Motorola's much anticipated Motorazr2, even sleeker than it's predecessor, is set to make it's US debut. The Razr2 series sports a new level of sophistication, functions, and features packed into a sleek stainless steel frame.
The phone features a larger internal screen for full HTML Web browsing, and a 2-inch external screen with on-screen buttons that enable viewing of media, listening to music, and messaging, without having to flip the phone open. The buttons vibrate giving users touch feedback using 'haptic' key technology. According to Stu Reed, executive vice president for Motorola, "With smart features like blazing-fast 3G wireless broadband and modern style that is slimmer and stronger than the original, the Motorola Razr2 is the ultimate iconic feature phone." Additionally, the phone integrates Motorola CrystalTalk for better voice quality, a 2-megapixel camera, up to 2GB of on-board memory, real-time point-to-point video, and ultra-fast menu navigation. With built-in stereo Bluetooth, Razr2 allows users enjoy a wire-free music experience, paired with lightweight Rokr S9 Bluetooth stereo headphones.
Friday, August 31, 2007
MOTORAZR2
Posted by Hariprasad at 2:16 AM 0 comments
Labels: motorazr
Thursday, August 30, 2007
FoxyTunes 2.9.6
Do you listen to Music while surfing the Web? FoxyTunes lets you control almost any media player and find lyrics, covers, videos, bios and much more with a click right from your browser.
Basic features
Posted by Hariprasad at 5:00 AM 0 comments
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Lenovo Thinkpad
The Lenovo ThinkPad T60 series is the first ThinkPad to be released with the new Intel Core Duo processor. The ThinkPad T-series can be thought of as the flagship of the ThinkPad brand, it's squarely targeted towards business users and professionals. Durability, security, usability and performance are all important characteristics of the ThinkPad T-series. The T60 carries on these traditions with a jump in performance from the most recent T43 and some changes to configuration options available and the port and keyboard layout
An important thing to note regarding the ThinkPad T60 is the fact it comes in two flavors: a 14" screen variety and 15" screen variety. The 14" type offers lighter weight and longer battery life at the expense of a smaller screen. The 15" type T60 offers higher end performance configurations and also the option of a FlexView screen, but at the cost of a higher weight and less power life per battery cell. Under review here is a high end configuration of the T60 15" variety. Following are the specs.
Specs of the ThinkPad T60 Being Reviewed:
Model #: 2623-D3U
Processor: Intel T2500 2.0GHz Core Duo
Motherboard Chipset: Intel Calistoga i945GM/PM
Hard Drive: 100GB 5400RPM SATA (Hitachi Travelstar HTS541010G9SA00)
Memory/RAM: 1GB (1,024MB) (configurable up to 4GB)
Screen: 15.0" 1400 x 1050 SXGA+ (LG Philips LP150E05 - A2)
Graphics: ATI X1400 128MB
Optical Drive: Multi-Burner DVD recordable
Battery: 9-cell (extended life, protrudes from back of notebook)
Wireless: Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG (802.11 a/b/g), Bluetooth 2.0, InfraRed
User Input: Touchpad, Pointing Stick, UltraNav buttons, Fingerpring Scanner
Warranty: 3-years parts and labor, 1-year battery
Dimensions: 14.1" screen config: 12.2" x 10.0" x 1.0-1.2" (width x depth x thickness)15" screen config: 13" x 10.6" x 1.2-1.4" (width x depth x thickness)
Weight: 6.4lbs (14" T60 is about 5.2 lbs with a 6-cell battery and optical drive)
Ports: 3 USB 2.0 ports
dock/port replicator
Display-out
AC adapter port
RJ-11 (Modem)
RJ-45 (Ethernet LAN)
Audio line out for headphone/speakers
Microphone
Slots: 1 Type II PC card slot
1 ExpressCard 54 slot
Buttons: Power on/off
Volume up/down/mute (3 buttons)
Wireless on/off
ThinkVantage shortcut button (shortcut to system support, security and diagnostics suite)
Battery lock and release
Price: $2,799 (as of 2/13/2006 at Lenovo.com)
Posted by Hariprasad at 11:21 PM 0 comments
Labels: lenovo thinkpad, thinkpad
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Slim Browser
Publisher's description of Slim Browser Slim Browser is a compact tabbed browser with full unicode support. It includes pop-up blocker, automatic Web-form filler and spell checker. It let you open several sites at once with the support of site groups. It provides one-click access to search engines via pre-defined quicksearch entries. You can easily define your own quicksearch entries. It provides one-click access to personal accounts via predefined autologin entries. It supports URL filter and in-page ad filter which blocks annoying advertisements and offensive content effectively. It is able to render RSS new feeds into readable Web pages. It support URL alias and built-in commands. It also supports ftp file uploading. The built-in ScriptPad is able to edit JScript / VBScript and HTML files with syntax highlighting. The program interface is fully skinnable and a large collection of skins are available for download. Version 4.10 Build 012 includes unspecified updates. SlimBrowser is a tabbed multiple-site browser. It incorporates a large collection of powerful features like built-in popup killer, skinned window frame, form filler, site group, quick-search, auto login, hidden sites, built-in commands and scripting, online translation, script error suppression, blacklist / whitelist filtering, URL Alias. It brings you convenient and comfortable browsing.
Posted by Hariprasad at 12:22 AM 0 comments
Labels: Browser
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Lenovo Unveils the 3000 Y410 NB
The notebook incorporates a 5-in-1 multi-card reader, three USB ports, IEEE1394 interface for high speed communication between two devices, and Easy Capture that is a multimedia software application for easy photo editing, etc. Powered by Intel Core 2 Duo T7100 processor 1.8Ghz, the notebook features 2GB RAM, 160 GB HDD, and discrete graphic nvidia GeForce Go 8400M GS. It comes pre-loaded with Microsoft Vista Home Basic and the Premium edition, and offers connectivity options including integrated 802.11 a/b/g wireless LAN, 10/100 Ethernet, and Blue tooth. The Y410 has security features such as biometric face recognition technology and one touch recovery, and a battery life of up to 4 hours. The Y410 NBs are available at all Lenovo authorized storefronts with prices starting at Rs 50,000.
Posted by Hariprasad at 2:01 AM 0 comments
Friday, August 17, 2007
IBM release Lotus Notes Domino
Serving as a fully integrated solution, Lotus Notes 8 is a client software designed to carry out traditional email functions and extensions to that functionality. It has several new built-in abilities, which promise to make normal email navigation much easier and faster. These include the ability to drag entire email threads from the inbox to other folders with one operation. Also included is a side panel which is based on the open-source Eclipse technology, called Lotus Expeditor. This panel comes with some new built-in abilities, but the big feature is that any Eclipse based plug-in can be integrated.Included in the default install are an integrated chat/IM as well as a Google map for whatever email contact is highlighted in the inbox or another folder, a custom application launcher and a "day at a glance" calendar function. It also has an enhanced search function which includes an integrated Google search within the app. It can search the desktop, local files or the Internet without using a browser. All menus and button bars are context relative and programmable. Lotus Notes also includes a fully embedded set of open document editors which reads all OpenOffice formats, WordPro and Microsoft Office formats.Domino 8 is a server-side collaboration software which,according to IBM, can "help people effectively share and manage information, make business decisions quickly, and streamline the way they work."Lotus Notes and Domino 8 are available on several platforms, including Linux, Windows, Solaris, AIX and IBM System i for servers. There's also a video on YouTube which allows users to see the system before buying it.Lotus Notes 8 has a suggested retail price of $101 per client. Domino Web Access clients are $73 per user. IBM Lotus Domino server software starts at a SRP of $14.75 per value unit.
Posted by Hariprasad at 11:21 PM 0 comments
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Windows Home Server friendly for digital homes
If you have an old PC lying around at home or are in the process of getting a new one and wondering what to do with the old, you might want to hang on to that old PC a while longer.
If the PC has a 1 GHz or faster processor and 512 MB or more of RAM, add some hard drives and you'll be able to use it for Microsoft's latest groundbreaking product: Windows Home Server.
Microsoft's Bill Gates announced the product in his Jan. 7 keynote address at the 2007 International Consumer Electronics Show. As the name implies, Windows Home Server is basically a server operating system targeting families with two or more computers in the household.
It has lots of features that makes it very appealing for home users and multimedia aficionados: automatic backups of all connected PCs, sharing documents on the network and on the Internet, and expandable storage space for all those backups and shared files.
"As computers and digital media become more and more central to family life, we need better ways to organize, share and protect digital content and information at home," said Gates.
"Windows Home Server makes it easy for families to save, protect and access digital memories and experiences so they can focus on using technology to organize their day-to-day lives, explore their interests and share their memories with the people they care about."
What makes Windows Home Server different from the media-sharing capabilities built into Windows Media Center, Vista and Windows XP with Windows Media Player 11? Simple -- it offers all they do, and more.
Not only will you able to share files between PCs, they can be put on one machine and automatically backed up, daily and without user interference. Files and data stored in each connected PC will also be backed up daily, so if you ever need to restore files, programs or even the entire system, you simply restore them from the Windows Home Server.
Although the Home Server is based on Windows Server 2003, Microsoft promises the former to be easy to use -- "even for moms" -- while it is powerful enough for even the most jaded power users and enthusiasts. The hardest part about using Windows Home Server is possibly its installation and configuration -- which is, in fact, very easy.
Simply plug into a power source and access the Windows Home Server machine from any PC on the network. True to Microsoft style, easy-to-use Wizards will help you configure the server to your needs. For automatic daily backups, just install the Windows Home Server Connector software on each PC.
In addition to storing daily backups, Windows Home Server also monitors the health of your PCs, scanning for viruses, trojans, malware and spyware, particularly for PCs with Windows Vista.
It works by monitoring the Windows Security Center on each Vista-equipped PC and lets you know if it is secure or not.
Windows XP clients can simply restore a healthy "image" of the PC in question. Remote management features are not available initially, but Microsoft plans to include them in future updates.
Storage management is simplified, so that users do not see one, two or several hard drives. Instead, there's only one storage pool to handle all data, files and backups. The software automatically installs and mounts new hard drives, and replicates data across drives to prevent data loss in the case of a drive failure.
What about compatibility with other operating systems? Shared folders on Windows Home Server can be accessed by other operating systems like Linux and MacOS X, just like a standard Windows shared folder. You can then use the backup features integrated in each operating system, like Time Machine on MacOS X, to save backups to that folder.
For some people, the most intriguing aspect of Windows Home Server is its ability to access Internet files stored on the server. Microsoft provides a free Internet address via Windows Live for each Windows Home Server user, so not only will you be able to access and upload files and documents to your own server, but you can also choose to share them with friends and other Internet users if you want.
And that's not all. At the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference, Gates demonstrated the Home Server and announced new hardware partners for the upcoming product, which include Gateway Inc., LaCie and Medion International.
More importantly, Microsoft also announced several software vendors that are supporting Windows Home Server. One of these is Embedded Automation Inc, whose mControl software will integrate with Windows Home Server to help consumers manage home lighting systems, security cameras, climate control, and audio and visual components.
Microsoft has shipped the final version of Windows Home Server to its manufacturing and hardware partners on July 16, so the software should be available late this year as hardware bundles for machines like HP MediaSmart Server or those based on AMD's Live! Home Media Server reference design and stand-alone software.
But if you don't want to wait, you could try downloading the Release Candidate version from Microsoft (//connect.microsoft.com/WindowsHomeServer) for a 210-day trial period.
Posted by Hariprasad at 11:17 PM 0 comments
Friday, August 10, 2007
lenovo Y500
Posted by Hariprasad at 7:31 AM 0 comments
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Xbox 360 Receives $100 Price Drop in Canada
Quickly following the official announcement of the Xbox 360 price drops in the U.S., Microsoft is applying its slashing tool to the Canadian market. Beginning August 8 at Canadian retailers nationwide, the Xbox 360 console will sell for as much as $100 less than it did at launch.
The new price of the Xbox 360 Premium in Canada is $399.99, down from $499.99. Interestingly enough, the Xbox 360 Premium has seen the $399.99 Canadian price point during a short period of time late 2006. Many large electronics retailers sold the console for $399.99 as part of a Boxing Day sale during the last week of the year.
For the other Xbox 360 consoles, the Core also drops $100 to $299.99. The Xbox 360 Elite, on the other hand, gets half the price cut of its brethren and drops from $549.99 to $499.99.
In anticipation of this year's largest blockbuster game launch, the Xbox 360 Halo 3 Special Edition console will hit store shelves in September with at $449.99. Although the 20GB hard drive may make the machine appear to be just a re-colored Premium console, the Halo 3 Special Edition includes HDMI output.
"The fact that we have been able to keep our launch price longer than any other console while retaining our leadership position demonstrates that consumers believe in the value of Xbox 360," said Mitch Koch, corporate vice president, Global Retail Sales and Marketing Group, Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft. "On the eve of the best holiday games lineup ever and the launch of 'Madden NFL 08,' there has never been a better time to jump into Xbox 360."
U.S. gamers shouldn’t feel slighted by their market’s $50 price drop as compared to Canada’s $100 cut. Even with the double-sized price cut, Canadians will have to pay a U.S. dollar equivalent of almost $380 for the Premium, $285 for the Core and $475 for the Elite.
Posted by Hariprasad at 8:17 AM 0 comments
Apple's fantastic new iMac
If you've never been to Cupertino, Calif., don't. A sunny suburban wonderland of wide boulevards and well-groomed, well-heeled folks, the town's nice enough, if you're into that sort of thing -- but remarkable or memorable it is not, and one strains to imagine anything special coming out of here. This is wrong, of course. Heading south from San Francisco, you pull off Highway 280 onto De Anza Blvd., hang a left on Mariana Ave. and another on Infinite Loop Drive, and you come to Apple Inc.'s HQ. Just inside Building 4 is a space the company calls Town Hall. Chief executive Steve Jobs held a low-key event for the media here this morning; it was the sort of thing that reminds you why Cupertino's on the map.
This was a Mac event. Jobs' biggest news concerned a redesign of the iMac, the company's all-in-one desktop computer system -- now the machine will be clad in aluminum rather than iPod-white plastic. Its screen is also made of scratch-resistant glass that Apple has coated for an extra glossy shine.
The effect is beautiful; when you get up close to it the system looks something like a grown-up iPhone, more sophisticated and elegant than the previous design. Apple set up several hands-on units for us gadget-hungry reporters to play with, and what I liked best was the curvy, compact wireless keyboard that you can buy as an add-on for your iMac. The keyboard, also in brushed-aluminum, and with inset keys like those Apple first put out in its notebooks, is small enough, Jobs pointed out, to bandy it about on your lap or your knees as you stretch back away from your screen. While sharpening the design, the company has also lowered its iMac prices. Apple's previous iMac lineup comprised a 17-inch screen version for $1,199, a 20-inch model for $1,499, and a 24-inch system for $1,999. Now Apple will offer only two screen sizes, 20 and 24 inches. Twelve hundred dollars now gets you a 20-inch model rather than the old 17-inch version. There's another, more powerful 20-inch version for $1499. The old top-of-the-line 24-inch model is now $1,799, $200 cheaper than yesterday's 24-inch. And Apple now has one more iMac flavor -- a 2.8 GHz high-performance 24-inch system for $2,299. (That wireless keyboard, by the way, is $79.) All this stuff goes on sale online and in Apple Stores today.
The brushed-metal iMacs, nice as they look, didn't surprise anyone, mind you. Rumors of a coming iMac redesign had in recent months attained the status of truth; we knew that new models would come, we just didn't know when. (Snapshots of the keyboard had even leaked online.)
What was a surprise was the thorough changes the company has made to one of the iMac's signature software applications, the iLife suite of digital media programs. Jobs was especially excited about iMovie, which has been remade from the ground up.
An Apple employee whom Jobs identified as "one of our most brilliant video engineers" took a vacation recently to the Caribbean and, when he came back, tried to make a movie of his trip in a half-hour. "He couldn't do it," Jobs said. The old iMovie -- not to mention Final Cut Pro, the company's professional video-editing program -- just didn't have the tools to do a good movie so fast. So the fellow created his own program. "We were so blown away that we decided to use it," Jobs said.
The new iMovie has a fresher interface and a few smart tools to more quickly pick through digital clips. The program now includes a library that keeps track of all of your Mac's video clips, in much the same way iTunes houses all your songs and iPhoto keeps your pictures.
Another brilliant feature called "skimming" -- "We've applied for patents on it," Jobs said -- lets you scan through a video clip much faster than was possible before. Say you've got a 10-second clip of a birthday party, but you only want a 2-second section of it for your film. On most movie-editing programs, you've got to play the clip (in real time) to find the bit you want. In the new iMovie, the clip is represented by a thumbnail picture of the first bit of it. You can find the section you want in faster than real time just by dragging your mouse horizontally across the thumbnail -- as you do so, the picture is updated to match where you are in the clip. Another click selects the section within the thumbnail, which you can then drag into your movie in much the same way you'd move text in a word processor. (See a visual demonstration of this trick here.)
The company has also updated its .Mac Web service to more tightly fit with iLife. For $99 a year, you now get 10 GB of online storage space (rather than 1 GB), and there's a sharp new Web gallery that syncs with iPhoto and iMovie. iMovie also includes one-button uploading to YouTube.
I understand this column's a bit gushing; my e-mail pal Jack Shafer, the Slate press critic who's long lambasted us tech writers for hanging on Apple's every word, is sure to call me a card-carrying member of the cult after this.
But honestly, the iMac looks, now, like the best home machine you can buy. There's nothing else so pretty and so functional for the price. I'll soon have a more thorough review of the system and its apps, but for now, let me leave you with Jobs' answer to a question from one of the reporters here. Someone asked if Apple wants to merely attract a small group of elite users -- or does it intend to take aim at the masses, to crack into the PC's market share?
Apple's goal, said Jobs, is to make the best PCs in the world. The company could make cheaper machines that did less and didn't look as good. "But there is some stuff in our industry that we wouldn't be proud to ship," he said. "We can't ship junk."
For less money, you could buy junk; but for not very much more, you can, now, buy a stellar machine.
Posted by Hariprasad at 4:19 AM 0 comments
Labels: Apple imac
Monday, August 6, 2007
Nokia N81
The smart money says that Nokia will announce its new N81 phone on August 29th at a press event in London. The only official evidence so far is the obligatory viral marketing campaign, at the site 070829 (the launch date in non-American format).
According to Tech.co.uk, the new slider will be an 8GB music phone, with a 3G HSDPA radio and a 2MP cam. Better than that, though, is the possibility of it featuring Next Gen N-Gage, an update to Nokia's fondly regarded gaming platform.
The event, to be held at the Ministry of Sound nightclub, is also expected to to see the announcement of a new music download service from the Finnish phone company, a nice little slap back at Apple who just muscled in on Nokia's turf .
Posted by Hariprasad at 6:20 AM 0 comments