Laptops Arena

Although many of the Internet users don’t pay too much attention to the MSN portal, Microsoft online business is working to find another image for the MSN’s decade-old portal site. Its display is the mark of ad business as MSN is responsible for almost half of the company’s Internet search traffic. Lately Microsoft has done some researches in this matter and says that as much as the notion of portal is worn-out, it has been revealed that 37% of Internet users still depend on a portal as an important source of information.
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In this respect Microsoft is having an attempt to customize MSN in some of its key ways. The company wants to add a restricted amount of personalization and some more social features. While doing this, Microsoft needs to take careful steps, since there is a precedent in the matter; few years back they tried to alter its Hotmail service and the result was that many of the users complained on its incompatibility.

If you think better we can say that MSN home page (old since 1998) has suffered unnoticeable changes in the recent years. On several occasions, Microsoft has freshened up the image of the portal, such as the addition of a butterfly logo, back in 2000, and lately in 2006, the company has attracted MSNBC’s John Nicol to be the general maanger of Microsoft’s portal. Back then John Nicol was said that the company had planned to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to “build the network into what it should be”, as Mr. Nicol affirmed in an interview with CNET News. So he set out for this challenging job as he had a big competition from market leader Yahoo and Time Warner’s America Online unit. Much of his effort was centered to support the site’s video content, while Microsoft brought some key events to MSN.

The problem for Microsoft seems to be how much they have to personalize the site; products like Strat.com (and later Live.com) page have been offered, which started as a blank canvas on which users could plug all sorts of content modules, but in the end that didn’t prove to be so appealing. Microsoft is counting on software, rather than humans, to choose which events go where on MSN. Instead of an editor’s updating, the renovated MSN will see events shifting constantly to the ones that are appealing to the users. Microsoft hopes to create a site with more know-how software and more human as well.

Around the world some of these changes have been given to be tested; in France, for instance, the software maker is testing the new user interface, in Brazil, MSN has a far more radical remake featuring a social media bar. Microsoft still try to figure out how big are the changes they need to make and at what extent they need to unfold them. Also the segmentation of the audience is an issue; the company has an MSN Today screen that counts the users as they log in. The past three months, is has been used four different screen to delimitate the users’ gender and whether he or she is over or under 25. But no matter how many issues they stumble into, it just can’t be one size to fit all, as Jorgensen said.

Activision Blizzard, the world’s largest producer of video games has publicly announced to abandon Sony’s PS3 and PSP platforms.
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Boby Kotick, president and CEO of Activision Blizzard, relates about his concerns on Sony since the PlayStation 3 is losing ground for the time being, this being not helpful in supporting the platform. Wii and the Xbox sell better and the games generated through them return a better profit than PlayStation. A developing for a console proves to be expensive and without this, the future looks rather gloomy. Mr. Kotick says that he would rather satisfied to see that Sony reduces the licensing fees and perhaps a PS3 price cut wouldn’t hurt.

Activision did rather good things, they have replaced the traditional “shoot’em up” headlines with the ones family–oriented, interactive games, as Guitar Hero proved to be a big hit with more than $1 billion gross income. This year, DJ Hero will follow, though Viacom’s Rockband is present on the market, with their Beatles-theme launch.

Compared to Nintendo, which reinvented games with the Wii, Sony reacted very slow, as Mr. Kotick points out by standing on a plastic skateboard that turns out to be the old controller for Tony Hawk:Ride – the company’s trial to arouse again the well-worn franchise. Through its motion and infra-red sensors, the board can detect moves in player’s body and feet, the speed being provided by swiping a foot on the floor next to the board.

As response Sony replied that PS3 price-cuts don’t make the object on their thing-to-do agenda, but according to some leaks, the console will support a $100 reduction in the mid-August. This discount would appear at the same time with the back-to-school shopping season, they considered as being a good timing for the game industry as well. Software should also see an upturn as the sales will rise 10 to 15 percent in the second half of the year.

The customers’ reaction is mostly positive to Mr. Kotick’s attitude, though many of them doubt that he will take further steps into ditching PS3/PSP. They agree to the fact that lowering the prices, making the online system more competitive with Xbox Live, could be some changes that favor Sony’s position on the market sales. They also said that competition is tough coming from behind with BluRay’s big selling points and Xbox 360 together with Wii consoles that sell at a cheaper price.

Other customers are of the opinion that they doubt that Activision Blizzard will hold on to their positions, since PS3 is undoubtedly the most future-ready. Some state that past performance does not represent a guarantee for a continuous success, and what was that Mr. Kotick actually meant was that he was concerned about the profitability of PS3 in the future.

So the question still remains: Should Sony be concerned that Activision Blizzard might ditch them? And if the answer is yes, then Sony should run some price cuts for their products.

When it comes to laundry cleaning the dream of every house wife is to save as much detergent as possible with a minimum of running water to use and as less electricity as possible. A virtually washing machine can make a dream come true. Xeros Ltd., a British company, focused on the development of “virtually waterless” laundry cleaning is on its way to ease your concerns. “Xeros” is a brand name for a patented polymer based cleaning that is created to make advantageous the cost and environmental impact of the cleaning with water. The technology of the cleaning process was generated from transferring known science into a different world without the restriction of a conventional thinking.
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Researchers from Leeds University have been working for long time in the field of textile manufacturers, and they concentrated on how to improve the fixing of the dye on the fabrics. Professor Stephen Burkinshaw realized in the end that dyes, actually are stains. He discovered that the best polymer was the nylon which had as a unique property the one of being highly absorbing in humid conditions. And even better it can be re-used time after time without losing its strength. Due to its polarity nylon polymer attracts stains!

The benefits that the washing machine offer are the usage of only a cup of water and a bit of detergent; the conversion from conventional laundry systems saves 90% of the fresh water used in washing; less detergent required than conventional systems, and less cost in the Xeros nylon beads which actually can be re-used. The dirty job is done by these small nylon beards by pulling the stains off garments and locking them into the nylon’s molecular structure.

Aftre three years of testing, Xeros has struck a deal with Green Earth Cleaning based in Kansas City, US. Here the target is to start selling these washing machines throughout North America beginning next year. A demo show will take place these days, but the sensation won’t be the one that the water is saved with Xeros machines, yet it is aimed to commercialize dry cleaning and laundry options.

Green Earth Cleaning will add a dry cleaning method based on liquid silicone (D5) to the nylon bead technology; another alternative would be washing with carbon dioxide under high pressure, thus becoming liquid, but the negative part is the high expense that this machine uses. The positive part of both carbon dioxide and British nylon beads is that the laundry is dry instantly after being washed.

One may think that this almost-dry cleaning process might wear out the garments, but Green Earth Cleaning claims that no such thing might happen – there is no difference in this respect between this dry-cleaning and the traditional way. Tim Maxwell, president of Green Earth Cleaning, told CNET News that “extensive testing with silk, embroidered garments, an other items have shown no ill effects”.

So, is this the house wife’s dream washing machine or what?

Ngmoco, the company that creates and produces games for iPhones, enables the launching of new social gaming service for iPhone gamers this week. Ngmoco has succeeded in offering the customers interested both in iPhone & iPod touch and in games, the possibility to have easy access to the world of gaming. They had made these devices leading platforms for games by creating software available only on iPhones and iPods.
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Since its launching (August, 2008) the ‘Xbox Live’ seemed to gain a lot of popularity; the online viewing on what your friends are up to, through 360 Voice site or Facebook applications, are the features of ‘Xbox Live’ to be preferred by the customers. The releasing of the ‘browser widget’ for MobileSafari on the iPhone and iPod touch brought a new way of tracking the gamertags.

Next to these applications there is the Xbox Live Friends Application, iTunes link, where users view their friends’ status, what kind of games they are playing, send messages and even interfere with GoogleMaps location information. Everything leads to a handy application and more than, one can get it for free!

By launching ‘Xbox Live’ on iPhones, a broad range of games categories has been opened to the customers, due to the company’s commitment in striving to obtain games at prices from free to premium, games that are fun, and compelling. One can get all the gaming series from puzzle to platformer, from arcade to adventure, from shooter to Sudoku, not to mention also the reality games, social experiences, multi-touch games, GPS, and so on. All these are meant to bring the customers and their friends new amazing experiences.

The ‘Plus+’ series has features resembling to Microsoft Xbox Live service where the possibility to create your own personal profile, make friend list and keep records of your gaming artistry across multiple headlines. Updating the records is another feature next to those of game histories and challenges cast in several games.

The Plus+ social gaming service is released on time with this week’s launch of iPhone 3 GS. The ready-apps of iPhone 3.0 (Touch Grind, Tap Tap Revenge 2 and Star Defense) make the sensation of the realease. One of Ngmoco’s popular games “Star Defense” is planned to be the Plus+ functionality to feature iPhone game. It is foreseen that Plus+ games will feature Twitter and Facebook integration, although not too many details about its functioning are known.

The games that are part of Plus+ network owned by Ngmoco, beside “Star Defense”, will be: Rolando 2, Maze Finger, Dropship, Word Fu, but the company’s new business line is offering the platform to other developers as well, which will constitute a big part of this business.

Nintendo Wii is the only console to play the EA Sports Active game. The gamers who use the Nintendo Wii as a sport making facility are thrilled by the new release of EA Sport Active game, that is referred to as the most comprehensive fitness game yet!
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The game is actually your personal coach and has a strap-pouch for holding the Wii remote that comes attached to your legs so that the movements of your leg and lower body to be easily tracked. It also contains a resistance band, a nutritional guide, and an option of using the Wii Balance Board. The game offers a 20 minutes workout exercises and a 30-days challenge to permit the players to go for targets. The 25 exercises include cardio boxing, inline skating, basic dance, kick boxing, batting, basket ball, walk, jump, sideways raises, punch target and so on.

Allison Sweeney (starring in “Days of our lives”) is a fan of this EA Sports Active game and declared that it is a good example of how one can really get it done at home instead of a gym expensively paid workout. People using this game for more than a month have stated that the game is useful to anyone who needs to lose weight or get more fit through that that for one it makes one sweat a lot, then makes one feel stronger and due to the variety of activities one can feel like getting an all over body workout.

For different desires, for instance if one wants to focus on just the upper or lower body, there are pre-made workouts. In case you want to play it along with friends, there is the multiplayer pack ready for a change! This pack includes an additional resistance band and strap-pouch in order for more than one person to play the game at the same time.

If players want extra challenge, the Riiflex hand weights are ready to be ordered. This is an add-on that came out on the market for the Nintendo Wii with hand weight (a pair of 5 pounds) attachments that are ergonomically designed to ensure excellent grip and control through a vast range of motions. There are 30% discount on pre-orders for these games, and this is quite a catch to go for it!

Some players have had some issues with the using of the Nun chuck, as they came in contact with the wire that is placed in the leg strap, and that may affect the wiring system of the device. Other issue encountered is that the game detects motion better if the Nun chuck is attached on the leg. This results in holding the position on the other side two times longer than normal and this doesn’t look good in the ‘eyes’ of the ‘trainer’.

But apart from all these issues one can answer to this “EA Sports Active over Gym?” with a definite YES!