World's Smallest Single-Person Helicopter

Ok, so there's no doubt in my mind that most of you must have dreamt about owning a private jet sometime in your life! Whether you need a quick spin in the air, wish to take a surprise trip to Puerto Rico or the Carribean, or just propose to your girlfriend "in air", owning a private jet or helicopter has been an expensive dream for quite a lot of us. But looks like technology and luck is on our side! With this smallest private helicopter that you can actually buy, here's your chance to turn your fantasies into realities!

Leonardo da Vinci, the famous painter, was also a great & controversial scientist, whose thoughts and ideas were way ahead of his time, and hence could not be materialized. But his famous notebook drawings from 1493 show an "ornithopter" design with a screw-like rotor, which was actually similar to a helicopter that could actually fly! inspired by Da Vinci's design, Yanagisawa's GEN H-4 was created. It has no tail, and instead works on twin counter-rotating propellers that cancel out the torque that requires single-rotor helicopters to have a perpendicular tail rotor, and can fly at a maximum speed of 50 kilometres (31 miles) per hour.

The GEN H-4 from Gene corporation comes with a seat and landing gear so all you have to do is strap on and you are ready to go. The rotors have a length of only 4 meters (118 inches) so they don't cause any parking problems. It is powered by 4 lightweight 125 cc 2 cylinder engines which use standard gasoline. The GEN H-4 can fly to a maximum altitude of 1000 meters at a top speed of 90 km/hr (59 mph) for upto 30 minutes. And the best part, you dont require a license to fly the GEN H-4 in Japan and the inventors claim it is easy as riding a bicycle and with just 2 hours of practice you can master it. I wish they would get the "no-license" rule in US too!

Yanagisawa(the inventor)runs a company in Matsumoto, north of Tokyo, where he designed and built this first smallest single-person helicopter that weighs 75 kilos(165 lbs). The 75-year old inventor will make a demonstration flight in the city of Vinci, near Florence, on May 25; and only after a trial run in the dessert, he has already sold five units in Japan and two to US customers. The cost for one is a reasonable $58,250; with an average flight speed of 31 mph, its still better than most cars! I'd love to fly everyday to work, but that would cause even more problems with flight and aviation department, not to mention the tonnes of helipads that companies would need to build!! Well, maybe our grand-kids would see that aspect of the world, but for now, I'm just happy with this single-person private helicopter that can fly me to places catering to my whims!

AceCraft is the licensed distributor in the US for this single-person helicopter and their website can answer most of questions and queries, with loads of information and photos.

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HP's TouchSmart TX2 - The Multitouch Laptop

Everyone has been talking about multitouch technology since some time now. Its like the techie in us can never be satisfied! First we needed voice-activated, then we needed everything touch-screen-capable, and now, we need Multi-touch capable! As the tech world scrambles to keep the consumers happy, HP answers your requests with their latest TouchSmart tx2, the first consumer laptop to feature multi-touch functionality. If you haven't seen the cool promos on TV, you've really missed something! The new TouchSmart is not only sleek and cool, it indeed comes with a lot of functionality to satisfy your geeky-techie side! [image credit - Gizmodo]

HP's Touchsmart tx2 is a 12.1-inch convertible tablet that provides iPhone-like ability to scroll, zoom, flick, and drag and drop by using your fingers on the screen. For example, you can scroll up and down by using two fingers on the screen or zoom in and out by using a pinching motion.

Aside from its multitouchness, the tx2 looks like a standard convertible tablet with a center hinge that lets you twist the display to switch between notebook mode and slate tablet mode. Pricing starts at a reasonable $1,149. For that price, the TouchSmart tx2 features a 2.1GHz AMD Turion X2 CPU, 3GB of memory, a 250GB hard drive, integrated ATI HD3200 graphics, and 32-bit Vista Home Premium. Unfortunately, Core 2 Duo processors and discrete graphics are not offered. The Mediasmart 2.0 software lets you watch movies, look at photos, play music, listen to radio and watch TV on demand. HP is also partnering with MTV networks to bring IPTV content in from MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon.

HP accomplished this feat, right in time for the holiday season, by partnering with an Israeli company called N-trig. Yes, you don't always have to wait for Microsoft to come and lend you a hand! I think its great that HP announced this new laptop, as it gives a nice option to those trying to choose between a Macbook and a PC.

It might not be able to lure away hard-core Mac followers, but the new Multi-touch TouchSmart tx2 surely has potential to attract a few consumers, especially those in their 20's or 30's, who want to look cool with their laptops! Efficiently designed, stylish, and affordably priced, HP might just see some sales this coming Holiday season!

To learn more about the features, functionality and configuration, visit HP's store and check out the buzz on TouchSmart tx2!

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3G Mobile Internet Picks up in UK

The imminent rise of 3G technology in the UK over the last few years has been a sudden burst of fresh energy, but has also generated quite a flurry of activity! Unlike US, the 3G hype was merely seen as another mobile voice calling technology. However, looks like the people have become more adaptive about the 3G based mobile internet technology as it promises to become a viable alternative to traditional broadband for UK users. The rapid rise in 3G followers is nevertheless intriguing, and definitely worth a second look at the technology in question!

As Rory Cellan-Jones of BBC puts it "Mobile Broadband has really taken off!", supporting his statement with a graph showing how the amount of data crossing the 3G network has increased 14 fold in just six months! This massive increase in traffic is attributed e to what is referred as dongle - a plug-and-play USB modem that use High-Speed Downlink Packet Access or HSDPA technology (sometimes referred to as 3.5G) to enable laptops to use mobile broadband, which simply means "fast computer internet access without a land-line", in layman's terms.

The dongles are being offered with a fixed price plan (for example 3GB of data for £15 a month) which has triggered a price war in the UK market with other operators such as T-Mobile and Vodafone competing with similarly aggressive deals. It is estimated that as many as half a million new users have signed up to 3's dongle and now use mobile broadband with their laptops!

This means this is certainly the preferred choice for users in the UK, who are letting go of traditional wireless LAN or fixed broadband services, which often incur significant installation fees for new users andmay not be as cost-effective as the dongles. This also poses a serious threat to WiMax (or 802.16e), as the success of 3.5G/HSDPA based services may impact it's roll-out over the next few years.

Like anything new, people take time to warm up to an idea or concept, and same was the case for 3G. But now, after comparing their options, 3G technology and Mobile Broadband seems to have gained a significant foothold in the UK market. Whether it can maintain its winning streak, or lose to competing technologies like WiMax, only time will tell. Till then, I'm happy that we have found something that at the end of the day, is more beneficial to everyday users like you and me!

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Yahoo Opens Up Fire Eagle to Public

In March 2008, Yahoo opened the beta version of Fire Eagle, its location-based middleware that allows developers to build services tailored to the user's geographic area. Fire Eagle is now open to the public with 22 launch partners providing their services. Yahoo tries to target the large market of social networking, but as with any other plethora of apps and widgets, Fire Eagle comes with its own sets of perks and problems! But for those inspiring to make some money out of writing cool applications, this could be your newest gig, after the Apple iPhone apps!

Fire Eagle begins by asking users for location data, which can be entered as vaguely as the country or as specifically as the global coordinates. From that point, Fire Eagle's job is done as far as the user is concerned, most of a user's interaction will take place through applications built upon the service.

There are applications available now for a variety of devices and operating systems, though most are not cross-platform. The gallery currently includes location-based social networking applications from Brightkite, Plazes, Loki, and Zkout; travel mapping apps from Dopplr, Map My Tracks, eKit, and Navizon; point-of-interest and event listings from Lightpole, Outalot, and Wikinear; location-based search from Rummble; messaging from Spot and Pownce; and news from Outside.in, and many more that I find hard to list here!

Developers wishing to capitalize on Yahoo's geo-aware infrastructure can freely access the Fire Eagle API through Yahoo's Developer Center. Applications fall into three general categories: Web, mobile, and desktop. Since each provides a different authentication type, developers have to have a general idea of what they're building before they can obtain an API key. Yahoo provides a few walk-throughs and examples for developers as well.

Privacy is of course a major concern for Fire Eagle, as it allows you to update your location across any authenticated partner site. it is like a centralized service that knows your location, and sends out updates to its participating sites that you have authorized. meaning to address this issue, it allows you to give certain permissions to different sites, and these settings can be changed at any point through the site.

So all you young developers-cum-entrepreneurs out there, hop on to Fire Eagle and see if you can fire it on!!

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Personal Health Records Now on Google!

I'm sure we've all been to see a doctor several times, and the most annoying part, other than getting an appointment and waiting for your turn, is to fill out the sheets of health conditions and medical history, not just yours but your family's too! Believe it or not, I was so inclined to launch an online tool that would maintain medical records online, but its just that several others, including Google, beat me to it!:) Google Health is now open to public, where you can choose to update your medical records and information that could be used for future doctor visits, eliminating the need to fill out any more forms!

Google Health has been a "pilot project" for the company, and after a year and half of development, it is now live and offers online personal health records to the public since Monday. It allows the user/patient to send personal information, at his own discretion, into the clinic record or to pull information from the clinic records into his Google personal file. There have been several players who did this previously, (WebMD & Microsoft too), but this concept was a bit hard to accept as people are skeptical to put their personal medical information online. But will a technology name like Google help shun the old fears and coax people into accepting this? A two-month trial this year held at the Cleveland Clinic found that patients were eager to use the Google health records as they somehow felt more safe sharing their information with Google because its a trusted name in online security.

As soon as you enter Google Health, you land on your Profile page. You can create a new profile or update an existing one with your medical information like allergies, procedures, medical conditions, family history and more. You can import medical records from a clinic or make them available to your doctors, but only if you explicitly choose to do so. A list of tabs on the left give you a summary of your profile and also attached test procedures and results. As all Google products, this is fairly simple to use.

They also offer other useful services like "Find a Doctor" and "Explore Health Services" just like any other online program. The look and feel of this tool is simple, and Google is not selling advertisements (yet!). What information should be shared with doctors, clinics and/or pharmacies is totally controlled by the individual (or at least that's what it says!) More than two dozen companies and institutions have already announced partnerships with Google Health, including Walgreens, CVS, the American Heart Association, Quest Diagnostics, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the Cleveland Clinic. They all hope to capitalize eventually (by ads or sponsorships) on the trend of seeking health information online, and the potential of web to help consumers manage their own health care and medical spending.

If you accept that this system is secure, and that your privacy would not be violated, i can see a lot of benefits for this. One, you don't have to rely on your memory trying to remember when was the last time you had a cold or got a vaccination. Its really easy to share history with your doctors, especially when you change them, as you don't need to re-iterate about your conditions to the new physician. Its also useful to request a doctor to view these records before you fly across states or countries just for an appointment and then to be told that the doctor cannot treat you because of a "glitch" in your records! And its so much easier to choose off-the-shelf medication if you can discuss the records with a pharmacist before-hand!

Like everything in life, I can see that Google Health has its pros and cons. With the growing threat of internet fraud, people would be justified to be skeptical about something like this. But with more and more people turning to the web for finding cures to simple medical problems, there are a lot of benefits of sharing medical records online, only if used in the right way,. Whether Google Health weilds its power on people or not, only time will tell!

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Blackberry Bold vs iPhone-2

People are still waiting with bated breath for the release of next-generation iPhone which promises 3G, GPS, enterprise software and more. But looks like RIM will fascinate the crowds with its latest Blackberry Bold, supporting 3G networks worldwide, as well as Wi-Fi and GPS, all packaged in a sleek, elegant yet bold look! RIM (Research in Motion) has always been an industry leader in dishing out cool and powerful blackberry devices. Like Apple, it has a huge fan-following, and with this new Blackberry Bold, it has a headstart in the 3G market which could impose serious competition to the next iPhone version, supposedly being released in June.

Comparing Blackberry Bold with iPhone-2

Equipped with support for tri-band HSDPA and quad-band EDGE (for worldwide support), 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi, stereo Bluetooth and both assisted and autonomous GPS, the Bold is RIM's most powerful and most connected BlackBerry to date. With a look and feel similar to iPhone(except for a smaller screen), it comes with a QWERTY keyboard, rounded corners, and personalisable back-plates. The keys are sculpted for easier typing and navigation, and even with a smaller display size than iPhone, the images look much higher-res on the Bold 9000. However, the Bold does not have a touch-screen, which could make it a wee bit less attractive than its competitor.

The Blackberry Bold's 624-MHz StrongARM processor with full MMX (multimedia extensions) is the most powerful CPU on a handheld and can handle full-motion video on its 480-by-320-pixel, 65,000-plus-color display for a smooth and crisp picture. With its 1GB of on-board secure memory (on top of its 128MB of flash) it offers attractive storage for personal and business data that you'd rather not store on an SD card. It also features a 2-megapixel camera capable of up to 5X digital zoom.

RIM has been the dominant player in the corporate-oriented smartphone space for some time. By introducing Bold, it is looking to transform a simple messaging device into an attractive device that is fast and easy to use for e-mail, offers multi-media features, as well as support for 3G, GPS and Wi-Fi. RIM has also announced a deal with Thomson Reuters to create a $150 million venture capital fund to invest in companies developing applications and services for the BlackBerry and other mobile platforms (remember iFund??!!).

The price is not yet determined, nor does RIM share any details on which U.S. carrier will introduce the Bold (though AT&T seems to be the most likely). However, there's no single-carrier commitment like the iPhone. The Blackberry Bold is supposed to hit the market in Summer 2008, possibly around the same time frame as iPhone-2 (around June). So if you've been waiting for buying a cool, sleek new device, it might be a good idea to compare the two and see which one fits your needs! While iPhone continues to be a choice for video and multimedia features with its large display and attractive touchscreen, the Blackberry Bold could be a competitive option for business and enterprise needs.

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Google Targets VisualRank for Enhanced Image Search

The world of web search relies a lot of Google's PageRank technology, and until semantic web comes into existence, feeble efforts by Ask may not be able to compete with the PR concept. But the one area where google lacked its credibility was in image search. Using the title or alternate-text associated with images is not exactly the most efficient way to conduct image search. However, Google researchers say they have a software technology intended to do for digital images on the Web what the company’s original PageRank software did for searches of Web pages, which may be the first prototype of this kind that has VisualRank for Images.

As stated in a recent article in NY Times, two Google scientists presented a paper describing what the researchers call VisualRank, an algorithm for blending image-recognition software methods with techniques for weighting and ranking images that look most similar. The prototype solution was demonstrated at the International World Wide Web Conference in Beijing.

Although image search has become popular on commercial search engines, results are usually generated by using text associated with images rather than the image itself. Image analysis remains a largely unsolved problem in computer science, and though automatic face detection has seen some light of the day, finding other objects such as mountains, landscape or small objects is still a challenge.

"We wanted to incorporate all of the stuff that is happening in computer vision and put it in a Web framework," said Shumeet Baluja, a senior staff researcher at Google, who made the presentation with Yushi Jing, another Google researcher. The research paper, "PageRank for Product Image Search", is focused on a subset of the images that the giant search engine has cataloged because of the tremendous computing costs required to analyze and compare digital images. The company said that in its research it had concentrated on the 2000 most popular product queries on Google’s product search, words such as iPod, Xbox and Zune. It then sorted the top 10 images both from its ranking system and the standard Google Image Search results. With a team of 150 Google employees, it created a scoring system for image "relevance". The retrieval returned 83 percent less irrelevant images than those based on text.

Google is not the first into the visual product search category. Like.com, started in 2006, offers a service that refers users to shopping sites, makes it possible for a Web shopper to select a particular visual attribute (ability to match shapes and objects rather than text), such as a certain style of brown shoes or a style of buckle, and then be presented with similar products available from competing Web merchants.

We all know that an enhanced image search is definitely required, and the current search technique based on text is not 100% accurate. But with the imperfect image-recognition techniques currently available, does Google's claim see too tall?? And will this be a scalable solution, considering the large amount of images foound on the web? VisualRank sure seems like adding value to the quality of image search, but seeing this implemented is something I'd like. However, i hope Google would focus more on semantic web first so web search can get more meaningful!

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Flickr (Yahoo) Finally Launches Online Video Service- But Is It Worthy Enough??

Today Flickr (Yahoo) introduced its online video launching service, which allows its premium users to upload video clips of up to 150MB to their Flickr portfolio. Free members will still be able to view these clips, but will be unable to add their own, at least for the time being. Where YouTube rules the online video world, and Hulu providing a close competition, does Flickr Video have a chance at all?? Plus, it seems like its not a free service like the others, so will people actually pay to upload their "short videos only" when they have so many free options available? Check out what you can do and see for yourself!

Yahoo seems to have adopted a very different path with their video service, limiting user video clips to just 90 seconds duration. It's a far cry from the arms race of higher quality and unlimited length offered by services like Vimeo, Viddler, Hul and even YouTube to a certain degree. That's not to say videos will look poor and grainy, though. The system has been designed to scale any clip you can throw at it, including high-definition from high-end point-and-shoot cameras or your HD-capable camcorder. The frame rate also maintains 30 FPS, which is half the speed of video captured on most modern point and shoot digital cameras.

So why was Flickr Videos necessary?? What Flickr is trying to do with these small clips is provide a place for people to post and share the little videos they're capturing on their digital cameras, the tiny items that are still very watchable, but hardly worth spending the time to upload to a separate service. More as an accompaniment to Flickr Photos, photos and videos sit side by side in your album; Like photos, you can simply click on video thumbnails to go to the page that contains all the usual things like user comments, tags, and metadata, or you can simply view the video in its thumbnail size right in the stream, complete with player controls.

Videos can be uploaded at the same time and the same way you're used to uploading your still photos. The player is a modified version of the one found on Yahoo video with controls that fade away after a few seconds to reveal the full shot. Users can embed clips on third-party sites as they would anywhere else, and developers can pull in them in through the same data API that's helped integrate Flickr into all manner of third-party tools and services.

It has a whole lot of cool features like tagging the videos, categorizing them, direct upload from your camera phone, sharing clips and more standard features that you can check out on the Flickr site. But two things that will blow-off users: a $25 paid annual subscription and the time and size limit on video uploads (90 seconds long and 150MB max) Yeah, if you are into making short-length videos and just want to share it with public, Flickr might be an attractive option, but it surely cannot compete with YouTube in terms of ease of browsing. YouTube also includes pages of categories of similar videos for the users to browse, while there's nothing like that with flickr.

But then again, that was not what Flickr Video was intended to be! It knows it would not be able to compete with YouTube, so it created something a little different and a little more user-friendly. I hope at least a few of us would find it so!

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Samsung's Instinct (Sprint) Ready to Compete with the iPhone

Sprint and Samsung Mobile today announced the upcoming availability of a new wireless device, Samsung Instinct, which offers consumers an industry-leading user experience by combining full touch-screen functionality with fast speeds available on the nation's largest mobile broadband network. This revolutionary device speeds up the user experience like no other touch-screen phone and brings the customer's most-used applications and contacts within a single finger tap. The "Instinct" received the "Best In Show" during the Emerging Technology (E-Tech) Award competition, which took place during the CTIA Wireless 2008 convention in Las Vegas. For those who have been looking ut for iPhone alternatves, Instinct may deserve a look.

The Samsung Instinct was first voted "First Place" in the Mobile CE Smartphones category by a panel consisting of 31 judges. The "Best In Show" award was then chosen by CTIA attendees. Not surprisingly, attendees voted via text message. CNET also bestowed an award on the Samsung Instinct during its Cream of the Crop CTIA 2008 Awards. The phone was given the title "Best Cell Phone" by CNET.

Sprint and Samsung first announced the Samsung Instinct April 1st. The phone is expected to compete with the iPhone because of the touch screen technology used by the phone in addition to its virtual QWERTY keyboard and voice activation features. The phone is also the first EV-DO Rev A device by Sprint which is marketed toward consumers. The Samsung Instinct is capable of accessing a number of Sprint services, including Sprint Navigation (GPS navigation), Live Search for Sprint, Sprint TV, Sprint Exclusive Entertainment, the Sprint Music Store and Pocket Express which provides news and access to weather, sports and movie showtimes based on zip code. The Samsung Instinct is expected to be available in June.

As Sprint's first EV-DO Rev A consumer-centric device, Samsung Instinct also provides access to Sprint exclusive services and multimedia content, including:

* Sprint Navigation, powered by Telenav, with GPS-enabled audio and visual turn-by-turn driving directions, one-click traffic rerouting and more than 10 million local listings
* Live Search for Sprint, powered by Microsoft, provides easy access to directory information on-the-go, GPS-enabled directions, interactive maps and one-touch click to call access
* Sprint TV(R), with an extensive selection of live and on-demand programming
Sprint Exclusive Entertainment (SEE), the industry's only made-for-mobile sports and entertainment video programming network
* Sprint Music Store, allowing users to browse and wirelessly download full-length songs directly to their phone for just 99 cents each
* Pocket Express(R), with up-to-date information on sports, weather, news, movie showtimes and other options customized to the user's zip code

The Samsung Instinct sure looks promising; check out more at Sprint's News Release. It may not be a cut-throat competition to the iPhone, but if it delivers what it promises, Sprint could at least keep its current customer base from moving over to AT&T.

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Dell Inspiron 1525 - A Blu-Ray Supporting Laptop Priced under $1000!!

Now that the fight between HD and Blu-Ray is officially over, with Blu-Ray coming out as the proud winner, manufacturers all over the world finally have a direction! So what's the next best screen target after TV's?? Yes, Laptops, and you guessed it correct! With the cool widescreen laptops available these days, adding an LCD or Blu-Ray playback technology to the laptops used to be expensive. But not anymore! Dell Inspiron 1525 makes it very easy and affordable to enjoy hi-def experience at a low price.

In good news for high-definition video fans, Dell has announced that its colorful Inspiron 1525 line of laptop computers is now available with optional Blu-ray disc playback starting at USD$879. Blu-ray discs offer the advantage of around six times the data capacity of a standard DVD (50 GB of data vs. 8.5 GB) and the drives are fully backwards compatible, so they will play traditional DVDs and CDs.

Dell Inspiron 1525 laptops with Blu-ray disc drives incorporate Broadcom Media PC technology that allows PCs with integrated graphics to play high definition video. The high-definition video playback is enabled through a built-in dedicated accelerator located in a mini-card slot. The Inspiron 1525 laptop features a 15.4-inch high definition wide aspect display with 720p resolution plus a HDMI port for easy connectivity to high resolution displays and HDTVs. On the aesthetic side of the equation, several styles are available in colors like Sunshine Yellow, Midnight Blue and Ruby Red. See Dell for full-specs and further info.

Find a color that suits your style and enjoy high-quality hi-def video playback on your laptop without making a dent in your pocket! I hope they do the same magic for the regular DVD players too!

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Google's Open Letter to FCC for Opening Up the White Space for Wireless Internet

After losing to Verizon in the much-hyped spectrum auction, it is speculated that Google has written a letter to the FCC asking for permission to use the "White-Space" between channels 2 and 51 on TV sets (which is not used by cable services) to offer wireless broadband services. Such a move would offer up more coverage and maybe even faster, more reliable and affordable internet over air-waves. This could surely open a lot more possibilities for consumers, but what urges Google to take the lead?

Google was outbid by Verizon Wireless, but its not yet out of the game. Looks like it has already convinced the FCC to require the winner of a specific portion of the spectrum to allow subscribers to use any compatible wireless device they want. And now it has written a "public letter" to FCC urging it to open up the unused white-space for wireless internet. It feels that opening up the spectrum would enable the much-needed competition to the incumbent broadband service providers.

Google, who recently launched its own mobile OS called Android, is betting that it can boost its online advertising business by making it easier for mobile consumers to get access to the Internet on their mobile phones. But there's also a bit of speculation that Google has bigger plans, and it's push for an open space could be related to LTE and WiMAX technologies which would need space for the 4G network. And what's more, looks like this time the 2 giants Microsoft and Google are on the same side!! Bill Gates was quoted saying "I am hopeful that white-space will be made available so that Wi-Fi can explode in terms of its usage, even out into some of these less dense areas (of the United States) where distance has been a big problem for Wi-Fi."

As quoted by a company lawyer named Richard Witt, "Google would be willing to provide, at no cost to third parties, the technical support necessary to make these plans happen; This could include intellectual property and reference designs for underlying technologies, open geo-databases maintained by Google, and other supporting infrastructure. Of course we welcome others as well with an interest in helping to provide such support."

But the TV broadcasters are currently opposing the use of white space, fearing such usage would cause interference with television programming and could cause problems with a federally mandated transition from analog to digital broadcasting signals scheduled for Feb 2009. But Google in its letter urged the FCC to adopt a series of overlapping technologies, including "spectrum sensing," designed to prevent signals from interfering with each other. So for now, the war is on! Wait and watch to know who finally wins!

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Hulu Goes Live and is All Set to Compete with YouTube in Online Video Services

After the unprecedented success of YouTube, lots of video-upload and sharing services cropped up in the online world, but none could compete with the Google baby. Fox and NBC declared the intention of launching their own online video service that would show lots of popular TV shows and feature films, exclusively to its customers. Though it sounded enticing, no one gave it a sincere thought as fighting with youtube is more challenging that you'd think, especially as it had become a household name. But after over a year of development, testing and refining, online video service Hulu launches Wednesday and viewers will get to chance to see if it lives up to all the hullabaloo.

A joint venture between News Corp.’s Fox and NBC Universal, Los Angeles-based Hulu says it aims to bring together the widest selection of free, premium videos on the Web. But unlike Google’s YouTube, where unauthorized clips often end up, Hulu’s content is the result of pre-established partnerships with entertainment companies like Lionsgate and Sony Pictures Television.

When plans for the then-unnamed site were announced last year, many ridiculed the idea, discarding the thought based on the belief that media-moguls could never get into the the Internet side of the world. But when Hulu gave select viewers a look at the site, some critics changed their tune. The company received rave reviews for its site’s ease-of-use and simplicity.

The site features more than 250 television shows and 100 full-length feature films from Fox and NBC as well as content from companies like Warner Bros. Clips of other shows, including Saturday Night Live, will also be available on the site. However, it is yet to avail the support of the 2 other big television networks ABC and CBS. "The networks have the power to do big things with online video", says Morgan Guenther, CEO of interactive media startup AirPlay and the former president of TiVo. “If they do it right this thing will definitely have legs.”

Unlike YouTube, Hulu has an ad network already up and working at launch time, though its lineup of advertisers is still limited. Hulu is experimenting with letting viewers choose which commercials they watch, and doesn’t let them fast forward through ads. But like its rival YouTube, Hulu is also encouraging viral distribution and social networking. People can edit shows down to a few seconds and then e-mail those clips to friends. They can also embed videos on blogs and their MySpace or Facebook pages. I think Hulu has the potential to engage a large audience, but it'll still not compare to youtube's popularity for uploading small personal videos. But the layout and design on Hulu look great; its user-friendly and attractive, not to mention the high-quality videos that it features. Everything is ver well-organised and looks connected. You could easily spend hours on this site! I think there's definitely room for Hulu to make its mark in onine video services! Hop on to the Hulu website and see what you think.

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Kleiner Perkins Launches iFund To Invest in Companies Developing Applications for Apple's iPhone

Everything related to Apple or Steve Jobs has to be a style statement, just like the recent announcement of opening up the iPhone SDK to 3-rd party applications. In fact, this one step seems to be so powerful and attractive that people have already started launching patents and publishings, and many have gone as far as dreaming about establishing their own startups just for this! Well, here's a piece of good news for those people. Thanks to the Apple and Steve Jobs appeal, Kleiner Perkins is all set to dedicate a large pool of money just to feed the frenzy behind iPhone and iPod applications! So if you have a great idea and need some capital investment, you know where to look!

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) today announced the launch of the iFund with $100 million in venture capital to invest in companies developing applications and services for Apple's innovative iPhone and iPod touch.

The iFund, managed by KPCB, will be invested in companies with market-changing ideas and products that extend the revolutionary new iPhone and iPod touch platform. Apple will provide KPCB with market insight and support. "A revolutionary new platform is a rare and prized opportunity for entrepreneurs, and that's exactly what Apple has created with iPhone and iPod touch," said John Doerr, Partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. "We think several significant new companies will emerge as this new platform evolves, and the iFund will empower them to realize their full potential."

"Developers are already bursting with ideas and applications for the iPhone and iPod touch, and now they have the chance to turn those ideas into great companies with the help of world-class venture capitalists," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We can't wait to start working with Kleiner Perkins and the companies they fund through this new initiative."

The iFund will be led by KPCB partner Matt Murphy in collaboration with partners John Doerr, Bill Joy, Randy Komisar, Ted Schlein, Chi-Hua Chien and Ellen Pao. The initiative will be agnostic to stage and size of investment with a focus on areas including location based services, social networking, mCommerce, communication, and entertainment. The iFund will seek to fund entrepreneurs pursuing transformative ideas with the potential to become standalone, public companies. In addition to providing capital, KPCB will assist with company-building expertise, business development relationships and access to its vast network of talented entrepreneurs.

Since its founding in 1972, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers has backed entrepreneurs in over 500 ventures, including AOL, Amazon.com, Citrix, Compaq Computer, Electronic Arts, Genentech, Google, Intuit, and more! KPCB portfolio companies employ more than 250,000 people, and have seen more than 150 companies go public. Current portfolio companies including Pelago, Dash, GOGII, and Pinger will collaborate closely with the iFund initiative.

Do you have an idea for a "killer iPhone application"?? Then maybe you should pick up the phone and talk to KPCB!

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB):
Tia Smith
650-233-3487
tsmith@kpcb.com

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Bidding War between Microsoft and Google Over Digg!!

The name and fame of "Digg This" is not unknown to the blogger and online-reader fraternity. This is one news aggregating service that has successfully carved an irreplaceable place for itself, and very few, if at all, could deny this fact! Rumors about potential buyers for Digg have been floating around for quite some time now, but looks like for the first time, there might be some depth to it. Current rumors about Digg's sale may not be exaggerated, as the link aggregator appears to be the target of a bidding war between giants like Microsoft and Google, who would both benefit from access to the surfing profiles of Digg's diggers.

User-generated news site Digg has been working with influential investment bank Allen & Co. (the ones that recently got Slide a half billion dollar valuation) for a few months now, and pitching big tech and media companies on a sale. Founded in late 2004, the site exploded early in 2005 when a user posted a link to Paris Hilton’s hacked cell phone information on Digg, resulting in a surge of traffic that made people realize the enormous appeal of this simple creation. It has raised $11.3 million in funding since then!

The recent news from sources very close to the Digg-Sale deal reveal that four companies are in heavy due diligence with Digg - two media/news companies, and two big Internet companies - Google and Microsoft. And Google and Microsoft are on the verge of making their bids.

Digg is prepared to take less than the $300 million Allen & Co. were floating late last year. Google is expected to bid $200-$225 million, which Digg, I think, would willingly accept! Microsoft might be looking at a somewhat lower price, which is obvious as most of Digg’s revenue today comes from a three year advertising deal that Digg signed with Microsoft last year. That deal has revenue guarantees, and Microsoft may be hesitant to value Digg based on revenue that they supply.

Any sale is likely to give Microsoft an option to terminate that advertising deal, which means Google isn’t valuing Digg based on revenue, either. But Google can certainly generate revenue on all those page views on Digg, not to mention it just cannot afford to lose a market chunk to Microsoft at this time!!

But will Microsoft be able to take Digg and Yahoo together?? Isn't that a bit too optimistic for the software giant?? Plus, if Microsoft succeeds, Google will lose a lot, and I don't think it would risk that much, so outbidding Microsoft may well be high on Google's radar. Given that Digg founders Kevin Rose and Jay Adelson are starting another company, Revision 3, maybe they’re ready to move on! More developments to this "rumor" will come out over the next few weeks, but it surely puts Digg at a welcome advantage! So go along, and "Digg This Post!!"

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Google Sites - A Nifty Addition to the Free Google App Services

In this global environment where most businesses and corporates have teams spread world-wide, having a team portal where you can add, edit and share your ideas and information is extremely important. Lots of people have been using Sharepoint for this purpose, but Google throws an addition to its Enterprise Management offerings by launching Google Sites! Check out the key features with which it plans to attract an audience.

Google today introduced Google Sites, an application that makes creating a team web site as easy as editing a document. With Google Sites, people can quickly gather a variety of information in one place – including videos, calendars, presentations, attachments, and text – and easily share it for viewing or editing with a small group, their entire organization, or the world. With Google Sites, anyone can create an entirely customized site in minutes and invite others to contribute. its like adding an "edit" button to the web. It is based on JotSpot technology and is available in the Team, Standard, Premier, and Education Editions of Google Apps.

Creating and editing a set of pages requires no knowledge of HTML or web design skills. People can start a new page with one click. Adding content is as easy as clicking the edit button. Sharing is as simple as sending an invitation. All content is instantly searchable, and Google Sites is accessible through any web browser.

Anyone inside an organization can begin using Google Sites by signing up for Google Apps communication and collaboration services through Team Edition. After verifying their business or school email address, people can instantly invite others to join, or easily identify people within their organization already using Google Apps.

Some basic implementations with Google Sites include:
- An intranet to centralize company information
- A team site to manage a project
- A profile site including an individual's resume, areas of expertise, and goals
- A virtual classroom to post homework assignments, class notes and other resources.

Google Sites is secure and scalable, and maintains a version history. It requires no hardware or software to buy, install, or maintain. Additional features include embed content from other Google products, upload files of any type and customize a site's look and feel.

With Google Sites, the giant is entering an arena that is already dominated by a few. And yet, bundling up all the office apps has been Google's dream for quite some time, and also an answer to Microsoft's Office. I'm surely going to try this and see for myself. It sure looks easy, just like the rest of the Google services, and it also combined all the services in one neat little page! Try it yourself and come back to share your experience!

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Next-Generation iPhone May Soon Hit the Markets!

Steve Jobs has a way of unfolding Apple devices from time to time, thereby satiating the needs of Apple-lovers world-wide. but when the iPhone was unveiled and only US could avail of the benefits, people in the other parts of the world felt left-out. So hackers devised ways to make iPhone work anywhere you want! But here's some more good news for the faithful followers! The day when Apple's next-generation 3G iPhone version rolls out may not be too far. Will this give a boost to the company's stock that has been plummeting down since 2 months now?

An industry analyst's note on Fox News hinted that Apple has lined up the German chipmaker Infineon Technologies to supply parts for its next-generation iPhone, and may release the product as soon as June or July, which would be about 12 months after the iPhone's initial release in the U.S. The 3G iPhone is expected to trigger a flurry of sales to fans who are enamored of the iPhone but feel that its most innovative features — such as the Web browser — are hampered by the slower network.

Speculation has been fuelled by the reports that Apple has begun to reduce its focus on the current iPhone platform — which runs on the slower 2.5G cellular high-speed network known as EDGE — in favor of developing software for the newer device, which will support a software that will allow developers to write applications for the iPhone, says UBS analyst, Ben Reitzes. The second generation iPhone also promises exciting new enterprise features! If Apple can announce fuller connectivity with Microsoft's mail and calendar platforms and Lotus Notes, and other initiatives to make the iPhone a real alternative to the Blackberry for the serious business user, the newer version will likely beat the predecessor in terms of sales!

Another coveted feature is the GPS integrated within iPhone. Rumours have been floating around that Apple might install a SiRF Star III chip (or similar) within the iphone-2. This GPS which will be installed in the phone will be very fast and would give accurate information in crowded cities with mega buildings. SiRF has earlier talked about their link up with NXP's software to improve their existing technology. GPS integration would certainly take iPhone to the next level. Not to mention that Google is specially designing their apps like Maps, Gmail and more to match iPhone resolution and specifications!

Yesterday Apple shares gained more than 4% backed by the theory that if software developers could write applications for its iPhone, it would trigger the demand for the device. That's quite a bit of speculation, and good for Apple investors as it could boost the stock, same as Microsoft bid worked for Yahoo! Apple is due to unveil a "software roadmap" for the next-generation iPhone at a meeting at its headquarters in Cupertino next week, so we'll know for sure what Mr. Steve Jobs has in store for us!

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Yahoo Buzz - Is it Good Enough to Create a Buzz??!!

The power of social networking needs no second mention, and almost everyone has started looking at the web to remain updated about what's new, what's cool, and what's happening in the other parts of the world! Google News, MSN News, Digg, Newsgator and many more that I couldn't even list here have services that bring you the latest and most read stories so you don't have to take the trouble of actually surfing and searching. And looks like Yahoo, who's recently been in a lot of limelight, has joined this bandwagon too! Yahoo Buzz, their latest gig is an attempt to get more readers, and perhaps create more "buzz"!

Yahoo has introduced Yahoo Buzz!, a service that lets you vote for user selected stories from around the web. It is very similar to digg which allows users to vote for there stories which should appear on the homepage. However, it ranks the stories based on votes, search-term popularity and what everyone is reading and emailing at this moment.

While browsing the web, yahoo users will be able to send message to Yahoo Buzz! about the content they like. Yahoo will then compute the information and publish it if they like. If your content is really buzzed, then it also has a chance of getting featured on the Yahoo homepage. It is currently in beta phase and includes content from around 100 publishers ranging from large online sites and small influential blogs. Similar to MSN News, but just something that focusses on blog stories to a larget extent. The participating publishers will also be given an online badge which will enable there readers to submit and vote for stories in real time.

Unlike Digg, Yahoo Buzz publishes only hand-selected stories, which means you can't publish unless they approve of your content. However, if you want to become a publisher, you can visit the Publishers section. I don’t think it can pose a very serious challenge to Digg unless it starts accepting user content from around the web and not from just a handful of blogs.

There is a lot of competition with similar concepts, and whether we really need one more is definitely questionable. Yet, if Yahoo expands on their current service, makes it more user-friendly and opens it up to a lot more bloggers, it could create some "buzz". But whether it succeeds or not, only time will tell!

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Microsoft Windows Server 2008 is Finally Here!!

It's been spoken and contemplated about for quite some time now, and has shifted in and out of focus. But after more than 5 years in the making, Windows Server 2008 is finally here!! It made its first public appearance on Wednesday with a glitzy Los Angeles launch event that also included sneak peaks of Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2008. Microsoft executives call it "the most significant enhancement to the server platform since its inception." Windows Server 2008 is available now to Microsoft Software Assurance and MSDN customers, with media being available for purchase in various retail channels by early March.

Microsoft Corporation has finally lifted the curtain on its new Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008, and SQL Server 2008 products. Though Windows Server '08 represents a cash cow for Microsoft, it is also vital to the company's efforts to encourage corporate customers to adopt the Vista operating system. But the real focus lies on Windows Server's new features, designed to appeal to IT managers and developers. The features fall into one of these five areas: security, virtualization, Web productivity and business intelligence and new energy-efficient features for the green set. You can download the entire Windows Server 2008 Reviewer's Guide right here.

The product will use Go Daddy's Internet Information Services 7.0 software to improve Web site performance and enhanced security. The companies have worked together to build the performance specifications of the new product for more than a year. The new server will allow further customization than the previous releases and is built from the same code language as Microsoft Vista, the company's latest operating system. Like Vista, Windows Server 2008 has enhanced security and administrative features.

One of the more talked-about features is its remote control configuration and maintenance abilities. Using Microsoft Management Console, users can interface with the scaled-back Server Core installation to handle maintenance. Users can also use command line interface windows as well.

The Microsoft Server 2008 will bring to life functions and features of Vista that have been hidden somewhat in Server 2003 environments. The company officials claim that for organizations that deploy Server 2008 and Vista together, the primary benefits will come in the form of more reliable code and consistent hot fixes within both platforms, and it'll be easier to identify issues for customers.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer also mentioined that virtualization isn't solely relegated to Hyper-V, the server-virtualization engine that is scheduled to be released as a Windows Server 2008 add-on in about six months. Microsoft's Terminal Services is also considered virtualization, and the latest version is shipping now with the core Server 2008 operating system. It also boasts a better bandwidth management for much-improved performance, and a slick Web interface that allows administrators to publish application icons onto Internet Information (IIS) and SharePoint servers while users run the full desktop application experience within their browsers. The Enterprise and Data Center versions will have built-in clustering, including a slick and intuitive management screen that not only makes clustering easy to configure but also incorporates a best practice checker that makes sure user configuration is set up correctly.

Bob Visse, Microsoft's senior director of marketing for Windows Server 2008, said that the company has gone to extreme lengths to make the platform highly reliable out of the gate. Microsoft's energy efficient efforts cover more than just virtualization, according to Ballmer. Server 2008's 64-bit capability allows it to take advantage of larger hardware resources(especially RAM) and advanced features that Intel and AMD are building only into their 64-bit CPUs. The combination enables much deeper utilization and control of underlying hardware, which allows customers to make more energy efficient use of their data centers, according to Microsoft.

The standard version will retail for $999 with five client access licenses. Enterprise will run $3,999 with 25 client access licenses, while the data center edition will cost $2,999 per CPU. The Itanium-compatible version will be priced the same as data center, and there will also be a single-task version, designed solely to run as a Web server, which will cost $496. All versions will be available in both 32- and 64-bit versions.The launch is generating quite a bit of hype already, but whether it can save the Software Giant and help in restoring it's lost pride is what needs to be seen!

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The Wave-Powered Suntory Mermaid Ship - All Set For its First Voyage

Most of us are aware of how many times oil spills in large ships cause irreversible damage to the ocean life and pollute and destroy the marine resources. Since quite some time now, people have been exploring alternative sources of energy to make eco-friendly ships. And looks like one of them has actually succeeded. After the air-powered car, here comes a wave-powered boat! The three-ton catamaran Suntory Mermaid-II is all set for its first voyage from Hawaii to Japan in May 2008.

The primary objective in designing this ship is to make alternative energy work economically and practically. And here's a brief explanation of how that is achieved. As the above picture shows, a pair of side-by-side fins in the ship's bow absorb wave energy and express it in a dolphin-like "kick". Since the fins react to the waves, the ship as a whole remains remarkably steady. Sort of like driving over a bumpy road - your car's tires jounce and bounce yet the passenger cabin does not.

The Suntory Mermaid II is the latest of a number of Japanese eco-powered, recycled aluminum construction watercraft sponsored by Asahi News, supported by Suntory Co. and built by the Tsuneishi Shipbuilding Company. Kenichi Horie, veteran of a number of eco-voyages over the past decade and a half will captain and crew the vessel on its May 2008 inaugural 4350 miles long voyage from Honolulu, Hawaii to Kii Suido, Japan on wave power alone.

Unlike pedal-power, the Mermaid II's innovative wave propulsion system shows the way for large cargo shops to go green, but that comes with the associated disadvantge of low-speed. The Mermaid II has a maximum speed of just five knots and will take two to three months to make the trip from Hawaii to Japan, compared to a diesel-powered craft's single month journey. But that shouldn't be a problem for large cargo ships.

The recycled-aluminum hulled catamaran is equipped with 8 solar panels producing 560 watts power to run electrical lighting and Horie's computer & phone. The ship does have an outboard motor engine and a sail, but they're only there for use in case of emergency. The massive ship sounds like the perfect design for its intended use. At least we'll not be responsible for large-scale depletion of non-renewable marine resources!

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Google Teams up with X-Prize for a $30 Million Prize for the Moon Race Winners!

If you've been reading about space travel, you must know that some wealthy people" have already booked their seats for the first official flight to moon. Space Travel is something that has excited a lot of people, including the search giant Google. And to make things even more exciting, and definitely more competitive as well as lucrative, Google and X-Prize officials have unveiled nine new privately funded teams that will compete for $30 million in the Google Lunar X Prize challenge, a race to the moon. Lots of adventurous people have already signed up, and if you've not heard about it yet, now's your chance to become a millionaire!

The Google Lunar X Prize, unveiled last September, aims to encourage privately funded lunar exploration — just as the $10 million Ansari X Prize provided a jump start for space tourism three years ago. Private-sector moonshots could open the way to commercial ventures ranging from robotic mining operations to lunar hotels and virtual reality-TV expeditions. The competition offers a multimillion-dollar prize for the first team to send an unmanned rover safely to the moon, and then get it to beam imagery and data back to Earth. The nine new teams join the Isle of Man-based Odyssey Moon team, which was the first group to take up the challenge.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin said that he was amazed that so many competitors had signed up so soon after the prize's announcement. Brin credited Google's participation to conversation he had had with Diamandis and mutual friend and Silicon Valley entrepreneur-turned-rocket builder, Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX. Google has always been either a pioneer or a supporter of new discoveries, and couldn't be left behind this time! Everything it does, has to be big, just like sponsoring this competition.

The Google Lunar X Prize organizers also announced their partnership with Space Florida, a group vested in drawing the Sunshine State onto the commercial spaceflight map. Voted into creation in 2006, the local organization is offering launch site services and $2 million in extra prize money to the winning team if they blast off from Florida, which would obviously add to the state's rich spaceflight history, and continue their moon-exploration activities.

As I said, several companies have already signed up. Visit the official website for more information. This gig has me really excited! Looks like Space Travel is not as far into the future as we imagined it to be!!

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