Kingston Technology has introduced its latest compact flash cards into the market. Ultimate memory is not a misnomer for this little wonder considering it can hold up to 8 GB of data. According to Kingston Technology, the card has twice the write speed of its previous line, at 266X, which will allow digital SLR camera users to shoot without interrupti...

With so many devices of every conceivable function invading our households, power bills are shooting up. So is the concern over environmental costs of electricity. Computers, being traditionally big power wasters, have been under the microscope recently. So, anything saves power merits attention. And here we feature the eco-friendly hard-...

Mention social networking and the first thing you recollect is Facebook. But you’ll be surprised to know there’s a social networking site two ranks ahead of Facebook and here we quote none other than Alexa, which ranked Hi5 as the 11th most popular site online above Facebook at 13th.   ...

Ever since ATMs were introduced, banking became hassle free and transactions speeded up manifold. Improving the services further, U.S. banks are rolling out a new breed of automated teller machines that scan checks and cash, thereby eliminating the need for envelopes. Till now depositing checks in ATMs meant using envelopes and writing the transaction particulars on them. Receipts given for en...

Everything about kids is so appealing. That explains why films and TV series or ads featuring kids have always been instant hits. A video site like YouTube was just the right platform for featuring the endearing antics of those cute and naughty kids. However, in a move that upset all those who adore watching the little ones, YouTube has been suspending accounts that feature videos with chil...

Research In Motion (RIM) today announced the BlackBerry 8820 smartphone. The  8820 is the first dual-mode BlackBerry handset, combining quad-band GSM/GPRS/ EDGE cellular and Wi-Fi® connectivity. Other features include: QWERTY keyboard 320 x 240 display trackball navigation system  built-in GPS microSD / microSDHC memory slot  Mike Laz...

It seemed Sony had pulled a major public relations coup when it announced a price cut of $100 on its 60-gigabyte Playstation3. The company that could do-no-right had finally seen the writing on the wall: Parents were buying the cheaper, funner Wii. Hardcore gamers were spending money on desktops or sticking with the Xbox 360. Analysts pr...

One Laptop Per Child program, the non-profit initiative that aims at helping children in the developing countries become computer literate by offering computers for as low as $100, got a major boost with Intel agreeing to join the board of the nonprofit and contribute funding.  So far Intel had been an obstacle with its chairman, Cr...

As a host of gadgets are vying for every inch in our households, remote control units have become so numerous and lie scattered about that one wishes we had a universal remote to control everything. That single unit could be our own hands if the device developed by Australian scientists Prashan Premaratne and Quang Nguyen hits the market. The device contains built-...

Niche products always imply fancy gadgets with added frills aimed at commanding a higher price. Once in a while comes a product showing consideration for the differently-abled, qualifying to be truly called niche. And it's good to know that firms are putting time and effort into this kind of R&D. An Indiana-based company GW Micro has...

When big brother's watching, and with his third eye, would anyone dare get away with mischief? No, if you go by the experience of Plymouth police officers.  For a year, 300 officials were trained to use head cameras during day and night patrols.  The new technology increased their detection of violent crime by 40 per cent and arrests went up by 85 per cen...

Joystiq reported that the Microsoft people recently added compatibility for more old Xbox games to the Xbox 360. This is kind of odd news since the Xbox 360 has been out for a long time (long enough for the updated Elite to be released), so you'd think they'd put the back-compat issue to rest. Still, it's cool to play the old games, especially if you have some you like, but weren't popular enou...

Oversleeping could mean not only loss of precious time, but also missing an important meeting. Alarms, no doubt, ensure that we keep our appointments, but it can be quite irritating to be jolted out of sleep by the persistent ring or beep sounds of an alarm. You can set up the alarm and still wake up normally like any other day, if desig...

In iTunes, click Help > Check for Updates What’s New in this Version - Addresses a minor problem with iTunes 7.3 accessing the iTunes Library. If you need to address a major problem when checking for updates, like this: (like I got), then check out our iPod zChannel or ask over at GuruConnect.  

The Digg boys announced that they've launched a Digg iPhone app. Since the iPhone has a normal web browser, you can see the normal Digg site that way. The Digg iPhone app is a pared down version of the website, so the site will load faster and only the key functionalities are available, like... Native iPhone-like story scrolling Mini permalink pages with top 5 comments Login an...

At 700,000 units in the very first week of launch, sales have been encouraging for iPhone. Still, owing to a high price tag of $500 and $600, iPhones are limited to a small percentage of the market. If it wants a larger share of the market, Apple has to offer a cheaper iPhone and that exactly is what Apple’s reflecting on, accordin...

Just a week ago, PlayStation3 consoles were slow in moving off store shelves. Suddenly sales have picked up, so much that on Amazon.com the 60GB PS3 is ranked No. 1 in video game sales. Quite a feat considering it was in 26th position and the  increase in interest is 2500 percent. What did the trick was the new pricing at US$499.99 ,...

Even as the $30 billion video game industry — it now rivals the  movie and music businesses — is preparing for its annual Electronic Entertainment Expo or E3 in Santa Monica, California, comes the wake-up call. John Riccitiello, head of the world’s largest video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc,  feels that game makers are boringly repetitive and need to do mor...

Recently we had reported that in view of the Electronic Entertainment Expo or E3, the biggest expectation among buyers is that Sony will slash the price of its PlayStation3, which right now has the last place among new gaming machines due to its $600 cost and thin line-up of games. True to the buyers’ expectations, Sony spokesman Da...

The annual expo next week of the video game industry, Electronic Entertainment Expo or E3, is one of the most keenly awaited events. Naturally, as it gives investors a peek into the $30 billion global industry that rivals movie and music businesses. And as the market for video games is expanding beyond the traditional teenage audience, anticipation is...

After wooing consumers with feature-rich handsets, what’s the next trick-in-the-trade for cellphone  manufacturers to try out? Aesthetics, maybe. Christina Tapp, a young undergraduate student from the College of Fine Arts in Illinois, has come out with a concept phone with accent on, what else, looks. The curvy beauty bears th...

Right now, Helio subscribers must be on a roll.  Their Ocean handsets do pretty much everything and the rate plan is something that never had anyone complaining. Now the experience is gonna get better. Helio has upgraded its Helio UP service, the online storage locker for photos and videos taken with Helio devices. Users can upload photos from their handsets d...

Even as Apple launched the iPhone in the U.S. to positive reviews, it was in negotiations with most of Europe’s big mobile operators to sell its combined phone, music player and Internet device in Europe. Reports in a German regional newspaper said that T-Mobile has won a deal to sell iPhone in Germany starting on Nov. 1, outbidding Vodafone. Others are sayin...

Necessity is the mother of invention.  That probably explains the sweeping changes in display technology which didn’t look beyond the cathode ray tubes for decades. Ever since hand-held devices like cell phones and  MP3 players became widespread, there’s been a need for power-efficient displays. The objective is clear: Displays consumes batter...

Automobile companies have been up to it for long. Tweaking their products a bit here and there and offering them as brand new models to be in the reckoning in a competitive market place. CNN, taking a leaf out of their book, has staged a ‘global relaunch’ of CNN.com, ostensibly for getting repeated clicks to its news website. At more than 24 million uni...

We're not linking to any one source because it's the same stories coming in four ways from Sunday.  AT&T activation service wasn't designed to take on that many activations at once (big surprise).  By Sunday things seemed to be back to normal, but that doesn't excuse AT&T for not having their act together. Also it seems that AT&T boosted the speed on their EDGE network (us...

Advancement in computer technology might have cut down processing costs, but power bills are still high and a cause of concern. Servers still generate lot of heat and a fortune is spent cooling them. Traditionally, air conditioners blow chilled air to cool servers. By using a more energy efficient cooling method, IT managers can realize cost savings. ...

Marshall, an IT security firm, sent out a warning that the new spam fad seems to be to put the spam-ad in .pdf format. This is a pretty clever move since most of us trust the format as a way to transfer information. In a recent spam wave using an attached PDF, the file name would include the recipient's username, which could even further entice a victim to open the file. Bradley Anstis,...

It’s a development proponents of open source and free software will welcome wholeheartedly. After all, it stands as a major boost to their ideology. Signifying its encouragement to Linux on the desktop, Google has come out with a beta version of Google Desktop search for Linux. Google D...

Ever since Google Earth came out, it's been a favorite toy for most anybody (even the US Prez). Of course the great thing with online tools is to see the different, inventive ways that people use them. Um, well the ones that are open to the community.  Anyway, it might be fun to map out all the places you've visited in your life or pinpoint all the different places on the Earth where there...

When Apple’s iPhone finally goes on sale later this week, will it rule the market or not is a question time can tell. But Apple’s making sure that its multi-function handset enters stores like a king with his retinue. Or else, what explains for the two-dozen accessories that it has lined up for sale in its retail stores? The m...

It’s tough reaching the top and tougher staying there for long. Sony must have realized this universal truth when Nintendo cornered the market share from right under its nose to dislodge its PlayStation from a decade-old dominance in the game industry. Nintendo Co. Ltd. zipped past Sony Corp. in market value on Monday and became on...

There’s a bit of Google in everything this phone does, so much so that LG’s KU-580 handset may no longer be known by its brand name but as Google phone — it incorporates Google Search, Google Mail and Google Maps. The red-on-black phone sports a 2-inch LCD to enable better viewing of Google’s web properties. Besid...

We have to agree with the wags over at Gearlog, there doesn't seem to be much point in a clothing company putting their name on a cellphone.  Maybe their marketing team sees the whole iPhone flurry and figures it's time to strike when the phone-news-iron is hot. I just want to point out that Levi's missed the boat on the jeans-cellphone synergy* a long time ago. You know that 5th pock...

When ‘You’ and ‘i’ join, together we can rule the market, seems to be what Apple’s implying much before its iPhone launch. Days before the widely anticipated music- and video-playing device hits the market on June 29, Apple said that it will allow subscribers to wirelessly stream material from the popular video-sharing site YouTube. ...

A CNET source said Microsoft plans to use the first Vista service pack to do something or another to the built in desktop search. For XP, both Google's and Micrsoft's desktop search program were/are stand-alone software.  For Vista, Microsoft built their desktop search into the operating system. The change should make it easy for users to change the default desktop search to whichever prog...

Remember those days when iPod made its debut (well it was not too long ago). iPod accessories were soon all over the place. With Apple’s revolutionary media player slicing a huge chunk of the market pie, accessory makers too joined to partake the spoils. Now with Apple’s iPhone set for a debut, accessories are following suit....

The rules of computing were rewritten ever since Google came up with its incredible search engine. After changing our computing habits, Google’s planning an encore with our commuting habits by supporting greener technology for cars. The company announced that its philanthropic arm plans to dole out over US $10 million in grants to support hybrid cars. ...

Thanks to web-based applications, television experience has reached a new level that’s gone beyond the TV set. More connected entertainment experiences are opening up at the flick of a button with service providers trying to differentiate their services from the others. Now, giving couc...

Of late, have you been coughing up a fortune on your cell phone bills? Then we recommend that you better go in for an unlimited data plan with your mobile service provider, for charges are only bound to double up with YouTube going mobile. Now it’ll be hard to resist the temptation of checking out on the latest clippings, since m.youtube.com site has already ...

USB flash drives were a dream come true as far as ultra-portability was concerned and transferring files and carrying music became such a light affair. Carrying music easily never translated into listening pleasure, for even if you had a pair of headphones, it had its own limitations. So the discerning  audiophile had to plug it on ...

Ever been exasperated at the ugly sight of a tangle of wires on your desktop? Not that you could help it, for you had to ‘stay wired’ in this modern world. Ever missed a heartbeat when you toddler crawled towards that maze of cables connecting household appliances to the power outlet? Ever had a fall tripping over them? ...

Close on the heels of Internet Spyware (I-SPY) Prevention Act, which the US House of Representatives passed last month, is the legislation designed to protect PC users from spyware. House members passed the Spy Act by a margin of 368-48. The Spy Act calls for penalties for anyone who causes software to be installed on a PC without first ...

  eBay is on its way to competing with Google by getting into the radio advertising business. The online auction leader is trying to expand into offline ads and has become a broker of ad spots. eBay will partner with privately held Bid4Spots Inc., an Encino-based startup hosting weekly online auctions of radio airtime si...

The next major update to Firefox may see a tool that would automatically block Web sites thought to harbor malicious downloads. Though the security chief  of Mozilla Corp. was not forthcoming on the issue, there are numerous details to be found on a blog by a Firefox designer and in a back-and-forth discussion of the feature in Bugz...

Recently, Intel had launched its Classmates initiative, which aimed at shipping a modest 1,230 low-cost PCs to governments in Asia this year, mostly in trial arrangements. As a step further, Intel is planning to team up with Asustek Computer Inc., the world's largest maker of computer motherboards, to make a notebook PC that would cost as little as $200 and be aime...

Salesforce.com and Google  have a lot in common in terms of company culture, their technologies and their belief that pay-as-you-go Internet applications will become increasingly popular. The two vendors have been looking at where their businesses intersect so that both could derive substantial benefits. In tune with that, the two brought out their first jointly developed and co-marketed p...

Joost has announced former Cisco exec Mike Volpi will be its new CEO. Volpi, formerly heir presumptive for Cisco's CEO spot, replaces current CEO Fredrik de Wahl, who oversaw the video service through beta. Wahl was previously the chief of Joltid, which provides the peer-to-peer layer of Skype and Joost. Joost  has dubbed itself &quo...