Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Symantec Launches Project Guru

Symantec Launches Guru....

[Symantec Corp. today announced that the company will preview the pilot release of Project Guru at the DEMO 2009 conference taking place March 1-3 in Palm Desert, Calif. Project Guru is a secure, Web-based service that enables tech savvy individuals to provide remote support for friends and family. This is the third consecutive year that a Symantec innovation has been chosen for demonstration at the prestigious DEMO conference.

Emerging technologies and new products introduced at DEMO conferences are hand-selected by a select panel of industry influencers. To be selected to show at DEMO, technologies and new products must make a significant contribution to the state of the art in its target market, change the dynamics of the marketplace into which it is introduced, and be backed by a management team capable of delivering the product to market.


“While there are many services available to consumers for technical support, many tech savvy individuals still find themselves as the de facto support resource for friends and family,” said Brian Hernacki, architect, Symantec. “Our goal with Project Guru is to provide tech savvy users with a convenient, secure online tool from a trusted source to help their friends and family efficiently and effectively.”


The Project Guru pilot provides individuals with a secure, scalable Web-based environment that enables users to provide remote technical support without the need to spend a lot of time on the phone or visiting in person. The pilot service enables secure remote desktop connections leveraging the same internally developed technology as Symantec’s Software as a Service (SaaS) Online Remote Access offering. Project Guru is complementary to Symantec’s NortonLive™ PC help services, which provide consumers who need immediate PC help with a direct, convenient, affordable and simple way to maintain and fix their PCs by calling a NortonLive expert 24/7.


To administer remote support using Project Guru, users sign up as a “Guru” by creating an online account and inviting friends and family members to join in their circle. Once the invitation has been accepted by a friend or family member and the minimal set up requirements are complete, the Guru can connect remotely to the system to troubleshoot and correct issues using the Project Guru online tools. Remote connections between the two systems are secured via encryption and authentication. The Project Guru pilot currently includes diagnostic tools for network monitoring and identifying the software installed on the remote system to aid the Guru in efficiently fixing computer problems for friends and family.


Project Guru is currently in pilot release with select partners. A pilot release for customers to provide feedback to assist in the ongoing development and advancement of Project Guru is planned for the second half of 2009.]



Source : Symantec Press Releases

Adobe, HBO, Turner & Warner Bros - Alliance Flash ?

Adobe Systems Incorporated and three Time Warner Inc. companies — Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., and Home Box Office, Inc have announced a strategic alliance to foster collaboration on the development of next generation video and rich media experiences.

As part of this alliance, they will also collaborate to accelerate the development of digital rights management for the Web and desktop, and metadata and audience measurement solutions to improve the discovery and monetization of content.

The companies will utilize Adobe Flash Platform and video solutions to provide differentiated experiences for consumers of HBO, Turner Broadcasting and Warner Bros. Entertainment content across multiple distribution platforms.

More here


[Download PDF of Press release - Time Warner Companies — Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., and Home Box Office, Inc. — Form New Media Alliance with Adobe]

Flickr - No set limit & Videos for Free users

Flickr has announced that they have lifted the set limit for free members. Earlier free members could only create three sets but I guess that is unlimited now ? But what can you accomplish with Flickr sets that you cannot do with Flickr tags ?

Anyways the more importan announcement is that "Now you can upload videos too on Flickr. Yes this was available earlier to Flickr Pro members but the same is now for Flickr Free members too. Also you can have videos in Full HD"

Here are some details -

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3577/3323679176_b28df96633.jpg

[Previously limited to our Pro members, video on Flickr is now available for all. Our free account members can now share 2 videos a month (you’ll need to install Uploadr version 3.1.4 — now available from the Flickr Tools page). So, this is a perfect time for you to check out video mode on your camera. ....Be sure to check out our Frequently Asked Questions or head over to our Help Forum topics about Video for free members, HD Video and the new Uploadr.]



[Free account holders can upload 2 videos a month. If you’re a pro member, your account has unlimited bandwidth and storage space which includes video content.

But! Individual video files must be smaller than 150MB in size. (That should be more than enough for 90 seconds worth of video.)

Any member can upload HD video but it will only show as HD if your account is pro. We keep the original though, so if you upload an HD video to your free account it will be available in HD if you decide to upgrade later.]