ANKUR JAIN

Xie, a researcher for the Web Search and Mining group within Microsoft Research Asia, is working on technology called Photo2Search, which is designed to provide information on the go for users of camera phones.

Photo2Search works like this: Seeking information about something seen, a user takes a photo of the object and sends the photo, via e-mail or Multimedia Messaging Service, to a Web-based server, which searches an image database for matches. The server then delivers database information - whether it be a Web page featuring the object in the photo or information associated with the object - to the user, who can act on the information received: read a menu, enter a gallery, book a hotel room, make a purchase.

“As the old saying goes,” Xie says, “a picture is worth a thousand words.”

Maybe more, actually. Photo2Search gives users a way to search a Web-based database by using nothing more than an image captured by a cellphone equipped with a digital camera.

“This technology,” Xie says, “aims to solve the problem of mapping a physical-world object to a digital-world object. You see an object in the physical world, and you want to know the corresponding information in the digital world - for example, its price on the Web, user comments, or Web sites. There are many different solutions. You can use a bar code or radio-frequency identification. But using a picture of the object is very convenient and very easy to deploy.”

The easy part is the key. Camera phones are simple to use, but the process of text-based search on them is not. That realization provided the late-2004 genesis for Phone2Search.

“At that time,” Xie recalls, “the idea was very simple: Use a camera phone to do a Web search. This is very interesting, because inputting images is much more convenient than inputting text queries on a small device.”

Dymeta Inc., a small security firm claims to understand why Yahoo’s email is sometimes slow. An analysis of Yahoo Inc. mail servers found that they were only able to accept email about half the time on average, making it likely that email was taking longer than normal to deliver.

In testing 16 Yahoo mail servers they found on average that the servers were unable to accept email 45 percent of the time, and the number of available servers ranged from as low as four to as high as 12, Aaron Gillette, chief technician for the company, said.

In establishing a SMTP connection with Yahoo servers, the testing tool found that they were able to get a response only 55 percent of the time. The rest of the time, there was no response at all. SMTP, or simple mail transfer protocol, is the standard means for communications between mail servers on the Internet.

“We’re not saying that mail isn’t going to get through, but it’s likely to take longer than normal,” Gillette said. “Normally, when you send email from one account to another, you can expect it to be delivered in minutes. With the problems they’ve got, it could take hours or even days to get through, or it could be bounced back entirely.”
“As spam attacks continue to hit all e-mail services at unpredictable rates, Yahoo is constantly enhancing technologies and improving operations in order to deal with the load,” the statement said.

Dymeta conducted the analysis after receiving what it considered an unusual number of complaints from email administrators at a number of businesses. Dymeta embarked on the analysis out of curiosity and as an opportunity to test its new tool called Mail Server Profiler, Gillette said.

Yahoo, among the largest Web mail providers in the world, sending more messages per quarter than the U.S. Postal Service, Federal Express and the United Parcel Service combined in a year, declined a request for an interview. The company, however, did email a statement that blamed its problems on fighting spam.

The company posted its finding in its online publication Email Battles.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.will buy Flextronics Software Systems for around $900 million. Flextronics International Ltd. is world’s largest producer of electronics for other companies.

KKR is buying 85% of the Bangalore-based India unit of Flextronics and marks its presence in the region after it opened its office in Tokyo and Hong Kong last year. Flextronics is retaining a 15% stake in the business to operate as an independent software and solutions company.

KKR last year bought Agilent Technologies Inc.’s semiconductor unit, whose operations are mainly in Singapore. Palo Alto, California-based Agilent is the world’s biggest maker of scientific-testing equipment.

“Our investment in Flextronics’ software development and solutions business is an outstanding opportunity to create value in a high-growth sector,” Adam H. Clammer, a KKR executive said in the statement.

The Flextronics’ Indian unit was formerly Hughes Software Systems, based in New Delhi, before it was acquired. Flextronics Software has a center in Bangalore focusing on development of software for the Internet, accommodating about 600 employees. Flextronics’ Indian unit develops software for high-speed mobile phone networks and calls made over the Internet for Motorola Inc., Sun Microsystems Inc. and other companies.

Strategy

KKR hired Michael Marks, the chief executive officer of Flextronics to advise on Asia and technology investments, the firm said in a statement Dec. 7. KKR in October appointed Deryck Maughan, a former deputy chairman of Citigroup Inc., to supervise the buyout firm’s Asian investments.

Citigroup Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co. will arrange financing for the Flextronics purchase, the statement said.

Flextronics is seeking to raise more than $1 billion by selling its software, network services and semiconductor units, Chief Executive Officer Michael McNamara said in the statement. It expects to gain $175 million after taxes from this deal.Flextronics is “focusing our efforts and resources on our core electronics manufacturing services business,” the company said in an e-mailed statement today.