Sprout :: Online-WYSIWYG-editor-for-Flash

Sprout, is a browser-based editor for Flash with an interface just like Photoshop or Dreamweaver. It serves us to create, publish and track Flash widgets, websites and mashups. The application itself is entirely Flash/Flex-based.

Sprouts, can be for Promotional, Personal & Informational purposes.

Sprout has partnered with leading Web content services including ChipIn, Meebo, PollDaddy and Ribbit, as well as widget distribution services Clearspring, Gigya, and SpringWidgets.

NDTV Indian of the Year

NDTV presented awards to Indian heroes in a glittering function held at Taj Palace, New Delhi, on 17th Jan 2008. The award is meant for those who have shown promise and excellence in their respective fields. It is a way to honor them for the efforts they have put in for building the ‘Brand India’.

Here's a roundup of the winners in various categories. The top prize, the NDTV Indian of the Year award went to the Indian soldiers.

Winners of NDTV Indian of the Year Award

NDTV Leader of the Year: Dr Manmohan Singh

NDTV Entertainer of the Year: Rajnikanth

NDTV Sportsman of the Year: Vishwanathan Anand

NDTV Music Award: A R Rehman

NDTV Business Leader of the Year: Mukesh Ambani

NDTV The unsung hero, introduced for people “who should have made headlines but don’t”, the award went to ‘The Indian Soldier,’ representing the Army — the second largest standing army in the world with 3.3 lakh soldiers guarding Kashmir and Assam in extreme conditions. The award was accepted by Army chief General Deepak Kapoor.

NDTV Global Indian of the Year: R K Pachauri

Video Trace

VideoTrace: Rapid interactive scene modelling from video

Australian Centre for Visual Technologies, explains the VideoTrace technology as

VideoTrace is a system for interactively generating realistic 3D models of objects from video—models that might be inserted into a video game, a simulation environment, or another video sequence. The user interacts with VideoTrace by tracing the shape of the object to be modelled over one or more frames of the video. By interpreting the sketch drawn by the user in light of 3D information obtained from computer vision techniques, a small number of simple 2D interactions can be used to generate a realistic 3D model. Each of the sketching operations in VideoTrace provides an intuitive and powerful means of modelling shape from video, and executes quickly enough to be used interactively. Immediate feedback allows the user to model rapidly those parts of the scene which are of interest and to the level of detail required. The combination of automated and manual reconstruction allows VideoTrace to model parts of the scene not visible, and to succeed in cases where purely automated approaches would fail.



Isn't that interesting? wondering how simple the 3d modeling is gonna be in future.
For more info check VideoTrace

Apple-MacBook Air

Apple released their new ultrathin, ultraportable notebook at the 2008 MacWorld Keynote, which costs >= $1799.

Specs:

Display
13.3 in display

13.3-inch (diagonal) glossy widescreen TFT LED backlit display with support for millions of colors

Supported resolutions: 1280 by 800 (native), 1152 by 720, 1024 by 768, 800 by 600, 800 by 500, 720 by 480, and 640 by 480 pixels at 16:10 aspect ratio; 1024 by 768, 800 by 600, and 640 by 480 pixels at 4:3 aspect ratio; 720 by 480 pixels at 3:2 aspect ratio

Size and weight

Height: 0.16-0.76 inch (0.4-1.94 cm)
Width: 12.8 inches (32.5 cm)
Depth: 8.94 inches (22.7 cm)
Weight: 3.0 pounds (1.36 kg)



Processor and memory

Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 4MB on-chip shared L2 cache running at full processor speed

* 800MHz frontside bus
* 2GB of 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM onboard

Standard: 1.6 GHZ - Optional: 1.8 GHZ.

Storage

* 80GB 4200-rpm Parallel ATA hard disk drive2
* Optional 64GB solid-state drive2
* Optional external USB MacBook Air SuperDrive

Graphics and video support
Pure digital video output

DVI output using micro-DVI to DVI adapter (included)

VGA output using micro-DVI to VGA adapter (included)

Composite output using micro-DVI to video adapter (optional)

S-video output using micro-DVI to video adapter (optional)

Intel GMA X3100 graphics processor with 144MB of DDR2 SDRAM shared with main memory

Extended desktop and video mirroring: Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display and up to 1920 by 1200 pixels on an external display, both at millions of colors
iSight

Audio

* Analog audio output/headphone out (minijack)
* Built-in mono speaker
* Built-in omnidirectional microphone

Built-in iSight camera

Installed software

* Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard (includes Time Machine, Quick Look, Spaces, Spotlight, Dashboard, Mail, iChat, Safari, Address Book, QuickTime, iCal, DVD Player, Photo Booth, Front Row, Xcode Developer Tools)
* iLife ’08 (includes iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, iWeb, GarageBand)

For more info Mac Air

Remember Shakti: Giriras Sudha

Mind blowing, Awesome music. Couldnt stop listening to it.

John McLaughlin - Guitar
Zakir Hussain - Tabla
V Selvaganesh - Percussion
U Shrinivas - Mandolin
Shankar Mahadevan - Vocal

Tata NANO

Tata has unveiled the Tata 1-Lakh Car and has named it the Tata Nano, the "People's Car".

Its making all the news across Globe truly its "Small in size but big in technology".



Specs.

* 624 cc engine
* 33 HP petrol engine
* Mileage of 20 kilometers per liter
* Passed full frontal crash test, the offset and side-crash test
* Bumper to bumper length 8% less than Maruti 800
* Legroom is expected to be 21 pc more than Maruti 800.
* The car meets the Bharat 3 (Euro 4) emission standards.
* The car that will come in two variants - AC & non-AC
* Will come a dealer price of Rs 1 lakh + VAT + transport charges.
* Commercial launch in mid 2008-09

Happy New Year 2008

I wish you Health...
So you may enjoy each day in comfort.

I wish you the Love of friends and family...
And Peace within your heart.

I wish you the Beauty of nature...
That you may enjoy the work of God.

I wish you Wisdom to choose priorities...
For those things that really matter in life.

I wish you Generousity so you may share...
All good things that come to you.

I wish you Happiness and Joy...
And Blessings for the New Year.

I wish you the best of everything...
That you so well deserve.

HAPPY NEW YEAR FRIEND!

~ Author Unknown to me ~