Continuing its effort to become a more open social networking site, Facebook is introducing a new privacy (or lack thereof) option that lets you make your entire profile viewable to everyone.

Previously, Facebook let you open up different elements of your profile as far as the networks you belong to, meaning everyone in your designated region, school, or employer. Now, you can make your profile, status updates, photos, and wall posts available to anyone on Facebook. The privacy settings still allow a high-level of specificity, so you can make only certain profile elements visible to everyone and others visible to only specific people.

This decision speaks to Facebook's move earlier this month to make Pages and Profiles two very similar entities. With the option to make profiles public, the only truly major difference remains that a Facebook Page is more like Twitter in that it can be a one-way relationship (with "Fans" as the equivalent of "Followers"), whereas profiles and their friends' lists remain mutual relationships.

It also makes the Facebook of yesteryear a distant memory. It's hard to believe at one point the site was limited to just college students with .edu email addresses, at only a handful of universities.

The Sandisk Sansa slotMusic Player is a very portable and compact, inexpensive player with nice music playback capabilities. It is a totally new concept and it remains to be seen if it will be successful. It has received just a lukewarm response yet. It is coupled with a whole new way of music distribution - through microSD cards. The players have no display or memory and run music directly from the memory card. The compact body sports a few buttons to control playback and comes with bundled headphones. Design: It sports a very solid metallic design with sturdy build quality. As it has no memory or display, it is very rugged and suitable for people who are very rough with their devices. It has dimensions of 2.8 x 1.4 x 1.4 inches and weighs just about 60 grams, very compact and portable. It comes with standard earphones and a AAA battery. It sports music playback control buttons - play / pause, next, back, volume which blend in with the design. All in all, nice design and build quality. Sound Quality: It plays the MP3 and WMA audio formats and offers nice sound quality. It is compatible with upto 8 GB MicroSD cards and is fast and zippy. This is the best you can get in $20. The sound quality is way better than expectations. With no DRM restrictions, you can simply copy your music onto a MicroSD card, insert it into the player and start listening to your favorite tunes. The Sansa slotMusic can be used with slotMusic cards that can be bought for $15 each. You can also use your own MicroSDs loaded with your own music. Pros: Inexpensive Light and Durable Cons: No Internal Memory Final Words: The Sandisk Sansa slotMusic player is a great buy at just $20. It doesn't have many features but does its core job quite well, and at such a throwaway price, it is great deal. My Rating: 3.5 / 5.

The HP DV 3510NR is the newest consumer laptop by HP and it's first 13 incher. The DV 3510NR offers a very stylish package with nice powerful specs and a light and compact body. It is a total multimedia monster and also can manage games quite well. It excels when it comes to performance but lets down when it comes to endurance. It is priced decently at $1100 and seems to be worth every penny. In this review we aim to find out exactly that - whether it is worth the moolah or not.

HP DV 3510NR Specs:

• Dimensions: 12.6 x 9.0 x 1.4 inches
• Weight: 2.2 kgs
• Processor: 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P7350
• RAM: 4 GB DDR2 RAM
• Hard Drive: 320 GB SATA HDD, 5,400 RPM
• Optical Drive: 8X DVD +/- RW DL
• Display : 13.3 inches, 1280 x 800 pixels
• Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce 9300M 512 MB VRAM
• Wireless: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/g/n, Bluetooth 2.0
• Operating System: MS Windows Vista Home Premium
• Ports: 2 USB 2.0, Headphone, Microphone, Ethernet, Modem, USB / eSATA, VGA out, HDMI, 5 in 1 card reader, Express Card

Design and Build Quality:

The DV 3510NR sports a very stylish design - a highlight of the recent HP notebook lineup. The build quality is superb and is similar to the HP DV5T, but sports a different design finish. The lid is dressed up in HP's Imprint finish which looks very stylish and cute. It successfully differentiates the HP DV 3510NR from the scores of other monotonous and simple notebooks. It has dimensions of just 12.6 x 9.0 x 1.4 inches which is very nice and compact and weighs about 2.2 kgs which is also quite decent. It is very thin at just 1.4 inches, may be fat by Lenovo X300 and Macbook Air standards, it definitely out slims most other notebooks in its league. It is the most portable of standard business notebooks, though significantly heavier than the anorexic netbooks available these days. But it makes up with all the power loaded into it. The build quality of the HP DV 3510NR is quite good and upto standards. The metallic body is very sturdy and feels durable. With normal usage, the HP DV 3510NR should easily last you more than about a couple of years. Absolutely no complaints with this little gem on the design or build quality aspect.

Display and Speakers:

The HP DV 3510NR sports a superb 13.3 inch wide LCD display which has a native resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels. The brightness levels and contrast are perfect and very much suited to movie watching. It has awesome wide viewing angles, both horizontal and vertical. The video playback is awesome. The image quality is very good, thanks to the new discrete graphics solution - the NVIDIA 9300 M solution. You can also plug it to a larger display using the HDMI or VGA out for better viewing. The Nvidia 9300M is capable of handling it. The DV 3510NR sports a 0.3 MP webcam which works decently well. The images captured are crisp and clear. The built in Microphone also does quite well and records audio without any glitches. The webcam and mic in tandem work very well and offer very less reasons for complaints. The DV 3510NR comes with built in Altec Lancing speakers. The speakers are adequately loud and have much better sound quality compared to other notebooks. You can plug in headphones for even better sound quality, the DV 3510NR has dual headphone jacks using which you can plug two headphones at the same time.

Keyboard and Touchpad:

The HP DV 3510NR sports a full size keyboard with a nice standard key layout. The key spacing and travel is just about perfect. The keys are covered with a protective layer and feel smooth. It also improves the durability of the keyboard. The keyboard is also backlit, you can turn on the backlighting manually using a keyboard combo. This is very useful especially in dark environments and at night. The keys feel nice and offer good tactile feedback. The keys are laid out according to the standards and the size is also normal. This keyboard is perfect for touch typists. The HP DV 3510NR sports a silver touchpad which stands out from the rest of the body. The touchpad is nice and smooth which eases the mouse navigation. The touchpad sensitivity is good and it is very responsive. It also has a vertical scroller on the right which is very helpful when you have to scroll through long web pages or documents. The touchpad has two buttons on the bottom which also have a nice feel. They offer the perfect feedback and are much better than notebooks which merge both buttons into one. Above the keyboard, you find the touch sensitive multimedia controls. They work just as expected, nothing special.

Performance:

The HP DV 3510NR is a very able Intel Centrino 2 machine and comes with great specs like a Intel Core 2 Duo P7350 , 4 GB RAM and the Nvidia 9300M discrete graphics. It also has a 320 GB hard drive at 5,400 rpm. It slices through normal tasks like a hot knife through butter. It also manages to do the other menial tasks like video conversion and file compression very well. It aces at multimedia playback and is also capable of running light as well as moderately demanding games. Windows Vista runs perfectly smooth on it with no lags.

Other Features:

The HP DV 3510NR sports a wide range of ports - it comes with 2 USB 2.0, Headphone, Microphone, Ethernet, Modem, USB / eSATA, VGA out, HDMI, 5 in 1 card reader and an Express Card port. It also comes with a remote control which nicely fits in the Expresscard slot. The Wi-Fi reception is nice and offers good data transfer speeds. The battery life is also decent at about 3.5 hours considering the 9300M discrete graphics solution instead of integrated graphics. It is a bit less than expected but should improve if you use it properly and efficiently. To maximise battery life, tweak the power saver mode settings, switch off Wi-Fi when not needed and decrease the display brightness and sound volume.

Pros:

• Nice Design and Sturdy Build Quality
• Great Performance
• Nice Display, Speakers and Graphics

Cons:

• Low Battery Life

Final Words:

The HP DV 3510NR is a superb notebook and offers lots of features in a small form factor and at an affordable price. We will definitely give it a thumbs up. It does have low endurance but that can be ignored when compared to its overall performance.

My Rating: 4 / 5.

The last week of every month is quite exciting for AdSense publishers because that's the period when Google issues payment for the preceding month.

There's a surprise element as well particularly among foreign AdSense publishers as they get to know the exact payment made in their local currency using the prevailing exchange rate.

Now last month, a bug was discovered in the AdSense system that showed the currency exchange rate as 1:1 meaning 1 US $ is equivalent to 1 Indian Rupee. So if you earned $500, the amount in local currency would be reflected as INR 500.

Luckily, it was merely a reporting error because Google issued checks using the correct rates but it still took about a week for Google to update the online dashboard.

A month has passed but that 1:1 exchange rate bug is not fixed yet. Your status may have changed from “Payment in Progress″ to “Payment Issued” but the amount in local currency would be the same as what you earned in US dollars.

Not sure if this bug is too complicated to fix or has a low priority status. Either way, AdSense publishers are not too happy about it as this snapshot says:

The HP DV4T is a new 14? notebook by HP and is very affordable, starting at just about $699. It is suited for students as it provides great performance at a decent price. It can handle most of the stuff thrown at it easily. It is powered by the latest Intel Centrino 2 Mobile platform and NVidia's discrete graphics which ensures good performance. It is a more affordable version of the largely popular HP DV5T which was the most sold mid range notebook in the last month. In this review we check out the HP DV4T and see if it makes for a good buy.

HP DV4T Specs:

• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 at 2.4 GHz
• Display: 14.1 WXGA Glossy LED Backlit LCD (1280 x 800 pixels)
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce 9200M-GS 256MB
• RAM: 3 GB DDR2 RAM
• Hard Drive: 160 GB 5400 RPM (Toshiba)
• Optical Drive: SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW DL
• Connectivity: WiFi, Ethernet, Modem, and Bluetooth Connectivity
• Operating System: Windows Vista Ultimate 64 bit
• Ports: Three USB 2.0 ports, eSATA/USB port, ExpressCard slot, Gigabit Ethernet, 5-in-1 multi-card reader, 2 audio out ports, Mic in, VGA out, HDMI out, Kensington lock slot
• Battery: High Capacity 6 cell Li ion battery (55Wh)
• Dimensions: 13.15? x 9.45? x 1.34?.
• Weight: 2.42 Kgs

Design:

The HP DV 4T sports a very stylish yet simplistic design. No glittery design, rather a very subtle and sleek one. It seems to be a very carefully thought out design with a metallic look and clean surfaces and rounded edges. The notebook sports just two colors mainly - glossy silver and glossy black. The glossy surface does act as a fingerprint magnet, but that is hardly a problem. All in all, a nice simple, glossy metallic design with rounded edges and clean surfaces. The HP DV4T has dimensions of 13.15 x 9.45 x 1.34 inches which are quite in line with other 14? notebooks. It offers a mix of portability while clearly distinguishing itself from the range of notebooks cramped for space. It weighs just about 2.42 Kgs including the 6 cell battery which is quite decent compared to other 14 inch notebooks. The DV4T has a nice build and is made mostly of plastic. The plastic quality is definitely better than average and feels nice and durable. It has minimum flex even under a large amount of pressure. It is also scratch resistant. The DV4T has a nice durable and rigid build. Handled carefully, it is going to last you for a long time.

Display and Speakers:

The HP DV4T sports a superb 14.1? WXGA LCD display with a native resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels. It is a glossy LED backlit display with nice brightness and contrast levels. The vertical viewing angles are a bit acute but should suffice for linear viewing coupled with the adequately wide horizontal viewing angles. The sunlight readability is limited due to the glossy display but with increased brightness, it is atleast legible. The LED backlit display is much more power efficient than normal displays and also a bit thinner. The display isn't suited for HD movie viewing due to low resolution but you can connect to a HD capable display using the HDMI out. The color reproduction is nice and accurate and the colors are vibrant. The HP DV4T includes a set of nice speakers with good audio quality. The volume levels it manages are decent too and well above the range of many other laptops. This laptop can easily cater to an audience of about 10 in a small room. You can use headphones if you want to improve the sound quality.

Keyboard and Touchpad:

The keyboard is nice and spacious, most importantly full sized, a welcome relief from all the cramped netbook keyboards I have been reviewing in recent times. The key travel and spacing is perfect and the keys provide nice tactile feedback. The keyboard frame is sturdy and rigid and doesn't budge even under heavy pressure. The touchpad is located exactly below the keyboard - the standard layout. It is nice and responsive and has good build quality. The sensitivity is just about perfect and the touchpad surface very smooth. The touchpad buttons are nice and the produce a slight distinctive click when pressed. There is also a touch sensitive media control panel just above the keyboard which provides quick and easy access to media functions like volume control, playback control and Wi-Fi. All in all, no complaints at all from the touchpad or keyboard, with the media control panel being a nice addition.

Performance:

The HP DV4T is powered by a P8600 clocked at 2.4 GHz and comes with 3 GB DDR2 RAM. The graphics part is handled by the new NVidia 9200 M GS. It is perfect for normal office work and casual usage. It can also handle light games but dont expect to run frag bots in Crysis at high settings. It comes with a 5,400 RPM 160 GB hard drive that is fast enough for most stuff. One side effect of the good configuration is the excess heat generated that turns it hotter than the insides of an oven after prolonged usage.

Other features:

The HP DV4T comes with a range of expansion ports to expand functionality - 3 USB 2.0 ports, eSATA/USB port, ExpressCard slot, Gigabit Ethernet, 5-in-1 multi-card reader, 2 audio out ports, Mic in, VGA out, HDMI out, Kensington lock slot. On the front, you find the headphone and mic jacks. On the right are 2 USB ports, the optical drive and a AC Power jack. The left side sports a VGA out, Kensington lock slot, LAN, HDMI, USB/ eSATA combo port, Express card and the 5 in 1 card reader. The battery life is just about average with the high capacity 6 cell battery. The system lasts about 3.5 hours on a full charge with moderate usage. To get more endurance, you should go for the optional 12 cell battery. To maximise battery life enable the power saving modes and reduce display brightness.

Pros:

• Good design and build quality
• Great performance
• LED backlit display

Cons:

• High running temperatures
• Average battery life

Conclusion:

The HP DV4T is a nice notebook offering nice specs at an affordable price. It has a very nice display and an excellent selection of ports, but it also does have some shortcomings like getting hot and low battery life. Even then, we think that it makes for a good overall package.

My Rating : 4 / 5.