A system and method for tracking information in a business environment. The system uses a tree-view hierarchy whereby alerts and time triggers are set by the user and upon the triggering of an event, the visual attributes of the tree-view folders change to reflect the triggering event.

Methods of and systems for dynamically rearranging search results into hierarchically organized concept clusters are provided. A method of searching for and presenting content items as an arrangement of conceptual clusters to facilitate further search and navigation on a display-constrained device includes providing a set of content items and receiving incremental input to incrementally identify search terms for content items. Content items are selected and grouped into sets based on how the incremental input matches various metadata associated with the content items. The selected content items are grouped into explicit conceptual clusters and user-implied conceptual clusters based on metadata in common to the selected content items. The clustered content items are presented according to the conceptual clusters into which they are grouped.

This disclosure describes a technique for performing random access in a pool of polynucleotides by using one unique primer and one homopolymer primer to selectively amplify some but not all of the polynucleotides in the pool. The polynucleotides are synthesized by a template independent polymerase such as terminal deoxynucleotide transferase (TdT) rather than by phosphoramidite synthesis. Enzymatic synthesis efficiently creates homopolymer sequences through unregulated synthesis. Use of one homopolymer primer instead of two unique primers decreases the complexity, time, and cost of synthesizing the polynucleotides. Use of a unique primer provides a sequence that can be varied to uniquely identify multiple different groups of polynucleotides. This enables random access by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification while still benefitting from the efficiency of homopolymer synthesis. The polynucleotides may include payload regions that use a sequence of nucleotides to encode digital data.

Methods for creating an interactive gaming environment are provided. In various embodiments, methods of the present invention may include initializing an interactive game application at a game server which is then characterized as having an active status, notifying a lobby server concerning the active status of the game server, registering the application with a universe management server via the lobby server, and allowing users to join the interactive gaming environment. The users joining the interactive gaming environment may be identified by a server key obtained from the game server.

Methods of and systems for dynamically rearranging search results into hierarchically organized concept clusters are provided. A method of searching for and presenting content items as an arrangement of conceptual clusters to facilitate further search and navigation on a display-constrained device includes providing a set of content items and receiving incremental input to incrementally identify search terms for content items. Content items are selected and grouped into sets based on how the incremental input matches various metadata associated with the content items. The selected content items are grouped into explicit conceptual clusters and user-implied conceptual clusters based on metadata in common to the selected content items. The clustered content items are presented according to the conceptual clusters into which they are grouped.

Methods for creating an interactive gaming environment are provided. In various embodiments, methods of the present invention may include initializing an interactive game application at a game server which is then characterized as having an active status, notifying a lobby server concerning the active status of the game server, registering the application with a universe management server via the lobby server, and allowing users to join the interactive gaming environment. The users joining the interactive gaming environment may be identified by a server key obtained from the game server.

A system and method for dynamically retrieving, manipulating, updating, creating, and displaying data from sources of Extensible Markup Language (XML) documents. The program memory comprises system-user entered data definitions and business rules. The system imports XML document data into the system data definitions, processes the data using the business rules definitions and exports XML documents. The system can automatically create XML document formats from its data definitions and can automatically create its data definitions from XML document formats. The system-user can also define the mapping between XML document formats and the system data definitions. The system data definition is the combination of a Relational data model, an Object data model, and an XML data model.

A private network system operates over a public network to provide an asymmetric service to members with information from other members and non-members. The system includes central servers and databases connected via the public network to client systems of public network users. The users may be members who communicate with a private protocol or non-members who communicate with the public protocol. A process for the private service includes communication of information between users via the private service servers. The private service server implements the private service, which includes a viral engine for network deployment. Features of the viral engine include genetic algorithms, data mining, personalization, frictionless service setup, user maximization, and member-controlled privacy. A sample setup process and contact update wizard that include several viral engine features are described.

Discovering environment objects for information management in a networked environment. Information management provides services such as data protection, backup, retention, compliance, etc., by classifying the objects and/or infrastructure of an entity according to its value to the entity. Information management begins by discovering the data in a network and by discovering the servers and services operating in a network. The servers and services are discovered using adapters that can collect information regarding the environment objects. Objects can be discovered using cascaded discovery, where the information collected by one adapter is used to drive the collection of additional information by other adapters. This information can then by used by information management systems to assign or orchestrate various services.

A computer program for managing and manipulating archive zip files of a computer. The program includes a system and method for opening, creating, and modifying, and extracting zip archive files. The program is fully integrated into Microsoft Windows Explorer and is accessed via Explorer menus, toolbars, and/or drag and drop operations. An important feature of the program is the archive manager which may be used to open a zip file, create a new zip file, extract zip files, modify zip files, etc. The program is integrated into Microsoft Windows Explorer using the shell name space extension application program interface developed by Microsoft.