How to Run Google Chrome OS from a Thumb Drive [Chrome Os]

Last week we pointed you toward a virtual machine build of Chrome OS for anyone eager to play around with (the still incomplete) Chrome OS, but if you'd rather try running it from a thumb drive, weblog MakeUseOf has you covered.

Tech blogger Jorge Sierra details how to install Chrome OS on a bootable thumb drive so you can run it like any other live OS—like a Linux Live CD, for example. Keep in mind, however, that the build is still very young (and technically it's still Chromium OS), and even if you follow all of the directions perfectly, you may still run into some problems. For example:

Chromium OS may or may not work on your computer hardware. I did successfully run it on two home-built frankenstein computers (with ASUS motherboards), but it did not successfully recognize the network adapter on my Dell laptop. All of this work may be for nothing, if it ends up that Chromium OS does not like your network adapter.

Still, it's a fun little afternoon project, especially if you're eager to try Chrome OS. If you've played with a build since last week's preview, let's hear how it worked out for you in the comments.

What’s New Inside Microsoft Office 2010

Courtesy: Digital Inspiron

The first public beta of Microsoft Office 2010 (v. 14.0.4536.1000) is now available for download on both MSDN and Technet.

If you are not a subscriber, don’t hit the torrents yet because Microsoft announced the general availability of Office 2010 beta sometime today itself. Update: You can download Office 2010 now.

Microsoft Office 2010 – What’s New

Here’s a quick visual guide to some of the new features of Microsoft Office 2010 that you’re likely to find useful once you get access to the software.

#1. Save Office Documents to the Cloud

With Microsoft Office 2010, you can directly upload documents to your Windows Live SkyDrive account and access them from any other computer.

SkyDrive provides 25 GB of free online storage and, since the service is integrated with Office Web Apps, you can view and edit these documents anywhere in the web browser without requiring Microsoft Office (even on a Mac).

#2. Embed Web Videos in your Presentations

With Office 2010, you can easily embed video clips from the Internet into your PowerPoint presentations just the way you embed Flash videos in regular web pages. Just copy the embed code from YouTube (or any other video sharing site) and paste it anywhere on the slide.

#3. Quick Steps in Outlook

Gmail includes a useful feature called Send and Archive that performs multiple tasks. When you click this button, it will first send the reply and then archives the thread with one click.

With the new Quick Steps feature in Outlook, you can create a sequence of commands (Send & Archive is just one example) and apply them to any Outlook item with a click. For instance, here’s a quick step for "Send and Delete" which would delete the email from your inbox after you’ve replied.

#4. Built-in PDF Writer

All Office 2010 programs include a built-in PDF writer to help you save documents into the PDF format with a click. Earlier, you had to download an add-on separately but now PDF support is native.

#5. Document printing made simple!

With Office 2010, Microsoft has completely revamped the print dialog and it’s a tremendous improvement. For instance, you can tweak printer settings (like page margins, etc.) and preview the changes side-by-side.

#6. Broadcast Slideshows within PowerPoint

This is probably my favorite new feature of PowerPoint 2010. You can deliver live presentations

over the web from within PowerPoint and anyone in the world can view your presentation using a web browser. It just works.

#7. Video Editing meets PowerPoint

Do you want to trim some parts of a video clip before using it in your presentation? Or do you want to apply professional styles to a video (like reflection coupled with 3D rotation) so that your audience stay glued longer? Well, that’s easy because PowerPoint 2010 now includes some very powerful video editing features.

#8. Distribute your slides as video

PowerPoint 2010 can convert your presentation into a video file that you may upload on to YouTube or distribute on a portable media player like the iPod. The video conversion happens in the background so you can continue using PowerPoint while the video is being created.

#9. Built-in Screen Capture

All Office 2010 programs now include a screen clipping utility to help you quickly capture any area of the desktop screen. The tool will automatically take screenshots of all open applications on your desktop (that are not in minimized state) and you can insert them directly into your document or presentation.

#10. Outlook gets social

When you open an email message inside Outlook 2010, it will show you related information such as email attachments, pictures, meeting requests and all previous email messages that you may have exchanged with that person (something like Xobni).

There’s a green add button that lets you "add that person to your online social networks from Outlook" but the service isn’t live yet. Until then, you can use these add-ons to make your Outlook more social.

Important: Before installing Office 2010

1. If you are installing Office 2010 beta for the first time, the default settings will upgrade your existing copy of Microsoft Office. You can however customize this setting and install Office 2010 alongside an older version of Office.

2. If you already have Office 2010 Technical Preview on your computer, make sure you completely uninstall this edition before attempting to installing Office 14 beta. In case you still have trouble installing Office, use the cleanup utility to remove all traces of the previous version of Office from your system.

Nokia announces 3 new CDMA handsets – 6316s, 3806, 1506

Nokia has announced the release of three new CDMA mobile phones, Nokia 6316s, Nokia 3806 and Nokia 1506. With this launch, Nokia sets to expand its CDMA range of handset in China and the Far East.

David Tang, Vice President of Nokia China said, “Nokia is boosting its leadership in the CDMA market by updating an already strong line-up with products that appeal to a wide range of customer needs”.

Nokia 6316s – A 3G way to stay entertained

First in the list is Nokia’s new 3G multimedia handset 6316s. This has an elegant design and powerful functionality together in a compact slide with a stainless-steel body. With the following features, the mobile makes easier than ever for people to stay in touch and share the things. The features include

• 2.2-inch QVGA display
• 2.0 megapixel camera
• Bluetooth 2.1
• Music
• Web Browsing
• Imaging
• Music Player
• GPS
• Dedicated Music Keys
• Email

This handset is available in black, red and golden color and is expected to reach the market during the first quarter of 2010.

Nokia 3806 – A compact Health Assistant

The next in the list is Nokia 3806. This mobile also has the similar features like 2.2-inch QVGA display, 2.0 megapixel camera with video recorder, navigation key in metallic finish, Bluetooth 2.1 and a MicroSD card support of up to 4GB.

The phone comes with an interesting Health Assistant application which should help you stay healthy as it is supposed to make it easier for you to deal with various issues of your daily life. Users are allowed to efficiently manage thir stress and lead a healthier life.

This mobile is available in piano black, pure white and rose gold and is expected to be available during the first quarter of 2010.

Nokia 1506 – The Cheapest CDMA

Finally in this list comes the Nokia 1506. This is supposed to be the most affordable CDMA model to date. Though it does’nt have much features, the available features include voice recorder, a slender monoblock design with high-gloss colors, a Navigation key in metallic finish, integrated handsfree speaker and long battery life.

This device is available in black and plum and is expected to reach the market before the end of 2009. Nokia has not announced the prices of these three new handsets so far.

Similar Posts:

• Reliance Communications ties up for Nokia 1255 priced at Rs.2000
• Motorola ZN4 Official
• Nokia 2608 CDMA Photo Gallery
• Nokia 6788 Announced!
• Nokia 6102 6103 with bluetooth

Source: FoneArena

Make Yourself Eligible for an Office 2010 Starter Beta [Office 2010]

Microsoft Office 2010 will offer a free, ad-supported 'Starter' edition, in addition to its regular, rather pricey offerings. Beta invites are already going out, and you can increase your chances at a spot by filling out a quick online survey.

By quick, we mean three minutes or less. The survey asks what type of computers you use at home, what kind of internet connection you have, and whether you've used Office in the past six months. Intriguingly, it also asks if you've used Google Docs or OpenOffice in the same time period.

Filling out the survey won't guarantee a place in the 2010 Starter beta program, but it certainly won't hurt, if you're itching for a chance to give it a go

Samsung badaOS

Samsung have announced the badaOS for their mobile phones. It will be a replacement to the Windows Mobile and Symbian platforms. The name “bada” is derived from a Korean word signifying “ocean”. The name was chosen as it represents the endless possibilities with the OS.

Samsung bada is a new open platform that enables a richer user experience in applications on Samsung mobile devices.

Right now no further information on the platform is available. Sasmung only gives us a sneak peek and slight info at an official site.

The official announcement should be in December when Samsung will officially launch the OS along with the SDK.

Droid Does... only have 256MB of storage for apps

Motorola's Droid is a sweet piece of hardware that's hyped to give the iPhone a run for its money, especially since it's running the new Android 2.0 OS, and works on the Verizon network in the US. We care about software here at Download Squad though, and there's some dismaying news about the Droid on that front: it has only 256MB for app storage. Seriously.

The Droid reportedly only packs a 512MB ROM (that's the built-in memory), of which only half is allocated for apps. There are some iPhone games that couldn't even fit in that teeny-weeny storage space! But at least it's expandable, right? Um, nope. Google doesn't support installing apps to the SD cards that Motorola relies on, so developers are pretty limited in terms of file sizes for their Android 2.0 software.

The Droid may have a solid CPU and GPU for gaming, but games that take full advantage of that hardware are likely to need 100 megabytes or more of storage space. That's going to make things pretty tough until Android 2.0 comes to a device with a lot more pre-installed flash memory.

[via Daring Fireball]

ITG xpPhone-World’s First Windows XP Phone

Is this a Phone or computer...
I am totally amazed to see this... Dont miss phone features section....
Courtesy: Fore Arena

The ITG xpPhone is a phone set to become the world’s first Windows XP phone. The device looks similar to the Nokia N900 but runs on Windows XP.

The phone features:

• 158 x 75 x 16 mm, 400 grams
• A 4.8″ Touchscreen Display
• x86 (32bit) Architecture CPU allowing you to install other OSes
• 5 hours talktime and 5 days standby time
• 512MB or 1GB RAM
• 8gb SSD or 120GB HDD
• GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth

The device features a highly customisable UI. Here are some screen shots of the device:

Fix common Windows XP errors with portable XP Quick Fix Plus

Even though it's getting a little long in the tooth, plenty of PC users are still perfectly happy with Windows XP. Of course, that doesn't mean running Windows XP is always a trouble-free experience. It's got its fair share of issues. Thankfully, though, there are loads of great programs out there which make fixing little annoyances as simple as point-and-click.

Programs like XP Quick Fix Plus. The tiny, portable application launches a dashboard with one-click fixes for 40 common Windows XP problems. Quick Fix makes short work of irksome situations like a disabled task manager, missing Device Manager tab, and the infamous CD/DVD missing/not reading bug.

The program is essentially a collection of registry fixes, since that's where most of these problems originate. You might want to create a system restore point prior to running Quick Fix (or backing up your registry) just in case.

XP Quick Fix is a free, portable download and - not surprisingly - runs on Windows XP systems.

Microsoft offers tool to burn Windows 7 ISO - or put it on a USB flash drive

If you have already downloaded - or plan on downloading - a purchased copy of Windows 7, you may need a tool to help you turn the bits into something bootable so you can actually start installing your new OS.

By some amazing coincidence, Microsoft has a tool designed to handle just such an emergency! Grab the Windows 7 USB/DVD download tool and follow the on-screen instructions and you'll have a bootable DVD or USB flash drive in no time. You'll also need your downloaded Windows .ISO file, of course. If you plan on using a flash drive, it needs to be 4Gb or larger.

Microsoft's page includes exhaustive (and I mean exhaustive) instructions and a list of frequently asked questions on the download tool page.

More experienced users may want to stick with the app I've mentioned before - WinToFlash. It's fully portable, whereas the Microsoft app has to be installed.

How to add a "copy path" option to the Windows context menu

When you right-click on any file in the Windows Explorer, you can cut, paste, open, delete, or rename the file. But what if what you really want to do is copy the file path so you can paste it into a new window, a text document, or another file?

Copy Path is a utility that adds a... well, a 'copy path' option to the Windows right-click context menu. It's similar to ClipPath, a program we covered a few years ago. but Copy Path has one option that ClipPath doesn't, which is the ability to copy not just the path for an individual file, but also the path for a folder and/or the parent folder of the file or folder you just clicked on.

If you're still not convinced that ClipPath is actually useful, think about how many times you've tried to upload an email attachment and had to click the browse button and sort through folders to find the file you want to upload. With Copy Path (or ClipPath), if you already have the file open in another window you can just right-click, copy the file path and paste it into the attachment window for your email client.

[via Freeware Genius]

Chrome OS – The Unofficial Version

Although Google has not released any official versions, demos, or even screenshots of the upcoming Chrome OS, you can get a feel for what it might be like with the unofficial Chrome OS Linux project.

Built from SUSE Studios, the Chrome OS Linux is basically is a light install of SUSE Linux containing that latest developer build of Chrome for Linux that launches by default on startup. You can either download either a virtual hard drive with Chrome OS installed to run it inside Virtual Box or VMware, or you can burn the Linux distro onto a disk and install it to your hard drive. The files are compressed in the .tar.gz format so you can use the free 7-Zip program to extract them on to the local drive.

When you start up Chrome OS Linux, the Google Chrome browser will automatically run and will ask you to choose whether to set Chrome as the default browser and to send anonymous data to Google about the browser. Everything should be automatically setup for you to quickly browse the web. Most websites will work fine though the Flash player is not supported in this version of the Google Chrome browser.

So if you’re feeling adventurous and would like to see a glimpse of Google’s vision for computing in the future, check out Chrome OS Linux. Even if the real Chrome OS turns out much different than this, you will still be able to easily browse the internet with the speed and efficiency that Chrome provides today on Windows.

Originally published at Digital Inspiration

Android 1.6 reaches developers

Watch this video for more info

MobaLiveCD Updates and Adds USB Drive Support

Windows: Want to try out a flavor of Linux or other LiveCD-based tool without installation or even having to exit Windows? MobaLiveCD has updated to include support for both LiveCDs and bootable USB devices.

We introduced you to MobaLiveCD around this time last year—then, it only supported LiveCD disc images. Now you can use both LiveCD ISO files and bootable USB devices. In our tests we were able to boot a variety of Live USB installations like Ubuntu, GParted, and BackTrack.

Using MobaLiveCD is significantly slower than actually booting into the LiveCD/USB and notably slower than running the same LiveCD/USB in a virtual machine. Nonetheless, it's free, an absolute breeze to use, and it allows you to rapidly check out a Linux distribution with very minimal hassle.

MobaLiveCD is freeware, Windows only.

MobaLiveCD [via DownloadSquad]

Got 9 Friends? You can get Windows 7 DVD for Free

First, answer some simple questions:

1. Do you have a computer at home that can run Windows 7. You may use the free Upgrade Advisor utility to determine if your current Windows XP, Vista or Linux machine* meets the system requirements for Windows 7.

2. Do you have 9 or more friends in town?

3. Do you live in any of the following countries - India, US, UK, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Italy, Spain or Hong Kong?

If you just said yes to all the above questions, here’s an opportunity for you to grab a free Windows 7 Ultimate DVD shipped to you without charge along with some other Windows 7 goodies straight from Microsoft.

Microsoft will do a public launch of Windows 7 on October 22 and to generate buzz around the event, they are inviting Windows enthusiasts from around the world to throw up small parties at their own homes and show off the new Windows 7 to friends and family members.

You can apply to become a party host at houseparty.com and if selected, you’ll receive a special Signature Edition of Windows 7 Ultimate edition in your mailbox.

You may sign-up to become a host using your existing Facebook account or your Windows Live ID. Microsoft will send you an email sometime in the second week of September to let you know if you are through.

*Though Microsoft has not mentioned Mac users anywhere, I guess you can also apply if your Macbook is running Windows via Parallels, VMWare Fusion, Boot Camp or some other virtualization software.

via Digital Inspiration, Thanks to Amith

Make a bootable USB installer for Windows XP, Vista, 7 with WinToFlash

Making a bootable USB flash drive for Windows Vista and Windows 7 isn't all that tricky, but it's always nice to find an app that simplifies things. Not only does WinToFlash make the process about as easy as it can get, but it can also create Windows XP, Server 2003, and Server 2008 installers.

The default options make it easy to roll a silent Windows install, or you can flip the custom switch and specify the exact setup parameters you want to use.

The handy app also has one more trick up its sleeve: moving Windows Preinstall environments. PE discs can be extremely handy for troubleshooting and repairs, and being able to painlessly zap them over to a USB flash drive means not having to burn a new copy every time someone's haggard old optical drive decides to chew up your CD.

WinToFlash is a free download and is totally portable. It's an excellent tool to add to your USB-related utilities

Download: WinToFlash