Our infatuation with gizmos and gadgets never ceases. Most of us would be lost without our digital music players, cell phones, USB thumb drives, and other gadgets that make our lives more convenient. The people at PC World are no exception. That is why they have compiled a list of the 50 best gadgets from the last 50 years for our reading pleasure.
Items making the cut include Sony’s Walkman, Handycam, and Playstation 2, Apple’s iPod, Kodak’s Instamatic 100 camera from 1963, and Nintendo’s Game Boy. It’s a nice read for the nostalgic tech junkie looking for a trip down memory lane.
The PCWorld List of top 50 Gadgets
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Intel Inside, the tag line that Intel has been using for the past 16 years, appears to be on its way out, according to reports. If the reports are true, Intel is ready to roll out a new identity the first week of January to coincide with a new advertising campaign. While rumors of this have been circulating since November, little else had been said until this point.
The Intel Inside logo was first introduced way back in 1991, when a PC in your home was something like a Porsche in your driveway. Since then, love them or hate them, “Intel Inside” has become one of the most recognizable trademarks worldwide.
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Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. said on Thursday they agreed to settle pending litigation that had barred a former Microsoft executive from heading up the Web search firm’s research efforts in China. Microsoft said the former executive, Kai-fu Lee, Google and Microsoft had reached a mutual agreement and had agreed not to disclose specific terms.
The two firms, fierce rivals in the fast-growing and lucrative online advertising market, said they would make no further statements on the matter. “Microsoft, Dr. Lee and Google have reached an agreement that settles their pending litigation,” Microsoft said in a statement, adding they “entered into a private agreement that resolves all issues to their mutual satisfaction.”
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The Japanese Government has organized a team of technological and corporate allies in an effort to take on search engine giants Google and Yahoo!, according to Times Online.
The effort, slated to cost nearly $900 million dollars or over $100 billion yen, will probably take three years to complete, according to government sources. The goal is to create the ultimate search tool for the internet, and give the Japanese an alternative to the two US search giants.
Work on the engine is expected to begin this week. Backing for the project is so fierce that rival companies Sony and Matsushita are being brought together to help, along with other companies such as Hitachi and Panasonic.
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A Santa Claus worm is attempting to trick America Online, Microsoft MSN and Yahoo instant-messaging users into clicking on a file that delivers unwanted software to a victim’s computer.
The IM.GiftCom.All worm attempts to dupe IM users into thinking an acquaintance has sent them a link to a harmless Santa Claus file, according to a security advisory issued Tuesday by IMlogic. People who click on the file will see an image of Santa, but what they are less likely to notice is a so-called rootkit being installed onto their system. A rootkit is a tool designed to go undetected by the security software used to lock down control of a computer after an initial hack. The malicious attacker can then distribute messages to the user’s IM contacts, using a similar technique to lure the unsuspecting acquaintance to click on the link.
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A look back at 2005 wouldn’t be complete without some lists. Here are three from us to you, representing some of the most popular searches this year on Google.
Google.com – Top Gainers of 2005
1. Myspace
2. Ares
3. Baidu
4. wikipedia
5. orkut
6. iTunes
7. Sky News
8. World of Warcraft
9. Green Day
10. Leonardo da Vinci
Google News – Top Searches in 2005
1. Janet Jackson
2. Hurricane Katrina
3. tsunami
4. xbox 360
5. Brad Pitt
6. Michael Jackson
7. American Idol
8. Britney Spears
9. Angelina Jolie
10. Harry Potter
Froogle – Top Searches in 2005
1. ipod
2. digital camera
3. mp3 player
4. ipod mini
5. psp
6. laptop
7. xbox
8. ipod shuffle
9. computer desk
10. ipod nano
Google released the list of what we liked most in 2005. Just have a look at the link below
Google Press Center: Zeitgeist
Google has created a special version of its Gmail e-mail service that provides mobile phone subscribers with quick access to their e-mail, the company said on Friday. Details on the mobile e-mail service, which currently is only available to U.S. cellphone users at http://m.gmail.com. The service works on the subset of more advanced mobile phones that offer an Internet browser. Users can view attached photos and documents from their phone, and reply-by-call to people whose phone number is stored in their Gmail account.
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A German art expert was duped into believing a painting done by a chimpanzee was actually painted by a respected artist. Katja Schneider, director of the State Art Museum in Moritzburg, suggested the painting was by Guggenheim P r i z e – w i n n i n g artist Ernst Wilhelm Nay. Schneider said: ‘‘It looks like an Ernst Wilhelm Nay. He was famous for using such blotches of colour.’’ But in reality, the painting was made by female chimpanzee Banghi, from Halle Zoo. Painting is one of the favourite pastimes of the 31-year-old ape, but her works are often destroyed by mate Satscho.
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On Monday 12th December, Francisco Javier Ocasio Gotay aka KoL received a Microsoft legal threat regarding a theme he released 5 months ago. Not content with threatening innocent bloggers on material related to Windows Vista, the company is moving onto its next attack plan by demanding that ported themes from Vista visual styles back to Windows XP be removed.
KoL was one of the first skinners on the scene back when it was discovered that a simple hack of the uxtheme.dll meant un-certified themes could run freely on Windows XP. A simple search on Google demonstrates just how much KoL has contributed to the skinning community. The theme is question is the VistaXP Visual Style which is based on Longhorn build 5203. Many have tried to copy the theme but lack the crisp feel of Vista.
The theme was originally released on 17th July 2005 and is arguably the best Vista port to date. The thread here at Neowin generated more than a 1000 comments and had nearly 300,000 visitors. It has taken the company nearly 5 months to contact KoL to ask him to remove the theme. Third party law firm, Seed IP contacted KoL 2 days ago.
When questioned Francisco is defiant that this will not prevent him from creating high quality themes in the future. “They say that the themes include Microsoft UI artwork, fonts and images that are subject of copyright, trademark and trade dress. That’s true and I think they took it down because of that but also because of the popularity of the skin” he said.
Like Neowin, KoL believes Microsoft should have alerted him months before this date and should pursue others that are distributing similar themes.
Clearly over at Redmond if you’re popular then be careful, first Messenger Plus! and now a theme designer…..watch out Google!
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Is Sumner Redstone late to the digital music party, or is it just getting started? Redstone’s Viacom will find out sometime next year, when his MTV unit will roll out its long-anticipated online music service. The company officially announced Tuesday the roll out of its Urge service in 2006, but said little else about the offering, which has been in the works for years.
In the meantime, plenty of competitors have opened shop on the Internet, to mixed results. To date, digital music sales seem to work best for companies that don’t need to make money selling digital music. Apple Computer has used its store primarily as a way to push its iPods; Yahoo! has used its music-subscription service to help serve ads; and News Corp.’s MySpace simply uses lets users listen to music free of charge. Napster, the only pure-play music retailer, has yet to make a penny.
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