A few weeks ago, Apple had its first real go with hackers as they continued to defy Apple and hack Apple iPhones. Now it seems the problem is getting even worse with Apple struggling to keep the so called hackers from putting Mac OS Leopard on PCs made by HP or Dell. This is bad news for a company which has tried so hard to present itself as something more than a commodity maker. Apple has made premium products for years now, and the exclusivity of its OS has allowed Apple to differentiate itself more effectively from its competitors. Now if these hackers manage to come up with a sustainable patch for everyday PCs, then Apple is going to lose a big part of its strategy: Mac OS exclusivity. Now which way would be better in your opinion: Hackers doing their thing or Apple freeing up Mac OS for other computers voluntarily?

Amazon has been testing their new user interface for a while now. In fact, I have been getting it at work, but not at home. I remember the first time that I saw the new interfact,  I was surprised by the rather more shiny looks. Obviously, it did take me a minute or two to find where the old things had moved to. The new amazon interface is cleaner and the use of drop down menus is a nice touch. I do believe that the footer of Amazon needs a bit of work, and Amazon is obviously banking on the fact that not many people check that area of the home page.

The deals & bargains section now is more dominant, and the cart and list sections are more highlighted in the new interface. Overall, I believe this is the right move for Amazon as the old interface was becoming stagnant. What do you think? Do tell your experience with this new interface and problems that you have seen with it.

So who is Fritz? Well, the better question: What is Fritz? Fritz is one of the most powerful chess engines in the world. In fact, Fritz has won numerous world championships and is the top product offered by ChessBase. I remember when I used to play chess professionally we didn’t have computers that could beat humans consistently. With Fritz, you can rest assured that you have a computer that will try to beat you anyway possible. Playing with Fritz not only will improve your overall chess knowledge, it will make you more experienced in coping with tough situations, as that is what Fritz will put you in.

So let’s take a look at a bunch of features that come with Fritz 10:
• Multi-Language Support
• Training Feature
• Opening Book
• Graphics
• Online Play
• Game Analysis
• Multiple Engine Support
• External Board Capability

Whether you are French or German or you understand only English, you can appreciate Fritz 10 in your own language. Fritz 10 chess also comes with voices in different languages to make playing chess much more fun. Fritz is available in available in English, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch and German.

While Fritz can be as strong as any master that you have ever faced in your life, Fritz 10 allows you to fine tune it and also make it weaker if you prefer to have close games or beat it. This feature is great as it allows you to set a baseline for your chess knowledge, and overtime you’ll be able to beat Fritz as your game improves. Over all, this feature will allow you to have fun while playing the game of chess. » Continue reading “Fritz 10: Ultimate Chess Playing Program”

Anyone who’s familiar with the word KaZaa is also familiar with the entity that virtually destroyed the heavenly P2P network few years back: RIAA. Now with the help of MPAA, RIAA is stepping up its effort to catch people who are downloading and sharing music by sending pre-lawsuit letters to college campuses and individuals and also by cracking down on people who are using their web servers to provide content for others to consume on the web. But, what I was surprised to hear was the super aggressive approach by few RIAA like entities that are going after bloggers who post information on file sharing and TV sharing websites. I have heard a few people have been shut down for putting links to sites that are offering online TV services. So, why is that illegal I have no idea.

Since when file sharing has become as bad as drug dealing in this country that bloggers cannot even write about it. I understand that sharing files for free is harmful to artists and movie makers, but when you are pointing to these sites, you are just reporting and stating the facts. If you let people know that for instance an area in California is a haven for drug dealers, should you be shut down? Obviously, if you were the only one who knew that, then you would look suspicious, but such notion doesn’t really exist on the web. Millions of people use these free services as they either don’t afford cable TV or rather don’t want to pay $60 a month just to watch let’s say ESPN and not the other 249 channels. Why not allow people to pay just $5 or $10 for a couple of channels that they do actually watch and forget this nonsense that is cable TV or Satellite TV service plan. Of course, we are living in a real world and not a fantasy one, and what I just mentioned just happens in a fantasy world, or so it seems. » Continue reading “MPAA & RIAA and Their Borderline Anti-infringement Strategy”

If you have been in the job market recently (let’s say monster.com), you probably have seen many companies that are giving identical messages to their potential employees: “We are an innovative company with entrepreneurial spirit and collaborative environment.” The words innovative, entrepreneurial, and collaborative seem to have lost their meetings to some of these companies. Of course, a savvy candidate would not fall for these claims. While so many companies are claiming to have all those goodie characteristics, only a rare few actually do. So, in my opinion, now more than ever it is essential for job seekers to know the companies that they are going for. I understand that some people need to have a job, any job, just to make a living for themselves and their families, but I suppose you it pays if you are in a work environment that you were promised to be in. Otherwise, it will be a whole frustrating job experience.

I am one of those people who is always expecting things to happen before they actually do! It’s a disease, I know! For instance, when I see a green light from a distance and while driving towards it, I expect it to turn yellow-red any second. Can’t be too cautious these days with insurance rates going up, and police having nothing to do but dishing out a few “harmless” tickets. But what I do pay attention the most to when driving are school buses. In many states, passing a flashing school bus leads to license suspension and that is something I can’t afford to deal with these days. » Continue reading “Crazy School Bus In Town!”

The election year is upon us, and it seems the republicans can rest in peace knowing that there is no chance in hell they could take the office from Mr. Bush. Bush has simply been up there with the worst presidents of all time in the history of mankind, and it seems now only a miracle will keep the democrats from gaining the white house. But, is that really a democracy? A democracy is all about choice, and what we have is limited options, limited by money and influence. Barak Obama and Clinton seem to be competing for the White House, and it goes on to show how low we have fallen as a country. Mr. Obama’s biggest qualification is that he guessed correctly when voting for Iraq. More importantly, he would be the first African American president of all time. Mrs. Clinton, the so-called front runner, is the best candidate if you happen to want to put the first female in the White House. Not only that, she is the wife of former president Clinton, which makes her the top candidate based on merits! If this is democracy, then I guess we all need to get used to having a box around us that keeps us from exploring all options. Republican, Democrat, Green, who cares? Will a qualified candidate stand up….

A few months ago, I was quite confident that having a few good text links from Text-Ad-Links would help sites achieve higher PR and a lot more traffic. However, now Google has announced that the gig is up. Google has gone after sites such as Text-Ad-Links and penalized them heavily for providing a platform that allows sellers and buyers to trade links. But what I don’t understand is why Google is penalizing websites, instead of changing its algorithm in a way that does a better job in providing searchers with more accurate results. Seems to me that Google is now acting like the Giant Guerrilla that it has become over the past few years and is taking the easy way out. Anyone who has a site should be able to sell a link to anyone else and that should not affect their ranking much. Here is the scenario: you have the best finance site in the business and you get 1000,000 users a day. You decide to actually make some more money out of your site by selling links to any site who’s willing to pay the most. Does putting such link on your site make it suddenly a top 20 site instead of a top 5? I doubt it. Google needs to get it acts together and stop resting on its laurels.

Web 2.0 is one of the most brilliant marketing schemes of our era. There is no question that the new edition of the World Wide Web is a more powerful notion that its predecessor. Surfers can now interact with each other, join different communities, and even generate content. Web 2.0 has helped keep corporations more honest in more ways than one. Whether you are an e-commerce firm, a SEO firm, or even a government agency, you can be sure that people will keep talking about you if you are providing anything but the best experience to them.

The consumers’ expectations have gone much higher these days. Take Apple Inc. for instance. They come up with this revolutionary product called iPhone, and they charge their early adopters a premium to have access to this product. About 2 months later, Steve Jobs decides it’s time to reduce the price to get other segments of the market (i.e Professionals and ordinary consumers) more involved. That’s when Apple experienced a huge backlash from its customers. People raced to blogs, forums, and social networking sites such as Digg to talk about how they were robbed by Apple, and how rotten of a company Apple is.

» Continue reading “Why The Marriage Of Business & Web 2.0 could be doomed!”

A couple of days ago, just before the New York Mets completed the most astonishing collapse in the history of sports, I had a conversation with one of my colleagues about the reason behind Philadelphia’s Sports teams’ failures over the years. Eagles and Phillies have been nothing but disappointing in the past few years. Sixers are a bottom cleaner in the NBA, and Philadelphia’s Ice Hockey team can’t win a game to save their lives. I remember pointing out that Phillies would probably not make it to the playoffs this year. My dear friend decided to make the most convincing argument to defend Philadelphia teams: The Curse Of William Penn! He started tell me about this building which used to be the tallest building in Philly years ago, and how the city is now cursed due to the fact that we have taller buildings! This is the most ridiculous argument that I have heard since the whole Boston Red Sox’s curse. Professional Sports is all about mental and physical strength. The fact is a team needs those things plus the luck of the draw to win a championship. Now you can blame luck for 5 years or 10 years, but if you are a loser every year, then there is something wrong with you: You Are Not Good Enough! It is as simple as that. The Philadelphia Phillies qualified for the playoffs this years because they were mentally stronger than previous years, and they took advantage of the sunk titanic that was Mets. Phillies and Eagles have not been successful over the years because they were not good enough. Eagles lost to Patriots not because Patriots cheated but due to the fact that the Pats were the superior team on the day. So Philadelphians please stop blaming curses and William Penn for your teams’ woes, and accept the fact that it is possible for your teams to be second best against the teams that are more prepared, physically or mentally!