Ajax: A New Approach to Web Applications

If anything about current interaction design can be called “glamorous,” it’s creating Web applications. After all, when was the last time you heard someone rave about the interaction design of a product that wasn’t on the Web? (Okay, besides the iPod.) All the cool, innovative new projects are online.

Google Suggest and Google Maps are two examples of a new approach to web applications that is being called as Ajax. The name is shorthand for Asynchronous JavaScript + XML, and it represents a fundamental shift in what’s possible on the Web.

Defining Ajax
Ajax isn’t a technology. It’s really several technologies, each flourishing in its own right, coming together in powerful new ways. Ajax incorporates:

• standards-based presentation using XHTML and CSS;
  
• dynamic display and interaction using the Document Object Model;
  
• data interchange and manipulation using XML and XSLT;
  
• asynchronous data retrieval using XMLHttpRequest;
  
• and JavaScript binding everything together.

Who’s Using Ajax

Google is making a huge investment in developing the Ajax approach. All of the major products Google has introduced over the last year — Orkut, Gmail, the latest beta version of Google Groups, Google Suggest, and Google Maps — are Ajax applications. (For more on the technical nuts and bolts of these Ajax implementations, check out these excellent analyses of Gmail, Google Suggest, and Google Maps.) Others are following suit: many of the features that people love in Flickr depend on Ajax, and Amazon’s A9.com search engine applies similar techniques.

The above part was some programmer style introduction to the new buzz world of Ajax.Let's see some practical applications of Ajax on the web on different websites,bloggs.And guys didn't i tell u that this new buzz is being used on blogger also.The site Blogger Templates has some good design for bloggers, but u need to wait for some more days as the site is in it's testing status.

There's one more blogger site 3spots who has provided with the good list of Ajax startuppages(or homepages).You can find the list over here.

Internet Tips: New Tools Help Take Your Blog to the Next Level

If you're a new blogger, Google's free Blogger service will meet your needs. But if you're a born-to-blog pundit then, you want additional features, personalization, and control.

Blog-o-Matic

Top-flight bloggers are increasingly moving to WordPress, Automattic Productions' no-cost, open-source blogging software. Unlike the basic blogging tools found in Blogger, Microsoft's Windows Live Spaces, and Yahoo 360, WordPress offers tons of plug-ins and widgets for customizing your blog. One of my favorite WordPress features is its spam filter, which weeds out spam posted as comments. You can also make your blog private, allowing only the people you specify to read and comment on your postings.

But WordPress gives you more than a simple chronological Weblog: The program's pages feature makes it a full-blown content-management system supporting complex Web sites. For example, WordPress templates let you keep your bio, contact info, or other static content easy for your blog visitors to access.

WordPress's PHP script files require the MySQL database and PHP software running on the host server. After editing one of the scripts to include your MySQL and PHP user names and passwords, you upload the scripts to the server--and just like that, you have a blog.

If this seems like programming voodoo to you, relax. WordPress and most of its hosting partners provide point-and-click tools that have you blogging in minutes.

If you're happy using a subdomain (such as scottspanbauer.wordpress.com) rather than your own domain (www.scottspanbauer.com, for example) and don't mind an occasional text ad among your postings, you can create a free account on Automattic's WordPress.com, a blog-hosting service much like Google's BlogSpot. At the time of writing, free WordPress.com blogs were limited to 25MB of images, PDFs, and other files. The amount of text that you and your readers can post is unlimited, however. (Automattic plans to add commercial account options that increase storage.)

If you choose WordPress.com as your host, setup is a breeze. When you log in, a toolbar of configuration options appears at the top for creating posts and pages, changing themes, moderating comments, and adding links to a page's sidebar. You can receive e-mail support from WordPress's creators, too.

For collaboration, create additional author and moderator accounts and set the blog to be invisible until it's ready.

Best Firefox Extensions for Power Users

Vista still requires antivirus, MS stresses

Windows Vista does require antivirus software after all, Windows chief Jim Allchin wrote on a company blog (windowsvistablog.com).“I want to be clear, most users will use some form of antivirus software, and that will be appropriate for their scenarios,” Allchin wrote.

The co-president of platform and services responded to media reports recently that quoted him as saying that the forthcoming operating system didn’t need any antivirus software because of it’s enhanced security. Allchin countered that the remarks were taken out of context.

“I made a comment about how attacks on the Internet are getting more and more sophisticated, and some of the security features in Windows Vista really help our customers. This somehow morphed into people thinking I said customers shouldn’t use antivirus software with Windows Vista.”

The intended point, said Allchin, was that in certain situations, Vista would provide much better security for users.The initial reports stemmed from a comment Allchin made during a conference call recently, when the company announced that Windows Vista had been released to manufacturing and would be launched on 30 January.

Allston was talking about his home computer, on which his seven-year-old son runs a Vista machine without antivirus software.“Even if there is a remote exploit on one machine, and a worm tries to jump from one machine to another, the probability of that actually succeeding is very small. My seven year-old runs Windows Vista and, honestly, he doesn’t have an antivirus system on his machine,” Allchin was quoted as saying.Allchin also said that the machine used strict parental controls that limited access. Allchin recommends that users do have antivirus software on their Vista machines, and that the example he listed was an extreme and very specific situation.

Access Your Favourite Magazines

It's not just books that are available electronically- this very magazine can be bought, downloaded and read from a website called Zinio. The site sells subscriptions to a number of popular magazines, usually at a discounted price. You'll need a Zinio Reader programme ,which is available as a free download from the site. Once installed, you can flick through the pages of a magazine as you would with the printed version of the magazine, either page by page, or by jumping straight to the various sections, such as Workshops. The programme will also keep track of when the latest editions of your favourite magazines are available.

Stuffs to rock in 2007

Get a check for the latest games being launched in 2007.This may be a wonderfull opportunity to get a glance at these games before their arrival.

• Upcoming Games of 2007 [PS3]
• Upcoming Games of 2007 [Xbox 360]

MSN to Webcast Nokia New Year's Eve Party

Nokia has announced that MSN will be the exclusive online distributor of the Nokia New Year's Eve, a global music celebration which will take place in five party capitals of the world on December 31.

Exclusive performances from international artists including the Black Eyed Peas, Scissor Sisters, Nelly Furtado, John Legend, and Atomic Kitten will be streamed live and on demand at no cost to viewers here

Nokia New Year's Eve embodies our objective of connecting people to their passions. We expect this will be the biggest global New Year's Eve music celebration with more than 1.3 million expected to attend," says Jo Harlow, senior vice president, marketing for Nokia. "With MSN, we are greatly expanding the global reach of Nokia New Year's Eve. Now, music lovers around the globe can enjoy their favourite artists — live, as they countdown the final seconds of 2006, or on demand when the moment strikes them."

In addition to the live concerts on December 31, beginning today, the online webcast will offer exclusive artist content, including interviews with the Black Eyed Peas, Scissor Sisters and many other international artists to view on demand. Other Nokia New Year's Eve content, including artist lists and updates, will also be available through Windows Live Messenger beginning today. A customized Windows Live Messenger tab will be integrated into every Windows Live Messenger application in the five host cities — Hong Kong, Mumbai, Berlin, Rio de Janeiro and New York — where fans will be able to connect directly to the Nokia New Year's Eve site by clicking the tab.

Nokia New Year's Eve concerts in Hong Kong, Mumbai, Berlin and Rio de Janeiro will be Webcast live on MSN and can be viewed on http://www.nokianewyearseve.com, starting Dec. 31 evening from Hong Kong.

Facial Recognition-based Search Announced

Knowing how random the results are from the current image search engines, Swedish company Polar Rose has announced the launch of a visual search engine that should hopefully make image searching a lot more accurate.

Polar Rose uses facial recognition and 3D imaging software to provide a whole new method for web-based image searches. A beta of the software will be available for public use, by February next year.

Polar Rose is also working on a plugin for the Firefox and Internet Explorer, which pops up a small symbol when the browser opens a Web page containing a photo of a face. When a user clicks on the symbol, the Polar Rose service looks for matching photos in its database. Users also can tag existing photos in the database to help train Polar Rose's matching engine.

TIME Best Invention of the Year for 2006

Meet Peter. Peter is a 79-year-old English retiree. Back in WW II he served as a radar technician. He is now an international star.
One year ago, this would not have been possible, but the world has changed. In the past 12 months, thousands of ordinary people have become famous. Famous people have been embarrassed. Huge sums of money have changed hands. Lots and lots of Mentos have been dropped into Diet Coke. The rules are different now, and one website changed them: YouTube.
It's been an interesting year in technology. Nintendo invented a video game you control with a magic wand. A new kind of car traveled 3,145 miles on a single gallon of gas. A robot learned to ride a bike. Somebody came up with a nanofabric umbrella that doesn't stay wet. But only YouTube created a new way for millions of people to entertain, educate, shock, rock and grok one another on a scale we've never seen before. That's why it's Time's Invention of the Year for 2006.

Great Download Sites

Great Download Sites

In my opinion the following sites are some of the best in existence for downloading software.

Top 20

http://downloads.nettop20.com/

this site tracks the best download sites, and has links to the top 20 downloads from all the best download sites..

So it is a one stop shop for the best downloads, or at least that is its mission.
another site with the same mission is, however it is not as slick looking at Top 20.

http://www.inntechserver.com/top_download_sites.htm

They both have links to what they consider the best download sites, but I have only listed what I consider the best in my list. Or if I tryed them and they showed any annoying pop ups or gross advertising, or if they are just plain confusing, with illegable multicoloured 8 point text for example (yuck!!!), I have excluded them from my list.
OK, lets see only seven sites made it to my list, but they are good.

CNET's Download.Com

http://download.com.com/

this is one of the grand daddy sites, if you do a search on SANDRA you will find that it has been downloaded from CNET alone a total of 2,713,659 times.
A basic way to use it is to monitor the specific category of interest, and click on most popular, new releases or our picks categories. Definately worth a look if you have not checked it out.

Another site worth checking out is Ziff nets essential downloads site at:

http://downloads-zdnet.com.com/

check their dazzling downloads, most popular and most talked about sections for pointers on where the latest greatest software is.

Can't Do Without It

http://www.sharewarejunkies.com/without.htm

PC World Downloads:

http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/index/0,00.asp

JUMBO

http://www.jumbo.com/

TUCOWS

http://www.tucows.com/

Pass the Shareware

http://www.passtheshareware.com/

Freeware by definition freeware is just that for free forever!
check it out at:

http://freewarearena.org/PHPNuke/index.php

Compare India

The TV18 and CNBC came up with something really worthy a click. Compareindia a TV18 venture is an excellent site. It can be said as an one stop stand for the Indian comsumers. It is India's shopping and price comparision site.It provides the sonsumer or the user with all powers to check wether the product being offered meets the standards set by big brands or not.You also get the expert advice on a specific brand of your choice.So don't wait and get a view of this site here.

Google phone in your pocket !

After iPod phone and Zune phone, there's a new "phony" buzz around: The Observer of London has reported that Google might be working with a Taiwanese firm along with telecom services giant Orange to build a Google Mobile Phone, which could possibly have Google software running on the device. If true, this will be Google's first venture into hardware

Google works

The phone will come pre-loaded with mobile versions of Google apps like Google Earth and G-mail. It is rumoured to feature location-based searches, such as a tailored list of local cinemas, restaurants and other amenities, and maps and images from Google Earth. Google has been aggressive in developing location based services, like local search and mapping services.

Collaboration version 3.0 - The report stated that Orange honchos travelled to Google's headquarters, or 'Googleplex', for exploratory talks on this deal. The collaboration between two of the most powerful brands in technology is seen as a potential catalyst for making Internet use of mobile phones as natural as on desktop computers and laptops. For Orange, this could be a valuable asset in its triple play ambitions. The company owns broadband businesses across Europe, and has access to 3G networks, and is owned by France Telecom. It could use Google’s web expertise to take on its rivals, by offering web-mobile hybrid phones, and at the same time get a slice of mobile advertising revenues.

Freeware Genius.

If you are looking for some free software, then you need to visit freewaregenius.com. This Web site has free software for everything – from 3D modelling to antiviruses – each with description and rating. As far i know among 100 people surfing the net above 90 search for something free, which can be anything from ebooks,music,movies etc. So i think this site surely reserves a click of your mouse.

Flash Stuff

For all things ‘flash’, visit www.flashstuf.com. The Web site features everything from movies to games to other fun stuff. It also has a forum where members can discuss flash, work of flash artists, etc.

Stumble Video

Today’s Web site provides a way to watch a stream of videos from popular video sites such as YouTube, Google Video and MySpace that are automatically matched to your personal preference. Although online video search systems have grown over the past year, finding cool videos can be quite a tedious exercise. Stumble comprehends what types of videos a user likes (or dislikes) and accordingly delivers videos matching personal preferences. The Web site requires no special software, allowing any Web user to enjoy the service.

CHOREBUSTER.NET

When it comes to doing chores everyone loves passing the buck Chorebuster.net makes sure "the bucks gets passed to right person." The Web sites you list out all the chores and asks you to assign difficulty ratings to them. Once you do this, you can list out the people in your house. After which the site automatically makes a schedule and assigns tasks in a fair manner.This should make your life easy! No?

Your Online Office

Internet productivity suites innovate with online sharing and storage, but don't yet challenge Microsoft for document-creation features.

A host of new free or low-cost online competitors are trying to nibble away at Microsoft's $11.8 billion Office pie by pulling together productivity suites with online document storage and innovative sharing and collaboration features. The new options can prove useful for group efforts, and the price is certainly right. But none of these packages have the feature set to truly challenge Office--for now.

Google recently launched its free Google Docs & Spreadsheets service, creating a new interface for its previously separate word processing and spreadsheet applications. ThinkFree and Zoho, in their more extensive suites, also offer PowerPoint-like presentation programs. Like Google, ThinkFree and Zoho are free for individual users and allow you to save documents in a variety of formats, including HTML. A fourth contender, gOffice, charges 99 cents per month for its limited word processing and spreadsheet programs, with a presentation app to come.

Document-creation applications have been available online for some time. But by bringing such tools together as suites and offering downloadable business packages, these companies are obviously making a distinct effort to entice users away from Microsoft's ubiquitous software.

Skype Users to Get Lie Detector Soon

VoIP software firm, Skype will soon offer a lie detector, as an add- on for its users. The KishKish Lie Detector, by BATM, will analyze audio streams over a Skype call in real time and illustrate the stress levels of the other person. Moreover, the device will also be able to record calls for analysis later.

The technology is roughly the same, as in the lie detector used by forensic experts, wherein the stress levels charted out by the lie detector machine, are analyzed by the experts to determine whether the subject is lying or not.

However, BATM has not set a price, or a roll-out date for the application, yet. The company says it hopes to be able to provide Skype users with further additions in the near future.

Mazooki!.com Aims to be Asian YouTube

New free video sharing site, Mazooki.com, is the first of its kind, to be tailored for Asian users, offering a user-generated online video library.

Asian Internet users may access videos posted on Mazooki! share them, and even embed them onto their own websites without a membership. The site bans any pornographic or hate-oriented videos, and offers an interactive flagging system, to have questionable content removed.

Mazooki! offers exclusive channels for Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Korean, Asians Abroad, and other users. In addition, the site has joined the Asian Fanatics forum, one of the largest Asian communities on the Web, with over 125,000 members, in a contract to provide a Mazooki! community for site users.

Burrp! Debuts for Mumbai and Bangalore

Local search engine, Burrp! has announced its arrival in two city specific versions, for Mumbai and Bangalore. Burrp! will enable Internet surfers, to search for region specific content, ranging from restaurants, nightlife and local eateries. The site will soon expand to include new categories such as local events, movies, gyms and spas.

Co-founder Deap Ubhi says, "Even with the growing density of local businesses and rising purchasing power amongst consumers, there is no reliable online resource that acts as a medium to connect the two. We aim to provide people with lifestyle related information and also be the platform to voice their experience."

The portal will also send business listings information to users' mobile phones, for free, via its 'Send 2 Phone' feature. Moreover, site visitors may post their own reviews, on eateries, cafes or related service in the particular city.Kolkata and Delhi/NCR are the next two cities for which, the site is currently collecting data. Burrp! will soon be created for 11 Indian cities, within the next 6 months.

How To Start A Money-making Blog? - Beginner

If you are the beginner in blogging, you do not have to worry now. There are thousands of blogging tools that can help you start blogging just by a few simple clicks. You can use Blogger, Wordpress, Blogspirit, BlogEasy and etc. And, most of these blogging services are FREE. But, if you are beginner in blogging, I do advise you to use Blogger as your blogging tool because Blogger is owned by Google. And, the welknown advertising tool which has made thousands of bloggers becoming rich - “Adsense” is provided by Google. But, what is the linking here? The answer is easy because you can easily incorporate Adsense in your blog by using Blogger. The pros and cons of free blog-hosting:

Pros:

Low Cost - Most of the blogging services provided here are FREE. This means that you don’t have to give out any cent to make a money-making blog.
Easy To Set Up - You can set up your blog easily. Besides, there are thousands of templates to help you have your own design to your blog. You can also incorporate easily some advertising tool like Adsense if you are using blogging service like Blogger. Besides, sign-up for these blogging services is relatively easy.
Indexed Quickly - You don’t have to worry how to index your blog in famous search engine because many blogging service providers help you to index your blog in search engine once you sign up for them.
Cons:

Less Configurable - You may face difficulties when you want to add in plugins like newsletter subscription, and etc. to your blog. Somemore, you may find difficult if you want to set up your own design without using the provided templates.
Non-Upgradable Friendly - If you want to upgrade your blog by using webhosting service in future, you may find difficulties because it is very hard to transfer posts and comments from free bloghosting to your own new webhosting server.
Generic Domain Name - If you are using free bloghosting services, you may find that many of your blog domain name is under restriction which can only use domian name like www.xxx.blogger.com, www.xxx.wordpress.com. These types of domain names look very unprofessional. And, these domain names may also give a bad impression to your readers.
But, if you are serious in making money by blogging, I do advise you to find a webhosting company to host your blog. And, there are also many standalone blog platform like Wordpress, Movable Type, and etc. These are the pros and cons of using standalone blog platform:

Pros:

URL - You can use your own domain name which is easy to remember and looking more professional to your readers. And, by short and simple domain name, your readers will come back to your blog easily. And, your readers can also help you to promote your blog by mouth becaus your domain name is easy to remember.
Easy Configurable - I like to use standalone blog platform because there are many programmers write specially-made plugins for blog platform like WordPress and Movable Type. Each plugin serves different purpose. And, you will find them useful.
Own Design - You can configurate your own design for your own blog. By designing your own blog, you can easily impress your readers. And, your blog will also become more personal, unique, and attractive.
Cons:

Technical Problems - You may face a lots of technical problems if you are not very good in simple scripting like HTML, PHP or some other popular scripting languages. You will find difficulties when you want to set up your own design or maybe add certain plugins to your blog.
High Cost - You won’t have free hosting here. You have to pay for your hosting and this may cost you a lot if there are more and more visitors to your website.(More visitors normally bring more revenue to you. So, you don’t have to worry here. ) Besides, you also have to pay for your own domain name.

Hosting Problems - You may find that there are many webhosting services facing downtime even though many webhosting service providers claim that they have 99% uptime. Try to do a simple calculation here. 365days X 99% = 361.35 days. This means that you will have 3.65 days when your server is down for maintence. Besides, you also have to do your own backup.( If you server are drown, all your posts and comments will be missing! T_T )

Actually, it is up to you to decide on which method you want to use to start your blogging. But, my advice here is better to start a free blogging first if you are new to the world of blogging~!

Ping Google To Get Your Blog Indexed

Google announced its new service Google Pinger to help bloggers to get indexed in their Blog Search service. If you are using WordPress as your blog platform, you can add http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/RPC2 to Options > Writing > Update Services. By doing so, it may slow down your blog publishing speed.

Online video sharing sites