Project Natal for Xbox 360 - Full Body Motion Sensing Controller

It was by far the biggest news to come out of the E3 video game expo last week, and it carries implications far beyond the world of gaming. Heck, even Steven Spielberg was on hand to help unveil it.

It’s called “Project Natal,” and it’s the code name for a new device that will one day soon hook into your Xbox 360 — but I’m betting Microsoft will find ways of putting it to use in other ways, too. The technology it uses is just too cutting-edge for it to have only one use. Take a look at the promotional video ( end of post ) MS whipped up to introduce E3 journos to the overall concept.

The add-on will offer features such as auto sign-in for players to Xbox Live (based on complex facial recognition), and sports extremely detailed body tracking which will be able to follow the individual movements of separate limbs. During the press event, the company demoed a painting app, which lets you use your entire body to handle virtual painting supplies, allowing you to do things like throw buckets of paint onto a canvas. Another title was shown off which featured a woman interacting with a young boy on the screen -- one of the company's creepier demos in recent memory. Unfortunately for us, Microsoft says the device won't be released during 2009.

How Natal Works

The test system was an ordinary Xbox 360, connected to small PC and camera that simulates the final Natal rig. There are two cameras—one RGB, for face recognition and display video, and one infrared, for tracking movement and depth. Why infrared? The eye doesn't see infrared light. And when you combine an infrared camera with an infrared emitter (also part of Natal), a room is flooded with a spectrum of invisible light that works in the dark.

Natal also has its own internal processing system handling an unspecified amount of the heavy lifting behind Natal's cleaver image and speech recognition. It breaks the human body into 48 points tracked in real time, and it can sense your whole body in Z space, or depth. In fact, on a heat map that measured depth, my hands appeared hotter than my shoulders—because they were closer.

Natal is so smart, in fact, that, if your room is narrowed by a pair of couches, it can signal to a game to narrow the level. It can see about 15' x 20' of a room, according to project leader Kudo Tsunoda's informal estimation.

From Microsoft’s Project Natal fact sheet, here’s a list of the tech in question:

1. Project Natal sensor. Project Natal is the world’s first system to combine an RGB camera, depth sensor, multiarray microphone, and custom processor running proprietary software… The Project Natal sensor tracks full-body movement and individual voices, creating controller-free fun and social entertainment available only on Xbox 360.
2. RGB camera. Project Natal has a video camera that delivers the three basic color components. As part of the Project Natal sensor, the RGB camera helps enable facial recognition and more.
3. Depth sensor. An infrared projector combined with a monochrome CMOS sensor allows Project Natal to see the room in 3-D (as opposed to inferring the room from a 2-D image) under any lighting conditions.
4. Multiarray microphone. Project Natal has a microphone that will be able to locate voices by sound and extract ambient noise. The multiarray microphone will enable headset-free Xbox LIVE party chat and more.
5. Custom processor (running Microsoft proprietary software layer). A proprietary software layer makes the magic of Project Natal possible. This layer differentiates Project Natal from any other technology on the market through its ability to enable human body recognition and extract other visual noise.

Possibilities here are endless. Everything from Minority Report style menu to Dance Dance Revolution games that will need to you dance properly instead of using any buttons and instruments to videoconferencing with your friends and co-workers in your living room, this is the future everyone has been waiting for. And it makes the wii seem already out of date. There’s no way wii can currently compete with the Natal project.

Press Release:

“Project Natal”: No Strings (or Controllers) Attached
Unveiled for the first time to the public was “Project Natal,” pronounced “nuh-tall” and a code name for a revolutionary new way to play, no controller required. See a ball? Kick it, hit it, trap it or catch it. If you know how to move your hands, shake your hips or speak, you and your friends can jump into the fun. The only experience needed is life experience.

Compatible with any Xbox 360 system, the “Project Natal” sensor is the world’s first to combine an RGB camera, depth sensor, multi-array microphone and custom processor running proprietary software all in one device. Unlike 2-D cameras and controllers, “Project Natal” tracks your full body movement in 3-D, while responding to commands, directions and even a shift of emotion in your voice.

In addition, unlike other devices, the “Project Natal” sensor is not light-dependent. It can recognize you just by looking at your face, and it doesn’t just react to key words but understands what you’re saying. Call a play in a football game, and players will actually respond. Want to log onto Xbox LIVE? Simply step in front of the sensor.

“The next step in interactive entertainment is to make the controller disappear,” said Steven Spielberg, visionary director and producer. “With ‘Project Natal,’ we’ll see games that bring everyone together through technology that actually recognizes us.”

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Yamaha's neoHD Media Controller

It was Saturday night and I with my friends planned to watch a movie at my home. All went as planned and we were all about to enjoy the movie. Time to switch on the DVD player, TV and Home Theater, but which remote. Confused between remotes of Television, Radio, DVD player, Set Top box and Home Theater, it took lot of time and frustration to get the action going.

Have you ever been in such similar situation? If yes, Yamaha neoHD is for you. Using a simple remote to drive an intuitive menu-driven on-screen display, neoHD makes it easier than ever before to navigate and access all audio and video content in the home, regardless of where it is stored.

neoHD is a smallish box with a zillion inputs—3 HDMI, 2 component, 1 composite, both optical and coax digital audio, and a USB port—and a few choice outputs. Straightaway there's support for media on USB disks, but you can add on an iPod dock or a Bluetooth stereo receiver.

This device will boast three menus when your favorite entertainment devices are all hooked up - Watch, Listen and Play. These are pretty much self-explanatory, where your choice will turn on and appear on the display. NeoHD can control up to six other AV components, such as TVs, Blu-ray disc players and set-top boxes, through its remote control and three IR outputs on the Media Controller’s back panel. Remote control codes for the AV components (including TVs, DVD and Blu-ray players, VCRs, set-top boxes, etc.) from most manufacturers are embedded into the neoHD Media Controller for immediate compatibility and control. The codes for components that are not embedded can be quickly learned by the Media Controller.

Main Features:

1. Easy Operation GUI
2. Simplified remote control
3. 1080p-compatible HDMI (3 in / 1 out)
4. Video upconversion to HDMI
5. HD audio format decode
6. iPod / Bluetooth compatibility via optional accessories
7. USB port for music and photo playback
8. AIR SURROUND XTREME
9. CINEMA DSP
10. Adaptive DRC
11. Compressed Music Enhancer

Now for the real NEWS. Yamaha is giving you a chance to lay your hands on Yamaha neoHD. You can enter this great contest and stand a chance to win this Media Controller. Just visit Yamaha neoHD Sweepstakes Entry for more details. You can leave a comment here, describing why you need this cool gadget desperately, we would love to hear from you. You can also enter this contest :

1. by Tweeting: “I just entered to win a #neoHD b/c I have too many remotes, visit (http://urlbrief.com/e44caa) to enter”
2. or enter via http://urlbrief.com/e44caa

The neoHD controller is available now for $599.95, the Wi-Fi-enabled neoHD is available for $799.95 and the neoHD System 2.1 is available for $799.95.

You can find neoHD on facebook. Leave a comment if you desperately need the new neoHD and if you are going to enter the contest.

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Google’s Face Recognition Comes to Orkut – Introduces Auto Tagging Feature

Photo Tagging allows you to identify ‘many’ persons in a group photo and helps you tagg individual faces with their respective names (and Orkut profiles). Orkut has now introduced “Face Detection” to make photo tagging process real easy. This feature will attempt to recognize faces in newly uploaded photos and help you tag them even faster.

“… orkut is now able to automatically detect when faces appear in photos (by recognizing features like eyes, noses, mouths, etc.), but without actually identifying specific individuals. The algorithm is not perfect, however, so things like eyeglasses, difficult lighting, poses, etc. may ‘fool’ our system from time to time.”

Face detection functionality has been available in Google’s Picasa Web album, and it is great to have the same fucntionality in Orkut as well.

Only your friends will be able to tag you in their photos. To keep your privacy, you can remove all tags if you would prefer not to be tagged in this manner.

Orkut Photo Albums aleady has features to add tag identifying any of your orkut friends, share photo albums with Orkut friends, share albums with non-orkut friends by sending them an email, etc..

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Google Earth Adds Moon To Celebrate Apollo 11 Landing

To mark the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20, 1969, Google on Monday released Moon in Google Earth, which allows users to explore lunar images and related lunar content.

In a post on the official Google (NSDQ: GOOG) blog, Anousheh Ansari, the first female private space explorer and a trustee of the XPRIZE Foundation, says the software will help millions of people learn about space.

"Moon in Google Earth enables you to explore lunar imagery as well as informational content about the Apollo landing sites, panoramic images shot by the Apollo astronauts, narrated tours and much more," she explains. "I believe that this educational tool is a critical step into the future, a way to both develop the dreams of young people globally, and inspire new audacious goals."

If you re-start Google Earth right now, you can see the Moon in 3D! Look for the little planet icon in the upper middle of Google Earth and you'll see a new option "Moon". The new moon in Google Earth changes the virtual globe into a 3D rendition of the moon. The terrain of the moon is in 3D and there are layers telling you more about the moon.

Here's my first screenshot of the new 3D moon in Google Earth - showing the Apollo 11 landing site:

The first thing you should check out in the new Google Earth moon mode is the awesome Apollo 11 tour found in the layers under: Moon Gallery->Guided Tours->Apollo 11. This tour is narrated by Andrew Chaiken and Astronaut Buzz Aldrin and is one of the best illustrations of the Apollo 11 mission I've seen to date!

Four years ago to the day, Google launched Google Moon, a way to explore the Moon using its Web-based Google Maps service rather than Google Earth, a desktop application. There's also a Google Maps-based Mars.

Other extra-terrestrial layers in Google Earth include Sky and Mars. There's also an Ocean layer, which was launched in February with the release of Google Earth 5.0.Moon in Google Earth details all of the Apollo landing missions, and offers lunar surface panoramas in Google's Street View format. So far, there have been no privacy complaints.


Google's Moon project is a result of the company's Space Act Agreement with NASA. Japan's space agency JAXA also helped out by donating a global terrain dataset of the Moon.

And finally, with respect to the Google Doodle problem, a picture that doesn't look like it was whipped up in five minutes appeared on Google's homepage at around 3 PM (Eastern Time).

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The Google File System ( GFS )

Google File System (GFS) is a file system developed by Sanjay Ghemawat, Shun-Tak Leung and Urs Holzle for Google to handle rapid growth of the company’s infrastructure and to suit their needs. The company was looking for a way to improve the stability and reliability of their services and the only reasonable way to do that was to build their own file management system as no other system was able to handle massive number of requests over huge amount of servers.

The GFS supports gigantic user population combined with very cheap computer equipment that tends to break down quite often. From the beginning of Google, the company used cheap computers running Linux to maintain the need for storage space for information gathered by web crawlers (and other services, like GMail, etc.). It caused problems with reliability of service and low efficiency. They had to create reliable software to run over unreliable hardware. It was a total change to the economy of the IT companies.

In 2003 Google published a paper on their Google File System (GFS) at SOSP, the Symposium on Operating Systems Principles. This is the same venue at which Amazon published their Dynamo work, albeit four years earlier. One of the lecturers in my group tells me that SOSP is a venue where "interesting" is rated highly as a criterion for acceptance, over other more staid conferences. So what, if anything, was interesting about GFS? Read on for some details...

Filesystems

Filesystems are a integral component of most operating systems that mediate access to persistently stored data. When you save a file to a magnetic hard disk, it gets recorded as a logical series of 1s and 0s, amongst a sea of other files similarly represented. The filesystem is the part of the operating system that makes sense of these 1s and 0s and is able to recover the structure in terms of files and folders that was present when the data were written.

Of course this, as any other one paragraph introduction to such a broad subject must be, is a simplification. Filesystems don't tend to deal in 1s and 0s, that would be far too messy. Instead they are supported by a device driver that typically speaks in terms of blocks - large chunks of data - which takes care of actually writing the blocks to disk. But the filesystem is responsible for determining what those blocks 'mean' in the context of files and folders.

Different filesystems have different characteristics. Some filesystems are extremely simple, lightweight and fast. Others are more complex, but can recover from some disk corruption. Some are more appropriate to workstation usage patterns, whereas some are tailored towards, say, the requirements of a disk-backed SQL database.

What is GFS?

GFS as I described above is storage system which allows main functionality of storage, processing search and retrieval and in case of failure should be able to self correct it in order to retrieve huge amount of data which Google’s paper say is in terms of Multi-GB.

How GFS Work?

According to Google Lab’s Jeffery Dean, The idea behind GFS is to store data reliably even in the presence of unreliable machines. The GFS system works on master slave module. There is one machine which acts as server and several other which are slaves or node.

The master is responsible to keep track of “which data is stored on which machine” , called as meta data ( data about data). The GFS is said to maintain 3 copies of any data or file including executable. The meta data resides on the main memory of Master , i.e on ram, thus allowing faster access.GFS was designed to store huge amount of data, till current date,

The largest Google Cluster ( Cluster is group of computers together as network) stores hundreds of terrabytes of memory across thousands of disks.

How Data Failure and tolerance works in GFS ?

In GFS, The master server handles all the requests , which in turn transfer the request to exact location of data to one or more nodes or slaves. In case the request takes more time than alloted the system switches to a backup-copy ( the reason of maintaining 3 copies!!).

In case of one of the slaves or nodes fail, its Master which is responsible to maintain the count of nodes either by reallocating ro some other machine or creating a duplicate copy. Although there is only single master “active” at any given point, the state of master ( log of what the master has been doing) is present on other machines too.

Thus in case of failure of master , another machine which knows what the failed master was doing takes the position and keeps the work on move.This is an overview of how GFS works. For more technical details look at GFS Papers.

Conclusion

The GFS implementation we’ve looked offers many winning attributes. These include:

• Availability. Triple redundancy (or more if users choose), pipelined chunk replication, rapid master failovers, intelligent replica placement, automatic re-replication, and cheap snapshot copies. All of these features deliver what Google users see every day: datacenter-class availability in one of the world’s largest datacenters.
• Performance. Most workloads, even databases, are about 90% reads. GFS performance on large sequential reads is exemplary. It was child’s play for Google to add video download to their product set, and I suspect their cost-per-byte is better than YouTube or any of the other video sharing services.
• Management. The system offers much of what IBM calls “autonomic” management. It manages itself through multiple failure modes, offers automatic load balancing and storage pooling, and provides features, such as the snapshots and 3 day window for dead chunks to remain on the system, that give management an extra line of defense against failure and mistakes. I’d love to know how many sysadmins it takes to run a system like this.
• Cost. Storage doesn’t get any cheaper than ATA drives in a system box.

Yet as a general purpose commercial product, it suffers some serious shortcomings.

• Performance on small reads and writes, which it wasn’t designed for, isn’t good enough for general data center workloads.
• The record append file operation and the “relaxed” consistency model, while excellent for Google, wouldn’t fit many enterprise workloads. It might be that email systems, where SOX requirements are pushing retention, might be redesigned to eliminate deletes. Since appending is key to GFS write performance in a multi-writer environment, it might be that GFS would give up much of its performance advantage even in large serial writes in the enterprise.
• Lest we forget, GFS is NFS, not for sale. Google must see its infrastructure technology as a critical competitive advantage, so it is highly unlikely to open source GFS any time soon.

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MerchantWARE Mobile Virtual Credit Card Terminal

Businesses that travel or conduct most of their operations on the road know all too well the headaches and fees associated with carting around a credit card terminal everywhere they go. Contractors, tradeshow vendors, delivery persons and anyone else on the road needs an easy mobile payment option. Sure, there are wireless units and some are failry inexpensive, but shouldn't there be an easier way? Well now there is. MerchantWARE Mobile makes accepting credit cards easy virtually anywhere. The entire system consists only of a small magnetic card reader and a free BlackBerry application. You simply swipe a card through the Bluetooth card reader (which isn't required but makes things much easier - you can also key in the card numbers) and you can take a credit card machine payment. Everything is readily available by visiting MerchantWARE Mobile.

“MerchantWARE Mobile for the iPhone and iPod touch is the tip of the iceberg for innovative mobile applications from Merchant Warehouse,” said Helgeson. “Over the next few months we will be addressing the need for mobile applications that will assist merchants who may be utilizing other wireless devices powered by Blackberry, Windows Mobile and others.”

With security breaches being a top concern for merchants and consumers, MerchantWARE Mobile eliminates worry as all customer information is encrypted and sent over a secure SSL connection. Additionally, all data is stored on Merchant Warehouse’s secure servers, not the merchant’s mobile device.

Features :

1. Secure transactions in real time, including sales, refunds and voids;
2. Lower Interchange costs by swiping with Bluetooth card reader;
3. Free application;
4. Robust detailed transaction reporting;
5. No additional gateway or cellular access fees;
6. Email receipts for merchant and customer;
7. Encrypted and secure SSL connections for safely transmitting customer information;
8. Complies with PCI DSS/PABP;
9. Automatic end of day batch processing;
10. Access to the MerchantWARE Virtual Terminal enabling users to process transactions through the same merchant account from any web connected computer.

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"m.techquark.com" - Surf TechQuark.com on the Go !

After the launch of new design for TechQuark.com, we now came up with the mobile version of Techquark.com. You can now easily surf TechQuark.com on the go with our mobile version of TechQuark.com! – m.techquark.com

Hope this will ease a bit of pain while you load TechQuark.com on your mobile since the default view sucks your data transfer budget as it was too heavy and pretty slow for your limited GPRS data plan.

The content is formatted specifically for cell phones and mobile devices. The mobile version support all GPRS enabled phones ( iPhone, Kindle, Android, and Palm Pre and the list continues )

ScreenShot :
You can see Live Mobile Demo @ http://m.techquark.com/iphone/preview. Feel free to leave your feedback and suggestions.

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Replace Microsoft Office 2007 Ribbon with Classic Menu

If you find yourself spending way too much time trying to locate frequently-used Microsoft Office commands through its newly designed interface, Ribbon Customizer is for you. It reintroduces the toolbars found in previous versions of Office.

Ribbon Customizer for Office 2007 is an application that display menus and toolbars of Office 2007. Could not see the menus in the last version of MS Office? Just download and install this software, you will see and enjoy classic menus and toolbars of Office 2007 (include Excel, Word and PowerPoint), as in the Office 2003/XP. The familiar Office 2003 interface has been replaced by the Ribbon. It is cool and powerful, but many users can't find some of the features because they are hidden or moved to other places. If you install Ribbon Customizer, these menus and toolbars will be retrieved and shown. All new features items of Microsoft Office 2007 have been added into the classic menu and toolbars. Supports all languages that are supported by Microsoft Office 2007: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Arabic, Korean, Chinese. You can add the menus and toolbars to Quick Access Toolbar, then you can minimize the Ribbon and finish all operations without Ribbon.

There are 2 versions of RibbonCustomizer, the Starter edition and Professional. Obviously the Professional version cost money and offers more features than the Starter edition. However if you only want to have the Classic menu for Office 2007, the Starter edition should do it. Do note that this add-in does not transform the Ribbon menu to the Classic menu. It will add another tab called Classic IU where the old buttons will all be listed in the menu bar. This is good because it lets the user work with a familiar user interface and allows them to slowly transition into the new ribbon interface.

Simply download the installer, install it and run any Office 2007 component. Go to View tab, click the drop down arrow button on Customize Ribbon and then go to Customize Schemes. You can select either to show the Classic UI as first tab or the last tab.

[ Download RibbonCustomizer ]

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Daptiv : Project Management & Collaboration Software

What is Daptiv PPM?

Daptiv is an On Demand Project Portfolio Management program. This program promises users will increase productivity and better manage resources. EProject, a popular project management software company has become Daptiv, and is now focusing on tapping into the on demand software market. Daptiv's clients include JetBlue, Chase, Ameco, and UC Davis. A free, customized demo is available from the Daptiv website. Contact Daptiv directly for information on pricing.

What does Daptiv PPM Do?

Datpiv PPM promises to be a flexible, customized, and easy to use project portfolio management program. The program includes many wonderful features to help streamline your project managment process. Among these features are:

• The ability to collect requests for projects
• The ability to create accurate cost estimates for projects
• The ability to create and model portfolios in order to support the business's objectives
• The ability to flexibly track and manage resources
• The ability to monitor the health of the project with at a glance reports of project progress
• The ability to easily manage project schedules
• An application creator that makes the spreadsheet an item of the past
• Interfacing with the internet that uses forms to gather data
• Quick reports that allow the project manager to oversee all knowledge management information
• The ability for Executives, Managers, Analysts, and Team members to all monitor performance on the project
• Collaboration software functions that out-maneuver other similar programs including the ability to connect teams in different business sectors and the ability to keep all team members informed
• The ability to create digest notifications for all levels of the project management hierarchy
• All of the security and benefits associated with utilizing on demand software.

Daptiv also has many resources for those wishing to learn the program. Technical support is easily found on their website including a PDF instructional guide.

Is Daptiv PPM for You?

Daptiv PPM is for you if your company is sufficiently large to justify such a great bells and whistles program. Because Daptiv PPM has so many wonderful features for executives, managers, analysts, and team members, it would be ideally used in a company with this sort of hierarchy. This program can greatly simplify the way you manage projects. Because it is an all-inclusive program (meaning that it includes everything in the project management system lifecycle from initiation to closing), it is an outstanding choice for those looking for a program that does it all. It is available for both the Windows and Mac platforms, so companies using Mac can benefit from its functionality as well.

Major Features:

1. Work Intelligence
2. Resource Management
3. Investment Mapping
4. Capacity Planning
5. Executive Scorecards
6. Project Health Status Indicators
7. Executive Decision Support
8. Dynamic Applications
9. Task Assignments for Accountability
10. Interactive Gantt Charts
11. Best Practice Automation
12. Measure Project ROI
13. Collaborate with Vendors & Partners
14. Collaborative Online Workspaces
15. Drag and Drop Dashboards
16. E-mail Notifications, Postings, Polls
17. Personal Calendars, Appointments, Assignments
18. Industry Leading Document Sharing with Version Control
19. Microsoft Project with Outlook, and Windows Explorer Integration

About Daptiv, Inc.

Founded in 1997, Daptiv is the on-demand leader in collaborative business software that enables companies of all sizes to transform their mid-office business operations. From new product development to operations and service delivery, Daptiv's on-demand solutions streamline employees' day-to-day interaction and collaboration while dramatically reducing the complexity of managing multiple teams, projects and tasks. Daptiv also gives executives unparalleled visibility into project, program and portfolio execution, as well as the ability to measure progress against key business priorities. Daptiv's flexible environment easily adapts to the work management needs of any department -- from IT and finance to marketing and human resources -- with an intuitive user interface, point-and-click system configuration and fast creation of forms, reports and alerts. Based in Seattle, Washington, Daptiv has already transformed the mid-office for more than 700 customers and 100,000 individuals at companies such as BASF, BP, Cushman and Wakefield, Honeywell, Merrill Lynch, Sprint/Nextel, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City and Virgin Blue.

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Online Transactions Now Require An Additional Layer of Security

The e-commerce industry in India needs to brace for the coming of a lull in transactions, which owes its origin to a notification from the Reserve Bank of India.

According to the notification, it order to enhance the security of online card transactions, it will become mandatory from August 1st 2009 onwards, to provide:

1. A system of providing for additional authentication/validation based on information not visible on the cards for all on-line card not present transactions except IVR transactions.
2. A system of “Online Alerts” to the cardholder for all “card not present” transactions of the value of Rs. 5,000/ and above.

Implications

Travel Portal Cleartrip recently set up a page to help its users register at various bank sites for Verified by Visa and Mastercard Secure verification norms which banks in India are adopting in order to comply with point 1 mentioned above. Hrush Bhatt, co-founder, Cleartrip, told that for completing transactions, merchants will have to re-direct consumers to bank sites, which will require the additional password for verification of payment. For methods that involve redirection, payment failures are around 10 times more.

Bhatt said that though the RBI circular is correct in spirit, but the manner in which this is being implemented, is going to cause disruption for customers and merchants. Cleartrip is gearing up for at least a 2-3 week disruption, “when people won’t know what this stuff is. Hopefully, after that people will enroll.” ICICI Bank is planning to mandate usage of these additional passwords on July 20th, while the rest are expected to switch between July 20th and August 1st, except American Express. “AmEx already has billing address verification in their API,” he said.

Bhatt added that this also puts Indian online companies at a disadvantage to international ones, because “International companies do not have this extra hoop to jump through. Any (Indian) company that wants to serve an international audience is also at a disadvantage.” This is because international customers will not be able to use sites from Indian merchants unless they have the additional password.

Alternatives & Why Banks Went For Additional Passwords

“Last date we heard, less than 8% of the world is enrolled in any of these programs,” Bhatt said, referring to Verified by Visa and Mastercard Secure. “In the US, merchants are provided with a variety of fraud control measures like billing address verification, date of birth verification; obviously, the banks have this information.” Bhatt said that the biggest processors of transactions online - Amazon and iTunes - do not support the additional password.

“There could be other ways, but the banks have chosen to go with the method that involved the least amount of work for them. The existing gateways and the APIs don’t process these fields right now, so they will have to reverse integrate with wherever that information sits in their system to ensure that that an additional field is provided to the gateways.”

Impact On WAP?

Bhatt wonders how this will work on WAP, because with this additional layer of security involves a redirection to the bank sites: Do mobile browsers support those redirects?

Does It Really Reduce The Risk Of Fraud?

This norm doesn’t stop people using Indian credit cards from purchasing at International websites - so it doesn’t really reduce the risk of fraud. The extra layer of verification is only for Indian merchants, and stolen cards can be used to purchase internationally.

What is the "Verified by VISA"/"MasterCard SecureCode" password?

This is the password that your credit card issuing Bank provides. For example - ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Citibank, HSBC Bank, Axis Bank, SBI etc. This password is the additional layer of security for all your online transactions.

How it Works?


Benefits of "Verified by VISA"/"MasterCard SecureCode" password

Even if you lose / misplace your credit card it cannot be misused online as the password is not present on the card.

Note : Keep your password safe. Do not share your password with anyone.

Our Take: Instead of making things easier for those looking to transact online, things have only become tougher. I initially learned about this new requirement because I was unable to book a flight ticket via an airlines website last month, and eventually went back to Cleartrip to book. This looks like a disaster-in-waiting for the e-commerce and e-ticketing business in India.

Banks haven’t done anything so far to inform customers about having to register for Mastercard Secure or Verified by Visa, and it’s up to merchants to inform customers. Ticketing, clearly the most popular of e-commerce services, will be impacted most. Looks like cash-cards, as a mode of payment, will benefit most from this; at least on IRCTC, their success rate is substantially higher than those of credit cards. Maybe, with a decline in credit card transactions online, banks will start informing customers. Unless that happens, the merchants will struggle.

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Mobile Broadband

Mobile broadband is the name used to describe various types of wireless high-speed internet access through a portable modem, telephone or other device. Various network standards may be used, such as GPRS, 3G, WiMAX, LTE UMTS/HSPA, EV-DO and some portable satellite-based systems.

Devices that provide mobile broadband include: PC data cards, USB modems, USB sticks, phones with data modems and portable devices with built-in support for Mobile Broadband (like notebooks, netbooks and Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs)). Notebooks with built-in Mobile Broadband Modules are offered by all leading laptop manufacturers in Europe and Asia including: Dell, Lenovo (previously IBM), HP, Fujitsu, Toshiba and Acer.

A group of telecommunication manufacturers, mobile phone producers, chipset manufacturers and notebook manufacturers have joined forces to push built-in support for Mobile Broadband technology on notebook computers. The players have established a service mark to identify devices that deliver Mobile Broadband.

The cheapest and best broadband package from Internet Service Providers recently become the latest issue on TV and newspaper meanwhile they (ISP) claim to provide the best broadband package. There a number of different criteria you should consider before signing up with a new broadband provider. Broadband-Expert.co.uk gives comparisons, ratings and reviews of broadband/mobile broadband deals and packages from major Internet providers in the UK, by price, speed, download limits and features.

Selecting a Mobile Broadband Service

‘Broadband’, the term stirred up feelings of nausea because I really was never satisfied with the service providers and the schemes they doled out. It is not only the money that I had to pay up, but also the service that never matched my expectations. It was only after I stumbled on the site www.broadband-expert.co.uk that I found my ideal broadband service.

Mobile professionals and corporate executives are the classic users of Mobile Broadband services. The services allow users to make every moment count by providing internet access just about everywhere. But the realm is no longer the exclusive purview of high powered business types. It’s now just as common for students and parents managing busy schedules to take advantage of the efficiencies of mobile internet service.

The emphasis as also shifted in the types of devices used. Laptop computers have always been a major endpoints for the Mobile Broadband experience but more and more, smartphones are supplementing them or, for many user, replacing them altogether. On the other hand, the once common PDA that isn’t also a phone has become all but extinct.

Exactly what constitutes Mobile Broadband has also evolved. We’re not willing to refer to just any mobile internet connection as Mobile Broadband. Today, if it doesn’t meet the criteria for being 3G (3rd Generation) we have a hard time accepting it as broadband. That means that the GPRS and EDGE networks of the recent past and that still exist, don’t qualify without major upgrades.

For wireless providers that use the GSM network system – in the U.S., that’s AT&T and T-Mobile – if it can’t be designated 3G, it isn’t broadband. That’s why T-Mobile’s coverage is rated so much lower than AT&T’s. They got a late start in transforming to 3G and, though improving, continue to lag far behind. The other U.S. carriers which use the CDMA network must comply with EVDO standards to meet the broadband criteria. EVDO 1XRTT as employed by U.S. Cellular just barely makes the cut. The next step is EVDO Rev 0 which is still used on portions of Sprint’s network but they’re upgrading to the faster EVDO Rev A. Verizon Wireless has already upgraded its entire network to EVDO Rev A.

Of course, to take advantage of network upgrades, the mobile device you choose must also be capable of supporting the faster speeds. All of the network cards currently offered by the rated carriers support 3G and EVDO Rev A. Not so for all smartphones so make sure the one you choose meets the broadband criteria.

The 5GB Limit

Mobile Broadband carriers use to advertise unlimited internet access. That was simply false and they got in a lot of trouble for doing saying it. The limit is, and has been, 5GB (gigabytes) of date per month. If you exceed that ceiling, the charges are absolutely unconscionable. Among the leading carriers AT&T is the most expensive and Sprint is the least onerous. As such, for most people, Mobile Broadband services are not a substitute for your standard cable or DSL internet access.

Other typical limitations of Mobile Broadband is that they restrict or limit large data exchanges, such as streaming audio or video, P2P file sharing, multiple JPEG uploads, VoIP and automated feeds. Verizon Wireless is the exception in this regard in that they do permit use of VoIP telephone and uploading, downloading and streaming of audio, video and games

Wi-Fi Hotspots

Mobile broadband services allow users to take advantage of the ever increasing number of Wi-Fi hotspots for even faster data transmission speeds. All of the mobile broadband cards offered by carriers in the U.S. support Wi-Fi connection as do a large number of smartphones. In addition to significantly faster speeds, using Wi-Fi doesn’t cut into the 5GB monthly limit so can save a tremendous amount of money. In addition to the more traditional sorts of Wi-Fi hotspots like airports, hotels and coffee shops, home and business wireless networks also allow for Wi-Fi connection.

What to Look for in a Mobile Broadband Service

Almost all mobile broadband services charge about the same monthly rate, so coverage is usually the deciding factor on which service is best to suit your needs. Many also require that you have a voice plan with them as well, so that may also determine which service you select.

In terms of coverage, look for a service that provides high quality connections where you need them most, whether that is in the city you live in or the cities you travel to often. It is also helpful if the service provides Wi–Fi access in convenient locations should you need a fast connection.

Theseare the criteria TopTenREVIEWS used to evaluate Mobile Broadband Services.

• Price/Fees - We considered the monthly rate for carriers’ 5GB broadband access for plans and paid particular attention for the potentially bank breaking overage fees. We also looked at service for smartphones and other fees that a customer is likely to encounter such as activation fees, the cost of network cards, and Early Termination Fees in the event that a contract must be cancelled.
• Network Speed - We compared the typical download and upload data transfer rates that a customer can expect in real world conditions. Studies have been conducted with varying results. Our aim is to make sense of the myriad data.
• Data Network Reliability - Simply put, if a data network isn’t available when you need it, none of its other features matter very much. We compare the overall reliability of the various providers.
• Coverage - Availability of Mobile Broadband has expanded tremendously. In general, population centers have the best coverage followed by major thoroughfares, i.e. Interstate Highways. Penetration into more rural areas has improved but lags behind to some extent.
• Help/Support - Providers should support several contact methods including by telephone and email. They should also post helpful information online like FAQs, tutorials, device manuals and other supportive documentation. Most importantly, when you need to contact them, their representatives must be knowledgeable and responsive to your needs.

New research by Broadband Expert has revealed that broadband speed slow down to nearly half their average speed between 7pm and 9pm in the evening. The research based on over 72,000 speed tests carried from January to May 2008 has revealed that the average broadband speed slows down to 2.5Mb between 7pm and 9pm. By comparison the fastest speeds of 4.2Mbs are between 2am and 3am in the morning when least people are online. Speeds varied massively by provider and the type of technology used. Virgins’ Cable broadband service recorded a low of 5.1Mbs between 7pm and 8pm and a high of 9.1Mbs between 2am and 3am. By comparison ADSL broadband providers, slowed to an average of 1.96Mbs from 7pm to 9pm compared to a high of 2.7Mbs between 2am to 3am.

For more info about Mobile Broadband : http://www.broadband-expert.co.uk/mobile-broadband/

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Creating a Website using WebSite Builder

Some people find it difficult to build your own website, but with WebStudio Website builder it has never been easier to make a website of your very own. Ease of use is imperative for most when dealing with their online presence. Whether for business or personal use, the stress it can take to build a website, make the process unappealing.

WebStudio Website Builder by WebStudio makes the process as easy as point and click. Want to build a web store? No problem, just click and add their integrated ecommerce shopping cart and your website is now ready for business. Easily set up your catalog, shipping calculator, inventory, and everything else you need to start selling online.

If you were to visit the NetIdNow site to create a website, you’ll notice that you only need to follow just two steps. Its simple. The first step is to choose a design. The second is to sign up for a no risk trial that will give you some time to see if its right for you or if it’ll work for your business.

It should be a top priority to choose a website builder that is user friendly as it is my preference to promote such a builder. That way you’ll be able get through the site administration with ease. So if you’re in need of an online store or just a regular website, you can specify that on the sign up page.

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Tech Quark ! New Design is Now Live !

Techquark.com has just been hit with a new design and some brand new features. The new design is white background based and gives more room to the posts contents. The advertisements are properly arranged and align so that they don't hinder the reading experience. The post pages also have a new 'sharing is sexy' option to bookmark posts.

I have also introduced Google Friend Connect feature where you can follow my blog. You can find it at bottom of the site. Features like post summaries, subscribe via email, menu bars, top labels, go to top link, blog achieve and other many features have defined a presence in this new rocking design. The new design loads fast and looks good :)

Please notify us of any bugs or improvements.

Full Test of New Design

No.	Tested Criteria	Point	Pass	Fail
1	Template Support Available	2
2	Compatible with IE7	1
3	Compatible with Firefox	1
4	Floating Content within post area	1
5	Auto adjustment within the post area	1
6	Proper Image Alignment	1
7	Proper Display of Commenting System	1
8	Proper Display of Links and Quick Editing	1
9	Proper Display of Blog Archive and Followers Gadget	1
	Total	10 pts	10 pts
	Design Score	100%

Please pour in your feedback on what you think of the new Tech Quark ! and if it was something better we could have done – We’d love to know.

Thank You for your efforts, inputs and patience.

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‘Google Chrome Operating System’ Announced

Google announced that it is getting into the operating system business with Google Chrome Operating System. The new OS is described as Google's attempt to "re-think" what operating systems should be.

Google Chrome OS will be an open source, lightweight operating system that is initially targeted at netbooks.

Although they have very different backgrounds and histories, Google and Microsoft are in many ways very similar – they both work within similar fields, they are both massive companies and they both have a massive lead over their competitors with their principle product. However Google are hoping to tip the scales with their attempt to challenge Microsoft’s O/S domination.

After the ‘success’ of Google Chrome which now boasts around 30 million users their new venture has been imaginatively labelled the Google Chrome Operating System and will, according to Google, make you “re-think what operating systems should be”.

Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We're designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds. The user interface is minimal to stay out of your way, and most of the user experience takes place on the web. And as we did for the Google Chrome browser, we are going back to the basics and completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don't have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work.

The new OS will run on both x86 and ARM chips. The first netbooks will begin shipping with the OS in the second half of 2010. In the long term, Google does expect that Chrome OS will work anywhere from small netbooks to full size desktop machines.

While Microsoft has the most to lose from such direct competition from Google, Apple will also be affected by Google's move into this space. In fact, Google's ultimate goal seems to be the same target market as Apple's, and is specifically shooting for ease of use and accessibility.


Below are some highlights of Google Chrome Operating System :-

• Open source – Like many of the Unix-based OS, it offers accessibility to its source code
• Lightweight – Less complicated, fast and easy to use
• Runs on x86 Computer Architecture – Meaning it runs on the same PC you are running Windows, Mac, Linux, etc, as well
• Secure – The security architecture of the OS was completely redesigned so that it’s virus, malware and security update free

The operating system is expected to run on netbooks shipping in 2010. Google already has Android for mobile phones, so the move to PC-based system is an obvious direct challenge to Microsoft. With the exception of Bing, over the last several years, Microsoft has come across as a bumbling, clumsy organization trying to preserve a computing world that no longer exists. Consider Live. Or Mesh. Both initiatives were an attempt to innovate, but Microsoft is too tied to existing revenue models to be creative. Google, on the other hand, is well ahead in its ability to conceive a new world of computing and interaction. The announcement of Wave is a great example - a product that attempts to re-write interaction/collaboration based on today’s technologies, not those created decades ago. Google is exploring new territory. Microsoft is trying to defend what it has.

Of course, Google is also entering new territory with the OS initiative. Microsoft has decades of experience and established relationships with businesses and hardware manufacturers. The Microsoft ecosystem is strong and entrenched. Success is far from assured for Google. Writing an OS for a netbook is a much simpler task than writing an OS that works on a broad range of PCs in numerous complex organizational settings.

The Web will be a central part of the new operating system, and demonstrates the importance of supplying a robust browser experience. Google's work on the Chrome browser will carry over into the new OS.

The software architecture is simple -- Google Chrome running within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel. For application developers, the web is the platform. All web-based applications will automatically work and new applications can be written using your favorite web technologies. And of course, these apps will run not only on Google Chrome OS, but on any standards-based browser on Windows, Mac and Linux thereby giving developers the largest user base of any platform.

Don’t worry about those desktop apps you think you need. Office? Meh. You’ve got Zoho and Google Apps. You won’t miss office. Chrome plus Gears plus Google Wave plus HTML 5 and web platforms like Flash and Silverlight all combine into a single wonderful computing device. The Internet Is Everything. All the OS has to do is boot the damn computer, get me to a browser as fast as possible and then stay the hell out of the way.

Chrome will do just that. And it will be free, unlike Windows. Forget the netbooks, which Google is targeting initally. We’ll see PCs of all types being sold by the major manufacturers as soon as Google gets this out of beta next year. Microsoft has a very serious competitive threat to the core of their revenues. Every Chrome computer bought won’t have Windows and won’t have Office. That must send chills down the spine of the guys up in Redmond. But hey, at least they can now point to Google when the antitrust guys come knocking. Someone other than them are bundling the operating system and browser into one neat package.

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Test Read and Write Speed of USB Flash Drives

USBDeview is a small utility that lists all USB devices that currently connected to your computer, as well as all USB devices that you previously used. For each USB device, extended information is displayed are : Device name/description, device type, serial number (for mass storage devices), the date/time that device was added, VendorID, and ProductID.

Using USBDeview

USBDeview doesn't require any installation process or additional DLL files. Just copy the executable file (USBDeview.exe) to any folder you like, and run it. The main window of USBDeview displays all USB devices installed on your system. You can select one or more items, and then disconnect (unplug) them , uninstall them, or just save the information into text/xml/html file.

USBDeview Columns Description

• Device Name: Specifies the device name. For some device, this column may display meaningless name, like "USB Device". If the device name is meaningless, try to look at the Description column.
• Device Description: The description of the device.
• Device Type: The device type, according to USB class code.
  
• Connected: Specifies whether the device is currently connected to your computer. If the device is connected, you can use the 'Disconnect Selected Devices' option (F9) to disconnect the device.
• Safe To Unplug: Specifies whether it's safe to unplug the device from the USB plug without disconnecting it first. If the value of this column is false, and you want to unplug this device, you must first disconnect this device by using the 'Disconnect Selected Devices' option (F9) of USBDeview utility, or by using the 'Unplug or Eject Hardware' utility of Windows operating system.
• Drive Letter: Specifies the drive letter of the USB device. This column is only relevant to USB flash memory devices and to USB CD/DVD drives. Be aware that USBDeview cannot detect drive letters of USB hard-disks.
• Serial Number: Specifies the serial number of the device. This column is only relevant to mass storage devices (flash memory devices, CD/DVD drives, and USB hard-disks).
• Created Date: Specifies the date/time that the device was installed. In most cases, this date/time value represents the time that you first plugged the device to the USB port. However, be aware that in some circumstances this value may be wrong.
• Last Plug/Unplug Date: Specifies the last time that you plugged/unplugged the device. This date value is lost when you restart the computer.
• VendorID/ProductID: Specifies the VendorID and ProductID of the device.
  
• USB Class/Subclass/Protocol: Specifies the Class/Subclass/Protocol of the device according to USB specifications.
• Hub/Port: Specifies the hub number and port number that the device was plugged into. This value is empty for mass storage devices.

USBDeview Icons Legend

	The device is not connected.
	The device is connected. It's safe to physically unplug the device without disconnecting it.
	The device is connected. You must disconnect the device from USBDeview or from Windows "Safely Remove Hardware" option before you physically unplug it.
	The device is disabled.

Test Speed

To test the speed of your USB flash drive, plug the drive into your computer, and run USBDeview. Right click on the USB flash drive device listed in USBDeview and select SpeedTest. Alternative you can also use the hotkey Ctrl+T. When you see the SpeedTest window, click the Start Test button to start the speed test.


USBDeview will start writing a large file into the USB flash drive, and then reading back the same file to getting the read speed. Do take note that you need at least 100 MB of free disk space in order to successfully make this speed test. After a few seconds you should get the read and write speed in Megabyte per second.

Publishing Your Speed Test Result

If you want to share your speed test results, so other people that want to purchase a USB flash drive will be able to easily compare the speed of different flash drives, you can use the 'Publish Test Result' option to do that.

When you successfully finish a speed test, the 'Publish Test Result' button is automatically enabled. Clicking this button opens a new window that displays all the data that will be sent to http://usbspeed.nirsoft.net Web site, and ask you the confirm the speed test publishing. Be aware that only the data displayed in this window is transmitted to http://usbspeed.nirsoft.net Web site. USBDeview doesn't send the serial number of your USB device or any other information that may violate your privacy.

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