Gregarius » BetaNews.Com » décembre 20, 2012

BetaNews.Com (15 non lus)

Red Hat acquires ManageIQ

Publié: décembre 20, 2012, 11:27pm CET par Joe Wilcox
Concurrent with third-quarter earning results late this afternoon, Red Hat announced plans to acquire ManageIQ, an enterprise cloud provider. The all-cash deal is for $104 million. Red Hat is uniquely positioned, opportunity and risk, for enterprise server consolidation and transition to private clouds -- for which virtualization is a linchpin technology. The Raleigh, N.C.-based company plans to expand its own capabilities by fitting ManageIQ's monitoring and management tools onto existing solutions.

Red Hat's acquisition rides the cusp of a trend. Last month, IDC forecast big cloud-related mergers for 2013 -- totaling $25 billion over 20 months. The analyst firm sees three converging trends vertically related. "The IT industry as a whole is moving toward the mobile/social/cloud/big data world of the 3rd Platform much more quickly than many realize: from 2013 through 2020, these technologies will drive around 90 percent of all the growth in the IT market," Frank Gens, IDC chief analyst, says. "Companies that are not putting 80 percent or more of their competitive energy into this new market will be trapped in the legacy portion of the market, growing even slower than global GDP.

What IDC calls "smart mobile devices" -- ereaders, smartphones and tablets -- will drive IT spending next year. The analyst firm expects IT spending to reach $2.1 trillion, with smart mobile devices accounting for 57 percent of growth. The cloud, which provides anytime, anywhere access, is the glue binding together these gadgets, data and users. For many businesses, building and managing private clouds will be crucial, and many organizations will marry this infrastructure to public clouds. That's where Red Hat and ManageIQ fit in.

In its announcement Red Hat identifies three areas where the acquisition matters:
- Red Hat CloudForms: a hybrid cloud Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) solution that enables the management, brokering, and aggregation of capacity across various virtualization and cloud providers as well as the management of applications across hybrid clouds.
- Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization: a comprehensive virtualization management solution that is an ideal virtualization substrate for organizations to build cloud environments in terms of performance, security and value.
- ManageIQ's Hybrid Cloud Operations Management Tools: a cloud operations management solution that provides enterprises operational management tools including monitoring, chargeback, governance, and orchestration across virtual and cloud infrastructure such as Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft and VMware.
Unsurprisingly, Paul Cormier, Red Hat's chief of Products and Technologies, is enthusiastic about his company's approach. "Industry and customer response to Red Hat's vision for the open hybrid cloud has been overwhelmingly positive because it offers the best of both worlds: the ability to tap into the public cloud when and where it makes sense, while leveraging existing investments for cloud infrastructure", he says. "For enterprise cloud initiatives, effective cloud management is critical. ManageIQ offers robust features, including orchestration, policy, workflow, monitoring and chargeback, that deepen Red Hat’s cloud management capabilities and bring the promise of open hybrid cloud a step closer for the industry".

For third quarter, ended November 30, Red Hat revenue reached $343.6 million, up 18 percent year over year. Subscription revenue, totaling $294.2 million, made up the majority.

"Since October of last year we have completed three acquisitions, and are announcing a fourth today to expand our portfolio of open-source solutions and enlarge our addressable market", Jim Whitehurst, Red Hat CEO, says "As our enterprise customers move to open, hybrid cloud architectures, we are addressing their needs with a clear roadmap based on industry-leading open source technologies".

Photo Credit: Andy Dean Photography/Shutterstock
F.lux soothes the eyes by adjusting monitor color temperature

Publié: décembre 20, 2012, 10:38pm CET par Mike Williams

If your eyes often feel tired after a lengthy session on your PC then one possible explanation is that your display isn’t using an appropriate color temperature. Monitors will be typically be set very high, which may be fine in bright daylight, but is less appropriate for night-time viewing (and may, some suggest, even contribute to sleeping problems).

You don’t have to put up with this, though. Not with a little help from F.lux, a simple free program which uses your location, the date and time of day to figure out your sunrise and sunset times, then automatically adjusts your monitor’s temperature to an appropriate level.

What does this mean? We weren’t quite sure, but it’s surprisingly easy to find out. Just launch F.lux, click the icon representing the sun, and the program will cycle through its various stage: a high color temperature for a blue brightness during the day, changing to a softer yellow-orange glow at night.

At first this will look far too drastic, but that’s because you’re viewing it all at once, and at the same time of day. In real life the results are far more acceptable, and there’s a good chance that your eyes will not only adjust, but that you’ll find the new scheme much more comfortable for lengthy PC viewing.

If you’re not happy with the effect, though, clicking “Change Settings” allows you to customize it in various ways. You can set your location more precisely, for instance; define exactly which color temperature you’d like to use for day and night work; and choose how quickly the program shifts from one temperature to another. (By default this is drastically quick -- we’d recommend you choose the “Slow” option.)

F.lux won’t be for everyone. If your ambient lighting doesn’t change much (you’re in an office with no windows, say), you’ll probably be better off setting your monitor color temperature to an appropriate level, and leaving it there. And if you regularly do design work where you need 100-percent color accuracy and consistency, then having them change like this probably won’t be helpful. (Although the program does include a “Disable” option for when you need to do color-critical work.)

If your lighting is a little more variable, though, and your PC is used mostly for browsing, email and similar tasks, then F.lux could prove a simple and straightforward way to ensure your monitor is always at its most appropriate, comfortable-to-read settings.

Photo Credit: Kheng Guan Toh/Shutterstock
Steam for Linux beta goes public for Ubuntu users

Publié: décembre 20, 2012, 9:43pm CET par Tim Conneally

Valve Corporation's popular multiplayer gaming ecosystem Steam has officially hit public beta on Linux, specifically for all users of Ubuntu 12.04.

In November, Valve's Linux team launched Steam for Linux in private beta for about a thousand users, and it included support for approximately 25 games. That number now has grown to almost 40, but with the exception of Team Fortress 2, most titles come from indie developers. Steam's most popular titles like Half-Life 2, BioShock, Portal 2, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, all of which are now several years old, are still missing on Linux, and will likely remain so.

Major gaming companies like id Software have been known to open source binaries of their games, but provide no official Linux support. After two attempts to break the Linux market commercially (most recently with Quake Live) id Software has no plans to bring its games to Linux.

At QuakeCon this year, id Software founder John Carmack said:

"There just aren't that many people that are interested in paying for a game on the platform, and that just seems to be the reality. Valve will probably pull a bunch more people there. I know absolutely nothing about any Valve plans for console...Steambox stuff on there, I can speculate without violating anything...One thing that speaks to the favor of Linux and potential open source things is that the integrated graphics parts are getting better and better and they really are good enough now. Intel's latest integrated graphics parts are good. The drivers still have issues, they're still certainly not going to blow away somebody's top-of-the-line SLI system, but they are completely competent parts that are delivering pretty good performance..."

Linux might not be the best avenue for profit seekers, but game company THQ showed there's a more socially conscious angle to the Linux gamer.

THQ president Jason Rubin recently said the company "got the Linux message loud and clear" with the successful release of its pay-what-you-want Humble Bundle. In it, users could pay whatever amount they wanted to charity (or to THQ) for a pack of six games. After raising more than $5 million in the project, Rubin said THQ is "evaluating cost/benefit" of Linux development.

Steam for Linux can be downloaded from Valve today.
Archos releases Video Player for Android

Publié: décembre 20, 2012, 8:15pm CET par Tim Conneally

French consumer electronics company Archos provides Android devices for heavy digital media consumers, including huge storage, broad format support, and unique applications for management and consumption. Today, Archos made its formerly exclusive Video Player app available to all Android 4.0+ devices in Google Play.

The application is exactly what you'd expect from Archos: serious media consumption. The app features hardware accelerated decoding for videos stored anywhere in your home network (locally, or remotely accessible via SMB and UPnP) or attached via a USB storage device. Archos says users who experience any issues with video hardware decoding can force software decoding in the settings menu, opening up accessibility further.

Detailed movie and TV episode information including a cover image is retrieved automatically for all your files, and TV episodes are automatically nested via episode and season.

For foreign language media, Archos Video Player has a built-in subtitle downloader. The software also includes multi-device pause/resume functionality, and it includes keyboard and remote support for Android devices hooked into your TV.

Archos Video Player for Android 4.0+ is available for $4.99 in Google Play immediately.
Microsoft finally understands how much we love irony

Publié: décembre 20, 2012, 7:20pm CET par Alan Buckingham

It took an ancient, nearly obliterated society and a looming apocolypse, but perhaps Microsoft is finally starting to get it. The company, once the dominant force in the web browser market after wiping out Netscape, is starting to get its act back together. Between ancient forces and challenges from Firefox and Chrome, the company has started to understand human nature. We may not believe the world will end tomorrow and we may not believe Internet Explorer 10 is actually good, but we can all agree that we love irony.

To that end, the Redmond, Wash,-based company has been on a roll of sorts recently. It launched a website with the ironic name "browser you loved to hate" and even launched a video depicting an IE-hater in action. Now the new kinder, gentler Microsoft meets tomorrow's impending doom with a bit more humor.

The company launched two image ads for Internet Explorer 10 using the hashtag #themayanswereright. You can search for it on Twitter and, unlike Microsoft's previous Twitter campaign -- #DroidRage -- this one appears to be doing pretty well, or at least not failing badly.

Sure the ads may not get a huge amount of traction, but at least these things indicate that Microsoft may finally be starting to get it after years of being called words like "stodgy" and, in many cases, much worse. As the saying goes, "if you can't laugh at yourself, life's gonna seem a whole lot longer than you like." At least in this case I don't have to use the one about old dogs and new tricks.

Editor: And if the world ends tomorrow, Microsoft will have the satisfaction of being right. Not that anyone will be around to appreciate it.
Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note II Developer Edition arrives too late

Publié: décembre 20, 2012, 6:30pm CET par Mihaita Bamburic

When Verizon Wireless introduced the Samsung Galaxy Note II, the handset shipped with a fairly restrictive modding setup. It could not be rooted early on and there was also the problem of a tightly locked bootloader, both of which are now sorted out. But after the major obstacles are gone the big red Galaxy Note II Developer Edition surfaces with, you guessed it, an unlocked bootloader. But is it worth it?

The Galaxy Note II Developer Edition comes with the same impressive specifications as the standard version. The smartphone features a 5.5-inch Super AMOLED display, 1.6GHz quad-core processor backed by 2GB of RAM and a whopping 3,100 mAh battery. The 16GB of internal storage as well as the microSD card slot are carried over, just like Android 4.1 Jelly Bean with TouchWiz running on top. Fairly straightfoward, except the unlocked bootloader.

The Developer Edition does come with the coveted functionality, but the standard version can also tout an unlockable bootloader thanks to the efforts of the modding community. Then there's the issue of warranty.

Samsung claims a one-year warranty for the handset but that seems like an overstatement when for the Galaxy S III Developer Editon the very same South Korean manufacturer clearly specifies "30 Days or until the handset has been altered by the installation of custom operating system software or other alterations to factory settings by the user, whichever period is shorter". I can only assume that someone did not adapt the warranty info for the special model.

There is no pricing information available at the time of writing this article, but there's no need to look further than the Galaxy S III Developer Edition. It starts at $599.99 for the 16GB version, which is the same price as when purchased off-contract from Verizon. Off-contract the Galaxy Note II runs for $699.99 and it's not far fetched to assume that the adjacent Developer Edition shares the same price tag.

Basically in the modder-friendly, special, trim the Galaxy Note II makes little to no sense -- it arrives too late and it might just be too expensive for its own sake.
Flipboard comes to Android tablets

Publié: décembre 20, 2012, 6:17pm CET par Joe Wilcox

I don't much like Flipboard, popular as the app/service may be. But if you do and have a 10-inch Android tablet, there's a new version. It is specifically designed for all screen sizes, although users of 7-inchers could easily get by with the phone app. Now they can expect more, and I admit Flipboard is even prettier on Nexus 7.

But the service isn't customizable enough for my tastes. Sure, you can add more channels, but Flipboard controls sources for the major ones. Your control comes from adding more personalized channels like Google News or your social networks. Also, I find apps like Feedly, or even Google Currents 2.0, to be more visually appealing. Hey, that's just my tastes; I'm not a member of the Flipboard fan club, big as it might be.

"Like the smartphone edition, Flipboard’s Android tablet edition was made for a specific form factor", according to the Flipboard Team. "There’s still the widget for quick access to Flipboard and the ability to share to other apps, but page layouts adapt to a larger variety of screen sizes and aspect ratios. On 10-inch devices, readers can fit more tiles on their Flipboard, making it easier to quickly get to favorite content".

I briefly tested Flipboard for Android on Nexus 10, where there is generous white space and apparent support for the super high-resolution display. If you have the tablet and love Flipboard, enjoy the bragging rights around iPad 3 or 4 friends. (Can you call them that if you love Google's platform and they use iOS?)

Early user response on Google Play is quite positive. Patrick Domenig, who has Nexus 10, gives the app five stars: "Thank you sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much for the tablet version!" Jim Bolla: "Within 10 minutes of use, this experience trumps the official Google Reader, Facebook and Twitter apps". I can't disagree.

Richard carnes "really like[s] this on my Nexus 7, just wish they had a comments section". Flipboard arrived first on iOS, and for many people it is one of the killer apps. For some Android users, tablet arrival means big changes. Andy Rhine: "Now I can sell my iPad".

I promise to give Flipboard another chance. But I don't mind, even prefer, going to different apps specifically designed for their services, rather than pulling all content into one place. I much prefer Google+ or YouTube apps to what Flipboard gives me, for example. And you?
2013 will be the year of 4G

Publié: décembre 20, 2012, 4:48pm CET par Joe Wilcox

Here's another reason for me to gripe that Google Nexus 4 isn't LTE, despite colleague Mihaita Bamburic insisting it doesn't matter: Strategy analytics predicts that LTE smartphone shipments will reach 275 million units next year. That's triple the number shipped in 2012.

"It is clear that 2013 will be the year of 4G", Neil Mawston, the firm's executive director, says. Still, based on combined analyst forecasts, LTE would only account for about one-quarter of all smartphones shipped.

"Major countries driving LTE growth next year will include the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, China and South Korea", Neil Shah, Strategy Analytics senior analyst, says. "Multiple operators, such as Verizon Wireless, Everything Everywhere and NTT Docomo, are aggressively expanding their LTE networks. Key vendors leading the push into LTE smartphones will include Apple, Samsung, LG, Nokia, HTC, Motorola, Blackberry, Huawei, ZTE and Pantech. Popular LTE smartphone models will include Apple’s iPhone 5 and Samsung’s Galaxy S3".

In most geographies, HSPA+ will still be the best smartphone owners can expect. All major US carriers are rolling out LTE networks, with Sprint and T-Mobile playing catch up to AT&T and Verizon. Sprint ends the year with LTE available in 49 markets, AT&T in 125 and Verizon in 440.

Does LTE matter enough to you to determine your next smartphone purchase?

Photo Credit: Sashkin/Shutterstock
VirtualBox 4.2.6 delivers many fixes

Publié: décembre 20, 2012, 3:05pm CET par Mike Williams

Oracle has announced the release of VirtualBox 4.2.6, the latest edition of its powerful cross-platform virtualization tool.

This is a maintenance release, and so looks more or less unchanged. But the build does include plenty of welcome bug fixes and other small improvements.

VBoxManage now properly converts disks from raw images, for instance. It improves media handling, supports new metrics for "network rate" and "disk usage", and includes fixes to ensure other metrics are now properly handled.

An El Torito BIOS fix should help when you need to boot VMs from a CD.

Windows Additions has been tweaked to work better with Windows 8 and Windows 2000.

And there are multiple fixes to improve reliability and ensure the program works as you expect. So you can now terminate a VM even if VBoxSvc has crashed, for instance. And Windows Additions won’t fail just because the shared folders host service isn’t available.

If you need to know more, then the full list of fixes and improvements is available in the official Changelog entry.

Otherwise, Windows, Mac and Linux builds of VirtualBox 4.2.6 are available now.
COMODO Internet Security Premium 2013 sports radical new interface, improved sandboxing, lighter footprint

Publié: décembre 20, 2012, 1:03pm CET par Nick Peers

UK software developer Comodo Group has launched the 2013 range -- version 6.0 -- of its free internet security products. COMODO Internet Security Premium 2013, COMODO AntiVirus 2013 and COMODO Firewall 2013 all debut a brand new, radically revamped and simplified user interface, plus come with the promise of being the lightest, fastest version of COMODO’s security tool yet.

The latest build also improves virtualization technology for running applications in their own sandbox, while COMODO Internet Security also ships with a number of new integrated products, including Autorun Analyzer and COMODO Cleaning Essentials.

COMODO Internet Security 2013 debuts a completely redesigned user interface that’s both touchscreen friendly and task-oriented, built from scratch to appeal to novices as well as advanced users, with high-visible signposts to suggested actions like updating and scanning, plus user-friendly buttons for quick access to various parts of the program.

The user interface also comes with a new drag-and-drop area where users can quickly drag files for scanning or programs for sandboxing. There’s a brand new Tasks Manager, customizable taskbar and new desktop widget for quick status updates and easy access to various parts of the program.

The program also features new functionality, from offline virus database update functionality by importing virus databases to file rating scans and a rescue disk tool. COMODO’s diagnostic tool is also capable of repairing itself by downloading missing files from the internet.

In addition to these changes, COMODO Internet Security also comes with integrated functionality from four other products: first, Autorun Analyzer scans the startup routine and rates programs with threat ratings, allowing users to disable and remove startup services and programs.

Virtual Kiosk is the new sandboxing environment that allows programs and browsers to run in their own, isolated virtual environments, protecting the main PC from any changes that might occur. It also features a virtual keyboard for securely entering data without worry of keyloggers. Advanced users can configure the tool to automatically run unknown applications in the sandbox for greater security.

The third tool is COMODO KillSwitch, a tool for quickly identifying, monitoring and killing processes. The tools are rounded off by COMODO Cleaning Essentials, a portable application also available separately offering second-opinion scans on demand.

Despite the radical overhaul, COMODO claims that the 2013 builds are the fastest yet, lighter on system resources than any previous COMODO security release. The initial releases are currently limited to just four languages -- English, Chinese, Turkish and Russian -- but other languages will be rolled out as they’re made available.

Existing COMODO users will be invited to upgrade to the 2013 release over the next few weeks, but you can jump to the head of the queue and download the latest versions now from the following links: COMODO Internet Security Premium 2013, COMODO AntiVirus 2013 and COMODO Firewall 2013.

All three COMODO security products are freeware downloads for PCs running Windows XP through to Windows 8.
Track your entire family’s medical history with HeyDoc!

Publié: décembre 20, 2012, 12:51pm CET par Mike Williams

Keeping track of your medical history is no easy task (there’s just so much to record), which is probably why many people simply don’t bother. And most of the time that probably won’t matter, as your doctor should maintain all the key details for access whenever necessary.

If you’re changing doctors, though, or seeing a specialist, or need to monitor a particular condition, then it can be very useful to maintain records of your own. And the free HeyDoc! makes this much more straightforward than you might expect.

The program starts by asking you to create one or more new profiles. Add one for yourself, then others for anyone else whose history you’d like to track (your entire family, perhaps). Attach a photo to each profile, and you’re ready to begin adding details.

Explore the links in HeyDoc!’s left-hand sidebar and you’ll find plenty of forms to fill in. And the first few of these are mostly about recording simple, if important details: name, address, contact information, doctor and so on. Which seems a little basic, although even these have their uses (they provide a space to store details such as "blood group", which you might otherwise forget, for instance).

The program quickly gets more interesting, though. So a "Diet Diary" helps you to record everything you’re eating, for instance, maintaining a running calorie count. There are modules to track prescriptions you’re taking, or vitamins and supplements you might use. While the Charts section helps you to record blood pressure, sleep, weight, glucose levels, cholesterol, infant length and weight, and more, plotting the results in simple graphs to help you understand what’s going on.

There are plenty of more general options, too. So if you’re suffering from some condition which hasn’t yet been properly diagnosed -- you’re having intense headaches, say -- the HeyDoc! section allows you to record details of every attack, ensuring you’ll be able to give your doctor the most accurate and reliable information.

If there’s some aspect of your health which isn’t covered, then you can always just attach other files to a HeyDoc! profile for easy access later.

And some, or all of the profile can be freely printed out whenever you like, making it simple to share these details with anyone who needs to know.

HeyDoc! does suffer from one possibly significant problem, unfortunately. A bug means that, on some systems, it displays an error message both on starting, and whenever you select a profile. This doesn’t seem to affect functionality -- the worst we saw is that you have to wait 5 seconds for the splash screen to disappear, before clicking "Do Not Send", at which point you can carry on as normal. But it is annoying (although the developer knows about it, so hopefully a fix will be coming soon).

If you can live with that, though -- or the problem doesn’t appear on your system at all (it’s not yet clear who is affected) -- HeyDoc! should prove to be an excellent way to manage and track your entire family’s medical history. And it could be particularly useful if you’re trying to manage some chronic condition, or better understand an issue which has yet to be properly diagnosed.
IBM: Intranet 2.0 can streamline business processes and foster innovation [Q&A]

Publié: décembre 20, 2012, 12:42pm CET par Wayne Williams

CMOs and CIOs frequently deal with outdated, legacy intranets that lack the interaction and functionality characteristic of Web 2.0 platforms. It’s no wonder that the intranet has frequently been pronounced dead by industry experts and reporters alike.

But according to IBM, the intranet isn’t dead, only evolving into what the firm calls Intranet 2.0, a new platform that combines social capabilities, data collection and a dynamic infrastructure to help business leaders create a smarter, more effective workforce. I discussed this transition with Larry Bowden, IBM’s Vice President of Portals and Web Experience.

BN: Tell me about IBM’s own intranet transformation into the people-centric IBM workplace.

LB: Culture plays a huge role in the success of an organization’s intranet. A culture that doesn’t naturally share information can present a major challenge in creating an intranet that people will use and support. Many organizations find it helpful to have a champion or adoption ambassador -- particularly one in a leadership position -- to propel a culture of sharing.

With IBM specifically, our employees understood and embraced the change quickly because our executive team was behind the end-goal; they knew that having a robust, collaborative intranet was critical to our future success, and this message was communicated across the board.

Electrolux is another great example of a successful social business transformation. The company employs 58,000 people across 60 countries, so there are challenges to using traditional modes of communication like email and phone. By harnessing the power of social tools, Electrolux employees are bridging cultural barriers and sharing a wealth of knowledge, spurring product innovation. Today over 16,000 employees are using Electrolux's intranet, 9,000 are using it daily to get their job done.

BN: IBM recently introduced the IBM Intranet Experience Suite. What’s its aim and how can it help employees?

LB: In a nutshell, the IBM Intranet Experience suite combines social software, content and collaboration tools to provide a seamless web experience for employees. Recognizing the proliferation of mobile devices in the workplace, the suite extends the reach of an organization’s intranet to allow mobile access as well. Employees can more effectively engage across networks and business units, and access information from external and internal news feeds.

The Intranet Experience suite also gives CIOs access to invaluable data, pulling together company information, personalized content and news, and social media analytics. CIOs can use this data to evolve internal operations and communications.

BN: Let's talk a little bit about the evolution of intranets and where they are today. How are they becoming infused with social, and what is its effect on the workforce?

LB: In its early days, intranets held a shallow amount of information and content. The HR team would include benefits information and the vacation calendar and IT might have their technology use policy posted. The intranet was static and the framework didn’t allow for employees to use it as a collaborative tool. The intranet then evolved to connect employees to the applications they use every day -- CRM, databases, payment systems, etc. Organizations began using the intranet for document management, making it a valuable resource for information. But while intranets provided more information than ever before, they still lacked depth.

Now, we’re seeing organizations use the intranet as a collaborative tool for streamlining business processes and fostering innovation. Once fully integrated, the intranet evolves from simply a place to get information to the primary platform from which business is conducted. The organization and its employees come to view the intranet as fundamental to the operation of business.

BN: Gartner reports that 70 percent of social implementations fail because they lack a business purpose. How do companies avoid falling into this trap?

LB: Organizations often establish new goals with the implementation of a social intranet. They look to measure activity -- the number of posts, documents and wikis; the amount of time spent on pages; the number of visits over a certain amount of time. While these are great numbers to present at meetings to indicate increased collaboration, they don’t actually show the effectiveness of the intranet.

The far more effective way is to measure the intranet against how well it’s helping an organization meet already established business goals. For example, Cemex, a global manufacturer of building materials, reduced time spent on new product development by a third through their collaborative initiatives. When you can show how these social technologies are meeting existing metrics and driving business forward, you generate real excitement and interest, from the executive to the execution level.

BN: How are activity streams in the intranet different from, say, Facebook’s news feed?

LB: The activity stream in the intranet is personalized to each individual. Employees see updates and actions from people they follow and interact with within their team, project or community. This gives employees an awareness of what’s going on around them, related to their work or role within the organization, increasing the opportunity for collaboration. It’s no longer left to serendipity or guesswork for the right people to end up on the right project. The intranet activity stream does it for you.

BN: In what ways can a social intranet interact with external social media?

LB: The most effective way to integrate external social media with a social intranet is to treat the intranet as your main hub for both internal and external social media. For example, IBM Connections allows you to add Twitter search widgets, integrate directly with iTunes or look up addresses via Google Maps.

With the Twitter widget, users can specify hashtags they want to monitor, and it updates in real-time. Teams can use this information to help with anything from research on a specific topic or monitoring conversations around a product launch.

BN: What are the best ways for businesses to manage intranet social media usage? How can firms encourage more participation?

LB: Organizations are already great at being a social business from an external perspective. We’ve mastered blogging, using Twitter for customer service, creating vibrant Facebook communities. The next step is making that transformation internally. Once an organization makes this leap and practices social business externally and internally, the tools provided to enhance collaboration and innovation, such as the social intranet, become a natural part of conducting business.

That internal transformation is often overlooked as a crucial step toward social business. Yet not only does having an internal social business system make businesses more effective at the external level, it’s often critical for a company’s long-term social business success. External social business alone, without an internal social business component, will not transform the business culture.

BN: What are some of the challenges management is facing with transitioning to a social intranet?

LB: We recently released a report, "The Business of Social Business: What Works and How It’s Done," that speaks to some of the challenges management is facing. While companies are increasingly investing in social technology, middle management leaders are having trouble integrating and embracing these technologies into their daily work lives.

The study revealed that 46 percent of surveyed organizations increased their investments in social technologies in 2012. However, only 22 percent believed that managers are prepared to incorporate social tools and approaches into their daily practices.

The way to rectify this is to embed social technologies into core business processes. First and foremost, executive management must provide an infrastructure for engagement. The intranet must be robust with information and collaborative tools. Second, social practices should be integrated into day-to-day processes, from booking meetings to running entire projects -- with executive management setting the example. Lastly, management must teach employees how to collaborate effectively with individuals outside of the organization’s boundaries, using social business methods and tools.

BN: There’s an increasing desire for people to connect via mobile devices. How are companies managing this?

LB: Today’s workforce and client base now view mobility as mission critical to their daily productivity. That means organizations must not only meet those growing demands, but also protect client data and keep costs in check. It’s no longer an item for the wish list. Enabling collaborative tools for a mobile workforce is a necessity. Tools like IBM’s WebSphere Portal allow companies to give their employees access to information from anywhere. The Connections mobile app and Notes Traveler also help organizations stay collaborative on the go. Through the Connections mobile app, employees can use their iOS, Android or BlackBerry device to access blogs, employee data, status updates, wikis, videos and photos. Notes Traveler provides access to email, calendar, address book, journal, and to-do lists. These kinds of tools enable a more mobile workforce without decreasing productivity.
Oh, there's no place like Android for the holidays

Publié: décembre 20, 2012, 7:52am CET par Alan Buckingham

It is that time of year. Every search engine and social media site is posting its top-10 lists. People are shopping, putting up lights and decorations and even getting their computers into the spirit with Windows themes, Chrome New Tab themes and Firefox Personas. Your Android phone or tablet can also get into the spirit of the holidays with some handy apps. The Google Play store and Amazon App Store are both resources for holiday music and and movies, but there are also a number of apps to keep your spirits high.

There are holiday games, shopping apps and wallpapers. You can track Santa's journey around the world or track the calories you consume at that big meal. No, sorry, I am not covering the latter here. You can search for those on your own.

Shopping

Not long ago we told you about the Amazon Santa app and Google's updated Shopper app. Both will help you spend that hard-earned money. Of course, many stores also have dedicated apps.

If you are looking for that special something for the "tech person" in your life then check out New Egg or Tiger Direct. There are also department stores, book sellers, etc. You get the idea -- just search for your store of choice and you will likely find that it has an app.

Games

For the second straight year Rovio rolled out 25 holiday levels of Angry Birds Seasons. One new level becomes available each day from December 1st through the 25th.

If you prefer your games to be more on the morbid side then you may want to consider Dead Trigger, the popular zombie game that just added a holiday update.

If you want something a bit more family-friendly then you can't go wrong with Charlie Brown or Christmas Mahjong. Search the stores for countless other fun games to keep you occupied as you prepare for the arrival of your in-laws.

Wallpaper

Of course, while we all think of putting that special holiday theme or wallpaper on our computer, we sometimes neglect that we can also do so on our mobile devices. I prefer an all-purpose app like Backgrounds that can cover all seasons and moods, but there is no shortage of dedicated ones either.

There are live wallpapers like 3D Christmas Live and static ones such as Christmas HD.

Track Santa

NORAD has been in this game the longest and has moved on from radio reports in the 50's to smartphone apps today. The agency has a free tracker for Android available.

Perhaps in response to NORAD switching this year from Google Maps to Bing Maps, Google has also released its own app -- the Google Santa Tracker. The app just debuted yesterday.

Others

We have by no means even scratched the surface in this little post. There are hundreds, probably thousands, of different types of apps for the season. For instance you can get a countdown or find festive ringtones. The list goes on.

In all seriousness, there really is no place like HOME for the holidays and you should probably consider putting down the phones and tablets and enjoying the time with friends and family. But first, tell us, what are your favorites? Let us know in the commetns below.

Photo Credit: Joe Wilcox
Instagram has a problem

Publié: décembre 20, 2012, 7:40am CET par Joe Wilcox

Angry users say they will ditch Instagram over policy changes granting the service the rights to use their photos. Of course, what people say they will do in the heat of the moment isn't necessarily what they eventually do, especially when extra effort is required -- in this case, recovering images from the service. Still, among respondents to a BetaNews poll, the number planning to keep Instagram is statistically zero (5 votes). Forty percent will stop using or cancel the service. However, a much larger number, 60 percent, already aren't users.

The Instagram backlash is nothing but fierce, for terms like these: "Instagram does not claim ownership of any Content that you post on or through the Service. Instead you hereby grant to Instagram a non-exclusive, fully paid and royalty-free, transferable, sub-licensable, worldwide license to use the Content that you post on or through the Service". The photo-sharer later claimed misunderstanding and poor wording, but you tell me what's unclear here.

I share colleague Mihaita Bamburic's sentiment: "I personally am amazed by the rather condescending response to serious concerns raised by the media, and the rather substantial differences between what's written and what the company's co-founder says that people should actually read into".

Thirteen days ago, National Geographic boasted about becoming "the No. 1 media brand on Instagram". Following the policy change, the organization is out: "@NatGeo is suspending new posts to Instagram. We are very concerned with the direction of the proposed new terms of service and if they remain as presented we may close our account".

"Anything that FB touches turns to s#!t. And yes, this will effectively kill Instagram", BetaNews reader psycros asserts. Facebook paid $1 billion for Instagram in April and closed the deal three months ago.

"I have never been a fanatical user of the service", Neoprimal comments. "I have maybe three nice pics I posted on there. It's not a staple for me. I'm not really into 'social pictures'. This however does make me worry about posting anything, just because I have no real idea what they can or would do with the picture".

John Dobbs "deleted my Instagram account this week, like a lot of people. Decided to go with Flickr". Oh? Perhaps that explains all the people who added me as Flickr contacts over the last 24 hours. There's a sudden surge. Some are new Flickr, while others obviously just migrated photos from Instagram (new collection is pretty obvious).

Alfie Goodrich "deleted my account tonight and whether Instagram backtracks on its statement earlier this week or not, I am 100 percent happy with deleting my stuff".

And you?

Photo Credit: argus/Shutterstock
Our gift to you: O&O Defrag 15.8 Professional for free

Publié: décembre 20, 2012, 6:00am CET par Nick Peers

It’s that time of year again, when everyone feels festive and we find ourselves in the Downloadcrew Giveaway mood. This year, we’ve lined up five great software giveaways to share with you. From midday this Saturday until Jan. 4, 2013, you’ll be given the opportunity to grab up to five free commercial packages without having to pay a single cent.

We’re kicking things off with a doozy too – for 48 hours from Saturday December 22nd, we’ll be giving away free copies of O&O Defrag 15.8 Professional, worth $29.95. If your PC feels sluggish, then this powerful defrag tool is just the ticket for giving your hard drives a much needed speed boost.

O&O Defrag 15.8 Professional is a real powerhouse of a tool from our friends in Berlin, O&O Software. We awarded it five stars when we reviewed it last year, and it’s improved since then through a number of major updates, the latest of which ensures it’s fully compatible with Windows 8 PCs.

Why pick O&O Defrag 15.8 over other defrag tools? For starters it’s versatile, allowing you to defrag entire drives on demand, on a schedule or when your computer is idle, helping prevent fragmentation occur in the first place. You can set it to defrag at boot time, so your key system files get optimized, and you can even defrag individual files and folders directly from Windows Explorer.

O&O Defrag also packs in loads of features for advanced users, such as the ability to organize files into sweet zones on your hard drive for that little bit of extra performance. It’s also capable of working with SSD drives, optimizing rather than defragging to ensure you get the maximum performance from those too.

Previous versions of O&O Defrag were criticised for their system demands, but version 15 impressed our reviewer with its lightweight use of resources and speedy performance.

Now you know why you need O&O Defrag, how do you go about getting your free copy? From 12:00 GMT on Saturday 22^nd December, visit our Downloadcrew Giveaway page and follow the instructions to download the program and obtain your free product key. The giveaway will run for a maximum of 48 hours so don’t delay!

And if you’re impressed with what O&O Defrag 15.8 has to offer, you’ll be gobsmacked by how good the latest version of the program is. O&O Defrag 16 Professional pushes the optimization envelope even further, delivering faster defrag times, a new Time View for helping you understand how defragmentation works and enabling you to fine-tune the program further to your needs, and the usual gamut of stability and performance improvements. What’s more, you’ll be able to upgrade to version 16 for the gob-smackingly low price of just $9.99 during the same 48-hour window that we’re giving away O&O Defrag 15.8 Professional.

So there you have it. Downloadcrew Giveaway returns with a vengeance this holiday season with free copies of O&O Defrag 15.8 Professional for PCs running Windows XP or later, including Windows 8, available for 48 hours from midday GMT on December 22nd. And that’s just the beginning, so keep an eye out for four more great deals between now and New Year!

Photo Credit: Zadorozhnyi Viktor/Shutterstock