All Set to Meet Shakuntala Devi’s Best Friend, Maths? Amazon Prime Video to Drop the Trailer on July 15

Amazon Prime Video has revealed the motion poster of the much-awaited biographical drama Shakuntala Devi. With countless achievements and a never-before-seen journey of the charming mathematician, Vidya Balan in and as Shakuntala Devi is all set to make your head spin with complex calculations, with the upcoming biopic of the math wizard. 

Faster than a calculator and a human-computer, the motion poster revealed that the trailer for the much-awaited new film will drop on 15th of July. Shakuntala Devi has been directed by Anu Menon (Waiting, Four More Shots Please S1) and produced by Sony Pictures Networks Productions and Vikram Malhotra (Abundantia Entertainment). 

Shakuntala Devi will join the thousands of TV shows and movies from Hollywood and Bollywood in the Prime Video catalog. These include Indian films Gulabo Sitabo, Ponmagal Vandhal and Penguin, Indian-produced Amazon Original series like Breathe: Into the Shadows, Paatal Lok, The Forgotten Army – Azaadi Ke Liye, Four More Shots Please S1 and 2, The Family Man, Mirzapur, Inside Edge S1, and S2, and Made In Heaven. Prime members can also watch award-winning and critically acclaimed global Amazon Original series like Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, The Boys, Hunters, Fleabag, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. All this is available at no extra cost for Amazon Prime members. The service includes titles in Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Punjabi, and Bengali.

Prime members will be able to watch Shakuntala Devi anywhere and anytime on the Prime Video app for smart TVs, mobile devices, Fire TV, Fire TV stick, Fire tablets, Apple TV, etc. In the Prime Video app, Prime members can download episodes on their mobile devices and tablets and watch anywhere offline at no additional cost.

Prime Video is available in India to Prime members for just ₹999 annually, or ₹129 monthly. New customers can find out more at www.amazon.in/prime and subscribe to a free 30-day trial.

ABOUT AMAZON PRIME VIDEO

Prime Video is a premium streaming service that offers Prime members a collection of award-winning Amazon Original series, thousands of movies, and TV shows—all with the ease of finding what they love to watch in one place.  Find out more at PrimeVideo.com. 

●        Included with Prime Video: Shakuntala Devi joins thousands of TV shows and movies from Hollywood and Bollywood, including Indian-produced Amazon Original series such as Breathe: Into the Shadows, Paatal Lok, The Family Man, Mirzapur, Inside Edge and Made In Heaven, and award-winning and critically acclaimed global Amazon Original series including Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, The Boys, Hunters, Fleabag, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, all of which are available for unlimited streaming with a Prime membership. Prime Video includes titles available in Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Punjabi and Bengali.

●        Instant Access: Members can watch Shakuntala Devi anywhere, anytime on the Prime Video app for smart TVs, mobile devices, Fire TV, Fire TV stick, Fire tablets, Apple TV, and multiple gaming devices. Prime Video is also available to consumers through Airtel and Vodafone pre-paid and post-paid subscription plans. In the Prime Video app, Prime members can download episodes on their mobile devices and tablets and watch anywhere offline at no additional cost.

●        Enhanced experiences: Make the most of every viewing with 4K Ultra HD- and High Dynamic Range (HDR)-compatible content. Go behind the scenes of your favorite movies and TV shows with exclusive X-Ray access, powered by IMDb. Save it for later with select mobile downloads for offline viewing.

●        Included with Prime: Prime Video is available in India at no extra cost with Prime membership for just ₹999 annually or ₹129 monthly, new customers can find out more at  www.amazon.in/prime and subscribe to a free 30-day trial.

Coders Turn COVID-19 Fighters at the World’s Largest Coding Contest TechGig Code Gladiators 2020

Code Gladiators

* TechGig Code Gladiators has 15,617+ registrations at two hackathons focussed on limiting COVID-19 pandemic impact

* Guinness book record holder event, Code Gladiators is hosting its seventh edition this year with more than 2lakh+ registrations 

* Code Gladiators 2020 is hosting five hackathons in total, all focussed on new-age technologies like Machine Learning, RPA, Cloud 

Will a computer programme ease the COVID-19 crisis? Going by the heaps of ideas suggested at TechGig Code Gladiators 2020, the answer could very well be - a ‘yes’. 

With the world gripped in the COVID-19 crisis for more than 100 days now, it’s the right time for the coders to join hands with the frontline health staff and pharma researchers to keep the indomitable Coronavirus at bay. 

TechGig Code Gladiators 2020 has recorded more than 15,617+ registrations in two hackathons focussed on finding tech-based solutions to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic. They are IBM- 2020 Call for Code Global Challenge and Microsoft HackOnAzure. Microsoft HackOnAzure is solely focussed on finding COVID-19 solutions, while IBM- 2020 Call for Code Global Challenge has two tracks – COVID-19 & Climate Change. The other hackathons at Code Gladiators 2020 include UiPath RPA Hackathon, Automated Multi-Label Classification by Times Internet and the Open Coding Round where the participants can submit codes in any of the 50 programming languages offered.

Participation is free at https://www.techgig.com/codegladiators 

Code Gladiators - the Guinness world record holder programming event - is hosting its seventh edition this year. Code Gladiators 2020 edition kicked off on March 23, 2020, and has recorded 2,35,375+ registrations till now. This edition is particularly interesting because the COVID-19 lockdown has forced most professionals to work from home, giving them more time to participate in this globally acclaimed hackathon.  

TechGig surveyed to understand the participants’ experience at the present hackathon, where more than 68% coders affirmed that they could concentrate well on the hackathons owing to the lockdown. About 62% of participants also said that they were excited about the event’s upcoming online mega grand finale since this is the first time that the event will conclude with a virtual finale. 

 

Elaborating on the Code Gladiators 2020 hackathons, Sanjay Goyal, Business Head, TimesJobs and TechGig said, “Every year TechGig Code Gladiators resolves to find solutions to the real-world business problems posed by the participating IT companies. This year, we found an opportunity amid the despair. Presently when most countries are battling the COVID-19 outbreak, Code Gladiators presents a unique opportunity to coders to find a tech-based solution to limit the virus impact. The other hackathons at the contest are equally interesting where coders are challenged to solve complex business problems using a trending technology such as RPA (Robotic Process Automation).”

Citing some of the solutions as ‘very promising’, Sanjay Goyal added that TechGig’s team and the entire IT industry is keenly waiting for some of these solutions to take shape. The first round of registrations at Code Gladiators 2020 is presently on and will conclude on June 22, 2020.

Acer India Launches Business PC at Just Rs 9999; Aims to Support Education, SMBs & Enterprises

Editorial Summary:

*The new Acer Veriton N series PCs is launched to support the immediate need of e-learning and business to go digital without high investment

*Latest Intel Dual Core/Quad-Core Processors equipped Acer Veriton N series is a space-saving and Power saving system which can easily accomplish the needs of students, education institutes and businesses

*Veriton N series comes with Microsoft Windows 10, 6 USB ports with at least 2 USB 3.1 Gen 1

*The PC comes with fully loaded specifications with security and manageability features.

 

Acer, the global PC brand, today unveiled affordable Acer Veriton N series powered by latest Intel Dual Core/Quad-Core Processors paired with 4GB RAM expandable upto 8GB and a host of connectivity options it is designed for e-learning, Small-Medium Businesses and Enterprises to help them in digital transformation. The new Acer Veriton N series comes with Microsoft Windows 10, WiFi b/g/n ac for wireless connectivity along with security and manageability features. It is an ultra-small form factor desktop with VESA mount which can fit behind a monitor easily saving space and giving a clean work desk.

Speaking on this occasion, Sudhir Goel, Chief of Commercial Business Group, Acer India said, “We are excited about the launch of the new Acer Veriton N series which is an affordable PC for meeting the rising demand of E-learning, Enterprises and Small Medium Business across all segments. With lockdown and changing business strategies, there is a need of IT products to adjust the remote working requirements. To address the immediate task of keeping the workforce functional with minimum losses in productivity, Acer India launched this product that is enterprise ready and delivers a smoother, more responsive, and fast computing experience. This launch will support the industry prediction on the rising demand for PCs in the enterprise segment for the coming quarters.”

By expanding its line-up of affordable devices, Acer India will continue to support education, enterprise and Small Medium Businesses, as part of the education and work style transformation. This performance-oriented PCs support up to two displays to maximize productivity, and 6 USB ports with at least 2 USB 3.1 Gen 1 that provide high-speed data transfer and best-in-class connectivity.

Pricing and Availability:

The Acer Veriton N series is priced from Rs. 9999 onwards and will be available at Acer E-store (https://store.acer.com/en-in/) and at over 1500 Acer channel partner stores across India. To know more write to ail.enquiries@acer.com

Free computer security software from Microsoft released

Microsoft has released free software that people can use to protect computers against viruses, spyware and other malicious codes in arsenals of cyber criminals.

Microsoft Security Essentials is available for download at microsoft.com/security_essentials and is built on technology that the global software giant uses in computer security programs it designs for businesses.

"With Microsoft Security Essentials, consumers can get high-quality protection that is easy to get and easy to use, and it won't get in their way," said Amy Barzdukas, general manager for consumer security at Microsoft.

"Consumers have told us that they want the protection of real-time security software but we know that too many are either unwilling or unable to pay for it, and so end up unprotected."

Microsoft hopes that the free software will be broadly adopted, particularly by those who have not been vigilant about protecting computers from hackers, and thereby "increase security across the entire Windows ecosystem."

More than 90 percent of the computers worldwide run on Windows operating systems made by the US technology firm.

"Microsoft is helping to reduce some of the barriers that constrain consumers from running (anti-virus software)," said IDC security analyst Jon Crotty. "Microsoft is focused on the challenges that prevent consumers from running up-to-date anti-virus software today, particularly in emerging markets where there is a growing prevalence of malware."

Security Essentials is designed to run behind the scenes, defending machines against infection by malicious computer codes.

The real-time nature of the software means it is automatically kept up-to-date regarding viruses.

Computer security specialty firm Symantec downplayed the Microsoft offering, saying it is lightweight and isn't tuned for new forms of attack being used by hackers.

Symantec referred to Security Essentials as a stripped-down version of an old Microsoft OneCare product that got poor ratings.

"From a security perspective, this Microsoft tool offers reduced defenses at a critical point in the battle against cyber crime," Symantec said of the free offering that competes with Norton products sold by the firm.

"Unique malware and social engineering tricks fly under the radar of traditional signature-based technology alone -- which is what is employed by free security tools such as Microsoft's," it said.

Agencies

Has Oracle ended its HP computer tie-up?

Oracle Corp has ended a high-profile computer-building partnership with Hewlett-Packard Co as Oracle prepares to acquire Sun Microsystems Inc, a rival of HP.

Sun, the world's No. 4 server maker, and Oracle have jointly developed a second-generation version of a specialized database computer, dubbed Exadata. Oracle and HP launched the first version a year ago.

Oracle Chief Executive Larry Ellison unveiled the new machine on Tuesday, almost a year after he announced his company's entry into the hardware business with help from HP. At the time, he said that HP would be a key ally in that effort.

But the dynamics of that relationship have changed since April, when Oracle agreed to buy Sun for more than $7 billion. Hewlett-Packard and Sun are fierce rivals in the markets for server computers and storage equipment.

The new Exadata computer is the first of what Ellison has said will be many products that wed Sun's hardware with Oracle's software.

An Oracle spokeswoman said Oracle would continue to sell the Exadata computers, built in partnership with HP, until existing inventory is sold out, if customers request that model.

Officials at Hewlett-Packard could not be reached for comment.

When Ellison unveiled the HP partnership a year ago, he told customers that the product could not have been developed without that company's assistance.

On Tuesday he bragged that Sun's technology made the database computer far superior to hardware from rivals including Teradata Corp and Netezza Corp.

"Everything is bigger about Exadata, Version 2. Everything is faster about Exadata, Version 2," he said during a presentation to customers that was broadcast over the Internet.

Oracle does not break out sales of the Exadata machine. But during the company's most recent earnings call, Ellison said that it was one of the most successful products he had launched since he founded the company more than 30 years ago.

Agencies

Internet Users Warned of Serious Computer Security Hole

Microsoft Corp. has taken the rare step of warning about a serious computer security vulnerability it hasn't fixed yet.

The vulnerability disclosed Monday affects Internet Explorer users whose computers run the Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 operating software.

It can allow hackers to remotely take control of victims' machines. The victims don't need to do anything to get infected except visit a Web site that's been hacked.

Security experts say criminals have been attacking the vulnerability for nearly a week. Thousands of sites have been hacked to serve up malicious software that exploits the vulnerability. People are drawn to these sites by clicking a link in spam e-mail.

The so-called ``zero day'' vulnerability disclosed by Microsoft affects a part of its software used to play video. The problem arises from the way the software interacts with Internet Explorer, which opens a hole for hackers to tunnel into.

Microsoft urged vulnerable users to disable the problematic part of its software, which can be done from Microsoft's Web site, while the company works on a ``patch'' _ or software fix _ for the problem.

Microsoft rarely departs from its practice of issuing security updates the second Tuesday of each month. When the Redmond, Washington-based company does issue security reminders at other times, it's because the vulnerabilities are very serious.

A recent example was the emergency patch Microsoft issued in October for a vulnerability that criminals exploited to infect millions of PCs with the Conficker worm. While initially feared as an all-powerful doomsday device, that network of infected machines was eventually used for mundane moneymaking schemes like sending spam and pushing fake antivirus software.

Agencies

Will Larry Ellison foray into netbook market?

Oracle Corp Chief Executive Larry Ellison is considering getting into the business of selling low-cost laptop computers, one of the fastest-growing sectors of the technology business.

Ellison said on Tuesday that he is looking at entering the market for so-called netbook computers after his software company completes its planned $7 billion purchase of computer maker Sun Microsystems Inc.

Sun also controls the Java computer language, which Ellison told programmers at a Java users' conference could be employed to run netbooks.

"I don't see why some of those devices shouldn't come from Sun," said Ellison, who runs the world's third-largest software maker. "There will be computers that are fundamentally based on Java."

That would put Oracle in competition with companies like Google Inc, Hewlett-Packard Co, Dell Inc and Acer Inc, which either make netbooks or develop software for them.

The netbook phenomenon took off in 2008 to the tune of 11.7 million units, led by companies such as Acer and Asustek Computer Inc that were quick into the market. Nearly every PC vendor offers them these days.

Analysts forecast 20 million to 30 million netbooks will be sold this year, making up an ever larger part of overall laptop sales and marking one of few tech sectors still experiencing robust revenue growth.

Ellison made the comments during his first public speech since Oracle announced plans to buy Sun.

Although netbooks are relatively new, Ellison deserves some credit for their rise.

More then a decade ago he introduced a lightweight alternative to the PC known as the Network Computer, which was built primarily to connect to the Internet. The machines, which competed with ones running on Microsoft Corp's Windows operating system, failed to take off after their launch in 1996.

Agencies

Dell-Acer is attractive merger, feel analyst

The personal computer industry may be ripe for a wave of consolidation, with a marriage of Dell Inc and Acer Inc seen as a particularly smart deal, according to an influential Wall Street analyst.

"Among the 10 top PC vendors, we believe that a Dell/Acer combination makes the most sense," Sanford C. Bernstein & Co analyst Toni Sacconaghi said in a client note on Friday.

If Dell were to buy Acer for a 20 percent premium, or about $5.7 billion, it would boost Dell's annual revenue growth sharply and add 12 cents a share to annual profit, he said.

The PC industry is commoditized and remains fragmented. Consolidating could help companies score better pricing from component vendors and contract manufacturers, as well as cost savings in areas such as human resources, he said.

"We view PC vendors as analogous to retailers, where our research suggests that the largest and operationally most efficient have garnered outsized profits relative to their peers," Sacconaghi wrote in his report.

Acer has a strong share of the portable computer market outside the United States, which would provide Dell with exposure to faster growth markets, he added.

Sacconaghi said buying Acer might also be beneficial to top PC maker Hewlett-Packard Co, but not as much as it would to Dell.

"While an HP-Acer combination might provide similar scale and synergy benefits, end market complementarity would not be as high," he said.

According to research firm Gartner, Dell and Acer were in a virtual tie for second place in the first quarter in market share in the United States.

Agencies

Buy your software from a cloud to ease your budget

As small and medium businesses in India struggle to stay afloat during the global economic slowdown, they are opting for cheaper computing services, and a Boston-based entrepreneur is here to promote his solution, cloud computing, in which software is shared over a wide network of computers.

Sumeet Sabharwal, senior vice-president of outsourcing and IT hosting firm Navisite Inc, says cloud computing is a viable Internet model for small and medium businesses across India, especially in the technology hubs in and around the capital and in Bangalore.

"The demand for having a reliable hosted infrastructure has increased over the years in India as businesses are shifting to the Internet from off-line facilities. At the same time, users do not want to burden themselves with the cumbersome processes of installations and hardware specifics. They look for solutions that are flexible, to scale and automated from the deployment standpoint, to maximise profit and output," Sabharwal said.

He said cloud computing was "still in a nascent stage in India and users need to be educated. Demand will grow as medium and small business owners realise its financial upside. I think it is the technology of the future for a country like India".

"Cloud computing," explained Sabharwal, a Cornell University alumnus, "is a computer paradigm in which tasks are assigned to a combination of connections. It operates on three basic principles - computer, bandwidth and storage.

"It eliminates the manual tasks of shipping the software to the user and allows users direct access to the software from the net. This network of servers and connections is collectively known as 'the cloud', which is a kind of a platform."

Computing at the scale of the cloud, said Sabharwal, allowed users to access supercomputer-level power. "Using a thin client or other access points like an iPhone, BlackBerry or laptop, users can reach into the cloud for resources they need. For this reason, cloud computing has also been described as on-demand computing."

Cloud computing, where the "intelligent network acts as the supercomputer", is a way to increase network capacity or add capabilities without investing in new infrastructure, new personnel or licensing new software.

"It is a pay-per-use service and cuts business cost by at least 40 percent depending on how the businesses leverage it. At the same time, one can scale up or scale down on the network itself, going by the number of visits to a business site
and its growth," Sabharwal said.

"Clouds are of two types - the public cloud, where infrastructure can be shared horizontally depending on areas and geographies of growth - and large private clouds dedicated to big companies, mostly the independent software vendors
, retail firms and technology providers.

"Cloud Computing," said Sabharwal, "is also the most effective technology for hosted e-mails for medium-sized corporate firms."

Agencies

IBM-Sun talks on merger to extend beyond a few weeks

IBM's talks to acquire Sun Microsystems Inc are continuing and may extend beyond next week, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

IBM is still examining Sun's business as part of its due diligence process, said the source, who was not authorized to speak about the talks and therefore requested anonymity.

Neither IBM nor Sun has issued any statement to say they are in talks, although sources said last week that the two sides are negotiating a merger that would bolster IBM's high-end server and software business.

The Wall Street Journal reported on March 18 that IBM could pay as much as $8 billion for Sun, amounting to a 100 percent premium for the high-end server computer maker. If a deal is sealed, it would be IBM's largest acquisition.

The source said on Thursday that IBM's due diligence process, or examination of Sun's business, was necessary considering Sun's size and complexity.

An IBM spokesman declined to comment, and Sun was not immediately available.

Some analysts have said Sun would bolster IBM's position against rivals like Hewlett-Packard Co and Cisco Systems Inc, both of which have been acquiring smaller, niche technology firms to broaden their product and service offerings.

Agencies

Is Nokia likely to enter laptop industry?

The world's top cellphone maker Nokia is eyeing entering the laptop business, its Chief Executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said in an interview to Finnish national broadcaster YLE on Wednesday.

"We are looking very actively also at this opportunity," Kallasvuo said, when asked whether Nokia plans to make laptops.

Industry has rumoured about Nokia's possible plan to enter the PC industry since late last year, but Kallasvuo's comment was the first official admittance of such plans.

"We don't have to look even for five years from now to see that what we know as a cellphone and what we know as a PC are in many ways converging," Kallasvuo said.

"Today we have hundreds of millions of people who are having their first Internet experience on the phone. This is a good indication," he said.

Nokia's comments come a week after No 3 PC brand Acer launched a foray into the phone business with eight cellphone models, joining leader Hewlett-Packard and No. 4 Lenovo in the high-growth space.

While strong profit margins in the smartphone industry attract PC brands, the attraction of the low-margin computer industry is less obvious.

"Nokia maybe nervous about entering a market segment that is already heavily commoditised, but it would be in a position to exploit its enormous scale in manufacturing, supply chain and distribution," said Ben Wood, research director at CCS Insight.

"All leading mobile network operators and retailers are adding connected notebooks and netbooks to their portfolios alongside mobile phones. On this basis it comes as no surprise that Nokia is evaluating this segment," he said.

The global PC industry was resilient for most of last year when other technology sectors were ailing, but it too has now been caught up in the deepening economic downturn that has hit demand from consumers and corporate buyers.

Agencies

Computer sales across Asia drop

Sales of computers in the Asia Pacific region outside Japan fell for the first time in a decade during the fourth quarter, as the global meltdown hit consumer spending, a study said on Monday.

Preliminary figures showed 17.2 million desktop computers and laptops were sold in the December quarter, down 14 per cent from the previous quarter and 5 per cent lower than a year ago, global market intelligence firm IDC said.

The figures marked the first year-on-year decline since the third quarter of 1998 when the region was grappling with the Asian financial crisis, it added.

"This quarter was quite a jaw-dropper" not just in China but also in India, said Bryan Ma, regional director for personal systems research with IDC.

"The clouds are darkening in 2009, although there might be some pockets of shelter in the region's public sector."

For 2008, struggling Chinese computer giant Lenovo was the region's number one vendor with market share of 18.3 percent, followed by US rival Hewlett Packard which had 14.1 per cent, and Dell at 9.1 per cent, IDC said.

Taiwanese computer firm Acer was fourth with market share of 7.5 per cent and China's Founder ranked fifth, with 4.0 per cent.

Agencies

Will global tech spending decline in 2009?

Technology companies face a bumpy ride in 2009. Global business and government spending on computer, software and communications products and consulting services is expected to decline 3 percent this year, Forrester Research said in a report due out Tuesday.

This would mark the first decline since 2002, when information-technology spending dropped 6 percent after falling the same amount in 2001.

However, this downturn is not expected to last as long. Forrester projects tech spending to recover next year, rising as much as 9 percent in 2010.

In addition to the recession, the strengthening dollar is also to blame for the drop-off Forrester sees this year. Just as the weak U.S. currency boosted the growth rate of technology purchases made in dollars in 2008, the now-stronger dollar will hurt it in 2009, according to Forrester. Western Europe's technology spending rate is a good illustration of the currency discrepancy: measured in dollars, tech purchases in the region will be down 7 percent in 2009. Tech purchases in euros will be up 1 percent.

To neutralize the effect of currency changes, Forrester also projected the global technology market using a ``basket'' of local currencies, weighed for how big a share of the market each region holds. Using this measure, technology purchases are expected to have grown by 4 percent in 2008 and post growth of 3 percent in 2009, and 6 percent in 2010.

Certain aspects of technology will fare better. For example, Forrester expects software purchases to total $388 billion this year, the same as in 2008. But computer equipment purchases, which includes personal computers, servers and storage devices _ are expected to decline 4 percent, to $434 billion. That's because businesses often see software as a moneysaving tool, while buying new computer equipment is something that can be put off until more prosperous times.

There are other trends at play, too, such as an ongoing decline in the server market, independent of the economy, said Forrester analyst Andrew Bartels. More companies are embracing server virtualization, a technology that allows one server to function as multiple machines, saving companies money and energy. Businesses are also realizing that their employees can use BlackBerrys, iPhones and small laptops known as netbooks for work. So, the analyst said, rather than issuing workers both a PC and a BlackBerry, companies might stick with just a BlackBerry.

A decline in demand for personal computers and other electronics weighed on the semiconductor industry for much of 2008. Intel Corp., the company behind the bulk of microprocessors that serve as the brains of PCs, lowered its fourth quarter revenue guidance for the second time last week amid weaker than expected demand.

While 2009 does not look good when it comes to tech spending, things aren't as dismal for the sector as they were in 2001 and 2002, after the bursting of the 1990s Internet bubble. In each of those two years, Bartels noted, technology spending declined 6 percent _ and that would have been true regardless of currency fluctuations.

Since then, technology has become so interwoven into how a company operates that it's no longer considered discretionary spending.

``It is the muscle of companies,'' Bartels said. ``It allows them to do what they want to do.''

Agencies

Top Web-based operating systems

Want to see what lies ahead in the world of operating systems? Head to the Web. That's where you'll find some workable examples of operating systems that move everything- applications, files, and communications- from the confines of your desktop to the more widely accessible Internet.

And mind you, Web-based operating systems are more than just a collection of applications that run within a browser. They're self-contained environments in which you can create and store documents, copy files from one folder or drive to another, and conduct communications.

In short, almost everything you can do from Windows or the Mac OS should be able to be accomplished within a Web OS. All you need is a Web browser to get there. Here's looking into some options.

Google Chrome

While the major players in the software industry are not yet among those with Web-based operating system (OS) prototypes, it's clear that the big names are paying attention- and making plans.

Google's Chrome, with its Spartan interface- largely devoid of visible menus, button bars, and status panels, easily reminds one of the basis of an operating system when it's expanded to full screen.

And Microsoft, although deriving a large portion of its revenue from the lucrative desktop applications business, has just announced that it will create Web-based versions of its Microsoft Office applications- and make them available for free.

eyeOS

A good place to start in your discovery of Web-based operating systems is eyeOS (http://eyeos.org), which is free, open source, and very easy to sign up for. There's no need to install anything to use eyeOS.

Simply sign up with a user name and password to create an account, and from that point forward, you have an operating system on the Web, accessible from any browser. eyeOS creates space on its servers to store your operating system settings and any files you create.

eyeOS resembles contemporary desktop-bound operating systems.

There's a workspace area- or desktop- along with icons on the left that represent shortcuts to applications, including a word processor, calendar, contact manager, RSS feed, and a trash bin.

Fire up the eyeOS word processor and you'll find yourself in a serviceable document creation tool, replete with toolbar buttons for most of the formatting tasks that users require today.

Documents you save are stored on eyeOS's servers by default, so there's no local storage involved. You can, if you choose, download the files you create to your own PC and upload files to your eyeOS environment.

The beauty of a Web-based environment, however, is that you can shut down your browser -- and thus your eyeOS operating system -- on one machine, launch a browser on another machine in another location, and then launch your eyeOS desktop again.

eyeOS even remembers all of the applications and documents you were last working on, so the workspace you see is exactly the one you left off with.

A green eyeOS button at the bottom middle of the screen is analogous to the Windows Vista Start button.

It contains shortcuts to system settings, applications, and a few other commands, including Close Session. Enter System Preferences, and you'll see some impressive customisation options, including the ability to change the theme, or look, of eyeOS to resemble Vista, Ubuntu, Gnome, or other operating systems. The one glaring omission from eyeOS is an e-mail client. Apparently you're expected to bring your own e-mail.

G.ho.st

G.ho.st (http://g.ho.st/) is in some ways even more full-featured and certainly more colourful- than eyeOS. After you sign up, for free, G.ho.st carves out an impressive 5 gigabytes of file storage on its servers for you, and it creates your very own G.ho.st Mail e-mail account, with 3 gigabytes of storage.

Like eyeOS, there's nothing to install. Once you sign up, you'll receive a confirmation e-mail message. Click the activation link inside, and you're ready to go.

The first time you launch G.ho.st, your browser will switch to full-screen mode so that you can see all there is that G.ho.st has to offer. There's a full-featured word processor, spreadsheet, e-mail, your personal G.ho.st drive for file storage, instant messaging, and even a few games.

There's also plenty of hand-holding in G.ho.st, as well, with icons that offer to take you on a tour of G.ho.st, help you set up your e-mail, create and edit documents, and upload files from your desktop computer to your G.ho.st environment.

A Go button in the lower left-hand corner of the G.ho.st screen mimics Vista's Start button; it provides handy access to all of the operating system's features and programs.

G.ho.st is full of glitz and color, and it is consequently more demanding of your hardware and somewhat more sluggish than eyeOS, which is streamlined by comparison. Still, many will likely find that G.ho.st's friendliness will make any performance hit worthwhile.

Desktop Two

Desktop Two (http://desktoptwo.com) is a java-based Web operating system that's the quickest of all to set up and get going.

After a brief sign-up routine, the desktop loads, and you're ready to start exploring.

Desktop Two offers more applications that allow users to create their own presence on the Web than the other major Web operating systems. Along with a word processor and e-mail program, Desktop Two provides a Web site editor and a blogging programme.

The blogging application, in particular, is impressive, providing a two-click entry into the world of setting up and maintaining your own blog.

Once you create your first blog entry, the programme provides you with the Web address that you can distribute to the world so that others can visit your blog on the Internet.

Desktop Two's conventional applications are less impressive, however, in part because the operating system was not always able to save documents to Desktop Two's online storage system.

Why Web-based OS

One could argue that a Web-based operating system is redundant, since one needs a computer, operating system, and Web browser to access an online operating system.

While that's true, the point of an online operating system is complete environment portability.

That means being able to log on to any computer that has an Internet connection and, in the time it takes to launch your Web OS, having all of your applications and documents ready for you to resume work.

Although you could cobble together many of the elements of a Web OS by using, say, Google Docs, Yahoo Mail, and other online applications, doing so would require you to make several stops around the Internet.

There's no doubt that today's Web-based operating systems are far from feature-laden, and they probably will not tempt many to abandon their current routine that combines desktop and Web-based software.

But given the push that the major players in the industry are making toward a completely Web-based future, there's also little doubt that Web-based operating systems, or some form thereof, are in our collective future.

Source: Agencies

Texas Instruments to layoff 400 employees in Philippines

Texas Instruments, one of the world's biggest semiconductor manufacturers, is laying off 400 workers from its factory in the northern Philippines due to the global financial crisis, officials said.

The Labour Department's assistant regional director Sixto Rodriguez said the US-based company had notified the government of the cuts that will take effect on January 15, 2009.

He said the company has assured the government that it will give the laid-off employees all the necessary benefits and is offering them early retirement.

Company spokesmen would not comment however.

Texas Instruments employs about 2,300 people in its plant in the northern resort city of Baguio where it makes semiconductors -- conductive elements used in electronic circuits -- mostly for phone maker Nokia. It is the biggest taxpayer in the region.

The company has been operating in the Philippines for 28 years and was one of the pioneers of the electronics industry which has become the biggest export sector in the country.

Texas Instruments announced in May 2007 that it would invest around one billion dollars in a new test and assembly facility at the former US Airforce base at Clark, north of Manila.

The company would not comment on the fate of that plant in the face of the economic contraction that is hitting many countries.

The Baguio facility conducts final assembly and testing of semiconductors for customers in computer, aerospace, telecommunications and automotive industries in the US, Asia and Europe.

Press reports earlier said that Lear Automotive Services, a maker of automotive wire harnesses for export, was laying off 80 workers from its plant in the central Philippines.

Source: Agencies