Panache Mini Thin PC

Specifications

Dimensions (WxHxD): 306 x 65 x 267 mm; Weight: 3.125 kg; Processor: Intel Atom 330, 1.60 GHz; Chipset: Intel 945G; Memory: 1 GB DDR2-533; Hard disk: 80 GB; Connectivity: Gigabit Ethernet.

Price Rs 9,900

Website www.panache.co.in

Warranty 1 year

Netbook and nettop manufacturers have been cashing on the older generation Atom based platform for a long time. The Atom has been descirbed as versatile and affordable but can it be powerful? We tested a small form factor PC that features Intel’s first dual core Atom processor, this was fun!

# Features

The Panache Mini Thin PC is a small form factor PC (nettop) that has hardware commonly found in most netbooks and nettops such as Asus’s Eee PCs and Eee Box. However, the most significant difference is that of the processor. Most netbooks feature the Intel Atom N270, but this Thin PC features the Atom 330. Although both processors are clocked at 1.60 GHz, there are two main differences. The N270 has 512 KB L2 cache and 47 million transistors and the Atom 330 has 1 MB L2 cache and 50 million transistors.

Other features include 1 GB DDR2 RAM clocked at 533 MHz, an 80 GB 3.5-inch (7200 rpm) hard drive, gigabit Ethernet, and onboard graphics and audio. It even has the standard ports such as VGA, four USB (plus two in front), Ethernet and audio and there is a serial (COM) and a parallel port for backward compatability of hardware. It also has an S-video port so you can connect your TV to watch movies on it. A noticeable downside is the absence of an optical drive. On opening the case, we noticed that although the front panel has an optical drive bay cover, there’s very little room in the cabinet to accommodate a standard optical drive. In any case, this also rules out installing an operating system using a disc, unless you buy an external (USB) optical drive.

On the whole, it has pretty much everything else that makes a basic PC, all you need is a monitor, an operating system, a keyboard and a mouse and your PC’s ready!

#Build quality

Here’s something for the space-conscious people, who want their desks neat and tidy. The Panache Thin PC is slim, ruggedly built, easy to install and can hide behind your LCD monitor. Although not much to look at, it seems plain and is ideal for SOHO or a basic home PC environment. It’s more of a simple PC and may not impress people who prefer the stylish Asus Eee Box.

#Performance

It would be unfair to compare the performance of this PC to that of a mainstream desktop PC, so the closest comparison is the Asus Eee Box B202 which features the Atom N270 processor and the same amount of RAM. This one really trounces the competition in overall performance, thanks to its dual core Atom processor with double the amount of L2 cache. We’d say that if you install Microsoft Windows XP on this PC, it will surely suffice for applications such as Microsoft Office, media players, light image editing and even for light gaming.

Verdict: Although an entry-level user-upgradeable desktop PC cost around twenty percent more than the Panache Mini Thin PC, you won’t get the compactness that this baby offers. So considering the price, all-in-all it’s a great buy!

Be prepared to witness Google Chrome Operating System soon......

It's been an exciting nine months since google launched the Google Chrome browser. Already, over 30 million people use it regularly. Google designed Google Chrome for people who live on the web — searching for information, checking email, catching up on the news, shopping or just staying in touch with friends. However, the operating systems that browsers run on were designed in an era where there was no web. Google has announced a new project that's a natural extension of Google Chrome — the Google Chrome Operating System. It's googles's attempt to re-think what operating systems should be.

Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Later this year we will open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010.

Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. Google is designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds. The user interface is minimal to stay out of your way, and most of the user experience takes place on the web. And as we did for the Google Chrome browser, google is going back to the basics and completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don't have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work.

Google Chrome OS will run on both x86 as well as ARM chips and we are working with multiple OEMs to bring a number of netbooks to market next year. The software architecture is simple — Google Chrome running within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel. For application developers, the web is the platform. All web-based applications will automatically work and new applications can be written using your favorite web technologies. And of course, these apps will run not only on Google Chrome OS, but on any standards-based browser on Windows, Mac and Linux thereby giving developers the largest user base of any platform.

Google Chrome OS is a new project, separate from Android. Android was designed from the beginning to work across a variety of devices from phones to set-top boxes to netbooks. Google Chrome OS is being created for people who spend most of their time on the web, and is being designed to power computers ranging from small netbooks to full-size desktop systems. While there are areas where Google Chrome OS and Android overlap, we believe choice will drive innovation for the benefit of everyone, including Google.

Google hear a lot from our users and their message is clear — computers need to get better. People want to get to their email instantly, without wasting time waiting for their computers to boot and browsers to start up. They want their computers to always run as fast as when they first bought them. They want their data to be accessible to them wherever they are and not have to worry about losing their computer or forgetting to back up files. Even more importantly, they don't want to spend hours configuring their computers to work with every new piece of hardware, or have to worry about constant software updates. And any time our users have a better computing experience, Google benefits as well by having happier users who are more likely to spend time on the Internet.

One thing for sure it will pose a great challenge to windows operating system..........................

NextUp Talker software - a miracle for dumb

NextUp Talker 1.019 is a Text To Speech product from talkforme.com.It Allows those with vocal impairments to communicate with others using a windows PC or Tablet PC. Provides common phrase shortcuts. NextUp Talker is a Text To Speech software specifically designed for people who have temporarily or permanently lost their voice. With natural, human sounding voices and handy shortcuts to quickly enter commonly used sentences and phrases, NextUp Talker allows you to easily communicate with others despite vocal impairments using a Windows PC or Tablet PC.

Whether due to ALS, Cancer, Stroke, aphasia, or any of the other all too common problems causing loss of speech, NextUp Talker should help you regain an important part of your life by allowing you to "talk" with others. It's goal is to provide high-quality but affordable speech solutions for those in need.

NextUp Talker Benefits:

#Specifically designed for use in conversation

#More pleasant conversations using latest generation, high-quality, Natural sounding voices.

#Easy use with either mouse or keyboard.

#Smooth conversation flow with less delays due to typing by using predefined, often used

#phrases and user created abbreviations.

#Adapts to your style and speed with options to speak each word as typed, each sentence, each paragraph, or on demand.

#Ability to insert actual sound files along with speech. These can help make kids more comfortable talking with an adult using a computer.

Goal of NextUp Talker

Over the past 5 years, talkforme.com have developed the world's most popular Text To Speech program, called TextAloud. It is a general consumer product used for listening to email, web pages, and documents. During that time we've had thousands of users who have lost their voice and have trouble communicating with others. TextAloud and other PC based programs have never worked very well as conversation tools, because they simply aren't designed in that way. So until now, the best option has been to use dedicated hardware devices for voice replacement. These can cost up to $3000 and typically have very mechanical sounding voices. Our goal with the release of NextUp Talker is to use all of the advances in computer based voices and what we've learned from our customers to offer an affordable product for people who have either temporarily or permanently lost their voice.

Designing for Conversation

One problem with using computers for conversation is the delay during entry of messages. NextUp Talker attempted several things to help with this:

#Predefined Phrases

#NextUp Talker let's you create an unlimited number of phrases you often use. These are arranged in a multi-level menu system. So, for example, you might have a menu of phrases you typically use with the telephone. You might have a phrases named "Greeting" that has the text

"Hi. This is John. I'm using a computer to talk with you, so please be patient as I type my responses. If you don't understand the voice or need me to repeat something, just let me know".

So, when you answer the phone, you could access that phrase quickly and have it spoken without typing it.

# Phrases can also have parameters within them, for cases where you need to customize the phrase. For example, you may have a phrase named "How Are You" that has the text

"Hi %name%. How are you today"

When you choose this phrase, NextUp Talker will prompt you for what you want to say for %name% then speak the phrase. So you access the "How Are You" phrase, NextUp Talker will popup a window asking you for the name, you type in "Betty", then NextUp Talker will speak "Hi Betty, How are you"

#Predefined phrases can be quickly accessed during conversations by

Double-clicking the phrase on the left side of the software

Using shortcut key combinations you define

From a right-click popup menu in the typing area

From the Insert Menu.

Abbreviations and ShortHand

#NextUp Talker includes an Abbreviations and ShortHand editor. With this, you can define short strings to represent longer phrases or sentences. So for example, if you frequently say something like "Could you bring me something to drink please", you could define an abbreviation of "gdrink" to be that full string. Then, when typing text into NextUp Talker, if you simply type "gdrink" the software will speak "Could you bring me something to drink please". Over time as you get used to using the program, you'll develop your own version of shorthand that will speed up your typing.

Inserting Sound Files

NextUp Talker can also mix in actual sound files into speech. You can insert a link to a sound file using the insert menu. For some users who have warning before losing their voice, such as is the case often with surgery, you can use your computer to record various sound files saying things like "I love you", or answering the phone. These recordings can then be intermixed with text to speech. Another neat use is inserting sound effects. There are a huge number of free sound files on the internet. A common use for these might be to include some funny sound effects with your speech. This is especially helpful when speaking with children. The funny sounds often help children become more comfortable when talking with someone who has to use a computer.

Access for those with physical limitations

Especially for those with ALS who have lost their voice, they face the additional challenge of losing muscle control and having difficulty fully using a mouse and keyboard. Talkforme.com attempted to design NextUp Talker to work well with either a mouse or keyboard, and hopefully work with "virtual keyboards". We haven't done a lot of testing in these areas yet, so we would appreciate any and all feedback to help us continue to improve.

Natural Sounding Voices

A computer will never replace the voice you've lost. However, in recent years, computer voices have become more and more human like. Choosing one or more computer voices that you like and that you feel comfortable with is important. This will become YOUR voice to friends and family. We sell a variety of optional voices for use with NextUp Talker.

click here to download a free trial - www.softsea.com/download/NextUp-Talker.html

Here comes india's fastest wireless broadband !!!

# Wireless Broadband for laptop & desktop

# 20 times faster with speed upto 3.1Mbps on the move

# Fastest uploads at a speed of upto 1.8 Mbps

# Downward compatible with Reliance High Speed 1X network to ensure seamless connectivity across 20000 towns & 5 lakh villages, as well as along major highways, railway routes, airport lounges and remote locations in India

# Optimized for running rich media / heavy applications such as video conferencing, video streaming, electronic surveillance, online multiplayer gaming and heavy file transfers.

# Simply plug & play

# Some other service prroviders such as tata have released their tata photon + with same fratures as mentioned above but currently available in less than 5 cities whereas reliance's is avalaible across 35 cities in india

# Only disadvantage is that only available in selected cities

Speed up your browsing of Windows XP machines

1.Here's a great tip to speed up your browsing of Windows XP machines. Its actually a fix to a bug installed as default in Windows 2000 that scans shared files for Scheduled Tasks. And it turns out that you can experience a delay as long as 30 seconds when you try to view shared files across a network because Windows 2000 is using the extra time to search the remote computer for any Scheduled Tasks. Note that though the fix is originally intended for only those affected, Windows 2000 users will experience that the actual browsing speed of both the Internet & Windows Explorers improve significantly after applying it since it doesn't search for Scheduled Tasks anymore. Here's how :

Open up the Registry and go to :

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Explorer/RemoteComputer/NameSpace

Under that branch, select the key :

{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}

and delete it.

This is key that instructs Windows to search for Scheduled Tasks. If you like you may want to export the exact branch so that you can restore the key if necessary.

This fix is so effective that it doesn't require a reboot and you can almost immediately determine yourself how much it speeds up your browsing processes.

2.When you connect to a web site your computer sends information back and forth. Some of this information deals with resolving the site name to an IP address, the stuff that TCP/IP really deals with, not words. This is DNS information and is used so that you will not need to ask for the site location each and every time you visit the site. Although Windows XP and Windows XP have a pretty efficient DNS cache, you can increase its overall performance by increasing its size. You can do this with the registry entries below:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dnscache\Parameters]

"CacheHashTableBucketSize"=dword:00000001

"CacheHashTableSize"=dword:00000180

"MaxCacheEntryTtlLimit"=dword:0000fa00

"MaxSOACacheEntryTtlLimit"=dword:0000012d

Make a new text file and rename it to dnscache.reg. Then copy and paste the above into it and save it. Merge it into the registry.

NTFS V/S FAT

To NTFS or not to NTFS—that is the question. But unlike the deeper questions of life, this one isn't really all that hard to answer. For most users running Windows XP, NTFS is the obvious choice. It's more powerful and offers security advantages not found in the other file systems. But let's go over the differences among the files systems so we're all clear about the choice. There are essentially three different file systems available in Windows XP: FAT16, short for File Allocation Table, FAT32, and NTFS, short for NT File System.

#FAT16

The FAT16 file system was introduced way back with MS–DOS in 1981, and it's showing its age. It was designed originally to handle files on a floppy drive, and has had minor modifications over the years so it can handle hard disks, and even file names longer than the original limitation of 8.3 characters, but it's still the lowest common denominator. The biggest advantage of FAT16 is that it is compatible across a wide variety of operating systems, including Windows 95/98/Me, OS/2, Linux, and some versions of UNIX. The biggest problem of FAT16 is that it has a fixed maximum number of clusters per partition, so as hard disks get bigger and bigger, the size of each cluster has to get larger. In a 2–GB partition, each cluster is 32 kilobytes, meaning that even the smallest file on the partition will take up 32 KB of space. FAT16 also doesn't support compression, encryption, or advanced security using access control lists.

#FAT32

The FAT32 file system, originally introduced in Windows 95 Service Pack 2, is really just an extension of the original FAT16 file system that provides for a much larger number of clusters per partition. As such, it greatly improves the overall disk utilization when compared to a FAT16 file system. However, FAT32 shares all of the other limitations of FAT16, and adds an important additional limitation—many operating systems that can recognize FAT16 will not work with FAT32—most notably Windows NT, but also Linux and UNIX as well. Now this isn't a problem if you're running FAT32 on a Windows XP computer and sharing your drive out to other computers on your network—they don't need to know (and generally don't really care) what your underlying file system is.

#The Advantages of NTFS

The NTFS file system, introduced with first version of Windows NT, is a completely different file system from FAT. It provides for greatly increased security, file–by–file compression, quotas, and even encryption. It is the default file system for new installations of Windows XP, and if you're doing an upgrade from a previous version of Windows, you'll be asked if you want to convert your existing file systems to NTFS. Don't worry. If you've already upgraded to Windows XP and didn't do the conversion then, it's not a problem. You can convert FAT16 or FAT32 volumes to NTFS at any point. Just remember that you can't easily go back to FAT or FAT32 (without reformatting the drive or partition), not that I think you'll want to.

The NTFS file system is generally not compatible with other operating systems installed on the same computer, nor is it available when you've booted a computer from a floppy disk. For this reason, many system administrators, myself included, used to recommend that users format at least a small partition at the beginning of their main hard disk as FAT. This partition provided a place to store emergency recovery tools or special drivers needed for reinstallation, and was a mechanism for digging yourself out of the hole you'd just dug into. But with the enhanced recovery abilities built into Windows XP (more on that in a future column), I don't think it's necessary or desirable to create that initial FAT partition.

#When to Use FAT or FAT32?

If you're running more than one operating system on a single computer, you will definitely need to format some of your volumes as FAT. Any programs or data that need to be accessed by more than one operating system on that computer should be stored on a FAT16 or possibly FAT32 volume. But keep in mind that you have no security for data on a FAT16 or FAT32 volume—any one with access to the computer can read, change, or even delete any file that is stored on a FAT16 or FAT32 partition. In many cases, this is even possible over a network. So do not store sensitive files on drives or partitions formatted with FAT file systems.

Bing - latest search engine by microsoft

Bing is a decision (search) engine from Microsoft officially announced on May 28, 2009. It combines technology from the Farecast and Powerset acquisitions, as well as new algorithms and a more colorful page design, to attempt to understand the context behind the search, which Microsoft claims gives users better results.

Bing as a brand is also an attempt to eliminate the confusion caused by Microsoft’s “Windows Live” branding. Bing is now everything “search” related, whereas Windows Live encompasses the remnants of Microsoft’s consumer software products.

Microsoft says its just an improvement over windows live search

While it has overtaken google in some areas but still you can say "GOOGLE SEARCH " is the ultimate winner when both are compared.

Some further improvement in it can pose a great challenge to google search

You can experience bing at www.bing.com.