When selling a home, first impressions count

When selling a home, first impressions count
One of the most overlooked facts in today’s competitive real estate market, especially in this great city of ours, is that getting off on the right track when it comes to listing your home or condo is the single most critical factor towards determining how successfully you will sell.

It might help to understand how the process actually works. Once you post your home on the MLS with a qualified realtor, the most activity you will get is the day immediately after. This is the day when most people and agents will first come across it. After this point the only common way buyers and/or agents will come across it is during manual searches. Therefore, if the day right after the posting is crucial, which it is, it stands to good reason the listing itself be 110 per cent perfect from the first second it’s posted. This means all details, facts and figures be as accurate as they are extensive. It also means that proper, flattering pictures be taken and posted along with the listing. Above all else, it is the agent’s responsibility to ensure the day after the listing goes up she or he is in a capacity to handle all incoming calls. You should ask for a copy of the listing so that you can view it with your own eyes. You also might want to ensure the realtor includes a cellphone number on the listing. I can’t tell you how difficult it can be to track down a realtor at a hectic office on a Monday morning.

The listing itself is only one of the major aspects of the actual sale of your home. It’s equally vital a proper plan of attack be formulated, prior to any listing. You don’t go hunting before knowing the game you’re after. To take a recent personal example, I had a fairly desirable condo in a fairly desirable building about a week ago. The owner wanted to move out within a month and — here’s a shocker — wanted to get the most he could for his place. We listed the property about $5,000 above the highest sold price of any comparable unit in the building and sold the unit at another $5,000 above asking, in less than 24 hours. That’s $10,000 above what might have been reasonably expected.

The reason we were able to finalize such a desirable deal was due to the perfect execution of a well laid out plan, which took into account all necessary, relevant factors, including timing, competition and readiness. I knew the building was in high demand, and specifically for that particular type of unit. I knew I could afford to expect a high return because of the significant gap between supply and demand, in this specific instance. I also knew it would occur very quickly because of all these factors, and actually held off posting the listing for a full week after the papers were signed so the place was vacant and sparkling clean, and that it was posted at a time when the most eyes possible would see it.

The lesson? Don’t rush to post your listing and instead take the time necessary to post it right the first time. If you need to rush, be prepared to make the necessary sacrifices to secure the best possible price, if such a goal is important to you. Above all else, have a plan of action in place so the sale of your property isn’t an accomplishment but more a virtual guarantee. I know this because it’s my job to know, but I want every seller out there to know all this because it’s in your best interests to know.
source-http://www.metronews.ca/

Tips for faster home selling

Tips for faster home selling

Home, condo and town house owners looking to sell residences quickly in today's fragile housing market can take certain steps to fuel a quick sale, Chicago area real estate experts say.

The local real estate market is a buyer's market, which means there is a large selection of residential properties for sale at the same time, so buyers have more to choose from and therefore tend to be more selective. In turn, sellers have to work harder to make their home stand out from others on the market.

Home sellers get creative with incentives
"For the seller, this means that homes have to be priced competitively, have better curb appeal and better interiors than other houses on the market. If not, sellers are stuck having to reduce their prices," said Thad Wong, co-founder of @properties, a Chicago-based local real estate brokerage firm that specializes in residential and commercial properties.

"Proper pricing is the most important thing a seller should consider," Wong said. "If you overprice it from the start, buyers will overlook the listing and go for comparable homes with lower listing prices.

"Listings reach the greatest proportion of potential buyers during the first 30 days. After that, buyers may start to wonder why the home has been on the market so long and overlook it," Wong said.

To sellers' chagrin, homes, condos and town houses are not worth as much as they were three to four years ago when the market was hot. Recent statistics from the National Association of Realtors report the median sale price of a single-family home in 2007 in Chicago increased by only 0.5 percent, while the median price of a condo increased 5.8 percent.

"It all comes down to pricing competitively for this market," said Ellen Rosner, sales associate for Baird & Warner's Old Town office at 1510 N. Wells. "This has been a real difficult thing for sellers to accept. But they have to look at the market and think how does their property fit in. What's around you that's selling and for how much?"

Both Rosner and Wong agree that a for-sale-by-owner is not the way to go in this market because even though today's seller is more educated -- "they're watching all these TV shows about buying and selling," Rosner said -- so is the buyer.

"So you need to court the public by working with a Realtor, especially to find the right listing price," Rosner said.

Meanwhile, Uncle Sam is helping to revitalize the housing market with affordable home loans as interests rates are at one of the lowest levels in nearly 40 years, according to Freddie Mac. The current average interest rate on benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgages is 5.88 percent. At this time last year, interest rates were averaging 6.17 percent on 30-year loans.

With low home loan rates as a catalyst, here are some other selling tips to spur quicker sales:

Don't be emotional: Most sellers love their home, and often think others will as well, so they overprice.

Research: Take your time and research comparable sales in your area before determining a listing price. "People should look at the sales price, not the listing price," Wong said. "Sellers also should consider sale prices that have occurred in the past three to four months. Don't use last year's prices!"

Curb appeal:Trim overgrown bushes, keep grass cut and remove weed beds. Clean or repaint the front door.

Play up the view: Buyers are willing to pay a premium for views -- a lake, park, skyline or bucolic landscapes -- and a home should be priced accordingly. Be realistic. A view that can be had only by standing on the counter from the second story doesn't count.

Staging: The three rules of thumb are de-clutter, clean up and neutralize. An attractive interior fosters a quick sale. Often, efforts are a simple as moving the furniture around to make rooms look larger. Some real estate experts also advise sellers to store one-third of their furniture. Paint walls white, beige or neutral colors to make a home look more generic, comfortable, brighter and roomier.

De-personalize: Remove collectible and family photographs and memorabilia.

Upgrades and features: For higher selling prices, the residence must be "finished" with as many structural and interior design upgrades as possible, such as crown molding, new hardware, sprinkler systems or a built-in backyard grill, to name a few.

Hire a professional: Don't just settle for any sales agent. Interview three or four agents. Look for high sales records.

source-http://searchchicago.suntimes.com/

Selling A Home

Selling A Home
The chances of selling a home on the Eastside in March 2008 ranged from a low of 7.26% to a high of 21%, with an average 13.5% absorption rate. (The absorption rate is the number of homes for sale in any given month divided by the actual number of homes sold that month.)
Here are the real estate statistics for single family home sales activity on Seattle’s Eastside:
March, 2008 3637 homes available, 493 sold, 13.5% chance of selling.
February, 2008 3303 homes available, 453 sold, 13.7% chance of selling.
March, 2007 2126 homes available, 826 sold, 38.8% chance of selling.

The plateau: Sammamish, Issaquah, North Bend, and Fall City

Sellers had a 14.5% chance of getting a home sold, DOWN from 16.4% last month and DOWN from 40.4% last year. Median home prices were down by 2.4%, from $593,950 to $579,500. Inventory was up by 59.7% and sales declined by almost 42% from last year.

West Redmond/East Bellevue

Sellers had a 21.7% chance of getting a home sold, UP from 15.6% last month, and DOWN from 58.8% last year. Median sales price decreased from $598,725 to $539,950. Inventory was up 127% and sales were down from 70 sales to 59 homes, a 15.7% decline.

South Bellevue

Sellers had a 12.3% chance of selling a home, DOWN from 13.4% last month and DOWN from 40.7% last year. Median price decreased by 1.5% to $669,950 from $659,950. Inventory was up 60.6% and sales were down almost 51.2%.

Woodinville/Bothell/Kenmore/Duvall

Sellers had a 12.3% chance of selling a home, as 12.3% last month and DOWN from 35.1% last year. Median price was down to $525,000 from $540,450, a 2.9% decrease. Inventory was up by 57% from last year and sales declined by 44.9%.

Kirkland

Sellers had a 10.7% chance of selling a home, DOWN from 12.5% last month and DOWN from 28.2% last year. Median price declined by 2%, from $714,950 to $699,999. Inventory was up by 57.2% and sales were down by 40.2%.

West Bellevue

Sellers had a 7.26% chance of selling a home, DOWN from 9%, and DOWN from 35.2% last year. Median pricing increased by 2.9% to $1,250,000 from $1,215,000. Inventory climbed by 136.9% and sales declined by 51.2%.

Redmond/Education Hill/ Carnation

Sellers had a 14.8% chance of selling a home, DOWN from 15.8% last month, and DOWN from 48.9% last year. Median pricing decreased by 11.5% from $678,225 to $600,000. Inventory increased by103% and sales dropped by 38.5%.

King county wide, inventory is up from January’s numbers. On the eastside 2963 homes were on the market in January and now there are 3637 homes for sale.

As I mentioned in a previous post, if you’re considering a move, whether you’re buying or selling, it’s important to break the data down regarding the inventory and the absorption rate even further than what is reported above. The information here is a great snapshot for the eastside. But when looking at the price for a particular home, it’s best to look at the information in a smaller area than what’s shown above.

Also, look at several months worth of data. It’s interesting to see how things can fluctuate each month. For example, in West Bellevue, median price has been declining over the past few months and this month median pricing is up. If you look at several months worth of statistics, you’ll get a more realistic flavor of the market in a particular area. It obviously is still a tough market for sellers and a much better market for buyers. Pricing and condition is key in selling a home. It always has been, but now it’s even more critical.

Obama's Linguistic Trap

Obama's Linguistic Trap
Senator Barack Obama set a trap during Tuesday's Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, and Ambassador Ryan Crocker unwittingly stepped into it.


Of the three presidential candidates participating in Senate committee hearings on April 9, 2008, Obama's performance generally received the most favorable reviews based on his perceived amiable demeanor and absence of senatorial grandstanding. He was seen as, in a word, smooth.


Unlike Sen. George Voinovich (R. OH), Obama felt no need to tell us he prays to the "Holy Spirit" for a resolution to the war in Iraq. Unlike Sen. Barbara Boxer (D. CA), he didn't assume that when Middle Eastern government officials kiss each other on the cheeks they're in love. Neither did Obama participate in the senatorial jocularity always offered by Sen. Joe Biden (D. NJ). And since he can't, Obama didn't remind us, as did Sen. Chuck Hagel (R. NE), who was once a buck sergeant in Vietnam, that he's familiar with the role of a four-star, Army, combat, field commander. In contrast to most of his colleagues, both Republicans and Democrats [although it's often hard to tell the difference on that committee], Obama's performance was urbane and understated. Just how smooth he really was requires a close examination of the hearing's transcript.


Most Senators, typically, didn't so much ask questions as make statements. Obama did both at the same time as he executed an enthymeme -- a categorical syllogism with an unstated premise. No one seemed to notice at the time that it was also an invalid syllogism.
source-http://www.americanthinker.com/

Obama Urges Bush to Boycott Beijing

Obama Urges Bush to Boycott Beijing

LEVITTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Barack Obama joined Democratic presidential rival Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday in calling for President Bush to boycott the opening ceremonies for the Olympic Games in Beijing.

Clinton had commended British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for announcing that he will skip the August ceremonies in China's capital, and called on Obama and likely Republican presidential nominee John McCain to join her in urging Bush to do the same.

Obama did later in the day; his campaign issued a statement in which, for the first time, he urged Bush to boycott the festivities.

Activists are urging world leaders to stay away from the ceremonies to underscore concerns about China's human rights record, its handling of recent unrest in Tibet and its relationship with Sudan.

Obama said a boycott "should be firmly on the table," but that a decision should be made closer to the Games.

"If the Chinese do not take steps to help stop the genocide in Darfur and to respect the dignity, security and human rights of the Tibetan people, then the president should boycott the opening ceremonies," he said. "As I have communicated in public and to the president, it is past time for China to respect the human rights of the Tibetan people, to allow foreign journalists and diplomats access to the region, and to engage the Dalai Lama in meaningful talks about the future of Tibet."

Obama previously had said he was conflicted about U.S. participation, but that "there should be consequences" for China if it does not take steps to respect rights and freedoms in Tibet.

Clinton said Bush should use the threat of a boycott to exert leverage on the Chinese government.

"I believe that the president should not attend the opening ceremonies because that is giving a seal of approval by our United States government," she told reporters near Pittsburgh on Wednesday.

McCain spokeswoman Brooke Buchanan said he condemns "the brutal oppression" the Chinese have inflicted on Tibetans, and thinks the president should monitor the situation and "keep his options open."

Obama's a big hit in TV ads

Obama's a big hit in TV ads

FANS OF TV's raunchy cartoon sit-com "The Family Guy" are used to seeing strange things - a talking dog dating a hot 20-something voiced by Drew Barrymore, for example - but this Sunday night fans of the show here in Philadelphia were treated to something they probably never thought they'd see.
A political ad - for presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama.

That TV spot sought to punch the right buttons for a group that is almost always ignored at election time, 18-24-year-old voters - highlighting the Illinois' senator's optimism and his opposition to the war in Iraq.

But the truth is that TV watchers of all ages in Philly and statewide are seeing more Obama ads than the Geico cavemen, the Bud Light "Dude," or Apple's "Mac" and "PC" combined, on shows ranging from the testosterone of Phillies baseball to the estrogen-laden "Oprah."

Political experts say that the cash-rich Obama campaign has shattered records for spending money on TV ads in Pennsylvania, especially on a per-week basis.

Neil Oxman, the veteran Philadelphia media consultant who's done many statewide races, including Gov. Rendell's, said that the Obama campaign has been spending money on TV at an astounding rate, with most of the Ohio senator's roughly $6 million in buys in the last three weeks.

Oxman, who is not affiliated with either candidate, and obtained the numbers from television stations statewide, said that Obama has nearly tripled his rival in the April 22 Democratic primary, Sen. Hillary Clinton, who's spent about $2.1 million.

What's more, most pundits agree, the TV ad blitz - mostly highlighting Obama's unique life story and his economic proposals - seems to have had the intended impact. Although polls have varied, for the most part Obama trailed Clinton in the double digits when he started running the ads, and now most surveys show him closing to a single-digit gap.

"I don't think you turn the corner just by advertising," said Jon Delano, the Pittsburgh TV pundit who also teaches politics at Carnegie-Mellon University. But he believes the ads are indeed a large reason why the race has tightened.

With his big-bucks, big-media approach, Obama has demolished one of the myths going into the Pennsylvania primary: that the only way to succeed here was through old-fashioned, shoe-leather, retail politics. The upstart senator has done that, with a six-day bus tour that received good news coverage except for Obama's lack of bowling prowess - but paid TV has really been a cornerstone of his strategy.

In fact, TNS Media Intelligence/CMAG - which monitors political ads - reported yesterday that Obama has aired a whopping 100,000 TV commercials from coast-to-coast, five times as many as John Kerry aired in winning the 2004 nomination. (Clinton has run 60,000.)

Indeed, if Obama has a successful primary here, the key may not have been what he's done on the ground in April but the remarkable feats he accomplished at fundraisers and over the Web in the winter. That's when Obama took in donations - many from small and first-time donors - at record rates, with a $55 million haul in February and $40 million last month, bringing his total for the campaign to $230 million.

The Clinton campaign, in contrast, has been on a tight budget, which is why it's been so outspent on the airwaves, even with new commercials featuring Rendell and Mayor Nutter launching this week. In fact, Obama was also running ads in the May 6 primary states of North Carolina and Indiana some 10 days before Clinton's went up.

Oxman said one reason that the Obama campaign spends so much on TV is that his campaign appeals to diverse voting blocs that don't all watch the same programs.

"His demographics include the college-educated, which is one kind of buy, but then voters under 30 and African-Americans, which are different buys," Oxman explained. "So he's forced to buy everything."

G. Terry Madonna, the political scientist and pollster from Franklin and Marshall College, agreed that the Obama ad blitz has been effective, but said Clinton should not be counted out.

"This is what she's done in the other states, she's counterpunched," Madonna said. "Now she's got Rendell and Nutter and her 'hometown girl' spot [showing her youthful summers near Scranton] - and she's counterpunching."
source-http://www.philly.com/

which card game is also known as 21

which card game is also known as 21
One of the most common and popular of casino card games is the game of Blackjack
Blackjack (also known as 21) is one of the most popular casino card games in the world. Blackjack is mixed with clear elements of skill
Blackjack is single of the most noted casino playing-card games at the planet. It is also in many cases or instances called as 21.

Oracle looks to India for financial services business

Oracle looks to India for financial services business
Oracle's i-flex subsidiary changes its name to Oracle Financial Services and acquires Flexcel International

Oracle plans to make its Indian subsidiary a hub for its strategy for the financial services market. I-flex solutions, the Indian banking software subsidiary of Oracle, said Friday that in line with these plans, it will change its name to Oracle Financial Services.

The new branding reflects the importance that Oracle attaches to the financial services sector, a notice to the Bombay Stock Exchange quoted Charles Phillips, Oracle’s president, and a director of i-flex, as saying on Friday. Oracle Financial Services will be a focal point for Oracle's investment in innovation and leadership in financial services, Oracle said.

I-flex also announced Friday its plans to acquire the entire stake in Flexcel International, a joint venture it had set up with HDFC Bank in Mumbai to offer its banking software in an application service provider (ASP) model to small banks.

Based in Mumbai, i-flex is a vendor of banking and financial services software and services. It has 790 customers in over 130 countries. Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI),a financial institution in Central America, for example, has recently deployed i-flex’s Flexcube banking software.

Oracle currently owns 81 percent of the equity of i-flex. The change of name is subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals, i-flex said.

The local managers who set up i-flex will however continue to manage the company, a spokesman for i-flex said on Friday.

Oracle acquired from Citigroup's venture capital unit about 40 percent of the equity in i-flex in 2005, and raised its stake in the subsidiary in stages. The acquisition of a stake in i-flex was part of Oracle's move to expand beyond general purpose ERP (enterprise resource planning) applications and into more industry specific software, Oracle said at the time.

Oracle also has product development and services centers in India.

i-flex Solutions to change its name to Oracle Financial Services Ltd

i-flex Solutions to change its name to Oracle Financial Services Ltd
i-flex Solutions Ltd has announced that the Board of Directors of the Company at its meeting held on April 04, 2008 has approved a proposal to change the name of i-flex solutions Ltd to Oracle Financial Services Ltd, subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals.
The proposed new name reflects the Companys close strategic and operational alignment with its parent, Oracle Corporation, which owns 81 percent of the Company. Oracle is the #1 enterprise software provider and counts 10 of the top 10 banks, insurance Companies and securities firms among its more than 8,500 financial services customers across 145 countries.
The new Oracle Financial Services brand represents:
The industrys most comprehensive range of packaged software and services solutions for financial services across banking, capital markets, and insurance-all from Oracle.
Deep domain expertise in the financial services industry coupled with world-class software development and support experience
A unique combination of integrated and best-of-breed business solutions for the industry
A business process-oriented approach that aligns IT initiatives with business requirements and enables an evolutionary transformation of IT infrastructure
A strong commitment to open systems and industry standards, helping to ensure interoperability
A partner-oriented approach that enables partners to deliver increased value around the solutions offered by Oracle Financial Services
The new branding strategy demonstrates the synergies of scale, resources, expertise and efficiency across the two organizations. The current management team under N.R.K. Raman, CEO and Managing Director, will continue to run the operations of the Company.
The new branding reflects the importance that Oracle attaches to the financial services sector, said Charles Phillips, Oracle President and Director of i-flex solutions Ltd., Oracle Financial Services Ltd will be a focal point for Oracles investment in innovation and leadership in financial services, and we are delighted to put the power and credibility of the Oracle brand behind this strategic initiative.
Our new corporate identity represents a unique combination of the industry-leading solutions portfolio and deep domain expertise of i-flex and the global capability, credibility, scale and technology leadership embodied by the Oracle brand, coming together to deliver comprehensive solutions to financial institutions around the world, said Rajesh Hukku, Chairman, i-flex solutions Ltd., and General Manager, Oracle Financial Services Global Business Unit.
N R K Raman, CEO & Managing Director, i-flex solutions Ltd., also commented, The new identity will enable us to better leverage the global reach, infrastructure and brand visibility of Oracle to accelerate our growth. This is an important enabler of our mission to help financial institutions around the world excel through the effective use of information technology.

http://www.crestedbuttereelfest.com/?p=65

oracle financial services

oracle financial services
I-flex Morphs into Oracle Financial Services
Indian fintech vendor I-flex is changing its company name to Oracle Financial Services, to reflect its "close strategic and operational alignment" with parent company Oracle, which holds a 81 per cent stake in its business.

Google Offers to Host Services on App Engine

Google Offers to Host Services on App Engine

Google is offering to host enterprise web applications on its own infrastructure with a new tool for developers, App Engine.

It isn't the first to do so -- App Engine will compete with similar services such as Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud and Salesforce's Appexchange -- but it may be the cheapest, as Google's basic services will be free.

Google's goal is to make it easy to get started with a new web application, and then make it easy to scale when that application reaches the point where it's receiving significant traffic and has millions of users, Google said in its new App Engine blog.

App Engine is based on technologies Google already uses. It is powered by Bigtable, a distributed storage system currently used by its Google Earth service, and by Google's own file system GFS.

The search giant is treading lightly, so far. The version launched on Monday is a preview release, and is by no means feature complete, according to Google.

Only 10,000 developers will be able to sign up initially, but that number will increase.

During the preview period, capacity will also be limited. Applications will for example be able to use 500M bytes of storage, and transmit up to 10G bytes of data per day. Google expects most applications will be able to serve around 5 million page views per month within those limits.

Google is keeping mum on how it will price the service, but applications operating within the limitations of the preview release will remain free, even when App Engine goes live.

App Engine will initially only support applications written in Python, but Google is looking to add support for other languages as well.

Google launches App Engine

Google launches App Engine


Google has just announced the preview release of Google App Engine, which the company is describing as " an application-hosting tool that developers can use to build scalable web apps on top of Google's infrastructure." Think of it like Amazon's web services, but as a fully integrated solution. With Amazon's services, developers can mix and match the various components with each other or with other solutions -- Google App Engine is a one-stop shop of sorts.

Most appealing, Google App Engine is free. During the preview, there are only spots for the first 10,000 developers who sign up, but Google's information page says that free accounts will be available after the initial preview. Of course, the free accounts do have resource limitations (500MB of storage and 5 million page views a month), but free is free!

Let's get into the details:

Applications can be served from the free appspot.com domain or from an external domain via Google Apps
Python is the only language supported right now -- Google says they look forward to supporting other languages in the future, but for right now -- Python is where it is at
Google's service API is built into App Engine -- so Google Accounts can be easily integrated into an application
During the developer preview users are able to register up to 3 applications
The SDK is available for Mac, Windows and Linux
From our perspective, this news is exciting -- if not for what it offers right now -- but for the potential in the future. Only initially supporting Python is a curious choice (though we are big fans of Django), but the ability for developers to execute scalable apps using Google's resources -- for free -- is extremely exciting.

source-http://www.downloadsquad.com/

Google Plays Host For Web Developers With Google App Engine

Google Plays Host For Web Developers With Google App Engine

Google announced on Monday the release of Google App Engine, which allows outside developers to build and run their applications on top of Google’s infrastructure, making it easier for them to focus on the applications, rather than on system administration and maintenance, the company said.

Pete Koomen, product manager at Google, said in a statement: “Google has spent years developing infrastructure for scalable web applications. We’ve brought Gmail and Google search to hundreds of millions of people worldwide, and we’ve built out a powerful network of datacenters to support those applications. Today we’re taking the first step in making this infrastructure available to all developers.”

For the time being, Google App Engine will only be available to a maximum of 10,000 sign ups, the company said, giving each developer a restriction to the free quota of 500MB of storage and the necessary CPU and network bandwidth to sustain approximately 5 million page views per month for a typical app.

“The goal is to make it easy to get started with a new web app, and then make it easy to scale when that app reaches the point where it’s receiving significant traffic and has millions of users,” said Paul McDonald, Product Manager for Google.

Google Apps Engine will give access to the same building block Google uses for its own applications, offering dynamic webserving with full support of common web technologies, persistent storage with Bigtable and GFS, automatic scaling and load balancing, Google APIs for authenticating users and sending email and fully featured local development environment.

source-http://www.efluxmedia.com/

Kodak EasyShare Z1275 Higher Resolution and Less Expensive

Kodak EasyShare Z1275 Higher Resolution and Less Expensive


The Kodak EasyShare Z1275 is a “higher-resolution version of the eight-megapixel Kodak EasyShare Z885?, trustedreviews.com has reported.

Although it was noted that the camera is bulkier than other models and weights 161 grams before two AA batteries are inserted, the camera is less expensive than other 12-megapixel digital compact models, such as the Casio Z1200 or the Sony W200.

Kodak EasyShare Z1275 camera's 5x optical zoom lens is described as “longer than average”, while other features include optional manual focus and its video mode, which allows the zoom to be used while shooting.

It is estimated that the length of video recording can be up to 80 minutes or 2GB, based on memory capacity.

In addition, the reviewer asserted that the camera is capable of producing “good picture quality”, with “flawless” colour reproduction in good light.

According to the manufacturer, the Kodak EasyShare Z1275 also features a high-resolution LCD screen, as well as a digital image stabiliser and a selection of five white balance modes.
source-http://www.huliq.com/

Kodak EasyShare Z1275

Kodak EasyShare Z1275

Kodak EasyShare Z1275 Higher Resolution and Less Expensive


The Kodak EasyShare Z1275 is a “higher-resolution version of the eight-megapixel Kodak EasyShare Z885?, trustedreviews.com has reported.

Although it was noted that the camera is bulkier than other models and weights 161 grams before two AA batteries are inserted, the camera is less expensive than other 12-megapixel digital compact models, such as the Casio Z1200 or the Sony W200.

Kodak EasyShare Z1275 camera's 5x optical zoom lens is described as “longer than average”, while other features include optional manual focus and its video mode, which allows the zoom to be used while shooting.

It is estimated that the length of video recording can be up to 80 minutes or 2GB, based on memory capacity.

In addition, the reviewer asserted that the camera is capable of producing “good picture quality”, with “flawless” colour reproduction in good light.

According to the manufacturer, the Kodak EasyShare Z1275 also features a high-resolution LCD screen, as well as a digital image stabiliser and a selection of five white balance modes.

source-http://www.huliq.com/

Next-gen internet: Grid Internet

Next-gen internet: Grid Internet

The Grid: Next-gen Internet 10,000 times faster than broadband

THE internet could soon be made obsolete. The scientists who pioneered it have now built a lightning-fast replacement capable of downloading entire feature films within seconds.
At speeds about 10,000 times faster than a typical broadband connection, “the grid” will be able to send the entire Rolling Stones back catalogue from Britain to Japan in less than two seconds.
The latest spin-off from Cern, the particle physics centre that created the web, the grid could also provide the kind of power needed to transmit holographic images; allow instant online gaming with hundreds of thousands of players; and offer high-definition video telephony for the price of a local call.
David Britton, professor of physics at Glasgow University and a leading figure in the grid project, believes grid technologies could “revolutionise” society. “With this kind of computing power, future generations will have the ability to collaborate and communicate in ways older people like me cannot even imagine,” he said.
The power of the grid will become apparent this summer after what scientists at Cern have termed their “red button” day - the switching-on of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the new particle accelerator built to probe the origin of the universe. The grid will be activated at the same time to capture the data it generates.
Cern, based near Geneva, started the grid computing project seven years ago when researchers realised the LHC would generate annual data equivalent to 56m CDs - enough to make a stack 40 miles high.
This meant that scientists at Cern - where Sir Tim Berners-Lee invented the web in 1989 - would no longer be able to use his creation for fear of causing a global collapse.
This is because the internet has evolved by linking together a hotchpotch of cables and routing equipment, much of which was originally designed for telephone calls and therefore lacks the capacity for high-speed data transmission.
By contrast, the grid has been built with dedicated fibre optic cables and modern routing centres, meaning there are no outdated components to slow the deluge of data. The 55,000 servers already installed are expected to rise to 200,000 within the next two years.
Professor Tony Doyle, technical director of the grid project, said: “We need so much processing power, there would even be an issue about getting enough electricity to run the computers if they were all at Cern. The only answer was a new network powerful enough to send the data instantly to research centres in other countries.”
That network, in effect a parallel internet, is now built, using fibre optic cables that run from Cern to 11 centres in the United States, Canada, the Far East, Europe and around the world.
One terminates at the Rutherford Appleton laboratory at Harwell in Oxfordshire.
From each centre, further connections radiate out to a host of other research institutions using existing high-speed academic networks.
It means Britain alone has 8,000 servers on the grid system – so that any student or academic will theoretically be able to hook up to the grid rather than the internet from this autumn.
Ian Bird, project leader for Cern’s high-speed computing project, said grid technology could make the internet so fast that people would stop using desktop computers to store information and entrust it all to the internet.
“It will lead to what’s known as cloud computing, where people keep all their information online and access it from anywhere,” he said.
Computers on the grid can also transmit data at lightning speed. This will allow researchers facing heavy processing tasks to call on the assistance of thousands of other computers around the world. The aim is to eliminate the dreaded “frozen screen” experienced by internet users who ask their machine to handle too much information.
The real goal of the grid is, however, to work with the LHC in tracking down nature’s most elusive particle, the Higgs boson. Predicted in theory but never yet found, the Higgs is supposed to be what gives matter mass.
The LHC has been designed to hunt out this particle - but even at optimum performance it will generate only a few thousand of the particles a year. Analysing the mountain of data will be such a large task that it will keep even the grid’s huge capacity busy for years to come.
Although the grid itself is unlikely to be directly available to domestic internet users, many telecoms providers and businesses are already introducing its pioneering technologies. One of the most potent is so-called dynamic switching, which creates a dedicated channel for internet users trying to download large volumes of data such as films. In theory this would give a standard desktop computer the ability to download a movie in five seconds rather than the current three hours or so.
Additionally, the grid is being made available to dozens of other academic researchers including astronomers and molecular biologists.
It has already been used to help design new drugs against malaria, the mosquito-borne disease that kills 1m people worldwide each year. Researchers used the grid to analyse 140m compounds - a task that would have taken a standard internet-linked PC 420 years.
“Projects like the grid will bring huge changes in business and society as well as science,” Doyle said.
“Holographic video conferencing is not that far away. Online gaming could evolve to include many thousands of people, and social networking could become the main way we communicate.
“The history of the internet shows you cannot predict its real impacts but we know they will be huge.” (c) Times Online

Super-fast 'grid' could make internet obsolete

Super-fast 'grid' could make internet obsolete

Scientists have designed a super-fast information network capable of downloading data at 10,000 times the speed of a typical broadband connection.

Particle physics research centre CERN has designed the network, dubbed "the grid", to cope with the staggering amount of data its new particle accelerator will produce, The Times reports.

CERN's particle accelerator, called the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), has been built to shed light on the origins of the universe and will produce enough data each year to fill 56 million CDs.

The scope of the task meant scientists at CERN needed to create a network capable of handling and analysing enormous amounts of data.

The grid is a kind of parallel internet, consisting of 55,000 servers connected to each other using fibre optic cables and modern routers. The internet, in comparison, relies on technology originally designed for telephony, which slows the transfer of data.

Fibre optic cables run from CERN to 11 other research institutes around the world. Each of these centres connects to existing high-speed academic networks.

Computers on the grid are able to send entire movies to personal computers in seconds, rather than minutes or hours, and could enable holographic video calls and online gaming involving hundreds of thousands of people.

The Times quoted David Britton, a physics professor at Glasgow University, as saying the grid technologies could "revolutionise society".

"With this kind of computing power, future generations will have the ability to collaborate and communicate in ways older people like me cannot imagine".

The grid will help the scientists at CERN analyse data from the LHC, which has been set up to locate the Higgs boson, an elusive particle which theoretically gives matter mass.

The 27km-long LHC will shoot beams of protons at each other in an attempt to recreate conditions similar to those that followed the big bang.

The LHC has been the focus of some controversy, with an American and a Spaniard launching a lawsuit claiming it could create a black hole which will destroy the earth.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee is credited with inventing the internet at CERN in 1989.

source-http://news.ninemsn.com.au/

Superfast internet may replace world wide web

Superfast internet may replace world wide web

The internet could soon be made obsolete by a new "grid" system which is 10,000 times faster than broadband connections.

Scientists in Switzerland have developed a lightning-fast replacement to the internet that would allow feature films and music catalogues to be downloaded within seconds.

The invention could signal the end of the dreaded 'frozen screen', when computers seize up after being asked to process too much information.

The latest spin-off from Cern, the particle physics centre that created the internet, the grid could also provide the power needed to send sophisticated images; allow instant online gaming with hundreds of thousands of players; and offer high-definition video telephony for the price of a local call.

David Britton, professor of physics at Glasgow University and a leading figure in the grid project, believes grid technology could change society.

He said: "With this kind of computing power, future generations will have the ability to collaborate and communicate in ways older people like me cannot even imagine."

The power of the grid will be unlocked this summer with the switching on of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a new particle accelerator designed to investigate how the universe began.

The grid will be turned on at the same time to store the information it generates, after scientists at Cern, based near Geneva, realised the internet would not have the capacity to capture such huge volumes of data.

The grid has been built with fibre optic cables and modern routing centres, meaning there are no outdated components to slow the deluge of data, unlike the internet.

There are 55,000 grid servers already installed, a figure which is expected to rise to 200,000 within the next two years.

Professor Tony Doyle, technical director of the grid project, said: "We need so much processing power, there would even be an issue about getting enough electricity to run the computers if they were all at Cern.

"The only answer was a new network powerful enough to send the data instantly to research centres in other countries."

Britain has 8,000 servers on the grid system, meaning access could be available to universities as early as this autumn.

source-http://www.telegraph.co.uk/