Archive November 2009
Enjoy Communication with Gtalk
There are many instant messengers available for chatting. The most popular Instant Messenger clients are Yahoo messenger, MSN and ICQ. But Google also one, Google Talk messenger. Let’s talk about Instant messenger from Google. Google Talk Messenger is a freeware messenger incorporated with Gmail account. This messenger supports text, audio and video communication (with other Google Talk users).
As with almost all instant messengers, you can download Google talk messenger for free by following instruction from their website. When you open your Gmail, you will see Google talk on the left side as it is embedded within Gmail.
One of the most interesting features is that you have unlimited file transfer without any restriction on file size and bandwidth. As long as your internet connection is good, your file will be transferred fast. You can also create a funny and simple avatar from your image. You can also use Gtalk from your iPhone.
Energy Guzzling TV Sets to be Banned
With the rising shortage in energy and the increased usage of television sets that are massive energy guzzlers, law makers in California have decided to crack down of such energy guzzling television sets by imposing a huge ban on the use of these. This new move by the Californian Energy Commission will help residents save up to $8 billion in energy costs. In a survey conducted by a Virginia based group, figures showed that more that 25% of the television sets on sale didn’t meet the standards.
The new law will require that all television sets upto 58 inches will have to be about 33% more energy efficient by the year 2011. They have also decided to raise the standards to 50% by the year 2013. It was noted that about 10% of the energy consumed in every home was due to television usage. California is known to have stringent standards when it comes to energy efficiency and now the trend has come to televisions too!
Chinese Military Website – A Hacker Magnet
China’s military website has been recently in the news after there were reports that it was literally a hacker magnet. The website’s editor Ji Guilin said that the website had about 2.3 million attacks from hackers in just a month after the release of the site.
The site which was launched in August 2009 has drawn around 1.25 billion visitors so far. Ji Guilin said that the number of attacks shot up whenever there was an important move by the Government in the country’s military.
The website which has both a Chinese and an English version is mostly visited by people from the US and some from the UK and Australia as well. He also added that primary searches in the website included ones for the latest military news and hi-tech equipment.
FreeNAS 0.8 to Switch to Linux; Bye Bye FreeBSD
Harryd has blogged about the future of FreeNAS and it looks like the future is Linux not FreeBSD.
Harrdy has gleaned this information from this forum thread
In short… FreeNAS 0.8 will be based on Debian GNU/Linux! Volker (the core developer) started an intermediate project called CoreNAS. FreeNAS 0.8 will be based on that.
Here is a short list of pros by Volker:
- Text and graphical installer that can be customized. This means no hand written install scripts anymore which causes some problems in FreeNAS
- WOL works in Linux
- lmsensor – A WORKING sensor framework which is a really needed feature in FreeNAS to check the CPU/MB temps and fan speeds
- Better Samba performance
- Ability to implement HA features
- System can be updated via ‘apt-get’ or any other deb package manager
- Better driver support
- Maybe ‘ZFS’ over FUSE (there is already one commercial product available that uses this feature)
- NFS4
ZFS
The really big problem is ZFS… If it is Linux under the hood or FreeBSD it really doesn’t make that much different to the end user, but and it is a big but, Linux doesn’t have (and can’t have due to licensing issues) ZFS and really running ZFS under FUSE is not a real option.
Is it time for someone else to take up the development of FreeNAS where 0.7 and Volker left off?
New E-matic E4 Series; 8 GB Touch-Screen MP3 Player with a 5MP Camera
E-matic has released a new version of the top selling E4 series. The E4 is an 8 GB touch-screen MP3 Player with a 5MP built-in Digital Camera and video recording capabilities. It also contains an FM Tuner/Recorder, Webcam capability, TV-Out, and is available in six colours.
This looks like a great little device, but more than that E-matic are an environmentally conscious company that uses recycled packaging for al their products and they donate 1% of all of their profits to charity! Not bad.
Features:
- 8GB Flash Memory – Stores up to 3,000 songs, 34 hours of video, or thousands of photos
- MicroSD Slot – Allows you to expand your memory up to a total of 16GB
- Versatile Playback – Supports a wide variety of formats, including MP3, WMA, AVI, MP4, FLV, JPG and more
- FM Tuner and Recorder – Listen to your favorite stations and record right off the radio
- Digital Video Recording – Record over 48 hours of video in AVI format and in different video modes
- 5MP Digital Camera – Take quality JPG photos in different camera modes
- Voice Recorder – The built-in mic allows you to record quick notes and lectures, playback through the external speaker or headphones
- Webcam – Connect the device to your PC and use as a Webcam
- TV-Out – Use the included A/V cables and view videos and photos on your TV or monitor
- Social Networking – Easily upload your pictures and videos to your favorite social networking websites
You can get the E4 from Walmart.
Also the rumour is that E-matic will have a new player coming at the end of this summer, the E6, which will feature a unique user interface. What this space…
5 Things You Should Know About Google Chrome OS; Videos Included
Google has shown off the very first builds of Chrome OS (or Chromium OS as the open source version is called). It is really a developer preview and Google aren’t planning on releasing the final version for another year.
Here are 5 things you really need to know:
- Everything is web based. The whole user interface runs within the Chrome browser and there are no traditional desktop applications.
- If you aren’t online then nothing will work. You won’t be able to write any documents or compose replies to emails (for sending later). Having a 3G modem will mean you can stay connected (and so use the machine) when you are on the move.
- The OS currently boots in 7 seconds.
- You documents and photos are stored on the Internet. But don’t worry, everything will be encrypted. If you lose your laptop, the attacker gets nothing of value (except the laptop of course).
- You don’t need a hard drive. Everything is flash-memory-based.
Videos
From the Google Chrome YouTube channel.
[Via Gaj-IT]
Online Job Seekers Beware – Get Safe Online
With the recent economic breakdown, a number of people are searching for jobs online and this has become a really favorable time for cyber criminals who extract money from unwitting job applicants. The police have warned job seekers of such money launderers on the internet who might extract small sums of money towards jobs.
This news comes in the beginning of the Get Safe Online week, a campaign aimed at educating people of frauds on the Internet. This campaign jointly organized by the Governments and banks is a great step in enlightening people on fraudulent and conmen who trick people into believing things. According to the campaign organizers, 90% of the people didn’t known about money mules and this had contributed to a significant increase in the figures of online banking fraud.
First it Was Apple, Now it’s Google; Switzerland Takes Google To Court
Computer maker Apple was the first one to be pulled to the court by mobile maker Nokia. Now, it’s Internet leaders Google that has been pulled to the court by the Switzerland Government. Google’s Street View application that allows 360 degree views of streets and other locations is the one that has been causing privacy concerns to the Switzerland Government. The main issue that is causing concern is the clarity of people faces and vehicle number plates especially in places like hospitals and prisons.
Data protection commissioner of Switzerland Hanspeter Thuer said that it was the privacy concern that prompted them to move the issue to the court. He also added that Google was asked to do something about this since August and it has done nothing so far. Google on the other hand was of the opinion that Street View was legal in Switzerland and it would vigorously contest the case.
Microsoft Gets Hard on its Xbox Users – Well Those Who Play Pirated Games
Microsoft has come down hard on people who modded their Xbox consoles to play pirated games and banned them from the Xbox Live service. The banned players will not be able to use the Xbox Live service anymore and will have to purchase a new console in order to use the service. Microsoft has also said that, this move was to check piracy in the video game industry as it incurred losses of about £750 million each year due to privacy.
With over 20 million Xbox Live users throughout the world, Microsoft has banned about a 1 million people from using the service. Banned players however, will be able to play offline. Many internet analysts feel that this ban was mainly aimed at preventing players from playing pirated versions of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Microsoft also has not revealed how it does crackdown on such pirated game players but said that people who violated the terms were banned!
Fast and Affordable Windows 7 Touch Screen PC from MSI; Introducing the Wind Top AE2220
MSI has announced the U.S. availability of the Wind Top AE2220 all-in-one desktop PC. What’s cool about this touch screen PC is that like a flat screen TV, this PC can be mounted on a wall.
Its touch screen capabilities feature MSI’s exclusive graphic interface plus the new Windows 7 native multi-touch support to provide a cool touch-screen experience for browsing the Web, editing photos, creating documents, or just about anything else, without using a mouse. But if you insist on using a mouse, it does comes with one anyway!
Featuring a 21.5-inch screen with 16:9 widescreen display, full HD (1080p) resolution and high-fidelity 5.1-channel SRS Premium Sound, the Wind Top AE2220 is designed to provide home users with theatre-like multimedia entertainment.
It is powered by the NVIDIA ION graphics platform and the latest Intel Core 2 Duo/Pentium Dual Core processors which means it can handle HD movies and 3D games. It also has 4GB of memory and a 500GB hard drive would should be plenty for even advanced users.
Wind Top AE2220 Specifications:
- CPU — Intel Core 2 Duo T6600 (2.2GHz) / Pentium dual-core T4300 (2.1GHz)
- LCD Panel — 21.5” (54.61cm ) 16:9, 1920 x 1080, Full-HD Multi-Touch Screen
- Graphics — NVIDIA GeForce 9300 Integrated Graphics with 256MB VRAM
- Memory — 4GB DDR2 800MHz
- Wireless LAN — 802.11 b/g/n WiFi
- Hard Disk Drive — 500GB SATA2
- Optical Drive — Blu-Ray/Double-layer DVD Super Multi
- Speakers — Two 5W 5.1-channel surround speakers with SRS Premium Sound
- Video Input — 1.3-megapixel webcam and microphone
The Wind Top AE2220 all-in-one PC is available in a variety of configurations, and is priced starting at $749.99.
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