NBC dials up YouTube for online distribution

NBC dials up YouTube for online distribution, NBC and Web-video hosting site YouTube have announced a partnership in which NBC will get a branded page on the YouTube site that will feature promotional content related to NBC TV shows.

While the financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, there was a price for YouTube, it announced it would be more aggressive in deleting user videos that contain copyrighted material used without permission.

Read this NBC to Team With YouTube and this NBC Taps Popularity Of Online Video Site
While video posted by users is compelling, it is not going to pay the rent, the company said.

Google's new concept: Computer "hears" TV, serves up content

Google's new concept: Computer "hears" TV, serves up content: Listen to This: Google Plan Lets Laptops Hear Your TV

Under a new interactive concept being tested by Google, a computer could "listen" to its user's TV, and serve up social networking, editorial and ad content relating to what's being watched.

The system is not based on new technology, but instead uses a computer's microphone to receive the TV audio and match it to a database that serves up the related content.

Group maps out guidelines for mobile Web sites

Group maps out guidelines for mobile Web sites: Tech companies agree on mobile Web rules

The Worldwide Web Consortium, a group that includes Nokia, Vodafone Group and Google, said it has set up guidelines for developers to design Web sites for the mobile Web.

Among other things, the guidelines suggest developers design sites with minimal graphics and with content appearing at the top of the screen.

Global alliance seeks more flexible copyright system

Global alliance seeks more flexible copyright system In Digital Age, Advancing a Flexible Copyright System

An alliance of scientists, lawyers and artists has been working toward a "creative commons" that allows artists to decide if they'd like to share rights to their work or retain those rights.

New technology is the impetus behind this reexamination of intellectual property, and the founders of the Creative Commons system hope that new policies and business models will allow a more flexible approach to copyrights.

Vending Machine Makeover

Healthy vending provides nutritional options: Vending Machine Makeover

Fit Fuel has developed vending machines that offer nutritious fare including nuts, granola bars and protein bars.

The Fit Fuel founders have "branded the machines to look attractive and grab people's eyes," and hope that the machines, which make nutritious food accessible and convenient, will play a role in battling obesity.

American Apparel's Virtual Clothes

American Apparel gets Second Life > American Apparel's Virtual Clothes

Seeking to build its brand online -- and drive sales offline -- American Apparel now sells digitally rendered versions of its chic clothes in a boutique set up within the virtual game "Second Life."

Since opening the online boutique, it has sold more than 2,000 items -- with which purchasers can outfit their online avatars -- for $1 and less

Warner Bros. to distribute content online through Guba

Warner Bros. to distribute content online through Guba > Warner Bros. To Offer Content Online via Guba

Warner Bros. said it will sell movies and TV shows via Guba's search engine and video-sharing community. The agreement comes a month after Warner Bros. announced a deal to sell movies through the BitTorrent peer-to-peer system.

Coke tests interactive machine

Coke tests interactive machine > Coke slots in extras to new machines

The Coca-Cola Co. showed off a new vending machine called Cokefridge at the CIES conference in Paris last week that is capable of delivering downloadable ringtones and games as well as taking digital photographs of customers framed against a Coke logo.

RealNetworks streams ads in online games

RealNetworks streams ads in online games: RealNetworks to Put Streaming Ads in Free Online Games

RealNetworks announced it will begin serving streaming-video ads via its RealArcade gaming site, which offers free previews of downloadable games.

Since very few users of the site purchase games, the plan is to monetize the visits of non-paying users through advertising.

CBS goes mobile with Weathernews

CBS goes mobile with Weathernews: CBS Broadens Mobile Video Push

CBS has inked a deal with Weathernews Inc. to supply weather and sports content from 10 of its owned-and-operated CBS stations to Sprint mobile subscribers.

The CBS video will appear in Weathernews' "LiveLocal" package, which costs subscribers $4.99 per month.

Google to test online payment system

Google to test online payment system: Google Gets Ready to Test GBuy, A New Online-Payment Option

Reports indicate that Google is set to test GBuy, an online payment system that will challenge eBay-owned PayPal. Merchants who agree to use GBuy will have a special symbol next to their text ads and listings on the Google search engine.

Travel Awards Unveil the Best in Gay and Lesbian Travel for 2006

Spain Named Destination of the Year for Second Year in a Row; Hyatt, American Airlines Also Recognized > Travel Awards Unveil the Best in Gay and Lesbian Travel for 2006

Since 1992, the annual awards have recognized the best of the best in gay travel by shining a well-deserved spotlight on the best destinations, resorts, airlines and more.

EU members attempt to cut costs of environmental laws

A survey by the European Commission has produced a list of 11 methods EU member states are using to dramatically ease the costs and administrative burden of following the bloc’s environmental and pollution regulations.

Read more > EU members attempt to cut costs of environmental laws The moves by national governments to ease the red tape associated with the rules are signs that calls by industry associations for less, rather than more, are not going unheeded.

The Confederation of the Food and Drink Industries of the European Union (CIAA) has consistently said environmental and anti-pollution rules would harm the competitiveness of its members.

Germany begins risk survey on nanotechnology

So far nanotechnology has made minor inroads in the food and drink industry, mainly due to consumers' fears about the unknown risks the technology poses to their health.

However food companies see great opportunity in the technology as a means of introducing innovative products to the market. Surveys like the one in Germany may either heighten consumer fears about the technology or serve to lessen them, depending on the findings.

Read more > Germany begins risk survey on nanotechnology

Video - Hotel room of the future

Video - Hotel room of the future > It has a comfortable bed with no mattress. It has picture frames that can be filled with artwork or photographs emailed by the occupant. It has a toilet that senses the user arriving, and opens the lid. It has a shower that, when the customer finishes using it, washes itself, so housekeeping people don't have to.

It is GUESTROOM 2010, a demonstration room set up for hotel financial and technical professionals to examine and be inspired by. GUESTROOM 2010 was built by producers of HITEC, the Hotel Industry Technology Exposition and Conference, at the Minneapolis Convention Center, site of HITEC 2006. "Our association develops and helps our members learn about technology," said Frank Wolfe, CEO of the Hotel Financial and Technical Professionals.

Five-thousand people from 40 countries are attending the exposition, looking at technology which can set their hotels or casinos apart from the rest. They're examining items like the EcoPower faucet, equipped with a small turbine powered generator to charge a power source to run the hands-off faucet. Hotel room of the future

Museum buys 55 Van Gogh letters

Fifty-five letters written by Vincent van Gogh which have been out of public view for 60 years have been bought by the Van Gogh Museum in the Netherlands.

Museum buys 55 Van Gogh letters > The letters, including some sketches, were written between 1881 and 1885 to fellow Dutch artist Anthon van Rappard.

New DS proves object of desire

Object of desire > DS Lite proves best things come in small packages > New DS proves object of desire

Until Nintendo's Wii games leaves the starting gates, the company is eschewing the relative dead duck GameCube and pumping its creative juices into the ridiculously popular DS handheld.

Superfast internet cafe launches

An internet cafe offering connections 50 times faster than typical broadband services has opened in Cornwall.

Computers at Goonhilly satellite station, on the Lizard peninsula in Cornwall, are connected to BT's global internet protocol network. Superfast internet cafe launches That means users can download data at speeds of up to 100 megabits per second (Mbps).

Police arrest suspected virus writers

The Metropolitan Police, acting in conjunction with Finnish law-enforcement authorities, arrested three suspected virus writers on Tuesday.

Police arrest suspected virus writers The Metropolitan Computer Crime Unit, the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation (NBI Finland) and the Finnish Pori Police Department collaborated to arrest the men, who are all suspected of being members of the M00P (M - zero - zero - P) cybercriminal gang.

A number of computers have been seized at residential addresses in England, Scotland and Finland, in addition to the suspects' servers, the Met said.

Microsoft launches CodePlex and announces MySQL partnership

Microsoft Corp has officially unveiled CodePlex, its new collaborative development portal for community-based development for open and shared-source projects, while signing a new partnership with open-source database vendor MySQL AB.

Microsoft launches CodePlex and announces MySQL partnership > The deal will see MySQL developing a new downloadable plug-in for Visual Studio 2005 that will enable Visual Studio developers to quickly build applications for the database management system.

Users will be able to create, modify, and manage MySQL database objects from within the Visual Studio IDE.

'Superman Returns': Low-Flying Object

Sounded promising, didn't it?

Bryan Singer blew off directing the third X-Men movie in order to do this one, and he brought along two of the screenwriters (Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris) and the cinematographer (Newton Thomas Sigel) from that franchise to work on this prospective franchise-in-the-making.

He was given a budget estimated to be more than $250 million. And now here it is: Superman flies again — more expensively than ever before, but, as it turns out, at a considerably lower imaginative altitude. 'Superman Returns': Low-Flying Object

Adobe Flash Player 9 Leads a New Generation

Installed on over 600 million Internet-connected PCs and mobile devices worldwide, Flash Player provides consistent and predictable application runtime capabilities across browsers, desktops and other devices.

Flash Player and Adobe Reader(R) provide client runtime capabilities for the Adobe Engagement Platform, which delivers a programming model, tools, components, and services that enable designers and developers to create and deliver rich, vibrant, branded content and applications to mass audiences in virtually every medium. Adobe Flash Player 9 Leads a New Generation of Dynamic Media and Rich Internet Applications;

Adobe Systems Wednesday began shipping its Flex 2 product line , introducing in the massive overhaul a new pricing model that Adobe hopes will increase Flex adoption by significantly slashing the Web development technology's entry cost. Adobe Races Ahead Of Microsoft With Flex 2 Overhaul - Macromedia, Application Development : "Adobe Systems Wednesday began shipping its Flex 2 product line , introducing in the massive overhaul a new pricing model that Adobe hopes will increase Flex adoption by significantly slashing the Web development technology's entry cost. "

Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications Service Goes Live

Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) notifications service has moved out of pilot testing and will now reach out and touch millions of mainstream Windows XP users in the coming months.

WGA is software distributed through Microsoft's Automatic Update and Windows Update that identifies fake or counterfeit versions of Windows and informs those who fail validation how to get a legal copy of Windows. The updated WGA Notifications package was released Tuesday.

Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications Service Goes Live > The first phase of WGA Notifications, which alerts customers that run Windows software deemed to be counterfeit or illegal, was launched in Norway and Sweden in November 2005 and in five additional countries last February.

In April, Microsoft expanded the pilot program to a segment of Windows XP customers in the U.S., United Kingdom, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand. As of this week, the pilot phase of the program ends and Microsoft will do a phased roll-out globally to all Windows XP users, Microsoft said.

QLD Architecture Awards

Over the next few weeks, in the lead-up to Queensland Architecture Awards in July, Steve Austin will be celebrating the best designs (featuring both beauty and practicality) that Queensland's architects have to offer in QLD Architecture Awards - Darling Downs

The Tobin Winery is located on a North facing gently sloping site on a vineyard in the heart of the Granite Belt. The vineyard merges with remnant scrub that borders a creek while occasional protrusions of the local granite punctuate the landscape. With Sundance Road dissecting the site, the house is located at the top of the site, looking down over the vines, road, and creek to the distant hills.

Cruising Chicago architecture

As we cruise along the Chicago River viewing the city's world-famous architecture, our tour guide motions to the former location of the house and barn belonging to Patrick and Catherine O'Leary - where the Chicago Fire Academy now stands.

She tells us the Chicago City Council has exonerated Catherine's cow of any wrongdoing. Cruising Chicago architecture by leading architects such as Chicago's own Daniel H. Burnham, who prepared the "Plan for Chicago"; William Le Baron Jenney, the so-called "father of the skyscraper"; German immigrant Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who championed the "less-is-more" modern approach; and Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan, leaders of the Chicago School movement, made architectural history in Chicago.

The modern skyscraper was invented here. Jenney's 1885, nine-story Home Insurance Building at LaSalle and Adams streets was the first building whose weight was completely supported by a steel frame instead of walls.

Design museums build themselves up

Design and architecture buffs have two new spaces in which to explore their passion — although neither venue is exactly new and each employs a certain latitude in using the term "museum."

Design museums build themselves up Still, after planning to run their own bistro next door, the two ended up renting out the space for the new restaurant Wilson, named for chef Michael Wilson, former chef at the now-defunct 5 Dudley in Venice and nephew of Beach Boy Brian Wilson.

As for the gallery, shows will rotate every few months and will range from painting and sculpture to exhibitions of unsung architects and even, Pali and Fekete hope, thematic shows in which several designers tackle a common theme.

Google Tool for Crisis Management

The Internet is at the center of many of the crises that prompt clients to call me these days, specifically the ease by which negative information proliferates online and how challenging it can be to both track and counter the negative.

However, Google Tool for Crisis Management is apossible remedy.

When you look at a broader term, e.g., "crisis management," once again the results aren't what one might expect.The top three languages in which the term is searched the most often are Greek, Tagalog and Finnish. English is fourth.

When you look at the top 10 cities, the first U.S. city is ranked 8th (Washington, D.C.), with the top ranked being Athens, Greece.And when you look at the regional rankings, the U.S. doesn't even make the top 10, which starts with Pakistan and ends with Indonesia.

Google explains the ranking system as follows. Read more, click the link provided above.

This is Britain

England's crowded capital has always been home to the rich, quietly leading a life that is far removed from the hurly-burly of the masses. What has changed is the number.

Buoyed by the strength of the City - which some say is becoming the powerhouse of world finance - and an influx of foreign tycoons reassured by the safety of British life, the ranks of the super-wealthy are swelling.

It's a rich man's world (in the UK): The rise and rise of the super wealthy It has an 18-carat gold point, and is set with 5,072 diamonds and 96 rubies. Greek shipping tycoons are fond of London. ... Read more, click the link!

Founder of Broadway Bank dies suddenly

Alexis Giannoulias, founder and chairman of Chicago-based Broadway Bank, died suddenly while traveling in his native Greece over the weekend.

Mr. Giannoulias, 69, suffered an apparent heart attack, according to a spokesman for his son, Alexi Giannoulias, who is the Democratic nominee for state treasurer.

In 1978 Mr. Giannoulias founded Broadway Bank in the Edgewater neighborhood after a career as a food salesman, begun after he emigrated to the U.S. in 1962.

The bank began as a lender to Greek business owners in Chicago and evolved into an aggressive lender to commercial real estate developers around the country. For the last four years, Crain’s Chicago Business has ranked Broadway Bank No. 1 in the Chicago area based on return on assets.

Read more here > Founder of Broadway Bank dies suddenly

Miller serves up new blog for employees, industry

Miller serves up new blog for employees, industry according to this report > Miller brews blog for beer distributors

Brewblog.com is a new blog from Miller Brewing Co. with daily news, analysis, commentary and original articles about the brewing industry. The target audience is Miller employees, distributors, analysts, beer industry media and brand rivals.

Content, not speed, may determine broadband winners

Content, not speed, may determine broadband winners: Speed’s Great…but Sports & Games Are Even Better

When all is said and done, telephone companies and cable carriers may wind up tied in the battle over broadband delivery speed.

The next fight, which could prove far more decisive, will likely revolve around exclusive content.

Niche new-media sites find financial backing

Niche new-media sites find financial backing: Bloggers Find Financial Backers For Their Independent News Sites

Rafat Ali's paidContent.org and Om Malik's GigaOm.com are just two of the highly focused new-media blogs that have attracted not just an attentive online audience, but investor dollars as well.

While the dollar amounts involved are small, the trend suggests that the specialized audiences drawn to small, online niche publications are increasingly of interest to advertisers.

Searching for big spenders online

Searching for big spenders online As Online Ads Grow, Eyeballs Are Valuable Again on the Web.

It is more critical than ever for marketers of high-cost items like real estate and automobiles to get their offerings in front of online consumers, and as a result, advertising rates are on the rise at niche sites that cover these sectors.

Forrester Research analyst Carrie A. Johnson told The New York Times, "There's a ridiculous thirst for advertising" online.

European trademarks vs. Google

Google, Vuitton battle over trademark, open Net: European trademarks vs. Google.

A French appeals court ruling on whether Google violated the trademark of Louis Vuitton Malletier, a unit of LVMH, by allowing online ads for competitors and knockoffs to appear when the luxury leather goods maker's name is searched, demonstrates the conflict between protecting marketing images and maintaining an open Internet.

A lower court last year ruled in favor of Vuitton's claims of trademark counterfeiting, unfair competition and misleading advertising, ordering Google to pay $250,000 in damages.

Young viewers clicking on YouTube, not reaching for clicker

Young viewers clicking on YouTube, not reaching for clicker, but For young, checking YouTube becomes a habit.

YouTube.com, which now has 12.5 million visitors each month and ranks among the top 50 most visited Web sites, is symbolic of a shift in TV habits among mostly younger viewers away from the traditional small screen to digital counterparts on their computer desktops, laptops and iPods.

Big agencies chart a digital course in Cannes

Big agencies chart a digital course in Cannes In digital age, the soul of wit

The future is the big theme at this year's Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, with holding company chiefs delivering keynotes spelling out survival strategies for the digital era.

Study: Cherry juice may help athletes

Study > Cherry juice may help athletes according to this report Cherries dip into power drink fad

Cherry juice may reduce pain and muscle damage, according to a study funded by Cherrypharm Inc., which is marketing a sports beverage based on cherry juice.

Gas prices, inflation don't have to be scary

Gas prices, inflation don't have to be scary. Many Small Business Owners Are Optimistic

Rising inflation, gas costs and interest rates aren't bad news for all small-business owners, and many entrepreneurs stand to benefit from, or at least will be insulated from, recent trends.

Executives at some firms are turning to alternate delivery methods or increasing order sizes to mitigate costs.

Marketers reach out to gay customers

Marketers reach out to gay customers: Hey, Gay Spender, Marketers Spending Time With You

Film festivals and gay television networks are offering consumer products companies new venues through which to reach gay consumers.

Pernod Ricard USA, for example, funded a gay lifestyle documentary, while companies such as Anheuser-Busch Cos., Bacardi, and Johnson & Johnson have advertised on Logo, the gay television network launched a year ago by Viacom.

Hybrid drinks replace traditional sodas

Hard Reality Hits Soft Drinks as Hybrid drinks replace traditional sodas.

Hybrid beverages such as energy drinks, enhanced waters and coffee colas are supplanting carbonated sodas, as consumers begin to look for more out of their beverages, one industry expert says.

According to Mintel, marketers launched 306 coffee beverages, 193 energy drinks and 140 water drinks in 2005.

Starbucks, Panera help transform quickservice market

Starbucks, Panera help transform quickservice market to a Gourment Coffees, Breads Push Chains to React

Traditional quickservice chains are reacting to the popularity of Starbucks coffee and Panera cafes by revamping their menu selections to include fancier blends of coffee and upscale sandwiches.

Despite the pressure, McDonald's still holds its spot as the top U.S. quickservice chain.

More sports go online for a fee

Web companies such as MediaZone.com and WCSN.com are tapping the small, but passionate fan base of so-called second-tier sports like tennis, cycling, beach volleyball and track and field with pay-per-view screenings of their events.

"There are thousands of people willing to pay to watch our events," says Michelle Wu, CEO of MediaZone.com, which on Monday will begin showing the first of some 250 Wimbledon matches.

Web offers new venue for pay-per-view sports. So, what do you think about More sports go online for a fee? Any prons or cons? What's your opinon?

Nintendo hopes 40- and 50-somethings still got game

Nintendo hopes 40 and 50-somethings still got game.

Titles under ‘Touch Generations’ are ‘pick-up-and-play games’ Nintendo's new brand targets aging gamers Through its brand Touch Generations, Nintendo is aiming to appeal to gamers ages 40 and up with a line of user-friendly titles, including the new Sudoku Gridmaster, an electronic version of the popular number puzzle, and True Swing Golf.

I want my Game Boy back!

Svedka vodka imagines life in 2033

Svedka vodka imagines life in 2033.

Imagine falling asleep and waking up in a future world in which spirits manufacturers pay name-brand writers a bundle of cash to contribute to a literary anthology.

Well, that world is already here: Spirits Marque One, the company that imports and distributes Svedka, is spending $750,000 to publish, in conjunction with Nerve.com, a collection of fiction imagining life in the year 2033.

So, fill up a glass, get a book and start Blurring the Lines in a Fanciful Leap to 2033 In a continuing sign of the blurring of boundaries between literature and advertising, a campaign for Svedka, a Swedish vodka, is serving as inspiration for a series of articles to appear online and in a book.

MySpace under fire over children's access

Law enforcement officials from around the U.S. have called on News Corp.'s MySpace.com to take steps to verify the ages of persons signing up to use the social networking site, as a means to ensure that kids under the site's allowable age are not gaining access.

MySpace Receives More Pressure To Limit Children's Access to Site MySpace, one of the most-visited sites on the Internet, is facing a growing chorus of critics. Although wildly popular with teenagers, it has also been used by sexual predators to contact young potential victims.

Google tests new ads

Google tests "cost-per-action" ads.

In this article Google tests new ads Google is experimenting with a new advertising model in which marketers are only charged for an advertisement that leads directly to a sale or a sales lead. The cost-per-action method provides marketers with protection against click fraud that is not available in cost-per-click advertising.

And in this article Google Makes Commercial Videos Available Free Online Google makes commercial videos available for free: Google has begun offering free, ad-supported videos of some TV programs and films, which had sold for between 30 cents and $14.99. The online giant said it would continue to sell downloads of shows such as CBS Corp.'s "Survivor."

'Millennials' Big for Media Biz

"Millennials" outnumber baby boomers.

The so-called Millennial generation, the 79 million Americans aged 9 to 28, regularly consume 20 hours of media per day, all of which is crammed into seven hours of actual clock time.

That means they are surfing the Web, watching TV, listening to music and playing video games simultaneously, making it difficult for marketers to reach them amid the general clutter.

Are you one of them? Find out here > 'Millennials' Big for Media Biz

Survey: Broadband use up

Survey: Broadband use up.

That's according to a recent report from Nielsen/NetRatings details which you can read here Nielsen: Broadband Use on the Rise

According to their findings, nearly three-quarters of U.S. Internet-connected households accessed the Internet via a broadband connection last month, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. Now, more than 102 million households connect to the Internet at faster speeds than dial-up.

Coca-Cola, Nestea venture may undergo changes

Coke, Nestea to shift partnership.

Two of the largest corporations on earth, something else is being cooked there or should I say "bottled"?

Find out what's on in this article Coca-Cola, Nestea venture may undergo changes: report Coca-Cola Co. and Nestle SA are in the midst of restructuring their partnership, according to Beverage Digest.

Coke is introducing four new Nestle tea products this summer, in addition to Gold Peak, a premium tea. Read more!

Ruling makes trial likely in Starbucks tipping suit

Starbucks fails to get tipping lawsuit dismissed.

In this article Ruling makes trial likely in Starbucks tipping suit a San Diego court ruled a case against Starbucks surrounding its tipping sharing rules could proceed to trial. Although a Starbucks attorney is not commenting, one employment-law specialists believes the company has already won a partial victory, given the judge decreased the value of the claim.

The suit was filed in October 2004 by Jou Chou, a former Starbucks barista at stores in La Jolla and Hemet who complained that shift supervisors were sharing in employee tips. How much money was involved? Well, read the article to find out. For sure, we are not talking for a few hundred bucks!

The iKitchen: Pods and Pans

iTunes makes it possible to iCook.

Well, that's great news, especially if you are a chef by profession.Now the new trend in cooking is Podcasting : The iKitchen: Pods and Pans

Food-related podcasts are growing in popularity, with iTunes offering a host of programming from various sources, including celebrity chefs, National Public Radio, national media and television segments. Podcast subject matter runs the gamut from dining scene depiction to food prep.

Personally speaking, I would stick to my iTunes and using my hands when I'm into cooking, though I'm not a chef!

Gruff justice as Billy is demoted

British Army Demotes Mascot Goat > According to BBC Gruff justice as Billy is demoted

The regimental goat of the 1st Battalion Royal Welch has been demoted - after refusing to keep in step at a parade to mark the Queen's birthday.

The parade on 16 June was held in the presence of a number of invited dignitaries including the ambassadors of Spain, Netherlands and Sweden and the Argentine commander of UN forces on Cyprus. His handler Lance Corporal Dai Davies, 22, from Neath, South Wales, dubbed the goat major, found he was unable to keep him in line.

Translate Us > In your language!

Translate Us > In your language!

We are pleased to announce to all our readers that as from today, June 25th, we have added a new feature into our blog. This being the "Translate Us", a totally free feature!

By using the "Translate Us" feature, our readers and users are enabled to translate our webpage into their language of choice with just one click.

We trust that by including this feature on our page you will enhance your surfing and reading of our blog.

Enjoy!

Flock The web browser for you and your friends

Flock is a free web browser that makes it easier than ever to share photos, stay up-to-date with news from your favorite sites, and search the Web.

Take our tour to learn what's different about Flock, then download the beta to get started - and please tell us what you think. This text is copied from Flock's website. Flock The web browser for you and your friends > You only have to check it for yourself.

But do tell us your comments. Did you find it useful? It still is a beta version but it attracks the interest! Another addition to the browser war game or star (sic) system? What do you think?

Venice battles seaweed invasion

Venice is bracing itself for its summer tourist invasion, but an unwelcome newcomer has joined the thousands of visitors filling the Italian city.

While Venice battles seaweed invasion researchers say the voracious weed, undaria pinnatifidaea, it was probably brought to the Adriatic accidentally by a ship that dumped bilge water into the sea.

From the Adriatic it spread into the nearby lagoon and has now reached as far as the city itself.

German football fans dare to hope

It's a Party time in Germany!

German football fans dare to hope An impressive World Cup start has German fans daring to hope!

Nude worm tempts World Cup fans

Football fans are being warned about a malicious worm that uses world Cup themed e-mails to infect Windows PCs.

A Nude worm tempts World Cup fans called The Sixem-A worm is spread in messages with subject lines such as "Naked World Cup game set" and "Crazy soccer fans".

Once installed, the worm attempts to disable security software, leaving the computer open to further attack. So, take your measures!

MySpace tightens age restrictions

The new restrictions aim to make it more difficult for older users to befriend younger members previously unknown to them.

Users of 18 and above will no longer be able to request to be added to a 14 or 15 year-old's group of friends unless they already know the teenager's e-mail address or full name.

Members will also be given an option that will mean they can only be contacted by users within their age group.

In addition, all users, no matter what their age, will also be given the option of making only partial profiles available to people they do not know. Read all the facts and figures here > MySpace tightens age restrictions

US TV legend Aaron Spelling dies

US TV legend Aaron Spelling dies: "Television producer Aaron Spelling, the man behind some of US TV's most famous shows, has died at the age of 83. "

Cadbury salmonella scare probed

An investigation is under way after Cadbury withdrew a million chocolate bars which may have been contaminated with a rare strain of salmonella.

Cadbury salmonella scare probed forced the Cadbury giant to withdraw from shelves the 250g Dairy Milk Turkish, Dairy Milk Caramel and Dairy Milk Mint bars, the Dairy Milk 8 chunk and the 1kg Dairy Milk bar are among products affected.

The 105g Dairy Milk Buttons Easter Egg and the Freddo bar were also affected.

France Unveils Google-like Map Service

Called Geoportal, the site offers the ability to zoom in to as close as 20 inches off the ground, the best resolution available in Europe.

400,000 images comprise the tool along with 3,700 maps, which are updated every five years. Read the article France Unveils Google-like Map Service The system was developed by the National Geographic, and much like Google Earth it would be switchable from aerial to detailed maps, and soon even 3-D imagery.

However, unlike its counterpart geological data would also be added.

Cafe Metropole Paris > Dining under the sky

Dining Under the Sky.

Read the full article Cafe Metropole Paris Dining Under the Sky "...and the Spanish girls laughing in their shawls and their tall combs and the auctions in the morning the Greeks and the Jews and the Arabs and the devil .....

The World's Cups - New York Times

"Greeks drink frappés all day and all night when it's hot outside," said Stefanos Lintzeris, an owner of the cafe, which stocks special shakers and a kind of ... The World's Cups

Cafe Kolonaki, in Astoria, is one of New York's most authentic Greek cafes and a destination for lovers of the frappé, Greece's addictive national drink.

"Greeks drink frappés all day and all night when it's hot outside," said Stefanos Lintzeris, an owner of the cafe, which stocks special shakers and a kind of Nescafé instant coffee that is made just for the frappé.

Made from cold water, instant coffee and sugar, a frappé is distinguished by the thick mocha-colored foam at the top of the drink, produced by violent shaking. There is no milk in it, but a creamy foam is the mark of a well-made frappé. (The word is French, pronounced frap-PAY, even though the drink was invented in Greece in the 1950's.)

Boxing – an interesting sport

Here is a brief introduction of boxing, one of the 39 discilpines at the Doha Asian Games 2006.

Boxing – an interesting sport did you know that the practice of boxing dates back to antiquity?
There is evidence of boxing being prevalent in North Africa as far back as 4000 BC with signs it was practiced in Egypt around 3000 BC.

Boxing was introduced to the Olympic Games by the Greeks in 688 BC.

Rome: Total War - Alexander > Games Review

The Alexander focus seems too narrow, in my opinion, as it really only tells the final chapter of the conflict between the Greeks and Persians. ... Rome: Total War -- Alexander Review

The game starts after Philip's death and just as Alexander is poised to move against the Thebans. Once he manages to secure things in Greece, he'll be free to move against the Persians in the east. To win the campaign game, you'll have to capture thirty territories. Though you'll have to hold a few specific territories, capturing thirty territories is basically the same as capturing the whole map so you really won't have to worry too much about getting the right territories.

You will however have to worry about achieving your goals within the 100-turn time limit. (Since Alexander's conquests lasted only 13 years, the game dispenses with the year-by-year system and just progresses turn-by-turn.)

ODYSSEY TO AMERICA... A DEPARTURE

The place was packed – 200 people, mostly rich Egyptians, but also a lot of Western tourists: Brits, French, Dutch, Italians, and Greeks..... ODYSSEY TO AMERICA... A DEPARTURE

Fatso leered at Adil, his eyes taking in the sight of the young boy – who looked like the fallen statue of a minor Greek deity: a faun, perhaps, with a face like that of a very young Pan – rather too hungrily. Adil's heart sank. They were doomed. Or, at least, he was…

Read the whole story!

What's your favorite band?

A test version of the niche social networking site MOG.com launched on Tuesday with the aim of hooking up people based on their taste in music -- a sort of Myspace for music junkies.

The free site, started by former MTV marketing executive David Hyman with $1.4 million from private investors, requires users to download its application, mog-o-matic. The application catalogs the music on users' computer hard drives and monitors what they play the most and what new tunes are added through online downloads and portable music players.

The data is analyzed several ways and is posted to users' MOG web pages, which are open to inspection by the online world at large. Users also are encouraged to create blogs on their pages about their favorite music. The company does not generate music recommendations from the data but does provide 30-second sound links to all users' collections as well as links to Apple's iTunes Music Store and online music retailer Amazon.com.

Crumb competition

A wave of cell phone startups, hoping to attract users to television, music and other premium services, are floundering as they fight over a thin slice of the U.S. market, a report said on Tuesday.

About 30 wireless operators and hundreds of related wireless technology firms have been launched in the past four years, but many are struggling and face losses, The Wall Street Journal said.

In the past 16 months, startup cellular carriers raised at least $1 billion, according to Rutberg & Co., a San Francisco investment bank, the newspaper said. But only 1 percent of cell phone users regularly use their phones to watch videos, even as the number of U.S. cell phone users has doubled over the past six years to 215 million, the paper said.

Venture capitalists and others remain hopeful that the new-media offerings, which have proved popular in Asia, will be equally popular in the United States, the Journal said.

Study reveals 'oldest jewellery'

The earliest known pieces of jewellery made by modern humans have been identified by scientists.

The three shell beads are between 90,000 and 100,000 years old, according to an international research team. Two of the ancient beads come from Skhul Cave on the slopes of Mount Carmel in Israel. The other comes from the site of Oued Djebbana in Algeria.

So, wanna find out more? Then read this article > Study reveals 'oldest jewellery'

The most ancient spider web found in Spain

In a paper in Friday's issue of the journal Science says, a team of researchers including David A. Grimaldi of the American Museum of Natural History reports the discovery of a Cretaceous-era spider web encased in amber along with some captured insects.

Read this article > The most ancient spider web found in Spain

Sprint teams with Interscope for music promotion

Sprint teams with Interscope for music promotion.

According to this report Sprint Launching Interscope Music Series Sprint and Interscope Records are scheduled to launch a mobile video series tomorrow that will offer exclusive audio and video clips of music artists' studio sessions.

The companies plan to highlight a new artist every Friday for the next nine weeks.

U.S. tops in online category for Cannes fest

U.S. tops in online category for Cannes festival.

According to this report U.S. agencies show their prowess in online category In the online category of the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, U.S. shops dominated the international competition, by snaring the most trophies, 25, including two best-in-show Grand Prix.

However, in print, the biggest category of the competition, American agencies fell short, winning just four Lions.

Adobe, Google ink deal to distribute toolbar

Adobe, Google ink deal to distribute toolbar

Adobe signs toolbar deal with Google Under a new multiyear pact, Adobe Systems Inc. will distribute Google Inc.'s search engine toolbar for Web browsers.

Adobe said it expects to gain "significant revenue" from the deal, which will pair the Google toolbar with its Macromedia Shockwave Player software.

Oh, that Smart Google again!

What is the future of mobile video?

What is the future of mobile video?

Well, here is the full report > Analysts Predict Small, Successful Niche For Mobile Video

Two studies examining the future penetration of video services among mobile device users come to very different conclusions. While ABI Research predicts mobile video will attract 500 million users worldwide by 2011, a Jupiter Research study estimates that video will reach only 12 million U.S. mobile subscribers by 2010.

Web titans spend big on hardware

Web titans spend big on hardware. This is the correct link for this post.

Business 2.0: The rush to feed the Internet giants As Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft beef up their offerings in a race to compete for users, the real winners might end up being the companies that provide the hardware and switches that power these giants' massive networks.

Building a Web Presence on the Cheap

Going online for less. Cash-strapped start-ups needn't devote precious resouces to going online. While new companies should have some Web presence, or at least some sort of directory listing, it doesn't have to be expensive.

Building a Web Presence on the Cheap > This is the correct link for this article. I apologise for my previous post, erroneously mentioning the wrong link.

Thank you for your appreciation. The correct article for previous post follows.

Going online for less

Going online for less: Business 2.0: The rush to feed the Internet giants

Cash-strapped start-ups needn't devote precious resouces to going online. While new companies should have some Web presence, or at least some sort of directory listing, it doesn't have to be expensive.

Outlook for U.S. online travel sales

Outlook for U.S. online travel sales.

A new eMarketer report forecasts online leisure/unmanaged business travel sales in the U.S. will total $78 billion this year, up 20% over last year, while online corporate sales will be in the neighborhood of $37 billion.

Airline tickets will account for over half of online leisure/unmanaged business travel sales and hotel reservations for over a third. The majority of these sales will take place on supplier Web sites at the expense of online travel agencies. Going forward, this gap will only widen.

Online travelers are an affluent and highly educated subset of the online population. They visit multiple travel sites to learn about destination, compare travel options and find the best airline and hotel rates. Online business travelers are particularly attractive to the travel industry. They are technology savvy and less price sensitive than leisure travelers.

Get the facts at > Internet, Business & Ecommerce Statistics: Email Marketing & Online Market Research

Will newspapers' online growth satisfy Wall Street?

Will newspapers' online growth satisfy Wall Street?

In this article Newspapers hope for growth online, online advertising at newspapers, which jumped roughly 35% in the first quarter of this year compared with the first quarter of 2005, is helping revive the industry's fortunes, but it's not clear whether this success in the virtual arena will help offset the flat growth of print versions.

Online growth "could be an answer for this industry... [but] I don't think anybody knows" said financial consultant Ellen Berland Gibbs.

Old media billboards adjust to the digital age

Old media billboards adjust to the digital age.

Signs of the new (?) times. Interested to know more? Then read this Outdoor ads make high-tech comeback Billboards, an old media stalwart, are being revitalized by taking interactive cues from, and working with, new media.

A new generation of interactive, digital billboards are being shared by various marketers, who can rotate their messages by the minute, while static billboards are being used to direct consumers to online and mobile promotions.

Angie dishes about the service

For the online population in 47 U.S. cities, Angie's List is the place to go for information on the reliability of service providers like general contractors, pet groomers, painters and others.

The company was founded by Angie Hicks, who started the business by collecting information from neighbors in her hometown of Columbus, Ohio.

Read the article here > Angie's List gives grades to service firms

Microsoft marketing "star" departs abruptly

Microsoft marketing "star" departs abruptly. Suddenly? I doubt that.

Read the article > Microsoft exec leaves suddenly Martin Taylor, Microsoft Corp. VP of marketing for Windows Live and MSN, described by industry watchers as "the fair-haired boy" and "a rising star", has left the company abruptly and without explanation. Microsoft would not give the reason for his departure and Taylor could not be reached for comment.

MySpace sees revenue in "safe" content

MySpace sees revenue in "safe" content.

Will this be their next move after all the allegations and difficulties they recently had? Read this report here > MySpace Draws Ads by Offering 'Safe' Content

This May, The Walt Disney Co. leveraged the popularity of social network MySpace.com to promote its summer blockbuster "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest". But Disney wasn't about to jump headlong into the user-controlled areas of MySpace, so the social network, in what is becoming an increasingly popular arrangement with mainstream marketers, built the company a "safe" area to use for promotional purposes.

Marketers must adjust to new-school TV viewing

Marketers must adjust to new-school TV viewing.

Read this report here > As More Consumers Pay for TV Programming, Advertisers Must Adapt As TV moves from a "cold," passive medium to a "warm," interactive one, marketers will have to develop new revenue models to make up for the diminished appeal of the traditional commercial broadcast, according to a new study from Havas' MPG Intelligence.

But the research also shows that this new interactive style of viewing will not replace traditional broadcast in the near future.

Broadband fuels surging global media market

Broadband fuels surging global media market.

Read this report here > Media spending to reach $1.8 trillion in 2010: report

According to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers, total worldwide entertainment spending by consumers will reach $1.8 trillion in 2010, with consumer spending on online and wireless media projected to triple to reach $67 billion in 2010. The report also projects that growth in Internet ad spending will continue to outpace other advertising media.

FREAKY FACTS

Butts of fire: We call them fireflies, lightning bugs and glowworms. But the scientific names of various firefly species, based on Latin or Greek descriptions, can be just as colorful.

Some examples: the macrolampis, meaning "big light''; the microdiphot, meaning "small paired lights''; and the pyropyga, meaning "fire butt.''

Get on the facts at > FREAKY FACTS and Let's get it on: While all firefly larvae light up, not all species glow as adults.

Of those that do, each species uses a specific flash pattern to attract a mate. The signals can range from a continuous glow to a single flash to a pulsing strobe light and ...........

New restaurant blends cuisine

New restaurant blends cuisine Off the Menu

FR.OG, which stands for French Origin, will make its debut this fall in New York offering dishes influenced by Vietnam, North Africa and Lebanon.

Chat Noir is another restaurant set to hit the New York scene this fall, which is being opened by the owner of Noodle Bar.

Michelin has chefs playing spot the critic

The upcoming second U.S. edition of the Michelin Guide has many restaurants in the San Francisco area on notice, with chefs striving to put their best foot forward in an effort to capture the coveted Michelin stars.

The first Michelin U.S. edition focused on New York. See the details at this article > Michelin has chefs playing spot the critic to know all about Michelin guide puts San Francisco chefs on best behavior.

High scoring football snacks

World Cup recipe videos
The World Cup gets serious now for the last 16 teams, and while the players get orange slices and motivational abuse at half-time, we have video clips online to offer complimentary cuisine when catering for your World Cup parties.

Watch these here > World Cup

Did you know?

Did you know?
New York's Wall Street is so named because it was built along the length of a wall that was constructed by 17th century farmers to prevent their pigs from escaping.

Ασύρματο Δίκτυο στην Πλατεία Συντάγματος

Ασύρματο Δίκτυο στην Πλατεία Συντάγματος tech in.gr Δωρεάν σύνδεση στο Internet για όλους μέσω WiFi. Internet για όλους στο Σύνταγμα

Ο Υπουργός Οικονομίας και Οικονομικών Γ.Αλογοσκούφης εγκαινίασε σήμερα 19 Ιουνίου 2006 στην πλατεία Συντάγματος την πιλοτική δωρεάν ασύρματη πρόσβαση στο γρήγορο Internet, που θα έχουν από σήμερα στο χώρο της πλατείας οι πολίτες της Αθήνας αλλά και οι επισκέπτες της.

Το ασύρματο δίκτυο δημιουργήθηκε για να εξοικειώσει τους πολίτες έως τις αρχές του 2008 με το γρήγορο Internet και να αναδείξει τις πολλαπλές δυνατότητες που προσφέρει στην καθημερινή ζωή και την εργασία τους.

Υλοποίηση σε συνεργασία με το E.M. Πολυτεχνείο

Το έργο υλοποιείται από το Υπουργείο Οικονομίας και Οικονομικών και η πρωτοβουλία εντάσσεται στην Ψηφιακή Στρατηγική της Κυβέρνησης και συγκεκριμένα στο Σχέδιο για την Ανάπτυξη της Ευρυζωνικότητας έως το 2008. Χρηματοδοτήθηκε από την Ειδική Γραμματεία για την Κοινωνία της Πληροφορίας του Υπουργείου Οικονομίας και Οικονομικών μέσω του Προγράμματος «Κοινωνία της Πληροφορίας» και υλοποιήθηκε από το Εθνικό Μετσόβιο Πολυτεχνείο.

Ο κεντρικός εξοπλισμός που έχει εγκατασταθεί, καθιστά το Σύνταγμα μια από τις λίγες πλατείες της Ευρώπης στις οποίες παρέχεται δωρεάν ασύρματη πρόσβαση στο Internet από δημόσιο φορέα, με σκοπό την εξοικείωση των πολιτών.

Περισσότερες τεχνικές πληροφορίες καθώς και πληροφορίες σύνδεσης θα βρείτε στη διεύθυνση www.athenswifi.gr.

Δωρεάν Πρόσβαση στο Internet

Η πρόσβαση στο ασύρματο δίκτυο της πλατείας Συντάγματος (athenswifi) είναι ελεύθερη σε όλους τους πολίτες, αρκεί να διαθέτουν έναν φορητό υπολογιστή (laptop) ή έναν υπολογιστή χειρός (PDA), που να υποστηρίζουν τεχνολογίες "WiFi". Ο κάθε πολίτης μπορεί πλέον να συνδεθεί στο Internet μέσω του φορητού υπολογιστή του, ενώ κάθεται σε ένα παγκάκι ή σε ένα καφέ της πλατείας. Η πρόσβαση είναι ελεύθερη, αρκεί να πληκτρολογήσει τον αριθμό που θα εμφανιστεί στην οθόνη του, μόλις προσπαθήσει για πρώτη φορά να προσπελάσει μια ηλεκτρονική σελίδα.

Η ταχύτητα διασύνδεσης στο athenswifi είναι ιδιαίτερα γρήγορη (πρωτόκολλα 802.11b/g), ενώ η συνολική χωρητικότητα της γραμμής με το Internet είναι 4Mbps. Το ασύρματο δίκτυο καλύπτει την ευρύτερη περιοχή της πλατείας Συντάγματος με έμφαση στα σημεία όπου ο δημότης ή ο επισκέπτης μπορεί να καθίσει και να χρησιμοποιήσει τον φορητό του υπολογιστή. Για την καλύτερη κάλυψη της πλατείας έχουν εγκατασταθεί αρκετά σημεία ασύρματης πρόσβασης (Access Points) τα οποία επικοινωνούν ασύρματα με τον κεντρικό εξοπλισμό στο Υπουργείο Οικονομίας και Οικονομικών.

H Ειδική Γραμματεία για την Κοινωνία της Πληροφορίας, υλοποιεί ανάλογες δράσεις για την εξοικείωση με το γρήγορο Internet σε 85 ακόμη σημεία της Ελλάδας.
Περισσότερα:
www.athenswifi.gr
www.ntua.gr
www.awmn.net
www.eexi.gr

athenswifi.gr

At Athens, Greece free wi-fi Internet is available at the Syntagma Square.

Read about it at > athenswifi.gr

Sbarro to deliver pizza-by-the-slice to more countries

Sbarro to deliver pizza-by-the-slice to more countries.

It was announced that Sbarro to Open 25-Plus International Units Within Next Five Years aiming in expanding its market presence.

Sbarro plans to widen its international reach by opening more than 25 new international locations within the next five years. Newly signed franchising agreements will introduce the pizza-by-the-slice concept to Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, The Bahamas and Romania. Get your slice now!

McDonald's to build drive-throughs in China

McDonald's to build drive-throughs in China.

In view of the Olympics everybody wants to get a higher market share in China or some others they just want to enter the market.

In the case of McD McDonald's to Announce Chinese Drive - Through McDonald's Corp. will partner with China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., China's largest gas station operator, to launch drive-through McDonald's restaurants in the country.

McDonald's plans to open 100 restaurants a year in China and many will be drive-throughs, an executive said. How clever!

Redesigned Web sites help carriers attract fliers

Redesigned Web sites help carriers attract fliers.

It's part of the game, otherwise you are left out and your competitors are at an advantage over you. Read this The New, Sleek Airline Web Site

New Web-site designs are helping airlines lower costs and improve customer loyalty. Some sites now allow travelers to manage their frequent flier miles and have simplified the booking process to just a few clicks. I should say I agree.

The less clicks your visitor has to do to gain access to the information is looking for, the better for you and the longer staying on your site for him/her.

P&G Moves Into Mobile-Marketing

P&G's Crest to land in bars, clubs. How wonderful!

P&G Moves Into Mobile-Marketing, Procter & Gamble's new mobile marketing division is rolling out a promotions campaign for Crest Whitening Plus Scope Extreme Toothpaste that allows consumers to text in responses to dating quizzes.

The marketing will advertise on bar napkins, night club bathroom signs and in other guerilla methods in addition to traditional outlets including TV, print and Internet.

L'Oreal Taps R/GA for Interactive

L'Oreal names R/GA as lead global interactive agency.

L'Oreal Taps R/GA for Interactive, the Paris-based beauty product marketer L'Oreal has named Interpublic Group agency R/GA to handle its interactive advertising across the categories of cosmetics, skin care and hair care products.

Marketers seeing Clear Channel's Net potential

National Marketers seeing Clear Channel's Net potential. Clear Channel's online music unit becoming a hit with national advertisers.

With Clear Channel Radio's online audience having grown 10% since January, national marketers, including Arby's, Budweiser and Coca-Cola, are starting to place ads on station Web sites. Clear Channel's online growth also included a 1,319% jump in on-demand plays and a 420% hike in unique streams.

A guide to local search

Search Engine Watch executive editor Chris Sherman profiles the companies that are focusing on local Web search, and that, in many cases, power the larger, brand-name search players.

Read all about the guide to local search Who's Who in Local Search

Microsoft releases new Windows Live IM service

Microsoft launches new IM service.

More on this link > Microsoft releases new Windows Live IM service.

As part of its move to put its products and services online, Microsoft has released its new Windows Live instant messenger service that allows for free computer-to-computer voice calls, as well as video conferencing and computer-to-telephone calls. The service builds on the network of 240 million worldwide users of MSN Messenger.

Cities Shop For Lower Prices In Wi-Fi

Cities want free, ad-supported Wi-Fi systems.

Read this article > Cities Shop For Lower Prices In Wi-Fi: Free as increasing numbers of municipalities have changed their opinions on what they want in a citywide Wi-Fi system.

Whereas the goal was once to have an inexpensive system, the new craze is to want free, ad-supported Wi-Fi networks.

Mighty AJAX - a faster and more powerful web

In Homer's epic, Iliad, Ajax (Aias in Greek but also known as, Telamonian Ajax or 'Ajax the Greater', to distinguish him from the smaller but lithe Locrian 'Ajax the Lesser'), was a mighty warrior, nearly unparalleled in either the Greek or Trojan ranks.

A fitting name, then, for a technology that could prove as unstoppable in conquering the web as was Ajax in smiting noble Trojans.

So here is Mighty AJAX - a faster and more powerful web. - Features. Is it hubris to suggest that AJAX (Asynchronous Java and XML) will transform the web? Perhaps.

But while Web 2.0 is a vaguely described vision, variably manifest depending on its interpretation, AJAX is a more concrete development platform that is already gaining traction on some of the most popular sites on the web.

A Wheelchair Trek for Reunification

Choi Chang-hyun (41) is disabled by a severe form of cerebral infantile paralysis.

He is on a challenge to move an average of 80km per day for 9 months across 30 European countries. On May 10, he set off from Athens, Greece and went through Romania and Bulgaria to reach Budapest, Hungary and showed up at Hero Square on June 15 in hot temperatures around 30 degrees Celsius.

Read the whole story here > A Wheelchair Trek for Reunification as it is a real story about someone who deserves our admiration. Maybe, we can learn a bit out of his story. Don't you think so?

Ozzie, Ozzie, Ozzie: chant of change at Microsoft

Mr Ozzie has pursued that passion through generations of technology, adapting his thinking and anticipating the next trends in technology architecture before they have been recognised elsewhere.

His first taste of the power of computers to foster collaboration came with Plato, a mainframe computer system at the University of Illinois. The system was designed to handle early forms of messaging and group chat rooms, forerunners of the collaboration tools that are now central to Microsoft's work.

Everybody hopes that Ozzie, Ozzie, Ozzie: chant of change at Microsoft By setting limited but clear objectives for each project and by emphasising frequent re-releases of software, Mr Ozzie's style is in some ways more in keeping with the times than that of Mr Gates.

Google has set the tone, issuing rapid new releases of its server-based software to bring out new services and frequent improvements of existing products.

Birthday greetings, bottle of wine for Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney, who penned the Beatles' song When I'm Sixty-Four, is celebrating his 64th birthday spending a quiet day with his family at his farm in England, news reports say.

Birthday greetings, bottle of wine for Paul McCartney and the song famously begins "When I get older, losing my hair, many years from now, will you still be sending me a Valentine, birthday greeting, bottle of wine?"

It also contains the refrain "Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm 64?" — and for many McCartney fans, the answer has been a resounding "Yes."

Happy Birthday Sir Paul!

The Who live at Leeds, again

The Who recreated its legendary 1970 Leeds University concert in England by playing in the same venue as it kicked off a European tour.

The Who live at Leeds, again > The Who's tour will take them to Germany, France, Spain, Austria and then to North America in September. The band's new studio album is expected to be released in late June.

Tomb contains oldest paintings in Western culture

According to Italian officials a Tomb contains oldest paintings in Western culture

The remains of a tomb carved into the hillside in a barley field 20 kilometres north of Rome, near the town of Veio, is adorned with vibrantly coloured frescoes estimated to be 2,700 years old.

Running scared at the running of the bulls

Thousands of revelers, attired in white shirts and pants and clutching red handkerchiefs, gather in front of Pamplona's town hall to celebrate the start of the Festival of San Fermin in Spain.

However, they were Running scared at the running of the bulls. According to an attendant "The bulls were galloping toward us. In an instant, I was swept up in the chaos, people running to stay ahead of the bulls, to avoid the horns that were getting closer. I turned and ran, too, as fast as my feet could carry me. I ran past the doorways of the small shops that lined the street, past the crowds that had come to watch, past the barricades that had been put up along the route. There was nowhere to escape, nowhere to go except straight ahead, with everyone else. All I wanted to do was survive".

Google Checkout preparing to launch

According to Eric Schmidt, Google Checkout will not be like PayPal (if you mean person to person transactions), but it will be very much like PayPal if you mean a way to accept payment for items online through a website.

Check it out at > Google Checkout preparing to launch

Web office - your data and applications everywhere

Imagine being able to sit down at any ordinary computer in an Internet cafe or public library, start up the resident web browser and access your personal desktop, along with your applications, messages, and information, with a click of your mouse button.

Then, when you're done, you simply close the web browser to have all of the documents you've just worked on safely stored on your remote server, leaving nothing on the computer you've just been working on.

This is the goal of the mobile desktop and operating system called eyeOS. Click the link and learn more > Web OS - Web office - your data and applications everywhere!

Unusual Hotels of the World

Unusual Hotels of the World is the online guide for travellers interested in staying somewhere truly different.

Starting out as a discussion between friends in a pub, featured hotels are underground, inside an igloo, up a tree or even underwater... and all unusual!

Click and read more > Unusual Hotels of the World : Online Guide of the World's most Unusual & Unique Hotels!

Iphigenie en Tauride Ends Up in Old Folks' Home at Paris Opera

The story of the 1778 opera is a sideshow of the Trojan War.

To obtain favorable winds for the Greek fleet sailing to Troy, Agamemnon sacrifices his daughter Iphigenie. The goddess Artemis snatches her away and brings her to Tauris, today's Crimea. There she becomes Artemis's priestess, with the special task of sacrificing illegal aliens to the goddess.

When Oreste, her brother, arrives with his buddy Pylade, both are condemned to death. Just in time, Iphigenie recognizes him. After an intervention by the goddess, it is Thoas, the bloodthirsty king of the peninsula, who loses his life, and the three Greeks sail home.

From Bloomberg.com: Culture > "Iphigenie en Tauride'' is at the Palais Garnier through July 10. For more information and tickets, go to http://www.operadeparis.fr/ or call (33) (1) 7229-3535.

Temples at the sacred source

I am in northeastern Israel, just one mile from the Lebanese border, three from the Syrian, on the slopes of Mount Hermon, the 9,286-foot, snowcapped peak that dominates the Golan Heights.

Near the base of Hermon is a ledge of soft limestone from which flows the Dan, named for the seventh tribe of ancient Israel. It is the largest tributary of the Jordan, and the beginning of a journey that has shaped the whole of the world.

Temples at the sacred source The Jordan River is cited nearly 200 times in the Bible. In Genesis, Lot looked up "and saw the whole plain of the Jordan was well-watered, like the garden of the Lord. Most rivers serve as thoroughfares for vessels, bringing people together. But the Jordan has always been a border, something to cross to get to a better land, a healthier time, a home.

In Rome, a place for Romans

Burrowed behind the Colosseum, with ivy-draped palazzos and cobblestone alleys, the Roman neighbourhood of Monti ought to be a tourist magnet.

So where were the street vendors? The sunburned foreigners? The stores selling cutesy aprons with vignettes from the Sistine chapel?

In The ChronicleHerald.ca article you will get to know Rome, a place for Romans, better. Read it now!

Mercedes museum more than a car show

Kings and queens, presidents and popes, chancellors and czars have owned them or been chauffeured in them.

So have Elvis, Elton John, Pablo Picasso, Al Jolson, Grace Kelly, Errol Flynn, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and countless other celebrities.

In The ChronicleHerald.ca article you will discover that the Company’s history is as fascinating as cars are beautiful.

Computers to Perceive Three Dimensions in 2-D Images

We live in a three-dimensional world but, for the most part, we see it in two dimensions.

Discerning how objects and surfaces are juxtaposed in an image is second nature for people, but it's something that has long flummoxed computer vision systems.

As Carnegie Mellon Researchers Teach Computers to Perceive Three Dimensions in 2-D Images; Program Automatically Generates 3-D Models From a Single Photograph Ancient Greeks reasoned that the eyes must emit rays that bounce off objects, measuring distances much like today's laser rangefinders.

By the 19th century, scientists realized that a pair of eyes gives humans binocular vision, allowing them to perceive depth. But stereoscopic vision is useful at distances of no more than 50 meters. Even then, the mind often overrides binocular vision, such as when watching a football game on television.

Thrill kills: turning crime into mass-market pornography

Almost as old as the Bible is the work of the Ancient Greeks: in Oedipus Rex, Sophocles explores the repercussions of one of the most abhorrent crimes, patricide.

In Macbeth, Shakespeare tackled the killing of a king. Crime is the new pornography: people can't get enough of it. Thrill kills: turning crime into mass-market pornography And where would bookshops be without crime?

They're not my preferred reading, but I have fewer problems with detective fiction (which has a longer history than even Sherlock Holmes could fathom) than true crime, the rehashing of real cases.

Frist exhibit unmasks Ancient Egypt

With its massive pyramids, miraculously preserved mummies and mysterious hieroglyphs, ancient Egypt holds a special place in the popular imagination, a distant land where crocodiles prowled the banks of the Nile, people routinely practiced the art of embalming the dead, and pharaohs were immortalized with monumental structures that rival anything from our own era.

This abiding appeal dates back even to the ancient Greeks, says Susan Edwards, executive director of the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, and today it still captures the public's attention.

Frist exhibit unmasks Ancient Egypt > Ancient Egyptian history is astonishing in its depth, with more than 30 successive royal dynasties. To help organize the sequence of events, scholars have divided the country's history into a dozen different periods, beginning with the Predynastic Period circa 5300 B.C.. The Frist exhibit picks up in the year 1550 B.C., with the beginning of the New Kingdom, and runs through the Late Period, just prior to the rule of Alexander the Great.

Creating A Culture of Change Management

The Greeks knew long ago that it is impossible to step into the same river twice.

Fast-forward from ancient Greece to our technology-driven century, and change occurs so rapidly it is difficult to manage. Creating A Culture of Change Management may not be that bad afterall.

Managing change is one of the most difficult challenges that IT organizations face, and to effectively support and facilitate enterprise business goals, IT must also continually change. Sometimes these changes are significant, as in upgrading a network. Some changes are almost imperceptible, occurring without fanfare as services evolve and underlying IT infrastructure is maintained.

A Historical Perspective on 'Gay Marriage'

In recent articles one is inclined to believe that people only oppose “gay marriage” on religious grounds.

If you look at the history of homosexuality, however, you will find that people have had criticisms of homosexual behavior on other grounds as well. A Historical Perspective on 'Gay Marriage' The extent of the disapproval of homosexuality, however, limits itself not only to Christianity.

We also find proscriptions against excessive homosexual behavior in Plato, the Emperor Augustus (who encouraged marriage among the upper class for procreation) and among other ancient writers as well. In fact, homosexual “relationships,” at least as we know them, did not even exist among the Greeks and Romans. Although we commonly find pederasty among the ancients, evidence of same-age relationships scarcely exists.

Army reaches soldiers through their stomachs

Army reaches soldiers through their stomachs as New Foods for Marching on Stomach are provided to them.

The Pentagon is offering improved food options and supplements to soldiers, some of which are available in drugstores for general consumers. A portion of the sales from HooAH! energy bars and HooAH! Soldier Fuel are donated to fund government research on quality of life for soldiers. The Army also provides soldiers with Wrigley's Stay Alert gum to enhance performance.

Uncle Sam wants you!

Starbucks store to open in 18th century inn

Starbucks arrive at historic Annapolis inn > Starbucks store to open in 18th century inn

The historic Maryland Inn, once visited by George Washington, plans to modernize a bit by adding a Starbucks on the property.

Online virtual worlds use education to engage kids

"Whyvillains" are the 1.6 million or so children aged 8 to 12 who spend time in an online virtual world called "Whyville" where they learn about math, science and other subjects in a "multiuser virtual environment".

Some educators believe virtual worlds can have a big effect on education, but proponents are having a difficult time overcoming negative perceptions of computer games. Are virtual worlds the future of the classroom?

Meanwhile, at the beach, crowds of "tweens", 8 to 12-year-olds, will see their popular hangout beset with so-called red tides, as the seashore changes from blue to red with phytoplankton blossoms.

CapVest, Blackstone favored in Unilever

Report: CapVest, Blackstone favored in Unilever frozen foods purchase

Suitors line up for �1bn Unilever business > CapVest and Blackstone are near the top of the list of potential purchasers of Unilever's European frozen foods business, according to The Times of London.

Industry wide, FoodNavigator reports renewed interest in possible purchases of chilled and frozen foods divisions of food manufacturers with a unit of CapVest also expressing interest in Heinz' European frozen foods business.

Volvo, McDonald's Set Sail To Promote Pirates

McDonald's, Volvo board "Pirate" ship sails > Volvo, McDonald's Set Sail To Promote Pirates

McDonald's and Volvo are launching a joint promotion for the upcoming "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" July 7 premier.

The restaurant will award a Volvo XC90 SUV to one customer a day for 28 days, and incorporate Volvo-dedicated packaging on select food items.

World's oldest bird fossils

Five beautifully preserved headless fossil skeletons discovered in China suggest modern birds evolved from aquatic duck-like ancestors.

These are propably the World's oldest bird fossils. Several of the specimens are so exquisitely preserved that the remains of feathers and even webbing in the foot can be seen clearly.

In the Pteroducktyl - the missing link, Ornithuran fossils "are relatively rare in the Cretaceous, which is part of what makes Gansus so exciting", said a co-author, Dr Matthew Lamanna of Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

Can web design be made easy?

Can web design be made easy?

"Every now and then someone decides to save me trouble by editing their own pages using Microsoft Front Page" writes designer Andrew Norman. "They come back full of broken links, dodgy fonts, unnecessary extra code, and I have to spend far longer fixing them than I would have done if they had e-mailed me the corrections in plain text."

This Independent Online Edition > Science & Technology article will help you learn how to avoid elephant traps in the website-building jungle.

Clangers in the Temple

Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu, characters in The Da Vinci Code, are blessed with good luck.

Not only can they escape certain arrest by crack police, death at the hands of an aggro albino monk and unravel ancient riddles at the rate some people have hot dinners, but they also find every church they arrive at open.

Read this > Clangers in the Temple.

Leading mobile phone players converge on Linux

A group of mobile phone companies including Vodafone, DoCoMo, Motorola, Samsung NEC, and Panasonic, have announced plans to collaboratively develop an open, Linux-based operating system for mobile devices as announced on Linux News website.

So, Leading mobile phone players converge on Linux. The companies plan to create an "independent foundation," as yet unnamed.

The foundation will develop and market an open Linux implementation, including an API specification, architecture, and source code-based reference implementations of components and tools. It will also publish specifications for referenced third party software, along with test suites aimed at helping adopters assess and demonstrate product conformance to the platform specification.

Amazon Expands to Grocery Items

In effort to tap into new markets, Amazon.com has extended its reach to the online grocery business.

The company will begin selling non-perishable items on its site and, unlike other online grocery stores that fizzled when the dot-com bubble burst, Amazon ships its groceries to anyone in the United States.

Read more here > Amazon Expands to Grocery Items. Have some Frosted Flakes with your iPod!

Bon Apetite!

Google Tests Picasa Web Albums

Good News!

Now the search giant Google Tests Picasa Web Albums.

"Google has initiated a very limited first-come, first-served test of its upcoming Picasa Web Albums. After a quick test drive on both Firefox 1.5 and IE 7, I have to say that it's fast, intuitive to use, has an icon right inside the main Picasa user interface. Even in its very beta condition, it just plain works".

Try Picasa for you to check if it works or not. I'm sure it will.

For Microsoft, Biggest Set of Patches Since February 2005

On Tuesday, Microsoft released a slew of patches to fix eight "critical" security flaws in Windows and Microsoft Office.

The patches released yesterday mark the biggest security update from Microsoft since February 2005. Read more at > For Microsoft, Biggest Set of Patches Since February 2005

Altogether, there are 12 patches dealing with 21 security vulnerabilities, addressing issues in Windows, Internet Explorer, Word, PowerPoint, and Exchange Server. Notably, this month's set of patches includes fixes for a critical zero-day flaw in Microsoft Word and an Internet Explorer flaw relating to how the browser deals with ActiveX controls.

Yahoo plugs email hole but web services issue highlighted

The world's 200 million or so Yahoo email users can breathe a little easier today because the global internet company says it has plugged a potentially dangerous hole in its system that allowed a dangerous JavaScript worm to infect email users' computers.

More here > Yahoo plugs email hole but web services issue highlighted

Creating phenomenal films

Movies prove you don't need a big budget or big names to make a hit.

Phenoms don't get that way because of reviewers. They just need to grab the people who actually see movies. Read this Movies article to find out more.

That necessary hook can often be as ingenious and original as the film itself. For what feels like a spontaneous combustion is often the result of a well-plotted distribution plan and an inventive PR campaign.

The Football Connoisseur's Guide: Hamburg: A Port, Red Lights and lots of Soccer

Heading to Hamburg for the World Cup?

Definately you need to read this guide The Football Connoisseur's Guide: Hamburg: A Port, Red Lights and lots of Soccer Plenty of information, where to go, what to see, where to eat and more.

Plus all the latest results, gossip and behind the scene (and maybe the locker rooms?) details. A football connoisseur's guide.

New Worm Targets Yahoo! Mail

A new worm, dubbed the "Yamanner worm" that exploits a Javascript vulnerability in Yahoo! Mail, has been detected by Yahoo!

As New Worm Targets Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! said a very small fraction of its base of over 200 million accounts is infected by the worm. While security firms such as Trend Micro and McAfee rated the virus as having a low threat level, Symantec called it an "elevated threat".

Bizarre courses attract students

Purdue may be world-renowned as a science and engineering school, but there are plenty of fun classes for students to enjoy.

These range from studying film to learning how to golf. The following list is a guide to some of the fun classes Purdue offers. Read the list on Purdue's Independent Student Newspaper who knows, you may discover some fun classes you want to attend too!

Not-so-hot Dani

Australian Channel Ten is gearing up to launch Rene is Getting Married, a new reality series about a 31-year-old second generation Greek-Australian girl who is trying to find the man of her dreams.

The Not-so-hot Dani series will be broadcast live from the network's Sydney studios, where a panel of three experts and the host will review a montage of her activities from the previous 24 hours, plan her next 24 hours and pass judgment on her suitors.

Bachelors keen to get involved should act quickly, as Ten has been calling for "single, out-going, adventurous men with a romantic streak" for the past week.

3D monitors offer captivating viewing experience

3D monitors offer captivating viewing experience, so you better Forget the glasses--3D monitors ready now.

Monitors that provide a simulated 3D viewing experience, some without viewing glasses required, are already being sold.

"It is clearly a more immersive experience" Jos Swillens, vice president and general manager of the 3D division at Philips, said. "There is nothing hampering this from becoming a mainstream product".

MySpace Offers "Controlled" Hubs

MySpace to roll out marketer-friendly content > MySpace Offers "Controlled" Hubs

Marketers are leery of running ads against possibly racy content on the millions of MySpace personal profiles, so the social network is offering advertisers the closest thing to a gated community in the freewheeling world of online networking: stand-alone content-driven channels.

The content will be supplied by MySpace users, but there will be some editorial supervision.

For sponsors, huge global exposure

Continuous exposure for World Cup sponsors.

Read this > For sponsors, huge global exposure. Soccer features two 45 minutes halves of play with few breaks, so while broadcasters won't be able to air frequent commercials, marketers sponsoring official in-stadium signage and "ambush marketers" seeking free airtime will have a chance to reach billions of consumers across the globe.

Among the official sponsors forking over an average of $35 million each are Adidas, Coca-Cola and Yahoo!

'It's a monster. But if it stops changing, it will die'

As the London Architecture Biennale kicks off, its director Peter Ackroyd tells Jonathan Glancey how money has transformed the city, and will make it almost unrecognisable by 2010.

He said that London 'It's a monster. But if it stops changing, it will die'. There is, though, as developments in the City and the East End continue to prove, little chance of London coming to heel or becoming one city.

It remains a many-faced, buccaneering, brute beauty.

'Da Vinci Code' newest pop culture tour

Each day, 80 to 100 fans of the movie "Amelie" visit the Cafe des Deux Moulins in Paris where the title character was a waitress.

And the Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland that figures in "The Da Vinci Code" had just 6,000 visitors in 1997 - but is gearing up for well over 120,000 this year.

Read this article at St. Petersburg Times Online Except if you prefer Harry Potter-themed trips!

Will work for travel

Cap and gown off, backpack on: Europe awaits.

But with limited finances, there'll be furniture to mend, farming to learn and teens to tend at boarding school. And fun to have in between, from London to the Czech Republic. Will work for travel In our final weeks we'll drift through Greece, work on another organic farm, this time in Italy, and then back to London. On Nov. 14 we fly back to Florida.

Why don't you follow her example?

Gooooooooal!

The world is about to go footballistic.

In some countries, there will be mass delirium, in others, much weeping and gnashing of teeth. Like the Olympics, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association World Cup (only in North America is “the beautiful game” called soccer) is staged every four years and is every bit a television spectacle.

A quarter of the world’s population tuned in to the 2002 World Cup. This year’s extravaganza, which gets underway June 9 in Germany, is likely to surpass that. Gooooooooal! Movies and books about football, on the other hand, are structured to provide a reliable payoff. Especially in feature films, the game is mostly a vehicle for wish fulfillment: the triumph of the underdog or the follow-your-dreams parable.

The Boys Are Back

While their popularity has declined since their late-'80s peak, the Pet Shop Boys have retained a steadfast following.

Fundamental entered the British charts at No. 5 and made the Top Ten for album downloads for iTunes subscribers in Canada, Germany, Spain and Scandinavia. Those numbers are healthy enough to spare Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe from the fate of many of their one-time contemporaries, doomed to relive past glories on shows such as VH1 Bands Reunited.

However, The Boys Are Back once more. The influence of gay culture has never been hard to find in the music biz, an industry that has long traded on the allure of young men in tight trousers.

In the early '60s, impresario Larry Parmes built up a stable of prefab stars with vigorous names such as Tommy Steele. Nearly 40 years after his death, Beatles manager Brian Epstein is still the subject of innuendo concerning his interest in the Fab Four. Openly gay music acts were rare even amid the rampant hedonism of glam and disco, the real shocker was that David Bowie and most of the Village People would eventually be outed as straight.

Well, times are changing so does culture, pop or gay.

New Dating Show Premieres on ABC

The producers of "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" have come up with a new show, "How to Get The Guy," about four single girls hoping to meet "Mr. Right".

The New Dating Show Premieres on ABC "How to Get the Guy" debuts Monday, June 12th, on ABC.

Heather Mills McCartney: I'm no prostitute

Heather Mills McCartney has denied claims she worked as a £5,000-a-time prostitute.

Read this article to find out more about what she claims > Heather Mills McCartney: I'm no prostitute

The 38-year-old former model, who separated from husband Sir Paul McCartney last month, has furiously rubbished allegations made yesterday branding them rehashed and false stories from four years ago.

A statement released by her lawyers said: "Heather Mills McCartney strongly denies the allegations. These are not new stories".

Fears of Poland's gay community

As Warsaw's annual gay rights march got under way outside the Polish parliament a music system blared out its anthem: "Homophobia, the worst disease, you can't love who you want to love in times like these."

But still there are Fears of Poland's gay community. Recent gay rights parades in other Polish cities have been attacked by youths hurling stones and eggs. Apart from a few egg missiles, the march was by and large peaceful.

Help is at hand for web security

If you take your net safety seriously, you will probably have anti-virus and a firewall and perhaps even an anti-spam program to stop the malicious software and messages getting at your home PC.

But this does not cover all the possible ways that the bad guys are trying to catch you out. Increasingly the makers of adware, spyware and viruses are using ordinary-looking websites as launch pads for their malicious creations that try to compromise your Windows computer when you visit.

But now Help is at hand for web security. The good news is that computer security is getting harder to avoid and excuses for not protecting yourself and family online are becoming harder to find.

Michelangelo's midnight extension

The British Museum is to open until midnight for the first time to satisfy demand for an exhibition of drawings of the Italian master Michelangelo.

During Michelangelo's midnight extension the works on display come from collections in the British Museum, the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford and the Teyler Museum in Haarlem in the Netherlands.

It is the British Museum's first Michelangelo exhibition in 30 years.

Kylie Minogue makes stage return

Pop star Kylie Minogue has made her first stage appearance since being diagnosed with breast cancer last year. So, actually Kylie Minogue makes stage return

The singer, 38, came on stage at the end of a gig by her younger sister Dannii at GAY in London's Astoria.

This modern life

Since the advent of tools to adapt Googlemaps, mashups now also refers to the overlaying of data upon digital maps, rather like sophisticated versions of thumbtacks in wall maps. Is This modern life or should we call it otherwise?

How control freaks are mapping out our lives. Can we map theirs'?

Fashion detox

Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen can't live without his cuff links.

Rap queen Estelle won't be parted from her Fendi wellies, while for Barbara Ellen, black is always the new black. So how would they cope if forced to abandon their signature style?

Five famous names change their look - and their outlook. Fashion detox In my house, black is back. Now, that's a nice comment!