ITGumbo: spicing IT up

Announced sometime in September, the new Amazon E-Book Reader, Kindle is finally out and bears a costly price of $400 at Amazon. But of course, the price is a measly sum compared to what you're going to get with the Kindle in terms of power and functionality.

Amazon describes its innovative E-Book device as a:

"Revolutionary Portable Reader Lets Customers Wirelessly Download Books in Less Than a Minute and Automatically Receive Newspapers, Magazines and Blogs, no PC Required, No Hunting for Wi-Fi Hot Spots."

That seems pretty powerful and nifty indeed.

So finally Google ended the speculations and rumors about its entry into the mobile phone industry. But ironically, it was not about its own phone, it’s not even an iPhone killer. What Google announced was universal mobile operating systems, aka Android, which some 32 mobile phone manufactures and industry leaders can freely use to develop mobile applications. So enter the Open Handset Alliance, spearheaded by none other than the almighty Google.http://www.itgumbo.com/it20/2007/10/does_the_world_needs_another_m.php

We all knew this was going to happen, that the all so exclusive iPhone would soon be open for third party developers. No other than Apple's top honcho Steve jobs announced the Apple will be releasing an SDK for the iPhone system sometime in February. Jobs and the rest of the Apple guys believe that they have developed that despite developing the most powerful handheld device, the iPhone still needs third party applications to enhance its capabilities.

The music downloading industry has been receiving quite an attention lately. No less than two major IT players have announced the opening of each of their own music download site. These music download sites thought are not your previously popular "not so legit" mp3 downloading site. But both of these music downloading sites are legitimate, paid and are the authorize music files from your favorite musical artists.

So, which new downloading sites am I talking about? Amazon's MP3 and Starbucks music store.

Tech startup PuddingMedia is launching a speech recognition ad serving technology that would display ad units on a users computer screen while connected to the internet. The technology would transcribe the users phone calls using Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) and based on what the software recognize from the speech pattern of the mobile phone user and depending on its interpretation, the software would then serve relevant ad units to the user.

The New York Times is reporting that I.B.M. is soon to launch desktop software called Lotus Symphony. IBM’s Lotus Notes product which has been competing with Microsoft on the email, messaging and collaboration market, is taking the competition further with the launch of its own office software.

And looks like Microsoft is facing a tough rival since the Lotus Symphony will be available free for download at the IBM web site. Lotus Symphony was developed under the OpenOffice.org consortium with the original code that dates back into its origin, German company Star Division which was acquired by Suns Microsystems in 1999. This was later launched into the desktop software Star Office.

In a rare press event, the heads of two major IT players made an announcement of a collaboration effort between CISCO and Microsoft to develop the next wave of innovation and business success in the IT industry. Both CISCO Systems’ CEO John Chambers and Microsoft’s chief executive Steve Balmer reiterated their companies’ towards a better working relationship than a competing one.

The IT World has been anticipating this announcement since a couple of weeks ago. And so when the announcement came from no less than Apple’s top honcho, Steve Jobs, there were mixed reactions from the crowd and soon after from the interweb crowd. And so what’s the fuzz all about?

Steve Jobs announces the new iMac in 20 and 24 inches widescreen display glory, enclosed in pristine and handsomely looking enclosure, joined perfectly by a glass cover makes the new iMac an understatement for aesthetically crafted machine.

Finally, the rumor that won’t die down has come true. Rupert Murdoch’s NewsCorp. paid a handsome $5 billion to the Bancroft family, owner of Wall Street Journal. And so the next questions that await answers are:

1.) What will happen to the online WSJ?
2.) Will NewsCorp. make the online WSJ available for free?
3.) Will NewsCorp. lose its integrity as one of the world’s most read business newspaper?

The next version of Microsoft’s client version of its operating systems is reported to be released three years from now. Previously code named “Vienna”, will now be called Windows 7 when it is released.

ZDNet news reports that:

“Like Vista, Windows 7 will ship in consumer and business versions, and in 32-bit and 64-bit versions. The company also confirmed that it is considering a subscription model to complement Windows, but did not provide specifics or a time frame.”