all informaiton

noreply@blogger.com (allinformation) — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 12:56:00 +0000

HOW TO EARN ONLINE
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Payment: Pays via papal, or Alert pay $2 minimum payout (The payout increases
by 1$ after each payment until a maximum of $10

PAYMENT METHOD INTRODUCATION
Few Month back it was not possible to earn online money easily in Pakistan because pay pal in not offering there services in

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BREFING
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earning from all over The word and Thousands from Pakistan Here in Pakistan people had opened Institutes to teach these

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techniques, you people are also familiar with the ads every Sunday in Jung Newspaper.

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Why PTC is Good pay per click advertising can generate traffic right away. It's simple: Spend enough,get top placement, and

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advertising.

WHAT IS PAY PER CLICK ADVERTISING?
pay per click advertising is a great way to get visitors when you need traffic and you need it now . This article will

provide you with a high-level view of pay per click advertising, provide some general strategies and provide an example of

what to do, and what not to do. What is pay per click Advertising?On its face, pay per click marketing, or PTC, is pretty

simple: Search engines and services, such as Google, Bing or yahoo, provide listings on a per-bid basis. This is in addition

to their 'natural' search results, which are still powered by a combination of keywords found on your site, link popularity

and other formula. -published at portent, an internet marketing company.

ONLINE PTC JOBS DETAILS

Paid to click websites give you some advertising links to click and earn money. You click them once every 24 hours and earn

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Paid to click means you get paid for clicking on an advertisement and visiting that particular site of the advertiser. There

are many sites offering you money to click on ads -

Do not expect to make a lot of money just by clicking on ads. The amount of money you will receive for each click is quite

small. However you may receive a lot of ads to click (or to read) and soon all these clicking and reading will add up and
your earnings will increase. More Information

HERE ARE SOME PTC WEBSITES WHICH ARE TRUSTED SITES AND YOU CAN JOIN JUST CLICK ON BANNERS AND LINK WHICH PROVIDES BY US

http://www.clicksia.com/ptc_ads.php?ref=khan123456789

Yahoo Messenger 9 'status' tweak: Sharing is caring

noreply@blogger.com (allinformation) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 02:56:00 +0000

On Friday, Yahoo let it be known they added a small tweak to Yahoo Messenger 9 for Windows.

When the latest version of Yahoo's chat application launched, it broadcast as secondary status messages certain activities within the Yahoo network, like refreshing your avatar. Now the service has expanded to record your doings on roughly twenty networks outside of Yahoo--like Twitter, Last.fm, YouTube, Pandora, and Yelp--as well as tracking your whereabouts more thoroughly within Yahoo's network, like the sports, movies, and shopping silos.

Here's how you sign up.

(Credit: CNET/Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt)

Sharing is optional, of course, but to get it, you'll need to make sure you've got a Yahoo profile set up. Then click 'Updates', then 'Manage my Updates' to pick share sites within Yahoo. To set up status-sharing from outside services, you'll need to add your login name via the 'Share More' tab. Set-up was fast and easy, especially with the search field that lets you enter a common username to find multiple accounts that share your log-in.

Is it notable? Not really. It's a small tweak that might take some work off the hands of obsessive status-updaters, but given Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz's vow to whip Yahoo's engineering corps into shape, this isn't the kind of 'news' we expect to see going forward.

How to find cheap groceries online

noreply@blogger.com (allinformation) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 02:51:00 +0000

If you want to start buying groceries online, we have five sites for you to try out. Few of them are designed well and a couple require up to five days to actually get your groceries. When it comes to buying groceries online, the experience is far from perfect. But I think you might find value in some of these options.

The wide world of groceries

Amazon

Amazon provides the best grocery experience, flat out. It's the service I use. And it's the only service I can fully recommend.

Amazon's grocery store, while still in beta, is designed well. Finding groceries takes just a few seconds. Adding goods to your shopping cart mimics the familiar Amazon experience. And prices are usually better than at my local supermarket. That said, I did find some better deals at wholesale brick-and-mortar stores, like BJ's and Costco.

Delivery is a major concern for most online grocery shoppers. That's where Amazon really shines. Amazon offers its "Free Super Saver" shipping on most products. You'll get your delivery in five to seven days. You can also get bulk items like paper towels in three to five business days with free shipping. If you want your groceries sooner, you'll be forced to pay for it, but Amazon can accommodate just about any time frame you require.

The Amazon grocery shopping experience is convenient, simple, and affordable. I highly recommend it.

AulSuperStore

The first thing you'll notice when you get to AulSuperStore is how ugly the site is. There's a very basic navigation bar in the left sidebar listing all the different grocery pages, but little else. It reminds me of a late Web 1.0 site.

I was generally impressed with AulSuperStore's inventory of groceries. Almost anything you search for will be on the site. But beware that some products I came across were sold out--something I never saw on Amazon. Prices were competitive, but they didn't quite match Amazon's pricing.

Delivery is the biggest issue facing AulSuperStore. You can't expedite shipping. If you're in Upstate New York, New York City, or New Jersey, you'll get your groceries in one day. But if you're in California, don't expect them for at least four days. Such a rigid delivery system will probably turn some people off.

AulSuperStore, while competitive on prices, isn't competitive on anything else. I don't recommend it if you live outside of New York or New Jersey.

Groceries Express

Groceries Express provides delivery to any of the 48 contiguous U.S. states. But if you live in Detroit, you can have frozen foods delivered to your door.

Unfortunately, that's the only real benefit Groceries Express provides. Like AulSuperStore, it's poorly designed. Finding individual groceries is too difficult. And its search field doesn't make finding products any easier.

When it comes to pricing, Groceries Express is on par with the other grocery services in this roundup, though it won't match Amazon on many products. I was also displeased with the lack of options. For example, Amazon offers a slew of different dog food brands. Groceries Express offers just a handful.

Groceries Express guarantees delivery via FedEx in three days, which isn't so bad. But its less-than-ideal selection turned me off to the service.

MyBrands

MyBrands' vision is to provide you with all the groceries you look for on a daily basis, as well as those that are hard to find. So, if that brand of cereal you enjoyed in Florida isn't available in your area, check out MyBrands to see if it stocks it. Chances are, it will. I was quite pleased with the company's selection of the basics, like ketchup, bread, and household goods. But I was blown away by its selection of hard-to-find products.

MyBrands is designed well. Finding products was made simple with the navigation pane in the left sidebar. And its "Quick Finder" tool helps you find a particular item in seconds.

Generally, prices on MyBrands were in line with Amazon's, but some of the harder-to-find products will run you a bit more. If you want your groceries the next day, MyBrands can accommodate that, which makes it even more valuable to the online shopper looking for some deals and convenience.

I was impressed by MyBrands. It's not as nice as Amazon, but it's close. Consider it a fine alternative to Amazon's grocery store.

ShopFoodEx

Once you get to ShopFoodEx, you'll probably be a little overwhelmed by its homepage. It's cluttered with "aisles," which are an artist's representation of a particular grocery type. They're flanked by real images of product specials. It's just ugly.

You'll find a nice selection of products on ShopFoodEx. From paper towels to condiments and baby products, the site has it all. Browsing through those products is practically impossible though, because the site uses a column view to display items instead of listing them across the page. Once again, its awful design takes away from the experience.

ShopFoodEx offers a price-matching service, which will refund you for the entire cost of buying a cheaper item online from another grocer. So if you find that Amazon's ketchup is cheaper than ShopFoodEx's, you can inform the site's customer service representatives, and they will refund you the total cost of your Amazon order. It's a nice touch that adds some value to the site. But I didn't try it out, so I'm not sure how lenient it is with that offer.

I should note that ShopFoodEx's shipping costs are expensive. You'll be forced to pay $8.95 or $12.95, depending on where you live, for delivery within three to six business days.

ShopFoodEx fails to provide a viable grocery experience. While I like that it matches pricing, its bad design will immediately turn people away.

Yahoo hires former Adobe exec to lead applications group

noreply@blogger.com (allinformation) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 02:41:00 +0000

Yahoo has hired Bryan Lamkin to head up the group that manages some of its highest-profile products and is an essential element of the Yahoo Open Strategy.

Lamkin will take on the role of senior vice president of Yahoo's Applications Products division, which encompasses its e-mail and instant messaging services, photo-hosting site Flickr, as well as Yahoo Answers, Groups, and e-mail and calendar service Zimbra. He will report directly to Executive Vice President of Products and Chief Technology Officer Ari Balogh.

As part of its Yahoo Open Strategy, the company is attempting to better integrate social connections with its online applications.

His role will be a central one at Yahoo in light of a recent reorganization led by CEO Carol Bartz, which unified Yahoo's product and technology groups under Balogh. Bartz said Tuesday she was dissatisfied with the unfocused engineering work at Yahoo and called for a new round of layoffs, in part to make room for new engineering talent.

Lamkin comes to Yahoo with 14 years of experience at Adobe, where he was senior vice president of the Creative Solutions Group. He managed strategy and development for Photoshop, Creative Suite, Dreamweaver, Flash, and Illustrator, according to a Yahoo spokesman. Lamkin retired from Adobe in 2006.

Lamkin replaces Scott Dietzen, who has acted as interim head of Yahoo's applications group since the reorg in February. Dietzen will now work on new product strategy in the group.

In other executive lineup changes, The Wall Street Journal reports that Yahoo's communications chief, Brad Williams, has left the company. Williams had headed the company's PR department since Jill Nash resigned in February.

Titanic clash brewing between Qualcomm, Intel

noreply@blogger.com (allinformation) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 02:33:00 +0000

Handset heavyweight Qualcomm is set to butt heads with Intel as it readies its high-performance Snapdragon chip.

Qualcomm's three-year effort to design its first gigahertz-class processor for smartphones will come to fruition this summer. And if products roll out in the numbers Qualcomm claims, Snapdragon should solidify the San Diego, Calif.-based company's position as the preeminent maker of cell phone chips, while allowing it to challenge Intel's dominance in Netbooks.

Qualcomm VP Mark Frankel with the Toshiba TG01 (in hand) and Wistron Netbook.

(Credit: Brooke Crothers)

I sat down with Mark Frankel, vice president of product management for Qualcomm CDMA Technologies, last week to discuss the prospects for Snapdragon and Intel's increasing presence in small devices.

"From a business perspective and design win perspective, things have only increased since Q4 of last year," Frankel said of Snapdragon.

Toshiba will be the first to bring out a Snapdragon-based smartphone. "Toshiba is this summer. That's the only Snapdragon 'hard' device that's been announced so far. You'll see many more over the course of the year," Frankel said.

The Toshiba TG01 Windows Mobile-based phone was unveiled in February. It uses a 1GHz Snapdragon (aka the Qualcomm QSD8250 chipset), is only 9.9mm thick (versus 12.3mm for the Apple iPhone), runs Windows Mobile 6.1, sports a 4.1-inch WVGA 800x480 touch screen (versus 3.5-inch for the iPhone), and comes with support for 3G HSPA, Wi-Fi, GPS, and assisted-GPS.

(See video below of Qualcomm-developed game running on the Toshiba TG01 and Snapdragon.)

Acer and Asus, among others, are also expected to bring out Snapdragon-based products.

It took a long time for Qualcomm to reach this point. In November 2006, Luis Pineda, Qualcomm's senior vice president of marketing and product management at the time, told ZDNet UK that "chipsets based on Snapdragon should become available towards the end of 2007, with products appearing the following year." That didn't happen, of course.

Nevertheless, Qualcomm--as the leading provider of core silicon in cell phones--has a long history of providing chips for high-profile phones. The T-Mobile G1, which runs Google's Android operating system, is powered by Qualcomm's processor, for example.

One of Snapdragon's purported fortes is its performance. The chip runs at 1GHz, a milestone for the power-frugalARM architecture, which typically yields processors that run at much lower speeds. (U.K.-based ARM licenses a basic chip design to companies including Samsung, Nvidia, Toshiba, and Panasonic, which take the design and modify it for their specific needs.)

Snapdragon boasts an ATI graphics engine, too. In February, Qualcomm acquired Advanced Micro Devices' ATI handheld chip technology, which includes intellectual property for "unified shader architecture" that has been used in Microsoft's Xbox.

Frankel said the ATI graphics engine will improve. "Going forward, you'll see more and more innovation done in-house," he said.

Qualcomm is also going multi-core, an established trend at Intel and AMD for PC and server chips but not for handheld devices because of the power requirements. And even Intel abandoned--though this may change later this year--multi-core in its Netbook Atom line-up because it would make Atom too power hungry.

"It is possible to have multi-core versions just as there are multi-core versions of Intel and AMD processors," Frankel said. "We do have a pretty robust CPU road map. (A dual-core) chip has been in development for some time. And it's well under way. It's sampling this year. You won't see it product this year. You'll see version one of Snapdragon," he said.

The Qualcomm QSD8672 dual-core Snapdragon is expected to reach speeds of 1.5GHz.

So, how is all of this technology going to best the 800-pound chip gorilla, Intel? "There are certainly some very glaring differentiations with Atom...No matter how much the other architecture pounds its drum for power saving, I don't think you're going to see that architecture in handheld devices for a period of time," Frankel said, referring to mainstream smartphones.

(Intel announced in March that it would co-manufacture Atom chips with chip manufacturing giant TSMC, andLG Electronics said in February that it would bring out a smartphone based on the "Moorestown" version of the Atom processor.)

In response to a question about Intel's current line-up of Atom chips for handheld mobile Internet devices, or MIDs, he said: "Atom is a product looking for a home. It was a product not designed with the user in mind but with the socket in mind." (The socket connects the chip to the circuit board.) "Why do you want a MID? I don't think anybody was really able to answer that question."

And Frankel repeated what some analysts have claimed: that Intel needs to control the market segmentation of the lower-profit Atom processor so it doesn't cannibalize its higher-end chips. "Intel wants to encapsulate this because of the ramifications to the other aspects of its business," he said.

What about Netbooks--the space that Intel owns right now? "When we first came out with Snapdragon, there was a lot interest in the Netbook space. The thinking was: I'll take my traditional Netbook Linux OS that I have in desktops and laptops. (But) I think over time, OEMs (device makers) have come to the conclusion: why limit my differentiation to just the hardware componentry?"

Frankel continued, "(Device makers) have been pushing some of the OS vendors to have smaller, faster, lighter more rich platforms. I think that's happening in several different OS areas. Certainly Linux."

Qualcomm's Snapdragon platform may not fare as well in Netbooks, say analysts

(Credit: Hewlett-Packard)

Analysts, however, are not too sanguine about Qualcomm's prospects for garnering a big share of the Netbook market.

"My opinion is that Netbooks with non-x86 (non-Intel) processors will not be nearly as successful as x86-based Netbooks--regardless of any advantages they have in power consumption or cost," said Tom R. Halfhill, senior analyst at the Microprocessor Report.

The problem is that ARM-based Netbooks run Linux not Windows, Halfhill said.

"Of course, the vast majority of users care nothing about CPU architecture--except when it visibly affects the product they're using. When the operating system is in-your-face visible, as it is with Netbooks, few users stray from their comfort zone. In a mobile computer that's still perceived as a PC, they overwhelmingly prefer Windows over Linux," Halfhill said. There have also been reports that ARM processors face challenges supporting Flash video.

Not surprisingly, Intel agrees.

"We believe the Atom processor family will continue to have a significant performance benefit over ARM-based designs," Intel spokesman Bill Calder said. "And it remains to be seen how a highly fragmented ARM ecosystem and lack of software compatibility will meet consumer expectations for a good Internet experience."

To date, the only announced Snapdragon-based Netbook is a prototype from device maker Wistron.

"We expect Snapdragon-based designs to be as light, as thick as (the Wistron Netbook)--if not more so as the design experience goes on. We expect significantly better battery life than other architectures can achieve," Qualcomm's Frankel said.

So, initially--even by Qualcomm's account--Snapdragon may be a bigger factor in smartphones than Netbooks. "We have quite a few Netbook design wins. But actually in number we have more design wins in the smartphone space--quite a lot of interest in Snapdragon for Windows Mobile. And certainly we have a great relationship with Google for Android-based devices as well."

So, how will this Intel-Qualcomm competition shake out in the next 12 months? Snapdragon may be the chip to beat in smartphones and MIDs, but the jury is out on Netbooks, where Intel is firmly in control--and it's Intel's

noreply@blogger.com (allinformation) — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 13:03:00 +0000

Winners and losers in a tech recession

noreply@blogger.com (allinformation) — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 13:00:00 +0000

So how's the recession going for you? We now appear to be in the very eye of the economic storm - but in the technology world there are a few winners as well as losers.
It's been a week of results from the tech giants - Microsoft, Yahoo, Amazon and Apple are among those who've given us updates about their finances. So what have we learned?

Mournful Microsoft

The biggest noise in software has suffered its first fall in sales since it floated as a public company in 1986.

A quick scan of the results shows revenue falling in most divisions - but it's the core Windows business which has suffered the biggest fall, with revenue down from $4bn to $3.4bn. So Vista has very quickly stopped being the money-spinner that was promised - no wonder Microsoft is keen to create a buzz around Windows 7.

Last October, when I interviewed the chief executive Steve Ballmer in London, he was already gloomy about the prospects for technology spending. Now those fears have been realised - and Microsoft's Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell seemed almost to revel in the gloom: "We remain more cautious than most," he said. "While we'd all like to hope that the recovery will be short and painless, we unfortunately think it will be slow and difficult."

Upbeat Amazon

By contrast, the online retailer seems incapable of putting a foot wrong right now, except for the odd row over a "cataloging error".

Consumers may have taken fright on the high street - though rather less than some retailers have claimed - but they're still spending freely online, or at least at Amazon. Sales for the quarter rose by 18% compared to a year ago.

The big rise was not in Amazon's old core business - books, music, DVDs - where sales were only up 7%, but in sales of what is classified as "electronics and other general merchandise", which were up 38%.

In other words, Jeff Bezos' mission to become the world's online shopkeeper seems to be proceeding according to plan. The company has also being making much of its electronic book Kindle 2 and its cloud computing initiative - but it's the millions of shoppers buying everything from lawn-mowers to leisurewear who are providing the profits.

Yahoo Still Struggling

But if online retailing seems to be weathering the recession quite well, the online advertising market appears to have stalled. Yahoo's earnings press release was headlined "Company Exceeds Midpoint of Operating Cash Flow Outlook Range" - a classic case of burying some pretty poor news under a piece of gobbledegook.

Further down, you find that search advertising revenue was down 3% and display advertising down 13%. Now, it was only a couple of months ago that internet advertising types were telling me that their industry was going to keep on growing through the recession, as companies sought the better value that the web could offer. While Yahoo has its own particular problems, it's not the only firm finding that those rosy predictions are not being borne out.

Oh, and another embarrassment for Yahoo today withthe closure of Geocities, the free homepage service it paid more than $4bn for at the height of the dot com boom.

Apple Advances

It was Apple which produced the week's most sparkling results, with sales of iPhones and iPods both beating expectations. Even a fall in Mac sales - down 3% - didn't depress the Wall Street analysts, who rushed to upgrade Apple shares. In a home computer market forecast to fall 11.9% in 2009 - its worst ever decline - it looks as though Apple may increase its market share.

I keep expecting the high price of its products to deter cash-strapped consumers - especially now that you can get a netbook for about a third the price of Apple's cheapest laptop. But so far, that hasn't happened.

And with Steve Jobs' stand-in Tim Cook describing netbooks this week as having "cramped keyboards, terrible software, junky hardware, and very small screens", it seems that the company is determined to stick to its premium pricing policy.

So the recession is hitting corporate technology spending and online advertising hard. But a few companies are showing that hard times are the best time to steal a march on your rivals.

In search of audio perfection

Darren Waters | 12:04 UK time, Thursday, 23 April 2009

Comments (36)

Does anyone care about good audio quality anymore? In the age of the MP3 player have we all settled for lower quality audio, compressed sounds, and the artificial edge to ripped music?

When I first started ripping my CDs on to my computer I did so at the default 128kbps quality setting. It wasn't long before I realised that while the music sounded acceptable on my MP3 player, songs sounded pretty "thin" when played through my stereo.

If you are still ripping in MP3 128kbps quality, try playing a song through your hi-fi and then use the original CD. There's a world of difference.

When iTunes first started it was offering songs at 128kbps in AAC format, which many people believe to offer better audio quality than MP3.

Again, it sounded okay on the bundled headphones that came with your iPod but play it through a stereo and the limitations are clear.

These days Apple offers all of its songs in 256kbps AAC format, twice the quality of songs when it launched.

But it is still a "lossy" format. You are not getting the full quality of the CD.

The issue for many of us is that the distinction between our music on the go and the music we listen to at home is blurring. Many of us now have all of our music stored on a computer or server, which is streamed to a hi-fi or speakers.

I've put all of my CDs in storage and have about 7,000 tracks on a server up in the attic which I access via iTunes or a games console.

The problem is that I have some songs recorded at 128Kbps MP3, most at 192Kbps MP3 and many at 192Kbps AAC.

I'm slowly beginning to rip my CDs once more - this time in a lossless format. There are quite a few to choose from, among them Apple Lossless, Free Lossless Audio Codec, Audio Lossless Coding and Windows Media Lossless.

The downside is that the better the bit rate of the encoding, the more storage space is requured for the track and in the case of lossless formats.

As I want to play these songs on the go I have to choose Apple Lossless, because my iPhone supports this format.

For those of us pursuing the lossless route the problem is the quality of the headphones that come bundled with our MP3 players, which tend to have very limited frequency response and so can't take full advantage of the extra audio quality.

There is a good range of more expensive earphones out there from companies such as Bose, Shure and Etymotic. All which significantly improve the listening experience.

The US firm Etymotic has done a deal with small British firm ACS to take this one stage further - providing custom sleeves that fit your ears alone.

I've had the procedure done myself, which you can watch in the video below. It's a painless process, pretty quick and quite interesting, if you've ever wanted to know what the inside of your ears look like.

A pair of Etymotic HF2 earphones bought from Apple comes with a voucher. You can use that to get a "cast" of your ears at an approved audiologist.

You will then be sent a pair of custom sleeves which fit on to the end of the HF2 earphones. ACS also makes a range of custom sleeves which fit on to other manufacturers' earphones.

So why do this? The HF2 earphones certainly offer much more sophisticated audio quality than the earphones that come bundled free with MP3 players. And the custom sleeves offer a better fit for your ear and noise isolation. The advantage here is that you don't need to turn up your music to hear it better because it is not being diluted by external sound.

Custom sleeves on a decent set of earphones is a couple of stages removed from true earphone nirvana, however. If you are one of the jet set then you could invest in a pair ofcustom monitors. These are sleeves with the audio drivers built-in and used by rock musicians and Formula One drivers. However, they can cost up to £500, so are not exactly within reach of the mainstream consumer.

I was chatting to Michael Shaver from Etymotic on Wednesday and he said teenagers had become used to cranking up the bass and volume on their MP3 players to compensate for the external noise of the street and the limitations of their earphones.

Aside from being bad for your hearing, this is clearly not the best way to get the most out of your digital audio.

The wider problem, however, is that a whole generation of music lovers have become accustomed to the poorer audio quality of MP3 encoded at a low bit rate.

Professor Jonathan Berger, from Stanford University, has been testing the listening preferences of students, exposing them to MP3 encoded music and tracks encoded at a higher quality.

He has been doing this for a number of years and found with each new influx of students, more and more them prefer music encoded at the lower MP3 encoding rate.

His explanation: music listeners have become accustomed to the digitised "sizzle" of MP3 compression.

So if you are of the generation that has been brought up with the iPod, you might want to save yourself some disk space and the extra money required to buy better earphones, or custom sleeves, and stick with the bog standard MP3 encoding.

A Budget for broadband?

Rory Cellan-Jones | 14:54 UK time, Wednesday, 22 April 2009

Comments (18)

Earlier this week I wrote that we were still no clearer about who would pay to bring superfast broadband to every corner of the UK. But after today's Budget we are perhaps a little more clear about the way the government plans to get bog-standard broadband to places that don't have it now.

The chancellor put his weight behind the proposals in Lord Carter's interim Digital Britain report for a Universal Service Obligation for broadband. He even suggested a speed and who would pay for it. The answers? 2Mbps (not "up to" I note) and you, the BBC licence fee payer. But relax, he's worked out that there's enough money swilling around in the pot set aside to help with digital switchover.

£803m was ring-fenced from the licence fee to help people who might struggle to afford new equipment as they were obliged to switch to digital television. The National Audit Office recently calculated that as much as £250m of that might not be spent. All sorts of people were looking at that money and licking their lips, but it looks as though it will now be transformed into the Broadband Switchover Fund.

But there are still a few questions to be answered. The chancellor said in his speech that the aim was to reach "virtually" everyone by 2012. Right now, depending on whose figures you believe, just 1% of the country - or around 250,000 homes - cannot get broadband access. So who will still be left out after 2012?

Then there is that 2Mbps - will that be enough to count as broadband by 2012 when around half the country will have access to 40Mbps or more?

And finally - is £250m really enough? I suppose that depends on what kind of technology is employed. A friend who knows about these things told me the other day that covering the country with Wimax masts - which should supply 2Mbps - would only cost £750m, and you'd think there would be enough of a commercial market in Wimax to cover the shortfall.

In any case, the government says that any extra cost could be met through "additional funding mechanisms", whatever they may be.

In short, it does look as though we've taken a significant step towards universal broadband coverage. Now all we need to do is sort out who will pay for the next generation network the government says is even more vital for our economic future.

Country profile: Saudi Arabia

noreply@blogger.com (allinformation) — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 12:56:00 +0000

One of the most devout and insular countries in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia has emerged from being an underdeveloped desert kingdom to become one of the wealthiest nations in the region thanks to vast oil resources.

But its rulers face the delicate task of responding to pressure for reform while combating a growing problem of extremist violence.

OVERVIEW

Overview
Facts
Leaders
Media

Named after the ruling Al Saud family, which came to power in the 18th century, the country includes the Hijaz region - the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad and the cradle of Islam. This fact, combined with the Al Sauds' espousal of a strict interpretation of Sunni Islam known as Wahhabism, has led it to develop a strongly religious self-identity.

AT-A-GLANCE

Politics: The Al Saud dynasty holds a monopoly of power; political parties are banned and the opposition is organised from abroad; militant Islamists have launched several deadly attacks

Economy: Saudi Arabia is the world's dominant oil producer and owner of the largest hydrocarbon reserves; rapidly growing unemployment is a major challenge

International: Saudi Arabia is one of the main players in the Arab and Muslim worlds; its stature is built on its geographic size, its prestige as the custodian of the birthplace of Islam and status as major oil producer

Timeline

Saudi Arabia was established in 1932 by King Abd-al-Aziz - known as the Lion of Najd - who took over Hijaz from the Hashemite family and united the country under his family's rule. Since his death in 1953, he has been succeeded by various sons.

The Al Saud dynasty's monopoly of power meant that during the 20th century successive kings were able to concentrate on modernisation and on developing the country's role as a regional power.

It has always been in the ruling family's interests to preserve stability in the region and to clamp down on extremist elements. To this end, it welcomed the stationing of US troops in the country after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

But the leadership's refusal to tolerate any kind of opposition may have encouraged the growth of dissident groups such as Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda, which benefited from popular resentment against the role of the US in the Middle East.

After the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington of 11 September 2001 - carried out mainly by Saudi nationals - the Saudi authorities were further torn between their natural instincts to step up internal security and pressure to allow a greater degree of democracy.

In 2003 suicide bombers suspected of having links with al-Qaeda killed 35 people - including a number of foreigners - in the capital Riyadh. Some Saudis referred to the attacks as their own 9/11.

Since then, demands for political reform have increased, as has the frequency of militant attacks, some of them targeted at foreign workers. The security forces have made thousands of arrests.

Municipal elections in 2005 were a first, limited exercise in democracy. But political parties are banned - the opposition is organised from outside the country - and activists who publicly broach the subject of reform risk being jailed.

Saudi Arabia sits on more than 25% of the world's known oil reserves. It is capable of producing more than 10 million barrels per day; that figure is set to rise.

FACTS

Full name: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Population: 25.2 million (UN, 2008)
Capital: Riyadh
Area: 2.24 million sq km (864,869 sq miles)
Major language: Arabic
Major religion: Islam
Life expectancy: 71 years (men), 75 years (women) (UN)
Monetary unit: 1 Riyal = 100 halalah
Main exports: Oil, gas, cereals
GNI per capita: US $15,440 (World Bank, 2007)
Internet domain: .sa
International dialling code: +966

LEADERS

Overview
Facts
Leaders
Media

Head of state, prime minister: King Abdullah Bin-Abd-al-Aziz Al Saud

Saudi Arabia has been ruled since its foundation by the Al Saud dynasty. King Abdullah succeeded the late King Fahd, his half brother, in August 2005.

King Abdullah is seen as a cautious reformer

As crown prince, Abdullah had been the effective ruler of Saudi Arabia since the former king suffered a stroke in the mid-1990s.

He became heir to the throne in 1982, commanded the powerful National Guard and was considered to be the most influential figure in the country. He is a former mayor of Mecca. His son, Mutib, is deputy commander of the National Guard.

Abdullah is said to have forged alliances with other members of the ruling family to offset the influence of his seven half brothers. Known as the "Sudayri Seven", they are the most powerful alliance within the ruling family.

He is seen as being untainted by corruption - giving credibility to his drive to stamp it out - and to favour reforms which are balanced with a respect for Saudi traditions.

Regarded in the Arab world as a supporter of wider Arab interests, he has criticised US support for Israel and Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory.

King Abdullah is believed to have been born in 1924. He received a traditional religious education and is close to the Saudi tribal way of life, often spending periods of time in the desert.

MEDIA

Saudi Arabia, though a pioneer of pan-Arab satellite television, has long had one of the most tightly-controlled media environments in the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia maintains tight control over the media

Criticism of the government and royal family and the questioning of religious tenets are not generally tolerated.

But by 2003 there were signs of increasing openness, with some formerly taboo topics receiving press and TV coverage. The September 11 attacks on the US and instances of domestic militancy were said to have brought about a bolder and more candid reporting.

The state-run Broadcasting Service of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (BSKSA) is responsible for all broadcasting. It operates four TV networks, including news channel al-Ikhbariya. The minister of culture and information chairs the body which oversees radio and TV operations.

Private radio and TV stations cannot operate from Saudi soil, but the country is a key market for pan-Arab satellite and pay-TV broadcasters. Saudi investors are behind some of these networks, including Dubai-based MBC and Bahrain-based Orbit. Viewers in the east can pick up TV stations from more liberal Gulf neighbours.

The press in Saudi Arabia

Saudi newspapers are created by royal decree. There are more than a dozen dailies and many magazines. Pan-Arab papers, subject to censorship, are available. Newspapers tend to follow the lead of the state-run news agency on whether or not to publish stories on sensitive subjects.

The government has invested heavily in security systems to block access to websites it deems offensive, said to range in subject matter from religion to swimwear.

There were 6.2 million internet users by March 2008 (ITU). Many surfers are said to be women, possibly a result of restrictions on their movements. There are said to be as many as 5,000 Saudi blogs.

The press

Al-Watan - Abha-based daily
Al-Riyadh - Riyadh-based daily
Okaz - Jeddah-based daily
Al-Jazirah - Riyadh-based daily
Al-Sharq al-Awsat - Riyadh-based daily, English-language web pages
Arab News - Jeddah-based English-language daily
Saudi Gazette - Jeddah-based English-language daily

Television

Saudi TV - state-run, operates four networks

Radio

Saudi Radio - state-run

News agency

Saudi Press Agency (SPA) - state-run

Country profile: Afghanistan

noreply@blogger.com (allinformation) — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 12:46:00 +0000

Landlocked and mountainous, Afghanistan has suffered from such chronic instability and conflict during its modern history that its economy and

infrastructure are in ruins, and many of its people are refugees.

Since the fall of the Taleban administration in 2001, adherents of the hardline Islamic movement have re-grouped. It is now a resurgent force, particularly in the south and

east. A fledgling democratic government faces the challenges of extending its authority beyond the capital and of forging national unity.

OVERVIEW

ts strategic position sandwiched between the Middle East, Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent along the ancient "Silk
Route" means that Afghanistan has long been fought over - despite its rugged and forbidding terrain.
It was at the centre of the so-called "Great Game" in the 19th century when Imperial Russia and the British Empire in India vied for
influence.
AT A GLANCE
Nato leads the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf), a peacekeeping body
Attacks by the Taleban continue, particularly in the south
Incumbent leader Hamid Karzai won presidential elections in October 2004
Parliament was inaugurated in December 2005

Timeline
And it became a key Cold War battleground after thousands of Soviet troops intervened in 1979 to prop up a pro-communist regime, leading to a major confrontation that drew in the US and Afghanistan's neighbours.
But the outside world eventually lost interest after the withdrawal of Soviet forces, while the country's protracted civil war dragged on.
The emergence of the Taleban - originally a group of Islamic scholars - brought at least a measure of stability after nearly two decades of conflict.
But their extreme version of Islam attracted widespread criticism.
The Taleban - drawn from the Pashtun majority - were opposed by an alliance of factions drawn mainly from Afghanistan's minority communities and based in the north.
In control of about 90% of Afghanistan until late 2001, the Taleban were recognised as the legitimate government by only three countries.
They were at loggerheads with the international community over the presence on their soil of Osama bin Laden, accused by the US of masterminding the bombing of their embassies in Africa in 1998 and the attacks on the US on 11 September 2001.
After the Taleban's refusal to hand over bin Laden, the US initiated aerial attacks in October, paving the way for opposition groups to drive them from power.
Infighting between local commanders over power and territory became a feature of the post-Taleban period. The authorities in Kabul have been able to exert little control beyond the capital and militant violence has continued.
2008 is considered to have been the bloodiest year so far in Afghanistan for the Nato and US missions there since the Taleban was removed from government in 2001.
In March 2009 US President Barack Obama unveiled a new American strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan to combat what he called an increasingly perilous situation. An extra 4,000 US personnel will train and bolster the Afghan army and police, and there will also be support for civilian development.
Afghanistan's drugs industry makes up around 60% of the economy. The trade has boomed since the fall of the Taleban and the country supplies 93% of the world's opium, the raw ingredient of heroin.
International bodies and governments say the drugs trade is helping to fuel the Taleban insurgency, which is estimated to receive up to US$100m a year from the trade.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime has called on Afghanistan to target the major traffickers and corrupt government officials, who it says operate with impunity in the country.
FACTS

Full name: Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
Population: 28.2 million (UN, 2008)
Capital and largest city: Kabul
Area: 652,225 sq km (251,773 sq miles)
Major languages: Pashto, Dari (Persian)
Major religion: Islam
Life expectancy: 44 years (men), 44 years (women) (UN)
Monetary unit: 1 Afghani = 100 puls
Main exports: Fruit and nuts, carpets, wool, opium
GNI per capita: n/a
Internet domain: .af
International dialling code: +93
LEADERS
President: Hamid Karzai
Hamid Karzai, who headed the provisional administration set up when the Taleban were driven from power, won a five-year term in Afghanistan's first direct presidential elections in October 2004.
Hamid Karzai won a five-year mandate in October 2004
He gained 55.4% of the vote. Officials said voting irregularities were not enough to affect the outcome of the poll.
The president faces the challenges of forging national unity, disarming regional militias and tackling drug production. In 2002 he persuaded international donors to pledge $4bn to help rebuild his country.
Mr Karzai, a Pashtun leader, is an effective player on the world stage and has enjoyed strong backing from his Western allies. However, tensions have crept in over recent years.
Mr Karzai is expected to run for re-election in August 2009 but US-Afghan relations have taken a downturn as senior American officials have questioned the effectiveness and honesty of his government.
Born in the southern Afghan town of Kandahar in 1957, Hamid Karzai studied in India and France. Exiled in Pakistan for much of the Soviet occupation and during Taleban rule, he was chosen as post-Taleban Afghanistan's interim leader in late 2001.
Afghanistan's constitution, which was adopted in 2004 by an assembly of tribal representatives, envisages a powerful presidency and defines Afghanistan as an Islamic republic, where men and women enjoy equal status before the law.
Parliamentary and provincial elections were held in September 2005 and a new Afghan parliament held its inaugural session in December.
MEDIA
The growth in the number of media outlets - private TV stations in particular - has characterised the post-Taleban media scene.
Media outlets have flourished in the post-Taleban years

Afghanistan's post-Taleban media
There are scores of radio stations, dozens of TV stations and some 100 active press titles, operating under a wide range of ownerships - from the government, provincial political-military powers and private owners to foreign and NGO sponsors. The main private TV and radio networks command large audiences.
An Australian-Afghan media group, Moby Capital Partners, operates some of the leading stations, including Tolo TV and Arman FM.
Much of the output on private TV stations consists of imported Indian music shows and serials, and programmes modelled on Western formats. The channels are very popular in urban centres, especially among the under 30s.
However, media laws prohibit material that is deemed to run counter to Islamic law and some private stations have drawn the ire of conservative religious elements. Press freedom group Reporters Without Borders says media regulatory bodies are "under the government's thumb".
Relays of foreign radio stations or stations funded from overseas are on the air in Kabul, including the BBC, Radio France Internationale, Deutsche Welle and US-funded broadcasts from Radio Free Afghanistan, which uses the name Azadi Radio, and the Voice of America, which brands its Dari and Pashto broadcasts as Radio Ashna ("Friend").
BBC World Service is also available on FM and mediumwave (AM) in other parts of Afghanistan.
Newspaper readership has seen a significant leap, from almost nil under Taleban rule. Newspapers tend to reflect more openly on domestic developments than do broadcasters.
Internet access is scarce and computer literacy and ownership rates are low. There were 500,000 internet users by December 2008 (ITU).
Afghanistan's media were seriously restricted under Taleban rule. Radio Afghanistan was renamed Radio Voice of Shariah and reflected the Islamic fundamentalist values of the Taleban. TV was seen as a source of moral corruption and was banned.
The press
Hewad ("Homeland") - government-sponsored daily
Anis ("Companion") - government-sponsored daily
Kabul Times - state-run daily, English-language pages
The Daily Afghanistan - private Daily Outlook - private, English-language
Kabul Weekly - private, English-language pages
Payam-e Mojahed ("Voice of Mojahed") - Northern Alliance weekly
Radio
Radio Afghanistan - run by state broadcaster National Radio-TV Afghanistan (NRTA)
Arman FM - Afghanistan's first private radio station, on FM in Kabul and other cities
Ariana Radio - private network, on FM in Kabul and across many provinces
Television
National Television Afghanistan - run by state broadcaster (NRTA), via terrestrial relays and satellite
Tolo TV - leading private network, via provincial relays and satellite; initially supported by US development agency USAID but now says it is self-financing
Lemar TV - private, Pashto-language sister station of Tolo TV
Aina TV - private, broadcasts to major Afghan cities terrestrially and to Central Asia and Europe via satellite
Ariana TV - private, broadcasts terrestrially in many provinces and via satellite to Asia, Europe and North America
News agencies
Bakhtar News Agency - state-run
Pajhwok Afghan News - private
Afghan Islamic Press - private, based in Peshawar, Pakistan

Microsoft suffers first sales dip

noreply@blogger.com (allinformation) — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 08:49:00 +0000

Microsoft has said sales in the first three months of 2009 fell 6% from the previous year - its first quarterly drop in 23 years as a public company.

The world's largest software maker said profit dropped by 32% to $2.98bn (£2bn). Sales slipped to $13.65bn.

Microsoft makes most of its profit selling the Windows operating system and business software such as Office.

However demand has been hit by falling sales of personal computers as consumers and businesses trim spending.

Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer told the BBC World Service that its results had been "impacted" by the downturn in the world economy.

He also admitted the company would have had less total sales "than we would have had before the downturn".

"We expect the weakness to continue through at least the next quarter," said the firm's chief financial officer, Chris Liddell.

Microsoft - which became a public company in 1986 - has been looking at ways of cutting costs.

In January, it said it would cut up to 5,000 jobs over the next 18 months, including 1,400 immediately.

'Controlling costs'

Microsoft's fall in profit was more severe than analysts had been expecting.

"There's stuff to be happy with - they're controlling costs and getting that under control," said Kim Caughey, a senior analyst with Fort Pitt Capital.

"The bad thing is demand and consumer preference seems to have affected their top line."

Shares in Microsoft rose by 4% in after-hours trading - possibly reassured by comments from the firm that it was on track to release the next version of its operating system, Windows 7, during its 2010 financial year.

Oracle in $7.4bn deal to buy Sun

noreply@blogger.com (allinformation) — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 08:44:00 +0000

Business software manufacturer Oracle has said it is to acquire computer hardware and software maker Sun Microsystems for $7.4bn (£5.1bn).

Oracle is to pay $9.50 in cash for each Sun share, it said.

Oracle said the buy "transforms the IT industry, combining best-in-class enterprise software and mission-critical computing systems".

Oracle shares were down 5.56% and Sun's were up 27% in trading before the open of the New York Stock Exchange.

The offer of $9.50 per share represents a 42% premium over Sun's closing stock price on Friday.

Natural evolution'

The deal comes a month after IBM abandoned its bid to buy Sun.

"Oracle and Sun have been industry pioneers and close partners for more than 20 years," said Sun chairman Scott McNealy.

"This combination is a natural evolution of our relationship and will be an industry-defining event."

Sun said its board of directors had unanimously agreed the deal, which is expected to be completed this summer after approval from shareholders and government regulators.

'Interesting acquisition'

Computer industry analyst Robert Jakobsen said he was initially "a little bit surprised".

"It could make sense," he added.

"The deal would strengthen Oracle's position against IBM. Oracle has done a good job on acquisitions it has done earlier."

Oracle said the takeover of Sun would boost its profits by more than $1.5bn in the first year, and by $2bn in the second.

However, Sun made a loss of $1.9bn over the past 12 months, despite sales totalling $13.3bn.

Fellow computer industry analyst Shannon Cross, said it was "a very interesting acquisition".

"It gives Oracle a very strong operating system. It gets hardware, which should be interesting to see since Oracle doesn't make things.

"It's going to give them access to customers who weren't using the Oracle database."

Job cuts?

Although best known for its computer servers, Sun was also the developer of the Java programming language, and created the Solaris operating system.

Sun currently employs 33,000 people, while Oracle's workforce totals 86,000.

The firms have yet to comment on whether any redundancies will be made following the completion of the takeover.

Yahoo pulls the plug on GeoCities

noreply@blogger.com (allinformation) — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 08:42:00 +0000

Yahoo is to close its personal web hosting site GeoCities later this year.

In a statement, the firm says it will no longer be accepting new customers and will focus on helping "customers build new relationships online".

Yahoo bought GeoCities for $3.57bn at the height of the dotcom boom in 1999.

At its peak, GeoCities boasted millions of active accounts, but it has since fallen out of fashion, with users migrating to social networking sites.

Yahoo says that existing GeoCities accounts will remain live for now, although it stresses that users should start looking for alternative sites.

"You don't need to change your service today, but we encourage anyone interested in a full-featured web-hosting plan to consider upgrading to our award-winning Yahoo! Web Hosting service," the firm said in an online post.

The closure of GeoCities spells the end of Yahoo's free hosting, although other services - such as e-mail accounts - remain unaffected.

Rupert Goodwins, editor of the ZDNet website, said the closure of GeoCities was the end of an era.

"I think GeoCities was the first proof that you could have something really popular and still not make any money on the internet.

"It was a fascinating experiment in the pre-industrial era of the internet, but after the initial exuberance on what the web could do, it turned out to be more complicated than just giving them free hosting.

"You need to give users tools to actually do things and make things simple, one of the reasons sites like Facebook and MySpace are so popular," he said.

Facebook 'must do more to tackle racism' say campaign groups

noreply@blogger.com (allinformation) — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 08:38:00 +0000

Facebook has become a breeding ground for racists and far-right extremists, according to campaigners who say its owners should do more to prevent internet hatred.

Messages and membership groups calling on Britain to deport or kill immigrants appear constantly on the social networking website, which relies on users reporting racist or offensive behaviour.

The scale of Facebook, which has more than 200 million subscribers around the world and attracts thousands of new members every day, makes it a popular target for political and campaign groups, including extremist organisations.

The Federation of Poles in Great Britain has written a letter to Facebook's owner Mark Zuckerburg, calling on him to close down one group where a member called for Polish people to be thrown "down the well".

Dr Jan Mokrzycki, president of the organisation, told The Independent: "Generally we try not to react against every inflammatory gesture against Polish people, but the language within the website was so rude and racist that we felt like we had no choice.

"I recognise that you can't stop every racist website out there, but I would like to think that a supposedly respectable site like Facebook would have better checks and controls on what gets put on their site."

Groups with names such as 'get all the Paki's out of england' can be found operating on the site with a simple search. Many have hundreds of members, some of them posting comments illegal under laws prohibiting incitement to racial hatred.

Denis MacShane, the Labour MP for Rotherham, told the newspaper: "The way you defeat extremism, intolerance, prejudice and racism is to atomise it and make people feel that even if they think racist thoughts they can't say it openly. But websites like Facebook have unfortunately allowed people to come together in one space and say, 'there are people out there like me'. That is something that worries me greatly. For all the good social networking sites do, they also allow people to express prejudice that in a civilised society should be kept under lock and key."

Mr Zuckerburg has been reluctant to heavily regulate his site, which relies on users to report racist and offensive behaviour and whose terms and conditions prohibit comments that are "abusive, vulgar, hateful or racially and ethnically objectionable". A spokeswoman said comments posted by users "often reflects the reality of conversations that take place in the pub or with friends" but stressed the site intervened to ensure content that breaks the law would be removed. She added the one of the groups mentioned by The Independent, called 'People hate Pakis', had already been deleted.

A statement from the site said: "We want Facebook to be a place where people can discuss issues and current affairs, while respecting the rights and feelings of others. However, there is no place for content that is threatening, abusive, hateful, or racially or ethnically objectionable on the site and Facebook will remove any such content that violates our Terms of Use when it is reported.

"As a community, Facebook is highly self-regulating, and users can and do report content that they find questionable or offensive. We have already removed a number of groups that violated these terms and we are continuing to be vigilant, immediately removing further postings when we become aware of them. Repeat offenders who continue to create groups that are in violation of our Terms of Use will have their accounts disabled."

A spokesman for anti-racism group Searchlight said: "It is vital that in those instances where there is clear evidence of hate mail being distributed, [that] internet service providers act firmly and swiftly to shut them down. We cannot allow cyberspace to become a hideout for the peddlers of hate."

Apple App Store downloads tops one billion in nine months

noreply@blogger.com (allinformation) — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 07:15:00 +0000

Apple customers have downloaded one billion applications from its App Store - and the company says it is the largest applications store in the world.

The one billionth app, Bump created by Bump Technologies, was downloaded by Connor Mulcahey, age 13, of Weston, CT. As the grand prize winner of Apple’s one billion app countdown contest, Connor will receive a $10,000 iTunes gift card, an iPod touch, a Time Capsule and a MacBook Pro.

“The revolutionary App Store has been a phenomenal hit with iPhone and iPod touch users around the world, and we’d like to thank our customers and developers for helping us achieve the astonishing milestone of one billion apps downloaded,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “In nine months, the App Store has completely revolutionized the mobile industry and this is only the beginning.”

Currently the App Store has more than 35,000 applications available to consumers in 77 countries, allowing developers to reach tens of millions of iPhone and iPod touch users around the world.

This summer the iPhone OS 3.0 software update will provide developers with over 1,000 new developer APIs enabling In-App Purchases, Peer-to-Peer connections, App control of accessories, and Push Notifications.

The iPhone OS 3.0 release will also add over 100 customer features including cut, copy and paste; Spotlight search; landscape keyboard and view for all key iPhone apps; MMS support; and expanded parental controls for apps, TV shows, and movies from the App Store.