Dell to Introduce More Linux OS Desktops and Notebooks

PC maker Dell has announced its collaboration with Canonical Inc. Both companies together will soon offer more desktops and notebooks incorporating the Linux operating system instead of Windows.

Mark Shuttleworth, founder of the Canonical Inc said, “What’s been announced to date is not the full extent of what we will see over the next couple of weeks and months. There are additional offerings in the pipeline.”

Gerry Carr, Marketing Manager at Canonical said, “This is the next great battle and this is where Linux has never really been before - Linux as a consumer product.”

However Dell has refused to make any comment on the collaboration but has said that the company is happy with the response towards its Linux PCs launched earlier.

Seems very soon Linux operating system is going to give a tough fight to Windows of Microsoft.

Programming Web Services using Apache Axis

The article titled Programming Web Services using Apache Axis shows how Axis Framework has simplified the creation of Web Services. It will start with the definition of Web Services and its related terminologies like SOAP and WSDL. Following that the ease with which Web Services are published are explained. The later section explores about the various tools available in the Axis distribution like the Tcp Monitor, Soap Monitor, Mapping between Java and WSDL. Finally the article ends up by giving a Sample Web Service Application deployed in Axis. read full article

Introduction to Eclipse Plugin Architecture

This article will guide you in creating Eclipse Plugins using the Eclipse Plugin Development Environment (PDE). Because the Plugin Development Architecture is vast, this article will only provide brief information about the various components that fits into the PDE. It starts off in creating a Simple Plugin and they will try to explain the various pieces involved in the Plugin Development. More specifically this article will show how to create a View based Plugin, an Action based Plugin and a Preference-based Plugin. read full article

Introduction to JavaFX Canvas

The JavaFX Canvas supports a 2D vector graphics scene-graph model with a declarative API similar to Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG). Using this API we can declaratively create visual effects that combine Swing components together with 2D graphics. Any object in the canvas including Swing components can be translated, rotated, scaled, skewed blurred, reflected, shadowed etc... read full article

Introduction to Struts Actions

Action classes will be defined to handle requests. Actions exists between the Model and View of an application. This article will cover all of the standard actions and the helper methods of the Action class. read full article

Bharti awards $2 bn contract to Ericsson

Bharti Airtel, the country's largest mobile operator, today awarded a two billion dollar (Rs 8,000 crore) contract to Swedish equipment supplier Ericsson for expanding its telecom network.

The two-year deal is one of the biggest contracts for Ericsson. Under the contract, Ericsson will design, plan, deploy and manage Bharti's GSM network across 15 circles and its pre-paid platform across 23 circles in the country.

In addition, Ericsson will also deliver pan-India integrated device management solutions, enabling usage of advanced data services by all mobile customers of Bharti across retail and enterprise segments.

"This contract is an important part of realising Bharti's vision of a converged network and of expanding coverage in rural India to launch innovative voice and data services for Indian consumers," Ericsson India Managing Director Mats Granryd told reporters here.

"We are honoured that Bharti has chosen to partner with us in this grand venture that underpins our strategy of providing communication for all through sustainable and innovative solution," he added.

Will The FTC Block Google’s Acquisition Of DoubleClick?

Scott Cleland, an analyst at the Washington, D.C. based telecom research group Prescursor has published a 35 page paper “Googleopoly: the Google-DoubleClick Anti-Competitive Case”. The paper argues that the US Federal Trade Commission will block Google’s $3.5 billion acquisition of DoubleClick on the basis that it will allow “Google to dominate online advertising and dramatically increase the opportunity for market collusion and price manipulation in the market for consumer click data, ad-performance tools, ad-brokering and ad-exchanges.”

Those interested can read the full report here. The stand out portion of Cleland’s report is how he describes Google dominance of the online advertising market post acquisition:

To equal Google-DoubleClick’s level of market concentration in the intermediary online advertising market, one single financial services company would have to own:

* The top 15 Wall Street banks/asset managers;
* ~60% of the hedge fund and private equity industries;
* The New York and London Stock Exchanges;
* The two leading providers of financial analytical tools: Bloomberg and Factset;
* Two of the three national providers of credit profiles: Experian and Equifax; and
* ~60% of the Federal Reserve’s and U.S. Census Bureau’s raw market and consumer data. More>>

What is Mobile 2.0?

It seems the Web 2.0 concept is building up a lot of steam. So I think this is a good time to talk about another transition I’ve been thinking about recently: Mobile 2.0.

Now I’ll be the first to admit that what the blogosphere doesn’t need right now is Yet Another Pointless Meme (YAPM?). But the phrase Mobile 2.0 really seems to capture what this trend is about - the convergence of mobile devices and web services creating an entirely new dynamic. Once the web is truly a platform (although some would argue that it will never reach this stage), our mobiles won’t need to run applications or store massive amounts of data. The vast majority of these applications will exist on the network, with our data spread across the wide array of loosely coupled web services we use everyday. I expect you already upload your photos to Flickr, keep track of your links on del.icio.us or store and share your videos with YouTube, but I see this trend continuing to a point at which most of our data is in the cloud, and only a tiny fraction of it is stored locally. To some followers of Web 2.0, this evolution seems blatantly obvious, but I think we’ve yet to explore the true ramifications of the mobile web.

One likely scenario is the emergence of location-based advertising. It seems that Google, with its movement towards local search, its mapping expertise and its successful contextual ad system, is well-positioned to take advantage of the new dynamic. This MobHappy post gives us a flavour of what’s to come:

Your phone has…become your primary means of accessing the internet, again via Google Net, obviously. Your phone is a thin client, with most storage and processing done on the web. Most people don’t have even a PC anymore. If they want to do work that involves a keyboard and a bigger screen, they just pop their phone into the nearest docking station and away they go. With the added advantage that the phone has ensured that the screen layout, favourite apps, bookmarks and files are all available exactly as you’d want them…

So suddenly, true location based marketing becomes a reality, no longer a question like “when the tech is available” or “providing you’re in line of sight” or “if it’s accurate enough”.

The idea of the “docking station”, with a bigger screen and a full-sized keyboard, is a popular image of our mobile future. When we no longer need to be mobile (at work and at home, for example), we plug our phone into the dock and enjoy all the benefits of a fully-fledged PC. I’ve posted about this concept here and here. And Philip Greenspun has looked into how the docking station might work in practice:

A mobile phone has substantially all of the computing capabilities desired by a large fraction of the public. Why then would someone want to go to the trouble of installing and maintaining a personal computer (PC)? The PC has a larger keyboard and screen, a larger storage capacity, can play more sophisticated games, and has a faster communications capability.

This is a plan for building an appliance into which a mobile phone plugs and that extends the phone’s capabilities without requiring the consumer to become a system administrator or be aware that he or she owns more than a phone. In the rest of this document we will call the new device “The Appliance”…

It’s also interesting to imagine how content will evolve to fit the mobile platform. We’ve already seen content broken down into smaller chunks to cope with our busy lifestyles and short attention spans, but once we’re faced with digesting content on the go (perhaps on a tiny screen), that content will no doubt have to be even more concise. In essence, we’ll need better filtering to create shorter, more relevant snippets of content. But how will we create this content? Moblogs and cameraphone snaps seem to be gaining adoption, but mobile video is on the way, too. And if services like Scoopt and SpyMedia are anything to go by, then the content creators of Mobile 2.0 can expect to get paid for their efforts.

There is much more to be said about Mobile 2.0 - its impact on social networking, web design and payment systems will also be interesting areas to explore. But I’ll leave all that for another post. And before you start pulling these theories to pieces, let’s remember that Mobile 2.0 is just a hypothesis. I also accept that Mobile 2.0 isn’t even the correct term here - perhaps I’m really talking about Web 3.0, or simply the mobile internet. But let’s keep an eye on how these trends develop over the next few years - you never know, we might be on to something!

Google to Launch a Search Engine for Ringtones

The Wall Street Journal reports that Google works on a search engine for mobile media content that will include ringtones and games.

"With the new system, users would search for a piece of content -- such as ringtones -- and would get back a list of companies that provide it, with links letting them easily purchase the material. (...) The company has been working for months with content providers -- including large entertainment companies and smaller mobile media aggregators -- to index their material and make it available via mobile search. (...) The Internet company has considered including a social-networking component that would let users of Google's Gmail email service exchange content, one person familiar with the initiative said. Google declined to comment."

Google has launched mobile versions for most of its services, including search, Gmail, Google Maps, YouTube and it's now testing AdSense for mobile content. But a search engine for ringtones and games could jeopardize Google's partnerships with many carriers that want to keep the customers inside their "walled gardens". There aren't many good services in this space (Mogmo comes to my mind), so Google's search engine will actually fill a void. Until some carriers decide to block it.

Sienna Miller, Amitabh join anti global warming drive

British actor Sienna Miller teamed up with Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan on Tuesday to urge Indians to do more to slow global warming.

The actor met Bachchan in Mumbai on Tuesday at the start of a weeklong trip to India as an ambassador for Global Cool, an organization that spreads awareness about global warming.

Miller said people could help by turning their air conditioners down by even one degree or by turning off phone chargers and other electronic equipment when it's not being used.

``If each one of us does our bit, we will be helping to keep global warming from harming our countries,'' she said.

Bachchan announced that the Indian International Film Academy would partner with Global Cool to increase knowledge about greenhouse gas emissions.

``Carbon emissions will be huge from countries like India and China with growing populations and economy,'' said Bachchan. ``It will be wise to start doing whatever we can to protect our planet.''

Miller, 25, acted in the films ``Casanova,'' ``Layer Cake'' and ``Alfie.''

Learn about Global Warming to Rescue the World

Global warming isn’t opinion. It’s a scientific reality. And the science tells us that human activity has made enormous impacts to our planet that affect our well-being and even our survival as a species.

The world’s leading science journals report that glaciers are melting ten times faster than previously thought, that atmospheric greenhouse gases have reached levels not seen for millions of years, and that species are vanishing as a result of climate change. They also report of extreme weather events, long-term droughts, and rising sea levels.

Fortunately, the science also tells us how we can begin to make significant repairs to try and reverse those impacts, but only through immediate action. That’s why we urge you to join us. The Stop Global Warming Virtual March is virtual but its purpose is real. By spreading the word and sharing this with others, our collective power will force governments, corporations, and politicians everywhere to pay attention.

What is Global Warming?

The Earth as an ecosystem is changing, attributable in great part to the effects of globalization and man. More carbon dioxide is now in the atmosphere than has been in the past 650,000 years. This carbon stays in the atmosphere, acts like a warm blanket, and holds in the heat — hence the name ‘global warming.’

The reason we exist on this planet is because the earth naturally traps just enough heat in the atmosphere to keep the temperature within a very narrow range - this creates the conditions that give us breathable air, clean water, and the weather we depend on to survive. Human beings have begun to tip that balance. We've overloaded the atmosphere with heat-trapping gasses from our cars and factories and power plants. If we don't start fixing the problem now, we’re in for devastating changes to our environment. We will experience extreme temperatures, rises in sea levels, and storms of unimaginable destructive fury. Recently, alarming events that are consistent with scientific predictions about the effects of climate change have become more and more commonplace.
Read from Wiki

Visit http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/

`Robo`- Shankar's next film

Shankar is going to get a red carpet reception, when he comes back to Chennai tomorrow (Tuesday July 3), after a month long sojourn abroad. Three weeks after its release, his Sivaji continues to rock, and superstar Rajnikant has given him full credit for it, by saying- "Shankar is the creator of the film and he has worked hard for it".

Now, what next is the question people in the industry are asking? According to sources close to him, Shankar will be totally concentrating on the films being made under his banner 'S'pictures for the next three months. He will be giving some creative inputs to his in-house directors Balaji Sakthivel, and Simbudevan who are immersed in the making of their films for the company.

Meanwhile the grapevine is abuzz with rumours that Shankar is finally starting work on his ambitious pet project Robo, a futuristic science fiction thriller set in the year 3050 of Chennai. The entire shoot of the film can happen only on sets, and also involves a lot of CG work, to give the futuristic look to the film. And that means millions of dollars, and a producer willing to blow up money, and a bigger market to exploit the film.

Actually Shankar has a commitment with Telugu financier and producer Tirupati Prasad to make a film for him. But the latest we hear is that a major Bollywood production house has roped in Prasad as Executive producer, and together they are planning to make the Shankar film in Hindi for a global audience. The production house has also the "dates" of Hrithik Roshan, who is keen to do a film with Shankar.

Though Shankar had initially talked about doing the project with Kamal Hassan in Tamil, he realizes that for such a big project you need a Bollywood hero for the global audiences. Imagine Hrithik, Hindi cinema's best action hero ( Krissh,Dhoom-2), A.R Rahman the only Indian musician with an international following and Shankar. The combination will rock!

And the latest on Robo is that a Hollywood studio, who is already making a film in Hindi, has shown an interest in the project. They want to be co-opted as presenters of the film, are willing to partly fund the project, which will definitely cost upward of Rs 100 crore. Now the ball is in Shankar's court. He will have to take a call in the next few weeks.

How Apple Can Win The PC Battle

According to Apple Insider, just a year ago Apple's share of the computer market was close to 2%. Now MacWorld and CNet are reporting that - according to NDP research - Apple's Desktops have crossed 10% and the MacBooks now closing on 15% of the laptop market. This puts MacBooks in 4th place behind HP, Toshiba and Gateway. The figures are likely to increase in the 3rd quarter, which is traditionally strong for Apple, because of the back-to-school sales.

The above stats are backed up by my own experiences. When I walked into the BestBuy store recently, something was very different. It took me a second to realize that among the usual scenery, I was also looking at a big section featuring Macs. So Apple is back with a vengeance and has re-ignited the PC war. Despite dropping the word computer from its name, Apple still desperately wants to win the PC market.

But why? Surely Steve Job's spite and ego play a role, but more importantly, desktops and laptops still hold the lion's share of profitability in the computing industry. The computer is becoming, if it has not already become, the personal media center. Laptops are literally everywhere and it is likely to remain the same way for at least a decade. So Apple is fighting as hard as it can to fix its mistake of the past - letting Redmond win the personal computing market.More>>

J2EE Connector Architecture(JCA) - An Introduction

JCA, the J2EE Connector Architecture, is an initiative towards EAI, Enterprise Application Integration. It is a standardized architecture providing the J2EE Components to have plug and play access to heterogeneous EIS, Enterprise Information Systems. Examples of EIS are ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), Transaction Processing Systems, Legacy Database Systems etc. read full article

Using JSF and AJAX with Ajax enabled JSF implementations - Ajax4Jsf

With the advent of internet, there has been constant paradigm change from time and again. There are many scripting web languages which came and showed their impact now and then. But the feature I am going to talk about will give a close look to internet as a close friend. In this article, read full article

Object Oriented Concepts in PHP 5.0

PHP, an acronym for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor, is a scripting language that is used for creating dynamic and interactive web pages. PHP is widely used and can be freely downloaded from http://www.php.net/downloads.php read full article

SimpleXML in PHP 5.0

PHP, an acronym for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor, is a general purpose scripting language that is used to create dynamic web pages. Recently, a newer version of PHP was released and it is popularly known as PHP 5. The top seven features with PHP 5 are: read full article

SQLite with PHP 5.0

PHP, an acronym for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor, is a scripting language that is used for creating dynamic and interactive web pages. PHP is widely used and can be freely downloaded from http://www.php.net/downloads.php. read full article

Tech Jokes

4 Years Ago Today - Netscape Corporation Killed, Mozilla Foundation Born

4 years ago today, 15 July 2003, AOL Time Warner disbanded Netscape Communications Corporation - the company that sparked the Dot Com Internet boom in the mid-90's with its 1995 IPO. Also 4 years ago today, The Mozilla Foundation was established. mozillaZine reported at the time:

"It has been learned through public and private sources that AOL has cut or will cut the remaining team working on Mozilla in a mass firing and are dismantling what was left of Netscape (they've even pulled the logos off the buildings). Some will remain working on Mozilla during the transition, and will move to other jobs within AOL.

The news isn't all doom and gloom, folks. I've been informed that the number of volunteer Mozilla hackers started eclipsing the number of Netscape hackers last month, and that a number of folks have already been snatched up by other organizations. ".More>>

Google, Yahoo may be eyeing Rediff

US-based Internet giants such as Google and Yahoo are eyeing Rediff.com India Ltd, which runs one of India's most popular consumer Internet portals, for a possible acquisition. Investment banking sources told Hindustan Times that the management of Nasdaq-listed Rediff was in talks with the global companies for a negotiated takeover deal.

Rediff, Google and Yahoo officials could not be immediately reached for their comments. Talk of the deal is emerging in the context of a general worldwide rebound in the Internet business, and India emerging as a hot story in the global economy with strong growth in both telephone penetration and the Internet in urban areas.

Leading US-based investment journal Barrons reported this month that Rediff is seeing speculation that it could be a takeover target. Rediff’s stock has witnessed a sharp jump in share price and volume on Nasdaq over the past week, when it also launched a Website to help consumers upload voice, video and photographic content for free.

The company's stock moved up to $25.41 per share on July 13 from $17.94 on July 5 and. The trading volume has increased to more than a million shares from an average of 50,000 share a day. In fact, on July 12, Rediff shares closed at $26.46 and more than 3.3 million shares traded hands. The company has a current market capitalisation of $738 million.

The sources said if the deal comes through, the valuation may be close to a billion US dollars.

The Barrons report quoted Ashish Thadani, an analyst at Gilford Securities, as saying that Rediff could fetch more than $ 25 a share in a sale and could see other suitors besides Yahoo and Google

Other suitors could possibly include AOL (America On Line), a division of Time Warner, which has a strong presence in offshore services from India, but is not a significant player in the market. Microsoft's MSN portal is also keenly stepping up its presence in the Indian market.

Rediff.com India, an online provider of news, information, communication, entertainment and shopping services, reported a net income of $2 million for the fourth quarter or $6.89 per ADS, compared with $0.53 million or $1.96 per ADS in the same quarter of the previous year.

The company's revenues increased 66 per cent to $8.48 million from $5.11 million in the same quarter of last year. India Online revenues, which include advertising and fee-based revenues, jumped 76 per cent to $6.30 million from $3.57 million in the year-ago quarter, while US Publishing revenues were $2.18 million, up 42 per cent from $1.54 million a year earlier.

Google testing AdSense for cell phones

Google (GOOG) has begun testing text ads on cell phones, offering publishers a way to make money off of their mobile sites, the company confirmed to The Utility Belt moments ago.

What is Ads for mobile?
Well it kind of does what it says on the tin, Ads for mobile allows publishers to place ads contextual advertising on website designed for mobile (cell) phones to monetise that traffic.

Hrithik to star in Shankar's next?

Director Shankar returns to Chennai today after a month long break abroad. With Sivaji creating box office history and the Superstar giving him the entire credit for the film's success, there is no stopping this talented director.

So what will Shankar create next? Well, as of now he plans to completely concentrate on the films being made under his banner 'S' Pictures. He will also be giving creative inputs to his in-house directors Balaji Sakthivel, and Simbudevan, who are busy making films for his production house.

But rumours are buzzing that Shankar is all set to start work on his ambitious project Robo, a science fiction movie set in Chennai in 3050. The movie will be shot completely on sets as it is a futuristic film and will involve a lot of computer graphics.

It is also heard that a major Bollywood production house, with whom Shankar has a commitment to make a film, has roped in Telugu financier and producer Tirupati Prasad as executive producer. Together they are planning to make the Shankar film in Hindi for a global audience. It is rumoured that the production house has obtained dates from Hrithik Roshan, who is very eager to do a film with Shankar.

Shankar had previously planned to make the film with Kamal Haasan in Tamil. But for a global audience, a Bollywood hero would ensure greater appeal.

It is also heard that a Hollywood studio has also shown interest in the film and wants to be the presenter of the film.

Whether this exciting combination will come together....well, we have to wait and watch.

Universal, Google Team for 'Bourne' Promo

Universal Pictures and Google have joined to promote the upcoming summer film The Bourne Ultimatum and at the same time tout several of Google's products to moviegoers.

"The Ultimate Search for Bourne With Google," which launches on Monday, is an interactive game that uses several Google products, including search, maps, images, translation and YouTube, to let players adopt the persona of Jason Bourne, the film's hero. Players are given challenges each week at a dedicated Google site, www.google.com/bourne.

Mani Ratnam Next Movie : Story of Urdu writer Ismat Chughtai

Lajjo is a forthcoming film to be directed by Mani Ratnam. Produced by Ratnam and Bobby Bedi, the film's score and soundtrack will be composed by A. R. Rahman with lyrics by Gulzar. The film is expected to release in 2008. The story is an adaptation from the story Lajjo by Ismat Chugtai.More>>

Google will soon support “Unavailable After” META tag

Google is coming out with a new tag called “unavailable_after” which will allow people to tell Google when a particular page will no longer be available for crawling. For instance, if you have a special offer on your site that expires on a particular date, you might want to use the unavailable_after tag to let Google know when to stop indexing it. Or perhaps you write articles that are free for a particular amount of time, but then get moved to a paid-subscription area of your site. Unavailable_after is the tag for you! Pretty neat stuff! More>>

Digg: Technologies Used & Challenges Faced

This is a very interesting presentation (see below) on the technologies used to make Digg, the challenges faced along the way and how they overcame it. I would recommend it to any Web 2.0 startup architects.In short Digg uses multiple MySQL slaves with a single master, multiple load balanced PHP servers which connects to random MySQL slave (for load balancing obviously). They also use Memcached with multiple specialized pools like a separate pool for search.

Digg is the poster boy of PHP driven high volume sites.

It wasn’t clear from the slides whether they actually used sharding (breaking your database into small segment say based on data ranges, tables etc.) in any form. Looking at their architecture I don’t think they can easily use sharding in future too. Can you guess why?

The original design and ultimate destiny of the World Wide Web, by its inventor

This book is written to address the questions most people ask - From "What were you thinking when you invented it?" through "So what do you think of it now?" to "Where is this all going to take us?", this is the story.

It is not a technical book. (If you want the technical details, check out the W3C web site!). It does mention a little about how technologies you may have heard of - like XML - fit in to the past, present and future, but only in the course of charting the course for the Web from the initial dream - still largely unfulfilled - to the next technical and social revolution.

Now it has been out for a while, it seems different people like different bits.

-Tim BL

More>>

The future of the Web as seen by its creator - Tim Berners-Lee

According to Webster's Online Dictionary semantic means "the relationships between symbols and what they represent." Tim Berners-Lee, the man who invented the World Wide Web in 1989 at CERN, the European Particle Physics Laboratory in Geneva, has used the term to christen the Internet of the future.
The Semantic Web is a set of technologies he's developing right now as director of the World Wide Web Consortium, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Born in London in 1955, Berners-Lee was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2004. In this exclusive interview, he explains his vision of the future Semantic Web, which he says will be much more powerful than anything we have seen before.More>>

How the iPhone will rock the mobile industry

The initial release of the iPod wasn’t great. A so-so product that only worked with Macs and required users to spend their lives ripping CDs. But its long-term effect were huge: a massive 10% (and rapidly growing) chunk of music is now sold digitally to the iPod and its competitors. So what will the iPhone’s long-term effect on the cell phone industry be?

Accelerate 3G adoption in the US
The iPhone is a 2G device - ie, it’s slow. This was the right decision: the US has paltry 3G coverage. In most major cities, however, free 802.11b wireless networks are ubiquitous. People with devices like the iPhone and Nokia’s N95 (which also has a desktop-quality web browser) can get a taste of viewing real web on their phones content at reasonable speed over 802.11b wireless networks in cafes and bookstores. The massive speed drop users will get attempting to view a real website over an EDGE network will raise consumer demand for 3G and better networks from carriers.

They’ll also want a 3G iPhone like their friends in Australia have. Late next year Apple intends to release the iPhone in Australia, where 2G networks are being shut down, 3G or 3.5G HSDPA is everywhere, and free 802.11b wireless is rare. By the time that happens, the iPhone will be 3G - not only because Apple wants it to be, but because it has no other choice.More>>

Web 2.0 is built on Open Source

Amazon uses Linux. eBay uses Windows. But what OSs and webservers run Web 2.0? We tested 17 of our favorites and found out. The script is included below to check for yourself. Read more

	Site	Webserver	Operating System
		Apache httpd	Linux
		Apache httpd	Linux
		Apache httpd 1.3.33	Linux
		lighttpd 1.4.13	Linux
		lighttpd 1.4.11	Linux
		Unknown	Linux
		Apache httpd 2.0.52 ((Red Hat))	Linux
		Apache httpd	Linux
		Unknown	Linux
		Apache httpd 2.0.52	Linux
		Microsoft IIS webserver 6.0	Windows (although OS responding is Linux, this is a caching service).
		lighttpd 1.4.15	Linux
		Apache httpd	Linux
		Apache httpd 2.0.55 ((Ubuntu) DAV/2 PHP/5.1.2)	Linux
		Mongrel 201.0.1	Linux
		Apache httpd	Linux
		Squid webproxy 2.6.STABLE12	Unknown (while OS responding is Linux, this is likely a caching service).

Google's Postini Buy Threatens Microsoft

Google's July 9 acquisition of Postini is another clear sign that the search giant is staking a claim in the on-demand enterprise applications market and ratcheting up the heat in the already sizzling software as a service sector, especially against Microsoft.

With Postini, which began as an e-mail filtering company and evolved into compliance technology that enforces a company's communications policies, Google can now address the perception that its nascent portfolio of e-mail and messaging applications aren't quite ready for prime time. More>>

List of Google acquisitions in 2007

Date Company Name Category Amount January, 2007 Xunlei (partial acquisition) Network, file-sharing. undisclosed February, 2007 Adscape Video game advertising $23 million March, 2007 Trendalyzer Software undisclosed April, 2007 Tonic Systems Presentation software undisclosed April, 2007 Marratech video conferencing software Video conferencing undisclosed 5/11/2007 GreenBorder Technologies Desktop enterprise security undisclosed 6/1/2007 Panoramio Geospatial Photo-sharing Service undisclosed 6/3/2007 FeedBurner Online RSS Feeds $100 million 6/5/2007 PeakStream Parallel Processing undisclosed June, 2007 Zenter Presentations Software undisclosed 7/2/2007 GrandCentral VOIP Phone Aggregation $45 million 4/13/2007 DoubleClick Online Advertising $3.1 billion 7/9/2007 Postini Communications Security $625 million

Kalam gets science museum in his honour

As President APJ Abdul Kalam prepares to demit office, his scientist friends have come together to start a museum that showcases his contribution to India’s space development — and also has a silhouette of his famous mane as its logo.

The Mission of Life Museum in the capital’s cantonment area is the brainchild of Kalam’s friend and Managing Director of BrahMos Aerospace Pvt Ltd, A Sivathanu Pillai.

Through Kalam’s achievements, the museum also highlights the country’s milestones in rocketry, space and missile technology using 3-D holography and even a simulated nuclear explosion.

As Pillai sees it, there could be no better tribute for India’s first scientist president, who was the founder of BrahMos, an India-Russia joint venture for making the supersonic cruise missiles.

“We have reached a stage when the BrahMos missiles have been inducted into the Indian Navy and the Army, so we decided to exhibit the important milestones in our space, nuclear and missile technology (which are closely linked to Kalam),” Pillai said. “It is designed in such a way that the children, who come out of it after visiting it, should have a vision about their life.”

The timing is right too. The museum opens on July 15 exclusively for schoolchildren during weekends, just four days before the new president is elected.

“It has come out as a fantastic museum,” Pillai, who has collected all the medals, honours, certificates and awards Kalam had received, said.

The museum was inaugurated by Kalam himself last month. He has donated his original Bharat Ratna, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan awards, his 27 doctorates apart from numerous other awards to it. Several dozen mementos and gifts Kalam received during his presidency and earlier are also featured. Besides, the president’s personal ‘Rudraveena’ and Mahatma Gandhi’s marksheet, which was gifted to him by the father of nation’s old school in Gujarat, are there too.

Wipro acquires Singapore firm for $256 m

FOR A LARGER REACH: Vineet Agrawal (right), President, Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting, and Gavin D. Welman, Managing Director, Unza, displaying Unza products at a press conference in Bangalore on Friday.

Wipro on Friday announced the acquisition of Singapore-based fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) company, Unza, with revenues of Rs. 683.30 crore (for fiscal year ended April 30, 2007), in a cash buy for 100 per cent stake for the equivalent of $256 million. The deal is to be closed by July-end.

Vineet Agrawal, President, Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting, which will now own the 48 brands under Unzo, told reporters here that “This will add to our consumer product portfolio and geographical reach. Unzo has a strong presence in Southeast Asia and China.

For now, the Unza brand will be retained in those markets, including parts of West Africa.” Wipro’s Consumer Care and Lighting business had revenues of Rs. 818.20 crore in 2006-07, with a 36 per cent growth.

Gavin D. Welman, Managing Director of Unza, who will continue with the combined new entity, said, “We have 48 brands, including skin care products, male fragrances and two large selling detergents. Most products have been developed for the Asian markets and are expected to do well in India as well. Wipro now access to a much larger market where our revenues have averaged 24 per cent annual growth in dollar terms.”

Wipro would also acquire Unza’s manufacturing plants in China, Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia.

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