Faster Web FTW!

So you think Google is done revolutionizing the web for the month of September? I think not! Google announced a new image format today called WebP that will be able to reduce image JPEG file sizes by close to 40%! So essentially this will create faster web surfing and furthermore it will reduce the burden on networks - this is huge because statistics show that 65% of the data on the internet is images. But before you start going crazy and jumping around like House of Pain, I must point out some pretty major obstacles - first of all Microsoft tried to do something like this with their JPEG XR format, but as you can see that was a complete fail. Secondly, browsers, cameras, and software aren't able to read WebP format, so there has to be drastic change in order for this to actually work. But Google says they hope to make the file format avaliable and ready to Chrome in the next week so keep an eye out for that. Want to know more about the format? Read Google's blog about it or check out their gallery.

Have questions, comments, or suggestions for my next post? Email me at mahir.shah1@gmail.com or follow me on tiwtter @mahirshah1

Digital Real Life

Wikitude

Today I actually read about a really cool technology called augmented reality, for those of you who don't know, this technology allows digital information and pictures to be overlain on top of the real world! - for those of you who already knew that I say unto you in the words of my uncle "Allez cuisine!" Iron Chef anyone? No? Alright let's just move on. Well beside augmented reality having a super sci-fi name, I mean come on, really? - augmented reality, sounds like the we are dealing with the matrix, it is actually super awesome (and I don't use that phrase often). Most of you are probably still laughing at my Iron Chef joke, but for those who aren't you are probably thinking "So basically all this is, is the "fun frames" in my phone's camera. You know the ones that allow you to put a sombrero on my dog!" BUT NO, it's a lot more than that...imagine taking your phone, pointing it at a monument and the phone automatically pulls up the name and info right on the screen! There are a million examples of this technology being used/ being developed , for more just go to this gallery!

Have a question, idea for my next post, or another example of augmented reality? Then email me at mahir.shah1@gmail.com or follow me on twitter @mahirshah1

Productivity to the Sky!

Hello all, today I was debating what I was going to write about in my blog. There were a few tech stories from today that caught my attention, but then I thought you guys probably read about AOL's acquisition of Tech Crunch, the $30 movie rentals, or the HP Slate. So today I present to all of you something that everyone can use and I'm sure many of you will find interesting - key board shortcuts! Many of the shortcuts you may already know, but I hope some of them are new to you. I am going to split up the shortcuts into 3 sections so for you pros, you can skip the first two. BTW I hope to later make a video about this and will post it as soon as I'm done.Also I have the ones that I think are most useful in bold!

Obvious:

Ctrl+C - Copy

Ctrl+X - Cut

Ctrl+V - Paste

Ctrl+S - Save (Almost any program with a save feature)

Ctrl+F - Open Find (Word, Browsers)

I May or May Not Know That:

Ctrl+Z - Undo (Microsoft Word, Photoshop, and lately many others - even browsers!)

Ctrl+A - Select All Text

Ctrl+B - Bold Highlighted Text

Ctrl+U - Undrline

Ctrl+E - Center (Microsoft Word) , Jump to Search Bar (Internet Browsers)

Ctrl+L - Align Left

Ctrl+O - Open

Ctrl+N - New Window (Microsoft Office, Browsers)

Ctrl+T - Open New Tab

Alt-Tab - Switch between windows (Windows)

Ctrl+Tab - Switch between tabs (Browsers)

Ctrl+W - Close Tab (Browsers)

Alt+F4 - Close Window

Whoa I Didn't Know That! (Maybe):

Windows Key+D - Go to Desktop

Windows Key+Break - System Info (Windows)

Windows Key+E - Open Computer

Alt+Ctrl+Arrow Key - Switch Screen orientation (fun to do this to friends computers as a prank)

Obviously this isn't the most extensive list, but most of the ones that I use a lot are on here...I hope to get some more in my video which I should post pretty soon.

Have another awesome keyboard shortcut? Send it to mahir.shah1@gmail.com or follow me on twitter - @mahirshah1

Wait so It's not Called the BlackPad?

Credit: RIM

So as you may or may not have heard Blackberry unveiled their new tablet, the PlayBook, which was pretty much expected, but what was interesting was the name. PlayBook? So, wait up Blackberry, you mean to tell me that the words "play" and "professional" can go together? Yeah, not so sure about that... Well anyway enough about the name, the PlayBook has a 7 inch screen, which is a bit smaller than the 9.7 inch iPad screen, but the specs are surprisingly good. With a 1 GHz Dual Core processor, 1 GB RAM, Micro-HDMI out, 5 mega-pixel rear facing camera, 3 mega-pixel front facing camera, and support for 1080p HD video, the PlayBook could be a serious contender to the iPad. But just when we think Steve Jobs might actually stop being so cocky, we think again...Blackberry hasn't come out with a pricepoint, and more importantly we don't know what kind of carrier agreements this thing will be restricted to! Seems like Blackberry got together with the Galaxy Tab creators and was like "Yo let's like show off these awesome tablets that could actually contend with the iPad, but then just to play with the public, lets not say how much they will cost!" Like WTF can we please have some kind of choice in the tablet market, rather than the tyrannical dictatorship that Steve had created! Not saying the iPad is bad or anything, I actually thinks (yes i meant to say thinks) it a great product, but consumers need choices...and Apple needs more products to make look bad.

Hello World!

Hello world - this is my first HTML text entry! Well no its not, actually this is my first blog post and more importantly my first blog. Throughout this blog, I hope to share some  up to date tech news, and some of my crazy opinions on them. Periodically, I would also like to share some of my new ideas for the world of tech. So here we go...Strap in because this is going to be a crazy ride, well no it won't actually be that crazy - I just don't want to here that annoying "seatbelt not buckled" noise.