Facebook is hugely popular and its popularity and of course appeal was knocked up a notch with the pre-beta launch of Chat, its very own IM service.
Not every one can try out this new service as it is reportedly only accessible to a few networks like Ivy League schools and Stanford.
Chat is built directly into the web page - like GTalk, and is not a separate application. It doesn't integrate with other IM services though.
A chat bar appears at the bottom of the page, all the time, and allows users to access their windows, see which friends are online and check notifications and chat settings. Confirmed Facebook friends appear automatically on the chatting list eliminating the need to create a buddy list.
Also activated in a mini-feed feature which notifies users about any activity on their message wall.
Facebook Launches IM Service
Nokia Finally Launches N-Gage
Finally!!! Let me just get that out of the way and say it again – FINALLY!!! Today marks the global launch of the Nokia N-Gage mobile games service with more games, additional compatible devices (Yipeee!), and an expanded online offering. Millions of Nokia device owners can now find, try and buy high-quality made-for-mobile games directly from their mobile device. Players can also connect with one another through the N-Gage Arena community. They can meet friends, find others to play multiplayer games, discuss topics on the message boards and via live chat, and participate in tournaments and hosted events.
"With N-Gage we're offering a seamless experience for people around the world to try and buy games that are engaging, accessible and have wide appeal," said Jaakko Kaidesoja, vice president of games, Nokia. "We're very excited to get this into the hands of our customers, because with them we will shape the future of mobile gaming."
The N-Gage platform has exclusive titles that are among the most ambitious and graphically rich mobile games ever produced. From strategy and sport to arcade and action, games of all genres are being developed for N-Gage by leading games publishers. The first set of games include: EA SPORTS FIFA 08 by EA Mobile; Brain Challenge and Asphalt 3: Street Rules by Gameloft; World Series of Poker Pro Challenge by Glu Mobile; and Hooked On: Creatures of the Deep and System Rush: Evolution by Nokia Publishing. These games will be followed closely by Tetris and The Sims 2 Pets by EA Mobile; Block Breaker Deluxe and Dogz by Gameloft; and Snakes Subsonic, Space Impact: Kappa Base and Mile High Pinball by Nokia Publishing.
With the N-Gage application on their device, people can create a Friends List, send and receive private messages, and take part in instant messaging style chat. N-Gage Points can be earned for playing games and participating in community activities. Moreover, the experience can take place via the N-Gage web portal on the PC. Here players can interact seamlessly with the N-Gage community or purchase new games and download them to their N-Gage compatible devices.
Today's N-Gage compatible devices include: Nokia N81, Nokia N81 8GB, Nokia N82, Nokia N95, and Nokia N95 8GB. Prior to the N-Gage service going live, Nokia sought feedback from its fans through the N-Gage First Access program.
Logitech Game Controller With Cooling System
Logitech has unveiled a new game controller with a built-in fan-based cooling system, designed to keep the hands of gamers cool and dry.
The plug-and-play, full-speed USB Logitech ChillStream controller for PC works on Windows XP computers (with the latest service pack), and with Windows Vista. The metal grille that covers the air intake at the base of the controller accents the controller's silver-and-black color scheme. The controller features Logitech's patented floating D-pad, which uses four points of contact instead of a single pivot point - a design that resists side-to-side tipping inherent in other controllers, making the controller more precise. The controller's analog stick has been machine-tested to perform at least one million circular revolutions, ensuring that it can handle the rigors of gaming over a long period of time.
Logitech's exclusive ChillStream Technology includes a built-in 40 mm fan that circulates up to 3.41 cubic feet of air every minute. Because of the fan's compact size, Logitech can deliver the ChillStream feature in a standard-size controller. Three narrow vents on each side of the controller push air directly onto the four fingers, the base of the thumb and the palm of the hand. The air stream has three settings - continuous, interval, or off. In the interval mode, the air stays on for 15 seconds, then turns off for 30 seconds. The air vents are recessed from the surface of the controller and rubber linings surrounding the vents are flush with the surface.
Logitech ChillStream controller for PC comes with a 2-year warranty and costs Rs. 2495.
HP's Small Laptop for School Children
One more of the world's biggest technology companies is clamoring to enter the growing market for pint-sized computers targeted mainly for pint-sized customers.
Hewlett-Packard Co., the No. 1 seller of personal computers worldwide, said Tuesday it's throwing its weight behind a new class of miniaturized laptops, a fledgling market already populated with products from Intel Corp., the world's largest semiconductor company, and Asustek Computers Inc., the world's largest maker of computer motherboards.
The machines are so new the industry hasn't settled on a name for low-cost and scaled-down laptops used primarily for surfing the Internet and performing other basic functions like word processing.
Intel has labeled them "netbooks," and it expects more than 50 million netbooks to be in circulation by 2011.
HP executives say their new machines, which go on sale later this month, are an important piece of the Palo Alto-based company's effort to build market share in schools, where machines had to be smaller and cheaper without losing too many functions.
The companies also expect adults to cotton to the idea of buying two laptops - a lightweight one just for Web browsing on the go and the full-power machine for the home or office. But industry executives acknowledge that the market is untested and that no one knows what demand will be once the machines are deployed widely.
HP's foray comes in the form of a new computer called a "Mini-Note" that weighs less than 3 pounds with a screen that measures 8.9 inches diagonally. The machines start at under $500 for a Linux-based model. Prices go up for Windows Vista models with faster processors.
The processors HP is using are made by Via Technologies Inc., the distant third-ranked player in the microprocessor space, and come in clock speeds up to 1.6 gigahertz. The inclusion is a big win for Via, which trails Intel and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. by a wide margin in the microprocessor market.
HP executives say the only major feature its Mini-Note lacks is an optical drive for ingesting DVDs and CD-ROMs, which can be bought separately. But they say many schools requested the drives be left out to prevent students from playing unauthorized games.
The Mini-Note will compete primarily with Intel's Classmate PCs - which are designed by Intel and feature Intel chips but are built and branded by other companies - and Asustek's Eee PC.
To a lesser extent, they also will go up against the XO laptop from the Cambridge, Mass., nonprofit One Laptop per Child, which is intended primarily for schoolchildren in developing countries.
Intel says it has sold "tens of thousands" of Classmate PCs since they went on sale last year. And OLPC says it has sold hundreds of thousands of the XO. Figures were not immediately available for sales of the Eee.
Grid internet technology
Welcome to the future technologies
Welcome to the new world of fast internet. Yes now internet will become more faster by grid internet technologies. It's new technique for internet data transfer. Fifty years of innovation have increased the raw speed of individual computers by a factor of around one million, yet they are still far too slow for many challenging scientific problems.
Carpenter said, " The Grid will open up ... storage and transaction power in the same way that the Web opened up content." And just as the Internet connects various public and private networks, Cisco Systems' Bob Aiken said, "you're going to have multiple grids, multiple sets of middleware that people are going to choose from to satisfy their applications."
Now no need to user CD/DVD and pen drive. After grid technologies you can get upto 1GBPS and you can download movie in few minutes.
"Grid computing enables large-scale aggregation and integration of computing, storage, network and other information resources across organizational boundaries, but its use today is limited to experimental scientists analyzing large amounts of data," the report said. "In much the same way the Internet began as an effort to share computing resources among academic researchers before spreading to businesses and then to consumers, Grid computing will eventually be used by enterprises. More important, research into Grid computing will lead to the creation of software that will solve critical problems companies now face in building distributed inter-enterprise applications."
If you want to move big data from one palce to other palce there is no need to user CD / DVD or pen drive .Just upload your data in minutes and then download from other place in minutes.
past: Dial up internet
Present: Broadband internet
Future: Grid internet
Amsterdam seemed a logical choice for the first Global Grid Forum because not only is it the world's most densely cabled city, it was also home to the Internet Engineering Task Force's first international gathering in 1993. The IETF has served as a model for many of the GGF's activities: protocols, policy issues, and exchanging experiences.
The Grid Forum, a U.S.-based organization combined with eGrid - the European Grid Forum, and Asian counterparts to create the Global Grid Forum (GGF) in November, 2000.
The emergence of the Grid will change the entire perception the way people interact with each other online
The Global Grid Forum organizers said grid communities in the United States and Europe will now run in synch.
The Grid evolved from the early desire to connect supercomputers into " met computers " that could be remotely controlled. The word "grid" was borrowed from the electricity grid, to imply that any compatible device could be plugged in anywhere on the Grid and be guaranteed a certain level of resources, regardless of where those resources might come from.
But the real goal of the Grid is to work with the LHC in tracking down nature ’s most elusive particle, the Higgs boson. Predicted in theory but never yet found, it is supposed to be what gives matter mass. But even at optimum performance, The LHC will generate only a few thousand of the particles a year. Analysing the mountain of data is such a huge task that it will keep the Grid’s gargantuan capacity busy for years to come.
Scientific communities at the conference discussed what the compatibility standards should be, and how extensive the protocols need to be.
" Earlier this year, we predicted that Web services will take longer to gain acceptance in inter-enterprise use than anticipated because of unresolved problems with reliability, security and business models," said Eric Berg, managing director at PricewaterhouseCoopers' Global Technology Centre and editor-in-chief of the Forecast. " Our latest finding is that the development of Grid computing architectures, protocols and middleware by the research community is likely to lead directly to solutions that will overcome these obstacles and allow Web services deployment to proceed. "
Massive memory: Samsung, the world's top memory-chip maker, announced a $33 billion investment plan to add new production lines, aiming to more than treble its chip sales by 2012.
The plan, the biggest single investment project since Samsung entered the semiconductor business in 1974, was set to widen the gap with its smaller rivals while adding capacity in its relatively weak non-memory-chip division.
Samsung also said it was considering building new production facilities in the United States, although nothing was set.
Memory-chip makers have huge capital spending requirements as production moves to finer circuitry technology that makes chips smaller and helps cut manufacturing costs.
Analysts expect firm demand for memory chips over the coming years due to growing PC markets in emerging countries and booming sales of digital cameras and music players, which use flash memory chips.
