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Ex-Novell CTO takes Web leadership post

The World Wide Web Consortium, which oversees development of Hypertext Markup Language and several other standards related to the Web, has a new leader who wants to streamline some of the group's standardization efforts and beef up its ties with outside programmers.

Jeff Jaffe, Novell's chief technology officer until late January and a former executive at IBM and Lucent Technologies' Bell Labs, was named W3C's new chief executive officer on Sunday. In his new position, Jaffe will work with W3C Director Tim Berners-Lee, who first proposed the idea of the Web more than 20 years ago.

"… Read more

A budget 20-incher from Lenovo

You know you're an old-school computer geek when you catch yourself referring to Lenovo products as "IBM" from time to time. Probably even more old-school if you don't catch yourself. Sometimes it's difficult to shake things you were taught in your formative years. Kind of like going from WWF to WWE, but I digress.

The design for the Lenovo L2060 Wide doesn't really stay true to the usual house design of IBM--I mean, Lenovo monitors. It actually has a lot in common--looks-wise--with the Lenovo L215p released last year, which at the time had quick … Read more

Starry, starry 'first light' from NASA's WISE mission

Just about everybody gets excited about the first picture from a new camera, and NASA is no exception to the rule.

In this case, the "first light" image came from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, aka WISE, which NASA sent into space last month. Just last week, the agency popped off the space telescope's "lens cap," a cover that shielded the optical gear from the travails of lift-off and from the spacecraft's own heat.

WISE does like things chilly, says NASA--really, really chilly:

To sense the infrared glow of stars and galaxies, the WISE … Read more

Web accessibility no longer an afterthought

Yahoo's Victor Tsaran knows how much time Web designers spend agonizing over color and font-width choices when laying out an application. So when he started Yahoo's accessibility push two years ago, he had a tough time arousing sympathy for engineers grousing about how much extra time was needed to create accessibility features.

Fortunately for Tsaran, Yahoo's accessibility manager, he's running into that problem less and less. Web designers are starting to take accessibility as seriously as button placement or heading layout when they develop their products, improving the Web experience not only for people like Tsaran--who … Read more

Google sells Radio Automation business

Google has sold its Radio Automation business to WideOrbit, a provider of business management software for media companies, the search giant announced Wednesday.

Included in the sale were all the assets of Google's radio automation business, including Google Radio Automation, Maestro, and SS32.

Radio automation helps broadcasters manage and program music, ads, and other content through customizable software. Maestro and SS32 are two specific automation systems used by many radio stations.

Started in 1999, San-Francisco-based WideOrbit is considered one of the leading business software providers for broadcast and cable companies. WideOrbit offers several products for media outlets, designed to … Read more

Learn hot keys like the pros

Keyboard shortcuts don't just save you time, they're also good for you. Using shortcuts is one of the easiest ways to wean yourself from your mouse and cut down on repetitive strain injuries in your hands and wrists. So any app like KeyCue that can help you learn new shortcuts and remember old ones is worth a look.

KeyCue is a very simple app; you just hold down the command key (or any key combination you choose), and KeyCue instantly displays a clear, clickable menu of all the shortcuts currently available in the application you're using.

KeyCue … Read more

Virgin Gogo goes fleet-wide

Last November, when Virgin America debuted Gogo's Wi-Fi service on a single flight, it stated that by the second quarter of 2009, the service would be available fleet-wide. On Wednesday, it announced that it had reached its goal.

Virgin America has done that with GoGo Inflight Internet, enabling all Virgin America customers to experience Internet service at 37,000 feet.

The company demonstrated its Wi-Fi tech by hosting a Skype video chat conference with Oprah Winfrey during a live taping of her show. The segment is set to air Thursday, May 21. Unless you're a billionaire media personality, … Read more

Microsoft, NASA put universe back on the Web

If you think the new Google Earth update that shows even more about Mars' surface is cool, Microsoft thinks what's it's about to offer is even cooler.

The company, together with NASA, announced on Tuesday plans to make planetary images and data available via the Internet. The two organizations will jointly develop the technology and infrastructure necessary to make NASA content--including high-resolution scientific images and data from Mars and the moon--explorable on Microsoft's online virtual telescope for exploring the universe, called WorldWide Telescope.

The WorldWide Telescope is a Web 2.0 visualization environment that functions as a … Read more

Look through Microsoft's Telescope on the Web

Last year, Microsoft introduced its answer to Google Earth's Sky mode, Stellarium, and other celestial mapping programs with WorldWide Telescope, and it's now making it available via any browser that's been bolstered by Silverlight. The basic features of the downloadable program have been ported to the Web, though some of the higher-end renderings didn't make the cut.

As in the desktop version, users can whip around the galaxy using their mouse's scroll wheel to zoom in and out, and hold down the left mouse button to drag the sky from one position to another.

Users … Read more