Drupal wins the 2008 Best PHP Based Open Source CMS

PacktPub has begun announcing the winners for the 2008 CMS Awards. The competition has been stiff with names like Joomla, Drupal and WordPress dominating the news. Fortunately, PacktPub offers a category for Other Open Source CMS. The winners of this category, announced today, may surprise some.

For the third year in a row, Drupal has been nominated for a Packt Publishing Open Source CMS award. Packt Publishing is announcing winners all week. Today they announced the 2008 best PHP open source CMS.

The Award for the best Open Source Content Management System written on a PHP/MySQL platform is today announced as Drupal. Receiving $2,000 as the judges’ and publics favourite, Drupal finishes ahead of Joomla! and CMS Made Simple, who finished on equal points as joint runners up and collect $500 each.

Drupal won this award in both the popular vote and the judges selection. The judges cited improvements to installation, updates, breadth of features in modules, and how Drupal handles errors in these processes. Of special note was Drupal's use of social features and how those features integrate with web content management. Of course the final advantage Drupal had was the "large and hugely supportive community". This award belongs to everyone in the Drupal community for helping each other and particularly new users.

Last year, Joomla! took out the "Best Open Source PHP CMS". Drupal won the overall award. However, last year Joomla's fabulous 1.5 version was still in beta and not necessarily on the judge's radar. The new framework could very well take J! over the line for 2008.

Packt says: "The format for the 2008 Award remains the same, with the addition of a new category, which will replace Open Source Social Networking. This exciting new category is for MVPs at Open Source Content Management Systems. This will recognise the contributions to projects made by individuals that often go unnoticed. For the large majority of Open Source projects, it is the tireless contributions from enthusiastic individuals that enable its growth and adoption and these are the people that Packt feels is necessary to identify. MVPs will be nominated by their projects and will be announced during the final week, with features on the MVPs for the Content Management Systems that won their categories."

Here are the finalists.

Overall Open Source CMS Award

• DotNetNuke CMS
• Drupal CMS
• Joomla! CMS
• Plone CMS
• TYPOlight CMS

Most Promising Open Source CMS

• CMS Made Simple
• Impress CMS
• Mia CMS
• MemHT CMS
• SilverStripe CMS

Best PHP Open Source CMS

• CMS Made Simple
• Drupal CMS
• eZ Publish CMS
• Joomla! CMS
• XOOPS CMS

Best Other Open Source CMS

• dotCMS
• DotNetNuke CMS
• mojoPortal CMS
• Plone CMS
• Umbraco CMS

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Plasma VS LCD TV

Having trouble discerning between plasma and LCD televisions? This handy chart can help you determine which technology is best for you.

	Plasma	LCD
General
Screen sizes	42-65+ inches	5-65+ inches
Cabinet depth	3+ inches	3+ inches
Power consumption	Slightly less-efficient per square inch	Slightly more-efficient per square inch
Off-angle viewing	Excellent from all angles	Image fades slightly when seen from extreme angles from sides or from above or below
Reflectivity of screen	Glass screens can reflect lots of light, so may be an issue in very bright rooms. Some models have glare-reducing screens that are more- or less-effective	Matte plastic screens usually reflect less light. Some models have screens that are actually more reflective than plasma
Features
PC connectivity	Less common but still included on many models	More common than with plasma
Other features	Varies per model	Varies per model
Picture quality
Motion blur caused by display	Negligible	Difficult to discern on most models, although subject to more blurring than plasma. 120Hz models less-subject to motion blur
Black-level performance (depth of "black" displayed)	Varies, although excellent on many models.	Varies, although generally worse than plasma on many models, and better than plasma on best models
Color saturation	Varies, although generally a bit better than LCD due to black level and off-angle advantages	Varies, although the best models can equal the best plasmas
Resolution	Typically 720p, up to 1080p on high-end models. The benefits of 1080p are not obvious at screen sizes below 50 inches to the majority of viewers.	Typically 720p, but 1080p is more common than plasma at more price and size points. The benefits of 1080p are not obvious at screen sizes below 50 inches to the majority of viewers
Durability
Burn-in (faint after-images left on-screen)	Possible with still images left on-screen with very bright settings for hours, although new models much less susceptible, and most burn-in is temporary and goes away after watching moving images	May occur in extreme situations (very bright still images left on-screen for days) but much less likely than with plasma or even standard tube TVs.
Lifespan (hours until fades to half-brightness)	Typically 60,000 hours, or about 20 years if used 8 hours per day.	Typically 60,000 hours, or about 20 years if used 8 hours per day.
Program type
HDTV	Excellent	Excellent for HDTV-compatible models.
Standard-definition TV	Dependent mostly on screen size. The smaller the screen, the better standard-def usually looks	Dependent mostly on screen size. The smaller the screen, the better standard-def usually looks
DVD Movies	Excellent given a model with good black-level performance	Very good, although models with worse black-level performance are less desirable
Games	Excellent for most users, although burn-in might deter gamers who leave screens paused for hours or overnight	Excellent, although motion blur might deter the most sensitive gamers

The ADVANTAGES of Plasma over LCD are:

1. Larger screen size availability.

2. Better contrast ratio and ability to render deeper blacks.

3. Better color accuracy and saturation.

4. Better motion tracking (little or no motion lag in fast moving images).

The DISADVANTAGES of Plasma vs LCD include:

1. Plasma TVs are more susceptible to burn-in of static images.

2. Plasma TVs generate more heat than LCDs, due to the need to light of phosphors to create the images.

3. Does not perform as well at higher altitudes.

4. Shorter display life span (about 30,000 hours or 8 hrs of viewing a day for 9 years) than LCD. However, screen life span is improving to as high as 60,000 hours due to technology improvements.

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Solaris Campus in SecondLife!

Sun has created a new blog called "Solaris Campus" around the brand new "Sun Solaris Immersive Campus in Second Life" initiative - a fun, unique and very community oriented virtual campus.

Here are some of the things you can do in Solaris Campus in SecondLife:

1. Come chat with Solaris experts, learn what's new in Solaris and have fun with other Solaris users in a 3D environment!
2. Come immerse yourself in Solaris 10 and share your thoughts.
3. Come anytime and explore the area's information.
4. Meet and network wtih Solaris experts and other Sun employees and Sun fans.
5. Participate in a Sun Solaris scavenger hunt and win a prize!
6. Office hours - there will be a schedule posted of when Sun Solaris experts will be in-world at the Solaris Campus to chat with you about any Solaris topic you are interested in or help to answer Solaris related questions.
7. Look for an immersive experience on Solaris features soon (not at the initial launch)
8. Here is the SLURL to the space on the Sun in Second Life islands: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Sun%20Microsystems%201/74/186/59

Check out the Solaris Campus blog at: http://blogs.sun.com/solariscampus/

Read about the experience here: http://blogs.sun.com/DanaInGeeksville/entry/a_new_great_way_to

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What's new in Ubuntu 8.10 [Intrepid Ibex] ??

System Requirements:

The minimum memory requirement for Ubuntu 8.10 is 256 MiB of memory. (Note that some of your system's memory may be unavailable due to being used for the graphics card.)
With only the minimum amount of memory available, the installation process will take longer than normal, but will complete successfully, and the system will perform adequately once installed. Low-memory systems may be able to use the desktop CD to install by selecting "Install Ubuntu" from the boot menu to run just the installer, rather than the whole desktop started by selecting "Try Ubuntu without any change to your computer".

A look at top features of new Ubunutu 8.10:

1. GNOME 2.24.x. (GNOME 2.23.91 development version at the moment.)
2. Complete theme overhaul. (With alpha 4, the default theme was switched back to Human(-Murrine.))


3. OpenOffice.org 3.0.x with MS Office 2007 new file support.


4. Linux kernel 2.6.27 images have been prepared and will be uploaded soon to Intrepid.


5. Compiz 0.7.7 development release from Git with tons of new effects.


6. Network Manager 0.7.x with better network configuring and 3G support.


7. Ability to sign in as Guest via (Fast) User Switcher panel applet.


8. Default Adobe Flash 10.x.x.x (RC now) in repos to enhance Flash experience.


9. Improved Jockey ("Hardware Manager") to additionally download printer drivers when needed.


10. Official USB installation support for converting ISO CD image files into USB-live compatible files. EDIT: Work has started! Package usb-creator just got in


11. Ubiquity (Ubuntu installer) layout redesign.


12. An "Automatically sign in" option added at the fifth step of Ubiquity (Ubuntu installer) "Who are you?."


13. Secret ~/Private folder to encrypt anything you place into it.


14. X.Org 7.4, still in development, with X Server 1.5 and Mesa 7.1, is included in Intrepid.

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The Elegant Samsung U800

The Samsung U800 is a brushed stainless steel phone which has a 3 megapixel camera with 4x digital zoom, auto focus and flash. It has a 2 inch TFT screen displaying 16 million colours in superb quality. The Samsung U800 has a digital MP3 music player and a stereo FM radio which can be enjoyed using Bluetooth connectivity. This phone is a 3G Tri band phone with HSDPA connectivity. It comes with 1GB memory plus MicroSD™ Memory Card option and has a battery which offers 6 hours of talktime or 320 hours on standby. Following on from the Samsung Soul U900 and its Magical Touch touchpad control, the U800 incorporates much of the eye-catching design appeal of its big brother sliderphone in a ultra-slim candybar body that gives a nod to Samsung's thinline Ultra series.

On the features front, though, the Samsung U800 is a few steps behind its Soul-mate, forgoing on-trend touch-sensitive control for a more conventional push-button layout, and delivering a more routine lineup of mid-tier 3G handset features. The U800 plays its straight with much of its onboard gadgetry, aiming for mobile buyers who fancy a classy looking and effective phone with just enough rather than too much going on under the bonnet. It ticks the boxes for multimedia functionality with high-speed HSDPA 3G connectivity for fast downloads, streaming and browsing, plus onboard music and video player applications, with 1GB of onboard memory. In addition, track and video capacity can be expanded by memory cards up to 8GB, via a a side-mounted MicroSD card slot. It's geared up for mid-range imaging too with a reasonable if unexciting 3-megapixel camera on the back, featuring an accompanying LED flash but no autofocus. And there's a secondary low res camera for face-to-face video calling up front. Anyone looking for more exciting gadgetry, like GPS Sat Nav capability, smartphone functionaity or Wi-Fi, will have to look a bit further up the range.

Samsung U800 Features :

Screen
2 Inch TFT 16 Million Colour Screen (240 x 320 Pixels)

Imaging
3 Megapixel Camera
Power LED Flash
Auto Focus
Photo Settings
Video Player
Video Recorder (QCIF)
Video Settings
Second CIF Camera
Video Calling
Screensaver
Wallpaper

Messaging
SMS (Text Messaging)
EMS (Enhanced Messaging)
MMS (Multimedia Messaging)
Email
Predictive Text

Sound
Music Player (MP3, AAC, eACC+ & WMA)
FM Radio RDS
Polyphonic Ringtones
MP3 Ringtones
Vibration Alert

Entertainment
Java™ Games
Downloadable Games

Organiser
Phonebook
Organiser
Calendar
Clock
Alarm
Calculator
Office Document Viewer
Office Document Editor
Handsfree Speaker

Connectivity
3G HSDPA
Bluetooth®
USB
EDGE
GPRS

Network
Tri Band (GSM 900, GSM 1800 & GSM 1900)
HSDPA 2100

Internet
WAP 2.0
XHTML
HTML

Memory & Talk Time
1 Gbytes plus MicroSD™ Memory Card Option
3.4 Hours Talk Time
400 Hours Standby Time

Weight & Size
Weight 89 g
111 x 46 x 9.9 mm

Key features:

• 2.0" 16M-color TFT LCD display of QVGA resolution
• 3G with HSDPA (3.6Mbps) support
• 1GB of onboard memory, microSD expansion
• Nice and responsive D-pad
• Cool brushed metal casing
• Just 9.9mm thickness
• 3 megapixel camera with LED flash
• FM radio with RDS
• Bluetooth (A2DP) and USB v2.0
• User-friendly keypad
• Office document viewer
  

Main disadvantages:

• Tri-band only
• Camera has no auto focus
• Somewhat slow interface response
• Slow first-time access of the microSD card
• Limited browser capabilities
• QCIF video recording at most

Conclusion :
It may have inherited some of the family looks of the Soul, but the U800 is a very different proposition. Without the touchpad pizzazz and high-class camera sported on the Soul, the U800 is a more understated, elegant mobile phone. Rather than one for high-end gadget strokers, the U800 has plenty of reliable mid-tier 3G functionality, and will appeal to those looking for a classy handset with a decent though not cutting edge set of features. With its slimline design and solid performance it's easy to see why this could prove a popular choice.

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Check if someone is accessing your emails

Is anyone is secretly reading your email ? Following are two simple techniques that can help you confirm your suspicion - it detects snoopers and can track the address of the computer that is watching your email.

Remember that for steps 3 & 4, you can create a free account on geocities.com, create a dummy HTML file that contains Statcounter or Google Analytics tracking script.

1. Set up a Hotmail account in US and and a second email account with a non-U.S. provider. (eg. Rediff.com or IndiaTimes.com)
2. Send messages between the two email accounts which might be interesting to the email snooper or NSA who may be monitoring your email.
3. In each message, include a unique URL to a Web server (link to the dummy file on geocities.com containing the tracking code) that you have access to its server logs. This URL should only be known by you and not linked to from any other Web page. The text of the message should encourage an NSA monitor or email snooper to visit the URL.
4. If the server log file ever shows this URL being accessed, then you know that you are being snooped on. The IP address of the access can also provide clues about who is doing the snooping.

The other technique uses Google Analytics for tracking the email impressions.

1. Create an email email message such that Urchin with the following HTML code to embed the __utm.gif image anywhere in your email message.



The email impressions would be credited to the source "news1" and the medium "email". As soon as someone ones your email, the impression will be registered on Google Analytics server as the gif file is downloaded on the spying computer.

2. If the email recipient has disabled automatic downloading of internet images, you can create a campaign link to track the email referrals. Tag these links using the utm_ campaign variables.

Continuing with the example above of an email message which you track using the source "news1" and the medium "email," your tagged link might look like this:

< href="www.mywebsite.com/?utm_source=news1&utm_medium=email">

Update: According to NYT, the volume of information gathered from telephone and Internet communications by the National Security Agency without court-approved warrants was much larger than the White House has acknowledged.

Americans come to the program's attention only if they have received a call or e-mail message from a person overseas who is already suspected to be a member of certain terrorist groups or linked somehow to a member of such groups. And the agency still gets a warrant to intercept their calls or e-mail messages to other people in the United States.

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Soon Wonderland will be like SecondLife!

There are very exciting new developments in the next version of Wonderland including an all new Realistic Avatar System, new High-Performance Rendering & Game Engine, Core Redesign of the Wonderland API's and support for the COLLADA open 3-D file format for interactive content

SunLabs has started collecting technical documents about Wonderland 0.5 on our technical design wiki:

http://wiki.java.net/bin/view/Javadesktop/WonderlandReleasepoint5

Things you can do today to prepare and participate in it's development:

- read a document and post comments on the forum
- create a proposal and link to it in the "proposals" section
- read and comment on API javadocs

Once we have the core of the system up and running, hope to see people developing and contributing modules to extend the Wonderand functionality

Planning to split Release 0.5 into two separate releases: a Developer release and an End User release.

The goal of the Developer release will be to get the new architecture and interfaces into the hands of Wonderland developers as soon as possible. It will have feature parity with Release 0.4 and may not have the same level of quality and performance as Release 0.4. The focus will be on making the new interfaces available to developers as soon as possible so that they may begin their porting efforts.

The goal of the End User release will be to increase the quality and performance of the Developer release to the point where it will be usable by end users.

For more information, please refer to:

http://wiki.java.net/bin/view/Javadesktop/ReleasePlans

With Wonderland 0.5 only a few months away, the Immersion SIG Community Members will play a key role in the early-access and evolutionary development of this new open source virtual worlds and online game platform for collaboration, learning and discovery

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Microsoft's Office Bus : Ideas That Click !!!

On 29th Sep 2008, Microsoft started bus service for employees & Employees can start work from the bus itself and their office hours counts from the time they start work in the bus.

Traffic jam is quite normal and company do not want to waste the time of the employees in roads.

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Technology at it's BEST !!!

Have a look at these jut out of this world awesome piece of technology. ou would love it, soon coming your way. Njoy !!!

SkyLift - Boarding System for Aircraft

Sprout Umbrella

i-Pod Detachable Speakers

It's Chair or Bed or Mat !!!

Folding Shoes

Watching Phone ;)

Umbrella Lights

Notepad Lights

Tablet PC Made Of Wood

USB Flash Drive

Rubik Cube Mp3 Player

Oryx, The Bike From The Future

The Coolest Bus !

A Phone That Really Hangs Up

Cellphone Inspired By Chinese Scrolls

BYB Balance Cell Phone (touchscreen )

Dual Music Player That Plays Your MP3 Collection & Your CDs

Nokia 888 Mobile Phone

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NetBeans 10th Birthday Celebration Decathlon

To honor 10 years of the NetBeans project and community, we've selected ten events that anyone can participate in to be a part of the celebration. The first 300 participants to complete events that add up to 50 points will receive a limited edition NetBeans 10th Anniversary Shirt! In keeping with the spirit of community, these events are all based around various community activities and sites: blogging, forums, Facebook and more. So read on, pick out your favorite events and celebrate away!

For complete details, visit http://www.netbeans.org/birthday/decathlon.html
I have posted the rules over here, enjoy the celebration and the events..

Rules:

1. 10 events, each worth a different amount of points.
2. Complete any number of events that tally up to 50 points.
3. IMPORTANT: Keep track of links to blog entries, forums, and so on. You will need to submit these links in the Decathlon Entry Form.
4. The first 300 participants to complete the Decathlon form will be eligible to receive a limited edition NetBeans 10th Anniversary T-shirt.
5. There is no judging, so be creative, reminisce, and have fun!
6. The Decathlon ends on Monday, October 27th, 2008.

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Hands On The New "Windows 7" Pics

I posted about Windows 7 earlier, But a picture’s worth a thousand words, right? How about a ton of pics?

I can confirm these are indeed screen shots of the current build of Windows 7 as it will be introduced in 2010, but keep in mind that’s three years away and many changes might be made. We’re hoping it’s better than Vista.

[UPDATE] A Microsoft rep has pointed out that these are older versions of the concept renderings for Windows 7 and, as stated above, not likely what we’ll see when it’s released in 2010. In other Windows 7 UI news, the latest version will be demoed later tonight at the All Things D conference. It’ll be interesting to see how close to these older renderings it turns out to be.

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