Next Generation OS: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS

I am back with the latest information on Ubuntu after I discussed what exactly Ubuntu is in my previous article, Windows attracts Viruses while Ubuntu attracts human beings. Ubuntu, currently on the verge of releasing its next version 11.04 "Oneiric Ocelot" has already scheduled the release of its 16th version of Ubuntu, i.e. Ubuntu 12.04. However, the code name for Ubuntu 12.04 has not been decided yet. Normally, Ubuntu releases are give code names using an adjective and an animal with the same first letter. But one thing is for sure,Canonical will release the Long Term Support version of the OS, this makes it Ubuntu 12.04 LTS.
Ubuntu releases are timed to be approximately one month after GNOME releases, which are in turn about one month after releases of X.Org, resulting in each Ubuntu release including a newer version of GNOME and X.

To date every fourth release, in the second quarter of even-numbered years, has been designated as a Long Term Support (LTS) release, indicating that it has updates for three years for desktop use and five years for server, with paid technical support also available from Canonical Ltd.Till now, releases 6.06, 8.04, and 10.04 are the LTS releases. Now its 12.04 that will be the next LTS release.
According to Ubuntu developers, the Ubuntu 12.04 has a new release schedule. There will be two Alpha versions, two Beta versions, then there will be a release of the Release Candidate version and finally the complete version will be released.

The schedule of the release of Ubuntu 12.04 with exact date as proposed by Canonical is as follows:

Windows attracts Viruses while Ubuntu attracts human beings

"Windows attracts Viruses while Ubuntu attracts human beings".

I have been using windows ever since I saw my first computer. Operating system to a computer is like a soul to a human being. OS is the interpreter between us and the computer hardware. There are a lots of OS in the market that are popularly used like solaris, Linux, windows, mac, etc. I have used almost all kinds of OS available in the market worldwide. There was a time when I wouldn't use anything except windows like any other normal human out there. Then a time came when I would use mac all the time. Now, for the last one year, I have been using Ubuntu, a flavor of Linux. Ubuntu is an open source OS capable of doing anything you make it do. It is named after the Southern African philosophy of Ubuntu ("humanity towards others").

I have tried using each and every version of Ubuntu, every version obviously gets better and less buggy than the earlier. Each version has some flaws and every upcoming version removes the earlier flaws. The basic algorithms behind the screen in Ubuntu always go the same way as they are in windows.  But, if you are into digging the basics, you really should switch to Ubuntu. If you think you can't ever use Linux without knowing the commands, then you are wrong. Ubuntu is almost as user friendly as windows or any other OS. You should definitely give it a try. In comparison to other Linux flavors, there is one thing I like most about Ubuntu, it has a very simple command line interface called BASH, which operates on very simple commands, much simpler than the DOS prompt in windows. You won't believe, when I first started using Linux, it had been just a month and I was already using the basic commands. When you see things happening and giving results in front of your eyes, you really love it.

Ubuntu is a computer operating system based on the Debian GNU/Linux distribution and distributed as free and open source software.Yes, exactly, free of cost. You don't have to pay for any version of Ubuntu or its license. It is absolutely free and widely available over the Internet for free downloading. You can download any version officially from the Ubuntu home page, www.ubuntu.com. Now, you must have started thinking about the compatibility of softwares with this OS that you had been using with windows. Almost all softwares being used in windows are readily or alternatively available for Ubuntu through the Ubuntu repositories or other third party repositories. While, some of the softwares which are still unavailable for Ubuntu are under development. The canonical group and other open source societies have been continuously working for making it more and more attractive for every other technical or non technical human being out there. For the unavailable under development softwares, there are applications that provide a cross platform of windows on Ubuntu. Some of these include crossover, playonlinux, citrix client and so on. This is where you stop paying for windows license, and if you are using the pirated copy, you don't need to be against the law anymore. Let me share an incident I came across a few days earlier related to piracy, there is this friend of mine who runs a small IT company. He had some windows running PCs setup in his company. Some of his PCs had pirated windows on them. MS people raided his company and he was charged with a heavy fine for piracy.

The most awesome feature of Ubuntu is “no virus attack at all”. The moment you start using Ubuntu, you get rid of all those PC cracking viruses, malwares and every other wares out there on the net. Your PC becomes as secure as windows can ever be ideally. If you are using windows, and having an Internet connection on your PC, you should have a proper anti-virus installed in order to keep your data safe and prevent your PC from getting hacked. This is where you pay again for the a genuine copy of anti-virus. And if you don't pay for it, you are going against the law using the pirated copy. Now, its time for you to change your OS and rise up with Ubuntu. This is one of the main reasons that defense sectors, IT giants and other government organizations are rapidly migrating from windows to Ubuntu. It has file systems totally different and more secure than windows, i.e. ext3, ext4, that don't offer any kind of security flaws for external anti OS agents.

All these features make this OS so popular. Ubuntu holds an estimated global usage of more than 12 million desktop users, making it the most popular desktop Linux distribution with about 50% of Linux desktop market share. It is fourth most popular on web servers, and its popularity is increasing rapidly. Canonical releases new versions of Ubuntu every six months with commitment to support each release for eighteen months by providing security fixes, patches to critical bugs and minor updates to programs. It was decided that every fourth release, issued on a two-year basis, would receive long-term support (LTS). LTS releases are supported for three years on the desktop and five years on the server.

The latest LTS release is Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx), released on 29 April 2010, while the latest normal release is Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot), released on 4 August 2011.

You must be thinking if Ubuntu is a free OS, where does all the fund for development comes from. Well, Ubuntu is currently funded by Canonical Ltd. On 8 July 2005, Mark Shuttleworth and Canonical Ltd. announced the creation of the Ubuntu Foundation and provided an initial funding of US$10 million. The purpose of the foundation is to ensure the support and development for all future versions of Ubuntu. Mark Shuttleworth describes the foundation as an "emergency fund".

I won't go more technical in this article, as I just wanted to provide just an overview of Ubuntu, its basics, and the benefits. So, by just using this OS, you can decrease the expenses you do for your computer.  I am not against Windows but I have just kept my views why I stopped using windows and started using Ubuntu.

This is how it really is.....

Steve Jobs Resigns As CEO Of Apple

Title says it all. More to come. For now, the letter from Steve Jobs himself:

To the Apple Board of Directors and the Apple Community:

I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.

I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.

As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.

I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.

I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.

Steve

Update: Apple has confirmed that Apple COO Tim Cook will replace Jobs as CEO, following Jobs’ own recommendation. Considering that Cook has filled in for Jobs in the times of his medical leaves (including the one he has been on this year), this has been widely expected if and when it came time for Jobs to step down.

Also as requested, Jobs has been elected as Chairman of the Board and will remain with the company in that capacity. Cook will join the Board as well.

About the Company:

Started by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple has expanded from computers to consumer electronics over the last 30 years, officially changing their name from Apple Computer, Inc. to Apple, Inc. in January 2007.

Among the key offerings from Apple’s product line are: Pro line laptops (MacBook Pro) and desktops (Mac Pro), consumer line laptops (MacBook) and desktops (iMac), servers (Xserve), Apple TV, the Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server operating systems, the iPod (offered with up to 120 GB of storage with the iPod classic or with web browsing and touch screen controls with the iPod touch), and the iPhone (now available for sale in over 80 countries).

About Steve Jobs:

Steve Jobs is the co-founder and CEO of Apple and formerly Pixar.

“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” -Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs regularly makes most rosters of the rich and powerful. It is surprising for a guy who takes home an annual salary of U.S. $1. The reasons why he is on all power lists are; Apple, Next, iPod and Pixar. Jobs is also known as the one man who could have upstaged Bill Gates. But Jobs was as excited about innovation as Bill Gates was interested in making money.

Steve Jobs was born in Green Bay, Wisconsin to Joanne Simpson and a Syrian father Abdulfattah Jandali (who became a political science professor). Paul and Clara Jobs of Mountain View, Santa Clara County, California then adopted him. The writer Mona Simpson is Jobs’ biological sister. In 1972, Jobs graduated from Homestead High School in Cupertino, California and enrolled in Reed College in Portland, Oregon. One semester later he had dropped out. But instead of going back home he hung around college and took up the study of philosophy and foreign cultures.

Steve Jobs had a deep-seated interest in technology so he took up a job at Atari Inc. which was a leading manufacturer of video games. He struck a friendship with fellow designer Steve Wozniak and attended meetings of the “Homebrew Computer Club” with him. Wozniak and Jobs developed a system with a toy whistle available in the Cap’n Crunch cereal box to make it possible to make free long distance telephone calls. They called off the amateur venture after someone told them of the possible legal consequences.

After saving up some money Steve Jobs took off for India in the search of enlightenment with his friend Dan Kottke. Once he returned he convinced Wozniak to quit his job at Hewlett Packard and join him in his venture that concerned personal computers. They sold items like a scientific calculator to raise the seed capital.

In 1976, Jobs, then 21, and Wozniak, 26, founded Apple Computer Co. in the Jobs family garage. The first personal computer was sold for $666.66. By 1980, Apple had already released three improved versions of the personal computer. It had a wildly successful IPO, which made both founders millionaires many times over. Steve Jobs had managed to rope in John Scully of Pepsi to head the marketing function in Apple.

A tiff with the Apple board and John Scully led to the resignation of Steve Jobs. As soon as he resigned he immersed himself in his brand new venture. Steve Jobs decided that he wanted to change the hardware industry. The company was called NeXTStep and the new machine was called NeXT Computer. He ploughed in more than U.S. $250 million into the company. The machine was a commercial washout but it did help in object-oriented programming, PostScript, and magneto-optical devices. Tim Berners-Lee developed the original World Wide Web system at CERN on a NeXT machine. Bitterly disappointed with NeXTStep, Jobs accepted the offer that Apple made him.

Steve Jobs also started Pixar Inc., which has gone on to produce animated movies such as Toy Story (1995); A Bug’s Life (1998); Toy Story 2 (1999); Monsters, Inc. (2001); Finding Nemo (2003); and The Incredibles (2004). This venture has made him one of the most sought after men in Hollywood.

Post Pixar, Steve Jobs wanted another round of revolutionizing to do. This time it was the music industry. He introduced the iPod in 2003. Later he came up with iTunes, which was a digital jukebox. A million and a half iPods later, the music industry still does not know whether this invention will save it or destroy it. Apple has a great advertising track record and its ‘Rip, Mix, Burn’ campaign was another feather in its cap. Now the industry uses a Mac to make the music and an iPod to store it.

Steve Jobs lives with his wife, Laurene Powell and their three children in Silicon Valley. He also has a daughter, Lisa Jobs from a previous relationship. In 2004, there was a cancerous tumor in his pancreas, which was successfully operated upon. Jobs continued to struggle with his health, and in 2009 he underwent a successful liver transplant.

Jobs resigned as CEO of Apple in August 2011 and subsequently assumed the role of Chairman of the Board.

Surprising Facts About Steve Jobs & Apple

It's safe to say most investors are well acquainted with the charisma, drive, and brilliance of Steve Jobs. He's the most well-known CEO in the world, and arguably the best too. His announced resignation as Apple CEO is not unexpected, but is still being met with some degree of shock. Here's a short list of facts (not opinions) about Jobs and Apple that are truly surprising.

1) Not A Single Downgrade Today

Jobs' resignation is arguably the worst news out of Apple (AAPL) in years and the Wall Street crowd didn't even blink. 49 out of 51 analysts currently rate Apple a "BUY" with an average price target of $497 a share (according to Factset Data), which is roughly 32% above yesterday's closing price. The Jobs shocker was met not with a flurry of downgrades and panic selling, but rather with a chorus of reiterations and calls to buy on any weakness.

2) Jobs' Stake in Disney Is Twice As Big As His Slice of Apple

As a result of his Pixar sale, Steve Jobs owns 7.4% of Disney (DIS), or 138 million shares, worth roughly $4.5 billion. At the same time, his latest disclosed stake in Apple of 5.5 million shares, represents roughly 0.5% of the total float and is worth about $2.1 billion. His stake in Apple doesn't even make him a top 20 shareholder. In Disney, Jobs' is the top shareholder. His stake is way above Fidelity, Blackrock, State Street, and Vanguard which own chunks ranging from 3 to 4.5%.

3) Apple Gets Sued Almost Every Day

When you have grown to $350 billion in market value with a massive global reach, it is safe to say that you are a large target with deep pockets. In just August alone, 13 lawsuits have been disclosed pertaining to privacy violations in South Korea, class action in the US, numerous patent challenges, as well as a claim of price fixing.

4) Apple Has Not Missed A Quarterly Estimate in Nearly 9 Years

According to Factset, Apple has "beat the street" for 35 consecutive quarters - the longest streak of any company in the S&P 500 except for Cognizant Technology (CTSH). And speaking of earnings, the $7.3 billion net income Apple reported in July made it the largest contributor to earnings growth in the S&P 500 for the 2nd quarter. With Apple, S&P 500 earnings were up 11.8% in Q2. Without it, S&P 499 earnings would have risen only 10.0%.

5) Apple Has Not Traded Under $100 a Share Since March 18, 2009

What's even more astounding is that on a split adjusted basis, (there have been 3) Apple's IPO price is $2.75 a share. For the record, the actual IPO was done on December 12, 1980 at $22.00 a share. If you bought 1,000 shares of the Apple IPO, your $22,000 investment would be worth $2.9 million today.

6) Steve Jobs Personally Holds Over 300 Patents

According to the New York Times, it's actually 313 patents. But what is more telling is the amount that some of his billionaire tech peers have: 9 for Bill Gates and about a dozen for Sergei Brin and Larry Page. Most of Jobs' patents are tech-related, but the Apple founder even holds a patent for a glass staircase.

Ubuntu 11.04 vs Ubuntu 11.10

Canonical's Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" has been widely used and adopted by the open source lovers throughout the world. But, these days Ubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot” is occupying much of the Linux world's attention though it is still in the development phase. Recently the Alpha3 version of Ubuntu 11.10 has been released. There has been many changes since the first version of Ubuntu. And obviously, every next version gets better than earlier. Many of the applications in Ubuntu 11.10 are similar to that of 11.04, but some of them have been replaced by some better options that might surely rule coming versions of Ubuntu and the world of open source. Lets have a look at some of these application.

1. Desktop Environment
The classic GNOME desktop will reportedly no longer be included on the default Ubuntu CD, while Qt-based Unity 2D for lower-end PCs will switch to using Compiz rather than Metacity, The H reports. Meanwhile, the 11.10 Alpha3 version is now powered by the latest stable version of Linux kernel 3.0 and the GNOME 3.1.4 desktop environment.

2. Evolution or Thunderbird?
For email, Ubuntu 11.04 has been using Evolution as the mail client. However, Ubuntu 11.10 is still on track to include Evolution, the Ubuntu standard. There are chances, that Mozilla Thunderbird will remain the default mail client until the final release of Ubuntu 11.10 as it has been included in Alpha3 release of Ubuntu 11.10. The current version of Mozilla Thunderbird included in the package is 6.0.

3. LibreOffice: Yes or No?
There are chances that LibreOffice might be dropped from the default Ubuntu 11.10 final release CD, due to the space restrictions on the Ubuntu CD, with the result that attempts are being made to find a way to free up more room. While another alternative is to package the operating system on two CDs or one DVD instead. But the Alpha3 version of 11.10 has LibreOffice included in the package.

4. Firefox upgraded
There is a possibility that Firefox might be replaced by Google's Open source browser, Chromium in the final release of Ubuntu 11.10. But the currently released Alpha3 version has Firefox 6.0 as compared to the Firefox 4 used in 11.04. There have been several bugs in firefox along with the java compatibility issues which creates problem running the Java enabled sites.

5. An improved Unity
Natty Narwhal's new, notebook-derived Unity interface has been met with considerable hesitation on the part of some Ubuntu users, but apparently the next version will include a revised version of the desktop shell. The Unity launcher will see its quicklist functionality improved and icons in the launcher will be able to display count badges or progress meters to reflect the state of the underlying application.

6. Enhanced Ubuntu Software Center
This is one of the Ubuntu's best features. It fills up a huge gap between the Ubuntu OS and the users that are very much unfamiliar with the CLI. The final 11.10 release is supposed to get a number of enhancements, including improved integration with Unity and a simplified user interface like 11.10 Alpha3 has Ubuntu Software Center with a new "top rated" views feature to all the subcategory pages and the main category page. Moreover, installing individual deb files is a lot faster now.

7. Déjà Dup included as backup utility
The Déjà Dup utility will be included by default for backup purposes. The backup tool might also get online accounts backup like Gmail or Flickr, backup the package list, a backup browser which will allow you to browse through all the files you've backed up as well as an option to backup specific applications.

8. Removal of Computer Janitor and PiTiVi
Computer Janitor is supposedly going to be dropped in Ubuntu 11.10, and it sounds like the PiTiVi video editor will be, too. Both software packages are said to have too many bugs which leads them to be dropped.

9. LightDM to replace GDM
Ubuntu 11.04 has been using GDM. Switching from GNOME Display Manager to the lighter-weight LightDM will allow login screens to be themed using HTML, CSS and JavaScript. This means the OS is going to be even more Open. Moreover, the old ALT+Tab functionality has been replaced with CTRL+Tab one, the launcher and panel perform better, and the indicator stack is ported to GTK3.

The final version of Ubuntu 11.10 is dated to be release in October. I have been desperately waiting for it.

Java 7 Vs. Java 8

Java 7 (codename Dolphin) is a major update to Java which was launched on July 7 of 2011 and was made available on July 28, 2011.The development period was organized into thirteen milestones; on February 18, 2011, milestone 13, the last milestone was reached.On average 8 builds, which generally included enhancements and bug fixes, were released per milestone. The Feature list at the Open JDK 7 project lists many of the feature changes.

The feature additions for Java 7:

• JVM support for dynamic languages, following the prototyping work currently done on the Multi Language Virtual Machine
• Compressed 64-bit pointers Available in Java 6 with -XX:+UseCompressedOops

• Language changes:

• Strings in switch
• Automatic resource management in try-statement
• Improved Type Inference for Generic Instance Creation
• Simplified Varargs Method Invocation
• Binary integer literals
• Allowing underscores in numeric literals
• Catching Multiple Exception Types and Rethrowing Exceptions with Improved Type Checking

• Concurrency utilities under JSR 166 
•  New file I/O library to enhance platform independence and add support for metadata and symbolic links. The new packages are java.nio.file and java.nio.file.attribute
• Library-level support for Elliptic curve cryptography algorithms 
•  An XRender pipeline for Java 2D, which improves handling of features specific to modern GPUs
• New platform APIs for the graphics features originally planned for release in Java version 6u10
• Enhanced library-level support for new network protocols, including SCTP and Sockets Direct Protocol
• Upstream updates to XML and Unicode

Lambda, Jigsaw, and part of Coin were dropped from Java 7.

Java 8 is expected in October 2012 and will include at a minimum the features that were planned for Java 7 but later deferred.

• Modularization of the JDK under Project Jigsaw
• Language-level support for lambda expressions (officially, lambda expressions; unofficially, closures) under Project Lambda. There was an ongoing debate in the Java community on whether to add support for lambda expressions. Sun later declared that lambda expressions would be included in Java 8 and asked for community input to refine the feature.
• Parts of project Coin that are not included in Java 7

The Java SE 8 Platform Specification will build upon the Java Language Specification, the Java Virtual Machine Specification, and the Java SE APIs defined in Java SE 7. The Platform Specification does not itself define new features, or enhancements to existing specifications; rather, it enumerates features and enhancements defined in component JSRs or through the JCP maintenance process. The Java SE 8 Platform Specification will aim to support the creation of maintainable, scalable, and high-performance Java applications across a range of computing environments.

"Java 8 is supposed to set the scene for the cloud, for a wider deployment arena," said Mark Little, senior director of engineering for Red Hat's middleware business, as well as Red Hat's primary liaison for the JCP. Oracle left out many of the advanced features planned for Java 7 in order not to further delay the release, he noted. Those releases may very well be included in Java 8. At least two of those features will prove instrumental in making the next version of Java ready for wide-scale cloud deployment, Little said. One is multitenancy, or the ability for the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) to safely run multiple applications. The other is modularity, or a reorganization of the JDK (Java Development Kit) into a set of cleanly defined though interdependent modules.

In many ways, Java 8 will be the true test of how Oracle manages a complex open-source project, one with many contributors from so many competing interests.

Beetel Magiq tab $99 Vs. HP Touchpad 16gb tab $99

Beetel, a part of Bharti Group (Airtel) has launched Beetel Magiq which is a 3G Google Android tablet and becomes the second Indian company to launch an Android tablet after OlivePad by Olive Telecom.
Beetel Magiq tablet has got impressive 7 inches capacitive touchscreen with 800 x 480 pixel resolution. It will have the Android Froyo operating system although the Honeycomb 3.0 OS would have made it ideal for tablets PCs. It’s powered by a 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor which enables high-speed processing and has got various connectivity options including the 3G HSDPA connectivity, Wireless LAN connectivity and support of EDGE through GPRS. It also includes a mini USB port for PC connectivity and USB charging.
For pictures and video recording on Beetel Magiq can be processed with the inclusion of 2 mega pixel rear camera with HD video recording and image quality of 1600 x 1200 pixels. Also included is the front camera with VGA quality can be used for video chat and video calls as 3G in India supports video calls.
The Beetel Magiq comes with 8 GB internal memory which is good thing when it comes today’s generation tablet. If that memory is not enough for you then you have pick one micro SD card, insert in the card slot provided (expandable up to 16 Gb) and you can store a large amount of data on this external SD card.
Provided with 2200 mAh battery, it offers excellent battery life to make it useful for all of your day’s activity mix of video calls, video playback, messaging, browsing and chatting.
On the other hand, talking about HP touchpad 16gb, which is now available for just the same price as Beetel Magiq,i. e. $99 on sale doesn't run Honeycomb software, like most other tablets. Instead, it offers a smooth webOS user interface, a great Internet browser and some booming Beats speakers. Unfortunately, it also suffers from comparatively terrible battery life, a chubby case and a severe lack of apps. It neither have 3G connectivity -- just Wi-Fi. It has a rounded, shiny plastic body. We like this approach on HP's phones, because it makes them fit in the hand like a smooth pebble. Unfortunately, its rounded back makes the TouchPad look larger than it needs to be, and rather tubby compared to the sleek iPad 2.

The TouchPad measures 190 by 230 by 14mm and weighs 770g. The iPad 2 measures 186 by 241 by 9mm and weighs 601g. Despite both having a 9.7-inch screen, then, the TouchPad feels heftier in the hand.When it comes to what's inside, we're happy that HP has stuck to Palm's path. WebOS is a fabulous operating system -- something proven by the fact that many features have been shamelessly ripped off by other manufacturers.Multitasking, in particular, is well handled. It all takes place on the home screen, which is easy to access via either a swiping gesture from the bottom of the screen, or the home button -- the only button on the front of the TouchPad.

When it comes to the applications, not only are there far fewer apps available for the TouchPad than for its tablet competitors, the app store also proves flaky at times.When it comes to backing up, the TouchPad is the king of the cloud. We already had an account with Palm's cloud service and, now that HP has taken the company over, we were able to log into the tablet and pull down all of our account settings from our old phone.

But beware -- you must have access to a Wi-Fi network to sign in for the first time, and you can't do anything with the TouchPad until you've done that.You can't charge the TouchPad using just any micro-USB cable, either. Like most tablets, it needs more voltage than a typical cable can provide.The TouchPad needs all the power it can get. Unlike some of its competitors, this tablet only lasted just over a day with normal use. While we can stuff the iPad 2 in a drawer and come back to it weeks later to find it still going strong, the TouchPad didn't last a weekend snoozing in our cabinet.

Conclusion
HP TouchPad is up against some serious challengers in its bid to become the titan of tablets. It has some mighty weapons at its disposal, in the form of an attractive user interface, top-notch speakers, and a cracking Web browser. But it will suffer some mortal wounds due to its lack of apps, poor battery life, chubby plastic case and occasionally flaky software while Beetel Magiq is a good tablet with Android Froyo OS, 1 Ghz processor, 2 Mega pixel camera, 3G and longer battery life. It’s priced at Rs 8900 and it becomes the cheapest Android tablets available in the market as most of the Android tablets are priced more than Rs 12,000.

Firefox 8 Vs. Chrome 15

Following the recent release of the new-improved Chrome 14 Google is preparing for the release of yet another version. Chromium 15.0 was released on 28 July 2011, with 15.0.837.0 as the initial version. Chromium is the open source browser project on which Chrome is based. As a result the release of Chrome 15 expected early September. It is expected to bring even more fine tuning to the Chrome browser. Google hopes to steal some of the limelight from the ever popular Firefox. Both Mozilla and Google have been releasing subsequent versions of their web browsers in quick succession. But up until now Firefox has fought off all previous Chrome versions. So will Chrome 15 have enough to really challenge Firefox?

According to those in the know Chrome 15 will improve the profile feature and synchronization by relocating the synchronization function into the main menu and adding an efficient profile manager. By improving these areas it provides users with a more personalized browsing environment. Chrome 15 offers users more choice in terms of customization within the profile feature, combining Google accounts, apps and add-ons. But developers need to be careful when offering too much choice. There is nothing more frustrating than an over complicated user experience. Admittedly the encrypted data itself used in synchronization is more secure due to changes in the latest Chromium 15.

Google Chrome 16 is expected around a month after the release of version 15 (October 17). Such frequent releases seem to be rather superficial given the fact that substantial issues with previous versions are not always resolved in later releases. Chrome is going for all out development at a phenomenal rate. Over frequent releases would be more bearable if developers at Google were actually listening to user’s demands. Instead they appear to be developing in a manor that is not user-focused enough. The frequency of releases leads to the problem of compatibility issues, meaning it lacks support for a number of websites. Another problem is that Chrome’s over complicated user experience, it remains best in its simplest form. But that is a form in which it cannot compete with the comprehensive Firefox.

Chrome has always placed a lot of emphasis on speed. In Chrome 15 Google continues by focusing on pre-rendering, in particular location bar pre-rendering which allows for instant URL shortcutting. But again not everyone enjoys suggested targets appearing instantly. Users should not be forced into a Chrome browsing experience, but lured into it. Google must not over step the mark. Chrome://media-internals looks set to be interesting feature by allowing users to identify which tab has running media (video, audio etc.). It can be a nightmare task when running multiple tabs.

Firefox 8, which only just appeared on the Nightly channel, is already 20% faster than Firefox 5 in almost every metric: start up, session restore, first paint, JavaScript execution, and even 2D canvas and 3D WebGL rendering. The memory footprint of Firefox 7 (and thus 8) has also been drastically reduced, along with much-needed improvements to garbage collection.

While comparison with other browsers has become a little passe in recent months — they’re all so damn similar! — it’s worth noting that Firefox 8 is as fast or faster than the latest Dev Channel build of Chrome 14. Chrome’s WebGL implementation is still faster, but with Azure, Firefox’s 2D performance is actually better than Chrome. JavaScript performance is also virtually identical.

The only real difference now between Chrome and Firefox (and Internet Explorer 9) is the fancy, Googlesque speculative pre-resolution of DNS and pre-loading of websites. Mozilla can spend the next year improving Firefox’s rendering speeds, but the negotiation and downloading of websites is always going to be the slowest part of surfing the web — and that’s where Google Chrome truly excels. Firefox might be fast, but Chrome feels fast.

Internet use affects memory: Study

Internet searches are making information easy to forget, as more people rely on computers as a type of "external memory," a Harvard University study found. About 60 Harvard students were asked to type 40 pieces of trivia, such as "An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain," into computers, and were told either the information would be saved or erased. People who believed the data would be saved were less likely to remember, according to the study published online by the journal Science. The widely available Internet has made it an instant go-to library where facts and figures are easily found, the researchers said. The study suggests that search engines such as Google Inc. , and databases such as Amazon. com Inc's IMDb.com serve as an external "memory, where information is stored collectively outside ourselves," they said.

"We are becoming symbiotic with our computer tools, growing into interconnected systems," the authors wrote in the paper.

"We have become dependent on them to the same degree we are on all the knowledge we gain from our friends and coworkers - and lose if they are out of touch."

The research also found that people are primed to look to the Internet first for knowledge. Another experiment, run on 34 undergraduates at Columbia University in New York, showed that people remembered where they stored their information better than they were able to recall the information itself.

Google, based in Mountain View, California, was founded in 1998 by Sergey Brin and Larry Page, after the two Stanford University students created a search engine they called "BackRub."

That search engine, later dubbed Google - became the company's backbone, as it expanded access to billions of web documents. Google, a play on the word "googol," a mathematical term for the number represented by the numeral 1 followed by 100 zeros, went public in 2004.

It isn't clear what the effects of being so "wired" will have on people over time, the authors, led by Betsy Sparrow of Columbia, wrote.

"It may be no more than nostalgia at this point, however, to wish we were less dependent on our gadgets," the authors said.

Facebook, Skype to launch video chat service

Just as Google''s next big thing ''Google Plus'' is all set to launch, Facebook and Skype are about to strike a deal that would bring the video chatting service to the social networking site. With Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg promising an "awesome" new feature on July 6, Skype, which was recently purchased by Microsoft for a whopping USD 8.5 billion, could become a fixture on the world''s largest social network. The beta version of Google''s social network, Google Plus, debuted last week to rave reviews, especially for its +Hangouts feature that allows for multi-user video chat.



At present, Facebook users update message and status through their profile, and share photos but the addition of video chat will bring an interesting change to their account. Editor of Tech Crunch, Michael Arrington stated in the Next Week that Facebook, in collaboration with Skype, will unveil its video chat option which will be powered by Skype. This move will strengthen Facebook''s position in the social networking market. Facebook at present is the most influential and one of the biggest social networking sites in the world having over 500 million active users. This isn''t the first time that Skype has been linked to Facebook. Back in September 2010 the same rumour reared its head and this March it was reported that talks had resumed between the two companies. .

Facebook to launch ''something awesome'' next week: Zuckerberg

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has a surprise up his sleeve for the over 500 million users of his social networking site with the billionaire CEO today saying his company is planning to "launch something awesome" next week. Zuckerberg, speaking at his company''s office in Seattle, did not divulge any further details apart from saying that the company planned to "launch something awesome" next week. However, it is being speculated that the new feature to be launched could be in the mobile or tablet space. A report in the Los Angeles Times said there are various mobile products in development at Facebook, including the release of a long-awaited Facebook app for Apple''s iPad and a specialised app for photo-sharing on the iPhone. "We are working on a number of exciting things that we have not yet announced, but stay tuned for next week," the report quoted Facebook director of engineering Andrew Bosworth as saying. The project has been developed at the 40-person Seattle office, which is Facebook''s only major engineering hub outside of its Palo Alto, California headquarters. In the past, the Seattle office has played a key role in Facebook''s mobile efforts, the report said. Facebook''s Seattle office has made a mark on the company''s mobile efforts, playing a central role in the development of Facebook''s unified mobile site, unveiled in March, it added.

11 Firsts In Internet History

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11 Firsts In Internet History

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Web addresses exceed world's population

ANI

Tags : Internet, web addresses, Microsoft

Posted: Thursday , Jul 30, 2009 at 1649 hrs

Melbourne:
Internet is growing in dimensions every second, so much so that there are more addresses than there are people on Earth, claims the team behind Microsoft's new search engine Bing.
Bing has put the number of web pages at "over 1 trillion", while Google had earlier indexed more than one trillion discreet web addresses.
The current global population stands at more than 6.7 billion, which means that there are about 150 web addresses per person in the world.
And this could mean that if a person spent just one minute reading every website in existence, then he or she would be kept busy for 31,000 years, without any sleep.
"An average person would need six hundred thousand decades of nonstop reading to read through the information," News.com.au quoted Bing as saying.
Mark Higginson, director of analytics for Nielsen Online, said that the global online population had jumped 16 per cent since last year.

Source: Indian Express

Web addresses exceed world's population

ANI

Tags : Internet, web addresses, Microsoft

Posted: Thursday , Jul 30, 2009 at 1649 hrs

Melbourne:
Internet is growing in dimensions every second, so much so that there are more addresses than there are people on Earth, claims the team behind Microsoft's new search engine Bing.
Bing has put the number of web pages at "over 1 trillion", while Google had earlier indexed more than one trillion discreet web addresses.
The current global population stands at more than 6.7 billion, which means that there are about 150 web addresses per person in the world.
And this could mean that if a person spent just one minute reading every website in existence, then he or she would be kept busy for 31,000 years, without any sleep.
"An average person would need six hundred thousand decades of nonstop reading to read through the information," News.com.au quoted Bing as saying.
Mark Higginson, director of analytics for Nielsen Online, said that the global online population had jumped 16 per cent since last year.

Source: Indian Express