One Laptop per Child !

The XO-1, previously known as the $100 Laptop or Children's Machine, is a proposed inexpensive laptop computer intended to be distributed to children around the world, especially to those in developing countries, to provide them with access to knowledge and modern forms of education. The laptop is being developed by the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) trade association. OLPC is a U.S. based, non-profit organization created by faculty members of the MIT Media Lab to design, manufacture, and distribute the laptops.

The rugged and low-power computers will contain flash memory instead of a hard drive and will use Linux as their operating system.^[1] Mobile ad-hoc networking will be used to allow many machines Internet access from one connection.

The laptops will be sold to governments and issued to children by schools on a basis of one laptop per child. Pricing is currently expected to start at around US$135–175 and the goal is to reach the US$100 mark in 2008. Approximately 500 developer boards (Alpha-1) were distributed in summer 2006; 875 working prototypes (Beta 1) were delivered in late 2006; 2400 Beta-2 machines were distributed at the end of February 2007; full-scale production is expected to start in mid-2007.^[2] Quanta Computer, the project's contract manufacturer, said in February, 2007 that it had confirmed orders for one million units. They indicated they could ship 5 million to 10 million units this year because seven nations have committed to buy the XO-1 for their schoolchildren, including Argentina, Brazil, Libya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Thailand and Uruguay.^[3]

The OLPC project has stated that a consumer version of the XO laptop is not planned.^[4] However, Quanta will be offering machines very similar to the XO machine on the open market.^[5] Emerging competitors in the category include the Eee pc.

Microsoft's Boasting of Silverlight

Silverlight will go head-to-head with Adobe's Flash, the current dominant platform for online multimedia content. Microsoft has long insisted that Silverlight will do things its rivals can't. Those claims got a major boost from Silverlight's dramatic demos at Mix07. Netflix plans to adopt Silverlight as the foundation for its instant-viewing feature; a demo showed off high-quality streaming video overlaid with DVD-like menus and controls. A preview of forthcoming on-demand video functionality from MLB.com had attendees clamoring for the developing new features to hurry up and get finished.

Silverlight's content presentation was impressive, but development partners said its programming model is even more impressive. Avenue A/Razorfish began working on the Netflix demo it showed off today just three weeks ago, Brown said.

"We've found it to be an incredibly powerful platform to create immersive experiences," he said. "We now have unprecedented collaboration between our designers and developers."

Solutions provider Metaliq showed off a Silverlight-based in-browser video editing application, Top Banana. Building the application was quick and painless, according to Metaliq CEO Beau Ambur. What's even more painless is its download speed: the application itself is just 50kb, Ambur said.

Of course, Microsoft's willingness to play nicely with rival platforms has its limits. Silverlight applications will run on Macs, but the tools for building them won't. Expression Studio, which shipped today, will remain Windows-only software, according to Wayne Smith, the group product manager in charge of the suite.

How to Add Google Talk Gadget in Orkut

How to Add Google Talk Gadget in Orkut

Few months ago, when news broke out that Google Talk and Orkut would be integrated, we were all expecting an embedded Google Talk Chatbox within Orkut (something like what we see within Gmail), but unfortunately they didn’t do that. Instead, they just added our Orkut friends are GTalk contacts and added our status message to be seen in Orkut.

Recently Google introduced a new Google Talk Gadget which could be embedded onto any blog or webpage. Making use of this gadget, ErickXavier has coded a Greasemonkey script which adds a nifty Google Talk gadget within Orkut Sidebar, which allows you to stay intouch with your buddies without installing Google Talk.

Installation: Just like any other Greasemonkey script, you need Firefox and Greasemonkey extension before attempting to install this script. Click here to install the script from our mirror (Alternatively, you can get it from Userscripts)

BitTorrent Inc. Introduces Ad-Supported Downloads

BitTorrent Inc. is experimenting with alternatives to paid downloads on their Entertainment Network, and is now experimenting with advertising supported downloads. Instead of paying for a download, BitTorrent’s customers now see ads before and after watching an episode.

DRM-free and ad supported downloads are the future, and one of the only business models that will be able to compete with pirated content. It’s good to see that BitTorrent Inc. is realizing this, they are moving in the right direction."

DRM, take a HIDE !

Those cooky kids over at the Doom9 forums hate themselves some DRM. Not more than two months after discovering a means to extract the HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc "volume keys" to decrypt AACS DRM on individual films, we're now getting word that DRM hacker arnezami has found the "processing key" used to decrypt the DRM on all HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc films. Let's break this down for what it is: instead of needing individual keys for each and every high-definition film -- of which there are many -- the processing key can be used to unlock, decrypt, and backup every HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc film released so far. As arnezami points out, "nothing was actually hacked, cracked or even reverse engineered." All he had to do was keep an eye on his memory, watch what changed, and voila... the processing key appeared. So kick back and watch the trickle of HD titles hitting the torrents quickly turn into a flood (at ~20GB a pop, that's not an exaggeration) when the BackupHDDVD and BackupBluray utilities (or AnyDVD HD) are updated to reflect the new hack find.

Gmail for ALL !

Nearly three years after its debut, Gmail has finally shed its invitation-only status. In the U.S., Canada, Mexico and other countries, anyone can sign up for an account. That account will include the usual 2.8GB of storage and all the other Gmail goodies, including the Archive and Mail Fetcher. Google plans to sell additional storage space for users who want it, though pricing has not yet been decided. For the time being, Gmail will retain its beta status.

Action games said to sharpen your vision by 20%

Even there's a study to prove (and disprove) just about everything, but sometimes a little panacea to help ease our anxieties and foster our addictions. (Cellphones not causing cancer is one that jumps to mind.) Today's comes from the University of Rochester, which, contrary to what your mom always told you would happen to your eyesight, showed that all those hours of Gears of War might just pay off: apparently tested subjects who play action games for a few hours daily experience a "substantial increase in the spatial resolution of their vision", making them about 20% better at identifying letters amidst visual clutter (a test similar to the one the DMV administers to see if you're fit to operate a vehicle). Unfortunately, reducing the eye-strain with less brain-draining titles (like puzzle games, for instance) wasn't found to work -- only action gamers, who need to look closely to find their prey, were shown to increase their acuity. That is, from a couple feet's distance, anyway. We'd really like to see the followup study that shows how near-sightedness is affected by staring for hours at a virtual space represented on a two-dimensional plane. Until then, tell your spouse you're working to improve your vision the next time you're demanded to give up the TV or your computer for more mundane activities.

Yahoo Messenger for Vista

Yahoo Messenger for Vista, which is planned to be available in the second quarter of this year, allows users to combine multiple conversations into one window with multiple tabs instead of having windows cluttering the desktop.

Microsoft's Vista AV Fails Certification

Microsoft's much-hyped anti-virus solution, Live OneCare and three other Vista AV products failed to achieve the Virus Bulletin's VB100 certification. The other products are McAfee's VirusScan Enterprise, G DATA's AntiVirusKit 2007, and Norman's VirusControl. All failed to pass a series of tests that are required to display the VB100 badge. 'With the number of delays that we've seen in Vista's release, there's no excuse for security vendors not to have got their products right by now,' said John Hawes, technical consultant at Virus Bulletin.

SMS on Orkut

While orkut users love having an online social network, we understand that a good deal of your social life happens offline. We wanted orkut to enrich the offline social life of its members, so we thought we could either give you computers with really long cords or we could bring orkut to the device you carry around in your pocket: the mobile phone. Thus the idea for an orkut SMS service was born.

With orkut's new SMS feature, you can scrap your friends, look up their contact information and receive scrap notifications. Now you can send scraps from the bus, bar or bathroom, and your friends can get notified of those scraps when on bicycle, beach or bed. Along with the standard orkut features, we've included a few hidden goodies for the adventurous to find.

This week, orkut SMS will become available to orkut members in Brazil who use Claro as their mobile service provider. When the feature becomes available to you, a message will be displayed when you sign in to your account. We hope to expand soon to other mobile service providers in Brazil and around the globe.

Nokia Website HACKED!

Here is the Screenshot: