Open standards advocate comes out in favor of Microsoft
Microsoft's standards format has been misunderstood and being "pro Open XML" doesn't make one "anti ODF", claims Australian activist Rick Jelliffe.
[Seems to me like arguing for 2 standards leaves us right where we started - having to convert the freaking documents, when we could have one standard that everyone uses!!! That's not anti-Microsoft; it's pro-users - dcparris]
Qantas to Increase International Fuel Surcharges
Qantas to Increase International Fuel Surcharges.
New director looks to inject HP Labs with 'startup DNA'
Prith Banerjee takes over a lab that was once a powerhouse of technological innovation and hopes to focus on fewer projects and bring in fresh talent.
Ausra goes for a gigawatt
Aussie solar thermal specialist negotiating with utilities for big solar plants
New Report Explores the Potential of Adobe Creative Suite 3 Web Premium
... all the new tools in the Suite; it also offers you a primer on Web design as well as insight into how the Suite influences design. Complete with helpful hints ...
Rules for E-Commerce Startups to Live By, Part 2: What Not to Do
While many companies are focused on their business online, they tend to put up sites that turn off rather than turn on potential customers. Because there are so many potential options, a business needs to be careful about how it designs its e-commerce site. For instance, a visitor can't purchase what he or she can't find, so a company has to make sure that its products are easy to identify.
Vote on Barney's ENDA Delayed
(Cross-posted at ENDAblog ) From Queer Channel Media : Democratic leaders announced they have decided to postpone a vote in the House of Representatives this week on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA. The announcement came several hours after the White House issued a statement saying that senor advisers have recommended that ... (Read on Source)
Zude Pages and the Future of Social Networks
In the previous article I gave you a taste of Zude the new offering from Fifth Generation Systems that some claim will revolutionize social networking and the web. In this article I will actually build a Zude profile and speculate on the uses and possible pitfalls of this technology....
Reach Your Online Customers Through Optimization Learn how search engine friendly design can tap into free traffic from search engines: SES Chicago
CelleCast Set for Official Launch of Service on Nov. 1st With Westwood One's The Lars Larson Show As
CelleCast, Inc. announced today that its cell phone radio on demand service will be available starting November 1st. With the service, radio programs are available on any phone, any time, anywhere. The ability to pause, fast forward and rewind audio is built-in to its TiVo-like subscription service for the radio. Interacting with hosts is also a keystone of CelleCast, as listeners are invited to record Talkback comments and send them instantly to the show. Westwood One's The Lars Larson Show is set as the debut talk radio program for CelleCast's upcoming launch. (PRWeb Oct 25, 2007) Post Comment:Trackback URL: http://www.prweb.com/pingpr.php/UGlnZy1JbnNlLVRoaXItTG92ZS1UaGlyLVplcm8=
Best of Leopard Is Yet to Come: Innovative Third-Party Apps
Once developers sink their teeth into Core Animation, a powerful developer's toolkit embedded in the new Mac OS, we'll likely enter an advanced era of user interface design. Commentary by Leander Kahney.
Another great year for consumer electronics, says Sony president
Forget the mortgage crisis-give me an LCD TV, say American consumers.
Hillary Responds to Accusations Campaign Planted Questions
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton responded to allegations Sunday that her presidential campaign had planted questions during public appearances.
The shepherd of indigenous Indian Innovation
There are some people whose name equals innovation in India. And a lot of them are unsung. However, a lot more of them might have remained unsung if it were not for Prof. Anil Gupta and his HoneyBee network. His former student and CEO of Naukri.com Sanjeev Bikhchandani writes:
In the last twenty years HoneyBee has documented in its online database more than 70,000 inventions by innovators in rural India. These include ? a cotton stripping / plucking machine, a manual milking machine, a coconut tree climbing device, a garlic peeling machine, a device to draw water from wells, herbal remedies, a cowdung powered cell phone charger, a plow and weeding device that can be attached to a motorcycle, a low cost cell phone based switch for household appliances and farm pump sets, a beach cleaner made from an adaptation of a groundnut separator, and a walnut peeling machine among others.
The Network has filed for more than 142 patents and more than twenty have been awarded.
HoneyBee gathers ideas by staying in touch with people in rural India. Apart from a continuous stream of ideas that now walk in through the door the Network conducts Shodhyatras every six months. Basically a group of Networkers led by Prof. Gupta travel through selected parts of rural India over several weeks meeting people, uncovering innovations and recognising and rewarding inventors.
Several companies have come forward to license some these innovations and commercialise them. The Network thus is able to disseminate the innovations while protecting the intellectual property rights of the inventors and ensuring that they get a financial reward.
So how did the Network come about. Prof. Gupta was working in the area of agricultural economics and rural development at IIM in the mid eighties. He spent a lot of time in villages talking to farmers to gather data for his research studies. He would publish his research papers and would travel all over the world to speak at conferences. However he was always plagued by a sense of guilt ? he was doing all this but the farmers who gave him the knowledge were getting nothing out of it. He wanted to rectify this injustice.
When I was his student at IIM around that time Prof. Gupta once told me that there is a lot of indigenous knowledge in rural India that is undocumented and may be lost to future generations with the advent of modern technology from the West and he was planning to document it. At that time I did not realise the importance of what I dismissed as a noble idea casually suggested over a cup of tea in his home.
Over the years however from a small beginning in a cubicle at IIM Ahmedabad, the HoneyBee network has created an entire ecosystem where indigenous knowledge and rural innovations are documented, inventors are recognised and rewarded and innovations are marketed to companies.
My earlier post on Indian Innovations.
Prof. Anil Gupta is doing a remarkable service to document and share the Indian's traditional way to innovate - which some call jugaad. A work around - because resources are scarce and work needs to be done. In a world which some say is going to be characterised by a scarcity of resources, are Indians better prepared because of our "jugaadu" ways? Here's something I wrote on a similar topic around two years ago.
Google News Introduces Location-Specific Coverage
Google News has done a decent job of representing big stories, but when it came to local developments, your best bet was often to visit to some poorly designed and infrequently updated site owned by a nearby TV station. Now that may no longer be the case, as Google News is getting local.
ComScore Media Metrix Ranks Top 50 U.S. Web Properties for May 2008
“Mother’s Day was a key driver of Web activity in May, as the convenience of online shopping for flowers and gifts drew many to retail sites,” commented Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix. “Summer travel was also on Americans’ minds this month as warmer weather and the end of the school year spurred vacation ... (Read on Source)
Using Search Engines Instead of the Address Bar to Navigate
Marhsall Kirkpatrick of Read Write Web makes a supposition that may be inherently incorrect. A huge number of people online don’t know the difference between their browser’s address bar and search bar. Let’s keep that in perspective. What will it take for them to learn? That particular point has created a great conversation over at Read [...]
Low Scoring Night
The Dodgers defeat the Giants 2-0 to finish the evening. There were 11 teams tonight that held their opponents to two runs or less. Two of them loss. Two other teams were shutout 3-0. At least there were a lot... (Read on Source)
Show Me the Money: Google, Yahoo!, MSN Finance Sections on the Rise
It?s no secret that the economy is currently in a state of flux. Rising oil and gas prices have a way of financially affecting almost every aspect of our lives. The word ?recession? has been floating around for the better part of a year now and worried consumers are trying to keep tabs on the financial markets more than ever. (Read on Source)
Facebook yanks international access to Scrabulous
The popular Scrabble knockoff, Scrabulous, may have been removed from the US and Canada last month, but it was still accessible to international users... until now. Facebook has blocked access everywhere except India.
Retailers 'Sell' to Young Virtually
Retailer Kohl's Corp. this month launched a new line of apparel, but the plaid skirts and printed T-shirts won't be sold in its 957 stores. Instead, it's selling them on Stardoll.com, a virtual community for teens and tweens where kids can fork over "Stardollars" -- purchased online at a nominal sum -- to buy apparel for their online characters. (Read on Source)
SystemRescueCd 1.1.0 Packed with New Utilities
Softpedia: "The SystemRescueCd team has announced today the latest version of their Linux system. This new release brings important new features, such as advanced customization and kernel recompilation, as well as updates to some of the already present applications."
Lehman shares slide on Paulson bailout reluctance
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Concern that Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc may fail to find a buyer because the U.S. government is reluctant to provide financial backing sent the investment bank's shares tumbling to a nearly 14-year low on Friday. (Read on Source)
Fail and You Chrome-fed Googasm bares tech pundit futility
... operating system designed to compete head-to-head with Microsoft Windows. I understand the argument that as web ... going to guess that they will choose Internet Explorer (or - as it is known commonly ...
Women in Legal Occupations Earned 51 Percent of Men's Salaries, Says Study
Amphibian annihilation: most species could be extinct in Europe by 2050
Position summary: junior estimator will assist the estimating team with the estimating and preparation of proposals and bids for new projects, as well as... . fl. (Read on Source)
Free GIMP 2.6 Image Editor Looks, Behaves More Like Photoshop
The GIMP project released the latest version of its free software image editor. GIMP version 2.6 features a greatly overhauled user interface, bringing the look and feel of the app much closer to Adobe Photoshop, the expensive industry standard for pro photographers.
Wired.com
iPhone Hits the Road iPhone for Commuters January 1216 2009
(Programming News and Information) ITLE nbspnbsp iPhone Hits the Road iPhone for Commuters January 1216 2009 Big Nerd Ranch announces new iPhone for Commuters January 1216 2009 in Santa Clara CA With the same syllabus and instruction materials as the Big Nerd Ranch039s iPhone Bootcamp httpbignerdranchcomclassesiphoneshtml......
BalanceNG 2.198
... fix has also been applied to the 1.x branch, resulting in release 1.936. The Ubuntu JeOS VMware virtual appliance has been updated accordingly. ...
Fundir aço com luz solar
É possível conseguir temperaturas muito elevadas com a concentração de uma grande quantidade de luz solar em uma pequena área. Neste vídeo, a concentração de energia é muito elevada e é possível obter a fusão de uma placa de aço. Leia também Alerta de tempestade... solar (Read on Source)
Hanging With Celebrities in D.C.
I just had an interesting weekend. On Thursday I found out that one of my favorite political organizations, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State , was having a little meet-up for bloggers in Washington D.C. Washington? Gosh, that's just a short ride from my digs in Harrisonburg. Read the rest of this post... | Read the ... (Read on Source)
name: MAGPIE