Monday, April 27, 2009

PowerPoint and TIFF file viewing

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OfficialGmailBlog/~3/GcdjRgP3bco/powerpoint-and-tiff-file-viewing.html

Posted by Marc Miller, Software Engineer

A few months ago, we added fast online viewing of PDFs in your browser. As of today, that same viewer now supports TIFF and Microsoft PowerPoint document formats too: you can now view TIFF and PPT files online, directly in your browser, without having to save the files to your computer and without needing to buy, install, or wait for any special software to start up.

We've had a "View as slideshow" option for PowerPoint files for a while; now we've integrated this conversion technology into the same viewer that we use for PDFs and TIFFs.


This viewer provides a richer set of features than the old "View as slideshow" version: you can zoom in and out, select text to copy and paste, and "print" the presentation to a PDF document. And, unlike the old version, we no longer require you to have a Flash plugin installed on your browser.


I don't know about you, but the TIFF files I receive are almost always multiple-page faxes -- and the default TIFF viewer on my computer only shows me the first page. It's ! quite fr ustrating. On the other hand, our online viewer, powered by Google Docs, will show you every page and give you the option to "print" the TIFF by opening it as a ready-to-print PDF.

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Lenovo May Be Working on a Netbook That's Good Enough For Businessmen [Lenovo]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/C60l7RATSzo/lenovo-may-be-working-on-a-netbook-thats-good-enough-for-businessmen

Businessmen are picky bastards, which is why Lenovo working on a ThinkPad-branded netbook is good news for everyone.

Their "Worldwide Competitive Analyst" says that they're exploring the area (of course), and that people should "watch this space", meaning that they're going to be making one. There's no other reason for him to say "watch this space" unless he was just being a dick, in which case you should watch THIS space, if you know what I mean.

"Businesses are definitely asking about netbooks, they're wanting them more and more. Business problems, whether the economy is good or not, remain the same: do more with less, be more efficient and all that. This ties in very nicely with netbooks."

If it's anything like their concept, we'll take eight.

[APCMag via Crunchgear]



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Carnegie Mellon Demos the Power of Facial Recognition Using Star Trek: TOS [Facial Recognition]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/P7RxsLepxM0/carnegie-mellon-demos-the-power-of-facial-recognition-using-star-trek-tos

Want to know how much screen time William Shatner commanded in Star Trek? Or how little Chekov received, for that matter? Carnegie Mellon has you covered, as it has "face mined" the entire series.

The powerful demo actually proves that facial data mining—real, accurate facial data mining—is coming to a Big Brother video search engine near you. The demo even does facial recognition from the side, as well as the obvious full-frontal we'd expect such an endeavor would have. "Non-frontal tracks" are planned for the future. Everything you see presented in the link was generated autonomously by the software, say the Carnegie Mellon folks.

Fun side game to play with this software: Spot the red shirts!

Note: There's no sound in the clips because of copyright restrictions. [Face Mining via Slashdot]



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1080p DivX Support Coming to LG HDTVs in May [Lg]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/JHtz3BhH6n8/1080p-divx-support-coming-to-lg-hdtvs-in-may

LG has announced support for full 1080p DivX video in their new line of TVs, which begin shipping in May. LG has always been quick to try out new—if sometimes marginal—technologies in their TVs, like DivX playback from mass storage, which LG introduced in 2007. Similarly, this feature is great news for those of us who want a convenient way to play torrented Blu-ray rips our HD home video collection, but will mean absolutely nothing to the majority of people who buy the sets. [Gizmag]



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Philips' OLED wall makes its video debut

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/philips-oled-wall-makes-its-video-debut/


We already caught sight of some of Philips' new OLED lighting concepts, but when it comes to something like a massive OLED wall there's really no substitute for a proper video, and Philips itself has now kindly provided one for all to enjoy. As you can see for yourself after the break, the wall reacts directly to folks passing by, which turns out to be a surefire to get folks dancing and more generally make fools of themselves -- all in the name of progress, of course. If that's not enough OLED for one day, you can also check out a slightly less entertaining video of Philips' OLED chandelier concept, which is a tad less interactive but considerably more likely to turn into an actual product.

Continue reading Philips' OLED wall makes its video debut

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Philips' OLED wall makes its video debut originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Apr 2009 18:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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