Google SMS – A Dream Come True - Enhance your Google Calendar with a simple SMS

If you ever wanted to control your favorite web solutions straight from your mobile devices, now's your chance to do this with the latest function implemented into Google Calendar. First of all, you're able to add a new event using a simple SMS sent to "GVENT" (48368) in which you must specify the time and the location of the schedule. Then, you can view all your meetings for a certain day
by sending the word "day" to the same number. The service will automatically send you a message containing all the information for a certain day.

"Or, send the word "day" to "GVENT" to get a text message response containing all of your scheduled events for today, "next" for your next scheduled event, or "nday" for all your events scheduled for tomorrow," Shirin Oskooi, Google Calendar Associate Product Manager, said today.

According to the Google employee, a lot of Google consumers requested this feature although it was already implemented into the Google Calendar. "Some folks want a similar service for Google Calendar, where they can send text messages to add events to their calendar or find out what events they have coming up. This is by far my favorite request -- not only because I think it's a great feature, but because it already exists," he said.

At this time, the function is available only in the United States while the SMS notifications can be sent for the events with 24 hours in advance. However, the SMS messages are charged depending on your mobile operator but the Google service is free for all users.

Google's mobile efforts are quite impressive because it tends to make most of its solutions accessible from any handheld device. Beside Gmail, Google Search and Google Calendar, the Mountain View company is also developing special functions of its products that make them easy to control from a mobile phone.

IE to Firefox: I Own You! - Firefox affected by new vulnerability

Mozilla's Firefox, the browser that fights for the supremacy of the Internet, is once again affected by a highly critical security flaw that can allow an attacker compromise a
vulnerable system. Security company Secunia rated the flaw as highly critical and sustained that it was discovered on a computer running Windows XP SP2 with the latest updates installed along with Firefox 2.0.0.4. However, other versions of the application might be also vulnerable to attacks but there are not reports available.

"A vulnerability has been discovered in Firefox, which can be exploited by malicious people to compromise a user's system. The problem is that Firefox registers the "firefoxurl://" URI handler and allows invoking firefox with arbitrary command line arguments. Using e.g. the "-chrome" parameter it is possible to execute arbitrary Javascript in chrome context. This can be exploited to execute arbitrary commands e.g. when a user visits a malicious web site using Microsoft Internet Explorer," Secunia said in the advisory.

The security company also mentioned the only solution available at this moment: avoid browsing untrusted websites that might exploit the recently discovered vulnerability.

Internet Explorer and Firefox are involved into an important battle with an impressive award: the supremacy of the Internet that means more visitors. Indirectly, a boosted number of consumers bring more money to the parent company, in our case Microsoft or Mozilla. The battle was started a long time ago when Firefox was described as a more secure alternative for Internet Explorer, the default browser of the Windows operating system.

Also, Firefox was the first application that offered the tabbed browsing concept, being copied by Internet Explorer 7 that now allows you to browse several pages with a single instance of the application. Still, the consumers are able to choose from a large variety of programs such as Opera and the recently introduced Safari.

Security Verification for Google Search - Why is this annoying captcha appearing?

Sometimes, searching Google might return some unusual results that require you to enter a visual captcha in order to verify that you're a human person and not a computer program. However, some of the users might find this security verification very unpleasant and might decide to abandon the search technology
and look for a simpler alternative. Still, why is this annoying captcha appearing? According to Niels Provos, Anti-Malware Team from Google, this verification appears every once in a while when the Google technology detects unusual search queries entered by the users.

The message sent by the search engine is actually an error that starts with the "We're sorry" message and informs us that the "query looks similar to automated requests from a computer virus or spyware application. To protect our users, we can't process your request right now." However, you have the chance to continue the search process by entering the code shown in a photo. "We apologize for the inconvenience, and hope we'll see you again on Google. To continue searching, please type the characters you see below," the message says.

"Several things can trigger the sorry message. Often it's due to infected computers or DSL routers that proxy search traffic through your network - this may be at home or even at a workplace where one or more computers might be infected. Overly aggressive SEO ranking tools may trigger this message, too. In other cases, we have seen self-propagating worms that use Google search to identify vulnerable web servers on the Internet and then exploit them," the Google official tried to explain the reasons for the image verification request.

Google struggles to improve the security of the search technology but with a so powerful engine that indexes websites from every corner of the world, it's very difficult to maintain a high level of security. However, the Mountain View company already included two types of malware notifications that inform the users about the presence of dangerous content on certain pages.

Windows Vista SP1 Available for Download Next Week – July 16! - In beta version

Just six months following the general availability of Windows Vista, Microsoft is getting ready to deliver the first beta build for the operating system in mid July 2007. Vista users should expect SP1 anytime between Monday July 16 and Sunday July 22, according to a report from Mary Jo Foley. In this context, the Redmond company outdid itself and indeed has chances to deliver the final version of Vista's first service pack by the end
of the year.

Vista SP1 was initially planned for the end of 2007. Various sources within Microsoft but also from outside the company – such as Intel CEO Paul Otellini – pointed to a potential November 2007 release date for Vista SP1. The Redmond company then changed its tune, and muted all details related to Vista SP1, even providing the perspective that the service pack was going to be nothing more than a standard refresh for the operating system, and that Windows Update would come into focus instead.

However, the first beta for Windows Vista Service Pack 1 will drop as early as next week. Microsoft did confirm officially that Vista SP1 beta will be launched before November 12, 2007. This detail was provided as a reaction to Google's mounting pressure associated with the Windows Desktop Search alterations planned for Vista SP1. With the Mountain View search giant pressing for an availability date for the service pack, Microsoft disclosed the possibility of a beta release before November.

The availability of a July beta version for Vista SP1 reveals the possibility of a final launch for November 2007. This would synchronize the release of Vista SP1 with the RTM date of Windows Server 2008, formerly codenamed Longhorn. And it appears that while the public information for Vista SP1 from Microsoft was ambivalent, oscillating between a non existent service pack and the late 2007 delivery, the Redmond company is going to stick with its initial plan to deliver Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista SP1 simultaneously.

WOW! Enraged User Shoots Computer 5 Times after Installing Windows Vista - A true Windows Vista Wow moment!

What should have been just a routine installation of Microsoft's latest operating system Windows Vista, ended up with a bang... literally. Microsoft applauded Windows Vista as an evolution in all aspects of the operating system compared to Windows XP. One of "anodyne" details designed to deliver an improved user experience is the installation process. However, a deployment model applauded for simplicity and ease of
use proved to be the death of a Windows Vista copy and the machine it was running on.

"What's a "wow moment"? It's that instant when you recognize that your life has changed—the moment you transform an idea that you once only dreamed of pursuing into something you have actually achieved," revealed Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, before the operating system hit the shelves in January 2007, explaining "the Wow starts now" marketing campaign slogan.

Well, ex-police officer Ray Jackson from Columbia South Carolina, saw his life change for the worse after he struggled to get the computer to work following the installation of Windows Vista, reported FunTechTalk. Frustrated by the lack of responsiveness from the computer running Windows Vista, Jackson imagined pulling his gun out and settling all his problems with a few squeezes of the trigger.

Well, the idea that he only dreamed of pursuing, managed to become reality. Jackson finished up installing Windows Vista on girlfriend Wanda White's machine with little issues. However, he then hit compatibility problems and was unable to get the applications to work. "He just kept screaming at it and smacking the side of the computer," Wanda recalled.

But the smacking and the screaming did little to convince the programs to work seamlessly with Windows Vista. And with his girlfriend out of the house and visiting some neighbors, Jackson reached the end of his patience and for his gun. He then shoot the computer a number of five times, missing only once. Fortunately, the only victims were the machine and the copy of Windows Vista. The ex-law enforcement officer was subsequently apprehended and is in police custody.

Four Months in Prison for a YouTube Clip - Showing a teenager speeding on the road

An 18-year-old teenager has been sentenced to 4 months in prison after he filmed himself driving with approximately 120 miles per hour and posted the clips on the popular online video
sharing service YouTube. The recordings were made with a cellphone and were created on a quite busy motorway from Fenwick Street, Burnley. According to The Daily Mail, the teenager was driving a Toyota MR 2 sports car that was actually belonging to his father. It seems like the boy was identified by an off duty police officer who managed to note his registration number and confirmed that the YouTube speedster is actually the boy he saw on the motorway.

"The fact that you filmed this indicated your actions were deliberate and calculated. Then you respectively bragged about what you had done by showing film material to others and it ended up on the Internet. The distribution of such clips is thoroughly irresponsible for it encourages others to do likewise. I am afraid I regard this aspect of the case to be a seriously aggravating feature," Judge Anthony Russell said according to the Daily Mail.

In the past there were several similar cases concerning speedsters and YouTube but most of them were abandoned due to the lack of information. For example, a UK resident filmed himself while he was driving with a huge speed for a city and published the video on YouTube.

After several weeks of availability, the authorities managed to identify the driver and sent him to the judge. However, it was quite difficult to accuse him of speeding since the fines must be sent after a maximum of 15-day period since the law infringement was reported. As there was no sign of the date appearing in the clips, the man remained unpunished and he is probably speeding again on the UK roads. Let's hope not...

Linux Media Center Plays YouTube Content - The first open source Linux-based embedded media center

Neuros Technology, previously known as a division of Digital Innovations under the name Neuros Audio, is a Chicago-based company that produces a number of audio and video devices with the brand name Neuros. A distinguishing feature of the Neuros devices is that they use open source software, the company requiring feedback from the community during the development of their products.

Recently, a cute little product got my attention as it is able to play back You Tube content. This due to the pre-released firmware for the OSD networkable set-top box, based on Linux, developed by Neuros Technology. This firmware allows the OSD to browse and play the entire YouTube video collection on any standard-definition or HD TV. Another amazing feature would be the fact that the little software here also supports keyword searching and browsing by category.

Its UI is not very appealing, but this is not a very important aspect, as the Neuros developers said they are currently working on improvements and many other new functionalities which would be integrated in the future updates.

"And with our Linux-based open source operating system and considerable help from our worldwide community of users and developers, we’re continuously providing new features and benefits via free, downloadable firmware upgrades that you can install in minutes via the user interface", claims Neuros on its website.

If you take a look at the company's website, you'll notice that Neuros OSD is more powerful than you might have initially thought. Just counting here the fact that this media centre is able to record and play to/from memory cards/USB devices, to record from a S-Video or RCA Composite Cable (such as DVD, VCR, CAMCODER, TiVo/DVR, cable/satellite TV), to stream PC media to TV/Stereo through LAN, I think is a good example for what I mean.

Yesterday: Pirated Music Is Dead! Today: Pirated Music Is Alive! - AllofMP3 still alive

Yesterday, the Russian authorities proudly announced that they closed AllofMP3, a website that distributed pirated music although it sustained it offers only licensed content.
Today, Computerworld interviews some old customers of the recently-closed website who mentioned they are still able to download music but not from the main page of the service. It seems like all the users were redirected to allTunes, a separated domain that offers cheap music through a downloadable application.

According to the same source, the program provides instant access to no less than 778.861 songs. The interesting aspect is that you must pay 2 cents per megabyte that means approximately $1 per album. In comparison with iTunes that sells a song for $0.99, this service is quite attractive for the Internet users.

"The allTunes.com software allows you to browse their catalogue, do searches and make purchases. It's quicker than querying a website since it downloads the catalogue to your PC. I gave it a whirl already and it worked fine. The client downloaded, it grabbed the catalogue, I searched and grabbed a song," an anonymous AllofMP3 customer sustained.

Because the new website offers almost the same content as the one that was recently shut down, the authorities might decide to close this website as well. Just like the old page, it sustains that it offers licensed content but the government might have a different opinion about it.

"All materials in the Internet-Audit LLS projects are available for distribution via the Internet in accordance with license # LS-3I-P3I-06-13 of the Russian Multimedia and Internet Society. Under the license agreement, Internet-Audit LLS pays license fees for all materials subject to the Law of the Russian Federation "On Copyright and Related Rights," it is mentioned in the site's Terms of Use as the same source mentioned.

How to Use iPhone with Google's Products - iPhone and Google Calendar in action

Steve Jobs, the Apple CEO, announced a long time ago that iPhone, the next generation handheld device, will be also compatible with Google's products. The long awaited gadget was finally released on June 29 and some of the users are asking themselves how they can sync the device with
Google Calendar. If you're a Google Calendar user then you should know that it's a product powered by the Mountain View company that allows you to organize and track your events. If you're not a fan, now you know.

However, some of the users are looking for help and, since the product was recently released, the Internet is quite useless as no trick is posted yet. The folks from Switched managed to find a way for synchronizing the handheld device with Google Calendar in order to organize your meetings straight from your iPhone and from any location.

First of all, you should log-in into your Google Calendar account, click on Settings and choose the Private Address option. Select the ICAL icon and note the link provided by the function. In your iPhone device, run iCal, open Calendar and click on Subscribe. Write the link provided by Google Calendar in the message window opened on the device.

Please keep in mind that you need an Internet connection to synchronize the device with Google Calendar as the iPhone will try to download the information straight from your account. "The best part is you only need to do this once -- iCal will grab new appointments at your specified intervals and your next sync will be up to date," Switched added.

The iPhone also provides instant access to YouTube, the online video sharing service powered by Google. The announcement was made when an updated version of the Apple TV software was released because it also included support for the popular video product.

Windows Vista Command Processor - Does the cmd Come in Pink? - Yes it does...

The Windows Command Processor is one of the long time surviving features in Windows Vista. It essentially delivers a window designed to mimic the old MS-DOS display for managing command-line instructions, according to Microsoft. Via cmd users can not only work with MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System) commands, but also have an additional range of options available.

cmd in this regard is a viable alternative to using the graphical user interface in Windows Vista. Command prompt will enable you to perform all the functions associated with a Vista GUI such as Windows Aero, from navigating to searching, to creating directories, setting up a network connection, to deleting files and folders etc. All with text based commands. This is one of the reasons why cmd is regarded as a tool preferred by advanced users.

There are a variety of ways to open a command prompt window. Windows XP users are probably most used to typing cmd in the Run dialog box. Doing this will of course launch command prompt ion Windows Vista. All you have to do is press the Windows key and R to access Run. Additionally you can navigate to Start Menu, Programs, Accessories and Command Prompt
or to the shortcut in the %SystemRoot%System32 folder.

One important thing to keep in mind is that each command prompt window you launch is connected to its own session. Launching another cmd will result in a secondary session, completely independent from the first. The sessions run isolated from each other and potential issues will not reverberate across multiple running instances. Another way to open cmd is to simply type "start" in an already opened command prompt window and hit enter. In this manner you can launch as many cmd sessions as you want and handle them separately.

In Windows Vista cmd is subject to the limitations of the User Account Control. This means that the tasks requiring elevation will not be completed through commands entered into a command prompt window launched with standard user privileges. This is why it is simply healthy behavior to enter cmd in the search box under the Start Menu and either press Ctrl + Shift + Enter, or right click the highlighted result and select Run as administrator.

One last example of how you can open command prompt is to hold the Shift key pressed down while you right click a file or a folder. Selecting Open Command Window Here will launch a cmd session from the respective location as opposite to the %SystemRoot%System32 or %UserProfi le% folders.

But Black Is Not My Thing... Don't You Have a cmd in Pink?

Yes, like most other features in Windows Vista, Command Prompt is customizable. The first thing that you are going to notice is the fact that you are not happy with the default real estate space of the window. This is easily adjustable and you can do it all in accordance to the visual references on your desktop. Launch cmd and simply personalize the window to the dimension you want. Then right-click the Taskbar item and select Properties. Make your way to the Layout tab and simply hit OK. In this manner all future command prompt windows will open to the new size specifications.

Of course, you can also modify the size by altering the sizes of the Screen Buffer and the Window. You will observe that the two are connected and that the size of the Screen Buffer predetermines the Window dimension. The default location where cmd sessions will open is also adjustable if you uncheck "Let system position window" and enter your preferred coordinates.

And since it was the gray on black that bothered you so much, in the Colors tab you can modify the settings for Screen Text, Screen Background, Popup Text and Popup Background. Not happy with the selection provided by Windows Vista? Then mix your own colors in the RGB space on the top right by entering the values you desire. The font used for commands can also be personalized, but with little flexibility. There are the Raster Fonts and Lucida Console and you can also change the font size, but that is about it.

The Cursor Size can be set to Small, Medium or Large and you can also manage the Command History. The Buffer Size determines the volume of commands to have per history, while the Number of Buffers is correlated with how many command history buffers to keep. By default cmd will run in Insert Mode. This means that you will only be able to insert commands at the position of the cursor. QuickEdit Mode delivers increased flexibility when it comes to copying and pasting text in and out of the command prompt window.

Paste Damn You! Paste!!!

While running only in Insert Mode copying and pasting test in a command prompt window is not as simple as with the graphical user interface in Windows Vista. But once you hit QuickEdit Mode... all you have to do is remember that by Right clicking in the window you actually paste copied text. The left mouse button can be used to simultaneously select and copy text from cmd. From outside the cmd you can copy any amount of text and paste it in the window via a right click.

You will also notice that in the cmd' contextual menu accessible through right clicking the window bar, you have an Edit option that permits you to Mark, Copy, Paste, Select All, Find and Scroll. If you are not big fans of the QuickEdit Mode then this is the way to go for you.

Command Me...

One of the reasons why cmd is perceived as a tool for advanced users is the fact that it is not exactly intuitive. When first opening the Windows Command Processor users are faced with a black background and some superficial information related to the Widows version they are running along with the location where the command prompt window was launched and a scary blinking cursor. The first thing that comes to mind? HELP!

And that's right. Just enter HELP and press enter. And you will be presented with a consistent list of commands available... at your fingertips. Now it all gets so much easier. However, the selection presented by the cmd is limited. Microsoft has a more complete list with commands online in the Command-line reference A-Z. However, these are not Vista exclusive. Some of them have indeed managed to survive into the Redmond company's latest operating system, but some have been discarded along the way.

It does not matter. Before using any of the commands first make sure to understand its results and the parameters associated with it. In order to do so you have two options available. You can enter "help command" or "command /?". Both will produce a description of the command you want to use with the adjacent options. Microsoft also provides a guide to the cmd syntax.

Basic Command Line Navigation

You wouldn't expect to be able to navigate in a text based interface, but the fact of the matter is that you can. cmd permits you to make your way through the various commands entered and to comb the history. Since all commands are stores in history the up and down arrow keys will display previous items and respectively the next example. Using Page Up and Page Down, you can move as far back as the very first command entered or to the last one. However, the best solution in the case of multiple commands is to press F7. It will bring up a scrollable pop-up box of the commands history where items will be more easy to identify and reuse.

For the actual text, you can use the Left and Right Arrows, along with the Home and End keys and combinations such as Ctrl+Left Arrow and Ctrl+Right Arrow to make your way across lines. Hitting Esc will remove the command displayed at that time and by pressing Alt + F7 you will erase the entire history.

World Travel Awards Now on YouTube - New channel opened on YouTube

The popular online video sharing service YouTube is now offering one more channel after the parent company Google signed a deal to support the World Travel Awards campaign. The new page
offers several clips provided by the tourism industry and according to Travel Guides, it already recorded more than 1000 views. This is not the first time when YouTube signs partnerships in order to bring new content to the official page but every time, the online video sharing service tries to make something different and attract another segment of users.

"We are pleased to have our own channel on the number one video sharing site in the world. This is a very positive extension of our successful relationship with cutting edge media," Manon Han, Vice President of World Travel Awards, said according to Travel Guides. "The YouTube platform will allow nominees and winners to subscribe to the World Travel Awards channel, so that each time we post new videos of our regional and global gala ceremonies and award winners, our subscribers can watch the best that the travel industry has to offer on YouTube."

In the past, YouTube signed a considerable number of partnerships and, according to the Google officials the number of the deals is over 1000. This incredible statistic was announced just after the Viacom removal was officially confirmed because the online video sharing service urgently needed new partnerships to enhance the content of the website.

YouTube was acquired in October 2006 by the Mountain View giant, Google paying no less than $1.65 billion. The most important event from YouTube's history is the Viacom lawsuit because the owner of MTV and Comedy Central demanded no more than $1 billion in damages. This was announced after the company also required YouTube to remove approximately 100.000 clips from the page because most of them were published without authorization.

MythBusters: Flash on Google - Is it allowed or not ?

Many webmasters are worried that their Flash-based website may not be indexed by the Googlebot so the page can lose traffic, visitors and money. Well, the folks from Googleplex thought it might be a good idea to explain Flash-related matters to the webmasters in order to clarify and to explain the process of crawling this kind
of pages. First of all, the entire website shouldn't be in Flash. If so, the Googlebot may not be able to read the entire content published on your page, resulting an obvious loss of traffic bundled with lack of visitors.

Then, you should remember that this eye-candy flash can be easily used as an intro on your webpage but only if it links to HTML content published on the website. However, it's hard to say if this kind of pages can be indexed by the Goooglebot as long as the search giant's technology can crawl them but cannot access 100 percent of the information. "Flash is inherently a visual medium, and Googlebot doesn't have eyes," Mark Berghausen, Search Quality Team, said.

"Textual contents are sometimes stored in Flash as graphics, and since Googlebot doesn't currently have the algorithmic eyes needed to read these graphics, these important keywords can be missed entirely. All of this means that even if your Flash content is in our index, it might be missing some text, content, or links. Worse, while Googlebot can understand some Flash files, not all Internet spiders can," the Google employee added.

The interesting fact is that Google sees a perfect Flash-based website in YouTube, the popular online video sharing service. As the Google employees said, it's better to have a HTML website but include Flash content such as clips and animations. "In addition to making your site Googlebot-friendly, this makes you site accessible to a larger audience, including, for example, blind people using screen readers, users of old or non-standard browsers, and those on limited low-bandwidth connections such as on a cell phone or PDA. As a bonus, your visitors can use bookmarks effectively, and can email links to your pages to their friends," Mark Berghausen quoted some Google employees.

YouTube – Ad-Based Service! Not Freeware Anymore! - More and more adverts showing on YouTube

A new type of adverts was discovered on YouTube but it was probably only a test since it was already removed from the clips. Basically, the new adverts are very similar to the annoying ones displayed on the classic TV, and which are broadcast over the movies.
As InsideGoogle reports, the videos published on YouTube now have two gold parts placed on the progress bar that reveal the beginning and the end of the adverts. However, please keep in mind that it was only a test so you're not able to view them unless you're a very lucky person.

After the advert ends, you have the option of reviewing it by pressing a small button displayed on the right part of the clip. According to the same source, the button will bring up the entire advertisement while the clip is paused. The folks from YouTube didn't announce this new plan of introducing a different type of advert but it's well known the fact that Google was interested in making YouTube a friendly website for advertisers.

"At first, when watching the video, two gold areas appear within the YouTube progress bar, one a little bit into the video, and one at the end. When the video reaches that part, the ad swings in, animates and overlays the bottom portion of the screen. After it is done, it goes away, but a little button lets you call it back up. Click the ad, and a new video overlays the first one (the first one pauses) and plays a full advertisement," Nathan Weinberg from InsideGoogle said.

Some time ago, the Google officials announced their plans to introduce pre-clip adverts on YouTube in order to receive some extra money that would be sent to the uploader of the clip. This way, YouTube would boost its traffic, attracting both advertisers and interested uploaders as well as a considerable amount of new videos.

Damn Small Linux Version 3.4 Available

Damn Small Linux (or DSL for short) is a really small Linux distribution (no larger than a 50 MB ISO), intended to be able to run on the older systems with limited resources. It can run on small storage devices such as bootable business card, 64 MB USB flash drive, CompactFlash card (by using an IDE connector) or ZIP drive.

On the road to a 4.0 version, the DSL v3.4 version is now ready to hit the machines. According to the developer taking care of this distro, the 3.4 version always loads into the RAM memory, therefore you could add at the hardware requirements section at least 128MB. This is a result of the fact that the dsl-3.4-initrd.iso version has the KNOPPIX image packed in the initial ramdisk, which also implies an easier PXE DSL Server setup.

Highlights:

- updated MurgaLua to v0.4.1
- added libXft.so.2
- added acpid
- added bcrypt. Dropped des
- improved emelfm for better CLI support
- fixed user umount Debian Woody bug.
- updated webdata to use bcrypt
- updated file backup/restore to use bcrypt via "protect" boot option.
- new image has been added: dsl-3.4-initrd.iso

For detailed information you can check out the distribution's release announcement.


Even though its size is quite suspicious, the DS Linux distro takes in a lot of useful tools and applications. It comes with an offer of web browser that takes in Mozilla Firefox, Dillo and Netrik, Office applications such as Ted - word processor, Siag -spreadsheet, Graphics editing tools like Xpaint. Due to its very low memory requirements, Damn Small Linux has also been ported to the Xbox as "X-DSL". It can be either run as a LiveCD or installed to the Xbox hard drive.

Google Shyly Steps into The Pirated Software Market - Google Maps for Russia now available

Russia is often described as the country that hosts the largest amount of illegal activity, starting with spammers and ending with software pirates. However, numerous companies tried to invest in Russia and increase their presence in the country.
Google makes a similar move today and launches the Russian version of Maps, making the mapping tool available to all the residents in their mother language. It is quite a memorable event, because the Russian authorities refused to allow this kind of utilities in the past as they are able to show a lot of details.

The Moscow Times wrote that Russia raised privacy concerns since 2005 when Google Earth was officially launched. The main reason for these complaints was that Google's downloadable mapping tool contains well-developed functions that might show a too many pictures, representing a real threat for the residents of the country.

"The Google map services is a very convenient service that allows quick and easy access to local cartographic information," said Vladimir Dolgov, head of Google Russia for The Moscow Times. "It works with the Russian language via any Internet connection method."

The most interesting aspect of this Google evolution is that the Russian largest portal, Yandex, is already offering a map solution that is used by a considerable number of users every day. Although Google is the clear favorite to win the competition, the Yandex representatives sustained they are not afraid because new investments will be done soon.

"There is no pressure on us from Google as far as map services are concerned. But the fact that their portal now works in Russian might change the situation," Yandex editor Yelena Kolmanovskaya said for the same source.

This case is somehow similar to the Google Chinese expansion when the Mountain View company encountered the opposition of Baidu, the local leader that managed to attract the majority of users.

Hungry for Money? Read This! - Impression Share, the latest AdWords innovation

Impression Share is probably one of the most useful functions included in the AdWords advertising platform because it helps advertisers organize their campaigns better with minimum
financial effort. Basically, this feature represents "the percentage of times your ads were actually shown in relation to the total number of chances your ads could have been shown, based on your keyword and campaign settings," the Google representatives said. It is quite similar with Share of Voice, "a metric often used in the advertising industry to represent the relative portion of ad inventory available to a single advertiser within a defined market over a specified time period."

As you know, the AdWords advertising product is very important for numerous companies on the Internet because it helps them to advertise their products using the power of the Mountain View giant. Recently, Google was quite reticent when it came to AdWords because it is now having some different plans for the advertising platform. If you didn't hear, Google wants to expand AdWords and take it straight into the offline media by including adverts in newspapers, radio stations or even right on the streets using the billboards.

However, this new function is a sign that Google is still interested in the online version of AdWords and the solution might receive even more goodies soon.

"Not every advertiser's goal is to appear each time his or her ads have the opportunity to show; however, Impression Share is a convenient way to assess shifts in the competitive landscape as well as ways to diagnose where you're losing Impression Share," the AdWords team said.

The interesting fact is that a lot of companies are planning to develop similar solution and to attract the same category of users although Google becomes more powerful. Look at Yahoo for example. It recently rolled out SmartAds, a new platform that is described as a revolutionary system able to conquer the online advertising market.

Google Earth Shows Picture of Secret Nuclear Submarine!

Google Earth is an interesting tool for looking at various places in the world that you haven't visited yet. It's true that some pictures are clearer than others, depending on the country and frankly, nobody would expect to see a picture of a village in Somalia as clear as the one of the Eiffel Tower.

But nobody would expect to see what a policy analyst discovered one day while making his regular checks of the maps: a top secret Chinese nuclear submarine. The Jin-class submarine is the largest and most recent development
in the Chinese navy and it's still a classified project.

Hans Kristensen, director of the Federation of American Scientists' Nuclear Information Project made the discovery and the picture was taken by DigitalGlobe's Quickbird satellite, while looking at China's Xiaopingdao submarine base near Dalian.

He confirmed that China has made important progresses with this project, which has the ultimate goal of developing a stealth nuclear-powered submarine and admits that commercial satellite imagery is an important aspect in international security.

Now don't expect the Pentagon to be using Google Earth to track down enemy or friendly military forces – which category does China belong to, these days? - since the secret submarine most likely wasn't a secret to them.

Lyle Goldstein, a specialist on Chinese maritime development and nuclear strategy at the Naval War College, explained that in his opinion, US intelligence agencies surely had extensive knowledge of this project long before these pictures were accidentally(?!) made public.

"Any photo that Google Earth has, I'm sure the Pentagon already had a long time ago. ... The Department of Defense has much better capability," he said to Alan Boyle, an MSNBC journalist.

However, for most people not involved with the US military, this is an interesting opportunity, since anyone can zoom in on the sub by starting from this interesting view of the submarine base, with the actual submarine being located at the end of an artificial peninsula that sticks out from the shoreline.

New Firefox Available for Download! Get It Now! - Firefox eBay Edition available for download

Yesterday, it was only a toolbar compatible with Internet Explorer. Today, eBay makes one more step and releases a special version of Mozilla Firefox containing several utilities to manage your
eBay account. Firefox eBay Edition is actually the main browser offered by Mozilla but it includes some useful utilities to allow you to track your transactions. The application is compatible with Windows and Mac and can be downloaded for free straight from Softpedia. The Windows version has 6 MB while the Mac package has no less than 18 MB.

"Keep an eye on your eBay trading wherever you are on the web when you install the Mozilla Firefox eBay-Edition. It's a free tool built with eBay users in mind that will help you get more out of your buying and selling" the parent company describes the recently-released tool.

Among the main features of this application, I can mention an eBay sidebar that offers one-click access to your account and provides real-time updates about your bidding items. According to TechCrunch, the program also offers status alerts, an eBay search technology as well as support for Account Guard, a system implemented by the bidding website and meant to protect the users.

As far I can see, the program is nothing more than a simple Firefox bundled with eBay's solutions. Also, it looks like the basic browser with an eBay toolbar that works just like other add-ons compatible with the application. For example, Yahoo also created its own toolbar that provides instant access to the solutions straight from the window of the browser.

"Never miss the eBay action. No matter where you're browsing, and whatever you're doing online, you can get an at-a-glance update on all your eBay activities: watching, buying or selling," eBay explained the goal of the program.

Manually Activate Windows XP without Ever Having to Connect to Microsoft - Do you know where System32 is?

Activation is an integer part of the Windows XP operating system. Essentially, XP activation is designed to help reduce software piracy. According to Microsoft, "casual copying" affecting XP is the behavior targeted with activation. But outside of the initial grace period of XP, users will only be able to use the operating system if they will activate their copy. Microsoft offers three alternatives to activating Windows XP, via the Internet, through a modem or by phone. Of course that there also are illegal alternatives to XP activation. Various cracks and workarounds circumvent Microsoft's antipiracy measure. But none of the above is the method to manually activate Windows XP
presented in here.

The object of this article is to let you in on a way to easily and effortlessly re-activate you copy of Windows XP after a reinstall. This implies that you already have a genuine and activated copy of Windows XP to begin with. But in case you have to format your hard drive, or just the XP partition, and install XP all over again, you can spare yourself the time and labor to re-activate the operating system, according to the SunbeltBlog. All you have to do is make your way to the C:WindowsSystem32 folder and identify the "wpa.dbl" and "wpa.bak" files. Copy both of them to a USB drive or burn them to a CD.

Format the HDD and reinstall Windows XP, but do not activate the operating system. Instead restart and boot into SAFEBOOT_OPTION=Minimal, press F8 during boot in order to access the SafeMode options. Navigate to System32 where you will be able to find the "wpa.dbl" and "wpa.bak" files. Since you already have the old files on your portable media simply rename these as "wpadbl.new" and "wpabak.new" and copy the old "wpa.dbl" and "wpa.bak" files in System32.

"Product activation makes sure that each Windows XP license is installed in accordance with the EULA and is not installed on more than the number of computers that the license permits. Windows creates a unique installation identification (ID) that is based on information from the product ID and a hardware identifier that are created when you install Window XP. To activate, use the Windows Product Activation wizard to provide the installation ID to Microsoft over the Internet or your phone line. The installation ID records an association of the product ID to your computer and a confirmation ID is sent back to your computer to activate Windows XP. Activation is anonymous, and no personal information is required to activate," Microsoft revealed in relation to XP's activation process.

First Screenshots from Internet Explorer 8 - Leaked - Fakes?

Internet Explorer 8 is a product under development. Microsoft is currently dogfooding alpha versions of the browser but no additional details have been made available from the Redmond company. By contrast, both Mozilla and Apple feature more opened development models with Firefox 3.0, not up to Gran Paradiso Alpha 6, and Safari 3. And while rival browsers from Apple and Mozilla are scheduled to be made available by
the end of 2007, Safari 3 in October and Firefox 3.0 in November, speculations reveal that Microsoft plans to deliver the first beta for IE8 this year.

The anticipation of IE8 is building up, and screenshots alleging to be taken from the alpha version of the browser have apparently leaked on the Internet. The images integrated at the bottom of this article, courtesy of LanEros via bink.nu, have to be taken with a grain of salt. "The user interface blends well with Windows Vista and it resembles Office 2007; according to rumors, this version will be released together with W Vista SP 1. Here are some images that I've seen on Internet," reads a message posted on the LanEros forum.

Believing that the screenshots are the real deal is a stretch of the imagination, by any standards. What you are looking at is a combination between the current graphical user interface of Internet Explorer 7 (the tabs) and the Ribbon from the Office 2007 System. The images feature a healthy level of Photoshop skill, but there are little details that point out the fact that they are fakes, as for example, the Channel 9 Coffehouse reference at the top of every image. The text corresponds to the title of the webpage the browser is on. And yet the only opened pages point to Google. But while the screenshots are indeed fakes, they offer an interesting view on what the GUI of IE8 would look like with the Ribbon from the Office 2007 System.

700,000 iPhones Sold Means 5% Shares Climb for Apple

Latest reports say that Apple has managed to sell an estimated number of 700,000 iPhones since its release, on Friday. It is only natural that this huge number would also reflect itself in the company's value. In the last days,
its shares have registered a considerable raise on the market.

Apple's share price has increased with 5 percent and is now set at USD 127. That meets the most optimistic hopes that Apple has ever dared to have before the launch of their only phone.

Still, 700,000 is a huge sales number for a product which also comes with quite a large number of disadvantages that few people have given any importance in the past. This is more than Motorola's RAZR phone managed to reach in the first month of sales.

At the beginning of year 2007, in February, Apple's shares were estimated at USD90, which shows a considerable evolution for this company. AT&T's shares, on the other hand, fell 35 cents on the New York Stock Exchange. They are probably set to have their part of the success sometime later, when the huge number of new subscribers for a 2 year contract will start paying their share to the company.

The selling price for the iPhone is more than twice its manufacturing costs, which results in 55 percent profit rate for Apple. Moreover, the company plans to sell 10 million such devices until the end of next year. In these circumstances, it looks only natural that the company's shares register a sudden ascent on the stock market.

Apple will also launch their iPhone on European market on the 1st of November, this year. For this, they have partnered with T-Mobile in order to make the handset first available in Germany. Asia will also have its share of the iPhone, but only at the beginning of next year.

Choose A Restaurant Through Google Street View

Google Maps Street View is one of the most popular functions included in the web-based mapping tool because it allows users to view street level panoramas from several US cities. Although its main goal is to enable consumers to enjoy the imagery, some companies found different uses of the functions. LaudonTech announced that it is currently a special tool that allows firms "to embed Google Street View technology directly in their corporate web pages."

According to the company, there are several new uses of Street View that can bring new functionality to the web-based mapping tool.

"Realty Listings – Potential clients can now view a property listing and surrounding neighborhood before physically viewing the property. This is especially significant for out of town buyers; Virtual Tourism – Potential visitors can now scope out hotels and tourist attractions before traveling; Restaurant Reservations – Potential restaurant patrons can now view a restaurant of interest previous to attending."

Street View was one of the most criticized functions of Google Maps because numerous users raised privacy concerns as the feature showed too many details straight from people's houses. Because of that, the parent company Google decided to create a special function to allow the users to remove certain pictures appearing on the webiste.

However, it was proved that it's very difficult to remove a picture from Street View because the Mountain View company demands all kinds of information such as pictures and official documents to reveal your identity.

Google Maps is a web-based solution that allows the users to view satellite maps straight from an online interface. Although Google also offers a downloadable version, Google Earth, Google Maps is more attractive for the Internet users because it can be access for free without any installation. However, Google Earth is a little bit more powerful because it offers very useful offline functions.

Google: Vista SP1! Vista SP1! Vista SP1!

Google has managed not only to help shape the first service pack for Windows Vista but also to force Microsoft to admit that the beta for the refresh will be made available before November 12 2007. Still, the Mountain View search giant revealed that it was far from content with the changes Microsoft announced for the Vista desktop search mechanism concomitantly with SP1. In this context, Google filed a request to be permitted to intervene in the Microsoft-Department of Justice antitrust case. The initial filing by the Mountain View-based company was denied by Judge Collen Kollar-Kotelly, and Google was not allowed to share its view on whether Windows Vista's built
in desktop search functionality was violating the antitrust consent decree or not.

However, Google is not prepared to go down without a fight, and a new filing on behalf of the search giant was presented to the court, offering an "important and useful perspective" on the building process of Windows Vista SP1. "As the developer of a major desktop search product and the company that brought the desktop search issue to the attention of the plaintiffs, Google has familiarity with the issues raised and is well positioned to provide information to the Court. Google worked with the plaintiffs for an extended period of time to ensure that Microsoft's violation did not go unaddressed, and nothing in Google's request for leave to participate as amicus curiae (friend of the court) is inconsistent with the plaintiffs' fundamental role in enforcing the Final Judgment, as confirmed by the fact that none of the plaintiffs opposes Google's motion," reveals a fragment of Google's filing, courtesy of SeattlePI.

Essentially, Google is not satisfied with the volume of information Microsoft produced in relation to how it will shape the desktop search mechanism in Vista SP1 in order to accommodate third party rival products, including Google Desktop. The Mountain View search giant complained over the speedy way in which the remedial measures were dealt with and the lack of specific details.

"For instance, in the conversation with counsel referenced in Microsoft's opposition, Microsoft's counsel indicated that he did not know whether Microsoft will continue to hardwire its own "quick results" for all purposes when users search from the Start menu. This is an important question in determining the extent to which Microsoft's remedial measures bring Vista into compliance," Google added in the filing.

Google's Office Gets Instant Messenger

Google Apps, the suite that is often compared to Microsoft's Office, gets a new update that adds communication features to the pack of programs. Basically, the interoperability could be done with ease because the parent company implemented only the Google Talk Gadget that is compatible with the Personalized Homepage, recently-renamed to iGoogle. A few weeks ago, the search giant improved the Gadget with several new features, numerous users sustaining that there is no reason to install the downloadable application since this tiny tool is even more powerful.

As you can see, the Mountain View company tries to get the communication capabilities of its solutions closer to the most powerful products on the market. Yahoo Messenger is the clear leader of the category but it seems that Google targets another side of the chatting solutions: the enterprise market. Since Google Appls was released, most of the company's efforts were meant to conquer the enterprise customers and increase the search giant's presence into this domain.

The interesting fact is that Google tries to attract both sides, individuals and enterprise users, with the same products but with different flavors depending on their target.

The Google Talk Gadget is compatible with several solutions powered by the Mountain View company including the Personalized Homepage, the one that features the communication functions in Google Apps.

"If you use Google Apps at your business, organization or school, you can now use the Google Talk Gadget on your Start Page to have chats with colleagues or classmates (including group chats)," Adam Fass, Software Engineer, said today. "Google Apps also offers collaborative tools, like Google Calendar, Google Docs & Spreadsheets, and the customizable Start Page, where all your students, employees, or members can view relevant content, preview their inboxes and calendars, and now, chat with one or more colleagues or classmates -- all from the same webpage"

What If Google Offered Windows for FREE?

The recently-acquired FeedBurner might become free for all the users because the PRO version is already offering an attractive promotion for the interested consumers. As blogger Ionut Alex Chitu noticed, FeedBuner PRO can be used for free for a period up to 15 days but you still have to pay approximately $5 per month after the trial period ends. However, this is an interesting step because it's not the first time when Google acquires a company and before making them 100 percent free, it offers a short trial to attract consumers. Ionut Alex Chitu offered as examples Google Earth, Picasa and SketchUp, the 3D modelling tool that was bought by Google on March 14, 2006.

"By default, FeedBurner already enabled the reach metrics for everyone. "Reach is the total number of people who have taken action — viewed or clicked — on the content in your feed. Subscribers is a measure of how many people are subscribed to your feed. At any given time, you can expect that a certain percentage of this subscriber base is actively engaging with your content and this "Reach" measurement provides this additional insight," the blogger mentioned.

In addition, FeedBurner MyBrand, a solution powered by FeedBurner and that allows publishers to distribute their own feeds straight from their domains, is available for free without any fee. It seems like before the Google acquisition, the product was valued at $3-$14 per month as the same blogger mentions.

"With MyBrand, publishers can continue to take advantage of all of FeedBurner’s services, but provide a transparent experience by running everything through their domain (e.g. feeds.yoursitenamehere.com) instead of ours," the parent company Google says.

Now, if Google has this interesting technique to buy major companies and make their solutions available for free, let's hope that the Mountain View giant is interested in acquiring the famous Windows operating system and release it with a freeware license. In my dreams...

High-Resolution Imagery for Google Maps. Google Earth Is Next

Several new additions for Google Maps were already rolled out but the parent company Google didn't announce them officially. Just like the past updates, this new set of imagery brings high-resolution photos for two new locations: India and the United Arab Emirates. As the Google Earth Blog reports, this improvement is currently compatible only with Google Maps but the parent company Google plans to include it into the downloadable solution in the upcoming weeks.

According to the same source, Google Maps now allows searching for India addresses and local businesses. "You can now see detailed roads for the UAE. You can't yet search for addresses. Support for searching for businesses is not built-in, but you can search and see web results for things people have already marked with KML," the blog mentioned about the United Arab Emirates update.

Google Maps is a web-based solution that allows users to view satellite maps straight from the window of the browser without installing anything. Recently, the parent company debuted Street View, a revolutionary function that brought the Mountain View giant into trouble after several users raised privacy concerns. The main reason was that Google Maps' new function shows way too many details because some of the consumers were able to view private stuff from their houses.

In addition, the US authorities reported that Google's mapping tools, Google Maps and Google Earth, were used by the terrorists to organize attacks against the nation. Although they managed to discover the attempt before anything happened, the terrorists admitted they were using the Google solutions to view detailed photos with the JFK International Airport.

In the past, there were several similar cases but every time the parent company blocked the attempts by replacing the imagery with older ones. The best example is Basra where the terrorists tried to attack the UK troops using details offered by Google Earth. Google replaced the photos with older ones captured before the departure of the army in the zone.

Microsoft Drops $200 Million on 2 Datacenters in Santa Clara

In a move designed to expand infrastructure support for its Windows Live collection of services and products Microsoft has leased two datacenter facilities located in Santa Clara from Digital Realty Trust. The two datacenters were previously controlled by Savvis. Initial reports pointing out that Microsoft had acquired the facilities are incorrect, as the Redmond company merely assumed both leases from Savvis. Digital Realty Trust – a company focused on corporate datacenters and Interrnet gateways management – leased the facilities to Microsoft until 2010. In Santa Clara, the Redmond company will now benefit from no less than "160,000 square feet of raised floor datacenter space" out of the total 300,000 square feet that it has rented.

"We are very pleased to welcome Microsoft as a direct tenant at these two Santa Clara facilities and look forward to continuing to build our relationship with them," commented Michael Foust, Chief Executive Officer of Digital Realty Trust.

"These new lease structures are an important part of our vision for a globally scaled datacenter infrastructure that will keep pace with user demand for innovative online services. Leasing the space directly from Digital Realty Trust will allow us to gain energy and operational efficiencies, helping us continue to run some of the largest services in the world," said Arne Josefsberg, general manager, infrastructure services, Microsoft. "We appreciate Digital Realty Trust's commitment to and focus on technology infrastructure properties and look forward to working with them in future."

At the end of June 26, Microsoft revealed that its Windows Live platform was evolving into its next phase. With the focus still set on a business strategy involving Software + Services, Microsoft promised to deliver a new Windows Live product suite. The Redmond company failed to offer a timetable, but did disclose that users should expect new offerings in the coming months. The announcement came concomitantly with the availability of the beta milestones for Windows Live Photo Gallery and Windows Live Folders. Microsoft also informed that it is working on a single installer for the entire line of Windows Live services and products.

IE6 vs. IE7 vs. Firefox 2.0 vs. Firefox 1.5 vs. Safari 3.0 vs. Opera 9

Windows become a crowded platform as far as browsers are concerned. There is only so much room to grow, and Apple has introduced Safari 3.0 into the equation in June. Apple Chief Executive Officer Stave Jobs, revealed since the birthday of Safari 3.0 on 32-bit and 64-bit Windows Vista and Windows XP that it was settling for nothing else than dominating the browser market together with Microsoft's Internet Explorer downplaying the relevance of household name such as Opera and Firefox.

But even with Safari 3.0 present, Opera delivered quite a performance jumping from 0.73% to 0.90% in June. With the exception of new-comer Safari, Opera is the classic underdog but the last month brought a consistent growth in the adoption of the browser.

But the fact of the matter is that the browser market for solutions running on top of the Windows platform is dominated by Internet Explorer and Firefox. In this context, Microsoft's Internet Explorer 6.0 is still top dog in the market share deathmatch. In accordance with statistics made public by Market Share by Net Applications IE6 accounts for 46.21% of the browser market. Following the introduction of IE7, the share of Internet Explorer 6 began to erode. From October 2006 and until February 2007, IE6 dropped from 77.17% to 49.35%.

In the same period, IE7 exploded from 3.18% in the month of its launch to 29.12% in February 2007, after the general release of Windows Vista. Mid 2007 finds Internet Explorer 7 in holding no less than 32.02% of the browser market, and runner up to IE6.

Firefox 2.0 has been also expanding its share constantly in spite of IE7. From just 0.69% in October 2006, Firefox 2.0 is now accounting for 11.07% of the market. Mozilla has even sacrificed version 1.5 of its open source browser for Firefox 2.0. With support cut at the end of June, Firefox 1.5 dropped to just 2.85%.

Touted as an epitome of speed, performance, design and security Safari 3.0 underperformed in terms of audience. Apple's browser for Windows, at the end of the first month on Windows, is credited only with 0.18% of the market, despite having topped 1 million downloads in just 48 hours. Safari 3.0 for Windows has still a long way to go, as it is just a public beta scheduled for availability in October concomitantly with Leopard, but judging by the cold welcome it got, it will fail to be a worthy opponent.