Entries Tagged 'Technology' ↓

Google G1 phone, the first mobile phone to be launched using the Android open source OS which is designed by HTC the #1 PDA designer and manufacturer in the world. With more than 1.5 million pre orders in the US market 2 weeks before the product is officially available at T-Mobile sales center.

 

I got physical access on that handset “the first in the middle east and north Africa”, I was able to test it and give my personal review.

The handset design for the first look is simple, full black, a wide large screen, menu, home, back, dial and hang-up buttons with an amazing scroller similar to the new Blackberry devices scroller. The large screen is mobile, will go up where there is a full QWERTY keyboard below, once opened you can feel like you are holding a mini-laptop between your hands, full keyboard with TOUCH screen and a scroller is all what you need in a mobile phone to feel like if you are using your Mac Book or Notebook PC. In the back there is a camera that is not what you can find in the Nokia N95 and other devices but it is fine for somebody like me who never uses a mobile built-in camera.

 

Back to the Android, clicking the menu button the main screen is there, scroll your finger on the touch screen to the right or left you have another window. To get access to the full menu simply scroll the arrow at the bottom of your screen or at the right side if you are in full keyboard mode. Nothing special in the standard applications as you will find dialer with both access touch screen and keyboard, messaging system with nice log for previous conversations with a contact name, contacts “address book” are simple you can add more field to reach the standard ones you can see on your Blackberry or Nokia by adding them from the option, Alarm clock is an alarm clock, calculator is a calculator but with a touch screen, Gmail application a special application for the Android OS which makes it easier for us to use our GMAIL account, which we need in order to access our phone, you can have IM yahoo, Google Talk, MSN and AOL installed, Maps for the use of GPS, Google Mail system to configure your e-mail accounts and be able to use personal or corporate email service through your G1, what you can find also is a nice YouTube application which gives you access to your YouTube account and daily updates, as for other applications it is normal like any other phone, now we have to wait and see the bunch of applications that will be available soon for the Android OS which makes out of this OS the future of the industry and which will give it another new feel.

A short and simple review from my side hope it gave you a general idea of what the G1 will be before you hold it in your hands.

Apple in 1 year and half are the #2 mobile phones designers in the world, where the Android and Google will stand after 1 year?

I got a whole bunch of press photos for Nokia’s announcement in London tomorrow, and decided to share with you. Supposedly there would be five phones all focused on entertainment. The N81 gaming phone, N95 music edition with 8GB memory built in, and XpressMusic series 5700, 5610 and 5310.

Catch the jump to see them all.

N95 8GB edition — N95 with minor modifications and a black body:

N81 gaming phone:

5310 XpressMusic (slider on the left), 5610 XpressMusic (candy bar on the right): 

The 5700 XpressMusic is only a black music edition of the already selling 5700, no big deal.

Canon has today tipped digital SLR resolution over the twenty megapixel barrier with the new EOS-1Ds Mark III. The much anticipated Mark III version of the full-frame EOS-1Ds delivers medium-format threatening resolution; 5616 x 3744 (21.1 million) pixels to be precise, in a portable and robust five frames per second Canon EOS body. From a built, function and usability point of view the EOS-1Ds Mark III is identical to the EOS-1D Mark III apart from the full frame (36 x 24 mm) sensor, (naturally) larger viewfinder and UDMA support (up to 45 MB/sec) for Compact Flash cards. At full tilt (at five frames per second) the Mark III is processing an mighty impressive 185 MB of data every second.

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III key features

• 21 megapixel Full-frame CMOS sensor (36 x 24 mm)
• 5 frames per second shooting (up to 56 JPEG or 12 RAW images buffer)
• Compact Flash UDMA support (up to 45 MB/sec)
• Large bright ‘full size’ viewfinder with higher magnification than the EOS-1Ds Mark II
• All of the operational improvements and enhancements delivered by the EOS-1D Mark III

Press Release:

Canon strengthens pro lineup with 21 Megapixel
EOS-1Ds Mark III

Amstelveen, The Netherlands, 20 August, 2007: Canon raises the stakes in the professional photography market with the launch of the 21 Megapixel, 5 frame per second EOS-1Ds Mark III. Delivering 14-bit depth resolution from a newly developed 35mm full frame CMOS sensor, Canon’s new flagship digital SLR produces files that convert to over 100MB uncompressed 16-bit TIFF, setting a new benchmark in image resolution and sharpness for 35mm-format digital photography.

As well as producing outstanding colour rendition, Dual DIGIC III processors drive 5 fps continuous shooting for up to 56 Large JPEGs (12 RAW) – unrivalled by any other camera at this resolution. This capacity to shoot such large images uninterrupted is regarded as a big driver in switching studio photographers to the EOS platform.

The EOS-1Ds Mark III inherits the new technology platform introduced earlier this year in the
EOS-1D Mark III, including 63-zone exposure metering, 19 cross-type auto focus system, a 3.0” LCD with Live View mode and EOS Integrated Cleaning System. The Highlight Tone Priority function expands dynamic range for more depth and detail in bright areas. The launch is supported with the announcement of Canon’s new ultra wide-angle lens, the Lens 2.

“Taking image quality and versatility to unprecedented levels, the EOS-1Ds Mark III redefines commercial photography conventions”, said Karz Suzuki, Head of Canon Professional Services. “The camera will strengthen Canon’s popularity amongst professional studio photographers. Culminating 20 years of EOS development, the EOS-1Ds Mark III represents a definitive moment in our company’s photographic history.”

Key features

• 21 Megapixel full frame (35mm) CMOS sensor
• 5 fps continuous shooting for up to 56 frames
• Dual “DIGIC III” processors
• Highlight Tone Priority
• Auto focus system with 19 cross type sensors and 26 focus assist points
• EOS Integrated Cleaning System
• ISO 100-1600 (expandable to L:50 H:3200)
• 3.0” 230K pixel LCD with Live View mode
• Redesigned viewfinder now wider and brighter

Image quality

The EOS-1Ds Mark III produces files that exceed the standard resolution requirements of leading agencies and stock libraries. The third generation CMOS sensor incorporates a new pixel design with on-chip noise reduction circuitry to ensure high image quality all the way to ISO 1600. 14 bit A/D converters provide a total colour depth of 16,384 tones per pixel - delivering smoother gradations and more accurate colour reproduction.

The option to expand to H:3200 will be welcomed by professionals working in churches and sensitive situations where the use of flash is not permitted or desired. Where discretion is paramount, a silent drive mode delays shutter re-cocking for as long as the shutter release remains depressed.

Highlight Tone Priority mode gives wedding and landscape photographers the option to boost dynamic range for highlights when shooting above ISO 200 – reproducing more tonal detail from wedding dresses, clouds and other bright objects.

Precision and control

The auto focus system includes 19 cross-type sensors with sensitivity up to f/2.8, spread across the AF area to better accommodate off-centre subjects. An additional 26 AF assist points help with AF tracking accuracy.

The control layout includes a dedicated AF-ON button on the back of the camera, allowing users to instantly switch auto focus on when composing. The viewfinder is now brighter with a wider angle of view, while the 63-zone metering system gives photographers a greater degree of control over exposure.

New LCD with Live View

The bright 3.0” LCD monitor provides 230K pixels resolution for precise framing and reviewing. Live View mode displays a real-time image on the LCD, including a selectable grid overlay and a live histogram that simulates image exposure. For the studio environment, remote Live View lets the photographer compose, adjust settings and capture the shot from a PC using the supplied EOS utility software.

New controls and menu

The EOS-1Ds Mark III’s menu incorporates a tab structure that eliminates scrolling for vastly improved readability and ease of use. Improving on previous models, personal settings and custom functions are consolidated into 57 custom functions grouped into four logical categories. Photographers can also now see at a glance any default setting changes. The My Menu option allows photographers to store frequently used settings on a separate menu for immediate access. Settings for recently released accessories such as the Speedlite 580EX II and the Wireless File Transmitter WFT-E2 can be controlled directly from the LCD. Along with a new dedicated ISO button, ISO is permanently displayed on the top LCD panel.

Reliability

Shutter durability is increased by 50% to 300,000 cycles. A magnesium alloy casing with dust and moisture resistant seals protects the body. The EOS Integrated Cleaning System reduces, repels and removes dust from the sensor to significantly limit the need for manual cleaning. To avoid image loss, a warning alarm sounds if the memory card door is opened while images are still being written.

Connectivity

Interfaces include video out (for display in both NTSC and PAL formats – with the
Live View mode ideal for live display to clients during the shoot) and USB 2.0. To prevent the USB cable becoming accidentally dislodged during shooting, a special connection secures it to the camera body.

Compatibility and accessories

As well as full compatibility with all EF lenses and EX Speedlite flashes and accessories, the EOS-1Ds Mark III is supported by the recently released
Wireless File Transmitter WFT-E2. The WFT-E2 enables secure wireless uploads to FTP servers as well as remote access via HTTP and PTP protocols. The unit also connects wirelessly to external storage media and supports GPS tagging when used with a portable GPS device. For assignments where image protection and authenticity are crucial, the EOS-1Ds Mark III is compatible with the Original Data Security Kit OSK-E3.

New lens

Today’s launch coincides with the release of the EF 14mm f/2.8L II USM: Canon’s new professional
L-series ultra wide-angle lens for the photographer requiring a slightly different perspective. As with many L-series lenses and the Speedlite 580EX II, the EF 14mm f/2.8L II USM incorporates environmental sealing to match that of the EOS-1Ds Mark III, creating a fully weatherproof camera system. Aspherical and UD lens elements produce exceptional image quality with improved corner-to-corner sharpness. The ring-type USM delivers fast, silent auto focus with full-time manual focus override. A circular aperture produces pleasing bokeh at wide apertures and Super Spectra coatings suppress ghosting and flare by suppressing internal reflections from lens element and sensor surfaces.

Software

The EOS-1Ds Mark III is packaged with a comprehensive software suite to streamline the photographer’s workflow. This includes Digital Photo Professional (DPP) RAW conversion/processing software for complete RAW image processing control. DPP also integrates with camera features such as the Dust Delete Data and Picture Style. The camera also comes with EOS Utility, ImageBrowser/Zoom Browser and Photostitch.

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III specifications

List price (body only)	US: $7,999 EU: €7,999
Body material	Magnesium alloy (exterior, chassis and mirror box)
Sensor *	• 36 x 24 mm CMOS sensor • Full 35 mm size frame • RGB Color Filter Array • Built-in fixed low-pass filter (with self-cleaning unit) • 21.9 million total pixels • 21.1 million effective pixels • 6.4 µm pixel pitch • 3:2 aspect ratio
Image processor *	Dual DIGIC III
A/D conversion *	14 bit
Image sizes (JPEG) *	• 5616 x 3744 (L; 21.0 MP) • 4992 x 3328 (M1; 16.6 MP) • 4080 x 2720 (M2; 11.0 MP) • 2784 x 1856 (S; 5.2 MP)
Image sizes (RAW) *	• 5616 x 3744 (RAW; 21.0 MP) • 2784 x 1856 (sRAW; 5.2 MP)
File formats	• RAW (.CR2; 14-bit) • JPEG (EXIF 2.21) - Fine / Normal • RAW + JPEG (separate files)
File sizes (approx.) *	• JPEG L: 6.4 MB • JPEG M1: 5.2 MB • JPEG M2: 3.9 MB • JPEG S: 2.2 MB • RAW: 25.0 MB • sRAW: 14.5 MB
JPEG quality options	Each JPEG size (L, M1, M2, S) can be set to a quality level of 1 to 10 (1 high compression, low quality - 10 low compression, high quality)
Lenses	• Canon EF lens mount (does not support EF-S lenses) • No field of view crop (1.0x)
Dust reduction *	• "EOS Integrated Cleaning System" • Self-cleaning sensor unit (filter in front of sensor vibrates at high frequency at start-up and shutdown - can be disabled) • Dust Delete Data - Data from a test shot is used to ‘map’ dust spots and can be later removed using Canon DPP Software
Auto focus	• 45-point TTL • 19 cross-type points, require F2.8 or faster lens * • Center cross-type point requires F4.0 or faster lens • 26 assist points, require F5.6 or faster lens * • TTL-AREA-SIR with a CMOS sensor • AF working range: -1.0 to 18 EV (at 23°C, ISO 100)
Focus modes	• One shot AF • AI Servo AF • Manual focus
AF point selection	• Auto • Manual (all 19 or inner 9 / outer 9)
AF assist	External Speedlite only
Exposure modes	• Program • Aperture-priority • Shutter-priority • Manual • Bulb
Metering	• 63 zone metering linked to 19 AF points * • Metering range: 0 - 20 EV • Modes: Center, Linked to AF point, Multi-spot (up to 8 readings)
Metering modes	• Evaluative (63 zone linked to active AF point) • Center-weighted average • Partial (8.5% of picture area) • Spot metering (2.4% of picture area)
AE lock	• Auto: One Shot AF with evaluative metering • Manual: AE lock button
Exposure compensation	• +/- 3.0 EV • 0.3 or 0.5 EV increments
Exposure bracketing	• 2, 3, 5 or 7 shots • +/- 3.0 EV • 0.3 or 0.5 EV increments
Sensitivity	• ISO 100 - 1600 • 0.3 or 1.0 EV increments • ISO 50 (Enhanced L) • ISO 3200 (Enhanced H)
Shutter	• Focal-plane shutter • 300,000 exposure durability * • 30 - 1/8000 sec • 0.3, 0.5 or 1.0 EV increments • Flash X-Sync: 1/250 sec • Bulb
Aperture values	• F1.0 - F91 • 0.3, 0.5 or 1.0 EV increments • Actual aperture range depends on lens used
Noise reduction	• Long exposure (1 sec or longer) • Optional for High ISO (default Off) *
White balance	• Auto • Daylight • Shade • Cloudy • Tungsten • Fluorescent • Flash • Custom (up to 5 can be stored) • Kelvin (2500 - 10000 K in 100 K steps) • Personal WB (up to 5 can be preset in software *)
WB bracketing	• +/-3 levels • 3 images • Blue / Amber or Magenta / Green bias
WB shift	• Blue (-9) To Amber (+9) • Magenta (-9) to Green (+9)
Picture style *	• Standard • Portrait • Landscape • Neutral • Faithful • Monochrome • User def. 1 • User def. 2 • User def. 3
Custom image parameters *	• Sharpness: 0 to 7 • Contrast: -4 to +4 • Saturation: -4 to +4 • Color tone: -4 to +4 • B&W filter: N, Ye, Or, R, G • B&W tone: N, S, B, P, G
Color space	• sRGB • Adobe RGB
Viewfinder	• Eye-level pentaprism • 100% frame coverage • Magnification: 0.76x * (-1 diopter with 50 mm lens at infinity) • Eyepoint: 20 mm • Dioptric adjustment: -3 to +1 diopter • Precision matte screen Ee-C IV (interchangeable) • Eye-piece shutter available via lever
Mirror	• Quick-return half mirror (transmission:reflection ratio 37:63) • Mirror lock-up (once or multiple exposures)
Viewfinder info	• AF points • Focus confirmation light • Metering mode • ISO sensitivity * • Shutter speed • Aperture • Manual exposure • AE Lock • Exposure compensation amount • AEB level • Spot metering circle • Flash ready • Red-eye reduction lamp on • High-speed sync • FE Lock • Flash compensation amount • Warnings • Maximum burst for continuous shooting • Buffer space
LCD monitor *	• 3.0" TFT LCD • 230,000 pixels • 7 brightness levels
LCD Live view *	• Live TTL display of scene from CMOS image sensor • 100% frame coverage • Real-time evaluative metering using CMOS image sensor • Best view or exposure simulation • Grid optional (thirds) • Magnify optional (5x or 10x at AF point) • Aspect ratio masking for 6:6, 3:4, 4:5, 6:7, 10:12 and 5:7 • Remote live view using EOS Utility 2.0 (via USB or WiFi/Ethernet using WFT) • Manual focus only
Record review	• Off • On (histogram via INFO button) • Display mode same as last used Play mode • 2 / 4 / 8 sec / Hold
Playback modes *	1. Single image with exposure, file number, storage slot 2. As 1 but also image count and quality 3. Detailed exposure information, thumbnail and luminance histogram 4. Less detailed exposure info., thumbnail, luminance and RGB histograms
Playback features	• Optional blinking highlight alert • Optional AF point display • Magnified view (up to 10x) • 2×2 or 3×3 thumbnail index • Jump (by 1, 10, 100 images / by screen, date or folder) * • Delete / Protect • Record audio clip up to 30 seconds
Flash	• No built-in flash unit • E-TTL II auto flash / metered manual • Flash compensation +/-3.0 EV in 0.3 or 0.5 EV increments • X-Sync: 1/250 sec • High-speed flash with EX-series speedlites up to 1/8000 sec • Hot-shoe & PC Terminal
Drive modes	• Single • Silent (single frame) * • High-speed continuous: 5 fps * (adjustable 5 - 2 fps) • Low-speed continuous: 3 fps * (adjustable 4 - 1 fps) • Self-timer: 2 or 10 sec (3 sec with mirror lock-up)
Burst buffer *	• Large/Fine JPEG: 56 frames • RAW: 12 frames • RAW+JPEG: 10 frames
Orientation sensor	Yes
Auto rotation *	• On (recorded and LCD display) • On (recorded only) • Off
Custom functions *	57 custom functions in 4 groups
My Menu *	Up to six menu options can be customized
Menu languages *	• English • German • French • Dutch • Danish • Portuguese • Finnish • Italian • Norwegian • Swedish • Spanish • Greek • Russian • Polish • Simplified Chinese • Traditional Chinese • Korean • Japanese
Firmware	User upgradable
Wireless	Via WFT-E2/E2A (optional)
Connectivity	• USB 2.0 Hi-Speed * • Video out • N3 type wired remote control • PC Sync flash terminal
Storage	• Compact Flash Type I or II (supports UDMA) * • SD card slot (supports SD/SDHC) * • External USB hard drives (requires WFT-E2/E2A) * • Canon Original Data Security Kit supported ("Original Image Data")
Storage options *	• Record to one memory card • Record same image to both CF and SD cards (backup) • Record RAW image to CF and JPEG to SD card • Overflow (once one card becomes full camera uses next card) • Copy from one card to another
Power	• Lithium-Ion LP-E4 rechargeable battery * (supplied & charger) • AC adapter
Power information	• Current power source • Remaining capacity • Current shutter count on this battery charge • Recharge performance
Dimensions *	150 x 160 x 80 mm (6.1 x 6.2 x 3.1 in)
Weight (no batt) *	1205 g (2.7 lb)
Weight (inc. batt) *	1385 g (3.1 lb)

One more time, I get back to you with Google services news or feedback, this time it is Gmail turn. Gmail’s filters are a simple way to organize your messages automatically by providing a set of rules. Like most email clients, Gmail applies the rules to the messages you receive and to the sent mail.

Here are some of the most common Gmail filters:

1. Categorization filters
If you receive a lot of messages that need a distinctive category, create a filter that attaches them a label and archives them.

To separate your messages, you could share a different version of your email address that adds some information after the plus sign. So you could put this email address in your blog: daniel+blog@gmail.com, instead of daniel@gmail.com. All the messages are sent to your address, but now you can create a filter that labels the messages sent to daniel+blog@gmail.com.

2. Search filters
You can create filters for frequent queries. Just type in the “has the words” box your query (this list of Gmail operators should help):

has:attachment - messages that include attachments
filename:.mp3 - messages that include MP3 attachments
is:unread - collects all the messages you haven’t read yet (or you marked as unread)
label:voicemail - the voicemail from Google Talk

3. Separate your identities
If you forward messages from other mail accounts or use Gmail’s mail fetcher, create filters that attach labels to these messages. Just enter the appropriate mail address in the To field when you create each filter.

4. Newsletters
Newsletters save you time and bring (sometimes) useful information, but they also clutter your inbox. If you receive daily newsletters, create filters that label the messages and archive them, so they don’t stand in your way.

5. Blacklists
If you don’t want to read messages from a bunch of people, create a filter that sends to trash each and every message received from them. Just enter their email addresses separated by OR in the From field. I made a small script that makes it easy to build a blacklist.

6. Anti-spam
Gmail’s spam filters are pretty good for most people, but that doesn’t mean you won’t see false positives. If most of the spam mail that reaches your inbox has some easy to identify traits (for example, it contains “lottery”), create a filter that sends these messages to the trash. Because you won’t mark these messages as spam, you won’t be improving Gmail’s spam filters. Also you may lose some genuine messages if you don’t build your filter carefully.

7. No more spam counters
If you don’t like to see how many unread spam messages you have, create a filter that moves all spam mail to the trash.

Type in “Has the words”: is:spam
Check Delete it
Click OK to Gmail’s warning

You should check the messages from the trash from time to time because you may lose important messages incorrectly classified as spam by Gmail.

8. Backup filters
Create a filter that forwards some of your messages to other account. You could send all the messages that include attachments, so you could easily delete them when you reach Gmail’s storage limit.

This Greasemonkey script (that requires Greasemonkey and Firefox) lets you create filters from each message by filling the email address of the sender and the destination address.

 Thanks for Google OS for their updated reviews.

“If you are a regular reader of my blog, so you know well about this series about The Giant Google, and if you are new all you have to do is to read the previous parts in this series, than come back to this post and read this new part.”

Well I decided to stop the numbering thing for every part, because with all what is going over with Google numbers wont be enough to list how many parts this series will go on, as I believe as much as I am writing on this blog and being and internet freak, I will always follow up on Google news and write about them, so the numbers will be replaced by the post topic.

Google ended 2006 with the acquisition of YouTube for 1.65 billion $, 10,600 employees. Where they did start the first quarter of 2007 with the acquisition of Double Click for 3.1 billion, and 12,000 employees.
Google Inc. declared on Thursday that their profit for the first quarter rose up to 63% from the past year. These results did beat all Wall Street expectations as the company turned search market share gains into even more revenue from its core paid search advertising business.

As for CEO Eric Schmidt, their core business is very strong, and that’s what is driving their big success, but still other products are doing well such as YouTube and others. Also this growth is giving them the ability to take risks into new markets and products.

Back to the first quarter reports, Net Income for the first quarter was $1 billion, or $3.18 a share, up from $592 million, or $1.95 a share, a year ago. Excluding one-time items such as employee stock-based compensation, income was $3.68 a share, higher than analyst expectations of $3.30 a share, according to a poll by Thomson Financial.

Total revenue reached a new high of $3.66 billion, up 63 percent from $2.25 billion a year earlier. Excluding traffic acquisition costs, or commission paid to content partners, revenue was $2.53 billion. On that basis, analysts were expecting revenue of $2.49 billion. Google paid $1.13 billion, or 31 percent of advertising revenues, in commission to partners.

Paid search represents nearly all of Google’s revenue at this point. However, if its planned $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick goes through, it will have a huge display, or banner ad, business, too. The company is aggressively expanding its advertising platform to the offline world, including partnerships to sell ads to run on Clear Channel radio stations, on EchoStar Dish satellite TV network and in newspapers.
Google does not provide forward guidance, but Schmidt did warn that the second quarter is typically weaker than the first quarter.

The company also announced that Schmidt had been elected to be chairman of the board of directors and Stanford University President John Hennessy was elected lead independent director.

“That’s what Google did in the first quarter, talking about competitors? Ok Yahoo failed with its Panama project and they did below the expectations, that’s enough I think.”

As you know that’s my third post about this special Giant, who is growing up more day after the other. Google is our Mother Search Engine (MSE), and as today is the Mothers Day, I would like to benefit from the occasion and greet our MSE.

In this part of my continuous series about Google, I would like to provide information about some news of services and products available at Google, which are Gmail, Themes, Affiliate & Google mobile phone.

GMAIL

Here is a small review how you can master it in 10min. check out this screencast which I learned a few things from it and I am guessing you will try.

THEMES

Google now offer you a new option for personalized home pages. Now you can choose your page theme. Right now there are only a handful of options; hopefully Google will allow others to create their own themes. This is the first time that I recall that Google is departing from its white background and very simple interface to more colors interface. Talking about themes I can advice you to choose the sweet dreams theme which changes based on your time zone.

AFFILIATE

Ok as I always say with Google, what’s next? Well here is a new advertising medium that the Giant is proudly to announce the Affiliates network or Auctions bid network, this program is in BETA test for US clients only for now, soon when it is more clear about will have a special post about it, so as always you want to know more all you have to do is just keep on visiting my blog or be one of my RSS feeds readers.

MOBILE

I had a special post for Google Mobile Phone, so I won’t re-write it one more time, just click the link below to go there and read it. But still that’s a rumor as far as I know.
Also Google reported that they wont have a phone made by them but mobile software because it will change their business identity.

VIP of the WEB

What I never mentioned in the introduction is that Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and 2 co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page were recently ranked the #1 most important person on the web by PC World magazine.  I found this interview on the web with Eric Schmidt, in which talk about Google future plans.

One more time, we cannot be done with such a Giant in one article, because of one reason, they got something new every day, so lets end this post with a Happy Mother Day for all the mothers in the World, and see you next in the 4th edition about the Giant.

They started with a search page; yesterday they got it all, from web video sharing to internet advertising to media. Today they are ruling over everything on the net, and tomorrow they will start with a new sector the mobile phones. Finally, after all the rumors Google Mobile Phone got birth, it has a shape and we can see it.

So it seems that the oft-rumored handset from Google has taken that final leap into the “confirmed” column, though it may not be quite the be-all, end-all device we were expecting. Isabel Aguilera, Google’s chief executive in Spain and Portugal, has admitted that the searchmeisters have some mobile goodness in the works but appeared to play down the project, noting that the phone is just one of 18 R&D initiatives the company currently has underway. Furthermore, she mentioned that Google’s mobile skunkworks were designed to make their way into developing countries, suggesting that this may not be the Samsung sourced, iPhone-killing monster we’d been getting an earful about as of late. But hey, if Apple intends to turn the iPhone into a multi-device franchise, Google’s entitled to do the same, is it not?

So now we are sure that Google is developing its own mobile phone, while they are not commenting directly on leaks from Europe and the United States which describe a low-cost, Internet-connected phone with a color, wide-screen design. Newspaper and blog reports in recent months have Google shopping its phone design to potential mobile phone manufacturing partners in Asia.

This is not going to be a high-end device but a mass market device aimed at bringing Google to users who don’t have a PC.

Now you are asking yourself how much this phone would cost, NO? Well as the rumors says it will be cheaper than the iphone which got a starting price of $500USD, and some other rumors says it will be sold out in the market for only $300USD. I believe that it will be a cheap mobile phone.

But my question is: Where Google will reach with all this, they are monopolizing everything related to communication and not only gathering the information of the world in one place!!!

We all prefer Bluetooth technology much more than infrared for many reasons; as well we always find difficulties in finding the receiver and send them files, with the pairing tricks and so on.

That’s why next Generation Bluetooth Promises Easier Pairing and Longer Battery Life.

It won’t be ready till December, but the folks at the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) are already demoing the next version of Bluetooth dubbed Bluetooth 2.1+EDR. The feature we’re psyched about the most is near field communication. NFC lets you pair and transfer files/images from one Bluetooth gadget to another by putting them within range of one another. So you can send pics from your cameraphone to your photo printer or pair your cell phone with a wireless headset via a virtual handshake (as you can tell by the post-jump video). Another bonus is…

That Bluetooth 2.1+EDR will suck up less battery, so you can expect 5x more battery life when you have Bluetooth turned on. As long as it works as promised, these features are good enough to make a casual Bluetooth user like myself wanna use it more often.

The day after Vista was released to consumers, a workaround was presented on the web, that would allow you to postpone Vista activation for up to 120 days. Now there’s a new workaround that I think you’ll enjoy. I just found that webcast with Brian Livingston from WindowsSecrets.com who introduced a new way of bypassing Windows Vista activation that, when used in conjunction with slmgr-rearm, can get you by with one year of activation. This trick uses a registry key called SkipRearm which Microsoft’s own TechNet document says:

“All licensing and registry data related to activation is either removed or reset. Any grace period timers are reset as well.“

Extend Vista Activation To 120 Days

First off, Vista gives you a 30–day grace period to activate Vista if you don’t enter in a product key during the installation process (just press Enter when asked for a key to bypass it). Then at the end of each month right when your grace period is about to end you can get an additional 30 days by using this small trick that was discovered about a month ago:

1. First you need to start a Command Prompt as an administrator. You can do this by clicking the Start button, enter cmd in the Search box, then press Ctrl+Shift+Enter. You may also do this by finding the Command Prompt option located in your Accessories folder:
   
   If asked to approve a User Account Control prompt, please do so and provide an administrator password if needed.
2. At the prompt type the following command and press Enter:
   slmgr -rearm Every time you run this command it will add 30 days to the amount of time you have to activate Windows Vista. However, it will only be effective up to 3 times. If you add this time onto your original grace period it will give you 120 days total.
   
3. Reboot the PC to make the Vista activation deadline get pushed back.
   

Extend Vista Activation Another 240 Days

So what do you do after the 120 days is up? You could either purchase a product key from Microsoft, or use another method to extend the activation grace period another 8 times making it a total of 12 months (the initial 1 month + 3 months from above + 8 months = 1 year). Just like before, this uses the slmgr -rearm command, but it also uses a registry setting to allow the command to run another 8 times:

1. Click the Start button, type regedit into the Search box, and press Enter.
   
2. Find the SkipRearm key in the Windows Registry that you just opened which is located in the following “folder”:
3. Right-click on the SkipRearm and select Modify. Change the “Value Data” to any positive integer, such as
   1. Press OK and close the Registry Editor.
   
4. Now you need to start a Command Prompt as an administrator. You can do this by clicking the Start button, enter cmd in the Search box, then press Ctrl+Shift+Enter. You may also do this by finding the Command Prompt option located in your Accessories folder:
   
   If asked to approve a User Account Control prompt, please do so and provide an administrator password if needed.
5. At the prompt type the following command and press Enter:
   slmgr -rearm

0. 
1. Reboot the PC to make the Vista activation deadline get pushed back.
   
   You can always use the command slmgr -xpr at a Command Prompt to have it show when Vista will expire to ensure that the trick has worked.
2. Every time you do the steps above it will essentially reset all activation information on your computer. You’re really starting from a clean slate each time (in terms of activation) which means you will need to repeat these steps every 30 days.
1. • Start of month 1: Install Vista without a product key (do this by pressing Enter during the installation setup).
   • End of months 1 to 3: Use the first set of steps outlined above to extend the activation grace period.
   • End of months 4 to 11: Use the second set of steps outlined above to extend the activation grace period.
   • End of month 12: Reinstall Vista.

Note: All of my PC’s are legally activated so I didn’t try this trick out for myself.I am in no way condoning piracy, but I wrote about this because it was something that seemed just too easy and only utilized tools already found in Vista. After watching the webcast I was shown just how easy it was to extend the deadline. This is still quite a pain though, because at the end of each month you’ll have to make sure to reset the activation system. Your calendar would look something like this:

This could really spell disaster for Microsoft because hackers will probably come out with some little program that will automatically extend the period every 30 days, and then it will prompt you to reboot your computer. It sounds so simple and it really is…I could whip up a quick program in just a few minutes that would do everything that you needed to.

The real worry for Microsoft comes when someone figures out where the slmgr limitation is stored. There is obviously something in Vista preventing a user from abusing the command more than what has already been demonstrated above. Once someone finds out what’s the limiting factor, there is going to be a whole can of worms opened up.

Why can users postpone activation in the first place?

Microsoft implemented a new Volume Licensing system in Windows Vista to hopefully stop widespread piracy that occurred with previous versions of Windows. In Windows XP Microsoft provided a single product key for corporations that wouldn’t require that Windows be activated at all. This caused a huge dilemma so Microsoft sought out another solution…and the result was Volume Licensing 2.0.

This new licensing system requires all computers be activated which can be an unweilding burden for administrators with 1000’s of computers to activate. Microsoft offers several different ways for these computers to be activated, but all of them are still time consuming. Therefore Microsoft implemented the command slmgr -rearm that would push back the activation period 30 days at a time for up to 120 days. That way administrators would be given more time to get all of their systems activated.

There is one small catch though, this was originally intended for business use but also worked on home versions of Vista. Since then Microsoft appears to have patched all retail versions of Vista Home, but it should still work for Vista Business, Vista Enterprise, and Vista Ultimate since those were the intended operating systems. Of course, pirates would probably be downloading Vista illegally from torrents and they would undoubtedly go for the Ultimate edition since it packs the most value.

While this can easily be done, it is surely no fun having to watch what patches are being downloaded in your Windows Update…and using cracks created by anyone else but yourself is just asking for trouble. Who knows what information those cracks could be sending to some unknown source! Now I’m left wondering what kind of update Microsoft will push through to try and correct this issue.

Thanks to Brian Livingston for inviting us to be part of his demo!

Was looking forward for a serious upgrade for my desktop, its operating system which is windows XP and the Microsoft office 2003. But after the reviews I read and the Beta RC2 test for windows vista I preferred to keep on using XP with service pack 2. On the other hand I gambled and bought the office 2007 and right now I am using it and happy cause I did go for this choice, and let me admit it for the first time I like a Microsoft product and not being obliged to use it.

The office 2007 was rebuild with a different interfaces and new file formats, but still you can save the files to be accessed by the older versions of office in the save as option. The new Office doesn’t look like its predecessors; it’s likely to spark intense love-hate responses from users. I found that this upgrade isn’t for everyone: If you’re patient, eager to try the latest tools, and willing to relearn most of what you already know about Office, then you may relish the challenge of Office 2007.

Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 can produce a lot more polished documents and presentations, even Outlook’s new interface make it more familiar and reliable for use.

Those professionals who like to impress their clients, managers, co-workers with attractive reports , charts, and slide shows will find this new office a worthy upgrade.

If you use office applications with their basic or minimum functions, maybe you will try the office 2007 for free for 2 months than you will put it on the shelf, and get back to the 2003 version as you don’t need for more and It is easier for you.

Those who used to master old versions of Microsoft Office, will be on the right track to master this new version like I am doing, but it will take a bit of time, but once you will get familiar with it you wont be able to use older versions, and those using older versions will find difficulties in accessing your files and they need special patches to do so, which will be a problem in the future. To not forget, also Office 2007 offer complex functions that you cant find elsewhere right now.
I would like to state some of the Interface and features from what I found on a cnet article about office:

Interface

Once you open each Office 2007 application, you’ll see a radically different, blue interface that’s brighter than in the past. Word, Excel, and PowerPoint arrange features within a tabbed Ribbon toolbar that largely replaces the gray drop-down menus and dialog boxes from a quarter-century of Office software.

The Office logo menu, docked in the upper left corner, bundles many commands from the old File and Edit menus. Outlook lacks the logo button and adopts the Ribbon only within its message composition and scheduling windows.

There’s a core set of always-on tabs, as well as contextual tabs that hide until the software detects that you need them. For instance, the Picture Tools Format tab only shows up when you click on an image. We were stumped at first about how to format images, tables, and charts until we got used to clicking on them first.

The Office 2007 programs, which share a new graphics engine, strongly emphasize ways to decorate documents. Pull-down Style Galleries let you preview how new fonts, color themes, chart styles, images and such appear before you apply the change.

This is great for selecting from menus of fonts or page templates. At the same time, however, the “intelligent” shape-shifting may bewilder those who don’t realize that they must click a style to apply a formatting change. In most cases, the preformatted styles only present colors within the same range already used by your document.

And sometimes the pull-down galleries jut into the document and obscure the charts or images you’re trying to change, and you can’t turn them off.

Nor do the dynamic previews apply to all style elements. For example, from the Page Layout tab of Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, you can preview Themes of colors and templates by mousing over them. But the Page Borders option takes you to an unhelpful, old-school pop-up box without dynamic previews.

On the one hand, newbies to Office software, particularly young, visual learners, may find the 2007 interface easier to master than Office 2003. Icons label most of the commands, and many expand into pull-down menus. There are inconsistencies, though, such as buttons that open older dialog boxes. And many items have moved to places that we don’t find intuitive.

For instance, the dictionary and thesaurus in Word are under the Review tab, not References near the footnote and bibliography buttons. And the Insert Rows command in Excel 2007 is located beneath the Home tab, not the Insert tab. Likewise, PowerPoint’s New Slide button is under Home instead of Insert. Notice a pattern? Although the Home tab houses many frequently used features, it’s not the first place we look for them.

After more than a year of alternating between Office 2003 and test versions of Office 2007, we still found it hard to break old habits. Microsoft advertises the Ribbon’s ability to help you “browse, pick, and click.” If you’re upgrading, though, you could get stuck in the “browse” stage longer than you’d like, slowing your work.

Rather than piling on more features — Word 2003 alone had some 1,500 commands — Microsoft attempted to better show off functions that already existed. To some extent, the Ribbon meets this goal, as it’s easier to find Conditional Formatting in Excel, among other sophisticated tools. And the View tab in Word and Excel better provides options for viewing two or three open documents at once.

You can customize Word, Excel, and PowerPoint to some extent, such as by adding buttons to the small, Quick Access Toolbar, but not as much as with their predecessors.

Luckily, keyboard shortcuts remain the same; just press ALT at any time to see tiny “badges” that label the quick keys for the Ribbon’s commands. We like that you can hide the Ribbon by double-clicking on any tab. Plus, Microsoft has killed Clippy, the annoying animated pop-up assistant that would interrupt your work in Office 2003. A subtle new quick formatting toolbar in Word 2007 fades in and out near your cursor.

Overall, our favorite interface tweak is the slider bar in the lower right corner that lets you zoom in and out with ease.

Features

Many of the changes to Office 2007 feel skin deep. By that, we mean that there’s a strong emphasis on making documents, spreadsheets, and presentations easier on the eyes.

You can adjust the brightness of images, for instance, and add 3D effects such as drop shadows and glows to pictures and charts. And many of the features that might appear new are simply easier to stumble upon in the new interface. The useful Document Inspector provides old and new ways to clean up hidden metadata in files. But don’t expect too many new features.

Word 2007 offers some basic tools that you’d otherwise look to in desktop publishing programs such as Microsoft Publisher or Adobe InDesign. A host of new templates as well as preformatted styles and SmartArt diagrams let you dress up reports, flyers, and so on with images and charts.

However, you can’t precisely control the placement of design elements on the page as you can with professional publishing software. And for wordsmiths who just work with plain old text, there’s little need to upgrade. There’s a new method of comparing document drafts side by side, but you still can’t post a password-protected file to the Web without having Groove or server tools.

At the same time, academic researchers should appreciate the Review tab’s handy pull-down menus of footnotes, citations, and tables of content. And Word’s new blogging abilities might be handy, but even its cleaned-up HTML is far more cluttered than we’d like.

We find that the Ribbon layout in Excel improves its usefulness for working with complex spreadsheets. For instance, scientists and other researchers can access all the formulas in handy pull-down menus. You can make deeper data sorts and work with as many as a million rows.

It’s easier to find the Conditional Formatting for drawing heat maps or adding icons in order to display data patterns. Plus, along with the other glossier graphics throughout Office, Excel charts get a facelift.

You’ll probably want to upgrade to PowerPoint 2007 if you frequently depend upon professional-looking slide shows to help close a deal. The new template themes are more attractive and less flat-looking than those of the past, although there’s little new in the way of managing multimedia content.

Among the four applications in Office Standard, Outlook 2007 provides the most practical improvements. To start, it lets you drag tasks and e-mail messages to the calendar, a long-awaited feature that makes scheduling more simple. The new To-Do Bar’s task and calendar overview and the ability to flag an e-mail for follow up at a specific time are terrific for time management.

Outlook’s built-in RSS reader is useful if you manage lots of news feeds, but we were disappointed that it matches up only with RSS feeds in Internet Explorer 7 and not other browsers. We also wish there were a simpler way of organizing e-mail messages than in nested folders and Search Folders. Tagging messages by subject might be nice, as Gmail allows.

The new Instant Search — which lets you troll through e-mail messages, calendar entries, to-do items, and contacts — improves upon Outlook 2003’s clutzy lookups. Plus, Outlook’s new protection against junk mail and phishing scams disables suspicious links.

But Outlook 2007 uses Word 2007’s HTML standards rather than those of Internet Explorer 7, which could make some of your newsletters look lopsided when compared with their appearance in Outlook 2003.

When sending e-mail attachments from Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, the Outlook composition window opens with all of its formatting options. Integration has improved throughout the applications, but it’s not fully there yet.

For instance, we like that you can tinker with a chart’s appearance within Word and PowerPoint while managing the connected data in Excel at the same time. You can click through a preview of a PowerPoint slide show attached to an Outlook e-mail message. But why can’t you get a quick, split-pane view of two applications at once at any other time?

We’re disappointed at the current lack of integration with Web-based services. If you don’t want to buy Groove to collaborate with other Groove users, and you’re not using Office on a shared office server, then you’ll have to turn to a third-party service, such as Zoho Writer, Google Docs & Spreadsheets, and ThinkFree to upload and collaborate on documents without having to e-mail them around.

We had hoped to see such capabilities added, perhaps in the form of tie-ins to Microsoft’s Windows Live or Office Live.

Every application saves work in the new, Office Open XML formats (see our guide and video). Look for an X in the new document extension: DOCX replaces DOC, XLSX replaces XLS, and so forth. The 2007 documents, presentations, and spreadsheets squeeze more data into fewer kilobytes than their predecessors did. If a file becomes corrupted, you should be able to recover its contents better than in the past because the files store text, images, macros, and other elements separately.

Note that when you open older Office files with the 2007 applications, you’ll work in the Compatibility Mode with fewer features until you convert files to the new format. And as with the release of Office 1997, you can’t open a file with the new extension right away when using earlier versions of the programs.

What if you have the new software but need to share work with people who have not upgraded? The 2007 applications let you save backward-compatible files, but not by default. Those who are running Word 2003 or 2000 and need to open a Word 2007 DOCX file have to download a one-time Compatibility Pack.