Entertainment Podium

Video Conference - The easy way

There are certain businesses on the Internet that still amaze me. Recently, i was searching for a collaboration tool to ‘talk and work’ with one of my marketing managers in India. I stumbled upon Nefsis, a site for business to business video conferencing. After reading their promising “how it works” page, i decided to try it out. Lucky for skeptics like me, they have a video conferencing free trial  pack. The installation was very simple, but what caught and tamed the critic in me was the clarity and ease of use of this application. The best part is, you dont need any expensive equipment, it works fine with just your PC, webcam and Internet Connection. The free trial lasts 14 days, after which i have decided to purchase their reasonably priced service and take advantage of the flexibility that this wonderful service offers. Am really glad that there are still few companies on the Internet worth talking about.

Tags: chat, Collaborate, Conference, Video, Video Conferencing

What powers your favorite online game?

Ever wondered what powers your favorite online game? Yesterday i was playing PoxNora: Battlefield of the Immortals and was amused to find that it was powered by Java Web Start, the same technology that powers my P2P application. If you take a deeper dive inside this technology, you may find that Java Web Start has a Jnlp file type. Which means it run on Java Network Launching Protocol.

How easy was that to say? Do you have any clue as to what jnlp file type means or about Java Network Launching Protocol? What do you do when you get stuck up with new technological terminologies. Of course, a Google search. But more than 50% of the time you end on a wild goose chase on Google and are back to where you started. Its exactly under such circumstances that i stumbled upon www.backupanswers.com. In their own words, “Its a technical portal that aims at educating computer users about new technology.” Now, coming back to JNLP, i learnt that JNLP is an XML based technology for launching Java Executables on the web. Which means you can create an application at your end and serve it to millions of users around the world through their browser. So, in case you were wondering about web widgets, yes, they can also be powered by Java Web start and JNLP. This empowers applications to run on the browser and can be termed as the technology for the future.

Tags: java, java webstart, jnlp, online games

Remote Management for USB Flash Drives

I came across the company Kangaru which developed a remote management system for USB flash drives. This seems to be really cool idea. The USB drive can be used as a key. This gadget looks like it is from a Mission Impossible movie or one that is good enough be used in the Pentagon.

Let me tell you about it first, then you can go all ‘WOW’. It is named as a Kanguru Defender. These drives are highly secure and AES hardware encrypted. It has an option of password protected storage. These drives can be remote managed by an administrator anywhere in the world. If any of these drives are lost, it can be immediately deleted. This is to make sure that the drive does not fall into the wrong hands as it might carry sensitive information. Passwords of the drives can be remotely reset by the administrator too. One of the added security features is that if the drive is not accessed in an X amount of days, then the drive is automatically deleted or blocked. It comes in various colors like red,blue, tan, yellow and green.

Kangaru Remote Management Console is a cool idea and the Kangaru Defender is an ultra cool gadget made for spies.

Tags: kangaru defender, Kangaru Remote Management Console

Blackberry Storm

Blackberry Storm

This holiday season, wait before you decide on the perfect gift cause Research In Motion just announced a new touch screen phone codenamed ‘Storm’. Storm is the first touch screen phone released from RIM. Touch screen on the Storm is unlike any other as when you touch an icon on the screen, it feels like pressing an actual button. The screen moves down to give you that feel. There are also cool features like selecting text on the Storm by just pinching your fingers.

The Storm provides both Qwerty type of keyboard and the SureType. The Qwerty type of keyboard comes into action when the phone is in the landscape mode and the SureType keyboard in the portrait mode. Apart from this the Storm also features a 3.2 mega pixel camera with video recording and GPS.

You can’t get your hands on one right now. Sad. But true.

A specific release date and pricing is not yet announced.

Let’s hope that it is priced competitivelty in the market.

Tags: blackberry, blackberry storm, blackberry touch screen, storm