1. Google buys visual search company to improve Google Goggles
Google Docs isn't the only Google product benefitting from acquisitions lately. It looks as if Google Goggles (and perhaps eventually Google's search) will soon integrate the capabilities of Plink, a visual search engine that identifies user-snapped photos of artwork.
Plink has only been available to the public for four months, but it's clear that its capabilities line up with Google's goal for Goggles. Google Goggles is a project (integrated into an Android app) that inputs user-uploaded photos of all manner of things—from landmarks to books to wine bottles and more—and identifies them along with more information. This includes the name of the object or product, applicable prices, and various search results associated with those pieces.
Apple's newly launched iPad may be taking up the majority of consumer mindshare in the tablet category following its launch earlier this month, but Google is furtively working on a device of its own that will be powered exclusively by Android. That's according to reports of comments made by Google CEO Eric Schmidt at a recent Los Angeles party. Google has been experimenting in stealth mode to explore content delivery options on a tablet device, according to New York Times sources who declined to be named.
3. Cities of the Future, Part 4: Open Source Avenue
As city administrators grapple with the notion of tying all their apps into one overarching network, should they be looking to open source as an alternative to apps from vendors? Enterprise-level open source apps exist, and are used both by the federal government and by large corporations. For example, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is using a solution combining open source business intelligence software from JasperSoft and business process software from HandySoft to increase operational efficiency and organizational effectiveness.
4. Google turns up the heat on Office with collaboration tweaks
Google is making a number of changes to its Google Docs offerings to make them even more attractive for those looking to make the switch from Microsoft's Office. Google's editors for documents, spreadsheets, and drawings are getting even more realtime collaboration attributes—including character-by-character editing by multiple users. Unfortunately, Google Docs is also losing a couple features, but Google believes these changes will help take it to the next level when it comes to challenging Microsoft.
5. Everything you need to know about iPhone OS 4.0
The iPhone OS 4.0 event just wrapped up and the faithful are filing out of the Apple venue with a slightly shell-shocked look. What happened? Oh nothing, just multi-tasking, iAd, a huge Mail update and a bunch of other stuff. Yes, the long-awaited OS update for the iPhone has just been run down and we’ve got all the details.
6. New Australopithecus fossil may be a human ancestor
It's a busy time in the study of human origins. Hot on the heels of a potential new species found entirely via DNA sequence, we have the announcement of a new species of Australopithecus, discovered in a cave in South Africa. The authors of a paper describing the species, Australopithecus sediba, make the bold claim that it's likely to be the direct ancestor of the entire Homo genus, placing the species on a direct line to modern humans. We'll describe the fossils themselves before returning to these claims.
7. New memory management method give multicore boost to apps
Making serial software—programs where a series of operations happen in strict sequential order—exploit multicore processors is a pressing problem. A group at North Carolina State University has developed a technique that gives these serial programs a greater degree of parallelism automatically, yielding performance improvements of some 20 percent in real-world programs.
Google Docs isn't the only Google product benefitting from acquisitions lately. It looks as if Google Goggles (and perhaps eventually Google's search) will soon integrate the capabilities of Plink, a visual search engine that identifies user-snapped photos of artwork.
Plink has only been available to the public for four months, but it's clear that its capabilities line up with Google's goal for Goggles. Google Goggles is a project (integrated into an Android app) that inputs user-uploaded photos of all manner of things—from landmarks to books to wine bottles and more—and identifies them along with more information. This includes the name of the object or product, applicable prices, and various search results associated with those pieces.
As city administrators grapple with the notion of tying all their apps into one overarching network, should they be looking to open source as an alternative to apps from vendors? Enterprise-level open source apps exist, and are used both by the federal government and by large corporations. For example, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is using a solution combining open source business intelligence software from JasperSoft and business process software from HandySoft to increase operational efficiency and organizational effectiveness.
Google is making a number of changes to its Google Docs offerings to make them even more attractive for those looking to make the switch from Microsoft's Office. Google's editors for documents, spreadsheets, and drawings are getting even more realtime collaboration attributes—including character-by-character editing by multiple users. Unfortunately, Google Docs is also losing a couple features, but Google believes these changes will help take it to the next level when it comes to challenging Microsoft.
5. Everything you need to know about iPhone OS 4.0
The iPhone OS 4.0 event just wrapped up and the faithful are filing out of the Apple venue with a slightly shell-shocked look. What happened? Oh nothing, just multi-tasking, iAd, a huge Mail update and a bunch of other stuff. Yes, the long-awaited OS update for the iPhone has just been run down and we’ve got all the details.
6. New Australopithecus fossil may be a human ancestor
It's a busy time in the study of human origins. Hot on the heels of a potential new species found entirely via DNA sequence, we have the announcement of a new species of Australopithecus, discovered in a cave in South Africa. The authors of a paper describing the species, Australopithecus sediba, make the bold claim that it's likely to be the direct ancestor of the entire Homo genus, placing the species on a direct line to modern humans. We'll describe the fossils themselves before returning to these claims.
7. New memory management method give multicore boost to apps
Making serial software—programs where a series of operations happen in strict sequential order—exploit multicore processors is a pressing problem. A group at North Carolina State University has developed a technique that gives these serial programs a greater degree of parallelism automatically, yielding performance improvements of some 20 percent in real-world programs.
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