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Oracle Takes on Google, Microsoft with Cloud Office Apps

December 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

A superficial glance at Oracle’s (news, site) announcement around the release of the new Open Office 3.3 and Oracle Cloud Office might lead you to the conclusion that this is about annoying Microsoft and Google Docs.

This might be compounded by Larry Ellison’s well known ‘reservations’ about cloud computing (antipathy might be a better word). That is until you consider that the cloud-based office software market is currently US$ 3.3 billion and due to hit close to US$ 20 billion in the next ten years.

With the recent release of Open Office 3.3 and Oracle Cloud Office, which was first mooted at Oracle’s Open World this year, Oracle is spreading its wings again, in what many say is an about-face by Ellison on cloud computing.

via Oracle Takes on Google, Microsoft with Cloud Office Apps.

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Oracle Takes on Google, Microsoft with Cloud Office Apps

December 21, 2010 By 1 Comment

A superficial glance at Oracle’s (news, site) announcement around the release of the new Open Office 3.3 and Oracle Cloud Office might lead you to the conclusion that this is about annoying Microsoft and Google Docs.

This might be compounded by Larry Ellison’s well known ‘reservations’ about cloud computing (antipathy might be a better word). That is until you consider that the cloud-based office software market is currently US$ 3.3 billion and due to hit close to US$ 20 billion in the next ten years.

With the recent release of Open Office 3.3 and Oracle Cloud Office, which was first mooted at Oracle’s Open World this year, Oracle is spreading its wings again, in what many say is an about-face by Ellison on cloud computing.

via Oracle Takes on Google, Microsoft with Cloud Office Apps.

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BP prepares for years of litigation

December 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

And so it begins.

BP (BP-N 43.99 0.13 0.3%) has already been hit by a number of shareholder lawsuits over its Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster. But the U.S. government’s announcement Wednesday that it was suing the oil company acted as the starter’s pistol for a litigation marathon that may last years.

It’s been pointed out many times that the Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989 took close to 20 years to wind its way through the courts. The BP case may not take that long but when one considers the number of affected parties, and the fact that the company will likely defend itself vigorously, it becomes clear various courts will be clogged with BP cases for years to come.

Today’s lawsuit may just be the tip of the iceberg for BP because civil and criminal probes continue in the U.S.

The U.S. government did not set a damage figure in its lawsuit. But the Clean Water Act allows the administration to seek as much as US$4,300 per barrel spilled. It is estimated 4.9 million barrels were spilled into the gulf. Multiply that by US$4,300 and you arrive at about US$21 billion. BP put US$20 billion into an escrow account at the government’s request so it seems the company may be pretty well covered for whatever damages the government is seeking.

via BP prepares for years of litigation.

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Facebook Says User Data Sold to Broker – WSJ.com

October 31, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Facebook Inc. said that a data broker has been paying application developers for identifying user information, and that it had placed some developers on a six-month suspension from its site because of the practice.

The announcement, which Facebook made on its developers’ blog Friday, follows an investigation by Facebook into a privacy breach that The Wall Street Journal reported in October.

Some “apps,” the small programs that let users play games or share information with each other on the social-networking site, were sending users’ Facebook ID numbers to third-party marketing or data firms, in violation of Facebook’s privacy policies. An ID can be used to look up a user’s name and other publicly available information on the social network and link it to their use of the app. Such information can be used by companies that build profiles of Internet users by tracking their online activities.

via Facebook Says User Data Sold to Broker – WSJ.com.

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PTO, European Patent Office Team Up on Classification System

October 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The latest U.S. Patent and Trademark Office innovation is a deal to work with the European Patent Office on a joint patent classification system aligned with global standards.

In an Oct. 22 joint announcement, the two agencies said they plan to create a patent classification system aligned with the World Intellectual Property Organization’s International Patent Classification system.

The agencies also announced that, while they will base the joint system on the European Patent Office (EPO) standard, it will also incorporate the best practices of both offices.

via PTO, European Patent Office Team Up on Classification System.

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Verizon 4G service to hit 38 cities by end of 2010 – CSMonitor.com

October 7, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Verizon 4G service will be available in 38 cities and more than 60 airports by the end of the year, Verizon Wireless reps said in an announcement yesterday. The Verizon 4G network – also known as LTE, or Long-Term Evolution – is said to transmit data up to 10 times as fast as a standard 3G connection, and will be accessible from a range of mobile devices, including smartphones and laptops.

“The more capacity we give [people], the higher the speeds, the lower the latency, the more things that they do in a wired environment they can do in an unwired environment,” Verizon Wireless exec Tony Melone told the AP yesterday. Among the cities targeted by Verizon for 4G service are Chicago, Miami, Dallas, Atlanta, Seattle, Boston, and a handful of major California hubs.

Verizon competitors Sprint and T-Mobile are also in the process of rolling out next-generation data networks across the country, and AT&T has said a 4G network is under construction.

via Verizon 4G service to hit 38 cities by end of 2010 – CSMonitor.com.

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Verizon Wireless to Pay Refunds for Data Charges – NYTimes.com

October 4, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Verizon Wireless said on Sunday that it would pay up to $90 million in refunds to 15 million cellphone customers who were wrongly charged for data sessions or Internet use, one of the largest customer refunds by a telecommunications company.

The announcement came in a statement from Verizon Wireless as the company held talks with the Federal Communications Commission about complaints of unauthorized charges and in response to questions about a possible settlement of an F.C.C. investigation into the issue.

Verizon said in its statement that the customers would receive credits from $2 to $6 on their October or November bills or, in the case of former customers, refund checks.

The refunds will be paid to customers who did not have data access plans but who were nevertheless assessed one or more charges of $1.99 because of data exchanges initiated by software built into their phones, or because of charges for inadvertently going online on the phones.

The F.C.C. is likely to press Verizon to pay a penalty for failing to notify customers of the problem, which has been occurring since at least 2007, according to people close to the talks.

via Verizon Wireless to Pay Refunds for Data Charges – NYTimes.com.

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Global EDD Group | E-Discovery 123 Pricing Special 20100819

August 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment

In conjunction with our recent announcement regarding simplified pricing for e-discovery services, we are offering a special discounted rate of $123 per gigabyte of native file processing. Email us at LTT@globaledd.com mentioning  GEEDGLTT20100819 to start your project or to receive additional information.

Terms & Conditions:

  • Automated EDD/ESI processing (PST extract, de-duplication, de-NISTing, standard reports. basic native file export)
  • Custom processing and non-Exchange email format not available with this special
  • Minimum processing volume of 10 gigabytes
  • Delivery times will vary based on volume
  • Additional fees, such as shipping and delivery media, may apply
  • Standard contract/agreement required prior to implementation of service
  • Limited time offer, subject to availability and termination without notice

via Global EDD Group | E-Discovery 123 Pricing Special 20100819.

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Google Adds Automatic Translation to Google Docs

July 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment

With most things it’s really the small things that count. With Google Docs it’s just one small thing after another. The most recent is the announcement this week that Google Docs users will be able to translate their documents into 52 other languages thanks to native integration of Google Translate into Docs.

And in contrast to many software packages where translation can be quite a lengthy and arduous process, with this new ability, once Translate has been integrated into the Docs editor it really is just a question of scrolling down through the Tools menu to find ‘Translate documents’ to change languages.

Documents that have been translated can also be saved as the translated version or can be saved over the original version so that only the translated version is left in Docs.

Google Translate

If you haven’t come across it before, Google Translate, unlike some of the bigger machine-translation systems, is completely automated and does not depend on rule-based approaches with large defined vocabularies and dictionaries.

Instead, Google says it feeds its computers with billions of words of texts and aligns it with text consisting of examples of human translations between the languages — of which there are currently 52.

While the new translation abilities in Google Docs probably don’t compare to the translation abilities of the recently announced product from IBM and Lionbridge, or some of the SDL products, this is not an enterprise translator, it serves the need of users who are working using Docs and just need a handy translation.

via Google Adds Automatic Translation to Google Docs.

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Microsoft cracks down on ad click fraud | Seattle PI

May 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Image representing Microsoft adCenter as depic...
Image via CrunchBase

In anticipation of a planned announcement Wednesday regarding click fraud, Microsoft has filed at least two lawsuits against companies it believes are mixed up in the illegal manipulation of online-advertising commerce.

Microsoft on Monday implicated two established websites, RedOrbit and HelloMetro, in two fraud complaints filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in Seattle. Microsoft alleges the defendants used malicious means to artificially increase the number of times that advertisements on those sites were clicked.

The defendants, Microsoft claims, used the software company’ adCenter and pubCenter platforms to surface advertisements on their websites. When a Web user clicks one of those ads, money is automatically transferred from the advertiser’s account to the ad publisher’s account.

Click-fraud perpetrators can use automated computer scripts, deploy malware, e-mail spam links or hire people to generate an inflated number of clicks on online advertisements. Such practices bring extra money to the ad publisher, and fraud is suspected when the action is hidden.

In an interestingly timed move, Microsoft filed the lawsuits two days before it announces “some significant news,” as the company has said, about click fraud trends. Seattlepi.com has learned that the announcement will provide better context for the lawsuits, though it is unclear exactly what the news will be.

A spokesperson said the announcement will also relate to a third legal filing, but Microsoft would not elaborate. Stay tuned to The Microsoft Blog on Wednesday for more information.

In the RedOrbit case (PDF), Microsoft names the company, founder Eric Ralls and 10 “John Does” as defendants. RedOrbit.com is a Tyler, Texas-based online news site that publishes articles, photos and videos about science, space, technology and health.

via Microsoft cracks down on ad click fraud.

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