Samachar Express

All today’s Technology stories

Samachar Express — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:04:02 +0000

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Gowalla, Foursquare Release Simultaneous Updates: The Location-Based Wars Rage On

Samachar Express — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:03:00 +0000

As many in the Twitterverse have dubbed this week, the battle of location based apps continues, as both Gowalla and Foursquare release yet another update to their iPhone apps today. And these are some big guns coming out to accompany the various real-life incentives, contests and whatever else these the two companies can do to take the focus at this year's SXSW.

Both apps are releasing new designs they are calling "fresh" and other such things, but some of the features are what really stand out.

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Foursquare is surely the less notable in this release, in our opinion, as it's list of new features is shorter and less impressive. It's boasting a faster, more efficient check-in and shout flow, a "Places" view that supports categories, a history view of places you've been and a "pull-to-refresh" feature. These are nothing to sneeze at, but we think Gowalla is releasing some functions that blow these away.

First of all, Gowalla is bringing photos to the location based game, allowing users to upload a photo after checking in. Users can also browse their friends' photos and look at any that have been taken at that specific location.

Next, it's bringing some interactivity to the game, with check-in commenting. When a friend checks in at a place down the street, you don't need to change over to your Twitter client and send them a DM, you can just comment on their check-in. And if you forgot to type a checkin message when you checked in to a spot, you can go back and add it.

In addition to these, Gowalla is bringing out new friend browsing features, enabling you to look through friends, friends of friends, and even their bookmarked spots and trips. With "spot details", including address, phone, Twitter name, Facebook page and website, Gowalla is adding that Yelp aspect that was really missing - real world connection information.

And one more feature that may be overloaded next week or may be the talk of the town, "Hot Spots", tells you what the most popular spots near your location are. We haven't had time to really play with it yet, but it sure sounds interesting.

The updates just popped up in the App Store right now so go get updated and let us know what you think - who is going to win the location based battle of SXSW 2010? As far as this round goes, we're calling it for Gowalla.

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One Thing Bing Isn’t Doing: Killing Google (MSFT, GOOG)

Samachar Express — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:00:00 +0000

Microsoft's Bing search engine continues to gain share in the search market, thanks to organic growth, lots of advertising, and clever tricks like stuffing MSN.com full of links to Bing search queries.

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EyeTV Hybrid shrinks down, gains Win7 compatibility

Samachar Express — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:00:00 +0000

Filed under: Hardware

Same price, same features (mostly) but a sleek and slender new look: yesterday Elgato introduced the latest revamp of its EyeTV Hybrid USB tuner for high-definition digital television. The US$150 widget gives you the option of watching over-the-air digital television in full HD glory, and can also tune in unencrypted (Clear QAM) and analog cable TV signals. If you've got an analog source like a VCR or videogame console, you can also route those signals through the EyeTV Hybrid to watch or play on your Mac (for those who don't need the analog option, Elgato also sells the HD tuner-only EyeTV One for $120).

The tuner ships with the EyeTV 3 software, enabling live TV, DVR functionality and shared recordings for your iPhone and iPod touch. With every new EyeTV Hybrid you get a one-year subscription to the TV Guide data feed, which provides full listings and enables the Smart Series recording feature; the software also can detect and display the embedded ATSC schedule information for broadcast shows. After the first year, re-upping with TV Guide will cost you $20.

Other than the slimmer profile, the major new feature on this model is the addition of driver support for Windows 7's Windows Media Center. Mac users may not care much, but this does let you use the same tuner if you're using Boot Camp, or you can loan it out to Windows-centric friends -- if you trust them to give it back.

You can check out our previous coverage and reviews of the EyeTV Hybrid for more.

TUAW EyeTV Hybrid shrinks down, gains Win7 compatibility originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Attack of the Verticals? Bing Up Again in Another Search Market Poll (Google Still Scary!) [BoomTown]

Samachar Express — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:50:34 +0000

Yesterday, the monthly search market share numbers from comScore (SCOR) were released, showing Microsoft (MSFT) Bing up, Yahoo (YHOO) down and Google (GOOG) maintaining its dominance.

In today’s release by Experian Hitwise, Bing is up again, from 9.37 percent to 9.7 percent, while Yahoo was flat at 14.57 percent, and Google gave up a scooch of share to fall to 70.95 percent from 71.49 percent.

This time it appears to be the vertical searches–such as autos and health–helping Bing, which has been its strategy to differentiate itself from the Google juggernaut.

Here is that chart, which you can click on to make larger:

Six BitTorrent Admins Arrested, Interpol Chase Two More

Samachar Express — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:50:12 +0000

Although it wasn’t yet evident, December 2009 appeared to mark the beginning of an effort to shut down the Greek BitTorrent scene. The Society for the Protection of Audiovisual Works (EPOE) conducted an investigation and moved in conjunction with the police to carry out the first action of its type against a BitTorrent site in the country.

The 285,000 member Greek-Fun.com carried around 14,000 torrents linking to music, domestic and international movies, software and computers games. Around 5,500 of these torrents are believed to have linked to material in the EPOE repertoire. As is usual with these cases, EPOE were quick to point to the financing of the site as an indication of criminal behavior. Like many private torrent sites, Greek-Fun offered benefits to users who donated to keep the site running although the admins denied profiteering.

In the end at least one administrator of the site, believed to be in his early 30’s, was arrested and several people were questioned with investigators linking site email addresses to Facebook accounts for evidence. EPOE said the site caused it 1.8m euros in damages.

As the bad news about Greek-Fun spread, Greece’s largest private tracker – the huge 898,000 member Gamato.info – also unexpectedly went down, officially due to “technical problems”. Whatever the reason, as can be seen by the graph below, the result was a massive drop in Greek Internet traffic. Gamato remained down for several weeks, only opening again during the first few days of February 2010.

Today, however, the site is down again, and the news is not good.

ELAS (Greek police) are engaged in an on-going operation to round up the administrators of the site. Already there are reports of 3 arrests in Athens (the capital and one of the world’s oldest cities) and 3 in Thessaloniki (Greece’s 2nd largest city). A soldier, a musician and a confectioner are among those arrested.

New information suggests that ELAS have alerted Interpol to arrest two further admins who are apparently reside outside the country. TorrentFreak has learned that they are located in The Netherlands and are being called “the brains” behind the site. The Gamato servers are also located there although it’s unclear at this stage if there is a connection.

“We host a lot of different sites and do not keep tabs on our clients as long as they comply with our Terms of Service, which includes confirming to the Dutch law,” Gamato’s host told TorrentFreak, adding: “As far as we and our legal counsel can see, this is the case with the site mentioned by you.”

It’s believed that police are looking for 11 individuals in total. Thus far, 27 hard drives, five laptops and more than 600 DVDs have been seized.

According to the police, file-sharing on Gamato was responsible for 80% of online piracy in Greece, with EPOE calculating its losses at the hands of the tracker at a staggering 1 billion euros.

Although Gamato was a private torrent site, it didn’t follow the usual format. It wasn’t “invite-only” – anyone could signup – and although sharing ratios were counted there were no punishments or rewards for the amounts shared. Furthermore, unlike Greek-Fun, Gamato did not accept donations from users.

The Society for the Protection of Audiovisual Works (EPOE) shot to fame in 2008 when virtually every site offering user-generated Greek subtitles (fansubs) for English language movies and TV shows became recipients of its legal threats. Within a very short time sites including greektvsubs.gr, subtitles.gr, greeksubs, subs4u.gr and apsubs.com had either closed down or removed all subtitles.

Article from: TorrentFreak, check out our new blog at FreakBits.

How To Erase Your Data So No One Can Ever Recover It

Samachar Express — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:43:00 +0000

With stories abounding of identity theft aided by information lifted from discarded storage devices, you want devices you no longer plan to use to have no usable information when they head out the door.

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Yves Saint Laurent celebrations tainted by temper and drug allegations

Samachar Express — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:35:53 +0000

Retrospective for one of 20th century's greatest creators opens in Paris amid more references to 'dark side'

Almost two years after he died in Paris and was hailed as one of the greatest creators of the 20th century, Yves Saint Laurent is being given his first full-scale retrospective in the French capital.

The exhibition, which showcases more than 300 of his designs from his debut in 1958 to his last collection in 2002, opens tomorrow in the lavish halls of the Petit Palais.

But, as fashionistas around the world prepare to pay tribute to the man who gave women the tuxedo, allegations about the late designer's hot temper and drug habits are tainting the celebrations.

In a biography published earlier this year, Saint Laurent is described as a bully "consumed by anxiety" whose drive to succeed led him to attack staff and seek refuge in drink and drugs.

Marie-Dominique Lelièvre, author of Saint Laurent: mauvais garçon (bad boy), has described his tendency to take out his own insecurities and self-loathing on those beneath him professionally. "It's the strength of the weak, the tyranny of the fragile," she told French television.

The book – made up of interviews with dozens of people who knew the Algerian-born designer – has been dismissed as gossip by Pierre Bergé, Laurent's long-term friend and partner.

In an interview with Le Monde, however, Bergé admitted there was some truth in the reports. "He had no carefree youth," he said. "That was why, one day, he escaped and came into contact with alcohol and then drugs."

It is not the first time Saint Laurent's so-called "dark side" has been referred to by former colleagues. Tom Ford, the designer turned film director and former creative director for the YSL brand, last year described both him and Bergé as "so difficult and so evil".

These troubles, however, are unlikely to dampen fans' enthusiasm for the retrospective, organised by the Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent Foundation. It brings together some of the highlights of the couturier's career, from his Trapeze dresses at Dior to a Matisse-inspired dress once worn by France's first lady, Carla Bruni, during her modelling career.

Lizzy Davies

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Guus Hiddink agrees to coach Ivory Coast at World Cup, say reports

Samachar Express — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:34:48 +0000

• National broadcaster says Hiddink will take job for two months
• Coach's agent says he still needs to end contract with Russia

The Dutch national broadcaster NOS reports that Guus Hiddink has agreed to coach Ivory Coast at this year's World Cup.

NOS says the Dutchman will lead Ivory Coast from 15 May to 15 July before taking over as Turkey coach. In its report today, NOS says but first he that before signing with Ivory Coast, Hiddink must confirm that his contract with Russia has been ended.

The Dutch daily De Telegraaf quotes Hiddink's agent, Cees van Nieuwenhuizen, as saying that the negotiations with Russia are a barrier to the Ivory Coast deal.

Hiddink coached Holland to the World Cup semi-finals in 1998, South Korea to the same stage four years later and led Australia at the World Cup in Germany four years ago.

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

3 Ways to Make Outlook More Social?

Samachar Express — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:34:31 +0000

Microsoft Outlook has historically been at the heart of document-based environments that for many years have ruled the enterprise.

But the walls that have guarded this document-based world are crumbling fast. Outlook is now more than a message center. It is becoming a collaborative space where the lines between Google Docs and other social applications start to blur.

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Three extensions exemplify this trend. These services are quite similar. Xobni has the longest track record. it started as a consumer-based service, gaining a following for its search capabilities in Outlook. Search is Outlook's inherent weakness. Neither DocVerse nor Harmony have deep search capabilities like Xobni. That may only be a temporary issue for DocVerse. Last week, Google announced that it had acquired DocVerse. We expect that will in some way translate into better search in the weeks and months ahead for the DoVerse service.

Harmony

Harmony is the newest of the group. The Mainsoft service is a mash up between Google Docs and Outlook. It also puts SharePoint directly into Outlook. Like most Outlook extensions, Harmony pulls Google Docs or Sharepoint into an Outlook sidebar.

The service is intended to ease attachment overload by creating a central place where people can access Google Docs. It's a drag and drop environment that allows people to drag email attachments into the Harmony sidebar.

A document may also be dragged into an email where it appears as a link for the recipient. The recipient may access the document by signing into their Google Docs or Google Apps account.

The service is now available as a free download. It is compatible with Sharepoint 2007 and Sharepoint 2010. It will be available later this year as an extension for Microsoft Office.

DocVerse

DocVerse plays a similar role to Harmony. The service synchronizes in the Outlook Sidebar. The widget associates a link to the document that is getting the edit. Every modification is synced. When multiple people work on a document, the updates are made through the plug-in and versions are stored online.

Xobni

Xobni provides what Outlook really needs. Great search. It will search Outlook and external social networks and third party applications to get a fuller profile of the contact. In November, the company released Xobni Enterprise. The service gives I.T. administrators the ability to deploy and manage the plugin across the enterprise. it also offers integration across services such as Salesforce CRM and Sharepoint.

Outlook Has Come A Long Way

The old days are over for Outlook. It's now entering an era where the degree of collaboration will center around a hyperlinked environment more so than document-based systems. The enterprise is becoming more web-oriented and Outlook is no exception to the change.

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