Among the most common reasons for data loss are IT system failures (76 percent); human error (41 percent); and external threats and attacks (35 percent). An earlier CA study suggests that data loss events cost companies an average $160,000 every year.

Business continuity plans are crucial to ensure critical processes remain available in the event of a crisis. Cloud backup and storage is an attractive option as it provides for place offsite to store mission-critical data, and in the event of a catastrophic IT failure could be a lifesaver. It is for this reason why IT administrators have increased spending on the cloud.

Nearly half of the 300 businesses will increase cloud spending on data protection measures over the next year, compared to only 14 percent who will cut spending. The results indicate the market for enterprise cloud storage is about to enter a period of rapid growth.

"This survey reveals that one of those benefits is improved data protection—which remains a huge challenge in conventional, non-cloud environments", data management chief Bill Mann says of the study's results.

Once in the cloud, IT administrators seem to be satisfied that their data is protected. Four out of every five (86 percent) companies with data in the private cloud feel that it is adequately protected, while 73 percent of those with data in the public cloud feel their data is safe.

"It is broadly acknowledged that cloud computing can offer many benefits to organizations that require more agile and cost-effective ways of delivering IT services", Mann says.

Photo Credit:  Sergej Khakimullin/Shutterstock

That said, Apple's position is solid. Together, Apple and Samsung combined smartphone sales market share approaches 50 percent. Contrary to speculation that Windows Phone might appear as a third dominant mobile OS, the market is set to largely split between two vendors. As I explained three weeks ago in post, "Google has lost control of Android", Sasmung's rise isn't necessarily good for the broader ecosystem.

Sales vs Shipments

During first quarter, Samsung sold 38 million smartphones, compared to 33.1 million iPhones, decisively snatching back the top spot, according to Gartner. Meanwhile Samsung represented more than 40 percent of all Android smartphone sales, with no competitor topping 10 percent. Meanwhile, Samsung stole Nokia's crown, by becoming overall global handset sales leader.

Gartner's data is the most revealing, because it represents sales to end users rather than shipments into the channel. Since Samsung first boasted about 3 million Galaxy S II sales during the first 55 days, Apple apologists have disputed the figure, and others that followed. Gartner leaves little room for error. Apple claimed 35.1 million sold, but that's really shipped, given Gartner put actual sales 2 million units lower. Samsung no longer discloses sales data, but IDC reports 42.2 million smartphone shipments during Q1. Assuming Gartner and IDC numbers reconcile, that's 4.2 million more Samsung smartphone shipped into the channel than sold, which is a reasonable number for keeping store shelves stocked.

"Shipments are not sales, and therefore they present only a partial account of the success or failure of a product or an item", Stephen Baker, NPD's vice president of industry analysis, says. He makes the distinction regarding Kindle Fire, which unit shipments plunged from 4.7 million to 700,000 between fourth and first quarters, according to IDC.

Baker observes that Amazon filled the retail channel during Kindle Fire's launch quarter. Actual sales: 3.8 million then and 1.8 million during Q1. "If you add up those two sales figures you get a number almost exactly the same as IDC’s shipment number", Baker observes. "Looking at the numbers from that actual sales perspective the concept that Kindle Fire sales collapsed in Q1 becomes absurd". The point: Only actual sales figures are truly reliable.

Market Turbulence

Sales show Samsung rising above all other Android handset manufacturers as well as iPhone. All this before the hotly anticipated Galaxy S III ships in 13 days internationally. Strangely, in Apple, Samsung has a benefactor. US Customs has stopped importation of HTC One X and EVO 4G LTE -- two fearsome Androids -- clearing away two of the S3's biggest competitors available on these shores. Officials halted HTC shipments as they evaluate whether the handsets violate Apple patents.

Samsung's rise to dominance comes during an uncertain period for smartphones, which stands to solidify its position against Android rivals and even iPhone. Overall handset sales declined 2 percent year over year to 419.1 million units -- that's down sequentially from 476.5 million handsets.

"The lower results in the first quarter of 2012 have led us to be cautious about sales for the remainder of the year", Annette Zimmermann, Gartner principal research analyst, says. "As we are starting to update our market forecast we feel a downward adjustment to our 2012 figures, in the range of 20 million units, is unavoidable".

However, smartphone sales continued their strong upward trajectory, rising 44.7 percent year over year to 144.4 million. Though, sales fell from 149 million units sequentially.

The China Syndrome

"Global sales of mobile devices declined more than expected due to a slowdown in demand from the Asia/Pacific region", Anshul Gupta, Gartner principal research analyst, says. "The first quarter, traditionally the strongest quarter for Asia, which is driven by Chinese New Year, saw a lack of new product launches from leading manufacturers, and users delayed upgrades in the hope of better smartphone deals arriving later in the year".

To its credit, Apple capitalized on the Chinese New Year. iPhone 4S went on sale in China 10 days before the January 23rd holiday, leading to a sales surge in the region.

"It was an incredible quarter in China", Apple CEO Tim Cook said during calendar first quarter earnings conference call last month. "Part of this was the pent-up demand for iPhone 4S".

He emphasized: "Revenue was a record, at $7.9 billion in greater China, which is up over three times year over year and brings the first half revenue for greater China to $12.4 billion. That compares to a full year of last year of $13.3 billion". Stated differently, China accounted for 78 percent of Asia-Pacific region revenues during the quarter.

Samsung also makes huge inroads to China, but didn't have something spanking new to sell for the new year celebration. That will come with Galaxy S III, which is expected to reach the Mainland long before Apple ships iPhone 5 (or whatever it's named).

But Apple and Samsung aren't alone. "The continued roll-out of third generation 3G-based smartphones by local and regional manufacturers such as Huawei, ZTE, Lenovo, Yulong and TCL Communication should help spur demand in China", Zimmermann says.

Two Market Leaders

Looking ahead, Samsung and Apple look to sop up Nokia's remains -- and for Android to solidify an already strong position over every rival mobile operating system, including Apple's. Nokia market share slumped from 25.1 percent year over year to 19.8 percent in the broader handset market, or a 22.7 percent decline. Nokia is caught between a rock and a hard place -- declining feature phone sales and Windows Phone transition -- that puts it in worse position: The Apple and Samsung trash compactor.

"Smartphone sales are becoming of paramount importance at a worldwide level", Gupta says. "For example, smartphone volumes contributed to approximately 43.9 percent of overall sales for Samsung as opposed to 16 percent for Nokia". They're 100 percent for Apple.

Samsung global handset market share rose to 20.7 percent from 16.1 percent a year earlier, or 25.9 percent increase. However, Apple sales rose considerably more, up 96.2 percent, bringing market share to 7.9 percent from 3.9 percent a year earlier. While Samsung and Apple rank first and second, respectively, in smartphones, iPhone's maker moved into third place for all handsets. Should Nokia's decline continue, while Apple rises, something quite dramatic could occur within the year: Apple and Sumsung dividing up not just smartphone sales but the entire global handset market.

Samsung's rise pulls Android along. The operating system had 56.1 percent smartphone sales share during Q1 -- that's up from 36.4 percent a year earlier. As aforementioned, Samsung accounts for 40 percent of all Android sales. By comparison, iOS share rose to 22.9 percent from 16.9 percent. However, iOS lost share sequentially -- on overall market larger shipments, which accentuates the decline more than it appears. iOS share fell nearly 1 point, while Android gained more than 5 points.

However, Android share gains deceive, as commoditization increases. "Most players are finding it hard to break the mould", Gupta says. "At the high end, hardware features coupled with applications and services are helping differentiation, but this is restricted to major players with intellectual property assets".

The point is crucial as patent lawsuits, the most prominent lead by Apple, stifle innovation. Here on BetaNews, I've called Apple a patent bully and troll, accused it of litigating rather than innovating and called the lawsuits hypocritical.

As patent-warfare stifles innovation and Android licensees struggle to stand apart from one another, "price is increasingly becoming the sole differentiator", Gupta says. "This will only worsen with the entry of new players and the dominance of Chinese manufacturers, leading to increased competition, low profitability and scattered market share". That's good for Apple margins and market consolidation around the two leaders.

This clever and powerful text replacement tool, also available as a portable build, gives you Autotext and Autocorrect functionality – plus a heck of a lot more – across your entire desktop, letting you speed up the way you enter and manipulate text in any program you have installed on your computer, not just Microsoft Word.

PhraseExpress’s Autotext feature – the Text Expander – allows you to create shortcuts for frequently entered text in the form of abbreviations, such as “addr” for full-blown, multi-line address. You can even use macros to insert variables such as the date or ask for user input. You can also build up a library of frequently used phrases and snippets, which can be organised into a folder-like structure using the app’s Text Snippets Organizer. These snippets can also contain images, support Unicode and be formatted using RTF or HTML, and are just a few clicks away via the program’s Taskbar icon.

For those who’ve diligently built up a legion of AutoText and AutoCorrect entries in Word, the good news is you can easily import them into PhraseExpress via the program’s File > Import menu. There’s even an option to download free collections of text templates via the File > Download phrases option too.

PhraseExpress also offers to auto-complete sentences based on previously entered text, has built-in spelling correction with a new learning feature that sees which typos are most frequently corrected, adding them to a custom-fit spelling database.

Throw in other time-saving tools such as a clipboard manager handling multiple clipboard items, plus pocket calculator and application launcher that can both be triggered simply by typing in text shortcuts (such as ‘exc’ for Excel) and you’re looking at one powerful and versatile app, which explains why the free edition is strictly limited to personal use only (PhraseExpress can even detect if you’re trying to use it for business use and warn you accordingly).

PhraseExpress 8.0.151  and PhraseExpress 8.0.151 Portable are both available free for personal use for PCs running Windows XP, Vista or 7. Two commercial versions are available: Standard ($49.95) and Professional ($139.95) editions.

Photo Credit:  Pixsooz/Shutterstock

The company's flagship smartphones are being held up in customs as a result of patent litigation with Apple, and their availability to consumers is currently on hold. Though it only launched on May 6, AT&T currently lists the One X as "sold out," and Sprint's EVO 4G LTE which was slated to launch on Friday, May 18, will be delayed. Pre-orders of the device do not have a guaranteed ship date.

In Sprint's support forum on Wednesday morning, the carrier wrote:

"The U.S. availability of the HTC EVO 4G LTE has been delayed. HTC is working to resolve this issue and appreciates your patience as they work to get products into Sprint channels. We can’t provide specific timing for product availability at this time and we appreciate your patience as HTC works to get products on store shelves as soon as possible.

Pre-order status/availability
Delivery of products for pre-order are on hold and Sprint will provide a ship date as soon as possible. Sprint will maintain the promise for the preorder customers that they will be among the first to receive their HTC EVO 4G LTE units. While we'd rather you didn't cancel your pre-order, there are instructions provided in the backorder email on how to do so.

According to the exclusion order from the International Trade Commission handed down in December 2011, these devices violate an Apple patent (#5,946,547) which detects patterns in data such as dates, phone numbers, street addresses, and email addresses and makes them actionable variables for other applications.

From the 1999 patent:

"The analyzer server receives data from a document having recognizable structures, and uses patterns to detect the structures. Upon detection of a structure, the analyzer server links actions to the detected structure. Each action is a computer subroutine that causes the CPU to perform a sequence of operations on the particular structure to which it is linked. An action may specify opening another application, loading the identified structure into an appropriate field, and closing the application. An action may further include internal actions, such as storing phone numbers in an electronic phone book, appointments on an electronic calendar, and external actions such as returning phone calls, drafting letters, sending facsimile copies and email, and the like."

To avoid patent infringement and get these devices on U.S. shelves, HTC had to re-engineer its software architecture. This, according to some investigative work by Nilay Patel from The Verge, is what is being reviewed in customs.

This is, of course, not the first time the HTC One X has been re-designed for the United States market.

The global version of the One X features a 1.5 GHz quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, but the version for the United States and a couple of other select markets features a dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor instead.

We have inquiries pending with a number of the involved parties and will update as comments arrive.

The company debuted the initiative on Wednesday, saying CaaS will help partners manage both business-to-business and business-to-consumer transactions regardless of device.

CaaS uses NetSuite's Enterprise Resource Planning as its backbone, built upon a new platform called SuiteCommerce. SuiteCommerce manages all aspects of the sales process from developing the e-commerce site itself to process management. The platform can even run the POS systems in retail stores themselves, which may explain why the company on Wednesday also announced a partnership with payment processing company Square.

"Over the next decade, NetSuite will transform how businesses operate with other businesses and with their customers through NetSuite Commerce as a Service", CEO Zach Nelson says. "By transforming the NetSuite business application into a commerce-aware platform, we enable our customers to extend the richest set of cloud operational capabilities available anywhere directly to their customers, regardless of the device those customers are using".

The rapid rise of e-commerce has caused a disconnect between a company's online and offline presence. Backend applications like SAP and Microsoft Dynamics are cobbled together with e-commerce software. This makes a mess of the supply chain, and the path from supplier to retailer to customer has rarely been a straight one. Obviously, this leads to inefficiency.

SuiteCommerce, and its comprehensive take on all aspects of commerce management, is marketed as a solution to the issue. Connecting to the ERP NetSuite's backend, the process becomes streamlined, and the need for human CRM (client relations management) is significantly lessened. "The human as a CRM system is going to be a thing of the past" thanks to tools like SuiteCommerce and others, Nelson said Tuesday at the SuiteWorld 2012 conference in San Francisco.

Photo Credit: nokhoog_buchachon/Shutterstock

As ever with NirSoft tools, the program is portable and extremely small (just 219KB including documentation), and it’s very straightforward to use: just type the name in question in the Domain box, click Go, then wait as DomainHostingView uses a variety of DNS and WHOIS queries to assemble the data you need.

The report starts with a detailed summary which covers all the key information: the person who registered the domain, its creation and expiry dates, the domain’s web and mail server hosts, the server’s operating system, and web server and mail server strings. The latter can often tell you a great deal about the system’s setup: as we write, for instance, the Nirsoft.net domain’s web server string is “Apache/2.2.13 (Unix) mod_ssl/2.2.13 OpenSSL/0.9.8e-fips-rhel5 mod_auth_passthrough/2.1 mod_bwlimited/1.4 FrontPage/5.0.2.2635 PHP/5.2.10″.

Next up are the DNS records. And not just the name servers, either: DomainHostingView will also retrieve the details for every DNS record type it can find (MX, A, SOA, PTR and so on).

Does the site have any subdomains? If so you’ll find out in the next report section, which may reveal areas of a site which you never realised existed. (Did you know that Nirsoft.net has a Software Store at softwarestore.nirsoft.net, for instance? That’s just one of the many subdomains supported.)

And the report is completed by IP addresses for the web and mail server, more details about the hosting company, and the raw domain information DomainHostingView has used to assemble all of this.

As usual with NirSoft tools, then, DomainHostingView is well designed, straightforward and genuinely useful. And if you currently find it a hassle to get the domain information you need via web services, the program could be a very effective alternative.

Photo Credit: Yuriy Boyko/Shutterstock

Launch the program, for instance, and a small horizontal toolbar will appear at the top of your screen, displaying the date, time, free memory, CPU utilization, power status (mains/ on battery, if applicable), system up time, current weather conditions and scrolling headlines from Reuters.

That’s not bad, but it’s just the beginning, as you can double-click most of these sections to drill down further. Double-click the weather conditions panel, say, and a pop-up appears with a forecast for the next five days. Double-clicking the free RAM figure displays a breakdown with details for your physical RAM, virtual memory and paging file. And double-clicking the system up-time shows you your system’s network name, IP and MAC addresses, the currently logged-in user, and more.

This is getting to be useful, but we’ve still only mentioned a fraction of what’s available here. If you click the star icon at the far left of the bar then you’ll get easy access to several compact but capable tools.

There’s a smart scientific calculator, for instance. The interface is a little sparse -- just a couple of empty panes – but if you start to type an equation -- 45* , say -- a list appears showing you all the operators, functions and constants you can use.

The Desktop Explorer is a developer’s tool which provides a host of information about your chosen window: class, handle, size, the current mouse cursor position, and the parent process and process ID, and you get a magnifier and color-picker thrown in for good measure.

The Coding Tools window provides a collection of useful developer tools: you can convert shortcut codes to and from text format; select colour codes in Delphi or HTML format; calculate CRC32 or MD5 values for entered text, detect the SID for specific account names, and more.

There’s also a simple text editor (essentially Notepad with line numbers, right-click in the window for the program’s menu); a basic calendar displays day names and astronomical events (no scheduling of your own events, though); and there’s an ACSII table, a weather forecast viewer, and a basic but usable RSS reader.

All this is reasonably configurable. If you find the RSS feed distracting, say, you can turn off the scrolling. If you don’t like toolbars, you can have InfoBar automatically hide so that it only appears when you move your bar to the top-left of the screen. And all the accessories are available via customisable hotkeys, so if you need the weather forecast, say, just press Ctrl+Alt+W.

And if this appeals then the good news is that you can run InfoBar almost anywhere (there’s support for Windows 2000 to 8), and it’s relatively lightweight, using between 8.5-16.5MB of RAM in our tests.

There are also a few problems here, mostly interface irritations. In particular, if you double-click a panel then InfoBar displays a pop-up with more information, but there’s no way to copy and paste this data elsewhere. Worse still, the pop-up automatically disappears in 5 or 6 seconds, a real problem if you’re trying to copy two MAC and 3 IP addresses (for instance) to some other document. MiTeC really need to rethink how they present these details.

Some of the InfoBar accessories could be a little more helpful, too. You have to start typing in the calculator to understand how it works, for instance, and the notepad has no indication that you need to right-click to access the menu: a few more on-screen hints (if only when users press F1 for help) would be welcome.

These problems aren’t critical, though -- the sheer weight of functionality here mean there’s still more than enough useful features to make it worth installing the program, particularly for more technical users. So if you could benefit from this kind of desktop extension, take a look: InfoBar is a surprisingly versatile collection of tools, and we’ll be very interested to see how it develops in future.

GPUs first revolutionized visual computing, and now may revolutionize cloud computing as well. Nvidia introduced its GPUs for the cloud Tuesday at the annual GPU Technology Conference, an innovation it calls the third important milestone for the industry since the introduction of the GPU in 1993.

Nvidia's cloud GPUs are based on the company's Kepler architecture and has been in development for the past five years. The virtualization capabilities of Kepler make it ideal for use in large datacenters, and allows it to be shared by multiple users at the same time. Lag is reduced by built-in streaming capabilities, and Nvidia claims power efficiency and processing density enhancements will keep costs down.

"Kepler cloud GPU technologies shifts cloud computing into a new gear. The GPU has become indispensable", president and CEO Jen-Hsun Huang says. "The cloud GPU will deliver amazing experiences to those who work remotely and gamers looking to play untethered from a PC or console". Indeed, these two markets seem to be the most logical fit for Kepler.

For remote computing environments, Kepler allows for the remote virtualization of the most demanding applications. In gaming, a whole new market could be opened up as a result. Modern games require a lot of graphics processing power, and the ability to deliver these games over a streaming connection may revolutionize how they are delivered.

"Using a graphics-optimized cloud GPU eliminates some of the final barriers that stand in the way of a truly immersive, truly exciting cloud-based gaming experience and could change the business model for how games are played and delivered", Gartner analyst Brian Blau argues.

This implementation is being dubbed GeoForce GRID. At the conference, Huang showed off a game that was streamed between two players both using just a television and tablet computer. No tablet was required -- the entire gaming environment was hosted in the cloud.

We've heard about just-about-everything-as-a-service. Nvidia's product could herald the start of Gaming-as-a-Service, and completely disrupt the current video game industry in a way that likely was not envisioned a few short years ago.

Photo Credit: Oleksandr/Shutterstock

On the problem fixes front, an issue that saw file and folder filtering check boxes unnecessary checked has been addressed. If you found that backups included unnecessary operations such as the creation and subsequent deletion of empty directories, you should find that this is no longer a problem, and when you view the application history you will now find that the list starts with the newest events rather than the oldest.

There are numerous updates featured in this particular release including a redesigned history grid and users who have configured SyncBack to start automatically with Windows will be pleased to find that they are no longer prompted for a password.  If you are creating remote backups via FTP, should a 451 error be encountered, the program will try to establish contact again rather than simply timing out.

Other changes and fixes include addressing a problem with copying open or locked files, along with improved detection of junction or mount points that relate to missing or disconnected. If a backup operation will results in the contents of a folder being wiped out, a warning will be displayed in advance to ensure that this is what is meant to happen. With all of these fixes and changes to an already impressive backup tool, this is one utility that is well worth taking a look at.

You can find out more and download a free trial of the app by paying a visit to the SyncBackSE review page.

Photo Credit: Modella/Shutterstock

The company plans to release Enterprise Linux 7 in in late 2013, but offered little during a Tuesday press conference on what to expect. What may play a large part in the new release is a focus on the cloud. For all intents and purposes, Red Hat believes Linux is in the past and the cloud is the future.

Intel is a part of this, and in congratulating Red Hat on its milestone noted the two companies' work in datacenter virtualization. "Intel and Red Hat have collaborated for years on Linux and open virtualization, bringing innovative datacenter technologies to market", Intel Systems Software Division vice president Doug Fisher says in a statement. "We look forward to our continuing collaboration and innovation in key areas such as open, trusted, and federated clouds, as well as mission-critical platforms based on open source software and Intel Architecture".

Red Hat believes open-source will help it build a dominant cloud business. Competitors VMware and Microsoft rely heavily on their own proprietary technologies, with little support from the developer community at large. Red Hat's embrace of open source has allowed the company to rely not only on its in-house developers but the ingenuity of the community.

Some may see it as a way of making money off the backs of others, but Red Hat has no regrets on embracing open source. Engineering chief Paul Cormier credits the decision to move to an open-source subscription model in 2002 as the decision that made Red Hat into the Linux powerhouse it is today.

That same concept will be used as RedHat moves to the cloud, and will give the company more mobility in adapting to the needs of developers. While it takes a little bit of hubris to say at such an early stage in cloud computing that your company will lead the industry, Red Hat certainly has its work with Enterprise Linux to back up its words.

An integration pack for synchronization between the online version of QuickBooks and Salesforce CRM and Microsoft Dynamics and Salesforce CRM is due in June. All three packs have a $65 monthly service charge, Dell says.

Dell created the services from its in-house Boomi technology, which it acquired from a company of the same name back in 2010. Boomi specialized in data transfer between different cloud applications. The process of setting up synchronization is handled through wizards during the setup process and do not require third-party installation services.

All synchronization is done automatically and without user intervention. Order and invoice creation can be streamlined, as well as productivity and speed in collecting accounts receivable, Dell says.

Much of Dell's cloud portfolio is aimed at the small and medium-sized business segment, and data synchronization between applications is a useful service. With often limited staffing, SMBs benefit most from services like this which save time and manual labor from negating the need to synchronize accounts manually. SMBs turn to the cloud in order to save time and money, and Dell may have a valuable service here to offer these potential customers.

"Our customers tell us integration is a core requirement to successful adoption of cloud applications", cloud business software chief Paulette Altmaier says of Tuesday's announcement.

Photo Credit: sheelamohanachandran2010/Shutterstock

In many regards Chrome is playing catch-up with Firefox here, as Mozilla’s web browser has featured the ability synchronize tabs for some time now. Chrome 19 takes very much the same approach so that whenever you are signed into your Google account any tabs you have open are automatically synced to the cloud. When you switch computers you can then access any tabs you had open on another machine by accessing the Other devices menu of the new tab page.

The feature works with all flavors of Chrome regardless of whether you are using Linux, Windows, OS X or even Android. You could be working on a project in the office before heading off home to continue working. Rather than remembering the names of the sites you have been looking at, or emailing yourself links, Chrome 19 ensures that you will have the same tabs available on your home computer so you can pick up where you left off.

And while tab syncing is undeniably great, it doesn’t end there. The same sync service is also used to synchronize your browsing history, bookmarks, themes and app settings between devices. It is also possible to synchronize browser extensions, helping you ensure that you have a uniform browsing experience no matter what computer you are using.

If you have followed the development of Chrome through the beta channels, these sync options are nothing new, but it’s great to see such a useful feature making its way out to the stable version. It almost goes without saying that the latest release also includes a bunch of bug fixes so if you have been experiencing problems with your browser, you should find that troublesome issues have been addressed with this release.

You can find out more and download a free copy of the app by paying a visit to the Google Chrome 19 review page.

Application deployment automation, PostgreSQL and SQLFire support, and enterprise support have been added to the SpringSource code. VMware says that the service will help provide developers with the core application services they need to run Java Spring applications either on-site or in the cloud.

"The cloud era is driving a transformation in applications", Cloud and Application Services vice president Jerry Chen says. "This is driving a real transition in the type of technologies our customers are using to build, run and manage these new applications". The initial release of vFabric suite last year led to a doubling of VMware's cloud business during 2011.

vFabric suite's new version will be available within the next month or so for $1,500 per virtual machine. SQLFire is available at a rate of $2,500 per VM. The company says that it decided to sell vFabric Suite in this manner so that customers would only pay for what they need, rather than purchase excess licenses that may never be used.

That said, VMware has a large mountain to climb when it comes to actually attracting developers. SpringSource's Java development framework is somewhat popular, it does have competitors in the space from Oracle and the open-source Eclipse project. And then there's Microsoft.

The Redmond, Wash. company's .NET framework remains quite popular among developers, and Amazon recently added .NET support to its Beanstalk Platform-as-a-Service offering. Given AWS' strong position in the market, and .NET's comprehensive set of development tools, VMware has its work cut out for it if it wants to become a true player in the development space.

It's likely going to require a good deal of marketing and cajoling on the company's part to convince that its own tools are on the level of Microsoft's, say analysts.

Photo Credit: Sergej Khakimullin/Shutterstock

With the new applications, simply called "HCSS Field Apps," employee and equipment hours can be tracked, production quantities can be managed, truck fleets can be tracked in real time, employee certifications and licenses can be handled, job site diaries and photos can be filed, and costs can be managed on a more granular and fluid level.

HCSS designed these to be standalone applications rather than web-based portals like many enterprise resource planning (ERP) offerings because the target user is going to be in areas where there might not be any data infrastructure. As such, these do not require a constant connection to be usable.

This type of mobile ERP software is not uncommon, with companies like Penta Technologies offering field management and communications software for rugged workplace devices, but HCSS is riding the wave of consumer hardware being used in the workplace, and offering software on the most popular mobile platforms gives the company an advantage in that its software can be installed on a wider variety of hardware.

SAP aims to show that it is a serious player in the cloud computing sector today, announcing several new cloud initiatives under what it calls an "accelerated" strategy. The company's deeper commitment to the cloud stems from its $3.4 billion merger with human capital management service provider SuccessFactors several months back.

Former SuccessFactors CEO Lars Dalgaard is now head of SAP's cloud unit, and he is tasked with turning the company's cloud business around. At the Sapphire Now Conference -- SAP's annual gathering in Orlando -- Dalgaard is showing off a line of solutions arranged around four different themes: people, money, customers and suppliers.

"The cloud is a completely new paradigm", Dalgaard argues. "We will provide integration among the cloud solutions and external content out-of-the-box with on-premise business software. We are passionate about bringing creative and innovative first-in-class applications to market with a beautiful user experience".

On the people and money front, SAP is integrating SuccessFactors' human resources services -- Employee Central -- with its own in-house cloud based payroll solution. Financials OnDemand is now integrated with Employee Central, which allows for companies to better manage cash flow. SAP says its Travel OnDemand service is also slated for integration in the near future.

Sales OnDemand will now receive quarterly updates, an obvious move to bring it more in line with rivals like Salesforce.com. A new application called Social Customer Engagement OnDemand will manage social reach, good news given a large majority of companies these days seem to be wasting money on social CRM initiatives.

For suppliers, SAP is investing in its Sourcing OnDemand and Information Interchange OnDemand solutions that will assist in supply acquisition and invoice management, respectively.

SAP's moves Tuesday are getting good reviews. "Today’s announcements show SAP combining its core strength of large enterprise applications with a ready-to-use cloud strategy for the first time", Forrester analyst Stefan Ried says. "SAP’s long-term cloud strategy needs to be a triple play: SaaS applications, an application-centric platform to extend them, and a new platform for the next generation of social business networks".

While Ried may be correct in saying SAP has finally got it right with the cloud, its track record so far has been pretty poor. The last major foray into cloud software back in 2007 was a major failure. SAP spent $500 million to introduce Business ByDesign, an effort aimed at making its management tools more manageable and affordable to small and medium sized business.

Even after an attempted relaunch in 2010, the service was only able to garner about 1,000 customers, which came nowhere near to recouping its costs.

Photo Credit: Alexander Kirch/Shutterstock

I rarely make decisions based on rumors, nor should you. Besides, the "timing is unclear, but it could be as soon as Q2 and is very likely to be a 2012 event", according to Macquarie Capital. "Could" be this quarter and "likely" this year stink of pure speculation -- or big back door should there be no Chrome for iOS this year. In the end, I'll likely sell the iPad, but must convey this: Chrome would be a very good reason to buy an iOS device but be akin to Google cutting off one limb to save another.

Shine That Tablet's Chrome

Yesterday, Ian Betteridge and I bantered back and forth about Chrome and iOS on Google Plus. He called Google services on Apple devices a "pretty good experience", to which I responded: "I would agree about the Google ecosystem with iPhone (and iPad) if Chrome was option. That's the deal breaker for me, sadly. I'm seriously thinking about selling my iPad, for that reason -- and another: Galaxy Nexus is tablet enough for me, so far".

As expressed last week, "You can have iPhone 4S, I'll take Galaxy Nexus". But there's more. I find the Google and Samsung branded smartphone good enough replacement for my iPad, too. Chrome for Android is one reason, Galaxy Nexus' super sharp, 4.65-inch, 1280 x 800 resolution screen is the other. Repeating a sentiment from my Galaxy Nexus HSPA+ review: I'd by the phone just for Chrome, which currently is only available for Android 4 "Ice Cream Sandwich", in beta.

Presumably, Chrome would be available for the newest iOS version, which means broader distribution than Android, since Apple doesn't have the same fragmentation problem. Based on number of devices accessing Google Play during the previous 14 days, Ice Cream Sandwich accounted for just 4.9 percent of the Android install base on May 1. Chrome has limited reach at best on Android, while distribution could be enormous on iOS, assuming people using the browser on the desktop go mobile, too. There, Chrome is third-most used browser and closes on Firefox, according to Net Applications.

Chrome is a huge improvement over the stock Android browser. It's fast and flows, but sync capabilities, which include active tabs on the desktop, really stand out. Last week's huge Google+ for iPhone update shows that the search and information giant can deliver exceptional user experiences on iOS. Why shouldn't Chrome be same?

A TACtical Decision

The problem: Chrome for iOS, particularly iPad, removes an important reason to choose Android tablets over Apple's. Google gains in one area, while giving up somewhere else. If Google offered Chrome for iOS right now, I'd keep my iPad. How many other people considering Apple's tablet would choose it over an Android because of Chrome? You can help answer that question by taking our poll.

In April, with considerably smaller install base, iPad took decisive mobile browser usage share lead from iPhone, according to NetApps. More broadly, in the mobile device category, Safari has 63.84 percent usage share, compared to 18.87 percent for Chrome. Google's browser could make usage share leaps competing alongside Safari on iOS devices. The cloud-connected device era is all about mobile. Google should want Chrome on market-leading devices like iPad.

Then there are traffic acquisitions costs, which eat into Google search margins. Macquarie Capital: "If GOOG gains market share, it could reduce our estimate for Google.com TAC meaningfully". Google pays Apple to compete with Android -- and Chrome, for that matter -- via Safari's search bar. Google's TAC goes down when people use Chrome.

Something else: Google services have a cloudy future on Apple devices. There already are rumors Apple will ditch Google Maps for a home-grown option in iOS 6. I expect to see a Siri search service someday replace Google. Chrome for iOS would be an important anchor for Google services as Apple offers more of its own from the cloud.

Even then, Chrome faces hurdles placed by Apple. Based on the browsers currently available for iOS, Safari is default for mail and other services. So Chrome would be at disadvantage, as long as Apple only allows Safari to be default. However, surely Chrome could be default for Google services -- gulp, right?

From that viewpoint, Chrome will always be better on Android. That said, Chrome on iOS ought to be pretty good, and if Google is going to feed the hand that bites it, better to extend existing services rather than pay TAC to Apple.

My question for you: Would you use Chrome over Safari on iPad or iPhone? Please answer the question below and take our poll above.

DNS Jumper, though, is a free and portable tool which offers a far simpler solution. The program provides a lengthy list of free DNS options, and all you have to do is choose one and click “Apply DNS”. (Although clicking “Flush DNS” to flush your DNS cache might also help, as it’ll allow the new service will take effect right away.)

Unsure which service might be best? Another option is to just click “Fastest DNS”. DNS Jumper will then test each service in turn before recommending the speediest, which you can again apply with a click.

Or, if you know precisely what you’re doing, then you can easily add additional services or edit the existing list (it’s held in an INI file in the program folder), and then use the program to quickly switch to whatever you need.

Playing around with DNS settings can be a risky business, of course. And DNS Jumper recognizes that and does its best to help out, by automatically backing up your original configuration when first run (choose “Restore” from the service list later to recover them). But there are still scenarios here where you could end up with faulty DNS settings and effectively a broken internet connection, so this isn’t a program for the networking novice, or anyone else who doesn’t know precisely what to do to restore their default setup, when necessary.

If you already know how to configure DNS, though, and are just looking for a quicker and easier way to do it, then DNS Jumper is ideal: compact, portable and hassle-free. Grab a copy for yourself and take a closer look.

Photo Credit: Sergej Khakimullin/Shutterstock

Version 2 incorporates the scan engine from Emsisoft Anti-Malware 6, plus promises a 450-percent speed improvement on the previous build as well as direct disk access for better rootkit detection and removal.

The new scan engine employs Emsisoft Anti-Malware 6’s “dual scan engine framework”, which is designed to utilise multiple processor cores to boost performance, which is probably the prime driver behind Emsisoft’s claim that Emergency Kit 2 averages a 450-percent speed improvement on its predecessor without a loss in scanning functionality.

There’s a new direct disk scanning option that promises better rootkit detection, and this is reflected in changed scan presets -- in Rootkit scan is added by default, while Cookie scans are excluded.

The application also claims improved false positive handling -- an important improvement seeing as it erroneously claimed a Quicken 2002 DLL on our system was a Trojan. Users also gain greater control over what actions should be taken after a scan is complete -- click Actions on scan end when setting up a scan to choose what happens by default.

Version 2 also sees a new system for storing settings, which means existing settings are lost when updating from version 1 to 2. Like all Emsisoft beta updates, you need to have installed the previous version of Emsisoft Emergency Kit, then update through the Emergency Kit Scanner’s internal update system: on the main screen, click Updater settings, tick “Install beta updates”, then return to the Security Status menu before clicking Update now.

Emsisoft Emergency Kit 2.0.0.4 Beta is available now as a free download for PCs running Windows.

Photo Credit: kentoh/Shutterstock

As usual with these particular applications, Xara aims for maximum versatility. So both programs can handle most photo-editing, illustration, basic Flash animation and web graphics tasks, while Xara Designer Pro X 8 can also create complete websites and online presentations and has support for a stack of high-end design features (PANTONE, colour separation, PDF/X, XPS and more).

While the “What’s New” list this time doesn’t include any particular standout feature, there are still more than enough interesting additions to justify giving the programs a closer look.

New features in both Photo and Graphic Designer MX 8 and Designer Pro X 8, for instance, start with the new Text Styles option. This provides an easy way to modify the look and feel of the text right across your document, in just a few clicks.

Photo-editing improvements include powerful colour selection and hue adjustment tools.

The new Share menu makes it easy to share media files with Flickr, Facebook and other Xara/ MAGIX MX applications, and you get improved image optimisation, enhanced import in many areas (SVG, PDF, RAW, web URLs), faster publishing, and a stack of usability improvements.

Designer Pro X 8 gains various useful web features. These include smart page resizing (objects automatically reposition as you add or remove text); the ability to embed the fonts you need for a website within its pages; an MP3 player, new charting and QR Code widgets, and various web presentation improvements.

Elsewhere, a new Shape Builder tool allows you to paint onto an existing shape to edit and adjust it. Or, if you prefer the easy life, you may be more interested in the new bundled content: clipart, print templates, web themes and more.

As previously, Xara Photo and Graphic Designer MX 8 remains the value offering, delivering a vast amount of functionality for a very reasonable $89. If you need Designer Pro X 8′s web features and extra power, though, the program can be yours for $299, and trial builds of both editions are available now.

Apple execs all follow the same party line: They don't talk about forthcoming products. But somebody often does, perhaps coordinated with public relations folks or even careful disclosure from someone on Apple's board. Whom isn't so much important as someone does. As I've observed for years, leaks' timings are fairly consistent -- either to lift the share price or steal some other company's thunderous announcement. I can't help but see both in several seemingly strategic leaks, starting with today's disclosure about iOS 6 features.

The Wall Street Journal reports that iCloud will get new photo- and video-sharing capabilities, which include comments and availability outside Photo Stream -- meaning people don't have to own a fruit-logo product to view them. Apple reportedly is extending photo capabilities, while adding video-sharing as feature set. Today's leak follows another -- this one from 9to5 Mac, claiming Apple will dump Google Maps for its own service in iOS 6. Both leaks communicate that Apple is serious about social cloud services and search, and I don't believe they're coincidentally timed, given Facebook's imminent IPO.

Apple's Social Network

Apple is successful for many reasons, but hype is among the most important. The company thrives on rumors and speculation about what's coming next, which helps keep the share price high. Now that Apple is an all-star market performer -- a dramatic change from just three years ago -- shares lift themselves fairly easily. That said, it's still a perception stock, regardless of performance merits. An atomic bomb will drop on the stock market later this week, when Facebook goes public. After seeming years of incessant chatter about Apple's next thing or whether or not shares will hit $1,000 or $2,000 (please, someone live in the moment and get a life), all techdom and business blogs and news sites will turn attention to Facebook.

There is no Apple social network. But iCloud could be the makings of one, should Apple take cues from Google and successful upstarts like Instagram. During last month's earnings call, company execs boasted about 125 million iCloud users. That's far below Facebook's 900 million but lots closer to Google+. Today, Apple's service is more about sync and storage, but the leaks suggest social sharing features will debut during next month's Worldwide Developer Conference.

Coincidentally, or perhaps not, the iCloud features leak comes the same day Facebook announced major mobile sharing photo enhancement -- 3X larger images. If you survey blog and news coverage given to the leak, rumored iCloud photo-sharing plans trump Facebook's real ones.

Facebook's Mobile Problem

As the IPO approaches, chatter about Facebook's mobile strategy increases. According to comScore, in March, US smartphone users spent 441.3 minutes on Facebook, which is more than the greater American Internet population spent from PCs (391 minutes). That's from 78 million unique mobile or about half the total number of unique visitors (159 million).

In an amendent to its IPO, filed last week, Facebook conceded:

We do not currently directly generate any meaningful revenue from the use of Facebook mobile products, and our ability to do so successfully is unproven. We believe this increased usage of Facebook on mobile devices has contributed to the recent trend of our daily active users (DAUs) increasing more rapidly than the increase in the number of ads delivered. If users increasingly access Facebook mobile products as a substitute for access through personal computers, and if we are unable to successfully implement monetization strategies for our mobile users, or if we incur excessive expenses in this effort, our financial performance and ability to grow revenue would be negatively affected.

The problem should be obvious to any Facebook user: Where would mobile ads go? In the desktop browser they're visible but to the side. On mobile there's little place else other than the newsfeed, although I see promise in contextual ads based on searches or location-based services. But they're not really there today. Mobile isn't an opportunity for Facebook but a liability. For now.

Search, Social, Storage, Sync

That's not the case for Apple, which profits from selling devices. Advertising isn't a necessity. An Apple social network, leveraged from iOS devices potentially is a serious threat to Facebook. Surely the investment community remembers what MySpace looked like in the mid-Noughties, before Facebook opened in 2006 to the public. MySpace is now a phantom of its former social self. Then there's the hype factor behind anything Apple does and presumption it will be better.

But there's something really rotten in Apple social. During the same earnings call, Apple execs said that cumulative iOS device sales reached 365 million at the end of first quarter. Based on both numbers, either a whole lot of those devices are no longer in use or iCloud adoption is fairly modest (just 34 percent) -- likely a combination of both.

Clearly sync and storage isn't good enough, hence the social push that's sure to directly compete with Facebook. Granted, the social network is bigger, but Apple matches Facebook feature-for-feature on key platform aspects, leveraged from iOS and iCloud -- photos and video sharing (soon with comments), messaging/chat, video calling, apps, games and more. Social would make Apple a perceptual competitor with Facebook.

Today's leak shares similarities to Friday's about Apple dumping Google Maps in iOS 6, as the company takes on its two biggest post-PC competitors. There must come a point where Apple places Siri as replacement for Google search. Perhaps iOS 6, or its successor. It's Apple's four Ses of the apocalypse: Search, social, storage and sync.

Apple Manipulates

For the here and now, the leaks communicate Apple plans to take on Facebook and Google -- and artfully done as the social network's IPO approaches. Make no mistake, timing is deliberate. Apple's typically tight-lipped product development approach generally keeps software and services leaks to a minimum. Hardware is harder, because so many third parties are involved in the supply chain. For this reason, rumors about forthcoming software or services -- the latter where no outsiders are involved -- are more suspect at being deliberately leaked.

Apple effectively manipulates bloggers and journalists, particularly at a time when readership -- as measured in pageviews -- means so much more than subscribers did during the news print era. They're willing participants.

Leaks are nothing new. In Washington, D.C., during the late 1960s and 1970s, the Nixon administration crafted leaks into a state of art. It's a wonder that Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward uncovered the Watergate scandal with so many journalists chasing Nixon White House leaks for the next big scoop.

In the 2000s, more tech companies use leaks and special events to grab free marketing and to boost perceptions about their products and even their share price. Apple has effectively used this kind of guerrilla marketing for years. But there was a qualitative change in 2008 and more so in 2009, particularly in managing news about CEO Steve Jobs' medical leave, liver transplant surgery and departure as CEO before his untimely death.

Apple's effective media manipulation -- and bloggers and journalists seem all too willing to be manipulated -- makes anything not officially announced suspect. The more coincidental the timing to something a competitor announces, the more suspicious.

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