Manchester United Premiership Champions! And the link between La Liga

Manchester United won the English league title for the second year in a row and the 17th time overall, defeating Wigan, 2-0, Sunday on the last day of the season, but it was Ryan Giggs who perhaps achieved the greater feat.

The former Wales winger appeared in his 758th game for Manchester United, tying the record set by Bobby Charlton four decades ago. Giggs can break the record if he plays in United’s May 21 European Champions League final against Chelsea in Moscow.

The 34-year-old has been a part of each of United’s 10 league championships under Coach Alex Ferguson and also has seven more winner’s medals from other tournaments.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored United’s first goal, his 41st of the season in all competitions, and Giggs added another goal after coming in as a second-half substitute.

Where is the 80GB PS3 for Europe, Sony? (A PlayStation 3 Story)

I have wanted to buy the PlayStation 3 ever since it came out in November 2006 (USA and Japan). I waited and waited. Then finally Sony released the PS3 in Europe in March 2007. After finding out that Sony had removed the “Emotion Engine” CPU from the European PS3, I was angry. This limits the compatibility with PS2 games on the European PS3 because only software emulation is being used rather than hardware emulation. For some who has a large collection of PS2 games, this is huge smack in the face. Unsure of what to do I waited and thought to myself that this situation is temporary.

Not long after (maybe a month, or two) Sony replaced the 60GB European PS3 with a lower-class 40GB PS3 that completely removed PS2 backward compatibility by removing the “Graphics Synthesizer” GPU, the last of the PS3 hardware. This new “downgrade” also removes the flash card readers, SACD support as well as lowering the number of USB 2.0 ports to 2 from 4.

Windows XP Service Pack 3 Build 5512 Final Download

Windows® XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) includes all previously released updates for the operating system, in addition to a small number of new functionalities that will not significantly change customers’ experience with the operating system. This white paper summarizes what is new in Windows XP SP3, and how to deploy the service pack.

File Size: 316.43 MB
MD5 Hash: BB25707C919DD835A9D9706B5725AF58
SHA1 Hash: C81472F7EEEA2ECA421E116CD4C03E2300EBFDE4

UEFA Champions League Semi-finals 2008: Fixtures and Results

Home & Away Fixtures and Results

Home Team	Result	Away Team	Date	Leg
Liverpool	1 - 1	Chelsea	22/04/08	L1
Barcelona	0 - 0	Manchester United	23/04/08	L1
Manchester United	1 - 0	Barcelona	29/04/08	L2
Chelsea	3 - 2	Liverpool	30/04/08	L2

Microsoft Sends Letter to Yahoo! Board of Directors - 3 Weeks Deadline

Microsoft yesterday (April 5, 2008) sent the following letter to the Yahoo! Board of Directors:

Dear Members of the Board:

It has now been more than two months since we made our proposal to acquire Yahoo! at a 62% premium to its closing price on January 31, 2008, the day prior to our announcement. Our goal in making such a generous offer was to create the basis for a speedy and ultimately friendly transaction. Despite this, the pace of the last two months has been anything but speedy.

Windows Vista SP1 (Service Pack 1) Officially Released to Consumers

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) is an update to Windows Vista that addresses feedback from our customers. In addition to previously released updates, SP1 will contain changes focused on addressing specific reliability, performance, and compatibility issues; supporting new types of hardware; and adding support for several emerging standards. SP1 also will continue to make it easier for IT administrators to deploy and manage Windows Vista. Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Five Language Standalone version can be installed on systems with any of the following language versions: English (US), French, German, Japanese, or Spanish (Traditional).

Download: Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista 32 Bit [434.5 MB]
Download: Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista 64 Bit [726.5 MB]
View: Windows Vista SP1 Overview
View: Notable Changes in Windows Vista SP1
View: Hotfixes and Security Updates included in Windows Vista SP1

UEFA Champions League Quarter-final and Semi-final Draw 2008

The UEFA Champions League Quarter-final and Semi-final Draw Draw 2008 just happened a few minutes ago. Here are the results of the draw.

Quarter-final Draw:

Arsenal vs. Liverpool

Roma vs. Manchester United

Schalke vs. Barcelona

Fenerbahçe vs. Chelsea

Semi-final Draw:

Arsenal or Liverpool vs. Fenerbahçe or Chelsea

Schalke or Barcelona vs. Roma or Manchester United

Who do you think will win the UEFA Champions League this year?

View: UEFA Champions League Website

YouTube Has Higher Resolution Videos With Better Sound!

YouTube has started making available higher resolution versions of its videos, offering 480×360 video with higher quality audio, up from the standard resolution of 320×240. The video is MP4 with AAC audio. It has also made available 448×336 video, with 44100 Hz audio, double the normal.

To benefit from this, append &fmt=18 to the end of a video URL to get 480×360 video with higher quality audio. Or append &fmt=6 and get 448×336 video, with 44100 Hz audio. However, not all videos will work. Newer ones are most likely to work, as the source file is there so it can be converted.

One video I did notice that does have the higher quality video is the “One Peg More” video by Gop Virk & Laddi Bath.

Completly Uninstall and Remove Bonjour Service and Files (mDNSResponder.exe, mdnsNSP.dll) for Windows

Bonjour, also known as zero-configuration networking, enables automatic discovery of computers, devices, and services on IP networks. Bonjour uses industry standard IP protocols to allow devices to automatically discover each other without the need to enter IP addresses or configure DNS servers.

If you’ve installed software by Apple such as iTunes, software by Adobe such as Premiere Pro, Photoshop CS2, Dreamweaver CS3 the chances are there’s already a Bonjour folder in your Program Files. This service starts automatically and runs a process named mDNSResponder.exe which cannot be ended by Windows Task Manager. If you do not want Bonjour to be in your computer and want to uninstall it, sometimes you can’t find any uninstaller for it! Even if you go to Control Panel’s Add or Remove Program, you can’t find the uninstaller there as well.

Here’s how to safely uninstall and remove the Bonjour service and files (mDNSResponder.exe and mdnsNSP.dll). Just follow the few simple steps below to remove Bonjour from your computer.

foobar2000 0.9.5

foobar2000 is an advanced audio player for the Windows platform. Some of the basic features include full unicode support, ReplayGain support and native support for several popular audio formats.

• Audio formats supported natively: MP1,
  MP2, MP3, MP4, MPC, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC / Ogg FLAC, WavPack, WAV,
  AIFF, AU, SND, CDDA, WMA.
• More audio formats supported through optional components, official or third-party.
• Full unicode support.
• Customizable user interface layout (new in version 0.9.5). View screenshots…
• Advanced tagging capabilities.
• Support for ripping Audio CDs as well as transcoding all supported audio formats using the Converter component. Read more…
• ReplayGain support - both playback and calculation.
• Customizable keyboard shortcuts.
• Open component architecture allowing third-party developers to extend functionality of the player.

Download: foobar2000 0.9.5
View: Release notes
Homepage: foobar2000.org

Happy New Year 2008!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2008!

This blog will be two years old on the 9th of January.

I have created a brand new forum (powered by Invision Power Board). Everyone is welcome to join and please invite your friends. Please post your feedback and suggestions. I am still adding new stuff e.g. forum categories.

Amarjeet Rai Forums

Other stuff of mine you might be interested in is listed here: Bookmarks.

Sony Walkman NWZ-A818 (8GB A810 Series) Review

The NWZ-A818 is Sony’s new Walkman that is a potential iPod killer. The version I am reviewing is the 8GB black version, but it is also available in pink or white, with 2GB (no pink), 4GB and 8GB versions. What’s particularly special about this Walkman unlike the previous A800 series is that it does not use the SonicStage software to transfer files. Instead it uses drag-and-drop which can be done with Windows Explorer.

The sound quality is breathtaking, I have never listened to an mp3 player that has sounded this good. No seriously, it is unbelievable. This possibly the MDR-EX082 earbud earphones at work.

Microsoft Office 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Released!

The 2007 Microsoft Office suite Service Pack 1 delivers important customer-requested stability and performance improvements, while incorporating further enhancements to user security. This service pack also includes all of the updates released for the 2007 Office suite prior to December of 2007. You can get a more complete description of SP1, including a list of issues that were fixed, in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 936982: Description of the 2007 Microsoft Office suite Service Pack 1.

Service Pack 1 will install even if a publicly available update has already been installed on your computer.

SP1 also includes stability improvements developed as a result of user input from the Microsoft Online Crash Analysis and from Microsoft Product Support feedback.

Download: Microsoft Office 2007 Service Pack 1 | Whitepaper
Link: More Information

Intelligence Test Part 5 Solutions

Before I give you the answers to Intelligence Test Part 5, I have to admit there were a few culturally biased questions. Examples include questions 5, 11, 12, 19. Others may also be considered.

WARNING: Spoilers to follow.

New Intelligence Test! Part 5 Online Now!

I have just received an email from Mensa. Have a read:

Hello faithful Intelligence Test follower, It’s that time again. That’s right – the new Intelligence Test is now online: Intelligence-Test Part 5.

We want to thank everyone that sent us emails. It was a bit overwhelming having to read and reply to so much mail. We`re in no way used to be so famous, but, hey, we`re internet superstars now! Seriously, though, thank you! We never thought our little tests would gather so many fans.

This new edition was definitely a lot easier to do, knowing how many of you are out there and enjoying what we do. The new, sixth, edition is already in the planning stages with all the amazing puzzles that we had to drop at the last minute. Of course, you never know when it will come out. Even we don`t know it. We`d have to concentrate to answer that question and we don`t really like to do that. It makes our heads hurt, so we just skip that part and say whatever comes to mind. Which pretty much explains the last couple of sentences. But we digress.

Until the time for the new part comes, you can enjoy the Fifth as well as all the other parts that made you love us so much.

That’s right! The one you’ve been waiting for, Part 5 is online now!

Post your answers and how many you were able to complete in the comments!

Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5

.NET Framework 3.5 builds incrementally on the new features added in .NET Framework 3.0. For example, feature sets in Windows Workflow Foundation (WF), Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and Windows CardSpace. In addition, .NET Framework 3.5 contains a number of new features in several technology areas which have been added as new assemblies to avoid breaking changes. They include the following:

• Deep integration of Language Integrated Query (LINQ) and data awareness. This new feature will let you write code written in LINQ-enabled languages to filter, enumerate, and create projections of several types of SQL data, collections, XML, and DataSets by using the same syntax.
• ASP.NET AJAX lets you create more efficient, more interactive, and highly-personalized Web experiences that work across all the most popular browsers.
• New Web protocol support for building WCF services including AJAX, JSON, REST, POX, RSS, ATOM, and several new WS-* standards.
• Full tooling support in Visual Studio 2008 for WF, WCF, and WPF, including the new workflow-enabled services technology.
• New classes in .NET Framework 3.5 base class library (BCL) that address many common customer requests.

Download: .NET Framework 3.5 (Full Redistributable Package) 197.1MB
View: Details

Adobe updates Photoshop, Lightroom and Bridge

Adobe today (16/11/2007) has updated Photoshop CS3 to 10.0.1. The update brings the following:

• The speed of moving objects contained within multiple layer sets has been improved.
• Converting images to CMYK using certain profiles no longer results in black files.
• The Save for Web feature now includes an option to “Include XMP” (metadata) in the settings menu within the main Save for Web interface, making the existing capability easier to access.
• When using Save For Web with “Include XMP” enabled, all XMP data is now included in the optimized file.
• Print color matching has been improved.
• Images saved as DICOM and reopened in Photoshop CS3 are no longer corrupted on PowerPC based Mac computers.

Adobe has also updated Bridge CS3 to 2.1.1.9 and brings the following changes:

• A new preference to enable High Quality Preview has been added to Bridge’s Preferences > Advanced panel. When enabled, the preference addresses the problem of a soft or blurry preview appearing in the Preview panel and in Slideshow mode.
• Data loss that could result from replacing a folder with another folder by the same name has been prevented.
• Issues that could cause Bridge to crash (for example, when encountering a PDF or AI file) have been corrected.
• A problem that could cause Bridge to lock up when using arrows to navigate has been fixed.
• XMP data is now handled correctly when added to CR2 files.
• A problem that could cause the Loupe tool not to be available after exiting from Slideshow mode has been corrected.
• Rapid clicks to select multiple files are no longer interpreted as a double-click, so unintended opening of multiple files is now reduced.

DVDFab Platinum 4.0.1.2

DVDFab Platinum is all-in-one DVD copying/converting/burning software. In just one or two steps, you can copy any DVD to DVDR/PSP/iPod/etc.

DVDFab Platinum is brand new, is completely rewritten, is based on more than 6 years of DVD copy software development.

Download: DVDFab Platinum (Shareware)
View: Changelog
Homepage: DVDFab Platinum

The Power of Digg, Even Though I Was Not Digged!

As you may know I do not post a lot of articles on my blog, and that means the page views are also low; about 120 average. That is due to me being quite busy with college and other stuff.

I usually check my blog statistics, and when I checked today I noticed a huge peak out of nowhere (October 12th). What ever could it be? When I looked at the referers, I saw digg with 369 views. So I clicked the link and it took me to this page. My page was not even digged. But it was simply one comment. By the way, this is the highest number of pages views I have had, to this date!

Here you have witnessed a small part of Digg’s power, imagine if I had actually got digged/dugged. Damm.

Are are some images you might want to check out:

Daily Blog Stats for my Blog (with the peak)

Blog Stats for October 12th my Blog (all details)

New compatibility, reliability, and stability update for Windows Vista

This update improves the compatibility, reliability, and stability of Windows Vista. This update includes the following improvements:

• It extends the battery life for mobile devices.
• It improves the stability of portable computers and of desktop computers that use an uninterruptable power supply (UPS).
• It improves the reliability of Windows Vista when you open the menu of a startup application.
• It improves the stability of wireless network services.
• It shortens the startup time of Windows Vista by using a better timing structure.
• It shortens the recovery time after Windows Vista experiences a period of inactivity.
• It shortens the recovery time when you try to exit the Photos screen saver.
• It improves the stability of Windows PowerShell.

This update also resolves the following issues in Windows Vista:

• A compatibility issue that affects some third-party antivirus software applications.
• A reliability issue that occurs when a Windows Vista-based computer uses certain network driver configurations.

Download: X86 | X64
View: Information