Let Your Lost Laptop Shout for Help

Techtree News Staff, Mar 03, 2009 1444 hrs IST

'Retriever' -- a software that alerts the finder to return a lost laptop

Now here's a software that offers one-way negotiation with the finder of your laptop, when lost. Imagine your laptop shouting, "Help, I've been stolen!" or even better, "Get your hands off me!"


U.S. firm Front Door Software has developed 'Retriever' -- a software that alerts the finder to return a lost laptop.

When your lost laptop boots, the Retriever displays your contact information and a message (that you've fed in) to its finder.


Also, you can log on to the software's website and check a box indicating the computer is missing. After this, when the finder boots the laptop, a big yellow and red banner appears on the screen, announcing that the laptop lost or stolen. This is a recurring message set to reappear every 30 seconds, no matter how many times the finder closes the window.


Further, Retriever tries to connect via Wi-Fi to report its loss in the background.


So, you have an option for the software to display your contact details and let you make an offer for the finder, or log in to the software's website to display annoying messages till he makes an attempt to return your laptop.


However, such interesting software sure has a promising future. It could be incorporated into, say public toilets, where the toilet's door will not let the user get out of there till he's not flushed the pot!


Or perhaps such software could be worked upon for (along with trackers) to be installed in other devices that are more prone to getting stolen like cameras, mobile phones, and music players.


Anyway, the Retriever program costs around $30 (Rs. 1550) for 3 years. It currently only works with Microsoft Windows XP and Vista; a version for Mac OS is on its way.

Gmail Gets Multi-attachment Updates

Now this is what we call uploading made easy

Uploading multiple attachments at the same time just got enabled. Gmail has warded off the tedious job of uploading files one at a time. Now Gmail will let uploading multiple files at a time, albeit, the maximum limit of attachments remains 20MB only.

As per a recent post on the Official Gmail Blog, sending multiple files from the same folder is as easy as cup of coffee. To add multiple files, simply hold down the Control key (Ctrl) to select multiple files. For adding continuous file lists, hold down Shift key (Shift).

All the files will have separate upload progress bars. It appears that Google has installed a little Flash plugin to allow multiple simultaneous file uploads with progress bars.



We noticed that this new feature works on Firefox, Opera, Chrome and even on the recently released Safari 4. Yes, the feature doesn't work on Internet Explorer 8 RC 1 or earlier. Ouch! That would hurt the Internet Explorer users worldwide.

Windows 7 RC Gets 36 Changes

Techtree News Staff, Feb 28, 2009 0830 hrs IST

Windows 7 Release Candidate anticipated for release on April 10, 2009

After the overwhelming response to Windows 7 and requests for features from users, Microsoft has finally released the feature list of the Windows 7 Release Candidate. This release candidate of Windows 7 is expected to arrive on April 10, 2009, as per Ars Technica.

In all, Microsoft's senior program manager, Chaitanya Sareen, outlined 36 changes in the Windows 7 release candidate. Minor changes will give users more control than what they had in the Windows 7 beta. However, Paul Thurrott dismissed these "laundry list of tiny changes, much like the '300+ New Features!' lists that Apple makes every time it ships a new version of Mac OS X."
Here are a few important changes we'd like to highlight:

Windows Flip (Alt+Tab) with Aero Peek
The ALT+TAB window feature will be implemented in Aero Peek. Time delay in flipping between and cycling through windows will be displayed in the respective window through Aero Peek.

Keyboard shortcut: Windows Logo+ #
Keyboard speed and efficiency freaks would love the new keyboard shortcut - Windows Logo key + # key. This new shortcut will give you access to the taskbar for launching and switching to a program that is running.

Touch-y tweaks
This much hyped touch feature in Windows 7 gets some improvements like multi-touch keyboard, drag-n-drop support, and multi-touch right click in the release candidate.

Native .mov file support
Say adios to QuickTime, for now, Windows 7 RC will allow .mov file playback on the fly.

FAT32 support
Support for non-removable FAT32 and NTFS hard drives will be added, which was absent in Windows 7 Beta.

Several enhancements and performance tweaks have been added in the exhaustive list of changes. We know that the new features are going to disappoint many users (read: testers), but this time Microsoft is taking each step carefully to not repeat past mistakes.

Rumors based on insider information indicate the release of Windows 7 RC on April 10, 2009. Let's hope Microsoft has learned its lesson from the Windows 7 beta launch and will be well prepared for the Windows 7 Release Candidate roll-out.

Google Phone Search 1-800-41-999-999(toll free)

Google Phone Search - Voice Search for Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai New! and Bangalore New!, India

Google Phone Search is a new pilot service making local business information, movie times and real time flight status accessible from any phone.

Google Phone Search gives you the power of Google Search while you are on the go. This service is completely free of charge, bringing you the information you need, right when you need it the most. It can be reached from any phone number - landline or mobile.

Dial from any phone 1-800-41-999-999 (toll free)

Once you find the information you're looking for, you can:

• Get the information sent to you for free via SMS
• Have the information read to you

To give you the information you need quickly and efficiently, we are using a combination of advanced speech recognition technology and local experts - ensuring that you always find the best answers to your questions in the fastest way possible.

To find out more about getting other Google products on your mobile device, visit Google Mobile web site.

Note: Google Phone Search is still in its pilot stage and is available to users in Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, India only. It may not be available at all times and may not work for all users. We're fine-tuning the service to serve you better. It is currently only available in English, Hindi and Telugu.