Yahoo rolls out new social email

Yahoo Inc. is getting more open and more social. The Internet giant said Monday that it was rolling out features designed to make its e-mail service and other properties more like popular social networking sites Facebook and MySpace. The features, more than a year in the making, are the brainchild of Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang, who previewed them in a keynote speech at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. Since becoming CEO in June 2007, Yang pushed Yahoo to open up to outside content and to tap into the underlying social connections in its properties.

Yahoo, which is weathering a wrenching downturn including layoffs that began last week, hopes to turn the tide with new features that help its 275 million e-mail users form bonds with friends, colleagues and family to share information and track one another’s activities. The Sunnyvale, Calif., company is also opening its e-mail service to features created by other companies such as online movie site Flixster. The strategy will outlast Yang, who is stepping down once his successor is found. That search is in its early stages, with several candidates being considered. A final decision is expected early next year. Yahoo plans to incorporate the new features into its overhauled home page, its toolbar for browsing the Web and personalized home pages. What isn’t clear is how these new features will help Yahoo make more money from its giant Web audience.

Source: LA Times

World AIDS Day

It's World AIDS Day, so how fitting that New York City -- which along with San Francisco was most certainly Ground Zero of the early days of AIDS -- has finally gotten a fitting monument to the more than 60,000 city residents we have lost to this heinous disease. (Can you believe one didn't already exist? It seems every time a plan was hatched the organizers would pull back knowing that money was better-spent on AIDS research.)

Also on this 20th observance of World AIDS Day, we find ourselves in a cautiously optimistic position. While new infections in younger gay men and some minority groups are up and the search for a vaccine has stalled, a new study suggests that immediate treatment after testing positive for AIDS -- rather than waiting for immune depression to kick in -- could not only help people live longer and healthier lives, it may drastically reduce the spread of the virus. This "thought experiment," along with an incoming president who actually understands the importance of AIDS education and prevention -- and that condoms ARE pro-life -- give me hope for the next four years. On a more personal note, having three good friends who are truly "living with HIV" -- not "dying of AIDS" -- is all the evidence I need that things are much different than they were when World AIDS Day began in 1988.

The best of Obama, on T-shirts

A supporter of US Democratic presidential candidate Illinois Senator Barack Obama listens during a rally at Bicentennial Park in Miami, Florida, October 21, 2008. Obama will leave the White House trail later this week to head to the side of his gravely ill 85-year-old grandmother in Hawaii, just 11 days before the election. AFP PHOTO/Emmanuel Dunand

A supporter of presidential candidate Barack Obama arrives to watch the televised final presidential debate between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain in Hollywood, California, on October 15, 2008. McCain accused surging Obama of waging “class warfare” as the Republican battled to revive his flagging White House hopes at their final debate. AFP PHOTO/Jewel SAMAD

A supporter of US Democratic presidential candidate Illinois Senator Barack Obama shouts slogans during a rally in Minneapolis, Minnesota, 02 February 2008. Obama is on thecampaign trail to try to clinch the Democratic Party ticket in the race to the White House. AFP PHOTO/EMMANUEL DUNAND

A supporter of Democratic presidential candidate, US Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) waits on line to get into a campaign event September 8, 2008 at Mott Community College in Flint, Michigan. Obama is expected to speak about the economy at today’s event. Bill Pugliano/Getty Images/AFP =FOR NEWSPAPERS,INTERNET,TELCOS AND TELEVISION USE ONLY=

US Democratic presidential candidate Illinois Senator Barack Obama supporters attend as he speaks under rain during a rally with running mate Joe Biden at the University of Mary Washington during a rally in Fredericksburg, Virginia, September 27, 2008. AFP PHOTO/Emmanuel Dunand

A supporter of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama arrives to watch the televised final presidential debate between Obama and Republican John McCain in Hollywood, California, on October 15, 2008. McCain accused surging Obama of waging “class warfare” as the Republican battled to revive his flagging White House hopes at their final debate. AFP PHOTO/Jewel SAMAD

Delegate Preston Harden of Atlanta, Georgia, sports a Barack Obama shirt during theDemocratic National Convention (DNC) at the Pepsi Center on August 27, 2008 in Denver. US Sen. Barack Obama will be officially nominated as the Democratic candidate for the November presidential election on August 28. AFP PHOTO/Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS AND TELEVISION USE ONLY

US Democratic presidential candidate Illinois Senator Barack Obama supporters during a rally at Knology Park in Dunedin, Florida, September 24, 2008. AFP PHOTO/Emmanuel Dunand

Supporters of US Democratic presidential candidate Illinois Senator Barack Obama listen during a campaign rally on March 03, 2008 in Houston, Texas. Obama bids to knock Hillary Clinton out of the White House race on March 4, 2008 after a mud-slinging campaign that Democratic grandees fear is helping nobody but Republican heir John McCain.

A model presents a creation by French designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac during the spring/summer 2009 ready-to-wear collection show in Paris, on October 03, 2008. AFP PHOTO PIERRE VERD

A model present a creation after Sonia Rykiel spring/summer 2009 ready-to-wear collection show in Paris, on October 01, 2008. Sonia Rykiel celebrates the 40th anniversary of her house. AFP PHOTO PIERRE VERDY

T-Mobile sold first cells with Google Android

Christopher Laddise of San Francisco on Tuesday became the very first private owner of a T-Mobile G1, unwrapping the first smartphone running Google’s open-source Android software platform to wild applause at a special pre-launch event in the City by the Bay.T-Mobile, headquartered in Bellevue, Wash., will officially launch the G1 at its retail stores in 95 cities across the United States Wednesday, many of which will open early at 8 a.m. for the release of the $179 handset, and as many as 1.5 million existing T-Mobile customers have reportedly pre-ordered the devices. But for one night only, a couple hundred customers who lined up outside the telecom provider’s store at Market and 3rd streets in downtown San Francisco had the 3G-enabled smartphone all to themselves.

The T-Mobile G1 is available with a two-year voice and data agreement. Support for Web-based services from Mountain View, Calif.-based Google includes popular apps like Gmail and Google Maps, and the G1’s full HTML Web browser is already winning rave reviews. In addition to T-Mobile’s 3G network, the G1 has built-in support for the telecom’s Edge network, as well as WiFi and GPS. The new smartphone, 4.6 inches by 0.6 inches and weighing 5.6 ounces, has a 3.2-inch HVGA touchscreen but also sports a QWERTY keyboard, unlike the iPhone. It featurs a 3.2 megapixel camera and a microSD card slot.

Source: CRN

Weird Animal

1. Pelochelys cantorii (Cantor's giant soft-shelled turtle)

The turtle is found primarily in inland, slow-moving fresh water rivers and streams. Cantor's giant soft-shelled turtles can grow up to 6 feet (about 2 meters) in length and weigh more than 100 pounds (about 50 kilograms). 

2. Matamata Turtle

The mata mata inhabits slow moving, blackwater streams, stagnant pools, marshes, and swamps ranging into northern Bolivia, eastern Peru, Ecuador, eastern Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas, and northern and central Brazil. The mata mata is strictly an aquatic species but it prefers standing in shallow water where its snout can reach the surface to breathe.

3. Patagonian Cavy (Mara)

A large rodent that looks sort of like a rabbit, sort of like a donkey. The Patagonian Mara lives in Central and Southern Argentina. Maras inhabit arid grasslands and scrub desert

4. Saiga Antelope

Saiga is classified as critically endangered by the IUCN. There is an estimated total number of 50,000 Saigas today, which live in Kalmykia, three areas of Kazakhstan and in two isolated areas of Mongolia.

5. Star nosed mole

The Star-nosed Mole lives in wet lowland areas and eats small invertebrates, aquatic insects, worms and mollusks. It is a good swimmer and can forage along the bottoms of streams and ponds. Like other moles, this animal digs shallow surface tunnels for foraging; often, these tunnels exit underwater.
The incredibly sensitive nasal tentacles are covered with almost one hundred thousand minute touch receptors known as Eimer's organs.

6. Elephant shrew

They are widely distributed across the southern part of Africa, and although common nowhere, can be found in almost any type of habitat, from the Namib Desert to boulder-strewn outcrops in South Africa to thick forest.

7. Long-beaked echidna

Echidnas are one of the two types of mammals that lay eggs (the other one is platypus). The long-beaked echidna is found in New Guinea, where it is widespread.

8. Pink Fairy Armadillo

It is found in central Argentina where it inhabits dry grasslands and sandy plains with thorn bushes and cacti. It has the ability to bury itself completely in a matter of seconds if frightened.
The Pink Fairy Armadillo burrows small holes near ant colonies in dry dirt. It feeds mainly on ants and ant larvae near its burrow.

9. Long-eared Jerboa

"The Mickey Mouse of the desert" - mouse-like rodent with a long tail, long hind legs for jumping, and exceptionally large ears. The jerboa, found in the deserts of Mongolia and China, is listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List

Craziest Houses

Upside-Down House - Poland
This structure is not a mistake. The upside-down house really was built just as it looks. Designer Daniel Czapiewski created it as a critique of the "upside-down" nature of his country's former communist government. Located in Szymbark, Poland.

Floating House - Ukraine
Though it seems to defy the laws of nature, this structure in the Ukraine is apparently supported by the beams on the right hand side of the image. It looks a bit fake, don't you think?

Mushroom House - Ohio
For only $400,000, you could be living in your own fairytale-style mushroom house located in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Rotating House - Germany
Architect Rolf Disch was thinking green when he built this structure near Freiburg, Germany. The house rotates with the movement of the sun in winter to save on heating costs. Maybe there's a renter's discount if you get dizzy easily?

Berman House - Australia
The Berman House in Joadja, Australia hangs over a deep canyon below. I'm sure the views must be spectacular.

Pod House - New York
Located in New Rochelle, the Pod House's interesting organic design is based on the structure of a weed called Queen Anne's Lace.

Habitat 67 - Canada
These playful apartments in Montreal feature a unique building block design.

Wooden Sphere House - Canada
The sphere house in British Columbia, Canada takes simplicity to a whole new level. The sphere is anchored to its surroundings using ropes and spiral staircases.

Cube Houses - The Netherlands
The Dutch seem to be building more than their fair share of interesting houses, as evidenced by these "cube houses" in Rotterdam. Architect Piet Blom intentionally tipped the houses 45 degrees on their side. Cutting edge yes, but not good for those with vertigo.

Gangster House - Russia
This soaring wooden tower in Archangelsk, Russia was built by local gangster Nikolai Sutyagin. He never quite got around to finishing its construction - he was jailed before the work was completed.

Cactus House - The Netherlands
The balconies of the Cactus House apartment building in Rotterdam were designed to maximize outdoor gardening space for tenants.

Selamat Idul Fitri 1429 H

Minal aidin Wal Faidzin, Mohon Maaf Lahir & Bathin

Taqabbalallahu minna wa minkum, taqabbal yaa karim.

Saya mohon maaf lahir maupun batin atas segala kesalahan yang saya perbuat baik yang disengaja maupun tidak. Selamat berlebaran, selamat mudik, selamat berkumpul dengan keluarga dan sanak saudara.