Entries Tagged as 'IT News'

microsoft yahoo saga continues!

You might have read in my earlier blog post about Microsoft bidding $44.6 billion for Yahoo but the story is far from over. With internet analysts and experts predicting a few days back that it was a done deal Yahoo has managed to prove them wrong. The analysts predicted that it would be difficult if not impossible for Jerry Yang, the Yahoo CEO to convince Yahoo shareholders against the deal; but believe it or not Jerry Yang has actually managed to convince share holders otherwise and the other day rejected the deal from Microsoft stating that the deal “undevalued” Yahoo.

Many people say that this is yahoo’s trick to increase the price for the company while some day that this might not be the best business decision  and instead is a decision based on the anti-microsoft sentiment. Whatever, be the reason the deal is off as of now but microsoft has said that it will continue its efforts to acquire Yahoo and also has said that it was “unfortunate” that Yahoo has rejected the bid.

Anyways, lets see where this takes us and lets hope all is best for technology and the internet.

new forum launched!

Hi,

I have launched a new site for technology especially computer help and support. The site aims at creating a knowledge bank for people who need help in computers from topics ranging from Beginner level to an Advanced Level. We have right now incorporated a various topics when it comes to computers including programmimg, operating systems, databases and more.

So, do sign up, be an active member and help and get helped in the process.

The URL of the site is at http://hackersrepublic.com

microsoft wants to buy Yahoo! for $44.6 billion

I was shell shocked when the news came in on CNN that Microsoft wants to buy Yahoo! for $44.6 billion and i was like thats nothing new especially when it  comes to internet companies.  Its been ever since competition buying out competition but this is special because this is the BIG DEAL.

If this deal goes through then i wonder what will happen to Yahoo! open source commitment and that has really got me worried because I am right now working on a major project that makes use of the Yahoo user interface library which thankfully is open source as well as we are planning to use several of Yahoo!’s API.

So, hopefully even if this deal goes through i dont think yahoo should compromise on its principles as well as its commitment to open source software.

So, here is me,  hoping the best for both the companies as well as more importantly to technology!

Cheers!

online web storage is the new frontier!

Google has long announced its intentions to have an online web storage service probably called as GDrive, AOL already has Xdrive which offers 5GB of free upload space for its users plus a software that can be installed on our computer and can upload and download files seamlessly.  Amazon already has a web service which enables its users to upload files and download files as well as files called as Simple storage elastic. The prices are for per GB of download as well as per GB of storage which is quite cost effective.

Now, since all the Biggies are jumping into the online storage market, so has microsoft with its SkyDrive which is still in its Beta. Skydrive offers 1 GB of free storage space and you can arrange files in the form of folders just like windows as well as you can create and share folders.

So, there is quite a lot of competition for websites like rapidshare which has a lot of market cap currently with TB’s of files being shared on rapidshare. So, dont know what kind of impact does it have on those various image and file sharing sites which are used extensively by people to post adult content.

Thus, there is ample competition in the online storage and backup section and definitely this is the new battle ground for the internet biggies.

download Google, Youtube, myspace and dailymotion videos

Didnt you ever want to have a easier way to download that favorite youtube video on your hard disk or that favorite  myspace Tv video on your harddisk and you had to use those complicated softwares which were often loaded with spywares and malwares. Well, thanks to get2pc.com we have a simpler alternative.

You can download the videos using get2pc.com. Just copy paste the URL into a textbox provided and you get a download link where in you can download the video. As simple as that, no software to download and hence no spywares and malwares.

The image of this website is as shown.

Download youtube, Google Video, ifilm and dailymotion videosThe service supports a variety of online video sharing services like youtube, Google Video, iFilm, myspace and Dailymotion.

Although this service is very handy the legality of this service is in doubt and I dont think its allowed to provide what this service provides. However, I am no law expert so I cant comment anything about that. But i certainly think that the copyright issues will certainly be more aggravated since more downloading by the users means more re-distribution and sharing.

So, I hope the users use this service sensibly and hence although this is one of those things on the internet which is great to have but should be used sensibly.

orkut introduces Photo albums!

Orkut recently introduced photo albums where in users can organize their photos in albums and describe the albums separately. I think it was about time orkut did that because the simple photos that orkut had all this while was getting a little messier and therefore this is a good thing that they have finally added this feature.

However, one thing that keeps me wondering is that Google has an excellent service for Photo sharing and organization called as Picasa and Picasa web. I think the next step in improving Orkut photos is integration of Picasa into orkut as well as posting of images from the Picasa software directly into an orkut profile. That would be pretty cool.

Hope Orkut and Google incorporate these features in the near future.

top technology flops

CNN today published a list of “Top Tech Flops” for 2007 and I must say there are some weird things there. The list contains around 18 instances which are stupidest in the field of technology but some of them particularly caught my attention and Google it seems is ahead in this regard as well with the CNN list comprising of 3 instances where Google goofed up! [Read more →]

added level of security to your pc or network for free

How about adding a level of security at the network level for free? Thats what opendns does for you. And more than an added level of security what openDNS does is brings back the control of Internet usage in your home or your office back in your hands. And all you have to do is to configure your DNS settings and register for your free acoount and your done. Besides OpenDNS offers a variety of other services and that too at the network level so that there is no chance of your security getting tampered due to extra smart employees or your geeky kid!

So, what are the features that openDNS offers and how can they benefit the common man who wishes that his digital data and his little kids who have just discovered internet and who think internet is really “Cool”?

The several Features of OpenDNS are:

  • Adult Site Blocking
  • Domain Blocking
  • Domain Whitelist
  • Phishing Protection
  • Statistics
  • OpenDNS Guide
  • Customization
  • Large Cache
  • Ultra Reliable network
  • Shortcuts.

The detailed description of all these features can be found out here. And thats not all, there is a excellent knowledge base for help as well as free technical support if you need. Of course, if you will need the technical support because they have loads of documentation to install openDNS that you wont need any technical support.

So, as they say, All the best things in life come for free, and so does openDNS.

Absolutely recommended by me!!You can get started here.

google knol–An encyclopedia!

Google now wants to start an encyclopedia called as the Google Knol where in people with expertise in a particular subject are requested to share their knowledge with the entire world. Google also proposes to have advertisements( well thats quite obvious) with the permission of the writers and then a substantial amount of the advertisement revenue will go to the writer or the contributor. Lets hope this revenue incentive will encourage people to share their knowledge.

So, here’s wishing Google all the best and lets hope this new encyclopedia is a success!!

google is looking for testimonials!

Google, in its latest blog post and also the red link that appears in RED in the right corner when you login to google asks you to tell them how do you feel about Gmail and how has Gmail helped you immensely.  You can mail them your “interesting story” or give a video testimonial and post it on Youtube, Google’s Video sharing Portal.

So, lets see how this works out to be especially after the first collaborative video for Gmail sometime ago. So, whether the video comes out good or not is a different aspect, one thing is sure, this will surely increase or atleast google hopes that this will increase the number of users on youtube as well as Gmail; now I know why they are called the “Moguls of Internet Marketing”!!

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