Uptime monitoring service Pingdom has put together a list of thousands of .com domain names owned by Google, based on an analysis of the root zone file. They then verified the most interesting ones with WHOIS information. Does GoogleWarnerbros.com represent a future partnership, or a failed tryout? Googlereligion.com? Why not. Googlepoo.com? Sure.
The entire list is embedded below. Some of the more interesting ones:
There are plenty of paid offerings to choose from in this category of software, but I've found several free programs on CNET.com that do the job nicely. The best Web album software provides ways to host your work on the Web so all you'll need is some creativity and your already honed photo-snapping skills.
The step-by-step process makes it easy to create simple albums.(Credit: CNET Networks)
Photozig Albums Express offers a step-by-step process so you can design your project from start to finish. Big button icons with descriptions make it easy to start your project and select the preferred output for your images including sending in e-mail, burning to a CD, or uploading to a Web site. The finished product is a basic layout of thumbnails that you can click to enlarge, but you'll have no skins to choose from with this one. The Photozig Web site requires you register with an e-mail address, but you'll be able to display your albums on the Web for free once you're signed up. For basic albums, this is the one to choose.
A clean-looking interface and several themes make album creation easy.(Credit: CNET Networks)
Web Photo Album is another simple free album creator offering several nice (if sometimes cheesy) templates. A nice interface layout makes it easy to find the pictures you want and quickly create a simple album. It offers basic editing functions like red-eye removal and picture rotation, and you can add captions to each picture. The finished product comes out as a page of thumbnails and once you click on a picture, you're given a close up with the ability to navigate to other shots across the top of the page. Though there are a staggering number of themes to choose from to match your pictures, your overall layout is unchangeable. Web Photo Album lets you sign up for the free Photo hosting service, or you can save to a folder to burn to CD or post to your own site.
With numerous skin and layout choices, JAlbum is tough to beat.(Credit: CNET Networks)
JAlbum for both PC and Mac users is one of my long-time favorite free Web album programs. It doesn't direct you through the process like Photozig, but a quick look through the menus will be enough for you to get started creating great Web albums. There are several great-looking templates and skins to choose from, with more skins available at the JAlbum Web site. An integrated FTP program makes it easy to post albums to your Web site or blog. The JAlbum site also lets you post your projects to their Web hosting service for free, but as with the others, you'll need to register with a name and e-mail address.
With spring weather returning, you're going to have a lot of chances to snap some great pictures. Use one of these free Web album programs to turn your pictures into a nice project that's easy to share with anyone.
Everyone now seems to be talking about it. And everyone must have an opinion about it. So, here comes Harshal again to help you out from the misery of watching mutely while others are showing off their knowledge on.. INFALATION! Check out this link and get your basics right about the inflation. This article will tell you about how is inflation measured, why prices are rising and what your investment strategy should be.
You must know how Inflation is affecting life around you. This article will tell you about the impact of raising oil prices, impact on agriculture, change in market structure and the similar stuff. Finally, its time to calculate how Inflation is affecting YOU. Check it out here. So next time you see a group of people blaming government about rising prices, you know how to shut their mouths.
Its the time of the year when most of the IT pros think of making a 'switch'. So, this article will explain which certifications are hot in the market now and which will fetch you a fat pay cheque. Check out the 10 tech certifications that actually mean something.
Wii owners have reason to cheer for. The BBC's iPlayer TV catch-up service is making its way to the Nintendo Wii today. British residents who navigate to www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer using Opera's Internet Channel browser will be greeted by the same selection of streaming programs made available for PC users.
The BBC promises to bring a slightly updated version in the coming months that will add additional functionality, the same way Opera did with the specially designed version of its browser made just for the Wii. Best of all, it will be a standalone channel app. The BBC's Anthony Rose hopes this will fit the needs of users who don't want to have to load up the browser and navigate to their iPlayer bookmark, or pay for the Internet application in the first place.
This is the first time the iPlayer has made its living room debut. Previously the only way to get iPlayer programming on your TV set was by hooking up your home PC or laptop to your television. I'm glad to know this announcement as I was looking for a way to watch TV on my Wii.
Gmail is great for many reasons, but one of them is the built-in power search tool. It's constantly indexing your e-mails to makes them easy to parse through on a later date.
How-to guru, Dennis O'Reilly, of CNET's Worker's Edge has a few tips for people who want to speed up the way they search for old e-mails as their in-boxes continue to grow and fill up with messages. His tips involve using good old-fashioned operators, the little shortcuts you can put in front of a query to flavor your results.
You can read his post here, or check out the full listing of operators here.
Online photo-editing applications keep getting better as the competition heats up between startups like Picnik and FotoFlexer. Today, a very large competitor, Adobe, is entering the market by releasing a Web-based version of Photoshop for editing pictures called Photoshop Express. It is in public beta and anyone can sign up.
Photoshop Express is by no means just Photoshop ported onto the web. It would even be a stretch to say it’s a stripped down version of the desktop software, since it’s intended for mainstream consumers, not professionals.
It has got plenty of filters intended for tuning and effects - you won’t find any tools for drawing lines, adding text, or creating shapes. What you can do is easily take out red eye, touch up undesirable areas, change saturation, pop color, and crop (among other things).
Photoshop Express also differs from its desktop cousin by serving as an online storage and photo sharing service. You can upload up to 2GB of photos to the web app (or pull them in directly from Facebook, Photobucket, or Picassa). They are arranged in a collection that can be made available to others or kept private. Embedding and slideshow functionality is also available.
For me, 2GB storage is the reason to try this service. I still like Flickr but its limited storage holds me back from using it. But i'm sure, someday Flickr would do away with the storage limits.
Since all computers come with basic software that rotates, resizes and crops photos, there needs to be a compelling reason to use an online service. Uploading a photo to such a service, editing it and then downloading it back to your hard drive too high of a cost. To compensate for this, most services allow you to transfer the edited photos directly to Flickr, Webshots or other online photo services, saving users the trouble of making round trips uploading and downloading.
Most of these online services also offer editing tools that go beyond simple rotation, resizing and cropping and start to creep into Photoshop territory. Here’s a few of the better ones:
Fauxto Fauxto is a Flash-based Photoshop look-alike. It is the only layer-based online tool that I know of, and is by far the best of the bunch. But if all you are looking for is photo editing, and you aren’t familiar with Photoshop, Fauxto will frustrate you with its complexity. And if you are already familiar with Photoshop, chances are you have a copy already. Fauxto is lovely to look at and it is a really nice example of Flash in action, but I’m not sure who their target market is.
Picnik Picnik is the new kid on the block, and they’re the best so far. It is also Flash based, it is the fastest of the bunch and the user interface is the most intuitive. Once you are done editing, you can transfer your photos directly to Flickr. Picnik has replaced Ajax-based PXN8 as our favorite online photo editing tool.
Picture2Life Picture2life is an Ajax based photo editor. It’s focused on grabbing and editing images that are already online. The tool selection is average, and the user interface is poor. There are some bugs on the site. Photos can be transferred to Flickr, 23 and Imageshack after editing.
Preloadr Preloadr is a Flickr-specific tool that uses the Flickr API, even for account sign-in. The service includes basic cropping, sharpening, color correction and other tools to enhance images. The fact that Preloadr is designed specifically to work with Flickr may not be an advantage - some of the other services are just as good or better and also offer Flickr integration.
PXN8 PXN8 is the best of the Ajax based editors (and the best overall until Picnik launched) and has a great user interface with the main features highlighted on large icons. The basic “enhance” feature does a very good job of fixing the obvious problems with pictures. Edited photos can be transferred to Flickr or Webshots’ AllYouCanUpload service.
Snipshot Snipshot, previously called Pixoh, is another very-good Ajax-based editing tool that stands out because of its above average design and the fact that they have an API into their service. I prefer the features and UI of PXN8, but just barely.
If analysts at Goldman Sachs are to be believed, we may soon be paying hundred rupees for a litre of petrol! Their latest super-spike oil theory (first propounded in 2005) suggests that a resurgent US economy coupled with a major oil supply disruption (another mess in the Middle East) could well jack up crude prices to 200 dollars a barrel.
Anaylsts Arjun Murti, Kevin Koh and Michele della Vigna believe that average selling prices for 2008 could hover around 135 dollars a barrel and rise by 10-15 dollars a year. In their earlier report, Goldman Sachs had put the average prices at 95 dollars, 105 dollars and 110 dollars a barrel for 2008, 2009 and 2010 respectively.
So, if the Americans are trying to change their extravagant lifestyle, should India be following suit since we have already toed the US line by expanding road-based commute while ignoring mass rapid transport systems? If Goldman Sachs' prediction does hit bulls-eye once again, we may well end up walking in to work as unlike the Americans who can draw on their huge oil reserves, we will not have enough oil or enough money to import the petrol that would be required to tank up our vehicles.
As for the Americans, they have already started blaming rapid growth in India and China for their predicament. The United States may be using ten times as much gasolene as India, thanks to their gas-guzzling cars like the Hummer, but then the developing countries are routine scapegoats for anything that's going wrong. Remember...they ask us to cut down on carbon monoxide emissions, while they themselves continue to pollute with impunity.
Maybe, its time that some of us get off our cars and bikes and cycle to work. And those staying close by (within a five-km radius) could actually saunter in to work after a heavy breakfast!!!
Rail minister Lalu Prasad Yadav surprised everyone by announcing that Railways has made a jaw dropping profit of 25,000 crore this year! He announced the range of new trains, promised new ones for Amravati too, thanks to Pratibha Patil. One thing which caught my attention is inclusion of TV, Internet in the trains apart from 'smart cards' and an info board.
When I first clicked on this article, I expected to see yet another diatribe telling you to use numbers, mixed-case letters, and special characters when you created a password. Boy was I wrong. Get past some of the geeky language and you'll find a truly eye-opening story about the security of passwords in Windows.
Surprisingly, Mark Burnett's piece dates back to 2002, but the lessons are still relevant today. Give it a spin. Maybe consider changing your passwords today.
Trading in stock market is becoming riskier day by day. I've finally understood that its impossible to time the market. But I still feel that there is a great opportunity to make big bucks.
After the months of hiatus, I'm back to what I enjoy most.. Blogging ! I got married last month and that kept me away from the computer for a while. Now, I'm back in Pune and back to work as well. So, watch out this space for more tecno news, money matters, movie reviews, my views on politics and much more.
Google co-founder Sergey Brin told public radio's Marketplace that around one percent of all Google searches go through the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button. Because the button takes users directly to the top search result, Google doesn't get to show search ads on one percent of all its searches. That costs the company around $110 million in annual revenue, according to Rapt's Tom Chavez. So why does Google keep such a costly button around?
Take into account the number of people who'd switch to, say, Yahoo, being so disappointed that Google removed the "Feeling Lucky" button. Everything has an effect on making money -- even making money. For a more clear example, let's say Google would start showing a banner ad on their homepage from now on. Google would make loads of extra money, but many people might also use Google less, or start blacklisting the ads on Google via their ad blocker, and so on.
I don't want this space to be just another Microsoft-Apple news reporting website but just can't resist the temptation of writing about the new offerings from the Microsoft. Microsoft is marching slowly on its growth path and dishing out lot of new products and services.
Zune 2 :
Finally its a great day for a Zune owner. Old Zune 30GB owners (like me) will get a Firmware upgrade which will include new User Interface and lots of other goodies and the new owners will get a whole new range of Zunes to choose from. New Zune has a touch sensetive pad and is looking thinner and cooler than Zune 30GB. Read Zune 80GB review here.
Zune Software and Market Place also got a fresh look and new features. Read more about it here.
Launch of Windows Live services : Microsoft launched various other windows live services during past couple of months. I found each of them very useful and productive. I'm hooked up to Windows Live Events which is a great concept and cool thing to do. I've created an event site for my Marriage here. Check it out.
Microsoft Live Workspace is Microsoft's answer to google's online office suit. This one is still in private beta and promises lots of cool features. I use online google's docs & spreadsheet very extensively and wouldn't mind migrating to Microsoft's Live Workspace because I don't want to maintain multiple accounts. Talking about multiple accounts, Microsoft has come up with a great service which lets you link your multiple live accounts with one account. So, just sign in once and you are all set. Live Calendar is also open to public beta now. Its Ajax based and carries a Live-look. I didn't get much time to review it but I'm sure it'll be useful.
Biggest advantage I see here is the power of integration. You can integrate Live Messaeger into your Space, show off your Soapbox videos, embed Live maps into Events, show off your documents using SkyDrive, share your Favorites & lot more. Miscrosoft is planning to venture into Photo Sharing space too. Windows Live application suit is also in good shape now. I think, after couple of years, you'll just need one Windows Live ID and you'll be sorted.
Its been less than two weeks since Apple announced its ambitious range of iPods. That day, I felt like its the death of all other music player makers and they should immediately stop producing any unit. But tables have turned now.
iPhone buyer became furious because Apple Chief Steve Jobs slashed the phone's price to $400 from $600, making early adopters look like suckers.Jobs issued an apology and a $100 gift certificate to contain the damage. Wall Street smelled weakness in the price cut and pushed Apple shares down 10% to $130 within two days.
It looks like an anti-Apple backlash has begun. NBC Universal, chafing at Apple's insistence that every TV show is worth $1.99 to download, is bolting the iTunes store after December, going with Amazon instead. Vivendi's Universal Music Group also reportedly won't renew its contract with Apple.
AT&T, the wireless carrier for iPhone, was entirely shut out of selling its content services on Apple's phone.
AppleTV has been a flop. The iPhone started strong but must be fading--why else cut the price?
There seems to be a number of people who think the new 6G iPod classic sounds noticeably worse than the 5.5G iPod that it replaced. Apple discussion forum has comments like, "The new iPod classic "sounds precise, crisp, but lacks 3D image and has an electronic haze to the sound... [which] becomes fatiguing after a while"
There are increasing reports out there about problems with the screens on the new iPod touch. Apparently many folks are complaining that the screen is very dark and lacking in details. Above you can see a comparison on Apple Touch comparing the iPhone to the iPod touch (right). Over at the Apple Discussion boards a third-party LCD engineer weighs in with a possible answer: bad quality control in manufacturing led to an error with the anti-reflective coating. Apple has accepted it as a defect. Read more about it here.
So, here I am.. Listening radio on my Zune and flashing it proudly. I no longer regret my decision of buying it and do not wish for iPod Touch now. Will wait for iRiver's new WiFi-touch screen player instead :-)
Right when you think you've got a cable standard down that works with most of your devices, some committee or commission of some sort goes and releases a new, better standard to upgrade to. It's pretty annoying, but it's one of the things you've got to deal with in technology. It moves pretty fast, after all. So first there was USB, then there was USB 2.0, and now, wouldn't you know it, we're about to get USB 3.0.
USB 3.0 improves upon its successors by adding fiber-optic cable alongside the copper wiring, greatly increasing the speeds. The upgrade should allow for high-def devices, such as HD DVD or Blu-ray players, to use the standard to send data. As of now, today's USB cables aren't fast enough for such heavy transfers, sending data at 480 megabits per second. USB 3.0, on the other hand, will increase that tenfold to a whopping 4.8 gigabits per second. The fancy new cables should start hitting shelves and being used in devices around 2009 or 2010.
Great day for apple fans but a bad day for Zune owners (like me) and Apple investors. Apple unveiled new generation iPods and after a first look, all I can say is.. WOW! iPod Touch is an iPhone without a camera and phone capabilities. It looks amazing and it a one tight slap on Zune's face. It has 'Real' WiFi. It currently comes in 8GB and 16GB capacities. After watching it on the net, i literally jumped out of the excitement. Its definitely the next cool thing I'd like to have. Anybody interested in my Zune?
And then there is an another option : iPod Classic. Comes with whopping 80GB and 160GB capacities and looking slim and better too. Looks like they have added search and customization feature into it. iPod nano also got an upgrade to video playing capabilities. And then there is a $200 price drop on iPhone which saw Apple stock going down because of margin concerns.
After some time I realised that most of the features of iPod touch will be not that useful as its still a pain to use public WiFi hotspots. So, No web-browsing using Safari, No You-Tube videos and No online music downloads. And yes, there is no inbuilt Radio. But still I'll wait for couple of months for a refurbished piece to appear on Apple site.
Microsoft is preparing for the advertising supported FREE version of MS Works. I started using Works when i got it bundled with my Laptop. Its a basic version of MS office and has lot of limitations. The reason i had to stop using it was the file format it uses to save the files. World or Excel files can not be opened with MS Office and you need convertors to open them. But still its a good application to start with.
I won't mind using the free version if it follows the MS office file extensions. I wish if they could include a nice light weight Photo Management tool with it like Picasa. It'll be good for my good old (and terribly slow) Laptop. Anyways, its a nice step in the right direction considering the online office suit wars.
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