Microsoft to bring Xbox Live to Windows Mobile

What if you could play all your favorite Xbox Live games on your mobile phone? You may soon be able to do just that, if a job listing from Microsoft offers any clue.

Based on recent job postings on Microsoft's site, it appears that Redmond is making moves to bring Xbox Live to Windows Mobile devices. The competitive differentiating capability may be available when Windows Mobile 7 debuts in late 2010.

Microsoft posted the listing on its Connected Entertainment job site on Dec. 23. The job title is Principal Program Manager - LIVE Entertainment for the Xbox Live product. The post outlined how Microsoft is connecting players via the Live services on new devices beyond the console.

"We need a Principle Program Manager who can help drive the platform and bring Xbox LIVE enabled games to Windows Mobile," the post said. "This person will focus specifically on what makes gaming experiences 'LIVE Enabled' through aspects such as avatar integration, social interactions, and multi-screen experiences."

The Mobile-Gaming Landscape
Could Microsoft be setting out to compete with Nokia and Apple on the mobile-gaming front? Microsoft would have some catching up to do, but with the popularity of Xbox Live, the software giant could make strides quickly.

Games continue to dominate Apple's App Store - there are currently nearly 950 games available. Apple has sold more than 30 million iPhones and iPod touch units, keeping pace with Nintendo's Wii video-game console. The iPhone opened up a new world of gaming potential for mobile devices that some call the smartphone games 2.0 market. According to media research firm Screen Digest, the iPhone accounts for 10 percent of the U.S. mobile-gaming market. For Nokia's part, the N-Gage is a made-for-mobile games service available in compatible Nokia Nseries and other S60 3rd Edition devices from Nokia. N-Gage aims to make it easy to find, try, buy, play and manage high-quality mobile games as well as connect to friends and other players in the N-Gage Arena, Nokia's mobile-gaming community. But Nokia is not making the same headway as Apple.

Microsoft's Mobile Opportunity
Market researcher DFC Intelligence predicts the global market for mobile and portable games will reach $11.7 billion by 2014 - and Apple will get most of the pie. Games sold for the iPhone and iPod touch could grab as much as 24 percent of the portable game software sales, DFC reports. That could change, though, if Microsoft gets into the game with its Xbox Live services.

Google Nexus One Mobile gets Launch Date

Google has sent out invitations for a January 5 "Android press gathering" at their Mountain View, Calif. campus. Everyone expects the event will be the official unveiling of the Nexus One Mobile phone, although Google didn't say as much in the invitation.

The final piece of the Nexus One puzzle fell into place when Gizmodo and Engadget posted leaked documents purporting to show the Nexus One's price: $529.99 "unlocked" or $179.99 with a two-year T-Mobile contract and a very specific, limited service plan.

If that is indeed the pricing, the Google narrative changes here from "are they going to disrupt the wireless industry?" to "do they want to sell any of these at all?" For an unlocked, high-end smartphone, $529.99 is pretty standard. Without a contract, the Nokia E72 is around $400, the Motorola Droid is $559.99, and the iPhone 3GS is $599.99. None of them are big sellers at those prices.

Gizmodo says that to get a $179.99 Nexus One you'll need to sign up for a single, specific T-Mobile plan (500 minutes, unlimited data), which makes absolutely zero sense unless Google doesn't actually want to sell any phones.

I hope that this phone will sell with the full T-Mobile range of plans, just like any other T-Mobile smartphone. So given that this is just like any other T-Mobile smartphone, why is Google making so much of a fuss over it?

On the other hand, they could have some sort of blockbuster surprise next week.

Google launches Movie Search Service for Mobile Devices

Google has launched a mobile version of its movie search service that is compatible with Apple's iPhone as well as all mobile devices running Android and the Palm webOS. The new offering promises to make it easier for movie fans to plan their next theater trip while on the go.

Google's movie search results are available now in English on mobile devices in the United States, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. To access the new mobile service, users go to Google.Com in the handset's web browser, search for "movies" and then tap on the "more movies" link, wrote Google mobile team member Nick Fey on the Google Mobile Blog.

"From there, you can either browse a list of movies or select the 'Theaters' button to browse a list of theaters near you," Fey wrote.

Mobile Movie Trailers
Google's new movie listings page incorporates buttons that enable web visitors to play the latest movie trailers on their phones. Mobile users also are able to drill down to access more details about a film, such as the movie's rating, Fey noted.

"Just touch the poster or movie title and you'll see our new movie-details page that has a synopsis of the movie, a more detailed list of showtimes, the cast and crew, and pictures," Fey wrote.

The new service also provides users with new ways to explore films by genre. "Sometimes, you might feel like seeing a sci-fi flick or a romance, but you're not sure what's out in theaters,"

Associate Product Manager Dan Stokeley wrote on The Official Google Blog. "With genre filters you can start browsing right away and quickly find the right movie for you."

Alternatively, users browsing by theater will see a map of the venues nearest to them. "Then just tap on the link to any particular theater to see what shows are playing there and what times they're playing," Fey wrote.

This is where Google Maps Navigation can come in handy, at least for users with compatible handsets running Android 1.6 or higher. They will be able to chart a course to the nearest theater in the list by speaking the address, the name of a nearby landmark, "or just about anything into the search box and Google will find it for you," Google Software Engineer Keith Ito wrote on the Google Mobile Blog. "Then press 'Navigate' and you're on your way."

Blending Video With Search
Google movie search is just one among the many things the search giant is trying out that merges search with videos and other multimedia content.

"Text is often useful, but sometimes videos and pictures are a more effective way to receive information," Google Vice President Susan Wojcicki wrote on The Official Google Blog. "So over the past few years, we've blended videos, images, maps and more into the search results on Google.Com."

As always, Google is looking to make the search results it delivers more relevant, not only to users but also to the online advertising community. From the film industry's perspective, movie trailers may represent the ultimate advertising tool, but not the only one.

So it will be interesting to see how Google evolves its movie search service to include other types of movie promotions and tie-ins from which the company can derive advertising revenues.

"As we continue to think up innovative ways to give you the information you want, you're likely to see even more ad formats until we pinpoint the most useful, relevant and engaging ones," Wojcicki wrote.

Sony optimistic on 3-D TV display

A third to a half of the Sony Corp. TV sets sold annually will be packed with 3-D features by the year ending March 2013.

But Sony Executive Deputy President Hiroshi Yoshioka acknowledged that what Sony may really need for its money-losing TV business is its own display technology and the ability to make its own TV displays.

Sony has fallen behind in flat-panel TV technology to rivals like Samsung Electronics Co. of South Korea.

Yoshioka acknowledged that having to buy panels from Samsung was one reason why his Tokyo-based company lags in flat-panel TVs that use a new kind of backlight called LED - an innovation that can produce super-slim TVs and clearer images.

Samsung has scored success with its LED backlight TVs.

Yoshioka said in hindsight the panel joint venture with Samsung produced difficulties despite some of the benefits.

"They were a competitor," he said of Samsung, while declining to give details on when Sony may have its own displays.

Yoshioka hinted Sony was planning an upgrade of a different kind of technology called organic light-emitting diodes, or OLEDs, which are different from LED TVs, and generate light on the display's surface and don't have to be illuminated from behind.

Sony already sells an 11-inch OLED TV. But Yoshioka said engineers were encountering technological hurdles for making bigger sizes.

The electronics giant will have a unique product if it beats rivals in delivering a bigger TV with that technology.

"The business is tough without our own displays," Yoshioka said in an interview at Sony's headquarters.

For the short term, Sony has been bullish about 3-D TVs, one area where rivals are also just getting started, and Sony is promising products next year.

With 3-D TVs, images appear to have depth and give an illusion of almost jutting out from the screen, although they require special glasses.

Sony is targeting 20 percent global market share in the liquid-crystal display TV market and 1 trillion yen ($11 billion) in sales from 3D-related products by the fiscal year ending March 2013.

Koya Tabata, electronics analyst with Credit Suisse in Tokyo, was still skeptical 3-D TVs will sell in big numbers.

"Sony has fallen behind because it had been busy focusing on its restructuring," he said. "Sony has watched global market share getting grabbed by Samsung."

Samsung has had the top global market share in sales for the last several years, according to Display Search, which compiles such data.

Sony's Yoshioka said 3-D TVs are especially fun for playing games, where Sony has an edge because of its PlayStation business. Sony also has a movie division, and some 3-D theater releases have proved popular.

Sony is hoping to also expand into the battery business for electric cars. Yoshioka said the company was in talks with several automakers, although he declined to give names or details. He said Sony's lithium-ion batteries were competitive because of breakthroughs after encountering quality problems in its batteries for laptops, which required a massive global recall in 2006.

Sony is expecting its second straight annual loss for the fiscal year through March 2010 - hurt by sliding prices, the global slowdown and its failure to produce blockbusters products like Apple Inc.'s iPod or Nintendo Co.'s Wii.

The maker of the Walkman portable player expects a 95 billion yen ($1 billion) loss for the fiscal year through March 2010 — marginally better than the 98.9 billion yen loss the previous fiscal year, its first annual loss in 14 years.

Dell to launch smart phones in China and Brazil

Dell Inc. is officially jumping into the "smart" phone market this month in a deal with China's biggest wireless carrier, China Mobile Ltd.

The Dell Mini 3, a keyboardless touch-screen phone that runs Google Inc.'s Android operating system, will also be available in Brazil later this year. The computer maker, based in Round Rock, Texas, would not say when the phone would reach the U.S.

Friday's announcement ends more than two years of speculation that Dell, now the world's third-largest PC company by unit shipments, would expand into the phone business.

The economic downturn abruptly halted growth in the computer industry this year as consumers and businesses held off buying new technology. Hewlett-Packard Co., the No. 1 computer maker worldwide, fared better than Dell because its business is more diverse. Acer Inc., a Taiwan-based company, pushed past Dell to the No. 2 spot in the most recent quarter on the popularity of its tiny, inexpensive netbook computers, a category Dell was slow to enter.

Dell, however, was one of the first computer makers to pair up with wireless carriers to sell subsidized netbooks with cellular data plans. One such deal with China Mobile helped lay the groundwork for the Mini 3 launch, which the two companies foreshadowed in August when they showed off a prototype of the Mini 3 at an event in Beijing.

Michael Tatelman, vice president of sales and marketing for Dell's global consumer business, said Dell wants carriers to have some control over the way the phone works. It chose the open-source Android system because it gives Dell many ways to customize the software - but didn't rule out making phones that run Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Mobile.

In China, the Mini 3 will be part of China Mobile's forthcoming OPhone line, a defensive play against the official arrival of Apple Inc.'s iPhone, which is sold exclusively by the smaller China Unicom Ltd.

Dell didn't release technical specifications for the Mini 3, but Tatelman said it sports a three and a half inch high definition screen and "great sound" for listening to music or watching movies without headphones. It uses a touch-screen keyboard instead of a physical one.

Like the first legitimate iPhones in China, the first Mini 3s won't have Wi-Fi because of an earlier government ban on the technology. Tatelman said that over time, China's homegrown wireless technology will be built into the phone.

By the end of the year, the Dell Mini 3 phone will also be available in Brazil through Claro, part of America Movil SA, Latin America's largest mobile phone carrier.

Tatelman characterized the deals as having "limited exclusivity." He would not say whether Dell expects to produce phones for other carriers in the two countries, but indicated that at least in Latin America, expansion would be quick.

Papers filed by Dell with the Federal Communications Commission indicate the company is also laying groundwork to launch the phone in the U.S., where the iPhone remains the hottest gadget two years after its initial release and Android phones made by other hardware companies are starting to gain traction.

About the U.S. version, Tatelman says, "you have to assume that this is a global strategy."

Android phone can change your life

In the past few months several mobile devices have en mass taken to Google's mobile operating system and launched Android-enabled handsets. In this season of heavy activity around Android phones, comes the big announcement of the launch of version 2.0 of the operating system, also code-named Eclair.

A number of enhancements have been added to the previous version including the much talked-about multi-touch feature and sync. Here's how the Android can up your tech quotient with these new capabilities:
* Communicate instantly by tapping on the contact, and choosing from all available communication options (Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, etc).

* Availability of an accounts management API to store centrally account-credential information on the device.

* Supports devices with various screen sizes and resolutions, with three different screens of each of the applications.

* Multiple email account synchronization, that combines all account into a single email inbox with option of exchange support.

* New virtual keyboard layout for faster and more accurate typing. The multi-touch ensures that all keys pressed during typing are not skipped.

* Bluetooth API allows the device to connect to other nearby devices. This capabilities includes the integration of features of social-interaction and P2P communication.

* Improved camera controls with digital zoom, a scene mode, white balance controls, macro focus and colour effects.

* Upgraded search and navigation features, with the addition of text and multimedia message search.

Now, you can get your hands on the Android 2.0 version through Verizon's Motorola Droid, which was released today and among the first phones to implement the Android 2.0 version. Alternatively you can also download the Android 2.0 software development kit and experience its features through an emulator.

IBM launches LotusLive iNotes to compete with Gmail and Microsoft Exchange

IBM has launched LotusLive iNotes, an on-demand e-mail, calendaring and contact management system meant to compete with the likes of Gmail and Microsoft Exchange.

Pricing starts at US$3 per user per month, undercutting Google Apps Premier Edition, which costs $50 per user per year.

IBM is aiming the software at large enterprises that want to migrate an on-premise e-mail system to SaaS (software as a service), particularly for users who aren't tied to a desk, such as retail workers. It is also hoping to win business from smaller companies interested in on-demand software but with concerns about security and service outages, such as those suffered by Gmail in recent months.

LotusLive iNotes is based on technology IBM purchased from the Hong Kong company Outblaze.

"What we brought to Outblaze and to the marketplace is what you'd expect from IBM in terms of security, reliability and privacy," said Sean Poulley, vice president of online collaboration.

While alluding to Google's service outages, Poulley acknowledged that no company can guarantee 100 percent uptime for on-demand applications. But IBM has a long-standing track record of running "the world's mission-critical systems," he said.

IBM will also have an opportunity to win customers from Microsoft who aren't ready to migrate to the upcoming Exchange 2010 release, given the headaches and investments involved, Poulley said.

Overall, the main point of interest in IBM's announcement is price, said Gartner analyst Matt Cain.

"Outblaze always sold low-cost mailboxes and that's what this is," he said. "Google's long been in it, Microsoft's long been in it. Now IBM's in it."

However, that's not to say IBM's brand on the software isn't of some value, Cain added. "From an enterprise perspective, you'd rather buy e-mail from IBM than a company called Outblaze."

It's unlikely that IBM's pricing strategy will cause competitors to lower fees for their offerings, according to Cain. For one thing, Microsoft already has a $2 per month Exchange Online option called "Deskless Worker”.

Internet turns 40 today

The 'Internet' turned 40 today. It may sound strange, but today it is quite impossible to think of world without the 'World Wide Web'.

On Sept 2, 1969, around about 20 people gathered in a lab at the University of California, Los Angeles and two bulky computers were used to pass test data through a 15-foot gray cable. That was the beginning of the Internet. Now, 40 years later, we take a look at the Internet timeline.

Key milestones in the development and growth of the Internet..
1969: On September 2, two computers at University of California, Los Angeles, exchange meaningless data in first test of Arpanet, an experimental military network. The first connection between two sites UCLA and the Stanford Research Institute in Menlo Park, California takes place on October 29, though the network crashes after the first two letters of the word "logon." UC Santa Barbara and University of Utah later join.

1970: Arpanet gets first East Coast node, at Bolt, Beranek and Newman in Cambridge, Mass.

1972: Ray Tomlinson brings e-mail to the network, choosing "at" symbol as way to specify e-mail addresses belonging to other systems.

1973: Arpanet gets first international nodes, in England and Norway.

1974: Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn develop communications technique called TCP, allowing multiple networks to understand one another, creating a true Internet. Concept later splits into TCP/IP before formal adoption on January 1, 1983.

1983: Domain name system is proposed. Creation of suffixes such as ".com," ''.gov" and ".edu" comes a year later.

1988: One of the first Internet worms, Morris, cripples thousands of computers.

1989: Quantum Computer Services, now AOL, introduces America Online service for Macintosh and Apple II computers, beginning an expansion that would connect nearly 27 million Americans online by 2002.

1990: Tim Berners-Lee creates the World Wide Web while developing ways to control computers remotely at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research.

1993: Marc Andreessen and colleagues at University of Illinois create Mosaic, the first Web browser to combine graphics and text on a single page, opening the Web to the world with software that is easy to use.

1994: Andreessen and others on the Mosaic team form a company to develop the first commercial Web browser, Netscape, piquing the interest of Microsoft Corp. and other developers who would tap the Web's commerce potential. Two immigration lawyers introduce the world to spam, advertising their green card lottery services.

1995: Amazon.com Inc. opens its virtual doors.

1996: Passage of US law curbing pornography online. Although key provisions are later struck down as unconstitutional, one that remains protects online services from liability for their users' conduct, allowing information and misinformation to thrive.

1998: Google Inc. forms out of a project that began in Stanford dorm rooms. US government delegates oversight of domain name policies to Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN. Justice Department and 20 states sue Microsoft, accusing the maker of the ubiquitous Windows operating system of abusing its market power to thwart competition from Netscape and others.

1999: Napster popularizes music file-sharing and spawns successors that have permanently changed the recording industry. World Internet population surpasses 250 million.

2000: The dot-com boom of the 1990s becomes a bust as technology companies slide. Amazon.com, eBay and other sites are crippled in one of the first widespread uses of the denial-of-service attack, which floods a site with so much bogus traffic that legitimate users cannot visit.
2002: World Internet population surpasses 500 million.

2006: World Internet population surpasses 1 billion.

2008: World Internet population surpasses 1.5 billion. China's Internet population reaches 250 million, surpassing the United States as the world's largest. Netscape's developers pull the plug on the pioneer browser, though an offshoot, Firefox, remains strong. Major airlines intensify deployment of Internet service on flights.

Apple iPhones to be launched in China

China Unicom and US high-tech giant Apple have announced they had reached a multi-year deal to launch the widely popular iPhone in the world's largest mobile market later this year.

The announcement marks the iPhone's long-awaited debut on the mainland, which has about 687 million mobile phone users and is one of the last major markets where the trendy smartphone is not yet officially sold.

Unicom, one of three major state-owned carriers, would be the first Chinese phone company to formally support the iPhone, though thousands of unlocked iPhones brought in from other markets are in use in China. It is the only company in China that supports the network standard needed for the iPhone, known as WCDMA.

The initial launch is expected to be in the fourth calendar quarter of 2009. This will provide users with a brand new communication and information experience.

The iPhone, which also functions as a music player, camera and Internet browser, could help Unicom compete against giant China Mobile, which dominates the mainland's mobile market.

The company, the smaller rival of China's largest wireless operator China Mobile, started iPhone negotiations with Apple after the government issued third-generation, or 3G, mobile phone licences in January.

Chang and China Unicom president Lu Yimin said their company aimed to take more than one-third of China's 3G mobile market next year.

The iPhone is likely to be priced from 2,999 yuan (439 dollars) with a requirement that users also buy 3,000 yuan worth of pre-paid calls, the Caijing business magazine reported Thursday, citing sources close to the talks.

China Unicom, which had 140 million mobile subscribers by end-June, expects to attract high-end users with the iPhone to turn around weak performance in competition with arch rivals China Mobile and China Telecom, reports have said.

The confirmation of the deal with China Unicom means Apple has dropped China Mobile, which has been in similar talks with the US company for years. China Mobile, which had 493 million subscribers by the end of June, is developing a handset similar to the iPhone with firms including Chinese computer maker Lenovo.

Microsoft Bing coming to IPhone Apps

Microsoft is targeting the iPhone as another avenue for boosting usage of its Bing search engine.

Microsoft has released a software developer kit designed to make it easier for iPhone developers to build access to Bing into their applications. Using the SDK, a developer can build an iPhone application that searches Bing for Web information, images, videos, news and phonebook results.

Developers can only query Bing from applications built on Cocoa or Cocoa Touch, APIs for building applications on the iPhone.

Google is the default search engine in the iPhone's Safari browser, and users can decide to switch that to Yahoo. Otherwise, if iPhone users want to access Bing they have to type in the URL.

The SDK will also let developers incorporate Bing searches into applications for Macintosh computers.

While Microsoft and Apple compete in the mobile-phone market, other Microsoft services and applications are already available on the iPhone. For instance, the iPhone supports Microsoft's ActiveSync to let people access their Exchange e-mail. In addition, Microsoft's Live Labs group released an iPhone application for Seadragon, the technology that lets users browse through potentially very large images.

China Mobile and HTC to work together

China Mobile and Taiwan's leading smartphone maker HTC Corp have agreed to work together to develop products for the mainland's third generation mobile network.

They signed a memorandum of understanding in Taiwan to kick off the partnership, focusing on product and technology development.

"Together, we look forward to expanding the TD-SCDMA industry chain and spurring development of the cross-strait telecommunications sector. We look for this partnership to become a model of cooperation," China Mobile Chairman Wang Jianzhou said.

TD-SCDMA is the first international technology standard in China's telecommunication industry, employing Chinese-developed intellectual property rights.

"Going forward, HTC will actively develop intelligent advanced wireless broadband products based on the TD-SCDMA standard, and will work closely with China Mobile to design and make products tailored to the needs of the China market," said HTC chief executive officer Peter Chou.
China Mobile, one of the leading telecommunication service providers on the mainland, and HTC said they will also conduct research into mainland consumer trends as part of product development.

Nokia to Roll out Micro Finance for Mobile Phones

Nokia plans to roll out a micro financing program for mobile phones across 12 states in India.

The company has completed a pilot of this program across 2,500 villages in the rural areas of the Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka states of India. Nokia tied up for the pilot with a micro finance institution to offer mobile handsets on installments of 100 Indian rupees (US$2) a week for 25 weeks.

The company said in a statement that it expects that the benefits of mobility will reach 500 million people in the country by next year.

The penetration of mobile phones in rural India is still very low at 13 percent, and much of the growth in mobile telephony will be in non-urban markets, the company said.

Its objective is to lower access barriers as well as total cost of ownership in these markets, it added.

Nokia did not name its micro finance partner.

The mobile phone giant is also launching Nokia Life Tools commercially in the country this year, which includes a range of agriculture information and education services targeted at non-urban consumers. The service was tested in Maharashtra state.

India added 12 million mobile subscribers in June, the latest month for which data is available, taking the total number of subscribers to 427 million, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

Mobile service operators and handset makers are targeting India's rural market as the next big opportunity. The rural market is however low margin and geographically dispersed.

Data from TRAI for the first quarter of this year showed declining ARPU (average revenue per user) and utilization of mobile phones by consumers, across service providers, reflecting the economic slowdown and expansion of services in rural markets.

Study Reveals: More Kids Are Using Cell Phones

A survey by the Pew Internet & Life Project has concluded that more and more teens are using cell phones.

In 2004, the study found, less than half of U.S. teens aged 12 to 17 owned a cell phone, compared to 65 percent of adults. By 2008, teens owning cell phones had increased to 71 percent, versus 77 percent of adults.

The sample size of the study, however, was just 914 people in 2004, versus 2,134 respondents in 2008.

However, the cell phone wasn't the most prevalent electronic device teens owned, at least in 2008. The most popular gadget was a game console, owned by 78 percent of the respondents. Next was an iPod or other MP3 player, which just edged out the mobile phone with 74 percent. Only 60 percent of teens said they owned a PC, whether it be a desktop or notebook.

Cell-phone ownership tends to increase with age, according to the Pew report, with only 52 percent of 12- to 13-year-olds owning one. By age 17, about 82 percent of the survey's respondents owned one. But the cell phone isn't the most frequently- used communications device; that's still the landline, Pew found, with 88 percent using it versus 66 percent for cell phones.

Not surprisingly, families with more money tended to own mobile phones: 62 percent of respondents in households owning less than $30,000 owned a phone, 63 percent owned one within households earning $30,000 to $50,000, and 79 percent owned a phone within families earning more than $75,000, a statistically significant difference, Pew reported.

The most popular activity for the connected teen is sending texts; 38 percent of all teens do this on a daily basis, Pew reported. Twenty-six percent send messages daily via social networks like Facebook, while 24 percent use instant messaging on a daily basis. Twenty-nine percent, by contrast, spend time with their friends in person.

Again, however, the frequency by which teens perform these activities varies by age; more than 70 percent of 17-year-olds talk with their friends via cell phone on a daily basis, versus 28 percent of 12-year-olds. That also holds true for texting, as 51 percent of teens aged 15 to 17 text daily, versus a quarter of teens aged 12 to 14.

Interestingly, girls are the more frequent texters, 42 percent to 34 percent for boys, the study found.

Microsoft Nokia alliance to rival RIM

Microsoft Corp and Nokia announced an alliance to bring business software to smartphones and counter the dominance of Research in Motion Ltd's BlackBerry.

The alliance between the world's largest software company and cell phone maker means the latest versions of Microsoft's Office applications, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and messaging, will be available on a range of Nokia cell phones, which make up 45 percent of the global smartphone market.

The two companies, at one time fierce rivals in the mobile telecommunications business, expect to offer Nokia phones running Office sometime next year.

"This is giving some of our competitors - let's spell it out, RIM - a run for their money," said Nokia Executive Vice President Robert Andersson, in a telephone interview. "I don't think BlackBerry has seen the kind of competition we can provide them now."

Research in Motion's BlackBerry created the market for mobile e-mail, and its dominant position in the corporate sector, especially in North America, has protected it from Nokia's attempts to crack the market in recent years.

"RIM should be reasonably safe in the near-term because Nokia's presence in the U.S. is relatively small. Partnering more closely with Microsoft will help to raise Nokia's profile in the U.S." said Neil Mawston from research firm Strategy Analytics.

The alliance also aims to counter Google Inc's recent move into free online software, targeted at Microsoft's business customers, and the growing popularity of Apple Inc's iPhone device.

"It's clear that Nokia and Microsoft are both facing competitive challenges, most notably from Google. It makes sense for these two companies to work together to see if they can pool their competitive strengths to try and counter some of this pressure", said John Jackson, an analyst at wireless research firm CCS Insight.

The alliance means Microsoft's new Office suite of applications could be available to a much wider audience than the users of Windows Mobile phones, which make up 9 percent of the smartphone market.

"We see this as a great opportunity to deliver Office Mobile to 200 million Nokia smartphone customers," said Takeshi Numoto, an executive at Microsoft's Office business.

Analysts said Microsoft is clearly looking at the largest possible audience with the Nokia deal.

IBM Scientists Build DNA Computer Chips

Scientists at IBM are experimenting with using DNA molecules as a way to create tiny circuits that could form the basis of smaller, more powerful computer chips.

The company is researching ways in which DNA can arrange itself into patterns on the surface of a chip, and then act as a kind of scaffolding on to which millions of tiny carbon nanotubes and nanoparticles are deposited. That network of nanotubes and nanoparticles could act as the wires and transistors on future computer chips, the IBM scientists said.

For decades chip makers have been etching smaller and smaller patterns onto the surface of chips to speed performance and reduce power consumption. The fastest PC chips today are manufactured using a 45 nanometer process, but as the process dips below 22 nanometers in a few years, the assembly and fabrication of chips becomes far more difficult and expensive, said Bob Allen senior manager of chemistry and materials at IBM Research.

The new technique builds on work done several years ago by Paul Rothmund, a scientist at the California Institute of Technology, who figured out that DNA molecules can be made to "self-assemble" into tiny forms such as triangles, squares and stars. The approach takes advantage of DNA's natural ability to incorporate large amounts of complex information that can be applied to different types of activities.

To make a chip, the scientists first create lithographic templates - the patterns from which circuits are made - using traditional chip making techniques. After, they pour a DNA solution over the surface of the silicon and the tiny triangles and squares - what the scientists call DNA origami - line themselves up to the patterns etched out using lithography.

The IBM scientists, working with Rothmund, then figured out how to layer millions of nanotubes or nanoparticles over the DNA scaffold, where they adhere to form tiny integrated circuits.
The ability for the DNA structures to self-assemble is a key element needed for achieving greater precision in the design and manufacture of chips, said Greg Wallraff, an IBM research scientist and co-author of a paper about their achievements.

"The degree of difficulty of nanofabrication is going up rapidly," Wallraff said.

While the technology shows promise, it is years away from practical use, the scientists warned. "It's too early to say whether this will be a game changer," Allen said. "But we're pretty enthusiastic about the potential of this technique."

If it works as planned, it could lead to a new way of fabricating features on the surface of chips that allows semiconductors to be made even smaller, faster and more power-efficient than they are today.

Its time to say Hello From Earth

An Australian website is giving texting an intergalactic touch and allowing users to send short mobile phone-type messages into space.

From Wednesday and until August 24, people hankering for an out-of-this-world experience can visit http://www.hellofromearth.net to post messages no longer than 160 characters that will be transmitted to Gliese 581d, the nearest Earth-like planet outside the solar system likely to support life.

However, the expected delivery time is some 20 years, the website said. And there's no guarantee of a response.
"It's like a “message in a bottle” cast out into the stars. What's interesting is not just whether there's anyone listening, but what the public will say to intelligent life on another planet," said project spokesperson Wilson da Silva.

"Hello From Earth is our way of showing that science can make the impossible possible. We have been to the moon and now, we can speak to the stars," he said in a statement.
The messages, to be transmitted from the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex, with the close cooperation of U.S. space agency NASA, is part of Australia's National Science Week which celebrates the country's scientific achievements and creates awareness of the importance of science.

"Hello from Australia on the planet we call Earth. These messages express our people's dreams for the future. We want to share those dreams with you,"- this was the very first message entered by Science Minister Kim Carr, in order to launch the project.

"As a child I, like many Australians, stared up at the stars and wondered what was out there. Now science has allowed me to send a personal message that may answer that question," Carr said.

microblogging can boost business

Twitter is wooing businesses with a "Twitter 101" online course in how the hot microblogging service can be used to boost bottom lines.

While the company itself grapples with how to cash in on its rocketing popularity, Twitter has freshly-added to its website lessons in ways that "tweets" can help businesses improve their image and win customers.

"While this work was envisioned for businesses, it's also useful for anyone using Twitter so have a look if you like," Twitter co-founder Biz Stone said.

"We coordinated with business students and writers to surface some interesting findings, best practices, steps for getting started, and case studies."

A "Twitter 101" presentation titled "A Special Guide" can be found by following "Business" links at the bottom of Twitter Web pages.

"We're focused on enhancing value across Twitter in general; these documents are just a first step," Stone wrote.

Businesses can tune into Twitter to find out what people are saying about products or services and then instantly join real-time conversations in order to build on positive comments or address concerns of customers.

"Twitter connects you to your customers right now, in a way that was never before possible," an opening page at 'Twitter 101' maintained.

"Businesses of all kinds, including major brands, increasingly find that listening and engaging on the service lead to happier customers, passionate advocates, key product improvements and, in many cases, more sales."

The conversational nature of Twitter lets businesses build relationships with customers and get feedback for improving products or services, according to the 101 course.

Stone has said publicly that money-making strategies being considered by Twitter include charging fees to business users while remaining free for others.

Twitter, meanwhile, has been deleting accounts believed to be used to "spam" users with specious pitches or other junk text messages.

The service invites people to use computers or Internet-linked mobile telephones to fire off text messages answering the question "What are you doing now?" in 140 characters or less.

Twitter has become a sensation since launching in 2006.

Indian Farmers to use Mobile Phones to Control Irrigation

Mobile Operator Tata Teleservices is testing technology that allows farmers to use their mobile phones to remotely monitor and switch on irrigation pump sets in far flung locations.

The technology, called Nano Ganesh, is being tested in two villages in the Indian state of Gujarat.

In India, where the electricity supply is erratic, farmers often walk several kilometers to where their irrigation pumps are located, only to find that there is no electricity available, Lloyd Mathias, chief marketing officer of Tata Teleservices, said.

By dialing a code number from his mobile phone to a wireless device attached to the pump, farmers can now remotely monitor the electricity supply, and also switch the pump on and off, Mathias said.

The technology for this application was developed and is manufactured by Ossian Agro Automation in Pune in western India. To use the service, the farmer pays Tata Teleservices 2,700 rupees (US$56) for the device attached to the starter on the pump and another 2,000 rupees for the mobile phone, as well as monthly service charges. The mobile phone can be used by the farmer for other communications as well.

Voice communications and SMS on mobile phones are getting commoditized, and as in urban markets, customers are looking for value-added services. By introducing technology and services appropriate to rural markets, Tata Teleservices plans to differentiate itself in these markets, and increase customer "stickiness".

The company already uses mobile phones to deliver education content, and agricultural information relevant to rural communities. It has tied up with specialist organizations to provide the content.

Thirty Meter Telescope ie World's Largest Telescope to be built in Hawaii

Hawaii has been chosen as the site for the world's biggest telescope, a device so powerful that it will allow scientists to see some 13 billion light years away and get a glimpse into the early years of the universe.

The telescope's mirror - stretching almost 100 feet in diameter will be so large that it should be able to gather light that will have spent 13 billion years traveling to earth. This means astronomers looking into the telescope will be able to see images of the first stars and galaxies forming - some 400 million years after the Big Bang.

According to Thirty Meter Telescope Observatory Corp. spokesman Charles Blue, "It will sort of give us the history of the universe".

The telescope, expected to be completed by 2018, will be located atop a dormant volcano that is popular with astronomers because its summit sits well above the clouds at 13,796 feet, offering a clear view of the sky above for 300 days a year.

Hawaii's isolated position in the middle of the Pacific Ocean also means the area is relatively free of air pollution. Few cities on the Big Island mean there aren't a lot of man-made lights around to disrupt observations.

The other finalist candidate site for the Thirty Meter Telescope was Chile's Cerro Armazones mountain.

Richard Ellis, astronomy professor the California Institute of Technology and a Thirty Meter Telescope board member, said that Mauna Kea is at a higher elevation, its air is drier and its average temperature fluctuates less during the course of the day - all helpful factors for those using the new telescope.

The telescope will be built by the University of California, the California Institute of Technology and the Association of Canadian Universities for Research in Astronomy.

The current world's largest telescopes also are located atop Mauna Kea, but the size of their diameters are about three times smaller than the Thirty Meter Telescope.

Gateway LT2000 Another Netbook Appears

Gateway has announced a 10.1-inch addition to its compact notebook line: the LT2000 series. With 1GB of memory, a 160GB hard drive, three USB 2.0 ports, a built-in webcam, and the ability to connect to the internet, the LT2000 sounds just like every other netbook.

It looks similar to other budget netbooks. It does seem on par spec for spec with other budget netbooks, though a 1.6-GHz N270 Atom CPU, 1GB RAM and a 160GB hard drive. Less impressive: A 3-cell battery that, if you're lucky, will last you three hours according to spokespeople. While we are talking about a $300 machine here, other netbooks that don't cost too much more can last over 3 times as long (like Toshiba's NB205-310).

On the software side, the LT2000 netbooks come equipped with Windows XP and pre-installed software. There's some free such as Microsoft Works. Then there's the trial bloatware (Office Home and Student 2007).

One semi-unique feature is the multi-gesture touchpad, which allows users to swirl and flick their way through web pages, music, and media. And even this is not completely unique, as it has been featured on many other models from various vendors, such as Acer's Aspire AS5536.

The LT2000 series netbooks are available now, in Cherry Red and NightSky Black.

Mobile Phone Users in Rural India Cross 100 Million

According to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the country had 109.7 million rural mobile subscribers at the end of the first quarter, which is up by 18 percent from 93.2 million users in the fourth quarter of last year.

The country's 282 million urban wireless subscribers accounted for 72 percent of all mobile users at the end of the first quarter.

Indian mobile services companies and handset vendors have identified the rural market as a new growth opportunity, as urban markets are getting saturated.

For example, Nokia has launched its Life Tools service in June, after a pilot project in the Indian state of Maharashtra. The service offers agriculture information, education, and entertainment targeted at people in both rural areas and small towns.

The number of mobile subscribers in the country is on the upswing with demand both from rural and urban markets.

According to TRAI data, the number of subscribers for mobile services across the country has increased to 391.76 million in the quarter ended March this year, up by 50 percent from 261 million in the same quarter last year.

However competition and tariff cuts have brought down the average revenue per user. Indian mobile service providers are focusing on value added services, including applications to boost revenue.

A number of foreign mobile service providers have invested in joint ventures in India, including Vodafone and NTT DoCoMo.

Tata Teleservices, which has NTT DoCoMo as an investor, has begun rolling out services across India under the Tata DoCoMo brand. NTT DoCoMo said it plans to progressively bring to India new services such as its i-mode wireless Internet service, location-based services, and mobile payment.

Amazon launches Online Mobile Phone Store

Amazon has launched a beta Web site that offers cell phones, service plans, comparison shopping features, easy rebate redemption, and free two-day shipping on AT&T and Verizon Wireless phones. Amazon’s online store for mobile phones is http://www.amazonwireless.com/

Sprint and T-Mobile are noticeably missing from the short roster of carriers. However, Amazon said it plans to add carriers and expand its selection during the beta phase, as well as test features and gather input from customers to optimize the experience.

"We have taken our eight years' experience selling cell phones to create a new site that makes a potentially confusing transaction much easier for customers," said Paul Ryder, vice president of consumer electronics for Amazon.

Clearing Customer Confusion--
According to a recent Best Buy Mobile survey reveals a large number of American adults are planning to buy a smartphone in the next 12 months, but barriers are standing in their way. Some of the barriers identified in the survey include confusion about the technology, the shopping experience, and price.

More than half of women and 42 percent of men are confused about which smartphone to buy, and more than half of adults over 50 express this confusion. Sixty-four percent of Americans say they don't own a smartphone because the devices are too expensive.

Best Buy and AmazonWireless seem ready to go head-to-head to solve these issues. Scott Moore, vice president of marketing for Best Buy Mobile, said his company offers smartphones from nine major carriers, along with unbiased, noncommissioned pros to guide consumers to the devices, features and services that are right for them.

"We offer free upgrade checks to anyone currently using any form of mobile service so customers can see if they're eligible to get a smartphone; and, in many cases, there are special promotional deals along with our everyday instant rebates," Moore said. "We want everyone to have a smartphone."

Amazon's Advantage--
Currently, AmazonWireless only offers about 120 phones, including smartphones and the latest models for budget-conscious shoppers. Customers can shop for phones by carrier, phone feature, price, color and brand. The site's shopping cart guides customers through each stage of the purchase process, and customers will find Amazon features like bestseller lists, detailed product descriptions, and customer reviews.

"The step-by-step purchase process on AmazonWireless makes it easy for customers who already have a plan to upgrade their phones," Ryder said. "If you want to establish new cell-phone service, we've made it simple to find the right phone, service plan, and options for your needs. We've also eliminated the technical jargon and frustrating rebate paperwork that customers often face when buying a phone."

Best Buy doesn't offer the same online wireless store that Amazon is rolling out, but Amazon isn't the first retailer to offer phones and plans online. Amazon will, however, be the largest.

Google to launch Chrome Operating System

Google is working on a new operating system, called Chrome OS, for inexpensive computers in a daring attempt to wrest away Microsoft’s long running control over computing experience.

The new operating system will be based on its Chrome browser and would be an open source operating system initially targeted at netbooks. Google intends to rely on help from the community of open-source programmers to develop the Chrome operating system, which is expected to begin running computers in the second half of 2010.

Google is designing the operating system primarily for "netbooks," a lower-cost, less powerful breed of laptop computers that is becoming increasingly popular among budget-conscious consumers primarily interested in surfing the Web.

The operating system represents Google's boldest challenge yet to its biggest nemesis - Microsoft.

A high-stakes duel between the two technology powerhouses has been steadily escalating in recent years as Google's dominance of the Internet's lucrative search market has given it the means to threaten Microsoft in ways that few other companies can.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has been trying to thwart Google by investing billions of dollars to improve its own Internet search and advertising systems.

In the past month or so, though, Microsoft has been winning positive reviews and picking up more users with the latest upgrade to its search engine, now called "Bing." Microsoft is hailing the makeover with a $100 million marketing campaign.

Now Google is aiming for Microsoft's financial jugular with Chrome its operating system.

Despite its own power and prominence, Google won't have an easy time changing the status quo that has governed the personal computing industry for so long.

The Chrome operating system will run in a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel - computer coding that has been the foundation for the open-source software movement.

Google has already introduced an operating system called Android, but that is only used for mobile phones at the moment.

The Android system worked well enough to entice some computer makers to begin developing netbooks that will eventually run on it.

Google, though, apparently believes a Chrome-based system will be better suited for running applications in netbooks.

"Computers need to get better. People want their computers to always run as fast as when they first bought them and they want to access the Internet instantly,” Google said.

"Google Chrome OS is being created for people who spend most of their time on the web, and is being designed to power computers ranging from small netbooks to full-size desktop systems," said the company.

"Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We're designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds," the company said.

Sony to enter Netbook PC market with new Vaio laptop

Sony Corp has plans to launch a new Vaio laptop that will sell for around 60,000 yen ($629) in Japan in August, making its entry into the fast-growing netbook market.

Netbook PCs are smaller and cheaper than traditional notebook computers and optimized for simpler computing tasks such as Web browsing and email.

Pioneered by Taiwan's Asustek in 2007, other global brands such as Acer Inc, Hewlett-Packard Co and Dell Inc have pushed out their own lines since then.

The new Sony machine is equipped with Microsoft Corp's Windows XP operating system and Intel Corp's Atom processor.

Rachael - Sony Ericsson's Google Android Phone Leaked

For quite some time, it is known that Sony Ericsson is working on a Google Android-based mobile phone, but the company has been keeping mum on details. However, pictures leaked by a Danish site appear to reveal Sony Ericsson's upcoming Android phone.
According to the Danish Mobil magazine, Sony Ericsson's Android phone will be code-named Rachael and will bw announced later this year. The phone will be part of SE's XPERIA series, which so far includes the Windows Mobile-based X1 model.

Mobil says that the Android-loving Sony Ericsson Rachel is based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon platform (QSD8250), which would give the phone processor speeds of up to 1GHz and 7.2Mbit per second HSPA downlink speeds.

The leaked pictures also show the Sony Ericsson’s upcoming Android Phone featuring an 8.1-megapixel camera with autofocus and flash. At the top of the phone a 3.5mm headphone jack and a miniUSB port are also present. No specific details on the phone's display size or resolution were released, but the Dutch magazine says it has a pressure-sensitive touchscreen.

Some of the specifications of Sony Ericsson's Android phone are looking very good in comparison to other smartphones present in the market today. An 8.1-megapixel camera would be most powerful on an Android handset yet, and remarkably better than the 3-megapixel camera on the latest iPhone 3GS. On the Android realm, the HTC Hero and the Samsung Galaxy have only a 5-megapixel camera.

It's highly expected that Sony Ericsson Rachel will run on the upcoming 2.0 version of Google Android operating system, which is also expected to be released toward the end of this year. As for Adobe Flash, it is yet unclear whether this phone will feature this capability.

Internet becomes most popular information source

The Internet is by far the most popular source of information and the preferred choice for news ahead of television, newspapers and radio, according to a new poll in the United States.

But just a small fraction of U.S. adults considered social websites such as Facebook and MySpace as a good source of news and even fewer would opt for Twitter.

More than half of the people questioned in the Zogby Interactive survey said they would select the Internet if they had to choose only one source of news, followed by 21 percent for television and 10 percent for both newspapers and radio.

Only 10 percent described social websites as an important for news, and despite the media buzz about Twitter, only 4 percent would go to it for information.

The Internet was also selected as the most reliable source of news by nearly 40 percent of adults, compared to 17 percent who opted for television and 16 percent who selected newspapers and 13 percent for listened to the radio.

"The poll reinforces the idea that efforts by established newspapers, television and radio news outlets to push their consumers to their respective websites is working," Zogby said in a statement.

Almost half of 3,030 adults questioned in the online survey said national newspaper websites were important to them, followed by 43 percent who preferred television websites.

Blogs were less of a necessity than websites with only 28 percent of those polled saying blogs that shared their political viewpoint were important.

"That the websites of traditional news outlets are seen by a wide margin as more important than blog sites - most of which are repositories of opinion devoid of actual reportage - could be seen as an encouraging development for the media at large," Zogby added.

When asked to peer into the future, an overwhelming 82 percent said the Internet would be the main source of information in five years time, compared to 13 for television and 0.5 percent chose newspapers.

About 84 percent of American have access to the Internet, according to industry studies.

Knowing File Extension .SAM

The world of Computer Software is developing day by day. There are several program files which have unknown extensions and are very difficult to open. One such software is the software with the File Extension SAM. This file extension was formed by California Institute of Technology. The file is structures in two lines of columnar numbers. The first line that follows designates the data format. The second line is used as a comment line. The Third line consists of geographical positions. This data file is in ASCII text format as a result of which it is highly scientifically coded.

This extension is commonly linked to Samna Ami Pro application pack. It is a word-processing and spreadsheet application pack which was made for Dos programs. The File Extension SAM can be opened and accessed using the MS Office document. One can run the file by using the Microsoft Office Converter Pack and can also convert the .sam files to .doc files using the converter and also convert the .doc files to .sam files.

Application packs linked to File Extension SAM is also used with Map files which often consists of all the details related to module name, start address for list of program groups, program file header timestamp, public symbols and entry points. File Extension SAM is also commonly associated with Signed 8-bit Pulse Code Modulation which encodes an audio waveform in the time domain.

To get more detailed info on .sam files and its applications and different application packages which use the File Extension SAM, you may visit its site.

T-Mobile introduces Dash 3G

T-Mobile has introduced the T-Mobile Dash 3G, a long-awaited refreshed version of its predecessor. The Dash 3G will go on sale in stores in July.

The new Dash 3G is similar to the HTC Snap, which is available on Sprint and Verizon. It is the first 3G phone from T-Mobile to use the Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard Edition operating system. The handset has evolved from its previous iteration to look sleeker and more smoothly designed. It replaces the previous model's five-way nav button and cluster of small nav keys beneath the display with a trackball and clearly defined, round nav buttons. The QWERTY keyboard appears roomy as well.

More details, including price, to come when available. What is known is that the Dash 3G has a QVGA (320 by 240 pixel resolution) display, integrated GPS, Exchange server support, microSDHC card slot, Bluetooth 2.0, and a 2-megapixel camera. These features are a boost over the previous version, but fall short of some of the beefier specs of phones like the Palm Pre or the iPhone 3G.

Microsoft new search engine Bing is Growing

Microsoft's new search engine Bing continues to gain market traction, but it may not be for long. Bing, the service debuted just more than two weeks ago, continued to attract daily users for a second week.

According to a study by comScore, an Internet traffic tracking company, “Microsoft sites' average daily penetration among U.S. searches reached 16.7 percent during the week of June 8-12, up three percentage points from May 25-29, the week before Bing's debut”.

In its second week, Microsoft's share of search-result pages in the U.S. increased 12.1 percent, also up three percentage points from the week before its launch.

How Long Will It Last?
One week after its May 28 debut, Bing's market share rocketed past that of rival Yahoo, both in the U.S. and globally. Bing took second place behind Google, which has 71.47 percent of the U.S. market, and beat Yahoo's 10.22 percent with 16.28 percent, according to StatCounter, a New York daily Internet tracking company.

Globally, Bing had 5.62 percent of the market while Yahoo had 5.13 percent. Google held first place globally with 87.62 percent.

Even with a successful launch, it wasn't all smiles for Microsoft. Just after Bing launched, scandal ensued, giving the service some negative attention. A feature in Bing called smart motion preview, which plays videos when a user navigates over it, landed Microsoft in hot water with both child-advocacy groups and countries such as China. Microsoft defended the service and provided its customers with an extra layer of control over the content.

The question in many observers' minds is how long Bing's traction will last. "It is just out of the gate, so it won't be until the next few months that we will be able to tell whether they have taken some real percentage points," said Aodhan Cullen, founder of StatCounter, from his office in Ireland.

"You can see they have gained traction from advertising and publicity from the launch of this search engine," Cullen said. "If you look at statistics, it has returned to the levels it was at before the launch with Windows Live and Live Search."

There is Good Competition
Despite falling back to third place, Bing is still stealing market share from Google and Yahoo, Cullen said.

StatCounter analyzed search-engine market share two weeks before and two weeks after the launch of Bing. For the U.S. market, it found Google's market share decreased from 78.68 percent to 77.94 percent, Yahoo decreased from 11.46 percent to 10.76 percent, and Bing increased from 7.4 percent to nine percent.

Regardless of whether Bing continues to move ahead of its search competitors, it has given searchers more services from which to choose.

"It is hard to break the Google habit," Cullen said. "But it is great to have extra competition because it is not good to have one dominant player with the entire market share."

You can buy an Infected PC for 10 cents

It doesn't take much to get started in Internet crime these days. Find the right site, hand over $50, and you can start wreaking havoc with 1,000 already-infected PCs.

Finjan, a San Jose, CA security company, looked into the Golden Cash site, used by black hats to buy and sell the use of hijacked computers. The crooks behind the site infect PCs with the Golden Cash remote-control malware, and then sell access to those PCs. And that access doesn't cost much.

According to the price list in Finjan’s report, a batch of 1,000 infected PCs in Australia costs $100 - a whopping 10 cents each. A batch in the US runs $50, and bargain-basement bad guys can build a far-east malware network for as little as $5 per 1,000. Crooks can then install other malware, send spam, embed rogue antivirus, or use the victim PCs in any number of profit-making scams.

Sites like Golden Cash are part of a thriving Internet black market that provide every service a bad guy could ever want. An infected Web site or e-mail with a malware attachment is only the tip of the iceberg, an end result of a widespread underground business. Other services might provide stolen credit card numbers, custom-built malware guaranteed to evade antivirus, or access to anonymous network.

All this is a scary stuff, but lucky for us, it's not that hard to keep a PC from becoming a criminal commodity. Most attacks use poisoned Web sites to go after old, unpatched security holes, or use a social engineering con-job to trick you into opening a poisoned e-mail attachment. Following good and basic security practices like keeping all your software up-to-date won't guarantee your safety, but will go a long way towards keeping Golden Cash and all the other scammers at bay.

RIM to launch World Phone called BlackBerry Tour

Research In Motion is all set to add another smartphone to its BlackBerry lineup as it aims to win market share among both executives and mainstream consumers despite tough economic conditions.

The new model is known as the BlackBerry Tour and falls somewhere between the BlackBerry Curve, which has proved very popular with consumers, and the BlackBerry Bold, which RIM has aimed at high-end corporate users.

RIM co-Chief Executive Jim Balsillie said in an interview that the new device will soon be launched with Verizon and Sprint in the United States and Telus and BCE's Bell unit in Canada.

Even though the device isn't drastically different from many other BlackBerry handsets in appearance - it has the familiar candy-bar shape with a full keyboard - Balsillie said the Tour is a big step forward.

It is what RIM calls a "world phone," which means it can easily access voice and data services on networks outside the user's home country. This has proven popular with business users in the past.

To appeal to the retail market, the Tour is loaded with multimedia features similar to those found in the BlackBerry Curve and Pearl, including a photo and video camera and media player.

Unveiling products that cross customer categories is proving increasingly important to RIM and it is continuing to make deer inroads into the broader retail market.

However, the company is also being careful not to alienate the corporate users who have been its mainstay and who rely on its smartphones to send wireless e-mail securely.

At the same time, rivals such as Apple and Palm in North America and Nokia in Europe are launching new products and aggressively pricing their phones to lure users.

Grab your Personalized Facebook URL - Remember these 10 Points

The race to grab your very own Facebook URL is about to begin. Facebook will allow its users to register custom usernames for the first time starting at 12:01 a.m. EDT Saturday. The usernames are bound to go fast, and if you aren't prepared, you may end up empty-handed.

Here, then, are 10 things you need to know before the floodgates open.

1. Facebook's usernames will be given out on a first-come, first-served basis.
If you're dying to get something like "your name," you'd better not go to bed early. Facebook will start handing out usernames at precisely 12:01 a.m. EDT. Odds are, most common names will be gone by 12:02.

2. Once you pick a name, it's yours for life.
Each Facebook account gets only one username, and you can never change it. You can't transfer it to someone else, either. Even if you delete your Facebook account, Facebook says the name won't go back into the pool.

3. You don't necessarily have to use your real name.
While Facebook is encouraging the use of real names, you aren't limited in that regard. The system will suggest a few available options based on your first and/or last name, but it'll also provide a blank field in which you can type something completely unrelated.

4. You won't be able to get a 'generic word' as your username.
Facebook says "generic words" won't be available for usernames. A full list of included terms hasn't been released, but "pizza" and "flowers" were given as examples of what won't fly.

5. You'll have to use at least five characters.
The Facebook usernames will have to be at least five characters in length and can only contain letters, numbers, and a period. Trying names with special characters -- you know, symbols like $#@% - will only waste your time.

6. If you created your Facebook account after 3 p.m. on June 9, you won't be able to get a username yet.
Facebook is only letting users who had accounts prior to 3 p.m. on June 9 register for usernames this week. The social network says it's a precaution to help prevent people from creating accounts just for "name squatting" purposes. If you registered your Facebook account after that time, you'll have to wait till June 28 at 12:01 a.m. to get your new name.

7. The restrictions are even greater for Facebook Pages (public profiles).
Owners of Facebook Pages- public profiles for companies, organizations, or public figures - must have been registered before May 31 in order to be eligible for a custom URL. Additionally, the Facebook Page must have had at least 1,000 fans as of May 31 in order to get a username now.

8. Facebook does plan to protect trademarks.
Facebook says it'll work to protect intellectual property and trademark rights.

9. Your current privacy settings will apply to your new URL.
Your new Facebook username will immediately become your new URL. Depending on your privacy settings, though, people may not be able to see much there. Whatever settings you currently have on your account will apply, so if your profile is set to be private, it'll remain private- even on the new address.

10. Your Facebook username may be used for more things in the future.
As of now, the Facebook usernames will be used for custom URLs. In the future, however, the company has said it plans to unveil other uses for the names. Specifics have yet to be revealed, but know that whatever name you pick will likely pop up in even more places down the road.

Sony Ericsson unveils greener phones: C901 GreenHeart and Naite

Cellphone maker Sony Ericsson has unveiled two handset models, which are said to be more eco-friendly, adding that the company will push greener features across its product line in the next two years.

The new models, C901 GreenHeart and Naite, will be sold in smaller packages and have user manuals that are electronic. The devices use more recycled materials and consume less energy.

"Today we are announcing a commitment to roll out these innovations across the broader portfolio in 2010 and 2011," Sony Ericsson Chief Executive Hideki Komiyama said in a statement.

The role of greener products is increasing rapidly in the cellphone industry, with a recent ABI Research survey saying nearly half of U.S. consumers are likely to be influenced by suppliers' green credentials when purchasing devices.

Sony Ericsson said on Thursday it targets a cut of 20 percent of its carbon dioxide emissions by 2015.

The handset industry is closely followed by environmental organizations around the world due to its large scale. More than 1 billion phones are sold globally each year, which requires the use of sales boxes, add-ons and tons of rare raw materials.

The world's top cellphone maker, Nokia, started to renew its packaging in 2006, and has said it saved 100 million euros ($142.9 million) in less than a year.

Sony Ericsson said its new models will use at least 50 percent recycled plastics, similar to Nokia's 3110 Evolve model, which the Finnish firm introduced last year.

Last year Nokia's chief executive, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, showed a prototype of a phone made fully of recycled materials at the Mobile World Congress trade show, but the model has not reached production.

Sony Ericsson, the world's fifth-biggest handset maker, is in need of new models to renew its offering since the appeal of the years-old Sony-branded Cybershot cameraphones and Walkman music phones has faded.

Govt posted sensitive list of US nuclear sites

The government accidentally posted on the Internet a list of government and civilian nuclear facilities and their activities in the United States, but a U.S. official said Wednesday the posting included no information that compromised national security.

The 266-page document was published on May 6 as a transmission from President Barack Obama to Congress. According to the document, the list was required by law and will be provided to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Some of the pages are marked "highly confidential safeguards sensitive."

Damien LaVera, a spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration, said the document had been reviewed by a number of U.S. agencies and that disclosure of the information did not jeopardize national security. He said the document is part of an agreement on nuclear material inspection under the IAEA's nuclear nonproliferation effort.

"While we would have preferred it not be released, the Departments of Energy, Defense, and Commerce and the NRC all thoroughly reviewed it to ensure that no information of direct national security significance would be compromised," LaVera said in a statement.

An Energy Department official said none of the sites on the list are directly part of the government's nuclear weapons infrastructure.

Included in the report are details on a storage facility for highly enriched uranium at the Y-12 complex at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee and some sites at the Energy Department's Hanford nuclear site in Washington state, this official acknowledged.

The publication of the list was first reported in an online secrecy newsletter Monday. The document had been posted on the Government Printing Office Web site, but has since been removed from that site.

The document includes both government and civilian nuclear facilities, all of which have various levels of security, including details and location of nation's 103 commercial nuclear power reactors, information readily available from various sources.

The document details the location of the nuclear sites and what is being done there. For instance, there are nuclear reactors at the Westinghouse Electric Company in Pittsburgh, Pa. This facility is currently working on research into what happens when there are accidents with the nuclear reactors. The project started in 2006 and is expected to end in 2012, according to the document.
There are "zero" national security implications to the publication of this document, said Steven Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Government's Project on Government Secrecy. Aftergood found the document on the GPO Web site and highlighted it in his online bulletin.

"I regret that some people are painting it as a roadmap for terrorists because that's not what it is," Aftergood said.

"This is not a disclosure of sensitive nuclear technologies or of facility security procedures. It is simply a listing of the numerous nuclear research sites and the programs that are under way," Aftergood said. "And so it poses no security threat whatsoever."

Xbox gets Facebook-Twitter Integration

Microsoft's Xbox is about to get a lot more social. Social networking sensations Twitter and Facebook, along with Internet radio star Last.fm, are connecting to the Xbox 360 videogame console online world.

Twitter-Facebook Integration
The Xbox Twitter-Facebook integration, revealed at the E3 video game conference in Los Angeles, will bring the two services into the Xbox Live online gaming service. In addition to the service's multiplayer functionality, you'll be able to send and receive status updates with the social networks straight from your Xbox console.

Some games will be ready to take advantage of the added options, too. An upcoming version of Tiger Woods PGA Tour, for example, will allow you to send screenshots and score updates directly into your Facebook stream via the Facebook Connect interface. You'll also have the option of inviting friends to join your games without so much as shifting your eyes off the screen. It's all expected to become available sometime this coming fall.

Last.FM Additions
Twitter and Facebook aren't the only social services being added into the Xbox world - music-streaming service Last.FM will be built into Microsoft's expanded Xbox offering as well. Xbox Live users with paid “gold level” subscriptions will be able to listen to tunes via their consoles, using the site's "personalized radio station" setup to select songs.

Microsoft also confirmed a new partnership with U.K.-based Sky TV that'll let British users view movies and live TV shows through their Xbox systems. Of course, you can do that here in the States now, too, if you know how.

Amidst all the excitement, one burning question has yet to be answered: With Microsoft's search service, Live, now officially known as “Bing”, will Xbox Live follow suit?

Console owners that subscribe to Xbox Live become part of an Internet videogame community with benefits such as being able to connect to Netflix online film rental service.

By year's end, Xbox Live members will be able to access their Twitter or Facebook accounts through consoles, posting content and connecting with friends the same way they might by using computers or smart phones.

The link is essentially a Facebook application for Xbox 360 users, and the California social networking firm is set of making similar links to online communities for Sony PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii console users.

Microsoft bought a 1.6 percent stake in Facebook for 240 million dollars in 2007.

Giga-byte Technology displays CULV Laptop at Computex Taipei 2009

Giga-byte Technology revamped a netbook that takes advantage of touchscreen and tablet functions in Microsoft Windows 7 and put its first laptop with an Intel CULV (consumer ultra-low voltage) microprocessor inside on display at Computex Taipei 2009 on Monday.

The TouchNote T1028 netbook sports a 10.1-inch touchscreen that swivels so that the screen can be turned around folded down to transform it into a tablet PC. The netbook is an update to its first netbook with the same function, but the main difference this time is the Windows 7 software, which includes functions that support both the touchscreen capability and the tablet mode.

Windows 7 is Microsoft's latest operating system, but so far only a beta (test) version has been released.

Giga-byte's new T1028 will include Intel's latest 1.66GHz N280 Atom microprocessor. It will cost around US$599 and could be on the market globally as early as July or August. The launch date will partly be determined by when Microsoft releases Windows 7. Should the T1028 launch early, it could come with Windows XP and will be upgradeable to Windows 7.

Giga-byte's first CULV laptop is part of its Booktop family of products, the M1305. Intel's CULV microprocessor is small, thin and energy efficient and designed for thin portable laptops.

The Booktop M1305 sports a 13.3-inch screen and can hold up to 8G byte of DDR3 (double data rate, third generation) DRAM, which is a newer version of mainstream DRAM that has not yet caught on widely.

The M1305 laptop that Giga-byte displayed Monday used Windows 7 as its operating system. The company hopes to launch the M1305 in September or October armed with Windows 7.

The laptop is only an inch (2 centimeters) thick and is built light as an alternative to netbooks, but includes a key feature lacking in netbooks, a DVD drive, as well as a larger screen.

Giga-byte also showed off another new netbook on Monday, the Myou S1024. The netbook is designed to be ultra-small despite its 10.1-inch screen, which is a big size for netbooks.

The Myou S1024 weighs 900 grams and is less than an inch thick. Giga-byte managed to put a 6-cell battery inside the device despite its small size for long battery life. The S1024 will be available globally within the next few months and will cost around US$599.

The three new devices can all be used with a number of wireless technologies, including 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Giga-byte will offer optional WiMax and 3.5G (High-speed packet access) modules.

Pricing information about the devices was not immediately available.

Google hoping Web surfers to ride Wave

Google is hatching a new species of e-mail and instant messaging, but the Internet search leader first wants the hybrid service to evolve even more with the help of independent computer programmers.

The free tool, called "Google Wave," runs in a Web browser and combines elements of e-mail, instant messaging, wikis and photo sharing in an effort to make online communication more dynamic. Google hopes Wave simplifies the way people collaborate on projects or exchange opinions about specific topics.

Google offered the first glimpse of its latest offering Thursday during the Mountain View, Calif.-based company's annual conference for software developers who build programs on top of its services. The rest of the Web-surfing public won't be able to hop on Google Wave until later in the year.

By the time Wave rolls out for everyone, Google hopes independent programmers will have found new ways to use the service.

Among other things, Google is counting on outsiders to figure out how to weave Wave into the popular Internet communications service Twitter, social networks like Facebook and existing Web-based e-mail services, said Lars Rasmussen, a Google engineering manager.

Rasmussen and his brother, Jens, helped build Google's online mapping service, which sprouted a variety of unforeseen uses after its 2005 debut because of the ingenuity of external programmers.

Having learned their lesson from the mapping experience, the Rasmussens wanted to give developers ample time to tinker with their newest creation before unleashing it on the rest of the world.

The Rasmussens broke away from Google's mapping service in 2006 to concentrate on building a service that would enable e-mail and instant messaging to embrace the Web's increasingly social nature. They contend e-mail hasn't changed that much since its invention during the 1960s.

Wave is designed to make it easier to converse over e-mail by providing tools to highlight particular parts of the written conversation. In instant messages, participants can see what everyone else is writing as they type, unless they choose a privacy control. Photos and other online applications known as "widgets" also can be transplanted into the service.

The service could easily accommodate advertising like Google's 5-year-old e-mail service already does, but Lars Rasmussen said it's still too early to predict how the company might profit from Wave.

Google wants developers to ride Wave

Google encouraged software developers to ride into the future of email with a project called "Wave," which opens inboxes to text, video, pictures, maps and even social network feeds.

"Wave" expands the capabilities of email to let people communicate and work together in real-time with text, photos, videos, maps, and more, according to Google software engineering manager Lars Rasmussen.

According to Rasmussen, "In Google Wave you create a wave and add people to it. Everyone on your wave can use richly formatted text, photos, gadgets, and even feeds from other sources on the web. You see on your screen nearly instantly what your fellow collaborators are typing in your wave."

A "wave" prototype built by a five-person team "holed up in a conference room in the Sydney office" for months was previewed at a Google developers conference in San Francisco on Thursday.

"After more than two years of expanding our ideas, our team, and our technology, we're very eager to return and see what the world might think," Rasmussen wrote.

A Wave software kit was provided to developers at the conference.

Wave allows for collaboration and communication by letting people send out pictures, messages, or videos that can be built on or modified as they stream from recipient to recipient.

Waves can be rewound to see how exchanges evolved, according to Google.

"Developers are going to see the potential of Google Wave as a platform; we hope they'll leap on it," said Wave engineer Adam Schuck.

"They'll be able to integrate it with existing systems they use today, or produce new tools that allow people to improve and manage their communications."

The computer code for Wave will be open source i.e developers are free to modify it as they wish.

"We're inviting developers to add all kinds of cool stuff before our public launch," Rasmussen wrote.

No launch date for Wave has been specified. Rasmussen and his brother, Jens, founded an online mapping firm bought by Google in 2004. The brothers' technology went into Google's free Internet map service.

Silicon Valley analyst Rob Enderle said that while the Wave goal is feasible, building a central station for various online photo, video, text and social networking feeds presents complex challenges.

Such a project also calls for cooperation from an array of technology firms, some of them Google rivals, according to Enderle.

"You start throwing these complex things together and things start breaking," Enderle said. "And, Google has not shown an ability to drive the kind of collaboration it would take to make it happen."

Google Wave has solved "a bunch of stuff that has traditionally been very hard" such as real-time collaboration and hosted data, according to team engineer Casey Whitelaw.

"Developers won't have to think about all of that, they'll be able to just build their app and go," Whitelaw said in the interview.

"The primary ideas are that everything is live, and everything is editable."

The Wave team in Sydney held weekly "team huddles" that evolved to include theme songs, prizes, and one member's quest to "help us develop our chocolate palate beyond M&M" candies, according to Whitelaw.

"Rather than try to anticipate every possible use it will be put to, we've made it open and extensible so developers can come up with what they think is cool and useful," Whitelaw said of Wave.

You can rely on adt home security

Who doesn’t care about loved ones? All of us do that. But protecting your home and family becomes far more easier when you count on adt security. Monitored by home security professionals 7 days a week, adt is something you can rely upon while safeguard of your home is concerned. Adt has been in the home protection service for 131 years and is the largest electronic security service provider to more than 6 million customers throughout America.

Adt home protection provides continuous security from five interconnected command centers. These command centers are backed by trained professionals and powerful equipments. The network of command centers are located throughout the US. In case of an emergency, the monitoring technicians at adt do alert local authorities so that they can easily respond to the emergency.

Adt home security handles almost everything. From severe weather events to computer crashes; every damageable event can be monitored using adt alarm system.

Adt offers different sorts of service packages to its customers. Once installed for $99, the services of adt can be availed almost at an average of $1 per day. This thing makes adt home security quite affordable for every household.

Adt helps secure 90 percent of the fortune 500 companies- it proves how trustworthy and reliable it could be. For more detailed info, you can visit its site.

Social Networking Service Twitter is not for sale

The popular micro-blogging and social networking service Twitter is not for sale, one of the co-founder of the company has declared.

Biz Stone made the declaration in an appearance on the ABC show "The View."

When host Barbara Walters - mentioning rumors that Google Inc, Microsoft Corp and Apple Inc might be interested in acquiring the company - asked whether Twitter is for sale, Stone answered, "no."

"We're just getting started as I've said. The company is two years old, we have so much to do, so much product stuff to fix, and so much growing to do."

Twitter has been the subject of takeover speculation since the company turned down a $500 million acquisition offer by social networking heavyweight Facebook.

Twitter is a free service that allows people to send short, 140-character text messages to their network of friends.

According to Nielsen Online, which measures Internet traffic, Twitter's website had more than 7 million unique visitors in February, compared to 475,000 in February 2008.

The company, based in San Francisco, California, is focusing on monetizing its service this year.

File Extension Ged -an useful editor file

Computer Softwares are found in plenty in today’s modern era. Some are meant for coding and decoding, some for programming, some for graphic designing and some for making computer search more efficient. One such application pack is the .GED file which was developed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints which is used for efficient computer search.

The File Extension GED is commonly used for seven applications, one of which being tracking and searching the Genealogical Data Communication (GEDCOM) flies which contains the family history data in ASCII text.

Alternatively, File Extension GED is also applicable to Arts & Letters Draw program which is an entry level drawing program. Here GED stands for Graphic Environment.

The File Extension GED can also be used as a Game Editor as it can act as a tool for creating 2-D computer games. It acts as a project file and holds game data and settings which help the game run.

Apart from these, File Extension GED is also used as an editor file for GoldEd compiled configuration files, Micrografx geometry files, EnerGraphics IMAGE EDITOR, and Wicat Image files.

Intuit releases Quicken Online Mobile, helps budget-minded iPhone users

Intuit has released Quicken Online Mobile which is an iPhone companion app to the company’s free Quicken Online personal money-management Web service, which went live recently in Apple's online App Store for iPhone and iPod Touch programs.

The iPhone program uses the Internet to sync with a free Quicken Online service that lets one set budget and keeps track of mortgages, credit cards, rent, and other coming expenses along with checking account balances and pay days.

The app also includes an integrated ATM finder that uses the iPhone 3G’s GPS capabilities to automatically locate nearby teller machines of banks where people have accounts to save them from getting charged usage fees. One can also enter a zip code to search for ATMs, which lets users to use the feature as well.

One has to set up a free account with the online Quicken service, and enter the login and password information for various financial account websites. Quicken Online and the Quicken Online Mobile app then lets see and tracks all of those accounts, downloading one’s financial data once a day.

For those worried about security, Intuit doesn’t store any of the financial passwords as the Quicken Online Mobile app uses a four-digit passcode for added protection on one’s iPhone. The iPhone program also does not allow financial transactions, so lost or stolen devices won't allow strangers to access accounts.

Quicken Online Mobile only works with Quicken Online, and requires iPhone OS 2.2 or later running on an iPhone or iPod touch. Intuit has plans to adapt the free program to other mobile devices if feedback indicates that there is demand.