TECHNOLOGY

Microsoft launches Windows Phone 7

Microsoft on Monday unveiled its plan to battle the iPhone, Android and BlackBerry smartphones with its new Windows Phone 7 mobile operating system.

At a press event in New York, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said that Windows Phone 7 smartphones would be available in the United States on AT&T's network.

"When Microsoft first showed us Windows Phone 7, we knew it was going to be a winner," AT&T CEO Mobility and Consumer Markets Ralph de la Vega said at the event.

"It was different than anything we've seen." Microsoft also announced partnerships with Samsung, LG and HTC, which will make devices to run the new smartphone software.

Samsung's phone, called the Focus, will be available on November 8, and the Surround from HTC and Quantum from LG would be in stores in time for the holidays, Microsoft said. All three phones will cost $199.99.

The Windows Phone 7 lineup will eventually include nine phone models available in 30 countries, Ballmer said.

"It's a different kind of phone," he said. "It gets you in, gets you out, and back to life as fast as humanly possible." Instead of the typical smartphone user interface - a series of small icons to launch applications - Windows Phone 7 uses large, dynamic tiles that Microsoft hopes will be both intuitive to use and easy to navigate.

Ballmer said: "Windows Phone 7 'different' Social networking is baked in, with a 'people hub' that tracks updates across a user's contact list.

A camera button wakes the phone into shooting mode quickly, so that it is able to almost instantly begin snapping photos.

Games are a focus

Xbox Live players can take their accounts on the go, and Electronic Arts is a launch partner, bringing the Sims game to the phones.

Windows Phone 7 integrates deeply with other Microsoft products. Notes taken on phone with OneNote automatically sync to the cloud with Office Live.

Along with top-notch support for Microsoft Outlook and Exchange - which should make corporate IT departments very happy - the phones offer a spell check that automatically underlines misspelled words with the red squiggly line familiar to Word users.

But one feature was noticeably missing at the launch copy/paste. Microsoft didn't put that in the original code because it didn't think it would be needed, thanks to auto-links between applications, a company executive said.

But developers demanded it, and Microsoft plans to add it in an update in early 2011. - Courtesy

CNNMoney.com

Google tests cars that drive themselves

Google it has developed cars that drive themselves automatically in traffic, and that it has been testing them on the streets of California for months.

It might seem like an unusual project for Google, but it could actually have big benefits.

We're not just talking about cars running Google Android. This is the stuff of science fiction.

The only accident that has occurred so far, one of the cars was rear-ended by a driver at a stop light. Human error! The vehicles have been tested on 140,000 miles of California road, from Silicon Valley to Santa Monica.

Each car is manned during the tests. One person sits in the driver's seat, ready to take control of the vehicle instantly by grabbing the wheel or touch the brake should something go wrong with the system. The person in the passenger's seat is an engineer who monitors the software operations on a computer.

Google hired engineers who previously participated in competitions and races involving automated cars - important turning points in the development of the technology, which has been coming into its own since around 2005 according to The New York Times.

If your first concern is one of safety, Google would argue that you're going about it all wrong. Safety is one of the project's purposes.

Google believes that the technology could nearly half the number of automobile-related deaths because computers are supposedly better at driving than humans in the right circumstances.

There are other hypothetical pluses, too.

The vehicles' instant reaction time and 360-degree awareness would allow them to drive closer together on the highway than humans can, reducing traffic congestion.

They could be more careful when operating the gas, reducing fuel consumption.

But the biggest benefit for Google would be the hour or so of daily commute time the car owner would save. Instead of driving, he or she could either be productive or entertained in the vehicle, doing work on a wireless Internet connection or watching television. Google doesn't say it explicitly, but TechCrunch was quick to note that this time could be spent using Google products and absorbing Google-run advertising.

The most optimistic projections put this technology at least eight years away from market, though.

Legal hassles are among the myriad problems; all of the current traffic laws assume that a human driver is present in the vehicle.

Do you think this technology will eventually be deployed, or is it just a pipe dream for Sergei and Larry? Courtesy internet

Adrenalin HCA partners ABS

Chennai based Adrenalin eSystems (AeSys), a subsidiary of Polaris Software has appointed Advanced Business Solutions (Pvt) Ltd [ABS], as its authorised solutions partner for "Adrenalin" Human Capital Alignment (HCA) software solutions in Sri Lanka.

CEO and Managing Director Adrenalin eSystems India, Ganesh Balaji(right), and Chairman Advanced Business Solutions (Pvt) Ltd Sri Lanka, K. Rameshkumar, exchanging instruments relating to the agreement

"We are excited to be representing and working with AeSys in Sri Lanka. We believe that this partnership will add a new dimension to our present market offerings," said Director/CEO ABS, Ranil Perera.

ABS is authorised to market, implement and extend post implementation support for "Adrenalin". The parent company of AeSys, Polaris Group, is one of India's leading organisations providing solutions globally in the Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) domain and is also known as the world's first CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integrated) Level 5 company.

CEO and Managing Director, AeSys Ganesh Balaji said, "This partnership agreement with ABS is a very positive step for us and it comes in response to the growing demand we are witnessing in the Sri Lankan market for HCA solutions". Adrenalin covers the entire HR spectrum and its modules include Organisation Structure, Personal Information Management, Employee Life Events, Awards and Recognition, Compensation and Benefit Management, Position Management, eRecruitment, Performance Management, 360 degree Feedback, Goal Tracking, Training Management, Employee Self Service, Manager Self Service, Letter Generation, Absence/Leave Management and Travel Management.

EPSON Photography Contest 2010

The EPSON All Island Photography Contest 2010 organised for the first time by DEBUG Computer Peripherals, authorised distributor for EPSON in Sri Lanka was held at the National Art Gallery Colombo 7 recently. "In keeping with our commitment to help the local photography industry including schoolchildren, we decided to have this competition", said a company spokesperson.