Apple launches Mac OS X 10.6 ‘Snow Leopard’ 

Mac OS X 10.6, code named as ‘Snow Leopard’, launched on 28^th August 2009 is claimed by Apple as the world’s most advanced operating system. Let’s find out the various small and big leaps Apple has tried to make with this OS and also the requirements a system must fulfil for you to enjoy the experience of operating system, which definitely is one of its kind. 

What’s new in the Mac OS X 10.6? 

• This new refined OS and most of the 10.6 application is compatible with 64-bit processor and is also ready to support a 16 terabyte RAM. 
• Microsoft Server Exchange support: 

1. It is very smooth and easy to connect to Microsoft Exchange server 2007 using Apple’s Mail app, taking the global address list from the Apple address book and set up meeting using the intuitive iCal.
2. Launching a mail, searching and moving a message has become twice as fast and listing the content is 4 times faster.  

• The finder is rewritten in 64-bit Cocoa making it classier with following enhancements: 

1. A customizable spotlight search option with the facility of sorting spotlight search result by name, date modified, date created, size, kind or label.
2. The item in the trash folder can be restored to the original location by selecting the item and choosing put back from the file menu.
3. We can watch a QuickTime movie preview in the icon view right in the finder.
4. Preview also provides a smart feature of previewing a file of any format like Microsoft excel, power point without having it installed in the system.
5. We can modify the default size, labelling and alignment of icons.
6. Ejecting external drives are more reliable and intelligent. Core system services like Spotlight indexing and file system events stop their work so you can remove your drive. And improved dialogs assist you in finding which applications are using the drive making it easier to know, what to close in order to safely disconnect the drive. 

• The expose, Apple’s system for finding a window on a scattered desktop, is now integrated with Dock  with the following add on:  

1. Thumbnails of all the windows, corresponding to the application that we click on the dock, opens and quickly gets unshuffled so that we can easily select the window we want to using  Tab.
2. Minimized window appears as smaller icon below the other window.
3. Windows are spring loaded so that we can drag and drop items between windows.
4. For a better and easy view of all items in the stack, stacks are now scrollable in grid view.
5. Windows are aligned in an organized grid. 

• Safari 4 : 

1. Safari in snow leopard is crash proof. If a plug-in crashes, the entire browser will not collapse.
2. The snow leopard safari has the ability to judge if a site is fraudulent or not. In case of a site being fraudulent, a warning pops up. 

• QuickTime X 

1. The interface that appears while a movie is played on the player, auto fades on moving the mouse away from the window.
2. It allows recording a video from webcam, audio and capturing the happenings on screen with few clicks. 

• The over all system related improvements : 

1. Snow Leopard makes shutting down 80% faster and waking up twice as fast also coupling it with the screen locking facility.
2. It has a smart feature that can download and update the latest driver from the internet for the new printer that we plug-in.
3. It natively supports Cisco IPSec VPN connection.
4. Snow Leopard enables Time machine to reduce the time it takes to complete the initial back up to time capsule by 80%.
5. It introduces 4 new fonts : Menlo, Heiti SC and TC , Hiragino Sans GB
6. Inclusion of Bi-directional text, a blessing for people who use Hebrew and Arabic.
7. Boot camps enable us to access the files in our Mac OS X partition from windows. 

System configuration required to support Snow Leopard: 

• Processor Type : Intel
• Min RAM size : 1GB
• Min Hard Drive space : 5GB
• Peripheral/interface device : DVD-ROM 

Pricing: 

• Intel based Mac systems, with Mac OS X 10.5 ‘Leopard’ running on it, can upgrade it to snow leopard by spending US$29 for a single user and US$49 for 5 computers that comes in a family pack.
• If you are using any of the versions older than Leopard, you need to buy a Mac Box Set which will cost $169. 

Drawback:  

One of the constraints with Snow Leopard is that it is compatible only with Intel Macs only, and for PowerPC users it’s still a distant dream. Also, a few of the test results say that it is little slower than older version of leopards. 

With Windows 7 launch in pipe line, it will be an interesting competition in the world of operating systems, and a win-win situation for all computer geeks.

Did you know that your cell phone can cause brain tumor? 

Cell-phone industry is on cloud nine with companies launching new products each day. Each passing moment is being spent on research and development to create smartphones with more user-friendly feature. Big amount of money is being spent on advertisements and the buzzing news across all ages is what’s the latest from Nokia or is iPhone better than Blackberry? 

But the underlying question is-Are we aware that this cell phone can create havoc health hazards? 

When we communicate through our mobile phones or use them to download music or while time by seeing a movie or even use it to shop around, we are in a constant process being exposed to electromagnetic radiation. A group of researchers who have teamed up with Radiation Research Trust in UK, organizations such as Powerwatch and EMR Policy Institute, US, have pointed out the glaring fact that the over the years cell phone industry has not given much attention to the threats of radiation. 

Are we not the guinea pigs who are being the subject of experiment to gauge the effects of exposure to cellphone radiation? 

Public is not informed that exposure to electromagnetic radiation from cellphone lead to increased risk of: 

• Brain tumors
• Eye Cancer
• Salivary gland tumors
• Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
• Leukemia
• Testicular cancer  

It has been also reported that children are more prone to brain tumor than adults, while the telecom industry undermines this glaring reality. 

The arguing facts that make headlines is cell phone has ushered a whole new era of communication and its advantages always outweigh the ill effects. There exist opiniated views that argue cellphones kept closer to ears might be the leading cause of these problems, so the companies have launched hands-free mobile devices. Last but not the least, today’s people strives for a smarter life besieged with harmful gadgets than leading a complete healthy life. 

But still I would request one and all to lessen the use of mobile phones and to keep in mind this truth while using them. 

Arguable points are always welcome!   Also check if you are suffering from ‘NOMOPHOBIA”

Why not make international calls using Skype phone? 

In this time of global slowdown, layoffs, bailout and slipping profits of companies, it is Cost Cut that is the buzz word. If your idea saves few more dollars you can not only keep your job secure but can also get a promotion to become the CFO… what say? 

Well, most companies pay a huge sum in the rising international phone bills. As travel is cut down, video conferencing is in and moreover with world transforming into a global village you are constantly interdependent on your counterparts located thousands of miles away to get your business done and projects delivered on time. Besides emails, you need to talk and that’s where you can cut costs and save few bucks. 

Belkin has come out with landline Skype phone and cordless Skype phone. What you need to use them? Just install a wireless router in your office or home. If the phone can detect a Wi-Fi network; it would automatically get logged into your Skype account. Did you know that a wireless router will not cost you more than Rs1500? 

So, once you are logged into your Skype account you can dial in the mobile number of the Skype number of the person you wish to talk in overseas. Via Skype the call rate is as cheap as a penny. Yes. Using your Skype account you can speak to the person overseas at Re1 per minute. However, don’t try to make STD calls using your Skype mobile as it is very expensive and hence out of feasibility box. 

But, in India, major drawback of using Skype phone is the scarcity of Wi-Fi zones. 

The Belkin landline phone is priced at Rs 7,300 whereas the mobile Skype phone will cost you Rs.9,712. The advantage of this phone is the mobility factor and ease of usage. Additionally with Belkin’s Skype phone one also gets 30 minutes of free calling from your Skype account. The flipside to this phone is that it is not possible for this phone to work on other VoIP platforms, besides the battery power which is very low and gets discharged easily.

So, make the most out of such economical options and stay better connected to run your business. Keep reading and commenting …

Pi : Its longest calculation ever by Japanese Super Computer

The new value of Pi is 2,576,980,370,000 decimal places long. T2K-Tsukuba System, a supercomputer at the University of Tsukuba, Northeast of Tokyo takes the credit of setting a world record for calculating the value of Pi to more than 2.5 trillion decimal places beating the previous record of more than 1.2 trillion places, set in 2002 by a team from University of Tokyo and Hitachi.

This supercomputer is comprised of 640  Quadra-Core AMD Opteron processors and processing speed of 95 Trillion floating-point operations per second. It took 73 hours and 36 minutes (including verification time) to calculate this value which is 8 times faster than the previous record(600 hrs for calculating 1.2 trillion decimal places).

Daisuke Takahashi, Associate Professor of Centre for Computational Sciences wrote the two programs for this calculation.

This is yet another step towards exploring the endless value of the geometrical constant and a way of testing the super computer.

ZUNE HD :  Microsoft’s answer to Apple’s iPod touch

Microsoft is all set to make its presence felt in the portable digital media player market with the launch of its touch screen mp3 player named Zune HD on 15^th September 2009.

credit: cnet.com

This sleek and stylish gadget is loaded with some serious high end features like:

• HD radio in this device is considered as the biggest breakthrough in portable media players with
• The OLED  3.3– inch glass touch screen, 16:9 display(480X272 pixel resolution) that it possesses, promises you an unparalleled entertainment experience using less power
• For people who enjoy big screen viewing, it is possible to connect Zune HD to a HD TV in 720 p through a HDMI A/V docking station(Separately available).
• First time in the Zune series of mp3 players, there is a web browser, Internet Explorer Mobile 6, packed with tap-to-zoom technology, Qwerty Keyboard and a built in accelerometer, which enables you to have a perfect full screen browsing experience
• It is powered by a Nvidia Tegra processor and supported by Windows CE operating system.
• Zune HD is wifi enabled supporting instant streaming from enormous tracks on zune music store
• It takes 3 hrs to charge when done through PC and 2 hrs when done through AC adapters.
• The 16GB model will be black in colour and 32-GB in platinum for pre-orders and later many more colours are expected to join the league.

Let’s see how and why it might prove as a tough competition for Apple’s iPod, the unquestioned leader:

For the gadget freaks who are getting impatient to have hands-on the device, they can go ahead and do so in a Best Buy store on August 22^nd and August 23^rd and pay $25 for a pre-order. Also it is open for pre-orders since August 13, 2009 in Best Buy, Walmart, Amazon and Microsoft.

Check out the cool one … wait for few days !

Warren Buffet: The greatest investor ever

credit: topnews

 The greatest investor ever in the history, world’s second richest man (according  to Forbes richest men as of February 13th 2009)  with a wealth of worth $37 billion, his company Berkshire Hathaway owns 63 companies, and yet he lives in a  (considering his stature) 5 bedroom flat in Omaha, Nebraska which he bought in 1958 for $31,500 after his marriage, he still drives his own car, he does not fly in a private jet ( as reported in 2006), took home a mere salary of US $1,75,000 in 2008 and there are endless stories that illuminates his simplicity.

We are talking about Warren Edward Buffet, the CEO( of Berkshire Hathaway),  the investor, the philanthropist, called the ‘Oracle of Ohama’, the second child and only son born to Howard Buffet, elected as a congress man and mother Leila Buffet, on August 30, 1930 in Ohama, Nebraska. His initial education was done in Woodrow Wilson High School, Washington D.C. 

Chronology: Warren Buffet’s Life 

His Education:

• 1947-1949: He joined The Wharton School, Pennsylvania for a degree in Economics.
• 1950: He took a transfer to University of Nebraska where he got B.S in economics.
• 1950-51: He registered for a M.S in Economics at Columbia Business School only after he came to know about Benjamin Graham ( The author of intelligent investor) and David Dodd, two famous securities analyst, taught there. And later Benjamin Graham became his mentor 

His Professional Career: 

• 1951 – 1954:  He was employed as an investment salesman at Buffet – Falk & Co
• 1954 – 1956: Then he worked at Graham Newman Corp, New York as securities analyst.
• 1956 – 1969: A crucial time, when he set afloat a partnership investment company called Buffet Partnership Ltd. Getting an initial investment of around $100,000 from his family and friends. It was a huge success with a capitol of $300,000 after 1^st year.
• 1969 onward: Around 1962, Buffet Partnership Ltd. invested in one of the textile companies called Berkshire Hathaway and slowly by 1970 this company was liquidated and turned into an investment business. By 1969 Buffet Partnership Ltd was also liquidated.  

The success story of Berkshire Hathaway still continues with its few major stock holdings being: 

1. GEICO (100%)
2. Applied Underwriters (100%)
3. Kansas Bankers Surety Company (100%)
4. Net Jets (100%)
5. The Buffalo News (100%)
6. Acme Brick Company ( 100%)
7. Dairy Queen (100%)
8. Wesco Fin Corp (80.1%)
9. Comdisco ( 38%)
10. Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation (22.58%)
11. The Washington Post Company (18.38%)
12. USG Corp (17.21%)
13. Moody’s Corp (16.93%)
14. American Express (12.75%)
15. Carmax (10%)
16. The Coca-Cola (8.6%)
17. Kraft Foods (8.1%) 

There are around 40 companies which is completely owned (100%) by Berkshire Hathaway. 

His Personal Life: 

• 1952 – He got married to Susan Thompson and had three children Susan Alice Buffet, Howard Graham Buffet, Peter Andrew Buffet.
• 1977 – The couple decided to stay separately, though they remained married till Warren’s wife, Susan Buffet’s death due to stroke in 2004.
• 2006 – He married Astrid Menks (63 then), his companion since long. Susan Buffet arranged their meeting before she left in 1977. 

Warren Buffet: Reasons why he is a CEO with a difference  

• The generous philanthropist he is, Buffet announced in 2006 that he will donate 83% of his wealth to Bill & Melinda Gates foundation. His children would not inherit a great part of his wealth.
• He donates $12 million every year to Buffet Foundation, a charity foundation that he started
• He auctioned his car Lincoln Town Car to raise money for Girls Inc (A foundation run by his daughter Susan in Omaha), also he auctioned a luncheon with himself for a charity.
• He is working with Christopher Webber and Andy Heyward, DiC Entertainment on an animation series that will teach children good financial habit for a healthy and wealthy life.
• He was recognized as the top money manager of twentieth century by Carson group. 

Small revelations about Warren Buffet: 

• He is a fierce bridge player and makes it a point to play bridge for 12 hours a week. He usually plays with Bill gates and Sharon Osberg (He learnt the game from her).
• He bought his first share at the age of 11.
• He bought a small farm at age of 14 with savings from delivering newspaper.

Steve Ballmer: The CEO of Microsoft Corp

credit: Microsoft

Steven Anthony Ballmer, popularly known as Steve Ballmer, took the command of the software Giant Microsoft Corporation in his hand as CEO on January 13, 2000. Let’s take a sneak-peak into the life of yet another multi billionaire Steve (considering Steve jobs, Steve Wozniak, Steve Spielberg, Steve Gerrard, Steve Waugh and many more) who has made it big in life…

 His early years… 

Steve Ballmer was born on March 24, 1956, to Frederic Henry Ballmer, a Swiss (who worked as manager in Ford Motors in Belgium) and Beatrice Dworkin, a Jewish American. He spent his childhood in Farmington Hills, Michigan, Detroit completing his schooling from Detroit Country Day School.  

He got into Harvard University, winning a scholarship for the same with a perfect 800 in mathematics in SAT, and completed his Bachelor’s in mathematics and economics in 1977. Not only was he a mathematics geek, he also managed the football team; he was the advertising manager of The Harvard Crimson Newspaper and The Harvard Advocate. It was Harvard University where he became friends with his dorm mate Bill Gates.  

His life after College:

He worked for two years (1977-79) as assistant Product Manager at Proctor & Gamble and then he decided to go for an MBA in Stanford Graduate School of Business. But soon, after a year he quit MBA to join Microsoft Corp, founded by his friend Bill Gates.

His tryst with Microsoft began on June 11, 1980, as its 24^th employee and also as the first Business Manager in company’s history. He was offered a salary of $50,000 and some percentage of ownership of the company. This dynamic leader headed several departments and projects in MS like Operating Systems Development, sales and support, operations. Eventually on January 13, 2000 he was made the CEO of Microsoft and Bill Gates stepped down as the over all lead. 

Some interesting facts and figures about Steve Ballmer: 

1. His annual compensation: $ 1,350, 834 (Rs 6, 75, 41,700).
2. He has served as board of directors for :
   • Accenture Ltd
   • Accenture SCA
   • Detroit Country Day School
3. He is the 43^rd richest man in world according to Forbes 2008 World’s Richest People Ranking with a mammoth wealth of $11 billion in his name.
4. He is also famous for reasons with a difference, like for screaming the word ‘developers’ continuously in the developer’s conference and acting crazy by screaming and jumping on a presentation. To have a look at these you can click on the links below : 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvsboPUjrGc&feature=related 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8To-6VIJZRE 

Awards and Recognition:

1. He was honoured with a citizenship of Lausen, Switzerland on October 4, 2007.
2. He is named Cannes lions Media Person of the Year 2009

 Personal Life: 

This Flamboyant Jewish American CEO is married to Connie Snyder since 1990 (She was in Microsoft’s PR team in 80s) and the couple has three sons.He also plans to own NBA in partnership with his colleague Paul Allen(another Microsoft big shot).  He along with Bill Gates shares the honour of being with Microsoft Corp for the longest duration.