Microsoft showcased the community technology preview (CTP) of a new Windows-based environment to create robotic applications for a wide variety of computing platforms, at the RoboBusiness Conference and Exposition 2006 in Pittsburgh. The new environment Microsoft expects will provide thrust for academic, hobbyist and commercial...

Microsoft and Creative Commons, a nonprofit organization that offers flexible copyright licenses for creative works, have teamed up to release a copyright licensing tool that enables the easy addition of Creative Commons licensing information for works in popular Microsoft Office applications...

Nokia and Siemens are merging their communications service provider businesses in a bid to create a new global network leader for fixed-mobile convergence. The new merger, with 2005 calendar year pro forma revenues of EUR 15.8 billion, will be a 50-50 joint venture to consist of Nokia's Networks Business Group and Siemens...

Software as a Service (SaaS) is an emerging software delivery model in which application software is delivered remotely through a subscription-based fee rather than being sold for perpetual use. The users do not buy the license of the software, but only a right to use it. SaaS is also referred to as On-Demand Software and...

More than 30 years after Bill Gates founded Microsoft, the company is engaging itself in a two-year transition process to ensure smooth and orderly transition of it's founder's daily responsibilities to its current CTO, Ray Ozzie, Effective July 2008, Bill Gates, chairman, will transition out of a day-to-day role...

Google is preparing to launch an online payment system dubbed GBuy on 28 June, financial analysts with RBC Capital Markets claimed in a research note. RBC Capital Markets maintained an ‘outperform’ rating on Google in light of the impending launch of the company's online payment system...

Microsoft Hardware and the Windows Live team have joined forces to introduce a line of LifeCams starting with the LifeCam VX-6000 and LifeCam VX-3000. Optimized for use with Windows Live Messenger, the first two available webcams, the Microsoft LifeCam VX-6000 and Microsoft LifeCam VX-3000...

Best-in-class companies have overcome countless challenges on their way to establishing strategic service operations. The service organizations at most of the product-centric companies have evolved from tactical cost centers to strategic profit centers, as top executives understand that an integrated and cost-effective post-sales service...

A new study by The Radicati Group, Inc. shows that compliance and policy management tools are becoming critical data security solutions for companies in all industries. Designed to capture, preserve, and manage all relevant electronic messages, over the past few years compliance and policy management solutions have been deployed...

"After finally experiencing the law of diminishing returns on efficiency improvements, many companies are now placing innovation as a top priority. Innovation requires a different environment and a different culture; most companies will require an extreme makeover in order to be successful," asserts the Cutter Business Technology Council...

The second major update to the Lightroom Public Beta is now available on Adobe Labs. Project Lightroom is Adobe’s effort to engage the professional photography community in a new way by building the software from the ground up by photographers, for photographers, and thus helping solve unique workflow challenges...

Video games have become as much a part of the entertainment culture in the U.S. as movies and television, but publishers haven’t capitalized on advertising opportunities to the extent of other mediums. In 2005, U.S. Internet gamer households received about USD 0.10 worth of advertisement-supported gaming content on a monthly basis...

Asian developers are readily adopting Java EE 5, with over 36% using it today. That’s a 200% increase from six months ago, and twice the adoption rate that North America is experiencing. Looking ahead, two thirds of APAC developers are expecting to use it next year...

As organizations continue to digitize content in the current business environment, there is substantial need to emphasize the rights on its usage and establish control to avoid any loss of data. This need is expects to have a huge bearing on the enterprise digital rights management (DRM) systems market...

Microsoft is creating Internet-delivered services for corporate customers to complement its on-premise software, Microsoft’s Chief Technical Officer Ray Ozzie said. Speaking at Microsoft’s TechEd 2006 conference for business technology users, Ozzie described some of the online services Microsoft intends to offer to businesses...

Only a few applications have been written specifically for grids, and only a small number of today's commercial applications that appear suitable for grids have actually been deployed on or migrated to grids, according to The 451 Group. But as enterprise momentum for grid computing and associated infrastructure models increases...

The growth in the information technology sector has paved the way for other sectors to follow suit. One such sector is business consulting, which is an area of increasing focus and innovation for services providers, as well as greater user spending. According to a study conducted by IT research firm, business consulting is an area...

Consider going to a concert without the hassles of booking the ticket or standing in a long queue. Yes! it is time for us to move ahead of the hassles of having to bargain with touts or hassles of physical pick-up or queuing for a ticket. Now, mobile tickets enables customers to have a paperless ticket delivered directly to their mobile devices...

"If you thought it would be some time before Ajax moved from the realm of Google and Yahoo into the enterprise IT fabric, you’d be mistaken", writes Jason Stamper over at Computer Business Review Online. It's becoming clear that the new rich thin client technology Ajax will make it into enterprise IT sooner rather than later. Ajax seems to be gaining ground by the minute...

Microsoft Corp. has added another server to its Office 2007 line-up, expanding its line of business intelligence (BI) products with a new focus on performance management solutions. The new Microsoft PerformancePoint Server 2007 includes business scorecarding, analytics and planning...