Facebook to revamp messaging service - source

Harian Padang.com-Facebook will unveil changes to its messaging system at a press event on Monday, according to a person familiar with the matter. Skip related content

The changes to the messaging service will be "across the board," the person said, a move that could further escalate the competition between the world's No. 1 Internet social networking site and Google Inc.

Google, which controls roughly two-thirds of the global search market, offers the third-most popular Web email service, behind Microsoft Corp and Yahoo Inc, according to Web analytics firm comScore. Last week, Google began blocking Facebook from importing user contact data from its Gmail email service.

A report on the technology-focussed blog TechCrunch on Friday said that Facebook, whose social networking service has more than 500 million users, will introduce a full-fledged Web-based email product on Monday along with providing users @facebook.com email addresses.

A Facebook representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Earlier this week, Facebook emailed reporters an invitation to a "special event" in San Francisco on Monday, November 15, which the company said was being held in advance of CEO Mark Zuckerberg's talk at the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco the following day.

While the invitation did not offer any details about what will be discussed at the event, the design of the invitation featured a checkered blue-and-red border similar to classic air mail envelopes, sparking speculation on many technology-focussed blogs.

(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Gary Hill)

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Japanese 3D singing hologram Hatsune Miku becomes nation's strangest pop star

Harian Padang.com-She is cute, stylish and has had a number one chart-topping single.

But Japan’s newest and biggest pop star differs from most of her peers in one crucial aspect: she is a hologram.

Hatsune Miku has taken the music scene by storm in her native Japan where her concerts are always sold out and are full of screaming, adoring fans.

Now, like something out of a science fiction film, videos have emerged which show Miku on tour in Japan, singing a selection of hits.

Scroll down to watch Hatsune Miku perform 'live' in concert

Holographic singing idol Hatsune Miku has taken Japan by storm - and plays to sold out crowds

Miku is a digital avatar created by Japanese technology firm Crypton Future Media that customers can purchase and then program to perform any song on their computer.

She is supposed to be 16 years old and five foot two inches tall but her makers have given little away about her personality.

Crypton uses voices recorded by actors and then puts them through Yamaha’s Vocaloid software to create its characters.

Miku’s voice was created by taking vocal samples from the voice actress Saki Fujita. All of the samples contained a single Japanese sound which when strung together would create full words and phrases.

Her music and image have proved so popular that she has now gone on a sell-out tour where thousands of fans wave light sticks and scream as if she is a real-life pop star.

Thousands of fans wave glow sticks as Miku performs on stage with a live backing band

Miku has already had a number one single and is now on tour

It is the first time a hologram has been used on stage in this way, moving and strutting just like a real pop star.

Gorillaz, the band fronted by Damon Albarn, used projected holograms at the MTV music awards in 2005 and 2006 but these were projected onto a back screen, rather than in full three dimensions.

Miku has become such a star that she already has a fan club, Facebook page and has set up ‘her’ own record label. She has also appeared in a number of episodes of popular Japanese anime TV programs.

She performed her first ‘live’ concert in 2009 and has also travelled to Singapore on tour.

In March 2010 three metal plates with Hatsune Miku’s image etched on them were placed on board Japanese spacecraft Akatsuki and sent into space after a nationwide petition with more than 14,000 signatures demanded she be included.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1329040/Japanese-3D-singing-hologram-Hatsune-Miku-nations-biggest-pop-star.html#ixzz15BfIMSm3

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