OpenSource success: Firefox approaching 1 billion downloads

Firefox must qualify as the most successful open-source development project, not because it is nearing 1 billion downloads this weekend, but because the numbers of people it has affected.

And there is a thriving community of Firefox add on developers that help add lots of value to the browser. This is an excellent achievement.

But it’s not without potential problems. There are a lot more competitors to Firefox these days. Companies that didn’t offer a browser a few years back do today (Google, Apple.)

Part of the reason is that there is money to be made in browsers, specifically in the search bar. Mozilla, the organization behind Firefox receives more than 85 per cent of its revenues from Google. Total revenues in 2006 were $66.8 million.

Apple also gets money from Google for featuring it in its search box. It has been whispered that GOOG effectively underwrites the Mac OSX development.

It’s no wonder that Google has created its own browser and is now working on its own operating system — why underwrite these type of key product development at organizations you don’t control!?

Here is more info on the one billion downloads which could be reached this weekend: http://www.spreadfirefox.com/news_events

For More stories like this visit:http://blogs.zdnet.com/Foremski/?p=648

The New MySpace Mail:Big-Time Email Competitor

We’ve been covering the new web email project MySpace has been working on in stealth mode for the past several month. Now it’s ready to begin a quiet rollout today, in beta, for users around the globe.


Here’s why this matters: Right off the bat, MySpace Mail with a new interface is a major player in the e-mail space based on sheer size alone. With nearly 130 million global users, it will enter the field as the 4th largest email provider in the world, and 2nd largest in the U.S. (see chart). And it’s being built on top of the MySpace Messaging service that plenty of people are already using a lot — it accounts for some 20% of MySpace’s site traffic, we’re told.

Here’s what else is nice: Because MySpace has had so-called vanity URLs since its inception (unlike Facebook, which just rolled out the feature), you can use those as your email address with the new MySpace Mail. So for a page that resides at myspace.com/techcrunch, the email would be techcrunch@myspace.com, for example. And, if you don’t like the vanity URL you currently have, MySpace is giving you the opportunity to change it to something else (assuming it’s available). This would also change your vanity URL for your profile.

More of MySpace Mail story :http://www.techcrunch.com/

Apple Silences Google Voice On the iPhone

First it was just apps that gave users access to Google Voice features, but now it seems as though even an official app from Google, who have traditionally been very close with Apple, will not (for now) see the light of day. GV Mobile and Voice Central, two apps that allowed Google Voice users to access the service on their iPhone have been pulled from the App Store for duplicating functionality, and an official Google Voice app won’t see release at all for the same reason.

According to a Google spokesperson speaking to TechCrunch, Apple received the app submission from the internet search giant six weeks ago, and “did not approve the Google Voice application.” Apple has bandied about the feature duplication defense before, when they rejected Podcaster prior to releasing their own integrated podcast direct search and download section to the iPhone’s iTunes store.

Unless Apple somehow plans to introduce their own built-in Google Voice support in the near future, a scenario which I find highly unlikely, then this particular use of the feature duplication line is completely ridiculous. Google Voice isn’t actually duplicating anything, it’s only reducing AT&T’s ability to make money, which suggests that the wireless provider has much more control over Apple and their approval process than I previously suspected.

Read more of this story at : http://www.theappleblog.com

Apple's New Tablet Set to launch in 2010

A report from Appleinsider has turned the rumor to accepted truth. Apple is coming with a new tablet for your sheer pleasure in 2010. Apple has already finalized the design of the tablet and that Steve Jobs is already quite happy with the product.

According to the report, the device features a 10-inch touchscreen, with 3G data and a custom ARM processor instead of the previously considered Intel Atom processor. The device will be positioned in that empty spot between smartphone and laptop in Apple's product line.

The device is expected to retail for somewhere between the cost of a high-end iPhone and Apple's most affordable Mac notebook.

But the analysts believe that the 10 inch touch-sensitive screen, could disrupt the laptop market as much as the iPhone turned the mobile phone industry on its head when it was launched two years ago.

Bing : The New Face for Yahoo Search

A more formidable rival is on the way for Google. Yahoo is close to making Microsoft’s Bing its search provider. The deal, which would make Yahoo a more credible competitor to Google, is likely to be announced this week, and seems likely to be based on a revenue sharing rather than big guaranteed revenues and upfront cash.

AdAge has reported that consolidation of both search engines would give Microsoft roughly 30 percent share of the online search market. The major expectation from such deal was to get huge payment obligations from Microsoft which in a bid to surpass Google’s online supremacy would pay any price.

The deal would be good for users as more furious competition in search space will see more ground breaking technology innovation in future as Yahoo alone was unable to bring any such innovation on the ground. The deal would also provide relief to Microsoft which is certainly leaving no stone unturned to Stop Google’s growing dominance and now assault on its dominant businesses.

According to the company's report: “Yahoo would be allowed to sell search ads on Bing.com as well as its own site, giving it more search inventory to sell and making it a bigger player in the search sales front. It would also immediately be able to save millions by not having to maintain its own search infrastructure. The latest terms of the deal underscore Microsoft’s devotion to developing and owning technology vs. selling media.”

Earlier, Microsoft had an 8.4 percent share of the U.S. search market in June, with Yahoo grabbing 19.6 percent. Based on those numbers, a combined Bing/Yahoo engine would claim 28 percent of the market, which means MS 28 percent vs. Google’s 65 percent — making the consolidated search platform a legitimate competitor.

Google Android 2.0 “Donut,” : Entrancing Treat for Developers

Google Presents a delectable treat for the Google Android developers. Google has released Android OS 2.0 Donut for the adventurous developer community.

Donut, with lots of sweetness inside, offers a whole new world of improvement that should give Apple iPhone developers a run for their money.

This new improved version, includes text-to-speech, gesture support, universal search and a 5-in-1 toggle switch for home screen use that can help manage Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity among other user set options.

The users will find a lot of new features in the improved “Donut”, like Universal Search with an automated back-ups. The developers are already excited about the huge amount of performance that should hopefully see the platform running more smoothly even on existing hardware.

More technical issues have been tweaked, too, with WPA Enterprise encryption support together with VPN functionality.

A-1 developers are best in industry to offer best and cost effective iPhone Apps developlment. So visit A1technology.com to get the best services.Or Visit www.androidsoftwareprogramming.com

Solar Eclipse : A Celestial Show that Turned Day into Night

The sun spread its wings on Wednesday only to disappear again and offered a celestial show that inspired awe and fear in millions across Asia.

The total solar eclipse which occurred on July 22, 2009 was the longest maximum duration of the 21st century, since July 11, 1991, when a total eclipse lasting six minutes and 53 seconds was visible from Hawaii to South America. Solar eclipse happens when the moon passes between the sun and the earth so that the sun is partially or fully covered. As a result the sun’s bright face is replaced by the moon’s dark disk. The moon casts shadow to the sun’s light as viewed from the Earth. It may occur two up to five times a year. It is one of nature’s awe inspiring spectacles.

A partial eclipse was seen within the broad path of the Moon's penumbra, including most of Southeast Asia (all of India and China) and north-eastern Oceania. The total eclipse was visible from a narrow corridor through northern Maldives, northern India, eastern Nepal, northern Bangladesh, Bhutan, northern Philippines, the northern tip of Myanmar, central China and the Pacific Ocean, including the Ryukyu Islands, Marshall Islands and Kiribati.

The skies darkened first in India just after dawn, then a wide swath of Asia was blackened as the eclipse moved eastward over southern Japan and then off into the Pacific Ocean. The moon's shadow blotted out Taiwan and a chunk of southeastern, China as seen from space. In some areas, the eclipse lasted as long as six minutes and 39 seconds. The longest solar eclipse will not be surpassed until June 13, 2132, according to NASA .

Revelers launched fireworks and danced in Shanghai. And in India, a woman was crushed to death on the banks of the Ganges River for a glimpse, where about 2,500 people had gathered, said police spokesman Surendra Srivastava. He said it was not clear how the stampede started. as thousands crowded

“Such sights are relatively rare, since the moon's shadow is visible only during a solar eclipse,” said 24-year-old Yoshita Jain. The next opportunity to see the full shadow will come on July 11, 2010, when a total solar eclipse will cross the Cook Islands, Easter Island, and the southern tip of South America.

It was indeed quite an important event for scientific experiments. Its long duration provides an opportunity to make very complicated, complex experiments to the scientists. The eclipse is seen as a mixed blessing for millions of Indians. Those who considered it auspicious bathed in holy rivers and ponds for good fortune during the solar blackout.

Google Voice Apps For Android And Blackberry Are Here

Google Voice is now more useful for BlackBerry and Android users. It has released apps for both platforms that provide access to the service’s features. With Google Voice mobile app for Blackberry and Android, users can now make calls and send SMS messages with their Google Voice number directly from their mobile phone. The app is fully integrated with each phone’s contacts, so they can call via Google Voice straight from the address book.

The main function of the apps is to make it easier to use your Google Voice phone number by automatically routing outbound calls through Google and to the recipient. Google Voice users get a phone number that should be the only number that they give out to people.

You route calls to mobile, home and other phones based on who’s calling and when. But there’s always been a nagging problem with the service - when you call out from your phones, people don’t see your Google Voice number on caller ID. They just see whatever phone number you are calling from. That means your friends have to store another phone number for you, or they don’t know who’s calling.

The Apps also allow users to access the core features of Google Voice. Listen to/read voice-mails and text messages (all voice-mails are automatically transcribed as well), access call history, send SMS and place international calls at low rates.

If you use more than one mobile, Google voice enables you to use one number for all of them, along with the ability to make outgoing text messages and calls, and international rates that start from US2c per minute.

Google Voice now seamless integrates with your phone’s address book, and when you call or text someone they see your Google Voice number rather than your mobile number.

You can also view your call history and, via the transcription feature, read your voice-mail – yes you read that right.

Google engineering manager David Singleton and product manager Marcus Foster assured that they were working on an iPhone app as well, and said it’s possible to use many Google Voice features via the mobile website.

Unsubscribing made easy

We believe you should only get the mail you want to get. Some of you already use the "Report Spam" button on all kinds of unwanted email, and for that we're very thankful: the more spam you mark, the better our system gets at weeding out junk mail.

Unsubscribing from mailing lists and newsletters you subscribed to a while back but no longer want to receive should be just as easy. Searching through individual messages for little unsubscribe links is too big a pain —you should be able to unsubscribe with a single click.



So we just launched something that makes this all work better, both for Gmail users and big email senders. Now, when you report spam on a legitimate newsletter or mailing list, we'll help you unsubscribe. After clicking report spam, you'll see a little dialog like this

Official Gmail Blog: Unsubscribing made easy

Palm webOS 1.1 enhances support for enterprise -- and beyond

Pre” and “business” just got a lot friendlier! Today we released Palm webOS 1.1, which brings several additions to our support for Exchange ActiveSync (EAS), including remote wipe, PIN/password requirements, inactivity timeout, improved certificate handling, and more. You can find more details about how Palm webOS fits into your business environment here.

In addition to these treats for business users, Version 1.1 also includes a few other goodies for everyone -- like support for emoticons in the messaging app, and the ability to set “person reminders” in the contacts app (next time you get a message or phone call from that person, a message pops up showing you a reminder to ask them about their vacation in Maui -- cool, huh?). Oh, and one more thing: Palm webOS 1.1 re-enables Palm media sync. That’s right -- you once again can have seamless access to your music, photos and videos from the current version of iTunes (8.2.1).

For a list of the new features of Palm webOS 1.1,take a look at the release notes at www.palm.com/webos-pre-sprint-en.

Via:http://blog.palm.com/palm/2009/07/palm-webos-11-enhances-support-for-enterprise-and-beyond.html

Lots of layers in Google Maps for mobile 3.2

Many of the features in Google Maps involve adding layers of information to your map: the 'More' button (like Wikipedia and Transit), Traffic, My Maps and search layers (little red dots onyour map).

We're now adding lots of this same functionality to your mobile phone. With Google Maps for mobile 3.2 for Symbian S60 & Windows Mobile phones (and soon on other platforms too!) you can now access and interact with this content by tapping "Layers" in your main menu.

Not only are search results more useful but it's now easier to search in the new version as well. Under Search, you'll find a link to browse popular categories, which helped us avoid the pain of typing on a mobile whilst out on the road (only available in the US and China for the time being).


For more information about Google Maps for mobile 3.2 Google LatLong: Lots of layers in Google Maps for mobile 3.2

New controls in Silverlight 3

Silverlight 3 runtime and SDK introduce many new controls. Some of these controls were previously released as part of the Silverlight Toolkit and some are completely new. Regardless of their origins, since they are now part of the Silverlight 3 product, these controls have full reference documentation that includes art, code examples and links to live samples. These controls enable scenarios such as auto-completion for a textbox, the display of hierarchical data, navigation within pages of a Silverlight application and much more. Here's a list of new controls and dialogs:

AutoComplete Box

ChildWindow

DataPager

Description Viewer

Frame

HeaderedItems Control

Label

Page

SaveFileDialog

TreeView

Validation Summary

Virtualizing Stack Panel

For more about silverlight SDK http://blogs.msdn.com/silverlight_sdk/

Blackberry Desktop software for Mac – Coming Soon

Blackberry Desktop software coming to your Mac in September. BlackBerry Desktop Software for Mac will be available as a free download from BlackBerry.com. It allows you to do pretty much everything you can do using the Desktop Software for Windows package currently available.

The Mac desktop software will finally let you sync your iTunes playlists, calendars, contacts, notes, and tasks with your mobile device. In addition, you can install new software packages, if you’d rather not use App World to download them to your device directly. You can also add and remove applications, update your device as soon as new software is made available, backup and restore data from your device, and have the option to manage multiple devices.

In addition to a brief overview of the features of the new Desktop Software for Mac, Andrey at Inside Blackberry (the company’s official blog) also posted screenshots of the application in action. It looks a lot like their official Media Sync solution for Mac, but with a lot more options, as you’d expect from a program that does so much more. And it’s nice to see that RIM is paying attention to the desires of its users, as Apple-loving BlackBerry users have been clamoring for just such a program for years.

The new software will debut in September. it’s nothing revolutionary, but for Mac addicts who need their BlackBerry fix, it’s a welcome change to no longer be considered second-class BlackBerry users.

A-1 developers are best in industry to offer best and cost effective Blackberry Apps developlment. So visit A1technology.com to get the best services.

Explore the moon in Google Earth

Ever since I was a young girl, it has been a dream of mine to travel into space. In September of 2006, I was fortunate enough to make that dream a reality — I took off from the launch pad in Baikonur bound for the International Space Station and became the world's first private female space tourist. Since then, it's been my mission to help as many people as possible think ambitiously about ways to push the boundaries of exploration, both here on Earth and beyond. As a trustee of the X PRIZE Foundation, and the sponsor of the Ansari X PRIZE, I support Google's goal of opening up space through projects like the Google Lunar X PRIZE, which serve to educate the public about the global benefits of space exploration.

That's why I'm so excited about the release of Moon in Google Earth, which is launching today at the Newseum in Washington D.C. This tool will make it easier for millions of people to learn about space, our moon and some of the most significant and dazzling discoveries humanity has accomplished together.

Official Google Blog: Explore the moon in Google Earth

Palm pre restrained from itunes access

Recently apple has updated, its itunes software version itune 8.2.1,that will revoke Palm pre smartphone users to access and sync the updated iTunes.

At time of Palm pre's launching,Palm said that ,iTunes is accessible to Palm users and they will be able to download free music, photos and videos via iTunes.Now Pre owners can no longer use Apple's iTunes to sync their smartphones.Pre will not be able to act much like an iPhone or iPod.

The new update policy would seriously hurt pre sales, and help apple to retain its monopoly in this silver lining smartphone market. It will also defend apple from smartphone market competitors.With this move it looks ,Apple would be able to generate higher sales and profits .

Newer versions of iTunes may no longer provide syncing functionality ,but for now older version should work fine for Pre owners by avoiding updates to this release.

Also if pre users want to use iTunes,than can also look at other alternatives like Salling Media Sync.

Replenish Your Senses with iFruity

iPhone has created a perfect blend of entertainment and fun for its users. Gear up for a new fruit smoothie machine in shape of iPhone. Like most kids, everyone loves the sound of milk splashes, ice being crushed in a blender. iPhone brings in an app for your sheer replenishment in the sultry afternoons.

Now you can make and taste your favorite smoothie on your iPhone. At the drop of a few names, your mind will instantly be transported to the land of mouth-watering-sugary-treats. You are just required to make a quick selection of one of juicy flavours, Strawberry, Blueberry, Banana and Orange.



Your iphone acts like a perfect blender with milk and crushed ice in it. You can even enjoy the sound like ka-plunk, ka-plunk, ka-plunk while pouring the luscious ingredients. Drop some slice of orange or banana or some strawberries or blueberries, according to your taste. Rock on the music of blender roaring and soak your spirits while watching the rainbow changing colors in your iphone.

A fascinating app loaded with lots of fun and thrill, ifruity is here to soothe you in the hot summers. You can make a smoothie in just few simple steps :-

1)Select “Ingredients” selection screen, after opening the app.

2)Select your favorite flavor from Strawberry, Blueberry, Banana or Orange and hit“Make Smoothie”.

3)Replenish your senses while watching the ingredients blending on your iphone.

4) When your Smoothie is done, select“OK” and you are “Ready to Drink” the heavenly cup of smoothie.

5)Tilt your glass to drink the Smoothie until your glass is empty, but don’t tilt too far or you’ll get the “Spill” screen.

6)When you’re done, select “Yes, Please” to make another Smoothie or select “No, Thanks” to exit iFruity.

Don't forget to carry your blender...oops iPhone loaded with fun while going out with your friends...!!!

A-1 developers are best in industry to offer best and cost effective iPhone Apps developlment. So visit A1technology.com to get the best services.Or Visit iphoneappstore.us

Palm just released the WEBOS SDK called Mojo SDK

We just got an early peek at the Palm OS Webos which just got released.

As an applicant for the Palm webOS Mojo SDK early access program, we wanted you to be among the first to know that the Mojo SDK is now publicly available. This is a very exciting and important stage for Palm webOS development, and we want you to be part of it. We’re opening the doors to the SDK by launching a new developer portal at http://developer.palm.com called webOSdev, where you can download the SDK and accompanying documentation, and join the public webOS community forums.

It will be interesting to see how the battle of the Smartphone shapes up.

Will Android 2.0 Be Released Later This Summer?

We hate to start the waiting game so soon, especially since we're just comfortable and enjoying Cupcake now, but the AndroidGuys have reason to believe that Android 2.0 Donut will be released later this Summer. The developers of The Weather Channel Android application have admitted that the next update to their application, slated for late summer, will be built for Android 2.0.

This could mean a few things: The Weather Channel could be jumping the gun with an Android 2.0-ready update or Android 2.0 will be released by the time The Weather Channel update is available. Obviously, we're pulling for the latter. In the meantime, we wouldn't start any Donut-related movements, after seeing T-Mobile bungle the Cupcake release, it could be months before T-Mobile even acknowledges Donut on the roadmap.


Source:http://www.androidcentral.com/

Palm WebOS Mojo SDK Now Available to All

Palm's SDK is available to all..!! Palm has recently released the Palm Pre Mojo SDK for developing for the webOS. You can now get the SDK and Palm Pre emulator for yourself and start coding up apps. Coding for webOS is very easy. If you are an expert in HTML and Javascript. You can know how to code for webOS.

With the launch of the SDK, Palm has also launched the WebOS Developer Portal, and the Pre Virtual Device Lab. In the portal, developers can acquire the SDK, read reference guides, help docs, and associated FAQs, or post in the developer forums and blogs. With the Virtual Device Lab, developers can load their app onto a virtual Pre for remote testing.

One of the major things that makes the SDK so great is the fact that it uses common programming language that most programmers are familiar with. HTML and JavaScript are pretty basic stuff and with a little practice and help from the API it wouldn’t be too hard for web programmers to get used to the Palm Pre programming environment.

The initial response to Palm webOS apps from both developers and customers has been enthusiastic. In the initial beta stage, over 1.8 million apps were downloaded from the beta App Catalog. Palm says thousands of developers participated in the Mojo SDK early access program since it began in early April.

There’s also a opportunity for Palm to better manage the type of content available. For example, will Palm filter submissions so that their catalogue doesn’t fill up with 30 different shades of iFart? Some sort of quality threshold would be an ideal way to distinguish the App Catalogue, but that would potentially hurt Palm’s profits - apps that appeal to the lowest common denominator can also sell very well. How brave will Palm be in the months to come?

Microsoft to Open Retail Stores This Fall

Well, this is going to be fun! Microsoft, after dominating the operating system market, office software, is all set to rule the retail store front now. Microsoft, who hired former Wal-Mart exec David Porter to be its corporate vice president of retail stores back in February, has just confirmed that stores are, indeed, on the way -- and soon. COO Kevin Turner, confirmed the plans at the Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans yesterday, saying they're due to open this fall - just in time for the Windows 7 October 22 launch time frame.

Many of the Microsoft stores will open up right near Apple stores to compete with the popular Apple retail chains. Microsoft is slow to get into the market of having its own retail chain, which will sell all of their own products, much like Sony and Apple currently do.

Microsoft will soon set its foothold in the retail industry by opening up stores to sell their wide range of products, including both software and hardware, games and more. You can expect the entire range of Microsoft products from Windows OS, Office products to games, game consoles, computer devices, music devices and more in store. They have been manufacturing all kind of products, so it makes more sense for them to have their own retail units. This makes sense since they could achieve their ultimate objective of garnering more sales and profits in their own stores, than they would in a third party store, who have their own margins, thus making the final profits a bit lower.

The retail chains will be able to directly assist customers with their Microsoft purchases, rather than having large retail chains like Bestbuy sell Microsoft products.

Google Voice mobile app for Blackberry and Android

It’s been an exciting few months since we announced Google Voice. The feedback from early users has been terrific, and the requests for invites have been flowing in. We started sending invites a few weeks ago and will keep sending them daily.

At the same time, we continue to improve the service and address your requests and feedback. Among the most requested features are tools to make placing outgoing calls from your Google Voice number easier. So today, we’re pleased to announce a Google Voice mobile app for Blackberry and Android.

Previously, to place a call using Google Voice, you had to dial your own Google Voice number from your cell phone or use the Quick Call button online.

Official Google Blog: Google Voice mobile app for Blackberry and Android

Window Azure pricing

Microsoft is also in the hosting business. Windows Azure has just announced pricing for its services. If you are running on Microsoft Platform this may make sense for you:

Windows Azure:

* Compute = $0.12 / hour
* Storage = $0.15 / GB stored / month
* Storage Transactions = $0.01 / 10K
* Bandwidth = $0.10 in / $0.15 out / GB

SQL Azure:

* Web Edition – Up to 1 GB relational database = $9.99
* Business Edition – Up to 10 GB relational database = $99.99
* Bandwidth = $0.10 in / $0.15 out / GB


.Net Services:

* Messages = $0.15/100K message operations , including Service Bus messages and Access Control tokens
* Bandwidth = $0.10 in / $0.15 out / GB

http://www.microsoft.com/azure/pricing.mspx

WSJ Article - Developers lost in a sea of Apps

WSJ has an article today on AppStores and the challenge that developers face in promoting their apps in a sea of Apps.

Developers say the key to succeeding on the App Store is to appear on the lists of top-ranked apps that Apple compiles. The 25 most downloaded apps appear on the first page of the store when someone accesses the site from their iPhone. People also find apps through keyword searches or by browsing categories.

"If it appears in the top 100, then everybody will see it," said Vijay Chattha, head of VSC Consulting, a San Francisco marketing firm that is launching a business to help iPhone app developers promote their wares.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124761263919341941.html

App Store Spearheads with 1.5 billion downloads in 1 year

Apple 's app store has crossed a landmark with 1.5 billion apps downloaded from its App Store after its inception. The App Store is growing at an incredible pace with more than 65,000 apps and more than 1,00,000 developers in the iPhone Developer Program.

One of the factors that leads to the App Store’s growth is the size of its installed base i.e. 40 million iPhones and iPod touches. The other could be the variety and sheer quantity of applications to choose from i.e. 65,000, according to Apple’s press release.

In a Press Release, Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO said, “The App Store is like nothing the industry has ever seen before in both scale and quality. With 1.5 billion apps downloaded, it is going to be very hard for others to catch up.”

Apple's App Store has eclipsed its rivals in terms of its downloads volume, as the rate at which customers are buying the apps seems to be increasing day by day. The App Store is the most viable way for mobile developers to get their applications in front of customers. Its store is filled with programs that range from fake beer pouring apps to enterprise-grade programs from Oracle and Salesforce.

The popularity of the App Store has caused Apple's mobile rivals to launch their own solutions for letting users browse, buy, download, and install apps over the air. It may be even tougher for the competition to catch up because of the App Store's momentum, but rivals are taking different approaches to carve out their market share.

Facebook employees are offered $14.77 a share

SOCIAL NOTWORKING SITE employees at Facebook who want to make a quick buck off their company are being allowed to sell stock for $14.77 per share under an agreement with Digital Sky Technologies.

The Russian outfit wants to buy $100 million of Facebook common stock from current and former employees. It already announced a separate $200 million investment in Facebook's preferred shares in May, which means it thinks the value of the company is $10 billion.

From a Facebook staff member's perspective this means that they can get some cash out of the outfit at last, particularly before it goes to a public float and Wall Street starts wondering if it is really worth all that much.

Although Facebook is doing much better than Rupert Murdoch's MySpace, it is expected to make only $500 million in revenue this year.

More on Facebook Offering

RIM Launching A BlackBerry Social Network For Venting Tomorrow

Perhaps you’ve noticed that apps aren’t exactly flying off the virtual shelves in BlackBerry’s App World store, like they are in Apple’s App Store. The store is hard to navigate and there’s confusion about several of the apps, are the main complaints we’re hearing (along with memory issues). And RIM hopes to alleviate some of those problems with the launch of its own social network for BlackBerry users tomorrow, we’re told.

The network, called MyBlackBerry, gives device owners a social profile where they can share opinions on their favorite apps, accessories as well as tips and tricks they use on their devices. More importantly, they can also vent about all of these things with fellow users, and RIM will be there to listen. The whole thing looks more like a bulletin board than what you might consider to be a traditional social network nowadays, but that’s probably a good idea to streamline it and make it all about information.

Read more about BlackBerry Social Network Here

Palm Pre developer meet-up: July 13 in NYC

Are you a webOS developer in the vicinity of New York City? You are? What a crazy random happenstance! Listen up, because we’ve got something exciting for you. It’s a Palm Pre developer meet-up in New York City on this coming Monday, July 13, at 7:00 pm. Put together by Michael Prenez-Isbell of BlueSwitch, the first-ever Palm Pre Developers Group meet-up in NYC will take place at the BlueSwitch offices at 61 Broadway (27th Floor), just a few doors south of Trinity Church.

On tap for discussion will be (naturally) webOS, the Mojo SDK, and the Palm Pre itself. Speaking at the meet-up will be Eric Marthinsen of Agile Commerce – the company that developed FlightView for the Pre.

Read More on Palm Pre developer Meet

Firefox 3.5 : Faster, Safer, Smarter Way to Browse Web

The latest version of world's second most used browser has arrived today in over 70 languages.According to Mozilla, its new browser is more than two times faster than Firefox 3. Firefox 3.5 is well worth the upgrade for the many improvements and additions that will directly affect your web browsing experience. Let’s see what has the new release in store for the users :

Speed :Firefox 3.5 promised a two times faster browsing performance than the previous 3.0. Firefox has always been fast, but this is the fastest Firefox ever which means, Web applications like email, photo sites, online word processors and more will feel snappier and more responsive. This is a time saver and definitrly the users will appreciate the necessity of getting a stable browser.

Security and privacy options : The latest version comes with an upgraded browsing privacy level. It provides more options like ; private browsing, erase the particular sites from history, clearing browsing history. With private browsing enabled, whatever sites you’ve visited afterward won’t be recorded.

With erasing the particular sites from history, you can remove every trace of that site from your browser—no questions asked!

Location Aware Browsing : Firefox can tell websites where you’re located so you can find info that’s more relevant and more useful. One of the innovative things in Firefox 3.5 is its support for location aware browsing. By authorizing Firefox to share your location based on IP, info on nearby wireless access points etc, you can now make your location transparent to websites that involve Geo-location service, by Share or Don’t Share. You can grant Firefox the permission to figure out where you are based on your IP address and nearby wireless access points, which the browser can then relay to web sites in order to provide you with a more personalized browsing experience.

Support New Web Technology : Firefox 3.5 is now supports various new web technologies, such as creative fonts downloads, CSS improvements for stylizing your pages, web worker threads and more. Just imagining all the cool things you could do to optimize your page browsing, and even incorporate media files for projects like animation etc.

Play Video : Earlier it was impossible to play videos using browser. Now, Firefox 3.5makes it happen while supporting player controls and file saving as well. Just right click the video, and it will all lay out for you. This is a good news for web developers as they could do more, such as including effects or links within the video.

Firefox 3.5 is the first browser to support open video and audio formats, allowing practically limitless new ways for sites to display rich content.

Amazon Reduced Kindle price to $299

Here is a news for Kindle lovers that Amazon’s e-book reader, the Kindle, reduced $60 in price today from $359 to $299, only five months after its launch .Amazon has cut the price of its Kindle ebook reading device by 17%.The price cut is something as a surpise for Kindle users.

May be With this discounted price ,Kindle is trying to attract more people towards its e-book reader for keeping the flow for sales of more books.

The Kindle 2 is now availiable for consumers for $299,instead of its previous price tag of $359.

Customers who have ordered Kindles earlier this month will get a $60 credit on the price difference.Amazon has not cut the price of its larger Amazon Kindle DX that's currently on sale for $489.

Amazon’s this move has put Kindle in a better position to compete with its rivals like Sony’s ,Cool-er by offering the almost same price slot.

Google Chrome Operating System

Google Chrome has always been a little more than a browser: it's optimized for running web applications, each tab runs as a separate process, the interface is minimalistic and there's even a task manager. "We realized that the web had evolved from mainly simple text pages to rich, interactive applications and that we needed to completely rethink the browser. What we really needed was not just a browser, but also a modern platform for web pages and applications, and that's what we set out to build," said Google in September 2008.

Google's blog announces a natural extension of the Chrome project: an operating system for netbooks. "Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Later this year we will open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010. (...) Google Chrome OS will run on both x86 as well as ARM chips and we are working with multiple OEMs to bring a number of netbooks to market next year. The software architecture is simple — Google Chrome running within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel."

Link to this post: http://googlesystem.blogspot.com

Gmail shed beta label

Gmail has worn the beta tag more than five years. It took some time, but the day has finally arrived. Google has removed the beta label from the entire Google Apps suite of products today, including Gmail, Calendar, Docs and Talk. The app suite was launched two years and has been in Beta since than. Now they are all full-fledged members of the, Google family of products

The Google Apps suite targeting businesses was launched two years ago and has been in beta ever since. Gmail, though, has worn the beta tag for even longer - more than five years. The move will bring a whiff of fresh air in the enterprises having hard time getting around the "traditional definition" of the "beta" software label. The super long beta period though puzzled some users who believed that the beta label meant the services weren't ready for the enterprise. Google hopes the move will peeled off the stigma towards using its Apps products, thus increasing the likelihood that they would subscribe to its Apps.

According to Matt Glotzbach, product management director for Google Enterprise, “Ever since we launched the Google Apps suite for businesses two years ago, it had a service level agreement, 24/7 support, and has met or exceeded all the other standards of non-beta software. More than 1.75 million companies around the world run their business on Google Apps, including Google”. In addition, we've come to appreciate that the beta tag just doesn't fit for large enterprises that aren't keen to run their business on software that sounds like it's still in the trial phase. “So we've focused our efforts on reaching our high bar for taking products out of beta, and all the applications in the Apps suite have now met that mark” he further added.

Google has plans on its cards to introduce new Apps features for its business customers in the coming weeks, including one that lets company IT administrators set policies on when company emails should be purged and another that allows administrative assistants to view and send emails on behalf of another person. Google is also introducing a feature that replicates and stores company data on multiple Google data centers for safekeeping in the case of a system crash.

Sony Ericsson's Upcoming Android Phone

You can feel the presence of a new kid on the block...!!! Code-named Rachael, Sony Ericsson's Android based Device, currently in development phase, will hit the market later this year, according to information obtained by the Danish Mobil Magazine.

Everyone is aware for some time now that Sony Ericsson (SE) is working on a Google Android-based smartphone, but the company has placed the details under the sheets. However, pictures leaked by a Danish site appears to reveal snaps of what it looks like.

Now, we can review the details regarding the first Sony Ericsson Android device. The Android based device will be part of SE's XPERIA series, which so far includes the Windows Mobile-based X1 model.

The leaked information also reveals that the SE's upcoming Android phone featuring an 8.1-megapixel camera with autofocus and flash. At the top of the phone a 3.5mm headphone jack and a miniUSB port are also present. No specific details on the phone's display size or resolution were released, but the Danish magazine says it has a pressure-sensitive touchscreen.

The Sony Ericsson Rachael, as the rumors go, will get powered by an extra-speedy 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8250 chip. It supports high definition video decoding and the phone is likely to sport a broadcast T Android based, Wi Fi, and GPS.

New Blog Search tools: Feed, Hot Queries and Latest Posts

Ever since the new Google Blog Search homepage launched, we've been fielding requests for a myriad of different features. Today we're happy to announce the launch of our most requested feature: RSS and Atom feeds. Simply click on the links under "Subscribe" in the left-hand column of the Blog Search front page to subscribe to any topic or story in any feed reader, like Google Reader.

If you don't use a feed reader, we're also offering an iGoogle gadget that lets you embed the Blog Search front page right inside of your iGoogle page or any other page where iGoogle gadgets are accepted. You can browse topics and drill into stories from within the widget, and you can customize the gadget to choose which topics you want to follow.

Read On for this story at: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/

YouTube Doubles Video File Size to 2G

Video-sharing site YouTube has allowed its users to post more high-definition (HD) video by increasing the size limit for uploads on its website.

YouTube, in a blog post, said the size limit for uploads to the site was being doubled from one gigabyte to two gigabytes. This increase would help you in uploading longer videos at a higher resolution as well as large HD files directly from your camera.

Along with increasing the file size from 1GB to 2 GB, Youtube have also implemented some new features which will make it easier for the users to share HD videos. The changes will allow users to share links directly to the HD version of videos, as well as to embed the HD version with ease.

Many of the users may be aware about how to do this previously, as it was possible. However, they have now publicly made these options clear and have integrated the HD embed code options on your blog or website.

Sputnik, Google's New JavaScript Test Suite

Google engineers working on the Chrome web browser have announced a new open-source JavaScript testing and performance suite called Sputnik. The new test suite is intended to provide a comprehensive set of tests, more than 5,000 of them, and check compliance with the ECMA-262 JavaScript standard.

“The goal was to create a test suite based directly on the language spec that checked the behavior of every object, function and individual algorithm in the language. The task was given to a team in Russia – hence the name "Sputnik" – which went about systematically producing tests,” Christian Plesner Hansen, Google software engineer, writes. “Now that the test suite is complete we're happy to be able to release it as an open source project, under the BSD license. We hope Sputnik can be as useful to other implementers of JavaScript as it has been to us, particularly at a time where implementations change rapidly.”

The project was started soon after V8, Chrome's lightning-fast JavaScript engine, took shape and the development paralleled it. As the number of tests in the suite grew the team would test V8 to check if it complied or displayed unexpected behavior. Now that it is finalized Google is releasing it under the very liberal BSD open-source license.

Sputnik is built in python and to run it you need to install the environment so it might not be as user friendly as other JavaScript performance tests. However the suite is intended more for developers and focuses on compliance rather than pure performance measuring. With its goal of testing every function and object in the JavaScript language it could prove a valuable resource for browser developers aiming for standards compliance as well web developers trying to find out how various browsers differ in their implementations.

Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/

Flickr2Twitter : A New Lease of Life

Flickr has released the long awaited feature for posting photos to Twitter. The built-in feature lets members tweet their photos. And also explains how to post photos from your phone, and how to tweet from Flickr. Users can also upload directly to Flickr and Twitter simultaneously, or tweet a photo already on Flickr, using a special short Flickr Url.

It is different from other photo tweeting services like TwitPic which lets you sign-in using your Twitter account. To use Flickr2Twitter, you first need to sign-in to Flickr, and then authorize the service to post to your Twitter account, which can be done from your settings page. Flickr2Twitter creates a shortened URL for your photos and post these as Tweet to your Twitter account.

To use this feature, you just need to authorize Flickr to access their Twitter account once. After you’ve allowed Flickr to use your Twitter credential, a new option in Twitter’s “Blog This” option will now include your Twitter account.Flickr would also give you the chance to compose the 140 character Tweet then append the URL of your photo.

Such an interesting combination, Flickr2Twitter, will surely benefit both Twitter and Flickr, but more so for Flickr, as Twitter’s popularity will bounce back to Yahoo’s photo uploading service. And moreover, this in a way adds a new lease of life to Flickr.