Google Now Indexes Scanned Documents

Google has announced that it is now indexing scanned documents. It is now able to perform OCR on any scanned documents that is stored in Adobe's PDF format. This Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology is able to convert a picture (of a thousand words) into a thousand words -- words that can be searched and indexed, so that these valuable documents are more easily found.

This is a small but important step forward in making all the world's information accessible and useful.

Scanning is the reverse of printing. Printing turns digital words into text on paper, while scanning makes a digital picture of the physical paper (and text) so you can store and view it on a computer. The scanned picture of the text is not quite the same as the original digital words, however -- it is a picture of the printed words. Often you can see telltale signs: the ring of a coffee cup, ink smudges, or even fold creases in the pages.

To people reading these documents, the distinction between words and pictures of words makes little difference, but for a computer the picture is almost unintelligible. Consider a circle. Should it be read it as a zero, the letter 'O', just a circle, or the ring from my coffee cup? People learn to answer this kind of question very quickly, but for the computer it is a painstaking and error-prone process.

To see the new system at work, click on these search queries. Note the document excerpt in the search results, along with the full text presented after the 'View as HTML' link:

[repairing aluminum wiring]
[spin lock performance]

Read the complete post at Official Google Blog: A picture of a thousand words?

Google Earth Now Available For iPhone, iPod Touch

The world just got a little bit smaller. Google Earth is now available for the iPhone and iPod touch, allowing you to fly to the far reaches of the world from the palm of your hand.

The touch interface of iPhone is a very natural way to interact with the Earth. Just swipe your finger across the screen and you fly to the other side of the globe; tilt your phone and your view tilts as well. You can pinch to zoom in or out, or just double tap with one finger to zoom in and two fingers to zoom out.

You can use the 'Location' feature to fly to your current location and also search for places, businesses, and landmarks around the globe with Google Local Search. You can even browse millions of geo-located photos from around the world or read Wikipedia articles.

The software is now available for download in 18 languages and 22 countries via iTunes App Store.

Read the complete post at Official Google Blog: Introducing Google Earth for iPhone

New in Gmail Labs: Calendar and Docs gadgets

Gmail team has launched a few Labs experiments that let you add gadgets to the left-nav, next to Chat and Labels.

To get you started, they have worked with the engineers from the Calendar and Docs teams on two highly requested features: a simple way to see your Google Calendar agenda and get an alert when you have a meeting, and a gadget that shows a list of your recently accessed Google Docs and lets you search across all of your documents right from within Gmail.


There's a third Lab that allows you to add any gadget by pasting in the URL of its XML spec file (e.g. http://www.google.com/ig/modules/youtube_videos.xml).

A couple of notes:

(1) Try out Anatol's Navbar drag and drop Labs feature so you can easily re-order all the boxes on Gmail's left hand side.

(2) Not all gadgets are fully compatible with https, so if you're connecting to Gmail via https, you may see mixed content warnings caused by parts of the gadgets being served over http.

Read the complete post at Official Gmail Blog: New in Labs: Calendar and Docs gadgets

Gmail offers new emoticons

Gmail present, in all their technicolor glory, emoticons in your mail.

No more will you have to settle for a ;) when you can have a . Out with the "XOXO" and in with the . And of course, when the bad news smells really bad, transcends all words.

Raise your and welcome in the colorful new world of Gmail

Read more at Official Gmail Blog: A picture is worth a thousand words.

Motorola Aura Luxury Phone Inspired By Luxury Watches

Motorola has introduced the Aura, a handset inspired by luxury watches and fine handcrafted design.

It offers world’s first 16 million color, circular display with 300 dpi resolution. It has Swiss-made main bearing, which serves as the foundation, while the 62 Carat Lens is created from Grade 1 62-carat sapphire crystal - one of the most scratch-resistant materials on earth.

The Stainless steel housing has chemically etched textures and patterns. Its custom-engineered rotating mechanism is composed of more than 200 high-precision individual parts.

It comes with Motorola’s CrystalTalk technology that takes AURA to the highest level of audio clarity on every call.

“AURA is Motorola’s latest endeavor into the high-tier mobile device space and is the result of our continued inspiration to innovate in design, imagination and state-of-the-art handcraftsmanship,” said Jim Wicks, corporate vice president and director of Consumer Experience Design, Mobile Devices, Motorola. “From the moment AURA owners hold their phones, they elevate their own experience in luxury and unmatched quality.”

AURA is expected to be available around the globe beginning in Q4 2008.

More changes to Gmail contact manager

Gmail has made some changes to it's contact manager. Up to this point, if you emailed someone five times, the contact was moved into My Contacts. Now, it will no longer be automatically added to your My Contacts group. Instead, you can go to Suggested Contacts, select the contacts you'd like and move them into My Contacts. All of your contacts -- whether they're in My Contacts or Suggested Contacts -- will continue to show in auto-complete as you're composing messages.

You can read the complete post at Official Gmail Blog: More changes to Gmail contact manager.

Gmail Labs Now Offer Canned Responses

Gmail labs now offer the latest Labs feature: Canned Responses, or email for the truly lazy.

If you're sick of typing out the same reply every time someone emails you with a common question, now you can compose your reply once and save the message text with the "Canned responses" button. Later, you can open that same message and send it again and again.





Turn on Canned Responses in Labs, and you can set a filter to grab one of your saved responses, create an automated reply, and hit the Send button for you.














You can also set up different automated messages for different keywords. Ain't that cool!

Now you just have to turn on Canned Responses in Labs.

Read more at Official Gmail Blog: New in Labs: Canned Responses

A sneak peek at Gmail on Android

The first Android-powered phone, the T-Mobile G1, is coming out on Wednesday. If you like using Gmail on your computer you'll feel very much at ease with Gmail on Android-powered phones. You can download documents and MP3s, manage and view labels, star and archive messages, save drafts and even report spam.


With the combination of push email and notifications on the status-bar, you never have to check for new mail. Whenever a new message arrives, you will immediately get notified (in real time) with a little "@" sign at the top (see image below on the left). Then you can pull down the notification pane and see the new messages (on the right).

The email is deeply integrated with other applications on Android-powered phones. For instance, to share a post you come across while browsing the web, you can simply press and hold the finger down on the link and then choose "share" to immediately create an email with that article's web address. The tight integration with Contacts on the device then allows Gmail to suggest contacts based on the first letters you type.

All of your Gmail contacts are immediately available on the phone upon first log-in. And whenever you create a new contact on the device it's automatically synced with your Gmail contacts and therefore immediately backed-up, so you never need to worry about losing your contacts if you lose or break your phone.

To learn more about Gmail on the world's first Android-powered phone, check out Mobile blog post, or the Gmail page on mobile.google.com/android.

Read complete post at Official Gmail Blog: A sneak peek at Gmail on Android

Gmail Tip: Sending empty messages

Official Gmail Blog: Tip: Sending empty messages

If you try to send an email using Gmail with only text in the subject line, Gmail would always prompt you to add in body text.

This is to make sure that you have not forgotten to insert the body text as most emails have body text.

Now, however, you can add "EOM" or "(EOM)" at the end of the subject line (short for End Of Message), and Gmail will silently send the message without the unnecessary prompt.

Apple Introduces New MacBook Family

Apple has introduced a new line of MacBook made with a new manufacturing process. The seamless enclosure is carved from a single piece of aluminum.

The new MacBook family redefines notebook design while dramatically lowering the entry price for advanced notebook features, including all-metal enclosures, pro-performance notebook graphics, brilliant instant-on LED-backlit displays, and new large, glass Multi-Touch trackpads.

Inside the new MacBook is a powerful Intel Core 2 Duo processor running at speeds up to 2.4GHz. MacBook also boasts an increased 1066MHz frontside bus and next-generation 1066MHz DDR3 memory. The NVIDIA GeForce 9400M brings up to five times faster, discrete-level graphics performance to MacBook.

The MacBook keyboard is solid, responsive, and comfortable. An illuminated keyboard now comes standard on the 2.4GHz MacBook model. The new trackpad doubles as a button - just press down anywhere and consider it clicked.

The entire MacBook family meets stringent Energy Star 4.0, EPEAT Gold, and RoHS environmental standards.

The new 13-inch MacBook starts from $1,299.

Apple Unveils New 24 Inch LED Cinema Display

Apple has unveiled a new 24-inch LED Cinema Display geared specifically for Apple's revamped MacBook and MacBook Pro lines.

The 24-inch LED Cinema Display offers 1,920-by-1,200-pixel resolution, along with a built-in iSight camera and microphone, stereo speakers, and three-port USB 2.0 hub. It features an aluminum and glass enclosure, giving the LCD monitor a striking resemblance to Apple's current iMac design.

The LED Cinema Display features an integrated MagSafe charger that allows laptop users to plug in and power their notebooks. MacBook users can also connect to the monitor via its Mini DisplayPort, which Apple says is 10 percent the size of a full DVI connector.

The LED-backlit monitor consumes less power, lasts longer, and contains no mercury. Apple says the glass on the display is arsenic free and that the monitor contains no brominated flame retardants. Apple also said that all internal cables and components are PVC-free.

The new monitor will be available in November for $899.

Ford MyKey Allows Parents To Control Speed

If you had been looking for something that could make sure your teenagers are safe while they drive, your prayers have been answered. Ford is introducing an innovative new technology, called MyKey, designed to help parents encourage their teen-agers to drive safer and more fuel efficiently, and increase safety-belt usage.

MyKey allows owners to program a key that can limit the vehicle’s top speed and audio volume. MyKey also provides earlier low-fuel warnings and can be programmed to sound chimes at 45, 55 and 65 miles per hour.


MyKey lets parents limit their car's top driving speed to 80 miles per hour and cut off the stereo's volume at just 44% of its max output.

With MyKey, the Beltminder chime continues at the regular interval and the audio system is muted until the safety belt is buckled. It also makes it impossible to disable some of the usual safety measures like Park Aid and Cross Traffic Alert.

MyKey is appealing to parents of teen drivers, including 75 percent who like the speed-limiting feature, 72 percent who like the more insistent safety-belt reminder, and 63 percent who like the audio limit feature, according to a recent Harris Interactive Survey conducted for Ford.

Ford’s MyKey debuts next year as standard equipment on the 2010 Focus coupe and will quickly become standard on many other Ford, Lincoln and Mercury models.

ASUS Launches Fashion Friendly Eee PC S101

ASUS now brings the Eee PC S101, an exquisitely designed netbook for fashion forward individuals.

Weighing a mere 1 kg and svelter than most fashion magazines at just 1.8 cm, Eee PC S101 enables users to carry themselves with effortless grace. It features a 10.2” wide active matrix LED-backlit display. It has Intel Atom processor at its core. The Eee PC S101 supports 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and also features three USB ports, Ethernet and a 4-in-1 reader for SD Card, MMC, Memory Stick and Memory Stick Pro Flash disks.

Asus claims a Long Five-hour Battery Life with Super Hybrid Engine. The Eee PC S101 is available with either Microsoft Windows or GNU Linux. The XP model has 1GB memory and 16GB of Flash storage in place of a hard drive, while the Linux version has 2GB memory and 32GB or 64GB of storage.

Eee PC S101 is available in three gorgeous colors - Brown, Champagne or Graphite.

Zepto Launches World’s Fastest Notebook

Computer builder Zepto has claimed to offer the "world's fastest" 14-inch notebook, dubbed Nox A14.

The Nox comes with a superior simplistic design and all aluminum connectors combined with a soft touch material for an optimal and comfortable feeling of the notebook surface.

Nox A14 is powered by Intel Core 2 Duo Processor P9500, up to 8GB DDR2 RAM, 500GB HDD or 128GB SSD, NVIDIA Geforce 9600M GT graphic card with 512MB dedicated memory and Blu-ray drive. It comes with a 14.1-inch screen with WXGA+ resolution.

The keyboard offers control for features like power modes, night LED, volume, BT/Wireless, Media player, Touchpad on/off, web camera. The Zepto Nox features a fingerprint reader as a perfect security solution for your Windows login. A two-megapixel webcam is integrated by default, as are Bluetooth 2.0 and 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi.

The Zepto Nox A14 is currently available in the Europe and the UK for a starting price of £827 (or roughly $1,400).

World's Largest LED Screen Being Developed In Dubai

Tameer Holding, a UAE development company, is developing the world’s largest LED screen to be embedded on an intended commercial tower in the Majan district of Dubailand.

Termed The Podium, the development boasts of a 33-storey high LED media facade that will be visible from a distance of 1.5 kilometres. The Podium will offer 33 levels of premium commercial office space, and two floors dedicated to retail, as well as four floors for parking.

The design of the LED screen will not impede the flow of natural light into the building. Thus, the offices directly behind the massive screen will have the same open feel as those on the opposite side of the building.

Asus Introduces World's First Quad Core Gaming Notebook

Specifically designed with gamers in mind, ASUS has introduced the world's first Intel quad core gaming notebook - the G71.

Powered by the new Intel Core 2 Extreme processor QX9300, the G71 sports a 17” Crystal Shine high brightness display with a quick response time of 8 ms and NVIDIA GeForce 9700M GT GDDR3 512 MB graphics card. The G71 can be equipped with up to 4GB of memory and 1TB of storage, via dual 500GB disks.

Direct Console 2.0 allows users to select from three processor speed settings depending on their mode of usage. A secondary display, called Direct Messenger, displays email notifications, instant messages, battery reserves and system loadings in real-time even during a game in progress. Programmable lighting chassis of the G71 provides the user a pyrotechnic-like ambience while in the game.

The G71 incorporates several entertainment features like Altec Lansing speakers, 2.0 megapixel webcam and a dedicated game keyboard layout to give users a gaming experience like none other.

BlackBerry Takes the World by Storm with Clickable Touch-Screen Smartphone

Research In Motion (RIM) has announced that the world’s First ‘clickable’ touch-screen Smartphone BlackBerry Storm will be available later this fall.

The revolutionary touch-screen technology in the BlackBerry Storm smartphone dramatically enhances the touch interface and enables easy and precise typing. The world's first “clickable” touch-screen responds much like a physical keyboard and also supports single-touch, multi-touch and gestures for intuitive and efficient application navigation.

The BlackBerry Storm allows its touch-screen to automatically switch between landscape mode and portrait mode as the user rotates the handset. It also adds support for multi-touches, taps, slides and other touch-screen gestures, so customers can easily highlight, scroll, pan and zoom for smooth navigation. Navigating Web sites is fast and easy with the touch-screen interface that lets users double tap to zoom in and slide their fingers to scroll and pan.

BlackBerry Storm will be available exclusively to Verizon Wireless customers in the U.S. and Vodafone customers in Europe, India, Australia and New Zealand.

New in Gmail Labs: Stop sending mail you later regret

Gmail can't always prevent you from sending messages you might later regret, but it is launching a new Labs feature called Mail Goggles which may help.

When you enable Mail Goggles, it will check that you're really sure you want to send that late night Friday email. And what better way to check than by making you solve a few simple math problems after you click send to verify you're in the right state of mind?


By default, Mail Goggles is only active late night on the weekend as that is the time you're most likely to need it. Once enabled, you can adjust when it's active in the General settings.

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic Touch-Screen Phone Unveiled

Nokia has unveiled its touch-screen smartphone, new Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. It offers all the music essentials, including a graphic equalizer, 8GB memory for up to 6000 tracks and support for all main digital music formats, and a 3.5mm jack. Built-in surround sound stereo speakers offer the industry's most powerful sound.

Taking advantage of touch screen technology, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic offers 'Media Bar', a handy drop down menu that provides direct access to music and entertainment, including favourite tracks, videos and photos.

The innovative 'Contacts Bar' lets consumers highlight four favorite contacts on their home-screen and, through a single touch, track a digital history of recent text messages, emails, phone logs, photos and blog updates.

It sports a 3.2" widescreen display, a 3.2 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens and, with a single touch, images or videos can be shared via a favorite online community, such as Share on Ovi, Flickr, or Facebook.

"The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic gives people the freedom to experience music they love in the way they prefer", said Jo Harlow, Vice President, Nokia.

The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic will be available worldwide beginning in the fourth quarter of 2008 for an estimated retail price of 279 EUR.

New Sony Reader Offers Touch Screen Interface

Sony has introduced PRS-700, the third generation of eBook reader featuring a six inch touch screen display, expanded memory, and built-in LED reading light.


The newest Reader sports the dimensions of a slimmed down paperback book. The textured black casing and soft black cover contribute to its envy-inspiring design.

The interactive six-inch touch screen display allows booklovers to flip pages with the slide of a finger. Readers can also search terms within a document or book, create notes using the virtual keyboard and highlight text with the included stylus pen.

The high-resolution, high contrast electronic paper display technology provides a crisp text and graphics that are highly readable, even in bright sunlight. For times when ambient light is not available, Sony is the first to offer a built-in LED reading light.

It can hold 350 books in its internal memory, and more in a memory card. The new Reader will be available next month for about $400.

Read your Gmail without touching your mouse

If you spend a lot of time in Gmail, you may like this, as you'll start shaving milliseconds of every action, which adds up.

First, if you don't have Gmail keyboard shortcuts enabled, turn them on in Settings. You'll be glad you did.

To Get rid of stuff you don't need to read

Scan the senders and subjects of unread messages in the inbox, navigate through the messages using k to move the cursor (little black triangle) upwards and j to move it back down.

Get through the mail you need to read.

For a message that looks important or interesting, open it using the enter key. To reply, hit r. Reply all? That's a. Once the response is ready to go, tab + enter sends it on its way. Back to the inbox with g + i. More navigating around with j and k, selecting with enter. Archiving (y) and replying (r). Starring some stuff for later (s). The occasional forward (f). Sending with tab + enter.

If you ever need a quick refresher, hit ? anytime to see the shortcut reference guide. And if you don't like any of them, you can edit the defaults and define your own by enabling Custom keyboard shortcuts in Labs.

Read the complete post at Gmail Blog.

Viewsonic Introduces 22-Inch N2201w, The 3-in-1 LCD TV

ViewSonic has unveiled its new 22-inch N2201w LCD HDTV. Incorporating Built-In DVD, HDTV, it also offers PC Functionality at an affordable price.

The N2201w boasts a super HD LCD resolution of 1680x1050, fast 5ms response time, 1000:1 contrast ratio and wide viewing angles for rich, vibrant colors. It also features multiple inputs, including ATSC/NTSC/QAM digital TV tuner, HDMI, for connecting to high-definition video and gaming consoles, camcorders, cable or satellite boxes and digital media players. A PC input is also provided for connecting computer sources.

“The N2201w’s dual functionality allows customers convenience and value by adding a digital television to their home that will compliment any room,” said Steve Woo, vice president and general manager of VTV North America Consumer Electronics Division, ViewSonic. “We are committed to providing affordable TV options-large and small-to keep everyone tuned in after the digital transition.”

The N2201W is available for an estimated street price of $429.