Google Delivers Offline Access for Gmail

Google will begin to offer browser-based offline access to its Gmail Webmail application, a much-awaited feature. This functionality, which will allow people to use the Gmail interface when disconnected from the Internet, has been expected since mid-2007.

That's when Google introduced Gears, a browser plug-in designed to provide offline access to Web-hosted applications like Gmail. Gears is currently used for offline access to several Web applications from Google, like the Reader RSS manager and the Docs word processor, and from other providers like Zoho, which uses it for offline access to its e-mail and word processing browser-based applications.

Google ruled out the option of letting users replicate their entire Gmail inboxes to their PCs, which in many cases would translate into gigabytes of data flowing to people's hard drives. It instead developed algorithms that will automatically determine which messages should be downloaded to PCs, taking into consideration a variety of factors that reflect their level of importance to the user. At this point, end-users will not be able to tweak these settings manually.

To activate the offline functionality, users of standalone Gmail service and the standard Apps edition should click "settings" after logging on to their Gmail account. There, they should click on the "Labs" tab, select "Enable" next to "Offline Gmail" and click "Save Changes." A new "Offline" link will then appear in the right-hand corner of the account interface. Users of the Education and Premier Apps versions will have to wait for their Apps administrators to enable Gmail Labs for everyone on the domain first.

Google is also rolling out Gears-based offline access for its Calendar application. However, it will be for now read-only and exclusively available to Google Apps account holders. Previously, Google introduced read-only offline access to the Spreadsheet and Presentation applications in Google Docs, which is also part of Google Apps.

Internet Users Now Number 1 Billion

Ever wondered "how many internet users are there in the world"? Now we have an answer. The total global Internet audience surpassed 1 billion visitors in December 2008, based on data from the comScore World Metrix audience measurement service.

The Asia-Pacific region accounted for the highest share of global Internet users at 41 percent, followed by Europe (28 percent share), North America (18 percent share), Latin-America (7 percent share), and the Middle East & Africa (5 percent share).

The group is made up of people aged 15 and older, using home and work computers. It excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.

China represented the largest online audience in the world in December 2008 with 180 million Internet users, representing nearly 18 percent of the total worldwide Internet audience, followed by the US (16.2 percent share), Japan (6 percent share), Germany (3.7 percent share) and the UK (3.6 percent share).

"It is a monument to the increasingly unified global community in which we live and reminds us that the world truly is becoming more flat. The second billion will be online before we know it, and the third billion will arrive even faster than that, until we have a truly global network of interconnected people and ideas that transcend borders and cultural boundaries."

Top 15 countries by Internet audience, ranked by total unique visitors, December 2008

1.   China: 179,710,000
2.   United States: 163,300,000
3.   Japan: 59,993,000
4.   Germany: 36,992,000
5.   United Kingdom: 36,664,000
6.   France: 34,010,000
7.   India: 32,099,000
8.   Russia: 28,998,000
9.   Brazil: 27,688,000
10. South Korea: 27,254,000
11. Canada: 21,809,000
12. Italy: 20,780,000
13. Spain: 17,893,000
14. Mexico: 12,486,000
15.Netherlands: 11,812,000

Tax Bill - humor

Dear Internal Revenue Service: Enclosed you will find my 2005 tax return showing that I owe $3,407.00 in taxes. Please note the attached article from the USA Today newspaper, dated 12 November, wherein you will see the Pentagon (Department of Defense) is paying $171.50 per hammer and NASA has paid $600.00 per toilet seat. I am enclosing four (4) toilet seats (valued @ $2,400) and six (6) hammers valued @ $1,029), which I secured at Home Depot, bringing my total remittance to $3,429.00. Please apply the overpayment of $22.00 to the "Presidential Election Fund," as noted on my return. You can do this inexpensively by sending them one (1) 1.5 " Phillips Head screw (see aforementioned article from USA Today newspaper detailing how H.U.D. pays $22.00 each for 1.5" Phillips Head Screws). One screw is enclosed for your convenience. It has been a pleasure to pay my tax bill this year, and I look forward to paying it again next year. Sincerely, A Satisfied Taxpayer

Loadshedding, 8-cell x 2 batteries and NFS Undercover

De facto, this post is a merge of unpublished Updates from the poorest country of the world where the loadshedding, bandhs and political chaos could not make Nepal more poorer than this as there's no available lower limit of peace, prosperity and the development.

नेपाली पारा क्या काइदा शायद फाईदा होला यो, अब २४ घन्टे दिनमा १२ १६ घण्टा अन्धकारमा बस्ने भएपछी हामी म नेपाली आफ्नो पहिचान र भोटप्रती आसन्कित हुन बिबस छौ छु ।

The three trio of now-a-days agenda of mine. In a single instant, while the loadshedding persist I could still enjoy, not without 8-cell x 2 batteries, NFS Undercover letting federal units down, crashing and blasting the choppers, hurray!

Time to do everything oneself, Mr Prime Minister and the Government is a dead-alive 5th bonanza of a long awaited constructive competition of we-poor Nepalese. When is the boon going to Undercover the nation to a 5$ increased GDP.

Taking your typing skills into action: building better typing speed and accuracy

For most of the time or the early computer users would like to enhance their typing speeds. Typo errors are to be meant when dealing with any touch typing programs. Even those which claim to be the best may not always deliver the same, opt for the one that meets your criteria of Basic, Advanced or Professional touch typing things.

Here's few points on how to increase/better typing speed and accuracy

• During the first days your typing speed is probably still quite moderate, so give yourself some extra time for your typing tasks.
• It's extremely essential that you learn the positions of the letter keys and common punctuation by heart- that may refer to more practicing. Ensure the keyboard is of your desired category- QWERTY OR AZERTY OR ....
• Continue to pay attention to good accuracy. It is much easier to learn error-free typing right away than it is to unlearn poor typing habits.
• Use your touch typing skills regularly to strengthen them and gain speed. After a week, you should already be typing quite smoothly and within a month you will reach full speed. And even after that you should continue to notice improvements.
• To avoid physical strain, try to remember to keep a good posture and take regular breaks to relax your hands, arms and eyes- follow Ergonomics.
• For better performance, set your goals of Typing Speed in wpm- words per minute or cpm- characters per minute(cpm though not always recommended) and accuracy in order of 100%. Revise difficult keys and review progress reports time by time.

Many assistant programs such as TypingMaster Satellite which gathers personal learning and typing behaviors- analyzes typing in other programs if you're a frequent typing person. 

Having been finished the basic accuracy building course from any good typing tutor program, it comes later with the additional typing coursed which can efficiently improves speed and extend skills to cover the whole keyboard. This may include but not limited to- Speed Building course, numbers course at the top row including 10-key number pad, special marks course including exclamations, and so on.

Web-based Office to Get Edit Online Function from Microsoft

Microsoft has announced it will begin a public beta test of web-based office applications in a bid to rival Google Docs. The web-based applications will be delivered through Office Live Workspace and will allow users to create and edit new documents online from within a web browser, said Justin Hutchinson, group product manager for Microsoft's Office Client division.

That's a significant change from the capabilities in the beta of Live Workspace, which was launched last March. This requires users to create new documents in the desktop versions of Word, PowerPoint and Excel on their PC and then save them to the web, where they are stored on Microsoft servers. Others can view the documents online, but editing them requires downloading them to a PC and opening them in Office.

It contrasts with online suites such as Google Docs and Zoho, where the entire process of creating, saving and editing documents is done from inside a browser. Live Workspace marked the first tentative steps by Microsoft to put its lucrative Office franchise on the web. More than 1.5 million people have signed up for the beta since it was released, said Michael Schultz, director of product management and marketing for Office Live Small Business. Microsoft is currently testing a 'technical preview' of the Office web applications, which will allow users to create new documents online without needing to have Office on their PC. The web applications - Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote - include a task ribbon similar to that in Office that lets people 'lightly edit' from inside their browser, including formatting text and tables.

Microsoft plans to roll out a beta of the web applications to Live Workspace testers later this year, though it won't say exactly when or how many people will be allowed to test them. Nor would it say how many are testing the technical preview that came out a few months ago, but it is likely to be a small number. Neither Schultz nor Hutchinson described the Office web applications as a rival to Google Docs, and Microsoft positions its online tools differently. While Google sees online applications as a way to free users from the desktop entirely, Microsoft sees them as a complement to Office in its 'software plus services' model.

Kate Winslet Wins Best Actress at the 2009 Golden Globes

Kate took home the Best Actress award for her part in “Revolutionary Road,” and gave an acceptance speech that will probably be remembered as the most heartfelt, unscripted and off the wall in the history of the awards ceremony. That same night, Winslet picked up yet another accolade, for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture for her part in “The Reader.”

The Golden Globes are watched annually by millions of visitors, being held as the clearest indicator of what we’re to expect from the Academy Awards. Whether Kate Winslet will get to take home an Oscar for Best Actress remains to be seen.

Sticky Notes, Future Posts and Blogger in draft for better blogging experience

Not that more posts better blog. Own zeal and framework for eol blogging, I post nearly about everything- not judging that often the post articles about tech jargons and socio-political issues in here. This is how supposedly Ekendra's  blog is to go on for ever, at least with me. More personal means lesser visits, more bakwash means more critics and better PR. Here's in brief about few days pattern for my better blogging concept.

Having been read the About Web Logs by Susan Gunelius of about.com, Sticky Notes are my- a part of the time frame. I used them like never before, jot anything--virtually anything that hit my mind, post them just ahead in walls, scrutinize them, sort for better concepts inside them, finally make a mood to use a long titles (I usually prefer to use long titles for this blog), fill few paragraphs on the compose area of Windows Live Writer. And here comes a neat, words-connected-sentences-forming-a-no-none-sense blog post. This is a live example.

Once in a while, sticky notes was just as was, useless makeup. With immense use of sticky notes, now I get my everything (if not almost many) in a sensible-bit of organization. Similarly, Future Posts by Google's Blogger is another key point so as to frequently update posts(frequent update here means Google bots could read me out, and none except few humans) making the world of blogosphere existence of Ekendra's blog.

Sometimes, future dates could be so helpful -- like in this blog Thursday Humors were out for almost 4 months before they would appear for bots. I, however, use them for not more than a span of a week or two. This is a good blogging instant of mine- I guess.

Blogger in draft, in my view, is far better than the regular ada ada of plain Blogger. Once it loads, Ajax Scripts(I guess) would do enough work without CPU efficiency for things to go with blogger post. However, if Windows Live Writer would do me a favor, I'd almost quite Blogger in draft screen that's Blogger Dashboard for any new postings.

With this end of Sticky notes, I am relieve of some few posts, I wouldn't be sort of posts. It wouldn't be months before I post them, except when there's no Internet Limited Connectivity from NTC.

Posts You Might Live to Go Thru:

• Errors in Windows Live Writer while publishing blog posts in Blogger
• Better Blogging Guide- my personal review
• Convert video to any format using Xilisoft PSP Video Converter
• Shrinking a partition by using the GUI Shrinking a Partition in Windows Vista 2008

Nepal is not that unPopular... Nepal Series Unlimited...

Last month Sameer told me that MTV India ticker said:

Onward next week, 12 hours a week loadshedding (power cut) will be effective in Nepal. Had this been in India, what were you supposed to do? Option a. b. c. d. Send us your opinion in SMS....

Nepal, once a little Himalayan Kingdom-- now most probably the brave Himalayan Republic, has go enough attention from its neighbor nations. Why not? One wants to give 200Megawatt electricity power whereas the other rejects. One says he is willing to help Nepal both financially and politically but the other has the problem. This is always a case and this is just a simple example. China-India relation to Nepal is that of Tom and Jerry. Republic, democratic and sociopath and communism... still an enormous dilemma for Nepal.

Yesternite, when watching Discovery Travel and Living, I came to know of Nepalese Yak Cheese. Among world's top 5 cheese, Nepalese Yak Cheese is a kind of its own. Its so popular among foreigners and taste makers, whereas in the origination country Nepal I never heard of that- or its none in the demand. They just call it chhurpi- another product of Yak milk.

Again comes MTV India making another ticker - Love in Nepal with respect to Sonu Nigam. Again comes other Indian Movie television channels, Nepalese Gundas(villains) are very popular with dwarpals. However, they call in special negative heroes from Nepal, in many demanded movies, to act the force. Who says Nepalese are not popular?

Loadshedding- an oldies topics, Nepalese Politics- the same scenario- its sometimes our turns or yours but let's eat all the national property, Nepalese Mountaineering- still not that touched by addicts (administration) and long live poor us Nepalis getting poorer day by day. (Please, Google search for the world's most poorest countries- Nepal is in the top of the list.)

A cup of tea- for Internet sees NO difference between Mountain View CA and Masbar NP

This post is the pure dedication for the obvious reasons. Bona fide writing are done injustice, at least for me. Last time, I had to privatize my blog owing to all 18(approx calculations) visits per day just from the same person, I didn't bother to browse but Why? Simply, I restricted the access. (Not a first time experience, I let them do so.)

It was Mountain View user(s)- searching or analyzing Warner Music case with YouTube and other associated or none posts. Was it Google? I am not suppose to know about for the smallest payout of G Ads that deliver to my blog. Alas! I am in Masbar- one of the poorest lands in the whole world(I pride on saying this), Internet is a far-approach access let alone some needs of daily calories, commuters, humdrum moments, edge cutting and guessing speeches of the leaders, and much more to list about. Yet, I love it, I need to.

For a cup of tea in Nepal, I had to give up a cup of Espresso in CA. I mean to say blogging is just a hobby of mine- now-- it used to be an obsession. Blogging of bucks is not what I ever oriented to be or a pro like posts. It's a passion, a compassion and flourishing but bleached vibrations in my neurons. Will Mountain View if compared to Masbar, yield a justifiable outcome? I have no options, but wait for at least my entire life time. Internet is a no-heard or if not rare-of-use thing here in my place.

Wireless or 3G is of no use, rather go to attend a press conference on aborting and stopping a High Level Commission for (Information) Technology Development where a leader, of course neither the responsible official nor the Science & Tech Ministry will respond to the speech by another Maoist leader. Trying to be more specific but yet a Nepali.

Microsoft's Zune Chokes on Leap-Year Bug

Microsoft's Zune 30GB music player just wasn't ready for a leap year. That's what owners of the devices discovered Wednesday morning when they awoke to find their players frozen and unworkable.

The problem turned out to be "a bug in the internal clock driver related to the way the device handles a leap year," Microsoft Zune spokesman Matt Akers said in a posting to Zune forums Wednesday. The issue does not affect all Zune players, but all models of the Zune 30GB are potentially affected, he said.

Zune is Microsoft's alternative to Apple's popular iPod devices. The bug disabled the players on Dec. 31, the last day of a leap year. Microsoft expects that the bug will resolve itself by Thursday Jan. 1, when the device's internal clock will reset itself.

"By tomorrow you should allow the battery to fully run out of power before the unit can restart successfully then simply ensure that your device is recharged, then turn it back on," Akers said. "If you’re a Zune Pass subscriber, you may need to sync your device with your PC to refresh the rights to the subscription content you have downloaded to your device."

For those who can't wait that long, Microsoft support engineer Corey Gouker has posted instructions on how to fix the problem on his personal blog. But he doesn't recommend that people follow them, as they involve opening the player, which voids the warranty.

Microsoft says it will issue a bugfix for the device so that this problem won't re-occur in 2012, the next leap year.

ASUS launches new PDA Phone - P565

ASUS introduced the launch of the ASUS P565, a business PDA phone that boasts an 800 MHz processor. The PDA features ASUS' latest touch-driven user interface – Glide. The press release claims that the P565 delivers graphics and system performance that is higher than anything else in the market at present, posting Vsbenchmark scores almost two times that of competing products in its class. Its feature set includes a 2.8" touch screen running at a high resolution of 480 x 640 pixels. The ASUS P565 is GPS enabled with SatNav's SatGuide map pre-loaded on it.

The phone works with HSDPA 3.6Mbps, UMTS 2100, EDGE/GPRS/GSM 900/1800/1900, Class 10 networks, runs Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, and weighs 120 grams with battery,  Your browser may not support display of this image.Gliding to New Heights of Productivity.

The coupling of an 800 MHz processor and Glide—an innovative touch-responsive user interface exclusive to select ASUS PDA phones—makes for a powerful, productivity-boosting combination. The fast processor renders the P565 particularly amenable to multitasking, while Glide enables users to switch between tasks rapidly with their fingertips. The P565 also comes with a potent suite of business-oriented features and software, including push mail, business card recognition and Microsoft Office Mobile. Other useful applications such as Anytime Launcher and Multi-Home enable users to view their calendars, the times of local and visiting cities, weather reports, online news and much more—all with an intuitive tap, slide or flick of their fingers.

GPS Navigation
ASUS P565 has the GPS feature in-built and the navigation maps on the memory card are powered by SatNav Technologies. This gives the individual information of 200+ cities and also 1.5 million destinations to choose from.

Browse the detail datasheet at PDADataBase here.

Download Opera Mini 4.2 for your cell phone now!

With feature loaded version, Opera Mini 4.2 is a must have for your mobile phone. Downloading for specific handsets is available example for touchscreen sets specified files need to be downloaded. Learn more about Opera Mini features.

The world’s most popular mobile Web browser with over 20 million users is none other than Opera Mini. Here are some of the most deserved features of this best browser Opera Mini 4.2 general version:

• Synchronize your bookmarks, speed dial and note (with full version of Opera or other versions)
• Skins (new feature that let's you select skin for your Opera)
• Auto-complete web address
• Find in page (finding inside the browsed page made easy)
• Save browsed pages (If your phone supports JSR-75, you can save Web pages.)
• Upload and Download files (Again if your phone supports JSR-75, you can upload or download files/pics/data files directly from Opera Mini)
• View pages in landscape mode (the same best thing in Opera mini * and # thing)
• Create a custom search! (Create your own web search from any search field on the Internet)
• Faster scrolling with keypads (the same best thing of 2, 4, 6, 8)
• Resizing too wide pages (wrapping text)
• Additional functionality via the context menu

The official website www.opera.com/mini says- Full Web: Opera Mini enables you to take your full Web experience to your phone. Fast: Faster mobile internet as data is compressed before being sent to your phone. Free: Opera Mini is free to download. It is the definitive mobile web browser. Opera Mini is built for speed. Web pages are compressed by up to 90% of its orginal size for speed, saving your time & money. On phones with JSR-75, Opera Mini lets you save pages for offline viewing so you can quickly access and read your desired Web content, even when you’re on a plane, in the subway, or in other places where you can’t get network reception. Depending on your phone, you may need to choose a destination folder for storing pages for offline viewing

Do You know of the Privacy in the Opera Mini browser?

Surprisingly Opera Mini keeps a record of the user's phone number, make, and model for use with maintaining the history, cache and cookies. They say that this is done for the purposes of debugging, maintenance, optimization of the service, or maintaining the customer relationship.

Nintendo's Wii to get video channel in 2009

Nintendo plans to launch a video channel for its Wii console in 2009. The service, which will be launched in collaboration with advertising agency Dentsu, will initially be available in Japan only where it is expected to launch in the "spring" and be available at no charge. A premium service for which users will be required to pay for content is likely to launch in the middle of the year, Nintendo said. Launch plans for other markets are still under consideration, it said.

The service will focus on family-orientated content as another pillar of Nintendo's drive to encourage interaction between family members around its console. The majority of the 34.6 million Wii consoles sold -- around 80 percent according to company figures -- are hooked-up to living room TVs. However, only 40 percent are connected to the Internet.

In offering video, Nintendo is mirroring Sony and Microsoft, both of which have already started video services. But unlike its rivals, Nintendo's channel differs in its original-content focus. The Sony and Microsoft channels offer programming from TV and Internet sites and motion pictures.

Few other details were offered about the channel and its content although a single screenshot provided by Nintendo shows four family members depicted by their "Mii" avatars sitting around a living room table drinking tea while a TV set in the background shows Wii Fit.

Programming on the service will consist of entirely new shows including cartoons, the Nikkei business daily reported on Thursday. The newspaper pegged an overseas launch for later in 2009.

• Official website of Nintendo Wii: http://www.nintendo.com/wii
• News from http://pcworld.in/india/news/5832801/Communications/Nintendo

Wikipedia Wants Your Money to Make it a Go

Most probably this is not the first time Wikipedia- The Free Encyclopedia is asking for monetary help to make the fund go on so as to survive it's board of 23 staffers. This time Wikipedia's dad, Jimmy Wales made a personal appeal for more donations, obviously to keep the encyclopedia and its employees going.

It's been apparent that most of the donations appear to range from $10 to $50, and some of the donors have added comments along with the cash. Some of the comments are really surprising while others usual ada ada.

"I love Wikipedia because it makes me appear smarter." Not be smarter, just look smarter. Because ultimately isn't that what people really want?

The shameless appeal for money has opened up the Wiki-peeps to yet more criticism, the primary complaints being a) why don't they just run ads like the rest of us poor blogging schlubs? and b) why should these 23 folks take home paychecks and not the 150,000 or so obsessive-compulsive types who actually create and maintain the encyclopedia?

Evaluate your blog or Website today for free!

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  Websiteoutlook is the perfect place to evaluate any website. When choosing to buy or sell a website having the proper information about your investment can be crucial to your success. Websiteoutlook is dedicated to finding all pertinent information that may pertain to your personal interest. And it's FREE! We hope that you find Websiteoutlook helpful and that you will return when you need us again. The information offered by Websiteoutlook is not guaranteed to be 100% Accurate and is offered as reference only. Further research and conformation of claims are advised before any substantial investment.

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