Gadgets comes to Google Docs

Google on Wednesday unveiled Gadgets for Spreadsheets in Google Docs, allowing people to create graphical representations of data in spreadsheets and publish them on Web sites.  For consumers, this means they have a dozen or so new ways to look at data in their spreadsheets. Google has put up a gallery of specialty gadgets to choose from. They include gadgets to display data on a pie chart, map, time chart, funnel chart, Gantt chart, pivot table, and on a heat map if it's geographical data. You can even create interactive charts like those used by Google Finance and for motion charts.  These visuals can also be pushed out to appear on an iGoogle home page or any other site and they will be dynamically updated as changes are made to the spreadsheet. Gadgets will soon be coming to other apps in Google Docs and eventually search, to help people find relevant content and links, says Jonathan Rochelle, senior product manager for Google Docs.

Google has also added new features that make using Spreadsheets easier. For one, there is a notification system that will e-mail you when somebody has made a change to a spreadsheet that is being collaborated on. You can set it to alert you once a day or after each new change is made. The changes are highlighted so you can easily detect what is new. There is also a column-based auto-complete function that looks for cues from adjacent cells to try to guess what you are typing, an updated color palette and function editing capability that uses the arrow keys, as well as an auto-complete function for typing long formulas. In addition, spreadsheet creators now have access to historical stock market data through a Google Finance function and new functions to automatically sort and filter data. Google is doing something interesting with its Gadgets platform, making gadgets a data source for spreadsheets as well as a data distribution method for developers. "If I'm collecting census data and putting it into a spreadsheet, I can also make that data available to statisticians," through the Visualization API, says Rochelle. "It doesn't have to be in a spreadsheet form" to distribute.

Spreadsheets is just the first data source that can be handled this way. "We're making the spreadsheet almost a platform for simple development and delivery," he says. With the enhancements, Google is ratcheting up the competition its free Web-hosted apps are giving Microsoft's desktop productivity suite, which companies pay for.

Ref: http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9898520-7.html?tag=nefd.top

Safari 3.1 adds speed and HTML 5 features

 Apple released Safari 3.1 on March 18 with an updated rendering engine that makes the fastest Internet browser even faster.

On top of that, Apple's new browser includes some features that reflect the future of the HTML 5 specification: offline storage, media support, and CSS animations and Web fonts. It also adds some needed compatibility and bug fixes, as well as some other new features that really make it a great everyday browser. For the uninitiated, Apple provides a great PDF overview of Safari. You can get the upgrade/installer from apple.com/safari/download/ (it's about a 16MB download for both Mac and PC) or simply update from Software Update. The installation is easy but strangely requires a restart on Macs but not on Windows. By the way, Safari 3.1 is the first Windows version not to carry the "beta" tag. The interface and the user experience are largely unchanged from those in Safari 3.0. Under the hood, however, Apple has made some significant changes that it has pulled from the latest builds of the open-source WebKit engine. WebKit is the framework version of the engine that's used by Safari. It is also the basis of the Web browsing engine in iPhone's Mobile Safari, Symbian's browser, the Google Android platform and Adobe's new AIR platform.

Testing

To check out how well Safari 3.1 handles Web sites, I ran it through some popular standards testing -- and found that it leads the pack. In the Acid3 Tests, which were created by the Web Standards Project to test dynamic browser capabilities, Safari 3.1 scored 75 out of 100, significantly higher than the previous version of Safari and other shipping browsers (Firefox 3 Beta 4 scored 68, while the most recent WebKit scored 92). However, the big news is how fast the new version of Safari is. How fast? I tested Safari 3.1 on my first-generation 2-GHz MacBook Pro with 2GB of RAM. In MooTools' SlickSpeed speed/validity test, Safari came out on top in almost every category on both Mac and PC.

It also did significantly better than any shipping browser on the SunSpider JavaScript speed tests (although since these tests are hosted at WebKit.org, they are perhaps biased). For example, on the Mac, Safari scored 4430ms, compared with 5048ms for Firefox 3 Beta 4. While I spend 90% of my time on a Macintosh, I also installed Safari on my Windows XP box to see how it stacked up against Internet Explorer, Opera and Firefox. In short, it worked extremely well for everyday browsing, offering speed and efficiency, especially on a four- or five-year-old machine. It also performed really well with lots of tabs open.

Although Safari 3.1 does perform much better than the shipping version of Firefox, the speed improvements in Firefox 3 Beta 4 are catching up with Safari 3.1 -- though Firefox 3 did consume more CPU cycles during my tests. One of the drawbacks of Safari has been the perceived "over-smoothing" or softening of fonts on the PC. While this hasn't been completely fixed, Apple's Safari 3.1 allows Web sites to specify fonts outside the seven Web-safe font families; these new fonts can be downloaded by the browser as needed. Unfortunately, there are still prominent features that are part of rival browsers that Safari simply can't match. For example, Safari doesn't have all of the add-ons that Firefox enjoys, such as the Google toolbar. Furthermore, if you need to use a site that employs Microsoft's proprietary DirectX technology -- like Microsoft Exchange's Outlook Web Access, for example -- you'll find that the experience on Safari leaves much to be desired. In this case, you're better off using Internet Explorer. Finally, Opera offers features, such as direct BitTorrent downloads, that aren't offered in Safari.

With the 3.1 release, Safari has become the fastest browser you can use. If that isn't enough reason to make a switch, its strong adherence to Web standards and rapid adoption of new technologies might make you think again.

SlickSpeed Test

	Dojo 1.0.2	JQuery 1.2.3	MooTools 1.2 Beta 2	Prototype 1.6.0.2
Mac OS
Safari 3.1	91	138	209	272
Firefox 3 Beta 2	142	235	151	282
Opera 9.25	225	431	426	562
Windows
Safari 3.1	171	171	250	236
Firefox 2.0.12	286	439	267	398
IE7	335	468	869	1987

* All measurements are in milliseconds. Lower numbers are better.

Ref: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=macintosh_os&articleId=9069838&taxonomyId=123&intsrc=kc_feat

The world's safest supercar - Caparo T1

The new Caparo T1, dubbed as one of world's safest ultra-performance cars, will go on display at the week-long Auto Expo in New Delhi on Thursday, prior to release to customers in April. Manufactured by Caparo Group -- the global technology company founded by NRI businessman Lord Swraj Paul -- and designed by senior engineers -- Ben Scott-Geddes and Graham Halstead -- from the team that developed the legendary McLaren F1, the T1 uses a blend of race-car and road-car technologies to deliver astonishing performance that surpasses even today's fastest and most expensive super-cars.

With more than 1,000bhp per tonne, around twice the power-to-weight ratio of a Bugatti Veyron, the Caparo T1, costing around ?235,000 ($480,000) or Rs 2 crore, slashes acceleration and braking times to levels previously only experienced by the most extreme racing cars.

Zero to 60 mph is dispatched in just 2.5 seconds and zero to 100mph in less than five seconds. Top speed exceeds 200mph and the vehicle's Caparo AP braking technology can deliver more than 3g of retardation, allowing it to stop from 100mph in less than three seconds.

Ref:http://specials.rediff.com/money/2008/jan/09sld01.htm

The world's cheapest car! - Tara Tiny @ Rs 99K

The Tata Nano is no longer the world's cheapest car! Jostling along with Tata Nano, this July, will be Tara Tiny and Tara Titu. These are zero emission, electric cars and cost only Rs 99,000! And they come from the Tara International stable.  Tara S Ganguly, the company's chairman and chief executive officer, had a big dream. And he set about realising it 'in a small way.' Tara International has teamed up with China's Aucma, a leading player in the electrical vehicles and appliances segment, to manufacture these cars.

At the moment, four variants of electric cars are ready at the Tara International factory at Palta, a few kilometers from Kolkata. These are Tara Tiny, Tara Titu (two-seater and four-seater, respectively), Tara Shuttle, and Tara Carrier. While Tara Tiny and Tara Titu are priced at Rs 99,000 (approximately), Tara Shuttle and Tara Carrier are priced at Rs 500,000 (approximately). The company will also launch electric bikes priced between Rs 12,000 and Rs 35,000.

The Tara series cars are available in electric red, black and white. Bikes comes in varied hues -- green, blue, red, etc.

Ref: http://specials.rediff.com/money/2008/mar/17tara1.htm

Yahoo's Mixed Message

An optimistic announcement is meant to show the Internet portal doesn't need help from Google, News Corp., or AOL. Do shareholders buy it?

Here's the message Yahoo! (YHOO) wanted to convey with its unscheduled update to investors: We're sticking by our growth forecasts despite the slowing economy, and that's all you need to know about why we're strong enough to keep rebuffing that pesky Microsoft takeover bid. Here's the message many investors took away from the Mar. 18 declaration: All those serpentine maneuvers Yahoo has reportedly undertaken to keep Microsoft at bay—including talks with News Corp. (NWS), Google (GOOG), and AOL (AOL)—aren't panning out. So Yahoo is sticking to a strategy of growing the best it can on its own. Reiterating the 2008 projections it gave in late January, just days before Microsoft's unsolicited bid, Yahoo said it expects to bring in between $4.32 billion and $4.8 billion in full-year profits on $7.2 billion to $8 billion in sales. Moreover, the company expects annual revenue to reach $8.8 billion by 2010. "Yahoo is positioned for accelerated financial growth—we have a powerful consumer brand, a huge global audience and a highly profitable operating model," Yahoo Chief Executive and co-founder Jerry Yang said during the presentation.

Remaining Low Amid Market Rally

Yahoo also strove to ease speculation the current quarter might produce an earnings disappointment that would send the one-time Web kingpin scurrying into Microsoft's protective embrace. First-quarter revenue is still expected to total between $1.68 billion and $1.84 billion. Should Yahoo miss Wall Street's expectations when it reports its first quarter results in April investors might start dumping its shares, fearful Microsoft will lower its bid. Yahoo's update helped boost its shares by 7% amid a broad market rally spurred by the Federal Reserve's latest cut in lending rates. But despite the gain the stock remained nearly $2 dollars below the roughly $29.50 a share that Microsoft's cash-and-stock bid is now worth—a sign investors don't have much confidence Microsoft will sweeten its offer. The reaction among industry analysts was mixed. In a note to investors, BMO Capital Markets analyst Leland Westerfield wrote Yahoo had shown its goals were even "more optimistic" than analysts previously thought. "Yahoo is presenting its case to remain independent of Microsoft, or at minimum, support why the buyout offer from Microsoft is insufficient in the Yahoo board's estimation," wrote Westerfield.

Online Ad Revenues Feeling the Pain

Yet Yahoo's bullish forecast, including a promise to double its operating cash flow to $3.7 billion by 2010, sounded hollow to some. "To say they are being aggressive is an understatement," said UBS analyst Benjamin Schachter. "This is a company that hasn't executed for a couple years, why should we believe that they will be able to grow the top line while keeping costs down?"

The ambitious projections may be even harder to meet given the increasingly grim economic outlook. Separately on Mar. 18, research firm eMarketer reduced its 2008 estimate for U.S. online ad revenues to $25.8 billion, down from an earlier forecast of $27.5 billion. Though the floundering economy would harm ad-supported sites less than other media—thanks to a shift in marketing dollars from traditional media to the Web—it will still slow the market's growth, said David Hallerman, a senior eMarketer analyst.

Share Prices Have Slipped

Analysts and investors have been burned before by buying too heavily into Yahoo's growth hype. A year ago many took management's assurances that a new search-advertising system, Panama, was performing better than expected as an indication profits would beat expectations. Instead, Yahoo failed to show a significant boost from higher ad-clicks after the system's debut and reported an 11% drop in profits during the first quarter of 2007 (BusinessWeek.com, 4/18/08). Microsoft did not return calls seeking comment. The software maker has thus far refused to raise its bid despite Yahoo's assertion the offer "significantly undervalued" the company. Instead, Microsoft threatened to nominate a slate of directors to Yahoo's board who would favor the deal (BusinessWeek.com, 3/6/08). The offer, initially worth $44.6 billion, now values Yahoo at $42.4 billion because Microsoft's share price has slipped since the bid was launched. Though the companies have reportedly been talking in recent days, there's been no sign that Microsoft is willing to open its purse any wider.

Ref: http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2008/tc20080318_856778.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_businessweek+exclusives

Intel, Microsoft Pledge $20 Million For Multi-Core App Development

Research facilities at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will try to help bolster parallel programming efforts.

 

The Wintel juggernaut, Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) and Intel (NSDQ: INTC), Tuesday announced that they'll again join forces and spend $20 million over the next five years on academic research aimed at pushing the envelope on parallel computing.  As Intel and other chipmakers embark on their multicore journeys, they've tried as best they can to give software developers new ways of writing software to take advantage of the potential performance increases inherent in packing more processors into chips.

With that in mind, the two companies announced that they've committed $20 million to set up and fund new research facilities at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The two universities hope to add $15 million to the effort from their own coffers.  The research centers will focus on parallel programming efforts, including applications and operating systems that are able to take advantage of multicore processors. Though processors have continued to get more powerful over the last few years, industry leaders have argued that chipmakers are approaching a point where speed will level out. More processing cores could help increase performance, but only if software can be written to take advantage of the new chips. "Twenty-plus years ago, the research space in parallel computing was looking toward the end of Moore's Law, and so there were bases that were built there to exploit parallelization," Dan Reed, Microsoft Research's director of scalable and multicore computing, said in a recent interview. "The challenge has been that long-term research had been required to support this. There is no silver bullet there. Some of it is going to be incremental advances; some is going to be new languages." Microsoft chief research officer Craig Mundie has made multicore's challenges to the software industry a centerpiece of his public statements in the last year or two. There are a number of parallel computing projects under way at Microsoft, including a distributed computing effort called Project Dryad, parallel extensions to Visual Studio called Parallel FX, parallel programming languages like F#, and new performance monitoring tools.

Intel earlier this week outlined its near-term multicore plans, announcing a new six-core chip named Dunnington due out in the second half of 2008. It has already shown an 80-core prototype chip. AMD (NYSE: AMD)'s own quad-core Barcelona chip will ship in the next few months.

Ref: http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206904517

17 Indians got selected in WEFyoung global leaders list

The World Economic Forum has named 17 Indians, including budget carrier GoAir Managing Director Jeh Wadia and market regulator SEBI's Executive Director Sandeep Parekh, in its annual list of Young Global Leaders for 2008. However, India has scored below China in terms of total presence in the list of 245 leaders from across the world. There are as many as 31 Chinese individuals on the list against the 17 from India. The chosen ones are from all walks of life, including business and politics. WEF said in a statement that the honour is bestowed each year to recognise the top 200-300 young leaders from around the world for their professional accomplishments, commitment to society and potential to contribute to shaping the future of the world.

Other Indians on the list include Lok Sabha MP Sachin Pilot, SKS Microfinance's CEO and founder Vikram K Akula, Chairman of Bhatia Enterprises Sabeer Bhatia, Managing Director of Wipro Infrastructure Engineering Anurag Behar, senior NDTV journalist Barkha Dutt, Global ITeS' CEO and President Suhas Gopinath, Director of PRS Legislative Research C V Madhukar and Thermax Ltd Chairperson Meher Pudumjee. Besides, music composer Allah Rakha Rahman and noted sitar player Anoushka Shankar also find a place in the list.

The World Economic Forum is a true multi-stakeholder community of global decision-makers. We need the Young Global Leaders to be a voice for the future in the global thought process and as a catalyst for initiatives in the global public interest, Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum said in a statement.

Ref: http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=fb817e53-7d80-4d20-bd58-2e61a45a4091&&Headline=17+Indians+among+WEF+young+global+leaders

Microsoft acquires desktop virtualization firm Kidaro

Microsoft continues to step up its virtualization push, with the acquisition of desktop virtualization management software developer Kidaro.

Without disclosing a purchase price or when the deal is expected to close, Microsoft said it plans to acquire Kidaro and integrate its technology into the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack for Software Assurance.

Kidaro offers management technology aimed at making it easier for enterprises to deploy, use and manage virtual PCs. The platform comprises several components including a client that handles encryption and firewall security and integrates the virtual machine applications into the end-user computer. The management server assigns configurations and security policies for users and compiles information about clients for monitoring and auditing.

Microsoft expects that the software will help accelerate migration to Windows Vista because it can minimize compatibility issues between applications and the OS. In addition, the software makes the use of virtualization less noticeable to end users, which should also speed adoption, Microsoft said.

Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack for Software Assurance is a package of technologies that enterprises can use to help manage desktops. It includes Application Virtualization, Asset Inventory Service, Advanced Group Policy Management, Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset and System Center Desktop Error Monitoring. Microsoft Software Assurance customers will need to subscribe to an add-on service to access the Kidaro capabilities.

Kidaro has offices in California, New York and Israel. In ablog post, Microsoft said Kidaro's three founders will join the company and that it will keep Kidaro's research and development group in Israel.

Microsoft is working to catch up in the virtualization space. The Kidaro acquisition follows one that Microsoft made earlier this year of Calista Technologies, the developer of graphics technology for people accessing a Windows desktop remotely from a server.

Microsoft also recently changed course and began allowing users to run Windows Vista Home Basic and Home Premium in a virtualized environment. That change allowed Mac users to run Vista along with the Mac OS without having to buy a more expensive version of Windows.

The software giant is also working on virtualization technology for Windows Server 2008. The Hyper-V technology was released in beta late last year, when Microsoft said it would be publicly released within 180 days of the availability of the server. Windows Server 2008 was launched two weeks ago.

Ref:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/13/AR2008031302070.html

Online Groovy Beginners Tutorial

Check this nice tutorial available on the Groovy site: * Groovy Beginners Tutorial.

Thanks to Graham Miller's contribution...(VJ)

Reference

Main Page: http://groovy.codehaus.org/

Documentation: http://groovy.codehaus.org/Documentation

Getting Started Guide : http://groovy.codehaus.org/Getting+Started+Guide

Developers Guide: http://groovy.codehaus.org/Developer+Guide

User Guide: http://groovy.codehaus.org/User+Guide

Groovy

1> Groovy - An agile dynamic language for the Java Platform

2> Groovy...

v      is an agile and dynamic language for the Java Virtual Machine

v      builds upon the strengths of Java but has additional power features inspired by languages like Python, Ruby and Smalltalk

v      makes modern programming features available to Java developers with almost-zero learning curve

v      supports Domain-Specific Languages and other compact syntax so your code becomes easy to read and maintain

v      makes writing shell and build scripts easy with its powerful processing primitives, OO abilities and an Ant DSL

v      increases developer productivity by reducing scaffolding code when developing web, GUI, database or console applications

v      simplifies testing by supporting unit testing and mocking out-of-the-box

v      seamlessly integrates with all existing Java objects and libraries

v      compiles straight to Java bytecode so you can use it anywhere you can use Java

2> Groovy 1.5, the latest major and stable version of the popular dynamic language for the JVM, has been released

3> Groovy, an award-winning creative and innovative project

 

JAX is the most important Java conference in Germany. Every year, the organizers are running a contest to select the most innovative and creative projects. From over 40 proposals, the jury selected only ten nominees. Although great projects were selected, like the Matisse GUI builder in NetBeans, or the Nuxeo Enterprise Content Management solution, Groovy won the first prize! It is a great honor and a huge pleasure for us to receive such a prize, especially knowing the cool projects we were competing with, or the past winners like the Spring framework.

Dierk König, author of the best-selling "Groovy in Action" book, received the prize in the name of the Groovy community, after having presented several sessions on Groovy at this conference. This award proves and reaffirms how innovative, creative and influential the Groovy project is for the Java community.

 

4> Reference

 

Main Page: http://groovy.codehaus.org/

Getting Started Guide : http://groovy.codehaus.org/Getting+Started+Guide

Developers Guide: http://groovy.codehaus.org/Developer+Guide

User Guide: http://groovy.codehaus.org/User+Guide

 

Author (VJ)

To Aim Ads, Web Is Keeping Closer Eye on You

A new analysis of online consumer data shows that large Web companies are learning more about people than ever from what they search for and do on the Internet, gathering clues about the tastes and preferences of a typical user several hundred times a month. These companies use that information to predict what content and advertisements people most likely want to see. They can charge steep prices for carefully tailored ads because of their high response rates. The analysis, conducted for The New York Times by the research firm comScore, provides what advertising executives say is the first broad estimate of the amount of consumer data that is transmitted to Internet companies. Privacy advocates have previously sounded alarms about the practices of Internet companies and provided vague estimates about the volume of data they collect, but they did not give comprehensive figures. The Web companies are, in effect, taking the trail of crumbs people leave behind as they move around the Internet, and then analyzing them to anticipate people's next steps. So anybody who searches for information on such disparate topics as iron supplements, airlines, hotels and soft drinks may see ads for those products and services later on.

Consumers have not complained to any great extent about data collection online. But privacy experts say that is because the collection is invisible to them. Unlike Facebook's Beacon program, which stirred controversy last year when it broadcast its members' purchases to their online friends, most companies do not flash a notice on the screen when they collect data about visitors to their sites.  "When you start to get into the details, it's scarier than you might suspect," said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a privacy rights group. "We're recording preferences, hopes, worries and fears." But executives from the largest Web companies say that privacy fears are misplaced, and that they have policies in place to protect consumers' names and other personal information from advertisers. Moreover, they say, the data is a boon to consumers, because it makes the ads they see more relevant. These companies often connect consumer data to unique codes identifying their computers, rather than their names.  "What is targeting in the long term?" said Michael Galgon, Microsoft's chief advertising strategist. "You're getting content about things and messaging about things that are spot-on to who you are."

But on the Internet, advertisers are increasingly choosing where to place their ads based on how much sites know about Web surfers. ComScore's analysis is a novel attempt to estimate how many times major Web companies can collect data about their users in a given month. Large Web companies like Microsoft and Yahoo have also acquired a number of companies in the last year that have rich consumer data. "So many of the deals are really about data," said David Verklin, chief executive of Carat Americas, an ad agency in the Aegis Group that decides where to place ads for clients. Web companies also can collect more data as people spend more time online. The number of searches that American Web users enter each month has nearly doubled since summer of 2006, to 14.6 billion searches in January, according to comScore. ComScore analyzed 15 major media companies' potential to collect online data in December. The analysis captured how many searches, display ads, videos and page views occurred on those sites and estimated the number of ads shown in their ad networks. These actions represented "data transmission events" — times when consumer data was zapped back to the Web companies' servers. Five large Web operations — Yahoo, Google, Microsoft, AOL and MySpace — record at least 336 billion transmission events in a month, not counting their ad networks.

The information transmitted might include the person's ZIP code, a search for anything from vacation information to celebrity gossip, or a purchase of prescription drugs or other intimate items. Some types of data, like search queries, tends to be more valuable than others. Yahoo came out with the most data collection points in a month on its own sites — about 110 billion collections, or 811 for the average user. In addition, Yahoo has about 1,700 other opportunities to collect data about the average person on partner sites like eBay, where Yahoo sells the ads. MySpace, which is owned by the News Corporation, and AOL, a unit of Time Warner, were not far behind. ComScore said it recorded the ad networks using different methods and that the exact ordering of these top companies might vary with a different methodology, but the overall picture would be similar. Google also has scores of data collection events, but the company says it is unique in that it mostly uses only current information rather than past actions to select ads. The depth of Yahoo's database goes far in explaining why AOL is talking with Yahoo about a merger and Microsoft is willing to pay more than $41.2 billion to acquire the company.

Ref: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/technology/10privacy.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

How Do They Track You? Let Us Count the Ways

On the Internet, companies are typically ranked by how many different people visit their sites in a given month. And when Microsoft announced its $41 billion bid for Yahoo, comScore and Nielsen Online promptly put out estimates counting how many people would be in the merged company's total audience. But audience size is not everything in the online world. Advertisers increasingly want media companies to find their most likely customers and show their ads only to those people, rather than to the site's entire audience. Such targeted advertising requires data, so there's a good argument to be made that we can spot the companies that will lead the pack in online advertising by looking at the depth of data that large media companies can collect about each of their Web visitor. Here is some more detail about the methodology comScore and I came up with: The comScore study tallied five types of "data collection events" on the Internet for 15 large media companies. Four of these events are actions that occur on the sites the media companies run: Pages displayed, search queries entered, videos played, and advertising displayed. Each time one of those four things occurs, there is a conversation between the user's computer and the server of the company that owns the site or serves the ad. The fifth area that comScore looked at was ads served on pages anywhere on the Web by advertising networks owned by the media companies. These include text ads provided by Google's AdSense network, for example, and display ads from AOL's Advertising.com unit. Ad networks add the ability for these companies to note where you are on other Web sites when they serve you an ad. Google, for example, can note that your Internet Protocol address is on Kelly Blue Book, if it serves you an AdSense ad there. So each time one of these five things occur, it is an "data collection event." The data that is transferred varies for each. Typically, Web company receives information about the type of page the user is looking at, the user's I.P. address (which sometimes has clues to the user's location), and for advertising, the content of the ad. Most Web sites and advertising networks place cookies on users' browsers, allowing them to recognize each time they interact with that user in the future. Cookies themselves don't identify the name of users, but if users register with a Web site, their identities can be linked to their cookies.

When all these data collection events are combined for users in the United States in December 2007, Yahoo had the potential to gather data, through 400 billion events in the month. Time Warner, which includes AOL, was second, with about 100 billion events. Google was not too far behind with 91 billion. Interestingly, Microsoft, with 51 billion events in December is far behind not only the other big Internet companies, but also the News Corporation's Fox Interactive Media, which owns MySpace.Below is a view of this data. Here is an image that shows the data behind the graphic, as well as a version of the data that shows the average number of data collection events for each of the company's users.

 

What is important here is not the precise numbers, but the overall picture that the biggest Internet companies are accumulating many different ways to collect data about users. Many caveats are needed: Not all of this data is useful; not all of it is retained by the companies with access to it; much of it cannot be traced back to individuals. Moreover, this method often identifies several data collection events on a single Web page. That is because one page can contain search results, video players, and ads from several sources, each of which can send different data in a different direction. Another caveat: ComScore's method of measuring advertising networks has limitations that make it difficult to compare one network to another. For the networks run by Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL, comScore doesn't count how many ads they actually display, but how many pages their ads could appear on. This substantially overcounts the networks' data collection because some Web sites have several networks that compete to place ads on their pages. ComScore counts the page views on those pages - without knowing if that network did in fact serve an ad on that page view. So the ad network tallies for these companies represent potential data collection events, rather than definite ones. For Google, comScore can actually identify when ads from its AdSense network are loaded on a Web page. but this measure could overstate Google's potential to collect data. That's because Google may display several short text ads on one page, and comScore counts each of those text ads separately. To compensate in this study, comScore tried to figure out how many pages Google ads are loaded on pages. It took its count of ads displayed and divided that by 4.17, its estimate of the average number of AdSense ads that appear together on a page. ComScore's December 2007 figures for AOL, moreover, do not include the reach of Tacoda, the behavioral targeting firm AOL just bought.

I do not suggest using the ad network figures to make comparisons between the Internet giants. Instead, you should look at them as potential expansions of these companies' reach. They do collect significant data from their ad networks - but possibly not as much as suggested by these figures. These comScore figures - though eye-popping - provide only a minimum level of data collection events. There are other ways these companies obtain data that comScore was unable to capture. The two largest ways left out here are ad-serving data (from the likes of Microsoft's Atlas and Google's desired partner DoubleClick) and user-volunteered data. By the latter, I mean the information that users enter when they register for sites or e-mail accounts as well as all the juicy details they post on social networking pages. Arnie Gullov-Singh, vice president of advertising technology at Fox Interactive Media, the owner of MySpace, likes to call this sort of information "hand-raiser data," since people choose to type it in. I hope what I've done here will start a conversation. It would be fascinating to see someone try to quantify the aspects of data collection left out of this analysis. Atlas serves 6 billion ads per day, for example, which could be added in. It is also well worth watching whether most of the data proves lucrative. Perhaps there will be diminishing returns at some point, though Mike Galgon, chief advertising strategist at Microsoft (and co-founder of aQuantive), told me he didn't think there would be. Consumers get all kinds of free services and content on the Web because they are shown ads, and media companies are increasingly showing them ads based on data they have collected about them. So, in a sense, consumers "pay" for free content and features like e-mail by letting companies collect this data about them. When regulators evaluate mergers from a consumer protection standpoint, they consider whether mergers would end up raising the prices that consumers pay for those companies' products. Since people "pay" with information about themselves on the Internet, rather than with dollars, regulators should consider consumer data when they consider mergers. If Yahoo is to merge with Microsoft or any company, the merged company will be an entity that has significantly more data about consumers. Will consumers get more - or better - free services in exchange?

Ref: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/how-do-they-track-you-let-us-count-the-ways/?em&ex=1205294400&en=8662840b2e462d04&ei=5087%0A

Another DVD Format - This One Says It’s Cheaper

No sooner has the battle for the next-generation high definition DVD format ended, with Blu-ray triumphing over HD DVD, than a new contender has emerged. A new system that is incompatible with Blu-ray, called HD VMD, for versatile multilayer disc, is trying to find a niche. New Medium Enterprises, the London company behind HD VMD, says its system's quality is equal to Blu-ray's but it costs less. By undercutting the competition in production, replication and hardware costs, it thinks it can find a market among consumers with less disposable income, particularly outside the United States. An HD VMD player costs less than a Blu-ray because it uses the red-laser technologies found in today's standard-definition DVD players. The Blu-ray and HD DVD machines use a more-expensive blue laser system. "We do not intend to take on Blu-ray," said Shirly Levich, New Medium's vice president and product development manager, in an e-mail message. "We see VMD as a natural extension of mass market DVD product enhanced to HD capabilities. We shall not rekindle the format war." The industry and consumers may not see it that way, given that the company is promoting its price advantages. While Blu-ray players typically cost more than $300, an HD VMD unit is priced at $199. Sales through Amazon are scheduled to begin in five weeks, the company said. No talks have been held with the big-box retailers, like Wal-Mart Stores, to carry the product. New Medium thinks its secret weapon is Michael Jay Solomon, one of Hollywood's best-known film distributors, who has been named its chairman.

Although he has yet to approach the studios, Mr. Solomon, a former president of Warner Brothers International Television, said his long tenure in the industry would help him succeed in licensing movies for HD VMD. "It's a combination of my good experiences and continual relationships," Mr. Solomon said in a telephone interview from Shanghai, where he was visiting with company engineers. No matter how cheap a player is, it is useless unless major movies are released using its format. To date, New Medium has come up short. Just 17 movies are available to customers in the United States at the company's online store, including little-known ones like "The Enigma With a Stigma" and "Kandukondain Kandukondain," a Bollywood production. Its major suppliers to the American market are Anthem Pictures, Eros Entertainment and SFM Entertainment, all independent distributors. Some bigger movies, like "Apocalypto," are available in other territories. Neither Walt Disney, Universal Studios nor Warner Brothers would comment on their interest in releasing movies on HD VMD.

But even without major studio movies, Mr. Solomon thinks the company will be successful. The low cost of producing HD VMD master discs, from which the consumer products are made, and the inexpensive consumer players have attracted the owners of movie rights in China, India and Spain, Mr. Solomon said. He said Australia, China, India, Central Europe, Russia and Scandinavia would be major markets. "We can sell players for $90 and make a profit," he said. In the United States, Mr. Solomon believes that producers of lesser-known movies, like religious organizations and independent filmmakers, will see HD VMD as a cost-effective way to create high-definition versions of their programming.

The Blu-ray camp is unimpressed. New Medium's price strategy will fail, said Andy Parsons, chairman of the Blu-ray Disc Association, a trade group, because it relies on a false assumption: Blu-ray technology will always be more expensive. "When you mass produce blue lasers in large quantities, hardware costs will absolutely come down," Mr. Parsons said. "I'm sure we'll eventually be able to charge $90 for a Blu-ray player."

The HD VMD camp "is pitching a solution at a market niche that does not exist," said Carmi Levy, senior vice president for strategic consulting at AR Communications, a Toronto research firm. "And even if it is a niche, you will never sell enough to make it a business." Mr. Solomon dissents. "Our idea is to create a player that people can afford. There is room for the two of us." Unfortunately, those consumers who bought HD DVD players that are now orphaned may not agree.

Ref: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/technology/10dvd.html?ref=business

Bank of America Plans to Push Ahead With Countrywide Takeover

Bank of America Corp., the largest U.S. bank by market value, plans to press ahead with its $4 billion takeover of Countrywide Financial Corp., the mortgage lender under investigation by the FBI for possible securities fraud. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, based in Washington, is scrutinizing whether Countrywide officials misrepresented the company's financial position and the quality of its mortgage loans in regulatory filings, said a person with knowledge of the probe on March 8. Bank of America spokesman Scott Silvestri said the acquisition of Calabasas, California-based Countrywide remains on track. ``Nothing I've seen suggests that Bank of America is backing off,'' says Tom Atteberry, a partner at Los Angeles-based First Pacific Advisors LLC, which oversees $2 billion. ``It's in everyone's best interest that Countrywide avoid bankruptcy and it's hard to believe that there isn't some kind of agreement to help Bank of America avoid some of these legal problems.'' Countrywide has declined 20 percent in New York trading since Bank of America offered to buy the biggest U.S. mortgage lender on Jan. 11 in a stock swap. Investors have speculated the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank may seek a lower price or walk away because the housing slump has deepened, with record foreclosures and falling home prices.

Widening Probe

The FBI's probe is at a preliminary stage, said the person, who declined to be identified because he wasn't authorized to speak about the investigation. Officials at Bank of America declined to comment about the FBI on March 8, the day it was disclosed in the Wall Street Journal. FBI spokesman Richard Kolko also declined to comment. Countrywide spokeswoman Jumana Bauwens said the company wasn't aware of the FBI's probe. Countrywide is among at least 14 companies the FBI is checking for possible violations tied to the subprime lending crisis, including mortgage lenders, developers and Wall Street firms that packaged loans into securities. The FBI disclosed the review in January without naming any companies. Lenders are facing increased scrutiny from regulators as record defaults displace homeowners, roil credit markets and threaten to tip the U.S. into recession. ``It's not uncommon for the FBI to investigate matters that have created such controversy,'' said Gary Townsend, co-founder of Chevy Chase, Maryland-based money management firm Hill- Townsend Capital. ``This is just one more thing for Bank of America to watch as they move forward on this deal.''

 

`Conflicting Views'

Analysts, including Paul Miller of Friedman Billings Ramsey & Co. in Arlington, Virginia, criticized Bank of America for paying too much for Countrywide, citing the increase in overdue payments. Shareholders, including Bill Miller of Baltimore-based Legg Mason Capital Management, which held about a 9 percent stake at the end of December, and the SRM Global Fund, with 5 percent, said Countrywide sold for too little. ``There are conflicting views within the Bank of America board on whether this is a good deal,'' said David Lykken, founder of Austin, Texas-based industry consulting firm Mortgage Banking Solutions. ``Ultimately, the economics will prevail and it will get done.'' Lykken said officials from the FBI have contacted him in recent months with general questions about the industry. While Lykken doesn't know specifics anout any probe, investigators may be focused on income and credit information disclosed by borrowers and presented by lenders, he said.

``There's a whole lot of excitement and hullabaloo, but proving criminal conduct is likely to be difficult,'' Lykken said. ``A lot of people were caught up in the atmosphere when the housing market was booming.''

Ref: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=au2pW1l4w_.Y&refer=news

Record fine possible for Southwest

The Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday it will seek a record $10.2 million fine against Southwest Airlines for flying 46 jets without doing required fuselage inspections.

The Dallas-based airline, which carries more than 80 percent of the passengers who move through Houston's Hobby Airport, found cracks on six of those planes once the overdue inspections were conducted, the FAA said. Southwest understood the FAA considered the matter closed after the problems were addressed last year, the company said. It also said it would challenge the fine. The agency said it initiated a formal action on Thursday to collect the civil penalty. The FAA alleged that between June 18, 2006, and March 14, 2007, Southwest operated more than 59,000 flights without complying with a 2004 order requiring repetitive inspections of fuselage areas to detect fatigue cracking.

Further, the FAA charged that the airline flew nearly 1,500 more flights using the same planes in March 2007, even after it determined that it had not done the necessary inspections.

"The FAA is taking action against Southwest Airlines for a failing to follow the rules that are designed to protect passengers and crew," Nicholas Sabatini, the FAA's associate administrator for aviation safety, said in a prepared statement.

The fine is the largest levied against an air carrier, FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said. Southwest said in a prepared statement that the inspections "were one of many routine, redundant, and overlapping inspections of a very small percentage of our fleet having to do with small skin cracks." The carrier also noted that it was the one that discovered the missing inspections and informed the FAA, then "promptly" completed them in March 2007. "The FAA approved our actions and considered the matter closed as of April 2007," the carrier said.

Ref: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5599858.html

Apple to Encourage iPhone Programmers

CUPERTINO, Calif. — Steven P. Jobs, Apple's chief executive, is hoping to expand the iPhone's appeal by luring software developers to create programs for it.

John Doerr, the venture capitalist, is adding an incentive: his firm is putting up $100 million to invest in the work of those programmers.

At an event Thursday at Apple headquarters, Mr. Jobs announced a low-cost software development kit that outside programmers can use to create programs for the iPhone, much as they now write the vast majority of the programs created for the Macintosh. Until now, iPhones have officially been able to run only the limited assortment of applications that Apple includes. (Some buyers have modified the phones to add unauthorized software.) "We're very excited about this," said Mr. Jobs, who also announced that the company was adding features to make the iPhone more appealing to business users. "We think a lot of people, after understanding where we are going, are going to want to become an iPhone developer." Sharing the stage with Mr. Jobs, Mr. Doerr announced that his firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, had established a $100 million venture capital fund for iPhone entrepreneurs. Called the iFund, it is the largest fund the company has created for a specific technology.

"The potential for iPhone is huge," Mr. Doerr said. Matt Murphy, the Kleiner partner overseeing the fund, said he expected the fund to last two to three years, after which the company might decide to add more capital. Mr. Jobs said Apple would offer a developer kit for $99 that would allow programmers to create everything from games to business programs. On Thursday, Sega and AOL demonstrated applications they created for the iPhone using the kit. The programs that are created will then be available to iPhone users exclusively through a new service on all iPhones called the Apps Store, an aspect of the plan that may discourage some developers. Apple will keep 30 percent of the sale price.

Mr. Jobs said that Apple would offer only those programs that it approves, rejecting pornography, for example, and programs that might not provide adequate security for users. He argued that developers would benefit from Apple's being the sole distributor because only Apple could give third-party programs such wide exposure to customers. All iPhone users will be able to browse the available programs directly from their devices. Customers will also benefit, he said, from Apple's weeding out of malicious programs. "We can track the developers and we can tell their parents," Mr. Jobs said, joking about the demographic profile of many Apple entrepreneurs. In an attempt to lure corporate customers, Apple executives also announced that the iPhone would be able to work directly with Microsoft's Exchange software, allowing it to interact closely with corporate networks and e-mail systems in much the way that BlackBerry devices do. Apple said Genentech and Nike were among the companies that were already taking advantage of this feature. The new business abilities will be added to the iPhone in June and will come to existing owners in a free upgrade. The software will include extensive security features, like the ability to lock and erase the system remotely in the event of loss or theft. "The majority of the objections I.T. managers have had about the iPhone have been addressed today," said Van L. Baker, an analyst with Gartner Inc., referring to corporate information technology managers. "It's a very valid and robust device, and for that reason it's a viable platform for the enterprise in competition with the BlackBerry and others."

But attracting a huge following among corporations is something Apple has not been able to achieve with the Macintosh, and it remains to be seen whether the iPhone will take sales from the BlackBerry, the popular business communicator sold by Research in Motion of Waterloo, Ontario. "It's a better device and platform that does more things than the BlackBerry," Mr. Murphy said. If people have been questioning whether the iPhone is a business tool, the integration with Exchange "takes the issue off the table," he said. The iPhone is already the second most popular smartphone after the BlackBerry, with a 28 percent share of the market, but its inability to communicate with corporate computer systems running Microsoft Exchange has hindered its growth in that market.

Ref: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/07/technology/07apple.html?em&ex=1205038800&en=fd0d91884f9a6a39&ei=5087%0A

Dell Ships First Ruggedized Notebook

The Latitude XFR D630 meets the military's standards for withstanding extreme conditions in the field.

 

Dell (Dell) on Tuesday introduced its first notebook for government and commercial customers looking for a notebook that can withstand extreme temperatures and moisture. The Latitude XFR D630 meets the Department of Defense's MIL-STD 810F standard, which certifies that the equipment is capable of withstanding the extreme conditions in the field. The rugged notebook shares components with the rest of Dell's Latitude line to simplify maintenance and integration with networks, the computer maker said. "The Latitude XFR D630 represents a tectonic shift towards simplicity in the ruggedized laptop space," Brett McAnally, director of Dell's Product Group, said in a statement.  The XFR D630 includes a 14.1-inch LCD screen, but is available with an optional touch screen that supports finger, gloved, or stylus inputs. The system is powered by a 2.2 GHz Intel (NSDQ: INTC) Core 2 Duo T7500 processor, and comes standard with 512 MB of RAM, Windows XP Professional, and a 160 GB hard disk drive. Solid-state drives are also available for boosting hard drive speed and reliability.

The notebook also comes with shock-isolated mounting to protect the hard drive, LCD screen and other core electronic components. In addition, there are dual-locking butterfly mechanisms for easy access to components, and a sealed keyboard designed to withstand dust and driving rain. The XFR D630 comes standard with next business day on-site service for major components inside the notebook. Pricing starts at $3,899. In entering the rugged-notebook market, Dell faces competition from Panasonic and possibly Motion Computing, which introduced a ruggedized tablet PC on Monday. The F5, built for workers in field service, manufacturing, government, and construction, is powered by an Intel Core Solo 1.2-GHz U1400 processor, and includes an Intel Pro/Wireless 3945 Wi-Fi network connection. In addition, the computer comes standard with 1 GB of RAM and a 40-GB hard disk drive. An optional 32-GB solid-state drive is also available. The computer has an international protection rating of 54, which means it meets the International Electrotechnical Commission standards for protection against dust and water. In addition, it has a magnesium frame that adds durability, a shock-mounted hard drive, and integrated digital camera and scanner for radio frequency identification tags. The F5 is available with Windows XP Tablet PC Edition or Windows Vista business edition, pre-installed. Pricing ranges from $2,699 to $4,000 depending on configuration.

Ref: http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206901662

Microsoft Office On-The-Web Available For Public Trial

Users can access an English-language beta version of Microsoft Office Live Workspace from the company's Web site at no charge

 

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) said Tuesday it has made available for worldwide public testing a hosted version of its widely used Microsoft Office productivity software.  As part of the trial, users can access an English-language beta version of Microsoft Office Live Workspace, as the offering is called, from the company's Web site at no charge. Microsoft for the past several months has conducted a private beta program for Office Live that's drawn more than 100,000 participants, according to the company. Office Live Workspace lets users store and access Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other Office applications on the Web through any computer with an Internet connection -- even if the PC isn't running Office on its hard drive.

That means a mobile worker could, say, create a Word document at his or her office, upload it to the service, and then access it later from virtually any PC. Without Office Live, that same worker would have to carry the file around on a flash device or e-mail it to himself. Still, the document could only be downloaded and opened on a computer running a Word-compatible application. Office Live could also eliminate the insecure practice -- often used by executives on the go -- of downloading files to a public computer. Office Live users can store more than 1,000 documents on the service and also grant access authorization to their files to business colleagues and other third parties. Office Live Workspace is part of the software-plus-services strategy that Microsoft unveiled last year. The campaign is meant to bolster the company's presence in the booming Web services market while protecting its multibillion-dollar packaged software franchise. The effort has seen Microsoft roll out a number of Web services under its Windows Live brand, including an online storage site called SkyDrive and a social networking site called Spaces. Microsoft's assault on the Web is in no small part a response to advances by archrival Google. In recent months, the search engine company has introduced a host of new online services. Of those, the biggest threat to Microsoft is Google Apps. The offering features free or low-cost versions of Office-style productivity applications that are hosted on the Web.

The advantage of Google (NSDQ: GOOG)'s approach is that, unlike Office Live, users don't need to purchase any pricey boxed software for the service to work. The downside is that users for the most part can't get to the applications without an Internet connection. Microsoft said it plans to roll out Office Live beta programs in languages other than English in the coming weeks.

Ref: http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206901651

Intel new chip family name "Atom"

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Intel Corp has picked "Atom" as the new brand name for its latest microprocessor, the world's largest semiconductor company said. The Intel Atom processor is the name for the new family of low-power processors, the brains of digital devices, that will power mobile Internet devices and ultra low-cost and small notebook and desktop personal computers. Intel (INTC.O: Quote, Profile, Research) sees a big market for the Internet-connected devices that can fit in one's pocket and for what it is calling the netbook, a low-cost PC costing around $250.

The Intel Atom processor is based on a new micro architecture designed for small devices and low power consumption, Intel said. The chip is less than 25 square millimeters, and 11 of the chip's dies -- the slivers of silicon with 47 million transistors each -- would fit in an area the size of a U.S. penny. The new chips, previously code-named Silverthorne and Diamondville, are made on Intel's 45 nanometer chipmaking technology and slated for introduction toward the middle of this year. "Diamondville and Silverthorne both represent an attempt by Intel to sell chips profitably for a whole lot less," said Nathan Brookwood, an analyst at market research firm Insight 64. "This is the first new processor design coming out of Intel since the Pentium Pro in 1995." Atom joins other Intel brands including Core, Core 2, Celeron, and Xeon, names for other processors the Santa Clara, California-based company makes and sells. Intel also announced the Intel Centrino Atom processor technology brand aimed specifically at mobile Internet devices. It was formerly code-named Menlow. Centrino Atom includes the Intel Atom processor, a low power companion chip with integrated graphics, a wireless radio, as well as thinner and lighter designs.

Sean Maloney, chief sales and marketing officer for Intel, said that Atom is "a fundamental new shift in design, small yet powerful enough to enable a big Internet experience on these new devices. We believe it will unleash new innovation across the industry." Intel also said that Atom has potential for new sales dollars in consumer electronic devices and other gadgets, and said it was well positioned for growth in all of those segments with Atom's low-power architecture as a foundation.

Ref: http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN298644620080302?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0

Office Live Workspace - Public Beta

Microsoft announced Monday it has expanded the beta test of its upcoming Office Live Workspaces free services for Office users to include anyone who wants to kick the service's tires.  Office Live Workspace began limited beta testing in October. It provides online storage "in the cloud" for users' documents as well as the ability to share them with others, but not create or edit them.

As of Tuesday, the beta test version, which is in English only so far, will be open for immediate testing. "We're taking the 'private' label off," Eric Gilmore, senior product manager for Office, told InternetNews.com.  Simultaneously, Microsoft is adding new features to the beta, including e-mail notifications when a document changes on the site, as well as a multi-file upload with drag and drop capabilities. The beta also adds an activity panel that shows users at a glance what has changed since last logging in. It also lets users bookmark a workspace or a workspace item.

The offering, which was first announced back in early October, lets users store up to 1,000 Office documents online, according to company statements. The maximum individual file size is 50 MB, Gilmore said. Users can view and comment on documents via a browser, and also generate Web lists and notes.  Office Live Workspace is just one part of Microsoft's overarching strategy of software-plus-services. The official release of Office Live Workspace is slated for later this year, the company said.

Users can sign up for the beta Here.
TAGS: Microsoft, HP, services, e-Mail, CA, Storage, software, media, InternetNews.com, IT, Office, software-plus-services, documents, beta test, Microsoft, news, Internet, OS

Ref: http://www.internetnews.com/storage/article.php/3731761/Public+Beta+for+Office+Live+Workspace.htm