Three of the biggest names in the computing industry have joined forces in order to improve the research efforts being done for cloud computing. Hewlett-Packard, Intel and Yahoo are combining their expertise for cloud computing, which could be the IT delivery model of the future. Cloud is a network that is made of thousands of networks and cheap servers that are only as powerful as your home PC but holds huge amount of data from the Web. Through this partnership, HP, Intel and Yahoo will develop a global Open Source testing site for cloud computing. They hope to make six centers with 1,000 to 4,000 Intel processors to make up the cloud structure. This test bed will be powered by the Open Source software PIG, as well as Apache Hadoop and a program made by Yahoo Research.

When I have time I also play MMORPG. When I was just a kid I used to watch Star Trek. In fact this was one of the TV shows that we love to watch. I’m really glad to know that Star Trek is now coming our way online. The company Cryptic Studios of announced on Monday that it has come to an agreement with CBS Consumer Products, owner of Star Trek’s license, for the rights to Star Trek Online. Through this website players can enter the Star Trek Universe. So, it won’t be long now before we all get to experience the game. Cryptic Studios is still presently working on the game. In fact some of its screenshots can be found on the game’s site. The company also plans on showing a video footage at the Star Trek convention in Las Vegas in Aug.10.

Environmentalists will be glad to know that there’s a new “green” external storage that can be an option for techies out there. The company, Fabrik, introduced the Simple Tech drive that is green because it is made from bamboo and aluminum. Furthermore it has an Energy Star adapter and fan-less cooling system for less energy consumption. These features allow up to 90% power savings according to Fabrik. Aside from being good to the environment, Fabrik also claims that Simple Tech has the capability to transfer data at 25% faster than other products having standard USB 2.0 ports. This also works fast because of the “Turbo USB 2.0” port. And aside from fast data transfer, Simple Tech also boasts of a 2GB online storage and automated backup software.

Google did not foresee that one of its former employees would come up with a search engine that could possibly overthrow Google as the search giant. Launched just this Monday is the new search engine called Cuil. Don’t be fooled by its spelling because you can easily pronounce it as “cool.” Cuil is the creation of former Google employee Anna Patterson and her husband Tom Costello, who also function as the President and CEO of the said search engine. And also acting as vice president of engineering and a third cofounder of Cuil is another former Google employee, Russell Power.

Apple’s iTunes is the most popular online music retailer and digital media player at this time. Last Wednesday, Research in Motion unleashed the Blackberry Media Sync to allow users to easily transfer DRM-free music files from iTunes to their Blackberry handsets, in the Blackberry Pearl and 8800 series smartphones to be exact. Take note that the songs that can be transferred are those that are not protected by digital management rights or DRM. Furthermore, the kinds of files that can be transferred via Blackberry Media Sync are wav, mp3, m4a and aac. This software by RIM is now available for free download from their site. Aside from songs, Blackberry Media Sync also transfers album artwork. Remember though that it only works with Windows XP and Windows Vista both in 32-bit.

If you look at this picture maybe you’ll the first thing to come to your mind is a make-up compact. Well, it rather looks like one. But don’t let your eyes deceive you. Let the Samsung label be your guide. This compact device has nothing to do with a make-up kit. Would you believe that this fashionable-looking device is a hard drive? Yes, this Samsung concept is made to capture the interest of women gadget buyers. This Costume concept is an external hard drive that was designed by Joongoo Lee for Samsung. This very handy device measures just 2.5-inches and looks just like any woman’s compact.

Panasonic adds a new model to its popular line of LX digital cameras. The latest addition to this line is the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3. A successor to the DMC-LX2, the LX3 is also designed for easy usage. Professionals and novice photographers alike would find it easy to point and shoot his any scenery. Aside from being user-friendly, the LX3 is equipped with advanced features to make its performance even better than its predecessor the LX3. It is installed with an F2.0 24 mm LEICA DC VARIO-SUMMICRON lens with 10.1 megapixels and a very sensitive 1/1.63-inch CCD. Likewise, the LX3 has three aspects ratios available – 4:3, 3:2 and 16:9. These features allow the camera to have superb image quality at an extensive range. The LEICA DC SUMMICRON lens are considered as bright lens that are excellent for capturing sharp and clear images even in low lighting circumstances.

Wikipedia finds a competition in Google’s newly launched Knol. BY going public on Wednesday, Google hopes that Knol “will fill the gaps on what we have on the web today” as stated by Knol’s product manager Cedric DuPont. The word Knol is a shortened term for “a unit of knowledge.” Knol is similar yet different with the ever popular Wikipedia. They are similar in such a way that anyone can write an article about almost any topic under the sun.

However, in Wikipedia the author will remain anonymous and his content can be edited by anyone. With Knol on the other hand, the author will write content under his own byline and anyone wishing to edit it has to gain permission from the owner of the article. One of Knol’s primary objectives is to preserve authorship for the content to be more reliable. The contents written on Knol will be ranked according to reviews, ratings, and how often people browse it. In shorter term I guess that means relevance and popularity.

What can you say about a computer that’s so small it uses less than 97% of the regular desktop you have at home? Sounds insubstantial right? Well that seems to be how the CherryPal’s mini-desktop is. From the picture, CherryPal is really a small, black, rectangular box that uses up only 2 watts of power at maximum usage. This kind of power usage can be explained once you know that its Freescale processor operates at 400MHz, 256 bytes of RAM and 4GB of internal flash storage. It also comes equipped with OpenOffice suite and Firefox Web browser. With its somewhat limited data storage capacity, CherryPal compensates that with free online storage known by the name of “cloud.” The 50GB cloud storage comes at no extra cost so those wishing to have this mini desktop don’t have to worry.

Heard of Qik? Though it is pronounced as quick it is not a verb. Qik is the new means by which you can enjoy live video service right in your mobile device. A public beta is now available for your inspection after almost year private of beta testing. Together with going public, Qik is installed with neat features to make it easily serviceable. Curious to know what these features are? Restricted group access, self-service event streams, and a new embedded player are the things to look forward to in Qik. Through the group access feature offered by the site, users can choose only those who they want to view and upload clips. Qik also includes a new Events feature in the site.

Have old photos that are worth preserving? Instead of just putting them in albums, convert them to digital files. Well, you must have the negatives for those pictures to do so. And using the Summit Photofix Scanner you can easily convert them to digital files. Things get done in just a press of a button. The Scanner can be connected to your PC via USB cable. Be sure to install the software to make it work. To scan the negatives or the slides, all you have to do is load them into the scanner. Once loaded, you can choose from the slide which image to scan, so no need to cut off any negative.

Almost all commodities we have today are becoming more and more expensive. Among them is energy. Together with the rising prices, we are also suffering from energy crisis. I guess this doesn’t come as a surprise since almost every household makes use many appliances all at one time. And take note of this, a report shows that big TVs are the cause of the huge rise in energy consumption. Yup, it’s the LCDs and HD TVs that are being pointed out as the cause.

Technology never really rests. Each day new things always get discovered. Take for example this one. Japanese company Pioneer developed what I think is the optical disc that has the largest storage capacity in the world. Yesterday the company announced that they came up with a 16-layer, read only disc that has 400GB storage capacity. Pioneer made this possible by integrating 25GB storage in each of the 16 layers. Imagine 400GB is more than the storage space you’ll ever need.

If Sony wants to capture more consumers to become interested in their PlayStation3 and in the PSP consoles, do you think launching a new video delivery service will do that? Sony announced last Tuesday that they are launching a new video delivery service that will enable PS3 owners to download movies and TV shows right on their device. PS3 owners can rent or buy movies and TV shows through PlayStation Network. Once downloaded, the content can be transferred to the handheld PSP. Customers can use the same login name they have for the PlayStation Network and once inside they can easily search for the content they want.