Archive for: July 15, 2009

Amazon has begun shipping the ASUS Eee T91 — the world’s first netbook to double as a Web tablet with a touch-sensitive screen. The hybrid device is priced at $499. Measuring 8.9×6.5×1.1 inches and tipping the scales at just under one kilogram (2.11643 pounds), the new netbook sports an 8.9-inch backlit LED screen that pivots on a single axis. Users swivel the display to convert the device into a svelte, lightweight Web tablet that can be cradled in one arm when reading documents, scribbling ideas into digital notebooks with the built-in stylus, or surfing the Internet. Customized Touch Interface Under the hood, the T91 integrates a 1.33-GHz Intel Atom Z520 processor, 1GB of DDR2 SDRAM, Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n), Bluetooth 2.1, a 0.3-megapixel camera, a 16GB solid-state drive, and a 16GB SD card. U.S. buyers also receive 20GB of free online storage through the first 18 months of ownership. Although ASUSTeK Computer initially announced that the T91 would feature several advanced wireless options, the model currently shipping to U.S. customers only offers Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, said ASUSTeK spokesperson Josh Norem. “The GPS and TV tuner as well as 3G connectivity are not included in products slated for U.S. release, but may be included in” products that ship to “other parts of the world,” he said. The T91 sports two USB ports, a VGA port for an external monitor, and a slot that supports the use of MMC/SD/SDHC memory cards. The svelte book-sized device also integrates a mouse pad as well as a QWERTY keyboard that is 83 percent of full size. The T91 incorporates a lithium polymer battery that can keep users connected for up to five hours per charge, depending on the nature of the tasks at hand. The netbook lets users select from several power-saving modes to maximize battery life. ...

In a packed gaming market, iPhone developers big and small are competing for iPhone owners’ attention. Gaming applications are a huge draw, but their popularity is putting pressure on independent developers, who are competing with big-name publishers like Electronic Arts and newly venture-backed and angel-funded gaming houses such as Ngmoco and Tapulous. Independent game developers, who may have the drive but not the capital and resources of big-name publishers, are feeling the pressure, especially with the number of active publishers in Apple’s App Store at 15,300. There are currently 13,732 gaming applications available on the App Store and 25 to 50 gaming apps are added to the store each day, according to Sunil Verma, cofounder of Mobclix, an analytics company. Popular iPhone app developers such as Ngmoco and Tapulous have skyrocketed past some of the platform’s independent developers because they have the capital to promote iPhone games. Ngmoco has also tapped top executives, including former SEGA president and COO Simon Jefferey, to help run the business. Room For All With nearly 80 percent of iPhone games requiring payment and 23.3 percent free, according to Mobclix, there is earning potential for both independent developers and big name publishers. “I think independent developers will always be able to develop for the iPhone,” said Krishna Subramanian, cofounder of Mobclix. “But you will start to see more big games and powerhouse developers like Electronic Arts and Ngmoco, big players that are looking at the iPhone as a gaming platform.” The two groups are developing to different audiences and offering a different caliber of gaming applications. “I still think you will have one-app developers creating apps or casual games for the iPhone as a way to reach out to those users in other countries outside the U.S. who are attracted to the free apps,” he ...

By David Ponce High definition televisions are great. What’s not so great is the jolly bunch of celebrities who hurriedly started caking on makeup once they realized the new technology allowed their so-called fans to notice their skin imperfections. Here’s a newsflash Joan Rivers : we can see caked up makeup too! You understand of course that whenever there’s a need, a company will pop up to fill it. In this case a company called Cargo has started selling a line of makeup products called “Blu-Ray High Definition Makeup” that allegedly makes someone look “radiant and flawless” (read, not so damn old or pimply) while still looking natural. The products are made from “special pigments and high-tech ingredients”, which doesn’t tell us a whole lot or inspire much confidence. Then again, half of the products on the shelves nowadays find buyers on the strength of the marketing efforts alone. For what it’s worth, prices here seem just about in line with regular makeup products (or so a female friend tells me). [ Product Page ] VIA [ BoingBoing Gadgets ]

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Cargo Introduces Blu-Ray Makeup - Yeah, Like For The Face

By David Ponce Bang & Olufsen are better known for their impossibly expensive and allegedly superior speakers. Who knew then that they’d dabble in something so mundane as alarm clocks. Of course, they wouldn’t be living up to their name if they’d done any old alarm clock. In the BeoTime, you’ll find a “built-in motion sensor and subtle automatic backlighting.” Motion sensor? It’s not what you’re thinking, it’s more like the iPhone’s, to properly align the LCD display. Of course, we asked ourselves just why it looks like this … And sure enough B&O’s site had a handy answer: Inspired by the conflict between night and day in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, BeoTime is visually unlike any alarm clock you have ever seen. And yet every innovation is grounded in clever functionality. The horizontal line and square panels relax the eye to suit a bedroom setting, whether you place BeoTime on a side table or hang it on the supplied magnetic wall fixture. The tube shape is easy to hold when setting wake-up or shut-down times or using BeoTime for basic remote functionality. Right… We’re thinking this sounds just like the kind of talk that always manages to separate certain folk from ridiculous amounts on money… in this particular case €311. Given B&O’s relative success in the market place we can only conclude that the world is full of people with more money than sense. [ Product Page ] VIA [ Xataka ]

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Bang & Olufsen’s BeoTime, An Alarm Clock For The Wealthier Than You

SAN FRANCISCO, July 15, 2009 — SenSage, Inc. today unveiled its latest event data warehouse software, SenSage 4.5, bringing the full power of unlimited, elastic storage and processing to cloud-based event data warehousing applications. SenSage 4.5 provides dramatic reduction in total cost of ownership by enabling server, storage and data virtualization in a single event data warehousing platform, along with a menu of pre-built governance risk and compliance (GRC) solutions. SenSage cloud-based solutions are currently being deployed in multiple petabyte-scale implementations. Complex GRC mandates are straining corporate budgets and legacy data management infrastructures. Organizations are facing unprecedented and escalating requirements to analyze, retain and immediately respond to risk incidents identified through log files, banking transactions, call records, network traffic and other types of event data. Increasingly, enterprises and services providers are looking to cloud-based data warehousing solutions to lower their costs and improve service delivery. Attributes of these solutions include the following: Huge daily loads that exceed multiple terabytes of data per day Online retention and analysis for years of data Complex access patterns by multiple users, including operational, risk, security and business groups Need for real-time, all-the-time monitoring SenSage’s breakthrough technology advantage is based on the integration of its patented columnar database, agentless event-specific ETL and intuitive business intelligence suite across clusters of commodity servers and storage to deliver highly targeted business solutions. SenSage provides pre-built, solution-specific data marts for GRC, SIEM and log management, telco CDRs, and others. “We see analytic data warehousing emerging at the forefront of the deployment of data-management technologies in the cloud,” said Matt Aslett, enterprise software analyst at The 451Group. “This is due to the potential for ad hoc analytic services based on data stored on relatively inexpensive cloud platforms and the fact that MPP architectures, such as SenSage, are well-suited to clustered, ...

Google released Google Voice for BlackBerry and Android-powered smartphones on Wednesday. Last month, Google sent invitations to people who signed up to test the service that is based on technology from GrandCentral, which Google acquired in 2007. Google Voice gives users a single phone number that will ring his or her home, work and mobile-phone numbers. Users can control the service to have specific callers ring a particular phone. Callers can also be sent to voice mail, with messages transcribed and e-mailed to the user. Writing on The Official Google Blog, Vincent Paquet of Google’s voice team and Marcus Foster of Google’s mobile team said the application can be downloaded from a Google site and the Android Market. They also said Google is responding to requests to make outgoing calls easier. “Previously, to place a call using Google Voice, you had to dial your own Google Voice number from your cell phone or use the Quick Call button online,” they wrote. “With this new mobile app, you can make calls and send SMS messages with your Google Voice number directly from your mobile phone. The app is fully integrated with each phone’s contacts, so you can call via Google Voice straight from your address book.” They also wrote that Google Voice users will be able to access SMS messages sent to the Google Voice number even if a user’s cell phone doesn’t receive SMS. The app also displays the user’s Google Voice number on outgoing calls and SMS messages. For people who don’t have a BlackBerry or Android device, a mobile Web version of the Google Voice site can be accessed through a mobile browser, Paquet and Foster wrote. A Google Voice account is required, and the service is only available in the U.S.

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New York, NY,– Elementool Inc., the leading developer of online project management software, has announced the release of Help Desk version 5.1, Elementool’s customer relationship management (CRM) tool. This latest update to Elementool’s suite of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) project management applications, allows for easier set up and increased oversight and maintenance of customer service operations. Now more than ever, it’s important for small business owners to establish a relationship with their customers or clients and respond to any inquiries in a timely manner. Help Desk 5.1 offers increased flexibility and customization allowing users to adapt the CRM tool to their processes, and remain on top of customer correspondence and website issues. New Features Include: Drag and Drop: users can drag and drop fields within Forms and Report Queries so that only relevant or necessary data is visible and that data is organized in the most efficient way for individual accounts or projects. Sorting: often times large amounts of data are retrieved in reports increased sorting options lets users find the particular data they need easily and quickly. Welcome Page: increased filtering options on the main Welcome Page allow project administrator to present a quick summary of the customer information they feel is most relevant. “As a SaaS provider, Elementool is in the position to frequently update our tools and applications in order to provide the best experience for our customers,” says Yaron Sinai, CEO & Founder of Elementool. “With the new version of our Help Desk tool, it is even easier for users to maintain successful client relationships through efficient and regular customer contact.” Help Desk 5.1 brings added customization and depth to the original tool with a more dynamic interface. Forms can now be customized for specific projects or accounts by dragging and dropping fields, allowing relevant information to be ...

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA, July 15, 2009 — VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN), the trusted provider of Internet infrastructure services for the networked world, today reported it has topped the 1 billion mark for daily Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) checks. The milestone means that with each passing second, VeriSign and its subsidiaries enable another 11,500 secure online transactions around the world. A key link in the online security chain, OCSP offers the most timely and efficient way for Web browsers to determine whether a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or user certificate is still valid or has been revoked. Generally, when a browser initiates an SSL session, OCSP servers receive a query to check to see if the certificate in use is valid. Likewise, when a user initiates actions such as smartcard logon, VPN access or Web authentication, OCSP servers check the validity of the user certificate that is presented. OSCP servers are operated by Certificate Authorities, and VeriSign is the world’s leading Certificate Authority. “More people transact online with sites secured by VeriSign than any other Certificate Authority, and today’s announcement underscores our ability to meet the ever-scaling demands of Internet commerce,” said Tim Callan, vice president of product marketing at VeriSign. “It takes a world-class infrastructure and the best practices in the business to support these volumes, and VeriSign has invested heavily over the years to keep pace with the growth of online commerce. As the security backbone of the Internet, VeriSign is uniquely positioned to enable secure transactions well beyond the milestone we’ve reached today.” As the most respected and trusted Certificate Authority on the Web, VeriSign is the EV SSL Certificate provider of choice for more than 10,000 Internet domain names, representing 74 percent of the entire EV SSL Certificate market worldwide. In fact, more than 95 percent ...

Bangalore, India, 15 July, 2009 — IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that it has signed a 10-year information technology (IT) services agreement with Delhi Stock Exchange (DSE), one of the leading stock exchanges in India. As part of this Rs 11 crore agreement, IBM will provide business continuity and disaster recovery services to DSE as well as remotely host and manage its IT infrastructure. This will help the exchange meet the stringent business continuity guidelines as laid out by Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) before it could resume its operations after a hiatus of six years. By engaging with IBM in a complete operational expenditure (pay-as-you-go) model, DSE will also save 100 percent capital expenditure on IT. Signed in June 2009, this agreement demonstrates IBM’s focus to help clients ‘Do more with Less’ by engaging in an increasingly popular operational expense (opex) model. It also leverages IBM’s global experience of over 40 years to provide business continuity and resiliency services to help clients minimize the costs and time-frames associated with recovering business operations in the event of a disaster. DSE was one of country’s largest stock exchanges almost at par with Bombay Stock Exchange in the 90’s, and has been in existence for over 60 years. In 2002, however, the exchange became inactive due to negligible trading volumes. Seven years later, the exchange is now looking at resurrecting itself to its former glory one where it used to be bustling with over 2,800 companies listed. IBM will play a key role in helping DSE go live for trading by providing a highly secure environment and a robust resiliency solution with the goal of zero data loss once the exchange becomes operational later this year. “As DSE looks to claim back its position as one of country’s leading stock ...

By Andrew Liszewski The next time you have a heart attack (that’s supposed to be a weekly occurrence right?) how would you like it if the person performing CPR on you was trained at home via a PC app using the Nintendo Wiimote? Well that’s exactly what biomedical engineering undergraduate students from the University of Alabama at Birmingham have in mind. And given the fact that the American Heart Association has pledged $50,000 to fund their research, the idea must have some merit. The students have been working on the concept since last January, and this past Spring a working prototype of the technology was demonstrated which is when the AHA stepped in and offered the grant. If all goes well, the UAB Wii CPR software would be made available for download from the American Heart Association website as open source code as early as this Fall. And I think the Wii Vitality sensor which Nintendo introduced at E3 this year has finally found its killer life-saving application. [ PR - UAB Students’ Nintendo Wii CPR Earns American Heart Association Support ] VIA [ Popular Science ]

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Now The Nintendo Wii Might Be Used For CPR Certification

Remember AllofMP3.com, the Russian MP3 site that promised legal, licensed MP3s at just a fraction of what Apple and other music services were charging? Zookz appears to be something like that.

For $9.95 a month, Zookz promises that user can download all the music and movies they want. Sounds too good to be true? Zookz claims that they're protected by an IP licensing agreement between the U.S. and Antigua, where the Zookz servers reside.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative disagrees, however, telling The Los Angeles Times: "There is no website anywhere in the world that has WTO authorization to engage in copyright piracy. Any representation to the contrary is false, and should be dealt with by the appropriate domestic authorities."

Zookz claims it launched with 1,500 movies, and with 50,000 songs available for download, with more being added every week, according to the site. However, what songs and movies Zookz has on hand aren't transparent to the user; even the "New Releases" portion of the site is blank.

 The site does take requests, however, and Zookz promises content from the Beatles and Radiohead, among others. Zookz MP3s are available in "at least" 148 bits per second, and up to 320 bits per second. Movies, however, are only available in 640x480 quality.

Zookz at least is trying to offer a legal foundation for its services, unlike the numerous Flash-base sites available that offer pirated movies for free. It seems clear, however, that Zookz will be targeted for copyright infringement as soon as a team of lawyers can be rounded up.

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As if Twitter wasn't already addictive enough, now the folks at Bing, Microsoft's new search engine, have figured out a way to make it even more mesmerizing.  The site is called BingTweets, and it... well, you can probably guess what it does.  It presents you with a combined view of the search engine, the current list of Trending Topics, and a live feed of current tweets that match the Bing search criteria you enter in the "Search Bing & Twitter" field.

I'm not much of a Twitter hound myself, but I admit to becoming somewhat enraptured by the synergy between the search results and the tweet feed. By searching for "PCMag," for example, I received not only handful of useful (and official) links, but also commentary about some of the recent stories we've covered. If I entered an even more well-traveled topic, such as Harry Potter (the sixth movie was released today, after all), the feed spun almost as wildly as a malfunctioning slot machine.

BingTweets struck me as an efficient and enjoyable way to get sources of established and of-the-minute opinion at the same time, in the same window--a real convenience and patience saver. The most significant drawback I noted with it was the generally impersonal experience it offered. Because you can't log in to the service, you have no access to what your friends are saying (unless they just happen to be discussing whatever search term you enter).  As Twitter is as much about maintaining close (140-character) relationships as forging new ones, this limits BingTweets's usefulness on a personal level. (A "Share This" feature in the upper-right corner lets you tweet, e-mail, text, or post to various social networking sites your BingTweets results, which at ...