Technology Effect

Sony Ericsson launch the Aspen business mobile London: Sony Ericsson has announced the launch of its Aspen business mobile phone which uses Windows mobile 6.5.3 operating system and seems like a good contender to challenge blackberry business phones. The newest edition to the Sony Ericsson GreenHeart portfolio, Sony Ericsson Aspen, allows easy multi-tasking combining the touch experience and a real QWERTY keyboard. Organise and adapt panels to change during the day and use Slide View for quick access to common features. With Sony Ericsson Aspen, users can view and edit office files easily and comfortably with one touch operation, or just access the internet in one click. The QWERTY keyboard is made for fast and easy typing. Simple email set up allows for a maximized messaging experience on the go. Secure the phone's contents through the Microsoft MyPhone service, which remotely erases phone data when the handset is lost or stolen. "Sony Ericsson Aspen is the business phone w...

Monster to buy Yahoo's jobsite New York: Online career and recruiting firm Monster Worldwide has announced that it will acquire Yahoo's jobsite HotJobs for $225 million, which will be paid in cash. Both the firms have also entered into a three-year 'commercial traffic agreement' in which Monster would become provider of career content on Yahoo's home page in the U.S. and Canada, reports PTI. The transaction is expected to close during the third quarter of 2010. Yahoo! has been cutting cost and closing its underperforming businesses like the GeoCities Web-hosting site. The company also sold its e-mail technology unit Zimbra to VMware for an undisclosed amount. Yahoo said it "remains focused on its core businesses and delivering exceptional experiences to users, partners and advertisers." Yahoo had acquired HotJobs in 2002 for $436 million.

Canon launches 18 megapixels SLR HD camera New York: Canon has introduced a new Canon EOS Rebel T2i Digital SLR camera in the existing Rebel DSLR line of products. Retaining all of the traditional characteristics that have made the EOS Rebel series beloved by entry-level photographers and an industry best-seller, the new Rebel T2i succeeds in bridging the gap between an entry-level camera and a true pro-sumer camera. The Rebel T2i Digital SLR camera includes a variety of new features for photographic assignments as varied as grabbing that action shot from the sidelines or creating memorable family portraits, including: 3.7 fps shooting, an ISO range of 100-6400 (expandable to 12,800), a 63-zone Dual Layer Metering System, and Canon's DIGIC 4 Imaging Processor. Rebel T2i offers full HD 1080p video (1920x1080 resolution) as well as 18-megapixel still images. "There is no question that HD video is the biggest trend in DSLR technology and because of this we are seeing the creativ...

Tata Teleservices launches Push 4 All Mail New Delhi: Tata Teleservices has launched a new value added service 'Push 4 All Mail', for all its Tata Indicom and Tata DOCOMO customers that will offer first of its kind personalised email service on SMS. 'Push 4 All Mail' will enable Indicom and DOCOMO customers to access their Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo emails on any type of handset via SMS. Push 4 All Mail eliminates the need for expensive data plans or high-end phones to receive emails and rich attachments on the go at the same time customers will have to no longer need worry about device capability and email client installation on the handset. Announcing the launch of this service, Zubin Dubash, AVP VAS, New Products Development, Tata Teleservices, said "Push 4 All Mail is a revolutionary service that will change the way people communicate. Customers will have to no longer worry whether their handsets are GPRS/BREW enabled or not since Push 4 All Mail is a ubiquitou...

Utility PG&E to finance rooftop solar panels Pacific Gas & Electric will fund the installation and leasing of solar panels at about 1,000 homes and businesses this year. The California utility announced a deal with SolarCity, a Silicon Valley start-up that will provide PG&E customers the financing to install rooftop solar panels with little upfront money. PG&E subsidiary Pacific Venture Capital will provide $60 million in tax equity to SolarCity for its installation and financing services. Rather than own solar panels, SolarCity customers pay a monthly fee and a relatively small or no upfront investment. SolarCity, which owns the solar panels, can sell the electricity solar panels generate and take advantage of local and federal tax incentives. The financing is structured so that customers can lower their monthly electricity rates, according to SolarCity. A contract can be a lease or a power purchase agreement, where the customer purchases the electricity the pane...

Survey: More people looking for help on recycling Do you know where or how to recycle that old TV or computer? If not, you're not alone. Around 12 percent more people used the Web site Earth911.com last year than in 2008 to find out how to recycle their used items, according to a report (PDF) released Monday by Earth911.com. The company offers a searchable database at its Web site where you can type the name of a product like computers or cell phones along with your ZIP code and receive a list of local stores and facilities to drop off those items for recycling. Among the top 10 products that popped up in searches, computers were number one, followed by batteries, televisions, and compact fluorescent light bulbs. Among the 10 most popular general categories, electronics topped the list. "Electronics have always been popular searches on Earth911.com, but with the increased attention these devices have received, this past year was our highest yet," said Earth911 President ...

Intel meets its match in IBM There are few, if any, microprocessor manufacturers equal to Intel. IBM, however, is a very large exception. By the time Intel had introduced its latest processor for servers, the Itanium 9300,IBM had already stolen Intel's thunder with its new Power7 chip technology, announced earlier in the morning. And rightfully so: the Power7 is impressive. It has eight cores, while Intel's Itanium 9300 (PDF) has four. And each of the Power7's cores is capable of four threads, or tasks, compared to Itanium's two per core. Although both companies are touting dozens of other features--for example, better thread performance and improved scaling of workloads--IBM is taking a lead in marquee features for the lucrative high-end server market. "While Intel is talking about a 2x [two-times] performance boost per chip, IBM is talking about almost an 8x [eight-times]," said Nathan Brookwood, principal analyst at Insight64. "IBM has gone from two c...

Ford to debut all-electric Transit Connect van In its latest effort at green technology, Ford is introducing an all-electric version of its Transit Connect van. The automaker announced that it will pull the curtain off the new 2011 Transit Connect at the Chicago Auto Show on Wednesday. Designed to be used by fleet operators, the Transit Connect Electric is slated to go into production and into the hands of customers by the end of the year. The Transit Connect Electric has a top speed of 75 miles per hour, will travel up to 80 mph on a single charge, and can be recharged using 240-volt or standard 120-volt outlets. As such, Ford is targeting the van to fleet owners who use the same general routes and have access to a central location where they can plug in the vehicle to recharge the battery. For the redesign, Ford has teamed up with Azure Dynamics to replace the Transit Connect's gasoline engine with Azure's Force Drive battery electric powertrain. Ford is also outfitting the ...