Some years back I was wondering why it is not possible to do everything on a browser from working on documents, watching movies, songs, mails and working on other applications like Office and Photoshoop. Time has come for it, watch out for coming years, its the age of Web Apps. Everyone and every thing is going into clouds. I am so happy to see what I whished is happening.


The Google's Chrome OS is just a curtain raiser for the race of the new age. Expect more n more in future. All the information is at a go, not only the public info but also your workplace may also will be with you always.

And anyone who wishes to give a try at Chrome OS just follow the link.
It's from TechCrunch, guides you on how to install ChromeOS using VirtualBox.

The Chrome OS team has a produced a new Common Craft style video that gives an overview of the new Chrome OS is 3 minutes.

Here’s a high-res screenshot of Chrome OS..

..and here are some Chrome OS screenshots captured from the press event:

1. Chrome OS Application Menu

2. Chrome OS Media Browser

Cloud Storage - Everything you save inside Chrome OS is put on the cloud like this notepad application which will sync with Google Docs.

4. Switching between Chrome instances - It’s much like Alt+Tab of Windows 7 with live preview

Originally published at Digital Inspiration by Amit Agarwal.

Google’s Go: A New Programming Language That’s Python Meets C++:

Big news for developers out there: Google has just announced the release of a new, open sourced programming language called Go. The company says that Go is experimental, and that it combines the performance and security benefits associated with using a compiled language like C++ with the speed of a dynamic language like Python. Go’s official mascot is Gordon the gopher, seen here.

Here’s how Google describes Go in its blog post:

Go attempts to combine the development speed of working in a dynamic language like Python with the performance and safety of a compiled language like C or C++. In our experiments with Go to date, typical builds feel instantaneous; even large binaries compile in just a few seconds. And the compiled code runs close to the speed of C. Go is designed to let you move fast.

We’re hoping Go turns out to be a great language for systems programming with support for multi-processing and a fresh and lightweight take on object-oriented design, with some cool features like true closures and reflection.

For more details check out Golang.org.

To get things started the right way, here’s Go’s rendition of Hello World!:

05 package main

07 import fmt “fmt” // Package implementing formatted I/O.

09 func main() {

10 fmt.Printf(”Hello, world; or Καλημέρα κόσμε; or こんにちは 世界n”);

11 }

Wave will be good for people, who runs many thread of mails. There wont be any difference if mails are one to one. If there are active people in a chain of mail, Wave can show it a lot better.

To learn all about Wave, watch this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_UyVmITiYQ
this video is of 1Hr 20 mins in duration, if you cant spare (even bare :P) that much time,
watch the below short form of it (this is just 7mins).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6pgxLaDdQw

Wave is spreading at a great pace, there are already apps created for iPhone and other smart phones to access Wave. I have also seen a Wave notifier application for desktop which notifies new waves. And the most surprising, amazing and funniest is Gina Trapani from LifeHacker
came up with a Complete Guide to Google Wave. This book will tell u all about a Wave.

Hope this Wave will be available to all my friends, coz unlike a mail id the other guy to whom u wish to communicate should have a Wave too :(
And you can all wave me @ nageswar3@googlewave.com and thanks to Balaji for sparing me a invitation.

Microsoft Office Web Apps is a free online version of Microsoft Office that includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and the OneNote Web App.

Using Office Web Apps, you can view as well as edit Office documents on any computer and since these apps work inside the browser, you can even edit Office files on a Mac without requiring the Office software.

Sign-up for Office Web Apps

If you are not signed-up with Office Web Apps yet, here’s another opportunity:

Step 1: Create a Windows Live ID if you don’t have one already or if your existing Live ID uses a country other than US.

Step 2: While signing up, make sure you select 'United States' for the Country field else the program won’t let you in. You may use NY for the State field and 10001 for the Zip Code.

Step 3. Once your Live ID is setup, just click this link, accept the license agreement and the Office Web Apps Technical Preview will be activated for your Live ID.

If you face any issues while executing Step 3, here’s an alternate approach -- go to skydrive.live.com, upload any dummy Word file to the Documents folder and you should then see an invite to join the Office Web Apps programs. That’s it. Thanks Sean.

Google has been rolling out to a small subset of users that takes the search giant's obsession with minimalism to the extreme. The page features exactly two elements: Google's famous logo, and its search box. That is, until you move your mouse, when a nifty fade effect reveals with rest of Google�s standard navigation options.

This morning Google Blogoscoped posted a special snippit of code that you can copy and paste into your browser to enable the new minimalist design. But that version falls short of greatness: it includes the Google Search and I'm Feeling Lucky buttons. For those looking for the ultimate in austere, these buttons are little more than ugly blemishes marring an otherwise perfect design.

To set the cookie, do the following:

1. Head to google.com

2. Paste the following code into the address bar of your browser:

javascript:void(document.cookie='PREF=ID=2602f2ce49362929:U=7b6893b1882d5a94:TM=1239881060:LM=1254195610:L=0qXJlAA:GM=1:S=CwDGQD20E8U14zDg;path=/;

domain=.google.com');

3. Hit enter or �go� to run it (you have to be on google.com at the time). It will not give you any feedback, it will just run and set the cookie.

4. Refresh the page.

Thanks to Don MacAskill over at SmugMug for the tip.

While the majority of international communication happens in English, a lot of these people, who communicate in English on a daily basis, aren’t very comfortable in English as it is not their native language.

They therefore sometimes struggle to express themselves correctly in English, only to be dismayed that native English speakers can immediately notice the flaws in their writing.

When English is a Foreign Language for you

Microsoft Research has created a useful online proofing tool to help people who use English as a foreign language.

This tool, called ESL Assistant, is a web service that analyzes text for common mistakes that non-native English speakers, especially those from Southeast Asia, often make in their writing such as the choice of determiners and prepositions.

Type some English sentences into the text box and the tool will look for possible problems in your writing and indicate them with wavy green underlines.

Once it identifies possible mistakes in your writing, the tool will generate suggestions to correct the problems. What’s even more interesting is that the tool will find real-world examples of both the incorrect and correct usage from other web pages on the Internet using Bing.

You can just hover your mouse over the suggested phrase and the search results in the two Bing windows will change automatically.

Check Errors in your Outlook Emails with ESL

Anyone can use the ESL (English as Second Language) Tool to check their emails and other writings for errors online though the site does require the Silverlight plugin.

Another way to use it it to download the ESL addon for Microsoft Outlook and integrate the web service into your email program.

There’s a bit of a privacy issue here because when you click the ESL Assistant button in Outlook to check your message for errors, the program will send the entire text of your email to the ESL website where you can review it for problems. Also, if you correct errors online, you will have to copy the text back into Outlook manually.

Although ESL Assistant will not catch or correct all errors, it often finds problems that are overlooked by normal spelling and grammar checking tools. This makes it a great tool to expand your options and make sure that your English sounds as correct as possible.

Originally published at Digital Inspiration by Amit Agarwal.

You have seen visual search in Bing, now here’s another Silverlight based site that might leave your impressed.

Windows OS – Made of Silverlight

The site is windows4all.com and it feels like you are running an online copy of the Windows operating system in the browser. (Hit F11 to experience in full screen mode)

Windows4all not only replicates the look and feel of a freshly installed Windows Vista desktop environment inside your browser but comes with a variety of applications that are similar to the default applications included with Windows. These include Notepad, Windows File Explorer, Media Player, Calculator, Sidebar gadgets and even games like Solitaire and Spider.

Double click the IE icon on the desktop (or use the Vista start menu button) to fire up Internet Explorer and you’ll be able to browse the internet live inside this impressive Silverlight application.

It also includes a Notepad and when you save text files using this application, you can open the files again the next time you visit Windows4all on the same computer. You can install additional Silverlight applications into the Windows4all interface; you can pick the installers directly from from the internet or upload the files from your own computer into the Web OS.

If you are a Windows geek who is curious to know how this app was made, go to Codeplex and download the full source code. It would be neat if Microsoft offers some of these features, especially the ability to import Silverlight apps, to Live Mesh in the future!

Originally published at Digital Inspiration by Amit Agarwal.

Around this time last year, Google introduced SMS Channels in India that allowed mobile phone users to subscribe to information channels like news, weather, stocks, etc. through text messages.

Even bloggers could create SMS channels for their own blog (example) and send updates about new articles to their subscribers through SMS messages. The service is still around and continues to remain free for both publishers and mobile phone users though Google adds advertising in text messages.

Facebook recently introduced something similar in India so you can receive text updates on your mobile phone from the Facebook pages of your favorite brands, celebrities, restaurants or even websites.

As a mobile phone user, you can can join any Facebook page by simply texting fan <page_name> to 9232232665 (92FACEBOOK) from your mobile phone*.

For instance, if you want to join Digital Inspiration’s Facebook page, you can text “fan digital.inspiration” to 9232232665 from any mobile phone, and you will show up in the list of fans immediately.

Similarly, if you want to receive updates about a page on your cell, you can open that page on the Facebook site and choose “Subscribe via SMS”. To turn off updates, choose the unsubscribe option on the page itself or SMS “stop” to the same Facebook number – 9232232665.

Unlike Google SMS Channels which can be be used for both push updates and group communication, the SMS feature in Facebook is primarily push (for receiving updates from a page).

As a blogger, you can use this feature to notify readers about your most recently published articles while businesses can use Facebook SMS to communicate deals and offers with their customers (like Pizza Hut sending out discount coupons to all their fans in India via SMS).

*Before you start receiving updates from Facebook page, you need to activate Facebook Mobile. For that, just send a text message containing only the letter “f” (without quotes) to 9232232665 and you are done. I am not sure if your mobile carrier will charge your for any incoming text messages from Facebook but you’ll of course have to pay for sending one.

via Digital Inspiration

Opera Mini, which is probably the best browser for BlackBerry and other Java enabled mobile phones, just got better.

Opera today released a new version of Opera Mini that includes tabs so you can open multiple web pages in the same browser simultaneously without having to close the previous ones.

Other new features in Opera Mini 5 that lot of you may find useful are copy-paste and a built-in password manager so you don’t have to type your logins and passwords over and over again.

Screenshots of Opera Mini 5

Opera Mini 5 is still in beta but the good part is that you can install it alongside your existing installation of Opera Mini 4. To download Opera Mini 5, visit m.opera.com/next from your mobile phone browser and download the Opera Mini 5 installer specific to your phone.

Originally published at Digital Inspiration by Amit Agarwal.

Windows only: Chrome turned one year old just a couple weeks back, and as a belated celebration, the folks at Google have just pushed out a brand new stable release in the form of Google Chrome 3.

Chrome 2 (stable) hit servers back in May, and while the folks at Google are currently on Chrome 4 in the dev channel, those of you who haven't been eager to play on the bleeding edge of Chrome releases have a lot of nice improvements in store for them in Chrome 3, including:

• Speed Improvements: Chrome 3 is faster than any previous stable release on both the V8 and SunSpider benchmarks. (Google's calling it a 150% increase in Javascript performance since their first beta.) In the current Chrome 4 dev release, Chrome continues to outshine other browsers on most speed benchmarks.
• The New Tab Page: Again, this is only new to those of you who've been sticking to stable releases, but the new tab page is more customizable, allowing you to rearrange thumbnails via drag and drop and pin thumbnails you want to keep around permanently.
• Better Omnibox: Firefox has its awesome bar, Chrome has its omnibox. As of the stable Chrome 3 release, the omnibox adds contextual icons to help you see whether autocomplete results are suggest sites, searches, bookmarks, or sites from your history.
• HTML5: Google has been pushing the envelope with what developers can do with HTML5, the new standard set of tools in the next evolution of HTML (the backbone of web pages). In Chrome 3 stable, HTML5 is standard—meaning support for video, audio, and canvas tags that bring a rich web experience to your browser without the need for third-party plug-ins like Flash.
• Themes: We've highlighted a handful of the great new Google Chrome themes already, but now they're available to the stable channel users, as well.

Of course, none of this is all that exciting if you've been using the beta or dev channels for your Chrome updates, but if your workplace, for example, won't let you use anything but stable releases of software, the stable Chrome update is very welcome. Chrome 3 stable is a free download, Windows only.

(Note: Google continues its rather speedy version number jumping here—having dropped three "major" releases in just over a year. It may seem a little silly that it's now on the same version number as Firefox and looks like it'll easily beat Firefox to 4.0, but keep in mind that version numbers are largely arbitrary, so while Google may well hit Chrome 10 in another year or two, it has little bearing on how it compares to other browsers.)

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand keywords. Today at TechCrunch50, Microsoft senior vice president Yusuf Mehdi announced a new visual search feature on Bing which returns results as an interactive gallery of images.

For instance, if you type in “dog breeds,” it organizes them for you in a grid of images that you can scroll through using a slider on the right. When you hover over a particular image, it enters the name of that dog breed in the search box. And you can re-order the image results by size, breed, exercise needs, and Bing popularity.

There are more than 100 visual galleries ranging from movies, books, and cars to products, animals, and sports teams. The sorting categories change each time. So for movies, you can filter by release date, title, or rating. Cars can be sorted visually by make, price or mileage.

When you resort, the images fly around the screen to find their new positions. The visual search acts as a showcase for Microsoft’s Silverlight technology, which makes the animations and visual rendering possible.

“The whole concept,” says Mehdi, “is that the world of search will change. There will be a more graphic way people will search, and it will pivot how people search.”

The judges were impressed with his demo. Ron Conway noted, “I think the huge winner here will be consumers because competition breeds innovation, and this nice little battle between Google and Microsoft is fantastic for consumers.

Well, here’s how you can quickly enable Bing Visual Search in your browser.
Go to bing.com/worldwide and set your country as United States. Save the settings and you will then be able to enjoy the visual search feature of Bing at bing.com/visualsearch. Probably, Microsoft has limited the feature to US for the moment.

[via Digital Inspiration]

Google Earth, the software package that lets you play Superman and find food and other spots of interest from thousands of feet overhead, has released a 5.1 version that skims the globe a bit smoother.

Google's Earth team says it's improved memory utilization to show more buildings and other content when you're zoomed in, and worked on reducing 'stuttering,' or frame drops, to make the flying feeling more smooth and, well, fun. Google goes into detail at their blog post, but we can verify that, having last used Earth in its 4.0 release, 5.1 definitely feels a bit more fluid while grabbing and pulling past our neck of the woods.

Google Earth 5.1 is a free download for Windows, Mac, and Linux systems. A browser plug-in auto-installs with the Windows release, and Windows versions also load the Google Updater; the Google Operating System Blog points out a direct Windows installer link to avoid the Updater.

The folks over at Facebook decided their social network's user interface needed to lose some weight. So, after a few weeks on a treadmill, Facebook Lite is now available for public preview. This new fat-free version of Facebook looks to put Twitter in its sights as far as simplicity is concerned; it's more straight-to-the-point and less 'just in case you're interested.'

On the inside, Facebook Lite seems to load and run significantly faster than the standard interface. It uses far less styling and scripting, and conveys simpler information to the user. In fact, after using the regular version for so long, Facebook Lite starts to feel somewhat like a mobile website. For on-the-go people, this should speed up the social networking workflow a little bit.

Facebook Lite isn't quite ready for full-time use, however. There are still some 'to do' items. For example, six of the seven selections in the Options screen, and the advertisement on the left side of the page seems to be locked on Facebook Lite's feedback page. The rest of the interface seems to be functional, albeit lacking (though that is the general idea of a lite application) in some areas.

Facebook Lite is available for public preview to (currently) all US and India members.

[via Mashable]

At the much awaited Rock and Roll event, Apple's CEO Steve Job came up with a big bang. He announced:

• iPod Nano to get Camera n in more colors
• Slashed prices of iPod
• OS 3.1 for iPhone n iTouch
• iTunes 9

Few old models were quietly dropped and new ones with more storage replaced them. In the new iPod Touch lineup, the legendary iPod Classic gets highest capacity and iPod Shuffle gets more colorful.


Also, there's a price cut as always since September is meant to be Apple's annual product life cycle for iPods. New Faster iPod Touch Two new third generation iPod Touch models in 32GB and 64GB capacities join in the iPod Touch lineup and the 16GB iPod Touch model quietly slips out. Both new iPod Touch models support OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics for accelerated 3D graphics and are boasted to be 50 percent faster. Hence, it s believed that both new iPod Touch models have the same 600MHz Samsung S5PC100 mobile application CPU based on ARM's CORTEX A8's design.If iPod Touch carries the same PowerVR SGX chip as in the iPhone 3GS, it is still capable of running 720p HD video natively. Also, the OpenGL ES 2.0 support will allow game developers for iPhone Platform to make games with better graphics.Big bully iPod Touch 64GB can store up to 14,000 songs, 90,000 photos or 80 hours of video. That's seriously a massive storage for a handheld touchscreen device. Apart from storage bump, the new third generation iPod Touch models have new Genius Mixes feature that is capable of making up to 12 playlists automatically, based on the existing tracks on the device.Third generation iPod Touch also has voice control. So, earphones from Apple or any third party earphones with remote can be used for Voice Control on Music playback. A slew of new features would be added with the iPhone OS 3.1 software update that is available for download from the official Apple site.
Apple sells the new 64GB iPod Touch for $399 (Rs. 19,200 approx.) which is the old price 32GB second generation iPod Touch model. While the new 32GB third generation iPod Touch is now priced at $299 (Rs. 14,400 approx.). Price of 8GB second generation iPod Touch model is slashed by $30 (Rs. 1,440 approx) to $199 (Rs. 9,600 approx.) from $229 (Rs. 11,000 approx.).Unfortunately, rumors that the third generation iPod Touch will get a camera did not materialize and it's like that recent reports of camera module failure might just be true. So, it's likely that the images of iPod Touch with camera that surfaced last month might be of the fourth generation iPod Touch model.

If you're both a Gmail and Google Voice user, you should be thrilled with the latest feature from Gmail Labs: The Google Voice Player feature embeds a voicemail player inside Gmail so you can listen to new messages directly inside Gmail.

To enable it, just hit up the Labs link in Gmail, find the Google Voice player in mail feature, click enable, and save your changes. Now not only can you read your transcribed voicemail from directly inside Gmail—you can listen to it, too. In fact, your message status will even sync to Google Voice, so if you've listened to it in Gmail, it'll show as listened to in Google Voice, too. Handy.

Keep informed and stay in touch with friends and family

Technology has fueled a revolution in the way we communicate and stay in touch with those we care about. In work and play, technology is there to capture the moments and bridge the gaps of time and space.

But in the midst of emergencies or even simple daily problems like a change in schedule, somehow technology doesn’t quite seem to be the thing that usually brings all the pieces together. That is about to all change, thanks to Microsoft’s future-facing project - Vine.

What is Microsoft Vine

Microsoft Vine, in simple English, is a web based service that lets you form groups of people (who you think are most important to you like your close friends, family members or even your trusted neighbors) and it provides a way for you to contact any of these groups at the same time through email, text messages, and even social networking. The software is designed to make our loved ones only a click or text away at any time.

Whether you need to inform your members that your car just broke down or need to send a message to your friends that your child’s birthday party has been rescheduled, Vine lets you send that message using your preferred method of communication and all the people who you want to send the message to will receive it in the method of their choice as well.

Microsoft Vine therefore acts like a bridge between all of your most important contacts and the diverse communications platforms that they use be it email, mobile phones, IM or something else.

Getting Started with Microsoft Vine

After you sign-up for Microsoft Vine using your Windows Live ID, you will be directed to download the Vine software to your computer.

Although the service is web-centric, the initial setup needs to be done through a beautiful and modern-looking desktop application. The Vine program works on Windows XP, Vista, and 7, and it downloads and installs very quickly even on slower internet connections and older computers.

Once your Vine network is set up, you can send and receive messages either through the desktop application or through email and text messaging (on mobile phones). Here’s a screenshot of Vine’s beautiful interface that takes advantage of Aero glass when running on Windows Vista or 7.

Once you have installed the application, you can proceed to mark locations on a world map that are important to you (via Add Places), invite important people to join your Vine network, and then arrange these people into groups that will be target groups for your messages.

Vine allows each person to specify their address, home, phone number, email address, and social network credentials. Currently it only supports Facebook, Windows Live, and LinkedIn, but Microsoft plans to extend support to other services including Twitter, MySpace, and instant messaging.

The Vine application then shows a map with your locations, and shows alerts when there is a news or weather alert item for your area. Below the map it shows a grid with all of your important contacts as a pin that designates where they are and what group they belong to.

If one of your contacts sends out an alert, then it will show beside their pin. Then, through the application you can send an alert to either a specific person, group, or to all of your contacts. You can also post a report from Vine about an upcoming event, which lets you send a message, request people do something, let them know the best way to get hold of you, or what your location will be during the event.

Vine is not a Social Networking Tool

So is Vine supposed to replace my existing communications platforms such as email, IM, or social networking? No, and in fact, Microsoft Vine is designed to extend them.

The idea behind Vine is to make you and those you care about more accessible, no matter what their preferred mode of communication is. Your friends and family members could be using email, text, voice, Instant Messaging, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or something else but they can still get in touch quickly in case of emergencies and disasters.

Vine also provides a printable index card that you can print and carry in your wallet so someone else can inform your Vine network in an unfortunate event where you get involved in an emergency and are unable to contact people yourself.

How to Send Alerts with Microsoft Vine

Currently, you can send alerts to your friends and family from a mobile phone using text message, as well as from e-mail, or from the Vine application itself.

When you sign up for Vine, you get a secret email address for your group - any message sent to that email address will instantly reach all the group members in the preferred devices.

Alternatively, you may fire up the Vine client on your Windows PC and send alerts from the desktop itself. The Alerts feature can be used for disseminating time-sensitive information and other emergency situations while the Post Report feature is for situations like you reached a destination safely or say you want to share your new contact information with people who care about you.

Can I use Microsoft Vine? Will it work in my hometown?

Microsoft Vine is in beta and optimized for use only in the United States. Although you can run the program to send and receive alerts from elsewhere, the text messaging part of Vine and news alerts work only for locations inside the Unites States.

However, Microsoft does plan to expand Vine globally by the time it is fully launched. For now, though, if you do not live in America, you can still sign up and try out the parts of Vine that currently work in your part of the world.

Related: Location Tracking with Google Latitude

via Digital Inspiration

Got 9 Friends? You can get Windows 7 DVD for Free:

First, answer some simple questions:

1. Do you have a computer at home that can run Windows 7. You may use the free Upgrade Advisor utility to determine if your current Windows XP, Vista or Linux machine* meets the system requirements for Windows 7.

2. Do you have 9 or more friends in town?

3. Do you live in any of the following countries - India, US, UK, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Italy, Spain or Hong Kong?

If you just said yes to all the above questions, here’s an opportunity for you to grab a free Windows 7 Ultimate DVD shipped to you without charge along with some other Windows 7 goodies straight from Microsoft.

Microsoft will do a public launch of Windows 7 on October 22 and to generate buzz around the event, they are inviting Windows enthusiasts from around the world to throw up small parties at their own homes and show off the new Windows 7 to friends and family members.

You can apply to become a party host at houseparty.com and if selected, you’ll receive a special Signature Edition of Windows 7 Ultimate edition in your mailbox.

You may sign-up to become a host using your existing Facebook account or your Windows Live ID. Microsoft will send you an email sometime in the second week of September to let you know if you are through.

*Though Microsoft has not mentioned Mac users anywhere, I guess you can also apply if your Macbook is running Windows via Parallels, VMWare Fusion, Boot Camp or some other virtualization software.

via Digital Inspiration, Thanks to Amith

If you've got a few minutes, stylish script, and a scanner, FontCapture can turn your handwriting into a font. That keeps all your mad-scientist notes on the computer, yet still gives them that essential lab bench grit.

Go to FontCapture and download their font template. Once downloaded, print it off and carefully fill in the single-sheet grid. You don't need to fill in every slot for FontCapture to create your font. If you don't use letters like ó, ò, or ñ in your daily writing, feel free to skip over them.

Once you've filled out the template, you upload it to FontCapture and it processes your handwriting into a font for personal use. That's all there is to it, but it's a pretty neat way of giving an image or document a consistent look, but a look you crafted yourself. FontCapture is a free service and requires no signup.

FontCapture
[via LifeHacker]