dev components [Odney]

Microsoft exec refuses to be drawn out on Office for iPad

Thu, 28 Feb 2013

Analyst who said Microsoft is leaving billions on the table asks about iOS, but Office chief DelBene dodges, touts online apps instead
By Gregg Keizer
February 27, 2013 02:22 PM ET
2 Comments. .Computerworld - Microsoft's top Office executive yesterday dodged questions about plans to bring its lucrative suite to Apple's iPad.

Talk of Microsoft porting its Office franchise to iOS -- or at least the most popular applications in the bundle, like Word, Excel and PowerPoint -- has swirled for years.

On Wednesday, Kurt DelBene, the president of the Office division, sidestepped a question about his iOS plans during a Morgan Stanley-hosted technology conference (view transcript).

"We don't take it from the point of view of, 'Do we need to have the PC software that's running on a PC running on every single device?'" said DelBene. "We look very much at what is the experience that we're looking to have on those devices."

Instead, DelBene touted the few existing apps for Apple's iPad and iPhone, including OneNote, and talked up the online versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint, which are free to use but accessible only through a browser.

"We've actually done a lot of work on iOS devices this time around," argued DelBene. "We have enhanced the Web applications pretty substantially, particularly in partnership with Apple. If you look at where they were as far as browser in 5.0 versus 6.0, there's been a lot of changes there to make those apps work super well on a touch device."

But DelBene refused to be drawn into details of a logical next step, selling native iOS apps for Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

Ironically, the Morgan Stanley analyst who asked DelBene about Office on iOS was Adam Holt, who last week drew attention for estimating that Microsoft was leaving $2.5 billion in annual revenue on the table by not porting the suite to the iPad.

Other analysts, including Bob O'Donnell at IDC, have said the same without naming a number, claiming that Microsoft could "start printing money" the moment it introduced Office for iOS and Android.

Late last year, unconfirmed reports circulated that Microsoft would release iOS apps for Word, Excel and PowerPoint in late February or early March 2013, followed in May by software for Android.

Several experts have said that they expect Microsoft to tie iOS and Android Office apps to an Office 365 subscription, but the Redmond, Wash. developer said nothing today about those platforms as it rolled out Office 365 plans for small, mid-sized and large businesses.

DelBene's tight-lipped comments at the Morgan Stanley conference were no surprise, if only because they were very much in sync with those made by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer four weeks ago in an interview with Bloomberg, when he said, "We do have a way for people always to get to Office through the browser, which is very important."

Top IT Skills Wanted

Thu, 28 Feb 2013

Nearly 29 percent of the 353 IT executives who were polled in Computerworld’s annual Forecast survey said they plan to increase IT staffing through next summer. (That’s up from 23% in the 2010 survey and 20% in the 2009 survey.)

Here are the skills that the IT executives say they will be hiring for:
1.Programming and Application Development–61% plan to hire for this skill in the next 12 months, up from 44% in the 2010 survey. This covers the gamut from website development to upgrading internal systems and meeting the needs of mobile users.
2.Project Management (but with a twist)– The twist is that they’re not going to just be looking for people who can oversee and monitor projects. They also want people who can identify users’ needs and translate them for the IT staffers-the increasingly popular business analysts.
3.Help Desk/Technical Support–Mobile operating systems have added a new dimension to help desk and tech support.
4.Networking-This demand is being fueled partially by virtualization and cloud computing projects. The survey also revealed that execs will be looking for people with VMware and Citrix experience.
5.Business Intelligence-Computerworld interprets this uptick to a focus shift in many companies, from cost savings to investing in technology. That will be nice if it pans out that way.
6.Data Center-Virtualization and the Cloud could also be behind the increased need for IT professionals with backgrounds in data center operations and systems integration.
7.Web 2.0-Tech skills centered around social media will be in demand, with .Net, AJAX and PHP as key back-end skills, with HTML, XML, CSS, Flash and Javascript, among others, on the front end.
8.Security-Although down from 32 percent in the 2010 survey, security stays a top concern of IT executives.
9.Telecommunications-The survey indicates a demand for people with IP telephony skills, and for those familiar with Cisco IPCC call center systems.

Sony Teases (But Doesn't Reveal) the PlayStation 4

Thu, 28 Feb 2013

February 21, 2013 The gaming console wars of 2013 have begun, and in the weirdest possible way. Last night, Sony unveiled its next-generation PlayStation 4 console—without actually revealing the console.

Company executives did dole out some tantalizing details. The PS4 is promised to have an X86-based 8-core AMD CPU and Radon graphics inside. That's some seriously powerful processing capability (estimated at around 1.84 gigaflops), but it also points to a future for the Sony gaming ecosystem that is more PC-like and less console-like. Sony also revealed a new "DualShock 4" controller that will work in tandem with 3D cameras to measure (and presumably integrate) the room in which a player is playing. The company also promised a host of social interaction, including video clip sharing and the ability to allow a friend to jump into your game remotely and give you a hand.

What Sony didn't show was the console itself, or a price, or even a firm launch date (it's expected sometime before the end of 2013). That's a little like Ford throwing a big event to reveal the next-generation Mustang, then just delivering a PowerPoint on what a great engine it's eventually going to have. To be sure, the shape of the device's exterior should be largely irrelevant to its performance, but it's hard to get excited about an upcoming product if you can't imagine it in your living room.

To many in the tech press, the event seemed like a sloppy hurry-up offense by Sony in an attempt to get out ahead of Microsoft's highly anticipated announcement of the next-gen Xbox at the E3 gaming convention in June. And it may have backfired: Within seconds, gamers on Twitter were howling their disapproval.

That could be bad news for Sony. The company has been stumbling for years, and they desperately need a hit product. What's worse, consoles are losing much of their influence in the gaming world to mobile devices. Sony plans to integrate phones and tablets into the PS4 experience as second screens, but users are already starting to see those phones and tablets as the primary screen and may not be willing to invest in an expensive console to augment the experience.

That said, the big screen is still a hot commodity, and Sony's biggest problems may come from the PC gaming environment migrating to the TV: Gaming powerhouse Valve is working on a SteamBox minicomputer to bring the rich world of PC games to the living room. And we've actually seen that thing.

Read more: Sony Teases (But Doesn't Reveal) the PlayStation 4 - Popular Mechanics

iPad Mini review: More than just a smaller face

Tue, 06 Nov 2012

Apple's latest tablet comes in a smaller, pocketable, gripable, adorable new travel size. But the iPad Mini is more than just a smaller face -- it's a whole new product with its own killer features and disappointments.

Review: 'Halo 4' is franchise's best

Tue, 06 Nov 2012

For all of its expected action and drama, the new "Halo 4" boils down to an essential question: Are its central characters humans, machines or something in between?

Xbox Surface tablet with 7-in. display in works, reports say

Tue, 06 Nov 2012

Microsoft is building a 7-in. mini Surface tablet focused on gaming, possibly called the Xbox Surface, according to reports.

GPS shoes for Alzheimer's patients coming to market

Mon, 24 Oct 2011

Shoes featuring GPS transmitters to help find wanderers suffering Alzheimer's or other dementia are coming soon to the U.S. market, Agence France-Presse ...

First impressions: 'Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception'

Mon, 24 Oct 2011

Here's an early look at the campaign for Sony's action adventure.

Google Earth reveals ancient stories

Mon, 24 Oct 2011

Aerial photos, satellite images from Syria to Yemen show thousands of collapsed structures.

Kids use both hands in 'DualPenSports'

Sun, 11 Sep 2011

Gamers must coordinate with both hands to play a variety of virtual sports.

Future home: Robocleaners, tweeting appliances

Sun, 11 Sep 2011

In 10 years, will your home be cleaned by robots and run by computers?

Information technology jobs continue to increase in down economy

Fri, 09 Sep 2011

The information security industry is as competitive as it's been since the dot com boom, and that means jobs are abundant in information technology.

Age bias in IT: The reality behind the rumors

Thu, 01 Sep 2011

IT workers over 50, or even 40, are having a tougher time than their younger colleagues staying fully employed. Is it age bias or something more complex?

Again? Apple reportedly loses another iPhone prototype

Thu, 01 Sep 2011

Here's a theory: Maybe there's some sort of connection between drinking and losing things?

Dell set to launch public cloud service

Mon, 29 Aug 2011

Dell will launch its first cloud infrastructure service later this year through a partnership with VMware, continuing its push to move beyond PCs and into higher-margin software and services.

Apple's iPhone 5, new iPods arrive in October, analysts say

Mon, 29 Aug 2011

Despite Steve Jobs' departure as CEO, the show must go on as Apple pushes to broaden iPhone's reach.

Fall video games preview: The complete schedule

Mon, 15 Aug 2011

Here's our full breakdown of what games are launching this fall.

Here comes Firefox 6

Mon, 15 Aug 2011

Firefox 6, the newest version of Mozilla's popular Web browser, is set to be released Tuesday. But some savvy Web folk have snatched it up early and are describing the features that are on the way.

Verizon launching Samsung Galaxy Tab with 4G this week

Tue, 26 Jul 2011

Verizon Wireless will start selling a version of Samsung's Galaxy Tab running on the carrier's 4G network on July 28.

Why 3-D gaming hasn't caught on

Mon, 25 Jul 2011

You say you want a revolution? Despite TV and console makers' best efforts, it just doesn't appear to be happening in 3-D for video game fans.

'College Humor' joins Nintendo 3DS video

Mon, 25 Jul 2011

Nintendo 3DS users now have access to 3-D video. And they can launch it with a laugh.

Pros, cons of Facebook's new video chat

Thu, 07 Jul 2011

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled video calling today for the social networking site, in partnership with Skype.

Apple App Store downloads top 15 billion

Thu, 07 Jul 2011

Apple has revealed that its App Store for mobile devices such as the iPad and iPhone has topped 15 billion downloads.

Facebook says membership has grown to 750 million

Wed, 06 Jul 2011

Explosion of growth worldwide pushes membership to 750 million.

What if Generation Dora overruns Facebook?

Wed, 06 Jul 2011

By now, we all know the story of how Facebook started young by channeling the desires and delusions of smart Harvard students and spreading across college campuses.

Can GooglePlus shoulder way into social circle?

Thu, 30 Jun 2011

GooglePlus promises easier communication between small groups, but it has a way to go to challenge social-network giant Facebook.

Video games and kids: How young is too young?

Wed, 29 Jun 2011

I was visiting my nephews, again. Within seconds of seeing me fiddle with my iPhone, my older nephew, Jack, who is 8, asked me, again, if my iPhone had any videogames on it.

Trailer Park: 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 2 The Videogame'

Wed, 29 Jun 2011

The video features Harry and company battling numerous enemies as it defends Hogwarts from Voldemort.

Blizzard offering unlimited free-to-play option for 'World of Warcraft'

Wed, 29 Jun 2011

Blizzard Entertainment has introduced a World of Warcraft Starter Edition, which makes a solid chunk of the game free to play.

How Google+ compares to Facebook

Tue, 28 Jun 2011

With Tuesday's debut of Google+, a new social network, comparisons to Facebook are inevitable, and immediate.

Your next job: Mobile app developer?

Mon, 27 Jun 2011

Mobile apps are in high demand, and developers are in short supply. With a few key tweaks to your skill set, you could be working in the hottest tech market going.

'The Black Eyed Peas Experience' gets started for Kinect, Wii

Sun, 26 Jun 2011

Ubisoft is showing The Black Eyed Peas the love with a new dance game 'The Blackeyed Peas Experience' in the works for the Microsoft Xbox 360 ...

Turntable.fm: The cool kids' Pandora?

Fri, 24 Jun 2011

Everyone knows Pandora -- that popular music-streaming site where robots pick songs for you based on equations.

Sony Ericsson unveils two new Android phones

Wed, 22 Jun 2011

Third-quarter launch planned for Xperia ray and Experia active models.

The 3DS air show: Hands on with 'Kid Icarus,' 'Starfox 64 3D'

Wed, 22 Jun 2011

Two notable Nintendo franchises are making a comeback on the 3DS later this year.

New camera lets you focus photos after you shoot

Wed, 22 Jun 2011

An auto-focus camera? Not new. Not exciting.

IT demand holds up in rough times

Tue, 21 Jun 2011

Economic slowdown is written all over. Barring in one prominent industry-information technology.

New malware revives Mac vs. Windows debate

Tue, 24 May 2011

A new piece of malware has caused an uptick in Apple customers reporting infected machines, renewing a timeless debate on the state of Macintosh security versus Windows.

Mobile app helps doctors diagnose strokes

Tue, 24 May 2011

When a patient suffers an acute stroke, the outcome often rests on how quickly they receive expert care.

Yahoo makes new mail available to all users

Tue, 24 May 2011

Yahoo is rolling out the newest version of its e-mail service and inviting all of its 284 million users to upgrade.

Opinion divided on impact on iPad of Foxconn blast

Tue, 24 May 2011

Opinion is divided on whether a blast on Friday at a Foxconn factory in Chengdu, China will affect the production of Apple’s iPads

Device lets you capture 360-degree videos from iPhone

Mon, 23 May 2011

A New York startup wants you to be able to capture and share 360-degree videos from your iPhone.

New Square app seeks to replace cash registers

Mon, 23 May 2011

Square co-founder Jack Dorsey, who also invented Twitter, is introducing an unusual system for mobile payments -- one that looks more like Foursquare than the popular tap-and-pay model.

NASA Announces Keynote Speakers For 2011 It Summit

Mon, 23 May 2011

NASA has announced plans for the agency's second annual IT Summit, a gathering of industry leaders who will explore the outer reaches of information technology.

Five things Microsoft may do with Skype

Tue, 10 May 2011

Tuesday's announcement that Microsoft has bought Skype is obviously huge business news, but millions of consumers aren't focused on that.

Google branches into music, movie streaming

Tue, 10 May 2011

With new music, movies and accessory services for Android, Google is taking on Apple in three major areas.

From Technology to Technical Support: Thoughts for Improving Welding Operations in Todayâ€™s Automotive Industry

Mon, 09 May 2011

Worldwide, companies serving the automotive industry have faced a unique set of challenges in the last several years. Still, as the economy begins to rebound, each must find ways to maintain their productivity and profitability — often with fewer employees than before the recent recession.

New 'Call of Duty' game coming

Mon, 09 May 2011

Activision Blizzard is set to launch a new "Call of Duty" game for consoles alongside an ambitious digital platform later this year, Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg said on the company's earnings call Monday.

Microsoft's Office 365 Beta Takes On Google Apps

Tue, 19 Apr 2011

Microsoft appears to be walking a tightrope between its cloud ambitions and its desire to expand the functionality in Microsoft Office, its iconic desktop suite. After years of dismissing Google Apps, Microsoft is offering Office 365 as a public beta -- and some critics are already panning it as a lightweight alternative to Google's cloud productivity tools.

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On Monday, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) opened Office 365 -- a cloud-based version of its productivity apps -- to the public for beta testing. The beta version contains Microsoft Office, SharePoint Online, Exchange Online and Lync Online. The trial is available in 38 countries and 17 languages.

The Office 365 suite is billed as an always up-to-date cloud service. The beta comes in two editions, one for small businesses and one for enterprises.

Microsoft wants to simplify connectivity and collaboration for employees. Office 365 features include document creation and sharing, email, IM, online meetings and public websites. Microsoft includes protection by its ForeFront security client and promises 99.9 percent uptime.

The new offering can be accessed from virtually anywhere, according to Microsoft. Information is stored on the cloud, so Office 365's tools are not tied to a specific PC or device.

Microsoft will offer different subscription plans for Office 365. For small businesses with fewer than 25 employees, the price is US$6 per user per month. For larger companies, an Office 2010 Professional Plus subscription with additional suite components will be $24 per person per month.

Microsoft also debuted an Office 365 app store with 100 apps and 400 professional services available from Microsoft's 16,000 cloud partners.

Microsoft did not respond to TechNewsWorld's request for comments by press time.

Late to the Game

In an attempt to counter the growing number of cloud-based applications on the market, Microsoft may be dressing up existing products to look new. If the price is right, though, that may be enough.

"Microsoft desperately needs a comprehensive cloud-based strategy to fend off competition from Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) and other cloud-based vendors. Office 365 is trying to fill that gap," Azita Arvani, principal of the Arvani Group, told TechNewsWorld. "Structurally speaking, Office 365 seems to include a decent set of components, including Exchange, Office Web apps, SharePoint, IM and Web conferencing. The reported pricing seems to be competitive too."

There are hurdles for Microsoft's cloud offering to clear. For one, Google Apps have been in use for ages, in technology terms.

"The biggest challenge is timing. Office 365 is something that Microsoft should have had a few years ago," said Arvani. "Google Apps has been a product for a while now. Yet, Office 365 is still not released yet. It has just entered the public beta."

Also, Microsoft could have difficulty positioning Office 365 against its own Business Productivity Online Standard Suite.

"On the performance side, it will be interesting to see how Office Web apps can perform in the cloud version. The original Office apps are designed for desktop usage," said Arvani.

Upgrade or New Product?

While the new name "365" and the beta testing suggest Microsoft has introduced an entirely new product, it may in reality be no more than a simple cloud-based upgrade of existing products.

"The name is a bit deceptive --it's really an upgrade for the Business Productivity Online Standard Suite with some cloud functions, even if it may hook into Office," technology project manager and Geek 2.0 blogger Steven Savage told TechNewsWorld. "I'm positive a cloud-based Office offering may come, but this isn't it."

Microsoft so far seems to be embarking on a mixed strategy: a general move to the cloud, while expanding it's productivity and collaboration offerings.

"This is more targeting wikis, Atlassian, and Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) than anything else -- and even then that's stretching it a bit with this offering," said Savage.

Microsoft 365 is more of an evolution than a revolution, in his view. "Microsoft sees the future as cloud and cloud services, and is moving there -- but it's not a direct assault on any cloud provider or collaboration provider. Not yet. It could be in time."

Before being convinced that Microsoft is serious about cloud offerings, Savage wants to see a full Microsoft Office option.

"When that happens, pay attention, because then Microsoft will be making a major move towards the cloud for everyone," he said. "They're just not there yet."

LocalResponse Taps the Social Web to Help Businesses Draw Customers

Tue, 19 Apr 2011

When a person checks in or posts to Twitter about a business, LocalResponse can help the business reach out to that person.

Where are you? What are you doing? What are you eating? What are you looking at?

These questions, each posed by social media services — like Foursquare, Twitter, Foodspotting, Path and Instagram — to their users, are a boon to businesses and corporations curious about who their patrons are and what they think about their experience.

LocalResponse, unveiled to the public on Tuesday, intends to give companies an easier way to advertise to the people posting messages and pictures online from and about their businesses.

Nihal Mehta, co-founder and chief executive of the company, which is based in New York, describes the tool as a “social advertising platform” that lets companies sift through the stream of public data to see who their most loyal customers are and send them coupons and messages on Twitter.

“It’s not enough just to show you who is there or using your product anymore,” Mr. Mehta said. “The next step is sending messages back and driving actual customers into the door.”

LocalResponse gathers data in two ways. First, it skims Twitter for public check-ins published to the site from a bevy of location-based mobile services like Foursquare, Gowalla and Yelp that can be integrated with Twitter. But those posts make up only about 5 percent of the site’s data, Mr. Mehta said. The rest is pulled from social media services like Instagram, Path, Color, Yelp, Foodspotting and the like, as well as Twitter posts that have been analyzed using natural-language processing to discern what companies and businesses people are chatting about.

For example, if someone posted a message to Twitter that said “I’m heading to Shake Shack” or posted a picture to Path from Madison Square Garden, LocalResponse would be able to analyze that public information and aggregate it for Shake Shack and Madison Square Garden to see.

LocalResponse then allows businesses access to a dashboard that shows who and where each of those customers are so they can send them a public reply on Twitter to thank them for their patronage or even offer a coupon. LocalResponse also will try to pick out the most influential Twitter users, by showing businesses how many times a mention of their product appears in that person’s feed, as well as using a reputation service like Klout, to help companies decide whom to message.

So far, the company says it has had a positive response: For the last six months, LocalResponse has been running a private beta campaign featuring 2,000 companies. Messages sent through LocalResponse had a 60 percent click-through rate.

Of course, LocalResponse’s service could just amount to extra spam for some Twitter users to wade through. But the company says it will limit the number of times a merchant can message customers as well as offering people the option to opt out of the service altogether.

LocalResponse is intended to be a self-service platform for small businesses and will be free, to a point. Businesses will be able to send around 100 messages, and after that, they will be charged a monthly fee for premium access.

Mr. Mehta says LocalResponse’s first iteration is “the long tail of the service, ideal smaller businesses.” He says the company has plans to introduce other tools to attract larger brands and corporations as well.

LocalResponse grew out of Mr. Mehta’s first company, Buzzd, a location-based city guide that also showed its users what people were saying on Twitter about locations and events nearby. The company gained some traction after it was introduced in 2009 but stalled as competitors, like Foursquare and Gowalla, surpassed it.

In December, Mr. Mehta raised $1.5 million, led by Verizon Venture and Charles River, to help refocus the company.

“We used to compete with Foursquare and now we’re thanking them for all of this inventory that we can monetize,” he said.

Sugar giant embraces IT for hike in productivity

Sun, 17 Apr 2011

Giant sugar producer, the Mitr Phol Group, believes that information technology can enhance the productivity of Thailand's sugar-cane industry.

Inventor of modern game console dies at 70

Tue, 12 Apr 2011

Gerald "Jerry" Lawson, creator of the first cartridge-based videogame console, died Saturday morning in a Mountain View, California, hospital, WIRED.com has learned. Lawson was 70.

A hot new feature for gadgets: built-in ads?

Tue, 12 Apr 2011

Seeing ads on portable devices is nothing new. Open a smartphone app, and you're likely to get hit with ads on the screen. Same for mobile browsers.

Big job growth seen in digitizing medical records

Mon, 11 Apr 2011

MELVILLE, N.Y. -- For the information-technology industry, health care represents the next frontier for job growth, technology professionals were told this week.

Information Technology: Related News

Sun, 10 Apr 2011

4/8/2011 - EBE Introduces CSA CarrierBoard EBE Technologies released CSA CarrierBoard, a new web-based dashboard that allows users to monitor CSA scores for multiple carriers in one comprehensive interface....