thanks to Dropbox Folder Sync Synchronize any Windows folder on your PC with Dropbox, thanks to Dropbox Folder Sync

Dropbox is a useful service that
proves its worth time and time
again. But to sync your data to
other computers and mobile
devices, you need to get that data
into the default Dropbox folder in
the first place, and sometimes that
can prove problematic. Some
data--such as browser profiles
(Firefox), games points and
profiles, Outlook data files, and
password manager files (such as
KeePass )-- can't be moved. For
this, you will need Dropbox Folder
Sync.
Dropbox Folder Sync is a small,
free app that integrates itself into
your Explorer right-click menu, and
allows you to create what is called
a "symbolic link." What this means
is that a folder on your computer
can be connected to your Dropbox
account, and nothing needs to be
moved at all. In fact, your
computer won't even be aware that
there is a link in the first place.
The symbolic link will create a
clone folder in your Dropbox
account and when something
changes in the original folder, the
clone folder in Dropbox will update
instantly.
After installing the software, all
you have to do is find the folder
you want to clone and right-click
on it. You will see two new
options, sync with Dropbox and
unsync with Dropbox . Choose the
first one, and a Windows shortcut
arrow will appear on the folder. A
copy of the folder will also now
appear inside your Dropbox
account. It goes without saying
that you need to check beforehand
if you have enough space in your
Dropbox account to handle the
extra files. If not, you may need to
consider upgrading--for a fee.
Now every time you drop
something into the original folder,
or when an existing file changes in
any way, that change will instantly
be reflected in the cloned folder in
Dropbox. And nothing needs to be
moved from the original
installation files, which means
nothing will inconveniently break.
If you decide that you no longer
want the original folder linked to
Dropbox, just right-click on it
again and choose "unsync with
Dropbox ". The cloned folder will be
deleted in Dropbox and the original
folder will remain as it was.
The developer says that a new
version is in the pipeline with
small improvements such as
syncing to an already existing
folder in your Dropbox folder.
Currently you are not allowed to
specify where the cloned folder
goes, which can lead to a messy
Dropbox folder. Another planned
feature is consolidating the right-
click menu options into a single
sub-menu. The app is constantly
being refined and tweaked and the
developers seem very responsive
on their website with regards to
feedback, feature requests, and
potential bug reports.
If you are a Dropbox user and you
want to start syncing data that
you normally wouldn't be able to
move into Dropbox, then give
Dropbox Folder Sync a try.
Note: The Download button on the
Product Information page takes
you to the vendor's site, where you
can download the latest version of
the software.

Google, Mozilla want to turbocharge 3D games in your browser

The Mozilla Foundation introduced
a technology this week that it
claims will allow game makers to
supercharge the performance of
their wares in a Web browser.
The technology is a highly-
optimized version of JavaScript,
called asm.js, that Mozilla says
will turbo charge a developer's
code in a browser and enable them
to deliver visually compelling 3D
games on the Web.
The technology also opens the
door for developers to bring 3D
games to browsers on mobile
devices that perform almost as
well as those written in a
programming language, the
company wrote on The Mozilla
Blog.
Mozilla added that it is working
with gaming heavyweights Disney,
EA, and Zeptolab to bring versions
of those players' Web games to
mobile in an optimized form.
In conjunction with the turbo
JavaScript announcement. Mozilla
said it's teaming up with Epic
Games to bring that company's
Unreal Engine 3 to the Web.
Mozilla hard at work
Mozilla has been working diligently
to prove that the Web can be a
dazzling platform for 3D games.
For example, with the release of
Firefox 18 in January, the
foundation introduced
BananaBread
, a 3D Web game with a bundle of
leading edge Web technologies
under the hood--HTML5, WebGL,
and asm.js.
Meanwhile, a Google programmer
hopped on the asm.js bandwagon,
maintaining the technology ought
to be supported by the V8
JavaScript engine in the Chrome
browser.
"Optimizations should be added to
V8 to generate good code for the
asm.js subset of JavaScript,"
Kenneth Russell wrote in a Chrome
issues posting.
"The implementation cost should
be small compared to the potential
upside--the ability to run
significant existing code bases
with close to the speed of C inside
the JavaScript engine," he wrote.
If Google gets onboard with
asm.js--even though the
technology may compete with
some of the Search Giant's
initiatives in the space, such as
Native Client and Portable Native
Client--it would be very significant
for developers.
What will make browsers viable for
3D games
In order for Web browsers to
become a viable platform for high-
performance 3D games,
technologies that allow them to do
that must be adopted by all the
major browser makers. Otherwise,
developers will be stuck making
games for individual browsers--
not an attractive proposition for
them.
It remains to be seen, however, if
Google will follow the advice of
Russell. Mozilla's asm.js promises
to perpetuate the life of JavaScript,
something Google would clearly
like to see go away, as its efforts
to popularize a technology called
Dart indicates.
Dart, introduced more than a year
ago, is a Web programming
language designed to address the
shortcomings of JavaScript and
eventually replace it.

Lionel Messi writes his name in the history books again

With his 73rd minute goal against
Celta Vigo today, Lionel Messi has
now scored in 19 straight league
matches. He's also written yet
another line into the record books
and reminded us just how amazing
a talent he is.

In the 73rd minute of Barcelona's
match today against Celta Vigo,
Lionel Messi scored his 29th goal
in his last 19 league matches. It's
his 43rd in the league this season.
Why is this special? I'm glad you
asked.
First there's the little matter of
Messi having scored in his 19th
straight La Liga match. Every time
he scores he increases his own
record. That's pretty impressive on
it's own and it's a run of form that
the sport of soccer has never seen.
However by scoring today against
Celta Vigo , Messi has completed
another astounding feat of soccer
awesomeness by scoring against
all 19 other teams in the league in
consecutive games. The last time
Messi didn't score a goal in a
league match was on November
3rd, 2012 against Celta Vigo.
Since that game Barca has played
all the way through the league and
Messi has scored in every single
match.
That's insane...and impressive. It's
also so Messi.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored against
all 19 teams in La Liga during the
2011-12 season but no player had
ever done it in consecutive games.
The goal also allowed Messi to
equal Ronaldo's single season
away goal record at 23, a record
also set last season.
I know myself and many others
tend to go nuts over the young
Argentinian striker but when he's
doing things that the sport simply
has never witnessed, you can't help
but be amazed.
And he's still only 25.

Madrid set to axe Essien

Real Madrid intend to cut loose six
senior players in the summer to
make room for new signings.
El Economista says Real will shed
six players from the first team
squad at the beginning of the
summer market.
Antonio Adán and Ricardo
Carvalho will be allowed to come
off contract, while on-loan
midfielder Michael Essien will
return to Chelsea.
Raul Albiol and Kaka will be put
up for sale and Real will also listen
to offers for one striker.

Qatar 2022: Taking a Look at the Stadia Set to Break the Mold in the Middle East

We are nine years away from the 2022 FIFA World Cup that will be held in the oil-rich Middle Eastern nation of Qatar. 

Qatar beat out Australia, Japan, South Korea and the United States to earn the coveted title of World Cup host.

Since Qatar was named the host nation in December 2010, plenty of speculation and controversy has surrounded the brand-new, high-tech stadiums that are set to be built for the gathering of the 32 best footballing nations in the world. 

Here is a comprehensive look at each of the 12 stadiums that will host a total of 62 matches during the summer, or winter, of 2022. 

Real Madrid ready to move for Spurs' star Bale

Tottenham have been warned that
Real Madrid have the desire and
financial firepower to take Gareth
Bale to the Bernabeu this summer.
Bale's starring performance in the
3-2 win against West Ham on
Monday night has further
cemented his status among
Europe's very best players, with
Real, Paris St-Germain, Bayern
Munich, Barcelona and Manchester
City all now closely monitoring his
future.
Ramon Calderon, the former
president of Real Madrid who
retains links with the club, said
yesterday that the vast resources
available at the Bernabeu will
enable them to agree a deal.
"It's true we have spent a lot of
money in the last three or four
years but I think we are in a
position to pay the money they are
going to ask for," Calderon said.
"There is always a limit but Real
Madrid is in a very healthy
situation, economically speaking,
so it would be in the position to
sign him."
Madrid announced what they called
a "collaboration agreement" with
Tottenham following the purchase
of Luka Modric last season and
have already asked to be informed
if Bale does become available for
transfer. Tottenham would not
listen to offers below 50 million
pounds, with friends of the Wales
winger predicting that his long-
term future will still be defined by
his current club's ability to qualify
for the Champions League and
compete for silverware.
Calderon, who constructed the
world-record pounds 80?million
deal that took Cristiano Ronaldo
from Manchester United to Real,
accepts that Bale would not come
cheap.
"He is one of those players you
would always like to have in your
team. I'm sure it will be a high
amount of money because he is a
fantastic player. A lot of clubs
would like to have him," said
Calderon, who was replaced as
president in 2009 by Florentino
Perez.
Real's determination to buy Bale
this summer is likely to be heavily
influenced by the future of
Ronaldo, who will hold contract
talks in May. Despite Ronaldo
having just two years left to run on
his contract at the Bernabeu, Real
have yet to offer the former
Manchester United player a new
deal or begin negotiations with the
28-year-old's advisers.
Perez is due to stand for re-
election as president later this year
and, as well as needing to resolve
the managerial uncertainty at the
club, he will want to recruit a box-
office signing to ensure he is given
another four-year term. Bale is
known in Spain as the 'left-footed
Ronaldo'.
Reports in Madrid have also
suggested that Perez would be
prepared to sell Ronaldo to fund a
summer spending spree on Bale,
the Brazilian Neymar, David Silva
and Malaga winger Isco.
With Ronaldo having claimed
earlier this season that he was
unhappy at Real, speculation has
grown that the Portuguese is
prepared to leave the club this
summer or run down his contract
to depart as a free agent in 2015.
It has also emerged that Ronaldo
told holidaymakers in the
Dominican Republic in December
that he misses England and is keen
to play in the Premier League
again, raising the possibility, albeit
unlikely, of a return to Manchester
with United or City.
Paris St-Germain, backed by the
Qatari royal family, will also be
major players in this summer's
transfer window. Calderon also told
TalkSport yesterday that he
expected Jose Mourinho to move
from Madrid to Paris this summer,
although their transfer priorities
are currently a centre-back and a
new striker.
Tottenham remain adamant that
they have no interest in selling Bale
and are on course to qualify for
the Champions League for the
second time in four years.
Bale has previously said that he
would be open to playing abroad at
some stage in his career but did
extend his Tottenham contract last
summer until 2016. "It won't be
about money," said a friend. "If
Tottenham do get into the
Champions League and then show
they can compete with the
Manchester clubs, that is what will
be important to him."
Madrid expressed an interest in
Bale when they signed Modric last
summer and have now requested
that they be given the opportunity
to match any rival bids. Bale and
his advisers, however, must decide
whether his development would be
risked by moving abroad at such an
early stage in his career.
According to team-mate Scott
Parker, Bale's winning goal against
West Ham will have dealt Arsenal a
psychological blow in the race for
Champions League football.
"I've been in that position where
you're watching the scores come
up and it goes 'last-minute goal at
wherever' and you're praying it's
the other team," said Parker. "It is
deflating as a player on the
opposite end, and I'm sure the
Arsenal players are like that."
Tottenham can move seven points
clear of Arsenal on Sunday when
the two clubs meet at White Hart
Lane Parker says the players will be
motivated by losing a 10-point lead
over their rivals last season. "What
happened last year drives us," he
said. "We've worked really hard
this season to get where we've got,
and we can't afford to fall off it.
Of Bale, Parker added: "Words
can't really describe how well he's
playing at the moment."

Ramos warns Real Madrid over French star's departure

Sergio Ramos has warned Real
Madrid they will be losing a world
class player if they part company
with Karim Benzema in the
summer.
The France striker is playing second
fiddle to Gonzalo Higuain in Real's
lone-striker system this season and
has attracted the attention of
Arsenal, among others.
But Ramos, who is often charged
with marking the 25-year-old in
training, does not want his team-
mate to move to a rival.
"To question a player like Benzema
is madness, for both Real Madrid
and France," Ramos said while on
international duty with Spain.
"He is a very special player who
can make a difference. He is a very
good striker who's good at Real
and his national team.
"When he is right there are few
players who can reach his level.
"I thoroughly know that you have
to constantly mark him and if you
forget for a moment he will lose
you and score."

Ronaldo to travel to Azerbaijan

Portugal captain Cristiano
Ronaldo is travelling to Azerbaijan
with the rest of the squad for
Tuesday's World Cup qualifier
even though he is suspended for
the game.
Real Madrid attacker Ronaldo
played all 90 minutes of
Portugal's dramatic 3-3 draw in
Israel on Friday, when he laid on
his side's second goal for Helder
Postiga, but also picked up a
second yellow card of the
qualifiers, ruling him out of the
game in Baku.
This opened up the possibility of
an early return to Madrid to
prepare for Saturday's upcoming
La Liga game at Real Zaragoza and
then Champions League quarter-
final first leg against Galatasaray
at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu
on April 3, but Ronaldo says he is
remaining with his national squad
to support his team-mates from
the sidelines.
"I am here in body and soul," he
told the Portuguese FA's website.
"On Tuesday I will support my
teammates so that we can play a
good game and win. I feel
unhappy about not being able to
help them out on the pitch, but I
will do it from the sidelines."
Portugal are currently third in
Group F, level on points with
second-placed Israel, but four
behind leaders Russia, who have
played a game less.
Ronaldo said that missing the
game was frustrating, but he had
decided against returning early to
club matters.
"In the last game I picked up a
yellow card which left me pretty
unhappy," he said. "I believe my
presence here is important. The
easiest thing would have been to
return to my club, but I said I
wanted to stay. I like being here
and I believe my contribution,
even without playing, is
important for the national team
and my team-mates and friends."

Make your website stand out in Windows 8

Buried within Windows 8 are little-
known features that can give your
website a prominent presence
alongside the apps on any user's
desktop. Exploiting these options
can enhance your site's visitor
experience and give your business
a competitive advantage. For
example, people can pin your
website to Windows 8's new Start
Screen, share your site with others
via its Charms bar, and access
shortcuts to your content.
Although Windows 8 remains
controversial, it counts millions of
early adopters, and Windows will
likely remain the most popular
operating system for the
foreseeable future. That's why it
matters to optimize your website
now for Microsoft's newest OS.
Luckily, all it takes is adding add
some custom code to your website,
and it doesn't take heavy-duty
developer skills. Read on to get
started.
Customize your Windows 8 Start
Screen tile
When visitors browse your website
using the Internet Explorer app in
the new Windows 8 interface, they
can pin your site to the Windows
Start Screen
. This creates a "live tile" icon in
Windows, serving as a shortcut to
your site.
Make sure your website has a
favicon--the Favorite or Bookmark
icon that appears in your browser's
address bar or tab--since that icon
appears in Windows 8's tile.
Otherwise, you'll see the IE icon by
default. Windows 8 extracts the
dominant color from your favicon,
if available, and uses it as the live
tile's background color. It uses
your site's HTML title tag for the
name of the tile.
If you don't have a favicon but
want to customize a Start Screen
tile for your site, you can get
customized code to make your site
stand out with a background color,
an icon image, and a tile name. Just
use this convenient wizard
provided by Microsoft. It offers
two lines of code that you can
paste within your site's HTML tag.
Also consider utilizing pinned site
notifications, through which you
can alert your visitors of new
messages, new content, or other
site-related updates via graphical
alert flags that appear on your
site's tile.
Design for flip-ahead browsing in
Internet Explorer
One new feature available only in
the app version (not the desktop
version) of Internet Explorer 10 for
Windows 8 is flip-ahead browsing .
This allows your visitors to explore
your website like a book or
magazine, clicking the Forward
button or swiping with their finger
to advance to the next page. This is
particularly useful for content like
multi-page articles, photo
slideshows, and blog posts.
Though the Internet Explorer app
tries to analyze your site and come
up with flip-ahead suggestions, you
can manually identify them within
your Web page code. Browse your
site in IE 10 on Windows 8 and use
the flip-ahead feature to see what
happens. It should automatically
detect obvious content, such as
multi-page articles with "next"
buttons or links. If you find flip
ahead doesn't provide your desired
content flow, refer to this
Microsoft guide on how to add the
code to your site's pages.
Customize your site's sharing
details
When visitors browse your website
using the Internet Explorer 10 app,
they can bring up the Charms bar
along the right edge of the
Windows 8 interface to share your
site with others via apps including
Mail and People.
By default, shared content will use
your site's HTML title tag as the
site name, along with your site's
HTML description tag and a
random image from the site.
Your website's default details may
be fine, but you can place
customizated code within your site
to specify exactly what you want to
appear when visitors share your
site with others via the Charms
bar. Refer to the Microsoft site for
the HTML tags you need to add.
Create Jump Lists for your site
In Windows 7, Microsoft added a
convenient feature called Jump
Lists . These allow you to right-click
on programs and websites pinned
to the Taskbar or Start Menu so
users can access shortcuts to
recent files, frequent locations and
common tasks. By default, if your
visitors pin your website to
Windows 7 or 8, they won't see any
Jump List shortcuts or tasks unless
you've added code to your site for
this purpose.
In Windows 8, Microsoft included
the same Jump List feature for the
Desktop Taskbar, and also added
Jump List functionality to the sites
you pin to its new Start Screen.
After clicking on a pinned site from
the Windows Start Screen, it opens
the site in the Internet Explorer
app. From there you can click the
pin icon on the bottom of the
Internet Explorer app to see a site's
Jump List, which is just like what's
shown in the Jump List of sites you
pin to the Windows 8 Desktop
Taskbar and Windows 7 Taskbar or
Start Menu.
On your customized Jump List you
can list up to five shortcuts to
specific URLs, each with its own
icon. Perhaps link to each of site's
main pages or to your social media
pages. You can even provide an RSS
feed to display a list of shortcuts
that are automatically updated,
such as your blog posts, Twitter
feed, or other content streams If
you haven't yet created a
customized Jump List for your
website, refer to our previous
article or use this wizard from
Microsoft .
Each website customization
discussed here includes a shortcut
to a Microsoft Web page or wizard.
For more details, check out the full
developer guides for Internet
Explorer 9 and Internet Explorer
10, and consider scanning your
website for compatibility issues as
well.

Cristiano Ronaldo Would Be Foolish to Make Return to Manchester United

Ever given creation a pierce from
Manchester United to Real Madrid
in a summer of 2009, Cristiano
Ronaldo has been related with a
lapse to his former club.
After all, a star winger did contend
that he was “with Manchester in
physique and soul” after creation
his £80 million send to Los Blancos
(per BBC Sport). Thus, a lapse to
Old Trafford—to a Theater of
Dreams—perhaps wasn’t totally out
of a doubt for a star winger.
Yet a existence is that a pierce
from Ronaldo behind to
Manchester United isn’t going to
occur anytime in a nearby future.
As many as Sir Alex Ferguson
reportedly wants it and as many as
a fans really wish it , there’s no
approach United can tempt
Ronaldo into returning to Old
Trafford.
It would be startling if a
Portuguese general ever left Madrid
during all.
Jasper Juinen/Getty Images
Since nearing in a Spanish capital,
Ronaldo has now turn a vast
success and has propelled himself
to general stardom as a outcome of
that.
He has netted 185 goals for Madrid
opposite all foe in usually 191
matches. He has won them a La
Liga pretension and finished
runner-up on dual (perhaps shortly
to be three) occasions. He has won
a Copa del Rey (again, maybe
shortly to be two) and a Spanish
Super Cup.

Moreover, Ronaldo has primed
Madrid for clever showings in a
Champions League each year given
his arrival, with this deteriorate
being no different. In fact, but a 8
goals that he has scored in a
contest so far, Los Blancos would
not be as distant as they are in a
foe right now.
Inasmuch, a 28-year-old has
achieved zero brief of luminosity in
his time during Madrid (did we
discuss how many times he’s been
World Player of a Year runner-up?)
and has turn an impossibly
required partial to their descent
prolongation and attack.
Without him, Madrid are simply
not Madrid anymore.
Emilio Butragueño, a former striker
and now comparison executive
during a club, spoke recently about
how constituent Ronaldo was to
Los Blancos ( via The Telegraph ).
Ronaldo is 28. He is
underneath agreement
[until 2015] and we are
really happy with him. We
are gay he is during Madrid.
He is a illusory veteran and
really desirous in a certain
way. His grant to a group
and a bar has been
extraordinary given he
arrived. We are really
beholden he came to us.
We are really propitious
that he plays for Real
Madrid.
He scores a idea a
diversion on average. This
is incredible. we have been
examination football given
we was 3 and never saw
anything similar. When
Ronaldo is on a pitch, we
know we are going to score.
It is an implausible
advantage.
For Manchester United, therefore,
to try and examine Ronaldo divided
from that seems impossibly
difficult, and it would have to be
an offer they would no doubt have
to sell really well.

There is a “homecoming”
atmosphere that would positively
acquire a star winger back—we saw
that to be a box when United
recently played Madrid in a
Champions League—and Ronaldo
would certainly be applauded,
usually as should, if he returned
for good.
And there’s no jealous that Ronaldo
would be entrance into a successful
club, with United expected to turn
a present favorites for English and
European success.
Michael Regan/Getty Images
However, what a Red Devils would
need to do—and it’s maybe a many
doubtful thing of it all—is tempt
Madrid into offered Ronaldo.
Which, given that they sold him for
£80 million in 2009, would
expected see them strech the £100
million symbol in sequence to try
and pierce him back.
Few can see Sir Alex Ferguson
creation such an vast move, even
for a male that he knows firsthand
how good and harmful he can be.
To spend £100 million is usually
ludicrous, and it would clearly
make surplus the £50 million or so
spent on bringing in players like
Wilfried Zaha, Shinji Kagawa,
Antonio Valencia and Ashley Young
over a past few seasons.
And then, even if all of that
somehow managed to take place,
there’s still no pledge that Madrid
will sell Ronaldo or that a winger
himself would wish to leave.
The English diversion is many
some-more earthy than a Spanish
one, and he might good onslaught
with a opposite personification
conditions and context of a
Premier League, generally carrying
not played in a foe for 4 true
seasons now.
Ronaldo, during United, would not
see as many of a turn as he does
during Madrid, with a likes of
Wayne Rooney and Robin outpost
Persie heading a attack. The winger
would expected play a interrelated
purpose to them, that is totally
opposite to what he does during
Madrid, and, to put it bluntly, it’s
tough to see a second-best actor in
a universe creation a pierce usually
to play second fiddle.
Especially not when he has it all
right in front of him during
Madrid.
Alex Livesey/Getty Images
Los Blancos are a really gifted
group that have shown they can
contest with Barcelona for
domestic honors and for European
status also. They’ve also already
shown they can delight over
Manchester United in a Champions
League with their turn of 16 feat
progressing in a season.
Ronaldo has clearly all he needs
during Madrid, and Madrid have all
they clearly need in Ronaldo. It’s
tough to see any club—let alone
one doubtful to spend £100 million
—being means to mangle adult that
symbiotic relationship and inspire
a pierce from a star winger.
At slightest not any time in a
nearby future.
Do we consider Cristiano
Ronaldo will ever leave Real
Madrid?

Khedira: I wouldn't be at Real Madrid if it wasn't for Mourinho

The Blancos midfielder has
showered praise on his head
coach, revealing that his arrival
in the Spanish capital was a
"fluke" instigated by the
Portuguese trainer
Sami Khedira has described Jose
Mourinho as a "great man" and has
suggested that he owes him a debt
of gratitude for bringing him to
Real Madrid.
The Germany midfielder signed for
los Merengues from Stuttgart in
the summer of 2010 and has so far
amassed 116 appearances for the
Spanish giants.
In an interview with Die Welt ,
Khedira spoke of his admiration for
Mourinho and attributed his arrival
at the club to Portuguese.
"Coming to Madrid was generally a
fluke because I have come to the
biggest club in the world," the 25-
year-old said.
"I have had the opportunity to
develop alongside great players and
a great coach. I have no intention
of leaving the club.
"Mourinho was a crucial part of
me being at Madrid. I am grateful-
it has made me a better player."
Los Blancos sit second in the Liga
table, 13 points behind Barcelona,
but despite the fact it appears that
their title defence will be fruitless,
Khedira has refuted suggestions
that there is excessive tension in
the dressing room.
"It is normal to have moments of
disagreement or conflict," he
continued.
"It's always easy to judge someone
when things go well. But in bad
times people show their true
character. And our coach has tried
to help with all his might. Again, he
has proved to be a great man.
"Don't forget we have won three
titles with him in two years."

3-0: Higuaín scored a brace in Argentina's win over Venezuela

Higuaín is on a roll. After scoring
two goals in Real Madrid's last
match against Mallorca, the
Argentine has done it again with
his national team. Argentina
comfortably beat Venezuela (3-0)
in a match from the
classification phase for the 2014
World Cup. "El Pipa", who was in
the starting line-up and played
80 minutes, opened the scoring
in the 28' and closed the tally in
the 59'. In the 10 matches he
has played for Argentina,
Higuaín has scored nine, making
him the top scorer in the South
American group to date. The
other Madrid player who was in
the squad, Ángel di María, did
not take part in the match.
The Argentine side gave Venezuela
no chance. The local side clearly
dominated the game and made it
count thanks to their forwards. It
was precisely a quick passing move
in attack which led to the first in
the 28'. Higuaín found himself
alone against Daniel Hernández ,
and shot low to score. After the
second, scored by Messi from the
spot, Higuaín added a second to his
personal tally. The white team
forward took advantage of a pass
behind the defence to hit a first-
time ball from inside the area (59').
After his brace, Higuaín was
replaced in the 80th minute by
Rodrigo Palacio. "El Pipa", who
was shown a yellow card and will
not be able to play against Bolivia
due to suspension, showed his
satisfaction at the end of the game:
“I am happy with the position
Argentina is in. We have an
advantage in the table which
allows us to relax a little".
Argentina is leading the group by
four points from Colombia, and
Higuaín in the top scorer in the
group, with nine.

Fernando Torres – The journey from Madrid to London

As they say, “Don’t mistake
my kindness for weakness. I am
kind to everyone, but when
someone is unkind to me, weak is
not what are you going to
remember about me.”
This should be the attitude of
Fernando Torres (in my view)
against people unkind towards
him.
Fernando Torres started his career
at Atletico Madrid. Blessed with a
lot of pace and good technique,
Torres made quick progress in the
Atletico first team and at the same
time, did well for Spain at the
U-16 and U-17 level. With his
impressive performances at the
Madrid club, Chelsea owner
Roman Abramovich planned to
land Torres at Stamford Bridge
when he was just 19 but Atletico
Madrid rejected that bid and
Torres was named captain of the
club that season. Improved
performances every season
ensured Torres a great future for
both club and country. Torres
always had a chance to join
Chelsea FC but instead he choose
Liverpool and Premier League was
hit by a storm named El Nino .
At Liverpool, he played under
Rafael Benitez and soon became a
fan favourite at Anfield with his
impressive performances against
top teams. With the likes of
Steven Gerrard and Xabi Alonso in
the midfield, Torres started to get
what he wanted and soon started
scoring regularly for Liverpool.
Both Gerrard and Alonso are
considered masters of playing
through balls and longs ball in
front of the opponents’ box which
led to goals galore for Torres. He
scored more than 30 goals for
Liverpool in his first season. In
the following season, with a
hamstring and an ankle injury,
Torres’ pace reduced but he
scored 22 goals for Liverpool in
2009-10.
Torres won the Euro 2008 with
the national team, scoring the
only goal in the finals and also
won the trophy that every
footballer dreams of, the World
Cup. He won a lot of honours
individually as well but was never
able to win a trophy at club level.
With no trophies for almost a
decade and Liverpool failing to
secure a place in Champions
League football, he decided to
leave Liverpool for Chelsea and
joined the latter on the deadline
day of the 2011 January transfer
window for a record fee
(rumoured £50 million). His move
to Chelsea FC was a dramatic move
but at the same time,
heartbreaking for many at
Liverpool. Torres’ form dipped at
Chelsea and soon he lost the
confidence which was a key aspect
of his game throughout his career.
Torres had barren runs at Chelsea
in front of goal and he missed a
lot of opportunities. The style of
play at Chelsea doesn’t suit the
way Torres played his game and
without any partner upfront, it
was difficult for him to get back in
top form. He showed glimpses of
his genius at regular intervals but
there was no consistency. Torres
had his worst performances at
Chelsea but still he had the
support of his team-mates, the
owner and most importantly, the
fans. Torres although never scored
regularly but used to get the all
important assists more often. The
effort that he was putting in at
Chelsea was not enough and he
got dropped from the national
side. But at the end of his first
full season at Chelsea, Torres won
the FA cup and the holy grail, the
Champions League trophy which
was won by a corner earned by
Torres.
Eventually he got a call in the
national team and he won the
Euro 2012 with Spain defeating
Italy in the finals and became the
top scorer of the tournament with
a goal in the finals and won the
Golden Boot award. He became
the only player to have scored in
back to back Euro finals. Although
Torres is still far form his best, he
has won almost all the trophies a
footballer dreams of winning.
Tactically speaking, I don’t
consider Chelsea as the reason of
his failure and would rather say
that it’s just poor timing and
maybe luck. Torres once said that
the Chelsea midfield is slow and
the owner almost changed the
entire midfield for him.
Personally, I have watched all the
games since Torres came to
Chelsea (I used to watch all the
games before his arrival as well)
and I feel sometimes he makes
poor runs but at the same time,
there is no one to check his good
runs too. Torres has not done
good in one on one situations
either and we cannot blame
Chelsea for the same. Torres
scored winners in his recent
games for Chelsea and we can
hope he comes back to his best.
But whatever happens, at the end
of the day, Torres will always be
loved by the fans and the
teammates at Chelsea no matter
what. I wish him a very Happy
Birthday from all the Chelsea fans
and hope you come back to your
devastating best. Till then, go El
Nino !

Perilous virus scanners

Hackers and web fraudsters make a
killing with the help of spurious
anti-virus programs. And
distinguishing these from the real
ones can be very tricky.
BY CLAUDIO MÜLLER
The desktop suddenly becomes
black, security warnings are flashed
and an unknown virus scanner
offers itself as a solution for the
problem: often this is how the
attacks of cyber gangsters appear.
Most of the times the invader uses
fake anti-virus programs
(rogueware or fake antivirus),
which tempts us with virus
messages to purchase expensive
full versions. And this trick has
worked like magic for millions: This
year alone, McAfee has valued total
damages of over $300 million all
over the world. We show how to
trace rogueware and how to get rid
of them. An updated Security Suite
is of utmost importance, since
every month thousands of new
rogueware samples and millions of
such websites appear over the
Internet—a briskly increasing
trend. Fake antivirus programs can
be categorized into hundreds of
families, out of which only a
handful are known.
Identification: Obtrusive pop-ups
Rogueware spreads itself through
primed websites. They use security
loopholes in the browser or in
plug-ins like Flash Player; and
introduce malware over drive-by
download or request the user to
download fake video codecs, which
contains malicious codes.
In case a fake scanner is installed
on your PC, you can identify it
from the symptoms. The most
obvious are obtrusive pop-ups
indicating apparent virus attacks
followed by requests to purchase
the full version. Close this window
from Task Manager, because even
clicking on 'Cancel' can open a
perilous website or download other
malware. A few variants display
messages using security risks
warnings in the taskbar or firewall
warnings and change the desktop
wallpaper or screensaver.
Moreover, rogueware scans the
computer much faster than an
authentic virus scanner and
displays unrealistic results.
Very rarely do rogueware attack
alone. Once the attacker gets
access to the computer, they can
then further add more malware.
Mostly, these fake antiviruses are
accompanied by trojans that spy
on the computer and forward user
data using a backdoor or install
programs such as keylogger. A
worm subsequently connects the
infected computer into a botnet,
so user unknowingly contributes to
spreading the rogueware.
Nowadays, extortionist tools
(ransomware) have also started
coming along with fake antiviruses.
The various symptoms bothers the
user till he/she eventually visits
the website of the fake antivirus.
The attacker even spreads the links
to these sites through spam mails
as well as over social networking
websites such as Facebook and
Twitter. Thus, the promoted
programs are revealed often
through cryptic web addresses in
the mails. If you wish to install a
new virus protection, you should
always visit the website of the
antivirus developer directly: even
Google search is not secure. It is
the second most popular way to
spread such programs. In the
process, the hackers use latest
topics, and also specific search
queries related to virus protection,
so as to list their sites right at top
of the search results. Most of the
times these sites do not contain
any malicious codes but they
automatically direct the user to a
website which eventually infects
the computer.
At first glance the professionally
designed websites of rogueware
developers appear impressively
authentic, for instance the way
they feature fictitious test results
and high discounts. Some of them
even feature a functional telephone
and email helpline service. The
promoted programs costs anything
between Rs 1,845 and Rs 6,000,
however, soon from the price
everything seems suspicious.
Generally, you should stay away
from such programs that scan
computer for free but require a
full version for removing the
viruses. And in any case you should
never reveal your credit card
details on such websites.
However, if you have installed an
updated security suite, it should be
able to prevent every rogueware
attack. Even if an attacker manages
to slip in, for instance while the
virus scanner was not updated, it
is very possible that the fake
antivirus blocks your Security
Suite. Subsequently you should
never download anymore updates
and in any case do not start your
virus scanner. In such a case, you
should try using a malware
removal tool by another
manufacturer (for instance
Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool).
Removal: Often only with
detours
In case none of the above tips
help, you must remove the worm
manually. First of all, check your
PC with the online scanner of an
antivirus developer. You will then
be able to see which rogueware has
affected the computer, thereafter
with help of support sites such as
removeIt.info, you can find out
which process you should end and
which registry entries are required
to be deleted. This way you can
restore the system to a state in
which an updated virus scanner
will be able to remove traces of the
rogueware.

Caution! Kids Online

With the ever increasing
number of children logging on to
the web, software like the
Onlinefamily from Norton comes
in handy to keep a vigil on their
online activities.

In the real world, parents often
drill words of caution into the
minds of their young children,
such as “don’t talk to strangers”
and “don’t go there; it’s not safe”.
But surprisingly, parents are not so
foresighted when it comes to the
cyber world, as they allow their
children unrestricted access to the
Web. Already, we are witnessing an
increase in cyber crime, and what’s
alarming is the rise in the number
of children being victimized on the
Web.
It goes without saying that young
children today are far more tech
savvy then previous generations
were at the same age. And by
looking at Internet penetration
figures, the growth in recent years
speaks for itself. While parents
today are concerned about the
amount of time their children
spend on the Internet, they do not
seem to be concerned about what
their children are doing when
they’re online.
A recent survey conducted by
Norton in over 14 countries
underlines some startling facts.
According to the survey, over 77
percent of children in India have
had a negative online experience.
While the majority of parents
believe that their children spend
time playing games or doing school
work, an astonishing 68 percent of
children download music and video
games online. This ever-increasing
online presence exposes the
children to threats such as identity
theft, cyber bullying, stalking by
pedophiles, etc.
Over the years, we have witnessed
several instances where adults
posing as teenagers have
befriended young children and
have coerced them into
inappropriate activities or even
duped them into divulging sensitive
financial details of their families.
This is particularly dangerous
since, according to the Norton
Online Family Report 2010,
children feel that their actions
online will go unnoticed and
cannot be traced back to them.
The survey further reveals that not
many of them are aware that few
things are ever permanently
deleted and that anything they say
or do can come back to haunt
them later. Just as there are set
rules in physical environments, you
need to set rules for the cyber
world as well.
And with this aim in mind, Norton
has responded with a free Web
monitoring tool called
onlinefamily.norton.com . This
service monitors Web surfing as
well as instant message
conversations and interactions on
social networking sites. It allows
you to create up to ten accounts
and once activated, you will be
able to see a list of all the websites
visited by the user of each
account. If you don’t like a
particular site, you can easily block
it and it even allows you to
customize settings for each child’s
account depending on his or her
age. It also tracks words, terms
and phrases your kids search for
online, which gives you an idea
about their online interests.
Most importantly, it allows you to
monitor their activities on social
networking sites as well as online
forums. You can easily monitor
what they chat about and with
whom. OnlineFamily also includes
the option to allow users to chat
only with people you explicitly
approve of. As far as social
networking sites are concerned, it
gives you an overview of your
child’s profiles and how they
represent themselves (name, age,
and profile picture). If you are
worried about children spending a
lot of time online, you can easily
restrict that here by setting time
limits for usage. Once the set limit
has been crossed, it will
automatically cause the system to
shut down. You can continue to
monitor their online activities
when you are away as you will
receive email alerts in case your
child ignores a warning or tries to
visit a blocked web site.
This may seem like a spying tool,
but unlike other monitoring sites,
it’s not hidden and the children
are aware of it, making it very
transparent. Parents will have to
communicate openly about safe
Internet practices to ensure that
children don’t feel like they aren’t
trusted or their privacy isn’t being
respected.

Samsung Galaxy S4: can eye- tracking work with games?

New reports on Thursday's Galaxy
S4 announcement have been
dominated by a key feature: eye-
tracking. Is this the beginning of a
new era in game control?
Samsung Galaxy S4: is eye-tracking
more than a marketing gimmick?
Keith Stuart
A fascinating concept to some an
unworkable gimmick to others, the
eye-tracking capabilities of the new
Samsung Galaxy S4 have certainly
garnered a lot of news coverage.
The system, which uses the built-in
camera to view and interpret eye
movements, has been
demonstrated doing two things:
pausing a movie when the user
looks away (Smart Pause), and
scrolling the screen content when
the user tilts and, erm, looks at it
(Smart Scroll). But do these simple
features suggest that we're about to
enter an era of eye-controlled
games?
Well, it depends. I've not yet been
able to find out from Samsung
whether the technology will be
made available to developers –
that's obviously going to be
important. The other question is
how sensitive it will be. The current
S4 implementations are rather
binary: the user is either looking at
the screen or they're not. This
might offer some functionality to
game designers: it could augment a
standard control system (perhaps
as a hands-free pause system) or it
may be fine for very simple one-
input titles, like endless runners.
But for anything more complicated,
the system will need to be able to
accurately and speedily track eye
movement across the screen.
Nevertheless, game developers are
keen to know more about
Samsung's tech. "What would be
interesting is if Samsung puts out
APIs for an engine like Unity or
Cocos2D so that we could retrofit
this into games," says Ben
Trewhella of Opposable Games .
"Much like motion and gesture
tracking, these new features bring
in a lot of innovation but it can be
hard for a developer if they're not
made seamless to integrate. You
can spend 20-30 percent of your
development budget on trying to
implant a new interface feature,
when it needs to be two or three
percent of your time."
Opposable is a small studio that
specialises in multiplayer 'second
screen' gaming – i.e. interactive
experiences that use both a shared
TV display and a tablet device for
each participant. They're currently
working on trading card and
Advance Wars-style tactical titles,
but also see the possibilities for
impulsive multiplayer experiences.
"Games that allow someone to just
jump in and join a game are great -
with eye tracking there's the
potential to do a lot of very
inclusive games where you may just
walk past a screen, it recognises
you're there, and suddenly you're
in the game - it would mean that
you could get four to eight player
games very quickly on one screen -
that's very interesting."
Harvey Elliot was a producer at
Electronic Arts but is now MD of
cross-platform game technology
company Marmalade. He too sees
the potential of eye-tracking – and
the requirements for a sensitive
system. "The possibilities will
depend on how precise it can be in
tracking position across the whole
screen," he says. "There are clearly
opportunities for games to evolve
using this technology, perhaps
delegating certain functions like
reloading a gun in an FPS, steering
with a flick of the eyes in a racing
game or camera control in a 3D
adventure.
"For younger players simple games
like 'peekaboo' with characters, or
reading eye movement to create
feedback could be really rewarding.
Perhaps more valuable is outside of
gameplay - by tracking user line of
sight in real–time we can make
games more reactive to what the
user is focusing on – and by
relaying that information back to
the development studios it would
help inform future design
decisions."
Vitally too, the arrival of
affordable, pervasive eye-tracking
solutions could be great news to
gamers with disabilities. "I've been
predicting that gaze aware systems
would go mainstream for ten years,
and I'm glad it's started to
happen," says Dr Mick Donegan,
CEO of charity SpecialEffect which
modifies gaming peripherals for
disabled players. SpecialEffect has
developed its own PC app, Alt
Controller, which maps keyboard
controls to different areas of the
screen so that they can be read by
eye-tracking systems. In this way,
it's possible to play titles like
racing sim Dirt 3 with eye
movement alone. The cameras
supported, though, are specialist
products that cost upwards of
£3000.
"From what I've seen of the
Samsung system, I'm not sure how
accurate it will be," he says. "The
features I've seen rely on fairly
large movement of the eyes,
whereas to play a game,
particularly on a device as small as
a Samsung, it will need quite a high
level of accuracy. But it's a very
encouraging direction for things to
move in, whether that's just to
enhance enjoyment of games or to
allow people with severe disabilities
to use the technology."
And obviously, Samsung isn't alone
in exploring the consumer
possibilities of eye tracking.
Specialist technology company
Tobii , which usually supplies its
gaze interaction and eye control
products in research and medical
fields is working with Fujitsu on an
eye-tracking tablet. It is also
preparing to launch its first
consumer product, the Tobii Rex,
which adheres to your monitor and
allows you to use eye-tracking to
control any compatible application
– developers just need to integrate
some dedicated code into their
software. At last week's ceBit
exhibition, the company worked
with Intel to specifically showcase
the gaming applications.
Elsewhere, Donegan points to Eye
Tribe a company set up by a group
of PhD student from the University
of Copenhagen. After securing a
million euros in crowd funding, the
group is now working on a low-
cost eye-tracking controller for
mobile devices, using just your
inbuilt camera and no additional
technology.
Whatever Samsung intends for its
own use of eye tracking in the
Galaxy S4, this is another step
toward mainstream physical
controllers. From Kinect to Google
Glass, the concepts of intuitive,
highly accessible input are
evolving. Gamers of course, always
talk about how they'll always want
joypads because of the precision of
control offered: the huge decline in
Kinect support has shown that
neither developers or gamers were
really impressed with the accuracy
of the system.
But as Elliot says, if we view this as
augmentation rather than
replacement of existing interfaces
it gets interesting. Donegan talks
about 'gaze awareness' - i.e. titles
that simply know where you're
looking – rather than 'gaze control',
where your eyes become a
controller. For example, in a first-
person shooter, an enemy hiding
behind an object may look out at
the player, but then quickly get
back in to cover when you glance
at them. This has all sorts of
creepy implications for survival
horror titles.
Today, it might just be about
looking away from the screen to
pause Temple Run, tomorrow it
could be an augmented reality
ghost hunting game, using eye-
tracking to place spooks just at
your peripheral vision. You have
been warned.

Mourinho - 'We thought playing Manchester was tough but this really is tough'

Jose Mourinho spoke to Real
Madrid TV about his opinion of Los
Blanco's Champions League
opponents - Galatasaray.
"We need to make sure we go into
the match in Istanbul with a small
advantage from the first leg,"
Mourinho said speaking to
Realmadrid TV.
"Real Madrid can never be happy
to get into the quarter finals and
we always have to look to go
further.
"Galatasaray are not just there
because they made it through
the Group Stage but also
because they made it through a
knock-out round.
"It is a competition that a lot of
teams start and now there are
only eight left, and the ones
that are left are there for a
reason.
"The draw is not something to
get nervous about because there
is not much to choose between
the teams.
"Whichever one you get, even
though obviously they have
different statuses, you know
that it will not be an easy task.
That is why I was so calm. We
got Galatasaray, another
champion.
"We always get the champions
and it is the fourth one we have
had this season, apart from
Manchester United. We were
already working on our potential
opponents, we followed them all
in the last-16 and we sent the
people who work with me to see
every one of those matches.
"I already had some information
in my hands, even if some
people say that I don’t like
working when they see me
watching one of my son’s
training sessions."
The Real Madrid manager also
spoke about his weekend trip to
Turkey where he attended
Galatasaray's game against
Kayserispor.
Mourinho said, "I don’t like free
time; I like to work. So on
Sunday, when everyone was off,
I went to Turkey and I found
what I had expected: a team of
people who know the Champions
League very well and which has
two players who have won the
Champions League, Drogba and
Sneijder, people who have played
for the best teams, like Eboue
for Arsenal, Felipe Melo for
Juventus, Riera for Liverpool and
Muslera for Lazio…
"People who know what it is like
to play at this level, with a lot of
experience, who have a coach
who is the best ever in Turkey,
and who has also worked in
Italy, and a level of support that
other teams don’t have.
"We thought that Dortmund and
Manchester were tough, but this
really is tough. They played 700
kilometres from Istanbul and
there were 15,000 Galatasaray
fans.
"It will be tough but we need to
try to get something positive
from the first match, something
we didn’t manage against
Manchester United. We have to
make sure we go there with a
small advantage."
Real Madrid will face Galatasaray in
the Champions League quarter-
finals, the first leg will be played in
the Santiago Bernabeu stadium on
3 April 2013.

Check out leaked pictures of the 2013/14 Real Madrid Home & Third Shirts

Real Madrid’s shirts will be
sponsored by Fly Emirates next
season as their current deal with
Bwin runs out in June.
The new Real Madrid away shirt is
mainly blue with the traditional
adidas 3-stripes on the shoulders
in white and has a round blue
collar. The adidas logo is on the
top right part of the chest with the
club crest on the opposite side.

Deleted..No Way

Cell phones don’t always delete SMSes, pictures and videos reliably. We show you the right way to do it. An individual has an intimate relationship with his cell phone. The device listens to your confidential company information, knows with whom you go out with and knows all the news, which you send to your friends. The SMSes can certainly be deleted from the cell phone with relative easily, but that is a superficial fact. Most of the devices delete sensitive data from the memory half-heartedly; you can retrieve it without any fuss using the relevant tools. CHIP took used cell phones and smartphones to try and restore the SMSes, pictures, contacts and videos – and the results were remarkable. Supposedly deleted data can be retrieved in an easy way. We show you what is the nature of this data and how you can secure your cell phone before passing it over to friends or colleagues or even sell it on the Internet. Deleting contact data and SMSes Every cell phone has certain amount of data that is specific to its owner. If the cell phone is subsequently passed on, then it should be wiped clean of this compromising data. After all, there are certain personal details which its owner does not want to reveal, even to his family members. The same logic applies to office phones, which is at times shared between colleagues. Whether it is personal or official, no one wants to pass on his sensitive data in unknown hands. You can always use the delete function of the cell phone, but this option comes with loopholes. To identify what could still be found in the cell phone memory after the supposed deletion, we used a spy tool for professionals called the Paraben’s Device Seizure, which is available on www.paraben-forensics.com . The application costs approximately Rs 2,980; the site also offers a trial version for 30 days with the complete version of the forensics tool. And yes, Device Seizure is a tough nut to crack. After installation, we plugged in current cell phone models to the computer and set the spy tool on the devices. The program creates an image of the cell phone memory that can be subsequently used with the integrated hex editor. We thus came across deleted contact data and SMSes in a few cell phones, which the previous owner had received and deleted. While tool did not work on all the devices, it is, however, constantly being developed. Thus, the danger of unauthorized persons retrieving your deleted data is very plausible. To avoid such a scenario, you should ideally first delete the data on the SIM card and then overwrite it. This makes it very difficult or rather impossible for forensics programs to restore the contacts or messages. For doing so, you must use a SIM card reader such as the SIM Card Stick. You can use it to access the SIM card, load the contact data and messages stored on your computer and edit the entries there. It is much more comfortable and even much faster in case of several messages as opposed to editing data using the cell phone menu. In addition, the software deletes all the existing contacts on your SIM card and overwrites them. Once done, the overwritten contact data can no longer be read. Deleting pictures and videos Unusual photos, videos or voice notes are much easier to trace on your cell phone than SMSes. This is because modern cell phones and smartphones are come with multimedia centers have the in- built storage space and microSD cards to store your pictures, videos and music. If you connect the cell phone to the PC, it normally detects the card as a standard data carrier, integrates it as a drive and allows full access to it via Windows Explorer — just like in case of a USB stick or digital camera. Hence you can have complete access to the additional memory and retrieve the deleted snapshots or vacation clips on your computer using tools such as O&O UnErase (approximately Rs 2,000, www.oo- software.com ) or the free to use PC Inspector File Recovery tool; and that too without too much effort or in-depth knowledge about computers. If you delete data; particularly from the memory, using the deletion function in the cell phone or through the computer, by moving them to the recycle bin, the data is deleted superficially. You only sweep it under the carpet. And that is exactly where the above-mentioned tools look for it; striking gold in most cases. Many cell phone users do not think of deleting data off the memory cards correctly was proved as a fact when we visited Second Handy, which specializes in sale of second-hand cell phones. We randomly rummaged through cell phones and came across wedding photos, vacation photos, a whole lot of MP3s and voice notes — exposing the privacy of the previous owner. We could even find out the taste of music—from “Jason Mraz” to "Savage Garden" to “Red Hot Chili Peppers”. Clearing the memory cards correctly If you want to pass on your cell phone or plan to sell it, you must force delete all the contents. Meaning you must delete all the data such that it's irrecoverable. The best way to do this is using the Open-Source-Software Eraser ( www.eraser.heidi.le ) or the professional tool O&O Safe Erase (approximately Rs 1,900, www.oo- software.com ). These applications enable quick deletion by replacing the binary code of the data values by invalid values. This trick helps you effectively secure your microSD cards, USB sticks, digital camera memory cards, external storage devices and hard disk drives. This is an effective and clever solution since files, once overwritten, cannot be retrieved even by using the best of software. A downside of this technique is that it reduces the life of your flash devices. Flash memories have limited life which is measured by the number of read and write cycles. Excessive deletion procedures with several runs reduce the life of your data storage. Hence, you should be careful while using programs such as Eraser. Also moving your files from to the Recycle Bin is not enough. This is because only two bytes are modified in the partition table during the simple deletion process; other values such as the file name still exist. Data recovery tools check the tables where the deleted files are located and restores them. It is possible to restore the contents of formatted drives, albeit it is much more complicated than retrieving deleted documents. For instance, to restore photos successfully after formatting the storage devices and memory cards, a recovery tool such as DiskRecovery by O&O software must scan the actual data field, which is a rather lengthy process. However, the software finally detects the file type with the help of its built-in database of templates of different file formats. It can restore a JPEG file or a Word document for instance with the help of this information. Overwriting data without using a PC It is not possible to delete the contents of the phone memory from the PC if you do not have a suitable flash card reader or the device does not get connected as a universal mass storage device. However, there is a simple trick and it works fine for other plug- and-play devices as well. To do so, first reset the cell phone to factory settings so that the phone memory is reset. Next, point the cellphone camera to a neutral surface, for example a white wall, and start capturing a video until the phone memory is full. If the cell phone does not have this function, fill the memory by clicking photos. The old pictures and videos are overwritten and irrecoverable. If you have cleaned up your cell phone using these tips, you can sell your phone or pass it on to someone without worrying that your data can be retrieved. CELL PHONES AS VIRUS CATAPULTS: INFECTED MEMORY CARDS INFECT THE PC You should ensure that your cell phone is devoid of all your personal data if you are selling it. However, there are lurking dangers even when buying phone – especially in case of second-hand phones. This is because undeleted memory cards can contain malware. Moreover, you cannot be too sure even while buying new products. This is what happened with an employee of Panda Security; an alarm was set off when he tried to connect his new HTC Magic smartphone by Vodafone to the computer: malware was detected on the cellphone's memory card. The analysis showed that it was a Mariposa client. In addition, the memory also contained the Conficker worm and a Trojan. ORIGIN STILL UNCLEAR Vodafone reacted to this and sent replacement cards to 3,000 affected users as well as suitable removal software; however, the data that was hacked by the malware is now in the hands of the hacker. Hence, always check the microSD card in your cell phone for malware – especially if you are buying a second-hand device. CELL PHONE VIRUSES ARE SPREADING AS KASPERSKY REPORTS, EUROPEANS ARE RELATIVELY LESS AFFECTED BY CELL PHONE VIRUSES; THEY ARE MORE WIDESPREAD IN ASIA. AMONG OTHER THINGS, MALWARE INDEPENDENTLY SENDS SMSES TO PREMIUM NUMBERS AND FORCES UP THE CELL PHONE BILL. VIRUSES HAVE THE SAME TASK ON CELL PHONES AS THAT ON THE COMPUTER: HACKING PASSWORDS, LOGIN DATA AND CREDIT CARD NUMBERS. A POSSIBLE SCENARIO IS THAT CRIMINALS MANAGE TO SET UP CELL PHONE BOTNETS. THE MAGNITUDE COULD BE GREATER THAN IN CASE OF THE KNOWN PC BOTNETS. AFTER ALL, THERE ARE CLEARLY MORE NUMBER OF CELL PHONES IN THE MARKET THAN COMPUTERS. FOR NOW, THERE ARE NO MOBILE BOTNETS, BUT ONLY INITIAL SETUP ATTEMPTS. IN NOVEMBER 2009, A HARMLESS MALWARE MANAGED TO ENTER JAILBROKEN IPHONES, I.E. HACKED VERSION OF THE APPLE IPHONE. IT DID NOT CAUSE ANY DAMAGE, BUT WAS A PROOF-OF- CONCEPT FOR CELLPHONE BOTNETS. THERE ARE MANY DIFFERENT CELL PHONE OPERATING SYSTEMS, WHICH MAKES IT DIFFICULT TO SET UP BOTNETS. HOWEVER, CELL PHONE VIRUSES RUN EASILY ON PYTHON AND JAVA. HACKERS ARE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR SMARTPHONES THAT RUN SYMBIAN AND WINDOWS MOBILE OS. ACCORDING TO KAPERSKY, ONE CAN EXPECT MALWARE IN ANDROID CELLPHONES AS WELL. THIS IS BECAUSE, UNLIKE IPHONE WITH ITS APPLE STORE, THIS SECURITY PROGRAM IS MISSING IN ANDROID OS .

Nokia E7

A great phone for Nokia loyalists,
but does not live up to
expectations.

HTC DESIRE Z

HTC DESIRE Z
A good smartphone with a failed
keypad.

SAMSUNG I9100 GALAXY S II

The best Android yet!

BLACKBERRY PLAYBOOK

A great tablet, but there’s not
much to play with.

Fujifilm FinePix HS20 EXR

A really good superzoom, but
would be better if it had a lower
price.

ASUS EEE PAD SLIDER SL101

A high-priced toy that isn’t quite
perfect either as an entertainment
device or as a productivity
machine.…

How To: Improve RAM Efficiency using SuperRAM

If you have plenty of RAM and
sometimes notice that your
computer is not running the way it
should be - e.g. there is a delay
when switching between
applications, or applications take a
long time to launch, then this
could be a result of poor memory
management within Windows.
SuperRAM is a memory optimiser
that manages your RAM much more
efficiently than Windows, allowing
you to get more bang for your
buck. Typically, users tend to
purchase more RAM when things
get slow, but this isn't always
necessary - using the available RAM
more efficiently is a more cost
effective solution to poor
performance.

Step-by-Step Instructions
Access the related download
link for this article and grab the
SuperRAM 6 installer file. Once
this finishes downloading,
double-click it to start the
installation process and follow
the normal procedure for
Windows installation.
Launch SuperRAM using the
desktop shortcut.
The SuperRAM interface
appears, with a 3D pie chart
shown within the right hand
side of the main panel. This
represents the free and used
RAM on your system - the blue
section being the free RAM and
the red being the RAM used up
by other applications and
Windows. Right click the
SuperRAM entry on the taskbar
and choose Free Memory Now.
Almost instantly, the pie chart
changes to show that more RAM
has been freed up - e.g. there is
now more blue to the chart
than previously.
To view more detailed
information about your system
RAM, click the Run Memory
Benchmark Test. An intensive
memory scan is performed and
a results screen shown shortly
afterwards. This can be useful
for identifying potential issues
such as memory bottlenecks.
Tips & Advice
Click the Settings option to
configure the SuperRAM 6
preferences.
In the Settings menu, you can
alter the balance between
memory to maintain and
memory to free, using the two
sliders. When the available
memory drops below the value
of the first slider, SuperRAM
will free up the amount of
memory specified on the
second slider.
Remember to update SuperRAM
6 periodically to ensure you are
running the most stable
version. Select the Upgrade
option when the application
first loads to initiate the auto-
update tool.

A Strategy for the Game

Q: Can you comment on the
demand and supply for the
PlayStation console in the
country? Which type of console
is selling well?
A: PlayStation 2 and PlayStation
Portable (PSP) are fast selling
products for us here. In fact we
were caught by surprise when we
launched PlayStation in India. We
expected people to pick up the PS2
first and then the next generation
model (PS3). But PSP is also flying
off shelves. PS3 is well known in
the market, but we’ve had
difficulty pushing sales in the
official channel. The total market
for PS3 is 15,000 units. I sell
6,000 units through the official
channel and 9,000 units in the
grey market. Unlike the other two
consoles (PS2 and PSP) for which
we have subsidized the cost, it’s
very difficult to cut the 35 percent
import duty and 12.5 percent VAT
on a high-end product (PS3). That’s
why we have difficulty with PS3
sales. However, the other two
consoles have surpassed our
expectations. We sell 8,000 PS2
consoles and around 5,000 PSPs
monthly. The current installed base
of PS2 in India is around 3,25,000
units. There are between 60,000 to
65,000 PSP units here. PS3
numbers will be between 12,000 –
15,000. We’re really pleased with
these numbers.
Q: What factors can you
attribute to these encouraging
numbers?
A: Two things worked for us. The
PR and media coverage helped and
there is now almost a cult for this
gaming platform. The other thing
that helped was our decision to
match the grey market price and
expand the official channel. From
around 150 shops that used to sell
PS, we today have over 1,000 retail
points for PS products. The pricing
for PS2 is Rs 6,990; PSP sells for
Rs 7,990 and PS3 is priced at Rs
24,990. So the price differential
between grey market and official
channel for PSP and PS2 is almost
negligible. If someone claims to
have got their PS units at a much
lower price (in the Indian market),
there is a possibility that the unit
has been hacked. In some cases,
grey market vendors are replacing
the original controller with an
inferior one. Hence they are able
to reduce the price.
The other important decision that
worked well was to replicate the
games locally and sell each at a
price point of Rs 500.
So the running cost has decreased
and a wider range of games is
available. Couple this with the low,
subsidized cost of the console.
Q: What kind of localization are
you doing for games?
A: The Singstar and Buzz games
(Ed: both are reviewed in the
Unwind section) are experiments to
bring in local content. We are
working with leading India game
developers like Trine Game Studios,
FX Labs and Aurona (Pyramid
Saimira Group). We are also in
discussion with others.
We will work with them in easing
the process of getting into full
cycle game development and
content on the PS platform. We
will have a developer conference in
India very soon. So there will soon
be a lot of initiatives for creating
games with Indian themes. We
hope to have one new Indian game
every month for the PS2. After a
year or two there will be games
with Indian characters that appeal
to international audiences.
How will the localized games differ
from the ones that you sell in
other markets? Where will you
compromise to keep the price low?
Our forthcoming low-priced India
theme games will not be trashy.
These will have high quality
graphics and good gameplay. The
number of levels in the games will
be reduced to make the game
available at the right price.
Q: What are your initiatives to
tackle piracy for PS2 games?
A: We are seeing a lot of piracy for
PS2 games. It’s not so easy to
pirate PSP games, but it has
started happening. But we counter
that by providing many of the
games on our online PlayStation
store (Store.PlayStation.com). So
one can download a game on the
PC and put it on a Memory Stick
(for the PSP).
We are also working with the
Indian Music Industry (IMI) group,
who are spearheading our anti-
piracy efforts. We work with the
judiciary and policy makers to find
ways to tackle this problem.
On the business side, we will offer
the games at a very low price of Rs
500 (for PlayStation 2). These
games used to cost Rs 1,600. The
pirated game costs Rs 125. Now
people don’t mind the small
difference and are ready to pay for
the original game.
We are also looking at other areas
like chip modification (hacked
systems).
Q: We see that you are
displaying the consoles at
entertainment spots like pubs
and restaurants. What about
experience zones in retail?
A: We have also done so in retail.
We realize that gaming is all about
the experience. We are doing it
(experience zones) with retailers
who are interested. Croma and
Reliance Digital have experience
zones. Even traditional retailers like
Vijay Sales, Sumaria and Sony
Mony have realized that experience
zones are important. They know
that creating consumer excitement
is an issue.
One of our retailers held a racing
competition. We also carry out
promotional activities at the Sony
Worlds. The Singstar activity occurs
at many malls. It has then moved
into the modern retailers
(showrooms). Now it is going into
the BPOs and nightclubs. We also
want to set up these experience
zones in army canteens. We want
to go wherever the consumer is
present.
Q: How does hacking degrade
the performance of the
machine?
A: The Sony warranty become void
when you tamper with the
machine. You won’t be eligible for
Sony service. While you can play
the pirated game on the hacked
console, there will be a
performance issue over a period of
time. The system will have a
tendency to crash or freeze.
Any plans for launching the
PlayStation Network and the
PlayStation Store (online) in India?
PlayStation Network and the
PlayStation store are key online
initiatives for the platform. In fact
we are ready with the store. It is
just a matter of timing. We are
delaying the launch of the store
because India is not yet broadband
ready—downloads take time. And
Indians do not blame the ISP. They
blame the site. We do not want to
create a dissonance. A full PS3
game is a 20 GB download. It will
take the entire day to download it
with the current bandwidth.
We will also launch Home for
India, another online concept. We
will have a PC download site so
that one can download the games
on the PC and then put them on
Memory Stick (for PSP). Expect all
this during the current financial
year.
Q: What about PS3 starter
packs?
A: There will be starter kits in
India. There will be a lot of game
bundling. We will also work with
Sony Pictures to introduce DVD
bundling. But we need to figure
out the right price points.
Q: How frequently will you
launch new game titles in the
Indian market? How many titles
have you launched so far? Can
you tell us about forthcoming
titles? What about parallel
launches?
A: All the international PS3 games
are launched in India and we
always try catching the Day 1
launch of all the SCEE (Sony
Computer Entertainment Europe)
published games.
We also work closely with the
other big publishers to ensure the
key titles are made available in
time for the Indian market through
their distributors.
The games come in either through
Sony or through other publishers
like EA. You also have publishers
like Activision, THQ, Konami and
others. Barring one or two
publishers, most of the titles are
available in India. It is a parallel
launch. Both God of War and GT 5
are happening in parallel across
the PAL territories (Europe, Middle
east, India, Australia, New Zealand)
.

‘Cyber criminals are now more organized’ While Virus writers were once doing their dubious deeds for fun, they are now a more organized group who trade services. Eugene V. Kaspersky, CEO, Head of Antivirus Research, Kaspersky Lab gave CHIP an insight into the latest threats in cyberspace and tells us how his company protects customers from new threats. BY BRIAN PEREIRA

Q. What are the latest threats in cyberspace? We are seeing various trends in the distribution of malware. It is now getting more organized. In the past people were developing viruses just for fun. Then there were cyber criminals who were independently developing malware for financial gain. Now they operate in groups. Today this has become an industry. There are organized groups of cyber criminals who plan different attacks and offer criminal services. Of late we also see the number of cyber criminals increasing. They are making malware and trading it with others. At the moment the motive for this is only financial gain. They run botnets and trade information about botnets. It is like a chain that has everything from virus writing to hacking bank accounts. There are different groups in this chain doing specific things. The increase in the number of malware puts an extra load on security systems. We also see cybercrime that is politically motivated. In the past two years there were four such attacks: Estonia, parts of Russia, Marseille Islands and Georgia. These attacks are not motivated by financial gain but are a type of political warfare. This type of cybercrime involves sophisticated malware. So we have to innovate new technologies to protect our customers. Q. What are the solutions that protect users from these new threats? Our solutions go beyond traditional approaches like virus databases and heuristic scanning. We now have application control technology, wherein there are different restrictions for trusted or untrusted applications. We also have security networks or security in a cloud. In this there is a remote database that has a list of infected URLs and this database is updated automatically by our customers. We also maintain a white list of safe sites on our servers. All this will soon be integrated into our corporate security solution (Kaspersky Internet Security). Q. How do Kaspersky solutions protect against unknown viruses and future threats? We have second generation heuristic scanning, black lists and application control for this. This checks suspicious behavior and untrusted applications. We also have automatically generated lists of infected URLs in our security network technology. Q. Security suites are known to be resource hoggers. They occupy too much memory and slow down performance. Also, they are intrusive and keep showing popup alerts. Have you corrected this in the latest version of Kaspersky Internet Security? We have taken certain steps to improve efficiency. For instance, if an application has been installed on a PC quite a while back, there is no need to scan it every time. Only the files that are recently modified are scanned. We are also introducing a new scan engine that consumes less memory. One magazine did a test on notebook battery life with different anti-virus software running on it, and we were a winner in that test. So our solutions consume less resources, and hence less battery power. Q. Since there’s a proliferation of home networks, there is a need for protecting multiple computers. Do you offer a multi user license for your home security solution? We have different plans for different territories. In some countries we have two- or three- license boxes. We also have two or three year licenses. In India we reduced the price of our product. We will also provide special licenses for India. In western countries we observe that every family member has his/ her own computer. But one family member acts as the systems administrator. So our SOHO products have a simple administration console. Our SOHO products have a simple administration console. Q. Can you comment on attacks on mobile phones and MP3 players? What about hacking mobile commerce services? There are no attacks on MP3 players because there is no financial motivation there. But we see more threats on mobile phone platforms. Yet, these are simple attacks. Simple Trojans that send SMS messages to paid services. Attacks on mobile commerce services are very rare. Countries like Japan, where mobile commerce is prevalent, have proprietary standards. Cyber criminals from China, Latin America and Russia don’t know about these standards. That’s why Japanese smart phones are better protected. We have a solution (Kaspersky Mobile Security) that protects the phone from malware and also protects mobile data. If your smart phone is stolen and it has a Kaspersky Mobile Security installed, then you can remotely erase the data on your stolen smart phone.

Chelsea 2 - West Ham 0: For the record, Frank's on song

FRANK LAMPARD has always had a
knack for scoring on the big
occasion, for making his mark at
just the right moment. He was at it
again yesterday.

A trademark run into the penalty
area, an almost instinctive drift
into space and there he was,
leaping to nod Eden Hazard’s lovely
chip over Jussi Jaaskelainen into
the net.
Typical Lampard. A moment we
have seen so often over the 18
years of his career.
This though was history. His 200th
goal for Chelsea, making him the
second-highest scorer in the club’s
history. Two behind Bobby
Tambling, a mark that he will
surely pass in the last nine weeks
of the season.
Lampard, 34, still in talks with the
club about a new deal though
looking likelier now to be playing
his football in the USA at LA Galaxy
next year, said: “It is one of my
best days. Obviously, winning the
Champions League and league titles
are the best, but personally getting
200 goals for the club, I never
thought I would touch that so I am
pleased.
“Everyone keeps talking about the
record. I would rather people kept
quiet. The important thing is trying
to win games.”
Especially pleasing must have been
the fact the goal came against his
old club, whose fans have
mercilessly baited him since he left
Upton Park for Chelsea in 2001.
But it was team-mate and
substitute John Terry who the
Hammers fans were mainly abusing
yesterday, as he warmed up in
front of them.
When Lampard instinctively went
over to Terry to celebrate as if in
support, a hail of coins and bottles
showered them.
Chelsea could be in trouble if
fourth official Howard Webb
reports the incident. But it was not
a moment that was going to
overshadow Lampard’s big day, or
for that matter, a superb
performance from Hazard, which
inspired Chelsea to a comfortable
victory in a game they could and
should have won by more.
With Tottenham losing as well, it
was a result that went a long way
to strengthening their hold on a
top-four place.
Rafa Benitez was delighted with the
performance and with a week
which also saw his team progress
in the Europa League, and earn an
FA Cup quarter-final replay against
Manchester United.
It has been a tough four months
for the interim manager,but this
last week has probably been the
best. He said: “I’m really pleased
with the performance and the clean
sheet, and that Frank has scored
200 goals. A fantastic achievement
for any player, but especially for a
midfielder.”
The catalyst for a fine Chelsea
performance was the effervescent
Hazard, who has emerged from
something of a mid-season slump
to hit peak form at a very good
time for his club.
He wrapped up the game with a
fine second-half strike and Benitez
said: “We never had any doubts
about Eden’s quality. It was just
about finding the relationship and
link with the other players. He is a
player who can make a difference.”
Chelsea dominated pretty much
from start to finish. Demba Ba, in
particular, could have had four
goals, each time being put through
one on one with Jaaskelainen, yet
each time failing to score.
After Lampard broke the deadlock
Andy Carroll, who battled up front
for West Ham virtually on his own,
got the ball in the net but was
penalised for pushing.
It was as close to a goal as West
Ham got all day, after yet another
limp awayday show. Chelsea
dominated and five minutes after
half- time Hazard exchanged passes
with Juan Mata and skipped past
two challenges to drill his shot into
the corner.
Hammers boss Sam Allardyce, his
side now just six points above the
drop zone, said: “I’m always
worried until we’re mathematically
safe. You never stop worrying.”
Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Cech 7;
Azpilicueta 7, Cahill 7, Luiz 7 (Terry
78, 6), Cole 7; Ramires 7, Lampard
7; Hazard 8, Mata 7 (Mikel 85),
Moses 7 (Oscar 70, 6); Ba 7. Goals:
Lampard 19, Hazard 50.
West Ham (4-4-1-1): Jaaskelainen
7; Demel 6, Collins 6 (Tomkins 61,
6), Reid 5, O’Brien 6; O’Neil 6,
Collison 6, Diame 6 (Taylor 46, 6),
Jarvis 6; Vaz Te 5 (Carlton Cole 80);
Carroll 6. Booked: Reid, Demel.
Referee: M Oliver
(Northumberland).chelsea 2
west ham 0

Real Madrid worried by lapses at set pieces

MADRID: Galatasaray coach Fatih
Terim will have watched with
interest after Real Madrid revealed
their vulnerability at set pieces
again, despite them recovering to
thump Real Mallorca 5-2 in La Liga
on Saturday.
Real have been drawn to play
Galatasaray in the Champions
League quarter-finals next month,
and Terim was in the stands at the
Bernabeu when relegation-
threatened Real Mallorca twice took
the lead in the first half.
Mallorca's first came from a
header and the second from a
familiar failing for Jose Mourinho's
men, when a corner was flicked on
to the far post and Alejandro Alfaro
was left unmarked to head past
Diego Lopez in the 21st minute.
Real rallied with three goals in six
minutes at the start of the second
half from Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka
Modric and Gonzalo Higuain but
Real director Emilio Butragueno
expressed his concern in a post-
match interview.
"Today, in the league, there was
room to react but in the
Champions League one goal could
be decisive," Butragueno told
Spanish television.
"We need to be vigilant at these
plays."
Mourinho's assistant Aitor Karanka
was also questioned about Real's
continuing problems at defending
dead-ball situations.
"These plays have been troubling
us since the start of the season,
they are lapses in concentration,"
he told a news conference.
"We will try to improve. It is in our
hands. Luckily these errors haven't
been important in the long run for
today's final result, but we must
draw conclusions."
Real have made it clear their
priority this season is the King's
Cup, where they meet Atletico in
the May 17 final, and the pursuit
of a possible 10th European crown.
Real host the Turkish league leaders
in their quarter-final first leg on
April 3, and travel for the second
leg on April 9.
Saturday's league victory left Real
in second place 10 points short of
leaders Barcelona, who host Rayo
Vallecano on Sunday, and four
ahead of third-placed Atletico
Madrid, who visit Osasuna.
"The message remains the same,"
Karanka said. "It is very tough to
reach the top spot, and we don't
want to complicate life with the
team below us. We have to make
sure of second place."