Got a new guitar

Today I got a new guitar. It’s an ESP LTD EC-401FM. I bought it from Marktplaats.nl because a new one costs 700 euro. I tuned it to drop C. I did this because I want to learn songs from the band A Day To Remember. They play most of their songs in drop C. I keep my old one for playing normal songs. The old guitar is tuned to drop D.

When I have learned some songs I will record it and post it here for you.

Oil prices fall on increased Opec output hopes

Oil prices have fallen on hopes that the Opec cartel of oil producers might be about to boost production for the first time in two years.

US light crude was down $1.61 at $103.84 a barrel, while Brent crude was down 85 cents at $114.19 a barrel.

To fix or not to fix

As some of you might now I recently dropped my iPhone 4. It now has a lovely crack in the screen. Fixing it at T-Mobile costs 200/300 euros. I will keep the guarantee then but I'm phoneless for about a week.
I can let it fix for 180 euros at a company that fix phones but then I will lose my guarentee and they have my phone for 2 days. I also can fix it by myself. A new screen costs 60 euros and I keep my phone.
What should I do? Did someone replaced their iPhone frontscreen?

Got my AKG K701

My old headphone was getting old. Now I have a new headphone, the AKG K701. It has a nice design and the audio quality is amazing! The ear pads aren't very small, enough space for my ears! They only weigh 235 gram, not very heavy.

Why Apple doesn't need an iPad 2

Competition is heating up for the iPad, but there are still plenty of features that the newcomers can't match.

(Credit: CNET)

We've been hearing a lot recently about all the upcoming tablets taking on the iPad. Whether it's the Motorola Xoom and its Android Honeycomb OS, the HP TouchPad, or RIM's BlackBerry PlayBook, the sharks are circling, and they all want a bite of Apple.
For the most part, the latest, greatest tablets are luring customers with dual-core processors, HDMI output, Adobe Flash support, memory expansion, video chat, HD camcorders, and 4G wireless connections. The specs are impressive, and some of them (such as Flash support) won't likely find their way onto the second generation of the iPad.
But as competing manufacturers trip over themselves to out-spec each other, I have to wonder if they're missing the point. In fact, it feels a little like deja-vu after spending the past four years watching companies wage a failed battle of specs against the iPod.
If Apple really wanted to screw with the competition (and tech analysts), it should just slap a "No. 2" sticker on all the iPad boxes out there and see what happens. I suspect the iPad in its current configuration would still outsell all other tablets this year.
I'm no fanboy. In fact, my job here at CNET relies on a steady stream of iPad competitors, and I couldn't be more excited to see this space grow. Still, there are some things Apple does better than anyone else, and a true competitor to the iPad can only do so much with a dazzling spec sheet before confronting the following Apple strongholds head-on.

Apps

Developers have created more apps for iOS on the iPad than any other mobile OS.

(Credit: iTunes)

The depth and breadth of apps available for iOS are unmatched by any other mobile OS. More importantly, since the debut of the iPad in April 2010, Apple has amassed more than 60,000 apps designed specifically for use on a tablet.
At the time of this writing, Google, RIM, and HP have exactly zero tablet-specific apps available for users to play with. That will change, obviously, but there's likely no catching up to Apple's 60,000-app lead.
Building an app store isn't easy. Developers need to be convinced there's a paying audience and equipped with the tools and guidelines to create apps for tablets. Customers expect an app selection to rival Apple's. Apps need to be approved, denied, curated, categorized, and vetted for security risks. It's a monumental undertaking, and it never ends. It's no wonder so many manufacturers are happy to let Google do all the heavy lifting so that they can concentrate on what they do best: making hardware.

Music, podcast, and lecture downloads

The iTunes music store on the iPad.

(Credit: Apple)

Before iPhones and iPads stole the show, Apple had a little product called the iPod. Apple still sells plenty of iPods, but they don't grab the headlines they used to, partly because no one competes with them anymore. The MP3 player wars are over, and Apple won.
It's easy to take for granted, but inside every iPhone and iPad is the world's most popular music player and music download store. The iTunes Store also offers one of the best and most definitive selections of podcasts, university lectures, and audiobooks.
There's always a new, well-funded, well-hyped music service to make people sneer at iTunes, but there's still no denying that Apple's online store is a success. My mother knows what iTunes is. You can buy iTunes gift cards at most major supermarkets and redeem them directly on the iPad.
Google has been working on a rumored music service for some time now, but it hasn't seen a public unveiling yet. So far, Android-compatible music stores and services (such as Amazon MP3) have worked as a stopgap for an integrated Google storefront, but when it comes to music and other audio downloads, Apple is still the king.

Movie and TV downloads

Apple TV

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

I could have lumped this in with music playback, but I think its worth looking at what Apple is doing right with video on the iPad.
First off you have the integrated iTunes Store again, which is one of the most popular services for (legally) downloading movies and TV shows. You get a decent selection with reasonable prices, the option of low-priced rentals, and a smooth checkout experience using the same iTunes account that powers your music, app, and iBook purchases.
If you want to see your downloaded videos played back in high definition on your home TV, connect up a $99 Apple TV and you're all set. Competing tablets may offer direct HDMI output capabilities, but we've yet to see one priced below the cost of buying a low-end iPad and an Apple TV.
In short, Apple has good video content, competitive pricing, flexible renting options, and the option of high-definition TV connectivity for those with an extra $99 to spend. No one else has yet to unveil a tablet that matches all of these capabilities.
And did I mention Netflix streaming? Apple had it when the iPad launched. Android users will hopefully get it this year.

Desktop sync software

Love it or hate it: iTunes does what few others can.

iTunes is by no means a perfect program. Running on a PC, it's a memory hog that seems to ask for an update every few months.
That said, iTunes' ability to sync music, video, photos, apps, contacts, e-mail, browser bookmarks, and notes between your home computer and the iPad is pretty special. For all its faults, iTunes has 10 years of updates and refinements under its belt.
Let's not forget, iTunes is hooked up to the most popular media download store on the planet. Home Sharing allows you to manage content across multiple home computers. Genius Playlists and Genius Mixes take the work out of finding great music. And in-depth syncing profiles for all your Apple devices (iPod, iPhone, and iPad) make it fairly simple to keep a family's worth of Apple tech in harmony.
iTunes has us pulling our hair out sometimes, but, having tried the alternatives, we still can't shake it. Whether it's DoubleTwist or MediaMonkey or Winamp, the device-specific syncing profiles just aren't as complete, device backup isn't as thorough, and the cross-syncing of apps, music, e-books, videos, and podcasts just isn't as tight.
In the near future, there's the hope that all of this device synchronization will occur between the cloud and your computer or gadget. Until then, iTunes offers one of the best methods for syncing your favorite media from your computer to a tablet, and backing up your tablet purchases to your computer.

Accessory support

The number of accessories made for the iPad is overwhelming. A quick walk of the show floor at this year's Macworld Expo provided an endless array of cases, stands, speakers, dock connectors, gaming peripherals--even an iPad-compatible grill.
Apple has a long history working with third-party manufacturers to foster accessories for their products. And whether its an iPod, iPhone, or an iPad, Apple has consistently proven to manufacturers that accessories can be lucrative.
Using common standards such as Micro-USB or Bluetooth, there are sure to be plenty of compatible accessories for iPad competitors. But when it comes to selection, the first-gen iPad probably has more accessories than all of the competitors combined.

Games

Games are a big part of the iPad's appeal and a moneymaker for developers.

(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Parker/CNET)

Technically, Apple's iPad games are sold as apps, but they're worth considering as a separate item for this comparison.
Games are an important part of the tablet experience. For the sake of humanity I wish it weren't true, but when I see an iPad in the wild, chances are it's because someone is hooked on playing Angry Birds or Words With Friends.
Tablets such as the Motorola Xoom or HP TouchPad are promising 3D gaming graphics with console-quality gameplay, but no matter how good the hardware is, the games just aren't there yet.
By comparison, there are thousands of game titles available for the iPad. Some of them are duds, but many are downright awesome. Apple was also the first out of the gate with in-app purchasing, giving game designers added flexibility and a new financial incentive.
Bottom line: if you love games, iOS offers the best selection and is typically the first to get the high-tier titles.

Device ecosystem

iPhone 4

(Credit: Apple)

The iPad isn't Apple's only successful mobile product. The iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch all run the same OS, use the same apps, and sync to your computer the same way, with the same cable.
If Apple already has its hooks in you with an iPhone or iPod Touch, going with an iPad over a competing tablet is the path of least resistance. You already know how to set it up. You know how to use it. You know your apps and media will be compatible. And because you already have an iTunes account established, you can start downloading new content immediately without the hassles of entering credit card info and addresses.
These are small conveniences, but they add up. Google is working to match (and surpass) Apple at its own game, with its universal Google log-in, a Web-based app store, and products such as Google TV and Chrome, which leverage a common Google experience. Time will tell if the Android experience can become as sticky as iOS', and if Google can successfully branch it out beyond its success with smartphones.
For other iPad competitors, luring and retaining users based on their familiarity with the OS and loyalty to the brand will take time.

Battery life

Dell's 7-inch Android tablet, the Streak 7, has plenty to brag about, but battery life isn't on the list.

(Credit: Dell)

The iPad's 10 hours of battery life set the bar high for the competition. So far, we've yet to see any one else match it.
For manufacturers, it's a tough problem to solve. Because Apple can optimize both the hardware and the software, it can maximize efficiency dramatically. Other measures, such as creatively handling background applications and preventing Adobe Flash compatibility, help as well.
In the case of Android, hardware manufacturers and Google programmers can point the finger at each other. Google can't be bothered to optimize its code for every tablet that comes out the door, and manufacturers can only spend so much time and money optimizing an OS that isn't theirs (and that users will often customize anyhow). In fact, the more work manufacturers do to customize the code, the longer it takes to turn around subsequent OS updates, which makes them look bad and is thankless, money-sucking work.
The other roadblock to meeting or surpassing the iPad's battery life is the compulsion to out-spec Apple with battery-draining features, such as dual-core processors, Adobe Flash compatibility, 1080p video decoding, 4G cellular radios, etc. You're damned if you do and damned if you don't, but in the end the flashy spec sheet will usually win out. After all, when you don't have the apps, the integrated media store, or the ecosystem of compatible devices, software, and accessories, sacrificing some battery life to juice your spec list seems like the sane course of action.

Final thoughts

So, could Apple just leave the iPad alone and still hold the lead position? I think so--for a little while, at least.
More than any justification I've given so far, the best advantage Apple has is that it got to consumers first, shaped their expectations, and essentially set the terms for how other manufacturers would compete for years to come.
Here we are, a year after the original iPad, and competitors still have plenty of work to do if they're going to build something that truly meets and exceeds the capabilities and user experience of the iPad.
That said, it's great to see so many manufacturers eager to give Apple a run for its money. Whether this tablet saga in tech history ends with Apple being humbled, or a repeat of the iPod wars, it's struggles like these that keep us innovating.

from: cnet.com

iPad 2 to quadruple resolution to 2048 x 1536

New details have trickled out about Apple’s upcoming iPad 2’s resolution. It had been previously rumored that Apple’s second-generation tablet will inherit the critically-acclaimed Retina Display from the iPhone 4. The problem is that a 300 DPI, 9.7-inch iPad would need a resolution of 2560 x 1920 - more pixels than Apple’s top-of-the-line 27″ LED Cinema Display.
New information suggests that the upcoming iPad 2 will in fact get a 2048 x 1536 panel running at 260 DPI — double the amount of horizontal and vertical pixels as the iPad 1. Apple may still brand it as a Retina display because the iPad is held further away from your face than an iPhone, resulting is the same effect.
MacRumors reports the discovery of pixel-doubled bookmark graphics in Apple’s iBooks app:

"Version 1.1 of Apple’s iBooks application seems to have accidentally included some artwork for this hypothetical pixel-doubled iPad. As shown above, the App’s bookmark icon included versions for the iPad, the iPhone and the iPhone Retina Display (iPhonex2). It, however, also included one additional version labeled “iPadx2″. Sure enough, this is exactly double the resolution version of the iPad icon and is distinct from the other versions."

MacRumors also spotted another tell-tale graphic in iBooks 1.2, a 1536 x 800 pixel wood-tile background. The previous Wood Tile.png in iBooks 1.1 was half of that - 768 x 400 pixels.
So called resolution “doubling” should be easy for developers to support, allowing legacy apps to run in a pixel-doubled mode until developers can re-write them to support the iPad 2’s larger panel. Apple the same thing with the iPhone 4, increasing its resolution from 480 x 320 to 960 x 640.

from: zdnet.com

Report Says Apple to Launch 7-inch iPad by Christmas

Apple is readying another tablet similar to the iPad but with a 7-inch touchscreen for launch as early as the end of this year, according to a major Taiwanese newspaper.
This is the second report of an iPad 2 sighting in Taiwan, and it comes from the island's Chinese-language Economic Daily News financial newspaper, which was among the first to correctly report that Apple was making a tablet when other news sources said it would be a netbook. The launch of the original iPad proved the paper correct.
Taiwan's Digitimes newspaper last week reported that Taiwanese companies were starting to assemble a 7-inch iPad for Apple.
The Economic Daily reports that Taiwanese companies have won a number of component contracts for the iPad 2. Chimei Innolux will supply 7-inch LCD screens, which use the same IPS (in-plane switching) technology found in the original iPad, which improves viewing angles and color on LCD screens. Touchscreen technology for the screens will come from Cando Corporation, the report says.
Apple has also tapped Compal Electronics, one of the world's largest contract laptop computer makers, to assemble the new iPad, the report says.
The companies named in the Economic Daily report declined to comment. Contract manufacturers and component makers normally do not reveal what products they're working on because failure to maintain secrecy can cause them to miss out on future contracts.

from: pcworld.com

IHOP National Pancake Day Celebration Free Pancakes

“Join IHOP on Tuesday, March 1, 2011, 7 a.m. – 10 p.m., for National Pancake Day and receive one complimentary short stack!* In return for the free flapjacks, we ask you to consider leaving a little something behind for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and other designated local charities. Thanks to our guests’ generosity, IHOP raised more than $2.1 million last year. IHOP began its National Pancake Day in 2006, and since then, has raised $5.35 million for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and other local charities and given away more than 10.1 million buttermilk pancakes.”
http://www.ihoppancakeday.com

WWE Star John Cena died

WWF Star John Cena died in a hail of machine gun bullets when thugs ambushed his 4×4 Jeep Cherokee.
Nothing could have saved John Cena who was just metres away from his home .

His mates rushed to help the 33-year-old, provided first aid and he was quickly evacuated.
His mates rushed to help the 33-year-old, provided first aid and he was quickly evacuated.
But the veteran WWF star of 10 years service was dead by the time he reached the nearest hospital.
John Cena responded to the Rock’s comments on RAW via Twitter, wrting, “CeNation. Rock was in rare form tonight. It was great to see him enjoying himself out there. Even if it was at my expense.

Hundreds of unpaid extras needed for Clooney movie on Green Beer Day

OXFORD — Hundreds of unpaid extras will be needed for the George Clooney film “Ides of March” Thursday, March 3 – which is Green Beer Day in Oxford.
Crews for the Clooney movie will be in town next week filming, but will use 708 extras on Thursday, said movie publicist Tracey Schaefer. There is no pay for extras that day.
“We encourage Miami University students to apply that will be willing to stay all day,” Schaefer said, noting they will need to stay on set about 12 hours.
Green Beer Day is marked by Miami students and others with day-long drinking, as students are on spring break on St. Patrick’s Day.
“We know it is Green Beer Day in Oxford... so the production needs students that are committed to staying on set until the film wraps up production for the day,” Schaefer said.
Students interested should e-mail their digital photo, name, cell phone number and e-mail address with “Miami U. Student” in the subject line to daretodreamcastingextras@gmail.com.

from www.journal-news.com

No support for U.S. proposal for domain name veto

The Obama administration has failed in its bid to allow it and other governments to veto future top-level domain names, a proposal before ICANN that raised questions about balancing national sovereignty with the venerable Internet tradition of free expression.
A group of nations rejected (PDF) that part of the U.S. proposal last week, concluding instead that governments can offer nonbinding "advice" about controversial suffixes such as .gay but will not receive actual veto power.

Other portions of the U.S. proposal were adopted, including one specifying that individual governments may file objections to proposed suffixes without paying fees and another making it easier for trademark holders to object. The final document, called a "scorecard," will be discussed at a two-day meeting that starts today in Brussels.
At stake are the procedures to create the next wave of suffixes to supplement the time-tested .com, .org, and .net. Hundreds of proposals are expected this year, including .car, .health, .love, .movie, and .web, and the application process could be finalized at a meeting next month in San Francisco of ICANN, or the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.
Proposed domain suffixes like .gay are likely to prove contentious among more conservative nations, as are questions over whether foreign firms should be able to secure potentially lucrative rights to operate geographical suffixes such as .nyc, .paris, and .london. And nobody has forgotten the furor over .xxx, which has been in limbo for seven years after receiving an emphatic thumbs-down from the Bush administration.
"We are very pleased that this consensus-based process is moving forward," a spokeswoman for the U.S. Commerce Department said in a statement provided to CNET over the weekend. "The U.S., along with many other GAC members, submitted recommendations for consideration and as expected, these recommendations provided valuable input for the development of the new scorecard."
GAC is the Governmental Advisory Committee of ICANN and composed of representatives of scores of national governments from Afghanistan to Yemen. The Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration, or NTIA, serves as the committee's representative from the United States.
ICANN representatives did not respond to a request for comment.
Milton Mueller, a professor of information studies at Syracuse University and author of a recently published book on Internet governance, says an effort he supported--complete with an online petition--"shamed" GAC representatives "into thinking about the free expression consequences" of a governmental veto.
"When I started this campaign, I knew that the Department of Commerce could never defend what they were doing publicly," Mueller said. "There are also potential constitutional issues."
Complicating the Obama administration's embrace of a governmental veto was its frequently expressed support for Internet freedoms including free speech, laid out in Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's speech last January. Clinton reiterated the administration's commitment to "the freedom to connect" again in a speech in Washington, D.C. this month.
One argument for the veto over new-top level domains is that it could fend off the possibility of a more fragmented Internet, which would likely happen if less liberal governments adopt technical measures to prevent their citizens from connecting to .gay and .xxx Web sites. In addition, handing governments more influence inside ICANN could reduce the odds of a revolt that would vest more Internet authority with the United Nations, a proposal that China allies supported last year.
"I suspect that the U.S. government put (the veto power) in there to show that it wants to respect the wishes of governments," said Steve DelBianco, executive director of the NetChoice coalition. "I think the U.S. would prefer to see a string rejected rather than let it get into the root and have multiple nations block the top-level domain."
DelBianco, whose coalition's members include AOL, eBay, Oracle, VeriSign, and Yahoo, said "blocking creates stability and consistency problems with the Internet...The U.S. government was showing a preference for having one global root."
Today's meeting in Brussels between the ICANN board and national government, which appears to be unprecedented in the history of the organization, signals a deepening rift and an attempt to resolve disputes before ICANN's next public meeting beginning March 13 in San Francisco. (The language of the official announcement says the goal is "arrive at an agreed upon resolution of those differences.")
A seven-page statement (PDF) in December 2010 from the national governments participating in the ICANN process says they are "very concerned" that "public policy issues raised remain unresolved." In addition to concern over the review of "sensitive" top-level domains, the statement says, there are also issues about "use and protection of geographical names."
That statement followed years of escalating tensions between ICANN and representatives of national governments, including a letter (PDF) they sent in August 2010 suggesting that "the absence of any controversial [suffixes] in the current universe of top-level domains to date contributes directly to the security and stability of the domain name and addressing system." And the German government recently told (PDF) ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom that there are "outstanding issues"--involving protecting trademark holders--that must be resolved before introducing "new top-level domains."

from: www.cnet.com

Busting wireless bottlenecks with Wi-Fi

Last month at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, I sat in press conference after press conference wanting to pull my hair out in utter frustration, because even though I had 100 percent signal strength on my wireless air card, I could barely load a Web page.
My 3G Sprint air card, which under normal circumstances provides me with a very reliable, stable, and usable Internet connection, slowed to a crawl when I needed it the most. I've had similar experiences at other venues using other wireless networks. At the U.S. Open in New York City this summer, I could barely make a phone call on my AT&T iPhone. And sending or receiving e-mails on my iPhone was unthinkable at peak times of the day during the tournament. Last spring, while attending a Pearl Jam concert in Madison Square Garden, I was also unable to post pictures to Facebook via a Verizon Wireless Motorola Droid.

The reason? In each instance, the network was simply overloaded. At CES, my fellow bloggers and journalists were trying to file their stories at the same time I was. And at the U.S. Open and Pearl Jam concert, thousands of other fans were also making phone calls, uploading pictures, sending and receiving e-mail, downloading apps, and surfing the Web.
The crush of users in one concentrated area, who were all trying to use the network at the same time, was too much for the network to handle. As a result, these networks became practically unusable.
With the proliferation of smartphones and other wirelessly connected devices like tablets, wireless consumers are always connected to the Internet. And in highly trafficked areas like arenas, conferences, train stations, and shopping malls, carrier networks are being stretched to their limits. Wireless operators are deploying new 4G networks using a technology called LTE to help handle the heavy traffic loads, but 4G alone won't be enough. Carriers are also turning to Wi-Fi to offload some of this traffic and prevent network bottlenecks.
"The fact that carriers are moving aggressively toward 4G doesn't negate the need for Wi-Fi and vice versa," said Niv Hanigal, senior director of product management for Ruckus Wireless, a company that provides Wi-Fi equipment for carrier-grade Wi-Fi networks. "Wi-Fi is the most cost-effective way to deal with some of their biggest pain points in high density areas, regardless of whether they're deploying 4G or not."
A deluge of data
Wireless carriers are expected to see mobile data traffic increase 26 times between 2010 and 2015, according to Cisco Systems' latest Visual Networking Index Forecast. By 2015, Cisco says, mobile data traffic will grow to 6.3 exabytes of data, or about 1 billion gigabytes of data per month. The data traffic surge is likely to hit carriers hardest in densely populated areas or places where large groups of people congregate.
Why? The answer is simple. Wireless bandwidth is shared across all users in the same cell site. The more people in a given area trying to access the network, the less capacity is available for everyone in that cell site. That means when I was at CES or at the U.S. Open, I was competing for a limited amount of bandwidth with the hundreds or thousands of other people also trying to access to same resources in that same wireless cell site.
Carriers have two immediate options for creating more capacity in high-usage areas. First, they could create smaller cell sites using their licensed spectrum. Second, they can offload some of their most bandwidth intensive traffic onto a higher capacity, less expensive network.
Wireless carriers are creating smaller cell sites where they can, but setting up new cellular towers can be expensive. Wi-Fi is likely their best answer for combating a tidal wave of data traffic heading their way. And here's why. For one, Wi-Fi access points are small and can be mounted almost anywhere. Second, because Wi-Fi is so inexpensive, the technology has found its way into almost every consumer electronic product on the market from TVs to laptops to smartphones. In fact, almost every smartphone that is being introduced to the market today has Wi-Fi embedded. This is important because it means there is already a market full of Wi-Fi enabled smartphones in the market that can be offloaded to Wi-Fi when necessary.
And third, advancements in Wi-Fi technology during the past five years have helped make it a more affordable option for building metro-scale networks. The latest version of the technology known as 802.11n can travel over much greater distances than previous versions of Wi-Fi. This means that carriers can create Wi-Fi networks that span several city blocks with a single access point. What's more, these access points can also be meshed together to create Wi-Fi "hot zones" that extend networks even further.
The so-called 802.11n Wi-Fi standard also offers much more capacity than older versions of Wi-Fi. For example, previous versions of Wi-Fi known as 802.11 a, b, or g could provide a maximum of 54Mbps in a given hot spot. 802.11n Wi-Fi offers up to 300Mbps per hot spot, Hanigal said.
"Wi-Fi isn't the end all be all for wireless operators," said Jeff Thompson, CEO of Towerstream, which plans to build citywide Wi-Fi hot zones. "It's not going to give carriers 100 percent coverage for their networks, but it can provide a large data oasis where high demand users can be offloaded to alleviate congestion."
Wi-Fi hot zones to the rescue
Wireless operators have already begun to turn to Wi-Fi to help alleviate congestion on their networks. In the U.S., AT&T has been the most aggressive in its use of Wi-Fi. It owns about 20,000 Wi-Fi hot spots across the country in retail locations, such as Starbucks. It allows its wireless subscribers to use the network for free. The carrier hopes the free access will encourage smartphone and laptop users to log onto a hot spot when it's available rather than use the 3G wireless network.
AT&T has even experimented with Wi-Fi hot zones. In May, the company launched a Wi-Fi network in Times Square that was available for AT&T wireless data customers. But today, AT&T's use of Wi-Fi is a manual process for consumers. Customers have to log into the Wi-Fi network and key in a password to be authenticated onto the network. While some Wi-Fi savvy consumers may seek out hot spots, many will not bother.
China Mobile's CEO Wang Jianzhou said this is one of the biggest hurdles that carriers face when it comes to using Wi-Fi to offload mobile traffic.
"Authenticating users on operator hot spots is inconvenient," he said during a speech at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last week. "Easy Wi-Fi authentication is essential. "
China Mobile is one of the first wireless operators in the world that will use Wi-Fi in a major way to help offload traffic. Wang said during his speech that China Mobile hopes to deploy 1 million mobile hot spots throughout China in the next three years.
"Operators cannot cope no matter how much they try to expand capacity with 2G and 3G networks," he said. "Extending Wi-Fi coverage has proved to be a very important supplement to cellular networks. It can effectively alleviate data traffic [congestion]."
Hanigal of Ruckus Wireless, which is providing the Wi-Fi gear that China Mobile is using to build its network, said wireless operators throughout Asia and Europe see the value in building their own Wi-Fi networks in dense areas to offload traffic. But these Wi-Fi networks are not your typical hot spots. They are built and controlled by the carriers, and more importantly they are tied into the carrier's current wireless network. This will allow users to seamlessly roam on and off the Wi-Fi networks without even realizing that they are on a Wi-Fi network.
The idea is that the device will be able to pick the best available network, whether that is a 3G or 4G cellular network or a Wi-Fi network.
"Carriers aren't just building more hot spots that they can control themselves," he said. "This is about tying Wi-Fi into the existing wireless networks for billing and authentication. So that when you enter a Wi-Fi hot spot you're authenticated by the carrier. And the carrier knows that it's you and knows which service plan you have subscribed to."
While China Mobile is building its own Wi-Fi network, in the U.S., Hanigal believes that wireless operators may work with third-party Wi-Fi wholesalers. For example, Towerstream, which has built a business providing wireless data services to large businesses via wireless technology, is starting to build Wi-Fi hot zones in major cities. Using Ruckus equipment, the company built a pilot network in New York City that it has been testing for several months.
Towerstream has built the network so that carriers can seamlessly offload cellular traffic to their Wi-Fi network in high traffic areas, such as Times Square or Grand Central Terminal in New York City. Technology already exists today that will make the hand off between the cellular network and the Wi-Fi network seamless. SmithMicro Software, which already provides mobile VPN solutions for all four major wireless carriers, has developed products that will allow carriers to authenticate and keep track of wireless users as they wander on and off these Wi-Fi networks.
Lee Daniels, senior director of product marketing for SmithMicro, said the real challenge for carriers is tracking customers as they move from their own controlled licensed spectrum environment to the Wild West of the unlicensed Wi-Fi networks.
"Having policy controls becomes very important for the carriers," he said. "They need to have the tools to know when a customer should jump on a Wi-Fi network and when they shouldn't."
Upgrading smartphones to use these offload networks shouldn't be a problem either, Daniels said. Unlike new 4G services that require new chipsets in each device, existing Wi-Fi-enabled smartphones can take advantage of seamless authentication with a simple software upgrade.
Towerstream expects to have its Wi-Fi hot zone network open for business this summer. And the company has plans to offer the service in other major cities as well. Hanigal of Ruckus believes that U.S. carriers will start making more aggressive moves to us Wi-Fi to offload traffic over the next 12 to 18 months. But he said the speed with which they use Wi-Fi hot zones will depend on how painful things get on their 3G networks.
"It will be interesting to see what the iPhone does to Verizon Wireless's network," Hanigal said. "If their 3G network suffers as AT&T's has, then they might turn to Wi-Fi offload more aggressively."

From: www.cnet.com

Apple CEO succession disclosure nixed by shareholders

CUPERTINO, Calif.--Apple shareholders voted today against a proposal that would have required the company to disclose its succession plan for senior management.
The proposal was one of two by shareholders aimed at adding transparency and a new voting standard to what is considered one of the most secretive technology companies. In its proxy materials ahead of the meeting, Apple's board had urged shareholders to vote against both proposals.

As expected, Jobs was not present during the meeting. In his place was Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook, who has filled in for Jobs since January when Jobs, a pancreatic cancer survivor who has received a liver transplant, announced his latest medical leave.
A group of shareholders had asked the company to reveal its plans for replacing Jobs, a request Apple had rallied against, saying such a revelation would give competitors an "unfair advantage" by publicizing the company's confidential objectives and plans. Nonetheless, earlier in the month Institutional Shareholder Services endorsed the proposal, which was originally put forward by the Central Laborers' Pension Fund, a holder of about 11,500 shares of Apple stock.
The second proposal, which concerned majority voting of board members, passed, giving share owners the power to cast Nay votes against unopposed directors. Apple said its objection to the measure was based on differences in majority voting requirements by state, which, the company said, could add a "layer of complexity" to implementation.
During the question and answer session that followed, Cook was joined on stage by Phil Schiller, senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, and Peter Oppenheimer, senior vice president and CFO. Cook talked up Apple's services over the past year, including its opening of 44 new retail stores and shipping of 40 million iPhones, doubling unit sales from the previous year. Cook also said the company had made great advances in China, tripling revenue there since last year.

Pixelated motif on signage at Apple's Cupertino, Calif., campus.

(Credit: Josh Lowensohn/CNET)

Cook paid special attention to iOS, including the iPhone and iPad, saying that the OS continued to be "years ahead" of competitors' platforms. Cook also brought up next week's press event, saying that the invitation had provided some clues about what Apple planned to announce. Even so, audience members peppered the company about its strategic plans for iOS, including things like whether it would ever allow plug-ins, or how Apple could avoid the sort of hardware-specific software distribution limitations it experienced during the Mac versus PC era in the early '90s, which went Microsoft's way.
Schiller responded by saying that that had been "a different time," and that the iPhone was a "post-PC" product. Apple's senior vice president of iOS Software, Scott Forstall, jumped in on the third-party plug-ins question, saying that plug-ins had been kept off the platform for stability and security, citing some of the difficulties in moving from Mac OS 7 to 8 as being a leading factor in that decision.
One audience member also brought up the conditions for workers at overseas factories where Apple products were produced, as well as asking if Cook, Schiller, or Oppenheimer had seen the play "The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs," playing about an hour away from Apple's campus, at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre. All three said they hadn't, with Schiller seeming visibly frustrated by the question.
Cook followed by offering details about Apple's considerable efforts to go through its supply chain to find problems that could be fixed, as well as noting that the company had helped reimburse close to $300 million in fees paid by workers. "I am really proud of the changes we've forced," Cook said.
Also of special interest was a question about whether Apple would ever offer a way for consumers to ditch their television sets to watch streaming TV shows on their computers instead. Schiller answered by saying that Apple was always adding "new types" of media. Even so, he said, counting out the TV at this point for live events would be a rash decision.
And speaking of entertainment devices, Cook fielded a question about whether Apple had plans to get more serious about gaming, particularly with a dedicated device, by saying that the company was already in the gaming business with the iPod Touch, and had great success with a large library of games on the App Store. "There's a segment who are using it as a primary gaming device," he said. "We think that's a good place to be, where we are right now."
One audience member also questioned what Apple was up to with its license of Liquidmetal, a query Cook politely shot down, saying the company does not discuss what it does with its investments short of saying that such investments were often for personnel, infrastructure, and intellectual property.
Correction, 1:18 p.m. PT: This story initially misstated the nature of one of the shareholder votes. Apple shareholders at the meeting today voted against requiring the company to make public its plans for CEO succession.

from: www.cnet.com 

iPad 2 delayed until June?

The iPad 2 may be delayed until June due to production issues. At least, that's what one Taiwanese brokerage firm is claiming, according to Reuters.
In a research note released today, Yuanta Securities analyst Vincent Chen said that manufacturer Hon Hai has run into issues with the production process in light of the tablet's new design and is working on a fix.
"Our checks suggest new issues are being encountered with the new production process and it is taking time to resolve them," Chen said in the note, according to Reuters.
However, several retailers have already been running low on the current iPad, with a few vendors out of stock completely on certain models, according to the 9to5Mac enthusiast site. Such short supply is typically seen as a sign of an impending new release from Apple.
Ironically, the current iPad was the target of similar rumors almost a year ago when an analyst with Canaccord Adams claimed that production problems would push out the tablet's debut by a month to late April. At the time, Apple was saying it would launch the iPad to consumers in late March and missed that timeframe only by nose, releasing the device in the U.S. on April 3. The global debut of the tablet was delayed by a month as a result of higher-than-expected demand in the U.S.
Though Apple has yet to reveal what customers can expect from an iPad 2, several reports assert the new tablet will offer a faster processor, thinner case, and built-in cameras both on the front and back, among other features. A few initial reports also claimed the iPad 2 would feature a higher-resolution Retina display, but some analysts now say the tablet will likely offer the same resolution as the current model.

from: www.cnet.com

New photos of the monster of loch ness.

Loch Ness Monster move over, England's version of the notorious mystery -- dubbed "Bownessie" by locals -- is hogging the spotlight after a kayaker's recent cell phone photo of something strange in Lake Windermere has been spreading fast around the web.
According to The Telegraph, the photo -- which shows multiple humps rising above the surface of the lake -- is said to be the best evidence to date of Bownessie, and reminiscent of similar photos that some have alleged were of the Loch Ness Monster.
According to CNET, 24-year-old Tom Pickles snapped the pic. "Each hump was moving in a rippling motion, and it was swimming fast," Pickles said of the Loch Ness Monster-like creature. "Its skin was like a seal's but its shape was completely abnormal--it's not like any animal I've ever seen before."
Naturally, the picture is stirring plenty of controversy, as the grainy image makes confirming any of the contents relatively impossible -- but peoples' curiosity certainly has been enticed as the Loch Ness Monster legend rages once more.

FBI: We're not demanding encryption back doors

The FBI said today that it's not calling for restrictions on encryption without back doors for law enforcement.
FBI general counsel Valerie Caproni told a congressional committee that the bureau's push for expanded Internet wiretapping authority doesn't mean giving law enforcement a master key to encrypted communications, an apparent retreat from her position last fall.
"No one's suggesting that Congress should re-enter the encryption battles of the late 1990s," Caproni said. There's no need to "talk about encryption keys, escrowed keys, and the like--that's not what this is all about."
Instead, she said, discussions should focus on requiring that communication providers and Web sites have legally mandated procedures to divulge unencrypted data in their possession.
As CNET was the first to report yesterday, the FBI says that because of the rise of Web-based e-mail and social networks, it's "increasingly unable" to conduct certain types of surveillance that would be possible on cellular and traditional telephones. Any solution, it says, should include a way for police armed with wiretap orders to conduct surveillance of "Web-based e-mail, social-networking sites, and peer-to-peer communications technology."
Caproni tried to distance the FBI from its stance a decade ago, when it was in the forefront of trying to ban secure encryption products that are, in theory, unbreakable by police or intelligence agencies.
"We are very concerned, as this committee is, about the encryption situation, particularly as it relates to fighting crime and fighting terrorism," then FBI director Louis Freeh told the Senate Judiciary committee in September 1998. "Not just bin Laden, but many other people who work against us in the area of terrorism, are becoming sophisticated enough to equip themselves with encryption devices."
In response to lobbying from the FBI, a House committee in 1997 approved a bill that would have banned the manufacture, distribution, or import of any encryption product that did not include a back door for the federal government. The full House never voted on that measure. (See related transcript.)
Even after today's hearing ended, it wasn't immediately clear whether the members of the House Judiciary crime subcommittee would seek to expand wiretapping laws as a result.
Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., said that the panel's members received a secret briefing last week from the FBI, but that the bureau should make its arguments in public. "It is critical that we discuss this issue in as public a matter as possible," he said. It's "ironic to tell the American people that their privacy rights may be jeopardized because of discussions held in secret."
Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., said "to me this is a question of building back doors into systems...I believe that legislatively forcing telecommunications providers into building back doors into systems will actually make us less safe and less secure."
That was echoed by Susan Landau, a computer scientist at Harvard University's Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, who said "there aren't concrete suggestions on the table...I don't quite understand what the FBI is pushing for."
Caproni said her appearance before the panel was designed to highlight the problems, not call for specific legislation. But, she added, "it's something that's being actively discussed in the administration."
Under a 1994 federal law called the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, or CALEA, telecommunications carriers are required to build in back doors into their networks to assist police with authorized interception of conversations and "call-identifying information."
As CNET was the first to report in 2003, representatives of the FBI's Electronic Surveillance Technology Section in Chantilly, Va., began quietly lobbying the FCC to force broadband providers to provide more-efficient, standardized surveillance facilities. The Federal Communications Commission approved that requirement a year later, sweeping in Internet phone companies that tie into the existing telecommunications system. It was upheld in 2006 by a federal appeals court.
But the FCC never granted the FBI's request to rewrite CALEA to cover instant messaging and VoIP programs that are not "managed"--meaning peer-to-peer programs like Apple's Facetime, iChat/AIM, Gmail's video chat, and Xbox Live's in-game chat that do not use the public telephone network.
Also not covered by CALEA are e-mail services or social-networking sites, although they must comply with a wiretap order like any other business or face criminal charges. The difference is that those companies don't have to engineer their systems in advance to make them easily wiretappable.

From cnet.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-20032910-281.html?tag=topStories3

Bahrain, Libya and Yemen try to crush protests with violence

Violence in Libya and Bahrain has claimed scores of lives and left many more injured as the two Arab countries were united by popular protests that continue to shake the status quo and sound alarm bells across the region and the world.
A week after Egypt's president, Hosni Mubarak, was forced to stand down, dozens of Libyans were reported killed by Muammar Gaddafi's security forces. Meanwhile, Bahraini troops shot dead at least one protester and wounded 50 others after mourners buried four people who were killed on Thursday in the worst mass unrest the western-backed Gulf state has ever seen.
"We don't care if they kill 5,000 of us," a protester screamed inside Salmaniya hospital, which has become a staging point for Bahrain's raging youth. "The regime must fall and we will make sure it does."
Last night footage was posted on YouTube apparently showing Bahraini security forces shooting protesters.
Western nations have been struggling to adjust their policies in response to the security crackdowns in Arab countries.
But Britain announced that it was revoking 44 licences for the export of arms to Bahrain amid concern over the violent suppression of protests in the Gulf state. The Foreign Office also said that eight arms export licences to Libya had been withdrawn, while a review of arms exports to the wider region continues.
Bahrain's crown prince Sheikh Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa went on television to promise a national dialogue once calm has returned. But the country's most senior Shia cleric, Sheikh Issa Qassem, condemned attacks on protesters as a "massacre" and said the government had shut the door to such dialogue.
While the unrest in Bahrain was broadcast instantly around the world, the unprecedented bloodshed in the remote towns of eastern Libya was far harder for global media to cover.
Amid an official news blackout in Libya, there were opposition claims of 60 dead as diplomats reported the use of heavy weapons in Benghazi, the country's second city, and "a rapidly deteriorating situation" in the latest – and the most repressive – Arab country to be hit by serious unrest.
Libyans said a "massacre" had been perpetrated in Benghazi, al-Bayda and elsewhere in the region. Crowds in the port city of Tobruk were shown destroying a statue of Gaddafi's Green Book and chanting, "We want the regime to fall," echoing the slogan of the uprising in Egypt.
Umm Muhammad, a political activist in Benghazi, told the Guardian that 38 people had died in the city. "They [security forces] were using live fire here, not just teargas. This is a bloody massacre – in Benghazi, in al-Bayda, all over Libya. They are releasing prisoners from the jails to attack the demonstrators." Benghazi's al-Jala hospital was appealing for emergency blood supplies to help treat the injured.
News and rumours spread rapidly via social media websites including Twitter and Facebook, but information remained fragmentary and difficult to confirm.
In Yemen at least five people were reported killed when security forces and anti-government protesters clashed for a seventh consecutive day in the capital, Sana'a, Aden and other cities, with crowds demanding an end to President Ali Abdullah Saleh's 32-year rule.
Barack Obama said he was "deeply concerned" about the reports of violence from Bahrain, a close ally and the base of the US fifth fleet, as well as those from Libya and Yemen, and he urged their rulers to show restraint with protesters.
Navi Pillay, the UN high commissioner for human rights, also condemned the killings of protesters in Algeria, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Libya and Yemen. "The Middle East and North Africa region is boiling with anger," he said. "At the root of this anger is decades of neglect of people's aspirations to realise not only civil and political rights, but also economic, social and cultural rights."
In Cairo's Tahrir Square, the influential Egyptian cleric Sheikh Yusef al-Qaradawi said the Arab world had changed and said Egypt's new military leaders should listen to their people "to liberate  us from the government that Mubarak formed".
It has also emerged that the Ministry of Defence has helped train more than 100 Bahraini army officers in the past five years at Sandhurst and other top UK colleges.

Give your opinion in a comment.

Oh no!

I just dropped my iPhone 4 and now it has a crack at the front side! I hope T-Mobile can fix it for me for free. If someone has any tips for me please comment.

iPhone app of the week.

Among the news items this week from the world of Apple, the folks over at AppleInsider uncovered a rumor that Apple may be having a launch event next week for a new line of MacBook Pros. According to the story, this would put the launch event a week ahead of schedule.
As usual, Apple remains tight-lipped about what features will be unveiled in the new laptops, but the one sure thing is that it will include Intel's latest generation Sandy Bridge processor.
Whatever is introduced next week (if the rumor turns out to be true), you can bet we'll have all the details here. Make sure to check back on launch day for photos, specs, and everything else about Apple's latest devices.
This week's apps include an image enhancement tool that produces cool-looking shots and an RTS game that closely resembles one of the most popular strategy games of all time.

Each step of the process lets you tinker with various controls to fine-tune your photo.

(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Parker/CNET)

TiltShift Generator (99 cents) is not a new product, but I just discovered it and think people will appreciate its unique photo effects. TiltShift images combine blur and other depth-of-field effects to make objects in your photos seem miniature (here's a quick Google image search to give you an idea what I'm talking about). To get the miniature effect, you'll ideally take photos from some distance, but even close-up shots can be put through TiltShift Generator with good-looking results.
TiltShift Generator does a great job of taking you through the process of creating tilt-shift images. The app automatically adds the tilt-shift effect, but you can also go through the process yourself. You start either by taking a photo with your iPhone camera or choosing an existing image from your library. From there you can adjust the blurred effect; change color saturation, brightness, and contrast with sliders; and then adjust vignetting (corner shadowing). What results is a unique image that's very impressive, even if you have little knowledge of photography.
Overall, TiltShift Generator is an easy-to-use app that produces great-looking images with little work. If you enjoy looking at tilt-shift images and want to try making some of your own, this app is a great option.

Once you've built your fighting force, it's time to take it into battle.

(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Parker/CNET)

StarFront: Collision (Free; $6.99 in-app purchase) from Gameloft is a pretty clear rip-off of Blizzard's mega-hit RTS game, Starcraft. With that said, StarFront is a very well-made game and is probably the best RTS game available for the iPhone.
Just like Starcraft, StarFront has three classes, each with its own strategies and tech trees, and each closely resembling the Starcraft classes. It offers a single-player campaign mode that slowly introduces you to the ins and outs of RTS gameplay, just like Starcraft. You'll need to mine resources, build buildings, build units, upgrade your buildings, and upgrade your units, just like in Starcraft. But even with all its similarities, StarFront: Collision does all of these things well, all the way down to the quirky things units say when you interact with them. The storyline is well thought out and engaging, the graphics are crisp on the iPhone 4's Retina Display, and the controls are extremely smart for a touch-screen device.
As an example of the smart controls, you can create and save groups of units so you can later call on an entire squad to perform an action. You do this by using a two-finger reverse pinch to create a selection square around the units, then touch the arrow on the left side of the screen to pull out a squad selection drawer. Choose a number from 1 to 3, and that number will be assigned to the squad. Though limiting your squads to three might be an issue for some players, StarFront's unique system for creating groups is very intuitive on the touch screen.
StarFront: Collision is free to download from the App Store, and includes the tutorial and the ability to play through the first mission to get a feel for the game. An in-app purchase of $6.99 unlocks local and online multiplayer and the full campaign and skirmish modes. The online multiplayer was smooth in our testing, with quick online matchups and no loss of connection during games. There was only one point at which the game notified me I needed to wait for the other player, but after a couple of seconds we were back to the action.
Probably my only complaint about StarFront: Collision is the same as other involved games on the iPhone: how long does someone really want to play a game on the iPhone? Eventually, the need for your constant focus and concentration on the small screen will get exhausting, but in every other area, this game is pretty close to what Starcraft on the iPhone would be if it were made by Blizzard.
Overall, I consider StarFront: Collision a must-download for RTS fans, with 20 missions, endless replay value on seven maps in skirmish mode, along with local and online multiplayer. Furthermore, if Gameloft decides to release an HD version for the iPad or make the app universal, the larger screen real estate will make the game even more enjoyable.

What's your favorite iPhone app? Do you like the results you get from TiltShift Generator? What do you think of StarFront: Collision? Let me know in the comments!

from www.cnet.com

What’s in a name?

What’s in a name?  Well in the case of an HFS volume name on iOS, an untether exploit — as the Chronic Dev Team revealed last week with an untether for the 4.2.1 jailbreak, which had previously been a tethered JB for most recent devices since 4.2.1’s release in November.  With their permission, we’ve incorporated their 4.2.1 “feedface” untether into today’s PwnageTool 4.2.  This means iPhone unlockers can safely restore to a custom 4.2.1 pre-jailbroken IPSW and retain their current baseband and unlock.  PwnageTool also supports all the other 4.2.1 devices other than iPod touch 2G:

• iPhone3G
• iPhone3GS
• iPhone4
• iPhone4-Verizon
• iPod touch 3G
• iPod touch 4G
• iPad
• AppleTV 2G

PwnageTool also includes two very recent improvements to the 4.2.1 JB:  iBooks was just fixed by @comex and @pushfix last night so that it works as intended on DRMed books, and the wifi problem on AppleTV 2G was fixed by @nitotv, @DHowett, and @saurik.  Both of these fixes will also be available in upcoming Cydia package updates, so if you’re already jailbroken you can wait for those updates rather than restore and jailbreak again.
The various components to the 4.2.1 untether (including a second exploit involving Mach-o headers) were worked out by 0naj, posixninja, and pod2g, and a nice writeup by 0naj is available on the wiki. The actual injection method uses geohot’s limerain exploit for most devices.  And even though 4.3 is just around the corner, the exploit used has already been closed in the latest 4.3 betas, so it made sense for the 4.2.1 untether to be released when it was.  It also appears that a security researcher named @i0n1c has a 4.3 untether ready for when Apple releases the final 4.3 FW, so it may not be a long wait at all with 4.3!
Feel free to ask for help in our comments section.  And thanks as always to our terrific moderators Confucious, sherif_hashim, dhlizard, Frank55, and subarurider!
Official Bittorent Releases
PwnageTool_4.2.dmg -> PwnageTool_4.2.dmg.6176918.TPB.torrent
SHA1 Sum = af365f5de19d7ee19cbe1c67b2f226996a46b3ac
Unofficial Mirrors
The following links are unofficial download mirrors, you download these archives at your own risk, we accept no responsibility if your computer explodes or if it becomes part of a NASA attacking botnet or even worse if your hands fall off mid-way during the use of these files. We do not check these links and we accept no responsibility with regard to the validity of the files, the other content that these links may provide or with the content that is on the third-party linked site.
Always check the files that you have downloaded against our published SHA1 hash.
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Arctic Monkeys Albums

Since Yesterday I have all Arctic Monkeys albums. There are 3 albums of Arctic Monkeys. Their first one is Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not (2006), their second one Favourite Worst Nightmare (2007) and their newest one Hamburg (2009). They are in FLAC format! Let me tell you how I think about the albums.


Arctic Monkey
Arctic Monkeys formed in 2002 in Sheffield, UK. Currently Alex Turner does the vocals, guitar and piano, Jamie Cook is the lead guitar player, Nick O’Malley is the bassist of the band and Matt Helders does the drums. Alex, Jamie and Matt are in the band since the beginning in 2002. Nick joined the band when Andy Nicholson left the band in 2006 due to fatigue from an intensive period of touring. He also said he couldn’t deal with the band’s fame and the success. Glyn Jones was also a former member like Andy. Glyn was only active in 2002, he was guitarist and did the lead vocals. At tours they also have backup from John Ashton on the keyboard and guitar. Well, enough about the band! Let’s talk about their albums!

Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not (2006)
Let me start with their first album, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not. Arctic Monkeys recorded this album in 2005. They released it 23 January 2006. The name of the album is a line from the film Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. The album cover is a photo of Chris McClure. Chris is a friend of the band. The cover caused some controversy when the head of Scotland’s NHS criticized the cover for “reinforcing the idea that smoking is OK“.

Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not Cover

You probably know the singles from this album. “I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor” and “When the Sun Goes Down“. The album had 13 tracks, here are all the tracks.

No.	Title	Length
1.	“The View from the Afternoon”	3:38
2.	“I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor”	2:53
3.	“Fake Tales of San Francisco”	2:57
4.	“Dancing Shoes”	2:21
5.	“You Probably Couldn’t See for the Lights but You Were Staring Straight at Me”	2:10
6.	“Still Take You Home”	2:53
7.	“Riot Van”	2:14
8.	“Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secured”	2:23
9.	“Mardy Bum”	2:55
10.	“Perhaps Vampires Is a Bit Strong But…”	4:28
11.	“When the Sun Goes Down”	3:20
12.	“From the Ritz to the Rubble”	3:13
13.	“A Certain Romance”	5:31

Now on to my favorite album!


Favourite Worst Nightmare (2007)
This album is my favorite album of Arctic Monkeys. They recorded this album in 2006. It’s released 18 April 2007. This album never gets old. I still love all the tracks! The album title came from the third song on the album, “D is for Dangerous“. The band also considered to name the album “Lesbian Wednesdays, Gordon Brown or Gary Barlow“. The album got some very high review scores. The Guardian said “If you removed everything from the album except Matt Helders’ drumming, it would still be a pretty gripping listen“.

Favourite Worst Nightmare Cover

There are three singles from this album. You probably heard them on the radio or television once. “Brainstorm“, “Fluorescent Adolescent” (my favorite track) and “Teddy Picker“. There are 12 tracks on the album, here are all the tracks.

No.	Title	Length
1.	“Brianstorm”	2:50
2.	“Teddy Picker”	2:43
3.	“D Is for Dangerous”	2:16
4.	“Balaclava”	2:49
5.	“Fluorescent Adolescent”	2:57
6.	“Only Ones Who Know”	3:02
7.	“Do Me a Favour”	3:27
8.	“This House Is a Circus”	3:09
9.	“If You Were There, Beware”	4:34
10.	“The Bad Thing”	2:2
11.	“Old Yellow Bricks”	3:11
12.	“505″	4:13

Now on to their latest album!

Humbug (2009)
Humbug, the third album by Arctic Monkeys is recorded in 2008 and 2009. It’s released on 19 August 2009. Alex Turner revealed that the band had listened to Jimi Hendrix and Cream while writing the Humbug album. The songs on this album are a little bit slower than on the other albums. Joe Tangari of Pitchfork Media said “Humbug isn’t better than either of its predecessors, but it expands the group’s range and makes me curious where it might go next. It also demonstrates a great deal of staying power for a band that could have imploded before it ever got this far”.

Humbug Cover

There are 3 singles from this album. “Crying Lightning”, “Cornerstone” and “My Propeller”. This album has 10 tracks, here’s a list.

No.	Title	Length
1.	“My Propeller“	3:27
2.	“Crying Lightning“	3:43
3.	“Dangerous Animals”	3:30
4.	“Secret Door”	3:43
5.	“Potion Approaching”	3:32
6.	“Fire and the Thud”	3:57
7.	“Cornerstone“	3:17
8.	“Dance Little Liar”	4:43
9.	“Pretty Visitors”	3:40
10.	“The Jeweller’s Hands”	5:42

My favorite track on this album is Fire and Thud.
I hope you enjoyed the reading. Please come back!

Microsoft's ecosystem is a tough sell to Verizon

BARCELONA, Spain--Verizon Communications Chief Technology Officer Tony Melone would love to see a third player in the mobile OS market, but Microsoft's Windows Phone platform may not be it.

Melone said during an interview at the Mobile World Congress here, that it is important for the mobile industry to have more than two choices in major software platforms for mobile devices. But he is skeptical that Microsoft, which has seemingly had a slow start in the market with its Windows Phone 7 software, will have a chance to be that third horse.
That said, Verizon plans to offer its first Windows Phone 7 product this spring, Microsoft announced yesterday.
"I do want a strong third OS out there," Melone said. "It gives the carriers more flexibility and balances the interests of all the parties. But I still have doubts whether Microsoft will get the traction they are hoping for with Windows Phone 7."
Last week, Nokia and Microsoft announced a close strategic partnership, in which Nokia will focus new product development exclusively on Microsoft's Windows Phone platform in lieu of its own software. But Melone doesn't think the Microsoft-Nokia relationship will help Windows Phone 7 become a dominant force on Verizon's network, since Nokia is not a Verizon handset partner. Nokia got rid of its CDMA business years ago. (CDMA and EV-DO are the technologies that Verizon uses for its voice and 3G data service.) Melone said even if Nokia starts building CDMA devices again, it would be very difficult for Nokia or any new handset player to break into its product line anytime soon.
"If you look at our device pipeline for 2011, we have very strong relationships with LG, Samsung, Motorola, HTC, and now Apple," he said. "So I think it would take a really compelling device from Nokia or any new vendor to break in. It doesn't mean that it can't happen, but it would have to be really good."
In a separate interview at MWC, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop indicated that Nokia may have already begun courting Verizon as part of its new strategy. Elop wouldn't elaborate on any plans to build CDMA phones for Verizon or other carriers, but he noted that he had spoken to Verizon executives the night before the deal with Microsoft was announced last week.
The bottom line, Melone said, is that Verizon has what it needs from its current partners.
"I don't think Verizon needs the Nokia and Microsoft relationship," he said. "Right now the three OS players we see for our network are Android, Apple, and RIM. "
Research In Motion, the maker of the BlackBerry, has seen growth slip the past few quarters. It dropped some worldwide market share in the smartphone market in 2010, according to IDC. In 2010, Nokia, which is still the No. 1 smartphone provider in the world, saw its annual market share fall to 33.1 percent, from 39 percent in 2009, while RIM's share dropped to 16.1 percent from almost 20 percent. Meanwhile, third-place Apple saw its market share rise to 15.7 percent from 14.5 percent.
"People are still buying BlackBerrys on Verizon's network," Melone said. "And I do consider RIM a strong third player. I know the momentum is not in their favor right now. But they have been strong in the past and there is potential for them to rebound. So I wouldn't discount them."
Melone also noted that WebOS from Palm, which is now owned by Hewlett-Packard, is a potential wild card in the OS wars.
"If HP decides to license WebOS that could also become a third or fourth player that is used by OEMs," he said. "I'm more optimistic with WebOS developing into a strong player, just based on the strength of the OS. It has some very unique and good characteristics."
Nokia's Elop acknowledged that RIM is a worthy competitor, but he said that the Nokia/Microsoft relationship offers carriers and consumers a more comprehensive offering. He said that RIM is in the same position that Nokia was in before it partnered with Microsoft. It has the hardware, but doesn't have an ecosystem built around it.
"They are selling a lot of phones, and there are some innovative designs," Elop said in an interview. "But I really believe that this is an ecosystem game. We can offer the consumer both innovative hardware and an OS with a good user experience, and an advertising platform with location services, and the list goes on and on."
Microsoft also believes it has a lot to offer carriers.
"Of course wireless operators want more alternatives that will [help] them to add value," CEO Steve Ballmer said yesterday during his keynote speech at MWC. "And Windows Phone will be the most operator-friendly OS on the market."
But Verizon and Microsoft have not had the best relationship in the past. Microsoft's Kin phone, which was introduced on Verizon's network last year and quickly removed a few months later, left a bitter taste in Verizon's mouth. And in an interview with CNET in the fall, COO Lowell McAdam did not seem thrilled to offer future Microsoft products He said that Microsoft was not at the "forefront of our mind."
Greg Sullivan, a senior product manager for Microsoft, said that he couldn't speak specifically to Verizon's hesitation regarding the Microsoft platform, but he said he was looking forward to changing the carrier's perception.
"We want to change that opinion," he said, "There are things we hope to do in terms of responsiveness to get more developer support. And we want to enable mobile operators to do things that bolster their brands and create more opportunities for them."
Verizon has worked closely with Google and handset makers Motorola, Samsung, and HTC to introduce products to compete against the Apple iPhone, which until this month had been exclusively available for the AT&T network. And the strategy was a huge success helping Verizon add millions of new smartphone customers. But it's clear that Verizon doesn't want to become too dependent on Google.
"We have good and deep strong relationships with Google and Apple," Melone said. "But it's good to have balance in these relationships. As a carrier we want to make sure there is flexibility. We don't want to be viewed as a dumb pipe. And it's good to have choices for us and our customers."Mic

HTC buddies up with Facebook for two social-networking phones

The rumors of a Facebook phone have been floating around for a while, but it was only recently that HTC's name came into the mix and, even then, Facebook once again denied the existence of any such product. Well, turns out the company wasn't being completely honest.
Today at Mobile World Congress, HTC unveiled two new smartphones that will feature dedicated Facebook buttons for easy access to the popular social-networking site. The HTC ChaCha and the HTC Salsa (yes, those are the names) each have a Facebook button on the bottom, which when pressed will let you update your status, upload photos, check into places, share news articles, and more.
In addition, the button is context-aware so it will pulse lightly if the phone thinks there's an opportunity to share something on Facebook. For example, if you take a photo, the button will light up as a gentle reminder that you can upload and share that image with your Facebook friends.
Another example given by HTC is if you're using the music application and want to let the world know what you're listening to, you can simply press the button and the phone will automatically identify what song you're listening to and share it on Facebook.

HTC Salsa

The ChaCha and Salsa are truly for the Facebook diehard, as the service is integrated into all parts of the phone. When a call comes in from a contact, his or her status update will be displayed on screen, and there will be new Facebook-branded widgets to plaster all over your home screens.
As for the devices themselves, the HTC ChaCha features a full QWERTY keyboard and a 2.6-inch, 480x320-pixel-resolution touch screen, while the Salsa is an all-touch smartphone, with a 3.4-inch, 480x320-pixel-resolution display.
Both smartphones will run Android 2.4 (that's right, HTC's press release reads 2.4) and have back-facing 5-megapixel cameras and front-facing VGA cameras for video calls. Both handsets are expected to ship in major European and Asian markets in the second quarter of the year, but pricing and U.S. availability were not announced at this time.
So, like? Dislike?

Cancer Bats

I found this track on youtube.
Cancer Bats - Sabotage it's a nice band and also a nice track! :D
Worth listening

Skype calls out to carriers in weak 3G zones

Skype today launched a plan to bring its VoIP calling service to more smartphones and feature phones.
Its Mobile Partner Program targets mobile carriers operating in markets with weak 3G bandwidth. Skype is offering a partnership in which carriers preload the Skype communications app onto phones.
Partner carriers benefit from differentiating phones in their roster with a Skype app, and users win by getting free calls to other Skype users, and calls at lower rates to friends and family abroad.
Count on the apps we're likely to see as being functional for making calls, but rather limited in other regards. In Skype's own words, "The versions of Skype delivered through this program are optimised (sic.) for efficient bandwidth usage..." We expect the apps to be light and lean, rather than visually rich and dripping with features.
Skype's courting of carriers isn't new. In the U.S., a similar Skype Mobile app launched in 2010 for select Verizon smartphones.

Read more: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13970_7-20031855-78.html#ixzz1DyHlvpt1

Cat sneak attack

Just watch it. :D

Intel ships Sandy Bridge chipsets again, but should you buy one?

Intel's Sandy Bridge chipset headache took another turn today. Last week Intel announced that it was pulling all Cougar Point chipsets that support its new Sandy Bridge desktop and laptop CPU family due to a flaw in the chip controlling the Serial ATA II data inputs.
Citing high demand from its desktop- and laptop-selling customers, Intel announced today that while it works on remanufacturing the chipset it will resume shipping the older, flawed version, and pledged to work with system vendors to either eliminate or minimize customer exposure to the potential problem.
The flaw, said to affect 5 to 15 percent of all Cougar Point motherboards, results in a performance degradation for storage devices connected to the motherboard's SATA II data inputs. Devices that use those inputs are typically either hard drives or optical disk drives. If the inputs were affected, connected drives would eventually slow down to the point of becoming unusable.
To protect a PC from experiencing that issue, a system vendor could simply use the newer, faster SATA III inputs. Most Cougar Point desktop motherboards we've seen have four SATA II ports and two SATA IIIs. Laptop boards tend to have fewer inputs, but it's not hard to imagine that in a closed laptop or all-in-one chassis a vendor could simply use the SATA III inputs for the hard drive and the optical drive and ship without risk.
A tower desktop with an accessible interior presents a different problem. The workaround in that case, where a customer might indeed miss the extra drive inputs, involves substituting a SATA II-equipped PCI-Express expansion card for the onboard SATA II inputs, similar to how you might upgrade an integrated graphics chip with a discrete graphics card. Intel says it will ensure that desktop vendors ship any Sandy Bridge systems with the PCI Express card workaround. The vendors must also remove the onboard SATA II input headers. That way customers who make a post-purchase drive upgrade won't make the mistake of using the potentially affected ports.
That arrangement certainly helps the desktop vendors, which were counting on the Sandy Bridge momentum to bolster first-quarter sales. For customers, it depends on how much they mind sacrificing a PCIe slot for the promise of an immediate Sandy Bridge performance boost.
If you order a Sandy Bridge system now, many desktop vendors will offer free motherboard upgrades and bidirectional shipping to replace the flawed motherboard once the repaired board becomes available. Intel has said the replacement motherboards will start shipping by mid-February, and that it expects shipments and vendor qualification of the new boards will be completed industrywide by April.

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20030936-1.html#ixzz1DrPkVEgq