Microsoft is at it again - trying to emulate everything its competitors does and doing a not so good job of it. After the Zune, Microsoft is now eyeing the mobile phone market and this is its rumoured iPhone competitor. While the three style keypad idea looks very user friendly, something about the phone makes it feel all eye candy without much functionality. A circular screen and having to read emails in the arranged as concentric circles is just not appealing. I hope this is not the real product (but for 3 keypad styles in one phone).

-CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE-

It has only been a couple of months since I played Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and I am ashamed (I just didn't get around to playing the first 3 installments) to say that it was the first Call of Duty installment I ever played. I enjoyed it very much but was determined to play World at war without comparing it to Modern Warfare.

Unlike Modern Warfare, World at War goes back to World War 2 with me playing as Pvt. Miller for US Infantry against the Japanese in some campaigns and as Pvt. Dmitri for the Russians against the Germans in the rest. The entire game can be reviewed in one word: Intense. There are very few moments in the game in which not less than ten people are shooting at you at the same time. Fight setups range from trenches, caves, historical places, libraries, offices, streets of Berlin, underground train stations to the german parliament. There is also a campaign in which I play a gunner in an aircraft shooting at other aircrafts and boats in the ocean. The layouts are well thought out and as realistic as they can get. The graphics are good but do not stand out like Crysis. The sets are massive, impressive and very engaging. This is the kind of game which justfies my investment in high end gaming hardware.

World at war does a thorough job of making one feel brutal and sadistic. There are stages in the game where you are forced to be ruthless and kill those seeking mercy. I even felt guilty at times during the game. In the end I was left with a feeling that even though the war was justified by the need to pacify the Japanese and the Germans, the battlefield reality of the situation is that the soldiers are possessed by a rage to kill with total disregard for the larger picture. War is crime under the name of justice issued out by your senior ranking officers which you follow without question. The soldiers do not know the larger picture. Knowing that so many people died is down right scary and World at war ensures you do not leave the gaming table without the feeling of sadness for the millions of lives lost.

Finishing the game reveals a special stage after the credits where you fight German zombies. It was a little fun but for the realistic game that Call of Duty is, such anomalies are uncalled for. All in all, Call of Duty 5: World at war is a must play game for any gamer who calls himself one

-CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE-

Google is to launch a signifant overhaul to its search engine allowing users to modify and customize search results with options to rank the results yourself, comment about search results and remove them if you dont like the result. You can also view other's comments regarding the search result and see others search rankings. Check out the video for more details

-CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE-

Apple has released the latest firmware 2.2 for the iPhone. Just power up with your phone connected and choose the option to update software.

New features in iPhone 2.2 firmware:

* Enhancements to Maps
o Google Street View*
o Public transit and walking directions
o Display address of dropped pins
o Share location via email
* Decrease in call setup failures and dropped calls

* Enhancements to Mail
o Resolved isolated issues with scheduled fetching of email
o Improved formatting of wide HTML email
* Podcasts are now available for download in iTunes application (over Wi-Fi and cellular network)

* Improved stability and performance of Safari
* Improved sound quality of Visual Voicemail messages
* Pressing Home button from any Home screen displays the first Home screen
* Preference to turn on/off auto-correction in Keyboard Settings

-CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE-

Nvidia is known for its graphics processors that power gaming. But very few know that it is also into supercomputing and mobile processing. Here is a video with clips of interview with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang where he talks about the new supercomputers that fit into a box, are cheap and consume low power. There is also a snippet of information on what Nvidia offices in India are working on. 

-CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE-

Check out this trailer of the new game from Electronic arts: Mirrors edge with Physx by Nvidia bringing in an immersive gaming experience with realistic physics showing off broken mirror shards, wavy and torn clothes etc. While these might look like simple cosmetic improvements, a combination of many such small things can lead to a more interesting game play. Initial reports indicate that the game is realistic enough to make one feel like wanting to throw up because of all the ingame jumping and tumbling.

-CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE-

Documentaries on Science and Nature are thrilling to watch. Many television channels produce fantastic documentaries that are mostly lost amongst all the soaps that people obsessed with. Nothing is more thrilling than knowing about how the world around you came into being and how things work. Without further banter, here are 3 Documentary series you have to watch before you die:

Planet Earth - The Complete BBC Series
Narrated by David Attenborough, Planet Earth takes us into all corners of the earth to show us the nature of the environment, its animals, plants, weather and much more in this series with mostly never before seen visual footage. 5 years in the making with 2000 days in the field, using 40 cameramen across 200 locations, Planet Earth is the ultimate portrait of our planet. There entire series is a 5 DVD set or a single Blu-Ray disc that you can buy from your local media store or online.



History Channel's Evolve
This series begins 100s of millions of years to when life first appeared and takes us on a series of journeys in which the evolution of a specific aspect of animal life is detailed. It talks about the evolution of eyes, sex, jaws, flight, communication, guts etc. This one is a must watch if you have any doubts about evolution. And the ability of scientists to put the puzzles together and figure out how things worked 300 million years back just by studying fossils is mind blowing.



BBC Horizon
A long running series from BBC, Horizon documents a wide range of topics from Einstein's life and times to How to plan the perfect murder. Learn about Nuclear weapons, their effects, nuclear accidents and how to survive a nuclear war. Learn about the Human brain and evolution.

-CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE-

Be amazed by Ken Block's amazing car driving skills. Driving a 530 WHP pumping 2006 Subaru Impreza WRX STI dressed with BFG G-Force T/A KDW 18 X 10.5 tyres, Ken Block shows how to skillfully maneuver cars around cones, slaloms, 180/360 degree turns, slides and everything there is about driving. One look at the video and you know that the man knows his car and the track like the back of his arm.


Ken Block Gymkhana Practice from Ken_Block on Vimeo.

-CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE-

Health is Wealth. You may have already heard this famous quote. This quote is so simple, yet so powerful and all we do, even after knowing this, is eat junk food. In fact, I am munching on a packet of Lays while typing out this article about WebMD. WebMD is an excellent website for all your concerns related to health & fitness. It doesn't matter if you are a common man or a doctor. This website has content for all of us. This website is also be a good reference source for all doctors. Please note that some of the features of this website are limited to the USA, like finding Doctors, Specialists, Hospitals etc. & do not let this stop you from browsing the website for information.

A short run-down of the various sections follows. This is not the complete list. Please follow the links below to go to a particular section of interest or just head to the Home Page which has sections for topics such as Drugs & Treatments, Children's Health, separate sections for Men's health and Women's health and the A-Z list of common health topics which are divided in to sub-sections like Health, Community Drugs, First Aid, Games, Healthy Living, Medical Tests & Tools, Slideshows & Videos. If you have already started clicking on the links, you will be awed by the amount of information available to you.

Health Centers: From chronic conditions to wellness & lifestyle, WebMD covers the health topics you're looking for. Get up-to-date health articles on symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment options, as well as ways to live a healthier lifestyle.

Use the Symptom Checker to find out if anything's wrong with you. I was simply amazed by this feature of the website.

You can find doctors & hospitals online. Maintain your Personal Health Records online. There is a section on Drugs & Medications. Search by drug name or medical condition for information on prescription drugs, supplements or vitamins including user reviews, side effects and interactions.

I am checking out the Men's section. Please go ahead and dive in to this enormous sea of medical information. I bet you will learn something you never knew. Cheers!

-CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE-

1. Emoticons upgrade - I liked the new emoticon options in gmail, they really pep up my email conversations with friends.

2. Custom keyboard shortcuts - makes my navigation in my mail box mouse free and fast.

3. I can go invisible in chat if I have work to do, abracadabra and I disappear and whoosh, appear again when I have some time to spare. Allows me to manage my time at work well.

4. Google calendar gadget reminds me of all the things that are upcoming and I need to keep organized to meet my day to day demands.

5. I can use the video chat that is embedded in gmail itself! Yay! www.gmail.com/videochat.



6. Google Docs widget, allows me to keep my travel plans, my restaurant number list, my personal diary at my fingertips.

7. Superstars allows me to tag my email the way I want to, e.g. Mums mail gets a blue star, pay-the-bill mails get an exclamation mark.

8. Remember the milk gmail widget lets me keep my to-do list up to date

Here's how you set it up -

• In Gmail, go to Settings then the Labs tab. Find "Add any gadget by URL" and make sure it's enabled, then press Save Changes.

• Still in Settings in Gmail, go to the Gadgets tab. Copy and paste the following URL(http://www.rememberthemilk.com/services/modules/gmail/rtm.xml) into the "Add a gadget by its URL" field. Press Add.

9. Mail Goggles helps me from sending the mean mails (Yes I do that and I hardly regret it). Its the mail version of breathing deeply and counting till 10 to reconsider what you're about to do.

10. It's non cluttered look is really really nice after the junk I get to see online all the time.

Thank you gmail don't know what I would've done without you.

-CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE-

-CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE-

Apple's current OS 10.5 codenamed Leopard claimed to have added hundreds of new features to the Mac OS. Using Leopard gave me the feeling that the OS has most of what it needs (it could do with a better replacement for finder) but for one major aspect: Speed. The OS could have definitely done good being more efficient and faster. And this is exactly what Mac OS 10.6 codenamed Snow Leopard promises to deliver. While I don't agree, apple calls Snow leopard a Quantum leap (They should have made it efficient from the word go). To quote apple:

Since 2001, Mac OS X has delivered more than a thousand innovative new features. With Snow Leopard, the next major version of the world’s most advanced operating system, Mac OS X changes more than its spots, it changes focus. Taking a break from adding new features, Snow Leopard — scheduled to ship in about a year — builds on Leopard’s enormous innovations by delivering a new generation of core software technologies that will streamline Mac OS X, enhance its performance, and set new standards for quality. Snow Leopard dramatically reduces the footprint of Mac OS X, making it even more efficient for users, and giving them back valuable hard drive space for their music and photos.

Here is what is in store with Snow Leopard:

• Full 64 bit support to take advantage of more system memory
• Microsoft Exchange support to help integrate your mac to your office mail
• Grand Central Technology to make best use of multi-core processors
• Quicktime X supporting newer Codecs for better media playback
• Faster Javascript for upto 53% better performance in Safari with SnowLeopard
• Open Computing language to harness the massive power of Graphics Processors

Snow leopard is expected to launch Mid 2009.

-CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE-

Change.gov, the official website of the Obama-Biden administration is live and kicking. Change being the key selling point of his campain, it is not surprising he chose change.gov as his domain. The website will be your source for the latest news, events, and announcements so that you can follow the setting up of the Obama Administration. And just as this historic campaign was, from the beginning, about you -- the transition process will offer you opportunities to participate in redefining our government.

You can apply for a job at the Obama administration in this website. Some jobs will require senate confirmation while other won't. The website is the quickest way to get you to be a part of the team that changes America and consequently the rest of the world. One of the best things about the Obama administration is how technology friendly they are. Now just go ahead and give NASA a ton of money to get man to Mars and beyond!

-CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE-

I miss sitting in the lab waiting for my lecturers to get samples so that we can learn new parts of the body or how an organ functions. I don't know when I'll go back to school again and learn more. But, what I can do is explore the wonders of the human anatomy for free online through Visible Body demo.

I spent about 2 hours on this cool tool and was awed by the amount I could learn by just exploring this tool. I think this is an awesome tool for teachers and students who want to learn more about the human anatomy. There is search option to isolate the organ, nerve, bone that you are looking for.

On the downside, it requires you sign up for the tool and it takes quite some time to load. You need to have a good connection to make the most of this tool. Once this is up and running its very easy to use. The site says "The first time you launch the application, your browser will automatically download our highly detailed anatomical models. This download can take several minutes to complete, depending on the speed of your internet connection. As long as these models remain in your browser cache, you won't need to download them again on future visits. " which I didn't agree with cause it took longer for me the second time around, but it was well worth the wait.

You can zoom in and zoom out, you can make parts of the body invisible. You learn the various parts of the body. It is very detailed so if you are interested in the nerve that connects eyeball to the brain you can isolate it and find out its name.

You can explore:
- Circulatory System
- Digestive System
- Endocrine System
- Integumentary System
- Lymphatic System
- Muscular System
- Nervous System
- Reproductive System
- Respiratory System
- Skeletal System
- Urinary System

I thoroughly enjoyed using this tool and would recommend this to anyone who is curious to learn more about themselves. Happy exploring.

-CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE-

I saw this video on Engadget and I was shocked. China is the mother of all dumping grounds for e-Waste from America. Watch the video and see how America "RECYCLES" e-Waste.


Watch CBS Videos Online

-CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE-

I have always been an impulsive buyer. I buy stuff I want and it does not matter if I am actually going to use it or not. If I like it, consider it bought. Uh Oh! There goes another swipe from my credit card. I buy books which I usually read within a month of purchasing them. I also buy Movie DVD's, Comics (my favourite currently is the Commando Series) and most importantly Computer Games. I love gaming. Well, the point here is I end up spending money here and there and I haven't any clue at the end of a month where all the money went. Yeah, I can track some of it if I look at all the bills collected. That's very time consuming and there are really high chances that some of the bills are misplaced or lost or you just couldn't care enough. But I do care. I want to know where my money is going. I was back on the internet, hunting for an excellent software that could give me the details of knowing where my money is going. How much is spent on books, travel, loans, bills etc. What is my total earning every year? I wanted charts/reports of everything that I could think of.

Fortunately, I didn't have to search for long. I visit this website regularly and came to know that there is a new addition called Money Manager Ex and I just read the few lines of description about this software and downloaded the portable version. After downloading & extracting the files from the zip archive, I launched it. I was amazed at the simple interface. I took my own sweet time to set up the details like accounts, assets, stocks, billing categories etc. and started putting in some data. It should take you anywhere between thirty minutes to one hour to just setup the software to your satisfaction. Now, you will need to start doing some data entry and then once in a month you could generate charts or graphs and see where your money is going.

Here is the overview of the software from the author's website:

Money Manager Ex© is a free, open-source, cross-platform, easy-to-use personal finance software. It primarily helps organize one's finances and keeps track of where, when and how the money goes. It is also a great tool to get a bird's eye view of your financial worth. Money Manager includes all the basic features that 90% of users would want to see in a personal finance application. The design goals are to concentrate on simplicity and user-friendliness - something one can use everyday. Money Manager Ex is a complete rewrite of the original Money Manager .NET. It runs on Windows and Linux and an experimental build is now available for Mac OS X.

Main Features
* Intuitive. Simple, Fast, Clean
* AES Encryption Support
* Maintain checking, credit card, savings, stock investment accounts
* Budgeting
* Maintain and Track Fixed Assets with depreciation
* Reminders for recurring Bills and Deposits
* Simple one click reporting
* Cash Flow Forecasting
* Graphs, Piecharts
* Does not require an install. Can run from a USB key.
* International language support (Available in 24 languages)
* Import data from any CSV format, QIF [ Microsoft Money]
* Printing, Exporting to HTML, CSV
* Non-Proprietary SQLite Database
* Read more in the Features Page.
System Requirements
* Installer and zip for Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP/2003/Vista
* Binaries available for Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Xubuntu Linux(.deb), SuSE Linux (.rpm)
* Experimental Support for Mac OS X 10.5
* Can be compiled from source for any other Linux Distro

Please visit the author's website for more information and downloads.

-CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE-

INTRODUCTION (from the author's website)

Far Cry® 2, the next-generation first-person shooter from Ubisoft, will take you deep into the most beautiful but also most hostile environments in the world: Africa! More than just a visual and technological achievement, Far Cry® 2, the true sequel to the award-winning PC game, will provide you with an unprecedented gaming experience.

Caught between two rival factions in war-torn Africa, you are sent to take out "The Jackal," a mysterious character who has rekindled the conflict between the warlords, jeopardizing thousands of lives. In order to fulfil your mission you will have to play the factions against each other, identify and exploit your their weaknesses, and neutralize their superior numbers and firepower with surprise, subversion, cunning and, of course, brute force.

Ubisoft has now released the first patch for Far Cry 2 v1.01. It is available for download here or here. Also given below is the list of issues fixed in in this game.

Multiplayer
- Server's IP address now displays in lobby, beside the match's name (for direct IP join to work)
- Dedicated Server can now be launched in command line.
- Improved match start conditions. Ranked games can now also start if the player max is attained and everybody but the host is ready.
- Fixed a bug causing random crashes when joining a game.
- Ranked matches in progress will no longer display in the match list.
- Fixed players with same name by using identifiers instead of names.
- Fixed crash when creating a LAN game without a network cable.
- The diamond pool is now always validated after class upgrades, reset or rank up to avoid getting more diamonds than you are supposed to for your rank.
- When creating a dedicated server with PunkBuster enabled, then close it to create another but this time with PunkBuster disabled, PunkBuster will still be considered ON, on this new server.
- Fixed a problem where a player could get stuck (and couldn't get killed) after pressing the interaction key while wounded and getting rescued by a teammate at the same time.
- Fixed players getting disconnected if they have too many user maps and try to enter the map rotation menu in a Player or Ranked match.
- Vehicles will now always respawn even if they are never used.
- Fixed users not being able to see a match if the host switched match mode after a rank.
- Fixed a glitch that could make a player invisible to another.
- Fixed incorrect check for negative values when adjusting diamond count.
- Fixed a problem where a player would render through objects if healing a wounded playing while being wounded at the same time.
- Fixed reload not being interrupted on the host when a client picks a weapon while reloading.
- Fixed Field Manuals not unlocking after game mode change.

Single player
- Fixed health not changing with the difficulty level.
- Keyboard controls remapping in single mode now carry into multiplayer mode.
-A buddy will no longer get stuck when healing him while player is receiving damage.
- Stats of favourite weapon are now properly reset between loaded save games.
- The mortar will no longer move the player through wall.
- Mission objectives markers are now show properly after loading a save game.

General
- Fixed glider key remapping.
- Game will now minimize in order to show the website when clicking on ubi.com.
- Dolby 5.1 is now supported for most sound cards.
- Fixed a random crash that could happen when pressing ESC to cancel a Benchmark run.
- Added CPU Intensive benchmark test run.
- Fixed Jackal Tapes and Partner Tapes pages.

Map editor
- Fixed crash in editor when deleting many objects in very rapid succession.
- Fixed crash in editor during parsing of the map headers.

-CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE-

There is nothing as relaxing as a trip into serene mountains, trekking through pristine nature and enjoying wilderness after a hard week's work. Here are some interesting destinations in the vicinity of Bangalore that make perfect weekend destinations to relax and burn some calories.

Adventure Camp @ Kemmannugundi Hills

A major hill-station in Chickmagalur District,  Kemmannagundi is a single, secluded hill surrounded by sprawling coffee estates, waterfalls and ornamental gardens. September-May is the best season to visit Kemmannagundi. Situated on the Baba- Budan range at a height of 4,702 ft. above sea level, Kemmanugundi is the ideal place to get away from the heat and dust, the crowds and traffic jams of the cities. Nestling amidst lush green forests, the quiet, peaceful and serene Kemmanugundi is sure to revive and rejuvenate you physically, mentally and spiritually. The panoramic views, the ornamental gardens, the songs of the birds, the rays of the sun trying to peep through the trees, all are sure to leave the visitors spellbound. Time tiptoes gently here. And as you take a walk down an inviting mountain trail, you find yourself laughing aloud - with the sheer joy of living. The Hebbe Falls are located 8 km away from Kemmannagundi and the water cascades down from the height of 168 mtrs. in two stages to form the Dodda Hebbe (Big Falls) and Chikka Hebbe (Small Falls). The Hebbe Falls are quite spectacular. 

Wilderness Camp @ Nagarahole Forest

Nagarahole is situated in the picturesque districts of Kodagu and Mysore in southern Karnataka. This place is around 230 Kms from Bangalore. The Nagarahole National Park was first set up in 1955. Once an exclusive hunting preserve of the erstwhile rulers of Mysore, the terrain of this Park is gently undulating with lush green vegetation, swamps and numerous water resources, rendering it an ideal habitat for a wide variety of wildlife. Altitude 700 – 957 Mtrs; Climate – Cool from October to January – minimum at 15 Degrees. The forest is home to animals like the four-horned antelope, sloth bear, jungle cat, civet, spotted deer, elephant, wild dog, flying fox, tiger, panther, gaur (Indian bison), sambhar, wild boar, black-naped hare, bonnet macaque, and pangolin. Cobras, crocodiles, kraits, pythons, vipers, and several species of lizards are also found here.

Cool Coorg Adventure Camp

THADIYANDAMOL is the highest mountain in Coorg (Mercara) Dist ( 1750 Mtrs. MSL). This place is around 250 Kms from Bangalore - via Virajpet. The climb to this mountain is gradient passing through grassland. If you are the type who likes to mingle with nature, see the snow-like mist romance with mountain slopes, feel the tingle of the cool and gentle breeze, watch the leaves flutter in dance-like movements, hear the sounds of chirping birds fill the air, then Coorg is the place for you.  Kodagu is noted for its scenic beauty. Hiking, cross-country, or simply motoring down mountain trails in Coorg, the visitor encounters panoramic views of the morning mist rolling down thickly wooded hill slopes and the undulating paddy fields and neat rows of coffee bushes resplendent under the blue skies.

CARE (Centre for Adventure & Rejuvenation of Environment) is an Outbound Training & Adventure promoting organization established in Bangalore by a group of experts in the field of Outbound, Adventure and environment. Most of their adventure trips are priced at a reasonable Rs. 2500/- for Indians and $80 for Non-Indians. This includes transportation, basic accomodation and food. 

-CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE-

Those of you who have seen the movie Minority Report were surely amazed by the hand gesture based computer interface shown in the movie. But you probably dismissed it as the heights of science fiction. 

Mgestyk is here to prove you wrong with their gesture-based control system. Mgestyk combines powerful software for hand-gesture language processing with an affordable 3D camera. The technology makes it possible to capture small hand movements and translate them into useful commands for controlling practically any Windows application - Itunes, games, photo slideshow softwares etc.

The Mgestyk control system is not available for sale yet but you can sign up in their waiting list for purchase. The system is expected to be priced at the cost of a high end webcam which should be around $200-$300. It will work with Windows XP and Vista. 

Check out this amazing demo video Mgestyk at work.

-CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE-

5 minutes Life Videopedia is a website where you can find short video solutions for practical questions and a place for people to share their knowledge. Categorized into Arts, Business, Extreme, Fashion, Fitness, Food, Games, Health, Home, Music, Parenting, People, Pets, Spiritual, Sports, Tech, Travel, Wheels, Life, Tips and Knowledge, 5 minutes is the perfect website to gain knowledge on a specific subject in less than 5 minutes without having to read through a lot of content that you would otherwise do to get your information. 

This video from 5 mins explains itself:

Here are a few interesting 5 mins videos worth checking out:

Guitar Lesson: Introduction to Bar Chords

How to Do the 90 Degree Turn with a Car

How Can I Get Over My Shyness And Ask A Girl Out?

-CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE-

Watchmen is a graphic novel created by artist Dave Gibbons and written by Alan Moore who also wrote other greats like V for Vendetta and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Watchmen is rated the best graphic novel ever written and is the winner of the Hugo and the Nebula award for science fiction books.

Based in an alternative universe where the USA is in the brink of a nuclear war with the soviet union, Watchmen explores the realistic lives of super heroes who were quite common and legal once upon a time. Tough times have fallen and old time super heroes are being killed. Roarscharch, a masked vigilante who never gave up fighting for justice decides to investigate the deaths and consequently we dive into the world of super heroes, their weakness and character flaws. The book is quite intense and has many layers to its story line.

Director Zack Snyder of 300 fame is to direct the movie version of Watchmen due to release in 2009. Check out the amazing trailer.

Watchmen Trailer HD from Anfetas on Vimeo.

-CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE-

I have so many e-mail accounts that I find it cumbersome to go to each service providers website. Each time I have to login, check mail, reply or forward e-mail, do some maintenance & logout. Wouldn't it be nice if I could check all my e-mail accounts in one place? I was constantly searching around for this kind of service when I stumbled upon the settings page of Gmail and I could do exactly what I was wishing for. Before I get into more detail, I would like to inform you that this feature does not work with Hotmail :(. This feature will work with any POP3 enabled e-mail accounts. I am happy with getting my Rediff & Yahoo! e-mails to Gmail. OK, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and follow the steps below to get your Rediff & Yahoo mails to Gmail.



1) Rediffmail has POP3 enabled by default. We need to enable POP3 in Yahoo mail before we can proceed.
2) To enable POP3 for Yahoo: Login to your Yahoo account, click on Options & then select Mail Options. Now click POP & Forwarding & then click Setup or edit POP & Forwarding.
3) A new window should open. Make sure "Web & POP Access" is selected. Then click on Save and logout of Yahoo mail.
4) Now, login to your Gmail account and click on Settings (near the top right corner). You should now be able to see a lot of options. Now follow the steps given below to get your Rediffmail and Yahoo mail to Gmail.

Rediffmail
a) Click on Accounts and you should see Get mail from other accounts: (Download mail using POP3). Click on Add another mail account.
b) Enter your full e-mail address. Ex: xabcd@rediffmail.com & hit the Next button.
c) Enter the Username. From the above example, it is xabcd.
d) Enter your Rediffmail password.
e) Leave the POP Server settings as they are.
f) Put a check on Label incoming messages.
g) If for some reason you want to keep a backup of the e-mails on your Rediff servers, put a check on Leave a copy of retrieved message on the server.
h) Once you are satisfied that everything is to your liking, click Add Account. Gmail will instantly verify if your details are entered correctly and you should start getting your Rediffmail to Gmail.

Yahoo mail
a) You will need to go back to step (4) mentioned above and carry out the instructions mentioned there before proceeding to step (b).
b) Click on Accounts and you should see Get mail from other accounts: (Download mail using POP3). Click on Add another mail account.
c) Enter your full e-mail address. Ex: xabcd@yahoo.com & hit the Next button.
d) Enter the Username. From the above example, it is xabcd.
e) Enter your Yahoo mail password.
f) Leave the POP Server settings as they are.
g) Put a check on Always use a secure connection (SSL) when retrieving mail.
h) Put a check on Label incoming messages.
i) If you want to keep a backup of the e-mails on your Yahoo servers, select the first option Leave a copy of retrieved message on the server.
j) Once you are satisfied that everything is to your liking, click Add Account. Gmail will instantly verify if your details are entered correctly and you should start getting your Yahoo e-mails here.

That's it. My advise is to check you Rediff or Yahoo mail accounts once in a week to see if any of your important e-mail is being marked as SPAM. If you think it's all right not to check these accounts anymore, it's up to you. Also remember that these are not the only accounts you can setup in Gmail. You can add as many accounts as you want as long as they are all POP enabled.
Cheers!

-CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE-

Yes, Obama won! And I'm happy. I decided to go and revisit the Presidential debate on Youtube. There was this peculiar little tag on the top left, that said "Theater View" and "Lights Off". I tried both and absolutely loved it both.

The theater feature allows you to have a red curtain around the video and turns the lights off.

The lights off just switches the lights off. I like this feature.

-CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE-

How many times has copying in windows crashed on you? You end up with part of the files copied to destination and part of the files remaining in source. You do not have the option to pause files while copying just incase copying is slowing your system. Copying files from one location to another is generally a nightmare in windows. This is where Teracopy comes to the rescue.

Teracopy beautifully integrates into windows explorer and provides you with options to copy and paste from a simple right click on files you want to copy or move to a destination of your choice. The snapshots below clearly indicate the ease of use of this software





Teracopy features as mentioned in their website:

Copy files faster. TeraCopy uses dynamically adjusted buffers to reduce seek times. Asynchronous copy speeds up file transfer between two physical hard drives.

• Pause and resume file transfers. Pause copy process at any time to free up system resources and continue with a single click.
  
• Error recovery. In case of copy error, TeraCopy will try several times and in the worse case just skips the file, not terminating the entire transfer.
• Interactive file list. TeraCopy shows failed file transfers and lets you fix the problem and recopy only problem files.
• Shell integration. TeraCopy can completely replace Explorer copy and move functions, allowing you work with files as usual.
• Full Unicode support.

You can download teracopy here. A portable version for USB Flash drives is available here.

-CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE-

Reading is one of the best ways to spend time wisely. Anyone who doesn't have a reading habit, in my opinion, is missing out a lot in life. It is said that a book is a man's best friend. And there are some really good reasons why this is true:

1. It transports you to an exciting world you are not a part of
2. You get to learn new things about the world around you; improved general knowledge
3. You get to travel to places sitting in your room
4. You have more exposure to human behavior and consequently are better informed
5. As a person, you grow philosophically reading books and are more matured
6. Makes you an open-minded person
7. You form new ideas about a lot many things
8. For the sheer joy of reading

It is very common to find people without a reading habit who like reading comic strips if they have nothing else to do. If you belong to this category of people, transitioning to a non-graphic novel isn't all that difficult. Some people are turned off by the amount of time needed to invest in reading books when it seems like there are other activities that seem to be able to kill time much faster. Consider a 3 hour indian movie that you watch on television that typically lasts 4.5 hours taking into account all the advertisements and songs which you could most often do without. This is pretty much the amount of time it would take to read 1/3rd of an average novel if you are an average reader. Books are much more intense, gripping and personal than movies ever can be. This is why most books have poor movie versions. Besides, a good book can take you into a virtual world inside which time does not exist and you ride an adventure you never forget. You live the moment as you read.

Many people are daunted by big books with hundreds of pages of text without images. I belonged to this category once upon a time. My initial attempts to read failed out of fear of the inability to remember character names over many pages without having a face to attach to them. Also, the descriptions were too detailed and unnecessary. It is true that some books are too complicated for beginners to read and can turn off people from the reading habit permanently. It is essential to get started with books that have simple language, fast and interesting plots and delve with topics that you are unfamiliar with (but interesting). The following books would be a good start to a reading habit if you have decent english and are above the age of 16 (not a 100% rule).

1) The Bourne Series by Robert Ludlum
This thriller series will take you into a world of espionage, spies, weapons, assasins, fighting tactics, surveillance and much more that you normally don't come across in real life. The first 3 books (Bourne Identity, Bourne Legacy and Bourne Ultimatum) in the series were written by Robert Ludlum and the rest were by Eric Van Lustbader. While I am not impressed with the non-Ludlum books, the first three books are gems.



2) Fist of God by Fredrick Forsyth
Covering the same theme of espionage, weapons and spies, Fist of God takes brings you closer to the real world. A story of a covert operation set in the middle east during the Gulf War, this book gives a good summary of the how and why of the gulf far during the early 90s.



3) If Tomorrow comes by Sidney Sheldon
A story of theivery, trickery and deception, If tomorrow comes is a very fast paced book that amazes you with a lot of good presence of mind tricks and is a mini guide book of con. Written in typical Sidney Sheldon style of having a unrevealed twist at the end of each chapter, this book is a page turner




4) Tell me your dreams by Sidney Sheldon
Dwelling into the world of multiple personality disorders, the book does a fantastic job of keeping great suspense especially if you do not know what multiple personality disorder is.



5) Jurrasic Park, Prey, Timeline by Michael Crichton
Michael Crichton is in my opinion the best science fiction writer, inspite of the criticism he has come under in the recent past for distorting science. His books mostly deal with a topic in the cutting edge of technology in the frontiers of scientific development. Jurrasic park deals with ressurecting dinosaurs and is quite a popular movie and just like most movies does not do justice to the book. Prey deals with nano technology and Timeline deals with time travel. Crichton does a fantastic job of convincing you the practical possibility of what seems like impossible science fiction.



Enjoy Reading!

-CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE-

Stanford University scientists have developed AI Robot helicopters that learn by observing other helicopters in motion.  The maneavours performed are not simple ones of just taking off but complex heart pounding motions that would make the passengers throw up.  Luckily for us, these are not full size choppers but an off-the-shelf radio controlled toy helicopter, with instrumentation added by the researchers.

Stanford's artificial intelligence system learned how to fly by "watching" the four-foot-long helicopters flown by expert radio control pilot Garett Oku.  This is no mean feat and is an indication of the world we are heading to - Super intelligent machines. Hopefully, it doesn't mean destruction of man. Visit Stanford's Autonomous helicopter website for related publications, pictures and videos of this project.

Source: Stanford Report

-CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE-

Image Source: Wikipedia

3D Printers are machines that build mechanical parts given a design as input. You can now build physical objects by printing them in a 3D printer. Sounds too good to be true, doesn't? It is all real and quite impressive. Not only is it real, it is slowly becoming affordable. A day will come when we build common household items by clicking on the file menu and choosing Print 3D.

RepRap is one such 3D Printer. Founded by Dr Adrian Bowyer, a Senior Lecturer in mechanical engineering at the University of Bath in the United Kingdom, Reprap is an universal constructor that can build itself besides other things. The RepRap project is published under the GNU General Public License, a free software license, at no cost, allowing other investigators to work on the same idea and improve it. The device itself costs around 400$ to build.

RepRap has been used to build items like hanging hooks, fly swat, shoes, water filter, door handle and many more items. See images below:

Visit RepRap website for more interesting details and how you can build your own RepRap.

If you think the RepRap looks like an unprofessional project (Wait for it to grow!!), you might want to consider the 3D Printer from Desktop Factory. Coming in at $5000, the Desktopfactory 125 Ci 3D Printer is not as cheap as the RepRap but the finished products are of higher quality. You can check out the amazing finish 3D produts at their homepage.



If you liked this article, you should check out the article from Replicator about 10 things 3D Printers can build now including action figures, jewellery and functional objects like hearing aids.

-CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE-

Image Source: Associated Press

The French are renowned for their great inclination to romance and not straying far away are their medical innovations with regard to the heart. CARMAT SAS, a company funded by EADS (European space and defence organization, the parent company of Airbus) has made the world's first fully functional artificial heart.

Looking like Wall-E, the artificial heart has been developed borrowing the latest from aircraft technology and functionally modelled after the real heart with pumps and sensors to monitor blood flow requirements.

At a very pricy $192,000 the artificial heart is not a temporary replacement for the real heart and is expected to last really long and be a permanent solution to ailments of the heart. So far, it has been tested only on animals and is awaiting approval for human use.

Article Source: CNN

-CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE-

Password (n.): A secret word or phrase that one uses to gain admittance or access to information. A sequence of characters that one must input to gain access to a file, application, or computer system. Also called passkey.



How many of us really use strong passwords? I always have been using passwords that don't have any relation with my personal life like my date of birth, marriage anniversary or any such events. The passwords with these kind of details are usually easy to crack and do not provide any security to our digital life. Yes, digital life or digital age that we are in where we communicate regularly via e-mail, blogs, chat, IRC etc. All these accounts need passwords and we tend to ignore some basic rules when creating passwords. Wanna know how strong your password is? Go to the hackosis website and find out. If you are paranoid about someone snooping around, download this excel spreadsheet, input the relevant data and find out the strength of your password(s).

-CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE-

There is a ton of money to be made programming for the Apple iPhone. iPhone applications can be hosted by developers at the Apple App Store. If you are giving away your application for free, then apple does not charge you for hosting the application. If however you charge for your software, you have to pay a small percentage to apple for every sale besides a one time fee.

From a 1000$ application called I am rich which displays a red gem on the screen just to prove that you are rich because you paid for the application (6 people actually bought the application before it was taken off the app store) to useful applications like note takers, games, text editors, eBook readers and much more, the iphone is the a great development platform because of its wide availability and popularity. Most not-free applications sell for around 99 cents making developers a good deal of money by selling in large volumes. It is not so difficult to make $250,000 in 2 months with a simple application developed as a side project.

So what do you need to take the plunge? Previously, the only information available for iPhone development came exclusively from apple and developers had to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) to get access to technical details to assist them. The NDA prohibited iPhone developers from writing tutorials, guides, blogs, books, and even wikis about the iPhone SDK. Recently, they dropped the NDA and have opened up the freedom to publish books and articles for the iphone.

Apple has made available a software development kit for the iPhone with which programmers can develop applications for the iPhone.

If you are an amateur programmer, Stanford university provides course materials for the iPhone programming class which can be accessed here.

There are a ton of other links on the internet which elaborate on the entire process of developing applications for the iPhone to getting it to the apple store. Check out some of these here:

• Learn how to develop for the iphone
• Develop iPhone applications using ruby on rails
  
• iPhone development in 22 not so easy steps
  
  

If you are not motivated enough to develop for the iphone, check out these articles:

• Tap Tap Tap 1 week sales
• Part-time Apps developers getting rich
  
• iPhone developers go from rags to riches

Still thinking if its worthwhile??

-CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE-

Tired of the routine work you have been doing for many years now? Feel that your work is not contributing to a greater cause or as much as you wish? Want to quit your work but afraid of the life beyond? Want to do social service but want to get paid for it? Oversees volunteering is the solution you are looking for. Here is an opportunity to help out people with your skills in under developed regions in exchange for a basic living. Take time off your regular life and do the work that makes a difference.

iVolunteer Overseas the Indian Unit of VSO will help you with this. VSO is the world’s leading independent, international development organisation that works through volunteers to fight poverty in developing countries. To quote from their website:

VSO promotes volunteering to fight poverty and disadvantage, working in the poorest countries where we can make a significant contribution and where it is safe for us to have programmes. In these countries, we have a number of development goals in Education, HIV and Aids, Secure Livelihoods, Health and Social Well-being, Disability, and Participation and Governance. We maintain a Programme Office in each VSO country and staff there work in partnership with local organisations, and increasingly with the people whose interests VSO aims to serve, to agree and then deliver a programme of development.

Volunteering opportunities are for a period of 2 years and there are openings in:

• Business and NGO Management
  
• IT Training
  
• Fundraising
  
• Microfinance and Small business Advice
  
• Primary Teacher and Educationist
  
• Doctors and Health Managers

You can find detailed job descriptions here. VSO pays for your travel to the country of work, provides you with accomodation and resources for living besides paying you a local salary to suit a modest living. 2 years of a great new experience and being paid to do work that makes a difference to this world.

-CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE-