Facebook Desktop

You too are fans of the users of the popular social network Facebook? Well then you can not too miss the application we are going to present today!

We are talking about Facebook Desktop, a small application by which you can receive all the notifications of Facebook directly on your desktop with convenient pop-up, a bit like the case with live messenger short.

Facebook Desktop so it is ideal for all those who visit frequently to check their respective notifications and its messages.

The applicaion for Facebook Desktop is free and is compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux.

It was developed using Adobe AIR, and its installation will have a ‘minimal impact on the performance of your PC!

Through the settings you can also decide whether the application should start when windows starts, it will have to show notifications for certain call, etc…

PortableApps is a free bundle application which will help you in managing the portable version of software in a flash drive. Once you install the “Portable Apps” (size ~ 35MB for light bundle ) in your flash drive, a pop-up will appear which will show you the list of portable software which you are carrying the flash drive

A portable app is a computer program that you can carry around with you on a portable device and use on any Windows computer. When your USB flash drive, portable hard drive, iPod or other portable device is plugged in, you have access to your software and personal data just as you would on your own PC. And when you unplug the device, none of your personal data is left behind.

Portable App Guidelines

• A portable app works from any device (USB flash drive, portable hard drive, iPod, etc)
• A portable app works as you move computers and your drive letter changes
• A portable app’s features continue working as you move computers
• A portable app doesn’t leave files or folders behind on the PC
• A portable app doesn’t leave registry entries behind except those automatically generated by Windows
• A portable app is optimized for use on removable drives
• A portable app doesn’t require additional software on the PC
• A portable app doesn’t interfere with software installed on the PC

Consider the Possibilities…

• Carry your web browser with all your favorite bookmarks
• Carry your calendar with all your appointments
• Carry your email client with all your contacts and settings
• Carry your instant messenger and your buddy list
• Carry your whole office suite along with your documents and presentations
• Carry your antivirus program and other computer utilities
• Carry all your important passwords and account information securely

Consider the Convenience…

• Have your favorite websites handy to recommend to a friend or colleague
• Have your presentation AND the required software ready to go for that big meeting
• Have your password with you if you want to bank online while traveling
• Have utilities handy when visiting family or friends that are having PC problems

List of few application

• Mozilla Firefox (browser),
• Thunderbird (email),
• Sunbird (calendar / task),
• Clamwin (Anti-Virus),
• KeePass (Password manager)
• Sumatra PDF (PDF Reader)
• Sudoku (Game)
• Cool Player (Audio Player)
• AbiWord (Word Processor)
• Mines Perfect (Game)
• Pidgin (Instant Messaging)
• Open Office.org (If you go for the standard download, you will get this in your flash drive otherwise you will have to install this platform separately)

You can install any other portable software in your flash drive using PortableApps. It will automatically add that software in the PortableApps menu.

What we liked
The user interface of Microsoft Windows Phone 7 is completely different to anything currently on the market. It’s made up of large tiles that can be organised in any way you wish; tiles can be “pinned” to the home screen, and the default tiles can be removed. You can simply press and hold a tile to move it around the screen.

The tiles offer a refreshing look and feel, with large text and live images. For example, the “People” tile — a centralised hub for multiple forms of communication with contacts — will display live photos of the last few people you’ve interacted with. There’s no limit to the number of tiles you can pin to the home screen, so it can be as long or as short as you want.

Once you open one of Windows Phone 7′s default “hubs” (People, Pictures, Games, Music, Video, Marketplace, Office), the UI utilises a panorama-style view. Slide left and right to browse through the panorama; for example, the People hub consists of a list of those you’ve had recent contact with, all of your contacts and a What’s New list that integrates real-time Facebook and Windows Live updates.

One thing we noticed was how smooth the entire experience is. Whether it is scrolling through tiles on the home screen, opening applications, or performing basic tasks such as dialling a phone number or typing a text message, the interface feels fresh, zippy and completely natural. It’s a completely the opposite experience to using previous Windows phones, which were often rightly accused of having clunky, lag-ridden interfaces. The Windows Phone 7 UI even makes the iPhone and Google Android interfaces feel slightly dated.

The on-screen keyboard is excellent. We found it more comfortable and accurate in landscape mode, but it works well in portrait mode too. The keys are well spaced and make a soothing clicking sound when pressed, while the built-in spell corrector allows you to tap on a word to bring up a list of suggested words.

Instead of a regular contact list, Microsoft has gone the whole hog and opted for an optimised “People” hub. You simply enter your Facebook, Windows Live ID and other e-mail accounts (the OS naturally supports Microsoft Exchange e-mail) and it automatically grabs your contact list and keeps them updated in real time. Conveniently, you can choose to add all your Facebook contacts to your people hub, or simply add Facebook info for the existing contacts you already have. Facebook status updates, e-mails, calls, messages and IMs all appear in this single People hub, and you can also pin the tile of an individual to your home screen for quick access.

Being a Windows Phone, the OS naturally comes with the full OneNote Office mobile suite, including applications to create, view and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents.

What we didn’t like
Despite all the positives, there are a number of issues with Windows Phone 7, headed by the lack of a copy and paste function. We expect this to eventually be added, but it is definitely a disappointing omission.

Windows Phone 7 also has no support for third-party app multitasking — Microsoft says that the reason for this is to preserve performance. (This is something that the company is all too familiar with considering it was a huge issue in Windows Mobile 6.5) While we can understand the reasoning, it remains disappointing.

One omission that is definitely not understandable is the lack of integrated Twitter support. The social-networking site is extremely popular and many Google Android smartphones have integrated Twitter access, including HTC’s Sense UI (as seen on the HTC Desire and HTC Wildfire smartphones). Twitter seems like a perfect fit for Windows Phone 7′s People hub, so we’re not sure why it hasn’t been included.

Microsoft Windows Phone 7 devices are expected to hit the shelves before Christmas, possibly as soon as October. Are you tempted to switch from your iPhone, Android or BlackBerry smartphone?

Of course, we come to you with a standard list of complaints. The absence of an integrated video camera puts the kibosh on any hope of using the iPad for video chats, and without Flash video support, many Web pages look like Swiss cheese. But the biggest problem with the device is coming up with bullet-proof reasons to buy one.

Because the iPad is an entirely new class of device, you’ll probably need to lie to yourself a little to justify the purchase. But at this point, any CNET readers worth their salt have mastered the art of making excuses to buy new gadgets.

For the uninitiated, Apple has posted a cheat sheet of demo videos that provide a smorgasbord of reasonable answers to the question: “Why do I need an iPad?” To hear Apple tell it, the iPad is a Web browser for your living room, an e-book reader for the den, a movie player for the kids, a photo album, a jukebox, a gamer’s best friend, a word processor, an e-mail machine, and a YouTube junkie’s dream come true. No excuse good enough for you? Wait a few minutes and a developer will inevitably make an app for it.

Whatever you need to tell yourself to buy an iPad, we can safely say the device is a worthwhile addition to any wired home. We don’t give much weight to the pundits who say that the iPad is the future of the personal computer, but we think it’s the most entertaining gadget we’ll see all year.

If you’re coming to this review already versed on the nitty gritty of what the iPad is and its roots in the iPhone and iPod Touch, feel free to skip ahead. Otherwise, here’s the scoop.

The iPad is a touch-screen tablet computer, roughly the size of a magazine, with three models that connect to the Internet strictly over Wi-Fi (16GB for $499, 32GB for $599, 64GB for $699) and three that use a combination of Wi-Fi and AT&T’s 3G wireless (16GB for $629, 32GB for $729, and 64GB for $829–pay-as-you go for the data subscription).

The iPad runs the same software found on Apple’s popular iPhone and iPod Touch. Apple calls this software the iPhone OS, and it’s generally regarded as one of the most successful operating systems designed for use with touch-screen devices. Unlike conventional computer OS software, designed around the mouse and the keyboard, the iPhone OS responds only to touch input and is generally capable of running only one application at a time.

If you’ve ever used an iPhone or iPod Touch, the iPad will feel immediately familiar. Out of the box, you get many of the iPhone’s capabilities, including Apple-designed applications (apps) for Web browsing, e-mail, maps, photos, music, video, YouTube, and more. More apps can be installed using the built-in App Store software or by connecting the iPad to iTunes via your computer using the included cable. If you already own apps purchased for an iPhone or iPod Touch, you can transfer these apps to the iPad, as well.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/

Sony is readying itself to roll out an update to current PlayStation 3 games console owners to allow them to take advantage of the new Full HD 3D TVs and 3D programming that are about to launch.

“PS3 users worldwide will only need to upgrade the PS3 system software via the internet and there is no need to repurchase the system to enjoy 3D games,” said Nainan Shah, vice-president of new platform, planning and development at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, the branch of Sony under which the PlayStation falls.

Next month, Sky will launch its 3D schedule while BSkyB and others have also announced plans to provide 3D programming in the coming months. Sony says that the PS3 console requires only an over-the-air update in order to enable 3D, since the necessary HDMI port is already present and the console uses the Cell processor. No additional outlay is required by the console owner.

The same processor is found in Toshiba’s cutting-edge Cell TV. The Cell processor is important, says Sony, because of its ability to use software to decode images. Updated software will therefore be capable of decoding new formats.

In December, Sony Computer Entertainment announced that it will release stereoscopic 3D games titles for PS3 in conjunction with Sony’s 3D TV launch timing this year. It will also actively support software developers and publishers, providing technological information to develop stereoscopic 3D games and content, Sony announced at a briefing in Tokyo.

“Sony’s plans to upgrade existing PS3 consoles to 3D will provide a major boost to the 3D market during 2010,” commented David Mercer of Strategy Analytics when Sony unveiled its 3D PS3 ambitions. “This could quickly create a worldwide installed base of more than 30 million 3D-capable games consoles and confirm the PS3 as a platform positioned for the next generation of console games.”

The big driver for 3D will be this year’s Fifa World Cup in South Africa, which kicks off on 12 June. Most TV manufacturers will have 3D TVs onsale well before this. Several are also looking to offer ways to allow existing customers to enjoy 3D TV programming and are whetting their appetites by offering 2D-to-3D upgrade packs.

Opera is getting even better with the version 10.50 which has progressed to beta 2 and is looking promising, Opera claims it has the fastest JavaScript engine which helps in loading web applications and websites smoothly than ever before, new level of standard compliance like HTML 5 and CSS 3, Private Browsing, Opera Widgets, Integration with Windows 7 among many more.

Download Opera 10.50 Beta2 for Windows 7, Vista and XP

Download Opera 10.50 Beta, Direct Download

Opera 10.50 beta 2 is not available for Linux and Mac as of now, but it will be very soon.

if you don’t want to use beta version then

Download Opera 10.10 for Windows 7, Vista and XP

Stable release Opera 10.10, Direct Link

Opera Website

Microsoft employee just posted details on Windows 8 on their blog, claiming it is going to be “completly different from what people usually expect of Windows,” and that internally, they’re calling it “Windows.next.”

Shown above is a leaked Windows server roadmap from a year ago, that marks 2012 as the year of a “major release,” with “codename – Windows 8″ mentioned.

We already knew Microsoft will be shifting its attention to Windows 8 this July, so although this latest slip-up doesn’t elucidate much, at least we can think about what the employee means by a “completly different” Windows. Does he mean it won’t have a built-in spellchecker?

AviPreview is a free portable application which allows you to preview your uncompleted downloaded video file, It currently supports preview of file formats like AVI, divX, MPG, MPEG and VideoCD.

Key Features

• Preview AVI, divX, MPG, MPEG and VideoCD files without interruption of the download process
• Uses standard DirectX framework – no additional software needed
• Very simple interface
• Does not change the original video file in any way
• Tested extensively with P2P and FTP software
• It is Free!

This small utility can be useful at times, when you have a uncompleted downloaded video file which you cant play in any other player.

Download AviPreview [ Source – BlogsDNA ]

Free Download VLC Media Player can also be used as a server to stream in unicast or multicast in IPv4 or IPv6 on a high-bandwidth network.

VLC can play:

* MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 / DivX files from a hard disk, a CD-ROM drive, and so on

* DVDs, VCDs, and Audio CDs

* From satellite cards (DVB-S)

* Several types of network streams: UDP/RTP Unicast, UDP/RTP Multicast, HTTP, RTSP, MMS, etc.

* From acquisition or encoding cards (on GNU/Linux and Windows only)
The free VLC player can read audio and video files from your hard disk, physical media (DVDs, VCD, Audio-CD), TV capture cards and many network streaming protocols.

It can also convert media files, transcode and act as a streaming server over unicast or multicast and IPv4 or IPv6. VLC media player latest version, the VLC 1.0.3 can run on various operating systems such as Windows (including the Windows 7), Mac OS X, and Linux platforms. Free VLC player software is released under the GNU General Public Licence, and can be used and distributed freely.

Free Download VLC Player latest version (VLC 1.0.3) for Windows, Mac, Ubuntu and Linux : click here!

What playback features are on VLC player? click here!

Learn more about VLC media player : click here !

A new Firefox was launched but still its not coming for Ubuntu! Well to solve this problem people have brought up many solutions…one is installing a different version of Firefox in a different name, actually it didn’t help me because my head always kept telling that this is not the original! so i kept searching the net until i fount Ubuntuzilla!

Ubuntuzilla is a small python script which downloads the latest Firefox build from their official web site and then install it on your system, it also enables you to receive updates through normal Ubuntu updates. Not only Firefox it can also install Thunderbird and Seamonkey. Now lets see how to use this:-

1. Download Ubuntuzilla deb package from here
2. Install it by double clicking on it
3. Run “ubuntuzilla.py -a install -p firefox” on terminal
4. To install Thunderbird and Seamonkey :- “ubuntuzilla.py -a install -p thunderbird” and “ubuntuzilla.py -a install -p seamonkey“

Think everyone got it correctly…so enjoy your new Firefox!

Correction (thanx to nanotube): “Do not run ubuntuzilla with sudo. That will mess up the ownership of some of the files in your home directory (e.g., the stuff in ~/.gnupg).”