China happy with Google’s latest tweaks, saga appears at an end

The China versus Google spat seems to be drawing to a conciliatory end today, as a senior state official has announced China is “satisfied” with Google’s latest round of changes. This was somewhat predictable given that the country just recently renewed El Goog’s license to host sites within its borders, but it’s always reassuring to get confirmation from an official source. The American search giant had tried to strike a precarious balance, by having its local .cn domain adhere to Chinese laws and dictum while also providing a link out to its uncensored Hong Kong hub, and that seems to have done the trick. Ultimately, even the .hk search results will be subject to China’s firewall — which will render the most sensitive info inaccessible — but at least Google can walk away from this dispute claiming that it’s providing uncensored search in some form, even if its output can’t always be put to good use.

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dvd to wmv | mkv to avi

iPhone 4 Review: new features you need to know

Another iPhone from Apple again! Since its debut on June 24, 2010, iPhone 4 has us more excited than we were last year when the iPhone 3GS was born. New features in the new operating system bring you amazing experience with this new device.

What makes the iPhone 4 so special? How is it different from other phones? Before you decided to get one, there are some new features of iPhone 4 that you need to know:

New Design

According to Apple's specs, the iPhone 4 is a tenth of an ounce heavier than its predecessor, the 3GS, though as it measures in at a narrower 2.31 inches (to the 3GS's 2.4 inches) and a thinner .37 inches (compared to the 3GS's .48 inches), you get the impression of an incredibly dense device. With its flat, glass back and stainless steel edges, it might remind you more of a Braun appliance than a cell phone. The iPhone 4 is a brand new device from the inside out, and when you get your hands on one, you'll be able to tell in an instant that this is a different beast from its predecessor.

FaceTime

Apple's take on video calling only works on Wi-Fi for now, but it's built in and easy to execute right from the Contacts list, or during a current phone call—as long as your chat buddy also has an iPhone 4. The other person has to accept the request, but there's no setup or screen name or anything. The FaceTime call just begins.

Switching cameras is so easy; your chat buddy can see either your face (in the new front-facing VGA camera) or what you're seeing when you switch to the rear-facing 5-megapixel camera. It works in portrait or landscape, which is pretty cool.

Retina Display

Apple calls the display on the iPhone 4 a "Retina display" a slightly creepy name for an astounding piece of engineering. At 960 by 640 pixels, the iPhone 4 display is double the screen resolution of its predecessors. At 326 pixels per inch, the iPhone 4's display offers a level of legibility that you've come to expect from the printed page, not a computer.

The screen uses the same in-plane switching (IPS) techniques used on the displays in all the iMacs and in the iPad. As a result, the display is bright and colorful, with a massive viewing angle that really does look great, no matter which way you hold it.

Camera and iMovie

We got to spend some time playing with the iPhone 4's two cameras. The rear camera is a 5-megapixel model, up from 3 megapixels on the iPhone 3GS. Also new to the rear-facing camera is an LED flash. When you turn the flash on and press the shutter button, the LED flashes once to allow the camera to meter the brightness, and then a second time to take the picture. The results seemed decent. Still, for most people the LED flash means that you'll always be able to take a picture, even if it's getting pretty dark.

The iPhone 4's front-facing camera isn't a 5-megapixel wonder; it's a 640-by-480-pixel camera (three-tenths of a megapixel, if you're curious) designed to be used primarily with the new FaceTime video-chat system, though it will also work well as a way to take self-portraits. You can flip between the front and rear camera from within the Camera app, as well as when you're using FaceTime.

Given just how much processing power is required to edit video, iMovie's performance was impressive. It felt very smooth. And the iMovie interface seems, if anything, more suited for the iPhone's touch interface than for the Mac interface. Trimming a clip is a simple as tapping on it and dragging a pin right or left. Now you can shoot your kid's dance recital, edit it together, and ship it out to friends and relatives before the dance teacher has finished her thank-yous at the end of the night.

DVD Player?

The iPhone 4 will make FaceTime call, play movies, surf the web, and rock your tunes with ease, but if you want to use it as a DVD player, you'll have to need third-party software. Daniusoft DVD Ripper is a very handy tool that can rip DVD (including CSS protected DVD) to iPhone 4 supported video & audio formats without sacrificing the high quality, and boasts some powerful video editing features like trim DVD clips, crop frame size and add special effects. (Additionally, it also expert at converting dvd to wmv, dvd to mpeg, dvd to mkv, dvd to iphone 4)

Price and availability

The iPhone 4 will come in black and white, at $199 for 16GB and $299 for 32GB (with the same qualifications and two-year contract with AT&T as in the past). Apple will also add an 8GB iPhone 3GS for $99.

The iPhone 4 goes on sale in the U.S., France, Germany, the U.K., and Japan on June 24, with pre-orders starting on June 15. It will ship in 18 more countries in July, in 24 more in August, and in 40 more by the end of September.