Opera 10 Arrives as Promised

Opera, on Tuesday, released the final version of the browser - Opera 10. One of the novel cosmetic changes in this version of Opera is the Visual Tabs. Wrapped in a fresh look and promising faster web experience, Opera 10 is available for download for Windows, Macand Linux platforms in 43 languages here -www.opera.com/browser/download/. Opera 10 will compete with Firefox 3.5, Google Chrome 2 (Chrome 3.0 is for developers at the moment), Safari 4.x and Internet Explorer 8.

Last week, Opera had released the Opera 10 release candidate with some cosmetic changes and bug fixes. And now this final build of Opera 10 brings several reasons to use the browser or at least give it a try.

The succeeding version Opera 10.10 is expected to bring Opera Unite feature. Opera Unite feature converts a computer into web serveraccessible via the Opera browser.

Let's take a quick look at the features offered in Opera 10.

Opera Turbo:
Based on Opera's new data and image compression technology, Opera Turbo promises to offer increased Internet browsing experience without any hiccups. Opera's Proxy servers are used for data and image compression for managing the Internet bandwidth to suit the users' needs even at crawling network speeds.

Inline Spell check:
Spelling errors can now be corrected quickly since Opera 10 shows dotted lines for all text input fields giving an option to fix it. The spell checker can be disabled or re-enabled from the context menu, which shows up after right-clicking to a text field and uses US English dictionary by default.

Configurable Speed Dial:
Speed dial is an array of configurable shortcuts that allows storing directly access to favorite web pages from 4 to 25 boxes. Also, users can add custom background of their choice in the Speed Dial page.

Auto Update:
From now on Opera 10 will automatically download all the future updates from Opera as and when they're made available. There's also a feature to automatically install updates.

Faster rendering engine:
New Opera Presto 2.2 engine in Opera 10 is claimed to be 40 per cent faster on resource intensive pages such as Gmail and Facebook. Opera boasts this browser to be ready for next generation of web applications.

Visual Tabs:
The Tab bar of Opera 10 can show thumbnails of the open pages in the form of visual tabs. Also, the tab position can be changed by right-clicking on the Tab bar and choose Tab Bar Placement to place in on Top, Bottom, Left or Right.

Read more about the new features and changes in the Opera 10 in changes log.

Cosmetically, Opera 10 looks sleek and renders the web pages faster. Go download the Opera 10 for your system.

PS3 Firmware 3.0 Now Live

Sony today released firmware 3.0 for the PlayStation 3 gaming console. This firmware 3.0 was demonstrated and detailed during the GamesCon 2009.
To download the new PS 3 update, go to the 'System Update' in the PlayStation 3's XMB (Xross Media Bar). Along with support for new avatars and XMB themes, this firmware also has Slim PS3's new logo and is being looked upon as a significant update for bringing more improvements.

Features mentioned earlier like the redesigned status indicator, Friends list, "What's New" section, PSN Shortcuts, themes-avatars and better trophies management are included in this update. Apart from these features, other changes were observed in the PlayStation 3 System interface.

• New slim PS3 logo on startup
• Copy-Paste function for web browser and messages
• Audio can be outsourced to multiple connectors from Settings> Sound Settings > Audio Multi Output
• Speed of Internet connection can be tested from Network Settings> Internet Connection Test
• Web Browser Screenshot can be saved by pressing Triangle button in Internet Browser and go to File> Save a screenshot
• Device such as a PSP can be manually set for Remote Play
• Right direction analog control can be used for slow playback, fast forward or fast reverse during video playback

PS3 Firmware 3.0 Now Live

Sony today released firmware 3.0 for the PlayStation 3 gaming console. This firmware 3.0 was demonstrated and detailed during the GamesCon 2009.
To download the new PS 3 update, go to the 'System Update' in the PlayStation 3's XMB (Xross Media Bar). Along with support for new avatars and XMB themes, this firmware also has Slim PS3's new logo and is being looked upon as a significant update for bringing more improvements.

Features mentioned earlier like the redesigned status indicator, Friends list, "What's New" section, PSN Shortcuts, themes-avatars and better trophies management are included in this update. Apart from these features, other changes were observed in the PlayStation 3 System interface.

• New slim PS3 logo on startup
• Copy-Paste function for web browser and messages
• Audio can be outsourced to multiple connectors from Settings> Sound Settings > Audio Multi Output
• Speed of Internet connection can be tested from Network Settings> Internet Connection Test
• Web Browser Screenshot can be saved by pressing Triangle button in Internet Browser and go to File> Save a screenshot
• Device such as a PSP can be manually set for Remote Play
• Right direction analog control can be used for slow playback, fast forward or fast reverse during video playback

Apple's Announces iPod Event Date

Apple has finally passed on an email confirming 'Rock and Roll event' for media on Sept 9 at the Yerba Buena Center for Arts, San Francisco. Apple's keynote will take place on an interesting date - 09/09/09 (Sept. 9, 2009). Speculation is rife that Apple may introduce the new iPod Touch with camera family after the purported images were leaked recently.
Apple's email invite has a silhouette of girl dancing over tunes on iPod Touch. The image carries a tagline - "It's only rock and roll, but we like it". Apple may announce Project Cocktail, a special bundle of Interactive music content. Same day The Beatles: Rock Band game for PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii is expected to be launched along with re-mastered original music.

Rumours also indicate that The Beatles band members Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr will perform on stage with Apple folks to launch The Beatles music in high-quality format on iTunes.

Last month, slew of iTunes 9 screenshots leaks indicated Blu-ray support and social media integration.

So, let's wait for the Sept 9 to find out what Apple has in store for us!

Send Free SMS This Onam!

Considering the festive season in India just doesn't end, we're listing a few websites that allow you to send free text messages to convey the season's greetings to friends, family, or even strangers - hey, it's free! So, start wishing your friends a Happy Onam now through these free services!
iBibo

iBibo allows users to start sending free SMSes as soon as they register with them. Users can compose a message of up to 90 characters at a time and send it to various recipients.

iBibo's free SMS service features composing and sending text messages to a single or multiple recipients, user-created groups, as well as archiving of sent SMSes. Once you send a text message to one or several mobile phone numbers, you have an option to save the contacts for future.

Further, users can also choose to post their message on iBibo's 'SMS wall', which can be viewed by the visitors of that page.

160by2

160by2.com claims to be the most popular website in India that offers a free SMS service. At a time, it allows users to send a message of up to 80 characters to as many as 10 users.

You can get started by registering with the website. Once done, a user gets an SMS with the user's password on his mobile phone to get started. After logging in for the first time with this password, the user is intimated to change the password. Finally, he/she can kick start.

Apart from composing your own message, a drop-down menu on the right-hand side of the text box allows users to choose from templates for various reasons and seasons.

We tested the service and found it to be quite satisfactory. The recipients received messages within 3 minutes of our sending them a message.

SMSgupshup

Essentially a group messaging service, SMSgupshup also allows users to send an SMS to a single recipient or different groups of any size.

This too requires registration, following which users can start building their mobile communities.

Indyarocks

Indyarocks also allows users to send unlimited text to mobile phone users. All you need to do is register your mobile phone number with the website and get started.

If the recipients of your text message are members of Indyarocks, you can add them to your Contacts List so you don't have to type their mobile phone number every time you're messaging them via the website.

ReminderPlanet

Essentially meant for setting up reminders for the absent-minded, people can use ReminderPlanet to send free text messages to mobilephones anywhere in India.

Users can start using this website right after the verification of their mobile phone. At a time, a user can compose a message containing characters not exceeding 80 and send it to as many recipients as he likes.

Footnote: Just one thing to keep in mind before you flood your friends with important and not-so important messages using the abovementioned websites - an advertisement tails along with every message that you send. A 'small' irritant that your SMS recipients will need to deal with!

Also, there are hundreds of free messaging services available online. If you've been using an interesting website to send free text messaging services, talk about it in the comments section below!

GTA IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony Screens

Rockstar Games made gamers run a mile for Grand Theft Auto IV's first downloadable episode The Lost & Damned which claimed to have broken sales records. The Lost & Damned DLC episode was available to download at $20 (Rs. 960 approx.) on the Xbox LIVE Marketplace. The second episode set in realms of GTA IV is dubbed as The Ballad of Gay Tony and first screenshots of the same were showed off.
Rockstar will release this episode on Oct. 29 at Xbox LIVE for $19.99 (Rs. 960 approx.) or 1600 Microsoft Points. This download requires Xbox LIVE membership and Grand Theft Auto IV copy installed to play it.

Luis Lopez is the main character of this episode. He is a hoodlum and also the assistant to Tony Prince aka "Gay Tony", a legendary nightclub entrepreneur, The Ballad of Gay Tony adds more glitz, grime and guns to the world of the Liberty City in the Vice City style. Lopez will struggle 'with competing loyalties of family and friends, and with the uncertainty about who is real and who is fake in a world in which everyone has a price'. Sam Houser, Rockstar Games founder, said that gamers can expect "focus on high-end night life".

Rockstar also announced that it will release both the episodes The Lost & Damned as well as The Ballad of Gay Tony on a single disc titled - Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City. This disc will be priced at $39.99 (Rs. 1,900 approx.), which is as much as the price of both the downloadable content together. GTA: Episodes from Liberty City would be playable separately and won't require GTV IV game copy to play it.

This looks like an interesting propaganda of the Game developers to publish one big world in game and then release episodes related to the events taking place in the larger world. As the name clearly suggests, this notorious game is bound to have something controversial.

US Firm Plans Dual Screen Laptops

Now this is quite something! A US based company, Gscreen Computers, is readying a dual screen laptop that might go on sale sometime later this year. The laptop will consist of a main display and a slide out expandable display, which will give the laptop huge screen real estate.
Each of the screens will have a 1280x800 pixel resolution (which might be too low by today's standards) and will measure 15.4 cm. However, the widescreen effect should more than make up for this. Dual screens apart, the laptop is as "normal" as a laptop could be - save for the specifications, which is not bad at all. The base version will ship with the following configuration Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 @2.26GHz, 4GB RAM, a 320GB hard disk. As for the graphics, it might either pack in a Nvidia GeForce 9800M GT or a Nvidia Quadro FX 1700M - both with 512MB memory.

The only concern with this laptop may be its power hungry requirements and it is likely that it will ship with a 9-cell battery to give it a decent backup time. When launched, the laptop is expected to cost around $3000. It will run either Windows XP or Vista, although it makes sense to ship this one with Windows 7 installed.

Translate your Google Docs

Google has introduced a new feature for Google Docs to make of multi-lingual sharing easier - you can now automatically translate documents into 42 different languages.
So, how does this work? You type out your text in Google Docs and then click "Translate document" from the "Tools" menu. Google Docs will translate the whole text into the selected language using Google Translate's technology.

You can replace the original document with the translation or make a new translated version. All the formatting and layout is preserved no matter what language it's in - translations aren't perfect, but Google says it is continuously working on improving translation quality over time.

We hope this new feature helps you to share information without worrying about language barriers.

Exploding iPhones: Apple Says All Well

After reports of exploding iPhones came in from France, Apple says that after investigating the cases, it was sure that the explosion was not caused by the product being faulty.
In a statement to the BBC, Apple said, "The iPhones with broken glass that we have analyzed to date show that in all cases, the glass cracked due to an external force that was applied to the iPhone." The investigation was internal and was done in as a counter measure to the European Commission investigation that was launched after the reports of the first exploding iPhones first came in.

So, what Apple is saying here is that the explosions have been either manually induced or that the product was made to go undergo an external force that caused it to crack and that there was no explosion at all

Apple also refuted charges regarding the battery heating problem and has said that there have been no such complaints from any consumer so far regarding heating issues. Note that this is for the just launched iPhone 3GS. The statement adds that so far only single digit, unconfirmed heating related issues have been spotted.

However, Frenchman Frank Benoiton, who was an iPhone owner insists that his iPhone cracked "just like that" and that no external force was applied to it and nor was the phone dropped. To make things difficult for Apple, a British family has sought a refund from Apple after their iPod exploded after a fall. As a safety measure, the European Commission has issued a warning against buying the iPhone using its rapid-alert system, Rapex, which warns of dangerous consumer products.

Exploding iPhones: Apple Says All Well

After reports of exploding iPhones came in from France, Apple says that after investigating the cases, it was sure that the explosion was not caused by the product being faulty.
In a statement to the BBC, Apple said, "The iPhones with broken glass that we have analyzed to date show that in all cases, the glass cracked due to an external force that was applied to the iPhone." The investigation was internal and was done in as a counter measure to the European Commission investigation that was launched after the reports of the first exploding iPhones first came in.

So, what Apple is saying here is that the explosions have been either manually induced or that the product was made to go undergo an external force that caused it to crack and that there was no explosion at all

Apple also refuted charges regarding the battery heating problem and has said that there have been no such complaints from any consumer so far regarding heating issues. Note that this is for the just launched iPhone 3GS. The statement adds that so far only single digit, unconfirmed heating related issues have been spotted.

However, Frenchman Frank Benoiton, who was an iPhone owner insists that his iPhone cracked "just like that" and that no external force was applied to it and nor was the phone dropped. To make things difficult for Apple, a British family has sought a refund from Apple after their iPod exploded after a fall. As a safety measure, the European Commission has issued a warning against buying the iPhone using its rapid-alert system, Rapex, which warns of dangerous consumer products.