Apple takes a giant leap into the cloud (AFP)

June 6 2011 by admin in Apple Computer |No Comments

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – Apple chief executive Steve Jobs on Monday interrupted his medical leave to unveil a free service called iCloud that stores music, photos and other content on the Web and shares it across multiple devices.

“We’re going to move the digital hub to the cloud,” the 56-year-old Jobs told software developers at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) at San Francisco’s Moscone Center.

Jobs and other Apple executives also gave developers a preview of the next generation of Lion, the software that powers Macintosh computers, and iOS 5, the latest mobile operating system for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

But the highlight of the event was Apple’s long-awaited iCloud service, which eliminates the need to hook up a cable to transfer music, photos, documents or electronic books between Apple devices.

“Keeping these devices in sync is driving us crazy,” Jobs said to cheers from the audience of more than 5,000 software developers. “We’ve got a great solution for this problem, and we think the solution is our next big insight.

“iCloud stores your content in the cloud and automatically pushes it to all your devices,” he said.

Apple said iCloud wirelessly synchronizes mail, contacts, calendars, photos, applications, e-books, music and other files across devices.

Apple’s “iTunes in the Cloud” lets users download previously purchased music and new music purchases to Apple devices while a Photo Stream service wirelessly pushes photos to all connected devices and computers.

For music not purchased through iTunes, Apple is offering a service called “iTunes Match” for $24.99 a year that matches music in a subscriber’s personal digital music collection and makes it available online.

Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at technology research company Gartner, said iCloud represents a “pretty big shift for Jobs.”

“Where 10 years ago he talked about the Mac as the hub for your digital life today he said the cloud is now the hub for your digital life,” Gartenberg said.

“Apple’s talking about an entire ecosystem,” he said. “What they presented today was from a software platform perspective an entire vision of the future of the digital consumer all tied together by cloud service offerings.”

Jobs, dressed in his trademark black pullover and blue jeans, took the stage to a standing ovation shortly after the music sound system blared out the James Brown hit “I Feel Good.”

“Thank you, that always helps,” said Jobs, who appeared thin but relatively healthy in his first public appearance since March, when he unveiled the iPad 2.

Jobs, who underwent a liver transplant two years ago and has previously battled pancreatic cancer, was making just his second public appearance since going on medical leave in January with an unspecified illness.

Jobs and other Apple executives took a number of potshots at the personal computer during Monday’s event, stressing that iCloud eliminates the need for a user’s life to revolve around a PC.

“We’re going to demote the PC to just being a device,” Jobs said.

With the new version of iOS 5, for example, a personal computer would no longer be needed to set up and activate an iPad and software updates will be delivered wirelessly.

“With the new iPad we’re ushering in the post-PC world,” said Scott Forstall, senior vice president of iPhone software. “Now if you want to cut the cord, you can.”

Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide product marketing Phil Schiller demonstrated features in the next generation of Lion including “air drop,” which allows Macintosh users to transfer files with other nearby Mac users through a peer-to-peer wireless connection.

A new iMessage service lets users send text messages, photos and videos between Apple devices while Newsstand is a bookshelf for newspaper and magazine subscriptions that updates automatically with the latest issue.

A camera icon on the iPad now lets users open the camera directly from the lock screen and the volume button can be used to take a picture.

Lion will be available as a download in July for $29.99, considerably cheaper than the $129 charged for previous upgrades.

Apple said iCloud will be available this fall with the release of iOS 5 and will provide five gigabytes of free cloud storage for mail, document storage and backup.

Music, applications, books and photos do not count against the storage limit.

Apple shares lost 1.57 percent on Monday to close at $338.04.

Courtesy: http://apple-news.findtechnologynews.com/apple-takes-a-giant-leap-into-the-cloud-afp/

11 Most Impressive Libraries from the Ancient World

Libraries, regardless of whether or not they attach themselves to a university, belong to a public system, or simply sit inside someone's home, exist as an essential vertebrae in society's backbone. These intellectual institutions make knowledge and education accessible to individuals, businesses and cities alike, preventing mental — and, subsequently, collective — stagnation. By no means are they anything new, either! For millennia, libraries of all shapes and sizes have kept humanity puttering ever forward, allowing for some of the greatest innovations ever conceived. Although all but one gradually fell to fire and time, these ancient wonders deserve awe and accolades for everything they've accomplished when it comes to promoting every academic and literary subject imaginable.

1. Villa of the Papyri: Located in Herculaneum, Italy, Villa of the Papyri holds the honor of being one of the few (if not only) classical libraries to mostly survive into modern times — even after the 79 CE eruption of Mt. Vesuvius buried it beneath tons of ash. Unearthed in 1752, archaeologists discovered at least 1, 785carbonized scrolls (from which the site derives its name) still intact on the top level, while the bottom still warrants further exploration. Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, Julius Caesar's father-in-law, may have owned the massive home, which overflowed with over 80 gorgeous sculptures (mostly bronze) and some of the era's most stylish architecture. Given the owner's predilection for philosophy, most of the reads featured in his private library were personally selected by his dear Epicurean friend Philodemus of Gadara.

2. The Royal Library of Ashurbanipal: If nothing else about this Assyrian majesty impresses readers, the fact that it possessed the original clay tablets comprising The Epic of Gilgamesh just might. Snuggled in Nineveh, the former empire's capitol, The Royal Library of Ashurbanipal — named after its last significant king — boasted thousands of holdings. The British Museum posits the exact number at around 30,943 surviving examples. Most of these were, of course, clay tablets inscribed with Akkadian cuneiform and covered a broad range of subjects piquing the king's knowledge lust. Historians believe the grand library fell along with Nineveh itself during a 612 BCE raid by the Medes, Babylonians and Scythians. Fires meant to destroy the collections actually baked the clay and kept them preserved for millennia, though the wax reads did not fare so well.

3. Library of Pergamum: Plutarch claims the pivotal Turkish library in ancient Pergamum (now Bergama) kept over 200,000 holdings, but a lack of any known surviving administrative records makes it impossible to really tell. Stories circulate of Mark Antony's emptying the collection onto Cleopatra VII as a seriously cool wedding present, which she then plopped straight into the Royal Library of Alexandria. Fans of biblical archaeology will love visiting its ruins, as St. John of Patmos explicitly mentioned it as one of the Seven Churches of Revelation.

4. Nalanda University: Bahir, India is home to one of the most lauded intellectual circles of the ancient world, with Nalanda University holding tight as its nerve center from around 427 to 1197 CE. Its library, nicknamed "Dharmaganja" ("Treasury of Truth") and Dharma Ghunj ("Mountain of Truth"), allegedly burst with hundreds of thousands of texts. During its heyday, Nalanda University was praised as the world's largest collection of Buddhist literature, nurturing followers, new philosophies and helping the faith spread across South Asia. 1193 saw Turkic invaders burn down the prestigious house of learning, and legend has it the library took months before everything ended up destroyed.

5. Theological Library of Caesarea Maritima: Before its ultimate destruction in 638 CE (estimated), the Theological Library of Caesarea Maritima existed as the biggest, most influential ecclesiastic library in the ancient world. Among the literary wonders in its possession were The Gospel According to the Hebrews, quite possibly the only complete copy of Hexapla and the works of St. Jerome, Basil the Great and Gregory of Nazareth — among other highly regarded religious philosophers. Both Origen and St. Pamphilus of Caesarea were largely responsible for the over 30,000 works collected, most of them regarding Christianity.

6. Libraries at Ugarit: Located in modern-day Syria, the ancient city of Ugarit boasted at least 5 exquisite libraries. Two of them, one owned by Rapanu (a diplomat), were actually private — quite the rarity for 1200 BCE. One was located at the palace, another to a temple. All of them largely collected clay tablets, and literature covered an incredible range of subjects in at least 7 different languages. Most of them, as one can probably imagine, involved political, legal and economic concerns, but religion, academics and fiction were by no means uncommon topics.

7. Libraries of the Forum: The Forum of Trajan, home of the Bibliotecha Ulpiana, is probably the most famous of the Roman libraries. But by no means should one consider it the only institution worth researching! Both the temple of Apollo Palatinus and the Porticus Octaviae housed their very own libraries, along with many other imperial fora. All of these would collect works in both Latin and Greek — occasionally other languages — and keep them separated from one another for more convenient access.

8. Libraries of Timbuktu: Mali's legendary city once existed as one of the most influential intellectual hubs during ancient and medieval times. As a cohesive unit, the amazing libraries (and university) housed there boasted over 700,000 now-famous manuscripts. These works have garnered far more than a modicum of attention the past few years, owing largely to the fact that they sat mostly hidden for well over a century. Most of the rightfully lauded literary treasures revolve around Islam and Islamic themes and are written in Arabic. Some even contain absolutely gorgeous examples of illuminated manuscripts, too.

9. Library of Celsus: Greco-Roman senator Tiberius Julius Celsus lay buried beneath the library bearing his name, which now sits ruined in modern-day Turkey. This dual heritage was honored in the building's architecture as well as its beautifully stocked shelves. Completed in 135 CE, it housed 12,000 scrolls and may have served as a template for similar buildings now lost to time's ravages. Celus' sarcophagus was quite the anomaly for the time, as few politicians enjoyed the sterling honor of spending eternity at their very own library.

10. Imperial Library of Constantinople: At the heart of the Byzantine Empire sat Constantinople, now Istanbul. And at the heart of Constantinople, now Istanbul, sat one of the most glorious libraries in the history of the world — ancient or otherwise. For almost a millennium, the Imperial Library (established during the reign of Constantius II, which lasted between 337 to 361 CE) kept the Greek and Roman literary tradition alive and accessible. It even boasted an awe-inspiring scriptorium dedicated to preserving and transcribing delicate papyri and other works. Fire, unfortunately, proved its undoing on two different occasions. One incident in 473 destroyed around 120,000 texts, and the Fourth Crusade in 1204 eventually finished the job.

11. The Royal Library of Alexandria: The Royal Library of Alexandria, once the shimmering jewel of ancient Egypt, probably pops to most people's minds when the subject of ancient intellectual institutions emerges. Julius Caesar infamously initiated an accident burning it to the ground in 48 BCE, destroying what was then one of the largest repositories of literary, political, legal, economic, academic, philosophical and religious texts on the globe. From the 3rd Century BCE up until the fateful folly, ancient Egypt looked towards the library for knowledge and information. It housed a museum absolutely brimming with artifacts along with its literary holdings. Allegedly, King Ptolemy II Philadelphus desired to see this prestigious institution boast at least 500,000 books, each of which requiring a number of different scrolls.
    

    Courtesy: www.onlinecollege.org (Accessed on 07/06/2011)

50 great ways to celebrate on Library Appreciation Day

From free books to career courses, libraries are a source of information and inspiration for young minds and can be a lifesaver for those facing tough economic times. Whether you choose to honor your college library or one in your community, here are a few ways that you can use this week to promote, appreciate and praise your local cornerstones.

Click here to find out more...

Courtesy: www.onlinecollege.org (Accessed on 07/06/2011)

Libraries take the digital route

PUNE: Keeping pace with the times, libraries at research institutes have begun to digitise their book collections.
The Deccan College Post Graduate and Research Institute is in the process of scanning books between 1500 AD and 1900 AD, while the Bhaskaracharya Pratishthan, which has a rare collection of pure mathematics, also plans to use the digital platform.
One of country's foremost research institutes, the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, has digitised its books from the 16th century onwards. Plans are afoot to make it available to the public through the internet on a membership basis. The Jayakar Library of the University of Pune has also scanned over 3,000 books so far. The Deccan College received a grant from the Union government last year for this purpose. "The first phase of digitisation will consist of books published between 1500 and 1900. Work on the project began a year ago and we are half-way through. The grant is just enough for us to digitise the books in this period. Once we receive more funds, work will continue," said Trupti More, a librarian at Deccan college.
The college has a collection of 1.7 lakh books in Marathi, Hindi and English, many of them travel guides from the 16th century. They also have manuscripts on the Vedas, astronomy and ayurveda.Suresh Patil, chief librarian of Jayakar Library, said, "With changing reading habits and the advent of technology, libraries also need to update themselves. Digitising books makes it more accessible and convenient to readers, academicians and researchers. It increases the reader database and ultimately spreads knowledge."
Patil stressed that digitisation makes it easy to search for books, authors, theses and references. "Earlier, we used to spend hours searching for books or authors. Now we just have to click a few times." Jayakar Library has over five lakh books and 2,300 manuscripts in Hindi and Marathi. The Gokhale Institute will soon digitise over 20,000 books, mostly on social science and economics, dating back to the 1680s. Many of them have come apart and cannot be given to those wanting to read them. Instead the institute will scan them so that readers can either take a printout or download them, or even read them on the computer screen. The Institute has received a grant of Rs 20 lakh for the project from the University Grants Commission. Nanaji Shewale, chief librarian of the Gokhale Institute, said, "Once the project is complete, online access will become possible."
Source: Times of India dated 9 May 2011

Balbharati goes online

To beat annual shortage, Balbharati goes online
Starting June, the textbooks for Std I to VIII will be available in PDF format on the website www.balbharati.in free of cost : Deepti Khera mirrorfeedback@indiatimes.com
To tackle perennial shortage of its textbooks, Balbharati has decided to upload them on its web site (www.balbharati.in) in the PDF format. Starting from June the textbooks, for Std I to VIII, will be available online free of cost.
The PDF files will contain all the illustrations and exercises that the textbooks have. Balbharati has now been printing textbooks for nearly 55 years. An official from Balbharati, which also serves the Maharashtra State Bureau of Textbook Production and Curriculum Research, said, “Each year Balbharati prints more than six crore textbooks. With such a huge amount of print orders, there is a possibility of a time lag. In order to avoid shortages, that would cause hardships to students, we have decided to take this move.”
Priyanka Verma, a student studying in Std VI, said, “Last year, I enquired at all the local stores, but my math book was just not in stock. It was only a month after school started that I got the book. Till then I managed on photocopies.” Priyanka isn’t alone. Shimin Patel, parent of a Std VII student, had to go to the extent of writing to officials at Balbharati officials to get the science book for her daughter, as all the nearby stored were out of stock. Former Director of Balbharati Vasant Kalpande, whose idea it was to go online with the textbooks, said, “Students will no longer have to hunt for textbooks. We hope to start upload most books from the start of this academic year itself.”
He added, “Some Marathi medium textbooks for Std I and II have already been uploaded.”
Chairperson of Maharashtra’s Education Board Ujwala Patil also approved of the move, saying, “Students can now heave a sigh of relief.” Currently, Balbharati prints more than six crore textbooks every year
Source: Mumbai Mirror dated 9 May 2011

Alternatives to Photoshop

Fotoflexer.com
A free online image editing software. You can add animation to your photos, cut a person out of the background, crop, resize, and lots more! There is even a neat feature for creating posters! A great little tool for basic image editing techniques.
Gimp.org
An open source image manipulation program. Great tool for photo retouching, image composition, and image authoring.
Inkscape.org"
An Open Source vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to Illustrator, CorelDraw, or Xara X, using the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format."
Pixlr.com
For photoediting

SMS e-library to show live surgeries

JAIPUR: Now, the resident surgeons would be able to see live surgeries performed by eminent doctors from the operation theatres (OT) of Sawai Man Singh Hospital as the surgery department has developed an e-library on the premises.
HoD of the surgery department Dinesh Jindal said, "We want to connect our e-library with our OT, this would help our students to study various kind of surgeries watching them live." The newly developed e-library has books on surgery written by notable doctors, journals and videos of surgeries. "Videos are important as they help in imparting practical knowledge to the students. We are trying to bring more videos of surgeries performed in prominent hospitals like AIIMS." The surgery department plans to connect its e-library with other hospitals so that the resident doctors could see the live convention on latest technologies organised in other hospitals. "There would be a code, which the other hospitals would provide us. Through that code we would be able to see the convention live on surgeries organised in the other hospitals," he said. The e-library has computers and also projectors, where around 40 resident doctors could access the library at a time.
SMS hospital superintendent LC Sharma said that the e-library could be used for saving records of operations, could be used in future for reference of the cases. He said the authorities plan to open such e-libraries in other departments too.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/SMS-e-library-to-show-live-surgeries/articleshow/8130272.cms