It seems that the technology has also come to your home garden, finally!. Vases Click & Grow allow you worry a little bit less about your plans, offering sensors that determine the amount of water and fertilizer needed to keep them alive and blooming.

According to the site Treehugger, the system of Click & Grow uses aeroponic technique, where the plants are kept suspended in the air and get water and nutrients by sprinkling. For the intelligent vase take care of your plan for you, simply place the special seeds (purchased separately) into the location, and connect it to a computer through a USB cable. A program of growth for the type of plant will be activated, and later water it and fertilizer will do the service (or maintenance) for you, as long you follow the instructions of the software.

Models that range from the basic version, where they must complete a water tank, to more advanced versions, which collect water from the air, according to the site Techling Earth.

The Click & Grow vessels should be available in the market in a few months, from about $ 20.

Via: Click & Grow.

Microsoft, which invested over five billion dollars in recent years in developing an online industry, believes that its expectations will be achieved when you consolidate its partnership with Yahoo, which aims at popularizing the browser Bing.

With the agreement with Yahoo! Microsoft hopes to reach an important milestone for advertisers, and then a second option trustworthy, according to Yusuf Mehdi, vice president of Microsoft’s online business, told Reuters.

Thus, in addition to win support among advertisers, Microsoft hopes to also have a hefty return on its investment. “There is no doubt that we intend to make money,” punctuated Mehdi.

Bing now has 10% market share, which is small compared to Google’s 66% or 17% of Yahoo, the site resembles Windows IT Pro is the intention of Microsoft to join the Yahoo is to win a share of 30 % of the market, with the aim of placing the Bing as an option in the relevant market and show competitiveness against Google.

However, negotiations between the companies still need to be approved by European and the U.S governments. And this can be a long process because Microsoft already faced troubles with European governments.

Via: The Register.

Orange Business Services, a division of corporate telecommunications company, announced it will launch twelve o’clock service cloud computing over the next 24 months, covering areas such as real-time applications, collaboration, security, infrastructure, network ready for cloud and vertical solutions for certain industries.

According to the company, services include advice step by step during the transition to cloud-based services, also considering the hybrid models, more suitable for many companies.

It’s in the company’s plans also supply and manage critical business applications and infrastructure as a service, such as single point of contact with the client. They will be billed according to use and customers will have a portal for self-service.

The company currently manages 12 thousand servers for corporate clients and plans to design, build and operate private clouds to large multinationals.

The advantage of cloud computing is that it offers a huge market opportunity for telecommunications companies. And that has to do with the nature of the service.

Customers can define exactly what they want to buy. Software as a service provides only the functionality of the application, without the user even aware of the hardware that hosts offering a platform with a big range of services and software. The infrastructure is itself a service, with storage, computing cycles, all on demand.

The second advantage, perhaps most important, is the possibility that customers have to define how they want to consume and when. Users can take care of their own supply chain because of the flexible characteristic of cloud computing, which makes possible to increase the capacity according with their needs with the speed of a click.

Therefore, cloud computing is more than a fad. Although few still declare use, a good portion of those already seriously study the adoption.

Via: Computer World.

A study released Wednesday by Harris Interactive shows that (adult) Americans have spent an average of 13 hours per week connected to the Internet.

Made in October 2009, soon after the financial crisis and the presidential election the U.S., the telephone poll of 2029 adults and found that about 24% of them are online for 24 hours a week or more, while only 20% reported using the web for two hours or less per week.

Harris Interactive, which conducts research on the use of the Internet since 1995, noticed a considerable increase in hours spent by Americans on the Internet in recent years. Between 1999 and 2002, users spent about 7 hours a week online, a figure that rose to 8 or 9 hours between 2003 and 2006 and reached 11 hours per week in 2007, according to the Trading Markets site.

The survey also reveals that adults between 20 and 39 years are those that are more hours a week online for about 18 hours, followed by age group from 25 to 29 years, which are connected by 17 hours per week on average.

Besides the time spent on the web, the research also questioned about purchases over the Internet and found that half of respondents had bought something for ecommerce in the last month, including 62% aged 20 to 39 years and 56% between 40 and 49.

According to the website SOA World, the increase in hours per week that American adults are online can have several reasons, since the increase in applications for the Internet, online videos and even ecommerce shopping for financial reasons, since in times of crisis financial online has become a lower cost compared with leaving home.

Image credit.

Via: TechCrunch.

Religions and religious bodies seem to be becoming all prevalent and omnipresent once again. It is unbelievable that Best Buy should get flak for greeting US Muslims Happy Eid on 27th Nov and Gap should inform AFA (American Family Association) about its holiday campaign. Times are changing but this religious fervor will only take us back to medieval era. Best Buy though has stood by its decision which has of course pleased Muslim community.

AFA had called for a boycott of some brands which don’t focus on words ‘Christ’ and ‘Christmas’ in their holiday special campaigns. Apparently they are staying the ban because GAP has clarified matters with them. Last year they had boycotted GAP because it chose secular tagline which said, “Merry Gap-mas”. The AFA seems to have targetted ads even in the past – Sears and Target have faced similar boycott.

It is unfortunate that religious shadow is falling on retailers and their advertising campaign. Retailers are here for business and it is a wise move to be secular by greeting customers of all faiths or choosing not to be religion specific. Religious bodies should not expect advertisements to make propaganda of any religion.Their meddling does not come as a surprise though for they are the ones who turn even God into brand ambassadors.

Hope creative advertising souls and business houses will keep away religious-bias and do a great service to mankind by downplaying religion for we have seen enough wars triggered by them.

Perhaps your parents have already told you to leave the front of the computer and engage in something that goes to add to your future.

Thankfully, Ashley Qualls, 19, had received this advice, but hasn’t followed to the letter. After all, was looking for a monitor that the girl began, at age 15, a business now generating almost $ 60 thousand per month in advertising: the site Whateverlife.com, design templates for Myspace.com.

The game began with a online portfolio, but grew. “That’s when I noticed a ton of people using my layouts,” says Ashbo (as she is known in the network) in an interview. Suddenly he was famous.

That is known. “I do not think I’m a celebrity, I consider myself a businesswoman,” explains. Five years after the founding, the firm Ashbo employs nine employees and produces 25 to one hundred layouts. Per day. And get up to 50 thousand visitors during this short period.

Not that the girl is able to lower her guard. The internet is quick, and go down there can be as easy as getting up. With the rise of Facebook and the consequent decline of Myspace.com, the company’s revenue of Ashbo decreased by almost 50%.

And the hint of success, she delivers? Perhaps, but without much clue as to what caused it – among many – is to be included on the lists of promising young entrepreneurship online.
“Follow your heart,” she suggests. “Even when things get tough, grab what you love and you can do anything.”

Image Credit.

Via: Fast Company.

Fierce supporter from the beginning that Yahoo to accept the bid of $ 47.5 billion offer from Microsoft, the financier and investor Carl Icahn said on Friday, 23, that is resigning his seat on the Board from the Site search. Last year, he came to acquire 75.6 million shares of the search site to have a stake in the company of 5.5%. The strategy of the stockholder at the time was to increase his voting power on the board of directors, as with increased participation it could indicate more members to fill seat on board and thus ensure that Microsoft’s proposal could be accepted. That effort failed, but Yahoo eventually signed last July, an agreement in the search with the software giant.

It was sort of resigned, Icahn said he was glad with the result. “I think it’s a great deal, and Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz, and his team did an excellent job under the circumstances,” said Icahn to BusinessWeek, after signing the agreement. “I agree with [Microsoft CEO Steve] Ballmer is a great benefit to Yahoo, which will stay with 88% revenue with search,” he said.

Icahn said that now there is a need for an activist investor in Yahoo’s board, and that’s why he was resigning his seat. In September, it sold 12.7 million shares of Yahoo, but still holds 60 million shares of the company.

Via: CNET.

The industry of computers had a better performance than the expected in the third quarter of this year, with the sale of 80,9 million units all over the world. This volume represents a growth of 0,5% in comparison with the same period in 2008, says a resport from the consultancy Gartner.

According to analysts, the result is very good, since the third quarter of 2008 (before the explosion of the global financial crisis) had very strong sales. In comparison with the previous quarter, the increase was of 18%, a historical quarterly growth tax.

The final user continues leading the growth in the sales, stimulated by the fall in the prices of PCs, once the corporate market is still shown reluctant in retaking the investments in technology equipments.

Still according to Gartner, Windows 7, new operating system of Microsoft, will have minimum impact in the growth in the sales of PCs. However, adjustments in the manufacturers’ inventories due to the release can affect, artificially, the volume of sales to the end of 2009.

Although releases of operating systems usually don’t impact a lot the sales of computers, Windows 7 has fort appeal for being published as a software that helps to reduce the expenses with energy. In the companies, however, the adoption of the system should not happen until the end of 2010, affirm the consultancy.

Via: Computer World.

Do you know when it appears an idea and a paper piece or even a small white picture is not enough to organize so much information? Be a project of a site, lay-out of a factory, sketch of an architectural drawing or the planning of a group of tasks.

For this reason, in order to help in the brainstorming of the team or for personal use, it was developed IdeaPaint, a special paint that, after applied, it serves as an excellent and personalized whiteboard for creative minds. IdeaPaint is a paint, developed by MDC Wallcoverings, that transforms any flat surface in a surface of high performance that allows to “turn off the dry”, transforming everything in a type of blackboard only for specifi kinds of pen.

The product still has pending patent and it allows several uses, besides leaving the children comfortable to paint (making drawings in the wall in the white area). It also allows writing notes, calendar, and to-do lists on a wall in the house, restaurant, office, and clinic. But it is ideal for atmospheres as publicity agencies or to put in strategic walls of the companies, rooms of meetings – as a picture of messages – space of the creativity, etc.

Probably that would be something very good to put several dispersed crazy ideas in the walls. If it were a big wall, it would be possible to leave there for a time without needing to erase, until appear new ideas.

Via: Fast Company.

The founders of Kazaa, Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, in partnership with Skype, should throw in the beginning of 2010 Rdio, service that will allow the sharing, storage and streaming of music online, based on a signatures system.

The music businesses move in a very slow way due to the subjects of copyrights. The first attempt was the creation of DRM, later the distribution of music based on publicity, and now the signature model, that seems quite functional.

Mark Piibe, boss of development of digital businesses of EMI, affirmed to The Times that the EMI was in contact with Rdio, and that there was not reluctance in doing agreements with the creators of Kazaa. “Them (Zennström and Friis) are bringing new several ideas for music distribution and reason doesn’t exist for the which we would not talk with them in a serious way”, emphasized Piibe.

Spotify, service online that there is online by one year offers to the European public free music supported by announcements and it has intentions of arriving to the United States also next year. However, the North Americans recordings are more resistant to liberate music in a free way because that already happens in sites as MySpace.

If the hunch of Zennström and Friis is right, Rdio can beat similar services, as Last.fm, Pandora and even Spotify.

Via: Mashable.