Monday, May 2, 2011

Bin Laden shot in the head, U.S. says

Officials had long believed that bin Laden was hiding a mountainous region along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. In August, U.S. intelligence officials got a tip on his whereabouts, which led to the operation that culminated Sunday, Obama said.


U.S. officials told NBC News that U.S. Special Operations forces carried out the attack on the al-Qaida compound, killing bin Laden when they shot him in the head during a firefight.

The special operations forces returned with the body to Afghanistan, U.S. officials said. They said they were ensuring that it was being handled in accordance with Islamic practice and tradition.

"We take this very seriously. This is being handled in an appropriate manner," one said.

Senior administration officials said U.S. officials believed they had known where bin Laden was since September. By mid-February, information developed that made them confident that the information was sound.

In mid-March, Obama headed five National Security Council meetings on the subject. Friday morning, he gave the final order to carry out the attack on a compound in what was described as an "affluent suburb" of Islamabad.

"The bottom line of our collection and analysis was that we had high confidence that the compound held a high-value terrorist target," a senior official said, with a "strong probability" that it was bin Laden.

Bin Laden's compound was huge and "extraordinarily unique," about eight times larger than other homes in the area, U.S. officials said.

They said the compound was isolated by 12-foot walls, with access restricted to two security gates. It had no telephone or Internet service and had clearly been custom built to hide "someone of significance."
 
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42852700/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia/

Osama bin Laden killed in Pakistan, Obama says

US intelligence led to military operation; US has custody of al-Qaida leader's body, source says
Osama bin Laden, the Saudi extremist whose al-Qaida terrorist organization killed more than 3,000 people in coordinated attacks on the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001, is dead following a military operation in Pakistan and the U.S. has recovered his body, U.S. President Barack Obama announced Sunday night.

"Justice has been done," the president declared as crowds formed outside the White House to celebrate, singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" and "We Are the Champions," NBC News reported.

Obama said the 54-year-old bin Laden, whom he called a terrorist "responsible for the murder of thousands of American men, women and children," was killed in Pakistan earlier in the day after a firefight in a military operation that was based on U.S. intelligence. Other U.S. officials said one of bin Laden's sons and two of his most trusted couriers also were killed, as was an unidentified woman who was used as a human shield.

Charles Wolf of New York, whose wife, Katherine, died on Sept, 11, 2001, rejoiced at the news, which he called "wonderful."

"I am really glad that man's evil is off this earth forever," Wolf said. "I am just very glad that they got him."

Former President George W. Bush said in a statement that he had personally been informed by Obama of the death of the terrorist leader whose attacks forever defined his eight years in office.

"This momentous achievement marks a victory for America, for people who seek peace around the world, and for all those who lost loved ones on September 11, 2001," the former president said.

"The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done."

Obama echoed his predecessor, declaring that "the death of bin Laden marks the most significant achievement to date in our nation's struggle to defeat al-Qaida."

But he stressed that the effort against the organization continues. Al-Qaida remains in existence as an organization, presumably under the leadership of Ayman al-Zawahiri, 59, an Egyptian physician who is widely believed to have been bin Laden's No. 2.

"We must and we will remain vigilant at home and abroad," he said, while emphasizing that "the United States is not and never will be at war with Islam."

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42852700/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia/

Osama Bin Laden Killed in U.S. Operation, Obama Says

Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has been killed by U.S. assetsin a mansion outside Islamabad, U.S. officials said. President Barack Obama will announce the death of the terrorist leader tonight.


Obama will deliver the news to the nation in an address from the White House, almost 10 years after the Sept. 11 attacks that bin Laden orchestrated. Bin Laden was killed, along with other members of his family, an official said.


Almost 3,000 people were killed on Sept. 11, most at the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Virginia just outside of Washington.

The administration has been briefing congressional officials ahead of the president’s address.

Obama and his predecessor, former President George W. Bush, made capturing Bin Laden a key national security priority. Obama has called the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan the “epicenter of violent extremism,” where he said al-Qaeda leader bin Laden was hiding.

The news brought a cheering, chanting crowd outside the White House fence before Obama was set to appear on television.


Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-02/obama-to-announce-bin-laden-is-dead-in-white-house-address-official-says.html

Thursday, April 21, 2011

YouTube Videos are now transcoded into WebM

To deliver great content, regardless of device, browser or other technical specification, so you never have to remember that complicated “power adapter converter” to watch a video.
To that end, all new videos uploaded to YouTube are now transcoded into WebM. WebM is an open media file format for video and audio on the web. Its openness allows anyone to improve the format and its integrations, resulting in a better experience for you in the long-term. As we work to transcode more videos into WebM, we hope to reduce the technical incompatibilities that prevent you from accessing video while improving the overall online video landscape.

Transcoding all new video uploads into WebM is an important first step, and we’re also working to transcode our entire video catalog to WebM. Given the massive size of our catalog - nearly 6 years of video is uploaded to YouTube every day - this is quite the undertaking. So far we’ve already transcoded videos that make up 99% of views on the site or nearly 30% of all videos into WebM. We’re focusing first on the most viewed videos on the site, and we’ve made great progress here through our cloud-based video processing infrastructure that maximizes the efficiency of processing and transcoding without stopping. It works like this: at busy upload times, our processing power is dedicated to new uploads, and at less busy times, our cloud will automatically switch some of our processing to encode older videos into WebM. As we continue to transcode the remaining inventory, we’ll keep you posted on our progress.
 
In keeping with our goal of making videos universally accessible, we will continue to support H.264 as an important codec for video on YouTube. We are also committed to continuing to develop our HTML5 video player that we announced last year, and if you’d like to join the opt-in trial, you can do so here.
 
The world of online video is incredibly complex and dynamic. Yet, our goal is to ensure that nothing stands between you and the great content you’ve always enjoyed. We’ll continue to invest in new video technology that improves the experiences for all users, builds a better infrastructure for online video, leads to greater access of information and spurs continued innovation.
 

Friday, April 15, 2011

Intel Xeon processor E7 New 10-Core

Intel announced its new E-series of Xeon processors today, claiming that the new processors will deliver nearly unparalleled advances in CPU performance and power efficiency. It's been just over a year since Santa Clara released its Nehalem-based octal-core Beckton processors. Whereas Beckton was focused entirely on performance and architectural efficiency, these new Xeons are more balanced. The new chips boost the core count to ten (up to 20 threads with HT enabled) and will be offered at a wide range of TDPs.

"Intel has been changing the economics for mission-critical computing server deployments for more than a decade, and today we are raising the bar yet again," said Kirk Skaugen, vice president and general manager of Intel's Data Center Group. "The new Intel Xeon processor E7 family delivers record breaking performance with powerful new security, reliability and energy efficiency enhancements. The industry momentum we're seeing for this new server processor architecture is unparalleled in Intel's history. The days of IT organizations being forced to deploy expensive, closed RISC architectures for mission-critical applications are nearing an end."
Intel's presentation made it clear that it's gunning for what's left of the RISC market. Kirk Skaugen, vice president and general manager of Intel's Data Center Group, made a point of telling the conference that there's "No workload in the world today that Xeon can't handle." History certainly favors his words. Intel's quoted figures indicate that while the high end of the server market grew just five percent from 2002-2010, Intel's share of it nearly doubled.

The company went out of its way to note that Itanium's share of the market grew enormously over the past eight years, but it's Xeon, not Poulson, Intel is betting on. The new E7 series incorporates the benefits of Sandy Bridge, its support for new instructions, and its improved power management technology. Intel has also baked in support for low-voltage DIMMs, which allows vendors to opt for 1.35v products. The power savings, at 1W per DIMM, might not sound like much, but the E7 series supports up to 2TB of RAM in a 4S system. According to Intel, low-voltage DDR3 can cut a server's power consumption by up to 128W.

OEM support for the new E7 processors seems downright enthusiastic; 19 vendors have announced a total of 35 systems with shipping to begin immediately. This may be partly due to the way the E7 helps to simplify Intel's product mix. Up to now, Intel's heavy-hitting Beckton was a 45nm chip that lacked the 32nm enhancements of the Xeon 5600 parts.

Friday, March 18, 2011

IFFINA The International Furniture and Craft Fair Indonesia 2011

IFFINA 2011 is the largest furniture exhibition event in Indonesia.

IFFINA (International Furniture and Craft Fair Indonesia) is the international meeting point where companies will present the latest trends and their innovative and, creative design. They will show their beauties, and unique Indonesian furniture's intended for Global Market. It is the trade show that brings more than 10.000 buyers together with over 400 exhibitors from Indonesia and neighboring countries. It is the easiest place to do business with potential buyers and suppliers.


In 2008, IFFINA was attended by most 240 entrepreneurs and producers who supported the exhibition with the theme “Green Furniture of Indonesia” was visited by 1.492 international visitors from 89 countries including more than 7.100 local visitors.

The theme in IFFINA 2009 was “The Gateway of Green Furniture and Rattan Lifestyle”. This year IFFINA was attended by 311 domestic companies, furniture producers & hand-craft companies from all over Indonesia including a few from abroad.

The successful trend of the last 2 years continued also last year. IFFINA 2010 had 326 exhibitors and have seen more than 2,600 buyers from 107 countries word wide with a transaction value more than 250 US Dollar.

IFFINA 2011 is one of the most prestigious international furniture exhibitions in the circle of ASEAN furniture exhibition activities. Countries that participated in this exhibition among other lines of Malaysia, Philippine, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam.

Compared with other furniture industries, Indonesian furniture and handicraft products are more natural, with high quality, various in style and characteristics. Indonesian furniture can be a ‘simple looking’ designs ranging to very delicate and unique wood-carvings and beautiful ornaments.


Exhibitors in previous year displayed all the quality and variation in Indonesian furniture. From reproduced antiques, upholstered furniture, and bed sets. All made by various types of wood, rattan and other materials.

The majority of the goods is made of natural materials or re-used products. IFFINA 2011 is the answer of today's challenging market for furniture business and industries. The One Stop Buying Center offering Quality and Uniqueness. IFFINA 2011 includes wide selections of furniture and handicraft product, Household and Accessories. All come with the best that Indonesia has to offer.

The Indonesia Economy has been one of the fastest growing economies wordwide. Last year the economical growth was a stunning 6.5%. Many companies wordwide have put their trust in the Indonesia market and the good quality of products with attractive prices.
 
And even higher figures are predicted for this year. This is important knowledge for local industries and also for possible buyers. Altogether IFFINA 2011 promisses to be an even bigger event than it already was in the previous years. The biggest value for both buyer and exhibitors is offcourse the ability to meet face to face. Exhibitors have the best opportunity to meet potential buyers and display their best selling points. Buyers on the other hand can see and feel the products they like and give valueable feedback. Both of you will have the change to get to know the posibilities and do direct business.

To meet people face to face and know whether what you have to offer is what they want or need, get valuable feedback, get to know your target market better and network with not just buyers but agents, other manufacturers, distributors and the trade press.

Buyers, selling agents, distributors, other manufacturers and trade-press attend IFFINA. These business partners come from various countries, such as Germany, England, Belgium, the Netherlands, Japan, America, Middle East, Cyprus, Austalia, and many more around countries around the globe. More than 2,600 potencial buyers attended last year in IFFINA.

Success for the IFFINA 2011

Raise The Awareness of Conserving the Earth

Earth is a place where all living creatures take shelter and survival. Over millions of years the living creatures depend on nature. Earth support the living creatures with the natural environment of land, sea and air.

Lake


However, in line with the old age of the earth and competition in maintaining life, the civilized creatures will ultimately control their environment.



Humans with high civilization has managed to rule the earth. But humans were not aware that in attempting to take advantage of nature can cause environmental damage to the earth and everything in it.

Trash and oil waste will polluting the sea. Deforestation causes floods and landslides. The air become dirty due to pollution and ozone layer thinning.



The rising of carbon dioxide concentration causing greenhouse effect that eventually resulted in rising world temperatures, extreme climate change and gletsers melt down every where.

All of these were also an adverse impact on human health which become susceptible to disease affecting the skin and respiratory system.

This Bad consequences are difficult to overcome and require a very long reply time to fix it. If we do not immediately stop the destruction of this natural environment so our children and grandchildren will suffer the consequences more severe..

Let us instill public awareness on the importance of protecting the environment, ranging from the smallest sphere such as the home and office environment to a larger scope such as industrial, rural and urban areas and more broadly scope such as forestry, aquatic and marine areas.


Earthquake Prediction Technology

Geologists from all over the world trying to find the right technology to predict earthquakes. From geologist at the National Taiwan University claims that they have discovered an earthquake detector. This device is claimed only takes about 30 seconds to analyze the disaster that will happen.

It also claimed to be able to analyze the size of the earthquake strength and estimate the time of the earthquake happen. By detecting the signs of an earthquake. According to one researcher, Yih-Min Wu, the price of these devices is only 302USD.

This earthquake device used to measure changes in gravity and have not been used operationally to predict earthquakes. So it still have to go through the final stages of testing, ie, connecting to the computer system. These discoveries were also still doubt the experts, because not a single human-made tools that can predict an earthquake.
Earthquake-prone countries have at least four related seismic sensors, such as:

  • tsunami early warning system sensors
  • seismometer sensor to determine the depth and magnitude quake quake
  • GPS sensors to monitor changes in the elastic earth by a seismic event of disruption
  • marine tidal sensors
With those four powerful devices, geologist are still difficult to predict the occurrence of earthquakes. This is due to the characteristics and structure of different rocks.

In addition, those devices are also used to monitor the behavior of the earth's crust that is affected the earth constellation of other planets that play a role in triggering earthquakes. Although not yet able to detect when and calculate the power of the earthquake, the data obtained from the devices is expected to be used to calculate the likelihood of an earthquake.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Indonesia a disaster prone country

Disaster, a perceived tragedy, being either a natural calamity or man-made catastrophe. It is a hazard which has comes to fruition. A hazard, in turn, is a situation which poses a level of threat to life, health, property, or that may deleteriously affect society or an environment.
What is Disaster?
A natural disaster is a consequence when a natural hazard such as volcanic eruption or earthquake affects humans and their environment.

Man-made disasters caused by human action, negligence, error, or involving the failure of a system.
Technological Man-made disasters are the results of failure of technology, such as engineering failures, transport disasters, or environmental disasters.

Indonesia is One of Disaster Prone Countries of the World
 
About 90% of the world's earthquakes and 80% of the world's largest earthquakes occur along the Pacific Ring of Fire, which has 452 volcanoes and is home to over 75% of the world's active and dormant volcanoes.

Indonesia lies between the Ring of Fire along the northeastern islands adjacent to and including Papua and the Alpide belt along the south and west from Sumatra, Java, Bali, Flores, and Timor.

Indonesia precisely located in three major tectonic plates which are The Indo-Australian Plate, Eurasian Plate and also Pacific Plate. These three tectonic plates produce frequent earthquake which also could form a tsunami. Other disasters like floods, fires and hurricanes are the results of nature vulnerability and destruction.

The threats of environment destruction such as hurricane, floods, avalanche, epidemic, abrasion, earthquake, pest, fires, drought, volcanic eruption, and also sabotage with terrorism, nowadays are more destructive to nature itself. Because the global warming is brought unstable situation to every corner of the earth.

In the last ten years, the globe has stricken many disasters whether it’s in small or big scale. The worst is, the intensity of the event is getting higher and the variety of the tragedy is becoming wider and complex. Whatever the cause is, there always great loss in every aspect.

With those potential hazards, Indonesia needs to strengthen national capability in disaster management, empower local authorities in anticipating and responding disaster in their regions, coordinate all stakeholders and activities in disaster management and incorporate disaster risk reduction in the framework of national development plan.

Disaster Management in Indonesia

Tsunami strikes again in Japan on March 11, 2011. After a deadly 8.9 earthquake, one of the largest earthquakes in the history of Japan, a massive tsunami hit the north east coast of Japan.

Indonesia is one of the world's most disaster-prone countries. Now is the time for Indonesia to priorite management disaster.

To get everything that essential about:
  • Understand what is a disaster, the loss from it, prevention act, what should we do in a disaster, and also survival act after it.  
  • Reduce fatality and loss from a disaster.
  • Detection of disaster, avoid its potential threats, prevent its effect in every aspects.
  • Better in get over a disaster and helping victims.
  • Restore places to normal better and faster.
  • More efficient and effective in resources.


Potential Hazards
  • Geologically prone to earthquake, tsunami, volcano eruption and landslides.
  • Hydrometeorology (flood, flash-flood, typhoon and drought).
  • Biology (epidemics, diseases and pest).
  • Environment degradation (deforestation, forest fire, haze, water and air pollution).
  • Technological failure (transportation and industrial accidents).
  • Social Conflict (civil unrest and terrorism).
Policies 
  • Strengthen national capability in disaster management, especially in prevention, mitigation and preparedness.
  • Manage and mobilize all potential resources (infrastructure and manpower) in disaster preparedness, responds and recovery.
  • Empower local authorities in anticipating and responding disaster in their regions.
  • Coordinate all stakeholders and activities in disaster management.
  • Incorporate disaster risk reduction in the framework of national development plan.
Strategies
  • Disseminate disaster risk reduction and strengthen capacity through training and education.
  • Prepare disaster legislation, regulations and standard operating procedures.
  • Set up disaster management information systems.
  • Disseminate hazard mapping and risk assessment.
  • Set up disaster management plan in all levels.
  • Strengthen National/Provincial/District Emergency Operation Center and Rapid Response Team.
  • Strengthen local capacity in disaster recovery. 
Conclusions
Indonesia is disaster prone country, both natural and human induce disaster. Disaster management in Indonesia needs support from space technology in terms of hazard and risk mapping, early warning, damage assessment and rehabilitation. The Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum or APRSAF play an important role to assist Indonesia in the disaster management.

Motorola Xoom Dual Core Processor Tablet

Motorola Xoom is the World’s first tablet with a 1GHZ dual core processor. It is also the first tablet that ship with Honeycomb, a new version's of the Android 3.0 operating system. The Motorola Xoom dual core processor for 2X power 2X speed makes multitasking become very easy, access various type of file from whatever source, handling documents in an instant. It's PC-like performance for working and gaming in a flexibility gadget.

Here's the features of Motorola Xoom:

  • Flexibility
    • Multitask with ease and PC like performance.
    • Access various types of files, whatever the source.
    • Open, edit, save and share docs in an instant.
    • Data encrypted, for total security at work or play.
    • Check email, view your calendar, and set appointments.
  • Display
    • 10.1 inch widescreen for HD display.
    • Rich, clear video playback in 720p HD.
    • Touch screen, with pinch to zoom navigation.
    • 1280 x 800 pixel resolution, at 150p inch.
    • Coming Gorilla Glass toughness.Cameras/Video
  • Operating System
    • First device on powerful android 3.0 (Honeycomb).
    • Google software designed specifically for tablets.
    • Fully upgradable to 4G, making it next gen ready.
    • Best for video, streaming media and downloading.
    • Radical new “floating” multi finger user interface.
    • Supports Adobe Flash player for optional browsing.
  • Cameras / Video
    • Camcorder – Fully functioning HD camcorder for quality video.
    • Cameras – Front and rear facing camera for social networking.
    • Video Conferencing – Front facing web cam for video conferencing.
    • Playback – Playback in 720p HD or even output at 1080p via HDMI.
    • Rear Camera – Rear 5 MP camera with LED flash and digital zoom.
    • Edit and share videos, photos instantly.
Accessories :

  • Speaker HD Dock
    • Featured compact, built in speakers, so there is no need to connect.
    • Double as a hub, with there USB 2.o ports plus HDMI connectivity.
    • Video chat, access apps, watch movies, listen to music while charging.
    • Speaker HD dock remembers your settings – every time you plug in.
    • Use Bluetooth technology to connect to a wireless keyboard or mouse.
    • Allows you to use your tablet at a convenient and accessible angle.
  • Standard Dock
    • Keeps your tablet charged and ready to go.
    • Allows you to use your tablet at a convenient and accessible angle.
    • Standard dock remembers your settings – every time you plug in.
    • Access apps, watch TV or movies, listen to music while charging.
    • Set the default view to clock mode or your personal photo gallery.
    • Connect to external speakers to enhance listening/viewing pleasure.
  • Wireless Keyboard
    • Connects effortlessly with Bluetooth wireless technology.
    • Works with most Android Powered Motorola devices.
    • Features a lightweight, full sized keyboard with super thin design.
    • Includes shortcut keys for quick access to your favorite Android apps.
  • Portfolio
    • Protect and personalize your tablet with the custom fit portfolio case.
    • Available in two materials, including durable and leather.
    • Positions your tablet in easy to see angles when used as a stand.
More articles about Motorola Xoom - Android Smart Tablet

Friday, March 11, 2011

Japan Earthquake 8.9 magnitude triggering Tsunami

An 8.9-magnitude earthquake hit northern Japan on Friday, triggering tsunamis and sending a massive wave filled with debris that included boats and houses inching toward land.
The number of fatalities was unclear, but Japan's Kyodo news reported at least 10 killed and numerous injured.

The quake prompted at least 19 countries and numerous Pacific islands to issue tsunami warnings. It was followed by powerful aftershocks that were felt in capital of Tokyo.

The quake's epicenter was 373 kilometers (231 miles) away from Tokyo, the United States Geological Survey said. But residents there continued to feel aftershocks long after the quake.

At Tokyo Station, one of Japan's busiest subway stations, people grabbed each other to steady themselves. Children cried. An announcement over the station loudspeaker warned commuters to remain underground.
 
Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/11/japan.quake/index.html?hpt=T1



Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Blackberry Phones Top Version

Latest RIM Blackberry Phone

Blackberry phones are known for it's reputation in smartphone technology. The great features of Blackberry Smartphones is making staying connected in our business and personal lives easier than ever before.

BlackBerry offers a sleek, stylish and compact all-in-one mobile phone solution, with the benefit of integrated email, sms text messaging, diary, contacts, instant messaging, Internet browser and social networking as standard.


 The Top Version of Blackberry Phones are:

BlackBerry 9800 Torch Slide Phone

The Blackberry Smartphone Series

Launched September 2010 to North America and expected quickly in the UK, the BlackBerry Torch 9800 slide phone is the very latest and perhaps the very best BlackBerry handset. It is the first BlackBerry slide phone and whilst featuring a 3.2" HVGA+ touch screen, this latest BlackBerry also has the usual full QWERTY keyboard tucked away beneath the slide screen. Navigating this latest BlackBerry handset is very exciting, as a combination of touch screen, optical trackpad, main function buttons and QWERTY keyboard, all combine to give an outstanding user experience. And for anyone who failed to 'bond' with the BlackBerry Storm touch/click screen, this touch screen is simply light years ahead and also with greatly improved web browsing functionality.

Along with all the usual BlackBerry refinements and functionality, the BlackBerry Torch is the first BlackBerry handset to feature the latest BlackBerry 6 operating system (OS) and with it, a greatly enhanced user experience across all of the this exceptional smartphones functions. Whilst prior to a full UK launch, pre-orders can be made via Vodafone, it has been reported that Orange should have early availability and that the other major mobile phone networks will follow.

The review for Blackberry Torch and specification

BlackBerry Bold 9700

The Blackberry Smartphone Series

Since it's initial launch as the BlackBerry Bold 9000, this handset has been highly popular both with business users and regular users alike. Towards the end of 2009, the BlackBerry Bold 9700 stepped in and has since been anomalously labelled as RIM BlackBerry's best handset to date, encapsulating all that is outstanding about traditional BlackBerry functionality and form. It seems that there has been universal agreement in all reviews, both written and video, that this is the BlackBerry to own. And when you read these reviews it's clear that BlackBerry have taken all that was good about the Bold 9000 and made it better - reduced size, reduced weight, higher resolution screen, improved battery life and with this enhanced power, improved talk-time and play-back time with audio and video files.

The new BlackBerry Bold 9700 also features improved navigation with optical trackpad, improved camera/video specs and an overall much faster/improved user experience. And lets not forget core email/communication/social networking applications that stand this handset (& BlackBerry generally) out, as the smartphone of choice. The Bold 9700 is available on all networks and in a variety of colors.

BlackBerry Storm2 9550

The Blackberry SmartPhone Series

The RIM BlackBerry Storm2 or BlackBerry Storm 9550 is one of the most ground breaking BlackBerry smartphones to date, as well as being RIM BlackBerry's first handset to feature touch screen/ Surepress technology. Storm 9550 offers a crystal-clear, high resolution 3.25" touch screen display, with auto-screen rotation - both SureType and QWERTY.The BlackBerry Storm (2) has a 624Mhz processor, 2GB of internal storage, 256MB Ram and expansion up to 32GB. This smartphone weighs just 160g, features a 3.2MP camera (with video capture) and offers up to 6hrs talk time. WiFi, 3G and Bluetooth are all standard. The BlackBerry Storm is considered to be RIM's most important phone release to follow the ever popular BlackBerry Pearl.


It's fair to say that this pioneering handset has had a somewhat rocky road and it's fair share of negative reviews, but despite this and especially with the massively improved Storm2 9550, this handset has a significant following/market share in the BlackBerry community. So we cannot give a complete 'thumbs-up' for this handset and like marmite, it seems that with the BlackBerry Storm, it's either complete love or complete hate.


Intel Core i7 990X Processor Extreme Edition

The highest performing desktop processor on the planet.

Intel now has the fastest proccessor, the new Core i7 990X which base on 32nm Gulftown core. The extreeme edition of this processor with the clock speed at 3.45GHZ and the multiplier is unlock with a Turbo Boost top-end speed of 3.73GHz. It's easily score the performance metric as the fastest six-core chip and of course it will cost you as well.

The Intel® Core™ i7-990X with the high performance platform capabilities of Intel® X58 Express Chipset-based motherboards will deliver the greater performance with a rich feature set.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Monday, March 7, 2011

iPad 2 All New Design Coming March 11 Starting at $499

iPad 2
Thinner. Lighter. Faster. FaceTime. Smart Covers. 10 hours battery.








All New Design
Less in your hands. More at your fingertips.
iPad is now 33 percent thinner and up to 15 percent lighter. You'll feel the difference when you pick it up. And when you just can't put it down.

Dual Core A5 Chip
It's Fast, times two.
Two powerful cores and faster graphic mean better surfing, better watching, better gaming, better everything. All with the same 10 hours of battery life.

Two Cameras
FaceTime, HD Video, and lots more to smile about.
Share big laughs with friends and family over FaceTime. Film youe life in HD. And put a twist on your snapshot with Photo Booth.

iPad Smart Cover
One great idea on top of another.
It attaches magnetically and aligns perfectly. Open and close it, and iPad 2 wakes up and goes to sleep. Fold it into a stand for watching and typing. It's smart in more ways than one.


Further information on Apple iPad 2

Coming March 11. Starting at $499.

Google Samsung Nexus S with Gingerbread

Review by Jennifer Johnson

Google's Nexus S smartphone has a lot of attractive features, but the one that attracts the most attention is the fact that this smartphone is the first to ship with the latest version of the Android smartphone operating system—version 2.3. Otherwise known as Gingerbread, this OS is said to be the fastest version of Android yet. In addition to Gingerbread, the Nexus S touts a 4-inch Super AMOLED display, a 1GHz Hummingbird processor, and 16GB of internal memory.

Although the Nexus S is the sequel to Google's Nexus One smartphone, Google is taking a different approach with this product. Whereas the Nexus One was only offered through Google's website, the Nexus S is available through Best Buy stores. Given that the Nexus S will be more visible to customers thanks to its retail presence, we expect Google will enjoy greater success with the Nexus S than it did with the Nexus One.

Since the Nexus S is a Google-branded phone, there isn't a custom UI that alters the Android experience—In other words, you'll get to use Android 2.3 in all is raw glory. Along with that, you'll get the new and improved features of Gingerbread, including a new user interface, an improved keyboard, support for near field communication (NFC), and more. This new OS also builds on many of the most popular features of Android such as multi-tasking and Wi-Fi hotspot capabilities.



Friday, February 25, 2011

Intel Unveils Next Gen Itanium Processor

This week, at ISSCC (International Solid-State Circuits Conference) Intel unveiled its next-generation Itanium processor, codenamed Poulson. This new octal-core processor is easily the most significant update to Itanium Intel has ever built and could upset the current balance of power at the highest-end of the server / mainframe market. It may also be the Itanium that fully redeems the brand name and sheds the last vestiges of negativity that have dogged the chip since it launched ten years ago.

From Merced to Tukwila

Intel began work on what would become Itanium back in 1994 in a joint venture with HP. The two companies chose to pursue a design philosophy they termed EPIC (Explicitly Parallel Instruction Computing). As an EPIC processor, Itanium pursued a very different design philosophy compared to the Pentium Pro and the other out-of-order execution processors that followed it.

Instead of using specific CPU hardware to re-arrange and optimally schedule instructions for execution (defined as Out of Order Execution, or OoOE), Itanium relies on the compiler to optimize code at run-time. This allowed the designers of Merced (the first generation Itanium) to devote more die space to execution hardware, thus boosting theoretical performance. The weak link in the chain was the compiler itself. If it failed to detect and exploit thread-level parallelism at runtime only a fraction of the CPU's execution units were in use at any given time.
 
Read more from the source of this article: Intel Previews 32nm Itanium "Poulson" Processor

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Final Android 3.0 Platform and Updated SDK Tools

We are pleased to announce that the full SDK for Android 3.0 is now available to developers. The APIs are final, and you can now develop apps targeting this new platform and publish them to Android Market. The new API level is 11.
 
For an overview of the new user and developer features, see the Android 3.0 Platform Highlights.
 
Together with the new platform, we are releasing updates to our SDK Tools (r10) and ADT Plugin for Eclipse (10.0.0). Key features include:

  • UI Builder improvements in the ADT Plugin:
    • New Palette with categories and rendering previews. (details)
    • More accurate rendering of layouts to more faithfully reflect how the layout will look on devices, including rendering status and title bars to more accurately reflect screen space actually available to applications.
    • Selection-sensitive action bars to manipulate View properties.
    • Zoom improvements (fit to view, persistent scale, keyboard access) (details).
    • Improved support for layouts, as well as layouts with gesture overlays.

  • Traceview integration for easier profiling from ADT. (details)
  • Tools for using the Renderscript graphics engine: the SDK tools now compiles .rs files into Java Programming Language files and native bytecode.

To get started developing or testing applications on Android 3.0, visit the Android Developers site for information about the Android 3.0 platform, the SDK Tools, and the http://developer.android.com/sdk/eclipse-adt.html.

Monday, February 21, 2011

HTML5 Games 0.2: Integers are Your Friends


Two weeks ago Bruce and I released JSGameBench version 0.1. Today marks the release of version 0.2, a much faster and cleaner version. We continue to learn both from tightening the code and from the strong HTML5 community. Version 0.2 reinforces our belief in HTML5 as a strong, horizontal platform for games and highly interactive applications across the web.

Benchmarking

In order to talk about browser performance, we needed to standardize. We now have two machines that will be our testing machines:

  • For OS X: a MacBook Pro laptop, currently OS X 10.6.6, 4GB of RAM, 2.66 GHz Intel Core i7, and NVIDIA GT 330M with 512MB of RAM.
  • For Windows: a Lenovo T410s laptop, currently Windows 7 Enterprise, 4GB of RAM, 2.53 GHz Intel Core i5, and NVIDIA NVS 3100M with 512MB of RAM.
Both of these laptops are significantly less powerful than the Mac Pro the original tests were run on. In addition, the 3100M offers approximately half the performance of the 330M.

More is Better

Thanks to help from the HTML5 community, JSGameBench has roughly doubled performance in the most widely used browsers in only two weeks. This a very promising development for the future of HTML5 games and interactive apps. The two most significant changes are clamping positions to integer values and using the transform/transform3d style property.

 

PlayStation Phone The Xperia Play


PlayStation Phone: Innovator or Imitator?
Sony's new phone is aimed at avid gamers, but it's unlikely to challenge the iPhone.
After seeing the mobile gaming market invaded by smart-phone makers in recent years, Sony Ericsson has now launched the first "Playstation phone," called the Xperia Play. The device resembles a regular smart phone but has gaming buttons that slide out from beneath the screen.

The Xperia Play, launched this week at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, is designed to fend off growing competition in the mobile gaming market while carving out a new niche among many other mobile devices.

Smart phones have encroached on the mobile gaming market in recent years—in 2009, revenue from iPhone games surpassed revenue from Sony's mobile PSP device, according to figures from research firm NPD and Flurry Analytics, a mobile analytics company.

Smart phones are now more powerful than many mobile gaming devices—the Samsung Galaxy S, for example, has three times the video processing of the Nintendo 3DS. Multitouch, motion-sensing interfaces have led to simple types of games that appeal to casual gamers. And smart-phone games sell for a few dollars, compared to around $30 for PSP games.

The Xperia Play's hardware matches that of any high-end smart phone. It has a one-gigahertz Snapdragon processor, an Adreno 205 graphics processor (both made by Qualcomm), and uses Google's Android operating system. It has a 10-centimeter, 854-by-480-pixel multitouch LCD screen, an eight-megapixel camera, and has eight gigabytes of SD memory, expandable to 32 gigabytes. Games can be downloaded via the Android Market.

In a time when many phones are focused on multitouch and motion control, the Xperia Play's slide-out keypad, featuring Sony's trademark gaming controls, may seem slightly retro. "It's almost like a step backward," says Daniel Ashdown, a mobile gaming research analyst with Juniper Research. But for the serious gamer, the buttons make sense, Ashdown says: "Sometimes you can't get such a good interaction without a keypad."

"If you are playing a driving game, you can use the accelerometers to steer, but it's quite hard to do braking and acceleration," adds Dan Hays, a mobile technology analyst and director of the consulting firm PRTM in Washington, D.C.

EA Games, which released its first games for the Android platform last October, has released two new titles for the Xperia Play: Fifa 10 and The Sims 3. According to Travis Boatman, VP of Worldwide Studios for EA Mobile, the company has been working with Sony Ericsson to ensure that the device's keypad gives players more control in the Xperia Play versions of its games.

Making PlayStation games available through the Android Market could help broaden the appeal of the platform, says Hays. Accessories could allow other Android handsets to play those games. But Xperia Play is unlikely to compete with the iPhone, says Hays. He believes the popularity of Apple and Android devices has both helped and hindered existing players in the mobile gaming market. It has drawn some customers away from dedicated consoles, but it has also drawn in fresh new users who may not have previously considered buying games, he says.

The trick, for Sony Ericsson, will be persuading some of these new players, as well as dedicated gamers, to buy the Xperia Play.
By: Duncan Graham-Rowe

Friday, February 18, 2011

80% of Browsers Found To Be At Risk of Attack

CWmike writes “About eight out of every 10 Web browsers run by consumers are vulnerable to attack by exploits of already-patched bugs, a security expert said Thursday. The poor state of browser patching stunned Wolfgang Kandek, CTO of Qualys, which presented data from the company’s free BrowserCheck service Wednesday at RSA. ‘I really thought it would be lower,’ Kandek said.

BrowserCheck scans Windows, Mac and Linux machines for vulnerable browsers, as well as up to 18 browser plug-ins, from Adobe’s Flash to Windows Media Player. When browsers and plug-ins are tabulated together, between 90% and 65% of all consumer systems scanned with BrowserCheck since June 2010 reported at least one out-of-date component. In January 2011, about 80% of the machines were vulnerable. The most likely plug-in to require a patch: same as last year, Oracle’s Java.”



Source: 80% of Browsers Found To Be At Risk of Attack

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Analysis: Nokia and Microsoft Embrace in Smartphone Alliance

The smart money was right. Nokia has jumped into bed with Microsoft and will produce phones running Windows Phone 7.

The cynics would say that, here, we have two lumbering dinosaurs of the technology world clinging to each other hoping that the other gives them a future. Optimists would point to two global super-giants that need each other, both bringing vital components to the alliance.

The big winner is Microsoft. Windows Phone 7, while reasonably well received by commentators, has not set the world on fire. An alliance with Nokia gives it access to the world’s largest phone maker and its huge mindshare—in many developing nations a mobile phone is known as a Nokia. Microsoft’s mobile strategy has been lackluster and tardy. The news that smartphones have outsold PCs for the first time last quarter, has put Microsoft’s core business—selling software for PCs—under threat. It desperately needs a stake in the future.

Microsoft’s “embrace and extend” strategy appears to be alive an well. In an open letter published on Nokia’s website, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer wrote “Together, we have some of the world’s most admired brands, including Windows, Office, Bing, Xbox Live, NAVTEQ and Nokia.” It is clear who is wearing the trousers in this partnership.

Google must be smarting a bit today. Not only did Nokia spurn the Android operating system - a recent survey suggests each phone delivers $9.85 a year to Google - but Nokia phones will have Bing as their default search engine. An Android tie-up for Nokia made little sense; the last place Nokia wanted to be was slugging it out with the likes of Samsung, HTC and Motorola, trying to differentiate themselves by cutting content deals and making better user interface tweaks.

But the biggest loser is MeeGo, the ugly, unloved step child of operating systems. The press release says: “MeeGo becomes an open-source, mobile operating system project. MeeGo will place increased emphasis on longer-term market exploration of next-generation devices, platforms and user experiences. Nokia still plans to ship a MeeGo-related product later this year.”

So MeeGo to No Go. Will that device ever see the light of day? Perhaps, but it will be hard to persuade developers and manufacturers to get behind an OS that clearly has been put on the shelf. WP7 will be at the centre of the company. MeeGo may yet end up in other devices; it is after all yet another flavor of Linux, the very popular open-source operating system. MeeGo’s road map always talked about it being embedded in other devices.

That may yet happen, but the omens don’t look good. Alberto Torres, who until today was Executive Vice President, MeeGo Computers, Mobile Solutions, has carried the can. According to the press release he is to “pursue other interests outside the company.”

Along with the eye-grabbing headline, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop also announced the much expected re-organization. Inauspiciously commencing on April Fool’s Day (were the PR team asleep during that bit of the planning?) the company will have two business units: Smart Devices and Mobile Phones. The former will be the new Windows Phone 7 branch. The Mobile Phones unit will continue to develop phones for Nokia’s mass market.

Neither of these two units can expect an easy time. Nokia’s core business - mass feature phones for the mass market - is under severe threat from cheap, mass produced Chinese phones. As Mr. Elop said in his famous “burning platform” memo:

“At the lower-end price range, Chinese OEMs are cranking out a device much faster than, as one Nokia employee said only partially in jest, “the time that it takes us to polish a PowerPoint presentation.” They are fast, they are cheap, and they are challenging us.”
And life is going to be no easier down the line. Smart Devices have to go into battle against the massed ranks of Android backers, BlackBerry and of course Apple and the iOS, armed with only Windows Phone 7. A giant killer it isn’t.

What is worrying is the time frame. Mr. Elop said “Nokia expects 2011 and 2012 to be transition years”. Two years is an eternity in the mobile phone world. Moore’s Law, which roughly translates to the power of chips doubling every 18 months, means phones will be more than twice as powerful. If Nokia is going to be worrying about who gets what office for the next two years, the company is going to emerge into an unrecognisable world.

The market reaction to Mr. Elop’s announcement was as swift as it was brutal. Nokia immediately fell 11 per cent. The markets are going to take some convincing that the company can pull itself out of a hole. But it is the general public who are the real judges in this final dance of the dinosaurs. The deal with Microsoft gives both Nokia and Microsoft a route to the future.

It is a very dark road ahead, and they are starting their uncertain journey right at the back of the pack. At least now they appear to have bought a map.

Source : http://blogs.wsj.com/tech-europe/2011/02/11/nokia-and-microsoft/