Microsoft Anytime Upgrade is a new system implemented by microsoft in order to  allow customers seeking more features to easily upgrade to another version of windows vista.

Previously, Microsoft didn’t have such methods in place to influence users to go out and buy a legal copy of their operating system. With this new system a person who has purchased a copy of Microsoft’s newest operating system which is  Windows Vista can easily upgrade a more feature filled version like the premium edition.

The key advantage being the cost of upgrade. A user who has purchased the most basic edition of windows vista can upgrade to Home premium with only a fraction of the cost. Full price for a legal copy of Home premium is about $159 but with this new system in place, you can get a activation key to upgrade for only $79.

Another system in place to promote legal usage of Windows Vista is Windows Family Discount. This allows a costumer who has purchased a copy of Windows Vista Ultimate to get licenses for Home premium at a very low price. Basically the costumer would be allowed licenses to Home premium that can be installed on up to two PCs for only $49 rather than having to pay the full price $159 for each one of your systems.

Microsoft’s decision to introduce these discounts will definitely appeal to more costumers looking to buy a legal copy instead of a pirated one. If a user was forced to buy new licenses at the full price for each system at their given house, the use of pirated copies would become much more appealing.

They should have come with such ideas in the past as it would have decreased the amount of pirated copies floating around the internet. Note that I chose to use my words carefully by stating decrease but not end piracy. There will always be people who choose to use pirated copies rather than a legitimate one.

Google is by far the dominant player in online contextual advertising with little to no competition at all. But, what do you do when you run out of ideas to advertise material?

A couple of months back, Google daringly entered the radio advertising area with somewhat success. Google lives and breathes advertising and besides its the only way they can monetize. After all, a service cannot survive without sufficient funding, especially one that of Google’s size and power.

Their newest approach to expand Google’s advertising empire involves a certain old fashioned idea with a much modern twist. A traditional method of advertising at best but one that of great value.

Its no secret that the future of advertising is no where other than the internet itself but at present, physical means of advertising still play a significant role in our lives.

All hints to Google’s interest in developing a digital billboard advertising network. According to a report by the New Scientist, Google has already filed for a patent regarding this matter. The author gives us a detailed view of how such a service might work.

Stores buying advertising time on local electronic billboards are able to connect their stock-control computers to the network. The ads are displayed in rotation, but only until the stock-control computer reports the product as sold out. At that point, the ad is omitted from the cycle until the product is restocked.

Google claims that electronic billboards often display products that are not found in local stores which would mean the advertisement is simply useless. Google has come up with a system that only advertises products available at nearby stores.

There is no doubt in my mind that this would truly revolutionize the current electronic billboard advertising industry. As for it’s success among competitors in the field, I couldn’t possibly tell but if Google’s past is considered, then success is where Google Lies.

[Via:Google Blogoscoped, Search Engine Land]

Techmeme is by far one of the most popular news aggregators out there,    especially with almost 30,000 unique visitors a month. Getting a post at the front page of Techmeme would certainly give you the traffic boost you need and the much needed visibility from high profile bloggers.

During a recent interview with Gabe Rivera, founder of Techmeme, revealed some insights into how you could possibly get your blog post in the front page.

»Create posts that will interest other bloggers to link to your post which will allow your items to rise in importance. The more inbound links you can get, the more it appeals to the Techmeme bot.

»Linking to an item on Techmeme will not get you listed as a source. Techmeme has a list of preset sources that are increasing as the blogosphere expands. You should always aim to get blogs that you know are already listed as a source such as GigaOM by Om Malik to link to your entry.

»If a post on your site includes a Techmeme permalink, as opposed to linking to an article that Techmeme links to, with the addition of a moderate amount of traffic through that link would get you a better chance at being listed under the Techmeme Discussion section of an article. Also the Techmeme system must first determine that your site is not spammy and the referral is real.

»Write content that is original and meaningful to new visitors as well as returning visitors of your site.This is a great tip because its important to write original content to increase your blog readership not just to get your blog listed on Techmeme. Just remember that originality is the key to increasing popularity in the blogosphere. Put yourself in the shoes of your readers, would you want to read content that is a repeat of what all of the news sites are writing about?

»Enable others to find your content easily through emails, links, trackbacks, IMs,social networks etc. This will in fact increase the appeal your blog has on potential readers, while increasing traffic to your site. Traffic has a great impact on Techmeme’s ability to find your content and evaluate it’s worth.

Source:Tech Memeorandum |Image Credit:Digital Inspiration

Pirate Bay is the swedish heaven for torrent users seeking access to millions of copyrighted material online. Recent lawsuits and allegations have put the torrent community at a tight position which could result in permanent shutdown of services in the near future.

For the most part, the owners of Pirate Bay have been able to avoid troubles due to their decision to switch between Netherlands and Sweden. Its much harder to seek justice dealing with intellectual property outside of United States.

Their latest announcement to buy the island of Sealand has been meet with outrage among those wishing an end to piracy. Sealand is a small island off the coast of United Kingdom which was first claimed as an independent nation in the late 1960’s by a radio broadcaster named Paddy Roy Bates.

Pirate Bay has reported that the cost would probably be about $2.000.000.000.  In fact to help raise funds for such a large purchase, they have lauched buysealand.com. They know such a price would be hard for any company to raise but if things dont go well, they would buy a less expensive island.

In my humble opinion, a decision to purchase a whole nation just for the sole purpose of avoiding government control does sound a little farfetched.

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.