On Tuesday, Microsoft Corp. revealed its plans to soon initiate Web-based versions of some of its most popular office software including Word, Excel and PowerPoint, providing users with the ability to work with documents through a Web browser or mobile phone whenever the PC is not available.

These Web-based programs, which are described as "lightweight versions"of the Microsoft Office programs that are installed on PCs, actually have been initiated to over show Google.

Washington, Oct 29 : Online shopping can turn out to be more fun when you can try on new clothes on your own computerised image, all thanks to a new program that creates an accurate computerized image of a person’s body even when the subject is clothed.

Developed by Brown computer scientists, the new technology could be put to use in fashion, film, forensics, sports medicine, and video gaming.

The program can accurately estimate the human body''s shape from digital images or video.

“If you see a person wearing clothing, can the computer figure out what they look like underneath?” asked Michael Black, professor of the computer science at Brown.

London, Oct 29 : The number of text messages being sent by Britons continues to soar – with an average of 217m messages per day – according to a new report.

The numbers have significantly increased by more than 60 million text messages per day, compared to last year.

The report by Mobile Data Association revealed that Brit mobile phone users have been sending almost 1.5m picture and video-based text messages every day, which has increased by 20 per cent on the same period in 2007.

The Mobile Data Association tracked the volume and type of messages sent between July and September this year.

London, October 29: Microsoft researchers have developed a system called SideSight that can allow a mobile phone user to control a handset placed on a table by wiggling his/her fingers in the space around it.

The technology was unveiled last week at the User Interface in Software and Technology symposium in Monterey, California.

Alex Butler, a researcher from the Sensors and Devices Group at Microsoft Research Cambridge in the UK, has revealed that the system derives its exceptional ability from infrared sensors that can pick up the movement of fingers up to 10 centimetres away.

"The big advantage of our prototype is the finger does not block any of the screen space," New Scientist magazine quoted Butler as saying.

Washington, October 29: An expert at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign says that rapid digitising may ultimately lead to a “digital dark age”, where digital photographs will become unreadable to future computers.

Jerome P. McDonough, an assistant professor in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the university, says that the issue of a looming digital dark age originates from the mass of data spawned by the ever-growing information economy — including electronic records, tax files, e-mail, music and photos.

He is afraid that data produced with ever-shifting platforms and file formats may eventually fall into a black hole of inaccessibility.

US-based cell phone manufacturer Motorola has made announcement about the availability of its GPS-enabled MOTOMING A 1600 phone in the Indian market.

Packing a host of multimedia features, the newly launched handset offers navigational services and comes preloaded with landmarks of 30 cities.

The new model MOTOMING A 1600 features a transparent flip cover, 1 GB MicroSD card, an expandable memory capacity of up to 4 GB plus a 3.2 mega pixel camera.

The new phone also comes packed with some features of MapmyIndia.