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An Introduction To Raid – Greater Reliability ,faster, Less Costly Hard Drive Units

2006-09-30T23:30:00.000+08:00

What is a raid setup on a computer system? Like anything else it depends who you talk to.

Raid hard drive systems had their acronym explained as “Redundant Array of Individual Drives “and “Redundant Array of Inexpensive Drives”. The acronym for this is the shortened term “RAID”.

Capacity, reliability and performance are all important for file servers or other computer systems when you are storing large or very important files.

It is often said that “It is not if you hard drive will fail. It is at what point in time your hard drive will fail”.

Of course if your hard drives fail even if you have backup the last bit of data which was being written onto the hard drive when the failure occurred will be lost.

You can get much greater capacities, avoid losing data from disk failure, and do all this with the RAID (the acronym for the system).

RAID can now be done with standard commercially available hard drives so the cost is now within your price range for all the benefits and peace of mind RAID will give you.

RAID can be simply explained as putting the hard drives in parallel sequence.

The host adapter (usually called the RAID system controller) sits between one higher stream (on the computer side) and several lower rate data streams (on the hard drive side). When the computer writes to the disks , the host adapter takes high stream data and breaks it into many synchronized streams , one for each of the disks in process called “Striping “. Upon reading the data the host adapter takes the data stream from each disk multiplexes the sets of data streams and coordinates sending the resulting combined set of data onto the computer.

It is all a matter of redundancy which makes RAID such a good thing in most cases.

There are six different levels of RAID functionality depending on your requirements. – the level of data security and integrity you want as well as the size of hard drive space you want.

First of RAID Level 0 which spreads the data across multiple disks. You can get a similar effect to the RAID Level 0 by having multiple disks and using the features in Windows 2000 or its successor Windows XP.

Since the data volume and rate to any specific disk is a fraction of the aggregate you will receive larger capacity and better performance from a RAID 0 setup than from any one conventional disk.

As well data can be sourced from multiple drives as once. This can be most useful in shared situations which may benefit from enhancements in speed, two examples which come to mind are game servers and peer to peer (P2P) file or music file sharing servers.

However since there is no allocation for error correction or redundancy RAID 0 is not a safe system for vital data. Data will be lost on disk failure. Only use RAID 0 in situations where you need the extended disk capacity or performance gain but not enhanced data reliability.

Secondly in sequence there is RAID Level 1.

In the same way that RAID 0 focuses solely on storage capacity and performance with no concern whatsoever on reliable data storage RAID 1, which us also called “Disk Mirroring” uses disks in pairs to save the files in a redundant manner.

One performance may be slower as it takes time for the host adapter to send the data and for the drives to write it to disk,

Secondly a user may delete or damage files which of course will be stored in that way on both drives.

Raid 1 hence offers better reliability than RAID 0 or the conventional drive setups but does not give full security for your data or enhanced performance.

Next in sequence we have RAID Levels 2, 3 and 4.

Raid 2 adds one or more disks to hold error correction codes with which lost data can be reconstructed.

Raid Level 3 is the same as RAID Level 2 but uses a simpler code the maximum storage capacity with Raid 3 may be somewhat less.

Raid Level 4 is nearly the same as RAID LEVEL 3 but instead of “Striping “ across disks is operates at a sector level, You now have the better situation of both a simpler , less intensive demanding system and as well as good data reliability . In addition performance may be enhanced as large data blocks can be written faster due to more coordinated writing to the drives in smaller “sector” areas.

Lastly is RAID Level 5.

Raid level 5 is the same as the excellent RAID Level 4 except that instead of dedicating a single disk to storing the data the data stream is striped across all the disks. You have greater performance with greater reliability for your computer systems.

A RAID setup may take some effort and training on your part.

Base your planning for your new RAID system on a careful analysis of your needs.

What is important in your situation currently? Disk size capacities, data reliability and integrity, performance or a combination or all.

Simple review on Windows Media Player 11 Beta 2

2006-09-08T23:46:00.000+08:00

Microsoft just released Windows Media Player 11 Beta 2 for Windows XP. This Windows Media Player 11 Beta 2 version eenhance some performance or features of Media player, bug fixes on Version 1 and the integration with other Windows Media Connect functionality.

According Microsoft, New Media Sharing feature on WMP 11 Beta 2 would allow users to automatically share the contents of their WMP library with compatible devices around anywhere at home if you have Xbox 360 or other digital media receivers. Beside that, Windows Media Player 11 Beta 2 also includes new online stores services like eMusic, VidZone and Music Giants for a total of 14. Microsoft still continue progress intergration with Urge Services on their media player to compete with Apple Computer’s iTunes and provide better exploration on world of music.

The OS requirement of Windows Media Player 11 still remain to work with all versions of Windows XP with Service Pack 2, including Windows XP Home Edition N and Windows XP Professional N. You can now download it via Microsoft's website.

Wablet Flash Instant Messenger Review

2006-09-08T23:43:00.000+08:00

Wablet, a flash Ajax based IM that can access all your major instant messenger account in one account or you can use wablet user account ( after register ). The concept of wablet IM is differ from other major IM. Wablet IM is differ because it can be embedded with blogs and social networks. meanwhile, Wablet allow you manage multiple chats simultaneously with people who see different public facing profiles describing you.

Wablet screenshots is awesome where have a nice flash and rich color interface which feels much more 'real' than any other IM app.

According TechCrunch, Wablet will give away up to 500 test accounts over the next few weeks and you can submit the emails for request one of the wablet accounts. More detail on "how wablet works" on Techcrunch

Locate Your IM Contact With RadiusIM

2006-08-29T11:54:00.000+08:00

RadiusIM - Another cool IM Web based Services that allows users to log in using any of their Yahoo, MSN, AIM and Google Talk accounts to check out who's around you and point out using an icon via a embedded Google map.

Basically the concept of RadiusIM is you choose your location, with your friends list on the right and a location map on the center. When friends and IM contacts are online, their icons show up in their specific location on the map. Beside that, RadiusIM has a cool way of just dragging the Google map around the world and seeing which members are located there, whether they are logged in or not.

On the privacy side, all user location within 1/4 mile is actually blurred out so that their precise location can remain semi-hidden.

My Note

RadiusIM Services is more concerntrate on about location and show who's is nearby your area only. Unfortunately, I still keep on trying to sign up the RadiusIM service which still not successful until now ( dun know what happen ) and i can see the serives seem like very slow and always disconnect to server. Anyway, The RadiusIM is a pretty interesting way to see who is around you, or near a certain location. The RadiusIM still an alpha version and i expect see from them. let me know your comment if you use Radius IM before ?

Visit RadiusIM

AllPeers - File Sharing on web browser without limit

2006-08-24T19:09:00.000+08:00

AllPeers -free firefox extension which combines thestrength of Firefox and BitTorrent technology to enable possibility to share pictures, music and video’s within Firefox. AllPeer allows you to add friends to your buddy list and share files among your buddy. The process of adding file is simple, you just need to drag ‘n drop, and select who you want to share the file with.

Beside that, AllPeer Services will go live with a public beta today and start offering public accounts according to a post on the company’s blog

On the allpeers blog said:

In a few hours AllPeers is going to be released in the wild after 5 months of private testing. We did not invite all the testers during that phase but rest assured the remaining one will receive an email when the application is available
AllPeers is still a beta product so don’t expect it to be perfect (yet).

Some features have not make it into this version so they will come out later; they include Chat, Comments, Tagging, support for external torrents.

AllPeers is for sharing privately with friends and family; not for massively distributing files amongst strangers

You can checkout the tour and to see what allpeers is about. AllPeers will be made available directly from the official Firefox extensions website. ( When available )

Hullo - free versatile VoIP Calls Software

2006-08-23T16:03:00.000+08:00

Hullo is a whole new VoIP communicate by changing the way that you keep in touch with people better than ever before. Why say Hullo is differ from Gizmo Project or Skype ? It can integrate your Windows-based "softphone," your cell phone, and your land line(s) together. after you set up Hullo, you enter your other phones numbers like cell phone or house phone, and then when someone calls you, Hullo will route the call as you if you're not at the computer, it can ring your home phone, then your cell, and so on.

Hullo is a client-based application that looks like an instant message box. It runs separately from the browser (and unfortunately is only available for Windows machines). Hullo is currently in beta and all calls to North America are free.

Review on Hullo VoIP software features

Simple Voice conference by adding as many people as you want. The Voice conference is relying on Versatel Networks EdgeIQ series hardware on the backend to handle the traffic.

Ability to create sophisticated find-me rules. You can be setup and assign different fules on an individual basis. Example your friend could be routed right to your cell phone, whereas your boss could be sent to voice mail.

Don’t like talking on a headset? Use your ordinary phone instead. When you click on your buddy’s name in the hullo contact list, it will ring your choice of handset, and your buddy at the same time. You can make and receive calls on any handset you choose. This will be a killer feature if they migrate it to a cellular handset.

hullo has mid-call transfers. hullo able continue a conversation from one devices to another devices ( Computer to Cell Phobe ) e.g. if you're talking on the computer and have to leave the house, you can seamlessly transfer the call to your cell phone

My Note

hullo has offer something differ from other VoIP software, i test the sound compression quality is good but i hope hullo can give more free calls beside North America.

webaroo v1.2 Released - surf web information without border

2006-08-23T15:46:00.000+08:00

Previously i write a post about Webaroo - a free service enabling you to browse the web content without internet connection. Now, Webaroo has released Version 1.2 and you will find extensive enhancement such as the ability to add greater link depth, limit the download size, and download document, audio and video attachments for the web sites you add to your library.

New features that have been incorporated include:

new Webaroo toolbar button for your browser, making it easy to add web pages and as you browse. Beside that You can adding password protected page by using the browser button.
Import your bookmarks from your browser to your Webaroo library.
Store Webaroo content anywhere on your hard disk.
An enhanced Webaroo library, that shows you what content is being updated and helps you sort your web packs & sites.
Update notifications & new web pack alerts.

Currently, Webaroo is supporting Windows Pocket PC 2003 SE and Windows mobile 5.0 platform for mobile edition and Windows XP and Windows NT SP4 for Desktop Edition.

You can review the specification over here and the web content can be download at webaroo collection of topic-specific Web Packs.

Download Webaroo 1.2

Download Microsoft Live Writer

2006-08-19T14:36:00.000+08:00

Microsoft’s Windows Live Writer is launched yesterday, it is totally free desktop client's software and downloable application. Windows Live Writer able to run on windows PC and allows write your blog posts.

The blogging system that integrate with Microsoft Windows Lives support are Windows Live Spaces, Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, WordPress and others.

The main features of Windows Live Writer are WYSIWYG authoring and Photo publishing. The rich text editor is no quite impressive because contains the usual elements and doesn't produce clean code.

Photo Publishing features allows bloggers easy insertion of photos and things like Live.com Maps, and tagging. The images editing features that you can use are resize the picture, add a nice shadow, adjust brightness and even use some simple effects.

Windows Live Writer is available to download here [4.74 MB, Windows] and it's still beta version.

Desktop- Online Vritual Desktop

2006-08-19T14:27:00.000+08:00

DesktopTwo is a powerful new web based desktop that offers an impressive list of well designed features. DesktopTwo can allows you complete access of your desktop wherever you are and totally free. DesktopTwo services has generated well over 100,000 subscriptions from around the world.

Requirement to run DesktopTwo properly:-

Java enabled
Flash version 9
Pop Up on browser is available
Adobe Readers
Cookies turn "on"

Features that DesktopTwo offers by :-

Web IM, including chat with Jabber, Google and MSN buddies. (No Yahoo! or AIM yet, that’s a shame.)
1 GB of free storage.
An inline MP3 player with playlist creation.
An adress book.
WYSIWYG web page editing.
A blog publishing platform with support for tags, full or partial RSS feeds, 16 layout templates and the ability to edit the CSS.
Email and search.

My note

DesktopTwo seem like Next generation web-based desktop which includes email, IM, address book, hard drive, blog creator, message boards, search, office tools, mp3, and much more. Anyway, i have test it out and quite impressive about it. If anyone has experience in using this tool, please let us know how it worked out for you..

Visit Desktop Website

Cache Discovery Protocol Speed Bittorrent Speed

2006-08-14T16:30:00.000+08:00

Bitorrent is starting up working with CacheLogic again on a new bittorrent protocol call " Cache Discovery Protocol or CDP" Concept which supposedly will act like DHCP features for peer to peer networks.( to address the issue of ISP bandwidth throttling, and more importantly, BitTorrent traffic caching.)

This DHCP features will assigns IP addresses to devices on a network automatically, without much mucking around on the end user part which similiar to current CDP would allows BitTorrent client to auto discover better seeds that have been cached on the network, and allow faster downloads of the files. This new technology seem like will be helpful on situations where there are only a handful of seed files.

My Note

My understanding on new bittorrent protocol seem like help out on addressing some of the issues on bittorrent peformance by caching some of seeds addresses, especially where there is very limited upstream speed available. it seem like this protocol works fine by finding better, cached seeds on the network for your bittorrent client

Via GigaOm

AIM and AOL User get free 5Gb online storage

2006-08-14T16:26:00.000+08:00

AOL announce offering 5GB of free online storage for all AIM and AOL web user on september onwards. This free online storage will powered by XDrive.

The free online storage service will allow users to upload and download digital photos, videos, and important documents in Xdrive's data server without a single charges. meanwhile, XDrive will provides features like below:-

Drag and drop interface between online storage and hard drive
Access to files through any Web-connected PC or mobile device
Permission-based file and folder sharing
Online collaboration via shared files
Scheduled automatic backups
Automatic upload of e-mail attachments from providers including AOL Mail, AIM Mail, or any non-AOL POP3 or IMAP-compatible mail providers
Full-resolution photo storage
Easy access to AOL Pictures for professional prints and photo gifts

My Note

The free storage sounds awesome but just serve for AIM and AOL user only. This news may be worrying other online storage provider like GDrive that taking a long time to launch.

Via DownloadSquad

Free 3GB email storage and unlimited attachment size from AOL

2006-08-14T15:49:00.000+08:00

Lycos announced their new Lycos email services ( ccurrently still beta version ) with 3GB email storage and allow unlimited attachment size to be send and received - All is free. All Lycos free email account will similiar like other email services with ads supported on web based email interface. meanwhile, to prevent infrequent use just for sending huge files, there’s a stipulation that Lycos mail accounts that go unused for 30 days will be deleted.

if you willing to pay 20USD, you can enjoyed 5GB storage without ads supported and no account preservation.

My note

The unlimited attachment storage has become attractive point to subscribe Lycos email services. In comparison, most other services only permit files of up to 10MB to be attached to e-mails. Email storage number isn’t anything super special whereby Gmail already offer 2.75GB ( continue adding up th space).

I still prefer Gmail since the good use of integration with other Google services and my email storage on Gmail never break 10 percent before.

Krugle - Source Code Search Engine

2006-08-11T19:24:00.000+08:00

Krugle search engine has been a great place for developer around the world to search code and technical content. Krugle is designed to deliver easy access to source code and other highly relevant technical information in a single, convenient, clean, easy-to-use interface, according to the company.

Krugle offers three separate search options: one for code, another called 'Tech Pages' for code documentation, forums and knowledgebase articles, and a third called 'Projects' that helps developers track down open source projects.

Krugle is based on Apache Software Foundation's Web search projects and Antlr (Another Tool for Language Recognition) parser generator. Krugle itself isn't opensource project but they participates on open-source projects from which part of Krugle's code springs, and also in other development communities. The requirement to use Krugle is require Java Script.

My note

myself is developer on web based coding and find Krugle is a great tool for the code ninjas amongst us.

Krugle Website

Via Linux Watch

Download Free portable application

2006-08-09T19:38:00.000+08:00

John Haller from PortableApps.com has released a lot of portable application that very useful on our daily digital life. all portable application is opensource and free for download. Why use portable application ?

A portable app is a computer program that you can carry around with you on a portable device and use on any Windows computer. When your USB flash drive, portable hard drive or other portable device is plugged in, you have access to your software and personal data just as you would on your own PC. And when you unplug, none of your personal data is left behind. List of portable application that available

Firefox portable 1.5.0.5 ( Web Browser )
Firefox portable 2.0 Beta ( Web Broswer )
Portable Thunderbird ( Email application )
Portable Filezilla ( FTP Application )
Portable ClamWin ( Anti Virus Application)
Portable OpenOffice 2.0.2 ( Office productivity Suite )

My Note

This portable application has been ease my digital life without install all application on my computer. meanwhile, the portable application just simple plug other computer and nothing data left behind over there. anyway, this credit should belong to John Haller for the creation of portable application.

John, you've brought a ray of sunshine into my life!

free Web IDE tools - Aptana

2006-08-09T19:34:00.000+08:00

Aptana is a robust, JavaScript-focused IDE for building dynamic web applications. This Javascript IDE supports Ajax development and has an easy and simple user interface to help your coding and web design task. The Javascript Web IDE features:-

Code Assist on JavaScript, HTML, and CSS languages, including your own JavaScript functions
Outliner that gives a snapshot view of your JavaScript, HTML, and CSS code structure
Error and warning notification for your code
Support for Aptana UI customization and extensions
Cross-platform support ( Windows , Linux and Macs )

The basic of Aptana IDE is required a v1.4.2 of the Java runtime environment installed on your computer. so, Aptana can work fine.

My Note

i like the aptana since the Javascript Web IDE has javascript reference and ajax library helping me develop and learning the code. Plus more clear explaination on the syntax and function usage.

Aptana is worth for downloading if you are web developer. meanwhile, This application is totally free

Aptana ScreenShot

Download Aptana

Ajax Tutorial using Aptana

Aptana FAQ

Google Paint

2006-07-25T23:24:00.000+08:00

One Google user call " Stuart " has created a web painting tools services call " Google Paint " under Googlepages domain name. The suprising part is this web painting service is created by Google Pages.

The web painting services is similar to Microsoft’s MS Paint concept and allows you to share, import images to computer, open, save and edit photos via online. i already test the web painting services and able to work on Mozilla browser.

Although "Google Paint" hasn't been taken down or blocked by Google, This web painting is worth worth for try when still available

Test Google Paint

Microsoft Carioca Rummy Download

2006-07-25T23:21:00.000+08:00

if you frequently play microsoft games then i recommend you go download Microsoft Carioca Rummy.

Microsoft Carioca Rummy description:

If you enjoy card games, you will love Microsoft’s Carioca Rummy! The object of this unique card game, popular in countries like Argentina and Chile, is to get rid of all of your cards during each round. The player with the fewest cards at the end of the game wins!

Fast and Clean Foxit PDF Reader

2006-07-20T10:40:00.000+08:00

Are you tired of those PDF files slow loading time and annoying welcome screen from Adobe Acrobat opens? So, checkout Foxit reader - a free reader for PDF (Portable Document Format) documents with lighten , fast loading time and clean UI design.

The file size just around 1mb and has a lot of features inside it. meanwhile, the FOXIT no required installation and straight forward using it after downloading it.

Currently FOXIT just support Windows 5/98/NT/2000/XP/2003 only. Now You can checkout version 2.0 Beta . Here is an overview of the new features:

Multi-language UI
Dynamic downloading of add-ons
Form filler
Better look and feel
and there is more!

The FOXIT is totally free software for non commercial license but they also offer customization software with more advance features inside with an affordable price.

Checkout FOXIT Website

Download Foxit Reader 2.0 Beta

PXN8 - Free online image editor

2006-07-09T13:28:00.000+08:00

Photo editing web tools perhaps very popular on internet recently but some of the online image editor require you to install the plugin or component before you can use their services. This may cause us less user friendly or troublesome.
However, PXN8 is an online image editor with a user interface developed with standard web technologies (HTML, CSS and JavaScript). the best part is PXN8 is give you less problem and enables you to edit images directly through your browser without downloading any software.

Beside that, PXN8 also provide bookmarklet feature so all you have to do is click your PXN8 bookmarklet to grab images that you want to modify from a website.

Currently, The online photo editing is workable on Firefox, Safari and IE only.

PXN8 Web Image Editor Features

View PXN8 ScreenShot
Read more on PXN8 Website

Recovering Deleted Files from Windows

2006-07-09T13:21:00.000+08:00

Recovering delele files from Windows XP has been headache for Windows user if accidently deleted the files or seem the files lost forever when you have spend a lot of time on the documentation files.

But thanks for Jameser Tech Tips post giving hopes for you to recover the deleting files if you immediately taking action by using restoration application when you notices accidently delete the files.

Restoration is a freeware application that restoring files which are deleted from the recycle bin by mistake. Conversely, delete files completely. This application is supporting operating system starting from Win98 to Windows XP. Bare in mind, This program is very effective at recovering deleted files from your hard drive and does not require installation either, so it is a handy application to carry on a USB flash drive as well.

How it works:-

Select the drive you'd like to restore from the pulldown menu on the upper right of the application
Click on the "Search Deleted Files" button
After the search is complete, select the files you'd like to restore and click on the "Restore By Copying" button

Some comment from Jameser on the recovering process:-

It is important that you try to restore your files either to another drive or partition, so as to avoid overwriting information on your source drive... So if you only have one drive/partition, try to restore the data to diskette, USB flash drive, or a network drive...

For me, this is a great windows tech tips and prepare yourself when you might face this problem in future.

100 top network security tools list

2006-07-04T14:58:00.000+08:00

Insecure.org recently update the top 100 network security lists for 2006. The list is compile by hacker and Nmap creator Fyodor based on 3,200 responses on the nmap-hackers mailing list starting from year of 2003. you will notice the list is crowned by names that may be familiar: vulnerability scanner Nessus, network protocol analyzer Wireshark (formerly Ethereal), intrusion detection/prevention system Snort

The list that compiled is totally awesome where each tools is label by opensource and commercial, popularity, platform, interface and cost.

Now, The insecure.org has been moved to new home (Sectool.org). Hope you enjoyed the network security tools and giving some support to insecure.org for the contribution on the network security list

Gliffy - Web Diagramming Tools

2006-06-30T15:01:00.000+08:00

Gliffy is a free diagramming tool that works entirely in your browser. Gliffy is an web based Visio killer application can draw a lot types of diagram like FlowChart, Devolopment process, Web Layout, Floorplan, Class diagram, network diagram and etc.

You can sign Gliffy account freely and start drawing and asswmble your diagram online. meanwhile, your drawings can be shared with others via your blog or website, collaborated on by a group, and placed into documents when complete.

The diagram usage is very similar like visio and take me more than 10 minutes to finish one diagram. But the limitation is Gliffy is a web based application and very relay on the internet speed.

More Gliffy Screen Shot

Gliffy Official Website

Web based media player on FireFox - SongBird

2006-06-30T14:55:00.000+08:00

Songbird is web based open-source media player and Internet browser based on Mozilla Firefox browser Engine only. It have all the features like desktop media player and support operating system like Linux , Macs and Windows. Songbird software lets you play music from the web like you going to a site that has links to music, Songbird creates a list of of files you can download or play.

Meanwhile, Songbird also allow you adding or playing podcasting and radio services like odeo and last.fm easily on the web based player. Beside that, the supporting audio format like MPEG Audio (mpga), MPEG Layer 3 (mp3), MP4 Audio (mp4a), Ogg Vorbis, Speex, AAC, WMA, FLAC also play on this web based media player.

Songbird still on the early stage of development ( Version 1) and the features will be grow much more in future when developers create cross-platform extensions and plug-ins.
SongBird Offical Website

Online testing on Microsoft office 2007

2006-06-27T19:39:00.000+08:00

If you haven't downloading Microsoft Office 2007 for test out the features of Office 2007, Here is a easy way , Microsoft offer a free testing on Microsoft office 2007 beta via online. Microsoft create a complete computer simulation environment to test out their Microsoft office 2007 product.

List of product on Microsoft office 2007 beta 2

Microsoft Office Access 2007
Microsoft Office Excel 2007
Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007
Microsoft Office OneNote 2007
Microsoft Office Outlook 2007
Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager
Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access
Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007
Microsoft Office Project Professional 2007
Microsoft Office Publisher 2007
Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007
Microsoft Office Visio 2007
Microsoft Office Word 2007
Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services
Microsoft Office Project Server 2007 (should be available soon)
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007

Currently the Microsoft office 2007 online server is very buzy and the latency of the respond times is long. i need more than 10 minutes to get the respond and the chances to test is getting slowly and hard to access

Getting Encarta instant answer via MSN Messenger

2006-06-26T23:16:00.000+08:00

Looking for fast encyclopedia answer? Here comes the MSN Encarta instant anwser via MSN Messenger.

MSN Encarta Instant anwsering services is an Artificial Inteligent answering robot with encarta information. Basically it like chating with someone and you may ask a lot can question using nature language. Encarta will try to answer you or open Microsoft Encarta (if installed on your PC) for the result.

Step for adding MSN Encarta Instant answer

Open MSN Messenger and sign in.
Add Encarta as a contact: encarta@conversagent.com
Press enter on Encarta from your Contact List.
Ask a question.

For me, this encarta services is good in term it can search encarta information like chating with someone but encarta respond still lack of respond speed.

News Source:- Liewcf.com

Healia - A health search engine

2006-06-26T12:33:00.000+08:00

Helia is a consumer health search engine which you can find useful and health related information only. The health search engine was developed by multiyear competitive Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award from the National Cancer Institute.

Helia search keyword is based on health vocabulary database of hundreds of thousands of health-related concepts and relationships to suggest alternate search terms and concepts. This sarch kwywords allows you to see the relationships among concepts and search terms that are similar, more general, and more specific than those you submitted.

I see this search engine is very extremly useful for everyone since the search engine is giving more specific health related information only and reduce user searching times on larger search engine.

IEs 4 Linux - Internet Explorer for linux

2006-06-26T12:23:00.000+08:00

IEs4Linux is a simpler way to run Internet Explorer on Linux. It is a opensource and free application. IEs4Linux no need clicks needed and setup for the entire process installation of IE on linux. The installation just running a simple script only. The support Internet Explorer edition is IE6, IE 5.5 and IE5 only.

Step for install IEs4Linux

Wine and cabextract are required to be installed first before install IEs4Linux. (installation help for install Wine and cabextract )
Download IEs4linux from here and extract it to wine special folder.
open terminal and run 'ies4linux' executable.

More information : - IEs 4 Linux - Internet Explorers for Linux

Download IEs4Linux

VOIP – Is it for you?

2006-06-19T18:44:00.000+08:00

VOIP has created quite a buzz of late. VOIP stands for Voice Over Internet Protocol. More and more people and businesses are switching to VOIP from the standard PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Networks). VOIP transmits the data via the internet versus a PSTN which uses an electrical circuit established between two callers. There are a few reasons why people are switching to VOIP. The first is quite simple – Price. The price for most VOIP services is significantly lower than a landline system or PSTN. There are free pc to pc services and even the services that tie into the regular phone system are much cheaper than the same service plan for regular telephone service. It is not unusual to find unlimited calling anywhere on a pc to pc basis and most of the major services have a variety of plans. These can include local overseas numbers. The second big reason for changing is the ability to bundle services such as caller id, call forwarding, voice mail, call block, etc as part of the same package without the additional costs you would expect to pay with a landline system. Increased mobility is another big advantage of VOIP. You can have your local phone with you where ever you are as long as you have broadband internet access. Plug in your converter to an internet connection; add your phone and you can have your regular phone service on the other side of the country. Not as portable as your cell phone but if you travel a great feature. You can have the ability to have a number within the local area of your friends and family or customers so that they may call you locally. Imagine, you can have a local presence in numerous areas all from the same phone for only a few dollars a month for each one. VOIP will also allow you to integrate voice and data and has been used for conferencing and desk top sharing. If both parties have VOIP it is possible to share video, audio and even share a desktop view of their pc. Finally, VOIP can allow you to easily set up three way conferencing or other conferencing set ups at a much lower price than a land line system. In conclusion if you are looking for savings and more options VOIP can be the cornerstone of your communications program.

Picasa Web Album Release

2006-06-16T11:06:00.000+08:00

Recently i write about " Picasa web albums going to launch " and today Google has make Picasa web become reality. Google Picasa also start to invites people to join up and testing the Picasa web photo. Now, you will get 250mb space of photo for free. if you want greater space to photos , you will be shock that you need to fork up 25USD to get a 6GB space per year. Seem like the web album services is very expensive compare to Flickr just charge 25USD per year and lets you upload 24GB total up.

There is some nice features about this picasa web album that you can make the photo sharing be private or public. meanwhile, a Picasa desktop software allow uploading to your account.

This news might be some disppointment but i hope Google slightly adjust the pricing and the upload limits.

New Souces and ScreenShot :- Google Blogoscoped

Google Earth 4 version

2006-06-16T08:46:00.000+08:00

Google official launch new version of Google earth 4 on the Google Blog. The new version of Google earth is able to support windows,Mac and Linux distribution. This has been a great news for Linux and Macs fans. Beside that, Google also come out enterprise version of Google Maps by offering a fee-based service and support for businesses that want to embed a Google Maps experience in their websites or internal applications. New features on Google Earth 4:-

Support for "textured" 3D buildings using models created with SketchUp, so that the images look more realistic
An updated KML format that allows sharing of partial information.
Google Earth in French, Italian, German, and Spanish.
Full screen mode now allows searching (press "/" to search).
Now Google Earth is an universal binary, so it runs natively on both PowerPC- and x86 (Intel)-based Macintosh computer.

ScreenShot of 3D modeling building from Google earth 4

News Source :- Google Blogspot

There's a Linux version (available to download here as a bin file).

Download Google Earth 4

Google web 2.0 Search Engine API

2006-06-05T23:06:00.000+08:00

Google has release an powerful ajax search engine API for public to developed own ajaxed search engine under Google. This Ajax search engine API is a JavaScript library that allows you to embed many flavors of Google Search into your site: Web Search, Local Search, Video and Blog Search.

Here is the example of Google ajax search engine API - Here which You can combine the search results from all these sources to obtain a beautiful sidebar. The best part on Google Ajax search engine is you can customize a certain result that load on search pages. meanwhile, Users of the site can use the search results to paste them in comments or other user-generated content.

The Google Ajax search engine is currently support IE, Mozilla and Safari only. This API still new and i hope adsense function can be added on it in future

Instlux -Install linux on Windows platform

2006-06-05T23:03:00.000+08:00

Linux Installation has no been easy task for windows user on windows platform. here come Instlux where it is an opensource application automates linux installation on windows platform. currently user able to use Instlux to install linux distribution either OpenSuse or Ubuntu only.

Instlux perform as grabbing your windows information and writing default windows information on linux installation like driver configuration. Currently Instlux is supporting 15 languages.

How developer say about Instlux :-

The final goal is not only to provide a way of installing Linux on a Windows system, but being a tool for a complete migration from Windows to Linux, by getting the system and user information stored on Windows, and writing default values to the Linux installation according to them, easying this way the migration.

This opensource software has been make windows user more painless when migrating windows to linux but unfortunelately now just support OpenSuse and Ubuntu only. Hope this opensource software can support more linux distribution.

if you try out this application. Please drop me an comment about it....

Download Instlux

Wordpress 2.0.3 released

2006-06-05T17:27:00.000+08:00

Wordpress has released a new version of wordpress 2.0 series, 2.0.3. This version is available to download on Wordpress official website. Changes of this version is bug fix , backports a number of security holes on to protect user's wordpress blog and other small performance enhancements.

Here is the changes that declares by Wordpress :-

Movable Type / Typepad importer fix

Enclosure (podcasting) fix

The aforementioned security enhancements (nonces)

Small performance enhancements

Upgrading process :- Upgrading is simple by overwrite your old files with the latest version of 2.0.3. When entering admin pages, it will give you a link to update your database. i haven't upgrade the latest wordpress 2.0.3 yet, if you have tries it out, Please drop me a comment !

Download Microsoft Office system Beta 2

2006-06-02T17:41:00.000+08:00

Microsoft has make Microsoft Office system beta 2 freely to download. The purpose Microsoft Office system Beta 2 for public download is testing and planning purposes with the functionality of Microsoft Office system Beta 2 before Microsoft shiipped Office 2007 for sales.

Before you downloading Microsoft Office System beta 2, You required to fill out quick survey form and Microsoft will give you the serial keys for every Office 2007 product that you want: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio, etc…

Let the fun begin! and testing out some of the new features on Microsoft Office 2007 and more importantly the new menu-less user interface paradigm. Download Office 2007 Beta 2

Scandoo -Find out website safetyness

2006-06-02T17:34:00.000+08:00

Scandoo is a search engine result pages ( SERP) that analysis link to inform you letting you know something bad is going to happen if you click on those webpages. Scandoo can analysis based on Malicous code, Virus , sypware and other offensive or illegal content.

When you perform any search on any search engine, The plugin extension displays red crosses, yellow exclamation marks or green ticks next to results. This Scandoo services is smiliar like Site Advisor but the good things is Scandoo no required any extra software or extension to install.

Currently, Scandoo can support only on Google and MSN search engine only and the rest of major search engine like (yahoo.com and ask.com )will be available soon.

Check it out here: Scandoo.

Movie Trailer on Google Video

2006-06-02T17:24:00.000+08:00

Google Video has create a movie trailer section about lists trailers for new and upcoming movies. The interface of the Google Video is a clean and clear information. meanwhile, The pages navigation seem like more easiler compare to Apple Movie Trailer. Video quality on Google Movie Trailer section also similiar quality like Apple Trailer side. No much differ.

Since Google movie trailer has competing with Applle movie trailer. It is a sign for Apple that Google starting war with Apple. I think soon Google Music will be launch soon and competing with Apple ITunes market.

Google’s Movie Trailers

Krunch - Online Compression Tool

2006-06-02T17:18:00.000+08:00

Krun.ch is a website provide online compression services that allow you compress compress / uncompress files over the internet. Krunch compression tools currently just support four types of compression format (Zip, Rar, Tar and GZip) only. meanwhile, Krunch online Compression tools still in beta version.

Types of tasks that available on Krunch online compression tools:-

Upload files and compress files.
Upload files and decompress files that already compressed files.
Uncompress and view/download compressed web files into your desktop.
Grab files from the internet, compress them, and then download them.

For me, this compression tools is totally awesome where you compress and decompress files via internet. so, less troublesome for downloading compression application just for single compressed files.

Krunch Website

Comodo Personal Firewall 2.0

2006-06-02T17:02:00.000+08:00

PCMag.com today giving a great review on Comodo Personal Firewall 2.0 ( 4.5 /5 Rating). Comodo Personal Firewall is classifies and analysis more than 10.000 applications according to their risk and security level such as SAFE, SPYWARE, ADWARE etc.

Advantage of Comodo Personal Firewall is Blocking attacks from internal or external by controling which programs can access the Internet or network.

Overview of PCMag.com on Comodo Personal Firewall 2.0

Comodo Personal Firewall is a kick-ass free firewall. It keeps hackers out and tricky unauthorized programs off the Internet. And it resists being terminated. It works as well as all but the best for-pay firewalls—and did I mention it's free?

The firewall application seem like a good piece of software and worth for tryout.beside that Among other free offerings on Comodo website are Comodo Antispam (a challenge / response- based spam blocker), Comodo BackUp (a traditional file-based backup utility), and Verification Engine (an antiphishing browser add-in).

Comodo Personal Firewall Homepage

Read PC Magazine's Review

More Details about Comodo 2.0

eFox is combination of IE + Firefox

2006-06-02T16:52:00.000+08:00

Internet Explorer 7 Beta and Mozilla Firefox 2.0 just released recently. Do you think before IE themes + FireFox features combine together will become what sore of application? Here is eFox application. eFox is a customization by using Mozilla Firefox features and Internet Explorer 7 themes together. So, you can enjoyed eFox application more secure, faster surfing and nice user interface.

Screen Shot of eFox:-

Qtparted Open Source partition Software

2006-05-24T17:39:00.000+08:00

QTParted is an open-source partition software utility bundle on Knoppix Live CD. The QTParted utility is more similar with Partition Magic software. So , the usage of QTParted you might find easy to use since you already familiar with Partition Magic.

QtParted utility supports FAT32, NTFS, HFS, ext2, ext3 file systems. now you can resize your partitions, create, shrink, expand and more partition to install another operating system without losing your data.

Google WebTool Kits

2006-05-24T17:35:00.000+08:00

Google just release GWT (Google Web Toolkits ) for ajax coding development more easier and more funs to build Web applications like Google Maps and Calendar. Google Web Toolkits is a code generation framework that lets you code Ajax apps in pure Java. all coding development is done on java command and debug on your own AJAX applications using the Java debuggeg tools of your choice.

When you deploy your application to production, the GWT compiler simply translates your Java application to browser-compliant JavaScript and HTML.

Simple notes about Google Web Toolkits:-

Use your favorite Java IDE to write and debug an application in the Java language, using as many (or as few) GWT libraries as you find useful.

Use GWT's Java-to-JavaScript compiler to distill your application into a set of JavaScript and HTML files that you can serve with any web server.

Confirm that your application works in each browser that you want to support, which usually takes no additional work.

GWT can be downloaded from Google Code.

Window media player 11

2006-05-24T17:33:00.000+08:00

Windows Media Player 11 has been release to public for download. After install beta release of windows media player 11. i quite impression especially on intuitive interface and value add services on windows media player 11.

Features in Windows Media Player 11 for XP :

New User Interface
Support for better synchronization for portable devices
Album “stacks” of album art
Indexed libraries with search-as-you-type features
User controlled downgrade of quality for DRM content to allow for smaller files
DRM content will contain metadata that shows what the user is allowed to do with the file

Screenshot of windows media player 11:-

Review on windows media player 11 on Cnet.

Download Window media Player 11 from Microsoft

snap.com search engine

2006-05-24T17:32:00.000+08:00

Snap.com a ajax serch engine offers an alternative to “text-in, text-out” searching with a site previews. Snap.com has been redesign again and now the ajax search engine is heavily on Ajax features, clustering, and related results, among other things.

some point of snap.com ajax search engine.

first searching engine including large thumbnails preview of prospective pages.
broadband search engine ( require broadband connection)
out-dated web page thumbnail for page preview
lump together search results financed by advertisers which advertisers web link on top search result.

What others say about Snap.com:

“…this is definitely an interesting idea but it feels abit sluggish for me as you need to wait for the pictures to load…” — techgurls!!!
“By combining commercial and noncommercial results in the same column, Snap cleared enough space on its home page to provide a large enough box that will provide snapshots of each Web site that appears in the rankings.” — Yahoo! Finance
“My quick take is that I’m so used to Google’s dominant interface, I initially got lost using Snap. It takes some time to get the hang of it.” — John Battelle’s Searchblog

Google Music ?

2006-05-24T17:31:00.000+08:00

Seem like Google Music rumours is circulating around the globe and google music is starting make their way to publish on web.

I understand that Google making this Google music is against their rival like Yahoo Music. until today, i also never heard official information from Google side.
Thanks for Garett Roger from Zdnet giving some information about Google Music

"Google Music" is not going to be the final name. There are a few names on the table, including "GMusic" and "Google Tunes". I can't say either is a huge improvement.
Google Desktop will have an interface for the music thing, with a search and media player built-in.
~~Name Censored~~ was sketchy on this part, but he was fairly sure that Google will reformat Google Video Player for all media. It should be able to play video and music, and maybe integrate Google Pictures with a picture viewer similar to Windows Picture and Fax Viewer.
all music video previews on GMusic or whatever will be ".gvi" format, and that for copyright reasons the files would either be un-downloadable or cut to 30 seconds. I'm hoping for the former, I want to be able to see the whole video.
All music videos will have their own section in Google Video.

For me, This Google music rumours still no reality and unknown. so, what we can say just wait only and start to see some confirmed information about Google Music services.

Web Browser features that at opera only

2006-05-24T17:30:00.000+08:00

Opera 9 has been launch recently. i also checking out of opera web browser features, Here is a nice article that i found at Google Operating System has a writeup about 10 features that you find at opera browser only.

Link :- 10 features you will found only at opera

About :Opera 9

Download Skype 2.5 Beta

2006-05-16T14:30:00.000+08:00

Skype 2.5 beta just release recently.

Some of the new features -

Ability to send sms on mobile phone
Shared group contacts and introduce friends
Easy payment on skype credit
Viewing outlook contacts
File resume after skype restart
Call normal phone easily with SkypeOut
Create social space for video conferencing

Download Skype 2.5 Beta

Skype ScreenShot:-

Gmail New Pictures features

2006-05-14T11:06:00.000+08:00

After Google Press Day, Google Gmail also announce new services call " Google Pictures " on Google Gmail. At Gmail's "What's New" page has changed and tells us of a new feature that will be launched shortly.

This features will be available all user by slowly roll out to gmail user like similar like google chat did.

Here is some information from Google pictures about:-

Gmail pictures allow you to put a face to a name, by showing user-selected pictures when you roll over a name in your inbox, Contacts, or Quick Contacts list. You can choose your own photo for yourself and for your contacts, suggest a photo for a contact to use, or see what your friends have selected for themselves.

Gmail pictures can be configured to show to all users who you email or who email you, or they can be limited to only those users who are able see when you're online. You can see a full list of users who can see your online status from the All Contacts tab of your Contacts page – they'll be listed with a colored ball next to their name.

windows live messenger for download

2006-05-14T11:03:00.000+08:00

Finally windows live messenger is open to public for download. now you no need to subscribe the invitation perviously for downloading windows live messenger.

The windows currently available on windows operating system and can be downloaded at ideas.live.com.

My exprience on current live messenger compare to msn messenger 7.5.

windows live messenger has a nicer interface which more cleaner design compare to msn messenger 7.5. meanwhile, it also can perform offline message features like skype and yahoo ( msn messenger 7.5 can't perform ).

The best part is windows live messenger can perform color customization on windows messenger template. In addition, windows live messenger can call local phone and mobile phone like skype. But the VoIP phone just limited on eight country only.
More information requirement and features via Windows live messenger official site

Google translator boomerang

2006-05-14T10:59:00.000+08:00

Google translator boomerang is an application that using google translate service to translate text wording to other language. This google translator boomerang currently is supporting with 9 language like german, spanish, french, italian, portugues, chinese,japanese and korean.

Try to examine how well the translation of your text really matches with your intentions. You might be surprised to learn how your words may come across in another language.

Download Files:- Google translator boomerang.

Windows Desktop 3.0

2006-05-14T10:57:00.000+08:00

Microsoft just release the windows desktop search 3.0 only but this version still on beta testing.

the sad thing is this version does not include an end-user UI, but i expecting next release have includeing the end user UI.This release is for the Engine Preview ONLY. It allows applications like Outlook 2007 and OneNote 2007 to be indexed so that the content within those applications can be quickly searched.

Here is what microsoft say about windows desktop 3.0 :-

Windows Desktop Search 3.0 enables fast search on your PC using indexing technology. It helps you to find your documents, email, music, photos and other items. The search engine in Windows Desktop Search (WDS) 3.0 is a Windows service that can be used by applications such as Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 and Office OneNote 2007 to index application content and deliver instant results when searching within an application. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
This release is an Engine Preview of WDS 3.0 Beta. It contains the WDS 3.0 engine only and is meant to support searching from desktop applications such as Microsoft Office Outlook and OneNote 2007. Since this release does not provide a full desktop search experience, users of earlier versions of Windows Desktop Search should not upgrade to this release unless directed to by Outlook 2007, OneNote 2007 or another application. The next beta release of WDS 3.0 will include end-user UI to allow searching over all indexed content from a single place.

Link to download windows desktop search 3.0 link. this link direct you to the microsoft pages and describe the requirement, overview and how ti install.

SoonrTalk - Skype mobile application

2006-05-14T10:55:00.000+08:00

SoonrTalk is a mobile application product that allows users to make skype calls from standard mobile phone. SoonR’s make skype calls by access Skype application on your home PC through your browser and initiate a call with a contact or contacts. SoonR will then call your cell phone from that PC (using Skype Out credits),and call the contacts via normal skype calling.

Here is some review from TechCrunch about soonrTalk:-

Co-founder and VP Marketing Song Huang showed me the product in action and set up a call with a few key strokes on his cell. It works great.
SoonR is free, and will be launching premium services in the future (such as a feature that allows SoonR to work even if your PC is powered down - SoonR will cache the data you want to be able to access).

Here is some screenshot describe the interface of SoonrTalk:- ScreenShot Link

Opera Mini Browser

2006-05-14T10:52:00.000+08:00

Opera Company recently just launches opera browser 9.0. but now, Opera released a mobile browser call " Opera Mini 2.0". Opera's mini browser is using Small Screen Rendering™ technology to provide access to the Web. It has all the features expected of a browser, and more, such as bookmarks, browsing history, and ability to split large pages into smaller sections for faster browsing.

Here is summaries of features on Opera Mini 2.0 :-

skips the initial text message requirement which straight pointing the mobile user to content services provider.
download files such as MP3s and images to their phones.
speed-dial bookmark capability that allows users to assign two-key codes that will open up a Web page
quick horizontal and vertical panning when browsing backwards or forwards
change browser's visual skin.

Here is some of the useful resource about opera mini 2.0

Demo of opera mini browser 2.0
Product Campaign of Opera mini browser 2.0
Information on Opera mini browser 2.0.

Sphere - Blog Search Engine

2006-05-13T10:09:00.000+08:00

Sphere a brand new blog search open widely to public yesterday. Sphere normally categories into three major part like blog search results, featured blogs, and related media. meanwhile, Sphere also include a nice features stated below:-

custom range histogram;
a "sphere it" bookmarklet
top queries this hour/ this week;
RSS
expanded related news articles coverage

You can review more information on features explanation on TechChurch.

TechChrunch also stated that the design is developed by adaptive path. See their essay on the project here.

Sphere is totally differ from technoarti which it has iits own algorithm to determine to calculate the popularity of the blogs. Calculation is based on ithree major factor like links in/out of blog; meta data around the blog (average length of posts, post frequency, etc; and a semantic analysis of the posts themselves).

Here is some comment that give by Micro persuasion:-

However, it's missing several key features - authority rankings, mobile search, tag search and the ability to sort through results in different languages. Worst of all there's no link search. So I can't tell if someone is linking to me using the phrase "this guy" or "Steve says." This last point is unacceptable. (Update: It has link search. You need to use the phrase "SphereIt:")

Still, I like Sphere a lot and I am wholeheartedly recommending it. It's drop dead simple to use and it has some nice features. If it adds a few more it can be a serious contender to T'Rati. The key here is going to be speed. How fast is Sphere vs. T'Rati. I see no way to ping them, which is not a good sign. We should run it through some benchmarks.

For me, i agree with Micro Persuasion comment on sphere. Sphere still having need improvement. perhaps, in future, we can see more features coming out from sphere

Google SketchUP

2006-05-13T10:07:00.000+08:00

Google on friday has release a new services call Google SketchUp for free. This SketchUp services is available on Windows 2000, XP and XP pro platform. meanwhile, Google has announce that MAC version will be release soon.

SketchUp is particularly well-suited for users interested in creating 3D models of structures, such as houses, sheds, decks, home additions and woodworking projects, according to Google.
Google is also launching a Web site called 3D Warehouse, where SketchUp users can store and share their designs and collaborate.

you can upload your models to Google Earth. So that's how Google is going to add 3d buildings for all the towns not currently included (only 38 major cities are in there now).

The fee-based version is intended primarily for professionals, while the free version is aimed at hobbyists.

Google release free version of sketchup is to match Google's misson to make information " accessible and useful"

More information resource:-

E-book web directory

2006-05-13T10:06:00.000+08:00

Here is a website directory offer all various type of online books. The website call 2020ok.com. from what i can see.the website has a bunch of online books sector. roughly more 20 categories.

Thinkfree - web based office suite

2006-05-08T15:36:00.001+08:00

Thinkfree is a web based java / Ajax office suite. ThinkFree Office consists of three parts: Write for word processing, Calc for spreadsheets, and Show for presentations.

Advantages of online thinkfree is inexpensive way to access most Microsoft Office documents; excellent spreadsheet and word-processing applications; spreadsheet program skillfully handles Excel calculations and formatting.

however, this thinkfree is supported with online ads but you will get 1GB of space to use.
Thinkfree also stated that:-

it's "impressive" and its word processor has "has all the features most people will ever need

More information : - ExtremeTech

Site Review :- ThinkFree

Internet Explorer 7 beta v2

2006-05-08T15:21:00.000+08:00

Microsoft just announce Internet Explorer 7 Beta version 2. This IE version is comptabile only on windows XP SP 2 and windows 2003. meanwhile, They’ve also announced toll free phone support to support products for users and receive feedback bout IE v7 Beta 2.

The english language is released first and later just follow up other langauage within three weeks.

IE Blog Statement say

We acted on a lot of the feedback and bug reports from the previous public releases. In particular, I feel good about changes we made based on reports from web developers around some CSS behaviors, application compatibility feedback, reliability data (yes, we do analyze the information that comes when you click “Send Error Report”), and user experience feedback. People on the team will post additional details about changes over the next few days.

Main features update on IE 7 is

Quick tabbing like firefox or other major web borrowers.
RSS reader built on browser.
improvement CSS rendering.

Here is the sample of IE 7 screenshot from techchurch:

You can download on this link : Internet Explorer 7 beta version 2 on Microsoft Site

More information about Internet Explorer : IE blog

MSN lose, Google Win on search engine market

2006-05-01T22:43:00.000+08:00

According to audience measurement firm Nielsen//NetRatings on Internet searches engine usage.

No.1 Google Share market has been increase from 47 to 49 percent. The nielsen/netrating firms also trust that google will sure pass over 50 percent marks within this year.

No. 2 search engine provider Yahoo finished March with a 22 percent share of the Internet search market, up about a percentage point, according to the report.

For MSN, MSN share market has been drop from 13 percent to 11 percent.

The reason for MSN's miserable March, and whether the customers who are no longer using MSN were instead at the Web sites of Google or Yahoo, couldn't immediately be learned from Nielsen.

Yahoo and Google gains were based on their newer features, like video search and previewing Web pages.
For more information: - search engine share market report

Huge update on Google earth satellite images

2006-05-01T22:42:00.000+08:00

Today, i read through the google earth blog. i found out that google earth recently uploading a huge amount of satellite image and updating their database. This means new high resolution data for all of Germany, many places in Europe, the new 3"/pixel data for Las Vegas. when you zoom to lowest level map, you will see a the Earth's land masses will look more green because Google is now using a dataset from a company called TrueEarth.

Here are some blog entries with details on the changes:

Big update 23-Mar-2006 - TrueEarth update, Germany, tropical islands, and more.
Maldive Island group - beautiful hi-res islands - see in Google Maps
Las Vegas, Nevada - 3 inch/pixel data - see in Google Maps
Stonehenge - now in high-resolution - see in Google Maps
Big update 18-Apr-2006 - Most of western Europe gets updated.

Orbitfiles Online Storage Services

2006-04-26T12:08:00.000+08:00

Orbitfiles is free to and get 1000MB of space to save important files such as Documents, Movies, MP3, Presentations and many more. you access them from any computer at any location, even from your cellphone or PDA. Share them with friends and colleagues. Automate your daily backups with Hercules Uploader.

Features:-

Add contact emails to address book
Protect your shared files with password
Add messages to shared files
Edit files
Delete files
Zip folders
Download files
Schedule back ups with Hercules

Internet Explorer 7 beta V2 released

2006-04-26T12:06:00.000+08:00

Microsoft just announce Internet Explorer 7 Beta version 2. This IE version is bundle only on windows XP SP 2 and windows 2003. meanwhile, They’ve also announced toll free phone support to support products for users and receive feedback bout IE v7 Beta 2.

The english language is released first and later just follow up other langauage within three weeks.

IE Blog Statement say

We acted on a lot of the feedback and bug reports from the previous public releases. In particular, I feel good about changes we made based on reports from web developers around some CSS behaviors, application compatibility feedback, reliability data (yes, we do analyze the information that comes when you click “Send Error Report”), and user experience feedback. People on the team will post additional details about changes over the next few days.

Main features update on IE 7 is

Quick tabbing like firefox or other major web borrowers.
RSS reader built on browser.
improvement CSS rendering.

Here is the sample of IE 7 screenshot from techchurch:

You can download on this link : Internet Explorer 7 beta version 2 on Microsoft Site More information about Internet Explorer : IE blog

Web based office suite - Thinkfree

2006-04-26T11:42:00.000+08:00

Thinkfree is a web based java / Ajax office suite. ThinkFree Office consists of three parts: Write for word processing, Calc for spreadsheets, and Show for presentations.

however, this thinkfree is supported with online ads but you will get 1GB of space to use. Thinkfree also stated that:-

it's "impressive" and its word processor has "has all the features most people will ever need

More information : - ExtremeTech

Site Review :- ThinkFree

Google testing new expandable result features

2006-04-22T22:59:00.000+08:00

Google is working on making the search results more interactive and useful. now Google is testing new expandable result on their search result. it can expand the content into more information about a short text of website information , image ( thumbnail size ), related links and the link contain on the pages.

Free Software for daily use

2006-04-20T13:15:00.000+08:00

Here is a blig list of freeware windows utilites, i discover a site call econsultant.com and this site is offer more than 300 free utilities. This can save me a lot times on search computer freeware and don't want to spend an hour browsing shareware sites. anywhere, i already bookmark it as future use.

Here is the links:- Econsultant Site.

AjaxAmp - Winamp Web based

2006-04-20T13:11:00.000+08:00

AjaxAmp is a web edition of winamp. AjaxAmp is a web 2.0 plugin for winamp and lets you control winamp via a web browser with a ajaxy interface. It can stream music over the internet to any computer. The software side just 445K only . Here is the features on AjaxAmp:-

Listen to your music from anywhere using a web browser

Control Winamp from anywhere using a web browser

Cause your music to play on a remote computer

Use one computer to stream music from a 2nd computer to a 3rd computer.

Search and stream your entire music collection ridiculously fast

drag and drop playlist

More information : AjaxAmp Web Site

Top 15 Hacking Tools

2006-04-20T13:10:00.000+08:00

A good summary with a description and links of some of the top hacking tools in the Hacking/Security arena. For old hands it will be a familiar list but most people will find a thing or two they didn't know about it. You can review on this site : www.darknet.org

Hacking Application Review list:-

NMAP
Nessus Remote Security Scanner
John the Ripper
Nikto
SuperScan
pof
ethereal
Yersinia
eraser
putty
lcp
Cain and Abel
kismet
hping
NetStumbler

PeerMind - online P2P Monitoring

2006-04-20T13:07:00.000+08:00

PeerMind - A website keep on regular updating list of the most popular music, movies, games, software and ringtones being downloaded on the EDonkey 2000 and Gnutella networks. Currently PeerMind doesn't track bittorrent network but soon the services to track fast track and bittorrent will available.

Online Mapping Services Comparison

2006-04-20T12:00:00.000+08:00

There are major player on online mapping services like Yahoo Maps, Google Maps , MapQuest , Ask Maps and Windows live Maps. These companies keep on updating their maps services to compete each other. Whether you know which company is offer the best map services.

Here is some of review from the TechChurch about Maps Services Companies:-

As popular as Google is, it is not the most well trafficked map service. It is virtually tied with Yahoo Maps (and the new Yahoo Maps beta product which we reviewed here). Comscore says
that Google Maps had 19.1 million unique visitors in March, whereas Yahoo had 20 million. Both were dwarfed by Mapquest, with a whopping 46.4 million unique visitors in March, more than Yahoo and Google combined.
In addition to Google Maps, Yahoo Maps and Mapquest, two others, Ask Maps and Microsoft Windows Live Local, also have compelling offerings.

Meanwhile, TechChurch also provide a comparison chart like below:-

For more review or information: TechChurch Site abt the features maps services

For me, The google maps still the best because my country like malaysia still able to view very well especialy like Kuala Lumpur.

Qwika - Wiki Search Engine

2006-04-20T11:40:00.000+08:00

I believe everybody also got difficulty on searching wiki's site. but today, i view a newsletter and found Qwika search engine. Qwika is a powerful search engine that allows you to search content of multiple wikis hosted in different places but bringing you that collective wisdom under a single point of entry.

Qwika allows you to specify keywords and then provide the language in which you want to receive results. (Languages included are German, French, Japanese, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Greek, Korean, Chinese and Russian.)

Qwika Major Goals:-

Our aims are to cover all wikis in all sizeable languages, translate them, make them easily findable in the shortest possible time.

RADMIN - Control Remote PC on anywhere ( Free )

2006-04-19T16:37:00.000+08:00

Radmin is a powerful remote access software. i already using this software for a long time. This software is a winning award software on remote access software. it enable you to access your computer or server easily by installing the remote server software. you can easily control more thean one computer or server using one remote software only. Meanwhile,Even if you are connected via modem, you can reach the reasonable screen update speed(about 5-10 screen updates per second). If you are connected to a LAN you can reach real-time update speeds of about 100 - 500 screen updates per second. This can be adjusted up or down resolution or view modeto save bandwidth.All of the data that transfer is encrypted very well. This software offer a lot of features like :-

Advanced File Transfer

Remote access computer

ShutDown or restart computer

View only the terminal

Telnet

Send Key command like Ctrl-Esc, F12, Crtl-F12, Crtl+Alt+F12 and Crtl+Alt+Del.

protected under NT security or set your own password.

Google Calender Review

2006-04-13T20:11:00.000+08:00

Google calender will be launched today. i saw news and blog is taking hot about google calender. after that, i go to testing google calender site and found out that the website is perform fast,slick and stable. meanwhile, the site is a ajax website. the entry of the calender can be drag easily around the screen.

Here is some of the review of techchurch about the key features:-

Text recognition- In adding an event, or detecting a new event from Gmail, Calendar automatically detects event-specific words and suggests the adding of a new event with data auto-structured.
Manage Multiple Calendars - set up multiple calendars (work, personal, etc) and view them separately or together.
Heavy Gmail integration - Gmail recognizes when messages include event information, so when you get emailed about an event, you can add it to Google Calendar with just a couple clicks. Google Calendar links on the right side of the Gmail page.
Sharing- Calendars can be shared with others, and you can subscribe to others’ shared calendars. Read/write permissions can be granted on a per user basis. Calendars can be published via a web page or via RSS, so readers do not need to be on the Google Calendar platform.
Importing - You can import events from other calendar programs, including Yahoo Calendar and Microsoft Outlook. Click “Settings,” then “Import Calendar”.

Here is a screenshot of Google Calender:-

For more information :- Zdnet , Scripting News and Screen links :- Google Calender Screen

Office 2007 File Format

2006-04-13T12:26:00.000+08:00

Microsoft have announced 17 file formats for Office 2007, the next version of Microsoft Office which is due to be released in early 2007.

Source from Aviran Site:-

Office 2007 will have two major changes to the office file format. For the first time Microsoft will have file extensions with more than 3 characters, but more importantly it will move from the well know .doc, .xls and .ppt file extensions for the popular Office documents.
Office 2007 will have a new, XML-based file format for Microsoft Word 2007, Microsoft Office Excel 2007 and Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007. The New file formats will be the default file formats for Office 2007 but they will also be backward compatible to Microsoft Office 2000 using Office 2007 Compatibility Mode.
Link for showing file extension:- Aviran Site

webaroo - surf web content without connection

2006-04-11T11:01:00.000+08:00

Webaroo is a simple software to store searchable web content or your laptop or desktop. with storable data, you can search web content without a internet connection now. it indexes the “highest quality” websites for content and creates topic based web packs for download. the content in those webpacks will stored offline on your computer and updated periodically. the software is able to download freely. Here is the picture from webaroo to show how it works:

myself don't have pocket pc and no able to test it out. perhaps you can testing it out and give some comment.

Fedora Core 5 introduction

2006-04-10T22:40:00.000+08:00

Fedora Core just released recently. today i just finish downloading fedora core 5 and install it. Here is the interface of fedora core desktop screen. The design of fedora GUI is no much different compare to previous two version. But the wallpaper quite nice also. after using it. i found out some element that has been improved a lot on this Fedora Core version 5.

Element like Freedom, All application on the fedora core is totally free to use and no restrictive patent.

Element like Security & Reliability. With Selinux and Exec Shield security features has increase the security level and it cover up a lot of security hole. compare to last time, need to keep on updating the security patches.

Element like Ease of Use. Fedora core has been bundle a more user friendly user interface Gnome which less confusion and constant attention to ease-of-use

Other cool features on FC5 are the new and updated versions of Xen & SELinux and even a new clustering utility. It's amazing how Fedora Core is able to balance between being a desktop and a powerful server at the same time. We should also not forget the inclusion of brand new versions of X11 & GCC and the addition of gnome-mount, Gnome User Share, Ekiga, LVM and Gnome Power Manager. Among the positive surprises on this release was the inclusion of Mono and Beagle as part of the system. We also installed the Mono applications MonoDevelop and F-spot which worked wonderfully. And of course, NetworkManager has seen an overhaul and it works much better now than it used to. Metacity now "sticks" windows at the borders of the monitor which is a very nice effect, however the double-click-wm-to-minimize feature that was added a few months ago is not part of the Metacity preference panel for some reason.

For installation information. you can been easy find out at www.stanton-finley.net. The site offer very detail informations on the installation guide.

Apple Mac run windows and linux

2006-04-10T22:33:00.000+08:00

For Apple user for running windows xp has been become true. since yesterday, Apple announce a new software to run windows on intel based macs. This has been major boost for mac user.

Dubbed Boot Camp, the public beta software is available as a download to allow users with a Windows XP installation disc to load the competing operating system. Once installation is complete, users can restart their computer to run either Mac OS X or Windows XP.

Currently, Boot Camp will be a feature in "Leopard," Apple's next major release of Mac OS X only.

The Boot Camp simplifies Windows installation on an Intel-based Mac by providing a graphical step-by-step assistant application to dynamically create a second partition on the hard drive for Windows, to burn a CD with all the necessary Windows drivers, and to install Windows from a Windows XP installation CD.

Here is a video and picture showing apple run on windows operating system: link on video and link for picture. meanwhile, Mac user also can run linux operating system on Mac apple, here is some link that indicate how to run a linux on mac : link for mac run linux.

Best FTP freeware software

2006-04-10T22:25:00.000+08:00

Here is some of the Best opensource or freeware FTP software guidelines

1.FileZilla

Filezilla is developed under GPL license. since the application is available in different language. it can almost link to any of FTP server even if you under a proxy server and firewall. meanwhile, Filezilla server application can help you build FTP server easily on your server. the filezilla client able to use ssl connection or kerberos to encryted all data that transfer.

2. FTP Commander 7.40

FTP Commander is a freeware ftp client software. It offers a no-nonsense interface consisting of two side-by-side local computer and FTP server panels. you can connect easily to a dozen pre-set FTP servers by simply select the server and push the Connect button. the software allow users to execute two-way file exchanges and activate multiple downloads in the same times. it also allows you to delete, rename and and copy files, create and delete directories in the FTP server and work in command line mode.

3. cerberus FTP Server 2.32

Cerberus FTP Server is a multi threaded Windows FTP server that is designed to use little CPU and memory. The cerberus interface can be hidden and accessed from the system tray. it is running as NT ennvironment service. it can resume failed transfers, and offers a manager for controlling user access to files and file operations. the administrator of the software can control the connection limit , timeout and ip accessing the server. Cerberus FTP Server offers statistics on connections as well as logging abilities. The server adheres to to RFC959 and RFC1123.

4. Fastream NETFile FTP/Web Server

This is a secure FTP server and multi-threaded Web server featuring XML-based GUI remote administration, authentication, separate upload and download speed limits, storage quotas, dynamic DNS and compression.

5.CesarFTP 0.99e

CesarFTP is an easy and powerful FTP Server. users can connect to you through any standard FTP client. It supports a complete virtual file system which allows you to preserve your disk structure. It also supports ban masks, ratio and quotas, events, especially automatic processing of uploaded files. It runing native NT service support. features like kick or ban users, sends message to user.

6.FreeFTP 3.2

This is a multiple-file, drag and drop file transfer program that includes the ability to save all URLs, password and ID information, and screen resolution adjustment. it is support with 10 languages. It allows you to view pics and HTML code, create, read or erase folders, and rename or erase files. Features are: group erase, send, receive files, activity log, checks for dups, view pics and html code.

Google Talk with new interface and new features

2006-04-07T16:29:00.000+08:00

The Google just release a new version of Google Talk. The Google Talk has been add in features like other instant message client features have. Features like using custom picture to display individual person. here, i also list down some of features that new Google Talk version offer.

Pop-up boxes for contacts when rolled over.
Multiple visual themes with different formats to display chats.
Alerts now have a close button and right-click option.
Contact status changes occur mid-conversation.
Ability to set alert to display when a contact comes online.
Ability to sort contacts by name.
Contact's name changes transmit occur more quickly.

Google Talk has been improved a lot in adding features for compete with other popular instant message client. Bundle with Gmail with Google Talk will become a mass boost for google to promote their instant message.

But still Google Talk still remain on beta version. Perhaps you can try install out and give some comment.

Here is more detail of Google Talk information:- Google Talk Review.

Overview of the ten major Linux distributions

2006-04-07T16:24:00.000+08:00

A review of the 10 major Linux distributions out there, giving the pros and cons of each and every one of them

Introduction

The Microsoft Windows operating system is developed and released by a single company. It comes with a minimal set of applications (a calculator, a few games, some networking tools, an Internet browser.. etc). Other software can be obtained by users from various sources and installed on the operating system.

GNU/Linux is different. A GNU/Linux operating system is made of a Linux kernel, a set of GNU tools, an installation program, a package management system and a lot of other software components. Because all these components are free to use and to distribute, anybody can assemble and configure them according to their needs and create their very own GNU/Linux operating system. Since 1993, a lot of people and companies have been distributing Linux operating systems. These distributions made it easy for people to get and to install a working GNU/Linux system on their personal computer.

All distributions include the Linux kernel developed by Linus Torvalds and the GNU tools developed by Richard Stallman but they don't necessarily use their latest versions. Some distributions even make their own changes to the kernel. Distributions usually differ in the choice of software applications they offer, in the way these software applications are configured and in the way they are installed and upgraded. Distributions also differ in many aspects such as their philosophy towards proprietary software, their priorities between ease of use and efficiency or between stability and latest technology. In fact, every distribution is different and this means you have more than 350 ways to run GNU/Linux!

Of course some distributions are more popular than others. This article is dedicated to the 10 most famous and popular: Debian, Slackware, Fedora, Mandriva, Suse, Ubuntu, Knoppix, Gentoo, Mepis and Xandros.

Debian

Debian is one of the oldest GNU/Linux distributions. It was created in 1993 by Ian Murdock who named it after the combination of his own name and the one of his then-girlfriend (now wife) Debra. The Debian project is non-commercial and gathers more than a thousand developers throughout the world. A strict organization and clear guidelines made its releases famous for their stability and reliability. The project is very ambitious and supports more than 15,000 packages on 11 architectures: m68k, SPARC, Alpha, PowerPC, x86, IA-64, PA-RISC, MIPS (big and little endian), ARM and S/390. AMD64 is also supported although it is not officially included in the distribution. Debian is known for its strong adherence to the Unix and free software philosophies, its stability and its huge community. It is also very well documented and translated in many languages. Its software package management is extremely powerful and was adopted by many other distributions. Although it is meant to be a general-purpose distribution, the quality of its releases made Debian a distribution of choice for servers.

Debian provides three branches: "Stable" which corresponds to the latest release, "Unstable", which is in perpetual evolution and "Testing" which represents the next release to-be. Although it is possible to use "Testing" and to stay up to date, a lot of people are unhappy with the slow release cycle, which makes the "Stable" branch quickly outdated. For this reason Debian is seen as a serious and stable distribution but not as a cutting-edge and reactive one. This "outdated" reputation combined with the absence of graphical installation or configuration tools made Debian look hard to use and slow to evolve. When it comes to desktop, a lot of people prefer fast release cycle, eye-candy configuration tools, graphical installers and ease of use.. and this is not what Debian is.

Official website: http://www.debian.org

Pros: Open-Source philosophy, non-commercial project, strong community, huge selection of packages and supported architectures, one of the best package management, excellent documentation, extremely stable and well-tested releases, modular, fast.

Cons: Slow release cycle, text-based installer, lack of configuration tools

Slackware

Founded in 1992 by Patrick Volkerding, Slackware is the oldest surviving GNU/Linux distribution. It is very secure, stable and it is often recommended for server installations. The package management is minimal and doesn't deal with dependencies, the installer and configuration tools are text-based and almost everything is done through configuration files. Slackware doesn't offer graphical frontends nor eye-candy configuration tools. When Patrick was asked why Slackware releases do not have code names, he simply replied that there was no need. In fact the distribution focuses on stability and is well known for being bug-free. System administrators usually say that Slackware is the most Unix-Like GNU/Linux distribution. Most packages are used in their pristine form without any Slackware made improvements. Slackware is usually not recommended to novice users although it is easy to configure and probably one of the most formative distributions. What a user learns while configuring Slackware usually applies to any distribution. Rather than using distribution-specific configuration tools, the user has to modify settings in configuration files and so he has to learn about Linux internals which are common to all distributions. For these reason the Slackware distribution is usually used by system administrators, eager to learn novice users or simply Slackware fans :)

Official website: http://www.slackware.com

Pros: Stability, security, strong adherence to Unix principles, speed and performance.

Cons: Minimal package management, infrequent releases, limited hardware detection.

Fedora

One of the best known Linux company in the world is Red Hat, founded in 1995 by Bob Young and Marc Ewing. In 2003, Red Hat decided to focus on business and stopped releasing its public distribution. The company chose to sponsor a community driven project called Fedora. Red Hat Linux 9 was the last version in the Red Hat product line and was replaced by Fedora Core. This distribution is quite unique and mixes leading edge features and conservatism. The result is a stable and secure system with frequent releases and up to date packages which suits both server and desktop installations. The package management is based on RPM, invented by Red Hat, and it is enhanced by a set of tools like Yum, which bring additional features similar to the Debian package management. Because of its close relationship with Red Hat this distribution is very popular among companies. Efforts were also made to make it attractive to the public and Fedora is full of graphical configuration and administration tools. The installation is also graphical and special attention was put to the look and feel of the distribution. As a result Fedora is a popular choice for both desktop and servers among Linux users.

Official website: http://fedora.redhat.com

Pros: Widely used, good support, innovation, good-looking desktop, configuration tools.

Cons: Not as stable as Debian or Slackware for server use, not as easy and up to date as Suse or Mandrake for desktop use. Fedora is truly a general-purpose distribution.

Mandriva

Originally called Mandrake and created by Gael Duval in 1998, Mandriva is based on Red Hat. It uses a RPM-based package management, which is enhanced with a tool called urpmi. Mandriva became famous and popular since its first release thanks to an efficient and powerful graphical installer, which is still considered the best nowadays. The default Gnome desktop environment used in Red Hat was replaced in favor of KDE and some good looking configuration tools were added. Also, Mandriva tends to include new versions of software applications as soon as possible and to stay up to date as much as possible, relying on the users to report bugs a posteriori. As a result, Mandriva is highly up-to-date and even though some of its releases are buggy it remains the best distribution for people who are new to Linux or people who find it acceptable to experience some crashes if this means benefiting from the latest versions of applications.

Official website: http://www.mandriva.com

Pros: Highly up-to-date, easy to use, good looking desktop, good community support.

Cons: Unstable, releases are initially reserved to mandrivaClub members and then made public after several weeks.

Suse

Since its creation, Suse has always been seen as a distribution of choice for desktop installations. It benefits from a powerful installer and configuration tool called YaST. Professional attention is made to detail, the default KDE desktop environment, the boot process, everything is tailored to make Suse pleasant to the eyes and a serious choice for professional desktops. In 2003, Novell acquired the company and made ISOs of Suse releases freely available on the Internet. Novell also opened the development to public participation and released YaST under the General Public License. Since the launch of OpenSuse, the distribution is now completely free. Suse is stable, polished and pleasant to use. It is probably one of the best desktop solutions.

Official website: http://www.suse.com , http://www.opensuse.org

Pros: Up-to-date, easy to use, good looking, stable.

Cons: Speed and performance.

Ubuntu

In 2004 a distribution which was never heard of before, quickly became the most popular and famous of all distributions: Ubuntu. Based on the "Unstable" branch of Debian, Ubuntu features a fast release cycle, up to date and numerous packages, fast download mirrors, great documentation and even free shipment of CDs. Even though the installer is text-based and the configuration tools are not as good looking or integrated as those found in Fedora, Suse or Mandriva, this distribution quickly became the most used for desktop use. Ubuntu was created by Mark Shuttleworth and is distributed by his company Canonical Ltd. It is not clear whether or not Ubuntu is profitable to Canonical Ltd, but according to the multi-millionaire Mark Shuttleworth, this is not the main priority nor purpose of the distribution. Instead, Ubuntu aims to be an innovative and dynamic general purpose distribution which tackles issues that were not addressed by other distributions. Since its creation, Ubuntu has been the most popular GNU/Linux distribution and every single release is better than the previous one.

Official website: http://www.ubuntu.com

Pros: Great community of users and developers, great documentation, up to date packages, fast release cycle.

Cons: The business model doesn't seem to be viable.

Knoppix

Created in 2003 by Klaus Knopper, Knoppix is a live-CD distribution, which means the user can run it directly from the CD without having to install it on the hard drive. Thanks to an efficient compression mechanism, the Knoppix CD features a huge selection of software. Knoppix also provides a great automatic hardware detection, which is far better than those of other distributions. The CD can be used as a recovery or administration tool, as a Linux demonstration, as a hardware test tool or even as a full GNU/Linux desktop distribution since it is possible to install it on the hard drive once booted from the CD. Releases are frequent and packages, based on Debian's "Unstable" branch are quite up-to-date.

Official website: http://www.knoppix.com

Pros: Live-CD, excellent hardware detection, good and up to date package selection.

Cons: Slow if run from the CD.

Gentoo

Created in 2002 by Daniel Robbins, Gentoo comes from the idea of adding the FreeBSD autobuild feature, "ports" into GNU/Linux. Gentoo is a source-distribution, which means that its packages are not binary but source packages. Each package is meant to be compiled on the user's computer in order to get the best performance and speed out of the resulting compiled binary software. Because repositories use source-packages, they are also very quick to get new software releases as soon as they come out. This results in a very fast and highly up-to-date distribution. The package management is also very efficient and easy to use. On the other hand, the installation of the system and of big packages can be very long and tedious, even with a fast processor.

Official website: http://www.gentoo.org

Pros: Highly up-to-date, very fast, good documentation.

Cons: Long and tedious installation, can be unstable.

Mepis

Created in 2003 by Warren Woodford, Mepis is a mix between Debian "Unstable" and Knoppix. It is a live-CD which, once booted, features a graphical installation program. Users can simply boot on the CD, try the distribution, and if they like it.. run the graphical installation program. Also, the distribution chose a different path regarding the use of proprietary software, arguing that the user's comfort was more important than the adherence to open-source philosophy. By default, Mepis includes NVIDIA drivers, Flash and Java plugins, Java runtime, multimedia codecs, and other non-free software. The hardware automatic detection is very good and even detects some winmodems. In-house configuration utilities are also provided.

Official website: http://www.mepis.com

Pros: Installable Live-CD, pre-configured with latest plugins and codecs.

Cons: Not yet well-established, poor adherence to open-source principles.

Xandros

In 2001 Xandros acquired Corel Linux. The distribution was based on Debian and aimed at making it easy for novice users to use GNU/Linux. Nowadays Xandros Desktop is the most user-friendly distribution on the market and is recommended to first time Linux users. In its Deluxe edition Xandros Desktop also includes a NTFS resizing tool and a Windows compatibility layer called CrossOver, which makes it possible to run some Windows applications.

Official website: http://www.xandros.com

Pros: Designed for beginners, easy to use, very stable.

Cons: Small package selection, includes proprietary components, only free for personal use.

The Best Freewares Guide

2006-04-07T15:54:00.000+08:00

Here is some of the Best Freeware or opensource guidelines for newbie. The list of software, i have use for a few month. notice that is worth for try. 1. Browser - Firefox

Currently Firefox is version 1.5. This browser security is safer than IE. so far, meanwhile, firefox is mine main choice of web browser in term to loading page and unblock unwanted ads. It able to automatic update, change themes, better blocking advertisment, download engine included and tabbed browsing.

2.Bittorrent Client -Azereus

Azereus is a opensource software which using java technology. before running it. install the Java Runtime Environment. the bittorent client offering multiple torrent downloads, queuing/priority systems (on torrents and files), start/stop seeding options and instant access to numerous pieces of information about your torrents.

3. FTP Software - Filezilla Another opensource software that offer FTP features on client and server side. Filezilla is implement on windows based. you can install the FTP server on your computer or server. later that, use Filezilla client to uploading or downloading from anywhere.

4.VOIP Software - Skype

SKype has be most popular VoIP software on the net. Skype also offer calling local lines and mobile phone with minimum of charges. meanwhile, Skype having similar features like install messenger features and the latest version 2.0 has video conferencing. The Video and Voice call also can held on conferencing between few parties.

5.Download Manager - GetRight and FlashGet

Both of this software can downloading a files by breaking the link into few threads simulataneusly. so, the downloading can be increase into 5 times faster.

6.Anti Virus software - AVG

Survey proved that AVG is 70 percent usage anti virus software on worldwide computer user. since it offer totally free for user by GrimSoft Company.

7. Best Firewall - ZoneAlarm

Basic package of Zonealarm is free totally. it is my favourite firewall since it can track the network packet on my computer. meanwhile, it can block the application from using the internet.

8.Best Video Coder - K-lite video Code This Video code package consist a lot video standard whereby mostly support on downloaded video format files.

9. Best Multimedia Player - Winamp

This multimedia player which can play alot of video and audio format. meanwhile, it can direct burn the audio and video files.

10. Office Suite - OpenOffice

Openoffice is a opensource office suite which it is support by Sun Company. OpenOffice can read windows office files and convert the doc to PDF format. The features and application are similiar with windows office.

11. Web Coding Tools - PHP Designer 2006

My favour web coding tools. it is provide me flexible coding strucuture and having similar coding features like dreamweaver.

12. Best Compression tools - 7Zip

The compression tools having a lot compression algorithm format. it can read compression method like .zip .rar and etc.

Online Feed Readers - Web 2.0

2006-04-02T20:37:00.000+08:00

Syndication content has become the heartbeat of the web 2.0 movement. A feed reader, the most common solution to consuming synidcated content, saves the user time by monitoring countless sites and sources and providing near real-time updates to one location.

At here, i summarize up some of the famous online feed reader:-

Below it is a simple chart from techchrunch comparison among all of feed reader that mention above:-

Summary

Google Reader and FeedLounge are the fastest in our tests. Bloglines and Rojo are the best choice if you are looking for a feature rich application (and Rojo blows Bloglines away on “web 2.0″ type features).

AlertBear - Free Windows RSS Reader

2006-03-30T22:45:00.000+08:00

RSS reader has been a common tools for everyone reading RSS feeds but there is some people say that reading RSS feed is like reading email. For me, i totally don't agree about reading rss feeds as reading e-mail.

AlertBear is a nice free rss reader for windows and install under your windows system tray. A stack will apper when there is new incoming rss content. meanwhile, You can scroll up and down it, see unread items by their cream colour and star icon, assign colours to your feed categories to make them easier to spot, click the arrow icon on each item to see expanded information, navigate through the list with arrow keys, page up/down or the mouse wheel and easily clear the stack with a quick stab of the delete key.

Features of alertbear:-

color-coded categories
mousewheel navigation
feed auto-discovery

This software will be helping you a lot on managing and identifying the latest RSS content compare that surfing online news reader. I think this software is more suitable for small quantity of RSS feeds only.

Sky-Click: your web call-center with Skype

2006-03-30T22:36:00.000+08:00

Skype’s success is giving many ideas to imaginative entrepreneurs (the Skype-conomy).Switzerland based Sky-Click is a an interesting idea released by Ads-Click that already launched a white label adwords/adsense-like plateform (used by Wanadoo ISP in Europe) as well as a pay-per-call ad format.

Sky-Click is a 100% web-based solution to set up your call center, built on Skype API and very easy to implement and use. The service does not require any particular hardware investment and can be easily integrated in a web site (e-commerce for example). All you have to do is downloading Skype client on the call-center collaborators’ computer. On the end-user side all you have to do is press the “call” button that will initiate a call (or a video call) to the call-center.

This call-center has all the important features you could expect from a professional solution: time management, availability of collaborators, call dispatching, waiting background music, feedback management (below a few exclusive screenshots)…

It has been designed for any kind of corporations whether big or not. Although I am not sure big guys will be first to rush on that solution , I believe that Sky-Click is quite fine for medium and small size businesses searching to reduce operational costs without compromising on customer care policy.Of course calls are free for end users and for corporations service is much cheaper than any solution available on the market: about 10 USD/ months / collaborator.

Sky-Click can also be used for other purposes like remote training or sales force management.

What is XP Smoker Pro?

2006-03-30T22:31:00.000+08:00

What is XP Smoker Pro?

XP Smoker Pro is a program designed to help the average computer user increase the performance and stability of a computer running Windows XP with relative ease.

XP Smoker Pro includes an "AutoTuner" feature that enables any user from novice to advanced to tune the performance of their computer like a professional with the push of a button. In addition, there are hundreds more advanced settings for those who just want to get their hands dirty.

XP Smoker Pro will also help tame the services in Windows XP. The services can rob a lot of memory on a computer that could be used for something else, such as playing a game or using a spreadsheet program. XP Smoker Pro will automatically change the service configurations based on four presets for computer users who don't understand the services or are afraid to mess with them.

XP Smoker Pro also can help protect settings in Windows from being changed by other users. It includes 94 security settings, most of which allow a user to restrict the changing of system settings. There is also an option to password protect XP Smoker Pro to keep other users from changing settings.

ITunes Agent 1.0.1 Release

2006-03-26T01:41:00.000+08:00

Seeking for other MP3 Player using ITunes software. Here iTunes Agent enables many non-iPod MP3 players to be used with iTunes. The software enables you to synchronize your MP3 player with an iTunes playlist automatically, or with two small mouse-clicks. the software is a open source windows based software and required .net framework software to installed.

Currently it has aanounce the latest 1.0.1 on their website. Have fun... now all of you can load the song from itunes software to other non IPOD device.

Here is the some of the screenshot from ITunes Website using sony ericsson:-

ClustrMap - Spot your site visitors from where ???

2006-03-26T01:40:00.000+08:00

Did you think before where your site visitors come from ? or knowing which world zones visitor are enormous! Let me explain how ?? My Blog has been using clustrmap for one months. Since that. i found a lot of visitors are mainly come from USA and European side as below. The visitor no need click anything and just visited your website or weblogs is sufficent already. you can find it on right hand side bottom.

if you click on the world map. you will see something like this:-

if you seeking where your site visitor from... Try Clustrmap out.

Official clustrmap Website : http://www.clustrmaps.com

RSSOwl for Windows 1.2.1 Beta

2006-03-26T01:35:00.000+08:00

RSSOwl has been developed for quite sometime. since i using it to read blogger news and news channel everyday. i found out is useful without going to surf net and click site by site. Why need RSSOwl ?

RSSOwl is a free open source RSS and RDF newsreader written in Java using SWT as graphic library. the software let us collect data from RSS-compliant sites, gather, organize, update, and store information from any compliant source in a convenient.

Here, RSSOwl window 1.2.1 Beta has been release recently.

Streamload- another online storage on web

2006-03-22T11:14:00.000+08:00

Streamload is another free online storage provider that let you store up to 25GB for free - you can only download 100Mb per month though.

This web storage is totally fee on first 25G but this website also hope that you can subscribe their payment online storage account...

Like this box.net and Google Drive will facing huge competition from Streamland

Accoona - New Competitor on Internet Search Engine Sector

2006-03-22T11:12:00.000+08:00

Accoona is new search engine that apper this month only and going to challenge top search engine ( GOOGLE ). Accoona is officially announce on 8 march. This search engine is strongly tied up with main chinese web site on china like sina.com, chinadaily.com.cn and chinanews.com.

The Accoona main focus is aiming on china internet user Since any mulinational company also recognize china market as huge potential market.

Benefit of Accoona:-

offer simple interfaces like google.com
searching on three main categories like Web, Business and news.
more clean interface and information address compare to other search engine.
no ads that confusing surfer.

Accoona also provide some of features similiar like google.com.

Accoona News.
Accoona Toolbars
Submits Websites.

Zookoda - free email newsletter manager for bloggers

2006-03-22T08:50:00.000+08:00

Previously. i go thru downloadsquad.com and found out Zookoda. a very nice marketing plan for blogger. What is Zookada ?

An email marketing application designed specifically for bloggers. Zookoda enables you to send a daily, weekly or monthly summary of your latest blog posts directly into your newsletter subscribe inbox. it is totally free and no hidden cost involved!!! it is a content provider for blogger that offer effective ways and attractive news design for sends newsletter in terms of email and mobile content.

Features:

Manage your newsletter subscribe.
Enhance your blog email subscription with customization forms.
Design eye- catch newsletter.
recuring schedule broadcast with time frame.
send news to mobile subcriber using text format.
able to generate report abt the newsletter and subscribe.

Finally. this zookoda still remain beta version. Hope all of you are blogger can try the services out and suggest some features to zookoda website.

Amazon S3- Another Online Web Storage

2006-03-19T10:53:00.000+08:00

===Today Tech news ===

Amazon has noticed the importance of web storage. So, They implement a online storage call Amazon S3

(Amazon Web Services Store: S3). it is also provide a user friendly interface and easy retrieve and store amount of doc.

Amazon give your the flexbility for entering your web storage in anywhere of the world thru internet access. inexpensive data storage infrastructure that Amazon uses to run its own global network of web sites. The service aims to maximize benefits of scale and to pass those benefits on to developers."

Technology use on Amazon S3

Using SOAP and REST interfaces, developers can easily store any number of blocks of data in S3. Eack block can be up to 5 GB in length, and is associated with a user-defined key and additional key/value metadata pairs. Further, each block is protected by an ACL (Access Control List) allowing the developer to keep the data private, share it for reading, or share it for reading and writing, as desired.
Cheap Pricing

S3 is a very cost-effective data storage solution. Using S3’s economical pay-as-you-go model, storing 1 GB of data for 1 month costs just 15 cents. Transferring data in and out of the system costs 20 cents per GB..."

Full Stories : Amazone S3 Web Pages

For me, the pricing quite interest for me. but for me... i still refer the box.net storage (view this page ) because low usage on online storage.

Google Desktop Leaves Beta Version

2006-03-19T10:52:00.000+08:00

Google Desktop is supposed to leave the beta stage and go live today. meanwhile, Features like quick search also included. Here is the statement from google desktop software engineer.

Three months ago, I came up with an idea that makes it easier for users to find what they're looking for: a search box in the middle of the desktop. It's very accessible -- all you have to do is press your Ctrl key twice. After some experimentation, people are telling us they like it and use it. That's why we're adding it to Google Desktop (coming out of beta today). Give the Quick Search Box a try. We hope you find it handy.

GDrive- Google Online Storage

2006-03-16T08:33:00.000+08:00

Google Inc's ambitionmplementing online storage services on internet has become hottest new on online storage sector. But this information still remain a rumors. normally this information is based on the Google Execuitves slide presentation on Google's Site.

Here is the article and original notes:-

Google Inc. is preparing to offer online storage to Web users, creating a mirror image of data stored on consumer hard drives, according to company documents that were mistakenly released on the Web.
“With infinite storage, we can house all user files, including emails, web history, pictures, bookmarks, etc and make it accessible from anywhere (any device, any platform, etc),”

it is good also google offer this services.. i think. next time. google account subsciber user can have more features and features to use.

Intercalls.com - New VoIP services

2006-03-16T08:32:00.000+08:00

our of us knowing SKYPE is the most popular internet VoIP software nowdays. it call can make phone calls from internet to internet calls. But there is a newcomer internetcalls.com offer you a free call on landlines and internet.

No to mention, most of us already familiar internet calls. but if internet calls to landlines. we seldom use.

but on internetcalls.com offer for you 45 countries free landlines call and unlimited calls . i think if this company making free offer on landlines. i think it will more popular soon.

how to applys ???

go to internetcalls.com and downloading the software. after that. apply new account and you can test it out... whether true or not.

Amazon S3

2006-03-16T08:30:00.000+08:00

===Today Tech news ===

Amazon has noticed the importance of web storage. So, They implement a online storage call Amazon S3 (Amazon Web Services Store: S3). it is also provide a user friendly interface and easy retrieve and store amount of doc.

Technology use on Amazon S3

Using SOAP and REST interfaces, developers can easily store any number of blocks of data in S3. Eack block can be up to 5 GB in length, and is associated with a user-defined key and additional key/value metadata pairs. Further, each block is protected by an ACL (Access Control List) allowing the developer to keep the data private, share it for reading, or share it for reading and writing, as desired.

Cheap Pricing

S3 is a very cost-effective data storage solution. Using S3’s economical pay-as-you-go model, storing 1 GB of data for 1 month costs just 15 cents. Transferring data in and out of the system costs 20 cents per GB..."

Full Stories : Amazone S3 Web Pages

For me, the pricing quite interest for me. but for me... i still refer the box.net storage (view this page ) because low usage on online storage.

upgrading Wordpress - Version 2.0.2

2006-03-13T12:20:00.000+08:00

After one months use on wordpress. Todays, Wordpress official development announce update on security update on 2.0.1 version.

The new security update is fixing major unannounced XSS issues.

Here is the download for the wordpress 2.0.2.

For upgrading wordpress to 2.0.2. please view this link : Upgrading_WordPress .

Box.net - Online Storage website

2006-03-13T12:15:00.000+08:00

if looking for online Storage web site on internet. Look at www.box.net . Everyone can signup an account now for free 1GB storage.

This website offer 1st GB for free and 5Gb for 4.99USD/Month.

Box.net is a web 2.0 application that offer 1GB storage online. any person that sign up able to retreive the information. meanwhile, you can share with your family or your friend worldwide. Types of information can be stored like Documents, Photos, Music Files, and Video Clips.

The best thing is the online storage is supporting RSS and Tags.

i already subscribe an account and try to uploading some document. The uploading speed is consider ok.

Try it !!!. Perhaps you find it is useful for you.

Joomla - Content Management System

2006-03-05T23:44:00.000+08:00

Today, i just setup a joomla version 1.0.8 CMS on myblog.awardspace.com for my friend use. The features almost similar with Wordpress and the interface is more user friendly.

Joomla is written by php programming and it is under open source. everyone able to download the latest version from www.joomla.org

This joomla is a new version of mambo CMS.

Joomla! includes features such as page caching to improve performance, web indexing, RSS feeds, printable versions of pages, news flashes, blogs, forums, polls, calendars, website searching, and language internationalization.

Fedora Core 5 Test 3 Now Available

2006-02-22T19:08:00.000+08:00

Fedora Core 5 Test 3 Now Available ================================== The Fedora Project announces the third release of the Fedora Core 5 development cycle, available for the i386, x86_64, and PPC/PPC64 architectures. The full release will schedule on March 15.

Notable Features of FC5 Test 3 ==============================
Xen, now with x86_64!
Package selection within the installer has been reenabled.
Rebuilt again on later gcc4.1 snapshot for performance and security
Hibernate should be functional on a wide variety of hardware again
PPC Install CDs are bootable once again
Unified SRPM set instead of one per arch
Lots of bugfixes from Test 2 release testing
1600+ Extras packages conveniently available via yum

Azerues - Torrent application

2006-02-18T10:59:00.000+08:00

Azerues 2.4 has been release this few day ago. it is an application that implement bittorrent protocol on the java technology. before any of you want to use the Azerues application. Download a java runtime engine before installed the azerues. Features of azerues

Multi torrent files downloads
Upload and download speed limiting, both globally and per torrent
Advanced seeding rules
Adjustable disk cache
Only uses one port for all the torrents
UPnP sets the forward on your router
Can use a proxy, for both tracker and peer communications
Fast resume
Can set a default download dir and move completed files
Can import torrents automatically from a set dir
Highly customizable interface
IRC plugin included for quick help
Distributed Hash Table: host on it a completely decentralised torrent and/or benefit from it when the tracker is offline.

Try it out. i has been using this azerues for long time. good to install on your pc for downloading files.

Free PHP Web Hosting on WWW

2006-02-16T22:48:00.001+08:00

Last week, i discover a free php webhosting company. This company is offering a huge space compare to other free web hosting currently. this company also able to point to your currently domain or offer you a free sub-domain name.

Here is some of the details abt free hosting.

200mb web space
free 5 sub domain name
flexible Control Panel.
FTP support
PHPmyadmin supported
Mysql 4.0
Free DNS Server
Free 5 email account
web based file manager.
no banner ads included.

you may apply an account the on this website: http://www.awardspace.com/ or view some of information there.