In just a few days, rumors are that Apple will be showing off the latest Apple iPhone at WWDC 2009, but Palm has stolen away some of their thunder by releasing what some are hailing as the phone that will save Palm from bankruptcy; the Palm Pre.

Not many people may know this but the Palm Pre has been rumored to be under development since back in 2004… but then, Palm was still mucking about with their handheld PDA phones being complacent as they have dominated the arena, being the inventor of the popular Palm PDAs. It took some rough times before the company bucked up and introduced two things: the Palm Pre phone and also the company’s next gen OS, webOS.

At first glance, the Pre looks like a polished stone, and is quite think too at almost 0.7 inches at the thickest point. However the curvy exterior makes it a comfortable fit for your hands and easy to slip in and out of even the tightest jeans pockets. The phone has 8GB of storage and runs on a Texas Instruments processor and an undisclosed amount of RAM. More importantly, it has capacitive touchscreen, the same technology used in the iPod Touch and iPhone which means it is very responsive to fingers. It is 3.1 inches wide, which means it is a wee bit smaller compared to rival iPhone’s specs. However the resolution is the same and the screen quality is no doubt top notch.

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How often have you run into the problem where you just need a single file from a zip file hosted online, and have to download the entire archive just to access that single file? Wouldn’t it be easier if we could download just that portion of the file we need?

Well, a solution has finally arrived. This tool, called LoadScout, is completely free and does exactly that, giving you the ability to tell it where the archive is. It will quickly download the list of files contained within that archive and you can selectively choose which ones you need and you only need to download those parts.

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There are many different sites out there that all aim to do one simple thing: converting a long URL into a shorter one. But why would you want to do something like this? I don’t really understand it myself, but in theory, services such as Bit.ly, ShortURL, Is.Gd and others take in a standard URL such as:

http://www.google.com.sg/url?sa=U&start=4&q=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASD&ei=nrMGSq31NcSikAWUpbTiBg&usg=AFQjCNFbQPaIPS5cGQY6rvGQy-2g_7T1pQ

And convert it to something more manageable, such as http://www.bit.ly/ks74js.

The existence of these sites really exploded when Twitter came onto the scene. With Twitter, you only get 140 characters to post for each ‘tweet’, so concise and precision become the order of the day. Therefore, URL shortening services allows users to be able to share direct links to web sites without putting a strain on the character limit.

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I’m not an expert on airplanes but here’s one that caught my eye. Guess what? Honda doesn’t only manufacture nifty automobiles; they’re perfecting their very own aircraft – the Honda Jet. All right, I must admit I actually researched on this because Honda has engaged me to do this. If you were me, you would also jump at the opportunity to research for Honda also, right?

And just like their automobiles, not only are their aircrafts ultra-cool, sleek and smart, they pack a real punch under the hood too. Just check out this baby:

What’s so unique about this jet? Well, look closer at the images and you’ll find that its turbo engines are mounted on its wings, unlike conventional jets that fix their engines in the rear. According to their engineers, this minimizes shock wave and reduces drag, making the plane more fuel-efficient and fast.

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With Diversity been crowned as the winner of Britain’s Got Talent, followed by Susan Boyle at second place, and Julian Smith at third, it marked the end of another outstanding talent show. The winners are chosen based on votes from the pubic viewers, and the winning team not only rewarded with £100000 GBP but also gets to perform at the Royal Variety Performance, in front of the Queen of England that is. Considered that the highest honor one normal civilian could ever had in his/her life.

Now what can the results tell us about blogging attitudes? No matter what field we’re in, we are constantly dealing with consumer needs, desire for attentions, and popularity. These 3 talented acts could teach us loads of strategies or attitudes we should inculcate in our blog. I’m not going to emphasis how talented these people are, as obviously in that category, everyone is the winner.

Let’s have a look at their winning factors in this competition, defeating the other 7 groups who were amongst the favorites of British viewers:

3rd Place: Julian Smith (Saxophone Player)

Humbleness:

Julian has shown his down to earth personality in his stage performance, which I believe captured the hearts of many voters. In the world that’s full of talented and remarkable blogging individuals, what really differentiates one from another is their attitude towards their work and readers. No matter how experienced and gifted a blogger is, he/she should always appreciate the work of others and be humble with their own achievements.  It’s a virtue and lifelong lesson that all bloggers should bear in mind.

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