Facebook Rolls Out New, Simplified, and Improved Privacy Features

There's been a lot of talk recently about Facebook and privacy but the settings weren't always user-friendly. Now Facebook began rolling out their new simplified, yet feature-rich security settings to keep its users on top of their privacy.

It doesn't appear to be out for all accounts yet but if your account has been switched, you should be prompted to set your security settings as soon as you log in. In fact, it will keep bugging you until you do set them—forcing users to take an active role in their privacy.

 

  The settings in the wizard have been narrowed down a lot to avoid confusion, and really only give you two choices—Facebook's recommended setting for that feature, or your old settings. However, once you go through the wizard, you will have a new feature on your profile that allows you to set who can see each individual status update, wall post, or any other individual post you make: everyone, friends of friends, only friends, or something more specific. (For Example : blocking certain people)

[What do you all think of the new privacy features? Sound off in the comments]

New Tools to Control Your Experience [Facebook Blog]

Offline Gmail Graduates from Labs

Gmail's Labs section graduates offline Mail feature into the mainstream today, pulling offline mail into the general settings pane

Now that you can fine-tune which messages get saved offline and send offline attachments. To access all of Offline Gmail's settings, look for the new "Offline tab" on your Settings page.

Offline Gmail graduates from Labs [Official Gmail Blog]

Google Chrome for Mac and Linux Finally Hits Beta!!

Google officially released Chrome for Mac and Linux as a proper beta—that is to say, it's still not a final release.

 

Chrome for Mac/Linux beta doesn't have all of the features available to Chrome on Windows, and if you've been using the dev builds of Chrome before this, you probably won't notice any significant changes.

[Chrome for Mac/Linux beta is a free download, works with Intel Macs running Leopard or Snow Leopard or Linux PCs.]

Download

1.Google Chrome for Mac
2.Google Chrome for Linux

A Day in the Internet!!

The internet is, like, big. So's this infographic showing just how crazy huge it is !!

Google Officially Converts Homepage to Minimalist, Fade-In Style

The page shows just the logo, elongated search bar, and two buttons when you first arrive, and then the top-level menus fade in when you interact with it. It may not show up right away, but after a hard refresh—or cookie wipe—you should start seeing the new effects.

Now you see it, now you don't [Official Google Blog]

30 Free Apps We're Most Thankful For !!

1. Firefox 2. VLC 3. CCleaner 4. Flash Player 10.1 5. 7-Zip 6. OpenOffice.org 7. Google Chrome 8. µTorrent 9. Notepad++ 10. Microsoft Security Essentials

11. Thunderbird 12. Adobe AIR 2 13. ImgBurn 14. Picasa 15. Skype 16. Pidgin 17. Ubuntu 18. iTunes 19. Foxit Reader 20. Defraggler

21. Digsby 22. Winamp 23. Google Earth 24. TeraCopy 25. The Complete Guide to  Google Wave 26. SpyBot Search & Destroy 27. CDBurnerXP 28. Google Wave 29. Media Player Classic 30. Google Voice

The Complete Guide to Google Wave Preview Edition PDF Available for Download

The preview edition of Gina and Adam's new book, The Complete Guide to Google Wave, is now available in PDF form for your offline reading.

Google Wave is a young tool  that's not terribly easy to understand for a lot of  folks. The 102-page personalized PDF of “The Complete Guide to Google Wave” is available for $6, but keep in mind that the content of our book will always be available for free at any time at -http://completewaveguide.com/

For Free Download Click here

Office 2010 Professional Beta Available for Download

Microsoft has thrown open the doors on a free beta of Office 2010 Professional—for download.The download is 684 MB, this one requires  registering or signing in with a Windows Live account.

Microsoft is suggesting users uninstall previous versions of Office before downloading—as well as asking that you "don't test Office Professional Plus 2010 Beta on your primary home or business PC.

 

Download - Microsoft Office 2010 Beta Professional Plus

Blogger Labels: Office,Professional,Beta,Available,Download,Microsoft,Live,account,Plus,doors,users,versions

Adobe Flash 10.1 Beta Brings Hardware Acceleration to Web Videos

Windows/Mac/Linux : Adobe is offering up  prerelease Flash software adding in GPU acceleration  for H.264 video in Windows, multi-touch support, and bug fixes.

  Adobe AIR 2.0 beta, meanwhile, adds in a whole bunch of native computer functionality, including USB access, better networking compatibility, the ability to open a link or file with its native application and many other improvements.

Both Flash 10.1 prerelease and AIR 2.0 beta are free downloads for Windows, Mac, and Linux systems.

Flash Player 10.1 [Adobe Labs]
Adobe AIR 2 [Adobe Labs]

What Happens to Your Online Accounts When You Die?

What happens to your email and social networking accounts when you die. Will your relatives be able to gain access, or will the accounts simply fade away

Email services like Hotmail and Gmail allow next of kin to access accounts of deceased individuals as long as the family can provide proof of death. Other services like MySpace will simply delete the account upon request. Facebook will also delete an account if asked, but also goes the extra mile and turns the user's page into a memorial page if the family desires.

Would you want access to a deceased family member's accounts, or would you rather they were just deleted?

[Talk about it in the comments.]

Find What Happens To Your Email and Social Networking Accounts When You Die

Blogger Labels: Online,Accounts,Email,services,Hotmail,Gmail,individuals,death,MySpace,account,Facebook,user,memorial,desires,member,Talk,comments,Find,Social

User Account Control (UAC) is Not a Security Tool

The single most irritating feature introduced in Windows Vista was those annoying UAC prompts, asking you for permission to do nearly anything on your computer—and the fact is, even if it makes you feel more secure, it's a false sense of security. Malware researchers at Sophos Labs found that 8 of 10 malware samples can actually bypass UAC on a system with the default Windows 7 settings.

The fact of the matter is that unless you've pushed the UAC slider all the way to the top [Windows 7], It's not meant to be a security feature.

The original intent was to change the way Windows works so that you can more easily run software as a standard user account, instead of running as administrator all the time.

So there you have it—if you aren't going to run as a standard user or turn the slider all the way to the top, you may as well disable UAC.

Blogger Labels: UAC,User,Account,Control,Tool,Vista,permission,computer,fact,Malware,Sophos,Labs,system,administrator,slider

Make Yourself Eligible for an Office 2010 Starter Beta

Microsoft Office 2010 will offer a free, ad-supported "Starter" edition, in addition to its regular, rather pricey offerings. Beta invites are already going out, and you can increase your chances at a spot by filling out a quick online survey.

  By quick, I mean two minutes or less. The survey asks what type of computers you use at home, what kind of internet connection you have, and whether you've used Office in the past six months. It also asks if you've used Google Docs or OpenOffice in the same time period.

  Filling out the survey won't guarantee a place in the 2010 Starter beta program, but it certainly won't hurt, So Give it a Go.

Microsoft Office 2010 Starter Program Nomination Form[Microsoft via Digital Inspiration]

Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala Out Now

The final version of Ubuntu 9.10 has hit Ubuntu's servers a little bit ahead of its front page. Grab a torrent or ISO of the free Linux operating system while the servers aren't slammed.

 

 

View Full Album

Download : Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala)

Google Music Search Officially Launched

Google officially launched built-in music playback results on regular Google search queries.

Making search more musical [Official Google Blog]

Google Voice AIR App Keeps Voicemail and SMS on Your Desktop

Adobe AIR: If you'd like to keep quick access to your Google Voice voicemail and SMS messages handily in place on your dock or taskbar, a cross-platform app gives you exactly that by packaging up Google Voice's mobile site.

Google Voice Desktop is a free download, works on any system with Adobe AIR installed

Download : Google Voice app

[If you don't have an account yet, you can request a Google Voice invitation at google.com/voiceinvite.]

Announcing the Release Candidate for Ubuntu 9.10

 

The more stable, heavily bug-fixed Release Candidate of Ubuntu 9.10 is available for Download.

Waver is a Compact Google Wave Client

(Adobe AIR): Waver allows you to keep a single-column view of Google Wave open on your desktop at all times from which you can read, compose, and keep an eye on what's happening in your Wave inbox.

Waver is a free download for all platforms, and requires Adobe AIR.

Download : Waver

Prep Your PC for Windows 7

Before you buy an upgrade disc, though, you'll want to ensure your system meets the minimum specs for 7.

Need to double-check one of your system's stats against what Microsoft calls the bare minimum? They offer a free Upgrade Advisor download for Windows systems that will tell you whether your hardware and peripherals can live in the Windows 7 world.

Shrink and Affix Tabs with "Pin Tab" Option

Finally, a tiny little tab feature that everyone seems to love is available in the dev build of Chrome

» Right-click on any tab and choose "Pin tab" from the context menu to try it out” «

Google’s Experimental Homepage Fades To A Single Word

Google is reportedly experimenting with a new fading homepage design in an effort to create a cleaner, simpler interface.

The experimental design does away with every detail except for the Google logo and the search box, revealing the other navigation links only when a user mouse over the screen.

(One version of the page removes the "Google Search" and "I'm Feeling Lucky" buttons entirely).

The Most Popular Hotmail Password Edition

A researcher took a look at the 10,000 leaked Hotmail accounts and pulled out the most popular password

Most Common Hotmail Password Revealed!

Surprise!! Surprise!! It's

123456!

This awful password appeared 64 times out of the 10,000 leaked passwords. [Wired]

10,000 Hotmail Passwords Leaked Online

An anonymous user posted usernames and passwords for over 10,000 Windows Live Hotmail accounts to web site PasteBin, including accounts on email domains like @hotmail.com, @msn.com, and @live.com.

Microsoft has confirmed the leak, so if you're a Live Hotmail user and you suspect you may have been affected, now's the time to change that password.

For the rest of us—well, this may serve as a reminder that it might be a good time to do a password refresh

Google Removes Pirate Bay Frontpage From Search Results

A few hours ago Internet search mogul Google removed the Pirate Bay frontpage from its search results. According to the company this action was taken after it received a DMCA takedown request.

Give Out and Receive Your Google Wave Invitations Here

Google just started handing out Wave invites, and they're planning to dish out more all day. The door is open to 100,000 new users; if you're one of the lucky ones, you can share the love (and your invites) here.

They are sending out those invitations by hand (that is, it's not an automated push to every single user), so it will probably take some time.

If you were lucky enough to get an invite, you'll also score eight invitations of your own that you can hand out to your friends and colleagues. If you're interested in sharing the love with your fellow Technophilia readers post a comment and let others know you've got an invitation to share.

Good luck, Everybody!

Internet turns 40 today

  On September 2, 1969, two computers at the University of California, Los Angeles, exchanged some data. And that exchange of the meaningless data was the beginning of a revolution called Internet that changed the way the world communicated breaking the geographical boundaries.

Unable to choose between Google and Bing?

That's ok; these three mashups

:- { “Bing & Google”  “Bingle”  “Bing vs. Google” }

display results from both search engines in handy side-by-side frames. If you want to spend some time figuring out which engine you really prefer, one of these mashups is a good place to start. The premise of these sites is simple.

Two search engines, one search box, results side-by-side:

Yahoo Upgrades Mail, Messenger, and Search

Yahoo Mail users are getting 25MB attachment limits and easier photo uploading, a new Messenger beta allows for full-screen video chat and social network link-ins, and searchers will get refinement and analytic results.

The big thing that everyone will find use for is an increase in Yahoo Mail's attachment size limits from 10 to 25MB. Multiple photos and images can now be selected for upload, and rotated and previewed before they're sent.

Download:- Yahoo! Messenger 10 Beta

Video Chat Directly from iGoogle

Earlier this year Google added the chat sidebar to iGoogle, which gave you Gmail-style chat in your iGoogle start page. Now they've expanded the chat functionality to include video chat right from the main iGoogle interface.

If you already downloaded the video-chat plug-in when it was released for Gtalk in Gmail, then you're already set. If you haven't done so yet, you'll need to download the plug-in here.

Once you have the plug-in installed whenever you are talking with another person using iGoogle, GTalk, or supported third-party clients or mobile phones, you'll be able to start a video chat with them directly form iGoogle.

Gmail, Google Calendar, Docs, and Talk Leave Beta

Google today will finally remove the long-standing“beta tag” from some of its most popular web applications, most notably its wildly popular email application, Gmail.

Does the beta-less Gmail, Calendar, Docs, or Talk mean anything special to you? Will it inspire you to use Google apps more confidently? Let's hear your thoughts in the comments.

Google Wave

Explain it in 60 characters…

Gmail on crack.  Imagine Gmail, Google Talk, and Google Docs in one big inbox.

 

Google Wave Questions and Answers [Smarterware]

Chrome Dual View Lets You Split Chrome in Two

Whether you want to split the screen to compare two things side by side or to take advantage of your expansive widescreen monitor, the dual view bookmarklet splits your web browser in two. We've covered a few ways you can split up your screen real estate and make the most of it, including Firefox extension Split Browser and the Windows app WinSplitRevolution. Chrome Dual View is a simple bookmarklet which lets you split the browsing window of any modern browser with Java script support into two panes. When you run the bookmarklet, it prompts you for the URL you want to appear on each side, and then loads them side by side. Chrome Dual View works with—thanks for the extra testing, readers!—IE, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, and Safari among other browsers with Java script support. Chrome Dual View :-Drag this link to  your Crome Bookmark area.

Email 'n Walk Lets You Multitask Without Getting Hit By a Car

 

iPhone iPhone only: Email n' Walk overlays an email composition window on top of the view from your iPhone's camera, so you can type out an email and watch where you're going. Insane? Ridiculous? Of course. It also kind of works. And while we don't recommend putting your life in the hands of your iPhone's camera, it's a clever idea. Though I can't imagine actually using it for its intended purpose, I can imagine using it to do a little spying while I'm sitting down and typing out an email. When you finish composing an email in Email 'n Walk, hitting send will open up a proper email window in Mail so you can choose your recipient and send it. Email 'n Walk is a free, iPhone-only download for a limited time from the iTunes App Store.

A "Mood Lamp " That Can Read Minds

A technology called “functional MRI” or fMRI can see what is happening inside someone’s brain when they are thinking specific thoughts. The Psyleron Mind Lamp is a fun way that explores an application of this technology.

Researchers at Princeton University developed the Lamp, and claim that the Mind Lamp changes color due to “electron tunneling”, a quantum-level phenomenon that directs the lamp to change the lamp color.
The lamp has a microprocessor that checks for statistical patterns that adjust the red, green, blue and white color balances on the body of the unit.

By:- Amit Samantaray

Liquid Solar Array Power Generator

This new solar technology (LSA) promises to produce electricity at a comparable cost to fossil fuel generators.
Each LSA panel has a tiny area of silicon photovoltaic cells on the water’s surface with a large rotating plastic focusing-lens above, which tracks the sun. According to the technology’s developers, Sunengy, the water plays an important role in cooling the silicon cells.
The lens can also be submerged when rotated fully to protect it during stormy weather and high winds, in particular. At 2mm thick, the lens may appear flimsy but is robust enough to survive winds of more than 100mph due to its unique method of using water, as part of the structure, to protect it.
The water has another use, too. Coated in a special self-cleaning surface, the lens can be washed of dust or salt simply by dunking it, via its sun-tracking mechanism, into the drink.

By:- Amit Samantaray

The Springtail Exoskeleton Flying Vehicle

A company called Trek Aerospace has developed the Springtail Exoskeleton Flying Vehicle, a single pilot, vertical take-off-and-landing helicopter-type aircraft.
The craft supports the pilot in a standing position and is powered by a 118 hp rotary engine which drives two counter-rotating fans.
The Springtail is controlled by a computer system that can tilt each fan individually to control pitch and yaw. It has a top speed of 113 mph and a range of 184 miles. The retail price is $1.25 million USD.

By:- Amit Samantaray

Storing a Lightning Bolt in a Piece of Glass

Penn State University Researchers have discovered glass with the highest ability to store energy ever developed. This type of glass would make an ideal candidate for high energy density storage capacitors to power more efficient electric vehicles.

The glass is a barium boroaluminosilicate glass, which is produced in large quantities for flat panel displays and electronics packaging. One of the factors that makes this glass ideal is its nearly defect-free quality. This discovery opens a potentially new market for glass. Ideally, manufacturing processes will get to a point where they can make any size sheet they need for any size capacitor.
Engineering challenges still remain as they scale up from the small sizes to those ready for commercial production.

By:- Amit Samantaray

Flexible, Extremely Thin Loudspeakers

Extremely flat, flexible loudspeakers have been designed by Warwick Audio Technologies. They bend easily, they could adapt to whatever space they're being installed in.
Conventional stereo speakers use vibrating electromagnetic drivers to produce sound, whereas these speakers operate using a flexible laminate composed of a series of conducting and insulating materials. The laminate vibrates when an electrical audio signal is introduced and the speakers create a directional sound wave based on the audio signal.
Warwick also says that the technology is easy and inexpensive to manufacture.

By:- Amit Samantaray

Two-Seater Folding Helicopter

 

The Hummel is a two passenger lightweight helicopter that has a fully enclosed cabin and tandem rotors which offer the same stability as a conventional helicopter.
When you're done flying it folds into a box shape for easy storage and transportation.
This new helicopter design has many potential applications including air taxi, emergency services, coast guard, police, army and personal transport and recreation.

By:- Amit Samantaray

Air-Conditioned Bed

 

Kuchofuku and Itochu have developed a mattress with a built-in air conditioning system.
A fan located at the foot of the mattress pulls in air from behind the sleeper's head drawing off body heat, and transporting it out of the bed.
According to the makers, operating the mattress for eight hours results in about 13 cents in monthly electricity costs, which is way less than using an air conditioner that cools an entire room. The best part is that the mattress can be used in winter as well, as buyers get a heater with the mattress.
Running eight hours a day, the system will generate only about 13 yen in — much cheaper than using an air conditioner to cool an entire bedroom. The mattress goes on sale in May in Japan in May and costs $300.

By:- Amit Samantaray

Fast Color-Changing Liquid May Lead to Better Sunglasses

Researchers in Japan have developed a "photochromic" material that changes color thousands of times faster than conventional materials when exposed to light.
This development could lead to a wide range of new products including improved sunglasses, more powerful computers, dynamic holograms, and better medicines.
The unique photochromic material shows instantaneous coloration upon exposure to ultraviolet light and its disappearance happens within the same short period when the light is turned off. The material is also more stable and longer-lasting.

By:- Amit Samantaray

World's Fastest Camera To Diagnose Disease

 

A team of engineers from UCLA has announced the development of a continuously running imaging technology that can operate 1,000 times faster than the fastest cameras available today.
Unlike traditional cameras, the new technology does not use CCD or CMOS devices to capture the image, but uses a novel fiber optic approach.
An ultrafast camera such as this could have applications in the medical domains, as they can reveal how biological processes work on a cellular level, as well as allow development of new diagnostic cellular analysis techniques.

By:- Amit Samantaray

2Sibling Vehicle

The 2Sibling is a vehicle that is able to become two. This innovative idea attaches the two siblings to each other in a back to back position in a way the allows only one of them to move ahead, while the other one remains neutralized and being pulled by the previous one. In this way, the 2Sibling can be used as a vehicle for 2 persons or as two tiny vehicles for city use, or as a vehicle of all-terrain. This 2Sibling vehicle will provide sheer fun to the riders of the city car and give a multipurpose solution for many people efficiently. 

By:- Amit Samantaray