Tricks 2 Trick

GAudi is short for Google Audio Indexing, and it’s the latest experiment to be added to the Google Labs. This service lets you do a text search for spoken words in videos of YouTube’s US politicians channels. The functionality was previously already available as part of an iGoogle gadget.

Search videos on Gaudi here


Searching for videos

To find a set of videos, simply type a query in the search box and press the "Search videos" button. The results of your search will appear in the left column. You can refine your search using channel filters, the active filter showing in bold. A channel filter corresponds to one or more YouTube channels. In the context of the US election, you can choose videos from the McCain channel, the Obama channel or from all YouTube political channels. For each result, a thumbnail of the video, its title, the time since it was published, the duration and the number of times the query terms are mentioned (i.e. spoken) in the video is provided. By clicking on a result, the video will be displayed in the right column. If you need to see more results, you can navigate between result pages using the links at the bottom of the left column (previous, next, etc.), just like on most Google Search products.



Watching a video

Once you have selected a video, it will appear on the right side of the screen, in the embedded YouTube player, with the list of mentions.
Google Audio Indexing enhances the YouTube player to display mentions of the query terms as yellow markers on the player timeline. For space reasons, we cannot always display all the mentions on the timeline. The top 10 mentions are displayed as a list under the player.
To read the transcript for a given mention, just mouse over the corresponding yellow marker. To listen to the corresponding audio, just click on the marker: the player will automatically jump to the right time in the video. You can also click on the play button located on the left side of the mention.

Searching inside a video

With Google Audio Indexing, you can also restrict your search to the content of a given video. By default, the "Search inside this video" uses the same query term as the video search.
To search for a different term, just type your query in the text form under the video player and press the "Search within this video" button. The mention results are displayed underneath. The yellow markers on the timeline are updated accordingly and you can access the information just like before, using mouse over.

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After two years in development, VLC, the universal media player, has moved from the 0.8.x versions to version 0.9.2. The release, named "Grishenko", is available for Windows, Linux, Mac OS X and other operating systems, is available to download . The most visible new feature in the Windows and Linux versions are a new user interface and support for different file formats.

Download VLC 0.9.2 here


The new interface uses Qt4, replacing the previous wxWidgets-based interface as the default interface and allowing for better internationalisation and a richer set of graphical controls.Most of the improvements are to be in VLC's support for different file formats. Media support, with the help of FFMpeg, has been extended to include variants of Flash video codes, the BBC's DIRAC, Real Video, H.264 PAFF (Picture-Adaptive Frame/Field), VC-3, Fraps and M2TS camcorder formats. Audio support has also been extended, with the inclusion of support for Atrac 3 and lossless APE audio, and better support for media metadata. The playlist management has been enhanced, with support for album artwork, live searching and submission support for Last.fm. The playlist is also scriptable, allowing video from YouTube, DailyMotion and Google video to be displayed under script control.

New audio filtering allows for playback at different speeds while maintaining the pitch, while Replay Gain support allows more consistent loudness and a spatializer allows audio to be made more three dimensional. New video filters support colour extraction, sharpening, logo erasing and blue-screen effects. While previous versions of VLC have supported analogue TV devices, now it supports digital TV formats with the addition of DVB support for recievers with BDA drivers on Linux and Windows. Mac users will also find support for the iSight camera as a capture device.

Check out this video featuring VLC 0.9.2


VLC media player 0.9.2 - Grishenko from Antoine Cellerier on Vimeo.

Click Here to Read More..

Google has finally made the Safari-friendly version of Gears available. Savvy Mac users could have downloaded and installed a rougher version of it as early as three weeks ago, however only Monday did the company announce a new version that's been readied for mass consumption.

Like its predecessor, the Mac version of Gears requires version 3.1.1 or higher of Safari, or version 1.5 or higher of Firefox, along with a machine running the most recent build of OS X 10.4 (Tiger) or 10.5.3 (Leopard). It offers the same offline-goodness as its Windows counterpart, which is to say you'll get limited offline file access and optimization on the handful of Web applications that support it.

Interestingly enough, you're still unable to use Gears on the Windows version of Safari. Google must have hedged development on the fact that most Mac users are using Safari by default, whereas it's one of the trailing choices for Windows users; at least those who were smart enough to uncheck that install button in the Apple updater that comes with iTunes.

Click Here to Read More..

Continuing with Project Get Reviewed(PGR),the site which will be reviewed today is Techodia.Fist let me give a brief introduction of this site.Techodia is "The World of Tech & Fun" as the author of this site EK describes it.I strongly agree with EK.This site contains hardcore technonological posts on one hand with some cool funny articles in between.I guess EK describing it as "The World of Tech & Fun" is fully justified.


About the Author

The author of Techodia is EK,a 17 year old engineering student.He loves blooging & writing about blogging(which is quite clear from the quality of the content which he writes on his site).He loves watching horror movies(I don't) & loves humour(I love humour).get to know more about him,check out EK's profile here.

More on Techodia

Techodia has a 2 column layout.The whole look of the website is very clean yet being sophistticated.The light blue 7 white colours used gies you a feel of the Orkut.All and out as I've said before the whole look of the site is simple,clean and pleasing.
Now,about the content of Techodia.The author has primarily focussed on blogging related articles.There are cool articles on blogger hacks,blogger templates,blogger tips,widgets and SEO.Articles on music ,movies,games and software downloads are also included.Some funny articles in form of pictures are also included.i would like to say that the blogger hacks which he has written about are all very cool and yet very simple to implement.I've even tried some of these in my blog. Thanks to him for that.


Articles which I loved

Here are some of my favorite articles...

Page Navigation Hack for Blogger
How to Add 3 Columns to Footer Section
How to Add a Signature to Your Blogger Posts
7 Must Widgets and Hacks for Blogger
91 Must See Inspiring Creative Photographs
50 Must See Amazing Pictures
Devil May Cry 4 Game Download
Mass Effect ViTALiTY Download
Commandos 3: Destination Berlin Game Download
Download NFS Pro Street Reloaded Game
10 Blogger Templates You haven't Seen
New Magazine Style Blogger Templates

Stuff that you should check

You should also check out various categories under Tags Cloud section.Some of the categories wich are worth trying are....

Games download
Hacks
Blogger hacks
Blogger templates
Blogger widgets
pictures-photos
Technology

Get updated on Techodia

You can get latest updates of Techodia directly on your email.Click here for updates


Suggestions for the Author

Here are some suggestions for the author.Hope you will work on these....

1.Change the Tags Cloud widget(it takes a lot of time to load).Also if you use this kind of tag cloud,your tags will not be indexed.
2.Write articles more frequently.
3.Hope you don't mind but you should work on your english.the sentences sometimes aren't correct.
4.Include ome english mp3's in music download section.
5.May be add a 3 column footer.(It will look great on your site)

T2T's ratings

3/5

T2T's final verdict on Techodia



Get your site/blog reviewed on T2T.

Check here

Click Here to Read More..

Later today Google will enter the browser marketplace and you will be able to download what looks like a ground breaking new web browser called 'Google Chrome'. It appears to have some very nice features and if Chromes multiple process architecture can beat the way Firefox hangs on some web pages, and it doesn't suffer from the flood of memory leaks that Firefox does then I'm all for it.

Download Google Chrome here (later today)
Check out Google Chrome comic book
Screenshots


More on Google Chrome

Google Chrome is an open source web browser developed by Google (named after the user interface frame of web browsers). It builds on components from other open source software, including WebKit and Mozilla, and is aimed at improving stability, speed and security, with a simple and efficient user interface.





The beta for the Windows version is will be released today. Google will host a press conference that day at 18:00 GMT. Mac OS X and Linux versions are under development and will follow the Windows version.

Keep in touch for latest updates......

Click Here to Read More..

Under Project Get Reviewed (PGR) Tech 2 Check gets reviewed today.Starting out with an introduction of Tech 2 Check.On the first view it may seem out to be all in out a technology related site but it contains the widest spectrum of articles ranging from some mind blowing hacks to very funny jokes and pictures.You can download videos,mp3's,softwares,wallpapers,tutorials etc(coz the list is very long...lol).In short when you are on Tech 2 Check,you will not ever need to go anywhere.

About the author

Tech 2 Check is published by Shitu "an ardent web surfer" as he discribes himself.He also says Tech 2 Check contains all information that comes across him.Hats off to you dude for the hard word and research that you put into for feeding articles to your site.
Wanna know more about him,check out Shitu's proflle.

More about Tech 2 Check

Tech 2 Check has a 3 column layout.The articles are sorrounded by left and right side bars.The color combinations used in the site gives it a very soothing effect.The whole look of it is on a casual style yet very cleanly positioned page elements.

Articles which I loved

Well...actually I loved every sigle article of Tech 2 Check.Some of the articles which I went through and quite liked are....

First version of Internet giants !
Send Fake & Anonymous Mails
Auto Click your mouse !
Funniest Homeless Signs ever
How To Extend the Trial Version Of the Softwares?
How to Hack or Unlock Iphone??
The Ten Worst Job Interview Questions Ever
Lock Computer via USB Flash drive
Error Messages You Never Wanted To See
19 Most Geeky Watches ever made !

Well the list is never ending....


Stuff that you should check

You should also check out various categories under labels section.Some of the categories wich are worth trying are....

Cool Stuff
Hacks
Must See
Interner Info
online TV
Softwares
Rapidshare
Window Hacks

Get updated on Tech 2 Check

You can get latest updates of Tech 2 Check directly on your email

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Suggestions for the Author

Ther are some suggestions that I would like to give to Shitu...

1.Expand the width of your articles column.
2.The font of site's title does not go with the site...work on it.
3.Continue with the same quality content.

T2T's ratings

3/5


T2T's final verdict



Visit this site regularly,but beware you are gonna get addicted.

Get your site/blog reviewed on T2T.

Check here

Click Here to Read More..

Today I am starting a new project which i call "PROJECT GET REVIEWED"' or PGR in short.As the name suggests this is about getting your blog/site reviewed and that too "ABSOLUTELY FREE".When a site/blog is submitted to me for reviews,I will visit your site/blog.I will take my time research on it.then I'll write my reviews and publish them here.So just follow the "3 STEP" procedure given here to request for a review.


Here are the steps you have to Follow:

1.Comment here in this post to give your site/blog link.
2.Write a post about this project in your blog/site.
3.Then I'll write reviews for you..

There are certain things that I would like to mention....

1.The reviews will be published totally "FREE" of cost.
2.The reviews will be published here on "FIRST COME,FIRST SERVE" basis.
3.Any form of cash to alter or affect my views will NOT be entertained
4.The reviews published here will entirely be my views.
5.The reviews will NOT be endorsed by my organization, co-citizens, family and friends.
6.If any of these are voilated,then your published review will be deleted without any notification.
7.Your site/blog will be reviewed only after you write abbout this project in your blog/site.

So you are welcomed here to join this project..

Click Here to Read More..

Tricks 2 Trick(T2T) finally gets its page rank.The page rank of T2T is 2/10.This has certainly been possible with all the efforts that I have put into this blog.I have always concentrated on writing quality content.My focus was always on producing some real, genuine, valuable content.I guess,the visitors of my blogs and their valuable comments helped me a lot.Their suggestions inspired me not to loose focus.So, i would like to thank all those who were directly or indirectly connect to T2T.Your views,suggestions and views would be heartly welcomed.

Contact me here

Now for those of you who have no idea on what Page rank is,here is something (everything) to help you out.

PageRank is a link analysis algorithm that assigns a numerical weighting to each element of a hyperlinked set of documents, such as the World Wide Web, with the purpose of "measuring" its relative importance within the set. The algorithm may be applied to any collection of entities with reciprocal quotations and references. The numerical weight that it assigns to any given element E is also called the PageRank of E and denoted by PR(E).

The name PageRank is a trademark of Google. The PageRank process has been patented (U.S. Patent 6,285,999 ). The patent is not assigned to Google but to Stanford University.

Google describes PageRank as:

PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves "important" weigh more heavily and help to make other pages "important".

In other words, a PageRank results from a "ballot" among all the other pages on the World Wide Web about how important a page is. A hyperlink to a page counts as a vote of support. The PageRank of a page is defined recursively and depends on the number and PageRank metric of all pages that link to it ("incoming links"). A page that is linked to by many pages with high PageRank receives a high rank itself. If there are no links to a web page there is no support for that page.

Google assigns a numeric weighting from 0-10 for each webpage on the Internet; this PageRank denotes a site’s importance in the eyes of Google. The PageRank is derived from a theoretical probability value on a logarithmic scale like the Richter Scale. The PageRank of a particular page is roughly based upon the quantity of inbound links as well as the PageRank of the pages providing the links. It is known that other factors, e.g. relevance of search words on the page and actual visits to the page reported by the Google toolbar also influence the PageRank. In order to prevent manipulation, spoofing and spamdexing, Google provides no specific details about how other factors influence PageRank.

Numerous academic papers concerning PageRank have been published since Page and Brin's original paper.In practice, the PageRank concept has proven to be vulnerable to manipulation, and extensive research has been devoted to identifying falsely inflated PageRank and ways to ignore links from documents with falsely inflated PageRank.

History of page rank

PageRank was developed at Stanford University by Larry Page (hence the name Page-Rank) and later Sergey Brin as part of a research project about a new kind of search engine. The project started in 1995 and led to a functional prototype, named Google, in 1998. Shortly after, Page and Brin founded Google Inc., the company behind the Google search engine. While just one of many factors which determine the ranking of Google search results, PageRank continues to provide the basis for all of Google's web search tools.

PageRank is based on citation analysis that was developed in the 1950s by Eugene Garfield at the University of Pennsylvania, and Google's founders cite Garfield's work in their original paper. By following links from one page to another, virtual communities of webpages are found. Web link analysis was first developed by Jon Kleinberg and his team while working on the CLEVER project at IBM's Almaden Research Center.




Google Toolbar

The Google Toolbar's PageRank feature displays a visited page's PageRank as a whole number between 0 and 10. The most popular websites have a PageRank of 10. The least have a PageRank of 0. Google has not disclosed the precise method for determining a Toolbar PageRank value. Google representative Matt Cutts has publicly indicated that the Toolbar PageRank values are republished about once every three months, indicating that the Toolbar PageRank values are historical rather than real-time values


Download Google toolbar here(Firefox)

Source:Wikipedia

Click Here to Read More..

There has been another leakage from the Windows Live Messenger team. Previously, an initial alpha release leaked which introduced some interesting new features.And once again, another build was leaked on torrents and underground forums spreading it like wild fire. The latest build of Windows Live Messenger 9 is 14.0.3921.717. The latest build features a much more clear, colourful and stylish interface

After downloading (links below) and installing, the first change you will see is the partial makeover of the main and chat windows. They haven’t been completely revamped, but many noticable changes have been made.

Two new features are found in this leaked build. One is the new photo-sharing utility that lets your contacts to share and browse photos simultaneously, and the other one is “Groups” which can create group sessions like never before. other features that are also expected to hit the final release are:

* Sign-in from multiple locations
* Report and block users who spam via IM - SPIM feature
* Clickable links in Status Message like Google Talk
* Animated display pictures
* Personalized signature and per contact sounds

Live Messenger 9 now also includes WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) features.

* Sign-in from multiple locations
* Report and block users who spam via IM - SPIM feature
* Clickable links in Status Message like GTalk
* Animated display pictures (I always wanted this! :D)
* Personalized signature and per contact sounds

Download here

Mirror 1

Mirror 2

Source :Sizzled Core

Click Here to Read More..

An intriguing technology morsel has been offered up by chipmaker Intel Corporation today after it revealed an innovative recharging method that could potentially provide operational power for portable electronic devices without requiring a wired connection.
Speaking at this week’s Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco, Intel CTO Justin Rattner unveiled “Wireless Resonant Energy Link (WREL)” technology, which relies on strongly coupled resonators to wirelessly deliver energy and is built on a similar principle to that of a trained singer who can shatter glass with their voice.

“At the receiving resonator’s natural frequency, energy is absorbed efficiently, just as a glass absorbs acoustic energy at its natural frequency,” explains Intel. “With this technology enabled in a laptop, for example, batteries could be recharged when the laptop gets within several feet of the transmit resonator.”

Evolving from principles proposed by MIT physicists, WREL promises safe and efficient power and is considerably closer to reality than you might think.

For example, during his keynote speech, Rattner demonstrated the possibilities of WREL by wirelessly powering a 60-watt light bulb -- which is noteworthy insofar is it equates to more operational juice than would be required to power a typical laptop computer.

Intel sees the technology eventually being utilised through airports and other public hotspot venues, where device owners would actually receive a local charge boost to their portable equipment rather than suffer a decrease in operational longevity.

Despite WREL’s obvious application potential, Intel has said the technology is still in development but its researchers are looking for a way to “cut the last cord in mobile devices” and hope to someday enable Intel customers to enjoy the advantages associated with wireless power.

Other futuristic technology revealed by Rattner included programmable matter called “catoms,” which consist of millions of micro-robots that could be used to build shape-shifting materials.

While described by Rattner as part of Intel’s "difficult exploratory research agenda," if utilised through a computer’s case, display and keyboard, catoms could make it possible for devices to physically change their shape depending on how they are actually used.

Intel explains that a mobile computer, for example, could be tiny when in a pocket, change to the shape of an earpiece when used as a mobile phone, and be large and flat with a keyboard for browsing the Internet or watching a movie.

And, pushing the evolution of modern robotics, Rattner also outlined Intel’s drive to bring industrial robot technology into the home by imbuing robots with cognisant attributes that will render them aware of their surroundings in order to navigate through and manipulate objects in cluttered and dynamic human environments.

“The industry has taken much greater strides than anyone ever imagined 40 years ago,” said Rattner. “There is speculation that we may be approaching an inflection point where the rate of technology advancements is accelerating at an exponential rate, and machines could even overtake humans in their ability to reason, in the not so distant future.”

To show this principle in action, Rattner demonstrated two working personal robot prototypes developed by Intel’s research lab facilities.

One demo showcased electric field pre-touch technology built into a robotic hand, a sensing modality applied by fish (but not humans), which allows them to “feel” objects before physically touching them.

The other demo revealed a complete autonomous mobile manipulation robot capable of recognising faces and also interpreting and executing basic commands such as “please clean this mess” by using cutting-edge motion planning, manipulation, perception and artificial intelligence.

Source : The Tech Herald

Click Here to Read More..

Black Box, a studio of Electronic Arts Inc.,unveiled new details of Need for Speed™ Undercover, the intense action racing game scheduled for release worldwide this November. Need for Speed Undercover has players racing through speedways, dodging cops and chasing rivals as they go deep undercover to take down an International crime syndicate. The new game heralds the return of high-intensity police chases and introduces the all-new ‘Heroic Driving Engine’ -- a unique technology that generates incredible high-performance moves at 180 miles per hour during breathtaking highway battles.

“Need for Speed Undercover puts you at the center of a big-budget Hollywood movie with all of the drama, action and dazzling chase scenes, right on your gaming console. The unique Heroic Driving Engine will give you ultimate control over the hottest cars and push you to use every ounce of skill to outrun the law and take down criminal adversaries,”

said Executive Producer Bill Harrison.

A mix of stunning computer graphics and live-action movies will immerse gamers in the rich world of the Tri-City Bay Area. The city’s open-world environment features over 80 miles of roads, including an enormous highway system that sets the stage for heart-pounding highway battles. These high-speed, high-stake chase sequences will push players to the limit as they fight off cops and opponents while whipping through traffic at 180 miles per hour.

An intelligent new A.I. mechanic delivers a realistic and high-energy action driving experience. Going back to the franchise’s roots, Need for Speed Undercover features more aggressive and intelligent cops whose sole purpose is to take down the player quickly and by any means necessary. Need for Speed Undercover also features the series’ signature car customization, real-world damage and realistic driving physics. The game includes some of the hottest licensed cars such as the Audi R8, BMW M6 and Lexus IS-F.

Need for Speed Undercover is being developed by Black Box in Vancouver, B.C., and will be in stores in North America on November 18 and in Europe on November 21.

Here is a cool collection of teasers,trailers,interviews gameplays and exclusive footages..

Need for Speed Undercover Teaser



Need for Speed Undercover Trailer




Need For Speed: Undercover Trailer2



NFS Undercover -GC 2008 demo Gameplay



The Next NFS: Need for Speed Undercover!!!



Need for speed Undercover girls gallery



Maggie Q Interview



Producer Interview



Going Under Trailer



Detective Teaser



Debut Teaser



Need for speed Undercover



Keep in touch for latest in news for NFS : Undercover

Click Here to Read More..

I guess Amanda beard has read my previous post Who is Phelps' Girldfriend.Sexpot swimmer Amanda Beard says Michael Phelps has absolutely no shot at doing the breaststroke with her.Beard, who has bared all for Playboy and appears in a sexy ad for PETA, also said she has never even kissed the 14-time Olympic gold-medallist.


Asked how the poolside rumors made their way into London's Daily Telegraph, Beard said she had no clue.

"We don't even talk to each other," she said of her relationship with Phelps.

Source :NY Post

Click Here to Read More..

Yahoo! Buzz Launched on February 26, 2008 which could be only visited by some people is now open to all in beta stage.It's a community-based news article website, much like Digg, that combines the features of social bookmarking and syndication through a user interface that allows editorial control. Users can be allowed to publish their own news stories, and link to their own or another person's site that links to a full story of the information, therefore driving traffic to that person's website and creating a larger market for sites that research and publish their own news articles and stories.

The big benefit for publishers is that top Buzz stories are linked from the Yahoo home page, which turns a firehose of traffic onto a story. When those stories hit the home page there’s a good chance that the linked site will have a record day in traffic. Yahoo says they’ve sent 16 million visitors to outside sites in those first two weeks, and they’ve gathered data from some of the linked partners.

I have added Buzz Up buttons to my posts and I am looking forward for increase in traffic to my site.



Guys... Buzz Up the posts which you like..

Click Here to Read More..

American swimmer Michael Phelps , who has won eight golds in Beijing , became the most decorated athlete in Olympic history and received lots of love from female fans. But who is Phelps' girl?

Paparazzi reporters so far have pinpointed two girls as swimming sensation Phelps' girlfriend. The first is Phelps' hot teammate Amanda Beard and the second is charming British model Lily Donaldson.


Together with Phelps, swimmer Amanda Beard also represented U.S. participating in the Olympic Games held in Beijing, though so far this hot swimmer pocketed no gold.

Download Amanda Beard's wallpapers here


21-year-old Lily Donaldson is even hotter and ranked as one of the top 8 models in the fashion world. Lily Donaldson even replaced British supermodel Kate Moss as the "younger face" speaking for Burberry in 2007.




Download Lily Donaldson's wallpapers here (link1)
Download Lily Donaldson's wallpapers here (link2)

Click Here to Read More..

Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, which are going to start from August 8-24 2008, will be available on YouTube for 77 territories where digital rights have not been sold, or have been acquired on a non-exclusive basis. This was conveyed by International Olympic Committee.

Watch Videos here


The package will be primarily to Africa, Asia and the Middle East and will include highlights, news and daily clips of the competitions. Internet users outside the 77 territories will blocked from seeing the clips through a technology called “geo-blocking.”

Click Here to Read More..

With the Olympics fever starting to grow,New York Times has provided a cool collection of the torches from 1936 to Beijing Olympics 2008.Pictures show how the design has gone from classical to curvy.I personally feel that Beijing Olympics is the best design truly signifying the Olympic spirit "Light The Passion Share The Dream"


The modern Olympic Games have become as much a global contest among designers and architects as among athletes. Each Olympics is expected to produce a logo, a signature building — and a characteristic torch that symbolizes local tradition and national character.

For more on Beijing Olympics 2008 visit..
Beijing Olympics 2008 Home page

Click Here to Read More..

Yahoo’s most popular bookmark sharing service Del.icio.us launched in a new avatar as Delicious, without the dots in the url. Yes, the site has moved to a new url at delicious.com and sports a brand new design more compatible with current design standards.

So whats new in Delicious… here is some cool stuff…

* The new infrastructure makes every page load faster.
* Site organized into three main sections: Bookmarks, People and Tags.
* A new search engine - faster, more powerful, smarter, and more social
* The new user interface improves usability
* Selectable detail levels and alphabetical sorting of bookmarks
* New Tag Bar to navigate bookmarks by tags and tag combinations.
* Action box provides commonly used actions for the current page.

Why switch to delicious.com? del.icio.us was a complex domain name to type and most people were typing delicious anyway. Now it will be easier for people to find the site and share it with their friends.

Click Here to Read More..

Microsoft is taking user-generated content to the Xbox.It has opened up its online Live Arcade so that amatuers can make and sell their own Xbox Live games, which other users can download.Theses user-developed games will be added to the Xbox Live Marketplace if they pass a peer review. Creators stand to get up to 70% of the total revenue from their games.
In my own view, I realised that User-generated content has been the buzzword on the Internet. Sites like YouTube and Facebook have grown business of such content.
With this move, Microsoft is also hoping that there will be an explosion of games on its Xbox Live Arcade that could help its video games business.For small games developers who have found it difficult to break into the games industry, the initiative will also open a new distribution channel for them

Click Here to Read More..

Have you noticed that Google has a new favicon ? The font looks very familiar, and they have used a grey background that will fade in with firefox color.

Maybe Google is going to be known as ’the little g’ rather than ’The Big G’ from now on... Google continues to grow and grow, but one of their self-proclaimed core values is “Think and act like an underdog”

The past and old Google favicon looks more cool than this one, what do you think ?

Click Here to Read More..

Launched in August 2007, the Phoenix Mars Mission is the first in NASA's Scout Program. Phoenix is designed to study the history of water and habitability potential in the Martian arctic's ice-rich soil.
The Phoenix Mars Mission has a collaborative approach to space exploration. As the very first of NASA's Mars Scout class, Phoenix combines legacy and innovation in a framework of a true partnership: government, academia, and industry. Scout class missions are led by a scientist, known as a Principal Investigator (PI). Peter Smith of the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory serves as Phoenix's PI and is responsible for all aspects of the mission.

The Phoenix Mission has a three-vertebrate backbone: the PI at the University of Arizona, the project manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and the flight system manager at Lockheed Martin Space Systems (LMSS). These three frequently communicate and ensure that decisions are understood and quickly implemented by the team.

PI Smith has delegated project management responsibility to JPL. Barry Goldstein serves as the project manager and leads an experienced team of JPL engineers and scientists. Under Goldstein, the JPL team conducts vital functions of payload management, and flight systems and mission operations. These functions are supported by system engineering, mission assurance, and a business office. JPL also provides the interface to the Deep Space Network, sending command sequences and receiving data. During the 10-month cruise phase to Mars, JPL maintains the proper cruise trajectory to get the spacecraft to Mars by performing correcting maneuvers. Finally, JPL will lead the Phoenix spacecraft through the highly risky entry-descent-landing process. No team surpasses JPL in its ability to land spacecraft safely on the Martian surface.

Ed Sedivy leads the Lockheed Martin engineering team in designing, constructing, and testing the Phoenix spacecraft. Sedivy was Lockheed Martin's chief engineer for developing the Mars Surveyor 2001 lander, the highly capable spacecraft that the Phoenix Mission is inheriting. The Lockheed Martin engineering team is restoring the 2001 lander to a flight-ready Phoenix spacecraft and developing enhanced spacecraft reliability through extensive testing. Throughout all phases of the mission, the Lockheed Martin team will closely monitor Phoenix's health by linking their spacecraft operations centers with those at JPL and the University of Arizona.

From the University of Arizona, PI Smith works closely with Leslie Tamppari, project scientist at JPL, to lead an international assembly of scientists from a wide variety of academic, private, and government research institutions. This science team has experience in all previous landed Mars missions. The team's scientific background includes experience in hydrology, geology, chemistry, biology, and atmospheric science. For operations, the team is conceptually divided into four instrument groupings, each with a lead co-investigator (Co-I) scientist. The groups are not intended to be restrictive: Co-Is are expected to have a broad, cross-instrument participation driven by scientific objectives. The science team will co-locate for the first three months of the mission, to operate all the instruments and to perform the first analysis on data that may provide important answers to the following questions: (1) can the Martian arctic support life, (2) what is the history of water at the landing site, and (3) how is the Martian climate affected by polar dynamics?

To answer these questions, Phoenix uses some of the most sophisticated and advanced technology ever sent to Mars. A robust robotic arm built by JPL digs through the soil to the water ice layer underneath, and delivers soil and ice samples to the mission's experiments. On the deck, miniature ovens and a mass spectrometer, built by the University of Arizona and University of Texas-Dallas, will provide chemical analysis of trace matter. A chemistry lab-in-a-box, assembled by JPL, will characterize the soil and ice chemistry. Imaging systems, designed by the University of Arizona, University of Neuchatel (Switzerland) (providing an atomic force microscope), Max Planck Institute (Germany) and Malin Space Science Systems, will provide an unprecedented view of Mars—spanning 12 powers of 10 in scale. The Canadian Space Agency will deliver a meteorological station, marking the first significant involvement of Canada in a mission to Mars.

The University of Arizona will also host the Phoenix Mission's Science Operations Center (SOC) in its Tucson facility. From the SOC, the Phoenix science and engineering teams will command the lander once it is safely landed on Mars, and also, receive data as it is transmitted directly to Earth. A payload interoperability test bed (PIT) will be located with the SOC to verify an optimal integration of Phoenix's complex scientific instruments. Working together, the SOC and PIT will ensure a seamless scientific and engineering process—from science goal to instrument commands to down-linked and analyzed data.

As with all major NASA missions, Phoenix has a comprehensive education and public outreach program. PI Smith leads the program, which is managed by the University of Arizona, and connects to outstanding educational resources in the desert southwest region, and throughout the U.S.

This powerful team is the cornerstone to the Phoenix mission, which has high hopes to be the first mission to "touch" and examine water on Mars—ultimately, to pave the way for future robotic missions, and possibly, human exploration.

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