Microsoft’s Office 2010 in India by June

Global software giant Microsoft Corp will launch the latest version of its popular application suite MS Office 2010 for Indian users in June.
“The Office 2010 will be available for both businesses and consumers in June,” Microsoft Corp’s India Chairman Ravi Venkatesan told reporters here on the sidelines of an seminar on social inclusion here, reports IANS.
The latest version features office web applications which will include online versions of MS Word, Excel, Power Point and OneNot. It will allow sharing and collaboration of documents and files.
Microsoft had already released the beta version, a soft launch, of MS Office 2010 and related web applications in November 2009.
Early this month, the company also unveiled in India its latest offering in the area of cloud computing called Windows Azure that will help companies share software and storage facilities and bring down their total IT spend by as much as 50 percent.
In cloud computing, companies share computer resources, such as servers, software and data storage, through the Internet, instead of setting up such infrastructure at their own end.

Source:http://www.igovernment.in/site/microsofts-office-2010-india-june-37170

InnoPath Software Mobile Update Named as Finalist in Ctia E-Tech Awards

Sunnyvale, CA, March 19, 2010 –(PR.com)– InnoPath Software’s ActiveCare Mobile Update has been named a finalist in the Enterprise & Vertical Market Solution – Energy in the CTIA Emerging Technology (E-Tech) Awards. CTIA’s fifth annual E-Tech Awards program recognizes products in 15 categories in the areas of mobile consumer electronics, luxury mobile, applications, enterprise, green solutions, and network technology. International CTIA WIRELESS 2010® will take place March 23-25 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

More than 80 prominent media and industry analysts judged the 300-plus entries submitted for the E-Tech Awards program this year. Products and services were judged on innovation, functionality, technological importance, implementation, and the overall “wow” factor.

E-Tech Award winners will be announced at a ceremony hosted by Robert Mesirow, vice president and show director for CTIA, and Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies, on Wednesday, March 24 at 2 p.m. on the Exhibits Innovation Stage located in the Emerging Technology Zone on the International CTIA WIRELESS exhibit floor, North Hall.

CTIA is offering companies two additional opportunities to win an award. Web visitors may vote for the Best Online Pick at www.ctiashow.com/awards. International CTIA WIRELESS show attendees will also have the chance to vote via text message onsite for products in the E-Tech Awards display to win Best in Show.

ActiveCare – Mobile Update is InnoPath’s next generation firmware and software update solution for both smartphones and featurephones. Using Mobile Update, service providers can efficiently update phones over-the-air (OTA), saving operational expenses and increasing customer satisfaction while addressing security, usability and stability issues on handsets in the field. As an added benefit, Mobile Update also results in substantial energy savings, by avoiding customer treks to the phone shop and keeping phones in circulation longer. In fact, InnoPath calculated that in 2009, North American operators created savings of 33M Kg of CO2 across over 3.5 million successful OTA updates.

InnoPath is the global leader in OTA delivery of customer care for service providers, shortening or preventing support calls and driving first call resolution. InnoPath’s ActiveCare is a natural extension to currently deployed CRM solutions, evolving them from just logging issues to solving them. The company’s extensive experience in production Tier-1 networks helps ensure rapid and successful deployments in large, complex environments. With a proven value proposition, the payback time for an operator deploying InnoPath ActiveCare is usually less than one year. Our customers include AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, Samsung, LG, KDDI, Tata DoCoMo, and China Telecom. Discover more at our website, www.innopath.com, and our blog, The CSR, at http://thecsr.blogspot.com/

Celebrating 25 years as the premier global mobile marketplace, International CTIA WIRELESS 2010® brings together all industries advanced by wireless technology for three days of intense business, learning and networking in Las Vegas, March 23-25. International CTIA WIRELESS IT&E 2010 takes place in San Francisco, October 6-8. Visit www.ctiashow.com.

CTIA-The Wireless Association® is an international organization representing the wireless communications industry. Membership in the association includes wireless carriers and their suppliers, as well as providers and manufacturers of wireless data services and products. CTIA advocates on behalf of its members at all levels of government. The association also coordinates the industry’s voluntary best practices and initiatives, and produces the industry’s leading tradeshows. CTIA was founded in 1984 and is based in Washington, D.C. Visit www.ctia.org.

Source:http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/innopath-software-mobile-update-named-as-finalist-in-ctia-e-tech-awards,1212408.shtml

BioImagene’s Virtuoso software integrated with anatomic pathology LIS

BioImagene, Inc., the leading provider of end-to-end digital pathology solutions, announced the integration of Virtuoso™, BioImagene’s digital pathology workflow software, with several market-leading anatomic pathology (AP) laboratory information systems (LIS). LIS products from Elekta Impac, Cerner Corp., eTeleNext, iCORE, LigoLabs, McKesson Corp., and Sunquest Information Systems have been interfaced with Virtuoso at BioImagene’s diverse installed base of customers.

“The success of an end-to-end solution depends on integration of a digital pathology system into the IT-ecosystem of the laboratory. We are now able to demonstrate clear and measurable improvement in efficiency metrics through integration. We are pleased with the overwhelming support we have received from top LIS vendors.”

The Virtuoso – LIS integration enables sharing of data between the two systems in the pathology laboratory, making critical information readily available to pathologists. This assists pathologists to improve efficiency in digital slide analysis, case management and reporting, resulting in a streamlined workflow.

“Integration between BioImagene’s Virtuoso and LIS from the principal vendors is important and beneficial to laboratories using digital pathology systems,” explained Steve Yu, Vice President of the Technology Solutions Group (TSG) at BioImagene. “It gives users access to case and patient information directly from Virtuoso without having to switch to the LIS. It also eliminates the need of manual re-entry of this data by the end-user.”

Dr. Ajit Singh, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of BioImagene commented, “The success of an end-to-end solution depends on integration of a digital pathology system into the IT-ecosystem of the laboratory. We are now able to demonstrate clear and measurable improvement in efficiency metrics through integration. We are pleased with the overwhelming support we have received from top LIS vendors.”

Virtuoso works with BioImagene’s iScan™ family of automated digital slide scanners to provide an end-to-end digital pathology solution for labs of all sizes. It allows pathologists to view, manage, archive and analyze digital images.

Source:http://www.news-medical.net/news/20100319/BioImagenes-Virtuoso-software-integrated-with-anatomic-pathology-LIS.aspx

Novell’s pulse enterprise 2.0 suite goes beta next week

Novell is ready to begin beta testing its Pulse enterprise social-networking and collaboration suite.

Attendees at next week’s BrainShare conference will be the first to get access to the beta preview version of Pulse, which Novell plans to launch in final form in the second half of this year.

“We’ll provide them over the course of the following weeks, in a controlled manner, with an account to the Pulse preview system and give them five invites for colleagues,” said Ken Muir, chief technology and strategy officer of Novell’s Collaboration Business Unit.

The idea is to give customers a chance to try out Pulse and provide feedback to Novell as the vendor prepares the general-availability version of the product, he said.

Pulse lets co-workers collaborate on documents in real time and set up employee profiles, while giving IT staffers administrative controls to establish usage policies and security safeguards.

In addition to having static information about employees’ areas of expertise, the profiles also let them post status updates and broadcast other action notifications to their co-workers.

Pulse will also feature a unified inbox, as well as integration with Google’s Wave application, which combines features from e-mail, instant messaging and document collaboration.

Like similar products from IBM, Microsoft, Socialtext, NewsGator, Jive Software and others, Pulse aims to adapt popular Web 2.0 services and applications, like microblogging and social networking, to a workplace setting for collaboration.

Novell plans to offer Pulse both as a cloud-based SaaS (software-as-a-service) suite and as on-premise packaged software.

Source:http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/191917/novells_pulse_enterprise_20_suite_goes_beta_next_week.html

Opera claims IE browser ballot screen doubled downloads

While it will likely take many months before we get a clear picture of how the Internet Explorer browser ballot screen is affecting market share, Opera is already reporting spectacular changes.

Extensively broken down in the table below, Opera says the overall picture is that downloads have more than doubled since users were made aware something other than Internet Explorer exists (brave new world, people).

Poland led the way with 77 per cent of all Opera downloads coming courtesy of the choice screen, followed by Spain (68 per cent), Italy (67 per cent) and Denmark (66 per cent). The UK was lower down at 46 per cent which could either mean a) we’re already enlightened about the other types of browser on the market, or b) we’re ignorant and don’t want to try new things!

Will these results likely be reflected by Firefox, Chrome and Safari? Too early to say, but given Opera’s smaller user base it was always like to benefit the most proportionately to its existing share – especially with the neutral weighting it enjoyed alongside the other big four. Furthermore, the company was pushing Opera 10.5 the genuinely revolutionary it-would’ve-been-better-to-call-it-Opera-11 overhaul which has seen it leap from a performance also ran to the fastest browser on the planet.

Before we all get too excited though, remember the Browser Ballot screen only exists in Europe so any impact globally will be much less dramatic. Every silver lining…

Source:http://www.trustedreviews.com/software/news/2010/03/19/Opera-Claims-Downloads-Doubled-With-IE-Browser-Ballot-Screen/p1

Why open source and operations matter in cloud computing

Earlier this week, IBM announced a cloud computing program offering development and test services for companies and governments. That doesn’t sound like much, yet on closer inspection it’s a flagstone in the march toward a comprehensive cloud offering at Big Blue. It also demonstrates how operational efficiency is a competitive weapon in our service economy. Let me explain.

As the IT industry shifts from a product base economy to a service-based economy, operational competency is a competitive weapon. Contrast this with the past where companies could rely on closed-APIs, vendor lock in or the reliance on vast resources to build business and keep out the competition. Today, anyone with a good idea can connect to a cloud provider and build a software business over-night –- without massive investment dollars. Instead of forcing people to pay for a CD with your software on it, you deliver a service. In that type of environment where service is king, operational efficiency is crucial. It’s the company with the best execution and operational excellence that prospers. Yes, it’s leveled the playing field, yet ironically the cloud providers themselves are the best examples of operational excellence being the competitive advantage of the 21st century.

There are a few companies who can affect these economies of scale and create these cloud offerings: Google, Amazon, and now IBM. All of these cloud offerings run on Linux. (Microsoft will likely enter the fray with a Windows-based offering at some point.) These large giants who have built their own businesses via their operational excellence, now have the ability to drive down the cost of computing per CPU to rates that no one can compete with on their own. As InformationWeek writes: “IBM said it believes customers can cut IT labor costs by 50% and reduce software defects by 30% by moving development to the cloud.

The problem with internal development and test environments, IBM said, is that they consume as much as 50% of an organization’s entire IT infrastructure but typically remain idle 90% of the time.”

In typical IBM fashion they have focused on those workloads that make the most sense for Cloud computing. Their offering will allow customers to focus their own operations on production environments, while reducing costs in development and test services.

Why Linux?

Linux is the operating system of the cloud. Why is every cloud provider using Linux?

• Linux can be optimized for powerful parallelized computing to run these types of environments efficiently. IBM is using KVM, built into every Linux kernel, to power their offerings and partnering with Red Hat, a company based entirely on open source and known for its technical skills and high levels of service.

• Linux has tremendous power management capabilities. This is due in part to the focus on enterprise Linux by companies such as IBM, Red Hat and Novell to bring the cost of running a data center down. But Linux also benefits from technical innovation by mobile/embedded developers who are using Linux in those devices and need advanced power management features.

• Linux because it is open and not optimized for a specific architecture can run on a multitude of hardware options, bringing down the price for the vendors building these massive data farms. Because Linux is open, IBM has optimized Linux for its mainframe computers, giving them an advantage operationally.

• It’s pricing model. You can’t build a data farm and charge $.15/per CPU hour if you have to write a check to Redmond or anyone else for every server. Microsoft may be able to run a cloud business with MSFT products, but anyone else who actually has to pay for them would not.

• Linux is the development platform of choice in today’s world. IBM couldn’t offer a Linux-based development and test Cloud service if companies weren’t developing on Linux. Linux has steadily gained momentum as the development platform of choice, largely due to the points mentioned above that make it a great candidate for cloud computing platforms.

• Ownership. I experienced this in the late 90’s as one of the founders of a “cloud services” company called Corio, which offered hosted enterprise applications (we called cloud “application service providers” then). We were required to disclose a risk in our public offering S-1 filing that stated “We depend on software vendors to supply us with the software necessary to provide our services, and the loss of access to this software or any decline or obsolescence in its functionality could cause our customers’ businesses to suffer, which, in turn, could harm our revenues and increase our costs.” If we had run our business on open source software we would have owned our own software and this risk would not have existed. This may be the single biggest advantage to Linux in the cloud. Ask yourself if Google could be the company they are today if their search engine was built on .NET servers.

The nascent history of our service-based economy is littered with companies who have failed because of a lack of operational excellence. One example: Friendster. Back in 2003, Friendster had all the momentum. Before Facebook or Twitter or even MySpace, Friendster had amassed the first-mover advantage which is usually so important. Unfortunately, the company didn’t scale and delivered innumerable uptime problems. (I remember since I was an early subscriber.) They let poor development and operational issues sink their site, providing a bad customer experience. Users flocked to Facebook, Twitter, et al, and now Friendster is a marginal regional player at best. There were no cloud offerings at the time to help Friendster scale. Perhaps if they could have outsourced their development and test operations to IBM and focused their efforts on production, the Linux Foundation would be touting its Friendster page instead of its Twitter and Facebook accounts (nearly 25,000 members by the way.)

I have a feeling this is just one of a series of cloud announcements by IBM. We are pleased to see another Linux-based cloud offering now available to create innovative service-based companies in the future.

Source:http://www.linux.com/news/featured-blogs/158-jim-zemlin/294751-why-open-source-and-operations-matter-in-cloud-computing

Cybage, BITS join hands to offer MS in Software Engg

Cybage Software Pvt Ltd (CSPL) and the Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS), Pilani, are fostering collaboration between the two institutions to promote academic and research interactions.

As part of this, BITS will operate an off-campus centre at CSPL Pune and run the educational programme to meet the human resources development needs of Cybage, leading to a specific degree of BITS through its ‘Off-Campus Work Integrated Learning & Collaborative Programme’. L Maheshwari, vice chancellor, BITS Pilani and Deepak Nathani, chief operating officer, Cybage, signed a Memorandum of Understanding in this regard, said a release.

“The MS in Software Engineering postgraduate degree programme will have the same standards as those offered on-campus and will be equivalent to the corresponding degrees offered on-campus. The educational programmes conducted under this collaborative arrangement will offer Cybage employees an opportunity to synergise theory and practice on a sustained basis, be multi-skilled with exposure to upcoming technological areas and appreciate key management concepts,” said the release.

The two-year programme will be divided into four semesters and held on Saturdays in the Cybage premises. Those with a B.E/MCA degree or its equivalent are eligible.

“The programme was launched to address the HRD needs of the IT Industry. The candidates or students will play the role of a full-time employee and student simultaneously due to the judicious work-study integration,” it added.

Source:http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Cybage–BITS-join-hands-to-offer-MS-in-Software-Engg/592943

Kindle ebook reading software for the Apple Mac

After a year of releasing Kindle app for the iPhone.Amazon has finally announced a launch of a version of its Kindle ebook reading software for the Apple Mac. The company also has plans to market an iPad version of the software.

Besides making its ebook reader platform convenient for users Amazon is set to consolidate its leadership as the largest producer of ereader and distributor of the ebook in the market. Amazon seems to be riding the huge success it received for launching its iPhoneKindle application and has thus brought the software to Macs. The iPad is seen as a strong challenge to Amazon and hence the launch comes just two weeks ahead of the launch of Apple’s new iPad tablet, a device with broader functionality than the Kindle, but which includes an e-reader application. Available as a free download from Amazon it has all the features that technology enthusiasts would be expecting from it.

We can acquire, manage, and read digital books purchased from Amazon directly from computers of Apple. Besides this it brings along with it access to the largest online bookstore. There are also features which integrate it with the reader device for the iPhone.
Highlighting some of the other features we have the possibility to choose the font size among the 10 available font sizes and also set the number of words per line. Synchronization functions are available via Whispernet automatic addition of bookmarks and the last page viewed. This function lets the user to read the same book on Kindle reader, as well as on the Mac or iPhone with the free application Kindle depending on the location of the user and the availability of devices to the user. When the reading is taken on another devices the user is immediately moved to the last page viewed. Also, it Reads the e-book color including children’s books, cookbooks, travel books and textbooks for schools. Coming to the features that are not a part of the product offered include missing of search throughout the text, or highlighting and adding notes (although it is able to view the notes and underlining, already added by another device). Sadly, though we still can’t read any magazine or blog subscriptions on your PC like you can on the actual Kindle.Positively still the amazon has promised these features in the coming updates of kindle.

The best part as we all know is that all this comes without the ned for any additional hardware and is available in more than 100 countries. The Kindle books are already readable on devices such as the Blackberry from Research In Motion Ltd and the iPhone andiPod Touch besides also being readable on PCs.

Most book lovers have welcomed this wonderful book reading companion and have pointed out that they are eager for more developments in this latest gadget.

Source:http://whitehatfirm.com/news/kindle-ebook-reading-software-for-the-apple-mac/2019.html

Jade Software turns small profit

Christchurch-based Jade Software today reported a $4.3 million fall in annual earnings before interest and tax to $800,000.

Operating revenue fell 7.8 per cent to $46.2m in the year to December 31 from the previous year. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation fell 35 per cent to $7.2m.

Chairwoman Ruth Richardson said Jade could not hope to have escaped the impact of one of the most hostile trading environments in generations.

Managing director Craig Richardson said Jade had remained profitable, expanded its customer base and was putting the finishing touches on its latest product called JOOB.

JOOB, an innovative new high performance data management product on the Microsoft .NET platform, would be made available to key partners in July, with the product launched globally in the fourth quarter of this year.

The company’s key markets were severely affected by the economic downturn in the second half and earnings were adversely impacted by the strength of the New Zealand dollar. The company earns more than 65 per cent of its revenue offshore.

Richardson said the Jade Group was continuing its transition to a new high-value business model.

Jade generated $8.7m in cash from operations in 2009 and maintained its investment in new product development at 16 per cent of turnover with a focus completing development of JOOB.

Source:http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10633080

3D Madness

The NCAA Basketball Tournament is getting its first taste of the latest in television technology when the Final Four is broadcast in 3D.

LG Electronics USA and Cinedigm Digital Cinema Corp. are co-sponsoring this particular madness, produced by CBS Sports for up to 100 digital cinemas nationwide. Fans lucky enough to get tickets to the live events at Lucas Oil Stadium will also see the action in 3D on LG LCD HDTVs at locations around the venue, as will the thousands visiting the NCAA’s “Bracket Town refreshed by Coca-Cola Zero.” Bracket Town, a fan zone co-sponsored by CBS and other corporate entities, will host games, instruction and other activities at the Indianapolis Convention Center, April 1-5.

PRODUCING 3D

Delivering the competition in 3D was described as “a bit of a challenge” by Ken Aagaard, CBS Sports executive vice president of operations and engineering.

“We have to be able to figure out how to put together a comprehensive production plan that allows us to keep the basketball fans happy and give movie theatre goers a 3D experience,” he said. “We’re making sure that you’re seeing the depth, but you’re not seeing that huge ‘in-your-face’ kind of 3D.”

3D camera rigs will be provided by Burbank, Calif.-based Pace digital camera systems, owned by 3D pioneer Vince Pace, who supplied rigs and expertise for James Cameron’s “Avatar” and the NBA 3D Finals in 3D. NEP, which also worked on 3D productions, will provide its Supershooter 9 mobile unit.

“It’s a totally different approach to doing television,” said NEP’s chief technology officer George Hoover of CBS Sports’ 3D initiative. “The camera positions are different, the shooting patterns are different, shot composition’s different.”

The biggest change, said Hoover, is having cameras lower and closer to the court for the 3D telecast.

“There’s very little depth of field when you get up high and far away,” said Hoover. “To provide 3D images that are interesting, the cameras need to be positioned [for], generally speaking, wider shots lower to the field of play, [with] fewer pans and tilts and zooms [versus the high wide shot typically used for 2D production].”

At press time, Aagaard said the 3D rigs would tentatively be a backboard camera, two handhelds under the baskets and two cover cameras. He was debating whether to use a “slash” (diagonal camera off the corner of the playing field) and a “mid 50” (center court camera) for the cover cameras, or simply two slashes.

The two-format project could double the number of camera and support crew of a regular 2D production.

“The handheld cameras are so heavy that I’ve got two operators for each—double the count—because over a period of time they’re going to have to be rested,” said Aagaard. “And you need one stereographer for every camera.”

Source:http://www.tvtechnology.com/article/96670