The browser wars are heating up, as the first beta of Firefox 2.0 is due on Tuesday July 11th, and Internet Explorer version 7.0 is now on it’s third beta release.

Firefox fans, and browser junkies have an opportunity to get a jump on Tuesday’s beta, as a public “release candidate” has been posted on the Mozilla FTP site. This nightly build is finally feature complete, although it’s still not completely ready for mass consumption.

Source: PCWorld

Red Swoosh is a very cool system that enables the downloading of a big file (like a video) to be distributed among all the people who already have it, so that the original publisher of the file doesn’t have to pay for bandwidth each time it is downloaded.

Wait, you say, that sounds just like BitTorrent. It is, indeed, the same idea: Users who download the file share the bits they’ve got with others. But Red Swoosh is easier to use that BitTorrent. You don’t have to create “trackers” or learn a new application — you just prefix your file link with “http://edn.redswoosh.net/” and the file becomes part of the peer-to-peer cloud.

Source: News.com

Members of Cornell’s Global Positioning System (GPS) Laboratory have cracked the so-called pseudo random number (PRN) codes of Europe’s first global navigation satellite, despite efforts to keep the codes secret. That means free access for consumers who use navigation devices — including handheld receivers and systems installed in vehicles — that need PRNs to listen to satellites.

The codes and the methods used to extract them were published in the June issue of GPS World.

Source: newswise

Despite a fierce lobbying campaign by the telecoms industry, the European Commission is poised to force operators to slash the cost of mobile phone calls while abroad, officials say.

Upset that operators have ignored warnings to cut so-called “roaming” rates, the European Union’s executive arm is to carry out its threat to introduce measures aimed at cutting prices in half.

Source: AFP

Apple Computer and Creative Technology may be tossing the gloves aside when it comes to their ongoing legal fight. The two companies are currently at odds over a number of patents tossing punches back and forth, but a recent Bloomberg report points to a possible settlement.

Source: dailytech

Until now, Gmail allowed users to set filters only for the future emails. Now when you create a filter or update one, Gmail allows you to apply it to old emails.

Source: googlesystem

It looks like Kyle MacDonald, the 26-year-old Montreal man who set out to trade a single red paper clip for a house, has accomplished his ambitious goal.

MacDonald will be giving his most recent trade?a movie role?to the city of Kipling, Saskatchewan in exchange for a two-story farmhouse, according to his blog, “one red paperclip.” The deal will become official once MacDonald shakes hands with the mayor of his new home town on Wednesday, exactly one year after he announced his endeavor, he wrote.

Source: News.com

Samsung’s new line of NV cameras takes sharp pictures while blurring the line between traditional camera and multimedia device. Features like a built-in camera, MP3 player, and video player are normally added to cell phones. Samsung is bringing the pressure the other way with the Samsung NV3. The camera has some juicy features, like a 7-megapixel digital still camera, MP3 player, and video player all built-in. The brushed black, stainless steel camera has a 3x optical zoom.

The NV3 digital camera has the ability to load video and music from your computer. Digimax Converter software is included with the camera, letting users import MPEG, AVI, MOV, WMV and ASF video as well as MP3 files. The software also let the user view subtitles, but that seems like an attempt in futility on a 2.5-inch screen.

Source: News.com

Do you know about RoamDrive ?

RoamDrive is a great application that permits you to upload whatever data you want in the free store space on one of your webmail accounts. You can choose between GMail (about 2700MB actually), Hotmail (non-paying up to 250MB & paying up to 2GB),MSN (paying up to 2GB) and (maybe) Yahoo! Mail soon.

It acts exactly like a Hard Disk Drive. You can simply Drag&Drop files or folder from your computer in the application window. RoamDrive will just compress it and then upload it directly on your webmail account.

You will be able to access you file on any computer you want in the world : just install RoamDrive on it and then connect to your account.

The difference between RoamDrive and GMail Drive is that RoamDrive,allows you to upload files greater in size than 10MB, and you are not limited to file names of 40 characters maximum. It is free, there is no adware in it and the minimum system requirements you will need to meet are any version of Windows XP and the Microsoft .NET Framework version 1.1. Actually it is a beta version.

You can learn more and download it by checking their website here : RoamDrive beta.

A startup plans to create a real-time marketplace for available parking spaces and deliver the information to subscribers over a mobile phone or GPS network.

SpotScout Inc. wants to take the hassle out of finding a place to park a car in crowed cities where finding a space takes patience and luck. So, the company’s founder Andrew Rollert, and applications development team, built a Web-based application to broker the transaction.

Source: TechWeb