Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Is iOS ready for more widgets?

Ever since iOS 5 introduced Notification Center and the weather and stock widgets contained therein, a lot of folks have been wondering when we'll see more widespread support for third parties to cook up their own widgets. What do you think?


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Sunday, April 8, 2012

Here's What You Have To Know About Choosing A Top Gaming ...

Posted by on April 8th, 2012

Article by John Kent

Gaming has become a preference in leisure activities for many individuals. One of the most common type is playing games on a Computer. During the last several years many top games are actually playable on the internet and on a laptop or Desktop. This offers yet one more dimension and choice of gaming for everyone. One of the important equipment for this is a keyboard. A keyboard for games is sort of a office keyboard which enables men and women to utilize it to play certain game titles with a home computer. These kinds of keyboards are particularly engineered to work with Pc games and allow men and women to more efficiently perform their movements when playing on the computer.

As with the majority of other gadgets, a gamer keyboard will come in numerous forms and types. A proven way to distinguish which computer keyboard is best for you personally is to read reviews. By studying over these testimonials, you may be capable to find one which is best suited for your needs. The consumer reviews of gamer keyboards also mention countless features and negative aspets of each pc style keyboard in order that you can learn everything about what to search for when buying one. User reviews of keyboards for games are the first source to check out when looking to purchase a keyboard dedicated to games.

The best types of computer keyboards are manufactured by Microsoft. The Microsoft X6 Gaming Keyboard is one that might have less options than the Logitech products, however it?s got some specific capabilities that make it worthwhile. A Microsoft keyboard includes a fully removable numpad which allows for simpler access to your gaming mouse. All keysfrom aMicrosoft keyboard are large so they also limit your own typing mistakes. A Microsoft keyboard also offers creation of up to 90 macros so you will have a significant advantage when playing on a PC. When owning a Microsoft build keyboard, you also get a continuous actionkey which operate the function of any other key that you utilize when you press the two together. This allows for easier functionality and efficiency. Windows Media Player and iTunes can also be remotely controlled with a Microsoft gaming. Utilizing a Microsoft gamier keyboard is an fantastic choice for Computer game play specifically for online games such as warcraft.

Another popular model according to several gaming keyboard testimonials is any Logitech keyboard. Logitech is possibly the very best maker of mechanical gaming keyboards. The Logitech G19 in particular is the finest model made by Logitech. The Logitech model contains several intriguing and revolutionary features which might help you perform at the best level in games such as warcraft. A Logitech gaming keyboard has a keys backlight that enables it to be tailored with as many different colors as desired. Utilizing a Logitech gaming keyboard you are going to get up to 36 macros and having the ability to disable the contextual menu. This function enables for the prevention of disruptions when you are a computer game such as warcraft. If you are into FPS and RPG video games, the Logitech keyboard is the best one for these specific types of games. Logitech?s keyboard for games also has numerous USB (Universal Serial Bus) ports that enable people to add supplemental equipment to the keyboard and Personal computer.

In accordance to the many gaming keyboard assessments the two very best are manufactured by Logitech and Microsoft. The many gaming keyboard critical reviews reveal that these gaming keyboards are perfect for different types of online games. Nevertheless one online game in particular is most effective for key-boards according to the gaming keyboard ratings and that is Wow. This game is a RPG game which is quite popular and often played on a PC. In order to achieve the best performance in WoW, you will need a top gaming keyboard.

A mechanical gaming keyboard gives you an advantage when playing video games. Tests of gaming keyboards will provide you with all the info you need to help you decide which keyboard is appropriate for yourself.

John from GadgetRoad is a senior tech editor that has wrote for the gaming keyboard niche for a long time since Logitech was still dominating the field. Read his blog for more articles.

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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Audio Conferencing Programs That Can ... - Internet Profit Articles

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By Connie D. Peckham

Companies rely on communication to keep growing, and audio conferencing is one method used to keep this communication going. This kind of calling means that three or more individuals are able to talk in the same discussion in as few steps as a regular call. Conference calling has become feature of everyday business, with calls being used for meetings and important discussions as would normally happen face-to-face. Audio conferencing has been available for a while through certain phone providers, but it has taken on a new lease of life with the growth of virtual phone systems.

The new millennium has been defined by the e-commerce boom, and the expansion of the internet. As broadband providers improve their service speed, programmers come up with more services that are possible online. Landlines were once the most important part of a business, but some studies suggest that twenty percent of American homes no longer use a landline, and this is spreading quickly into the world of business.

The reason that VoIP phone systems are claiming dominance over landlines goes past just audio conferencing. Broadband allows for a constant exchange of large amounts of data, meaning that many calls can be made at any one time from a single connection. This renders it perfect for busy call centers. Another benefit is that once calls hit the main digital switch board, they can then be directed to anywhere else within the system. This means that the call can be answered quickly or forwarded on elsewhere if an operator is not available.

Known as ?the cloud?, this system of moving resources online has many benefits for a business. Firstly and perhaps most importantly, costs can be lowered by using one of the inclusive phone plans that many providers offer. A common occurrence is that packages also will include the hardware needed to get up and running quickly. Services that are moved to the cloud also benefit from reduced overhead costs, such as office space and maintenance costs.

Audio conferencing is just one feature that ismaking communications easier without inflating the fee of running an operational business. This new digital age has allowed many small to medium businesses the chance to survive in an uncertain economic climate. Broadband is an essential tool in business so it makes much more sense to use an internet phone than a costly landline.

Our office telephone systems have a low set-up charge and low monthly fees. Select the various plan that fits your needs through audio conferencing or voip plans.

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Saturday, April 7, 2012

Ousted Maldives leader fights political battle as movie premieres

Former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed (C) waves at his supporters as he walks on a street after a protest in Male February 11, 2012. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte

LOS ANGELES (ThwWrap.com) - "The Island President" at the center of Jon Shenk's documentary is no longer in office, but Mohamed Nasheed's environmental crusade on behalf of his island nation continues as the movie rolls into theaters Friday.

Nasheed, the first democratically-elected president of the Maldives in 2008, led a crusade to get the world's governments to recognize and take steps to stem global warming. At risk: his nation, a low-lying string of islands that could be submerged by a rising Indian Ocean within decades.

He let Shenk's cameras to follow him almost everywhere in keeping with his platform of transparency. But while he was fighting against climate change, the coalition of parties backing him began to fall apart - and on February 7, he was pushed out by loyalists of the nation's long-running dictator Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

Nasheed is working to rally international pressure on the Maldives to hold new elections, which has obviously made his crusade about the dangers of global warming less of a priority than it was before the coup.

Shenk opted to the let the movie, which already screened on the festival circuit, to stand as is, only updating the card at the end of the film.

TheWrap first spoke to Shenk and President Nasheed at the Toronto Film Festival last September, when Nasheed received a hero's welcome.

That conversation obviously took place under the assumption that Nasheed would remain in power (though a few of his comments now seem prophetic). A follow-up conversation with Shenk this week brought things up to date.

First interview: September 2011:

TheWrap: As a politician, it was a risky move to allow the cameras as much access as they had. Why did you grant Jon that kind of access?

Jon Shenk: "Temporary insanity."

Mohamed Nasheed: "We came into government on a platform of transparency and honesty. People are no longer looking for angels to rule over you. I think that's a huge misconception, and I hate these publicity companies, this industry running around trying to manage presidents and governments.

"The question is always, what is the sound bite you have to give today? The sound bite you give today is what you feel like, what you think about. It shouldn't be something that my press secretary writes down and says, 'Now this is what you say today' To my mind, government is made very inefficient by all this tampering and management. So we wanted to run a different government.

"So I thought, I'll be me, and I'll let people see who I am. If people don't like it, I'll just have to go."

Shenk: "One thing that was evident to me is that he clearly enjoys his work. When you see American politicians or European politicians on television, you kind of wonder, do these people enjoy what they do? But this is a government that struggled to get into power, and when they got there they thought, 'Okay, how can we do this right?' It's almost like watching a 'West Wing' episode. You get the sense that there are all these bright, intelligent people in the room, and they're there because they want to get the work of the day done. It is a fight for decency over evil at the end of the day, and you have palpable sense of that when you're in the office of the president."

TheWrap: I told the story of this film to a friend, and was appalled when she said, "But where are the Maldives, how big are they, and why should we care if they get flooded?" How do you respond to people like that?

Nasheed: "What happens to us today is going to happen to you tomorrow. Don't be so na?ve to think that nature is only trying to hit 300,000 Maldivians. Manhattan would be flooded as much as the Maldives. Of course, in Manhattan you can move three stories up, because you have 12-story buildings. You have better embankments. You can live in a different kind of town. You might be better able to adapt, but it's going to hit everybody."

Shenk: "And another compelling argument is that if the Maldives goes underwater, we're all going to be living in a very unpleasant world. Starting with the fact that those 300,000 refugees will have to go somewhere.

"You know, people in the United States debate whether climate change is real, which I think is absurd. I feel like we've been lectured to, we've been shown the maps. And for some reason that's not working. Even though 99 percent of the world's scientists agree that global warming is a reality, for many people it hasn't sunk in.

"So we're just trying to tell a story - what is the effect of what is happening? And it is the fact that some on the front line, like president Nasheed and the Maldivians, are just waking up to the fact that they're first. There are moments in history when people step up and make changes that could lead to a revolution in the world. We're not so na?ve to presume that we're starting a revolution, but we're trying to tell a story that we think is really compelling.

TheWrap: President Nasheed, are you frustrated with the level of discussion in the United States?

Nasheed: "I'm concerned. Because I've always so liked the United States, always so admired them. It's strange to think that they're so na?ve now not to understand this. They understood tobacco and cancer. The tobacco lobby is strong, but they legislated it. So it's strange that we've not been able to get the right tickle here. But I think Jon's film might hopefully take us there."

Shenk: "It will happen. Some day there will be a sea change, a tipping point. The problem with climate is that if you study the facts, you see that we have a very limited time. As time goes by, if the tipping point doesn't happen, then so much damage has been done, there's a cyclical effect and a feedback cycle that happens. We need to figure out a way to hurry up the normal process.

"The United States has proven again and again that it will do the right thing. Eventually there was a civil rights movement, there was a sea change against tobacco. The U.S. system is good in the long run at correcting itself - but when it comes to this climate thing, that normal, decades-long process might not be fast enough. Hopefully by telling stories like this, we can unstick the conversation and speed it up."

TheWrap: One of the themes of the film, which we clearly see when you attend an international climate-change conference in Copenhagen, is compromise. You're faced with a clear choice: either stick to your guns and not achieve anything or compromise and end up slammed by your supporters for not doing enough.

Nasheed: "I'm always compromising. The biggest compromise is that in the Maldives, previous presidents are either murdered, arrested or sent away. We wanted to break that and keep Gayoom untouched. And that is a huge?compromise.

"So many people have been tortured and ill-treated in jail that many people want to prosecute Gayoom and his followers. But I've always felt that democracy is a better dispenser of justice than prosecution and the courtroom. I don't think you get sustainable justice there.

This is about the longer process of truths and reconciliations and speaking out. So I haven't prosecuted any of the former regime people. And I'm having to live with that compromise. I am told again and again and again that all my troubles stem from the fact that I have not done that, which is true, but I keep telling them, we would have another set of problems if we did that."

Second interview: April 2012:

TheWrap: The last time we spoke, President Nasheed talked about how many of his troubles stemmed from his refusal to imprison and prosecute the former regime. Did that lead to his downfall?

Shenk: "In a way, it did. The problems of establishing a democracy turned out to be so much more complicated than anybody might think - it was a morass, politically. There were so many loyalists who had been paid off, or who had been the beneficiaries of corruption for all those years. They were in the ranks of the police, the ranks of the military, and a ton of Gayoom's people were still in the judiciary - most of the judges in the country are still lifelong appointees of the dictator.

"So every time Nasheed's government passed legislation, the judiciary tried to undermine it.

"He chose to take the high road and not bring prosecution against the corrupt people, and yes, that probably hurt him."

TheWrap: Does the current regime have any interest in continuing his crusade to take steps against climate change?

Shenk: "They're not the type of people who think like that. The people who ran the Maldives for all those years were corrupt businesspeople and they are back. It's like any society: you have people who just want to make money, and they aren't ever thinking of the long term.

"It's such a shame, because they were on course to become the first carbon-neutral country in the world. That obviously would have been a huge symbolic moment."

TheWrap: How have the events been reflected in your film?

Shenk: "We updated the cards at the end of the film, that's all. We added a card saying that there was a coup and that the political situation is still up in the air."

TheWrap: Does he have a chance of returning to power?

Shenk: "I wouldn't underestimate him. He's got endless energy, and he doesn't give up. For him, it's never about hoping or dreaming for a better future - it's about working for it. So he's been out in the street organizing counter-protests, and he's upbeat. It amazes me.

"The thing is, he still has 65 to 70 percent popularity in the Maldives. And young people there, during his presidency, they tasted freedom of the press, freedom of speech, democratic elections ... They tasted things a democracy takes for granted, and since the coup they've seen the independent media get clobbered and taken down.

"There's not much nuance in what has happened. The thugs are back in control."

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Do You Enjoy Your Online Home Business? | Internet Profit Articles

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I know people who have an?online home business?and hate like it. I also know people who have home business online and love it. I?make money?online from home and love it because it is an enjoyable business to me.

So which category are you in? Enjoy or Hate? Here are a few tips to keep in mind.

1. Choose the right niche when you first start out. There will be plenty of time later to branch into multiple profitable niches.

When you first get started pick a niche you have an interest in or a passion for. You will enjoy it so much more if you?re interested in the theme of your business.

Today I see people joining home business opportunities that are based on helping people start their own online home business. My Affiliate Power Site and the Plug-in Profit Site are 2 that come to mind.

I?m a member of both of these and personally got started myself in this niche. This was good for me because my background was in sales and marketing and it?s what I enjoy.

This may not be a good niche for you to get started in. A better approach might be to join a membership site such as the Affiliate Power Group and get started with affiliate marketing.

The benefit to doing this is you can choose a niche you enjoy and learn how to make money as an affiliate marketer within that niche. This literally can be anything from cooking or fishin, to sports or finances. There are so many excellent niches to make money in that you will be able to find one that appeals to you.

2. Bank some of your Internet income. Granted you will want to invest some of your Internet income back into your business. I would tell you that you?ll really enjoy your home business more if you?re saving some of your money and watching it grow all the time.

Eventually you may want to become a full-time Internet marketer. Having a profitable home business will allow you to do that.

However, save some of the money so you will be able to make a good decision on when you go about leaving your full-time job to become a full-time home business owner.

3. Products or services. There are many ways you can start a home business.

Providing a service such as becoming an Internet writer or a graphic designer would be one way. There are millions of Internet marketers all around the world that will pay you to do things for them.

Provide a product and make money offering it online. Affiliate marketing, and network marketing are two business models that come to mind.

You could sell a product such as joining the Amazon affiliate program. You might find a nice health product you are currently using and join a network marketing business and sell it.

Your product could be doing something for an affiliate merchant such as getting a lead or having someone click on an ad. It?s totally up to you.

If you believe in the product or service it will help you enjoy it more as a home business. Therefore I suggest promoting a product or service that you personally use and like.

These are a few tips on enjoying your online home business more. When you do something you love the money will follow!

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Friday, April 6, 2012

World News - Worker at Apple-supplier Foxconn in China: 'We're ...

By Reuters

ZHENGZHOU, China -- In the eight years since Zhang Shuxiang first left her village in the poor interior of central China, she worked in 20 factories before coming to the assembly line of a Foxconn plant making products for tech firms including Apple. She wants it to be her last.

The 26-year-old has worked in factories making products as varied as coffee makers, jewelry and?Apple's LED screens. Each time, she quit, blaming low wages and unreasonable supervisors,?then joined another factory.


Reuters

In eight years, Zhang Shuxiang -- seen posing for a photograph at her home in Zhengzhou, China, on Wednesday -- has worked in 20 factories. She wants the Foxconn plant to be her last.

"Factory work is too tiring," she said when asked about life after Foxconn, which she plans to leave by June. "Since last year, I've kept on telling myself I would never want to enter a factory ever again, but I'm still doing it in spite of myself."

She embodies the shifting expectations and opportunities of tens of millions of young Chinese workers from the countryside who have turned their country into a workshop of the world.

Their changing attitudes pose a deep challenge for thousands of manufacturers, such as Foxconn and its big customer Apple, which have relied on what they once thought was a virtually endless stream of inexpensive, compliant workers.

Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou has pledged to keep on increasing worker salaries and cutting the hours of work, after it came under fire for poor working conditions for employees making Apple iPhones and iPads.

Online coup rumors spark China social media crackdown

Zhang now works on an assembly line for computer motherboards, in a factory inside a mammoth industrial complex on the outskirts of Zhengzhou, which Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook visited in late March during a trip to China.

CNBC's Jon Fortt takes a closer look at the Foxconn violations noted by the Fair Labor Association.

Before finally deciding whether to quit, Zhang said she will wait to see what changes come from the agreement signed by Foxconn and Apple to improve working conditions.

Workers?more aware of rights
Meeting the aspirations of Zhang and other migrant workers who power China's economy -- officially estimated at 159 million -- is crucial for the government. Younger, better educated and more tech-savvy, many migrant workers grew up as the sole children in their families and are less accepting than their parents were of tough working conditions.

They are also becoming more aware of their rights and of the widening growing range of available jobs, including services, that has come with rapid economic growth and which offer a way out of the relentless tedium of factory work.

Rev. Serene Jones, New York University law professor Cynthia Estlund, and Columbia University visiting scholar Obery Hendricks discuss the legacy left by Apple founder Steve Jobs and the controversy over the working conditions of his company's supplier, Foxconn.

"They are willing to take collective action, strikes, work stoppages, protests when they feel their rights have been violated or what they are owed has not been given to them," said Geoffrey Crothall, a spokesman for Hong Kong-based workers' rights group China Labor Bulletin.

"Workers know that if they stand their ground and ask for better pay and conditions, employers ... have to agree to some of their demands," he added.

Apple, supplier pledge to improve conditions

Duncan Innes-Ker, senior China analyst for the Economist Intelligence Unit, said there is a "perfect storm of factors" coming together to support workers as they push for higher wages: sustained economic growth, government policy support for a higher minimum wage and demographics.

Joe Tan / Reuters, file

Employees eat their meal on a guardrail of a bridge near the Foxconn recruitment center in Shenzhen, Guangdong province in this Feb. 22 file photo.

The number of young Chinese workers aged 15-24 years of age will likely fall by a third in the next 12 years, giving more bargaining power to this younger blue-collar generation, Beijing-based consultancy Dragonomics has projected.

Advocates decry Foxconn treatment of student interns

The average monthly wage of China's migrant workers in 2011 rose 21.2 percent from 2010 to 2,049 yuan ($320), with wages higher in the more developed coastal areas like Guangdong. Even so, despite the recent increases, such wages are still many times lower than in Western developed economies.

On a recent afternoon outside a labor market in Zhengzhou, the provincial capital of Henan, a scattering of people were scrutinizing recruitment placards on a fence. Companies were looking for store managers, retail assistants and accountants. Some were offering salaries that range from 1,200 to 6,000 yuan.

'All menial work'
Xie Wen, 22, an unemployed former nurse, looked horrified when asked whether she was considering a job at a factory.

"It sounds good, but it's all menial work. If you want to earn a lot, you have to work a lot of overtime," she said, adding that she does not want her next job "to be too tough. I don't want any night shifts and I don't do overtime."

Her friend, Jin Jin, 27, who has been looking for work since she quit her job at a pharmacy a month ago, said she resigned because it was "meaningless" work. Since 2004, she has held four to five jobs and is now seeking one in sales that pays about 2,000 yuan, with about 4-6 days off a month, subsidized meals and overtime fees.

Chinese oil company surpasses Exxon as world's largest

Clad in a black blazer, jeans and pink sequined shoes, Dou Jing, 20, said she worked in the quality control department in an electronics factory for a year after high school.

"It was very tiring. I had to work night shifts that lasted 12 hours," Dou said. She later found a job as a receptionist for a small company, greeting guests and pouring tea for them.

"I didn't feel I could learn anything," she said, adding she wanted to learn some skills in her next job and open a shop.

Probe links corporate spying to Chinese government

Walking through the crowd, a man surnamed Yang was trying to recruit telemarketers. He was distributing flyers that offered wages of 3,000 to 5,000 yuan a month, but not many people expressed interest.

"Workers are more choosy, they want a high salary, a job that's close to home and work that has very little responsibility," he said. "I think that's unrealistic."

Although the younger, more finicky cohort of migrant workers could pose a challenge for China's exporters, Innes-Ker said "we're still a long way away from the idea that foreign companies are moving out of China because it's too expensive."

"It's very difficult to find somewhere with the similar strengths of China," he said. "When it comes down to it, China has massive clusters that allow a very high degree of specialization to occur, and that helps to push down costs quite dramatically."

'Eat bitterness'
Zhang's elder brother, Zhang Junfeng, 30, who also works at Foxconn, said turnover is particularly rampant among younger factory workers, particularly those born in the 1990s.

"They'll resign the minute they get angry," Junfeng said. "Very few of them can eat bitterness."

Reuters

Zhang Junfeng (left), picks vegetables with his relatives at their home in Zhengzhou, Henan province Wednesday.

Eating bitterness is an expression used by Chinese who have endured decades of natural and man-made hardships throughout China's tumultuous history -- a term that also applies to Zhang's parents, who are both 61 and were farmers their whole lives.

On a recent afternoon, the pair sat in the courtyard of their home in Yezhang village, an hour's drive from Zhengzhou along several unpaved roads that cut through fields of wheat. They were picking through freshly harvested spinach from their fields to sell in Zhengzhou.

Zhang laughed when asked how her life is different from her parents, whose faces are brown and wrinkled from the sun. "At that time how can there be factories? That time, there were communes," she said.

China tells activist Ai Weiwei to turn off webcams

The round-faced Zhang, clad in a red tunic and black sweatpants, knows a thing or two about eating bitterness.

She was 18 when her mother paid a middleman 600 yuan to find her a factory job in Dongguan, a gritty city in Guangdong. When she arrived after a two-day rickety bus ride in 2004, she called home and cried to her mother after only a few days.

Unreasonable quotas?
In a Foxconn factory in Longhua in a suburb of Shenzhen, Zhang said she was hospitalized for two weeks in late 2011, blaming her supervisor for setting unreasonable quotas. She finally protested with her feet, quitting after about three months.

In one day, Zhang is required to paste 5,000 round dots by hand on a component for motherboards.

Yet even with the tedious work, Zhang says conditions at the Zhengzhou factory are better than at the previous Foxconn factories where she's worked. Her workday is about eight hours and she is given eight days off a month.

Foxconn pays her a base salary of 1,550 yuan a month, an increase from 1,320 yuan the year before, and extra for overtime duty. She lives four to a room in her dormitory, which she pays 150 yuan a month to rent and is Spartan with just two metal bunk beds and a desk.

Back at the Foxconn factory in Shenzhen where Zhang worked in 2010, workers on the assembly line were banned from talking to one another and taking toilet breaks that exceed 10 minutes, according to Zhang.

"At that time, that made me think of the phrase: 'We're humans, we're not machines'," she said.

More from msnbc.com and NBC News:

Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

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