Open Document Format Alliance

The Alliance was launched on 3 March 2006 with more than 35 initial members from a wide range of countries around the world. Membership in the Alliance is open to all organisations that are committed to its mission.

The alliance works globally to educate policymakers, IT administrators and the public on the benefits and opportunities of the OpenDocument Format, to help ensure that government information, records and documents are accessible across platforms and applications, even as technologies change.

About ODF Alliance
Key Benefir of using ODF


Technorati Tags: ODF, Document

Face Recognition for Mobile Phone

Slashphone running article about Face Recognition feature for mobile phone will be introduced by Vodafone K.K. that authenticates customers by sensing their facial features to increase mobile phone security. From the article : "The Face Recognition function employs software based on Oki Electric Industry's "FSE (Face Sensing Engine)", embedded facial image processing middleware, and utilises the sub-camera located close to the main display to recognise customers by sensing the position of their eyes, eyebrows, mouth and other facial features. By pre-registering a customer's face and a secret question and answer, the camera will automatically activate when the handset is opened and authenticate a customer in less than a second."

[Slashphone]

Technorati Tags: Mobile, Phone, Security

Caller ID Spoofing

Don't believe your eyes ! At least for numbers on your cellphone. With just as little as $10, one can have 60 minutes talk time with fake caller ID. Oh, and it's legal.

USAToday has the article.

Technorati Tags: Phone, spoofing

A Better Search Engine than Google from Microsoft

Google is not enough for you ? Then wait for the next six months. Microsoft will introduce a search engine better than Google in six months in the United States and Britain followed by Europe, its European president said on Wednesday.

"What we're saying is that in six months' time we'll be more relevant in the U.S. market place than Google," said Neil Holloway, Microsoft president for Europe, Middle East and Africa.

"The quality of our search and the relevance of our search from a solution perspective to the consumer will be more relevant," he told the Reuters Global Technology, Media and Telecoms Summit.

"Should we add a Google-like search engine but twice as good hard-core into Windows? Guess what. If we did that, I don't think a company called Google would be very happy," he said.

But being good is not enough to win the hearts and minds of consumers already dedicated to another standard.

Original article from Reuters

Technorati Tags: Google, Microsoft

Lined up for Nintendo DS Lite

Some peolple lined up on the front of stores at 8 PM waiting for the opening at the morning in Japan to be the first person to buy Nintendo DS Lite.

Technorati Tags: Nintendo, DS, Lite

Source [Famitsu] via [Engadget], translated with [Babelfish]

Google News on Your Mobile Devices

Have nothing to read when you're in a waiting room and want to know what just happen in this planet ? Just type google.com on your web-enabled phone, and click the link to Google News. You can access the news you want, whenever you want, by using a search box, top headline listings, and browsable news categories.

[Google]

Technorati Tags: Google, Google New

Cyber-Shot Camera Phone from Sony Ericsson

Sony Ericsson unveils their new Cyber-shot Camera Phones.

Sony Ericsson today unveiled a long-awaited camera phone that leverages another key Sony brand: Cyber-shot. The mobile phone maker also launched an attempt to push that other borrowing from its parent company - the Walkman brand - further down-market with the first ever clamshell version.

The K800 and K790 - respectively 3G and tri-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE version of the same Cyber-shot phone - both sport a 3.2 megapixel camera behind a drop-down cover. Both have auto-focus with illumination, on-board red-eye reduction, integrated xenon flash and image stabilisation feature.

Sony Ericsson touted the cameras' BestPic feature, which captures nine shots in sequence starting as soon as you press the shutter button to trigger the auto-focus. The camera then shoots continuously, retaining the four shots taken before your press the shutter button and then taking a further four afterward. You're then given the chance to keep the pic you took, or select any or all of the others, all of which are taken at the full 3.2 megapixels - so BestPic isn't just another name for 'burst mode', Sony Ericsson insisted.

The 115g camera phone ships with 64MB of on-board memory, and takes MemoryStick Micro add-in cards. Images are displayed on the cameras' 2in, 320 x 240, 262,144-colour LCD. There's built-in support for Google's Blogger service, allowing pics to be uploaded and posted on the web in a trice. Well, as fast as the host network connection will allow - there's no Wi-Fi on these handsets.

There is Bluetooth 2.0 and, for straight-to-printer connections, PictBridge. Sony Ericsson claimed the phones offer seven hours' talk time on GSM networks, dropping to 2.5 hours on 3G connections. The stand-by time is 350 hours, the company claimed.

The K800 and K790 will go on sale next quarter with variants for North and South America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and China. Sony Ericsson did not provide pricing guidance, which is too dependent on operator subsidies and tariffs.

The Walkman W310 is a low-end clamshell music phone aimed at the 'yoof' market. It's got Bluetooth 2.0, an FM radio, a 262,144-colour main display and a quad-band radio with EDGE support. Sony Ericsson said it will bundle a 256MB MemoryStick Micro card with the product to complement the 20MB of on-board memory.

The integrated camera is a disappointing sub-megapixel job with 4x digital zoom. However, Sony Ericsson claimed the phone offers a whopping 9.5 hours' talk time - on stand-by the battery lasts for 400 hours.

The W310 also ships around the world in Q2. ®

Original articles at Reghardware

Technorati Tags: Sony Ericsson, Cybershot, Camera Phone

Reason to buy Windows Vista

Jason Cross running an article at Extremetech.com about Why Windows Vista Won't Suck . He wrote major improvement of Vista such as :

•	Major Kernel Overhaul
•	Networking
•	Media Center Improvements
•	Major Audio Changes
•	DirectX 10
•	New Built-In Apps
•	Aero Glass and the New UI
•	Security, Security, and more Security

But, should you buy Vista ?

Still, it's hard to take a real look at Vista, both on the surface and under the hood, and consider it just another Windows rehash. This is a dramatic, whole-hog upgrade of the Windows platform. If you got anything out of this article, we hope it's the realization that Vista is not simply the Windows XP/2000 code base that has been slowly evolving over the years with some fancy graphics and icons slapped onto it. It should be clear that Vista is really the next generation of operating system from Microsoft, every bit as significant as the leap from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95 or the jump from Mac OS 9 to OS X.

Technorati Tags: Microsoft, Windows, Vista, Aero Glass

Apple's New Products

Among other products, Apple introducing their new Intel Mac Minis to replace the Apple G4. They are faster 2.5 to 3 times of G4 version and came in two versions. The Core Duo version & Core Solo.
The Core Solo version, at 1.5 GHz, and including a CD burner, 512MB RAM and a 60GB drive, is $599.
The Core Duo at 1.67 GHz includes an 80GB drive and a dual-layer DVD burner, and sells for $799.

And as buzzed around blogs, Apple introduce iPod Hi-Fi, a $349 speaker system with built-in iPod dock, that runs on D batteries, as well as AC power.

Oh Apple also introducing a Leather iPod Case for $99.

[Engadget]

Technorati Tags: Apple, iPod, Mac, Intel, Core Duo

Microsoft Origami Pic & Video

Kevin found pics & video of the misterious Microsoft Origamiproject, but no one confirm it yet. Is it real ?

Marketing firm DigitalKitchen must have the ad campaign on this one because if you hit their site and enter, click Work and then BrandTheatre, guess what you’ll find. Not just pics of the device, but a Flash-based video showing the various uses.


Links : Kevin's blog

Technorati Tags: Microsoft, origamiproject, origami

Record your phone call to a CD

Just insert a blank CD to FeaturePhone 175 Call Recorder and it will record your phone calls direct to it. This device can store 15,000 calls, depend on the duration of the calls. It’s also got an internal 500 contact address book and integrated answering machine. Oh... and the price is $900.


Technorati Tags: Phone, Call, Record, gadget

[Gizmodo]
[Redferret]

6 Editions of Windows Vista

Microsoft is planning to launch 6 versions of their new Windows Vista. 3 for home users, 2 for business & one for emerging markets. Why so many version for vista ? Microsoft said the six versions were designed to match the demands different users have for its software.

"We don't want customers to be forced into buying something that isn't going to meet all their needs," said Barry Goffe, Microsoft's director of Windows client product management. So choose your version as you need. The 6 editions are called :

• Vista Business
• Vista Enterprise
• Vista Home Basic
• Vista Home Premium
• Vista Ultimate
• Vista Starter

Still no price given yet.

[Engadget]
[BBC News]


Technorati Tags: Microsoft, Windows, Vista

Sony® Portable Reader System PRS-500

If you tired reading e-book from your PDA screen and want a bigger one, then this new Sony Portable Reader System PRS-500 is for you.It has 6" display, less than 1/2" thick & wighing less than 9 ounce.

Sony Reader isn’t just about reading eBooks. Using the included CONNECT™ Reader PC Software, you can easily transfer Adobe® PDF documents, BBeB Book, and other text file formats to the Reader. Seamlessly search, browse and download user-selected RSS Web content from CONNECT™ Store to the PC and transfer to your Sony® Reader. Take along your favorite Web newsfeeds, blogs and more to read where ever you are.

You can have it for $349.99. A little bit pricey for me.

Technorati Tags: sony, reader, adobe, pdf

Building Hardware Keylogger

Keelog.com post an article of DIY Hardware Keylogger with full documentation, electrical schematics, and program to read the result. This what you need :

• an Atmel AT89C2051 microcontroller (AT89C1051 or AT89C4051 will do as well)
• a 24C512 serial EEPROM chip
• a 12MHz crystal (as small as possible)
• two 33pF capacitors
• one 10uF capacitor (as small as possible)
• one 10kiloohm resistor
• a small push-button
• PS/2 extension cable
• a 4-inch piece of heat-shrinkable tubing

via : hackaday.com

Technorati Tags: keylog, keylogger, hack, diy

Linux on an old hardware

Got a Pentium II 233MHz machine with 64MB of RAM to trash ? Don't !. Install linux and extend its lifespan considerably. Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier answer Microsoft challenge of Linux's suitability for older hardware by install several Linux distro's such as Slackware, Debian, Damn Small Linux and several other distros to Igor, his old machine and the result might surprise you.

Read his article here.

Technorati Tags: linux, slackware, microsoft.

Google Payment Service

Google continue to build their payment service.

As the number of Google services has increased, we've continued to build on our core payment features and migrate to a standard process for people to buy our services with a Google Account. Examples of this migration include enabling users to buy Google Video content, Google Earth licenses, and Google Store items with their Google Accounts. We also just began offering similar functionality on Google Base.

Source : http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/update-on-payments_24.html


Technorati Tags: google, payment