Windows XP was released 10 years ago, and it’s mainstream support has been ended. But you will amaze to know that Windows XP still on 49% PC’s. According to netmarketshare.com Windows XP is on 49.69% PC’s, Windows 7 is on 27.92% PC’s and Windows Vista is on 9.27% PC’s.

So, we can say that Windows XP was best Operating System from Microsoft because after 10 years of it’s release, it is installed on 49% PC’s. Windows XP is currently on Extended Support which will end on 8 April 2014. Microsoft is continuously recommending Windows XP users to upgrade to Windows 7.

After Windows XP Microsoft released Windows Vista and Windows 7. But unfortunately, Windows Vista was not successful. Windows Vista is currently on 9.27% PC’s. and the use of Windows Vista is continuously decreasing. Windows 7 was released in October 2009 and in just 22 months, Windows 7 is on more than 27% PC’s and it’s use is increasing very rapidly. On one hand Windows 7 use is increasing and on the other hand Windows XP and Windows Vista usage is decreasing. So, current situation clearly showing us that very soon Windows 7 will defeat Windows XP in usage.

Ubuntu has made the use of Linux very easy for a non-technical home users because, before ubuntu it was very difficult for a home user to operate linux for his daily tasks.For example installing a software was a real headache which has been fixed by ubuntu and it has got many useful application installed by default.So most of users won’t even need to install any other software, but even ubuntu has made the software installation very easy with ubuntu software center.

Ubuntu has launched a new version of ubuntu which is ubuntu 11.04.This new release has got some really nice new features and some security and performance updates.In this post i am gonna mention 5 new really interesting and nice features of Ubuntu 11.04.

1) Workspaces

This is not a new feature many of the other linux flavors and even ubuntu too has got multiple desktop to serve as different workspaces,  but it has been enhanced in this new version of ubuntu. Ubuntuhandy workspaces tool gives you a really easy way to view and move between multiple windows and applications.

2) The Launcher

Get easy access to your favourite tools and applications with our lovely new launcher. You can hide and reveal it, add and remove apps and keep track of your open windows.

3) The Dash

Ubuntu new dash offers a great way to get to your shortcuts and search for more apps and programs. So you can get fast access to your email, music, pictures and much more.

4) Shotwell

Shotwell helps you import, organise and edit your pictures quickly and easily so you can share your favourite snaps on all the most popular photo and social network sites.

5) Automatic Security Updates

With automatic security updates, anti-phishing technology and defence against viruses and malware, Ubuntu and Firefox help you keep your private information private.

At the end i would like to say that i am really impressed with this new version of ubuntu.It has really improved the speed of my computer and also with the nice and useful built-in applications, its really a fun to complete daily tasks.

After the success of Apple ipad, new tablets are being announced by other companies (e.g. Samsung and Motorolla).Today apple has introduced Apple ipad 2.You must be wondering, why apple has release iPad 2 so early after the release of Apple iPad.The reason for the quick release of iPad 2 is that Apple iPad really lacks some important feature and apple has noticed that too.

Now you have a question in your mind that, What’s New in Apple iPad 2 ? I did have the same question in my mind but after having detailed look on apple’s website i have got the answer.

Following are the new features in Apple iPad 2.

1) Thinner

Once you pick up iPad 2, it’ll be hard to put down. That’s the idea behind the all-new design. It’s 33 percent thinner as compare to iPad.

2) Lighter

Apple iPad 2 is 15 percent lighter than iPad.

3)Faster

Apple always comes up with the new inventions in the new models of its devices, this time apple has seriously done some work with the speed of iPad 2 and for that they have created a new A5 Chip with two processing cores.

Two processing cores mean iPad can do twice the work at once. You’ll notice the difference when you’re surfing the web, watching movies, making FaceTime video calls, gaming, and going from app to app to app. Multitasking is smoother, apps load faster, and everything just works better.

4)Facetime

FaceTime for iPad will allow you to make video calls to another iPad 2, iPhone 4, new iPod touch 4 or even to a Mac. However you must still be on a Wi-Fi network to use it — still no 3G support.

FaceTime on iPad 2 lets you drop in on your favorite people and see how they’re doing. And what they’re doing. And who they’re with. You could be anywhere, they could be anywhere.

5) Two Cameras

iPad 2 has built in cameras. The iPad 2 has two cameras, a front facing VGA camera and a 720P HD rear facing camera and both can be used with  FaceTime.

6) Smart Cover

The Smart Cover and iPad 2 were made for each other. Literally. Built-in magnets draw the Smart Cover to iPad for a perfect fit that not only protects, but also wakes up, stands up, and brightens up your iPad. That’s not just smart. It’s genius.

A magnetic attraction.

When the Smart Cover and iPad get together, you can’t help but notice an instant connection. That’s because we designed iPad to work with the Smart Cover — and the other way around. For starters, iPad has magnets built right into its frame — magnets that align perfectly with the Smart Cover hinge for an effortless fit. On the opposite side, magnets inside the Smart Cover help it stay put. It’s ingenious yet simple. Secure yet easy to remove. In fact, the Smart Cover and iPad work so well together, it’s easy to think of them as one device.

7)10-Hours Battery

Even with the new thinner and lighter design, iPad has the same amazing 10-hour battery life.1 That’s enough juice for one flight across the ocean, or one movie-watching all-nighter, or a week’s commute across town. The power-efficient A5 chip and iOS keep battery life from fading away, so you can get carried away.

Christmas Themes for Firefox

1) Sugarland Holiday Boom

Celebrate the Holidays with country music stars Sugarland

Here’s the quick summary of a Brand Thunder Boom:

1. Booms are lightweight active customizations including theming, toolbars, sidebars and more
2. Users can dynamically switch between Booms without restarting their browser
3. Integration of multiple Brand Thunder Booms into a single Boom Pack for a single location for managing all Booms
4. Remember, simply click on the B/T button (far right) to customize this boom any way you want.

Download : SugarLand

2) Winter Holiday Christmas

Christmas Boom: Includes links to the fun sites, Christmas videos in sidebar and a day/night theme that changes automatically!

Included with this boom is the popular extension, Surf Canyon. Give it a try.. it does an incredible job of refining your search results. Easy to uninstall if your not happy with it.

We started Brand Thunder to work with some of the world’s leading brands to bring you, the Firefox user, REALLY cool themes and extensions. We employ an incredible team of designers, developers and marketers to work with the brands to bring these bundles to you for free!

Download : Winter Holiday Christmas

3) Christmas Holiday

Holiday Spirit For Your Internet

Get the holiday spirit whenever you’re online with the Classic Christmas browser theme. You’ll enjoy:

* A very merry skin for your Firefox
* This theme features TWO styles, look under the Settings button
* Holiday music from AccuRadio.com
* Quick links to Christmas recipes, shopping deals and more
* A video sidebar full of Christmas cheer

Download : Christmas Holiday

4) Tinseltown

Tinseltown is a Christmas theme with holiday imagery including Christmas lights, snow, reindeer, presents and more. This theme is made even better with great Christmas icons from Watiworks and a semi-transparent URL bar. Get in the holiday spirit!

Tinseltown, the holiday theme, works on Mac, Window and Linux for all to enjoy!

Download : Tinseltown

Christmas Personas for Firefox

5) Wintertime2

Wear Wintertime2 Persona

6) An Afternoon Winters Ride

Wear : An Afternoon Winters Rider

7) Snowmen and Company

Wear Snowman

Vintage Old Time Santa

Wear : Vintage Old Time Santa

9) Christmas in Wonderland

Wear : Christmas in Wonderland

10 ) Adorable Santa

Wear : Adorable Santa

Google search engine  is known one of the best because of its fastest speed and latency in producing the search results and google did maintain that speed in other google apps (Analytics,Adsense and Picasa).But from some weeks i have noticed significant decrease in the speed of google apps specially gmail.I had to reload the page multiple time to check my emails and send emails.Latency and pageload time is terrible.

I was wondering, if this issue is with my ISP or peoples from all arround the world is experiencing the same issue.Then after having a look on hundreds of tweets saying that gmail sucks or gmail is really slow.Hundreds of peoples are asking the same question.But google didn’t resolve the issue from many week.Most probably the reason was they also didn’t know, what actually the issue is ?

Techcrunch has posted an article today, showing the following statement from google about slow gmail and other apps performance.

“We recently experienced an issue in one of our datacenters which increased latency for a small percentage of Gmail users (approximately 2%). Issues like this can cause temporary slowness for small fractions of users from time to time. Speed is of utmost importance to us, and we are always working both to prevent these kinds of issues and resolve them as soon as possible.”

Google says the issue has been fixed.Hope this is true.But the main question arises here that why google has take too long time to fix this small issue.They say that the issue affected 2% of gmail users.2% of gmail users means 4 million peoples including me was affected with this issue.

Via : Techcrunch

As reported by neowin.net, Google’s URL shortner goo.gl, is now available to everyone. Google announced it’s URL shortner goo.gl on 14 December 2009, at start this services was only available for use through Google products i.e Google Toolbar etc. But now Google’s URL shortner goo.gl is available to everyone. Google URL shortner goo.gl has very simple interface and according to Google’s Muthu Muthusrinivasan “We don’t intend to overload goo.gl with features, but we do want it to be the stablest, most secure, and fastest URL shortener on the Web”.

Google’s URL shortner goo.gl, also provide some details about links. When you shorten any URL after signing in with your Google Account, a web based chart will tell you link creating date and number of clicks. and Google will use your information to determine which links are popular, unsafe and authoritative. Google’s URL shortner goo.gl Firefox extension and Google Chrome extension are also available.

There are many URL shortner services available on internet like bit.ly and TinyURL etc. But all of these services are managed by smaller companies that may not have a long life span. Google thought they would use this to their advantage. On the other hand Yahoo is also testing its URL shortner service y.ahoo.it. y.ahoo.it service is currently only used by Yahoo! products and is not available for general use.

The Outlook Social Connector allows you to synchronize your contact data right into Outlook and obtain information about your friends and colleagues. See status updates from various networks and recently posted files.

Easily track your communication history. Use the Outlook Social Connector to display a quick view of related Outlook content when you click on an email from a contact, such as recent e-mail conversations, meetings, and shared attachments. The social connector for Outlook will also link to MySpace and LinkedIn social networking accounts. The presence of social networking inside Office 2010 is part of a broad strategy that Microsoft is implementing.

Download : Microsoft Outlook Social Connector

iPad Users can browse the web, read and send email, enjoy and share photos, watch HD videos, play games, read ebooks and can do much more with iPad. iPad Application Developers have created over 5,000 exciting new apps that take advantage of its Multi-Touch user interface, large screen and high-quality graphics.

Apple also said that they are working hard to build enough iPads for everyone.
Apple has also plan to make iPad available in nine more countries in this July and additional countries later this year.

Samsung always comes up with the new inventions and technology rather than just making products on old technology.Samsung introduced 14″ transparent AMOLED notebook at CES 2010 earlier this year.Now they are trying to attract more peoples by introducing 19-inch Transparent AMOLED display.The company has now achieved a 30 percent transparency on its designs.

To be very honest i never understand the reason behind creating these Transparent AMOLED displays.One side companies are working hard to introduce HD LCDs and monitors and on the other side they are introducing Transparent AMOLED display with 30 percent transparency.Do u think that we will get HD result in these displays.We won’t even able to focus on what we are watching because of transparency.

They only good thing about these AMOLED displays will be that they can be fitted anywhere.Sooner or later car windshield glass used as a department store window-clear display, or movies whenever and wherever the display appeared as avatars, to get the necessary information easily approached as a reality semyida scenes.

Via : Engadget

Microsoft has introduced a new range of Wireless Mobile Mouse 3500 with attracting colorful patterns.The patterns includes Red,green,white,pink and blue colors.Microsoft was inspired by the patterns found in nature, like rock formations and stones.By having these patterns on mouse will refresh us by just having a look on these incredible colors patterns.

There are three graphics to choose from – (left to right) Wave, Folk and Geode. Wave is a vibrant organic pattern, Folk was inspired by Scandinavian and tribal art, and Geode references rock facets and formations.These colorful patterns Wireless Mobile Mouse 3500 can be bought from Bestbuy for just $29.95

Buy : Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 3500

Via : Microsoft Hardware Blog