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Finally a country has woken up!
2007-12-15 07:02:00
The Netherlands goes open-source in 2008Posted Dec 14th 2007 5:30AM by Thomas RickerFiled under: Misc. GadgetsApril 2008. That's the date when the notoriously progressive Dutch government goes open source. The plan was approved unanimously yesterday in a meeting of two parliamentary commissions. The policy dictates that government organizations at the national level must be ready to save documents in the Open Document Format (ODF) by April, and the state and local level by 2009. Use of proprietary software and file formats from the likes of Microsoft will have to be justified under the new policy. The government expects to save $8.8 million a year on city housing registers alone by making the switch. Tough week, eh Microsoft? You'll have to get your OpenDocument plug-ins for MS Office ISO approved on the quick if you want to avoid further trouble.source : engadget.com
More About: Country , Finally

XO PC production
2007-12-15 07:00:00
Quanta shipping only 10,000 OLPC XO's per month? Try 100kPosted Dec 14th 2007 6:31AM by Thomas RickerFiled under: LaptopsSomething doesn't add up. Either the Economic Daily News has bad manufacturing numbers or OLPC's claims of $2 Million worth of "donations" each day (more than 10,000 XOs per day!) under the $399 G1G1 program are highly exaggerated. The Chinese-language report says that Quanta expects to ship 15,000 XOs in all of December and only around 8-10k units each month into the future. This according to the paper's "component maker" sources. Of course, OLPC could be multi-sourcing laptops from Foxconn, Compal, or some other Guangdong Province factory -- though that would be news to us. Regardless, with 15,000 XOs heading to Alabama, 260,000 heading to Peru, and countless others in the queue from G1G1, well, our children might be waiting a long, long time for delivery.Update: According to reader Hao, DigiTimes incorrectly translated the production quantity. EDN is report...
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GPS Nav Jacket
2007-12-15 06:59:00
O'Neill's GPS NavJacket with integrated display and audioPosted Dec 14th 2007 7:20AM by Thomas RickerFiled under: GPS, WearablesEver get lost in a euphoric off-piste blaze of snow and emotion only to emerge truly lost somewhere on the mountain? Good, the NavJacket is for you. The GPS equipped jacket from O'Neill is the result of a partnership with MyGuide. The Gore-Tex jacket features integrated audio in the hood and a display in the sleeve which shows your speed, updated weather forecasts, and time and distance to après-ski. A "friend finder" function helps track your new "friends" long after the slobbering begins. All the important tech bits about communication, controls, and that flexible display (not to mention the price!) are still missing. No worries, it's not due for another 9 months as part of O'Neill's Fall/Winter 2008/2009 collection. 'Til then you'll have to rely upon your keen sense of gravity to get you to the bottom of the hill.source : engadget.com

NVidia 3way SLI
2007-12-15 06:59:00
NVIDIA 3-Way SLI review roundupPosted Dec 14th 2007 10:33AM by Paul MillerFiled under: Desktops, Gaming No use kidding around: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 3-Way SLI kicks benchmark ass. Reviewers across the board found the setup to be far and away the best money can buy when it comes to graphics, but the price is certainly steep. Not only are the cards super pricey -- you're limited to the 8800 GTX and 8800 Ultra -- but you'll need a 1000+ watt power supply, and pretty much a fresh system from the ground up unless you're already running the nForce 680i SLI motherboard. PC Perspective crunched the numbers, and you're looking at about $2828 in costs before you even get to the case, hard drive, DVD drive and all that other superfluous stuff. That said, the third card really makes a big difference, since performance scales surprisingly well with the addition. You probably don't need this kind of power if you're not trying to game at full-res on a 30-incher, but if you don't mind dropping...

iPhone part of Land Rover
2007-12-15 06:51:00
iPhone integral part of Land Rover LRX conceptPosted Dec 14th 2007 11:57AM by Darren MurphFiled under: Cellphones, Transportation Well, would you take a peek at this? Not even a month after we pored over Volkswagen photos that certainly had a hint of Apple about them, images of the Land Rover LRX are surfacing and giving us the same kind of vibe. In a press release issued by the automaker, it notes that the concept vehicle will boast a couple of touchscreens, one of which is used to "control the LRX's iPhone facility." Additionally, you can catch an iPod docking station and a set of removable speakers on the tailgate, though we can't say that's the most convenient location we've ever heard of for such a device. Nevertheless, we should find out a whole lot more when it hits the Detroit Auto Show floor next month, and oh yeah, we hear Jobs has a wee gig of his own to handle around the same time.source : engadget.com
More About: Iphone , Part

AirForce UAV's
2007-12-15 06:50:00
Air Force developing UAVs that can recharge on power linesPosted Dec 14th 2007 4:34PM by Nilay PatelFiled under: TransportationWe've seen some interesting solutions to keeping UAVs powered for extended missions, but none so diabolical as actually landing on the enemy's power lines and using their juice to power up. That's the plan behind the Power Line Urban Sentry (PLUS) project currently being run by the Air Force Research Laboratory and private firm Defense Research Associates, and it's already yielded UAVs that can land on power lines and charge in three hours. The project started with attempts to charge by simply flying near power lines, but when that method yielded only micro-watts of juice, focus shifted to actually landing on the lines. The team is planning all sorts of other capabilities for the tech, including navigation systems -- "Power lines are like highways in the sky," says one of the researchers -- and auxiliary surveillance systems that power up when jacked in....
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XO OLAP
2007-12-14 00:26:00
An XO Laptop Christmas Present for Drew's Wife Posted on December 13, 2007 by Wayan Vota The best G1G1 advertisement I've just had an interesting talk with Drew, the First Day Donor who wonders what to do with an XO laptop. He first heard about One Laptop Per Child from the original 60 Minutes episode and while watching the program, his wife said"That's what I want for Christmas!"Now Drew's wife is not necessarily a computer geek. She was a Mac user before but only to surf the web and write emails. She wanted her own laptop because their three children kept hogging the family desktop computer. Drew was excited about the XO because of Sugar (Aquatic Sugar perhaps?)."I wanted a stable Operating System that doesn't crash or get bloated with spyware. With three kids in the house, our Windows desktop is a mess. I also liked Sugar as it promises to be intuitive and my wife wouldn't need to...

Limo Foundation
2007-12-13 22:54:00
ACCESS gets nod to craft NTT DoCoMo's mobile Linux platformPosted Dec 11th 2007 3:10AM by Chris ZieglerFiled under: Cellphones Well, would you look at that! ACCESS has finally landed a whale of a customer for its overdue, underloved ACCESS Linux Platform, the mobile software stack (and sort-of successor to Palm OS Garnet) that has failed to garner enough hardware partners to make a splash in the marketplace thus far. The Japanese firm is partnering with NTT DoCoMo and ESTEEMO -- NEC's joint venture with Panasonic -- to build a standard Linux stack that incorporates ALP while still using the carrier's existing Linux-based MOAP(L) platform. That's not all, though: they're tasked with making the new platform compatible with the LiMo Foundation 's specifications, too. A tall order? Maybe, but it's likely an order that has to happen -- NTT DoCoMo's involved in all sorts of Linux initiatives, and it makes good sense to bite the bullet and have some company tie it all together. The ...
More About: Limo , Dati

700Mhz
2007-12-13 22:52:00
DoCoMo and other Asian carriers eyeing FCC auction?Posted Dec 11th 2007 6:15PM by Paul MillerFiled under: WirelessEverybody is sworn to silence until the auction is over, so we won't be seeing much more information about this until it's all over in the spring of next year, but for now it's still fun to speculate. Business Week is doing quite a bit of that speculating as well, with word that DoCoMo, KDDI, SK Telecom and even China (through the T-Mobile and Global Tower invested Blackstone Group) could be chipping in a few billion here and there to spice things up for Google and friends in the 700MHz C Block auction. DoCoMo, which got burned in the US a while back with pre-Cingular AT&T Wireless, mentioned to Business Week that it'd be interested in partnering with Google for its wireless network, and the other carrier might not be talking but have to be at least considering the possibility of being involved in US wireless data in a big way, and KDDI has a history of being chu...

Windpower
2007-12-13 22:47:00
UK wants every home wind-powered by 2020Posted Dec 12th 2007 12:36PM by Evan BlassFiled under: Misc. Gadgets In an ambitious scheme than even industry proponents seem skeptical of, Britain has unveiled plans to power every home in the country via off-shore wind farms by the year 2020. Right now the UK produces approximately half a gigawatt through this method of power generation, enough to provide 2% of the country's electricity, but nowhere near the 33 gigawatts called for in business secretary John Hutton's proposal. According to the British Wind Association Trade Group, while more offshore farms are always welcome, it is far more reasonable to expect a 20 gigawatt output by 2020 -- the bottleneck, apparently, is in procuring an adequate number of turbines. Another issue is the economic cost of wind power, which continues to exceed that of fossil fuel-based alternatives; luckily for the Brits, favorable exchange rates should help them pick up some American-made turbines on the ...

Indoor Navigation - Cant find your elevator? haha
2007-12-13 22:46:00
Thales develops Indoor Positioning System based on UWBPosted Dec 13th 2007 3:53AM by Darren MurphFiled under: GPSThales -- the French aerospace company that brought us MILTRAK -- has rolled out yet another impressive development, this time aiding firefighters, cops and armed forces in tracking objects / people while indoors. Its Indoor Positioning System (IPS) is essentially "an indoor form of satellite navigation," and while we've heard of similar, this iteration is based around ultra-wideband. Notably, the company implied that it hoped to bring the technology to police forces and military platoons in the future, and if things go smoothly, consumers could actually see it used in GPS-enabled mobiles in order to provide navigation services in more places. Unfortunately, it seems as though Thales is still working on completing the new system, so we wouldn't get all hopeful for a commercial release anytime soon.source : engadget.com
More About: Navigation , Find , Haha , Elevator

San Fran solar panel usage
2007-12-13 22:44:00
San Fran cisco could offer credits, rebates to promote solar panel usagePosted Dec 13th 2007 8:19AM by Darren MurphFiled under: HouseholdIt's hard to deny San Francisco's infatuation with solar power, and a new plan could further showcase its adoration for the sun (and Mother Earth, too) by throwing out tax credits, rebates and even loans for individuals and businesses that choose to equip their buildings with solar panels. Under the proposal, businesses would reportedly be "eligible for rebates of up to $10,000," while residents could fetch somewhere between $3,000 and $5,000 to help offset the high cost of installing panels. Furthermore, the city itself would underwrite loans that could be paid back "through annual tax assessments on properties." As it stands, the plan still has to be approved by voters and legislators, but Mayor Gavin Newsom is aspiring to have the whole shebang in place by next summer.source : engadget.com
More About: Solar , Panel , Usage

XM/Sirius
2007-12-13 22:44:00
Analyst says XM / Sirius merger won't be affected by Congressional letterPosted Dec 13th 2007 4:15PM by Donald MelansonFiled under: Home Entertainment, Portable AudioIt looks like a recent letter from two members of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee to Attorney General Michael Mukasey won't be enough to derail the seemingly inevitable XM / Sirius merger, at least according to one of those ever-present analysts. As OrbitCast reports, Representatives John Conyers and Steve Chabot had complained that Justice Department staff "may be trying to rush through the merger" before the Attorney General himself had time to fully participate, and that "Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust Thomas O. Barnett may intend to grant the merger over the objections of department staff." According to the AP, however, Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. analyst Blair Levin says that while the final outcome is indeed a "close call," he believes that "the department will give its blessing," pavin...

WiMAX updates
2007-12-13 22:32:00
Recent WiMAX Announcements Posted by samc on December 11th, 2007 Here’s a snapshot of some recent Mobile WiMAX announcements: Sprint plans to launch its XOHM WiMax network by the end of this week. Sprint spokesman John Polivka said the soft launches will cover the downtown cores of Chicago, Baltimore and Washington but will rapidly expand outward. This initial launch will be limited only to Sprint employees and will focus on the central downtown areas of the test cities. This initial set of trials precedes the actual full trial networks that will be available to the general public starting in the first quarter of 2008. The company reportedly has 10,000 base stations ready to go, many of them on Sprint’s existing CDMA cell towers. Sprint will expand the coverage to areas that see high demand. Sprint has ordered 1750 base stations from its three vendors (Motorola, Samsung and Nokia), as well as 20,000 antennas. The company did not provide details on wha...
More About: Updates , Wimax

Mobile media greetings
2007-12-13 22:31:00
Mobile Media Greetings Posted by samc on December 11th, 2007 Cellyspace (http://www.cellyspace.com) has launched a do-it-yourself, web-based Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) for users to create multimedia greeting cards and send them to their family and friend’s phones. Dubbed the “MMS Composer,” this service allows users to upload pictures and audio files from their computer, edit them into a slideshow and then send them for immediate or scheduled delivery. MMS messages are optimized to fit mobile phone formats and can include audio, video, text and images. The service is well suited for making an immediate and emotional impact on that special person at that special time. Cellyspace doesn’t charge to create or store MMS messages but there is a $0.20 charge to send them. There is no need for recipients to download software on their phones. The service is compatible with the major USwireless carriers and with most MMS-enabled (”picture messag...
More About: Mobile

DVB
2007-12-13 22:26:00
Software Defined Radio: DVB-H, too? Posted by samc on December 13th, 2007 Intel has developed a test chip for software defined radio that can handle Wi-Fi, WiMAX and DVB-H digital TV in one chip, reports Electronics Weekly. It would allow users to access the WiFi network in the home, automatically handover to a WiMAX network when you leave the house and also access digital TV on the move, all through one chip. “There is a shift from people wanting their content any time, anywhere to any device, any network, and the problem is there are too many radios,” said Jeff Hoffman, system architect for the wireless communications lab. The chip tapes out next week and uses nine processing elements in different combinations to handle the three protocols. The test chip measures 24mm squared overall and consumes 79mW in receive mode at 52Mbit/s and 72mW in transmit. It links to three RF chips for the different networks. “This provides all the digital signal proce...

Gigabit Wireless
2007-09-11 20:57:00
Gigabit Wireless in LA Posted by samc on September 11th, 2007 NextPhase Wireless, a next-generation wireless connectivity provider, today announced that it intends to begin offering select NextPhase customers in Los Angeles with a specialized wireless services plan providing for high capacity wireless broadband connectivity at speeds of up to one Gigabyte per second (the equivalent of 647 T1 lines or 1,000 DSL connections) using GigaBeam’s “wireless fiber optics”. “Operating in the 71-76 GHz and 81-86 GHz radio spectrum bands, GigaBeam’s technology provides the bandwidth normally associated with terrestrial fiber, with the benefits of wireless technologies, including faster deployment, significantly lower cost of ownership and scalability,” stated Robert Ford, Chief Executive Officer of NextPhase. NextPhase anticipates that the initial wireless fiber deployment will be completed within 90-120 days. “Following our planned deployment o...
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Vodafone & Omnifone
2007-09-11 20:55:00
Vodafone signs Omni fone's MusicStation service for UK Posted Sep 11th 2007 7:55AM by Thomas RickerFiled under: Cellphones, Portable Audio So Vodafone made another little announcement during the unveiling of their iPhone-less Christmas lineup: an exclusive Omnifone music service deal for our more cultured, special British friends. The all-you-can-eat, MusicStation subscription download service will cost punters a weekly tithe of £1.99 (about $4.03) -- an investment which turns to dust once you cancel the subscription. Seems Vodafone, an early favorite for a pan-European iPhone exclusive, is now preparing to compete against a rival European iPhone launch with iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store in addition to Nokia's imminent Music Store. Good luck Voda-Omni-fone, you'll need it.source : engadget.com
More About: Vodafone , Voda

T-Mobile Germany iPhone?
2007-09-10 23:24:00
Did T-Mobile Germany really leak the 3G, 16GB iPhone? Doubtful. Posted Sep 9th 2007 9:39PM by Ryan BlockFiled under: Cellphones So you may or may not have seen the above supposedly leaked German T-Mobile ad floating around the internets today, which outlines a new iPhone featuring not only HSDPA, but double the current device's capacity (16GB), all for a paltry €499 (about $700 US) when released on November 12th. Is it possible? Sure, anything's possible, and these guys even show off an iPhone with German-translated icons. Still, we're not convinced. What's more likely, that Apple, which managed to keep AT&T almost totally in the dark right up until launch day, really sealed the deal with T-Mobile on a new iPhone that just happened to get leaked more than a month in advance? Or that this image -- a ridiculously easy photoshop job -- is every bit as fake as the Ich Lüge bullets from Heathers?source : engadget.com
More About: Iphone , T Mobile

AMD fastest quad-core
2007-09-10 23:17:00
AMD unveils "world's most advanced x86 CPU" -- the quad-core Opteron Posted Sep 10th 2007 8:28AM by Darren MurphFiled under: Desktops We know you've probably grown numb to these "world's best" claims uttered by processor manufacturers, but shortly after introducing the Athlon 64 X2 6400+ Black Edition, AMD is now unveiling what it calls "the world's most advanced x86 CPU." The quad-core Opteron touts a slew of enhancements including a "50-percent increase in integer and floating-point performance" and a boost in "virtualization performance." Interestingly, AMD goes on to brag about the chip's power saving abilities, as it utilizes Dual Dynamic Power Management, CoolCore , and Independent Dynamic Core Technology in order to provide a more energy-efficient device. Systems relying on the newfangled CPU have reportedly begun shipping "from global OEM and system-builder partners," so newfound greatness should be just an order away.source : engadget.com
More About: Quad-core , Quad

Aliens ROCK!
2007-09-10 23:09:00
Alienware offers up dual 64GB SSD Area-51 m9750 Posted Sep 10th 2007 11:55AM by Evan BlassFiled under: Gaming, Laptops, Storage You've got to stay on the bleeding edge of component offerings when you're trying to charge the prices that Alienware does, so it's no surprise that the Dell subsidiary is the self-proclaimed first manufacturer on the market to stuff dual 64GB solid state disks into a consumer PC. Of course, you'll be paying out the nose to add 128GB of un-RAIDed SSD goodness to an Area-51 m9750 gaming notebook -- just about $2,000, nearly doubling the machine's base price. Those feeling a little "stingier" or perhaps requiring more storage space can also opt for a 64GB SSD / 200GB 7,200RPM HDD combo as well, which only tacks another $1,400 onto an entry-level rig. Still, despite the steep cost, we're sure that there are more than a few folks out there who can't put a price on having the fastest read times in their guild.source : engadget.com
More About: Aliens , Rock , Liens

iPhoneSIMFree
2007-09-10 23:09:00
iPhoneSIMfree's end-user solution tested, it works! Posted Sep 10th 2007 12:54PM by Ryan BlockFiled under: Cellphones So last Friday we got two things from iPhoneSIMfree: the demo version of their software SIM unlock solution, and the promise that it would be available for purchase today. We can't confirm that anyone's actually received their iPhone unlock orders, but we did get to test the release version of the software unlock today -- the very same thing people all over will be paying to unlock their devices with -- and, not surprisingly, it works like a charm. In other words, while we can't vouch for any of the vendors selling the software, we can vouch for the software itself working exactly as advertised. We've got the full unlock on video, which we'll be posting shortly.source : engadget.com

Solar-powered plane
2007-09-10 23:02:00
Solar-powered plane breaks unmanned flight record Posted Sep 10th 2007 1:48PM by Joshua TopolskyFiled under: Transportation According to a BBC report today, a UK defense firm called Qinetiq has developed and tested a lightweight, solar-powered plane which has just broken the world record for longest unmanned flight. The plane, known as the Zephyr, spent 54 hours in flight using only self-recharging solar power, thus breaking the 30-plus-hour flight of the previous record holder, the US Air Force's Global Hawk surveillance craft. Although the record has been smashed, the plane won't be eligible for entrance into the "official" record books due to a late announcement of the feat, though another 33-hour flight might make the cut. The plane -- which has a wingspan of 59-feet -- is controlled from the ground after a hand liftoff, and is capable of cruising at 58,000 feet. According to the designers, the Zephyr is, "Going to go a lot higher and a lot further," and added that, "You ain...
More About: Solar , Plane

TOO FUNNY!!!
2007-09-10 23:00:00
Cablevision CEO a Verizon FiOS Customer? Posted by kdawson on Saturday September 08, @03:56PM from the for-research-purposes-only-of-course dept. Keri_Love writes "Cablevision and Verizon are in the middle of heated battle trying to sign up customers for the coveted 'triple play': it's fiber-to-the-premises vs. cable for broadband, television, and phone. Cablevision is slinging lines like 'We're not afraid of your fiber!' Tech blogger Mike Murray discloses evidence that Cablevision's CEO may be enjoying FiOS at home. He writes: 'Click the picture to the right showing a Verizon FiOS can and drop directly above Cablevision's CEO Chuck Dolan's Oyster Bay, Long Island mailbox.' He's not scared! He's a customer!"source : slashdot.org
More About: Funny

Forensic Computer
2007-09-10 22:58:00
IT: Forensic Computer Targets Digital Crime Posted by kdawson on Sunday September 09, @12:07AM from the taking-a-byte-out-of-it dept. coondoggie writes "A European consortium has come up with a high-speed digital forensic computer dedicated to the task of quickly offloading and analyzing computer records. The TreCorder is a rugged forensic PC able to copy or clone up to three hard disks simultaneously, at a speed of up to 2 Gb/min., far faster than alternative equipment. The PC not only provides a complete mirror image of the hard disk and system memory — including deleted and reformatted data — but also eliminates any possibility of falsification in the process, meaning that the evidence it collects will stand up in court."source : slashdot.org

AMD NDA Scandal
2007-09-10 22:55:00
Your Rights Online: AMD NDA Scandal Posted by kdawson on Sunday September 09, @12:58PM from the all-your-words-are-belong dept. crazyeyes writes "Just two weeks ago, a Thai journalist walked out of the hush-hush AMD event in Singapore over a controversial NDA that required him to 'send any stories to the vendor before his newspaper can publish it.' AMD categorically denied it happened, but today, we not only have proof that it happened, we also have the sordid details of the entire affair. Here's a quote from the editorial: 'First off, the non-disclosure agreement covered everything confidential said or written over the next two years on the product, and had a duration of five years, during which anything published or used in marketing would have to receive written approval from AMD before it could be used. Worse, at the end of the five years, all copies of the information made would have to be returned to the chipma...
More About: Canda

Keyloggers!@! WTF???
2007-09-10 22:54:00
Your Rights Online: Mandatory Keyloggers in Mumbai's Cyber Cafes Posted by kdawson on Sunday September 09, @10:16PM from the just-don't-press-any-keys dept. YIAAL writes "Indian journalist Amit Varma reports that Mumbai's police are requiring the city's 500 Internet cafes to install keystroke loggers, which will capture every keystroke by users and turn that information over to the government — nearly in realtime by the sound of it. Buy things online, and the underpaid Indian police will have your credit card number. 'Will these end up getting sold in a black market somewhere? Not unlikely.'"source : slashdot.org

Google Video Ads
2007-09-10 22:54:00
Google Mulling Video Ads In Search Results Posted by kdawson on Sunday September 09, @08:30PM from the are-we-evil-yet dept. Bombula writes to let us know that Google is "finally succumbing to the power of the almighty dollar" and getting ready to implement image and video ads in sponsored searches.source : slashdot.org
More About: Google , Google Video , Googl

PHP5 vs CakePHP vs RubyonRails
2007-09-10 22:46:00
IT: PHP5 Vs. CakePHP Vs. RubyOnRails? Posted by kdawson on Monday September 10, @02:38AM from the please-choose-one dept. OldJavaHack writes "If you could start a website (with MySQL for persistence) from scratch and you had a choice of PHP5, CakePHP, or RubyOnRails — which would you choose and why? Things to consider in your decision: 1. Maturity of solution; 2. Features; 3. Size of community of skilled users (to build a team); 4. Complexity/ease of use (for neophytes to master); 5. Greatest strength of your choice, and the greatest weaknesses of the other two. Here is a comparison of capabilities."source : slashdot.org

IBM joins OpenOffice.org
2007-09-10 22:45:00
Linux: IBM Joins OpenOffice.org Community Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday September 10, @08:34AM from the get-your-conspiracy-theories-warmed-up dept. Petrushka writes "In a press release today, with accompanying press FAQ, IBM announces a change in its relationship to the OpenOffice.org development community. The upshot is that they're making a long-term commitment to OOo; no organization has paid off any other organization for this; they're devoting about 35 of their developers in China to OOo; and they'll be contributing accessibility code from Lotus Notes to improve current support for assistive technologies. You may recall that an alleged shortage of assistive technologies that work with OOo has been one of the big criticisms leveled against the idea of governments standardizing on the OpenDocument format, which is a file format that OOo and several other office suites support."source : slashdot.org