Tech Nukem

One of the global leader in mobile communications, LG Electronics has expanded the popular Black Label Series with its new LG Chocolate (LG-BL40), which features a large, wide 4-inch HD LCD display (800 x 345 pixel resolution ; 21:9 aspect ratio) with Dual Screen UI that able to efficiently display 2 different types of content simultaneously, giving users a panoramic, cinema-like quality and optimal mobile computing experience.



According to the company, LG-BL40’s “Real VGA” wide screen that delivers a full range of natural colors to ensure superb viewing quality is overlaid with curved tempered glass.

“The initial response to the new LG Chocolate phone has exceeded our expectations by a wide margin,” said Dr. Skott Ahn, CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications. “Although much interest seems focused on the striking shape of the handset, the real surprise will be when people discover the advantages of the 4.0-inch screen in terms of viewing pleasure and ease of use.”

The new stylish and slim LG Chocolate LG-BL40 that available in glossy black finish and iconic red highlights is expected to ship in 54 countries starting Q3 2009, but no words on its price yet.

Ricoh has recently announced the release of its GR Digital III camera. The GR Digital III camera has similar body design with its predecessor GR Digital II. The CR Digital III has been improved with a F1.9 aperture to achieve greater image quality. The new imaging engine has been integrated with more sensitive sensor to improve high ISO performance.



Along with a new 10-megapixel sensor with larger pixel, GR Digital III also continues Ricoh tradition of great image quality, high resolution, low noise and compact body. In addition, it also gains faster AF and supports a ‘full-press snap’ function shoots at a preset distance for a one-push full-press of the shutter button.

The new GR Digital III will be available at the price of $873 in middle of August in UK.

The well-known multinational corporation specializing in optics and imaging, Nikon has announced the availability of its new Nikon D300s pro-level DX-Format DSLR camera
, which features 51 high density focus points, dual CF and SD card slots, advanced D-Movie function (720p) with external stereo sound input, and faster 7 fps continuous shooting, aiming to enhance your professional photography experience.




Features of Nikon D300s:

* 12.3-megapixel DX-format CMOS image sensor and Nikon’s exclusive EXPEED image processing system
* Large, high-resolution (920,000-pixel) 3-inch TFT LCD screen
* Large, bright viewfinder with approx. 100% frame coverage and approx. 0.94 magnification
* 51-Point Multi-CAM3500 autofocus system with 3D tracking
* Faster 7 frame-per-second (fps) continuous shooting (buffer: 17 RAW, 44 JPEG fine, 100 JPEG Normal)
* Records HD video clips (720p resolution at 24fps ; autofocus while recording), and high fidelity audio thanks to the external stereo microphone input
* Nikon exclusive, newly-accelerated Scene Recognition System (SRS) with 1005 pixel RGB colour metering further refines AF performance and light metering
* Integrated Dust Reduction System includes Image Sensor Cleaning function that provides effective dust reduction
* Quiet Shutter Release mode substantially reduces the sound of the mirror aimed for non-intrusive shooting
* ISO sensitivity range 200 – 3200 (Lo-1 at 100 and 6400 at Hi-1)
* 3D Color Matrix Metering II system and Active D-Lighting (ADL)
* Nikon’s Picture Controls adjusts sharpening, brightness, contrast and color hue
* Easy-to-access Live View mode
* SD memory card slot in addition to existing CF slot
* Integrated flash with 16mm lens coverage and Nikon’s original i-TTL flash control that commands Advanced Wireless Lighting
* Rechargeable Li-ion Battery EN-EL3e supports up to 950 images on a single charge

“Today’s photographer demands excellence and value from high-performance digital SLRs – and the Nikon D300s delivers,” said Edward Fasano, general manager for Marketing, SLR System Products for Nikon, Inc. “It’s no secret that more photographers need to gather multimedia content. In addition to proven technologies, such as the 51-point autofocus (AF) system and 12.3-megapixel CMOS sensor, we are more than confident that the D300s’ HD movie mode, along with a host of additional performance enhancements, will broaden the appeal of the camera to those seeking exceptional still image quality and video versatility.”

The new compact Nikon D300s D-SLR camera which measures 5.8 x 4.5 x 2.9 inches and weights about 32.6 ounces is slated to be available at Nikon Authorized dealers by late August 2009 for approximately $1,800 (body only).

Nikon Inc. has announced its latest entry-level, compact digital SLR camera, named as Nikon D3000. Nikon D3000 is a 10.2-megapixel D-SLR camera which features ability to capture photos in NEF (RAW) format, and all-new Guide Mode (accessed on Mode dial) with an easy-to-use interface that designed specifically for first-time DSLR users, giving them an access to a simplified shooting system.



Features of Nikon D3000:

* 10.2 megapixel DX-format CCD sensor and Nikon’s exclusive EXPEED image processing system
* Large, bright 3-inch (230,000 pixel) TFT LCD display
* 11-point Multi-CAM 1000 autofocus (AF) system
* Split-second shutter response eliminates the frustration of shutter lag
* Advanced 3D Subject Tracking continuously focuses on a fast moving subject throughout the frame
* Nikon’s extensive in-camera Retouch Menu allows for editing photos without the need of a computer
* Stop-Motion Movie Mode enables users to choose a collection of images within the Nikon D3000’s Retouch Menu
* Miniature effect changes the appearance of distant subjects to look like close-ups of miniature models
* Nikon’s 3D Color Matrix Metering II and Active D-Lighting system
* IS0 range 100-1600 (expand to Hi-1 setting of ISO 3200)
* Nikon’s Integrated Dust Reduction System to clean dust from the image sensor

“The D3000 combines the best of both worlds, providing picture takers with the ease-of-use currently offered in point-and-shoot cameras alongside the speed, precision and exceptional results that have made Nikon D-SLRs so popular,” said Edward Fasano, general manager for Marketing, SLR Systems Products, Nikon Inc. “The D3000 offers everyone the ability to discover the superiority of D-SLR photography at an affordable price point. We look forward to enabling more consumers to explore the possibilities of D-SLR picture taking and, more importantly, capture life’s memories faithfully.”

The Nikon D3000 D-SLR camera which measures 126 x 94 x 64 mm and weights in at 620g (without battery
) is expected to hit the market by late August 2009 for around $600 (with versatile AF-S NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR image stabilization lens).

Although some mobile phones have been equipped with GPS navigator maps, but some users still prefer standalone navigation devices. Targeting the standalone GPS device market, Mio has announced its two new GPS navigation devices which known as Moov M300 and Noov M400. The M300 and M400 have been enhanced with “local” Mio which allow users to search for address from PC with Yellow Pages and load directly into the GPS, the addresses that including shops, restaurants, hotels and etc.






The M300 is featured with a 3.5-inch display with 320 x 240 resolutions while M400 is featured with a 4.3-inch with 480 x 272 resolutions. The M400 is also supports NavPix photo navigation that allow users navigate to location by preloaded photos of tourist sites which including beaches, hotels and restaurants. In addition, it also allows users to download geotagged photos from NavPix or Flickr sites.

The M300 is available for the price of $139 with a France map and M400 will be available for the price of $210 with maps from 23 countries of Western Europe.

This is definitely a great gift for any toddler or child. Little Mommy: Walk and Giggle Doll can stand, sit, talk, walk, right herself after a spill, drink from a bottle, take the dog for a walk, and play peekaboo. Built-in sensors in the doll’s body and limbs help to detect if the doll is being tickled or falls down. The doll can utter a substantial number of phrases and sounds as well as sing songs.


littlemommyt

Apart from being cute and adorable, the doll needs nurturing and care from a young child who will definitely be drawn to this walking and talking toy. This technologically advanced doll from Fisher-Price mimics many of the abilities and activities of the young child, thus facilitating physical and emotional development as well as confidence-building.

The leading maker of innovative electronic products, TriGem USA, Inc. has announced its new lightweight, aluminum-clad 13-inch laptop, named as Averatec N3400, which designed to maximize productivity and performance, featuring Intel Dual Core T3400 2.16GHz processor, 13.3-inch WXGA (1280 × 1024 pixels) display, Wi-Fi 802.11n and external USB 8x super-multi DVD optical drive, based on Microsoft Vista Home Premium operating system.


Averatec_N3400

“As one of the thinnest and lightest notebooks on the market, the N3400 meets the demand of consumers who require the ultimate in portability and a little flash of style without breaking the bank,” said Henry Hewitt, vice president of sales for TriGem USA. “Although it is small in size and weight, the N3400 is large in power and performance. This notebook is sure to stand out from the crowd with its low weight, small footprint and affordable price point.”

Key specifications of Averatec N3400:

* 2.16GHz Intel Pentium Dual Core T3400 processor
* 3GB DDR2 RAM (800MHz, expandable to 8GB)
* 250GB SATA HDD
* External USB Super-Multi 8x dual-layer DVD/CD reader-burner
* 3 high-speed USB 2.0 ports and 4-in-1 memory card reader (MS/MS PRO/MMC/SD)
* Bluetooth and Wi-Fi 802.11n wireless connectivity
* Built-in 1.3 megapixel webcam with microphone
* Intel GMA X4500HD graphics

“Averatec was determined not to skimp on performance features in the design of the N3400,” added by Hewitt. “While competitors may have compromised on features such as omitting optical drives or Bluetooth connectivity, Averatec found a way to incorporate these critical technologies without sacrificing the overall performance, form factor or low weight of the system. Our customers want it all and we are determined to give that to them.”

The new stylish and ultra-slim Averatec N3400 notebook which measures 12.8 (w) x 9 (D) x o.40 ~ 0.98-inches (H) and weights in at 3.8 lbs is now available for MSRP of $799.

The leading provider of imaging and photographic materials and equipment, Eastman Kodak Company has announced the launch of its new KODAK Zi8 Pocket video Camera, the sleek digital camcorder that able to capture high-quality full 1080p HD video and 5 megapixel photo, featuring ability to easy upload to Facebook and YouTube.


Kodak_Zi8

Impressive highlights of KODAK Zi8:

* Captures 5MP 16:9 widescreen HD still photos and full HD 1080p video wherever you go
* Vivid, large 2.5-inch color LCD display
* Integrated electronic image stabilization to reduce blur
* Flexible swing-out USB arm for charging, uploading and sharing
* See more details and accurate colors in low light
* Smart face tracking technology helps capture family and friends in their best light
* Records up to 10 hours of HD video with the use of 32GB SD/SDHC memory card

“Images and video have tremendous power to help us stay connected to family and friends,” said Phil Scott, Worldwide Director of Marketing, Digital Capture and Devices and Vice President, Consumer Digital Group. “The KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera makes it easy to spontaneously capture HD video – of heartwarming moments, of ‘can you believe that?’ moments, and of just plain laugh-out-loud moments – and then quickly and easily share them.”

The new stylish and ultra-compact KODAK Zi8 Pocket Video Camera that compatible with both PC and Mac operating systems is expected to be available in aqua, raspberry and black colors beginning September, 2009 for approximately $180.

For people from typewriter era when computer is not so popular must be still remembering the noisy typewriting sound, where each keys pressed will have a ‘tat’ sound. Modern Windows computer doesn’t make such as loud sound while typing as the mechanical movement is minimal.

If you fancy to have a typewriting-style sound been played from computer while typing, much similar to when typing in Apple Mac OS X, Tiper is a software that helps to play sound for each typing sequence.

Tiper sits at system tray (notification area) and runs as the background process for Windows operating system, and plays a configurable wav sound file whenever a key is pressed on keyboard. Tiper supports custom sound schedule. To add custom sound scheme, just prepare the sound .wav files in preset name formats that user want to play when pressing keyboard. Best of all, separate type of keys can be customized to play different sound.

The wav sound file should be named as following:

letter.wav – sound of typing letters and numbers
enter.wav – sound of typing “Enter” key
backspace.wav – sound of typing “Backspace” key
space.wav – sound of typing “Space” key (for blank space)
bell.wav – sound of typing keys like “Tab”, “Home”, “Pg Up”, “Pg Dn” and etc.

All these sound files should be placed into a folder (any name will do), which in turn be placed inside the “sound” folder, a subfolder of Tiper program where Tiper.exe executable is. Restart Tiper after adding a sound scheme. To choose sound scheme, just right click on Tiper tray icon. Tiper itself has included many sound schemes, such as IncrediMail (default which similar to typewriter), Bird, Kongfu, Machine, Music, Nature, QQ2, and Yahoo.


Tiper

Tiper also provides a keyboard shortcut to enable and disable sound effects by simply pressing Ctrl + Shift + F12. Alternatively, just right clock on Tiper icon on system tray and choose “”Disable sound effect” or “Enable sound effect”.

Download Tiper (version 1.6). It supports Windows Me, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and all versions of Windows Server. Direct download link to tiper1.6.zip.

One of the market leader in mobile communications, AT&T has announced that the affordable Samsung Solstice A887 will hit AT&T stores nationwide starting August 2nd. It’s the full touchscreen mobile device that includes widget tool bar with social networking shortcuts, aiming to improve your mobile experience.



Key features of Samsung Solstice:

* 3-inch QVGA full touch screen display and Widget bar
* Virtual full QWERTY keyboard with vibration response to touch
* 2 megapixel camera with video recording capability
* AT&T Music enables users to download their favorite songs, listen to streaming radio or cut their own ringtones
* A-GPS with AT&T Navigator for turn-by-turn voice and on-screen driving directions
* Mobile Email and Instant Messenger (AIM, Windows Live and Yahoo!) for quick and easy on the go
* Video Share allows users to share video in real time
* Stereo Bluetooth technology delivers a truly hands-free conversation and music experience
* Personalize with downloadable games, graphic, ringtones and applications
* Talk time: Up to 5 hours ; Standby time: Up to 10.4 days
* MicroSD memory card slot supports up to 16GB of capacity

The Samsung Solstice A887 which measures 4.3 x 2.1 x 0.5 inches and weights just 3.33oz is scheduled to be available through AT&T for $99.99, after a $50 mail-in rebate and two-year service agreement.

Epson has announced its new high-definition all-in-one photo printer - Epson Stylus Photo PX650, which specially designed for digital photography enthusiasts. The new Epson PX650 allows users to scan, copy and print photos that exceed lab quality. In addition, the printer comes with a 2.5-inch LCD screen which makes it an easy task for the user to perform minor edits before printing. Moreover, it also comes with a memory card slot, support PictBridge, printing photo in approximately 12 second. Apart from that, a 1200dpi resolution photo scanner captures the fine detail of original prints, whilst the Hi-Definition Epson Claria Photographic Ink creates high quality glossy photos which be able to prints that last up to 200 years. The PX650 can also print directly onto suitable CDs and DVDs.


Epson Stylus Photo PX650 All-in One Photo Printer

Features of Epson Stylus Photo PX650

* View and print photos directly from memory card using the 2.5-inch LCD screen
* Scan, copy, and print photos that exceed lab quality
* Personalize your CDs and DVDs by printing directly onto suitable discs
* Print 10×15cm photos in approximately 12 seconds
* Epson Claria Photographic Ink for glossy, long-lasting photos
* Save money with individual inks – only replace the color used
* ENERGY STAR® qualified

The new Epson Stylus Photo PX650 will be available on September 1st, 2009 from starting price $215 in the UK. Each purchase comes with a pack of photo paper.

RW-Everything utility (or Read & Write Utility) is a powerful utility for hardware engineers, firmware (BIOS) engineers, drivers developers, QA engineers, performance test engineers, diagnostics engineers and anybody else who deals with computer hardware. RW-Everything features ability to access almost all the computer hardware, including PCI (PCI Express), PCI Index/Data, Memory, Memory Index/Data, I/O Space, I/O Index/Data, Super I/O, Clock Generator, DIMM SPD, SMBus Device, CPU MSR Registers, ATA/ATAPI Identify Data, ACPI Tables Dump (include AML decode), Embedded Controller, USB Information, SMBIOS Structures, PCI Option ROMs, MP Configuration Table and Remote Access.


RW – Read & Write Utility is developed by Jeff Chan. It not only can access the hardware data, it allows the data to be saved to file, including ability to save as binary format. The data can be viewed Byte (8-bit), Word (16-bit) or Dword (32-bit) format. RW Everything also supports editing and writing of data into some hardware components such as memory and has command-line interpreter to access hardware manually.


RW-Everything Utility

RW-Everything is now commonly used to display SLIC table to determine if SLIC 2.0 or SLIC 2.1 presented in BIOS to perform OEM activation of Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, or Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, as it works in both 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) Windows operating system
. RW (Read & Write) supports Windows 95/98/ME/Win2000/Win3002/XP/XP64/Vista/Vista64/7/764.

Download RW-Everything (current version 1.3): RwV1.3.zip (direct link)

Note: For 64-bit OS, RW will switch the system to “Test Mode” after installation, this is because the driver
is not signed. Uninstall RW-Everything will switch Vista x64 back to normal mode.

Notepad++ is a powerful source code and text editor for Windows operating system, which can be used as complete default Notepad replacement alternative. One of the major features of Notepad++ is robust support for macros and plugins, which allowing capability of Notepad++ to be extended without major change to the main program itself. One of the plugin is HEX Editor, which allows Notepad++ to view any files in HEX (hexadecimal) format.



HEX-Editor plug-in for Notepad++ allows user to view a file in HEX format, and compare documents in HEX format. Using native function of Notepad++, the HEX files can be edited, modified and saved too. The HEX Editor for Notepad++ also can switch its view to binary, and support start layout in 8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit and 64-bit.


Notepad++ HEX Editor

Update: The current version of HEX-Editor plugin for Notepad++ (0.9.5), part of Notepad++ (npp) plugins, can be downloaded from sourceforge.net .

The previous version of HEX-Editor plugin for Notepad++ (0.9.4), part of Notepad++ (npp) plugins, can be downloaded from sourceforge.net .

To install the HEX Editor plugin, just extract the HexEditor.dll file from the downloaded ZIP file, and copy it to Notepad++\plugins folder, i.e. C:\Program Files\Notepad++\plugins or C:\Program Files (x86)\Notepad++\plugins.

Sometimes you may want to hide confidential documents from being read by others who have accessed to your computer
. There are various software utilities such as SafeHouse Explorer, My LockBox, Hide Folders, Free 1 Second Folder Encrypt, Easy File Locker and etc that can keep your files securely but in case you would like to try something different, here with the FireSteg that serves as Firefox add-on, you can now quickly hide confidential documents into image without being noticed by others so that they are at least safe with certain degree of protection.


FireSteg

FireSteg is a stenography sidebar extension powered by Java that is able to hide files inside image. It can easily allows you to extract files from the image at anytime whenever there is a need. Once you have installed it, you can start using it by going to View -> Sidebar -> FireSteg and launch it. It will appear at sidebar and in order to hide documents inside image, go to Hide tab, under Files to hide section, browse file/files which you would like to hide, then browse to the image file which you want your files to be hide inside under Cover images section. Do take note that the image file formats supported by FireSteg are limited to jpeg, jpg and png only, other type of formats are not supported and it will cause the hiding process to fail. Once you have done with files selection, just hit Hide button to start the process. To extract file/files from the image, just go to Extract tab and browse for the image file, follow by a click on Extract button to extract file/files from the image. By default, the image file with files hiding inside and file/files extracted from the image will be saved under Desktop. If you would like to change the path, you can go to Settings tab and make the change.

FireSteg 2.0 has made the whole hiding process easier and simple. It works well with Firefox 1.5 – 3.5.*. If you think it is useful, just download it at here.

Google Toolbar 6 has added an advanced and useful feature that automatically translates web page in foreign language to selected local language. However, when trying to install Google Toolbar into Internet Explorer 8 (IE8), the following error may be displayed on web page after clicking “Accept and Download” or “Accept and Install”, instead of starting to download Google Toolbar version 6 setup installer.

Page Not Found

The page – www.google.com/toolbar/ie/install.html?ds=yes – does not exist.


Google Toolbar Installation Page Not Found

Depending on the option selected, the URL not found can also be www.google.com/toolbar/ie/install.html?ds=yes&hp=yes&pr=yes or any other selected parameters, such as toolbar.google.com/T6/intl/en-GB/install.html?ds=yes and sometimes as long as www.google.com/toolbar/T6/intl/en/install.html?utm_campaign=&utm_source=en-et-hc&utm_medium=et&tbbrand=GZEU. The error also happens with Google Toolbar with My Location.

Sometimes, after clicking “Accept and Download”, the page simply refreshes but Google Toolbar download does not start. The IE web browser status bar may also prompt the following web page errors:

Webpage error details

User Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 6.0; Trident/4.0; GTB5; SLCC1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; Media Center PC 5.0; .NET CLR 3.0.04506; MS-RTC LM 8; OfficeLiveConnector.1.3; OfficeLivePatch.0.0)
Timestamp: Fri, 18 July 2009 12:58:38 UTC
Message: ‘_gat’ is undefined
Line: 11
Char: 1
Code: 0

URI: http://www.google.com/toolbar/ie/install.html?ds=yes
Message: ‘_gat’ is undefined
Line: 207
Char: 1
Code: 0
URI: http://toolbar.google.com

The cause for the problem is likely due to JavaScript support which is not standard in IE8 or blocked access to google-analytics.com domain.

To fix the issue, ensure that google-analytics.com is reachable and not map to 127.0.0.1 (localhost) in hosts file, or blocked by other filtering program such as Privoxy or ads blocking program. Most user won’t resolve the problem with this step though.

To fix JavaScript error when downloading Google Toolbar, try to clear the IE browser cache (Temporary Internet Files). Then ensure that Active Scripting is enabled by following these steps:

1. Click the Internet Explorer Tools menu, or press Alt-T on your keyboard.
2. Select Internet Options.
3. In the Security tab, select Internet zone, and click Custom Level.
4. Select the Enable radio button in the Active Scripting category.
5. Click OK.

Last but not least, download latest version of Java Runtime Environment from java.com.

If all steps above still doesn’t solve the problem to allow downloading Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer, here’s the direct download link to standalone setup installer of Google Toolbar 6 for IE, which can be manually downloaded and installed.

Google Toolbar T6 Installer x86 (32-bit): GoogleToolbarInstaller_en32_signed.exe

Google Toolbar T6 Installer x64 (64-bit): GoogleToolbarInstaller_en64_signed.exe

Note: You should only download 64-bit Google Toolbar when you’re using Internet Explorer (64-bit).

Accidentally visiting phony and phishing sites will be a serious nightmare for users especially when they realize that their sensitive information such as login name, password, credit card information, bank account details, etc have been stolen or divulged and critical damages have been done. Generally, internet users particularly the non-tech savvy can hardly determine whether a site they are entering is authentic or phony. The fake site basically looks and feels almost identical to the authentic or legitimate one. Users who are not aware or sensitive might easily fall into the trap and get cheated.


There are various ways for the criminal syndicate to fool and attract users to visit the phony sites. The phishing process has affected millions of internet users every year even though various public awareness campaigns and activities have been launched. If users are concerned they might become the next victim of this internet criminal fraud, one of the ways users can use is via anti-phishing and identity assurance tool to verify and authenticate the sites. Comodo Verification engine, a free security product from Comodo security series is a useful and database rich program which can help users to distinguish and identify a real website from an impostor.

Comodo Verification engine is a free and lightweight security application offered by Comodo which can be downloaded via the link here. The Windows based security software supports various web browsers including Internet Explorer 5.01 and above, AOL 1.1 and above, Netscape 8+ (IE mode), Firefox 1.0.7 and above, Netscape 7.2+ (FF mode) and Mozilla 1.7 and above. Once users have installed the free anti-phishing software, a small “v” icon will appear on the taskbar.


indicator

Every time users open a new website, Comodo Verification Engine will immediately check via its database. If the website is legitimate and is in Comodo’s database, users can see the browser’s border glow green and an arrow will point to the site’s verified logo. With this confirmation and verification, it is safe for users to continue with their browsing. If the green border doesn’t appear, users are advised to be more careful when proceeding. Comodo has created a database of over 500,000 legitimate websites with real internet addresses for verification.


greenborder

Comodo Verification engine provides a clear visual indicator about the level of SSL security on a site and warning if a site is using the type of SSL certificate favored by scammers. Users can click on the verification engine’s indicator on the taskbar to modify the options such as green border thickness, font size, etc.

Panasonic has announced the launch of its new 12.1 MP LUMIX DMC-FP8 digital camera, which combines futuristic-design, Panasonic’s Intelligent Auto (iA) suite of technologies, 4.6x optical zoom Leica DC lens with folding optics and an ability to record HD motion pictures in a single device, aiming to give users an enhanced photography experience.


FP8

Features of Panasonic LUMIX DMC-FP8:

* Large 2.7-inch Intelligent LCD offers a dynamic and clear view of the scenes and subjects
* High-quality 28mm wide-angle, 4.6x Leica DC lens with folding optics for futuristic fashion
* High-speed Auto Focus (AF) plus a high-speed start-up of only 0.95 seconds
* POWER Optical Image Stabilization (O.I.S.) sports double the repression power compared to previous image stabilization system
* HD Movies (records dynamic HD movies in 1280 x 720p at smooth 30 fps) with VIERA Link Networking
* 27 scene modes including High Dynamic mode that helps to capture a scene with moderate exposure
* Included PHOTOfunSTUDIO 4.0 software allows users to view, edit as well as archive captured photos and videos with greater ease
* Available in black, red and silver colours

“We realize that consumers are looking for fashionable and slim digital cameras that still take high-quality photos and feature advanced photo settings,” said David Briganti, Senior Product Manager, Imaging, Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company. “With the LUMIX DMC-FP8, we are giving users that sleek and compact design, while not compromising the advanced, yet easy-to-use features and technology for which the Panasonic LUMIX line of cameras is known.”

The new Panasonic LUMIX DMC-FP8 which measures 96 x 60 x 20-mm and weights just 131g is expected to hit the market in coming September 2009 for about $300.

Panasonic has announced the availability of its new compact 12.1-megapixel LUMIX DMC-ZR1 digital camera, which features 25mm ultra-wide-angle, 8x optical zoom and the world’s first 0.3mm thin aspherical lens, aiming to provide users an increased flexibility.


LUMIX DMC-ZR1

“The ZR1 answers the call of consumers looking for a truly pocketable digital camera, while still featuring a zoom more powerful than typical compact cameras,” commented David Briganti, Senior Product Manager, Imaging, Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company. “We know consumers want to catch every shooting opportunity, and with the ZR1, this is possible through unique features such as the ultra-wide-angle lens and Panasonic’s popular iA Mode.”

Main features of Panasonic LUMIX DMC-ZR1:

* Fast, high-speed Auto Focus (AF), plus high-speed start-up of just 1.1 second
* 2.7-inch Intelligent LCD and 25mm ultra-wide-angle, 8x optical zoom (zoom range of 25-200mm) LEICA DC VARIO-ELMAR lens
* Powerful battery life (about 330 pictures on a single charge) thanks to the highly energy-efficient image processing LSI – Venus Engine V
* POWER Optical Image Stabilizer (O.I.S.) features double the repression power (compared to MEGA O.I.S)
* Available in black, red, blue, and silver colors

The new ultra-slim Panasonic LUMIX DMC-ZR1 which measures 98 x 55 x 26 mm and weights in at 160g will be available in coming September for about $280.

Sun xVM VirtualBox is a powerful x86 virtualization product for home and enterprise use which supports a large number of guest operating systems such as Windows (NT 4.0, 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista, 7), DOS/Windows 3.x, Linux (2.4 and 2.6), Solaris and OpenSolaris, and OpenBSD. VirtualBox also has Shared Folders feature, which is common among virtualization solutions to provide easy data exchange between hosts and gusts.


In Sun xVM Virtual Box, VirtualBox allows user to select and declare folders and directories on host machine as “shared folders”. After setting the shared folders, user can then access these shared folders from within the guest operating system of the virtual machines. In Windows XP and Vista guest, user can see the VirtualBox Shared Folders from within its entire network neighborhood.

In order to access the host machine operating system shared folders from VirtualBox virtual machine running Windows 7, be it Windows, Mac OS X, Linux (Ubuntu) or others, just start with normal standard step to set up shared folders in the Windows 7 virtual machine. In most cases, there is no need to worry about file and printer sharing for Microsoft Network protocol or Samba requirements. No Guest Additions is required to install too.

1. In VirtualBox virtual machine window, go to Devices pull down menu and click on Shared Folders.
2. Click on Add New Shared Folder (Ins) icon on the right. Then browse and select a folder located on host computer that want to be shared with guest computer. Optionally, enter a custom folder name to be known in guest virtual machine. Finish off with OK button.


Create New Shared Folder in VirtualBox Virtual Machine

Note: In Folder Path, click and select “Other” to view complete directory tree on the host machine.
3. Run Windows Explorer in Windows 7 virtual box machine.
4. Type the following into the address bar to access the shared folder:

\\vboxsvr\

Replace with the actual folder name used to define the share. For example, \\vboxsvr\Desktop, or \\vboxsrv\media in Linux to access USB, CD-DVD and other media. The shared folders must be explicitly declared in VirtualBox to work.


Access Host Shared Folder from Virtual Box Machine
5. The folder’s content on the host computer should be shown inside the guest virtual machine, allowing files and fodlers to be transferred and copied.
6. Optionally, map a network drive to the shared folder (which should be made permanent) by going to Computer folder, and click on Map Network Driver. Then enter the similar path into Folder text box.

The leading manufacturer of hard disk drives, Western Digital (WD) has launched its two new mobile hard drives with 12.5 mm form factor – 750GB and 1TB (Terabyte) WD Scorpio Blue, which the company claims as the industry’s highest-capacity 2.5-inch hard drive available on the market, based on industry-leading 333 GB-per-platter technology, supporting up to 3Gb/s (gigabits per second) of transfer rate.


wd-scorpio-blue

“The convergence of the growing mobile computing and digital media trends produces demand for desktop-like capacities in portable devices,” said Jim Morris, senior vice president and general manager of client systems, Western Digital Corporation. “Our new WD Scorpio Blue drives enable people to take even more of their digital collections with them wherever they go and, realizing the value of their data, back up their notebooks on their My Passport drives.”

Main features of WD Scorpio Blue:

* WhisperDrive – Exclusive WhisperDrive technology combines state-of-the-art seeking algorithms to produce one of the quietest high-capacity 2.5-inch hard drives available
* ShockGuard – Leading-edge ShockGuard technology combines firmware and hardware advancements to meet the highest combined shock tolerance specifications required for mobile and notebook applications
* SecurePark – Parks the recording heads off the disk surface during spin up, spin down and when the drive is off, ensuring the recording head never touches the disk surface, resulting in improved long-term reliability due to less head wear and improved shock tolerance

The new 750GB WD Scorpio Blue hard drives are available now through select distributors and resellers for approximately $190, while the 1TB Scorpio Blue model that configured into newly released My Passport Essential SE USB drives is available now for MSRP of $249.99.

Windows Live Hotmail (MSN Hotmail) has implemented an ever-growing storage space scheme that provides and increases the space available for user’s e-mail as need arises. The ever-growing storage feature will provide Hotmail account with as much storage space as it needs by increasing inbox capacity when limit is hit or more space is required, provided that normal amount of email messages are sent and received.

As such, Hotmail storage space is not unlimited in size, although it will keep increasing and growing month after month. So how do you know what’s the storage space that been allocated to your Hotmail account? Previously, when the Hotmail space limit was 5GB, in Today screen after logging into Windows Live Hotmail, a storage space utilization status bar is displayed. However it has been replaced with a simple text – “You have ever-growing storage.”

Hotmail Ever Growing Storage Space

To check the current actual storage space limit on a Hotmail account, user has to use the following workaround, and it’s almost impossible now to check the space available or space that has been used from Hotmail webmail web interface.

Method 1 – Microsoft Office Outlook Connector

Microsoft Office Outlook Connector is a free add-in for Microsoft Outlook that allows users to access Windows Live Hotmail or Office Live Mail accounts through Microsoft Outlook, with ability to sync emails, contacts, tasks and notes of Windows Live Calendar. In Outlook Connector, total space allocated, used and free for Hotmail account can be viewed at Mailbox Cleanup function.


Outlook Connector Mailbox Cleanup

Download Outlook Connector for Office 2010 and Outlook Connector for Office 2003 and Office 2007. Outlook Connector is also available through Windows Live Essentials download.

Method 2 – MSN Explorer

MSN Explorer is web browser (essentially Internet Explorer shell) that integrates MSN and Windows Live features such as Windows Live Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger with a web browser. After linking with Hotmail’s Windows Live ID, MSN Explorer Mail function can show the maximum folder size allowed, which represents total storage space available on Hotmail.


MSN Explorer

As seen from screenshots above, Hotmail account is now providing 500 GB (512000 MB) of disk storage space to Hotmail users, and it applies to at Hotmail-powered accounts from Admin Center, Office Live and MSN Premium. However, do note even there is 500 GB of space to spare, any sudden and abnormal huge increase in inbox size likely trigger warning e-mail for Windows Live Hotmail, or worse, account been suspended from receiving emails.

Philips has added a new member to its Xenium series with new slider phone named as X650, which features cool stylish metallic keypad and long-lasting battery. The new Philips X650 slider phone has an impressive battery life which capable of lasting up to 8 hours in talk time or 720 hours (one month) in stand-by mode. In addition, the phone also comes with 3.2 megapixel photo snapper with autofocus function, FM radio, Bluetooth connectivity and USB port. Furthermore, it also integrated with 30MB of internal memory which be able to expand by using micro SD memory cards. The new slider phone also supports Tri-band GSM (900/1800/1900MHz) and GPRS connectivity.


philips-x650-xenium

Features of Philips Xenium X650:

* 2.4-inch TFT LCD display with 240 x 320 pixels resolution and support up to 262k color
* 3.2 megapixels autofocus camera
* Support tri-band (900/1800/1900 MHz) GSM and GPRS connectivity
* FM radio and media player
* 30MB internal memory and micro SD card slot
* Bluetooth and USB connectivity
* Up to 720 hours of standby time
* Up to 8 hours of talk time

The new Philips X650 slider phone measures just 104.5 x 52 x 16.75 mm and weighs only 133.9 grams. Unfortunately, the price and launch date have yet to be announced.

The Windows Server, Vista and Windows 7 have been built-in Partition Manager (Disk Management
) with useful basic functions and features. Some of the Windows users may look for third party partition tools with more features. Partition Wizard Home Edition (for personal use) and Partition Wizard Business Edition (for business user) is a free partition manager which has been designed specifically for 32 or 64 bit Windows Operating System like Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7.


partitionwizard

With Partition Wizard partition manager, users are able to perform complicated partition operations like resizing partitions, copying partitions, create partition, delete partition, format partition, convert partition, explore partition, hide partition, change drive letter, set active partition and partition recovery.

Partition Wizard Home Edition and Business Edition includes the following features:

* Support Windows 2000/XP/Vista/Windows7 (32 bit & 64 bit) operating system.
* Extend system partition to improve computer performance to maximum.
* Support RAID.
* Manage the hard disk to get the best performance of computer.
* Create , delete and format partitions with simple steps.
* Disk copy to protect or transfer data.
* Support disk and partition size larger than 2 TB.
* Convert partition format from FAT to NTFS.
* Partition Copy – Copy the entire hard disk to another one.
* Copy Disk Wizard – Copy the entire hard disk to another one without windows reinstalling.
* Disk Map – Visually demonstrate your disk/partition configuration; preview the changes before applying.
* Hide/unhide partition, set active partition, Change partition properties.
* Explore FAT/NTFS partition.

Partition Wizard Home Edition and Business Edition has two paid siblings that supports server operating systems such as Windows Server 200, 2003 and 2008 in both 32 and 64 bit flavors. Partition Wizard Server Edition (aff) (download trial version) costs $119.00 per license, and Partition Wizard Enterprise Edition (aff) (download trial version) costs $ 299.00 per license which allows unlimited usage within one company.
The Partition Wizard Home Edition is available for free download from here for home users only.

Firefox 3.5 provides you an additional way to open new tab. As similar with Internet Explorer 7/8, you can open new tab by clicking on the “+” sign as located at the end of tab bar. You probably don’t like this feature since you are already comfortable with the existing way of adding new tab, such as CTRL + T, double click on the empty tab bar area or right click on the tab bar and select New Tab. If you feel this feature doesn’t benefit much to you and you would like to remove the “+” sign button, you can do it by using simple trick.


RemoveAddButton

To remove the “+” sign button, you need to edit userChrome.css file and different windows OS stores this file at different location. Follow below steps to get this file edited:

1. For Windows 2000/XP, navigate to C:\Documents and Settings\[yourusername]\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\[profile.default]\chrome. For Windows Vista/7, navigate to C:\Users\[yourusername]\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\[profile.default]\chrome. Since Application Data is considered as hidden folder and if you don’t see it, then you need to go to Windows Explorer and click on Tools -> Folder Options, under View tab look for Hidden files and folders, then enable Show hidden files and folders. Alternatively, you can open Application Data folder directly by typing this syntax, “%APPDATA%” (without double quote) at Run and click OK button to open this folder directly.

2. If you have customized Firefox before, then probably you will have an existing userChrome.css file located at this folder, else just create a new file and named it as userChrome.css.

3. Open userChrome.css by using notepad, then add below string to this file. If you already have userChrome.css file created before, just add this string at the bottom of the file and save it.

.tabs-newtab-button {display: none;}

Once you have completed above changes, you need to restart Firefox. After restarting Firefox, you will notice the “+’ sign button has been removed.

Microsoft has finally opened its door for software developers from 29 supported countries to submit their applications to the Windows Marketplace for Mobile. The supported countries include Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong SAR, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, New Zealand, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and the United States.



The idea of Windows Marketplace for Mobile was introduced by Steve Ballmer at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona early of the year. The Windows Marketplace for Mobile commercially benefits both consumers and software developers. Consumers can browse and download applications via their Windows Mobile 6.5 phone from this digital mobile applicaiton store while developers can make use of the platform to showcase their idea and talent and publish as well as distribute their applications.

In conjunction with this event, the Redmond Company has also kicked off a “Race to Market Challenge” contest aiming to encourage more developers to participate and make submissions. Under this contest, developers will stand a chance to win a price in one of four categories: most downloaded free application, most valuable or moneymaking app (calculated by the number of downloads times price), the most useful product (judged by Microsoft panel), and the most playful (judged by Microsoft panel). Interested parties are required to submit their applications, games and widgets to the organizer before 31 December this year. Winners to this contest will be given a prize package inclusive of a Microsoft Surface table and developer kit, free online marketing and promotion of their application, plus a one-of-a-kind trophy. Of course, some developers might be a bit disappointed with the prizes given if you compare to other contests for developers, e.g. Google’s first Android Developer Challenge which gave away the following:

For each of the 10 categories, winners will get $100,000 for the first prize, $50,000 for the second prize and $25,000 for the third.
For overall (across all categories), users will get $150,000 for first prize, $50,000 for second prize and $25,000 for third prize.
Developers who are keen to take up the Race to Market Challenge contest can log in to the site via the link here. Users also can refer to Application Submission Guidelines and download the Windows Mobile 6.5 Developer Toolkit.

RIM (Research In Motion) has expanded its popular BlackBerry Curve series of smartphones with its new BlackBerry Curve 8520, which the company claims as the first BlackBerry smartphone to sport dedicated media keys that provides users an easy, convenient way to control their favorite music and videos, featuring rich multimedia capabilities and an innovative touch-sensitive optical trackpad navigation for easy scrolling through menus, icons and info.



“People increasingly expect a rich, diverse experience with their phones because they’re using them in new and different ways,” commented Travis Warren, director of product marketing, T-Mobile USA. “Adding the BlackBerry Curve 8520 to the T-Mobile line-up gives our customers a phone capable of helping bring balance to the chaotic demands of a busy professional and personal life

Impressive highlights of BlackBerry Curve 8520:

Clear 2.64-inch Transmisive TFT MCD with 320 x 240 pixel resolution
Highly tactile full QWERTY keyboard and touch-sensitive optical trackpad for reliable, responsive typing and navigation
Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR and voice activated dialing function
256MB Flash memory and next-generation 512Mhz processor for enhanced performance
2 megapixel camera with zoom and video recording capability
Advanced media player with dedicated media keys and 3.5 mm stereo headset jack
BlackBerry Media Sync to quickly sync music from iTunes or Windows Media Player with the smartphone
Integrated Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g) with support for T-Mobile Unlimited Hotspot Calling service
Easy mobile access to email, messaging (IM, SMS, MMS) as well as popular social networking sites (such as Facebook and MySpace)
BlackBerry Internet Service support for access to up to 10 supported email accounts, including Yahoo!, Windows Live Hotmail, AOL and Gmail
BlackBerry Enterprise Server support provides advanced security and IT administration features for corporate deployments
MicroSD/SDHC memory card slot supports up to 16 GB
Supports BlackBerry App World
1150 mAHr cryptographic Lithium cell battery supports up to 4.5 hours of talk time or up to 17 days of standby time
Size: 4.29 (H) x 2.36 (W) x 0.54 (D) inches ; Weight: 3.73 ounces (106 grams)
“More and more cell phone users are choosing to upgrade to a smartphone and the new BlackBerry Curve 8520 will undoubtedly convince many more people to make the switch. It delivers all the great messaging, social networking and multimedia features that have made BlackBerry the top-selling smartphone brand in the United States,” said Carlo Chiarello, vice president, product management, RIM. “T-Mobile customers are going to love how easy it is to keep in touch on Facebook and MySpace and the full-QWERTY keyboard is amazingly fast and comfortable for typing on the go.”

The new slim BlackBerry Curve 8520 smartphone that available in black and frost colors will hit T-Mobile retail stores, Walmart Stores and select authorized dealers starting August 5, 2009 for around $130 on a 2-year service contract.

Web pages normally contain lot of advertisements, images, empty spaces and other junk data, so web printing could result in waste of paper, ink, money and not environmental friendly. Previously PrintWhatYouLike is another, that serves as a free online editor to let you format web pages and only print on what you like to see, now there is another utility, named as Printee that works as add-on for Internet Explorer to allow you pick, edit and print web page according to what you like it to be printed.



Printee is a web printing tool for Internet Explorer. Once you have gotten it installed, you will notice that when you right click on any web page content, an orange toolbox will be displayed on IE toolbar. This toolbox is called as IE toolbox which you can use those features available here to edit web page content to just what you like. Alternatively, you can display IE toolbox by clicking on green “Printee” button , which appears as toolbar button. If you don’t see the green “Printee” button appears as toolbar button, you can always add it by right clicking on IE toolbar and then choose Customize, under Available toolbar buttons list, look for IE Toolbox and then add it to the current toolbar buttons list.


The IE toolbox contains features such as Pick to remain the selected area and other areas which are not selected will be disappeared, Del to delete elements of the selected area, Fit to adjust the contents of the current selected area to the appropriate width, increase or decrease font size, remove background and unwanted images, print preview and etc.

Printee 1.5.1 is absolutely free to download and works well for IE6/IE/7/IE8. Consumes only 1.35MB of your hard disk space, the utility is compatible to run on Windows 2000/2003 and XP.

McAfee Internet Security 2009 is a comprehensive and easy-to-use internet security solution package for Windows OS based computers. The security package generally covers four main areas of protection: computer & files, internet & network, email & instant messenger, and parental control. The built in features include anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-spam, anti-phishing, two-way Firewall, web site safety ratings, identity Protection, parental Controls and data Backup. With this powerful features, the security software will give users a peace of mind against cybercriminals, spyware, hackers, etc when browsing the internet.



McAfee Internet Security 2009 costs $69.99 if users intend to purchase the complete package online from McAfee site. However, the security software developer offers users who are willing to try up its McAfee Internet Security 2009 a 30-day trial. The same offer has been extended to 6 months in some countries such as Malaysia, Philippine, etc if users are Lenovo laptops users who have registered with Lenovo.

If users refuse to spend money but prefer a longer period of trying instead of the standard one month period, users can grab the promotion offered by McAfee UK site. McAfee UK via its promotional page offers a full McAfee Internet Security 2009 completion version with license for 3 months or 90 days with full updates and support during the free period. To enjoy this special promotion, even though it is only for three months, users can login to the promotional page, fill in relevant information and they will be directed to the full download of the security software which will work only for 3 months.

The increase of the PDF format’s popularity has simultaneously increased the demand for the free Adobe Reader by the famous Adobe software. The high demand of Adobe Reader program has triggered attention from hackers. The chief research officer of the famous Finnish security expert F-Secure, Mikko Hypponen, has highlighted in the recent RSA Conference 2009 in San Francisco that Adobe Reader has replaced Microsoft Word to become the popular target attack by hackers. Mikko Hypponen has recommended that users should consider using other alternative programs instead to read and view PDF files.

According to Mikko Hypponen, of the targeted attacks so far this year, more than 47 percent of them exploit holes in Acrobat Reader while six vulnerabilities have been discovered that target the program. This is a critical figure indicating serious security problem in this program. Mikko Hypponen also added that in 2008, the favored targeted attack vector was Microsoft Word, which had 15 known vulnerabilities (compared to Acrobat Reader’s 19) and which represented 34.5 percent of the attacks (compared to 28.6 percent for Acrobat Reader).

Adobe Reader is amongst the popular and favorite tools used by many users which include businessmen, politicians and also many high-ranking individuals. The vulnerable security of the program will cause substantial damages if it is not managed and overcome immediately. Hackers might make use of the vulnerabilities and access high ranking individuals’ systems to steal important documents or spy on their PCs.

Users are advised to update their Adobe Reader from time to time to make sure important security updates have been installed to their version. Hypponen did not recommend a PDF reader, but said Acrobat Reader alternatives are listed on the PDFReaders.org Web site. Readers can refer to our earlier post highlighting on some alternatives to Adobe Reader which they can also consider.

Have you ever wanted to jot something down while reading? While the traditional pen and paper allow you to do that, the e-reader only displays pages on an electronic screen without allowing you to write anything. Samsung Electronics’ new product is set to change that.


Samsung_SNE-50K

Formerly known as Papyrus, the newly named SNE-50K reader is an all-in-one device It not only allows users to read text files, PDFs, and Microsoft Office documents in BMP graphic format, it also allows users to write memos, view calendars, record appointments, and plan schedules. It comes equipped with a 5-inch touchscreen display and an accompanying stylus pen. The 6.5-ounce e-reader has a memory of 512 MB with a screen resolution of 600 x 800 pixels.

Samsung has paired up with South Korea’s Kyobo Bookstore Company which has 2500 titles in e-book format thus far. New titles not available as e-books in Kyobo can be requested online via Kyobo’s website. Samsung is also seeking to collaborate with other book publishers to package new books for the e-reader. The SNE-50K reader is currently only available in South Korea for about $270 though there are plans to market the device in other countries in the future.

Does your PC powerful enough for you to play the latest games with complicated multimedia effects? The expert in building high performance custom computers for gaming, ManiGear Computer has announced its latest eX-L 18 notebook which claims to be the world’s most powerful gaming notebook.



The notebook has been enhanced with dual NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 graphics with NVIDIA SLI technology for bringing the games and multimedia to life with brilliant 3D graphics and movies in 1080p HD resolution. NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280M GPUs are the fastest GeForce notebook GPUs ever.

“MainGear has equipped the eX-L 18 with the world’s fastest notebook graphics solution,” said by Rene Hass, General Manager of the notebook business unit at NVIDIA. “With NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280M GPUs, MainGear’s customers will experience breathtaking in gaming physics from titles such as Terminator Salvation or Darkest of Days and are ready for GPU computing applications such as Badaboom, vReveal and Arcsoft SimHD.”

Powered by Intel Core 2 mobile processor, the eX-L 18 notebook is also comes with up to three 2.5-inch SATA or SSD drives that configurable in RAID formations, supports eSATA, HDMI, USB 2.0 and FireWire. Besides, it also equipped with 3-megapixel video camera to provide high definition video conferencing.

With the increasing demand for mobile high performance computing solutions, we wanted to offer our customers with the most powerful gaming desktop replacement possible” said by Wallace Santos, CEO and Founder of MAINGEAR. “With the co-processing power of the Intel Core 2 CPU and dual NVIDIA GPUs, you’re able to get the same cutting edge technology available to desktop users in a balanced computing configuration that is ideal for today’s GPU computing environment.”

The eX-L 18 powerful gaming notebook will be available for the base price of $2999.

Wireless Technology has becomes one of the most preferred LAN (Local Area Network) with its easy interoperability and setup without the need to run cables across multiple rooms. While most of today’s mobile computing device has came with it but in case there is not, here is a quick solution from KDDI with its add-on Micro SD form factor card that enable the wireless 802.11b/g technology on any conventional system as long as there is Micro SD slot.



There are two different manufacturers’ modules, one is AR6002 from Mitsumi Electric utilizing famous Atheros technology and another one is KS3021 from Renesas Technology that utilizing its own baseband technology. Both these chips are embedded into Micro SD card and users can simply plug into their mobile devices to start enjoy the seamless internet connectivity by accessing to access points as long as there is coverage. In terms of appearance, both appear to be similar with actual measurement of around 11 X 16 X 0.7mm enhanced with a transceiver antenna just like other RF devices. Just imagine, now the new WiFi card can work like Eye-Fi technology once it has been plugged into mobile device without the need to upgrade the whole hardware system.

The WLAN capable micro SD cards were exhibited during Wireless Japan 2009 event held from July 22-24th in Tokyo. However, no pricing and availability yet but we should expect it to reach consumer market soon.

Nowadays technology convergence is a huge trend with more functions being integrated into a single device. Similar happens to Apple Inc’s products that have been aggressively developed with more and more features added to be able to stand out from the crowd. And obviously, this trend seems to have gradually taken away its ‘traditional’ iPod series from the market space. One of the major reasons was due to its own hot selling iPhone and iPod touch that cannibalize its lower end iPod products such as nano, shuffle as well as classic series.



The situation is understandable as consumers are expecting a single device that can do everything and obviously, iPod series’ role as MP3 players no longer seems to be competitive. Instead of purchasing few gadgets individually, consumers rather spend more to get an all-in-one device that also simplifies the need to carry few gadgets while on the move. Regardless of what it is, Apple Inc is believed to still occupying 70 percent of MP3 players in this competitive market space.

The cannibalization is quite common especially in fast and dynamic market segments and another example is the giant chipmaker, Intel was also believed to have cannibalizing its entry level and middle range notebook processors sales with its famous Atom processors released into the market.

Apple has released a new version of iTunes 8.2.1 which breaks and disables the Media Sync feature in Palm Pre. Prior to iTunes 8.2.1, Palm Pre users on PC or Mac can seamlessly synchronizing with Apple’s iTunes media management software for multimedia audio and video files stored in iTunes, but the iTunes synchronization function stops and cuts off once user upgrade to iTunes 8.2.1.

Palm Pre users who encounter the cannot or unable to sync with iTunes 8.2.1 can now download the Palm webOS 1.1 firmware OS update to fix and re-enable the Media Sync native capability with iTunes 8.2.1, according to Palm blog. Along with the patch to restore Media Sync with iTunes, webOS 1.1.0 also includes new application and several bug fixes or features enhancements, in addition to address several security issues. The full list of changelog for webOS 1.1 is available here, but the highlight Among them are:

NFL Mobile Live from Sprint for watching and listening to live NFL games right on your phone.
The Photos application opens more quickly when launched from the camera.
Palm’s EAS implementation now supports several Exchange ActiveSync Policies, including PIN/Password required, inactivity timeout, and Remote Wipe.
User can enter emoticons in new text, multimedia, and instant messages. Emoticons also display in incoming messages.
User can now answer a second incoming call if you have Secure Unlock turned on.
Resolves an issue preventing media sync from working with latest version of iTunes (8.2.1).
User can now use symbols from the symbols table (Sym Sym key icon + key) when you enter text into a web page dialog box.
Support for self-signed certificates with multiple common names has been added.
Interesting thing is that Palm enables the ability for Palm Pre or other mobile devices with Palm webOS to sync with iTunes by switching and mimicking (spoofing) its USB Product ID and Vendor ID to those of an Apple iPod. According to PreCentral, Palm Pre hack allowing itself to be identified as follow when the Pre is plugged into a PC or Mac whilst in Media Sync mode.

Product ID: 0×8002
Vendor ID: 0×05ac (Apple Inc.)
Version: 0.16
Manufacturer: Palm Inc.

In previous webOS versions, Palm only hacked Product ID which allowing Pre to identify itself as “mass storage device” named iPod. Apparently iTunes 8.2.1 also checks again Vendor ID and blocks all all devices that is not manufactured by Apple. Palm, in webOS 1.1.0, re-hack to spoof the Vendor ID to mimic Apple too.



Palm Pre user should receive automatic notification that webOS 1.1 software update is available to upgrade the smartphone. webOS 1.1. should restore Media Sync with iTunes natively, or else there are third-party applications that can still be used to sync iTunes with the Palm Pre device with previous versions of WebOS such as doubleTwist and The Missing Sync for Palm Pre (shareware and Mac only).

Some webmasters or bloggers like to have their web pages refresh or reload automatically after a period of time, either to increase the page views, or to increase the ads revenue that based on CPM model. The web pages can ask a web browser such as Firefox to automatically refresh a page after a given timeout by including the HTML element , or instruct web servers to send a Refresh: HTTP header.


The automatically refresh web pages feature can be annoying and irritating, can be disorienting due to sudden replacement of content, and probably a waste of bandwidth although some frequently and constantly updated content does deserve to be able to refresh automatically. If you’re not the one who in favor of web pages automatic refresh, it’s possible to disable, block and prevent web pages from auto refreshing in Firefox.

How to Stop and Block Web Pages from Auto Refresh or Reload in Firefox

In Firefox, go to Tools -> Options -> Advanced -> General -> Accessibility section, and then tick the check box labeled as Warn me when web sites try to redirect or reload the page.

Checking the option is equivalent to setting accessibility.blockautorefresh preference setting in about:config to True.



When the Block Auto Refresh option is enabled (set to True), automatic page refreshing request is blocked and ignored, instead, Firefox will displaying a message indicating the refresh and allowing the user to manually refresh the page.

To re-enable automatic page refresh, just untick and unselect the check box for Warn me when web sites try to redirect or reload the page option, or set accessibility.blockautorefresh preference setting in about:config to False.

Mozilla has recently released the latest version of its desktop email application, Thunderbird 3 Beta 3. The Thunderbird 3 Beta 3 is based on the Gecko 1.9.1.1 platform which including some major architecture changes to provide improved performance, stability, web capability, code simplification and sustainability.



Thunderbird 3 Beta 3 includes the following new features:

Double click or click enter on a mail message will now open that message in a New Tab window. Middle click on messages or folders will open them in a Tab in the background. When quitting Thunderbird, visible tabs will be saved and will be restored when you open Thunderbird the next time. There is also a new Tab menu on the Tab toolbar to help you switch between Tabs.
Selecting multiple messages will give the users a summary view of the emails that have selected.
The column headings that are displayed and the order in which they are displayed can now be set on a per-folder basis.
The folder pane offers a Smart Folders mode which combines special mailboxes (e.g. Inbox) from multiple accounts together.
Better recognition and integration of Gmail’s special folders such as Sent and Trash including non-English versions of Gmail. Thunderbird also uses All Mail as the Archives folder.
Before you upgrade, you may want to find out more about the new Thunderbird 3 with its release notes. Thunderbird 3 Beta 3 is available for free download from here which including all supported operating systems and interface languages.