Facebook's Gmail Killer : Project Titan

       Facebook has reportedly sent out invitations for a special invite-only event to be held on November 15 at St. Regis Yerba Buena Terrace in San Franscisco, US. Michael Arrington, founder and co-editor of TechCrunch is betting that Facebook will unveil a new web-based email client codenamed Project Titan at this event. Internally, Project Titan is referred as "Gmail Killer" and is said to bring email address backed by @facebook.com domain name. Do you think Facebook can take over something as big as Gmail? Well, probably not but read on.

      Earlier this month, Google had updated its API Terms of Service that allowed easy export as well as import of Contacts to a service or application only if the same is reciprocated. In a way, Google shut down Facebook's access to pull contacts from Gmail to protect the user data. To battle that, Facebook came up with a work around to download Gmail contacts as CSV files and then upload it to Facebook. Google wasn't happy with Facebook's move and criticized Facebook for not letting users get their Friend Lists and email addresses out of Facebook.
 
      This is not the first time both companies stood against each other for Friends/Contacts exchange matters. Back in 2008, Facebook suspended Google Friend Connect as the latter started re-distributing user information from Facebook to other third party developers without any user knowledge. Looks like that wound didn't heal even after more than two years have passed. But in a way, Google is correct for not letting a service simply take away Gmail contacts and not offering something in return to Google. All Google is asking Facebook to do is to let users pull out Contacts and Friends from Facebook to Gmail. Practice what you preach.

 

       Now, to respond back to Google and kill the whole data protection issue, Facebook is rumored to launch its own email service with @facebook.com domain. It's pretty unlikely to kill Gmail but if Facebook launches its own email service, it would be interesting to see how other popular web-mail service providers react.

      Facebook chat integration in several mobile apps has certainly made many Facebook users happy. But when Facebook Chat is used in the web interface, it's not that comfortable to use. Though the invitation obviously points that a new email/messaging service is on the anvil, I think Facebook might give a facelift to its Chat service. A much deserved facelift for users who have thousands of known and unknown friends. If Facebook chat is revamped with the ability to share photos, links and files, it will actually lead to loads of users remaining logged into Facebook for longer hours.

      However, as of now, we have no confirmation on Facebook's deal. We've got to wait till November 15 for Facebook's official announcement.

How to Set Up Digital Cable on a Home Theater Projector

Connecting your digital cable service to your projector ensures that there will be no shortage of breathtaking hi-def entertainment. There's no need to pay for installation: it's easy to connect your digital cable to your home theater projector.

 

Instructions

 

things you'll need:

• Component or DVI cable
• RCA audio or Optical audio cable
• Coax cable
  
  •  Position your projector in front of your home theater's viewing area and within reach of a power outlet. Match the red blue and green ends of the component cable to the red, blue and green ports on the back of your projector or connect the DVI cable to the port labeled DVI.
  • Position your cable box within reach of the projectors video cable, a cable outlet and a power outlet. Match the red, blue and green ends of the component cable to the ports on the back of the cable box, or connect the DVI cable to its port on the back of the box.
  • Connect your receiver system to the cable box with either and optical cable or RCA audio cable. Match the red and white cable heads of the RCA cable to the red and white audio ports on the back of the cable box labeled "Audio Out." Connect the other end of the cable to the "Audio In" port on the receiver. To use the optical cable, remove the stoppers on the ports for both the receiver and the cable box---run the cable from one port to the other.
  • Plug the individual speakers into the ports on the back of your receiver, matching the speaker to its port (for example, the front right speak goes into the port labeled "FR"). Position the receiver's speakers around the viewing area.
  • Connect one end of the coax cable to the "Cable In" port on the back of the cable box, and then connect the other end to the wall coax port. Plug the power cable into an outlet and power the box on.
  • Power on the projector. The projector will automatically detect which type of video cable is being used.

SA vs NZ: New Zealand stun South Africa to reach World Cup semifinal

 

MIRPUR: In the biggest upset of the World Cup, New Zealand knocked out strong contenders South Africa with a stunning 49-run victory to storm into the semifinals on Friday.
Scorecard | Match in Pics

Tipped as one of the favourites this time around, South African middle-order crumbled while chasing a modest 222 win as they were all out for 172 in 43.2 overs at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium.

The coveted trophy thus continues to elude South Africa, which has now failed to win a match in the knockout stage of the World Cup for the fifth time in a row.

South Africa produced a disciplined bowling effort to restrict New Zealand to a modest 221/8 after being asked to bowl but the total proved too much for them.

Jesse Ryder (83) and Ross Taylor (43) saved New Zealand blushes with a crucial 114-run stand for the third wicket and later Kane Williamson (38) played a good hand towards the end to help the Kiwis put something on board for a fight.

New Zealand then showed a lot of heart in defending the small total with both spinners and pacers bowling exceptionally well under pressure.

Nathan McCullum, who started the proceedings for New Zealand with his off-spinners and struck in the very first over, starred with three wickets, including that of key batsmen Hashim Amla and JP Duminy. He gave away just 24 runs.

Oram (4/39) though was pick of the bowlers while Tim Southee (1/44) took the crucial wicket of Jacques Kallis (47).

Faf du Plessis (36) gave the Kiwis a scare with his gritty knock towards the end but it was New Zealand's day out there in the end.

New Zealand will take on the winner of Saturday's match between England and Sri Lanka, in the semifinal on Tuesday in Colombo.

Kallis at one stage was steering his side comfortably towards the target but once he was dismissed, South African batting collapsed dramatically.

They lost the last eight wickets for just 64 runs and the slide started when Kallis was caught by Jacob Oram near the deep mid-wicket boundary off Southee.

South Africa's chase also started in a bizarre dismissal of in-form Hashim Amla.

A confident looking Amla got out in a freak fashion as an under-edge off Nathan thudded on the foot of stumper Bredon and flew towards first slip Daniel Vettori, who accepted the catch with glee.

Kallis joined his skipper Smith at the wicket and he did the bulk of the scoring initially as he hit Vettori and first change bowler Tim Southee for three boundaries.

Smith was not fluent with his stroke-making but was ticking the board with ones and twos. He hit Jacob Oram for a cover boundary to raise his side's 50 in exactly 10 overs.

With no success coming, Vettori introduced spinner Luke Woodcock but Smith welcomed him with another cover boundary.

As Smith was gradually getting into his elements, Oram cut short his stay at the crease by having him caught at point with substitute Jamie How being the fielder. Smith raised 61 runs with Kallis for the second wicket.

Kallis and AB de Villiers (35) kept South Africa in hunt with their 39 run partnership but Kallis dismissal changed the complexion of the game.

Nathan bowled Duminy and de Villiers was run out in a matter of the three deliveries.

Oram dismissed Johan Botha (2) and Robin Peterson (0) in successive overs and New Zealand did not let South Africa make a comeback after that.

Earlier, Morne Morkel (3/46) was the pick of the South African bowlers while Dale Steyn (2/42) and Pakistan-born leg-spinner Imran Tahir (2/32) snared two wickets apiece to stop the Kiwis way behind the 250-run mark.

For Kiwis, Ryder starred with the bat with a gritty 83 off 121 balls during which he struck just eight boundaries. He added a vital 114 runs with Taylor for the third wicket to help the Kiwis recover after they were reduced to 16/2 at one stage.

Towards the end, Williamson came up with crucial 41-ball 38-run knock to take New Zealand beyond the 200-run mark.

It was not an ideal start for New Zealand after winning the toss as they lost both their openers -- Brendon McCullum and Martin Guptill cheaply inside the first six overs.

McCullum was the first to depart, brilliantly caught by Peterson off his own bowling in the third over and then two overs later Guptill gave a simple catch to Botha at mid-off after he was foxed by a Dale Steyn slower delivery.

With their side looking down the barrel at 16/2 after six overs, Ryder and Taylor rose to the occasion and stitched the crucial 114-run stand that came off 162 balls to steady New Zealand's rocking ship.

Regarded as hard-hitters, both Ryder and Taylor curbed their natural instinct and played sensibly with ones and twos with occasional boundaries in between to resurrect the Kiwi innings.

Ryder seemed determined for a big score as he played a controlled innings to notch up his half-century in 70 balls.

But three quick wickets in a span of 26 runs, including that of Taylor and Ryder, shattered the Kiwi innings, which during middle of the innings looked well in course for a 250-plus score when the two set batsmen were at the crease.

Taylor, after a sedate start, opened up with slog-sweep six off Peterson. But in search of one too many he perished in the next over when he was holed out by Kallis at the square-leg boundary off Tahir to drew curtains on the dangerous-looking partnership.

And then Scot Styris (16) and Ryder followed suit in consecutive overs to put brakes on New Zealand's scoring.

While Styris played on to a Morne Morkel delivery in the 37th over, Tahir got the big wicket of Ryder as he mis-hit one to substitute Colin Ingram.

Williamson and Nathan then shared 32 runs for the sixth wicket before the latter was caught by Duminy off Steyn.

Willamson, however, kept the New Zealand scoreboard ticking even as Morkel cleaned up Jacob Oram and captain Daniel Vettori in the 49th over.

Largely riding on Williamson's willow, New Zealand scored 47 runs in the last six overs, which included 37 runs of the batting power-play.

New Zealand took the batting power-play in the 44th over and scored 37 runs off the five overs for the loss of three wickets. 

India asks for end to Libya air strikes

      External affairs minister S M Krishna called for an end to air strikes in Libya, saying they would lead to more harm to "innocent civilians, foreign nationals and diplomatic missions". "We regret the air strikes that are taking place," Krishna told reporters.

     "India calls upon all parties to a bjure violence and the use of threat and force to resolve the differences. I think the need of the hour is cessation of armed conflict," he added.      He added that "air strikes will lead to harm to innocent civilians, foreign nationals and diplomatic missions and their personnel who are still in Libya".
     The comments were firmer that a statement issued by the foreign ministry on Sunday which said that India "views with grave concern" the violence in Libya and "regrets the air strikes."
     Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said he wants the people of North Africa and the Middle East to take their own decisions "free of outside interference."
     India has traditionally pursued a non-aligned foreign policy, although it has tilted towards the United States since the end of the Cold War.
     It has also been drilling oil blocks in Libya as part of its bid to secure desperately needed energy assets to fuel its fast-expanding economy.
     The South Asian giant followed Brazil, China, Russia and Germany in abstaining during a vote in the UN Security council that passed resolution 1973 last week which approved military action against Muammer Gaddafi's regime.

Russia has called for an end to "indiscriminate use of force" in Libya, while China has expressed regret over the military attacks, which began on Saturday when French aircraft bombed pro-Gaddafi forces.
Arab League secretary general Amr Mussa, who had previously backed the air strikes, courted controversy on Sunday by saying the air and missile strikes exceeded the bounds set by Resolution 1973.

Missile and aircraft strikes by a coalition of nations led by Britain, France, Italy and the United States have hit a range of targets in Libya.
Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are also taking part.
UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said on Monday that it was vital the world speak as one on Libya.

Obama: US launches military action against Libya

President Barack Obama authorized limited military action against Libya Saturday, saying Moammar Gadhafi's continued assault on his own people left the U.S. and its international partners with no other choice. The Pentagon said 112 cruise missiles were launched from US and UK ships and subs, hitting 20 targets.

Obama said military action was not his first choice.

"This is not an outcome the U.S. or any of our partners sought," Obama said from Brazil, where he is starting a five-day visit to Latin America. "We cannot stand idly by when a tyrant tells his people there will be no mercy."

A senior military official said the U.S. launched air defenses Saturday with strikes along the Libyan coast that were launched by Navy vessels in the Mediterranean. The official said the assault would unfold in stages and target air defense installations around Tripoli, the capital, and a coastal area south of Benghazi, the rebel stronghold.

Obama declared once again that the United States would not send ground forces to Libya, though he said he is "deeply aware" of the risks of taking any military action.

Earlier in the day, Obama warned that the international community was prepared to act with urgency.

"Our consensus was strong, and our resolve is clear. The people of Libya must be protected, and in the absence of an immediate end to the violence against civilians our coalition is prepared to act, and to act with urgency," Obama said.

Top officials from the U.S., Europe and the Arab world meeting in Paris, where they announced Saturday immediate military action to protect civilians caught in combat between Gadhafi's forces and rebel fighters. American ships and aircraft were poised for action but weren't participating in the initial French air missions.

As the military action was announced, French fighter jets swooped over Benghazi, the opposition stronghold that was stormed by Libyan government forces earlier Saturday, in defiance of a proclaimed ceasefire.

France, Britain and the United States had warned Gadhafi Friday that they would resort to military means if he ignored the U.N. resolution demanding a cease-fire.

The United States has a host of forces and ships in the area, including submarines, destroyers, amphibious assault and landing ships.



The U.S. intended to limit its involvement — at least in the initial stages — to helping protect French and other air missions by taking out Libyan air defenses, but depending on the response could launch additional attacks in support of allied forces, a U.S. official said. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of military operations.

My View : World Cup 2011

 Causes of  Loss

• Last 7 Indian batsman added just 29 runs in 10 over. India was not able to play 50 overs.

• Ashish Nehra and Munaf Patel failed to contain the South African Batsman. Bhajji and rest of bowlers did a pretty good job.

• Last overs was critical, Dhoni gave that over to Nehra instead of giving his star spinner who was bowling at good form in the match.

Changes Needed

• Yusuf Pathan is given enough of chances, I think Dhoni should give chance to Suresh Raina as he is good batsman in middle order as well as hitter. If Suresh Raina gets in form it will be good for India.

• Dhoni has done enough of experiment with his bowling squad. Zaheer and Munaf can be kept in playing 11. If Ashwin don't play match against West Indies it will be too late for Dhoni to bring young Ashwin in the knockout round.

• If there is a need of third seamer, Sreesanth should be given a chance instead of Nehra. He can't be rated on one match performance.

• Chawla don't deserve a chance to play any match in this world cup as he is given enough chances and was not able to prove his ability.

• No need to experiment with the position of Virat Kohli as you are wasting a talented player bringing him in slog over.

It is not a time to experiment. It is a time to bring best player into the contest, win few matches convincingly and gain confidence back before you face any of the top team (Sri Lanka, Australia, South Africa).
I haven't seen any convincing win in this tournament from the Indian side. Dhoni can't give excuse for the mistake he made in match against South Africa. Take the responsibility and make sure that it doesn't happen again.


After loss against South Africa , Indian skipper and team has got last chance to improve their weakness before entering the knockout round.

Mark Zuckerberg : Youngest Billionaire In The World

 Mark Zuckerberg

 

   Mark Elliot Zuckerberg (born May 14, 1984) is an American entrepreneur and software developer best known for creating the social networking site Facebook, of which he is CEO and president. It was co-founded as a private company in 2004 by Zuckerberg and classmates Dustin Moskovitz, Eduardo Saverin, and Chris Hughes while they were students at Harvard University. In 2010, Zuckerberg was named Time magazine's Person of the Year.

Harvard years

By the time he began classes at Harvard, he had already achieved a "reputation as a programming prodigy," notes Vargas. He studied psychology and computer science and belonged to Alpha Epsilon Pi, a Jewish fraternity. In his sophomore year, he wrote a program he called CourseMatch, which allowed users to make class selection decisions based on the choices of other students and also to help them form study groups. A short time later, he created a different program he initially called Facemash that let students select the best looking person from a choice of photos. According to Zuckerberg's roommate at the time, Arie Hasit, "he built the site for fun." Hasit explains:

We had books called Face Books, which included the names and pictures of everyone who lived in the student dorms. At first, he built a site and placed two pictures, or pictures of two males and two females. Visitors to the site had to choose who was "hotter" and according to the votes there would be a ranking.

The site went up over the weekend, but by Monday morning the college shut it down because its popularity had overwhelmed Harvard's server and prevented students from accessing the web. In addition, many students complained that their photos were being used without permission. Zuckerberg apologized publicly, and the student paper ran articles stating that his site was "completely improper."

At the time of Zuckerberg's "fun" site, however, students had already been requesting that the university develop a web site that would include similar photos and contact details to be part of the college's computer network. According to Hasit, "Mark heard these pleas and decided that if the university won't do something about it, he will, and he would build a site that would be even better than what the university had planned."

NOKIA X3-02 Touch And Type

NOKIA X3-02

 

   Nokia X3 has a nice 5 MP camera with auto focus and video recording capability. It has all the connectivity that smart phones have these days, it has Wi-Fi, 3G, GPRS, Micro USB 2.0. It has a community application that keeps you updated with you social networking friends. Inbuilt applications are also available for Web-mail and Chat or instant messaging services. It is slimmest Nokia mobile ever made.

Nokia X3-02 Touch and Type Features

• 2.4 inch resistive touchscreen with a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels
• Standard alphanumeric keypad with 12 keys
• 5 MP camera with autofocus and 4 .
• Internal memory 50 MB, expandable up to 16 GB with Micro SD
• Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G upto 10Mbps, Micro USB 2.0
• 3.5 mm audio jack, FM radio with RDS, Dedicated music key
• Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo messenger, Gtalk
• Socail Networking Integration

Nokia X3-02 Touch and Type Price

 

Nokia X3-02 Touch and Type has not been released yet anywhere. Its estimated market price in India is Rs 8500  i.e USD 180.