I had expected this release to pack in some more features along with a new interface which would be more refreshing and soothing. My second wish was fulfilled but only partialy as Yahoo did revamp the interface completely but to make it even worse than some of its ancient versions.The colour combination was terrible and the themes provided changed only the title bar and the color theme rather than whole look of the messenger window.

This version doesn’t add any new features I could find except for a new feature called “Forward offline PMs” which was not available in previous versions but nothing pretty significant.Also when this version is installed it resets many of your settings to default but thankfully I had my archive intact.One good thing that this version does is quicker sign-in, hence reducing the time to sign-in by a appreciable margin.

Hence not much has changed in this version except the interface which is to say the least intolerable and it forced me to uninstall this version right away and shift back to version 8.1.0.421 which seemed pretty refreshing! I would say save you time and resources and forget about this version and hope that Yahoo releases a much much better final version of 9.0.

Apple online stores have already started accepting pre-orders for it already.The upgrade will cost $129 for a single-user license, and $199 for five-user “family pack”.

This will seriously challenge the high prices set by Microsoft for its Ultimate version of Windows Vista. This new release has over 300 new features and various other improvements.

Here is quote from Apple Website :

“Leopard, the sixth major release of Mac OS X, is the best upgrade we’ve ever released,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “And everyone gets the ‘Ultimate’ version, packed with all the new innovative features, for just $129.”

Other new features in Leopard include:

• improved Parental Controls, aiding parents in managing their kids’ online activities with automatic identification of unsuitable content before allowing website access, plus time limits and activity logs that can be accessed from any Mac on a home network;
• the complete Boot Camp® release, previously available only as a beta, making it possible to run Windows natively on Intel-based Macs;**
• Web Clip, bringing anything that a user wants from a web page to Dashboard as a live widget;
• new Photo Booth features, helping users create animated iChat buddy icons or fun effects and backdrops with still or video images;
• an enhanced Dictionary with Wikipedia built in, allowing users to access up to date information on virtually any subject in a snap;
• a newly updated iCal with multi-user calendaring based on the new CalDAV standard; and
• an updated version of Front Row, making it even easier to play music or watch movies, TV shows and photos on a Mac using the ultra-simple Apple Remote.

How “good” this new release is will be a big factor in determining the future sales of the Macs.Microsoft can only wait and watch as of now to determine the impact that it will create in the OS share market which is currently ruled by Microsoft’s Operating Systems..

ADSL is a booming broadband service and most of the internet users are going behind them. The prices charged for getting the service is also reasonable than the other internet access. This Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line is a globally adapted method of getting broadband connection. ADSL technology works with the support copper wire support.

The ADSL signal will pass through your standard telephone line. But they never interrupt the voice signal. You can download your favourite MP3 song within 20 seconds, tune your most favourite radio station through internet with stunning audio and also get your software from the net within minutes instead of hours. In most of the cases it has the speed up to 256 Kilo Bytes in uploading and up to 640 Kilo Bytes in downloading.

ADSL Modem with USB

Mostly USB ADSL modem is the only hardware supported for getting this type of internet access. It has a small box in which 2 connectors will be equipped on the back when you need power form external source. One connector is attached with your system and the other has to lead the phone line.

The reasons for selecting this type of broadband connection

1. You can access the internet connection at any time as it is always on.
2. There is no headache of logging in and dialing up every time to sit to surf the net.
3. No need of sacrificing your important calls while you surf on the net.
4. No additional costs or hidden cost. Get the same fixed bill every month.
5. Enjoy the advancements called Xbox live.
6. Make use of the facsimile machine at the time of browsing.
7. There is no prohibitions for downloading.
8. Fast downloading, quick surfing and speed response.
9. Get fast internet speed and it offers10 times faster internet access when compared to modem.

Make use of this type of ADSL broadband connection for accessing your internet effectively with great speed.

Vist www.broadbandsuppliers.co.uk to find Cheap Broadband Providers in UK and Compare broadband offers from UK Broadband Providers.

It is a flash based application but don’t expect to get all the features like voice chat, plugins etc. on the web version, though all the basic features have been included.

So say goodbye to downloading the application whenever you visit  a cafe or a friend’s place and find Yahoo Messenger Installed! Also MSN support has been included in this version as well.

Scope of improvement still remains and Meebo will certainly not be thrown out of gear as it still supports a string of chat clients which one can connect to simultaneously.

Source

We have a security update release now available for both the 2.1 and 2.0 branches of WordPress now available for immediate download. This update is highly recommend for all users of both branches.

These releases include fixes for several publicly known minor XSS issues, one major XML-RPC issue, and a proactive full sweep of the WordPress codebase to protect against future problems. Many thanks to Sumit Siddharth and Alex Concha for their help with reporting issues in this release.

As an update to the systems issue we had last month, we have taken dozens of additional precautions with the servers and systems that run WordPress.org and they appear to be working well, despite hundreds of hack attempts after we publicly disclosed there had been a problem. We are also now aggressively monitoring all downloads for any changes or modifications, and we are confident the same type of problem won’t happen again.

Source

The first upgrade of Intel’s Conroe architecture is right around the corner. Roadmaps reveal the refreshed Conroe with a 1333 MHz front-side-bus arriving in Q3’07, around the same time of Intel’s Q3’07 price cuts. The new Core 2 Duo E6×50-series pricing will undercut pricing of current Core 2 Duo E6×00-series processors.

With the introduction of Core 2 Duo E6×50-series processors, the entire Intel Core 2 Duo desktop lineup will fall below the $300 price point. The Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 takes the top spot of Intel’s Core 2 Duo lineup at $266 per processor, in 1,000 unit quantities. Intel clocks the Core 2 Duo E6850 at 3.0 GHz, higher than last year’s flagship Core 2 Extreme X6800 and it costs a fraction of the X6800’s $999 launch price.

Slotted below the Core 2 Duo E6850 is the 2.66 GHz E6750 at $183. At the bottom end of the Core 2 Duo E6×50 family are the E6550 and E6540 processors clocked at 2.33 GHz, which cost $163 per processor, in 1,000 unit quantities. Intel’s Core 2 Duo E6540 differs from the rest of the 1333 MHz front-side bus Core 2 Duo lineup because it does not have support for Intel’s Trusted Execution Technology, also known as TXT.

Intel will also launch two more Core 2 Duo E4000-series processors. The Core 2 Duo E4400 will arrive next month clocked at 2.0 GHz for $133 per processor, in 1,000 unit quantities. In Q3’07, the Core 2 Duo E4400 will drop down to $113 with the introduction of the E4500. The Core 2 Duo E4500 clocks in at 2.2 GHz and takes over the $133 per processor, in 1,000 unit quantities, price point. Intel will slowly phase out the Core 2 Duo E4300 processor in Q3’07.

Intel will introduce the first new Pentium desktop product since it switched over to the Core naming scheme in June. Two Pentium E2100 models will launch, the E2160 and E2140. These models are dual-core Conroe-based processors with 1MB of shared L2 cache. The 1.80 GHz Pentium E2160 fills the $84 price point while the 1.6 GHz Pentium E 2140 costs $10 less per processor, in 1,000 unit quantities.

Source

This is was what I was waiting for a long time…As my time to upgrade comes near, Intel brings out lower priced processors forcing me to dump my plans of buying a AMD-FX processor…

Barely a few days have passed since I posted about the Zune Phone which Microsoft is planning to debut later this year and here come rumors about the Google Phone which is supposedly a copy of the popular blackberry..

The Phone is believed to include services like VoIP,vector based presentation with Skia’s technology,optimised Java running on C++ core…

And to add the Google flavor to it the phone will have inbulit advertising support…

This phone certainly doesn’t seem an iPhone killer but certainly it could start the boom in mobile phone advertising that Google has been emphasising in the past few years as the next “BIG” thing .

Well only time will tell if this phone proves to a fortune reaper for Google or not…To read about the details check the source…

Source: Softpedia

This certainly could be the next big leap in the era of wireless networking if IEEE manages to achieve such blazing speeds leading to another revolution.This will certainly change the way that data is transfered to mobile devices, bringing in high speeds to mobile devices.

Though IEEE has mentioned that the new standard is still 1-2 years away but it hopes to deliver on the promise. Also as of now the uplink speeds are still undetermined.

Also its future remains uncertain as WiMAX too doesn’t seem to have been adopted worldwide due to lack of backing by large players but that is set of change in the coming months with Nokia,Intel,Sprint Nextel,Motorola,Samsung bringing WiMax to mobile world.

The specifications of the new standard are as follows:

• Very low rate Data: = 16 kbps
• Low rate Data & Low Multimedia: = 144 kbps
• Medium multimedia: = 2 Mbps
• High multimedia: = 30 Mbps
• Super high multimedia: 30 Mbps ~ 100 Mbps / 1 Gbps

Here is an extract from Dailytech with more details:

According to a published draft information on 802.16 standards, the IEEE is currently working on a new wireless standard called 802.16m. The new standard is still more than a year or two away, but according to IEEE documents, the group hopes that 802.16m will be able to deliver 1Gbps transfer rates over the air. In fact, 802.16m is “required” to meet downstream speeds of up to 1Gbps in “nomadic” mode, or high efficiency/strong signal mode. The standard also has a “high mobility” mode which allows for 100Mbps rates.

What gives 802.16m the capability to reach such high speeds is its use of multiple-input/multiple-output (MIMO) technology. MIMO is currently used in a host of 802.11g and 802.11n routers and access points currently available on the market to speed things up. 54Mbps routers that use MIMO are capable of reaching theoretical speeds up to 108Mbit.sec.

The IEEE committee indicated that while 802.16m is not part of the WiMAX, it promises that there will be cross platform compatibility between the two standards. The new high-speed standard is also slated to be compatible with future 4G wireless networks that will make their way into mobile phones roughly two to three years from now. At that time, 4G will be based on OFDMA standards and abandon current WCDMA and CDMA2000 standards.

The IEEE indicated that 802.16m will also be OFDMA compatible:

IEEE 802.16m amends the IEEE 802.16 WirelessMAN-OFDMA specification to provide an advanced air interface for operation in licensed bands. It will meet the cellular layer requirements of IMT-Advanced next generation mobile networks. It will be designed to provide significantly improved performance compared to other high rate broadband cellular network systems.

Current WiMAX products are in “wave 2″ revisions, which mean that they use a two-by-two antenna setup to achieve high signal integrity and transfer rates. The WiMAX forum is currently working on what it calls “wave 3″ WiMAX, which is based on a four-by-four antenna setup. Current 802.16m specifications include:

• Very low rate Data: = 16 kbps
• Low rate Data & Low Multimedia: = 144 kbps
• Medium multimedia: = 2 Mbps
• High multimedia: = 30 Mbps
• Super high multimedia: 30 Mbps ~ 100 Mbps / 1 Gbps

As things stand today, however, the uplink speed for 802.16m is still undetermined.

While 802.16m will bring very high transfer rates to mobile devices, the IEEE committee is looking to push the technology towards military purposes before bringing it to the mainstream market. According to a 802.16m document from the IEEE, the military will help develop the new wireless standard faster. “Today’s military requirements could become tomorrow’s civilian requirements,” the IEEE stated.

Still riding strong on the success of the its Core2Duo processors Intel is getting aggressive and planning to launch its latest server processors based on 45nm technology and Penryn core in the second half of 2007.

Here is an extract from DailyTech reagarding this news :

Kirk Skaugen, general manager of Intel’s Server Platform Group, opened his statements with “We were originally in the Q1′08 timeframe. Today I’m happy to announce to report for the first time that our server 45nm Xeon products based on the Penryn core will be available into production for the second half of 2007.”

Intel’s latest desktop guidance claims 45nm desktop SKUs will also launch in late 2007, with volume shipments occurring in 2008. As it stands right now, only the mobile 45nm SKUs are expected to launch in 2008.

Skaugen also confirmed that Penryn-based Xeon processors will utilize the same server platform as Xeon 5000, 5100 and 5300. Nehalem, Intel’s next-generation micro architecture on the 45nm node slated for 2008, will require new platform technology and is not compatible with the Penryn platform.

45nm quad-core Harpertown and dual-core Wolfdale were originally slated to spearhead the next-generation Xeon launch in Q1 2008. The existing Bensley platform, Intel 5000P chipset, will still provide the heavy lifting for volume dual-socket on 45nm Xeon. A new platform, Cranberry Lake, will replace Bensley-VS for value dual-socket Intel platforms, and will support Harpertown and Wolfdale.

Though the iPhone is a perfect dream gadget but it too has its shortcomings that need to be plugged and if MS can do that then it does have a chance to beat Apple in this new segment that both companies are looking forward to eagerly to boost their profits.

It certainly looks like Microsoft doesn’t want Apple to run away with the initiative like it did when it released its hugely popular iPod…the MP3 player that still rules the world.
MS which released its new operating system Vista after a gap of six years is strongly banking on it to deliver the goods that Windows XP did.

Vista, touted as the most secure windows platform till date will have a strong contender to deal with when Apple releases its Next-Gen OS Mac OS X Leopard this spring…
The rivalry continues……

For more information on the Zune Phone click here.