Google Chrome OS Tablet

Google has shown off a concept tablet running their Chrome OS. The concept was designed by Google Chrome’s UI lead designer Glen Murphy, and gives us a glimpse at possible future Google Tablet’s.

As you can see in the video below, one thing that stands out is the ability to multi-task on the Google Tablet, something which the Apple iPad is lacking.



If Google do produce a Chrome OS based tablet, and it does come with multi-tasking then it may just be the tablet that will give the Apple iPad some competition.

Apple iPad

• It offers a maximum of 64GB of storage, a 9.7-inch screen and isn't able to run multiple apps simultaneously, so it's not going to replace many desktop computers.


• It doesn't have a cell phone, so it's not going to replace many iPhones.


• With prices starting at just $499, lots of people will want them anyway.


• With iWork, Mail, Safari, and 100,000-plus iPhone apps available, many users could use iPads instead of laptop computers.

So who is going to buy all these iPads? First and foremost, I expect lots of notebook computer users to abandon their Mac and Windows laptops completely and replace them with iPads. And I expect a substantial number of iPhone and desktop computer users to buy an iPad to use in addition to their desktop computer and/or iPhone. Ergo, I predict the iPad will become an instant best-seller.

So, if the iPad does become a smash hit, how will it affect Apple?

The biggest concern, I think, is that the iPad is going to cannibalize some MacBook, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro sales, perhaps a lot of them.

That sounds bad for Apple but it's really not, as I'll explain in a moment. I also believe the iPad is going to convert a good number of Windows laptop users, which you have to agree, sounds pretty good for Apple.

Finally, the iPad will appeal to many users who will buy it in addition to all of their other devices, which would also be quite good for Apple.

The question is how badly will those lost MacBook sales hurt Apple. I believe the answer is not much. Sure, in the short term it will mean that some Apple notebook profits are lost to the less expensive (and thus less profitable) iPad sales. But in the long run Apple will more than make up those profits selling music, video and applications to iPad.

In other words, though Apple makes a tidy profit when you buy a MacBook, MacBook Air or MacBook Pro, the iPad will become a gold mine that delivers profits month in and month out, year after year, and will be one of Apple's greatest success stories.

Specs

The iPad is a beast of a machine, so here's a rundown of what makes up Apple's latest and greatest.

• CPU: Apple's custom 1GHz A4 SOC, manufactured by Samsung. And I can tell you, it's blazingly fast.


• Display: 9.7-inch, 1024 x 786 (132 PPI), LED backlit IPS with capacitive touch and oleophobic coating.


• Storage: The iPad will come in 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB variations.


• RAM: No word on this from Apple (just like with the iPhone and iPod touch). We assume it's more than the iPhone 3GS's 256MB, but we won't know for sure till we see a full breakdown.


• Wireless: The devices comes standard with 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth 2.1. You can also purchase a version which has 3G connectivity (UMTS / HSDPA 850, 1900, 2100MHz and GSM / EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900MHz). Sorry everyone, the iPad uses new micro SIMs.


• Other sensors: The iPad has a digital compass, there's AGPS on-board in the 3G version, and both versions have an accelerometer and ambient light sensor.


• Ports / input / output: Headphone jack, 30-pin dock connector, built-in microphone, built-in speaker.


• Battery life: Apple claims "up to" 10 hours web surfing on WiFi, listening to music, or watching video, and over a month on standby.


• Dimensions: height: 9.56-inches, width: 7.47-inches, depth: 0.5-inches, weight: 1.5 pounds (1.6 for the 3G model).

谷歌，有種！

轉載自《東方日報》

世界最大網絡搜索引擎公司谷歌（Google），可能離開中國這只會下金蛋的母雞，引起了軒然大波；不僅業界嘩然，亦隨即上升為外交事件。我突然聯想到「無奸不成商」這句老話。

谷歌為什麼要撤退？不是市場問題，也不是安全問題，是言論自由問題。因為發現中國駭客竊取維權和異見人士的電郵，委曲求全4年後、原則上「不作惡」的谷歌終於決定不再忍氣吞聲，公開對抗中國這位經濟巨人。美國有專欄作家就稱讚說：谷歌比美國政府更有種。

然而，中國官方媒體與不少愛國分子就認為，谷歌其實是個偽君子。它在中國打不贏競爭對手百度，輸得灰頭土臉後，就用「退出」這個談判技巧，拿網絡「言論自由」說事，要挾中國政府同意谷歌在中國光明正大地做生意，不用走旁門左道。

百度首席產品設計師孫雲豐就狠狠地說：「因經濟利益退出，就直白白地說好了，把自己塗脂抹粉一番……是侮辱中國普通老百姓的智商」。

中國老百姓的智商是什麼？我之所以想到「無奸不成商」，就從這里開始。我上網（百度）查「奸商」的來歷，得到了一個有趣的發現。

傳說，中國的財神爺趙公明是賣米的，當時賣米是用斗量的，他的店從來都是給足量，讓米高高地堆起來形成一個尖。他臨終前，交代他的子孫，賣米要給足量，無尖不成商。後來被人們演變成「無奸不成商」了。

一般老百姓的認知是，凡商人必奸詐。那些來自西方資本主義社會的跨國公司更是喜歡以大欺小。他們在大把大把地賺我們的錢時，沒有手軟，還從不掩飾是在按遊戲規則辦事。什麼是遊戲規則？盈利就是一切。從商就是為賺錢，這本來就是無可厚非的。商人雙手沒有銅臭味，難不成還能聞到清人心扉的花香？

偏偏，來自西方的谷歌不來這一套。人家搞的是網絡生意，除了賺錢以外，這個東西天生就要求自由、開放、透明，以知識共享、信息共享。它不希望審查存在，因為這個與它的賺錢原則有衝突。並非「中國普通老百姓的智商」所認為的假清高，把商業上的失敗美化成維護人權、言論自由。

搞了大半天，原來又是東西方文化在衝突。無論谷歌最後能否突圍而出，還是壯烈犧牲，都給了世界上很多大公司一個警醒：你也可以對中國說不！不是只有你中國可以不高興，微軟、思科、雅虎，甚至蘋果都可以不高興。

對於中國普通網民來說，他們並沒有辦法影響事態的發展。他們唯一能做的，就是學好翻牆術，即使谷歌在全面被封的時候，仍可繼續使用其產品及服務。

這個互聯網巨人，自２００６年進入中國市場以來無法達致預期中的效果，卻先後遭遇「染黃」和「侵權」事件，最近更是發生ＧＭＡＩＬ用戶遭黑客「毒手」問題。

根據美國互聯網流量監測機構Stat Counter的數據顯示，谷歌於過去半年間在中國市場與中國「互聯網老大」百度的差距正逐漸縮小，市場份額從去年7月的30%增加至年底的43%。谷歌在如此霸道的中國市場卻還能取得令人鼓舞的成長，也算是可喜可賀了。

Tiananmen 'Tank Man' photo available on Google China

The iconic "Tank Man" photo taken during the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown and banned in China was available on Google.cn Wednesday, hours after the online giant vowed to defy Chinese Internet censors.

Photo shows a protester holding a poster of the "Tank Man" democracy activist stopping tanks in Beijing during the 1989 pro-democracy movement. The photo, banned in China, was available on Google.cn Wednesday, hours after the online giant vowed to defy Chinese Internet censors.

Google announced Tuesday it would no longer censor search engine results in China and possibly pull out of the world's largest online market, citing cyber spy attacks and Chinese Web censorship.

The picture of a Chinese man who boldly stood in front of a line of tanks during the 1989 crack down on pro-democracy protests made headlines around the world. It is banned in China where the event is still hugely sensitive.

A search for the image on Google.cn displayed the photo immediately, while the image did not come up on Baidu.com, another popular Chinese search engine.

Searches for other sensitive topics such as the Dalai Lama and the banned Falungong spiritual group were also returned on Google, but were also available on some Chinese portals.

China blocks Web content it deems politically objectionable in a vast censorship system dubbed the "Great Firewall of China."

Google said it was targeted by China-based cyber spies along with at least 20 other unidentified firms in an apparent bid to hack into the email accounts of rights activists around the world.

Several people, some bearing flowers, turned up Wednesday at Google's China headquarters in Beijing to show their support for the Internet giant.

"We are ordinary Google users who have come here to say thank you. We want to show our support to Google," said one woman, who would not give her name.

Some Internet users expressed dismay at Google's possible pull-out.

In an online survey of over 14,000 people on 163.com, a popular portal, nearly 78 percent said they did not want to see Google leave the Chinese market.

"If Google leaves, then I will not go online," one person said on 163.com.

"Google, by defending its commercial morals, will only receive more of netizens' understanding and support," said an online user on sina.com, another Chinese portal.

Reaction in China's state-controlled media was muted.

China Central Television, the government's main television propaganda arm, made no mention of the story in its midday news broadcast.

Other major state-run outlets ran only brief reports that failed to mention the allegations of government Internet censorship or hacking directed at rights activists.


U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on Beijing Tuesday to explain cyber attacks originating from China against Google and at least 20 other firms.

"We look to the Chinese government for an explanation," Clinton said in a statement after Google vowed to defy Chinese Internet censors in outrage at "highly sophisticated" cyber attacks aimed at Chinese human rights activists.

Google May Leave China... Completely!!!

Official Google Blog: A new approach to China

Google made a threat to China which does not have a precedent in the actions of any other US company. It threatened to pull its business from China due to potential cyber attacks on its online operations.

The company said, “Like many other well-known organizations, we face cyber attacks of varying degrees on a regular basis. In mid-December, we detected a highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China that resulted in the theft of intellectual property from Google. However, it soon became clear that what at first appeared to be solely a security incident–albeit a significant one–was something quite different.”

Google added “we have evidence to suggest that a primary goal of the attackers was accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. Based on our investigation to date we believe their attack did not achieve that objective. Only two Gmail accounts appear to have been accessed, and that activity was limited to account information (such as the date the account was created) and subject line, rather than the content of emails themselves.”

“These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered–combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web–have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China. We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China.”

Wal-Mart is next.

Accept payments. Everywhere

Even though a majority of payments has moved to plastic cards, accepting payments from cards is still difficult, requiring long applications, expensive hardware, and an overly complex experience.


Square, Inc was born to resolve all these issues with the beauty of Apple iPhone. In future, they will extend the capability to Android as well as BlackBerry.

Can't beat it, kill it!

Microsoft is proven to be an asshole again!

Goddamned Microsoft with its dirty Bing

Microsoft is struggling with its search technology and market share. This goddamned company is now trying to invade into your Internet browser and change your default search to Bing without your consent.

When you type a keyword into the Location Bar, Firefox does a keyword search of your history and bookmarks. Results are displayed in a drop-down list. If you do not select a result from the drop-down list but just press enter, Firefox takes you to the top Google result for that search by default.

However, by modifying the preference called keyword.URL, you can change this behavior. This is how the dirty Microsoft invades to your browser and changes its default search to Bing.

Now, how should we remove the goddamned Bing and get our Google back?

1. On your Firefox’s Location Bar (a.k.a. address bar), type “about:config”.
2. You will be prompted with yellow triangle warning stated your action might void your warranty. Don’t panic, just click on “I’ll be careful, I promise!” button.
3. On the Filter bar, type “keyword.URL”.
4. Double-click it and replace the string value to http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&q=
5. Click OK and you’re done!

Here are a few example values for different search behavior:

Google's "I'm Feeling Lucky" (default pre-Firefox 2.0)
http://www.google.com/search?btnI=I%27m+Feeling+Lucky&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=

Google "Browse by Name" (Automatically takes you to sites with a clear match, else performs a Google search) (default in Firefox 2)
http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&q=

Google Search (Google search results page)
http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=

Hotmail hacked, thousands of accounts compromised

Microsoft confirmed yesterday evening that Hotmail had been targeted by malicious fraudsters in what is commonly referred to as a phishing scam, tricking users into revealing their credentials at fake websites.

Details of accounts were posted on the code snippets website pastebin.com on October 1st. The list only covered names beginning with A or B meaning only a partial list was taken, or that was just a taster of the full list.

The important thing is this looks like a legitimate list of accounts and covers addresses ending in hotmail.com, msn.com, and live.com. At least 10,000 accounts are in the wild.

Microsoft is looking into the claims of a breach, but has yet to confirm whether its service has been compromised. If you have an account ending hotmail, live, or msn, then don’t hesitate and start changing your email service to Gmail today!

Microsoft has never been secured!!!

GeoCities is closing on October 26, 2009.

GeoCities started off as a web hosting service founded by David Bohnett and John Rezner in late 1994.

This was one of the earliest company to offer users the ability to develop free home pages and hosted on their servers.

In January 1999, near the peak of the dot-com bubble, GeoCities was purchased by Yahoo! for $3.57 billion in stock, with Yahoo! taking control on May 28. The acquisition proved extremely unpopular; users began to leave en masse in protest at the new terms of service put out by Yahoo! for GeoCities. The terms stated that the company owned all rights and content, including media such as pictures. Yahoo! quickly reversed its decision.

While GeoCities proved a popular site for newcomers to Web design in the late 1990s due to its free service, the site has gradually become obsolete with the ever-decreasing cost of hosting a personal website. Most GeoCities sites that were popular in the late 1990s are no longer active and have long since been abandoned for other options.

Lately, Yahoo! sent out an email, reminding its users of the site closure.

Thanks to Yahoo!, for killing another great company with great ideas!

Discovering the web: Explore the world of Google search

There's a bunch of YouTube videos showing how we can use Google's different features!

Click: Explore Google Search

換湯不換藥的BING

當微軟(Microsoft)遇上谷歌(Google)，還是一貫地以不屑的眼神，以為谷歌小弟弟只不過是另一個網景(Netscape)。這也太小看谷歌了吧！

當谷歌頭也不回地往前沖時，這時微軟的光頭老爺爺才覺悟，谷歌這小伙子可是壯志少年了呀！

微軟的光頭老爺爺以為當下用戶個個傻頭傻腦，還買微軟這一套，換換包裝再上路！

MSN Search 追不上，換個 Windows Live Search ，不行再換個 Bing ！我提議呀，不然用 Rubbish ，比較好聽嘛！

Gmail is now out of beta.

Gmail is now out of beta. "Beta" has been removed from the logo!

Gmail Down!!!

Gmail has become unavailable again! It shows Temporary Error (500) after login.


It follows a major outage of the service at the end of February when it was unavailable to all users for several hours.

This was believed to be one of the longest downtimes ever suffered by Google.

More than 113 million people use Gmail worldwide, according to comScore.

According to Google, its e-mail service suffered an average of 10 to 15 minutes of downtime per month in 2008.

Check service status: Apps Status Dashboard

Google Earth Sets Course for Open Seas

Google Earth has taken to the high seas with version 5.0. The popular geo-mapping application now contains more detail and information about the ocean floor, rather than the plain bluish green photos of the surface included in previous versions. Google teamed up with several scientific organizations to string together maps from under the sea.

Also in the offing for the fifth iteration of Google Earth are historical maps that allow users to look into the past and view images and changes to the planet over the course of time. There is also a new 3D Mars mapping feature and a new touring function that enables users to document and share their virtual journeys.

The addition of oceans makes Google Earth richer and more complete as an information resource. It also enables Earth to become a better teaching tool to students and users generally about the importance and role of the oceans in the planetary ecosystem. It's great that Google sought to include Ocean in Earth and to bring all these content partners together. It will help build awareness about climate change and its impact on the ocean. In addition, it's just a fun and interesting tool.

The addition will also help Google gain users for its Chrome Web browser. Oceans in Google Earth is a new attraction to lure more consumers to download the Google Earth desktop application, which conveniently includes Google's Chrome Web browser. The business goal here is for Google to keep gaining market share. For example, many of the ocean sites link back to YouTube videos and Google owns YouTube.

Business aside, Google Earth still serves as a great learning tool for curious minds about Earth sciences. The depths of the oceans are definitely one place few of us would see otherwise.

Hackers Compromise Legit Web Sites to Target Microsoft IE Flaw

Microsoft reported a significant increase in the number of users infected with malware targeting a vulnerability in Internet Explorer widely reported last week. The flaw affects all supported editions of IE.

Hackers have begun compromising Web sites to infect vulnerable computers with malware that exploits a zero-day flaw in Internet Explorer revealed last week.

Microsoft reported a significant increase in the number of infected users over the weekend, and researchers at Trend Micro estimated about 6,000 sites had been infected. The move is a shift in tactics for hackers, who had been relying on rogue Web sites to propagate their malware.

"Based on our stats, since the vulnerability has gone public, roughly 0.2 percent of users worldwide may have been exposed to Web sites containing exploits of this latest vulnerability," according to a posting on the Microsoft Malware Protection Center (MMPC) blog. "That percentage may seem low, however it still means that a significant number of users have been affected. The trend for now is going upwards: we saw an increase of over 50 percent in the number of reports today compared to yesterday."

So far, the compromised sites have run the gamut, ranging from a popular search engine in Taiwan – now reportedly clean – to various pornography sites.

“We recently found a Web site in Hong Kong that serves various content including adult entertainment,” according to the MMPC blog. “Users who hoped to watch that content, became target of those attacks: specifically, the exploit dropped Trojans that we detect as Trojan:Win32/VB.IQ.dr and Trojan:Win32/VB.IQ.”

Other compromised sites included a Chinese sporting goods site with a traffic rank of close to 7 million. According to Trend Micro, the site contained HTML code that directed users to a remote site with malicious script. The final payload is a worm detected by Trend Micro as WORM_AUTORUN.BSE. Other exploits that also lead to the worm are HTML_IFRAME.ZM, JS_DLOADER.QGV and HTML_AGENT.CPZZ, according to Trend.

“Obfuscated JavaScript in the HTML Web pages are also detected as JS_DLOAD.MD, the same malicious script found to exploit the zero-day vulnerability in IE7,” Trend Micro’s Mayee Corpin wrote on the company’s security blog.

Exploits for the zero-day, which affects all versions of Internet Explorer (IE), began to proliferate last week shortly after Microsoft’s monthly Patch Tuesday release. The vulnerability lies in the way the browser handles DHTML Data Bindings.

The best way to get rid of this is to switch to another Internet browser and stop using Internet Explorer (IE).

I'm recommending Mozilla Firefox. Mozilla Firefox is a free and open source web browser descended from the Mozilla Application Suite, managed by the Mozilla Corporation. Firefox had 20.78% of the recorded usage share of web browsers as of November 2008, making it the second-most popular browser in current use worldwide, after Internet Explorer.

Firefox uses a sandbox security model, and limits scripts from accessing data from other web sites based on the same origin policy. It uses SSL/TLS to protect communications with web servers using strong cryptography when using the https protocol. It also provides support for web applications to use smartcards for authentication purposes.

The Mozilla Foundation offers a "bug bounty" to researchers who discover severe security holes in Firefox. Official guidelines for handling security vulnerabilities discourage early disclosure of vulnerabilities so as not to give potential attackers an advantage in creating exploits.

Because Firefox has fewer and less severe publicly known unpatched security vulnerabilities than Internet Explorer, improved security is often cited as a reason to switch from Internet Explorer to Firefox. The Washington Post reports that exploit code for critical unpatched security vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer was available for 284 days in 2006. In comparison, exploit code for critical security vulnerabilities in Firefox was available for 9 days before Mozilla shipped a patch to remedy the problem. Symantec in their statement, saying that Firefox still had much fewer security vulnerabilities than Internet Explorer, as counted by security researchers.

With more than 15,000 improvements, Firefox 3 is faster, safer and smarter than ever before for safe Internet surfing.
To download the software, go to http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

For portable version of Firefox, visit http://portableapps.com/ to grab one.

Gmail: Spice up your inbox with colors and themes

I love the Terminal theme!!! :-)
Thanks for such a great one!


Source: http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/spice-up-your-inbox-with-colors-and.html

Finally: Apple Online Store, Malaysia

Now we can buy Mac, iPod, and third-party gear directly from Apple at the new Apple Online Store, Malaysia. Free shipping on orders over RM 250. :-)

Browser Wars - On the Mac

Mac Browser Market Share

The browser battle on the Mac is between Safari and Firefox. Safari dominates, but Firefox has a much larger share on the Mac than Windows. However, Firefox share has been relatively stable.

iPhone Tops Windows Mobile Devices in Web Browsing

Operating System Market Share

I've been tracking iPhone usage since its launch. Total web browsing on the iPhone has topped the web browsing on all Windows Mobile devices combined. The iPhone has had a dramatic rise in usage share in its short time on the market. Is this due to a better user interface? Larger screen?

Internet Browser Market Share

Internet Browser Market Share Trend

Internet Browser Market Share by Version

Internet Browser Market Share Trend by Version