Google Talk is infact one of my favorite google services due to it’s variety of features and intergration to GMail. Even though Google Talk does provide simplicity in every way possible but one small problem still presists.

If you have ever used Google Talk, you should have noticed the lack of an option to choose font style, size or color. There is however a work-around which allows you to send bold or italicized messages in Google Talk.

To send a message in bold, you simply need to add asterisk (*) before and after the text.
For example: *Hello World* would look like Hello World

To send a message in italics, you need to add underscore before and after the text.
For Example: _Hello World_ would look like Hello World

If you prefer to send the message in both Bold and italicized style; add both underscore and asterisk before and after the text.
For Example: _*Hello World*_ would look like Hello World  

[Thanks Thilak]

The reality of a wire-free world seems to get closer at hand by each passing day. DisplayLink, a company based on providing users with new and powerful ways to connect monitors and computers togather, offers an innovative leap towards a truly wireless VGA connection.

If you are using a desktop, you are aware of that thick cord connecting your monitor to the computer itself. While clunky in nature, these wires are a neccessity when it comes to VGA connection.

DisplayLink claims to have developed two new products which will provide video to USB laptop docks as well as the ability to transfer display data from your PC to your monitor without the use of a DVI/VGA cable. Data can be transferred over a wireless USB or a wired USB 2.0 connection and will display resolutions up to 1280 x 1024 and 1600 x 1200 using the Dl-120 or DL-160 interface respectively.

The company explains that the technology works by using software on the host PC which will act as a Virtual Graphics Card (VGC). The VGC will send data over a wireless USB or USB 2.0 connection to a Hardware Rendering Engine (HRE) on the display, which will rebuild the image onto the monitor.

While performing basic computing will be easy, more complex tasks such as playing video games that require a immense load of image rendering might be harder to perform in my opinion. However, this technology does show promise for the future of wireless.

Most of the news sites and blogophere are going crazy over the release of the much anticipated iPhone. Steve Jobs,CEO of apple inc. proudly announced a revolution in mobile phone technology as he would put it. After the official press release of iPhone by Job’s, Apple inc. stocks soared as you could very well imagine.

There has been many rumors going on about features one would expect from a phone designed by the company that brought us the revolutionary iPod.Apple being the tech giant it is, certainly kept it a secret by providing misleading prototypes to employees and even service carriers.

Steve’s new love,iPhone does resemble iPod in size and shape but thats just about the only similarity. iPhone comes with features that would blow your mind, especially if you are a diehard Mac/iPod fan. What better way to spend my spare time than to help my readers get the inside scoop. Here are the features you could look forward to when you are in line to get yourself one of these at your local apple store.

»Includes a new input technology called “Multi-Touch” the iPhone features only a single physical button, called “home”. You control the phone by sliding a finger across its touch-sensitive 3.5-inch display, which has a resolution of 320-by-480 pixels at 160 pixels-per-inch display.

»The 0.46-inch (11.6-millimeter) thick device weighs 4.8 ounces (135 grams) and sports a 2-megapixel camera, volume control, ring-silent switch, 3.5-millimeter headset/audio jack, SIM tray, “sleep-wake” switch, speaker, microphone, and a 30-pin iPod dock connector.

»The quad-band GSM (850MHz, 900MHz, 1800MHz, and 1900MHz) + EDGE phone also has 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0 capabilities. Steve Job noted 3G capabilities will come in the future.

»iPhone uses its Wi-Fi and EDGE capabilities to automatically connect to the Internet. Internet connectivity includes HTML-capable e-mail that works with any IMAP or POP3 e-mail service.

The iPhone will come in two versions: a 4GB, $499 model and an 8GB, $599 model. Both will require a two-year contract with Cingular, the exclusive U.S. carrier. Both models will be available beginning in June from Apple Stores and from Cingular. That price will surely leave your wallet pretty much empty unless your one of the lucky few with millions to spare.

Speaking at the worlds largest technology conference, Bill Gates proudly announced his plans to step down from his throne as the Head of Microsoft. He also confirmed that next year would see his last speech at CES as he steps down as head of the company he started 30 years ago.

Microsoft has played an important role in our lives with their introduction of Windows at an age when graphics could not even compare to today’s calculater. The brains behind the works, Bill Gates has been the face that is seen throughtout the world of computing. Bill will still participate in company affairs but as the non-executive Chairman of the company he founded in 1975.

In addition to being one of the most influential tech entrepreneurs, he’s widely regarded as a humanitarian. His contributions in third world countries has certainly won him praise among his fans and the general public. Well, who could stay away from charities when your bank account is worth more than 50 billion dollars. After Stepping down,he hopes to focus on his interests such as fighting poverty,helping the diseased and the foundation he and his wife started.

There is no question to be asked when it comes to his credibility and skill at thinking ahead of his competitors. Perhaps thats the reason for his success leading him to become the worlds richest man. Hopefully,Bill will remain involved in his company’s affairs and watch his creations flourish.

[Via: BBC]

Just when I thought PayPerPost had made a smart move to gain some positive feedback from the blogging community,they decide to leave behind the deal with Performancing.

Metrics was simply a free blog statistics service that was too costly for an organization of their size to maintain.

According to Nick Wilson,their Metrics service will become open source, allowing the community to further develop it. Permancing blog advertising network will remain intact with full support from the developers. As for their Firefox blog editor,it will get its own domain and be rebranded in the near future as ScribeFire.

There is some good news for blogspot users who have been long awaiting for an option to switch from those long domain names such as mysite.blogspot.com to a friendlier one like www.mysite.com. New version of blogger gives publishers an option to migrate their blogspot blog to any other domain name of choice.

The best part about this move would be the ability to keep all the google stats such as rankings,incoming links,etc. Direct traffic coming into your blog is redirected to your new domain automatically.

You wouldn’t even need to actually buy server space but just own the domain name by itself. Blogger will provide the space and uploading capabilities you will need to get your blog up and running. Of course, FTP publishing is still available if you’d like to do your own hosting.

To a rather negative note,this option is only available for the new version of blogger. You can continue hosting pictures on Blogger Images or Picasa web albums. You can use this feature with domains (e.g. mysite.com) or subdomains (e.g. name.mysite.com). However, you cannot specify subdirectories (e.g. mysite.com/blog/).

Additional Details: How do I use custom domain name on my blog? 

[via: Amit,Buzz]

You might of wondered how mozilla makes money from providing users like you with open source and free services like the firefox browser.In 2005,the mozilla foundation disclosed figures stating close to 53 million dollars in revenue.

This just proves that profit can be generated by providing open source and free services in this new era of computing.Just imagine a foundation started with only 10 employees and barely any financial backing could grow to compete against a giant like microsoft.I am speaking on behalf of firefox and it’s rapid growth in popularity compared to windows internet explorer which has been the dominant player for years.

Now you may be asking,how could a free browser like firefox provide mozilla foundation with this kind of revenue.The answer lies in the hands of google,the ever powerful search engine boosting the tech industry.If you have been using firefox for a while, you would of noticed those search boxes to the top right[see screenshot below] and the firefox homepage whcih includes the google search box.

Firefox users do not see those search features as being any type of advertisements but rather a tool created to help them conduct searches.When conducting a search with those search boxes,advertisements are displayed along with google search results and so a user may click on them which results in ad revenue for mozilla foundation.There is absolutely nothing wrong with this at all since you will be displayed the same advertisements if you were to visit google directly to conduct a search.

The big question in everyone’s mind is “how much did mozilla make in 2006?”.An accurate amount is not available at the moment but a close estimation can be made by comparing its growth rate throughout the past years.

Mozilla Foundation chairman Mitchell Baker claimed that their revenue for 2003 was 2.4 million and 5.8 million dollars in 2004 .Since the 2005 revenue was 52.9 million dollars, I would think their revenue for 2006 might be close to 90 million or more.