Gadget of the Year 08 - Touch screen Mobiles

Touchscreen Phone of the Year - iPhone 3G




It’s not really something to think about. When you’re discussing touchscreen mobiles the first name to pop into your head is the Apple iPhone. What it lacks in features, it more than makes up in functionality. The truly remarkable feature is its touch screen, from the smooth accelerometer to the multi-touch feature for pinching in and out of pages and images for zooming, to an intuitive ambient light sensor to save battery power, the iPhone is a technological marvel. The large 3.5 inch display sports a 320 x 480 pixel resolution and makes watching videos a real treat. The iPod like audio player is also one of its better features as well as the addition of internal GPS receiver and of course Wi-Fi capabilities that was prevalent in the first gen model too. It’s still has a few bugs that hopefully will be ironed out over time, but this is definitely still our choice for the years best touchscreen mobile handset.

Runner Up - Samsung F480




The F480 TouchWiz is equipped with a 2.8 inch TFT touch screen display sporting a 240 x 320 pixel resolution. The typical Samsung OS is accentuated by the total touchscreen UI so using a stylus would a rare occurrence. Not unlike the iPhone the F480 also makes use of what I like to call ‘flip’ technology for scrolling though the gallery or viewing one image at a time. You need but to swipe your hand across the screen to move from one image to the next. To add to its appeal it also has a 5 megapixel camera with features like anti-shake and face detection. Support for Stereo Bluetooth and microSD cards for external memory are also available.

Value - LG KP500




The KP500 Cookie is one of the cheapest if not the cheapest totally touchscreen handset available on the market. It employs a lot of functionality with good looks, just like the iPhone. With the choice of a decently designed on screen QWERTY keypad for typing or a normal mobile keypad and handwriting recognition tossed in, the Cookie is even more enticing. The 3 megapixel camera is loaded with is non-autofocus but that doesn’t really matter. This handset is designed for multimedia with plenty of editors for video and images. It also uses ‘flip’ technology for browsing through images or even for switching between the two unique desktops. You’ll again hardly ever require the use of the stylus, so this is our choice of the best value totally touchscreen handset. With price tag of just Rs 13,990 you can’t go wrong.

You’re probably wondering why isn’t the Xperia or the new Nokia 5800 or even the HTC touch HD included? The reason is because the 5800 and HD haven’t hit the shelves yet and we haven’t finished reviewing the Xperia hence we can’t really justify it as a years best. But stay tuned for more on the Gadget of the Year – Mobiles when we cover the best all round handset.

Fisichella puts Force India on pole

FORMULA ONE / Toyota's Trulli on P2 as Button (14th) and Hamilton (12th) struggle




SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS: Giancarlo Fisichella gave Force India an astonishing first pole position while Formula One championship leader Jenson Button qualified only 14th for the Belgian Grand Prix on Saturday.
While Force India has yet to score a point in 29 races, the 36-year-old from Rome has been first on the grid thrice before - he last started on pole with Renault in Malaysia in 2006.
Fisichella's teammate Adrian Sutil qualified 11th.
''It's amazing. It's fantastic. I'm so happy about that... I didn't expect that result,'' said the Italian, who side-stepped a suggestion that his car might be fuelled lighter than those behind him.
''This is one of my favourite circuits... But I didn't expect to be on pole. We made a big step forward from the last race,'' he added.
Toyota's Jarno Trulli made it an all-Italian front row, with German Nick Heidfeld third for struggling BMW-Sauber.
Brawn GP's Button failed to make it into the top 10 for the first time this season and will have a fight on his hands to come away with any points on Sunday while teammate and closest title rival Rubens Barrichello, who is 18 points adrift with six races remaining after winning the previous race in Valencia last weekend, qualified fourth.
Red Bull's Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, third and fourth in the standings respectively, filled the ninth and eighth places on the grid.
Ferrari's Badoer last
Italian Luca Badoer's days as stand-in for injured Ferrari driver Felipe Massa looked numbered when the 38-year-old spun into the gravel and qualified last for the second race in a row. Teammate Kimi Raikkonen starts sixth.
Fisichella has already made clear that he would love to take Badoer's place.
''It's a dream for a driver in Formula One to drive for Ferrari, especially for an Italian driver like me... but I'm just concentrating on Force India and the race tomorrow,'' he told a news conference. ''For sure, my result is something incredible. It's a great day, but I want to do the best and just concentrate on the race tomorrow.''
While Force India was the quickest of the Mercedes-powered teams, McLaren endured a nightmare afternoon at a circuit that has favoured it heavily in the past. World champion Lewis Hamilton qualified 12th with Finnish teammate Heikki Kovalainen 15th.
The qualifying results: 1. Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India-Mercedes) 1 min 46.308 secs, 2. Jarno Trulli (Toyota) 1:46.395, 3. Nick Heidfeld (BMW-Sauber) 1:46.500, 4. Rubens Barrichello (Brawn-Mercedes) 1:46.513, 5. Robert Kubica (BMW-Sauber) 1:46.586, 6. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) 1:46.633, 7. Timo Glock (Toyota) 1:46.677, 8. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) 1:46.761, 9. Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault) 1:46.788, 10. Nico Rosberg (Williams-Toyota) 1:47.362, 11. Adrian Sutil (Force India-Mercedes) 1:45.119, 12. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes) 1:45.122, 13. Fernando Alonso (Renault) 1:45.136, 14. Jenson Button (Brawn-Mercedes) 1:45.251, 15. Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren-Mercedes) 1:45.259, 16. Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 1:45.951, 17. Jaime Alguersuari (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 1:46.032, 18. Kazuki Nakajima (Williams-Toyota) 1:46.307, 19. Romain Grosjean (Renault) 1:46.359, 20. Luca Badoer (Ferrari) 1:46.957.

Nokia May Enter Netbook Market

The world's top mobile phone maker, Nokia is "actively looking at the netbook market to see what kind of opportunity is there."

Till now, the market has seen major personal computer makers turning their attention to the mobile phone business in their efforts to diversify their product offering and launch devices that fetch higher margins. Dell recently joined other PC makers including HP, Acer and Asustek Computer to come up with its own hi-end mobile devices. Now we're beginning to see the trend reverse as the world's largest cell phone maker, Nokia is "actively looking at the netbook market to see what kind of opportunity is there."
"The PC and the mobile will continue to come closer and merge. A lot of opportunity can be seen in this converged area. We at Nokia are actively looking at this converged market ... We are looking at the netbook market to see what kind of opportunity is there," The Economic Times quoted Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, global CEO, Nokia as saying.

Nokia chief also sees a lot of opportunity in the Indian market with the roll-out of the third-generation mobile services. "3G will open up a lot of opportunity," he said.

Contrary to the general perception that India is a market for only low-end phones, Kallasvuo said, "Our recently launched two high-end mobile phones -- N-97 and E-75 -- have been doing extremely well, and we are overwhelmed with the response."

Symptoms & Precautions of Swine Flu

Symptoms In children, emergency warning signs that need urgent medical attention include:

· Fast breathing or trouble breathing
· Bluish or gray skin color
· Not drinking enough fluids
· Severe or persistent vomiting
· Not waking up or not interacting
· Being so irritable that the child does not want to be held
· Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough


In adults, emergency warning signs that need urgent medical attention include:

· Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
· Pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen
· Sudden dizziness
· Confusion
· Severe or persistent vomiting
· Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough



Steps to Lessen the Spread of Flu in the Home

When providing care to a household member who is sick with influenza, the most important ways to protect yourself and others who are not sick are to:

· keep the sick person away from other people as much as possible (see “placement of the sick person”)
· remind the sick person to cover their coughs, and clean their hands with soap and water or an alcohol-based hand rub often, especially after coughing and/or sneezing.
· have everyone in the household clean their hands often, using soap and water or an alcohol-based hand rub

Placement of the sick person:

· Keep the sick person in a room separate from the common areas of the house. (For example, a spare bedroom with its own bathroom, if that’s possible.) Keep the sickroom door closed.
· Unless necessary for medical care, persons with the flu should not leave the home when they have a fever or during the time that they are most likely to spread their infection to others
· If persons with the flu need to leave the home (for example, for medical care), they should cover their nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing and wear a loose-fitting (surgical) mask if available.
· Have the sick person wear a surgical mask if they need to be in a common area of the house near other persons.
· If possible, sick persons should use a separate bathroom. This bathroom should be cleaned daily with household disinfectant

Protect other persons in the home:

· The sick person should not have visitors other than caregivers. A phone call is safer than a visit.
· If possible, have only one adult in the home take care of the sick person.
· Avoid having pregnant women care for the sick person. (Pregnant women are at increased risk of influenza-related complications and immunity can be suppressed during pregnancy).
· All persons in the household should clean their hands with soap and water or an alcohol-based hand rub frequently, including after every contact with the sick person or the person’s room or bathroom.
· Use paper towels for drying hands after hand washing or dedicate cloth towels to each person in the household. For example, have different colored towels for each person.
· If possible, consideration should be given to maintaining good ventilation in shared household areas (e.g., keeping windows open in restrooms, kitchen, bathroom, etc.).

If you are the caregiver:

· Avoid being face-to-face with the sick person. · When holding small children who are sick, place their chin on your shoulder so that they will not cough in your face. · Clean your hands with soap and water or use an alcohol-based hand rub after you touch the sick person or handle used tissues, or laundry. · Talk to your Doctor about taking antiviral medication to prevent the caregiver from getting the flu. · Monitor yourself and household members for flu symptoms and the local H1N1 Command Center if the symptoms occur.

Household Cleaning, Laundry, and Waste Disposal:

· Throw away tissues and other disposable items used by the sick person in the trash. Wash your hands after touching used tissues and similar waste. · Keep surfaces (especially bedside tables, surfaces in the bathroom, and toys for children) clean by wiping them down with a household disinfectant according to directions on the product label. · Linens, eating utensils, and dishes belonging to those who are sick do not need to be cleaned separately, but importantly these items should not be shared without washing thoroughly first. · Wash linens (such as bed sheets and towels) by using household laundry soap and tumble dry on a hot setting. Avoid “hugging” laundry prior to washing it to prevent contaminating yourself. Clean your hands with soap and water or alcohol-based hand rub right after handling dirty laundry. · Eating utensils should be washed either in a dishwasher or by hand with water and soap.

The history of ashes

"In affectionate remembrance of English cricket which died at The Oval, 29th August, 1882. Deeply lamented by a large circle of sorrowing friends and acquaintances, RIP. NB The body will be cremated and the Ashes taken to Australia."

Australia's first victory on English soil over the full strength of England, on August 29, 1882, inspired a young London journalist, Reginald Shirley Brooks, to write this mock "obituary''. It appeared in the Sporting Times.

Before England's defeat at The Oval, by seven runs, arrangements had already been made for the Hon. Ivo Bligh, afterwards Lord Darnley, to lead a team to Australia. Three weeks later they set out, now with the popular objective of recovering the Ashes. In the event, Australia won the first Test by nine wickets, but with England winning the next two it became generally accepted that they brought back the Ashes.

It was long believed that the real Ashes - a small urn thought to contain the ashes of a bail used in the third match - were presented to Bligh by a group of Melbourne women. In 1998, Lord Darnley's 82-year-old daughter-in-law said they were the remains of her mother-in-law's veil, not a bail. Other evidence suggests a ball. The certain origin of the Ashes, therefore, is the subject of some dispute.

After Lord Darnley's death in 1927, the urn was given to MCC by Lord Darnley's Australian-born widow, Florence. It can be seen in the cricket museum at Lord's, together with a red and gold velvet bag, made specially for it, and the scorecard of the 1882 match.

Best Websites of 2009

The hottest thing on the Internet is not social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter, but Flickr-the popular photo-sharing portal - and the proof is: it has topped TIME's list of the best 50 websites this year.

One of the noticeable trends in this year's list, which was released this week, was on-demand video services, like YouTube, Vimeo and US services Hulu and Netflix.

However, the top two in the list were related to photographs, with California Coastline following Flickr at the second spot.

Third in the list was bookmark website Delicious, while community weblog Metafilter stood at the fourth place.

Popurls, the mashup of the web's most visited social news sites and portals, grabbed the fifth spot in the list.

Twitter ranked sixth and Facebook came 31st in the list, while YouTube and Hulu came at 12th and 14th place in the list.

TIME's list of 50 Best Websites of 2009 is:

1. Flickr

2. California Coastline

3. Delicious

4. Metafilter

5. popurls

6. Twitter

7. Skype

8. Boing Boing

9. Academic Earth

10. OpenTable

11. Google

12. YouTube

13. Wolfram|Alpha

14. Hulu

15. Vimeo

16. Fora TV

17. Craiglook

18. Shop Goodwill

19. Amazon

20. Kayak

21. Netflix

22. Etsy

23. PropertyShark.com

24. Redfin

25. Wikipedia

26. Internet Archive

27. Kiva

28. ConsumerSearch

29. Metacritic

30. Pollster

31. Facebook

32. Pandora and Last.fm

33. Musicovery

34. Spotify

35. Supercook

36. Yelp

37. Visuwords

38. CouchSurfing

39. BabyNameWizard.com's NameVoyager

40. Mint

41. TripIt

42. Aardvark

43. drop.io

44. Issuu

45. Photosynth

46. OMGPOP

47. WorldWideTelescope

48. Fonolo

49. Get High Now

50. Know Your Meme

Edward Moore Kennedy (1932-2009)

Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was a United States Senator from Massachusetts and a member of the Democratic Party. In office from November 1962 until his death, Kennedy served nine terms in the Senate. At the time of his death, he was the second most senior member of the Senate, and the third-longest-serving senator in U.S. history. Kennedy crossed party lines to reach legislative goals.Kennedy was respected and admired around the world He was best known as one of the most outspoken and effective Senate proponents of progressive causes and bills. For many years the most prominent living member of the Kennedy family, he was the youngest brother of President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert F. Kennedy, both victims of assassinations, and the father of Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy.

Kennedy was a manager in his brother John's successful 1960 campaign for president. He then worked as an assistant district attorney for Suffolk County, Massachusetts. Kennedy entered the Senate in a 1962 special election to fill the seat once held by his brother John. He was seriously injured in an airplane crash in 1964 and suffered from lifelong back pain as a result. Kennedy was elected to his first six-year term in 1964 and was reelected seven more times.

The 1969 Chappaquiddick incident resulted in the death of passenger Mary Jo Kopechne and impaired his chances of becoming President of the United States; his involvement in the 1980 presidential election ended in a primary campaign loss to incumbent Democratic President Jimmy Carter. Kennedy was known for his oratorical power, his 1968 eulogy for his brother Robert and his 1980 Democratic National Convention rallying cry for American liberalism being among his best-known moments.

He became known as "The Lion of the Senate", through his long tenure and influence. More than 300 bills that Kennedy and his staff wrote were enacted into law. He was known for working with Republicans and finding compromises among Senators with disparate views. Kennedy played a major role in passing many important laws, including laws addressing immigration, cancer research, health insurance, apartheid, disability discrimination, AIDS care, civil rights, mental health benefits, children's health insurance, education and volunteering. In the 2000s, he led several unsuccessful immigration reform efforts. During decades in office, Kennedy's major legislative goal was enactment of universal health care, which he continued to work toward during the Obama administration.

In May 2008, Kennedy was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor which limited his appearances in the Senate. He survived longer than doctors first predicted. He died on August 25, 2009, at his home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts