Steve and Bill @ D5: All Things Digital To create a new standard, it takes something that’s not just a little bit different, it takes something that’s really new and really captures people’s imagination, and the Macintosh, of all the machines I’ve ever seen, is the only one that meets that standard.” - Microsoft founder Bill Gates, 1984 If I were running Apple, I would milk the Macintosh for all it’s worth–and get busy on the next great thing. The PC wars are over. Done. Microsoft won a long time ago.” –Steve Jobs, 1996. The great Silicon Valley soap opera has come full circle. Not since Apple CEO Steve Jobs famously interviewed Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates as a possible suitor during the “Macintosh Dating Game” back in 1984 have the two men appeared in a joint bill. And at D5, the two shared a stage tonight for the first time in more than 20 years for what promises to be a historic discussion. # 7:15 p.m PDT: Tonight’s conversation is prefaced by a short film of previous Gates/Jobs appearances. First up: The “Macintosh Dating Game,” circa 1984. (Ah, they looked so much younger then…) And finally Gates and Jobs joking together at D in 2005. # 7:20 p.m.: Gates and Jobs onstage. # Walt recognizes the other two bachelors from the “Macintosh Dating Game”: Mitch Kapor and Fred Gibbons, who are both in the audience. # What have each of you contributed to the computer industry? Jobs: Bill built the first software company in the industry, and that was huge. And I think he built the first software company before anybody in our industry knew what a software company was. Bill was really focused on software. # Gates: First, I’d like to clarify, I am not Fake Steve Jobs.

># 7:30 p.m.: Gates continues: What Steve’s done is quite phenomenal. He has incredible taste and elegance. His ability to always come around and figure out where that next bet should be has been phenomenal. Apple really pursued the dream of building products that we want to use ourselves. He always seems to figure out where the next industry movement will be. The industry has benefited tremendously from his work. # Walt recalls the Apple II, notes that it broadened the base of who could use computers. He mentions an ad that said “thousands of people have used the Macintosh computer.” Jobs interjects: “We had some very strange ads back then.” # 7:35 p.m.: Walt: Some people don’t know that there was actually some Microsoft software in that Apple II computer. Gates begins to tell the story. Jobs interjects again: “Let me tell this story. [Steve] Wozniak develops an OS that’s fixed point and not floating point. We’re begging him to make it floating point, and he never did it. And so Microsoft had this very good floating point Basic, so we went with it.” # Gates: We really bet our future on the Macintosh being successful. So we were working together. # Jobs: Remember Microsoft wasn’t in the applications business, so this was really a big bet for them. # Gates: What was the next entry point in the industry? We’d made the bet that it would be graphics, and we went with the Mac. The original Mac OS was 14K. # Jobs: It was bigger than that–20K # Jobs: Apple did the Mac itself, but we got Bill and his team to write the applications. # 7:40 p.m. Kara: Bill, what did you think would happen after the disasters at Apple and Steve left? # Gates: We worried that Apple wasn’t differentiating itself from the other platforms–Windows and DOS. After the 512K Mac debuted, the product line just didn’t evolve the way it needed to. Certainly not the way it would have if Steve had been there. I was calling Gil Amelio on weekends and trying to get things moving. And then one day, Steve called me and said, ‘Don’t worry about those Amelio negotiations anymore.’ # Walt notes Jobs’s statement in the 1997 video about competition with Microsoft being destructive. #Jobs responds: If the game was a zero-sum game where if Apple wanted to win, Microsoft had to lose, then Apple was going to lose. But Apple didn’t have to beat Microsoft. It had to remember what Apple was. Microsoft was the biggest software developer around, and Apple was weak. So I called Bill up. # 7:45 p.m.: Jobs: The developer relationship between Microsoft and Apple is one of the best we have. (Ah, the obligatory “I’m a Mac, and I’m a PC” reference.) # Jobs:The art of those commercials is not to be mean, but for the guys to like each other. The PC Guy is great. … The PC Guy is what makes it all work. # Gates: PC guy’s mother loves him.

# How does Apple view Microsoft?
Jobs recycles his “Apple is about beautiful software in a beautiful box” comments from his earlier session today. Notes that Apple is fundamentally a software company, as is Microsoft.

# 7:50 p.m.: Jobs: Alan Kay once said, “People that love software want to build their own hardware.” … Outside of Windows on PCs, it’s hard to see other examples of software and hardware being decoupled and working well together.

# Walt to Jobs: Was there something you might have done differently where you could have had a bigger market share for the Mac. Is there something you regret?

# Jobs: There are a lot of things I could have done better the first time. You’ve got to let go of that stuff. One of the first things I did when I came back to Apple was give the Apple museum to Stanford. We need to go invent tomorrow, not worry about yesterday.”

# 7:55 p.m.: Kara: How do you view the technology landscape right now?

# Jobs: I think there is some really exciting next-generation stuff being built right now.

# Gates: It’s an exciting period. We’ll look back on these years as one of the great periods of invention.

# Walt: You’re the guys that represent the rich client, the big operating system, but there’s the notion these days that all that is migrating to the cloud. In five years, will the PC still be the linchpin of all this stuff?

# Gates: Remember the single-function computer? Larry Ellison’s network computer? As you look at the device that’s connecting to the TV set of the car, but when you come to the full screen … in a living room … we’re nowhere near leaving that.

# 8 p.m.: Jobs: Here’s an example. The Google Maps app we wrote for the iPhone is way better than Google Maps itself. Why? Because you’re running the app locally. You can do so much more with a rich client than you can with a browser. At the same time, rich clients are improving and their cost is declining. The marriage of these services with a powerful client is a very powerful marriage.

# 8:05 p.m.: What are the devices you might carry around five years from now?

# Gates: I think you’ll have a number of devices. A tablet and then another smaller one that you can carry around in your pocket. Those are natural form factors.

# Jobs: The PC has been very resilient. Its death has been predicted many times. But the Internet came around and invigorated it. And then it plateaued again. And then digital media came around and invigorated it again. And so I think the PC is going to continue to be with us. But then there’s an explosion in post-PC devices. There’s a category of devices that aren’t general purpose. They’re more focused and that category is going to continue to be very innovative.

# What are the core applications of these portable devices?

# Gates says we’ll have a broad range of choice, but one that will be limited by their size. He notes that you still can’t reasonably edit your homework on a cellphone screen.

# Jobs says he doesn’t know what will be on these devices. Why? “Because five years ago, I never thought there would be maps on them. But now there are.”

# 8:10 p.m. What areas of the Internet do you find exciting?
[long pause … really long pause, then:]
# Jobs: There are a zillion interesting things going on on the Internet. A lot surrounding entertainment, but a lot about figuring out how to navigate life more efficiently.

# 8:15 p.m.: Jobs on entertainment: People want to enjoy entertainment when they want it, how they want it, on the device they want it on. And if you’re a content company, that’s a great thing. But the transitions are hard sometimes.

# 8:20 p.m.: Walt asks about the future of the OS and the user interface. Will we see a new paradigm?
Gates posits that we’re near to seeing some big advances in 3D and multitouch. 3D positional devices. Software can be vision, and that can be done inexpensively and pervasively.

# 8:30 p.m.: What’s the greatest misunderstanding in your relationship?

# Jobs (deadpans): We’ve kept our marriage secret for over a decade now. [Rimshot!]

# Slience from Gates, then: Uhh… I don’t think either of us has anything to complain about, in general. … I miss some people who’ve left the industry. It’s nice to have someone like Steve around.

# Jobs: When Bill and I first entered the industry, we were the youngest guys in the room, and now we’re the oldest. I think of most things in life as either a Dylan or Beatles song. And there’s that one line in that Beatles song, “You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead,” and I think that applies here.”
[That may come across as cheesy here in print, but honestly it wasn’t. When we post the video, you’ll likely find it pretty touching.]

# And after that tender moment, we’re on to the Q&A …

# Q.: At what point is there too much diversity in tech? Our lives are often made better by standards, but it seems diversity is near to reaching a point where the convergence we’d like is no longer possible.

# Jobs: I think Bill and I would agree we could get it down to two … It’s hard to limit imagination.

# Gates: I think the market is very good at limiting …

# 8:35 p.m.: Q.: What about your legacies? If you had to choose one, what would it be? Steve Jobs, do you envy Bill Gates’s second act?
# Gates: The most important work I’ve had a chance to be involved in has been with the PC. That’s my life’s work. I’m lucky that I’ve been able to apply the skills and resources I developed through those experience in other areas.

# 8:40 p.m.: Q.: Advice for the upcoming entrpreneur?
# Gates: The idea of being at the forefront and increasing in size has been one of our greatest challenges. Our business is really about the passion.

# Jobs: If you don’t love it, you’re going to fail. You’ve got to love it and you’ve got to have passion. And you’ve got to be a great talent scout, you can only build a great organization around great people.

# Q: What do you wish you’d learned from each other early on?

# Gates: I admire Steve’s taste. And that’s not a joke.

# Jobs: If Apple could have had a bit of Microsoft’s knack for partnerships early on, we would have been better for it.

# 8:45 p.m.: A lot of the innovation around the Internet that we see today seems to be youth oriented. What about older generations?
Jobs notes that iSight and iChat are widely used among grandparents, etc.
Another example from Jobs: We began offering personal training sessions at our retail stores a year ago, and we’ve done nearly a million. Many of them are with seniors.

# What sorts of new communication technologies do you see coming down the pipe in the next years?
# Gates: Well, I don’t think Steve’s going to announce his personal transporter tonight. …
# Jobs: I don’t know. And that’s what makes it exciting to go into work every day. I can’t even begin to think of what it will be like in 10 years.

Standing ovation. Well deserved. Well deserved.

Google has only just bought YouTube but already Microsoft is fighting back by striking a deal on Monday with video search engine Blinkx.

About Blinkx

Blinkx is an innovative video search engine that could potentially stem out to be the leader in video search technology.

Like all the emerging video search engines, Blinkx's video index includes sites ranging from YouTube, BBC News, Sky News, Fox and many other sites. The company already boasts six million hours of audio, video and TV programming in its index.

Unlike competing video search technology Blinkx uses speech recognition to discover what the video is about. It still uses textual information like its competitors but combines this with speech recognition which, it beleives sets it above the competition.

I'm not entirely convinced that speech recognition technology is advanced enough to be very useful just yet. I personally think the answer lies in using a community to assist rankings in search results.

Blinkx and Microsoft

Unlike the Google-YouTube deal this is not a takeover but a deal where Blinkx will license its search technology to Microsoft.

Blinkx will be used to power video search on some parts of MSN and Live.com bringing video search capabilities to the existing website search.

The deal would see Blinkx getting paid a license fee dependant on how many people use the "MicroBlinkx" video search. "It could mean from zero to millions of dollars," says Chandratillake, the Blinx co founder (nothing quite like being vague).

Unfortunately for Microsoft this is not an exclusive deal and Blinkx is already working with other companies and may end up working with more.

Blinkx and Lycos

Blinkx signed a deal in August to power the video search of Lycos. Lycos hopes to reinvent itself as a broadband entertainment destination.

This deal is very similar to Microsoft so already they have themselves competition using the exact same technology. I'm sure though that Lycos are more worried about who will come out on top than Microsoft.

Blinkx and AOL

According to another News report Blinkx is used to power AOL video. But I think this is a mix up.

Blinkx technology is used by AOL StudyBuddy to index educational content from selected sites. But when it comes to video search AOL already has its own ideas.
AOL previously acquired video search startup Truveo and is already putting it to good use. It already looks and feels far better than Blinkx.

Blinkx needs help

Take a look through the Blinkx site and you will see they don't have a clue about user friendliness.

Blinkx has an idea of multiple small TV screens showing short video teaser clips to help you choose what to watch, but this just hurts my head. It looks cool for a second but you can't stare at it for too long, nevermind pick a video.

The search results pages are a little better but it still feels a little over crowded and there is too much going on.

Blinkx needs a company like Microsoft to use the technology to its full potential. Hopefully Microsoft can clean this up to make its own user friendly video search using the Blinkx technology.

Threat to YouTube

Its no surprise that this deal is coming through just as Google acquires YouTube and I'm sure Microsoft sees Google's growing dominance as a threat.

I recently discussed the threat of video search to YouTube as it will greatly open up the video sharing market, potentially causing YouTube to lose its market share.

With Microsoft pushing video search this could now happen more quickly than first anticipated. While Google and YouTube present a limited selection of videos hosted on their own sites, Microsoft will offer video clips from nearly everywhere.

It is also good to note that a video search engine, since it hosts no video, is a much better choice from a copyright lawsuit perspective. Microsoft can sit back and watch YouTube and Google get "sued to oblivion" while people still use MSN and Live.com to search for video.

Who's made the better move? Google or Microsoft? We shall wait and watch…

Apple fanatics have found references to GPS data in Apple’s iPhoto software - something which is set to be used with the iPhone. The code of the software apparently references GoogleMaps hinting that iPhoto will soon enable photos to be tagged with location data (much like Navman’s Navpix).

Apple fan sites have suggested that the iPhone will have a camera and mega storage capacity. Considering Nokia’s new N95 it’s not unthinkable that the phone might include GPS and be able to sync any data gathered across iTunes and iPhoto whenever you dock it.

If not for leisure use, the phone could have GPS as a means of tracking, allowing the device to send out a distress signal with its location if it has been stolen. This is all rumors for now - but if I get anything more solid I’ll let you know.

Rocking Linux on your iPod and hacking the firmware to change the on-screen graphics are certainly nifty tweaks to distinguish your otherwise commonplace Apple gizmo, but tossing a screensaver on there definitely ups the ante. While you may have seen video loops running on 5G iPods displayed at your local Apple Store, you probably figured a genius from the service bar rigged it up using a soldering iron or proprietary software, but the simplicity behind the secret is quite refreshing. To fancy up your own 5G (and likely 5.5G) iPod, simply create a folder dubbed "Demo Mode" and rename any video clip "Demo." After 2 minutes of stagnation while on charge, the device will automatically begin looping your recently renamed file, which is (presumably) sure to bring pure geek elation.

 

The pic above says it all... Yes you are right.. Thats Schumi up on top of the podium with the renault drivers flanking on either sides

It should have been Fernando Alonso’s race, but in the end Michael Schumacher’s 91st career victory earned him sufficient points to match the Spaniard’s score in the driver standings as they head for the penultimate round in Japan next weekend.

On a wet track Renault’s Alonso swept to a 25-second advantage over Schumacher in the Ferrari prior to the first set of pit stops. But then things began to go wrong for the champion. First Schumacher stayed on the same set of intermediate Bridgestones during his stop, whereas Alonso changed his Michelin front inters. The new ones did not give him anything like the performance of his originals. Then, to compound everything, a sticking right rear wheel nut in Alonso's second stop cost him at least seven seconds. By that stage, lap 35, Giancarlo Fisichella in the second Renault was leading but under attack from Schumacher. The Italian made his second stop on lap 41 and was still leading when he left the pits, but then he ran wide and Schumacher, who had stopped on lap 40, pounced. Alonso’s final set of dry tyres was back up to par, and he soon caught and passed his team mate and started to slash into Schumacher’s advantage. But that wheel-nut problem would prove decisive, and the German finished 3.1 seconds to the good, elated. Each now has 116 points, with two races left.

Thus the championship fight could not be better poised as we head to Suzuka. As he said goodbye to his legion of Chinese fans, Schumacher savoured his first decent race in Shanghai and said: “Today was a little present to myself."

And as I mentioned earlier "Even the GODs want Schumi to win"

Hey guys...

This has made me really really happy...

Wanna know what it is...
Google Search balamurali25
yup thats the link to my blogs...

Then even more happiness
Google Search eceaitec
and this is the forum that we started during our college days...

All thanks to my friends and family...

After winning an incredible race at Monza in front of thousands and thousands of TIFOSI, Schumi announced that this race would be his last at Monza, he would leave F1 after the remaining three races. He started off by apologising to his fans about the delay. He described his career, thanked Ferrari, his race crew and engineers, his dad, his late mother, and most importantly, his family - his
wife and kids. He also spoke about being very happy about his replacement, but never mentioned his name. He also clarified that the announcement had to come now because Felipe Massa, whom Schumi described as a 'great guy and team-mate' had to decide his future, which he could not do without Schumi's decision.There were no tears, no exaggerated emotions, no melodrama. It was
Michael being totally forthright touching the chords of millions all around, his fans, and his detractors. It was in this very simple fashion that the curtain has fallen on the greatest Formula1 driver ever.
 
Yes, the greatest Formula1 driver ever. Yes, better than anyone in this era. Yes, better than anyone in any area. I can hardly stake claim to be a huge Schumacher fan, I started watching F1 when Schumi was already the champion twice. I, sadly, missed the time when he was a mere rookie, but had the greats of that time covered in fear - namely Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, Damon Hill, and the likes. Starting out in 1991 in a pathetic Jordan, MSC stamped his authority right in that year qualifying 7th in his debut race at the Spa. In the next year, he finished 3rd in the championship in a far from perfect Benetton, no mean feat for a mere rookie. In 3 years after joining, in 1994, MSC won the first on his seven WDCs with Benetton. After that he won with Benetton in the succeding year, and then with Ferrari in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004. His worst finish in all these years has been in 5th in 1999,
which was right before his run of 5 straight WDC's.
 
As a driver, MSC has always been characterised by a killer instinct, steely nerve, absolute focus and a will to stop at nothing to achieve what he must. This is reflected in the "infamous" incidents which are routinely quoted to undermine MSC - be it the Damon Hill incident of '94, the Villeneuve incident of '97, the team orders incident of '02 or the Monaco incident of '06. No, he isn't a cheat, it is just his evil genuis at play. Can u deny this, how can a cheat win 7 WDCs and win the admiration of countless fans across the globe? Imagine a man who had to tolerate "pundits" declaring him an also-ran because a new-kid-on-the-block with a better car was doing better than him. Imagine a man who holds more than half of all records in F1 having to listen to these people who couldn't even get an F1 car started, let alone race, let alone win. The cycle then repeats in 2006, all hail Alonso, MSC is just too old, he no longer has the fire to win. Suddenly, the genius awakens, and when he does, you can't speak, you can neither appreciate nor criticise, you can just stare in open-mouthed awe, thank God for giving you a chance to be looking at what unfolds in front of your eyes.
 
MSC is now 2 points adrift of FA, Ferrari now lead the constructors' championship by 3 points. Love him, hate him. There are still 3 races to go. Savour it while you still can. F1 will never be the same again...

Hey ppl....

This small paragraph is about the guy who had helped me in getting my things back into good shape...
Well to start with I just refer to him as Praveen = Microsoft.
Well I guess that says it all...

He is perfectionist and his aspirations are sky high...
One prime reason y I am writing this blog is him...

Good I remembered the link to my space at MSN and he helped me get it back kicking...
The same happened to our department forum which was also published way back in Jan '06...
Now even thats up and running...

All thanks to you pal...
Hope all your aspirations come true and god bless...

The new Sony NVX-P1 (NVXP1) Personal Satellite Navigation Device (PND) promises to make in-car satellite navigation (sat nav) simple with its plug-and-play operation, extremely easy installation and coverage for most of Europe.

The Sony NVX-P1 personal / car satellite navigation system has a 2 Gigabyte hard disc drive, and comes pre-loaded with maps for all of Western Europe (21 countries), with the exception of Greece. The NVX-P1 sat nav is also supplied with an easy-fit cradle and cigarette lighter power socket for easy installation, and easy transfer from one vehicle to another.

The Sony NVX-P1 sat nav features a large, 9.5cm high-quality display, fully prepared for the in-car environment, a 3D map view and a smart re-routing engine, making it easy for users to navigate towards their destination.

An intuitive Graphical User Interface (GUI), and multiple viewing modes make user operation simple.

Voice guidance (via a built-in speaker) is available in eight languages, including English, German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, French, Swedish and Danish.

"There are lots of satellite navigation solutions on the market, but few offer the ease of installation, or the ease of transfer from one vehicle to another, as the NVX-P1 sat nav" said Stephen Jean, Group Product Manager for Sony e-Vehicle. "At the same time, there is no compromise on performance, making this a highly attractive solution."

The Sony NVX-P1 personal / car satellite navigation system goes on sale across Europe in August 2005.

Last week's widely reported "Windows Vista virus" was not, in fact, a virus that targets Windows Vista at all, but was instead a virus that targets the Microsoft Scripting Host (MSH; codenamed Monad), an object-oriented, .NET-based command line environment. And while MSH may be installable in Windows Vista Beta 1, the environment does not come with Beta 1 and will not appear in future betas or the final release, Microsoft says. Furthermore, the new Windows Vista security subsystem isn't even enabled in Beta 1.

Thus, there's no Windows Vista virus. Sorry, conspiracy fans.

"[MSH] is not included in the beta release of Windows Vista or in Windows Server 2003 R2 ... [and it] will not be included in the final version of Windows Vista," writes Stephen Toulouse, a program manager in Microsoft's security group, in a recent blog posting. "So these potential viruses do not affect Windows Vista ... and pose no risk for Microsoft customers. The viruses do not attempt to exploit a software vulnerability and do not encompass a new method of attack. Furthermore, [MSH] is not widely available for general use. It's a beta, and we do not recommend or support the use of beta software in a production environment."

While I'm sure the gleeful Mac fanboy sites that ate up the "Vista virus" stories will be equally expedient in covering the truth, I have to wonder more about the mainstream media, which was equally ravenous about covering this story. Heck, even F-Secure, a widely-trusted security company, covered the alleged virus. There's no Windows Vista virus out there, folks. Anyone care to write about it?

Computers powered by the Windows XP Tablet PC Edition operating system, and equipped with a sensitive screen designed to interact with a complementary pen, are called Tablet PCs. Tablet PCs are fully-functional laptop PCs and more. You can use the pen directly on the screen just as you would a mouse to do things like select, drag, and open files; or in place of a keyboard to handwrite notes and communication. Unlike a touch screen, the Tablet PC screen only receives information from a special pen. It will not take information from your finger or your shirt sleeve—so you can rest your wrist on the screen and write naturally. By interacting directly with the screen, rather than with a mouse and keyboard, the PC becomes more comfortable and easy to use. There is no need to find a flat space on which to use your PC, nor does a vertical screen become a dividing wall between you and the person with you whom you are meeting. What's more, a Tablet PC can even be used while standing up, which is perfect for professionals on the move such as doctors, foremen, and sales managers. Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 includes all of the features and functionality of Windows XP Professional and Windows XP Service Pack 2. Tablet PCs do not run Windows CE or Windows XP Embedded. A number of manufacturers produce Tablet PC models that differ in size, processing speed, design, etc. to meet anyone's need. Three different styles of Tablet PCs are available: The convertible model Tablet PC has an attached keyboard and looks much like a conventional laptop PC. But you can also rotate the screen 180 degrees and lay it flat over the keyboard for a more comfortable reading and writing experience. The slate model Tablet PC is designed to be slim and ultra-light without the weight and size of a permanent keyboard. Some models come with a detachable keyboard, and all include innovative docking solutions that offer access to a full-size monitor, keyboard, and mouse. The rugged model Tablet PC is a tough mobile computer with an industrial-strength shell and shock-mounted hard drive. Rugged models are ideal for people who use their PC in a construction zone, while on patrol, in military situations, or simply for those who need something ultra durable. Along with the options typically provided by a conventional laptop, Tablet PCs are certain to include: • Mid- to high-end processors that are optimized for mobile computing • High memory capacity for most computing needs • High capacity hard drive storage space • Built-in 802.11b and/or 802.11g modem for wireless and networking connectivity • Tablet PC-compatible electronic pen • Tablet PC-compatible digitizer screen