Features of Microsoft Acropolis

Microsoft has finally announced publicly during this week's TechEd 2007 about Microsoft Acropolis. Microsoft Acropolis is a set of components and tools that make the developer and client easier to build and manage modular, business focused, client .NET applications. Acropolis is a part of ".NET Client Features". It builds on the rich capabilities of Microsoft Windows and the .NET Framework, including Windows Presentation Framework (WPF), by providing tools and pre-built components that help developers quickly assemble applications from loosely-coupled parts and services.

In order to work on Acropolis, you need Windows Vista or Windows XP SP2 and also the new version of Microsoft Visual Studio named Orcas Beta 1. If you have all these, then download Acropolis from
Download Acropolis from Microsoft Site

Get a Video on Introduction to Acropolis from Microsoft Site

 

Features of Acropolis

 Acropolis overturns the way organizations design, develop, configure, deploy and manage their application solutions.

• Acropolis brings Windows Forms closer to Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF). Its a user interface API which brings all the ingredients required for business enterprise applications. Acropolis makes it more easy and gives a way to incorporate these parts into their new applications
• We can easily create complex, business concentrated applications with ease and can also build reusable and connectable client application modules
• Integration with other applications like Microsoft office and stand alone client interfaces
• Using XAML, the User interface of the application can be easily enhanced by the built-in themes and designs.
• Also includes some of the features with fewer lines of code like the navigation workflow and custom views.
• Maintaining the applications would be easier and the tasks of updating and deploying the applications can be done speedily.

Download Acropolis from Microsoft Site

AOL's AIM mail with Unlimited Storage

It's America Online who has announced it's AIM mail with unlimited storage to the users of their email service. Rediff and Yahoo! were the forerunners who announced umlimited storage. The "AIM" in the name stands for AOL Instant Messenger, AOL's instant messaging program.

Currently offering 2 GB of online mail storage. AIM Mail has a good stellar spam protection with solid security features. It has a rich interface which makes AIM mail very easy to use and also integrated with calendar and chat.

Sign up with AIM mail with Unlimited Storage

AOL mail users are almost 53 million worldwide and are growing. It is the third most popular U.S. email service which is behind Yahoo! and Hotmail, according to ComScore. Lastly, AOL has integrated a Vista widget that displays e-mail and instant messages from your friend contacts.

What are you waiting for...Sign-up for an AIM mail account if you haven't one and enjoy Unlimited storage. Happy mailing.

Source via BetaNews

HTTP Testing Tool - WBox

WBox is a simple HTTP Testing Tool written in ANSI C which works on a POSIX system like Linux. Windows systems are not supported and compiles on a MacOS X system. It is a 20 Kb zip file which has code written in ANSI C. We can use it to perform many different tasks which include

• Benchmarking how much time it takes to generate content for your web application.
• Web server and web application stressing.
• Testing virtual domains configuration without the need to alter your local resolver.
• Check if your redirects are working correctly emitting the right HTTP code.
• Test if the HTTP compression is working and if it is actually serving pages faster.
• Use it as a configuration-less HTTP server to share files! (see the server mode documentation at the end of the Wbox tutorial in this page, but it's as simple as % wbox servermode webroot /tmp)

Download WBox version 2

There are two modes of usage, one is HTTP Client mode and the other is Server mode.

HTTP Client Mode

The way to use WBox is through command line. For example, an url

% wbox www.technogears.blogspot.com

works simply as a ping utility. We can limit the number of ping like requests by adding the number of requests as one parameter.

Timesplit Option

We can get the time information for different parts of the document using the Timesplit option.

Eg: %wbox www.digg.com timesplit 1

WBOX digg.com (64.191.203.30) port 80
0. 200 OK    44134 bytes    1326 ms 
       [0] 0-4095 -> 728 ms
       [1] 4096-8191 -> 254 ms
       [2] 8192-12287 -> 16 ms
       [3] 12288-16383 -> 17 ms
       [4] 16384-20479 -> 225 ms
       [5] 20480-24575 -> 12 ms
       [6] 24576-28671 -> 16 ms
       [7] 28672-32767 -> 18 ms
       [8] 32768-36863 -> 16 ms
       [9] 36864-40959 -> 16 ms
       [10] 40960-44133 -> 8 ms

Stressing servers and apps

We can make concurrent multiple requests using the clients number option parameter. Wbox will spawn the required number of processes, and every process will perform a query every second.

% wbox http://localhost clients 4
WBOX localhost (127.0.0.1) port 80
0. 200 OK    9939 bytes    14 ms
0. 200 OK    9939 bytes    22 ms
0. 200 OK    9939 bytes    26 ms
0. 200 OK    9939 bytes    31 ms
1. 200 OK    9939 bytes    4 ms
1. 200 OK    9939 bytes    7 ms
1. 200 OK    9939 bytes    7 ms
1. 200 OK    9939 bytes    4 ms
2. 200 OK    9939 bytes    4 ms
2. 200 OK    9939 bytes    6 ms
2. 200 OK    9939 bytes    10 ms
2. 200 OK    9939 bytes    3 ms
user terminated

Testing HTTP Compression

We can test a web server which acceps HTTP compression requests with the compr option. WBox includes the header to accept the gzip/deflate data encoding. It will be useful to compare the performance with and without compression.

HTTP Server Mode

WBox adds a feature of running a simple configuraitonless HTTP server. This is very useful in LAN or a network so that files can be easily shared. To start in server mode, you need to run

% wbox servermode webroot /tmp/shared

Try connecting http://localhost:8081. WBox uses 8081 port by default and can be changed using serverport portno option

Feel free to try this simple testing tool. It has the disadvantage of not being compatible with windows OS as many users use windows os's.

 

Download WBox version 2

3D web browser experience with SpaceTime

 

SpaceTime, an innovator of 3D Technology has announced its flagship application which is now available in Beta. SpaceTime is a free consumer PC software application that enables searching, browsing and shopping in an unlimited 3D environment. It makes web surfing a 3D look with visually rich experience. This allows the users to make their best search engines like Google, Yahoo! and eBay look and search in a 3D environment.

 
                      

         Watch an exclusive stunning video....Please wait while the video loads....

SpaceTime revolutionizes the process of web searching with three key functionalities: 3D search, 3D eBay Search and 3D Tabbed browsing.

Download SpaceTime 3D Web Browser Beta .9

 

Sysem Requirements:

OS     : Microsoft Windows XP  Professional  version 5.1 Service Pack 2 (Build 2600)

CPU     : (586/15/401)
Computer    : HYRDWS0217
Memory    :      114 free MB/    1014 total MB physical memory
3D Device    : Intel(R) 82915G/GV/910GL Express Chipset Family - ialmrnt5.dll - \\.\DISPLAY1
Video Memory    :      128 MB
Free Texture Mem    :       60 MB

Features of SpaceTime 3D Browser

1. 3D Search

                    
 Take the case of an ordinary search, which returns a list of links that one have to read the description and click each one at a time. Whereas SpaceTime simultaneously loads 10 results at a time, each in its own window. Using mouse and keyboard, users can quickly and easily filp through the results, re-arrange the pages or manipulate them as desired. This seach supports Google, Yahoo, Google Images, Yahoo!, Yahoo! images, Filckr, eBay and others.

2. 3D eBay Search

SpaceTime has developed a way to make browsing eBay listings more like flipping through an electronic catalog of full-sized images. Users can also explore other retail sites in its 3D space for ease of
comparison shopping.

Ebay Search Options in 3D Browser

• Place Bid
• Star Item
• View Page
• More Images
• Compare
• Remove

3. 3D TABBED BROWSING

                  

Each time you create a new tab, the new page replaces the previous page and the browser creates a tab to keep track of the new page. Clicking these tabs allows you to shuffle among the pages in your browser. In addition, for each URL you enter in the address line, SpaceTime catalogues this by creating an icon on the Timeline which is located at the bottom of the application. Once you have several web pages within SpaceTime, you can shuffle between these pages by clicking the icons on the Timeline.

You can shift between 2D and 3D view of the search results. When in 3D mode, double clicking on the page renders the page to 2D view. Clicking on Back at the right top corner renders to 3D view.

4. 3D Desktop
One of SpaceTime's most fascinating features is the ability to use your unlimitted 3D Space presented to you as beautiful blue skys as a floating 3D desktop. In other words, you can drag or move any item you would like to any position you choose.
Ctrl-Click-Drag - Just choose an image or web page, press the Ctrl key and then click-drag the item you would like to reposition along the X and y axis (up down, left right).
Ctrl-Shift-Click Drag - Just choose an image or web page, press the Ctrl-Shift key and then click drag the item you would like to reposition along the +z and -Z axis (into the background or into the foreground).
Please not that to reposition web pages, you must Ctrl-Click the Menu bar of the 3D web page to initiate teh Ctrl-Click-Drag.

NAVIGATION

Once you have a 3D Visual Stack in front of you, you have several options which are presented to you to move around. They are:
(1) next - advance forward to the next item in the visual stack
(2) previous - go back to the previous item in the visual stack
(3) next 10 - add the next 10 items to the current visual stack
(4) previous 10 - go back 10 pages at a time in the visual stack
(5) Scroll Wheel - You may also use the scrool wheel of your mouse as an alternative to the "next" and "previous" buttons.

Fly around with Keyboard - You can also fly around in SpaceTime (which is really thrilling) and assume any viewpoint you can think of. To Fly, use the up, down, left and right keys. In addition, you can change the style of your up, down, left and right key navigation by choosing the right-click menu > movements > to walk, slide, examine and pan style movements. This is really one of the greatest features of SpaceTime as you have total freedom to move about your space.

SpaceTime Jargon

TIMELINE
When you conduct searches, SpaceTime creates one icon for this new search on the Timeline . Clicking among the icons on the Timeline will allow you to shuffle between your searches.
HISTORY
Most of the functionality in SpaceTime is visible to you as you mouse-over the icons on the screen. By clicking the triangle, it will open the History which reveales three tabs representing three categories (web pages, searches, and pictures). All of the searches you create in SpaceTime are indexed in the Searches Tab.
Right Click Menu
If you are in SpaceTime, in 3D (not in 2D mode) and you click the right button on your mouse, you'll a bunch of commands available to you. One of the menu items on the right-click menu is options which features a list of very useful commands. Let's go over them.
Delete Item - Let's you delete a single item that your mouse's cursor is positioned at. Simply mouse over the item you would like to delete, right-click, choose options and delete item.
Delete Stack - This is similar to delete item, but instead of deleting one image or one web page, delete stack allow you to delete an entire 3D Visual Stack. In addition, if you mouse-over the active icon on the timeline, you'll see a small "x box" in the upper right hand corner of the timeline icon which clicking allows you to accomplish the same Delete Stack command.
Reset Scene - Resets your entire 3D Scene and frees up all you memory. It is equivalent to running the program for the first time.
Refresh Item - Reloads a web page
Save Item As - Saves either your (1) image or (2) web page to your computer's local file system. This is very usefull for 3D Image searches where you are able to save the images that you find right from within SpaceTime.

What about Security Issues?

SpaceTime guys have produced a solid and navigable environment. It carries your browser security settings over to its program. So, it is as secure as your browser (IE7, firefox). It was announced that the security settings within SpaceTime would be in their upcoming release.

Shortcuts Using SpaceTime

           Feature                      Shortcut Key

Walk                           Ctrl+shift+W               
Slide                           Ctrl+shift+S
Examine                         Ctrl+shift+E                
Fly                              Ctrl+shift+F
Pan                             Ctrl+shift+W               
Jump                                    F3
Straighten                  UpCtrl+shift+U           
Collision                       Ctrl+shift+C
Gravity                        Ctrl+shift+G            
Force Movement          Ctrl+shift+R
Preference Control               F9                  
Save Screenshot                  F11

My Experience with SpaceTime

I have selected eBay search option from the drop-down menu in SpaceTime, the search result offers you more options compared to other searches with a 3D visual experience. Along with these options, you can manipulate the view page, Place Bid, Star Item, the comparision and look for more images. You need to click these hyperlinks and initiate actions to use these features.

What are looking for...? Just Download the SpaceTime Beta version and enjoy the 3D experience of searching and shopping right in your desktop.

Download SpaceTime 3D Web Browser Beta .9

Adsense policies Updated to include more link units

Google Adsense has updated their policies yesterday. You have to adhere to their policies as binding and accepting their policy change is also a policy that you agreed upon.

Google Adsense has widened their webmaster guidelines. The publishers must bind and confirm to the technical guidelines and as well as the quality guidelines. The good thing in this policy update is that you can include Three Link Units in a page.

Link units are a great way to provide relevant, user-friendly ads in hard-to-fit locations on your site. Previously, only one link unit can be added on to a page. This update allows the publishers to include to almost three link units. So, it is up to the publisher to choose their link unit positions. We have the options of including it in the footer, header and sidebar each. I hope you will find great ways of incorporating these link units making your site more enhanced to look at.

Get paid for blogging through Smorty

Write your opinion about peoples products, services and websites on your blog. Get paid weekly through Smorty. It's absolutely free to set up and maintain an account with Smorty. You can earn as much as you like. Your earnings are directly related to the number of valid opinions you post. Each post will bring you a minimum of US$6 and the Pagerank of your blog along with a high SMorty smart score determines whether you receive higher paid ad campaigns, bringing you up to even $100 per post.

Signup for a Smorty account and write posts based on your categories of interest. You will be assigned topics for each campaign write your opinion about in your blog. Within your entry you must include anchor text links to the campaigns website URL in your blog. You do not have to necessarily endorse the advertiser's website products or services, just mention them in your blog.

Best Web based Instant Messengers to choose - A Review

Instant Messaging allows people to exchange text as well as voice messages in real-time. Previously, there were about two to three Instant messengers to install and download with few kilobytes of memory. But later as the technology emerged, more features and plug-ins were added and the installation rose upto 20Mb or so.

IM is vividly becoming an essential workplace tool in lieu of the inefficiencies of email and its lack of real-time communication. Survey found that 76% of organizations have not deployed a formal IM solution, and however willing; because of the numerous security problems, many corporations say no to IM use.

Nowadays, many companies and offices are not allowing the use of IM's. This has led to the growth of web based Instant messengers. The pure web base delivery using hypertext mode is well recognized as the most secured in preventing virus, spy ware and malicious content. There are many web based IM's in the current market and thought of giving you a review of them. Choose your IM ....

Yahoo! Web Messenger

Yahoo! web Messenger is one of the popular instant messaging client. You can logon using your Yahoo! ID and can use it without any cost. One more feature added is that you can chat with friends on MSN. You can just type http://web.im instead of the long url. You can find the Smileys at http://www.wackyb.co.nz/Yahoo!_Web_Messenger_Smileys/. It has a brief collection of Smileys and emotions. A good site to look at.

Link: http://webmessenger.yahoo.com

MSN Web Messenger

It's the web based version of MSN Messenger. It is a nice IM to stay in touch with all your buddies. You need to have an Microsoft® .NET Passport (if you have a Hotmail account you have a "Passport" so this isn't required in addition to), don't have a passport? head to https://accountservices.passport.net/ppnetworkhome.srf It does not allow file sharing and video calls. You can only chat with the ones who are in the same network.

Link: http://webmessenger.msn.com

Meebo

A good example of Web 2.0. Meebo is an Ajax based, cross-platform, multi-protocol IM. You can logon to Yahoo Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, AOL IM, Google Talk, Jebber and ICQ. It runs inside one browser window with multiple DIV based conversation windows. Passwords are encrypted before sending them to the servers for logging in.

Link: http://www.meebo.com

Google Talk Gadget

Google Talk Gadget is a web-based module that you can add to your Google Personalized Homepage, letting you see your friends and chat with them -- all on your homepage. You don't have to download and install software to use it. Just visit google personalized home page. Logon your gmail account and add the Google Talk Gadget to your homepage. Your web based IM is ready to use.

Link: http://www.google.com/ig

IMhaha

IMhaha is a multi-network Web based messenger that supports four of the top instant messaging services including MSN, Yahoo!, AIM and QQ (China’s leading IM with over 200 million active users). You can login multiple IM accounts at the same time and chat simultaneously with as many friends as you like. It uses https protocol so that all your IM account information and messages are encrypted and protected the way your online banking transactions are protected.

Link: http://www.imhaha.com/webmsg/

IMunitive

IMUnitive is a web based IM service allows connect to MSN, Yahoo and AOL. It supports SSL and also transferring of files can be easily done. Also conference feature of IMUnitive allows you to chat with your MSN, AIM and Yahoo buddies in the same conference even those buddies don't know each others.

Link: http://www.imunitive.com

Yafumato Web Messenger

A web-based instant messenger client allowing users to connect to supported messengers (AIM, Yahoo) via HTTP (or HTTPS). The Yafumato server connects to the messengers by proxy and provides a web interface to the user, allowing IM access from anywhere.

Link:http://sourceforge.net/projects/yafumato

Radius IM

It's a social IM and is the only website which shows you where your friends are hanging out and lets you surf for other people based on location. Supports all the major IMs. Log in to radiusIM and choose your location. Your friends will show up in the Friends List to the right and as pictures inside the map. The pictures around the map are other people located somewhere within the map view, but you don’t know exactly where. You can drag or zoom the map to a new place to see new people from that area.

Link: http://www.radiusim.com

I LoveIM

ILoveIM.com provides friendly, light and very easy to use web-based interface with almost all core features from the original Instant Messenger. It's a web messenger application that allows you to stay connected with your favorite Instant Messenger almost anywhere.The best part is that you don't need to install any Java plug-ins to use.

Link: http://www.iloveim.com

Kool IM

It is similar to Meebo handling multiple messengers on one page. Supports Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk, Jabber, ICQ, Windows Live Messenger. You can use these features without registration also. But you have some additional features of managing your accounts once you signup for an accout.

Link: http://www.koolim.com

eBuddy

eMesseenger or eBuddy was one of the first web-based IM. It's a web application to chat with Yahoo!, MSN and ICQ IMs. One advantage is that it works even if firewall is installed in your network. It has a mobile version too.

Link: http://www.ebuddy.com

Easy Messenger

It also runs entirely on the web browser. Supports all the major known IM's. It has a built-in RSS reader so that you can always be updated on your messages.

Link: http://www.mijnmessenger.nl

Messenger FX

It allows to chat with MSN buddies. The service is extermely good and provides the basic features of any chat and also supports smilies. The service is developed by Yusuf, a talented developer and he has developed the service using ASP.NET and has MS-SQL as the backbone. We can use this when popular sites like Meebo has been blocked and wants to chat with MSN messenger.

Link: http://www10.messengerfx.com

Snimmer

S.N.I.M.M.R. stands for Single Network Instant Messaging Mediation and Relay. SNIMMER can talk to any IM network and can relay instant messages from one IM network to another. Currently one cannot use AOL messenger to chat with users on MSN, Yahoo! or GTalk and vice versa. SNIMMER overcomes instant messenger non-interoperability. SNIMMER has been designed primarily to help webmasters to chat with web visitors on any IM network using any instant messenger.

Link: http://www.snimmer.com

Mabber

It's a mobile application that lets you chat and send messages wherever you are. Required is a recent mobile phone equipped with Java and some sort of data-plan. You can use Mabber either on the web or download the mobile client for your Java-enabled phone. With Mabber you can send messages with low cost, as it is cheaper than using SMS text messaging (1 kb of data allows for about 7 messages). Free to use.

Link: http://www.mabber.com

Robin Good, in his review has brilliently made a google spreadsheet which shows a comparison and list of all the features of these web based IM's. The spreadsheet is best viewed in IE. Please add any more web based IM's that you know which i have not included in this list.

Source [Robin Good's Review]