Taranfx: Technology Blog

Download Torrentz without .Torrent file

Taranfx — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:10:00 +0000

If you are frequent Torrent/p2p user and use Firefox this will come handy for you. TorrentZ.com is world’s largest Torrent search engine, most of the time you have to navigate to other third-party sites for the download.

However, BitTorrent clients like uTorrent, Vuze (formerly Azureus) support magnet links, which, for the purpose of BitTorrent, allow users to start downloads without an actual .torrent file. This could be very helpful when torrent file download is blocked and for all other cases, adds convenience

Once installed, Firefox addon Magnetiser monitors your searches on Torrentz. If it detects that you’re on a torrent’s detail page, you’ll see “Magnetise” in the Firefox status bar. Click on Magnetise to open the torrent in your default BitTorrent client, saves time.

So here is the cause of why you should consider using it, as per author: “Not only does it save time, it also comes in handy when a torrent is no longer available on the external site. It’s also useful for people with ISPs or IT people who block .torrent file downloads.”

The add-on is not available on Firefox’s add-on section just yet, but those who want to try it can download this Zip file. Download and rename to .xpi and drag it into the Firefox browser window. After it’s installed users can add additional trackers, but since it includes the most-used trackers by default, this is not really needed. Soon Mozilla will approve it, and can be downloaded here too.

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[How to] Google Navigation on Android G1

Taranfx — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:12:36 +0000

With Motorola Droid came the world’s most advanced Navigation GPS – Google Maps Navigation. And now it’s hacked to be installed on other Android Devices : G1

Google Maps Navigation will be part of Android 2.0, and Android 2.0 is expected to come to most—if not all—Android handsets on the market eventually. But this hack (requires a rooted phone) makes it possible now.

Google Maps Navigation Beats All GPS

Android 2.0 Feature Review

Pre-requiste: Download here, Make sure you have CyanogenMod 4.2.3.1

Here’s How to do it:

Step 1. Unzip the downloaded file and Run Part 1.bat. When prompted to press any key, do so; the phone will reboot

Step 2. When phone is rebooted, run Part 2.bat and again as before, When prompted to press any key, the installation process is done.
Step 3. Enable GPS, if not already and then Open Maps and press OK.
Step 4. Press Menu > Press Directions > Enter an end point > Click Go
Step 5. Just under “Show on map”, click Navigate. When prompted to install the voice codec, do so.

And it’s there up and running for free: One of the best turn-by-turn navigation on Android

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Google Go: New Programming language

Taranfx — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:37:46 +0000

In the Era where we are surrounded by millions of programming languages, Google gives us a new GO.

Go is a new Open Source programming language from Google that aims at performance. The performance we are talking about is the fastest you can get: comparable to C minus the troubles and plus the ease. So what we get is more self-explanatory syntax and faster compilation.

Who doesn’t want more syntactic glamor, better runtime performance, better features, easier to code and faster compilation? Thats’s why we see so many programming languages.

Despite the large amount of enthusiasm, modern programming languages dont compare to C in performance. The best that Microsoft, Sun, and Apple have to offer are just variations on that theme.

Although Google’s Go is yet another take on object-oriented C, it’s got some nice features.

Go offers:

An Expressive type system,
Fast compilation,
Great performance, and
Built-in language features that simplify threaded programming and concurrency.

So how much effort did undergo for it’s development?
The GO has been under development for roughly two years. Like other most innovative projects from Google, it started out as a 20 percent project and evolved into a serious full-time undertaking.If youa re not aware Gmail, Google Earth, Google News and several other projects came from 20 percent of Google employee’s time which were later moved to mainstream.

So it’s Open Souce Where is the Source code?

Google is releasing the source code under the BSD license (and not GPLv2) with the hope that a community will contribute to make it even better.
How mature is the Language?

Rob Pike, a google Engineer, says that the Go language itself and the current implementation are relatively mature, but it’s not quite ready for adoption in production environments. The ecosystem around the programming language is still a work in progress. It lacks on several fronts like there is no IDE integration, the standard libraries are thin, and there aren’t a whole lot of real-world code tutorials, examples, debugging info yet. But liek any other open source project, Opening up Go could help to accelerate its advancement and hence adoption.

Compilers: Go comes with two native compilers: 6g and 8g (for 64-bit and 32bit), are designed to be extremely fast. There is an alternative compiler called Gccgo that is based on the GCC. As one would expect, the GCC-based compiler isn’t as fast but, on the other hand, is said to generate more efficient code. On the inside, compiler has a lot of LLVM expertise and is using it extensively for their awesome Python optimization effort.

The compiler generates native binaries, directly executable, no VM, no bytecode, and that’s what makes it faster and comparable to C.

Syntax: The syntax is very generic, hence easy to grasp. There assignments, functions, “for” loops, standard condition expressions, and many other features look easy. But there are certain tricks e.g. it has anonymous function syntax that lets you use real closures. The following code snippet is an example from Google’s documentation:

func multiply(a []int) int { // returns an int

m := 0;

for i := 0; i < len(a); i++ {

m*= a[i]

}

return m

}

m := multiply(&[3]int{1,2,3}); // am array is passed to multiply

It has some unusual type system: It stays away from inheritance. Instead, one can define struct types and then create methods for operating on them. Like Java, one can also define interfaces.The interface mechanism gives developers some of the flexibility of duck-typing, but it goes further by providing the advantages of compile-time checking.

Concurrency: One of the strongest reason to migrate to this language after all it`s taken care from the bottom up in the design. To simplify threading, it introduces concept of “goroutines” which are concurrently executed threads. Just like you would “run” in java, the function call with be “go” in Go language. The inter-thread communications, message handling is done through “channel” which Google calls ”safe” way of doing it while Going in or out of goroutines.

Watch the GO details in Google Tech Talk: (long one)

Do we Really need it?

This is the final and the most important question. Is Google re-inventing the wheel? Yes, google is doing it, but with a purpose. Go will take care of the major issues of today’s programming languages: Concurreny, multicore processing and efficient threading . But we need practical benchmark figures before we can go with that. On the other side, it’s unusual type system is claimed to be very powerful.

Google developers, to convince us, have build the Web server software that powers the project’s official website. Possibly, that is the only PROD environment it will be seen on, atleast for some time. We really need some good experiences and stats before this language can catch the mainstream. And whenever it does, it might replace (atleast for few people) C++.

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Google Wave Invites Giveaway [100+]

Taranfx — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:50:30 +0000

If you haven’t heard of Google Wave yet — a) wake up! and b) watch this tech demo. It’s long, but if you’re a nerd, or someone who uses the Internet a lot, you’ll find it more exciting than the latest Harry Potter film. And at only 80 minutes, it’s not a potentially-bladder-exploding endurance event, unlike the bespectacled wizard wannabe.

So you need the Google Wave. Don’t worry we can invite 100+ people at this time. So all you need to do is the following

Follow us on Twitter and Retweet “RT @taranfx is giving 100+ Wave Invites http://bit.ly/1Dbl2i“
Join Facebook Fan page.

When you are done, leave a comment below. The Nominations will be given within 1 day of completion of above points, then depends on Google to send them out (usually comes within 7 days, and this is the fastest way you can get anywhere). Hurry!

Next Steps: How Google Wave is a Killer App for Converged Email, IM, Forums, Social, Enterprise

Simulate Human Brain, soon

Taranfx — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:18:30 +0000

After all, God made Humans with more processing power than SuperComputers, holds more memory than Terabyte clusters, and the only machinery that doesn’t oudate coz it learns to adapt with time.

Related: DIY: Build a Supercomputer Better than the one your Government has.

To get an idea of how powerful human brain is, Kwabena Boahen, a computer scientist/researcher at Stanford University, conducted some experiments. As per his calculations, he believes that it would require 10 megawatts to power a processor as smart as the human brain. However, his new “Neurogrid” supercomputer is attempting on doing it only at 20 watts. Sounds impossible? Read on.

To give you a better idea, 10 megawatts is the kind of energy a small-medium sized hydroelectric plant produces—20 watts is only enough juice to power up a weak night-lamp. Amazingly, our physical brain runs on this minuscule amount of power, and it’s not very efficient. However, studying this inefficiency could be the key to creating computers that mimic the human brain, the “powerhouse of performance“.

Traditional digital computers depend on millions of transistors opening and closing with near perfection, making an error less than once per 1 trillion times. It is impressive that our computers are so accurate—but that accuracy is a house of cards. A single transistor accidentally flipping can crash a computer or shift a decimal point in your bank account. Engineers ensure that the millions of transistors on a chip behave reliably by slamming them with high voltages—essentially, pumping up the difference between a 1 and a 0 so that random variations in voltage are less likely to make one look like the other. That is a big reason why computers are such power hogs.

On the brains side:

It sounds cockamamy, but it is true. Scientists have found that the brain’s 100 billion neurons are surprisingly unreliable. Their synapses fail to fire 30 percent to 90 percent of the time. Yet somehow the brain works. Some scientists even see neural noise as the key to human creativity. Boahen and a small group of scientists around the world hope to copy the brain’s noisy calculations and spawn a new era of energy-efficient, intelligent computing. Neurogrid is the test to see if this approach can succeed.

Energy efficiency isn’t just a matter of elegance. It fundamentally limits what we can do with computers, Despite the amazing progress in electronics technology—today’s transistors are 1/100,000 the size that they were a half century ago, and computer chips are 10 million times faster—we still have not made meaningful progress on the energy front. And if we do not, we can forget about truly intelligent humanlike machines and all the other dreams of radically more powerful computers.

Most modern supercomputers are the size of a refrigerator and devour $100,000 to $1 million of electricity per year. Boahen’s Neurogrid will fit in a briefcase, run on the equivalent of a few D batteries, and yet, if all goes well, come close to keeping up with these Goliaths.

So far Boahen has managed to fabricate a million neurons onto his new supercomputer. Last year,he managed to get only 45,000. Looking at the progress, he predicts that by 2011 he would have 64 million, bringing the project to the equivalent of a mouse’s brain, which will be the biggest achievement we have ever seen in this field.

Reducing the power consumption is the key to upholding Moore’s law. What we can hope to see is the innovation faster than Moore’s law. This will bring us one step closer to Artificial Intelligence that would make Robotics as good as humans, or perhaps, as flawed as humans.

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[via DiscoverMagazine]

New Google Search: Caffeine

Taranfx — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:15:06 +0000

Google has continued to improve search relevancy by improving quality to it’s users. The endeavour continues with it’s new Search engine “Caffeine”. As one may expect, it brings no UI updates but brings some unique and useful features to improve overall quality of results.

Back in August when they previewed the new search on a sandbox, we got handson and detailed out the new features.

What’s New in Google Caffeine Search

Here’s the text of Google’s “error” page for Caffeine, as of this morning:

Based on the success we’ve seen, we believe Caffeine is ready for a larger audience. Soon we will activate Caffeine more widely, beginning with one data center. This sandbox is no longer necessary and has been retired, but we appreciate the testing and positive input that webmasters and publishers have given.

Here are the improvements in brief:

Improved Relevancy
Twitter Integration (highly probable)
Faster News updates
Search auto-complete interface has improved.
Realted searches
Reltime/Faster
Now indexes more sites.
Less Spam
Faster

Head over to Detailed article: What’s New in Google Caffeine Search, the answer to Bing!

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Bandwidth Challenges for Enterprise

Taranfx — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:10:20 +0000

Most small-medium enterprises (SMEs) suffer from bandwidth shortages pertaining to users engaging in file sharing applications who were consuming all of its network bandwidth.

Often companies deploy expensive solutions to tackle the problem by blocking unwanted traffic and prioritizing wanted traffic. Few such solutions attracting interest are Exinda, and packeteer, now owned by Bluecoat.

With network traffic growing exponentially, application performance and WAN optimization are two of the biggest IT challenges that organizations face. Until now, network managers and administrators lacked a comprehensive solution for monitoring and managing network resources and bandwidth while meeting user expectations for fast application response.

Exinda and other such products revolutionizes the way organizations manage their network by offering an affordable and easy to use appliance that delivers visibility, control and optimization.

The demand for deep packet inspection is growing for all kinds of enterprises, not just hospitality companies like InTown Suites, says Phil Hochmuth, a senior analyst with Yankee Group.
To really get at what is going on with a lot of these new file sharing or Web 2.0 applications, you have to crack open the packets to see what’s in the stream and that requires a deeper level of intelligence. It gets a little bit of a bad rap…but a lot of enterprises are looking at this.
Hochmuth says the cost of application-layer inspection devices is coming down, thanks to faster, cheaper processors.

These technologies can be deployed more broadly, not just at your data center or just at your most critical link,. People want deeper information about what kind of traffic is running over their networks, and they want it in more places.

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Asphalt 5 for iPhone

Taranfx — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:27:58 +0000

Gaming on portable gadgets is in vogue, thanks to the iPhone, iPod Touch, Gaming on the move has new dimension.

Racing has been one genre, which has seen two big Titles on iPhone: Need For Speed Undercover and Real Racing. Here comes the third that beats Real racing in gameplay and holds right beside NFS in the fun. Asphalt 5 is simply an adrenaline rush in your iPhone. On the fun meter, Asphalt 5 definitely delivers with strong sense of speed. But, while the game delivers a solid overall racing experience with a good amount of content and responsive controls, the graphics and animation do keep it bit below NFS and Real racing.

Best iPhone 3D Games Reviewed. Top 20 Must have Action, RPG, Sports, Racing.

If we look back, we loved Asphalt 4 for: A dozen locations, each with four different events — Normal races, one-on-one duels, and races where the real goal is to power-slide a lot, or rack up money by causing damage or driving dangerously close to traffic. It was all fun, the tilt controls are responsive and the excellent graphics fly by at a nice frame rate.

And now Asphalt 5 looks much, much nicer than Asphalt 4.

Even though they may not be the smoothest (on a 2G iPod iPhone 2G, 3G) on the platform, they do pop off the screen, which makes a difference when you’re careening through tracks and dealing with oncoming traffic from all sides. Unless you own iPhone 3GS, you won’t see the smoothness and the Real quality riven by OpenGL.

The Details are great but more arcade style than real. Whether racing through snow-covered freeways, mud soaked roads, or the darkness of night, the details are everywhere. From the signs on storefronts to damage on vehicles, Gameloft has definitely spent a good deal of development creating an arcade experience with good degree of visuals. The bundled soundtracks are tolerable, although you can play your own music too.

Asphalt 5 has three game modes: Single Race, Career and Local/Online Multiplayer. For many, Single Race will be the first taste of Asphalt 5 which provides a quick multi-lap race through the track of your choosing. While Single Race provides a good setting to practice driving skills, winning doesn’t unlock new tracks or earn money.

Online multiplayer provides a number of options which includes competing against up to six players in a single race. In our brief time with the game, the online experience was smooth with minimal performance issues, and joining or hosting a race is relatively easy.

Cash can be used to upgrade vehicles in three areas: engine, handling and boost. And you’ll find there are numerous other ways to customize your vehicle. For example, paint jobs can be altered using the color slider and decals can be applied. Earning cash goes beyond winning races although that’s a big part of it. Cash is also earned by collecting tokens on the roadway, near misses with other vehicles, drifting, jumping, and eliminations.

Asphalt 5 provides a responsive set of controls, and in general, the handling is highly accurate. The game consists of three types of controls: wheel, screen tap, and accelerometer. Choosing the accelerometer controls allows you to turn on/off auto acceleration. Of the three, the accelerometer feels the most natural with screen tapping the most awkward. With auto acceleration turned off, a brake pad appears, although I rarely used my brakes except when wanting score style points for drifting.

The Physics are mega-arcadey, but they are justified. And the graphics are simply gorgeous. There’s a lot of fun to be had in here if you can figure out the trick to beating the Elimination events, but we just worry that not enough players will get to enjoy the entire game.

Overall, Asphalt 5 definitely delivers on the fun meter. The controls and content really makes this a racer accessible to everyone. Aside from the middling (though acceptable) framerate on earlier generation devices, Asphalt 5 is solid arcade racer with quality graphics. With a variety of different races, a relatively balanced AI, online multiplayer and a great feeling of speed, Asphalt 5 comes highly recommended.

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Watch the hands-on Video

and the Official Trailer:

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Google Buys AdMod, Gizmo5 to enhance Mobile Ads and VoIP

Taranfx — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:06:02 +0000

Google continues it’s never ending endeavour to capture the web, acquires mobile advertising company AdMob and VoIP startup Gizmo5.

Let’s discuss both acquisitions in detail.

AdMob Acquisition

This is Google’s 3rd largest acquisition ever. Google announced it’s buying AdMob, a provider of mobile ad technologies, for $750 million in stock. This could give the relatively small market for ads on mobile devices a BIG PUSH.

With the acquisition Google gets better grip on Mobile industry with Android software already on increasing popularity such as with the Motorola’s Droid.

“Google could have built this itself, but this gives them a head start,” says mobile analyst Greg Sterling of Sterling Market Intelligence. “It will thrust Google into the forefront of mobile display ads.”

In particular, AdMob provides Google with the ability to serve display ads, the pictorial banners that are the chief revenue source for most Web sites, to cell phones and other mobile devices. Google last June introduced AdSense for Mobile in a bid to provide Web sites with display ads akin to its multibillion-dollar AdSense program for conventional Web sites.

Google said

“We got a chance to get an unbelievable engineering team,” Vic Gundotra, a Google vice president of engineering, said in an interview. Susan Wojcicki, Google’s vice president of product management, added that AdMob founder Omar Hamoui is “really a visionary in this space.”

Gizmo5 Acquisition

Last month Skype had it’s eyes on Gizmo5, a VOIP Startup. Gizmo5’s SIP infrastructure could theoretically replace Skype’s proprietary P2P back end, but the deal broke in the dark.

In the meantime, Google bought them for around $30 million. The deal is done, and will be announced shortly.

Gizmo5 is a good fit with a number of Google products. Google Talk allows voice calls between users but has no PSTN link to allow incoming or outbound calls to real phones. Gizmo5 does this well already. This could be a potential place where Gizmo5 can fit in.

On the other side, Google Voice is a great VoIP and phone identity service, but they have no endpoint for calls. Gizmo5, which by the way already integrates with Google Voice, is a soft phone end point for Google phone users i.e. it will be enable making and receiving calls on Google Voice phone number from computer.

Gizmo5 will unify Google Voice and Google Talk together into a single product. And, trust me, it looks like a Skype killer, coz it will be cheaper (free) and more feature-full.

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How to Increase Battery Life [Laptop, Gadgets]

Taranfx — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 19:27:44 +0000

All of the Modern day gadgets rely on batteries and often we run out of the juice when we need them. Here are some Generic and specific Killer Tips that can help you Increase the Life.

Related: Secrets for prolonging lithium-based battery life

Most Notebooks, gadgets use Lithium ion batteries. Life of such batteries can be extended using some Expert Tips and Tricks:

A Lithium Ion battery should never be charged to 100% or fully Discharged. The famous 80-20 rule is applicable here as well, though in a different way. Charging to 80% increases battery life. Most newer Laptops have this feature of “preserve battery life” by limiting it to 80%.
Don’t wait for full discharge, charge it frequently. Keeping the battery near to 80% always, gives better life. This is also what many vendors claim as “memory effect”.
Every battery has limited Full charge-discharge cycles. Of the order of 300+. In other words a typical phone/laptop battery can be fully charged/discharged 300 times. Doing more frequent charges, as specified in point #2, will increase overall life.
During First time use (when the battery is new) don`t use it till its fully charged. This is why it is always written on manuals “let the device charge for 2-3 hours”.
Best way to increase battery life is Not to use it. If you keep AC power plugged in on your laptop, keeping the battery at 80% (as in #1), your battery will last longer. Though discharging it once in a month would be must in such cases.
Surrounding temperature contributes a lot. Colder weather gives better battery life. So make sure your cellphone/laptop doesn`t overheat, if it does, find ways to keep it cool.
When not in use for long, store the battery keeping pt 1 and pt 6 in mind.

Apart from this there are specific tips to elongate battery life which are related to user’s usage:

Keep the screen brightness to as low as possible. This can reduce battery consumption by upto 40%.
Don’t do heavy tasks like gaming when running on battery. This often uses High CPU,graphics which drains battery faster.
Kill background processes that you are not using, multitasking is one serious battery killer.
For Cellphones only: USe headsets for long conversations. This will give you 40-70% improvement in talk time. Why? because when you hold the cellphone in hands, your body absorbs most of the RF. [Also See: Cell Phones WiFi and Health Effects]
For Laptops: Use tools like NHC: Notebook hardware control which can let you adjust CPU clock and hence save battery.

Follow all the steps and I bet you can double the battery juice.

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Windows 7 vs Ubuntu 9.10

Taranfx — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:00:43 +0000

I love Windows 7 but I can’t give up by favorite Linux OSeither. So, I finally decided to do a Performance Benchmark Showdown to decide who gets to rule on my PC. Probably, everyone knows what’s new in both of them.

I’ve thought long and hard about usage comparison, Windows proves out to be higher on ease of use. On the other side I have years of Windows experience and a lot less with Ubuntu but I still can work with both without any trouble.

Software:

Windows 7

Bunded software is poor, however, lots of free software are available. But most professional (and popular ones) have to be bought at a cost. (Check Windows 7 review for details)

Ubuntu 9.10

Comes complete with an excellent array of software that you will use in day-to-day life. Access to, and installing, new software is a snap using synaptics package manager and my favorite. In fact this is the same technology that is used on Jailbroken iPhones Cydia app, so you know how easy it is. However, on the bad side, if you are a windows user willing to migrate, you can run most windows apps but not all using Wine.

Media Support

Both Platforms have good support for Media Formats and more codecs can be added with Ease. Playing FullHD 1080p content on both gives smooth 30fps.

Hardware support

Windows 7

On the whole, Windows 7 offers excellent support for modern hardware right out of the box. You might be out of luck with old hardware

Ubuntu 9.10

Overall, hardware support is good, and getting better. On really low-end hardware you can substitute Ubuntu for Xubuntu. There are no guarantees. Newer hardware may find incompatibilities.

No matter what we try to compare, everything on both platforms, they are more or less equal. So what could be the distinguishing point? It’s Performance and that’s what we talk about in detail.

Test System

My new Sony VAIO CW16 Notebook:

Hardware:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.53 Ghz @ 1066Mhz FSB
RAM: 4GB DDR3,
Graphics: Nvidia GEFORCE GT 230M 512MB (16 stream processors) GPU

This is a great gaming notebook on budget, ideal for Desktop use.

Results:

1. Basic Tests- Winner: Ubuntu 9.1

Installation Time
Diskspace Used
Boot Time
Shutdown time

2. I/O Performance Tests – Winner: Ubuntu

File Copy from External Drive to Internal 1GB in Size
Bulk File copy each 10kb in size
1GB File Transfer average speed over Ethernet Network 100Mbps

3. Gaming Performance, Winner: Windows 7

Unreal Tournament (UT) 1280×720
Call of Duty 4 (COD4) 1280×720
Need For Speed Most Wanted (NFSMW) 1280×720

Basic Tests Windows 7 Ubuntu 9.10 Installation Time (minutes) 35 24 Diskspace Used (GB) 7.9 2.4 Boot time (seconds) 45 32 Shutdown Time (seconds) 9 7 I/O (MB/s) File Copy (1GB size) 28.2 31.3 Bulk File Copy (10kb size) 5.6 5.1 Network Transfer (1GB) via 100mbps 10.7 9.2 Gaming (fps) 1280×720 UT (FPS) 165 110 Call of Duty 4 (FPS) 135 92 NFS Most Wanted (FPS) 141 95 Idle RAM Usage (MB) 120 300

Clearly, except for Gaming and networking performance, Win7 loses everywhere. There is a huge difference in frames per second (FPS) you get on Windows 7 because of Direct X 11.

Inside DirectX 11 – The Technology in Detail

Direct X11 is Microsoft proprietary and much more mature than any other graphics acceleration standard. Hence, Gaming on Windows will always be superior.

VERDICT:

All said and done, if you need performance, Ubuntu is for you. If you are looking onGaming, you have no other choice than Windows. If you are looking at Features again Windows 7 is the one for you.

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The Future of Google – 2060

Taranfx — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:03:13 +0000

Ever thought what Google could bring us in the Future?

Over the last decade, Google has evolved from a Search engine to a company that features so many successful Apps, that makes it, virtually, own the internet. And the Future could be Even better (or worse, you decide).

Everything at one place or privacy concern?

Liked the Idea? Don’t Forget to ReTweet using the button at Top.

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Steve Jobs – CEO of the Decade [Fortune]

Taranfx — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:24:45 +0000

The man the Legend. There hangs the wallpaper of Steve Jobs in my room that claims “God of Technology” and Today He makes every fan, prouder. Today, Steve Jobs is declared by Forune as the CEO of the Decade.

Love him or hate him, he’s the one man who changed the face of a company that changed the face of the Industry. The company proved that it is 100% Immune to Recession. Under his helm, Apple defined the portable music player market with the iPod, has shaken up the mobile industry with the iPhone (with 100, 000Apps, Billion Downloads), rocked the retail music business with iTunes and re-invented the computing business with OS X in a way that the PC business – with less than 10 percent of market share.

“Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish” – Steve Jobs

Add to that the brilliant marketing behind Apple Adjectives, Awesome, brilliant, flawless; The customers are loyal having the highest user-satisfaction for each product in the industry. People call him the Cult of Apple, Cult of Technology and what not.

As per the Fortune Editor, Adam Lashinsky:

How’s this for a gripping corporate story line: Youthful founder gets booted from his company in the 1980s, returns in the 1990s, and in the following decade survives two brushes with death, one securities-law scandal, an also-ran product lineup, and his own often unpleasant demeanor to become the dominant personality in four distinct industries, a billionaire many times over, and CEO of the most valuable company in Silicon Valley. Sound too far-fetched to be true? Perhaps. Yet it happens to be the real-life story of Steve Jobs and his outsize impact on everything he touches.

There is a video too that you can watch here.

Previously, he had been off from company due to health reasons, but then he came back in June, he just Rocked Apple.

One cannot deny that the manner in which Apple conducts business has been highly effective at not only increasing sales and broadening the company’s portfolio but also setting trends, creating buzz and putting out top-notch products again and again and again.

Company’s next big Gadget, Apple Tablet is on sky high rumors for 2010. We don’t doubt the success of the upcoming gizmo, it will follow the flawless quality Apple has always lived upto.

We congratulate Steve Jobs for a strong decade, and Hope for a stronger one next time.

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Windows 7 UAC Flawed, Prone to Viruses

Taranfx — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:06:57 +0000

UAC or User Access control force program execution to go through user permissions. This is one feature that was improved in Windows 7 to reduce the annoyance caused in windows Vista.
But now as per Sophos senior security engineer found that User Account Control is flawed.

As expected, UAC prompts the user for permission before granting elevated privileges but was ineffective in stopping common samples of malware from running, in a Windows 7-based system without virus protection.

Whereas two of the ten chosen malware samples for the test would not run in Windows 7 without UAC turned on at all, only one sample W32/Autorun-ATK was controlled by UAC. The other seven ran as though they were being blocked only by a stack of dominoes.

On October 22nd, we settled in at SophosLabs and loaded a full release copy of Windows 7 on a clean machine. We configured it to follow the system defaults for User Account Control (UAC) and did not load any anti-virus software.

We grabbed the next 10 unique samples that arrived in the SophosLabs feed to see how well the newer, more secure version of Windows and UAC held up. Unfortunately, despite Microsoft’s claims, Windows 7 disappointed just like earlier versions of Windows. The good news is that, of the freshest 10 samples that arrived, 2 would not operate correctly under Windows 7.

The findings are, of course, not surprising, since the main problem with Windows 7’s UAC lies in the over-expectation of the average end user.

Just like end users, enterprises already migrating to Windows 7 face the same security issues. Eric Voskuil, CTO, BeyondTrust — the company that issued a report earlier this year, claiming that 92% of critical Microsoft vulnerabilities are mitigated by Least Privilege accounts:

In response to feedback that users were forced to respond to too many prompts in Windows Vista, the new operating system introduces a new approach to User Account Control (UAC), providing a four-position “slider” feature to control how often UAC pop-ups occur. While these changes to Windows 7’s UAC benefit the home user market, enterprises must recognize that the new slider feature can only be applied to users logged in as administrators and may increase security risks.

Further, Windows 7 introduces no new features to solve the application compatibility issues experienced by standard users in previous versions of the operating system. “The most secure configuration option for enterprises that deploy Windows 7 remains running end-users as standard users, with administrator rights removed,” said Eric Voskuil, CTO, BeyondTrust.

Is it a step in the right direction, or does it have the potential to provide a lot of users with a false feeling of security?

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How to Dislike on Facebook

Taranfx — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:21:32 +0000

Ever wanted to hate/dislike a post or share having rubbish text, images, URLs by friends on Facebook? Why is this partiality of ability to only like it?

Don’t worry we got a quick solution for you. All you need is Firefox and a plugin

Download Plugin

What’s ridiculous is just this morning there were at least two new pages requesting the addition of a “Dislike Button” (dislike button page and dislike button petition page) each of which have over 1 million fans. wow, the Demand is huge. Till Facebook implements it, you can live with Firefox addon. Here is what it will Look like:

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Huge Collection of Programming Cartoons

Taranfx — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:52:40 +0000

Okay, If you are a programmer, a web developer or a Geek you will love going through all these cartoons. The List is huge, don’t Read in all go, you will delay your ETAs.

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1. Debugging

Manager and Debugging

2. Your Descendant: As a programmer, when your child does this in his or her school, you will feel really proud. Hmmm I wonder if my Jordan will like programming like me?

Student and Teacher

Dilbert 404

3. When Recession is gone!

When Recession is Gone

4. Apple App Store Rejections (A Collection of Rejected, Banned iPhone Apps from App Store)

5. Nanotechnology

import java.insaneness;

class AutoNameAndNumber{

...

System.out.println("Oh My God!, These are heck  of cartoons. I can't
       continue naming and numbering them");

ArrayList cartoonsText = new ArrayList();

fillCartoonsText(cartoonsText);

for(int i=6; i < insaneness.Insanity; i++){

    System.out.println( i + " . " + cartoonsText.get(i));

}

> javac AutoNameAndNumber.java

> Java AutoNameAndNumber

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How to Tether on iPhone 3G 3GS Firmware 3.1.2

Taranfx — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:44:38 +0000

When the iPhone OS 3.1.2 update was released, it immediately killed internet Tethering.

Yesterday, iPhone hack GeoHot released Blacksn0w, an unlock for the iPhone 3G and 3GS.

Note: You can also follow Universal iPhone Internet Tethering

Let’s start the 3.1.2 specific Tether

Step 1. Jailbreak, Unlock iPhone 3G, 3GS using blackra1n. Open the Blackra1n app .(This assumes that you “sn0w”, then hit the Install button. )

Note:If you have problems with WiFi, GPS, or YouTube after unlocking with Blacksn0w. If you have any such issues, go to Settings > General > Reset> and hit “Reset Network Settings”. Once that’s complete, do a hard power cycle by holding the sleep/home button for a few seconds and then sliding the on-screen power toggle.

Step 2. Open Safari. Navigate to: http://m.peacefulinsanity.com/Tether.mobileconfig

Step 3. Hit the “Install” button on the right top. Confirm the resulting prompt. Allow the IPCC file to install, which will take about 10 seconds.

Step 4. Close Safari. Hold the sleep and home button until your iPhone resets. This reboot may take a bit longer than normal.

When your iPhone resets, go into Settings > General > Network > Internet Tethering. If you can successfully switch the “Internet Tethering” slider to “On”:

Congratulations! Everything seems to have worked as expected.

Enjoy your jailbroken, tetherable iPhone 3G/3GS on OS 3.1/3.1.2!

If you need any assistance, feel free to ask below, we will be happy to help.

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Google DashBoard: Take Control over User-Privacy

Taranfx — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:17:25 +0000

Google is God, and that is the reason why we fear it. It knows everything we do, monitors our email, contacts, IM, friends, search, web behavior, like n dislikes and what not. Earlier, like million others, we raised concerns over Googple Apps and Privacy, can we trust Google?

Finally, Google has taken a wise decision to counter the concern. The step is to comply with Data Liberation Front.

Starting Today, Google will give you the power to manage the Data that is exposed to Google. The user control comes through “Dashboard,” a tool for giving users of its services an all-in-one view of their personal information tied to the various Google services they use.

Dashboard lets users see info about their Web, email usage and additional stuff like when they are logged into Google services such as Gmail, YouTube and Google Calendar.

You can get a glimpse of the service in this video :

As illustrated, Dashboard will let users delete information as well

On its blog, Google welcomes Data Liberation as:

“In an effort to provide you with greater transparency and control over their own data, we’ve built the Google Dashboard. Designed to be simple and useful, the Dashboard summarizes data for each product that you use (when signed in to your account) and provides you direct links to control your personal settings. Today, the Dashboard covers more than 20 products and services, including Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Web History, Orkut, YouTube, Picasa, Talk, Reader, Alerts, Latitude and many more. The scale and level of detail of the Dashboard is unprecedented…”

What do you think, does it solve the privacy concerns? Or is it a trivial move?

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HTC HD2 Hands-on Review

Taranfx — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:07:48 +0000

Almost every gadget manufacturer is making touchscreens larger but HTC took it to a new step. HD2 features a whooping large screen (4.3 inches WVGA 480×800 pixels), among the largest one would find on cellphones. [Motorola Droid features similar resolution]

Uniqueness, another attraction of the screen is capacitive touchscreen, in fact first Windows mobile running Capacitive touchscreen, meaning we finally get pinch and zoom capability on this OS.

Overall Feel

The phone, looks large, but is actually not that bad to hold in the hand, thanks to pocket-friendly dimensions of 120.5x 67×11 mm.

HTC HD2 vs. iPhone

The phone is smooth and rubberised on the back, and feels nice to hold. It slips nicely into the pocket as well, thanks to slim design with 0.43 inches thickness.

Specs

On the Technical side, Phone is powered by Qualcomm’s 1GHz Snapdragon mobile processor, the same that powers Sony Ericsson X10, X3. Like HTC Hero, it also offers an HTC Sense user experience but on Windows Mobile 6.5 instead of Android. Other Specs include, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1, a 5-megapixel camera with Flash, a 3.5 millimeter headphone jack.

Multitouch & Apps

Powered by a good processor, I expected it to do good with UI and Multitouch. Opening applications was delight, they opened quickly unlike other Windows Mobile 6.5 devices.

Photos loaded quickly, in Browser, Websites rendered well and were available to scroll around, and pinching and zooming reacted almost instantly, this proves the capacitive touchscreen was a great decision by HTC.

Websites actually looked glorious on the phone, with the big screen showing off a huge amount of the sites. And the good part, it supports Flash.

The HTC Sense UI experience is not as Rich as HTC Hero, may be this needs some firmware upgrades before it comes to that level.

Apps like Facebook, Weather, outlook, blah are integrated well.

Here are some Videos from Other Sources that will give you better idea:

Verdict:

Personally, I have never liked Windows Mobile phones unless they are powerful. This one is indeed top of the line, with rich set o features and possibly the best Windows Mobile Phone. Overall, we’re very impressed especially with the High resolution and large Display that does multitouch too, good for Video on the Move.

How Does it compare to Motorola Droid vs. iPhone? We will compare 3 of them soon.

HTC HD2 is Launched in Europe, Asia, and for U.S. soon

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Secure iPhone from Hacking, change SSH Password

Taranfx — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:31:55 +0000

As reported by large number of sources, a Dutch hacker hacked a user’s Jailbroken iPhone and locked it unless it pays a mentioned amount to the Hacker.

A Proof of concept comes from the Forum post by the targetted user on a Dutch forum. The message on iPhone says:

“Your iPhone’s been hacked because it’s really insecure! Please visit doiop.com/iHacked and secure your iPhone right now! Right now, I can access all your files.”

A URL is displayed that redirects to Paypal and requests €5 in exchange for instructions that explain how to remove the hack.

How did he get in? Easy: All iPhones have a default root password. Those who forget to change it are vulnerable to attack.

So here is a tutorial that will let you change your SSH Password easily, so tha tno longer you are vulnerable to this hack.

The guide is valid if you have AutoSSH installed.

Step 1. Install “Mobile Terminal” from Cydia, if you don`t have it already, and open it.

Step 2. Use this command `su` to gain root priveledges. It will ask you password which is default `alpine` then type `passwd` specify a 5 digit password or longer and confirm it. The Below Screenshot will help you:

You can also change your regular user `mobile` password using same command `passwd`

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10 Most Expensive, Overpriced iPhone Apps

Taranfx — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:08:31 +0000

App Store gives Developers freedom to choose the right price for their App. Apple plays fair here, but few developers don’t. Some of the apps have ridiculously high prices.

We decided to make a list of most expensive, Overpriced Apps:

1. I Am Rich – Cost $999.99

The cost seems so ridiculous. What did App do? Nothing, It showed you a red diamond that reminds you that you were able to afford this. Easy to realize, pointless. Few iPhone users bought it an then repented. Apple soon took an action refunded the money, removed the app from App Store.

2. iVIP Black – $1,000

iVIP is one big drill in your pocket which target lifestyle management. The App grants you access to VIP privileges in restaurants, bars, night clubs, helicopters, jets and more. There are zero ratings for the app in the App Store, and I have no doubt why.

3. MATG – My Accounts to Go – $450

The App interfaces with SAP’s BusinessOne financial management software. Designed for sales reps or marketing/finance execs. Equivalent Oracle Apps one is available for free. How unfair!

4. iRa Pro: - $899.99

iRa Pro and iRa Direct are used to view and manage super-expensive enterprise surveillance camera installations. Clients could include corporations, schools, government, etc. What it does is simply view cas over WiFi, 3G network. Highly Overpriced iTunes link

5. PDR Quote – $349.99

An App for Business users which take care of auto repair: Create quotes and invoices, includes huge database of cars, forms you can personalize, etc. A personalized equivalent desktop version comes for free. iTunes link

6. Mobile Cam Viewer - $349.99

We rank this below PDR since it has no utility. There are cheaper alternatives aavailble for Cam viewers and controls. iTunes link

7. Lexi- Dental Complete - $299.99

Lexi-Dental Complete is a library of reference material—except for dentists. As such, their promotional image is GROSS. A slightly less expensive version, Lexi-Dental Select, is also available.

8. iDcrm - $200

This app is intended to sync with Microsoft Dynamics CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and provide all of the same functionality. It also has the ability to work offline. Two hundred bucks is a lot, yes. But chances are the accounts payable department will be signing off on this one, not you.

9. ROSIE Home Automation - $200

ROSIE home automation system users can control their a/v systems, lighting, security, and other services. Requires a ROSIE system which will cost you couple of thousands more, Total of $2k+. Do I look Like nerd?

10. XA1 – $180

Intended for professional level studio people, XA1 soaks up audio via the iPhone’s microphone and then displays it as a visual graph of the audio spectrum. While the app does offer some very cool and very geeky features, we’re wondering who would buy this. Wouldn’t you be better served by actual in-studio equipment? iTunes link

This doesn’t end here more apps like Nursing Constellation Plus, Interpath, WoframAlpha.

We don’t recommend any of those Apps, unless you have enough to burn your currency. however We do recommend reading The Top 20 best 3D games on iPhone.

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Windows 7 gains Share: Popular than Linux, Mac

Taranfx — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:50:52 +0000

Last month we reported that in Septemebr Vista, Bing, IE Lost Market Share; Windows 7, Google Makes Gains. Windows 7, as expected followed the same trend and has done quiet well in one week As per NetApplications: Windows 7 already reached the 3% mark this weekend, and is already closing in on the 4% mark.

Before Windows 7 was officially released on October 22, the operating system already had a market share figure of around 1.5-2.0%. The operating system was available as a Beta and RC (release candidate) to people. What comes as a surprise is, before release, it was already more popular than Linux. Linux can’t seem to break out 1% share.

On November 3rd, Windows 7 had a share of 3.73% according to NetApplication figures. Really, Amazing.

“The early adoption of Windows 7 looks very strong, and I don’t believe Vista enjoyed the same early success,” said Vince Vizzaccaro, an executive VP at Net Applications, “Plus, we’ve seen surges the past two weekend days, and Windows has historically seen much higher usage market share on weekdays than on weekends.”

On the Apple side of things, in October, Mac OS X (all versions) had a market share figure of 5.27%. If current rate continues, it will only take a few days for Windows 7 to be more popular than Mac OS X.

Still, Mac OS X’s market share is increasing, but at a slower pace.

Related: Google kicks Bing, Recovers search Share: 80 percent

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Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 [Specs, Video]

Taranfx — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:14:54 +0000

Sony`s Xperia range of products are coming to rock the Mobile market with couple of Android phones. We’ve seen Sony XPERIA X3 with Android. Today, arrives the news of Xperia X10.
With a 1GHz Snapdragon chip from Qualcomm, 4-inch capacitive touch display, an 8.1 megapixel camera, and the lovely Rachael Android UI, the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 will be a great 2010 product for Sony Ericsson.

On the downside, Snapdragon sucks battery juice, but this can change over time as software gets more mature.

As far as the unpolished UI goes, Sony Ericsson has already put some personal touches on there with Timescape and Mediascape, which aggregate all communication and media, respectively. While those features seem fantastic in theory, the early software build left questions as to just how seamless and smooth they truly are.

There’s barely any internal memory, though an 8GB MicroSD card is included to remedy that. Right now the device has no Accelerometer and Multitouch support, which sucks. May be we would have them soon in the final release.

Meanwhile, Watch the Official Video:

and
Hands-on

XPERIA X10 Specs
Camera
• 8.1 megapixel camera
• Up to 16x digital zoom
• Auto focus
• Intelligent face recognition features
• Geo tagging
• Image and video stabilizer
• Photo and video light
• Send to web (photo and video upload)
• Smile detection
• Touch focus
• Video recording
• Recent shot tray
Music
• Album art
• Bluetooth™ stereo (A2DP)
• Media player
• Music tones (MP3/AAC)
• PlayNow™
• TrackID™
Web
• Bookmarks
• Google™ search (from standby)
• Web feeds
• WebKit web browser
Communication
• Sony Ericsson Timescape™
• Speakerphone
• Vibrating alert
Messaging
• Conversations
• Email
• Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync®
• Picture messaging (MMS)
• Predictive text input
• Text messaging (SMS)
Design
• Auto rotate
• Gesture control
• Picture wallpaper
• Touchscreen
Entertainment
• 3D games
• Media browser
• Infinite button
• Video streaming
• Video viewing
• YouTube™
Organiser
• Alarm clock
• Calculator
• Calendar
• Flight mode
• Infinite button
• Office suite
• Phone book with dialer
• World clock
Location-based services
• A-GPS
• Google Maps™
• Wisepilot™ turn-by-turn navigation* (free trial version)
• *The service may not be available in every market. For more information, go to www.sonyericsson.wisepilot.com
Connectivity
• 3.5 mm audio jack
• Bluetooth™ technology
• Micro USB connector
• Synchronisation
• USB support
• Wi-Fi™
Preloaded applications
• Sony Ericsson Timescape™
• Sony Ericsson Mediascape
• Sony Ericsson Home with clock widget
• Sony Ericsson Sync
• Android Market™ Client
• Gmail™
• Google Calendar™
• Google Maps™ with Street View
• Google Media Uploader
• Google phone-top search
• Google search widget
• Google Talk™
• Google Voice Search™
• Network Location Provider
• Set-up Wizard
• YouTube™
Screen
• 262,144 colour TFT touchscreen
• 4.0 inches
• 480 x 854 pixels (WVGA)
• Scratch-resistant
Accessories In-Box:
• XPERIA™ X10
• Battery
• Stereo portable handsfree
• 8 GB microSD™ card
• Micro USB cable for charging, synchronisation and file transfer
• User documentation
Optional:
• Hi-Fi Wireless Headset with FM Radio MW600
• Car Charger AN300
• Screen Protector ET902
Facts
• Size: 119 x 63 x 13 mm
• Weight: 135 grams
• Phone memory: Up to 1 GB
• Memory card support: microSD™
• Memory card included: 8 GB
• Operating system: Google™ Android Donut, version 1.6
• Processor: 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon™ QSD8250
Availability and versions
• Networks
• UMTS HSPA 900/1700/2100
• GSM GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900
• UMTS HSPA 800/1900/2100
• GSM GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900
• Available in selected markets in Q1 2010
Color
• Sensuous Black
• Luster White

Ribbit Mobile Targets Google Voice

Taranfx — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:18:05 +0000

Google Voice has long threatened other VOIP providers – Google Voice Killing Skype made sense, but there’s something to compete: Ribbit Mobile.

Ribbit Mobile is a cloud-based VoIP telephony service that brings together web-based calling, smart call routing and voicemail transcriptions – Just like Google Voice does.

Just like Google Voice, Ribbit gives users a new phone number or they can use call forwarding to transfer calls from their mobile phones to Ribbit’s platform.

Ribbit Mobile has few unique features [that Google doesn't offer], like the ability to ring different phones simultaneously and to make calls from within the browser.

What`s More than Google Voice
Unified: Ribbit follows it’s own open VoIP platform. Basically, the service can forward calls to your Skype, MSN or Google Talk account if you don’t pick up your mobile phone. Whenever you miss a call or when a new voicemail arrives, Ribbit can also ping you by email, Skype, Google Talk or SMS. This is something totally new that Google forgot to implement.Extensibility: Ribbit offers widgets for popular start pages like iGoogle and social networks like Facebook and MySpace. Through these – as well as on the service’s homepage – users can receive and place calls from their browsers.

However, the bad part is GrandCentral offered some of the features that Ribbit Mobile now offers. Google dropped quite a few useful features like simultaneous rings and call chains from Google Voice’s feature line-up.

Besides call chains, another nice feature of Ribbit Mobile is that you can choose which number will appear on your contacts’ phones when you call, even if you are calling from your computer. Once you are on a call, you can also easily transfer calls from any device to another. Because of this, you can start a call in the web interface or iGoogle and then continue the call on your cell phone.

Caller ID 2.0
Ribbit Mobile, unlike others, doesn’t just display a caller’s name and phone number. Users can also add notes to every call and connect their Ribbit address book with their Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Flickr accounts. Through this, the Ribbit team noted, conversations can now take place within a context.

Voicemail
The service offers two levels of Voicemail transcriptions. There are two variants, however, Free accounts, come with automated transcriptions, Professional accounts (free during the beta period) can also choose to have ‘business-class’ level transcriptions, where a human checks the computer-transcribed text and edits it.

Developer Program
Because Ribbit is an open platform, developers can use the service in their own applications. Ribbit already features Five apps in its App Store, including an SMS widget, an Adobe AIR app for checking voicemails and a conference widget. Ribbit also plans to launch its own mobile applications for the iPhone and Blackberry platforms soon, just like Googel voice. Developers, just like iphone App Store, are free to charge for their applications.

Ribbit will slowly raise the scale and no.of users and eventually move out of beta over a month. To begin with, you can signup for a Ribbit account here.

We would like to hear from you. Let us know your experiences with the product.

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Google Related Links works with any Webpage

Taranfx — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:32:16 +0000

No doubt, Google is trying to get into every service on the web, moving ahead, google brings out a new gadgets called Google Related links.

What is it about?

It is a new gadget for webmasters to show related links for any webpage. Ideally, webmasters use plugins or tweaking to show related content on webpage. This Google gadgets allows you to show related link andrelated search keywords for Google Search.

It is introduced as a Google Labs experiment. Related Links work like any other plugin which are available for the WordPress platform and display additional links, which are related to the post a user is reading.

Given a page on your site, Related Links can choose the most related pages from your site and show them in a gadget. You can embed this gadget in your page to help your users reach other pages easily.

Related Links also suggests searches that users can run within your site to find even more related pages. The only difference between this and other plugins/scripts is that, Google will also display related searches for your domain.

So, besides increasing your pageviews it can result is greater Google searches thereby increasing your Adsense for Search revenue. You can try the demo by entering any specific URL, its title and domain URL. Results for sure are neat along with search engine suggestion – Google Related links

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Note: Currently this service is in invite only mode: you need to email at “relatedlinks@google.com” stating your Gmail address, website domains and approximate pageviews per day.

Unlock iPhone 3G 3GS [blackra1n] [blacksn0w]

Taranfx — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:52:07 +0000

GeoHot now has released blackra1n RC3 with blacksn0w which unlocks both iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS running on iPhone 3.1.2 firmware with 05.11.07 baseband (modem firmware).

This version of blackra1n does:

Unlock and jailbreak for 3.1.2 firmware on 05.11.07 baseband
Enabling official tethering on the iPhone.
Hacktivation [Auto Activation] support.
15 seconds speed improvement.

Note: blacksn0w is for iPhone 3G and 3GS users only. Those of you with iPhone 2G should follow the guide posted here or here for unlocking and jailbreaking 3.1.2 firmware.

Let’s get started:< Pre-Requisites:

Download iTunes (latest)
Download iPhone 3.1.2 firmware for iPhone 3GS

Download iPhone 3.1.2 firmware for iPhone 3G

Download blackra1n RC3

IMPORTANT: For those who have already installed blackra1n RC1 or RC2 should directly run the the Blackra1n.app and click on “ra1n” (ra1n replaces “Icy”). This will automatically upgrade blackra1n to RC3. Now simply follow Step 3.

Step 1: Open iTunes, connect iPhone and Update/restore to the original iPhone firmware 3.1.2.

Step 2: You will now have to jailbreak your iPhone running on iPhone 3.1.2 firmware with blackra1n RC3. This procedure is same as earlier, and you can follow the guide: Jailbreak iPhone 3.1.2 Firmware using BlackRa1n..

Step 3: [When jailbreak completes] Open the blackra1n.app and you should now see “sn0w”.

Touch on “sn0w” to install blacksn0w. This will Unlock your iPhone 3G, 3GS running 3.1.2 firmware on 05.11.07 baseband.

Update: blacksn0w is now also available on Cydia: add http://blackra1n.com/ to cydia sources.

Note: If you have problems with WiFi, GPS, or YouTube after unlocking with Blacksn0w. If you have any such issues, go to Settings > General > Reset> and hit “Reset Network Settings”. Once that’s complete, do a hard power cycle by holding the sleep/home button for a few seconds and then sliding the on-screen power toggle.

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Should you run into any problems, ask your questions below.

Install Snow Leopard on PC [using USB]

Taranfx — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:15:34 +0000

We had been into Mac OS X Installation on PC for a long time now. We ‘ve produced Three flawless guides, though complexity may have varied.

With all your generous support, we are now able to produce the Easiest Guide to Install Snow Leopard on PC.

Before We Start:

You need Supported hardware.
8GB or Higher USB drive.
Snow Leopard Install DVD ($29 upgrade disk works) or an equivalent downloaded ISO.
Another Mac to prepare your thumb drive. You can also do this over a Hackintosh PC.
The EP45UD3P Snow Leopard install package: Download. This Automates all CommandLine work.

Step 1: Prepairing USB

First, we’re going to format usb thumb drive, later copy the Snow Leopard DVD image to the thumb drive.

Watch the video in HD and fullscreen to get clearer look at the process.

After you restore the Snow Leopard install DVD to your thumb drive, all you’ve got to do is Run the EP45UD3P Snow Leopard.pkg file (download link above), select your thumb drive, and, let the installer will take care of all the work.

Step 2. Configuring BIOS:

You’ve got to make some small adjustments to your BIOS.

Boot Priority: Enable USB Boot, and set USB thumb drive the highest priority for Boot.
AHCI Mode: SATA RAID/AHCI Mode should be set to AHCI
ACPI Power mode: Set it to S3(STR).

If you have trouble finding these settings, refer to the images below (click to enlarge) credits to Adam Pash.

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Step 3: Installation

Now comes the easy part.

Restart PC, Make sure your prepared thumb drive is plugged into your PC. :

As shown in the Video: Boot into the Snow Leopard installer, format the hard drive you want to install Snow Leopard to (go to Utilities -> Disk Utility, then click on the drive, select 1 Partition, Mac OS X Journaled, give it a name, and make sure GUID Partition Table is set in the Options. After you Apply the new partition, go back to the installer and install like normal to that drive. When you reboot after the install completes, press the arrow keys at the graphical boot menu and select the drive you just installed Snow Leopard to.

Step 4. Minor Tweaks (optional but good to have)

You should have everything working by now. But here are few additional, optional steps to enhance your Experience:

1. Get Sound Fully working:

Sound isn’t entirely working yet. You may notice that sound actually does work in some instances, but not all. All you should actually need to do is open up the Sound preference pane in System Preferences (/Applications/System Preferences), click the Output tab, and change the output device to Built-in Line output (I haven’t tested with digital out, but it should work fine in theory).

2. Boot into Snow Leopard without USB Thumb Drive

Right now, your Hackintosh needs USB to boot. To boot from internal harddisk, install the custom bootloader to your hard drive. Unzip EP45UD3P Snow Leopard.pkg zip file that you downloaded initially, run it and select the hard drive you’ve installed Snow Leopard to. Once the installer completes, you’ll no longer need your thumb drive plugged in to boot into Snow Leopard.

Bingo! You installed Snow Leopard on PC by the Easiest Way!

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Update: You can upgrade to OS X 10.6.1 without any issues.

Create Wifi without Router [Windows 7]

Taranfx — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 06:22:20 +0000

Microsoft Research had been working on Virtual WiFi feature set for inclusion in Windows 7, but something got lost along the road to release day, and the functionality never officially made it into the OS. Virtual Wi-Fi was crafted in Microsoft’s research group as a way to “virtualize” one wireless card as several separate adapters.

Life to the rescue, folks at Nomadio exploited the half-done feature into a full fledged functioning application. It’s called Connectify, a free application from the company that effectively turns any Windows 7 computer into a virtual WiFi hotspot — letting users wirelessly tether a number of devices to a laptop at location where only an Ethernet jack is available, or even tether a number of laptops together at a coffee shop that chargers for WiFi.

Connectify lets a Windows 7 laptop “tether” other wireless devices to a single Internet connection by effectively turning that PC into a software-based wireless router.

Note: This is not an Ad-hoc connection, rather a full fledged Wifi Hotspot

You can use Windows 7 laptop as a wireless access point for iPhone, for example, and to provide a wireless connection to multiple PCs when only one Ethernet jack was available. Another example, people can use a wireless printer without any setup, which usually requires that you first plug the [wireless] printer into the computer with a USB cable so it can select the network.

Windows 7 is required on the notebook acting as a wireless hotspot, but any wireless-equipped device, including PCs running Windows XP or Vista, or even Mac laptops, can reach the Web through Connectify without any additional software. Connectify also encrypts the traffic to and from the software “hot spot” using WPA2-Personal (AES) encryption.

Confused by WEP, WPA, TKIP, AES & Other Wireless Security Acronyms?

The beta of Connectify can be downloaded from Nomadio’s Web site. Here is the link: Download

P.S. Apple’s Mac OS X already offers a similar feature under the “Internet Sharing” preferences setting.

Transform Ubuntu to Windows 7

Taranfx — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:31:47 +0000

Most Open Source/Linux lovers will never migrate to Windows 7. But Surely the look and feel is attractive for everyone. So why not transform your Ubuntu 8 or Ubuntu 9.x to Windows 7!

Windows 7 Transformation Pack for Ubuntu transforms Ubuntu into Windows 7 and gives complete new look. Windows 7 Transformation Pack includes following components:

GDM theme
Icons Theme
GTK Theme
Wallpapers
Sounds
Gnomenu Theme
Panel Backgrounds
Cursors
DockBar

Download – Windows 7 Transformation Pack for Ubuntu.

Checkout step by step guide on how to apply Windows 7 transformation pack on Ubuntu.

Don’t like Windows? Try Install Snow Leopard on PC

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Firefox 3.6 gets Windows 7 Integration

Taranfx — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:14:48 +0000

Here comes the Mozilla’s first Beta for release of Firefox 3.6. As we benchmarked Firefox 3.6 earlier, it’s 25 percent faster than Firefox 3.5.

What makes Firefox 3.6 more interesting is the Windows 7 integration — It integrates with the new taskbar in Windows 7. [Discussed in detail in Windows 7 Review]

What’s the Deal? The Tabs within Firefox will show up as previews when you hover over Firefox’s taskbar entry in Windows 7, in the same way IE8 already does it. This makes Firefox one of the few applications to offer integration with Windows 7’s new taskbar. [iTunes 9 is also one of them].

Firefox 3.6 also brings visual previews when you use the ctrl+tab method to switch tabs – Windows 7 style. This feature is disabled by default, so you need to dive into about:config, find the browser.ctrlTab.previews key and set it to true. Restart Firefox, and experience the new tabbing feature, it’s all beautiful.

More Windows 7 Tricks -> Windows 7 Tips n Tricks

The new tab switching feature also shows an option called “Show all n tabs“. This will bring up a permanent preview window with an instant search field to search through your open tabs. The navigation through tabs becomes much more easier.

Excited already? Get it from Mozilla’s FTP server.

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Taranfx: Technology Blog

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