I had the opportunity to contribute to diGIT - The IT Magazine (http://www.digit.lk/). diGIT was launched on 01st February 2009. As the editorial says "diGIT has just one mission and that is to dissipate knowledge to its readers"
It presents articles about latest technologies in the field of IT. It comes in 3 formats Web, Flash and PDF. User can read it in the desired format.
I'm glad to be there with other contributors and hope more and more people will be benefited from this

PS : I received this opportunity because of a post on my blog:)

Update : My articles - Beyond 3G, Current IT Trends, Current IT News

• 3 comments »

Oh Facebook ! It's you again. Today I received a mail from Facebook saying that they have lost my email notification settings. Following is the mail I received.


"From: Facebook <************@facebookmail.com>
To: *******@******.com
Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2008 4:31:29 PM
Subject: Please reset your email notification settings.

Unfortunately, the settings that control which email notifications get sent to you were lost. We're sorry for the inconvenience.

To reset your email notification settings, go to:

http://www.facebook.com/editaccount.php?notifications

Thanks,
The Facebook Team"


First I thought this is a mail from a phishing site. Then I realized that this is really from Facebook mail. But without clicking the link given I directly logged in to Facebook. Oh! I was very upset by the message I saw.

"Please reset your email notification settings.

Unfortunately, your email notification settings have been lost. You can reset them on the Notifications page. We're sorry for the inconvenience."


How did you lose my email notification settings Facebook ? It's a common fact that nowadays every system keeping backups. But why Facebook didn't keep its system backups. I wonder whether this is an isolated incident. I didn't hear from others that they have received such a mail. Though its isolated or not this is not good for the "reputation" Facebook has.
Earlier in one of my posts I have mentioned some privacy issues of Facebook.
If this current incident is common for a whole bunch of people, then an explanation will be needed from Facebook.

Did anyone of you experience this ???

Update :
I found a similar story. Click here to find out.

• 1 comments »

Japan's largest mobile operator NTT DoCoMo is the latest entrant to Indian mobile market by buying a 26% stake in Tata Teleservices for a whopping 2.7 billion $. This deal pegs the valuation of Tata Tele over 10 billion $. Currently the userbase of Tata Teleservices is pegged at 30 million subscribers.

This is the third deal of an international telecom company entering India with a stake in an Indian company. Earlier UAE's Etisalat bought 45% stake in Swan Tele for 900 million $ while 60% stake in Unitech Wireless (which had a telecom license across India) was acquired by Norway's Telenor for 1.27 billion $.

DoCoMo is known for its VAS revenue in Japanese markets and its innovations with technology and content services when it comes to mobile. It remains to be seen whether with the advent of 3G and this acquisition there is any impact on the mobile VAS market. Keep in mind that Tata Tele is a CDMA player and CDMA players would be technologically ahead of GSM players in terms of time required to roll out 3G services as their existing network can support 3G.

Source : www.watblog.com

Read the press release article here

• 3 comments »

Intel Corporation has unveiled its most advanced desktop processor ever, the Intel Core i7 processor.

The Core i7 processor is the first member of a new family of Nehalem processor designs and is the most sophisticated ever built, with new technologies that boost performance on demand and maximize data throughput. The Core i7 processor speeds video editing, immersive games and other popular Internet and computer activities by up to 40 percent without increasing power consumption.

"Intel has delivered the fastest desktop processor on Earth to the most demanding users on Earth, the ones who are using their PCs for video, gaming and music," said Patrick Gelsinger, senior vice president and general manager of Intel's Digital Enterprise Group. "When you couple what is Intel's biggest leap in chip design with other incredible innovations like Intel's solid state drives, the Core i7 processor has redefined the computer of tomorrow."

Intel's Turbo Boost Technology accelerates performance to match a computer user's needs and workloads. Through a sophisticated on-die power control unit and using new "power gate" transistors based on Intel's advanced 45 nanometer, high-k metal gate manufacturing process, Turbo Boost automatically adjusts the clock speed of one or more of the four individual processing cores for single- and multi-threaded applications to boost performance, without increasing power consumption.

The Core i7 also has the latest Intel power-saving technologies, allowing desktops to go into sleep states formerly reserved for Intel-based notebooks.

The Core i7 processor more than doubles the memory bandwidth of previous Intel "Extreme" platforms, speeding the transfer of computer bits and bites in and out of the processor with Intel Quickpath Technology. Designed with Intel's Hyper-Threading Technology, the processor also allows multiple computing threads to run simultaneously, effectively enabling it to do two things at once. As a result, the Core i7 quad-core processor delivers 8-threaded performance.

The Intel Core i7 processor also offers unrivaled performance for immersive 3-D games - over 40 percent faster than previous Intel high-performance processors on both the 3DMark Vantage CPU physics and AI tests. The Extreme Edition uses 8 threads to run games with advanced artificial intelligence
and physics to make games act and feel real.

The Intel Core i7 processors and Intel X58 Express Chipset-based Intel Desktop Board DX58SO Extreme Series are for sale immediately from several computer manufacturers online and in retail stores, as well as a boxed retail product via channel online sales.

The Core i7 processor is the first member of the Intel Nehalem microarchitecture family; server and mobile product versions will be in production later. Each Core i7 processor features an 8 MB level 3 cache and three channels of DDR3 1066 memory to deliver the best memory performance
of any desktop platform. Intel's top performance processor, the Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition, also removes overspeed protection, allowing customers or hobbyists to further increase the chip's speed.

References : www.wikio.com, www.bit-tech.net

• 0 comments »

Some Symbols Help Us See the Big Picture and Make Better Decisions, Researchers Say

Could it be that the only thing that stands between you and success on an important project is the absence of one of those ubiquitous happy faces? Don't laugh. Researchers at two universities say they've found evidence that something as simple as a smiling face, or a picture of puppies, can elevate your mood enough to see the Big Picture.

According to their study, published in the Journal of Consumer Research, it doesn't take much to push us into the realm of abstract thinking instead of getting hung up on the small stuff. Thinking abstractly, in turn, can lead to better decisions as we focus on the things that really matter, rising above the trivia that could otherwise bury us.

A better mood makes us focus on why, not how, according to Aparna Labroo of the University of Chicago and Vanessa Patrick of the University of Georgia.

"We argue that by signaling that a situation is benign (think happy face,) a positive mood allows people to distance themselves psychologically from the situation," their study concludes. "Psychological distancing results in taking a broader perspective, or seeing the big picture," leading to "higher level thinking."

Click here to watch the video

Source : ABCNews

• 0 comments »

When i was surfing the internet I found some good articles about Windows 7, the next OS from Microsoft. They provide some useful information about the upcoming OS. The descriptions about the UIs are really cool. Below I have included some UIs taken from the posts and also the Windows 7 seven First Official Video. Following are the articles.

Notes on the Windows 7 Demo... from windowsteamblog.com
First look at Windows 7's User Interface from www.arstechnica.com
Get Windows 7's Best Features Right Now from lifehacker.com

If you want to visit the Windows 7 site click here.

Windows 7 First Official Video

The taskbar in Windows 7

Start Menu:

Window management

Desktop

Windows 7 Explorer

• 0 comments »

Chandrayaan-1 placed in transfer orbit

Chandrayaan-1, India's maiden moon spacecraft, was on Wednesday put into Transfer Orbit around the earth by the Polar Launch Vehicle PSLV-C11 about 19 minutes after it blasted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, Southern India.

The two-year mission seeks high-resolution imaging of the moon's surface, especially the permanently shadowed polar regions, according to the Indian Space Research Organization. It will also search for evidence of water or ice and attempt to identify the chemical breakdown of certain lunar rocks

sources : www.hindu.com, www.cnn.com

• 0 comments »