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2020-08-05T02:15:00.003+05:30

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From Punch Card to Cloud Computing - SAP

2010-02-18T18:04:00.003+05:30

From SAP R/3 through mySAP ERP and SAP Business Suite 7, SAP has a long and varied history, accompanied by characters such as Hasso Plattner, Shai Agassi, and Léo Apotheker.

Back in the 1970s, while the world was in the throws of sexual revolution and the Red Army Faction had plunged West Germany into crisis, five former IBM employees joined forces in Mannheim in 1972 to found a company whose name translated as System Analysis and Program Development. What began as a small enterprise is now the world’s largest provider of business software, with around 47,800 employees and offices in more than 50 countries.

Punch cards were used in the 1970s (photo: SAP)

Mainframes and punch cards

Claus Wellenreuther, Hans-Werner Hector, Klaus Tschira, Dietmar Hopp, and Hasso Plattner wrote computer programs for payroll and accounting. In the era of mainframes and punch cards, the goal of the five entrepreneurs was to develop business software capable of processing information in real time. The data was entered on screen, instead of using the punch cards. The “R” in the product name – which stood for “real time” – was destined to play a major role in SAP names until 2003. In 1973, the software module for financial accounting hit the market. The business software began attracting the attention of an increasing number of companies, including the cigarette manufacturer Roth-Händle. The software ran on IBM computers and used the DOS operating system.

SAP founders: Klaus Tschira, Hasso Plattner, Dietmar Hopp, and Hans-Werner Hector (photo: SAP)

Two years later – in 1975 – the software was enabled for purchasing, inventory management, and invoice verification. What was to become SAP’s trademark was already possible back then: all the applications could be integrated. For instance, the data from materials management was transferred straight to financial accounting. This meant that invoice verification and posting could be completed in a single operation.

Hasso Plattner at the Stock Exchange (photo: SAP)

In 1976, the company changed its name to SAP GmbH, becoming a limited liability company. A year later, it moved headquarters from Weinheim to the small town of Walldorf, some 20 miles further south. This was also the year that SAP acquired its first customer abroad, in Austria. The following year, SAP became available in French, when the agricultural machinery manufacturer John Deere opted for SAP’s accounting software.

The company was expanding rapidly. In 1979, the cornerstone was laid for SAP’s own data center in Walldorf. Two years later, SAP presented its wares at a trade show for the first time – at Systems in Munich. Back then, around 200 companies were using SAP software, which had added production management to its capabilities. The company premises in Walldorf were bursting at the seams, so plans were drawn up for an additional building. In 1985, SAP generated sales of 64 million German marks (around U.S.$ 21 million) and had more than 100 employees.

The previous year, SAP (international) AG, was set up in Switzerland, to give SAP even better access to foreign markets. In 1986, more offices were opened in the German cities of Ratingen and Düsseldorf. Two years later, Hamburg and Munich followed. In 1986, SAP’s sales hit 100 million German marks for the first time. A new module for human resources was also launched, and SAP made its first appearance at CeBIT, the world’s biggest computer tradeshow.
Going public

In 1988, SAP went public, and the limited liability company became a stock corporation. More international subsidiaries sprang up in Denmark, Sweden, Italy, and the United States. Subsidiaries in the Netherlands, France, Spain, and Great Britain had already been established the year before. In 1989, SAP branches were founded in Canada, Singapore, and Australia. By the end of the 1980s, SAP had some 1,400 employees.

In 1990 – the year of German reunification – SAP opened its Berlin office in what was to become the country’s new capital. That same year, SAP acquired a 50% stake in the German software company Steeb and took over software vendor CAS.

SAP office in the 1980s (photo: SAP)

SAP R/3 – database, application, and client

Winter 1991 in the German city of Hanover. At the CeBIT trade fair, SAP presented a computer program for companies that was destined to set new standards for business software: SAP R/3. It was characterized by its special client/server architecture, comprising database server, application server, and presentation layer. The software was structured to match the organization generally found in companies. There were modules for financials (FI), controlling (CO), materials management (MM), sales and distribution (SD), production planning (PP), and human resources (HR). SAP R/3 mapped typical processes for the day-to-day activities of the business world. Users could access their data using a standardized interface. While the predecessor SAP R/2 was designed especially for mainframes, SAP R/3 could be distributed across different computers.

However, SAP R/3 was relatively expensive and time-consuming to implement, because the software had to be configured individually. That’s why mainly large enterprises opted for SAP R/3 – including Coca-Cola, Microsoft, General Motors, Deutsche Telekom, the German post office, and Daimler-Benz. Such big customers had a positive impact on the balance sheet: In 1997, SAP generated sales of more than 6 billion German marks (approximately U.S.$ 3.5 billion) and had more than 13,000 employees.

In 1993, SAP had already began cooperating with Microsoft, with the goal of enabling SAP R/3 for Windows NT. The two software giants cemented their relationship again in 2006 with the joint product Duet.

SAP’s business application software was called SAP R/3 from 1992 until 2003. Then came mySAP ERP. Today, there’s the SAP ERP 6.0 application, which is also part of SAP Business Suite 7. SAP ERP 6.0 is based on the SAP NetWeaver technology platform. The platform was unveiled in 2003 and is a flexible enough to also integrate non-SAP systems using open interfaces.

SAP Business Suite 7 has been officially available since May 2009. As well as containing enterprise resource planning functions, SAP ERP enables companies to work with customer relationship management (CRM), supply chain management (SCM), supplier relationship management (SRM), product lifecycle management (PLM), and special industry solutions. SAP Business Suite is designed for large enterprises that want to reduce their IT costs and optimize their business processes.

With the acquisition of the French company Business Objects in 2008, SAP concentrated its focus on enterprise performance management and business intelligence.

SAP discovers the Web and the midmarket

The Web conquered the world. And in 1996, it became possible to hook Internet applications up to SAP R/3 using open interfaces. With SAP Business ByDesign, launched in 2007, SAP presented a solution that is accessed exclusively through the user’s Web browser, with modules that can be rented according to each company’s needs. At its unveiling, Henning Kagermann, who was CEO at the time, spoke of “the most important announcement I have ever made in my career.”

In 2006, SAP further strengthened its position in the midmarket: The SAP Business One application and the SAP Business All-in-One solutions are preconfigured products that cover the most important business processes for small and midsize companies.
Sailing away – the founding fathers step down

When SAP was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1998, founding fathers Dietmar Hopp and Klaus Tschira stood down from the executive board and joined the supervisory board, with Hopp becoming chairman. Hasso Plattner and Henning Kagermann became co-CEOs.

In 1999, Plattner announced a new strategy, with a view to becoming even more customer-friendly. The new buzzwords were mySAP.com and EnjoySAP. By the new millennium, SAP had become the world’s leading provider of business software solutions. Five years later, annual sales had increased to €8.5 billion.

SAP acquired the Israeli company TopTier in 2001, and its founder Shai Agassi joined the SAP Executive Board the following year. Léo Apotheker also joined the board in 2002. In 2003, Hasso Plattner, the last of the SAP founders, stood down from board. As a passionate sailor, he received a very special leaving present – a sail signed by all the SAP employees.

When Shai Agassi left the board in 2007, Léo Apotheker became deputy CEO. Agassi’s departure triggered a number of restructuring measures and changes: The SAP Executive Council was founded, comprising corporate officers who report directly to the SAP Executive Board and who are responsible for SAP’s market and product strategy. In 2008, Léo Apotheker and Henning Kagermann were appointed co-CEOs. Erwin Gunst, Bill McDermott, and Jim Hagemann Snabe were new additions to the board.

In 2009 – the year of the global financial crisis, which also affected SAP in the form of revenue shortfalls and layoffs – Léo Apotheker took over the reins single-handedly. Nine months later, he stepped down with immediate effect after a mutual agreement was met with the SAP Supervisory Board not to extend his contract. John Schwarz, who joined the SAP Executive Board following the acquisition of Business Objects, also resigned in 2010. Erwin Gunst stepped down for health reasons and will not return. Gerhard Oswald is the new COO. Meanwhile, Hasso Plattner has reemerged from retirement. At the request of the SAP Supervisory Board, he will again play a significant role in determining the future direction of the company.

VIA SAP.INFO

Motorola Droid

2009-10-30T01:58:00.002+05:30

Motorola's Droid phone will sport new software from Google Inc that threatens navigation devices by Garmin and TomTom and could help win back market share lost to the iPhone.

One of the newest features of the Droid is Google Maps Navigation, which offers real-time, turn-by-turn walking or driving directions.

The news helped push TomTom shares down 21 per cent as the navigation device maker also warned of more price declines. Garmin shares fell 16 per cent.

The Droid will go on sale on November 6 and cost $199 for people, who commit to a two-year service contract - a venture of Verizon Communications Inc and Vodafone Group Plc - Verizon Wireless said.

Verizon has exclusive US rights to the phone, the first to use Google's Android 2.0 software.

The leading US mobile provider said it will promote the device with its biggest marketing campaign ever - giving Motorola a good chance to improve its sales, analysts said.

Verizon Wireless' Chief Marketing Officer John Stratton said the Droid would hold its own against iPhone even as he conceded that Apple had revolutionised the mobile industry.

"We have to demystify the notion that (iPhone's) untouchable," Stratton said at the launch event in New York. "This product can stand up and compete."

Stratton said the Droid is the first in a range of Motorola Android phones from Verizon Wireless, as it looks to regain ground lost to AT&T Inc, the US iPhone provider.

The Droid is a massive bet for Motorola, which after losing market share to rivals for more than two years has reorganised its entire mobile business around developing Android phones.

"In terms of the rejuvenation of mobile devices, this is an important next step," Motorola Chief Executive Sanjay Jha said. "We are ready to produce very large volumes."

Motorola said the Droid is the thinnest phone to feature a slide-out Qwerty keypad. It sports a five-megapixel camera, a high-resolution screen, fast chips from ARM Holdings and Texas Instruments, and a day's battery life.

Android 2.0 works with Microsoft's Outlook, making it more attractive for business users. Google said it expects other phone makers to support the new Android version soon.

Ad Campaign

Verizon's marketing weight will "make a huge, huge difference" in helping Droid sales, analyst for market research firm Interpret, Michael Gartenberg said.

Verizon spent $2.4 billion on advertising in 2008, according to TNS Media. The company recently started showing Droid video ads highlighting its advantages over iPhone.

"We are everywhere with this," Stratton said, declining to disclose the exact marketing spend for Droid. "You won't be able to avoid it."

Stratton said the phone's relatively large size might appeal more to men than women.

Gartenberg expects pent-up demand because it is the first time Motorola customers would be able to use an Android device on the Verizon network.

"As long as it is not buggy, it will do quite well," Current Analysis analyst Avi Greengart said. "I don't think this will single-handedly save Motorola but it is a crucial step", Greengart added.

Greengart said that while the navigation feature will not stop consumers from buying dedicated GPS devices, it could put pressure on companies like TomTom and Garmin to cut prices.

The navigation service will respond to voice commands and displays Google's online street photo archive. Users can choose "layers" to add to maps, including traffic conditions, or data about local stores or points of interest.

TomTom shares finished down 21 per cent at 8.11 euros, while Garmin shares closed down 16 per cent at $31.59. Motorola shares rose 0.8 per cent to $7.96, Verizon shares rose 2.6 per cent to $29.95, while Google shares fell 1.5 per cent to $540.30.

Google Wave

2009-10-01T17:38:00.003+05:30

About Google Wave

Google Wave is an online tool for real-time communication and collaboration. A wave can be both a conversation and a document where people can discuss and work together using richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.

Google Wave: Live collaborative editing

Google Wave: Natural Language Processing

What is a wave?

A wave is equal parts conversation and document. People can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.

A wave is shared. Any participant can reply anywhere in the message, edit the content and add participants at any point in the process. Then playback lets anyone rewind the wave to see who said what and when.

A wave is live. With live transmission as you type, participants on a wave can have faster conversations, see edits and interact with extensions in real-time.

VIA - Wave.Google.com

Augmented Google Earth animated with real time human and vehicular traffic

2009-09-30T22:00:00.004+05:30

Researchers from Georgia Tech have devised methods to take real-time, real-world information and layer it onto Google Earth, adding dynamic information to the previously sterile Googlescape.

They use live video feeds (sometimes from many angles) to find the position and motion of various objects, which they then combine with behavioral simulations to produce real-time animations for Google Earth or Microsoft Virtual Earth.

They use motion capture data to help their animated humans move realistically, and were able to extrapolate cars' motion throughout an entire stretch of road from just a few spotty camera angles.

From their video of an augmented virtual Earth, you can see if the pickup soccer game in the park is short a player, how traffic is on the highway, and how fast the wind is blowing the clouds across the sky.

Up next, they say they want to add weather, birds, and motion in rivers.

VIA - POPSCI.COM

Samsung's New 12MP camera phone

2009-09-30T21:47:00.003+05:30

Just yesterday we were talking about Samsung’s latest 12MP camera phone the SCH-W880 that’s been fitted with a 3X optical zoom lens. More news today says that it’s going to be around the South Korean market for awhile in a CDMA state.

The handset features -

* 3.3-inch AMOLED touchscreen display (capacitive)
* 3G capabilities
* Wi-Fi
* GPS
* Bluetooth, USB (micro)
* 4GB internal memory with microSD card support

The camera is of course the central feature of this handset. It also allows for HD video recording (720p at 30fps). The camera will come with variable aperture settings a Xenon as well as an LED flash. Aside form this being the first ever 12MP camera phone with optical zoom functionality the fact that it records video at the resolution it does is also a first. It seems like it's even designed to look and feel like a digicam with a dial selector for various modes placed on one side.

The European version of the same handset with maybe a few adjustments here and there to suit the crowd will be called the M8920. No word on availability yet.

Samsung Corby Hits India

2009-09-30T21:45:00.003+05:30

Samsung has just announced the launch of the Corby (S3653) in India. It’s set to be one of India’s cheapest touchscreen mobile handsets with a price tag of just Rs. 9,600. It comes with bold color options such as Jamaican Yellow, Cupid Pink, Minimal White, and Festival Orange so that users can choose their favorite color.

“As a Company that leads in innovation, Samsung Corby is another example of the Company’s commitment to developing new products and technologies
designed for specific audiences in keeping with their needs,” states B D Park, Director-Telecom , Samsung India Electronics Pvt. Ltd.

The handset will feature –

* 2.8-inch QVGA touchscreen with Samsung’s TouchWiz UI and Haptics, one finger zoom, gesture control
* EDGE/GPRS connectivity
* Bluetooth with A2DP and USB
* Live feeds for Social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter
* MicroSD card support
* 2 megapixel camera
* FM radio with RDS

“Samsung leads the market globally for full-screen touch phones and recognizes the importance of SNS in the modern mobile industry. Samsung has its target audiences at the heart of its business strategy and the design and functionality of Samsung Corby meets the needs of a highly connected and style-conscious youth audience." stated Park

VIA - Tech2

Coming soon to the small screen: TV in 3D

2009-09-30T21:42:00.000+05:30

Osaka, (Japan): You've seen movies in 3D. Now, how about your favourite TV series? Panasonic Corp unveiled on Monday a 50 inch (127 cm) high-definition 3D plasma TV and glasses that make images appear like you can touch them.

At a demonstration at Panasonic's head office in Osaka, F1 race cars roared right by viewers and gymnasts barrelled down a runway, hitting vaulting horse and flipping towards the audience.

"We've introduced concrete plans to deliver the first 3D into people's homes. It won't disappoint," said Yoshiiku Miyata, Panasonic managing executive officer in charge of audio visual products.

He declined to comment on an exact release date or price tag, stating that the company hopes the new TVs will hit shelves sometime in 2010.

The technology works by tricking the brain into seeing 3D as high-speed shutters in the glasses work in sync with the TV to deliver a double layered image at twice the speed of normal TV.

"When the TV is showing the left image, the shutter closes the right eye so people can see only the left image," explained Keisuke Suetsugi, manager in charge of high quality AV development.

"And the next moment, when the TV is showing the right image, the shutter glass is covering the left." The company hopes the smaller, more living room friendly 50 inch model will become a popular choice for home theatres than a 103 inch big brother that debuted last October.

The new model will go on display to the public at the CEATEC Japan tech show on October 6-10.

Panasonic announced in August it will team up with Twentieth Century Fox and Lightstorm Entertainment in the making of Oscar-winning director James Cameron's new 3D film Avatar, set to open in theatres worldwide this December.

Chief rival electronics maker Sony Corp announced earlier this month it also plans to launch 3D TVs by 2010.

Sony to launch new PS3 game title in theatres

2009-09-30T21:37:00.000+05:30

Video gaming will hit the big screen next month when Sony Corp unveils a new game title for its Playstation3 game console at movie theatres.

On October 5 and 6, four theatres in San Francisco and Thousand Oaks, California, Rosemont, Illinois and Bellevue, Washington, will give viewers a chance to play the upcoming action game Uncharted 2: Among Thieves title--on movie screens equipped with Sony digital-projection technology.

Those theatres will provide viewers with PS3s connected to Sony's 4K digital cinema technology, which is in about 500 theatres nationwide and which Sony says provides better image resolution than traditional projectors.

Mike Fidler, senior Vice President of Sony Electronics' Digital Cinema Solutions and Services Group, hopes events like this can eventually drive revenues for Sony, video game makers as well as theatre operators.

"This is the first time we're doing it in a theatre. We think it's a start of something for us, and hope we can build this into a standard element in the movie-going experience," he said. "Our goal in converting theatres to digital is to go beyond the traditional movie-going experience and focus on helping exhibitors find ways to fill seats."

"Gaming will be an important part of that equation." The first night will be a private invitation-only event, while the second event will be open to the public, to be publicized through radio and social networking sites.

Theatre chains have struggled to sustain revenue growth as home entertainment and the recession entices some moviegoers to stay home. And Sony, like other game console makers, is hoping for a hit title this holiday season to drive platform sales as the industry grapples with a protracted decline.

Both Sony and Microsoft Corp, the maker of the rival XBox 360, have recently slashed prices on their consoles. Sales of video game equipment and software in the United States fell 16 percent in August to $908.7 million, the industry's sixth consecutive monthly decline, research group NPD reported.

Uncharted 2 is due to be released on October 13.

Firefox: Google Chrome Frame poses a security risk to users

2009-09-30T19:18:00.002+05:30

Firefox backer Mozilla has joined Microsoft in criticising Google's Chrome Frame.

Chrome Frame is a plug-in that puts Google's browser engine under the hood of Microsoft's Internet Explorer, and Google argues it can modernise IE versions 6, 7, and 8 with faster page loading and JavaScript performance. It kicks in only on web pages that web developers have labelled with a specific tag.

After Google announced it, Microsoft criticised it as creating a potentially increased risk to browsing security.

Mike Shaver, vice president of engineering for Mozilla, published a different concern in a blog post Monday night.

"I certainly share that longing for a web in which the vast majority of web users enjoy the performance and capabilities we see in Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Opera. Unfortunately, I don't think that Chrome Frame gets us closer to that web," Shaver said.

Google Chrome Frame

Firefox says Chrome Frame is not the answer (photo credit: Google)

Specifically, Shaver said Chrome Frame can disable IE features and confuse users' understanding of web security matters. And users of the IE 6 browser, he added, often won't be able to run Chrome Frame anyway because their computer is locked down to prohibit changes or lacks sufficient power in the first place.

"As a side effect, the user's understanding of the web's security model and the behaviour of their browser is seriously hindered by delegating the choice of software to the developers of individual sites they visit. It is a problem that we have seen repeatedly with other stack plug-ins like Flash, Silverlight and Java, and not one that I think we need to see replayed again under the banner of HTML5," he said.

Shaver's advice is to rely on the age-old technique: an upgrade suggestion on the website.

"It would be better for the web if developers who want to use the Chrome Frame snippet simply told users that their site worked better in Chrome and instructed them on how to install it," Shaver said. "The user would be educated about the benefits of an alternate browser, would understand better the choice they were making, and the kudos for Chrome's performance would accrue to Google rather than to Microsoft."

VIA - CNET

Microsoft to challenge Google with Office Suite

2009-07-14T13:28:00.002+05:30

The clash of the Titans continue, as Microsoft announced that it will soon be launching Microsoft Office 2010 which will feature broadcast and video editing in PowerPoint, new data visualization capabilities in Excel, and co-authoring in Word. Microsoft is testing a new version of its market-leading productivity suite for Windows PCs that will tie-up with new Web-based Office.

The applications offered by Microsoft will be similar to those offered by Google, a suite of lightweight online applications. Google's online spreadsheet and office related applications has been gaining popularity. To counter that Microsoft plans to take Office online, with a new series of free Office Web applications. "Office Web Applications, the online companion to Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote applications, allow you to access documents from anywhere. You can even simultaneously share and work on documents with others online," says Microsoft Office 2010 Technical Preview Website. The ad-supported web-suite will be available to more than 400 million Windows Live consumers at no extra cost.

Google has been struggling to match the reputation of Microsoft office, as its own suite failed to perform up to their expectation. But Google is offering free version of this suite, thus attracting more than 15 million customers. Since then Microsoft has been under pressure to provide more free applications.

Microsoft is also set to announce the launch of its internet-based operating system, called Azure. This will see it give tough competition to Google in the business of selling computing resources over the internet and by allowing developers to buy capacity to run their applications based on the amount of storage, bandwidth or any other resources that they use.

Microsoft has also announced that it will reduce the number of office editions from eight to five. The Microsoft Office suite will be available in the first half of next year. So far, the company has made no announcement for an Office suite for Mac systems.

VIA siliconindia.com

Google Chrome OS

2009-07-09T00:21:00.002+05:30

It's been an exciting nine months since we launched the Google Chrome browser. Already, over 30 million people use it regularly. We designed Google Chrome for people who live on the web — searching for information, checking email, catching up on the news, shopping or just staying in touch with friends. However, the operating systems that browsers run on were designed in an era where there was no web. So today, we're announcing a new project that's a natural extension of Google Chrome — the Google Chrome Operating System. It's our attempt to re-think what operating systems should be.

Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Later this year we will open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010. Because we're already talking to partners about the project, and we'll soon be working with the open source community, we wanted to share our vision now so everyone understands what we are trying to achieve.

Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We're designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds. The user interface is minimal to stay out of your way, and most of the user experience takes place on the web. And as we did for the Google Chrome browser, we are going back to the basics and completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don't have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work.

Google Chrome OS will run on both x86 as well as ARM chips and we are working with multiple OEMs to bring a number of netbooks to market next year. The software architecture is simple — Google Chrome running within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel. For application developers, the web is the platform. All web-based applications will automatically work and new applications can be written using your favorite web technologies. And of course, these apps will run not only on Google Chrome OS, but on any standards-based browser on Windows, Mac and Linux thereby giving developers the largest user base of any platform.

Google Chrome OS is a new project, separate from Android. Android was designed from the beginning to work across a variety of devices from phones to set-top boxes to netbooks. Google Chrome OS is being created for people who spend most of their time on the web, and is being designed to power computers ranging from small netbooks to full-size desktop systems. While there are areas where Google Chrome OS and Android overlap, we believe choice will drive innovation for the benefit of everyone, including Google.

We hear a lot from our users and their message is clear — computers need to get better. People want to get to their email instantly, without wasting time waiting for their computers to boot and browsers to start up. They want their computers to always run as fast as when they first bought them. They want their data to be accessible to them wherever they are and not have to worry about losing their computer or forgetting to back up files. Even more importantly, they don't want to spend hours configuring their computers to work with every new piece of hardware, or have to worry about constant software updates. And any time our users have a better computing experience, Google benefits as well by having happier users who are more likely to spend time on the Internet.

We have a lot of work to do, and we're definitely going to need a lot of help from the open source community to accomplish this vision. We're excited for what's to come and we hope you are too. Stay tuned for more updates in the fall and have a great summer.

VIA - http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/

An overview of the new Nokia N97

2009-06-24T03:14:00.005+05:30

Nokia has launched its new N97 smart phone (Nokia calls it a mobile computer) with 3.5-inch tilting touch screen and QWERTY keyboard. Nokia N97 key features are:

* Tri-band HSDPA/quad-band GSM
* Sliding QWERTY keypad and touchscreen display
* 3.5-inch TFT (16:9 widescreen); 640 x 360 pixels
* 32GB onboard memory + microSD card slot
* Series60 5th Edition
* 5-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss Tessar optics
* MPEG-4 VGA video recording at 30fps
* Multiple music, video and image formats supported
* 802.11b/g; USB; Bluetooth with A2DP; GPS with A-GPS
* 3.5mm audio jack
* 117.2 x 55.3 x 15.9mm
* 150gm weight

The Nokia N97 is powered by the Nokia BP-4L Battery with 6.6 hours talk-time and 430 hours standby.Along with all major features like 3G, GPRS, GPS, HSDPA, Java, Bluetooth, A2DP, USB and WiFi ,the Nokia N97 has a 5-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics,32GB memory(up to 48GB) and the latest Series60 5th Edition OS.It has a slide-out QWERTY keypad and a large 3.5-inch touchscreen display.

The Nokia N97 is a high-end multimedia phone with 3.5-inch 640×360 pixel resolution display.The N97’s 32GB of internal memory with microSDHC support will hardly let any space shortage in it.The tilt-up display is a comfortable typing position than the flat sliding phones.The QWERTY keypad and the touchscreen will make sure that there is no restriction in writing text.The 5-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss Tessar optics is nothing new or big thing but anyway you are not buying just a camera phone.Overall the Nokia N97 is a sexy high-end multimedia phone.

Samsung launches solar-powered phone

2009-06-14T00:01:00.000+05:30

Leading white goods and mobile handset manufacturer Samsung on Wednesday launched a low-cost solar-powered mobile phone, and said it was planning to introduce about 20 more models by year-end.

The new handset, launched under its low-cost line of products - Guru - at a price of Rs.2,799, has a solar panel on the back, which can be used to charge the battery anywhere the sun is shining.

"We have developed this phone keeping in minds the needs of the consumers, especially for people in areas where the electric supply is unstable," said J S Shin, president and chief executive of Samsung, Southwest Asia.

The phone, christened the "Guru E1107", can provide around 5-10 minutes of talk-time with one-hour of solar charging when the handset is turned off and sunlight has adequate intensity.

"Solar charging can give you enough time to make few important calls when there is no electricity or you are not close to a plug point," said Sunil Dutt, country head of Samsung India.

The battery will attain full power with about 40 hours of solar charging.

"But that is really not the intention behind the launch of this phone. It is to enable customers to make a call when there is no electricity," said Dutt.

The handset, the 11th model in the Guru series, will be in shops by month-end.

The first few batches of Guru E1107 will be imported from South Korea.

Saumsung has already launched about 20 models this year and plans to take this number to about 40 across categories.

Asked whether the company would consider introducing solar charging features in high-end phones, Dutt said: "We would definitely consider doing so."

Samsung, which has invested about $44 million in developing its mobile manufacturing facility in Noida, also has ambitious plans for the huge Indian mobile market.

"Our market share is in the early double digits currently. We plan to increase it by about 5-6 percent this year," said a company official.

The company is also planning to introduce in India its solar-powered touchscreen mobile handset, Blue Earth - unveiled at a technology conference in Barcelona, Spain early this year.

Fujitsu develops world's fastest CPU for 1st time in 10 years

2009-05-14T16:45:00.001+05:30

TOKYO: Fujitsu Limited has developed the world's fastest central processing unit, often called the computer's brain, becoming the first Japanese
company in 10 years to claim the top spot.

The new CPU, called Venus, runs 2.5 times faster than its rival Intel Corp.'s product that has taken the lead in speed, according to the officials. In 1999, Fujitsu developed the fastest CPU at the time.

Fujitsu's new CPU may be installed in a next-generation supercomputer which is planned to begin operation at Riken, a science and technology institute in Japan, from next fiscal year, company officials said yesterday.

The product may be utilized in areas such as development of new drugs, which require massive data processing, they said.

BMW developing cars that 'sense' danger

2009-05-14T00:36:00.000+05:30

Munich: BMW is refining a car-to-car communication system that offers more pedestrian protection by "sensing" situations and persons that cannot normally be seen by motorists, according to the car maker.

In a typical situation a child could suddenly jump onto the road from between two parked vehicles. In such a case the moving vehicle would communicate with an electronic transponder carried by the child or cyclist for protection.

The project is part of the AMULETT research project aimed at preventing accidents with sensoring and tracking technology. On board car systems are networked with those of other vehicles or transponders carried by persons. These can be installed in school bags, mobile phones or in a walking stick.

Should the system determine an impending collision or danger situation, the driver is warned with a signal on the head-up display. If he or she does not respond the system automatically triggers a braking procedure.

According to German government accident statistics 48 per cent of child accident victims between the age of six and 14 ran onto the road without observing the traffic. Other research has shown that in 40 per cent of fatal pedestrian accidents, the driver could not react in time.

Nikon Launches New D5000 DSLR

2009-05-11T21:54:00.004+05:30

Camera enthusiasts and Nikon prosumers have a new DSLR to add to their wishlist now with the launch of the new D5000.

Right after Nikon India launched 8 new cameras just last week, Nikon USA unveiled the new 12.3 megapixel D5000 which also boasts HD video recording capabilities.

Here are the camera's specs:

Other features include:

* Vari-angle LCD screen
* Four Live View autofocus shooting modes
* One-button Live View activation with Subject Tracking autofocus
* 19 automatic Scene Modes including Sports, Portrait, Candlelight, Silhouette, Autumn Colors and more
* In-camera editing features including a Soft Filter effect, Perspective Control, and Color Outline
* 3D Color Matrix Metering II, with EXPEED image processing system
* 11-point auto focus system

Rumor has it that Nikon India will be launching the D5000 on local shores by late May 2009, but as of now, the D5000 will be available in the US by late April 2009. The estimated US price is $729.95 for the body and $849.95 for the body plus the AF-S NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR lens.

Source : Tech2

Facebook in Indian Languages

2009-05-11T21:54:00.001+05:30

With desi being the buzzword nowadays, Facebook, the second most popular networking site in India, will let members navigate in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, Punjabi, Malayalam and Telugu.

But that's about it. Users can only browse through the site in these languages, not message or update their status. The site is not yet enabled for transliteration. Users can change language settings through the 'settings' tab or through the language option on their Facebook homepage.

Orkut still leads the social networking race India, and with this Facebook hopes to connect to the Indian audience on a more local level.

Wolfram Alpha and Google Face Off

2009-05-10T12:47:00.002+05:30

Last week, as physicist Stephen Wolfram was demonstrating his new Web-based "computation engine"--Wolfram Alpha--to the public, Google announced a data-centric service of its own. Alpha accesses databases that are maintained by Wolfram Research, or licensed from others, and deploys formulas and algorithms to compute answers for searchers.

Using some prelaunch log-in credentials provided by the Wolfram team, I decided to run my own Wolfram Alpha versus Google test. I used a handful of search terms that could produce data-centric answers and tried variations in a few cases to see what might happen.

This was an effort to get beyond the characterizations and produce some real data. I also wanted to explore the claims made during my visit to Wolfram Research last week: that Alpha can add unique value in computing answers based on your search queries.

Here's what I entered, and what I found.

SEARCH TERM: Microsoft Apple

WOLFRAM ALPHA: I got side-by-side tables and graphics on the stock prices and data on the two companies, plus a chart plotting the price of both stocks over time.

GOOGLE: The top hits were mostly news stories, from major and minor publications, containing both words.

VARIATION: When I changed the Google search term to just "Microsoft" or just "Apple," I got a chart with today's stock price up top; when I clicked that link, I received tons of information--comparable to what Alpha provides--but only on the single company.

SEARCH TERM: Sydney New York

WOLFRAM ALPHA: I got tables showing the distance between the two cities in miles, kilometers, meters, even nautical miles; a map of the world with the optimal flight path; and the fact that the trip spans 0.4 of the earth's circumference. I learned how long it would take to make the trip: 18.1 hours flying; 13 hours for a sound wave, 74 milliseconds for a light beam in fiber, and 53 milliseconds for a light beam traveling in a vacuum. I also got comparative populations, elevation in meters, and current local times.

GOOGLE: I got a mix of things: a form for finding flights between Sydney and New York; a Google Maps-plotted list of businesses in New York City that contain the word "Sydney"; and links to the municipal government of Sidney, a small town in upstate New York.

VARIATION: When I tried "Sydney New York distance" (adding the word "distance"), Wolfram gave me only the distance information mentioned above while Google gave me links to distance-finding websites. I opened the first one, was able to enter "New York" and "Sydney" in some forms, and wound up with much the same information provided by Wolfram (but without the light-beam and sound-wave details).

SEARCH TERM: 10 pounds kilograms

WOLFRAM ALPHA: The site informed me that it interpreted my search term as an effort to multiply "10 pounds" by "1 kilogram" and gave me this result: 4.536 kg2 (kilograms squared) or 22.05 lb2 (pounds squared).

VARIATIONS: Adding the word "in" changed everything. When I tweaked the search query to say "10 pounds in kilograms," the Wolfram site gave me the correct conversion: 10 pounds equals 4.536 kilograms. It also gave me the volumes (in various units) of 10 pounds of water. In a final, somewhat cheesy touch, it also told me that 10 pounds was 1.8 times the weight of Wolfram's book, A New Kind of Science. In Google's case, this revised search term produced the helpful calculated result up top: 10 pounds = 4.5359237 kilograms.

When I put in "10 lbs kgs," Alpha gave me the calculated result (the assumption was that I wanted multiplication), as it had with the full words. Google gave me metric conversion sites--the top one was a "Russian Brides Cyber Guide." (It offers both brides and metric conversions.)

When I tried "10 pds kgs," Alpha choked and didn't understand. Google helpfully asked if I meant "pounds" and gave me metric conversion sites, but not the calculated result.

SEARCH TERM: light bulb

WOLFRAM ALPHA: I was expecting some facts and figures on this ubiquitous technology but got a message saying that Wolfram Alpha "isn't sure what to do with your input."

GOOGLE: I got several links--starting with a Wikipedia entry--explaining what a light bulb is and providing some history.

VARIATIONS: When I tried "light bulb inventor," I got similar results: Alpha drew a blank, but Google gave useful links. When I tried "first light bulb," Alpha provided a table explaining that the light bulb was patented in 1878; under "people involved," it cited Thomas Edison.

SEARCH TERM: Aspirin Tylenol

WOLFRAM ALPHA: Alpha gave me molecular diagrams for aspirin and acetaminophen and lots of scientific information comparing their molecular weights, boiling points, vapor pressure, and so forth.

GOOGLE: Usefully (to nonchemists suffering from headaches), the top link was to a Wiki-answers page telling people whether they can take aspirin and Tylenol together. Other links gave information about toxicity, danger to kidneys, and the like.

SEARCH TERM: Stanford Harvard

WOLFRAM ALPHA: I got tables comparing data from the two schools: size of student bodies--broken down by full-time, part-time, undergraduate, and graduate--plus the number of undergraduate, master's, and doctoral degrees awarded, and similar data. Alpha listed Stanford's tuition as $25,000, which is incorrect, and no tuition for Harvard. As with all of Alpha's results, it gave me sources against which to check the information.

GOOGLE: Google gave me a collection of links (starting with a discussion board for students trying to make a college decision) and various news stories containing the two terms.

SEARCH TERM: Cancer New York

WOLFRAM ALPHA: I was expecting statistics on cancer rates in New York. Instead, the Wolfram site assumed I meant the constellation. It showed me where Cancer could be found in the night sky viewed from New York, told me when it would next rise and set, and included a map of the night sky.

GOOGLE: The first link was to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. The second was to the New York State Department of Health's cancer page. The third was to the New York State Cancer Registry. Not bad.

VARIATIONS: Adding a second state (Cancer New York Nevada) confused Wolfram--it didn't know what I wanted. With Google, all the top results were Nevada-centric: a mix of news stories, lawyers' websites, and medical centers relating to cancer (the disease) in Nevada. No comparisons, no data, and not as helpful as it was when I just put "Cancer New York."

SEARCH TERM: Utah Florida population

WOLFRAM ALPHA: Alpha gave me tables containing the two states' populations from 2006, the population growth rate from 2000 to 2006 (including a chart that I could download), and the number of annual births and deaths in 2004.

GOOGLE: Even though Google just launched a new data-presentation service with access to public census and labor data, this search term did not bring me to the new data service. The first hit was to a U.S. census press release that itself contained links to population tables.

VARIATIONS: When I tried "Utah population," Google did give me a view of its new service: a simple chart of Utah's population from 1980 to the present.

When I changed the search term to "Utah Florida," Wolfram threw the almanac at me, giving side-by-side tables on population data plus high and low elevations of the two states, the dates that the states joined the union, the area of farmland, the household income and poverty rates, and so on. Google gave me random sites that contained the two words, starting with a mapped location of a business in Lake Mary, Florida, that contains the word "Utah."

Generally, I did not use search terms that clearly had no computable answer (and therefore would have stumped Wolfram). But I also didn't throw any softballs in areas close to the heart of its makers: physics, chemistry, engineering, and genomics. On hard-core scientific questions, it gives you tons of symbols and graphics and other information that would be useful to a researcher but obscure to most people. But on many common questions for which there is no obvious data element, you will not get much help. In any event, if its plans hold, you should be able to test it out yourself in two or three weeks.

GOOGLE: Google gave me links to various metric conversion sites.

Source : Technology Review

Has Stephen Wolfram Designed a Better Search Engine?

2009-05-10T12:41:00.001+05:30

Stephen Wolfram, the computer genius who authored the computational software Mathematica in 1998 and wrote A New Kind of Science in 2002, has built a new search engine. It’s called Wolfram Alpha and it could knock Google from its lofty perch.

As Chris Thompson writes in his Big Money blog, “when his [Wolfram’s] search engine launches in May, people can use his simple programs to interact with computers intuitively, using ordinary language to find what they’re looking for.” Are you ready for this?

As you know, Google has never been very good at getting a computer to answer a simple question, asked in natural language. For example, if you type in, “When did Abraham Lincoln deliver the Gettysburg Address,” the company’s algorithms use the keywords in your search, scan the universe of data, and analyze links to rank results, offering you more than 15,000 sites that are relevant to the words you typed, Thompson writes. But Wolfram claims that if you type the same prompt into his new search engine, one thing will appear: The answer, or in this case, “Nov. 19, 1863.”

Here’s how Wolfram claims to have done it: All one needs to be able to do is to take questions people ask in natural language, and represent them in a precise form that fits into the computations one can do. … I’m happy to say that with a mixture of many clever algorithms and heuristics, lots of linguistic discovery and linguistic curation, and what probably amount to some serious theoretical breakthroughs, we’re actually managing to make it work.“

Well there you have it. And the ”http://www.wolframalpha.com/" target="_self">Wolfram Alpha website mirrors Google’s simplicity: all white space, with one search field for you to ask a simple question. It has Google’s format and supposedly will do the one thing not even Google can do: talk to you like a human being.

Will Wolfram Alpha sink Google’s ship? That’s a question of genius and marketing, notes Thompson. But we are in the middle of an economic crisis and we all know what that means…everything is changing!

Source : Bigthink

Firefox beta 3.5: Breathing down IE's neck

2009-04-29T17:31:00.000+05:30

Mozilla on Monday released beta 3.5 of Firefox, a revamp of the open-source web browser designed to include better performance, several new web-programming features and a private-browsing mode.

The earlier betas had been numbered 3.1, but Mozilla switched to the version 3.5 name after concluding the changes were more significant than it thought before. Mozilla has said earlier the fourth beta will be the last, with more polished release candidates expected before the final version of Firefox 3.5 is released.

The software emerges amid what has become a fiercely competitive browser market. Microsoft has released a significant new version, Internet Explorer 8, while Google has entered the market with Chrome, and Apple is trying to secure a Windows foothold for its Safari browser. Firefox holds second place in market share to IE.

Among the changes compared with the current Firefox 3.0.x versions are:

* The faster TraceMonkey engine for running websites' JavaScript programs
* Built-in JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) technology for exchanging data between servers and browsers
* Support for tags to describe audio and video content the way images have been available for years
* Private-browsing mode for leaving no traces on your computer while surfing
* Support for technology to let permitted applications know the user's location
* Support for the web workers standard for letting a browser perform processing in the background without holding back a web application's user interface

With this beta, there are a number of known problems with Gmail and with AVG SafeSearch v8.0 on Windows, and, of course, many of those extensions that are so popular on Firefox could break.

Original article: Mozilla releases Firefox 3.5 beta from CNET News.com

Vista service-pack update ready for rollout

2009-04-29T17:25:00.000+05:30

Microsoft has wrapped up work on the second service-pack update to Windows Vista, the company announced late on Tuesday.

The update provides, among other things, support for Bluetooth 2.1, an updated Windows search technology and the ability to natively record data to Blu-ray discs.

In a blog posting, the company said the update should be publicly available later this quarter. Microsoft is also ending a blocker tool that prevented computers from downloading Vista Service Pack 1, so those customers who had been using the tool will now see Vista SP1 offered via Windows Update.

The update has been in broad testing since late last year. A near-final release candidate version was issued in February.

Microsoft said earlier in the day that it was releasing the second service-pack update to Office 2007. Windows Vista and Office 2007 had their mainstream launch on the same day in January 2007.

Microsoft to woo users onto Windows 7 with 'XP mode

2009-04-29T17:19:00.000+05:30

Microsoft is trying to make it easier to sway users of Windows XP onto the latest version of its operating system.

The company has been building a "Windows XP mode" that uses virtualisation to allow Windows 7 to easily run applications designed for Windows XP. According to sources familiar with the product, the application compatibility mode is built on the Virtual PC technology that Microsoft acquired in 2003, when it scooped up the assets of Connectix.

By adding the compatibility mode, Microsoft is aiming to address one of the key shortcomings of Windows Vista: its compatibility issues with software designed for Windows XP and earlier versions of the operating system.

The technology has not been part of the beta version of Windows 7 or previously disclosed by Microsoft but is expected to be released alongside the upcoming release candidate version. Microsoft said on Friday that it will release it to developers next week and publicly starting 5 May.

Details of the Windows XP mode, previously known as Virtual Windows XP, were first published on Friday by the Windows SuperSite blog.

Later on, Microsoft confirmed XP Mode in a blog posting.

Microsoft's Scott Woodgate said in the blog: "Windows XP Mode is specifically designed to help small businesses move to Windows 7. Windows XP Mode provides you with the flexibility to run many older productivity applications on a Windows 7-based PC."

According to the post, "all you need to do is to install suitable applications directly in Windows XP Mode which is a virtual Windows XP environment running under Windows Virtual PC. The applications will be published to the Windows 7 desktop and then you can run them directly from Windows 7".

Microsoft said it "will be soon releasing the beta of Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC for Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate".

United Nations looks to SAP for ERP system

2009-01-19T16:42:00.003+05:30

The United Nations may be on the verge of installing an ERP system from SAP AG, potentially resulting in one of the largest public-sector deployments to date for the German software vendor.

A UN spokesman said Friday that SAP had won the right to negotiate a deal with the organization, but that a contract had not yet been finalized.

According to a report by Reuters, a German newspaper, citing unnamed sources at the UN, published a story on Wednesday saying that the deal could be worth as much as $300 million to SAP.

SAP already has a large presence in the public sector. For example, some of its ERP customers within the U.S. government include the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency, a DHS unit that combines the former Customs Service and Border Patrol.

Via ComputerWorld

O2 launches XDA Flint

2009-01-15T14:28:00.004+05:30

O2 has unveiled the O2 Xda Flint, describing it as an innovative handheld device specifically targeted at the education sector.

O2 says with the Flint, "ideal for students and teachers alike", users can load eBooks onto the device to make electronic notes, read or review documents, log onto or download digital learning applications, content and courses from the school/college or local authorities' virtual learning environments.

With 16GB of internal flash memory, the Xda Flint, that runs Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, offers a 5-inch VGA angled touchscreen with a detachable keyboard.

Other specs include GPS, Bluetooth V2.0, internet browsing, and quad-band network access via Wi-Fi and HSDPA. There's also a 3-megapixel camera with autofocus and flash light, a video calling camera, MP3 and video playback.

No pricing or availability for anyone outside the education market has yet been revealed.

VIA Pocket-lint