Windows 8 unveiled for your tablet

Microsoft unveiled its windows 8 for tablets in D9 conference assuring the fact that they are a strong contender in the tablet market.

Microsoft displayed a demo of windows 8 through a video which showed that this next generation operating system will be a user and touch-friendly experience that will work seamlessly on tablets, desktops, and laptops. It also added that it will also respond to keyboards and mouse if they are attached. The rapidly evolving PC world has forced Microsoft to evolve new mechanism and hence Windows 8 file-sharing tools will be much to the friendlier, touch-tacular mobile interface will be more advance. One can tap locally stored and networked photos to select them in a glance and also add them to your albums. This similarly will work the same for documents, videos, and music.

One of the interesting revelation that was made by Microsoft in the event was that developers will be provided with application programming interfaces (APIs) and a software development kit (SDK) that will allow them to create Windows 8 tablet applications in HTML and/or JavaScript. Windows 8 is expected to work in the new version of Internet Explorer 10; however, it was not cleared if the Internet Explorer 10 browser will support the Silverlight plug-in.

One question that remained unclear as to who's support will Microsoft opt for - Intel x86 or ARM versions of Windows 8 PCs and tablets. However Microsoft said it has no plan to add any kind of compatibility layer to enable legacy Windows apps to run on ARM-based PCs and tablets.

CEO Steve Ballmer indicated last week that Microsoft is planning to release Windows 8 in 2012 but the event did not announce the date on which the operating system will be available in the market for consumers. Microsoft announced the development of Windows, a graphical user interface (GUI) for its own operating system (MS-DOS), which had shipped for IBM PC and compatible computers since 1981. The product line has changed from a GUI product to a modern operating system over two families of design, each with its own codebase and default file system.

The 3.x and 4.x family includes Windows 3.11, Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me. Windows for Workgroups 3.11 achieved the breakthrough from 16- to 32-bit networking and 32-bit disk access. Windows 95 completed the migration to 32-bit code and started an entirely new user interface, most of which is still used today.

Windows NT family started with NT 3.1 in 1993. Modern Windows operating system versions are based on the newer Windows NT kernel that was originally intended for OS/2. Windows runs on IA-32, x86-64, and Itanium processors. Earlier versions also ran on the i860, Alpha, MIPS, Fairchild Clipper, and PowerPC architectures. Some work was done to port it to the SPARC architecture. The NT kernel borrows many techniques from VMS. With NT4.0 in 1996 the shell changed from Program Manager to Explorer. CPU support included PowerPC, MIPS, and DEC Alpha for earlier versions of NT, but focuses on Itanium, 386, 486, and x64 today.The first independent version of Microsoft Windows, version 1.0, released on 20 November 1985, achieved little popularity. It was originally going to be called "Interface Manager" but Rowland Hanson, the head of marketing at Microsoft, convinced the company that the name Windows would be more appealing to consumers. Windows 1.0 was not a complete operating system, but rather an "operating environment" that extended MS-DOS, and shared the latter's inherent flaws and problems.

The first version of Microsoft Windows included a simple graphics painting program called Windows Paint; Windows Write, a simple word processor; an appointment "calendar"; a "cardfiler"; a "notepad"; a "clock"; a "control panel"; a "computer terminal"; "Clipboard"; and RAM driver. It also included the MS-DOS Executive and a game called Reversi.

Global Internet Traffic projected to quadruple by 2015: Cisco

In the fifth annual Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) Forecast (2010-2015), Cisco said that they predicts that the number of network-connected devices will be more than 15 billion, twice the world's population, by 2015. The company also said that the total amount of global Internet traffic will quadruple by 2015 and reach 966 exabytes per yearThe projected increase of Internet traffic between 2014 and 2015 alone is 200 exabytes, which is greater than the total amount of Internet Protocol traffic generated globally in 2010. According to Cisco, on the verge of reaching 1 zettabyte, which is equal to a sextillion bytes, or a trillion gigabytes by 2015, global IP traffic growth is driven by four primary factors.

The factors are:

An increasing number of devices: The proliferation of tablets, mobile phones, connected appliances and other smart machines is driving up the demand for connectivity. By 2015, there will be nearly 15 billion network connections via devices -- including machine-to-machine -- and more than two connections for each person on earth.

More Internet users: By 2015, there will be nearly 3 billion Internet users --more than 40 percent of the world's projected population.

Faster broadband speed: The average fixed broadband speed is expected to increase four-fold, from 7 megabits per second in 2010 to 28 Mbps in 2015. The average broadband speed has already doubled within the past year from 3.5 Mbps to 7 Mbps.

More video: By 2015, 1 million video minutes --the equivalent of 674 days --will traverse the Internet every second.

The annual Cisco VNI Forecast was developed to estimate global Internet Protocol traffic growth and trends. Widely used by service providers, regulators, and industry influencers alike, the Cisco VNI Forecast is based on in-depth analysis and modeling of traffic, usage and device data from independent analyst forecasts. Cisco validates its forecast, inputs and methodology with actual traffic data provided voluntarily by global service providers and consumers alike. To help customers learn more and visualize IP traffic growth drivers and trends, Cisco VNI Forecast can provide customized views relevant to customer needs

Fortinet releases FortiOS 4.0 operating system

Fortinet , a leading network security provider and worldwide leader in unified threat management solutions, has announced the release of its new FortiOS 4.0 operating system for the FortiGate product family, including its FortiGate-3140B multi-threat security appliance.

The broad advancements offered in the FortiOS 4.0 MR3 operating system introduce wireless controller extensions that support automatic provisioning of wireless access points and detection and suppression of rogue access points, among other things, the company said in a statement. The upgrade also introduces active profiling and flow-based threat inspection enhancements to the OS, which already integrates firewall, virtual private network (VPN), intrusion prevention (IPS), anti-virus, application control and many other security technologies, it said.

"With the release of FortiOS 4.0 MR3, powerful new security features and performance enhancements are now available for FortiGate consolidated security appliances," the company said.

The advanced FortiOS operating system expands the wireless controller capabilities of any FortiGate running FortiOS 4.0 MR3.

These capabilities improve security by enabling role-based access control to limit access to regulated, proprietary, or confidential data based upon a user's role, among other things.

Google launches tools to help Indian businesses go global

Search engine giant Google today announced the launch of its new tool ‘Global Market Finder’ in India, which will help advertisers find new markets overseas for their products.

“The new tool is designed to help Indian businesses expand their business and reach out to potential customers in international markets,” Sridhar Seshadri, Head Online Sales, Google India, told media persons here.

The new tool would help businesses of all sizes address traditional barriers to international expansion, such as finding the right customers, translating their websites and ad campaigns into local languages and reaching customers in foreign markets with relevant ads, he said.

The Global Market Finder and Google Ads for Global Advertisers would be available to advertisers in 43 languages, he said.

“According to the recent foreign trade data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Indian export market has witnessed 37.5 per cent growth in 2010-11 fiscal, which is a standing testimony of the huge potential of this space,” he said.

“With this launch, we want to reach out and help all advertisers, especially SMBs, by giving them access to information about the markets that have shown demand for their products,” he said. Google runs over one million servers in data centers around the world, and processes over one billion search requests and about twenty-four petabytes of user-generated data every day Google's rapid growth since its incorporation has triggered a chain of products, acquisitions, and partnerships beyond the company's core web search engine. The company offers online productivity software, such as its Gmail email service, and social networking tools, including Orkut and, more recently, Google Buzz. Google's products extend to the desktop as well, with applications such as the web browser Google Chrome, the Picasa photo organization and editing software, and the Google Talk instant messaging application. Notably, Google leads the development of the Android mobile operating system, used on a number of phones such as the Nexus One and Motorola Droid, as well as Google Chrome OS, which is still under heavy development but is best known as the main operating system on the Cr-48. Alexa lists the main U.S.-focused google.com site as the Internet's most visited website, and numerous international Google sites (google.co.in, google.co.uk etc.) are in the top hundred, as are several other Google-owned sites such as YouTube, Blogger, and Orkut. Google also ranks number one in the BrandZ brand equity database.The dominant market position of Google's services has led to criticism of the company over issues including privacy, copyright, and censorshipnm

Students cannot study without using some form of technology

Digital technology has changed the world around us and we see it in our daily lives, at home, at office and any place we move around. Among the many, youngsters are the first to get influenced by it. A survey by etextbook seller CourseSmart and Wakefield Research revealed that many college students are dependent on digital technology in colleges and in their classrooms. The survey was conducted on about 500 American college students where about 73 percent of them said that they could not study with without some form of technology and 38 percent of the student said that they could not be without some form of technology for more than 10 minutes.

The study also revealed that most of the students used technology to learn and used it for their research papers about 82 percent. 70 percent of the students said they prefer using a keyboard when taking down notes and 65 percent of then said that they use digital devices to do presentations in their colleges. The digital world does not stop here, about 91 percent said that they use technology to get in touch with their teachers.

Another update was off the 98 percent students who used digital gadgets, nearly half of them read etextbooks. 63 percent had read an etextbook on their device at least once, and the majority of the survey group agreed that etextbooks are easier to carry, simpler to search, cheaper and better than traditional textbooks for reading on-the-go.

E-mail tricks for greater productivity

For most of us, attending to e-mail is not just an optional part of our daily routine. It’s a requirement — and sometimes not a pleasant one. That’s why it makes sense to work smarter and more efficiently with e-mail. Adopt some of the tricks below, and you’ll be well on your way.

Leave mail on server

Almost no one today retrieves their e-mail in just one way.

Smartphones, web-based mail, and traditional e-mail programs all can look for mail from the same source.

So how do you make sure you have the mail you need on your main mail program if you’ve already downloaded and read it on another device? Set up your primary mail program to download your mail, and set up the other mail retrieval devices to download the mail but leave a copy on the server. That way you can read your e-mail on your smartphone, for example, but still retrieve the same messages on your main computer later on. Look in your mail settings for an option to “leave a copy of messages on server.”

Synchronise mail

There will be times when you just have to synchronise you mail on two different computers. How you do that will depend in part on the type of e-mail you use. For web based e-mail like Gmail, synchronisation is generally not a problem.

For mail that you download into programs like Outlook or Thunderbird, however, synchronisation is a bit more difficult. For Outlook, programs like Outback Plus (http://ajsystems.com) and OsaSync (http://www.vaita.com) make the chore easier. For Thunderbird, the procedure is a bit more involved, but you can read about the options at Mozilla’s Synchronising Mail page (http://bit.ly/PaJ1C).

Use signatures creatively

Most people think of an e-mail signature as a bit of boilerplate text containing the sender’s name and contact information. But signatures can be much more. In fact, they can be used to compose an entire e-mail message.

Almost all e-mail programs allow you to define multiple “signatures” and to select the appropriate one as you’re composing a message. Think of defining signatures that contain most of the text needed for stock responses that you often provide to certain types of messages. Then just select the appropriate signature and fire off your responses.

Send e-mail later

Remember that you don’t have to send an e-mail message immediately after it’s been composed. Instead, with most e-mail programs, you can schedule the mail to be sent at a specific time. There are plenty of reasons for wanting to do so. You might want to queue up a message to be sent on someone’s birthday. You might have time to write a message now but not later, when it should be sent. Or you may wish to have a note delivered when you know someone will be in the office.

Typically, if your e-mail program will allow you to schedule messages, you will do so from the message composition window. In Outlook, for instance, you start an e-mail message, open the View menu, click Options, and then select the “Do not deliver before” check box, specifying a date and time. Just be sure your mail program remains running so that it can send your message when you want it to.

Use BCC

The “CC” (carbon copy) line gets a lot of use in e-mail messages.

But people tend to forget about the “BCC” (blind carbon copy) line.

That could be because it’s hidden by default in some e-mail programs.

In Outlook, for instance, you have to activate it from a message composition window by pulling down the View menu and selecting “Bcc field.” BCC allows you to designate e-mail recipients that no one else on your recipient list can see. For instance, if you don’t want anyone on your recipient list to be able to see the e-mail addresses of other recipients, put your own e-mail address in the To field and all of the other recipients in the BCC field. Ever get an e-mail addressed to “newsletter” and wonder how you ended up receiving it? It’s probably because your e-mail address was entered into the BCC box.

Send huge attachments

The common advice for sending large attachments by e-mail is this: don’t. That’s because some recipients will simply be unable to download the attachments because of size limitations imposed by the e-mail provider.

If you have to get a large file to someone by e-mail, however, there are options. First, try splitting the file into smaller parts.

You can do that by using a standard Zip program such as the open-source 7-Zip (http://www.7—zip.org). Your recipient can then assemble the parts using the same program. Or you could upload the large file to a free transfer service such as YouSendIt (https://www.yousendit.com), which will send your recipient a link that, when clicked, will download the file.

Apple to show-off iPad 2

Apple Inc is hosting a media event next week to show off the next-generation of the iPad, as it prepares to take on new rivals in the fast-growing tablet market.

Apple, which sent an invitation to reporters on Wednesday via email, will host the March 2 gathering at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, the same venue where Apple unveiled the original iPad in January 2010.

The characteristically succinct invitation featured an image of a calendar page with a giant "2" emblazoned in the center, peeled back just slightly to reveal the familiar form of an iPad. The invite teased, "Come see what 2011 will be the year of."

Given the sheer crush of competing tablets coming on the market, Apple will face a bigger challenge to wow consumers with the new iPad, which is expected to go on sale in April.

The iPad has completely dominated the nascent tablet computer market, but literally dozens of new devices are set to launch this year, so Apple will have to prove it can stay one step ahead of its pursuers.

Apple's rivals include Motorola Mobility, Research in Motion and Hewlett-Packard Co, all of which are aggressively promoting their tablets.

Apple sold nearly 15 million iPads last year, when it had the market largely to itself. Analysts expect the company to at least double that figure this year, as the overall market explodes to more than 50 million units.

Industry watchers expect Apple to show off a thinner, lighter and faster version of the 10-inch touchscreen tablet, and also add a front-facing camera to enable video chatting using the company's FaceTime application.

Many analysts believe Apple may also add a chip that allows the iPad to run on CDMA networks like that of Verizon Wireless.

There is also the question of who will lead the event, with Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs out on indefinite medical leave. As Apple's master showman, Jobs typically presides over major product launches.

If not Jobs on stage, other potential emcees include Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook and marketing chief Phil Schiller.

With the original iPad priced starting at $499, investors will also be watching to see if Apple plans to creep farther down the price chain to broaden the iPad's appeal.

Apple's rivals has so far been unable to match the iPad on price. But Apple has pinched its own gross margins by pricing the tablet lower than its serious competitors