Skype este cu adevarat mobil

Skype este cu adevarat mobil


Afirmatia ii apartie lui Michael van Saaij, CEO Skype, cu ocazia prezentarii rezultatului colaborarii intre Skype si 3, operator de telefonie mobila si a parteneriatului cu Qualcomm.

3 Skypephone este un telefon 3G care permite apeluri gratuite via Skype si trimiterea SMS-urilor de pe telefonul mobil, pastrandu-si, in acelasi timp, si utilitatea pentru apeluri conventionale.



Este prima data cand un operator ofera un dispozitiv mobil in masa care permite apelare gratuita via Internet. Telefonul este foarte usor de utilizat si permite comunicarea mobila intre cei 246 de milioane de utilizatori Skype.

3 Skypephone va fi disponibil anul acesta in Europa in Marea Britanie, Austria, Danemarca, Italia, Irlanda si Suedia pentru un pret de aproximativ 50 de lire pentru cartela si gratuit pentru abonament.

Printre caracteristicile acestui aparat, mentionam:
Java si accces la jocuri 3D, camera de 2.0 Mp, Bluetooth, browser de Internet, functionalitate integrala Skype, cu contacte si call log, durata bateriei de 320 de ore (standby), respectiv 270 de minute (talk time), ecran 176x200 cu 262 de mii de culori, memorie interna de 16 MB si memorie externa de pana la 1 GB microSD, greutate de 86g, dimensiuni 100x44x13.6mm.

NoScript

You should enable JavaScript only where you're sure it is safe. Now you can do it with ONE CLICK!

NoScript notifies you about blocked script tags () and Java™+Flash®+Plugin content (J+F+P) using a discreet :-) zap sound and standard "Popup blocker" style messages (you can customize/disable both using the Appearance options).

NoScript provides a really easy whitelist dialog to set JavaScript permissions.

You can customize almost everything in the appearance of NoScript

Advanced options allows you to block Java™, Flash® and other plugins (J+F+P) on untrusted sites (only JavaScript and Java are blocked by default). You may want also to enable rich-text clipboard operation on trusted sites (e.g. your web mail "compose" page).

Adobe opens shop on Web-based Photoshop Express

Adobe Systems opened up Photoshop Express on Thursday, its long-anticipated Web-based image editor aimed at the millions of consumers that want a simple way to touch up, share, and store photos.

Photoshop Express, available for free with 2 gigabytes of storage at www.photoshop.com/express, is a significant departure from Adobe's desktop software business and a big bet that it can make money offering Web services directly to consumers.

The application, which needs Flash Player 9 to run, pushes the limits of browser-based applications and will likely ratchet up the competition on the dozens of free and online photo-editing products available now (see our full review of Photoshop Express and gallery of screen shots of the application).

The MyPhotos page of Photoshop Express, a Web-based application for editing and sharing photos.

(Credit: Adobe)

News of an online version of Photoshop first came to light last year when Adobe's then-CEO Bruce Chizen told CNET News.com that the product would be available within six months.

Since then, Adobe has expanded the scope of the project, one reason why the product launch has taken longer than expected, according to executives. Rather than only an image editor, Photoshop Express also has ties to social networking sites like Facebook and other image-sharing sites.

Also, Adobe needed to build the back-end infrastructure needed to offer the service directly to consumers, rather than partner with another photo-sharing site, as it did with its online video editor, Premiere Express.

"We've seen a convergence of trends where the everyday consumer is becoming overwhelmed with the number of images and they have the desire to share images in new and interesting ways," said Doug Mack, the vice president of consumer and hosted solutions at Adobe.

"We're at the point now with bandwidth that most consumers can use really rich Internet applications and also have a relationship with a service where they store and upload images," he said.

The service will go live in beta test mode on Thursday. Mack said that the company intends to use the test period as a way garner feedback from customers.

Adobe intends to offer more features to consumers who pay a yearly fee. Some planned features include a printing service, more storage, support for audio and other media, and the ability to read additional image file types (the service works with .JPGs now.)

Adobe also plans to build an offline client using AIR (the Adobe Integrated Runtime) so that people can edit photos offline, executives said.

Under the hood
Adobe already has a few other Photoshop-branded products--Photoshop Creative Suite 3 and Photoshop Lightroom are aimed at professional and serious amateur photographers, while $99 Photoshop Elements is a consumer-oriented product.

Photoshop Express is designed to be used essentially by anyone who uses a point and click digital camera, said Mack.

People can organize photos by dragging them into albums or create a gallery to share images. The service also lets people email links images stored online, embed them in a Web page, or download them.

When people hover a mouse over an image, a menu appears that lets people do tasks, such as rotating an image. The editing tools are designed for speed, with an autocorrect option, redeye removal, and a touch-up tool.

Adobe has sought to make Photoshop Express intuitive enough for people to use without any training but still have features that appeal to more sophisticated photographers, said Geoff Baum, director of Adobe's Express products.

For example, the touch-up tool will automatically choose a color from a surrounding item to, say, remove a blemish on a face. Or, a person can choose where to sample a color to replace the blemish.

Photoshop Express also includes several ways to tweak photos just for fun. There are a number of effects to change the color of one item in a photo, like a hat on someone's head, or blur parts of an image.

While editing, the application displays thumbnail images that let people view how effects will change a photo before saving it and people can revert back to an original. The connections to Facebook and other social networking sites let people edit and update images from within Photoshop Express.

First impression
Adobe engineers wrote Photoshop Express from scratch using its Flex development framework and ActionScript, its JavaScript-compatible language.

"We had some of the top Photoshop engineers who understand the technology and science behind Photoshop rewrite some of the algorithms in ActionScript 3," Baum explained.

Having used Photoshop Express for a short time, I can say that it is simple to use. It's attractive, too. The use of Flash animation makes for a dynamic page and smooth transitions between operations.

Adobe is hoping that people who use Picasa, Google's free downloadable application, will be tempted by Photoshop Express.

As someone who uses Picasa for both work and personal photo editing, I'd say that Photoshop Express is indeed tempting because it's slick yet easy to use. You can get edits done quickly, particularly using the thumbnail preview feature.

However, launching the editor and actually saving changes is far slower than Picasa. That's not surprising, given that Photoshop Express has to download photos and upload changes, while Picasa doesn't. By design, Photoshop Express also has a broader range of options for sharing photos on other sites.

CNET Reviews will soon be posting a full review of Photoshop Express.

Is Microhoo silence a sign of progress?

When Microsoft and Yahoo were basically not speaking to one another, there was plenty of chatter and posturing from both sides.

Since that primping and posturing has largely died down (save Yahoo's recent road show with investors), does that mean the two companies are finally getting down to business?

Now it could be that the two companies have nothing to say because each is waiting for the other. But even that would be something to talk about. What makes companies really quiet is when there is something, but things are still fragile. I'm not claiming inside info on this, just saying that the silence has been eerie, particularly since the two sides had a preliminary meeting two weeks ago and then Yahoo went on its "Why we're worth more" road show.

There have been plenty of reporters and analysts arguing that Microsoft and Yahoo should just get on with it, the logic being that Yahoo doesn't really have any better offers and Microsoft can afford an extra billion or two, if necessary, to get a deal done.

At the same time, there are some factors that have set the stage for this slow-motion stage fight. One is that Microsoft, while definitely interested in Yahoo, does not appear interested in bidding against itself.

Kara Swisher notes that raising one's own bid may help win a charity auction, but it is not a very good strategy at a charity auction or when running a big business. And as those in the Microsoft camp point out, every dollar a share Microsoft were to add to its offer translates to well north of a billion dollars.

Yahoo, meanwhile, lifted the only pressing time limit when it delayed the deadline for nominating directors.

Here's the rub though: Microsoft says it's buying Yahoo to compete with Google. Every day that goes by is a day where Google is continuing to kick both company's online rears and the two companies are left to pursue their separate strategies. It's going to take time for a deal to get done even assuming they can come to terms, and then time once the deal gets done to get rid of all the overlap and get folks working on new projects.

The question is how much Microsoft values that time. The answer depends on just what kind of silence we are hearing.

ASRock Unveils World's First DisplayPort Motherboard

VESA's half-baked DisplayPort digital interface seems to become more an more popular with LCD display and graphics cards manufacturers. However, ASRock has just announced their new A780FullDisplayPort

motherboard offering, world's first DisplayPort device of its kind.

The company's allegations are only half true: while it is touted to be the "world's first DisplayPort motherboard", the connector is not built into the board. Instead, access to the DisplayPort connector is granted via a free DisplayPort card that ships with the motherboard. The card plugs into one of the two PCI slots, which leaves the user with only one available extension slot.

The motherboard comes with built-in graphics powered by a Radeon HD 3200 graphics core, with full
HD 1080p Blu-ray/HD-DVD playback. The video output offering is extremely generous, and the rear panel offers access to the D-Sub, DVI, HDMI, and DisplayPort connectors, that allows the motherboard to be connected to any existing LCD display.

The integrated RV610 graphics core also offers support for Microsoft's DirectX 10 technology, Pixel Shader 4.0 and ATI Hybrid CrossFireX technology. It allows users to share maximum 512 MB of system memory to be used for graphics, for smooth gaming experiences.

The motherboard comes with AMD's 780G and SB700 chipset combo and works with any AM2 and AM2+ processors. Other important features to be found in ASRock's A780FullDisplayPort motherboard are 6 SATA2 ports, RAID and PCI-Express Gigabit LAN, IEEE1394 (FireWire) and 6 ready-to-use USB 2.0 ports.

The DisplayPort interface is a state-of-the-art digital interconnect that allows increased data transfer rates between a display and the computer, while being fully compatible with the HDCP 1.3 digital rights management standard.

The new motherboard provides users with an out-of-the-box DisplayPort interconnect, which means that you will need a DisplayPort-ready monitor to enjoy high-definition content. At the moment, Dell and Samsung are the only LCD display manufacturers that provide DisplayPort interfaces built into their products.

Kisses, Hugs and a Lot of Love. All of Them Live on Google Earth!

Google Earth captures a lot of interesting moments, no matter if we’re talking about meteorite craters or sensitive information which should be hidden from our eyes. JosieNorden, member of the Google Earth Community forums, has created quite a remarkable

collection of pictures showing couples and lovers appearing on Google’s downloadable map application. As you can see in the pictures adjacent to the article, most photos actually show shadows due to the low angle of the sun available at the time of capturing the pictures.

What’s interesting is that the photos are actually captured in every corner of the world, in all kinds of moments. So, we now have the chance to see lovers kissing, couples walking on the beach or just two persons hugging on a street.

The collection of pictures was published on the Google Earth Community forums and can be easily imported and accessed by any user using the following file. All you need to do is to download this KMZ file and, supposing you have already installed Google Earth, click on File/Open and select the collection.

After the import is complete, an operation which should not take more than one second, you should be able to view a new entry in the Temporary Places menu located in the Places box. The name of the collection is "Lovers of google earth no 'lovers'" (don’t blame me for the name). In case you’d like to enjoy the entire collection without even touching a single button, you can view it as a slideshow by pressing the Play button of the Places box.

If you’d want to adjust the slideshow settings, have a look in the Tools / Options / Touring menu integrated into Google Earth. In order to modify the default configuration, enter the values you want in the fly-to speed, tour speed and tour pause boxes.

Still No POP3, but ‘More Ways to Get to Yahoo! Mail’!

POP3 is probably the only thing that makes lots of users turn to Yahoo Mail and use it as their default email service. However, the Sunnyvale company Yahoo, the owner of Yahoo Mail, is not willing to introduce POP3 support in the free

version of the service and continues to offer this function only to the paying customers. In a blog post published a few days ago, Yahoo’s officials presented a simple way to access Yahoo Mail, other than typing the URL in the address bar of your browser: a shortcut on your desktop.

Obviously, this is not too useful and the POP3 implementation is still the main request made by the Yahoo Mail users. Here’s the reaction of one of our readers to yesterday’s article entitled "Yahoo Mail: Still No POP3/IMAP, Just a Shortcut for the Time Being":

"Any idiot can place shortcut to a website on their desktop. I have been a long time user of yahoo mail, but due to the fact that I can download my Google mail to Thunderbird locally, I can read / respond to emails when i am not connected to the web, on the road due to work, etc, I am already phasing out my yahoo email accounts..."

So, Yahoo loses users due to the fact that Gmail has already introduced POP3. Nothing new, but the Sunnyvale company continues to provide more ways to access Yahoo Mail. Although it may not be too interesting, here’s today tip provided by Ryan K, Community Manager, Yahoo Mail: create a new browser toolbar especially supposed to host your favorite websites. All you need to do is visit the Yahoo Mail official website and drag the URL in the newly-created toolbar.

Note that this "trick" works for both Internet Explorer and Firefox, no matter if you’re using Windows or Mac OS X. So, in case this is something new for you, give it a try!

Google Turns the Lights Out

Google’s homepage is one of the most popular websites and nobody can deny this. Back in the past, there were numerous topics when people discussed about Google’s website interface, many researchers considering that a black version of the page would reduce energy consumption made by the monitors. At this time, Google is still white and I personally think it will remain the same for a long period of time from now on.

However, the super search giant turned to black today as

the Israel branch of the Mountain View company fights for worldwide energy conservation and tries to convince the residents of the country to turn off their lights for one hour.

"We believe in doing our part to help combat climate change, and found the Earth Hour initiative to be a timely, important event. Further, we think the 'lights out' idea's individual-centered nature is something that millions of people worldwide can participate in. In short, we really like it. So we did something about it," it is mentioned on the official website of the campaign entitled "Earth Hour."

Although many of you may find the black background pretty useful, the Mountain View company is not willing to permanently switch to such a color, so white will remain on our monitors for a long period from now on.

"We're committed to reducing the effects of climate change by promoting energy efficiency, but current evidence doesn't suggest that a permanent change to a black background would be beneficial to either the environment or our users," it is explained on the same website.

So, in case you’re living in Israel, and you want to help Google fight for energy conservation, turn off your lights today for one hour, from 8.00 PM to 9.00 PM. Who knows, maybe this would convince Google to adopt the black background…

Motorola Z9 to Hit the Stores

Enlarge picture

Motorola Z9, one of the new Moto phones that has been "floating" around for quite a while but didn't get the chance to be released, is almost confirmed to be launched via AT&T,

the largest mobile carrier in the US (and in the whole North America actually).

Although rumors about Z9 coming to AT&T first appeared a few weeks ago, there were no official details to sustain them. Now we have what can go as "official", as the folks over at Engadget Mobile got their hands on some valuable images showing several accessories for Z9, found in AT&T's stores (the accessories, not the phone). This being said, the new Moto handset will probably see the "light of the market" starting the first days of April, which is great news for both Motorola fans and for mobile users in general, assuming they don't have anything against Moto's products.

Motorola Z9 is a slider phone that doesn't pack outstanding features but it still seems to be a good mid-end device. Although the phone is pretty slim, measuring 114 x 53.6 x 13.9 millimeters, it is not as lightweight as you would expect, weighing about 140 grams. Among its specifications we have a 2.4 inch display, A-GPS with turn-by-turn navigation, HSDPA (only the US version), dedicated music keys for easy access to all your favorite songs, a 2 Megapixel camera with flash, Bluetooth, USB, CrystalTalk (enabling users to make perfect calls even in noisy environments), 45 MB of internal memory, microSD card support for up to 8 GB, and a pretty good battery that should allow you to use the device for 6 hours in talk-time mode and up to 13 days in stand-by.

There is no price yet for Moto Z9, but considering its features, we guess that, with an AT&T contract agreement, the phone cannot drain more than $200 from the pockets / cards of those who wish to buy it. Hopefully, our guessing abilities will not prove to be terrible.

Vista SP1, XP SP3 and Windows 7 Need to Be on the Lookout for Leopard

Enlarge picture

Windows Vista Service Pack 1, Windows XP Service Pack 3 and even Windows 7 need to be on the lookout for Apple's Leopard(s). The products of a software and a hardware company, Windows and Mac OS X, invite comparison as an inherent extension of the face-off between Microsoft and Apple. In the operating system arena, Windows holds the lion's share of the market, while Apple claims to offer a superior product, boasting advanced security, reliability and performance. But at the same time, it seems that the intimate

connection between Mac OS X and Mac computers offers a larger degree of customer satisfaction compared to the bundle of Windows and OEM PCs, according to ChangeWave Research. In this context, although it may already be too late for Vista SP1 and XP SP3, Windows 7 has to bring user experience to a new level for Microsoft.

Back in January 2008, ChangeWave Research revealed via a survey of 4,604 participants that four in five respondents, namely 81% of Apple customers, were satisfied with Leopard. In contrast, only 53% and 51% of those surveyed stated that they were satisfied with Windows XP Home Edition and respectively Windows XP Professional. The numbers for Vista are extremely low in contrast to both XP and Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, just 27% and 15% of respondents indicating that they were satisfied with Vista Home Premium and Home Basic SKUs respectively.

Paul Carton, ChangeWave Research Director of Research, made it clear that Apple's proprietary operating system is also the top dog when it comes to the satisfaction level delivered to business users. In a February 2008 survey, ChangeWave Research pointed out that 53% of corporate customers declared themselves satisfied with Leopard. Again, XP trailed Mac OS X 10.5 in terms of satisfaction with only 40% of the votes. In corporate environments, Vista is managing things even worse than it did with end consumers. Only 8% out of the 2,200 participants in the survey said that they were satisfied with the latest Windows client.

The data contradicts Microsoft's own findings in terms of customer satisfaction made public on January 30, 2008, by Neil Charney, General Manager, Microsoft Windows Client. "With any new operating system, there's a natural reluctance to upgrade because people have concerns about compatibility, they’re uneasy about learning something new or unsure about what the move to a new operating system will bring. But those who are using Windows Vista have generally been very pleased. We commissioned independent studies from IPSos and NPD to explore the attitudes of users about the operating system not only in the U.S., but also in China, France, Germany, Japan, and the UK. According to NDP, 70 percent of these users say it's an improvement over their previous operating system," Charney stated at the beginning of 2008.

As Vista SP1 was released to manufacturing on February 4, and to the general public on March 18, and with XP SP3 having reached RC2 Refresh stage, it may be already too late for Microsoft to sharpen the user experience claws and fangs. Judging by what Leopard brought to the table in comparison with Vista RTM and XP SP2, the Redmond company simply needs to kick it up a notch with Windows 7. At this point in time, Windows 7 is making its way toward the Milestone 2 stage, and the focus for Microsoft needs to be a platform that is much more than just "an improvement over their previous operating system (Windows Vista)."

Windows Installer 4.5 Beta 2 for Vista SP1 and XP SP3

Enlarge picture

Announced at the beginning of this month, Windows Installer 4.5 Beta 2 went live on Microsoft Connect as of March 21. According to the Redmond company, Windows Installer 4.5 Beta 2 is designed to bring to the table down-level packages tailored on Windows XP SP2 and SP3, as well as Windows Vista RTM and SP1, and Windows 2003 Server SP1 and above. Microsoft has also managed

to address a consistent list of issues that were identified in the previous version of the Windows Installer. It is important to note that Beta 2 is the last step preceding the finalization of Windows Installer 4.5.

"I am pleased to announce that Windows Installer 4.5 Beta 2 is now available from the Microsoft Connect site. If you have not signed up for the beta yet, please do - we are listed as 'Windows Installer 4.5' under the 'Available Connections' section of the site. If you have already joined the beta, please head back to the Connect site and download the updated bits, tools and documentation. This is our last planned beta release before we ship, so your feedback at this stage is especially important," stated Tyler Robinson, Program Manager - Windows Installer Team.

One aspect that you will need to be on the lookout for is the way Windows Installer 4.5 Beta 2 integrates with Vista SP1 and XP SP3. In this regard, Microsoft warned that deploying a pre-release version of Vista SP1 and XP SP3 on top of Vista RTM or XP SP2, with Windows Installer 4.5 already installed, can cause the Windows Installer registration to be broken. A workaround to such a scenario involves a simple Windows Installer 4.5 reinstall.

"Windows Installer v4।5 (MSI 4.5) is an update to Windows Installer 4.0 released in November 2006. Windows Installer 4.5 contains new and enhanced functionality and addresses some issues found in the Windows Installer 4.0 release. The goals of the Windows Installer 4.5 Beta 2 program are (1) to solicit feedback on new and enhanced features, (2) allow developers to evaluate and begin to plan for features available in the final release of MSI 4.5, and (3) augment the regression and application compatibility testing for Windows Installer based applications," reads an excerpt from the Windows Installer 4.5 Beta 2 documentation.

Microsoft Windows Installer 4.5.6001.22133 Beta is available for download here.