Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Available for Download

Hello everyone.The latest version of Ubuntu is recently released.Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron is the second release of the popular Linux operating system to offer Long Term Support (LTS). As you can imagine this is extremely important in the corporate world where IT departments can’t afford to hassle with upgrading the operating system every six months.

Here is the list of some new features introduced:

• Wubi - Install and uninstall Ubuntu in Windows as if it were a simple Windows application. It does not need a dedicated partition to operate, but it is still able to offer a dual-boot setup.
• PulseAudio - Mix audio from multiple applications together, adjust the volume for each specific application, and more.
• Xorg 7.3 - Includes a new Screen Resolution utility that allows users to dynamically configure the resolution, refresh rate, and rotation of a second monitor. This will be particularly handy for laptop users that connect to a projector or external monitor.
• Firefox 3 (Beta 5) - Integrates much better into the operating system.
• Brasero - CD/DVD burning application
• Transmission - BitTorrent client
• World Clock Applet - The GNOME panel clock can display the time and weather of multiple locations around the world.
• Vinagre - Remote desktop (VNC) client
• Totem - Movie player that includes a plugin for directly searching and playing YouTube videos.
• Inkscape - Native PDF support that provides an easy way to edit text and graphics in PDF documents.

And that’s just for Ubuntu! Don’t forget to check out some of the other variants:

• Kubuntu 8.04 - A KDE version of Ubuntu. There’s now a “cutting edge” version available that includes KDE 4.0!
• Edubuntu 8.04 - Designed for the education setting, and includes iTalc classroom management software allowing for teacher sharing, monitoring, and control of networked workstations.
• Xubuntu 8.04 - Xubuntu uses the Xfce desktop environment which is geared towards less-powerful computers. Have an old computer sitting around? Put it to work with this Ubuntu variant!

[Via]

Automatically Bring up the Context Menu in Firefox

Hello everyone.Right clicking & bringing up the context menu in Mozilla firefox takes a long time.And this is an act that is performed quite frequently.So it will be quite time saving for you if this Context menu appears automatically whenever highlight some text on a site.All you need to do to start using this is install Auto Context extension in Firefox.The menu that automatically appears will be Completely customizable which is a great opportunity to break free of the menu items that you never use.The menu

As you’ll notice in the screenshot above this extension also makes performing a search faster by listing all of your search engines in their own menu. Your default search engine is show as its own entity, but again this is all customizable in the options.Here is an overview of the features that can be used by installing this Add-on.

• The auto-popup function can be disabled
• Some functions of the selected extension(s) will be available in the showed popup menu.
  Supported extensions in the latest version: Plain Text to Link, Open-Tran, BabelZilla Glossary Extension , SearchWith, Organize Search Engines, Add to search bar, Nuke Anything Enhanced, DownThemAll
• Copy, Copy as HTML, Copy as real HTML, Cut, Select All, View Selection Source
  Open as URL (In this Tab, In new window, In new Tab, In new Selected Tab, In Selected Window)
  "Search with: Current engineName", "Search with... Choose from Installed Engines"
• Paste selection to Search Bar (set in Search tab)
• The opened webpages with 'Open as URL' is possible to add into Urlbar History
• Show 'Auto Context' item in Firefox's context menu if text is selected
• Show Auto Context Popup for editable text in textbox.

You Can download this Add-on from here.

[Via] Image credit from here as well.

Alternative of Microsoft Paint - Paint.NET

Hi there.This post is about a free image & photo editing software called Paint.NET.Paint.NET is free image and photo editing software for computers that run Windows. It features an intuitive and innovative user interface with support for layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools. An active and growing online community provides friendly help, tutorials, and plugins.

It started development as an undergraduate college senior design project mentored by Microsoft, and is currently being maintained by some of the alumni that originally worked on it. Originally intended as a free replacement for the Microsoft Paint software that comes with Windows, it has grown into a powerful yet simple image and photo editor tool. It has been compared to other digital photo editing software packages such as Adobe® Photoshop®, Corel® Paint Shop Pro®, Microsoft Photo Editor, and The GIMP.

The programming language used to create Paint.NET is C#, with a small amount of C++ for installation and shell-integration related functionality. The source code is available under the terms of the MIT License.It seems a very good alternative to Ms Paint.So if you want to download the software you can download it from here.

McCullum smashes 158 in Rocking IPL opener

The Indian Premier League, with its potential to transform world cricket, began on Friday with a spectacular floodlit match in Bangalore.

The sell-out crowd of 55,000 was treated to a remarkable innings from New Zealand's Brendon McCullum.

Playing for the Kolkata Knight Riders he hit 158 not out, the highest ever individual Twenty20 score, as his side romped to a 140 run win.

The cricket was preceded by a lavish opening ceremony at the ground.

Acrobats, singers and cheerleaders from the Washington Redskins performed to a backdrop of some impressive fireworks.

But the home team, the Bangalore Royal Challengers, were soundly beaten, and there was one other sour note.

A row about the restrictions placed on international news agencies Reuters, AP and AFP led to all three boycotting coverage.

It meant websites and newspapers were unable to show photos from either the match or the opening ceremony.

When the action started some of the smartest kits ever seen in cricket were on show.

The Knight Riders, part-owned by Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan, wore black with gold trim, and gold helmets, pads and gloves.

The home team, led by former India captain Rahul Dravid, wore red, yellow and orange.

Two hours before the match was due to start, music began pumping out of giant speakers at the M Chinnaswammy Stadium.

Long queues gathered outside, although as most of the stands were already full many fans had to be turned away.

Those lucky enough to get into the ground cheered as the eight captains, all smartly dressed in suits, were introduced to them.

Board of Control for Cricket in India chairman Sharad Pawar said: "This is an historic day for world cricket.

"The world is watching what is happening in Bangalore.

Behind the scenes ahead of the first game

"In 44 days, 123 Indian players and 73 overseas players are going to play 59 matches in eight different places.

"I am confident there is an opportunity for the world's senior players to teach the new young players which will build a strong future team for India."

Acting International Cricket Council president Ray Mali thanked the Bangalore organisers and said cricket "was being taken to the next level".

The contests between the league's eight teams will feature nearly all of the top names in the game, and they will be closely watched in England, the birthplace of Twenty20 cricket.

The England and Wales Cricket Board is in talks with an American billionaire to set up its own version of the IPL, but on Friday the attention was squarely on India.

With the final in Mumbai on 1 June, fans should see some mouthwatering cricket with the likes of Sachin Tendulkar (Mumbai), Ricky Ponting (Kolkata) and Matthew Hayden (Chennai) facing the bowling of Brett Lee (Punjab), Shane Warne (Rajasthan) and Glenn McGrath (Delhi).

The stars will get around £100,000 a week during the tournament, putting them on similar pay to the world's top footballers, albeit for a limited period.

It will also be a new experience for the fans.

BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew said: "The success or failure of the IPL lies with the Indian supporters who are fanatical about cricket but only until now about the national team.

"If a supporter of the Punjab franchise celebrates wildly when Lee shatters Tendulkar's stumps in Mumbai for a duck then the IPL will have broken new territory."

Kolkata coach John Buchanan, owner Shah Rukh Khan & captain Sourav Ganguly

It has not all been plain sailing for the IPL organisers, however.

As well as having to cope with the agency boycott, they watched a severely one-sided match on Friday, with the Royal Challengers beaten by 140 runs.

Meanwhile, star names Tendulkar, Anil Kumble and Nathan Bracken are injured and out of the opening exchanges.

The most exciting fast bowler around, South Africa's Dale Steyn, is playing domestic cricket for the Titans back home and will also miss the start.

And England's only representative, Dimitri Mascarenhas, will only be released from Hampshire duty for a fortnight some time in May.

[Via]

Online data storage service from Microsoft - Windows Live SkyDrive

Now you can Upload and share 5GB of data to Windows Live SkyDrive, an online storage website from Microsoft that's just came out from beta last month. Your SkyDrive account will require a Windows Live ID, you get that 5GB of storage for personal folders accessible only to you, shared folders accessible to your friends, and public folders open to everyone. They can also be subscribed to via RSS. Here is the official word from Microsoft.

When you sign in to Windows Live SkyDrive, you're in charge

For each folder you create, you choose who has access to it. Add new folders, rename them, or change who has access at any time.

Always where you need them

• 5 GB of free online storage, available from any computer with Internet access.
• Create personal, shared, and public folders -- you decide who has access to each folder.
• Windows Live SkyDrive works well on any Windows or Macintosh computer with Firefox 1.5 or higher, or Internet Explorer 6 or higher.

How we help protect your files

• Your personal folders are password-protected with your Windows Live ID, so only you have access.
• When you create a shared folder, the friends you're sharing with need to sign in with their own Windows Live ID and password.
• Just like at your online bank, all file transfers are protected using Secure Socket Layers (SSL).

Personal

• Use personal folders to back up important files that are only for you.
• Get to your files from any computer with Internet access by signing in with your Windows Live ID.

Shared

• Shared folders make it easy to collaborate with coworkers or classmates.
• You decide how much control each person has over each shared folder. Some can just read what's there: others can add and delete files.
• Everyone who is sharing uses their own Windows Live ID.

Public

• With public folders, anyone on the Internet can view your files, but they can't change them.
• Want to show your public files to others? Just send them a link! Each folder and file has its own web address.

For further information You can Visit Skydrive Homepage or Skydrive team Blog.

[Via]

Some Very Useful Windows Xp Tips & Tricks

Reach Run quickly

Here’s a quicker way to reach the Run dialog box, if you don’t want to go through the Start menu. Just hit the Windows key + R.

Looking for a better screen font display?

Enable ClearType, Microsoft’s trademark font display technology, for a drastic improvement in screen font rendering. Right-click anywhere on your desktop. Now select Properties. Under the Appearance tab, click Effects. Check the box for Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts, and in the drop-down menu, select ClearType. Press OK, and apply the change.

Change your mouse pointer scheme

Bored of the same old arrow? To change your mouse pointer scheme, in the Control Panel, select Mouse and go to the Pointers tab. Scroll through the available schemes, pick one that you like and click Apply.

Check that your Windows Firewall is turned on

To make sure your Windows Firewall hasn’t been accidentally disabled, go to your Control Panel and click Windows Firewall. Make sure the radio button for On (recommended) is selected. Add exceptions to your Firewall by going to the Exceptions tab and adding the programs that you think should have access to the Internet to the list of exceptions.

Instantly activate your screensaver

In XP, you can put a short cut of your favourite screensaver on your desktop to instantly start your screen saver. Here’s how. Go to Start on your desktop and click on Search. In the help box, click on All files and folders. and then type in *.scr. Select your screen saver file and right click. Then select Send To, and then Desktop.

Put your Monitor to sleep

Right click on the desktop and click on Properties. In the dialog box that appears, click on the Screen Saver tab. Click on Power and in the dialog box that appears click on the Turn off Monitor list. Select a time to automatically after which the monitor will be turned off. Click OK twice and you’re set.



Using your Windows Key

Your Windows key can be used to for many short cuts. If you want to open your Windows Explorer quickly just press your Windows key and E. If you want to open the Run dialog box, just press the Windows key and R. If you want to open your search dialog box, press your Windows key and F.

Instantly lock your PC

If you have password protected your Windows, here is a quick way to lock it. Press the Windows key and L together.

Change the look of folder icons

If you don’t like the look of the folder icons on your desktop, you can change them. Right click on the folder, select Properties. Click on the Customize tab, and under the Folder icons area, click on the Change Icons button. Select the icon of your choice and select OK.

Minimize a Window to your taskbar

If you’re tired of using the mouse over and over again to minimize a window, here’s a handy tip. To minimize a window using just the keyboard, press Alt, Spacebar and N together.

Display album art in your music folder thumbnails

If your music files are in WMA format, XP automatically picks up the album art and displays it, both in the folder thumbnail as well as in the Windows Media Player display. If your files are in MP3 format, you can download the album art from the Internet and then customize each folder to display it. But this takes a lot of time. A faster way around is to save each image as ‘folder.jpg’ and put it in the correct folder. Once you do this, XP will pick up that image and use it as the thumbnail for the folder, and also use the image to display in Windows Media Player while playing songs from the album.

How to stop Windows Media Player from accessing your information

You may be uncomfortable with the idea of Windows Media Player collecting your information and sending it to various websites. You can stop this. Go to the Tools menu of Windows Media Player. Select Options and then go to the Player tab. Look for the check box that says "Allow Internet sites to uniquely identify your player?" and make sure it is not selected.

Opening folders with a single click

If you’d rather not have to double-click everything to open it, here’s the way out. Go to My Computer, and select Options in the Tools menu. Choose Folder options. In the dialog box that opens, select the check box that says ‘Single-click to open an item (point to select)’, and click OK.

Making web pages available offline

You may occasionally need to refer to a website, and you may not be able to connect to the Internet at the time. An easy way out of the situation is to go to the Favourites tab in Internet Explorer, and click Add to Favourites. In the dialog box that is displayed, select the Make available offline check box, and press OK.

Via : [Msn]

Sony Introducess Fresh Cyber-shots - DSC-W300 and DSC-H50

Sony's new Cyber-shots are expected to be available in the Asia-Pacific region sometime around April or May this year.Sony has expanded its popular Cyber-shot range with fresh models; DSC-W300 and DSC-H50.

Titanium-clad Cyber-shot DSC W300 offers a 13.6 mega pixels resolution, and boasts an "extra high speed" burst mode promising shooting 3 mega pixels photos at five frames per second (fps).

The W300 deploys a Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar 3x optical zoom lens, a 2.7-inches LCD screen, and an eye-level view finder -- among other features.

Keeping with the Sony Cyber-shot tradition, this camera too features Super SteadyShot optical image stabilization. Besides, it has a new extra high sensitivity mode (up to ISO 6400) to reduce blurriness in photographs while shooting in low-light conditions. Noise reduction is offered as a user-selectable option.

The other new Cyber-shot, the DSC-H50, offers a resolution of 9.1 mega pixels and boasts an advanced Sports Shooting Mode that allows for higher shutter speeds of up to 1/4000 of a second. The mode also helps combine higher shutter speeds with predictive continuous auto-focusing to capture fast-moving subjects with minimal shutter lag.

The DSC-H50 utilizes a Carl Zeiss 15x optical zoom lens, and a 3-inches tilting LCD screen making for greater creativity while shooting from high or low angles.

This camera also incorporates Super SteadyShot optical image stabilization, with noise reduction again a user-selectable option.

Both the W300 and the H50 feature the D-Range Optimizer (DRO) Plus that automatically applies image-correction algorithms when pictures are shot in high-contrast conditions. In effect, pictures retain overall exposure while bringing out the finer nuances of highlights and shadows.

Other features common to both cameras include: presence of Carl Zeiss lenses, face detection, smile shutter, and intelligent scene recognition. The USP of Carl Zeiss lenses is that they are manufactured from super low-dispersion glass, which helps them to produce very precise point-to-point correspondence between objects and their images.

[Via]: Techtree.com

Stuck in traffic? Let Microsoft help

Microsoft, with a new software technology, is now all set to help car drivers avoid traffic jams.

The software giant is launching a software technology called "Clearflow" for its website (http://maps.live.com/) that helps users with driving directions, to now avoid traffic jams as well.This technology has been under development for over the past five years by a group of artificial-intelligence researchers at Microsoft's Research lab.

Clearflow is an ambitious attempt to apply machine-learning techniques to the problem of traffic congestion. The system is intended to reflect the complex traffic interactions that occur as traffic backs up on freeways and spills over onto city streets, reports NewYork Times.

Taking into account details such as sporting events, current weather, and the time of day, the service will guide drivers to reach their destinations in the shortest amount of time.

Once launched, Clearflow will be available through Microsoft's maps.live.com service and would support around 72 cities in the US.

Is your E-mail safe?

Many of us think that viruses, Trojans and other such threats happen to others. People losing money from their bank accounts or having their credit card info stolen – these are incidents that we think we are safe from, till the day it happens to us. Here’s how to find out that your E-mail is invaded.

Symptoms

John received an e-mail from a friend, with a link to a website to view an interesting video. She clicked the link. Within a few days, her computer was behaving strangely—the Internet connection had become slow; even checking e-mail was difficult. Pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del to see running programs didn’t show any unusual activity. Looking at the list of installed programs didn’t help either.

Prognosis

Clicking the link installed a Trojan on John’s machine. In all likelihood, her friend would not even know that such an e-mail had been sent—many Trojans, when they infect a computer, send e-mail to all contacts in the user’s Address Book.

The Trojan could do one of several things on John’s machine. It could install programs such as keyloggers, which record keyboard strokes. Keyloggers can steal usernames, passwords and other sensitive information from a PC. It could record her John’s behavior and install an adware program to show her context-sensitive ads. Or it could even turn her machine into a ‘zombie’ computer, which could then be used to send spam, viruses or worms to thousands of computers.

Prevention

It is difficult to remove Trojans and contain the damage that they might do to your machine. They can come hidden in anything—games, screensavers, images, links are some of the ways they sneak in. Therefore, be very careful in opening attachments or clicking links, even if they seem to be coming from your friends. E-mail attachments are the most favored route for spreading viruses and worms. Before you open it, it’s better to check with your friend if she has actually sent such an e-mail or not.

Via : Msn

Microsoft Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse 3000 now in five new colors

Special edition versions of the Microsoft Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse 3000 have been announced in the US; the mouse now comes in five new colors. These being: Aloe (green), Dragon fruit (dark pink), Milk Chocolate (brown), Pomegranate (red), and Creme brulee (khaki).

In addition to the riot of colours, the special edition versions of the mouse feature Microsoft's Intelligent Tracking System for smoother tracking, 6,000 frames per second for greater precision, and 1,000 dots per inch for better responsiveness. The mice come fitted with rubber side grips and sculpted finger grooves for greater ease-of-use.Here is a photo of the mouse firstly introduced.
They are powered by AA batteries; to save on battery, the mice come fitted with snap-in receivers that automatically turn off when snapped into the bottom.

As of now, special edition versions are available with Best Buy for around $30.

Check out the Coffee Table of the Future - Microsoft Surface

In a technological break-through, Microsoft has unveiled a first-of-its-kind coffee-table shaped surface computer, called 'Microsoft Surface'. Surface is essentially a Windows Vista PC tucked inside a shiny black table base, topped with a 30-inch (76-centimeter) touchscreen in a clear acrylic frame. The company says that 'Microsoft Surface' turns an ordinary tabletop into a vibrant, dynamic surface that provides effortless interaction with all forms of digital content, through natural gestures, touch, and physical objects. In a statement, Steve Ballmer, Chief Executive Officer, Microsoft, said, "With 'Surface' we are creating more intuitive ways for people to interact with technology. We see this as a multibillion-dollar category, and we envision a time when surface computing technologies will be pervasive, from tabletops and counters to the hallway mirror. Surface is the first step in realizing that vision."

'Microsoft Surface' has an intuitive user interface that works without a traditional mouse or keyboard, allowing people to interact with content and information on their own, or collaboratively with their friends and families, just like in the real world. It also has a 30-inch display in a table-like form factor that small groups can use at the same time.


'Microsoft Surface' has the ability to recognize physical objects that have identification tags similar to bar codes. This means that when a customer simply sets a wine glass on the surface of a table, a restaurant could provide them with information about the wine they are ordering, pictures of the vineyard it came from, and suggested food pairings tailored to that evening's menu

According to Microsoft, it will manufacture the machine itself, and sell it initially to corporate customers, deploying the first units in November this year in Sheraton Hotels, Harrah's casinos, T-Mobile stores, and restaurants in the US.

Photo Credit : AP
Via : Msn

Download Microsoft Windows Installer 4.5.6001.22133 Beta / 3.1.4000.2435

Microsoft Windows Installer description

An application installation and configuration service

The new multi-package transaction introduced in Windows Installer 4.5 enables creating a single Windows Installer transaction from separate packages.

As a result, developers can now divide their products into multiple packages that can be composed and retain the robustness of the Windows Installer transaction.

A common example of this delivering language specific products in two packages, one language neutral World Wide package and one language specific package.

Support for Multi-Package Transaction is provided via new APIs MsiBeginTransaction, MsiEndTransaction, and MsiJoinTransaction.

In creating this multi-package transaction support, Windows Installer is further formalizing the role of a chainer in the application installation and servicing stack.

Windows Installer 4.5 adds the new MsiEmbeddedUI and MsiEmbeddedChainer tables to support embedding the binaries that were previously required to be external to the MSI.

Through these embedding features, what was previously just external code can now be invoked at the Windows integration points designed to just call a single Windows Installer package.

With Microsoft Windows Installer the developers will be able to easily create products that are made of several separate packages.




New in This Release:

· Patch sequencer performance improvement pass
· MsiLogging and MsiLogFileLocation properties supported down level
· Application settings migration support via MSIARPSETTINGSIDENTIFIER
· Updated Automation Support with Installer.ProductCode, Installer.CreateAdvertiseScript, Installer.AdvertiseScript, Installer.ProductInfoFromScript, Installer.ProductElevated, and Installer.ProvideAssembly
· RemoveExistingProducts now pass UILevel property
· Message type INSTALLMESSAGE_FILESINUSE now passes window titles
· Windows Installer use of the %temp% folder should work if %temp% folder is encrypted.
· Enable browse button in SelectionTree control only if the feature has a public property in Directory_ column
· Enable basic UI to show text for language neutral packages
· Hidden/disabled cancel button does not allow users to cancel a dialog for authored UI
· Billboards are only displayed during script execution, no longer during script generation
· The Edit and PathEdit controls now respond to the Reset control event
· Credential Free Patching under XP LUA constraint to media lifted to be equivalent to Vista UAC constraints
· Ability to disable 64 bit registry reflection at the component level via msidbComponentAttributesDisableRegistryReflection
· Schema.msi has been updated with the new tables.

Download from Softpedia

Download

After all they Were "Badshahs" !!

After all the expected thing happened yet again.Lahore Badshahs lost the second final of ICL's Edelweiss 20s Challenge's Trophy too.It was a tight game which ended in a tie,resulting in a bowl out.And historically Pakistani players are not good at bowl out.Same thing happened here as well.The question is "When you prepare for a twenty 20 game are you ready for a bowl out?I am not sure that any practice is ever done even in the case of our national side.It also shows the lack of confidence in our players.I don't take anything away from them what they've done in the entire tournament.They were the most feared team.But They can't hold their nerves in crunch moments.Rana Naveed's last over was not good at all.Overstepping twice & a wide ball as well.Bottom line is this that These cricketers are from our land & no matter where they play they represent Pakistan.Making same mistakes again & again shows the lack of professionalism in our cricket structure.People "Badshahs" in Pakistan are "Badshahs" everywhere.