Jan 31

Press Release: Mobile Cloud Application Revenues To Hit $9.5 billion by 2014, Driven by Converged Mobile Services, according to Juniper Research

By jeromewagner 24x7 Management And Support, cloud computing, communication-standards, document-management, green-it, industry best practise, insights No Comments »

HAMPSHIRE, UK: 26th January 2010 — New research has found that annual revenues from cloud-based mobile applications will reach nearly $9.5 billion by 2014, fueled by the need for converged, collaborative services, the widespread adoption of mobile broadband services and the deployment of key technological enablers such as HTML5 and the Open Mobile Alliance’s Smart Card Web Server (SCWS).

The Juniper Research report found that enterprise applications will account for the majority of revenues over the next five years, with businesses increasingly seeking to capitalise on the ability of Platform as a Service (PaaS) providers to offer scalable, flexible data storage solutions allied to device agnostic, synchronised office services.

However, consumer-oriented apps will comprise an ever-larger proportion of total revenues, derived both from time-based subscriptions to services such as mobile online gaming and advertising from cloud-based social networks.

However, the mobile cloud applications & services report warned that many enterprise customers still remained wary of entrusting their personal data to remote third-parties, and that recent high-profile data losses amongst corporate mobile users in the USA would only exacerbate these concerns. According to report author Dr Windsor Holden, “Not only is it imperative for cloud providers to ensure that access to and storage of customer data is secure, but that the procedures that they put in place in this regard – including data backup strategies – are transparent to the customer.”

Other findings from the Juniper report include:

• While the onset of a cloud-based ecosystem may further erode the strength of the mobile operator/customer relationship, cloud offers operators the opportunity to develop new revenues streams as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and PaaS providers

• Lack of network capacity may continue to be a constraint on the growth of network-based services even after LTE and WiMAX networks are deployed

Juniper Research assesses the current and future status of mobile cloud based on interviews, case studies and analysis from representatives of some of the leading organisations in this bleeding edge industry.

via Press Release: Mobile Cloud Application Revenues To Hit $9.5 billion by 2014, Driven by Converged Mobile Services, according to Juniper Research.

Jan 30

Google phases out support for IE6

By jeromewagner email-branding-disclaimers-and-signature-management, network-security, operating systems & collaborative tools No Comments »

Google has begun to phase out support for Internet Explorer 6, the browser identified as the weak link in a cyber attack on the search engine.The firm said from 1 March some of its services, such as Google Docs, would not work “properly” with the browser.It recommended individuals and firms upgrade “as soon as possible”.

Google threatened to withdraw from the Chinese market following the “sophisticated and targeted” attacks, which it said originated in China.Hackers used a flaw in Microsofts Internet Explorer IE browser to target the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists.

via BBC News – Google phases out support for IE6.

Jan 29

Prepare for the Worst, Plan for the Best: Disaster Preparedness and Recovery for Small Businesses, 2nd Edition | Book Review

By jeromewagner disaster-recovery, industry best practise, insights, it-management, proffesional bodies, training No Comments »

The book addresses disaster planning for small businesses in three stages: prepare, recover and respond.

The section on how to prepare for a disaster is the most detailed, and contains generic as well as practical suggestions.

The author provides logical common sense guidelines for the realities of how to prepare for, respond to and recover from problems, and this has a thoroughness brought about by experience.

The examples of specific problems encountered, which are provided throughout, help to keep the focus on why being prepared is important for the small business.

Specific suggestions whilst preparing are to not plan for the worst case only, as this causes planning paralysis and might result in the assumption that if it is not possible to plan for everything don’t bother to do anything at all. Also, the recommendation to prepare in a step-by-step fashion, prioritising what is important to your business, is key.

Part two covers the immediate response to a disaster, and the flexible implementation of the disaster planning. The final section addresses business recovery to the pre-disaster state.

Overall, the common sense suggestions are useful, but the detailed instructions on who to contact, how to register, and so on, are too USA-specific for a UK audience. I estimate the book is probably 75 per cent applicable outside the USA.

via Prepare for the Worst, Plan for the Best: Disaster Preparedness and Recovery for Small Businesses, 2nd Edition | Archive | Book Reviews | Opinion, News, Analysis | BCS – The Chartered Institute for IT.

Jan 27

Apple’s iPad

By jeromewagner hardware No Comments »

After nearly a decade of rumors and speculation, Apple’s finally unveiled the iPad. It’s a half-inch thick and weighs just 1.5 pounds, with a 9.7-inch capacitive touchscreen IPS LCD display, and it’s running a custom 1GHz Apple “A4″ chip developed by the P.A. Semi team, with a 10-hour battery life and a month of standby. It’ll come in 16, 32, and 64GB sizes, and it’s got the expected connectivity: very little.

There’s a 30-pin Dock connector, a speaker, a microphone, Bluetooth, 802.11n WiFi and optional 3G, as well as an accelerometer and a compass. There’s also a keyboard dock, which connects underneath in the portrait orientation, support for up to 1024×768 VGA out and 480p composite out through new dock adapter cables, and a camera attachment kit that lets you import photos from your camera over USB or directly through an SD reader.

The device is managed by iTunes, just like the iPhone — you sync everything over to your Mac. As expected, it can run iPhone apps — either pixel-for-pixel in a window, or pixel-doubled fullscreen — but developers can also target the new screen size using the updated iPhone OS SDK, which is available today. The 3G version runs on AT&T and comes with new data plans: 250MB for $14.99 and an unlimited plan for $29.99 a month contract-free. Activations are handled on the iPad, so you can activate and cancel whenever you want. Every iPad is unlocked and comes with a GSM “micro-SIM,” so you can use it abroad, but there aren’t any international deals in place right now — Steve says they’ll be back “this summer” with news on that front.It starts at $499 for 16GB, 32GB for $599, and $699 64GB.

Adding 3G costs a $130 per model, so the most expensive model 64GB / 3G is $829. The WiFi-only model will ship in 60 days, and the 3G models will come in 90.

via Engadget.

Jan 24

10/GUI

By jeromewagner insights, operating systems & collaborative tools, uncategorized No Comments »

Over a quarter-century ago, Xerox introduced the modern graphical user interface paradigm we today take for granted.

That it has endured is a testament to the genius of its design. But the industry is now at a crossroads: New technologies promise higher-bandwidth interaction, but have yet to find a truly viable implementation.

10/GUI aims to bridge this gap by rethinking the desktop to leverage technology in an intuitive and powerful way.

via 10/GUI.

Jan 24

10 outdated elements of desktop operating systems

By jeromewagner communication-standards, hardware, industry best practise, insights, operating systems & collaborative tools No Comments »

We’ve come so very far in the way computer operating systems treat us, and in the way we treat those computer operating systems. They multitask, they animate, they reach into the internet and pull down our favorite parts, they rarely crash and they’re always on. It’s a far cry from a decade ago, but I think we could go so much further. The advent of the cheap, ubiquitous touchscreen, always-available internet and continually cheaper and more powerful hardware has revolutionized the phone industry, and I think it can also help the desktops and laptops we know and love do more for us. But a laptop isn’t a phone: we’re supposed to get a lot done on it, under some unrealistic deadlines, and some random company with big ideas can’t come along and reinvent the desktop OS in one fell swoop — that simply isn’t practical when we have things to do.

So what’s an OS to do? I think there are serious opportunities for evolution available to the Microsofts, Apples and Ubuntus of the world, but they involve embracing new technologies in new ways. And stealing a ton of ideas from phones. A finger on a screen is not a mouse on a pad, an internet browser is not the end-all be-all of the internet, and playing Crysis in a quad HD resolution at 60 fps is not the ultimate expression of gaming for 95% of the population.

Join me as I explore a few bits of legacy cruft that need to be addressed before the desktop OS can become as important to this decade as it was to the last one.

via Editorial: 10 outdated elements of desktop operating systems — Engadget.

Jan 23

Unlocking innovation | data.gov.uk

By jeromewagner communication-standards, industry best practise, ngo, online tools, operating systems & collaborative tools, other No Comments »

Advised by Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Professor Nigel Shadbolt and others, government are opening up data for reuse. This site seeks to give a way into the wealth of government data and is under constant development. We want to work with you to make it better.We’re very aware that there are more people like you outside of government who have the skills and abilities to make wonderful things out of public data. These are our first steps in building a collaborative relationship with you.

via Unlocking innovation | data.gov.uk.

Jan 20

Gesturcons: an icon language to describe natural user interface gestures- Experience Design by Ron George

By jeromewagner communication-standards, other, training, uncategorized No Comments »

Gesturcons: an icon language to describe natural user interface gestures

Posted by Ron in Design, Interaction Design on Jan 10th, 2010 |

11 Comments

I purposely left out some of the icons at first launch because I wanted to hear some feedback before people thought I had a fully thought out solution. So, I have updated this post with the additional icons and the explanation for the purpose of them at the bottom. Enjoy!

One of the prevailing themes of my writing is the ability for everyone to gain common grounds when discussing interactions. I believe one of the keys to this is a common metaphor, OCGM (Objects, Containers, Gestures, and Manipulations) as well as a set of icons for use in design. When sketching out the user experience it’s important to note the interactions. This is especially true in state diagrams, specs, and other interaction design documents. In my first installment of Gesturcons, I present to you the Gesturcons : Touch Pack 1.0. These are being released under the Creative Commons License and I hope that you all find some good use for them in your designs and experiences.

This is the first batch, for touch. I also have Spatial, Voice, and a few others in the works.

via Gesturcons: an icon language to describe natural user interface gestures- Experience Design by Ron George.

Jan 19

Google’s spat with Chinese government causes ‘postponement’ of Android phones

By jeromewagner insights No Comments »

By Vladislav Savov posted Jan 19th 2010 7:10AM

You have to love a good clash of legitimate titans, and they don’t get much bigger than Google and China. After deciding to stop censoring its Google.cn results, the Mountain View company of evil-non-doers has stepped up its offensive with the announcement that two Android phones — one from Samsung and one from Motorola — which were slated to make their arrival on China Unicom on Wednesday have now been postponed. We’ll read between the lines and guess that the phones will be “postponed” if China plays nice, or “never gonna happen” if it doesn’t. Google seems intent on demonstrating the full impact of its potential withdrawal from China, and this show of its sway with mobile manufacturers will hardly go unnoticed.

via Google’s spat with Chinese government causes ‘postponement’ of Android phones — Engadget.

Jan 17

German government warns against using MS Explorer

By jeromewagner disaster-recovery, email-branding-disclaimers-and-signature-management, industry best practise, insights No Comments »

The German government has warned web users to find an alternative browser to Internet Explorer to protect security.

The warning from the Federal Office for Information Security comes after Microsoft admitted IE was the weak link in recent attacks on Google's systems.

Microsoft rejected the warning, saying that the risk to users was low and that the browsers' increased security setting would prevent any serious risk.

However, German authorities say that even this would not make IE fully safe.

Thomas Baumgaertner, a spokesman for Microsoft in Germany, said that while they were aware of the warning, they did not agree with it, saying that the attacks on Google were by “highly motivated people with a very specific agenda”.

via BBC News – German government warns against using MS Explorer.

Previous Entries
preload preload preload