Sony LifeStyle TV Magazine is back on AXN

Every Tuesday at 8.35PM, sexy technophile Oli Pettigrew is back on AXN’s Sony LifeStyle TV Magazine (Sony Style)! Last season, viewers saw Oli traverse the globe to unearth the latest lifestyle trends and happenings. This season brings you more exclusive previews of the snazziest Sony gadgets and there’s a new segment - a 30-second tech nugget that gives more geek tidbits on the featured product of the week.

To spice things up, the show will now feature three (3) local co-hosts from the Philippines, Singapore and Indonesia chosen from online applications submitted on AXN’s official website www.axn-asia.com. That’s not all, for fans will be able to celebrate the 100th milestone episode this season with Sony LifeStyle, as they say, in style. A special group of fans will be picked to get up close and personal with Oli at a cozy birthday gathering; while others will be able to send in their well wishes and get them aired on the show.

From electronics and extreme sports to venturing into areas unknown, Oli is gung-ho enough to try them all! Narihiko Uemura, Managing Director of Sony Electronic Asia Pacific & Sony Electronics (Singapore), “Entering its brand new fifth season, Sony Style will take you through Sony’s world of entertainment, with the many new and dazzling networked products, content and services, as well as innovative, future-focused technologies.

Keep tuning in and watch with excitement what we have lined up just for you!”Whether you are a tech aficionado, sports fan or avid traveller, Sony Style coming to AXN this Tuesday nights has something for everybody.

Dell to Acquire Secureworks

Dell today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire SecureWorks Inc., a globally recognized provider of information-security services. SecureWorks’ industry leading Security-as-a-Service solutions include Managed-Security Services, Security and Risk Consulting Services and Threat Intelligence. The acquisition expands Dell’s global IT-as-a-Service offerings and information security expertise.

Organizations of all sizes and across diverse industries – including Global 500 companies, mid-sized businesses, financial services, utilities, healthcare, retail and manufacturing – rely on SecureWorks’ industry-leading security services to reduce risk, improve regulatory compliance and lower costs of managing IT security. The company’s proprietary threat management platform is scalable and integrates easily with client environments. In addition, SecureWorks’ world-class Counter Threat Unit research team helps protect clients across multiple industries from ever-changing global IT threats.

SecureWorks processes more than 13 billion security events and sees more than 30,000 malware specimens each day. The company has more than 1,500 banks and credit unions as managed security services clients and is protecting trillions of dollars in financial assets. Its reliability, capability and focus on client service has earned SecureWorks a best-in-class customer satisfaction rating from its global client base.

The acquisition is the latest strategic investment by Dell as it expands its portfolio of enterprise-class IT-as-a-Service solutions. Building its capabilities as a Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) is an important next step in Dell’s strategy to help clients drive better efficiency across the enterprise and dramatically simplify the management of IT infrastructure.

D-Link wins Business Superbrands award

D-Link, the end-to-end computer networking solutions provider for consumers and businesses, today announced that the company has been awarded the Singapore Business Superbrands awards, which pays tribute to the strongest and most valuable business-to-business brands. This mark of excellence represents the high brand status that D-Link has achieved in the market, effectively setting D-Link apart from competitors in terms of customer reputation, market share and brand recognition. 

“We are delighted to be awarded this accolade,” said Tony Tsao, CEO & President, D-Link Corporation. “It is a recognition of our continuing efforts in innovation to bring about leading edge technology and products, as well as our dedication to make technology affordable for the mass market consumer and small to medium business so that everyone can realise the benefits of technology.”

Held at the Shangri-la Hotel, for the first time in Singapore, the event was attended by over 150 guests. Business Superbrands uses a comprehensive two-stage selection process to identify leading B2B brands in Singapore.

At the qualifying stage, the brands are accessed from three aspects: locality, longevity and financial stability. At the second stage, the Superbrands Brand Panel, an independent group of marketing and communications experts, evaluates the brands and scores each brand against five criteria; brand reputation, market share, achievement, recognition and corporate/social responsibility.

NASA space photos now available at Yahoo's Flickr

Three compilations of images from more than half a century of NASA history are now made available for everyone’s access and comments on a section of the photo-sharing site Flickr known as The Commons. The partnership has made research and studying space exploration even more accessible for both students and teachers alike.

The then arduous task of finding extensive space images from different sites has now been gathered into one online source and portal where visitors to NASA on The Commons can contribute in identifying objects and people from any of the photos by adding tags or keywords to the images. Viewers can also communicate with other visitors by sharing their comments, making it easier to find these photos online as they add insight about NASA’s continuing history.

The capability of interaction and access to these photos is the result of the partnership between NASA, Flickr from Yahoo! in Sunnyvale, Calif., and Internet Archive, a non-profit digital library based in San Francisco.

The photos are categorized into three sets that take viewers and visitors through the journey of NASA space exploration. Since each photo becomes the subject of discussion from millions of online visitors worldwide, browsing through the photos provides educational discovery and interactive learning.

The sets of photos share a common theme of NASA beginnings. The "Launch and Takeoff" set captures iconic spacecraft and aircraft taking flight. "Building NASA" spotlights ground-breaking events and the construction of some of NASA's one-of-a-kind facilities. The "Center Namesakes" set features photos of the founders and figureheads of NASA's 10 field centers.

To view NASA on The Commons images, visit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nasacommons

2 iPad Apps that won’t make it in the App Store

Here are a couple of iPad apps that you probably won’t see in the App Store. They’re cool though.

The first is the iPad Arcade app for the iCade which is a mini arcade cabinet with a slot for your iPad. Just download an arcade game from the App Store, insert your iPad into the iCade and start playing your favorite arcade games. Too bad it’s just an April Fool’s prank.

Then there’s the iWeight. It converts your iPad into a digital weighing scale. Not much to say about it but I don’t think the iPad is sensitive to pressure applied into it nor if you want to step onto your device. Hehe.

Why is there a Pacman game in Google?

Go ahead and open up www.google.com. Notice that cool tiny Pacman Game? It’s no image. You can play the game from Google’s Homepage complete with the familiar sounds and cherries.

So why did Google put a Pacman game on its homepage? Well if you don’t know yet, it’s to commemorate the 30th year of the Pacman game. Yep, Pacman is a game developed by Namco and was first released in Japan on May 22, 1980. That’s the reason.

And to leave you with more Pacman goodness. Check out this funny video on what the Pacman Ghosts talk about when they’re in that box at the center. It’s hilarious!

Find your stolen laptop with Prey

Laptops are getting more common each day and this means that laptop theft cases are steadily increasing. So what can an owner do if his laptop gets stolen? Pray that the thieves will simply format the data. But that’s not the case at all as thieves will often mine your hard disk for sensitive data that they can use. This is the window of opportunity you can take to track down your laptop if you use Prey.

Prey is a lightweight application to help you find your stolen laptop. It stays hidden and silent in your system and will send regular reports to a web control panel that only you have access to. Hopefully, the thief will leave the WiFi on so every time your laptop detects and connects to a WiFi, it will send information such as screenshot of the desktop, a picture of the thief if your lappy has a webcam, active connections, etc. Think of it like installing an approved backdoor or trojan to your own system that only you can control.

Best thing about Prey is that it’s free and will work with any OS.

Check out PreyProject.com for more information.

What’s the controversy on Tim Tebow’s Super Bowl ad?

During Super Bowl 44, the Focus on the Family commercial featuring Philippine-born and 2007 Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow has finally aired. This commercial sparked some controversy between pro-life and pro-choice groups.

Check out the video:

Now I don’t see anything offending for pro-abortion groups based on the commercial. It just talks about how Tim was born despite her mom’s difficult condition during pregnancy. To understand the standpoint of the pro-abortion groups, we should know how the circumstances were during Tim’s birth.

Tim was born in Makati City, Philippines where her parents were serving as Christian missionaries. Tim’s mom suffered a life-threatening infection while pregnant with him. The fetus she was carrying at that time experienced a severe placental abruption and doctors recommended an abortion to protect her life but she declined and that’s why she calls Tim a “miracle baby”.

PETA is back with their State of the Union Undress (NSFW)

The animal rights group PETA has done it again with their annual State of the Union Undress where a female member delivers the speech “au naturel”.

It’s an annual video presentation from PETA that has been garnering a lot of attention especially with the male audience. We thought it was gone when they didn’t have one for 2009 after doing it since 2007 but it’s back again in 2010.

Here’s the link to the video for 2007 and here’s for 2008. Remember, these are not safe for work.

PETA thinks that this move will bring more attention to their advocacy but I think it’s a bit degrading for the females. Hmmm. Fortunately, there are “Safe for Work” versions of the video.

Year-round buying guide

You’re planning to buy a new TV some time in the future? You know when’s the best time to get one? Where sales are low or when new technology pops up so old models become cheaper? It’s common knowledge to buy air-conditioner during winter when price is low but how about other products?

Lifehacker did a research on when is the best time to buy any sort of item and created an easy-to-understand guide for it.

I find real value in this as I was able to buy a winter parka for $80 during spring but when my sister wanted the same thing for a winter trip, it was already January and the same model is priced at $150. Talk about savings.

So check out the guide and save some money will ‘ya.

The most downloaded movie of 2009

Are you one of the billions of people who download movies off the net via torrent? What do you think is the most downloaded movie for the year? Transformers? GI Joe? Harry Potter?

According to torrent tracker site, TorrentFreak, the unanimous movie that earned the most downloaded of 2009 is none other than JJ Abrams’ Star Trek. It has a whopping 10.96 million downloads from BitTorrent even though it didn’t gross as much as the number two most downloaded movie.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is at number two with 10.6 million downloads. It is also the top-grossing film for 2009 with over $385 billion ticket sales.

[Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of 2009]

New Intel Atom N450 not much improvement from old one

Intel announced the next generation of their low-powered processor, Intel Atom. Codenamed Pine Trail, Intel Atom N450 still sports a 1.66GHz speed but with a new platform that they claim improves performance and reduces power consumption.

Engadget did a review on an Asus Eee PC 1005PE that is using the new Atom chip but they reported that there’s not much of real-world improvement from netbooks using the old Intel Atom. Performance wise it’s still almost the same and the new graphics controller (Intel GMA 3150) which is supposed to support HD is quite choppy when viewing YouTube HD.

The only noticeable improvement is the battery life when running the new Intel Atom N450. Using the same 6-cell battery that gives old netbooks 8 hours of real-world computing, the Atom N450 can easily stretch that to 10 hours.

The Intel Atom N450 is still a worthy upgrade from the old one with just the battery improvement alone. Price-wise, it won’t differ much from those netbooks with Atom N270/N280 so I would rather go with the N450.

[Engadget]

How to copy stuff from your iPod or iPhone to your PC

Ever wondered how you could get music or videos off a friend’s iPhone, iPod Touch or iPod into your PC? It was easier in those pre-iPhone days when all iPods can be treated as external hard drives.Nowadays, you have to deal with iTunes and computer authorization and all that stuff. Here is a guide from Engadget that will show you how to get music, videos, etc. from somebody else’s iPod/iPhone into your PC. It has instructions on how to transfer via iTunes, a free 3rd party application or simply by just using Windows (iPod only).

[Engadget]

Fastest web browser for Windows 7

With the release of Windows 7, a lot of people have already migrated to the new and “faster” OS from Microsoft. With the new OS comes new architecture and it’s time again to see which browser works well with Windows 7.

Fortunately, Lifehacker already did the test using the popular browsers including the beta versions. If you’re interested in reading the whole test, head over to Lifehacker.

What struck me the most is how Firefox leads the pack when it comes to memory usage. I always encounter system stuttering when there are more tabs loaded on my Firefox 3.5.

Here are the overall scores based the speed and memory usage of the browsers tested on a Windows 7 system (higher the better):

• Google Chrome 4.0.223.11: 23
• Firefox 3.6 beta 1: 21
• Google Chrome 2 (stable): 19
• Firefox 3.5.4: 17
• Safari 4.03: 17
• Opera 10.01: 16
• Internet Explorer 8.0.7600: 13

The lightweight Google Chrome is still the best among the bunch when it comes to speed and memory usage. Trailing the list is the “supposed-to-be” improved version of IE 8.

I am still a Firefox user mainly because of its AdBlock plugin. But I’m still longing for a built-in incognito or private browsing mode for it.

[Lifehacker]

What does an Oleophobic Screen do for the iPhone 3GS

The iPhone 3GS boasts of something called an “oleophobic” coating on its screen. What this basically does is that it prevents oil from your skin from sticking on it. In other words, little to no fingerprints on your iPhone 3GS screen.

How does it work? An oleophobic (which means aversion to oil by the way) polymer compound is bonded with the glass that is used for the screen. The polymer will allow the oil coming from your fingers to bunch together to form something like a droplet that washes off the surface easily.

Nice? The thing is, you would probably use a screen protector on your iPhone which would probably attract fingerprints anyway. Also, why didn’t they use this oleophobic polymer on the back panel of the iPhone?

I hope this technology gets used a lot especially on glossy laptop surfaces.

[Gizmodo]

Omer Bhatti, Michael Jackson’s first son?

News of Michael Jackson having a love child has been circulating the net right now. It is said that 25-year old Omer Bhatti of Oslo, Norway is Michael Jackson’s first son.

He was seen in the front row of Michael Jackson’s July 7th memorial wearing sunglasses sitting next to MJ’s sister Rebbie. It was thought that he’s just a good friend of the family and an MJ imitator. But he seems to be more than that.

Omer Bhatti was born in 1984 after MJ had a one night stand with her mother Pia Bhatti. Omer is now seeking a DNA test to confirm that he is indeed Michael Jackson’s first child.

It was reported in various media that Omer Bhatti's birth to Pia Bhatti prompted the singer to send staff to Oslo in Norway to help Pia Bhatti raise Omer.

Minimalist concept wall clock design

Here’s a nice concept for a wall clock from Kibardindesign that you might want to have in your minimalistic inspired living room.

This digital wall clock consists of 4 self-powered digital number figures. Each has independent control and can be fixed to any surface. It has a light sensor that will invert its color depending on the absence or presence of light in the room.

Cool huh? The designers are still looking for manufacturers so these aren’t for sale yet.

Machine to make you a brilliant self-portrait artist

Do you suck in art? Do you feel that a 5-year old draws better than you? Even if you can’t draw a straight line, this machine will help you be a self-portrait artist master in no time.

Jen Hui Liao has created this Self-Portrait Machine that aids the user to draw his own portrait. It will take a picture of the sitter who will strap his wrists to the machine and hold the pen for the machine to guide.

Pretty cool actually and it will totally surprise your friends that you were able to draw a nice rendition of yourself. However, a 5-year old can also use the same machine and achieve the same result. Hehehe.

The Amazon Kindling is a riot

Yup, you heard that right. There exists a thing called Amazon Kindling, not Kindle. There’s this guy who made wooden version of the popular portable digital reader from Amazon.

With the aid of a friend with a laser cutter, they were able to create a very nice replica of the Amazon Kindle. Unfortunately, you can only read a single page of The Count of Monte Cristo on it. On the upside though, it doesn’t need any charging and if it comes to worst, it makes a perfect kindling for cold nights. Nice job!

Art student made her car invisible

This is an interesting piece of news. Art student, Sara Watson from University of Central Lancashire turned a car donated to her “invisible” with simply an excellent paint job.

It took her three weeks to transform a Skoda Fabia’s appearance which was donated by a local recycling firm. She made an illusion that when the car is parked in a outside her studio, it would look like it’s invisible in a certain angle.

Pretty cool job I would say! Check out the video here.

[BBC News]