Use Yahoo! for 7 Days to Win Free Coffee for a Year

Yahoo! was the most visited website on the Internet a few years ago but they’ve slipped to the third place courtesy Facebook and Google. Almost everyone has an email account with Yahoo! Mail but many don’t use it as their primary email address anymore.

Thus, in a possible bid to entice old users to check the various properties again, Yahoo! has launched a unique promotion in the U.S. where you may win a year of coffee if you are willing to sign-in to your Yahoo! account for seven consecutive days.

For every 7 consecutive days you sign-in to the Yahoo! homepage, Yahoo! Mail, or Yahoo! Mobile we’ll give you one entry to win a year of premium coffee.

To participate, all you need a valid Yahoo! email address and you should be a U.S. citizen. You can even snail mail your entries to Yahoo as mentioned in the rules book.

The big question is – will an year of free coffee be enough to pull you back to Yahoo?

Online App Turns your Pictures into Text Portraits

Online App Turns your Pictures into Text Portraits: "

Textify is an impressive web based app that instantly turns a photograph into a beautiful text portrait. Simply drag an image from the desktop onto your browser and watch as the individual pixels of the image are converted into text characters.

The app, though simple, offers you a good deal of control over your text portraits. You can choose to have text from different font families, you can increase the character density to make your ‘text images’ appear more sharp or change the font-weight for getting that water-color like effect.

The best part about the app is that it uses regular HTML to render your image as a text. If you would like to grab this HTML code, disable the “Draw on Canvas” option, apply and then hit “View Source” to get the full underlying HTML that you can copy-paste into your own website.

This kind of art, though computer-generated, will still look good on one of your walls. Here are some other online and offline options for converting your photographs into text. Thank you Maria Popova for the tip.

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Mobitel 4G - 96Mbps Download Speed

Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel announced today(06/05/2011) that it has carried out a successful trial of LTE (Long Term Evolution) Technology achieving speeds of up to 96 Mbps. At this LTE trial Mobitel has broken the speed barrier even further to demonstrate broadband speeds of up to 96Mbps in downlink and 49Mbps in uplink using LTE technology.

The Director General of Telecommunications(TRCSL) Mr.Anusha Palpita witnesses Mobitel demonstrating 4G(LTE) technology exceeding 96Mbps data download speed and 49Mbps in upload speed 1st in south Asia at Mobitel flagship center.



Reason to this speed in LTE

The prime factor behind thise super-fast speeds demonstrated in LTE technology when compared to existing and most advanced 3G technologies is that the spectral efficiency is 4 to 5 times greater in LTE than in the most advanced 3G technologies. The use of OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) carrier modulation in LTE allows easy upward scalability for higher bandwidth requirements, coupled with MIMO technology, which effectively uses multiple antennae in both the Terminal Device (Data dongle, Tablet PC/Smart Phone etc.) and radio network to transmit and receive multiple streams of information within the same spectrum. The demonstration was carried out in the 2.6GHz frequency range, and initiatives are under way to explore operations at other spectrum bands for commercial deployment.

Download And Backup Your Facebook Profile Data ( Photos, Videos, Messages,.... )

Are you thinking to close your Facebook account? If yes I'm sure you don't want to lose all your data including your photos,videos,your messages..etc, or What if your Facebook account was suddenly disabled? You will loose your all information in your Facebook account. Don't worry.

There is a simple way to backup your facebook data. In this way, Facebook provides you a zip file to download, which includes following data.



* Your profile information. (e.g., your contact information, interests, groups)

* Photos and videos that you have uploaded to your account.

* Notes you have created.

* Your sent and received messages.

* Events to which you have RSVP'd.

* Your comments, that you and your friends have made on your wall posts, photos, and other profile content.

* Your friend list.

* Your wall posts and content that you and your friends have posted to your profile.



Method to backup facebook data.



Step 1: Log into your Facebook account and visit your account settings page.



Step 2: Click on learn more beside Download your information.









Step 3: A new page appears with the following message:

This tool lets you download a copy of your information, including your photos and videos, posts on your Wall, all of your messages, your friend list and other content you have shared on your profile. Within this zip file you will have access to your data in a simple, browseable manner. Learn more about downloading a copy of your information.



Security

This is a copy of all of the personal information you’ve shared on Facebook. In order to protect your information, we will ask for authentication to verify your identity.

WARNING: This file contains sensitive information. Because this download contains your profile information, you should keep it secure and take precautions when storing, sending or uploading it to any other services.

Then Click on Download.



Step 4: When you click on download,a small window appears. Click on the new Download button.







Step 5: A download link will be sent to your email. As Facebook says, it can take a while so be patient.



Step 6: Click on the email link. Then you’ll be directed back to Facebook. The site will ask for your account password, for security’s sake. Once you enter it, you’ll return to the Download page.





Step 7: Click Download Now to get a zip file containing your profile information, wall posts, and uploaded pictures and videos.





That's it. You got your facebook information as a zip file.

Send your Handwritten Notes to Google Docs with Livescribe

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could write (or draw) on a piece of paper with a pen and send that handwritten note straight to the cloud – like Google Docs or Evernote – for digital archiving?

One option is that you use scan the paper as a PDF file and upload it to Google Docs but if you need a solution that’s more simple and completely automated, consider getting yourself a Livescribe pen.

Livescribe is an impressive piece of technology – it is like a regular pen with an ink cartridge but unlike any other pen, Livescribe pens record everything that you write on a notebook including the audio that you hear (like when you are in a meeting or a lecture).

Later, you can tap on your notes to replay the recording. You can connect the pen to your computer via a USB cable to transfer all your handwritten notes and the linked voice recordings to the desktop. All your handwritten notes are searchable now or you can transcribe them to digital text using the Livescribe Desktop software.

As an example, see this PDF note that Arianna Huffington wrote using a Livescribe pen.

What is a Livescribe Smartpen?

Send your Paper Notes to Google Docs, Evernote, etc.

Livescribe today announced a new software update that will let you send your handwritten notes from paper to cloud services like Facebook, Google Docs or Evernote with a few taps.

You draw a small double-line on the paper that you want to archive, write the destination name on that line (like “Google Docs”) and the next time you connect your pen to the computer, the note will find its way to the cloud automatically.

A limitation is that the transfer is not wireless and will only happen when you connect the pen to your PC or Mac. Livescribe Pens start at $99 (the basic model has 2 GB storage) but there’s another recurring cost – it only works with a special kind of paper.

Demo: Send your Notes to the Cloud

3 Extensions for Improved Browsing History Management in Chrome for Search and Sort

Google Chrome provides a very simple history feature to view past visited websites. It is very easy to use and solves most of the purpose. By default, your past visits are arranged in reverse chronological order with only few sorting options. Often it becomes difficult to search for previous visited sites in history. Chrome history also lacks in some other important features like:

#1. Looking up history for a specific date.

#2. Ability to search websites between the two dates.

#3. Sorting based on URL or date.

#4. Deleting specific parts of history.

We can easily overcome these problems with the use of chrome extensions. However, be advised that since these extensions are custom made they cannot be blindly trusted. Some of them might store sites you visit locally to give you enhanced functionality. A common method to choose extension is to choose one with high number of downloads having positive comments with good rating.

Let us look three such extensions that fulfil the above criteria and are very useful in managing history in better way –

History2 : Same History Page with Added Options

History2 is a very simple to use history viewer with a host of options that lets you view web history with already defined time frames such as 2 days ago or last week and others. You can even sort your search results alphabetically or by last time visit or by number of visits.

History Calendar: Beautifully designed Multipurpose Extension

History Calendar is the best in its league but unfortunately it is not verified by Google. It gives quick information on already visited websites in a beautiful popup but this is just tip of the iceberg. The more evident use of this chrome extension is to view history for a particular date from calendar and to search history between two particular date intervals.

Recent History: A Nifty Web Browsing History Manager

Recent History is a heavily customised smart addon that gives you flexibility to view recent history with just a click of mouse and variety of options to manage better the past visited websites. The options page gives wide range of selections to choose.

The main history manager lets you view history based on the selected day of calendar. Deleting history between dates is hidden and you will have to click on the arrow next to calendar to reveal it. Similarly, the sorting options are not so evident. They can be found at top right most side of the page.

This extension does not not actually use Chrome history but it makes its own database separately. Therefore, it might be sluggish sometimes. However, this is a smart extension for improved browsing history management in Google Chrome.

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Download Official Wallpapers from Ubuntu 11.04

Ubuntu 11.04 ( codenamed Natty Narwhal ) has 18 new refreshing wallpapers including the default one. They come with the usual feel of Ubuntu brownish tint. Some wallpapers are photographs captured by talented photographers. So go ahead and download using below link or view them at Web Upd8 blog and enjoy on your Windows or MAC system.

Download Ubuntu 11.04 Wallpapers [ .tar.gz 3MB ]

Russia Won't Ban Gmail or Skype Amid Security Concerns

It looks like Russia won't be banning Skype or Gmail, after all. The Kremlin was reportedly considering blocking both services, along with Hotmail, in response to a major cyberattack that crippled the country's most popular blog and an independent news site. Some within the Kremlin had believed the services posed a major threat to national security, but some critics had thought the government may have just been looking for an excuse to tighten its control over the Web -- ahead of December's parliamentary elections and next year's presidential race.

BlackBerry Bold 9900, 9930 Will Run BlackBerry OS 7

RIM kicked off its BlackBerry World event in Orlando, Florida by launching the not-so-secret BlackBerry Bold 9900/9930 models, also dubbed 'Bold Touch.'

While the devices don't noticeably stray from RIM's design choices from the past decade -- they're instantly recognizable as QWERTY keyboard BlackBerrys -- the 9900 and 9300 pack some impressive guts. While the 2.8-inch VGA touchscreens won't impress many in today's world of 4-inch screens, but the devices are RIM's thinnest yet at 10.5mm."

'i3D' Demo App Shows Off Head-Tracking 3D on iOS Devices

Last month, French researchers Jeremie Francone and Laurence Nigay posted a video showing off a method for using head tracking by a device's camera to simulate three-dimensional scenes for the iPad, a concept in which Apple has expressed some interest.








As noted by MacStories, a new demo app from Francone and Nigay known as i3D has appeared in the App Store, giving users the opportunity to test out the technology on their own devices.





i3D is a free universal app running on the iPad 2, iPhone 4, and fourth-generation iPod touch. It contains a sample video image displaying a bounding box as it tracks the user's head location, as well as five demos showing the simulated 3D perspective that can be generated using the tracking.

Fotoopa’s unbelievable Nikon custom rig for capturing insects in flight

I have covered Flickr member Fotoopa and his custom made Nikon rig for capturing insects in flight in the past. He now has an improved monster machine. The main camera is a Nikon D300 + 105mm f/2.8D lens but there is an external shutter Uniblitz VS14 between the camera and the lens that reduces the shutter lag from 52 msec to 3.3 msec.



The rig has two SB-80 flashes and a SB-29 ring flash. Focusing is done with… IR lasers that are pointed at the virtual focus point of the camera. The second 60mm f/2.8 lens is for detecting the reflected IR laser signals. When an insect passes through the virtual point, the IR signal detects it and a controller triggers the external shutter. Because of the extremely short shutter lag, the “hit rate” of this system is almost 100% and the insect is always in the frame. The whole rig weights 7.2 kg (almost 16 pounds) and it took Fotoopa 4 months to build.





Here is a list of used equipment and settings:

• Camera Nikon D300.
• ISO 100.
• Manual bulb mode limited at 60 sec to avoid noise.
• Camera set at 14 bit resolution, RAW mode.
• Macro lens, AF105/2.8D set at F16 or F22 manual on the lens (camera can’t drive this due to the external shutter).
• Burst mode set at 2.5 pictures/sec if detection stay active and I hold the start button down.
• SB-29-S flash manual at 1/32 power, both sides active.
• SB-80-DX flashes at 1/64 power, but level can change over 6 steps (1/3 EV steps) via knob on the frame.
• Balance set neutral or +3B-3 to -2B+2 in 6 steps.
• Max IR detection delay 120 usec (0.12 msec).
• Detection lens: AF60/2.8D macro.
• Photodiode BPW41N with integrated band filter.
• Detection controller: AVR Attiny45.
• 2 IR lasers pulsed 980nm 20 mW at 30 us ON,30us OFF.
• Central controller: MAX II CPLD board Terasic, current 150 mA.
• 2 Visible 10mW green lasers to align the D300 camera, pointed to the same virtual focus point.
• External shutter pulse duration: 3.0 msec.
• External shutter voltage start at 70V, end at 56 V (due to the capacity tank).
• AVR Attiny26 controller to control this 70V shutter voltage and monitor the battery voltage.
• External shutter lag 3.3 msec.
• Flash delay set at 3.5 msec (200 usec later, to be sure the shutter is always full open).
• When external shutter is open all lasers are disabled (not to be visible on the picture).

The results are stunning:

Do bugs get red eyes 

More photographs can be found here. Most of the equipment pictures have detailed description in case you decide to build one by yourself.

All images © Fotoopa via Fotoactualidad

Ipad Gaming, Easier on Fling Joystick

We know that iPad is one amazing device that can do all sorts of things, and one of those things is gaming. Since iPad doesn’t have an input controller, except the multitouch display, gaming does feel abit uncomfortable for some gamers. If you’re one of them, the Fling Joystick might be a solution for you.

Playing games on the iPad with your fingers can sometimes be difficult, especially if you’re used to other gaming platforms that have controllers. If you’re used to controllers and joysticks, you can enjoy games on your iPad with Fling Joystick as well. In order to play the games with this joystick, you just need to place it on your screen, right over the directional pad of your game, and that’s it.

Fling Game Controller for iPad sounds like a potential solution, but so far, it only works with certain number of games. As for the price, you can pre-order the Fling Joystick for $25.

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USB Battery concept

Speaking of future and gadgets, it’s certain that we’ll see two things in the future: more USB devices and more AA batteries (for non-USB gadgets!), so why don’t we combine both these into a single solution? Well, this concept tries to do that, so let’s see how it looks like.

We assume that you have a USB drive that you use often and that you keep in your computer’s USB port most of the time. Since you keep your USB docked to your computer most at the time wouldn’t it be useful that you could recharge that USB and use it as a battery? This is what Wonchul Hwang thought of when he designed this USB/AA battery. In order to use this device as a USB you just need to twist the battery and USB connector pops out, and then you just need to twist it again in the opposite direction and you can use it as a battery.

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Yahoo now accepts Google and Facebook logins via OpenID

If you cannot beat them, join them is the policy that folks at Yahoo are following. Since Yahoo is slowly losing their popularity and influence on the internet, the company’s decided to team up with its competitors, Google and Facebook.

As you know, Yahoo started using Bing to power its search engine last year, and now, Yahoo has announced that it will be accepting Google and Facebook account logins via the OpenID protocol.Thanks to this, Yahoo! services are now available to all users without the need to sign up, which is great. We also have to notice that other sites are slowly dropping the support for Yahoo! logins, so will it be that Yahoo! will soon become a dying breed?

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Next gen Apple TV called iTV? Might not be ‘that’ innovative though

Apple believes in innovation and they do end up launching something which is often attractive enough to create waves around the planet. Be it the iPhones, the iPods or the iPads; all have been successful enough for people to dream about owing one of them (or even all three). Now (as expected) its time for iTV, speculation is currently booming that Apple TV might be coming to an end and iTV is what might be replacing it. The only difference this time will be that such televisions have already hit the market in plenty. TV sets with apps that make the idiot box a lot more than TV is just awesome. Samsung has Android based TVs and so has Google.

Considering the fact that people out their have already seen so many of these app based TVs it just won’t be easy for Apple to come up with something which is totally unique but at the end of the day it is the brand which matters or is it?

Apple ended up selling around 3 million iPads in just around a month but that was a device which was highly attractive and people had so much to do with it. We are pretty sure that iTV (if this is what Apple calls it) will surely be attractive enough but televisions cover such a huge area that you just cannot think about all the requirements in just one box. It will be interesting to see what Steve’s army does with their format of TV.

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BlackBerry OS 7 Features Announced--But It Won't Run On Older Devices

This morning, RIM finally unveiled its next generation mobile operating system, BlackBerry OS 7. It's not a giant leap forward, but RIM is detailing a faster and easier-to-use OS that comes with an integrated, voice-enabled Universal Search system.

BlackBerry fans that have been frustrated by the operating system's chronically sluggish Web experience will be pleased to know that OS 7 offers a 'significantly enhanced' browser with HTML5 video support and speed updates.

Interestingly, OS 7 won't have any legacy support, meaning that even the current generation Bold or Touch that you bought last year will be left behind -- you'll need to have one of RIM's brand new 9900 or 9930 devices to run it. SlashGear writes that according to RIM, 'the reasoning behind the absent upgrades is that the new OS is so dependent on the hardware graphics capabilities of its new handsets.'

RIM's new BlackBerry Balance application, though, will work on any device running OS 6.0 or later. First detailed in January, Balance is RIM's solution for combining both your personal and corporate accounts -- and all the security requirements that those require -- on a single device. For example, you can wipe all of the enterprise data from your phone, while still leaving the personal accounts intact. Or, social networking apps like Facebook and Twitter can be given limited access to anything from your corporate accounts.

BlackBerry Bold 9900, 9930 Will Run BlackBerry OS 7

RIM kicked off its BlackBerry World event in Orlando, Florida by launching the not-so-secret BlackBerry Bold 9900/9930 models, also dubbed 'Bold Touch.'

While the devices don't noticeably stray from RIM's design choices from the past decade -- they're instantly recognizable as QWERTY keyboard BlackBerrys -- the 9900 and 9300 pack some impressive guts. While the 2.8-inch VGA touchscreens won't impress many in today's world of 4-inch screens, but the devices are RIM's thinnest yet at 10.5mm.

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