WASHINGTON — Festive crowds are a rarity in Washington. The outpouring of so many people — smiling people — to celebrate the inauguration of America’s 44th president by itself sends a signal about the expectations that will tug at Barack Obama once he is sworn in Tuesday. 

The president-elect throughout his campaign pledged to unite a country divided over the decision to invade Iraq, the handling of the economic crisis, religious beliefs, race and countless cultural wedges. And as Obama takes the oath of office outside the U.S. Capitol Tuesday, millions of people are prepared to give him that chance. 

“This is the least partisan day of the whole year in this country,” said Kasey Pipes, former speechwriter for President Bush. “In some sense everyone is pulling for Obama. It’s a very unique moment in history and I think he’s going to take advantage of it.” 

With Obama’s inauguration just hours away, thousands upon thousands of out-of-towners had descended on Washington, D.C., to attend the ceremony and parade Tuesday, and take part in the accompanying revelry over the weekend. 

They filled nearly every patch of ground from the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument for the celebrity-studded kick-off concert Sunday, and on Monday crammed into the space in front of the Capitol steps just to catch a glimpse of the spot where Obama will make history as the first black president. (For most of the public on the National Mall Tuesday, their best view will be of a jumbo television screen.) 

As hope-filled spectators greet the incoming president, Bush will leave office with some of the lowest approval ratings in history. Hundreds of protesters in their final throes marched to the White House on Monday in opposition to the Iraq war. They threw about 40 pairs of shoes at the gate, mimicking the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at Bush during a news conference in Baghdad. 

Bush’s legacy, though, is unclear, and even Obama has tried to temper expectations that he will right all the perceived missteps of the previous administration. 

“I won’t pretend that meeting any one of these challenges will be easy. It will take more than a month or a year, and it will likely take many,” the president-elect told the throng of people at the Lincoln Memorial Sunday. “Along the way there will be setbacks and false starts and days that test our fundamental resolve as a nation.” 

But that hasn’t stopped him from throwing what amounts to at least a $100 million inauguration bash for supporters, many of whom devoted themselves to his campaign. 

“I didn’t think I would see a black president in my generation. I just had to be here,” said Donald Butler, 20, a University of Washington student. 

“I’m just really happy that I’m living to see this wonderful event,” said 70-year-old Betty Bryant, who rode a chartered bus from Augusta, Ga. Standing in front of the icy Reflecting Pool facing the Capitol, she made plans to rise at 3 a.m. Tuesday to take her place on the Mall for the swearing-in. 

The intense interest and elated mood surrounding Obama’s inauguration puts the pressure on him to capture and reflect it in his inauguration speech. 

Aides said Obama has practiced and polished the address. The president-elect on Monday exuded a casual and cool mood as he attended a series of volunteerism events to commemorate the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. 

“I don’t sweat,” Obama said. “You ever see me sweat?” 

Obama visited wounded troops at Walter Reed Army Medical Center Monday and also stopped in the only emergency shelter for homeless teens in Washington, D.C. There he joined a group of young people renovating a dorm room. 

“Given the crisis that we’re in and the hardships that so many people are going through, we can’t allow any idle hands. Everybody’s got to be involved,” he said. 

That sentiment could be a theme in Obama’s inaugural address. Incoming White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told FOX News Sunday that the president-elect would stress personal responsibility. 

Obama’s work begins immediately. He plans to hold a series of meetings Wednesday on the economy, Iraq and other issues that will dominate his first year in office. Even before taking office, he won approval from the Senate, by a hair, for the remaining $350 billion in financial bailout money. Now he’s trying to push an economic stimulus package that will likely cost more than $800 billion. 

Crowd estimates for Tuesday are wide ranging, and city officials are bracing for 2 million — or more. Records were already being set Sunday, though, when the city’s public transit system Metro reported record rider-ship for Sunday service. Metro counted 616,324 riders on Sunday, and a spokesperson said the transit service had broken its Martin Luther King Day record by mid-afternoon Monday. 

The expectations for a crowded and chaotic scene have made security concerns foremost. Barricades are already set up throughout Washington, and federal officials are closing bridges over the Potomac River into the city from Virginia. FOX News has learned that the bridges are being closed in part so that they can be used as an emergency exit route in case of a problem. 

Despite the precautions, no specific or credible threats have been reported. 

Meanwhile, the Obama fever has proved a gift to the city’s vendors, who are hawking presidential buttons T-shirts, trinkets and warm weather gear throughout Washington, D.C. 

“I sold eight dozen gloves, eight hats and eight dozens of buttons, so it’s been nice,” one vendor said. The vendor said there’s “no question” Obama has been good for his economy. 

FOX News’ Jennifer Davis, Catherine Herridge and Brian Wilson and The Associated Press contributed to this report

The long anticipated Nokia 5800 XpressMusic a.k.a. The Tube has finally been officially released in Malaysia. Retailing at an affordable RM1,499, the 5800 is Nokia’s first S60 touch screen device. Aimed at music enthusiasts, the 5800 XM comes with 8GB of storage and is equipped with a convenient 3.5mm jack that will work with your favourite pair of headphones.

The launch took place last Friday at a very familiar venue in downtown KL. Located outside the main entrance of Pavilion KL shopping mall, this large stage was erected next to one of the busiest roads in town, Jalan Bukit Bintang. This venue in particular has been a very popular one of late, and has played host to Dell’s Christmas Snow Globe as well as the 42Below Silent Party.

Celebrations began just after sunset when Singaporean percussion team, Strikeforce! burst onto stage and got the crowd moving with their infectious brand of music. They not only caught the attention of the waiting pressmen, but also managed to entertain the passing throng of people. By the time their performance was over, there was a huge crowd of onlookers gathered around the stage area.

And with scenes like this, who could blame them. The foyer of Pavilion KL was transformed into a carnival like atmosphere, and once the opening act wrapped up their performance, Vlasta Berka, General Manager of Nokia Malaysia took to the stage and addressed the waiting crowd.

“When it comes to music phones, people all over the world want a device that provides a great music experience and still works really well as a mobile phone, without sacrificing features. The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic delivers on this.”

After wrapping up his speech, we adjured to the media conference while local artists from Nokia’s Independent Artists Club (Nokia IAC) took over the stage. Onlookers got the chance to watch acts such as Dose 2, followed by A Mantle The Sea, indie pop band Lovesick Avenue and ska band 40 Winks.

But enough about the launch, and let’s talk a little bit more about the star of the night - the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic.

As earlier mentioned, this touch screen device is targeted at the music loving crowd. Sporting the XpressMusic interface, this S60 device aims to court music lovers with 8GB of memory for up to 6000 tracks, support for all the main digital music formats, a 3.5mm jack and built-in stereo surround speakers.

Unfortunately, it’s not all good news though. Unlike other countries, the arrival of the 5800 does not mean the arrival of the Nokia Comes With Music service. Meant as a convenient and legal avenue for XpressMusic phone users to obtain music from the Internet, the Comes With Music service boasts a music library that features music from all the major record labels.

Don’t worry though, because you won’t be walking away completely empty handed. Nokia has recognized the absence of the Comes With Music service has bundled all new purchases of 5800 XpressMusic phones with 1,000 songs from a catalogue of more than 10,000 songs via www.bimbit.com/nokiamuzik.

The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic is on sale now, and retails for RM1,499.

Lifehacker

Flash-based webapp Aviary Phoenix is the most impressive image editing tool I’ve ever seen running in a browser. Free to try, you can do some amazing things with the features on offer, from photo compositing to retouching—the video demonstration embedded above and plenty of tutorials should give you an idea.

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While not an Adobe Photoshop replacement, if you’re stuck with a machine that doesn’t have anything better than MS Paint installed, it can be a lifesaver. For beginners, it’s a great introduction to the kind of skills and tools available in almost any modern image editor, but with no download necessary. The founders created image editing contest site Worth1000, so you know the tools Aviary is developing will live up to pretty high standards.

Nokia today unveiled the Nokia N97, the world’s most advanced mobile computer, which will transform the way people connect to the Internet and to each other. Designed for the needs of Internet-savvy consumers, the Nokia N97 combines a large 3.5″ touch display with a full QWERTY keyboard, providing an ‘always open’ window to favorite social networking sites and Internet destinations. Nokia’s flagship Nseries device introduces leading technology - including multiple sensors, memory, processing power and connection speeds - for people to create a personal Internet and share their ’social location.’

The Nokia N97 introduces the concept of ’social location’. With integrated A-GPS sensors and an electronic compass, the Nokia N97 mobile computer intuitively understands where it is. The Nokia N97 makes it easy to update social networks automatically with real-time information, giving approved friends the ability to update their ’status’ and share their ’social location’ as well as related pictures or videos.

Widescreen - Internet and entertainment

The home screen of the Nokia N97 mobile computer features the people, content and media that matter the most. Friends, social networks and news are available by simply touching the home screen. The 16:9 widescreen display can be fully personalized with frequently updated widgets of favorite web services and social networking sites. The Nokia N97 is also perfectly suited for browsing the web, streaming Flash videos or playing games. Both the physical QWERTY and virtual touch input ensure efficiency in blogging, chatting, posting, sending texts or emailing.

The Nokia N97 supports up to 48 GB of storage, including 32 GB of on-board memory, expandable with a 16 GB microSD card for music, media and more. This is complemented by excellent music capabilities, full support for the Nokia Music Store and continuous playback time of up to 1.5 days. The Nokia N97 also has a 5-Megapixel camera with high-quality Carl Zeiss optics, 16:9 and DVD quality video capture, and support for services like Share on Ovi for immediate sharing over HSDPA and WLAN.

The phone is expected to begin shipping early 2009.

RANGKAIAN wayarles atau lebih popular dengan panggilan WiFi bukanlah suatu yang asing di negara kita.

Setelah lebih 12 tahun Internet diperkenalkan di Malaysia, bilangan pengguna rangkaian yang menggunakan frekuensi radio ini semakin bertambah.

Jika dahulu, WiFi hanya terhad kepada pengguna komersil seperti kafe eksklusif dan organisasi, kini ramai pengguna memasangnya di rumah bagi memudahkan mereka melungsuri Internet.

Namun masih ramai pengguna yang tidak melindungi rangkaian mereka dengan ciri keselamatan yang terdapat pada AP atau Access Point. Ini menyebabkan rangkaian tanpa wayar mereka terdedah kepada penjenayah siber - penipu, lanun siber dan pencuri maklumat.

Pernahkah anda terfikir, rangkaian anda yang tidak dikunci boleh digunakan oleh mereka yang tidak bertanggungjawab untuk menjalankan aktiviti seperti menghantar emel ugutan, mencuri kata laluan perbankan dalam talian, menulis blog berunsur subversif serta menggodam laman web organisasi tertentu?

Lebih menakutkan lagi, jika pihak berkuasa mengesan alamat IP capaian Internet anda sebagai punca aktiviti jenayah yang dilakukan, menyebabkan anda menjadi ‘pak sanggup’ di atas kesalahan orang lain.

Ya!, anda berhadapan dengan risiko ini sekalipun tujuan tidak mengaktifkan ciri sekuriti pada rangkaian anda ialah bertujuan untuk berkongsi akses Internet dengan jiran-jiran anda. Ramai juga yang tidak melindungi rangkaian mereka kerana kekurangan pengetahuan teknikal.

Golongan tidak bertanggungjawab ini lazimnya akan menumpang rangkaian wayarles yang tidak dilindungi - secara automatik membolehkan mereka menyamar seolah-olah pengguna sah pemilik sesuatu rangkaian itu.

Ia tidak ubah seperti mencuri talian telefon, cuma bezanya pemilik tidak akan perasan kerana kebanyakan pengguna rangkaian ini merupakan pelanggan jalur lebar tanpa had.