Video of Bill Gates on The Daily Show with John Stewart (Comedy Central)

It’s hot news everywhere on the internet, Bill Gates appearance on The Daily Show with John Stewart. Even though I didn’t get a chance to watch it live on TV yesterday I can still watch the video archive, thanks to ComedyCentral.com. They’ve put out the video for the public.

Here is the Part-1 of the video archive for those of us who missed the live show,

And here is the Part-2 of the video,

In case if you are not able to see the embedded videos here are the URL’s for both the parts,

Part-1

Part-2

(If you use Firefox and if you are not able to see the video on the page that comes up after you click on the above link please make sure to click a similar image on that page to get the video loaded. It seems like an issue with their plugins that forces you to click these extra steps. Sorry for any inconvenience.)

I really liked the moment when John asked about Bill’s pet name and there was a little lag time when the world’s richest man realized that it was a plot to get his password. Even though I’m sure he won’t have his pet name as the password but that was a nice play in context from John.

Technorati tags: ComedyCentral, John Stewart, Bill Gates, Bill Gates appearance on The Daily Show, Video of Bill Gates on The Daily Show, The Daily Show

Microsoft Pumps $500 Million Into Vista Marketing Campaign

We all know that Microsoft is good at marketing it’s products even if they are a bit less than sublime. Now, how about $500 million budget for the grand mela? That sounds a stretch too far since the PC’s that will be shipping from now on till for some time is going to carry Vista by default. But…hey…it’s Microsoft, the hefty.

Read the full story from here.

Technorati tags: Windows Vista, Vista Marketing, 500 Million Marketing

Windows Live Messenger is out of beta

The revamped Windows Messenger, Windows Live Messenger is out of it’s beta life. Here is an overview of the features of the new Windows Live Messenger,

Call their phones. Call their PCs.

Call your friends’ mobile or landline phones.* It’s affordable, both within the US and internationally. And calling someone’s PC is always free.

See them on the screen

Show and tell: Grab a webcam and start a video conversation within minutes.

Share stuff

Set up a Sharing Folder with a friend. Drop in photos and other stuff, as many as your computer can handle. See your Sharing Folder even when one of you is offline.

Now: Talk to your Yahoo! friends, too

The world’s largest IM network has just gotten bigger—and better. With Windows Live Messenger you can now connect with your Yahoo! IM contacts.  Forget about using multiple accounts to talk to your friends—IM them all with Windows Live Messenger. 

…and much more. Check it out from here.

Get the Windows Live Messenger from here.

A while back I’ve blogged about an awesome Windows Live Messenger extension pack Messenger Plus Live! that extends your Windows Live Messenger experience. Take a look at that blog post here. Download the Messenger Plus Live! extension from here.

Technorati tags: Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Messenger Extension Pack, MSN Messenger

Windows Vista Updates are out already

Microsoft just made available the updates for it’s to-be-released-tonight Windows Vista. As soon as you buy-it-and-install-it-tonight you can get the updates using Vista’s “Windows Update Client”. There are 22 updates altogether, if you don’t see all 22 of ‘em you should use the “Check for updates” option.

Here’s the breakdown of the 22 updates,

• 5 Updates for both 32bit and 64bit flavors of Vista (KB930857), (KB928089), (KB929427), (KB931573) & (KB929735)
• 15 Language Packs (Chinese Hong Kong, Chine Simplified, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish)
• 2 Ultimate Extras (BitLocker and EFS enhancements & Hold Em Poker Game)

Technorati tags: Windows Vista, Windows Vista Updates, Windows Updates for Vista

New Windows Vista home page for Vista launch

Microsoft is prepping itself for the flagship Windows Vista launch by giving Windows Vista home page a redesign. It now has a bigger Vista Orb that animates along with it’s Vista launch slogan “The Wow starts now”. The menu bar got a Windows Media Player 11 skin. Overall it looks great, just in time for the launch event.

Visit the new Windows Vista home page.

Technorati tags: Windows Vista, New Windows Vista Home Page, Vista Launch, Redesigned Vista Home Page

Bill Gates to appear on "The Daily Show" for Vista launch

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates is scheduled to appear on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Monday, January 29, the eve of Microsoft’s Windows Vista launch.

The Daily Show, while taped earlier in the evening, airs at 11 p.m. EST, which is an hour before Vista’s official midnight launch.

Source: CNET News

Technorati tags: The Daily Show, Bill Gates, Vista Launch

Download: Paint.NET 3.0

Paint.NET is an absolutely fantastic extension of the handy Paint tool that comes with Windows. Rick Brewster and his team has now deployed the latest version, Paint.NET 3.0. Here are the changes in the 3.0 version,

• Simple and intuitive tab-based multi-document user interface
• Available in 8 languages: English, Chinese (Simplified), French, German, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), and Spanish
• Interactive Gradient Tool that makes it very easy to draw and then fine-tune placement and coloring of a gradient.
• User-definable color palette (as opposed to just the color wheel)
• New effects: Clouds, Median, Unfocus, Outline, and an improved Sharpen
• More intuitive and more powerful toolbar
• Generally improved and cleaner user interface
• History files are now compressed to save disk space, reduce disk activity, and improve performance.
• “Merge Down” layer command

Download Paint.NET 3.0 from here.

Technorati tags: Paint, Paint.NET, Paint.NET 3.0, Tools, Downloads

Google’s Video Search Engine

It seems like Google is finally trying to make something out of it’s mammoth acquisition of YouTube. They started integrating stuffs from YouTube into its video search results as it starts to build a comprehensive video search and content platform. 

Read the full story from here.

Technorati tags: Google Video, YouTube, Video Search

Google Adsense competitor Yahoo Panama is ready for the prime time

Until now the pay-per-click terrain is completely dominated by the mighty Google Adsense program. With the acquisition of Overture back in 2003 Yahoo thought it can step into that terrain but lack of development and integration efforts made Yahoo to fall behind Google.

Now, Yahoo is planning to release their own version of pay-per-click program Panama by February 5, 2007. Initially they planned to release Panama by March 2007 but they’ve pre-empted their plan to release it by February 2007 itself.

Source: vnunet

Technorati tags: Google, Adsense, Google Adsense, Yahoo, Panama, Yahoo Advertising, Yahoo Panama, Advertising, Pay-Per-Click

Microsoft to support Windows XP till ~ 2014

With Microsoft’s latest operating system Windows Vista in the horizon of getting to the user’s hand near soon it is obvious that we tend to think what will happen to it’s second best (claims to be) operating system Windows XP.

Well, Microsoft announced before that they will end any mainstream support of Windows XP by April 2009. Now they have announced that they will provide an extended support program which will add an additional 5 more years of support and that translates to ~ April 2014. And they say they will provide the support for the Home and Media Center editions of Windows XP.

Source: PC Pro

Technorati tags: Windows XP, Windows XP Home, Windows XP Media Center, Windows XP Support Terms

Faster Windows Live Mail M9

Microsoft has updated its Windows Live Mail service to M9. New features include:

• Much faster loading and advanced Firefox compatibility (works fully in Firefox 2)
• The Classic Mode will be the default view from Hotmail users – brand new users won’t be taken to the fully AJAX’d page but to the Classic interface for “ease-of-use” purposes.
• A new Today page rolls out, including what would be on your Today page in Windows Live Messenger.
• Recent Updates now added as a tabbed page on the Today page allowing you to switch to what’s changed (blogs, contacts and newsletters etc.)
• Search bar at the top of the page has been updated and tweaked slightly for the other themes.

Not all the servers have been updated as of yet. Use the link below to access Windows Live Mail using the bay117 server.

Access the fastest Windows Live Mail from this bay117 server. Believe me…it’s really fast.

Source: Neowin.net

Technorati tags: Microsoft, Windows Live Mail, Faster Windows Live Mail

10 avoidable IT interview flubs

eWeek runs a report on the top 10 flubs to avoid at an IT interview. Here is a gist of it,

1. Late to the interview means late on projects and deadlines
2. Lack of enthusiasm means you don’t care about your work
3. Little to no company knowledge means you lack research skills
4. Inappropriate dress translates to inappropriate work
5. Too negative is too much: Spells P-R-O-B-L-E-M
6. Arrogance or dominating the interview signals conflict on teams
7. Too quiet means you lack confidence in your work
8. Misstating qualifications means, well, you’re a liar
9. Speaking only tech-ese means you won’t work well with others
10. Not saying thank you is not welcome

Read the full article from here.

Technorati tags: Tips and Tricks, Tips, Interview Tips

WordPress 2.1 "Ella" released

WordPress just released it’s latest stable version 2.1, code named “Ella”, named after Ella Fitzgerald. Here is a list of features that’s been bundled with the new release,

• Autosave makes sure you never lose a post again.
• Our new tabbed editor allows you to switch between WYSIWYG and code editing instantly while writing a post.
• The lossless XML import and export makes it easy for you to move your content between WordPress blogs.
• Our completely redone visual editor also now includes spell checking.
• New search engine privacy option allows you take you to indicate your blog shouldn’t ping or be indexed by search engines like Google.
• You can set any “page” to be the front page of your site, and put the latest posts somewhere else, making it much easier to use WordPress as a content management system.
• Much more efficient database code, faster than previous versions. Domas Mituzas from MySQL went over all our queries with a fine-toothed comb.
• Links in your blogroll now support sub-categories and you can add categories on the fly.
• Redesigned login screen from the Shuttle project.
• More AJAX to make custom fields, moderation, deletions, and more all faster. My favorite is the comments page, which new lets you approve or unapprove things instantly.
• Pages can now be drafts, or private.
• Our admin has been refreshed to load faster and be more visually consistent.
• The dashboard now instantly and brings RSS feeds asynchronously in the background.
• Comment feeds now include all the comments, not just the last 10.
• Better internationalization and support for right-to-left languages.
• The upload manager lets you easily manage all your uploads pictures, video, and audio.
• A new version of the Akismet plugin is bundled.

Get WordPress 2.1 from here.

Technorati tags: WordPress, WordPress Latest Release, WordPress 2.1, Blog Platform

240 U-Turns from PA to NJ

This is pretty scary. Try to get gDirections from Google Maps from this location “19020″ (its in PA) to this location “1579 US-1 (S), North Brunswick, NJ 08902″.

Believe it or not…Google Maps says that there are 240 U-turns you have to make before you reach the destination.

Believe it from here.

Technorati tags: Google Maps, 240 U-turns, Amazing Directions

A new ‘iBook’ from Google?

Google is plotting to do for books what the iPod has done for music: make them purchasable by download to a portable access device. Could civilization as we know it be under threat?

The UK’s Times newspaper reported that “Google is working on a system that would allow readers to download entire books to their computers in a format that they could read on screen or on mobile devices such as a Blackberry.”

It quoted Jens Redmer, director of Google Book Search in Europe, speaking at ‘Unbound’, an invitation-only conference at the New York Public Library, saying: “We are working on a platform that will let publishers give readers full access to a book online.” Redmer said that the project was likely to come to fruition “sooner rather than later”.

The Times said the initiative would be part of Google’s Book Search service and its partnership with publishers, which makes books searchable online. Readers are then linked to sites such as Amazon where they can buy a physical copy of the book.

The news immediately lead Sunday Times commentator, Bryan Appleyard to bemoan the fact that: “We are, it seems, about to lose physical contact with books, the primary experience and foundation of civilization for the last 500 years.”

Read the full story from here.

Technorati tags: iBook, Google, Google’s Secret Work

Internet Explorer 7 Hits 100 Million Installs

Microsoft announced Friday it has hit the 100 million installation milestone for Internet Explorer 7, a figure that makes the new browser the second most used behind IE6. Web analytics firm WebSideStory reports that 25 percent of all Web surfers in the United States are now running IE7.

“We expect these numbers to continue to rise as we complete our final localized versions, scale up AU distribution, and with the consumer availability of Windows Vista on January 30, 2007,” wrote IE group program manager Tony Chor on the IEBlog. Because IE7 is built into Windows Vista, Microsoft expects adoption rates to jump further as consumers upgrade. Already, Microsoft is preparing to discuss the next version of Internet Explorer at the company’s MIX conference that begins April 30.

Source: BetaNews

Technorati tags: Microsoft, Internet Explorer 7, IE7, Statistics

Microsoft to build $550 million data center in San Antonio

Microsoft today announced plans to build a 550 (M) million dollar data center in northwest San Antonio.

The site will house Microsoft’s growing online services. The 400,000-square-foot facility will be the software giant’s first major data center in Texas.

The complex will house tens of thousands of computers for delivery of products like Microsoft’s Windows Live services, which include everything from instant messaging to mail.

Technorati tags: Microsoft, Data Center, San Antonio, Texas

20 ways you waste money on your car

MSN Money has an advice article on 20 ways we waste money on our cars. I particularly like their advice on the oil change schedule. Some of ‘em are really useful and simple to follow.

Read the full article here.

Technorati tags: MSN, MSN Money, Advice, Money saving tip, Save Money

Spiral Text Generator

I love spiral texts. Generate one from here (PartyPrinter).

PS: There are other shapes like heart, wave and even maze. Also keep in mind that the output comes in a PDF format.

Visit DemoGeek.com for amazingly detailed quality articles on Computer, Internet, Browsers, Software, Programming and much more.

Technorati tags: Tools, Spiral Text

Workrave – Prevent Repetitive Strain Injury

We all know that we spend so much time in front of the PC that it would be for good to have some breaks in between. Being into an interesting piece of work we tend to forget the goodness of taking a little break.

Workrave is a nice little utility that’s dedicated for this and only for this purpose, that  keeps annoying you for a break.

Here is what Workrave has to say about this utility,

Workrave is a program that assists in the recovery and prevention of Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI). The program frequently alerts you to take micro-pauses, rest breaks and restricts you to your daily limit.

Download it from here.

Technorati tags: Utility, Tools, Repetitive Strain Injury

Something going wrong at ScobleShow

Here is what I get when I hit ScobleShow.com or http://www.podtech.net/scobleshow/

Looks like something wrong.

Update: Looks like it’s working fine now. Thank you Scoble.

Technorati tags: ScobleShow, PodTech, Robert Scoble

Corporate world meets Web 2.0

When the corporate world meets Web 2.0 standards their logos might look like this. Some of ‘em are really creative and some of ‘em are really shiny.

Take a look at here.

Technorati tags: Web 2.0, Web 2.0 Corporate Logos, Corporate Logos

Download (in iPod format) Steve Jobs Keynote video from MacWorld 2007

Steve Jobs’ MacWorld Expo 2007 Keynote video was streaming at Apple’s website. You know that. But who wants to watch the keynote in the computer? What happened to the Apple frenzy, iPod?

Here is a location from where you can download the keynote video in m4v format (widescreen - 680×360) and can carry it in your iPod.

Pre-download Warning: The video file size is around 1.2 GB and you might want to be little diligent while downloading.

Download it from here.

Technorati tags: Apple, Macworld, MacWorld 2007, MacWorld 2007 Expo, MacWorld 2007 Video, Steve Jobs Keynote at MacWorld 2007

Verizon FiOS goes 50 Mbps

GigaOm reports that, under competitive pressure from local cable competitors like Cablevision, Verizon is fighting speed with speed. The company just announced that it is now offering connection speeds of up to 50 Mbps (megabits per second) downstream and 5 Mbps upstream over its FiOS network.

Though there isn’t any explicit detail of what the pricing might be, it is for sure to be super expensive. I have a 5/2 Down/Up speed and I pay 45 bucks a month. I’m sure it won’t be 10 times of what I pay now but certainly it would be expensive.

That tells me that I’ll just stick with what I get from my FiOS. It is indeed sufficient for my regular usage.

What is your opinion? What kind of service/speed do you have/prefer?

Technorati tags: Verizon, FiOS, Verizon FiOS

Indian man sends 182,689 SMS messages in one month

This is a pretty silly Guinness Record; you’ve gotta read this.

Engadget reports that an Indian man, Deepak Sharma, went on record with the Guinness Book for having sent the most SMS messages in a single month: 182,689. We’re not sure if that’s total, or unique messages, but if you’d like us to break that down for you, that’s about 6,100 messages a day, 253 an hour, 4.2 a minute, or a new one every 14 seconds or so.

So basically this guy gave up a month of his life sending texts—way to go, dude. His other reward? A 1,411 page bill (don’t worry, he has an unlimited texting plan)—compare that to, say, Joyce’s Ulysses (speaking of Guinness books… aw come on!), which is a mere 780 some-odd pages, though every bit as difficult to read through.

Update: Deepak Sharma aims to increase the number to 300,000 in the coming month.

Crazy…isn’t it?

Technorati tags: Mobile, Text Messages, Guinness Record

FileMenu – Handy Right Click Menu Customizer

Here is a nice little utility that comes in handy given the limitations of the default Windows menu choices, particularly the right click menu. LopeSoft’s FileMenu utility let’s you customize the choice of menus that you want to appear on the right click menu and also it allows you to add new shortcuts to the menu. It’s a great little utility and it works like a snap.

Give it a try. I’m sure it will be handy and you’ll like it.

Technorati tags: Tools, FileMenu, Utility, System Tool, Windows Menu Tool

Demo of Apple TV at MacWorld 2007 Expo

If iPhone was a hottie at the MacWorld 2007 there is another little hottie at the expo that got a bit less attention, the Apple TV.

Here is what Apple has to say on Apple TV,

With Apple TV, you can enjoy movies, TV shows, music, and podcasts in your iTunes library, plus photos and movie trailers, on your widescreen TV — wirelessly, from your Mac or PC.

Here is a video that demonstrates the Apple TV at the MacWorld 2007 Expo.

(Note: To one of my reader Phil, I just followed the exact same steps as mentioned on my blog post on how to embed YouTube videos on to your blog. I just want to prove, with an example, that it works if you just follow the exact steps on that blog post.)

Technorati tags: Apple, iPhone, Apple TV, Video

For optimal viewing…

…come home and see the site in my computer.

I came across this somewhere on a site where it says “This site is optimized for IE/Firefox” and I thought it’s a bit humorous and different.

Do you like it? 

Technorati tags: Humor

Commercializing CAPTCHA

Seth Godin has a great idea of commercializing CAPTCHA’s. The idea is great because as so many people reads blogs and leaves comments and even logs-in to Web 2.0 services these days it is a great way of an advertising stream because they have to read the CAPTCHA’s before typing the text.

Technorati tags: Idea, CAPTCHA

A day in the life of a "Googler"

CNN has a nice video clip of a day in the life of a “Googler”. As you might know, Google is the #1 in the list of Fortune’s “100 Best Companies To Work For in 2007″. And this video quantifies why they are at the #1 position.

View it here.

Technorati tags: Google, Googler, CNN, CNN.com, CNN.com Video, Video, Fortune Best Companies to work for in 2007

~

Apple Computer is now Apple Inc.

Om Malik at GigaOm concludes that by dropping the “Computer” from it’s name Apple has become not just a computer manufacturing company but a consumer electronics company.

Here is a quote from GigaOm,

Dropping Computer from its name is a sure sign that Apple, from this point forward, is a consumer electronics company, a mobile handset maker – one that also makes computer hardware and software as well.

And the picture is the proof.

Technorati tags: Apple, Apple Inc., Apple Renames

iPhone – Full Specs

Here ya go again…iPhone baby…iPhone…

The full specs:

Screen size: 3.5 inches
Screen resolution: 320 by 480 at 160 ppi
Input method: Multi-touch
Operating system: OS X
Storage: 4GB or 8GB
GSM: Quad-band (MHz: 850, 900, 1800, 1900)
Wireless data: Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) + EDGE + Bluetooth 2.0
Camera: 2.0 megapixels
Battery: Up to 5 hours Talk / Video / Browsing, Up to 16 hours Audio playback
Dimensions: 4.5 x 2.4 x 0.46 inches
Weight: 4.8 ounces / 135 grams

Technorati tags: Apple, iPhone, iPhone Specification

Hello iPhone!

At it’s annual Macworld expo in San Francisco, Steve Jobs announced their latest gizmo, iPhone. Yes, you read it right…a phone from Apple. The pretty neat thing about this phone is that it has a nice built-in web browser that’s almost as functional as it’s PC counterpart. The next neat thing I like the most is that it allows you to have widgets which are pretty handy to have some much needed information on the go at the fingertip.

The phone, which runs the Mac OS X, will come in two models — a $499 version with 4 gigabytes of flash memory and a $599 one with 8 gigabytes of flash memory. And one more interesting fact, my cell phone service provider Cingular is the official partner. Yeaaaaayyy!!!

Take a look at here for an introductory video.

No…it doesn’t come with that extra black border

Technorati tags: Apple, iPhone, MacWorld

Test Drive a Windows Vista near you

Do you want to test drive the latest OS from Microsoft, Windows Vista, without downloading the mammoth ISO files from those beta releases? Microsoft Virtual Labs is having a solution for you, Windows Vista Business Test Drive. Yes, it’s a hosted Vista that you can try without any risk or overhead.

Update: The last time I’d checked this web site it was down for updates, at least that’s what it said.

Feel like giving it a try? Click here.

Technorati tags: Windows Vista, Test Drive Vista, Microsoft Virtual Labs

ScobleShow has a new video player

One of my favorite video blog on the internet, The ScobleShow, by my favorite blogger Robert Scoble, has gone premium with its flash video player. It used to be that you have to launch a new window or a popup to play the content but now Scoble has upgraded the site to play the video with in the same window itself (like what YouTube does).

I like the change much better even though it lost the flexibility in adjusting the size of the video. For interviews like with Om Malik it’s okay to have the small in-built video player but for some videos where people demo stuffs the flexibility to adjust the size of the video would be a darling. I’m sure he will have that in no time.

Good job Scoble. Way to go!!!

Technorati tags: Robert Scoble, ScobleShow

What’s next Microsoft?…Windows Fiji and Windows Vienna

Having the count down already started for the consumer release of Windows Vista, what’s next in the line cooking up there at Redmond? Windows Fiji and Windows Vienna. That’s right. These are the Windows version on the queue to be in line for the subsequent releases.

On a gist, Windows Fiji will be either an update or a service pack to the current version of Windows Vista. This release should have features that didn’t make it in time for the Windows Vista launch.

According to Wikipedia here are some of the rumored features to be included in Windows Fiji.

• The user interface will be updated with things that were originally promised for Vista, along with a more powerful sidebar, which will be more than just a dock for widgets
• .Net Framework will be updated to 3.5 or 4
• WinFS will be applied over NTFS to give us Virtual Folders
• All bundled application will be updated to newer versions
• Tighter integration with Windows Live. Probably through ‘Codename Nemo’, a media center application that’s integrated with Messenger, Spaces, and probably lots of other Windows Live Services
• We might see Monaco, a music authoring tool, similar to Apple’s Garageband
• Default playback of HD-DVD, Vista currently identifies these disks but cannot play them without an external decoder
• A more advanced speech recognition software
• The system will be made more secure
• New themes, icons, wallpapers, games, and minor tweaks to almost everything

If Windows Fiji is an update to the current Windows Vista, Windows Vienna is a complete revamp of the way Windows works and behaves. I particularly like the concept of “pie” menu instead of the traditional one (yeaaaay!!! more screen real estate).

Cybernet Technology News has a nice article with screenshots.

Disclaimer: As I’ve said it’s all in a very early incumbent stage and things might change drastically as the development progresses (like Windows Vista).

Technorati tags: Windows, Windows Fiji, Windows Vienna

Happy New Year 2007

Wishing you and your family a very happy and a prosperous New Year 2007.

- Askar