April Fools’ Trick Warez at Download.com

April Fools’ Day is around the corner. And to mark the occassion, Download.com has listed some of its prank warez!

Check them out and have fun with your friends!!!

The Finger 1.0 : Change your cursor into a familiar impolite hand gesture.

Mouse Move : Fool your friends by configuring their mouse to move in random positions.

Copy Cursor : Replicate the Windows mouse cursor all over your friends’ screens.

Avoid : Make the Windows Start button run away and avoid your mouse clicks.

ReplaceKeys : This little prank app lets you change what different keyboard keystrokes will do to the computer.

Njoi!

Web 2.0 Logo Generator!

Check out this cool Web 2.0 Logo Generator!

Web 2.0 Logo Generator

Njoi!

Nine Plane formation – Faked in Google Earth!

As reported by the GoogleEarthBlog, what started out looking like a pretty cool find of nine small planes in flight in near-perfect formation, was quickly determined to be a fake. At a lake about 35 km west of Copenhagen, someone photoshopped this formation of what is apparently a single plane before the photos were supplied to Google.

So, anyone can see the faked formation (at least until Google removes them). See the planes here in Google Earth , or here in Google Maps. If you look closely at the aerial photo you can easily see that the water around each plane is identical.

You can also check out some more errors in the Google Earth Data by clickin here.

Njoi!

Widgets!

Widgets are becoming a common thing around the www despite the fact that there are many who will not be able to define what a widget really means.

This reality was realized by Peter Bruce – Senior Editor (CNET Download.com) who explains the word in the following manner:

“Widget” is a confusing word because it has a deliberately vague etymology. It was originally used as a placeholder term for any type of mechanical device. Later, it found a niche in computing circles as a term for graphical interface elements like check boxes and drop-down menus.

Konfabulator, now known as Yahoo Widgets Engine, released an environment a few years ago that let users create their own widgets, and several competitors have since followed suit. Google Desktop added “gadgets” (read: widgets) in version 4, and Windows Vista finally moved beyond Active Desktop with its inclusion of a gadget sidebar.

Aside from the major players, there are a couple other interesting software programs that incorporate the widget concept. Klipfolio recently added its own sidebar in version 4. It specializes in running lightweight, utilitarian “Klips” that scale well to any size or interface design. The alternative browser Opera also now supports widgets that run directly from your desktop.

The big news this week is the prerelease of Adobe Apollo, a new integrated development environment, or IDE, that lets developers use their existing HTML, JavaScript, and other Web skills to build rich Internet applications–another fancy term for widgets.

Adobe already dominates browser-based rich Internet applications with its Flash Player. Can it take over our desktops as well? With gadgets built into Windows Vista, the popularity of Google Desktop, and a three-year head start for Yahoo Widgets Engine, Adobe has a lot of ground to make up.

In the context of modern software, the word “widget” generally refers to a small desktop application. Both Mac and Windows operating systems have experimented with widgets, including Active Desktop in Windows.”

Njoi!

Wik.is Launched!!

MindTouch has launched Wik.is, a community wiki site that simplifies collaboration and knowledge sharing for friends and family members, businesses, associations, students and educators.

The uses of wik.is are as broad as human knowledge and activity: Friends and family: family scrap book,
travel log, event planning and celebration (graduation, wedding, anniversary) Personal interest,
clubs and associations: sports, cars, games, Siamese cats, Persian rugs, combat airplanes, Mongolian throat singers,
anything and everything. Schools and researchers: research papers, study plan, group project,
school bulletins, and more.

Seven reasons why should you register a Wik.is site?

1. Sharing is good and Wik.is is a great way to share.
2. How else will you codify and share your knowledge of Middle Earth…or another kingdom.
3. There are a lot of babes in video games. We’ve got to get these all documented!
4. Some legacy game consoles must be enshrined.
5. Because Futurama should have never been canceled.
6. Plan an event or organize your church group.
7. Why shouldn’t you, it’s free!

Signing up for Wik.is is easy and free.

Included in your free registration is:

• Your own wiki space
• 1 GB of storage

You can upgrade your Wik.is space for just $60/year to our Pro version. This gives you:

• Privacy: Make your wiki accessible only to selected users.
• Website integration: Easily integrate your wiki with your existing website for a consistent look, feel, and navigation.
• Customizable URL: Have a custom domain or sub-domain of your choosing. For example, wiki.mydomain.com or even www.myorg.org.
• Additional Storage: 10GB Storage. 10 times as much as the free version!
• No Advertisements!

Webolution – Web 1.0? to Web 3.0!

Webolution or Web Evolution from Web 2.0 to the upcoming (or is it already here!?) Web 3.0 is a much talked about topic.

Web 2.0 was the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the internet as a platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform. Chief among those rules was the building  of applications that harness network effects to get more people use them ~ In short ~~ Social Networking!

Web 3.0 or the Semantic Web promises to “organize the world’s information” in a dramatically more logical way such that Machines (or machine-based reasoning, aka AI software or ‘info agents’) would then be able to use this to search and organize information and send it to the respective end user!

Clearly, Web 3.0 will make the Internet (not the user) smarter!!

However, what most have forgotten (a term not even coined!) is Web 1.0!

I would like to define Web 1.0 as the initial phase of the internet, used only for official purpose by officials (and so grown-ups!) which has extensive potential (as came out in the form of Web 2.0) but was not realized until it was introduced to the Geeks!

I would further like to illustrate my ides.

   

      

       This is the Web 2.0!
       (You work for yourself) 

And this is Web 3.0!
(The Internet works for you)

And this…that most missed….

….was Web 1.0 !!

Translation Tools!

I’m sure by now everyone must be aware of Google’s Language Tool and BabelFish as two of the excellent sites for translating text as well as webpages over the internet.

Many more such online tools have been coming up which are not only faster but are also more accurate. One such tool, which also comes with some add-on tools is ImTranslator.Net

And if you want to know the use of such tools…it could not have been explained better than stated on the index page of the above site… “SET OF WEB-BASED MULTILINGUAL TOOLS DESIGNED TO REMOVE LANGUAGE BARRIERS ACROSS THE WORLD WIDE WEB!”

Njoi!