Online and offline worlds merge

Google has launched a tool designed to make it easier for computer users to use online applications offline.

One of the key limitations of web services such as e-mail, word processing and calendars, is that they require a net connection to function.

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U.S. Navy Puts Rush on Wireless Network to Aid Sea Boarding

By ZACHARY M. PETERSON

A new wireless technology that bolsters a U.S. Navy boarding team’s ability to conduct interdiction operations at sea is being fast-tracked to the fleet.

The Expanded Maritime Interception Operations wireless system (EMIO) provides a link between Navy ships and boarding teams in maritime interdiction operations. The new system makes data more accessible and in less time. With the new technology, boarding teams can maintain contact with their parent ship during the entire boarding and inspection process.

For the first time, teams will be able to relay biometrics, fingerprints, scanned documents and digital photographs back to their home ships.

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Internet Routing to Branch Into Space

April 24, 2007 — The Internet, which has done well to connect distant places and people, is now branching out even further — into space.

This month, the U.S. military announced a project to test Internet routing on orbiting satellites.

IRIS (for "Internet Routing in Space") will allow different branches of the military, such as the Army, Navy and Air Force, to communicate with each other instantly and spontaneously. It could also spread to the civilian market to give users in remote locations broadband service where no other electronic communication exists.

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Reachback: New NATO Approved File Compression Software

NXPowerLite, the file compression software developed by British company Neuxpower Solutions Ltd, has received NATO accreditation after being successfully deployed by Headquarters Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (HQ ARRC) for a demanding military campaign in Afghanistan.

London, United Kingdom (PRWEB) April 18, 2007 -- NXPowerLite, the file compression software developed by British company Neuxpower Solutions Ltd, has received NATO accreditation after being successfully deployed by Headquarters Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (HQ ARRC) for a demanding military campaign in Afghanistan.

NXPowerLite radically reduces the size of Microsoft® Word, Excel® and PowerPoint® files in seconds -- with no discernible loss of quality -- making them easier to use, store and share. It achieves this by intelligently compressing the graphics and embedded documents contained within them. Files retain their original format and remain fully editable, so they can be opened and edited by anybody with a copy of Microsoft® Office. The recipient requires no special viewers or plug-ins and the files do not need to be decompressed before opening.

Typically, reports and briefings used in modern digital military HQs include many pictures, maps and graphics that result in file sizes easily exceeding several megabytes. Large files such as these would be difficult or impossible to email or share across the military networks available in Afghanistan, where network and communication capabilities are not to the same high standards enjoyed in Europe and elsewhere in the developed world. HQ ARRC therefore deployed NXPowerLite to help reduce the size of these files.

The usage of NXPowerLite during the nine month campaign was a huge success, to the extent that all staff now routinely optimize their files using NXPowerLite before delivery. Due to the success of NXPowerLite in Afghanistan, NATO accreditation for the usage of the software on all NATO systems has been gained -- thus ensuring its continued use once the ARRC returned to its peacetime location.

"NXPowerLite has proven itself to be a very effective and simple to use tool," commented Paul Jochimsen, Wing Commander RAF, SO1 Information Knowledge Management. "It has contributed to the minimizing of pressure on network overheads; ensuring optimal and rapid passage of information; reducing data backup overheads and as a result, provided a major contribution to increased staff tempo during a very demanding military campaign."

"Our staffs want to produce materials to the highest standard and do not wish to compromise on the quality of work produced. NXPowerLite has provided for us the bridge between the art of the possible and the ultimate user requirement. The software has been thoroughly tested under the most rigorous of operational circumstances and was never once found wanting."

NXPowerLiteTM costs just $45 per user, with discounts available for bulk licensing. It is available to purchase from http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/prweb/bs_prweb/storytext/prweb519283/22683197/SIG=10s7faij5/*http://www.nxpowerlite.com and all good software resellers. A fully functional trial version can be downloaded from the website.

The Telepresence Promise

Telepresence, simply put, is today’s videoconferencing on steroids. It turns out that videoconferencing reaches a new threshold of reality when the people you’re seeing are nearly life-sized, moving naturally (without that Max Headroom lag-time) and speaking with sound as clear as a CD.