New crawler for Yahoo - Yahoo! Slurp 3.0

Over the past few weeks, Yahoo have been preparing for the latest version of the Yahoo! Search crawler with some infrastructure updates, which recently caused a variance in our crawl behavior.

With everything now in place, the rollout has officially begun. The new Yahoo! Slurp 3.0 recognizes the same user-agent and all robots.txt directives for ‘Yahoo! Slurp,’ though it’ll identify itself as Slurp 3.0 in your web logs.

As the new software undergoes a phased rollout to our production crawlers over the next several weeks, you’ll see the following changes:

a) The crawlers will start crawling from a different and much smaller set of IP addresses, but it’ll still be from the crawl.yahoo.net domain. Any reverse DNS checks to identify our crawler will continue to work. Please note that if you’re using IP-based recognition of our crawlers, you might see a drop in crawl/coverage from Yahoo! We strongly recommend that you move to reverse DNS-based identification of Yahoo! Slurp if you’re using any other method to avoid this problem. The current set of IPs will disappear from your web logs in the next several weeks.

b) The crawlers will also publish a new user-agent, ‘Yahoo! Slurp/3.0.’ Existing robots.txt directives for ‘Slurp’ or ‘Yahoo! Slurp’ will continue to work, but if you have directives specific to ‘Slurp/2.0,’ they won’t be recognized by the new crawler (though usage of the ‘Slurp/2.0′ user-agent is very rare on the web, so you won’t likely be affected). We recommend specifying the shorter version of: User-agent: Slurp. Check out “How do I prevent my site or certain subdirectories from being crawled?” on our Help page for more details.

These changes will affect the main Yahoo! Web Search crawlers. Crawlers that similarly respect the Yahoo! Slurp directive but identify themselves more specifically, such as Yahoo! Slurp China and others, will not be impacted.

Dell Latitude Z Series laptop

The Dell Latitude Z Series laptop (Dell Latitude Z600) will be a 15-inch matte display screen notebook powered by the Intel core 2 duo processor.It will be a ultra-thin notebook ,like that of Dell Adamo, and will come with a removable battery.The Dell Latitude Z Series laptop also features facial recognition,Webcam,Intel graphics,biometric fingerprint scanner and a display port.It has a wierd placed LAN port on the back

Price: The new Dell Latitude Z Series laptop price will start from around US$1,999.

128GB Kingston DataTraveler 200 USB Pen drive

Kingston has announced the DataTraveler 200 (DT200) pendrive series including the world’s first 128GB USB Pendrive.The Kingston DataTraveler 200 is capless pendrive(for better protection when not in use) and is enhanced for Windows ReadyBoost™. It is available in 32GB, 64GB and 128GB capacities.

"The new DT200’s robust storage capability lets consumers store complete libraries of music, photos and videos. It is also a great tool for business users who carry around large databases or files,” said Andrew Ewing, USB business manager, Kingston(R). “The password protection helps safeguard data and requires no admin rights, making the DT200 a terrific solution for the home or office."

Kingston DataTraveler 200 Pendrive Specifications are :

* Capacities: 32GB, 64GB, 128GB
* Dimensions: 2.77″ x 0.49″ x 0.89″ (70.39mm x 12.52mm x 22.78mm)
* Operating Temperature: 32 F to 140 F (0 C to 60 C)
* Storage Temperature: -4 F to 185 F (-20 C to 85 C)
* Simple: just plug into a USB port
* Practical: durable, capless design
* Guaranteed: five-year warranty
* Safeguarded: includes Password Traveler security software for Windows
* Enhanced: for Windows ReadyBoost(TM) on Vista-based systems
* Price: The Kingston 128GB DataTraveler 200 USB flash drive will cost around Rs.27,000 (US$546) ,Kingston 64GB DataTraveler 200 USB Pendrive will cost around Rs.10,000 (US$213) and the Kingston 32GB DataTraveler 200 USB flash drive will cost around Rs.6,000 (US$120).

Windows SideShow

Wouldn't it be great if you could read an e-mail message, confirm a meeting location, or check a flight reservation without turning on your computer? What if you could check the program guide in Windows Media Center by using a display that's built into your remote control? Windows SideShow puts this information literally at your fingertips on a wide variety of devices that can retrieve information from your mobile PC or desktop computer.

Windows SideShow is a new technology that delivers information from your PC to a secondary display on two kinds of devices: those that are integrated into a computer, such as a small color display in a laptop lid; and those that are separate from a computer, such as a remote control or mobile phone. With this additional display you can view important information whether your laptop is on, off, or in sleep mode. Windows SideShow is available in Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista Business, Windows Vista Enterprise, and Windows Vista Ultimate.

Windows SideShow uses gadgets, convenient mini programs, to extend information from your computer to other devices. Gadgets can run on a Windows SideShow–compatible device and update that device with information from your computer. Using a gadget, you can view information from your computer regardless of whether your mobile PC is on, off, or in the sleep power state—which can save you both time and battery life.

Choose gadgets and customize settings in Control Panel

Windows Vista contains a central location in Control Panel called Windows SideShow where you can turn gadgets on or off for each of your devices.

From Control Panel, you can also set your computer to wake periodically (such as every hour) so that all gadgets that are turned on can update your devices with the latest information.

Windows SideShow–compatible devices can take many forms. Hardware manufacturers are already including secondary displays in their designs for mobile PCs and devices such as keyboards, mobile phones, and remote controls. The following are a few examples:

Integrated devices on computers. If your mobile PC has an integrated Windows SideShow–compatible device, you can view your Windows Mail inbox without so much as opening the lid or turning on the computer so you can quickly access your recent e-mail messages virtually whenever and wherever you want.

Mobile phones. With Windows SideShow, you can configure a compatible mobile phone to show you your contacts and calendar, the latest updates from your favorite websites, your favorite pictures, and other information.
Download the Windows SideShow for Windows Mobile developer preview and use your Windows Mobile device as a Bluetooth SideShow device. (Available for Windows Mobile 5 and 6 PocketPCs and Smartphones.)

Media remote control. While you watch TV with your family on Windows Media Center, you can find out what programs are showing next or schedule a recording for the next day. You can also browse through your Windows Media Center music collection from the display on the remote control without turning on the TV.

Artist Themes for Google Chrome

After adding themes to iGoogle and Gmail, Google intends to skin Chrome and some of the initial themes will be created by famous artists. New York Times reports that not all of the illustrators and designers contacted by Google were happy to license their works for free.

"While we don't typically offer monetary compensation for these projects, through the positive feedback that we have heard thus far we believe these projects provide a unique and exciting opportunity for artists to display their work in front of millions of people," explained a Google representative.

Some recent Chrome builds include the option to "reset to default theme", but Google doesn't offer a gallery of themes or some guidelines for creating your own theme.

Immediately after Chrome's launch, many people started to create themes for the browser by editing the default.dll file, but the file is overwritten by the automatic updater and the format was changed in the latest releases.

Set Gmail as Default Email Client in Firefox

Last year, Firefox 3 added the option to associate protocols with web applications. A common way to link to mail addresses is using the mailto: protocol, so you'll often find links like security@google.com.

When Firefox 3 was released, Yahoo Mail was the only webmail service that could be selected directly and the instructions for adding Gmail were complicated. Gmail has been added to the list of mail applications and it's easy to set it as the default email client in Firefox and open all the mailto: links in Gmail, without installing extensions:

* go to Tools > Options
* select the Applications tab
* search for mail
* select Use Gmail from the list of actions associated with the mailto protocol
* click OK to save the settings.

If you want to set Gmail as the default mail client for your computer and not just for Firefox, install Google Talk, Gmail Notifier for Windows or Google Notifier for Mac.

Bing - a new search engine from Microsoft

Microsoft has recently released a new search engine Bing, which has very nice features exactly like Google. Looks like Microsoft has the plans to overtake Google.

With Bing™, you don't have to leave what you're doing and open another browser window. Your search experience just got better, whether you're searching from MSN®, Windows® Internet Explorer® 8, Messenger, Windows Live™ Hotmail®, or many of your other favorite places online. It's a new search experience that lets you find what you're looking for right from where you are.

www.bing.com

HTTP Watch

HttpWatch is an HTTP viewer and debugger that integrates with IE and Firefox to provide seamless HTTP and HTTPS monitoring without leaving the browser window.

Features
1. A plug-in HTTP viewer for Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox
2. See headers, cookies, caching and POST data
3. Supports HTTPS, compression, redirection & chunked encoding
4. Real-time page and request level time charts
5. Your users and customers can send you log files for free
6. Millisecond accurate performance timings and network level data
7. Use it in automated tests written in C#, Ruby, Javascript, ...

click here to download.

Yet Another Mobile iGoogle

Sometimes it's very difficult to understand Google: in 2008, Google released a great iGoogle interface optimized for iPhone, but it was discontinued one year later. "We've decided to direct iPhone users to the standard mobile iGoogle page. We've found that people hit iGoogle from lots of different phones -- we want to ensure you'll all see the same version," said a Google employee in January.

The regular mobile interface is very basic and it's only able to show feeds and a small number of gadgets. The mobile iGoogle doesn't have tabs and it's optimized for WAP phones, not for today's smartphones.

Google changed its and mind and decided to release a new iGoogle version for iPhone and Android phones. "This new version is faster and easier to use. It supports tabs as well as more of your favorite gadgets, including those built by third-party developers. (...) One of our favorite new features is the in-line display of articles for feed-based gadgets. That means you can read article summaries without leaving the page. You can also rearrange gadget order or keep your favorite gadgets open for your next visit."

To see the new version, visit iGoogle.com if you have an iPhone or an Android phone and click on "Try the new Mobile iGoogle". Google doesn't let you switch to the new version, so you need to bookmark the page. If you have a different phone with a WebKit browser, try to see if this page works well: http://www.google.com/m/ig?uipref=6.

Find Creative Commons Images in Google Image Search

Google Image Search added the option to restrict the results to images that are licensed using Creative Commons, a list of flexible licenses that allow content creators to share their works with the world.

The options aren't yet available in the interface, but you can use the search box below to find images that are licensed using some of the most popular Creative Commons licenses:

The four options displayed above combine different Creative Commons license, but you can create customized searches for other combination of licenses:

* public domain images:
http://images.google.com/images?q=mountains&as_rights=cc_publicdomain
* images licensed using Creative Commons Attribution:
http://images.google.com/images?q=mountains&as_rights=cc_attribute
* images licensed using Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike:
http://images.google.com/images?q=mountains&as_rights=cc_sharealike

Last month, Yahoo Image Search added a similar feature, limited to Flickr images. "By launching the Creative Commons license search with Flickr and making it available to all our Yahoo! Image Search users, we aim to promote reusable work and to be transparent about the guidelines issued by the creator of a particular image," mentioned Yahoo's blog.

Disable Google SearchWiki

Google Search's preferences page includes the option to disable SearchWiki. Just click on the checkbox next to SearchWiki and you'll "hide the ability to share, promote, remove, comment, or add your own results".

If you like a less cluttered interface for Google's search results or you don't use SearchWiki, disable the option from the preferences page.

"SearchWiki lets you customize your Google Web Search results by ranking, removing, and adding notes to them. You'll see your changes whenever you do the same searches while signed in to your Google Account, or until you decide to undo them. You can also see how other users have tailored any given search results page with their own notes and changes," explains Google. The feature lets you personalize the search results and it's especially useful for repeated searches. Marissa Mayer says that "40% of searches on any given day are repeat searches for that user".

Visit DisneyLand Paris Using Google Street View

Disneyland Paris is the first amusement park available in Google Street View. "Last October, as the last few rays of sunlight remained high enough in the sky, Disneyland Paris opened its gates early to our Street View car to capture some of the magic at street-level. We drove up Main Street USA (outside of Paris!), through Adventureland, and around Fantasyland and even in Walt Disney Studios Park," explains Google.

This shows some important uses of Google Street View: helping tourists plan itineraries and conducting virtual field trips.

You can also view an impressive 3D model of Disneyland Paris in Google Earth. "More than 85,000 photos (450GB worth) were taken over a 20 day period for this project. The castle alone is comprised of over 354 textures derived from over 2,000 photos. (...) There are over 500 unique landscape elements that were created to make the park look as realistic as possible."



The unofficial Google Earth blog reports that Google added a lot of new 3D buildings. "Google has been slowly adding cities using an unpublished methodology where vast numbers of buildings for large areas of cities are being rendered in 3D with photorealistic textures. The photos appear to be aerial in some cases, in others they seem to be from the ground. But, they are using an at least semi-automated process judging from the cases where some buildings are not properly dressed with the photo textures."

Advanced Search Options in Picasa Web Albums

Picasa Web's search feature has been improved and you can now filter search results: choose an aspect ratio (landscape, portrait, panorama), select a size (small, medium, large or extra large), filter videos and view the files that are licensed using Creative Commons.

Just click on "show options" to enable the tool belt with advanced filters. The new options can be used to search the public photos uploaded by Picasa Web Albums users, the photos uploaded by your favorite users or your own albums.

Picasa Web Albums indexes tags, captions, album titles, album descriptions, and album locations, but many photos don't have proper metadata and they're not searchable.

If you've been using Flickr's advanced search page to find Creative Commons-licensed images, Picasa Web is another place where you can find images that can be reused or modified. For example, 81,302 from the 3,064,934 search results for [Oslo] are licensed using Creative Commons.

Manage Databases in Google Fusion Tables

Google Labs has a new service for visualizing data: Google Fusion Tables. Unlike Google Spreadsheets, the service is optimized for large data sets, so you can import tables of up to 100MB.

"The goal of Fusion Tables, as with other database systems, is to manage larger amounts of data than spreadsheets typically do. This size difference leads to a focus on a different set of functionalities. For example, Fusion Tables focuses more on bulk operations on the data (filtering, aggregation, merges). These operations are typically not necessary for smaller collections of data stored in spreadsheets. In contrast, spreadsheets preserve complete flexibility in managing data -- you can put any value you want in any cell and work carefully to format your spreadsheet to make it look nice,".

You can import spreadsheets from your computer, select one from Google Spreadsheets or open a table from the gallery.

One of the samples, titled "Popular Baby Names -- 1880 to 2008", has 129,000 rows, but Fusion Tables displays 100 rows at a time. To manage a such a large amount of data, you can apply filters, show aggregates, create views that only include some of the columns.

There are many options to visualize the data: on a map or intensity map, using lines, bars, pies, scatter plots, motion charts or on a timeline. For example, you can visualize the popularity of the name "John" in the US, which has slowly declined since 1924.

The service has rough edges and there aren't many options to perform computations: there's no support for SQL or GQL queries, the sorting options are limited and you can't add data using forms.

Even if it's just a pre-alpha version, Fusion Tables has built-in collaboration features: you can invite people as viewers, contributors (they are allowed to add columns, but not to edit the existing columns), collaborators or owners. Anyone who is invited can add comments to a cell or a column.

Google Video Adds Search Options

Google Video exposes some advanced search options directly on the search results pages: click on "show options" and you can choose between three layouts (TV view, list view, grid view), pick a duration interval, sort the results by date or view only the high-quality videos.

Google has recently added a similar feature for web search results and, even though it should make the advanced search options more visible, most users will never click on "show options" to find them.

Google Translator Toolkit

Google Translator Toolkit is a new service that lets you translate documents by editing the translations automatically generated by Google. "Google Translator Toolkit allows human translators to work faster and more accurately, aided by technologies like Google Translate."

You can translate documents stored on your computer, web pages, Wikipedia articles and Knol articles. After importing a document, Google generates the translation, displaying it next to the original text. You can select a sentence from the original document and Google lets you edit the translation.

Google Translator Toolkit includes the collaborative features from Google Docs: you can invite other people to edit or view your translations, but the application doesn't display the collaborators that are currently editing a document.

An interesting feature is the "translation memory", a database of already-existing translations. "As you translate new sentences, we automatically search all available translation memories for previous translations similar to your new sentence. If such sentences exist, we rank and then show them to you. Comparing your translation to previous human translations improves consistency and saves you time: you can reuse previous translations or adjust them to create new, more contextually appropriate translations."

Google's service will make it easier to translate documents online, but it's also a great way to improve the quality of the machine translation service.

Apple MacBooks - New Design - Lower Prices

Apple Inc. recently showed off their new family of MacBook Pro laptops, boasting longer battery lives and faster processors with lower prices.

Macbooks are now available in 13, 15 and 17 inch sizes. The baby of the family, 13-inch sells for $1199, the 15-inch for $1699, and the 17-inch for $2499.

Apple claims to have taken a fresh approach to building their products, and have introdued a new unibody design method. What this basically means is that they have taken design to a new level. Instead of having multiple parts that fit together making up the macbook, they hve taken a new approach to the design by replacing the many parts with one single part.

Apple engineers believe this new desgn method will further reduce failures, thereby extending the life and reliability of the macbook. And considering that customers are increasingly demanding easy to use, strong, mobile products Apple seems to have taken a step in the right direction with their new design.

The new unibody design consists of a single piece of carved alluminum that encloses the the macbook's critical parts, giving it a sturdy, strong but also light design. Each casing is milled from a solid block of aluminum using hi-tech CNC machines.

Every Macbook has the power saving NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics processor. The 15 and 17 inch models give you the option for even more graphics power with the added NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT processor. Depending on the level of graphics power you need, you can easily switch between the two.

The new MacBook Pro trackpad has also been installed and now has no button. The trackpad is in fact the button. Engineers believe this gives more room to track and click.

Google Chrome for Mac and Linux, Dev Preview

In the past 9 months, Google Chrome's developers have been hard at work to post the Windows version of the browser to Mac and Linux. Even if the Mac and Linux versions aren't ready for the general public, Google decided to release a developer preview for those who want to use an early version of the browser.

"In order to get more feedback from developers, we have early developer channel versions of Google Chrome for Mac OS X and Linux, but whatever you do, please DON'T DOWNLOAD THEM! Unless of course you are a developer or take great pleasure in incomplete, unpredictable, and potentially crashing software. How incomplete? So incomplete that, among other things , you won't yet be able to view YouTube videos, change your privacy settings, set your default search provider, or even print," explains the Chromium blog.

The Mac version requires Intel CPU and Mac OS X 10.5.6, while the Linux version requires Intel Pentium 4 / Athlon 64 or later CPU, and Ubuntu 8.04 or Debian 5 or later.

Google Chrome 3.0.183.1 in Ubuntu 8.10, process was painless. Most web pages are rendered properly, with the notable exception of the pages that require Flash or Google Gears. The settings dialog lacks many of the options that are available in the Windows version, the bookmark manager doesn't work, you can't change the default search engine, but these are just missing features that will be added in the near future.

Enhanced Zooming in Google Street View

Google Maps added a new way to zoom in the street view imagery: by double-clicking on the object you want to see clearer.

"We have been able to accomplish this by making a compact representation of the building facade and road geometry for all the Street View panoramas using laser point clouds and differences between consecutive pictures. As you move your mouse within Street View, you'll notice that the cursor now has lightly-shaded geometry attached to it - it will show an oval when your mouse is following a road and a rectangle when moving across the facades of buildings," explains Google. The cursor geometry is called "pancake" and it's a shortcut for the best image that shows the object you've selected.

While the new feature is moderately useful, it's very annoying when panning the image. You're almost afraid to click on the image because the zooming icon suggests that you are about to zoom in. I'll use the keyboard shortcuts to navigate through Street View from now on: up/down/left/right arrows, Page Up, Page Down, +/- for zooming.

A new service from Google Labs

Google Squared, the service that automatically generates lists of entities and associated attributes, is now live. "Google Squared is a new way of organizing information on the Web to make it more useful and structured," explains Google.

For example, if you search for [African countries], Google Squared generates a list of countries, then it finds attributes that should be appropriate when you describe a country (capital, currency, image/map) and it tries to find values for the attributes. Google Squared shows only the first 7 results, but you can always add new results and even new attributes. Clicking on the first blank column, Google Squared suggests 5 new columns: area, religion, language, GDP and Internet users.

Google Squared's results aren't always great: if you search for [Motown], Google finds relevant artists like Diana Ross or Marvin Gaye, but it mixes them with songs like "Got to be there".

If you find mistakes, Google Squared lets you remove rows, columns, select alternative values for attributes and save the customized square online so you can share it with other people.

The service seems to be a clever combination between Google Sets, which creates sets of items from a few examples, and Google Q&A, which extracts facts from the web (an example: [Britney Spears' mother]). In fact, you can even start with an empty square and dynamically add items and attributes.

Google shows "We're Sorry" Error Page when web search

Sometimes when you search using Google, you get a strange error message titled "We're sorry" that temporarily restricts your access to Google. In some cases, Google shows a CAPTCHA that should confirm you are human, but that doesn't happen all the time.

"We're sorry... but your query looks similar to automated requests from a computer virus or spyware application. To protect our users, we can't process your request right now.

We'll restore your access as quickly as possible, so try again soon. In the meantime, if you suspect that your computer or network has been infected, you might want to run a virus checker or spyware remover to make sure that your systems are free of viruses and other spurious software."

According to the help center, the error message is displayed "when Google detects that a computer on your network is sending automated traffic to Google." Maybe you use an application that monitors the ranking of a site in Google's search results, maybe a Firefox extension sends automated requests to Google every 5 seconds or a different computer that shares your IP is part of a botnet.

Google suggests to use an anti-malware application and to contact your network administrator if you still can't use Google. This is the perfect opportunity to try other search engines (Yahoo, Bing), but I noticed that you can circumvent Google's security filters by using a different Google domain: instead of searching from www.google.com, use www.google.co.uk, www.google.com.au or another international domain.

You can upload .docx Files to Google Docs

If you use Microsoft Office 2007 and save all the documents in the software's native formats, you've been wondering why it's not possible to upload .docx files in Google Docs. Of course, you could save the files in the format used in the previous versions of Microsoft Office, but things should be easier.

Now that the Office Open XML format is an international standard and it's supported by popular software like OpenOffice, Google decided to implement importing Microsoft Office 2007 files. In March, Google Spreadsheets added support for .xlsx files and now you can import .docx documents.

"To import a .docx or .xlsx file, simply click the "Upload" button in your Docs List menu, select your file, and voila! We'll upload and convert your document for use in Google Docs. This is a another great benefit of Google Docs - you don't have to worry about what format the file is in. Just upload it and we'll figure it out for you," mentions Google Docs blog.

Even if you don't have to worry about formats, you still need to take into account that not all the features available in Microsoft Office are included in Google Docs, so it's not a good idea to delete the original file from your computer.

Test Your Site in Different Browsers Using Adobe BrowserLab

If you create a web site, a difficult task is to test if it looks properly in most of the browsers and the operating systems that your users are likely to use. Unfortunately, this requires that you install multiple operating systems, buy more than one computer or use virtual machines.

An easier way to test your site is to use online services like BrowserShots, which generates screenshots for a web page in more than 80 versions of the most common browsers used in Windows, Linux, BSD and Mac. The process takes time and you may have to wait up to an hour to see the screenshots.

Adobe BrowserLab is a recently-launched service that has the advantage of generating screenshots almost instantaneously, but the number of browsers that are tested is smaller: Firefox 2.0 (XP, OS X), Firefox 3.0 (XP, OS X), IE6 (XP), IE7 (XP), Safari 3.0 (OS X). The service has an interesting "Onion Skin View", which superimposes one screenshot over another to see the differences between the different renderings. BrowserLab is integrated with Dreamweaver CS4, but you don't need to buy the software to use the online service.

"Cross-browser testing has been one of the biggest challenges for Web designers because it is such an arduous and time-intensive task. Now with Adobe BrowserLab, designers have a simple solution that enables comprehensive browser compatibility testing in just a matter of minutes," says Adobe's Lea Hickman. The bad news is that the service is free for a limited time.

Asus Touchscreen PC revealed and ready for 2009

Asus has just revealed their new 15.6-inch Eee Top touchscreen PC. It is powered by an Intel Atom processor N270 (1.60GHz) and Intel 945 GSE core-logic with built-in graphics core. System features include a 160GB hard drive, 4-in-1 card reader, 1GB of RAM, an integrated camera, Wi-Fi 802.11n controller, and also features the Windows XP Home operating system. The system comes in two versions: The ET1602 and the ET1603. The Asus Eee Top ET1603 features an ATI Mobility Radeon HD3450 which gives it more graphics power, and enables the system to run intensive 3D applications and games better. It features a touch-sensitive screen, but still comes with a keyboard and mouse. Setup is easy as taking it out and plugging in.

With a brilliant, sharp widescreen (16:9) LCD, the Eee Top is a perfect Media Entertainment Center, and features Asus´s patient Splendid Video Intelligence Technology, which gives the video display a clear image in any lighting condition. The touchscreen PC will be first be shipped to Taiwan, Hong Kong and the UK, and Asus will in 2009 also add larger screen models with 20- and 22-inch Asus Eee Top PCs.

New technology in Lenovo ThinkCentre desktop PC

Lenovo announces its most secure, most manageable, and greenest ThinkCentre desktop PC to date, the M58/M58p, with Power Manager(1), which is a ThinkVantage technology allowing PC users to control their electricity consumption remotely, and available for the first time ever on a ThinkCentre PC.

Power Manager allow users to lower electricity costs and thereby save energy by enabling system administrators to monitor and remotely control the amount of electricity used by all Power Manager enabled desktops in a PC fleet. For example, PCs can be programmed to automatically shut down during evenings or weekends.

The use of Power Manager and Intel(R)vPro(TM)technologies, provides the ThinkCentre M58p user with the lowest total cost of ownership of any ThinkCentre.

The ThinkCentre M58 desktop supports more secure, and more energy efficient operations, and also enable faster information processing.

High-tech speed bump detects damage to vehicles

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Researchers have developed a technology that detects damage to critical suspension components in military vehicles simply by driving over a speed bumplike "diagnostic cleat" containing sensors.
"Our aim is to save time and maintenance costs, but more importantly to reduce downtime by catching damage before it leads to failure in the field," said Douglas Adams, an associate professor of mechanical engineering and director of Purdue University's Center for Systems Integrity.

Purdue is working with the U.S. Army and Honeywell International Inc. to develop the technology.The vehicles are driven over the "tactical wheeled vehicle diagnostic cleat," which is like a rubber-jacketed speed bump equipped with sensors called triaxial accelerometers. The system measures vibrations created by forces that a vehicle's tires apply to the cleat.

Damage is detected in the tires, wheel bearings and suspension components by using signal processing software to interpret the sensor data. "Let's say one of the tires is severely under pressure," Adams said. "The cleat tells you to turn around and fill up that tire because you are about to embark on a 10-hour mission with this vehicle. Or, you are returning the vehicle to the depot and the cleat tells you that the right rear suspension has a problem in the shock absorber or a critical bolt in the front suspension is broken. The maintenance personnel don't have to troubleshoot the vehicle. They know what to fix." The system also could be used in commercial applications to test civilian vehicles, he said.

Research findings are detailed in a technical paper being presented April 22 during the Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress in Detroit. The researchers have filed for a patent on the technique, which has been nominated as a U.S. Army invention of the year by the Army's Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center, in Warren, Mich.

"The diagnostic cleat is designed to be quick and easy to use," said Joseph Gothamy, acting team leader for the reliability and durability modeling and simulation team at the U.S. Army center. "The last thing we want to do is take time from already overburdened soldiers and maintenance officers. The cleat is a quick first check to determine what's mechanically wrong with a vehicle before wasting time hunting for potentially simple problems."

The technical paper was written by Purdue mechanical engineering graduate student Tiffany DiPetta, Purdue senior research engineer David Koester, Adams, and four researchers from the U.S. Army: Gothamy, Paul Decker, David Lamb and David Gorsich, from the Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center.

"Operating and maintenance costs for military weapon systems accounted for about 60 percent of the $500 billion U.S. Department of Defense budget in 2006," Adams said. "Better diagnostic and prognostic technologies could reduce this expense and ensure readiness of ground vehicle fleets."

By using the instrumented cleat and other "condition-based" maintenance methods, the military could reduce costs by performing work on vehicles when needed based on the condition of parts instead of performing scheduled maintenance on vehicles regardless of whether they need the work.

"In theatre, some vehicles may be used at checkpoints while others may be hauling supplies hundreds of miles," Gothamy said. "Even if the same vehicle variant is used, they are on very different missions and trying to use the same regular maintenance schedule for both isn't always efficient or effective."

The researchers tested their system in experiments with high-mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicles, or Humvees, and also developed a computational model to simulate how the system works. "Our simulated model showed us that we were capable of using the system accurately to detect damage to vehicle components, and our experiments with actual vehicles validated the model," said Adams, whose research also uses facilities at Purdue's Ray W. Herrick Laboratories. "The system was sensitive to as little as a 5 percent change in the stiffness of the suspension."

Findings show the method is capable of accurately identifying damage to vehicle tires and the suspension. A damaged coil spring in the front suspension of a Humvee was detected even when tire pressure was varied widely in attempt to confuse the system. "This system is currently ready to acquire more data in Army depots, and we are working with the Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center to start a large vehicle survey exercise with vehicles coming back from overseas," Adams said. "Data will be used to determine the types of wear and tear exhibited by vehicles deployed in certain terrains."

The system does not require specialized training to operate, and it is relatively inexpensive, costing about $1,500, which is spread across the inventory of about 20,000 vehicles, Adams said. The research has been funded by the U.S. Army and Honeywell International. Future research could focus on refining the signal processing software to more precisely identify specific components in the vehicle's suspension system.

Windows 7 release date confirmed

Microsoft plans on releasing Windows 7 (apparently in the next few months), and this new version will replace their previous operating system: Windows Vista.

The developers promise Windows 7 will be simpler to use, and more functional, with less of what you don't need and more of what you do.

Microsoft announced that it will make available an upgrade option in order for partners to be able to offer their customers the ability to buy a Windows Vista-based PC, and then just install Windows 7 when it’s ready.

The release date for Windows 7 has been confirmed as October 22, 2009. In addition, Windows Server 2008 R2 will also be available at around the same time.

Microsoft says it has been working closely with partners to ensure their mutual customers can enjoy all the benefits of Windows 7 once it is released.

On June 3, 2009, Microsoft’s OEM Division Corporate Vice President Steve Guggenheimer, expresed the company's confidence in their new Windows 7 version. He announced this at a keynote address at Computex 2009 in Taipei.

“What we’re doing with Windows will continue to improve people’s lives so that that technology enables them to communicate better, make tasks simpler and new things possible,” he says. “Our partners in the hardware space, our competitors in software — the entire industry is doing incredible things.” said Mr. Guggenheimer.

As an example, he reffered to the evolution of the small notebook PC's (also known as Netbooks) that are mainly designed to offer customers the ability for simplified internet connectivity. He went on to say: “A year ago when these smaller PCs first came onto the scene, many in the space were saying consumers wouldn’t want or need these devices to be full-featured,” he says. “In fact, the exact opposite turned out to be true.

Consumers really do want small notebook PCs to work like their laptops and desktops. Windows provides a familiar and easy-to-use experience that consumers want and demand from these devices.” He also went on to say that Laptop pc sales are expected to rise and even surpass Desktop pc sales in the near future, with consumers increasingly demanding connectivity on the go.

Google 2009 Lok Sabha Elections - Indians can track their votes online

Google has released a new website for Indians to track their votes online. This has lot of inbuilt feature which allows user to choose the location through postal code.

Follow the elections with personalized map, news, quotes and more
Get the latest election news, MP profiles, constituency statistics, candidate quotes, polling booth locations and more, all personalized to your location. Just specify your city or town, and get election information relevant to you.

For more information go and look at http://www.google.co.in/intl/en/landing/loksabha2009/

Kindle DX New version released with Larger Screen and New Features

During the first week of May 2009, the founder and CEO of Amazon, Jeff Bezos introduced their newest version of the popular e-reader, the Amazon Kindle.

The Kindle DX is the third edition of the device, preceded by the Kindle 2 which was released just three months earlier. The Kindle 2 was an improved version of the original device which was released in the United States on November 19, 2007.

Kindle DX: Amazon's New Addition To The Kindle Family

Slim: Just over 1/3 of an inch, as thin as most magazines

Carry Your Library: Holds up to 3,500 books, periodicals, and documents

Beautiful Large Display: 9.7" diagonal e-ink screen reads like real paper; boasts 16 shades of gray for clear text and sharp images

Auto-Rotating Screen: Display auto-rotates from portrait to landscape as you turn the device so you can view full-width maps, graphs, tables, and Web pages

Built-In PDF Reader: Native PDF support allows you to carry and read all of your personal and professional documents on the go

Wireless: 3G wireless lets you download books right from your Kindle DX, anytime, anywhere; no monthly fees, no annual contracts, and no hunting for Wi-Fi hotspots

Books In Under 60 Seconds: You get free wireless delivery of books in less than 60 seconds; no PC required

Long Battery Life: Read for days without recharging

Read-to-Me: With the text-to-speech feature, Kindle DX can read newspapers, magazines, blogs, and books out loud to you, unless the book's rights holder made the feature unavailable

Big Selection, Low Prices: Over 285,000 books; New York Times Best Sellers and New Releases are only $9.99, unless marked otherwise

More Than Books: U.S. and international newspapers including the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, magazines including The New Yorker and Time, plus popular blogs, all auto-delivered wirelessly

Technical Specifications
Display: 9.7" diagonal E-Ink® electronic paper display, 1200 x 824 pixel resolution at 150 ppi, 16-level gray scale.

Size (in inches): 10.4" x 7.2" x 0.38".

Weight: 18.9 ounces.

System requirements: None, because it doesn't require a computer.

Storage: 4GB internal (approximately 3.3GB available for user content).

Battery Life: Read on a single charge for up to 4 days with wireless on. Turn wireless off and read for up to two weeks. Battery life will vary based on wireless usage, such as shopping the Kindle Store and downloading content. In low coverage areas or in 1xRTT only coverage, wireless usage will consume battery power more quickly.

Charge Time: Fully charges in approximately 4 hours and supports charging from your computer via the included USB 2.0 cable.

Connectivity: EVDO modem with fallback to 1xRTT; utilizes Amazon Whispernet to provide U.S wireless coverage via Sprint's 3G high-speed data network (check wireless coverage). See Wireless Terms and Conditions.

USB Port: USB 2.0 (micro-USB connector) for connection to the Kindle DX power adapter or optionally to connect to a PC or Macintosh computer.
Audio: 3.5mm stereo audio jack, built-in stereo speakers.
Content Formats Supported: Kindle (AZW), PDF, TXT, Audible (formats 4, Audible Enhanced (AAX)), MP3, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively; HTML, DOC, RTF, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP through conversion.

Included Accessories: Power adapter, USB 2.0 cable, battery. Leather book cover sold separately.

Documentation: Quick Start Guide (included in box) [PDF]; Kindle DX User's Guide (pre-installed on device) [PDF].

Warranty and Service: 1 year limited warranty and service included. Optional 2 year Extended Warranty sold separately.

The new version is able to display 16 shades of grey, and features a 1200x824 pixel resolution screen. Initial reports suggest the Kindle DX will retail for around $489.