Corel Unveils Painter IX
Corel has publicly unveiled Corel Painter IX, a 'Natural-Media' graphics application that mimics traditional art forms such as painting and illustration while also leveraging the capabilities of modern day digital media.
Painter IX is a more generous patron than it predecessor: Artists have new tools to work with for creating water color and oiling paintings; a tool for touching up digital photos called "quick clone" and improved integration with Adobe Photoshop.
Microsoft Opens Office Source
Microsoft is broadening the availability of its source code by granting governments that participate in an offshoot of its shared source initiative access to the inner workings of its Microsoft Office 2003 productivity suite.
The source code is being offered up as an expansion to Microsoft's Government Security Program (GSP) to address growing data exchange and integration requirements. GSP is a no-fee program that was established in January 2003 to open the underlying Windows code to governments and international organizations due to concerns over security and licensing.
Doom 3 Demo Prompts Filesharing Frenzy
Just hours after a demo of Doom 3 for Windows made its debut onto the Web, copies began to virulently spread throughout the game's vast network of enthusiast sites and peer-to-peer torrents. id Software has produced a playable demo of Doom 3's three level Mars City mission that is sure to push players' hardware to its limits.
The demo consists of 461 MB download and requires a recommended minimum of a 1.5 GHz Intel Pentium 4 processor or AMD Athlon 1500, 384 MB of RAM, 2 GB of free hard drive space and either an nVidia GeForce 3 or ATI Radeon 8500 (or better) to play. The demo can be downloaded from FileForum.
Microsoft Trials License Checkpoint
Microsoft may be taking Windows product activation one step further. A pilot program at the Microsoft Download Center will require users to validate their Windows license in exchange for access to file downloads. The immediate benefit for legitimate customers who have genuine copies of the operating system will be faster downloads; users with counterfeit software may find themselves locked out altogether.
The pilot, called Windows Genuine Advantage, is currently opt-in only; however, Microsoft has not ruled out the possibility making product validation a permanent gatekeeper. Microsoft is running the pilot program to investigate new ways to differentiate its genuine software from illegal and counterfeit copies as well as for the added advantage of soliciting consumer feedback.
Electronic Arts Spawns The Sims 2
Electronic Arts (EA) subsidiary Maxis Studios has signed off on and delivered the latest member of the Sims gaming franchise. The Sims 2 is the long awaited sequel to the best selling computer game of all time. Players possess absolute control over Sims' destinies and are forced to make choices that impact Sims from cradle to grave. To make the game even more realistic, EA has endowed the Sims with emotions as well as an inborn desire to pass on their genes to the next generation. For more information visit The Sims 2 homepage.
Sirius Technology Cuts Through Campaign Chaos
Every two to four years, when the election cycle comes around, political parties cycle their time and resources toward an all-out push to get out the vote. This process often entails a rigorous canvassing process where campaigns marshal an army of volunteers to go door-to-door to hunt for votes; more often than not, with imprecise and non-specific information. A little-known start up is determined to challenge that assumption by offering an intelligent approach to canvassing.
Philadelphia based Sirius Technology Solutions has developed a solution dubbed EVoTe. EVoTe leverages portable electronic devices and the Internet to shore up the effectiveness of canvassing by enabling campaigns to produce targeted walk lists and produce detailed reports though the software's reporting features.
Symantec to Improve Mac Antivirus Administration
Symantec is focused on producing a Web-based console for version 9.0 of Norton AntiVirus for Macintosh, enabling central administration for licensed OS X clients.
The Symantec administration console for Mac provides IT administrators with the ability to manage critical administrative functions related to the distribution and maintenance of clients.
Kodak and IBM Shoot for Sharper Vision
Eastman Kodak Company and IBM have banded together to sharpen the vision of image sensors designed for use in digital still cameras and camera phones. The collaboration marries Sony's complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) processing with Kodak's existing image sensor technologies in an attempt to sow a new breed of CMOS image sensor (CIS) devices that are capable of matching the image quality of charge-coupled devices (CCDs). Kodak and IBM will work together to develop as well as manufacture the sensors.
Supercomputer on a Chip Nears Completion
According to the Nikkei Journal Toshiba president Tadashi Okamura has confirmed that the designs for the "CELL" microprocessor are nearing completion. The CELL is a collaborative effort between IBM, Sony and Toshiba to design an unconventional next-generation, grid-enabled multimedia processor that has been referred to as a "supercomputer on a chip."
While exact details on CELL continue to elude the press, what is known is that CELL will power Sony's upcoming PlayStation 3 gaming console, be used in IBM's computers and throughout Toshiba's consumer electronic product lines.
Adobe on Target for "Acrobat X"
As first reported by CNET News.com, Adobe Systems is on track to ship a major update of its Acrobat document management software by the end of the calendar year dubbed "Acrobat X". Acrobat, a suite of tools for authoring documents in Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF), is the lynchpin of Adobe's "intelligent document" platform strategy.
Adobe's intelligent document push consists of three main pillars: "intelligent" PDF documents, a universal client and XML powered Document Services. This approach enables documents to be integrated into business processes and extend beyond the firewall.
AOL.com Gets a Makeover
America Online is testing a souped-up, redesigned pre-release of its widely visited AOL.com homepage. After lying dormant in the trappings of its classic design scheme, AOL.com has entered the era of high bandwidth. Much like other leading Web portals, users have their pick of news and other content feeds. Lastly, AOL has moved its search engine -- powered by Google -- front and center along with the most popular AOL.com destinations.
IBM Donates Speech Technology to Open Source Community
At SpeechTEK 2004, IBM announced a decision that it anticipates will elevate speech technology in the marketplace: Big Blue has contributed software to the Apache Software Foundation. By releasing its source code, IBM hopes to bring a quick end to battles over competing, proprietary standards and solidify the industry behind VoiceXML.
Specifically, IBM is contributing Reusable Dialog Components (RDCs) to the Apache Software Foundation. According to IBM, RDCs are Java Server Pages (JSP) tags that enable the development of voice applications and multimodal user interfaces and automatically generate W3C VoiceXML 2.0 at runtime; providing developers with a standard way or authoring VoiceXML applications. VoiceXML is a platform independent speech standard backed by over 20 leading speech product vendors.
Media Center 2005 Goes High Definition
According to The Register, Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, code-named Symphony, will support high definition television. In June, BetaNews reported that Microsoft's decision makers were intent on placing television at the heart of the release; however, Microsoft refuses to confirm the report at this time.
Microsoft made the Beta 2 release of the software available to testers in June, promising "new digital media experiences." One of these experiences may be digital video recording (DVR). An industry source who wished to remain anonymous told BetaNews that Microsoft may be setting its sights on TiVo.
Microsoft Distributes RC of LCS 2005
Microsoft has provided beta testers with Release Candidates for Office Live Communications Server 2005 (LCS 2005) and Windows Messenger 5.1, one of the server's primary real-time communications clients. This distribution marks the software's first major milestone since Microsoft publicly announced the opening of the beta program in May.
The current production version of Office Live Communication Server, Live Communications Server 2003, was originally developed under the code-name "Greenwich." LCS 2003 bundled presence-awareness and real-time communications capabilities in a single package, but limited interactivity within the boundaries of a single corporate network.
Sybase Frees Up ASE for Linux
Dublin, California headquartered Sybase, Inc. has provided the Linux community with a whopping endowment: a free distribution of its enterprise class Linux database – Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise (ASE) Express Edition.
Due to Sybase's generosity, developers will be able to build, test and deploy database applications without being charged a license fee.
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