In: Gadgets
21 Jun 2009After the release of the iPhone 3GS, more details about the hardware used to power the gadget is spreading in blogosphere.
Some of the interesting facts are,
1. The processor is under clocked. The processor used in iPhone is capable of a clock speed of 833 MHz but it is clocked down to 600 MHz.
2. It can record videos in 720P (1280×720) HD resolution. But Apple decided to limit it to VGA (640×480).
The only assumption is, Apple wanted to save some battery power. But imagine, if Apple decided to include a better battery, what a great gadget it could’ve been. HD Video recording plus one of the best processor in a mobile device. The only hope is that, a later software upgrade may enable these features.
You can see the full tear apart video below.
Source: Wired, Fast Company

Do you think the iPhone is overly priced? Then you can probably get an "iPhome 3G" for a price of around $180
. It is surely the best iPhone clone till date. The design, screen size and the touch interface is almost same. It is also a smart phone with a Samsung processor and has a 1.3 MP camera. But no 3G or Wifi.
Features
You can see the video below.
Source: pmptoday.com, clonedinchina.com
In: Linux| Tips & Tricks
18 Jun 2009
Mac4Lin, a popular tool used to give mac style look to Linux desktop is now updated to 1.0. It consists of all the skins, icons, themes and other graphics which can give your linux desktop a mac look. It is the easiest way because it can automate most of the skin changes including login window, window look & feel, buttons, customized awn/cairo dock etc.
These are the changes from previous versions as described by the author. You can also find more screenshots on his blog
* Fully supports GNOME 2.26 and backwards compatible
* Improved support for GlobalMenu, support integrated in the default GTK theme
* Better native Xfce support
* Icon additions
* Statusbar is now fixed
* New progress bars
* New tabs
* Improved installation and uninstallation scripts
* Integrates well with Globus
* Finer UI refinements
* Metacity theme now supports different button sizes
* Firefox 3 themes are now updated
* Songbird plugins included
* Pidgin AWN 64bit plugin now included
* Fonts are now consolidated
* Transparent top panel
* GDM theme is now in-line with Mac OS X login window
* Cairo dock is the default recommended dock
You can download the package from Sourceforge
If you don’t want Mac4Lin and need a step by step guide for more control, you can check the below link. It is written particulary for Ubuntu hardy, but should work in Ubuntu 9.04 as well.
http://maketecheasier.com/turn-your-ubuntu-hardy-to-mac-osx-leopard/2008/07/23
Note: As I mentioned in another post, these tools are experimental and not very stable. If you want a stable Linux, you would better stay away from these. But if you want to experiment and want some eye candy, experiment it. It is cool
In: Gadgets| Technology
18 Jun 2009
The most awaited iPhone OS 3.0 is launched yesterday. While iPhone users can update it for free, iphone touch users need to pay $9.95 (480 Rs). But what is the biggest surprise? You’ll get bluetooth support. Apple didn’t admit that iPod touch has bluetooth support though some sites reported that iPod touch has a hidden bluetooth which might be enabled on new software updates. You can read an old news from Engadget. But the support is only available for the 2nd generation Ipod touch and if you’re an unlucky 1st generation touch user like me, this 9$ upgrade is not worth especially if you upgraded to OS 2.x by spending 10 dollars.
The other important features of OS 3.0
You can check the full features of iphone OS 3.0 from apple site
Iphone OS 3.0 features
Ipod Touch OS 3.0 features
Iphone 3GS is launching tomorrow. It is reported that the devices are already sent to the pre-ordered customers but Apple has restricted the distribution until tomorrow. But engadget has already put up a detailed review of the latest device.
Some excerpts from the review.
First off, the company has supercharged the CPU of the 3G S (remember, the S is for speed), jacking up the processor numbers from 412MHz to a rumored 600MHz. Additionally, the RAM is said to have doubled from 128MB to 256MB, the phone is offered with 16GB or 32GB of storage, and Apple has swapped out the previous graphics chip for a new version — dubbed the PowerVR SGX — which adds support for more robust visuals via OpenGL ES 2.0. All this should mean that end users will see a noticeable difference in app speeds and loading times
Apple has tweaked two out of three here, and as Meatloaf tells us, that ain’t bad. The 3G S upgrades the built-in camera to a 3 megapixel version — not insanely great, but at least competitive — and has added an autofocus function with a nifty software tie-in. Instead of having to use a gross physical button to snap your shots, the iPhone continues to rely on its onscreen trigger, but cranks up the use of that big display by allowing you to focus in on subjects based on where you tap.
Video recording on the iPhone 3G S is really quite impressive, and there are two reasons why. For starters, the phone handles pretty fantastic looking VGA video at 30 FPS, which makes for not just passable mobile video, but usable mobile video. The size, clarity, and smoothness of the sequences we shot looked tremendous to our eyes — certainly on par if not outclassing many of the contenders in this space
In our tests — real world, admittedly non-scientific tests — we hardly noticed a difference in battery life between the new and old model.
So while it’s tough to argue with the package Apple has put together (a stellar device with just enough new to make it nearly perfect), we couldn’t help feeling a bit let down by the 3G S. Maybe we’ve been spoiled by devices like the Pre and Ion (and it’s possible we’re a little numb to OS 3.0 since we’ve played with the beta for a while now), but the additions of video recording, a compass, and a speed bump just don’t seem that compelling to us
If you’re a web developer and want to stick with your mac for web development, these are the best free tools. Some of these tools are specifically for for PHP wed development and is available for other platforms (Windows, Linux) as well.

To test your dynamic web site you need a web server and database. MAMP comes bundled with apache 2, mySQL and phpMyadmin along with some other tools so that you can build and test your dynamic websites very easily.
Url: http://www.mamp.info/en/index.html
It is one of the best IDEs even if compared with paid alternatives. Built on eclipse, it has the additional advantage of extending features through plugins. It is simply the best IDE for javascript/AJAX based web development. Supports almost all javascript frameworks, PHP, CSS and HTML. Plugins are available for Ruby on Rails and Java development. It supports Subversion as well for your versioning needs.
Alternatives are NetBeans IDE for PHP and Eclipse.
Filezilla is an open source FTP, SFTP (Secure FTP) client which will be enough for your FTP needs.
Another application you can try is Cyberduck which is also open source and supports FTP, SFTP, WebDAV (Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning), Amazon S3 and Mosso Cloud Files.
Though we develop in Mac, most of the users are going to be from the Windows world. So we need to test our web site in Windows and mainly in IE. Either you can connect to a Windows machine through remote desktop connection or you can run a virtual machine which runs Windows.

If you opt for the remote desktop option, Microsoft has a Remote Desktop Connection client for mac. It is fairly easy to connect to a Windows machine. All you need is the IP address or domain name.
The recommended alternative is to use a virtual machine. You can download Sun’s virtualization software VirtualBox for mac. Another advantage is you’re not limited to any operating system. You can check your work, in virtually all platforms. But please make sure that you’re not violating any law of software piracy

Url: VirtualBox
Url: Remote Desktop Connection
If you’re developing for web Firefox is your best companion. You can have plenty of extensions that will help you in web development. Some of the best extensions are Firebug, Developer toolbar, Color picker etc.
Url: Firefox

This is not directly related to web development. But you’ll rather need this tool often for taking screenshots and annotating it with comments. You can take a screen capture, highlight or mark some area, add a text comment and then drag it to anywhere to save as a file.
If you need Subversion integrated into the Finder this is the tool you need.
Hello! my name is Hafees. Living in Kerala, India. I've been working as a web developer for almost 4 years. At present, I am working in Flip Media, the leading independent interactive media agency in the Middle East.
Through this blog, I will write about technologies, softwares, computers, gadgets and anything that fascinates me.
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