PC Today Volume 10 Issue 1

17 MB·English

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CORRECTION: The president and CTO of Pyxis Mobile (pyxismobile.com) is Todd Christy.
Web site.
His name was misspelled in “Mobile App Security” on pages 46-47 of the December 2011 issue.
IN BRIEF
TECHNOLOGY NEWS
MICROSOFT BUYS VIDEOSURF
India, has purchased the Seattle-based
➤
Microsoft has acquired VideoSurf, a startup Cumulux. Founded in 2008 by
San Mateo, Calif.,-based startup backed former Microsoft employees Paddy
by Al Gore. The purchase price has been Srinivasan and Ranjith Ramakrishnan,
reported to be around $70 million, al- Cumulux specializes in cloud-based
GOOGLE’S BUSINESS
though neither company disclosed the enterprise mobility solutions that
CUSTOMERSGET
terms of the buyout. VideoSurf scans work with Microsoft’s Azure cloud
MORE FEATURES
the Web to find video content, which it infrastructure. Aditi is a global enter-
➤
Google has added new then makes searchable for those using prise software developer and Micro-
features for its Google Apps the site. Microsoft will incorporate Vid- soft cloud partner. Financial and other
customers, potentially making eoSurf’s technology into its Xbox 360 details about the acquisition were
the cloud software suite more technology. “Over time, as we integrate not disclosed.
attractive to business cus- VideoSurf’s technology into our system,
EBAY BUYS
tomers. The Google+ service is we are excited about the potential to
“RECOMMENDATION ENGINE”
now available for businesses have content tagged in real time to in-
➤
and other organizations to crease the speed and relevance of the Online auction company eBay has
use, whereas formerly it was search results,” said Microsoft’s Alex acquired the New York City-based
only available to individ- Garden in a statement. Hunch, which offers a “recommenda-
uals using their own names. tion engine” designed to find things
CATECHNOLOGIES PARTNERS
Organizations can now create users like based on their shared
WITHGREENPAGES
Google+ Pages, as well, sim- data. A press release from eBay cited
➤
ilar to the way Facebook users Software company CA Technologies “Hunch’s familiarity with and ex-
can create their own pages for and consulting firm GreenPages have pertise in tailoring data to meet cus-
business or other purposes. entered into a partnership that will bring tomer needs” as the company’s selling
Google also introduced 24x7 CA Service Automation and CA Capac- point. That technology “can also be
online phone support for ity Manager to GreenPages’ customers. applied to other technology opportu-
Google Apps customers, and CA’s service automation products help nities across eBay, including search,
to automate data centers. Its advertising and marketing initiatives,
capacity management prod- to better surface product and search
ucts focus on improving results based on customers’ tastes.”
performance in cloud and
1&1 BROADENSMOBILE
virtualized environments.
ACCESS FORITSCUSTOMERS
The partnership will also
➤
help promote CA’s Auto- For 1&1 Internet customers using
mation Suite For Clouds Android or iOS smartphones or tab-
and Virtual Placement Man- lets, there is now an app for working
ager, as well as GreenPages’ with 1&1 domains. The 1&1 Domain
Integration and Managed App lets customers search for new do-
Services solutions. mains, order one or multiple domains
New features are designed to using the Shopping Cart feature, and
ADITIACQUIRES
make Google Apps more attractive find information about the owners of
STARTUPCUMULUX
to businesses. registered domains. The app is free
➤
Aditi Technologies, founded in and registration is not required for
1994 and headquartered in Bangalore, simple domain searches.
added mobile device manage-
ment features to give admin-
GE & JUNIPERTEAMTOMAKE RUGGED DEVICES FORMILITARY
istrators greater control over
➤
Google Apps usage on smart- General Electric Intelligent Platforms and Juniper Networks announced they have
phones and tablets. joined forces to develop rugged network appliances with advanced security features
for use in military vehicles, aircraft, and forward-operating bases. GE Intelligent
Platforms will sell the devices. The first device, the RTR8GE, is a router that runs
Juniper’s Junos operating system for network devices and includes firewall, intrusion
prevention and detection, and quality of service features for secure Internet communi-
cations and data transfers.
4 January 2012 / www.pctoday.com

IN BRIEF
TECHNOLOGY NEWS
QUALCOMMLAUNCHESNEW MOBILE PROCESSORS
➤
Qualcomm released a new set of Snapdragon S4 processors for smartphones
and tablets, as well as enhanced versions of its Snapdragon S1 processors for entry-
level smartphones. Qualcomm de-
signed its S4-class processors with an
CLOUDENGINES eye toward 3G and 4G Internet con-
INTRODUCES nectivity, which includes higher-end
MOBILE CLOUD LTE, EVDO, HSPA+, and other smart-
STORAGESOLUTION phones and tablets but also newer “basic” devices that also offer 3G or 4G speeds.
➤
San Francisco-based For the benefit of cost-conscious OEMs, Qualcomm claims to have kept design, engi-
Cloud Engines recently took neering, and inventory costs low for the S4 processors.
the wraps off of Pogoplug,
a storage solution that com-
WYSE BUYS CLOUD SECURITY RED BEND ADDS ANDROID
bines a Web-based service
COMPANY TRELLIA TO MOBILESOFTWARE
with an optional storage de-
➤ MANAGEMENTSOLUTIONS
vice. Pogoplug is similar Cloud client computing company
➤
to other cloud storage solu- Wyse Technology has acquired the Red Bend Software recently in-
tions in that it offers a certain Montreal-based cloud security com- troduced vSense Mobile For Mobile
amount of free storage (in pany Trellia for an undisclosed sum. Software Analytics for the Android
this case, 5GB) with an option “Combining the IP innovation, skills, platform. The software provides
(coming soon) to buy more resources, and most importantly wireless carriers and manufacturers
capacity, as well as stored our joint maniacal focus on cus- with detailed real-time information
data access via Web browsers tomer advocacy of both companies, about usage trends and mobile de-
Wyse will develop and deliver the vice performance. “Red Bend is the
most advanced mobile cloud solu- only company able to give service
tions through global partner- providers both real-time insight from
ships,”said Tarkan Maner, Wyse the device perspective as well as the
CEO and president, in a state- ability to proactively change software
ment. Trellia makes mobile in the field in order to make mobile
device management products devices and services continuously
for Android, BlackBerry, and better in a rapidly changing world,”
iOS devices. Its operations will said Morten Grauballe, Red Bend ex-
remain in Montreal. ecutive VP of products and strategy,
in a statement.
Cloud Engines’ Pogoplug offers data
TWITTER BUYS MOBILE
storage in the cloud as well as the
SECURITY COMPANY AMAZON’SNEW DATA
option to host your own cloud storage.
➤ CENTEROFFERSLOWER
The social media company Twitter,
PRICESIN THE WEST
which is increasingly attempting to
➤
and mobile apps. It stands court business customers and prove Amazon’s new data center in Ore-
apart from the competition, its value for advertisers, announced gon will cost less to run than its Cal-
however, in that customers the purchase of mobile security com- ifornia facility and thus will offer AWS
can optionally purchase a pany Whisper Systems. Based in the (Amazon Web Services) customers a
Pogoplug storage device San Francisco Bay Area, Whisper Sys- lower-priced option. “Launching this
that provides the ability to tems specializes in data security, new lower-priced U.S. West Region
create or host their own cloud network security, and encryption today is another example of our com-
storage. The initial offering is solutions for Android operating sys- mitment to driving down costs for our
likely to interest individuals tems. The buyout will change Whis- customers,” said Andy Jassy, senior
and small businesses, with per Systems’ mission dramatically as VP of AWS, in a statement. “Now,” he
larger business offerings yet it discontinues products and branches added, “developers and businesses
to come. out into PC-level security development. with operations or end users near
Twitter will gain security features but it the west coast of the United States
is unclear exactly how it will integrate can use our U.S. West Infrastruc-
Whisper Systems. Financial terms of ture at an even lower cost than they
the acquisition were not disclosed. could before.”
6 January 2012 / www.pctoday.com

IN BRIEF
TECHNOLOGY NEWS
STARTUPS
6 WUNDERKINDER BOUNDARY RAISES
NETS $4.2 MILLION FOR $4 MILLION FOR PUBLIC
PRODUCTIVITYTOOLEFFORT CLOUD MONITORING BIZ
➤ 6 Wunderkinder (www.6wunderkinder ➤ Boundary (www.boundary.com), a
INTEL CAPITAL FILLS .com), a startup founded in Berlin in company that CEO Benjamin Black,
APPUP FUND WITH
2010 that develops apps for the Web former Amazon EC2 designer and en-
$100 MILLION
and Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS gineer, founded to provide real-time
➤
Intel Capital announced it platforms, recently received $4.2 million network monitoring-as-a-service tools,
has created a $100 million Intel in Series A financing from Atomico, a has raised $4 million in a Series A
Capital AppUp Fund it will London-based venture capital firm funding round that Lightspeed Ven-
use to invest in compa- ture Partners led. Boundary describes
nies that develop ap- its service as enabling “DevOps teams
plications and digital continuous visibility into their net-
content for mobile work and application traffic flows
and PC platforms for in public cloud environments like
Intel’s AppUp mobile Amazon EC2 or private cloud data cen-
device app store. Intel ters.” Boundary bills the SaaS-based
is initially investing in platform as the industry’s first to pro-
Urban Airship (www vide real-time monitoring without
.urbanairship.com), a requiring hardware probes and that
mobile PaaS (plat- offers “unmatched one-second granu-
form-as-a-service) larity measurements processing mil-
company, and 4tiitoo lions of metrics per second.”
(www.4tiitoo.com),
a tablet developer MOBILE PAYMENT PROVIDERS
and creator of WeTab ZOOZSECURES $1.5 MILLION
OS. Arvind Sodhani, 6 Wunderkinder recently received $4.2 million in funding for its ➤ Zooz (www.zooz.co), a startup that
Intel Capital president Web- and mobile-based productivity tool business. offers a “secure cross-app platform
and Intel executive that creates a familiar, unified check-
vice president, stated, out,” recently raised $1.5 million in
the fund will “help encourage Niklas Zennström, co-founder of Skype, funding in an effort led by lool ven-
the creation of companies heads up. 6 Wunderkinder’s first prod- tures (lool.vc) and involving the par-
interested in delivering or uct is Wunderlist, a free task-manage- ticipation of seven other investors.
enabling applications that en- ment tool for creating to-do lists users Essentially, after developers add sev-
hance and extend the online can share with others. The company eral lines of code to their applications,
experience for the 15 billion will reportedly use the latest funding Zooz provides a one-click “unified
devices expected to be con- to add sales and marketing employees user interface to complete the payment
nected by 2015.” and speed up product development process.” In addition to indicating
for Wunderkit, an upcoming “state-of- that Zooz is “highly secure” and keeps
the-art platform that provides a central “sensitive details from being exposed
place for individuals to focus on their to each app,” the company states that
personal and professional work, with the payment method ensures that
an emphasis on collaboration.” users never leave the app.
STOCKANALYSIS PROVIDER YCHARTS ACQUIRES $3.25 MILLION
➤YCharts (www.ycharts.com), a company that professes to let “investors be their own
stock analysts” by providing free tools, Web-based charts, and objective data based
on more than 10 years of history for more than 5,000 stocks, has raised $3.25 million in
Series B financing. To date, the company has raised $4.75 million in funding and cites
more than 400,000 investors in its community base. Beyond offering free tools, YCharts
offers a Pro version that provides 30 years of history, advanced calculations, exclusive
pro stock ratings, and other features. Reportedly, the recent funding will go toward
expanding the company’s team, increasing marketing, and scale infrastructure.
8 January 2012 / www.pctoday.com

IN BRIEF
TECHNOLOGY NEWS
STATS
PERCENTAGE OF VIDEOSTREAMING
➤➤Online Video Streaming By Age
INU.S.SURPASSESTOTAL
UNIQUESTREAMERS
45
➤
According to The Nielsen Company, the total minutes
40
spent streaming videos online isn’t proportional to the
35
number of unique viewers watching videos. In fact, the
30
streaming rate has doubled in the last three years, faster
■
25 Percentage than the rate of growth in the number of viewers. Nielsen
Of Total
20 Streaming Time reported in August 2011 that the 18- to 34-year-old de-
15 ■ mographic range viewed the most minutes of video, ac-
Percentage Of
10 Unique Viewers counting for 40% of total streaming time The next largest
group engaged in online video activity consisted of the
5
over-50 viewers. They were responsible for 22% of the
0
total streaming time, collectively watching 9 billion min-
Ages 18-34 Ages 35-49 Ages 50+
utes of video from home and work computers.
ONLINENEWS OUTLETS SMARTPHONESALES
end users with approximately 24% of the
TWEETTO PROMOTE OWN SKYROCKETEDIN 2011
market, a slight decrease from 28.2% in the
ORGANIZATIONSWORK ➤
With global sales of mobile devices previous year. Samsung is in the No. 2 spot
➤
Most major news organizations tweet topping out at 440.5 million units in Q3 behind Nokia with 17.8% of the market
regularly, but a recent survey of 13 media of 2011, it’s not surprising smartphone share, followed by LG Electronics (4.8%),
platforms revealed that the media outlets shipments totaled 115 million, which was Apple (3.9%), ZTE (3.2%), and Research
use Twitter “as an added means to dissemi- a 42% increase over the same quarter in In Motion (2.9%). For popular mobile op-
nate their own material.” The Pew Research 2010. According to Gartner, smartphone erating systems, the Android OS took in
Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism sales made up 26% of recorded mobile 52.5% of the Q3 market last year. Symbian
and The George Washington University’s phone sales in Q3 2011. Nokia remains the accounted for 16.9%, while Apple’s iOS
School of Media and Public Affairs collab- leader in worldwide mobile device sales to garnered 15%.
orative study analyzed 3,600 tweets during
one week of tweeting by major news orga-
TABLET USERS PREFER APPLE IPAD
nizations such as The Washington Post, The
➤
Huffington Post, The New Your Times, and In a recent survey conducted by Maritz Research, 2,500 participants had the option to
10 others. The results showed that 93% of choose one of 14 different tablet models from 11 vendors. Current Android, BlackBerry, and
tweets included links to the news outlet’s Windows Mobile device users said they would prefer to purchase the iPad over similar tab-
own website. Most organizations didn’t use lets. Among current BlackBerry users, 53% reported they would choose the Apple iPad first,
their respective Twitter feeds to gather data whereas 12% preferred the Amazon Kindle Fire. Of the Android smartphone users surveyed,
from readers—only 2% of tweets requested 41% favored the iPad and 40% of Windows Phone users responded in the same way.
first-hand accounts.
➤➤Non-Apple User Tablet Preferences
HALF OF AMERICANADULTS
HAVE MOBILE PHONEAPPS
➤
The Pew Research Center’s Internet &
American Life Project survey calls attention
to the increasing number of adult cell phone
owners that have apps on their phones. In Samsung Galaxy Tab ■ iOS Users
September 2009, 22% of adults had down- ■
Windows Mobile Users
loaded apps to their cell phones, while in
■
BlackBerry Users
May 2010, 38% had phones that had pre-
Amazon Kindle Fire ■
loaded apps. As of August 2011, the per- Android Users
centage of users with proprietary apps and
third-party apps reached 50. In addition,
Pew Research questioned mobile app users Apple iPad
about tablet use. The findings revealed that
out of the 10% of U.S. adult tablet owners,
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
75% had downloaded apps to their tablets.
10 January 2012 / www.pctoday.com