IT Masala

With a tiny 6.76% of the search market, compared with Google’s 60%+ search share dominance, Microsoft has decided it’s time to leverage their massive base of global Windows users with juicy wads of cash to switch search providers!

So Whats the deal ? 

Microsoft’s new program is called “Microsoft Service Credits for Web Search” and has been unveiled by John Batelle’s ‘SearchBlog’. The money on offer is significant, especially when multiplied across thousands of PCs. The deal means that companies can earn between US $2 and US $10 per computer on an annual basis, plus a US $25,000 “enrollment credit” which is a nice big wad of cash that will likely need a large-ish, strong and sturdy brown paper bag to hold securely while being passed under the table.  

For companies that have thousands of computers, this could translate into anywhere from US $100,000 to $200,000 per year, which is money that could be put to good use in the IT department or elsewhere in the company.

Bad part of the campaign :

Microsoft will use a ‘Browser Helper Object’ installed into IE7 to track search queries and send information on search back to Microsoft, so they can use the information to improve the results that Windows Live Search delivers. Because of this, IE7 must be used – it doesn’t work with Firefox, Opera or older versions of IE browsers.

Really this is heights !! Is Microsoft so very irked by open source successes ?? anyway..read on.. 

Robert Scoble comments - "Microsoft sucks": 

“What Windows Live lacks, specifically, is an identity. No one can describe it, no one from Microsoft has even tried.”

Former Microsoft employee and blogger Robert Scoble who served as the online face of Microsoft during his three years at the company is not impressed with Microsoft’s moves in deciding to offer companies money to use search.

PS: Each search at click4thecause.live.com results in a financial donation from Microsoft to provide help with education programs to the refugee kids around the globe.

We all know that Google doesn’t need to pay anyone to use its search services – people use them voluntarily because of the quality of the results.

So, is Microsoft really that spooked by Google's dominating success in search, and why is Robert Scoble so unimpressed with the deal? - The answer is quality !

It will be a loooong time until Micro$oft Live search reaches the level of Google searches..Till then keep trying..Good luck, Microsoft, you’re going to need it!

via [ itwire ] 

On March 13, Dell announced that all Dell and Alienware customers who purchase select gaming desktops will now be able to increase their storage space by adding the world’s first one terabyte hard drive from Hitachi Global Storage Technologies.

Dell is the first computer system supplier to ship 1 terabyte (1,000 gigabytes) hard drives targeted at users needing to store large amounts of digital media.

The first Dell PCs to use the drives will be its own Alienware-branded gaming PCs. 

According to Neil Hand, vice president, worldwide consumer marketing consumer product group, “Digital content use is exploding in the consumer market – with this 1TB hard drive, a lifetime of memories, music and other information can be made, stored and shared with others. This type of capability used to be available only to the largest corporations. With the spectacular advancement in hard drives and the engineering in our systems, we’re now able to bring it to consumers.”

How different is it ?

Dell will use Hitachi GST's 1TB Deskstar 7K1000 drive spinning at 7,200rpm with a 3GBit/s serial ATA interface. The drive uses perpendicular recording, has five platters, a read access time of 8.5msecs and a write time of 9.2msecs. It has a cache of 32MB and an 8.7ms average seek time.

Pricing : Dell's 1TB drive is priced at $540.

Extras : 

Users can upload videos to Video Time Capsule Service  (www.studiodell.com) where Dell will store them, initially on the 1TB drives, for a claimed 50 years.

via [ StudioDell Website ]

Today, Sony Ericsson announced the launch of the W660 Walkman phone…

The Sony Ericsson W660 Walkman phone can store up to 470 full-length songs on the 512MB Memory Stick Micro that comes with the phone. It has an expandable memory option upto 1GB.

The Sony Ericsson W660 Walkman phone features TRackID, a feature that enables the user to identify a piece of music that cannot be recognized. All the user has to do is record a few seconds of the track; via the microphone or by tagging a clip directly from the phone’s FM Radio. TrackID will then send the clip to the Gracenote Mobile MusicID database, after which the track information is sent back to the users’ phone.

According to Steve Walker, Head of Product Marketing,Sony:

“The W660 has a finish that stands out among its peers. Although the W660 places the emphasis firmly on design, it is also a full member of our Walkman phone family, able to store several hundred full-length songs. That’s important because our research indicates users are listening to more music than ever before – an average of 4.4 hours a day, according to the latest Sony Ericsson Music Monitor.”

Specifications of the Sony Ericsson W660 Walkman phone:

Mojungle, the media sharing site that had put itself up for sale on ebay, only to withdraw the listing, because of zero-bids has been sold to Peak Performance Solutions of Columbus, Ohio.The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Mojungle is a mobile-media sharing application and virtual community allowing users to store and share photos and videos directly from their mobile device in real-time, communicate, network, browse profiles, and make friends from around the world in a secure environment. Mojungle was founded in early 2006 and has established a large user base in a short time period.

Former Mojungle CEO, Ophir Tanz, states:

"We are pleased to be leaving Mojungle in such capable hands and look forward to seeing Peak Performance grow the existing Mojungle service and successfully integrate the mobile sharing capabilities into their existing software, a move which is sure to cause a stir in the industry."

Steve Isaac, CEO of Peak Performance Solutions, states:

"Mojungle is a highly innovative solution that will allow cellular telephone technology capabilities to be incorporated into core insurance and risk management business application functions".

via [ peakpsi ] 

• Windows fails second virus test [BBC]
  "Microsoft's security software has failed an independent test to see if it can spot Windows viruses."
• Apple: Write down your passwords [CNET]
  "Apple advises Mac users to write down their passwords, just in case they have forgotten them when they are needed."
• Forget DRM. It's the music [CNET]
  "Studios remain shell-shocked by Napsterization, but CNET News.com's Charles Cooper says the real solution isn't attacking pirates."
• IMing to save the world [CNET]
  "Thanks to a new charity drive started by Microsoft, IM-obsessed teenagers can now tell their parents that by staying online, they're helping charities like the Sierra Club, Unicef, and the National AIDS Fund."
• The 50 Most Important People on the Web [PC World]
  "Despite what Time magazine would have you believe, you are not the most powerful or influential person on the Web."
• Rivals Launch Competing Windows-on-Mac Products [PC World]
  "Both VMWare and Parallels update their virtualization software."
• Tech firms go green as e-waste mounts [AP]
  "This is where computers go to die a green death."
• Online Photoshop Not for Pros [PC World]
  "Following news that Adobe is working on an online version of its Photoshop image editing software, senior product manager John Nack has clarified that this is aimed at consumers, not creative pros."

• Your Wi-Fi can tell people a lot about you [CNET]
  "People sniffing wireless network traffic have many tools at their disposal to intercept sensitive data from PCs."
• Finally from Sony, a Video Walkman [PC World]
  "Eighteen months after rival Apple Inc. raised the bar in the music player market with its video iPod, Sony Corp. will launch its first digital video Walkman."
• Lenova recalls 205,000 laptop batteries [AP]
  "Chinese PC maker Lenovo Inc. recalled about 205,000 laptop computer batteries made by Japan's Sanyo Electric Co., warning that they could overheat and cause a fire."
• Adobe to Launch Apollo Beta [PC World]
  "Adobe Systems Inc. later this month plans to launch the beta of a new runtime that will allow rich Web-based applications to run offline, technology that could threaten the popularity of programming platforms such as Java and Microsoft Corp.'s.NET."
• Verizon Wireless launches live cell TV [AP]
  "Verizon Wireless on Thursday launched a broadcast TV service for cell phones in about 20 Midwestern and Western markets, charging $15 to $25 a month for the initial lineup from eight leading networks."
• Download DVD specification gets approval [InfoWorld]
  "A technology that allows movies to be downloaded and burned to blank DVDs using the same content-protection system as commercial discs received official approval on Thursday."
• HD DVD: No Copycats Allowed [Wired]
  "SourceForge complies with a DMCA notice to remove open-source software designed to help you rip HD DVDs. But was it really infringing copyright?"