Apple's iPhone VS Canadian Market


Apple's iPhone is expected to enter Canadian market. Unfortunatly exact date is not announced but it seems to be nice when service get wider. So do Rogers Communications Inc..

Ted Rogers, President and Chief Executive Officer of Rogers Communications Inc. on tuesday issued the following statement: We're thrilled to announce that we have a deal with Apple to bring the iPhone to Canada later this year. We can't tell you any more about it right now, but stay tuned.

Demand for Apple's iPhone is very hight not only in canada I mean worldwide. Russia makes it fashionable and phone appears trendy the latest must-have for Russia's elite, numbering about 500,000 in all in the country already. This is despite the US$700 price that iPhones sell for in that country. Of course, this is nothing compared to the $1,800 it sold for when it was first launched in the US.

I see Apple's iPhone does not gives up. Repid market share and hight distribution lives it’s results - people like it so much. So we have to be patient and wait for the next announcement but may be iPhone already brouhgt to canada. Who knows? Even Ted Rogers keeps silent.

Reference:

http://your.rogers.com/aboutrogers/newsroom/wirelessmediainfo/wireless_news_releases.asp

Tall or small, thin or thick, blonde or brunette there is place for everyone on Dating DNA Web App for Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch Internet devices. The most important is to be compatible with somebody. And how is that possible? Well, iPhone and iPod Touch users can immediately start browsing photos and compatibility scores with thousands of singles worldwide by visiting iPhone or Apple’s websites.

The charm of this service is that not being at your computer, you can browse photos of other compatible singles, delete, skip each match, or add them to the favorites section, called the "DNA Strand."

According to the PRWeb.com: "Not only is it our desire to allow everyone to use their Dating DNA Number all across the Internet's social graph, but we also want to make our services available on a wide array of Internet devices, such as the iPhone," said Kevin Carmony, CEO for Dating DNA. "Just like online dating is shifting away from traditional dating sites such as Match.com and eHarmony to social networks like Facebook and MySpace, so too are many people moving to their cell phones for interacting socially on the Internet."

Having a Dating DNA Number, users are able to use their iPhone or iPod Touch device to browse photos of users with whom their compatibility score matches that user's "Compatibility Threshold." In difference to other sites Dating DNA keeps all information and photos private, except to those who meet or exceed a "Compatibility Threshold”.

And all that is 100% free to use, utilizing Web 2.0 technology to create an integrated experience that is extremely easy, fun and enjoyable for the user.
References:
The accolades lavished on criminal action video game "Grand Theft Auto 4", long expected to be the best-selling game of 2008, pushed Take-Two shares as high as $27.10, more than a dollar higher than the $25.74 per share offered for the company by rival Electronic Arts Inc. It was the highest level for the stock since February 28, when it touched $27.61 three days after Electronic Arts went public with its $2 billion hostile bid.

These ratings are quite extraordinary. It's something special and helps critics to understand why Take-Two was so confident and adamant that they wanted to wait. Many analysts have long said EA may have to raise its bid by a dollar or two per share.

Take-Two and Electronic Arts were not immediately available to comment.The Tuesday launch of "Grand Theft Auto 4" is expected to be the biggest entertainment event of the year, with first-week sales of up to $400 million.

Scores on gaming review aggregation site Metacritic.org show the game, in which players work for a crime syndicate in a fictionalized New York, is on track to be the highest-rated video game of all time.

Based on more than a dozen reviews so far, the version of GTA4 for Sony Corp's PlayStation 3 game console has scored a perfect 100 while that for Microsoft Corp's Xbox 360 has achieved a score of 99.

Reference:

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/xbox360/grandtheftauto4

A web rts game KingdomGame is now updated for iPhone consumers. KingdomGame is such kind of game where you compete against other players. The updated version features numerous bug fixes and updated functionality.

You can build new buildings; attack and spy on other Kingdoms; build diplomatic relations through the embassy; buy and sell goods at the market. All while you work towards the ultimate goal of being the Ruler of the known world.

The game doesn’t work in a remote place, as it requires constant internet connection.

To use KingdomGame on your iPhone visit the website: http://www.kingdomgame.net/LoginHome.asp


References:

http://iphone.click2creation.com/?p=652

My unscientific research shows that women like chocolate more than men. Futher, on average, women eat more chocolate than men do. Do you know a woman who would eat chocolate every day for a whole year? Honestly, I can't recall of anyone around me to be such a masochistic chocolate eater but our dear Juliet. So, let's devote this post to her.

You see, scientists in the UK are seeking 150 women to eat chocolate every day for a year in the cause of medical research. The scientists doing this trial would like to find out whether a natural compound found in cocoa, the main ingredient of chocolate, could cut the risk of heart disease among women with diabetes.

Participants must be postmenopausal women under the age of 70 and will have their risk of heart disease tested on five occasions during the year to see whether change occurs.

Well, if the scientists prove their hypothesis, then based on the amount of the chocolate that Juliet eats daily, she will please you with her posts for the next 100 years!

Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/04/28/chocolate.trial/
Photo source: Corbis
According to Japanese researchers paying people a compliment appears to activate the same reward centre in the brain as paying them cash. The study offers scientific support for the long-held assumption that people get a psychological boost from having a good reputation.

Specially created team studied 19 healthy people using a brain imaging technique known as functional magnetic resonance imaging or fMRI. In one set of experiments, people played a gambling game in which they were told one of three cards would yield a payout. The researchers then monitored the brain activity triggered when the subjects received a cash reward. In a second set of experiments, people were told they were being evaluated by strangers based on information from a personality questionnaire and a video they had made. The researchers then monitored reactions to these staged evaluations, including when the subjects thought strangers had paid them a compliment. Both kinds of rewards triggered activity in a reward-related area of the brain.

The finding represents an important first step toward explaining complex human social behaviours such as altruism.

Reference:

http://www.nips.ac.jp/eng/news/2008/20080424/

New Video Recording application known as iPhone Video Recorder was launched by DreamCatcher. iPhone Video Recorder records audio and video to the compressed mpeg4 format, so the recording is space saving, an-hour-high-quality recording will be a file as small as 60MB.

VideoRecorder allows consumers to save video with audio, and is offered in 2 versions. The first trial that lets you record up to 30 seconds to 15fps and obviously the second Full which has no time limit for registration. The cost of obtaining the full license is $ 19.95.

iPhone Video Recorder offers new recording method a scheme known as “postponed encoding,” in which video and audio are recorded and stored in your iPhone’s memory in raw format, and then encoded to the iPhone’s standard MP4 format at a time when it is convenient for you. This deferred method allows for the higher frame rates. One nice feature is that since the encoding itself is naturally slow, as you would expect from 412MHz worth of horsepower, they’ve added the ability to stop the encoding at any time and resume it later on.

Here are some different features of Video Recorder:


· Record both audio and video;


· Record to compressed mpeg4 format;


· Intelligent dynamic volume adjustment algorithm;


· Up to 15 fps with high-quality video;


· Playback, send out by email.

How to install? Firstly, Open the Installer, add source: http://www.iphone-recorder.com/install2 , browse to the Multimedia category and Install iPhone Video Recorder.

References:

http://mydepository.wordpress.com/2008/04/26/iphone-video-recorder/

People who spend hours and hours playing video games exhibit the same personality traits as people with Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism, researchers say. The new UK research fuels concerns that video games could further alienate an already isolated group of people and increase mental health problems like depression. 400 gamers were examined, most of them were males.

The more time a person spent playing video games, the researchers found, the more likely they were to show three specific traits usually associated with Asperger's: neuroticism and a lack of extraversion and agreeableness. But people with Asperger's may be more vulnerable to becoming addicted to playing video games because it allows them to escape into a world where they can avoid face-to-face interactions.

People with Asperger's typically find social situations stressful. They often can't make eye contact and fail to pick up social cues, like boredom, in other people. The condition tends to isolate children and can trigger depression, which according to researchers, video games may encourage. The exact cause of Asperger's is unknown, although researchers suspect there is a genetic component. Treatment for Asperger's usually consists of improving social skills and breaking repetitive behavior, the very things video games discourage.

I’ll try being easy with games and not to get addicted gamer!

References:

http://data.bolton.ac.uk/staff/jc4/ubccru/text/individualdifferences.htm

Apple has revealed that over 200,000 iPhone developers have downloaded Software Development Kit (SDk) so far. Apple also announced that in mid-March, the iPhone SDK had been downloaded 100,000 times. According to Apple CFO Oppenheimer Apple is signing up more developers each week.

Oppenheimer called the response to the SDK "tremendous" and said that interest in developing enterprise applications for the iPhone is also going well. More than 400 higher educations are now creating applications for the iPhone, and more than one-third of Fortune 500 companies are actively creating software for the iPhone as well.

Apple plans to deliver a free update to the software that runs the iPhone -called iPhone 2.0 in late June. That update will introduce the App Store, a new feature that will enable iPhone users to purchase, download and install third-party application software for the device. Apple also plans to release a similar update to the iPod touch delivered for a nominal fee that will enable iPod touch users to access the App Store as well.

Apple has sold 1.7 million iPhones in the quarter and is now selling phones in Austria and Ireland. Apple's COO, Tim Cook, reiterated to analysts who questioned him after Oppenheimer's preamble that Apple is on track to sell 10 million iPhones by the end of the year.

References:

http://www.macworld.com/article/133146/2008/04/iphonedevs.html

How do you think which is the leading company in TV production industry? I have been thinking about it since my father decided to buy a new one. At least TV is one of the most demandable family technology attribute; evening time spent near the TV box givs you relax but remember “do not get addicted!”, It’s an owful watching TV and snacking all day long while human body gets older and crumpled – I think an example below is enough to rid all disasters about your home TV net.

According to reviews.cnet.com the list below represents the best of the best. Hight rating and hight prices balance each other and no problems if your pockets are empty you may easily get a credit, trust me it’s worth it. At least it seems to be better than new eyeglasses bought after 7 month since TV box appeared in your home.

1) Pioneer PDP-5080HD

2) Sony KDS-55A3000

3) Sony KDL-46XBR4

4) Samsung LN-T4681F

5) Samsung PN50A550

6) Samsung LN-T4671F

7) Samsung FP-T5084

8) Panasonic TH-58PZ700U

9) Panasonic Viera TH-46PZ85U

10) Panasonic TH-50PX77U

11) Samsung LN32A450

12) Panasonic TH-42PZ700U

13) Samsung HP-T5064

Check out in details - http://reviews.cnet.com/best-hdtvs-overall/

Wish you make a nice choice.

Buy One Get One Tree campaign by innocent is teaming up with Carbon Clear again and throughout May, for each carton of smoothie sold and registered, innocent will grow a tree in one of Carbon Clear’s projects in India. Each carton has a unique code which when registered on the dedicated website will see a tree planted.

The benefits of the planted trees are:

provide food
medicine
shelter for secondary crops and
reduce soil erosion.

Incentive provides something extra too, like a ‘grow your own’ herb box, an extra night in an organic B & B in the countryside or the chance to win a year’s supply of smoothies thanks to the lovely people at innocent.
AT&T the largest communications holding company in the world (by revenue) has unveiled their quarterly results. Their first quarter results rose by 22%. According to AT&T such profits were in part driven by gains in its wireless business. And of course the main reason of it is the iPhone, which doubled the average revenue per subscriber that AT&T gets from other wireless customers.

The company said it gained 1.3 million net wireless subscribers for the quarter, the majority of which were new iPhone subscribers.

AT&T announced that net income jumped to $3.46 billion, or 57 cents a share, from $2.85 billion, or 45 cents, a year earlier.

AT&T didn’t break out the numbers of iPhone additions as earlier. The number could still be around 1.5 million because other carriers besides AT&T are selling it internationally, and about 30 percent are unlocked. By the end of last year, AT&T had activated two million iPhones. Here are the iPhone details AT&T provided:

iPhone continues to be very popular with customers, feedback is very good. ARPUs are in the mid to upper 90s across the base. We continue to see customers adopting iPhone. Over 40% are new to us. Continued, solid growth. Through Q1 stable.

References:

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/04/22/apple-shares-slump-as-att-gives
-vague-details-on-iphone-growth/

http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/4/att_q1_solid_waiting_on_guidance_t

Have you ever thought that if children in Cambodian village had connected laptops how their lives would be transformed?

Questions like this led to foundation of One Laptop per Child and the creation of XO laptop.
The mission of this project is to provide children’s self-expression and exploration. While children are by nature eager for knowledge, many countries haven’t enough resources to devote to education. By giving children their own connected XO laptop, we are giving them a window to the outside world, access to vast amounts of information, a way to connect with each other, and a springboard into their future.

Xo is designed by experts from academia and industry. It’s a product of the very best thinking about technology and learning. It was designed with the real world in mind. As a result, the XO laptop is extremely durable, brilliantly functional, energy-efficient, responsive, and fun.

With the XO laptop, children aren’t just learning about the world around them. Their learning becomes apart of journey. By discovering how to use their XO laptop in new ways and exploring new ideas, children are constantly engaged in a process of learning by doing.

One Laptop per Child’s mission is to provide laptops to as many children as possible in developing nations. In order to have a maximum impact it is essential that every child in a given community has their own laptop. One way to make this happen is to work with local governments and organizations who will distribute large numbers of laptops at a time.

There is a program Give One Get One, for every laptop you received, a laptop is sent to child in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Haiti, Mongolia or Rwanda.

So you can increase your child’s knowledge and help others to do it too.

Reference:
http://laptop.org/en/index.shtml
If your pet has some problems with health and it needs some medical surgeries and you don’t know how to save him, you can ask for a help to a new community. That formed a canine blood donor program which was launched by the University of California, Davis, and School of Veterinary Medicine.

Roughly 1,200 pet dogs will be screened during the coming year to develop a group of 200 to 400 regular donors. This new donor program will allow developing a large, reliable source of blood products for patients, without maintaining a colony of donor dogs at the hospital.

The donor program and its new UC Davis Animal Blood Bank are situated in the campus's William R. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital.

Dogs have 13 different blood types. The preferred donor type is dog erythrocyte antigen 1.1 negative. Donor dogs for the new program must be 1 to 8 years old, weigh at least 55 pounds and have never been pregnant or had puppies. Each dog will be given a health check and screened for infectious diseases, and a unit of blood will be collected.

In addition to providing blood products for dog transfusions, the teaching hospital annually carries out 400 to 500 transfusions for cats, pigs, horses, cows, sheep and goats.

The UC Davis veterinary hospital currently is limiting its community blood collection to dogs because the tests necessary for screening the health of cats are too expensive.

The new animal blood bank will store regular blood products for all of these species. It also will store umbilical cord blood for future use and will process adult stem cells from horse patients, which can be used to treat ligament, tendon or joint injuries and promote healing of some fractures.

Now you know how to save your pets or help others to treat theirs.

References:
http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=8551
http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=88831
If you are gold or dimond addicted you should apply for Goldstriker to get specially established gold iPhone - most expensive I have ever seen.


It is for the true connoisseur of iPhone fans. It is elegantly lined with 24ct gold on the iPhone’s front bezel. Parts adourned in gold inc front full surround and 3/4 of the rear revealing a total mirror finish.The back of the phone is painted in a custom black paint.


The back of the iPhone also sees a 24ct gold Apple logo. The phone itself is the 16GB model. This beautifully crafted iPhone can be had for GBP699.95 ($1384).


Goldstriker International operate as a family run business, specialising in precious metal plating.

Sure, shiny Iphone makes you different!

But how different is the sum you are ready to pay for it?


Reference:

http://www.goldstriker.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=156

According to data released today by the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association and compiled by Chart-Track, the UK games industry racked up a total of £418.4 million in software sales in the first quarter of 2008. It appears that Nintendo is the real winner of the increased sales, scooping up 37 percent of all unit sales thanks to the success of its Wii and DS offerings, which took the top two spots. The PC was the third most popular platform for game sales, followed by Microsoft's Xbox 360. The report also shows Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games to be the most popular game in the first quarter.

ELSPA's director general, Paul Jackson, used the release of the figures as an opportunity to petition the government for increased industry support. "The UK continues to blaze a trail in terms of creativity yet over the last few years it is becoming apparent that some talent is being lured away by more attractive prospects overseas. As it stands, the UK is already down to fourth place from third as the world's creative centre for games. It is time the Government recognised the massive financial contribution we make to the UK economy, especially when compared to the film, TV and music industries." - he said.

As previously reported on GameSpot, the UK games industry employs 25,000 people and contributes £2 billion per year to the country's economy.

References:

http://www.chart-track.co.uk/?i=543&s=1111

A Chinese developer has released HWPen - a handwriting recognition app for the jailbroken iPhone. HWPen works in both Chinese and Latin alphabets.

The screen cap above shows the ‘writing area’ for HWPen. You need to enter letters within the left half of the work area, and numbers on the right. Because it integrates with the native text input of the iPhone, HWPen is available anywhere you would normally use the keyboard. It even works with the iPhone's auto-complete function, so you can start to type a word and hit the spacebar to pick spelling suggestions.

The software application can be downloaded from Installer.app. Then one can go to “Sources,” click on “Edit” and “Add” a new source: http://iphonecake.com/src/new

Refresh the sources to locate HWPen in the iPhoneCake packages. Install the software and restart your iPhone. After you install you will see a writing area making the standard keyboard vanish. The application is currently in beta and is also available for the Palm OS platform.

References:

http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/iphone-gets-handwriting
-recognition-video-

Formula One racing’s first-ever night race - the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix brings an unusual lightning conditions to the sport and marks specially developed electronic flag displays. Italian-based Valerio Maioli S.P.A. is lighting consultant, who developed this new technology . The necessary lighting system is design and constructed to illuminate the Singapore event. It will be used in conjunction with the traditional flag signals waved by marshals.

‘DigiFlags’ will convey the different flag colours in a more visible way during the night race. Thirty five display panels will be situated around the Singapore track, each controlled by handheld panels operated by officials at each marshals’ post. In addition to improved visibility, the new system will also provide the race director with an overview of every flag display around the circuit, thereby ensuring the more efficient communication of warnings.

Earlier Colin Syn, deputy chairman of the Singapore Grand Prix commented: "Staging the first Formula 1 night-race is a huge undertaking but, with Valerio Maioli's extensive experience, we are confident that they are able to deliver the system successfully."

With less than six months to go before the inaugural Singapore event takes place on September 28, the race organisers have been hard work preparing the new street circuit. A week-long demonstration of the lighting system was held from March 29, with a 64-metre stretch lit up with 16 projectors, ahead of its complete installation in August.

References:

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2008/4/7655.html

http://www.crash.net/motorsport/f1/news/156028-0/singapore_sheds_light_on_key_contractor.html


Habia Cable, a global innovator in the design and manufacture of high performance wire and cable for the telecom, defense, nuclear power and industrial markets, launches HabiaXpress ‘fast track’ delivery service that has been created to meet the needs of designers and engineers who need their cable requirements delivered within 24 hours.

HabiaXpress range of products include equipment wire, twisted wire, signal cable, shielded signal cable, standard coaxial cable, triaxial cable, thermocouple extension cables, high performance RF and coaxial cables including flexiform, multibend, speedflex and speedfoam.

The main advantage of the new service is that it gives the customers the opportunity to place orders from their standard product catalogue for despatch from their factory in Norderstedt, Germany within 24 hours.

According to the SourceWire.com, an enhanced version of HabiaXpress will allow customers to place orders directly form the Habia website.Tom Doig at Habia Cable comments that “By listening to our customers we have introduced HabiaXpress to provide a service that allows our customers to take delivery of cables in our standard product range within 24 hours of placing an order”.

References:
http://www.habia.com/default.aspx?pageid=3333&Phrase=HabiaXpress
http://www.sourcewire.com/releases/rel_display.php?relid=iEiXE

A 35 years Indonesian fisherman named Dede Koswara got a simple cut on his knee as a teenager and after that began growing tree-like welts all over his body. The welts soon became into mossy, branching growths. Dede was sacked from his job. His wife left him and he has been raising his two children. He was made into the village freak. To make ends meet he even joined a local "freak show", parading in front of a paying audience alongside victims of other peculiar diseases. Local doctors had no cure for his condition.

But now an American dermatology expert who flew out to Dede's home village south of the capital Jakarta claims to have identified his condition, and proposed a treatment that could transform his life. After testing samples of the lesions and Dede's blood, Dr Anthony Gaspari concluded that his affliction is caused by the Human Papilloma Virus, a fairly common infection that usually causes small warts to develop on sufferers.

His white blood suspected doctors that he may have the Aids virus, nut tests shoved that he did not and it became clear that his immune condition was something far rarer and more mysterious.

Dede Koswara’s problem is that he has a rare genetic fault that impedes his immune system, meaning his body is unable to contain the warts.

Dr Anthony Gaspari believes that Dede's condition can be largely cleared up by daily doses of a synthetic form of Vitamin A and several surgeries, which has been shown to stop the growth of warts. The doctor is also trying to get more American support for this special patient.

Good luck, Dede!


References:

http://www.healthbolt.net/2007/11/14/the-man-who-turned-into-a-tree/

http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/article.html?in_article_id=142852&in_page_id=2

Norman, a world leading company within the field of data security, internet protection and analysis tools issues warning over targeted email attacks against CEO, announces the Sourcewire.com.

CEO is asked to install a plug-in that is a trojan and takes over the victim’s computer.

How does that happen?

CEO receives emails from the "US District Courts in USA". The emails state that they are sued and in order to look at the court documents through they are asked to click the web. And the life of viruses starts. The threat seems of very low percentage as the email looks very realistic; to ensure the CEO about seriousness of the email it contains the correct name of the company, the correct CEO and might even contain the correct phone number. Later on the user appears not at the American Courts but to Jinan, China.

According to the SourceWire.com there is an increasing number of CEO that has been targeted using this "spear phishing attack" technique and that the apparent legitimacy of this document has meant that a number of executives have been tricked into installing the Trojan. Trygve Aasland, CEO of Norman ASA was one of the recipients.

"This email appears legitimate and the technique is clever in that most people will want to discover the details of why and by whom they are being sued, fortunately I am very much aware of these attacks and so we remained unaffected but I can see how others may have been tricked into opening the link and installing the so called plug in" Said Trygve Aasland, CEO, Norman ASA
Trojan was detected by Norman’s antivirus products through the unique Norman Sandbox technology.

In order to discover you are infected or not one should visit http://www.norman.com/, who will be happy to assist.

References:
http://www.sourcewire.com/releases/rel_display.php?relid=38311&hilite=
http://www.norman.com/
Researchers have built the world's smallest transistor - one atom thick and 10 atoms wide - out of a material that could one day replace silicon. The transistor, essentially an on/off switch, has been made using graphene, a two-dimensional material first discovered only four years ago. Graphene is a single layer of graphite, which is found in the humble pencil. The transistor is the key building block of microchips and the basis for almost all electronics.

Dr Kostya Novoselov and Professor Andre Geim from The School of Physics and Astronomy at The University of Manchester have been leading research into the potential application of graphene in electronics and were the first to separate a sheet of the material from graphite

Graphene has been hailed as a super material because it has many potential applications. It is a flat molecule, with only the thickness of an atom, and both very stable and robust. The researchers are also looking at its use in display technology - because it is transparent.

The Manchester-based scientists have shown that graphene can be carved into tiny electronic circuits with individual transistors not much larger than a molecule.

Graphene is a hot topic among semiconductor researchers at the moment because it is an excellent conductor of electricity. Unlike silicon graphene transistors perform better the smaller they become.

The global semiconductor business is currently built on sand; stamping out microchips from large silicon wafers. Companies like Intel have a roadmap to reduce the size of circuits on the silicon wafer, down to about 10 nanometres - 10,000 times smaller than the width of a single human hair.

Many researchers believe that producing circuits smaller than 10 nanometres in silicon will be too difficult because they start to leak electricity at that size. That current silicon roadmap is expected to end in 2020, making the race to find alternative materials potentially very lucrative.

Many researchers around the world are working on creating large wafers of graphene. In order to produce microchips wafers would need to be several inches across. The biggest wafer produced so far is 100 microns across, just a tenth of a millimetre.

In the shorter term graphene could be used in LCD displays to replace materials used to create transparent conductive coatings. The material is also being touted for use in solar panels, transparent window coatings and also for sensing technologies.

Reference:

http://www.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/news/display/?id=3529


Apple is currently in negotiations with French wireless carrier Orage about lowering the cost of the French iPhone, according to a report from French business daily Les Echos.

As reported in the French paper, iPhones in France are currently priced at €399 ($629). However the difference would be that Orange would begin subsidising the handset based upon the monthly cost of the contract users would take out, which up until now - and contrary to practices in other European countries where the iPhone is sold - they have not done.

According to Les Echos, Apple is disappointed with sales figures for the cellphone in France, 100,000 handsets of which have been sold since it went on sale there. Takeup of the iPhone generally in Europe has been less enthusiastic than in the US, perhaps because 3G networks (and the handsets to take advantage of them) are more common and to some degree expected among European users.

As a result, Apple are encouraging all carriers to further subsidise the initial cost of the handset to boost sales, which some are seeing as a way to clear first-generation iPhones before the 3G version’s imminent launch.

Orange, however, is content with the current pricing, telling the paper that there is “‘no question of changing the business model of the iPhone” and that “everything is going well”, revealing that the carrier obviously had lower sales expectations than the manufacturer did.

The 8GB iPhone has recently seen its price slashed in the UK, from £269 to £269.

References:

http://ilounge.com/index.php/news/comments/apple-orange-negotiating-iphone-price-cut/

http://www.lesechos.fr/info/hightec/4716763.htm

Scientists have been able to take control of flies' brains to make females behave just like males. The team was able to get female fruit flies to produce a courtship song - behaviour usually only seen in males.The study suggests that the wiring in male and female flies' brains is similar.

Gero Miesenboeck, from Oxford University, UK, who carried out the research with J. Dylan Clyne from Yale University, US, said: "It is often the case that males have to work very hard to convince females to mate with them. Male fruit flies will vibrate one of their wings to produce a barely audible song. And if the female likes that sound, she'll surrender to his advances.

Previous research has revealed that a group of 2,000 brain cells are necessary for this courtship behaviour in the insects; however, both male and female fruit flies appear to possess most of these neurons.

"It looks like males and females have very similar neuronal equipment, yet they behave so differently - only the male sings, and only the female responds to the song by allowing a male to copulate with her. - says Professor Miesenboeck.

To investigate, the team placed some flies in a "mini sound studio". The insects had been genetically modified so that a pulse of light would activate this group of courtship neurons. First of all, the researchers looked at male flies and found that the light would indeed spark a song. As the light pulsed through the chamber, video footage shows the female fruit fly lifting and vibrating one of her wings to produce a song.

Nevertheless, the researchers say the study reveals that male and female brains are extremely similar in flies - even the circuits thought to be dedicated to sexual behaviours such as courtship.

References:

http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/news_stories/2008/080417_3.html

Have you ever observed some suspicious messages in your e-mail box?

It may be some computer viruses-a program written by a malicious author, with the intent of causing damage. It’s a small software programs that are designed to spread from one computer to another and to interfere with computer operation.

A virus might damage or delete data on your computer, use your e-mail program to spread itself to other computers, or even delete everything on your hard disk.

They are most easily spread by attachments in e-mail messages or instant messaging messages. That’s why it is essential that you never open e-mail attachments unless you know who it's from and you are expecting it.

Viruses can be disguised as attachments of funny images, audio and video, or greeting cards files.

A virus also spread through downloads on the Internet. They can be hidden in illegal software or other files or programs you might download.

There are many sorts of computer viruses. Trojan horses are malicious programs that masquerade as legitimate software. One of the most insidious types of Trojan horse is a program that claims to rid your computer of viruses but instead introduces viruses onto your computer.

Worm is a self-contained program that spreads and multiplies over a network connection. A worm may have many functions and abilities. Like a Trojan horse, it may allow others access to your computer. Like a virus, it has the potential to destroy data on your computer.

Spyware generally slows your computer down over time. It’s commonly downloaded alongside freeware or shareware and gathers information without your knowledge, about your web habits and behavior, often for advertising purposes.

If you think that you may already have a virus, seek a professional assistance or download some “search and destroy” software to hunt for potential threats within your system.

Now you know some information about computer viruses and how to destroy them. So beware of viruses or your computer will die.

References:
http://www.microsoft.com/protect/computer/viruses/default.mspx
http://www.kiva.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=55&Itemid=99
iHome is set to launch the new iP99 iPhone-compatible dual alarm clock radio at Brookstone specialty retail stores on June 1.

According to Brookstone, the iP99 iPhone clock radio can still receive calls while docked because engineers eliminated the shielding that normally interferes with cell signals. It also has a specialized adapter to accommodate for both the iPhone and all versions of the iPod, allowing it to dock, charge and play from every one of Apple’s audio players.

There are other clock radios on the market that will work with the iPod, but none of them today have allowed the iPhone to receive calls while playing music.

The iHome iP99 iPhone Clock Radio will go on sale on June 1 for $149.95. It features10-watt Reson8 speakers, an integrated AM/FM radio, an alarm buzzer and a remote control.

Customers can already start to order the iHome iP99 iPhone clock radio through 1 june and receive free shipping, by visiting any one of Brookstone’s 314 stores in the USA or at www.brookstone.com.

Brookstone, Inc. was founded in 1965 as a small New England catalog company. Brookstone, Inc., today is a USA based product developer and multi-channel retailer that generates annual sales of approximately half a billion dollars.

Brookstone operates 308 branded stores, located primarily in high-end shopping malls and lifestyle centers throughout the United States and in Puerto Rico.

References:

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/
04-15-2008/0004792627&EDATE

https://www.brookstone.com/store/product.asp?product_code=595702

According to new research from the University of Cambridge, a male trader's daily testosterone level is higher on days when he makes more than he would in an average day. What's more, the higher a trader's morning testosterone level, the more money he'll likely have netted before the close of business that day. Testosterone, in other words, can be good for business.

Taking the average of just two daily samples makes it tricky to untangle the impact that a higher than average testosterone level has on that day's profit and loss or vice versa. Testosterone levels are known to rise during competitive encounters as much as they do during sexual ones, so it's hardly surprising that the hormone responds to the trials of financial markets.

The effects triggered by chronically elevated levels of testosterone can have the opposite effect. Animals observed in this same situation by scientists start to pick fights they ought to avoid, or to patrol a wider, more hazardous patch of territory. Perception of risk becomes blurred. For a trader on a roll in the midst of a bubble, for instance, that suggests "several rounds of winning means testosterone so high they start taking stupid risks," - says John Coates, a former Wall Street trader turned senior research fellow at Cambridge, and lead author of the study.

References:

http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/news/dp/2008041501

womenintechnology.co.uk, a leading on-line job board and networking group for women working in the IT profession conducted a research of over 200 women. According to the results the majority of women working in IT are dissatisfied with the balance between work and life. Even though employers offer flexible working, the reality is quite different things offered.

According to the Sourcewire.com the research, carried out at the “Working Smarter, Not Harder”, networking event recently hosted by womenintechnology.co.uk and Microsoft, showed that 55% feels they keep balance but what is the statement without “but” or “although.”

One of the respondents says that “It’s a tough juggling act. I have struggled with it throughout my career. It’s definitely something you have to make happen rather than expect other people to provide.”

Others think that work/life balance can differ from job to job, “I fear every time I change jobs about whether the company is going to put work/life balance on their agenda” said one woman. 77% considers the provided flexible working is not sufficient.

Maggie Berry, Director of womenintechnology.co.uk says: “Our key note speaker was Dr Suzanne Doyle-Morris who talked about what makes successful people work smarter and not harder in order to achieve a work life balance that is unique and completely right for them. The number of women working in IT is dwindling and work/life balance is often cited as a key reason for this” she explains. “Hopefully the event taught the women present how they can work ‘smarter, not harder’ and find a way of achieving that work/life balance that we all strive for.”

References:
http://www.womenintechnology.co.uk/workingsmarter/.
http://www.sourcewire.com/releases/rel_display.php?relid=38282&hilite=
French telecom and media group Vivendi won permission from the European Commission on Wednesday to merge its videogame unit with Activision Inc in a $9.85 billion deal. The deal will give Vivendi a 52 percent stake in a new industry giant called Activision Blizzard with annual revenue of $3.8 billion.

The Commission said for "all categories of game software, the combined firm would continue to face several strong, effective competitors, such as Electronic Arts, and the game console manufacturers, such as Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft." Activision is riding high on the success of games such as "Guitar Hero", "Tony Hawk" and "Call of Duty" but has lacked an offering in the online role-playing area, dominated by "World of Warcraft" from Vivendi's Blizzard Entertainment.

AOL has officially launched the beta version of AOL Mobile Search service created specifically for the iPhone and iPod touch.

AOL Mobile Search for the iPhone was designed specifically for the Apple iPhone's mobile Safari browser. Mobile Search has a traditional Web search engine, but also has features specially tailored to search the content of various AOL properties, including Moviefone, MapQuest, AOL CityGuide and others.

By combining AJAX technology and the iPhone’s easy to use multi-touch surface, AOL has created a user interface that allows the richness of the web to be delivered on a phone, says Steve Murphy, senior vice president of AOL.

The new search portal places a priority on iPhone-optimized websites and returns web searches with these websites at the top of the list.

References:

http://searchblog.aol.com/

In order to improve performance and simplify management of large database applications, Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA) announced that there is an availability to present MySQL(TM) 5.1. It is a new version of open source database.

Open source database developers, users, DBAs, vendors and corporate IT managers consider this event a very important one. The launch was announced at the sixth annual MySQL Conference and Expo, and the conference hosted nearly 2,000 attendees.

According to the SourceWire: “If our users initially choose MySQL because of its low cost, they continue to use MySQL for its high performance, scalability and broad platform support,” said Marten Mickos, SVP, Database Group, Sun Microsystems. “MySQL 5.1 continues this tradition by performing up to 15 percent faster than previous versions in our own internal tests – making it a compelling solution for demanding Web-based enterprise applications.”

"We're using MySQL 5.1 in production for a Weblog discovery code database which indexes approximately 18 million URLs per day," said Kevin Burton, founder and CEO of Spinn3r.com. "The new features in 5.1 extend the ease-of-use, scalability, and performance that MySQL is already famous for, so it can continue to meet the increasingly-demanding requirements of today's database applications."

MySQL 5.1 features a number of new enterprise enhancements. Theses enhancements are provided at http://www.sourcewire.com/

Reference:
http://www.sourcewire.com/releases/rel_display.php?relid=iEQXi
A new study from Yale University suggests the converse trend: rather than feeling tolerance in our society, the overweight and obese say they feel more heavily discriminated against now than they did a decade ago.

Led by Tatiana Andreyeva, a postdoctoral research associate at Yale's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, a team of researchers questioned 1,100 subjects, aged 35 to 74, twice over a 10-year span . Participants answered nine additional questions about everyday experiences, such as how they were treated in restaurants, and whether they had encountered name-calling, harassment or threats. The subjects were asked to indicate the reasons they felt they had been discriminated against whether it was because of age, gender, race, height or weight, physical disability, religion or sexual orientation. Between the two survey periods, the rate of discrimination due to height or weight increased from 7% of respondents to 12% of respondents.

The study is one of the first to track patterns of discrimination based on weight. It's worth noting, however, that the survey relied on people's own perception of discrimination. In addition, the authors found that rates of discrimination by age and gender also increased in the same time period, suggesting that several forms of bias - or perhaps sensitivity to perceived bias - is on the rise overall, not just against the overweight. If rates of weight discrimination are indeed on the rise, say the authors, then it's up to society to mandate legal protections for those who are overweight, just as laws protect people from discrimination by race, gender, disability and age.

P.S. As to me I’m not thin, I do not keep any diet, I love chocolate and feel so happy…

References:

http://www.yaleruddcenter.org/frontburner/fb_4-11-08.html

http://www.yaleruddcenter.org/frontburner/fb_4-10-08.html


Listen to the latest entertainment news and celebrity gossip, or get politics, world news and sports audio content that you can personalize. Stitcher Radio is a Web based application, designed specially for the iPhone.

You may start listening instantly. Verious thems are represented here. You can listen to

* Current headlines from CNN, ESPN, People, Fox News, the Onion and hundreds more.

* The juiciest dirt from sources like People and the Daily Dish.

* Favorites Station: Listen to the information that interests you, all in one station.

* Streams reliably anywhere – no syncing or Wi-Fi needed.

* New Content: Hundreds of new shows from the names you trust, updated daily.

New version is renewed, check out favorites station: listen to the information that interests you, all in one station. New Content is obvious, here you can find hundreds of new shows from the names you trust, updated daily.

Since it is Web based application, Stitcher Radio works nicely on your desktop too. Just click. on the far right arrow. Windows Mobile no need to apply!

Point your safari browser to http://www.stitcher.com/iphone/ to try.

References:

http://www.stitcher.com/

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