The big Daddy of all dotcoms, Google.com announced that they had bought the Picnik.com. Picnik is a website that allows users to edit and store photos online. The site allows users to import photos from other services such as Picasa, Flickr, and Facebook.
In a blog post Picnik said it had 20 employees and receives millions of visitors a month. The financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
Brian Axe, Google product management director, said in a blog post “Until recently, you had to edit your photos using client software on your computer. Today, we’re excited to announce that Google has acquired Picnik, one of the first sites to bring photo editing to the cloud.”
Brian Axe said Google would not be “announcing any significant changes to Picnik today, though we’ll be working hard on integration and new features.”
Furthermore, on the blog post of Picnik it says, “Under the Google roof we’ll reach more people than ever before, impacting more lives and making more photos more awesome.”
“Google processes petabytes of data every day, and with their worldwide infrastructure and world-class team, it is truly the best home we could have found,” Picnik said.
Google’s purchase of Picnik comes about three weeks after the Internet giant bought Aardvark, a “social search” service that relies on a user’s contacts to provide answers to questions.
Google chief executive Eric Schmidt said in a conference call with analysts in January that the Mountain View, California, company planned to acquire about one company a month this year.
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Google Bought Picnik.com
You are Invited to Ask Question to NASA Astronauts via Twitter
Astronauts from outer space can now send steady stream of “tweets,” and NASA is inviting the public to ask questions to astronaut who are now in space via popular micro-blogging service the Twitter.
The US space agency said astronaut Mike Massimino at Mission Control in Houston, Texas, will relay questions submitted over the next few days to the crew of Endeavor.
They will be answered during a live 20-minute question-and-answer session beginning at 3:24 am (0824 GMT) on February 11 which will also be shown on the Web and on NASA Television, NASA said.
You can send your questions to astronaut Mike Massimino’s Twitter feed at @astro_Mike.
The Endeavor and its crew is scheduled to be off Sunday on a mission to the International Space Station, where two other astronauts, Timothy “TJ” Creamer, a NASA flight engineer, and Japan’s Soichi Noguchi, have been “tweeting” regularly.
The twitter accounts of two astronauts are @Astro_TJ for JJ Creamer’s and @Astro_Soichi for astronaut Soichi Noguchi.
Besides from the regular 140-character-or-less “tweets”, Noguchi has been using Twitpic to send spectacular pictures of Earth as seen from space, including views of Mount Kilimanjaro, Mount Fuji and other landmarks.
If remembered, TJ Creamer sent the first live “tweet” from space two weeks ago after getting a personal Web connection on the International Space Station.
Previous “tweets” from space were actually sent via email to the ground and support personnel posted them to Twitter accounts.
Photo Credit: imagechef.com
Philippine Team Wins Animation Award with Maskara
The Philippine Team won the Best Teamwork Award at the inaugural Autodesk Panorama Asia Pacific Animation Challenge and Animation Bootcamp 2009. The RP Team is comprised of Alejandro Karlo Zapanta, Albert B. Brisenio and James Jerome Raneses, all three students are from Ateneo de Naga University.
The lads from Ateneo de Naga University have showcased the Philippines’ talent for animation after several days of intense competition among 11 student teams from all over Asia. Team member Alejandro Karlo Zapanta says: “We were given the arena to demonstrate our talent in digital animation and also represent the Philippines in this competition.” With Autodesk software solutions such as Autodesk Maya which enabled them to bring their ideas and concepts to life, Ateneo de Naga University came up with their digital animation entry entitled Maskara.
The Autodesk Panorama Asia Pacific Animation Challenge and Animation Bootcamp 2009 aims to inspire and groom digital artists, and providing them with opportunities to acquire the skills and industry exposure they need to excel.
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US Astronaut Sends First Live ‘tweet’ From Outer Space
American astronaut Timothy “TJ” Creamer sends the first live tweet from the outer space on Friday, January 22, 2010. TJ Creamer, a NASA flight engineer, sent the Twitter message from his @Astro_TJ account after getting a personal Web connection on the International Space Station.
On his first live Tweet from space TJ Creamer wrote, “Hello Twitterverse! We r now LIVE tweeting from the International Space Station — the 1st live tweet from Space! 
More soon, send your ?s,”
The previous “tweets” from space were actually sent by astronauts by email to the ground and support personnel posted them to their Twitter account. The “tweet” sent by Creamer last Friday was actually the first “unassisted” Twitter message from space.
According to the US space agency, TJ Creamer was able to use Tweet directly because a software upgrade this week gave astronauts aboard the space station personal access to the Internet using what NASA called the “ultimate wireless connection.”
This upgraded communications system gives astronauts’ access to the Web and will provide them with “direct private communications to enhance their quality of life during long-duration missions,” NASA said.
Two other astronauts aboard the space station, commander Jeff Williams and Soichi Noguchi of Japan, also have a Twitter account at @NASA_Astronauts.
TESDA Official Website Hacked
Another government owned website was hacked yesterday to mock the automated poll for May, 2010 election. This is the 5th government website that was hacked since the attack last month which started with hacking of DOH official website. The hacker or hackers took on a bolder approach by leaving a message that seemed to mock the upcoming automated elections.
Hackers of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) Official Website leave a message that says, “Ano ba gagamitin sa Election? Blade server? Juniper Firewall (what is going to be used in the elections? Blade server? Juniper firewall)?”
The hacked Tesda Web site also showed a black and white illustration of a man giving the “dirty finger” supposedly directed against several “abusive” military and police units.
A pair of bulging eyeballs also followed the pointer anywhere on the page, and background music was also set up on the site’s second web page to which it automatically transfers.
Aside from the derisive reference to the May elections, message of sympathy to a slain communist rebel and a potshot against an alleged abusive police officer also replaced the original contents of the site.
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