A Grandma has world's fastest broadband

Sigbritt, a 75 year old woman from Karlstad in central Sweden has been thrust into the IT history books - with the world's fastest internet connection.

Sigbritt Löthberg's home has been supplied with a blistering 40 Gigabits per second (40 Gbs) connection, many thousands of times faster than the average residential link and the first time ever that a home user has experienced such a high speed.

But Sigbritt, who had never had a computer until now, is no ordinary 75 year old. She is the mother of Swedish internet legend Peter Löthberg who, along with Karlstad Stadsnät, the local council's network arm, has arranged the connection.

"This is more than just a demonstration," said network boss Hafsteinn Jonsson.

"As a network owner we're trying to persuade internet operators to invest in faster connections. And Peter Löthberg wanted to show how you can build a low price, high capacity line over long distances," he told The Local.

Sigbritt will now be able to enjoy 1,500 high definition HDTV channels simultaneously. Or, if there is nothing worth watching there, she will be able to download a full high definition DVD in just two seconds.

The secret behind Sigbritt's ultra-fast connection is a new modulation technique which allows data to be transferred directly between two routers up to 2,000 kilometres apart, with no intermediary transponders.

According to Karlstad Stadsnät the distance is, in theory, unlimited - there is no data loss as long as the fibre is in place.

"I want to show that there are other methods than the old fashioned ways such as copper wires and radio, which lack the possibilities that fibre has," said Peter Löthberg, who now works at Cisco.

Cisco contributed to the project but the point, said Hafsteinn Jonsson, is that fibre technology makes such high speed connections technically and commercially viable.

"The most difficult part of the whole project was installing Windows on Sigbritt's PC," said Jonsson.

Btw, I wish I was her grandson ... :)

How about your grandma, guys?

Source: The Local Sweden's News.

Edit and Retouch your Photo on Adobe Photoshop Online

Adobe System Inc, the maker of the popular photo-editing software Photoshop on Thursday launched a basic version available for free online.

Adobe says it hopes to boost its name recognition among a new generation of consumers who edit, store and share photos online. While Photoshop is designed for trained professionals, Adobe says Photoshop Express, which it launched in a “beta” test version, is easier to learn. User comments will be taken into account for future upgrades.


Photoshop Express will be completely Web-based so consumers can use it with any type of computer, operating system and browser. And, once they register, users can get to their accounts from different computers.

Web-based software is increasingly popular, and Adobe knows it’s got to get on that train, said Kathleen Maher, an analyst at Jon Peddie Research. Many kinds of software are available for use online in a trend known as “software as a service” or “cloud computing”. The earliest were e-mail programs, but they now include services to create and manage content and even whole operating systems. And they don’t require time-consuming upgrades because they’re maintained by the service provider.

Google Inc. provides a host of such services, as do Microsoft Corp and others.

“This is the battlefield where Adobe and Microsoft and Google are going to fight some pretty big battles,” Maher said.

Photoshop enters the online photo-management arena many years after such services first appeared. Some companies have already made a big name for themselves, like 9-year-old storage solution Shutterfly Inc., photo-editing service Picnik or image-sharing site Photobucket Inc.

Adobe says providing Photoshop Express for free is part marketing and part a strategy to create up-sell opportunities. It hopes some customers will move from it to boxed software like its $99 Photoshop Elements or to a subscription-based version of Express that’s in the works.

Ron Glaz, a research analyst at IDC, says the move was necessary for Adobe to keep pace. Users are less likely to switch to a software they aren’t familiar with, he said.

“They have a whole market that they are missing out on, and they need to make sure that the market is aware there is a Photoshop solution for them. As that market grows and becomes more sophisticated, hopefully it will generate money,” Glaz said.

“It’s one of those things, if you can’t beat them, join them,” Glaz said. “If they don’t join them, the long run could be really painful.”

For the real experience visit this free web based of Photoshop at here.

Alexa Shuts Down Redirect Nonsense

Alexa is a web statistics company that counts traffic from a number of sources, primarily its toolbar userbase. Alexa rankings have become increasingly important lately as Izea’s Text Link Ads brokerage uses Alexa rank and Google Page Rank to set the price on text link ads it brokers.

Webmasters looking for a boost to their Alexa rankings had been using a loophole in the Alexa system to get clicks on links to their blog counted in Alexa’s traffic counts. By adding “http://redirect.alexa.com/redirect?” ahead of their actual URL, Alexa would redirect the surfer to their site and count one visitor in the process. This had picked up speed in recent weeks, including a fairly good sized faction of EntreCard users using the Alexa redirect as their EntreCard URL.

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Yahoo rejects Microsoft's $44.6 billion bid

Yahoo Inc. spurned Microsoft Corp.'s $44.6 billion takeover bid as inadequate Monday, betting that it can elicit a higher offer from the world's largest software maker or find another way to deliver a comparable payoff to its shareholders.

The rebuff by the slumping Internet pioneer had been widely anticipated after word of Yahoo's intention was leaked during the weekend.

In its formal response, Yahoo said its board had concluded Microsoft's unsolicited offer "substantially undervalues" the Sunnyvale-based company.

Yahoo indicated it could be lured to the negotiating table if Microsoft ups the ante, without mentioning the price it has in mind.

"The board of directors is continually evaluating all of its strategic options in the context of the rapidly evolving industry environment and we remain committed to pursuing initiatives that maximize value for all stockholders," Yahoo said in a statement.

Investors appeared confident that Microsoft wants Yahoo badly enough to raise the stakes. Yahoo shares rose 34 cents to $29.54 in Monday's morning trading while Microsoft shares fell 46 cents to $28.10.

If Microsoft doesn't raise its offer, Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang assured employees in a Monday e-mail that the company is poised to rebound on its own and become a "must buy" in the $45 billion online advertising market.

"We have accomplished a great deal in a very short time," wrote Yang, a company co-founder who promised things would get better after he became CEO eight months ago. "Yahoo is a faster-moving, better organized, more nimble company well on its way to transforming the experiences of its users, advertisers, publishers and developers."

Just two days before Microsoft made its bid, Yang had warned Yahoo faced "headwinds" that made it unlikely the company's performance would improve significantly until 2009.

Yahoo's stock price had dropped by more than 40 percent in the three months leading to Microsoft's bid, valued at $31 per share when it was announced Feb. 1. The offer was 62 percent above Yahoo's market value at the time.

Many analysts believe Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft will eventually raise its bid to $35 to $40 per share, sweetening the pot by $5 billion to $12 billion in an effort to negotiate an amicable sale.

Microsoft was prepared to pay at least $40 per share for Yahoo a year ago, according to a person familiar with the talks between the two companies a year ago. Yahoo wasn't interested then because it was confident in its own strategy, said the person, who didn't want to be identified because Microsoft's 2007 offer was never publicly disclosed.

But a higher bid now could hurt Microsoft's own stock price, which has been slipping amid concerns that a Yahoo takeover could be more trouble than its worth. Microsoft's market value has plunged by more than $40 billion, or 14 percent, since the bid was made public.

Microsoft representatives didn't immediately respond to requests for comment Monday morning.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Jordan Rohan predicted Yahoo's board will have little choice but to sell the company if Microsoft raises its bid to $35 or $36 per share. "Yahoo management has already exhausted the patience of its largest, longest-suffering shareholders," Rohan wrote in a Monday note.

If it doesn't want to pay more money, Microsoft could take its original bid directly to Yahoo's shareholders. Microsoft's management began preparing for that possibility last week by meeting with some of Yahoo's major shareholders to rally support for its offer.

In a more extreme tactic, Microsoft could try to override Yahoo's board by trying to oust the current directors later this year — a risky maneuver that would likely create hard feelings that would make it more difficult to cobble the two businesses together if a deal were consummated.

Yahoo also could fend off Microsoft by exercising an antitakeover device, known as a "poison pill," that would issue more company shares to make a buyout too expensive to pull off.

Although its profits have been dwindling during the past two years, Yahoo still possesses one of the Internet's biggest audiences and most valuable franchises. Microsoft believes it can build on those assets to become a more formidable competitor to Google Inc., which now holds a commanding lead in the lucrative online search and advertising markets.

Yahoo has reportedly been exploring an advertising partnership with Google as one way to boost its profits and remain independent. The company also has been looking for other suitors that might be interested in countering Microsoft's bid, but so far no one has stepped forward.

By rejecting Microsoft's initial offer, Yahoo's board is running the risk that the company's stock will plunge below $20 per share again if its suitor decides to walk away.

That scenario would probably unleash a flood of shareholder lawsuits, intensifying the pressure on Yahoo's management team to deliver on a long-awaited turnaround that has been in the works for the past 18 months.


Source: AP

Google applies for image text patent

Google has filed a patent for the recognition and use of text contained in images and videos. The application, made in June 2007, was published on Thursday and covers "methods, systems and apparatus including computer program products for using extracted image text," according to Google.

"In one implementation, a computer-implemented method is provided," reads the abstract for the application. "The method includes receiving an input of one or more image-search terms and identifying keywords from the received one or more image search terms. The method also includes searching a collection of keywords including keywords extracted from image text, retrieving an image associated with extracted image text corresponding to one or more of the image-search terms, and presenting the image."

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What do the pros use, Aperture or Lightroom?

It's been exactly two years since Apple threw its hat into the professional photography ring with the introduction of Aperture. Adobe responded shortly thereafter with the introduction of Lightroom. So, how does the pro photography market look now?

InfoTrends recently surveyed 1,026 professional photographers in North America to determine which software they used for raw file processing. Here's what folks reported:

• 66.5% using the Photoshop Camera Raw plug-in
• 23.6% using Lightroom
• 5.5% using Aperture

To be fair to Aperture, it might be helpful to remove Windows users from the equation for a moment. Even after doing so, Lightroom's usage among Mac-based pros is still nearly double that of Aperture (26.6% vs. 14.3%).

It's also worth pointing out that photographers haven't started to abandon Photoshop as a result of using tools such as Lightroom. (Photoshop usage overall remains in the 90% range.) The vast majority of photographers seem to understand pretty clearly the different nature & roles of the apps, and they continue to view Photoshop as a must-have part of any serious arsenal.

Lightroom is clearly off to a tremendous start, and everyone here is really pleased & grateful to the photography community for such a warm welcome.

Source: John Nack

YouTube Videos for your Google AdSense is Possible now!

Initially available only to US-based English language sites, video units deliver targeted video clips from YouTube partners, with advertising above the clip and superimposed over the bottom 20 percent of the video.
The use of text ads means Google has a large pool of advertisers to draw on for the new units.

The superimposed approach seems more visitor friendly than inserting pre-roll ads: who wants to watch a 15 second ad before they can see a 60 second clip?

Like regular embedded YouTube clips, the ads do not play until the visitor clicks on them, and the superimposed ads can be minimised in height to be less intrusive. Ads may be targeted to the content of the site and the video, or to the specific site. Payment may be based on clicks or impressions, but Google did not indicate how the revenue will be divided between itself, the site publisher and the video provider.

Publishers may choose to display only videos from particular categories or from specific providers. Launch content partners include TV Guide Broadband, Expert Village, Mondo Media, lonelygirl15, Extreme Elements, and Ford Models.

"This new program is a scalable and cost-effective way to distribute content online, creates a new revenue opportunity for publishers and content owners, and helps advertisers reach their target audiences in new and innovative ways," said Google officials. "It will also allow AdSense publishers a unique way to enhance their sites with fresh, dynamic content."

Third Quarter 2007 Results of Google: $4.23 Billion

Following Yahoo's third quarter 2007 financial results, the Mountain View company Google today published its results revealing revenues of $4.23 billion for the quarter ended September 30, 2007. It was already known that Google
is one of the richest companies on the web and today's results come to confirm this statement. According to the super giant, this quarter's results represent an increase of 57 percent in comparison with the same period of the last year and a 9 percent increase from the second quarter of this year.

"We are very pleased with the impressive growth we experienced across our business," said Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google. "Our core search advertising business experienced continued momentum driven by growth in monetization and traffic, and we are creating a wider and deeper ads system through our focus on innovation, bringing more ad formats to our advertisers. Our efforts to offer more products and services in international markets as well as effectively grow our technology infrastructure and add to our deep talent base during the quarter helped to deliver growth by enabling Google to reach more users around the world."

What's most impressive is that Google proved an amazing financial power since 65 percent of its revenues were generated by the company's websites and technologies, meaning that Google produced no less than $2.73 billion. In comparison with the same period of 2006, this year's results come with a 68 percent increase and only 10 percent from the second quarter of 2007.

The main source of revenues for the Mountain View company is still the United States which generated 52 percent of the total money coming to the Googleplex.

"Revenues from outside of the United States totaled $2.03 billion, representing 48% of total revenues in the third quarter of 2007, compared to 44% in the third quarter of 2006 and 48% in the second quarter of 2007."

If you'd like to read all the Google financial results, feel free to visit the official press release available here.

Source: Bogdan Popa

Google: $600 and Counting

Google is at it again. No, I’m not talking about pushing the envelope in innovative search and advertising technologies; I’m talking about increasing the wealth of lucky shareholders who have enjoyed a 33.6% gain in price per share (PPS) year to date (YTD). Yesterday the internet behemoth, stock ticker GOOG, broke $600 for the first time.

Although the stock has been pushing all time highs for the last month, this psychologically important mark provides a good point for reflection on the how and why of the amazing performance of this stock.

It all started on August 19th, 2004, when Google held its initial public offering (IPO) at $85 per share. In the remaining months of the year the stock more than doubled to close the year over $190. The PPS more than doubled again in 2005. The following year was a volatile period, most of which was spent in the red. GOOG closed 2006 only slightly higher than where it began.

Statements declaring the causes of a stock’s performance are conjectures at best, but to my recollection the common thought in 2006 was that GOOG simply could not continue grow its earnings per share (EPS) at a fast enough rate to warrant its tremendous price to earnings (PE) ratio. This is a painful phase in the life of many publicly traded tech companies as they transition from what traders refer to as a “growth stock” to a “value stock.” In GOOG’s case the PE ratio contracted from 100 to the high 50s in a year when EPS grew over 70%.

Late in 2006 Google began taking actions that have rekindled the street’s love of this company as a growth stock. It started with the October purchase of YouTube for $1.65 billion in stock. Over the following months the company began to demonstrate its ability to monetize the video-sharing website through advertising, as well as negotiate the legal risk of user posted content.

Recently speculation about a Google phone has accelerated the growth of stock price. It is believed that the company will either produce a phone enabled with Google’s mobile applications, or more likely it will release a free mobile operating system and software suit that will be advertising funded. Google has clearly demonstrated its interest in the cellular space with its release of Goog-411 and its involvement in the FCC’s auction of the 700 MHz spectrum.

Also adding fuel to the fire is the appearance that Google is gaining market share in the world’s hottest economy: China. A recent report by Analysis International indicates that Google increased its market share 4% in the last quarter to 22.8% versus the slower 1% increase by Baidu to 58.1%. Cynics have dismissed this by saying Google is not taking share from Baidu, but merely capturing more of the new market.

Whatever its plans, Google has shown the glass ceiling for its business may be higher than anyone has expected and it appears the stock is ready to run. Fundamentally the company is being valued at its historic lows, with a PE ratio in the 50s. Should the PE enter a period of expansion combined with sustained EPS growth, GOOG could easily hit the $800 target set by popular stock commentator Jim Cramer.

Wall Street analysts seem to recognize this potential as well. Of the analysts polled by Reuters, in the last month five have raised price targets compared to one lowering. TheStreet.com shows that of the 20 analysts the site covers, 16 rate GOOG a buy, 2 overweight, and 2 a hold. In other words none recommend selling the stock and the vast majority think you should be buying. All this optimism is the result of what is known as an “upgrade cycle.”

To top it off the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) has been dropping interest rates to avoid a recession due to the imploding home mortgage market in the U.S. This is at least a temporary boon to stocks as a whole since a lower interest rate frees up cash for investment.

Could this picture get any brighter and could the GOOG rose smell any sweeter? Sure, there is always potential with this company, but a few words of caution are in order. First off it should be understood that some of the processes driving GOOG’s performance may have reached their limits. The analyst upgrade cycle is fairly well played out. How much more positive can they get on this company? Myopically positive analyst coverage is one of Jim Cramer’s favorite warnings that a stock may be reaching its top.

Also the FOMC could decide that the economy is actually cooking along nicely and stop the interest rate cut cycle. The recent jobs report indicated that America is growing employment slightly faster than expected lending credit to this idea. The dramatic plunge in the value of the U.S. Dollar will pressure the FOMC to hike or at least maintain interest rates in the near future. The negative effect of a rate hike was demonstrated in May 2006 when it led to an 11% decline in the NASDAQ over the next three months. During this period GOOG decreased nearly 15%.

Another development to keep in mind is the accelerated insider selling by Google executives. According to Form4Oracle.com, over the past 13 weeks Google insiders have sold over $420 million in shares versus the $290 million of the previous 13 week period. Although trading on inside information is illegal, street sentiment is that heavy insider selling is a negative indicator.

Later this month Google share holders will face an important hurdle when third quarter earnings are announced. This year Google missed quarter earnings estimates for the second time in company history when their second quarter failed to meet analysts’ expectations. Over the next month the stock sank 10%, although in Google’s defense the NASDAQ sank over 7% in the same period. If on October, 18, Google should again miss earnings estimates it will add great strength the sentiment that their growth is unsustainable and a nasty period of PE contraction will most surely follow. The flip side of this coin is that if they blow away the estimates, like they traditionally do, a lot of apprehension will be relieved and you can expect to see new money from the sidelines push the stock even higher.

The last word of caution that I will offer is to keep in mind the big picture of how big this company is. A recent report by comScore indicates that Google conducted over 37 billion searches in August. The company accounts for over 50% of U.S. searches and over 60% world-wide. These numbers are expected to keep growing. Google is so dominate that investors, myself included, think Yahoo! should throw in the towel on search and focus on other services where they have fighting chance. I recently heard Leo Laporte say that if you are not listed by Google you don’t exist online. Combine Google’s asymptotic march to 100% search market share with its printed advertising and mobile phone ambitions, and you have a company that is ripe for an antitrust lawsuit. This is an endgame to the unbridled growth that many people seem to regard as inevitable for Google.

Having stated all these pros and cons for GOOG, the only thing I can say with complete confidence about this company is to summarize a quote from an investor whose name I cannot recall. The future will be volatile.

Source: Andrew Campbell