• The Home Page:

Starting from where the search starts, let us talk about the home pages of Google, yahoo and Bing. Google has white background with the word Google written in typical colors; blue, red, yellow and green. There are times when we see various kinds of paintings around this word. Images, News, Groups, Books, Scholar, and Gmailare the main tabs on the top left. A lot of other features are there in the “more” section.

Yahoo search home page, on the other hand, is simpler than Google’s. It has plain white background with Yahoo written in red and options like Web, Images, Video, Local, and Shopping on the top of search bar.  More options are available in the “More” section.

Now, Bing is a bit attractive than the previous plain white pages. With Bing written in white, a search bar and options like Images, Videos, Shopping, News, Maps and Travel, the search engine is equipped with beautiful backgrounds. These backgrounds are usually photos of different parts of world, with small highlighted sections that tell a story about the location. Go to MSN, Windows Live and Bing Travel straight from this home page. In terms of appearance and looks, Bing home page is certainly on the top of other search engines.

• Search Results:

As far as Bing is concerned, the search results are comprised of two categories; on the left hand side there are quick tabs to centralize the search, and a central array of categorized search results.

Yahoo has a main array of categorized search, plus a right hand column of sponsored results. On the top, similar search phrases are also provided.

Do I need to tell about how Google search result page looks? It is almost same as the Yahoo result page in looks, with categorized search mainly on the page, and a right hand column of sponsored search. In terms of quality of search results, this is obvious that Google has no match.

• Airfare Search:

Regarding airfare search, Bing is the winner. It has included the Faircast Technology in Bing Travel, which shows recent history of airfares, as well as predicts likely future modifications in the rates. Yahoo comes second with providing the facility to compare aerial fares. Sadly, Google renders no such service. So, with all honesty, Bing is given the trophy for best airfare search.

• Hotel Search:

Again, this is the department of Bing and Yahoo, only. Google does not offer a travel service. Bing uses the same technology for hotel search too. Search for accommodation in a specified area, and Bing will show the historical rates of hotels along with the current ones, and will tell you whether the current deal is good to have. Yahoo Travel tells the searcher about ‘Getaway Sale’ pricing for hotel rooms in case such pricing is being offered. ‘Good Deal’ tag is displayed with a result when such discount is being made as a part of promotion offered by Yahoo. Price range search is also part of Yahoo search. Here, Yahoo deserves to stand in the middle block of victory stand.

• Refining Search:

When it comes to search refining; Bing stands out from the other search engines. Its Explorer Pane is present on left side of every search, so the refinement is just a click away. As far as Google and yahoo are concerned, an extra click is needed to show the options in Yahoo as well as Google. Therefore, Bing again gets the award in refined search.

• Video Search:

At last, here is something interesting. When you search for “Akon” in videos on Bing, you will get a whole lot of video results. Interestingly, almost 90% of these videos are by AOL or MySpace (of course, YouTube is powered by Google!). Choose one of the videos and you will get it paying on the top of results. Also, these results can further be refined by length, screen size, resolution etc.

Google shows the results as the user chooses; in grid or in large thumbnails. One can filter the results by duration and source. Clicking a video will play it in the upper right corner of the window.

As far as yahoo videos are concerned, it offers “Official Videos” option. It either plays the videos at the down side of the window, or takes to the server. Best among all these three in video search department is indeed Bing.

So, each of these three is specialist in certain areas and their expertise differs in various departments of search. Seriously speaking, Bing seems to have enough potential to threaten Google’s monopoly. Anyways, the fact is that whenever we have to make a search about something, we “Google it”. I suppose Bing has to go a long way in order to make its phrase!

Source: pcworld

Specs:

• Product type: 50” plasma TV
• Combined with: Built-in network media player
• Dimensions with stand and speakers: 56.7” x 3.7” x 28.5”
• Weight: 88 lbs
• Display size diagonal: 50” widescreen
• Technology: Plasma PDP
• Resolution: 1920×1080
• Display format: 1080p Full HD
• Image aspect ratio: 16:9
• Progressive scanning (line doubling)
• Widescreen modes: Full,  Wide,  Zoom,  Cinema,  Conventional 4:3
• Display menu languages: English, Spanish, French
• Comb filter: 3D digital
• Color temperature control: Yes (High/Mid-High/Mid/Mid-Low/Low)
• Picture adjustment: Optimum / Dynamic / Standard / PURE / Movie / Game / User / ISF-Day / ISF-Night
• Additional features: V-Chip , Channel labeling , Parental control , Anti-glare filter , Video noise reduction , Anti-reflective filter , Room light sensor (RLS) , 3:2 pull down compensation , 3:3 pull down compensation , Color Transient Improvement (CTI) , Digital MPEG Noise Reduction Circuit
• Multi channel preview: Picture-in-picture (PIP) , Picture-side-picture (PSP)
• Digital TV tuner: ATSC
• HDTV ready, Parental channel lock
• Input video formats: 480i , 480p , 720p , 1080i , 1080p
• Backlit remote control
• Sound output mode: Stereo
• Sound effects: SRS WOW , TruBass , SRS Focus
• Audio controls: Balance , Bass , Treble
• Two speakers included
• Multimedia functionality: Digital audio playback , Digital photo playback , Digital video playback
• Supported audio formats: AAC , AC3 , MP3 , PCM , WAV , WMA
• Supported video formats: WMV , MPEG-1 , MPEG-2
• Supported picture formats: BMP , GIF , JPG , PNG , TIFF
• Connections: 4 x HDMI input, 2 x Component video input, 3 x Composite video/audio input, 1 x S-Video input, 1 x USB, 1 x VGA input, 1 x Network, 1 x Digital audio output, 1 x Headphones, 1 x Subwoofer output, 1 x Audio line-out, 1 x Audio line-out
• Price: $3,595.00 – $4,499.98 (subject to variation according to time and location)

Features:

Credit: gizmodo

The all black glossy outer case with golden ELITE on the bottom gives it a nice look. There are two speakers on both sides of the TV. Fortunately, the stand as well as the speakers can be detached from the TV. Though the remote has been redesigned, the small grid-lined buttons are not easy to use.

When dealing with the on screen menu, you will be surprised to see that Pioneer has managed to shrink the picture to one side of the screen and the other portion is filled by the menu and explanation. A special room lighting sensor feels the ambient light conditions and adjusts the picture in view of that.

For HD picture, there is a very nice set of six aspect ratio modes, and five for standard def. also, there is an Auto mode that tries to set the aspect ratio that suits you best. With the Home Media Gallery, photos, videos and music can be enjoyed on the TV via USB or Ethernet port.

Product’s Unique Selling Points:

• Deepest black levels ever seen
• Accurate color
• Great antireflective screen
• Nice connectivity
• Superb picture controls

Limitations:

• Highly expensive
• Ordinary SD processing

Final Words:

The TV produces outclass and top of the line picture. Blacks are as deep and colors are as accurate as we want them to be. Video processing, on the other hand, is superb too. Overall, it is an awesome choice if you have the guts to give away $400.

Source: review.zdnet

Credit: kidoz.net

A large number of kids look for computer games, websites and videos on the internet and the web browser which has been named as KIDO’Z will help kids to find these items in a safe, colorful and friendly interface.

Kids who want to make the most of the new web browser need to have Adobe Air, as Kido’Z can be installed just with few clicks and to set a free account and it requires something more than just username and password.

The interface is quite similar to a TV that has colorful icons to switch between different websites, videos, channels and other games. You will find lots of pages for pre selected content in which every item has been presented in recognizable, but colorful thumbnails.

If your kids want to return to their favorite videos, games and other preferred stuff, they can easily do so with the given Favorite button and they need not to search through all the given pages once again.

There is also a Parental Control page in it that has been protected with a password. So, it’s quite easier for you to add new videos and block the stuff that you reckon inappropriate.

Source: PCWorld