HP has revealed two new Netbooks in the Mini Series. These two new netbooks have a 10.1" screen, The new HP mini 110 looks pretty much like the old HP mini 1000 except that the new one has an added VGA out port and like all HP minis its pretty slick and of course there is the 92% keyboard and this HP mini 110 will have a Linux or Windows option.

The HardDisk has also been upgraded from 80GB to 160GB and it will come with 3 cell or 6cell battery. HP creativity is going to be at work on these 2 netbooks as they will also release designer versions a Pink Chic version and another version with a Swirly Design. HP mini 110 is coming on June 10th and starts from USD$ 279 for the Linux version and USD$ 329 for Windows version.

The HP mini 1101 has got a bit more meat than the mini 110 it has got a internal 3G Modem which can support EVDO and HSPA carriers, an option for a 320GB Hard Drive and a stand alone HD Decoder chip so you can play those High Definition 1080p movies on your netbook.The HP mini 1101 is going to be only available in  HP Mini 1101 is going to be released on June 1st and its going to cost about USD$ 329

I haven’t had the iPhone for long but i love the browsing experience on an iPhone well not that much its ruined by the lack of Flash and this lack of Flash for the iPhone is holding back some Application Developers too who want to develop Flash based iPhone Applications so you would be cursing Adobe for not making Flash available for the iPhone well you shouldn’t because its not their fault.

In a recent Adobe Townhall meeting a flash expert received confirmation from Adobe Systems Senior Director of Engineering, Paul Betlem that they are pretty much done with Adobe Flash for the iPhone so in reality they are just waiting for a green light from Apple.

“ My team is working on Flash on the iPhone, but it’s a closed platform ” Paul Betlem (not direct quote)

But don’t get your hopes up just yet because Apple being the sucky control freak company it is still has to decide if they want to make Adobe Flash available for the iPhone or not ! but if out of the blue Apple does say YES ! then it wont be long before Adobe Flash Player makes it onto the TOUCH SCREEN !

The day i published my blog post about QR Codes, i also posted a link to that post on Twitter and after a few minutes guess who do i get a “Follow” by ? Yep @MicrosoftTag and when i checked out their profile i was surprised never knew Microsoft Tag even existed so i checked it out and played with it all night so i could write a blog post later on : )

So first Question what is the Difference between QR Code and Microsoft Tag, Well both are 2D Barcodes and both work pretty much the same way but the real difference is in the platform, there is no real company standing behind QR Code no one really working to promote it there isn’t any one official website where you can generate QR Codes and get a QR Code Reader for your device while on the opposite Microsoft Tag has got well “Microsoft” behind it and by the looks of it Microsoft Tag is a bit more feature rich than QR Code.

Microsoft Tag Features :

• Microsoft Tag is available for all major Devices such as J2ME, Series60, iPhone , Windows Mobile, Blackberry
• Online Panel to manage all of the Tag’s that you have created.
• Detailed Statistics for each Tag like how many times people scanned the tag and followed the link !
• The ability to set end date for the Tag so Tag’s can actually expire ! like coupons
• Create Colored , Black and white or Design your own Custom Tags ! ( now that’s what i like most )
• Create a Tag with a vCard or Contact Details
• Create a Dialer Tag with a Phone Number you want to be Called
• Password Protect Text, Dialer or vCard Tags

To be Honest I like Microsoft Tag more specially because its easy to customize these Tags , while QR Codes were just simple plain old black and white tags but still after a bit of trying i was able to customize them but with Microsoft Tag its just easier.  Here are some fun ideas for using Microsoft Tag

Link people to your profile, blog, or contact information.

• Mix it up! Use one Tag for business colleagues and another version for social networking.
• Your Tag can link people to mobile sites, profiles, videos, podcasts, products, or other little pieces of content like ringtones and wallpapers.
• Never lose a number; contact data can be automatically added to your mobile address book.

Hyperlink the world.

• At an exhibit, snap a Tag and access additional information or interactive experiences.
• Bookmark the artist’s online page or brochure, promote a coming exhibit, or send e-mail with an invitation to a private reception.
• Tags are a shortcut to information that is ordinarily difficult to track down quickly on a mobile device.

I have been reading about QR Codes for past few years but didn’t really get into the idea behind it till i found this a custom QR Code Designed by Takashi Murakami , Produced by SetJapan for Louis Vuitton. It was something different not a normal QR Code with black and white boxes but was a cute full colored QR Code Design with a tiny cartoon character in the middle it really opened my eyes and i thought i should give it a go and do more research on QR Codes and so i did.

So for those who don’t know what are QR Codes well these are two dimensional barcodes or matrix code which were created by a Japanese Corporation Denso-Wave in 1994 and since then they are being used in Japan and are very much popular, They can easily be read by almost all of Japanese mobiles using their built-in camera. The “QR” stands for Quick Response.

QR Code Related Japanese Commercial

QR Codes can be used for advertising purposes you can Generate a QR Code for your website or make a QR Code out of your contact details and then add that QR Code in your advertising or may be print it out on your T-Shirt or may be even use as a patch on your Jacket ? and best of all its “cool”

Custom Designed QR Codes

So these past few days i have been trying to see if i can customize a generated QR Code design and so far its going pretty good here is the current result i have but its not the final result i am still working on it !

QR Code on iPhone

There are some tools like KayWa Reader which are well known and available for Nokia Series 60 and other devices but there are no well known QR Code Reading apps for the iPhone so i went on hunting for the best iPhone App to read QR Codes and i found it , Its called OptiScan its absolutely the best QR Code scanner for the iPhone its faster than any other readers and works great with a lot of extra built in functions.

Some QR Code Related Cool Tools :

Be Qrious

QR STuff

Both Microsoft and Yahoo have been trying to compete with the big daddy of Internet search engine " Google " , I think that’s a good move by Microsoft because I don’t think Microsoft would ever get closer to compete Google unless they buy Yahoo ! , these two companies would be a perfect match and a perfect Team that can easily take over Google may be not that easily, a little bit of effort might do the Job.In a conference call, Microsoft’s Kevin Johnson said that the combination of the two companies would create an entity that could better compete with Google.

"Today the market [for online search and advertising] is increasingly dominated by one player," he said

Tim Weber, business editor, BBC News website says :

It is a shotgun marriage, but the person holding the shotgun is Google

On the other hand some people are saying that this deal could even help Google ! huh ? Shaun Carney said that

"I think the increased competition this merger brings will force Google to stay on top of its game by offering more innovative Internet tools and expanding on the tools it already offers,"

may be but i still think that after some time , money and effort MicroHoo ! can take over Google.