Abstract: A personal assistant operation is provided for teaching a personal assistant device names preferred by the user for sensor activated devices. For this purpose, a method includes the personal assistant device receiving a request from a user to activate a requested device which the user has identified with a requested name which is unrecognized by the personal assistant device, determining a most likely candidate device from a list of candidate devices to activate in response to the request, activating the determined most likely candidate device, and identifying and saving the requested name as the name of the most likely candidate device in response to receiving confirmation from the user that the determined most likely candidate device is the requested device.

Abstract: A personal assistant operation is provided for teaching a personal assistant device names preferred by the user for sensor activated devices. For this purpose, a method includes the personal assistant device receiving a request from a user to activate a requested device which the user has identified with a requested name which is unrecognized by the personal assistant device, determining a most likely candidate device from a list of candidate devices to activate in response to the request, activating the determined most likely candidate device, and identifying and saving the requested name as the name of the most likely candidate device in response to receiving confirmation from the user that the determined most likely candidate device is the requested device.

Abstract: A distributed data processing system provides a virtual workplace environment. The virtual workplace environment may be a three-dimensional model of an office, a conference room, or an entire office building complex. Participants are represented by three-dimensional avatars, which move within the virtual environment. Participants may also share data within the virtual environment. Two-dimensional data may be projected onto the surface of a three-dimensional object within the environment, such as a wall. Three-dimensional data may be rendered within the environment for the participants to inspect.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for documenting for tax purposes a contribution of a remotely accessed computing resource (such as a CPU resource) on a donor system that is allocated by an owner of the resource to one or more recipient organizations. A central management organization (CMO) receives a selection by the owner of the resource of one or more recipient organizations to which to allocate the computing resource, and transmits to the donor system work of the recipient organizations to be performed on the donor system using the allocated computing resource. The CMO receives the results of the work from the donor system and forwards them to the recipient organizations. The CMO records usage of the allocated computing resource on the donor system by each of the recipient organizations and generates a tax receipt documenting the recorded usage of the allocated computing resource on the donor system.

Abstract: A method for blocking and/or filtering electronic mail. Selected senders are provided with a valid passcode associated with an e-mail address. When an e-mail is received at a mail server node, a field in a header of the e-mail is checked for a valid passcode associated with the destination e-mail address. If a valid passcode is detected, the e-mail is automatically sent to a receiver at the e-mail address. If an incorrect passcode is detected, the e-mail is automatically deleted at the server node and does not reach the receiver. If there is no passcode in the e-mail header, the e-mail is held temporarily, until the receiver approves to receive the e-mail. If the receiver rejects the e-mail, the e-mail is deleted. The present invention includes an additional capability for the senders of e-mails to request a passcode associated with a specific e-mail address in a lookup directory, before sending an e-mail to that address.