Scour! Get paid to search...

While Google, Yahoo, and MSN are incredible search engines, Scour brings all of their greatness together! With Scour, all three engines are searched all at once for you, with the results returned quickly on one page. Every Scour member is able to vote each listing up or down based on its relevance to their keyword as well as comment on their experiences with the site. By blending user feedback with proven search algorithms the Scour community helps shapes the Scour brand of results.

Contribute

Ever spend time searching only to find that the results you need are buried under irrelevant ones? With the Scour voting and comment system, our goal is to introduce the human element of searching allowing you and all other Scour members to speak up and help shape the results with every search. See a result that doesn't match your search? Vote it down? See a site that is exactly what you wanted? Vote it up and tell us all why you liked it. After enough votes, the listings will move down in rank, placing the relevant ones where they should be, at the top! When using Scour you can read user reviews about websites based on your keyword taking a lot of the guesswork out of searching and getting to you destination quicker.

Reward

The top search engines make billions of dollars a year in advertising revenue, wouldn't it be cool if the users got a piece of that too? Enter Scour Points! Every member is awarded one point for every search, two for a vote and three for a comment with a maximum of 4 points a search. Once you aggregate at least 6,500 points you can cash them out for a $25 Visa gift card... it's more than you currently make from searching, right? On top of that, we offer referral points for the friends you introduce to Scour where you can earn 25% of the points they make. So if you invited 25 friends that used scour regularly in addition to yourself, that's an easy $125 in your pocket for a year of what you already do! Check out how much you could earn with the Scour Points Calculator. This isn't a pyramid scheme and we're not trying to get you rich quick, we just think it's a good idea to share our success with those who help make it possible.

Play a part in the Scour community and get rewarded for what you already do!

Opera 9.5 sparks 4.7 million downloads

While everyone's going crazy about Firefox 3, Opera Software's keeping low but that's not to say that they don't have reason to celebrate. In the five days following its launch of Opera 9.5, the browser achieved 4.7 million downloads. Well, it's not as much as Firefox, but I'd like to give them some credit.

"In addition to our primary focus on speed, security and standards compliance, we built Opera 9.5 with the typical user in mind. This means that we understand that people today cannot afford to be disconnected and that the Link between the computer and mobile phone is key to meeting future demands for the Web," says Jon von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software.

"Opera 9.5 has set a new standard for Opera Software. With almost five million downloads in five days, we are proud that our product will now be part of the daily lives of so many individuals."

First Mac OS X trojan found !

SecureMac a security vendor has discovered a series of Trojan, which are dangerous enough to hijack a Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5 remotely. Currently the Trojan is distributed from a hacker website. This website was also used for discussion on distributing the Trojan horse through iChat and Limewire, says SecureMac.

The AppleScript.THT Trojan horse can log keystrokes, take pictures with the built-in Apple iSight camera, take screenshots, and turn on file sharing. Also the Trojan horse exploits a recently discovered vulnerability with the Apple Remote Desktop Agent, allowing it to run as root.

Hmmm and everyone though just VISTA was vulnerable. Everything has a first time I guess. Hope Apple guys fix it quickly coz we are going to get our new Macbook Pro this coming weekend...

Must have Addons for Firefox

Is firefox the best browser available out there? Well its not the browser alone that makes Firefox a great browser, its the addons that make it unique. Its in this department that Microsoft's Internet Explorer loses out to Firefox.

If you guys havent tried firefox yet this is the best time coz the new Firefox 3 is quite a browser. Download it here. Follow the instruction in the page.

Now that you have firefox 3 installed lets enhance the browser experience with add-ons.

Must have addons:

1. Adblock Plus : How many times have you been frustrated by those web sites that are nothing short of ad farms? Say good bye to all those annoying ads with this add-on. Once you have installed this one, you'll never have to worry about ads!!! The best part is that it helps dial up users lot. Web pages will now load much faster as ads are not being loaded. So do try this one. Install Adblock Plus

2. Video DownloadHelper : How many times have you wanted to save that great video on youtube, google videos, metacafe or for that matter on any streaming website? Here's the best solution saving your favorite video. With Video Download Helper you can download almost every video that you'll ever want. Install Video DownlaodHelper         for more help on using it click here

3. Download Them All : This add-on lets you download files at high speed. It is all you can desire from a download manager: it features an advanced accelerator that increases speed up to 400% and it allows you to pause and resume downloads at any time.The best part is that you needn't pay for this acceleration unlike other download managers. Install DTA

So try these add-ons and have a guaranteed browsing experience. Hope all of you like them. I you have any better add-ons feel free and comment about them.

Screen your movies on YouTube

Google Inc.'s YouTube is setting up a virtual screening room to bring the work of independent filmmakers to a global audience.
Struggling filmmakers already use YouTube to kick-start viral marketing campaigns. The new feature, which debuts Wednesday, gives them an easy-to-find home - and makes them partners in drawing new ad revenue.
"Hopefully as they see thousands of people watching their films, it's going to be a very eye-opening experience," said Sara Pollack, YouTube's film and animation manager.
The screening room will highlight four new films a week, picked by a YouTube editorial panel.
Submissions are welcomed. The panel also will scour film festivals and work with partners such as the Sundance Channel to identify prospects.
Among the first eight titles to be showcased are "Love and War," a stop-motion puppet movie by a Swedish director; the Oscar-nominated short "I Met The Walrus," about an interview with John Lennon; and "Are You the Favorite Person of Anybody?" by performance artist Miranda July.
Filmmakers can choose to have a "Buy Now" button attached to their work for sales of DVDs or digital copies. They will also  collect a majority share of ad revenue generated from views of their work.
YouTube said people whose clips regularly attract a million viewers can make several thousand dollars a month.
The bigger prize can be exposure.
When YouTube featured the nine-minute short "Spider" by Nash Edgerton in February, it became the fifth-best selling short on iTunes, Pollack said.
The creators of the full-length feature "Four Eyed Monsters," Susan Buice and Arin Crumley, got their break when more than a million YouTube views helped land them a TV and DVD distribution deal, she said.
"They ended up doing really, really well, ironically by putting their film online for free," Pollack said.

Firefox 3 scores 8.3 million downloads in first 24 hours

As the clock just passes 18:16 GMT on June 18, signaling the end of the 24 hours period for counting the number of downloads Firefox 3.

8′290,908 is the exact number of Firefox 3 downloads, give or take a few thousands, with a strong 12 thousand downloads per minute rate at the time the mark was crossed.

Firefox Eats up IE

Firefox 3.0 was launched yesterday and we tried to investigate more on the web browser which seems to challenge the very giant of software industry. Internet browser came into being for the very first time in history when Netscape was introduced. But it was soon challenged by the very best in the industry, Microsoft. Poor Netscape guys couldn't withstand the competition and it got bankrupt. The saying "History repeats itself" proves once again to be true, with the recent upsurge of Firefox by Mozilla. Firefox being a freeware and installation being just over 7 mb, is a very neat and tidy utility.In honor of Firefox 3 release, Microsoft's Internet Explorer team gave a cake to Mozilla. The tasty treat, which prominently displays IE's blue "e" icon, arrived at Mozilla headquarters in Mountain View.
Microsoft's IE developers also sent a cake to Mozilla in 2006 following the release of Firefox 2, so this is clearly becoming a tradition. Portal jokes aside, the cake is a very friendly gesture of goodwill.
The new Firefox has nothing special as far as the interface and the appearance is considered but the coding seems to different and as claimed by Mozilla, "safer". Microsoft needs to rethink and innovate seriously this time round, or else Mozilla may just eat out the market share of IE along with the cake.

How to use Video DownloadHelper

Its really simple to use Video DownloadHelper once you get the hang of it. Here are 4 easy steps to download YouTube videos.

Step 1: Search for the video you want to download and go to the page that has this video.

  

Step 2: Start playing the video. Now go to the icon on top right corner next to the search bar. Click on it.

 Step 3: Notice the name of the video with extension flv. Click on it.

Step 4: Click on save. Now sit back and relax while you YouTube video is being downloaded.

Windows Live Skydrive !!!

hiiiii..

guys windows live is one of the most amazing things I have seen on the web since a long time...amazing features for the email....

now a new feature called Skydrive has been introduced....it gives you 5gb of free online storage...store your files and share them with your friends from anywhere on the planet...it would be so useful once we go our separate ways....Try it now!...

luv

john.

Orkut: The new danger

Orkut, the online portal, owned by Google has found itself at the centre of debate once again. A nineteen-year-old student has been accused of making a fake account of a girl. Can we prevent the misuse of this technology by not posting our numbers and pictures?

ABHISHEK NEVER IMAGINED that the prank he played on his classmate would land him in jail. Abhishek, a management student and still in his teens, was arrested by the Thane police following a girl’s complaint about tarnishing her image in the public forum - Orkut. The report after being published in Mumbai Mirror has created a stir among the Orkutians and opened up a whole new box of debate.

The incident
Abhishek had created a fake account in the name of the girl with her mobile number posted on the profile. The profile has been sketched in such a way that it draws lewd comments from many who visit her profile. The Thane Cyber Cell tracked down Abhishek from the false e-mail id that he made to open up the account.

The question
In this case, the girl has not posted her picture or mobile number in the fake profile. A brief search in the Orkut profile will reveal many such profiles with pictures of beautiful girls. My guess is that many of these girls are not even aware of the fact that their profile exists. These are created by some other people. I will term this as “rape of the image”. Now the question is “Can we really prevent this rape?”

What cn we really do?
1. Orkut users should not put up their photographs on the site.
2. They should not reveal personal information in their profile.
3. No cellphone numbers or identity should be mentioned in the scrap book, as it is open to all.
But whether this really can be a way out, is debatable.

On the issue of the photograph, some people say, “When Orkut gives an opportunity to show your face to the whole world, then why not?” When asked about the risks involved,this is what they had to say, “Who cares?” But I dont suggest you people to be this carefree.
A brief search in Orkut once more will reveal profiles that have pictures of film stars, flowers, animals, sceneries and not the face of the owner. Some say“I will never put my picture on Orkut profile,” “It’s not safe, anybody and everybody can save it on their computer and can misuse it.”
But here again the question lies - can we really prevent it? What happens to the hundreds of passport photographs we send with the application forms all our life? Any of them can be scanned and put up without our notice. Are we sure that all copies of the digital pictures taken at our local photography shop are deleted after we leave?

My suggestion to you is that being careful doesnt hurt anyone.......does it?

So perhaps even in this age of globalisation and technical advancements we will hold ourselves from showing our face to the entire world for we never know who is misusing it in what way. And as the lawmakers say “We cannot do anything, until a complaint is lodged”.
So guys n gurls......
keep ur identity safe with u....
always be on the safer side!!!
'n' hav fun orkutting.....
john.