Google to Advertise Chrome on TV
May 9th, 2009 • Featured, Video, World • No comments
Following a successful 30-second internet advert in Japan, Google has decided to advertise its web browser, Google Chrome, on television.
Google Japan produced an advert promoting Google Chrome that attracted quite a lot of attention and praise quite a while ago. Google decided to ride this wave of enthusiasm and hype and created a Youtube channel titled Chrome Shorts last week. Chrome Shorts is basically a collection of short videos promoting Google’s entry into the web browser market, Chrome.
Needless to say, this turned out to be quite popular as well. Since then, Google has decided to take the next big step and has decided to showcase the ad produced by Google Japan to the world. And what better way to communicate with the masses than with TV?
Thus a Google TV Ad campaign was born:
We designed a Google TV Ads campaign which we hope will raise awareness of our browser, and also help us better understand how television can supplement our other online media campaigns.
Was written on Google’s official blog, which contains details regarding the advert.
Not too long ago, Google started doing research regarding the relevancy of TV ads. That research is being used to target the right audience.
The advert (which is embedded below) will begin airing this weekend on various TV networks.
[via The Official Google Blog]
Popularity: 48% [?]
Microsoft Let’s Another 3,000 Employees Go
May 5th, 2009 • Featured, Industry • No comments
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer
Following the order to pay $388 million in damages, and the shutdown of both Encarta and adCenter Analytics, Microsoft has announced that it has fired 3,000 employees in its second wave of the company’s cost-cutting initiative.
Microsoft employees received the following email from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer bearing the bad news yesterday:
From: Steve Ballmer
Sent: Tuesday, May 05, 2009
To: Microsoft – All Employees
Subject: Update: Realigning Resources and Reducing CostsIn January, in response to the global economic downturn, I announced our plan to adjust the company’s cost structure through spending reductions and job eliminations. Today, we are implementing the second phase of this plan.
This is difficult news to share. Because our success at Microsoft has always been the direct result of the talent, hard work, and commitment of our people, eliminating positions is hard.
Today’s action includes positions in the United States and in a number of countries around the world. In the U.S., affected employees will be notified directly by their managers today. In other countries, local leadership teams will provide more specific information about the impact to their organizations.
With this announcement, we are mostly but not all done with the planned 5,000 job eliminations by June 2010. We are moving quickly to reach this target in response to consistent feedback from our people and business groups that it’s important to make decisions and reduce uncertainty for employees as quickly as possible, and so that organizations can concentrate their efforts and resources on strategic objectives.
As we move forward, we will continue to closely monitor the impact of the economic downturn on the company and if necessary, take further actions on our cost structure including additional job eliminations.
For those of you directly affected by today’s announcement, I want to thank you for your contribution to Microsoft and assure you that we will continue to provide support as we did during the previous job eliminations.
And for everyone across the company, I want to reemphasize how much I appreciate the way you have pulled together to help the company respond to this difficult economic environment. There’s no doubt that these are very challenging times. But together, we are making the right choices to ensure that we will continue to deliver great products and position ourselves for strong future growth and profitability.
Thank you for your continued hard work, commitment, and focus.
Steve
The announcement is part of the second phase of Microsoft’s announcement in January to remove 5,000 full-time employees from its payroll by June 2010. 1,400 employees were let go then, with 3,000 more being asked to leave now. That means that the job cuts are nearly over, which totaled around more than 5% of the software giant’s workforce.
The victims of today’s job cut are from various countries around the world, including the US.
As mentioned in the email, fired employees have until next year June to find a new place to work, and Microsoft has informed everyone that it has set aside $237 million for severance for laid-off employees.
Microsoft is still planning to hire 2,000-3,000 new employees within the next 18 months.
But what good will that do financially?
[via ComputerWorld]
Popularity: 47% [?]
Norway Testing Laptop-Only Exams
May 4th, 2009 • Featured, World • No comments
Norway is currently experimenting with a laptop examination trial, the success of which could result in all of Norway shifting to this new method of completing exams.
When a seconday-student turns 16 in Norway, they are provided with a laptop to help aid them in their schoolwork. The laptops are automatically preloaded with software a student would need (such as word processors), and sometimes the configuration is specialized, as is the case with media or design students who automatically have their laptop rigged with Adobe Photoshop.
Norway is looking to push this initiative further – to a point where even exams will be “written” on the very same laptop they use for everyday schoolwork.
The trial run, which currently involves every student between the ages of 16 and 19 in Nord-Trondelag county in Norway, is said to comprise of around 6,000 students nationwide.
Photo by: jackhynes
The proposed move to laptop-only exams is said to provide students with a environment in with equipment they are used to working with, says Bjorg Helland, project manager of digital literacy at Nord-Trondelag county council, Norway.
“This is used both during their final exams before going to college or university but also during tests when the teacher wants to have a test with the class”
The examination process is possible thanks to a signature piece of software that runs during test or exam conditions. The software also has another trick up its sleeve – keylogging. Each time a student performs a significant action, a screenshot is taken and keystrokes are recorded. This means that cheaters are going to get caught – but it doesn’t stop there. The software also helps deter would-be offenders, and also allows suspected offenders to clear their name:
“Students are irritated by the fact that some students cheat on the tests. This way they can make sure it is fair for everybody,”
said Ms. Helland,
“It’s not just that they can be caught cheating it – can also get them off the hook. They can prove that the work is actually their own.”
There are also more advantages to doing things electronically. Electronic papers can be marked more easily, since they can be emailed instead of mailed to markers. Less paper is used in the examination process too, as question papers are downloaded (in conjunction with the special software, preventing a student from tinkering with the code) at the start of a test or exam.
Early success of the trials as prompted a nationwide-trial from September onwards, and willing schools can now apply for computer-based exams.
[Source: BBC News]
Popularity: 39% [?]
Linux Reaches 1% Market Share
May 1st, 2009 • Featured, Software • 1 comment
From MarketShare. Click for Full-Size
Linux, for the first time ever, has attained a 1% market share on desktops.
The latest report from MarketShare, available here, from data collected during April clearly shows that whilst Windows and Mac have both declined slightly, Linux has grown in popularity to achieve a 1% overall market share – the most popular it’s ever been in recent history.
There are quite a few reasons why Linux’s share has risen lately. Namely, the global recession is far from over, with users preferring to go free and opensource. Another reason may be that Netbook demand is still as high as ever, with both the ASUS EEE PC and Acer Aspire One running customized versions of Linux (to name but a few). It’s also important to rule out the release of Ubuntu’s latest version, 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) towards the end of April.
Although Linux is still miles away from Mac (which sits at 9.73%), it is no doubt a positive development and is a good sign for the future of Linux and opensource in general.
Microsoft currently remains at the top with a dominating 87.9%.
[via DownloadSquad]
Popularity: 49% [?]
Disney Joins Hulu.com
May 1st, 2009 • Featured, Internet • 1 comment
Walt Disney Co. has purchased a 30% stake in the popular video-distribution website Hulu.com, becoming the third of the four major U.S broadcasters to do so.
The deal will mean that TV shows such as “Lost”, “Greys Anatomy” among others to the Hulu service. Hulu now has ABC (Disney), Fox, and NBC in on the deal, with only CBS missing from the service. An inside source has reported that Disney will have a 30% stake in Hulu (which translates into 3 seats on the 12-seat board), which is equal to that of the other two networks.
Financial details have not been disclosed, as the agreement (which took months to negotiate) included a confidentiality agreement.
Don’t count CBS out of the deal however – Hulu and CBS are still busy negotiating a deal.
“We’d love to have them be a part of Hulu … ultimately it’s their decision,”
said Jason Kilar, Hulu Chief Executive, regarding CBS.
Hulu was founded in 2007 by NBC Universal and News Corp. and has grown so rapidly that it is now ranked as one of the top 3 video website in the U.S, with over 380 million views in March. Youtube still remains top dog, but Hulu is closing the gap.
Popularity: 40% [?]
Opera Browser Celebrates 15th Birthday
April 29th, 2009 • Featured, Software • No comments
Opera browser turned 15 years old yesterday and celebrated with a cartoon and a list of reasons to switch to Opera, which now occupies over 40 million computers worldwide.
Way, way back in April 1994, two computer scientists were searching for a better way of browsing the internet than what was currently on offer. Finding no perfect solution, they decided to code the browser themselves. Opera was born.
The browser has grown in popularity over the years, and whilst it hasn’t got the sheer numbers of Firefox or Internet Explorer, it’s got a dedicated browser and engineers who demand innovation.
Yesterday, the browser turned 15 years old, and Opera decided to mark the occasion with a little bit of celebration. They’ve compiled a list of 15 reasons to switch to Opera (all 15 being good reasons), a list of Opera’s top innovations which details how far ahead of their time they were (they invented the use of tabs in browsing way back in 2000), as well as releasing a cartoon describing Opera’s creation seen above.
The Opera browser is currently in its 9th version, and nearing it’s 10th release (The post you are currently reading was typed with Opera 10 Alpha). The browser runs on multiple platforms, such as Mac, Windows and Linux. Opera has also successfully made the jump to mobile devices with Opera Mini, where it sits firmly in the number 1 spot.
Happy Birthday!
Popularity: 52% [?]
Google Launches “What’s Popular”, A Digg-like Clone
April 28th, 2009 • Featured, Internet • 1 comment
Google has released a iGoogle plug-in called “What’s Popular” that presents iGoogle users with a service similar to aggregation websites such as Digg or Reddit.
Google aggregates data from Youtube, Google’s Reader and combines them with links that have been submitted by users, resulting in a gadget that displays the (seemingly) best of the web. Users are able to rate the website with either an upwards or downwards arrow – allowing the cream to rise to the top.
Unfortunately a commenting feature is nowhere in sight. Not yet anyway.
Popularity: 30% [?]
Office 2007 Service Pack 2 Released, Adds Performance, Open Document Support
April 28th, 2009 • Featured, Software • 1 comment
Microsoft released an anticipated Service Pack 2 for its Office 2007 suite of office software. The update adds both performance improvements and long-awaited Open Document Format and PDF support.
The second service pack in Microsoft’s most popular software suite brings with it the much anticipated ODF (Open Document Format) Support that allows Word to open various files from the ODF range listed below (source: Wikipedia):
.odtfor word processing (text) documents.odsfor spreadsheets.odbfor object-oriented database.odpfor presentations.odgfor graphics.odffor formulae, mathematical equations
This format has been the default format used by Microsoft’s biggest open source (and free to all) competitor – OpenOffice.org. The additional support is sure to make OpenOffice.org users happy, who no longer need to manually save their documents to the .doc(x) format.
Other changes include PDF and XPS support as well as much-needed performance and stability improvements, with special mentions about Outlook and Excel.
Service Pack 2 should be available for download via Microsoft’s website. Alternatively, you could simply wait for the update to be pushed to Windows Update in the near future.
Popularity: 39% [?]
World’s Highest Internet Cafe Opens On Everest
April 22nd, 2009 • Featured, Internet, World • No comments
A cybercafe aimed at tourists has set-up shop near the Everest base camp in northeastern Nepal, providing the world’s highest internet access.
The cybercafe is 5,180m above sea-level and has turned into quite the hit for tourists and climbers, who wish to make contact with their families before setting out to conquer Mt. Everest – the highest mountain in the world (8,848m).
The Sherpa International Cafe is just about an hour’s walk from the Everest base camp, situated in Gorakse.
Apparently two more of these cafe’s are on the way, according to Chhetan Sherpa – the owner.
Looks like high-altitude connectivity is quite the lucrative business with every climber wanting to bare the good-luck wishes from friends and family.
Popularity: 23% [?]
Amazon Video On Demand Goes HD
April 22nd, 2009 • Featured, Internet • No comments
Amazon’s Video on Demand service has finally started offering videos in high-definition.
Pricing will be in-line to that of Amazon’s competition for HD films / tv episodes. HD film rentals will cost you anything from $3.99 to $4.99 and standard definition TV episodes are available for purchase at a price of $2.99 per episode. There has been no word when HD TV episodes will be available.
Owners of a PC, Mac TiVO HD/Series DVRs, Roku Digital Video Player, Panasonic VieraCast TVs and the Sony Bravio Internet Video Link will be able to choose from the 500+ HD films after an initial software update (Windows and Mac users will only need to visit Amazon’s website)
Popularity: 14% [?]
Recent Comments