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The Trump-Xi Beijing Summit: What the Smiling Handshakes Won't Tell You

On Thursday, Donald Trump will walk into the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, shake Xi Jinping's hand, and declare it a great meeting. There will be announcements. There will be numbers — billions of dollars in Chinese purchase commitments, a new bilateral mechanism with an important-sounding name, possibly a joint statement on Iran. Trump will post on Truth Social. Markets will rally briefly. Pundits will argue about who won. None of that will tell you what actually happened. What is actually happening in Beijing this week is something more consequential and more uncomfortable than the summit theatre will reveal: two leaders of two deeply mutually dependent superpowers, both of whom need this meeting to succeed for entirely different reasons, sitting across a table in a world that has already moved past the assumptions that defined their last nine months of negotiations. The Iran war changed the equations. The rare earth gambit changed the power balance. Taiwan is sitting in...

Use Remindo to help you remember tasks, birthdays, anniversaries, to-do's etc

Remindo is another free web app that gives you a gently reminder every-time you need to get something done. The service lets you setup and create reminders for any conceivable thing you need reminding about. So if you are looking to get your work-life in balance and complete all goals on time. You can set up a reminder and ensure you get either email reminders of the tasks that need to be completed or get a text-message on your phone. This helps you stay focused and complete and stick to your goals. If you are a freelancer you can use the service to make sure you don't forget appointments. If you're a student use the service to make sure you're sticking to your schedules and assignments. The app however is not only for serious things like work and professional life. Use it to make sure you don't forget your anniversary and partner's birthday. You can also use it to keep a list of things you would like to remember like recipes or driving directions or anything else y...

Update to Chrome 17 to enjoy faster web browsing and added security

This is really happening fast two months after the release of Chrome 16 comes the release of Chrome 17, just a month after being launched in Beta and a day after the launch of Chrome for Android. There are actually two features that Google says is what makes the latest version a must have for faster, quicker and safer browsing. The way Chrome 17 loads faster is through something called 'Prerendering' what this means simply is that as you are typing an address in the omnibox, chrome will start actually loading pages for the site you are about to visit and so when you click enter it will seem as though the site is there already. This will make it look like the page or website has loaded instantly. Reducing the time from the moment you click enter and the time it takes to open the website.  The second feature is the added security. Google explains this in very simply terms - they have a whitelist based on files that are know to come from various publishers across the internet. So ...

Use MeetingBurner to host a free Video Conference or Webinar online with no Downloads required

MeetingBurner has just launched and it boasts some super capabilities like the ability to signup for free and conduct an online conference or meeting for free with speeds up to 5x faster than other solutions. The service is free for up to 15 participants and if you need to invite more people you can opt for MeetingBurner pro ($39.95/month) and if you need over 1000 participants you can signup for MeetingBurner Premier ($99.00/mo). So if you are a small company and you need to setup a free video conference then this is a solution for you. You can signup for a free account and get going right away. The service also has some nice features like the ability to record your meeting and then upload it to YouTube. It is also very simple to use, participants can join with just one click. There is also no heavy software to be downloaded to get started, it is all done online. All you need to do is to access the site and start your meeting. Works very good for people who need to conduct Webinars, s...

It's Charles Dickens' 200th Birthday, Google celebrates with a Doodle and the British Council with a read-a-thon

Google Doodle for Dickens' Birthday Its Charles Dickens' 200th Birthday and people all around the world take time to remember his novels and the nostalgia it brings of school days and having to finish writing projects based on his novels. who can forget 'Oliver Twist' and David Copperfield the artful dodger, Ebeneezer Scrooge in 'The Christmas Carol'. in celebration of his birthday Google has a new Doodle out which brings to light various characters from his tales.  Twitter also has everyone saying 'Happy Birthday Charles Dickens' and 'Charles Dickens' is on the trending topics. The British Council is responsible for the trending topic 'Happy Birthday Charles Dickens' and has a link to their site on which the read-a-thon is being conducted.  24 countries will read an extract from one of his books. There will be mash-ups happening all around the world and you can follow the British Council's Twitter feed to listen to all these readings...

What is Google's Solve for X program and how does it work

Google has launched a new web app in called Solve for X with a corresponding Google+ page. The program has been launched in effect to create Technology Moonshots. For people to come together and collaborate on issues effecting the world on a Global scale. In effect the program seeks to tackle and address world problems using Technology. It encourages people to come up with solutions and spread the word. The program wants to be radically different and collaborative in its effort and help bring solutions to global problems using Tech. Not only Tech but radically different ideas and ways, that might work. The amazing thing about this program is that there will be live events for you to attend and there is a forums for discussion on their G+ page. If you have an idea that will be a moonshot, meaning so good like going to the moon, you can create a video with you talking about it and post a link to it on the Google+ page. Once on that page selected talks and video recordings that will make ...

QRHacker lets you create personalized QR codes by adding colors, images and logos

QRHacker is a fun QR code generator, using this web app you can personalize your QR codes and have fun. You can even pay around with the colors and embed images into your QR code. When you first start generating your code you can choose to add some text, link to a URL, phone number and Vcard. Once you have done that it is time to get started. Forget black and white QR codes that look like a maze of jumbled parts. These QR codes can be fun, you can add your Logo or embed an image into the code and generate a QR code your for App, Website, Product or blog that looks totally different. Developed by  a small Hungarian-based team called Carnation Group .  Once you fill in all the details you can then start adding colors to your QR code and you can even edit the same pixel by pixel, You can also edit each pixel individually. You can add background and foreground colors and upload an image to embed or add your logo. Once completed you have a nice colorful and creative QR code which you can us...

Download Roses and Animal Affection Themes for Windows 7

With Valentine's day round the corner Microsoft have released two new themes. Roses Theme and Animal Affection theme for Windows 7. These roses theme features a set of 10 wallpapers of roses, the flower associated with love. Download this theme to get you into the Feb 14th mood. Roses have been sung about, have had poems written about them, are used extensively on Feb 14th and bring with them a smile on people's faces. This free Windows theme has 10 high-definition wallpapers for those who might like to have roses on their desktops. Animal Affection theme has 14 high-resolution wallpapers with photos of Animals being affectionate to one another, usually animals of the same species. These are two themes featured for Valentine's Day for sure. A Windows them when downloaded with feature beautiful wallpapers on your desktop each time you startup. They are also free to download from Microsoft -  Note: Windows 7 themes can only be used in Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, En...