Friday, August 29, 2008, BANGALORE: Leading provider of microcontrollers and analog chip maker Microchip Technology will invest $65 million in development center in India over the next five years and expected 300 jobs, the company said here. This is a great news for technology professionals.

“We have set up a new facility to work on integrated circuit (IC) development, microcontroller development tools and corporate information systems,” Microchip vice-president Ganesh Moorthy said in a statement issued here late Friday.

The $1 billion Arizona-based US firm designs embedded control solutions for consumer, automotive, office-automation, communications and industrial-control markets worldwide.

Bangalore development centre works on integrated-circuit development and marketing, microcontroller development tools and corporate information systems, was officially inaugurated today by R. Rajalakshmi, Director, Software Technology Parks of India, Bangalore and Microchip’s executive vice president, Ganesh Moorthy.

“The India centre will play a major role in developing eight bit, 16 bit and 32 bit microcontrollers and digital signal controllers. We have delivered many innovations in microcontroller and digital signal controller designs, besides digital-power and motor-control solutions” Moorthy said.

Microchip ranked by Industry analyst firm “Gartner Dataquest” as world leader in eight bit microcontrollers in 2007. According to the “India Semiconductor Association” Microchip is a largest supplier of eight bit microcontrollers in the Indian sub-continent.

INTEL DEVELOPER FORUM, SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 20, 2008 – Intel Corporation and Yahoo! Inc. today previewed plans for the Widget Channel, a television (TV) application framework optimized for TV and related consumer electronics (CE) devices that use the Intel Architecture. The Widget Channel will allow consumers to enjoy rich Internet applications designed for the TV while watching their favorite TV programs. The Widget Channel will be powered by the Yahoo! Widget Engine, a fifth-generation applications platform that will enable TV watchers to interact with and enjoy a rich set of “TV Widgets,” or small Internet applications designed to complement and enhance the traditional TV watching experience and bring content, information and community features available on the Internet within easy reach of the remote control. The Widget Channel will also allow developers to use JAVASCRIPT, XML, HTML and Adobe® Flash® technology to write TV applications for the platform, extending the power and compatibility of PC application developer programs to TV and related CE devices. In addition to supporting the Yahoo! Widget Engine, Yahoo! will also provide consumers Yahoo!-branded TV Widgets that are customized based on its category-leading Internet services.

TV Widgets will enable consumers to engage in a variety of experiences, such as watching videos, tracking their favorite stocks or sports teams, interacting with friends, or staying current on news and information. Viewers will be able to use TV Widgets to deepen their enjoyment of the programming they are watching, discover new content and services, or share their favorites with friends and family. TV Widgets can be personalized because they will be based upon popular Internet services such as Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo! Sports, Blockbuster® and eBay® that viewers have customized for use in their daily lives.

“TV will fundamentally change how we talk about, imagine and experience the Internet,” said Eric Kim, Intel senior vice president and general manager of the company’s Digital Home Group. “No longer just a passive experience unless the viewer wants it that way, Intel and Yahoo! are proposing a way where the TV and Internet are as interactive, and seamless, as possible. Our close work has produced an exciting application framework upon which the industry can collaborate, innovate and differentiate. This effort is one of what we believe will be many exciting new ways to bring the Internet to the TV, and it really shows the potential of what consumers can look forward to.”

“On the PC and mobile devices, Yahoo! is a leading starting point for millions of consumers around the world,” said Marco Boerries, executive vice president, Connected Life, Yahoo! Inc. “Yahoo! aims to extend this leadership to the emerging world of Internet-connected TV, which we call the Cinematic Internet™. By partnering with leaders like Intel, we plan to combine the Internet benefits of open user choice, community, and personalization with the performance and scale embodied in the Intel Architecture to transform traditional TV into something bigger, better and more exciting than ever before. By using the popular Yahoo! Widget Engine to power the Widget Channel, we intend to provide an opportunity for all developers and publishers to create new experiences that can reach millions of TV viewers globally. Yahoo! plans to enable the Cinematic Internet™ ecosystem, which will benefit consumers, device makers, advertisers and publishers.”

Widget Channel Framework and TV Widget Developers

Underlying the Widget Channel will be a powerful set of platform technologies, including the Yahoo! Widget Engine and core libraries that expose the powerful functions enabled by the Intel Architecture. The Widget Channel framework will use established Internet technologies to dramatically lower the barrier of entry for developing applications optimized for TV. To help create new TV Widgets for the Widget Channel, Intel and Yahoo! plan to make a development kit available to developers, including TV and other CE device makers, advertisers and publishers. The Widget Channel will also include a Widget Gallery, to which developers can publish their TV Widgets across multiple TV and related CE devices and through which consumers can view and select the TV Widgets they would like to use.

Intel and Yahoo! are working with a range of industry-leading companies that are planning on developing and deploying TV Widgets, including Blockbuster*, CBS Interactive*, CinemaNow*, Cinequest*, Comcast*, Disney-ABC Television Group*, eBay*, GE*, Group M*, Joost*, MTV*, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.*, Schematic*, Showtime*, Toshiba* and Twitter*. These and other companies and individuals will be able to innovate, differentiate and deploy TV Widgets across multiple TV and related CE devices using the Widget Channel framework. Additional information on the Widget Channel framework and the Yahoo! Widget Engine can be found at www.intel.com/go/celink and connectedtv.yahoo.com/newsroom.

Intel Architecture

Intel Architecture (IA) is at the heart of millions of PC-, MID- and server-based Internet clients, which has helped enable the proliferation of Internet-based content and services while providing users with an uncompromised Internet experience. Accelerating the delivery of the Internet to the TV, Intel today extended performance, headroom and connectivity of IA into a new family of “purpose built” system-on-chip (SoC) media processors for Internet-connected CE devices, including optical media players, U.S. cable set-top-boxes, digital TVs and other connected audio visual products.

Intel’s first CE IA-based SoC, the Intel® Media Processor CE 3100 (formerly “Canmore”), is a highly integrated chip which includes a high-performance IA core and other functional I/O blocks to enable high definition video decode and viewing, home-theater-quality audio, 3-D graphics, and the fusion of the Internet and TV experiences. The Widget Channel software framework is designed to work with a new generation of Internet-connected CE devices based on Intel’s purpose built SoC. The hardware and software compatibility of IA also provides support for broadcast and Internet content.

Intel also plans to release the Intel Media Processor CE 3100-based hardware development system called the “Innovation Platform” which will provide the initial development and validation environment for developers of TV Widgets on the Widget Channel.

An Open Framework

Finally, Intel and Yahoo! are working with industry members to promote the development of open and consistent standards necessary to grow the TV Widget ecosystem. As part of their efforts, the companies are sharing an early version of a development kit for the Widget Channel with selected TV Widget developers now.

Source: Intel Co.

McAfee has declared that it will extend its security products to Intel based products like laptops and mobile internet devices.

McAfee will provide integrated data encryption for laptops and integrated mobile content security for MIDs-based on the Intel Atom processor Z5XX series and Moblin-based software. Additionally, McAfee unveiled plans to integrate McAfee’s security encryption with Intel’s anti-theft technology and active management technology to protect the data on a laptop in the event that it is stolen and an unauthorized user tries to access it.

Mobile internet devices are becoming popular in the industry as they enable the rich PC Internet experience in pocketable devices while running light weight operating systems such as Moblin Linux. Service providers see Moblin-based MIDs as a new way to deliver content and services to subscribers.

As MIDs rely on the open Internet to bring applications and services to people, they will be susceptible to similar security challenges as the PC, said McAfee in a media statement

“Intel’s low power technologies, in combination with McAfee’s experience in security solutions, should enable a more robust and secure solution for our customers,” said Pankaj Kedia, director of global ecosystem programs in Intel Corporation’s Ultra Mobility Group.

This latest security initiative will place McAfee data encryption on the Intel VPro hardware, leveraging Intel’s Anti-Theft Technology to disable laptops booted without authorization. If a laptop is lost or stolen the device will automatically shut down when the unauthorized user tries to access the data.

For more information: Mcafee-Intel Support

The Adsense-meets-Feedburner era has officially begun. As mentioned here, the slow “Googlization” of Feedburner has gotten underway, and on Friday, the public got to see some Adsense ads in Feedburner feeds.

A couple months ago some publishers began displaying them, but now they are in full swing.

The beginning of Feedburner’s Adsense era came just shortly after they closed down the FeedBurner Ad Network, a movie that Meghan Keane at Wired.com billed as “The beginning of the End for Feedbuner?”

A little harsh perhaps. With the popularity of Adsense added to the existing popularity of Feedburner, the move doesn’t exactly sound the alarm of death in my ears.

Many are bound to be irritated by the move, but you’re never going to make everybody happy.

I think Adsesne and Feedburner will get along with each other just fine.

According to the Feedburner Weblog, publishers will be able to manage their feed ad units straight from the AdSense Setup tab, and track performance from the AdSense Report tab.

source: webpronews

Beijing on August 11: India has created history after 28 years when Abhinav Bindra has shoot the final bullet in 10M air rifle and got the target. No one believed that Bindra has won the gold medal. At one stage Bindra was struggling with the 4^th position but his confidence and concentration gave him 100% in the final.

Bindra shot a total score of 700.5 with an incredible performance in the final. Finland’s Henri Hakkinen was the leading till the final but can not stop Bindra and won bronze medal.

All Indians must proud and giving blessing to all athletes to give their best in the Olympic 2008.

BEIJING 2008 Olympic Games - Overall Medal Standings

HP and Sony have revealed the plans to increase the performance and capacity of Digital Audio Tape drives after introduction of the DAT 320 format. HP and Sony developing the Digital Data Storage (DDS) standard jointly but they will independently offer DAT 320 tape drives and cartridges.

With backup speeds of up to 86GB per hour with 2:1 data compression, the DAT 320 open standard will offer up to 320GB of capacity on a single cartridge, compared with 160GB from the current DAT 160 format.

The DAT 320 will also devour fewer watts per gigabyte than previous, and it will be backwards compatible with the DAT 160. HP and Sony will offer the same base hardware for the DAT 320, but will develop features within the firmware configuration to sell the DAT 320 tape drives and media with their own branded and OEM business channels.

Adobe Systems introduced Scene7 4.0, an update version of hosted rich media platform which is designed for e-Commerce and multi-channel marketing firms.

Scene7 4.0 is based on Adobe Flex and an intuitive user interface includes single and accordion pane viewing with drag and drop facility. It also has built-in tutorial resources, like guides and videos for getting started, as well as visual highlights along with library of configurable rich media viewers.

Doug Mack, vice president (consumer and hosted solutions) of Adobe said, “With this update we’re able to broaden our offerings to better support both start-up companies as well as large global organizations with basic rich media requirements.”

This version (Scene7 4.0) will be live in September in many languages includes English, French, German, Spanish, and Japanese.

more information: Adobe Updates Hosted Rich Media Platform

Oracle announced to acquire global knowledge software which is a part of Global Knowledge Inc. GKS is a leading provider of self services training automation software. They have not disclosed the amount and till deal will finish both company work independently. GKS is a longtime partner of oracle and GKS products improve end-user competency using enterprise applications through simulated transactional training and testing, as well as auto-generated step-by-step instructions.

Oracle intends to form a global sales unit to expand the focus on non-Oracle applications utilizing GKS products, extending Oracle’s software training offering across the enterprise. Oracle wants to provide comprehensive, end-to-end enterprise solution to customers for creating and deploying business process documentation, interactive system training, and just-in-time support available within the applications.

more information at: Oracle and GKS Acquisition