- Technology News And Updates, Digital World News And Information, Gadgets News And Updates,Consumer Electronics Show,Environment Friendly Products

The relationship between manufacturers of Consumer electronics and environmentalists is similar to that between George W Bush and Saddam Hussein. No matter how much the latter tries to convince the former, he would not succeed.

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held in Las Vegas this week threw many good surprises in the form of environment friendly electronic products. Yet, the green brigade is still not convinced that the industry is taking the environment any more seriously than the way Israel takes UN resolutions. And even if the recession in United States, which has had a domino effect in global economy, resulted in less number of people visiting the CES this year, manufacturers like Toshiba and LG have tried to put their greenest foot forward in the show.
Japanese electronics manufacturer, Toshiba recently unveiled its Super Charger battery during the show. Being long lasting, it is being promoted as a product which would save energy, thereby bringing down the need to produce more energy which would obviously result in less CO2 getting dispersed in the atmosphere. The other product which specifically designed to cut energy costs was the LG’s 32-inch TV. According to the company, the new product would require 50 percent less power than the conventional 32-inch LCD TV.

In addition to being responsible for, either directly or indirectly releasing gases into the atmosphere, consumer electronics are the major source of e-waste. Hence, in order to address that problem, mobile phone manufacturer, Motorola recently released its new cell phone made of plastic which contains the plastic recovered by recycling water bottles.

The disagreement between the industry and the green brigade is likely to continue as long as the problems of environmental degradation and global warming are seriously and fully addressed by both governments of the world and business enterprises. However, the showcasing of various environment friendly products in the Consumer Electronics Show this year is a welcome surprise. One should hope that this trend continues and consumer goods manufacturers come up with more such gadgets in future.

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- How To Be More Green With Web Conferencing

As the environment and green issues are at the forefront of many business concerns today, with more businesses looking for ways they can reduce their negative impact on the environment and increase environmental awareness. Many businesses do this by looking to cut down on the amount of paper and wastage that they use and create, but there are more ways in which a business can be green. Any business that hosts conferences, or has employees are regularly attend conferences, and now becoming concerned with the green issues surrounding Web conferencing.

Web conferencing is an easy and streamlined way hosting and attending conferences without having to leave the office. As a result the green benefits of Web conferencing and massive, here are a few ways in which web conferencing can help your business to reduce its impact on the environment and help to reduce its carbon footprint.

• No more travelling to conferences - with web conferencing all participants attend the conference from the comfort of their own desk. Obviously, in doing this no fuel is used in travelling to and from a conference, and less work time is taken up in attending a conference.
• Less paper is used, any material that is going to be used during the web conferencing session is simply e-mailed to all participants prior conference. Participants can then either choose to print out material or read it on screen. This not only saves paper but it also greatly reduces mailing costs for the business who is hosting the conferencing session.
• Less energy is used, as a conference hall or business centre is not being used it means that the only power that is used is the power that is used by the attendees PCs. Similarly conference organisers do not have to arrange for refreshments or overnight accommodation for attendees of their conferences. In real terms this means that conferences which may have traditionally had a poor turnout will experience larger numbers of attendees logging on to view and participate in the web conferencing session. Something which any organiser of a conference would be more than happy to see.
• Businesses that are looking to improve their green corporate image also find the web conferencing give them a step further to achieving this. Another businesses see that a business is adopting web conferencing as part of a green initiative they will notice this and it will have a positive impact on the business. Often in business some companies actively seek out other companies that make a positive contribution to reducing their negative impact on the environment, to do business with. Ensuring that your business plays a vital role in securing the well-being of the environment by such initiatives such as Web conferencing show other businesses that you're committed to the green cause.
So any business is looking to improve its green initiatives and be proactive in reducing its negative impact on the environment should look towards web conferencing is a highly positive and beneficial step towards achieving this.

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- Be Correctly Wired With Atlanta Electricians

Life has a way of throwing you curve balls. Your television or office lighting system could suffer a blowout at the most inopportune moment. Like when you’re watching the NBA playoffs at home or when your important clients from New York just stepped into the conference room of your company in Georgia. Your best recourse would be to dial the number of qualified Atlanta electricians to resolve your problem.

Business – Get properly connected

Being in business means having your premises correctly wired. The electrical connections have to be faultless to ensure you don’t suffer any downtime resulting from power failures caused by a poorly done job. You don’t want your dedicated computer server to be offline if you’re taking customer orders online and depend upon a huge amount of traffic from consumers to your online store. Competent and proficient electrical contractors are essential to handle the proprietary technical trouble shooting entailed when your tailor made systems malfunction.

Vital reasons for hiring a professional tradesman

In these difficult economic times, your business may be on a cost cutting drive to reduce line costs. Trimming the budget for electrical work by hiring unlicensed individuals for your site lighting and energy maintenance work, however, is not an option. The importance of hiring an electrician cannot be underplayed:

* Incorrect attention on electrical matters endangers assets. The complexity of electrical wiring issues necessitates a trained professional to handle the project. Power outages, electrical trips and serious damage to your equipment will be avoided. Fatal errors in electrical wiring can endanger lives.

* Electrical and safety codes are adhered to. A great degree of skill is brought to bear to ensure all electrical components meet with current electrical and safety codes and building regulations. Legal infractions could cause your business unnecessary costs in terms of fines and penalties.

Residence – Use competent contractors

If you’re thinking about home improvements with electrical wiring, get in touch with a licensed electrician to do the job. Electrical work requires accuracy and precision. Mishaps can occur when you allow a handyman to do electrical repairs, or worse, try to do it yourself to save cost. You could easily misconnect wires, leaving your home a death trap with short circuits and fires just waiting to happen.

Safety precautions on holiday

When you’re planning to leave your home for extended periods of time to go on vacation, here are some tips to make sure your home stays safe from electrical calamities:

* Switch off all decorations that use electricity. Flicker festive season lights and electric candles should always be turned off when leaving the premises.

* Unplug non-essential electrical items. Save for the refrigerator and other critical components, you should pull out the plugs of the microwave and washing machine from the socket before you go off on holiday.

If your business is located in Atlanta or if you reside in the vicinity of the city, you may want to make sure you use only reliable and professional Atlanta electricians for your all your electrical requirements. Don’t compromise on safety with cheaper alternatives.

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- Guaranteed Extra Cash Online

by: Peter V. Ruble

For college students and other people who feel burned out trying to balance paying the bills and living at the same time, ads like these can prove to be irresistible. Many of them make perfect sense and easily hook you based on good concepts. Unfortunately, many times the product or service does not match the brilliance of a great idea for making money from home or through the Internet. As I’ve learned myself, the further you go down this road, the more excited you get. You basically get hooked, and if you aren’t careful, you will end up working hard and falling further into debt than you can imagine. Much like gambling, the lure of easy money and independence can make just about anyone fall prey to work at home scams that feed off your dreams to get to your wallet so they can go on to the next victim.

Hopefully, you will never fall victim to these scam artists. However, the fact of the matter is that these scammers would not be wasting their time if they were not making any money. And as long as people continue to get mixed up in this business, these scammers are going to stick around to trick more and more people.

The best way to keep a scammer’s claws away from your credit card is to do thorough research on each opportunity that you are considering. This means doing much more than simply reading a bit about it online. In my personal experience, I have been taken by companies who were savvy enough to pollute the Internet with staged testimonials, guarantees, questionable references to big name endorsements, and even appearances in the Better Business Bureau.

A colleague of mine who invested in vending machine placement services even went so far as to physically go to the manufacturing plant to tour the warehouse as well as contact the Better Business Bureau of that state. What he received, in return, were twenty malfunctioning candy machines with a list of local businesses who had apparently agreed to receive them. Not only did none of these businesses know what he was talking about, many of them were hostile when he showed up to place them.

What you want to do is check message boards such as the ASK section of Yahoo.com. Another simple method of weeding out the scams from the genuine opportunities is to go to a search engine and simply type in the company name followed by the word “scam”. If you do this, and you are barraged by an endless list of complaints, you my friend have found a nugget of gold in a sea of mud.

In terms of the Better Business Bureau, it is best to contact them directly to ask about any complaints, and also find out how long a company has been listed. The Better Business Bureau operates state by state. They will be able to tell you if they have any complaints on file. If they do, you will want to avoid the opportunity at all costs. But if it appears that a company is doing business the right way, you can continue your own research.

Being in the Business Bureau is not necessarily that hard to accomplish. Many scammers can use their money and connections to set up a front to initially qualify for the Better Business Bureau just long enough for them to collect their cash from unsuspecting victims, close shop, create a new identity and start again.

Before you decide to do anything, attempt to get in touch with the company that you are interested in. Can you get a human being on the phone? Do they have an actually physical address? How long does it take them to respond to your e-mails, if at all? If you cannot even talk to the company before you start, there is not chance that they will be around when you really need them. I once made quite a bit of money selling vacation vouchers on auction sites. The marketing plan was sound, and the money saving vouchers was a hit. Only problem was, I could never get in touch with their customer service department to handle my customer inquiries and complaints once I realized that the promises that existed in writing on the vouchers were misleading at best. This proved to be such a problem that it took me over a year to recover from the negative publicity on my auction site.

Of course, there are legitimate home based businesses out there. With the Internet and all the low cost, web producing tools available, there seems to be a renaissance in entrepreneurship. Basically, just find a product or service you can market online, and do your research. Sell on EBay if you don’t want to build your own website. You can have a website their and all search engine marketing is already done by EBay. The Small Business Association has an office in downtown Tacoma and contains invaluable information on their website http://www.sba.com. Since small business is the backbone of our country economically, sources such as these are eager to help you create a plan with realistic expectations.

However, like anything else worthwhile, you have to do your homework and work hard at it. The problem is that too many people make you think you can practically go online and make money just clicking on a mouse. You want to steer clear of any business that asks to you to pay for their “Top Secret” e-book that will teach you how to make an automated income.”

Think about it, if you are in dire need of cash, can you imagine any other situation in which you would not only work for free, but pay for the privilege to work. There are no magic formals or secrets worth paying for. All of the information in these e-books can be found for free through your own research if you have common internet skills.

If you don’t want to work hard and just make a few easy extra bucks without donating your blood or volunteering to be a guinea pig, it is possible to make some good extra money filling out online surveys or through mystery shopping. There are real opportunities out there which require no fee to get started. Not only that, several of them will even give you a $5 bonus just for signing up. If a company such as this is legitimate, they would be making lots of money through the success of its members. Companies that require that $49.97 start up fee only make money through the fee and only want to teach you how to get other people to do the same. The products are all useless lists and general information that anyone with a functioning mind could figure out on their own, or get for free by doing their own research.

In 12 years of trying to make a living on the Internet, the following are the best companies I have ever encountered for making a few extra bucks filling out surveys, playing games and mystery shopping. They probably won’t pay the rent, but if you’re interested in making an extra $400 or $500 a month or eating out at nice restaurants and going to movies for free, you may want to check these out:

Mystery Shopping Providers Association: ." target=new>http://www.mysteryshop.org/shoppers/">.

This site contains all the information you will ever need on starting up as a mystery shopper. It is also a portal for the best sites to go to for mystery shopping jobs online, and they don’t require that you invest a penny.

InboxDollars.com. (you can sign up for free and get $5 just for signing up. You can make a few hundred dollars in one day, theoretically, if you are willing to use a credit card to sign up for free or paid trials. Just make sure you have the patience to fill out the long surveys and keep detailed records so you can remember to cancel your free trials before you get charged. Also, you can fill out surveys to make a dollar or two which are completely free. I’ve made about $400 with this site.

http://www..sendearnings.com.(almost identical to InboxDollars.com)

http://www.treasuretrooper.com. (a lot of free surveys and cool games).

http://www.tiktikcash.com. By far the best of the survey sites. The free surveys are tremendous. You can make a dollar or two in one minute. This site has the shortest, most painless surveys. I made over thirty bucks in less than after signing up.

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Successful Tips on Blogging Activities and the Need of Public Relations

Blogs or websites with content management systems are becoming more and more influential in changing the model for companies, and companies now have to connect with customers on a one on one level. Even corporations have accepted blogging as an essential part of public relations. Companies now recognize the need to talk to their clients and potential clients in a more intelligent and unbiased way. The main areas of Public relations in blogging are (a) focusing your attention on community building, (b) you should always try to get comments and use those comments as tools for your improvement, (c) During the course of your surfing if you get good posts you should sign up for feeds. (d) Simply sitting leaving the blog like that t hat to take care of itself never works. You should try to update every day with a new post. This attracts a good viewership and increases y our traffic and (e) you should be ready with your content at least 30 days ahead.

Business blogging can be a powerful tool for Public Relations. A rapidly growing number of people from the PR industry such as marketing professionals, editors, and journalists are reading blogs on a daily basis. As a result, blogs and interactive journalists are creating a huge impact on public relations.

If you run your own business or are a business manager, you can easily make a blog work for you by focusing on a topic that relates to your work and area of specialization. You can emphasize on your proficiency and knowledge about public relations, thus making you more valuable to your firm even though you are only indirectly writing on behalf of the firm.

But remember, PR activity should be done in a very subtle manner and not by using evident sales pitching methods. It is also very important to maintain objectivity in the blogosphere. Obvious PR is bad PR!

The connected world of blogging fosters good PR. Blogs are very effective in providing a good public image to your business and if you use blogging in this manner and for this purpose, you generate a lot more business. You can use blogs as a catalyst to more effective PR.

With a little bit of practice, you can become an expert at this by doing a successful blog. Blogging as a PR activity is nothing but offering readers a unique point of view and comments, providing links to exclusive resources and news, and updating the information regularly, relating personal experiences so that the reader feels he is an insider and part of the family. To keep readers coming back, establishing a connection with the reader is very important.

There are now millions of blogs around the world, and a new blog is created every few seconds. A well made blog can be very effective in bringing clients and business to your site. It can help you gain clients and business?

Lots of people read corporate blogs every day. Many corporate heads pen blogs and receive hundreds of thousands of visitors a month.

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How to Get Inspiring Blog Topics

A blog is as interesting as its host. If you find a particular blog a little dull and boring, you can be sure its author is uninteresting and exasperating too. So when you are hosting a blog, you must try and make it as interesting as possible.

Come up with some good ideas? And do not copy others, although imitation is the best form of flattery.

Hone your writing and spelling skills, write an entry, be harsh on yourself and edit it minutely.

You may start off with one topic reflecting your own personal interest, but you can expand your horizons by researching on related links provided by others.

Sometimes people ask questions and this can start a different thread, which you can take up and weave it in other directions. If, for instance, you start a blog on foreign cinema, you may find so many readers posting their comments on their favorite movies and suddenly one reader mentions a book on which a movie is based, then that can start off a different thread and link altogether. This can be more fun than you can imagine.

If you talk about the rules to blog. They are none but commonsense. But you must always take care that whoever comes to your blog should be in a position to read it. Unless your site is password protected your content is available to all. Don’t publish secrets particularly if you are running a business site. Company’s secrets are their own. Under no circumstances they should be publicized.

It’s equally important sometimes to stick to single niche on a single blog, especially if the topic is serious. The more you research on a specific niche subject, the better topics you are likely to find. You can then write more on them.

It is always better to write your own blog entries yourself, in your own style, rather than paying blog writers to blog for you. Remember, the writer may not be as passionate as you about your topic and interest. But if for some reason, you have to get a writer for blogging, make sure the writer provides original content, and not copy-paste versions of the information freely available on the internet.

If you are still out of ideas, just visit some sites and read some discussion boards for inspiration. Make a note of the topics and points which are interesting, and use those in your posts. Give your visitors food for thought, make them think; get your message across to them and through them.

Choose topics that are sure to provoke a reaction. Many questions posted on discussion boards are left unanswered, find the ones which interest you, and use them in your blog. Most times, users try to look in the search engines if their queries are unanswered on discussion boards.

A well-written blog can give you a lot of satisfaction. You can even use it to promote your business and to advertise your products. The scope is limitless.

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Ubuntu 9.10 a.k.a. Karmic Koala

Nope, this is not a joke... Mark Shuttleworth, the father of Ubuntu Linux, has just announced a few minutes ago the codename and the goals of the next version of his marvelous operating system, Ubuntu 9.10 (codename Karmic Koala), scheduled for release in October 2009. "Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce the *Karmic Koala*, the newest member of our alliterative menagerie. When you are looking for inspiration beyond the looming Jaunty feature freeze, I hope you'll think of the Koala, our official mascot for Ubuntu 9.10. And if you'll bear with me for a minute I'll set the scene for what we hope to achieve in that time." - said Mark Shuttleworth in the official announcement.

For the Karmic Koala, the development team will focus their efforts on the "first impressions," which means that they plan to change the old brown desktop with a whole new look and change the current Usplash with a smooth and flicker-free boot splash, such as Red Hat's Plymouth. Also, the boot times will decrease even more in Ubuntu 9.10, as the team plans to make it boot in less than 25 seconds on a netbook! Moreover, they even plan to change the login screen in Ubuntu 9.10, with a very nice one.

"We made a splash years ago with Usplash, but it's time to move to something newer and shinier. So the good news is, boot will be beautiful. The bad news is, you won't have long to appreciate it! It only takes 35 days to make a whole Koala, so we think it should be possible to bring up a stylish desktop much faster. The goal for Jaunty on a netbook is 25 seconds, so let's see how much faster we can get you all the way to a Koala desktop." - said Mark Shuttleworth.

There are also some good pieces of news for all netbook users, be it Mini Me or Dell Mini, as the Ubuntu Netbook Edition will be updated with all the bleeding-edge Linux goodies. Mark says that the Netbook Remix of Ubuntu 9.10 will install easily and work flawlessly on all netbooks.

The new look of Ubuntu 9.10 will be unveiled in Barcelona, on May 25-29, at the Ubuntu Developer Summit. So make sure you're there if you want to meet Mark Shuttleworth and take an exclusive peek at the brand new look of the upcoming Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala).

"A newborn Koala spends about six months in the family before it heads off into the wild alone. Sounds about perfect for an Ubuntu release plan! I'm looking forward to seeing many of you in Barcelona, and before that, at a Jaunty release party. Till then, cheers." - Mark Shuttleworth ended the announcement.

About Ubuntu:

Ubuntu is a Linux distribution for your desktop or server, with a fast and easy install, regular releases, a tight selection of excellent packages installed by default, every other package you can imagine available from the network, and professional technical support from Canonical Ltd and hundreds of other companies around the world.

Download the current stable version, Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex), right now from Softpedia.

Download the current stable version, Kubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex), right now from Softpedia.

Download the current stable version, Edubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex), right now from Softpedia.

Download the current stable version, Xubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex), right now from Softpedia.

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- Download Silverlight 2 GDR1 Upgrade for Silverlight 2 RTW

Microsoft released Silverlight 2 in mid-October 2008 and, five months later, an upgrade is available for download. Hundreds of millions of downloads later, users have the opportunity to update Silverlight 2 to the latest version available. In this regard, Silverlight 2 GDR 1 is now available as the successor of Silverlight 2 RTW. Installing the latest release of Silverlight will take the technology from version 2.0.31005.0, which was the label for the October 2008 build of Silverlight, to 2.0.40115.0.

However, Silverlight 2 GDR 1 (2.0.40115.0) only brings to the table resolves for issues reported to Microsoft since the initial release, and not much else, especially since the Redmond company is now hard at work on the next iteration of the technology. “Silverlight 2 GDR1 now available,” revealed Microsoft Evangelist Tim Sneath. “Not a huge release this one, but we've just shipped an update for Silverlight 2 that fixes a number of minor bugs that have been reported over the last couple of months.”

Silverlight 2 (2.0.31005.0) was officially released to web (RTW) on October 13, 2008, however, Sneath revealed that in fact the gold version of Microsoft's alternative to Adobe Flash had been quietly released weeks before. At the bottom of the screen, via the embedded video you will be able to see Scott Guthrie, corporate vice president, .NET Developer Division, talk about Silverlight 2 and Silverlight 3 and what users should expect at MIX09 starting on March 18, 2009 in Las Vegas.

Come next month, at Microsoft's Internet-centric MIX09 conference, the software giant will reveal new details about Silverlight 3. At the end of January 2009, Guthrie, revealed that Silverlight 3 was designed as a major update for Silverlight 2. In this regard, Silverlight 2 GDR 1 should be considered nothing more than a way for Microsoft to ensure that problems that survived past the RTW milestone of Silverlight 2 have been dealt with.

Silverlight 2 GDR 1 (2.0.40115.0) is available for download here.

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- Future LG Handsets to Include GyPSii's Application

LG Electronics, a leading manufacturer of mobile phones, and GyPSii, the business unit of GeoSentric Oyj, announced a partnership aiming at including the GyPSii's location-based application, a digital lifestyle solution, on future series of mobile handsets.

According to the agreement between the two, users of LG mobile devices will benefit from the GyPSii’s broad range of location-aware functions, as well as from its mobile lifestyle services, which would include content sharing, social networking applications and friend finding. Users will be able to view all this directly on a map through the application's appealing interface. In addition, the two also announced that the service would be offered through a partnership with Intrinsyc, the provider of navigation solutions for LG.

As DooWhan (Paul) Sang, Vice President of LG Electronics, said, the company chose to offer these services on its handsets due to a growing demand for Social Networking and Navigation on the mobile phones. He also stated that GyPSii is a leader in the area, which drove LG into selecting its solution to be integrated in future mobile phones.

The two companies, says the agreement, will share advertising and sponsorship revenues resulting from the use of GyPSii on the new LG devices. LG Electronics and GyPSii plan to launch the solution on Windows Mobile-powered devices at first, and then move to Android and Java-enabled handsets.

“In partnering with LG Electronics, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of mobile devices, we have demonstrated our ability to quickly meet the demands of the industry and provide a mass-market mobile social networking experience that can be accessed by consumers across the globe,” said Dan Harple, CEO at GyPSii.

The location-based solution provided by GyPSii is available in 18 languages, and it can also reach specific communities, while also allowing for increased revenues. The collaboration with LG will allow the company to extend its reach even further, as it is now open on a new range of mobile devices.

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- 10 Tanda Kecanduan Facebook

Senin, 16 Februari 2009 | 10:53 WIB

Sejak diluncurkan 4 Februari 2004, situs jejaring sosial facebook telah memikat jutaan hati penggunanya. Mulai siswa sekolah, ibu rumah tangga, selebriti, hingga politisi, kini memiliki jejaring sosial facebook. Berkat kemajuan teknologi, kini kita pun dapat memperbarui status facebook dan mengomentari foto setiap saat. Rasanya, kini ada yang kurang bila setiap hari tidak masuk ke situs ini dan melakukan aktivitas "facebook-ing".

Manfaat facebook memang tak cuma untuk pergaulan, tapi juga sarana komunikasi, mencari pekerjaan, hingga kampanye. Sayangnya kesibukan mengutak-atik facebook membuat banyak orang kini lebih banyak menghabiskan waktu ketimbang bekerja. Tak heran bila banyak perusahaan yang mulai menerapkan kebijakan mengeblok situs ini di kantor. Sebuah penelitian juga menunjukkan adanya kaitan antara facebook dengan meningkatnya angka perceraian di Inggris dan Australia.

Nah, apakah Anda termasuk dalam orang yang hidupnya mulai dikendalikan facebook? Simak 10 tanda berikut ini.

1. Facebook telah menjadi homepage internet di komputer atau laptop Anda.

2. Anda mengubah status lebih dari dua kali sehari dan rajin mengomentari perubahan status teman.

3. Daftar teman Anda sudah melebihi angka 500 orang dan setengahnya hampir tidak dikenal.

4. Bila sedang jauh dari komputer, Anda mencek facebook melalui BlackBerry, iPhone, atau ponsel pintar lainnya.

5. Rajin membaca profil teman lebih dari dua kali sehari, meski ia tidak mengirimkan pesan atau men-tag Anda di fotonya.

6. Anda mengubah profile foto lebih dari 12 kali.

7. Anda membaca artikel ini sambil mencek facebook.

8. Anda membersihkan "wall" agar terlihat sudah lama tidak masuk ke fb.

9. Anda menjadi anggota lebih dari 10 grup dan merespons setiap undangan meski sebenarnya tak berminat.

10. Anda mengubah status hubungan hanya untuk meningkatkan popularitas di facebook.

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Samsung Unveils Solar-Powered 'Blue Earth' Phon

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. announced an innovative solar-powered full-touch screen phone called “Blue Earth,” which fits the company's vision for environmental sustainability. Samsung reinforces its commitment to protect the environment under the slogan “The Blue Earth Dream: Eco-living with SAMSUNG mobile,” by releasing eco-friendly products as well as a program of activities for its customers. The new handset will be demonstrated at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

The Blue Earth handset has been designed to resemble a flat and well rounded shiny pebble, and comes as the first solar powered full-touch screen phone in the world. The solar panel situated on the back of the phone allows users to charge the device enough to make any call at any time.

In addition, the company also announced that the Blue Earth has been manufactured from recycled plastic called PCM, extracted from water bottles, which is meant to reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions during the fabrication process. Moreover, the new handset, charger included, does not include harmful substances like Brominated Flame Retardants, Beryllium and Phthalate.

“Samsung’s ‘The Blue Earth Dream’ demonstrates our small but meaningful commitments for the future and our environment,” said Mr. JK Shin, executive vice president and head of Mobile Communication Division of Samsung Electronics. "We are committed to achieving the highest eco-status with our customers and business partners by providing the best eco-products and promoting eco-activities.”

Blue Earth is the last addition to the company's lineup of eco-friendly products and includes a unique user interface meant to draw attention on the preservation of the environment. The UI comes with an 'Eco mode', allowing users to become energy-efficient with just one click. Moreover, the 'eco walk' function allows users to count their steps through the built-in pedometer, so as to calculate the CO2 emissions they reduce by walking instead of using motor transportation.

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TinkerTool - Customize Your Mac Using Hidden Options

TinkerTool is an application that gives you access to additional preference settings Apple has built into Mac OS X. This allows the activation of hidden features in the operating system and in some of the applications delivered with the system.

Features:

· TinkerTool is designed to check that preference changes can only affect the current user.
· You don't need administrative privileges to use the tool. With this design, it is no problem to use TinkerTool in professional networks where users have restricted permission.
· TinkerTool will never change any component of the operating system, so the integrity of your system is not put at risk, and there will be no negative effects on system updates.


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Although customizing your computer has lately become an art, the point of this entire struggle is to achieve the perfect workflow, to set the balance straight between the requirements of your projects and personality, and what your system has to offer and is able to support. And if usually this is achieved by using several applications with fancy features, meet TinkerTool, the little application with no features that can change your system's appearance.

It sounds strange, but, in fact, the developer has very firmly mentioned that TinkerTool is only enabling Mac OS X “sleeping” features that are present in your system, however cannot be accessed through the default system’s interface.

The Looks

The TinkerTool interface is very simple, displaying only one window, organized in tabs. Still, in order to see the changes, you might need to relaunch the Finder or the Dock. If these actions can be performed from within the application, in some situations the effects take place only when you log in again or relaunch the concerned applications. When this is the case, you will be able to see all the required items of information at the bottom of the window.

The Works

TinkerTool has been designed to provide easy access to some rather basic system preferences. The purpose is to change the interface appearance, and does not modify any critical data in your system. If you are interested in something more, TinkerTool System might be the application you are looking for.

Also, since some of the features are different in the several Mac OS X versions, the application adjusts to each one. In order to see the available preference settings for a certain version, please go here. In this particular case, TinkerTool has been tested on a Mac OS X Leopard.

The first of the ten TinkerTool panels allows you to access Finder preferences. From this area, you can choose to see the hidden and the system files, disable the sound effects, the desktop features, add a “Quit” item to the Finder menu, and show the selected path in the window title. You may also disable the animation effects or the creation of .DS_Store files over a network connection. The same panel makes it possible for you to set the maximum number of label lines in icon view. If you prefer the list view, you may enable the stripped background for clarity.

The next panel, Dock, offers the possibility to change the Dock position and the minimizer effect. You can change the Dock’s appearance by using transparent icons for hidden applications, disabling the glass effect, or by employing spring loaded titles. You may even apply dock restrictions regarding the size adjustments and the content.

Some of the most efficient options are provided by the General panel. This area offers support for establishing the location of the scroll arrows, the default output folder and the default file format for screenshots, or the number of entries in the recent items menu.

The last input in this panel gives a very interesting possibility: you may enable the Dashboard in developer mode. This particular setting will allow you to actually drag widgets outside the Dashboard in order to use them on the desktop like normal applications.

You may close them by pressing the Alt key, and, of course, the widgets will remain installed in your Dashboard, ready to be used at any time. If you are not a Dashboard fan, and you are constantly annoyed by the fact that you are enabling it by mistake, another possibility is to disable it altogether.

The Application tab has three settings that could really improve and ease you work. The first one is auto-activating the Terminal windows by mouse cursor. It sounds small, but should you be a frequent Terminal user, just think how many clicks you are going to skip every day. The second one gives you the possibility to see an error report when an application is crashing. That is obviously a big step forward in resolving the problem. The third makes it possible for you to add eject buttons to the menu bar of optical drives.

In case you are not satisfied with Apple’s choice for the system fonts, TinkerTool lets you set any font at any size you want as the default system font, but you may also personalize the window title bars, and so on. You cannot set the color, but you can choose to turn off the font smoothing below a certain font size.

The Leopard tab offers generic settings for default applications, like Spotlight, Help Viewer, Spaces, Time Machine, but also for group accounts and screen sharing.

If you have problems with Safari’s history storage settings, you may easily adjust them with TinkerTool, though you may also reduce the delay time for the display of loading pages. Safari is not the only application that receives a special treatment. In terms of functionality, the fact that you may choose to play songs while importing or converting is a lovely iTunes addition.

The Good

Even if it is an application with no features, TinkerTool gives you the possibility to make the most out of your Mac, and allows you to get a little closer to creating your own perfect environment.

The Bad

The purpose of TinkerTool is to change the current state of preexistent features. However, since Mac OS X developers may modify them at any time, the results might not be exactly what you have expected.

The Truth

Considering the fact that the application can be used free of charge, I consider it to be a great opportunity to explore a little. And if you are worried about reversing the changes you make, TinkerTool lets you either reset to the Pre-TinkerTool state or to the current system’s defaults. All in all, I believe you should give it a try.

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Credit card processing

If you are looking for a credit card processor solution for your business, whatever it maybe, then look no further. I have just the thing for you. For the best available retail merchant solutions you should definitely consider America Processing as they offer a great service.

For the best retail credit card solutions just have a look at the website of America
Processing for more information. This is a great option if you are looking for a credit card processor that understands the ins and outs of your business.

America Processing can offer a fantastic range of merchant retail solutions that will suit your business needs perfectly. If you need a processor that will work closely with you to

provide you with the exact type of credit card solutions you need, then this is the best possible option for you.

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Pac 'n Roll Unlockables (DS)

The gaming industry indeed started with arcade games, like Frogger or Mario, but one of the most iconic series of titles developed for the big old arcade cabinets was Pac Man. The circular-shaped character that ran through a series of mazes in order to eat up all of the points and run away at the same time from ghosts has become a household name.

In order to benefit from the popularity of Pac Man, Namco decided to launch Pac 'n Roll, a video game featuring the legendary character for the Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii. The title arrived for the DS on July 28 in Japan, on August 16 in North America and, last but not least, on October 28 in Europe, all in 2005.

Pac 'n Roll stars the iconic character in 3D form, as the player needs to roll him throughout the levels by using the touch screen and the stylus with which the DS is equipped. The classic arcade Pac man game can also be played in its various stages. Furthermore, Pac 'n Roll was released for the Wii as part of the Namco Museum Remix collection of titles.

Featuring a young Pac Man, the game takes him to Pac-Land, which is now threatened by a legendary ghost named Golvis. With the help of Pac-Land’s famous guardian fairy, Crystal, Pac Man must fight Golvis' legion of ghosts in order to save his family and, ultimately, his home. Here are some things that you might find useful.

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Cops and Robbers Will Race in Burnout Paradise

Among racing games, almost all titles struggle to achieve the benchmark set by Electronic Arts' Need For Speed series, which has been one of the longest running franchises out there. But, as a bit of a surprise, the title that would make a lot of racers forget about the NFS franchise is Burnout Paradise, the latest iteration in Criterion's Burnout series, which was published by Electronic Arts.

While the game delivered a great racing and especially crashing experience through the busy streets of Paradise City, the fact that the team at Criterion improved it through various DLC (Downloadable Content) packs was something that got gamers interested in it. The standard game was top notch, but further updates like a day and night cycle, the introduction of motorbikes or other content packs made it a must buy for any true racing game fan.

Now, as the PC version of the game, entitled Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box, as it includes not only the original game but also the Cagney, Bike and Party pack, has just been released, Criterion has announced that it will launch, after the other projects it has underway, like the Legendary Cars pack, yet another batch of content, entitled Cops and Robbers.

Set to introduce one of the most memorable themes in Burnout, the police, this new content pack is set to arrive “soon after the Party Pack, Legendary Cars, Toy Cars and Boost Specials” and is “dedicated to bringing the thrills and spills of cops and robbers car chases in Paradise City.” For those of you who don't know, the Police haven't been featured in the Burnout series ever since Burnout 2: Point of Impact.

PC and PlayStation 3 gamers who can hardly wait to see this pack in action can check out the screenshots posted by the development team in the Criterion Games Network section of their copy of Burnout Paradise. Xbox 360 owners will have to wait until the screens appear on the website of the developer.

So until you will be able to encounter the police, better start earning wins for your Burnout driver license.

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- Folder Guard 8.0

Folder Guard description

Restricts access to folders & other resources

Snoop-proof your files with Folder Guard. Folder Guard is a Windows security application that can be used to restrict access to folders, files and other computer resources.

If you share your computer with your business colleagues, family, or roommates, you can use Folder Guard to stop other users from opening your personal files, or even completely hide your documents until a valid password is entered. You can protect sensitive system files from modification or destruction, disable access to the floppy, other removable drives and CD-ROM, restrict access to Start Menu, Control Panel and applications. Windows XP (and Windows 2000/NT) allows you to use its built-in security to control access to data stored on the NTFS volumes.

With Folder Guard you can secure files and folders on both the NTFS and FAT/FAT32 drives, with a much greater flexibility: you can hide some files and keep other files in the same folder visible, set up the access rights using wildcards, or make files accessible to only some programs that you select.

If your version of Windows does not support file security (such as Windows 98 and Me), you can use Folder Guard to keep your important files and documents protected from unauthorized use. Folder Guard protects your documents by intercepting requests from other programs to work with files; your data is not modified in any way. When Folder Guard hides a folder, the folder-s contents becomes invisible to all applications including Windows programs like Explorer, applications like Office, and even MS-DOS programs.

You can require password access to the protected folders to keep away unauthorized visitors. On a user-by-user basis, you can allow or deny access to the files and folders of your choice, as well as to the removable drives, Start Menu and Control Panel. You can configure the protection so that users would not be able to download programs from the Internet or install them from the CD-ROM without your permission.

Here are some key features of "Folder Guard Professional":

· Hides files and folders
· Locks folders and programs with passwords
· Restricts Control Panel, Start Menu, etc.
· User-specific resitrictions.

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- Windows 7 and Vista up, Mac OS X up, Linux and XP Down

Windows 7 still has a long way to go to reach the first milestone of its life on the operating system market, namely 1%, but the fact

is that the next iteration of Windows has entered the OS market share measuring context. In just the first month since the public downloads of Windows 7 client Beta and Windows Server 2008 R2 Beta(Windows 7 Server Beta) were made available for download, the platform has grown to an usage share of 0.10%, according to statistics provided by Net Applications. The Beta builds for Windows 7 client and server platforms went live on January 10, 2009, and will remain so until February 10.

“The Windows 7 beta releases in January have led to a spike in usage share. Similar to Windows Vista, Windows 7 usage share is showing a pattern of being much higher on weekends than on weekdays. In contrast, Windows XP has an inverse trendline. XP's share is higher on weekdays due to Microsoft's relatively high business vs. residential share of Windows XP,” Net Applications stated. “This is an indication of strong interest in Windows 7, since it does not come pre-installed on a computer like Vista. Beta users are taking the time and effort to install it on their home computers, since corporations generally prohibit beta operating systems to be used in production environments.”

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