These spyshots appear to be that of the prototype N96… a relatively unknown device… up until now.

You might be thinking that I’m wrong & that this is the N81… but no! It has the form factor of the N81 but also comes with a dual slider, just like the N95.

The N96 comes with the yet to be released Symbian S60 FP2, hence the new icons…

The N96 is equipped with a 5MP Carl Zeiss camera with dual LED flash.

& most surprising of all - it has a built-in support stand that suggests it may come with DVB-H or DVB-T reception!

Speakers are located on the top and bottom right-hand side, best suited for when in “stand-mode.”

There are unconfirmed reports that the N96 has a 2.8” QVGA screen & 16 GB internal memory!!!

In short, it’s a N95 in an N81 form factor without the GPS, but with DVB-T.

The official setup guide for VTP8 has been released. Download it here:
Vista Transformation Pack 8 Classic Setup Guide pdf

Check out Vista Transformation Pack 8 here.

With these setup guides, I decided to try out my luck with VTP 8. Here's my original Win XP desktop (with WB skin, Styler Toolbar).

When you start the installation, you get an installer “welcome speech” on an Aurora background… Nothing much here except that you need to uncheck WindowsX default page setting unless you want your IE homepage be taken over by WindowsXlive.net

After that you will be asked whether you want to install in Express mode or Classic mode… express mode meaning… the install-all-options-&-settings-behind-your-back mode. I prefer using the Classic mode which allows you to fine tune what you want to install. I would also recommend not to transform Windows System files - since once changed, you’ll need to reinstall Windows to get those original files back!

I’ve tried to choose all options that minimise system resource hacking & maximise the Visual effects.

For the 3rd party applications, they are totally optional & install them ONLY if you have enough memory. I would recommend TrueTransparency (if you do not have WindowBlinds) & Styler toolbar (you’ll need to download Styler TB separately). ViOrb will make your Start button look like an orb but it has been reported to conflict with games, so don’t install it. You won’t need Thoosje’s Sidebar if you want to install the ported Windows Sidebar. ViStart will add a working search/run bar on your Start Menu, but I prefer keeping my Programs menu as it is. WinFlip3D & VisualTooltip have been having problems running – mostly the transparency doesn’t work & I get black backgrounds instead (I had already tried them before).

Time to transform. :P

Oops… The installer crashed on 94%!
I restarted & tried running it again, but alas, again it crashed. I knew there wasn’t problem with Kaspersky since I had turned it off, nor with my graphics card (I don’t have Intel graphics). The VTP Welcome Centre wouldn’t work either… it also crashed when I tried to install from within. & it’s beyond my nerves to try it on Safe Mode.

Fortunately, I didn’t get any BSOD, nor did VTP 8 get time to really ‘transform’ my XP. Only the cursors, the sounds, the logon screen, the Aero WB skin & TrueTransparency had been installed. There were no icons set, nor any other taskbar hacks…

So here it is…
The WB Aero skin is good with those ‘real’ glass effects but I still prefer Moonflower… I’m using the Vista Ultimate IconPackager icon set (which was installed before VTP 8) &… so nothing else has changed.

The Verdict:
If you want your computer to resemble Vista with Aero, transparency/translunacy, Vista sounds, cursors, icons & stuff… then go & get Windows Vista!


PS: Still determined not to install Vista? Check this instead!

Still banging your head against the wall?
Here’s an AWESOME WMP11 hack to try out… link.

No, it won’t make your WMP11 become transparent… true transparency is impossible on Windows XP, but that’s the closest thing you can get to an Aero enabled WMP11.

You can use the colour chooser to single out your favourite Aero colour!

Instructions:
- You’ll need the latest version of WMP11. Get it here.
- If you want to change the WMP11 icon, don’t try to overwrite with the given WMP11.exe, use an icon pack instead.
- Go to C:\Windows\System32
- Backup file wmploc.dll (LOL) - i.e. make a copy & store it elsewhere
- Go into folder Replacer & open Replacler.cmd
- Drag the original wmploc.dll (which you’ve already backup) from System32 onto the DOS window.
- Press Enter.
- Drag the modified wmploc.dll from folder 'dll' & paste into DOS window.
- Press Enter & then type Y, press Enter – the dll will be replaced.
- No need to reboot, just run WMP11 straight-away!

Still not satisfied?
Ok, here’s an app that will make any Windows XP application transparent. You can use it to simulate Aero, but the only problem is that the whole application is made transparent.
http://chime.tv/products/glass2k.shtml
Read the instructions well!!! For WMP11, I would suggest transparency level 9 (Ctrl + Shift + 9).

More Windows XP to Vista hacks here: (highly recommended link)
http://fediafedia.deviantart.com/gallery/

You want to download a Rapidshare file. If you have Dynamic IP address, that’s easy – you just disconnect & reconnect your Internet connection, you get another IP address & now you can download another file. Even then, you have to wait 2.5 min & then enter a code before your download starts… & you don’t get the maximum download speed since you are downloading as a free user – you can’t use download managers!
If you have a Static IP address, you are doomed to wait 300 min before the next download. I wouldn’t recommend purchasing a Rapidshare Premium Account just for downloading a few files!

So what to do?
You can try to use a Rapidshare Premium Generator… but they are so popular that the accounts are over within an hour.
Another possible solution is to use a Rapidshare Mirror Service… your files will be downloaded but the mirror servers are so overloaded that it will take ages for the download to complete.

The solution…
WarezShares.com’s RapidWLink Rapidshare Premium Downloader is THE software to download Rapidshare files as a premium user without paying anything! Yes, it’s completely FREE!!!

How it works?
The RapidWLink (formerly known as Rapidwarez) Rapidshare Premium Downloader uses Rapidshare Premium accounts from Warezshares.com to allow you to download Rapidshare files as a premium user… meaning you can use download managers, pause/resume the download & most importantly you can download unlimited number of files!

Download RapidWLink 0.8 here: WarezShares.com RapidWLink (627 kb)
Mirror: http://rapidwlink.890m.com/RapidWLink_v08.zip

This is the 2nd part of the “Microsoft goes Artsy” series… & in this post I’ll review the Zune Software that comes along with your Microsoft Zune.

The very first step (obviously) is downloading the software… You can get it at Zune.net or else here’s the direct download link.

Installation… it’s the first time I’ve seen Microsoft not using a progress bar – just a increasing “%”

On the first run, Zune Software offers you to customize your settings. No… I don’t want the Zune Software to become my default media player – WMP11 is there for that. I also had to uncheck all media types to prevent Zune Software from taking them over…

WoW! This is the most un-Microsoft-like app you’ll ever find! While the original Zune Software v1 was a rip-off of WMP11, v2 is a totally different approach. Zune Software is powered not by WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation), but by UIX (Microsoft Iris UI Framework), a new Framework Microsoft has developed for the Zune Software (thanks to Long Zhen for that info).

Quoting Tim Gideon from PC Magazine,

Knol is Google’s answer to Wikipedia – a replica of Wikipedia, but with a few differences. According to Google, a knol (is not a War3 creep) stands for a unit of knowledge - just think of it as a Wiki!

Our goal is to encourage people who know a particular subject to write an authoritative article about it. The key idea behind the knol project is to highlight authors. Books have authors' names right on the cover, news articles have bylines, scientific articles always have authors -- but somehow the web evolved without a strong standard to keep authors names highlighted. We believe that knowing who wrote what will significantly help users make better use of web content. At the heart, a knol is just a web page; we use the word "knol" as the name of the project and as an instance of an article interchangeably. It is well-organized, nicely presented, and has a distinct look and feel, but it is still just a web page. Google will provide easy-to-use tools for writing, editing, and so on, and it will provide free hosting of the content. Writers only need to write; we'll do the rest.

Basically, it’s the same thing as a Wiki EXCEPT knol is paired with Google AdSense & is more author-centric…. Authors can show their pictures, log-in with their gmail account, etc.

A unique element of Knol is its ad system, Google says. While ads will be strictly optional, an author can choose to have context-sensitive AdSense ads appear on their article and will collect some of the revenue from each ad, potentially serving as a source of income for active and popular authors.

After the YouTube ads, this seems another major source of revenue for Google and AdSense users who love to write!(I’m starting to suspect that Google made this whole Knol thing just to cash in on AdSense…) However, I’m still intrigued about how multiple authors will be able to profit from a single article? Maybe their ads will be rotated…

A knol on a particular topic is meant to be the first thing someone who searches for this topic for the first time will want to read. The goal is for knols to cover all topics, from scientific concepts, to medical information, from geographical and historical, to entertainment, from product information, to how-to-fix-it instructions. Google will NOT serve as an editor in any way, and will not bless any content. All editorial responsibilities and control will rest with the authors.

Although Google says it won’t tamper with the content - vandalism may force Google to at least enforce an automated moderation system – just like with Wikipedia.

Google Knol seems to be far more “serious” than Wikipedia (like a normal encyclopaedia should be) since it’s more structured and professional looking. & I find the comments section really very interesting – it seems that Google is doing a 2-in-1, a Wiki & a blog?

The rating system seems to be a more practical approach towards maintaining a required level of high quality content (low rated content will eventually be edited & so on…).

No need to search for Knol on the internet, it’s not online for the time being. Google Knol is currently available only as part of an invitation-based system…. It’s still in the beta stage - & don’t forget Google betas remain betas for ever… like Gtalk! (I’m still searching for those very hard to find invitations!)

As a sidenote, just like Gizmodo pointed out… Google seems determined to be omnipresent everywhere! (Android, Google Apps, Gmail, Blogger, Orkut, Knol, Gphone, 700 Mhz spectrum, Earth, Mars…)

More info:
Gizmodo
Electronista
Official Google Blog: Encouraging people to contribute knowledge
BBC News - Google debuts knowledge project

I’m sure everyone knows those “Show More” that appears below your Google AdSense ads… which after you click on it, redirects you to a page full of ads that are… not really inviting to click!

However, when I checked my blog today, I saw a very peculiar thing! Arrows under my Google AdSense ads! & when I clicked on the arrows, the ads scrolled! Google have been beta-testing new scrolling ads!

There are two types of scroll arrow, which are not browser dependent.
This new scrolling ads seems so far the best improvement Google have made to those AdSense ads - users will have a greater choice of ads to click upon! (& it has a very nice fade-in/fade-out scroll effect!)

If you don’t see the scrolling ads above or below, check out the video:


More info:
Adsense Testing New 'Slider' Ads
Beta Rotating Ads on Adsense
Google Wants To Show You More Ads