TECHNOCRAZY

New Year 2010 Is Here! But The Looming Threat Of Cyber Attacks Are A Cause For Concern!

2010-01-01T09:30:00.000-08:00

Social Networking Sites like Twitter,Facebook to Become Major Targets:

According to McAfee's prediction,the hubs for those snippets of communication -- Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites -- will become major targets for cyber criminals.

Its a proven fact that today's consumers are more wary of Web links sent by strangers. They tend to trust Web links and e-mail messages sent by friends and family.

But online attackers are learning how to exploit that trust, by delivering malware that appears to come from Facebook friends, Twitter followers and friends' e-mail accounts.

Facebook which has about 350 millions is the most likely social networking site to be targetted.Though Twitter has a smaller population, because of the site's trust relationships, it too will be targeted.

URL Shorteners, Banking Sites Increasingly Exploited by Online Crooks

McAfee also warns that URL shorteners, like those used to accommodate Twitter's140 character limit, make the cyber criminal's task even easier.

Unlike many typical Web addresses that show Internet users the name of the site they're about visit, shorter URLs tend to display a string of letters and numbers that seem to have no rhyme or reason. For example, instead of showing a user "http://bankofamerica.com"or "http:/bbcnews.com," abbreviated URLs might

display only "http://bit.ly/XpEwA" or "http://bit.ly/15OAyP."

As another Internet security firm Symantec said in its recent report on 2010 threats, URL shortening services will "become the phisher's best friend."

"Because users often have no idea where a shortened URL is actually sending them, phishers are able to disguise links that the average security conscious user might think twice about clicking on," the company said.

As consumers continue to bank online, attacks on financial sites will likely increase in 2010!.

Google's New Chrome OS Could Face Security Challenges

Even though banks have upped online security with extra features to authenticate users, cyber thieves have become smarter. Some criminals have already learned how to bypass the banks' second layer of protection.

McAfee noted one new technique that involves interrupting a legitimate transaction to make an unauthorized withdrawal, while simultaneously checking the user's transaction limits to fly below the radar and avoid alerting the bank.

McAfee said another target for online crooks this year will likely be Google's new operating system, Chrome. The tech giant, which has already released a Chrome browser, is expected to release an entire open source operating system this year to rival Microsoft Windows, Linux and others.

As the "new kid on the block," McAfee predicts attackers will attempt to break the code and prey on consumers.

While Microsoft has a lot of experience with operating system security and regularly sends out patches, it will be a brand new world for Google.

Adobe to Be Number One Target for Cyber Criminals

But the No. 1 target for cyber criminals in 2010? McAfee expects it to be Adobe products, especially Flash and Acrobat reader.

Symantec also warned that malware for Mac and mobile devices will increase. As Macs and smart phones (such as iPhones, BlackBerrys and Android phones) increase in popularity, attackers will spend more time figuring out how to exploit them.

But not all predictions for 2010 are negative.As law enforcement recognizes the severity of the damage cyber criminals inflict, they are stepping up efforts to combat them. International cyber law enforcement had a number of successes in tracking, identifying and arresting cyber criminals in 2009, and McAfee expects that trend to continue in 2010.

And, ultimately, the motive behind talking about the possible cyber attacks in 2010 is to keep the consumers educated about security trends and make sure they use safe browsing technology and anti-virus software.

Symantec's 10 Most Dreaded Computer Worms And Viruses

2009-09-14T07:50:00.000-07:00

To mark the 40th birthday of the Internet, online Security software manufacturer Symantec has put out a list of the "Top 10 Web Threats in the Internet History."

So here goes. The descriptions are Symantec's.

1. I Love You (2000) -- Who wouldn't open an e-mail with "I Love You" in the subject line? Well, that was the problem. By May 2000, 50 million infections of this worm had been reported. The Pentagon, the CIA, and the British Parliament all had to shut down their e-mail systems in order to purge the threat.

2. Conficker (2009) -- The Conficker worm has created a secure, worldwide infrastructure for cybercrime. The worm allows its creators to remotely install software on infected machines. What will that software do? We don't know. Most likely the worm will be used to create a botnet that will be rented out to criminals who want to send SPAM, steal IDs and direct users to online scams and phishing sites.

3. Melissa (1999) -- Melissa was an exotic dancer, and David L. Smith was obsessed with her and also with writing viruses. The virus he named after Melissa and released to the world on March 26, 1999, kicked off a period of high-profile threats that rocked the Internet between 1999 and 2005.

4. Slammer (2003) -- This fast-moving worm managed to temporarily bring much of the Internet to its knees in January 2003. The threat was so aggressive that it was mistaken by some countries to be an organized attack against them.

5. Nimda (2001) -- A mass-mailing worm that uses multiple methods to spread itself, within 22 minutes, Nimda became the Internet's most widespread worm. The name of the virus came from the reversed spelling of "admin."

6. Code Red (2001) -- Web sites affected by the Code Red worm were defaced by the phrase "Hacked By Chinese!" At its peak, the number of infected hosts reached 359,000.

7. Blaster (2003) -- Blaster is a worm that triggered a payload that launched a denial of service attack against windowsupdate.com, which included the message, "billy gates why do you make this possible? Stop making money and fix your software!!"

8. Sasser (2004) -- This nasty worm spread by exploiting a vulnerable network port, meaning that it could spread without user intervention. Sasser wreaked havoc on everything from The British Coast Guard to Delta Airlines, which had to cancel some flights after its computers became infected.

9. Storm (2007) -- Poor Microsoft, always the popular target. Like Blaster and others before, this worm's payload performed a denial-of-service attack on www.microsoft.com. During Symantec's tests an infected machine was observed sending a burst of almost 1,800 e-mails in a five-minute period.

10. Morris (1988) -- An oldie but a goodie; without Morris the current threat "superstars" wouldn't exist. The Morris worm (or Internet worm) was created with innocent intentions. Robert Morris claims that he wrote the worm in an effort to gauge the size of the Internet. Unfortunately, the worm contained an error that caused it to infect computers multiple times, creating a denial of service.

Microsoft To Provide Free Anti-Virus

2009-06-24T06:28:00.000-07:00

The software giant Microsoft has been criticised in the past for failing to include free security software with Windows.

Its first security package, Windows Live OneCare, failed to attract many customers and will be discontinued.

Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) promises to provide people with basic protection against viruses, trojans, rootkits and spyware.Microsoft is hoping that MSE, available as a free download from its site, will prove more popular. It has said it will automatically update it for users.

However, rival security vendors have questioned whether Microsoft can compete with more established anti-virus players.security firms like Symantec,AVG have had their fare share of criticism regarding the effectiveness of the free anti-virus provided by Microsoft.

A trial version of Microsoft's free anti-virus software has been launched in the US, China, Brazil, and Israel.Initially 75,000 trial versions of MSE, codenamed Morro, will be available in the US, Brazil, China and Israel.

The software will be rolled out in other countries later this year.

Researchers Identify "Gangsta Gene"

2009-06-22T11:00:00.000-07:00

Scientists say that its possible to predict whether a person is a gangster or not through DNA tests.Males with a particular form of gene called MAOA are twice as likely to join a gang, compared to those with other forms, finds a new study of more than 2000 US teens. What's more, gang members with these mutations are far more likely to use a weapon than other members.

According to Kevin Beaver, a biosocial criminologist at Florida State University in Tallahassee, who led the study.The relatively common mutations result in reduced levels of a protein, called monoamine oxidase A, which recycles several of the chemicals that foster neuron connections. Low MAOA activity has been linked previously to antisocial behaviour in people who experienced child abuse. While two brain regions involved in perceiving and controlling emotions are shrunken in people with no history of criminality or abuse who have the mutation.

To determine whether an environment besides an abusive childhood could elicit MAOA's connection to violence, Beaver's team looked at the genotypes of 1155 females and 1041 males who participated in a long-term study of adolescent health that covered the period 1994 to 2002.

During two rounds of interviews, participants indicated whether they had been in a gang in the past year and whether they had ever used a weapon in a fight.Overall, 42 per cent of males possessed the low activity form of MAOA, and about 5 per cent of all males said they had joined a gang. However males with the low activity form were twice as likely to join a gang as those with the high activity form.

Similarly, males with the low activity form were about twice as likely to have used a weapon as other teens. While male gang members with the same mutations were four times as likely as other members to wield a weapon.

"This gene is predicting gang membership, but it's really predicting it for the very violent gang members," Beaver says.

Nonetheless, he cautions against over-interpreting his team's results. "It doesn't mean that everyone with this particular allele is going to be violent and is going to become a gang member – or vice versa," he says.

Rather, in communities where gangs are common, people with low MAOA activity could be slightly more likely to join a gang than others, Beaver says.

However, given the high prevalence of these mutations and low rates of gang membership, genetic counselling to identify youth at an increased risk of joining gangs would be unfeasible.

PhonePoint Pen LetsYou Write On Thin Air !

2009-06-18T00:29:00.000-07:00

The phrase"writing on thin air",atleast up till now has referred to something that gets vanished quickly.Researchers at Duke University have created what they are calling a "PhonePoint Pen" that uses a modern cell phone's built-in accelerometer to detect writing in thin air, and then automatically send a note to a designated e-mail account. There are still some bugs to work out, but the researchers believe they've proven that the idea really works.

"We are convinced that this is feasible and this will become something that people will use," Romit Roy Choudhury, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Duke.

"The existing technology wasn't all that great," he added. "And the idea struck me that maybe it's possible that I could have a pen with an accelerometer and I could just write in the air with the pen."

The accelerometer would detect the movement of the pen, and "then and I could press a button or something and the writing would get e-mailed to my mailbox. But getting a pen with an accelerometer was hard."

As an assistant professor, Roy Choudhury had a gaggle of creative students at his disposal, and he suggested they try to figure out how to use a cell phone as the magic pen he had wanted in college.

One cell phone manufacturer, Nokia, donated "a bunch" of phones, and the students found that if they held the phone like a pen, grasped between the thumb and the forefinger, they could control it's movements well enough for it to recognize letters of the alphabet.

They had to be pretty big letters, about six inches tall, and the user had to learn how to write with no frame of reference other than an imaginary blackboard, but it worked well enough to jot down a phone number, or an address, or where the car was parked at the airport.

That's progress, but it's not good enough. The researchers now say they've figured out how to make the phone recognize script, and translate that into text before sending it to a designated e-mail account.

"The phone can track what you are writing," Roy Choudhury said, and even if your penmanship isn't perfect it should be able to figure out which letter of the alphabet you are trying to write. Meanwhile, the accelerometer will track other movements as well. It should be possible to "write" yourself a note while driving your car.

"There are a lot of signals that the accelerometer captures," he added. "From all those signals, we can pluck out the part that comes from the moving vehicle, because there is a particular signature from a car's movements, and we can subtract that. "

A moving hand, for example, can change direction much more frequently and more quickly, than a vehicle. So the car can be taken out of the equation.

That may not sound too safe, but it could be a lot better than trying to text-message yourself on a keyboard that just seems to get smaller and smaller.

The device would also be able to clean up the signal while the user is walking, or doing just about anything else, he added.

The Duke researchers are also working on an idea that has intrigued many other scientists since the advent of cell phones with accelerometers. Theoretically, it should be possible for cell phones to provide real-time alerts on traffic congestion.

Prototype Game Review and Gameplay

2009-06-09T21:24:00.000-07:00

One of the most anticipated games of 2009,'PROTOTYPE' hits PC,PS3 and XBOX 360 this week.You are Alex Mercer. What exactly that means is initially unclear because this is a man who has lost his memory, but awoken in a morgue to a world in which he possesses untold power. A viral outbreak has claimed Manhattan, forcing the island into a military quarantine. The infected citizens are undergoing radical, monstrous changes -- none more drastic than Alex himself. This anti-hero finds himself with the ability to shape shift and absorb other beings. As the most powerful being on a closed island, the entire city is your playground. And it is a game world that feels unfinished.

Prototype is a single player, open-world action game in the style of Crackdown or The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction. You play as a man gifted with superhuman powers and the option to go most anywhere you like and do most anything you want once you get there. It's sandbox gaming with a heavy focus on pure action.

Though you play as a man bestowed with superhero power, Mercer is anything but heroic. There are no moral choices here. Mercer has vowed to destroy those responsible for his current situation and he has the means to do it. To gain new powers or refill your health bar, you'll literally absorb other living beings. Find yourself a little low on hit points and you can simply grab an innocent bystander, crush his or her head, and then consume them for a quick boost. If you find yourself in a pinch with attack choppers chasing you through the roads, you can absorb a person and morph into their likeness to blend in with the crowd.

As you work your way through the game you'll unlock new and ever more exotic powers. There's an air dash and a glide move that help you quickly travel from one side of Manhattan to the other. There's a massive elbow drop that can destroy a tank in one hit. There's even a whiplash arm that can be used to latch onto passing helicopters to hijack them, Just Cause style. These moves give Prototype its personality. These are what set it apart from most other sandbox games and make it worth a look. Sure there are a few guns to fire and some tanks you can drive around, but the real draw here is the fact that you can turn your arm into a giant blade and then dice monsters with it. Or, if you're a bit twisted, the draw is the fact that you can grab a person by the neck and simply run across the city with their flailing body in tow.

But how long can you do flying elbow drops onto tanks or throw people off of rooftops before it gets boring? The world itself here is far from the most engaging...
The answer to that will vary by the player, but obviously messing around with the powers isn't all there is to do in Prototype. The storyline involves 31 missions including everything from simple seek and destroy affairs to stealthy infiltrations to escort missions and massive boss battles. Most of these missions are standard in design. In fact, if you've played many open-world games, you've probably played identical copies of these in the past. And since repetition is oftentimes the name of the game here, you can be sure you'll be doing uninspired tasks over and over again.

Quite often Prototype follows the design philosophy of everything and the kitchen sink. Instead of fighting a few enemies, the game tosses dozens upon dozens at you. Then it throws in a few tanks and helicopters as well as a couple dozen innocent bystanders for good measure. It's a design that creates a lot of tension, though I found the action too chaotic at times. Even the policing system is dialed to the max and too aggressive. You can't do something as simple as run through the city while leaping off of buildings without alerting the Strike Teams, at which point you're forced into some shape shifting or combat. This can make the basic act of exploration more work than it should be. There is very little downtime to counteract the high stress of the missions.

Prototype's design leans heavily on the fact that you can refill your health by consuming victims at any time. Some attacks can drain half of your health bar or more. Others juggle you in the air leaving you open to frustrating combos from enemies. And sometimes you'll think you've dodged an attack only to get hit a few feet away anyway. But it's OK, because you can always go get more health, right? Not really. The action heavy sequences involve barely surviving to the next checkpoint or running in and out of the action ad nausea trying to stay alive. Skilled players won't have too much trouble, but Prototype's chaos could quickly become overwhelming for others. I found several points of the game to be unnecessarily aggravating to the point where I would have turned Prototype off and walked away if I weren't reviewing it.

Alongside the main quest is a set of side missions called events to tackle at your discretion. Beat them and you earn some Evolve Points (EP) used to upgrade Mercer's powers. Radical smartly hands out EP like candy. Complete just a mission or two and you'll quickly find yourself spending EP to grab new powers and abilities early and often. It's hard to stop playing when you know you'll get a new move by making it through just one more mission.

Unfortunately, there isn't a whole lot of variety in these events and I often found myself wishing they made better use of Mercer's vast array of powers. Those included here are dominated by things like checkpoint races and killing sprees -- things that have been done so often as side missions in games like this that they're hardly worth mentioning. It's cookie cutter game design at this point. There is one exception: A mission that tasks the player with gliding long distances towards a bulls-eye. Why aren't there more imaginative events like this? You can throw a person hundreds of yards. Why not include some sort of shot-put event? There was a real opportunity to get creative here, but instead too many of the side missions directly mirror the mindless killing or limited stealth of the main game.

More interesting than the halfhearted side events are the undirected diversions. These don't pop up on your city map and aren't missions in a traditional sense. These diversions merely exist within the world -- even while playing through one of the main missions -- for you to tackle. The concept of collectibles has been extended to what's called the Web of Intrigue. These are people that, by being hunted down and consumed, reveal splintered visions of the infection's history. They're slick and wonderfully tantalizing -- little in Prototype is more exhilarating than being in the midst of a tough mission only to see one of these targets stroll by.

There are a couple of other diversions that I found interesting, as well, including army bases that must be stealthily infiltrated to score weapon and skill upgrades. It's through these that you can even unlock the ability to call in airstrikes. I quickly had this skill maxed out -- infiltrating the bases is pretty darn fun -- only to learn that the airstrikes look rather poor. Which brings us to one of the biggest problems with Prototype.

Even while confined to a relatively small game world -- Manhattan is not recreated to scale -- Prototype manages to have visuals that range from bland to downright ugly. The only real savior is the smooth animations which do a great job towards making Mercer's powers feel real. Running up the side of a building, doing a flip over a railing, and then leaping off into a charged drop attack just feels cool.

Unfortunately, there's the rest. The blandness is seen throughout in a city recreated with few landmarks and instead filled with generic, lifeless buildings. It's seen in the drab color palette. And it's seen in a city filled with what appears to be a dozen or so identical clones all wandering the streets together. Just climb a building or get in a helicopter and look out at the skyline to get an eyeful of Prototype's ugliness. The draw distance in Prototype is atrocious. Move quickly along the building tops and trees, bushes, cars and other structures pop in and out as the game struggles to draw them. Everything else is shrouded in an ugly fog. In a game where you spend much of the time pouncing from one roof to the next, this ugliness is felt throughout.

It isn't just the streaming world that suffers in the looks department. Aside from specific infected buildings, no structural damage can be done. You can't even knock over billboards. And when you do take down the few buildings you're allowed to damage, the resulting explosion is laughably bad. All of the real chaos you can create is limited to vehicles and passing pedestrians. Your cool powers don't feel quite so cool when you can't even break a window by throwing a tank at it.

These technical issues are so severe that they do in fact impact the game's ebb and flow. There are 250 orbs scattered throughout Manhattan for you to collect. Unfortunately, you oftentimes can't see them until you are literally on top of them. The game engine fails to draw them at any meaningful distance. You can be across a street and not know that you're within 20 yards of one of these orbs. Without any other ways to find them -- there are no maps or sound indicators -- tracking down all of the orbs is less fun than it is chore.

It seems Prototype's developers didn't know when to say when. Tons of enemies are tossed into the mix, and so the visuals suffer and the gameplay occasionally becomes too chaotic and unfocused. Some cutscenes feel out of place and pointless while others are well done. Nobody ever put the finishing touches on Prototype to tidy it up and make it fully presentable.

A case in point is the power set. There are a ton of upgrades to nab in Prototype and improving your character is some of the most rewarding gameplay offered here. There are so many powers, in fact, that cramming them all on a controller proved difficult. The most disappointing moment I had while playing Prototype came when I finally earned enough EP to unlock the Cannonball move. I don't think I need to point out how cool that sounds. And then I looked up how to do a cannonball: Hold the X Button and then hit B at the same time while in the air. X and B, two buttons that require you to tie your fingers in a pretzel to hit at the same time. That's just awful design.

Now lets take a look at the story background trailer and some gameplay movies

opening Cinematic Teaser

Video Games | Prototype | Opening Cinematic Teaser

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Story Background

Top 10 reasons why Prototype must me given a try

Video Games | Prototype | Top 10 Reasons Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Variety mission walkthrough

Video Games | Prototype | Mission Variety Walkthrough

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Top 7 Ways In Which Gadgets Can Hurt You

2009-06-08T03:22:00.000-07:00

Recently, doctors are noticing an uptick in more ignoble injuries, such as the "cell phone elbow."

Instead of the usual carpal tunnel syndrome from typing, Dr. Peter Evans of the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio began to see more of his patients coming in with an unexplained stinging, burning and tingly feeling in their hands.

"When the elbow is flexed greater than 90 degrees you're now stretching the nerve around your elbow," explained Evans, who authored a "one-minute" consultation about cell phone elbow in this week's Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine.

Evans said the longer the nerve is stretched, the greater the risk of cutting off blood flow to the nerve.The cell phone elbow sufferers are not alone. In the past two years, doctors have reported an array of rashes, nerve damage, phantom pain and inconvenient injuries that all seem to stem from our sit-and-click lifestyle.

Cell Phone Elbow

Formally called "cubital tunnel syndrome," cell phone elbow has much more in common with carpal tunnel syndrome than tennis elbow.

When a person continually stretches the nerve around the elbow, that particular nerve, the "ulnar nerve," can stop functioningproperly.

"The analogy I give is putting your foot on the garden hose," said Evans. "It's the nerve when people say, 'I've hit my funny bone.'"

Source Behind Cell Phone Elbow Pain

The ulnar nerve controls feeling from the elbow into the ring and pinky fingers. But Evans said it also controls tiny muscles in the hand that work to grip objects. That's why people with cell phone elbow can have sensory symptoms or muscle control problems.

Usually, Evans' patients can reverse the symptoms simply by switching hands, cutting back on cell phone use, or using a hands-free device. In more seriouscases, patients can wear a brace to bed to keep their arm extended and increase the blood flow in their elbows while they sleep.But in some cases, the damage from cell phone elbow can be permanent.

"That's if they come when there's advanced neuropathy -- where the muscles have atrophied," said Evans.Unfortunately, Evans said people with cell phone elbow come in with greater damage than the usual carpal tunnel syndrome."We can usually improve numbness and pain, but when they come late we can't get their muscle control back," he said.Compared to other technology-induced injuries, like Xbox thumb, Evans said cell phone elbow is, by far, more prevalent.

Video Game Muscle Spasms

Although both sit in front of a screen, a video gamer's pose differs widely from a couch potato TV-watcher's body. A gamer sits forward, tense, eyes glued to th e screen -- often for hours. As many early gamers reach middle age, doctors warn the muscletensing habit can lead to injuries.

A child or teenager might walk away from hours of game playing with nothing more than a sore neck or back. But it's likely harder for an adult to do the same.

According to theEntertainment Software Association, the average video game player is 35 and has been playing for 12 years. The U.S. Department of Labor reports that adults average four to five hours each day spent on the computer or in front of the television.

Muscles, held in one position for a sustained period of time, can cause painful inflammation and sore areas. Trigger points -- tiny areas where the muscle spasms -- can occur, too.

Cell Phone Allergy

Putting the phone down after a long conversation has always left the check a bit warm, if not sweaty. But once people began to switch to cell phones, dermatologists noticed a curious skin condition in which people appeared to be allergic to their phones, or, more specifically, the nickel in their cell phones.

"Some people are extremely nickel-sensitive," Dr. Lionel Bercovitch, a professor of dermatology at Brown Medical School.

Nickel is used in a wide variety of products, including jewelry, belt buckles and watch bands. The metal is actually the most common cause of contact dermatitis in the developed world.

People with a nickel allergy have symptoms that can range from redness to a rash or blisters.Luckily, not all cell phones contain nickel.In an attempt to get an idea of how many phones might have the metal, Bercovitch tested 22 models of cell phones to see which makes are likely to contain the metal.Roughly half -- a total of 10 devices -- tested positive for the metal, according to her 2008 findings published the Canadian Medical Association Journal. Bercovitch found nickel in menu buttons, on decorative logos, around the edge of the screen and even on the handset if the paint was chipped.

Wii Injuries

Wiiwas supposed to be a breath of fitness fresh air to counter the typical inactivity of playing video games. Butas inexperienced and older players started to use the Wii, some exercise troubles ensued.

Wrist strains,Hamstring injuries,Knee pains are some of the injuries reported by WII users.

Phantom Mobile Phone Vibrations

Apparently a so-called "crackberry" addiction to mobile phone and e-mail devices can cause some symptoms in the form of "phantom" vibrations.

Many people who kept their phones in their pockets or purses have reported feeling vibrations when their phones are on silent, or even when their phones are not there.

When you take it off, you still feel it there on your foot. Ifyour cell phone is not there, you still feel like it is."

Barr said our reliance on our cell phones actually may be "training" some of us to believe it is vibrating when it is not.

Think of Pavlov's dog: Ring a bell enough times when you feed a dog and the dog will salivate at the ring of the bell whether or not there's food to smell.

As people repeat this behavior over and over again, connections between nerves in their brain become stronger and new ones are formed, which helps to make the behavior automatic.And sometimes, as is thecase with vibrating cell phones, the behavior becomes too automatic.

"People have gotten so good at detecting vibrations that they start responding to false positives," Kaas said. "They think something is there when it is not."

Texting Thumb

Those people with their eyes downward, wildly tapping on their mobile devices at meetings, may be putting themselves, and their thumbs, at risk.

The sores and blisters that some experience from too much texting and typing have earned monikers such as "BlackBerry thumb."

But teens might be at risk too.

According to a 2008 Nielsen Media Research report, U.S. teens sent and received an average of 2,272 text messages per month, or nearly 80 a day.

"They are really repetitive stress injuries -- pain, numbness, discomfort in the base of the thumbs from overuse," Margot Miller, a physical therapist and president of the Occupational Health Section of the Orthopedic Section of the American Physical Therapy Association.

These sorts of injuries, known as repetitive strain injuries or as repetitive motion disorders, are sometimes minor. But they can also lead to serious medical problems.

Guitar Hero Wrist

It didn't take long after the 2005 release of "Guitar Hero" for fans to start injuring themselves with the video game that simulates guitar playing for pop music groups.

The game has proliferated into handheld devices, mobile phones and the like, but people who play too long on the original "Guitar Hero" fake guitar might risk tendonitis of the wrist.

Anonymous Internet forum questionsabound about annoying wrist pain caused by the game. But the "Guitar Hero wrist" became famous after a Detroit Free Press report that Detroit Tigers pitcher Joel Zumaya suffered from the injury.

The injury couldn't have struck at a worse time -- during the American League Championship Series in October 2006.

According to the Detroit Free Press, team doctors became suspicious when Zumaya's sore wrist showed symptoms more similar to a guitar strain than a pitching injury. Upon the discovery of the pain, the team asked him to give up the game for the World Series.

A Closer Look At Windows 7:Putting Windows 7 to the test

2009-05-23T05:32:00.000-07:00

The arrival of Vista was marred by technical problems and, despite Microsoft's claims to the contrary, is widely seen as getting a lukewarm reception from companies and individuals.

Many found problems with early applications and many drivers for basic hardware such as printers and scanners were not working.

Windows 7 is available as pre-release software for anyone wanting to download it, install it and try it out.

This "Release Candidate" as it is called, is an almost finished version, but it is not guaranteed to run smoothly.

Below are some of the new features that caught Click's attention.

Multi-touch

Clearing desktop

Live search

Data protection

Super taskbar

Desktop backgrounds

Virtual PC mode

The task bar, which has remained pretty much the same since Windows 95, has been combined with the Quick Launch bar to become the Super Bar.

This has no text and simply lists icons for the programs already running and ones a user might like to run. Hovering the mouse over the icons brings up thumbnails of different windows.

Icons can be shuffled to suit individual needs, and anyone preferring the old view, can switch it back on.

Resizing windows is easier - just drag them to the edge of the screen and they will automatically either fill half or the whole screen. Shake a window and it minimises everything else in the background - shake it again and it all comes back. Move your mouse to the right edge of the screen and click to minimise all windows.

Multi-touch means that gestures, rather than one finger, can be used on a touchpad or screen to control what happens. A pinch might close applications and pictures can be expanded using fingers moving diagonally away from each other.

However, the only applications currently supporting this feature are Internet Explorer and Microsoft Viewer. Also, very few laptops are ready to be used in this way.

Microsoft is expecting manufacturers and software developers to start building multi-touch functions into software and hardware soon.

There are some wonderfully bizarre pre-installed desktop backgrounds. The user can also take a group of their own favourite snaps and get the desktop to display them as a background slideshow.

The Live Search feature has been improved. Looking up files and folders in the computer produces results neatly categorised by where they are on the PC. Then, by clicking on the file's heading, the user is taken straight to its location. Refined search filters can also be created.

This will open a new window with an XP desktop which can be used to run these programs. However, not all graphic cards will support this feature.

The Bitlocker application lets a user encrypt internal hard-disks and portable flash drives so the data stored is only accessible with a password. This feature was available on Vista, but only in the software's Ultimate edition.

Want To Become A Detective? Look No Further Than Facebook -Facebook Users Turn Into Detectives

2009-04-14T23:55:00.000-07:00

Previously in ferbaruary,a central Maine police department credited the social networking Web site Facebook for helping solve a vandalism case.Auburn police said that three teenagers broke into the spa at a Hilton Garden Inn. Police posted images from the hotel's surveillance video on the department's Facebook page, which they had set up Jan. 29.Detectives then received several anonymous tips from Facebook users who recognized the boys.

This is not an isolated incident,where Facebook had given a helping hand in solving crime.Most recently,When Mary Chapman learned that two of her husband's work trucks had been burgled, her first reaction wasn't to call the police. It was to sign on to Facebook.She cracked open her laptop, logged on to the popular social networking site and sent off a quick message to a friend down the street.

A few minutes later, her friend forwarded that message to another friend in the neighborhood who, surprisingly, had noticed something strange in the middle of the day.The women put two and two together and, within a matter of hours, they'd singled out the suspect, confronted him and amicably settled the entire affair. The police had yet to come up with a name.

"I really don't think at this point they would have figured out who committed this crime," Chapman said. "If it was not for Facebook we would not have our items or our vehicles repaired."

The suspect was an 18-year-old from the neighborhood who, she said, impulsively looted her husband's trucks after a disagreement with his mother. The Chapmans ultimately downgraded the charge after the teen apologized and agreed to make amends.

Chapman said the police were a great help, but she still credits Facebook for recovering about $1,000 worth of equipment (a radar detector, GPS device and XM radio) and other damages.

Recognizing Facebook's potential to quickly sift through and reach out to others, crime victims and good Samaritans from all over the world have started to use the site to play digital detective, often with great success.

In Another case, Carla Pillo Mote a resourceful advertising executive in Philadelphia recently put her social networks to work to track down a man who drunkenly pilfered her laptop, taxes and wallet. According to the media blog MediaBistro.com, Mote was having drinks with a friend in March, when a visibly intoxicated man sat down beside her. After the bartender refused to serve him any more drinks, he took off.

The man's behavior seemed a little bizarre to her all night, so when Mote got ready to leave and realized her laptop bag was missing, it didn't take her long to identify a main suspect.She asked the bartender for the man's name (he'd paid with a credit card) and then headed for Facebook.

Explaining that she'd been robbed, she put out a "Facebook APB," asking for information on the mystery man who she thought stole her laptop.

She filed a report with the police as well. But to make a long story short, Mote's Facebook sleuthing (bolstered by some digging by her friends) led her to the front door of the drunken thief and, eventually, her computer.

Laptop in hand, Mote called off the police and, according to MediaBistro, updated her profile with: "the perp and i are now friends on facebook."

Facebook Joins Law Enforcement

For victims of crime, Facebook provides a way to supplement a police department's investigation. But that's not to say that police officers themselves aren't also using the tool. In Auburn, Maine, police set up a Facebook page in January, after a group of vandals broke into a local hotel and caused about a thousand dollars worth of damage.

On camera, the mischief-makers were caught ripping tiles off the walls of the hotel spa and throwing them in the water and down the hall.Soon after the police launched the Facebook page featuring photos of the criminals, they started receiving anonymous tips."Within 48 hours, we had them ID'd and charged with criminal mischief," said Deputy Chief Jason Moen, adding that the vandals were three boys, ages 15 and 16.

In their town of about 23,000 people, he said the Facebook page is "more than catching criminals. It's another way to communicate with our folks."

From Catching a rapist,to finding lost stuff online,Facebook is helping those people in need of immediate help.

Demigod Hits PC This Week-Demigod Hands on Review and Developer Walkthrough

2009-04-14T01:22:00.000-07:00

Enter Demigod, a genre-bending title where you play as an incarnation of a deity, waging war against human armies and their respective godly leaders. I recently went hands-on with the game and got a taste of what it's like to wield the power of a god.

Demigod isn't what you might expect. The latest game from Gas Powered Games doesn't follow the classic real-time strategy formula like Supreme Commander did. And while Demigod is a real-time strategy game, it's also more of an arena-based combat game. In it, players control giant, powerful figures called demigods in the quest to destroy the opposing team's fortress while at the same time defending their own. It's a game of momentum, where you press the attack to its limits and then fall back at the right moment to recover. As such, Demigod has an ebb-and-flow to it, not unlike a battle for field position in a football game.

while godly avatars play a big role, they only make up a small portion of the on-field forces. Enemy and friendly soldiers are almost constantly flowing out of portals on the map, creating skirmishes all over the battlefield. During my hands-on time, I'd often follow my forces into battle, either helping them -- or perhaps using them as a diversion -- when we finally clashed with the enemy. Such are the decisions a god must make.

Even the length of a Demigod match alludes to the almost sports-like nature of it, as Gas Powered Games head Chris Taylor told us that it takes about 35 or 40 minutes to play a match. He then proceeded to show us just that, launching into a multiplayer game where the other players were controlled by the computer. So what he showed off was basically a bot match, but there is a single-player campaign that sounds like something like Unreal Tournament. The plot is that there's an opening in the pantheon of the gods, and the head god is having the many demigods (half human, half god beings) battle it out in matches to see who gets the big promotion.

Not all demigods are created equal. From what I've seen so far, none of them are, actually. That's not to say they aren't balanced, but they all certainly look and play differently. One diminutive demigod, the Torchbearer, acts primarily as a caster, wielding a combination of fire and ice spells -- seemingly best used in an assisting role to your army's A.I.-controlled forces rather than as a shock trooper. The other, the Rook -- the towering behemoth who's ostensibly become the poster child for the game -- is suited for aggressive players who like to wade into the thick of battle and just crush things under their heel. And while these demigods differ in their playstyles, both left me feeling disappointed, as they can't control their minions. Then again, both are classified as Assassin demigods -- meaning they play like typical action-RPG characters. In other words, you control a singular main character and use a variety of special abilities in combat to best an army of foes. Another demigod type, the General, can direct troops on the battlefield, but I didn't get a chance to check them out in my hands-on time. To me, though, Assassins feel a little shallow; their fates are too tied to the whims of A.I.-controlled soldiers.

The gameplay revolves on you controlling your demigod and going forth to attack the enemy forces and defenses in the goal of destroying the enemy fortress. To assist you, there are portals that spew out a stream of minions known as creeps. You can't directly control the creeps, but they surge forward and attack enemy forces and fortifications on sight. The enemy has its own creeps, too, so the battlefield is crawling with creatures and demigods.

As your demigod kills creeps, inflicts damage on enemy defensive towers, and attacks opposing demigods, it generates gold and experience. This is critical, because the entire point of a match is that demigods become more powerful the longer the battle rages. It basically escalates into an epic brawl, and even the creeps will evolve to become larger and tougher.

The challenge will be to know how far to press an attack. You must surge forward, inflict damage, then fall back to heal back at your fortress. Falling back also gives you the benefit of using that hard-won gold to purchase items and upgrades that make your demigod more formidable; healing potions will let you stay up front longer, armor can make your demigod more durable, and so on. You can also level up and acquire new powers and abilities for your demigod, like attack spells. When you're rested and ready, it's time to press forward and attack. If you die, you're penalized a number of ways; you can drop valuable items that the enemy can pick up and use, but more importantly, you have to wait to respawn. The designers are still balancing things, but let's say the battle is at a critical moment and you're killed and have to wait 20 seconds to get back into the fray. Those 20 seconds could spell the difference.

Get The Game's Look And Feel By Watching These Review and Gameplay Videos

GODFATHER 2 HITS PC,PS3 AND XBOX 360 THIS WEEK -EXCLUSIVE GAMEPLAY VIDEOS AND REVIEW

2009-04-04T04:28:00.000-07:00

The Godfather II is an intensely violent experience that routinely surprised us with the level of potential for sadistic combat. At its core, the game is a straightforward third-person action game with a few guns and melee weapons to go along with a lock-on targeting and cover system. But when you wear down your enemies' health, you can execute them in some truly horrific ways. The most gruesome is probably the baseball-bat execution, followed closely by the Tommy gun--both of which involve shoving these weapons into someone's mouth and your inevitable wince in response.
The Godfather II is a tale of two games, a blend of sandbox action and strategic resource management. The low-level mobster in you will want to parade around 1950s-era depictions of New York, Miami, and Havana causing as much wanton destruction as you possibly can, but you'll need to get in touch with your inner Mafia boss if you want to successfully progress through the story. Taking over and managing various rackets and crime rings is key, but so is keeping an eye on your own family and those of other organizations. We've had only a taste of what sort of strategic depth The Godfather II might offer in previous looks at the game, but we've recently been spending some time with a nearly complete version of this EA Redwood Shores-developed game to see how far we could dive into the Don lifestyle.

Each potential associate has a unique background and specialty, which determines his personality and class-based abilities. To give you an idea of a few specialties that exist out there, you can hire a medic who will revive you whenever you get taken out during combat, an arsonist who excels in making impromptu doorways in the sides of buildings, a safecracker who can get you some extra cash whenever you break into a business, and a bruiser who will reduce your odds of having the police called on you for random acts of violence on the street. You'll eventually be able to recruit more associates, and subsequently promote existing ones up the ranks from associate to capo to underboss. If you really want to get into the spirit of things, you can even customize each family member's clothing to give your group a signature look, like our collection of thugs clad in periwinkle leisure shirts.

Once you get your first associate, you'll need to take over your first racket, which are critical because they let you launder dirty money through a legitimate business. This usually entails finding a business controlled by another family, taking care of all of their guards, and then shaking down the owner. The last bit is especially fun because you need to rough them up to the point where they'll give in, but not quite fight back or die. Once you control a racket, you can seek out others like it for a crime-ring bonus. For example, if you control all of the prostitution rackets in New York, you'll get brass knuckles for all of your family members, and if you control all of the drug-smuggling rackets in Miami, you'll double your daily income. Each racket you own needs to be guarded against takeovers, but guards cost money that you might otherwise spend on upgrading the abilities of you and your crew, so there's a lot to consider.

Of course, you're not the only one managing the operations of a family filled with thugs and criminals; there are plenty of rival organizations out there looking to cause you trouble. Early in the game, your primary source of conflict is the Rosato family, the crew that operates the bulk of rackets in the modest-sized chunk of New York City that makes up the game's first act. You begin by taking over their businesses, but as the story progresses and the possibility of a truce becomes less and less likely, it's revealed that you need to do more than cripple their income; you need to take them out entirely.

To do this, you'll need to stage contract hits on the various family members. But it's not enough to kill them however you see fit; you need to know the right kill condition to send the appropriate message. This requires you to do a favor for people of interest, and if you fulfill your obligation (usually an act of violence on an enemy of theirs), you'll learn the kill condition. Some rivals need to be thrown from a building, some choked, and others run over with a car, to name a few.

Later in the game you'll move your operations to Florida, and eventually Cuba. The core mechanics of the game remain the same, but the scenery changes from Brooklyn townhouses to pastel-colored art deco buildings and Spanish architecture. The number of rival families you need to deal with also grows as the story expands into a web of shady alliances, corrupt government officials, backstabbing friends, and so on. Although you don't have much control of the story proper, you at least feel pretty invested in all of this crime and corruption due to your ability to strike deals with a number of government officials and keep favors from them until you find the right time to call them in. We'd like to give you an idea of how the story plays out, but with so many turns and twists, almost anything would be a spoiler.

At the heart of all of this is something called the Don's View. This is a screen that lays out the entire city in a fully movable 3D map, detailing all of the businesses, people of interest, and missions available to you. You can manage the number of guards stationed at your rackets, call in strikes on rival businesses, send your made men to defend a racket that's come under attack, and keep tabs of how close you are to controlling an entire crime ring. You can also examine the makeup of rival family trees, examining them before calling in a contract hit. Giving you a lot of ability to stretch your strategic muscles definitely seems to have been a big goal for the developer.

Altogether, The Godfather II should offer a few interesting twists on the open-world action genre that has become so common these days.

Watch The Review of Godfather 2 by Playboy Model Jo Garcia

ERASE FEARFUL MEMORIES WITHOUT DRUGS

2009-04-04T03:54:00.000-07:00

The concept of Memory Erasing has fuelled our imagiantion ever since MIB came out.But it would have been really easy if it were like a flashing device which instantly erases memory as seen in movies.
Up till now, the most widely used therapy for erasing memory is extinction therapy,which works up to a point, but fearful memories often reappear,according to researchers. Marie Monfils, a neuroscientist at the University of Texas in Austin and her colleagues performed intense research in this subject.For instance,Her team first taught rats to associate a musical tone with a slight electric shock. Playing the tone with no shock generally causes rats to freeze in fear. When her team played the tone over and over again, 19 times, the rats displayed less and less fear. This is standard extinction therapy. However, a month later their fear of the tone returned, strong as ever.They also wondered if performing extinction during the reconsolidation window might lead to a permanent effect.

A new drug-free therapy wipes away fearful memories in rats and humans. The simple treatment might eventually help patients with post-traumatic stress disorder, say researchers.
The new procedure relies on a quirky property of memories called reconsolidation. The process of jogging a memory – with an emotional or sensory jolt, for instance – seems to make it malleable for a few hours.

Potent drugs that block brain cells from making new proteins can erase fearful memories during this window. But these chemical are toxic, and wholesale memory erasure could do more harm than good, says Karim Nader, a neuroscientist at the McGill University in Montreal, Canada, who performed some of the drug studies.

But What Happens when nightmares reappear?

Schiller and Elizabeth Phelps, neuroscientists at New York University, tested whether they could block human volunteers from recalling a fearful memory. In this case they paired an electric shock with a blue square on a computer screen.Schiller and Phelps measured tiny, imperceptible changes in sweat – a well-documented fear response – in roughly 80 volunteers.

As with the rats, repeated exposure to the blue dot during the reconsolidation window seemed to block the fearful memory from returning.

Parallel Memories?

Monfils theorises that extinction therapy alone creates two parallel memories linked to the tone or blue square, one fearful, one not. Waiting for reconsolidation to kick in overwrites the original memory instead of making a parallel memory, she says.

Despite proof of principle experiments in rats and humans, Monfils says researchers should proceed with caution in applying the new findings to treating PTSD or other anxiety disorders. Some people's reconsolidation windows may be longer than others, and people respond differently to stressful situations.

"I'm a simple rat researcher. I'm in no way going to suggest that I'm going to step in and tell clinicians how they should treat their patients," she says.

ONLIVE MIGHT BRING AN END TO CONSOLE BASED GAMING

2009-03-24T16:56:00.000-07:00

A new online video game distribution network ,OnLive to be launched at the Game Developer Conference in San Francisco, aims to let players stream on-demand games at the highest quality level ,hopes to revolutionise the way people play games and re-write the economics of the industry.The service could signal the end for Playstation, Xbox, and the Wii.

According to Onlive founder Steve Perlman,"No high-end hardware, no upgrades, no endless downloads, no discs, no recalls, no obsolescence. With OnLive, your video game experience is always state-of-the-art".He also added"OnLive is the most powerful game system in the world".

Onlive boasts of having a data compression technology that allows games to be powered on remote servers rather than on game consoles.Users download games instantly through the OnLive MicroConsole or straight onto a PC or Mac. The MicroConsole also connects to any TV. All that is required is a high speed connection.

Gamers will be able to select from an on-demand catalogue of video titles stored on these data servers.Dont worry,you can play all the latest games(all high end games at the highest resolution) and not just the cheap online games.To support Onlive's cause,Gaming giants like Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, THQ and Atari Interactive have all signed up with onlive,giving it much credibility and some serious sleepless nihts for console giants like Sony,Microsoft and Nintendo.

BRACE YOURSELF FOR 150 MBPS OF BROADBAND SPEED FROM VIRGIN MEDIA

2009-03-24T16:27:00.000-07:00

Currently,Virgin Media is offering broadband upto speeds of 50 Mbps while rival BT is pledging 40 to 60Mbps.BT has said its fibre network will hit the first crop of UK cities by early 2010 and will be complete by 2012.

According to Virgin Media's chief executive Neil Berkett,the cabinet (FTTC) network was capable of supporting up to 200Mbps but roll out of higher speeds was a "function of timing",and looking at the market situation righ now,he has eyes on speeds upto 150 mbps.

Mt.Beckett added,"As we work with application providers, and content providers... there will be a natural point where we upgrade from 10, 20 and 50Mbps to something more.If BT were to meet the time frame they have suggested - of finishing by 2012 - I would see us as having much, much faster upstream speed, running at a minimum of 100Mbps downstream and possibly more. You can see a real opportunity there."

BT has said it will deploy FTTC technology at 29 exchanges across the UK in the coming 9 to 12 months.The network will offer speeds of up to 40Mbps - and potentially 60Mbps - to 500,000 homes and businesses.Areas of Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London and Greater Manchester will be able to access the fibre network, which will be opened up on a wholesale basis to Internet Service Providers (ISPs) who can then offer various broadband packages to customers.Virgin Media says its network reaches half of all homes in the UK. The technology has a theoretical limit of 200Mbps downsteam speeds.

Lets have a comparison between various broadband providers

ENTROPIA UNIVERSE ONLINE GAME GETS BANKING LICENCE

2009-03-20T08:51:00.000-07:00

Entropia Universe - an online game which calls itself "the first virtual universe with a real cash economy',has been granted a licence to be a bank.Issued by the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority, the licence means the game can be more closely tied to the real world finances of players.

Mindark, the developers of the game, said it aimed to launch a fully-functioning in-game bank within the next 12 months.At current exchange rates, 10 PED (Project Entropia Dollars) are worth one US dollar. Unlike many other online games, which charge a monthly subscription fee, the software for Project Entropia is free to download and install.

However, players pay real money to get at in-game items, such as guns, armour and other gear, and the micro-payment system pays for Entropia's running costs.The licence will make it easier for players to convert real world cash into PEDs and sustain their characters in the game, said Mindark in a statement.

Jan Welter Timkrans, boss of Mindark,"We will be in a position to offer real bank services to the inhabitants of our virtual universe" . The in-game banking system plans to offer players interest-bearing accounts,depositting their salaries and pay bills or lending cash. The licence also means that each account is backed by deposit insurance to the value of $60,000 (£42,000).Regulators will get oversight of financial transactions carried out in the game world, so they can spot if criminals are using it to launder money.Mindark claims that more than 800,000 people have registered to play the game and 80-100,000 are regular players. About $420m of player-to-player transactions were carried out during 2008, according to Mindark figures.

GLAMOUROUS GOCE SATELLITE IS ALL SET TO FLY

2009-03-13T20:50:00.000-07:00

The European Space Agency's (Esa) Goce satellite
touted as the 'The most beautiful satellite that has ever been built', is intended to map minute variations in the gravitational pull experienced across the planet.Scientists will use its data to improve their understanding of how the oceans move, and to frame a universal system to measure height anywhere on Earth. The super-sleek spacecraft will go into orbit on a modified intercontinental ballistic missile from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in north-west Russia.

Lift-off for the Rockot vehicle is timed for 1421 GMT on Monday. Goce's striking good-looks are a requirement of the extremely testing environment in which it will have to operate.The arrow shape and fins are necessary to keep the spacecraft stable as it flies through the wisps of air still present at an altitude just under 270km.This orbit is much lower than for most Earth observation missions but will be essential if Goce is to sense the very subtle gravity anomalies that exist across the planet.

Gravity,the force which makes us stand on the ground is generally misconceivedto be the same everywhere on earth,but the fact is if we go to the North Pole we will weigh more than if we are at the equator."This extraordinary phenomenon is explained in part by the shape of the planet. It is not a perfect sphere - it is flatter at the poles, fatter at the equator. Its interior layers are also not composed of uniform shells of homogenous rock - some regions are thicker or denser.This leads to an irregular distribution of mass; and as everything that has mass is pulled by gravity, its tug becomes irregular, too.The variations, though, are miniscule - almost imperceptible

At the heart of the spacecraft is a device known as a gradiometer consisting of three pairs of "proof masses", or accelerometers. They are aligned at 90 degrees, across each axis. The entire set-up is mounted inside an ultra-stable casing.As Goce bumps through the Earth's gravity field, the accelerometers will sense the fantastically small disturbances. Goce employs an ion engine to maintain a steady path - a sort of cruise control. The engine is throttled up and down, producing exquisite levels of thrust by accelerating charged atoms of xenon through nozzles at the rear of the spacecraft."We are an enabling technology on this mission; it couldn't happen without us," said Neil Wallace from Qinetiq, the UK technology firm which supplied the engine. "But then this mission has many such technologies."

1. The 1,100kg Goce is built from rigid materials and carries fixed solar wings. The gravity data must be clear of spacecraft 'noise'

2. Solar cells produce 1,300W and cover the Sun-facing side of Goce; the near side (as shown) radiates heat to keep it cool

3. The 5m-by-1m frame incorporates fins to stabilise the spacecraft as it flies through the residual air in the thermosphere

4. Goce's accelerometers measure accelerations that are as small as 1 part in 10,000,000,000,000 of the gravity experienced on Earth

5. The UK-built engine ejects xenon ions at velocities exceeding 40,000m/s; Goce's mission will end when the 40kg fuel tank empties

6. S Band antenna: Data downloads to the Kiruna (Sweden) ground station. Processing, archiving is done at Esa's centre in Frascati, Italy

7. GPS antennas: Precise positioning of Goce is required, but GPS data in itself can also provide some gravity field information.
Goce's quest is to produce a snapshot of the Earth's gravity field at an unprecedented resolution. The data will inform a multitude of science disciplines:Understanding how the mass of ocean waters circulate, moving heat around the planet, will assist climate prediction and because gravity defines what is meant by "up", "down" and "level", the new data can underpin a truly universal system to compare heights the world .

OverSix missions have so far been approved; a seventh is in discussion. All will use cutting-edge space technology to acquire their data. Goce will be put into a sun-synchronous orbit, meaning the spacecraft will be kept in daylight for a sustained period of time. The Breeze-KM upper-stage booster will release Goce at an altitude of about 285km.The satellite will then gradually fall to its operational altitude of 263km, where its ion engine will maintain a steady orbit for the science campaign.Two major data-gathering periods are planned, each lasting about six months. The first should start in early September after all the in-orbit testing is complete.The mission will probably be extended if sufficient xenon is left, although some propellant will be needed to take the spacecraft safely out of the sky in a controlled burn-up over ocean waters.

1. Goce senses tiny variations in the pull of gravity over Earth

2. The data is used to construct an idealised surface, or geoid

3. It traces gravity of equal 'potential'; balls won't roll on its 'slopes'

4. It is the shape the oceans would take without winds and currents

5. So, comparing sea level and geoid data reveals ocean behaviour

6. Gravity changes can betray magma movements under volcanoes

7. A precise geoid underpins a universal height system for the world

8. Gravity data can also reveal how much mass is lost by ice sheets

BRAHMOS SUPERSONIC MISSILE SUCCESSFULLY TEST FIRED

2009-03-03T22:54:00.000-08:00

The latest version of BrahMos Supersonic cruise missile was today (March 4) successfully test-fired in Pokhran in Rajasthan desert.After failing to hit the target in the previous test, the Block II version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile today hit the target during the test.

The earlier test of the missile was carried out on January 20 where it took off successfully but deviated from its path and landed far away from its target.Speaking about the earlier problems with the missile, officials claimed that there was a "small defect" in the software of the homing device of the missile, which they claimed to have rectified for the test this week.

Officials claimed that the technology in the Block II missiles was "unparallelled" and would help them hit even "insignificant targets" hidden in cluster of buildings."The new seeker being developed is unique and would help us to hit our targets which are insignificant in terms of size in a cluster of large buildings. Once developed, we would be the only nation with this advanced technology," the officials claimed.

Army has already made it clear to BrahMos Aerospace Corporation that it will induct the supersonic missile's new version only after it proves its capabilities in a series of tests to be conducted in the near future.DRDO officials claimed that despite the failure of tests, BrahMos would be able to start deliveries of the 240 missiles order from the Army in two years from now as per the original schedule.Army has already inducted one regiment of the Block I version of the missile. BrahMos is an Indo-Russian joint venture company with its headquarters in Delhi.

QUAKE LIVE BROWSER VIDEO GAME RELEASED

2009-02-24T10:04:00.000-08:00

Quake Live is a version of a PC game which was first launched in 1999.This Classic game is a re-release of Quake III for the web browser.This throws light the rapid development in web games.It runs inside browsers after the installation of a software plug-in.Michael French, editor of games industry magazine Develop,"It is a significant step which proves browser games can be sophisticated.A lot of the foundations of the mechanics of modern shooters were established by Quake. It makes a lot of sense for id to be trying new avenues for their intellectual property.One of the things id has always been known for is being cutting edge in graphics but also for finding new ways to get their games to gamers.It proves that consumers are willing to try these things. All kinds of people could now be exposed to games for the first time.There is no console or hardware in the way. This is gaming for people who are more used to using Facebook.You won't play this and be put off thinking it is old fashioned or ugly. It is very playable and watchable.However, he said browser games were not yet a substitute for a
dedicated piece of gaming hardware".

The game is being released free of charge for browsers by id Software, and is supported by advertising. It opens to the public as a beta later on Tuesday.Id Software is not the first company to offer browser versions of games that were once synonymous with physical formats: Garage Games offers web versions of games like Fallen Empire and Marble Blast Online, while there are also a number of online multiplayer titles such as PMOG.But Quake is the most high-profile PC franchise to branch out into the browser space.The games industry will be watching id software's browser developments very closely.Massively Multiplayer Online space is certainly the area most likely to move to browser. Some well-known role playing game franchises could also move to the browser and are probably already in development.

ANONYMOUS CALLERS BEWARE ! TRAPCALL IS HERE

2009-02-24T09:43:00.000-08:00

Telephone users have been able to block personal information from showing up since the early 1990s, when Caller ID was introduced. In the past, people could rely on dialing either *-6-7 before placing a call or asking their phone company to always hide their number when they make outgoing calls to shield their identity. But thats all history now as a new technology called
TrapCall, which was launched Tuesday, enables us to unblock and reveal callers' identities and numbers even after individuals have tried to block the information and allows people to always see the phone number and even the home address of the person calling them, even if that person has blocked Caller ID, that has domestic abuse organizations upset. Abuse victims advocates argue that victims who routinely rely on blocking Caller ID when communiciating with abusers could be put in harm's way by TrapCall.

According to Cindy Southworth, the director of the Safety Net Project at the National Network to End Domestic Violence in Washington, D.C.,"I'm quite concerned about TrapCall,When Caller ID first came out, phone companies worked very closely with domestic violence advocates to make sure victims could make anonymous calls and this strips away that anonymity".But the president of the company that makes TrapCall said the technology was developed with domestic abuse victims in mind, to let them always see who is calling them. And if they are concerned about preserving their anonymity when they make calls, he said, the company has another product that can trick Caller ID. According to Southworth, anonymity is often very important to domestic abuse victims who, even though they have left their abusive partners, are still required by law to remain in contact with them in situations where child custody issues exist.

According to Meir Cohen, president of TelTech, the New Jersey-based company that manufactures TrapCall, the product works by sending a blocked number through a software system that then identifies the number. That number is then sent to the person receiving the call, who can then decide whether to answer. "If you get a call on your phone and the number is blocked, you hit 'decline' and while the caller hears ringing in the background and doesn't know anything has happened, a few seconds later your phone will start ringing again and this time it will show the phone number," Cohen said, explaining what happens when an incoming call is caught in TrapCall.

The free version of TrapCall reveals the name and number of the caller, while two other more expensive packages, priced at $9.95 and $24.95, offer more advanced features, such as voicemail transcription sent to your e-mail and the ability to record all your incoming calls at the touch of a button."You can decide you want to record a conversation and then retrieve it online and download it and do whatever you want with it," Cohen said. "That's a huge feature."So far, the service, which can be downloaded on the company's Web site, is only available to AT&T and T-Mobile customers, but Cohen said other carriers will be added soon.

Cohen said another feature he anticipates will become popular is blacklisting, by which phone numbers a user does not want to receive calls from are blocked. Instead of reaching the person they are calling, the caller hears a recording stating that the number has been disconnected.Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), said the primary drawbacks of products like TrapCall is that they do not distinguish between situations where it makes logical sense to provide anonymity and those that do not.

NASA'S CO2 MONITORING SATELLITE CRASHES MINUTES AFTER LAUNCH

2009-02-24T08:57:00.000-08:00

NASA's first attempt to map carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere from space was dealt with a big blow on Tuesday after a botched satellite launch from California.The $278 million Orbiting Carbon Observatory(OCO) blasted off aboard an unmanned Taurus rocket- the smallest ground-launched rocket currently in use by the US space agency - from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 4:55 a.m. EST (0955 GMT), headed for an orbital.The official word is that- the part of the rocket which covers the satellite on top of the launcher - did not separate properlyand consequently, the spacecraft crashed into the ocean near Antarctica.John Brunschwyler, from Orbital Sciences Corporation, the rocket's manufacturer, told journalists: "Our whole team, at a very personal level, is very disappointed in the events of this morning.The fairing has considerable weight relative to the portion of the vehicle that's flying. So when it separates off, you get a jump in acceleration. We did not have that jump in acceleration.As a direct result of carrying that extra weight, we could not make orbit."

The major cause for the malfunction,the launch vehicle Taurus XL has a had a fairly high success rate 0f 6 out of 8 sine its debut in 1994.Taurus is based on Orbital's air-launched Pegasus rockets which have a long, proud history. The fairing is essentially the same as is used on that rocket.The only other failure to hit the Taurus rocket occurred in September 2001, when the rocket dropped off its payload of two satellites at a lower altitude than had been intended.The US space agency will now put together a "Mishap Investigation Board" to determine the root cause of the problem.The first indication of a problem came in an announcement made by the Nasa launch commentator, George Diller."This is Taurus launch control. We have declared a launch contingency, meaning that we did not have a successful launch tonight," he said. Separation of the fairing was one of the last technical hurdles faced by the satellite as it flew into orbit. Orbital said there had been no changes to the design of the fairing since previous launches.

Mr Brunschwyler, programme manager for the Taurus rockets, cast doubt on any suggestion of a link between the failure and a power glitch which occurred to the vehicle just prior to launch."That was on a separate system, so I do not believe there was any connection," Mr Brunschwyler told journalists at the Nasa press conference. Scientists had hoped OCO would improve models of the Earth's climate and help researchers determine where the greenhouse gas is coming from and how much is being absorbed by forests and oceans.

This would have helped scientists make more accurate predictions of future climate change.According to Dr Palmer"All eyes are now on the Japanese Gosat instrument to search for the missing carbon sink". Gosat was launched in January from Tanegashima in Japan. It is also designed to monitor atmospheric greenhouse gases.Nasa's Glory satellite, which is designed to measure carbon soot and other aerosols in the Earth's atmosphere, is due to launch on a Taurus XL from California in June.This failure comes as a major jolt to environmental scientists who hope of reducing greenhouse gases and impacts of global warming.Although 280 million dollars is not a signifiant loss on NAS's terms,it has still a major setback and has personally wounded the NASA scientists.

FACEBOOK HIT BY A SCANDAL YET AGAIN -THIS TIME IT TAMPERS WITH THE TERMS OF USE CLAUSE

2009-02-21T02:45:00.000-08:00

Facebook has been hit by a latest scandal as it had quitely changed its 'terms of service' to its users,only to be first noticed the blog The Consumerist two weeks after the changes were made.
The major bone of contention is that anything you upload to Facebook can be used by Facebook in any way they deem fit, forever, no matter what you do later.Even if you close your account, Facebook still has the right to do whatever it wants with your old content. They can even sublicense it if they want.But one should keep in mind that Facebook is no stranger to scandals and controversies. After all, it was just 15 months ago that Facebook found itself in another scandal involving its ownership of seemingly private user information.

Read the following original terms of service by facebook.Sounds familaiar,well they have deleted the last few lines highlighted in orange colour.

You hereby grant Facebook an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to (a) use, copy, publish, stream, store, retain, publicly perform or display, transmit, scan, reformat, modify, edit, frame, translate, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works and distribute (through multiple tiers), any User Content you (i) Post on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof subject only to your privacy settings or (ii) enable a user to Post, including by offering a Share Link on your website and (b) to use your name, likeness and image for any purpose, including commercial or advertising, each of (a) and (b) on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof.You may remove your User Content from the Site at any time. If you choose to remove your User Content, the license granted above will automatically expire, however you acknowledge that the Company may retain archived copies of your User Content."

Additionally, the "Termination" section near the end of the TOS states:

The following sections will survive any termination of your use of the Facebook Service: Prohibited Conduct, User Content, Your Privacy Practices, Gift Credits, Ownership; Proprietary Rights, Licenses, Submissions, User Disputes; Complaints, Indemnity, General Disclaimers, Limitation on Liability, Termination and Changes to the Facebook Service, Arbitration, Governing Law; Venue and Jurisdiction and Other.

In full-blown legalese, Facebook basically told its users that when they posted personal information to their Facebook pages (including photos, the music they were listening to at that moment, or their favorite movies), Facebook owned that information forever and could use it in just about any manner the company wished.

According to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had already responded on his blog, saying: "Our philosophy is that people own their information and control whom they share it with.When a person shares information on Facebook, they first need to grant Facebook a license to use that information so that we can show it to the other people they've asked us to share it with. Without this license, we couldn't help people share that information." This sounds in contradiction what the Facebook's new terms of service actually says.This has flared up everyone who actively use Facebook.facebook is clearly in a spot after scoars of bloggers have lambasted the site for its policies.For a major company to try this kind of thing once and fail is surprising, but hardly unusual. But to do so twice, in nearly the same way, as if it has learned nothing from the earlier experience, leads one to look for deeper explanations and motives.

GTA 4 -LOSTAND DAMNED HITS XBOX 360 -LOST AND DAMNED REVIEW AND GAMEPLAY

2009-02-17T22:49:00.000-08:00

Is it Old wine in a new bottle? Or is it an old car with a new paint?Or is it a superb mod with a new character and biking glory? - We at Technosquare take a look at this Xbox 360 exclusive expansion for Grand Theft Auto 4 -Lost And Damned.

The Lost and Damned focusses on a brand-new protagonist (biker Johnny Klebbitz) and that it would add plenty of content in the form of new music, rides, weapons, and characters - 54 songs, 20 vehicles and 6 weapons along with additional solo and multiplayer modes to be precise.

Johnny, the comparatively cool second in command of the gang, The Lost, has spent some time healing the wounds of prior gang wars. The peace is short-lived though, as Billy Grey, the id-driven president of The Lost, returns from a stint at the Alderney State Correctional Facility. To reassert his dominance and send a message to any potential usurpers, Billy bashes a few heads and rekindles trouble for The Lost. Unlike Niko Bellic who is a new comer to America like a fish out of water who has to find new work,unkock safe houses etc,Johnny is a long time resident of the concrete jungle and has all the weapons,safe houses and connections right from the beginning of the game.The safe houses now will be places where you will interact with your fellow biker bros,play cards and do arm wrestling.The game creates the oneness of the biker fraternity by encouraging you to protect your bros and the more longer they are alive the better they'll get and the more help youll get -but if one of them die,theyll be replaced with another with zero credentials.

The Lost and Damned expansion is certainly much more than horse armor or a few extra added missions. Apart from the usual missions provided by the game characters,side missions include bike races and gang wars ,the latter being a biker death match scenario.The new Multiplayer elements help to extend the life of the game-bike races (complete with bats) , and a fantastic 1-on-1 mode called Chopper vs Chopper session to name a few. There are several other modes, usually motorcycle club-themed, but if you’ve played a ton of GTA 4 multiplayer already, you probably won’t find the rest of the modes all that fresh.

Rockstar claims this Xbox 360-exclusive addition features the same attention to detail and production values as the original Grand Theft Auto IV.The Lost and Damned, it's clear the expansion will feature the same mature narrative, great voice work, and action-packed mayhem of GTAIV. It's especially rewarding to see the intertwining stories of Johnny and Niko play out.

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SECOND GOOGLE PHONE -HTC MAGIC UNVEILED

2009-02-17T09:26:00.000-08:00

After google phone was unveiled for the first time last september,which was a T-Mobile exclisive productcalled the G1 ,a new phone based on Google's operating system Android has been unveiled by Vodafone at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.The new Google phone besides showing off its touchscreen HTC Magic, will feature a 3.2 Megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, and GPS, but no slide-out keyboard.

The Magic will feature new Android firmware, known as "Cupcake", with changes based on G1 user suggestions and will go on sale to Vodafone customers in the UK, Germany, Spain and France, and non-exclusively in Italy.Android phone users will be able to access the Android Market, a storefront for applications that already boasts 800 offerings.

Speaking at the product launch, Vodafone and HTC representatives stressed that the ethos in producing the Magic was on form as well as function, and that the thinness and "feel in the hand" had been an important consideration.

According to Patrick Chomet, global director of terminals for Vodafone Group"We are paying particular attention to style and design; I'm practically obsessed with it. We are extremely careful not to produce products for a niche of geeks, but bring out a proper mass-market consumer device with a lot of attention to design and functionality.This is the thinnest, nicest Android-powered device on the market."

Pricing will be done locally in each territory and Vodafone has opened pre-registration the device.The HTC Magic has a proprietary headphone jack, and so will not accept many standard headphones.The device comes pre-loaded with Google applications, such as Maps, Mail, Search and You Tube. Apart from promising several launches by HTC like Congress,Magic seems to be the only one that has been confirmed a launch as of now.

MICROSOFT ANNOUNCES REWARD FOR FINDING THE CULPRIT BEHIND THE DOWNADUP/CONFICKER VIRUS

2009-02-15T01:03:00.000-08:00

Microsoft has announced a reward of $250,000 (£172,000) to find out who is behind the notorious Downadup/Conficker virus.Since it started circulating in October 2008 the Conficker worm has managed to infect millions of computers worldwide.
Do you remember the Sasser worm that created chaos in the year 2003? Microsoft then created its reward programme with $5m (£3.4m) in funding to help law enforcement agencies bring computer virus and worm authors to justice. In 2005 Microsoft paid out $250,000 (£171,000) to two individuals who helped identify the creator of the notorious Sasser worm. The author was arrested and sentenced by the German authorities.But the sheer pricing of this reward says about the danger about Conficker.

The software giant is offering the cash reward because it views the Conficker worm as a criminal attack.According to George Stathakopulos of Microsoft "the company was not prepared to sit back and let this kind of activity go unchecked.Our message is very clear - whoever wrote this caused significant pain to our customers and we are sending a message that we will do everything we can to help with your arrest," said Mr Stathakopulos.Arbor Networks said as many as 12 million computers could be affected globally by Conficker/Downadup since it began prowling the web looking for vulnerable machines to infect in October.

We at Technosquare have previously revealed about the waht and how of conficker virus which can be seen in this link http://technosquare.blogspot.com/2009/01/conficker-virus-threat-for-wndows-vista.html

Although Downadup is widespread its creators have yet to activate its payload to steal data or launch other attacks.It has caused costly headaches for network administrators dealing with users locked out of their accounts when the worm correctly guesses a password.While Microsoft says it does not know the intention of the worm's creator, it wants to ensure it does not wreak any more havoc.Keeping your antivirus software updated and frequent windows patching like KB958644 is the only option available as of now.

Microsoft has also partnered with security companies, domain name providers, academia, internet companies such as AOL and others on a co-ordinated global response to the worm. Also included is the US Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security."The best way to defeat potential botnets like Conficker/Downadup is by the security and Domain Name System communities working together," said Greg Rattray, chief internet security adviser at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann).

But the real nail in the coffin is although rewards of over $250,000 were offered to find the culprits behind the Blaster, MyDoom and Sobig worms the perpetraitors are yet to be arrested!

AMAZON RELEASES A THINNER E-BOOK READER -KINDLE 2

2009-02-11T09:25:00.000-08:00

Amazon's new e-book reader named kindle 2 ,has come out with a slimmer look and several upgrades including a novella from Stephen King that will be available exclusively for the device. The new Kindle is expected to begin shipping Feb. 24, with owners of the first Kindle at the front of the line if they want to upgrade but interestingly in these times of global financial meltdown, $359 dollars on an ebook reader will not go down with the potential buyers who may shy away from kindle in favour of cheaper options.

According to Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos,"This device is a significant improvement versus the first generation".But kindle doesnt dissappoint us in terms of its greater leaps towards perfection as it is only about half the thickness of the first Kindle,its 6-inch screen can display 16 shades of gray, compared with the previous Kindle's four shades. and additionally kindle 2.0 will be able to read text aloud from two small speakers on the back, and it can store 1,500 books, instead of 200 as was the case with the older version.

To our amazement,several online sales giants are reporting increasing and healthy sales for this overpriced gadget.Unofficila sources say that the new kindle has already sold about 500,000 units and 210,000 were bought in the third quarter of 2008.Available only in the U.S as of now,but the rest of the world may see its release soon.More units can be sold provided the price comes down a bit.

PATHBREAKING TRENDS IN CAR TECHNOLOGY

2009-02-07T02:15:00.000-08:00

For those car enthuziasts,look no further for we have some flashy and handy car technology that we came across in Las Vegas.These devices range from bright-coloured neon to twin DVD systems, dynamic wings,fleet tracking systems,night vision systems,smart driving software and a seriously whole lot of techno-bling.

Work while on the road - The new Ford F-150 has a series of optional onboard systems for busy people who want to work while on the road.Besides many other aplications ,these systems can keep track of tools, sports gear and other items that are onboard the vehicle.This enables the driver to scan the contents of the truck and check that he has everything he needs.

Voice system - A clever voice-activated dash-mounted system can bring drivers maps, directions, traffic news and more using mobile phones.Bluetooth is used to pair the Tell Me entertainment system to the handset.According to Agarwal,a product manager at Tell Me,"You speak to the system which goes and gets the information and provides information back to you as audio, so you don't have to look at a screen or tap anything" .This $400 (£271) accessory can be purchased from this spring in the US and is planned to be widely available over the next three years.

Dynamic Wings - The AeroMotions Dynamic Wing is computer controlled, adjusting its angle to deliver optimal downforce for all driving situations. The Dynamic Wing provides the right amount of downforce to balance your car in a turn, more downforce when you hit the brakes, and less drag when you are driving in a straight line. Using Patent Pending technology, the AeroMotions Dynamic Aero Processor Technology (ADAPT) controller monitors acceleration, braking, speed and lateral G’s to dynamically provide the right downforce. The ADAPT controller comes with a stock tune that can be easily adjusted with the push of a button.The result is greater stability, balance, and speed.Gregory Mark, the head aerodynamicist at Aeromotions, said the $7,000 (£4,700) wing has the edge over conventional ones.

Cinema Inside Car -Well like the PCs have the stickers called pentium inside,cars can be differentiated as cinema inside!Ever thought of getting your in-car cinema for $70,000 (£47,400)?It is well on its way to the market.These modifications are made on an individual basis, and can include a built-in PlayStation and extra display screens in the doors.The modcons are finished off with a camera in the number plate which offers passengers an unobstructed view of what is behind the car.

Driving USB Devices - How about a software deciding how good or bad a driver you are? Its possible with coDrive which is a sotware application that processes in detail all the information related to a person's driving characteristics and can be plugged into a USB port in the car where it collects data that can be read on a computer at a later stage.Drivers can also be kept informed on their emissions and their impact on the environment creating a green conscious driving ethic amongst its users.

Infrared Imaging for Night Driving - Driving in the dark of the night can be made that much easier and safer to both the driver and the pedestrians or animals that frequently cross the roads in the dark thanks to thermal imaging systems that can be used in the car developed by FLIR systems and can be fitted in a car's number plate.The system named PathFindIR besides cars can also be used in a variety of vehicles.As the prices of these cameras continue to come down they are becomingmore affordable.

Have a look

ARMY SIMULATOR IS HERE - ARMY EXPERIENCE CENTRE OPENS IN PHILADELPHIA

2009-02-05T17:14:00.000-08:00

Philadelphia's Franklin Mills Mall has got several army enthuziasts buzzing about its new AEC(Army Experience Center),where you can experience how an army life and training goes about first hand thanks to high-tech simulators, video games and interactive displays that try to depict what real life in the armed forces would be like.
Experiencing the Army life seems to be a fun way to know more about the armed forces and their ethics ,training drills and gadgets and ammunitions.The U.S military is firmly behind such initiatives to make people get a feel of things about how the army works and also enable puvlic to interact with soldiers in a moe informal way.

The video gaming sector in the AEC is divided into two sections -the Xbox 360 and the PC sections. The PC section comes with America's Army,Call Of Duty 4 ,Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas,Ghost Recon and World of Warcraft. and the Xbox section has additionally got Halo 3,Madden NFL and the gears of war 2 to lure visitors.'s Army -the U.S army's official game is seemed to have inspired many to join the armed forces according to a recent survey.All ages are allowed to visit the AEC but to participate in any of the activities, visitors must be at least 13 years old.

The main attraction of the Experience Center is the Black Hawk Simulator in which participants experience flying through a mountain village whilst shooting at enemies to protect a U.S. convoy headed to a medical facility.Besides the Black Hawk, the centre has also got the HMMWV and the Apache simulators which is the next best thing to the real ones.The AEC also provides the global base locator facility which enables users to view all america's military bases around the world.Tactical ops centre is ery helpful as well.

THE $10 LAPTOP IS SET TO BECOME A REALITY? - INDIA PROMISES $10 LAPTOP

2009-02-03T07:50:00.000-08:00

Indian Government in its attempt to provide the ultimate credit crunching laptop which costs only $10(£7 or rs.500) is set to provide India's masses and indeed the world an opportunity to bridge the “digital divide” between rich and poor.This endeavour ,forms part of the Indian National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology, to boost learning in rural areas through the internet.

According to K. K. Pant, a government spokesman, “This basic computing and internet access device will be an extremely powerful learning tool in the hands of the country’s youth.”The laptop is the result of cooperation between several of India’s elite technology institutions, including the Vellore Institute of Technology, the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore and the Semi-conductor Laboratory that forms part of India’s Space Department. Private companies are also taking part.

Technology experts, mindful of Mr Negroponte’s experiences of failing to get through a $100 laptop plan following non cooperation from major chipmakers and other essential partners, India’s plans for an even cheaper machine are unrealistic. But this world is always pessimistic isnt it?Some have went to the extent that the project is a mere stunt timed to coincide with the forthcoming general elections. Plans to cut the price to the bone appear to hinge on domestic technology that uses low levels of power.

Our view also is that the price of computer components was too high to make a 500-rupee laptop. Analysts at the financial management company Merrill Lynch estimated that the Negroponte laptop screen alone cost about £20. “India’s $10 price hopes appear to be nothing more than pure fantasy,” it concluded.

TECHNOSQUARE'S TOP 10 MOST ANTICIPATED GAMES OF 2009

2009-02-02T03:57:00.000-08:00

With the years 07 and 08 revolutionizing ths gaming world 2009 is beckoning upon us to produce specialities as far as gaming is concerned,Which has made us to reveal Technosquare's top 10 most anticipated games of 2009.

10.Bioshock 2 : Sea Of Dreams: BioShock 2, subtitled "Sea of Dream" was revealed in October through the PlayStation 3 ending of the original game; however, no platforms for BioShock 2: Sea of Dreams were announced.I mean who could ever forget the Big Daddy and the little girl in the first Bioshock game? Bioshock 1 with its innovative power ups ,unique plaot twists and an immersive underwater world mesmorised all of us and its sequel has us waiting for more.Are we returning to rapture or a whole new aquatic civilization?

9.Street Fighter 4: After deep speculation about Street fighter 4 -long expected to be just a myth, fourth entry in the Street Fighter series is finally here. Street Fighter IV features a mix of returning favorites such as Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li and Guile along with new characters created for this game, such as Crimson Viper, Abel, El Fuerte, and Rufus. Characters and environments are rendered in stylized 3D, while the game is played in the classic Street Fighter 2D perspective with additional 3D camera flourishes.

8.Starcraft 2:Wings Of Liberty: The long-awaited return of StarCraft has been rumored for years, and now is finally official -- Blizzard officially announced on May 19, 2007 the sequel to its incredible strategy title Starcraft.. Each race will be further distinguished from the others, with several new units and new gameplay mechanics, as well as new abilities for some of the classic StarCraft units that will be making a reappearance in the game. StarCraft II also featurse a custom 3D-graphics engine with
realistic physics .

7.MadWorld:Madworld is an inventive third-person action game exclusively for Wii. Produced by Atsushi Inaba, MadWorld has a unique black and white style depicting an incredibly sharp backdrop that straddles graphic novels and 3D worlds. As players battle opponents, they must master the use of various weapons and items found within their environment, such as chainsaws and street signs, while entertaining sports commentary adds to the third-person gameplay.Despite being only of black and white,seems like the it plunges itself in must play zone head first.

6.Heavy Rain:The Origami Killer:Heavy Rain is a cinematic and evolving thriller from Quantic Dream, the developer behind the critically acclaimed Fahrenheit. Dealing with a range of adult themes, the game revolves around a sophisticated plot and strong narrative threads that explore a complex moral proposition. You assume the role of multiple characters, with very different backgrounds, motivations and skills, in a world shaped by Bending Storylines - a dynamic narrative design where your actions and decisions will shape your story.

5.Bayonetta: With the main character resembling a young,athletic and sexy Sarah Palin ,Bayonetta is a stylish and cinematic action game, directed by Hideki Kamiya the director of the original Devil May Cry series.A witch with powers beyond the comprehension of mere mortals, Bayonetta faces-off against countless angelic enemies, many reaching epic proportions, in a game of 100% pure, unadulterated all-out action. magnificent over-the-top action taking place in stages that are a veritable theme park of exciting attractions, Bayonetta pushes the limits of the action genre, with guns blazing from the lead's heals!.

4.Uncharted 2:Among Thieves: The sequel to Nathan Drake's globe-trotting adventures for history's greatest treasures, this time focused on Drake's quest to follow in the footsteps of Marco Polo.The original uncharted turned a lot of hads with an unlikely hero, dazzling graphics,good enemy AI and a good covering system has raised our hopes on this one.With an improved combat system and a wide range of weapons we are sure that the developers havent abandoned our hero like the last time.

3.Resident Evil 5: This next-generation follow-up to the terrifying series introduces the theme of escape as its core survival instinct. Wester is still alive and he's got his finger on a world wide epidemic and to cap it off,he has super powers too. Swarms of marauding evil beings will charge at you when your pulse is racing at a heart-shattering pace. Environments will play a bigger factor than ever here, using the power of next-gen systems to create a world where terror might lurk in any alcove or shadow.Due to the fact that we know more about this game prior to its release,it has slipped up slightly on our list.

2.CALL OF DUTY 5: Infinity Ward's Call of Duty -Modern Warfare was one of the best games of 2007.It was so good in the First Person Shooter category that it extended its presence well into 2008.Now Treyarch has Call of Duty -World at War.Treyarch did the somewhat-maligned Call of Duty 3, but the studio looks to atone for that by delivering a game with an impressive amount of content.World at War returns back to the series' World War II roots. This has caused no end of grumbling from fans of Modern Warfare's contemporary setting.

1.God Of War 3: Set in the realm of Greek mythology, God of War III for the last time puts Kratos at the center of the carnage and destruction as he seeks revenge against the Gods who have betrayed him. A single-player game, this final chapter allows players to take on the climatic role of the ex-Spartan warrior, Kratos, as he treads through the intimidating heights of Mt. Olympus and the dark depths of Hell once more to seek revenge on those who have betrayed him. Armed with double-chained blades, Kratos must take on mythology's darkest creatures while solving intricate puzzles throughout his merciless quest to destroy Olympus.

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ADS THAT WATCH YOU -REVOLUTION IN ADVERTISING!

2009-02-02T03:09:00.000-08:00

So u think that those ads in shopping malls , plazas,grocery stores are just there to be seen by people?think again cause smart ads use sensors to tailor content according to the viewer(you and me) gender,ethicity and approximate age are going to be the norm in the near future and is already being implemented for limited use for now.This may resemble the Tom Cruise starrer 'Minority Report' but its a proof of one's dream coming to life.Call it face reading, face counting, gaze tracking or, more generally, face-based audience measurement -the future looks bright.

Miniature cameras can now be embedded in the screen or hidden around it, tracking who looks at the screen and for how long.According to the makers of the tracking systems ,the software can determine the viewer's gender, approximate age range and, in some cases, ethnicity — and can change the ads accordingly.The manufacturers say their systems can accurately determine gender 85 to 90 percent of the time, while accuracy for the other measures continues to be refined.

According to Vicki Rabenou, the chief measurement officer of Tampa, Fla.-based TruMedia Technologies Inc., one of the leaders in developing the technology, "This is proactive merchandising,You're targeting people with smart ads."This technology could mean that cosmetic ads for women,bike ads for men and game ads for children.But even if the ad screen is not changing,the ability to recognize the age group and gender of the viewer is a valid statistical tracking tool that may aid advertisers in reaching out more effectively to their targetted audience.

But crossing the line of privacy is a major bone of contention againt this technology.People who may feel offended that their privacy is being breached or being analysed foe their ethnicity and gender without their permissions could see this technology getting dragged around the court rooms before it becomes widely used.But supporters of this technology may argue that only facial features like cheekbones, fullness of lips and the gap between the eyebrows is taken into consideration, people should have little worries.

BLACKBERRY STORM OFF TO A SHAKY START

2009-01-30T21:02:00.000-08:00

Blackberry storm was specifically designed for Vodafone users.It has got all the features that a smart phone needs tohavelikeWirelessemail,OrganizerBrowser,PhoneCamera (3.2 MP),Video Recording,BlackBerry® Maps,Media Player,Built-in GPSCorporate data access,SMS and MMS.All said and done,the sales of the Blackberry storm is still looking a bit of a bumpy ride.

Verizon Wireless and Research In Motion Ltd. have high hopes for the BlackBerry Storm, which they spent nearly two years developing as their big response to Apple iPhone and have broght on Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton to endorse their product with a overall ad campaign costing around $100 million.Surely any new product is susceptible to a few glitches and this one is no revelation in this aspect.Blackberry Storm has sold roughly 500,000 units in the first month after nov 21 launch but very modest sales when compared to 2.4 million.

Some Storm owners have complained about everything from clunky software for typing on the touch screen to the device's sluggish performance with basic tasks like dialing-by-voice or taking photographs.Infact NY Times called the Storm touch screen a 'dud'.Global economic downturn is certainly not a turn on.But storm has to sort out its issues if it has to face the iphone golliath.

GOOGLE LAUNCHES M-LAB -TO TEST YOUR INTERNET CONNECTION

2009-01-30T08:42:00.000-08:00

Global Tech Giant Google along with a couple of non profit partners has launched measurementlab.net called MLAB in short to enable users to test their internet connection using google's own list of diagnostic tools.The MLAB aims to check broadband connections by briefly communicating with a server elsewhere on the internet to reveal possible interference and traffic management by service providers.
Apart from helping users to check their broadband connection using its Network Diagnostic Tool,MLAB seems to offer much more including the Glasnost which helps to detect whether your Internet access provider is performing application-specific traffic shaping. Currently, you can test if your ISP is throttling or blocking BitTorrent.The measurement server records the user's IP address, and all data packets received by the server from your computer or sent by the server to your computer. In addition, it monitors errors in the communication with the server and the throughput of the transfers for those communication "flows," and sends them to the server.

The NPAD (Network Path and Applicaton Diagnosis) tool diagnoses some of the common problems effecting the last network mile and end-users' systems. These are the most common causes of all performance problems on wide area network paths.

The Diffprobe which helps to detect if an Internet access provider is classifying certain kinds of traffic as "low priority," providing it with an inferior level of service. DiffProbe actively and non-intrusively probes the network path and tries to diagnose the nature and extent of traffic discrimination.

The NANO attempts to detect whether an ISP is degrading the performance of a certain subset of users, applications, or destinations.NANO will conduct some tests between the client and an M-Lab server, such as generating downloads of different types of application traffic. This data will be sent to the M-Lab server.NANO will also monitor the user's network traffic and collect summary statistics about performance when the user visits popular Internet destinations. Rather than generating tests, it monitors the user's activity in the course of his or her normal Internet usage.

The MLAB is being released only in its beta form and services like Diffprobe and NANO are not yet available fully.Besides providing the users with essential diagnostic tools,google is inviting researchers who would like to help expand the platform and ensure its growth and success.

MOTION SENSING IN MOBILE PHONE! -GAMES IN MOBILE PHONES THAT USE MOTION SENSING

2009-01-29T17:09:00.000-08:00

Motion sensing technology in mobile phones is something for here to stay.Just shake your phone to have a truckload of fun.Its only a natural progression that with the advent of motion sensing in mobile phones ,motion sensing games make the whole experience much more enjoyable.
Several mobile giants like Samsung with its F305,Sony with its W90i,K850i and Nokia with its 5500 and not to forget the iphone,have made this segment of the mobile phone market much more competitive and much more exciting to choose from.Basically the mobile phone giants are trying their best to emulate the motion sensing fun element that is being widely appreciated with Nintendo's gaming console WII.

There are several games which harness this motion sensing technology.The popular ones being I-play Bowling,Marble Revolution,Marble Madness 3D really have revolutionalised the mobile gaming field - and this is not a overstatement!.Now lets look at some of these games .

I-play Bowling

Accelerometer

NFS

Marble Madness 3D

HOW TO E-MAIL WITHOUT AN E-MAIL ADDRESS? - SEA MAIL

2009-01-26T09:11:00.000-08:00

Feeling tired of typing in those long email addresses? Then look no further , for Semantic e-mail Addressing is your way out.
No need to type in even the recipient's e-mail addresses, or even their names

Semantic email addressing (SEA) lets users send email to a semantically specified group of recipients. It provides all of the functionality of static email mailing lists, but because users can maintain their own profiles, they don't need to subscribe, unsubscribe, or change email addresses. Because of its targeted nature, SEA could help combat unintentional spam and preserve the privacy of email addresses and even individual identities.

Stanford University has revelaed this e-mail system radically change how users specify where their messages are supposed to be delivered.Technical details, such as the need to specify an e-mail address, get hidden inside the system, so that everyday users no longer have to pay attention to them. If a person(say X) wants to send email to another person (say Y), then X could simply type Y's name as a recipient, and his most recent e-mail address would automatically be selected.

This feature can also be extended to delivering mass emails to groups but the limitation being the amount of information thae system has about each recipient of the group.Rich database can seemingly solve this problem but the technical challenge is setting up an integrated version of the data that SEAmail can access easily is still at bay.But this email system cannot be foolproof and we have to wait a bit longer to see it work out more functionally for wider use.

INTERNET TV -THE FUTURE OF TELEVISION -WHAT ARE WE GOING TO BE WATCHING IN THE FUTURE?

2009-01-24T22:32:00.000-08:00

Internet tv is all set to take over the world in the future.Internet enabled television systems are going to give the traditional tv sets a big run for their money and already several consumer electronics giants such as LG , Netflix, Samsung,Toshiba are working rigorously to promote their own internet tvs.

Recently Toshiba introduced its internet enabled tv which apart from being internet equipped it has also got DVD player and widgets enabled in it- with a little help from Yahoo!, Intel and Microsoft. This means you'll be able to stream video from the web, download movies, watch internet TV and even record them as well.

Samsung also unveiled its version of internet tv and Samsung also used its press conference at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to outline its plans for a "seamless digital experience" around the home, announcing a range of devices that could wirelessly communicate with one another to stream music, photos and movies.

With a Strong backing from Yahoo, internet tv has its list of backers growing by the day.Yahoo has developed what it calls the Yahoo Widget Engine, which displays a series of internet options in a scrolling bar across the base of the screen that can be accessed using a standard remote control."The merging of the internet and television will create what we call the cinematic internet," said Patrick Berry, vice president of Connected TV at Yahoo."This will make TV into something bigger and more exciting than ever. It will allow developers to reach a whole new community."This year's CES saw Samsung unveil its version of the internet tv.

But despite the flashy widgets and tv browsers, the real people pleaser is the video on demand feature which massively outweighs all the customizable tv widgets and wallpapers.Video on demand was closely fllowed by searching the home network for video contentAccess user-generated content such as Youtube,play media from a USB drive,share television experience using messaging services,make video conference or voice calls via the TV.

But wait a second! Ya u guesed right.Microsoft internet tv is said to be on its way.Apple might also set its foot foot on this lucrative future technology.

Microsoft internet tv

ROBOCOP UNVEILED BY JAPANESE COMPANIES - NET HURLING SECURITY ROBOT AKA SPIDERMAN ROBOT

2009-01-23T04:56:00.000-08:00

Japanese security firm Alacom Co and robotic firm Tmsuk Co have unveiled a new security robot which is capable of hurling nets at possible intruders and can be controlled via a mobile phone.

This security robot, called the T-34 senses the movement of suspected intruders through well equipped sensors and is built on wheels.It moves at up to 10km/h (6mph), and can be controlled by someone seeing real-time images on a mobile phone.The companies envisage that the T-34 will be used in factories and commercial premises.

According to the companies statement,“Security sensors often set off false alarms but examining the location with the robot will lead to more efficient operations”

Watch the demo of the robot

CONFICKER VIRUS THREAT FOR WNDOWS VISTA AND WINDOWS 7: SECURITY EXPERTS PUZZLED

2009-01-22T01:29:00.000-08:00

So you think that you have the latest security software to keep your pc or mac safe?well think again.The Conficker virus has opened a new can of worms for security experts , as low security networks, memory sticks, and PCs without current security updates are in grave danger of being severly damaged by the conflicker virus also known to be Downadup or Kido and was first discovered in October 2008.

Portable storage drives such as USB sticks infected with the virus trick users into installing the worm. According to security experts, a ‘social engineering trick’, which exploits the way humans think and act is said to be the biggest challenge that this virus puts before us. Even though the bogus option is marked as being in the category ‘Install or run program’, many users will see the familiar ‘Open folder to view files’ wording and icon that they click on it without thinking.

The "Autoplay" function in Vista and early versions of Windows 7 automatically searches for programs on removable drives.However, the virus hijacks this process, masquerading as a folder to be opened. When clicked, the worm installs itself.

How does the worm work? - Method of infection

Microsoft says that the worm works by searching for a Windows executable file called "services.exe" and then becomes part of that code.It then copies itself into the Windows system folder %Sysdir% as a random file of a type known as a "dll". It gives itself a 5-8 character name, such as piftoc.dll, and then modifies the Registry, which lists key Windows settings, to run the infected dll file as a service.

The virus attempts connections to one or more of the websites such as getmyip.org ,getmyip.co.uk ,checkip.dyndns.org to obtain the public ip address of the affected computer.As soon as the worm is up and running, it creates a HTTP server and then resets a machine's System Restore point (very hard to recover) and then downloads files from the hacker's web site.Later variants of w32/Confickerworm are using scheduled tasks and Autorun.inf file to replicate on to non vulnerable systems or to reinfect previously infected systems after they have been cleaned.

How does Conficker differ from other virus/worms?

Most malware download files from easily detectable malicious or attack sites, making them fairly easy to spot, and immediately shut down the file download.But the worm uses a complicated algorithm based on timestamps from websites such as google.com to generate hundreds of different domain names every day. Only one of these will actually be the site used to download the hackers' files,making it extremely difficult to trace the target site .

Impact and damage caused by the worm so far

It is estimated that a whopping 9.5m PCs are infected with this virus. Once the Conficker worm is executed in a pc, the downadup virus disables essential security services such as windows automatic updates,security center, defender and error reporting to name a few.Along with downloading and installing malware on your computer and gathering your personal data, the conflcker adheres or sticks itself to key windows processes like svchost.exe, explorer.exe.

Removal

It is of paramount that one should turn off autorun and autoplay features in your pcs to prevent the worm from gaining a foothold onto your syatem.Windows users are urged to download the KB958644 Security Update from Microsoft to mitigate the risk of infection.

Microsoft's amlicious software removal tool (KB890830) and f-secure malware removal tool are some of the software that are available to keep conficker at bay.Keeping your antivirus software updated regularly to keep track of the constantly evolving virus definitions is a good preventive measure that would go a long way to ensure safety to your pc.As they say' better safe than sorry'.

MONITOR YOUR HEART WITH NOKIA N79 ACTIVE FROM POLAR- GETS YOUR PULSE RAISING

2009-01-21T08:48:00.000-08:00

Mobile phone giant Nokia recently have announced the N79 Active, which ships with the wireless Polar Bluetooth WearLink heart rate belt from Polar, the leader in sports instruments and heart rate monitoring.The N79 is touted to be an excellent fitness companion as it comes loaded with a GPS tracking facility and a new version of the popular Nokia Sports Tracker application.With the Nseries exclusive feature of 'Sports Tracker'you can also share your fitness progress and the tracks you listen while working out with everyone on the web with a builtin web publishing facility.

The N79 active which is the smallest member of the Nseries up to date will take the guess-work out of training and makes your fitness regime that much more enjoyable as it comes in with its sporty headphones and an armband so you can keep yourself plugged in as you work out.A A 4GB microSD memory card holds enough music even for those long endurance sessions. With the option of adding new tracks to your playlists over the air from the Nokia Music Store or tuning in to the radio with the handset's FM transmitter.

PC HEALTH CHECK -IMPROVE YOUR PC PERFORMANCE - OPTIMIZE YOUR PC EFFICIENCY

2009-01-20T08:59:00.000-08:00

Improving your pc health revolves around key issues like defragging the hard drive,cache clean up,managing the memory and there are the obuous pc security threats such as spyware, malicious programs, viruses.Improving the pc's performance also is attributed to limitting the various background processes that may slow down your pc considerably.All operating systems work best when at least 20% of the drive is kept free. You can make room by deleting unwanted photos, music and documents or by archiving your data on to removable storage like writable CDs.Alternatively, with the cost of hard drives falling all the time, try buying a second drive to store your documents separately to the operating system. Lets have a look at an indepth analysis for fine tuning ypur pc.

Clean up your Cache

Caching helps us to load a particular web page much quicker when compared to the very first time.What basically happens is the web site data like pictures, scripts etc., are stored on your hard drive thus occupying valuable hard disk space.These cached data are stored in the form of temporary internet files and can be emoved by clearing the private data.for example, in case of firefox it is, tools->clear private date ->ok.Delete the cookies and offline web data too.In addition to these junks of data, pieces of registy keys sometime stick around in your system even after uninstalling a software. You can easily remove them using software like registry cleaner or ccleaner.

Memory Management

With the price of RAMs dwindling day by day, its not too bad if you have atleast 2gb of RAM to boost up your pc speed .But this finite memory can be overloaded due to a large number of processes running in the background .Also some applications run at startup, so its advisable to reduce the number of applications that run at startup as small as possible.In Microsoft Windows this is set in the System Configuration Utility.On an Apple Mac, right-click an icon in the dock and un-tick Open at Login.

Driver Updates

Always an updated driver is sure to boost up the speed especially if you have not done it since your machine left the shop.

Malicious Software

Malicious software like spyware and and viruses that come along with software, also hijacks some of your processing power besides putting your personal data at serious risk.A number of spyware detectors and antivirus software are available for both the Apple Mac and PC.They all work in the same way by searching your system and removing any offending data.For my personal use, i like using Norton Internet Security 2009, but Bitdefender is also not a bad option.A number of spyware busters such as windows defender, norton total security.. are available.Check on our security suite ratings to choose the beat of the lot.

Hard Drive Defragment

Hard disks inherently become clumsy and disorganized over time as data become split up and are stored as junks and pieces, shuffled around the avalable space in different sectors of your hard drive.This significantly slows down the access times of data .A better solution would be to organize data such that data are arranged logically, thus improving the access times dramatically.Windows has built-in defrag tool while Apple's Mac needs commercial programmes to do the job.Windows or Mac,brace yourself for some time as it is somewhat long process.

Shutdown Power

Sometimes, the button in the front your machine sends your pc into sleep rather than actually turning off your pc.The power has to be down for your pc to recover from hours of working time and recouperate .Especially power down option helps to cool off your pc.All you have to do this is go to control panel->power options where you can configure what a thumb to the off button actually does: sleep or shutdown.

TOP 10 GAME BABES: THE MOST SEDUCTIVE- THE MOST ALLURING - THE HOT GAME BABES

2009-01-19T07:34:00.000-08:00

Lets have a look at the most sexy game babes of all time

10.Alex Vance(Half Life 2)

Play magazine listed her as their favorite computer game female character in their sixth "Girls of Gaming" special, calling her "the best partner Gordon Freeman could ask for." UGO.com rated Alyx thirty-third in their "Top 50 Videogame Hotties" article, stating "Now here's a girl that you could actually take home to Momma. Alyx has it all: brains, good looks, and a stinging personality that can keep the comers at bay." They later listed her at number eight in their "Top 11 Girls of Gaming" article, stating "there's just something about her that makes her unforgettable", noting her bond with the player and describing her as a "cute post-apocalyptic chick with short hair and a take-no-crap attitude, a rarity in this age of eye candy and cheeseball characterization".

9.Joanna Dark(Perfect Dark)

Joanna Dark is a Bounty hunter and bail enforcement agent and is certified for international operations. Her technical skills stretch as far as wiring up a charge, picking a lock or hacking a basic system. All pretty practical stuff. Jo's not big on theory - like the rest of us she still has to concentrate when some researcher starts rattling off facts.
Her red shoulder-length hair with distinctive blonde streak, blue eyes, pale complexion, and a slender, athletic build has really made men go wild.However, Joanna's red hair colour and a blond forelock was explained, in story, as a genetic flaw.

8.Eva(Metal Gear Solid)

Eva, later known as Big Mama, is a female spy and a femme fatale, who fought alongside Big Boss during Operation Snake Eater posing as a KGB agent. She was actually a spy for the Chinese People's Liberation Army and was on a mission to obtain The Philosophers Legacy which she stole from Big Boss. She is the surrogate mother of Solid Snake and Liquid Snake.She is the most curvilicious lady in video game history!Her curves are simply amazing.Even though she doest hesitate to show her age, this is one hot mama you would absolutely crave for.

7.Bloodrayne(Bloodrayne)

Rayne is a Dhampir looking for her father, and kills any vampires that cross her path. She is now working for the Brimstone Society.Rayne is a very complex young woman. She is intelligent, knowledgeable, witty, seductive (when need be), extremely confident in her abilities, sarcastic, mostly independent, and somewhat dispassionate, rarely showing any sign of anger, alarm, annoyance, surprise, or distress. Due to her upbringing as an assassin, Rayne is also strong-willed, stubborn, foul-mouthed, somewhat tomboyish, tenacious, resourceful, persistent, and enduring.This lovely vampire has surely captured our hearts.

6.Nina Williams(Tekken/Dead By Degrees)

Pick your jaws off the floor boys, before this lethal lovely floors you as well. Fans of the Tekken series already know that Nina is a capable fighter. She's got an arsenal of moves that you can use by slapping the right analog stick in the direction of an on coming enemy. The deadly beauty you're drooling over is Nina Williams, British Secret Agent and all-round stunning babe. You may have seen her high kicking her way through the Tekken games, but this time the screen is all hers.

5.Ada Wong(Resident Evil)

Ada Wong is a red-clad, cunning and formidable secret agent of Chinese heritage with a mysterious past. Initially a private agent, Ada was drawn into the intrigue and treachery that is the corporate world when she was recruited by The Agency to participate in their activities against their primary rival; The Umbrella Corporation. Though Ada is affiliated with unscrupulous and questionable characters and organizations, Ada is shown to have integrity and some measure of mercy and kindness, leaving her true affiliation unknown.

4.Christie (Dead Or Alive)

Possessed of all the characteristics required of an assassin, this cold-blooded woman has undergone the ultimate adaptation - excelling in the art of the She Quan, which she employs to the fullest.In DOA: Dead or Alive, Christie is played by Holly Valance (yeah, that's her in the bra shot you see in the trailer). This Australian has made her name with primarily TV performances, most recently on Prison Break and CSI: NY, as well as National Lampoons' Pledge This!

3.Samas Aran(Metroid)

Although Samus wears the Power Suit throughout most of the Metroid series, most games in the series offer depictions of her in more revealing attire, usually as a reward for satisfying certain conditions (such as co

mpleting the game quickly or with a high percentage of items collected). Samus is considered one of the earliest female protagonists in the history of video games.
GameDaily listed Samus at number seven in their "Top 50 Hottest Game Babes" article, calling her "a refreshing change of pace" in the face of other bounty hunter characters in science fiction. In other articles they noted her as their favorite Nintendo character and one of their favorite female video game characters, stating "...out of all the Nintendo characters out there, there's no one better than this intergalactic bounty hunter," and "Forget Lara Croft. Samus was the video game industry's first dominant female, a femme de force that didn't rely on a man to save her."

2.Lara Croft (Lara Croft:Tomb Raider)

Lara croft - do we need to ay more? Its an Angelina Jolie look alike for heaven sake.Athletic body, peachy lips and a british outlook give this sophisticated , yet gorgeous babe a double thums up.This high class vixen has it all- world class gymnast, able to outsmart traps in ancient civilizaions,able to kick a bear's ass, big guns and..big guns .... Laura with her shorts is great from a gamer's perspective.

1.Rachel(Ninja Gaiden)

With a rediculously voluptious body and a masive workout, Rachel is the definition of knockout.
Rachel is the leading female character, and tragic heroine of the game. Rachel is a Vigoorian fiend hunter. She is continuously searching for her sister who was turned into a fiend. Her genes give her abnormal strength at expense of being susceptible to becoming a fiend. She can also sense where fiends are. She wields the War Hammer as her main weapon.

Watch The Videos!

FUTURE OF TELIVISION! CES 2009 TELIVISION ROUND UP:LED TV-LASER TV-GESTURE CONTROLLED TV

2009-01-18T03:22:00.000-08:00

Television as we normally think as a mere box controlled by a remote control is going to take a serious makeover.We take a look at the various future trends in Television technology.

They say bigger is better, as can be seen in the case of worlds largest tv. But more practically, the traditional 4:3 screen tvs are certainlty going to be knocked out by more rectangular 16:9 widescreen tv.The concept of high-definition is also undergoing huge makeovers , so much so that a phenomenal resolution of 7680 pixels by 4320 is now being brought into mainstream tvs.
ou think, the refresh rat of 60 fps is the max- nope! brace yourself for 120 fps- says Bruce Walker from Toshiba.

Laser TV

Lasers are all set to become an ideal replacement for the UHP lamps which are currently in use in projection display devices such as rear projection TV and front projectors. Current televisions are capable of displaying only 40% of the color gamut that humans can potentially perceive. In contrast, proponents of Laser TV technology claim that the standard will be able to reproduce about 80% of the colors visible to the human eye.

A Laser TV requires lasers in three distinct wavelengths seem to: Red, Green and Blue.
Laser tvs seem to be half the weight and cost of Plasma or LCD displays,have a very wide colour gamut. Twice the color of today's HDTVs, have an extra lifespan and require around 25% of the power required by Plasma or LCD displays.Laser Tv technology was introduced to the world by Australian Larry Marshall. Now electronic giants like Toshiba have released their laser tvs in CES 2009.

LED TV

LED tvs are nothing but LCD tvs with LED backlight.But to take that one step further, instead of florescent lights behind the screen there is a full grid of LEDs and now if one corner of the screen is bright the LEDs burn bright.

If the bottom of the screen is dark, the LEDs can turn off so individual zones can be controlled based on the incoming signal.

Organic LEDs(OLED) are another section of the LED tv bandwagon.OLED technology consists of extremely thin layers of organic material applied on a substrate such as glass. When stimulated by an electrical charge, these materials emit light.Active-matrix (AM) OLED displays have electronic circuitry built in, so each pixel is driven independently by a corresponding circuit.Traditional LCD tvs have their future in doubts thanks to their LED enhanced counterparts since LED tvs have the distinctions of being thinner, lighter,clearer, brighter,wider viewing area,lower power consumption typically operating at 2 to 10 volts.The main players in this field include Samsung,Sony andLG.

Gestutre Controlled TV

The days of remote controls is going to be over soon as new gesture controlled TVs are going to rock you.No more there be the need to keep pressing at those buttons on your remote, no more waorrying about having to change the remote batteries- simply show gestures with your hands and wella!
Hitachi were one of the firsts to show off their Gesture controlled tv at this years CES .Various hand gesture-operated TV demos have shown that a user could rotate an image, move one of the video windows to the side, or zoom in or out of video on the screen, simply by changing hand movements (circling, moving to left or right, or forward/backward). Hitachi for instance, use infrared technology (IR) to see user’s hand motions and respond accordingly, while Panasonic uses a new image sensor unit consisting of a near infrared LED, a special charge-coupled device (CCD) and a field-programmable gate array (FPGA).This sensor unit detects gestures by measuring "time of flight" (the time it takes for the near infrared light to hit an object and its reflected light to return to the CCD image sensor module). Each "time of flight" is measured per pixel. Its cumulative data calculates the distance, capturing the depth information of the gesture at real time..One can wave to the TV to turn it on, while changing channels was performed by waving horizontally to bring up a channel menu, then moving an open or pointing hand in a clockwise circle to advance through the channels or counterclockwise to go down through them. Adjusting volume levels was done in similar fashion.

RISE OF THE ARGONAUTS REVIEW AND GAMEPLAY VIDEO AND WALKTHROUGH

2009-01-16T19:57:00.000-08:00

Published by: Codemasters
Developed by: Liquid Entertainment
Release Date: December 16, 2009
Genre: Action RPG

Review:

Rise Of The Argonauts features Jason and Odysseus who are the heroes that roamed unfamiliar lands, encountered bizarre and powerful creatures, and often received rewards for their trials and tribulations to help them vanquish enemies or otherwise make their travels more convenient.
Although the genre of Action Rpg games isnt new,RPG fanatics might b slightly dissappointed by removing the typical RPG genre complications and adding a simple combat engine with a heavy emphasis on passive abilities and the mechanical repetition of light and heavy attacks, block, and dodge moves, the game can't fully satisfy action or RPG appetites.

The story is a compelling one where, Jason and the Argonauts, aboard his ship, the Argo, still seek the Golden Fleece, but this time to revive his fallen wife, Alceme, who is assaulted by a shadowy organization at the beginning. Since the plot and appearances by famous characters from Greek mythology are some of the best bits of the game, we won't get into many more specifics, save to say you'll encounter plenty of magical beasts and demons, and the tale includes Titans, Tartarus, centaurs, satyrs, and, of course, a prophecy.

A Mass Effect-style conversation system makes the interactions more engaging and much more enjoyable.Repetitive moves like the basic attack, defend dodge is a bit of a downer as there is no enhancement osf skill moves as the game is played along.
IGN have given this game a rating of 6.5, but its definitely more worth than that. i would say around 7.5.

click here to read the full game walkthrough at gamefaq.com

Enough of talking. Now watch the video review!

TECHNOSQUARE TIPS:PROTECTING YOUR PC DATA WITH ENCRYPTION: BITLOCKER REVIEWED

2009-01-15T22:18:00.000-08:00

So you think that protecting your pc with password
is secure? what if some one steals your pc and only uses your hard disk to view the contents in a plug and play mode?.......Data encryption my friend is the way ahead which will eat the thief eat dust, for he will see only rubbish bits and bytes.

Lets see how file encryption works!

First and the most important thing is to backup the data before pursuing with encryption and keep the backup secure .A better option is to store your backup in a pendrive.
You can use Encryption software like TrueCrypt or AxCrypt.

Vista users have a built in encryption package called Bitlocker

BitLocker is one easy way to protect data in your computer.This full disk encryption feature included with Microsoft's Windows Vista Ultimate, Windows Vista Enterprise and Windows Server 2008 operating systems designed to protect data by providing encryption for entire volumes.

Encrytion does come with its fair share of disadvantages like system slowdown.Also, lost passwords and key files is the end of it.All said and done , nothing is impossible to crack! so is your pc's security

Beware of threats like

Hardware debuggers
Online attacks—BitLocker is concerned only with the system’s startup process
Post logon attacks
Sabotage by administrators
Poor security maintenance
BIOS reflashing
- Protection against this can be enabled if you wish

Additionally, Bitlocker only protects the windows partition in your hard drive and doesnt allow dual booting of anothe OS on the windows partition and any attempt to do so will spawn booting issues .So Technosquare verdict is Bitlocker on the windows partition and other open source encryption tools like TrueCrypt or AxCrypt on othe volumes.

STREET FIGHTER 4 REVIEW AND GAMEPLAY VIDEO

2009-01-15T21:12:00.000-08:00

Release Date: 2/17/2009
Platforms:
Publisher: Capcom
Developer: Capcom
Gamesite: Click here
Genres: 2-D, Arcade, Fighter
ESRB: RP

The much awaited 4'th installment of the Street Fighter 4 series is back and this times it features the return of old time favourites Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li and Guile along with new characters created for this game, such as Crimson Viper, Abel, El Fuerte, and Rufus.Seams like Capcom have made it clear that they are bringing the series back to its roots with much more emphasize on martial art techniques rather than being too flashy. For more visit the official Street Fighter 4 page http://streetfighter4.org/.now lets have a look at some gameplay trailers

PS3 Ken vs Vega Gameplay

PS3 Akuma vs Sagat Gameplay

PS3 Vega vs Ryu Gameplay

PS3 C. Viper vs Blanka Gameplay

360 Tournament: Abel vs Ryu

CONSUMER ELECTRONIC SHOW (CES) 2009: GAMING ROUND UP

2009-01-14T23:51:00.000-08:00

CES 2009 showed off its fair share of cool gadgets but the ones we review here were especially mind blowing!

Sure Shot Rifle for the Wii

There were some interesting console add-ons like the Sure Shot Rifle for the Wii (from CTA Digital) which can be dis-assembled into three types of guns, or the Cooking Mama Wii add-on, which contains a variety of kitchen utensils, from the Wii spatula to the Wii-frying pan.
Sure Shot integrates both the Wiimote and the Nunchuck very neatly into the top of the device which then takse over the functionality with buttons along the side of the gun.The Price tag is around $60.

Gaming using mind waves!

Mindflex from Mattel, a bizarre game that aped the telekinesis powers we're accustomed to seeing in movies not real life.Using theta mind waves you control the height of a sponge ball and move it around a track.

The ball is placed over a fan which reacts to your level of concentration via the headset that you wear, and the idea is that the harder you think, the higher it rises.

The Mindflex has to be the ultimate gadget of the show, which is no surprise, seeing as the kids section outperformed every other area in levels of interest and innovation. Mattel's Mind Flex comes in the footsteps of Emotiv, a helmet-like headset developed by Emotiv Systems last year, which claimed to let users control game characters with their thoughts.

XRocker Thunder

Thunder is a gaming platform that you stand on while playing Guitar Hero as it actually vibrates with every note you play, increasing your enjoyment no end.

Now you can take the runaway gaming hit on the road. But don’t let its small size fool you—there’s plenty of thunder in this pocket-sized rocker. Includes 10 of your favorite songs from Guitar Hero I & II, including Smoke on the Water, You’ve Got Another Thing Coming and Cherry Pie.

Emperor Workstation

Fully customisable with the kind of seating you get on Virgin's First Class, this featured three 19in LCD screens with surround sound, so you can totally immerse yourself in whatever game you choose.

Add to this an integrated air filter system and the option to change the colour of the LED panels and you'll never want to leave its cosy confines.

The Emperor has three large monitors for a panoramic view, THX Dolby surround sound, air filtering, light therapy (so you can get a tan without having to go out under the sun), webcam, battery backup and other niceties. It can be built to order with a desktop Mac or PC, as well as the biggest docking station ever for laptops. If u are a budget gamer, this is definitely not for you.

TECHNOSQUARE'S TOP 5 FUEL EFFICIENT CARS

2009-01-14T08:02:00.000-08:00

Fuel Efficiency - The Need Of The Hour:

With fuel price increasing day by day, Fuel hungry car makers like Chevrolet, GM and other similar car makers are feeling the pinch for not developing fuel efficient cars and they are already behind toyota and honda in the race to build the next generation cars.Lets have a look at our pick for the top 5 fuel efficient cars of 2008.

1.Toyota Prius

Toyota Pirius is a mid sized hybrid electric car.According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, in 2007, the 2008 Prius is the most fuel efficient car sold in the U.S.Laurels seemed to galore for the Pirius as it became the 4th leat co 2 emitting car in the U.K.

Fuel Type	Regular
MPG (city)	48
MPG(highway)	45
MPG(combined)	46

The 2008 Toyota Prius is a 5 passenger car, with 4 doors. The hatchback comprises of 4-cylinder engine with a battery powered electric motor for 110hp. For fuel economy and acceleration, the Toyota Prius is an intelligent car which automatically uses one of both of gas as well as electric source.With a price range of $22,000 - $24,270, Prius is still leading the pack in the long list of fuel efficient cars.

2.Honda Civic Hybrid

The Civic was first introduced as a small, inexpensive hatchback in 1972 and has increased in size while continuing to offer excellent fuel economy. The Civic Hybrid sedan was added to the lineup for 2003, featuring a fuel-efficient gas-electric hybrid powertrain.

Fuel Type	Regular
MPG (city)	39
MPG (highway)	43
MPG (combined)	40

Civic Hybrid is frequently compared to the Toyota Prius. The Civic Hybrid has a smaller but more powerful gasoline engine (1.3L 95BHP), versus (1.5L 76BHP) for the Prius. The Civic's electronic assist motor is (20BHP), while the Prius has a slightly more powerful electronic motor, (67BHP). The Prius is credited as having better fuel mileage.

3.Nissan Altima Hybrid

The Nissan Altima Hybrid is a 5-passenger midsize sedan that offers all the style, convenience, and technology features as the gasoline version but with benefits of enhanced fuel economy and reduced emissions.

Fuel Type	Regular
MPG (city)	21
MPG (highway)	29
MPG (combined)	24

Essentially, the Altima hybrid will run on a QR25 2.5-liter 4-cylinder engine, but should achieve the power and torque of a 6-cylinder engine while achieving the fuel efficiency of a 4-cylinder vehicle.

4.Ford Escape Hybrid

The Escape is Ford’s compact 4-door SUV that joined the Ford lineup for 2001 and the Escape Hybrid model was added for 2005. While the Escape Hybrid appears nearly identical to a standard Escape, it is powered by an Atkinson-Cycle 4-cylinder engine combined with an electric motor.

Fuel Type	Regular
MPG (city)	29
MPG (highway)	27
MPG (combined)	28

With 155 hp (116 kW), the Hybrid Escape has nearly the same acceleration performance as the conventional 200 hp (150 kW) V6 Escape.

5.Toyota Taris

Yaris sedans start at just over $12K, making them bargains both in terms of price and fuel-efficiency. The car's hallmarks are the versatility of its interior and its amenable handling.

Fuel Type	Regular
MPG (city)	29
MPG (highway)	36
MPG (combined)	32