EA's Dead Space: A Must Have

The first review out in the Xbox World 360 magazine gives it a generous 91% score, which is a really impressive rating. Off late, horror titles have been a bit disappointing, so EA's latest venture can inject some life in the genre. The game is a third person action/horror title where the player takes control of an engineer named Isaac Clarke on board of an interstellar mining ship. The game has been marketed profoundly by EA, with a special trailer called the "Loved Ones" by NameJames Wan.

The interstellar mining ship is called the Ishimura, and the review calls it a Rapture in space. According to the review, the game's Zero Gravity aspect adds a new level of challenge to the game, and at the same time makes it more exciting.

Kodak V1073

The good:
Looks, Build quality, Touchscreen interface, Smart Mode, HD movie capture, Good image saturation and skin tones, sharp pictures, 32MB in-built memory.

The Bad:
No bundled A/V cable, Poor LCD performance in daylight, Battery life, ISO 6400 and ISO 8000 modes don't help at all.

The Kodak V1273 we reviewed recently turned out to be not just a great looker but a good performer as well. The new interface coupled with the responsive SCHNEIDER-KREUZNACH VARIOGON and optical image stabiliser takes the overall experience to newer heights altogether.

The V1073 looks and feels almost identical to the V1273 albeit with a few minor changes here and there. So, you might just find most of the stuff being a repeat of the earlier review.
The Kodak V1073 has a 1/1.63 inch CCD (sensor type) that can capture 11MP (4016 x 2768) pictures. It uses a SCHNEIDER-KREUZNACH VARIOGON 37-111 mm (35 mm equiv.) lens that has a 3x optical zoom and optical image stabilisation as well. The integrated 5x digital zoom takes the total zoom range of the camera to 15x. The camera boasts shutter speeds ranging from 8 to 1/1164 secs.


The back of the camera houses a 230K pixel resolution 3-inch touch screen LCD. Like most other Kodak cameras, the V1073 has a 32MB internal memory and features an SDHC/SD card slot.

The camera measures exactly the same as the V1273, measuring 93.3 x 57.9 x 21.0 mm (W x H x D) and weighing 148 grams. It's pocketable enough for you to carry it in your shirt pocket.

Samsung NV15 Digital Camera

The good:
Design and build, soft Touch Interface, features, Macro mode

The bad:
Average image quality, High noise content, LCD washes out in bright sunlit conditions

Samsung's NV series cameras have always had a touch of elegant design and the feel of a lifestyle product. Today, we've the Samsung NV15 for review. The camera claims to provide something new and different in the camera segment.

The following accessories come with the Samsung NV15:

USB cable
A/V cable
AC adapter (SAC - 46)
Camera strap
Rechargeable battery (SLB - 0837 (B))
Software CD
User manual

Sennheiser HD 457

Accurate reproduction of highs and mids, Comfortable to wear, Cord take-up.

Leaks audio, Weak bass response.

Sennheiser is a brand that needs no introduction; they've been making fine pieces of audio hardware for a long time now. The HD 457 is another in their fine line up but with a difference, this is priced for those on a budget.

BlueCON G5

A bluetooth adapter for the iPod that provides wireless music.

The good:
Wireless music, Extends iPod running time, Can double as a USB and charging medium for the iPod.

The bad:
Only compatible with stereo i.Tech headsets, Uncomfortable extension of iPod's length, Insufficient battery life.

i.Tech has a reputation for creating innovative products and while Bluetooth adaptors for the iPod certainly aren't news, one designed by i.Tech, a company that mainly makes Bluetooth headsets, certainly warrants notice. It's an excellent way to broaden the market for their bluetooth headsets.

HP OfficeJet J6488 All-in-One

The good:
Excellent print, scan and copy quality, Duplex printing, ADF, Memory slots, Ethernet, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g

The bad:
Expensive, Slow printing speeds in normal mode, Memory not expandable

Tata Indicom Blackberry 8830

The good:
Great e-mailing device, PEARL Navigation, Stylish, QWERTY keypad, Memory Card Slot (hot swappable).

The bad:
No Camera, Mono-handsfree, Battery Life, No Wi-Fi, Expensive compared to it's GSM variant.

India has both GSM & CDMA networks with CDMA now having quite a market. It is about time that business users have the option to use an enterprise solution handset on the CDMA network. Today we'll take a look at the Blackberry 8830 from Tata Indicom. We have already taken a look at the Blackberry 8800, and the Blackberry 8830 is basically just the CDMA based version of the same.

Blackberry handsets have always been the enterprise solution handset just that now with even individuals have increased their productivity RIM has managed to focus equally on both - enterprise as well as individuals. Their Blackberry Curve 8300 and especially the latest Bold 9000 proves the companies strive to focus equally on both fronts.

Pioneer Elite Kuro PRO-111FD

The good: Produces the deepest black levels of any large-screen display we've tested; extremely accurate color points and color temperature; superb antireflective screen; 72Hz refresh mode works well with 1080p/24 sources; Pure picture mode delivers superior settings out of the box; extensive picture controls; excellent connectivity, including 4 HDMI and one PC input; styling that's all business.

The bad: Extremely expensive; mediocre standard-definition processing.

The bottom line: The Pioneer Elite PRO-111FD represents the pinnacle of flat-panel HDTV picture quality.

Specifications: Product type: Plasma TV; Diagonal size: 50 in; Resolution: 1920 x 1080

ASUS M3A79-T Deluxe

The good:
Good Layout, 8+2 phase voltage regulation, Power and Reset buttons on the board, Quad CrossFireX support.

The bad:
Expensive, Single Gigabit LAN port, No dual BIOS.

The 7-series chipset from AMD is one of the most popular ones, made famous, thanks to their 780G line up that bought DX10 gaming to on-board graphics. Today we have their flagship offering with us, the ASUS M3A79-T Deluxe based on the 790FX chipset. This particular chipset is built for speed and provides the best features available for an AMD processor. It doesn't have any on-board graphics since it is meant for the enthusiast; instead it has a little surprise in that department.

Nokia N76

Nokia N76 is the latest addition to the hugely popular Nokia N-series phones. This stylish phone comes with mind blowing features which are bound to capture the imagination of the die-hard Nokia users. It is an intelligently designed phone has all the ingredients to be accepted by the high-end mobile users. This sleek phone is bound to create some ripples among the high-end mobile enthusiasts worldwide.

Nokia N76 has unique features like quick cover keys which allow playing of music and taking pictures without opening the phone , ambient light detector for optimizing operating times etc. This phone retains all the features of the Nokia N-series phones plus a lot more. Like all other N-Series phones Nokia N76 too comes with entertaining functions. The large screen of Nokia N76 enables the users to browse the web world with that much ease. It has an inbuilt memory of up to 26 MB which can be expanded up to 2 GB with the use of micro SD card.

Nokia N76 comes with an integrated 2 mega pixel camera with up to 20 X digital zoom and image resolution of up to 1600X1200 pixels. It also has an integrated Flash. Video calling and video sharing are two of the exciting features of Nokia N76. It can also be effectively used for video streaming, storing and downloading. Videos are captured in QVGA resolution camera and can playback up to 15 fps with up to 4X digital zoom. This makes taking videos a sheer pleasure.

Nokia N76 is also multimedia enabled with an integrated FM radio. It also has an integrated music player which has unique equalizer and play list feature and which supports the MP3 format with many other popular formats. The Real Player Media player of Nokia N76 has many features to excite the potential buyers. Multimedia files can be easily downloaded with this smart phone. The wide screen of the phone enables the users to view the downloaded and recorded video clips in larger size. This enhances the viewing pleasure of the users.

Nokia N 76 support various email protocols such as SMTP, IMAP4, and POP3. This is apart from the regular features such as Chatting, MMS, Picture messaging etc. Other common Nokia features include calculator, voice recorder, Bluetooth, integrated hands free speakers etc. With Nokia N76, it is also possible to video conference. It is also possible to use software like Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express. Nokia N76 has a talk time of up to 2.75 hours and a standby time of up to 8.5 days. It comes with a standard Li-ion 700 mAh battery.

Nokia N76 is expected to maintain the popularity of the Nokia N Series mobile phones. It is stunning looking phone loaded with tremendous features.

8 Megapixel Samsung ‘INNOV8’ To Hit European Markets By August

Finally the technology giant Samsung rolled out its much-awaited cellular phone, named ‘INNOV8’, which will hit European markets by next month (August 2008), while it will make its way to other markets during September.

Based on Symbian OS v9.3, INNOV8 is the first 8 megapixel camera phone, which will surely strengthen Samsung’s notable supremacy in the GSM market.

The newly launched phone comes equipped with astounding features, which brings the highest level of power efficiency, platform security and phone performance.

The phone works speedily and best-suited for users desiring more from their handset. Moreover, it offers surround-sound cinematic video, wonderful mobile Internet browsing together with mobile gaming capacities.

Mr. Geesung Choi, President of Samsung Telecommunication Business said, “Samsung innov8 is made for tech-savvy users who want to enjoy the best possible multimedia entertainment with their mobile phone. With the 8-megapixel camera, pre-embedded 3D games, high speed data connections and much more other features will help users gain the true benefits of mobile entertainment.”

The other features of innov8 phone includes GPS technology for navigation, geo-tagging services, an optical mouse, a crystal clear 2.8” 16M color LCD, 8 GB or 16 GB Flash memory, external memory slot up to 16 GB, 4-way navigation key, WiFi and HSDPA connectivity, external dual speakers, 3D surround sound supported by DNSe 2.0 and a 1200mAh battery.

The phone backs up DivX, WMV, Real Player and MPEG4 video formats.

This is Samsung's eighth phone, which is based on Symbian OS. No pricing details have been released by the company up till now.

Halo 3's Cold Storage free on Bungie Day!

Lest you have no idea what Bungie Day is, that's Monday, July 7 (7/7, get it?). Yes, starting on July 7, Halo 3's newest map Cold Storage will be available on Xbox Live Marketplace absolutely free. Not only that, but Microsoft will also be lowering the price of the Legendary Map Pack from 800 Microsoft Points to 600 Microsoft Points. The best part of all is that these prices will become the permanent prices of the content. In other words, Cold Storage and the Legendary Map Pack price drop aren't part of the limited time, one day only Bungie Day goodies that will be on Marketplace. Joy!

In celebration of Bungie Day and the release of Cold Storage, a special 48-hour free for all playlist is going up. Specific details are sparse, but Bungie's Luke Smith promises that players will be able to control "Rockets, Invis and Snipe." Mmmm ... sounds nice and spammy. Finally, "one last thing" about Cold Storage is set to drop some time today on Bungie.net. Keep your eyes glued to X3F for whatever that may be.

HP TouchSmart IQ770 PC

It seems every company is debuting some kind of touch device lately -- Microsoft now has its Milan table and Apple has its iPhone -- but HP was first to market with its HP TouchSmart IQ770. The TouchSmart is operated with a single finger and is designed to form the centre of a bustling family's living space.

Design
We're guessing that the HP design team have seen Short Circuit a few times -- the TouchSmart resembles "Number 5" in several ways, with its squat little body and craning, head-like LCD monitor.

The TouchSmart is roughly the same size as the Apple iMac, but with the main CPU housing kept in a separate unit at the base of the machine. There is a real attention to detail with this PC which includes side mounted volume buttons and a slot at the base to poke an HP photo printer such as the A510 through.

It's built tough, with the LCD attached firmly to the base. The hinge mechanism is reinforced steel which means it will take a few knocks, but also makes the PC hard to move due to its monstrous 17kg (approx.) weight.

The PC is designed to be operated by touch, and includes two optical sensors at the top of the screen to track your finger. The advantage of this is it's cheaper than resistive or capacitive designs, according to HP designers, and that you don't need a special stylus. The 19-inch widescreen is very clear and bright, and being a touchscreen it does get quite smudgy, but it's not noticeable -- despite the fact that the screen has a high gloss coating.

Features
This is a fully-specified entertainment PC, and includes all the features you'd want, including: a digital HD tuner, remote control, card reader, and camcorder-friendly, front-mounted RCA and FireWire points.

The PC boots into HP's own SmartCenter application, which integrates with Vista Media Center. As it's designed as a family PC, one of the main applications on the landing page is a note-taking/calendar application called SmartCalendar. In it you can write notes on "stickies" with your fingers or the stylus, and move them around the screen or onto the calendar itself for other family members to read. You can also leave voice messages with the built-in microphone. The application works as it should, even if it's not as intuitive as it could be -- for example, to listen to a voice message you have to click three different icons instead of simply clicking the message itself.

Despite all the graphical niceties, this is still a Windows Vista PC -- with all the compatibility and instability problems that entails. For example, we were able to crash IE7 just by having five tabs open. But then again, IE7 is pretty unstable at the best of times.

To deliver a full "experience", the PC also comes with a wireless keyboard and mouse. The mouse has a laser sensor instead of the regular optical one so it can be used on shiny surfaces such as bench tops.

Performance
Using Vista through touch is a very intuitive experience, and dragging and dropping is great fun -- though we did notice that there was occasionally some lag when dragging. The sensors don't always track your finger correctly, so it can also be difficult to activate some of the smaller icons.

Touch computing is a good idea, especially in an environment where it can double as a TV. In a kitchen it could be used to research recipes or do some IM chat. Once you've gotten used to the experience it's hard to get back into the old keyboard and mouse mode.

The peripherals, though, are a mixed bunch. The keyboard is pretty terrible, and is quite cramped. It's very easy to hit the Caps Lock key as it's twice as big as the Shift key, for example. The keyboard is also poorly labelled -- there's no "@" symbol, even though "Shift-2" still works, but there is no apostrophe key at all. The last straw is that this machine is designed to be used in a living room or kitchen. Spill any liquid on this keyboard and you'll kill it -- there is no waterproofing. At least it docks neatly underneath the TouchSmart. The remote and mouse, on the other hand, are quite good.

The TouchSmart is quite a decent performer, and its dual-core AMD processor and 2GB of RAM help it chew through most tasks. When confronted with our PCMark05 benchmark, it put in a decent effort of 4079 marks. Not great when compared to other desktops of the same price, but this is no ordinary desktop at that.

As this is a multimedia machine, we tested the TouchSmart with some music and TV watching. MP3 tracks from the bombastic Killers sounded a little lost on the HP TouchSmart speakers, but listening to the integrated digital tuner the folk rock of the Mountain Goats sounded clear and intimate.

The digital TV tuner worked very well, though changing channels via touch on the Media Center interface was a little fiddly. There are dedicated channel buttons on the right edge of the screen, however.

Despite some quirks, this is a great device, and will submit to most of the rigours of a busy household. The price may at first seem high, but give most people 30 seconds with the TouchSmart and they'll fall in love.

5 tips to increase your adsense revenue..

The tips i have mentioned below are the ones that have worked for me.But i would encourage you to try different things with your site as each site is different.

1. Colour and Position

This is probably the optimization which is mentioned most regularly, but it’s for good reason. You really should experiment with different ad positions and different colour combinations. Each time you make a change leave the ads for a week and see how your earnings alter. Make a note of what works and then try something new. I was always sceptical when I read these comments before but since I have started playing with positioning my adsense revenue has multiplied by 4 times (crazy but true). Personally I’ve found that blending ads into the site works very well but it’s not the only way and you should try all the combinations you can think of.

2. Different date, different adverts

This is one of my favourites and I intend to write a post on how to do this next week, for now I will stick to the what and why.

In simple terms, the older the page the more ads you show.

Despite the fact that I have advertising, I don’t actually like it. I have 0 to very few adverts on new posts, and increase the ads on older ones. This isn’t so obvious here on Binary Moon, but on Binary Joy I have gone a little crazy - but there is a method to my madness. The theory is that older posts will be more appealing to search engines, and visitors who come from search engines are more likely to click on ads. Another side effect is that I “reward” regular visitors by not annoying them with adverts, so I feel this is a good compromise. As I said above I’ll go into this one in more detail next week (with code).

3. Content Targeting

This one is a very simple change and is ridiculously straight forward to implement. Google have a simple comment tag that you can place around your primary content, and this is what your ads will be targeted to.

The idea is that you place these comments around your core page content. That is, the content which is mostly text, and which best reflects the content of your site. On a blog this will generally be the main post content. The reason you do this is so that the adverts don’t target irrelevant content such as the links in your sidebar.

You can also add regions you want Google to ignore. I haven’t used these myself but they are something I intend to try in the not too distant future. You can read more on the section targeting page of the Google Adsense help.

4. Referrals

Google Referrals don’t make me a huge amount of money, but I like to include them on all my sites. Currently I only use one referral package and it only displays in Internet Explorer on the PC. It’s for the Firefox browser, and earns me roughly a dollar for every new install I generate. Some sneaky css removes the ad for Firefox users so that they don’t get pestered with unnecessary adverts.

To do the show/ hide css on your refferal code all I do is have a div with my referral button in it, which I hide. I then use conditional css comments to load some css to display the advert in IE.

5. SEO and Content

I get about 75% of my traffic from search engines and, in my opinion, search engine visitors are the ones most likely to click on adverts, far more so than the regular visitors (which ties into the date based adverts above). Search engine visitors are on a journey to find some information, if they can’t find what they want on my site then they might as well find it on one of my advertisers sites, and that’s the good thing about contextual advertising - the ads are relevant to my readers.

Cell phone review:Nokia 3110 classic

Dont go by its simple looks people, nokia 3110 classic is quite an impressive and a handy instrument in the hands of a person who dosent have such a big bulge in his back pocket so as to go after an Nseries or a Sony ericson.

Coming to its specifications this phone sports a 1.3megapixel camera which is the only limiting factor of this phone. the pictures are not so sharp and sometimes appear pretty blurred.Its has a music player which offers a really impressive sound quality. the keypad is big and easy to use.

The major attraction is it expandable memory which can go upto 2GB.

Bluetooth and infrared are the two unique features which NOKIA has given in Rs.5000 range.

It also has a good message & contact memory. Around 1000 contacts & more than 500 SMS can be stored.

It also has Picture phone book which is a good feature but looses its charm as the resolution of the screen is not that good.

Reception & sound quality is good but battery may be a concern if you keep the bluetooth on for long.

out of personal experience i think this phone offers value for money and has everything that would satisfy a customer who is looking for a phone at Rs 5000 range.

Indian Americans are squeezed by outsourcing

The game is fast changing for the Indian BPO industry, as for several players; entry into the billion-dollar club may be round the corner.

Ron Hira‘s views on outsourcing have had an impact on US policymakers. But he’s also the man who MNCs and India Inc love to hate. Ron Hira is a well-known expert on offshore outsourcing and has testified before the US Congress twice on its implications. He is also co-author of the book, Outsourcing America, which has generated a lot of debate. And Dr Hira is a man who many Indian and American companies love to hate. Of course, he does not agree with the view that he’s anti-outsourcing. He feels that the discussion on offshoring should be much more nuanced to more faithfully reflect reality. “Our book originates from how the nature of work and the economy and politics in America has transformed over the past 20 years. What’s good for America is no longer good for IBM (or take your pick of major US corporation) and vice versa. But IBM has enormous influence over the political process, ensuring that it gains even at America’s expense. So, offshoring has been - falsely- framed as America against the countries gaining from outsourcing, such as India. I am genuinely ecstatic that India as a country has the opportunity to improve the lives of its citizens. My concern is that America’s policymakers are working against what’s in the interest of the majority of Americans, making their lives worse. The problem isn’t about what India, or other low-cost countries, have done, it’s about what the US has not done in response to this economic change,” Dr Hira told ET. He feels that Indian Americans are not monolithic on the issue of outsourcing. “Those who are most vocal in the discussion on outsourcing are benefitting the most - by being liaisons within corporations or by taking advantage as entrepreneurs. Since they are making tons of money from offshoring it should be no surprise that they are promoting it. But just because the vocal portion of the Indian American community supports outsourcing doesn’t mean that a majority of the community supports it. I have received many emails from Indians in America who are being squeezed by outsourcing. Second, what is good for India isn’t automatically good for the Indian American community or vice versa,” says Dr Hira who is an assistant professor of public policy at Rochester Institute of Technology where he specialises in engineering workforce issues, high-skill immigration, and innovation policy. He feels that Indian American organisations should go in for a major makeover, so that they represent the interests of Indian Americans rather than the interests of the narrow and deep pocketed corporates. Dr Hira who recently served as a consultant to the US House of Representatives committee on science & technology and helped organise a series of hearings on the ‘globalisation of innovation & R&D’, feels that in the run-up to the US Presidential elections, the US electorate is considering economy as clearly one of the most, if not most, important issues. “I think most of the discussion is rhetorical so far. Job creation has been weak for this whole decade and people are rightfully feeling uneasy, even if it hasn’t showed up in traditional metrics like unemployment and inflation. Much of the presidential rhetoric has focused on free trade agreements such as NAFTA, yet even if NAFTA was renegotiated it would have zero effect on white-collar outsourcing,” he feels. The first step, for him, would be to recognise that high-wage jobs for US workers don’t simply fall from the sky. “The notion that more education will automatically generate success for US workers and for the US economy is downright dangerous. Not because more education is a bad thing, but because it gives us a false sense that we will be okay as long as we have more/better education. US workers are losing due to offshoring yet they have no voice in Washington policy-making. We know that outsourcing results in job loss and lower wages for US workers, yet we have no policies to redress this inequity,” he says. As for immigration policy reforms, Dr Hira feels that while permanent immigration is good for Americans, guest worker programmes are vulnerable to abuse.

[antivirus software] How To Easily Remove the MonaRonaDona 'Virus'

The MonaRonaDona Trojan is designed to scam infected users into shelling out $40 for a bogus scanner dubbed Unigray Antivirus. The scammers completed the hoax by positioning several forum posts from alleged victims touting the bogus Unigray Antivirus as a miracle cure for the MonaRonaDona 'virus'. In reality, removal is very simple and requires absolutely no tools, nor parting with any of your hard-earned cash. Just boot into safe mode and follow the directions below.

Difficulty: Easy

Time Required: 15 minutes

Here's How:

1. If you haven't already done so, boot into safe mode.

2. Search for and delete the following folder, if found:

   C:\Program Files\UniGray Antivirus

   You may also wish to delete the following:

   C:\Program Files\RegistryCleanFix2008

3. Search the global startup folder for the following file and delete the file if found:

   SRVSPOOL.EXE

   By default, the global startup folder location is
   C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

4. Click Start, click Run, type REGEDIT, and click OK. The Registry Editor will now open.

   Note: To avoid unwanted page wrapping, the following abbreviations are used in the steps below:

   HKCU = HKEY_CURRENT_USER
   HKLM = HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

5. To fix the title bar changes to Internet Explorer and Outlook Express caused by MonaRonaDona, browse to the following keys and delete the values indicated:

   HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main
   Delete value: Window Title

   HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main
   Delete value: Window Title

   HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express
   Delete value: WindowTitle

6. To regain access to Task Manager, which was disabled by MonaRonaDona, browse to the following keys and delete the values indicated:

   HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
   Delete value: DisableTaskMgr

   HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
   Delete value: DisableTaskMgr

7. You may also wish to delete the following:

   HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
   Delete value: RegistryCleanFixMFC

8. Close the Registry editor by choosing File | Exit

9. Reboot the computer normally. The system should now be free of the MonaRonaDona 'virus' and the system changes made by the Trojan should now be reversed.

Nokia 3120 classic

Design

The black metallic casing gives this Nokia a look stylish enough to appeal to a wide spectrum of users. Its metallic frame ringing the edge of the phone gives an overall assuring feel that comes across as solid and impact-proof. The only gripe we have here is its black and glossy make which is a fingerprint and dust magnet. So be prepared to wipe down the handset every time you whip it out to use.

Size-wise, the 3120 (at 111.3 x 45.4 x 13.4mm), is two-third the width of the 5070 making it a good fit in the hand. A rubber back casing provides a good grip. Being small had its tradeoff, however. We found the keypad positioned slightly too low for comfortable use. Nokia probably had to squeeze this down to make way for a display screen that sits over half the phone's length. This made for comfortable use. That said, the buttons were big and easy enough to text on.

Like most Nokia handsets, there's a center directional button at the top center of the phone, although you may need to get used to the rather flush surface which could be an issue for those with large digits.

Features

For a basic phone, this candybar packs some pretty decent features targeted at the masses. There's a 2-megapixel camera with flash, though as with all budget camera-phones, don't expect startling clear snaps, particularly in low light. Interestingly, the 3120 classic comes with a front-facing VGA camera for video-conferencing via 3G, not something we would have expected to find in an entry-level model.

Nokia has also packed onboard Bluetooth, so transferring music and images will be easier among friends. There's no data cable provided in the retail unit though.

There's 24MB of internal memory (about 20MB is available to the user), which is absolutely insufficient if you plan to store lots of pictures and music files. Fortunately, for your money, this comes with a microSD card slot at the back of the phone to expand to an extra 4GB.

The 2-inch display is big enough for watching your videos and view pictures without straining your eyes too much. Even under bright sunlight, we found text and pictures still legible.

Performance

Music reproduction was good, although the equalizer wasn't impressively powerful enough. It hardly makes any different when switching between rock, pop, jazz and classical equalizer. When played through the loudspeaker, it sounded flat to our ears.

Call quality was loud and clear, although ringtones produce through the loudspeaker tended to be a tad soft, causing us to miss a few calls as a result.

Nokia rates the phone's battery life at 12.5 days on standby and 3 hours 20 minutes of talktime. In actual use, which comprised making calls, photo-taking, text messaging and listening to the radio, the phone lasted a good five days before the next charge.

Conclusion

At S$388 without an operator plan, the phone is certainly worth the money. Although the camera is just 2-megapixels, it's hard to find a handsomer budget phone out there with 3G, Bluetooth, and MP3.

Do you love Windows vista? If not then you will need to wait for Windows 7 till 2010

Microsoft’s Windows Operating system. The current version of Windows vista is not so popular as expected by the Microsoft Company. Many companies are speaking negative about Vista. Still Microsoft is now busy in developing next windows version i.e. Windows 7 and it will be introduced after three years from now, approximately in January 2010!

Steven Sinofsky, the Microsoft man having all responsibilities of Windows 7, shared some details about windows 7 in an interview with CNET. Though he hasn’t revealed most of the details TechCrunch concluded some basic facts from this interview.

The interesting feature in windows 7 is ‘Touch screen interface’. Multi-touch software will allow user to use their fingers to draw pictures, zoom in and out, search and skim maps and even play on screen using piano. This multi-touch functionality is similar to the latest Apple’s iPhone touch screen feature.

Windows 7 few details are:
1) Windows 7 will arrive after general availability of windows Vista i.e. approximately after 3 years sometimes around January 2010.

2) All drivers and softwares working on windows Vista will still continue to work on Windows 7. No other additional device compatibilities. The basic driver model will be the same. No new kernel for windows 7. It will be built on Windows server 2008 kernel base.

3) To maintain compatibility, Windows 7 will be available both in 32 and 64 bit versions.

Apple iPhone

Trust Apple to build the hype. I’ll bet no one and their uncle can do what Apple did with the iPhone. First call a press conference and give a stylish walk through of the phone features. Jaws on the floor, its Apple, baby. Everyone starts buzzing about the iPhone and how it is going to be a “breakthrough internet and communications device”. Everyone’s waiting for the next big thing after “electricity and sliced bread”. Everyone wants one. Steve’s rubbing his hands in glee…

The iPhone indeed is a path breaking mobile device and I wouldn’t hesitate to call it the best phone in the world.It has its fair share of niggles, but then, which phone doesn’t? Lets take a better look.

Since this is not your usual hum-drum phone, and has many innovative features in it, I would like to talk about them first.

1) Multi-touch

With multi-touch you can flick, pinch AND tap. To zoom out of a photo, pinch, to zoom in, just reverse the pinching action. It senses touches by means of an electrical field and allows very natural actions. Supremely functional and all the girls could say was “WoW!” @ 150dB.

2) OS X

The legendary,sexy Apple OS X on a phone!! You gotta be kidding me! Well, no I’m not. And somehow Apple seem to have got the whole integration very right. Its very multitasking friendly and I only wish there was someway to control all the running applications like on Symbian OS.

3) Accelerometer

This has to be one of the coolest features on the phone! In essence it is a motion sensor, which detects whether the phone is vertical or horizontal. Accordingly it changes the viewing from Portrait to Landscape.(only in apps that support it, mind)

4) Proximity Sensor

This is another cool feature. When you get a call, the screen and your cheek make all sorts of contact, and there might be inadvertent touches. So, in order to avoid that, we have a sensor which, during a call, turns of the touch screen and saves battery. How thoughtful.

Now, if I may have your attention, we shall get on to reviewing the phone as I usually do.

Looks,Design and Build Quality

Apple always makes sure that their products might not always have the best of features but they certainly do have gorgeous looks. Nothing different with the iPhone here. Sleek, sensuous and sophisticated. The smooth curves, the chrome lining, the lightly brushed aluminum finish at the back… its all top notch. It has a solid feel to it and makes for a nice fit in the palm. The heads will turn, don’t worry dahling.. And don’t be too surprised if someone comes and gets too chatty with you. Its a conversation starter in every sense of the term.

Input and Output

The beautiful 3.5 inch 480 x 320 multi-touch screen is the primary input as well as output. It is easily the most stunning display i’ve ever seen on a mobile device. Period. Your fingers are the only way to operate it, and its quite the fingerprint magnet. But it is absolutely scratch resistant, and you can use your shirt sleeve or jeans to wipe it off. Better still, get a good screen protector, and life will be much better.

The on-screen keyboard is the way to enter all the numbers and letters. This one is easily the best on-screen keyboard in mobile history and can easily stake claim to be the best substitute for the physical keyboard. The iPhone uses a combination of dictionary and keymap prediction to help out typing.

There arent too many buttons around on the phone. Just a home button on the front(which takes you back to the SpringBoard or the main screen), a volume and a silent switch to the left and a Sleep/Wake button on the top. Thats it. The multi-touch screen will handle all the rest of the inputs. Thank you,very much. Also, to the top is the sim card tray. You insert a pin and the tray comes out gracefully. But, you do need a pin. Bah.

There is also a 3.5mm headphone jack to the top and Apple provides a pair of ear buds. They are the ones which can be found on iPods with a slight difference. It has a mic-cum-switch. I was really amazed by the size of the microphone and was even more surprised when it turned out to be a switch as well. Apple. Jaw drop inducer par excellence. And the voice quality (according to the people on the other end) was better than the in-built microphone. All the more reason for you to use it.

Performance and the Phone part of it..

Honey, this thing is fast!! There, I said it straight of. That is what happens when you plonk a 620MHz ARM processor and 128MB of RAM in a device which probably took lessons on “how to be anorexic” from Angelina Jolie. But such specs are a necessity when you look at that beautiful interface. I just cant stop emphasizing how fast it really is. The time taken from clicking the picture and saving it takes all of 2 seconds. Booting up in less that 10 seconds. Instantaneous firing up of any application. I could go on and on, but you probably have got an idea.

Battery life is just too good. The claimed figures are 8hrs of talk time and around 20hrs of music. I havent tested it to such levels yet, but other reports tell me, that actually is the case. Which is all too good. The iPhone wont demand a run to the wall socket for its cuppa every day even under heavy usage.

Now, let me get on to the phone part of it. Its quite simple to make and recieve calls on the iPhone.(Watch Video) The only problem is finding contacts in the address book, because it has no physical keyboard and neither do you have search. You can either flick through contacts or use the alphabet index on the right,which makes it a tad easier to get your contacts. One good thing is that, the faster you flick your finger, the more contacts it traverses. So you can jump down some 50 contacts in one flick.

Voice quality through the earpiece is nothing remarkable. But those at the other end reported a crisp voice.

iPod

The iPod part of the phone has been given a complete overhaul. And like Apple is advertising, it is the best iPod to date. The media integration is extremely good. Plug it into iTunes, and you’re done.

Fire up the Pod from the SpringBoard and just twist it to display in landscape mode. Now you can witness one more of Apple’s gems, CoverFlow. The effect is similar to shuffling CD’s in your own rack. See the pic below.

If you want to play a song from a certain album, just get it to the middle of the screen by flicking it and tap on the album cover once. The album cover will rotate smoothly to display the tracks in that album, tap it once to play your song. (sigh, why cant we have such eye-candy on other phones..). The audio quality is just as on the iPod’s and we wont get into the “Apple ear-buds, suck or not”, debate. Thats personal taste and for you to decide.

The jack provided is a standard 3.5mm jack, but its recessed. Thin pins will easily fit,but if your pin is on the fatter side, you will need an adapter to fit in your own ear/head-phones into it.

Camera and Internet

The camera is a 2.0MP unit. You can just click and watch the shutter animation. Thats about it. The image quality is pretty good, considering the fact that, there are no settings, whatsoever.

Here are some pics of the cam

Surfing the net on the iPhone is a joy! Rendering is spot on, and the muti-touch gestures are applicable here too. Safari works for me and the speed on the Vodafone EDGe network is perfectly usable.

Time to Crib!!

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!! Apple usually are perfect at whatever little they do. Hence, I take immense pleasure in bashing them up. So why did Steve & Co. decide to give the MMS feature a skip?? And no 3G as well. Whats so “breakthrough” about not having 2 of the most basic communication options which everybody is offering. No video recording either. Also, why cant I pair to any other device to transfer at least photos and stuff, if not music.

Also, the camera should have had some more settings and a larger pixel rating. 3.2 is the de-facto standard these days. But, I think most of these problems will be solved by means of Firmware updates. Or maybe the next generation of iPhones. Which was precisely why I chose to buy the SE P1i and not the Apple iPhone.

Whats Hot

• Seamless design
• Multi-touch, accelerometer, proximity sensor
• OS X on a mobile device!
• Awesome interface
• Amazing Media Player
• Great Internet Experience

Whats Not

• No MMS
• No 3G
• AT&T only (can be hacked, not much of an issue)
• No custom camera settings
• No native 3rd party application support (this too can be worked around)
• Screen prone to finger prints (slap on a screen protector as soon as you buy it)

Whats in the box? Phone, USB cable, Wall socket, wiping cloth, USB docking stand, manual.

Price (8GB, all taxes inclusive)

• US $450
• India 30000/- onwards (not officially on sale)

Conclusion : The iPhone is an amazing device and it has certainly raised the bar in many aspects and the way we go about managing our business on a phone. One more thing it has successfully managed to do is that it has pushed every other manufacturer back to the drawing board. Expect better phones from everybody now. This is going to be good in the end for, you, the consumer. Till then, chew the Apple!

Training helps bloggers hone professionalism

Miami real estate agent Lucas Lechuga began blogging to share his knowledge of the local market. He didn't bargain for a $25 million defamation lawsuit when he wrote that a Miami developer had gone bankrupt decades ago.

In Lake Geneva, Wis., commodities trader Gary Millitte registered the Internet domain name LakeGenevaNews.com eight years ago, but is so worried about the legal boundaries of writing online that he still hasn't started the ultra-local news site.

Non-journalists entering the world of blogs, online feedback forums, online videos and news Web sites provide information that newspapers and other media can't or don't. But many are now turning to professional journalists for help with dilemmas they're facing: When is something libelous? What's the difference between opinion and news? And how do you find public documents?

About a dozen would-be reporters navigated the basics of journalism at a recent training offered by the Society of Professional Journalists in Chicago. The group plans similar seminars this month in Greensboro, N.C., and Los Angeles.

Lechuga, who didn't attend the training, said it would have been a good idea. Having jumped into the world of online publishing with a finance degree, he said the claims against him — which are still pending — arose from a question of semantics, and he would have chose his words differently if he had a second chance.

"It would definitely have been something that would be worthwhile and I'd (have) been able to prevent this," said Lechuga.

Roy Peter Clark, a senior scholar at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., which supports working journalists, praised the effort to offer training to so-called citizen journalists.

"I think that what we're moving toward is some king of positioning between amateur and professional," Clark said.

Amateurs have long contributed to professional news reports, including the film of John F. Kennedy's assassination and photos from the Virginia Tech massacre last year, Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the tsunami in Southeast Asia in 2004, Clark said.

Now, many distribute their content on their own, and some have gotten into trouble, said Clint Brewer, the national president of SPJ.

Geoff Dougherty, editor of the Web site ChiTownDailyNews.org and a presenter at the SPJ program, is trying to prevent that by offering his reporters online training.

With a $340,000 Knight News Challenge, he's creating a team of 77 to report on the smallest of meetings in every city neighborhood — gatherings that mainstream news organizations don't cover.

"I see us in five years as the go-to source for Chicago news," said Dougherty. "It's a big goal."

Robert Cox, president of the Media Bloggers Association, said more than 100 judgments valued at $17 million have been handed down against bloggers over the last three years — about 60 percent for defamation, 25 percent for copyright infringement and 10 percent involving privacy.

"It's the tip of the iceberg," Cox said. "Bloggers are being asked to write checks. The threats against bloggers are very real. The costs are very real."

Other groups offer help, including NowPublic.com — a site that gathers photos, video and news tips from the public and distributes them to news organizations, including The Associated Press. NowPublic, funded with venture capital, offers resources for contributors and helps them learn to police themselves, said co-founder Michael Tippett.

"A lot of our members are aspiring journalists," Tippett said. "They'll get half of it right. We'll push them to getting all of it right."

MJ Tam, who has blogged about motherhood for eight years and attended the Chicago workshop, said she worried about how far she could go in rating baby products.

"I just want to make sure I'm doing the right thing," said Tam. "How far can I take criticism? What's considered libel? I need those basics."

IBM Researchers Helping Middle East Fight Disease

IBM created the Web-based program to allow public-health organizations to quickly report, share and act on medical information across borders. The three countries will use it first to track cases of salmonella, shigella and avian influenza, James Kaufman, a researcher on the project, said in an interview.

The three countries share a common waterway, the Jordan River, which makes tracking of food-borne illness critical, Kaufman said. The countries plan to eventually use the database to monitor other infectious diseases.

``Over the course of this project there have been wars and terrorist attacks, but the public-health officials have persisted,'' Kaufman said. ``This technology automates critical information sharing, letting medical professionals protect the population's health and well-being, and helping shield economies against emerging threats to public health.''

The system relies on technology IBM developed to create a prototype health-information network for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, he said. The U.S. didn't go ahead with the project.

Home Refinance Loan

This program is designed to help people who are in the situation where they can no longer afford the payments on the home they own and need some kind of relief. The home mortgage refinance loan is a good alternative to foreclosure and bankruptcy and is a viable option to regain some ground in your financial situation.

The home mortgage refinance loan is a complete and total replacement of the mortgage that you currently have. In most cases the mortgage you have is paid off by the new mortgage company for a reduced rate and a new mortgage is drawn up. With this the company can then lower the interest rate and lower the payments.

There are times, when the current mortgage that is on the home has been paid on for many years that the cash out home mortgage refinance loan is available. With this option the home refinance loan is taken out only for the amount of money owed plus the equity that is currently built up.

A refinance home mortgage home equity loan is another option. The homeowner will get the amount of money equal to the equity and continue to pay the mortgage with a lower rate and lower payment. Talk to your lender about a home equity mortgage refinance loan to see if that option available to you.

The home loan mortgage refinance loan can save you hundreds of dollars a month. This is the best and most logical choice if you are in a position where you can no longer afford the monthly payments and need some relief.

Federal Consolidation Interest Rate

Federal Consolidation interest rates are based on the weighted average of student loan interest rates. Federal student loans disbursed on or after July 1, 2006 have an interest rate of 6.8%*. Federal student loans disbursed before July 1, 2006 will remain variable interest rate loans. These loans will re-adjust every July 1 based on the results of the 91-day Treasury Bill. Currently, interest rates for these variable loans are:

• Stafford Loans for borrowers in grace (1-6 months after graduating): 6.62%
• Stafford Loans for borrowers in repayment: 7.22%
• Parent PLUS Loans disbursed after July 1, 1998 but before July 1, 2006: 8.02%
• Parent PLUS Loans disbursed after July 1, 2006: 8.50%

Dehumidifier

A dehumidifier is a household appliance that reduces the level of humidity in air, usually for health reasons, as humid air can cause mold and mildew to grow inside homes, which has various health risks. Very high humidity levels are also unpleasant for human beings, cause unsightly condensation and can make it hard to dry laundry.

Nokia 6500 classic review

The 6500 Classic is Nokia's thinnest phone so far, and is a stunningly beautiful phone too, with its polished metal casing. It's an easy to use phone that does just what most people want from a phone - make calls, take pictures and play music. Supplied with 1 Gbyte of memory and a stereo headset, it's already equipped to go. The one thing missing from this 3G phone is video calling. We have deducted marks because of poor battery life and the small keypad. Available in Black or Bronze.

The latest from SONY!!!!!!

The latest in technology from sony is a high definition blue-ray disc player-BDP-S300!



See and hear a whole new world of high definition with the incredible BDP-S300 Blu-ray Disc Player. The crystalline clarity of 1080p Blu-ray Disc movies and DVD upscaling has to be seen to be believed.

The player has excellent picture quality on Blu-ray and DVD; DVD upconversion up to 1080p; HDMI output.

The drawback of the player is that it has no onboard Dolby TrueHD decoding; slow load times, particularly unbearable on newer BD Java discs like Pirates of the Caribbean; some minor video performance issues; no Ethernet port for firmware upgrades.

But the BDP-S300 is a decent choice if you're limiting yourself to a relatively cheap, standard-design Blu-ray player, but everyone else should consider the competition.

price of the product ranges from $299.95-$399.99

another dual sim mobile from samsung!!!!

Samsung launches another dual SIM mobile...looks like samsung is trying to make their dual SIM card handsets, a specialty. There have been so many launched recently it’s getting hard to keep track. Their latest offering is the tri-band Samsung D780 Duos which is not a slider I might add. In fact it has a rather stylish candy bar design.

The D780 uses a 2.1 inch, 256k color, QVGA display as a viewfinder for its 2 megapixel camera. It supports USB 2.0 data transfer, Bluetooth with an A2DP profile, microSD cad support for external memory, a media player for music and video and an FM radio. Of course the most important feature is its dual SIM capabilities and the D780 allows both SIMs to be active at the same time which is quite convenient for those who would require a Dual SIM enabled handset.

The D780 will be out in 2 colors - dark silver and mirror silver and should be out in Russia from May and reportedly a little later in Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

get paid to read e-mails???

ever signed up for one of those u-click-my-ads-and-i-pay-u-grants sites???well...u should be really careful while doing so. majority of those sites are scams and they result in a loss of time and effort.
generally, a site which offers to pay you more than $1 per click is a scam site.stay away from them.
search the name of your site in google and see what others are saying about that site in forums. this will give you a general idea about that website and will help you to understand whether that site is scam or not.
heres a list of some non-paying ptr sites....

[1]

1000clicksptr.com*

1-800-Mail.com

1-dollar-mail.com*

[2]

200dollars-email.com

20dollarsmail.com

200eurocent-200euro.com

200euromails.com

25-dollars-mail.com

2dollaremails.com**

[3]

300dollarsmail.com*

30dollarsmail.com

[4]

400dollarsmail.com*

[5]

500cents-500dollars.org

500pounds-and-500pence.com

50centptr.com"

[6]

[7]

7centsolos.com

7thheavenptr.net

[8]

80euromail.com

[A]

ad-fortune.com

ad-qds.com

adsneed.com

ahacash.com

alwayspay.com

american-mails.com

a-n-cash.com

ans-advertising.com"

apachemails.com""

applemails.com

arcticmails.com

atom-mails.com

[B]

bank-mails.com

bearshare-mails.com*

beautymails.com*

bestflymails.com*

bettybucks.com"

bigdollar-mails

biggestdollars.com

billiondollarmails.com"

blue-maniacs.com*

bluerwebmail.com

boffopaidmail.com*

bondjamesbond.net""**

boratmails.com*

boss-mails.com*

businessptr.com

[C]

camel-mails.com*

cash-kitty.com"""

casheden.com***

cashorigin.com***

cashpointclicks.com""

cashread.com**

cashsea.com*

casino-mails.com

catch-cash.com

charm-mail.com*

chicago-ptr.biz

chobitsmails.com

cloudmails.com

closet-clickers.com*

coast-mail.com

cooperativemail.com

cosmicwealth.com**

cosplaymails.com (force searching)

cowboy-mail.com

cream-mails.com

cy-mails.com**

[D]

dallas-ptr.com

deliriouspaidemails.com"

diamond-mails.com

dollar-factory.com

dollarslove.com

donkeycash.info*

dragone-search.com""

dreamstarmail.com

[E]

earn-emails.com*

easy-gain.com

electron-mails.com

emailpremium.com""

emailprofit.us""

emailspayu.net""

emails-empire.com

energy-mails.com

euro-emails.com

expert-mails.com

eyemails.com*

[F]

flashrich.com

flaviomails.be*

fourleafclovermail.com

forex-mails.com

freemoneymails.net"

[G]

gem-mail.com

getor-mails.com

getpaidbyemail.com""

getpaideasy.com

giga-mails.com

gladiator.ws""

goldearning.com

goldenemail.com""

green-cash.com "

greetgold.com***

[H]

hamburg-mails.com***

happyearning.com

happyptr.com*

haulingcash.com**

hello-mails.com*

heroptr.com*

hellotomy.com""

holiday-mails.com

hollywood-mail.com""

honestmails.com***

husky-mails.com?

(I)

ice-mails.net""

innotime-cash.com***

interptr.com (continues sending mails to canceled member)

invest-mail.com

ippomails.com

iriverptr.com

[J]

jackpot-ads.biz***

job-readmail.com*

[K]

kiddays.com

[L]

lightstarmail.com

linkread.com

logans-legacy.com"

lookingemail.com*

[M]

magnetismail.com

mangoemails.com

maystromails.com

megaptr.com

mesmerizing-mails.com (continues sending mails to canceled member)

meteor-mails.com

millionaire-mail.com

mistyandsamscash.com"

mobileptr.net*

moneybagsmail.com*

moneyems.com

moneys-bank.com

mushroom-mails.com

mysweetheartmail.com

[N]

no2allmails.com (continues sending mails to canceled member)

numenmail.com

[O]

ohomails.com

okayemail.com*

one-mails.com*

oneperson-mail.com

onlygravy.com

ourpaidmail.com**

oursharedsuccess.com

outstandingmail.com***

[P]

paidbizopmail.com***

paidmailengine.com(forces searches)

paidstation.com

pay2searchers.com***

payingcash.info*

pay-to-mail.info*

payyoudollar.com*

pcash.info*

pig-mails.com*

platinum-mails.com""

polarbearmails.com*

power-mails.net

ptr4you.net

[Q]

quality-profits.com***

[R]

rainbow-mails.com

readrevenue.com (forces searches)

realmails.com

richmails.com**

rivermails.com

[S]

scarlettmails.com

secret-mails.net*

seekbizs.com**

sepooq.com

silvanamails.com***

smile-email.com""

softemails.com***

southmails.com""

space-mails.com

spicemails.com

sprint-cash.com

spidermanemails.com""

strongptr.com*

studio-mail.com*

summer-mails.us*

stylemails.com

sunflowersptr.com*

sunny-mails.com

super-program.com""

superstarmail.com

surprisemails.com"""

symantec-mail.com*

systemmails.com

[T]

tango-mambo.com""

tarantulas-mails.com""

thegoldcave.com

thegoldmail.net***

tiger-mails.com

timelessearn.com

tnt-e-mail.com"""

tomails.com*

tons-referrals.com""

trade-mails.com**

trafficinvader.com"

trustfulmail.com***

tycoonmails.com*

[U]

united-empire.com

[W]

weapon-earnings.info*

welovepay.com

western-clicks.com***(contains an harmful virus, continues sending mails to canceled member)

western-mails.com

[X]

xsc-mail.com*

[Z]

zyseamail.com*

zy-mails.com*

Nikon’s 12.1 Mega pixel COOLPIX compact cameras are the ultimate fashion flavour of the year!

The new launches from Nikon are all set to excite gadget lovers all aver the world....

Nikon is all set to add a bright new dimension to coming festive season by introducing its flagship COOLPIX P5100 compact camera … and stamping the joyous occasion on print and digitised images. Nikon’s 12.1 mega pixel compact digital camera is a stunning fusion of cutting-edge technology and smart seductive style.

Announcing the launch of the sleek high tech Nikon COOLPIX P5100, Mr Hidehiko Tanaka, Managing Director, Nikon India Pvt Ltd stated: “We have a longstanding commitment to India. We expect to fuel the growth of the culture of photography in India through our innovative and cutting edge products. We are definite that with its enhanced features COOLPIX P5100 will set on fire the photography enthusiast’s desire to capture moments. We expect our digital compact cameras to grow by atleast 300% this quarter vis-a-vis the last quarter.

Talking of uniqueness, Nikon COOLPIX P5100 is not just a compact camera its a chock-full package equipped with distinctive features like compatibility with external flash, telephoto and wide angle converter lenses; 3.5x Nikkor optical zoom; 2.5-inch, high-resolution LCD monitor with anti-reflection coating; Optical viewfinder; Optimize image (Monochrome filter effect); Continuous flash, vibration reduction; 1:1 size format and lots more. Nikon COOLPIX P5100 also has Nikon’s very own unique image innovations – Face Priority AF, In-Camera Red Eye Fix and D-Lighting. In a nutshell, this Nikon camera is a matchless tool for all those who want get to the heart of the image.

Some more ‘to die for’ COOLPIX models that Nikon launches this season are the seductive S51, S510 and S 700 from its style series and L15, L14, L11 from the life series of compact cameras. All of these cool cameras are trendy and loaded with unique features, appealing to those who are style savvy and like capturing special moments. The stylish S700 is a 12.1 mega pixel camera, COOLPIX P50, L15, S51, S510 are 8 mega pixel cameras and L14 is a 7.1 mega pixel camera. All in all the compact cameras from Nikon offer premium quality wrapped in utmost style.

Nikon India is in the final stages of tying up with a one of India’s biggest national distributor for its digital compact range of cameras. With this alliance, Nikon’s retail presence will expand by 100%, making it all set to help consumers capture the special moments during festivities.

This festive season Nikon gives the India consumers another reason to celebrate as it lines up exciting promotional offers on its COOLPIX range of cameras at best prices ranging between Rs 9000 to Rs 24000. COOLPIX L10 and L11 come with a free Nikon charger and in addition a 1 GB SD card comes along with the L11. The style series COOLPIX S 51 and S 510 get a free 1 GB SD card on purchase. COOLPIX P5100 is available at a special price this festive season.

Nikon India, with its recent launch as a 100 per cent subsidiary in the country, is set to delight and engage the Indian photography enthusiast with a wide variety of marketing activities like workshops and photo-contests. With clear-cut plans to expand the dealer network and strong brand building initiatives coupled with a strong product portfolio, Nikon aims to capture a substantial market share of 10% in the compact camera space by 2010.

coolpix from nikon

Microsoft Zune(MP3 player)

zune is not bad...not bad at all....

The Microsoft Zune, with its intuitive interface and solid playback performance, will please most users. But lukewarm format support and the cool but limited Wi-Fi capability will have advanced users seeking more. The Zune is a very good start, though.it provides value for money.

Positives: good playback performance of audio, video, and photos; intuitive and colorful interface; good FM radio with RDS; integrated wireless allows sharing of songs (limited) and photos;

Negatives: The Microsoft Zune is not backward compatible with WMA-DRM9; weak native video support (cannot play protected content) and no video offerings from Zune Marketplace; cannot be used as a hard drive (and no UMS support); ; cannot use Wi-Fi to sync, stream, or purchase content;

Worth the price? Yes

Ipod Nano (3rd Gen)

Try as hard as you like, you cannot deny that Apple has an uncanny ability to keep on making great products. Every time you think it's impossible to make improvements to their iPod music players, along comes another revamp that raises the bar yet again.

The new Ipod nano has a bigger screen, it's both shorter and wider than the previous nano - 52 x 70 x 6.5mm (WxHxD) to be precise.

The back continues to be the wonderland of fingerprints with a shiny metallic surface. Also in the front, the Clickwheel continuous to be the main navigation tool, but it's far smaller than the previous Nano. If you thought the earlier Nano had a small Clickwheel, make sure to try out the new Nano before getting one. On the bottom are the headphones jack, the hold switch and the proprietary USB connector.

In addition to video playback capabilities, there's now Cover Flow for better visual navigation with Album Art. Remember Cover Flow? The quick way to zip your finger across the display on your iPhone and zoom past your music collection in a seamless, liquid flow. It's here, and it works, albeit not as well, especially if you have a multitude of albums. But it's cool and interesting, if nothing else. Besides, Click Flow doesn't feel quite the same with Clickwheel navigation. Ah, well, at least Apple tried. Thanks, Apple. We still love you.