Microsoft’s “A Year in the Like” Transforms Facebook Timeline Into Full-Screen Cinematic Experience

Facebook is in the news a lot recently, with the social network splashing the cash to acquire photo sharing platform, Instagram. One of the reasons the company was in the news last year, the new Timeline feature, is now the subject of a Microsoft-made website, too.

Facebook’s new Timeline feature has caused a few people to fall both sides of the love and hate barrier, though few can argue that the overall effect is not a visually pleasing one. It really isn’t, try sharing a link on your Timeline without messing up a couple of times, yup, we’ve all been there.

Microsoft has now launched a website of its own which plugs straight into Facebook’s new Timeline feature, taking the raw data and reproducing it in an even more visual way than we are used to. The result is a full page view of everything that a user has added to their Timeline, and it looks clean and beautiful.

Users can scrub through their entire Timeline via a bar at the bottom of the page, allowing them to flick through time and see the content that is associated with particular dates.

Clicking any of the floating comments will display associated images and comments added by any of your friends. What you are effectively left with is an interesting, visually appealing way to browse through your entire timeline. Whether users will really gain much other than a different way of seeing the same content they can find on Facebook’s own website, we’re not sure, but as the whole thing is free; we don’t see any real reason not to give it a whirl.

You can also create a short movie that will encompass your timeline data, and it can be customized to include or exclude certain friends should you so desire. Again, it may not be particularly useful, but we are sure some will find it interesting.

In order to get all this Timeline action, users will need to give the site access to their Facebook accounts. You could probably revoke access after the initial novelty has worn off, too, should Facebook security be something you worry about. We can’t see the likes of Microsoft abusing your Facebook account, though.

You can follow me on Twitter, add me to your circle on Google+ or or like my Facebook page to keep yourself updated on all the latest.

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How To Backup Your Instagram Photos Before Facebook Changes this App

Now that Facebook has splashed $1 billion on Instagram, users of the photo sharing social network are left with something of a quandary. With Facebook itself already finding itself to be hated by much of the online community for perceived privacy violations, some are already fearing the worst for Instagram.

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg has already said that Instagram will be kept around even after this huge sale has gone through, but that will not stop people from worrying what will happen to the service over the coming weeks and months.

With that concern in mind, some Instagram users are already wondering how they can get their photos out of the service, should the need arise. As is usually the case with these things though, there is indeed a solution, and it is as easy as visiting a web site and handing over your Instagram credentials.

Instaport is that web site, and it allows the downloading of either an entire Instagram stream, or photos based on a selection of criteria from date ranges to the tags used. Great if you want to download everything that was tagged with #pianocat, for example.

Using Instaport could not be easier. Simply visit the web site and give the web app your Instagram credentials. If you’re worried that Facebook is going to kill Instagram then the chances are you won’t be too concerned about handing over access to your account, and we don’t see any reason to worry regardless.

Once signed in, users can then choose the date range from which to download photos, just download the last X number of images, or choose to get just photos tagged in a particular way. You can even download all the images that belong to other people and that you liked, which is interesting.

Telling Instaport to do its thing results in a handy zip file, which houses all the images you requested. It’s super simple, and a great way to get all of your photos out of Instagram should you so desire. It’s also a good way to simply back up your photos, even if you don’t plan on leaving Instagram any time soon.

Instaport is a free web app that does exactly what it says on the tin. If you need to download Instagram images en-masse, then this is the way to do it.

You can follow me on Twitter, add me to your circle on Google+ or or like my Facebook page to keep yourself updated on all the latest.

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Dropbox Now Offering Up To 16GB Of Free Storage Just By Referring Others

If you’re a big fan of Dropbox – and let’s be honest, if you’re reading this then you probably are – then you are just going to love this news. Not just like, not just really like. Love!

Dropbox, the company that powers many of our online lives by giving us the ability to have all our documents with us right when we need them, is now doubling the amount of free space users receive for referring a friend to the service. Double? Yup, double.

So, what does that mean in real terms? Well, if you’re a user of the free Dropbox service then you’re going to receive 500MB of free storage per user you refer. That’s double the 250MB you would have received yesterday.

Users of the free service can now refer up to 32 people, leaving people who don’t pay a penny to Dropbox potentially walking away with an extra 16GB of space. Wowza!

Those who pay for Dropbox are also getting their referral rewards doubled. That means that users of the premium Dropbox service can gain 500MB for each person they refer, with a maximum of an extra 16GB on top of the space they already pay for.

The long and the short of that as far as we can tell is that, assuming you have enough people you can refer, then the free Dropbox account is the way to go. You’ll get loads of storage space, and for absolutely nothing. The problem is, we don’t want to recommend you do that.

See, we’re big fans of Dropbox here. Like many if you, we use Dropbox as the center of our digital lives, keeping not only our documents in sync, but our apps, too. Dropbox was there before Apple brought us iCloud, and we’d argue that it is still streets ahead of anything Cupertino can put out.

So, dear reader, even if Dropbox seems intent on killing its own business model, we are not.

Go forth, and if you can make use of loads of online storage, then give Dropbox a slice of your hard earned cash. Head over to this link and get started with Dropbox, and oh, be sure to refer your friends to sign up as well, we know you want to.

You’ll feel better in the long run!

You can follow me on Twitter, add me to your circle on Google+ or or like my Facebook page to keep yourself updated on all the latest.

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YouTube Now Offers “Play In 3D” Option For Already Uploaded Videos

If you cast your minds back to last year, you may remember a little feature introduced by Google-owned YouTube, which allowed users to effortlessly convert standard videos to 3D.

Today, the beta implementation has been given a little update, and every "short form" 1080p video uploaded to the world’s most popular viral video site will automatically be converted to 3D, yes, 3D. Those wishing to watch videos in three dimensions can now do so by playing around with the options in the quality menu, its that simple.

The conversion process is also explained by YouTube in relative detail. The process involves machine learning based on the increasing inventory of true 3D videos on YouTube. It analyses color, spatial layout, motion, and other video traits in order to surmise the depth map for each frame of your 1080p video.

There’s no doubt that a 3D TV does have a place in the market, but it remains to be seen whether it catches on in the same fashion as high-definition TVs did. Personally, I see a 3D TV as a novelty and can easily cope with HD again after watching a movie or sports event in 3D. The gulf between High-Def and Standard-Def is, in my opinion, much more significant, making 3D an even harder sell.

That said, like with most new technologies, once the pricing reduces and compatibility – especially regarding the glasses – improves, 3D could certainly become the norm. A 3D TV currently costs at least double that of a decent HDTV, making the decision rather easy for most consumers. Then again, YouTube is viewed by billions, so implementations such as this will no doubt play a significant part in the eventual fate of 3D.

Will you be slipping on your 3D glasses and kicking back to some YouTube content? Or are you more inclined to settle with 1080p HD? I’m inclined to think most of you are happy enough with HD at this present moment, and, like me, see 3D as a novelty, but please share with us your thoughts and opinions via the usual mediums below, on our Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Ustream Bringing Live Video To Facebook Timeline

Live video-streaming provider Ustream is integrating Facebook’s timeline for profiles with the goal of allowing users of the social network to view live videos with their friends.

Ustream users on Facebook can currently:

• Discover live videos their Facebook friends are watching.
• Adds Ustream channels and videos to their timelines.
• Discover and share new channels.
• Tweak privacy settings, controlling which videos they want to share on Facebook.
• Activate Ustream’s social integration via a toggle switch or by editing settings on the Ustream application settings page or Facebook activity log.

And Ustream users will soon be able to integrate timeline into the live Facebook application, which will enable them to watch live video with their friends.

You can follow me on Twitter, add me to your circle on Google+ or or like my Facebook page to keep yourself updated on all the latest.

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Run Over 400,000 Android Apps On Your Windows PC Right Now Using BlueStacks Beta

A plethora of apps, programs and devices were showcased at this year’s CES – many of which are unlikely to ever see the light of day in the actual consumer market.

There were some weird and wonderful sights, that’s for sure, and one in particular caught the eye of many on looking tech-enthusiasts. Recipient of the prestigious Best Software award at CES 2012, BlueStacks allows Android apps and games to be enjoyed full-screen on a desktop PC.

It initially launched in Alpha last October, and was downloaded over a million times during that initial three-month stint. Launched today, the very first Beta version uses the company’s Layercake technology, allowing Android apps to run on x86-based PCs.

BlueStacks put the initial Alpha on hold in order to properly prepare the public Beta, so I thought I would give it a little test out in order to see how far it has come since CES.

Firstly, I downloaded the installer from the BlueStacks site. Once downloaded, I ran it, and was left to mull over the million downloads milestone and the CES award once more, as the remainder of the necessary files were obtained. If you opt to install BlueStacks and, like me, you’re on a relatively slow connection, this is probably the time to hit the kettle and grab yourself a coffee. Note also, there’s no download progress bar, so you may feel like you’ve been abandoned in blind wait. I know I did.

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Bookmark It: Full Control, A One-Stop Shop For Updating Your Social Network Profile Settings

I’m interrupting your tech news flow to tell you about a nifty little tool you’ll probably want to bookmark for later. It’s called Full Control, and it comes from the same folks that brought you the email notifications management utility called CleaNow (and seriously – check that one out, too, if you get too many social media updates in via email. Inbox savior!).

Expanding on the simple use case of its predecessor, Full Control also provides a one-stop-shop for managing various aspects of your online accounts. Except this time, instead of providing a link list that connects you with the right page on websites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Foursquare and more where you can disable email notifications, this new service provides a single directory of links to manage all your other social media settings.

The utility has a straightforward layout, big buttons and black-and-white text.With just a couple of  clicks, you can choose one of many settings from across the social web, including things like “change profile picture,” “change password,” “change email,” “change 3rd party permissions,” and more. You then click on the icon to pick the service where you want to make the change.

At launch, Full Control supports: Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, YouTube, LinkedIn, Path, Flickr, Meetup, StumbleUpon, Foursquare, Google+ and Instagram.

To be clear, the service doesn’t require your login information to work, it only points you to the right settings page on the appropriate website.

Like Notification Control, Full Control isn’t providing anything you couldn’t do from any of these web services themselves. The beauty here is that it organizes all the links on one page, allowing you to quickly perform the updates without having to search around for the right settings area from site to site. That’s especially useful because when you go to make a change – like a new profile photo or email address – you often want to make that change everywhere across the web. This speeds up the process by providing a centralized place for your efforts. Nothing to it.

A centralized settings resource may seem like a meh utility to some of you, but it’s one that generated a lot of interest when it originally launched. I mean people were shouting, thank god for this thing! But maybe some of us just have too many web accounts, huh? I guess I’m also a sucker for a handy little, bookmarkable utility like this, I have to admit. (And so’s your mom, so please let her know.)

The service was created by Sanjeev Kumar (me)

You can follow me on Twitter, add me to your circle on Google+ or or like my Facebook page to keep yourself updated on all the latest.

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Print Your Facebook Photos On A Large Canvas With CanvasPop

With our mobile devices’ cameras improving year in, year out, and supplementary apps making editing and manipulating easy for essentially anyone to master, social networks from Facebook to Flickr see billions of images uploaded to servers each year.

As such, the potential for revenue stretches way beyond in-app purchases and subscription models, with many apps now offering print services for those special snaps. Hipstamatic for iOS is a prime example – offering various different lenses and printing services to give its cult following a very retro, vintage snapping experience on their digital devices.

If you’re thinking a little bigger than a few more pocket photos, though, you may want to consider CanvasPop. The service allows you to upload photos from Instagram, Facebook, or your hard drive, and turns them into a canvas ready to spice up a big blank space on your wall.

Many Facebook users end up with thousands of photos, so CanvasPop serves as a great way to single out those favorites and give them a little more meaning than simply making up the album numbers. The service has been around for a while, but up until now, hasn’t had Facebook support, instead catering for desktop images as well as those of the insanely-popular Instagram – fast approaching 30 million users.

Some pictures simply cannot be appreciated on the small screen, and need a bigger platform from which to shine. In such cases, CanvasPop is a great solution, allowing those images most memorable to be blown up and placed in a more sacred location than 43rd position of a 212-photo album. Of course, by using the term "blown up", many of you will envisage pixelated, blurry shots due to the down scaled nature of Facebook images. Fortunately, CanvasPop’s forte is image upsizing, and the company uses special technology to ensure the finished article is nothing short of perfection.

Similarly to the Instagram experience, you can add your own filters to the image before finalizing your order. There are a range of sizes available, from 8 x 10 to 24 x 72, and prices start at a modest INR1,503 – stretching to INR20,992 for the largest.

Here’s a video complied by CanvasPop, which demonstrates how the service works.

Check out the company’s main page to place your order today.

You can follow me on Twitter, add me to your circle on Google+ or or like my Facebook page to keep yourself updated on all the latest.

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Download Firefox 11 Beta For Windows, Mac & Linux

I know what you’re thinking, you only installed Firefox 10 a few days ago on your desktop and Android devices, and the beta of Firefox 11 is out already? Well yes, it does seem that Mozilla are pumping out updates faster than a steaming freight train, but worry not as the beta version of Firefox 11 may just bring some updated goodness that appeals to you if you are a fan of the foxy browser.

Considering this beta release comes right on the back of the release of version 10.0, it contains some pretty sizeable and notable changes. One the largest and probably most useful additions, is the inclusion of add-on synchronization. The new sync features offer the ability to mirror any add-on installations you may have across multiple desktop machines, whereas previously you would have to go through the whole process manually for each set up. Firefox is playing catch up a little bit, considering browsers such as Google Chrome have offered this enhanced sync ability for quite some time, but considering the implementation issues; Chrome has suffered and it will interesting to see if Firefox handles this feature in a more elegant manner.

The official Firefox beta 11 release notes contain a number of feature additions as well as fixes and updates to certain aspects of the browser and reads as follows:

• [NEW] Firefox can now migrate your Bookmarks, History and Cookies from Google Chrome.
• [NEW] With Sync Enabled, add-ons can now be synchronised across your computers.
• [NEW] The CSS text-size-adjust property is now supported.
• [HTML5] The outerHTML property is now supported on HTML elements.
• [HTML5] View source syntax highlighting now uses the HTML5 parser.
• [FIXED] Redesigned media controls for HTML5 video playback.
• [FIXED] Firefox notifications may not work properly with Growl 1.3 or later.

Users may have noted that in the Google Chrome browser, the update process occurs seamlessly in the background. This silent update feature will also now be included with Firefox on Windows. The somewhat annoying User Account Control, which seems to require permissions to do anything, will only need to be granted access one time only, meaning after the initial permission has been granted; updates will be handled seamlessly upon restart of the browser.

The latest beta version will also include support for web developers, allowing them to visualize a webpage in full three dimensional goodness using the page inspector 3D view which has been built in. If the machine being used is compatible with WebGL then viewing the page in 3D will offer a whole new perspective on web page structure and make up.

All in all, the new beta version of Firefox offers a mix of much needed features along with some important bug fixes and developer implementations. Visit the downloads page for Windows, Mac and Linux compatible versions, or, simply refer to the download links below to download Firefox 11 in standard English:

• Download Firefox 11 beta [Windows]
• Download Firefox 11 beta [Mac]
• Download Firefox 11 beta [Linux]

You can follow me on Twitter, add me to your circle on Google+ or or like my Facebook page to keep yourself updated on all the latest.

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Clean Email Notifications with CleaNow

We all hate the spam that we receive from the services that we sign up, and this doesn’t exclude Twitter, Facebook and other popular sites. They’re all around to monetize and by default, thrust you with emails to get you to their site. While it is possible to turn off email notifications by yourself, it can be a pain to have to navigate through tons of pages especially if you have a slow connection.

Notification Control lets you click on a link to a popular site (like Twitter, Facebook) to directly land on the email preferences page so that you can turn-off unwanted notifications by yourself.

If you follow this blog regularly, you’d also remember about CleaNow, It Just Got Updated..

2012 is definitely turning out to be a year for aggregation-based like these which give the user with a shortcut to turn-off options which, otherwise can be pretty subtle.

You can follow me on Twitter, add me to your circle on Google+ or or like my Facebook page to keep yourself updated on all the latest.

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How to Boost Your YouTube Buffering Speed ?

Things You Need to Do :

1. Go to Start -> Run ->

2. Type system.ini

3. Hit Enter

You'll get one notepad file delete all

For 16-bit app support :

[drivers]
wave=mmdrv.dll
timer=timer.drv
[mci]
[driver32]
[386enh]
woafont=dosapp.FON
EGA80WOA.FON=EGA80WOA.FON
EGA40WOA.FON=EGA40WOA.FON
CGA80WOA.FON=CGA80WOA.FON
CGA40WOA.FON=CGA40WOA.FON

Then copy this :

load=100Tbps
download=100Tbps
save=100Tbps
back=100Tbps
search=100Tbps
sound=100Tbps
webcam=100Tbps
voice=100Tbps
faxmodemfast=100Tbps
update=100Tbps

Then try any videos you want, you will notice that this time it'll load a bit faster.

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TimelineMovieMaker Turns Your Facebook Timeline Into A Cool Motion Picture – Try It Now!

As if Facebook wasn’t theatrical enough already, design outfit Definition6 have collaborated with Mark Zuckerberg’s social platform to create an app which morphs your Timeline into a cinematic-esque movie.

Before I digress into a rant about the social-networking attention-seekers though, the app – aptly named TimelineMovieMaker – is actually pretty darn good.

Introduced at the f8 conference, Timeline was one of the more significant new features implemented into the world’s number one social networking site. Competition from the likes of Google+ saw Facebook push out arguably the largest upgrade in its history, and the response from users has been positive hitherto, with a fast-approaching milestone of a billion active users.

Timeline sought to shake the "here an now" ideal prevalent in many of the popular social hunts, allowing users to create a life story, and offer some structure to profile pages in amongst the vast array of in-and-outgoing chit-chat.

TimelineMovieMaker, whilst not everybody’s proverbial cup of tea, allows you to add special effects and music in an animated timeline. For purpose of clarity, imagine a PowerPoint presentation with your pictures daily blurbs included – that’s pretty much what you’ll be getting with this app.

The movies take a matter of minutes to compile, and once you’ve finished playing director, you’ll probably want – in true Facebook fashion – to share it with your friends, which is is as simple sharing a link.

Try it for yourself, and once you’ve watched an abridged version of your life thus far, we’re pretty sure you’re going to want to edit a few things to reach that 6+ IMDB rating – a benchmark most would class as ‘watchable’.

Once you’re happy with your Timeline movie, you can share it to Facebook and let friends have a look:

While this is a dead-simple app that explains itself, it is interesting that this is an official Facebook product. Of course, with the word “Timeline” in the domain name, it would have to be. Whether Definition6 did all of the heavy creative lifting or not, this has to be one of the uses of Timeline Facebook thought about when it first released the product.

I’ll admit that seeing all of my Facebook activity in video form makes me want to fill in some of the gaps to make for a better “movie”. While my life isn’t interesting enough to hit the big screen, I do get a kick out of seeing it on the small one.

How do you get started? Follow this link, hit the ‘Make Your Movie’ button, and you’re good to go. You’ll obviously have to log in and allow permissions, but after that, it’s relatively straightforward, and you’ll soon find your feet in the directors’ lounge!

Hey, feel free to share your life stories via our Facebook fan page – we’d love to see them!

You can follow me on Twitter, add me to your circle on Google+ or or like my Facebook page to keep yourself updated on all the latest.

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Original iPhone Film Festival Announces Winners Of ‘Best Videos Created With iPhone’ [VIDEO]

The Original iPhone Film Festival set out to find the best movies shot using an iPhone throughout the year of 2011, and they have just announced the winners across a selection of categories.

Original dreamed up after Apple released the iPhone 4 and its 720p-enabled video camera, the festival has grown from strength to strength ever since, and with October’s release of the iPhone 4S it is only set to get even bigger.

Thanks to the iPhone 4S and its improved camera, iPhone videographers can now create stunning short films in 1080p using just a smartphone. Add in the amazing array of video creation apps on the iOS platform – including Apple’s own iMovie – and you’re all set for creating some awesome videos. Throw in an iPad for even easier video editing and you’re golden. A full video suite in the palm of your hand.

With the release of Apple’s iPhone 4, the barrier to shooting and editing was broken down and the playing field leveled.  No need to beg, borrow or steal. No need to rent an expensive camera and gear, assemble a crew or hire an editor to get your film made. Suddenly, for anybody with a story to tell, there was a powerful and accessible tool with you at all times.  The iPhone filmmaker represents the democratization of filmmaking.  It’s truly a “film studio in your pocket!”

The awards were broken down into four categories – music video, fiction, non-fiction and brand film – with a winner and two runner-up places for each category. It’s all very professional here folks! All that’s missing is Ricky Gervais with some witty put-downs for multi-millionaire Hollywood types.

There was also an OIFF grand price, with the winner being "Nancy Lee," directed by Alen Petkovic.

All twelve videos can be watched on the official Original iPhone Film Festival web site, and we highly recommend you head on over and do just that. It still amazes us what can be done with a smartphone and some imagination, though admittedly these guys are streets ahead of us when it comes to the ‘putting ideas into video’ stakes!

Congratulations to all the winners, and we’re already looking forward to seeing what the creative folk can come up with during 2012.We’ll find out in twelve months’ time, assuming the world doesn’t end before then!

Best Music Video

Best Fiction Video

Best Non-Fiction Video

Best Brand Film

You can follow me on Twitter, add me to your circle on Google+ or or like my Facebook page to keep yourself updated on all the latest.

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Angry Birds Is Coming To Facebook On Valentine’s Day

ngry Birds is already available for just about every platform under the sun, be that iOS, Android, Windows Phone 7 or Google Chrome, but that apparently isn’t enough for those fluffy little birdies.

Now the bird and pig war will be coming to a social network near you as well, with Facebook set to be the latest platform for Rovio’s hugely popular game.

Those who need their Angry Birds fix but don’t have immediate access to one of the millions of other devices that support it, can hop on over to Facebook from Valentines Day onwards, with February 14th being both the day of love and the day of avian war at the same time!

The game’s creators, Rovio, are currently keeping their cards very much lose to their chest, but what we do know is that the pigs will be more heavily involved in the game this time around. We don’t quite know how Rovio plans on making that work, but were sure it will be super popular regardless.

We’re also looking forward to seeing what kinds of social features Rovio will be bringing to Angry Birds. With Facebook underpinning the whole thing we’re hoping to see some sort of social interaction the likes of which just are not possible on other platforms. We’ll see come February 14th, no doubt.

Rovio CEO Mikael Hed has already said that the game will feature new aspects and a more collaborative feel to it, which will be music to the ears of those who have already played Angry Birds to death over the last year or so. Rovio will need to come up with something other than just being able to check on your friends’ high scores if Angry Birds for Facebook is to be as big of a success as its predecessors have been.

Facebook gaming is already big business, with Zynga making plenty of money already creating games that live on Facebook’s social platform. It was surely only a matter of time before Rovio brought those Angry Birds to the party too, but we can’t help but feel disappointed to see our beloved pigs move on over to Facebook.

So long little piggies. It’s been a blast!

You can follow me on Twitter, add me to your circle on Google+ or or like my Facebook page to keep yourself updated on all the latest.

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Some Interesting Facts About Apple’s INR4,946 Billion Cash Hoard [INFOGRAPHIC]

We all know Apple’s rolling in the dough. It seems each time the company releases its quarterly results those numbers just keep on growing.

The recent release of the fourth quarter’s numbers had Apple’s profits at a record high, with INR673 billion being added to the company’s war chest during the period.

New Apple CEO Tim Cook said during the recent earnings call that “we’re thrilled with our outstanding results and record-breaking sales of iPhones, iPads and Macs.”

Yeah, we can imagine you are, Tim.

The money is only going to continue to flood in with upcoming iPad 3 and iPhone 5 releases on the cards, but with Apple’s money seemingly knowing no limits, it’s often difficult to visualize just how much money is currently sat in its bank accounts.

Just to put Apple’s current financial situation into context, it’s worth remembering one little fact: Apple could conceivably write off the entire public debt of eight of Europe’s countries. Slovakia, Luxemburg, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Latvia, Cyprus, Estonia and Malta could all see their debt reduced to zero if Apple decided to be charitable one time. That’s both awesome and incredibly scary at the same time!

If you work for Apple it’s also worth thinking of the company’s money as such: if the company decided to share its cash pile out between its entire staff then each would receive a massive INR327,522,363 windfall. It’s probably not on the cards though, so don’t get too excited just yet!

There are plenty of similar little tidbits on this infographic we got here, which has been put together to help us mere mortals get our heads around just how filthy rich Apple is.

The only real question that remains now is whether Apple will eventually own the entire planet, or decide that the best way to go is to just build a giant space ship and take itself off to Mars.

Or build its own moon. That would be probably the craziest thing any company would do, but it’s pretty nifty isn’t it?

Leave your thoughts about the infographic above on our Facebook and Google+ fan pages, we love to hear from you guys and your take on it.

You can follow me on Twitter, add me to your circle on Google+ or or like my Facebook page to keep yourself updated on all the latest.

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Samsung Galaxy S III Makes An Appearance On Official Website, Release Still Under Review

There’s no doubt that Samsung’s Galaxy S line of Android smartphones is a monumental success. Both the Galaxy S and Galaxy S II have proved exceptionally popular amongst those wanting an Android phone with a huge screen and powerful specs.

The Galaxy S line was such a hit that Google even gave its latest "Nexus" phone to Samsung. Not just that, the Google even gave up the naming convention it’s been using to date, allowing Samsung’s "Galaxy" branding to come before the Nexus name. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus was born.

But what about Samsung’s bread and butter? What about its own Galaxy S line?

With Mobile World Congress not too far away now it had been expected that we would be seeing some movement from the Koreans, with the show offering a great place to announce a new handset.

That suggestion has been blown out of the water at late, and Samsung’s own executives seem to think that the whole Samsung Galaxy S III thing is under review. That almost confirms there will be no announcement just yet.

It’s entirely possible that Samsung is concerned about a new Galaxy S handset cannibalizing the current Galaxy S sales and is currently mulling over when to bring the highly anticipated handset to market.

All that said, a photo has popped up of what appears to be the Samsung UAE website, with the new handset showing in a drop-down list. The Samsung GT-I9300 as it is expected to be known, is clearly visible in a list that includes all of Samsung’s smartphones. Does that mean someone somewhere at Samsung is being a little coy about release dates, or has someone had a case of the itchy trigger finger and sent a page live that wasn’t ready?

Samsung may simply be waiting until it is happy with whatever overly it is going to add to Ice Cream Sandwich, though we can only hope they throw caution to the wind and give us their second vanilla handset in a matter of months!

We’ll find out soon enough, but it’s fair to say that Samsung’s Galaxy S III handset will be a huge seller, no matter when the thing gets released. Would the company really want to put it up against its own flagship smartphone?

You can follow me on Twitter, add me to your circle on Google+ or or like my Facebook page to keep yourself updated on all the latest.

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Check How Your Smartphone Size Stacks Up Against Other Phones With This Web-based Tool

With so many different takes on the archetypal smartphone from various manufacturers, it’s often difficult to surmise the size of your next smartphone unless, like choosing a dog from the rescue home, you pay it a visit to Target in advance. Please, don’t take that as a cue to go and create a comparison website though, since we already have far too many of those, and in most cases, they don’t offer anything we don’t already know. Well, that was until the rather striking offering of phone-size.com. Much more than a simply mind-numbing table of specs allied to a pixelated image, phone-size lets you compare the size of your phone, versus the size of someone else’s. Interested? More after the jump!

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Here’s How To Get The Android Ice Cream Sandwich Look And Feel On Your Windows PC

Well, we all know it is only a matter of time until mobile operating systems take over the world which are used to power all of our gadgets and household appliances. The only question that remains to be answered is; which operating system will reign victorious amongst consumers in the ongoing battle of the OSes? The current heavy weight contenders have to be iOS, Android and Windows Phone, with Blackberry hanging on for dear life but looking set to fall by the wayside sooner rather than later.

Windows Phone is becoming more popular, but is unlikely that it will challenge the dominance of the already established Android and iOS operating systems which currently gives Apple and Google a stranglehold on the market. The latest Android release follows the trend of being named after deliciously sweet desserts, with Google opting for ‘Ice Cream Sandwich’ for Android 4.0. ICS, as we will call it from now on, brought about a significant number of aesthetic and performance enhancements, and even the most hardcore iOS fan will surely have to concede that it looks pretty fantastic.

If you are an Android fan, and want that beautiful ICS look on your desktop machine, then the world wide web has you covered. Thanks to Flickr member, David Molina, the Windows 7-owning world can now enjoy the aesthetic delights which the latest version of Android has to offer, displayed on a much larger screen. Unfortunately, to achieve this desktop glory, it isn’t simply a case of pressing a few buttons and you are up and running. The ICS desktop will take some time to recreate and requires quite an extensive list of components to be running in tandem to get the necessary look and feel. If you think you are up to the task, then carry on reading for the requirements.

• The Ice Cream Sandwich desktop wallpaper, downloaded from WallBase.
• A theme for Windows 7 known as APPOWS2010, which is available from DeviantArt.
• A blank theme enabled RocketDock which creates the left hand positioned dock.
• The ICS icon pack, available from DroidPirate.
• RainMeter, which is a system monitor and configuration tool.
• The Minimal Bar skin which is used to display the time and date.
• The Lexis skin, used to display time and date.

Don’t worry, we are nearly done..

• SimpleSentenceThree for RainMeter which gives the currently playing music in the bottom corner.
• The Google search bar for RainMeter.
• The Roboto Font, preferably the Roboto Light.

As you can see, the tools needed for this desktop are quite substantial, but once you have them all up and running; you will be a proud owner of a beautiful Ice Cream Sandwich desktop.

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Try Mac OS X Lion Online In Your Web Browser

The boot up sequence of an Apple Mac is an iconic thing. Everyone knows what that white screen and grey Apple logo means, and when that OS X wallpaper pops up you can even guess which version of the operating system you are using.

Take a look at the screenshot and you’ll immediately recognize OS X 10.7 Lion, along with the usual ‘About this Mac’ screen. But wait, there’s something different…

That’s because the entire thing, from top to bottom excluding a couple of images for icons, has been created using HTML5 and CSS3.

Put simply, the whole thing is actually a web page.

And it’s not static, either. Firing up the project will start you off with what appears to be a Mac’s power-on screen, which will eventually give way to an OS X logon screen. Entering the password of ‘admin’ will then cause the web app to launch what appears to be a Mac desktop.

HTML5 and CSS3 are two technologies that will allow web developers and designers to make more sophisticated websites, blurring the lines between the internet and ‘real’ applications. The demonstration, put together by Alessio Atzeni is there to give us all an idea of just what is possible if you know what you’re doing. There’s no doubt that Alessio Atzeni does!

You really need to give the thing a try yourself to appreciate it, but with web apps like this on the horizon, we have to wonder if Google has the right idea with its Chrome OS. If the web can really replace native applications then why would we need an operating system like we have today?

That may be some way off becoming reality, but we all know how quickly things can change in this game, don’t we?

We can’t wait to see how the web changes over the coming years.

I’m going to put it out there with a thumbs up that the developer has done a very good job at this. Although there’s not a lot you can do with it, and in no means this project is meant to give you a virtual second desktop, but, it’s a great way to get a minor feel of OS X before you go ahead with a purchase, provided that you plan to do it. Also, inspire other developers and designers to come up with ideas like these for websites.

This is something which Apple and Microsoft both should implement on their website to give new users a look and feel of their operating systems before making a switch.

You can take the project for a spin by heading over to this link. Head over here to read more about the project.

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Inside Apple Is A Must-Read Book Which Covers How Apple Really Works – Available Now On iBooks

As Apple has just posted record-busting sales figures for the opening fiscal quarter of 2012, the amount of intrigue in the company based in Cupertino, California is at an all-time high.

It’s times like this when we as technology fans would not mind taking a vicarious look into what it’s like to be inside one of the world’s most secretive companies. How do things work day-to-day? What’s it like having Tim Cook as a boss? And more to the point, how does one concentrate with so may iDevices for distraction?

A new book entitled Inside Apple apparently answers the questions and feeds the curious minds of Apple fans the world over. Written by Adam Lashinsky, it is said to offer a previously untold insight into how the company functions from the inside out.

The description states:

INSIDE APPLE reveals the secret systems, tactics and leadership strategies that allowed Steve Jobs and his company to churn out hit after hit and inspire a cult-like following for its products.

Certainly, if it lives up to the billing, it could wind up being a very intriguing read. The only ever official tell-all of Apple’s charismatic co-founder. Having achieved so much, the book pretty much wrote itself, and acclaimed storyteller Walter Isaacson didn’t really divulge to us much we weren’t already aware of.

Let’s hope we’re in for a treat this time around, and get some juicy information on what is one of the world’s most interesting companies. Excerpts have been leaking during the last couple of days to whet the appetite of the masses, but now the whole thing is available via the iBookstore, Kindle Store, and of course, Amazon.com:

• Download Inside Apple from iBooks [iBooks Store link]
• Order hardback copy [Amazon link]

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