Technology :: State of the Art

Mobile Internet Devices

2009-02-05T12:06:00.001+05:30

This one's Just for myself..
A reference to be read..

<LINK>

Trying New things with FireFox 2

2006-10-27T09:26:00.000+05:30

Let me test, if they work...
Wiating to see the same to pop up in my feed.. :)

Ever wondered whom to ask technical questions?

2006-10-11T17:57:00.000+05:30

Off late, struck with some obscure programming intricacies i had scrathed my head, rather been scrathing head to toe from dawn to dusk. Forget thinking about the antidote, i was unable to make out even an ounce of what the problem was all about, rather how profound the predicament really was, truly a behemothic bugaboo.

I really wondered as to whom to ask the quandary, and looked around for the most affable and not to mention an affordable digerati as well.No sooner i realized that its none other than my own(I bet yours too) OS, i marched ahead to post my poser to my beloved OS community.

Within no time, my OS community comrades came out with a succinct and discrete solution and blessed was i to get my much required cogent and precise solution, not just a solution but a real nostrum in a trice.

What had posed to be a brobdingnagian bugbear, merely turned to out to be an insignificant lilliputan issue. And definitely i can aver that there's only one turnkey solution that really adds to the miles of extra smile and gives a real feel good factor. Its none other than OS, ofcourse you guessed it right, its the OpenSource Community, not just Operating System anymore.

-- Believe me, its the experience that speakth.

Have you tried it? If not try right now! right here!!
Any Question? You Surely Got an Answer Here.

Ever Heard of SmokeTest Before?

2006-01-05T14:47:00.000+05:30

If not let me say, what Smoke Test is all about:

A rudimentary form of testing applied to electronic equipment following repair or reconfiguration, in which power is applied and the tester checks for sparks, smoke, or other dramatic signs of fundamental failure.

In the software world, the first run of a piece of software after construction or a critical change. Smoke Test is an entry to further testing. It generally consists of a suite of tests that can be applied to a newly created build (or even better, be performed automatically by the build system). The purpose of the smoketesting is to reveal fundamental failures or anything severe enough for the testers to reject the release.

There is an interesting semi-parallel to this term among typographers and printers: When new typefaces are being punch-cut by hand, a smoketest(hold the letter in candle smoke, then press it onto paper) is used to check out new dies.

The Mozilla QA team has announced a community test day with focus on smoketesting nightly Firefox 1.5.0.1 builds.
Litmus tool will be used for this testing event. There is a FAQ posted on the QA community wiki that will have specific instructions on how this testing day will run.

More:
Mozilla Firefox in the Coming Years

20-dollar mobile phones to arrive in 2007

2005-12-21T12:22:00.000+05:30

Mobile chip manufacturers have claimed that the lower segment of the mobile phones would get much cheaper in the coming times. Mobile phones costing USD 20 can become a reality by 2007 if we are to believe the claims. However, they are even planning to go lower with some models touching a low of USD 10 per unit.

Most of these mobile chip makers are planning to cut the costs of manufacturing a mobile phone by integrating as many parts of the circuit on a single chip which could cost as little as USD 5 in the coming years. This is crucial for the overall costing of the mobile phone as it helps the manufacturer to limit the number of components being included in a mobile phone unit.

Two things doest seem to be very clear here.

1. Lower Segment: In terms of quality or the features..???
If it is in terms of quality, ofcourse even the customers wont go for it!!

2. Helps the Manufacturer: The real question here is: Keeping in view the brand image(real relative of cost)..would the top mobile manufactures be really intersted in getting down to low cost mobile phones in the markets?? Rather put other way, will the manufactures be able to help such a low cost chip manufacturers?

As of, my personal opine is to opt for the simple, cheaper basic models,
though, the Opines are always liable to change :)

Link Here:
20$ Mobile Phones

IISc - The India's HotSpot for Innovation

2005-12-21T09:42:00.000+05:30

The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) wants to establish itself as one of the world’s premier technology centres on par with the America’s MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology).
Just as the wise adage goes: Better Late Than Never,
The IISc - Bangalore, too decides to take a leaping step in promoting the Commercial Spin-offs from its more PhDs., making a way for the young entrepreneurs.
Just the matter of few years, that world may as well see some Giant companies similar to that of the SUN and Googles' emerging from the IISc's...

Link Here:
India's Hotspot for Innovation
Visit IISc HomePage

C - One of the Best Programming Languages

2005-11-15T10:32:00.000+05:30

Shlomi Fish has written a new essay titled "When C is the Best? (Tool for the Job)". Its theme is giving several reasons (besides high speed and low memory consumption) why some code should still be written in C.

Each language is different and has it's own styles and quirks. A language provides a programmer with a set of conceptual tools and forms a platform (Launch vehicle) to carry out the tasks.

C (the portable assembly language) being simple, clean and as well a effective language to write/perform highly effeceint tasks is definitely the one of the best programming languages.
To be frank, its only C that provides thef scope to perform the ISR programs with ease and have lots of funny tricks. :).

Amphibious Houses

2005-11-11T15:03:00.000+05:30

This seems to be a Great Architecture indeed.

These Dutch houses are designed in such a way that they float if the ground they sit on gets flooded, rising along with the tidewater. Truly Amphibious!!...
Infact, the Dutch are gearing up for climate change with amphibious houses. If rivers rise above their banks, the houses rise upwards as well.

At first glance, they seem quite unremarkable. The cellar, in this case, is not built into the earth, but on a platform. The hollow foundation of each house works in the same way as the hull of a ship, buoying the structure up above water. To prevent the houses from floating away, they slide up two steel posts - and as the water level sinks, so they sink back down again.

"The columns have been driven deep into solid ground," explains Dick van Gooswilligen from the construction company. "They are even strong enough to withstand currents you would find on the open seas. As global warming causes the sea level to rise, this is the solution."

There would have been no damages, if this were to be followed in Mumbai,Chennai and Bangalore cities.
This can as well be propsed for the areas that run a high possiblity of getting affected by floods.

More:
Amphibious Houses

Archimidis Death Ray -The Preconceived Myth

2005-11-11T09:27:00.000+05:30

"During the siege of Syracuse in 212 BC, Archimedes made a burning glass to burn up the enemy Roman warships".

This happened to be one of the much debated Archimidis technology. Also recently caught sight in the MythBusters that busted the Archimidian Death Ray to be a myth.

Again Archimidis Wins, but this time its not the victory over the Roman War ships, but over those who preconceived it to be a myth and the MythBusters.

The Work from MIT definitely seems to put to an end for this controversial debate. The Effort is really worth the results.

See the Video.
Video of the Test

Links:
Archimidis Death Ray Principle
Death Ray - A Feasibility Testing from MIT

Carbon Nanotubes that make the Ideal Diodes

2005-08-20T18:14:00.000+05:30

Gone are the days of the p-n junction silicon and germaniun diodes, now its the Carbon Era.
So far believed to be impossible to generate a carbon nanotube diodes, is now at hands.

A physicist (Ji Ung Lee of GE Global Research in New York ) has made the best ever p-n junction diode from a carbon nanotube. The current-voltage characteristics of the device exhibit an "ideality factor" of one, which is the maximum possible value for any diode. The new diode could have applications in electronics, sensors and photovoltaics.

The feature sizes in conventional microelectronic circuits are getting smaller and smaller and look set to reach the limit imposed by the fundamental properties of silicon in a decade or so. The semiconducting properties of carbon nanotubes - rolled up sheets of graphite just nanometres in diameter - make them a promising alternative to silicon, and nanotubes have already been used to fabricate a variety of electronic components, including diodes and field-effect transistors.

More At : Physics Web

Universe May not be, but Our Solar System Is Growing Bigger

2005-08-20T18:04:00.000+05:30

Astronomers believe to have discovered the so called tenth planet in our solar system, believed to be about nearly 100 times further from the sun, than that of our Earth.
The Planet is named to be "2003 UB313". Whats the funda behind this name is still not clear.
It all depends on the astronomical community, that either can accept or decline the 2003 UB313 as a planet.
Hope for the Best.

More At:
Physics Web

New Look for Hydrogen Storage

2005-07-24T15:07:00.000+05:30

A new technique for storing hydrogen has been proposed by scientists in Canada and Germany. The method, which involves storing the gas between layers of graphite just nanometres deep, could help in the quest for practical hydrogen-storage devices for fuel cells.
Graphite can store hydrogen better than other materials, such as carbon nanotubes, because it is cheap, non-toxic and easy to prepare.

According to their calculations, thin layers of graphite or graphene -- two-dimensional sheets of carbon atoms -- spaced between 6 and 7 Angstroms apart can store hydrogen at room temperature and moderate pressures of just 10 MPa.

Complete Article

The Linux Desktop Distribution of the Future

2005-07-24T14:19:00.000+05:30

Here is a nice blog, that takes you through the small but adept tour of Linux.
Quiet Interesting, and worth sparing your time on it.

This is what the author had to say,
"This article is part of a four part series intended to provide some thought into how a future Linux Desktop might work. It is not intended to be a comprehensive essay, although all the concepts presented here are consider "doable" by the author."

Links for the articles.
Part 1:Linux and the Desktop Today
Part 2: Applications
Part 3: File Management
Part 4: The Desktop Interface

FIX YOUR FRIEND'S COMPUTER. Over The Internet!

2005-07-24T13:23:00.000+05:30

This is What the Home Page has to say about their Product.

"The Fog Creek Copilot^SM service allows people to help their friends, relatives, and customers fix their computer problems by connecting to their computers via the Internet.

Unlike other remote assistance services, Fog Creek Copilot is easy to use, works through any home or office firewall, and requires no installation or configuration."

Offers first Five Minutes Service to be Free.

Tyr it to believe it.

KOffice 1.4 suite - The Real Complete Office Suite

2005-07-24T12:51:00.000+05:30

The KDE Project released version 1.4 of its KOffice office productivity suite last week, adding two new applications, integrating support for new standards, improving interoperability with other office applications, and making a LiveCD version available.

The KOffice 1.4 suite claims to be "lightweight, yet feature-rich," and cooperative with Microsoft Office and OpenOffice.org. Also, though the integration will not be complete until the next release, KOffice 1.4 offers some support for OASIS's OpenDocument format.

The applications currently included in the KOffice 1.4 suite are:

KWord frame-based word processor
KSPread spreadsheet application
KPresenter presentation program
Kivio Visio-style flowcharting application
Karbon14 vector drawing application
Kugar report generator
KChart graph and chart drawing tool
KFormula formula editor
KPlato - A project management application
Krita (image manipulation application) and
Kexi (data management application).
Filters - (Many Import and Export Filters )

More information on KOffice 1.4
Linux Download Station

Mozilla extinguishes Firefox Security Flares.

2005-07-24T12:28:00.000+05:30

The Mozilla Foundation updated the Firefox Web browser in order to patch a series of security vulnerabilities, including widely publicized browser spoofing issue and a frame-injection issue.

Mozilla has released Firefox 1.0.5 and plans to follow it with new versions of its Thunderbird email client and namesake browser application suite on Wednesday, said Chris Hofmann, Mozilla's director of engineering.

The Firefox update fixes 11 security issues discovered both by outside security researchers and from Mozilla's own Security Bug Bounty Program, which offers a $500 reward for reporting bugs.

Hofmann said that Mozilla knows of no exploits of the security vulnerabilities patched in Firefox 1.0.5.

Among the vulnerabilities plugged in Firefox 1.0.5 is a browser spoofing issue reported last month by security researcher Secunia. The spoofing vulnerability, which affected all major browsers, could aid scammers in successfully launching phishing attacks.

Mozilla Firefox on ramp with its Latest 1.0.6 Web Browser - A Stability Update.

More:
Firefox 1.0.6 Release Notes
Download Firefox 1.0.6
Update:
Download Firefox 1.0.7 ( WinXp/2k Users)
Download Firefox 1.0.7 (Mac OS X)
Download Firefox 1.0.7 (Linux)

Verical Farming - The Right Choice

2005-07-21T14:15:00.000+05:30

It took humans 10,000 years to learn how to grow most of the crops we now take for granted. Along the way, we despoiled most of the land we worked, often turning verdant, natural ecozones into semi-arid deserts. Over 60% of the human population now lives vertically in cities.
The time has arrived for us to learn how to grow our food that way, too. If we do not, then in just another 50 years, 3 billion people will surely go hungry, and the world will be a very unpleasant place in which to live.

This well-developed project from Columbia University walks through the realities, possibilities and constraints of multi-storey, urban, high-rise farming:

Link : An Essay on Vertical Farming

Computer and Emotions, may soon be a reality

2005-06-26T17:12:00.000+05:30

A computer character, capable of realistic emotional expressions may soon be incorporated into working applications.

The research team in the Information Society Technologies (IST) project ERMIS created a prototype able to analyse and respond to user input.

In the analysis phase, the team extracted some 400 features of common speech, then selected around 20-25 as the most important in expressing emotion. These terms were then fed into a neural network architecture that combined all the different speech, paralinguistic and facial communications features. For facial expression, some 19 were selected as the most relevant and were input accordingly.

More Details

Pure Logix - Clean and Safe Water

2005-06-26T17:08:00.000+05:30

A purification system that is designed to remove viruses, bacteria, parasites, pesticides and heavy metals from water could provide developing nations with a low-cost, sustainable supply of safe drinking water, its UK maker claims.

Recent data from the World Health Organisation suggests that up to 3,000 children die each day through consumption of polluted water. The Aqualogix, invented by Essex firm Ashton Industrial, can produce 5,000 litres of drinking water daily from surface water sources such as lakes and rivers — enough to sustain 1,000 people.

It can also process brackish water into fresh water for drinking and irrigation. It does not require a power supply or chemicals and can be operated using a foot pump or connected to a vehicle battery or solar power system.

The device uses Ultra-Filtration (UF) to remove impurities. Water is strained through a sieve to capture weeds and coarse matter, then passed through an Active Carbon filter impregnated with tiny amounts of silver to prevent bacterial growth. This improves taste and removes pesticides, herbicides and nitrates.

Know More

Mobile pollution warning!!!

2005-06-26T17:00:00.000+05:30

Hold on, this is not the pollution due to mobiles, but its the mobiles that assist, in knowing the pollution.
Here is the Report from UK.

Making Bridges Last

2005-06-26T16:56:00.000+05:30

University experts have studied one of Britain’s most prominent landmarks in a bid to discover how the latest satellite technology could make bridges last longer and remain safe for motorists, pedestrians and cyclists.

The team from The University of Nottingham’s Institute of Engineering Surveying and Space Geodesy (IESSG) and Brunel University spent 48 hours on the Forth Road Bridge, which links the Lothians to Fife in Scotland, to find out how the bridge’s movements were affected by both heavy traffic and other environmental factors like the wind.

Their findings could enable engineers to assess whether bridges that were built decades ago are still safe to be used by traffic and if they need to be modified to prolong their lifespan.

More:
Article in Depth

Segate to Provide Encrypted Laptop Hard Drives

2005-06-26T14:24:00.000+05:30

For those reliant on laptops for work, data security can often be an issue, especially if the laptop is stolen. Various third-party encryption tools are available, but Seagate looks to one-up them with its new Hardware-Based Full Disc Encryption (FDE). Slated to begin shipping in 2006, the drives automatically encrypt data as it is written to the drive.

Seagate will offer hardware-based full disc encryption technology on its new Momentus FDE family of hard drives, providing the industry's strongest protection against unauthorized access to data on stolen or retired notebook PCs. FDE technology requires only a user key to encrypt all data, not just selected files or partitions, on the drive.

FDE uses Triple DES to do the job and will be available on its Momentus 5400 2.5" hard drives for laptops in sizes ranging from 40GB to 120GB. Seagate also claims the drives will have performance identical to other 5400 rpm drives without the built-in encryption. Pricing has not been announced, but expect to pay a premium for the FDE drives.

Firefox Browser Keeps Growing

2005-06-26T14:03:00.000+05:30

"The message for Web masters is clear: Make sure your Web site is compatible with Firefox, because more and more of your visitors are using it to go to your Web site," said Dan Shapero of NetApplications.com, an Aliso Viejo, Calif., maker of applications for monitoring and measuring Web site usage.

The Firefox browser of California's Mozilla Foundation, which competes with Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) Internet Explorer, gained market share last month.

Firefox's market share rose to 8 percent in May, up from 7.38 percent in April, while Internet Explorer's market share fell 0.77 percent to 87.23 percent, IDG News Service reported today.

Firefox has been consistently boosting its market share by 0.5 percent to 1 percent each month.

More:
Mozilla Firefox 1.0.5 and Thunderbird Test Builds Available
Mozilla Quality Assurance Weblog Launched
First Beta of RISC OS Mozilla FireFox Port Released

Linux Muscles Into Microsoft's Space

2005-06-26T13:49:00.000+05:30

How can migrating businesses be sure that the security and reliability of their networks will, at the very least, stay intact? Looking at some facts and figures provides a good start. In the past few years, Microsoft has experienced near-catastrophic exploitations with the MyDoom, Nimda and MS Blaster worms.

With Linux, the uptime is high, the price is low, and the flexibility is amazing.

More:
Microsoft Cuts of Sybari Sales to Linux,Unix
Updates from TechNewsWorld

FireFox Configurations - Tips and Tricks

2005-06-26T13:33:00.000+05:30

Firefox fans, both new and old, may benefit from a few tips that appear in an article published by PCMag.com. Author Sarah Pike takes you step-by-step through a handful of nifty features and configurations you may not have noticed before.

Pike explains a few easy-to-overlook Firefox basics, like the red "Update" icon, which appears in the upper right-hand corner only when an update is available.

Pike also covers two ways to manually update the Firefox web browser and associated themes and extensions, plus how to import data from other web browsers (wholesale or selectively), and how to set multiple home pages (it's as easy as typing "|" between a string of URLs).

Additionally, Pike discusses RSS feeds, recommendations for wrangling bookmarks, and a few settings that theoretically give Firefox a bit more speed. Perhaps best of all, Pike points the way to a few about:config resources, for help with everything else you might want to tinker with.

Visit PCMag.com to learn a few Firefox tricks.

Google - Summer of Code

2005-06-26T13:17:00.000+05:30

Google's "Summer of Code" program, designed to introduce students to the world of open source software development.
Google has chosen 410 projects (out of over 8000 proposed) for sponsorship. Over 100 appear to be related to Open Source desktop software.
The results include 24 from KDE, 12 from GNOME, 15 from GAIM, 10 each from OpenOffice and Mozilla, and many more. Specific projects haven't been announced yet, but Greg Stein from Google announced the breakdown to the "summer-discuss" Google Group on a per-project basis.

Further details on Google's "Summer of Code" program are available here (PDF download).

More Updates to come Shortly.

Fedora Core turns four

2005-06-18T16:04:00.000+05:30

"It purrs. It hums. It mesmerizes," says the Fedora Project, in a message announcing the release of its completely Open Source Fedora Core 4 this week.

Fedora Core 4 hits the scene almost exactly one month after Fedora Core 4 Test 3 was set loose for testing. According to the announcement, Fedora Core 4 improves on Fedora Core 3 with the following:

Gnome 2.10
KDE 3.4
OpenOffice.org 2.0 pre-release
Support for PowerPC architecture

And, it's "100% unconditionally" free -- both as in speech, and as in beer.

Fedora Core 4 is available for download now via HTTP and BitTorrent from Red Hat and a number of mirrors world-wide. Drop by the Fedora Project to learn more.

For nealy a year i have been using the Fedora Core 2. I still love it. shall soon swith to FC 4.
FC4 - Download Station
Download Server

TUX magazine draws 50,000 subscribers by third issue

2005-06-18T15:56:00.000+05:30

Linux Journal's younger sibling TUX magazine, "The first and only magazine for the new Linux user," published its third issue this month, along with word that the free "digital publication" has now surpassed 50,000 subscribers.

"Clearly a dire need existed for a publication like TUX, because its success has greatly exceeded our expectations," says TUX editor-in-chief, Nicholas Petreley. "The data show that Linux is growing rapidly on the desktop, even faster than MacOS," he adds. Petreley expects that growth to accelerate, now that there is a magazine dedicated to "average" desktop Linux users.

TUX is a monthly publication available as a downloadable PDF to subscribers. Subscription is free, requiring little more than a valid email address. Address, occupation, and other sensitive data are optional, and not required.

SUBSCRIBE NOW:

SLYNUX Can Now Be Downloaded!

2005-06-18T15:45:00.000+05:30

SLYNUX Can Now Be Downloaded!

Last month CXOtoday carried the breaking story of grit and determination of Kerala-based, 15-year old Sarath Lakshman who overcoming all odds developed SLYNUX- a highly user-friendly GNU/Linux operating system designed for beginners.

For all those who came in late, SLYNUX is a live Linux distribution, which includes content of about 2GB made available by using transparent compression. This is a debian based GNU/Linux developed from Knoppix (credit of most features of this Distro goes to knoppix). 256 MB Ram is recommended to run SLYNUX Live CD for good performance.

The desktop of this operating system is arranged so as to make it friendly to the user. It comes with a wide range of application programs, which are pre-installed. It can be run completely from CD without installation with options of installing a hard disk.

According to Lakshman, his current Web space sponsor has refused to host the SLYNUX.ISO file. So, the teenager is hunting for some Web space.
For those interested in trying this distro, SLYNUX is now available for download.

HP Ships More Than 1 Million Linux Servers

2005-06-18T15:38:00.000+05:30

HP Ships More Than 1 Million Linux Servers

HP has announced that it has set an industry-first milestone by shipping more than one million Linux servers to customers since 1998, 45% more than any other major hardware vendor.

According to the company, HP has led the worldwide Linux server market for 29 consecutive quarters. In the first quarter of 2005, HP grew 2.5 percentage points faster than the market in units on a year-over-year basis.

It shipped nearly 10 times as many Linux servers as Sun, led IBM by almost 8 percentage points in quarterly revenue share and outpaced Dell in both units and revenue.

"The numbers don't lie. Customers are turning to HP for deploying integrated Linux and Open Source solutions," said Martin Fink, vice president and general manager, Open Source and Linux Organization, HP.

The company claims that it is focused on Linux and Open Source development and innovation in key areas such as blade solutions, desktop PCs and notebooks, enterprise servers, virtualization and consumer devices.

More:
Windows 2000 still holds the Charm for Users
Have patches become a routine for Microsoft customers?

VR3 the FM Modulator

2005-06-18T15:30:00.000+05:30

If you don't want to spend $200 for an iPod and FM transmitter, now you can get MP3 audio in your car for just $30 with the VR3. With a good capacity keychain flash drive (a 500MB stick costs just $45), you can load up lots of great audio for your car (500 MB = 8 hours of audio files, or 16 half-hour programs). If You Already own a flash drive, then You are more than halfway there. Plug the flash drive into your computer's USB port, copy over the downloaded files you want to listen to, and plug the drive into your VR3, which sits in your car's cigarette lighter port. The VR3 plays through your car's FM Tuner and is grounded, so the audio quality is as good as your car stereo, at least in my and my friends' cars. There is no shuffle; files play only sequentially. But the player holds its position when you turn the power off (at least in our cars) -- great for audio books.

The play/stop and skip forward, skip backward buttons are easy to find by feel, in case you can't see the device easily because of where it plugs in your car. If you do have an iPod, the VR3 comes with a wire for playing your iPod out into it as well. It's really a beautiful little tool.

VR3 FM Modulator $35
Available from
Next Power USA

Nokia, Apple Develop Open-Source, Mobile Web Browser

2005-06-14T16:51:00.000+05:30

Leading smartphone maker Nokia said it has worked with Apple to develop an open-source, mobile Web browser that uses many of the same elements found in Apple's Safari browser. Nokia said it has been working with the Macintosh computer maker to build a new browser for use in its highly popular Series 60 of hand-held devices and said the result would be a more robust Web-page viewing experience from mobile devices. The new browser will use the same open-source components that are the foundation of the Safari product, including WebCore and JavaScriptCore.

More:
Mac News World

G-Tek’s Linux-powered PWG500 cellphone

2005-06-04T16:38:00.000+05:30

Taiwanese manufacturer G-Tek isn’t all that well known, but they’re showing off a new cellphone called the PWG500 that runs on Linux and has an Intel PXA255 200MHz processor, 16MB of flash ROM, 8MB of RAM, quad-band GSM/GPRS, Bluetooth, 802.11b/g WiFi, and support for VoIP. What’s completely inexplicable is the phone’s miniscule LCD screen (just 96 x 64 pixels) and its lack of either MP3 playback software or a built-in digital camera. Should hit stores in Taiwan in either August or September.

More:
From Engadget

Nano Clusters - The NextGen Data Storage

2005-06-04T16:25:00.000+05:30

Toshiba and Samsung began producing 4GB 0.85-inch hard drives earlier this year, but that’s nothing compared with what researchers at Glasgow University are working on.
The team is developing nano-clusters — clusters of molecules 10,000 times thinner than a human hair — that they say could be used to create next-gen data-storage that could cram “10,000 more ‘storage units’ into a given area than is currently possible.”
That would pump that 0.85-inch drive up to 40TB. Deets are sketchy, so we’re taking a wait-and-see on this, but that won’t stop us from thinking about how we could fill all that space. Let’s see, that’s 10 million songs, 8,000 movies, and many many more …

Links:
Scottish Researches working on Nano-Clusters

Quake 4 - The God of All Games

2005-06-03T09:40:00.000+05:30

The trailer for Quake 4 is out.Quake 2 was too good to resist. Quake 3 the Best ever Death Match. Quake 4 looks even better. As befits a game made at the dawn of the era of perfect, on-the-fly photorealistic game engines, the thing just looks to incredibly badazz as to beggar the imagination.

But if the trailer is anything to judge by, the storyline and gameplay are every bit as good as the graphics (in Quake 4, you're still playing a space-marine hunting down evil alien cyborgs, but you're a cyborg yourself, tormented by the steel in your bones). I can't wait to play this.
Flash Here:: Link

Update: "GameTrailers.com usually has downloadable versions of game trailers only found on officials sites buried in Flash. There are three here, plus an exclusive interview in both QT & WMV."

Bio-Securty:: The Secured Road Ahead..?

2005-05-30T09:33:00.000+05:30

Iris scans and fingerprint identification will become commonplace for international travelers as these sophisticated biometrics supplant traditional airport security methods, a top Homeland Security official says. Is it really worth to have such a bio-metric security system?
More:
For Security, the Eyes Have It
Bio-Security Promising but Risky

Eleven steps to a better brain

2005-05-27T18:51:00.000+05:30

New Scientist provides a list of eleven ways to boost your brainpower--from smart drugs to more sleep to training your "working memory"--and surveys the research behind the claims.
From the article:
Until recently, a person's IQ - a measure of all kinds of mental problem-solving abilities, including spatial skills, memory and verbal reasoning - was thought to be a fixed commodity largely determined by genetics. But recent hints suggest that a very basic brain function called working memory might underlie our general intelligence, opening up the intriguing possibility that if you improve your working memory, you could boost your IQ too.
Working memory is the brain's short-term information storage system. It's a workbench for solving mental problems. For example if you calculate 73 - 6 + 7, your working memory will store the intermediate steps necessary to work out the answer. And the amount of information that the working memory can hold is strongly related to general intelligence.
A team led by Torkel Klingberg at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, has found signs that the neural systems that underlie working memory may grow in response to training. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scans, they measured the brain activity of adults before and after a working-memory training programme, which involved tasks such as memorising the positions of a series of dots on a grid. After five weeks of training, their brain activity had increased in the regions associated with this type of memory (Nature Neuroscience, vol 7, p 75).
Link:: Article

Euro-TV tuner-peripheral does everything and will shortly be illegal

2005-05-27T18:50:00.000+05:30

Amazing HDTV USB Peripheral.Plug this into your PC's USB and receive standard and high-def DVB television. Use your computer for a PVR, burn your favorite shows to DVD, and so on. May soon become the victim of DVB working Group.
A Snap

Various Supported Features....

* Supports any notebook PCs as well as desktop
* Bus-powered (No power adapter required)
* Small form-factor and fancy design which can fit even your pocket
* High resolution, crystal clear picture quality
* Provides ultimate picture quality experience on PC
* Crisp, clear picture quality even on LCD and low resolution monitor
* Record digital HDTV directly to your hard drive like a VCR
* Supports native mode .MPG capturing as well as “AS IS” transport stream format.
* Cut streaming files "on-the-fly" with the APP software
* Record one channel while watch another with FusionHDTV PCI
* USB application can run side by side with PCI
* Supports recording one channel while watch another if you already have FusionHDTV PCI.
* Supports fastest DVD/Divx conversion for burning and archiving
* Supports ultra fast native mode .MPG conversion
* Bundles DVD authoring and burning software

More:
Link (via Red Ferret Journal)
DVB:: Digital Video Broadcasting

Apple Cult and ISCON Bhatt!

2005-05-27T18:30:00.000+05:30

Krishnas vs Mac cultists toon

Really a Good one. Each praises his own Lord.Is it that Apple stole the Technology from ISCON?
This Joy of Tech strip made me chuckle -- Hare Krishnas telling of iPod-bearing Mac cultists for singing and dancing on their pitch. Aren't they Copy Cats?

More:
Link

Nokia: An Apostle in the OpenSource World

2005-05-26T12:10:00.000+05:30

Nokia said Wednesday( May 25 05), that its patented technology may be freely used in the Linux kernel, making the Finnish cell phone giant the newest computing company to begin offering intellectual property protections to open-source programmers.
Sun Microsystems may soon follow the same forover 500 patents of the Open Solaris Project.

Is it a Boon or bane to the OpenSource World?
At one end it widens the opportunities for the open souce world to get more out of these codes, at the other end it narrows down the creativity of the openSource World, by letting the OpenSource world to cribble down to these codes.

More At:
CNET News.Com
Patent Staments from Nokia

India The Land of Mysteries::Praying monkey in India

2005-05-26T11:59:00.000+05:30

No wonder, its the second time that i have come across this case in India.
Earlier it was in a small village near Gadag in Karnataka, and Now in a village of orissa.
In the former case, the monkey worshipped in the Hanumna(Monkey God) temple and fastened until death.
Now its the ape that apes the hindu rituals.

More Details from WEB 123India.com:: Praying Monkey in India

First Free OpenSouce JAVA IDE

2005-05-25T13:57:00.000+05:30

Sun and the NetBeans software Open Source community recently announced the availability of the NetBeans 4.1 IDE, the industry's first free, Open Source Java IDE, that offers complete Java platform support

More:
Full Report from CXOtoday.com
Download station
NetBeans Home

Disney - Virtual Magic Kingdom

2005-05-25T12:18:00.000+05:30

"Virtual Magic Kingdom" - Disneys free online multiplayer game with the awesome magic of disney theme parks from home. Now into its beta stage.
Experience the difference.
The Wiered part of it is that it remains closed during the morning sessions 10:00 to 3:30 IST.

The Screen Snapshot is here:

Link
Install and Play Now

How often do we Lie and Why?

2005-05-25T11:42:00.000+05:30

As compared to other species, the "Homo Sapiens" are the most fraudulent liars and deciets. Do we lie just because it works, or is there something beyod this, for which we portray ourselves as something other than what we are, with the tools of lie, fraud and deciet. Is this a act a boon or bane to the mankind?

More :
Natural Born-Liars
Why we Lie?
Darker side of the Human Nature

Boom in the Browsers: FireFox, Opera what about IE 7

2005-05-19T14:23:00.000+05:30

Since MS announced the tabbed browsing feature in IE 7, I am just waiting for MS IE 7, can it compete with the Outstanding Opera 8 and Fabulous FireFox 1.04.
Opera Software recently released version 8.00 of its eponymous Web browser. I found both Firefox and Opera are capable browsers and anytime better than the MS IE 6, and though they are very different, each has much to offer to any user.

More At: NewsForge brings the comparison of OPERA 8 and FireFox 1.0

Update MAY 24 05:
Pros and Cons of Opera and FireFox
Vote for the Best Browser

Update May 25 05:
Challenges for MS IE7
Who is the best when security Matters?
Linux More Secure than Windows?
MS Vs Linux: Is it War of Ideology?

software code for infringement

2005-05-19T11:02:00.000+05:30

Software houses can check whether the code they develop has copied even just one snippet of code from any of 38 million open source files, using a new product that relies on source code 'fingerprinting' to reduce the risk of getting sued.

The product from San Francisco-based Palamida promises to give customers a full understanding of the origin, version, location and licence of open source and other third party code in their software products and applications.

While open source software can be used in commercial products, vendors must comply with the licence terms. The risk of misuse was highlighted last month when the UK subsidiary of security software firm Fortinet settled a lawsuit over its alleged non-compliance with the terms of the General Public Licence (GPL), which underpins the distribution of most open source software. So any software house need to be aware of what third party code has been used in development projects.

Palamida's product checks for copying by searching against its massive database of open source files, pulled from 40,000 of the most commonly used open source projects. CEO Mark Tolliver says his company's database is the world's largest and that its product, IP AMPlifier 3.0, reduces software compliance efforts "from weeks to hours."

Annual subscriptions are not cheap: pricing ranges from $50,000 to $250,000, depending on the size of the buyer. This gets you software to scan for binary, source code, images, icons, text documents and XML, checking whether any of your resources were in fact cut 'n' pasted from elsewhere. It is looking for fingerprint matches – which can be given away by project names, licenses, licence texts, licensor information, project release numbers, or any of its billions of source code snippets.

The company says its Knowledge Repository is many terabytes in size. But a compression algorithm is applied to put this on a size more manageable for storing on the customer's system.

"We specifically designed the software to work behind our customers' firewall because early feedback from customers indicated that this is an incredibly sensitive area for them, and they would certainly feel uncomfortable about 'sending' their code to any server outside their firewalls," a company spokesperson told OUT-LAW. "The only communication the customer has with Palamida is that we send updates of the Compliance Library to the customer."

Susan McKiernan, an IT lawyer with Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind OUT-LAW.COM, said:

"There are only so many ways of writing the same instruction – so there is a good chance that software like this will flag matches where there has been no copying. There is no infringement if two people happen to write identical code independently – it's only a problem when one person copies another's work. But that is a common problem. So software like this may help with a firm's compliance efforts."

McKiernan added: "It's a clear indication of straightforward copying when the comments within code are duplicated, or better still, the errors. And that, presumably, is what will ring the alarm bells in this product."

More At :
The Register

Build Your Own Linux Home Theater PC

2005-05-19T10:01:00.000+05:30

If you have ever dreamed of building a home theatre PC, Extremetech has details on building a Linux-based system, and covers all the details of this epic journey. They did get the unit to run lots of features such as CDs, video, TV, weather, media libraries, guide viewing and show recording.
How worth is it as compared to getting a new HTPC?

Digital Authentication or Manual Authentication?

2005-05-19T09:45:00.000+05:30

Evolution of Cryptography: From Ceaser Text to RFID's to Vein Readers. What next?
Authenticate Yourself with nothing other than Yourself.

Fujitsu has announced that the University of Tokyo Hospital's room access security system will now use their contactless palm vein authentication technology. Palm veins are unique amongst individuals, and with the exception of size, don't change at all over one's lifetime. They offer more consistent readings throughout different environments and are not much affected by other factors like cold weather, injury and chafing. Since the unit is also contactless, its deployment makes perfect sense in a hospital, where you obviously want to try to touch as few surfaces as possible. We briefly mentioned a similar device last month, so it's neat to see them already hitting the mainstream.

More:
Press Release [Fujitsu via Medgadget]

Windows vs Linux: a modern desktop comparison

2005-05-16T12:26:00.000+05:30

Simple ignorance hampers the growth of desktop Linux. Few even recognize the name. Of those, some mistakenly believe Linux is as cold and utilitarian as the command line. But people who really know Linux, know that Linux can be warm and friendly like any other OS. And now, there's photographic proof.

The crew at OpenSourceVersus.com have assembled a collection of screenshots displaying the core functions of Windows XP, Ubuntu 5.04, and SuSE 9.3 (both run from LiveCDs) side by side. This useful collection of images illustrates that Linux is not just a toy for the slide rule set; normal people will want to use it, too.

See the screen shots and compare Windows XP, Ubuntu, and SuSE -- from the boot screen, to the trash can -- at OpenSourceVersus.com.

Booting up

For more comparisons on this topic click here.

Outlook 2003	Evolution 2.2.1.1	Kontact 1.1

E-Mail

MoreScreen Shots: OutLook Vs Evolution Vs Kontact

Blue-Ray Vs HD-DVD or Sony Vs Toshiba?

2005-05-13T13:31:00.000+05:30

The latest technology standards war intensified this week as Japanese electronics giants used a major Tokyo tech show to show off two technologies jostling for position in the high-capacity storage market - Blu-ray and HD DVD.

Both Blu-ray and HD DVD are designed to do the same thing - bring huge capacity to disks so that more information can be stored, played and recorded on them.

Blu-ray disks with 52GB (gigabytes) of capacity are already on sale, and eight-layered versions being developed will provide 200GB of storage.

Blu-ray boasts higher storage capacity than its competitor, but HD DVD backers cite the lower cost of producing their technology. They claim it will be cheaper with their products to put machines and disks into the market.

Toshiba said the 45GB disc has already won the approval of the DVD Forum, the DVD standard's governing body. The Forum has also approved Toshiba's dual-mode disc, which bonds a dual-layer DVD onto the back of a dual-layer HD DVD, allowing content providers to support current- and future-generation players with the same product. Toshiba announced the dual-mode disc, since when JVC has come up with a similar dual-mode

Its time to think and react. Will there be an end to the internal rivalry and will the media world settle down to one common unified format.

More:
Toshiba Unveils 45GB HD DVD
DVD Battle Hard To Quit
Toshiba's New DVD Can Store 12-Hour HD Video
More companies join HD-DVD/Blu-ray peace talks

Recent Update 23 May 05:

"TDK the new entrant for the DVD Standards War... May well be the Final Frontier"

TDK prototype Blu-ray Disc stores twice as much data

TDK has announced that they have developed a prototype Blu-Ray disc capable of storing twice as much data as the current version of the same format disc. In fact, they have also developed the technology, which enables them to write on it twice as fast. This would make it a perfect medium for taking backups of huge quantities of data.

TDK unveiled this disc at an exhibition and claimed that it can be written on with speeds reaching 72Mbit/s, which is double the 36Mbit/s rate for current Blu-ray Discs. For achieving this, TDK has used a more powerful laser and made changes to the material of the disc’s recording layer.

More At:
TechWhack News

Indian Company Shows Off Sub-$200 Laptop

2005-05-12T18:11:00.000+05:30

The Indian company which came out with the Simputer has now come with a PC which cost roughly INR 10,000; that's just about US $200. The project was backed by the Indian government R&D department Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)." Geo2677 points out an article on the low-cost computer at hinduonline.net and another at the Times of India, and writes "The new PC is Linux-based and has office applications, a browser and audio/video capabilities. With a keyboard that can be rolled up, it looks pretty sleek. A U.S. company is already using it in pilot projects, and many more have shown interest. The Indian government hopes that this will push the PC revolution to the masses. It aimed for home users and small businesses/shops. The PC penetration in India is very low, at a measly 13 million, due to the high costs involved.

More:
Hindu Online
Times of India
Simputer the Makers

3G mobiles switch on to Linux

2005-05-11T13:29:00.000+05:30

Mobile phone maker Qualcomm has revealed that it will add Linux support to its Mobile Station Modem chipsets, giving the open source operating system on the handset a further push.

Qualcomm plans to support Linux in its next-generation mobile phone chips in a move that will allow handset manufacturers to design new high-end 3G devices using the open-source platform and the CDMA digital wireless technology it created.

More:
Qualcomm Supports Linux on NextGen 3G Mobile Phones
3G Mobiles Switch on to Linux

Chip Maker Develops Denser Storage Method

2005-05-11T11:26:00.000+05:30

Is there any end to size limitations..?

Matrix Semiconductor plans to announce a breakthrough in one-gigabit chips.
The approach seems to be like storing data in an array of circuits stacked in up to four levels.
With smaller sizes and larger space.

More:
New York Times Report
Matrix Semiconductors

Self-referential multiple-choice test

2005-05-11T10:45:00.000+05:30

"This is a multiple-choice standardized test where (almost) all the questions are about the test itself. Since it's possible to get 20 out of 20, the test is actually a logic puzzle. And it's fun."

MoreOver There's only One Possible Set of Correct Answers.
Paper's Here:
Test Yourself Now
Interactive Version

IF You Fail to Find the Paper ThenTry Here:
TestPaper at My SPYMAC Forum

Verify Your answers with my Solutions:
My Solution at SPYMAC Blog
My Solution at SPYMAC Forum

Monkeys treat robot arm as bonus appendage

2005-05-11T10:01:00.000+05:30

Only recently though did the researchers discover that the monkey wasn't moving the arm in lieu of its real arm but rather that neurons in the brain had shifted to control the robot.

"Mikhail's analysis of the brain signals associated with use of the robotic and animals' actual arms revealed that the animal was simultaneously doing one thing with its own arm and something else with the robotic arm," (Nicolelis) said. "So, our hypothesis is that the adaptation of brain structures allows the expansion of capability to use an artificial appendage with no loss of function, because the animal can flip back and forth between using the two. Depending on the goal, the animal could use its own arm or the robotic arm, and in some cases both.

"This finding supports our theory that the brain has extraordinary abilities to adapt to incorporate artificial tools, whether directly controlled by the brain or through the appendages" said Nicolelis. "Our brain representations of the body are adaptable enough to incorporate any tools that we create to interact with the environment. This may include a robot appendage, but it may also include using a computer keyboard or a tennis racket. In any such case, the properties of this tool become incorporated into our neuronal 'space'," he said...

"From a philosophical point of view, we're saying that the sense of self is not limited to our capability for introspection, our sense of our body limits, and to the experiences we've accumulated," Nicolelis said. "It really incorporates every external device that we use to deal with the environment."

More:
Link
Journal of Neuroscience

Motorola announces nanotube displays

2005-05-11T09:52:00.000+05:30

NanoTechnology the revolution ahead

Motorola displayed a working prototype of its breakthrough carbon nanotube display this week, sparking rumors about the future of flat screens.

More:
Nano-Emissive Display (NED)
AtomTech - The Big Down
Intel: Silicon NanoTechnology

Firefox Vulnerable to Malicious Code Writers

2005-05-10T10:09:00.000+05:30

Security firm Secunia is reporting two "extremely critical" flaws in Mozilla's Firefox. The vulnerabilities can be exploited by malicious people who wish to take control of victims' computers. The Mozilla Foundation is aware of the two flaws. The organization said there are currently no known active exploits of these vulnerabilities, although a "proof of concept" has been reported. Mozilla said changes to its update Web service have been made to mitigate the risk of an exploit.

More:
FireFox Vulnerable
Two FireFox Security Flaws Lead To Exploit Potential
Exploit Code chases Two FireFox Flaws

Twelve New Moons for Saturn

2005-05-10T09:27:00.000+05:30

Adding the net count to 34 moons in all.
New studies support the theory that Saturn's moon Phoebe was captured from the outer solar system by the planet's gravitational pull rather than formed in place. The discovery gives scientists the chance to study an object that has not changed much since the birth of the solar system.
Astronomers trying to perfect a model for how the solar system formed got a dozen tiny steps closer to their goal last week, thanks to the discovery of 12 additional moons around Saturn.
Yet the mystery remains unresolved.

More:
Saturn's ODD Moon Out

Yahoo developing an audio search engine

2005-05-06T09:11:00.000+05:30

Web giant Yahoo is developing a search engine for finding downloadable songs and music data from across the Internet.

If Google's looking out for Image Search, Yahoo to reply with the audio songs search. This is the competition in true sense.

More:
Audio Search Engine
Yahoo readies iTunes rival for launch

Quantum physics to fox hackers

2005-05-05T13:58:00.000+05:30

Cryptography could secure VoIP and video communications

A scientific breakthrough means quantum cryptography could soon provide hack-proof security for voice-over IP and video communications.
Last week, IT researchers from Toshiba Research Europe, QinetiQ and US firm MagiQ, successfully demonstrated at a Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) event that the principles of quantum physics can be deployed to protect highly sensitive communications.

More:
Hack Proof Cryptogaphy Goes Quantum

Tuesday, June 21 -2005
Update :
The Hacker-Proof Network

World's First Stereographic Mapping Satellite

2005-05-05T11:12:00.000+05:30

Cartosat-1 attracts attention of four Countries
May 09 05
Cartosat-1 attracts attention of four Countries India recently launched two satellites into the space using a polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. One of these two was a remote sensing satellite named Cartosat-1.

India Successfully Launches the Pair of Satellites

The CARTOSAT-1, India's 11th remote sensing satellite, is expected to give further impetus to cadastral-level applications with its high resolution imageries. It carries two state-of-the-art panchromatic cameras that will take black and white stereoscopic pictures of the earth in the visible region of electromagnetic spectrum. It is the first satellite to carry two cameras to take 3-D images.

Complete Informations

India Launches World's First Stereo Imaging Satellite

India will today inaugurate a new launch pad at its Satish Dhawan space port near Chennai, on the south-east coast, by putting the world's first stereographic mapping satellite into orbit.
The most innovative feature of the 1.6-tonne Cartosat-1 is its pair of cameras, which will give stereo images of the earth's surface that can distinguish features down to 2.5 metres across. They will directly generate three-dimensional maps that have until now been achievable only indirectly, by combining data from a large number of satellite passes over the same place.

"Such a stereographic imaging system does not exist in the civil sector anywhere else," says Mr Nair, chairman of the Bangalore-based Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). "It will give information about heights that will be very useful in applications such as planning power lines." Cartosat-1 will join what is already the world's largest cluster of non-military remote sensing satellites. Six Indian spacecraft are already observing the earth with a wide range of instruments.

On Tuesday, Isro chairman G Madhavan Nair and other top space scientists offered prayers to Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala for the success of the launch. Models of the rocket and the Cartosat satellite were brought to the temple to seek the god’s blessings.

More:
India’s space program launches new satellite
Indian space rocket blasts off with two satellites - UPDATE

NOKIA N91 Music Phone

2005-05-05T11:02:00.000+05:30

Nokia Enters Music Cell Phone Fray with N91 Model

Friday - April 29, 2005

Mobile handset giant Nokia this week officially joined the music phone race whereby technology companies are hoping to produce hits by combining mobile phones with iPod-type music players. Nokia enters the fray with its N91 handset featuring a 4 GB hard drive and room for 3,000 songs. The company said the phone will offer users a connected music device featuring over-the-air access to operator music stores

More:
NOKIA N91

Panther Security

2005-05-05T10:54:00.000+05:30

Apple Releases Panther Security Update

Apple Computer has released Security Update 2005-005 for both desktop Client and Server versions of Mac OS X Panther. The updates address more than 20 security issues in Mac OS X 10.3.9.

The update includes fixes for Apache buffer overflow problems, AppKit issues with TIFF images, AppleScript, Bluetooth security issues, Finder, Help Viewer, LDAP, libXpm, lukemftpd, NetInfo (Server only), Server Admin (Server only), Terminal, VPN, and X11.

More:
APPLE News

MFC to aid for Clean Source of Power

2005-05-04T18:30:00.000+05:30

Hold On! Its not the Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC) but the Microbial Fuel Cells.
It might seem too good to be true, but Bruce Logan, professor of environmental engineering at Penn State University believes that the MFC's aid to the Cleaning up of wastewater and generating electricity at the same time.

More :
A Clean Source of Power

Web Communications Now A 'Breeze'

2005-05-04T14:01:00.000+05:30

Macromedia recently announced the immediate availability of a major new release of Macromedia Breeze that delivers high-impact online conferencing and collaborative Web communications everyone can access instantly.

Breeze 5 harnesses the ubiquity of Macromedia Flash Player with more than 500 million Internet users who can instantly enter an online meeting or access rich, on-demand presentations without the frustrating experiences and painful downloads associated with other Web communication systems.

According to the company, Breeze 5 enables enterprises to extend and integrate Web communications and conferencing, even inside a firewall. IT departments can deploy the solution enterprise-wide without changing existing client infrastructure because Flash Player is already deployed on multiple platforms, including Windows, Macintosh, and Linux.

More:
Macromedia updates Web conferencing tools
Macromedia Adds VoIP to Breeze 5

Google eyes better news searches

2005-05-04T13:51:00.000+05:30

Google is planning to improve online news searches. A patent filed in the US will allow stories to be ranked according to their quality, rather than just by relevance.

More:
Google news Goes for quality in its new Avatar
Google news to get Quality Updates
BBC: Google eyes better news searches
ZDNet: Goolge seeks all the news that's fit to search

Ada 2006 Draft ISO Standard Available

2005-05-04T10:33:00.000+05:30

Ada - a modern programming language designed for large, long-lived applications - and embedded systems in particular - is set to get some extensions in its next incarnation Ada 2006. There is a talk here, highlighting the most important changes (eg. cyclic type structures, Java-like interfaces, standardization of the Ravenscar tasking profile, container libraries, etc.). Updated drafts of the standard are available here. For general information about Ada there is a Wikibook Programming:Ada.

More:
ADA Wiki Book
Drafts

Darwin 8.0.1

2005-05-04T10:00:00.000+05:30

Darwin

Powered by Darwin Apple's open source projects allow developers to customize and enhance key Apple software. Through the open source model, Apple engineers and the open source community collaborate to create better, faster and more reliable products for our users.

Beneath the appealing, easy-to-use interface of Mac OS X is a rock-solid foundation that is engineered for stability, reliability, and performance. This foundation is a core operating system commonly known as Darwin. Darwin integrates a number of technologies, most importantly Mach 3.0, operating-system services based on 4.4BSD (Berkeley Software Distribution), high-performance networking facilities, and support for multiple integrated file systems.

More:
The source code for Darwin 8.0.1 is available via the web
Source Code
Release Notes
Darwin 8.0 Source Code
The sources for Darwin 8.0,corresponds to Mac OS X 10.4,
Source Code download

Is Open Source Illegal?

2005-05-04T09:40:00.000+05:30

Just Because You Dislike Open Source, Doesn't Mean It's Illegal.

It's weird how some people seem to think that because they don't like something or they can't figure out how to adjust to a changing marketplace, something must be illegal. Groklaw is picking apart a news article that seems to give a lot more credit to a bizarre lawsuit claiming that the concept of the GPL is invalid. Considering that the GPL is just a contractual agreement that no one is forced into using, it's hard to see how it can be invalid. The idea that the GPL is illegally "fixing prices" also seems somewhat laughable. All it really means it that this particular programmer hasn't figured out how to make money off of his own software. That's not because of something illegal going on, but his own failure to understand and react to the business environment.

More On this:
Anti Open Source Article
Bizarre Lawsuit

Quantum CryptoGraphy

2005-05-03T11:49:00.000+05:30

Voice and video streamed over the net could be made untappable thanks to a breakthrough by Toshiba.

Rural Indian Kids Still Learning Computers Quickly

2005-05-03T10:58:00.000+05:30

India and IT go Hand in Hand. Though the nation fails to provide food,shelter and other basic needs, it wont fail in providing the Computer knowledge.

While some have been complaining that kids without computer literate parents are at a disadvantage, studies in India have shown that might not be true. We first mentioned this experiment many years ago, when a researcher cut a hole in a wall and put a computer in it for street children and discovered that they could teach themselves to use computers very quickly. It appears the same guy is still at, going around to rural villages and giving out computers to see how quickly kids pick up the basics -- and discovering that it's rarely a problem. With a little bit of experimenting, the kids figure out all the basics. Of course, not everyone is enthusiastic about the program -- claiming that these kids need a lot more (food, medicine, etc.) before they need a computer. However, it does give hope that the idea of the "digital divide" for less than well-off children may not be that big a deal.

Go throught the BBC Article.

Life on Mars Likely

2005-05-03T09:34:00.000+05:30

No Wonder, that life does exist somewhere in the endless universe.
Soon it may be that we find the traces of life to be at the arms lenght from our planet.
Evidence is building to suggest biological processes might be operating on the red planet, and life on Mars, many scientists believe, is now more a likelihood than merely a possibility.

Tantalizing evidence is accumulating that suggests the red planet is alive, but incontrovertible proof is still lacking. And while the European Space Agency is keen to send a lander to find it, a history of failed life-finding missions at NASA makes Americans more cautious.

"The life on Mars issue has recently undergone a paradigm shift," said Ian Wright, an astrobiologist at the Planetary and Space Sciences Research Institute at the Open University in Britain, "to the extent now that one can talk about the possibility of present life on Mars without risking scientific suicide."

Formisano showed evidence of the presence of formaldehyde in the atmosphere. Formaldehyde is a breakdown product of methane, which was already known to be present in the Martian atmosphere, so in itself its presence is not so surprising. But Formisano measured formaldehyde at 130 parts per billion.

To astrobiologists it was an incredible claim. It means huge amounts of methane must be produced on Mars. (While methane lasts for hundreds of years in the atmosphere, formaldehyde lasts for only 7.5 hours.) "It requires that 2.5 million tons of methane are produced a year," said Formisano.

"There are three possible scenarios to explain the quantities: chemistry at the surface, caused by solar radiation; chemistry deep in the planet, caused by geothermal or hydrothermal activity; or life," he added.

And, with no known geological source of formaldehyde on Mars, it's clear where Formisano's suspicions lie.

"I believe there is extremely high probability that microbial subsurface life exists on Mars," he said, while acknowledging that although he believes in Martian life, he can't yet prove it.

"What will certainly be needed in the future is a drill on a lander and direct evidence of the existence of Archaea bacteria," Formisano said, adding that he intends to publish his data in a forthcoming issue of planetary science journal Icarus.

The European Space Agency certainly wants to send a rover to Mars, and was urged to do so at an international space workshop at Aston University in Birmingham, England, earlier this month. To get a lander on Mars will almost certainly require the involvement, at some level, of NASA.

But NASA has its own surface mission planned. Scheduled to arrive in late 2010, the Mars Science Laboratory rover will use an array of instruments to look for evidence of life.

Google's First Website

2005-05-02T09:44:00.000+05:30

This is really very interesting.
You can also discovere the founders (Larry & Sergey) eGroups board where they wrote about Google's startup site.

Take a look Today

Firefox Breaks 50,000,000 Barrier

2005-05-02T09:35:00.000+05:30

2005-04-29 8:58 AM PST The time when firefox hit the first landmark of 50,000,000 downloads.
To celeberate this the team has come up with spreading Firefox website.

Three cheers for Firefox! May it go on swiftly to 100,000,000!"

You can publish your own experience with Firefox usage.
Keep the great spreading stories coming to fifty@spreadfirefox.com.

Fortress: The Successor to Fortran?

2005-05-02T09:22:00.000+05:30

An anonymous reader writes "A draft specification of the Fortress language was recently released. Developed by Sun Microsystems as part of a DARPA-funded supercomputing initiative, Fortress is intended to be a successor to Fortran. Guy Steele, a co-author of Java and member of the Fortress development team, hopes that Fortress will to 'do for Fortran what Java did for C.' Steele admits that Java isn't probably the best choice for numerical computing, and that 'it's a mistake to try to make a programming language that is all things to all people... because the needs are so diverse.' Fortress has a number of interesting features, including support for Unicode characters in code, enabling code to look more like formal mathematical expressions. More information about Fortress is given in interview with Steele, and in a talk by Steele. There's also some interesting commentary on Fortress, including some commentary by a member of the Fortress development team, in response to two stories at the programming languages weblog Lambda the Ultimate."

More Informations

Draft Specifications
LAMDA The Ultimate

Build Your Own DVR

2005-05-02T09:12:00.000+05:30

"If you have an old computer that had been laying around for a while and are ready to spend a bit on hardware to make into a Digital Video Recorder, the article from Make magazine contains a step-by-step guide on building one.
The author spent $150 on TV card and $70 on BeyondTV PVR software." (And with a Linux-friendly capture card, MythTV would save the builder $70.)

Worth a try... Isnt it?

Artice:Make Magazine::Build Your own DVR

How Does The Computer Play Chess

2005-04-29T14:08:00.000+05:30

This is how a computer thinks when you play chess...Awsome!!

After looking at this. Probalby you 'll never regret of losing against a machine!!

Fedora Core 4

2005-04-29T13:31:00.000+05:30

In this article I take a look at Fedora Core 4 Test 2.

This review hints the changes from Fedora Core 3.

System used for review
CPU: AMD Athlon XP2500+ Barton
Motherboard: Gigabyte K7 Triton GA-7VM400M-P
Videocard: NVidia Geforce FX 5600XT
Memory: 1GB DDR-RAM
Storage: 120 GB HDD WD + 40 GB HDD Maxtor
Media: built-in sound card, 32X CD burner, 16X DVD-ROM drive, floppy drive, 4 USB ports back and 2 USB port front
Getting Fedora

There are various methods of obtaining Fedora Core: ISO, hard drive and Internet through HTTP, FTP. In this case, we will choose ISO method that involved burning a CD or DVD. Currently, "media check," which is a program that verifies if the CD/DVD is properly burned or does not have some defective issue is buggy so you should probably skip that step. I would recommended that you try it when the final release is available.
Installation

Anaconda, the graphical installer, has been cleaned up. Language selection has been moved to Package Management. Most of the packages that are no longer on the CD/DVD like XFCE, XMMS and Abiword have been transferred to the Extras repository. Included in this CD are:
GCJ, commonly known as free Java
Java development tools such as Jakarta
Eclipse native-built for Fedora.

Like previous releases, it is possible to change the type of installation: server, workstation, desktop or custom. Of course, once your selection has specified some default settings, you may subsequently customize the installation.

Since Fedora Core 3, LVM (Logical Volume Management) is the default partition with ext3 file system used for /boot path. The advantage of using LVM is its easy expansion size when adding a second hard drive.
First boot

The speed of the boot sequence of Fedora Core 4 Test 2 is a major improvement over Fedora Core 3. Default services such as ISDN and pcmcia won't boot if the associated hardware is not installed, reducing the boot time. The login screen appears almost instantly after these initial boots.
Desktop environment

GNOME: default theme is Clearlook which uses generic Gnome icons. The old Bluecurve theme is still available. Core 4 is using Gnome version 2.10. The top bar now has Applications, Places for accessing home folder, searching files and Desktop to set preferences and system.

KDE version is 3.4 is also installed. Some features like tooltips are disabled by default (users can active it on Control Panel). The default theme is Bluecurve. Some features like translucency and shadow are disabled by default. Control Panel has a new look.

XFCE, no longer on the Core repository, is available in the Extras repository. Latest version is 4.2.
New Applications:

Open Office 1.89: now split into different packages (Writer, Calc, Impress, Base, Draw). Users no longer have to remove the whole office if they simply want to replace a specific OpenOffice application. OpenOffice now uses GCJ as an alternative of Sun's Java.
Eclipse: a tool for creating Java applications.
Logical Volume Management: originally from Red Hat Enterprise 4, this application allows you to resize/add/remove LVM partitions. It is currently feature-incomplete.
Evince now replaces ggv as the new pdf reader.
Media

Fedora Core 4 Test uses open source audio/video formats such as ogg, wav. Due to its open source nature, Fedora Core does not include any proprietary formats. Not much change from Fedora Core 3 other than updated versions.
Package Manager

Yum is improved, which is noticeable by its speed. It now matches apt-get for rpm while keeping its advantage by supporting bi-architectural packages. Currently, no GUI is available for yum.

up2date is functional but has some bugs such as a "select all" function that won't select all packages and forward button disabled. Testers are suggested to use yum instead.
Overall

This test release is a major improvement over Fedora Core 3 in terms of speed. It is stable despite its test status which is a good sign for the final release.

USB and Linux

2005-04-28T16:15:00.000+05:30

USB stands for Universal Serial Bus and is a new technology theoretically capable of connecting a very large number of external devices on a computer. USB is intended primarily for low bandwidth (slow) components such as mice, keyboards, modems, joysticks, etc., but not fast devices like hard drives. USB has its benefits and its problems, which I will not go into depth about. Most computers have 2 USB ports. Some USB devices will have another port so that another USB device can be plugged into it. This is called "Daisy-Chaining". Otherwise you run out of ports quickly, in which case you may need a USB hub which will add more ports.
A computer interface with a maximum bandwidth of 1.5 Megabytes per second used for connecting computer peripherals such as printers, keyboards and scanners.

More on Linux USB

Linux:: The Self Evolving OS

2005-04-28T14:50:00.000+05:30

How about encouraging our fellow friends to switch to LINUX

Here are few good Links to set the ball rolling.

Linux in the Classroom: an Experience with Linux and Open-Source Software in an Educational Environment

Putting Linux in Classrooms around the World

Designing a Course in Linux System Administration

Nokia to launch phone that stores 3,000 songs

2005-04-28T11:44:00.000+05:30

Nokia on Wednesday announced a trio of new phones, including one that can store up to 3,000 songs.

The N91 has an integrated 4GB hard disk and supports digital music formats including MP3, M4A, AAC and WMA, Nokia said.

Additionally, the handset comes with a stereo headset with remote control. The N91, expected to ship by the end of the year, will also feature a 2-megapixel camera, e-mail support, a Web-browser and video-sharing capabilities, the device maker said.

The phone supports WCDMA, wireless local area networking and Bluetooth, and subscribers can shop at online music stores directly from the device, the company said. Users can synchronize the device with their computers via USB 2.0 and create and manage playlists that, in turn, can be shared with others via Bluetooth, e-mail or multimedia messaging.

Another new WCDMA handset from Nokia is the N70, a smart phone featuring a 2-megapixel camera, a flash and "front camera" for video calling, stereo FM radio, a digital music player, visual radio and 3D games. The camera has a "slide and shoot" design, in which the slide automatically activates the camera.

The handset's camera has an integrated flash, 20x zoom capability and other options. Video and photo from the camera can be transferred on to a PC; organized in a slideshow or album on the camera; or printed using a USB cable, Bluetooth or reduced-size dual voltage multimedia card. The device is expected to be available in the third quarter.

Lastly, the Finnish phone maker announced the N90, which features a 2-megapixel camera with autofocus and 20x digital zoom, an integrated flash, video capture with editing functions and Carl Zeiss optics, Nokia said. Carl Zeiss optics, named for the pioneering German optician, are used for projection and illumination.

The handset's rotating camera barrel is designed to let users shoot video, as well as pictures. When the main display is unfolded and twisted, the N90 can be used to shoot video in MP4 format.

The N90 also features different options for storing, sharing and printing photos and video clips, and it supports 3G functions such as two-way video calling, video streaming and Net surfing. It is a triband phone for GSM 900/1800/1900, EDGE and WCDMA networks.

Hot Spots in Neutron Stars

2005-04-28T11:31:00.000+05:30

Scientists have, for the first time, spied moving hot spots on the surfaces of neutron stars more than 500 light-years away from Earth. The results represent some of the first successful imaging of relatively small features--measuring less than 100 meters across--on such faraway stellar objects. The findings should help astronomers elucidate the thermal profiles of these extremely dense stars, which are comprised of neutrons and rotate quickly.

A team of researchers led by Andrea De Luca of the National Institute of Astrophysics in Milan studied three neutron stars dubbed PSR B0656-14, PSR B1055-52 and Geminga using the XMM-Newton satellite. The team analyzed data collected from 10 separate sections of the stars and found noticeable variations in temperature. The hot spots ranged in size from that of a football field to an area the size of an entire golf course. The temperature anomalies could be related to the stars' polar regions, the authors posit, although it remains unclear why the hot spots come in such a plethora of sizes.

Technology and Usefulness..?

2005-04-28T11:20:00.000+05:30

Is Technology Outpacing Usefulness?

Microsoft's top researcher Richard F. Rashid speculates that "technology in some ways is outpacing people's ability to use it meaningfully." Citing the accelerating creation of digital detritus that our increasingly tech-centric lives create, Rashid claims that the data created is well ahead of any meaningful use for it. Is this really a problem? Don't the uses for technology usually follow its availability? True, there will always be futurists that try and predict what will be, but practical applications of technologies usually lag technical feasibility.

Open Source Report Generator

2005-04-28T09:58:00.000+05:30

OpenMFG, the makers of open source ERP software, have released OpenRPT, a report writer for ad-hoc Web-based reporting. It creates graphical, embeddable reports, similar to the commercial software Crystal Reports or Microsoft Access report designer, but runs on on Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows. It supports graphs, integrated barcodes, label printing, and watermarks and report definitions can be stored in a PostgreSQL database as XML, or exported to individual files.

For More Informations Visit :OpenRPT

64-bit OS Yellow Dog Linux

2005-04-28T09:37:00.000+05:30

Yellow Dog Linux v4.0.1 Supports Mac mini & iMac G5, Sleep, Improved Audio

Terra Soft Solutions(R), Inc., the leading developer of integrated PowerPC Linux solutions, is overjoyed to announce a vastly improved Yellow Dog Linux v4.0.1 with greater than 70 updates, including the return of sleep and audio for pre-G5s; thermal support for G5s; and Yes! the iMac G5 and Mac mini now run Yellow Dog Linux.

The 2.6.10 kernel.
Thermal (fan) support for G5s Power Macs.
Sleep for most ATI-based portables.
Support for iMac G5 (sans on-board audio, modem, thermal).
Support for the Mac mini (sans on-board audio, modem).
Updated ALSA sound driver supports all non-G5 hardware.
USB audio device support.
XMMS startup crash fixed.
Security updates.
Installer bug fixes.

... and many other refinements to make the YDL experience more enjoyable. The final Yellow Dog Linux v4.0.1 CD-Rs have been created and will today be delivered to a CD production facility for glass mastering and replication. While shipping product will be available in approximately two weeks, Yellow Dog Linux v4.0.1 is immediately available via YDL.net Enhanced accounts.

Terra Soft's lead engineer Owen Stampflee offers, "YDL v4.0 was a typical dot zero release in that it contained all rebuilt RPMs and many new features built upon a vastly changed code base while harboring a few note worthy bugs. Since the 4.0 release early last fall, we have provided several fixes via YDL.net and the public errata. With v4.0.1, we are pleased to once again unify the improvements and new support into a shipping distribution for a more enjoyable, PowerPC experience."

Yellow Dog Linux v4.0.1 offers support for USB-G3s, all iMacs, G4s, the Mac mini, G5 Power Macs. USB and FireWire remain auto-detected with manual mounting a relatively simple task. Dual-head monitor support for PowerBooks and G4/G5 Power Macs remains in tact. Wireless connectivity is immediately available through the Netgear WG511 54Mb PCMCIA card.

To learn more visit www.yellowdoglinux.com
To download now, visit www.ydl.net and also get subscribed to the Enhanced programs.