Jade Goody dies of Cervical Cancer

Reality television star Jade Goody, who was diagnosed with cervical cancer last year, has died, her publicist said this morning.

The 27-year-old, who was told she had cancer in August while appearing on Bigg Boss, the Indian version of Big Brother, died in her sleep at her home in Upshire, Esssex, at 3.14am, Max Clifford said.

Goody’s mother said, “My beautiful daughter is at peace.”

The prime minister led tributes to Goody, praising her bravery and the way she raised awareness of cancer.

Clifford said Goody’s mother, Jackiey Budden, and husband Jack Tweed were at her side when she died. A family friend, Kevin Adams, was also there. Budden called Clifford to tell him: “My beautiful daughter is at peace.”

Speaking outside her home, wearing pyjamas with a coat over the top, she added: “Family and friends would like privacy at last.”

In a statement Gordon Brown said he was “deeply saddened” by the news.

“She was a courageous woman both in life and death and the whole country has admired her determination to provide a bright future for her children.”

Conservative leader David Cameron said: “Her legacy will be to save the lives of more young women in the future. My thoughts are with her family and particularly her two young sons at this terrible time.”

Mourners started arriving at the house to pay tribute to Goody within minutes of the news breaking. They left floral tributes at the gates of her home. Goody’s body was taken out of her home and placed in the back of an estate car shortly before 8am.

Clifford said: “She died as she lived, in the public eye … it was her way of handling it.”

He said that the funeral service would be held at Goody’s local church, St John the Baptist in Buckhurst. He said she had wanted to be buried in the church cemetery, but it is full and so plans are still being made for a burial site. No date has been set for the funeral but it is likely to take place in the next 10 days.

In spite of undergoing radiotherapy and chemotherapy, Goody learned in February that the cancer had spread to other organs and was warned she had only a short time to live. The prognosis propelled her to try to secure the financial future of her two young sons, Bobby, five, and Freddie, four, through a series of media deals thought to be worth £1m.

Her wedding to Jack Tweed on 22 February took place behind closed doors as part of an exclusive magazine and television deal. Tweed, 21, was able to spend the night with his bride after Jack Straw, the justice secretary, intervened to waive the groom’s curfew. Tweed was banned from going out at night following his release from prison for attacking a 16-year-old boy with a golf club. He has since been found guilty of a further assault.

Goody, a former dental nurse, shot to fame on the 2002 series of Big Brother, where she was ridiculed by media commentators for her appearance and ignorance – she asked whether East Anglia was “abroad” and thought Rio de Janeiro was a person. She finished fourth and spent the next couple of years making the most of her fame – producing keep-fit DVDs, opening a beauty salon, writing her autobiography, launching her own perfume and appearing on television shows including Celebrity Wife Swap and Celebrity Stars in Their Eyes.

The public turned against her in 2007 after she was accused of racism and bullying towards Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty on Celebrity Big Brother. More than 45,000 people complained to the media regulator Ofcom about Goody’s behaviour towards Shetty. Goody visited India to apologise for the distress her actions had caused and had hoped her appearance on Bigg Boss would also help to make amends. She left the show to return to the UK after discovering during filming that she had cancer. Specialists reported a rise in demand for cervical cancer screening following Goody’s diagnosis. Cervical cancer is the second biggest cancer killer of women in their early 30s in the UK.

After learning that her cancer might be terminal, Goody told the News of the World: “I’ve lived my whole adult life talking about my life. The only difference is that I’m talking about my death now. It’s OK.

“I’ve lived in front of the cameras. And maybe I’ll die in front of them.”

Simon Hughes, MP for North Southwark and Bermondsey in south London where Goody grew up, said: “Jade Goody was a Bermondsey girl who went from public ridicule and public rebukes to public respect and public sympathy.”

Stephen Fry, who appeared with Goody on Jonathan Ross’s chatshow, said she was “a kind of Princess Di from the wrong side of the tracks”. Writing on microblogging site Twitter, he joined thousands of others by paying a tribute online. “All impulsive spirit & smiles. What a life,” he wrote.

Goody’s publicist said, “I think she’s going to be remembered as a young girl who has, and who will, save an awful lot of lives(for creating the awareness about Cervical cancer). She was a very, very brave girl. And she faced her death in the way she faced her whole life – full on, with a lot of courage.”

• Preity Zinta’s Videsh faces controversies
• Bobby Deol: I didn’t mind playing hired killer for Ek
• Attack on Rihanna recreated for public service film
• Jade Goody dies of Cervical Cancer
• Bollywood stars to campaign for Sanjay Dutt for upcoming elections
• Deepika Padukone walks the ramp for Tarun Tahiliani in Delhi

Microsoft PowerToys to Customize Windows XP

PowerToys add fun and functionality to the Windows experience. What are they? PowerToys are additional programs that developers work on after a product has been released.

Alt-Tab Replacement
With this PowerToy, in addition to seeing the icon of the application window you are switching to, you will also see a preview of the page. This helps particularly when multiple sessions of an application are open.
Download 

Virtual Desktop Manager

Manage up to four desktops from the Windows taskbar with this PowerToy.
Download

Webcam Timershot
This PowerToy lets you take pictures at specified time intervals from a Webcam connected to your computer and save them to a location that you designate.
Download

Tweak UI
This PowerToy gives you access to system settings that are not exposed in the Windows XP default user interface, including mouse settings, Explorer settings, taskbar settings, and more.
Download

For more Info, Visithttp://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx

Delhi blast: Indian Mujahideen takes responsibility

The militant outfit Indian Mujahideen has claimed responsibility of Delhi serial blast which went up on Saturday evening leaving at least 18 dead and scores injured.

Reportedly, in an e-mail to a private news channel the militant organisation that had earlier taken responsibility of July 26 Ahmedabad serial bombings made this claim, though the police is unsure about its involvement.

Meanwhile, the police had said that that they didn’t have any prior intelligence input on these blasts.

As per reports, the Islamic militant group had sent a mail to Zee News, which claimed that nine blasts would be strike Delhi within five minutes. The mail was sent by ‘Arbi Hind’ from the email id al-arbi_delhi@yahoo.com.

The five blasts that rocked the national capital in different busy market places have so far claimed 18 lives and injured over 100. The injured have been immediately rushed to the nearest Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital.

The blasts at Ghaffar market in Karol Bagh, Connaught Place and Greater Kailash took place in a quick succession, police said.

The first blast took place at Ghaffar market at 6.10 p.m. in which at least 20 people were injured.

Immediately after that, two explosions took place in Connaught Place in which at least 10 people were injured.

Another explosion rocked M-Block market in Greater Kailash-I.

Senior Police officials including Joint Commissioner of Police Karnail Singh had rushed to the spot in the central district and were assessing the situation.

President, Prime Minister condemn blasts

The Prime Minister, President, Vice President and Home Minister have strongly condemned serial blasts in the heart of Indian capital Delhi.

President Pratibha Devisingh Patil has been grieved by the tragic turn of events in Delhi. She has strongly condemned the serial blasts and condoled the loss of lives in this mindless act of violence. The President wishes speedy recovery to the injured and appeals to the people of Delhi to maintain peace and calm in the face of this adversity.

Prime Minister too expressed shock that the blasts have caused fatalities and casualties among innocent people. He said that such dastardly acts of violence are intended to disturb peace and harmony and should be thwarted. He appealed to all sections to maintain calm.

Top 10 safest cars

Amy Fife, a single mother of two, wants to sell her mid-sized sport utility vehicle for something more fuel efficient.

“Years ago I never paid much attention to the price of gas,” says the 37-year-old Portland, Ore., administrative assistant. But with gas prices around $4 a gallon and her 10-year-old Chevrolet Trailblazer, which the Environmental Protection Agency estimates gets an average of 16 miles per gallon, she’s been noticing an increasing pinch on her budget.

Slideshow: The safest cars for downsizing

Fife had decided to swap her SUV for a Subaru Impreza, one of the safest small cars on the market and among the 10 highlighted in the accompanying slideshow. But now she’s waiting to do it, as she can’t find anyone willing to buy her Trailblazer for its estimated market value.

Although economic concerns make fuel economy a prime focus for car shoppers, safety should be at the top of the checklist as well — particularly for those looking to downsize their vehicle.

We’ve assembled a list of 10 models with outstanding safety ratings. They rate as “compact” within their respective classes, though some, like the BMW X3 crossover utility vehicle, aren’t exactly “small” compared to the tinniest cars on the market. The X3 is, however, smaller and more fuel-efficient than many SUVs. And that makes it a good choice for folks considering stepping down from a full-size SUV.

The same is true of the Honda CR-V and Subaru Forester, also on our list of safest compact vehicles. Go to the accompanying slideshow for the full list.

Even if you’re considering a vehicle not on our list, there are some key features to look for that can mean the difference between life and death in a collision. Read on to find out what they are.

Weight matters

What ultimately matters in a collision isn’t a vehicle’s weight alone but its difference in weight from other vehicles on the road, says Mike Dulberger, president of Informed For Life, a non-profit safety information organization.

The average weight of a new passenger vehicle — classified as “light-duty” by the government — rose from 3,221 pounds in 1997 to 4,144 pounds in 2007. Ironically, adding more safety equipment over the years — some of it federally mandated — is one of the reasons for the weight gain.

“You don’t want to stick out” in terms of size and weight, Dulberger says, because the more you do, the greater the risk. “With some of the lightest-weight vehicles, you’re trading in weight for risk,” he says.

Fatality rates are about three times as high for small, light cars than for large, heavy ones, according to national crash statistics.

“That doesn’t mean you have to buy a tank,” says Russ Rader, a spokesman for the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety. “The benefits of weight start to diminish after a certain point.” Anything over about 4,500 is going to be substantially heavier than the vast majority of passenger vehicles on the road, so extra heft beyond that doesn’t make much difference when it comes to safety.

“But for the kind of driving that most people do, they should be avoiding the smallest cars,” he says. “No matter how many airbags you have, you’re still at a higher risk” in the smallest cars.

Jon Linkov, managing editor, autos, at Consumer Reports, agrees. “Bigger will at the end of the day be safer,” he says. “However, heavier means lower fuel economy.”

Savvy downsizing

If fuel economy is a top concern, you don’t have to downsize to the smallest vehicles available to get improvements in gas mileage. “Consumers can think about downsizing the engine, not the car,” Rader says.

Many of the safest mid-sized sedans offer frugal four-cylinder engines that in some cases deliver fuel economy close to that of smaller cars. For example, opting for the four-cylinder engine in a mid-sized Chevrolet Malibu, instead of the larger, more powerful six-cylinder, will actually get you similar gas mileage to the smaller Chevrolet Cobalt, around 22 mpg in the city and 30 mpg on the highway, according to EPA estimates.

“We don’t need all of the horsepower that automakers have been pumping into cars for the past 10 years,” Rader says.

But if you’re set on a smaller vehicle, either for its nimbleness, lower price or higher fuel-efficiency, pay close attention to safety features. “There are some big differences in how well small cars protect you,” Rader says.

Side-curtain airbags

One way some small cars aren’t as safe as others is in side impacts. Each year, more than 9,000 occupants die in side-impact crashes, most of them from head injuries, according to IIHS statistics.

In analyzing government data on auto accidents, the IIHS has found that side airbags that protect the head, chest and abdomen cut the risk of fatalities in side-impact crashes by 37 percent. Head-protecting airbags are now standard equipment on about 66 percent of all new vehicles.

“Curtain airbags in particular are especially important with small cars,” Dulberger says. Like their name implies, these types of airbags typically deploy from the ceiling.

The reason side-curtain airbags are so crucial in small cars is because the cars are lower and lighter than most other vehicles. So, for example, some trucks’ bumpers are in line with small-car occupants’ heads. This means that if a two-and-a-half-ton pickup t-bones a little hatchback, it could seriously injure the occupants.

In recent years, automakers have made progress in lowering the bumpers and crash structures of some of their largest SUVs, but crash incompatibility is still an issue.

Electronic stability control

Another safety feature to look for is electronic stability control, a lifesaving technology that has been found to reduce the risk of fatal single-vehicle rollovers by up to 80 percent for SUVs and 77 percent for cars, and could prevent nearly one-third of all fatal crashes, according to IIHS statistics. By automatically adjusting throttle and braking forces on each wheel, electronic stability control helps prevent skidding and spinning on slippery surfaces or during emergency maneuvers.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s crash-rating system doesn’t take into account the role of electronic stability control. But the NHTSA estimates that 10,000 lives would be saved annually if every vehicle had the technology. Electronic stability control will be required on all vehicles in 2012 and beyond.

Many small cars lack the feature, even as an option. “Nobody should ever buy a car without electronic stability control,” says Dulberger.

Rader of the IIHS agrees and adds that electronic stability control is even more important in small cars because it can help prevent collisions, as opposed to just protect occupants during an accident, like airbags do. “If you can avoid the crash, that’s even better,” he says.

But the idea that small cars are more maneuverable and can more readily avoid crashes compared to larger vehicles isn’t substantiated by crash statistics, Rader says. “Small cars tend to get in more crashes,” says Rader, even when normalized for driving conditions and types of drivers.

Electronic stability also reduces the rollover concerns that accompany smaller but taller vehicles, especially for so-called crossover utility vehicles that offer versatile, spacious interiors while only taking up the parking footprint of a compact sedan or coupe. Rollovers are a factor in 33 percent of fatal accidents in the United States, according to safercar.gov.

“There used to be a tradeoff with SUVs for rollovers, and that’s really dramatically changing due to electronic stability control,” Rader says, pointing to the Honda CR-V, Honda Element and Subaru Forester, all “Top Safety Picks” from the IIHS. With some exceptions, such compact utility vehicles are generally the safer bet today than traditional compact cars, which often share the same underpinnings. That’s because their added weight compared to compact cars makes them inherently safer, Rader says, adding that crossover utility vehicles also tend to have more standard safety equipment.

Even compared to all those hulking SUVs on the road, smaller car-based crossovers are often a safer choice, particularly when looking at models like the mid-sized Chevrolet Trailblazer, which have been around for a while and don’t have the latest advancements.

“Whether you go to one of these small utility vehicles or a small car, you’re going to get better handling, a more compliant ride and more maneuverability,” often with better safety, provided you pick one of the vehicles with the best crash ratings, says Consumer Reports’ Linkov.

Our top safety picks

To compile our list, we looked at passenger-car and crossover-utility models less than 180 inches long and ruled out those without electronic stability control or side-curtain airbags as standard or optional equipment.

Disregarding any vehicles with less than four stars from the NHTSA or an ‘Acceptable’ rating from the IIHS in frontal and side crash tests, we selected 10 vehicles with top crash-test ratings, also paying attention to Informed for Life’s Statistical Combination of Risk Elements (SCORE), which includes things like weight and rollover ratings and more accurately corresponds to fatality figures than do either the IIHS or NHTSA results by themselves.

SCORE ratings represent relative safety risk across all types of vehicles, so a vehicle with a SCORE of 50 represents half the fatality risk of a vehicle with a SCORE of 100.

see also: New Tata Indica Vista TDi Aqua

Screen-It

Screen It is a small utility (only 150 Kb) designed to simplify Windows daily usage by organizing application windows with in series of Virtual Desktops. Unused running applications are hidden in different “desktop” workspace.

As computers become more powerful, it becomes possible to run a great many programs at the same time. This can make the desktop and its task bar crowded and unmanageable. To combat this overload, Screen-It creates 2 virtual desktops (screen pages) on your single physical one. Only one screen page is visible at a time. Screen-It will organize your work by creating multiple workspaces.

Run each application, or group of applications on a separate screen. You never need to minimize any of the applications, and what is more, you need never close any of them (if you have enough RAM).

When you switch screen pages, all running Windows programs just disappear from the screen and from the taskbar, but they are right there waiting when you switch back.

This program can also launch a number of programs automatically when it starts-up, in a fresh screen or virtual desktop, saving you from having to manually launch a group of programs each time you need to do a certain job.

Here are some key features of “ScreenIt”:

• Switching screens
• Moving applications between screens
• Transparency
• Automatically launching a number of programs in a new screen or virtual desktop

Download Screen-It for all version of Windows (150 Kb).

About This Blog

Welcome to Guru of Softwares @ Blogspot.com!

I use this blog as media to share my experience and knowledge about useful software that I’ve personally use in my daily life. The list is enriched with features review and direct link to corresponding download file/page and snapshot pictures.

In this directory, as the name suggest, I’ve only listed FREE SOFTWARE (a.k.a. freeware) – that means software that free to be copied, used, and distributed without any payment or obligation necessities. You can use these software for unlimited time without any limitations (with respect to copyright notice from corresponding author/publisher).

Have fun, and enjoy!

MobiDVD – Free DVD/VCD Ripper Conversion

Easily rip and convert DVD to iPod, MP4, 3GP, PSP, Apple TV, iPhone, Archos, DVD to AVI MP4 DivX XviD MPEG WMV 3GP MP3 AAC WMA WAV, etc.

Totally free. No limit on ripping length.

Rip DVD for playback on all popular portable video/audio players (iPod, iPhone, Zune, Apple TV, PSP, PDA, Cell Phone, etc).

Rip DVD to most popular video formats with powerful video editing functions including video cropping and video trimming.

Rip DVD to various video formats by customizing file size and output quality.

Select Chapter, Subtitle and Audio Tracks of the DVD movie.

[Download MobiDVD v1.0.0.6] [Mirror]

Paint.NET, a Photoshop replacement

Paint.NET is free, open source image and photo editing software from Adobe that works similiar to Photoshop. It features an intuitive and innovative user interface with support for layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools. An active and growing online community provides friendly help, tutorials, and plug-ins.

Although its features essentially similar to Photoshop, the size is dramatically different. While Photoshop distribution size is more than 100 Mb, Paint.NET size is less than 2 Mb. You need Microsoft.NET installed to run this application, run in Windows XP/2003 Server/Vista.

Paint.NET is lightweight, consume less resources than Photoshop, load quickly, and very user friendly. Supported image formats are JPEG, GIF, PNG, TIFF, and other popular formats. Included popular tools: Clone stamp, Collages, Color adjusting, Cropper, Image transformation & rotation, Selectors (free selector, magic wand), Layers, Action manager, and many effects (Emboss, Oil painting, Mosaic, Red eye reduction, etc.).

Download Now from C-Net (1.51Mb) Tested spyware free
Editor’s Rating:

Version 3 fixes many old quibbles, including a convenient thumbnail manager for handling multiple image editing, and improved program graphics. Paint.NET is far more advanced than Microsoft Paint, and given its free price, it’s a must-have for anyone needing to fix images. Version 3.35 has a new Posterize adjustment, Intersect selection mode, dramatically faster selection editing performance (add, subtract, intersect), and some small miscellaneous bug fixes.

Wininizio PenSuite, Launch From FlashDisk

Wininizio PenSuite is a collection of free and open source software that can be copied onto a USB pen drive or used from a hard disk. It comes in four versions: SILVER, GOLDEN, PLATINUM and TITANIUM; these contain software belonging to all the categories (Multimedia, Internet, Network, Security, System, Utilities…).

The new version WinInizio PenSuite 2.1 introduces some innovations: It’s been introduced the Games version for all gamers that can always have some games to spend some pleasant time; It has been introduced a new and simple setup for the extraction of the PenSuite on the hard disk or the pen drive. The setup is completely guided! Just plug your pen drive into your PC’s USB slot and have immediate access to hundreds of free programs.

The software contained in the PenSuites is stand-alone and doesn’t require installation; each program is easily launched directly from the pen drive and accessed directly from a menu that’s similar to the Quick Launch menu in Windows.

Carry it in your pocket or purse and have the right software for every situation. The PenSuite offers many software categories — for instance, security, networking, multimedia — enough that you could use a it on a PC that has just the operating system installed.

You can also use the PenSuite from an hard drive in your PC — or even an external, USB hard drive. As with the pen drive, you don’t have to install any of the programs — just copy the contents of the pen drive into a folder on the hard drive and immediately choose from among the hundreds of applications.

Wininizio Pen Suite is available in twelve different editions (see comparison table to determine your needs), one richer than the next, with the only limitation being the size of your pen drive.

Download from official Wininizio.It website: TITANIUM 2.1 | PLATINUM 2.1 | GOLDEN 2.1 | SILVER 2.1 | GAMES 2.1 | GRAPHIC 2.1 | MULTIMEDIA 2.1 | NETWORK 2.1 | OFFICE 2.1 | SECURITY 2.1 | SYSTEM 2.1 | UTILITIES 2.1 | User’s Guide

CubicExplorer, a Free Explorer Alternative

CubicExplorer is a file manager which is aimed to replace Windows Explorer. It’s goal is to be easy and pleasant to use but still have enough power for more advanced usage.

CubicExplorer is registry free application. It does not write to registry, all settings are stored in files at installation folder.

Up to version 0.90 RC2, Cubic Explorer does not access internet. That might change in the future however when features like online update are implemented.

Here are some screenshots of CubicExplorer (click to enlarge picture)…

Download Cubic Explorer v0.80 installer (stable version, 1.9 Mb) or try download newer beta version (on the time of this posting is Cubic Explorer v0.90 RC2, 2.1 Mb).