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Get a Fully-Functional Laptop for $200!

On October 9, 2007, in , by admin
2

For the past three years OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) had been trying to develop a low-cost laptop for two-million educationally underprivileged children of the developing countries. All the hard work of the organization has finally come to a full circle. An inexpensive, extremely powerful, high potential laptop, called XO, is now a reality.

In November, every one of us would be able to buy it for $200 under the program ‘Get 1 Give 1′, where a customer would pay $400 in total. One XO laptop would be sent to him by Christmas and another would be sent to a student in a poor country on his behalf. A good way to do some charity this Christmas!

 

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What Make XO so Different?
 XO simply cannot be compared with a standard $1000 Mac or Windows laptop. It is a different type of laptop that has been specifically designed to function in arduous conditions. With its white and green shiny plastic casing, XO appears like a Fisher-Price toy. CD, DVD and hard drives are all together absent. This peculiar laptop contains a 7.5 inch screen, a keyboard, two ear-like antennas, a built-in video camera, memory card slot, microphone, graphics tablet and game controllers.

The screen can be easily rotated into a tablet configuration. The resolution of the screen is 1200 by 900 pixels. This helps XO to display bright and razor-sharp images. In bright sunlight, the user has the option to turn-off the screen backlight. The display becomes black or light gray, but everything is crystal-clear and readable.

XO will be used in those places where electricity is scarce. To overcome this problem, a new type of battery chemistry called Lithium-Ferro-phosphate has been used in the laptop. Lithium Ferro-phosphate battery runs at 1/10 th the temperature of the standard laptop battery. It can be recharged 2000 times and it can be replaced for $10 only.

On an average XO consumes only 2 watts of power. Therefore, the battery lasts longer, approximately for 6-hours, if the laptop is used heavily and 24-hours, if the laptop is used exclusively for reading. The battery of XO can be charged either with a small pull-cord charger or through a one square foot solar panel.

XO runs on Linux operating system. However, it is doesn’t have the capacity to support the standard Mac or Windows programs as Windows Office, Adobe Photoshop, etc. Furthermore, the keyboard to too small to allow touch typing.

 

Something Very Special About XO
XO offers two types of connectivity, one is the conventional wireless internet connection and the other is the mesh networking. All the XO laptops are connected to each other via a mesh network. So, if one laptop has an internet connection, then with the aid of mesh network, other XO-users can also get online. Whenever OLPC releases a software upgrade, one laptop can broadcast it to all other XOs of the network.

XO contains almost all utility programs as word processor, PDF textbook reader, web browser, calculator, painting application, chat program, games and music programs. With one click, the user can share his paintings, ebooks, documents, etc. with his friends. XO has been designed for students, and the mesh network allows a teacher to supervise her students and also interact with the parents.

XO has three programming environments with different degrees of sophistication. These allow the user to open the underlying code of any XO program or web page. Apart from studying the code, the user can also modify it with ease. If the modifications become quite messy, the user can revert back to the original settings.

 

A Few Loopholes
The storage capacity of XO is 1 gigabyte and almost 20 percent of it is occupied by system software. Moreover, the processor is also quite feeble. It takes 2-minutes for the system to boot. However, once the system becomes fully operational, the speed becomes tolerable.

Despite of the loopholes, XO is capable of fulfilling the objective of OLPC, and above all, it is a good Christmas gift to give and receive.

 

Can Apple iPod Touch Become the King of the iPods?

On October 7, 2007, in , by admin
2

With outstanding audio, video and web capabilities, Apple’s iPhone is certainly the best. However, it still doesn’t have the capacity to beat iPod Touch. Ultra-large display screen, avant-garde user interface, Wi-Fi Internet connectivity and music download capability make Apple iPod Touch better than the best available portable video players. However, the big question is that can iPod Touch become the king of the iPods? Let’s take a closer look at the device to find an answer to this imperative question.

 

Design of Apple iPod Touch
As far as the design is concerned, iPod Touch looks like a sibling of iPhone. Measuring 4.3 inches in length, 2.4 inches in height and 0.31 inch in depth, iPod Touch is small, slim and pocketable. The all metal and glass design engenders an expensive look. The front is covered by scratch-resistant glass while the back bears glossy metal covering.

There are only two buttons on iPod Touch. One button is present below the screen, which is used for opening the main menu. The other button is present at the top-left edge of the device. It is used for deactivating the screen. Besides these two buttons, iPod Touch has 3.5 mm headphone jack that accepts a standard minijack headphone connection.

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No separate volume control button has been provided. Instead, there is an onscreen volume slider for controlling the volume and for playing, pausing and skipping tracks. Apple iPod Touch’s unique user interface is its selling point. By simply scrolling his fingers on the screen, the user can rule over iPod Touch.

 

What Makes iPod Touch Inimitable?
Apple iPod Touch has inherited 99 percent of its distinctive features from iPhone. From Safari web browser, iTunes Wi-Fi music store and YouTube video portal to video player, audio player and photo viewer, iPod Touch contains hordes of astounding features to become inimitable.

With the aid of an Apple AV Cable or a Universal Dock, iPod Touch can transmit videos and photos to a television. This feature is altogether absent in iPhone. Another area where iPod Touch excels is manual management of audio and video content.

iPod Touch accepts all kinds of audio file formats like MP3, WAV, AIFF, Audible, Apple Loseless and AAC. Likewise all sorts of video file formats like MP4/H.264 are acceptable. The resolution of the display screen is 640 by 480 at the rate of 30 frames per second.

 

Performance-Wise Apple iPod Touch is Good
Basically, iPod Touch is a portable video player, therefore its video performance should be assessed first. The overall video quality is superb, but the color and contrast change slightly as the viewing angles are shifted. Moreover, the glossy screen produces a lot of glare.

The audio quality is good, but not stellar. Furthermore, in the absence of five-band EQ curve, the user simply cannot customize the EQ settings. However, the surround-sound emulation effect makes video playback phenomenal. The battery life of iPod Touch ranges between 22-hours (for audio playback) and 5-hours (for video playback).

 

Some Missing Elements
USB storage mode, SD memory expansion slot and embedded flash support are some missing elements that make iPod Touch somewhat archaic. However, there is a multitude of innovative features that are enough to make Apple iPod Touch the king of the iPods.

 

Tips to Reduce Spam via Microsoft Office Outlook 2007

On October 6, 2007, in , by admin
0

Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 is embellished with countless innovative features that work as efficient spam blockers. Here are a few useful tips and tricks that can transform Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 into a powerful shield against spams.

 

 

  • Use Junk E-mail Filter - To assuage the problem of spam, Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 comes with Junk E-mail Filter that automatically scrutinizes all the incoming mails and sends all the spams to the junk email folder.

     

  • Block Automatic Picture Download - In addition to Junk E-mail Filter, Outlook 2007 has another sturdy anti-spam feature that blocks automatic picture download. Sometimes email messages contain contents or pictures that are linked to a server. Whenever the user opens such an email message, the content or picture is automatically downloaded. As soon as the content is downloaded, the server involuntarily verifies the authenticity of the email address. Once, the email address is verified, it can easily be sold to the spammer. The user has only to turn on this feature to nullify the crude intentions of spammers.

     

  • Turn off Automatic Acceptance of Meeting Requests and Read Receipts - Often, spammers take advantage of meeting requests and read and delivery receipts. The moment the user responds to these emails, the spammer verifies the email address. To prevent this mishap, it is worthwhile to turn off these functionalities. While only the email server administrator can turn off the delivery receipts, the read receipts and meeting requests can be easily switched off by the user in the following manner: To turn off read receipts, open the Tools menu and click at Options . A dialog box will appear, click Email Options button in that box. Another dialog box will open, in which the Tracking Options button has to be clicked. The Tracking Option dialog box will open through which the read receipts can be turned off.To turn off automatic acceptance of meeting requests, the user has to open the Tools menu and click at Options . As soon as the Options dialog box opens, click at Calendar button. Under Advanced Options in Calendar dialog box, click Resource Scheduling . In the Resource Scheduling dialog box clear the Automatically accept meeting requests and process cancellation check box.

     

  • Disable Links and Other Functionalities in Phishing Messages - A phishing message is a variation of spam. Often, these messages are loaded with fallacious links and illusive email addresses. The chief objective of phishing messages is to retrieve sensitive personal information as bank account number, password, etc. The retrieved information is misused by criminals. Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 provides a facility to disable the links and Reply and Reply All functionalities of the phishing message. Moreover, it also issues a warning whenever the email address is not legitimate, but spoofed. The user can disable the links and functionalities via the Junk Email Options dialog box.

No doubt that the above features of Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 have the capability to reduce spams, but certain precautions should be taken by the user as well.

  • Don’t Respond to Spams - If the sender of the email appears to be unknown, then do not respond to that message. Whenever the spam is answered, the spammer gets to know that the email address is valid as well as active.

     

  • Avoid Using Email Address Any and Everywhere - Public websites as newsgroups, weblogs, chatrooms, and message boards are easily accessible places for both users and spammers. To reduce the probability of being spammed, it is advisable to avoid posting personal email addresses at such places.

     

  • Don’t Forward a Chain of Email Messages - When a chain of email messages is forwarded, usually there is no control over who sees the email address and who doesn’t. Furthermore, the email volume is also unnecessarily increased. Therefore, avoid forwarding chain email messages.
 

Greenest Host Successfully Endorses Green Technology

On October 5, 2007, in , by admin
0

While large companies like Google, Apple, Levono and Microsoft have tentatively plugged into green technology, a diminutive web-hosting company called Greenest Host, has audaciously turned green. After AISO.net, Greenest Host is the second web-hosting company in the entire world that is 100 percent solar-powered.

“All of us are ruining the environment in some way or the other. To prevent total destruction of non-renewable energy resources, we have to start relying more upon alternative sources of power. With this thought in mind, we decided to make Greenest Host 100 percent solar-powered” reveals Mike Corrales, CEO and President of Greenest Host.

 

Proper Use of Solar Energy

The company’s 2000 sq. ft. datacenter is located in South California , where solar panels have been erected to absorb all the available solar energy. The trapped solar energy is used to feed 600 servers round the clock. During the day, the servers take the energy directly from the panels and at night, batteries that store excess solar energy, empower the servers.

In the ‘green’ datacenter, AMD opteron-powered servers are used. These server are energy-efficient, they use 60 percent less energy and release 50 percent less heat. Besides this, Greenest Host has implemented the concept of virtualization. “We can handle only 1000 servers energy-efficiently. Therefore, virtualization was the best option available to us. In a bid to fulfill the cooling and electricity requirements, we have fixed the ratio between virtual servers and physical servers to 30:1,” informs Corrales.

More Environmental-Friendly Endorsements
Energy conservation seems to be the motto of Greenest Host, and perhaps that’s the reason why the company has tried to conserve energy wherever possible. Two Energy Star complaint cooling systems from Freus have been specifically installed to monitor the outside air temperature continuously. Whenever the temperature falls below 50 degrees, the cooling systems suck in the outside air, filter it and then direct it to the datacenter. In this manner electricity is saved.

Furthermore, redundant environmental monitors have been deployed to act as smoke alarms and to monitor cooling and humidity levels in the datacenter. These environmental monitors help the datacenter staff to maintain a consistent temperature inside the premises. Proper temperature regulation prolongs the life of the servers.

The entire datacenter is built of steel with multiple layers of eco-friendly insulation. The unique structural design of the datacenter helps to keep the cool air in and hot air out. Moreover, it also reduces the amount of energy required to run the facility smoothly. The company is in the process of installing a green roof over the datacenter. This will reduce the heating and cooling requirements by 50 percent.

Website Owners can also Contribute
Greenest Host has launched attractive web-hosting plans that provide website owners a golden opportunity to become a part of green technology revolution. At $14.59 a month, an internet enthusiast can create a website at Greenest Host, and help conserve natural resources in a unique manner. For every new account created, Greenest Host will donate $5 to the Environmental Defense Fund.

Greenest Host is also sponsoring the “Million Green-Powered Website” campaign, where the goal is to make one million websites green-powered. If the campaign is successfully completed, then the pollution reduction will be equivalent to: 240,000 trees grown in 10 years or 1,070,000 gallons of gasoline not burned or 2,000 cars not driven in one year.

“Although a lot still needs to be done, but it is our honest attempt to save the environment. One small step can make a difference, let’s hope that we succeed in doing that,” reminisces Mike Corrales.

 

Yahoo! Search gets a Facelift

On October 4, 2007, in , by admin
0

According to a study conducted by PEW Internet and American Life Project, each day, approximately 60 million people use a search engine. In an attempt to attract more and more users, online giants as Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, etc. continuously embellish their search engines with innovative features. Recently, Yahoo revamped its search engine to allure a fresh stream of users as well as to keep its loyal patrons intact.

“Way back in 1994, Yahoo started out as a human-powered search engine. At that point of time, our objective was to provide users a simple way to find whatever they were looking for. Today, we want our search engine to give our patrons an answer to their query in one search. This prompted us to evolve our search engine once again,” reveals Vish Makhijani, General Manager of Yahoo! Search.

 

What’s new in Yahoo! Search?
The new Yahoo! Search comes with a user-friendly feature called Search Assist, which makes the entire search process interactive. As soon as the user starts to type in the search box, Search Assist begins the interactive session, where it provides query suggestions as well as information about concepts related to the query. Instead of typing the whole query and wasting his precious time, the user can point and click at the most appropriate query suggestion or related concept and get an answer to his question instantly.

For instance, if the user wants to know something about ‘energy savings’, then he would have to enter the query in the search box. The moment he completes typing the first word, Search Assist will start making suggestions. In one column, query suggestions as US energy savings corp., Ontario energy savings, etc. will appear, and in the second column, related concepts as saving energy, energy bills, etc. will appear. The user can either take the help of Search Assist or follow the links in the search-result page.

“If we go by the initial feedbacks, we can proudly state that almost 61 percent of our users found Search Assist quite useful,” exclaims Vish Makhijani.

 

Some More Interesting Add-ons
At times, the right answer is a photo or video rather than a link. In Yahoo! Search, multimedia content has been directly integrated into the search result. For instance, a user tracking the search words ‘Dove Evolution’ can find and view a couple of videos on the subject. Besides this, for some popular categories like movies, music, travel, health, etc. separate search pages have been created to give more exhaustive search results.

“Internet users usually don’t have too much of time at their disposal. They want to get things done quickly. We have kept this fact in mind while renovating our search engine. The new Yahoo! Search provides requisite information easily, quickly and often in one search,” informs Makhijani. “However, this is just a beginning. More improvements will appear in the next few months. Yahoo! Search is all set to revolutionize the way people search on the search engine. Until then, use Yahoo! Search once, and tell us what you think,” continues Makhijani.

 

Adobe Acquires New Word Processor Called Buzzword

On October 3, 2007, in , by admin
0

Since times immemorial, Adobe Systems Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc. have been involved in severe neck and neck competition. Each of them tries to surpass others in its own unique way. This time it was Adobe’s turn to take the lead. In a bid to further fortify its leadership in RIA (Rich Internet Application) development, the company has acquired Virtual Ubiquity and its revolutionary online word processor, Buzzword. The terms of the agreement and the price of the acquisition have not been disclosed.

 

Why is Adobe Acquiring Buzzword?
“Word processors fall under that category of software that has changed only slightly in the past 20 years. We were looking for a technology that could provide high-quality document authoring tools as well as allow people to collaborate on shared document,” informs Erik Larson, Director of Marketing and Product Management at Adobe. “Buzzword on the one hand provides rich authoring tools and an incredible collaboration environment, and on the other hand epitomizes Adobe’s vision of RIA development,” continues Larson.

 

What will Adobe do with Buzzword?
Adobe plans to integrate Buzzword with its existing online document collaboration services in stages. The first step would be to integrate Buzzword with Create PDF Online, a utility that allows users to create Abode PDF documents and files online.

The next step would be to amalgamate the online word processor with Adobe Document Center , which helps users to retain control over their documents as well as track their usage; and the last step would be to assimilate Buzzword with Adobe Acrobat Connect, a web conferencing software that makes it easy for users to share their documents.

 

What Actually is Buzzword?
Buzzword is a highly collaborative, web-based word processor that has been built with Adobe Flex software, which runs on Adobe Flash Player. The utility allows the user to create documents and thereafter store them in Buzzword system so that they can easily be retrieved for document collaboration. Currently, Buzzword supports RTF (Rich Text Format) files, MS-Word files and Word 2003 XML files.

The online utility also runs on Adobe AIR, providing users an amalgam of online and offline environment and allowing them to work on hosted and local documents with ease. The remarkable collaboration capabilities of Buzzword allow users to edit and comment on documents anywhere, anytime. In nutshell, Buzzword provides a great framework around which Adobe can put together its web-based productivity suite.

 

What will Happen to Virtual Ubiquity?
All employees of Virtual Ubiquity will become a part of Adobe Systems, where they will share all their knowledge and experience in online document collaboration. “The ability of today’s youth to live and play together online inspires us and compels us to think more and more about online collaboration. It was this inspiration that coerced us to create the online word processor, Buzzword that allows users to work and share online without sacrificing the quality,” states Rick Treitman, CEO of Virtual Ubiquity.

By acquiring Buzzword, Adobe is transforming the way people come together and exchange ideas and information with each other. The acquisition is a milestone for Adobe as it reinforces its leadership in the emerging arena of online document collaboration.

 

Google Buys a Mobile Social Networking Service Called Zingku

On October 1, 2007, in , by admin
0

Google has purchased some assets and technology of Zingku, a mobile social networking service provider. The news was confirmed by Google Spokesman, Andrew Pederson: “We have acquired a few assets of Zingku, which we believe would help us to build products, services and features that would ultimately benefit all our users, advertisers and publishers.”

 

Google on Acquisition Spree
For quite a long time, Google has been contemplating to conquer the mobile space. In a bid to fulfill its ambitions, the company acquired Dodgeball, a social networking service that connects people via text messages, in 2005. In July this year, Google bought GrandCentral Communications, a service that makes it easy for people to amalgamate all their phones into a single number. The acquisition of Zingku would help Google to consolidate its position in the mobile world.

 

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What Makes Zingku Special?
Zingku is a unique service that makes social networking via mobile phone possible. By integrating the mobile phone with a customized website, Zingku makes it easy for users to create and exchange a variety of things like mobile flyers, invitations, photos, reminders, etc. Basically, the service is aimed at 18 to 28 year old youngsters. However, entrepreneurs can also use this service to ensnare their prospective customers.

To allure his clients, the business owner can create mobile flyers, and then send a zing-code to all his customers. With the help of zing-code, the customer can not only download the flyer on his mobile phone, but can also inform all his friends who might be interested in the product/service. Apart from flyers and invitations, users can even subscribe to blog feeds, which are delivered as text messages.

In simple words, Zingku is proficient in doing two things simultaneously; first, amplifying the capabilities of the mobile phone, and second, enhancing the user’s capacity to share and promote. These two qualities make Zingku an ideal candidate for acquisition.

 

In What Way will Google Benefit by Zingku’s Acquisition?
Zingku’s acquisition fuels the speculation that Google is developing a mobile phone called g-phone, which it intends to release in the beginning of 2008. After taking into account all the technical aspects of Zingku, experts believe that Google has acquired this service solely to reach more people with ease. Mobile phones are fast emerging as a new advertising medium, and Google is shrewd user of each and every advertising media. It seems that the online giant has focused its attention on ‘Shameless Commerce’ feature of Zingku!

Conversely, it should not be forgotten that Zingku is still in the beta stage of development. Moreover, the service is available only in US. Google, on the other hand has worldwide presence. These facts nullify the above assumption. Google has been in business for quite a long time, and it surely knows how to use Zingku to its advantage. Meanwhile, following acquisition, Zingku has shelved the new account signup facility. All the existing user accounts will be transferred to Google on October 4, 2007 . Those users who don’t wish to switch over to Google are free to close their accounts.

 

Toshiba Gigabeat T400- A Different Kind of Flash MP3 Player

On September 30, 2007, in , by admin
0

Before the release of Toshiba Gigabeat T400, iPod Nano, Creative Zen and SanDisk Sansa View were considered to be the best available flash MP3 players. However, their dominating rule couldn’t survive for long. With its stylish user interface, ultra-large color screen, outstanding sound quality and hermetic integration with Windows Media Center , Toshiba Gigabeat T400 conquered the MP3 player market within no time. Let’s take a closer look at Toshiba Gigabeat T400.

The Design of Toshiba Gigabeat T400
Toshiba Gigabeat T400 is a small device, measuring 3.37 inches in length, 2.13 inches in width and 0.4 inch in depth. The front portion is dominated by 2.4-inch QVGA screen, which is capable of providing high resolution of 320 x 240 pixels. Unlike Gigabeat S, which comes in stylish silver metal casing, Gigabeat T400 has glossy black plastic casing.

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Below the screen is the control panel consisting of a PlusPad control, which is surrounded by four buttons. The PlusPad is used for adjusting the volume, scrolling through the list or skipping between tracks. The four buttons are used for switching between menus, playing/pausing and for calling the main menu. The entire control panel occupies only 1-inch by 1-inch space. At the bottom edge of Toshiba Gigabeat T400, a power switch, 3.5 millimeter headphone jack and a mini USB port are present.

The portable Windows Media Center of this flash MP3 player is somewhat archaic, but it is still the most instinctive and modish user interface. The main menu is divided into five sections viz . TV, Music, Pictures, Video and Settings. The menu provides multiple views for sorting the contents by date, name or ID3 attribute. The artwork pop ups appear next to the selections in the album view, but during playback, they can also be viewed full-screen.

The Features of Toshiba Gigabeat T400
Toshiba Gigabeat T400 supports MP3, WMA Lossless, WMA purchased or subscription files and WAV files. Besides these, T400 not only supports video playback function, but also scrubs and edits long videos meticulously. With the aid of Windows Media Player, the video files can be easily converted and transferred. Windows Media Player also supports the photo viewer feature, which organizes JPEG images.

Toshiba Gigabeat T400 is an MTP device that can be used either with Windows XP or with XP Media Center Edition. Mac and Linux users can use T400 only through generic UMS mode. Gigabeat T400 does not support audible audiobooks. Moreover, bookmarking/auto-resume function, direct photo importer and FM radio tuner are also absent.

Performance of Toshiba Gigabeat T400
The sound quality of Toshiba Gigabeat T400 is simply unbeatable. With seven EQ preset, the sound can be adjusted to a certain extent. However, most of the time adjustments are not required. Due to excellent sound quality, the absence of user-definable five band EQ as found on Gigabeat U, and other sound enhancement options as found in Sony NWZ-S610 and Cowon D2 is not particularly felt.

Gigabeat T400 comes with harmonics option that allows the user to activate Toshiba’s patented H2C sound enhancement feature. This feature compensates all the higher and lower range frequencies lost during data compression. Although the effect is somewhat subtle, but it is useful for those who are looking to squeeze the best performance out of their flash MP3 player.

The video quality of Gigabeat T400 is good, but not better than its excellent sound quality. The contents recorded by Windows Media Center DVR appear sharp, but high-resolution contents, as DivX and AVI Movies, transcoded by Windows Media Player appear quite dull.

The battery life of Toshiba Gigabeat T400 is not at all impressive. While iPod Nano’s battery life has crossed the 30-hours mark, Gigabeat T400′s battery lasts only for 15-hours. Another drawback is its limited storage capacity. 4GB internal memory is too small for a multimedia flash MP3 player. Furthermore, T400 provides no expansion slot.

In nutshell, Toshiba Gigabeat T400 is the best flash MP3 player for those music lovers who want the best sound quality at the lowest price.

 

Is Fan Profiles Capable of Saving Friendster?

On September 28, 2007, in , by admin
1

On 27th September 2007 , Friendster Incorporation, a popular social networking service, released a new feature called Fan Profiles. Basically, Fan Profiles is a powerful self promotion tool that allows 40 different entity types such as artists, musicians, politicians, non-profit organizations, models, journalists, authors, etc. to connect to all their fans present in Friendster’s Global Community.

 

A Genuine Need for Fan Profiles
Until April 2004, Friendster was the best available social networking service. However, things began to change when MySpace.com appeared on the scene. Friendster started losing its ranking as well as its ardent patrons. Appearance of new competitors as Yahoo!360, Window Live Spaces and Facebook, made survival even more difficult for Friendster.

Under such trying circumstances, Friendster was left with no option, but to find ways to prevent the remaining 50 million subscribers from straying. The introduction of Fan Profiles is one such honest attempt. Friendster receives 30 million unique visitors per month and hosts 250 million web pages. Its user base is spread over 75 countries and 4 continents. Through a single Fan Profile, a user can get connected with so many people.

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What Makes Fan Profiles Different?
Unlike MySpace.com, Friendster has drawn a sharp boundary line between friends and fans. This distinct differentiation allows the owner of Fan Profile to build an authentic fan base. A genuine fan base works assiduously to promote the owner, even when he is not online, through the fans connected to his Fan Profile and the major search engines.

A Friendster Fan Profile consists of three main components viz. the owner of the Fan Profile, the fans and the web. After creating a Fan Profile, the owner can invite fans to join his network. All the fans will receive updates each time the owner edits his profile, uploads photos or renews his blog.

Whenever a new fan joins the network, all his friends get notification. In this manner, the owner of Fan Profile gets free of cost promotion. As Friendster has kept the friend network and fan network separate, therefore Fan Profiles get higher visibility on the network. High level of visibility makes it easy for a fan to promote a particular Fan Profile to all his friends.

Fan Profiles are fully optimized for search engines. Hence, they are easily picked up by major search engines as Google, Yahoo!, MSN, etc. As more fans join the network and the content increases, the search-engine ranking of a Fan Profile automatically increases.

 

Who all can Benefit from Fan Profiles?
In addition to Friendster, the new feature, Fan Profiles, is specifically beneficial for those authors, artists, musicians, models and journalists who have a shoe-string marketing budget. These people can take advantage of the advanced promotional features of Fan Profiles as unlimited fan base aggregation, bulk invitation and auto fan approval. Some popular Fan Profiles users include Hillary Clinton (Politician), Seventeen (Magazine), Polar Bear (Non-Profit Organization), and Karen Kong (Musician).

Greg Federspiel, a member of the musical band Making April, states, ”Apart from being featured artists on MTV’s ‘ Laguna Beach ‘, we have successfully sold over 75000 singles iTunes. Now, we need a fantastic record deal, and to take us to the next level, we are relying solely upon Fan Profiles. We firmly believe that our Fan Profile will take us there.”

 

Is Halo 3 Better Than The Best?

On September 27, 2007, in , , by admin
0

On 15 th November 2001 , Halo: Combat Evolved was released, and since then game manufacturers throughout the world have tried to replicate the successful Halo recipe. While some of them have been triumphant in their attempt, others have failed dramatically. Despite of endless duplications, the original Halo formula hasn’t lost its sheen. Perhaps that’s the reason why Halo 3 has received such an overwhelmingly positive response.

Halo 3 is last game of the Halo trilogy. The events that began in Halo: Combat Evolved and continued in Halo 2, find an exhilarating conclusion in Halo 3. The game plan is very simple: In a bid to destroy the civilization, the covenant tries to arouse the floating space weapons called Halos. The Master Chief and his allies leave no stone unturned to derail the dangerous plans of covenant.

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With respect to game plan, it can be said that Halo 3 doesn’t drift too far away from Halo 2. However, this aspect doesn’t make the new release repetitive or boring. Thoughtful integration of established protocols and new intriguing events and effects make Halo3 a superlative video game. Let’s explore a few outstanding features of this nerve-racking game.

New Weapons
Halo 3 comes loaded with a host of brand new weapons. The gravity hammer, for instance, that wasn’t usable in Halo 2 is fully functional in this version of the game. This large melee weapon wipes out the enemy in one swipe. Mauler, one-handed shotgun; spiker, an automatic pistol; plasma canon, missile pod and flamethrower, very heavy weapons that slow down movement; and brute weapons make the game thrilling, especially in multiplayer setting.

Stylish Vehicles
Both modish and classic Halo vehicles make Halo 3 incessantly enthralling. While the Ghost and Warthog revive the old memories, the Brute Prowler provides an electrifying experience. The only drawback is limited artificial intelligence due to which the vehicles don’t drive well. This flaw was present in the previous versions too. Halo 3 loses its luster at this point!

Innovative Items
Several new items have been deployed in Halo 3. For instance, bubble shields: The players and enemies can walk through them, but bullets and explosions bounce off. These items become more interesting when enemies adorn them. Most of these items appear in the multiplayer setting to make the game more competitive.

Easy Customization
The original settings of Halo 3 can be customized with ease. For example, the player can change such things as starting weapons, game speed, weapons that show up on the map, the time a barrel takes to explode, etc. All these changes can not only be saved, but can also be shared through an easy-to-use file sharing system. Some creations can be shared publicly too. Users of Halo 3 can upload as well as download forge creations from Bungie’s website.

Technical Front
From the technical point of view, Halo 3 is not very impressive. However, the visual design is simply terrific. The frame rate is smooth throughout, the effects are mind-boggling and the scenes are very colorful. The sound is an interesting mix of old and new. Apart from the familiar Halo theme music, the user gets to hear plenty of new musical scores and lots of combat dialogues. All the characters of Halo 3 have given believable performances.

In nutshell, Halo 3 may be called a sequel, but it has its own alluring individuality. This makes it the best available Xbox game.

 
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