Windows Media Player 11 for windows xp

Hi I know this is old news but nothing to post so post this. Windows Media Player 11 has been released for Windows Xp and Windows Vista the following are the features of Windows Media Player

	Bring a whole new look to your digital entertainment.
	Breathe new life into your digital music experience.
	Store and enjoy all of your music, video, pictures, and recorded TV.
	Stay connected with your music, video, and pictures no matter where you are. Check out the new Media Sharing feature.

Security in hard drive

Seagate today announced a first hard drive that integrates a hardware- and software-based content protection technology: Called "Drive Trust," the security platform can prevent unauthorized access to data stored on the drive. It promises users a greater peace of mind when storing critical data, but the technology is very likely to end up as a new digital rights management (DRM) solution as well.

Drive Trust has been developed as a complementary platform for the security specifications of the Trusted Computing Group (TCG) and Seagate expects the platform result into a formal TCG storage specification that is scheduled for public release in early 2007. The company describes the approach as a "fully automated hardware-based security with a programming foundation," that enables content owner's software developers to take advantage of the drive's data security features on their own terms.

Locking down data has become an increasingly important topic in a time when more and more data is exchanging hands and data theft is a growing concern. In addition to already existing encryption and copy protection mechanisms, securing data directly on the hard drive is an almost logical step. And according to Seagate, Drive Trust is easy to manage, as it "automatically protects all drive data, not just selected partitions or files, at all times, and its security functions operate independently of the hard drive, preserving the hard drive's full performance." Also the company claims that the technology, which is marketed as a "feature" of certain hard drives, does not require any security patches, updates or upgrades.

The first drive to offer Drive Trust is Seagate's DB35 series, which is primarily used in digital video recorders. In the first quarter of 2007, Seagate will add a Drive Trust version of its 2.5" Momentus 5400 FDE notebook drive.

Another Apple patent

Apple Computer Inc. won a patent for a speech-recognition technology earlier this week, fueling speculation that the iPod-maker is laying the groundwork for a future "iPhone."

The patent, approved Tuesday by the U.S. Trademark and Patent Office, allows Apple to assign "meanings to spoken utterances in a speech recognition system."

The Apple-focused blog Mac News Network, which first reported the news, suggested that the patent, which was first filed in February of 2004, could be used for a future "iPhone."

Nerd in space!!

Charles Simonyi goes into orbit next March, he is the first guy from Forbes magazine's billionaire list to fly in space and the "first nerd in space." Simonyi is going where three rich men (and one rich woman) have gone before, but this time the price tag is a bit higher. The standard quote of $20 million is going up to $25 million, and Simonyi is paying a fare somewhere between those two figures, said Eric Anderson, chief executive officer of Virginia-based Space Adventures. Anderson's company has made the arrangements with the Russians for all five of those missions. Simonyi retired from Microsoft in 2002 and now serves as president and chief executive officer of Intentional Software, based in Bellevue, Wash. He is also a philanthropist, making multimillion-dollar contributions through his Charles Simonyi Fund for Arts and Sciences.

This year, Forbes estimated his net worth at $1 billion, putting him 746th on its list of 793 billionaires around the world. Space Adventures' past orbital clients — California investment adviser Dennis Tito (2001), South African dot-com tycoon Mark Shuttleworth (2002), New Jersey physicist-businessman Greg Olsen (2005) and Iranian-American venture capitalist Anousheh Ansari (2006) — aren't on the list.

The billionaire signed up for the trip several months ago, and since then, he's passed the Russian medical exams with flying colors, Anderson said. That puts Simonyi far ahead of Japanese entrepreneur Daisuke Enomoto, who had to give way to Ansari, his backup, when he was judged medically unfit for flight. Anderson said no backup has been designated for Simonyi.

Simonyi said he was in talks with space agencies about his participation in experiments on the health effects of spaceflight — for example, studies into bone stresses that are similar to osteoporosis on Earth. Space Adventures recently began offering a $15 million option for a spacewalk, but Simonyi said he didn't have enough time to train for such an outing.

His educational efforts would be focused on a newly established Web site — CharlesInSpace.com — and Simonyi also intended to leave behind a couple of books for the space station's small library: Robert Heinlein's "The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress" and Goethe's "Faust," in German and English.

Simonyi said he hoped his trip would eventually stimulate the spaceflight market to the point that even non-millionaires could afford to go into orbit. He cited an example from his own career, noting that laser printers started out costing half a million dollars but now could be had for $300 or so.

Anderson agreed that more suppliers would have to enter the orbital spaceflight market before the price could come down. "Because of people like Charles, there are entrepreneurs out there, in the United States, who are investing hundreds of millions of dollars to service the future market for orbital space tourism," he said.

"It'll never be $20,000 or $25,000 unless it starts out at $20 million or $25 million," Anderson said.

Solar Power

World's largest solar power plant is in Germany. On Friday, Silicon Valley-based SunPower marked the dedication of the Gut Erlasee Solar Park, a 12-megawatt facility located amid cropland near the Bavarian town of Arnstein. SunPower's solar cells are used in about one-third of the "mover" panels--from German solar technology company Solon--that tilt and rotate to stay facing the sun throughout the day.

No more office pirates soon

The company introduced Office Genuine Advantage in April as a voluntary way for people to ensure that they only used licensed and legal copies of the productivity software. But as of Friday, Office Online templates downloaded from within Microsoft Office System 2007 applications will require validation of the Office software in use.

And as of January 2007, people will also have to complete the authentication test if they want to use Office Update.

The move means that users who are caught using software that can't be proved to be 100 percent legal won't get access to add-ons and updates from Microsoft. Those denied access because their version does not pass the authentication test will need to prove that their software is valid before they can proceed.

Microsoft says it will "continue to provide a complimentary copy of Microsoft Office to help qualifying customers who unknowingly acquired counterfeit versions of Microsoft Office 2003." But users will need to "fill out a counterfeit report, provide proof of purchase and send in their counterfeit CDs" to prove their entitlement to a free replacement copy of Office.

Customers who have "unknowingly acquired" a counterfeit version of Office and can't provide these details will have to pay a license fee, Microsoft said. This will be $359 for the Office Genuine Advantage kit for Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003, while the Microsoft Office Small Business Edition 2003 costs $269 and the Microsoft Office Student and Teacher Edition 2003 costs $139. This offer is available for November, the company said.

Microsoft has escalated its battle with software pirates during the past two years through the "Genuine Advantage" add-ons for Windows and Office, its biggest cash cows. The company is now expanding its push by putting antipiracy features in its new products and taking more drastic action when it finds that a product was illegitimately acquired.

Earlier this month, Microsoft owned up to problems with Windows Genuine Advantage when some validated customers were denied access to their applications because of a software problem.

Greedy Microsoft

According to Jim Wong, senior corporate vice president of the Acer, the issue is simply that the basic home edition of Vista, Home Basic, which is available for preorder on Amazon.co.uk for 154.99 pounds ($293), is so basic that users will be forced to move to Vista Home Premium, at 189.99 pounds ($359). A Home Edition of Windows XP is currently available for 165.99 pounds, but has a recommended retail price of 176.99 pounds. *Note Windows Vista home does not have the Aero glass look

Wong also said that the manufacturer's license for Vista Home Premium is 10 percent more expensive than for XP Home. "We have to pay more but users are not going to pay more," Wong said. This would mean an increase in the cost to PC manufacturers of 1 percent to 2 percent, according to Wong, in a business where the profit margin is around 5 percent or less.

At the top of the Vista lineup is the Ultimate Edition, which can be preordered for 325 pounds ($614) and, again, is significantly more expensive than the XP operating system it replaces. Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2 has a recommended retail price of 289.99 pounds ($550), but is currently available for 234 pounds ($444).

Free Wifi anyone (Only in the US)

On Friday, the company will give away its Wi-Fi routers, which will allow broadband subscribers to share their Internet connections with Wi-Fi users throughout their communities. The company wishes it will unwire San Francisco and other cities around the globe

Citywide Wi-Fi networks, which are built and managed by a city alone or in partnership with a private company, have become popular in the last couple of years as large cities such as Philadelphia, New Orleans and San Francisco have promised ubiquitous Wi-Fi coverage within their borders.

While access to Wi-Fi itself is cheap--it doesn't require expensive radio licenses and is readily accessible by just about every laptop on the market today--building and operating these citywide networks still costs money. Philadelphia estimates it will spend $10 million to build and maintain its network over the next several years. And San Francisco said it will spend $15 million--including maintenance and upgrades--over the next decade.

In total, network providers and local governments building their own networks are expected to spend $235 million to build and operate citywide networks in 2006 alone. And by 2010, more than $3 billion will spent on these networks.

Despite all the hype, only a handful of major cities have Wi-Fi networks up and running. San Francisco, for example, is still negotiating its contract with EarthLink and Google, which were selected to build the network. And New York City is still studying its options.

This is where FON comes in. The company, which, ironically, counts Google as one of its backers, says it has a solution that can be deployed now at very little cost to the city or its residents.

FON's software allows broadband subscribers to split their Internet connection so that it offers a secure connection indoors and an open connection to people outside the home. Initially, the software could be downloaded onto existing home routers. But this proved too difficult for most people, so FON built its own, small router, called La Fonera.

The La Fonera router, which uses standard 802.11g technology, was introduced only a few weeks ago. It was designed for easy installation. Users simply plug the device into their existing broadband modem, and, voila, their broadband connection is converted into a FON access point.

Currently, about 112,000 La Fonera and FON-enabled routers have been registered with the company. To help spur adoption it's been offering the routers on its Web site for $5 apiece. It's also taking its promotion on the road, offering routers for free in cities such as San Francisco and in New York, where it's planning an East coast "Freedom" event for later this year.

Once users have registered, they become part of the FON community, which allows them free access to any FON hot spot in the world. Non-FON members can also access the network, but they must pay $1 or $2 for 24 hours of access. This small fee is actually how FON generates revenue.

While FON's concept of grassroots Wi-Fi may sound like a good idea, it's not without issues. For one, many Internet service providers, such as AT&T and Time Warner, consider the very concept a violation of their customer contracts.

While it might be difficult for service providers to pinpoint who's using a FON router, Huff said there are ways find out if someone is illegally sharing broadband service. If illegal usage continues, Time Warner can cut off service.

To a certain extent, Rees of FON agrees. While she believes that cities could achieve the same Wi-Fi coverage without building a network themselves or contracting someone else to build it for them, the FON network can work with municipal Wi-Fi networks to improve coverage.

Reading books digitally at Google

In late August, Google restarted its Google Book Search project initiated in 2004 with the lofty aim of scanning every literary work into digital format and making them available online. Despite facing lawsuit from publishers Google has formed partnerships with major universities such as Harvard, Oxford, the New York Public Library, Complutense of Madrid and the University of California to add their collections to its virtual book shelves. In mid-October the University of Wisconsin made its extensive selection of historical works available to the Mountain View, California-based Internet powerhouse. Google has stored on its searchable database classic works in the public domain, along with copyrighted books either sent with or without the publishers' permission. Google used its online search expertise to craft search boxes that use keywords, genres and authors to find works as opposed to the romantic practice of sifting through cards in a library reference index. Google claimed the right of "freedom of quotation" to pull up search results from books. The virtual library project caused an outcry from publishers and authors that argued Google did not have the right to commandeer their works for free distribution online. Google has also rejected claims that, being based in the United States, it has favored English. It has promised it would next roll out a Google Book Search in French. Opposition to the project, particularly by French and US editors, resulted in a group of book publishers forming the Open Content Alliance (OCA) in October of 2005. The OCA is a non-profit organization which joins together an array of universities, foundations, and data processors to create a "common pot" of digitized books available online for download or printing. The proposed collection of works contributed by members would consist of 35.000 works, including those of precursors such as the Gutenberg Project. Microsoft also plans to launch its own large-scale virtual book search engine called Windows Live Books Search "later this year," and begin forming its own collection of works. Microsoft followed Google's lead by asking editors to submit their books to be scanned into digital format free of charge. "Microsoft will be more closed," Kahle said, who is eager to see the Redmond, Washington-based firm's budding project. Microsoft was working double-time to catch up with Google in the virtual books department. In mid-October Microsoft signed a deal with Kirtas, a manufacturer of high-speed scanners capable of digitizing an average-length book in eight minutes. Microsoft also arranged to digitize the contents of the Cornell University library. Neither Google nor Microsoft would reveal how many books they have already scanned. "In the thousands," was the only hint Google would give. At stake for the companies were advertising revenues that could be raked in from book-seeking Internet surfers. "We are looking into the possibility of incorporating ads into the Windows Live Book Search platform sometime in the future," Microsoft told AFP. The outcome of the battle of the online libraries will undoubtedly hinge on court decisions regarding copyright protections, and which search engine wins over the most coveted collections of written works.

The two differences between Mozilla firefox and IE 7

Microsoft profits soars but is due to slip in this quarter

The company's strongest growth came in sales of server software, which runs networks of computers in businesses and organizations.

Sales this quarter may miss analysts' estimates.

Net income rose to $3.14 billion, or 29 cents a share, from $2.53 billion, or 23 cents, a year earlier, when profit was hurt by legal costs, the Redmond, Wash.-based company said. Sales gained 6 percent to $9.74 billion.

Profit before one-time items in the first quarter was 31 cents a share, compared with the 30-cent average estimate of 27 analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial. Analysts expected revenue of $9.78 billion.

But the company said that in the current quarter, it expects revenue of $10.3 billion to $10.5 billion, compared with analysts' estimates of $10.6 billion. With its software running more than 90 percent of the world's personal computers and a growing share of the corporate market, technology companies and investors look to Microsoft for cues on prospects for the sector.

Chief Financial Officer John G. Connors said, "We expect to continue the trend of growing revenue faster than expenses as we work to make each of our businesses more efficient and profitable."

Microsoft has struggled to adjust to being a slower-growth company as the sector matured. The company also faces some of its toughest competition ever from Linux and other open-source operating systems, which are attractive to many business customers because they often are less expensive, are viewed as more secure and allow for more customization by users.

In response, Microsoft has begun to trim its costs while it also pushes into new areas, such as software for smart phones and other mobile devices. For the quarter, the company added $3 billion to its cash hoard, which now contains $64 billion.

The company showed some weakness in its "unearned revenue" category, which is how the company accounts for business customers who have not yet renewed license agreements that are expiring.

Connors said Microsoft took note of Google Inc.'s launch last week of a tool that allows computer users to search their computer hard drives with keywords. That has been an anticipated feature of the next version of Windows, Vista, expected out in January 2007.

"We're going to have a great race in search between Google, Microsoft and Yahoo," Connors said. "It's going to be really fun to follow."

Per-share profit will be 32 cents to 33 cents. Analysts expected 35 cents.

Is Xbox 360 sales dropping due to the Zune lanch

With Microsoft corporate vice president J Allard preoccupied with the Zune MP3 player, his other charge, the Xbox 360 video game console, appears to be stumbling in the marketplace. According to an analyst from Lazard Capital Markets, Microsoft won't meet its 2006 Xbox 360 sales goals, which had already been revised downward once. That misstep will give rival Sony, whose beleaguered PlayStation 3 console has suffered from a number of manufacturing difficulties, time to catch up.

"Xbox 360 sales appear to be tracking below current market expectations," Lazard analyst Colin Sebastian says. "Based on year-to-date sell-through trends in North America, we believe sales of Microsoft's Xbox 360 console are tracking closer to 4.5 million units for the year versus current market expectations in the 5-million unit range."

Microsoft originally projected that it would sell up to 6 million Xbox 360 units within 6 months of its November 2005 launch. That estimate was later revised to 5.5 million units, and Microsoft said it would have over 10 million users by the end of 2006. Now, Microsoft is expected to sell about 4.5 million units during the entire calendar year 2006, so it will fall far short of its original goals, Lazard says.

As for J Allard, he's busy working on The Next Big Thing at Microsoft: The Zune. Unfortunately, the Zune may have some problems of its own. Analysts at Jupiter Research say Apple's iPod will continue to dominate the MP3 player market for at least the next 12 to 18 months. And Zune, analysts there say, offers only one major feature not found on the iPod. That feature, wireless connectivity to other Zune players, "isn't that compelling."

Microsoft takes a $1.5 billion profit

The fiscal Q1 2007 earnings result was at the high of Microsoft's and analyst's expectations and represented an 11% year-over-year increase in earnings, now at $10.81 billion, and net profits of $3.48 billion.

The Business division, which is responsible for products such as Office, Exchange, Project and Visio, remains the main revenue contributor with sales of $3.4 billion (up from 3.3 billion in fiscal Q1 2006), followed by the Client division, which made $3.3 billion (up from $3.1 billion), mainly from the Windows operating system. Online services decreased from $565 million to $539 million. The strongest growth was seen in Server and Tools, which jumped 17% from about $2.1 billion to $2.5 billion and the firm's Entertainment Devices division, which saw revenues increase from $596 million to $1.0 billion during the quarter.

However, the balance sheet, which puts Microsoft's current warchest at just over $31 billion, is just half the story, as Microsoft's is planning to introduce a range of new products, especially Windows Vista and the Zune portable media player, in the next two quarters and especially the Entertainment Devices division will face more competition, primarily with the release of Sony's and Nintendo's next generation game consoles. To ensure a safe start of Vista, the company has announced a Vista upgrade program, which essentially locks users into a not necessarily free Vista upgrade. Microsoft estimates that, as a result of this program, $1.5 billion of revenue will be shifted from the second to teh third fiscal quarter.

The increase of revenues in the Entertainment Devices division was primarily due to an increase in demand for Xbox 36 consoles, software, peripherals, and Xbox Live, Microsoft said. According to the company, 900,000 consoles were sold during the quarter. The tally now stands at six million Xbox 360 consoles that were sold to date. For comparison, Sony expects to sell 500,000 Playstation 3 consoles until the end of the year, while Nintendo expects to sell six million Wii consoles in less than five months after launch.

Army DDR2 Memory by OCZ

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Nabaztag a cute little rabbit Wifi transmetter

Hi I have just found out about the new Wifi transmitter called Nabaztag . It is a cute little rabbit which blinks, talks and move when Wifi is available. It also can read our news and play songs from website, it will tell you the news and traffic. You can also dress it up according to your mood. It will also tell you when important email comes in. Worth to buy as it is compatible with Mac, Windows Linux, Mozilla Firefox. See the cute video at http://new.nabaztag.com/datas/modules/en/1.swf . Adopt a new rabbit from http://new.nabaztag.com/en/m-16-nabaztag-where-can-i-buy-a-nabaztag.html