How to ask your Boss for a salary increase

One day an employee sends a letter to Her boss asking for an increase in her salary!!!


Dear Bo$$

In thi$ life, we all need $ome thing mo$t de$ perately. I think you $hould be under$tanding the need$ of u$ who have given $o much $upport including $weat and $ervice to your company.

I am $ure you will gue$$ what I mean and re$pond $oon.
Your$ $incerely,

Je$$y

The next day, the employee received this letter in reply :

Dear Jessy

I kNOw you have been working very hard. NOwadays, NOthing much has changed. You must have NOticed that our company is NOt doing NOticeably well as yet.

NOw the newspaper are saying the world's leading ecoNOmists are NOt sure if the United States may go into aNOther recession. After the NOvember presidential elections things may turn bad.

I have NOthing more to add NOw. You kNOw what I mean.

NOrma

Gmail offline: A guided tour

Wondering how Gmail offline works? Here, we walk you through it.

In short, people familiar with Gmail already are mostly familiar with its offline incarnation, which Google said it's releasing gradually to its users in coming days. The biggest difference is of course that you can't see new messages, and e-mails that you send are merely queued up until they can be delivered when a network connection is re-established.

Gmail uses Google's Gears technology, which among other things lets browsers store data on a computer in what's called a local cache. I'm using Firefox 3.1 beta 2, with which Gears isn't compatible, so to access Gmail offline I used Google Chrome instead, which has Gears built in. Since Gears is a relative rarity, though, most folks will have to install it first, which Google walks you through.

There are some limitations to offline Gmail: Only about 10,000 messages will be downloaded--the newest and most recently used. You can't use the contacts tab to manage your connections, though e-mail address autocomplete works so you won't need to worry about remembering e-mail addresses. You can't include attachments on new messages. It's only available in Gmail for English speakers.

But overall, it's certainly worth it if you're ever on a plane, taxi, train, vacation retreat, or coffee shop with an overstressed connection.

How do you use it? First things first. In the Gmail settings section, go to the "Labs" tab, click the "enable" button next to Offline Gmail. Then go all the way to the bottom of the page and click "Save Changes." This is an experimental feature, and Google warns they've occasionally seen issues keeping the local cache in sync.

There's more to be done to set it up, though. Go back to your in-box, then click the "Offline 0.1" link in the upper right corner. That'll walk you through the next stage of setup, including the setup of Gears if you don't have it running yet.

Next comes the explanation of what you're doing and the warning not to install offline Gears on a public machine.

Then comes the permission phase. You're granting Gmail access to Gears, which means the software is granted access to your hard drive.

Do you feel you don't have enough icons in your life? Is your desktop just not cluttered enough? If so, now's the time to let Gmail sprinkle some more icons around. I actually don't mind this for valued applications: on Windows I assign a keyboard shortcut to the icon so I can launch it with a Ctrl-Alt-G combination. When you launch Gmail off the icon using Chrome, it fires up the application with no tab and navigation bar, so you get maximum screen real estate for the application; clicking links opens them in a new browser window.

Next comes the synchronization process. Depending on your in-box size and network connection, this could take awhile. And unfortunately, if you enable offline mode on a separate browser--Internet Explorer, for example--Gmail has to download the whole shebang again.

Happily, Gmail still can be used while you're creating the cache, because Gears is multithreaded--in other words, it can walk and chew gum at the same time.

The synchronization process is interruptible. Gmail tells you how far back into your archive it's delved and how many messages have been downloaded so far. The database is optimized for about 10,000 messages, and searching them is swift, even if it returns incomplete results compared to Gmail's performance while connected to your full archive.

Once the messages are done, Gmail tackles the attachments. You can view attachments when offline, but you can't include attachments in new e-mail you create while offline, at least for now.

The control panel in Gmail settings shows how far back Gmail's offline archive goes. It also tells you which tags it includes, which is handy--if you want all messages from your folks in the archive, label them "family" (I have my account set up to apply that label when the messages arrive from various e-mail addresses). Any label you've clicked on will be archived offline. (In this image, my labels have been blurred. No peeking!)

If you're offline, Gmail detects it automatically. Clicking the gray circle-with-a-bar icon that indicates no network will produce this pop-up that lets you manually try to reconnect. The status bar--whether online or offline--also lets you enter the intermediate "flaky connection mode," which is designed for times when your network access is intermittent. With it, Gmail will try to retrieve new messages and deliver the ones you've instructed be sent, but won't get too ruffled if the network isn't up.

After this, you're set up for offline Gmail. All the rest of the interface is the same as online: messages can be read, starred, labeled, and archived; search and conversation view work with the messages in your archive; and new messages can be written. I'd like contacts management, but overall, the experience is good and a big improvement for the application. source

Rebranding during the crisis

Have a look at these nice re-branding of companies logo during economic crisis. My personal favorites are Xerox(fading logo) and bestbuy(please buy). What yours?


















Well, lets hope this crisis is over as soon as possible so the companies can get back to original brand logos.

World's smallest working fuel cell has high potential, low voltage

University of Illinois researchers have developed what they claim is the world's smallest working fuel cell, and it's certainly a good bit tinier than anything we've seen. The itty-bitty battery measures 3 mm x 3 mm x 1 mm and is comprised of just four layers: a water reservoir, a thin membrane, a chamber of metal hydride, and an assembly of electrodes. It can produce 0.7 volts and a 0.1 milliamp current for about 30 hours, with a newer model boasting similar voltage and 1 milliamp of current. That's not gonna juice your BlackBerry anytime soon, but scientists suggest it could be used for simple electronics and microbots. As for future application, we're hoping one day can power a fingernail-sized smartphone. source

Barack Obama's inauguration speech video with text

My fellow citizens: I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and co-operation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans. That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land - a nagging fear that America’s decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America - they will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame.

Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labour, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and travelled across oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and ploughed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.

Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.



This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began.

Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished.

But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions - that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act - not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions - who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans.

Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them - that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works - whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public’s dollars will be held to account - to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day - because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill.

Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control - and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favours only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart - not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

As for our common defence, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience’s sake.

And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort - even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan.

With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the spectre of a warming planet. We will not apologise for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society’s ills on the West - know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world’s resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment - a moment that will define a generation - it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the fire-fighter’s courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent’s willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new.

But those values upon which our success depends - hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship. This is the source of our confidence - the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed - why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have travelled. In the year of America’s birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood.

At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people: “Let it be told to the future world...that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it].”

America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children’s children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God’s grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations. source

Nokia N97 Review

Nokia has surprised everyone with the touchscreen slider N97. It’s like an iPhone or a Storm. But dare I say... better? Nokia saw what people want nowadays and adapted. After trying out their first touchscreen on the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, the Nokia brainiacs where ready for the next big thing. The Nokia N97 will certainly be the flagship smartphone of Nokia for quite a while. Here are some of its features, which will make you choose it:

• a 3.5 inch widescreen 16:9 touchscreen
• haptic feedback
• full QWERTY slideout keyboard
• 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss Tessar lens and dual LED flash
• up to 32 GB of storage
• up to 16GB additional memory via microSD
• Symbian S60 5th Edition
• up to 37 hours of music / up to 4.5 hours of video
• A-GPS and GPS
• HSDPA, Wi-Fi, USB 2.0, stereo Bluetooth connectivity
• a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Don’t forget to check the video below too!

Google Suggest - A to Z keywords listing

Once surfing the Internet, I thought about exploring what Google Suggest offers when each of the alphabet from A to Z is entered. The listing below shows the results for just that. The first column shows the keyword and second column is the number of approximate results for this keyword. Google suggestions are not based on your search history but on the general popularity of the keyword. This listing is also not static and what I have compiled here could change since the popularity of search keywords changes with time. Google offers at most 10 suggestions for your input. Note that result is not based on approximate results count but on many other factors. Here is what is on Google Suggest FAQ

That's pretty cool. How does it do that?

Our algorithms use a wide range of information to predict the queries users are most likely to want to see. For example, Google Suggest uses data about the overall popularity of various searches to help rank the refinements it offers. An example of this type of popularity information can be found in the Google Zeitgeist. Google Suggest does not base its suggestions on your personal search history.

Here is the listing for you. The first suggestion for each alphabet is turned bold to give you visual cue of new alphabet listing. These are really popular keywords (companies, products, or even people-see Barack Obama) as they appear on the first key press.

amazon	877,000,000 results
aol	277,000,000 results
addicting games	1,890,000 results
apple	483,000,000 results
american airlines	15,100,000 results
at&t	60,900,000 results
att wireless	2,140,000 results
abc	225,000,000 results
ask.com	63,900,000 results
american express	158,000,000 results
best buy	90,400,000 results
bank of america	39,900,000 results
bebo	90,600,000 results
barack obama	80,800,000 results
bbc	210,000,000 results
bed bath and beyond	1,300,000 results
barnes and noble	5,210,000 results
blackberry storm	10,600,000 results
bbc news	40,600,000 results
blockbuster	26,300,000 results
craigslist	45,300,000 results
cnn	93,700,000 results
circuit city	20,600,000 results
costco	9,180,000 results
currency converter	13,100,000 results
club penguin	3,890,000 results
comcast	32,800,000 results
capital one	55,700,000 results
comcast.net	12,200,000 results
chase	103,000,000 results
dictionary	235,000,000 results
dell	548,000,000 results
dancing with the stars	7,600,000 results
disney channel	8,540,000 results
direct tv	34,400,000 results
delta	201,000,000 results
disney	202,000,000 results
dominos	5,300,000 results
dillards	1,880,000 results
drudge	4,350,000 results
ebay	847,000,000 results
espn	49,300,000 results
expedia	50,200,000 results
exchange rates	26,900,000 results
election results	16,700,000 results
earth	473,000,000 results
ebuddy	1,370,000 results
express	647,000,000 results
ebay motors	19,200,000 results
ebay uk	4,480,000 results
facebook	598,000,000 results
facebook login	78,700,000 results
fox news	42,200,000 results
firefox	324,000,000 results
food network	56,800,000 results
friendster	60,600,000 results
free online games	46,400,000 results
free games	87,200,000 results
flickr	254,000,000 results
fedex	35,300,000 results
google	2,730,000,000 results
gmail	226,000,000 results
google maps	65,500,000 results
google earth	83,100,000 results
games	1,230,000,000 results
gamestop	5,650,000 results
gap	131,000,000 results
google chrome	40,100,000 results
gossip girl	14,500,000 results
google translate	8,820,000 results
hotmail	392,000,000 results
home depot	27,500,000 results
halloween costumes	9,310,000 results
hi5	62,600,000 results
hulu	10,400,000 results
hp	599,000,000 results
hollister	12,300,000 results
heroes	180,000,000 results
halloween	157,000,000 results
honda	200,000,000 results
imdb	158,000,000 results
itunes	118,000,000 results
ikea	34,600,000 results
iphone	302,000,000 results
images	1,010,000,000 results
indian railways	1,010,000 results
isohunt	14,300,000 results
ipod touch	76,500,000 results
irctc	141,000 results
ign	27,000,000 results
jcpenney	11,200,000 results
john mccain	69,800,000 results
jennifer hudson	7,710,000 results
jobs	892,000,000 results
java	406,000,000 results
jokes	81,900,000 results
jet blue	6,050,000 results
jonas brothers	19,600,000 results
jetstar	1,830,000 results
job search	168,000,000 results
kohls	4,330,000 results
kmart	7,350,000 results
kelly blue book	5,690,000 results
kijiji	168,000,000 results
kim kardashian	7,400,000 results
katy perry	57,000,000 results
kayak	39,400,000 results
kanye west	23,200,000 results
kings of leon	8,800,000 results
kfc	15,800,000 results
lowes	11,700,000 results
limewire	16,200,000 results
lyrics	297,000,000 results
lil wayne	25,300,000 results
linens and things	443,000 results
love quotes	4,560,000 results
line rider	3,100,000 results
lands end	10,000,000 results
ll bean	5,980,000 results
love	2,040,000,000 results
myspace	730,000,000 results
mapquest	29,300,000 results
msn	990,000,000 results
maps	419,000,000 results
myspace layouts	40,100,000 results
macys	9,210,000 results
miniclip	5,800,000 results
msnbc	24,700,000 results
mapquest driving directions	439,000 results
movies	796,000,000 results
nfl	131,000,000 results
netflix	10,800,000 results
news	3,500,000,000 results
nbc	50,600,000 results
new york times	165,000,000 results
nordstrom	14,800,000 results
nokia	377,000,000 results
nissan	162,000,000 results
nike	127,000,000 results
nba	150,000,000 results
obama	243,000,000 results
orkut	49,300,000 results
old navy	9,320,000 results
office depot	12,800,000 results
orbitz	19,400,000 results
online games	106,000,000 results
overstock	23,300,000 results
oprah	26,600,000 results
office max	33,900,000 results
online dictionary	33,300,000 results
photobucket	123,000,000 results
paypal	629,000,000 results
pizza hut	11,200,000 results
pandora	33,000,000 results
pirate bay	6,860,000 results
people	2,590,000,000 results
party city	41,500,000 results
pottery barn	5,220,000 results
papa johns	2,930,000 results
people search	269,000,000 results
quotes	256,000,000 results
qvc	9,770,000 results
qantas	8,170,000 results
quantum of solace	15,500,000 results
quicktime	40,600,000 results
quiznos	1,470,000 results
quest diagnostics	1,330,000 results
qwest	14,900,000 results
quarantine	11,300,000 results
quizzes	54,400,000 results
runescape	18,100,000 results
radio shack	9,560,000 results
recipes	167,000,000 results
robert pattinson	3,930,000 results
rediff	11,100,000 results
real estate	527,000,000 results
reverse phone lookup	3,540,000 results
ryanair	8,950,000 results
rei	50,000,000 results
realtor.com	5,290,000 results
sears	36,800,000 results
southwest airlines	4,790,000 results
sarah palin	34,100,000 results
skype	199,000,000 results
staples	27,300,000 results
snl	16,000,000 results
sams club	4,990,000 results
sprint	74,000,000 results
sony	627,000,000 results
spanish translation	7,120,000 results
target	428,000,000 results
twilight	70,700,000 results
toys r us	9,860,000 results
ticketmaster	9,180,000 results
thesaurus	38,000,000 results
travelocity	18,500,000 results
tv guide	96,900,000 results
translator	49,100,000 results
tmobile	75,900,000 results
toyota	198,000,000 results
utube	4,830,000 results
usps	60,500,000 results
ups	267,000,000 results
united airlines	9,670,000 results
utorrent	9,560,000 results
urban dictionary	7,930,000 results
ups tracking	1,100,000 results
us airways	7,610,000 results
ufc	20,700,000 results
usaa	1,940,000 results
verizon wireless	22,000,000 results
verizon	68,900,000 results
victoria secret	13,000,000 results
vlc	13,100,000 results
vodafone	67,900,000 results
video	3,320,000,000 results
virgin mobile	12,300,000 results
veoh	25,400,000 results
virgin	124,000,000 results
vanguard	28,000,000 results
walmart	28,500,000 results
wikipedia	255,000,000 results
weather	426,000,000 results
white pages	82,900,000 results
www.yahoo.com	51,500,000 results
webkinz	4,940,000 results
wiki	340,000,000 results
wells fargo	11,300,000 results
www.youtube.com	461,000,000 results
web md	36,300,000 results
xbox 360	170,000,000 results
xm radio	3,430,000 results
xe	76,900,000 results
xbox live	36,700,000 results
x factor	31,000,000 results
xkcd	2,070,000 results
xanax	25,700,000 results
xbox 360 games	9,900,000 results
xboard	3,560,000 results
xvid	77,600,000 results
youtube	933,000,000 results
yahoo	2,500,000,000 results
yahoo mail	68,200,000 results
yellow pages	326,000,000 results
yahoo finance	24,400,000 results
yahoo answers	59,900,000 results
yahoo messenger	113,000,000 results
yahoo maps	11,200,000 results
y8	10,000,000 results
yahoo games	20,600,000 results
zappos	19,900,000 results
zip codes	21,400,000 results
zillow	5,400,000 results
zune	29,700,000 results
zellers	1,130,000 results
zero punctuation	1,960,000 results
zeitgeist	12,900,000 results
zip codes by city	7,350,000 results
zac efron	12,500,000 results
zales	4,130,000 results

Now check out yourself what you get. Should be pretty similar or in fact same for the time being :)

Nokia Locate Sensor can keep track of all your stuff

The Nokia Locate Sensor is a nifty little gadget that lets you keep track of your wallet, car keys, children (or even spouse?) within a range of 100 m by using a special application installed on your mobile phone.

The Locate Sensor is still a prototype, but we really hope it'll leave the Nokia Research Center and make for a really nice retail accessory.

The sensor is small, useful and unfortunately, it's still a prototype (or a proof of concept if you like). And this is how it works - you just need to attach the little tag to the item you don't want to lose and then start the app on your phone (preferably a smartphone so you can do other stuff with it in the meantime).



If you happen to drop the item with the attached Locate Sensor to it, the application automatically notifies you and guided you to the lost object if it is within 100 m.

It doesn't use GPS to locate the misplaced items. The actual technology Nokia use is still not mentioned but we guess Bluetooth Class 1 or Wi-Fi.


Just attach the tag to your belongings and use the application to track them

You can keep an eye on more than one item as the application supports up to 100 different tags. The Nokia Locate Sensor can operate flawlessly up to 18 months before you need to recharge it. source

China Surpases U.S. With 298 Million Internet Users

China's rapidly growing population of Internet users has risen dramatically to about 298 million after surpassing the United States to become the world's largest, said a government-sanctioned research group.

According to reports, China's internet use is growing at a rapid rate, with the latest figures representing a 41.9 percent increase over the same period a year ago.

Despite the increase, China's internet penetration remained at 22.6 percent, well under the U.S. online penetration rate of 71 percent. Furthermore, the financial size of China's online market still trails that of the United States, South Korea and other countries.

However, despite government censorship, China is preparing to launch third-generation mobile phone service - which supports wireless Web surfing - that is expected to set off a new surge in Internet use for the rapidly developing country. source

Interesting Definitions

Today, I got an email with some really interesting and humorous definitions. Enjoy these definitions:

School: A place where Papa Pays and Son Plays.

Life Insurance: A contract that keeps you poor all your life so that you can die Rich.

Nurse: A person who works up to give you sleeping pills.

Love Affairs: Something like the game of Cricket where one-day internationals are more popular than a five day test match.

Marriage: It's an agreement in which a man loses his bachelor degree and a woman gains her masters.

Divorce: Future tense of Marriage.

Tears: The hydraulic force by which masculine willpower is defeated by feminine waterpower.

Lecture: An art of transferring information from the notes of the Lecturer to the notes of the students without passing through "the minds of either"

Conference: The confusion of one man multiplied by the number present.

Compromise: The art of dividing a cake in such a way that everybody believes he got the biggest piece.

Dictionary: A place where success comes before work.

Conference Room: A place where everybody talks, nobody listens and everybody disagrees later on.

Classic: Books, which people praise, but do not read.

Smile: A curve that can set a lot of things straight.

Office: A place where you can relax after your strenuous home life.

Yawn: The only time some married men ever get to open their mouth.

Etc.: A sign to make others believe that you know more than you actually do.

Committee: Individuals who can do nothing individually and sit to decide that nothing can be done together.

Experience: The name men give to their mistakes.

Atom Bomb: An invention to end all inventions.

Philosopher: A fool who torments himself during life, to be spoken of when dead.

Diplomat: A person who tells you to go to hell in such a way that you actually look forward to the trip.

Opportunist: A person who starts taking bath if he accidentally falls into a river.

Optimist: A person who while falling from Eiffel tower says in midway "See I am not injured yet."

Father: A banker provided by nature.

Criminal: A guy no different from the rest....except that he got caught.

Boss: Someone who is early when you are late and late when you are early.

Politician: One who shakes your hand before elections and your Confidence after.

Doctor: A person who kills your ills by pills, and kills you by bills.


If you can come up with similar interesting definitions for other words, don't forget to add it to the comment sections.

Best optical illusion

We have seen several optical illusions. Many optical illusion pictures have to be looked at for 30 seconds or so. Whereas some illusions only stands valid for an initial glimpse. There are illusions that are quite straight forward to others and they dont see any thing mysterious in them.

Here is an illusion which is my personal favorite. I have asked many of friends to just ponder at it.. You will be amazed by this too. Have a look at this picture called checker shadow illusion.



You don't believe it, right. I bet 99.99 % people would have the same thoughts as you have. Here is trick to prove yourself wrong.

Save this image on your computer. Then edit it using paint brush. Use the eraser tool to start removing boxes other than A and B. You will begin to realize that as you erase other boxes and cylinder the boxes A and B appear to look similar. Finally you will be left with only box A and B which are of same color. Wasn't that interesting?

Top 10 PC Games and Consoles of 2008

World of Warcraft, Tetris, and the PlayStation 2 make strange bedfellows, but they each topped Nielsen's 2008 year-end scan of popular media trends in the U.S. World of Warcraft's a no-brainer on the PC games chart. But what about Alexey Pajitnov's twenty-some-year-old Tetris for mobiles? And are people really still playing the PS2?

And then some, according to Nielsen. In fact the PS2's "usage minutes" -- 31.7% of total -- were actually double the number two console on the list. Surely the Wii, right? Think again: The Xbox 360 topped the Wii, 17.2% to 13.4%.

The PS2's lead (down from 42.2% in 2007) should surprise no one when you factor the console's mammoth install base and the increasingly vibrant secondary market for used games.



Curiouser: The old black-and-electric-green Xbox, which held 13.9% of Nielsen's console usage numbers in 2007, beat the PlayStation 3 in 2008, 9.7% to 7.3%. There's a splash of cold water to the face.

Tetris led third quarter mobile revenue shares with 7%, followed by Bejeweled (4%) and Guitar Hero III (3.6%). Nielsen didn't track mobile games in its annual 2007 report.



Bungie's original Halo beat The Sims and The Sims 2 for "average minutes played per week" in PC gaming, though Halo 2 dropped off the chart after tying its predecessor for 4th in 2007. I would've guessed Team Fortress 2 (first appearance this year), Counter-Strike, and Counter-Strike: Source (the latter were numbers 6 and 10 respectively in 2007) for top 10 contenders, but check out Blizzard's Diablo II blazing to life at number 7 after a 2007 absence. Blame Blizzard's Diablo III announcement in June?



The take away: Everyone thinks no one's playing the Wii. They're wrong. The 360 can claim the slightly higher usage-to-units ratio, but the Wii leapt from 5.5% in 2007 to 13.4% in 2008, a notably larger increase than the 360's 11.8% to 17.2%.

The PS3? It's usage increase (2.5% in 2007 to 7.3% in 2008) was actually commensurate with the 360's. Still, Sony's got a year to really get the lead out if it doesn't want to be this generation's GameCube (which, speaking of, was actually number six on Nielsen's console usage chart with 4.6% of total, so that's not necessarily a slam). The PS3's doing much better than the gloomy picture CNN and the Wall Street Journal misleadingly paint, but it's still well off analyst's original predictions.

Total time spent top 10 PC gaming in 2007 = 86 hours per week.
Total time spent top 10 PC gaming in 2008 = 62 hours per week.

Is that a downtrend in overall PC gaming? A downturn, to be sure, but as for trends, it's hard to say with just these numbers. 2008 was kind of a mediocre year for PC games -- all the biggest releases were either MMOs or multi-platform ports. With PC exclusives like Diablo III and Starcraft II on the horizon, 2009 looks tastier.

Also: While World of Warcraft topped the PC charts, its average minutes played per week dropped from 1023 in 2007 to 671 in 2008, or from about 17 hours per week to only 11. Sound significant? We'll see. We definitely need more data to gauge whether the juggernaut's peaking, subscriber base increases or no. (Note that Nielsen's numbers predate the Wrath of the Lich King expansion in November, which might've skewed everything more favorably.) source