Usage of mobile applications continues to skyrocket, and end users are increasingly dictating which handsets they use for work. So the use of consumer apps on enterprise devices is a growing concern for IT departments who are already struggling to cope with mobile security ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
In my 6 month check-in documenting my move to Mac, I mentioned some of the general usability issues that I was still experiencing. My last post garnered a lot of comments in response, with some great tips from readers I thought I would share with you. Read more »
This year was rightfully advertised as the “Year of the Cloud.” The cloud computing landscape began to take shape in 2010, with providers honing their offerings, important issues surfacing to light and industry consolidation finally beginning to happen. In most areas, however, the action is likely ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Stealthy startup Soladigm has landed $30 million to help build a factory to start churning out its self-tinting glass in 2012. It’s in a race with rival Sage Electrochromics, which just got $80 million for its factory. Read more »
Intel CEO Paul Otellini realizes the company is late to the mobile party, and is counting on the tablet and smartphone segments to help it catch up. Those two mobile segments are dominated by competitors, so it’s not clear how successful Intel will be. Read more »
The cloud provides on-demand resources likes of which their target users have never had access to before without buying their own clusters. GPUs already seem to be everywhere. For this reason alone, it seems likely that HPC architectures of the future will be a lot more ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Samsung’s Bada is only a few months old, but already the operating system is accruing substantial market share. If the Korean manufacturer can overcome several key challenges, Bada could become a major worldwide mobile platform to compete with iOS and the increasingly fragmented Android ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Many signs suggest Sony will soon launch a Playstation Portable Phone. It’s a move that invites comparison to Microsoft’s plan of integrating Xbox Live with Windows Phone 7, a far more software-centric method of attack than Sony’s hardware-focused strategy. Which has a better shot at ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Moving from Windows to Mac is a big change, and can be a little disconcerting at first. A friend of mine described the feeling akin to being “underwater.” One of the biggest differences between the platforms is in how windows are managed. Read more »
The TEGA v2 tablet is only slightly bigger than the iPad, yet sports a full hardware configuration capable of running Windows 7 Pro quite nicely. The v2 also has an unusual distinction of booting into the Android OS in addition to Windows. Read more »
The latest release of the free Ubuntu Linux operating system scheduled for this Sunday includes an expansion of its personal cloud service to iPhone and Android devices as well as a new netbook edition made for smaller screens. Read more »
The latest release of the free Ubuntu Linux operating system scheduled for this Sunday includes an expansion of its personal cloud service to iPhone and Android devices as well as a new netbook edition made for smaller screens. Read more »
FilerFrog is a Windows utility that adds some useful tools to your context menu, handling tasks like moving files and image resizing. As it only adds one top-level item, it won’t clutter your context menu, but the tools are just a couple of clicks away. Read more »
The new Mac Office 2011 that’s currently in development easily bests iWork ’09, and with every feature update demonstrates just how far behind iWork has fallen. The latest video preview only increases the value gap between the two office suites. Read more »
I wrote a few weeks ago that “Microsoft taught the world how to succeed in PC and business software, but it might [be] teaching the world how to not succeed in cloud computing” — a fate the company could avoid if it just delivered on a ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
While there are plenty of tools available for securely wiping a disk, overwriting the data with a stream of random bits and obliterating it completely, for Windows users, there is another option: a built-in Windows command line utility: cipher.exe. Read more »
The more Microsoft talks about cloud computing – which it did a lot of at TechEd last week – the more skepticism it seems to engender. Some excavations into its cloud strategy have left customers and pundits alike scratching their heads. Microsoft taught the world how ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Every 15 years or so, the IT world undergoes a tectonic shift. Technological forces collide and grind against one another, creating an upheaval that leaves the landscape irrevocably changed. The latest such shift is currently underway: the transition to computing as a service, also known as ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Google’s upstart smartphone OS has taken the industry by storm. Sure, Android isn’t the biggest phone platform, but with 60,000 handsets shipping daily, it’s become a force to be reckoned with. Want proof? A sure sign of success for a product is the point when competitors ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The iPad has been a pretty big success so far, especially for a category-busting product. But investors and Apple users aren’t the only ones to have taken note of the product’s success. Read more »
Microsoft this week rolled it CampaignReady suite of services, which is anchored by the Windows Azure-hosted TownHall service. But Microsoft’s SaaS-plus-PaaS business model has legs beyond politics, and beyond Redmond. The combination of cloud services designed for and hosted on cloud platforms seems like a surefire ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
SecondShell is a nifty free app that adds a bunch of useful tweaks to Windows. Particularly useful is its ability to toggle maximizing the active window horizontally or vertically — perfect for those times when you need a bit of extra room in your window. Read more »
Today at the RSA conference in San Francisco, Microsoft Vice President for Trustworthy Computing Scott Charney proposed an Internet usage tax to fight malware infections and the effects of botnets. Do users at large really need to pay for one of Microsoft’s own most costly problems? Read more »
Of all the companies competing in the cellphone industry, it is perhaps more than just a little poetic that Microsoft should be the first to offer a truly compelling product to rival Apple’s iPhone. I never thought I’d write that sentence. Yesterday at the Mobile World […] Read more »
There are many time management applications out there. So many, in fact, that picking the right one can be tricky; few people have the time to try out more than a handful to find the right match. Read more »
When Microsoft rolled the Tablet PC bits into Windows Vista it was clear the end of the Tablet PC as a unique product line was near. The end is here as the Microsoft Tablet PC Team blog has closed the doors. RIP. Read more »
Headlines this week were dominated by the general availability of Microsoft Windows Azure and, shockingly, even more debate over the definition of cloud computing. However, while analysts and pundits were debating how many companies will use Microsoft’s new cloud, or whether “hybrid cloud” is an accurate ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Even after Microsoft reported record earnings a few days ago, one of its former executives has effectively written the company’s obituary in a NYT op-ed piece. Is Microsoft not savable? Here are three surprise scenarios that could have a lot of upside for the company. Read more »
An event more than a year in the making, Microsoft’s Windows Azure cloud-computing offering is finally available to the public. The software giant announced Azure in October 2008, made the service available as a limited Community Technology Preview (CTP) project shortly thereafter, and has been releasing pricing and product details at a regular clip in the meantime. Preview customers have been experimenting for free with a limited version of Azure, but as of April 1, 2010, all existing CTP customers who have not upgraded to the official version will have their accounts deleted. As the cliché goes, general availability is where the rubber meets the road for Microsoft and its vaunted cloud platform: If it can leverage its existing customer base and convince potential users to trust an oft-criticized software vendor with an entirely new delivery model, Microsoft could become a major force among cloud providers. While Windows Azure is a more-than-capable offering, trust could be an issue for a large number of developers and businesses that don’t believe Microsoft will deliver the openness so valued in the cloud world. Here’s a look at what Azure is, what it costs, and how it fits into (and will differentiate itself in) the market. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Good utilities are often those that do a single thing, but do it extremely well. That’s the case with the Logitech TouchMouse app for the iPhone. It connects to PCs and Macs over Wi-Fi and provides multitouch control over the computer, all from the iPhone. Read more »
Apple had the attention of the technology world last week as it finally unveiled its new web tablet, the iPad. The long-rumored product met most, if not all, of the pre-announcement expectations with an impressive array of features and Apple’s trademark design. But will technology ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Out-of-date, unpatched software can leave a computer open to attack from malware and hackers. Secunia, a leading provider of software vulnerability intelligence, provides a few free tools that you can use to scan Windows machines, such as the Online Software Inspector Read more »
Cloud computing solutions of various flavors continue to grow in popularity, as individuals, small startups and global corporations turn to the cloud in order to store data, distribute computing tasks, or deliver applications from email and calendaring to customer relationship management and gene sequencing. While cloud ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
We usually love our Apple products. They work well, are easy to understand and when we have a problem, Apple works quickly to resolve it. Most of the time. What happens when Apple simply won’t play ball? Read on and find out how to work Apple’s […] Read more »
Apple unveiled its Mighty Mouse replacement, the Magic Mouse, last month alongside new versions of the iMac, Mac mini and entry-level Macbook. The mouse was well-received, perhaps due in part to the disappointment most felt about its predecessor. Better tracking and touch gestures combined to deliver […] Read more »
I’ve long been looking for a Windows-based Twitter client that can delight me as much as its native Mac counterparts. Too many clients for Windows depend on Adobe AIR, something which isn’t an ideal arrangement, in my opinion. TweetDeck and Seesmic are both powerful tools, but […] Read more »
I missed the first episode of the V last night and forgot to DVR it. “No big deal,” I thought, “I’ll catch it on Hulu tomorrow.” Unh-unh. No such luck, my friend. V is not available on either Hulu or ABC.com today. The pilot is, however, […] Read more »
I’ve always believed in the separation of church and state: My desktop computer stays in my home office, and my TV and entertainment gear stay in the living room. Sure, sometimes there’s crossover between the two — I like to view Web-based streaming video or shows […] Read more »
If you find yourself having to resize images often and use Windows, you might like to check out Dropresize, a handy free system tray application. It runs in the background and monitors a folder you specify on your hard drive — any images that are dropped […] Read more »
VMware Fusion 3 for Mac is now available. That’s right, new virtualization software for your Mac, conveniently timed for the release of Windows 7. Actually, it’s very likely the release of VMware’s latest iteration of its OS virtualization software, Fusion 3, got its release date precisely because […] Read more »
