Searchme is a new way to search the Web that uses patented visual search and category suggest features to deliver relevant, meaningful results faster, to every kind of Internet user.

The new search engine which is in “Private Beta” stage is more graphical than the other search engines. When you search, you are presented with category tabs as well as a graphical representation of what the resulting pages look like.

“The Searchme visual search engine, which leverages the power and ubiquity of Adobe Flash™ software and Adobe Flex, is an innovative rich Internet application that could help fundamentally change the Internet search experience,” said Chris Rogers, West Region Leader, Adobe Consulting at Adobe. “It’s more than a slick UI; it’s an engaging search experience that emphasizes relevance and usability to help users more easily find what they’re looking for on the Web.”

The search engine is in “private” beta as of posting time and you can sign up for free trial by sending your e-mail address to the company.

This is going to be an interesting search engine to use and if it becomes popular I believe Microsoft and Google will likely acquire the company.

According to a report from Philippine Daily Inquirer, we Filipinos have sent 1 billion text/SMS messages daily in 2007. The report showed that the amount of messages we Filipinos have sent last year has doubled compared to 2006.

The report proves that our country (Republic of the Philippines) is really the “Texting Capital of the World”.

Where in the world can you see people in the government using SMS to give instructions to their subordinates? Where in the world can you find people in all walks of life with mobile phones?

The answer, “in the Philippines”, why? “because we Filipinos love to communicate”.

TG Daily claimed that it has received a roadmap which indicates that Windows 7, previously codenamed Blackcomb and then Vienna, will be introduced in the second half of 2009.

Read the report below from TG Daily:

Chicago (IL) - Several industry sources have confirmed to TG Daily that a very early version of Windows 7, previously code-named Blackcomb Vienna, already has been shipped to “key partners” as a “Milestone 1” (M1) code drop for validation purposes. A roadmap received by TG Daily indicates that the new operating system will be introduced in the second half of 2009.

While it has generally been believed that Windows 7 was scheduled for a 2010 debut, Microsoft has revised the roadmap and apparently moved up the release date by a few months: A recently distributed roadmap of the OS lists a release to manufacturing in H2 2009. Microsoft declined to comment on this date.

The current M1 drop is available to Microsoft partners in English only and has shipped in x86 and x64 versions. An interesting feature that has been highlighted by Microsoft is the ability of the M1 software to handle a heterogeneous graphics system consisting of multiple graphics cards from different vendors. A new version of the Media center is already integrated in this software, but supports PC speakers only at this time.

If Microsoft will be able to keep the H2 2009 RTM (and most likely) release date in place, the company will have two busy. The M2 code drop is currently scheduled for April/May 2008, M3 will follow in the third quarter. The dates for the first Beta and the release candidate are still listed as “To be determined” but it doesn’t take much to see that the first beta versions could become available a year from now.

We will have more clarity on when we could see Windows 7 going into production will when Microsoft announces Windows Logo Program Changes for Windows 7. According to the policy of the firm, these changes will be announced 18 months prior to the scheduled RTM.

There are very few pieces of information about Windows 7 and the features it will bring available at this time. So far, we have heard only about new touchscreen features as well as – and probably most interesting – MinWin, a much smaller kernel of the operating system that takes up only 40 MB of memory.

“IF” the roadmap is true then moving from Windows XP to Windows Vista at this time will become a big risk. It will be a worthless effort and waste of money moving to Windows Vista “IF” Windows 7 is really on the horizon. My “personal guess and opinion” is that Microsoft will really push for the early release of Windows 7 knowing that there are Windows XP users out there who are hesitant to move to Windows Vista (not to mention the SaveXP petition). Well, I could be wrong………..

From the official adsense blog website:

- If you’re outside of North America, Latin America, and Japan, AdSense referrals will be retired.

 

For publishers not located in any of the three regions detailed above, we’ll soon be retiring referrals promoting AdSense. We’ve found that this referral product has not performed as well as we had hoped in these regions. Again, please keep in mind that you can still generate referrals for the other products listed under the ‘Referrals’ section of your AdSense Setup tab.

 

Soon, you’ll no longer see the option to create a referral button for AdSense in your account, although existing buttons will display as normal. This specific referral type will then be retired during the last week of January - any users who meet the conversion criteria (reaching $100 in earnings within 180 days of sign-up and removing all payment holds) before the change will generate earnings of $250 for the referring publishers. Any conversions which occur after this change is made will not be recorded in your account. You may wish to begin replacing any existing referrals promoting AdSense with referrals for another product or an AdSense for content unit.

 

We appreciate your support of this referral product, and hope it won’t cause you any inconvenience.

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If you are a publisher living outside of the locations mentioned above, then you cannot participate in the Adsense referral program anymore. Yes dude! it doesn’t matter if your audience live in the locations mentioned, its not about the quality of your blog anymore nor the content of your website, its about your location.

The worst part of it is the last part of their statement, “We appreciate your support of this referral product, and hope it won’t cause you any inconvenience.” Won’t cause any inconvenience???? Tsk! Tsk! Tsk!

Being a Linux administrator for couple of years, I believe year 2008 will be a very good year for Linux starting from Google’s “Project Android” and the poor performance of Windows Vista. So before the year 2008 arrives, let me extend my congratulations to Linux.