Google with its own Phone

Google plans to launch its own phone

New York: Google hopes to strengthen its presence in the world of mobile telephony with plans to introduce its own hightech phone some time in 2010, according to press reports.
Reports by the Wall Street Journal and others cite sources close to Google, stating that the company, known primarily for its online search functions, is expected to release a phone dubbed Nexus One that runs Google’s Android operating system.
However, the company hopes to sell the phone directly to consumers, skipping mobile service providers, which often package their services with hardware from other companies. That means customers will either have to use their existing mobile phone contract with the Nexus or arrange for a new one.
The new phones will reportedly be manufactured by Taiwanese phone maker HTC, reported TechCrunch, a technology blog. HTC already produces several phones that use Android. With Google in the lead, the two companies developed Android, which relies primarily on Google’s online services for mobile internet functions.
However, until now, Google has always relied on other companies, like HTC, Samsung or Motorola, to provide network support and hardware. Google recently reported in a blog entry that it was letting some of its employees test a new mobile device, but provided no further details. The company is seen by many to be one of the up-andcoming players in the mobile phone market.

source : The Times of India

Wireless security

Here are the few easy steps on wireless security

Document a wireless security policy

Customers must define their needs so that you can implement wireless LANs that meet them. This is just as true for security as it is for coverage and capacity. You can play a vital role in determining security needs by asking the right questions and documenting your customer’s answers. If your customer has defined a security policy, you’re way ahead of the game. If not, work with your customer to complete a wireless security policy template that can guide your WLAN implementation.
Break the wireless network into SSIDs

Once you’ve documented a wireless security policy, put that policy to work by breaking your customer’s wireless LAN into named networks that reflect differing security needs. For example, many customers want to let guests access the Internet without jeopardizing employees. These groups can share the same physical WLAN but should be compartmentalized into separate networks, named by Service Set Identifiers (SSIDs). Avoid factory default SSIDs or values like “Accounting” that could lead hackers to target your customer’s WLAN. Don’t disable SSID broadcasting — that option can’t stop hackers and just makes life harder for legitimate users.

Implement access controls

Guest networks may be open, but access to all other WLANs should be constrained using 802.1X Port Access Control, pre-shared keys (PSKs), WEP keys, MAC Access Control Lists (ACLs), and/or captive portals. Use captive portals where customers have no control over client devices (e.g., hotspots). Use 802.1X in business WLANs where individual user authentication is required. Use PSKs in smaller WLANs where everyone deserves the same level of trust and 802.1X is impractical. Avoid WEP or MAC ACLs unless devices are so limited that no other options exist (e.g., barcode scanners). Add value by explaining these wireless access control options, where and when they are appropriate, their strengths and weaknesses and their administrative impacts.

Deploy authentication credentials

Typically, clients must authenticate before they can send traffic, but deploying logins and keys can be challenging. To overcome this, help your customer establish a process for credential management. For example, help a small business choose a strong PSK and distribute it using Windows Wireless Network Setup. Or help an enterprise choose an 802.1X authentication method that integrates with Active Directory to reuse domain logins. Even MAC ACLs require a client inventory that you could help create.

Encrypt wireless data

Anything sent over the air is vulnerable unless encryption is used to scramble data at the transmitter and unscramble it at the receiver. Whenever possible, turn on Wi-Fi Protected Access version 2 (WPA2), which uses the Advanced Encryption Standard. When dealing with old devices, it may be necessary to fall back to TKIP (the older WPA cipher) or even WEP (the broken 802.11 cipher). Some customers may not want wireless encryption — typically, this applies to guest WLANs and business networks where IPsec or SSL are used. Add value by explaining encryption options, including advanced features like master key caching and key refresh.

Harden WLAN infrastructure

Like any device exposed to an untrusted network, wireless access points and controllers must be hardened against attack. Start with the hardening techniques commonly used on routers and firewalls, like eliminating default logins and unused ports and applying security patches. Search the Wireless Vulnerabilities and Exploits database for bugs in products used by your customer’s WLAN, and use vulnerability assessment tools to scan for remaining weaknesses.

Defend wireless clients

Wireless clients also need to be defended against attacks and the consequences of mistakes like wireless LAN file sharing and accidental connections. Help your customers apply wired/Internet endpoint security and management techniques to wireless clients — for example, using Windows Group Policy Objects to configure WLAN settings. Where gaps exist, suggest third-party tools that could benefit both wireless and wired clients. Potential up-sell opportunities include endpoint security products, network access control solutions, connection managers and mobile VPN clients.

Monitor wireless traffic

Customers are naturally fearful about traffic that cannot be seen. Help them find unauthorized wireless devices, known as rogues, by scanning their building with a WLAN discovery tool. Better yet, deploy a full-time wireless intrusion detection or prevention systems (WIDS/WIPS) to watch the airwaves and report on security threats, misconfigured devices and policy violations. Wireless newcomers often need help understanding WIDS alerts and reports.

Prevent wireless intrusions

Initially, customers may be uncomfortable responding to threats automatically. However, the only way to react in a timely manner and stop high-risk connections is to enable WIPS prevention. You can add value by helping customers understand the consequences of these features, how to configure them and how to use locationing to eliminate intruders.

Enforce network security

Finally, wireless LAN security deserves extra attention, but it is just one part of a bigger picture. Help customers determine how wireless traffic should be contained inside the wired network — for example, mapping SSIDs or 802.1X to VLAN tags. Recommend ways to integrate wireless APs and controllers with SYSLOG servers and network management systems. Melding wireless and wired security not only leverages existing skills and infrastructure, but promotes consistency in management and use.

Google Chrome Update

The success of the Chrome operating system will likely hinge on its acceptance among computer manufacturers that have been loyal Windows customers for years, said Matt Rosoff, an analyst for the research group Directions on Microsoft. “Most people, when they get a new operating system, they get it with their PC,” he said. “I don’t think most people think much about their operating systems.”

If enough computer manufacturers embrace the Chrome operating system, it could weaken Microsoft while opening up new avenues for Google to persuade consumers and businesses to use its suite of online applications and other Internet services, generating more opportunities for Google to sell lucrative Internet ads.

Getting consumers and businesses to switch to computers powered by a new operating system won’t be easy, as Google has learned from the introduction of Chrome. Google says about 30 million people are using Chrome, a small fraction of the Web surfers who rely on Microsoft’s market-leading Internet Explorer.

Microsoft’s Windows operating system has been even more dominant for a longer period time despite challenges from Apple Inc. and various systems based on Linux, the same type of open-source software that Google plans to use.

“It’s going to be tough,” Standard & Poor’s equity analyst Scott Kessler said of Google’s foray into PC operating systems. “The reality is that as the importance of a device or task increases, people have a much lower inclination to consider a change.”

Businesses will be especially reluctant to abandon Windows because, on average, about 70 percent of their applications are designed to run on that, said Gartner Inc. analyst Michael Silver.

“This is going to generate a lot of hype, but it will probably be three to five years before it has any noticeable impact on the market,” Silver said.

Consumers are likely to be more tempted to experiment with the Chrome operating system because it probably will decrease netbook prices even further. Microsoft’s operating system typically adds $50 to $100 to a computer’s price, Silver said.

Google has already introduced an operating system for smart phones and other mobile devices, called Android, that vies against various other systems, including ones made by Microsoft and Apple Inc.

The Android system worked well enough to entice some computer makers to begin developing netbooks that will run on it. Acer Inc., the world’s third-largest PC maker, said last month it would drop Windows netbooks, saying Android would cut costs and likely help computers start up more quickly.

Google, though, apparently believes a Chrome-based system will be better suited for netbooks.

The duel between Google and Microsoft has been steadily escalating in recent years as Google’s dominance of the Internet’s lucrative search markethas given it the means to threaten Microsoft in ways that few other companies can.

Google already has rankled Microsoft by luring some of its top employees and developing an online package of computer programs that provide an alternative to Microsoft’s top-selling word processing, spreadsheet and calendar applications.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has been trying to thwart Google by investing billions of dollars to improve its own Internet search and advertising systems – to little avail so far. In the past month or so, though, Microsoft has been winning positive reviews and picking up more users with its search upgrade, Bing.

Now Google is aiming for Microsoft’s financial jugular with the Chrome operating system.

Microsoft has drawn much of its power – and profits – from the Windows operating system that has steered most personal computers for the past two decades.

Google’s chief executive, Eric Schmidt, and its co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, have not concealed their disdain for Windows.

Schmidt maintains Microsoft sometimes unfairly rigs its operating system to limit consumer choices – something that Microsoft has consistently denied doing. Google fears Microsoft could limit access to its search engine and other products if Windows is set up to favor Microsoft products.

Schmidt and Brin are expected to discuss Google’s new operating system this week when they appear at a media conference hosted by Allen & Co. at the Sun Valley resort in Idaho. They had not arrived at the conference as other participants sat down to lunch Wednesday.

Source: Internet

Twitter’s market capitalization to reach $1 billion

SAN FRANCISCO: Twitter has trained people to compress their thoughts into 140 characters and given a public stage to both dissidents in Iran and

voluble stars like Shaquille O’Neal.

Now the startup appears to have chalked up another achievement. Twitter, which has no discernible revenue, is set to raise about $100 million of new funding that would value the company at around $1 billion, a person briefed on the company’s plans said on Thursday.

For context, that is almost double the market capitalization of Domino’s Pizza, which has 10,500 employees and had $1.4 billion in sales last year.

Twitter has some 60 employees, and although it is experimenting with running advertisements on its Web site, Biz Stone, a Twitter founder, said this week at an industry conference that the company had no plans to begin widely running ads until 2010.

But Twitter’s cash infusion and exospheric valuation are not easily reduced to the level of the blind bets of past dot-com bubbles. In its three-and-a-half years, Twitter has become a magnet for media attention, and its Web site now attracts 54 million visitors a month, according to comScore, the tracking firm. Along with Facebook, it is helping to remake the Web as a forum for the perpetual sharing of even the most trivial bits of information about people’s lives.

“There have probably been less than five examples of companies that have grown like Twitter has,” said John Borthwick, the chief executive of Betaworks, which created the link-shortening service Bit.ly. (Betaworks also invested in Summize, a Twitter search engine that Twitter acquired last year, and it now owns a small stake in the company.)

Borthwick lists Google and Facebook as other examples. Twitter “represents a next layer of innovation on the Internet,” he said. “This investment is happening because it represents a shift.”

The new investors include Insight Venture Partners, a venture capital firm based in New York; T. Rowe Price, the mutual fund company, which is not normally known for placing such bets; and the current Twitter backers Spark Capital and Institutional Venture Partners.

The investment is likely to kick off more discussion about the heady valuations investors are assigning to some Internet startups, even as the U.S. economy struggles to emerge from a deep recession and the window for initial public offerings remains weak.

Twitter is not only what insiders charitably describe as “pre-revenue,” but the service has become known for going down periodically, although its reliability record has been improving lately.

To some, Twitter’s new valuation makes sense. Facebook, Google and Microsoft have all reportedly made entreaties to acquire the company, and its desirability to the Internet giants elevates its value.

Then there is the nonstop media attention, with everyone from Oprah Winfrey to local radio stations increasingly using the service to communicate with fans. “There is so much media hype around them, it was probably easy to go to mainstream investors and find someone who would be interested,” said Jeremiah Owyang, a social media analyst at the Altimeter Group.

Twitter has not yet commented on the investment, so it is not clear how it will use the new cash. The company does not appear to need the capital. It previously raised $55 million and has said it still has $25 million of that in the bank. But it is known to have wide aspirations to ultimately reach 1 billion users and become “the pulse of the planet,” according to internal documents that were illicitly obtained by a hacker and published on the blog TechCrunch earlier this year.

Twitter could use the investment to build the technology infrastructure required to grow to that scale. It also might use the cash to acquire one or more of the companies that are writing Twitter programs for mobile phones and computer desktops.

Twitter could even find a business model for itself if it were to buy one of the several startups devoted to helping companies manage their Twitter presence and monitor how their brands are being discussed.

But close followers of Twitter do not sense that the company is in any great rush to prove itself as a profitable venture.

“It would be trivially easy for them to turn on a revenue source today,” said Steve Broback, founder of the Parnassus Group, which runs conferences on Twitter and other business topics. “I don’t see that they are in a big hurry to start generating revenues, mostly because they want to minimize any sort of negative effect on their community.”

Google Wave

Google Wave is a new model for communication and collaboration on the web, coming later this year.
Here’s a preview of just some of the aspects of this new tool.

What is a wave?

A wave is equal parts conversation and document. People can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.
A wave is shared. Any participant can reply anywhere in the message, edit the content and add participants at any point in the process. Then playback lets anyone rewind the wave to see who said what and when.
A wave is live. With live transmission as you type, participants on a wave can have faster conversations, see edits and interact with extensions in real-time.

NASA lets you send your name on Mars

NASA now gives anyone the opportunity to send their name to Mars. Just enter your name, country and zip code into the form, and your name – along with many others – will be included in a microchip on the Mars Science Laboratory rover which will be heading to Mars in 2011.

NASA has actually done this before, for example, you could have sent your name to Mars with the Phoenix rover.First of all, there’s no captcha, and the form accepts nearly anything, even very long entries.
Click here to send your name on Mars   http://mashable.com/2009/07/15/send-your-name-to-mars/
Source http://www.mashable.com

Microsoft office 2010 puts everything on Web.

As microsoft search engine bing has already taken some market share from Google and Google is already have stiff competition with Microsoft with upcoming chrome OS.Microsoft has announced that the next version of Office will include Web-based versions of Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and OneNote.

10 new hacks from Window Media Centre

1. Watch TV without a tuner

How would you like to get live TV and recorded TV into Windows Media Center even if you don’t have a TV tuner card? What if you do have a tuner card and you’ve forgotten to record Newsnight?

There’s a fantastic and free application called TunerFree MCE that enables you to get BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 content into Windows Media Center using the internet as its source.

Once you’ve installed TunerFree MCE you have access to on-demand and live content from the UK’s terrestrial channels.
2. All-in-one remote

The remote controls that come with many Windows Media Center systems are great, but by the time you have your TV remote, DVD remote and set top box remote it can be hard to work out which one does what, so one simple solution is an all-in-one job.

To get all-in-one remotes working with Windows Media Center click the Start button, type regedit, and find:

HKEY_LOCAL_ MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\HidIr\Remote\745a17a0-74d3-11d0b6fe-00a0c90f57da

Find the value, EnableDebounce, and change it from 0 to 1.
3. Enable Movies Guide

Users of Windows Media Center in the US get access to a fantastic movie browser that details the movies being broadcast in the next two weeks, including cover art and movie details. In the UK we don’t get this feature, but with a little hack the Movie Guide can be enabled, and then you can browse the guide including films on now and next. Click the Start button, type regedit, find:

HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Settings\MCE.GlobalSettings

double-click the systemGeoISO2 setting, and change the value from UK to US. Then restart Windows Media Center and the Movie Guide will be enabled.
4. Pair one remote to one system

If you have more than one Media Center system in a room then you may find that one remote will control all the systems at the same time. If you don’t want this then there’s a way of pairing a remote to a specific system.

To enable your Media Center to respond to a specific remote control ID do the following: press and hold the DVD Menu button on the remote control, then press a number button (1-8) for five seconds. Remote controls with visible LED signal indicators will blink twice to confirm the change. Then start up your PC, open Regedit again and go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_ MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\HidIr\Remotes\745a17a0-74d3-11d0-b6fe-00a0c90f57da

and in the key, CodeSetNum0, enter the number you entered into the remote
5. Enable DVD Library

If you store ripped DVDs on your PC you can enable Media Center to display the DVD library so you can access the ripped DVDs from the Media Center interface. Fire up Regedit, and locate

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Setting\DvdSettings

In the details pane, right-click ShowGallery, and then click Modify. Delete the contents that appear in the Value data box, type Gallery, and then click OK. Alternatively, download Microsoft’s tool that does exactly the same thing for you automatically.
6. Use your iPhone or PSP as a remote control

You can turn your iPhone, iPod touch or your PSP into a Wi-Fi remote control for Windows Media Center. ngRC works with any web browser-enabled devices such as iPhones, iPod Touches, PSPs, PCs, and Tablet PCs. You can search and play music, videos and TV. The application is free and available from here.

7. Adjust the skip intervals

The skip buttons on Media Center are great for skipping adverts or skipping to a part of a programme, but you may want to change it to a longer skip interval. Here are the settings for the skip forward and back intervals. As with the other tips, fire up Regedit and navigate to

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Settings\VideoSettings

Find the SkipAheadInterval value and change the Skip Forward Interval to a figure that suits you. The figure represents the number of milliseconds you want to skip forward when you press the Skip button (one second = 1,000 milliseconds). Next, go to

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Settings\VideoSettings

find InstantReplayInterval and change the Skip Back Interval. Again, enter a number in milliseconds, but this time it will be for the amount of time you want to skip back when you press the Replay button.

8. Faster responses from the forward and rewind buttons

If you find the cue and review responses in Media Center a little slow go to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Settings\VideoConstants

and find the SeekBarBriefTimeout value. Enter a figure in milliseconds for the transition period in Seek Bar Rewind and Fast Forward Timeout. Next, go to

HKEY_ LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Settings\VideoConstants

find the SeekBarSloMoTimeout value and enter a new figure for Seek Bar Slow Motion Timeout, which adjusts the transition period when in slow-motion playback.

9. Watch and record anywhere

WebGuide enables you to remotely schedule, manage, and watch recorded TV programmes over the internet. So if you forget to record Inspector Frost you can do it from any machine that has a web browser, including your mobile phone. Download it for free from http://www.asciiexpress.com/webguide.

10. The Media Center Swiss Army knife

DVRMStoolbox can convert recorded video files into various formats, monitor the airwaves for new television shows, perform automated commercial removals, convert shows to an iPod compatible format and shrink files down for mobile devices.
information from Techradar.com

Forbes Magazine in India

Yeppy!! Forbes Magazine is in India………here is the fact.
This iconic brand makes its debut in India in association with Network18, India’s biggest full play integrated media network. Forbes India, will serve as a one-stop destination for today’s discerning business reader. It will feature news, views and analysis by some of India’s most respected journalists, commentators and columnists.

For  more information go to http://www.forbesindiamagazine.com/

Google with OS

Google is already been with Mobile OS Android but news is that google is coming with OS to compete with Microsoft.
here is fact.
The new operating system, aptly named Google Chrome OS, will be an open-source operating system initially geared toward netbooks, Google announced in a blog posting late Tuesday evening.

Google claims the new operating system, which should ship in the second half of next year, will be “lightweight” and heavily Web-centric.

With Chrome OS, Google plans to follow the same formula it used with its browser: “Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We’re designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds,” Google stated in its announcement. “The user interface is minimal to stay out of your way, and most of the user experience takes place on the web.”

Google will also make security a high priority with Chrome. The company notes it will be “going back to the basics and completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don’t have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work.” As you might assume, that is a pretty ambitious goal, considering every current operating system sees its fair share of security flaws and patches.

Chrome OS will run on x86-based PCs, as well as machines built around the ARM processor (such as so-called smartbooks).

So what does this mean for Android? According to Google, Chrome OS is in no way connected to Android, and that while Android was created with smartphones, netbooks, and other devices in mind, Chrome OS “is being created for people who spend most of their time on the web” and will be able to run on practically any PC that meets the minimum requirements, ranging from netbooks on the low-end to high end power desktops.

When Google first introduced the Chrome browser last year, I remarked in my review that “In the past there has been some speculation that Google would develop its own operating system, but I think that Chrome’s launch makes one thing is clear: The Web browser is Google’s operating system.”

While Chrome OS goes beyond being a mere Web browser, Google’s vision of the future is as clear with Chrome OS as it was with the introduction of the Chrome browser: The Web is the OS of the future, and a modern OS needs to be built around the Web first. In fact, in the announcement, Google flatly states, “For application developers, the web is the platform.” Even better: “And of course, these apps will run not only on Google Chrome OS, but on any standards-based browser on Windows, Mac and Linux thereby giving developers the largest user base of any platform.”Source PC world megazine.

So has Google just killed the operating system war? Or is it just getting started? Share your thoughts and post a comment.