Online shopping has always been fruitful during these highly crowded bonanzas. Such an Xbox gaming console, newly released Amazon Kindle, or Apple iPad, one can find anything at reasonable prices on Black Friday. Prepare a list of all the products you want to buy. Then just mark the top of the list. After that, the list-up online stores, like Target and Amazon, these products are available in limited time. This online shopping easier and less time.

A Web security mechanism called HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) is making its way through the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) standards process, and two of the major browsers are supporting it. Web sites that implement HSTS will prompt the browser to always connect to a secure version of the site, using “https,” without the Web surfer having to remember to type that in the URL bar.

It will render useless tools like Firesheep, a Firefox add-on that lets people easily capture HTTP session cookies that sites use to communicate with computers. Firesheep was released at ToorCon last month.

HSTS is used in Google Chrome and the NoScript and Force-TLS Firefox plug-ins and is being implemented in the upcoming version of FireFox, according to a blog post by Jeff Hodges, a security engineer at PayPal. Hodges wrote the original draft specification for HSTS with Collin Jackson, a former Googler and current assistant research professor at Carnegie Mellon University Silicon Valley, and Adam Barth, a Google engineer.

“This allows for full-session encryption,” Jackson told CNET. “A user won’t see an insecure version of the site.”

PayPal and other Web sites have started to use the feature and more are waiting to adopt it once it is implemented in more browsers, he said. “We’re waiting on Microsoft to pick it up,” Jackson said.

Asked if Microsoft is considering using HSTS in Internet Explorer, a spokesperson provided this comment: “We don’t support it in IE9 but are committed to delivering trusted browsing experience and will continue to listen to customers.”

Credit to Cnet

Resisting 3D may be futile, but we still don’t know to what extent 3D will invade our lives. That was what executives gathered to discuss. Will 3D be a part of every screen, from TVs to ATMs, as predicted by Jim Chabin, CEO of the International 3D Society? Will it be a staple of learning tools in the classroom, as predicted by Michael P. Guillory of Texas Instruments? Or will it simply be the thing kids get excited about at the movies because it makes dinosaur tails come flying toward their noses?

Chabin said 3D will be omnipresent on all displays because “the cost of making a screen 3D is the same as making it color. It’s nothing. It’s just another chip and a little more gas.” What holds up adoption is consumer confusion. The lack of a standard for 3D glasses is confusing enough, but couple that with the fact that most consumers don’t understand that a 3D TV is also a 2D TV and what is left is an adoption cul-de-sac. Studios and hardware manufacturers love the potential. Consumers don’t know what to think.
Much like high-definition TV, consumers may not initially understand the need to pay more for 3D content through their cable boxes. Delivering 3D content will heavily tax the Internet service provider, even if the format is properly compressed, meaning that already-pricey cable TV will be even pricier with 3D channels.
Of course, content is king, but the format is too nascent and, at times, too kitschy.
“You can’t take a bad movie, turn it into 3D, and make it a good movie,” said Richard Gelfond, CEO of IMAX Corporation.
What you can do is convert 2D content into 3D content, but not everyone thinks that approach produces the best results. 3D purists think movies should be conceptualized and shot in 3D from the get-go. Others think conversion is an essential way to jump-start the 3D brand.

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Napster’s journey to the Apple App Store is one for the ages. Originally a place where users could download music at no cost, the service has barely hung on through the years as the music industry sunk its teeth into it. But survive it did. And in 2008, Best Buy acquired Napster for $121 million.

Napster’s app is free to download, but in order to access the program’s content, users will need to pay $10 per month. Subscribers can also listen to Napster on their browsers at no additional cost.

Credit : Cnet

We’ve seen iPads used to create touch-screen art, but this goes a step beyond. The folks at communications agency Dentsu London and design consultancy Berg teamed up to produce an series of otherworldly animations seen in the vid below. Dentsu says it’s part of its Making Future Magic project.

The photographic technique is a kind of stop-frame animation. Hand-held iPads are imaged moving through space with long exposure times, creating a ghostly message in the air.

Making Future Magic: iPad light painting from Dentsu London on Vimeo.

Credit : Cnet

Samsung debuted the Galaxy Tab Thursday at the IFA electronics show here with strong words showing it plans to compete directly with Apple’s iPad. Just how well it’ll succeed depends in large measure on how well developers embrace large-screen Android devices: the Tab’s most awkward moments came with applications designed for a smaller screen, and there will have to be a lot more games before Android tablets can take on the iPad.

Source : Cnet

The company also says people at risk for stroke or epileptic seizures should consult a medical professional before watching TV in three dimensions.

Samsung and Panasonic began selling the first 3-D TVs in the U.S. last month.

The warnings come as other TV manufacturers are set to debut 3-D home entertainment systems this year. When watching 3-D TV, users wear special glasses with lenses that open and close rapidly to produce an image that appears to leap off of the screen.

Some of Samsung’s warnings apply to everyone:

“Viewing 3D television may also cause motion sickness, perceptual after effects, disorientation, eye strain and decreased postural stability,” the Web site message says. “It is recommended that users take frequent breaks to lessen the potential of these effects. If your eyes show signs of fatigue or dryness or if you have any of the above symptoms, immediately discontinue use of this device and do not resume using it for at least thirty minutes after the symptoms have subsided.”

The TV maker also says wearing its 3-D glasses in normal situations, when you’re not watching 3-D TV, “may be physically harmful to you and may weaken your eyesight.”

The warning suggests that some 3-D TV viewers could become so disoriented that they could fall and hurt themselves:

“Viewing in 3-D may cause disorientation for some viewers,” the warning says. “Accordingly, DO NOT place your TV television near open stairwells, cables, balconies, or other objects that can be tripped over, run into, knocked down, broken or fallen over.”

Source : CNN

The American Society of Media Photographers is leading the class-action lawsuit, which was filed today in U.S. District Court in New York, according to a news release.

Visual artists were not allowed to join a previous lawsuit filed against Google by book authors and publishers, who charged that Google was not fairly compensating them for books and excerpts posted online as part of its Google Books project. That project aims to digitize the world’s books, creating a huge online library.

The Google Books legal action, initially filed in 2005, is expected to be settled soon; however, Wednesday’s lawsuit over visual art on Google could keep the search engine in court on copyright issues for longer.

“We are seeking justice and fair compensation for visual artists whose work appears in the 12 million books and other publications Google has illegally scanned to date,” Victor Perlman, general counsel for the photographers’ organization, said in a written statement. “In doing so, we are giving voice to thousands of disenfranchised creators of visual artworks whose rights we hope to enforce through this class action.”

James McGuire, who represents the ASMP in the lawsuit against Google, told the Financial Times that the visual artists “are not trying to crash the party or influence what is happening with the other class action. We are just trying to get the best possible result for this class of plaintiffs.”

Google says its trying to make information more universally available.

“We are confident that Google Books is fully compliant with U.S. and international copyright law,” Gabriel Stricker, a Google spokesman, wrote in an e-mail message to CNN.

“Google Books is an historic effort to make all of the knowledge contained within the world’s books searchable online. It exposes readers to information they might not otherwise see, and it provides authors and publishers with a new way to be found.”

The ASMP is joined by the Graphic Artists Guild, the Picture Archive Council of America, the North American Nature Photography Association, Professional Photographers of America and others in its filing against Google.

Source : CNN

1. Take Time to Disconnect
I do not know anyone who, after a number of hours looking at a screen, does not experience some level of “brain freeze.” For some it is two hours, for others four, but there comes a time when we just cannot process any more information. The best thing to do is step back from the computer and take a break.

2. Breathe
If there’s one thing that just about every health-conscious person can agree on, it’s that deep, full breaths are a good thing. Think of a time when you were nervous or frustrated — how was your breath? And think of time when you were totally at ease — how was your breathing then? Most likely in the former, it was shallow and tight, and in the latter it was full and expansive.

In fact, even as you read these words, you can bring attention to your breath. Notice the breath coming in and out of your body. This attention to your breathing can help lower cortisol levels, increase oxygen levels, and lower your stress level.

3. Eat Food that Adds Energy
How many times have you scarfed down an unhealthy lunch while you stared at your computer screen, and soon after noticed that you not only had a stomach ache, but that your energy had been zapped?

Unhealthy food may bring short-term pleasure, but it generally decreases your energy level and ability to focus. There are healthy foods however, that taste good, and at the same time increases your energy level and ability to concentrate. Of course, strong caffeine or a good dose of sugar may give you a quick hit, but soon your energy drops — until you get another hit, and the cycle continues.

There is a place for enjoying unhealthy food, but when it becomes a habit, you won’t be able to live and work at your optimum level. Eating healthy food, and taking the time to do so slowly, increases your ability to fully engage with whatever you’re doing, be it a phone conversation, a meeting, or writing a tweet.

4. Awaken the Body: Move
If there has been one major change in people’s lives in recent years, it may well be this: We are more stationary than any previous generation. Many of us sit at desks for hours and hours each day. The New York Times references a number of studies that revealed that just working out once a day is not as helpful as integrating movement throughout your day.

This means that when there is a chance, get up and move. Work standing up for part of the day, walk instead of drive to lunch, ride a bike to work if possible, and walk over and talk to a colleague instead of shooting off an e-mail to him or her.

Source : mashable

Source : Microsoft