disaster in Japan and conflict in the Middle East spurred investors to sell riskier assets.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index declined 2.2 percent to 1,092.65, the biggest drop since June 29. The extra yield on emerging-market debt over U.S. Treasuries jumped 7 basis points to 2.74 percentage points, JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s EMBI+ Index showed. Bahrain’s credit risk soared to a 20-month high as Saudi Arabian troops entered the country.

The MSCI index extended this year’s loss to 5.1 percent after Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said danger of further radiation leaks was rising at a crippled nuclear facility 135 miles (220 kilometers) north of Tokyo. South Korea’s Kospi Index (KOSPI) sank the most in four months, while shares in Taiwan posted the biggest drop since February 2010. Brazil’s Bovespa fell 0.2 percent. South Africa’s currency tumbled 2.1 percent, the most in emerging markets, after Societe Generale SA said Japanese investors may sell rand-denominated debt to raise cash following the March 11 tsunami that destroyed coastal towns.

“Markets are getting very nervous over what’s happening in Japan, people are being risk averse and panicky,” said Raymond Tang, who oversees $6.4 billion as chief investment officer at CIMB-Principal Asset Management Bhd. in Kuala Lumpur.

Global Selloff

Benchmark equity indexes retreated in all 15 major emerging markets tracked by Bloomberg that were open for trading today, with indexes in South Korea, Taiwan and South Africa tumbling more than 2 percent. Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index (SASEIDX) retreated 3.5 percent, the most in two weeks.

Japan’s Nikkei-225 (NKY) Stock Average posted its biggest two-day plunge since the global stock-market crash of October 1987. Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s stricken nuclear power plant was today rocked by two further explosions and a fire as workers struggled to avert the risk of a meltdown.

The Bank of Japan injected 8 trillion yen ($98.8 billion) into money markets today, adding to yesterday’s record cash injection, to secure the nation’s financial stability following the March 11 quake — updated to a magnitude of 9, from 8.9, by the U.S. Geological Survey.

“Investors are worried about the situation in Japan as the blast at the nuclear plant makes it a regional risk,” said Zhou Xi, a strategist at Bohai Securities Co. “It’s not about the earthquake but more about radiation leakage concerns, which will drag down the economy in Japan and even the whole of Asia.”

Bahrain, Saudi

The MSCI Emerging Markets Information Technology Index plunged 3.8 percent, the biggest slide since May.

South Korea’s Hynix Semiconductor Inc., the world’s second- largest computer-memory chipmaker, slid 4.7 percent. In addition to a possible drop in demand from Japanese electronics makers, supplies of semiconductor components may be disrupted after the earthquake, Mirae Asset Securities said.

Japanese companies including Toshiba Corp., Sony Corp. (6758), Panasonic Corp. (6752) andElpida Memory Inc. (6665) supply 20 percent of the world’s technology products, including 44 percent of audio- visual equipment, 40 percent of electronic components and 19 percent of semiconductors, CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets estimates. Plant closures since Tokyo Electric requested companies to cut electricity consumption to ease shortages include two at Toshiba and eight each at Sony and Canon Inc.

Commodities Producers

Commodities producers fell on concern demand for energy and raw materials will shrink after Japan’s biggest earthquake and nuclear crisis. Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil’s state- controlled oil company known as Petrobras, fell 0.9 percent and Vale SA, the world’s largest iron-ore producer, declined 1.7 percent. PetroChina Co., the listed unit of China’s biggest energy company, dropped 3.5 percent in Hong Kong.

Credit-default swaps on Bahrain jumped 44 basis points to 359, the highest since July 2009, according to CMA. The Bloomberg GCC 200 Index of Persian Gulf shares sank 2.5 percent. Saudi Arabian troops arrived in Bahrain as part of a regional force from the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council, the first outside intervention since a wave of popular uprisings swept through parts of the Arab world.

Bahrain declared a state of emergency for three months and King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa asked the head of the military to guarantee security across the country, state television said.

Dr Benjamin Sovacool, Assistant Professor, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy

Channel News Asia | Joanne Chan

SINGAPORE : News of radiation leaks from one of Japan’s nuclear plants have sparked off concerns among many netizens in Singapore.

Channel NewsAsia’s Facebook page has also been receiving many responses.

Some asked about the authenticity of a message claiming to be from BBC News, which said “radiation may hit the Philippines” and “Asian countries should take necessary precautions”.

However, BBC has clarified that it did not send out the SMS alert.

Others like Annie Lee asked if the radiation spread will affect Singapore. And if so, then when?

Nuclear experts said Singapore is in no danger from a radiation fallout.

Dr Benjamin Sovacool, assistant professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, said: “Even if a worst case scenario were to happen, an absolute nightmare, multiple reactors catch fire, they create a radioactive particle cloud that is hazardous, it’s not likely to come to Singapore.

“The trade winds will most significantly blow it into the ocean towards the United States. If somehow we are wrong, and this radioactive cloud was to somehow defy the trade winds and come straight to Singapore, we still have adequate warning to prepare, to evacuate, to distribute preventative measures.”

In Tokyo, disruptions to transport affecting deliveries and panic-buying mean supermarket shelves are empty. Shops are switching lights off at night to save power, making darkened streets seem more eerie. Photograph: Miyoko Fukushima/Demotix

Gurdian | Justin McCurry

The dimmed lights in the normally effervescent neighbourhood of Tokyo were eerily appropriate given the mood on Monday, three days into the greatest test of Japan’s resilience as a nation since the second world war.

Darkened streets, petrol rationing, a crippled public transport system and empty supermarket shelves are uncharted territory for a city usually teeming with people accustomed to convenience and abundance. While rescue teams in the Tohoku region uncover hundreds of bodies and officials struggle to cool down a third malfunctioning nuclear reactor 150 miles to the north, all the capital can do is sit tight.

After the gridlock that followed the violent shaking in the city on Friday afternoon, for a moment it seemed that Tokyo would endure little more than momentary inconvenience.

But now nerves are beginning to fray after the killer tsunami and the start of the worst nuclear crisis in the country’s postwar history.

“I’m very worried,” said Banshu Yoshida, owner of a restaurant in Shiba, a bayside district. “I think the nuclear problem will be sorted out; it’s the earthquakes that worry me most, particularly because we’re so near the sea.”

The most immediate concern for the city’s authorities is its voracious appetite for power. The government has urged residents to save electricity by staying at home if at all possible and curbing their use. The advice appears to have worked, as residents and businesses join forces in an ad hoc energy-saving drive.

Some railway companies cancelled many trains on Monday, while others ran infrequent services. Many companies closed their doors to save energy and because they knew few employees would attempt to travel to work.

Public broadcaster NHK, the first point of call for millions gripped by live coverage from Tohoku, is to take its education channel off the air between midnight and 5 am.

Some stores cut or dimmed display lighting and others were shut; pedestrians in neighbourhoods usually ablaze with neon advertising found themselves in unfamiliar darkness.

The impact was immediate. Tokyo Electric Power said it had scaled back plans for rolling power cuts in Tokyo and several other areas to avoid prolonged blackouts in areas farther north that are now the centre of a huge rescue and relief effort.

“It’s a very severe situation, but there are a number of plans in place, people are co-operating, and we’re able to turn to thermal and other energy sources to increase supply,” said Mitsuharu Kawabata of the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan.

For the time being, hope is trumping fears that the fight to secure the safety of Fukushima Daiichi atomic plant is being lost. An exodus to the southwest and overseas is a future no one here wants to contemplate.

There is plenty of anecdotal evidence of foreign residents heading to all air and rail routes leading west and beyond, but the expatriate community, like its Japanese host, is for the most part prepared to sit it out.

“From what I gather, the threat from the nuclear reactor is minimal, so I have no plans to leave,” said William Swinton, director of international business studies at Temple University’s Tokyo campus. “Tokyo is sober and there’s a feeling that it dodged the bullet, but I’m not lying awake at night worrying.

“We shouldn’t be the focus of this. There are people in the quake zone who have no food or resources at all. The shops here lack certain items, but there is always orange juice and yoghurt.”

His nonchalance wasn’t shared by Ryuichi Suzuki, a taxi driver taking a cigarette break on a near-deserted central Tokyo street. “I went to the supermarket this morning, but by the time I got inside, everything I wanted had gone,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Across the city, streets normally teeming with office workers about to begin their commute were strangely subdued, although far from empty.

Journeys on the few trains operating were punctuated by multiple mobile phone jingles announcing the arrival of yet another powerful aftershock. Handsets were checked and glances exchanged. And then Tokyo got on with its business as best it could.

With the disrupted transport system affecting deliveries, many supermarkets had empty shelves. In the morning, orderly queues quickly descended into panic as soon as supermarkets opened their doors, triggering a rush for the must-have items of the moment: bread, milk, toilet rolls, masking tape, batteries and, because of its iodine content, tofu.

Yoshida, whose restaurant has been almost empty since Friday, said he had prepared a rucksack filled with the essentials for survival after a natural disaster. “You can’t run from an earthquake,” he said. “All you can do is stay put. I’m hopeful, but can’t you feel it? It’s like the Tokyo air has become heavy with fear.”

Chizuko Takano, a mother of two daughters in high school and college, travelled 40 minutes by train in search of a mobile phone recharger and portable radio.

“There was nothing at all, nowhere,” she said, after trying electronics stores, convenience stores and supermarkets. “No candles or batteries either.”

Takano had been foiled a day earlier trying to buy instant noodles, eggs and bread, but they had been sold out. But she did find “wakame” seaweed which is high in iodine, believed to help ward off ill effects from radiation.

Hundreds of Australians live in one of the areas potentially worst hit by the tsunami in Japan, Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd says.

Japan was rocked by a 8.9-magnitude earthquake on Friday afternoon, triggering a damaging tsunami which swept through the country’s northeast.

Worst hit was the city of Sendai where hundreds have been found dead and the toll is expected to rise.

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Mr Rudd said contact had been made with all prefectures except Miyagi, where the danger and damage has been the greatest.

Communications in Sendai were severely degraded, the foreign minister said.

There were 54 Australians registered as living in the city but there were probably hundreds of Australians living in the area, Mr Rudd said.

“The reason being is that it is a place where Australian language teachers have gone to work,” he told reporters in Canberra on Saturday.

“The pictures are awful and they are stomach-turning in terms of the level of destruction and the force of nature.

“Therefore, we are deeply worried about the impact and the loss of life on the local Japanese communities in that area, as we are about the numbers of Australians who are registered as being in Sendai and the additional number we believe to be resident in Sendai as well.”

An interdepartmental emergency taskforce had met on Saturday to discuss Australia’s response.

The National Security Committee of Cabinet would also meet to focus on the co-ordination of available assets in the government’s response.

Australian search and rescue teams stand ready to travel to Japan, as early as Saturday night to help, Mr Rudd said.

“Australia is ready to throw anything as is required (to help in this emergency) … We will throw everything at it,” he said.

Australia’s travel advisory to Japan has been updated to keep Australians at least 10km away from the Fukushima No.1 nuclear plant, where there are concerns about leakages.

A Japanese nuclear safety panel said radiation levels are 1000 times above normal in the reactor’s control room after the plant’s cooling system was damaged.

“We have unconfirmed reports about the status of the plant and the status of the cooling tower, that’s why we are advised these precautionary measures have been taken by the Japanese government,” Mr Rudd said.

Australians have been urged to reconsider travel to ski resorts in the Nagano and Niigata prefectures because of the risk of further quakes and avalanches.

A number of airports in Japan’s north are closed and flights across the nation have been disrupted.

People concerned about family in Japan should try to contact them by mobile and home telephone before calling the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s emergency number 1300 555 135.

The hotline has already taken 2155 calls.

What is a tsunami?

NOAA’s National Ocean Service writes: “Tsunamis are giant waves caused by earthquakes or volcanic eruptions under the sea. Out in the depths of the ocean, tsunami waves do not dramatically increase in height. But as the waves travel inland, they build up to higher and higher heights as the depth of the ocean decreases. The speed of tsunami waves depends on ocean depth rather than the distance from the source of the wave. Tsunami waves may travel as fast as jet planes over deep waters, only slowing down when reaching shallow waters.”

More information

When will the tsunami affect different areas?

The tsunami is already coming shore across portion of the U.S. West Coast including California and Oregon and will continue to do so through early this afternoon eastern time. It will impact the Alaska coastline through this evening. A complete listing of the time of arrival for the tsunami at different West Coast points is available at NOAA or keep reading after the jump for the full list for U.S. coastal locations.

The Weather Channel reported the first waves reached the Oregon coast around 11 a.m. ET.

Recent Tweets from The Weather Channel also indicate the following:

* Some of the West Coast tsunami reports….Charleston, OR: 1.6ft, Crescent City, Calif. 3.7ft, Arena Cove, Calif. 2.7 ft

* From NWS in Los Angeles: Tsunami currents impacting Santa Cruz, Calif. with boat and dock damage.

* At 11:30 a.m.: Tsunami arriving in Southern California right now and threat will continue for several hours.

Here is a video of the predicted propagation (forward progression) of the tsunami across the Pacific ocean from NOAA.

What are the estimated wave heights for U.S. West Coast?

AccuWeather has a list of projected wave heights which range from 2 to 8 feet in California and Oregon.

See also this incredible visual of wave height propagation forecast from NOAA.

Projected tsunami arrival times:

Add three hours to Pacific time (PST) to convert to Eastern Time (EST) and add four hours to convert from Alaska time (AKST) to EST. Subtract five hours to convert UTC to Eastern time

Disney fans will note that the third Magic Kingdom style park ever built is in Tokyo. Reports from the Tokyo Disneyland resort indicate that the car park and Disney Sea expansion area has experienced some liquefaction (wikipedia) causing large puddles of water to appear on roads and parking lots as much of Tokyo Disneyland expansion areas was built on landfill.

The main impact of the earthquake and tsunami was 200 miles north of the resort. Despite online reports of catastrophic damage, only minor structural damage has been reported and there were no injuries thankfully. This picture of Tokyo DisneySea shows no major damage, but very crowded common areas.

The 69,000 guests in park were evacuated to safe areas and given supplies to shelter in place over night as transportation options were affected by the quake. Twitter userRezaikram has posted pictures of guests camped out in the common areas of the park. Among the supplies provided were “disposable heaters, plastic bags, and rain coats” according to Rezaikram.

This photo from Disney parks entertainment executive Steve Davison, responsible for many of Disney’s night shows, shows some damage to the Toyko Disneyland Resort. He also reports they’ve been allowed back into their hotel.

As I post this Hawaii is about 1 hour away from being hit by a Tsunami. So if you’re reading this in Hawaii and haven’t check to see if you should evacuate. Please do so now. All coastal areas of Hawaii are currently being evacuated due to the tsunami warning.  As Disney’s new DVC resort Aulani is on the leeward side of Oahu, it is under some risk of a ‘wrap-around’ tsunami. The hotel is not occupied however, as the resort hasn’t officially opened.

All our thoughts go out to the people of Japan. Stay tuned for more updates related to Disney properties and this mega-disaster as they come in.

After making sure guests and cast members are safe, the next steps for Tokyo Disneyland Resort will be to inspect all attractions, structures, and utilities for damage. Plus, I’m sure the company will reach out to the local community to help as needed.

Update: local news in Japan is reporting that the liquefaction has ‘destroyed’ the Tokyo Disneyland parking lot. Video shows some damage and large puddles.

Update: closure tomorrow and possibly next day now confirmed by TDL park management. Also confirmed that no injuries were reported at the resort.

Update: As much of the liquefaction created flooding in the parking lot is near monorail beams, I think it’s a safe bet that mode of transportation will be down for repairs for a significant period.

Update: Just to be clear, Tokyo Disneyland was not hit by the Tsunami and is not ‘Flooding’ That picture on Twitter of a water slide with a flood under neath it is NOT from Tokyo Disney Resort. There are no such slides there. The tragic tsunami was 200 miles north. Any flooding is due to rain, pipes breaking during earthquake, and liquefaction causing ground to ‘liquify’ during the quake which results in some sinking. Since Tokyo Disneyland Resort was built on landfill, some liquefaction is to be expected.

Also, thanks to Inside The Magic for finding @davidlandsel a NY Times travel editor who was tweeting about the mood of the crowd (restrained and at times humorous) inside Tokyo Disneyland after the quake.

Guests are now being allowed to leave Tokyo Disneyland, although many have no place to go with trains not running. Checking to see if this is mandatory evacuation or voluntary. It’s voluntary. There is an unconfirmed report that around 30,000 are still inside the parks, I think that was just a number for guests inside one of the parks. The weather is in the 30s, so cast members were handing out blankets earlier.

UPDATE: Cast members now serving guests breakfast. First meal in 12 hours. Major. Kudos to Management and cast members who no doubt Have problems of their own And families to take care of at home.

Surges of water hit the tiny town of Fort Bragg, 200 miles south of Crescent City, witnesses say, ripping out docks and filling the water with debris, and closing off exits and entrances to the port.

Fort Bragg is an epicenter of California’s fishing community, and dozens of boats leave from there to fish crab, black cod and salmon.

“It’s pretty brutal,” said Charles D. Smith, a fisherman who owns a boat called the Miss Smith. “The ends of the docks are floating around all over the place.”

Smith got down to the harbor early in the morning and battened down his hatches. Other fishermen sailed to sea earlier Friday to escape damage in port. There won’t be anywhere for them to dock when they return, he said.

“They lucked out in a sense -– they’re not going to have to run around cleaning

stuff up,” he said.

The harbor commission will have to replace the docks and clear away the debris, which could slow down fishing in and out of the harbor, a sleepy place where sea lions often sun themselves. It’s currently black cod season.

“It’s a nuisance,” Smith said.

John Gebers, who owns Noyo Fishing Center, in the harbor at Fort Bragg, said that four-foot surges are still rolling in and up the river that winds out of Noyo Bay.

“It’s strange, it makes it look like the river reverses direction,” he said by phone from the riverbank, where 50 people were standing to watch from land. “It’s still surging.”

Fort Bragg and Crescent City were the two cities hit hardest by the tsunami caused by a 1964 earthquake.

MANILA, Philippines - A tsunami caused by a magnitude 8.9 earthquake in Japan has entered Philippine territory threatening coastal communities in 19 northeast and eastern provinces.

Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) Director Renato Solidum said the tsunami or series of waves dissipated in strength as it crossed the Pacific towards the Philippines.

He said the waves could rise to up to a meter or less, and would hit Philippine eastern shorelines between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.

“May ugong yan at malakas ang current. Along the shoreline, mayroong current. Kapag may ilog, pumapasok sa ilog,” Solidum told reporters.

He added: “The stronger waves are going to Hawaii. We are on the side but we will still be hit. Definitely, the wave is coming here.”

Solidum reminded the public to steer clear of the eastern coastline of the country until Phivolcs gives the all-clear. He said the tsunami reached 53 centimeters when it hit Taiwan.

Malacañang earlier ordered the mandatory evacuation of residents in coastal areas in 19 provinces expected to be affected by tsunami waves.

The 19 provinces under Tsunami Alert Level 2 are:

• Cagayan
  
• Ilocos Norte
  
• Isabela
  
• Quezon
  
• Aurora
  
• Camarines Norte
  
• Camarines Sur
  
• Albay
  
• Catanduanes
  
• Sorsogon
  
• Northern Samar
  
• Eastern Samar
  
• Leyte
  
• Southern Leyte
  
• Surigao del Norte
  
• Surigao del Sur
  
• Davao Oriental
  
• Davao del Sur

• Residents evacuated to refugee areas
• 4.6-magnitude quake struck Hawaii at 4 a.m. ET
• Waves expected to hit US West Coast around 11 a.m. ET
• There may be some evacuations needed in low-lying West Coast areas

HONOLULU — Tsunami waves spawned by a massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake in Japan hit the Hawaiian island of Kauai on Friday, and began rushing through the Pacific island chain.

Residents in coastal areas of Hawaii were evacuated to refuge areas at community centers and school while tourists were moved to the upper levels of high-rise hotels.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning center said the first waves could reach 6 feet high.

Roadways and beaches were empty as the tsunamis struck the state, which had hours to prepare.

Wave surges were seen at Waikiki beach at around 3:20 a.m. (8:20 a.m. ET), local station KHON2 reported, posting video of the wave on its website.

“It is very possible there may be some evacuations here,” California Emergency Management Agency spokesman Jordan Scott said by telephone from Oakland. He added that the far northern California area near the Oregon border was most likely to see big waves.

A 4.6-magnitude earthquake also hit Hawaii at around 11 p.m. Thursday local time (4 a.m. ET Friday), the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.

While the tsunami is likely to go around smaller islands, the size of Hawaii’s islands will amplify the waves, which will crash hardest against harbors and inlets.

Tsunami warnings covered an area stretching the entire western coast of the United States and Canada from the Mexican border to Chignik Bay in Alaska. In Alaska, a dozen small communities along the Aleutian Island chain were on alert.

The warning also included Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Central and South America and the rest of the Pacific Ocean.

Waves almost 5 feet high hit Midway, a tiny island in the North Pacific about 1,300 miles northwest of Honolulu.

“[The waves are] going to be coming in with high currents, they can pick up boulders from the sea floor … they can pick up cars, they can pick up fuel tanks, those things become battering rams and so it just amplifies the destruction in a big tsunami,” said Chip McCreery, director for the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

Victor Sardina, a geophysicist for the tsunami center, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that 12- to 14-foot waves could hit the town of Hilo on the island of Hawaii and the town of Haleiwa on Oahu.

‘Don’t wait for a siren’
“Everyone in that area knows, when you feel it, move — don’t wait for a siren,” said John Madden, director of the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. The largest affected town is Unalaska, population about 4,000.

Residents in coastal areas across the Pacific from Hawaii to Guam were ordered to evacuate to shelters and higher ground. In Hawaii’s tourist district of Waikiki, visitors were being moved to higher floors of their hotels.

Meanwhile, residents waited in long lines as they stocked up on gas, bottled water, canned food and generators.

“We’ve had a big crowd,” a manager of the 24-hour Longs Drugstore in Honolulu, told msnbc.com. He did not give his name because he was not authorized to do so without approval from his district manager.

“We sold a lot of water — that was the main concern,” he said. “It was kinda hectic.”

Communities along much of the U.S. West Coast were under tsunami warnings, too.

The first impact in Hawaii was felt shortly after 3:07 a.m. local time (8:07 a.m. ET), according to Hawaii State Civil Defense, which issued a tsunami warning.

At 3:30 a.m., television images in Honolulu showed an increase in water coming ashore.

The National Weather Service said the waves could hit Oregon and California between 7:15 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. local time (10:15-10:30 a.m. ET).

Honolulu is planning for several contingencies, because it is not certain how large the waves could be and where they may rush inland, Mayor Peter Carlisle told CNN.

“It is a very difficult situation to confront,” Carlisle said.

Hawaiian Public Radio news director Bill Dorman told CNN some roads were closed as a precaution. CNN meteorologist Rob Marciano said he expected the waves to first strike the island of Kauai.

Hawaiian emergency officials reminded residents that tsunami evacuation maps can be found in front of their telephone directories. People were being advised not to make unnecessary phone calls and a coastal evacuation was conducted.

Chief Petty Officer Kurt Fredrickson in Honolulu told CNN the U.S. Coast Guard has been working with local port authorities and harbor masters to get the word to all mariners to get out to sea.

The Coast Guard is preparing for the worst-case scenario, Frederickson said. “We are moving our assets out to sea. We are moving our aircraft to more suitable locations.”

The threat of a tsunami prompted the U.S. National Weather Service to issue a warning for at least 50 countries or territories around the Pacific after the 8.9-magnitude earthquake struck Japan Friday. The warning for Guam was later lifted.

Warnings also were in effect for coastal areas of California and Oregon from Point Concepcion, California, to the Oregon-Washington border, according to the U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

A warning also was in effect also for Alaska, from Amchitka Pass to Attu, and in Canada’s British Columbia.

President Barack Obama said he instructed the Federal Emergency Management Agency to be prepared to help Hawaii and other U.S. regions “that could be affected” by the disaster.

He also said the United States “stands ready to help the Japanese people” slammed by a destructive tsunami.

“Michelle and I send our deepest condolences to the people of Japan, particularly those who have lost loved ones in the earthquake and tsunamis,” said Obama, informed of the development by his chief of staff, William Daley, at 4 a.m. ET.

CNN iReporter Ken Papagno, who lives on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, recorded sirens that sounded throughout the island.

Hawaii had a tsunami scare in February 2010 after an 8.9-magniture earthquake hit Chile. A warning cancellation occurred nearly two hours after the first waves came ashore. Coast Guard crews said they had found no significant damage to ports or waterways as a result of the tsunami, ending a significant evacuation to higher ground.

Consumers can look forward to higher Internet speeds on their smartphones and mobile devices soon.

Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, Mr Lui Tuck Yew, said that the Infocomm Development Authority has directed all mobile operators to achieve full 3G coverage in MRT tunnels by end July of this year.

He also revealed that IDA had imposed fines on some telcos for delaying the rollout of 3G coverage in some tunnels, although he did not say which operator was fined or the penalty amount.

Some of Singapore’s MRT tunnels, including the North-South and East-West lines are still running on 2G mobile network, according to a Straits Times report. This is an older mobile system built to support voice and SMS traffic, and limits 3G-equipped devices to slower 2G internet access speeds of about 100kbps.

Some jumped in cars and motorcycles and headed to high ground as sirens blared. Others huddled in mosques or were brought to police stations or army barracks.

The 8.9-magnitude quake spawned a massive wave along Japan’s coast, sweeping away cars and homes and triggering tsunami warnings in dozens of countries.

In Indonesia, alerts were issued along a 1,100-mile (1,770-kilometre) stretch of coastline, from North Sulawesi province to Papua.

Indonesia was hardest hit by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that claimed more than 230,000 lives.

The West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center has issued more details about the potential for small waves hitting the California coast due to the Japan earthquake.

Estimated arrival times:

PORT SAN LUIS HARBOR 8:09 a.m.

SANTA BARBARA HARBOR  8:17 a.m.

SANTA MONICA: 8:32 a.m.

SAN PEDRO 8:32 a.m.

NEWPORT BEACH 8:45 a.m.

LA JOLLA 8:48 a.m.

Officials don’t expect the waves to cause damage. But as a precaution, officials are likely to urge people to avoid beach areas.

Officials said people living in low-lying coastal areas should seek higher ground as a precaution and listen for special instructions from emergency agencies. Unusual wave action from the quake might last for several hours.

BP Plc is guarding against any fallout on its Tangguh liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Papua after atsunami warning on Friday for the country’s eastern areas, but operations are normal, the energy major said.

“We are aware of the earthquake in Japan and the possible tsunami it may trigger in some parts of Papua,” William Lin, BP’s Asia-Pacific president director, said in an e-mailed statement.

Estimated tsunami travel time. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii issued a tsunami warning for a large swath of the Pacific including Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and Central and South America. (AFP Photo)

“So far Tangguh LNG is operating as normal, but we are closely monitoring the situation and readying our resources for any eventuality.”

Indonesia’s meteorology agency (BMKG) had earlier issued a tsunami warning for North Sulawesi, Papua, and North Maluku after an 8.9 magnitude quake — the biggest to hit Japan since records began 140 years ago — struck its northeast coast.

“The tsunami has the potential to hit the Pacific coast of North Maluku,” said Andi Arief, the presidential adviser for social and disaster management. ”The height of the tsunami will be between 50 centmeters and 1 meter.”

According to Arief, the wave is expected to arrive at 6:35 p.m. western Indonesia time, 7:35 p.m. central Indonesia time, or 8:35 p.m. eastern Indonesia time.

Tangguh LNG project is located in Bintuni bay in Papua, in the eastern most part of Indonesia, and has a capacity of 7.6 million tonnes per year through two trains.

Mining projects run by state miner PT Aneka Tambang Tbk in Halmahera island of the North Moluccas were so far also unaffected, spokesman Bimo Satriyo said. Antam is developing its fourth ferro nickel smelter FeNi 4 in Halmahera and has a stake of 10 percent in a nickel project run by France’s Eramet on the same island.

SINGAPORE: A tsunami warning has been issued for the entire Pacific basin except mainland United States and Canada following a huge earthquake that hit Japan on Friday, the US Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.

The warning includes Hawaii and extends from Mexico down to South American countries on the Pacific, the center said.

Among the countries for which a tsunami warning is in effect are: Russia , Taiwan , the Philippines, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Fiji , Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica , Nicaragua, Panama, Honduras, Chile, Ecuador, Colombia and Peru.

Australia and New Zealand, which had been on an initial warning list, were later removed. The Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre confirmed there was no tsunami threat.

Indonesia, which bore the brunt of a huge tsunami in 2004 when 170,000 people were killed in its Aceh province, said it expected tsunami waves could hit its eastern areas North Sulawesi, Papua and the Moluccas at around 1135 GMT.

Taiwan’s coast guard has begun evacuating its east coast, which is not heavily populated. Waves about 50 cm (20 inches) high are expected to reach the island’s north and east coasts later on Friday, its central weather bureau said.

Hawaii’s civil defense agency ordered all coastal areas, including the main tourist hub Honolulu, evacuated by 2 a.m. local time (1200 GMT). The first tsunami wave was expected to reach Hawaii at 3 a.m. local time.

Waves were expected to hit the Pacific island of Guam, 2,400 km (1,500 miles) south of Japan, at 7 p.m. local time (1100 GMT). Beaches had been cleared there, and hotels were moving guests to rooms on higher floors, while in the nearby Northern Mariana Islands, all residents were ordered to evacuate to higher grounds.

Ocean waves up to 6 feet (2 meters) above normal sea level were detected by deep-ocean gauges near Wake island, Midway and Guam in the North Pacific, said Chip McCreary, a spokesman for the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

Papua New Guinea has issued a tsunami watch for its northern provinces effective at 9 p.m. local time (1100 GMT).

“By the time it reaches our shores, the wave will be between half a metre and one metre high,” said Andrew Oaego, officer in charge of operations at the National Disaster Center in Port Moresby.

The tsunami is higher than some of the Pacific islands it could wash over, the Red Cross in Geneva said, warning that developing countries in the Asia Pacific region were particularly vulnerable to tsunami damage.

The biggest earthquake to hit Japan in 140 years struck the northeast coast on Friday, triggering a 10-metre tsunami that swept away everything in its path, including houses and cars. At least 22 people were killed in the quake and tsunami.

By 1015 GMT there had been no reports of a serious tsunami hitting anywhere beyond Japan.

“A tsunami is a series of waves and the first wave may not be the largest,” the center said. “The threat can continue for many hours as multiple waves arrive.”

Google has launched a version of its Person Finder service for people caught up in the Japanese earthquake.

The website acts as a directory and message board so people can look for lost loved ones or post a note saying they are safe.

It is designed to be embedded on websites and social network pages to reach as wide an audience as possible.

The system has proved useful after other disasters that have stopped people getting in direct touch.

Victim log

The tool was developed to help people find victims or report their whereabouts

Soon after being set up the Japan quake Person Finder was logging more than 1,000 records.

The extent of the damage caused by the Japanese earthquake is not yet known but its magnitude and the widespread devastation wrought by the subsequent tsunami is likely to see tens of thousands displaced.

The Person Finder was developed to solve a problem common in the aftermath of many catastrophes when many different agencies are on the ground giving aid and gathering information about victims.

Before the advent of tools such as Person Finder it was much harder to compare the information gathered by separate agencies and help to re-unite families and friends.

Underlying the site is a common format for describing people who are lost or who want to announce they are safe by whatever means they can.

In the wake of disasters, many volunteers in other countries often scrape sites for this formatted information and add it to the People Finder database. Others take information from blogs, texts and tweets and convert it to the format so it can be put in the database.

The system was first used following the Haiti earthquake that struck in January 2010. That first tool was based around work done in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina that hit New Orleans.

* Nikkei futures drop nearly 5%, exchanges still open

* Yen bounces after initial drop and JGBs surge; extent of damage unclear

* Magnitude 8.9 quake hits near end of Tokyo trading day

* Construction stocks may gain similar to post-Kobe trade (Updates market prices)

TOKYO, March 11 (Reuters) - Japanese stock futures fell nearly 5 percent on Friday after a massive earthquake hit Japan’s northeast, though construction stocks may bounce next week and the yen rose on expectations that Japanese investors will bring back funds from abroad.

The 8.9 magnitude earthquake triggered a 10-metre tsunami and violently shook buildings in Tokyo shortly before regular trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange ended, disrupting trade at the very end of the day.

The damage that is still being assessed by authorities, threatens Japan’s fragile recovery and would most likely call for extra government spending, stretching the finances of Japan, which is by some measures already the world’s most indebted industrialised nation.

In fact, Japan’s ruling coalition and opposition parties agreed an extra budget would be needed to tackle the earthquake’s economic fallout.

While the Tokyo and Osaka exchanges were open as usual for after-hours trading in bond and stock futures, many traders abandoned their desks for home after the initial shock subsided.

The yen slid in initial reaction to around 83.29 per dollar, but later cut losses to trade at 82.80 as dealers remembered how the flow of capital back into the country pushed the currency to a record high in the aftermath of the devastating Kobe earthquake in 1995.

Stock futures indicated the market would continue its decline next week, though expectations of a substantial reconstruction effort could spur demand for construction stocks.

“We still don’t know what’s the damage like, but stocks will probably fall on Monday, especially of those companies, that have factories in the affected areas, but on the whole the sell-off will likely be short-lived,” said Mitsuhsige Akino, a fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management after the market closed on Friday.

Kajima Corp , a major general contractor in Japan, was the Nikkei’s biggest percentage gainer on Friday, turning positive in the last 15 minutes of trade and finishing up 1.9 percent in heavy volume.

In the month after the earthquake in Kobe in January 1995, construction stocks sharply outperformed the broad TOPIX index, which fell 7 percent in the week after the quake.

Osaka Nikkei stock index futures were down 0.5 percent in late trade to 10,120 after early falling nearly 5 percent to as low as 9,950, the lowest since December 2010. The cash Nikkei ended down 1.7 percent at 10,254.

Ten-year Japanese government bond futures edged up 0.05 point to 139.25 in after-hours trade after having surged 0.66 point during the regular session, benefiting from the rush out of equities. The 10-year yield fell 3 basis points to 1.270 percent.

Before the quake struck, the Nikkei was down more than 1 percent and government bonds got a boost from the slide in Wall Street shares on Thursday. The quake and the disruption to phone lines caused a flurry of activity before the market closed.

“The phone was not working so we couldn’t trade. I was lucky enough to have a long position so I didn’t have to do anything. But to be honest, I was busy making phone calls to my family and I don’t remember when cash bonds stopped trading,” said a fund manager at a U.S. asset management firm in Tokyo.

The Bank of Japan vowed to ensure financial market stability and liquidity.

“I think in terms of the earthquake damage, it’s typically a fiscal issue and not a monetary policy issue … this is clearly a massive fiscal challenge,” Adrian Foster, head of financial markets with Rabobank International in Hong Kong.

The swings in financial markets following major quakes in Japan have hurt investors before. Most famously, the rogue trader Nick Leeson’s bets on Nikkei 225 stock futures led to a collapse of Barings Bank after the market plunged in the wake of the Kobe disaster.

As the market kept falling, Leeson added to his losing bets, hoping for a turnaround that did not come soon enough.

Nikkei futures traded in Singapore were at 10,080 , indicating a weaker start on Monday, after having plunged as far as 9,950.

Japan was hit today with a massive earthquake. The earthquake measured 8.9 on Richter Scale. The epicenter forJapan Earthquake was located 373 Kms away from Tokyo in Northern Japanese coast. The Japan Earthquakehas resulted in heavy waves in the ocean and prompted as many as 19 countries to issue Tsunami Alert.

The number of casualties in the Japan Earthquake is not yet clear. Many countries are expected to be hit withTsunami due to this Earthquake. So, countries have alerted their people by issuing Tsunami Alert. Google did its own part by displaying the following quote on its homepage

Tsunami Alert for New Zealand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Hawaii, and others. Waves expected over the next few hours, caused by 8.9 earthquake in Japan.

Tsunami Alert for New Zealand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Hawaii, and others. Waves expected over the next few hours, caused by 8.9 earthquake in Japan.

Measures are being taken to save people from the Tsunami.

The yen fell versus 15 of its 16 most-traded counterparts after an 8.9 magnitude temblor struck northeast of Tokyo.

The yen touched its lowest level in two weeks against the dollar after a tsunami of more than 10 meters (33 feet) was reported in northern Japan. The quake registered 7 on the Japanese seismic scale, the highest level, in some areas north of Tokyo. The euro rose from near a one-week low against the dollar on speculation European Central Bank officials will reiterate their willingness to raise interest rates as soon as next month.

“This is a big, big thing,” said Cliff Tan, head of emerging-markets currency research at Societe Generale SA in Hong Kong, citing the earthquake in Japan. “Our guys in Tokyo were on the chat saying how big this was. Dollar-yen may grind higher a bit.”

The yen fell to as low as 83.30 versus the dollar, the least since Feb. 22, before trading at 83.23 as of 7:16 a.m. in London from 82.98 in New York yesterday. Japan’s currency fell 0.3 percent to 114.87 per euro from 114.49. The euro climbed to $1.3811 from $1.3798 yesterday, when it reached $1.3775, the lowest level since March 2.

The earthquake struck off the coast of northern Japan, according to the U.S. Geological Service, shaking buildings violently in Tokyo. Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s government set up an earthquake response team.

The quake struck at 2:46 p.m. local time at 130 kilometers (81 miles) off the coast of Sendai north of Tokyo, at a depth of 24 kilometers, USGS said. The Japan Meteorological Agency issued its highest tsunami warning for the country’s northeast coast.

‘Sell Yen’

“This is obviously bad news and the inclination is to sell yen,” said Sean Callow, a senior currency strategist at Westpac Banking Corp. in Sydney. “The yen is a safe haven itself and the fact that Japan runs a current-account surplus means there’s a possibility that, if this is very serious, Japan might keep more of its money at home,” trimming declines, he said.

The euro gained versus 13 of its 16 major peers after data confirmed Germany’s inflation rate reached a two-year high in February, backing the case for increased borrowing costs.

ECB Governing Council member Mario Draghi speaks in Milan today, while Executive Board member Lorenzo Bini Smaghi speaks in Lucca, Italy.

“Inflation is still high and expectations for rate hikes may intensify,” said Masanobu Ishikawa, general manager of foreign exchange at Tokyo Forex & Ueda Harlow Ltd., Japan’s largest currency broker. “The euro is likely to be bought.”

The inflation rate, calculated using a harmonized European Union method, increased to 2.2 percent in February from 2 percent in January, the Federal Statistics Office in Wiesbaden said today, confirming a Feb. 25 estimate. That’s the highest since October 2008.

Australia’s Dollar

Australia’s dollar weakened against the U.S. currency after an 8.8 magnitude temblor struck northeast of Tokyo, damping demand for higher-yielding assets.

“The market remains nervous,” said Sue Trinh, a senior currency strategist at Royal Bank of Canada in an interview from Sydney. “The U.S. dollar was bid across the board and equity markets and futures sold off sharply.”

Tsunami warnings were issued for Pacific countries including Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

Australia’s currency declined to 99.84 U.S. cents from $1.0008 yesterday, after touching 99.75 U.S. cents soon after the earthquake, the least since Feb. 22.

The Nikkei 225 (NKY) Stock Average slid 1.7 percent and the MSCI Asia Pacific Index of shares fell 1.8 percent.

A massive surge of water has caused swathes of devastation across Japan, after an 8.9-magnitude earthquake struck off shore, prompting a four-metre tsunami.

Footage from a helicopter on public broadcaster NHK Japan showed water washing away farms and homes in Miyagi prefecture.

Cars could be seen trying to drive away from the rapidly moving water.

Debris being swept along by the water had caught fire, with the blaze dragged through the town by the wave.

The quake struck 382km northeast of Tokyo at 2.46pm local time (4.46pm AEDST), and was followed by a series of powerful aftershocks, including one of 7.4-magnitude about 30 minutes later.

The US Geological Survey rated the strength of the first quake as a magnitude 8.9, while Japan’s meteorological agency measured it at 8.4.

Japanese authorities responded by issuing their top-level evacuation alerts for the entire Japanese coast, Russia and the Mariana Islands, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said.

Officials have not yet been able to provide details on the damage, but the devastation appears widespread.

An oil refinery in Chiba prefecture near Toyko caught fire, smoke seen billowing from the industrial site.

The wave also moved across Onahama city in Fukushima prefecture, sweeping away houses, cars and trucks.

A large ship swept away by the tsunami rammed directly into a breakwater in Kesennuma city in Miyagi prefecture.

Scores of cars were shown floating in Iwate prefecture harbour, while the Tokyo Fire department said many people were injured after a roof caved in during a school graduation ceremony at a hall in east Tokyo.

Bigger and bigger
Andrew Stevens, an Australian expat working in central Tokyo, told Fairfax Media the earthquake started small but got “bigger and bigger”.

“(It) shook maybe 2-3 minutes,” he said, via email, adding that his mobile phone network was out.

Tokyo’s Narita airport shut down, Kyodo News reported. Haneda, the capital’s other main airport, was also closed, NHK said.

Tokyo Metro, which has more than 6 million passengers a day, stopped operations on its nine subway lines, while the Shinkansen bullet trains also halted. Tokyo port shut all 19 of its water gates as it prepared for the tsunami.

According to NHK Japan, More than 4 million buildings in Tokyo and surrounding areas lost power soon after the quake.

The yen tumbled against the dollar after the quake, falling to 83.30 against the dollar from 82.81 before the quake struck.

The government has set up an earthquake response team and Minister Naoto Kan returned to his office from parliament to convene his team.

Several quakes had hit the same region in recent days, including a 7.3 magnitude one on Wednesday.

The Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre said there was no tsunami threat to Australia.

Forbes has released the 25th edition of its rich-beyond-belief list. The World’s Billionaires 2011 broke two records: total number of members (1,210) and combined wealth ($4.5 trillion). Facebook helped.

Six of the company’s founders and investors made the annual list this year; that’s one billionaire for each of Facebook’s 100 million users. Four of them only just became billionaires, according to Forbes.

Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg moved from number 212 with an estimated worth of $4 billion in 2010 to number 52 with a wealth of $13.5 billion. Zuckerberg’s fortune exploded 238 percent over the last year, making him the largest percentage gainer in the US.PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel moved from 828 and an estimated worth of $1.2 billion to 833 and $1.5 billion (no, that’s not a typo: although his wealth grew, his rank decreased as others grew faster than him). Thiel invested $500,000 in Facebook in 2004.

Facebook co-founders Dustin Moskovitz ($2.7 billion) and Eduardo Saverin ($1.6 billion) joined the ranks of the richest. 26-year-old Moskovitz is actually the youngest billionaire on the Forbes list, just 8 days younger than the Facebook CEO. He was Zuckerberg’s roommate at Harvard, Facebook’s third employee, and left Facebook in 2008 to start Asana. Saverin was meanwhile sued by Facebook for allegedly interfering with business and insisting on keeping a 30 percent stake. Saverin countersued, the two settled, and he got a 5 percent stake as well as a co-founder bio on Facebook’s site. He is now living in Singapore, and recently invested in Qwiki.

Facebook investors Sean Parker ($1.6 billion) and Yuri Milner ($1.0 billion) also joined up this year. Parker, Facebook’s former president andNapster co-founder, has a stake of just under 3 percent in the social network after joining the company in 2004. Separately, he has returned to his roots by investing in Spotify. Using DST Global, a private fund that invests in global Internet companies, Milner paid $200 million in 2009 for a stake in Facebook. The value of this initial investment has jumped an estimated five-fold.

To refresh your memory, Facebook was recently valued at $65 billion. Anyone want to take a gander as to how many billionaires will be on next year’s list?

Twitter

For the last few months we have been working feverishly on something very very special for iPhone and iPad users. Something totally new. Something very exciting. Something imbued with #TigerBlood. It’s our brand new TweetDeck app for iPhone and iPad and you’re so going to love it.

Our Android app set a new level for not just mobile Twitter apps, but Android apps in general. Still gaining great reviews, Android TweetDeck also defined a new era of TweetDeck design, form and function. For our brand new iPhone/iPad app, we have taken this level of quality and innovation and built in a whole bucketful of magic to create a TweetDeck app that will raise the bar for iOS apps just like we did for Android.

This totally new, fully iOS4-compatible TweetDeck app has been built completely from scratch. It is not only be the most powerful and flexible mobile app we have ever produced, but also the most jaw-droppingly beautiful. This is the app your retina display has been crying out for.

A major new feature of iOS TweetDeck will be totally flexible columns. You want to create a column blending your Mentions and some Twitter Lists? No problem! Always wanted to see your Facebook feed and Twitter DMs in a single column? We’ve got you covered! New iOS TweetDeck puts you in control of your columns, giving total flexibility over which feeds appear in which columns. Your social world has never been so personal.

We are currently doing a final round of testing with the app and we aim to be submitting it to the App Store in the next couple of weeks. You can, however, get your hands on the app before anyone else if you are visiting this year’s SXSW. Just look out for Iain and Steve, who will be in Austin, and have 50 invites to give away allowing early access to the app via TestFlight.

And not only that, but they will also be doling out TweetDeck gear in the form of exclusive T-shirts, stickers, badges, fluffy birds, and any other swag they can stuff in their luggage! We’ll announce more details about this soon.

So if you are a die-hard TweetDeck fan, patiently waiting for a new app, we thank you sincerely for your patience. The reward will be well worth the wait.

If you’re planning on being first in line to grab an iPad 2 and want a kick-ass app for your new kick-ass tablet, you know where to come.

Or maybe you are dissatisfied with your current app and want to search for something new.

Stop looking, stop waiting. Start winning, with new iOS TweetDeck.

Don’t want an ending ♥

© Sam Tsui 2010

Jobs showed off the iPad 2, which will be available March 11, during a packed event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.

“We think 2011 is clearly going to be the year of iPad 2,” said Jobs, who walked onstage to a standing ovation.

Improvements in the second-generation device largely tracked with the rumors preceding its introduction. It is one-third thinner than its predecessor – slimmer than the iPhone 4 – and 15 percent lighter. A front camera allows for video chatting, and a rear camera can shoot high-definition (720p) video.

Surprise appearance

Jobs’ appearance onstage, which had not been announced in advance, sent Apple’s stock up about $3. It closed at $352.12, up 0.8 percent for the day.

“We’ve been working on this product awhile, and I didn’t want to miss today,” said Jobs, who in January said he would take an indefinite leave from the company he co-founded and put Tim Cook, Apple’s chief operating officer, in charge of day-to-day operations.

As with the original, iPad 2 will come in Wi-Fi only and 3G versions, each available at either 16, 32 or 64 gigabytes of storage. Verizon and AT&T will be the U.S. carriers. The models will be priced identically to their equivalents in the original device, starting at $499.

Unlike the original, iPad 2 is available in two colors – black and white.

“We’re going to be shipping white from Day 1,” Jobs said to laughter and applause, alluding to the white iPhone 4 that was announced but never released because of unspecified technical problems.

Industry leader

Apple introduced the iPad last April, and in nine months the company sold 15 million devices and generated $9.5 billion in revenue. Since then, a host of new tablets have been developed, with significant new products expected in the next few months from Research In Motion Ltd., Hewlett-Packard Co., and several manufacturers using Google’s Android operating system.

Still, analysts said, Apple is likely to retain the lion’s share of sales and profits in the near future. More than 65,000 applications have been developed for the iPad, more than any other tablet. Apple also has its network of stores, which gives it a major advantage in distribution.

“There’s no question Apple has done something that will help extend their leadership position,” said Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies, a research firm in Campbell. “If I’m another vendor, I’m concerned about Apple’s extremely solid operating system and their retail presence. That’s where it’s going to be hard for any of these guys to compete.”

The company also buys components in bulk, so it is able to keep the price lower than its rivals.

Paying a premium

Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis for market-research firm NPD Group, suggested Apple introduce a lower-priced iPad to stave off future competition. But iPad 2 will probably succeed at the announced price, he said.

“They’re pretty confident that they have a better experience, and that people are going to pay for that,” Baker said. “And people are paying for it now. They pay for it in iPod Touches, they pay for it in Macs, they pay for it in iPhones. And I believe they’re going to pay for it in iPad 2 as well.”

Forrester Research published a note Wednesday saying that of the 24 million tablets forecast to be sold in 2011, analysts expect 20 million of them will be iPads.

Apps and accessories

In addition to the iPad, Apple showed off a handful of accessories and apps Wednesday:

– “Smart covers” affix to the iPad screen using magnets, and fold up to form a stand for typing and watching videos.

– An HDMI connector will allow users to hook up their iPad 2 to a television or computer monitor for presentations or to stream high-definition video.

– New apps included FaceTime, for video chatting; Photo Booth, for taking self-portraits; iMovie, for capturing and editing video; and GarageBand, for creating and editing music.

I seriously hate misunderstandings. It makes everything go wild.

Microsoft shipped the most important update yet to Windows 7 yesterday–or so you’d conclude from the Redmond, Wash., company’s home-page promotion of this Service Pack 1 patch. Its name would suggest the same; Microsoft ranks Service Packs among its most comprehensive, sweeping fixes, issued only two or three times for an edition of Windows.

Duly motivated, I set out to install Windows 7′s “SP1″ on a Dell notebook yesterday afternoon. Although the initial dialog in Windows Update suggested this download could run anywhere from 44 to 533.1 megabytes, this machine only needed a 62.5 MB download, or less than a tenth ofsome of Apple’s Mac OS X updates. Windows Update took about 30 minutes to install SP1, after which the computer spent another 24 minutes in a post-reboot “configuring” session.

And then I struggled in vain to find any difference from this update. Not all Service Packs incorporate major changes–Windows XP’s SP3 was remarkable for its lack of headline features after the desperately-needed security upgrades brought by SP2–but Win 7 SP1 may be Microsoft’s least consequential Service Pack ever. For most home users, its primary utility is ensuring that they’re current with all of Microsoft’s prior patches and fixes, including some that were not automatically distributed.

That’s not a bad thing. An operating system shouldn’t need major corrections a year and a half after its debut.

But it is a problem when an update, however boring it may be, is so poorly documented. Microsoft’s ”What’s Included” page says this download “includes previously released security, performance, and stability updates” but also brings new, vaguely defined corrections:

SP1 also includes new improvements to features and services in Windows 7, such as improved reliability when connecting to HDMI audio devices, printing using the XPS Viewer, and restoring previous folders in Windows Explorer after restarting.

But the ”Service Pack 1 resources” page linked to from there did not have the promised release notes that would provide a full description of this update. Instead, it reported that “This content is no longer available” and suggested visiting a third support page.

The links under that page’s “Key Resources” heading promised a full report but instead directed me to a fourth tech-support page, on which I could download a series of documents about the update. Not regular pages I could view in my browser, or even PDFs readable with a plugin, but Microsoft Office documents.

One, a Microsoft Word file called “Notable Changes in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1,” revealed that SP1′s consumer-relevant updates didn’t extend beyond those listed on the first, “What’s Included” page. (To spare you the download, I’ve reproduced those portions after the jump.) Another, an Excel spreadsheet named “Hotfixes and Security Updates included in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1,” itemized the 755 “hotfix” patches (not all of which you would have received through Windows Update) and 41 security fixes (which you should have gotten already) rolled into SP1. Some of those earlier updates, however, only affect Windows Server 2008, Win 7′s younger, non-consumer-oriented sibling.

So, yes, Win 7 SP1 is a big deal. It’s just apparently not big enough for Microsoft to document properly.

I hope that your Win 7 SP1 install has been as drama-free as mine, but if it wasn’t, I’m sure I’ll read about it in the comments. How has that upgrade gone for you?

 
Microsoft’s “Notable Changes…” document lists three updates to Windows 7 and four shared with Windows Server 2008. Of those, three might affect home users anytime soon. Here they are:

Improved HDMI audio device performance

A small percentage of users have reported issues in which the connection between computers running Windows 7 and HDMI audio devices can be lost after system reboots. Updates have been incorporated into SP1 to ensure that connections between Windows 7 computers and HDMI audio devices are consistently maintained.

Corrected behavior when printing mixed-orientation XPS documents

Prior to the release of SP1, some customers have reported difficulty when printing mixed-orientation XPS documents (documents containing pages in both portrait and landscape orientation) using the XPS Viewer, resulting in all pages being printed entirely in either portrait or landscape mode. This issue has been addressed in SP1, allowing users to correctly print mixed-orientation documents using the XPS Viewer.

Change to behavior of “Restore previous folders at logon” functionality

SP1 changes the behavior of the “Restore previous folders at logon” function available in the Folder Options Explorer dialog. Prior to SP1, previous folders would be restored in a cascaded position based on the location of the most recently active folder. That behavior changes in SP1 so that all folders are restored to their previous positions.

The latest beta for the Google Chrome browser is mostly about speed, thanks to a new JavaScript engine and an early taste of GPU-accelerated video.

But Google has also introduced a few new features to make the user experience more pleasurable, including password sync and a revamped options menu. Let’s take a closer look:

Password Sync

Chrome could already sync your apps, bookmarks, preferences and themes across multiple computers, but until now has lacked a way to sync passwords. In the latest beta, you can access password sync under the “Personal Stuff” section of the options menu. A Google account–along with your username and password–is required for syncing, but you can also add an extra layer of encryption with a custom sync passphrase.

One thing that was kind of confusing: After I enabled sync on my second computer and punched in my user name and password, Chrome asked me what data I would like to sync between computers, even though I had just entered that information after setting up sync on my first computer.

New Options Menu

When clicking the tool icon and selecting “options,” Chrome now displays settings in a new browser tab instead of a pop-up menu. This means you can access specific options with URLs, such as chrome://settings/personal. (Google says this is useful for providing tech support to computer-illiterate relatives.)

The options menu also has a search function now, so you can access settings by typing instead of digging through menus. It’s almost likeGoogle Instant, in that the search results update each time you enter a new letter. I’d say these are all revolutionary and wonderful new features, but I just can’t get that excited about options menus. Sorry!

Organizing App Icons

Google doesn’t say this is a new feature, but I never noticed it before and haven’t heard anyone else mention it. If you’ve installed any Chrome Web apps, you can now rearrange them on the home screen by clicking and dragging.

As mundane as it seems, the ability to organize apps is the feature I’m most excited to see. Let’s get support for app folders next, okay Google?

Facebook users in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan now have a better idea of where their friends are. Facebook Places, unveiled last August, is also available in Australia and Japan in Asia Pacific.

Screenshot of Facebook Places

Places, which is used primarily on mobile devices, lets members send their location to Facebook the same way they’d post a status update. Aside from letting people know where they are, they can also show who they’re with by tagging their friends using the same system that Facebook employs for photos.

When a Place is created on the social-networking site, it becomes a permanent site on Facebook, although it can be deleted by the person who created it. Businesses can also claim a Place via a verification process and merge with their existing Page. The Page then doubles as a location.

A new report released Wednesday revealed that 50 percent of Asian companies on the Fortune Global 100 list had Facebook pages and the average number of “likes” on each page grew 406 percent to 121,257. The study, which was conducted by public relations consultancy firm Burson-Marsteller, also showed that Asia registered a 25 percent increase in Facebook engagement compared with 18 percent globally.

With Places, users are able to set privacy controls on what they share and who they share them with, which should address some of the early concerns of privacy advocacy groups. Only confirmed friends can tag or check another friend into a place. They also have the option to remove their names when tagged. Places is currently accessible on iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone 7 and webOS devices, as well as on touch.facebook.com.

According to Facebook, over 200 million users around the world access the social-networking site on their mobile devices. These people are twice as active compared with non-mobile members.

Facebook announced the launch of Facebook Places in Singapore

Currently available in the United States, Japan, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden, Facebook Places allows a user to ‘check-in’ and share with friends where they are and who they’re with.

In addition, they can find friends who are nearby and discover new places that friends like – all in real time.

Facebook Places is available to users in Singapore with mobile access to the Facebook application for iPhone, Android, Blackberry, HP webOS, and Windows Phone 7, or to touch.facebook.com.

With Places, users are in control of what they share and with whom they share. They choose whether or not to share their location when they check in at a place, and only friends can see when they do, unless users choose to alter their privacy settings.

When users check in, they can tag friends who are with them but only if their settings allow it. When they are tagged, they are always notified.

How to use Facebook Places?

Kiss Of Sunlight / One of the seven wonders of the world

Calmness of the blue sky

A Never Ending Pathway

Fading Away

As Darkness Strikes

Although no laws prevent Malaysia’s Muslim majority from marking the occasion with dinner dates and roses, officials have mounted a campaign insisting that such romantic gestures might tempt young people into having premarital sex.

| Associated Press | foxnews |

Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said late Saturday that the government was not trying to demean Valentine’s Day, but stressed that it was “not suitable” for Muslims, who comprise nearly two-thirds of Malaysia’s 28 million people.

His comments came after the government-run Malaysian Islamic Development Department, which handles religious policies, launched a publicity campaign Friday called “Mind the Valentine’s Day Trap” and handed leaflets advising Muslim university students to avoid Monday’s celebration.

Wan Mohamad Sheikh Abdul Aziz, the department’s chief, noted that Malaysia’s top panel of Islamic scholars had issued an edict in 2005 criticizing the celebration of Valentine’s Day among Muslims because it had historical links to Christianity and could lead to immoral activities.

“We accept and celebrate Mother’s Day and Father’s Day … to commemorate our love for our parents,” Wan Mohamad told the national news agency, Bernama. “At the same time, however, Islam would reject anything, even from the Eastern culture, if it contravenes the Islamic teachings.”

Preachers at mosques in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s largest city, also delivered anti-Valentine’s Day sermons Friday.

Some Muslims disagreed, saying it was a harmless celebration.

“I’ve given my wife flowers and taken her for dinner on Valentine’s Day before,” Khairy Jamaluddin, a prominent ruling party politician in his mid-30s, wrote on Twitter. “I am still a Muslim. If people want to do it because they feel like it’s a nice occasion, as long as they’re not committing sin, why not?”

In recent years, authorities have sometimes searched hotel rooms on the night of Feb. 14 to catch Muslim couples having premarital sex. According to Malaysia’s Islamic Shariah laws, unmarried Muslims who meet in private can be charged with “khalwat,” or “close proximity,” which carries fines and prison sentences of several months.

SINGAPORE – Three blocks of flats at Clementi Ave 5 have been selected for the Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme (SERS).

Blk 321, 322, 323, all of which are 34 years old, will be affected. There is a total of 374 sold flats in the blocks.

In return, 500 units of new 2-room, 3-room. 4-room and 5-room flats will be built by the HDB to house the flat owners. The new flats will be located next to Clementi Town Centre, near the MRT and bus station.

Affected flat owners can register for their new flats in the third quarter of this year.

HDB will be holding an exhibition at the void deck of Blk 321, Clementi Ave 5, to let residents understand the SERS scheme better.

Those affected by the redevelopment scheme will be guaranteed flats in the new blocks if they are eligible. Price discounts will also be given to them.

Owners who are not keen on the new flats have the option of selling the rehousing benefits to eligible buyers. They will also be exempted from paying resale levies for their existing flats.

They can then buy a resale flat in their preferred location.

| Christopher Jager | pcauthority

Falling into the upper echelon of the entry-level DSLR market, the Canon EOS 600D is aimed at serious photographers who want to make the leap from digital compact cameras to DSLRs.

Boasting a 18.0 megapixel CMOS sensor, a DiG!C 4 Image Processor, an ISO range of 100 to 6,400 and Full HD (1920 x 1080p) video recording, the Canon EOS 600D looks to be every bit as impressive as its Canon EOS 550D predecessor. Chief amongst the new features is Scene Intelligent Auto, an advanced automatic mode that presents a gentle introduction to the world of DSLR cameras.

A recommended retail price has yet to be announced for the Canon EOS 600D, but it should cost somewhere in the ballpark of $1500 (it slots in-between the EOS 550D and EOS 60D, priced at $1349 and $1599, respectively).

In terms of price and features, the Canon EOS 600D’s closest rival is probably the Nikon D3100, which was released in late 2010 (you can read our review of the Nikon D3100 here). Both cameras are top-of-the-range entry-level models aimed at the same type of user. They also have identical shutter speeds (1/4000 sec).

So which stacks up better on paper in terms of value for money and features? In the following article, we compare the Canon EOS 600D against the Nikon D3100 in an attempt to determine which camera is the best for your money.

[Note: We have yet to test the Canon EOS 600D, so the comparison is based on features and specifications only.]

Size & Dimensions

Entry-level DSLRs are built to be reasonably lightweight and portable – they’re essentially aimed at the same crowd that uses digital compact cameras. The Canon EOS 600D’s body weighs in at 515g and measures 133x99x78mm. By contrast, the Nikon D3100 weighs 455g and has dimensions of 96x124x74mm. To be honest, the difference in size is pretty marginal, but those who prefer to travel light will be better off with the Nikon D3100.

Sensor

The D3100 has a lower pixel count of 14.2 megapixels, though not necessarily an indicator of lower image quality

When it comes to pixel count, the Canon EOS 600D comes out on top. Its Canon-branded APS-C CMOS sensor boasts a total pixel count of 18-megapixels, compared to 14.2 megapixels for the Nikon D3100. Naturally, a higher pixel count does not guarantee better picture quality, but if Canon’s previous DSLRs are any indication, the EOS 600D is certain to be a winner.

Lenses

Both cameras come with a solid array of lens attachments. Some of the lenses compatible with the Nikon D3100 include AF-S and AF-I, Type G and D AF NIKKOR, Type D PC NIKKOR, AI-P NIKKOR and Non-CPU. (Note: some functions may not be supported on some lenses.)

The Canon EOS 600D will be compatible with all EF and EF-S lenses, including the new EF-S 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 IS II kit lens and EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS.

Light sensitivity

The Canon EOS 600D has an ISO speed range of 100-6400 (expandable to 12800). The Nikon D3100, meanwhile, has a maximum ISO level of 3200 (expandable to 6400). The picture quality of photos taken at high ISO levels varies wildly, so we’ll hold off on our verdict until we test the Canon EOS 600D for ourselves.

Burst rate

The Canon EOS 600D wins this category, but only by a hair. It boasts a continuous burst speed of 3.7fps (frames per second), compared to 3fps for the Nikon D3100.

Video recording

Both cameras sport Full HD video modes, however, the Canon EOS 600D provides three selectable frame rates (24fps, 25fps and 30fps). The Nikon D3100 makes do with a fixed frame rate of 24fps.

LCD display

Again, the Canon came up trumps in this category, boasting a 7.7cm Vari-Angle LCD display with 1,040,000 dots. By contrast, the Nikon D3100’s LCD is fixed and has a resolution of just 230,000 dots. We don’t need to see the Canon EOS D600 to tell you that its display will be better. The EOS D600 is protected by anti-reflective and smudge resistant coating

Conclusion

Based on the provided specifications, the Canon EOS 600D seems to be superior to the Nikon D3100 in several key areas. And in previous reviews we’ve been very impressed with the image quality of Canon cameras.

The 7.7cm Vari-Angle LCD display on the 600D has 1,040,000 dots

Nevertheless, the answer over which camera to buy will probably come down to price. With a current RRP of $949, the Nikon D3100 is significantly cheaper than its D600 rival. We’ll draw a definitive conclusion after putting the Canon EOS 600D through our test labs, and also once we know exactly what price you’ll pay for the 600D.

Internet faux news site Weekly World News posted an outrageous story that Facebook will be shut down on March 15th 2011, due to the stress it has put Founder Mark Zuckerberg through.

Normally this type of news would not even be worth our time and effort, but an unfortunate situation occurred where thousands of viewers actually believed the story and shared it on Facebook. Over the past hour, 40 of my 320+ friends shared this story, and I’ve received a couple messages and emails about it from “worried” fans. I expect that the situation will get worse, sparking more controversy over the Internet.

Here is a snippet from the article:

So just to confirm, this is a fake story by a faux news site, similar to that of The Onion and Chive. As a reminder, always fact check before passing on stories, or else what happened today will keep happening over and over (like this trend will ever stop anyway)… oh yea, use some common sense. Also, with a company estimated at being worth over $50 billion, why would anyone even think of suddenly shutting it down. As a friend said, it would obviously make sense to sell it off rather than just kill it all together.

| which |

Canon has unveiled its latest entry-level digital SLR, the new Canon EOS 1100D.

This new DSLR is an update to the hugely popular Canon EOS 1000D, which has been Canon’s flagship entry-level DSLR for two years now and in need of an update.

Crucially, the older EOS 1000D was looking a little long in the tooth as it offered no video recording. Canon has remedied this shortcoming by adding 720p HD video to the newer EOS 1100D.

Canon EOS 1100D key features

• 12.2Mp image resolution (up from 10Mp on the 1000D)
• 720p HD video
• 230k-dot 2.7-inch Live View LCD screen (2.5-inch Live View screen on the 1000D)
• 9-point autofocus system (7-point on 1000D)
• on-screen feature guide
• new 18-55mm IS II kit lens
• available April 2011, £499 with kit lens

Upon first inspection, there’s nothing revolutionary with these updates. The lack of video mode was something that urgently needed addressing if Canon was going to maintain a foothold in the entry-level DSLR market, but the other features represent only a modest series of updates to the admittedly successful design of the EOS 1000D.

12.2Mp pictures with the Canon EOS 1100D

Interestingly, the new EOS 1100D is now the only new Canon model not to offer an 18Mp picture resolution. The rest of Canon’s consumer DSLR range – the EOS 550D, EOS 60D, EOS 7D and newly-announced Canon EOS 600D all offer 18Mp pictures.

Of course, picture quality isn’t a matter of megapixels alone, and there’s no reason to doubt the 1100D’s likely picture credentials on the basis of its perfectly generous 12.2Mp resolution.

720p HD video on the Canon EOS 1100D

The older EOS 1000D model had a serious shortcoming in its lack of a video mode. At the time of its launch some two years back, this wasn’t such an issue, but since then video capture has become an expected feature in most DSLRs.

Canon has gone some way to redress this issue with the 1100D’s 720p HD video, but it’s interesting to see that Canon hasn’t gone all out and lavished Full HD 1080p recording on the 1100D.

While a Full HD-capable entry-level DSLR may have admittedly stepped on the toes of Canon’s higher-end models, this higher-res video would have given the 1100D more competitive specifications compared to its rival entry-level models, not least of which is the new Nikon D3100.

But by keeping the megapixel count lower and limiting the video quality to 720p rather than Full HD 1080p, Canon has deliberately set the EOS 1100D further back from its mid- and high-end DSLR options.

The earlier 1000D model was a huge success for Canon, delivering quality shots without breaking the bank, and the 1100D certainly has potential for similar success. However, the entry-level DSLR market has grown far more competitive in the last two years, and the 1100D will have some serious rivals to square off against.

Read our expert Which? review of the earlier Canon EOS 1000D model.

Canon EOS 1100D versus Nikon D3100

The key rival to Canon’s new EOS 1100D is the Nikon D3100entry-level DSLR, first announced in August 2010.

Not only do Nikon enjoy the benefit of a couple of months’ extra marketing advantage with the D3100, but the camera itself offers a selection of features which, on paper at least, seemingly outgun Canon’s offering.

Full HD 1080p on the Nikon D3100

The Canon 1100D’s 720p video mode offers less detailed movie capture than the Nikon D3100, which offers Full HD video even though it’s positioned as Nikon’s entry-level DSLR model.

For Full HD video on a Canon DSLR, you’ll now have to push further up the price spectrum.

Given that the gap between the release of the Canon 1000D and its successor was nearly two years, it could conceivably end up being a similar wait before we see Full HD being offered on the next entry-level Canon DSLR.

The Nikon D3100 is the successor to the popular Nikon D3000

Higher resolution on the Nikon D3100

As ever, Which? will emphasise that picture quality is not determined by the number of megapixels your camera is wielding.

However, there’s no denying the marketability of a DSLR with a higher resolution, and to anyone walking into a shop and seeing the 14.2Mp Nikon D3100 next to the 12.2MP Canon EOS 1100D, the higher megapixel count on the former may look hold some appeal.

We’ll reserve judgment on the Canon EOS 1100D’s picture quality until we’ve had a chance to put it through our expert lab tests, and there’s no reason to doubt that it’s 12.2Mp sensor will be fit for task. After all, the 10Mp EOS 1000D was a seminal model in the relatively new entry-level DSLR market.

Guide Modes on both

Both the Canon EOS 1100D and the Nikon D3100 feature their own style of ‘Guide Mode’, which talk you through the camera’s various functions on-screen.

As these cameras are aimed at first-time DSLR owners who may be getting to grips with the more complicated features, these Guide Modes can be a useful helping hand.

We found the Guide Mode on the D3100 to be approachable and useful, and hopefully Canon will have made the 1100D’s similarly helpful.

The Canon EOS 1100D will be available in April 2011, with a launch price of £499 including the new 18-55mm IS II kit lens. We’ll have full test results as soon as the model is available to test.

There’s a silly rumor exploding on the Internet this weekend, alleging that Facebook is shutting down on March 15 because CEO Mark Zuckerberg “wants his old life back,” and desires to “put an end to all the madness.”

[UPDATE] We have official confirmation from Facebook Director of Corporate Communications Larry Yu that the rumor is false. We asked him via e-mail if Facebook was shutting down on March 15, to which he responded, “The answer is no, so please help us put an end to this silliness.” He added,

“We didn’t get the memo about shutting down and there’s lots to do, so we’ll just keep cranking away like always.”

Let’s think about this for a minute. Would Facebook decide to shut down the company just a few days afterannouncing a round of funding, consisting of $450 million from Goldman Sachs and $50 million from Russian investment firm Digital Sky Technologies, on a valuation of $50 billion?

The spurious report was started by a site to which we refuse to link, known for its reports of impending attacks of alien spaceships and false reports of a Michelle Obama pregnancy.

The fact that this absurd hoax spread so efficiently makes us wonder: Will people believe anything?

| Graham Cluley | nakedsecurity.sophos |

Time was, Weekly World News reported on UFO sightings and all manner of human-animal hybrids. But the new supermarket tabloid hotness is a fake rumor about Facebook. Did you know Facebook is shutting down on March 15th?

Here’s what the Weekly World News had to say about Facebook’s impending doom:

This being the Internet, people actually believe this.

“Is facebook shutting down” was the 14th-hottest Google search yesterday. Here’s a representative Facebook status update: Alas, Facebook is not shutting down due to Mark Zuckerberg wanting to spend more time washing the one hoodie he owns. But the potency of this rumor suggests it tapped into the Internet’s deep-seated Facebook death wish; a yearning for some distant past where all the hours wasted on Facebook were spent on something productive instead, like drinking.

Update: Facebook has responded to the rumor with a tweet:

The hot rumor — evidenced by Google Trends and gaining traction on Twitter — says that on March 15, 2011, Facebook will be closing down. Not taking a day off, not undergoing maintenance, but ending entirely.

The rumor has led to such frantic tweets as, “Facebook will be shutting down on March 2011? I hope not!” (@MissAyl) and “So the rumor is Facebook is shutting down….please don’t jump to twitter & ruin my social networking experience” (@jjelksboss).

Facebook users are also concerned. Says one: “Facebook is shutting down on March 15, 2011 for good D: Is there any way we can stop this!?!?” And a group has already started to stop Facebook from shutting down.

Ironically, Yahoo announced last month that its “Yahoo Video” will be closing down on the date in question, March 15, 2011, and videos can be seen for the last time on March 14. But that hardly means it’s taking the rest of the Internet down with it.

Just a day ago, an opinion piece published on CNN said that the recent Goldman Sachs investment was the “beginning of the end” for Facebook. That post went viral with more than 5,000 Facebook “likes” and could be partially to blame for the ensuing panic

Whatever the reason for this rumor, it’s safe to say that as a site with more than 500 million users and a $500 millon investment from Goldman Sachs recently, Facebook won’t be shutting down anytime soon.

“We didn’t get the memo about shutting down, so we’ll keep working away. We aren’t going anywhere; we’re just getting started.” A company spokesman also dismissed the rumors as “silliness.”

I have to tell of you that the Facebook Closure news is a HOAX

PALO ALTO, CA –Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook will be shut down in March. Managing the site has become too stressful.

“Facebook has gotten out of control,” said Zuckerberg in a press conference outside his Palo Alto office, “and the stress of managing this company has ruined my life. I need to put an end to all the madness.”

Zuckerberg went on to explain that starting March 15th, users will no longer be able to access their Facebook accounts.

“After March 15th the whole website shuts down,” said Avrat Humarthi, Vice President of Technical Affairs at Facebook. “So if you ever want to see your pictures again, I recommend you take them off the internet. You won’t be able to get them back after Facebook goes out of business.”

Zuckerberg said the decision to shut down Facebook was difficult, but that he does not think people will be upset.

“I personally don’t think it’s a big deal,” he said in a private phone interview. “And to be honest, I think it’s for the better. Without Facebook, people will have to go outside and make real friends. That’s always a good thing.”

Some Facebook users were furious upon hearing the shocking news.

“What am I going to do without Facebook?” said Denise Bradshaw, a high school student from Indiana. “My life revolves around it. I’m on Facebook at least 10 hours a day. Now what am I going to do with all that free time?”

However, parents across the country have been experiencing a long anticipated sense of relief.

“I’m glad the Facebook nightmare is over,” said Jon Guttari, a single parent from Detroit.

“Now my teenager’s face won’t be glued to a computer screen all day. Maybe I can even have a conversation with her.”

Those in the financial industry are criticizing Zuckerberg for walking away from a multibillion dollar franchise. Facebook is currently ranked as one of the wealthiest businesses in the world, with economists estimating its value at around 7.9 billion.

But Zuckerberg remains unruffled by these accusations. He said he will stand by his decision to give Facebook the axe.

“I don’t care about the money,” said Zuckerberg. “I just want my old life back.”

The Facebook Corporation suggests that users remove all of their personal information from the website before March 15th. After that date, all photos, notes, links, and videos will be permanently erased.

Facebook is closing down. The Roman Emperor of social networking is tired of it all. He is heading for pastures new. Oh, and you might never be able to get your photos (or your pokes) back.

Such was the story printed by the venerable Weekly World News in order to allay the boredom of standing in line at Albertson’s.

The fateful day of Facebook’s going away was said to be March 15, the Ides. The tides of sadness immediately crashed over the Web, as the hurt, the bewildered, the forlorn, and, no doubt, the Schadenfreunds of freunds lamented, jeered, and cheered.

“Hope it’s not true, but if it is, we’ll have to accept it,” typed one Facebookian through tears of woe.

The reaction, no doubt, was fueled by the Weekly World News quoting Zuckerberg as saying:

“Facebook has gotten out of control. And the stress of managing this company has ruined my life. I need to put an end to all the madness.”

Yes, there really exist people who haven’t seen “The Social Network.”

Even IT security site Sophos, a sane mind in a frightening world, felt compelled to offer its own frisson of fright that such a thought had gained any traction at all on the Web.

Suddenly Wi-Fi became short for wild-fire as panic buttons were depressed and the depressed began to panic that their online friends would disappear into the cloud with no GPS home.

Many will, no doubt, opine that the spreading of such a rumor shows how gullible people can be and how much damage can be done through the Web’s stunning immediacy.

Some, however, might consider that the greater sadness lies in the fact that people seem incapable of distinguishing not between rumor and fact, but between the Weekly World News and the National Enquirer.

Just because both are seen at supermarket checkouts doesn’t mean both espouse the same principles of subterfuge.

The Weekly World News has long peddled tales of nonsense, such as the idea that George Clooney will run for president (he’s not that silly), or that Michael Jackson faked his own death (he wasn’t that devious).

The Enquirer, on the other hand, is the publication that revealed John Edwards’ relationship with Rielle Hunter.

If people can’t distinguish between these two similarly shaped publications, how can we expect them to distinguish between the rumor that Facebook is shutting down and the rumor that it’s now worth $50 billion?

Both the Canon EOS 600 and the Canon EOS 1100D are designed as entry-level digital SLR cameras, available on their own or with a variety of lenses.

Canon EOS 600D

The EOS 600D is at the top end of the spectrum, offering an 18-megapixel sensor, fast DIGIC 4-image processing and full HD video-capturing capabilities.

It has a 3-inch Vari-Angle LCD screen, letting users adjust the angle of the camera, and a 9-point Auto Focus System to ensure that the subject is always in focus.

The camera also has a feature guide to show those who are new to photography a tour of the camera modes and settings. It also has Scene Intelligent Auto mode for simple shots.

The Canon EOS 600D is available from early April 2011 from €819 to €1,149.00 (S$1 421.21 to S$1 993.86), depending on the lens kit the buyer chooses to go with the camera.

Also revealed was the Canon EOS 1100D, described by Canon as the beginner’s ideal EOS. This device aims to combine a high-performance camera with ease of use.

It’s a 12.2-megapixel camera with the same iFCL metering system developed for the EOS 7D. This is linked to the 9-point Auto Focus System for an in focus and well-exposed image. It also offers 720p HD video capture.

Canon EOS 1100D

The camera has a variety of modes to make the operation of the device much simpler. Basic+ and Creative Auto modes remove technical terms and use plain language to describe settings and their effects on an image.

Users can also apply different atmospheres on a scene or make images brighter, darker or blur the background.

The Canon EOS 1100D is available from early April 2011, priced from €499 to €549 ( S$865.91 to S$952.68 ), depending on the lens kit the buyer chooses to go with the camera.

PowerShot and IXUS range

New cameras to the PowerShot range include the PowerShot SX230 HS, with a 14x optical zoom, and the PowerShot SX220 HS. Both feature GPS tagging and logging functionality.

New IXUS cameras include the IXUS 310 HS, with an enhanced touch interface and ultra wide-angle 24mm lens. There is also the IXUS 220 HS with the same lens, with a 5x optical zoom and a slim design, and an entry-level IXUS 115 HS.

All the cameras from both ranges offer a 12-megapixel sensor with DIGIC 4 processing.

Canon PowerShot SX230

The IXUS 310 HS is available from early March 2011 for €359 (S$622.97), the IXUS 220 HS is available from mid-February for €239 (S$414.73) and the IXUS 115 HS is available from early February 2011 for €219 (S$380).

The PowerShot SX230 HS and PowerShot SX220 HS have no confirmed prices yet. They are available from mid-March 2011.

Laura O’Brien – siliconrepublic

Canon has unveiled its latest mid-level DSLR, the new Canon EOS 600D

The new EOS 600D will succeed the EOS 550D, and it offers a range of features which Canon claims will make for a superior experience whether you’re shooting still photos or videos.

Upon first inspection, the feature set of the new EOS 600D marks this model out as something of a hybrid of the older EOS 500D and the new, higher-end EOS 60D.

The 18Mp resolution, 3.7fps shot rate, and 1080p video capture are all familiar features from this model’s predecessor, the EOS 550D.

The new rotatable LCD screen and creative shooting effects have been transferred across from the higher-spec EOS 60D model.

Canon EOS 600D vs Canon EOS 60D vs Canon EOS 7D

It’s not unusual to see features running closely together within a family of DSLRs, and Canon’s EOS 600D now sits unusually close to the higher-priced EOS 60D and even EOS 7D in terms of its specifications.

Canon EOS 600D picture resolution
The 18Mp picture resolution on the new EOS 600D is the same as you’ll find on the 60D and 7D models. The only member of the Canon consumer DSLR family with a lower resolution is the newly-announced 12.2Mp Canon EOS 1100D.

Full HD 1080p video recording on the Canon EOS 600D

Just like the Canon EOS 60D and Canon EOS 7D, the new EOS 600D offers Full HD 1080p video recording. The cheaper EOS 1100D offers a lower resolution 720p video mode.

Shots per second – Canon EOS 600D

The frames per second (fps) of each of these cameras draws them apart.

While the EOS 600D can capture 3.7fps, the higher-end EOS 60D can manage 5.3fps. Top of the group is the EOS 7D, which can capture 8fps.

Rotatable LCD screen on the Canon EOS 600D

The EOS 600D offers a vari-angle rotatable 3-inch LCD screen. This can be a handy feature if you’re holding the camera above your head or at an awkward angle and using the Live View screen to compose a shot.

The EOS 60D was the first Canon DSLR to feature a rotatable screen, which the EOS 7D lacks.

Creative filter effects

The EOS 600D offers a range of creative shooting modes first seen on the EOS 60D model. For example, you can try out a grainy black and white mode, or a toy camera mode or miniature effect.

No top LCD display

Both the Canon EOS 7D and the EOS 600D feature a second monochrome LCD display on the top of the camera to display the key settings. This is a high-end feature that has been omitted from the EOS 600D model.

Pricing

Given the similarities between the EOS 600D and the EOS 7D, the pricing difference between the models gives some pause for thought.

The EOS 600D is being launched at a somewhat overweight price of £769 with its kit lens. We’d expect this price to fall within a few months, but for the time-being it’s rather close to the £850-£900 asking price of the EOS 60D.

Given that the key difference between these two models is the lower shooting speed of the EOS 600D, and its lack of a second LCD display, it’s worth considering if these are drawbacks you can live without. When the price of the 600D falls from its high launch point, we’d expect this camera to seriously undercut the more expensive EOS 60D, assuming it can largely match it for picture performance.

We’ll have full test results on the new Canon EOS 600D after the model is launched in April 2011.

- Which?

So far, at this moment, I have only uploaded 1 photo. But I’ll be adding more in the minutes to come. And so, this is my photo. Thanks for feedback and the votes. You can go to this link to vote for me ^^

http://tinyurl.com/6dl78gh

The Flying Prosperity

It is captioned as the ‘Flying Prosperity’ in the terms of Chinese Lantern which is red in colour represents as what the chinese believed, ‘Prosperity’. Prosperity is to be shared to the people and the lantern is hung up in the sky to throw or give people a Prosperous Happy New Year! This photo is taken at Chinatown, Singapore with the Nikon D5000.

]]> http://www.muazrudy.com/2011/02/muaz-vote-for-my-photography-canon-eos-competition/feed/ 0 http://www.muazrudy.com/2011/02/maher-zain-insha-allah-%d8%a5%d9%86-%d8%b4%d8%a7%d8%a1-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%84%d9%87/ http://www.muazrudy.com/2011/02/maher-zain-insha-allah-%d8%a5%d9%86-%d8%b4%d8%a7%d8%a1-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%84%d9%87/#comments Thu, 10 Feb 2011 13:45:34 +0000 Muaz http://www.muazrudy.com/?p=1424

(More)…]]> A beautiful calming Muslim song, lyrics below

Don’t despair and never loose hope. Allah will always be your side. Insya Allah ♥

Lyrics: Maher Zain & Bara Kherigi
Melody: Maher Zain
Arrangement: Maher Zain & Hamza Namira
© Awakening Records 2009

When Computerworld questioned ASUS CEO, Jonney Shih, about how his company would fight off competition from Apple’s upcoming tablet, he said:

“Also we will try to provide a ‘secret weapon’, something we have not shown at this time but closer to the launch time we will show.”

Although no further details are revealed, rumour has it that ASUS’ secret weapon is in fact a 3D tablet. During the interview, Shih went on to talk about his belief that 3D glasses will fall away this year, stating that “[3D] may be possible on smaller tablets without wearing glasses”. He also hinted that the company could be planing to work with NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 3D processor, and if that isn’t a clue – I don’t know what is.

Little else was revealed, although Shih did mention that 2011 would see personal computing move increasingly from the device into the cloud, and that he only sees room for three operating systems: iOS, Android and Windows.

With Apple expected to launch the iPad 2 later this month, we could be seeing an imminent announcement from ASUS and its “secret weapon”.

Apple HDTVs may join Google TV in you living room?

According to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, Apple may be getting ready to produce full-fledged TVs will full computing technology.

eWeek reports that after a recent row of analysts suggesting Apple was building its supplies of larger displays from sources such as Sharp, LG and Toshiba, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster suggested that the components were being used for current Apple products such as the iPad and 27-inch Mac, but we could see up to 50-inch Apple TVs in the future:

“While Apple’s commitment to the living room remains a ‘hobby,’ we continue to believe the company will enter the TV market with a full focus, as an all-in-one Apple television could move the needle when connected TVs proliferate,” – Gene Munster

These Apple HDTVs would come equipped with the Safari Web browser and have access to Apple’s App Store, the report suggests.

- Gizmo Crunch

الله La ilaha illahu Al-malikul Quddus – There is no deity except Him, The King. The Most Holy.

الله Ya Sattaru ustur ‘uyubana – Oh concealer, conceal our faults.

You may read them through these links:

Okay, enough of Androids and Google. This posts I’m just writing down or rather ‘copy and paste’ inspirational quotes from the internet. Well, since I’ve done posting posts about technology and I’m bored, well, I thought of posting these inspirational quotes by the successors. I guess these might help you get bit inspired. I do believe that each and everyone in this world has a dream, no matter big or small, every has one and wants to chase it. Some had great success in chasing their dreams and well unfortunately, some don’t. But no matter if they win or lose, they must not give up and rather go on and pursue chasing the dream/dreams of their life. It might be hard for some cases, I know. But no matter what happens, no matter what challenges you face, you have to overcome them. Don’t let distractions in life distract you from pursuing your dreams. All you gotta do is to focus and try your very best. With that, I wish all of us good luck, may God bless you and enjoy reading these quotes here. See ya

When you got something to prove, there’s nothing greater than a challenge – Terry Bradshaw

Life is not a matter of milestones but of memories – Unknown

Try not to become a man of success but a man of value - Albert Einstein

We write our own destiny; we become what we do – Madame Chiang Kai-Shek

Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood – Ralph Waldo Emerson

For the past three years, developers have flocked to the increasingly popular Google I/O conference. The event focuses on technical information about web and mobile applications. Since Android made a debut in 2008, it has become an increasingly large part of the conference in addition to other popular topics such as Google Chrome or Google Apps.

While many might be turned down by the fact that attending the conference costs $450, there have been some perks to attending in the past. At Google I/O 2009, each attendee received a HTC Magic smart phone. At last year’s event, attendees received either a Motorola Droid or a Nexus One. However, there was a surprise announcement at the end of the Day 2 Keynote. Google’s VP of Engineering, Vic Gondotra, announced that each attendee would also get a free HTC EVO 4G.

So the big question: what will Google giveaway at this time? Here are some possibilities:

Smart Phones

There’s a good chance Google will hand out the recently upgraded Nexus One, the Nexus S by Samsung. There are also other possibilities since a handful of powerful Android devices appeared at CES 2011. For those hoping to pick up a Motorola Atrix, chances are slim since the webtop OS isn’t Google-built software. There is a better chance that Google may hand out a Droid Bionic or a HTC Thunderbolt, which run on Verizon’s new 4G LTE network. If Google chooses to stick with Sprint, it might be one of the yet-to-be-announced devices from the upcoming event in New York.

Chrome Notebook

In early December 2010, Google announced the CR-48 Chrome Notebook at a press conference. Since then, the company has handed these out at no cost to individuals, businesses, schools, non-profits and developers willing to participate in a pilot program. Some estimates claim that over 60,000 units shipped in December alone. If Google intends to push the Chrome OS platform to the masses in 2011, they might hand these out at this year’s conference to make a big splash.

Android Tablets

While the Samsung Galaxy Tab hit the market late last year, Google’s tablet-optimized Honeycomb OS did not make an official appearance until a few weeks ago at CES 2011. While Android smart phones are now dominating the market, Android tablets are not a bit hit just yet. To give Android 3.0 a much-needed push, Google might choose to hand out the flagship Motorola Xoom at the this year’s conference. With Apple domination the market with the iPad and with an iPad 2 in the works, focusing on tablets would be a wise choice.

Google TV

After many disappointing preliminary Google TV reviews, the company may announce some major software upgrades to change the perception. For instance, the Android Marketplace still is not available to Google TV owners. While this product is not as exciting as cutting-edge smart phones and tablets, Google may choose to give Logitech Revue units to attendees. This would push developers to optimize their Android apps for a large screen display.

We’ll Be There

Like last year, Skatter Tech will cover the keynotes and share any other big news. For those looking to attend, the website is now live with a countdown until the event begins, however registration is not open yet. Early bird registration is $450, but the price will jump to $550 after April 16th, 2011. Students looking to attend can get into the event for just $150.

skattertech

Related Posts:

Google IO 2011

Google and also @vicgundotra on twitter announced that the general registration for Google IO will open on Feb 7th.

If you plan on attending Google I/O this year, you better camp out a spot in front of your computer come Monday. The tickets will be on sale after the weekend, but don’t expect them to hang around much longer than that. Google I/O is an extremely popular event with an unfortunately limited number of open spots for those who wish to attend.

Google already opened up pre-registration for some past attendees, but this is the general public’s first crack at making their way in. Will you be there?

The ticketing price will be as follows:

Stay updated on all things Google I/O by following @GoogleIO on Twitter or GoogleIO on Buzz to find out when registration will open. Space is limited so register early. You will have the option to pay your registration fees with a credit card via Google Checkout.

Contact Google I/O 2o11

Google IO 2011 Countdown

Details taken from @vicgundotra and  Google IO 2o11

Google Android Developer Blog & Talk Android

“Fragmentation” is a very common buzzword in the Android world, especially among its critics. But how big of a problem is it, really? Granted, different carriers and different manufacturers like to put their own spin on the OS, but most of that is cosmetic. At the core, most Android devices are running either the 2.1 or 2.2 version of the OS.

The Android developer blog has released numbers, compiled of all the devices that have checked into the market over the last 2 weeks. As it turns out, 57.6% of all devices are running Android 2.2 right now, and 31.4% are running 2.1 – bringing the total between the two up to 89%. With nearly 90% running the same version of the OS, and Google saying that they’re at a point that major updates will be coming out about once a year, that should go a long way to addressing the perception of fragmentation.

Data collected during two weeks ending on February 2, 2011

Yesterday, Google gave everyone their real first good look at Android 3.0, their new OS designed specifically for as Google puts it “devices with larger screen sizes”. For now that pretty much means tablets, but I suppose it could expand to other things like web connected TV’s and such. When Google was asked if Android 3.0 would come to smartphones they replied that it would not, but certain features would arrive on phones over time.

Google has built Android 3.0 from the ground up to run on tablets, specifically to take advantage of the extra screen space and several features just wouldn’t translate well to the much smaller screens found on phones. But there are some features in 3.0 that could really enhance the current experience on Android 2.2 devices such as improved browser functionality, Gmail folder drag-and-drop and a new video editing application called Movie Studio that could possible help folks put a little more production on their mobile vids before posting to the web.

So far though early reports that Motorola’s Xoom tablet running Android 3.0 looks like it will finally present a worthy challenge to the iPad, though until we get our hands on it we can’t confirm. Oh yeah, in case you couldn’t be there to see the reveal live, Google has posted the entire 52 minute event on YouTube. Here’s a tip, skip to the middle.

Wendy Sheehan Donnell – PC Mag

When you look at the Apple iPad’s sales figures, it’s not hard to see why every technology company on the planet is jumping on the tablet bandwagon. The thing is, even despite its wild popularity, not everyone can afford the $500 minimum required to get into the iPad game, and not everyone wants an Apple tablet.

With scores of hardware manufacturers aiming to snag a slice of the big, fat Apple pie, the Android tablet army is growing fast. Too fast, in fact: The truth is, a lot of these tablets just aren’t very good.

In some of the tablets we’ve tested, we’ve encountered flimsy hardware, low-quality resistive touch screens, serious display resolution issues, and poorly skinned or old Android versions with limited or non-existent access to apps. None of this makes for a very enjoyable tablet experience.

That’s not to say that every Android tablet is a disaster. Take the Samsung Galaxy Tab, for example, it’s fast, well-designed, and comes with a decent Android implementation. Overall, the Tab is a solid tablet, but for the price ($250 to $550, depending on the carrier you choose), it should do more than an Android smartphone can. One of the reasons the iPad has been so successful is that it provides a rich tablet-specific experience that you just can’t get on an iPhone.

Google, this week, unveiled Honeycomb, its tablet-specific Android OS, which is sure to usher in an era of higher-quality, more-capable Android devices and better apps to run on them. And from what we’ve experienced with the forthcoming Motorola Xoom, it’s definitely worth waiting for. So unless you need an Android tablet today, you should pass on the models below, and hold out for the next round of Android tablets with Honeycomb.

Tablets in this Roundup:

Read the full reviews linked below, or compare these Android tablets side by side.

Cherrypal CherryPad
$188 direct

The Cherrypal CherryPad has flaws aplenty, including a finicky resistive touch screen. The rock-bottom $188 price is tough to beat, but there are definitely better ways to spend your money.

Coby Kyros MID7015 Internet Touchscreen Tablet
$199 list

The $200 Coby Kyros MID7015 Internet Touchscreen Tablet uses a limited version of Android, doesn’t hook into the full Android Market, and lacks the grace and abilities of more advanced (and expensive) tablets.

Dell Streak 7
$199.99 with a two-year T-Mobile contract

The first Tegra 2 tablet shows the promise of Nvidia’s speedy mobile processor, but the Dell Streak 7 still struggles on several fronts. And fundamental problems, like a low-quality, low-resolution display won’t be helped by a future OS upgrade.

Samsung Galaxy Tab
$249.99 to $549.99 with contract (price depends on carrier)

With solid, well-designed hardware, the Samsung Galaxy Tab for Sprint is the first viable Android-based competitor to the iPad. Don’t get us wrong, the Tab, in all five carrier iterations, is a perfectly fine tablet. But you’re paying a hefty price for a device with a old version of Android, and it’s unclear if the OS will be upgradeable.

Viewsonic Viewpad 7
$599 direct

On paper, the Viewsonic Viewpad 7 has a long and impressive feature list, but its flaws, including a sky-high price, outnumber its features.

Ross Catanzariti – pcworld.idg.com.au

Features: Camera resolution (megapixels): 5. Geotagging: Yes.

What’s Hot: Android 2.3, contoured Super AMOLED display, good battery life

What’s Not: Plastic finish, crashing issues, no microSD card slot, poor quality of voice calls

The Google Nexus S Android phone isn’t a revolutionary smartphone, but remains an excellent option thanks to the 2.3 “Gingerbread” version of Android.

The Google Nexus S Android phone is just the second Google-branded smartphone to hit the market (succeeding the Google Nexus One), and is also the first mobile to natively run the 2.3 version of the Android platform. While the 2.3 “Gingerbread” version of Android is smoother than ever, the Google Nexus S doesn’t bring anything new or revolutionary to the table, even if it remains an excellent smartphone.

Check out our reviews of other top Android phones.

The Google Nexus S has an entirely plastic build. The gloss black finish gives it a sleek look and feel, and the slightly contoured display is responsive and sits comfortably on your cheek when making phone calls. Although it doesn’t feel cheap or flimsy, the Google Nexus S Android phone does have a toy-like resemblance when compared with handsets like the Apple iPhone 4, the HTC Desire and even its predecessor, the Google Nexus One. The Nexus S design is very similar to the Samsung Galaxy S, which makes sense given both phones are manufactured by Samsung.

At 4in, the Google Nexus S has a larger display than its predecessor, and the super AMOLED screen technology also makes it brighter, clearer and more vibrant than the original model. The Nexus S screen is one of the best on the market and is responsive to touch, as are the four touch-sensitive, backlit buttons below the screen.

The Google Nexus S runs the latest 2.3 or “Gingerbread” version of Google’s OS. The new features are best described as refinement rather than revolution; a revamped keyboard, better copy and paste, improved power management, and a slicker user interface are all part of the package. Both text entry and text editing are much more efficient than previous Android iterations, and now almost on par with the slickness of the iPhone. Battery life is also much improved, as our review unit easily lasted over a full day — even with Wi-Fi and auto-sync switched on.

As with all Android-powered smartphones, the software is highly customisable via third-party apps which can be downloaded through the Android Market — Google’s answer to Apple’s App Store. In addition, the new Gingerbread interface is slick and smooth, and the darker colour menus and notifications give the Nexus S a much more professional look. The main menu has a cool scrolling 3D effect, and the new ‘TV Off’ screen-lock animation looks superb.

Unfortunately, we experienced a number of crashes during testing; our review unit inexplicably turned itself off on more than one occasion daily, suggesting that Google still has a few kinks to iron out in the Nexus S software. Thankfully these should come thick and fast in the form of software updates given Google’s commitment to push them out to Nexus devices as soon as they are released.

The Google Nexus S comes with a hefty 16GB of internal storage but disappointingly no microSD card slot. The lack of digital zoom on the camera is also an annoyance, particularly as the Nexus S takes reasonably good quality photos. We were also disappointed with the quality of voice calls; audio quality often sounded distant and tinny.

The Google Nexus S isn’t officially available in Australia, but is sold through online store MobiCity outright and unlocked.

Seen from boston.com

Visit http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/12/a_new_year_rolls_in.html to see the whole album.

One of those is ”Blue Gangsta,” which leaked recently and is probably the funkiest song Jackson’s been associated with in years. Riley described the song as “the next level of the next chapter of ‘Smooth Criminal.’”

Akon — who collaborated with Jackson on the album’s first single ”Hold My Hand” — said that none of the material in his possession is in as finished a state as that track.

“There were a lot of songs we actually got to start up,” Akon told Billboard, “but the problem is we never really got a chance to finish them.” However, he said, “I think whatever he left behind, there’s ways we can make them sound really presentable to people and give them something to hold onto.”

Riley recently told Reuters about the amount of work that was required to make Jackson’s vocals releasable. “I had to do more processing to the voice, which is why people were asking about the authenticity of his voice. What we did was utilize the Melodyne [technology] to get him in key … which is the reason why some of the vibrato sounds a little off or processed, over-processed,” Riley said. He added that the perfectionist Jackson “would never consider it being a final vocal.”

Indeed, Akon said he was “shocked and surprised” by the Michael album because Jackson “wouldn’t want any of his songs to be released if they weren’t completely done.” That is the argument Jackson collaborator Will.i.am has cited when insisting that he will never release the unfinished MJ songs he worked on, adding that the Michael album “disgusts” him.

Akon, however, feels differently.

“The world knows that these songs are not completely finished,” he said. “It’s more of a situation where we can just take it and say, OK, this is something he left behind for us to enjoy. Even though it’s not completely done, it’s a great opportunity to hold on to something that could have been amazing.”

From: rollingstone.com

But would you be so retro and 2009 as to put a little low powered netbook on there? Isn’t the netbook form factor and spec listing so passé?

Well, Google certainly doesn’t seem to think so and is hoping to bring netbook sexy back with its Chrome OS powered devices due to hit shelves by mid-2011.

Chrome OS devices are something of a Nexus One for the netbook world, with Google hoping to set the bar and define the standard, dictating all the specs and conditions the little lappies must have in order to run Google’s cloud based lightweight OS.

Sure, there may eventually be a ton of vendors coming out with similar spec’d, samey looking Chrome netbooks, but individuality is so 1990s. 

And besides, we all conform to the god of Mountain View these days.

Google has specified that its initial chromey netbook prototypes will feature a 12-inch display with a full-sized keyboard, a large, clickable touchpad, integrated webcam, 3G/Wi-Fi connectivity, an SSD, Intel Atom CPU and a purported eight hours of active use, plus eight days standby.

All the netbook prototypes will also sport Qualcomm’s Gobi 2000 global mobile Internet offering – and Google has even inked a deal with Verizon to provide data connectivity to Chrome-based netbooks.

But is it enough?

TG Daily asked RCR Unplugged editor Sylvie Barak what she thought of Google’s upcoming Chrome OS strategy only to get a noncommittal shrug.

“Trends come and go in this industry, and it’s hard to predict what will hit the mark six months down the line, but right now, netbooks just seem a little old school, especially with tablets creating all the buzz as the new kids on the block in the tech world,” she told us.

“Still, who knows? Tablets are certainly creating a lot of noise, but a lot of people say they haven’t really found a rock solid usage scenario for them yet and that they don’t satisfy the need of productive computing on the go, being more of an entertainment and media device, so maybe Google will really hit the ultra-mobile productivity market with Chrome OS netbooks.”

Another thing which works in the Chrome OS netbook’s favor is Chrome OS itself, said Barak, noting that Windows had just been a bit clunky and cumbersome for netbooks, but that those netbooks which had tried to use a lighter based linux OS in the past had failed owing to lack of user familiarity.

But with so many people already using Google’s Chrome Browser, Chrome OS stood a large chance of winning over the masses and that combined with Intel’s improved Atom chip and a super-fast SSD, the netbooks could prove extremely zippy and useful.

Anyway, who doesn’t like a light, portable, fast PC?

But then there’s always the cloud computing issue and the fears people still have about storing most of their data in the ether.

Would it be handing too much control over to Google? 

Do we really want Google controlling everything we do from web surfing to documents to gaming?

What happens if Google has downtime and not just your email, but all your important documents are inaccessible for hours at a time? What happens if you can’t get a connection?

It’s just a bit risky and unnerving. I’m not sure I’d feel entirely comfortable with it.

Thus, reviewing all the pros and cons we have to say the Chrome OS issue still presents us with a largely mixed bag of opinions, but if Google pulls this off, it could certainly redefine the mobile computing niche for the next few years.

From: tgdaily

I purchased the Google Nexus One back in January at CES and at the time there were also just a couple of new features over devices like the Motorola Droid, including the 1 GHz Snapdragon processor and Android 2.1 OS. I wasn’t going to buy that device before launch and then I did anyway because it really was the best Android device on T-Mobile. The Nexus S will again be launching with support for T-Mobile 3G and I said on MoTR podcast #225 that I won’t be getting one.

There is a huge difference between now and when the Nexus One was released, primarily in the number and specifications of existing Android devices. There are several devices available now that have MUCH more compelling specifications and features than the Nexus S and it really turns into just another Android device in a crowded market. Even if we just look at T-Mobile, we see that the myTouch 4G and T-Mobile G2 are better devices overall than the Nexus S with support for T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network, microSD card support, and more. They will both likely get the Android 2.3 update so NFC will be the only real unique feature of the Nexus S while it still will not support their faster HSPA+ network.

I expected the Google Nexus S to have support for HSPA+, camera on the order of 8 megapixels with HD video recording, minimum 32GB integrated memory and microSD card slot, next generation mobile processor, and Bluetooth 3.0. Currently, my Nokia N8 has the best specifications on paper of ANY mobile phone currently on the market with the penta-band 3G radio, Bluetooth 3.0, FM radio, FM transmitter, 12 megapixel camera with HD video recording, USB on-the-go, HDMI out, and more. Specs like this is what I expected from a flagship Android device kicking off a new Android OS.

The Nexus S looks to be a fine Android device and if you are on T-Mobile and want a pure Google device then you might want to consider it. The limited memory with no microSD card, mid-level camera, and lack of HSPA+ kill it off as a choice I would consider. With CES 2011 just around the corner and likely news of webOS devices, new Android 2.3 devices, and more I really don’t know why you would buy the Nexus S. You can check out links to several reviews of the Nexus S on the Android and Me site to see what people who have tested the Nexus S are saying about it.

From zdnet.com

The power of Twitter has revealed that the Samsung Galaxy S will receive an update to Android Gingerbread 2.3. Customers in India asked Samsung via Twitter whether the Galaxy S would get an upgrade to 2.3 and two Tweets confirmed that it would, however no release date has been given.

Game developers only got their hands on Android Gingerbread 2.3 last week so it will at least be a few weeks before an update to the Galaxy S is ready. Other manufacturers hoping on the Gingerbread bandwagon quickly include LG who is said to be in the process of updating the LG optimus. HTC have also confirmed that their range of Android devices will also receive the update but much like the others there is no clear indication when.

Android Honeycomb (3.0) has already been spotted on a Motorola device so expect to see a fairly brisk rollout of Gingerbread on the above devices, as for others we will have to wait and see.

Do you have an Android Smartphone and do you think Gingerbread will be made available on it?

Seen on : gadgetsandgizmos.org

“You might see land masses and mountains made up of diamonds.”

Astronomers are saying that it’s the first carbon-rich planet ever observed. Planets in our solar system typically have a 1 to 2 carbon to oxygen ratio, Wasp-12b, on the other hand, has more carbon than oxygen. Because of all that carbon (and that there’s no water on the planet), astronomers believe that Wasp-12b could have diamonds in its core (but current technology is limiting them from seeing the actual core).

Before you start building your DIY space shuttle though, you should know that the planet is 1,200 light years away and ridiculously, ridiculously hot (like 2315 degrees Celsius hot). There was also murmurs that Wasp-12b was going to be eaten by its star. So maybe diamonds aren’t forever.

Image Credit: NASA

Also seen on: The Star & BBC & Gizmodo

Like we did with Froyo and dessert named Android updates before that, Android 2.3, has been unleashed as the Samsung Nexus S becomes the first smartphone to host the latest version of the Google mobile OS.

But how will Gingerbread change the way we use Android-powered devices in the future? We take a look what lies in store for Android fans.

See below for our snapshot view of the Android 2.3 Gingerbread: Best features.

1/ Gaming

The presence of Android games in the Android Market continues to grow steadily, but in terms of quality it still lags behind the App Store. In the words of Google, Android 2.3 focuses “On optimizing performance and tools for games development”.

So what does that mean for users? Well crucially, there is now support for gyroscope, rotation vector, linear acceleration, gravity, and barometer sensors, which means app developers can create games which you have more responsive control. This is nothing new to iPhone games, but for Android it’s a step closer to delivering equally as impressive games.

Of course, with talk of a PlayStation Phone, and the evidence of gaming buttons in Android 2.3 coding, Gingerbread could herald a whole host of gaming devices landing in the future.

2/ New-look UI

According the Google Developer page, devices like the Nexus S will benefit from a UI that is “a simplified visual theme of colours against black brings vividness and contrast to the notification bar, menus, and other parts of the UI”. The hope is that user experience will be much quicker and learning to use the UI will be whole lot easier.

3/ New keyboard

The on-screen keyboard has been refined to help deliver speedier typing and editing while some keys have been redesigned and reshaped all together. Multi-touch support is also a notable new addition.

4/ Near-field communications

NFC (Near-field communications) has been one of the key features discussed when talk of Android 2.3 first began to surface, and a NFC-reader application has officially arrived.  The idea is turn devices into bio wallets by placing a NFC chip into your phone means you will be able to scan information from items and then buy them through your handset without the use of a credit card.

5/ Front-facing camera support

Extremely beneficial for app developers, the new OS helps to identify whether the front-facing camera or the rear-facing camera is best suited to the particular app they are developing. With all the talk about FaceTime, that should benefit video calling apps and camera apps that require higher resolution images.

6/ Internet telephone over SIP

Developers can now create apps with internet calling integrated into the app. A SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) account will be required to access internet phoning however.

7/ App Manager

Helping you keep an eye on what apps are running on your device, you can now manage your applications from the Options Menu and Launcher. This should come in handy when you are trying to conserve battery life and the identifying the biggest memory-munching apps.

8/ Copy and paste

Hoping to deliver an iPhone-like copy and paste experience, 2.3 has made the browsing tool easier to use by letting users drag markers over areas and then copying it to the clipboard.

9/ Better audio for apps

Developers will now be able to integrate audio effects such as bass boost, headphone virtualization and reverb into applications so users can benefit from a richer audio experience from their Android devices.

10/ Extra large screen support

Crucially, the Gingerbread OS brings support for larger screen devices which could see the OS appearing on one or two tablets in the very near future.

From T3.com

Now we want to take a look at the Chrome OS vs. Android vs. Windows 7 to see how these different operating systems compare. J. R. Raphael over on Computerworld has looked at the differences between Chrome OS and Android.

The article points out that since Google’s Chrome OS was announced last summer, Android has made substantial gains in the smartphone market and also adds that since the netbook was planned tablet devices have gained in popularity against netbooks and laptops.

The article goes on to break down the differences between the two operating systems such as Chrome OS being mainly intended for netbooks while Android is predominantly for smartphones and also tablets. There have been hints though that Chrome OS will eventually be used on TV’s and tablets too.

Also Google’s Chrome OS will operate almost completely off the Internet and have a very simple interface when compared with Android. Chrome OS will also automatically update itself but won’t run Android apps and won’t run usual PC software.

Meanwhile Jon Brodkin over on PC World has been comparing Google Chrome OS to Windows and points out the strong foothold that Windows 7 already has among enterprise netbook buyers and asks if Chrome OS really holds any threat to Windows. For much more on this read his full article on the link above.

What are your thoughts on the Google’s Chrome OS? What sort of competition will it pose for Android and Windows? We’d be interested to hear your views on this so why not send us your comments.

This article also appeared on onlinesocialmedia.net

There is, therefore, a considerable heart skip that accompanies the launch of the new Nexus S from Google. For this is a phone that offers nothing but the very essence of Google, without even bothering to throw in a free gourmet lunch.

The launch brings with it an ad (yes, every so-called promotional video is an ad) that makes me want to thrust on my trousers and shop.

The only slight issue is that it moves me not to Best Buy but rather to Zappos.com. You see, this ad is full of some of the most delightful, quirky, stylish, and versatile shoes that I have seen in some time. And I find myself staring at them, wondering which ones to choose and whether Zappos will have my size.

This might not be the first purpose of the ad. But then again, every ad places the product in some kind of cultural context. Those with fine, young cultural antennae will be able to see that folks who wear fine, young cultural shoes should definitely be clutching a fine, young, cultural phone.

Apple has shown the way in the use of the lower body to entice. Its launch of the iPad featured the thighs and feet of the mightily trendless, those who dress in an everyday manner because they know that magical revolution comes not from Miu Mius but from gadgets.

Perhaps this ad’s creators wish to emulate the lower body’s selling power. They happen to be the same folks who brought you that finely demented 10-minute ad for Google Mobile. You know, the one in which a nice man had one mere word of dialogue– “pizza”–but was forced to say it to the borders of infinity.

I have yet to clutch the Nexus S and take it for a walk. However, I will have to wait a little longer, as I must hop online now and order a pair of those really cute black sandals.

-CNET

There was so much talk about this lightweight operating system for so long and then it drifted off into the background. The attention is being diverted back and the Google event on December 7 could be the venue for its unveiling. As a quick refresher, Chrome OS focuses almost exclusively on cloud computing, making for very little heavy lifting on the part of the netbook itself; everything is handled by Google’s servers.

The idea is that the netbook doesn’t need much and the Atom processors making their way around most netbooks would suit this OS just fine. The rumor is that the initial rollout of the Chrome OS netbook (NexusBook, maybe?) will be on a friends and family basis, shipping about 65,000 units worldwide. After that trial phase, Google can then decide whether it wants to go mass market with this thing.

-mobilemag

Maybe and maybe not.

The rumor mill has been churning for months.

Most recently, Digitimes, a Taiwanese Website, reported that smartbooks featuring Chrome operating system would debut this month. Back in August, a newly released beta of Chome 6 hinted at a tablet possibility. Menus were optimized for touch and reports said we might see aChrome tablet in November.

Google’s chief executive, Eric Schmidt, blasted both rumors. He told reporters at the Web 2.0 summit that Chrome is designed for devices with a physical keyboard and won’t be available for a few months.

Tuesday’s event might be the halfway point between Schmidt’s comment and a public release of the device.

Engadget seems to think all signs point to a launch of the Chrome netbook on Tuesday, but is saying only around 65,000 units will be available “to Google’s closest ‘friends and family’.” Engadget also got its mitts on a supposed image of the Chrome netbook keyboard on Friday. The tech blog does note that the keyboard looks pretty darn similar to the configuration of an earlier Acer Chrome netbook.

Whether this is an photo of an actual Google-branded device is up in the air, but it is interesting to note a few Web-related features. The caps lock key is switched out for a search button, the shift key has a caps indicator light and a few navigating function keys are positioned above the number row.

One thing is for sure, the clock is working against Google on this one.

Google first announced Chrome OS in 2009. The operating system was designed to be fast, web-focused, have a quick-start up time and run on devices with solid-state drives. Oh yeah, and Google even plans a Web store for Chrome apps. Back then, Google said that its partners, including ASUS, HP, Lenovo, and Toshiba, would have netbooks released in time for the holidays this year.

Netbooks were all the rage in 2009, but that isn’t really the case in 2010. The iPad and other tablets have shown up on the scene and are destroying netbook sales. Google would be smart to hedge its bets, and make its beta OS a little more future-proof.

When Google announced Chrome in a blog post, it said:

“Google Chrome OS is a new project, separate from Android. Android was designed from the beginning to work across a variety of devices from phones to set-top boxes to netbooks. Google Chrome OS is being created for people who spend most of their time on the Web, and is being designed to power computers ranging from small netbooks to full-size desktop systems.”

Do we really need Chrome OS for netbooks/desktops and Android for our portable devices? Why does it matter how people plan to use their device? Sounds like a recipe to further the fragmentation problemfacing Big G’s fan base.

Speed and ease of use are always king. If Google has a few tricks up its sleeve for Web browsing on Chrome, why not roll them into one future OS — say that ‘Gingerbread’ deal I’ve been hearing so much about.

Give us what Apple and Microsoft haven’t: one operating system that can work with or without a keyboard and on a wide variety of devices. Then you’ll be set for life.

-pcworld

It's about like 2 weeks ago from today I went to China. I headed to the airport, Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 3 at around 10 pm on 19th November. I had my vacation in China for 9 days and by 29th of November I'm back in Singapore. 

You can watch my video about my China Video Update. Its like uploaded in Youtube on 16th of November. I will be writing an essay on my China's Journey.

TUNE TO HD MODE FOR EXCELLENT QUALITY! 

Berpenat lelah dengan sia-sia saja.

Mencari jejak dalam air.
Pekerjaan yang sukar dan sia-sia.

Mencabik mudah, menjahit susah.
Mencari perselisihan mudah tetapi mencari perdamaian susah.

Sembahyang mencari akal, rukuk mencari kira-kira.
Rupanya salih, tetapi hatinya amat jahat; munafik.

Korek lubang ulat.
Sengaja mencari perselisihan.

Mengusir asap, meninggalkan api.
Mencari sesuatu yang kurang penting, meninggalkan yang lebih penting.

Dalam rumah membuat rumah.
Mencari keuntungan atas ongkos orang lain.

Sumber: Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu, Dewan Bahasa Dan Pustaka

The culinary move comes in the wake of Google’s first big clue that Gingerbread was nearing release—the launch of a giant Gingerbread man in the front of the company’s Mountain View, Calif. headquarters. It’s been a longstanding tradition that larger-than-life replications of the company’s mobile OS codenames, all conveniently themed around delicious desserts, get added to the ever-expanding “sculpture gallery” at Google.

So what, then, can users expect to see upon the ideally imminent release of the upgraded OS? According to Phandroid, the user interface has been shuffled around a bit to the benefit of Android’s native applications—they’ll now appear as more integrated parts of the operating system, rather than add-on accessories in the same styling of a conventional downloaded application.

Video chat is allegedly integrated into the Gingerbread OS—a move that wastes no time in arriving, given Apple’s push toward making its Facetime video chatting service an industry standard. Provided carriers allow it, Google also allegedly intends to integrate VoIP service directly into its mobile OS.

While that might not be as big a deal for the mobile market, the cost of data plans being what they are, it would be quite a line in the sand for future tablet devices based on the Android OS. After all, one could then pick up an iPad-like device without having to pony up monthly fees to a carrier for any communications or data. Integrated wireless connectivity could solve the latter, and integrated Voice over IP functionality (through Google Voice?) could theoretically allow the tablet to serve as a kind-of phone replacement, if necessary.

There’s no official release date for Gingerbread, nor the Samsung Nexus S—a device originally rumored to be hitting the market this month, and one whose front-facing camera would be an ideal match for the aforementioned Android 2.3 features. With pictures of both currently making rounds in the market, however, it’s safe to say that the Gingerbread Man is coming soon to Android users soon. And, with luck, he’ll have some new hardware for his features to actually work with.

-PCMAG

Google settles Buzz lawsuit for $8.5 million, doesn’t quite own up to its mistakes

It may not have admitted to any wrongdoing but Google has agreed to pay up to $8.5 million to settle a lawsuit emanating from the launch of its social media venture Buzz.

According to Google, a preliminary approval for the settlement of its Buzz lawsuit has been granted. As a result, Google could end up dedicating $8.5 million to promote Internet privacy.

A complaint was filed by Buzz users to FTC after its debut last year. The complaint stemmed from the default signing to Buzz of all Google users, without their permission, Google’s mistake was following the assumption that the most emailed contacts of a user are considered “friends” and are thus privy to the user’s shared information.

In a rare message to its Gmail users, Google wrote, “The settlement acknowledges that we quickly changed the service to address users’ concerns…We will also do more to educate people about privacy controls specific to Buzz. The more people know about privacy online, the better their online experience will be.”

The e-mail also notes, “Just to be clear, this is not a settlement in which people who use Gmail can file to receive compensation.” So ends one of Google’s many legal sagas – almost. Final approval of the settlement will be released by January.

It can be recalled that Google CEO Eric Schmidt told Guardian CEO Alan Rusbridger that “Buzz is an example where when we introduced it, the user interface we used, made it appear that we were releasing to your friends and to people you thought were your friends, your private email information.

This was not in fact true, but the appearance drove people crazy. Now we fixed it in four calendar days, but it was an example of a launch error. It was difficult to recover from that and I think it was an example of and a good reminder to us of how sensitive people are to the questions that you’re asking, and I think we’ve learned from it.”
The settlement, while contradictory to this statement, is not however meant to compensate any Google user.

“Just to be clear, this is not a settlement in which people who use Gmail can file to receive compensation. Everyone in the U.S. who uses Gmail is included in the settlement, unless you personally decide to opt out before December 6, 2010. The Court will consider final approval of the agreement on January 31, 2011,” was Google’s statement.

golftalk.co.uk

In addition to being the third most popular Linuxdistribution out there, Mint is of considerable interest right now because the release candidate (RC) version of Linux Mint 10 was just released. That means the next stable release is just around the corner. Also known as “Julia,” the new version is based on Ubuntu 10.10 and offers a correspondingly improved level of user friendliness.

Even before this latest release, in fact, many people have found Linux Mint even easier to use than Ubuntu, thanks in part to a series of graphical tools for enhanced usability. New improvements in “Julia,” however, appear to be making Mint even better.

Whether you’re considering trying out Linux for your business for the first time or just interested in experiencing for yourself the cutting edge in Linux usability, Linux Mint 10 is well worth a look. Here are some of the enhancements you can expect in this new version.

1. System Improvements

Along with Ubuntu 10.10, Linux Mint 10 RC is based on version 2.6.35 of the Linux kernel along with version 2.32 of the GNOME desktop environment and X.org 7.5. All of these bring with them a raft of security and other improvements.

Also incorporated in Julia is the latest Adobe Flash “Square” running in full 32-bit or 64-bit native mode, depending on which Linux Mint edition you choose. This plug-in is faster than its predecessor, especially in full-screen mode, according to the Mint development team.

A new package in Julia, meanwhile, points to the non-open source version of Oracle’s VirtualBox virtualization software and provides USB support.

2. Compatibility

Linux Mint has long enjoyed a well-deserved reputation for excellent compatibility since it has included a variety of proprietary multimedia codecs that are often absent from larger distributions. With support for media codecs, Flash and Java, for example, it can play just about anything you ask it to.

Now, with version 10, Mint has added a way for users installing the operating system from any medium to upgrade to the DVD edition right from the Welcome Screen, including the ability to install any missing multimedia codecs.

3. An Improved Menu

The Linux Mint menu in version 10 reflects a number of enhancements, including support for GTK themes and bookmarks, and direct access to search capabilities. The menu is also now aware of what’s available in your repositories, so you can search for software and install packages without even having to open the Software Manager.

That Software Manager, meanwhile, has also been updated for better categorization. Other changes make it easier to find newly installed applications and to customize the menu’s appearance.

4. A New Look and Feel

After three releases with the beautiful green-and-dark Shiki theme, Linux Mint Julia reflects a return to the distribution’s traditional light theme and dark background. This time, however, it’s giving the theme a metallic look called Mint-X. A number of artist-created backgrounds are also available, and the desktop menu and welcome screen were both given the appearance of brushed metal.

Mint also features a nice Update Manager that lets you control which of your applications get automatically updated. And, like Ubuntu, it includes a raft of excellent bundled software including OpenOffice and Firefox.

Of course, as a release candidate, the current version of Linux Mint 10 is aimed primarily at developers and others who want to help find and correct bugs; there are a few known problems, so it’s not yet recommended for production environments. Still, it is a nice way to see what’s next for the user-friendly distribution, and more generally to give Linux a try.

The latest current stable release of Linux Mint is version 9, which is based on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS. The stable release of Linux Mint 10 is expected next month and will be supported until April 2012.

-PCWORLD

Fedora 14 ships with GNOME 2.32, a transitional GNOME release that introduces some important architectural changes under the hood in preparation for GNOME 3. There aren’t many new GNOME features on the surface, however, because the GNOME developers are largely focused on preparing a new shell that will significantly overhaul the next version of the desktop. KDE 4.5, which was released in August, is also available in Fedora 14. It has a new notification system and preliminary support for tiling in the KWin window manager.

Programming tools got a major boost in Fedora 14. An LLVM-based compiler for the D programming language and an associated runtime library were added to the package repositories. There are also new packages for Rakudo, an implementation of Perl 6. Fedora’s excellent support for Python continues to shine in version 14, which includes Python 2.7 out of the box as the standard Python version. Python 3, which was introduced in Fedora 13 earlier this year, can be installed in parallel from the repositories.

Fedora 14 also has some nice development tool improvements. It includes Netbeans 6.9 and the latest version of Eclipse, which was released in June. The Gdb debugger got some performance improvements and a new feature for analyzing memory usage.

Due to Red Hat’s significant investments in virtualization technology and ongoing stewardship of kvm, Fedora often serves as a testbed for the latest virtualization technologies. Fedora 14 includes Spice, which enables more seamless interaction with virtualized desktops. It can be used to connect to remote or local QEMU virtual machine instances and is designed to handle 2D graphics acceleration, audio support, and video streaming. The developers recommend using a 64-bit software environment on the host, but the client can be either x86 or x86-64.

I tested Fedora 14 on my Dell Mini 10 netbook. It worked as expected and didn’t pose any unanticipated challenges.

Users can download the Fedora 14 installable Live CD image from the project’s website. A number of other variants are also available, including a KDE-based Live CD and a full DVD installer. For more details, you can refer to the official Fedora 14 release notes.

The first signs of the handset came October 26 when City A.M.claimed there would be a new Google-branded device out in time for the holidays. Then, a few days later, AndroidAndMereported what could be the hardware specifications of the phone. Today, however, Samsung denied that such a phone is coming. So, realistically, what are we to expect?

Remember the Nexus One
As you probably know, one of the biggest reasons for the early demise of the Nexus One was its distribution model. Without the ability to walk into a store to play with the phone, potential customers were unable to evaluate the handset’s interface and how it felt in hand.

This problem could be solved if, as City A.M. reports, the Nexus Two is sold through Carphone Warehouse in the United Kingdom and its partner Best Buy in the United States. Using a big-box retailer certainly would let customers get hands-on experience with the phone before buying.

Gingerbread
City A.M.’s article also mentioned that the Google device would run Gingerbread, the latest version of Android. The timing on this rumor is particularly interesting.

At its headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., Google recently placed a giant gingerbread man on the lawn where it has placed likenesses of previous versions of the platform. And anyone who follows Android closely knows that the arrival of a big “dessert” at the Googleplex is followed closely by an announcement of a new build of Android. With only two months remaining in the year, there isn’t much time to waste if a Gingerbread-based phone is going to be released.

Samsung’s story

Despite its denial, is Samsung offering any clues? Though the company has scheduled a November 8 event where it will unveil a new Android smartphone, Sammy will more likely debut its new dual-screen Continuum smartphone. On the bottom of its main display, the Continuum will feature a second display called a “ticker.” Indeed, the event’s invitation shows a ticker graphic.

Mobile blog PhoneArena also is reporting that the Continuum will launch across all Verizon channels on November 11, only three days after the Samsung announcement in New York. On the other hand, AndroidAndMe believes Samsung might pull a bait-and-switch and announce the “Nexus Two” instead. Personally, I find this tough to believe, but that’s not to say AndroidAndMe doesn’t have credible sources.

On the inside and outside
Two days later, AndroidAndMe posted what it believes to be the final hardware specs of the Nexus Two. Among the details are a 1.2GHz processor, 512MB RAM, 16GB internal storage, and a 4-inch AMOLED display. Other features, including the 5-megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS, make me think of today’s Galaxy S series phones.

Aside from the faster processor, it matches up nicely with the likes of the Vibrant and the Captivate. So what makes this potential phone so special? In a word, Gingerbread. The next release of Android should focus on aesthetics and have a new, cleaner interface with more polish. Add to the fact that it’s a plain, vanilla version of Android and you have the attention of purists and developers alike.

As for a design, a Gizmodo reader claims to have spent some time playing with the phone last week anddescribed it as a Galaxy S-like phone but with a concave screen and tapered profile. Other elements should include a 4-inch AMOLED display and the standard Android touch controls.

Looking ahead
So after all of this, where do we stand with this Nexus Two? I’d put my money on a Samsung phone that bears the hardware listed above. It’s not so far-fetched to think Samsung doesn’t want to push the Galaxy S series forward with faster processors and the latest version of Android. What’s more, Motorola and HTC have shared in launching a new build of the platform, so why can’t Samsung?

I’m still unsure whether it will really come through a Best Buy and Carphone Warehouse exclusive deal. All things considered, though, I think that the Nexus Two exists in some capacity and that it will be announced shortly.

Does anyone else find it ironic that Samsung’s November 8 announcement may only be the unveiling of a new dual-screen Android phone?

I need you guys to choose which photography is the nicest.

All i need you is to comment the photograph number. If you need to give me any feedbacks, do so

If the comments is closed, you may email to me (me@muazrudy.com)

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

]]> http://www.muazrudy.com/2010/11/muazs-best-photographys-selected/feed/ 2 http://www.muazrudy.com/2010/11/halloween-celebrated-with-new-scooby-doo-interactive-google-doodle/ http://www.muazrudy.com/2010/11/halloween-celebrated-with-new-scooby-doo-interactive-google-doodle/#comments Mon, 01 Nov 2010 03:24:19 +0000 Muaz http://www.muazrudy.com/?p=1209

(More)…]]> Hallowe’en has been celebrated with a special “Scooby Doo” ghostbusting Google doodle as tens of millions of children head out for their sugar-fuelled “trick or treat” masquerade.

When users go to the search engine’s home page they are greeted to five elaborate illustrations, which have been designed in celebration for the annual day celebrated on October 31.

Each picture shows the Hanna-Barbera’s zany teen ghostbusters being chased by ghosts – Fred “Freddie” Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, Norville “Shaggy” Rogers and Scooby Doo – are shown investigating Halloween style clues in a bid to solve why the Google logo is missing.

The fourth illustration shows the hapless Shaggy and Scooby being scared by ghosts before the final colourful illustration shows the team surrounded by smiling pumpkins with the “villain” captured.

As one of the most infamous Great Danes, Scooby-Doo once said: “Rimage ris everything.”

The popular Scooby Doo television adventure series has been a children’s favourite since its creation in 1969. It follows the Mystery Machine-travelling gang on a series of ghostbusting adventures.

The cartoon show was created by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears with “Scoob” taking various forms has been a popular series ever since which evolved into a2002 live-action Hollywood film.

Scooby has a speech impediment, which leaves him saying the letter R at the beginning of each word while having a healthy appetite which helps satisfy his obsession with “Scooby snacks”.

Some have also speculated that the lob of a basketball that appears to “solve” the mystery was in tribute to the animated Harlem Globetrotters show.

Sunday’s design is perhaps Google’s most ambitious interactive doodle to date and is reflective of a new style of interactive Doodles that have been created by the tech company.

Earlier this month John Lennon, the late Beatles singer, was celebrated with a special interactive Google doodle to commemorate what would have been his 70th birthday.

It launched its first fully-interactive Doodle in May to celebrate the 30th birthday of Pac-Man. The graphic allowed the Pac-Man character to be moved using the arrow keys on the keyboard.

It was later claimed that the Pac-Man Doodle led to almost five million wasted hours and cost the economy around $120 million dollars, with office workers unable to tear themselves away from the rudimentary computer game.

Over the past 12 years Google has created more than 900 Doodles to mark various birthdays, anniversaries and major world events.

Last year a series of Doodles showing UFOs and crop circles caused lengthy speculation before it was revealed that they were celebrating the birthday of HG Wells, the science fiction author.

The Gothic novelist Mary Shelly was honoured on the 213th anniversary of her birth with what was described by some bloggers as “the creepiest Doodle ever“.

Most recently, Google celebrated its own 12th birthday with an image of a birthday cake.

The 50th anniversary of The Flintstones was celebrated by the search engine giant.

The first Google Doodle was born in 1998 when the search engine’s founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page replaced the logo with a picture of a Burning Man, to notify the world that they had gone on holiday to the Burning Man Festival.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — October was another strong month for markets, but uncertainty kept stocks in a tight range over the past week.

Now, some of that uncertainty is about to fade.

The first week of November brings three events that have the potential to shake up markets: the Federal Reserve’s meeting, the midterm elections and the release of the government’s October jobs report.

“We have a triple play coming up,” said Doug Roberts, a chief investment strategist at Channel Capital Research. “These three events are going to overshadow everything else.”

While the S&P 500 and Dow logged their best October in several years, major indexes simmered in the last week of the month as investors stayed on the sidelines amid a raft of economic reports.

“We’ve seen all that we need to see of the economic data, there are no surprises now — it’s still the weakest recovery we’ve seen in generations,” said David Sandell, portfolio manager at Leeb Capital. “It’s clear that we need more help, and whether it comes out of the Fed or out of Washington remains to be seen, but likely we’ll see it from both.”

Elections: Wall Street is banking on a win for Republicans in Tuesday’s midterm elections, a change that many investors believe to be pro-business and therefore a boost to the market.

“There’s pretty decent certainty that Republicans will take over the House, but the question is whether they will take over the Senate,” said Roberts. “Either way, the results will lift a little bit of uncertainty.”

Fed decision: Investors will be pouring over the Federal Open Market Committee’s meeting announcement, released Wednesday.

The Fed is widely expected to launch another round of monetary stimulus in an effort to boost the economy.

Just the anticipation of the move — referred to as quantitative easing — has pushed the S&P 500 up 11% since the Fed’s intentions were announced in August. Now the question is how big the injection will actually be.

“People are wondering, ‘is it going to be $500 billion? $1 trillion? $2 trillion?’,” said Roberts. “If the size of the stimulus is less than expected then you might have a little bit of a sell-off, but the market would accept a smaller amount positively if [the Fed] indicates continuity with it and says it won’t stop until they achieve their goals.”

Jobs report: The third piece of the triple play is the government’s closely watched jobs report.

Since the extent of quantitative easing is expected to be known by the time the jobs report is released Friday, investors will be eyeing it for signs of whether the Fed’s action was warranted.

Employers are expected to have added 45,000 jobs in October after cutting payrolls by 95,000 the month before. The unemployment rate is expected to hold steady at 9.6%.

Home run?: If the midterm elections result in a power change, the Fed provides an appropriate boost to the economy and the jobs report shows signs of life, stocks will likely get a significant lift — at least for the short-term.

“Everything has to fall into place correctly next week to continue going higher,” said Alan Lancz, president of Alan B. Lancz & Associates.

Monday: A report on personal income and spending is due before the market open. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com expect income to have risen 0.3% in September after jumping 0.5% in August.

The Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index for October is on tap in the morning and is expected to have edged down to 54 from 54.4 in September. Any number above 50 indicates growth in the sector.

Construction spending is forecast to have ticked down 0.5% in September, following a rise of 0.4% in August.

Tuesday: On top of midterm elections, the FOMC meeting begins and BP is slated to report results.

Wednesday: The FOMC’s rate decision is due at 2:15 p.m. ET. Economists expect the Fed to leave key interest rates unchanged at a range of between 0% and 0.25%.

WHY FED’s bold move wont work

Payroll services firm ADP is forecast to report that employers in the private sector added 25,000 workers to their payrolls in October after cutting 39,000 in the previous month. Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas issues its report on planned job cuts in October.

Factory orders are due from the Commerce Department. Orders are expected to have edged up 0.6% in September after slipping 0.5% in August.

The ISM services sector index for October is expected to have ticked up slightly to 53.6 from 53.2 in September.

Auto and truck sales are due throughout the day, and the government’s weekly oil inventory report is also released Wednesday.

Time Warner (TWC, Fortune 500), AOL (AOL), CVS Caremark (CVS,Fortune 500) and News Corp. (NWSA) are all on tap to release earnings.

Thursday: The government’s weekly jobless claims report comes out Thursday, with 450,000 Americans expected to file new claims for unemployment, after 434,000 were filed in the previous week.

October same-store sales figures from major retailers are due in the morning, along with a report on third-quarter business productivity from the Commerce.

Results from Cablevision (CVC, Fortune 500), DirecTV (DTV, Fortune 500) and Sirius XM (SIRI) are on deck.

Friday: In addition to the government’s big jobs report, the National Association of Realtors releases its pending home sales index, a measure of sales contracts for existing homes.

The index is due before the start of trading and is expected to have risen 0.5% in September after rising 4.3% in August.

A report on consumer credit is forecast to show a decline of $3.8 billion in September, following a drop of $3.3 billion in the previous month.

- CNN MONEY

No wraparounds, it’s all glass forward, and like we said last time, you’ll be the absolute most fashionable person in a crowded room full of people decidedly not looking in your direction for the entire duration of the glasses’ applicable use. Look for these to hit your local US Gucci boutique — if you have to ask where, it probably wasn’t on your purchase list anyway — for $225. Your move, Louis Vuitton.

- LA Times

I don’t want to say she’s my kind
I don’t want to say that she’s mine
I don’t want to tell her that I love her more than life

More than life, Yeah
Love her more than life
Yeah, yeah, yeah

I could take it as a new beginning
But you know I don’t feel that way
Who will take all this pain away?
I know it’s wrong for me to say

Watch a video here of a Minature effect with 10x Playback Speed HD video recording took from Canon PowerShot SX130 IS.

Took at City Hall, Singapore.

There are some HOT features that I want to highlight.

• HD 720p video recording
• Minature Effect photography and video recording
• Fisheye effect photography
• More colour effects
• Stereo sound recording

Watch a video review here

Finally, a product that might finally make this whole internet thing worthwhile by allowing someone to copy a file over it. Amazing, right?

Okay, facetiousness aside, it’s a little hard to get too excited about a product that will obviously cost something yet replicates a task easily performed for free, but the iTwin does make the process even more easy.

It’s basically a double-sided thumb drive that splits apart in the middle; plug one half into one computer and the other into the second and instantly you can drag and drop files from place to place.

An absolute computer novice could handle this, but we have to wonder: how many computer novices are swapping files anyway? If this also allowed remote terminal control so that you could fix problems on your mother’s computer while beaming over the latest pictures of the kids (and their illegally downloaded music) we might be a little more optimistic.

No mention of price or availability, but there is a video demonstration below proving the tech works — even if the demo touchpad apparently doesn’t.

via Engadget , TechCrunch

The HD7 has a slight resemblance to the HTC Evo 4G as well as HTC HD 2 when it comes to the design. The mobile device features a 4.3-inch WVGA capacitive touch screen. It is considered to be the largest displaye compared to other Windows Phone 7 devices. The screen is bright enough to view multimedia as well as text. Moreover, the HD7 boasts of a large onscreen keyboard, which is easy in usage.

In comparison with the Evo 4G, the HD 7 feels a bit slimmer and it is solid. It integrates a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, due to which it is fast and is able to fulfill all the necessary tasks. The mobile device comes with 16GB of internal memory.

It is believed that the HD7 will hit the shelves in the middle of November. Note that the HD7 will be bundled with a number of extra services offered by T-Mobile, such as T-Mobile TV, Netflix and T-Mobile Family Room app.

It looks like HTC will offer a good smartphone for consumers, and we hope that soon we will be able to get our hands on the handset.

That changes now, with Google adding 20 countries to its list of approved submitters, meaning developers living in 29 nations are eligible to submit paid apps to the Market. Over the next two weeks the purchasing of those apps will be flipped on for users in 18 countries, 32 in all that will have the “buy” button enabled — music to the ears of Java app developers everywhere. Which flags are newly embracing app capitalism? We have the lists waiting for you below.

Here are the 20 new countries that are now allowed to sell apps:

• Argentina
• Australia
• Belgium
• Brazil
• Canada
• Denmark
• Finland
• Hong Kong
• Ireland
• Israel
• Mexico
• New Zealand
• Norway
• Portugal
• Russia
• Singapore
• South Korea
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• Taiwan

And, here are the 18 new countries that will soon be able to buy them:

• Argentina
• Belgium
• Brazil
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Finland
• Hong Kong
• India
• Ireland
• Israel
• Mexico
• Norway
• Poland
• Portugal
• Russia
• Singapore
• Sweden
• Taiwan

-ENGADGET

So the report goes like this…

The old English epic poem, “Beowulf”, described the most heroic man of the Anglo-Saxon times. The poem was created in the late 5^th century in Scandinavia which is known as Northern Europe.

The hero, Beowulf, was a person with all the extraordinary traits required of a hero. He had a super-human strength and put his people before himself. He encountered hideous monsters and the most ferocious beasts, but he never feared the death.

Beowulf is the great epic hero who risked his life countless times for immortal glory and for the good of others. Beowulf was a hero in the eyes of his men through his amazing physical strength. He fought in numerous battles and returned victorious from all.

In his argument with Unferth, Beowulf told the reason why he “lost” a simple swimming match with his opponent Brecca. Not only had that Beowulf been swimming for seven nights, he also stopped to kill nine sea creatures in the depths of the ocean.

Beowulf fought and killed with his might to his three antagonists, Grendel, Grendel’s mother and an unnamed dragon.

He was strong enough to kill Grendel, who had been terrorizing the Danes, a native group to Denmark, for twelve years. Grendel was killed when he appeared on the night of the Geats’ arrival at Herot.

Beowulf fought with Grendel’s mother who seeked revenge on her son’s death. He slayed her by slashing her neck with a Giant’s sword. The sword could only be lifted by a person as strong as Beowulf. When he chopped off her head, he carried the sword from the ocean with ease. However, it took four men to lift and carry it back to Herot mead-hall. This strength was a key trait of Beowulf’s heroism.

The Danes and Geats prepared a feast in celebration of the death of Grendel and Grandel’s mother. In the morning, the Geats hurried to their boat, anxious to begin the trip home. Beowulf bid farewell to Hrothgar offered the old king his assistance if the Danes ever needed help. In return, Hrothgar presented Beowulf with more treasures.

After recounting the story of his battles with Grendel and Grendel’s mother, Beowulf told king Higlac about the feud between Denmark and their enemies, The Hathoboards. He described a peace settlement, in which Hrothgar will give his daughter Freaw to Ingeld, king of the Hathoboards. Nevertheless, he predicted that the peace settlement will not last long. Higlac rewarded Beowulf for his bravery with territory, swords and houses. The meeting between Higlac and Beowulf marked the end of the first part of the poem.

Another heroic trait of Beowulf was his ability to put his people welfare before his own. Beowulf’s uncle was king of the Geats. He was sent as an emissary to get rid the Danes of the evil Grendel. Beowulf risked his own life for the Danes. He realized the dangers, but fears nothing for his own life.

After Beowulf had served his people as King of the Geats for fifty years, an incident happened. A thief stole a jeweled cup from a sleeping dragon.  Out of anger, the dragon flew through the night burning down houses, including Beowulf’s own hall and throne. This frightened all Beowulf people. Beowulf vowed to destroy the dragon single-handed.

Beowulf was old and tired but he defeated the dragon in order to protect his people. Even in his death, he wished to secure safety for the Geats, so a tall lighthouse is built in order to help the people find their way back from sea.

The most heroic of traits within Beowulf was that he was not afraid to die. He always explained his death wishes before going into any battle and requested to have any assets delivered to his people as quoted below.

“And if death does take me, send the hammered mail of my armor to Higlac, return the inheritance had from Hrehtel, and from Wayland. Fate will unwind as it must!”

He was aware of the heroic paradox. This made him glorified in life or death for his actions. He knew that when he fought an enemy such as Grendel or Grendel’s mother, he will achieved immortality as the victor or the loser.

“When we crossed the sea, my comrades and me had already knew that all my purpose was this: to win the good will of your people or die in battle, pressed in Grendel’s fierce grip. Let me live in greatness and courage, or here in this hall welcome my death!”

The above quote explained that even with the enormous amount of confidence Beowulf possessed, he understood that Fate or Wyrd will work its magic no matter what and he could be killed at any point in his life. He faced that reality by showing no fear and preparing for a positive or a fatal outcome.

Beowulf was the prime example of an epic hero. His bravery and strength surpassed all mortal men; loyalty and the ability to think of himself last makes him revered by all.

Beowulf came openly and wholeheartedly to help the Danes which was an unusual occurrence in a time of war and wide-spread fear. He set a noble example for all human beings relaying the necessity of brotherhood and friendship. Beowulf was most definitely a hero of epic proportions.

-Muaz Rudy Herman 2010

Feeling like you’re insufficiently saturated with Desire HD info? HTC’s got your back, as usual, with one of its expansive video overviews, setting the specs and features you already know about to a background of soothing music and cutesy visuals. Nothing wrong with that, we say, and it makes for a great sales pitch if you’re trying to convince your significant other of the life-changing benefits of purchasing said handset. Skip past the break, set your eyeballs to 720p mode, and enjoy the show.

-engadget

The bug is particularly nasty because it works on mouseover only, meaning pop-ups and third-party websites can open even if you just move your mouse over the offending link.

The flaw uses a JavaScript function called onMouseOver which creates an event when the mouse is passed over a chunk of text. We’ve seen the flaw being abused to launch simple pop-up windows, redirect users elsewhere (including porn sites), and we’ve also seen it used in combination with blocks of color, covering the true “intention” of the tweet.

For now, the best course of action is using only third-party apps such as TweetDeck to access Twitter, as the bug only seems to affect Twitter’s web interface. Also, if your Twitter account contains a message abusing the flaw, you can delete it using a third-party app.

Twitter hasn’t yet commented on the incident on any of its official accounts or its official blog. We’ve contacted Twitter about the security flaw but haven’t yet heard from them.

You can see an example of a tweet that launches a pop-up if you move the mouse over it below.

CREDITS- MASHABLE

Today thousands if not millions of Twitter users were affected by the onmousover Twitter exploit which created malicious pop-ups and could also fill and send a status update ‘on your behalf’. How nice. Here are our Top 5 Tips on how to avoid the worm until Twitter fixes the problem:

1. Don’t use the Twitter web site, especially the older version. However, there are reports the new version, if you have it, is not producing the same effects.

2. Use a desktop application like Tweetdeck, Seesmic or similar. Although the affected tweets do appear in your stream, they will not produce the same mouseover effect. Some desktop clients also allow you to filter out words like “onmouseover” so you needn’t see the stream of affected tweets.

3. Use the Twitter mobile site, which appears to be unaffected.

4. Delete the affected tweets by avoiding the main web site and logg-in to the mobile site instead. Then delete the forced Retweet. Delete any tweets so that the worm does not spread to your friends and followers.

5. Change your password just in case.

TechCrunch

The hack, which affects only Twitter.com and not third-party clients, works by putting a piece of JavaScript code (‘onmouseover’) into a URL in a tweet. This causes a pop-up message to emerge when someone hovers a cursor over that link. The loophole appears to work in both the redesigned Twitter web interface that was launched on Wednesday and the previous version.

Sophos notes that the exploit is spreading rapidly and that it is now being used to redirect to some hardcore porn sites. The security hole is now being used to ‘auto-tweet’ more mouseover links, and thousands of Twitter users are falling prey to it. For the time being, using a third-party Twitter client may be the safest option.

Sophos has reported a JavaScript attack on Twitter

See Sophos highlights Twitter URL vulnerability on CNET News.

Here’s some countdown widget goodies for your site!

<a href="http://www.ubuntu.com/"><img src="http://www.ubuntu.com/countdown/banner1.png" border="0" width="180" height="150" alt="The next version of Ubuntu is coming soon"></a>

<a href="http://www.ubuntu.com/"><img src="http://www.ubuntu.com/countdown/banner2.png" border="0" width="180" height="150" alt="The next version of Ubuntu is coming soon"></a>

<a href="http://www.ubuntu.com/"><img src="http://www.ubuntu.com/countdown/banner3.png" border="0" width="180" height="150" alt="The next version of Ubuntu is coming soon"></a>

<a href="http://www.ubuntu.com/"><img src="http://www.ubuntu.com/countdown/banner4.png" border="0" width="180" height="150" alt="The next version of Ubuntu is coming soon"></a>

Launching Your New App

To launch the GIMP, just go back to the top-left panel and clickApplications, Graphics, GIMP.

Search for Apps in the Ubuntu Software Center

You can also use the search box to find apps in the Ubuntu Software Center. For example, perhaps you want a desktop client for the Flickr photo-hosting service. I picked Flickr Uploader.

Software Sources

The Ubuntu Software Center downloads software packages from servers, or Software Sources via the Internet. There are six basic categories of Software Sources.

1. Canonical-Supported Open Source software (main)
2. Community-maintained Open Source software (universe)
3. Proprietary drivers for devices (restricted)s
4. Software restricted by copyright or legal issues (multiverse)
5. Source Code
6. Other Software

The differences between these categories may be somewhat esoteric for many users. For a detailed discussion see the Ubuntu Community Documentation Repositories article. In plain terms, if you would like to have access to be able to install common proprietary software such as Adobe Acrobat or Flash, or support for DVD playback, then you will need to enable the multiverse by checking the box next to it.

Source Code is the human-readable version of software, for example the programming language C++, before it is compiled into the machine-readable binary form. For the purposes of this article, we are not interested in Source Code.

Other Software is a catch-all for third-party software repositories, which you may add manually. We’ll get into that in another article.

Choosing a Download Server

Did you know that there are over 300 servers worldwide that host Ubuntu software? It’s one of the advantages of the collaborative, community-driven open source model that Ubuntu is founded upon. Chances are very good that a server located physically close to you will give you the best download speeds–something that can really make a difference with large software downloads or updates.

You can change your Download Server from within Software Sources by clicking theDownload from: drop-down menu. You can browse and select a specific server from the list, or just click Select Best Server to have Ubuntu ping every server and automatically determine the fastest connection. I recommend Select Best Server as the best option; just be aware that it will take a couple minutes for Ubuntu to go through the entire list of download servers.

Have Fun Exploring

Now that you know how to use the Ubuntu Software Center, have fun exploring its thousands of awesome, free software titles! You can now easily find open source apps to perform just about any task just as well as or better than the equivalent Windows or Mac versions.

- PC WORLD

Introducing the Ubuntu Software Center

The latest release of Ubuntu 10.04, code-named Lucid Lynx, has a somewhat revamped user interface. One of the most significant changes is the Software Center, which provides a simple, user-friendly way to find and install your choice of thousands of free, open source apps. While there are many ways to install apps in Ubuntu 10.04, the easiest way is to click Applications from the top-left panel and selectUbuntu Software Center.

Departments

The Ubuntu Software Center organizes apps into 13 Departments: Accessories, Education, Fonts, Games, Graphics, Internet, Office, Science & Engineering, Sound & Video, Themes & Tweaks, Universal Access, Developer Tools and System. Let’s click on Graphics, for example.

The top pane shows more sub-categories; the bottom pane is a scrollable, alphabetized list of all apps in the Graphics Department. If you need more room, you can resize the panes by dragging the borders. Let’s check out Painting & Editing.

By default, Ubuntu 10.04 no longer includes the open source Photoshop-replacement known as the GIMP. Click the More Info button to learn more about the GIMP.

(Notice the Website link. Links like these will take you to Web pages where you can find even more documentation about the app.) If you want to do any substantial image editing in Ubuntu, you will need the GIMP.

Installing the App

Let’s install the GIMP by clicking the Install-Free button. To install an app requires root, or administrative access. Usually that is the same password you use to log into your computer, but that may vary depending on the options you chose when you first set up your system. Enter your administrative password and click Authenticate.

The GIMP is a large download, so depending on your Internet connection speed, installation may take a few minutes. When it’s installed you will see a green checkmark next to a button that says Remove. Not surprisingly, the Remove button will un-install the app if you click it.

- PC WORLD

List of Files Revised

wp-signup.php
wp-includes/default-filters.php
wp-includes/nav-menu-template.php
wp-includes/taxonomy.php
wp-includes/class-http.php
wp-includes/update.php
wp-includes/post.php
wp-includes/version.php
wp-includes/default-widgets.php
wp-includes/theme.php
wp-includes/comment-template.php
wp-includes/ms-blogs.php
wp-includes/query.php
wp-includes/link-template.php
wp-includes/wp-db.php
wp-includes/formatting.php
wp-includes/ms-deprecated.php
wp-includes/general-template.php
wp-includes/canonical.php
wp-includes/capabilities.php
wp-includes/ms-load.php
wp-includes/classes.php
wp-includes/deprecated.php
wp-includes/kses.php
wp-includes/ms-functions.php
wp-includes/meta.php
wp-includes/nav-menu.php
wp-app.php
xmlrpc.php
wp-content/themes/twentyten/style.css
wp-content/themes/twentyten/functions.php
wp-content/themes/twentyten/loop.php
wp-content/themes/twentyten/page.php
wp-content/themes/twentyten/languages/twentyten.pot
wp-content/themes/twentyten/editor-style.css
wp-content/themes/twentyten/header.php
wp-content/themes/twentyten/attachment.php
readme.html
wp-admin/ms-edit.php
wp-admin/edit-comments.php
wp-admin/admin-ajax.php
wp-admin/includes/bookmark.php
wp-admin/includes/post.php
wp-admin/includes/dashboard.php
wp-admin/includes/upgrade.php
wp-admin/includes/class-wp-upgrader.php
wp-admin/includes/schema.php
wp-admin/includes/meta-boxes.php
wp-admin/includes/update-core.php
wp-admin/includes/template.php
wp-admin/includes/user.php
wp-admin/includes/ms.php
wp-admin/includes/media.php
wp-admin/includes/export.php
wp-admin/includes/nav-menu.php
wp-admin/includes/class-wp-importer.php
wp-admin/edit-tags.php
wp-admin/admin.php
wp-admin/edit-attachment-rows.php
wp-admin/ms-sites.php
wp-admin/user-new.php
wp-admin/menu.php
wp-admin/nav-menus.php
wp-admin/plugins.php
wp-admin/edit.php
wp-admin/press-this.php
wp-admin/install.php
wp-admin/update-core.php
wp-admin/import.php
wp-admin/export.php

----------------------

- Codex WordPress Dev

Three dot oh dot one
Bug fixes to make you smile
Update your WordPress

This maintenance release addresses about 50 minor issues. The testing many of you contributed prior to the release of 3.0 helped make it one of the best and most stable releases we’ve had.

Download 3.0.1 or update automatically from the Dashboard > Updates menu in your site’s admin area.

Note: If you downloaded 3.0.1 in the first 20 minutes of release (before 2200 UTC), you’ll want to reinstall it, which you can do right from your Updates screen. Our bad.

- WordPress Dev

Another new feature is the support for WebM videos. “WebM is an open, royalty-free, media file format designed for the web,” which is already supported by software like Opera, VLC, Winamp and by YouTube. Watch this video in Chrome 6 or switch toYouTube’s HTML5 player.

There’s also a feature that’s disabled by default (probably because it’s buggy): the built-in PDF viewer. You can enable it by typing chrome://plugins/ in the address bar and clicking “Enable” next to “Chrome PDF Viewer”.

Some other changes:

* Chrome has a new shortcut for toggling the bookmarks bar (Ctrl+Shift+B);

* if you mouse over a link to a page that has a long URL, Chrome will show the entire address in the status bar after about 3 seconds;

* Chrome’s extension manager (chrome://extensions/) links to the extension gallery pages.

Google automatically updates the browser to the new version, but you can manually check for updates by selecting “About Google Chrome” from the unified menu. If that doesn’t work, download Chrome 6 from google.com/chrome.

Happy 2nd Birthday Chrome!

Well, it’s a good sign that HTC will be having Android 2.2 a.k.a Froyo on Desire.

There are different mobiles that already tasted Froyo like

• HTC Evo 4G
• Google Nexus One

This means that HTC Desire will get

• A new home

New Home screen tips widget assists new users on how to configure the home screen with shortcuts and widgets and how to make use of multiple home screens. The Phone, applications Launcher, and Browser now have dedicated shortcuts on the Home screen, making it easy to access them from any of the 5 home screen panels.

• Flash suport

Means that if you have flash on the site, you are able to watch videos, play games, etc directly from the site.

• Portable hotspot

Certain devices like Google Nexus One will get to transform a portable Wi-Fi hotspot that can be shared with up to 8 devices.

• Faster processor

It’s reported that Froyo will be faster in processing speed than Eclair 2.1. Froyo is up to 5x faster than 2.1 Eclair. Google is also claiming to have the world’s fastest mobile OS.

*for your info, this is my own post.

Social Deck, which says its key staffers split their time between Toronto and San Francisco, announced the deal Monday on its website.

“The company has launched several titles for the iPhone, Facebook, and BlackBerry.”

Social Deck technology enables multiple players using different mobile devices to play simultaneously, the company said. Media reports say that last week, Google acquired Angstro, which the company’s website says enables the “ability to [home] in on highly focused, relevant news across professional networks.” And Google recently bought Slide, a developer of social-networking software.

- MarketWatch

Announcing the Beauty of the Web event for IE9 Beta Launch

Starting today, a select group of VIP web developers, designers, bloggers and press begin receiving their invitations to an event we’re holding in San Francisco on September 15th to celebrate the Beauty of the Web and to mark the launch of the IE9 Beta.

Reception for IE9 has been very positive since MIX with over 2.5 million downloads of the platform previews. The most recent platform preview – our 4th – was released last week.

Since space is limited at the event and not many invites have been sent out, I captured what the invite process looks like so everyone could see. Invitees get an e-mail invitation with a link to a special HTML5 website. To RSVP, they have to complete a word puzzle by typing the letters shown on the screen :

Unlock the _ _ _ _ _ _ web

The letters they have to work with are V E A N T I and the solution is a single word.

HERE HOW TO DO IT

Once the puzzle is complete, the RSVP button appears so they can RSVP for the event.

- WINDOWS DEVELOPER

Microsoft announced a ”platform preview” of IE 9 back in March. The Platform Preview was basically the IE 9 rendering engine presented in a plain window–no toolbars, no extra features. IE 9 will feature better support for new Web technologies such as HTML5 and CSS3. It’ll also provide hardware acceleration for rendering graphics and text on a Web page and a faster JavaScript engine for better Web app performance, among other features.

We don’t yet know what the IE 9 interface will look like, or what other features it’ll have, so we’ll have to wait until next month for that.

For more on Microsoft’s “Beauty of the Web” IE 9 launch event, see the Windows Team Blog.

-cnet

Reported earlier on the operating system share gains for Microsoft Windows 7 as reported by Janco Associates. But the other half of the Janco report measured Web browser share, which I want to address in this post not just for what it says about Internet Explorer, but how it also handicaps rival browsers.

IE’s market share at 66.07 percent in August, down 4.54 percentage points from 70.61 percent in August 2009. That’s actually more generous than share numbers from the often-cited Netmarketshare, which put IE’s share at 60.74 percent in July, its most recent report. IE recovered in June from a dip below the 60 percent percent mark in April and May, according to Netmartketshare.

But while that uptick might offer Microsoft some temporary relief, Janco’s historical view is that  ”Microsoft’s browser market has continued to decay.” To be sure, IE has seen better days such in early  2005 when it had 90.61 percent share. Free and open source Mozilla Firefox was just a puppy in 2005  with a 4.44 percent share and Google Chrome was two years away from being launched.

This month, Firefox is at 18.6 percent and Chrome at 6.24 percent but they each have their own sets of  issues in Janco’s view.

Firefox grew only slightly from 16.23 percent in August 2009 and had been as high as 21.23 percent in January of that year. Janco notes: “The novelty and uniqueness of its features have worn off and have been duplicated by IE … and Google Chrome.” The Mozilla Foundation released a beta of Firefox 4.0 in July.

Google Chrome has got the strongest momentum, doubling its market share this year from 3.19 percent last year. But Janco says one factor limiting Chrome is that it doesn’t work on all sites. Janco didn’t provide further details on that in the limited free version of it’s white paper; more information is likely in the paid version. Google released a beta of Chrome 6 Aug. 12.

All of this brings us to IE 9, a beta version of which Microsoft will unveil at an event September 15 in San Francisco. Janco lauded IE 8 as being “feature rich and a step ahead of the other browsers,” but withheld judgment on IE 9, which is only available today in preview mode.

The fact of the matter is that the browser market has changed permanently since IE’s days of 90 percent plus market share, when Netscape was beaten by Microsoft’s competitive practices — practices ruled an illegal monopoly by the United States. Today, Firefox and Chrome are entrenched competitors, despite their own issues, along with Opera, Apple’s Safari and others.

Initial reports are positive about IE 9′s potential as a faster browser than IE 8. But it’s going to be under a lot of pressure to get Microsoft’s browser market share numbers headed in the right direction.

IE went on to become extremely popular, largely thanks to its deep integration as part of Windows. Within just a few short years, Internet Explorer dominated the browser wars,claiming as much as 95% market share, mainly at the expense of competitor Netscape Navigator.

However, IE’s rise did not continue forever. In 2004, Mozilla launched an open-source alternative, Firefox. As the years went by, Firefox slowly chipped away at IE’s market share.

Today, the browser landscape is a very different one, with Chrome, Safari, Opera and many others all competing for a slice of users’ Web time. But despite the range of choices, IE is–like it or not–still the world’s most popular browser holding a combined market share of over 60%.

Let’s look back over the browser’s past, and look ahead at where it’s headed:

Internet Explorer 1

Internet Explorer 1 launched on August 16, 1995. Based on Spyglass Inc.’s Mosaicbrowser, version one of IE was built by a team of just five or six programmers and came in at just under 1MB. While IE wasn’t initially included in the OEM version of Windows 95, it came bundled with Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95.

Internet Explorer 2

Released just three months after the first version; IE 2 arrived on November 22, 1995, with versions for Windows NT, Windows 95 and Windows 3.1. Microsoft released a beta version for PowerPC-based Macs in January of 1996. IE 2 added support for HTML tables and cookies–a quaint notion in today’s HTML5 world.

IE 2′s executable size? A whole 1.1MB.

Internet Explorer 3

Microsoft launched IE 3 in August 1996 for Windows PCs. Version 3 saw the introduction of the blue ‘e’ logo that is now synonymous with Internet Explorer. IE 3 came to the Mac in January 1997; version 3.01 of IE later became the default browser on Macs. It was the first mainstream browser to support cascading style sheets (CSS). IE 2 also included an e-mail client known as Internet Mail & News (which eventually became Outlook Express), and added support for GIF and JPEG images.

It could also play MIDI audio files, marking the birth of websites with annoying auto-playing sound files.

Internet Explorer 4

Microsoft released IE 4 during September of 1997. Bundled with Windows 98; Microsoft marketed it with the tag-line “The web the way you want it,” and added more new features, such as support for favicons. As part of the San Francisco launch event, Microsoftplanted a giant blue ‘e’ on Netscape’s front lawn. The browser wars were on!

Internet Explorer also made its debut on Sun Microsystem’s Unix OS Solaris in 1998.

Internet Explorer 5

Microsoft’s fifth version of IE arrived in March of 1999, introducing a selection of new features. Microsoft added Compatibility Mode for testing purposes, and bi-directional text support was also added–an important feature for many international users. New search, history and favorite features were also included.

IE5 carried a download size of 37MB for 32-bit PCs, and as of March 2000, Internet Explorer 5 had a market share of over 50%.

Internet Explorer 6

August 2001 saw the release of IE 6, ready for the debut of Windows XP. By late 2003 Internet Explorer accounted for around 90% of the browser market, thanks in part to IE 6′s success. But despite its success in the market, IE 6 was universally slammed for its poor security features–a reputation Internet Explorer still carries to this day. The browser added a number of new features, and it also gained a pop-up blocker with its second service pack.

Now nearly a decade old, IE 6 still has a market share of nearly 17%.

Internet Explorer 7

After nearly six years since the initial release of IE6, in 2006 Microsoft finally graced users with a new version of their browser–IE7. During this gap between releases, Mozilla had released Firefox, and many features seen in Firefox made their way into IE7.

The browser, which was available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions, brought tabbed browsing to IE,and introduced page zooming, a separate search bar, and support for RSS. For this release the browser was renamed, make a subtle change from Microsoft Internet Explorer to Windows Internet Explorer.

Internet Explorer 8

Version eight saw a general release in March of 2009, it is the default browser for Windows 7 and is the latest available version, coming with support for up-to 63 different languages.

Microsoft detailed that improvements to CSS and Ajax handling were a priority. The new browser also saw the introduction of a private browsing mode, which makes browsing history hard to find. Other browsers offered a similar feature, Microsoft’s is called InPrivate browsing.

A new feature known as Accelerators also debuted, offering access to additional Web information for any highlighted text.

What’s next….

Microsoft’s next browser, Internet Explorer 9, is due to enter beta next month. IE9 promises to have better support for new web standards, such as CSS3, HTML5 and more.

- CNET

Stumbled upon the user interface for Internet Explorer 9, spying a screenshot on Microsoft Russia’s press website. If this is the real deal, the next IE will look like the lovechild of Google Chrome and Firefox 4.

From Firefox 4, IE9 reportedly takes the oversized back button, translucent window and tremendous amount of wasted space above the navigation bar (seriously, it’s just an empty row with window management at the end, and the next Firefox is just as guilty). From Chrome, IE9 may derive the omnibar for search and URLs, and a series of menu icons on the right side of the screen.

Already, Firefox 4 and Chrome aren’t much different. Mozilla’s upcoming browser raises tabs above the address bar, just like Chrome, and consolidates the old menu bar into a single button that rests to the right of the search box. IE9′s biggest supposed difference from these two browsers is the placement of tabs next to, instead of above, the address bar. The overall trend is the same: Chrome, Firefox and IE are cutting out the sprawl of menu items, bookmarks and extensions in favor of more vertical space for the Web itself.

Overall, this pleases me. Compared to actually browsing the web, I spend a miniscule amount of time organizing bookmarks, formatting page styles, viewing pages in code, looking at my browser history or doing anything else that’s made easier by expansive menu bars and buttons. But as browsers consolidate the amount of space not dedicated to the web itself, there’s a limit to how different they can be.

User interface similarity is part of a broader homogenization of web browsers, but I strongly believe that look and feel are a browser’s most defining characteristics. As all browsers approach the perfect interface, they get harder and harder to tell apart.

You’ve got to hand it to the crazy kooks at Google, particularly the guys and gals working on the Google Android team. They come up with the best codenames this side of HTC and it seems we know the name of Gingerbread’s successor. The next Android will be called Honeycomb.

In case you haven’t already noticed, the naming of Android versions have not only been all sweet dessert-type words, but they’ve also been in alphabetical order. We got Cupcake (1.5), Donut (1.6), Eclair (2.1), Froyo (2.2), and Gingerbread (3.0).

It makes sense that the next Android, likely a 3.1 rather than a 4.0, would once again be named after some delectable food and that it would start with the letter H. I suppose Honeycomb isn’t so bad. The only other sweet thing I can think of is hot chocolate. Android 3.1 HoChoc, anyone?

With this in mind, who wants to have some fun naming the next half dozen Android versions? Start with I (or H, if you want) and go from there! Ice Cream? Jelly? Karamel

Next version of Android to be called Honeycomb?

Android OS has come quite a long way in terms of features and usability since the introduction of the T-Mobile HTC G1. When the G1 launched back in 2008, it was so lacking in real smartphone features that it almost didn’t even deserve a cute dessert name like all of its successors. Since then, Google’s mobile operating system experiment has grown up and come a long way to dethroning the iPhone as the king of smartphones.

Today, we’re on the cusp of the Android 2.2 OS update, codenamed “Froyo,” which promises to make Android devices ever faster and more powerful. We’re also hearing whispers of the next generation of Android OS, known only by its Gingerbread codename. So, as a tribute and a quick overview of what Android has accomplished, where it came from, and what’s still to come, we’d like to present you with our “Evolution of Android: Follow The Gingerbread Road(map).”

We won’t touch on every feature below, but all versions will have a decent overview.

Android 1.5 : Cupcake

With the introduction of Android 1.5, we started to hear the name “Cupcake” floating around in reference to the first Android OS software update. The update gave the Android OS a little more polish in some areas, but some of the biggest features of the update were certainly the introduction of the (still bad) on-screen keyboard, as well as widgets. Yes, copy and paste within the browser, video-recording, and then being able to upload to YouTube directly were big deals, but a lot of the upgrades were features you may not use every day, where widgets and the on-screen keyboard likely would be used every day.

Widgets have been available in other mobile operating systems, like Samsung’s TouchWiz, but none were as compelling as Android’s implementation. Sure, it took quite a while for a decent selection of  widgets to become available, or for developers to start bundling widgets with their apps, but they eventually caught on. Honestly, widgets are one of the great differentiators for Android.

Widgets provide a good amount of “surface” or “at a glance” information, without the need to launch an app. Sometimes you don’t necessarily need the full functionality of an application to get the tiniest bit of information. For example, the weather widget tells you the high and low temperature of the day, with the current temperature at the moment, and if you need any more from that, just tap the widget to open up the weather app itself. Also with all the ways to customize Android devices, widgets may indeed be on of the biggest appeals, just look at HTC Sense.

Android 1.6 : Donut

Then came Android 1.6, also known as Donut. Donut w

as a small update, but it packed a punch with a revamped search box, camera and gallery application, and a completely refreshed Android Market. The search bar, which was initially intended just for searching the web, now allowed a user to search many other places within the device, like bookmarks, contacts, applications, and more, right from the home screen.

The update to the Android Market would probably be the most

noticeable change with Donut, as it was now had a white and green color scheme to it, opposed to the black and gray look of previous versions. The new market was also a little more user-friendly, breaking up applications by paid, free, and “just in.” The new version of the Android Market also supported screenshots of a selected application, which was a much requested feature. Still, the Android Market as it stands today needs some fixing. Application discoverability is still atrocious, but I expect to see some big changes later on with the Market.

The Camera application also saw a revamp, and while it wasn’t the prettiest, it was still a step up from what we were working with previously. Users could easily toggle from the camera to video recording without leaving the app, and  the settings were now hidden on the left side of the screen under a slide-out side menu bar. According to the Android Developer site, the Camera application launched 39% faster, and the shot-to-shot time was improved by 28%. The overall look of the revamped camera application wasn’t exactly its strongest aspect.

The only thing unfortunate about the Android 1.6 update? Not many devices actually received it. Devices like the Droid Eris or Hero jumped straight from Android 1.5 to Android 2.1. Donut was a nice, small upgrade, and is still used by about a quarter of all Android users, but that’s as far as it went.

Android 2.0 : Eclair

Android 2.0 Eclair was a very nice step in the operating system’s evolution. Debuting on theMotorola Droid in November of 09′, this was the second major iteration of the platform and represented the point where Android began gaining the attention of the masses. Thanks to new features, along side Verizon’s relentless marketing campaign, as well as some viral videos, Android OS became a household name.

Eclair allowed Android to flex its “social” muscle.  Applications were able to sync with contacts from Facebook, and later on, Twitter, allowing you to have all your contacts from every single social network in onc place. Pictures of a contact were pulled from a social network, allowing virtually no blank pictures for your contacts, as long as they were a part of a particular network. Eclair also brought us the Quick Contact menu, allowing you to tap on a contact’s photo and a menu would slide in, showing all forms of communication with said contact. Eclair also polished the UI, bringing in some slick transitions and overall spit-shine that was much needed at the time.

Eclair didn’t stop there. Android 2.0 brought us a handful of new camera features, such as digital zoom, scene mode, white balance, color effects, and macro focus. We’d have to wait until Froyo for the camera application to be polished up enough to give us the enjoyable experience we have today, but Eclair did make some big updates to the camera app.

Android’s virtual keyboard was also improved with multitouch support, a better dictionary that learned common words, as well as suggestions for contact names. Still, the stock Android keyboard needed a lot of tooling around to be a comfortable typing method.

The Android browser also saw an upgrade, which refined the overall look. Double-tap to zoom was added into the browser so users would not have to rely solely on the plus and minus buttons on the bottom of the screen. The bookmarks view was also altered to support thumbnails, and the browser gained HTML5 support.

Oh, and the biggest update with Android 2.0 was the Google Maps Navigation turn-by-turn GPS navigation service that Google was nice enough to offer for free. That single launch brought Garmin’s stock price down 16%, and Tom Tom’s stock down 21% on the day of the announcement.

Android 2.1

Android 2.1 OS represented the second stage of Eclair’s evolution with the introduction of the Nexus One.  Android 2.1 brought with it one of the slickest iterations of the Android homescreen ever seen. Android 2.1 is an extension of 2.0, and is still very much Eclair, but with just a little more flare.

Live Wallpapers were introduced into this version of the operating system, which were simply animated, and interactive wallpapers. They may provide little purpose, but were definitely something we’d never seen on an OS, and are just plain fun. Android 2.1 also gave us 5 home screens to work with, instead of the standard 3 we were used to prior to 2.1.

In addition to the extra home screens, the 2.1 update gave you a different way to navigate through your home screens. Dots align either side of the app drawer launcher button, to tell you which screen you were on, and long pressing these dots would give you a thumbnail view of all home screens at the bottom. Somewhere in the middle of iOS and WebOS, as well as somewhere in between “pretty cool looking” and “useless.” Helpful nonetheless.

The Nexus One was also the first handset that extended the existing voice search capabilities found on previous versions of Android by giving a user the option to translate speech into text in any text entry field. A microphone button was added to the keyboard, allowing you to speak instead of typing for emails, texts, search, and pretty much anything else you’d need to type.

Android 2.1 also brought in some cool 3D effects into the OS. The application launcher was replaced with an app launcher icon. Instead of a tab you drag up to reveal your applications, you simply tapped on the app launcher and your applications would fly in from all corners, and scrolling through them produced a 3D “waterfall” effect.

The photo gallery also saw a major 3D revamp. CoolIris helped Google develop the new gallery, and it’s one of the nicest built-in applications for the OS to date. If only they did the same for the Music player…

Android 2.1 – update 1 (Multi-touch)

Still Eclair here, folks, but we’ll make this one quick. Not even a month after the release of theNexus One, Google pushed out an update to the device. This update was probably the smallest of them all, but packed one of the biggest punches.

This update added multitouch functionality across the board on the Nexus One, save for applications like Gmail.  Maps, Gallery, and the Browser now supported the much sought-after feature that iPhone users have had since day one. Multitouch on Android works perfectly well, and is one of the most welcomed additions to the platform.

The update also added Google Goggles into the list of pre-installed applications, and Google Maps was updated to version 3.4, which added some nice extras.

Last but not least, the update made an attempt at fixing the 3G connection problem that had plagued the device for some time. While some people saw some improvements, many did not. Google and T-Mobile have since given up on finding a solution. Hey, at least they were honest.

Google’s most recent update, Android 2.2 Froyo has stepped up its game in so many fronts, it’s hard to even consider the best of the “competing” OS’s out there actual competition to Froyo. While the iOS 4 has an overall polish and is mor

e intuitive, Froyo pretty much destroys iton all arenas. We won’t go too in-depth with this version, as we’ve covered Froyo in-depth here. But here is an overview of Android’s newest dessert.

Froyo gives users a massive speed increase,

thanks to the JIT compiler, and the Java V8 engine. With the JIT compiler, applications will launch quicker, and the overall OS will just be that much snappier. The Java V8 engine, which you can find on Google’s desktop browser, makes the Android web experience the fastest in all the land.

Froyo makes the best of your data connection, and can turn your phone into a mobile hotspot. This feature may not make it to any other phone than the Nexus One, since wireless carriers would rather you pay a premium for that feature.

A feature that people have been waiting for for years in now a reality in Android 2.2. Support for Adobe Flash. Once a device has been updated to Froyo, the Flash player can be found in theAndroid Market, and performs quite well. Despite Steve Jobs’ utter hatred for the technology,Adobe and Google have proved that the rich media technology can run on a mobile phone, and run pretty damn well at that.

Other features include the option to move applications to handsets’ microSD card, a slightly tweaked home screen look, new widgets, more photo gallery enhancements, a handful of Exchange features, as well as the cloud-to-device API that allows you to send web pages and Google Maps directions from your computer to your phone.

Android 3.0 : Gingerbread

With Froyo only available on the Nexus One at the moment, people are already clamoring about what features Android 3.0 Gingerbread may hold for us. We don’t have much solid information to go on at this point, but there are quite a few features that we can expect.

Google Music : Google may get into the music business with Gingerbread, with plans to take on iTunes directly. We might just see Google selling music directly through the Android Market, or downloaded from the as of yet unseen web-portal and sent through Google’s servers to your device. But that’s not all. Google will likely allow the user to stream their computer’s music library over the air to their handsets as well. You can do this now with an application, HomePipe, but Google’s official solution will likely be much better. Google is getting more media-savvy, and the introduction of Google Music should not come as a surprise to anyone. With the introduction of more music services, we can expect a new look to the media player as well.

Online Android Market : In addition to music being streamed from your computer to your handset, Google demonstrated at the Google I/O 2010 conference that users will soon be able to download an application from the desktop version of the Android Market website, and send it straight to your phone without touching it at all. Taking advantage of the already in-place Cloud-to-Device API, this would make browsing for apps a faster and easier experience.

User Interface Overhaul: One of the biggest rumors is that Android will experience a complete UI revamp, and it will likely be taking notes from Android 2.1′s Gallery application. So we’re talking 3D Android here. Snatching up one of Palm’s WebOS designer’s, who will likely lead the design team, will likely aid in the process, and we can’t wait to see what they come up with.

Google Sync: Another rumor that’s surfaced is that there will be an official way to sync your Android device to your PC. If you haven’t realized who Google is gunning for, you probably haven’t actually read this. DoubleTwist, your days are numbered.

There will likely be hardware recommendations to support Gingerbread, not minimum requirements as we’d previously heard. Gingerbread will also be the beginning of a great division between high-end and low-end Android handsets. Gingerbread will obviously be for the higher-end devices, while lower-end devices, if they can make it, will stick with Froyo.

There are a few more rumors swimming out there, but the rumors above will likely come true. That said, most of these things are still rumors, and are in no way confirmed by Google. We also aren’t even sure if Gingerbread will be Android 3.0, where it could pop up as 2.3, 2.5, and so on. With all of the overhauls and revamps, we think Gingerbread deserves to stand out as a 3.0 product.

Expected to hit in mid October, wih devices shipping in November/December, we don’t have too much longer to find out what the sweetest Android may bring us.

What are some features you’d like to see in Android’s next version? Sound off in the comments!

The term byte was coined by Dr. Werner Buchholz in July 1956, during the early design phase for the IBM Stretch computer.

IEEE 1541 and Metric-Interchange-Format specify ‘B’ as the symbol for byte (e.g., MB means megabyte), while IEC 60027 seems silent on the subject

So, these are the bytes units that’s with positive sign (before negative)

Just for a little Computer Byte Unit quiz, *note* ‘B’ stands for bytes.

Ans…

1. KB

2. digital computing

3. 1956

4. Werner Buchholz

5. Yes

6. TB

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

here! for the answer just type ‘muazrudy‘ if they ask you for the password for the answer post.

Where is the BIOS stored?

1. On the hard drive
2. On a diskette
3. On a USB drive
4. On a flash memory chip

How many devices can SCSI support?

1. 7
2. 8
3. 9
4. 10

What is BIOS short for?

1. Not short for anything
2. Basic Input/Output System
3. Binary Input/Output System
4. Bus Input/Output System

Which below IP address would be used for a local network?

1. 74.125.127.100
2. 69.72.169.241
3. 192.168.1.100
4. 209.131.36.100

Which of the below media types hold the most information?

1. Blu-ray
2. CD
3. DVD
4. Floppy diskette
Which of the below utilities allow you to view a drives partition information?

1. Chkdsk
2. Disk Management
3. Device Manager
4. Scandisk

What is shown in the below picture?

1. caps
2. dip switches
3. jumpers
4. plugs

What is the minimum memory requirements for Microsoft Windows XP?

1. 32MB
2. 64MB
3. 128MB
4. 256MB

What is XML short for?

1. eXtensive Markup Language
2. eXtensive Markup List
3. eXtension Markup List
4. eXtensible Markup Language

What is the name of the port in the below picture?

1. AT
2. Mouse
3. PS/2
4. USB

What was the original Apple computers logo?

1. Rainbow apple
2. Rainbow apple with a bite
3. Red apple
4. Sir Isaac Newton under an apple tree

here! for the answer… just type ‘muazrudy if it ask you for the pass to the answers.

Google, of course, hasn’t announced plans to introduce a Chrome OS-based tablet. But a report this week from tech news site Download Squad predicted that Google-branded Chrome slate could arrive in time for the holiday shopping season.

Hopefully, the report is false. If it’s true, Google should rethink its strategy. Chrome OS, a browser-based operating system that stores all of a computer user’s applications and data online, is a bit too fanciful for today’s mobile-Internet reality…which isn’t always reliable.

“Chrome OS was developed for highly and persistently connected devices,” says IDC mobile analyst Susan Kevorkian. “In that context, the device and the operating system are highly reliant on a dependable connection. But the reality for many consumers today, even with mobile broadband, is that connectivity isn’t as reliable as we’d like it to be, either for Wi-Fi or mobile broadband.”

Go Android

Android, by comparison, is a more pragmatic solution for today’s wireless world. “Android is the most viable media-tablet operating system to compete with Apple’s iPad. It has many of the right elements, including an app store associated with it,” says Kevorkian, who adds that IDC’s conversations with mobile device vendors indicate that Chrome OS isn’t a viable option for today’s tablets.

“We think it would be wiser for Google to pick its battles and put all of its chips behind Android at this point,” Kevorkian adds.

Well, if nobody’s been talking about Chrome OS for media tablets, perhaps the Download Squad report is bunk. Or perhaps Google simply hasn’t been promoting Chrome OS for tablets.

Some Android-based tablets, including the diminutive Dell Streak, are now shipping. Many others are expected to arrive soon. But is Android ready for tablets? Version 2.2 has many new features for smartphones, but its talents as a tablet OS remain to be seen.

According to device vendors, Android 3.0 will be Google’s first mobile OS that’s fully optimized for the media tablet’s larger display and navigation features, says Kevorkian. Version 3.0 may arrive as early as October, according to recent reports.

PCworld

When Google first launched its Chrome Web browser, many of us immediately saw Chrome as Google’s extension of an operating system. Now, that prophecy is fulfilled with news of Google’s plans to open-source the Chrome OS code later this year with view to have it available in the second half of 2010. But immediately, this raises fundamental questions about what, exactly, defines an operating system, and what will distinguish Android, the open-source mobile OS spearheaded by Google, from Chrome OS.

I can’t help but wonder if we’ll look back on this news and think of it as the start of the next Great OS Wars. Google says its goal is to improve the user experience with computers — and clearly, that’s possible given the laundry list of annoyances with today’s PC-based experience. Mobile is driving innovation, too: The iPhone, Android, and WebOS mobile OS experiences have already shown us the potential when hardware integrates with elegant and well-designed software. While Microsoft Windows has competition in Apple’s Mac OSX and Linux, the truth is that Windows has really been competing against itself. Sure, Mac OS X’s evolution has put pressure on Microsoft, but PC users have routinely turned to either Windows XP or Windows Vista (reviled though it may be) for their computing needs. Consider the netbook world: Mediocre Linux distributions installed on early netbooks had difficulty selling, because shoppers wanted the Windows environment on their netbook, not some merely functional, Linux-based Windows wannabe.

Fast forward to the introduction of Android. The Linux-based Android debuted just a few months after Apple introduced its sharp iPhone OS 2.0 with App Store support. And mobile OSes have been the hot topic ever since: When we most recently examined the mobile OS landscape, we noted that Apple’s iPhone OS 3.0 edged out Palm’s WebOS and Google’s Android — for now. It gained points for its smooth interface, ease of use, and its wide application support. Palm’s WebOS also gets bonus points for its interface and strong ties into Web-based services, including Google’s own calendar and e-mail. And Android gets plenty of attention, too: Its pretty-face design (though, WebOS and iPhone are prettier still) and interface makes it highly competitive with WebOS and iPhone OS 3.0, and its connectivity and integration with Google’s Web services (calendar and e-mail, but not Google Docs) made me take notice when I reviewed the first Android phone to hit the market last fall, the T-Mobile G1.

The key thing to remember is that even though these mobile operating systems are tied tightly with their handset hardware, they are not necessarily limited to smart phone handsets. Rumors of a Google operating system based on Android have been circulating for a while now, and already we’ve seen reports of planned netbooks that will run Android (Acer’s Aspire One is due in the fall). In fact, smart phones are nothing more than low-powered, highly portable computers, often running ARM or similar processors — the same processors found in so-called smartbooks, and soon to be found in some netbooks, perhaps, as well.

The idea of an Android-based netbook OS is not new then, and makes the news of Google Chrome all the more unsurprising. However, why Android? What’s to stop WebOS for making a go of it on a larger, more powerful device than the Palm Pre? Why wouldn’t Apple pipe its iPhone OS 3.0 (based on the same kernel as Mac OS X) to a tablet or other portable device? Thus far, the sort of Google-to-Web integration we’ve seen from Android on smart phones, and from Chrome on the PC, just hasn’t seemed all that unique.

For example, the current Chrome browser for Windows gives some insight into the blurring lines between desktop and Web browser. Chrome lets you create shortcuts on your Windows PC to any Web page or Web application, for example (this feature is not yet available in the Mac version of Chrome). When Chrome first came out, this felt fresh. Now, however, I’m less impressed — Apple’s iPhone OS 3.0 lets me do that, too, on my iPhone 3GS.

Chrome OS vs. Current Options

Before I can understand the value of a Google-owned, Chrome-based operating system, I’d have to understand what it offers to me as a user that will be different from any of the options available to me today. In Google’s blog posting announcing Chrome OS, the company notes “Google Chrome OS is a new project, separate from Android. Android was designed from the beginning to work across a variety of devices from phones to set-top boxes to netbooks. Google Chrome OS is being created for people who spend most of their time on the Web, and is being designed to power computers ranging from small netbooks to full-size desktop systems. While there are areas where Google Chrome OS and Android overlap, we believe choice will drive innovation for the benefit of everyone, including Google.”

I spend most of my time on the Web, but the above, admittedly early, description does nothing to help differentiate Android from Chrome OS. Indeed, I question the language: Android users are more likely than anyone to be heavily tied into the Web, given the always-on connectivity on mobile devices.

So, what, exactly, might be the difference between Android and Chrome OS, and how might that challenge Windows? Presumably, for Chrome OS to truly be a competitive option to Windows 7 on full-blown laptop and desktop configurations, you’d need for Chrome to have wide device driver support for components and peripherals — a sandbox Google hasn’t really played in before. Without such device support, Google could run into issues with far-flung devices such as printers or graphics cards. The company might even need Windows virtualization for Chrome OS: After all, users who rely on Windows apps might still need to access those apps on any Google-based device.

And speaking of apps, while Google notes that apps for Chrome OS would work on any other browser, it still opens questions about what the advantage of a browser-based app would be to begin with. Look at what happened with Apple’s attempt at browser-based apps: It fizzled and was completely forgotten once iPhone OS 2.0 hit last summer with full support for locally-stored applications. Chrome OS may have an early advantage that the iPhone lacked, in that HTML 5 has support for locally-stored data for Web apps; however, this yet-to-be implemented approach still might not help you if you’re at 38,000 feet over Lincoln, Nebraska, and don’t have any Web access.

High Hopes

Another statement from Google got my attention: “We hear a lot from our users and their message is clear–computers need to get better. People want to get to their email instantly, without wasting time waiting for their computers to boot and browsers to start up. They want their computers to always run as fast as when they first bought them. They want their data to be accessible to them wherever they are and not have to worry about losing their computer or forgetting to back up files. Even more importantly, they don’t want to spend hours configuring their computers to work with every new piece of hardware, or have to worry about constant software updates.”

These points are true, especially the one about software updates. But I don’t know anyone who’ll want to only store data in the cloud; nor do I know anyone who would use a device as a primary computer if it won’t work with the host of devices one might attach. And to assume that a new Google OS won’t require constant software updates is a bit presumptive: Google has pushed out Android updates big and small; and Apple is continually updating is iPhone OS 3.0.

I do think that Android and Chrome OS can have a place on devices, and I believe these will give competing operating systems, mobile or otherwise, a run for their money — if, and only if they have apps that provide cross-platform compatibility with the Windows universe. But I’m not convinced that even Google can challenge Windows (or Mac OS X for that matter) on netbooks or larger devices. The device and software compatibility issues loom large here. And until Google can sell users on the advantages of its Chrome OS over other competitive options, I think the company could have an uphill struggle for carving out the niche it clearly has targeted with Android and Chrome on mobile and non-PC devices.

According to the site, Android 3.0 would arrive in mid-October, with the first handsets shipping in time for the holiday season, around November or December. Android 3.0 would also introduce a new set of minimum hardware requirements, encompassing a 1-GHz processor, 512MB of RAM memory, and displays no smaller than 3.5 inches.

Higher resolutions of up to 1280 by 760 pixels would also be available for devices with displays larger than 4 inches. If true, the minimum requirements won’t mean that all new Android phones will be power-horses.

Unwired says that Google intends to split Android into two branches: high-end devices running version 3.0, and low-end devices running 2.1/2.2. Rumors of phones running on 2-GHz processors add fuel to the Android 3.0 rumor mill as well. We first heard from Motorola that they are working on a 2-GHz phone, and now Oxford-Zeiss Research speculates that HTC is working on its own 2-GHz phone code-named Sabor, with a 10-megapixel camera and 1080p video recording. Last, but not least, Unwiredview claims that Google would bring a “completely revamped user interface” to Android 3.0 (as heard with previous rumors from TechCrunch).

There aren’t any specific details on the improvements, but the site says the interface across the OS would be similar to the Gallery app on the Nexus One. If Android 3.0 UI is good enough, hopefully manufacturers won’t develop their own interfaces, the main point of software update delays to most Android phones.

Most of the specifics are still unknown — what features a Google tablet would include, for example, or who would manufacture it — but if there’s one thing we can count on, it’s with whom a Google-made tablet would compete.

Google Android Tablet: What We Know

The Google Android tablet news comes by way of a story published in The New York Times on Sunday. The story, a piece about upcoming competition to Apple’s iPad, states that Google is currently “exploring the idea” of creating its own tablet computing device. The gadget is described as “an e-reader that would function like a computer.”

The info, according to The Times, comes straight from the big dog’s mouth: Google CEO Eric Schmidt is said to have divulged the Google tablet scoop while chatting with friends at a recent party in L.A. Other insiders supposedly confirmed the concept.

“People with direct knowledge of the project — who did not want to be named because they said they were unauthorized to speak publicly about the device — said the company had been experimenting in ‘stealth mode’ with a few publishers to explore delivery of books, magazines and other content on a tablet,” The Times reports.

Envisioning a Google Android Tablet

Knowing the principles of the Android operating system, one can make a few educated guesses about what a Google Android tablet could be and how it might compare toApple’s iPad. First and foremost, it’d likely be a far more open device in terms of customization: While Apple tends to maintain a tight grip on its user experience, Android-based devices typically allow users to configure the interface to their likings and replace stock components as they choose.

The same principle applies to applications: Compared to Apple’shighly controlled approach to app development and approval, Google’s Android Market for apps allows anyone to submit and publish programs without scrutiny. Android-powered devices — with the exception of those that run on AT&T — also let users download apps from unofficial third-party sources. One would imagine these qualities would be among the basic tenets of a Google-made Android tablet.

Along those same lines, a Google Android tablet would likely provide support for Flash — something Apple has long forbiddenon its mobile computing devices. The existence of an open app marketplace could also mean immediate support for tethering, as we’ve seen happen via third-party utilities on Android phones. And, of course, any Android tablet would presumably provide feature-rich apps for Google services such as Gmail and Google Voice, something Apple also does not permit.

As for the device’s form, Google has previously published conceptual images of how a Google-centric tablet might look. Those concepts, however, revolved around the idea of a Chrome OS-based tablet, so they may or may not apply to an Android-based design.

It’s fun to imagine what a Google Android tablet could do, but don’t let some of the headlines out there fool you: From what we know so far, there’s no reason to believe a Google-made Android tablet is an “imminent” or even a certain thing.

Read back over what the info provided by The New York Times actually states: Google is “exploring the idea” of building a tablet device. It is “experimenting” with possibilities. Despite some bloggers’ tendencies to fill in the blanks with big words, there’s no indication that this is a done deal, let alone something that’s likely to occur at any moment.

We do know, however, that a slew of new tablets is on the way for 2010, and many of them are expected to be powered by Android. So whether or not Google ends up building its own tablet, numerous new options will soon be headed our way. The iPad may have been the first serious contender, but it won’t be the only one for long.

Being able to move application storage to the external memory frees up room on the internal memory for other items, especially space-taking multimedia. Unfortunately, you still have to download apps to the phone before transferring files to SD card, but it was a fairly hassle-free experience overall.

Gingerbread Even while Android users are scooping up Froyo, many are already looking to the next OS iteration, Gingerbread. There has been much rumor and speculation, but apart from slipping the code-name once, Google has remained tight-lipped.  We do, however, know a few features that Google demoed this past May at its I/O conference, so there’s a good chance these could show up in Gingerbread.

One is video playback using the WebM video format that Google has developed. Another is a refurbished, account-based online Android Market with the capability to load apps over-the-air. In other words, clicking the installation button on your computer screen will kick off a physical download–not just the download link–directly onto your phone. Google’s crew also discussed an Android Market music store to rival iTunes.

Google’s acquisition of Simplify Media bolsters the plan for Android to facilitate streaming selections from your PC music library onto your smartphone. We know that Google has a keen eye on Apple’s iAds push, and is further developing its mobile advertising strategy.

According to rumors, Gingerbread will include copy/paste improvements and will require certain hardware specssuch as a 1GHz processor, 512MB memory, and 3.5-inch or larger display. Rumors suggest we could see Gingerbread as soon as autumn.

Related Posts:

Android 2.3: Best Features

Google says “we have done baking something” – Gingerbread

Google to release Android Gingerbread by October?

Google Expands Android Market’s Reach

Compare this figure to the four major iPhone operating system (or iOS) versions since January 2007, and you’ll see just how intently Google has been pouring resources into creating Android. The result? A competitive mobile OS that has achieved for market penetration in a very short time.

Google’s breakneck development speed has certainly paid off since it acquired the incipient Android start-up in 2005. Android now accounts for 13 percent of the smartphone market and 27 percent of smartphone sales in the last six months, according to a Nielsen Company report.

The pace, however, is unsustainable. We expect the rate of Android updates to slow down from about twice per year to a once-a-year update that hews closer to Apple’s iOS release schedule. Otherwise, says Google Vice President of Engineering, Andy Rubin–the original Android’s co-founder and CEO, no less–”it’s hard for developers to keep up.”

With carriers slowly but surely updating Android 2.2 (code-named Froyo) for Android handsets, we take a retrospective look at how we got here from the G1, and where we expect Android to head next.

RELATED POST: Froyo vs Gingerbread

A done-up interface greets you on boot-up, with seven icons for your news feed, profile, friends, photos, message in-box, events (like birthdays), and pending friend requests. The latter two are new additions and welcome ways to easily manage your Facebook account.

Below the icon dashboard is a photo reel that lets you swipe through thumbnails of friends’ recently uploaded photos, although there’s no context surrounding the image until you click through to your buddy’s profile page. Even then, you won’t be able to enlarge the image until you click again.

The start screen is also home to a notifications bar that slides up to share the latest news. In addition, there are shortcut buttons for updating your status and searching your friend list or the global Facebook roster. We also hear tell of videos playing back throughH.264 encoding, though we couldn’t find any videos in our newsfeed to subject to testing.

While the update certainly makes Facebook for Android easier on the eyes and more socially appealing, it still pales to Facebook foriPhone 3.0, which we can’t help but look to as the standard–not only for its visual sophistication but also for its workflow.

The Android and iPhone versions have essentially switched which screen stands in as the home screen–on Android it’s the dashboard whereas on the iPhone, that honor belongs to the newsfeed. This organization on Android adds a step when posting a photo or status update because you’ll need to switch over to the newsfeed first. The Android version also lacks Facebook chat and notes. There are a few other extra goodies in the iPhone app as well, including syncing Facebook photos with address book contacts from the app.

One user niggle, the fact that Facebook on Android loads an optimized version of Facebook.com to deliver content like photos, events, and your message in-box, is an identical operating procedure for iPhone as well. If your network speeds are slower, you’re more likely to notice a delay.

Considering we called the predecessor, Facebook for Android 1.3, a “simple” and “limited” alternative to Facebook.com that wasn’t saying much, this update’s ability to get you in front of invites, events, and photos (two ways) is an indisputable march forward.

cnet

The HTC Desire, iPhone 4 (4G) represent the most capable devices you can buy now. In this article, we will compare the two performances in the table.

Apple is counting on iPhone 4 to fend off mounting competition from Android, and you can tell Jobs downplayed the threat from the HTC Desire. It was Jobs’s own opinion, what do you fellows think? iPhone 4 vs HTC Desire, which is better?

HTC Desire VS. iPhone 4/HD is a discussion within the general iPhone/HTC chat place. HTC Desire is earning praise as one of the best Android phones yet.

If you want a phone now, get HTC Desire, HTC Evo 4G, or iPhone 4 (4G)?

Just as the last of the HTC Heroes have been getting their upgrades to Android 2.1 (aka Eclair), we’ve heard from HTC that the official Android 2.2 (Froyo) update for the HTC Desire is due to hit European shores this weekend.

As well as coming with all of the Froyo features we’re familiar with, the Desire is going to get a few neat tricks of its own.

On 2.2, your Desire will sync with iTunes using HTCSync – something we’re very keen to see in action. Other improvements include the ability to record HD video at 720p, improved caller ID and a revamped keyboard.

The update will also see the Desire getting the HTCApp Share widget which we first saw on the HTC Wildfire. The handy little tool makes it easy to let friends with Android phones know all about them sweet apps you’ve read about on Recombu.

As with the Nexus One and HTC Hero, the update will arrive over-the-air; a notification will appear in your status bar. There’s no need to back anything up as the app won’t delete anything, but HTC does advise that you use a Wi-Fi connection to download and install the app to avoid any possible data charges.

Unlocked handsets will get the upgrade first, with operator versions due to get theirs in a few weeks.

Today I want to talk about two significant advantages that Ubuntu has over Windows 7 and Mac OS X.

That leads us to Ubuntu’s first big advantage.

1. Comprehensive software updates
In a world where most of the security vulnerabilities are coming from third-party applications, Windows and Mac machines are at significant risk because they run lots of these apps and those apps aren’t always updated automatically, which leaves the machines open to attacks.

Again, to be clear, both Microsoft and Apple have comprehensive updating systems for their software — both the OS as well as company apps that run on top of the OS. The problem is with the software (programs, extensions, and plug-ins) from other vendors and the inconsistent methods they use for updating their code to protect against known flaws.

With Ubuntu, there’s one comprehensive software updating system. This is possible because Ubuntu has a centralized repository of applications and the only third-party applications that make it into the main repository are the ones that have been tested by Canonical (the company that produces Ubuntu) and are proven to work with the OS. This means that the Ubuntu main repository doesn’t always have the very latest version of Firefox, for example, but you can be sure that the one it does have will typically install easy, work smoothly, and remain updated automatically.

There are also other repositories of applications that you can connect to with Ubuntu, but these are supported by the Ubuntu community or by commercial companies. Still, if you trust them and connect to them, then their updates are also automatically run through Ubuntu’s Update Manager (below). As a result, Ubuntu offers a much more centralized and effective way to keep computers up to date — especially if you stick mostly to the software in its main repository.

2. Integrated app store

While managing Ubuntu’s software repositories is handled with an administrator tool called Synaptic Package Manager, there’s also a much easier way to browse through the official Ubuntu-sanctioned applications. It’s called the Ubuntu Software Center and the people I know who have used both Ubuntu and the iPhone typically say, “It’s just like the App Store.”

From a user perspective, the Ubuntu Software Library has a very similar experience to the iPhone App Store or the Android Market. You simply open it up, browse or search through different categories of applications, and download the ones that you want to try. It’s basically an app store for the PC.

And, while iPhone and Android have a mix of free apps and paid apps, the apps in the Ubuntu Software Center are nearly all open source and free of charge. Like iPhone and Android, you have to sort through a fair amount of chaff in order to get to the wheat, but it’s still a terrific 21st century computing experience. Both Windows and Mac need to learn from the app experience that is driving the mobile device market. Ubuntu has already beaten them to the punch.

If you add that to the fact that Ubuntu does a better job with software updates (a big security boost), then Ubuntu becomes a much more viable alternative for modern PC users, especially those who access most of their services and enterprise apps via a Web browser.

Pummeled by the recession, airlines continue to face daunting challenges — and yet Singapore Airlines managed to impress, moving up from 33 to 27 in the ranking.

Chief executive Chew Choon Seng said the company had refused to compromise on key items. “Even as we scaled back supply to match the impact of the global crisis on demand, we made it a point not to touch spending on safety and security, nor on staff training and skills development,” he said.

As of July 15, 2010, over half of all Android users are on version 2.1 of the mobile OS.

Unless you’re an Android developer deciding your next strategic programming move, chances are your brain isn’t attuned to the distribution of operating systems among all Android smartphone owners.

However, Google’s periodic pie charts and stacked line graphs reveal some interesting data nuggets, at least for Android fanatics.

According to data collected from July 1 to July 15, just about 60 percent of all Android smartphone owners are running version 2.0 of the Android operating system or higher, with 55 percent of the data set concentrated on version 2.1. (We’ll go out on a limb to guess that of that number, 100 percent of those 2.1 users are hotly anticipating getting the 2.2 over-the-air update.)

Compare this OS 2.1 figure to the merely 3.3 percent of Android users who have already received the version 2.2 OS update, and the 40 percent still stuck in pre-2.0 limbo on older or midrange devices.

What really stands out when you flipping the statistic along the pre- and post- 2.0 OS line is that 40 percent of users running OS 1.5 and 1.6 are missing out on key Android features, including pinch-to-zoom, universal voice search, and a much more powerful Google Maps app with personalized search suggestions.

The figures will certainly soon shift again as more 2.1 phones migrate from “Eclair” to “Froyo” (2.2), but even then, the number of users running version 2.0 and above will still remain just over half until the next waves of Android phones on the latest OS begin to saturate the market, replacing older phones mired in older OS versions.

Via CNET

The Inquirer reports that Asustek, Dell, HTC, LG, and Samsung are all working on Windows Phone 7 devices, although you won’t be able to find names, technical specs, or pictures for any of these devices just yet.

The new operating system is set to launch in the fall, but no one is quite sure what to expect. Microsoft is keeping very quiet on the progress of the platform, which means it is either having difficulty securing hardware commitments or it is waiting to surprise us all. I wonder which it is…

Earlier this year, Microsoft changed the name of its smartphone operating system from Windows Mobile to Windows Phone, which honestly still sounds worse than Android, iOS, WebOS, or Symbian. But I digress. Anyway, the name change was more symbolic than anything else, as a sign that Microsoft was reinventing its mobile platform.

Windows Phone 7 is set to be a high-end smartphone operating system with strict requirements for any device to be able to run it.

Obviously Microsoft has the strength to get top-name manufacturers to get on board, but it still has a colossal climb to even begin rivaling Android or iPhone. The most recent high-profile mobile device to run on a Windows platform, Windows Mobile 6.5, was the HTC HD 2, which has sold pretty well but it has nowhere near the same name recognition as HTC’s Android handsets.

Well, over the weekends, i bought a Wacom Bamboo Pen & Touch tablet for drawing digitally.

So, here’s the unboxing…

Taken with my Canon PowerShot A1100IS.

Below’s the video. Don’t believe in this… ;D

So ums, I will try as quickly as possible to post the videos and how-to articles of the HTC Desire.
And, I will also be posting these reviews on mobilephones.hehevideos.com which is set to post mobile news and updates.

Thus, I thank you for supporting me and this site.