Smartphone sale slow amid troubled economy

Smartphones aren't be sold as expected in the third quarter of 2008. Smartphones, which offer more computer-like features, such as e-mail and Web browsing have become the biggest growth engine in the mobile handset market, smartphones have continued to grow, but other regular cell phones have dropped off alot for many phone manufacturers. But this growth is being cut short throughout the world. "The current economic climate is negatively impacting sales of higher end devices," Roberta Cozza. They are expecting the smartphone market to grow at a slow pace. Smartphones and their data plans are more expensive than other basic phones. Nokia continued to the lead the market with 42.4 % market share in the third quarter of 2008.

on Thursday, Nokia cut its global outlook for sales of handsets for the 2nd time in 3 weeks.

Smartphones still represent the biggest growth opportunity for handset makers even though the phone itself isn't selling too good. Its a cool phone. It's like 2 in 1, a mini computer and cell phone. Even though it only has e-mail and web browsing, its still use full, it's not like you do anything else on the computer.

Source: Reardon, M (2008, December 4). Smartphone sales slow amid troubled economy. Retrieved December 6, 2008, from cnet.com Web site: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10113288-94.html?tag=mncol

Jealousy

Allah(swt) tests you on your favours. So more favours, the more the test. Allah(swt) has diliberatly favored some people more than others by giving them more wealth, beauty, intellegence, children, stregnth, etc. But Allah has forbidden us to desire what others have. He say's in surah Nisaa....

تَتَمَنَّوۡاْ مَا فَضَّلَ ٱللَّهُ بِهِۦ بَعۡضَكُمۡ عَلَىٰ بَعۡضٍ۬‌ۚ ...

..Do not wish for what Allah(swt) favored some of you over others, (Quran 4;32)

In order to discourage envy the Prophet (peace be upon him) says: "Do not look to those above you. Look at those who are below you, as it is more likely remind you if Allah's favors bestow on you"

However, in spiritual matters we should look at those superior to us as it will be encourage us to become more righteous . This is why The prophet (peace be upon him) said:" Envy is only allowed in 2 cases: In case of a man whom has been given the Quran and who recites it throughout the night and day; and a man on whom Allah has bestowed wealth who gives it away [in charity] throughout the night and day."

The Prophet (peace be upon him) warned us againth envyas much as possible by comparing it to burnig wood completely. Envy and jealousy erases whatever good deeds we may have done. Allah(swt) has revealed a surah in the Quran to recite it to protect us from enviest people in surah Falaq...

(قُلۡ أَعُوذُ بِرَبِّ ٱلۡفَلَقِ (١) وَمِن شَرِّ حَاسِدٍ إِذَا حَسَدَ (٥)

Say: I seek refuge in the Lord of the Daybreak (1) And from the evil of the envier when he envieth. (5) (Quran 113:1 & 5)

Source: Philips, B (2005). Islamic Studies: Book 1. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: International Islamic Publishing House.

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So the Next time you see someone dressed better than you or has more money than you to buy more stuff, look at the those who don't have enough money to buy food enough for themselves, Children that has clothes just barely enough to cover themselves, starving, no roof over their head.... So think, and thank Allah(swt) for what you have.

Garmin Nuvi 880

Pretty Kool huh?! Post ur comments and share ur thoughts :)

Virus hits facebook users!!

It appears that a worm has been sending Facebook users malicious code. Facebook users were sent a "You look funny in this new video" in their in boxes. When the viewer is on the video site, a message says an update of Flash is needed before the video can be displayed. The viewer is prompted to open a file called flash_player.exe. When the viewer approves the istallation of Flash Koobface attempts to download a program called tinyproxy.exe. This loads a proxy server called Security Accounts Manager (SamSs) the next time the computer boots up. Koobface then listens to traffic on TCP port 9090 and proxies all outgoing HTTP traffic. So if you search something on Google, Yahoo, MSN, or Live then there's a possiblity that you may be hijacked to other maybe unknown sites. Schmugar said "this version of Koobface includes a bot-like component that could install other malicious apps at a later time."
But only a small percentage Facebook users have been affected.

Wow...that's weird. So if you have Facebook and your computer have been infected, Facebook has posted instructions on how to remove the infection on, Facebook.com/security

Source:Vamosi, R (2008, December 4). Koobface virus hits Facebook. Retrieved December 5, 2008, from cnet.com Web site: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10113981-83.html?tag=TOCmoreStories.0

possiblity of iPod shortage

Ipod shortages at Amazon.com appears to have spread the other distribution channels. After Shaw wu checks the report of retail sources he believes that Apple is experiencing an iPod shortage because of the demand is stronger and the company they may have anticipate. Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and Target are also now reporting iPod shortages after Amazon.com. It was not clear that people were responding to" Apple's latest crop of iPod". the usual saturation advertising for the iPod Nano and iPod Touch. With the stock market in the tank and people are worried about their jobs. They didnt know that this season was the best season for iPods. Wu thinks that costomers are making hard choices about what they were going to buy. Some analysists Apple thinks that they will only sell that they will only sell 18 or 19 million ipods.

Source: Tom, Krazit (2008, December 3). Analyst: iPod shortage spreading. Retrieved December 5, 2008, from cnet.com Web site: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10112373-37.html?tag=mncol

eBay

If you've ever sold something on eBay, you may have been pleased to receive positive feedback from the buyer. Multiply that by a million, and you can imagine how Jack Sheng feels. Sheng, 33, owns Los Angeles-based Eforcity Corp., which has been selling electronics accessories on the online auction site since he started his business in 2000 with two childhood friends.

In the past two months, four separate eBay user IDs that belongs to Sheng and his company each got more than 1 million feedback points. No one else on eBay has come close.
EBay sellers can get a positive feedback point from a buyer by sending items quickly, having them arrive as advertised and helping to solve any issues that come up. Those positive customer points are offset by any negative ratings the seller receives.

Sheng realized about six months ago that Eforcity would probably hit the 1 million feedback marks this year. "It's a great morale booster for our employees," he said.

Sheng is a ways ahead of the No. 2 feedback holder on eBay, a DVD and CD seller with a score of about 754,000.

Source: (2008, November 13). eBay seller reaches million-point milestone. Retrieved November 29, 2008, from www.cnn.com Web site: http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/biztech/11/13/ebay.million.seller.ap/index.html

Mumbaii;

Terrorist attacks on Mumbai, India, social media sites like Twitter were inundated with a huge volume of messages. More than 6 million members worldwide, an estimated 80 messages, or "tweets," were being sent to Twitter.com via SMS every five seconds. Many Twitter users also sent pleas for blood donors to make their way to specific hospitals in Mumbai where doctors were faced with low stocks and rising casualties. Others sent information about helplines and contact numbers for those who had friends and relatives caught up in the attacks. Twitter user wrote: "Mumbai is not a city under attack as much as it is a social media experiment in action." People were sending in messages about what they were hearing. There were at least five or six blogs from people who were trapped, or who were very close to what happened. Someone tweets a news headline, their friends see it and retweet, and creates a circle of endless information recycled.

Source: Busari, Stephanie (2008, November 28). Tweeting the terror: How social media reacted to Mumbai. Retrieved November 29, 2008, from www.cnn.com Web site: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/11/27/mumbai.twitter/index.html

New rifts form on Antarctic ice shelf

Scientists have identified new rifts on an Antarctic ice shelf that could lead to it breaking away from the Antarctic Peninsula, the European Space Agency said. a large sheet of floating ice south of South America, is connected to two Antarctic islands by a strip of ice is called the Wilkins ice shelf. A satellite image captured November 26 shows new rifts on the ice shelf that make it dangerously close to breaking away from the strip of ice. Scientists first spotted rifts in the ice shelf in late February, and they noticed further deterioration the following week. Wilkins is the size of the state of Connecticut or about half the area of Scotland. It is the largest ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula yet to be threatened.Scientists say that, if the ice shelf breaks away from the peninsula, it will not cause a rise in sea level, because it is already floating.

Source: (2008, November 29). New rifts form on Antarctic ice shelf. Retrieved November 29, 2008, from www.cnn.com Web site: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/11/29/antarctic.ice.shelf.collapse/index.html

Ichan boosts Yahoo stake

Yahoo Inc.'s search for a new chief executive, activist investor Carl Icahn has bought up close to 7 million additional shares of the Internet company. Icahn, a billionaire hedge-fund manager who threatened to oust Yahoo's board this summer after it rejected a deal with Microsoft Inc., snapped up about $67 million worth of shares over three days this week. Icahn bought 6.8 million shares for an average of $9.92 each in three batches from Monday through Wednesday, bringing his total stake to 75.6 million, or nearly 5.5% of the company. Icahn has been among the loudest voices arguing for a new direction at Yahoo. He threatened to nominate a new slate of directors after the Sunnyvale, California, company rejected a $47.5 billion takeover offer from Microsoft this summer. Yahoo gave him a seat on its board and two other slots for members of his choosing. Yahoo shares closed Wednesday at $10.58, down about 65%, from a 52-week high of $30.25.

Source: (2008, November 28). Icahn boosts Yahoo stake. Retrieved November 29, 2008, from www.cnn.com Web site: http://money.cnn.com/2008/11/28/technology/icahn_yahoo.ap/index.htm?postversion=2008112809

Space Shuttle ready to come back to Earth

The astronauts have accomplished their work in orbit. Space shuttle Endeavour's astronauts got the green light to return to Earth, but were warned about the weather at the main land siting could keep them away for another day or send them across the country. Mission Control informed the seven astronauts that Endeavour had been cleared for re-entry following analysis of data beamed down from a final thermal survey of their ship. The space shuttle was not found in any serious defects caused by space junk that could jeopardize the descent.Endeavour originally was supposed to land Saturday, but mission managers kept the astronauts at the space station an extra day to help with the balky urine processor. The weather was beautiful Saturday at kennedy space center, but a cold front was expected to bring stiff wind and possibly thunderstorms on Sunday and even worse conditions on Monday.

Source: 2008, November 29). Shuttle ready to come down to Earth. Retrieved November 29, 2008, from www.cnn.com Web site: http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/space/11/29/space.shuttle.ap/index.html

Pentagon Clears Flying-Car Project for Takeoff

Pentagon mad-science division Darpa is helping build thought-controlled robotic limbs, artificial pack mules, real-life laser guns and "kill-proof" soldiers. So it comes as no surprise, really, that the agency is now getting into the flying-car business, too.
Darpa hopes its "Personal Air Vehicle Technology" project, announced yesterday, will ultimately lead to a working prototype of a military-suitable flying car -- a two- or four-passenger vehicle that can "drive on roads" one minute and take off like a helicopter the next. The hybrid machine would be perfect for "urban scouting," casualty evacuation and commando-delivery missions, the agency believes.Flying cars have been a just-around-the-corner promise for decades, of course. Today, several companies swear that they are just on the verge of manufacturing such machines. Terrafugia claims its folding-wing mini-plane will be ready to deliver by 2009. Pal-V has a three-wheeled gyrocopter thingy. Urban Aeronautics promises to do the whole thing without any wings or rotors at all. And let's not even get into the personal flying saucers.
Darpa says its Cessna-sized combo vehicle should be able to cruise at 60 mph on land, and 150 mph in the air. It should be able to stay aloft for two hours on a tank of fuel. "The challenge," the agency says, "is to define the major components of such a vehicle that would be suitable for military scouting and personnel transport missions, yet are small enough, inexpensive enough, and easy enough to operate that it can be widely used."
To make the flying car work, Darpa believes, makers will have to use "morphing wings" to ease the transition from road to sky; "optimized disk loading" propulsion, "for the combined fly/drive mission"; and strong flight control software. Darpa isn't making an enormous commitment to the flying car, just yet. This is a project aimed at small business; contracts of this type are typically under a million dollars per year. But maybe, with a small Pentagon push, the flying car dream could finally clear the ground.

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/11/darpas-flying-c.html

Find your Neighbour's Videos Online!

The YouTube team released an example mashup that merges Gears geolocation and the video geo search. Using the demo application, you can find nearby videos based on your location, maybe even your neighbor’s Firefly tribute movie.
The technology grabbing the videos is YouTube’s new geotag searchable API. With a latitude/longitude pair and a keyword, the service spits back a list of videos.
So, where do those coordinates come from? YouTube’s example uses Google Gears’ new geolocation feature. There are a few different implementations, and a developing standard for accessing location. My JavaScript geolocation tutorial covers the bases, including the similar Geode plugin baked into the next version of Firefox.
The best part about the example application is that the source code is available. I wish everyone did this. It sure makes picking up new technologies easier.

http://www.webmonkey.com/blog/Find_Your_Neighbor_s_Videos_Online

Cnet's Top 5

What do you think should be on the top five? Share your thoughts..... =]

Phones On A Diet!

Ever since the release of the Motorola Razr in late 2004, the trend of the superskinny phone has taken the country by storm. Fashionable, sexy, and easily portable, slim phones are still popular today. Many handsets have since superseded the Razr in the skinny phone department, however. For example, the Samsung SGH-A727 is quite possibly the thinnest phone we've ever seen, at 0.35 inch. If you're a fan of slider phones, the Helio Mysto, which is a CDMA version of the Samsung U600, measures only 0.43 inch thick. For music phone fans, the Sony Ericsson W350a is only 0.4 inch, while the Nokia 5310 Xpress Music is 0.41 inch. If you're into texting, the Pantech Slate claims to be the world's thinnest messaging phone at 0.39 inch thick. But if you're really more of a smartphone person, the Motorola Q9c is one of a few slim Windows Mobile phones at only 0.4 inch thick.


http://reviews.cnet.com/4321-6454_7-6509001.html?tag=TOCmoreStories.0

LittleBigPlanet: great game with religion and server issues

Isn't it sad how the game's fun is overshadowed by the religous controversy in one song? They had their review copy for some time now, and before that they played the beta extensively. Ironically, one of the first thoughts about the game was how inviting and family friendly it is; this is the game that every console maker dreams about. A religious flap later, and it's postponed and in the headlines.
Developers would created the level-design tools first and then simply went wild creating great things. You'd race, you'd fly, you'd compete, you'd find the hidden secrets, and just when you think you've seen it all, something new will come up. Playing games is fun alone and or with friends. However you'll have to sit through a good amount of rather boring tutorials to learn how to use everything, in a little while you'll be creating objects and goals with everyone else.


Source: Kuchera, B (2008, October 28). LittleBigPlanet: great game with religion and server issues. Retrieved October 28, 2008, from arstechnica.com Web site: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081028-littlebigplanet-great-game-with-religion-and-server-issues.html

Never mind the radiation: fear the cell phone's nickel

Attention has been focused on the electromagnetic radiation that powers their communications with cell phone towers as the popularity of cell phones has increased. Nickel is now used widely and, BAD (British Association Dermatologists) would like to remind us that there apparently is a health risk associated with cell phone use: contact allergies. Nickle is harmless in the solid forms but if, soluble nickle salt was consumed in quantity of a gram then it is toxic. A fraction of the population is prone to skin sensitivity when in contact with nickel for long periods of time. Called nickle allergy. This problem causes when people who wear jewlery that has some nickle and also trumpet players because of their trumpets. BAD was able to track down similar reaction to nickle, cell phones. According to the dermatologists, nickel allergies may affect as many as 30 percent of the UK's population, and incidence may be rising.


Source: Timmer , J (2008, October 21). Never mind the radiation: fear the cell phone's nickel. Retrieved October 22, 2008, from arstechnica.com Web site: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081021-never-mind-the-radiation-fear-the-cell-phones-nickel.html

Ars looks at the joy (and pain) of developing iPhone games

Arshad Rahaman is a iPhone game developer, who is also a member of the Ars Technica forums. Rahman finds the iPhone to be one of the best platforms for creating, and then selling, games. Rahaman says that it is tricky to find the right product for the market. Rahman believed that creating a higher-quality, more polished game would pay off, but that strategy doesn't seem to be working. Even though the iPhone is more powerful than any of those early machines, it's still very limited compared to a modern desktop and that's what makes it fun to program on. But he hopeful about his future for iPhone gaming.


Source: Kuchera, B (2008,October 21). Ars looks at the joy (and pain) of developing iPhone games. Retrieved October 21, 2008, from arstechnica.com Web site: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081021-ars-looks-at-the-joy-and-pain-of-developing-iphone-games.html

Google's Android Source code starts to Begin

Google has jut published the source code for source code of its Linux-based Android mobile platform. The platform includes a selection of preexisting open-source components under a wide variety of licenses, including SQLite, WebKit, a modified version of the Linux Kernel, which is distributed under the GNU's General Public License (GPL). The source code released today also includes Google's Dalvik virtual machine and Java-based middleware layer, which are distributed under version 2 of the Apache Software License. The source code is housed in Google's git version control repository. The code can be obtained by installing git and running repo, a wrapper script written in Python that automates some git interaction.

Source: Paul, R (2008,October 21). Google liberates Android source code, so start developing!. Retrieved October 21, 2008, from arstechnica.com Web site: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081021-google-liberates-android-source-code-so-start-developing.html

Family ties not broken by technology, survey says

According to a new survey, American families are now as tightknit as in the last generation or more so because of the widespread use of cellphones and the Internet. Barry Wellman, a sociology professor at the University of Toronto and one of the authors of the report said,"There had been some fears that the Internet had been taking people away from each other," but they found just the opposite. Sixty percent of adults in the survey said that the new technologies did not affect the closeness of their family, 25 percent said cellphones and online communication made their families closer and 11 percent said that the technology had a negative effect. (For more information go 2 DallasNews.com)


Source: (2008,October 21). Family ties not broken by technolgy. Retrieved October 21, 2008, from DallasNews.com Web site: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/102108dnnatfamilypoll.3ebb563.html

Geuss What!!

Future planes, cars may be made of...

Geuss what they're going to might make planes and cars aircraft and automobiles, more powerful computers, improved TV screens and many other products out of. BUCKYPAPER!!! Buckypaper is 10 times lighter but potentially 500 times stronger than steel when sheets of it are stacked and pressed together to form a composite. Buckypaper is made from tube-shaped carbon molecules 50,000 times thinner than a human hair!! (For more information go 2 DallasNews.com)


Source:
(2008,October Friday). Future planes, cars may be made of `buckypaper'. Retrieved October 21, 2008, from DallasNews.com Web site: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/ptech/stories/10_18_08dnbusPaper.12088ffa3.html

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Afia Khan

Ha ha omg!! im blogging