Hi all,
    The first of April, April Fools Day, has caught up as a major celebration event during the past few years… Spearheaded by Google, the fad has picked up among many a company… Here, we glance at what we might witness tomorrow…

Google
They spearheaded the movement! They started off in 2002 with a funny page detailing about their patented “Pigeon Rank” technology to be actually run by pigeons! Then they went on about a Google Drink, and last year, it was Google Rooms, with Larry Page’s room being displayed in Google Earth…

What will it be this time? Lets wait and watch…

Microsoft
Well, they seem to be quite “with-the-trend” these days… Extremely trendy… So wont they be adopting the 1st April fad as well? With MSN Live and MySpace, it seems like a easy job for old Bill to pull of a really good joke… You with it?

Yahoo
They’re Googlising themselves… So wont they adapt with the Google fad? I believe Yahoo had something going last April… Interesting…

More to come…

Technorati Tags: april, fools, day, google, microsoft, yahoo

    Google’s commitment to “green” means that the company sources carpet and sofas made without PVC, paints without volatile organic compounds, and cafeteria food from local growers. It’s not surprising, then, that they would roll out the largest commercial solar deployment in the US—a 1.6MW installation that covers most of the buildings at Google’s campus and extends even to shaded parking spaces. At the ETech conference in San Diego this week, Google’s Anthony Ravitz explained how Google did it, and why.

    The move to solar made sense for Google, and not just “hippie Gaia-loving” sense. Ravitz said that Google will earn its investment back in 7.5 years, after which it will continue to enjoy inexpensive power for decades. With the company sprawled across a large campus of many low buildings, roof space was easily available. Solar also has the unique property of pumping out more energy when power is the most expensive—peak afternoon hours. When air conditioners across California kick into action on sunny days, Google generates the most power.

    It’s still an expensive tech to install (though prices are dropping). Ravitz wouldn’t give an exact figure for the project, but did say that it was only doable thanks to subsidies from local utility PG&E and a generous federal tax credit.

    9,212 Sharp photovoltaic modules now cover the rooftops of the Googleplex, each one capable of pumping out 208W of DC power in full sun. To gain even more solar surface area, Google installed solar panels as “shades” over several of its parking lots, keeping cars cool and generating power at the same time. The installation can generate 30 percent of Google’s peak demand power, or enough to light about 1,000 California homes.

    The solar modules are wired in series, 14 to each circuit, and their output is sent to 10 SatCon inverters. The inverters transform the DC power to utility-grade AC, and are 96 percent efficient at installation (efficiency drops each year that they are in operation). The inverters are then tied into Google’s own power systems and the general electrical grid. The system is set up for “net metering,” which means that any excess power generated by the panels is pumped back into the state grid and Google receives a credit for that power.

    It’s a textbook example of the convergence of business and environmental concerns, and Ravitz hopes that Google’s example will inspire other firms to explore alternative energy sources. It seems to have helped: an even bigger 1.9MW installation is going in just down the road.

Source : Ars Technica news desk

Technorati Tags: google, green, solar

Hi,
    Today is a day of wonders! And yet another pet saves yet another owner! Read up the full supplement(Original Source : BreitBart)!

CALVERT, Md. (AP) - Toby, a 2-year-old golden retriever, saw his owner choking on a piece of fruit and began jumping up and down on the woman’s chest. The dog’s owner believes the dog was trying to perform the Heimlich maneuver and saved her life.

Debbie Parkhurst, 45, of Calvert told the Cecil Whig she was eating an apple at her home Friday when a piece lodged in her throat. She attempted to perform the Heimlich maneuver on herself but it didn’t work. After she began beating on her chest, she said Toby noticed and got involved.

“The next think I know, Toby’s up on his hind feet and he’s got his front paws on my shoulders,” she recalled. “He pushed me to the ground, and once I was on my back, he began jumping up and down on my chest.”

That’s when the apple dislodged and Toby started licking her face to keep her from passing out, she said.

“I literally have pawprint-shaped bruises on my chest. I’m still a little hoarse, but otherwise, I’m OK,” Parkhurst said.

“The doctor said I probably wouldnt be here without Toby,” said Parkhurst, a jewelry artist. “I keep looking at him and saying ‘Youre amazing.’”

Wondorous isnt it?

Technorati Tags: dog, pet, pets, save, saves, owner, choking, heimlich, news

Hey all,
    In a *HOT* event today, it has been reported than John McCain, the presidential hopeful, had a MySpace page, which used a template designed by Newsvine CEO, Mike Davidson. Davidson, mad that the presidential hopeful had hot linked the images from his site, played a prank, by changing an image to pronounce -

Today I announce that I have reversed my position and come out in full
support of gay marriage…particularly marriage between two passionate
females.

    The full news was reported by Arrington TechCrunch which, I must say, produced quite a few giggles as it spread across the Digg net The post posted at TechCrunch(http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/03/27/john-mccains-myspace-page-hacked/) went on like this -

Someone on Presidential hopeful John McCain’s staff is going to be
in trouble today. They used a well known template to create his Myspace page. The template was designed by Newsvine Founder and CEO Mike Davidson (original template is here).
Davidson gave the template code away to anyone who wanted to use it,
but asked that he be given credit when it was used, and told users to
host their own image files.

McCain’s staff used his template, but didn’t give Davidson credit.
Worse, he says, they use images that are on his server, meaning he has
to pay for the bandwidth used from page views on McCain’s site.

Davidson decided to play a small prank on the campaign this morning
as retribution. Since he’s in control of some of the images on the
site, he replaced one that shows contact information with a statement:

Today I announce that I have reversed my position and
come out in full support of gay marriage…particularly marriage between
two passionate females.

The story is also up at Newsvine here. This reminds me of a similar situation when Microsoft used an image hosted on Flickr on one of its blogs without the permission
of the owner, Niall Kennedy. Niall replaced the picture with a
pornographic image, which was then published on the blog. His idea was
to send a message to Microsoft on the importance of respecting
licensing of IP, although some people thought it was childish.

McCain’s MySpace page is significantly higher profile than the
Microsoft blog, and Davidson isn’t posting pornography to the site.
He’s making a political statement while also sending a message about
respecting the property rights of others. I expect the changes to be
reversed quickly, unless the wrong person is sick or out to lunch
today. Either way, we’ve captured it above.

    Interesting isnt it? I would like to see McCain’s reaction to this

Technorati Tags: John, McCain, MySpace, hacked, newsvine, davidson, prank, hotlinking, template, enhanced

Hi all,
    Loads of messages and email forwards have been passed on about the various tricks and treats available with Google Search. Well, this one just surpases all others (except for the time when a click on “I’m feeling lucky” with the keyword “failure” directed you to the website of the White House ).

    This little script here, yet again handed down by generations of email forwards, claims(the claims have been tested and made too good use by me ) to get you free MP3 or music downloads via Google of the music of your choice.

    Copy paste this query into the Google Search bar, and click Search.

-inurl:(htm|html|php) intitle:”index of” +”last modified” +”parent directory” +description +size +(wma|mp3) “LINKIN PARK“

    Replace “LINKIN PARK” with whatever you want - Name of the song, artist, year, anything! And Lo Behold, you get a series of “bookmark” sites from where you can easily download these songs

    Cheers Yet another hats off to Pigeon Rank technology

Technorati Tags: google, music, search, napster, illegal, mp3, downloads