If you are running Windows XP, you probably won’t be able to install.  Go to this page and it will tell you.  If you do not have more recent version of Windows installed, you will be prompted to install IE8 instead.

Reasons for installing IE9:

• Fast(er)
• Better design on the toolbar etc to make websites look better
• Works seamlessly with Windows 7
• Search & Address bar in one
• Favourite sites in one click
• Security filter

Download IE9 now

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You can visit this website to view more details about the new IE9.  It unlocks the full power of your PC and let you view websites like running an application on your computer.  By using the resources of your graphics card, you would be able to view clearer, smoother HD videos with truer color, clearer graphics and more responsively.

You can also view the video on the website to find out more.

If you would like to start building websites for the new IE9, you can find more information here.  You will gain information regarding development using the new JavaScript engine ‘Chakra’, HTML5 and CSS3.

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Not many people know how to write iPhone apps, though.  Especially if you are not technically minded at the first place.  The good news is that there is now a plugin/theme that can transform your blog iphone-ready in a short time – WPTouch.

WPtouch is a mobile theme for your WordPress website – more than just a plugin. It automatically transforms your WordPress blog into an mobile-ready blog when viewd from an iPhone, iPod Touch, Android, or BlackBerry Storm touch mobile device.

You can easily install WPTouch under ‘Plugins’ – ‘Add New’.  Just search for WPTouch and click ‘Install’.

Once installed WPTouch allows you to customize your site including:

• Setting up a new icon for the blog
• Change site titles
• Exclude categories
• Font alignment
• Contents of the header
• Push notifications
• Style & Color
• Add Adsense code
• Add Analytics code

Using WPTouch also increases your website’s load time on mobile devices.

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GMDesk would be able to solve your problem.  GMDesk is an application developed for running Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs and Google Maps, without opening them up in web browsers.

You can run GMDesk just as other applications under Windows, Linux or Mac to handle your emails, calendar events, document writing etc.

GMDesk can be downloaded here.

To run GMDesk, you would need to have the latest version of Adobe AIR installed on your computer.

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Billionth Download at App Store

To further promote this, Metamenu would like to ask you to try using their latest market defining smart remote application.  It is available for DVD on computers.

Using Metamenu, you can turn your iPhone or iPod touch into remote control unit with extra functions such as

• Jump to scene by name
• Discover channel that returns relevant information etc.

Click on this link to find out more about this promotion!

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The SEO Toolbar is a must have for all webmasters.  Install it as an addon in Firefox, and you will instantly receive information of the site that you are visiting.  Information includes:

• Google PageRank
• Links to domain
• Page links
• Directory links – DMOZ, Yahoo and Best of the Web
• Site Age
• Monthly Uniques Visits
• Estimated Traffic Value

If you click on the ‘i’ icon you will also see more link information.  After all, off-site SEO is about incoming links.  The toolbar brings all these information to you in a very convenient way.

It is a must-have.  Download it now!

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The next step you would do is to put the Windows CD and boot it up, and try to repair Windows.  But sometimes, it doesn’t give you the option of repairing it.  It might not be able to identify your existing Windows installation.

To continue fixing the problem, there are a few options.  You can either take the hard disk out of the computer case, use a USB-IDE (or USB-SATA) cable and connect to another computer to extract the files, or to boot it up in an operating system to perform file transfer.

There are lots of this kind of tools available on the internet.  I personally found this method the easiest, and would like to introduce to my readers.

Preparation – you must have the following items handy:

1. A USB drive of at least 256MB of size
2. A Windows XP installation disk
3. Download BartPE
4. Download Windows Server 2003 SP1

Step 1 – build the BartPE files using PE Builder
Make sure the Windows XP installation disk is in your optical drive.  Turn on PE Builder and search for the source.  After the search, make sure no media output is selected, and click on “Build”.  It takes a while depending on the speed of your computer, but it won’t be long.  Please see screenshot below:

(If you want to boot using a CD, then select “Burn to CD/DVD” instead.)

Step 2 – Get all the files ready

Open a new folder named “srsp1″ under the PE Builder installation directory.  Download Windows Server 2003 SP1.  It is an exe file.  Extract it using WinRar. DO NOT install.

After extracting the file, copy the file “setupldr.bin” to the “srsp1″ folder.  Then expand the file “randisk.sy_” in command prompt with this command

expand -r c:\server2003sp1\i386\ramdisk.sy_ <pebuilder>\srsp1

(where <pebuilder> is the PE Builder’s installation directory, and assuming the SP1 file is extracted under the folder C:\server2003sp1)

To save you the hassle, you can download my prepared files here.  Just extract this into a folder named “srsp1″ and put it in the installation directory.

Step 3 – Build the files into the USB drive

Use command prompt to run the following line:

pe2usb -f g:

where g: is the drive letter of the USB drive.  Please note this would FORMAT the USB drive, so make sure there is no wanted files in the USB drive.

Again this would take a while to copy all files into the drive.

When this is done, unplug the USB drive and plug this into the computer needed to be fixed.  You may need to go to BIOS to adjust the boot sequence and make sure the computer can boot with the USB drive.  If all goes well a graphical interface similar to Windows XP would be presented, where you can access all your files in the hard disk.

I have tested this and found that it works on IDE/SATA hard disks and IDE/SATA optical drives.

PS. Sorry for not updating this blog for a long time.  I have just migrated to another country, and it took me quite a while to get my internet connection (and other things) sorted.

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ExitReality is a free internet plugin that allows users to browse websites in 3D. Instead of the standard 2D website, which are just flat planes with texts and images, you can now turn it into a unique 3D space.  Everything becomes a virtual world.  Meet new people and chat with them in the 3D communities!

You will also have your own 3D space or apartment (why not a house…).  You can collect 3D objects and add to your own space.  Of course, you can invite your friends to visit your “home”.  Have a party?  Not a problem, host it virtually

Tempted to try?  Just download from the ExitReality website and install for free!

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A new feature has been added in Google Docs recently. What is Google famous for? Search.

Now in Google Docs, you can highlight a word and look up the definition/synonyms with Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. You can also look something up in Encyclopedia Britannica.

Last but not least, you can perform a Google Image Search from within Google Docs.

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Google claims it has better stability and won’t slow your computer down, as it frees up memory when a tab is closed. It also uses multi-threading technology so everything runs in parallel. If anything goes wrong, you only lost one tab. Not the whole browser.

A 38-page comics is available for you to understand the browser more. You can view it here:

http://www.google.com/googlebooks/chrome/index.html

You can download the new browser here:

http://www.google.com/chrome/index.html

I am hoping that addon / plugin would be available shortly.

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