Wikia search to launch on January 7

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales had set January 7 as the launch date for the Wikia search engine. Wikia Search project has assembled the basic technologies for a search engine, including a search application, search algorithm and Web crawler. The project will allow technology enthusiasts to help filter sites and rank search results, similar to Wikipedia.

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FireWire speeds set to quadruple

Firewire also known as iLink , the IEEE 1394 standard is set to quadruple the speeds. The speed is up from 800 Mbps to 3.2 Gbps. Thus Firewire will be faster than USB and eSATA as well as it can power devices. Moreover the new version can support co-axial cable also providing support for HD connectivity at a cost lower than current HDMI.

FireWire is, according to the association, "the only separable interface today that can record HD programs in their full digital quality while also meeting the content protection requirements of copyright holders."

Google working on Internet encyclopedia

Google is working on an internet encyclopedia similar to wikipedia. Google is expected to release the service soon , initially available only by invitation. The service will be similar to wikipedia , the posting will be done by people around the world. Google is expecting to make ad revenues from this as well by showing relevant ads. More details of the service will be revealed soon.

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Microsoft to release Office 2008 for Mac on January 15

Microsoft plans to ship the Mac version of its popular Office suite by January 15. The suite includes Word 2008, Excel 2008, PowerPoint 2008, and Entourage 2008, which is a contact and scheduling application. Microsoft is also plan to add a feature that allows users to export powerpoint presentations to iPod or iPhone. PowerPoint slides can be projected on a big-screen digital TV through an Apple component AV or composite AV cable plugged into an iPod or iPhone. The same setup is used for showing any picture on the devices on a TV. The full version of suite is priced at $399.95 an upgrade version at $239.95 for existing Office 2004 users. The Media edition costs $499.95.

source: here

iPhone launched in France

Orange, the mobile phone and Internet arm of France Telecom launched iPhone in France. It is available for 399 Euros with a subscription plan, existing customers of orange can buy it for 549 Euros and for 749 Euros it can be used in any network.

Apple opens Holiday guide

Apple is all set to use the holiday season to its maximum. Apple opened a holiday guide in the website which is connected to Apple's online store. I didn't see any special offers with iMac range but a lot of iPod, iPhone accessories are available.

Last year the traffic at Apple iTunes store was so large that the site crawled. The year before it was the iPod that created the buzz. Now with the iPhone, Apple is certainly a having big holiday time.

Visit here

T-Mobile to sell unlocked iPhones in Germany

T-Mobile will be offering unlocked iPhones, without contract in Germany. It is priced at 999 Euros without any contract and 399 Euros for iPhones with two year contract. Vodafone sued DT in German courts arguing exclusive contract for iPhones are violating German competition laws. T-Mobile continues to sell iPhone in Germany.

Why Microsoft's Zune is not as hot as Apple's iPod?

This is my personal experience. I feel that Microsoft is not paying enough attention to the Zune media player. I have been browsing through the website of zune, www.zune.net. I just want to know about features of the player. I got the website with a nice animation, fine. I clicked on Zune orginals in the homepage and , I got the above error page. I tried back , forward buttons to return to home and all in vain. I still don't know why Microsoft doesn't allow users to browse through Zune. How can one make a website for a product on which there is no link to home page from an error page? So I am still "Access Denied " to Zune.

Apple updates Mac OS X Leopard

Apple issues first major update for Mac OS X Leopard. According to Apple, Mac OS X 10.5.1 addresses issues with Airport, Back to My Mac, Disk utilities, iCal, Mail, Networking, Printing, Security and Firewall, System and Finder, and Time Machine. It is considered as one of the most important security update from Apple in recent times. Users can update Leopard from here(Apple's website) or through automatic update mechanism in Leopard. The file size is 110 MB.

Apple releases Final Cut Express 4

Apple Inc releases the next upgrade to its video editing software Final Cut Express. Final Cut Express 4 adds support for the latest AVCHD cameras, allows mixing of standard and high definition content on a single timeline, includes the ability to import iMovie ‘08 projects and FxPlug cinematic effects and filters. It is priced at $199.

Apple's website: click here

Avast reaches 40 million registrations, announces 20 % off on all Avast Products

Avast Antivirus, a popular antivirus software reached 40 million registration recently. Avast is a very popular antivirus solution mainly because its home edition is free for non commercial purpose. Also the updates are very quick a thing home users always love.

As part of 40 million celebration Avast products are available with 20% discount for next 20 days.

Avast website: click here

Flickr reaches 2 billionth photo

Flickr reaches another milestone. yukesmooks uploaded the 2 billionth photo to the Flickr. The photo is of a gum tree. For Visiting the photo click here.

Flickr is owned by Yahoo!