Symbian Becomes the Open Source Platform
Symbian becomes the open source platform - this tremendous news today has forced many observers to not believe to the eyes in the morning and again to re-read reports of information. Nokia really redeems shares of other co-owners of company Symbian, unites Symbian, S60, UIQ and MOAP (S) in one open platform, will operate which Symbian Foundation - the noncommercial organization which will not be supervised by any company.
Searching Images
As usual, surfers use one language while searching images at Google Images. Using such method we loose a big variety of images are ready for downloading on different languages.
PanImages - online-service for searching images on 49 world languages. Actually the search process goes over Google and Flickr and then translate the name of the image to the specified language.
Visit Panimages
New Opera 9.5
Norwegian company Opera Software introduced the newest version of internet browser – Opera 9.5. The application has new “engine”. Due to it browser render HTML-pages and JavaScript rather faster then previous Opera 9.2x. Fresh version has some new functions, improved search system and possibility to be synchronized with mobile version of application. Besides it include Opera Dragonfly Beta which is special advanced tool for web development. Plugin support was also improved. On the whole new Opera 9.5 is positioned as the fastest browser of our days.
Vista Start Menue
Have lost the way in lots of the established software? On search of the necessary application in the menu “Start” too much time leaves? Vista Start Menu will help you. It is not the next simulator of the menu of start Windows Vista. The application is compatible to all versions Windows, including Vista.
The size of distributive is only 1.5 Mb. Vista Start Menu is completely free application but has the paid PRO-version with expanded functions. The most important difference Vista Start Menu from classical - fixation of a position of programs in the menu. Namely at installation or removal of applications the site of items in the menu does not change. Again established programs are added in the end of the list (that basically does not differ from the classical approach), and here at removal taken positions remain empty.
What does it give us? Visual memory of the person - very powerful tool operating imperceptibly for consciousness. Having found some times the necessary program, the eye automatically falls on a habitual position next time. The second feature improving storing of a position and the subsequent search - the list of programs is divided into groups, on nine items in everyone.
The size of the menu gives in to change. You can stretch a window of the menu though on all screen to contain all your programs. By keys ” Ctrl + ” and “Ctrl-” it is possible to change the size of a font quickly. Vista Start Menu is supplied by internal search: at input of the first symbols of the name of the program we see highlichted possible concurrences. If thus to press ” Ctrl + Enter “, the application will translate inquiry in the Internet with a conclusion of results in a browser. Pressing “Enter” will lead to standard operation, start of the typed command. Functions of the classical menu are expanded also with tabs. At the free-of-charge version there are two additional tabs: “Fast start” and “Automatic loading”.
Perhaps the most interesting innovation Vista Start Menu - keyboard combinations. Pressing of a key with trade mark Windows will deduce the menu with labels of hot keys. In this case to reach the necessary item it is necessary to press the necessary combination of keys only. Thus owing to an invariance of positions of programs, combinations are kept constant in independence of installation or removal of programs. Moreover in some days of work in such mode the order of pressing of keys is postponed in muscular memory and you not reflecting will type them if necessary.
Having cluck on the button of management of a feed, we receive changed screen of deenergizing. Pressing of a badge “clocks” for each item it is possible to cause the simple scheduler, allowing to establish the timer or to appoint an exact times, for example transition in an expecting mode.
To return a classical kind of the menu it is simple enough only to remove Vista Start Menu. There is also an opportunity to leave the menu “Start” without changes.
You can download free version of Vista Start Menue here…
Grand Theft Auto 4 is in the Guinness World Records Book
The next game from Grand Theft Auto series has got in the Book of Guinness World Records becoming “the most quickly sold game within the first 24 hours” and ” the entertaining product which has collected the greatest profit within the first day from the beginning of sales”. In the first day after official release it has been sold 3,6 million copies of the game for a total sum in 310 million dollars.
Before the champion on a break-even sales level at the first 24 o’clock was game Halo 3 (170 million dollars); among films the palm tree of superiority belongs to film “Spiderman - 3 ” (for the first day it has been sold tickets for 60 million dollars); ” the book record” remains for “Harry Potter and Gifts of Death” (220 million dollars), informs Guinness World Records.
From the moment of the beginning of sales the fourth part of game Grand Theft Auto has been sold for the first week in quantity of six millions copies and has brought to its founders nearby 500 million US dollars.
Grand Theft Auto - a series computer and the videogames created and developed mainly by Scottish company-developer Rockstar North (formerly DMA Design). The first game of a series has released in 1997.
DF™ Web-Traffic Shop 1.2
DF™ Web-Traffic Shop - a system to buy and sell traffic from different countries and qualities. When you buy traffic the system analyze it, separate by row of parametres and accept only those you would like to get, the rest unnecessary traffic is returned back. The proccess of traffic buying and selling is automated: sellers can register and choose any kind of traffic they want to sell.
This system has a high productivity, written on C++; stability and minimum system requirements are needed (there is no MySQL, Php, Perl, cron). There is a detailed description of traffic (Country, Uniq, Proxy, Cheat, SE Bots, Referrer, JavaScript , Cookie, Java, IE, Connection Type: lan/modem/unknown/All). There is also a powerful tracking system and statistics.
You can try DEMO version here
The 101 Websites You Have To Know And Visit
This article was taken from Telegraf news agency.
1 Google
The powerhouse of the internet and the only place many people go for information. But if you thought Google was a still a mere search engine, look again. Click on ‘more’ at the top of the homepage to discover the work of ‘GoogleLabs’ - more than 50 free tools and web pages that could change your internet life.
GoogleDocs lets you create documents, spreadsheets and presentations, store them online, share them with others and access them from wherever there’s an internet connection.
Googlemail is probably the best email program - it has virtually limitless capacity and you don’t need to change your email address to use it. The Google calendar is a powerful searchable diary that you can allow others to access, so family members can make appointments together.
SketchUp could be just the tool you are looking for to design that conservatory extension and see what it will look like once the builders have gone. Add to that databases for searching academic journals and books in the public domain, the powerful GoogleMaps, with its engaging satellite imagery, a finance page with live stock quotes and an easy-to-use online messaging system, and you can see why some people say Google is taking over the world - and, with GoogleMoon and GoogleMars, the rest of the galaxy, too.
2 Anonymouse
www.anonymouse.org
Surf the web without disclosing who or where you are.
Hints, tips and troubleshooting for your iPod and associated software.
4 Only2Clicks
www.only2clicks.com
If you use just a few websites, this lets you create a home page that has links to them all. Simple, free and practical.
A suite of free business programs. From word processing and presentation software to tools for taking notes in meetings, planning projects and creating databases.
To-do lists, notes, ideas and calendar. Excellent for juggling projects and much more versatile than a ring folder.
7 GetNetWise
www.getnetwise.org
All you need to know about keeping the net safe - protecting children, preventing spam, avoiding viruses and stopping others accessing your personal details.
More than 7,500 free fonts (for Mac and PC), so you can at last stop using Copperplate for your party invitations.
The superfast way to send large files over the web. Don’t attach that family video to an email, Pando it instead.
10 FlipClips
www.flipclips.com
Turn your home videos into animated flip books. Much more appealing than another DVD.
ENTERTAINMENT
11 Digital Spy
www.digitalspy.co.uk
Entertainment, media and showbiz news. Plus, a surprisingly good forum for technology-related problems - a great place to sort out your broadband.
12 BBC iPlayer
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer
On-demand television and radio programmes from the BBC.
13 Whatsonwhen
www.whatsonwhen.com
Events, attractions, openings and exhibitions from around the world. Enter a location and dates and the site will show listings.
14 London Theatre Guide
www.londontheatre.co.uk
What’s coming on and what’s making an exit in London’s theatre world. Especially good for seating plans, so you can see where the box office staff are putting you.
15 The Internet Movie Database
www.imdb.com
The world’s biggest (and still growing) reference for actors, directors, locations, plots…
16 Rotten Tomatoes
www.rottentomatoes.com
A round-up of what the critics thought of films on general release.
17 Screenonline
www.screenonline.org.uk
The British Film Institute’s definitive guide to the British film industry. Plots, features, statistics and news from the film world.
18 Good Reads
www.goodreads.com
Expand your reading. Catalogue your books online and others make recommendations based on what you seem to enjoy.
News, features and listings for Britain’s terrestrial and cable television. Customisable interface so your favourite channels are always at the top.
20 Football365
www.football365.com
The authentic (and often tangential) voice of the Britain’s ‘real’ football supporters.
Everything you want to know about the world of cricket.
22 Beijing Olympics
en.beijing2008.cn
The official Olympics site, with news, scheduling, features and a countdown to the games themselves.
23 Radio Locator
www.radio-locator.com
From shock jocks to orchestral baroque, thousands of internet radio stations to listen to on your computer.
24 Live Plasma
www.liveplasma.com
Expand your music and movie tastes. Enter the name of a song, band, movie, actor or director you like and Live Plasma will return some pretty intelligent recommendations for further investigation.
A clever way of searching for video clips on the internet - from uploaded episodes of your favourite soap to comedy home-video moments.
26 Lulu
www.lulu.com
Self-publishing made smart again. Write, design and then print your own books - though you’ll still have to persuade others to buy them.
28 Wonder How To
www.wonderhowto.com
Two great sites full of short videos showing you how to do almost anything, from the incredibly useful (exercises for diabetes sufferers, tying a Windsor knot) to the revelatory (’learn different kinds of kisses’), via the wonderfully obscure (’make a moving jaw for your werewolf mask’).
Te rest part you can read here
Intellexer Summarizer 2.5 Released
Software Development Company – EffectiveSoft - presented the next version of Intellexer Summarizer, a helpful tool for document management and data search.
The changes mostly applied to inner mechanisms of the program operation. Implicit to a user, they improved the quality of summarization and the program processing speed. A few usability improvements were made:
Mozilla Firefox extension was added. Now users who prefer to explore the Internet with Mozilla can enjoy the advantage of immediate web page summarization within the browser.
Keyword navigation, i.e. “hot keys” is now available. Keyword navigation makes working with the program faster and easier. The list of hot keys can be found in the Help section.
The mechanism of product trialing and ordering was made more flexible and secure. Now Intellexer Summarizer can be downloaded from http://summarizer.intellexer.com/ and used free of charge for 30 days. The trial version has the same functional as the purchased version so that the potential customer could enjoy all the benefits of Summarizer from the first day of use. When the trial period is over the user can either purchase or uninstall the program.
About Intellexer Summarizer:
Intellexer Summarizer is a desktop application which generates a summary of any electronic text, such as a document or Web page, thus allowing a user to get the main ideas of the text prior to or instead of reading it. It helps to reduce the time and effort spent on information processing, systematization and storage. Its complex algorithms recognize text structure and summarize the content on the level of meaning: the principal ideas are excluded and put into coherent informative summary. The program has some special features such as concept tree, history, summary types etc.
Selecting Software Applications and Software Vendors for Research Facilities
A look at providing some key tools for evaluating not only software applications, but the software vendors that build and support the applications to the research community.
Commercial software applications for research facilities have been available for over 25 years but have not been widely accepted or implemented until the last ten years or so. Looking back over the last decade, there have been many changes in technology and the ways that software companies develop software that have affected the quality, functionality and accessibility of applications designed for research facilities. Like the software itself, vendors have matured and evolved as a result of feedback from users, learning from mistakes and successes, and, in the case of some research applications, learning how to address government regulations. Recently, there has been much discussion in the research community through forums like COMPMED regarding which vendors and software applications will deliver the best solutions for medical research. This article is aimed at providing the research community with some key tools for evaluating not only software applications, but the software vendors that build and support the applications.
Know What You Need
The most important tip in selecting software for a research facility is to buy what your facility needs. Every facility is different and has specific goals they wish to achieve. Your requirements should be defined by what will make your organization more successful in realizing its mission. Satisfying operational needs like automating the IACUC process, tracking animal use, creating animal orders, automating communications and notifications, managing transgenic colonies, or maintaining animal records should justify and eventually pay for the investment in research software.
Before you start looking at the available software applications, it is important to put down on paper some very basic requirements that will define what would be acceptable for your facility. Consider the following questions for defining your requirements:
• What are the key processes in your facility that contribute to the success of your mission? Some key processes might include IACUC protocol creation, submission, review, approval, and lifecycle management; animal ordering; clinical information management, etc.
• What are the key processes that hinder the success of your mission? Are there key areas that if you automated them, would provide higher levels of compliance, better access to information, or reduce the risk to the facility?
• How are the most successful organizations, that are similar to yours, performing similar processes? In relationship to other industries, the research community is comparatively small, but diverse enough that you should easily be able to find a few facilities that are similar in size and mission, that you can contact by phone, e-mail or at an AALAS meeting to discuss what solutions they have for their processes.
• Can these processes be implemented in your facility? Can you change the existing processes or are you limited by regulations or policies?
• What other parts of your organization are influenced by, or contribute to the processes in your facility? For example, does your facility need information from the IACUC on protocols that have been approved? Does the animal ordering and animal usage information need to be returned to the IACUC or regulatory affairs staff? Can you make a list of all of the people/divisions/departments that will be affected by a software application?
An important part of defining the key processes in your facility is to diagram the information flow for each process, the roles of the people involved and the relationships between these processes. A simple example of this might include the flow of information inside of your IACUC (Figure 1).
These flow diagrams also give your facility an opportunity to review your processes and see if there are better ways to streamline the flow of information.
Once you have a broad understanding of what your facility’s processes and requirements are, you are prepared to begin reviewing specific requirements. There are many ways of collecting user requirements such as surveys, focus groups, interviews, direct observation, or scenario-building. Regardless of the method(s) chosen, it is important to define the difference between what is required in an application to meet your basic operational needs versus what is nice to have. Often, during requirements collection, end users want software to solve problems that are not best suited for software applications, or may not even be possible or feasible. Classifying what is necessary versus what is nice to have will help you in making an assessment of available applications.
Preparing a simple spreadsheet checklist of your requirements and giving it to the vendor to provide you with an evaluation of whether they can meet the requirement out of the box, meet the requirement with some modifications, or meet the requirement with new product development, is a quick way to evaluate which vendors can most closely match what you are looking for.
Know How It Is Built
In 1990 Tim Berners-Lee put together the first browser based software code at the Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire (CERN) in Switzerland and the first web-site appeared on the World Wide Web. Since that day, software development has changed incredibly to the point that the average user is now used to logging in to browser based applications in order to enter and review information. But few people realize the depth and breadth, and sometimes the limitations of the technology that can be applied in building software applications. Often, end users make decisions about software because of the look or the visual appeal of the application and overlook key technology points that may affect the stability, support, and security of the application.
When evaluating software applications, there are really two aspects that should concern your organization: how the data is collected and how the data is stored. These are commonly referred to as the application interface and the application database, or more simply the application and the database. The technologies used to develop these two components vary, but are important to your organization.
Applications come in a variety of types, but most often they are defined as either client/server or native browser-based applications. Client/server simply means that a piece of software code is required to be installed on any computer that will be used to access the database, whereas native browser-based applications can be accessed via a web browser from any computer within your network. Traditional applications are client/server based whereas newer applications on the market tend to be native browser-based.
Whether you are considering client/server or native browser-based applications you should consult your Information Technology team to determine what level of support they will provide for you. In addition, the software application’s vendor should be willing to share with you the details of the tools that were used to develop the application. Research on these tools will reveal whether your vendor is staying current with new technology or relying on tools that they feel comfortable with.
The database is actually of more concern to information technology staff as that is where the greatest risks exist to your organization in regards to data integrity, access to information, and security. There are several types of commercial databases available to developers. These range from simple, flat form databases that are non-relational (simple files that can be accessed for data storage and retrieval, but do not have relationships with other data files or tables) to relational databases like Access, 4D, and FoxPro that are designed for single or a very small number of users on a network, to commercial enterprise databases such as Oracle, MS/SQL Server, Pervasive, or Sybase. This last generation of databases is typically used for applications that will be shared by multiple users over a network. Examples include financial applications, enterprise resource planning applications, and facility management applications.
Each of these types of databases has different levels of security and data integrity protections built in. The first class of databases is rarely found in research software. The second generation tends to be used for smaller facilities with few users, while the last are typically used in medium to large commercial, government, and educational institutions. The largest difference between these databases beyond security and data integrity is the cost of licensing. This is typically not included in the purchase of research applications, so be sure to ask your Information Technology team and your vendor about this.
Know Your Vendor
You are most likely looking for a software application that will support your facility for many years to come, rather than something that you only need for a short timeframe. So selection of your vendor is as important, if not more important, than the selection of the software itself. If you are looking for an application that will support your many processes and departments in your organization, you should consider your vendor as a partner in your research. As with any partnership, careful consideration should be made in the character, quality, and commitment of your vendor. You should feel comfortable with the relationship and know that you can ask questions not only about the vendor’s products and the support of the products, but also about the company itself. Your vendor’s role is to give you the level of comfort you need, to know that their mission of supporting research is aligned with your core mission of conducting research. During your due diligence of evaluating software applications and vendors, consider asking potential vendors for information on topics such as:
• Company size and structure. Ask for an organizational chart which lists not just roles and titles, but names of individuals in these roles. This information is confidential to the company, but if you have exercised a mutual non-disclosure agreement, they should be comfortable sharing this with you. Evaluate the division of labor within the company. Of key importance are the ratio of staff that are in research, development, testing, and support of products to the administrative, sales, and marketing staff. As a long term partner, you should want the majority of the company’s staff to be focused on delivering and supporting the applications that you will be using.
• Product Offerings. Is your vendor’s primary business developing and supporting software for this industry, or is this one of many product offerings they have? This is important to understand when it comes to allocation of resources for development and support activities. If there is a more profitable use of resources for another industry product offering, the vendor may not maintain the same level of service that you expect over time.
• Service Offerings. What services are offered to support the applications that you are considering? Services that may be important to you include product support, maintenance, upgrades, implementation support, training, and technical support for database or hardware issues. Other services that may be available include business process reviews, process consulting, project management, and staff augmentation. These may be valuable services that can help you implement the software more effectively. Ask for descriptions and published policies on these services, as well as any recurring costs or services not covered under the proposed solution(s).
• Financial viability. How long has the company been in business? Who owns the company? Is it a private or public enterprise? Public companies are required to file financial statements and annual reports which will give you an idea of their long term longevity and the amount of resources they apply to the products and services that they are offering to you. Private companies do not usually share this level of detail, but should provide a statement of assurance, a debt ratio, and a general financial statement of the “health” of the company.
• Experience in the research industry. Software developers are key to software development; however, it is rare to find software developers that also have experience with activities within the vivarium. Analysts, designers, and management team members that have worked in a vivarium or have had experience with the activities that you are hoping to streamline with software are key to delivering software applications that are pertinent to your business.
• Knowledge and processes that support regulatory compliance. Whether you are regulated by the USDA, FDA, OLAW, CCAC, Home Office, or other regulatory agency you have some requirements that govern your processes which the vendor will need to understand. Ask questions about specific activities within the vendor organization that support these regulations. For example, if you are regulated by the FDA, you may have requirements for a software application to be GLP compliant. Your vendor should be able to disclose to you the activities within their organization that support your mission with this requirement. Ask your vendor if you can conduct a vendor quality assurance audit of their facility to make sure that they comply with your own policies and regulations for the development of software in research. This audit should include reviews of applicable SOPs maintained by the vendor and a check to verify that they comply with the SOPs, a review of the curriculum vitae of staff to ensure that they are qualified for the roles they fill, and evaluation of key documents such as a Development Methodology, Quality Manual, and other information that will give you peace of mind that the vendor understands what is required to help you meet your own regulatory mandates.
• Experience and certifications in the technologies that the company uses. There are many software development languages available to developers today. There are also many choices in how data can be stored and accessed. It is important to ask the vendor about their experience and any certifications with the technologies being used for the applications you are considering.
Know Your Limitations
There is a general rule in software, as in many areas of business, known as the 80/20 rule. A commercial application should be able to address 80% of your facility’s requirements out of the box, while the other 20% can be addressed by custom development with the vendor, changes in your business processes, or via other means. While a list of software requirements may tell you whether an application meets this 80/20 rule, most organizations forget to evaluate the vendor the same way. Preparing a spreadsheet with vendor specific questions and responses, should help decipher what can and cannot be met by the vendor and give you a tool to determine whether the vendor is a right match as well as the software.
In your hunt for applications that will meet your business needs, it is important to remember that technology may not solve all of your business challenges today, but changes in technology continue to offer more and more solutions. Your selection of a vendor should include an evaluation of the vendor’s corporate long-term strategy with an understanding of their vision of meeting the requirements of the research industry. Ask yourself the following question: Will my vendor’s limitations be my limitations, or will my vendor work with me to use new technologies to solve my challenges?
Conclusion
There have been many changes in technology in the last decade, changes that should affect the software applications that you use to manage your research facility operations and scientific data. Putting aside past experiences and perceptions, research facilities can use some simple tools to evaluate vendors and applications designed for research to determine the best solutions available today and for the future.
FindSounds Search Engine
You probably tried to find exact sound for you and faced trobles to get the most relevant results in serch engines. Of course to find similar sound it is not a problem but sound wich is only you needed may be very difficult.
But there is a new software for searching sounds FindSounds where you can find any sound created by humans, animals, nature and etc.
Results are amazing. Not only a links and name of sound apper but amplitude and frequency are shown too:
There are two buttons near the sound link: one duplicate file location and another is used for similar sound searching.
On the whole this service is nice and useful. As there is no competitors only you should to do is to bookmarks it 