AVG Anti-Virus Free 8.0 Available for Download

Fans of AVG Free Edition could now download the latest version of the popular and widely-used free security software, AVG Anti-Virus 8.0 Free Edition. The Free edition has been launched on 24 April 2008 following the release of the AVG 8.0 complete edition a couple of months earlier. This new version now incorporates protection against spyware with a combined antivirus and antispyware engine.

Like the previous releases of AVG Free Edition, AVG Free 8.0 it is intended to provide you with basic protection. Having said so, AVG has added two additional protections compared to the previous version. AVG Free 8.0 comes with three protections.

• Anti-virus provides protection against viruses, worms and Trojans.
• Anti-spyware offers protection against spyware, adware and identity theft.
• Safe search ensures you safely click search result.

The three components mentioned above could be found in the AVG Control Center shown in bellow screenshot. Please note the additional components named Anti-Spyware and Link Scanner. The copy of AVG 8.0 you see below does not have the E-mail Scanner installed hence you do not find the icon. Be assured that E-mail Scanner is part of the package.

On top of that, you are offered the AVG Toolbar for added protection while you surf the Internet. The following figure shows the AVG Toolbar. I am not a fan of toolbars. I prefer more space for my webpage. Anyway, those that have tested out this AVG toolbar could provide some insight on the protection this toolbar offers as well as impact on performance if there is any.

AVG Free Edition is meant for private, non-commercial use. Hence, it does not run on server operating systems. The supported Operating Systems are MS Windows 2000, MS Windows XP (32-bit and 64-bit), and MS Windows Vista (32-bit and 64-bit).

If you find that you prefer more protection than the level provided by the Free Edition, there are two more editions offered in the family; AVG Anti-Virus and AVG Internet Security. AVG Internet Security provides the most complete protection in the AVG product family. AVG Anti-Virus on the other hand provides protection against viruses in all manner but lacking Firewall and Anti-Spam engine. The former is priced at USD 54.99 per year while the latter USD 34.99 per year.

Apart from the offering from AVG, you could also look for security products from other stables. There are plenty of options nowadays.

Schedule Future Post in Blogger

I supposed many of us have heard those using Wordpress "boast" about the ability to timestamp posts written to be published at a future date. Those using Blogger service could edit the post timestamp too but it does affect the actual published date. The post will be visible to everyone once you press the button publish post even if you enter a future date.

This is about to change soon. The ability to schedule posts to be published at a future date could be found at Blogger in Draft. In case you are not aware of its existence, this is a place where new features are tested and fine tuned before they are included in Blogger. You login to Blogger in Draft through the URL http://draft.blogger.com instead of the usual http://www.blogger.com. You will get a similar interface with additional features under development and test.

The Changes

This new feature will add a status to the post list called Scheduled. You add posts to the status Scheduled by entering a future date to Post date and time then press the Publish Post button. You will get a message shown in the following figure instead of the usual message.

The following figure illustrates the posts list with this feature. Notice the additional status in the filter. The date shows the date it is scheduled to be published.

Conclusion

This feature is important for those that would like consistent rate of update to their blog. You would not want to adjust your schedule and go nowhere without Internet access just to update your blog consistently.

I have personally tried this feature. It works fine thus far. Having said so, I am not a heavy user looking at the post frequency of Dynamics Ax Associate. You may have your hand on it by logging in to Blogger through Blogger in Draft.

Update - 2008 May 05: This feature is available in Blogger Live since May 1, 2008. No visual changes compared to the test version.

Microsoft Supplies the Brain of Formula One Cars

The FIA Formula One World Championship Season 2008 will commence this week. After months of winter development and testing, Melbourne will again host the inaugural race of the season. The Australian Grand Prix weekend will start on Friday, March 14, 2008 and the race on Sunday.

I have been following F1 for more than a decade. I love the passion and spirit where some 1000 people work as a team in the most efficient manner towards one goal, to prepare and run two cars for 18 (depends on the schedule of the season) races a year. I also love the complexity of its technology and the pace of development. The whole team is going all out to extract every bit of performance they could from the package.

The Regulation

There will be further rule change in accordance to the direction of FIA president Max Mosley as usual. We will focus on Technical Regulations Article 8.2.1 concerning Control Electronics.

8.2.1 All components of the engine and gearbox, including clutch, differential and all associated actuators must be controlled by an Electronic Control Unit (ECU) which has been manufactured by an FIA designated supplier to a specification determined by the FIA.

The ECU may only be used with FIA approved software and may only be connected to the control system wiring loom, sensors and actuators in a manner specified by the FIA.

The Project

Microsoft will have its share of Formula One technology this year. In year 2006, Microsoft in partnership with McLaren Electronics Systems (MES) was awarded the tender to supply Engine Control Unit (ECU) for all teams. Microsoft is part of the FIA designated supplier mentioned in the regulation above for FIA Formula One World Championship in 2008, 2009 and 2010. It was announced in the FIA press release on July 5, 2006. After more than a year of development and following testing by all Formula One contenders for 2008 season, it is ready for race in the next few days.

So what does this ECU do? It monitors and controls just about every aspect of the engine operation. It controls the ignition timing, fuel quantity and mixture, etc. base on data gathered from over 100 sensors in the car. The same data will also be continuously transmitted in real time back to the control center of each Formula One team at the pit-side. As far as I am concerned, Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro also broadcast the data back to their factory at Maranello in real time.

According to Microsoft press release dated December 11, 2006, we will see a host of Microsoft software solution employed. Among them are Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft SQL Server 2005, and Microsoft Office 2007. Hope we could get more information on the actual deployment soon.

Final Thoughts

I would say this project is very much in line with Microsoft ideology. Formula One is widely agreed as the pinnacle of motorsport. It attracted the best people in the industry and the pace of technology advancement is second to none.

The sport is about a group of highly able professionals continuously digesting huge set of data making split second decisions to affect the outcome of the race to their favor. The system supplied will utilize various Microsoft technologies to support informed decision at the highest pace and precision.

Microsoft constantly declares that they want to provide people with the right technology and tools to enable them to succeed in their business. The ability to provide tools for this business is definitely a respectable achievement.

I have seen people joke about the idea of these ECUs software crashes in the middle of race, etc. since the announcement was made. I would not say it is impossible to happen that way but looking at the way Formula One teams operate I am positive only very rare glitches would be left unidentified. We could expect an exciting and safe season ahead.

World's Cheapest Car - Tata Nano

India's Tata Motors Ltd unveiled the cheapest car in the market. The four-seater Nano will have a dealer price of 100,000 rupees which is approximately US$2,500. Consumer price will be higher due to taxes and dealer's margins though.

The picture above shows Mr Ratan N. Tata, Chairman of Tata Group and Tata Motors launching the Nano. The car is 3.1 meters in length, 1.5 meters wide and 1.6 meters in height.

At this price, consumer would naturally be concerned about the quality of the product. Tata, which has the only crash test facility in India, assured that the Nano exceeds current safety as well as environmental regulatory requirements.

The Nano is powered by a two-cylinder 623 cc multi point fuel injection petrol engine producing a maximum power of 33 PS. It is the first four-wheeler powered by a two-cylinder gasoline engine.

We will have to wait for the official figures to find out how it fares in the performance and fuel efficiency departments. You may read more about the world's cheapest car from Tata Motors unveils the People's Car at Tata Motors Media Centre.

Vertical Search: The Vertical Solution in Search Service

The phrases horizontal solution and vertical solution are fairly common among our friends in the field of Dynamics Ax. Do you know there is an equivalent in the Search Service Industry?

We have seen enterprise increasing interest in vertical solutions. Vertical solutions are supposed to fit their needs better. Less effort is expected to gain result.

In the search service industry, there is a similar trend emerging too. It is called vertical search. More and more such services are emerging in the World Wide Web. Are there really demands for such service?

Generic Search

When we talk about search engine, Google, Yahoo and Live.com naturally come across our mind. There are a lot of search engines on the Internet but these three are the most dominant. They account for more than 90% of search traffic.

These are horizontal search engines. Searches are performed across all domains. You use keywords to delimit your search result in order to increase its accuracy. If we want to find out how to configure warehouse in Dynamics Ax for example, we have to include both the phrases Dynamics Ax and warehouse configuration. Otherwise we might get warehouse configuration for other software system instead.

Vertical Search

Have you ever thought of searching the Internet with the keyword “configure warehouse” and you see only results in Dynamics Ax? On top of that, the search result is formatted in a way that is meaningful to the domain. The users would be able to focus on their objectives and browse results in the most convenient manner.

This is what vertical search tries to address from my point of view. In more general term, vertical search scoped the search in very specific area or niche, promising pin-point accurate result for your search and has the result layout in a manner that improves user experience (user friendly in software term).

User Experience

Being focused in one area enables the site to be designed in a more “intelligent” manner. We could have categorization relevant to the target field. We could even see the use of industry specific terms that could be confusing when used in a general site.

Sample Vertical Search Services

The following are a few vertical search services. Maybe you could give them a try and let everyone know if vertical search is for you.

1. Google image search searches only image and format the result with thumbnail preview capability.

2. IT.com provides result for Information Technology Solution.

3. retrevo focuses on consumer electronics.

4. ThomasNet targets the manufacturing goods and services.

5. Top Ten Wholesale provides search for wholesaler by merchandize.

Commercial Motivation

Some might be running such service for experiment or even as interest. However, there must be commercial motivation to support their existence and nurture them for prime time.

At first look, I see such service offering targeted advertising. Being highly targeted means less user is fine. Conversion rate would naturally be higher because you are supposedly talking to the right people.

Having said so, adoption is still an important factor. You may claim to have quality users producing extra high conversion rate but conversion rate is a percentage. 100% of one equals to 1% of 100. I am sure you sure you could do the math here.

The thing here is you should expect much less people using each of such service because they are vertical. They are created to serve only a portion of the Internet community.

Final Thoughts

Will you use the vertical search if there is one in your area of interest or work? I personally would wish a really wide coverage of my search result. I like the accuracy vertical search could offer but at the same time I would wonder if I am presented with all the information out there.