Search engine giant Google stirred controversy over the weekend by its inability to clinch a deal with Groupon which provides online marketing services for local entrepreneurs. The supposedly expensive acquisition is being viewed by business analysts in two ways, specifically as an almost overpaid transaction or a mistake that could cost the company in terms of strategic business planning. The previous week, Google was engaged in negotiations with Groupon about price which reached US$5 billion. This information was disclosed by an official who was familiar with the dealings between the two companies which would have proved to be Google’s biggest ever.

Unfortunately, negotiations fell through by the end of the week. Analysts and investors say that with the enormous price that Google was willing to shell out for the two-year old company, there’s proof that young internet businesses are headed in the right track. Forrester Research business analyst Augie Ray says that prices for young online businesses are rising, especially for those that have recently started. Ray adds that prices are solely based on speculations made by fellow business analysts internally working for the companies involved.

Meanwhile, a New York venture capitalist Fred Wilson who served as an early financial supporter of social media starters Twitter and Foursquare, said over at a weekend post that investment in certain businesses have increased to an almost hyperactive level. Wilson adds that inventors are now splurging their money investing on young and hyperactive businesses which plan ahead and have big hopes and dreams for their company.

 The Apple iPhone has proven itself time and again with its host of diversified applications touching on all fields that are of consumer interest. And yet, Apple will not stop in coming up with new apps to dazzle and impress their legions of loyal followers. Their most recent innovation is an app developed for Australia which aims to limit an iPhone user’s exposure to the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays. The app also helps combat the earliest signs of skin cancer, making the app extremely popular with the medical crowd.

Contextualizing the invention of the app is the inherent climate in Australia which is mostly sunny. Currently, Australia is one of the countries with the highest incidences of skin cancer, witnessing over 1,850 in skin cancer deaths per annum. That number is even bigger than the number of deaths in the country that were caused by car-related accidents. Cancer Council Australia goes on to say that almost two out of three people in the country will be diagnosed with skin cancer by the time they age 70.

Cancer Council’s Sue Heward also shares they even found an increasing number of Australians who actually rely on the temperature they feel from the weather before deciding to apply sun screen on their body. Heat and temperature alone do not cause skin cancer. Rather, it is the ultraviolet rays that is the prime cause of the dreaded skin disease. Thus, Cancer Council decided to come up with a free iPhone application that will help iPhone users to detect dangerous levels of ultraviolet rays to help combat the occurrence of skin cancer.

Have you struggled with getting performance out of your audio card? Or maybe you have a computer that doesn’t have a sound card and you don’t know how to replace it. The good news is that the USB serial port on your computer can help you solve your computer audio problems when you use an external digital sound adapter.

Much like with USB video, USB audio solutions take the hassle out of digital media. You don’t need a sound card in order to listen to audio on your computer if you are using an external USB adapter — simply plug in your headphones and start listening! It also works as a port to connect a microphone to your computer, with many top models offering high-quality 5.1-channel stereo output.

If you are looking for an external USB audio adapter, a great choice is ByteRunner.com. They have all of the latest digital media equipment for your home entertainment needs. Get a great price on a USB IDE adapter or USB audio solutions. Check out all of their great deals at www.byterunner.com.

Aspen Tech, a leader in making software for the process industries, announced its financial results for the first fiscal quarter of 2010. Earnings were stronger than analysts expected. The company has relied on a subscription based model, similar to the one used by online games such as Everquest and World of Warcraft. A spokesperson for the company announced that Aspen Tech expected to see high single digit or double digit growth during fiscal year 2011.

Subscription models have been risky for software not related to the online gaming industry. The developers of the AspenOne suite have developed a model that lets businesses control cost by subscribing to a certain set of services in the product. Companies purchase ‘tokens’ which give them the rights to use the software for a set period of time. 

Microsoft has suggested a similar model for its Windows operating system and Word products, but faces stiff competition from free competitors, such as Linux and the popular OpenOffice suite, developed by Sun Microsystems. 

Aspen Tech’s subscription revenue increased from 4 million dollars to nearly six million dollars in the year since they changed from a more traditional business model to the subscription business. Aspen Tech focuses on the process industries, primarily oil, coal and natural gas.

According to one company spokesperson, the first quarter of each fiscal year is usually slower than the other quarters. Unexpected growth is both good news for the company itself and a sign that the process sector of the economy is starting to recover, even if other important sectors still are economically troubled.

Satellite tracking has been around ever since the American military and the Department of Defense began to use the global positioning system about two decades ago. With about 24 satellites (different from wireless communication satellites!) orbiting the earth, the number of applications that are possible with this system is mind-boggling.

Of course, all this was only possible once the Department of Defense allowed for the use of this system for civilian and commercial purposes. Apart from surveying, tectonics and map-making, geofencing is an important application that has helped the transportation industry to a large extent.

Since vehicle tracking is one large part of geofencing, one can track the position and time of any vehicle at any given time, thanks to the “eyes in the sky”. All one has to do is install a GPS receiver in the vehicle that doesn’t need any special technology knowledge on the user’s part.

While the transportation industry gets a huge boost from this system, not only are insurance rates lower for companies that have these real-time devices to their vehicles but the ability to optimize productivity using this system is the biggest advantage of them all.

Cell phone GPS tracking, even though it is less reliable than conventional GPR receiver units sold, has also become a large part of the technology that civilians can use to track their whereabouts through their cell phones.

One is thing is for certain: GPS technology is here to stay!

For most kids who played the first three versions of Duke Nukem (and who hasn’t?), it has indeed been a long wait as the release of its latest installment since the announcement of its release occurred in 1997.

And even though most of us might have grown up in the meanwhile, this series of the Duke Nukem game that has obtained critical praise as well as stirred up controversy due to its crude depiction of women has not been released yet due to going through a phase of ‘production hell’, if you will.

If that was not enough, 3D Realms and Take-Two Interactive, who claimed to have a stake in this game, filed lawsuits and after much haggling, decided to settle differences but it is still unknown as to who owns the rights to the game.

While spending ten years in the development of this game, the studio behind the game announced that it was shutting down in 2009, however, what will cheer DukeNukem fans around the world is that GearBox Software will finish the game while the publisher of the ‘Grand Theft Auto’ games; Take-Two Interactive will publish the game in 2011.

And while the fourth installment of the video game has already been unveiled at a gaming convention recently, it has been kept strictly in line with the earlier installments of the game to rave reviews from enthusiastic fans around the world.

Whether or not, Duke Nukem Forever will be released is anyone’s guess but is for sure is that if it does, fans (whether grown up or not) will yet get a chance to play the latest installment of the Duke Nukem series.

North Korea has recently updated it new site on Facebook posting rare videos and photos regarding the life of people inside the borders of the country. The North Koreans have posted pictures of people, who are very happy having picnics, and some of their parks and places to see in the country’s capital.

 Despite the fact that most people from North Korea have no internet connection, their website has already made almost 400 friends after they have uploaded some links, photos and videos of their country which can be rarely seen.

Some of the uploaded pictures contain people who look very happy and content with their lives in North Korea as well as people wearing their traditional clothes with a variety of colors and the beautiful landmarks and landscapes of Pyongyang.

 Most of the videos posted by the North Koreans were of the former South Korea leader Kim Jong II and its wall is flooded by government statements which were “liked” by a lot of people (symbolized by a thumbs-up icon).

 The North Koreans made a site which was recently deleted by the Facebook administrators because of the sensitive issues that were contained on the page. But recently, a new site for North Korea resurfaced under the profile name “uriminzokkiri” which stands for “with us Koreans” and then later changed to “urimzok”. They also created a Twitter account wherein they post their tweets with similar contents to that of their Facebook account. Currently, their tweets have approximately 11,000 followers.     

GPS tracking is truly a wonderful technological innovation that has numerous benefits. On installing a GPS tracking device the vehicle can be monitored quite easily. In addition to knowing the exact location of the vehicle the manager who is in charge of overseeing the day to day activities of the fleet can easily guide the driver of the vehicle with regard to the easiest and the most convenient route to be taken to reach the destination in the shortest possible time.

Satellite tracking helps the manager to see clearly if the route on which the driver has taken the vehicle is clear or is going through a traffic blockage. This not only reduces the time taken to get the vehicle across to the final destination sooner but also reduces the fuel consumption of the vehicle. Saving fuel literally translates in to saving money and when the number of vehicles belonging to the fleet of the company is large it is sheer logic to conclude that the amount of money saved on fuel from diffrenet vehicles is considerably large.

GPS fleet tracking is being embraced by many companies who have a large fleet of vehicle to be monitored. The financial benefits are definitely numerous but there are other equally important aspects of this particular tracking arrangement. The customer service turns out to be better because as a manager you are in a position to predict the exact time in which the customer can expect the vehicle to reach the premises.

While there are several tracking systems that are out there that claim to protect one from theft and loss, LoJack among others suffer a distinct disadvantage in comparison to GPS tracking. For one, with the opening of the United States military navigation systems (GPS) for the use of the general public, one has 24 satellites (normally three when running a search) at their disposal to provide accurate time and location of any asset or vehicle that is in transit.

However, another invention that has become popular with users who use GPS for personal service is Cell phone GPS tracking but most organizations that use it (as it is most economical) often end up replacing it with far more advanced GPS tracking systems in order to track their employees with greater accuracy who have no chance of tampering with the product.

When it comes to real time GPS vehicle tracking, the installation of a GPS unit and antenna will well and surely ensure that no such thing occurs, and times and locations of the vehicles in question are computed to perfection.

What could this mean for commercial purposes? This will result in employees doing their work efficiently while under constant vigilance and at another level altogether, is known to drop insurance rates by almost 35%, and which will obviously make a big difference for those in the service industry.

Developed by the International Organization for Standardization, the ISO 14000 belongs to a standard of certifications that focus mainly on the implementation and specifies the requirements of an environmental management system.

But before one gets into these specifics that not only has internal benefits (cost-wise) for the organization but also for their overall image in terms of the quality of their products or services, one must understand that ISO certification requires a lot of preparation and this means, hiring the best experts (read: consultants) there are to help you cover your bases in terms of the baseline and final assessment.

Again, the objective of obtaining this certification depends on what your overall company objectives are. What is meant by this is that some companies who already have an excellent reputation in the industry might desire to stay relevant by keeping their business processes compliant with the latest standards offered by ISO, or even want to penetrate a new market and thus need specific certifications such as the CE certification which, if accepted, will allow for one to offer their products in the European market in this case.

While documentation templates and online training is offered by consultants, there is no doubt that the standards involved are stringent, and require a lot of planning regardless of whether you are a medium or small-sized company.