Thu, 11 Oct 2007 02:55:20 +1000 http://www.hashdot.com/ PostNuke Powered Site en-us http://www.hashdot.com/images/logo.gif http://www.hashdot.com/ admin@gmail.com http://www.hashdot.com/Article832.html Google has rolled out a new version of its AdSense programme for YouTube videos that will pay site publishers and video producers. The service will display rotating text ads along the bottom of a video. The ads will be displayed only on videos embedded on pages for participating publishers, but not on YouTube pages. Publishers can limit the YouTube videos to individual sources, such as their own content, and run a selection of videos filtered by keywords. Google proposes that publishers use the embedded players to bring in and retain visitors. "Website publishers realise that getting people to visit your website is only half the equation," said Google product marketing manager Christine Lee in a posting to a company blog. "Growing your audience is important, but keeping your audience engaged and staying on your site longer is just as important, if not more so." Publishers will need accounts with AdSense and YouTube to use the service. The two accounts will be merged on registering for the AdSense video programme. Similar to Google's text version of AdSense, advertisers are charged only when an individual clicks on an ad. In the video programme, however, the site publisher and the video producer will be given a share of the ad revenue. Whether the content providers will need an AdSense account in order to get paid was not disclosed. The company did not return a request for comment from vnunet.com. The service is currently available in the US only. Google did not disclose any details for an international launch. Thu, 11 Oct 2007 02:55:20 +1000 http://www.hashdot.com/Article831.html Google has acquired mobile networking firm Jaiku for an undisclosed sum, furthering its push into social networking services. Jaiku launched in July 2006 with a mobile micro-blogging service similar to Twitter. Such services allow users to inform friends of their activities at any time. Tony Hsieh, a product manager at Google, wrote in the official Google blog: "Although we do not have definite plans to announce at this time, we are excited about helping to drive the next round of developments in web and mobile technology." Some commentators have speculated that the service could be integrated into Google's proposed G-Phone mobile operating system. Jaiku founders Jyri Engeström and Petteri Koponen said that the service will continue to run normally and that Jaiku users will still be able to invite new friends. However, new user registrations have been closed for the time being "in order to focus on innovation instead of scaling". Jaiku employees will be transferred to Google and will continue to work on developing the service. Jaiku is the latest in a string of recent acquisitions by Google. Last month the search giant acquired mobile social networking platform Zingku, also for an undisclosed amount, and recently picked up video game advertising firm Adscape Media for $23m. Thu, 11 Oct 2007 02:54:57 +1000 http://www.hashdot.com/Article830.html IBM has previewed a mashup platform designed to allow "non-technical users" to assemble web 2.0 information applications without help from the IT department. The IBM Mashup Starter Kit, available today at IBM alphaWorks, can combine information from databases, departments, personal users or the web. The offering contains two key technologies. The Mashup Hub is a mashup server that stores information feeds in RSS, Atom or XML to enable reuse and collaboration. Mashup Hub can also merge, transform, filter, annotate or publish information in new formats. The other component, the newly-enhanced QEDWiki, serves as the user interface and allows non-IT users to 'mash' information from multiple data sources to create a single view of disparate sets of information. "The combined solution of IBM's Mashup Starter Kit and JustSystems XFY product holds the promise of letting key decision makers within our business easily and rapidly unlock valuable data to address business needs," said Susumu Haraki, a vice director at Daiichi Sankyo, Japan's largest pharmaceutical company. The IBM Mashup Starter Kit with the enhanced version of QEDWiki is available for download now from IBM's alphaWorks online community for early adopters. Thu, 11 Oct 2007 02:54:16 +1000 http://www.hashdot.com/Article829.html Google has rolled out a version of its AdSense online advertising platform for mobile devices. AdSense for Mobile will allow online publishers to sell AdSense ads specifically formatted for the mobile web, such as pages in the WML, XHTML or CHTML formats. Advertisers can either provide one slot inside the page, or two slots at the bottom. The service operates in a similar way to AdSense for the web. Publishers place AdSense code in their pages to open up ad space, which is then auctioned off to advertisers looking to reach targeted audiences in a certain location or industry. The publisher is then paid a fee for every user that clicks on the message. Google is offering the mobile AdSense programme in 11 countries including the UK, the US, France and Germany. The announcement comes just one day after handset maker Nokia jumped into the mobile advertising market with the purchase of ad firm Enpocket. The two companies will contend for a slice of a mobile advertising market that is expected to balloon to $11.35bn over the next four years. Thu, 11 Oct 2007 02:52:31 +1000 http://www.hashdot.com/Article828.html Microsoft has unveiled major changes to its Live Search service intended to give it a better foothold in its ongoing battle with Google. The Redmond giant has concentrated its improvements on the nuts and bolts of the search engine, enhancing its core search technology and strengthening the vertical search areas of entertainment, shopping, local and health. "With this update, our engineering focus is on the areas that matter most to the 185 million consumers who use our service every month," said Satya Nadella, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Search and Advertising Platform Group. "We know what kinds of things consumers are searching for, and we have invested in those key high-interest verticals, including entertainment, shopping, health and local search. "With the core platform in place we intend to win customers and earn their loyalty one query at a time." Up to 40 per cent of searches fall into the categories of entertainment, shopping, health and local search, and the enhanced Live Search is geared towards delivering relevant content in a compelling way across these key vertical search areas. A new video search feature offers smart motion previews, facts and news on celebrities and a new xRank celebrity ranking tool. The shopping and health searches have also been refreshed to derive the most relevant content from trusted sources, allowing consumers to refine searches faster and with more accuracy. Microsoft has increased its index size more than fourfold as almost 20 per cent of customer challenges came from the 'long tail' of the web, indicating a need for broader coverage. Live Search now claims to do a much better job in predicting the intention of the query to return the best results possible, despite common problems such as spelling errors, stop words, punctuation and synonyms. The search engine is even capable of making proactive changes to the query in cases where the engine is confident of the customer's intention. Additional improvements include a cleaner user interface that makes the results pages easier to read and use, and a more robust Answers platform that provides instant access to information from trusted sources while increasing relevancy. Thu, 27 Sep 2007 18:45:44 +1000 http://www.hashdot.com/Article827.html Dell has announced plans to neutralise the carbon impact of its worldwide operations. "Never before in the history of business have we seen such a critical need to build a worldwide community dedicated to improving the environment," said chairman Michael Dell at a policy forum organised by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. "Leadership starts at home, which is why we are going carbon neutral, but this should only be the beginning of building long-term partnerships with customers, stakeholders and suppliers to make a difference for the Earth we all share." Dell also issued a challenge to its rivals to join in "a long-term, carbon-neutral commitment to our shared Earth". The company unveiled a programme called 'Plant a Forest for Me' that enables global organisations to join with Dell in planting millions of trees in managed reforestation schemes. This initiative is an extension of Dell's 'Plant a Tree for Me' programme for consumers. However, some analysts have questioned Dell's motives behind the announcement. "It would be so easy to be cynical about this: 'arch-capitalist Michael Dell sees the error of his ways and turns hippy'," said senior Ovum analyst Ian Brown. "But while we are sure that Dell is very sincere in his belief that carbon offsetting is needed to slow down climate change, this is all about marketing. Dell is battling with HP, IBM, Sun Microsystems and others to prove how green it is." Dell is committed to becoming carbon neutral and doing its bit for the planet, according to Brown, and has to show that it is ready to stand up and be counted. "But what we'd prefer to see is practical assistance for customers on how to reduce energy wastage and improve resource efficiency in their data centres," he said. "Dell may be ahead on the offsetting, but it needs to catch up on services and its ability to help customers reuse and share resources, reduce costs and maybe help the planet a little too." Dell is implementing a company-wide power management programme that automatically powers off machines at night and during periods of inactivity. The company estimates that this will result in annual savings of about 13 million kilowatt hours of electricity, equivalent to 8,500 tons of CO2 and savings of $1.8m. The firm has also replaced office lighting in its central Texas offices, resulting in a nine per cent reduction in electricity demand at the campuses. Similar programmes will be implemented on other Dell campuses within the coming year. Approximately 10 per cent of the energy needs of the company's Austin, Texas operations come from renewable sources. Thu, 27 Sep 2007 18:29:37 +1000 http://www.hashdot.com/Article826.html I’ve recently acquired a couple of Vista PCs with the object of working my way around the networking features and sharing those experiences in my Networks Hands On column. Last time, I started the ball rolling with file-sharing. This time it’s a more eclectic collection of hints and tips, with a look at the new Vista network map feature. Mapping the Lan Network maps are to be found in the Network and Sharing Center which, if you’re new to Vista, is one of the tools you’ll quickly become familiar with, mainly because it provides a one-stop shop from which you can access most of the other common networking utilities included as part of the new operating system. The Network and Sharing Center can be found in the Control Panel, although that’s far from the quickest or easiest way of running it. Indeed, it’s better to click the network status icon in the system tray and select it from the pop-up menu displayed, or right-click the Network entry in the Start menu and choose Properties. Alternatively, if you need to run this tool on a regular basis, drag its icon from the Control Panel and create a shortcut on the desktop. Whichever way you start it, open the Network and Sharing Center. At the top you’ll see a graphical map illustrating just where your PC sits on the network and how it connects to the internet. It’s not particularly informative, especially if you’ve only got the one PC. However, click the View full map link alongside and, on a larger network, Vista will attempt to identify as many devices as it can and draw a map showing how these all connect together, which can be very useful when it comes to troubleshooting or locating resources. Double-click the icon of a PC or server on the map, for example, and you’ll be given access to its file and printer shares. In order to build this map Microsoft has introduced a new protocol called Link Layer Topology Discovery (LLTD), support for which is built into Vista and will also be in Windows Server 2008 when it ships. However, although devices that don’t have LTTD can still be found and identified they won’t be mapped, just listed underneath the map as connected to the network, where you’ll see that a Buffalo Linkstation appliance has been discovered but can’t be placed in the topology. The same also applies to PCs running older versions of Windows, such as the XP Pro PC also listed, although an LLTD Responder is available for Windows XP, which will allow such systems to be included in the Vista maps. The LLTD Responder for XP is available for download from the Microsoft website ­ look for Knowledge base article KB922120. It’s very easy to install and can be used on either Windows XP Professional or Home Edition to enable the host PC to be included in the Vista maps. Unfortunately, there’s no responder for earlier versions of Windows, or for non-Windows platforms and devices, such as the Linkstation Nas appliance shown in the screenshots. However, Microsoft has made its source code available along with a reference Linux implementation, with the aim of encouraging third-party developers to provide LLTD support. Non-broadcasting wireless As can be seen from the screenshots, wireless networks can also be included in the Vista maps, with wireless management tools available via the Network and Sharing Center. There are also a number of behind-the-scenes wireless networking enhancements, one of which is improved support for non-broadcasting access points and routers, although problems can still arise if you want to connect to this type of network. On a non-broadcasting wireless network, the access point or router is configured so it doesn’t broadcast the wireless SSID ­ in effect, the network name or identifier. This is done to hide the wireless network from unauthorised users, although it’s not foolproof and can cause problems for those wanting to connect legitimately ­ especially in Windows XP, where you’re not allowed to choose a non-broadcasting wireless network as a preferred connection. Rather, the XP auto configuration service will attempt to connect to broadcasting access points before trying hidden networks. Sun, 23 Sep 2007 01:32:11 +1000 http://www.hashdot.com/Article825.html Microsoft has highlighted advances in the stability and security of its forthcoming Windows Server 2008 at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference. Mark Russinovich, a technical fellow for the platform and services division at Microsoft, showed off an Automatic Space Load Randomization (ASLR) feature that changes the memory address used by applications. The current software often assigns fixed memory ranges to applications. An attacker could overflow that memory range to crash the application or gain control over a system. ASLR prevents such issues by assigning random memory areas. The feature is also built into Windows Vista, but Russinovich said that ASLR was designed mainly for the server operating system. Windows Server 2008 also offers better ways to collect crash data and report it back to Microsoft. The software giant uses the information to tackle common problems and improve overall system performance. Currently each individual application is responsible for collecting and reporting crash data. But a serious application crash can overwhelm the reporting components, causing it to discard all error data. Instead, Windows Server 2008 has built the crash-reporting components directly into the operating kernel. This allows administrators to see what happened with every application crash and report the data to Microsoft. Microsoft also confirmed that Windows Server 2008 will be the company's last server software that supports 32-bit and 64-bit applications. Any future releases, including the upcoming Small Business Server codenamed Cougar and Windows Midmarket Server codenamed Centro, will be exclusive 64-bit releases. Both 'servers' provide bundles of operating systems and middleware such as a database and are slated for release in 2008. Intel and AMD have been shipping 64-bit capable chips since 2004, ensuring that most current-generation systems are able to run the operating system. Even though older servers will not be able to upgrade to the new operating system, Bill Laing, general manager of Microsoft's Windows Server division, stressed that the advances of a 64-bit-only server operating system will be worth it. "Once we get through it and look back, we will realise all the benefits and realise it is the right thing for the industry," he said. 2008 will also see the release of Longhorn Storage Server. The R2 release of Windows Server 2008 is due to out in 2009. Along with the roadmap, Microsoft provided attendees with an in-depth look at what can be expected in the latest version of Windows Server. The company highlighted technical advances in security, stability and reliability with the updated OS. "We believe that, due to the increase in consolidation and scale of servers and workloads running on individual servers, the automatic detection and recovery of hardware errors is essential," said Laing. Sun, 23 Sep 2007 01:31:25 +1000 http://www.hashdot.com/Article824.html Microsoft will offer a release candidate of its 'Longhorn' Windows Server 2008 product next week, according to media reports. "The long wait for Longhorn is inching [to] its close after Microsoft said today that it should have a release candidate of the server OS out next week," said Martin Veitch on The Inquirer. "However, Microsoft still won't ship the product, officially named Windows Server 2008, until early next year." Delays in the latest version of Microsoft's server product have seen the release date slip consistently. The first beta was released on 27 July 2005. The second beta was unveiled in May 2006 at WinHEC in Seattle, alongside beta versions of Office 2007 and Windows Vista. Windows Longhorn Server Beta 2 was accessible to a group of about 500,000 developers and partners at that stage. The final release of Windows Server 2008 is expected to offer disk encryption and tighter identity integration. Sun, 23 Sep 2007 01:30:58 +1000 http://www.hashdot.com/Article823.html IPod Nanos that do video. Thin, traditional-style iPods — renamed iPod Classic and housed in silver and black — that can hold up to 40,000 songs. A brand-new iPod called Touch with the same multitouch widescreen display as the iPhone. Apple (AAPL) didn't break lots of new ground last week. But as a whole, the revamping of the iPod lineup makes the first family of portable media devices even better. PHOTO GALLERY: The new line of iPods I'm most jazzed about the new iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store, for iPhone and iPod Touch owners. And I'm infatuated with the custom ring-tones feature for the iPhone, even at 99 cents plus the cost of the original song. I've had early access to the Wi-Fi store and have been testing the new Nano and Touch devices. A closer look at my experiences: •The Nano. FIND MORE STORIES IN: Apple | Wi | Music Store | Nano To accommodate video and such preloaded games as the brick-bashing Vortex, the new Nano sports a dramatically different design. It won't please everybody. It is a wider (but still thin) rectangle, with a small click wheel below a bright and larger, 2-inch display. Previous Nanos — which were very popular and are now extinct — were taller and more stick-like. The hold switch has moved to the bottom of the new Nano, next to the standard iPod dock connector and headphone jack. Prices range from $149 for a silver Nano with 4 gigabytes (about 1,000 songs) to $199 for 8-GB versions in several colors. The design grows on you. Apple has also dressed up the user interface for Nano and iPod Classic. The main menu screen is split in half: On the left are items for music, videos, photos and such. On the right, random images are panned that pertain to the menu item you've selected. You'll see album covers if you've highlighted music or podcast images from podcasts, etc. Quibble: Sometimes an album cover appeared that made me want to listen to that artist immediately. But you still had to drill down into the menus before being able to do so. You cannot click on the album cover from that main view. On Nano, you do have the option of scrolling through your collection via the Cover Flow view. It shows album images for your entire library. But Cover Flow is tougher to maneuver using the Nano's click wheel than by flicking your finger on iPhone or Touch. Songs sounded fine. Music videos looked good. But while watchable, theatrical films such as A Bug's Life made me long for the iPhone's larger display. Apple says Nano can operate for up to 24 hours of audio playback or five hours of video playback off a single charge, both excellent. Worth noting: As the independent iLounge website first reported, Apple "locked" a setting inside the new Nano and Classic that prevents you from watching video on a TV or some of the portable video docks popular among airplane travelers. For future video accessories to work, they must have an Apple-authenticated chip. Apple is also selling optional $49 cables that would let you connect the new iPods to a TV. •Touch. The top surface of iPod Touch is a near dead ringer for an iPhone; the rear shows the same smudge-prone mirrored finish of traditional iPods. It's thinner than the iPhone, but at 4.2 ounces — iPhone is 4.8 — it feels heavy. Touch has no phone, camera, built-in speaker, Bluetooth, weather/stock widgets or e-mail. Still, it shares many traits with iPhone. Pressing a button at the bottom of the lovely 3.5-inch display brings you to the home screen. Using Wi-Fi, you can surf the Web via the superb Safari browser. Photos look great. Rotate the device to its side, and sensors automatically switch from portrait to landscape mode. Pinch the screen to bring everything closer. Inside the music section, you can access Cover Flow by rotating Touch to its side, another stunt borrowed from iPhone. Flick through to browse your collection. Touch costs $299 for 8 GB (about 1,750 songs) and $399 for 16 GB. Apple says you'll get up to 22 hours of music playback and five hours of video off the battery. Thu, 13 Sep 2007 18:48:24 +1000 http://www.hashdot.com/Article822.html Whatever you use your computer for – from creating the occasional text document to organising a vast music or digital photography collection – many of the tasks performed in Windows involve working with folders. It’s possible to make folders do what you want, using the Folder Options Control Panel; it will help speed up common tasks and make everything easier. In this feature, we are going to reveal how to change the way Windows folders look and behave. We’ll also show you how to personalise them to function in the way that suits you best. Magic folders Folders are such an integral part of Windows and the organisation of files that it is essential to configure them to your needs. Using the Control Panel you can make changes and customisations easily. The bulk of these settings can be accessed in a couple of ways: the first option is to open the Control Panel from the Start menu. You will find the Folder Options icon under the Appearance and Themes section if working in Category View, or as a standard icon when in Classic View. Alternatively, open up any folder, such as My Documents, and select Folder Options from the Tools menu. By moving to the View tab, it is possible to access a huge number of settings that can be customised to your tastes. One of the first settings that can be changed relates to pop-up tips – or Tooltips. When holding the mouse cursor over a folder, Windows will display a pop-up listing the overall size of the folder as well as the names of any subfolders it contains, along with the first few filenames. While this information can be useful, it can also prove a distraction. Prevent the pop-ups from appearing by unticking the box labelled ‘Display file size information in folder tips’. When navigating through folders using Windows Explorer, as soon as a folder is clicked in the tree structure to the left of the screen, it is automatically expanded so that any subfolders are also displayed. While this is sometimes useful, it can also make it difficult to copy between folders. This feature can be disabled by unticking the box labelled ‘Display simple folder view’ in Explorer’s Folder list. As a safety measure, Window XP hides certain files and folders that are important to the running of your computer – such as folders containing vital system files and those that have been assigned the ‘hidden’ attribute – to prevent them from being deleted. While this is generally a good idea, it can be frustrating if access is needed to a particular folder. To ensure all files and folders are visible at all times, tick the box labelled ‘Display the contents of system folders’, select the option labelled ‘Show hidden files and folders’, and untick the box labelled ‘Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)’. After clicking apply, nothing will be hidden from view. Sun, 02 Sep 2007 11:20:43 +1000 http://www.hashdot.com/Article821.html George Hotz, the teenager who unlocked Apple's iPhone from AT&T's network, will receive a new sports car after signing a deal with a US " aftermarket" mobile phone company. Hotz will drive away in his Nissan 350Z later today after a presentation at CertiCell's headquarters in Kentucky. Hotz revealed last week that he had developed a process for untethering the iPhone from the AT&T network, allowing the device to work on other GSM compatible networks. Such unlocked phones can be used in Europe where mobile networks are predominately GSM. "On 27 August Hotz and Certicell jointly announced an agreement for the famous iPhone and the related unlocking technology," Certicell said in a statement. "As part of the transaction, Hotz agreed to a consulting agreement with the company. In exchange, Hotz will receive a new Nissan 350Z along with three new iPhones." Sun, 02 Sep 2007 11:20:12 +1000 http://www.hashdot.com/Article820.html HP has delayed the release of its MediaSmart home server by 75 to 120 days, meaning that the product is now scheduled to appear late in the fourth quarter. The vendor blamed the delay on a number of last-minute changes made by Microsoft to the Windows Home Server operating system, including software tweaks and bug repairs. Microsoft said in an official statement that it had identified a number of ways to make the product even better since the initial release. Upgrades to the operating system will include extra guidance during the setup process, improved remote server access and synchronisation features, additional firewall tools and automatic setup for the router. Sun, 02 Sep 2007 11:19:31 +1000 http://www.hashdot.com/Article819.html A man who posted a VH-1 clip featuring his own video has had it removed from YouTube because of copyright infringement, even though the TV station did not ask his permission before airing his video on television. Friends of Christopher Knight's saw the campaign advert for the board of education in Rockingham County played on VH-1's Web Junk 2.0 show, after he had posted it to his YouTube account. Knight said that when he originally the saw the broadcast he was "laughing pretty hard" and he posted the VH-1 clip featuring his video on YouTube. Sun, 02 Sep 2007 11:19:09 +1000 http://www.hashdot.com/Article818.html Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) has unveiled a range of services for its PlayStation Portable (PSP) handheld console at the Games Convention in Leipzig, including voice and video chat, IM, video downloads, GPS and mapping features. The Go!Video, Go!Explore and Go!Messenger services add to applications including web browsing, RSS feeds and a camera that Sony has added to the PSP since its launch in 2004. Go!Video will be provided through Sony's recently announced joint venture with Sky to allow PSP owners in the UK and Ireland to watch video on demand and on the move. "Sky and SCEE have complementary strengths in content, marketing and technology," said Sky chief executive James Murdoch. The Go!Explore satellite navigation package is due for release in the new year and comes as part of a collaboration with TeleAtlas and NavNGo. Go!Explore will provide in-car and pedestrian GPS navigation as well as standard GPS-device features such as points of interest, favourites, a home function and a turn-by-turn itinerary overview of the route. "Bringing GPS navigation to the PSP is simply fantastic and shows again the unrivalled potential of the console," said Stephane Hareau, PSP European marketing manager at SCEE. "With the ability to use 3D city maps and even 3D landmarks in certain key cities, GPS on PSP is a totally unique experience." Sony developed its new Go!Messenger service in partnership with BT, and will rollout the service in January 2008 across Europe as part of a future firmware upgrade. Fri, 24 Aug 2007 04:54:14 +1000 http://www.hashdot.com/Article817.html Bedfordshire Police is trialling a new scheme that will see more than 1,000 officers on the beat equipped with BlackBerry communicators. The scheme is designed to let bobbies do their paperwork on the move, allowing them to stay on the street rather than spend time in the station. The devices will be linked to the Police National Computer so that suspects can be checked immediately. "An officer spends half his time at the police station, and half of that time is spent using IT systems," said Inspector Jim Hitch, project manager at Bedfordshire Police. Fri, 24 Aug 2007 04:53:53 +1000 http://www.hashdot.com/Article816.html A company that develops wireless broadband equipment has collaborated with a group of Italian amateur radio operators to set a new world record for a 5GHz Wi-Fi link. The connection, which achieved a distance of 304km, was set up by Ubiquiti Networks and the Italian Center for Radio Activities (CISAR).The link extended from Sardinia to central Italy and achieved data rates of about 5Mbps. The first alignment was made using a beacon through a semi-directional 17dBi antenna on Sardinia and one of two 35dBi antennas on the Monte Amiata, which is about 1,740m above sea level. The connection used Ubiquiti's XtremeRange5 high-power carrier class mini-PCI radio modules and 35dBi 5GHz parabolic dish antennas. "The link spans far over the sea and is impossible to realise without a high sensitivity card," a statement from CISAR said. Fri, 24 Aug 2007 04:53:23 +1000 http://www.hashdot.com/Article815.html A few months ago I was at wit's end in deciding what to do with my site because I had tried all kinds of things but my site was just not getting the attention it deserved and my site traffic was at an all time low. I decided that I had reached rock bottom and I have to work my way up the search engine rankings so I started to follow a free marketing plan as was given to me by a friend whose site is doing very well and today I have a PR of 3. With hopes of climbing still higher in the coming months and all for free! So I am going to share his wonderful advice with you so that you can have free website traffic just like me. Firstly the first thing is that I started to really look at my website. I noticed that it looked dismal in plain white and blue and my email form was not making it appear like a real person was manning this site. So I decided to change that and downloaded a free template and applied it to my site and also made a special page for the company where I described myself and the company history a bit. I carefully inserted the correct amount of keywords in that and also named my products with the search engine-friendly keywords. Then I wrote some articles and added my site information for reprint purposes and added them to my site as well as some article directories. These articles all had my link at the bottom so I got a lot many one-way inbound links in this fashion. I also compiled some of my articles into an e-book and started to give this away as a freebie and in no time I had so many people downloading and referencing my e-book so more brownie points to me. Sun, 22 Jul 2007 07:58:54 +1000 http://www.hashdot.com/Article814.html The impending release of Apple's much-hyped iPhone will further boost an already buoyant global market for touch-screen technology, experts predict. Market research firm iSuppli said that global shipment revenues for the leading touch-screen technologies will rise to $4.4bn by 2012, up from $2.4bn in 2006. "Demand for touch-screen displays is being driven primarily by the mobile phone and consumer electronics industries, specifically portable game consoles, PDAs and portable navigation devices," said Jennifer Colegrove, senior analyst for display technology and strategy at iSuppli. "However, as the market matures touch-screen displays will find a role in nearly every aspect of electronics life, from planes to automobiles to machine-control systems to home appliances." The analyst noted that the eight leading touch-screen technologies are 'resistive', 'surface capacitive', 'projected capacitive', 'infrared', 'surface acoustic wave', 'optical', 'bending wave' and 'active digitiser'. The eight other emerging touch-screen technologies are 'photo sensor in pixel', 'polymer waveguide', 'distributed light', 'strain gauge', 'multi-touch', 'dual-force touch', 'laser-point activated touch' and '3D touch'. The resistive touch-screen market comprises more than two-thirds of the more than 100 manufacturers of touch-screen components. Because of the wide competitive field, this market is currently in the midst of a price war. Sun, 22 Jul 2007 07:58:13 +1000 http://www.hashdot.com/Article813.html uCertify, (June 07, 2007). uCertify today released its practice test for 1Z0-043: Oracle Database 10g: Administration II certification exam. Oracle's OCP DBA 10g is an advanced certification exam that measures a professional’s skills in implementing and managing Oracle 10g database. David, Director Product management, uCertify said "Practice is the way to perfection and our attempt is to consolidate your learning efforts by familiarizing you with the question format of the actual OCP exam and accelerate your learning process." He further added, "Our 1Z0-043 preparation kit is more than just a study guide, it provides you computer based testing environment to simulate the actual test. The preparation software is prepared after considerable amount of research carried out by experienced IT professionals and we have put together all the resources required for the OCP exam in order to provide you with a consistent and instrumental approach to your success." The PrepKit for 1Z0-043: OCP 10g administration II exam contains five practice tests including one final test. A user can take the tests in two modes: learn mode and test mode. Test mode will familiarize users with the actual exam environment and will give them the confidence to pass the actual exam in the first attempt. The 1Z0-043 PrepKit comes with 310 challenging questions. The clear and concise explanations to the answer options in the PrepkKit are precise, logical and verified. Users can also create customized tests by setting the number of questions, topics and test duration to increase the difficulty level of the test. The fully interactive pop-quiz will help users learn the key concepts and definitions of the Oracle database technology. They can create their own customized pop quiz by selecting the topic and number of questions. The PrepKit also contains 80 study notes with articles, how tos.. to provide a solid structure for building the concept of Oracle database technology. Users can also assess and gauge their progress by the performance graph feature of the Prepkit. This will help them discover their weak areas and overcome them. The PrepKit comes with money back guarantee. If a candidate does not pass the exam in a single attempt he can get his money back. A free to download version of the PrepKit is now available at: http://www.ucertify.com/exams/Oracle/1Z0-043.html About uCertify uCertify develops exam preparation kits (PrepKits) for Oracle certification exams. The firm is helping IT students worldwide prepare for Oracle certifications such as OCA DBA9i, OCP DBA9i, OCA DBA9i PL/SQL and OCA DBA10g. The products are designed after extensive research by a panel of experienced Oracle certified professionals to give the latest and most advanced preparation tools to candidates aspiring for these certification exams. For more information about uCertify, please visit: http://www.ucertify.com Sun, 22 Jul 2007 07:57:49 +1000 http://www.hashdot.com/Article812.html Samsung has developed a 4GB chipset which it claims obviates the need for memory expansion slots in space-starved mobile phones. The Samsung moviMCP is implemented on a 4GB embedded memory card, comprising two 16Gb Nand Flash chips and controller, 1Gb mobile DRam chip to support the processor and 2Gb Nand Flash memory for general handset operation. This provides a total memory capacity of a little over 4GB. The design is currently being sampled by phone makers. Samsung has used the eMMC interface (the MultiMediaCard Association standard for embedded memory) to simplify the management of the various types of Nand Flash. The design stacks several memory functions vertically further reducing the footprint. Sun, 22 Jul 2007 07:57:23 +1000 http://www.hashdot.com/Article811.html Google is preparing a future update of its search engine that lets users search content in any language. The cross-language information retrieval technology uses software to translate queries into English. It then performs the search and translates the results back to the original language. Arabic speakers, for instance, will be able to look for reviews on New York restaurants, even if such information is not natively available in that language. The search giant showed off the technology at a company event at its corporate headquarters in Mountain View, California. "As far as you are concerned, you search in your language," said Udi Manber, Google's vice president of engineering. "There is a better chance that you get good results." Manber said that the technology will be launching "soon", but did not provide a projected launch date. He also showed off a project that will try to interpret a user's search intentions instead of performing the query to the letter. Google already assists users by performing a spell check on search queries, or suggesting alternative queries for probable mistakes. Fri, 18 May 2007 03:30:10 +1000 http://www.hashdot.com/Article810.html uCertify a leading provider of practice tests for the Microsoft certification exams, has released its preparation software (PrepKit) for MCTS: 70-620 Windows Vista certification. Fri, 18 May 2007 03:29:57 +1000 http://www.hashdot.com/Article809.html Former employees of leading games firm NCsoft have been accused of selling secret information about upcoming games to a Japanese rival, police in South Korea told local media yesterday. NCsoft publishes several popular multiplayer online games including Lineage, Guild Wars, City of Heroes and City of Villains. Seven ex-employees of NCsoft are suspected in the case. Police did not name the Japanese games firm which they believe may have paid for the information. According to police statements, the NCsoft employees are suspected of first leaking details of NCsoft's upcoming Lineage III last September, Korean daily Chosun Ilbo reported yesterday. The employees, who had quit NCsoft in February, applied for work at the unnamed Japanese games firm, allegedly taking copies of unfinished games to the interviews. Police stated that the software may have been copied by the Japanese firm at this time, and that they suspect that money changed hands. The employee resignations and apparent leaks stem from a management shake up at NCsoft last year, in which a senior developer with responsibility for Lineage III was forced out of the company for poor performance, according to Korean media reports. Several members of the Lineage III development team subsequently left the company, the reports claim. NCsoft has made no public statement on this issue. NCsoft claims to have earned a total of $1.6bn from the first two games in the extremely popular Lineage series. Sun, 06 May 2007 02:20:08 +1000 http://www.hashdot.com/Article808.html Web filtering firm Websense said yesterday that it is to acquire rival security firm SurfControl for a cash payment of approximately $400m. Websense said that it planned to enhance its product offerings by merging the research databases of the two companies to offer a broader set of solutions. The company pledged to support SurfControl's layered software web security solutions at least through to 2010. "The combination of Websense and SurfControl is expected to benefit customers, partners and shareholders by creating an IT security solutions company with the scale and product offering to compete more effectively with large global security software companies," said Gene Hodges, chief executive at Websense. "Additionally, by improving operational efficiencies, we believe we can generate operating margins in the combined business similar to the historical levels we have achieved in our own web security business." A further objective of the acquisition, according to Websense, is to complement and accelerate the firm's stated growth initiatives, particularly in the strategically important small business segment. Sun, 06 May 2007 02:19:47 +1000