IT Masala

• YouTube competitor in the works from News Corp. and NBC [techspot]
  News Corp. and NBC would like to believe as they today announced the upcoming launch of an online video service
• Skype Hampered by New Trojan Horse [ pcworld ]
  Internet phone network afflicted for second time.
• White Computer Setup [Elegant Technology]
  An almost-perfect pearly-white setup, including polystyrene cup and white, doily-like mouspad. But sir, that desk is brown.
• Why Faked Sentience in Hindering AI [The Guardian]
  Because we want it to be like us, we won't let it be like itself.
• Organic electroluminescents get brighter [The Inquirer]
  New technologies aim to put life into your LCD monitor: literally.
• Google News thinks "Zune" Is a Typo [Yahoo!]
  Did you mean "Zone?" asks the news-focused face of the world's most successful search engine. Is this the first Google antibomb, where instead of going elsewhere, you end up going nowhere?
• AMD and Intel haven't got a clue [The Inquirer]
  Bad headline, great point: at the end of the day, we don't care about the drill, we care about the hole. Sane consumers don't read benchmarks, they play games. So why is so much tech PR aimed at a tiny market of specification whores?
• US company offers Wi-Fi-proof paint [The Register]
  Tinfoil not included.

NIH Director Elias Zerhouni wants to pay you upto $1.5 million in direct costs over five years for your innovative mind !

What do you have to do? Submit an innovative idea that could have an exceptional impact on biomedical or behavioral science.

Who is eligible?

Applicant PD/PI’s must hold an independent research position at a domestic (U.S.) institution as of September 20, 2007 and must have received their most recent doctoral degree (e.g., Ph.D., M.D., D.D.S., D.V.M., or equivalent) or completed their medical internship and residency in 1997 or later.

“We want proposals in a broad range of scientific areas relevant to the NIH mission and from a diverse pool of applicants,” Zerhouni said

Application : 

Those who have an urge to do something for Science and also win the prize , download and submit the application, they could apply @ NIH. Click to read more information on the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award.

Deadline : Applications will be accepted from April 25 through May 22, 2007.

NIH Director Launches Program for Innovative New Investigators [NIH News]

Google Inc. said its engineers are developing software for hand-held devices, and the company has no plans to build mobile phones.

"We're not doing a mobile phone," Alan Eustace, senior vice president of engineering and research, said in an interview Thursday at Google's office in Atlanta. During an event earlier in the day, Eustace said, "I'd like to find something that is broader, rather than do yet another mobile device."

The remarks contradict reports on Web logs and online news sites this month that Mountain View, Calif.-based Google, the most-used Internet search engine, is working with a handset manufacturer to develop a phone.

Google, Yahoo! Inc. and Microsoft Corp. are racing to develop mobile products such as e-mail, online maps and search engines to tap consumers that want to surf the Web on the move. Mobile devices outsold personal computers by more than four to one in 2006, according to market research firm Gartner Inc.

 “We believe Google is working with, not against Apple in the mobile world,'' Piper Jaffray & Co. analyst Gene Munster wrote yesterday in a note. Google is probably building mobile applications that will work with the iPhone and other devices, he said.

Engineers at Google's Atlanta office work on projects including the Google Earth mapping program and a software tool kit for writing Internet applications. Employees also work on programs to place and track ads on radio, print and television, said Scott Blum, an engineer in the office.

via [ bloomberg ] 

Harvard University's most famous dropout is to get a degree from the university. Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who dropped out of the university in his junior year, will be awarded an honorary degree in June this year when he will speak at the university's commencement ceremony.

Gates, who left the university to start Microsoft and create history, would have been part of the Class of 1977, which is to celebrate its 30th year. Gates came to Harvard as a freshman in 1973. He had already tried his hand on programming and software and had written codes for computers. It was at Harvard that he helped develop a version of BASIC for the first microcomputer, the MITS Altair.

He soon quit the studies and started working full time for the company he and his childhood friend Paul Allen had founded when the duo were in their early teens.

Today, Gates is the richest man in the world and has also decided to step down from the day-to-day chores at the company he founded to devote full time for the philanthropic organization he and his wife established, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

via [ earthtimes ] 

Google always caters the needs of its users. So here's a chance for you to help Google to help you better… "Report Bug" link has been added to Gmail .It will appear near the top right on your Gmail Inbox page besides the " Settings" and "Logout" links. 

I was surprised , it did not appear when i login , i tried many times to get it ..logged in and out several times.. but in vain. But when my friend logged on he got a link [ screenshot attached ]. Maybe Google doesn't like me using Gmail ?? or it doesn't want me to send " Bug Reports "  or maybe it appears only for non-frequent Gmail users ..

So if you face some problems in using Gmail then :

- First - Check troubleshooting guide to find a solution to your problem, it might be already be available.

- Second - Check out Help Center - it has answers to most frequently asked questions. 

- If you could not get a solution to your problem then - Use this Bug Reporting form to make sure that Gmail knows about technical issues. 

Note : While filling this Bug Report form don't forget to mention about your browser and OS information.This will help Google to handle problems reported, quickly and effectively. And give proper valid Email address- response will be sent to the id you give here..so.

PS : Google might not respond to every message they receive. 

Bug Report Form looks like this :

[ Report Bug ] via [ Gmail ]

IEEE Spectrum asked 14 leading technologists to name the novel that influenced them the most. You'll be surprised at how often they agreed.

- Vinton Cerf ,Chief Internet Evangelist, Google , Founding father of the Internet, helped develop TCP/IP standards

Novel: The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien (3 volumes, 1954–1955)

- Donald Christiansen,Former editor, IEEE Spectrum; President of Informatica

Novel: War and Remembrance, Herman Wouk (1978)

-  David Mindell ,Frances and David Dibner Associate Professor of the History of Engineering and Manufacturing, MIT

Novel: Gravity’s Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon (1973) 

- James Isaak ,Assistant professor of information technology, Southern New Hampshire University, in Manchester

Novel: Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner (1968)

- Samuel C. Florman,Principal and owner, Kreisler Borg Florman General Construction Co., Scarsdale, N.Y.

Novel: A Single Pebble, John Hersey (1956) 

- Vernor Vinge,Retired professor of computer science, San Diego State University

Novel: Between Planets, Robert A. Heinlein (1957) 

- Danny Hillis,Cochairman, Applied Minds, Glendale, Calif. Cofounded Thinking Machines, pioneer of massively parallel computer architectures

Novel: Have Spacesuit, Will Travel, Robert A. Heinlein (1958) 

- Barrett Hazeltine,Professor of engineering emeritus, Brown University, Providence, R.I.

Novel: The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925) 

- Nick Tredennick , Editor, the Gilder Technology Report, Great Barrington, Mass.

Novel: Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand (1957) 

-  Steven W. Squyres, Goldwin Smith Professor of Astronomy, CornellUniversity, Ithaca, N.Y.

Novel: Gravity’s Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon (1973) 

- Jaron Lanier,Artist, composer, and Fellow, International Computer Science Institute, BerkeleyComposer, artist, inventor;

Novel: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916), James Joyce 

- Henry Petroski,Aleksandar S. Vesic Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Duke University, Durham, N.C.

Novel: A Single Pebble, John Hersey (1956) 

- Jon Rubinstein, Key developer of Apple’s iPod, now chairman, Immersion Corp., San Jose

Novel: The Mad Scientists’ Club, Bertrand R. Brinley (1965)

- Owen K. Garriott,Engineer and former astronaut

Novel: Rocket Boys: A Memoir, Homer A. Hickam Jr. (1998) 

[ Read full article @ IEEE ] 

Wanted: Power-systems engineer with experience in high-power (5–100-kW) motor-­controller design. Must be U.S. citizen and have valid ISO1443-compatible access-control RFID implant.

Sound farfetched? Today, yes. A decade from now, maybe not.!

With the proliferation of radio-frequency identification technology and the recent, but increasing, use of implantable RFID chips in humans, we may already be on a path that would make such an ad commonplace in a 2017 issue of IEEE Spectrum.

Benefits : 

An implantable RFID chip, which is durable and about the size of a grain of rice, can hold or link to information about the identity, physiological characteristics, health, nationality, and security clearances of the person it’s embedded in. The proximity of your hand could start your car or unlock your front door or let an emergency room physician know you are a diabetic even if you are unconscious. Once implanted, the chip and the information it contains are always with you—you’d never lose your keys again.

Darker Side : 

Namely the erosion of our privacy and our right to bodily integrity. After all, do you really want to be required to have a foreign object implanted in your arm just to get or keep a job? And once you have it, do you really want your employer to know whenever you leave the office? And do you want every RFID reader–equipped supermarket checkout counter to note your presence and your purchases?

via [ Spectrum ] 

If this becomes a reality i would love to be a Cyborg or something like that.! ….waiting for it eagerly..

Indian-born Srinivasa S R Varadhan was Thursday named winner of the Norwegian Abel Prize, known as the "Nobel Prize for mathematics".

His contribution :

Varadhan’s theory of large deviations provides a unifying and efficient method for clarifying a rich variety of phenomena arising in complex stochastic systems, in fields as diverse as quantum field theory, statistical physics, population dynamics, econometrics and finance, and traffic engineering. It has also greatly expanded our ability to use computers to simulate and analyze the occurrence of rare events. Over the last four decades, the theory of large deviations has become a cornerstone of modern probability, both pure and applied.

“Varadhan’s work has great conceptual strength and ageless beauty. His ideas have been hugely influential and will continue to stimulate further research for a long time”, to quote the Abel Committee.

Award : 

He is expected to receive the Abel Prize from His Majesty, King Harald V of Norway, in Oslo on May 22nd. The honour is accompanied by a prize of $850,000.

This is the second time in three years that an NYU mathematician has been the recipient of the Abel Prize: in 2005, Professor Peter Lax of the Courant Institute was awarded the Abel.

About Prof Srinivasa S.R. Varadhan  :

Srinivasa S. R. Varadhan is currently Professor of Mathematics and Frank J. Gould Professor of Science at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University.

Prof. Varadhan - a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Royal Society and the Third World Academy of Sciences - has been the recipient of many awards and honours, including the Birkhoff Prize (1994), the Margaret and Herman Sokol Award of NYU's Faculty of Arts and Science (1995), and the American Mathematical Society's Leroy Steele Prize (1996), an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He is a fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics and the Indian Academy of Sciences. He received his B.Sc. Honours degree and M.A. from Madras University, and his Ph.D. from the Indian Statistical Institute in Calcutta.  

Biography via [ The Abel Prize ] 

The first thing i can say about this is ' ROFL '. In a report that surprises even the PC lovers around here (me), Symantec has listed Microsoft Windows as the most secure OS out there. They claim that Windows had the fewest number of patches and the shortest patch development time of any OS, including Mac, Red Hat Linux, Solaris, and HP-UX.

The information was a part of Symantec's 11th Internet Security Threat Report (PDF). The report, released this week, covered a huge range of security and vulnerability issues over the last six months of 2006, including operating systems.

Anuj Nayar, manager of Apple's Mac OS X and developer relations, would only say "Apple takes security very seriously and has a great track record of addressing vulnerabilities before they affect you."  — he is right ! 

Analyst Charles King with Pund-IT said Microsoft has had to be aggressive about dealing with security issues because it's such a big target. In that regard, the company has met the challenge.

PS — > can't believe this !

Also Note : Microsoft issued a security report for the first 90 days from the release of Windows Vista and gave it an A-plus.
 

Are they making a fool out of us.. . What do they think.. Everybody knows how Windows is. Yeah..No doubt Its one of the best user friendly OS but not the secure one..No No… If you say Gnu/Linux are excellent at security , then everybody accepts , due to its opensource community of the GnuLinux most of the vulnerabilities get rectified as soon as they are brought to notice. Apple Mac is no less, its on the top too.. We can rate then as - first comes MAC , GnuLinux, Solaris,HP-UX ..these top ratings can vary among themselves but will not include Windows in the list of top-5 .. No way.not in the top secure OS list ! ( maybe included in the top good looking OS 's ).

Why such misguiding information to the people ! What will Symantec get out of it ! 

PS : On May 19,2006 Symantec Sues Microsoft to Halt Vista  — How can such a difference in opinion occur so quickly !

Comments from the blog sphere :

Frankly, the rate at which you *patch* bugs is not an indication of the security of the system. A higher patch rate does not mean the system is less secure - according to that metric I could simply patch fewer bugs and look better. Without providing useful details, Symantec can spin the 'results' any which way. — slashdolt

Of course they want to Windows to be perceived as the most secure. They want people to use it. - s5

Since Symantec gets approximately zero sales from Macs and Linux users, of course they would promote Windows  - Belayman

Am I blind? - dpff

I'm getting a headache… nothing seems real anymore -  s0crates82

via [ Internet News ]

Its an amazing firefox extension . Really cool and nicely done. thanks to Anish Sane for giving everybody this nice plugin for firefox to make our life easier with our favorite Orkut.

You know this right..this is some security thing the Google people have put up. If You Have Logged In To Orkut With "Remember Me On This Computer" Checkbox Checked & While Closing The Browser Window You Have Not Logged Out, Still The Next Time You Open Browser & Open http://www.orkut.com, You Are Asked For password ..but now with this plugin its possible..

This plugin has some deadly features like Autologin Feature, You Can Login, Without Entering The Password Again, View "My Scrapbook" Link On Each Of Orkut Pages, Not just On Your Profile/Home Pages,New Scrap Alert ,You can send a common scrap to all of your (or in general any profile's) friends or members of any community to name a few good features..there are many more.. have a look at the plugin page for details….

Fantastic thing this plugin has is : It Removes Google Ads From Orkut Pages…  ( maybe google will make this feature not work very soon )

Works with Firefox 1.5 - 3.0a1 ALL

[ Download ] via [ Mozilla Plugins ] thanks Prasad Chubachi for the info.