Top 10 hidden (and not-so-hidden) gems in iPhone Software 3.0

Sure, you already know about cut-and-paste, picture messaging (one AT&T gets around to supporting it, that is) and "Find My iPhone"—but have you heard about the "shake to undo" feature, auto-fill for Safari, and the new way to quit from a frozen app? Get the scoop right here.

We've had iPhone Software 3.0 for almost a day now (there's also a version for the iPod Touch, although it'll cost you $9.95 to download), and all the big new features have been thoroughly poked and prodded by now. Meanwhile, some of the most sought-after features—such as MMS, a.k.a. picture message—and laptop tethering have yet to be supported by AT&T (later this summer, we've been told).

So instead of simply rehashing such features as universal Spotlight search and voice memos (really, Apple, what took you so long?), I've compiled a list of my favorite little features in Software 3.0—along with a couple of bigger ones that I find particularly enticing.

The list isn't meant to be comprehensive—these are just the tips and tricks that I've found most useful so far. Have some that you'd like to share? Then by all means, post them in the comments below for all to see. (For a complete list of new 3.0 features, such as copy-and-paste and universal search, check out Apple's Web site, along with some of my earlier posts here and here.)

And without further ado, here we go…

Call a number directly from a calendar entry
Now, here's an IPhone feature I've really been longing for. If you have an address or phone number in the "Notes" field of a calendar entry, you can now tap them to either map the address or call the number. And if the address and/or phone number isn't getting hotlinked properly, you can always just copy and paste.

Force quit a frozen app
Now you don't have to do a hard reset on your iPhone (performed by pressing and holding the Sleep and Home buttons) if a third-party app goes haywire. Instead, you can just kill the errant process in a couple simple steps. First, press and hold Sleep and Home as if you're doing a hard reset; next, press and hold the Home button. Within a few seconds, you'll be back at the Home screen.

Shake to shuffle or undo
Again, nothing new (especially for owners of some of the newer Sony Ericsson music phones), but cool nonetheless. Listening to a playlist and want to change things up? Just give your iPhone a quick shake; you'll hear a little "beep-bap-boop" sound, and you'll be in shuffle mode. Also: Not thrilled with the sentence you just typed? Shake the phone, and a pop-up will appear, asking whether you'd like to undo your typing.

Log into your YouTube account
Yep, other smartphones have been able to do this for a long time now, but better late than never. Just More and then My Videos or Subscriptions, and you'll be prompted for your YouTube username and password; once that's done, you'll be able to access your clips and subscriptions (natch), rate or comment on videos, subscribe to new channels, and so on.

Compose an email, a text message, or a note with landscape keypad
One of the biggest complaints about the iPhone has finally been fixed—yes, you can now tap on a landscape version of the iPhone's touch keypad from just about any app. Simply turn your handset on its side whenever you're tapping out a new e-mail, SMS, or a sticky, and the landscape keypad will appear.

Auto-fill your info
Shopping on the iPhone just got a lot easier with this 3.0 feature. Tap Settings, Safari, and AutoFill; then, if you want iPhone to automatically fill in Web forms with your contact info, switch the On/Off slider to On and select your own contact card from the address book. You can also set Safari to remember usernames and passwords if you with.

Rent a movie or buy a TV show over Wi-Fi
OK—not exactly a "hidden gem" as 3.0 features go, but as a movie freak I can't resist. At last, you can directly download movie rentals, purchases, or TV episodes over the air; just click on the iTunes app to get started. The bad news is that AT&T's 10MB cap on iTunes downloads over its 3G network still applies, which basically means you'll need Wi-Fi access to grab a 1GB movie rental at the airport. The good news, though, is that all iPhone users get free access to AT&T hotspots, including those at Starbucks—which, as luck would have it, are easy to find at airports. Plan on sipping that latte slowly, however; even over my speedy Wi-Fi connection, it took a good half hour to download a 1.2GB movie like Robert Rodriguez's "Planet Terror." (And yes, you can transfer movie rentals back to your Mac/PC if you wish.)

Keep a closer eye on the market
The iPhone's (Yahoo!-powered) Stocks app gets a bit more useful in Software 3.0. When you tap on a specific ticker symbol, you'll still see the daily, month, or yearly price chart on the bottom half of the screen; now, though, you can swipe it for recent headlines or volume, market cap, 52-week high and low info, and more.

Forward or delete a text message
I've always liked how the iPhone displays SMS conversations in a "threaded" format, but until now, there wasn't a way to forward pithy texts or delete specific messages (besides simply wiping an entire conversation). Now, you can; just tap Edit in an SMS conversation, then select the messages you'd like to forward or zap.

Get "push" notifications
Again, probably not the most "hidden" feature in 3.0, but I like it so much that I'm including it anyway. The iPhone still lacks true multitasking (as found on the Palm Pre), but with "push notification"—new to Software 3.0—developers of third-party apps can "push" alerts, sounds, and icon badges to your phone even when the given app isn't running. For example, the Associated Press app will push you a pop-up window with a sound alert when a bulletin hits the wire (I just got one for a Supreme Court ruling on DNA testing), while Tap Tap Revenge will ping you whenever one of your Tap Tap pals wants to challenge you to an over-the-air duel. (MacRumors has a list ofearly push-supported apps here.) Don't worry—you can configure push notification in the Settings menu, or turn it off entirely if you wish. (Also, keep in mind that turning push notification on may put a dent in your battery life.)

What are your favorite new feature in iPhone Software 3.0? Post 'em below.

Source: Yahoo

Windows XP life extended yet again to (possibly) 2011

Like Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part III, just when you think Windows XP is out... they pull it back in.

Once again -- and I've now lost count on this one -- Microsoft is officially extending the life of the venerable Windows XP operating system. Based on the company's new rules, the OS can be pre-installed on machines for up to 18 months after the general availability of Windows 7 -- or until Windows 7 Service Pack 1 is released, whichever is sooner.

Assuming Windows 7 ships in October as planned, that means XP may be alive and well until April 2011. On the other hand, Microsoft has been releasing Service Packs more quickly of late, and 18 months would be an awfully long time for Windows to go without a patch.

The move was apparently a response to Gartner's Michael Silver, who lambasted the company's previous policy, which would create only six months of overlap between XP and Windows 7, and which he saw as not enough time for large enterprises to manage the transition from one OS to the other. (And let's get real: No one is going to upgrade to Vista in the meantime.)

In response, Silver called the new policy "good" but "still not great."

His beef? Microsoft's Service Pack clause, which is as nebulous a term as one can fathom. Service Packs are really nothing more than bundled up collections of bug fixes, and there are no guidelines about how serious those fixes need to be or how many of them one needs in order to justify putting out a Service Pack of them. Microsoft could release Windows 7 Service Pack 1 a week after it was released -- citing whatever reasons it wanted -- and abruptly yank XP from the market. What's worse is that Service Packs can arrive without much warning, which would give businesses even less time to prepare for XP going off market.

As a side note, remember that XP is already technically at its end of life: It's no longer available at retail, and only extended support plans are available. Technically only businesses are supposed to be able to buy it. Microsoft will stop patching XP, as well, in April 2014 -- and that includes all security updates.

Unless it changes its mind. Again.

source:Yahoo!!!

Is Moore's Law about to die?

It's one of the most famous maxims in the technology world: Moore's Law, originally conceived by Intel's Gordon Moore in 1965, posits that the number of transistors on a circuit will double every 1 1/2 to 2 years. That has held true -- like a rock -- since it was envisioned, from the 2,300 transistors on an Intel 4004 to the 2 billion or so transistors on a quad-core Itanium produced today.

But even Moore has cautioned that the Law won't be sustainable forever. The limits of physics -- the size and characteristics of electrons that have to move through these circuits, for example -- mandate that at some point, we'll either have to stop shrinking transistors (which is how you fit more and more of them on a chip) or move to another form of CPU that doesn't rely on traditional silicon. Either way, Moore's Law would no longer apply. Intel itself has predicted the imminent end of Moore's Law on many occasions, though its most recent prediction is that there is "no end in sight."

Research group iSuppli would beg to differ with that opinion, and says that not only is the end in sight, it's right around the corner: By 2014, the company says Moore's Law will cease to drive chip design, and for a reason unrelated to physics. Rather, it's economics that will kill Moore's Law as we know it.

The big shift comes, says iSuppli, when companies shrink transistor nodes to below 20nm. The problem has nothing to do with the chips themselves, but the equipment that will have to be built in order to make the chips. Since that equipment is really only useful during the lifetime of a single chip generation, it has to be depreciated over the life of that generation. At the 20nm point, equipment "costs will be so high, that the value of their lifetime productivity can never justify it," according to the company.

We still have a bit of time for that economic reality to alter itself. Today, chips utilizing 45nm connectors are standard, with 32nm on the horizon (Intel could have these chips out in 2010), and 22nm the next step after that. 16nm (or possibly 18nm) would mark the following step in the progression, a point at which we'd then be in the world of "nanoelectronics" where individual atoms may have to be manipulated to construct a CPU. And some companies, including Toshiba, already have early production plans announced at this level, though on a limited scale in comparison to Intel.

Given the current state of the tech industry, economic reality is indeed a tough thing to get past, but it would be sad if money alone stopped chip advances dead in their tracks. Anyone want to take up a collection? Save Moore's Law!

source:Yahoo