Google BUZZ
Our belief is that organizing the social information on the web — finding relevance in the noise — has become a large-scale challenge, one that Google’s experience in organizing information can help solve. We’ve recently launched innovations like real-time search and Social Search, and today we’re taking another big step with the introduction of a new product, Google Buzz.
Google Buzz is a new way to start conversations about the things you find interesting. It’s built right into Gmail, so you don’t have to peck out an entirely new set of friends from scratch — it just works. If you think about it, there’s always been a big social network underlying Gmail. Buzz brings this network to the surface by automatically setting you up to follow the people you email and chat with the most. We focused on building an easy-to-use sharing experience that richly integrates photos, videos and links, and makes it easy to share publicly or privately (so you don’t have to use different tools to share with different audiences). Plus, Buzz integrates tightly with your existing Gmail inbox, so you’re sure to see the stuff that matters most as it happens in real time.
Microsoft e-health research taps Xbox, mobile phones
IDG News Service – Microsoft is researching how gadgets like the company’s Xbox game machine, surface computers and accelerometers in mobile phones could be used to improve health care.
Some of the applications from Microsoft Research, the software giant’s lab branch, plug into existing Microsoft products like HealthVault, a Web service for patients to track their own health records.
One of those projects, an application called MyLife for Windows Mobile phones, could help a user log health metrics like blood pressure and weight, and monitor daily activities including exercise, walking and eating. Ongoing work on the application could allow it to help personal logs using built-in devices on a phone like its camera, its accelerometer and its microphone.
German IT company lands in Chattanooga, TN
A Wolfsburg, Germany-based information technology services company has leased office space in downtown Chattanooga with plans to hire 30 people within 12 months and up to 100 in two to five years.
Honigsberg & Duvel Corp. is seeking work from Volkswagen and other companies, said Claudia Raabe, vice president of the Chattanooga office.
“Our main focus is automotive services,” said Ms. Raabe. She said between 60 percent and 70 percent of the company’s work in Germany is for VW, which is also based in Wolfsburg.
PG&E to implement a cutting-edge wave energy project off California’s coast
To date, only one commercial installation of wave power generators has been deployed. PG&E is taking a big step forward in green technology with a new wave energy design off of the coast of Northern California.
There is often confusion in the market between tidal power and wave power. Tidal generation requires water turbines to be anchored underwater and works best in rivers with strong tidal currents. Wave power works in open water areas and is based on the motion of floating buoys. This requires that they withstand the most powerful waves, salt depositions and severe temperature changes.
Construction is set to begin in 2012 with a plan to provide 5 megawatts by 2014.
Read more at the Times-Standard.
CNET Co-Founder Starts AppFund for iPad Developers
CNET and E Online co-founder Kevin Wendle and MusicNation co-founder Daniel Klaus have started AppFund to fund developers that create applications for Apple’s iPad. The AppFund will invest between $5,000 and $500,000 per application.
French see Alabama as fertile business investment ground
“I made a courtesy call to Gov. (Bob) Riley on Friday, and I’m happy to say relations between France and Alabama are strong and on the path to grow,” said Le Deunff, the consul general of France who operates out of Atlanta. “Alabama, and Huntsville in particular, offers numerous opportunities for French companies to invest in, including biotech, information technology and aerospace.”
NASA, GM Take Giant Leap in Robotic Technology
Robonaut is evolving.
NASA and General Motors are working together to accelerate development of the next generation of robots and related technologies for use in the automotive and aerospace industries.
Engineers and scientists from NASA and GM worked together through a Space Act Agreement at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston to build a new humanoid robot capable of working side by side with people. Using leading edge control, sensor and vision technologies, future robots could assist astronauts during hazardous space missions and help GM build safer cars and plants.
Google Translate Integrated In Google Chrome 5
Google Translate is a service offered by Google to translate text or complete websites from one language to another. Support for many languages and its ease of use make Google Translate a popular choice for users who need translation.
Users who have installed the developer release of Google Chrome might already have noticed that Google has integrated Google Chrome into the web browser.
This only becomes apparent when a user visit a website that is displayed in a different language than the computer system’s default language (or the web browser’s language, not sure).
Google Chrome will automatically display a small toolbar below the address bar that offers to translate the website into the default language.
Agenda Posted for Red Hat’s 2nd Open Source Cloud Computing Forum
On February 10, Red Hat will present its 2nd Open Source Cloud Computing Forum, a day-long virtual forum hosted by Red Hat CTO Brian Stevens. Similar to our first forum, held in July 2009, the virtual event will feature a dozen half-hour, high-impact technical presentations that cover recent developments in open source cloud computing. The presentations will provide attendees with a view of the large scope of development and deployment work that is underway today, including a look into usage scenarios. As before, we hope that the forum will act as a catalyst for open source communities to work together, grow and encourage participation in the development of open source cloud computing.
MIT – First germanium laser
New results from MIT’s Electronic Materials Research Group bring us closer to computers that use light instead of electricity to move data.
MIT News – February 4th, 2010: MIT researchers have demonstrated the first laser built from germanium that can produce wavelengths of light useful for optical communication. It’s also the first germanium laser to operate at room temperature. Unlike the materials typically used in lasers, germanium is easy to incorporate into existing processes for manufacturing silicon chips. So the result could prove an important step toward computers that move data — and maybe even perform calculations — using light instead of electricity. But more fundamentally, the researchers have shown that, contrary to prior belief, a class of materials called indirect-band-gap semiconductors can yield practical lasers.
Microsoft’s Creative Destruction
NY Times – Published: February 4, 2010: AS they marvel at Apple’s new iPad tablet computer, the technorati seem to be focusing on where this leaves Amazon’s popular e-book business. But the much more important question is why Microsoft, America’s most famous and prosperous technology company, no longer brings us the future, whether it’s tablet computers like the iPad, e-books like Amazon’s Kindle, smartphones like the BlackBerry and iPhone, search engines like Google, digital music systems like iPod and iTunes or popular Web services like Facebook and Twitter.
MEDSEEK Reports Most Profitable Year Ever With Record Sales and Delivery Figures in 2009
Birmingham, Ala. – February 2, 2010 – MEDSEEK, the leading provider of healthcare enterprise portal connectivity solutions, today announced the acquisition of 58 new hospital clients and a 53 percent increase in one-year revenue backlog, as healthcare industry changes fuel demand for its eHealth solutions.
MEDSEEK’s fiscal year revenue growth over a five-year period – a phenomenal 346 percent – earned the company its debut spot on Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500™. In a record setting year, MEDSEEK’s growth also propelled its rankings on:
- Inc. 5000 – MEDSEEK was named one of the 5,000 fastest growing private companies in the U.S. by Inc. Magazine, jumping to #1473 from its #1723 ranking in 2008; and
- HCI 100 – In its third consecutive year on the HCI 100, MEDSEEK climbed up six spots from the previous year, reaching #72 in the Top 100 List.
Electronic Health Records Need Better Monitoring, Experts Urge
ScienceDaily (Feb. 4, 2010) — The push is on for healthcare providers to make the switch to electronic health records but it is hard to tell how well these complex health information technology systems are being implemented and used, writes a health informatics researcher at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston in a Feb. 3 commentary in JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association.
Google to enlist NSA to help it ward off cyberattacks
Washinton Post – Feb. 4th, 2010
The world’s largest Internet search company and the world’s most powerful electronic surveillance organization are teaming up in the name of cybersecurity.
Under an agreement that is still being finalized, the National Security Agency would help Google analyze a major corporate espionage attack that the firm said originated in China and targeted its computer networks, according to cybersecurity experts familiar with the matter. The objective is to better defend Google — and its users — from future attack.
Monetize Subscriber and Location Data
With the number of applications and services now available in the market, the biggest challenge for the network service provider is to determine what customers are willing to pay for and how much they will pay to receive premium services. When intelligent, location-based applications and services are implemented into the product mix, these providers learn their customers will pay a premium for these customized solutions.
Read the rest of the article at http://next-generation-communications.tmcnet.com/topics/application-enablement/articles/74283-monetize-subscriber-location-data.htm
