Axis IP-based network cameras enable Mullingar Shopping Centre to take advantage of footfall data

Axis Communications, the global leader in the network video market1 enables leading Irish commercial property consultants, Mason, Owen & Lyons to provide its retail clients with accurate, real-time data about the number of people entering or exiting its premises to help gauge buying behavior.

Mason, Owen & Lyons has successfully piloted the Traffic Central™ People Counter at The Mullingar Shopping Centre, a new fully enclosed shopping mall located in Mullingar, Co. West Meath, Ireland. Traffic Central is a simple, network-enabled, real-time footfall counting system based on the Axis Communications range of network IP cameras and encoders.

The Mullingar Shopping Centre trialed a number of people counting solutions and Traffic Central outperformed the competition in terms of ease-of-use, accuracy and cost. The shopping centre subsequently installed the AXIS 209 Fixed Dome camera featuring the Traffic Central People Counter and will use the data to help identify shopping patterns and trends.

People counting or footfall analysis is a key metric used by the retail industry. By combining this data with other statistics such as sales figures and staffing levels, retailers can gauge how many visitors actually make a purchase and if their stores are adequately staffed. Marketing campaigns can also be evaluated for their effectiveness.

Traffic Central counts the movement of people entering and exiting the shopping centre. All processing takes place within the camera, combining the advantages of IP camera-based surveillance with the simplicity of traditional sensor technology. Traffic Central People Counter works with the AXIS 207, 209 and 212 network cameras, all of which are ideal for discreet indoor surveillance and offer excellent image quality in any lighting conditions.

Ruth Cody, director, Mason, Owen & Lyons, said: “Traffic Central outperformed competing solutions but most importantly offered accurate footfall figures. We now have an easy-to-use, plug and play solution that provides the shopping centre with invaluable data which will ultimately help our retailers increase their sales and ensure they offer the best shopping experience they can for their customers.”

Phil Doyle, managing director, Axis Communications added: “This solution takes intelligent video surveillance to a whole new level for the retail industry. It is a simple solution that offers accurate monitoring and provides information that will be extremely beneficial to the retailers. The image quality and flexibility offered by Axis’ network cameras means that data can be analyzed quickly and easily over the network.

The people counting solution used in Traffic Central was designed by Alpha Vision Design (AVD), providers of total solutions in video analytics. Niall Dorr, commercial director, AVD commented: “Traffic Central is simple to use and includes reporting software to view and evaluate the recorded data. People counting zones can be automatically set from one custom interface allowing users to control all zones from one location. Users can choose to receive automated daily, weekly or monthly summary reports. The scalable solution is quick and easy to install and can be deployed remotely on a LAN or WiFi network.”
visit: people counter

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Google Clarifies Their Chinese Censoring - Googleblog

Google users in China today struggle with a service that, to be blunt, isn't very good. Google.com appears to be down around 10% of the time. Even when users can reach it, the website is slow, and sometimes produces results that when clicked on, stall out the user's browser. Our Google News service is never available; Google Images is accessible only half the time. At Google we work hard to create a great experience for our users, and the level of service we've been able to provide in China is not something we're proud of.

This problem could only be resolved by creating a local presence, and this week we did so, by launching Google.cn, our website for the People's Republic of China. In order to do so, we have agreed to remove certain sensitive information from our search results. We know that many people are upset about this decision, and frankly, we understand their point of view. This wasn't an easy choice, but in the end, we believe the course of action we've chosen will prove to be the right one.

[via- www.gadioc.com]

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Google - Putting a stop to spyware - StopBadware.org

An new coalition aimed at fighting spyware and spyware pushers was announced today. The project called StopBadware.org is sponsored by Google, Lenovo and Sun Microsystems. The organizers include Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center, Oxford Internet Institute and Consumer Reports’ Webwatch. The term “badware” is defined on the site as:

a term we use to encompass the broad range of malicious software that is sneaking onto people’s computers, including spyware and deceptive adware. It can subvert your computer for the benefit for a third party, frustrate you with unwanted advertising, and even steal your most personal information.

The site includes a form to tell your spyware or badware horror stories and a form where users can report details about malware/badware. A draft copy of the software guidelines defining badware is available here.

[via- gadioc gadgets]

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Mozilla Firefox 2 Roadmap

If you are enjoying browsing with your latest version of Firefox 1.5, then Firefox 2 roadmap will give you an insight for what lies ahead...

Mozilla.org has released the Firefox Roadmap 2. And it says "Firefox 2 will be based on continued development of the Gecko 1.8 branch created for Firefox 1.5. The goal is that Firefox 1.5 and 2 are compatible from a web developer's point of view." Firefox 2 final release is expected around late Q2 /early Q3 2006.

Firefox 2 Feature List Brainstorming is the place for feature planning and discussion in the Mozilla Wiki. It aims to create a single index that lists what sorts of things people are thinking of doing, with links to more detailed ideas about implementation specifics or concerns.

Ben Goodger, who is the lead engineer for Mozilla Firefox and runs the Inside Firefox blog reveals more features and -

"From a development point of view, the idea of Firefox 2 is to deliver significant user experience enhancements on top of a relatively stable rendering engine as significant retooling is done on the main development trunk for what will become Firefox 3, and deliver them in a timely fashion. By being deliberately cautious with our goals for the rendering engine, we hope to avoid long cycles of shake and bake that delayed Firefox 1.5 (which had more substantial Gecko changes than user interface changes)."

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Open federation for Google Talk

Google announced open federation for the Google Talk service. What does that mean, you might be wondering. No, it has nothing to do with Star Trek. "Open federation" is technical jargon for when people on different services can talk to each other. For example, email is a federated system. You might have a .edu address and I have a Gmail address, but you and I can still exchange email. The same for the phone: there's nothing that prevents Cingular users from talking to Sprint users.

Unfortunately, this is not the case with many IM and Internet voice calling services today. You can only talk to people on the particular service you have an account on (so you need an account on every service to talk to everybody, which is pretty cumbersome). With open federation, you get to choose your service provider and you can talk to people on any other federated service (and vice versa).

In addition to the Google Talk service, many other companies, universities, and corporations support open federation today. This means you can now talk to millions of users around the world all with a single account on the service provider of your choice.

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Google Mobile Personalized Home >> googleblog

Anyone who's ever tried to browse the web on their cell phone knows that it isn't always the best user experience. That's why I'm excited to tell you about Google Mobile Personalized Home. We've designed a way for you to view the things that you really care about, from your Gmail inbox to news headlines, weather, stock quotes, and feeds (Atom or RSS). The interface is optimized for small screens, and we've arranged things so you don't have to click on a bunch of links to locate what you're after -– your personalized content appears on top, right where it should be. Give it a try, and let us know how you like it.
[Read]

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Google Earth in a Mac world (PC too) ->> GoogleBlog

Google final release of Google Earth:

We feel like proud parents around here. Our eldest, Google Earth for the PC, is officially leaving beta status today, and we couldn't be more pleased. For those of you who downloaded early, upgrade to the latest and discover Google Earth all over again.

And we have a brand new member of the family -- Google Earth for Macintosh. We're happy to finally have some good news for the, ahem, vocal Mac enthusiasts we've been hearing from. Let's just say that we have gotten more than a few "requests" for a Mac version of Google Earth.

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Useful links:
Gadget Blog
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Google launches software Starter Kit-GooglePack

Google Inc. is distributing a free software startup kit designed to make computing safer and easier — a generous gesture driven by the company’s desire to steer technology offline as well as online. The software bundle, unveiled Friday in Las Vegas during a speech by Google co-founder Larry Page, represents the Internet search engine leader’s latest jab at industry kingpin Microsoft Corp.

The suite of programs is designed to make it easier to install and maintain basic applications that have helped turn the PC into a hub of information, entertainment and communications. With the initiative, Google is setting out to prove that it is better positioned to help people get the most out of their computers than more-established software makers, particularly Microsoft — the maker of the pervasive Windows operating system.

Six of the programs in the package are owned by Google, which had previously offered all but one on a piecemeal basis. A screensaver that automatically displays pictures stored on a personal computer is being introduced for the first time as part of the “Google Pack.”

[ Read] [via-Gadioc]

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A year of Google blogging from googleblog

From Google Blog :
This is the 201st post to be published on the Google Blog in 2005. In closing out the first full year of our company-wide effort to share news and views, we thought you might be interested in a few factoids. Since we've had Google Analytics running on this blog since June, some of these numbers reflect only half a year. In that time, 4.3 million unique visitors have generated 8.7 million pageviews. Readers have come from all over the world, not just English-speaking countries: 53,001 visitors from Turkey have stopped by, for example; so have 155,691 from France, 29,614 from Thailand and 8,233 from Peru.

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Hope your week filled with silliness->>googleblog

MarkL said he noticed lots of people staying late a few nights ago in his workgroup at Google. I was wondering just what they were working on. The Official Google blog might just provide some answers. Heh!

Sounds like they are gonna play some pranks on someone. I am glad I’m not the one who comes back to work to find 250 lbs of Silly Putty in my office!

A friend, though, once told me about a prank he was involved in. They filled some exec’s office with, if I remember right, ping pong balls. All the way to the ceiling.

Well, hope your week is filled with silliness!

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