Salesforce, the gold standard of cloud-based CRM, launched on Tuesday a new customer support application called Desk.com, which gives small and medium-sized businesses a "social help desk" designed so ultraconnected, smartphone-toting employees can appropriately connect with the ultraconnected, smartphone-toting customer.
Desk.com grew out of Salesforce's 50 million dollar acquisition of Assistly just five months ago. The Assistly application was notable because it took customer relationships on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter and then integrated them with "traditional" support channels such as e-mail and telephone, making social network relationships among the most important methods of communication for companies.
With the launch of Desk.com, Salesforce is emphasizing the importance of mobility as the next frontier of customer relationships. The Desk.com mobile interface is built with HTML5, so employees can use their iOS and Android devices as support interfaces with the same filters and response macros as their desktop client. They can also delegate, change groups, change status, change priority for support cases, and even modify customer information.
Desk.com's reports will be able to show how many cases customer service agents have opened, resolved, replied to, reassigned, or reopened irrespective of the agent's method of connection. This feature has not yet launched, but it is expected to arrive in the first quarter of 2012.
Desk.com is available now, with a $49 per agent/month fee for unlimited usage. Salesforce also offers a "flex pricing" scale for part-time employees for $1 per agent/hour. Reporting will incur an additional fee.
Piriform Software has released the first stable release of 
Users of MegaUpload may have a brief window to retrieve files from the site after the law firm representing the file sharing service says it is negotiating a solution with the US Government. While the primary function of the negotiations is likely to gather evidence so that MegaUpload's lawyers can build their defense, it is possible the general public may temporarily gain access to their accounts.
A week after 
Ahead of its official unveiling, 
When CyberMatrix released Clipboard Magic 4 it was one of the better clipboard managers around, effortlessly capturing every text item copied to your clipboard and retaining them in a list for easy re-use later.
We’ve reached the end of the first month of 2012 and this has been another busy week for software releases. If it seemed a little quiet on the browser updates recently, things changed this week with the release of 
If you are more interested in software than hardware, take a look at 
You can find plenty of bargains at 
World-famous microblogging service Twitter has changed its policies and will "reactively withhold" (read: censor) tweets deemed illegal or harmful in countries with laws concerning such things.
Normally it’s best to allow everyone their privacy when using a PC. But there may be occasional exceptions. You might legitimately be concerned about the content your kids are accessing online, for instance, or want to confirm that a work PC really is being used for work purposes;d 
Popular system cleanup and optimization tool CCleaner has been updated with a range of improvements and a smattering of new features. 
Putting information on the web is supposed to make it more convenient to access, but of course it doesn’t always work out that way. Especially if you’re accessing a site that is incredibly slow, for instance. Or you’re trying to download content that is spread all around the site, like multiple zip files, one each across many pages.
It's likely that most will expect domains belonging to popular web-based e-mail services are at the top of the list for the mountains of spam we receive everyday. That's not the case: the most common spam domains according to Chelmsford, Mass.-based security firm AVG are social networks.
There are a number of tools that computer users will install by default on their Mac or PC -- an email client, web browser, media player and an office suite. Make the move to a mobile platform such as iOS or Android and the range of apps you need changes slightly. Most phones and tablets will comes with a number of apps pre-installed including a calendar, messaging tool, web browser and various other tools. One thing that is generally left out of the mix is a mobile office suite.
Chris Boss is an advanced Windows API programmer and developer of 10 year-old 
Capturing what’s on your desktop can be as simple as hitting the Print Screen key and pasting the contents of the clipboard into an image editing app. But you’ll notice that it is not possible to capture everything; the cursor cannot be included in grabs and many dialogs disappear when Print Screen is pressed. 
Opponents of the Motion Picture Association of America are using the US Government's recently created "We The People" online petition service to force the Obama Administration to take a position on some controversial comments by former Conn. Senator-turned MPAA chief Chris Dodd to Fox News last Thursday.
Last month, in preparation for a panel, I was asked to put together a list of pros and cons with respect to using Big Data techniques in the context of information security technologies. While Big Data has benefits that span many security disciplines, it’s important to look at this from the perspective of what we call Advanced Malware Protection, which is the ability to discover, analyze and block advanced malware.
Zulfikar Ramzan is a chief scientist for 
When you’re thinking of files that you really should include in a backup, then saved games probably don’t rank highly on the list. But maybe they should. After all, in some cases your current game state will represent hours, days, maybe weeks of effort, and if for some reason this gets lost, will you really want to start again from the very beginning? (No. Didn’t think so.)
Want to download YouTube videos to your PC? The choices are endless, with 
If you’re not comfortable with the command line versions of Ping, Traceroute and other essential network tools, then there’s no shortage of GUI versions which offer a little extra convenience.
The phrase two heads are better than one didn't prove true for Research in Motion, which late today pushed aside its co-CEOs and replaced them with a single chief executive. It's a major shakeup that analysts called for more than a year ago. Out: Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie. In: Thorsten Heins, who assumes his new responsibilities starting tomorrow. RIM has scheduled an 8 am ET conference call. 
This has been another busy week for software releases, so it would not be surprising if some gems had escaped your attention. This is exactly why we put together these weekly roundups, bringing you a selection of the best software from the preceding seven days. If you’re a fan of software and trying out the latest and greatest titles, you’re undoubtedly going to be interested in ensuring that you have the latest versions of all your favorite programs installed. 
An Android developer is looking to provide a home for apps that are otherwise verboten on the Android Market. Independent software engineer Koushik Dutta is in the final stages of developing such an app repository, 
Even with a majority of wireless consumers not even using 4G technology yet, the wireless industry is already looking to next-generation technologies. The International Telecommunications Union this week awarded both LTE-Advanced and WiMAX-Advanced the "official" designation of IMT-Advanced.
For you Sherlock Holmes types out there, how would you like a case to crack?
As the internet pats itself on the back for protesting SOPA and changing the minds of a handful of U.S. Senators, file-sharing site Megaupload has been brought down in one of the largest copyright infringement cases of all time. 
Two months ago, 
Everyone needs some form of backup, but while successive versions of the Windows Backup Tool have undoubtedly got better, they’re still not quite as intuitive or as comprehensive as we’d like them to be.
Building your own portable working environment on a USB flash drive is undoubtedly convenient. Equip it with your favorite productivity software, browser, email client, graphics tools and games and it’ll always be ready for use on any nearby PC.
It is now over eight months since I first reported to you 
If you’d like to remotely restart or shut down a system on your network then Windows already provides some basic assistance. A command like shutdown /s /m \\hostname, say, will try to close down the named computer, and you can tweak precisely how this will work in many different ways (enter shutdown /? at a command line for the full list).
However, iPad's impact doesn't stop with the personal computer. It in some ways starts there. According to the report:
Another major breach is in the headlines. Zappos, an online shoe and apparel retailer owned by Amazon, disclosed Sunday night that more than 
Steven Sprague is CEO of 
Once you’ve finished working with a USB flash drive then it’s easy just to unplug it right away, but of course that’s usually not a good idea. If the Windows cache contains changes that haven’t yet been written to the drive then removing it may result in lost data, so it’s always best to eject the drive first.
ISO images have been a popular means of distributing software for a very long time, so it was good to see Windows 7 finally introduce a tool to burn them to disc.
Jan. 18, 2012 is designated SOPA blackout day, with prominent websites planning to go dark in protest of two bills working through Congress -- Stop Online Privacy Act and PROTECT IP Act (PIPA). If you've got a big school project due Thursday and plan on using Wikipedia, get your research done today. The community-based encyclopedia plans to go dark tomorrow, and it's not alone.
Data on up to 24 million customers of online shoe retailer Zappos was compromised according to an email sent by its CEO Tony Hsieh on Sunday. While Hsieh says that full credit card information is safe, hackers may have the last four digits of the cards.
I joined the 
If you want to view the created, accessed or last modified dates of a file from Explorer then that’s easy enough (right-click, select Properties).
We’re only just through the second week of January, but the number of software releases is just as fast as ever. There have been so many applications hitting the servers over the last seven days, we wouldn’t be surprised if you had missed some here and there. This is why we have put together this handy roundup to get you back up to speed.
Digiarty Software Inc has launched the first public beta of an 
While 
The chorus of opposition to Google's 
While there are a lot of claims made about how tablet computers such as the iPad could be used as complete replacement for desktop computers, there are a number of obstacles that get in the way of this. There are a number of mobile versions of well-known desktop applications available, but these tend to be far more limited than the software you are used to using and there is also the problem of transferring files between devices to bear in min. These are problems that 
As Opera has shown, mouse gestures can be a 
January is traditionally a tight month for finances after all of the expenses of Christmas, but it is also the time of year when there are great bargains to be grabbed. Head over to the Downloadcrew store and you’ll find all manner of great deals with huge savings to be made on big name software.
If you're writing apps for Android, or even thinking about it, Google has a new site for you: 
Microsoft now has licensing agreements with Android manufacturers covering 70 percent of all phones on the market following an agreement with LG over Android and Chrome OS announced Thursday. The Redmond, Wash.-based company has long maintained that "Android isn't free", and 
Network auditing software can be a great way to monitor what’s happening across your LAN. In just a click or two you can browse connected systems, look at key hardware details and check installed applications, without ever having to leave your own PC: very useful.
When it comes to your computer, security takes a number of forms. There is the threat of viruses and spyware to consider, the importance of securing accounts with strong passwords and there is also the security of your files to bear in mind. You might think that when you delete the files you no longer need they are gone forever, but there are a variety of tools can techniques that can be used to recover data that has been ‘removed’. 
Well, here's a strange 
If you’re looking for an alternative to Adobe Reader then there are plenty of tools available, each promising that they’ve the speed and feature set required to become your preferred PDF viewer.
Photo editing and manipulation tools are not exactly in short supply but those that get the balance between the number of features and ease of use are few and far between. Despite featuring an interface that is somewhat off-putting to start with, 
The latest Windows Search is, in theory, a hugely powerful tool that enables you to construct all kinds of complex and detailed searches. So as well as entering wildcards, you can modify your results by looking for particular file sizes, types, modification dates, content, and even, say, MP3 files tagged with a particular year, or photos taken on a certain date.
Apple’s 
EASEUS Software has launched 
Before buying Galaxy Nexus last month from Verizon, I considered holding out for Galaxy Note, after hearing confident rumors about AT&T bringing it stateside. The idea of sketching and taking notes on a smartphone appealed. Samsung had created something of a hybrid -- a cross between a smartphone and tablet. Then I saw a Samsung media player on display at Best Buy, with a similar size screen -- 5.3 inches. Galaxy Note is too big for me. Is it for you?
Your computer can reveal a great deal of information about you and if other people have access to your machine, it would be all too easy for this data to fall into the wrong hands. Simply deleting files you no longer need is not enough as there are numerous tools that can be used to restore anything that has been erased -- even from a drive that has been formatted. This is where 
As the technology industry gears up for its 
Technitium has released version 6.0 of its 
While the release of a new operating system is generally quite exciting, even computer users who are keen to have the latest and greatest version of Windows installed are filled with a slight sense of dread at the prospect of the installation. While the installation process for Windows 8 is one of the fastest and easiest yet, there is still the problem of having to install the apps you need and transferring all of your files. 
There are a number of Office compatible office suites to choose from in Apple's App Store, so anything that wants to stand out from the crowd needs to offer something special. After a brief appearance followed by a rapid vanishing act, 
One of the most overlooked components when choosing your next Windows PC is its keyboard. You get so caught up in making sure it’s fast enough, feature-packed enough and with enough storage to forget that something as fundamental as the keyboard could make it practically unusable.
It is important to keep your computer in good shape if you are going to get years of use from it and there are various techniques that can be used to ensure that you are getting the best possible performance from your hardware. While it is fairly easy to use the various tools that are built into Windows to keep your hard drive optimized, when it comes to the registry it is something of a different story. Windows includes a tool that can be used to edit the registry, but nothing that enables you to optimize it. This is precisely where 
Broadcom says it is using the platform of the Consumer Electronics Show next week to debut fifth generation wireless networking technology, dubbed 802.11ac. The wireless standard promises speeds of up to 1.3Gbps, which would make 802.11ac about three times as fast as 802.11n. It will also be about six times as power efficient, perfect for portable devices.
In a move that looks more like a clever ploy to attract bloggers and journalists to their booth at next week's Consumer Electronics Show than a product with any actual hope of success in the marketplace, Logitech on Thursday introduced the Cube. The rectangular shaped device is a mouse primarily, although it doubles as a presenter.
If you want to download a particular Linux distribution you could go online, run a quick search or two, and you’ll probably turn up the necessary links fairly quickly. But a portable Windows tool called 
Anyone who has worked with a dual monitor setup will be aware of just what a productivity boost the extra screen space can be. The ability to have more than one application visible in full screen mode enables you to view more information at any one time is incredibly useful and it something that everyone should try. But whether you have a couple of monitors sitting on your desk or not, 
First released back in 2006, AIMP’s lengthy feature list has helped to make it a popular free audio player. It has been out of the news for a while as the developers worked on the latest release, but they’ve finally finished, and now we can all sample 
Microsoft and Mozilla simply couldn't ask for a better situation. At a time when 
Four months after 
Whatever operating system you look at, it is fair to say that most people fall out of love with the default web browser pretty quickly. Windows users will find that they migrate away from Internet Explorer, while Mac owners are likely to adopt an alternative to Safari. The same is true for mobile platforms and when it comes to Android devices there is no shortage of web browsers to choose from. 
Open-source, cross-platform desktop publishing package 
With even some budget computers now arriving with 1TB of storage, and perhaps more, drive space isn’t generally much of an issue these days. But we still get annoyed when we see software become unnecessarily bloated, grabbing vast amounts of hard drive real estate for no good reason. It’s lazy, and even if you have plenty of hard drive space left, will still slow down your searches, virus scans, defrags, and any other whole-drive operations.
If you’re working on a PC in a crowded area, and need to move away for a moment, then the system can easily be locked simply by holding down the Windows key and pressing L. You’ll return to the login screen, and only someone who knows your user account password will be able to restore normal operations.
Understanding exactly which processes are listening for incoming network connections (and why) is an important part of monitoring your PC’s security. You can uncover this information with Windows alone (just enter netstat -anb at an elevated command window), but if you’d like the data to be displayed in a more intelligible way, and get plenty of assistance to help you figure out exactly what’s going on, then you’ll need something like 
Developers David Sansome and John Maguire have launched the first stable release of their cross-platform, open-source media player. 
Open-source defragging tool 
Chrome is an excellent browser, one of the best around, with plenty of essential functions and features.
While cloud storage may have taken off in a big way, most backup tools are yet to catch up: if you can save your target files to anything more than an FTP server then you’re probably very lucky.
Your desktop wallpaper may be something you don’t give much thought to, but whether you have chosen to stick with a stock image, or have adorned your desktop with a photograph of loved ones or a favorite place, this is an image you are going to be seeing on a daily basis. It is easy to become bored of constantly seeing the same image, and being bored is not a mood that is conducive to being productive, whatever you are meant to be doing. 
