A federal appeals court on Wednesday upheld a lower court ruling that said Apple's iPod music players do not pose an unacceptable risk to users' hearing.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth District affirmed a 2008 decision by a California district court to dismiss a long-running lawsuit that claimed iPods endangered users' hearing. iPods, said the original 2006 lawsuit -- which eventually boasted three plaintiffs and sought class-action status -- were defective because they could play music at unsafe volumes above 115 decibels (dB).
The district court disagreed, saying that any dangers of hearing loss from playing music too loud were "obvious" and "unavoidable." The plaintiffs then appealed.
Yesterday's appellate court ruling essentially repeated the arguments raised by the lower court. "The district court did not err," said Senior Circuit Judge David Thompson, who wrote the court's opinion. "The plaintiffs admit that the iPod has an 'ordinary purpose of listening to music,' and nothing they allege suggests iPods are unsafe for that use or defective. [Their] statements suggest only that users have the option of using an iPod in a risky manner, not that the product lacks any minimum level of quality."
Additionally, said Thompson, the plaintiffs failed to prove injury had actually occurred. "The plaintiffs do not allege the iPods failed to do anything they were designed to do nor do they allege that they, or any others, have suffered or are substantially certain to suffer inevitable hearing loss or other injury from iPod use," added the court's opinion.
iPod sound volume has been of interest to others beyond the plaintiffs. Last September, the European Commission ordered all makers of portable music players to add a default volume setting of around 80 dB, as well as a health warning to all new devices within the next two years. Before that, the EU had set a maximum volume limit of 100 dB on all portable music players sold in its member countries.
Apple already includes a warning with all iPods that reads in part, "Permanent hearing loss may occur if earphones or headphones are used at high volume."
Gregg Keizer covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and general technology breaking news for Computerworld . Follow Gregg on Twitter @gkeizer , send e-mail at gkeizer@ix.netcom.com or subscribe to Gregg's RSS feed .
Source:
http://www.itnews.com/mac/12419/apple-wins-appeal-ipod-hearing-loss-case
Chicago Website Designers
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
For Google, The Meaning Of Open Is When It’s Convenient For Them
Yesterday, Google published a long manifesto on the “meaning of open” in the form of an email to all employees republished as a blog post. In it, senior VP of product management Jonathan Rosenberg, makes an eloquent argument for why open systems always win and urges Google’s employees to always strive to be open when designing products. An open Internet spurs innovation and brings more consumers on board, which ultimately means more searches and increased use of Web applications.
The gist of his argument is that a bigger, better Internet is good for Google. He writes that Google employees should resist the impulse to create closed products and systems, and even makes a swipe at Apple for doing so (bold added for emphasis):
. . . open systems win. This is counter-intuitive to the traditionally trained MBA who is taught to generate a sustainable competitive advantage by creating a closed system, making it popular, then milking it through the product life cycle. The conventional wisdom goes that companies should lock in customers to lock out competitors. . . . a well-managed closed system can deliver plenty of profits. They can also deliver well-designed products in the short run — the iPod and iPhone being the obvious examples — but eventually innovation in a closed system tends towards being incremental at best (is a four blade razor really that much better than a three blade one?) because the whole point is to preserve the status quo. Complacency is the hallmark of any closed system. If you don’t have to work that hard to keep your customers, you won’t.
It all sounds great and Google certainly is a champion of open systems with Android and Chrome and countless other projects. Google is making a very public effort to claim the mantle of openness. But the battle for this mantle has been going on for a long time. Two years ago, I wrote a post titled “Who Is The Opennest Of Them All?”. What I noted then bears repeating:
But don’t be fooled. Companies are very selective about the areas where they choose to be open, and they very rarely open up their core source of profits voluntarily. . . . So the next time a company touts how open it is, ask yourself how that will help it make more money. Don’t confuse openness with altruism.
Google is only open when it is convenient for them. Google will never open up the source code to its search algorithms or its advertising system, or share the core data which gives it a competitive advantage in those areas because that is where it makes all of its money. Again, I pointed this out in that post two years ago:
Just because industry pressures and increased interconnectedness are forcing companies to embrace open technologies, don’t confuse openness with profitability. Open standards tend to be good for spurring the adoption of new technologies, but not so good for generating profits directly. That is why companies choose to be open along axes where they don’t compete. Google, for instance, is a big proponent of open standards in social networking, mobile networks, Web applications, and practically everywhere —except the one place it makes money. Its advertising system is a black box. You also never hear any talk coming out of Google about opening up the search algorithms that drive all of those advertising revenues. In contrast, Google has no problem championing open standards in industries that it is hoping to disrupt (by commoditizing existing business models with open standards, and making money with advertising instead).
Rosenberg realizes there is an incongruity between what he is saying and what Google is doing. He takes a stab at rationalizing this huge exception to Google’s embrace of everything open:
While we are committed to opening the code for our developer tools, not all Google products are open source. Our goal is to keep the Internet open, which promotes choice and competition and keeps users and developers from getting locked in. In many cases, most notably our search and ads products, opening up the code would not contribute to these goals and would actually hurt users.
Maybe, but it is more likely it would hurt Google. The company has good reasons for keeping those things closed tight. Opening up those black boxes would make it easier to spam search and game AdWords and give competitors valuable data to make their own search engines and advertising systems better. If it opened all of that stuff up, it would have to work harder to keep its customers.
And really nobody should begrudge them the right to keep products they’ve spent a lot of time, energy, and money building to themselves. But don’t give us this song and dance about how everything should be open and how Google is the opennest company in the world. Google has nothing to lose if operating systems, mobile phones, browsers, books, news, and every other industry becomes open and free, as long it can make money from search and advertising. That is exactly why Google is so disruptive. It can offer products for free that other industries charge for, as long as those products result in more searches or other advertising opportunities.
There is nothing wrong with this strategy. The fact that Google is pushing openness in so many industries is generally a good thing for startups and consumers alike. But Google should just be honest and say that they think everything should be open—except for search and advertising.
Source:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/12/22/google-open-when-convenient/
Chicago Website Designers
The gist of his argument is that a bigger, better Internet is good for Google. He writes that Google employees should resist the impulse to create closed products and systems, and even makes a swipe at Apple for doing so (bold added for emphasis):
. . . open systems win. This is counter-intuitive to the traditionally trained MBA who is taught to generate a sustainable competitive advantage by creating a closed system, making it popular, then milking it through the product life cycle. The conventional wisdom goes that companies should lock in customers to lock out competitors. . . . a well-managed closed system can deliver plenty of profits. They can also deliver well-designed products in the short run — the iPod and iPhone being the obvious examples — but eventually innovation in a closed system tends towards being incremental at best (is a four blade razor really that much better than a three blade one?) because the whole point is to preserve the status quo. Complacency is the hallmark of any closed system. If you don’t have to work that hard to keep your customers, you won’t.
It all sounds great and Google certainly is a champion of open systems with Android and Chrome and countless other projects. Google is making a very public effort to claim the mantle of openness. But the battle for this mantle has been going on for a long time. Two years ago, I wrote a post titled “Who Is The Opennest Of Them All?”. What I noted then bears repeating:
But don’t be fooled. Companies are very selective about the areas where they choose to be open, and they very rarely open up their core source of profits voluntarily. . . . So the next time a company touts how open it is, ask yourself how that will help it make more money. Don’t confuse openness with altruism.
Google is only open when it is convenient for them. Google will never open up the source code to its search algorithms or its advertising system, or share the core data which gives it a competitive advantage in those areas because that is where it makes all of its money. Again, I pointed this out in that post two years ago:
Just because industry pressures and increased interconnectedness are forcing companies to embrace open technologies, don’t confuse openness with profitability. Open standards tend to be good for spurring the adoption of new technologies, but not so good for generating profits directly. That is why companies choose to be open along axes where they don’t compete. Google, for instance, is a big proponent of open standards in social networking, mobile networks, Web applications, and practically everywhere —except the one place it makes money. Its advertising system is a black box. You also never hear any talk coming out of Google about opening up the search algorithms that drive all of those advertising revenues. In contrast, Google has no problem championing open standards in industries that it is hoping to disrupt (by commoditizing existing business models with open standards, and making money with advertising instead).
Rosenberg realizes there is an incongruity between what he is saying and what Google is doing. He takes a stab at rationalizing this huge exception to Google’s embrace of everything open:
While we are committed to opening the code for our developer tools, not all Google products are open source. Our goal is to keep the Internet open, which promotes choice and competition and keeps users and developers from getting locked in. In many cases, most notably our search and ads products, opening up the code would not contribute to these goals and would actually hurt users.
Maybe, but it is more likely it would hurt Google. The company has good reasons for keeping those things closed tight. Opening up those black boxes would make it easier to spam search and game AdWords and give competitors valuable data to make their own search engines and advertising systems better. If it opened all of that stuff up, it would have to work harder to keep its customers.
And really nobody should begrudge them the right to keep products they’ve spent a lot of time, energy, and money building to themselves. But don’t give us this song and dance about how everything should be open and how Google is the opennest company in the world. Google has nothing to lose if operating systems, mobile phones, browsers, books, news, and every other industry becomes open and free, as long it can make money from search and advertising. That is exactly why Google is so disruptive. It can offer products for free that other industries charge for, as long as those products result in more searches or other advertising opportunities.
There is nothing wrong with this strategy. The fact that Google is pushing openness in so many industries is generally a good thing for startups and consumers alike. But Google should just be honest and say that they think everything should be open—except for search and advertising.
Source:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/12/22/google-open-when-convenient/
Chicago Website Designers
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Nokia Hits Apple With Latest Patent Complaint
The legal back-and-forth between Nokia and Apple over patents, and who might be abusing them, continued Tuesday as Nokia lodged a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission.
In its complaint to the USITC, the Finnish company alleges that Apple infringes seven Nokia patents "in virtually all of its mobile phones, portable music players, and computers."
The alleged patent infringement is connected to key features in Apple products including user interface, camera, antenna, and power management technologies. Their value to Nokia, the company says, comes in allowing better user experience, lower manufacturing costs, smaller size, and longer battery life for Nokia products.
In October, Nokia filed a lawsuit against Apple in U.S. District Court in Delaware regarding 10 patents related to wireless handsets, which Nokia says Apple has refused to license. Every iPhone model since the original, introduced in 2007, infringes on those patents, Nokia has charged.
Apple filed a countersuit earlier this month, charging Nokia with infringing 13 Apple patents related to the iPhone.
"While our litigation in Delaware is about Apple's attempt to free-ride on the back of Nokia investment in wireless standards, the ITC case filed today is about Apple's practice of building its business on Nokia's proprietary innovation," Paul Melin, general manager of patent licensing at Nokia, said in a statement.
"Nokia has been the leading developer of many key technologies in small electronic devices," Melin said. "This action [Tuesday's complaint to the USITC] is about protecting the results of such pioneering development."
Apple was not immediately available to comment on Nokia's filing with the U.S. International Trade Commission. The USITC is an independent federal agency that looks at issues including unfair trade practices involving patent, trademark, and copyright infringement.
Nokia says that over the past two decades it has spent some 40 billion euros ($57.5 billion) on R&D and has amassed "one of the wireless industry's strongest and broadest IPR portfolios, with over 11,000 patent families."
In November, research firm Strategy Analytics reported that Apple had surpassed Nokia in quarterly mobile phone profits, bringing in $1.6 billion from the iPhone, compared with Nokia's $1.1 billion in cell phone profits.
Source:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10422670-37.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0
Chicago Web Site Design Company
In its complaint to the USITC, the Finnish company alleges that Apple infringes seven Nokia patents "in virtually all of its mobile phones, portable music players, and computers."
The alleged patent infringement is connected to key features in Apple products including user interface, camera, antenna, and power management technologies. Their value to Nokia, the company says, comes in allowing better user experience, lower manufacturing costs, smaller size, and longer battery life for Nokia products.
In October, Nokia filed a lawsuit against Apple in U.S. District Court in Delaware regarding 10 patents related to wireless handsets, which Nokia says Apple has refused to license. Every iPhone model since the original, introduced in 2007, infringes on those patents, Nokia has charged.
Apple filed a countersuit earlier this month, charging Nokia with infringing 13 Apple patents related to the iPhone.
"While our litigation in Delaware is about Apple's attempt to free-ride on the back of Nokia investment in wireless standards, the ITC case filed today is about Apple's practice of building its business on Nokia's proprietary innovation," Paul Melin, general manager of patent licensing at Nokia, said in a statement.
"Nokia has been the leading developer of many key technologies in small electronic devices," Melin said. "This action [Tuesday's complaint to the USITC] is about protecting the results of such pioneering development."
Apple was not immediately available to comment on Nokia's filing with the U.S. International Trade Commission. The USITC is an independent federal agency that looks at issues including unfair trade practices involving patent, trademark, and copyright infringement.
Nokia says that over the past two decades it has spent some 40 billion euros ($57.5 billion) on R&D and has amassed "one of the wireless industry's strongest and broadest IPR portfolios, with over 11,000 patent families."
In November, research firm Strategy Analytics reported that Apple had surpassed Nokia in quarterly mobile phone profits, bringing in $1.6 billion from the iPhone, compared with Nokia's $1.1 billion in cell phone profits.
Source:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10422670-37.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0
Chicago Web Site Design Company
Monday, December 28, 2009
Amazon: E-book Sales Surpass Paper on Christmas Day
With so much enthusiasm—aided by a good dose of marketing and technological evolution—surrounding e-book readers, it was bound to happen sooner or later: sales of electronic books topped their paper-based cousins for the first time this past Christmas day, according to Amazon.com
In a press release on its site, Amazon’s founder and CEO Jeff Bezos mentions that the Kindle was the “most-gifted product”in the company’s history; although the release makes no mention of actual sales numbers, it does note that the Kindle sales surpassed both the 8GB iPod touch and Garmin’s Nuvi 260W GPS device to claim the top spot in the electronics category (and in overall sales).
Given the timing of the event, it’s likely that the spike in e-book sales recorded by Amazon was due primarily to the high number of gift recipients who opened up the brand-new Kindles they found under their Christmas trees; nonetheless, this milestone could represent a watershed event for the inexorable rise of e-book readers in general, and the Kindle in particular.
The company also reported that December 14 was Amazon’s busiest day of the holiday shopping season: on that Monday, Amazon processed sales of 9.5 million items worldwid—or about 110 per second on average. Perhaps more impressively, the e-tailing managed to deliver a Kindle that was purchased by a Seattle-area customer on Christmas Eve within three hours of sale.
Amazon’s Kindle 2 and Kindle DX were just two of several devices that Macworld reviewed in its comprehensive e-book reader review roundup earlier this month.
Source:
http://www.itnews.com/entertainment/12369/amazon-e-book-sales-surpass-paper-christmas-day
Web Designers Chicago
In a press release on its site, Amazon’s founder and CEO Jeff Bezos mentions that the Kindle was the “most-gifted product”in the company’s history; although the release makes no mention of actual sales numbers, it does note that the Kindle sales surpassed both the 8GB iPod touch and Garmin’s Nuvi 260W GPS device to claim the top spot in the electronics category (and in overall sales).
Given the timing of the event, it’s likely that the spike in e-book sales recorded by Amazon was due primarily to the high number of gift recipients who opened up the brand-new Kindles they found under their Christmas trees; nonetheless, this milestone could represent a watershed event for the inexorable rise of e-book readers in general, and the Kindle in particular.
The company also reported that December 14 was Amazon’s busiest day of the holiday shopping season: on that Monday, Amazon processed sales of 9.5 million items worldwid—or about 110 per second on average. Perhaps more impressively, the e-tailing managed to deliver a Kindle that was purchased by a Seattle-area customer on Christmas Eve within three hours of sale.
Amazon’s Kindle 2 and Kindle DX were just two of several devices that Macworld reviewed in its comprehensive e-book reader review roundup earlier this month.
Source:
http://www.itnews.com/entertainment/12369/amazon-e-book-sales-surpass-paper-christmas-day
Web Designers Chicago
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
High tech: What is the Cloud in Web 2.0?
The “cloud” has become the buzzword of the year and just like phrases such as Web 2.0, extreme programming and agile development, most people in the business world are looking for a clear definition of what, exactly, the cloud is.
Similar to a rain cloud, the Internet cloud has no specific point or boundary - it’s just “out there.” Many use the word cloud as a synonym for the Internet as in, “We don’t store your data on our local servers, but rather, we store you files in the cloud.” But it’s more than that.
There are a couple ways to think of the cloud.
First, in the cloud, your servers and data have no specific location. Ten years ago, someone could point to one server and say that’s where a particular e-mail was stored. Today, with services like Gmail, the subject line of an e-mail might be stored on one server, the body of the e-mail on another server, and the e-mail’s attachments stored on yet another server all while each server’s data is redundantly copied to multiple locations.
Second, using cloud-based computer services removes many of the technical requirements for knowing the details of the underlying infrastructure. For example, a corporation can use Google Apps to set up free e-mail, for up to 50 employees, with more than seven gigabytes of storage per account.
With this service, which is a white-labeled version of Gmail, a company can be up and running with a new corporate e-mail system within an hour. Ten or 15 years ago, this task would have required purchasing and maintaining a dedicated e-mail server or, at the very least, calling a hosting company and having an engineer set up the hardware. Whereas, today, you can simply click through some forms on the web, without human intervention, to configure a cloud service.
There are many cloud-based services and Amazon leads the pack with more than a dozen different web services collectively branded as Amazon Web Services. Amazon’s cloud storage (called Simple Storage Service or S3) and their cloud computing service (called Elastic Compute Cloud or EC2) are their two oldest and most popular services.
Amazon thinks of these services as “pay by the drink” meaning that there are no setup fees or contracts. A customer can literally be billed as little as a nickel or a dime each month. When using S3, Amazon charges 10 to 20 cents for each gigabyte of storage and bandwidth. EC2’s costs start at 12 cents per hour to run a Windows Server with admin access or as little as 8.5 cents per hour to run a Linux system with root access.
Many companies use cloud systems as their primary configuration while others use it as a backup. Companies, such as SDNN, run their entire website, 24/7, using cloud computing servers while others turn on cloud computing servers as a testing environment, for a few days, and then turn them off when they’re done and only incur a $5 or $10 bill.
No company is too big or too small to realize the benefits of using cloud-based services. One of the biggest strengths of cloud services is that they can be accessed via an API, which allows other computer systems to interface directly without human intervention. This means that cloud web services can be configured and monitored by automated systems and additional servers can be brought on line or turned off as needed.
With cloud computing services, users no longer need to worry about procuring, configuring and maintaining the underlying hardware. Rather, they can focus on the higher level services that are most important to their business.
source:
http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2009-12-08/blog/giving-em-the-business/high-tech-what-is-the-cloud-in-web-20
Chicago Website Designers
Similar to a rain cloud, the Internet cloud has no specific point or boundary - it’s just “out there.” Many use the word cloud as a synonym for the Internet as in, “We don’t store your data on our local servers, but rather, we store you files in the cloud.” But it’s more than that.
There are a couple ways to think of the cloud.
First, in the cloud, your servers and data have no specific location. Ten years ago, someone could point to one server and say that’s where a particular e-mail was stored. Today, with services like Gmail, the subject line of an e-mail might be stored on one server, the body of the e-mail on another server, and the e-mail’s attachments stored on yet another server all while each server’s data is redundantly copied to multiple locations.
Second, using cloud-based computer services removes many of the technical requirements for knowing the details of the underlying infrastructure. For example, a corporation can use Google Apps to set up free e-mail, for up to 50 employees, with more than seven gigabytes of storage per account.
With this service, which is a white-labeled version of Gmail, a company can be up and running with a new corporate e-mail system within an hour. Ten or 15 years ago, this task would have required purchasing and maintaining a dedicated e-mail server or, at the very least, calling a hosting company and having an engineer set up the hardware. Whereas, today, you can simply click through some forms on the web, without human intervention, to configure a cloud service.
There are many cloud-based services and Amazon leads the pack with more than a dozen different web services collectively branded as Amazon Web Services. Amazon’s cloud storage (called Simple Storage Service or S3) and their cloud computing service (called Elastic Compute Cloud or EC2) are their two oldest and most popular services.
Amazon thinks of these services as “pay by the drink” meaning that there are no setup fees or contracts. A customer can literally be billed as little as a nickel or a dime each month. When using S3, Amazon charges 10 to 20 cents for each gigabyte of storage and bandwidth. EC2’s costs start at 12 cents per hour to run a Windows Server with admin access or as little as 8.5 cents per hour to run a Linux system with root access.
Many companies use cloud systems as their primary configuration while others use it as a backup. Companies, such as SDNN, run their entire website, 24/7, using cloud computing servers while others turn on cloud computing servers as a testing environment, for a few days, and then turn them off when they’re done and only incur a $5 or $10 bill.
No company is too big or too small to realize the benefits of using cloud-based services. One of the biggest strengths of cloud services is that they can be accessed via an API, which allows other computer systems to interface directly without human intervention. This means that cloud web services can be configured and monitored by automated systems and additional servers can be brought on line or turned off as needed.
With cloud computing services, users no longer need to worry about procuring, configuring and maintaining the underlying hardware. Rather, they can focus on the higher level services that are most important to their business.
source:
http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2009-12-08/blog/giving-em-the-business/high-tech-what-is-the-cloud-in-web-20
Chicago Website Designers
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Apple Thrives Despite Jobs Being away
2009 was a year for the record books for Apple.
Besides recording three of the most profitable quarters in company history and ending the year with $36 billion in the bank, Apple had its biggest iPhone opening weekend ever this summer.
And most of this happened without Chief Executive Steve Jobs. Last year's questions over his physical appearance were answered when he announced in late January he'd be taking a leave of absence to deal with a medical problem that he found out was "more complex" than a hormone imbalance. Jobs declined to be more specific about his condition, which led to discussion of how much of executives' private lives we should be privy to. By late spring it was revealed he underwent liver transplant surgery. Chief Operations Officer Tim Cook handled the reins for six months. By July, Jobs was seen back on the Cupertino campus. His first public appearance came a short time later at Apple's September iPod event.
Like most years, 2009 was punctuated by a series of signature Apple product launch events, though this time the majority were simple refreshes of hardware. In software, Apple saw the release of the latest iteration of its operating system, Mac OS X 10.6, a refreshed iTunes 9, and an updated iPhone OS--now with copy/paste and multimedia messaging. And as has been true for each of the past two years, the release of the iPhone 3GS was a spectacle in itself.
Meanwhile, developers have flocked to Apple's mobile platform, with more than 100,000 apps currently available in the App Store. But Apple's gatekeeping policies have tempered excitement for some developers. Early in the year those creating applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch began complaining about a lack of transparency in the App Store review policy. Grievances regarding Apple's inconsistent practices, lack of communication, and playing favorites grew more vociferous as the year wore on. The last straw seemed to be when Apple rejected Google Voice, the popular service from its one-time close partner, prompting the FCC to get involved. As a result, Apple was forced to open up a bit and we got a glimpse of how the App Store review process works.
That wasn't the only word the federal government wanted to have with Apple. Along with several other Silicon Valley giants, Apple was accused of agreeing not to hire each other's employees and a Department of Justice investigation is still ongoing.
In other legal news, Apple wrapped up its suit against Psystar. The Florida-based company was found to have violated Apple's copyright in selling Mac OS X preinstalled on non-Mac hardware, and the two came to a preliminary settlement. But a new drama unfolded with smartphone competitor Nokia, which sued Apple for not paying royalties on a copyrighted smartphone technology.
Unfortunately for the most passionate of Apple fans, two of the year's most anticipated products from Apple never came to fruition. Looks like we'll have to wait until 2010 to see if the mythical Apple tablet or the Verizon iPhone finally appear.
source:
http://news.cnet.com/2702-13579_3-419.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0
Chicago Web Design
Besides recording three of the most profitable quarters in company history and ending the year with $36 billion in the bank, Apple had its biggest iPhone opening weekend ever this summer.
And most of this happened without Chief Executive Steve Jobs. Last year's questions over his physical appearance were answered when he announced in late January he'd be taking a leave of absence to deal with a medical problem that he found out was "more complex" than a hormone imbalance. Jobs declined to be more specific about his condition, which led to discussion of how much of executives' private lives we should be privy to. By late spring it was revealed he underwent liver transplant surgery. Chief Operations Officer Tim Cook handled the reins for six months. By July, Jobs was seen back on the Cupertino campus. His first public appearance came a short time later at Apple's September iPod event.
Like most years, 2009 was punctuated by a series of signature Apple product launch events, though this time the majority were simple refreshes of hardware. In software, Apple saw the release of the latest iteration of its operating system, Mac OS X 10.6, a refreshed iTunes 9, and an updated iPhone OS--now with copy/paste and multimedia messaging. And as has been true for each of the past two years, the release of the iPhone 3GS was a spectacle in itself.
Meanwhile, developers have flocked to Apple's mobile platform, with more than 100,000 apps currently available in the App Store. But Apple's gatekeeping policies have tempered excitement for some developers. Early in the year those creating applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch began complaining about a lack of transparency in the App Store review policy. Grievances regarding Apple's inconsistent practices, lack of communication, and playing favorites grew more vociferous as the year wore on. The last straw seemed to be when Apple rejected Google Voice, the popular service from its one-time close partner, prompting the FCC to get involved. As a result, Apple was forced to open up a bit and we got a glimpse of how the App Store review process works.
That wasn't the only word the federal government wanted to have with Apple. Along with several other Silicon Valley giants, Apple was accused of agreeing not to hire each other's employees and a Department of Justice investigation is still ongoing.
In other legal news, Apple wrapped up its suit against Psystar. The Florida-based company was found to have violated Apple's copyright in selling Mac OS X preinstalled on non-Mac hardware, and the two came to a preliminary settlement. But a new drama unfolded with smartphone competitor Nokia, which sued Apple for not paying royalties on a copyrighted smartphone technology.
Unfortunately for the most passionate of Apple fans, two of the year's most anticipated products from Apple never came to fruition. Looks like we'll have to wait until 2010 to see if the mythical Apple tablet or the Verizon iPhone finally appear.
source:
http://news.cnet.com/2702-13579_3-419.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0
Chicago Web Design
Monday, December 21, 2009
Select Flickr photos to sell via Getty License
Flickr on Tuesday entered a partnership with Getty Images to offer its users a way to potentially make money off their photography.
The Yahoo-owned photo-hosting community will be a new resource for Getty, which can now contact Flickr members directly through the site and ask them if they want to share one or more of their images for use in a special Flickr-branded Getty collection.
Flickr members interested in getting their images featured in the special Getty gallery will have to simply wait to be contacted. Otherwise, Getty and Flickr are encouraging aspiring photographers to post their content on the Getty-owned iStockphoto, which also happens to have been a hotbed for Flickr photos in the past.
Flickr-hosted images that have been chosen to be included in the new collection will get a special link to the Getty page where they can purchase a license to use the shot.
In order to get paid and allow their images to be used, Flickr members must sign a Getty Images contributor contract, which stipulates that the photographer is the owner, and has any necessary model releases and originals. It also outlines the various rates based on size and intended commercial usage.
Those rates, not yet available, are likely to follow some of Getty's standard rates. As part of the deal, the only transaction is being shared directly between the photographer and Getty, meaning Yahoo will not be getting a share of that fee. According to Yahoo's rep, "Getty and Flickr have a separate business relationship."
The move is a special deal for Flickr, which currently does not allow for commercial transactions on the site outside of using partners for services such as photo printing. It's long been expected that Flickr would get around to implementing a system like this, if only to take advantage of the size of its collection, which averages thousands of user uploads every minute.
Update: Changes have been made to this article since it first posted regarding the link to the Getty purchase pages on Flickr as well as the nature of the business partnership between Getty Images and Yahoo.
Source:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-9985516-2.html?tag=mncol;title
Web Design Firms Chicago
The Yahoo-owned photo-hosting community will be a new resource for Getty, which can now contact Flickr members directly through the site and ask them if they want to share one or more of their images for use in a special Flickr-branded Getty collection.
Flickr members interested in getting their images featured in the special Getty gallery will have to simply wait to be contacted. Otherwise, Getty and Flickr are encouraging aspiring photographers to post their content on the Getty-owned iStockphoto, which also happens to have been a hotbed for Flickr photos in the past.
Flickr-hosted images that have been chosen to be included in the new collection will get a special link to the Getty page where they can purchase a license to use the shot.
In order to get paid and allow their images to be used, Flickr members must sign a Getty Images contributor contract, which stipulates that the photographer is the owner, and has any necessary model releases and originals. It also outlines the various rates based on size and intended commercial usage.
Those rates, not yet available, are likely to follow some of Getty's standard rates. As part of the deal, the only transaction is being shared directly between the photographer and Getty, meaning Yahoo will not be getting a share of that fee. According to Yahoo's rep, "Getty and Flickr have a separate business relationship."
The move is a special deal for Flickr, which currently does not allow for commercial transactions on the site outside of using partners for services such as photo printing. It's long been expected that Flickr would get around to implementing a system like this, if only to take advantage of the size of its collection, which averages thousands of user uploads every minute.
Update: Changes have been made to this article since it first posted regarding the link to the Getty purchase pages on Flickr as well as the nature of the business partnership between Getty Images and Yahoo.
Source:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-9985516-2.html?tag=mncol;title
Web Design Firms Chicago
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Mobile Internet to Dominate Within 5 Years -- Study
The mobile Internet is growing faster than its desktop counterpart ever did, and more users may go online via mobile devices than desktop PCs within five years, according to a new study by investment firm Morgan Stanley.
The intriguing prediction is one of many in the firm's massive "The Mobile Internet Report," a 424-page epic that someone, somewhere is bound to read in its entirety. For the rest of us, the executive summary will do just fine. If you're interested in perusing the full report, you'll find it here.
The report states we're "now in the early innings" of mobile Internet development, which is growing faster than previous tech cycles, including the evolution of the desktop PC. Given the rapid adoption of smartphones, including (obviously) the Apple iPhone and a growing number of devices using Google's Android mobile operating system, Morgan Stanley's conclusions shouldn't surprise anyone.
The study also points out that mobile Net growth is global phenomenon, not one confined to the developed world, which was typically the case with prior tech trends. But despite the worldwide focus, U.S. companies including Apple, Google, and Amazon are taking a leadership role. Furthermore, "a host of relatively young, but seasoned world-class technology veterans," including Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, are leading the mobile push, the report states.
Five key tech trends are converging to spur mobile Net growth, including 3G (and soon 4G) broadband, the popularity of social networking, online video, VOIP services such as Skype and Vonage, and "awesome mobile devices" that do tasks that until recently were the sole domain of your desktop or laptop PC.
The short term looks especially bright for Apple, but challenges await.
The "mobile ecosystem" of the iPhone, iPod touch, iTunes, and various accessories and services will continue to bloom over the next two years. After that, however, Google Android, competition from emerging markets, and wireless carrier limitations may pose a threat to Apple's market share, the report predicts.
There's little doubt the mobile Internet will dominate in the coming years--just look how far mobile handsets have come since the debut of the iPhone in 2007. Toss in a growing selection of rapidly improving smartphones, a new breed of wireless-ready tablet devices, e-readers like the Amazon Kindle, and faster 4G networks, and it's easy to see that mobile is the future of the Net.
Source:
http://www.itnews.com/mobile/12122/mobile-internet-dominate-within-5-years-study
Chicago Web Design
The intriguing prediction is one of many in the firm's massive "The Mobile Internet Report," a 424-page epic that someone, somewhere is bound to read in its entirety. For the rest of us, the executive summary will do just fine. If you're interested in perusing the full report, you'll find it here.
The report states we're "now in the early innings" of mobile Internet development, which is growing faster than previous tech cycles, including the evolution of the desktop PC. Given the rapid adoption of smartphones, including (obviously) the Apple iPhone and a growing number of devices using Google's Android mobile operating system, Morgan Stanley's conclusions shouldn't surprise anyone.
The study also points out that mobile Net growth is global phenomenon, not one confined to the developed world, which was typically the case with prior tech trends. But despite the worldwide focus, U.S. companies including Apple, Google, and Amazon are taking a leadership role. Furthermore, "a host of relatively young, but seasoned world-class technology veterans," including Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, are leading the mobile push, the report states.
Five key tech trends are converging to spur mobile Net growth, including 3G (and soon 4G) broadband, the popularity of social networking, online video, VOIP services such as Skype and Vonage, and "awesome mobile devices" that do tasks that until recently were the sole domain of your desktop or laptop PC.
The short term looks especially bright for Apple, but challenges await.
The "mobile ecosystem" of the iPhone, iPod touch, iTunes, and various accessories and services will continue to bloom over the next two years. After that, however, Google Android, competition from emerging markets, and wireless carrier limitations may pose a threat to Apple's market share, the report predicts.
There's little doubt the mobile Internet will dominate in the coming years--just look how far mobile handsets have come since the debut of the iPhone in 2007. Toss in a growing selection of rapidly improving smartphones, a new breed of wireless-ready tablet devices, e-readers like the Amazon Kindle, and faster 4G networks, and it's easy to see that mobile is the future of the Net.
Source:
http://www.itnews.com/mobile/12122/mobile-internet-dominate-within-5-years-study
Chicago Web Design
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Facebook Privacy Complaint Ignites War of Words
A high-profile electronic privacy group filed a federal complaint against Facebook on Thursday -- and now, Facebook is lashing back.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) called upon the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Facebook's recent changes to its users' privacy options. The changes, rolled out earlier this month, have been criticized by some for opening up previously masked personal details to the public eye.
"These changes violate user expectations, diminish user privacy, and contradict Facebook's own representations," EPIC's complaint (PDF) alleges.
EPIC's Facebook Complaint
The EPIC complaint -- supported by the Center for Digital Democracy, the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, and seven other advocacy organizations -- takes issue with Facebook's newly "public" treatment of such data as users' names, genders, cities, and profile photos. By default, EPIC points out, this information is now disclosed to search engines as well as to third-party Facebook applications.
The concern, according to EPIC, revolves around how this information could be used against a user's interests.
"More than 100 million people in the United States subscribe to the Facebook service," Marc Rotenberg, EPIC's executive director, said in a prepared statement. "The company should not be allowed to turn down the privacy dial on so many American consumers."
(Rotenberg was not immediately available to speak via phone for this story.)
Facebook's Response
Facebook, in response, says it's already spoken with the FTC and other regulators about the changes. A representative from the company notes that the revised privacy policy also adds a series of more detailed options for users, including the ability to specify different settings for every photo, link, or status update posted onto the social network.
"We've had productive discussions with dozens of organizations around the world about the recent changes," Andrew Noyes, Facebook's manager of public policy communications, said in a prepared statement. "We're disappointed that EPIC has chosen to share their concerns with the FTC while refusing to talk to us about them."
Privacy Perspectives
Other members of the privacy community are divided when it comes to EPIC's complaint. Berin Szoka, a senior fellow with the Progress and Freedom Foundation, questions whether getting the government involved is the right step to take.
"I think we're already seeing the marketplace pressures that Facebook faces move us toward a better balance between the benefits of sharing and granular control," he says. "We're concerned about the idea that the government would be in the driver's seat about these issues."
Source:
http://www.itnews.com/privacy/12159/facebook-privacy-complaint-ignites-war-words
Web Designers Chicago
The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) called upon the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Facebook's recent changes to its users' privacy options. The changes, rolled out earlier this month, have been criticized by some for opening up previously masked personal details to the public eye.
"These changes violate user expectations, diminish user privacy, and contradict Facebook's own representations," EPIC's complaint (PDF) alleges.
EPIC's Facebook Complaint
The EPIC complaint -- supported by the Center for Digital Democracy, the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, and seven other advocacy organizations -- takes issue with Facebook's newly "public" treatment of such data as users' names, genders, cities, and profile photos. By default, EPIC points out, this information is now disclosed to search engines as well as to third-party Facebook applications.
The concern, according to EPIC, revolves around how this information could be used against a user's interests.
"More than 100 million people in the United States subscribe to the Facebook service," Marc Rotenberg, EPIC's executive director, said in a prepared statement. "The company should not be allowed to turn down the privacy dial on so many American consumers."
(Rotenberg was not immediately available to speak via phone for this story.)
Facebook's Response
Facebook, in response, says it's already spoken with the FTC and other regulators about the changes. A representative from the company notes that the revised privacy policy also adds a series of more detailed options for users, including the ability to specify different settings for every photo, link, or status update posted onto the social network.
"We've had productive discussions with dozens of organizations around the world about the recent changes," Andrew Noyes, Facebook's manager of public policy communications, said in a prepared statement. "We're disappointed that EPIC has chosen to share their concerns with the FTC while refusing to talk to us about them."
Privacy Perspectives
Other members of the privacy community are divided when it comes to EPIC's complaint. Berin Szoka, a senior fellow with the Progress and Freedom Foundation, questions whether getting the government involved is the right step to take.
"I think we're already seeing the marketplace pressures that Facebook faces move us toward a better balance between the benefits of sharing and granular control," he says. "We're concerned about the idea that the government would be in the driver's seat about these issues."
Source:
http://www.itnews.com/privacy/12159/facebook-privacy-complaint-ignites-war-words
Web Designers Chicago
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
The Best Holiday iPhone apps
The holiday season can be stressful: the shopping, the spending, even the parties can be incredibly stressful.
Luckily, all you Apple (AAPL) iPhone users have more than 100,000 apps to help your holiday season go a little smoother. Yes, there's the obvious "Better Christmas List" app or the “Asking Santa” app, but maybe before it gets too close to the yuletide cheer, you should make a trip to the iTunes app store. That'd be one way to make the trip to your in-laws a little more bearable. All in all, a happy app holiday!
Make your shopping experience easier — and more affordable
Everyone's trying to find the best deals this time of year. And besides tackling someone on Black Friday or being glued to your laptop on Cyber Monday, you can look for apps that can help your shopping. Try Red Laser, priced at $1.99. All you do is take a picture of a product barcode, and it'll recognize the product and search for prices on Google (GOOG) and TheFind. So instead of buying something marked-up, you can see where you can get the item for the cheapest.
Stop using a checkbook and start using an app
There are more than enough apps to help you keep track of your finances. Mint.com, for instance, has caused a small revolution in the iPhone and digital community, showing you how much you're spending and how much you’re actually making. Mint.com is like having a digital version of your loving, but overbearing, scolding mother living in your inbox and iPhone. But for the holidays, try BudgetCare for $1.99. It's especially tailored for individual transactions. So this way if you just want to track your holiday expenses, it's a bit easier to sort through.
I'll be home for Christmas…on Wednesday at 5:32 p.m.
Many of us will be traveling for the holidays, and let's face it, we might enjoy the in-flight movie, but what we all care about is our destination — and whether we'll be home in time to make the holiday festivities. So rather than being preoccupied, you can stay occupied by checking your flight status in real-time with FlightTrack. For $4.99, you can check whether you'll have any delays, if they've switched gate numbers or if you just want to see which other planes are flying in the air with you.
Eggnog, anyone?
So you're finally home and you're in charge of drinks. No fear! Here comes (the free) Mixologist: Drink Recipes to the rescue! You've got almost 8,000 recipes at your disposal. Pick the liquor, pick the spritzer and shake it up–your iPhone, that is. And then you can pick up the real shaker and be the life of the party! This is one holiday app that keeps on giving.
Watch those calories!
Now that the party has really gotten started, it's easy to get stuck eating hundreds of obligatory holiday feasts. That really doesn't do much for your diet though — nor your pant size. So maybe it's best not to completely pig out and use an app that'll give you a handle on your eating. With livestrong.com's $2.99 Calorie Tracker app, you can search a food item, add it to your database and then you can search for the appropriate workout to burn those calories you just added to your system. Might as well get a head start on that New Year's resolution.
Let's make some Christmas cards
And no holiday would be complete unless you took some crazy photos and made them your Christmas card for next year. But why wait until next year, when you can dress them up and send them now? For $2.99, with the Grinch edition of the Dr. Seuss Camera, you can take a picture of your holiday antics, lay some Grinch illustrations on top of the faces you and your nephew are making and then send those greetings out to your loved ones right away. Who said the Grinch ruined Christmas?
Source:
http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/12/14/the-best-holiday-iphone-apps/?section=money_technology
Chicago Website Designers
Luckily, all you Apple (AAPL) iPhone users have more than 100,000 apps to help your holiday season go a little smoother. Yes, there's the obvious "Better Christmas List" app or the “Asking Santa” app, but maybe before it gets too close to the yuletide cheer, you should make a trip to the iTunes app store. That'd be one way to make the trip to your in-laws a little more bearable. All in all, a happy app holiday!
Make your shopping experience easier — and more affordable
Everyone's trying to find the best deals this time of year. And besides tackling someone on Black Friday or being glued to your laptop on Cyber Monday, you can look for apps that can help your shopping. Try Red Laser, priced at $1.99. All you do is take a picture of a product barcode, and it'll recognize the product and search for prices on Google (GOOG) and TheFind. So instead of buying something marked-up, you can see where you can get the item for the cheapest.
Stop using a checkbook and start using an app
There are more than enough apps to help you keep track of your finances. Mint.com, for instance, has caused a small revolution in the iPhone and digital community, showing you how much you're spending and how much you’re actually making. Mint.com is like having a digital version of your loving, but overbearing, scolding mother living in your inbox and iPhone. But for the holidays, try BudgetCare for $1.99. It's especially tailored for individual transactions. So this way if you just want to track your holiday expenses, it's a bit easier to sort through.
I'll be home for Christmas…on Wednesday at 5:32 p.m.
Many of us will be traveling for the holidays, and let's face it, we might enjoy the in-flight movie, but what we all care about is our destination — and whether we'll be home in time to make the holiday festivities. So rather than being preoccupied, you can stay occupied by checking your flight status in real-time with FlightTrack. For $4.99, you can check whether you'll have any delays, if they've switched gate numbers or if you just want to see which other planes are flying in the air with you.
Eggnog, anyone?
So you're finally home and you're in charge of drinks. No fear! Here comes (the free) Mixologist: Drink Recipes to the rescue! You've got almost 8,000 recipes at your disposal. Pick the liquor, pick the spritzer and shake it up–your iPhone, that is. And then you can pick up the real shaker and be the life of the party! This is one holiday app that keeps on giving.
Watch those calories!
Now that the party has really gotten started, it's easy to get stuck eating hundreds of obligatory holiday feasts. That really doesn't do much for your diet though — nor your pant size. So maybe it's best not to completely pig out and use an app that'll give you a handle on your eating. With livestrong.com's $2.99 Calorie Tracker app, you can search a food item, add it to your database and then you can search for the appropriate workout to burn those calories you just added to your system. Might as well get a head start on that New Year's resolution.
Let's make some Christmas cards
And no holiday would be complete unless you took some crazy photos and made them your Christmas card for next year. But why wait until next year, when you can dress them up and send them now? For $2.99, with the Grinch edition of the Dr. Seuss Camera, you can take a picture of your holiday antics, lay some Grinch illustrations on top of the faces you and your nephew are making and then send those greetings out to your loved ones right away. Who said the Grinch ruined Christmas?
Source:
http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/12/14/the-best-holiday-iphone-apps/?section=money_technology
Chicago Website Designers
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
ERP Vendor offers to Take over MySQL
French ERP (enterprise resource planning) vendor Nexedi made a public bid Monday to take over stewardship of the open-source MySQL database from Sun Microsystems, offering a symbolic €1 in return.
Oracle announced plans to buy Sun in April. The deal has been held up for months while European regulators conduct an antitrust review, which has reached a climax in recent days. A main concern of the E.U. has been the fate of MySQL if owned by Oracle, which holds a major chunk of the database market with its own proprietary platform.
If the deal is approved, it will leave Nexedi and end-users in an uncertain place, according to a letter that company CEO Jean-Paul Smets sent to the E.U. Monday.
Nexedi's open-source ERP5 product is based on MySQL, which has enabled the vendor to support a number of storage platforms and use the MySQL Cluster technology to handle large amounts of data, according to the letter.
But the pending acquisition of MySQL by Oracle "has changed the situation," the letter states.
"MySQL has become a liability to Nexedi. Our competitive advantage in the field of business applications has decreased because of the acquisition of MySQL by Oracle," Smets wrote.
"There are no competing open source relational databases which can match the performance of MySQL Cluster for very large data sets," Smets added. But Oracle's "poor track record" with past acquisitions means "the risk is very high that Oracle will destroy the value of MySQL and of its underlying open source technologies in order to promote its own proprietary technologies, both in the field [of] database and in the field of business applications," he wrote.
Nexedi is asking the E.U. to ask Oracle to sell off MySQL to a third party "which offers reasonable guarantees to develop it commercially under an open source business model." It is offering €1 to "relieve Oracle from what has become both a negative asset in its merger and acquisition strategy, and a negative asset to the open source and Free Software communities."
On Monday, Oracle sought to ease concerns about MySQL under its ownership by issuing a press release listing 10 "commitments" to the database. They include a pledge to continue releasing MySQL in the future under the General Public License, to increase spending on research and development, and to create a customer advisory board. The commitments would be valid for five years after the purchase is completed.
Smets was unmoved by Oracle's gesture.
"I usually do not believe in commitments from companies unless they can be enforced by something tangible such as a contract, a jurisdiction, cash handed to someone, etc," he said via e-mail.
Oracle and Sun did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The E.U. is expected to make a final decision on the merger by Jan. 27, but in recent days has signaled it will approve the deal.
Source:
http://www.itnews.com/business-issues/11936/erp-vendor-offers-take-over-mysql
Chicago Web Design
Oracle announced plans to buy Sun in April. The deal has been held up for months while European regulators conduct an antitrust review, which has reached a climax in recent days. A main concern of the E.U. has been the fate of MySQL if owned by Oracle, which holds a major chunk of the database market with its own proprietary platform.
If the deal is approved, it will leave Nexedi and end-users in an uncertain place, according to a letter that company CEO Jean-Paul Smets sent to the E.U. Monday.
Nexedi's open-source ERP5 product is based on MySQL, which has enabled the vendor to support a number of storage platforms and use the MySQL Cluster technology to handle large amounts of data, according to the letter.
But the pending acquisition of MySQL by Oracle "has changed the situation," the letter states.
"MySQL has become a liability to Nexedi. Our competitive advantage in the field of business applications has decreased because of the acquisition of MySQL by Oracle," Smets wrote.
"There are no competing open source relational databases which can match the performance of MySQL Cluster for very large data sets," Smets added. But Oracle's "poor track record" with past acquisitions means "the risk is very high that Oracle will destroy the value of MySQL and of its underlying open source technologies in order to promote its own proprietary technologies, both in the field [of] database and in the field of business applications," he wrote.
Nexedi is asking the E.U. to ask Oracle to sell off MySQL to a third party "which offers reasonable guarantees to develop it commercially under an open source business model." It is offering €1 to "relieve Oracle from what has become both a negative asset in its merger and acquisition strategy, and a negative asset to the open source and Free Software communities."
On Monday, Oracle sought to ease concerns about MySQL under its ownership by issuing a press release listing 10 "commitments" to the database. They include a pledge to continue releasing MySQL in the future under the General Public License, to increase spending on research and development, and to create a customer advisory board. The commitments would be valid for five years after the purchase is completed.
Smets was unmoved by Oracle's gesture.
"I usually do not believe in commitments from companies unless they can be enforced by something tangible such as a contract, a jurisdiction, cash handed to someone, etc," he said via e-mail.
Oracle and Sun did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The E.U. is expected to make a final decision on the merger by Jan. 27, but in recent days has signaled it will approve the deal.
Source:
http://www.itnews.com/business-issues/11936/erp-vendor-offers-take-over-mysql
Chicago Web Design
Monday, December 14, 2009
Adobe Probes New in-the-wild PDF Bug
Adobe confirmed late on Monday that hackers are exploiting a vulnerability in the most up-to-date version of its PDF viewing and editing applications.
"This afternoon, Adobe received reports of a vulnerability in Adobe Reader and Acrobat 9.2 and earlier versions being exploited in the wild," said David Lenoe, the company's security program manager, on the Adobe's product security incident response team (PSIRT) blog. "We are currently investigating this issue and assessing the risk to our customers."
Computerworld searched security mailing lists and sites, including Bugtraq, Full Disclosure and milw0rm.com but turned up no reports of exploits in the wild.
An Adobe representative described why, saying, "The reports came to PSIRT directly from partners in the security community," Adobe's Wiebke Lips said. "As of this moment, I have not seen any public reports aside from the Adobe PSIRT blog post that just went live."
Both Lenoe and Lips promised that Adobe would publish more information of the bug in Reader 9.2 and Acrobat 9.2 when they have details from its investigation.
Adobe updated Reader and Acrobat to versions 9.2 in mid-October, when it patched nearly 30 vulnerabilities in the popular programs.
The company has struggled this year to keep up with a rising tide of Reader and Acrobat flaws. In March, Adobe quashed a PDF bug that attackers had been using for more than two months , patched Reader and Acrobat again in May to block another zero-day and fixed a Flash-related PDF flaw in July.
The update to 9.2 was the fourth during 2009 that plugged at least one hole already being used by hackers, a vulnerability often described as a "zero-day" to indicate that a patch was not available when attacks started.
Several months ago, Adobe committed to delivering Reader and Acrobat security updates every three months as part of a renewed effort to lock down its software. According to that schedule, Adobe should be patching its PDF programs next month.
Last week, Adobe updated Flash Player to patch seven vulnerabilities.
Source:
http://www.itnews.com/antispam/11965/adobe-probes-new-wild-pdf-bug
Custom Web Design Chicago
"This afternoon, Adobe received reports of a vulnerability in Adobe Reader and Acrobat 9.2 and earlier versions being exploited in the wild," said David Lenoe, the company's security program manager, on the Adobe's product security incident response team (PSIRT) blog. "We are currently investigating this issue and assessing the risk to our customers."
Computerworld searched security mailing lists and sites, including Bugtraq, Full Disclosure and milw0rm.com but turned up no reports of exploits in the wild.
An Adobe representative described why, saying, "The reports came to PSIRT directly from partners in the security community," Adobe's Wiebke Lips said. "As of this moment, I have not seen any public reports aside from the Adobe PSIRT blog post that just went live."
Both Lenoe and Lips promised that Adobe would publish more information of the bug in Reader 9.2 and Acrobat 9.2 when they have details from its investigation.
Adobe updated Reader and Acrobat to versions 9.2 in mid-October, when it patched nearly 30 vulnerabilities in the popular programs.
The company has struggled this year to keep up with a rising tide of Reader and Acrobat flaws. In March, Adobe quashed a PDF bug that attackers had been using for more than two months , patched Reader and Acrobat again in May to block another zero-day and fixed a Flash-related PDF flaw in July.
The update to 9.2 was the fourth during 2009 that plugged at least one hole already being used by hackers, a vulnerability often described as a "zero-day" to indicate that a patch was not available when attacks started.
Several months ago, Adobe committed to delivering Reader and Acrobat security updates every three months as part of a renewed effort to lock down its software. According to that schedule, Adobe should be patching its PDF programs next month.
Last week, Adobe updated Flash Player to patch seven vulnerabilities.
Source:
http://www.itnews.com/antispam/11965/adobe-probes-new-wild-pdf-bug
Custom Web Design Chicago
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Report: PS3 Design Cost Finally Nearing break-even
Since its launch three years ago, Sony's PlayStation 3 has always been more expensive than its rivals, Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii, in large part because the components in the PS3 cost so much to assemble.
At launch, for example, the console cost Sony about $805 to build, according to technology research firm iSuppli, with the highest-priced version selling for $599.
But now, a new iSuppli report issued Friday suggests that Sony may finally be nearing the break-even point with the PS3. It said that its teardown analysis service estimated that the design cost of the new 120-gigabyte PS3 Slim comes in around $336, while it sells for $299 in the U.S.
That means that while Sony is still losing about $37 per unit--plus somewhat more for marketing, royalties, box contents, and other expenses--it is for the first time closing in on breaking even with the console itself.
A Sony representative said Friday the company has a policy never to comment on the cost structure and breakdown of its hardware.
According to iSuppli, its 2008 analysis of the PS3's component costs showed that the then-$399 console was losing at least $50 per unit. So it's notable that even at the lower price, Sony is losing less money. Further, the analysis firm suggested that with component costs dropping rapidly, Sony could soon find itself making money on the PS3.
To be sure, companies like Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are willing to subsidize the cost of their video game consoles because they make their real money on sales--and royalties--of games. The more consoles they can put in consumers' living rooms, even if they take losses on them, the more they can make on the games.
But Sony took a beating in the media in the early days of the PS3 because it was losing so much on each PS3, not to mention that the high cost of the console made it an unattractive buy.
Now, with the August release of the PS3 Slim, and its reduced price, the console is finally coming close to matching its rivals' sales numbers. In September, the PS3 even won its first-ever month, as measured by total console sales. In November, however, the benefits of a great deal of pent-up demand for a lower-priced PS3 seemed to have been played out, and once again, the PS3 came in third, trailing the Wii and the Xbox.
Still, the PS3 was only marginally behind the Xbox in units sold in November, and there certainly seems to be renewed enthusiasm for the console at the lower price.
And when Sony finally sees a profit on each PS3 sale, there will no doubt even be smiles in the company's board room. Stay tuned to see when that actually happens.
Source:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10414022-52.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0
Professional Website Design Services
At launch, for example, the console cost Sony about $805 to build, according to technology research firm iSuppli, with the highest-priced version selling for $599.
But now, a new iSuppli report issued Friday suggests that Sony may finally be nearing the break-even point with the PS3. It said that its teardown analysis service estimated that the design cost of the new 120-gigabyte PS3 Slim comes in around $336, while it sells for $299 in the U.S.
That means that while Sony is still losing about $37 per unit--plus somewhat more for marketing, royalties, box contents, and other expenses--it is for the first time closing in on breaking even with the console itself.
A Sony representative said Friday the company has a policy never to comment on the cost structure and breakdown of its hardware.
According to iSuppli, its 2008 analysis of the PS3's component costs showed that the then-$399 console was losing at least $50 per unit. So it's notable that even at the lower price, Sony is losing less money. Further, the analysis firm suggested that with component costs dropping rapidly, Sony could soon find itself making money on the PS3.
To be sure, companies like Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are willing to subsidize the cost of their video game consoles because they make their real money on sales--and royalties--of games. The more consoles they can put in consumers' living rooms, even if they take losses on them, the more they can make on the games.
But Sony took a beating in the media in the early days of the PS3 because it was losing so much on each PS3, not to mention that the high cost of the console made it an unattractive buy.
Now, with the August release of the PS3 Slim, and its reduced price, the console is finally coming close to matching its rivals' sales numbers. In September, the PS3 even won its first-ever month, as measured by total console sales. In November, however, the benefits of a great deal of pent-up demand for a lower-priced PS3 seemed to have been played out, and once again, the PS3 came in third, trailing the Wii and the Xbox.
Still, the PS3 was only marginally behind the Xbox in units sold in November, and there certainly seems to be renewed enthusiasm for the console at the lower price.
And when Sony finally sees a profit on each PS3 sale, there will no doubt even be smiles in the company's board room. Stay tuned to see when that actually happens.
Source:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10414022-52.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0
Professional Website Design Services
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Web Host Webfusion Buys Hosting Assets of XCalibre
(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- UK Web hosting provider Webfusion (www.webfusion.co.uk) announced on Thursday it has acquired the hosting assets of XCalibre Communications (www.xcalibre.co.uk) to "strengthen its entry level managed hosting business".
The acquisition, for an undisclosed sum, will let Webfusion to extend its offering and provide XCalibre customers with a wider selection of products, along with 24-hour support.
Webfusion recently began promoting the new Microsoft WebsiteSpark initiative, which helps smaller Web design and development companies in launching or growing their business.
The remaining XCalibre business will transfer to Flexiant. Webfusion has partnered with Flexiant to offer the FlexiScale cloud computing platform on a trial basis in hopes that FlexiScale will eventually be offered as a service to Webfusion customers.
"XCalibre has an excellent portfolio of hosting products and we are delighted to partner with them," says Thomas Vollrath, managing director of Webfusion. "The acquired Xcalibre customer base will benefit from an increased product set and more choice in entry level managed hosting packages. We look forward to the opportunities to widen our portfolio and present these customers with a greater choice of hosting and web security solutions."
Customers of XCalibre Communications have now been transfered over to Webfusion. The company says that there will not be any changes to control panels or services offered.
Source:
http://www.thewhir.com/web-hosting-news/121009_Web_Host_Webfusion_Buys_Hosting_Assets_of_XCalibre
Professional Website Design Services
The acquisition, for an undisclosed sum, will let Webfusion to extend its offering and provide XCalibre customers with a wider selection of products, along with 24-hour support.
Webfusion recently began promoting the new Microsoft WebsiteSpark initiative, which helps smaller Web design and development companies in launching or growing their business.
The remaining XCalibre business will transfer to Flexiant. Webfusion has partnered with Flexiant to offer the FlexiScale cloud computing platform on a trial basis in hopes that FlexiScale will eventually be offered as a service to Webfusion customers.
"XCalibre has an excellent portfolio of hosting products and we are delighted to partner with them," says Thomas Vollrath, managing director of Webfusion. "The acquired Xcalibre customer base will benefit from an increased product set and more choice in entry level managed hosting packages. We look forward to the opportunities to widen our portfolio and present these customers with a greater choice of hosting and web security solutions."
Customers of XCalibre Communications have now been transfered over to Webfusion. The company says that there will not be any changes to control panels or services offered.
Source:
http://www.thewhir.com/web-hosting-news/121009_Web_Host_Webfusion_Buys_Hosting_Assets_of_XCalibre
Professional Website Design Services
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Google Sues Over Alleged Work-at-home Scams
Google is taking legal action to stop companies from allegedly using the search giant's name to trick people into paying for supposed work-at-home kits advertised online and in e-mails.
The company filed a lawsuit on Monday in federal court in Salt Lake City against Pacific WebWorks and other, unnamed defendants alleging trademark infringement and dilution, unfair competition, federal cyberpiracy, and violation of consumer sales practices. The lawsuit can be amended to add the names of additional defendants as they are uncovered.
"This action seeks to stop a widespread Internet advertising scam that is defrauding the public by misusing the famous Google brand," the suit says. "The scam victimizes unsuspecting consumers by prominently displaying the famous Google mark, by suggesting sponsorship by the plaintiff Google Inc., and by urging consumers to obtain a kit supposedly showing them how to make money working from home with Google."
A call to Pacific WebWorks seeking comment on allegations of fraud was not returned on Monday.
People are targeted either via online ads, pop-up ads, or promotional e-mails that promise information on how to make money by working at home. The ads typically display the Google brand prominently and include a link to a site with what looks like legitimate news articles, blog postings, or social-networking posts and sites featuring testimonials from people claiming to have made thousands of dollars per month from the program.
Consumers are asked to pay an "instant access" fee for access to a members-only portal or a "shipping and handling fee" for a DVD that supposedly explains how to make money through the program, according to the lawsuit. Many victims who pay the fees, typically a few dollars, either do not get DVDs, they receive DVDs that contain viruses or they get access to an unrelated free site, such as Google's online help center, the suit says.
The defendants are part of a network that reuses Web sites and shares tools to perpetuate the scams with little effort, the lawsuit alleges. For instance, the same templates are used to generate fake testimonials, blogs, and news stories, often ones that are customized to the location of consumers, the lawsuit alleges.
There are numerous affiliates but Pacific WebWorks is believed to be one of the main operators behind many of the schemes, said Jason Morrison, a search quality engineer at Google.
"These scams play upon some powerful methods of persuasion. Not just by using Google's logo, but we often see 'as seen on CNN, Fox News and ABC,'" he said in an interview. "I don't know if people understand how easy it is to copy an image file on a Web page. They also try to use social proof by creating a fake blog, with a photo of the blogger from his wedding, the new car he bought, and explaining how he lost his job. They go to great lengths to string people along."
Google works to remove the fraudulent ads from its search results and ad network and to keep new fraud sites from popping up in the index, but new ones are created all the time, according to Morrison.
He suggested that people do some Web research before answering any ads and look to see if consumers have complained online about the company, as well as be skeptical of any offers that sound like they are too good to be true. Victims should contact their bank or credit card company and report fraudulent-looking results found in Google searches here and fraudulent-looking ads here.
More information from Google about the scams is in this Google blog post.
This isn't the first action taken against alleged work-at-home scams. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission obtained an injunction and asset freeze in Nevada against a group of sites operating a scam using the "Google Money Tree" name this summer. Some fraudulent sites were removed, but thousands remain, Google said.
Last month, a class action suit was filed in state court in Illinois against Pacific WebWorks by Barbara Ford, who is described as "elderly, retired and on a fixed income."
Ford claims she clicked on an ad on her AOL home page with a fake news article describing how one woman made $5,000 a month with the program. She alleges she paid $1.97 for a "Google Business Kit" and that her credit card was also charged $79.90. She called the company to request a refund and never received one, according to the lawsuit.
There also are a number of complaints listed about Pacific WebWorks on the Rip Off Report Web site.
Source:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-10410831-245.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0
Web Site Design
The company filed a lawsuit on Monday in federal court in Salt Lake City against Pacific WebWorks and other, unnamed defendants alleging trademark infringement and dilution, unfair competition, federal cyberpiracy, and violation of consumer sales practices. The lawsuit can be amended to add the names of additional defendants as they are uncovered.
"This action seeks to stop a widespread Internet advertising scam that is defrauding the public by misusing the famous Google brand," the suit says. "The scam victimizes unsuspecting consumers by prominently displaying the famous Google mark, by suggesting sponsorship by the plaintiff Google Inc., and by urging consumers to obtain a kit supposedly showing them how to make money working from home with Google."
A call to Pacific WebWorks seeking comment on allegations of fraud was not returned on Monday.
People are targeted either via online ads, pop-up ads, or promotional e-mails that promise information on how to make money by working at home. The ads typically display the Google brand prominently and include a link to a site with what looks like legitimate news articles, blog postings, or social-networking posts and sites featuring testimonials from people claiming to have made thousands of dollars per month from the program.
Consumers are asked to pay an "instant access" fee for access to a members-only portal or a "shipping and handling fee" for a DVD that supposedly explains how to make money through the program, according to the lawsuit. Many victims who pay the fees, typically a few dollars, either do not get DVDs, they receive DVDs that contain viruses or they get access to an unrelated free site, such as Google's online help center, the suit says.
The defendants are part of a network that reuses Web sites and shares tools to perpetuate the scams with little effort, the lawsuit alleges. For instance, the same templates are used to generate fake testimonials, blogs, and news stories, often ones that are customized to the location of consumers, the lawsuit alleges.
There are numerous affiliates but Pacific WebWorks is believed to be one of the main operators behind many of the schemes, said Jason Morrison, a search quality engineer at Google.
"These scams play upon some powerful methods of persuasion. Not just by using Google's logo, but we often see 'as seen on CNN, Fox News and ABC,'" he said in an interview. "I don't know if people understand how easy it is to copy an image file on a Web page. They also try to use social proof by creating a fake blog, with a photo of the blogger from his wedding, the new car he bought, and explaining how he lost his job. They go to great lengths to string people along."
Google works to remove the fraudulent ads from its search results and ad network and to keep new fraud sites from popping up in the index, but new ones are created all the time, according to Morrison.
He suggested that people do some Web research before answering any ads and look to see if consumers have complained online about the company, as well as be skeptical of any offers that sound like they are too good to be true. Victims should contact their bank or credit card company and report fraudulent-looking results found in Google searches here and fraudulent-looking ads here.
More information from Google about the scams is in this Google blog post.
This isn't the first action taken against alleged work-at-home scams. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission obtained an injunction and asset freeze in Nevada against a group of sites operating a scam using the "Google Money Tree" name this summer. Some fraudulent sites were removed, but thousands remain, Google said.
Last month, a class action suit was filed in state court in Illinois against Pacific WebWorks by Barbara Ford, who is described as "elderly, retired and on a fixed income."
Ford claims she clicked on an ad on her AOL home page with a fake news article describing how one woman made $5,000 a month with the program. She alleges she paid $1.97 for a "Google Business Kit" and that her credit card was also charged $79.90. She called the company to request a refund and never received one, according to the lawsuit.
There also are a number of complaints listed about Pacific WebWorks on the Rip Off Report Web site.
Source:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-10410831-245.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0
Web Site Design
Start-up Taps Cloud Computing for Sales & Training
A start-up that used the vague name IT Structures while it was in stealth mode so its purposes couldn’t be divined broke cover Monday as CloudShare and claimed to be the first business-oriented cloud computing company.
The little rascal comes to market with some chi-chi customers that are reportedly pushing it further into the cloud than it intended to go.
Its idea was to use the cloud to demo its software, have potential customers try it “hands-on” and then, if they went for it, have the widgetry installed on their premises.
But it’s not working out that way. They like it just fine on CloudShare’s hybrid cloud and are content – if not insistent – about leaving it that way, according marketing VP Kevin Epstein.
Customers, which include VMware, Cisco, SAP, Websense and Alcatel-Lucent, use the software to train up their sales engineers on their own software or appliances as well as demo their software to the ultimate end users who can play with it to their hearts’ content before deciding to deploy or not.
The mini-sites created bear the sellers’ own branding and collateral materials
CloudShare says its customers have delivered over a million VM demo, proof-of-concept and training hours so far, representing six quarters of consecutive double-digit usage growth. It describes them as moving from experimenting with simple hosted QA labs on public clouds to using CloudShare to turn their complex IT environments into cloud-based services.
The start-up reckons its achievement demonstrates the practical, revenue-oriented, immediately useful nature of its SaaS platform. Solution providers and ISVs can deploy multiple, independent, dashboard-controlled copies of their enterprise-class environments in minutes as opposed to the days or weeks such things used to take – not to mention the time and expense of copying gigabytes of data and shipping machines and people around.
Besides a close-to-immediate ROI, the widgetry promises faster sales cycles, faster training and insight into customer behavior. And it gives vendors a way to keep an eye on who resellers are pitching and their hit rate.
The start-up says its functionality includes extensive workflow, hierarchical access and analytic monitoring. The high-speed environment-creation process that lets users create new production-grade replicas in minutes is patented. Its whiteboarding, screen sharing and self-service capabilities let users share their own prototypes and environments.
It describes itself as the next step in the sales cycle after WebEx because of its whiteboard skills. It also calls itself a Salesforce for VMs.
CloudShare won’t identify the public cloud it’s using as part of its hybrid infrastructure but it does have a partnership with Salesforce.com and plug-in that will let Salesforce users launch CloudShare demos on AppExchange. (See http://CloudShare.com/sfplugin.)
Epstein said the company expects to have some kind of relationship with Amazon and Rackspace down the road. It underscores that it doesn’t want to be in the hosting business although it’s maintaining its own data center as a private cloud for customer use.
CloudShare, or its previous incarnation, has been around for almost three years and has gotten a $6 million A round from Gemini Capital and Sequoia Capital. It says it’s not looking for more money right now. It’s got somewhere between 25 and 50 employees, but it’s shy about saying exactly how many. Headquartered Menlo Park, California, its R&D center is in Tel Aviv.
Source:
http://web2.sys-con.com/node/1211772
Web Design Firms Chicago
The little rascal comes to market with some chi-chi customers that are reportedly pushing it further into the cloud than it intended to go.
Its idea was to use the cloud to demo its software, have potential customers try it “hands-on” and then, if they went for it, have the widgetry installed on their premises.
But it’s not working out that way. They like it just fine on CloudShare’s hybrid cloud and are content – if not insistent – about leaving it that way, according marketing VP Kevin Epstein.
Customers, which include VMware, Cisco, SAP, Websense and Alcatel-Lucent, use the software to train up their sales engineers on their own software or appliances as well as demo their software to the ultimate end users who can play with it to their hearts’ content before deciding to deploy or not.
The mini-sites created bear the sellers’ own branding and collateral materials
CloudShare says its customers have delivered over a million VM demo, proof-of-concept and training hours so far, representing six quarters of consecutive double-digit usage growth. It describes them as moving from experimenting with simple hosted QA labs on public clouds to using CloudShare to turn their complex IT environments into cloud-based services.
The start-up reckons its achievement demonstrates the practical, revenue-oriented, immediately useful nature of its SaaS platform. Solution providers and ISVs can deploy multiple, independent, dashboard-controlled copies of their enterprise-class environments in minutes as opposed to the days or weeks such things used to take – not to mention the time and expense of copying gigabytes of data and shipping machines and people around.
Besides a close-to-immediate ROI, the widgetry promises faster sales cycles, faster training and insight into customer behavior. And it gives vendors a way to keep an eye on who resellers are pitching and their hit rate.
The start-up says its functionality includes extensive workflow, hierarchical access and analytic monitoring. The high-speed environment-creation process that lets users create new production-grade replicas in minutes is patented. Its whiteboarding, screen sharing and self-service capabilities let users share their own prototypes and environments.
It describes itself as the next step in the sales cycle after WebEx because of its whiteboard skills. It also calls itself a Salesforce for VMs.
CloudShare won’t identify the public cloud it’s using as part of its hybrid infrastructure but it does have a partnership with Salesforce.com and plug-in that will let Salesforce users launch CloudShare demos on AppExchange. (See http://CloudShare.com/sfplugin.)
Epstein said the company expects to have some kind of relationship with Amazon and Rackspace down the road. It underscores that it doesn’t want to be in the hosting business although it’s maintaining its own data center as a private cloud for customer use.
CloudShare, or its previous incarnation, has been around for almost three years and has gotten a $6 million A round from Gemini Capital and Sequoia Capital. It says it’s not looking for more money right now. It’s got somewhere between 25 and 50 employees, but it’s shy about saying exactly how many. Headquartered Menlo Park, California, its R&D center is in Tel Aviv.
Source:
http://web2.sys-con.com/node/1211772
Web Design Firms Chicago
Monday, December 7, 2009
Boxee Beta is Cleaner, Better, Still Closed
On Monday, the media-viewing app Boxee is going into a closed, private beta test. This app has been in private alpha testing for about a year and a half, and has won praise while generating some frustration among its test users. At first, for example, it was a great interface to the Hulu service, but Hulu made its content unavailable to Boxee users (there's a less-elegant workaround baked into the current product). AppleTV users who hacked the app into their system have also hit speed bumps--the app won't work on the newest updates of the AppleTV product.
Boxee soldiers on, gaining fans and adding content from other sources. I recently covered the Boxee version of Clicker, for example, which shows us how the Boxee platform might some day do a credible job of replacing users' TiVos or cable boxes.
The Boxee experience is improving, too. Monday's new beta has a completely redone interface that is far superior to the alpha's. The idea of the slide-out toolbar menus, an anachronistic throwback to Windows and Mac desktop operating systems, is thankfully gone, replaced by a more visible and consistent interface.
The app also gets new features. If you tell Boxee your Facebook and Twitter IDs, it will scan your friends' posts continuously, and tell you what they're talking about in a new "recommended" column on the Boxee home screen.
The home screen also shows your queue, which can include content that pops up based on shows you're subscribed to. It also has a "featured" column that Boxee can use to promote new content, included paid placements--a new revenue stream for the company.
Boxee can also now search the entire Netflix online inventory. Previously, you could view your online Netflix shows and see a smattering of new ones. Now you can see and stream everything, assuming you're a paying user.
There are also new content partners: The Escapist (which makes the Zero Punctuation video), and SuicideGirls. (I wasn't aware until I got the beta demo that Boxee supports adult content; the NSFW feeds don't appear until you disable the parental controls.)
The new Boxee begins to address my biggest gripe about the system, which is that it can be hard to find content from the multitudinous streams that feed into the platform. A new TV menu combines content from the user's hard drive as well as subscription and streaming sources, and it has a useful search feature. There's also an improved table of contents for shows. But Boxee still doesn't have a global search to find everything it can play, so in some cases you need to know which "application" (Boxee content stream) has a show you want to watch. Boxee VP Andrew Kippen did tell me it's an ongoing goal to improve the search process on the platform.
Kippen says the company recommends the Mac Mini as the best platform for the app at the moment. There are also OS X and Linux versions, and a Windows port, but it's for 32-bit installations only. The Linux port will be used in the dedicated Boxee hardware, details of which are being announced shortly. In the meantime, Roku has a somewhat competitive hardware-based product now shipping, and it has the additional benefit of offering access to a user's Amazon streaming-video account, which Boxee doesn't do.
Boxee is still closed to most new users. Everyone, even existing alpha users, has to sign up for the beta lottery to try it out. The beta will open to all around the Consumer Electronics Show time frame, in January.
Source:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-19882_3-10410159-250.html
Web Design Firms Chicago
Boxee soldiers on, gaining fans and adding content from other sources. I recently covered the Boxee version of Clicker, for example, which shows us how the Boxee platform might some day do a credible job of replacing users' TiVos or cable boxes.
The Boxee experience is improving, too. Monday's new beta has a completely redone interface that is far superior to the alpha's. The idea of the slide-out toolbar menus, an anachronistic throwback to Windows and Mac desktop operating systems, is thankfully gone, replaced by a more visible and consistent interface.
The app also gets new features. If you tell Boxee your Facebook and Twitter IDs, it will scan your friends' posts continuously, and tell you what they're talking about in a new "recommended" column on the Boxee home screen.
The home screen also shows your queue, which can include content that pops up based on shows you're subscribed to. It also has a "featured" column that Boxee can use to promote new content, included paid placements--a new revenue stream for the company.
Boxee can also now search the entire Netflix online inventory. Previously, you could view your online Netflix shows and see a smattering of new ones. Now you can see and stream everything, assuming you're a paying user.
There are also new content partners: The Escapist (which makes the Zero Punctuation video), and SuicideGirls. (I wasn't aware until I got the beta demo that Boxee supports adult content; the NSFW feeds don't appear until you disable the parental controls.)
The new Boxee begins to address my biggest gripe about the system, which is that it can be hard to find content from the multitudinous streams that feed into the platform. A new TV menu combines content from the user's hard drive as well as subscription and streaming sources, and it has a useful search feature. There's also an improved table of contents for shows. But Boxee still doesn't have a global search to find everything it can play, so in some cases you need to know which "application" (Boxee content stream) has a show you want to watch. Boxee VP Andrew Kippen did tell me it's an ongoing goal to improve the search process on the platform.
Kippen says the company recommends the Mac Mini as the best platform for the app at the moment. There are also OS X and Linux versions, and a Windows port, but it's for 32-bit installations only. The Linux port will be used in the dedicated Boxee hardware, details of which are being announced shortly. In the meantime, Roku has a somewhat competitive hardware-based product now shipping, and it has the additional benefit of offering access to a user's Amazon streaming-video account, which Boxee doesn't do.
Boxee is still closed to most new users. Everyone, even existing alpha users, has to sign up for the beta lottery to try it out. The beta will open to all around the Consumer Electronics Show time frame, in January.
Source:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-19882_3-10410159-250.html
Web Design Firms Chicago
Citysearch Gets Real-Time Fever, Lets Biz Owners Log In, Update Twitter Remotely
The rush to incorporate real-time status updates has even hit IAC’s Citysearch. Starting today, business owners will be able to create and manage their Twitter accounts directly from a Citysearch page. A restaurant, bar or health clubs’ most recent three tweets will show up alongside their ratings, reviews and other info; Citysearch is also pulling in replies and other tweets that include the business’ Twitter handle.
Citysearch is only the latest company to work on back-end integration with Twitter: Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) and Google (NSDQ: GOOG) recently brokered data-sharing deals with the service for search, and LinkedIn also added Twitter support. For Citysearch, adding remote Twitter access is part of an ongoing effort to become the most comprehensive online resource for local businesses—particularly in the face of more competition from Yelp, and now, even Google.
“This is another way for us to help businesses manage—or even just create—their social identities, because it gives them one place to respond to reviews, update Facebook and post to Twitter,” said Kara Nortman, Citysearch’s SVP, publishing.
While there’s no financial gain for Citysearch (or Twitter) from the integration right now, Nortman hinted that the company had its eyes on a potential “premium” social media offering in the future: “Down the road, we think about rolling out enhanced features—business owners could pull content out of tweets for example, and highlight it on their page,” she said. “But we’re focused on keeping everything free right now.”
I asked Nortman about potential ad clutter—since Citysearch runs ads on its local business listings, and business owners can create sponsored tweets from third-party services like 12seconds—but she said the company had no plans to “interfere or restrict” the users’ access to Twitter. Meanwhile, she acknowledged that including tweets on business pages would have SEO benefits, particularly with the big search engines making it a point to index tweets.
Source:
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-citysearch-gets-real-time-fever-lets-biz-owners-log-in-update-twitter-r/
Web Design Firms Chicago
Citysearch is only the latest company to work on back-end integration with Twitter: Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) and Google (NSDQ: GOOG) recently brokered data-sharing deals with the service for search, and LinkedIn also added Twitter support. For Citysearch, adding remote Twitter access is part of an ongoing effort to become the most comprehensive online resource for local businesses—particularly in the face of more competition from Yelp, and now, even Google.
“This is another way for us to help businesses manage—or even just create—their social identities, because it gives them one place to respond to reviews, update Facebook and post to Twitter,” said Kara Nortman, Citysearch’s SVP, publishing.
While there’s no financial gain for Citysearch (or Twitter) from the integration right now, Nortman hinted that the company had its eyes on a potential “premium” social media offering in the future: “Down the road, we think about rolling out enhanced features—business owners could pull content out of tweets for example, and highlight it on their page,” she said. “But we’re focused on keeping everything free right now.”
I asked Nortman about potential ad clutter—since Citysearch runs ads on its local business listings, and business owners can create sponsored tweets from third-party services like 12seconds—but she said the company had no plans to “interfere or restrict” the users’ access to Twitter. Meanwhile, she acknowledged that including tweets on business pages would have SEO benefits, particularly with the big search engines making it a point to index tweets.
Source:
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-citysearch-gets-real-time-fever-lets-biz-owners-log-in-update-twitter-r/
Web Design Firms Chicago
Citysearch Gets Real-Time Fever, Lets Biz Owners Log In, Update Twitter Remotely
The rush to incorporate real-time status updates has even hit IAC’s Citysearch. Starting today, business owners will be able to create and manage their Twitter accounts directly from a Citysearch page. A restaurant, bar or health clubs’ most recent three tweets will show up alongside their ratings, reviews and other info; Citysearch is also pulling in replies and other tweets that include the business’ Twitter handle.
Citysearch is only the latest company to work on back-end integration with Twitter: Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) and Google (NSDQ: GOOG) recently brokered data-sharing deals with the service for search, and LinkedIn also added Twitter support. For Citysearch, adding remote Twitter access is part of an ongoing effort to become the most comprehensive online resource for local businesses—particularly in the face of more competition from Yelp, and now, even Google.
“This is another way for us to help businesses manage—or even just create—their social identities, because it gives them one place to respond to reviews, update Facebook and post to Twitter,” said Kara Nortman, Citysearch’s SVP, publishing.
While there’s no financial gain for Citysearch (or Twitter) from the integration right now, Nortman hinted that the company had its eyes on a potential “premium” social media offering in the future: “Down the road, we think about rolling out enhanced features—business owners could pull content out of tweets for example, and highlight it on their page,” she said. “But we’re focused on keeping everything free right now.”
I asked Nortman about potential ad clutter—since Citysearch runs ads on its local business listings, and business owners can create sponsored tweets from third-party services like 12seconds—but she said the company had no plans to “interfere or restrict” the users’ access to Twitter. Meanwhile, she acknowledged that including tweets on business pages would have SEO benefits, particularly with the big search engines making it a point to index tweets.
Source:
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-citysearch-gets-real-time-fever-lets-biz-owners-log-in-update-twitter-r/
Web Design Firms Chicago
Citysearch is only the latest company to work on back-end integration with Twitter: Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) and Google (NSDQ: GOOG) recently brokered data-sharing deals with the service for search, and LinkedIn also added Twitter support. For Citysearch, adding remote Twitter access is part of an ongoing effort to become the most comprehensive online resource for local businesses—particularly in the face of more competition from Yelp, and now, even Google.
“This is another way for us to help businesses manage—or even just create—their social identities, because it gives them one place to respond to reviews, update Facebook and post to Twitter,” said Kara Nortman, Citysearch’s SVP, publishing.
While there’s no financial gain for Citysearch (or Twitter) from the integration right now, Nortman hinted that the company had its eyes on a potential “premium” social media offering in the future: “Down the road, we think about rolling out enhanced features—business owners could pull content out of tweets for example, and highlight it on their page,” she said. “But we’re focused on keeping everything free right now.”
I asked Nortman about potential ad clutter—since Citysearch runs ads on its local business listings, and business owners can create sponsored tweets from third-party services like 12seconds—but she said the company had no plans to “interfere or restrict” the users’ access to Twitter. Meanwhile, she acknowledged that including tweets on business pages would have SEO benefits, particularly with the big search engines making it a point to index tweets.
Source:
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-citysearch-gets-real-time-fever-lets-biz-owners-log-in-update-twitter-r/
Web Design Firms Chicago
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Facebook’s Killer Feature: The Mutual Friends List
2009 has been a busy year for Facebook. The Social Networking Service just reached a whopping 350 million users. It redesigned its site, then redesigned those redesigns (say that three times fast). And as Mark Zuckerberg, the site’s founder and chief executive, announced Tuesday, the company is getting ready to release a new set of privacy policies in the coming weeks.
Facebook has also been on the receiving end of some heavy criticism this year for an array of privacy issues and a perceived desire to look and act more like Twitter. Some of these concerns are valid, and some are just the growing pains of a five-year-old company in a market that continues to change and adapt at breakneck speeds.
All of that aside for a moment, I believe that Facebook has one important, underutilized feature that no other site can replicate or compete with: the “mutual friends” list.
When you go to an individual’s Facebook Page, the list sits in a little box on the left of the page, visually displaying who you know in common. For me, this often-overlooked feature has become an integral part of my Facebook experience. Sure, I still go to the site to update my status and peruse my news feeds, but I use Mutual Friends more than anything else.
This feature enables me to supplement the real world with additional digital information. When I go to a meeting or party, I take a minute to look up who’s attending and quickly explore friends we might share. It’s the perfect digital icebreaker. Increasingly, when I go to a conference and meet someone new, I’ll sneak into the hallway and look them up, too. Or, if they seem unencumbered by potential privacy concerns, we pull out our phones, and using Facebook’s mobile application, look each other up.
Last year, for example, I met Wired columnist Steven Levy at a conference in Boston. After a few minutes chatting about mundane tech stories, we quickly pulled out our laptops, zipped along to Facebook.com and sat for an hour discussing who we knew in common.
Of course, the “mutual friends” list has its drawbacks. Maybe I don’t want you to know we are both friends with the same political activist. Then there are the random acquaintances you’ve collected over the years — they’re not really friends, even though they send you messages that say “Hi, we have 10 friends in common so we must be friends!”
Still, for me, the Mutual Friends list has become an integral part of my digital life.
And five years after the site’s launch, this feature is something only Facebook really offers. It would be close to impossible for Twitter to do, since its service is built on a find-and-follow mentality. I follow people I’m not friends with, and in turn, people I’ve never met follow me.
What about Google’s Gmail? Its address book, although a prodigious resource, stores every e-mail address you’ve ever encountered, including those random Craigslist purchasers and every spammer who made it over the drawbridge and through its filter.
LinkedIn, the business social connection site, is Facebook’s closest competitor in the mutual-friends arena, but it generally connects people based on work affiliations, whereas Facebook tends to include personal friends, family and professional connections.
As the Facebook community continues to grow by over 600,000 people a day, there is a lot of potential for Facebook to move beyond who we know in common to what we know in common. As I update my status with movies I’ve seen, books I’m reading or news articles I like, these features could help make all kinds of conversation — not just introductory ones — a lot more engaging.
Source:
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/02/facebooks-killer-feature-the-mutual-friends-list/
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Facebook has also been on the receiving end of some heavy criticism this year for an array of privacy issues and a perceived desire to look and act more like Twitter. Some of these concerns are valid, and some are just the growing pains of a five-year-old company in a market that continues to change and adapt at breakneck speeds.
All of that aside for a moment, I believe that Facebook has one important, underutilized feature that no other site can replicate or compete with: the “mutual friends” list.
When you go to an individual’s Facebook Page, the list sits in a little box on the left of the page, visually displaying who you know in common. For me, this often-overlooked feature has become an integral part of my Facebook experience. Sure, I still go to the site to update my status and peruse my news feeds, but I use Mutual Friends more than anything else.
This feature enables me to supplement the real world with additional digital information. When I go to a meeting or party, I take a minute to look up who’s attending and quickly explore friends we might share. It’s the perfect digital icebreaker. Increasingly, when I go to a conference and meet someone new, I’ll sneak into the hallway and look them up, too. Or, if they seem unencumbered by potential privacy concerns, we pull out our phones, and using Facebook’s mobile application, look each other up.
Last year, for example, I met Wired columnist Steven Levy at a conference in Boston. After a few minutes chatting about mundane tech stories, we quickly pulled out our laptops, zipped along to Facebook.com and sat for an hour discussing who we knew in common.
Of course, the “mutual friends” list has its drawbacks. Maybe I don’t want you to know we are both friends with the same political activist. Then there are the random acquaintances you’ve collected over the years — they’re not really friends, even though they send you messages that say “Hi, we have 10 friends in common so we must be friends!”
Still, for me, the Mutual Friends list has become an integral part of my digital life.
And five years after the site’s launch, this feature is something only Facebook really offers. It would be close to impossible for Twitter to do, since its service is built on a find-and-follow mentality. I follow people I’m not friends with, and in turn, people I’ve never met follow me.
What about Google’s Gmail? Its address book, although a prodigious resource, stores every e-mail address you’ve ever encountered, including those random Craigslist purchasers and every spammer who made it over the drawbridge and through its filter.
LinkedIn, the business social connection site, is Facebook’s closest competitor in the mutual-friends arena, but it generally connects people based on work affiliations, whereas Facebook tends to include personal friends, family and professional connections.
As the Facebook community continues to grow by over 600,000 people a day, there is a lot of potential for Facebook to move beyond who we know in common to what we know in common. As I update my status with movies I’ve seen, books I’m reading or news articles I like, these features could help make all kinds of conversation — not just introductory ones — a lot more engaging.
Source:
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/02/facebooks-killer-feature-the-mutual-friends-list/
Professional Website Design Services
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
MySpace Music Arrives in The UK
MySpace Music, one of MySpace’s bright spots in an otherwise dreary picture, has just jumped across the pond and into the laps of UK’s music fans.The News Corp-owned company has just launched MySpace Music in the UK, bringing the music portal and its audio and video content to the island nation, as well as iTunes download options. It’s even bringing over the MySpace Music Charts, launched just a few weeks ago. This will be the fourth nation to have MySpace Music, after the US, New Zealand, and Australia (Australia).
To kick things off, the social network is also launching a marketing campaign called “Get Real Close.” It involves videos, playlists and exclusive content for UK users, starting with artists like Lost Prophets, 50 Cent, Kasabian, and Alicia Keys.
The move is no surprise and continues the evolution of MySpace (MySpace) from social network to content hub. Pushing the strongest elements of MySpace and phasing out the old is the only way MySpace can make a comeback.
Source:
http://mashable.com/2009/12/02/myspace-music-uk/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+(Mashable)
Chicago Website Design
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Computing Over The Cloud: Datacraft
Cloud computing can be defined as a style of computing where massively scalable IT-enabled capabilities are delivered 'as a service' to external customers using Internet Technologies.
Is India Ready For Cloud Computing?
The cloud-computing model is changing the way the IT industry looks at user and vendor relationships. As service providers, vendors must partner with service providers to deliver their technologies indirectly to users.
User organisations will watch portfolios of owned technologies decline as service portfolios grow. The key activity will be to determine which cloud services will be viable, and when. Although it is unlikely that users will completely abandon on-premises models, or buy complex mission-critical processes as services through the cloud in the next few years, there will be a movement to consume services in a more cost-effective way.
The key characteristics of cloud computing include, delivery of capabilities "as a service," delivery of services in a highly scalable and elastic fashion, using Internet, web — technologies and techniques to develop and deliver the services, and designing for delivery to external customers.
Any idea who invented cloud computing?
The final characteristic warrants some additional examination. Cloud computing services are designed based on an assumption that the service provider will deliver capabilities to the third parties who act as consumers.
A core characteristic of cloud computing is the division of concerns between the cloud service provider and the cloud service consumer. The consumers of a service need only care about what a service does for them, not how it is implemented. However, to be successful, the provider must implement the service in such a way that it can deal with a global-class delivery environment and serve a wide range of consumers with a common service model.
In the early stages of cloud computing, consumers may need to examine implementation models to ensure that they are dealing with a strategically viable provider. Cloud computing services can be divided into five categories used as a foundation to build solutions plus a sixth category that deals with control and security.
System Infrastructure: Virtualized system software (such as server personalities, compute, storage and networking) on which the consumer can run any sort of application. Web-Based provisioning — via a browser form, programmatic calls or automated response to an application load — is used to provide dynamic access to these resources. Minimal Web standards exist at the system infrastructure layer and provisioning models are generally vendor-specific.
Application Infrastructure: A set of services that parallels the traditional middleware and development technologies. Services must be built to exploit Web-centric architectures and global-class design principles. A new category called "application platform as a service" is emerging, with vendors providing global-class, Web-Centric Rapid Application Development (RAD) environments.
Applications: Applications that are designed for global class delivery and delivered as a service using web-centric architectures to a browse are considered cloud application services. This generally requires creation of a multi-tenant architecture in which a single application instance supports many organizations (each of which may have multiple users) but provides a unique view for each organization.
Customizations and extensions, as well as data, are isolated between tenants/organizations by default, but may be selectively shared (for example, salesfore.com). Cloud application services should be built using Web architectures and may expose components or interfaces for mashable access, control or extension.
Information: Content access and search services or Information services delivered as feeds via RSS/ATOM or other web models.
Business Process: Any business process (including payroll, printing and e-commerce) delivered as a service via the Internet with provided via web-centric interfaces and WOA access mechanisms.
Management and Security: Services to manage the access, consumption, delivery, and service levels associated with cloud services. While these have some similarity to the operations management tools used inside an enterprise the demands of global class cloud based applications will require additional capabilities.
Cloud computing is heavily influenced by the Internet and web and the vendors that have sprung from this phenomena. Users evaluating cloud computing should focus first on the consumer/provider relationship and the nature of the services being provided. Evaluation of enabling technologies and their impact on the cloud services and/or their applicability to in-house infrastructure and application models is a related, but separate exercise.
A more sophisticated approach to running applications in the cloud would be for the consumer to build a solution on a global class application that is elastic, scalable and delivered as a service using internet and Web Technologies. It may also uniquely exploit cloud-centric distributed and parallel processing capabilities. The resulting application would be considered a cloud application service.
Full exploitation of the cloud would use cloud based services to support the entire process of building, storing, running and managing the application. This approach is being championed by a new crop of RAD and database vendors that provide turnkey environments — aka application platform as a service (APaaS) — that build on the scalability of cloud-based infrastructures.
What services will be consumed via cloud/web platforms?
The most prevalent cloud-based application service is SaaS, where an application is delivered from the Internet/Web via a browser to an end user. Where these applications are built using Web architectures and expose components or interfaces for mashable access, control or extension, they are also part of the Web/cloud platform.
Web-based techniques and technologies (for example, REST, XML, RSS/Atom and Python), and vendor-driven (for example, Google GData) or community-driven (for example, Accord) standards, define a rich interoperability model. Extended data models and APIs driven by individual vendors emerge "at the edge" and collapse into common, open multivendor standards over time.
Multi-user applications delivered as a cloud service use a single application instance to support many users but provide a unique environment and experience for each user, including, where appropriate or desired, the ability to define the level of separation of data between users (for example, Google Apps).
Multitenant applications delivered as a cloud service use a single application instance to support many organizations (each of which has multiple users) but provide a unique environment for each organization. Customizations and extensions, as well as data, are isolated between tenants/organizations by default, but may be selectively shared (for example, salesfore.com).
Who will deliver cloud/Web platform services, and how should companies build/use them to support their business strategies?
One of the primary reasons why we believe there will be significant uptake of the cloud-based model is that cloud service providers can deliver significant economies of scale. Most organizations don't scale past tens of thousands of users, while cloud providers will ultimately provide services for millions of users.
Cloud providers are also working toward lights-out data center operations with extremely low-cost operations and reliance on copious amounts of inexpensive direct-attached storage (DAS). Enterprises, by contrast, will continue to run high-touch operational models with expensive storage area networks (SANs), which will consequently be allocated parsimoniously.
We expect the cloud providers to use replication services to make multiple copies of the data, and, thereby, avoid more-expensive redundant array of independent disks storage and tape backups, both of which enterprises will continue to use. Finally, we expect cloud providers to emphasize browser-based e-mail services that contribute to lower operational costs, in contrast to enterprises, which will continue to rely on fat clients running proprietary client-to-server protocols.
We expect cloud providers, such as Microsoft and Google, to create an offline browser client that will, for example, cache the past 30 days of e-mail.
The vagueness of cloud computing can be narrowed down to two basic "approaches." The first is an application of technologies, including virtualization and automation that focuses more on the "computing" than on the "cloud" aspect, with emphasis being placed on the technologies that enable the creation and delivery of service-based capabilities. The second is the "cloud" as an Internet/Web/Saas-originated idea, with credit often given to Google's Eric Schmidt for the term. The focus is more on "cloud" than "computing," with the emphasis being placed on access to services from outside of the enterprise (that is, ''from the cloud").
Source:
http://www.ciol.com/Technology/Storage/Feature/Computing-over-the-cloud-Datacraft/11209128439/0/
Professional Website Design Services
Is India Ready For Cloud Computing?
The cloud-computing model is changing the way the IT industry looks at user and vendor relationships. As service providers, vendors must partner with service providers to deliver their technologies indirectly to users.
User organisations will watch portfolios of owned technologies decline as service portfolios grow. The key activity will be to determine which cloud services will be viable, and when. Although it is unlikely that users will completely abandon on-premises models, or buy complex mission-critical processes as services through the cloud in the next few years, there will be a movement to consume services in a more cost-effective way.
The key characteristics of cloud computing include, delivery of capabilities "as a service," delivery of services in a highly scalable and elastic fashion, using Internet, web — technologies and techniques to develop and deliver the services, and designing for delivery to external customers.
Any idea who invented cloud computing?
The final characteristic warrants some additional examination. Cloud computing services are designed based on an assumption that the service provider will deliver capabilities to the third parties who act as consumers.
A core characteristic of cloud computing is the division of concerns between the cloud service provider and the cloud service consumer. The consumers of a service need only care about what a service does for them, not how it is implemented. However, to be successful, the provider must implement the service in such a way that it can deal with a global-class delivery environment and serve a wide range of consumers with a common service model.
In the early stages of cloud computing, consumers may need to examine implementation models to ensure that they are dealing with a strategically viable provider. Cloud computing services can be divided into five categories used as a foundation to build solutions plus a sixth category that deals with control and security.
System Infrastructure: Virtualized system software (such as server personalities, compute, storage and networking) on which the consumer can run any sort of application. Web-Based provisioning — via a browser form, programmatic calls or automated response to an application load — is used to provide dynamic access to these resources. Minimal Web standards exist at the system infrastructure layer and provisioning models are generally vendor-specific.
Application Infrastructure: A set of services that parallels the traditional middleware and development technologies. Services must be built to exploit Web-centric architectures and global-class design principles. A new category called "application platform as a service" is emerging, with vendors providing global-class, Web-Centric Rapid Application Development (RAD) environments.
Applications: Applications that are designed for global class delivery and delivered as a service using web-centric architectures to a browse are considered cloud application services. This generally requires creation of a multi-tenant architecture in which a single application instance supports many organizations (each of which may have multiple users) but provides a unique view for each organization.
Customizations and extensions, as well as data, are isolated between tenants/organizations by default, but may be selectively shared (for example, salesfore.com). Cloud application services should be built using Web architectures and may expose components or interfaces for mashable access, control or extension.
Information: Content access and search services or Information services delivered as feeds via RSS/ATOM or other web models.
Business Process: Any business process (including payroll, printing and e-commerce) delivered as a service via the Internet with provided via web-centric interfaces and WOA access mechanisms.
Management and Security: Services to manage the access, consumption, delivery, and service levels associated with cloud services. While these have some similarity to the operations management tools used inside an enterprise the demands of global class cloud based applications will require additional capabilities.
Cloud computing is heavily influenced by the Internet and web and the vendors that have sprung from this phenomena. Users evaluating cloud computing should focus first on the consumer/provider relationship and the nature of the services being provided. Evaluation of enabling technologies and their impact on the cloud services and/or their applicability to in-house infrastructure and application models is a related, but separate exercise.
A more sophisticated approach to running applications in the cloud would be for the consumer to build a solution on a global class application that is elastic, scalable and delivered as a service using internet and Web Technologies. It may also uniquely exploit cloud-centric distributed and parallel processing capabilities. The resulting application would be considered a cloud application service.
Full exploitation of the cloud would use cloud based services to support the entire process of building, storing, running and managing the application. This approach is being championed by a new crop of RAD and database vendors that provide turnkey environments — aka application platform as a service (APaaS) — that build on the scalability of cloud-based infrastructures.
What services will be consumed via cloud/web platforms?
The most prevalent cloud-based application service is SaaS, where an application is delivered from the Internet/Web via a browser to an end user. Where these applications are built using Web architectures and expose components or interfaces for mashable access, control or extension, they are also part of the Web/cloud platform.
Web-based techniques and technologies (for example, REST, XML, RSS/Atom and Python), and vendor-driven (for example, Google GData) or community-driven (for example, Accord) standards, define a rich interoperability model. Extended data models and APIs driven by individual vendors emerge "at the edge" and collapse into common, open multivendor standards over time.
Multi-user applications delivered as a cloud service use a single application instance to support many users but provide a unique environment and experience for each user, including, where appropriate or desired, the ability to define the level of separation of data between users (for example, Google Apps).
Multitenant applications delivered as a cloud service use a single application instance to support many organizations (each of which has multiple users) but provide a unique environment for each organization. Customizations and extensions, as well as data, are isolated between tenants/organizations by default, but may be selectively shared (for example, salesfore.com).
Who will deliver cloud/Web platform services, and how should companies build/use them to support their business strategies?
One of the primary reasons why we believe there will be significant uptake of the cloud-based model is that cloud service providers can deliver significant economies of scale. Most organizations don't scale past tens of thousands of users, while cloud providers will ultimately provide services for millions of users.
Cloud providers are also working toward lights-out data center operations with extremely low-cost operations and reliance on copious amounts of inexpensive direct-attached storage (DAS). Enterprises, by contrast, will continue to run high-touch operational models with expensive storage area networks (SANs), which will consequently be allocated parsimoniously.
We expect the cloud providers to use replication services to make multiple copies of the data, and, thereby, avoid more-expensive redundant array of independent disks storage and tape backups, both of which enterprises will continue to use. Finally, we expect cloud providers to emphasize browser-based e-mail services that contribute to lower operational costs, in contrast to enterprises, which will continue to rely on fat clients running proprietary client-to-server protocols.
We expect cloud providers, such as Microsoft and Google, to create an offline browser client that will, for example, cache the past 30 days of e-mail.
The vagueness of cloud computing can be narrowed down to two basic "approaches." The first is an application of technologies, including virtualization and automation that focuses more on the "computing" than on the "cloud" aspect, with emphasis being placed on the technologies that enable the creation and delivery of service-based capabilities. The second is the "cloud" as an Internet/Web/Saas-originated idea, with credit often given to Google's Eric Schmidt for the term. The focus is more on "cloud" than "computing," with the emphasis being placed on access to services from outside of the enterprise (that is, ''from the cloud").
Source:
http://www.ciol.com/Technology/Storage/Feature/Computing-over-the-cloud-Datacraft/11209128439/0/
Professional Website Design Services
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