CERTIFIED EXAMS

Microsoft Certifications 

The New Generation of Microsoft Certifications

The new generation of Microsoft certifications is more specific and targeted to reflect the detail of what you do and to prove your expertise to those who need to know.

Consisting of three series and four credentials, the new generation of Microsoft certifications provides a simpler and more targeted framework for IT managers to validate core technical skills, professional skills, and architectural skills. It also provides professionals in the IT industry with a more relevant, flexible, and cost-effective way to showcase their skills.

Technology Series: Proven core technical skills on Microsoft technologies

The Technology Series certifications enable professionals to target specific technologies and distinguish themselves by demonstrating in-depth knowledge and expertise in the broad range of specialized technologies. Microsoft Technology Specialists are consistently capable of implementing, building, troubleshooting, and debugging a particular Microsoft technology.

The Technology Series certifications:•
Typically consist of one to three exams.
 
Are focused on a key Microsoft product or technology.
 
Do not include job-role skills.
 
Will be retired when mainstream product support for the particular technology expires.



There are currently 19 Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist certifications. More will become available as new technologies are introduced. A complete list of the MCTS certifications, including the new Microsoft Office Project 2007 certification family, is available on the MCTS overview page.


Professional Series: Professional skills and a proven ability to perform on the job

Professional Series credentials validate a comprehensive set of skills required to be successful on the job. These skills include design, project management, operations management, and planning, and they are contextual to the job role. By validating a more comprehensive set of skills, these credentials give candidates and their hiring managers a reliable indicator of on-the-job performance.

The Professional Series certifications:•
Typically consist of one to three exams.
 
Have one or more prerequisites from the Technology Series.
 
Are focused on a single job role.
 
Require certification refresh to maintain active status.


Microsoft currently offers two Professional Series credentials:•

Microsoft Certified IT Professional
Microsoft Certified Professional Developer

Architect Series: Exemplary business IT skills and a proven ability to deliver business solutions

The Microsoft Certified Architect (MCA) program identifies top industry experts in IT architecture. These prestigious professionals have a minimum of ten years of advanced IT industry experience, have three or more years of experience as a practicing architect, possess strong technical and managerial skills, and form an elite community. Unlike other industry certifications, this credential was built and is granted by the architect community. Candidates must pass a rigorous review by the Review Board, which consists of previously certified peer architects.

The Architect Series certifications:•
Have a rigorous and competitive entry process.
 
Require the candidate to work closely with a mentor who is a Microsoft Certified Architect.
 
Culminate in an oral review in front of previously certified architects.
 
Require certification refresh.


Red Hat Certifications

Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE)

Overview

Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) is a performance-based test that measures actual competency on live systems. Called the "crown jewel of Linux certifications," RHCE proves an individual's ability to configure networking services and security on servers running a Red Hat OS. RHCE was recently named the hottest certification in all of IT by CertCities.com.

The RHCE Exam

Becoming a Red Hat Certified Engineer requires passing a five-and-a-half-hour hands-on exam. There are four different approaches to preparing for the exam depending on your existing level of Linux expertise.

Level of Linux Expertise

To determine your level of experience, take our pre-assessment questionnaires or read the descriptions below for the Standard and Rapid Tracks.

Exam Preparation

Courses you should take:                                                             Level of Linux Expertise:
                                                                                             None                         Some                        Much            Expert
                                                                                                     Standard Track *                               Rapid Track **
RH033 Red Hat Linux Essentials                  yes
RH131 Red Hat System Administration
or
RH133 Red Hat Linux Administration
(and RHCT Exam)                                                   yes                                yes
RH253 Red Hat Linux Networking and
Security Administration                                   yes                                 yes
RH300 Red Hat Rapid Track Course
(and RHCE Exam)                                                                                                                                 yes
RH302 RHCE Exam                                                yes                                yes                                                       yes

* Standard Track

The Standard Track consists of three courses -- RH033, RH133, RH253 -- and is aimed at persons who need more review of key concepts or who are new to both UNIX and Linux.

RH033 Red Hat Linux Essentials targets IT professionals with no prior UNIX or Linux experience, and covers skills to prepare for RH133, including shell and command line essentials.

RH131 and RH133 Red Hat System Administration are designed for those wanting to prepare for professional responsibilities as a Linux systems administrator at the Technician level. You'll learn all the skills required to manage a Linux workstation and attach it to a corporate network, including configuration of client-side network services. Prerequisites include networking fundamentals and internetworking with TCP/IP, widely available from reputable training vendors or through self-study. RH133 now includes the RHCT Exam on the last half of the last day.

RH253 Red Hat Linux Networking and Security Administration is designed for those who desire to build skills at configuring and administering a Red Hat Linux server running key enterprise network services and security. Prerequisites include RH133 or equivalent skills.

** Rapid Track

The Rapid Track consists of one course -- RH300 Red Hat Rapid Track Course (and RHCE Exam) -- and is aimed at persons who are experienced UNIX and Linux users, networking specialists, and system administrators and need specific Red Hat Enterprise Linux training to pass the RHCE Exam (which is included).
Success Pack

Increase your chances for certification. The RHCE Success Pack acts as insurance in a way, providing a re-take of the exam for a discounted price, if you fail the first exam. Find out more.

Live Access Labs

Red Hat Live Access Labs provide an environment to conduct self-paced lab learning in the setup identical to RHCE-track classroom courses.

Java Certification 

Overview

Sun's certification program in Java technology is an industry recognized, worldwide program that focuses on critical job roles in software application development and enterprise architecture. Since these certifications focus on the technology, the knowledge and skills learned while preparing for Sun's certifications are transportable from one company to another.

Sun's philosophy is that certification is central to the learning process as it provides validation of skill sets for specific job roles. Sun certification also offers a natural progression to support your career goals.
First, by becoming a Sun Certified Associate Sun verifies that you have a base set of knowledge that enables entry into a career in application development or software project management using Java technology.
Second, we train developers on a foundational set of skills, which can then be validated by becoming a Sun Certified Programmer.
Afterwards, you can pursue advanced or specialty training and certifications that help enable career growth into more specific job roles making you more valuable to an organization.

Sun offers the following Java technology professional certifications:
- Sun Certified Java Associate (SCJA)
- Sun Certified Java Programmer (SCJP)
- Sun Certified Java Developer (SCJD)
- Sun Certified Web Component Developer (SCWCD)
- Sun Certified Business Component Developer (SCBCD)
- Sun Certified Developer For Java Web Services (SCDJWS)
- Sun Certified Mobile Application Developer (SCMAD)
- Sun Certified Enterprise Architect (SCEA)

Please note that the goal of Sun certification is to test on a particular job role. Thus, to prepare for a certification exam we recommend Sun training and six to twelve months of actual job role experience. Sun does not claim that by taking courses you are guaranteed to pass the certification exams, however we do state that Sun training is an important component in certification preparation.

IBM Gets Into Semantics With New E-Mail Search Tool

IBM's new OmniFind Personal E-Mail Search tool is designed to help heavy e-mail users sift through the glut of information residing in their in-boxes. The technology works by intelligently matching a query against predefined concepts, such as persons, phone numbers, addresses, meetings, presentations, documents or schedules and relationships amongst these concepts, IBM said.

Heavy e-mail users sometimes have trouble finding the needle of information they need in the haystacks of old missives lingering in their in-boxes. That's the sort of user IBM (NYSE: IBM) has targeted with its new OmniFind Personal E-Mail Search (IOPES) tool.

Rolled out Thursday, IOPES is a free, semantics-based search tool designed to make searching the "vast personal database" that is most people's inbox easier by identifying the most relevant information in a search query and extrapolating what the user is attempting to find, according to IBM.

"With gigabytes of e-mail storage readily available to nearly everyone, e-mail has evolved from a simple communication tool into a personal database where we retain vast amounts of valuable information," said Douglas Wilson, distinguished engineer and chief technology officer of Lotus.

IOPES for Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Outlook and Lotus Notes is available at no charge through IBM's AlphaWorks site.

Search Grid

Developed jointly by researchers at IBM labs in California, Israel and India, IOPES offers more refined search capabilities than a simple keyword search. Instead, the e-mail search tool uses semantic technology that can interpret incomplete queries and make associations based on the underlying meaning of words frequently used in corporate e-mails.

The software was created using IBM's Unstructured Information Management Architecture (UIMA), an open source software framework that helps organizations build new analysis technologies. Companies are able to realize more value from their unstructured information by discovering relationships, identifying patterns and predicting outcomes, according to IBM.

The technology works, IBM said, by intelligently matching a query against predefined concepts -- such as persons, phone numbers, addresses, meetings, presentations, documents or schedules -- and relationships amongst these concepts -- such as a person's phone number or address.

To accomplish this, IBM researchers compiled an index of keywords typically found in business e-mails and then created a list of concepts and relationships among those terms. That data was built into IOPES so that when a user enters a query -- for example for "Bob address" -- the application first runs through its index of terms and relationships to return the most accurate results.

Users can further refine IOPES' search functionality by adding their own user-defined concepts using the tagger utility that can be shared between individuals and used to create a more personalized search system, according to IBM.

Semantically Speaking

Creating better search tools based on semantics has been a widely talked-about goal for online search engines. However, less work has been done in the areas of desktops, e-mail and other data searches, leaving users to struggle with keyword searches.

"This is a good thing. It's good to see that someone is bringing this into the e-mail or desktop search category," said Kenneth Poore, a Forrester Research analyst. "The industry in general has been kind of underserved by the keyword-based search tools that Microsoft has with their Windows Desktop Search, and of course Google has their desktop search."

The problem with the current generation of desktop and e-mail searches is that they are "so literal and so keyword-based" that they are "not hitting the mark, and a lot of users are coming away a little disenchanted with the dearth of capability" in those products, Poore told TechNewsWorld.

"They want more of 'do what I mean' or 'find what I want' kind of searches rather than find exactly what I type in," he continued. "IBM has done a lot of work with semantic analysis. Doing semantic search for e-mail really opens that up. Being able to go out and do more conceptual searching instead of literal searching adds a lot of value."


Microsoft Cagey on Details as It Sets IE 8 Time Frame

Microsoft started the countdown to the next iteration of its Internet Explorer Web browser, IE 8; the company is promising a beta version in early 2008. Typically, Microsoft isn't very shy about revealing a few details about upcoming features in such offerings, but its latest announcement had little to say about the new functions to be found in the beta.

The next iteration of Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) Web browser, Internet Explorer 8 (IE 8), will roll out in beta form early next year, the company said Wednesday. The long-awaited news comes just days after the earlier-than-expected launch of the second beta version of Mozilla's Firefox 3 Web browser.

The eighth version of the browser won't be hamstrung with the difficulties IE 7 had following its release in October 2006, Microsoft said, due to improvements Microsoft made to IE 7's Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). The browser passed a significant Web standards milestone, and as of last week, IE 8 now "renders the 'Acid2 Face' correctly in IE 8 standards mode," said Dean Hachamovitch, IE Team general manager.

"Acid2 is one test of how modern browsers work with some specific features across several different Web standards," he continued. "With respect to standards and interoperability, our goal in developing Internet Explorer 8 is to support the right set of standards with excellent implementations and do so without breaking the existing Web. This second goal refers to the lessons we learned during IE 7."
Web Standards Focused

With Internet Explorer 8, Microsoft is making a concerted effort on interoperability, ensuring the browser supports certain accepted Web standards. It's something the software maker did not focus on until it began working on IE 7 in 2005. Before then, Web developers designed their applications with an eye on compatibility with the latest version of Internet Explorer rather than the jumble of industry, de facto and open standards.

The rise in popularity of Web standards such as CSS and Really Simple Syndication (RSS) and growing competition from open source browsers like Firefox and Opera forced Microsoft to rethink its position.

"The key goal ... is interoperability. As a developer, I'd prefer to not have to write the same site multiple times for different browsers. Standards are a (critical) means to this end, and we focus on the standards that will help actual, real-world interoperability the most," Hachamovitch said.

"This is a big push towards standards compliance," Rob Enderle, principal analyst at The Enderle Group, told TechNewsWorld. "IE is the product that defines how Web sites are built, so its move to standards should be, and initially has been, very well received."

Passing the Acid2 test developed by the Web Standards Project, an advocacy group, is a significant achievement. Firefox and Opera failed this test in the past, and it is believed to be the most comprehensive third-party test for broad standards in the market, Enderle pointed out.
Browsing Through IE 8

Though the final version of IE 8 will be a full release, Microsoft has remained relatively quiet about what new improvements and features will be included in the final form.

Microsoft trumpets new features early and often, "but they appear to be keeping some of the features under wraps," Enderle noted.

Judging by Hachamovitch's remarks, Microsoft's unusual silence is intentional.

"For IE 8, we want to communicate facts, not aspirations. We're posting this information now because we have real working code checked in and we're confident about delivering it in the final product."

With the software maker keeping mum about what it plans for IE 8, one good sign is that Microsoft is not influenced as much by what its competitors Firefox, Opera and Safari are doing, Enderle said.

"Microsoft actually appears to be listening to customers and developers on this cycle, which normally bodes well for the product. Focusing on competitors too much often results in a product that lags significantly behind what the others have to offer. And Microsoft needs to lead with IE, not follow," he explained.

"I'd expect a big push on media, major security enhancements, and some solid usability work with the final release," Enderle added.
Tread Carefully

Though he cautioned Microsoft against focusing too much on what its competitors are doing, Enderle suggested the software maker take a look at the mobile version of Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) Safari browser. "The big advantage Safari has is on the iPhone, and addressing this shortcoming in the mobile version of IE is critical because it's crippling their phone effort right now."
Whatever Microsoft decides to do with IE 8, it is imperative they get it right, Enderle stated.

It may be one of the major things that define Microsoft in the last part of the decade, as the code is tied to almost every platform they have in some way or other. Getting this right or wrong could have a major impact on Microsoft's future," he concluded.


Trojan Pulls a Fast One With Google Text Ads

End users who click on seemingly legitimate Google ads may be at risk of infection by a Trojan that substitutes rogue ads for the real thing. Google and the companies that pay for genuine ads are also victimized, because the pretenders usurp traffic and potential revenue.

Malware is replacing Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) text ads with ads from another source, according to BitDefender. The virus, Trojan.Qhost.WU, is using the host's file to redirect the initial query sent to the Google Adsense servers to a malicious host, according to an advisory issued by the firm.

The host's file is the first step in the name/IP (Internet protocol) translation process; if an entry is located in this file, the domain name server is not queried. By supplying a false entry, the malware is able to redirect queries to a rogue server.

Who's at Risk


End users who click on the seemingly legitimate ads are at risk, as they likely carry additional malware. Google and the companies that pay for genuine ads are also victimized, because the pretenders usurp traffic and potential revenue.

To see if a computer has been infected with this virus, BitDefender advises users to investigate whether the host's file is providing local storage for domain name/IP mappings that contains a line redirecting the host to page2.googlesyndication.com.

From the command line or from Start-->Run, issue the following command: ping -t pagead2.googlesyndication.com. The response should look similar to this, according to BitDefender: Pinging pagead.l.google.com [6x.xxx.xxx.xxx] with 32 bytes of data, where the x's represent digits.

"If you are not infected, the first digit will be a 6 (as in the example). If you are infected, the first digit will be a 9," said BitDefender.

Trojan.Qhost.WU is not spreading fast and poses a "medium" risk of damage, according to the advisory.

Not Unusual

While the target may be a little different, this particular Trojan is just another variation of typical phishing malware, Dmitri Alperovitch, principal research scientist with Secure Computing, told TechNewsWorld.

"We have been seeing attacks like this for the last two to three years, where the virus changes the internal setting to point the user to a different server," he said.

At their core, all of these hack attacks intercept a resolution from the browsers to the DNS (domain name system) server via a simple modification to the Windows system file, he explained. "No query is made to the real DNS server."

A more dangerous variant is the Zlob virus, which infects users by masquerading as a video compression algorithm necessary to view a particular video.

The malware that is subsequently downloaded replaces resolutions not for just one domain name, but for an entire configuration of DNS servers under the control of a malicious group.


S5 Wireless: Going Where No GPS Has Gone Before

A GPS device may be able to tell you which roads to take to drive to the southernmost tip of Chile, but take it inside any building and odds are it won't know where you are. A new company, S5 Wireless, wants to create an alternative tracking system that works well indoors. S5's system, however, works differently than GPS, meaning that if it takes off, it would be more a complement than a replacement.

In one high-tech thriller after another, the hero attaches a tiny tracking device on the villain and follows him as blinking dot on a computer screen. In real life, this kind of technology would be great for tracking pets or kids, even packages or luggage -- anything that tends to wander. However, it doesn't really exist.

There are GPS devices, of course, but strap a half-pound GPS collar to a dog and you'll realize it's far from "Mission Impossible." GPS-enabled cell phones are becoming more common, but they have problems, like accuracy indoors, and they aren't cheap.

A Utah company, S5 Wireless, is looking to bring reality closer to the movies, with small, cheap chips that can be powered by a single battery for up two years and tracked indoors and outside, over long distances.

For instance, an S5 chip could go into a dog collar, complete with a battery, in a package about the size of a stick of gum that costs $3 to $4 to make. When the battery runs down, it's time to buy a new collar.

The same concept could be applied to a kid's backpack, with an antenna running through the strap.

"It's like a poor man's LoJack or OnStar," said David Carter, S5's chief executive.

Triangulating Signals


The drawback to the technology is that unlike the Global Positioning System, which is quite literally global, S5's technology would only work where the company has a network of stations to receive S5 signals. S5 is planning to start building those in some major U.S. cities next year.

What the chips do is basically GPS in reverse. GPS satellites operated by the Air Force send signals to receivers in devices like car navigation systems. Those receivers need a line of sight to the sky, so they work only outdoors, and are fairly power-hungry.

By contrast, the S5 chips send radio signals that will be picked up by receivers S5 plans to build. By measuring the difference in the time the signal takes to arrive at three different receivers, S5 can compute the location of the sender to within about 30 feet outdoors, or 45 feet indoors. The same principle can be used for locating some cell phones in an emergency but is much less accurate. LoJack equipment also sends radio signals from a stolen car, but it uses a lot of power and is expensive compared to S5's chips.

GPS: Not Entirely Housebroken

"The thing that struck me the most is that their solution allows for very good indoor coverage," said Belgium-based analyst Dominique Bonte, who covers GPS technologies for ABI Research.

Bonte said the weakness of GPS indoors vexes those who want to provide location-based services, like cell-phone messages advertising sales at nearby stores.

Companies like Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) have experimented with using WiFi hotspots in known locations to fill gaps in GPS. Some GPS devices incorporate motion sensors that estimate the user's location based on movement after the GPS signal is lost.

"There's a lot of activity, a lot of companies, and of course a lot of venture capital which is being made available for those kinds of initiatives," Bonte said. "There is a big belief that whoever comes up with something that's cheap, that works and is available will hit the jackpot there."

Giving It Away

To gain a foothold, S5 will give away the designs for its chips, letting anyone make their own or incorporate the functions into existing chips, like those in cell phones. It plans to make money by charging for the location service, though at low rates, around US$1 a month, Carter said.

S5's technology isn't ideal for navigation devices, since the chip doesn't know where it is. It couldn't, on its own, plot its position on a map the way a car navigation system does. Instead, it is S5's data center that knows where the chip is.

If you're tracking a dog -- or a villain -- that's not an issue. The dog doesn't need to know where it is, but the S5 network can tell you via Web browser or cell phone where it is.

Apart from pets and kids, Carter envisions the system being used to track valuable equipment on construction sites and in hospitals, much like LoJack protects cars.

If you don't trust FedEx and UPS to track your package, you could slip a tracking device into it before you ship it, and you'll know where it is. The company has also received grants from the Department of Homeland Security to study the use of its chips in tracking shipping containers. S5 chips could even be built into cell phones to supplement GPS chips where reception is weak, like indoors.

As a bonus, S5 chips could transmit small amounts of data generated by other devices. For instance, a diabetes patient's glucose meter could be monitored remotely.

Major City Rollout

S5 plans to piggyback on existing cell-phone towers and antennas in building out its network, though officials would not say how much they expect the build-out to cost. To pinpoint a chip's location, S5 needs three receivers within the signal's range, about a mile in cities, Carter said. The company plans to cover "several" major cities next year and 35 cities within three years.

That's a tall order, but the venture's main backer lends it credibility. Billionaire Craig McCaw, who founded one of the country's first cell-phone companies, is S5's majority investor. He also backs wireless broadband provider Clearwire.

S5 hasn't announced any build-out partners yet.

Remarkably, S5 plans to use free, unlicensed spectrum in the 900 megahertz band, which is already crowded by cordless phones. Steve Chacko, S5's director of product marketing, likened the feat of picking up those signals from miles away to extracting a needle from a haystack. However, he said sophisticated low-power radio technology makes S5's plan viable.


Intel Asks Devs to Help Get LANs, SANs to Play Nice


FCoE is a proposed specification that will allow Fibre Channel storage area network traffic to run over Ethernet. By consolidating LAN and SAN traffic onto a single fabric, FCoE aims to simplify network infrastructure in the data center and give organizations more flexible options for deploying and managing existing SANs.

Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) has released a software initiator package designed to promote the development of Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) solutions for Linux, the company announced Tuesday.

Now available for download, the software is licensed under the GNU General Public License version 2 and is open to all FCoE developers for source code download, code contribution and feedback. It includes a target simulator so Linux developers can test and modify the FCoE software stack, Intel said.

"Server virtualization, database growth and compliance requirements have created a greater need for network storage," said Pat Gelsinger, senior vice president and general manger of Intel's Digital Enterprise Group.

"FCoE makes it easier and less expensive to connect servers to the SAN," Gelsinger added. "We expect the open source community to use this initiator stack to create reliable, standards-based FCoE solutions for their customers."
Proposed Standard

FCoE is a proposed specification that will allow Fibre Channel storage area network (SAN) traffic to run over Ethernet. By consolidating LAN (local area network) and SAN traffic onto a single fabric, FCoE aims to simplify network infrastructure in the data center and give organizations more flexible options for deploying and managing existing SANs.

Vendors backing the standard, which was proposed in April to the T11 Committee of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), include Brocade, Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) , EMC (NYSE: EMC) , Emulex, IBM (NYSE: IBM) , Nuova, QLogic and Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq: JAVA) , as well as Intel.

Intel is a member of the T11 Fibre Channel standards body.
'Key Capability'

"Fibre Channel over Ethernet will be a key capability for our customers offering seamless server and storage access in the data center," said Jayshree Ullal, senior vice president of the data center, switching and services group at Cisco Systems.

"The emergence of 10 gigabit Ethernet bandwidth combined with Cisco's proposed extensions to Ethernet, enables a lossless and resilient fabric for data center I/O (input/output) consolidation," Ullal added. "Cisco is pleased to see Intel taking a leadership role in FCoE."

The new FCoE initiator code is based on a specification being developed by the T11 in the FC-BB-5 work group. The FCoE specification is expected to be completed in 2008.
'A Critical Step'

"The classic challenge for any storage networking technology, whether Fibre Channel, FCoE or iSCSI, is developing support for the most important operating environments," Richard L. Villars, vice president of storage systems for IDC, told LinuxInsider.

Fibre Channel, because of when it came out and where it's used, is the dominant technology for all the Unix platforms and the mainframe world, as well as growing in importance for the Windows, VM (virtual machine) and Linux worlds, Villars added.

"FCoE is a critical step for companies that want to leverage their past investments in Fibre Channel SANs and networking software," he explained. "This makes the transition to FCoE smoother as companies mix the older operating systems with the newer ones where much of the application development is going on today."

TEC-News

Google Talk Multiple Instances

You can login to Multiple Google Talk Accounts Simultaneously, For that you have to create a shortcut and paste this to following line “Location of the item”

"c:\program files\google\google talk\googletalk.exe" /nomutex


Google Web Accelerator

Google Web Accelerator is an application that uses the power of Google's global computer network to make web pages load faster. Google Web Accelerator is easy to use; all you have to do is download and install it, and from then on many web pages will automatically load faster than before.

Please note that Google Web Accelerator is currently a Google Labs product. If you have any problems using it or have suggestions for how we can improve it, please see the Google Group devoted to it.

Increase the speed of browser using google web accelerator.

free download from google : http://webaccelerator.google.com



Microsoft Silver light

Silver light is a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the next generation of Microsoft .NET–based media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web.

How to Configure Outlook Express for Gmail?

Go to add an email account. And note down the settings from here

Incoming Mail: pop.gmail.com

Outgoing Mail: smtp.gmail.com

Account Name: gmail.id@gmail.com (It is your full email address)

Click “My server requires authentication”

Gmail doesn’t use default ports, the ports are:

SMTP or Outgoing Mail: 465

POP3 or Incoming Mail: 995

Also click “This server requires a secure connection (SSL)”

Learn Linux

1. What is Linux?

Linux is a free Unix-type operating system for computer devices. The operating system is what makes the hardware work together with the software. The OS is the interface that allows you to do the things you want with your computer. Linux is freely available to everyone. OS X and Windows are other widely used OS.

Linux gives you a graphical interface that makes it easy to use your computer, yet it still allows those with know-how to change settings by adjusting 0 to 1.

It is only the kernel that is named Linux, the rest of the OS are GNU tools. A package with the kernel and the needed tools make up a Linux distribution. Mandrake , Suse, Gentoo and Redhat are some of the many variants. Linux OS can be used on a large number of boxes, including i386+ , Alpha, PowerPC and Sparc.

2. Understanding files and folders

Linux is made with one thought in mind: Everything is a file.

A blank piece of paper is called a file in the world of computers. You can use this piece of paper to write a text or make a drawing. Your text or drawing is called information. A computer file is another way of storing your information.

If you make many drawings then you will eventually want to sort them in different piles or make some other system that allows you to easily locate a given drawing. Computers use folders to sort your files in a hieratic system.

A file is an element of data storage in a file system (file systems manual page). Files are usually stored on harddrives, cdroms and other media, but may also be information stored in RAM or links to devices.

To organize our files into a system we use folders. The lowest possible folder is root / where you will find the user homes called /home/.
/
/home/
/home/mom/
/home/dad/


Behind every configurable option there is a simple human-readable text file you can hand-edit to suit your needs. These days most programs come with nice GUI (graphical user interface) like Mandrakes Control Center and Suses YAST that can smoothly guide you through most configuration. Those who choose can gain full control of their system by manually adjusting the configuration files from foo=yes to foo=no in an editor.

Almost everything you do on a computer involves one or more files stored locally or on a network.

Your filesystems lowest folder root / contains the following folders: /bin Essential user command binaries (for use by all users)
/boot Static files of the boot loader, only used at system startup
/dev Device files, links to your hardware devices like /dev/sound, /dev/input/js0 (joystick)
/etc Host-specific system configuration
/home User home directories. This is where you save your personal files
/lib Essential shared libraries and kernel modules
/mnt Mount point for a temporarily mounted filesystem like /mnt/cdrom
/opt Add-on application software packages
/usr /usr is the second major section of the filesystem. /usr is shareable, read-only data. That means that /usr should be shareable between various FHS-compliant hosts and must not be written to. Any information that is host-specific or varies with time is stored elsewhere.
/var /var contains variable data files. This includes spool directories and files, administrative and logging data, and transient and temporary files.
/proc System information stored in memory mirrored as files.



The only folder a normal user needs to use is /home/you/ - this is where you will be keeping all your documents.
/home/elvis/Documents
/home/elvis/Music
/home/elvis/Music/60s


Files are case sensitive, "myfile" and "MyFile" are two different files.



3. Understanding users and permissions

Linux is based on the idea that everyone using a system has their own username and password.

Every file belongs to a user and a group, and has a set of given attributes (read, write and executable) for users, groups and all (everybody).

A file or folder can have permissions that only allows the user it belongs to to read and write to it, allowing the group it belongs to to read it and at the same time all other users can't even read the file.

4. Who and what is root

Linux has one special user called root (this is the user name). Root is the "system administrator" and has access to all files and folders. This special user has the right to do anything.

You should never log on as this user unless you actually need to do something that requires it!

Use su - to temporary become root and do the things you need, again: never log into your sytem as root!

Root is only for system maintenance, this is not a regular user (LindowsOS don't have any user management at all and uses root for everything, this is a very bad idea!).

You can execute a command as root with:

su -c 'command done as root'

Gentoo Linux: Note that on Gentoo Linux only users that are member of the wheel group are allowed to su to root.

5. Opening a command shell / terminal

To learn Linux, you need to learn the shell command line in a terminal emulator.

In KDE: K -> System -> Konsoll to get a command shell)

Pressing CTRL-ALT-F1 to CTRL-ALT-F6 gives you the console command shell windows, while CTRL-ALT-F7 gives you XFree86 (the graphical interface).

xterm (manual page) is the standard XFree console installed on all boxes, run it with xterm (press ALT F2 in KDE and Gnome to run commands).

Terminals you probably have installed:
xterm http://dickey.his.com/xterm/
konsole (KDEs terminal)
gnome-terminal (Gnomes terminal)

Non-standard terminals should install:
rxvt http://www.rxvt.org/
aterm http://aterm.sourceforge.net

6. Your first Linux commands

Now you should have managed to open a terminal shell and are ready to try your first Linux commands. Simply ask the computer to do the tasks you want it to using it's language and press the enter key (the big one with an arrow). You can add a & after the command to make it run in the background (your terminal will be available while the job is done). It can be practical to do things like moving big divx movies as a background process: cp movie.avi /pub &. Jobs - the basics of job control

6.1. ls - short for list

ls lists the files in the current working folder. This is probably the first command to try out. It as a number of options described on the ls manpage.

Examples:

ls

ls -al --color=yes
6.2. pwd - print name of current/working directory

pwd prints the fully resolved name of the current (working) directory. pwd manpage.

6.3. cd - Change directory

cd stands for change (working) directory and that's what it does. The folder below you (unless you are in /, where there is no lower directory) is called "..".

To go one folder down:

cd ..

Change into the folder Documents in your current working directory:

cd Documents

Change into a folder somewhere else:

cd /pub/video

The / in front of pub means that the folder pub is located in the / (lowest folder).

7. The basic commands

7.1. chmod - Make a file executable

To make a file executable and runnable by any user:

chmod a+x myfile

Refer to the chmod manual page for more information.

7.2. df - view filesystem disk space usage

df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/hda3 73G 67G 2.2G 97% /
tmpfs 2.0M 24K 2.0M 2% /mnt/.init.d
tmpfs 252M 0 252M 0% /dev/shm


The flags: -h, --human-readable Appends a size letter such as M for megabytes to each size.
df manpage

7.3. du - View the space used by files and folders

Use du (Disk Usage) to view how much space files and folders occupy. Read the du manual page for flags and usage.

du is a part of fileutils.

Example du usage:
du -sh Documents/
409M Documents

7.4. mkdir - makes folders

Folders are created with the command mkdir:

mkdir folder

To make a long path, use mkdir -p :

mkdir -p /use/one/command/to/make/a/long/path/

Like most programs mkdir supports -v (verbose). Practical when used in scripts.

You can make multiple folders in bash and other shells with {folder1,folder2} :

mkdir /usr/local/src/bash/{old,new,dist,bugs}

mkdir manual page

The command rmdir removes folders.

7.5. passwd - changes your login password

To change your password in Linux, type:

passwd

The root user can change the password of any user by running passwd with the user name as argument:

passwd jonny

will change jonnys password. Running passwd without arguments as root changes the root password.

If you need to add several new users and give them password you can use a handy program like Another Password Generator to generate a large set of "random" passwords.

7.5.1. KDE

From KDE you can change your password by going:
K -> Settings -> Change Password
K -> Settings -> Control Center -> System Administration -> User Account

7.6. rm - delete files and folders, short for remove

Files are deleted with the command rm:
rm /home/you/youfile.txt

To delete folders, use rm together with -f (Do not prompt for confirmation) and -r (Recursively remove directory trees):
rm -rf /home/you/foo/

Like most programs rm supports -v (verbose).
rm manual page

7.7. ln - make symbolic links

A symbolic link is a "file" pointing to another file.

To make a symbolic link :
ln /original/file /new/link


This makes /original/file and /new/link the same file - edit one and the other will change. The file will not be gone until both /original/file and /new/link are deleted.

You can only do this with files. For folders, you must make a "soft" link.

To make a soft symbolic link :
ln -s /original/file /new/link


Example:
ln -s /usr/src/linux-2.4.20 /usr/src/linux


Note that -s makes an "empty" file pointing to the original file/folder. So if you delete the folder a symlink points to, you will be stuck with a dead symlink (just rm it).

7.8. tar archiving utility - tar.bz2 and tar.gz

tar (manual page) is a very handle little program to store files and folders in archives, originally made for tapestreamer backups. Tar is usually used together with gzip (manual page) or bzip2 (manual page), comprepssion programs that make your .tar archive a much smaller .tar.gz or .tar.bz2 archive.

kde

You can use the program ark (K -> Utilities -> Ark) to handle archives in KDE. Konqueror treats file archives like normal folders, simply click on the archive to open it. The archive becomes a virtual folder that can be used to open, add or remove files just as if you were working with a normal folder.

7.8.1. tar files (.tar.gz)

To untar files:
tar xvzf file.tar.gz


To tar files:
tar cvzf file.tar.gz filedir1 filedir2 filedir2...


Note: A .tgz file is the same as a .tar.gz file. Both are also often refered to as tarballs.

The flags: z is for gzip, v is for verbose, c is for create, x is for extract, f is for file (default is to use a tape device).

7.8.2. bzip2 files (.tar.bz2)

To unpack files:
tar xjvf file.tar.bz2


To pack files:
tar cvjf file.tar.bz2 filedir1 filedir2 filedir2...


The flags: Same as above, but with j for for bzip2

You can also use bunzip2 file.tar.bz2 , will turn it into a tar.

For older versions of tar, try tar -xjvf or -xYvf or -xkvf to unpack.There's a few other options it could be, they couldn't decide which switch to use for bzip2 for a while.

How to untar an entire directory full or archives?

.tar:

for i in `ls *.tar`; do tar xvf $i; done

.tar.gz: for i in `ls *.tar.gz`; do tar xvfz $i; done

.tar.bz2: for i in `ls *.tar.bz2`; do tar xvfj $i; done

software news

Google versus the telecoms

Google said on Friday it would apply to bid in the U.S. Federal Communications Commission's auction of 700 megahertz band wireless spectrum.

If it wins, it could build a wireless network for that spectrum on its own, or partner with others to build and operate such a network. Either way, Google could put its brand on millions of mobile devices that use the network. It would also be able to control the Internet experience on the devices and how much people would pay--or not pay--for the services.

In essence, Google could control the direction of the next-generation wireless network.

"Imagine an iPhone where the whole thing is a screen and the bottom eighth is banner ads running across," said Iain Gillott, a wireless analyst at IGR. "Spectrum is king; you own everything."

The 700MHz spectrum, which has been used to provide analog TV service, travels far and penetrates walls. As a result, it's considered the last remaining chunk of attractive wireless airwaves and is viewed as an opportunity to expand the Internet to a new frontier. The spectrum auction is scheduled to begin on January 24, and the deadline to apply to participate is Monday.

Google and other Internet companies have been hampered in their ability to expand their markets into the wireless space because carriers have had such a tight hold on the cellular industry. Right now, U.S. consumers are locked into the handset they use, the network it operates on, and the software it runs.

This situation has crippled consumers' ability to use the Internet on their mobile devices, compared to how they use it on their PCs. Google executives say their aim is to bring the PC-style of Internet openness to the mobile world so that users have more choice in mobile services and applications, as well as price.

Google was instrumental in getting the FCC to adopt so-called "open access rules" that would ensure consumers could use any mobile device they choose on a large chunk of the 700MHz spectrum.

Profit motivates

While Google's entrance is likely to turn the wireless world upside-down, market disruption is not its motivation. Google's priority as a public company is to make a profit; having a Google-branded wireless service would attract a good deal more eyeballs to its ad-based services.

And mobile, in some ways, will be particularly fruitful for advertising. Owning the spectrum would give Google an advantage in local advertising, which is tailor-made for mobile use as people look for nearby restaurants, gas stations, or copy shops.

Conquering the mobile world would also give Google a boost in international markets, where people tend to be even more dependent on their mobile phones than they are in the U.S.

Google has managed to turn Web search into an $11 billion business on PCs by selling simple text ads that appear with search results. Imagine how lucrative that market will be when the ads, including local advertising, can get to the far reaches of the world where there aren't any PCs.

Right now the global PC search market generates about $20 billion in revenue, assuming each PC owner conducts an estimated 35 searches a month, according to Citigroup research. If they do just one search per month on the four billion mobile phones expected to be in use in 2010, they could generate $2.3 billion in revenue, assuming PC search advertising economics migrate as-is to the wireless world, Citigroup said in a report this week.

For Google, that could translate into $700 million in incremental revenue in 2010, according to Citigroup. A new network on the spectrum isn't expected until 2010 at the earliest, analysts say.

"If you can get the most attractive demographic, the 18- to 30-year-olds (who have grown up on Google), then advertisers will be lining up at the door," Gillott said.

The wireless spectrum bid dovetails nicely with Google's moves to unify handset makers, software developers, and carriers on Android, an open mobile platform.

Mobile isn't the only place Google is eyeing the wireless access business. The company is dabbling in Wi-Fi-based services for PCs, building its own free wireless network in its hometown of Mountain View, Calif. It had also partnered with network provider EarthLink on a proposal for San Francisco. Despite initial support from city officials, the approval process stalled and EarthLink backed out in August amid a company restructuring and significant layoffs.

"Google is spending time and money paving this new superhighway," said Jeff Kagan, a wireless and telecommunications analyst. "Google is creating the world they want to compete in because it doesn't exist for them right now."

A Google representative said no executives were available to comment on their spectrum plans or motivation.

Even if Google doesn't win, its actions have already shaken up the stagnant mobile industry, said Derek Brown, an analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald.

For Google, "there is a risk that they get in way over their heads in a field in which they are late to the party and in which they have no expertise," he said. "But history suggests Google has made some very good strategic, operational, and financial decisions and seems to have done as good or better a job at investing toward the future than many other similar companies."

Cracking open the iPod Touch

In case you hadn't noticed, the Apple iPod Touch is one of the company's latest portable multimedia devices. The iPod Touch includes the usual music-playing features, but adds video playback and Wi-Fi connectivity. In this "Cracking Open" photo gallery, we take a look inside the Touch to see how it's put together.

Testers say XP could get faster than Vista
But Microsoft says its too early to evaluate two forthcoming service packs

SEATTLE - Microsoft Corp.'s Windows XP operating system is about to get faster and Windows Vista isn't, according to a report that caused a stir online this week as industry watchers speculated that a zippier XP could keep customers from upgrading to Vista.

Microsoft, however, said it's too early to evaluate the two service packs it plans to release next year.

Early versions are already in the hands of testers like Devil Mountain Software Inc., which helps big financial services companies track trading-floor computer performance.

Wellington, Fla.-based Devil Mountain Software ran several versions of XP and Vista through a test simulating common desktop computing tasks. It found the original Vista performed 50 percent to 100 percent slower than the prevalent XP Service Pack 2, or SP2.

Vista SP1, due out in the first quarter of 2008, barely improved the operating system's performance.

But XP SP3, scheduled for the first half of 2008, did improve on XP's earlier performance, running 10 percent faster than SP2.

That's a strike against Vista for IT professionals on the fence about switching, according to Craig Barth, the company's chief technology officer.

Kevin Kutz, director of Microsoft's Windows Client group, said the company is working on speeding up tasks like moving files between PCs, but it's a work in progress.

Michael Cherry, an analyst for research group Directions on Microsoft, said it's impossible to say if Microsoft has started tuning Vista SP1 for speed. Even if XP gets faster, consumers and businesses may still switch to Vista

Dell to offer Google search devices
Tools for businesses help companies find information on their networks

SAN FRANCISCO - Dell Inc said on Tuesday it will sell Google search devices to help companies find information on their networks.

Dell said it would sell Google Search Appliance starting at $30,000 and the Google Mini starting at $1,995 to U.S. corporate customers and small businesses. Dell already offers personal computers with Google's desktop search software.

The Google-made machines, which scour corporate networks and Web sites for documents and other data, will help Dell, the world's second-largest personal computer maker, expand its main business of selling computers to businesses, which account for about 85 percent of the Round Rock, Texas-based company's revenue.

Dell said it has been working with Google since 2006 to make some Dell server computers compatible with Google Search Appliance, a high-end box-like device that uses Google technology to search corporate intranets, applications, databases and files.

The Google Mini is targeted at small and medium-sized businesses while the Google Search Appliance is aimed at larger corporations.

GPS helps cities catch goof-offs
But employees, unions complain the devices are intrusive

ISLIP, N.Y. - GPS tracking devices installed on government-issue vehicles are helping communities around the country reduce waste and abuse, in part by catching employees shopping, working out at the gym or otherwise loafing while on the clock.

The use of GPS has led to firings, stoking complaints from employees and unions that the devices are intrusive, Big Brother technology. But city officials say that monitoring employees' movements has deterred abuses, saving the taxpayers money in gasoline and lost productivity.

"We can't have public resources being used on private activities. That's Management 101," Phil Nolan, supervisor of the Long Island town of Islip.

Islip saved nearly 14,000 gallons of gas over a three-month period from the previous year after GPS devices were installed. Nolan said that shows that employees know they are being watched and are no longer using Islip's 614 official vehicles for personal business.

Some administrators around the country emphasized that the primary purpose of the GPS devices is not to catch people goofing off but to improve the maintenance and operation of the vehicles and to design more efficient bus, snowplow and trash-pickup routes. Among other things, the devices can be used to alert mechanics that a car's engine is operating inefficiently.

Still, in Indiana, six employees of the Fort Wayne-Allen County Health Department lost their jobs last year after an administrator bought three Global Positioning Satellite devices out of her own pocket and switched them in and out of 12 department vehicles to nail health inspectors running personal errands on the job.

Employees were caught going to stores, gyms, restaurants, churches and their homes. (And the administrator was reimbursed the $750 she spent.)

One of those who got in trouble, 27-year employee Elaine Pruitt, decried what she called "sneaky" methods. She said she had fallen ill and stopped at her home for a long lunch break, returning to work just 38 minutes late.

Previously, "as long as we got our work done, there was never any problem. All of a sudden, it became wrong if you stopped at a grocery store for some gum," she said.

In Boston two years ago, a snowplow driver was accused of hiding his GPS device in a snowbank and then going off to do some private plowing. The driver pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor larceny charge and was fined $300.

In Denver, 76 vehicles equipped with GPS this year were driven 5,000 fewer miles than the unequipped fleet had during the same period the year before. Denver plans to outfit police cars, snowplows and trash trucks with GPS soon.

"It's growing by leaps and bounds," said Chris Ransom of Networkcar, one of the country's leading providers of GPS systems. "I'd say we're seeing double-digit growth among the municipalities, whether it's statewide or down to the local county."

In Delaware, GPS was used to confirm two employees using state vehicles were going home early, said Terry Barton Jr., fleet administrator for the state. He would not say what action, if any, was taken against the employees.

"If they're in charge of the car and they decide to go visit their Aunt Mary, we'll know that they went someplace they weren't supposed to. It has a chilling effect," he said.

Barton said Delaware paid $425 per unit for the GPS devices, as well as $24.99 a month per vehicle for tracking services. Information from each car is sent back to a central location, where things like fuel consumption and speed are recorded. He estimated the investment will be recouped in 3 1/2 years.

"If we're getting fuel reduction, less accidents and have our people slowing down, it more than pays for itself," Barton said.

The Teamsters are negotiating more contracts that protect workers from being spied on or punished as a result of the devices, union spokeswoman Leslie Miller said. She said the union's tentative contract with United Parcel Service prevents the company from firing any employee for a first offense uncovered by GPS unless there is proof of intent to defraud.

Sean Thomas, chief of staff for the Manchester, N.H., mayor's office, said a plan to use GPS units on garbage trucks was scrapped after "some union push-back. "They said, `You are watching us like Big Brother,'" Thomas said.

GPS is helping improve efficiency in other ways.

Houston officials say they have used GPS on garbage trucks to design more efficient trash-collection routes, reducing fuel costs and other expenses.

This winter, the New Hampshire Transportation Department will begin testing GPS devices in some sand spreaders.

Software News

Biped robot runs on Microsoft program

TOKYO - ZMP of Japan began selling a two-legged walking robot Thursday that runs on Microsoft's new robotics software — a product the companies said will make it easier to transfer technology from one robot to another.

U.S. software maker Microsoft Corp. is a relative latecomer to robotics. Microsoft Robotics Studio, a package of software especially made to program movements and other applications for robots, went on sale in December 2006, and ZMP's device is the first biped to run on it.

On Thursday, a demonstrator using a Microsoft Xbox 360 remote got the 14-inch-tall, 5.5-pound, $5,345 "e-nuvo WALK" to take a few steps and kick a small plastic ball.

Expected to ship in January, the robot, which has six motors in each leg and a boxlike torso but no head, is available online and only in Japan, though it will function overseas.

Japan has a thriving robot culture, partly because of a history of animation and TV shows that depict robots as friendly. The government is also pushing robotics as a way to put the nation ahead of the world. Robots are used in the schools here, and robot competitions are popular.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates has said robotics is the next hot field in technology. And Tandy Trower, a who oversees robotics at Microsoft, foresees a day when robots will operate in every home, much as Gates in the 1970s envisioned a PC proving valuable in every home.

"This really isn't about Microsoft trying to create any kind of an exclusive solution," Trower said in an interview. "We think that this is the natural evolution of the PC technology, that PCs will start to get up from our desk and move around and interact with us in a richer way."

Microsoft Robotics Studio is free for noncommercial users, and there have already been some 150,000 downloads, the company said.

In addition to robots for research and education, ZMP makes consumer products such as the Nuvo humanoid and the Miuro music-playing, rolling robot.

Adobe and Yahoo test running ads inside PDF documents

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Software maker Adobe Systems Inc and Internet company Yahoo Inc said on Wednesday they will offer a service to let publishers run advertisements in Adobe's popular document-reading format.

The new service, Ads for Adobe PDF Powered by Yahoo, presents publishers with an alternative to conventional subscriptions, which, if widely adopted, could open up a new model based on free, ad-supported publishing, analysts said.

The deal is the latest move by Yahoo to expand the reach of its advertising beyond Yahoo-owned sites. Since last year, Yahoo has signed partnership deals to supply online ads to Web auctioneer eBay Inc, cable TV group Comcast Corp and a consortium of U.S. newspaper groups.

The Adobe service allows publishers to generate revenue by including text-based ads linked to the content of an Adobe PDF (portable document format) page in a separate side panel.

"People want content for free," said Matt Swain, an analyst at market research firm InfoTrends, who has been briefed by the companies on their plans. "The question is how do I reach consumers without charging them a subscription fee?"

The service is set to begin public testing, which will run several months, the companies said. An earlier private test included technology and professional publishers IDG InfoWorld, Wired, Pearson Plc's Pearson Education, Meredith Corp and Reed Elsevier NV.

The free service requires no special software and is open to U.S. publishers of English-language content, initially.

Publishers who join Yahoo's online advertising network get access to the Web company's extensive network of advertisers.

"This is powerful up and down the spectrum of publishers," said Todd Teresi, senior vice president of the Yahoo Publisher Network, of how customers could include everyone from media conglomerates to a school's parent-teacher group newsletter.

Advertisers gain a distribution channel that can reach highly specific audiences based on their reading interests while allowing them to track how specific ads perform. The approach is akin to how Web-based, pay-per-click ads now work.

Publishers who rely on Yahoo for corporate brand or Web-search advertising will have the option of delivering ads in PDF-based publications as well, he said.

"From an advertiser point of view this looks like an extension of our existing marketplace," Teresi said.

The text-based ads are displayed in a panel adjacent to the content with no moving or flashing elements. Each time the PDF is viewed, ads are matched by Yahoo to the content.

In terms of relevance to advertisers, such ads could rank above Web-page banner ads in terms of targeting capacity, but below specific keyword-based Web ads, Teresi said.

An Adobe executive said the project remained in an experimental stage, part of a "long-term market evolution."

Google adds tracker to mobile phone map service

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Google on Wednesday released upgraded mapping software that figures out the general vicinity a mobile telephone is in based on which transmission tower it is using.

The beta, or test, version of new Google Maps for mobile software lets mobile phone users choose from options including seeing satellite views of their locales, getting directions, and finding nearby businesses.

Unlike other mapping devices, Google's new tracking feature can display a phone's location without the user entering an address or coordinates through the keypad.

"Let's face it; entering things into your phone using the keypad is so 2006," Google mobile team engineer Mike Chu wrote in a posting on the US Internet giant's website.

"While some people are lucky enough to have GPS-enabled mobile phones that provide location information ... the vast majority of us are not."

The revamped mapping software enables mobile telephones linked to the Internet to simulate GPS (global positioning system) tracking, which uses orbiting satellites.

The free Google Maps version 2.0 comes with a "My Location" feature that determines which cell tower a mobile telephone is using and displays a map of the area with a blue circle pinpointing the spot.

A test of the service by AFP showed the mobile telephone location pinpointed a spot less than a kilometer away on a map and provided an aerial view.

A search for "cafes" in the area resulted in a list of coffee houses along with directions on request.

"We've all been there," Chu wrote. "You're out and about, and you need to figure out where you are, what's around you, and how to get there."

Google says its location tracking service is faster than GPS, uses less battery power and is more reliable indoors where architecture sometimes interferes with satellite signals.

In an effort to pre-empt concerns regarding privacy, Google says it is not gathering "any personally identifiable information" or data that could reveal particular users' whereabouts. The My Location feature can be disabled by users.

My Location software works on most Internet-enabled "smart phones," including BlackBerry models, newer Sony Ericsson devices, and some Symbian and Motorola phones.

Google says its mobile mapping software, which debuted in the US in late 2005, is used by millions of people in more than 20 countries.

Client-side vulnerabilities loom large

San Francisco - Critical vulnerabilities in common PC software, including both applications and operating systems, continue to grow in number and stand as the leading cause for concern in the IT security landscape today, according to training experts at the SANS Institute.

Holes in so-called client-side applications, including Web browsers, e-mail clients, productivity suites, and media players, have become particularly worrisome over the last year, according to SANS, which highlighted the issue as part of its annual report on the top 20 Internet security risks for 2007.

As hackers have shifted their attention further away from operating system flaws and drilled down to applications-layer vulnerabilities they have found a seemingly endless wealth of possibilities for infecting PCs with everything from spyware to botnet programs, SANS researchers contend.

Unless something can be done to improve software developers' coding habits or better test popular applications for such issues before they land on end-users' machines, attackers will be able to continue their successful assaults against enterprise networks and devices for the foreseeable future, said Rohit Dhamankar, project manager for the Top 20 report at SANS and a senior manager of security research for TippingPoint.??

"There's just been such a dramatic rise in the numbers of vulnerabilities found in applications like Internet Explorer and Microsoft Office and a number of media players that attackers are having their way," said Dhamankar. "Enterprises are bolstering security, but desktop users still pose a massive risk if they can download anything they want from the Web; the attacks are also growing in sophistication to the extent that many can defeat antivirus and other security systems primarily by obfuscating their code."

Some of the most powerful tools that hackers have adopted in hunting for potential targets are the same industrial-strength applications fuzzing tools that software vendors themselves are using to search for holes in their products, said the expert.

Enterprises could do themselves a favor by enforcing stricter policies that dictate the types of applications that end-users are allowed to put on their work machines and using technical means to ensure that those rules are being followed, Dhamankar said.

Other SANS researchers noted that while companies may not want to tell end-users that they cannot utilize media players, messaging clients, and other applications that have moved into the business world from the consumer sector, they could help themselves out by limiting the variety of client-side applications that people may choose from.

"IT departments can't focus on all the applications of the world, but they can choose several and keep their eye on those while allowing end-users some freedom," said Amol Sarwate, research manager at Qualys who studies vulnerability patterns for SANS. "What companies need to do is enforce standards for applications usage and utilize technical means to block unwanted software, devices, and even wireless access points."

While many businesses have already realized that they need to shift more of their efforts toward defending client-side vulnerabilities, most have failed to embrace a proactive approach versus simply keeping track of publicly-reported flaws and patching those issues said Sarwate.

Enterprises need to think about future security issues
It will be particularly important for firms to examine the additional security issues that will be introduced in the coming years with broader adoption of technologies including VoIP (Voice over IP), according to the expert.

"The key is for people to start thinking ahead of these client-side vulnerabilities to understand what the next big thing may be. Things like VoIP need to be examined for their security implications," said Sarwate. "Many companies are already adopting these tools because of all the advantages they offer, but there will be many attacks carried out against these systems as well."

Among the advice that SANS is offering organizations hoping to improve their client-side security coverage is to mandate secure configurations at installation time for all applications, to constantly verify patching and upgrading of both applications and system software, to scan for new vulnerabilities frequently, and to keep their security systems up to date.

Other leading areas of concern highlighted by SANS in its report included critical vulnerabilities in Web applications that allow for cross-site scripting attacks or for computers to be otherwise compromised simply by pointing their browsers at poisoned URLs.

"Gullible, busy, accommodating computer users," including executives, IT staff, and others with privileged access also remain a major weak point for enterprise security, according to SANS, as these seemingly more seasoned users of computers and software are still falling for increasingly targeted spear-phishing campaigns in large numbers.

One of the best ways to educate users about the problem is for organizations to create fake spear-phishing threats and send them out to internal users to determine which individuals might be most likely to fall for the schemes and follow up with additional training, the group said.

Critical vulnerabilities in the software and systems that provide the operating environment and primary services to computer users, or server-side software, remain another area of leading concern, according to SANS.

Problems in Microsoft Windows services, Unix and Mac OS services, back-up and AV programs, management servers, database software, and VoIP technologies in particular are proving troublesome, according to the report.

Many of those issues can be addressed by following the same advice offered for solving client-side vulnerabilities, SANS said in the research.

Tata Indiva - 1 Lakh Car ?




This news has been flying around for quite some time now. The Tata Indiva is NOT the 1 lakh ruppee car which is due to come out in 2008. This is just a concept car which was designed by TATA in 2003 by the Italian company - I.D.E.A. The design and prototype was entirely done by this company.

The TATA Indiva was made specifically for the Geneva Motor show to demonstrate good manufacturing ability of TATA.

The Indiva concept will take at least 3-4 years for it to become a reality but we will wait and see whats going to happen here.

The Vehical specs are as follows:

Engine Configuration - S
Cylinders - 4
Aspiration/Induction - Normal
Displacement - 1405.00 cc
Horsepower - 53.00 BHP
Weight 2161 lbs


Microsoft Puts Finishing Touches on Vista, XP Service Packs

With the one-year anniversary of the launch of its Windows Vista operating system on the horizon, Microsoft for the past 10 months or so has been able to turn its attention to other projects. In particular, the software maker has been working to put out Vista's first service pack and a third service pack for its Windows XP operating system. The two software updates are designed to improve the performance and stability of their respective OS.

Microsoft has rolled out the final release candidate for the Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3), which has a scheduled release during the first quarter of 2008. Microsoft has also scheduled the release of the Windows Vista Service Pack (SP1) for sometime between January and April of next year.

A beta version of Vista SP1 was released to a group of private testers in September and the final release date "will depend on customer feedback and the quality of the beta," said David Zipkin, senior product manager, Windows Client.

PC users can expect the two SPs to come out within a few weeks of each other, with the Vista SP released to coincide with the launch of Windows Server 2008, said Michael Cherry, lead analyst at Directions on Microsoft.

"Microsoft will be promoting that the two things work better together. And you want to have both of them there," he stated.

Better Vista

With Windows Vista SP1, users of the operating system will have the benefit of receiving all the updates released for Vista throughout 2007 in one package. The SP also includes improvements to the OS based on customer feedback to Microsoft, Zipkin explained.

In addition to previously released updates, SP1 will contain changes focused on addressing specific reliability, performance and compatibility issues, supporting new types of hardware , and adding support for several emerging standards, he continued.

"SP1 also continues to improve upon the IT administration experience. SP1 is not intended to be a vehicle for releasing new features; however some existing components do gain slightly enhanced functionality in SP1," Zipkin told TechNewsWorld.

Adoption rates for Vista have lagged behind those of XP during the same time period following its release. So, the release of this first SP is particularly important for Microsoft as IT administrators traditionally begin planning to upgrade their machines to a new OS following the initial SP.

"Many admins still have a SP1 policy where they wait for the first service pack before deploying," said Gary Chen, a Yankee Group analyst. "Vista is really somewhat a victim of XP's success."

However, "while SP1 contains valuable updates to Windows, organizations don't need to wait to deploy and can experience the improved security, management and deployment benefits of Windows Vista today," said Zipkin.

The launch of SP1 could lead to an uptick in adoption for the new OS, but it will not be significant, according to Cherry.

"The big thing is it takes people time to test things. And then they have to work it into their regular [schedule] of work they perform. Not everyone has a whole bunch of [down] time just waiting for Microsoft to do something," he stated.

"I think Vista will roll out at a somewhat slower than expected but steady rate. It's never going to be so fast that everyone goes, 'Look at that.' But, it's not going to fall away to nothing," Cherry added.

XP Feels Its Age

It is six years and counting since Windows XP was loaded on its first PC and since then Microsoft has sold more than 400 million copies of the OS, according to a January 2006 estimate from IDC. The first service pack for the OS came in September 2002, 11 months after it hit store shelves. That SP contained security patches, hot-fixes, compatibility updates and a new version of Windows Messenger.

In August 2004, Microsoft rolled out XP SP2 that brought users an enhanced firewall protection and security in the form of Windows Security Center, improved Wi-Fi support, Bluetooth support and a pop-up blocker for Internet Explorer.

The upcoming XP SP3, put on hold while Microsoft pushed out Vista, has been in the works for more than three years. And while it is not unusual for the software company to put out a third or even fourth SP, XP's continuing popularity among PC users has prompted Microsoft to release one more service pack before it discontinues sales of the OS in June.

Wrapping It Up

"It's about to enter a new stage of its lifecycle. That is generally a good time to send out a service pack so that as it moves into the next port cycle you can say 'We need you to be at this release of the service pack.' It does two things for Microsoft. Because there has been a significant amount of time since there was a service pack for XP, it resets the baseline and provides all of the code up to a certain date. The second thing is they will update certain components that have changed, and bring them into the product as well," Cherry explained.

As with Vista, XP SP3 is a rollup that includes all the previously released updates for Windows XP, including security updates, out-of-band releases and hotfixes, Zipkin noted. The service pack contains a few new updates but should not significantly change the Windows XP experience.

"Windows XP SP3 will not include most Windows Vista features, with the exception of Network Access Protection (NAP). NAP is a capability of Windows Vista that is also being made available on Windows XP SP3 and will require Windows Server 2008," he added.

"XP is a very popular operating system and it is about time for a service pack," Chen told TechNewsWorld. And although "the popularity of XP has already affected Vista, I don't expect anything to really change with SP3.