Between the Lines

BYOD: Wins, hurdles and lessons for 2012

BYOD: What is driving it? What has changed? What are anticipated hurdles beyond the horizon? We sit down with Enterproid's Dan Dearing to read the tea leaves for 2012.

• Dell, HP struggle with consumer PC businesses
• T-Mobile: iPhone 4S launch killed us as contract customers fled
• The ABCs of 3D printing (video)
• FCC Chairman calls for increased cybersecurity measures

All About Microsoft

Microsoft SharePoint 15: A 2012 release target, an app marketplace and more

Microsoft is adding new features to the next versions (Wave 15) of its SharePoint Server and SharePoint Online offerings. Here are early looks at some of those.

• Microsoft adds another Facebook tie-in to Bing search
• Microsoft files antitrust patent complaint in EU against Motorola
• What's on tap for Microsoft's Dynamics CRM 'R9' update later this year
• How to parse a Microsoft denial

Zero Day

Mozilla: Firefox can be hacked via booby-trapped images

For the second time in a week, Mozilla patches a "critical" vulnerability that could be remotely exploitable and can lead to arbitrary code execution.

• Cutwail botnet resurrects, launches massive malware campaigns using HTML attachments
• Report: malware pushed by affiliate networks remains the primary growth factor of the cybercrime ecosystem
• Anonymous launches 'Operation Global Blackout', aims to DDoS the Root Internet servers
• Report: third party programs rather than Microsoft programs responsible for most vulnerabilities

The Apple Core

Finally, an iTunes Store redesign is coming

According to a new rumor Apple is preparing its first iTunes Store redesign in three years. Will it challenge likes of Spotify, Google and Amazon?

• The iOS app that's sorely missing from Mountain Lion: iBooks
• New iPad 3 photos show that it's thicker than iPad 2 (Rumor)
• Review: Wiebetech Drive eRazer Ultra (Verdict: sweet!)
• Review: Wiebetech Drive eRazer Ultra (Verdict: sweet!)

Hardware 2.0

Why Adobe is right to abandon Linux, why it's no big deal, and why this could bad for Mozilla

By the time the Flash plug-in is longer supported by Adobe, Flash won't matter any more.

• Microsoft to developers - Here's how touch is supposed to work
• Ignore Microsoft, Office will be coming to the iPad real soon
• Poor ATM PIN codes give the bad guys a 1-in-11 chance at getting your money
• iOS 5.0.1 bug gives the bad guys access to contacts, make calls and FaceTime

Linux and Open Source

Adobe abandons Linux

Adobe has announced its future plans for Flash and AIR and Linux isn't part of them. Flash will still, however, be available to Linux desktop users who use Google's Chrome Web browser.

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.8 boosts KVM, Xen virtualization
• Ubuntu for Android: Linux desktop on a smartphone
• Apache releases first major new version of popular Web server in six years
• Document Foundation gets corporate "Inc" status

Googling Google

Google Docs for Android app finally gets mobile collaboration

Google has finally added mobile collaboration and editing features into the Google Docs for Android app.

• Google applauds as Nevada approves rules for driverless cars
• Google is now the top public DNS provider in the world
• Google Wallet NFC payment system can be exploited
• Google starts laying high-speed fiber in Kansas City

The Ed Bott Report

Google defense cites study arguing for stronger privacy regulation

Recent reports suggest that Google is attempting to circumvent industry-standard privacy protections in both Safari and Internet Explorer. Google's defense cites a study from Carnegie Mellon. What...

• Microsoft quietly extends consumer support for Windows 7, Vista
• Judge rules that targeting Android for destruction is legally OK
• How much online privacy do you really have? Less than you think
• Windows 8 Consumer Preview due February 29: why it's not called beta

Smartphones and Cell Phones

Favorite iPhone 4S case: iSkin aura Year of the Dragon (Review)

There are hundreds of cases for the iPhone 4/4S and every once in a while something stands out above the rest. The iSkin aura Year of the Dragon case does just that and more.

• Torn between two smartphones...feeling like a fool
• Family plan powered by Windows Phone, Galaxy Nexus love, Chrome for Android (MobileTechRoundup show #260)
• Hands-on with the Digital Innovations Speaker Dock for Android (review)
• SNL Verizon 4G LTE skit gets it right in so many ways

Tech Broiler

BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0: Déjà Vu?

Almost a year after its launch, are the improvements in RIM's tablet OS good enough to fend off the Apple and Amazon juggernauts?

• HP: Stop the FUD and show us the real webOS source.
• Take a load off with crowdsourced bathroom locator apps
• Factory workers in China: A Pyrrhic victory for a world that lost its conscience
• The long kiss goodbye for x86 desktop Windows

The Mobile Gadgeteer

RIM PlayBook 2.0 update: Better late than never

RIM released the PlayBook 2.0 update with integrated email, integrated calendar, a movie store, and support for Android apps in the BlackBerry App World.

• Could an 8-inch iPad be in the works?
• Road trip survival with Powerbag, Third Rail, Fitbit, and TripIt (gallery)
• There's not enough in the rumored iPad 3 specs for me to upgrade, how about you?
• iPad 3 to come in March--maybe a 7" iPad, too

The ToyBox

OnLive Desktop Plus brings Adobe Flash and IE to iPad; $5 per month

Run Flash websites, access webmail and read PDFs on your iPad with OnLive's Desktop Plus cloud-based service.

• Google to release heads-up display glasses before the end of the year: what can we expect?
• LG aims to revive struggling brand with new design philosophy and stylish phones
• Comcast takes on Netflix with Xfinity Streampix, a TV and movie streaming service
• Verizon cuts LG Spectrum and HTC Rezound to $99 on contract

Social Business

Facebook stores fail f-commerce goals by selling not socialising

F-commerce stores are shutting or scaling back their offerings. Have stores grasped how to do f-commerce yet or is there a long way to go before social selling really succeeds as a business model?

• Twitter opens ad platform for small businesses -- and spammers
• Tesco Twitter PR crisis over 'slave labour' claims
• Microsoft goes 'Beyond the Like' with social ads solution
• Virgin Media gets social with Cisco Quad collaboration tools

GreenTech Pastures

Home Depot to sell Schneider residential electric vehicle charger

For now, most electric vehicle owners will need to buy the $799 EVlink Indoor Electric charging station off the retailer's e-commerce site.

• Cree LEDs green up U.S. embassies across Europe
• New Apple data center will sport biggest commercial solar, fuel-cell installations
• Offshore U.S. wind turbines seen as vulnerable to hurricanes
• Mow your lawn, mix up a solar cell?

Laptops & Desktops

Samsung previews quad-core Exynos for tablets

Samsung previewed its quad-core Exynos 4 for tablets and high-end smartphones at a chip conference this week and could make it official as soon as next week at Mobile World Congress.

• Are SSDs doomed? Researchers say "yes" -- by 2024
• Intel sneaks out quad-core Core i7-3820 Sandy Bridge-E processor for under $300
• Latest Apple rumor: Mac Pro desktop to be updated with Ivy Bridge-E processors, Nvidia Kepler graphics
• Wall Street Journal reports Apple testing an 8-inch iPad to take on Kindle Fire

Storage Bits

The dismal science of flash

Economics isn't the only dismal science: the future of flash is even more dire than anything Malthus forecast. A paper presented at this week's FAST '12 conference, quantifies flash's declining...

• Lazy emailers win: you're most efficient!
• Microsoft starts protecting your data
• Why is Intel propping up Apple's competition?
• The great 2012 disk shortage

Digital Cameras & Camcorders

CEA says phones replacing point-and-shoot as primary photo device

A new study from the CEA shows increasing use of smartphones as primary device for capturing and sharing images.

• New Lensbaby Edge 80 Optic brings high-quality optics and sharp tilt-shift
• Kodak to stop making digital cameras, camcorders, and photo frames
• Olympus OM-D E-M5 mirrorless compact resurrects classic OM style
• New Nikon D800 and D800E are highest resolution full-frame dSLRs

Home Theater

Google patents Siri-like voice controls for Google TV using Android phones, tablets

Not to be outdone by the rumors that Apple's iTV will (eventually) arrive with a built-in Siri of its own, Google has filed for a patent for a voice-based remote control that would tie into Google TV.

• Start-up company Aereo will stream local TV channels, provide online DVR
• Google to take on Sonos with wireless home entertainment system
• Latest Apple iTV rumors: Siri and motion controls built in, Best Buy polls consumers on price
• Vizio's CinemaWide 58-inch 3D HDTV priced at $3,499, but who's buying?

iGeneration

Student entrepreneurs develop ID badge alternative

Could mobile apps replace security ID badges?

• CloudOn for iPad now available to UK students
• University offers course material online, cuts student costs
• Children and hackers: What you need to know
• 'Hot for Teacher' lands student in hot water

Software as Services

Huddle Sync takes collaboration off the enterprise leash

Huddle's new intelligent synchronization tool brings Dropbox-like sync capabilities to shared enterprise documents, with added security and productivity

• Savvy users, the final frontier
• Citizen gateway gov.uk runs on Amazon
• Planetary-scale computing
• Why you can't afford to resist the cloud

Service Oriented

Silos are okay, even natural part of technology infrastructures

'Data is going to reside where it is.'

• Measuring big data, by the byte and more
• Platform as a Service ready to rock the middleware market: Gartner
• Latest federal 'shared services' strategy is actually SOA redux
• NASA retires its last mainframe

BriefingsDirect

Embarcadero Technologies CEO Wayne Williams on how AppWave newly modernizes PCs via App Store convenience

The root problem is that PC software should move at the speed of light, yet it moves at the speed of a glacier.

• Enterprise architecture and enterprise transformation: Related but distinct concepts that can change the world
• Interact with HP experts on latest cloud-enablement strategies at Feb. 29 online event
• Architecture and change: The proper end is fitness for purpose
• HP's Gen8 servers attack data center woes head on with better management, automation, and energy conservation to cut total costs

Collaboration 2.0

The corporate learning shuffle

Collective business collaboration is very different to our individual digital interaction choices: how do we leverage past generations of training technologies to align with new opportunities to...

• Roll up, roll up! Oracle digests Taleo
• Alfresco enter the cloud & mobile era
• Sturgeon's law & the copyright vacuum
• The value of collecting your thoughts in a private online journal

Dev Connection

iPad lead over Android tablets cut in half, say reports, as Kindle Fire surges ahead

A year ago, the Apple iPad dominated the tablet market with a nearly 40 point lead over Android. Now, two reports show Apple's lead has been cut by more than 20 points, with the Kindle Fire...

• How to make money with mobile apps
• iOS beating Android for developer mindshare, says Flurry
• Kindle Fire first impressions: Wow!
• Come and git it: Android 4 source now open for all

Five Nines: The Next Gen Datacenter

How Wikipedia stays up and running

Wikimedia Foundation's deployment of Nimsoft WatchMouse brings large improvements to the availability of Wikipedia and its related services.

• Datacenter energy savings need a holistic approach and good information
• EMC ties together datacenter and business IT management
• Acer chairman doesn't want datacenters on his island
• What would you do for a $1.2 billion datacenter?

Emerging Tech

TI's contact-less temperature sensor opens up possibilities

First-ever single-chip passive infrared temperature sensor could be used in tablets, handsets, watches, and cameras for applications yet to be imagined.

• Art installation blurs boundary between physical and digital (video)
• LTE spectrum sharing could accelerate coverage
• Exploring use cases for electronic clothes
• New T-rays could lead to Star Trek 'Tricorder' medical scanners

Enterprise Web 2.0

Enterprise 2.0 success: BASF

Industrial giant BASF wanted to bring its employees together and drive better business performance, but needed to ensure it was heading in the right direction and that uptake would ultimately...

• Social business success: Burberry
• Social business success: CEMEX
• Enterprise 2.0 Success: Alcatel-Lucent
• Realizing social business: Enterprise 2.0 success stories

Tom Foremski: IMHO

Is Skype a social network? Microsoft's dark horse has legs...

Why isn't Skype considered a social network? Take a look at its characteristics... It could turn out to be one of Microsoft's savviest investments.

• Here's how to apply for a job at a hot startup...
• With $40 billion in cash Google M&A Chief says deal focus has changed
• The hollow emptiness in social media numbers - most accounts are fake or empty
• Newsweek writer calls Silicon Valley journalism a 'cesspool'

Virtually Speaking

Lucid Imagination wants to make enterprise search easy

Enterprises create and store a massive amount of structured and unstructured data. The problem is that they often have no idea what they have or how to find it. Lucid Imagination believes Apache...

• Citrix launches CloudStack 3 beta, version 3.1 and 3.2 also planned for 2012
• Stratus Uptime Appliance For VMware vCenter Server
• Solid state storage, a growing trend?
• Roozz responds

Irregular Enterprise

Maintenance fee nerves jangling at Oracle?

Oracle bending to customer demand or playing a crafty hand?

• Note to HR: help the organisation suck less
• 3G access pricing madness: The iPad example
• Note to SuccessFactors: you can stop selling yourself
• iMac wifi- fit for purpose?

IT Project Failures

Goodbye Kodak, Hello FujiFilm

After 131 years great American photographic icon, Eastman Kodak, filed for bankruptcy while Japanese FujiFilm rises toward greatness. There is a lesson in here.

• CIO view: Three truths that bridge the great divide
• A brief gadget detour
• Cotton candy and little enterprise deceptions
• Predicting 2012: Rapid implementation in focus

Forrester Research

It's Time To Add Hacking Into Your Disaster Recovery Plans As A Potential Risk For Downtime

Whether you run an eBusiness website or not, the revenue and reputation damages of an outage can be astronomical.

• Suddenly, Dell is a Software Company!
• Verne Global & Colt Industries Show a Zero Carbon Data Center
• MacBook Air: The ultra Ultrabook and business Windows, too
• ITIL adoption: 5 steps that can help with success

Social CRM: The Conversation

CRM Watchlist 2012 Winners - Consulting/SIs - The Very Final Four

They are powerhouses in their own domains and that’s what this is all about. Impact.

• CRM Watchlist 2012 Winners - Defying Convention
• CRM Watchlist 2012 Winners - Social Makes Mainstream Moves
• Engagement Defined: Scott Rogers Speaks
• CRM Watchlist 2012 Winners - Customer Service Strikes Again

Friending Facebook

Facebook now shows members or a photo at the top of Groups

Facebook just quietly rolled out a small but very noticeable change to Groups. They are now more visual and more Timeline-like. Are you seeing the update yet?

• Not just Apple: Facebook may face trademark issues in China
• Facebook: Ceglia hid 'Get Zuck' e-mail account, three others
• Spamming apps: Facebook is to blame, not Silicon Valley
• Facebook Mobile Hack events coming to Asia next month

Software & Services Safari

Cloud Software Consolidation - Is it all good?

How do you look at the recent cloud application software acquisitions. Are you a bit skeptical about what these deals mean to you? Read on as Brian looks at the deals from a customer's perspective.

• Consistency and Software: What the SMB Needs
• There’s an Analytic app for that
• What a Large Enterprise CIO Would Think of the SAP Cloud Position
• More HR Tech - PageUp People

On Sustainability

US Chamber of Commerce accused of undermining conflict minerals regulation. So who is backing the Chamber?

The US Chamber of Commerce is accused of lobbying to water down regulation to control conflict minerals in the supply chain. But who is supporting the US Chamber on this?

• Microsoft to pressure supply chain on sustainability
• Cloud Wars: Green & Clean or a Cockroach Motel?
• Conflict minerals: some progress in the Congo?
• Is Oracle going green?

ZDNet Education

If Chris Dawson founded a startup

Anyone have a cool million or two to invest? No? Oh well...then someone should steal my ideas.

• Calling all teachers! Contribute to the Classroom 2.0 Book Project!
• Followup on Goalbook, + data portability and more
• Goalbook - Social IEPs for everyone? Actually, yes
• Next-gen textbooks? It's the ecosystem, not the device

ZDNet Government

Free speech: Why I'm lucky to live in America, not Iran

The big reason we're better: they don't execute you for blogging in America. Sometimes your page rank goes down, but it's not quite the same thing.

• Android security deep dive (video)
• Are Americans too dumb for real news?
• Chris Dodd and the MPAA: bribery or politics as usual?
• Dear Google: our privacy is not the usual yada, yada

Networking

Google's new privacy rules: Get over it already

Do you really think that Google, along with everyone else on the Web, hasn't been collecting your data for years now? Deal with it already.

• Not so fast Microsoft! Google fires back at MS privacy claims.
• First IPv6 Distributed Denial of Service Internet attacks seen
• Porn, Death, and the Internet in Iran
• Apple's Android nightmare: Google's Motorola purchase gets EU OK

SEO Whistleblower

Design a 'better' Windows 8 logo, win 300 dollars

A "for fun" contest is being held to find a designer who can create a better Windows 8 logo than the one Microsoft recently unveiled. Thought it's for fun, it's also going to be for profit for the...

• Facebook: A terrible platform for freelancers and professionals
• Google Instant: More annoying now than ever before
• 5 reasons I dislike the new Windows 8 logo
• Sears.com marketplace: the poor man's Playboy?

Mobile News

The bustling, boring world of smartphones

The regular appearance of new smartphones has become rather boring, and that is evident in the scrambling we see OEMs doing to set their products apart from the crowd.

• OnLive Desktop Pro for iPad launched: Adds IE support
• It doesn't matter what the iPad 3 has. It will sell millions.
• Tablet app UI: The user is always right
• Gallery: Visual tour of the PlayBook 2.0

Sponsored content

The DocuMentor

Is Cutting Service the Answer for the USPS?

The last thing the USPS should do is make first-class mail less efficient and timely.

• Vital Managed Print Services for 2012
• New Flat-Rate Overnight Box from the USPS
• Photizo Group Acquires Lyra Research
• Printing Insight from Gartner, and all About SDO

Sponsored content

UberMobile

Should the U.S. Air Force Kill a 21,000 iPad Deployment Over a PDF Reader?

The Cold War ain't over. The U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command has cancelled a planned deployment of nearly 3,000 iPad2 tablets after a magazine raised questions about its planned use...

• Drowning in the Sea of Choices in Enterprise Mobility? Here's a Lifeline
• Multitenancy & Cloud Computing Platforms: Four Big Problems
• Why You (and Your Enterprise) Should Get an iPod touch instead of an iPhone
• Does IBM Have the Largest Apple Deployment in the World?

India IT

Amazon wants its land back as it sets up distribution logistics for India operations

Entering India with an aggregator and getting their paperwork in order, Amazon wants the Andhra Pradesh government's help to get their land back from farmers.

• Saavn partners with Facebook to serve Indian music in your feed
• Pirated music sharing site banned in India
• Microsoft India's web store and SEBI's website attacked
• UID gets a new lease of life, will continue enrolling citizens

Reference Desk

Why small business cannot afford to overlook Pinterest

With a unique product and millions of users, it’s hard for any business to ignore the fast-growing social media service.

• SMBs prefer DIY for IT management
• Live Webcast: 2012 Guide to Small Business Technology Trends
• Cast your Vote! Cloud Computing: SMB's only IT department?
• Will the cloud replace SMB IT departments?

Gamification

Game makers play the Kickstarter game

Over the past week we’ve witnessed a fascinating phenomenon in games. Double Fine, a game developer run by lauded game maker Tim Schafer (Secret of Monkey Island, Psychonauts), asked fans to...

• Gamification: Still a bad word
• Gaming is still the Wild West, according to this ex Zynga programmer
• What's your Super Bowl gameplan?
• Trend alert: Hidden Object Games

DIY-IT

9 things you don't know about the iPad 3

In the spirit of guessing about products we have no real information about, here are 9 things you don't know about the iPad 3.

• Three ugly, middle-aged men argue about Windows 8
• Ode to manual typewriters
• Why Windows 8 matters for real work, and so will Windows 9
• Amazon reduces S3 prices, because $0.11 is too much to charge

ZDNet Health

Electronic health records now a top priority for many hospitals

Electronic health records are more of a priority, but security still lags behind.

• Is nothing sacred? Now new car smell is bad for you.
• Caffeine fix? Now you can literally inhale it.
• Practicing safe sacks may not mean plastic baglessness
• "Green" shopping bags could make you green around the gills

Pulp Tech

Sex Tech: Facebook Guidelines Leaked, YouPorn Redis, Sears, Reddit, Pinterest Porn

Reddit bans child porn, Pinterest gets porn clones, Sears goes NSFW, YouPorn goes Redis, a year in adult apps and more.

• Iran's Deadly Cyber Police: Indefinite Detention and Execution for Netizens
• Sex Tech: EFF Exposes Dating Site Security, Fileporn Shutdown, Facebook Sex Predator
• The Apple fanboy problem
• Sex Tech Weekly: Megaupload, Match Singles Data, Obscenity Copyright, China Porn Spam Kings

Small Business Matters

Many SMB mobile devices unmanaged, presenting security risk

More than half the Apple iOS mobile devices considered in a newly released study by mobile security vendor Mobilisafe were using outdated firmware.

• Webcast debates SMB online marketing priorities
• Chicago restaurant operator builds marketing list with cross-channel promotions
• Analytics app offers real-time window into e-commerce activity
• Sign documents digitally in the cloud

View from China

Chinese online suppliers eye spending restraints

China's E-commerce is due to encounter an unprecedented challenge in 2012. A non-profitable status and an ever-increasing operation cost have forced online retailers to think twice before any risk...

• China's microbloggers among the world's most active
• ICANN values Chinese market, yet admits the difficulty to extend new domain name
• Lenovo founder eyes new business: agriculture
• Cloud Computing Changes the Way CIOs Work

Unboxing Asia

Apple vs. Proview: What happened so far, and what next?

A breakdown of the legal battle between Apple and Proview in China, ready for the hearing in Shanghai tomorrow, with predictions over potential outcomes.

• Apple threatens to sue Proview for defamation
• Chinese authorities reviewing Google, Motorola merger
• Amazon pulls iPad 2 tablets from Chinese site
• Siri lets slip upcoming Japanese language support

London Calling

UK court summons can now be served via Facebook

No fixed abode, on the run, and evading the authorities? Not to worry. UK courts can now summon you to face trial through Facebook.

• Sleepwalking into censorship: Pirate Bay faces UK web block
• How the UK plans anti-terror phone, email monitoring
• Apple files EU antitrust complaint over Motorola patents
• Apple wins injunction against Motorola slide-to-unlock phones

Identity Matters

Google sugarcoated privacy policy changes to mislead users, group charges

The Center for Digital Democracy says Google's real reason for changing its privacy policy is to grow its business, not make life easier for users. It wants the Federal Trade Commission to enforce...

• Woman pleading Fifth in password case loses appeal
• Irreparable injury result if FTC fails to police Google, group tells court
• Google's FTC privacy report unmasked
• Woman who pleaded Fifth in password case now citing Fourth

Consumerization: BYOD

Apple targets middle-aged women with its latest OS

Apple might be trying to pull a fast one by naming their latest OS X incarnation, Mountain Lion, but some of us saw right through it.

• You know what I'm excited about? Windows 8.
• Android Shmandroid. Give me Apple support or give me nothing.
• Thanks to Hubworks, I'll have fries with that iPad
• Enterprise-level BYOD and the quest for freedom: York County, Virginia