Virtusa Named “Best U.S. Technology Company” in India

Hyderabad, India – June 30, 2008 – Virtusa Corporation (NASDAQ: VRTU) has been recognized as the Best U.S. Technology, Communications and Entertainment company in India by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC), the only bi-lateral chamber for Indo-US business. Prior winners of this award include Microsoft and Cisco.
“We are delighted to be recognized by the IACC,” said Kris Canekeratne, Virtusa Chairman and CEO. “This prestigious award highlights our company’s success as a next-generation IT services firm that delivers the benefits of speed, efficiency and agility to our clients using a global delivery model. The tremendous dedication of our team members made this award possible.”
T.N. Hari, Virtusa SVP and Global Head of Human Resources, who represented the company at the June 28th awards ceremony, said " We are delighted to win this latest in a long series of Virtusa awards over the past year. This is a prestigious recognition for our business and re-iterates our leadership status among the global IT services companies”
The Indo-American Corporate Excellence (I-ACE) Awards 2008 recognize the best U.S. companies in India in four categories, including Overall Best Company, and Best U.S. Company in Financial Services, in Manufacturing and Other Services, and in Technology, Communications and Entertainment. Nominees for I-ACE Awards are reviewed by a distinguished jury and judged on factors such as financial performance, Indo-U.S. trade, corporate social responsibility initiatives and human capital management.
Virtusa has enjoyed a nine-year history in India, with global delivery centers in Hyderabad and Chennai. The company is in the process of building a new, 6,000 person capacity campus in Hyderabad.

About Virtusa Corporation
Virtusa (NASDAQ: VRTU) is a global information technology (IT) services company providing IT consulting, technology implementation and application outsourcing services. Using its enhanced global delivery model, innovative platforming approach and industry expertise, Virtusa provides cost-effective services that enable its clients to use IT to enhance business performance, accelerate time-to-market, increase productivity and improve customer service. Founded in 1996 and headquartered in Massachusetts, Virtusa has offices in the United States and the United Kingdom, and global delivery centers in India and Sri Lanka. "Virtusa" is a registered trademark of Virtusa Corporation.

A latest and famouse Microsoft product release : Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse 3000 Special Edition

Enjoy smooth optical performance from the #1 best-selling mouse, now with High Definition technology. Work easily on the go, then simply snap in the receiver to automatically turn off the mouse, saving hassle and battery life.

• High Definition Optical Technology
  Microsoft High Definition Optical mouse products are more precise, more responsive, and deliver smoother tracking.


• 6+ Months Battery Life
  Work with less interruption with longer battery life.


• Wireless Freedom
  Give yourself room to move—wireless mouse and keyboard products let you work without worrying about tangled wires.


• Snap-in Receiver
  Plug in the snap-in receiver when you’re ready to work, then snap it into your mouse when you travel, preserving battery life.


• Comfortable in Either Hand
  Use your mouse with your left or right hand—ambidextrous design makes it comfortable either way.


• Designed for Notebook PCs
  Compact and comfortable, our handy notebook and laptop products are designed for convenience and mobility.


• 3-Button Mouse
  Get quick access to the media, programs, and files you use most often with customizable buttons.

Twice as fast. Half the price iPhone 3G coming on July 11th

                               

Introducing iPhone 3G. With fast 3G wireless technology, GPS mapping, support for enterprise features like Microsoft Exchange, and the new App Store, iPhone 3G puts even more features at your fingertips. And like the original iPhone, it combines three products in one — a revolutionary phone, a widescreen iPod, and a breakthrough Internet device with rich HTML email and a desktop-class web browser. iPhone 3G. It redefines what a mobile phone can do — again.

• Phone - Make a call by tapping a name or send a text with the intelligent keyboard.

• Internet - Browse the real web, get HTML email, and find yourself with GPS maps.
• iPod - Enjoy music and video on a widescreen display and shop for music with a tap

Additional features that makes iPhone3G popular

• 3G Technology - 3G technology gives iPhone fast access to the Internet and email over cellular networks around the world. iPhone 3G also makes it possible to do more in more places: Surf the web, download email, get directions, and watch video — even while you’re on a call. 

 

• Maps with GPS -

Find your location, get directions, and see traffic — all from your phone. Maps on iPhone 3G combines GPS, Wi-Fi, and cell tower location technology with the Multi-Touch interface to create the best mobile map application ever .

Find yourself.

iPhone 3G finds your location via GPS or by triangulating your position using Wi-Fi and cellular towers. It also finds points of interest by keyword: Search for “coffee” and iPhone shows you every cafe nearby.

                             

• App Store - The App Store is coming soon. And when it’s here, you’ll find applications in every category, from games to business, education to entertainment, finance to health and fitness, productivity to social networking. These applications have been designed to take advantage of iPhone technologies such as Multi-Touch, the accelerometer, wireless, and GPS. And some are even free. You’ll download them wirelessly and be able to use them right awayapplications for iPhone.

 

• iPhone in Enterprice - What makes iPhone a great business phone? Simple. The same features that make it a revolutionary mobile device. With iPhone 2.0 software, iPhone does even more for your enterprise. It supports Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, delivering push email, calendar, and contacts. And it gives mobile users secure access to corporate resources with Cisco IPSec VPN and wireless network services with WPA2 Enterprise and 802.1X authentication.

Latest Release : Opera 9.51 RC2

            

A full-featured Internet browser, Opera includes pop-up blocking, tabbed browsing, integrated searches, and advanced functions like Opera's groundbreaking E-mail program, RSS Newsfeeds and IRC chat. And because we know that our users have different needs, you can customize the look and content of your Opera browser with a few clicks of the mouse.

• Tabbed browsing and pop-up blocking
• Opera integrated search
• Integrated search
• Improved security
• Password manager
• Opera skins
• Customization
• Integrated voice features
• Full support for Gmail
• Atom newsfeeds
• First Web browser to natively support Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 

Free download Opera 9.51 RC2 (8.49MB)

Vreel.net To Open Today......

                    

The much awaited Stage6 clone[claimed tobe] Vreel.net is getting ready to openbeta today[19/06/08]. After many confusions and postponement of opening the site now they have decided to open today at 5PM GMT.With closed beta testing began on 11th june 2008 the site has been fllooded with high quality videos by its over 500 betatesters. Now still waiting to open Vreel has over 1000 videos still growing fast...
Vreel began its project under tilte DivXit.net which drawn attention of Divx.Inc th official Divx Company immedaitely. The staff contacted the DivX officials and obtained permission from them. Then they moved to domain Vreel.net. Soon after that vreel.net was contacted by Limelight network with a hosting plan on their global network worldwide and now Vreel's servers are run by limelight with 1 GB ports and high end servers around the world
The closed beta was scheduled on 18th may 2008 and openbeta to 31st May. But some problem with Vreel's old coders delayed it further. The closed beta was begun on june11th and continued till today.During this period many betatesters were given permission to upload their videos on to Vreel to test and fix bugs. Currently most of the bugs are fixed and ready to open to public as per leader of the Vreel team. At the time of this artilce Vreel are installing new servers for openbeta which arrived little late than expected and its delayed openbeta to 5PM GMT from 11AM.
With huge expectations, Vreel has most of features of Stage6,the official Dvix wesite which was shut down few months ago including watch high qaulity videos for all, uploading and sharing for regstered users. Video quality range from DVD quality to Full HD[1080] and its main attracting feature of Vreel and the RIP Stage6. But as per informations from Vreel team they are not going to tranfer any videos from Stage6 they had until they went down . But reports from from betatesting indicates they wont have any need to do it as currently videos flooding even when in closedbeta stage. So its going to be a large Divx video sharing site after Stage6 and will be larger than that in future as per reports. Its a great place for videojunkies and a promising platform for videosharers.

Sri Lanka to discuss open source on Windows

The Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) community in Sri Lanka will gather this week to discuss open source applications for Windows, in a bid to curb software piracy in the country.

Organized by local advocacy group FOSS Sri Lanka, the FOSS-ed for Windows conference will cover various topics relating to FOSS applications for the Microsoft platform. These range from Web browsers and e-mail clients, to graphics software and content management systems. The event will be held in Colombo, the country's capital city, from Jun. 26 to 28.

FOSS Sri Lanka said in a statement last week that while there is a trend in the industry moving toward Linux and other free and open source applications, "Microsoft Windows is still a dominating force" in the operating systems market.

Karthiga Ratnam, chair of FOSS-ed for Windows, said: "FOSS-ed is a popular conference program organized by the foss.lk community…we wanted to create awareness among the general public about FOSS applications that you can easily download and use while continuing to be on the Microsoft Windows platform."

"There are so many good pieces of software which you don't have to pay any money for licensing fees. We hope that by learning about freely available alternatives out there we can help to stop software piracy in the country," Ratnam added.

According to FOSS Sri Lanka, many individuals and companies resort to using illegal copies because of the unaffordable prices of proprietary software, which could cost anything from a few hundred dollars to millions of dollars in licensing fees alone.

Brian Behlendorf, a longstanding figure in the open source software movement, will deliver the keynote address at this week's event. Behlendorf was a primary developer of the Apache Web server, the most popular Web server software on the Internet, and a founding member of the Apache Group, which later became the Apache Software Foundation.

The event is sponsored by Google, Intel, Microsoft, Ceylon Linux, eBuilder, ThinkCube and Virtusa. It is supported by American Chamber of Commerce, Sri Lanka's ICT Agency, the National Intellectual Property Office and University of Colombo School of Computing.

Lately, Microsoft has stepped up efforts to establish Linux-related agreements with open source software vendors, starting with Novell in last November. This was followed by Linspire and Xandros last month.

BitTorrent Sites Open for Signup

These trackers are opened for sin-ups.They average about 250-300 new torrents a day, all scene releases. Pre times are insanely fast. They are closing signups soon so get an account while you can.

URL: http://www.unique-tracker.com/account.php

                   

URL: http://bitnation.com/signup.php

                   

Get registered fast!!

We provide you the best.

ATI Radeon HD 4850 Versus NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX+

Battle For Mainstream Market Share

The battle between ATI and NVIDIA reached a tense moment today when ATI removed the gag order on the ATI Radeon HD 4850 graphics card by more than a week. NVIDIA was trying to spoil the launch of the ATI Radeon HD 4850 by launching an ultra secret graphics card they have been working on for many months. NVIDIA wasn't quite ready, so the GeForce 9800 GTX+ was rushed to the media this week where we had the card for less than 24 hours before it was offically announced this morning. Why are both companies in such a rush to get the cards to the market and at the same time? The answer is simple, they are priced between $199 and $229! This price point is critical to market share and is the bulk of what is sold to gamers and enthusiasts for the back to school shopping season. These are the sexy cards that offer the best price versus performance and will remain some of the most talked about cards for the rest of 2008.


It seems NVIDIA quietly updated the G92 core that is found on many GeForce 8 series GPU's as well as the GeForce 9600 GT, 9800 GTX and the GeForce 9800 GX2. NVIDIA shrunk the die from 65nm to 55nm and increased the frequency of the core and shaders, while reducing the cost and added driver support for PhysX. NVIDIA has in a sense completed the move from Enterprise Computing to Visual Computing and beyond today. NVIDIA GeForce graphics cards can now run CUDA enabled clients like Folding@Home and utilize the AGEIA PhysX SDK, which means by just owning one of the supported NVIDIA graphics cards you can enable game physics without owning a separate physics card or a secondary graphics card. This is more of a revolutionary day than evolutionary if you ask us.


The new just announced NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX+ graphics card is from what NVIDIA informed us, nothing more than a die shrink of the G92-based GeForce 9800 GTX graphics card. The original GeForce 9800 GTX had a core frequency of 675MHz and the 128 processors cores (shader clocks) operated at 1688 MHz. Thanks to the new 55nm die NVIDIA was able to run a core clock of 738 MHz and a processor clock of 1836 MHz. The memory remains the same at 1100MHz. This boost of core and shader clocks is enough to make it the fastest GPU in the NVIDIA GeForce 9 family. Pictured above is the flagship GeForce GTX 280 on top and the just announced GeForce 9800 GTX+ on the bottom to get an idea of the layout of each card.

How to CRACK BitDefender 2008 Total

Guys its only 7 steps.Just 7 steps, your bitdefender 2008 Total will have 10 years licence period.

Now I will tell how to crack before it gets too long!!

• Disconnect from Internet.
• Go to "C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\etc"
• Right click "hosts" > Uncheck "Read Only".
• Open with Notepad/Word Pad.
• Add "127.0.0.1 update.bitdefender.com" after "127.0.0.1 localhost"
• Save file and register your Bit Defender. If it asks to create an account, select "create later" and continue.
• Connect to Internet and Update!

Only 7mins right.

It would look like this:
--------------------
#
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host
127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.0.1 update.bitdefender.com
------------- 

Here is the serial for registering.I have given the download link for bitdefender 2008 Total in previous posts.You can even download the keygen from it

               

               

               

BitDefender 2008 Reaches Rank 01 in 2008

Most of the people have not heard about this anti-virus application.But do you know that BitDefender 2008 reached RANK 1 in 2008!

Don't worry we are giving the free download links.You may not believe that this reached rank 1.Try these screen shots.

              

              

Features:

• ICSA Certified
• VB 100% Certified
• W.C.L. Level 1 Certified
• W.C.L Level 2 Certified

Scanning Capabilities:

• On-access Scanning
• On-demand Scanning
• Scheduled Scanning
• Heuristic Scanning
• Manual Scanning
• Adware/Spyware Scanning
• Script Blocking
• Scan Compressed Files
• Auto-Clean Infected Files
• Quarantines Infected Files
• Email Protection
• Instant Messaging Protection
• P2P/File Sharing Protection
• Registry Startup Protection
• WebMail Protection

Updates:

• Automatic Definition Updates
• Automatic Program Updates
• Manual Definition Updates
• Manual Program Updates

Other Features

• History/Report logging
• Password Protect Settings

Technical Support

• Live Chat
• Phone Support
• Manual/FAQ/Knowledge Base
• Tutorials
• User Forum
• Email Support

Supported Configurations

• Windows Vista (32 bit)
• Windows Vista (64 bit)
• Windows Vista (64 bit)
• Windows XP (64 bit)

ANTIVIRUS & ANTISPYWARE

• Protects your PC in real time from known viruses, spyware and other malware with hourly updates
• Blocks unknown viruses using advanced proactive detection techniques
• Monitors and prevents spyware threats in real-time
• Detects and removes the newest breed of hidden threats known as rootkits
• Provides a load to a minimum

ANTI-PHISHING

• Protects against phishing attacks by filtering all accessed web pages for fraud attempts
• Reduces the risk of identity theft by preventing personal information smooth gaming experience by reducing the system leaks via e-mail or web

Check for more in coments!!! And Please follow the instruction has given.

Technorati Tags: Anti Virusez,News,Security Software,BitDefender

Top OEMs to sell XP PCs down to the wire

HP, Acer and Lenovo to sell until June 30; Dell will call it quits next week

Three of the top four PC sellers worldwide plan to sell systems with Windows XP right up to the Microsoft-mandated deadline of June 30.

Of the four, only Dell Inc. plans to call it quits before the last day of this month.

Microsoft Corp. has set June 30 as the final day of Windows XP availability to retailers and major computer makers, although the company recently also said that the date won't mark a sudden disappearance of the old operating system.

"The exact cutoff day for selling Windows XP is determined by OEMs [manufacturers] and retailers, who can keep selling stand-alone versions as well as PCs with Windows XP preloaded by OEMs distributed prior to June 30, 2008, as long as their supplies last," a Microsoft spokeswoman said two weeks ago in an e-mail.

Hewlett-Packard, Acer and Lenovo -- ranked 1 through 4, respectively, in global PC sales in the first quarter by both Gartner Inc. and IDC -- will continue to sell XP-powered machines until June 30, the companies said this week in response to questions from Computerworld. Dell, which is the world's No. 2 reseller, is sticking to June 18 as the last day that customers can order computers with XP preinstalled.

Here's what the companies said about their plans:

Hewlett-Packard Co.: "We do still offer XP on a select number of our existing consumer notebook, gaming and business products," said a spokesman for HP. "This will continue through the XP end-of-life date on June 30, 2008."

Dell: Weeks ago, Dell said that it would stop taking customers' orders for PCs with XP after June 18. Today, a marketing e-mail from Dell's small business group titled "Last Chance" repeated that date. "It's time to decide if you want a Dell system with preinstalled Windows XP or Windows Vista," Dell's e-mail read.

Acer Inc.: "For Acer, it's June 30," said a spokeswoman for the Taiwan-based company's U.S. operations.

Lenovo Group Ltd.: Although Lenovo spokesman Doug Bell first said his company's last-sale date was June 15, after checking, he confirmed that it is, in fact, the end-of-life deadline of June 30.

However, some of these computer makers will continue to sell PCs with factory-installed XP licenses after June 30 by taking advantage of Windows Vista's downgrade rights.

A clause in Microsoft's guidelines lets computer makers install Windows XP Professional -- but not the more common and less expensive Windows XP Home -- on new PCs at a customer's request when those machines are ordered with Windows Vista Business or Windows Vista Ultimate.

Dell was the first to say it would use the downgrade clause to offer buyers XP Professional preinstalled long after the June 30 deadline. Those PCs will also include Vista installation media so that customers can, if and when they want, upgrade from XP. However, Dell has not said how long it would offer the downgrade option.

Not so with HP. "HP has been offering business desktops, notebooks and workstations with the option to downgrade to Windows XP Pro from Vista since August 2007 and will continue to offer this option on its business systems through at least July 30, 2009," said the HP spokesman.

Lenovo, meanwhile, said it would continue to offer its downgrade option until Jan. 31, 2009. Lenovo doesn't swap out the Vista for XP at the factory floor, but instead sends media that requires the user to reinstall Windows XP.

Acer did not comment on how it will address downgrades.

June 30 is not Microsoft's final deadline for all computer makers. It will sell licenses to registered "system builders" -- smaller shops and individuals who acquire Windows through one of Microsoft's authorized distributors -- through Jan. 31, 2009. The company has also recently extended the availability of XP Home to a subset of computer manufacturers that are building or plan to build small, cheap notebooks and desktops, such as the Asus Eee PC.

The IT pro's vacation planner: Must you unplug to unwind?

Follow our formula now, and you won't feel tempted to check in with the office while on vacation (well, maybe just once or twice ... )

Rod Masney believes it's a key part of his management role to encourage his employees to really disengage from their in high-pressure IT jobs -- to take a week or two at the beach or that long-awaited European tour.

Only problem, the global director of IT infrastructure at Owens-Illinois doesn't follow his own advice much.

"I believe people should strive for work/life balance, but I'm not very balanced," admits Masney, who is also the immediate past chairperson of the Americas' SAP User Group. "My PC bag is like my purse; it goes everywhere I go, and so does my BlackBerry. They're my safety blankets."

He's not alone. IT employees rank high among professionals most likely to contact the office when they're on vacation, second only to salespeople. According to the 2008 Vacation Survey conducted by CareerBuilder.com, of nearly 7,000 U.S. workers polled, 37% of those identified as IT employees plan to contact the office while on vacation, compared with 50% of sales professionals and just 15% of retail workers.

And some 19% of IT workers said their employer expects them to work or check voice mail and e-mail during their time off. (See Guilty pleasure for more statistics.)

Other tech professionals never even make it that far. Data from NFI Research in Madbury, N.H., found that 75% of IT workers have four weeks or more of vacation coming to them, but that only 39% of that group takes their allotted time.

Tips for taking off

Clearly, when the goal is to take time off without checking into the office, tech employees have the deck stacked against them (see Why IT stays home). Nevertheless, according to IT pros and human resource experts, it is possible to stay in the loop and recharge during your precious time off. Just follow this formula:

Do the prep work before you leave -- let people know in advance the dates you'll be away and finish up key deliverables before you go.

Surround yourself with good people who can reliably step up to the plate and solve problems when they occur. Encourage your staff to "backstop" one another so expertise is interchangeable and the department doesn't rely solely on one individual to get any one task done.

Establish escalation and problem-solving policies and document them well so there's clarity on what to do and who to call in the event of an emergency -- say, a network outage or any other type of system crash.

IT management needs to address vacation planning just as they would cover the departure of a key employee, says Eric Presley, chief technology officer at CareerBuilder.com. "You expect that you can absorb some turnover without projects being delayed -- it should be a similar thing when people go on vacation. There shouldn't be significant issues and have everything held up because a single person is out."

To that end, he himself has identified a backup leader in his absence and put formal escalation policies in place so staffers are clear on what to do and who to contact when a hot issue arises.

Schedule vacations carefully -- yours and those of your co-workers and direct reports -- to avoid big project deliverables and ensure there's ample backup for day-to-day activities and routine ongoing projects.

In general, plan vacation time when work volume is not at its peak. "Scheduling vacations when people's mind-sets are different -- around July 4th or the Christmas holiday -- is a good idea because people are not getting high volumes of work done and there are fewer expectations," says NFI Research CEO Chuck Martin, co-author of Smarts: Are We Hardwired for Success?.

Cut a deal with a peer to cover some of your work while you're out in exchange for doing the same during his vacation. That way, there won't be a huge pileup of must-do tasks waiting for you upon your return.

Opera 9.50

               

A full-featured Internet browser, Opera includes pop-up blocking, tabbed browsing, integrated searches, and advanced functions like Opera's groundbreaking E-mail program, RSS Newsfeeds and IRC chat. And because we know that our users have different needs, you can customize the look and content of your Opera browser with a few clicks of the mouse.

• Tabbed browsing and pop-up blocking
• Opera integrated search
• Integrated search
• Improved security
• Password manager
• Opera skins
• Customization
• Integrated voice features
• Full support for Gmail
• Atom newsfeeds
• First Web browser to natively support Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)

Download Opera 9.50  (6.70MB)

Don't worry about loosing your files accidentally : Recuva 1.15.327

                 

Recuva (pronounced "recover") is a freeware Windows utility to restore files that have been accidentally deleted from your computer. This inc ludes files emptied from the Recycle bin as well as images and other files that have been deleted by user error from digital camera memory cards or MP3 players. It will even bring back files that have been deleted by bugs, crashes and viruses!

• Simple to use interface - just click 'Scan' and choose the files you want to recover
• Easy to use filter for results based on file name/type
• Simple Windows like interface with List and Tree view
• Can be run from a USB thumb drive
• Restores all types of files, office documents, images, video, music, email, anything.
• Supports FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, NTFS5 , NTFS + EFS file systems
• Restores files from removable media (SmartMedia, Secure Digital, MemoryStick, Digital cameras, Floppy disks, Jaz Disks, Sony Memory Sticks, Compact Flash cards, Smart Media Cards, Secure Digital Cards, etc.)
• Restores files from external ZIP drives , Firewire and USB Hard drives
• It's fast, tiny and takes seconds to run!

Download Recuva 1.15.327 (2.17MB)

Garena Opened a Room For Sri Lankans

                

The World famous VPN client offered a Sri Lankan Room in Garena.Its available in War3 RPG >> International >> Sri Lanka Data Room. All the Sri Lankan Gamers for Gamers join fast!

Please follow instruction to play On Line in Garena:

• Download Garena from http://stats.garena.com/clientdownload.php?lang=en&mirror=0
• Click "Run" to open the file "Garena_setup.EXE"
• Choose the directory where Garena will be installed
• Press "Finish" to end the InstallShield wizard
• Double-click on the Garena icon on the desktop to start the game
• Make sure before you run this register in Garena. http://gg-game.com/
• After launching sometimes you will be asked for Updates.Press "OK" to install update for Garena.
• After entering the Garena (If your loging for the first time follow this instruction) Press "Settings" button at the top-right corner.And select the game you want to play.At last Set the path for the Game .exe file. Press Apply.Finally Press Ok.

Now I think you reached your final step.That nothing but playing online with other millions of people.Get started! JOIN A ROOM AND ENJOY. Any Problems Post a comment.We are here to help you out.

Cryostasis: The Sleep of Reason

Cryostasis is an FPS horror game set in 1968, inside a Russian north pole nuclear station filled with mutated creatures.

Genre:Sci-Fi First-Person Shooter

Release Date: October 2008

 

Icebreakers are not known for their comfort. With their hulls designed to crush through seasonal ice to keep important trade routes open, icebreakers are constantly lurching and known to roll even in moderate swells. As if that wasn't uncomfortable enough, developer Action Forms has added dead bodies and abominable snowmen to the North Wind, the nuclear-powered icebreaker that serves as the setting for the upcoming Cryostasis: Sleep of Reason.

             

It's 1968 and the North Wind is trapped in the ice near the Soviet arctic station Pole 21. Meteorologist Alexander Nesterov is stranded on the ship--how he got there, we have no idea. Along with his standard talent as a meteorologist for predicting the weather in the Arctic (100 percent chance of cold), Nesterov is also able to sense the memories of the dead. And of the dead, there are plenty--12 crew members have died on board the North Wind, and Nesterov is in a unique position to enter their memories to set things right.

When Nesterov approaches one of the dead crew, he triggers a mental echo--a flashback of the final moments of the crewman's life. We saw one crewman who had an unfortunate fight with a shipping crane and, well, the crane won. During the mental echo, Nesterov sprinted to the crane control to move the deadly hook away from the crewman. You don't actually go back to save his life, but the spirit is sufficiently moved by your actions in the mental echo to help you solve the mystery onboard the North Wind and, then, go on to rest in peace.

Resources are scarce on the North Wind. We found a rifle and a few rounds of ammunition, but mostly, we had to rely on an ice axe or our mitts to fend off the creatures that inhabit the ship. Somehow, the North Wind has become infested with monsters--monsters that don't like you. One giant mummy creature tried to off us with an axe of his own, and later, another ice monster hurled blocks of ice at us.

In order to survive, you'll have to stay warm. There are pockets of heat scattered throughout the North Wind, from steam pipes to smoldering fires, which can be used to stabilize your body heat, displayed in the lower right corner of the screen. If you lose enough body heat, you won't even be able to perform the simplest of tasks. We futilely tried to open a door for five minutes before a developer kindly walked over and explained the body heat system.

                

Set in such a creepy atmosphere--a blend of The Thing, The Sixth Sense, and BioShock-- Cryostasis is poised to offer plenty of scares when it's released in 2009. We suggest you bundle up.

                       

                   COMING SOOOOOON!

LimeWire Basic 4.18.2

LimeWire is a fast P2P file-sharing application, letting users share and search for all types of computer files, including movies, pictures, games, and text documents. The application's other features include dynamic querying, the ability to preview files while downloading, advanced techniques for locating rare files, and an extremely intuitive user interface.

• Ease of use - just install, run, and search
• Ability to search by artist, title, genre, or other metainformation
• Elegant multiple search tabbed interface
• "Swarm" downloads from multiple hosts help you get files faster
• iTunes integration for Mac and Windows users
• Unique "ultrapeer" technology reduces bandwidth requirements for most users
• Integrated chat
• Directly connect to a computer
• Browse host feature--even works through firewalls
• Added Bitzi metadata lookup
• International versions: Now available in many new languages
• Connects to the network using GWebCache, a distributed connection system
• Automatic local network searches for lightning-fast downloads
• Support for MAGNET links that allow you to click on web page links that access Gnutella

Download LimeWire Basic 4.18.2 (4.67MB)

The future of e-paper: The Kindle is only the beginning

Thin, flexible, low-power digital paper is just around the corner. Will your next book or newspaper be 'e'?

Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle has turned a long underperforming category of tech gadget -- e-book readers -- into an overnight hit, and in the process has boosted interest in electronic paper display (EPD) technology. The Kindle and its rival, the Sony Reader 505, both boast e-paper displays that look unnervingly like printed pages and consume next to no power. However, today's EPDs -- and today's e-book readers -- are only the beginning.

EPD technology has been a long time coming. The idea of e-paper, a data display that looks and works like a sheet of paper, has been around for decades. In theory, such a screen could be "printed" electronically, would hold its contents without consuming power, could be viewed using reflected light (rather than the backlight required for LCD screens), and could be "erased" and "rewritten" as often as desired.

Amazon's Kindle has brought EPD technology into the public eye.

Current products like the Kindle -- a clever mix of features, including a low-power processor, inexpensive flash memory, built-in EVDO wide-area networking and, of course, an e-paper display that consumes next to no power -- have finally brought the technology into the public eye. "E-book readers have gotten the world excited about e-paper," says Barry Young, an analyst at market research firm DisplaySearch.

But although the technology behind e-paper displays has improved greatly over time, it's still just on the threshold of real success, according to Young and other observers. Displays like the Kindle's are beginning to provide the contrast and resolution of traditional ink on paper, but physical flexibility and full-color display are still around the corner.

A display technology based on electronic 'ink'

The first successful demonstration of e-paper technology was made by Nick Sheridon at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) in the 1970s. His technology, called Gyricon, used tiny rotating spheres of electrically charged plastic, black on one side, white on the other, suspended in bubbles of oil between transparent electrodes.

PARC's Gyricon was an early attempt at e-paper.

Gyricon technology never delivered the contrast and resolution that a display screen for personal electronic devices requires, but it was used for signs. (Xerox and PARC are now looking at other ways to combine paper and technology, including papers whose printed images fade away over a short period of time -- like a day.)

The current crop of EPD displays is based on electronic "ink" that the E Ink Corp., a supplier of electronic ink technology in Cambridge, Mass., has been developing since 1997. E Ink's electrophoretic technology puts oppositely charged black and white pigments into tiny "microcapsules" filled with a transparent fluid. The capsules are fixed to a substrate and sandwiched between electrodes, and when a current is applied, one pigment is drawn to the positive electrode, one to the negative.

The ink is bistable -- that is, it requires electrical power only to change its state, making it very energy-efficient. Although displays based on this ink are not as high-contrast as backlit computer screens, which can make them hard to read in dim light, their reflective surface allows them to be read in daylight situations that would wash out conventional laptop displays. Most importantly, eliminating the power demands of the backlighting needed by conventional LCD displays means that e-paper displays draw negligible power.

Another advantage is that e-paper displays can now take any shape, according to Sri Peruvemba, E Ink's vice president for marketing. Until recently, they had been built on glass -- particularly the active-matrix displays used by today's e-book readers. But the technology is rapidly moving to plastic substrates that will make e-paper almost as flexible as ... paper.

VirtualBox 1.6.2

innotek VirtualBox is a family of powerful x86 virtualization products for enterprise as well as home use. Not only is VirtualBox an extremely feature rich, high performance product for enterprise customers, it is also the only professional solution that is freely available as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL).

Presently, VirtualBox runs on Windows, Linux and Macintosh hosts and supports a large number of guest operating systems including but not limited to Windows (NT 4.0, 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista), DOS/Windows 3.x, Linux (2.4 and 2.6), and OpenBSD.

VirtualBox is being actively developed with frequent releases and has an ever growing list of features, supported guest operating systems and platforms it runs on. VirtualBox is a community effort backed by a dedicated company: everyone is encouraged to contribute while innotek ensures the product always meets professional quality criteria.

download VirtualBox 1.6.2 (22.53MB)

Latest : DirectX 9.0c (Jun 08)

Microsoft DirectX is a group of technologies designed to make Windows-based computers an ideal platform for running and displaying applications rich in multimedia elements such as full-color graphics, video, 3D animation, and rich audio. DirectX 9.0 includes security and performance updates, along with many new features across all technologies, which can be accessed by applications using the DirectX 9.0 APIs.

It is required by almost all PC games and 3D applications.

Download DirectX 9.0c (Jun 08) (74.92MB)

Get the latest VLC : VLC Media Player 0.8.6h

                  

VLC (initially VideoLAN Client) is a highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, ogg...) as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. It can also be used as a server to stream in unicast or multicast in IPv4 or IPv6 on a high-bandwidth network.

• It is a free cross-platform media player
• It supports a large number of multimedia formats, without the need for additional codecs
• It can also be used as a streaming server, with extended features (video on demand, on the fly transcoding, ...) 

Download VLC Media Player 0.8.6h (8.96MB)

Are you a INTEL fan ? Happy birthday, x86! An industry standard turns 3 decades

Intel's x86 microprocessor architecture has dominated large swaths of computing for three decades. Here's why.

Thirty years ago, on June 8, 1978, Intel Corp. introduced its first 16-bit microprocessor, the 8086, with a splashy ad heralding "the dawn of a new era." Overblown? Sure, but also prophetic. While the 8086 was slow to take off, its underlying architecture -- later referred to as x86 -- would become one of technology's most impressive success stories.

"X86" refers to the set of machine language instructions that certain microprocessors from Intel and a few other companies execute. It essentially defines the vocabulary and usage rules for the chip. X86 processors -- from the 8086 through the 80186, 80286, 80386, 80486 and various Pentium models, right down to today's multicore chips and processors for mobile applications -- have over time incorporated a growing x86 instruction set, but each has offered backward compatibility with earlier members of the family.

In the three decades since the introduction of the 8086, the x86 family has systematically progressed from desktop PCs to servers to portable computers to supercomputers. Along the way, it has killed or held at bay a host of competing architectures and chip makers. Even some markets that had seemed locked up by competitors, such as Apple's use of Motorola PowerPCs in the Macintosh computer, have yielded to x86 in recent years.

How did Intel's architecture come to dominate so much of the computing world? Let's take a look.

In the beginning

Intel's first microprocessor was the 4-bit 4004, which was made for a Japanese calculator in 1971. That was quickly followed by the 8-bit 8008 and in 1975 by the 8-bit 8080 chip. The 8080 went into the Altair 8800 PC, which was sold as a mail-order kit. (Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft Corp. to sell their version of Basic for the Altair 8800.)

Intel made its first microprocessor in 1971 in response to a request from Busicom, a Japanese calculator maker. But Intel's founders in 1968 had semiconductor memory foremost in mind, and such a chip became the company's first product, in 1969.

For almost 20 years, Intel focused on memory products. But by 1984, according to Albert Yu, a retired Intel senior vice president, the company was getting killed by the Japanese memory makers. It was deriving 100% of its profits from microprocessors but spending 80% of its R&D budget on memory. "Our strategy and investments were completely out of line with reality," Yu recalls in his book, Creating the Digital Future. The following year, Intel reluctantly exited the memory business.

Yu recalls: "We finally overcame the emotional burden of letting go of a failing business that we had invented and focused all our energy on the business we would build our future on. It was tough. It was gut-wrenching. But it was right." The following year, Intel's sales dropped from $1.6 billion to $1.2 billion, and the company lost $250 million from restructuring.

Three years later, the 16-bit 8086 made its debut. IBM's selection of the 8088, an 8086 variant, to power its PC in the early '80s gave the x86 architecture tremendous momentum and helped it become an industry standard that persists today.

Patrick Gelsinger, electrical engineer, chip designer and now executive vice president at Intel, says the critical turning point for the PC industry -- the thing that really sent the industry into overdrive -- was the introduction of the 32-bit 80386 in 1985. It was not obvious at the time that the x86 needed to be upgraded from the 16-bit address space of the earlier models, he says. "People said, 'What do you mean 32 bits? That's for minicomputers and mainframes.' They derided us at the time for being extravagant."

At about the same time, Compaq Computer Corp. announced a 386-based PC, which lessened IBM's death-grip control of the personal computer market. The IBM PC at the time ran the 16-bit 80286, which was more than three times slower than the 386.

According to Intel, IBM spurned the 386 because there was not yet any 32-bit software to take advantage of it. IBM was also developing a proprietary 16-bit operating system called OS/2.

Computerworld staffers have shared memories of our early x86 machines in the comments area. Now tell us yours!

"IBM owned the architecture from top to bottom. It was their applications, their operating system and their hardware design," says Gelsinger, who was a member of the 386 design team. "When they went to the next generation, they would be the only company able to offer the top-to-bottom solution, with no guarantee of compatibility from one generation to the next."

All that changed with the advent of the 386, Gelsinger says. "We moved from a vertical industry to a horizontal industry, and that really opened up the world."

The 386 was followed by the 486 in 1989. Finding that it couldn't trademark numbers, however, Intel broke from its earlier naming convention in 1993, when it named its fifth-generation processor the Pentium rather than the 586. Numerous generations of chips have carried on the Pentium brand (e.g., Pentium Pro, Pentium II and Pentium D), and Intel has since added the low-end Celeron and the high-end Core 2 brands to its x86 offerings.

Despite the name changes -- not to mention design improvements that led to exponential increases in speed, power and efficiency -- all of these chips are based on the x86 instruction set that began with the 8086 and continues to expand today.

Ingredients in a recipe for success

Why has the x86 been so successful for so long, beating back and in some cases completely vanquishing competing microprocessor architectures? For starters, the x86 came along at just the right time. By 1978, computing had been migrating from huge, expensive mainframes to smaller, cheaper minicomputers for several years. The desktop was the logical next frontier.

Moreover, the x86 demonstrated a property that had been predicted in 1965 by Gordon Moore, who would one day become Intel's chairman and CEO. Moore said, in essence, that microprocessors would double in performance every two years at no increase in cost. His prediction, later dubbed Moore's Law, proved to be correct, and the x86 went on to dominate large swaths of computing, from the data center to the workplaces and homes of end users.

And the 8086 and its successors continued to cement the relationship between two early giants of the desktop computer industry. Bill Gates and Paul Allen had tried but failed to develop their Basic programming language for the wimpy 8008 processor in 1972. But they made it work on the more powerful 8080 that they soldered into the Altair microcomputer in 1975.

That marked the beginning of a de facto partnership between Intel and Microsoft that would create a gargantuan base of software that continues to drive the industry today. Of all the factors that have led to the success of the x86 architecture, probably none is so important as that software inventory -- and no example better demonstrates this fact than the RISC processor scare.

Firefox 3.0 RC2 Original Released!!!!

                

The award-winning Web browser is better than ever. Browse the Web with confidence. Firefox protects you from viruses, spyware and pop-ups.

Enjoy improvements to performance, ease of use and privacy. It's easy to import your favorites and settings and get started.

The latest version delivers easier navigation for everyone, including those who are visually or motor-impaired. Firefox is the first browser to support DHTML accessibility, which, when enabled by Web authors, allows rich Web applications to be read aloud. Users may navigate with keystrokes rather than mouse clicks, reducing the tabbing required to navigate documents such as spreadsheets. Firefox 1.5 (Windows version) is also the first browser to meet US federal government requirements that software be easily accessible to users with physical impairments.

Download Firefox 3.0 RC2 (7.15MB)

Talk with Skype 3.8.0.139

                 

Skype is software for calling ot her people on their computers or phones. Download Skype and start calling for free all over the world.

The calls have excellent sound quality and are highly secure with end-to-end encryption. You don't even need to configure your firewall or router or any other networking gear.

Additionally it doesn't just work on Windows. Skype is also for Mac OS X, Linux and PDAs using Pocket PC, with a native look and feel for each platform. Talking, sending instant messages or even file transfers work between different platforms like a charm.

• Skype calling - Skype has all the features of an ordinary phone so its even easier to manage your calls.
• Video calling - see who you are talking to at the same time as speaking to them.
• Add Skype and SkypeOut contacts - Add contacts who use Skype and those who use ordinary phones so you can call more people.
• Organising groups - group contacts under certain names and share them with your contacts so they can talk to them too.
• Basic chat and emoticons - when it's not convenient to call, chat or Instant Message (IM) your contacts.
• Group chat - for when it's easier to chat or Instant Message (IM) all your friends at once.
• Profile settings - change how you appear to the world and let people know a bit about you.
• Conference calling - talk to more than one friend at a time.
• Import contacts - search your address book to find friends and family that already have a Skype name and start calling them for free.
• View Outlook contacts - view and call your Microsoft Outlook® contacts quickly and directly from your Skype contact list.
• Quickfilter and Speed-Dial - find Skype contacts, recent chats and SkypeOut contacts quickly and easily, then enter their Skype name to call them back quickly.

Download Skype 3.8.0.139 (21.38MB)

A latest codaec Release: K-Lite Codec Pack 3.95 (Full)

K-Lite Codec Pack is a collection of codecs, DirectShow filters and tools. Codecs and DirectShow filters are needed for encoding and decoding (playing) audio and video formats. The K-Lite Codec Pack is designed as a user-friendly solution for playing all your movie files. With the K-Lite Codec Pack you should be able to play all the popular audio and video formats and even some rare formats.

This download is for the Full package and contains all the codecs a normal user would ever need.

The K-Lite Codec Pack has a couple of major advantages compared to other codec packs:

• It it always very up-to-date with the newest (and/or best) versions of the components.
• It is very user-friendly.
• The installation is fully customizable, meaning that you are able install exactly those components that you really want.
• Uninstallation removes all files and registry entries created by the pack.
• It is extremely easy to make a fully customized unattended installation.
• It has been very well tested, so that the package doesn't contain any conflicting or buggy codecs.
• It tries to avoid potential problems with existing codecs and even fixes some problems. The pack is able to detect broken codecs and filters on your system, and remove them for you.
• It is a very complete package, containing everything you need to play your movies.
• There are different packages. From small to extra-large.
• Suitable for both novice and expert users.

Download K-Lite Codec Pack 3.95 (13.47MB)

SuperAntiSpyware 4.15.1000

           

SUPERAntiSpyware is the most thorough scanner on the market. Our Multi-Dimensional Scanning and Process Interrogation Technology will detect spyware that other products miss! SUPERAntiSpyware will remove ALL the Spyware, NOT just the easy ones!

• Quick, Complete and Custom Scanning of Hard Drives, Removable Drives, Memory, Registry, and More!
• Detect and Remove Spyware, Adware, Malware, Trojans, Dialers, Worms, KeyLoggers, HiJackers and many other types of threats.
• Trust Items and Exclude Folders for complete customization of scanning. 

Download SuperAntiSpyware 4.15.1000(6.17MB)

A Latest Release: Comodo Firewall 3.0.25.378

               

Comodo claim that their firewall is unique in that it passes all known leak tests to ensure the integrity of data entering and exiting your system. Comodo has put firewall through all kinds of sophisticated tests to ensure its firewall powerful enough to ward off these attacks with default settings. No other firewall has had to work this hard.

• PC Magazine Online's Editor's Choice
• Secures against internal and external attacks
• Blocks internet access to malicious Trojan programs
• Safeguards your Personal data against theft
• Delivers total end-point security for
• Personal Computers and Networks 

Download Comodo Firewall 3.0.25.378(18.66MB)

Hewlett Packard launches Compaq dc7800

Yet another addition to the aleady good line of desktop computers offered by HP in the Indian market. This time it is the first ever Desktop PC with a SSD Drive.
The Compaq dc7800 also comes with a stamp of approval from the EPEAT Gold registry for passing all the strict environmental requirements to make it environment-friendly.
The desktop PC is aimed for business users with a good design which fits the CPU on the back of the monitor (see photo).
The cost will be around Rs. 40,000 and it starts selling on the first of next month.

Mass Effect

Streamlined combat and numerous minor improvements make this great game even better.

Genre: Action-Role-Playing

Release Date: May 28, 2008

 

 

The Good

• All the awesome stuff that made Mass Effect on the 360 great
• Tech/Biotic power hotkeys make combat fast and fluid
• Numerous small improvements add up nicely.

The Bad

• Still hampered by graphical hitches
• Brief, intermittent load screens.

When Mass Effect was originally released last November on the Xbox 360, it unveiled a vast, beautiful galaxy populated by diverse, fascinating alien races. Players stepped onto this stage as Commander Shepard, a hero at the vanguard of humanity's ascension in the arena of galactic politics, and thus began an epic story bolstered by engaging characters and rich, branching dialogue. Exciting combat and robust skill management completed the package, but it was not without flaws. Many small issues have been addressed in the PC release, and the result is a more streamlined, more playable version of one of the best role-playing games in recent memory.

                

The bulk of Mass Effect remains the same, so for our thoughts on the story, character customization, dialogue, quest structure, and combat abilities, please read our review of the 360 version. This review will focus on the PC experience and how it differs from console play.

                

None of the changes are drastic overhauls, but they do have an appreciable effect on the gameplay. One of the biggest tweaks is to the combat system. In the 360 version, you have to temporarily pause the action to use any weapons or biotic/tech powers beyond the one you currently have equipped. On the PC, this pause is still available, but weapons and powers have been consolidated onto one screen, along with squad commands which you can now issue inidividually. Pressing the space bar will bring up a heads-up display where you can change weapons or powers and issue commands to your squad. Odds are you'll use this pause very rarely, because your weapons are mapped to the function keys and your biotic/tech powers can be assigned to the number keys.

Without frequent pauses, Mass Effect further distances itself from the ponderous, tactical feel of combat in previous BioWare role-playing games. Instead, it feels like a bona fide third-person action title. Gunning down small groups of enemies while barely breaking a stride is still immensely satisfying, as is blasting your way out of larger pitched battles--only now you can unleash multiple tech or biotic attacks on the fly. You can dart out from cover, take down enemies' shields, and explode their weapons--all while shooting them--and be back behind cover in a matter of seconds. The real reward of this faster, more fluid action is the sense of power it imbues. Wielding your formidable abilities with ease really makes you feel like the badass warrior you were meant to be, and it makes combat more exciting and fun.

Unfortunately, all those tech and biotic power animations flying around can cause the frame rate to suffer on less than godly computers. This will really only happen during battles with numerous foes, and though it isn't much more than a brief stumble, it's distracting. Slightly more distracting are the frequent in-game load screens. Masked by long elevator rides on the 360, load times have actually decreased in length but increased in frequency for the PC version. Elevator rides are shorter, but you'll often be ambushed by a two- to four-second pause (the screen dims and a small "loading" icon appears) when you're coming up on a battle or entering a new area. Again, these pauses are brief enough that they don't bring things to a screeching halt, but they are a bit of a nuisance.

A few other tweaks have positive effects on the game. The inventory system is much easier to manage with a mouse and keyboard, and long lists of items won't reset to the top every time you sell something near the bottom. The Mako vehicle sequences are easier to manage thanks to the implementation of dedicated forward and reverse buttons in place of the 360 version's viewpoint-dependent controls. A new hacking and decrypting minigame, in place of the old button-matching one, is both more interesting and more suited to the game: You must move a small arrow through concentric circles to reach the core while avoiding stationary and rotating barriers. It's generally easy to accomplish once you get the hang of it, but the time limit and tricky perspective shifting help keep it entertaining. Keyboard hotkeys allow quick access to the map and squad upgrade screens, and the quicksave button is a great way to ensure you won't have to do too much backtracking. They aren't big changes, but the aggregate benefit is definitely noticeable.

                 

All the things that made Mass Effect great on the 360--the story, the conversations, the galaxy, the combat, the soundtrack, and the characters--are still great on the PC. The changes that have been implemented don't radically alter the game in any way, but they have enough of a positive impact to make it easy to recommend the PC version over the 360 version. On top of that, BioWare is offering the downloadable expansion "Bring Down the Sky" free to PC players, though at the time of this review that content was not yet available. Whether you're a seasoned Spectre looking to suit up again, or a newcomer who has never set foot on the Normandy, the refined PC version is your best choice for experiencing this excellent game.

Far Cry 2

Far Cry® 2, the next-generation first-person shooter from Ubisoft, will take you deep into the most beautiful but also most hostile environments in the world: Africa! More than just a visual and technological achievement, Far Cry® 2, the true sequel to the award-winning PC game, will provide you with an unprecedented gaming experience.

                

Caught between two rival factions in war-torn Africa, you are sent to take out "The Jackal", a mysterious character who has rekindled the conflict between the warlords, jeopardizing thousands of lives. In order to fulfil your mission you will have to play the factions against each other, identify and exploit your their weaknesses, and neutralise their superior numbers and firepower with surprise, subversion, cunning and, of course, brute force.

                

Choose from a wide range of weapons to make your way to your primary target. Meet the fight head-on with your machine-gun, go berserk with your machete or make stealth kills as a Sniper. If you feel that the atmosphere is not warm enough, light up your flamethrower and let your enemies and everything around them feel the heat.

                

           COMING SOOOOON!

Get messed with your images !! The Gimp 2.4.6

               

The GIMP is a multiplatform photo manipulation tool. GIMP is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program. The GIMP is suitable for a variety of image manipulation tasks, including photo retouching, image composition, and image construction.

It has many capabilities. It can be used as a simple paint program, an expert quality photo retouching program, an online batch processing system, a mass production image renderer, an image format converter, etc.

GIMP is expandable and extensible. It is designed to be augmented with plug-ins and extensions to do just about anything. The advanced scripting interface allows everything from the simplest task to the most complex image manipulation procedures to be easily scripted.

Note that, if this is the first time you're installing The GIMP, you will also need GTK+ 2 Runtime Environment from here. Note that the Gimp help files are also available from the same place.

This is only a brief list of GIMP features:

• Full suite of painting tools including brushes, a pencil, an airbrush, cloning, etc.
• Tile-based memory management so image size is limited only by available disk space
• Sub-pixel sampling for all paint tools for high-quality anti-aliasing
• Full Alpha channel support
• Layers and channels
• A procedural database for calling internal GIMP functions from external programs, such as Script-Fu
• Advanced scripting capabilities
• Multiple undo/redo (limited only by disk space)
• Transformation tools including rotate, scale, shear and flip
• File formats supported include GIF, JPEG, PNG, XPM, TIFF, TGA, MPEG, PS, PDF, PCX, BMP and many others
• Selection tools including rectangle, ellipse, free, fuzzy, bezier and intelligent
• Plug-ins that allow for the easy addition of new file formats and new effect filters

Download The Gimp 2.4.6 (17.12MB)

Do you know about your own VGA card? GPU-Z 0.2.3!!!!

                   

GPU-Z is a lightweight utility designed to give you all information about your video card and GPU.

• Support NVIDIA and ATI cards
• Displays adapter, GPU and display information
• Displays overclock, default clocks and 3D clocks (if available)
• Validation of results
• No installation required
• Support for Windows 2000 / XP / Vista (both 32 and 64 bit versions are supported)
• .. and yes, the author of CPU-Z has granted us permission to use a name similar to his product. Thanks Franck.

Download GPU-Z 0.2.3 (395KB)