http://www.informationweek.comInformationWeeken-usCopyright 2012, UBM LLC.2013-01-25T10:25:00ZAkamai said more than 683 million unique IP addresses from 243 countries or regions logged onto its network in Q3 2012, a 2.7% increase over the second quarter.http://www.informationweek.com/infrastructure/management/internet-use-increases-worldwide-connect/240146912?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors <!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/infrastructure/7-dumb-myths-about-cloud-computing/240124922"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/graphics_library/175x175/money_cloud.jpg" alt="7 Dumb Cloud Computing Myths" title="7 Dumb Cloud Computing Myths" class="img175" /></a><br /> <div class="storyImageTitle">7 Dumb Cloud Computing Myths</div> <span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</span></div> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE -->The number of devices connected to the Internet worldwide grew by nearly 3% in the third quarter of 2012 as average connection speed scaled 11%, according to Akamai's third-quarter 2012 <a href="http://www.akamai.com/stateoftheinternet/?WT.ac=soti_banner">State of the Internet</a> report. The cloud vendor's quarterly report, released Wednesday, reveals details on Internet performance in 180 countries around the world. The data was generated by the Akamai Intelligent Platform, which captures metrics on worldwide connection speeds, attack traffic and network connectivity. <P> With 119,000 servers distributed around the world, Akamai has a unique look at global Internet use. Its distributed network of servers runs within edge networks, rather than depending on servers in large data centers. <P> Worldwide Internet access continues to increase, in large part due to more distributed access to servers and consumer devices that connect to the Internet. According to Akamai, more than 683 million unique IP addresses from 243 countries or regions logged onto its network in Q3 2012, a 2.7% increase over the second quarter. <P> The United States led the country-specific rankings, with more than 145 million unique IP addresses connecting to the Akamai network, followed by China, with nearly 99 million unique addresses, and Japan with more than 40 million. Brazil, in seventh place overall with more than 22 million unique IP addresses hitting Akamai servers, increased 39% over Q3 2011, making it the biggest year-over-year gainer. The report noted Internet disruptions in Lebanon, Jordan and Syria, and on the Go Daddy network, in the quarter. <P> <strong>[ Is your personal data secure? See <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/policy/google-sees-growing-government-demand-fo/240146808?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Google Sees Growing Government Demand For User Data</a>. ]</strong> <P> Globally, average Internet connection speed grew 11%, to 2.8 Mbps, over the previous year. South Korea logged the fastest average, with 14.7 Mbps; followed by Japan, at 10.5 Mbps; and Hong Kong, at 9 Mbps. The United States, at 7.2 Mbps, was tied with Denmark in eighth place. <P> Peak global average connection speed grew 36%, year over year, to 15.9 Mbps. On that measure, Hong Kong was first, at 54.1 Mbps; followed by South Korea, 48.8 Mbps; and Japan, 42.2 Mbps. The United States was in fourteenth place, with an average peak of 29.6 Mbps. <P> High broadband (greater than 10 Mbps) adoption reached 11% of the world, with 41% connecting to Akamai's network with broadband (above 4 Mbps). Asian countries dominated these rankings, with high broadband reaching 52% of people in South Korea, 38% in Japan and 27% in Hong Kong. Eighteen percent of people in the U.S. have high broadband, placing it in seventh place. <P> Akamai also looked at security, which is a larger consideration as more businesses connect globally via the cloud through mobile Internet connections. <P> Akamai looked at attempts to contact its unadvertised servers to identify malicious traffic that is coming from either scanning ports or individuals. According to the report, 33% of attack traffic in Q3 originated in China, followed by 13% coming from the United States and 4.7% from Russia. <P> The report also detailed the denial of service attacks associated with the <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/security/attacks/us-bank-hack-attack-techniques-identifie/240145848">Operation Ababil hacktivist attacks on U.S. banks</a> in the third quarter, suggesting that the amount of traffic and homogeneity of the attack made it different than previous hacktivist attacks. <P> Akamai said enterprise IT managers can use the report to help them architect and deploy technology throughout the world. "The Akamai State of the Internet report can provide enterprise IT managers with another perspective on the Internet resources available to them in various geographies. For example, having an understanding of average and peak connection speeds, or broadband accessibility in a given region, may influence the rollout of enterprise applications," said Rob Morton, senior manager at Akamai. <P> "In regions with high broadband accessibility and solid connection speeds, Web-only delivery may be the most efficient and economical option. In those areas where reported connection speeds and broadband accessibility are significantly lower, [businesses] may seek out other options," Morton added. <P> As companies gain global reach, knowing the target region's access to Internet service is important, especially when it comes to understanding users' experience of using the service or app. <P> Kosta Grammatis, founder of <a href="http://ahumanright.org/">A Human Right</a>, a nonprofit organization that works to provide Internet access worldwide, said, "Progress continues to be made in global Internet penetration and the speed of Internet access. However, global Internet penetration stands at only 34.4% -- a lack of access hinders development and slows down the progress of society. We must continue to push for universal connectivity at an accelerated pace." <P> Grammatis said that earlier this year his organization convinced eFive, which is building a 6,200-mile transatlantic cable from South America to Africa, to <a href="http://movethiscable.org/">change the cable's route</a>, and bring high-speed Internet and opportunities to St. Helena, an island isolated in the middle of the South Atlantic.2013-01-24T12:16:00ZEmployees who bring apps like Wickr to work could bypass enterprise security systems.http://www.informationweek.com/security/privacy/new-byod-threat-email-that-self-destruct/240146862?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --><div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/security/attacks/muslim-hacktivists-target-us-banks-8-fac/240009554"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/886/01_Wall-Street_tn.jpg" alt="Who Is Hacking U.S. Banks? 8 Facts" title="Who Is Hacking U.S. Banks? 8 Facts" class="img175" /></a><br /> <div class="storyImageTitle">Who Is Hacking U.S. Banks? 8 Facts</div> <span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</span></div><!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE -->As the BYOD movement infiltrates the enterprise, IT managers have more to worry about than ever. The latest challenge: Employees who use apps to send messages that "self-destruct." <P> The possibility of employees dropping company secrets into Dropbox already worries IT managers, but at least such actions leave behind a trail that can be traced. What happens when employees send messages to each other and to others outside the organization that are deleted by default? <P> A popular app called Snapchat allows users to text self-destructing photos in real time. A similar app called Wickr takes the concept to the next level. Launched six months ago, Wickr lets users share more than just photos -- they can send encrypted multimedia messages that self-destruct after a set amount of time. <P> <strong>[ For more lessons learned on BYOD security, see <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/ security/client/close-the-byod-security-hole/240146427?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Close The BYOD Security Hole</a>. ]</strong> <P> With Wickr, you can send voice, text and audio messages, all of which delete themselves after a period of time. The app encrypts everything and it also scrubs content from the file system, making it hard for anybody to know what was sent or if anything was sent. <P> Wickr, which already has downloaded hundreds of thousands of times from the Apple store, offers some useful features -- for example, it provides a convenient way for journalists to communicate with sources anonymously. The Wickr app is free, but the company also offers a service that lets users send messages to groups of people. Wickr targets the messaging market, which includes apps such as WhatsApp and Voxer. <P> "BYOD is sweeping over the enterprise. Wickr is a way for people to have private communications on their phone without anyone seeing [them]," said Nico Sell, co-founder of Wickr and an organizer of Defcon, the largest hacker conference in the world. "We are flipping messaging on [its] head." <P> The industry is going to see a shift, predicted Sell. "You are going to think about how long you want something to live before you send it: [Some] kinds of messages need to live for seven years. [Other] kinds of messages -- to your spouse [for example] -- should disappear right way and not be archived." <P> Having that control is the main idea behind Wickr, Sell said. She has surmised from customer reviews and emails that Wickr is popular with doctors and lawyers who use it to communicate with patients and clients, and she hopes more consumers will take Wickr to the workplace. "We think of ourselves as a consumer company, and [we] are going after consumers," she said. "We give power to the people ... through anonymous free speech."People should be more aware of their digital footprint, said Sell. She points out that when you send a message in the traditional way, it's stored on multiple servers where others can potentially see it by accessing or hacking a database. "There's stuff that is easy to get," she said. "And money can buy you crazy stuff about people via the deep Web." At the other end of the spectrum, "criminals are all over the world. If you have money or anything of value, you need to start looking at your digital footprint," she said. <P> The United States is Wickr's biggest market, but the app is available in 110 countries and is the number-one free social app in Greece, Singapore and South Africa, in the same category as Facebook and Twitter. Sell attributes that popularity to people wanting to have control over private, anonymous free speech. "Private correspondence is important to a free society," she said. <P> Security expert Dan Kaminsky, an advisor for Wickr, agreed. "Non-permanent communication came first -- humans have been speaking before they have been writing," he pointed out. "Communicating privately ... is core to the experience of being human. People need to be able to express their thoughts and converse with their friends, family and spouses -- and feel secure in their communication." <P> But Wickr also raises a lot of hard questions about security and regulation. Sell acknowledges that when she works with chief security officers, questions about regulation in the enterprise come up frequently. How will IT leaders manage communications when apps such as Wickr and Snapchat inevitably make their way into the enterprise? Many companies are required by law or regulation to keep records of all communications for many years. These new apps could make that much more difficult, if not impossible. <P> Derek Schueren, who co-founded data management, governance and analytics company Recommind, helps companies organize and index unstructured data. Recommind uses a technology called CORE that can help enterprises organize their data and make it easier to search and sort. <P> Most companies have a wide variety of electronically stored information, much of it in spreadsheets, databases, text messages, instant messages, email, file fragments and digital images. In most cases, that information can be searched and specific bits of data can be retrieved, if necessary, to respond to lawsuits or patent disputes or for other reasons. Many companies have policies that specify when certain types of data can be deleted. Other companies try to keep everything for decades. <P> "You have an obligation [to retain data] if there's a possibility of litigation. This includes email [and other forms of communication]," Schueren said. <P> Companies might worry about Wickr from a legal perspective, according to Schueren, but a bigger concern may be that Wickr could be used for destructive purposes. An employee could take photos of company secrets or forthcoming products and send them to someone outside the company. <P> "It used to be files were locked in a cabinet and you knew who had the key," Schueren said. "Now everyone has the key. Everyone has connections to the outside world and companies are more exposed than they used to be."2012-12-25T08:35:00ZWhy did the founder of Mobile CRM company DoubleDutch give his employees Android Nexus 7 Tablets for XMas? He wanted to inspire them to develop for the platform &#151; not just for the iPad &#151; and explained how enterprise app development is fundamentally changing the way enterprise business is done.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/personal-tech/mobile-applications/nexus-7-android-tablets-for-christmas-at/240145295?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<p>Defying all stereotypes of handing out cool mini iPads, Lawrence Coburn, founder and CEO of enterprise mobile app company <a target="_blank" href="http://doubledutch.me/">DoubleDutch</a>, decided to give all 27 of his employees the latest Android tablets as a holiday treat. He figured if his team is building mobile, cloud-based apps for events and enterprise companies, they had better be inspired to build for the Android platform as well as iOS. </p> <P> <p>Startups don't have bonuses, so this is their gift, Coburn said. </p> <P> <p>After personally spending some time with his new Android <a target="_blank" href="http://www.google.com/nexus/">Nexus 7 from Google</a>, Coburn said he appreciates Android since it can do cooler, more native stuff and developers have access to more leavers to build into app. </p> <P> <p>Coburn thinks people are spending more time on their phones and tablets than desktops, so it's a good way to enter the enterprise market. </p> <P> <p>"I think the big things going forward are apps with context. Apps that serve up pages at the right time based on different things. Integrations will be big for mobile and being able to pull information from apps that people use every day and deliver that content at the right time," Coburn said. "Delivering that at the right time will be a big deal."</p> <P> <p>For an enterprise company, the software system has to be <i>better</i> than the desktop system currently in place, or it has to embrace the current system and integrate with it. "There's no way people would rip out Salesforce for our CRM app, so we need to integrate with those services," he said. </p> <P> <p>DoubleDutch's current customer base includes <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ubm.com/">UBM</a> (publisher of BYTE), Cisco, Adobe, and Macworld.</p> <P> <p>The way software companies sell to the enterprise is changing. The process used to include a long check list of product features. It could be hundreds of items long. That may have worked well for desktop, Coburn explained, however, a lot of those features don't work on mobile.</p> <P> <p>The delivery of enterprise software is changing and so is its development. "The engineer team can try a new app without talking to me. They will go grab an app and try it out on a freemium basis and use it. They will pay for it with the company card. Software decisions are no longer top down. It is democratized. There is the cloud, which makes delivery and updating much easier," Coburn said. "Enterprise is super exciting. Enterprise spend is a third of the business spend in the US economy. The software side is up for grabs, since every system has been built for a different world and is tough to optimize on devices that are smaller and always on."</p> <P> <p>As for why he went with Android over iOS for the gifting choice, well, he said, "we can't hate Android. We have to deliver the magic on all platforms." While doing QA for Android can be quite extensive due to variability of device standards, its rate of consumer adoption can't be ignored.</p> <P>2012-12-19T17:45:00ZeBay has decided that advertising inside mobile apps is not worth the effort and that they will end all ads inside their own mobile apps. What does this mean for the future of mobile advertising?http://www.informationweek.com/byte/personal-tech/ebay-drops-mobile-advertising/240145068?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<p>Advertisers have wondered for years if mobile ads would be as successful as mobile devices themselves. The problem is that advertising on a smartphone's small screen can irritate users if it distracts from the content presented. </p> <P> <p>What does Devin Wenig, eBay's president of global marketplaces, think of advertising inside mobile apps? In <a target="_blank" href="http://allthingsd.com/20121219/ebay-to-stop-advertising-inside-mobile-apps-its-not-worth-it/">an interview with AllThingsD</a>, Wenig said "It's not worth it" and that the company will stop running ads embedded in its applications. The compromise of the user experience isn't worth the small amount of money generated, he said.</p> <P> <p>This is interesting timing for mobile advertising in general, given the news this week that <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/smart-phones/instagram-users-fume-at-photos-as-ads/240144635">Instagram announced ad policy changes suggesting that it could use photos for advertising</a>. After social media protest on the Internet, the photo sharing app is rethinking its policies regarding user-generated content.</p> <P> <p>Brian X. Chen wrote in <a target="_blank" href="http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/17/facebook-and-google-benefit-from-mobile-ad-surge/">The New York Times</a> that mobile ad spending is up and companies such as Facebook and Google are taking advantage of this growth. Even so, mobile advertising spending is still a very small piece of the digital advertising budget. </p> <P> <img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/briefs/ebay-mobile.png" />2012-12-19T16:51:00ZDell announced today its acquisition of data security company Credant Technologies to beef up its BYOD security toolset.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/personal-tech/dell-acquires-credant-for-byod-data-secu/240145031?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.dell.com/">Dell</a> has announced the acquisition of <a target="_blank" href="http://www.credant.com/">data security software vendor Credant Technologies</a>. The move should dig Dell deeper into the mobile data protection market and give added credibility to its BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) offerings.</p> <P> <p>Credant Technologies is known for managing and encrypting corporate data sent from multiple devices or stored in the cloud. The Credant platform supports multiple mobile operating systems for the company's two million customers. With the acquisition, Dell plans on using its technology to secure the transfer of information across a number of devices. </p> <P> <p>"In today's work environment data is always in-flight &#8211; from work being done on a local PC, being sent via email, stored on a USB drive and saved in the cloud. Each one of those experiences represents a potential security risk. As a result, businesses need a data protection strategy that is comprehensive, flexible and easy to deploy," said Jeff Clarke, president, End User Computing Solutions at Dell, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.dell.com/Learn/us/en/uscorp1/secure/2012-12-18-dell-acquisition-credant-technologies">in a statement.</a></p> <P> <p>The acquisition will allow Dell to expand its security tools to Dell Latitude, OptiPlex, and Precision PCs.</p> <P> <img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/briefs/dell-credant.png" />2012-12-18T17:00:00ZApple is talking to Foursquare about using its local data. Can the move restore Apple's maps reputation?http://www.informationweek.com/byte/personal-tech/can-foursquare-check-ins-save-apple-maps/240144639?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/commentary/2012-Aug/Foursquare_apple.png" /> <P> <p>The arrival of Google Maps has spelled relief for those with iPhones tied to Apple Maps. However, to recover from its reputation as a maps laughingstock, Apple needs more data. Apple is in talks with Foursquare to use its local data, says the <a target="_blank" href="http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424127887324907204578186074223787936-lMyQjAxMTAyMDEwNzExNDcyWj.html">Wall Street Journal.</a></p> <P> <p>If all goes well with Foursquare -- the startup that made checking into local businesses popular -- Apple will have even more local data to plug into its mapping feature. Apple is working with Yelp and others for local info, the WSJ reported.</p> <P>2012-12-18T16:15:00ZAs smartphones go mainstream, Samsung is moving well past Apple and Nokia, according to research firm.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/personal-tech/smart-phones/samsung-leaps-past-apple-nokia/240144613?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<p>Samsung is the most popular smartphone out there, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.isuppli.com/Mobile-and-Wireless-Communications/News/Pages/Samsung-Displaces-Nokia-as-Top-CellphoneBrand-in-2012-and-Takes-Decisive-Smartphone-Lead-Over-Apple.aspx">according to research firm IHS iSuppli Mobile and Wireless Communications Service</a>.</p> <P> <a target="_blank" href="http://www.isuppli.com/Mobile-and-Wireless-Communications/News/Pages/Samsung-Displaces-Nokia-as-Top-CellphoneBrand-in-2012-and-Takes-Decisive-Smartphone-Lead-Over-Apple.aspx"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/commentary/2012-Aug/Smartphonehandset.png" /></a> <P> <p>"The competitive reality of the cell phone market in 2012 was 'live by the smartphone; die by the smartphone,'" said Wayne Lam, senior analyst for wireless communications at IHS, in a statement. </p> <P> <p>"Smartphones represent the fastest-growing segment of the cell phone market &nbsp;&#151;&nbsp; and will account for nearly half of all wireless handset shipments for all of 2012. Samsung's successes and Nokia's struggles in the cell phone market this year were determined entirely by the two companies' divergent fortunes in the smartphone sector," he also said in the statement.</p> <P> <p>Samsung takes the number one spot, Apple second, Nokia third, HTC fourth, and RIM fifth, according to preliminary forecast of Top-5 smartphone handset. </p> <P> <p>Together Samsung and Apple make up nearly 50 percent of all smartphones shipped. </p> <P> <p>So why did Samsung shipments rise, while Nokia shipments decline? Why is Samsung beating out Apple?</p> <P> <p>Samsung sprung ahead of the others due to its low-cost Galaxy line of phones baked with the Android operating system. As far as consumers go, it is possible that Samsung appeals to more people, than Apple's more exclusive iPhone.</p> <P> <p>As for production, Samsung follows the market for design and manufacturing, releasing new products often. Nokia has the Windows Phone operating system, so that may contribute to its decline in shipments. This is a huge change in its position, as Nokia has held the number one spot (in all cellular handsets, not just smartphones) since 1998. </p> <P> <p>For more on the Apple and Samsung battle, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.informationweek.com/byte/personal-tech/smart-phones/beyond-the-iphone-why-apple-sues-samsung/240007187">read about it here.</a> </p>2012-12-10T08:00:00ZWhen people think biometric security, they think verification through fingerprints or voice. A company called EyeVerify is working on software to bring eye vein verification to your smartphone, providing a safe way to conduct banking transactions as well as other BYOD functions.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/personal-tech/science-technology/mobile-device-biometrics-the-eyes-have-i/240144004?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<p>With so much of our banking and interactions taking place on our mobile phones, we still live with a false sense of security because it doesn't take much for someone to hack our phones. By using more unique identifiers&nbsp;&#151;&nbsp;biometrics such as eyes, rather than passwords&nbsp;&#151;&nbsp;corporations and banks may have a more secure way to authenticate our identity.</p> <P> <p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.eyeverify.com/">EyeVerify</a> makes biometric technology which uses eye vein patterns. CEO Toby Rush says "no one can pretend to be you with an eye print. Most eye verification technologies lack 'liveness' detection. With EyeVerify, you can't fake it with photos or videos. You have to stand in front of your camera on any smartphone."</p> <P> <p>EyeVerify implements a vein biometrics system that only requires software and the device's camera. It allows mobile users to authorize transactions and access secure information. Using the camera on the phone, the software can determine 4 ROIs (regions of interest) in your eye, sending a pass/fail and a confidence interval. If it passes, you are granted access to the application. If it fails, access is denied.</p> <P> <img style="border:1px solid black;" src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/news/2012-Dec/eye-vein-segmentation.png" /><div style="margin:4px 0 0 0; padding:0; color:#FF4400; font-size:small; ;font-style: italic; text-align:right;">EyeVerify segments images to find regions of interest (ROI). There are 4 ROIs to segment (left and right side of each eye).</div> <P> <p>The technology came out of academic labs in 2005, after Dr. Reza Derakhshani, University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC), and Dr. Arun Ross, West Virginia University (WVU) had developed the technology to identify people by their eyes. Rush saw an opportunity to commercialize it and decided to license the researchers' patent that uses the blood vessels in the back of the eye. As Rush sees it, it's a way for companies to build services that allow their phones to be secure without adding any hardware requirements.</p> <P> <p>Even in a BYOD scenario people can use personal phones and have biometric access to access corporate documents, Rush said. He also sees applications in healthcare, where doctors and nurses or patients can access their records. Or in online education, it can let teachers know who is taking the test. Even in logging into social networks such as Facebook, it can authenticate who is online. With EyeVerify, banking applications and others can use the 'liveness' factor for authentication. By using the camera, the software can detect if there's a person there depending on the focus and exposure and white balance.</p> <P> <p>Banking in particular could benefit from a more secure system. Most people don't like to use mobile banking because they have security concerns, Rush said, and EyeVerify can give them the confidence they need.</p> <P> <p>As we live our lives more online, protecting our digital identify becomes that much more important. Rush said that in emerging markets such as Nigeria and Indonesia, identity is the biggest issue in combating fraud. Biometrics are not expensive, but have had false starts in the past. For instance, biometric technology that used the retina as verification never really took off. Airports are using the iris and the color of the eye, but that requires an expensive hardware component.</p> <P> <p>"We are looking at the whites of the eye. For corporate applications for authentication, the user would hold the camera away from the face, look left or right and EyeVerify would process it in a few seconds. The software would respond to calling application and either confirm or deny who you say you are. The entire process takes about 4 seconds.</p> <P> <p>Security researcher <a target="_blank" href="http://dankaminsky.com/">Dan Kaminsky</a> said, "Biometrics have long been seen as a possible solution to the authentication crisis, as we're all enrolled merely by virtue of having bodies. The field has struggled, however, due to problems of deployment (you have to have readers everywhere), accuracy (it's surprising how little uniqueness there is in voices and faces), and security (you leak your biometrics everywhere you go). EyeVerify is interesting in that they're leveraging the ubiquity of cell phones with high resolution cameras to solve the problem of deploying readers, and that they're using one of the few biometrics that is in fact highly unique, and thus effectively discriminates between many users. That being said, like all biometrics, you expose your eyes frequently and in public." </p> <P> <p>Another eye verification company called Iris Guard allows customers to conduct banking or buy and pay with their eye, claiming to eliminate identity theft and fraud. Iris Guard uses an iris biometric camera, rather than the whites of the eyes. Even 24 Hour Fitness is using fingerprints to identify people to cut down fraud and to save money on printing plastic cards. While there's no such thing as absolute security, using more unique ways of identifying that you are who you say you are will get us that much closer to fail-safe security. And with the popularity of mobile phones and good cameras in them, EyeVerify may be a step in the right direction. In general, people don't like having to go through inconvenience to lock down their phones, so they will have to make sure the process of verifying your eye is quick and easy to use. EyeVerify says that their iPhone version is done, and is in beta. The Android application will be completed this month.</p> <P> <p>Kaminsky casts some doubt on Rush's claim that eye prints can't be faked: "Their pattern can be captured surreptitiously, and replayed forever with no possibility of revocation. But if the only people who have to worry about hacking you are those who can get within a very short distance away -- realistically, that's something of a win. Liveness checking never really works. But it doesn't matter -- if their accuracy is reasonable, they're useful. (It can't work because the pattern is static and effectively 2D. But seriously, they just need to try.) Interestingly, they're slightly worse off than fingerprints, as high resolution photos of your fingers are rarely published while eyes may very well be."</p>2012-12-07T12:07:00ZStartup Yerdle lets you trade stuff with Facebook friends. By extending the lives of things by giving them a place to be found on the Internet, Yerdle challenges the for-profit marketplace.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/personal-tech/social-networking/yerdle-share-online-rather-than-shop/240144046?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<p>Instead of spending hours in line at the mall this holiday season to buy gifts, why not just trade possessions with your Facebook friends? Andy Ruben co-founded <a target="_blank" href="http://www.yerdle.com/">Yerdle</a>, a platform that lets people share things with their friends for free. With technology, Ruben hopes he is making it easier to borrow or give to friends than it is to buy from a store.</p> <P> <p>A sharing economy could disrupt retail, in the same way <a target="_blank" href="https://www.airbnb.com/">AirBnB</a> attempts to disrupt the traditional hotel model by connecting people who have empty rooms in their homes with travelers seeking a more intimate, local experience.</p> <P> <p>Ruben described Yerdle, which launched several weeks ago, as a new kind of marketplace that is focused on making the possessions people have in their closets and garages more accessible. By giving the objects an online identity, Yerdle can give them a longer life as they are passed around from owner to owner. Looking at the Yerdle site on his computer, Ruben showed me how people will share photos to show how the objects are now being used and create a dialogue and connection over the possessions.</p> <P> <p>The Yerdle team is interesting. Andy Ruben was Walmart's first chief sustainability officer and was in charge of Walmart's integration of e-commerce, where he used social media to improve the quality of private brands and identify problems before they got too large to manage. While there, his sustainability business practices spread throughout the entire company and ended up creating hundreds of millions of dollars in efficiencies, which had a ripple effect on the business plans of 60,000 more suppliers and consumer categories.</p> <P> <img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/news/2012-Dec/yerdle.png" /> <P> <p>Ruben co-founded Yerdle with Carl Tashian from the founding team of Zipcar and Adam Werbach, author of <em>Strategy for Sustainability</em> and former president of the Sierra Club. Ruben believes that if retail is built on a social mission, the impact of the new marketplace will be far greater than what he could have achieved at Walmart. </p> <P> <p>In general, retail has been changing, with Amazon Prime, free shipping, department store cards, and memberships. "It changed in our generation and moved more toward the customer. It's about helping the customer in what they really need," Ruben said. </p> <P> <p>Ruben said the inspiration for Yerdle came to him when his daughter went to play soccer and he had to buy shin guards. Shin guards belonging to neighbors were likely sitting in nearby garages. "We will make it easy to find out where those shin guards are," he said. </p> <P> <p>"It's a marketplace just like eBay," Ruben said. "It starts with things you can get free from your friends and friends of friends. Down the road, if you are looking for shin guards, you can see what friends or friends of friends have them."</p> <P> <p>The monetary transaction will come later, as the network is built to access things in your Facebook network of friends. The plan is to take a commission on that. Yerdle is available as a Web app and an iPhone app. <P> <p>So far, there are 1,500 users and Ruben is seeing that people are using it to share and give away a lot of things. Ruben walks the walk, and has put a lot of his garage items up for grabs on Yerdle. Any takers?</p>2012-11-27T15:34:00ZApple is dealing with the crappy mapping launch by firing the manager in charge of the software. But can this repair the damage that is already done and can Apple ever catch up to Google?http://www.informationweek.com/byte/personal-tech/science-technology/is-apple-maps-salvageable/240142645?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<p>Now that <a target="_top" href="http://appleinsider.com/articles/12/11/27/apple-fires-ios-6-maps-chief">maps manager Richard Williamson has been fired</a>, can Apple save its mapping software?</p> <P> <p>According to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-27/apple-said-to-fire-maps-manager-after-flaws-hurt-iphone-5-debut.html/">Bloomberg</a>, Apple reportedly fired Williamson, who handled the much-ridiculed Apple maps app. To fix all the flaws in the mapping software, Apple is working with mapping consultants and digital mapping company TomTom.</p> <P> <p>After using Apple maps for a month, I sure hope so.</p> <P> <a target="_top" href="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/commentary/2012-Nov/Eiffel-a-la-AppleMaps.PNG"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/commentary/2012-Nov/Eiffel-a-la-AppleMaps-452.PNG" /></a> <P> <p>This is a serious image problem for Apple. I have friends who won't download the iOS 6 because they want to keep Google maps. Apple is famous for getting users to update software quickly.</p> <P> <p>Although, ironically, Google has been known to release products in beta to see what sticks, Apple usually waits until the product is done. That's why, when Apple released the buggy mapping service, preloaded in iPhone 5s and baked into iOS 6, consumers and app makers such as Uber that depend on the native mapping service complained about its inaccuracies.</p> <P> <p>Apple consumers, a bring-your-own kind of crowd, have been finding ways to get by. There are several other mapping options including Embark, which will help with public transit inquiries, according to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-11-21/apple-s-maps-mess-boosts-a-public-transit-app/">Businessweek</a>. I can access Bing Maps or Google Maps using my browser on my iPhone 5. </p> <P> <p>Our own review of the <a href="http://informationweek.com/byte/personal-tech/geo-location/top-5-gps-apps-for-the-iphone/232900278">Top GPS Apps For the iPhone</a> has been very popular lately.</p> <P> <p>The issue isn't over a few lines of code, though -- it's more about the hunt for big data. As <a target="_blank" href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/netapp/2012/10/03/google-apple-maps-big-data-cloud/">Forbes</a> said, Google got an early start back in 2005 when it launched its mapping software.</p> <P> <p>Google is really a mapping company, Apple is not. Google is working on Google Glasses and self-driving cars -- computing platforms that extend beyond smart phones, all based on geo-location. And clearly Google is winning here.</p>2012-11-20T06:00:00ZUnder agreements with AT&T, T-Mobile USA and Boingo, Transit Wireless is bringing Wi-Fi and cell service to the dark subways of New York City, keeping the city that never sleeps connected underground.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/personal-tech/wireless/more-ny-subway-stations-will-get-wi-fi-c/240142359?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<p>Transit Wireless announced today that <a target="_blank" href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/transit-wireless-works-with-metropolitan-transportation-authority-and-wireless-providers-to-enhance-wireless-telecommunications-services-in-new-york-city-2012-11-19">it is working with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Wireless carriers to increase Wi-Fi and cell service in select New York City subway stations</a>. </p> <P> <img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/commentary/2012-Aug/Subway_microsoft.jpg" /> <P> <p>There will be 30 new stations to be completed in the first quarter of next year, including the busiest of subway stations such as Times Square, Columbus Circle, and Rockefeller Center. </p> <P> <p>The partnership involves a deal between Microsoft and Boingo Wireless. Microsoft is obviously using the opportunity to advertise Windows 8. AT&T, T-Mobile USA, and Boingo Wireless are also part of the plan for expanding cellular service down in the subway stations. </p> <P> <p>"A crisis such as Hurricane Sandy reemphasizes how vital telecommunications and mass transit are to our society and reaffirm our efforts to build much needed infrastructure throughout the New York City subway system, including Help Point Intercom units, which connect passengers to emergency and transit assistance," said William A. Bayne Jr., CEO of Transit Wireless, in a statement. </p>2012-11-14T21:43:00ZGood Technology has filed patent infringement lawsuits against competitors MobileIron and Airwatch citing four of the company's 75 patents. Good's patents are broad and basic to mobile device management functionality, raising the question of whether all of the scores of players in the MDM space have to go through the Good tollbooth.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/240135284?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<p>Good Technology has filed <a target="_blank" href="http://www1.good.com/news/press-releases/current-press-releases/179350181.html">two separate patent infringement lawsuits</a> related to the management of mobile data and devices. </p> <P> <p>Good, best-known lately for its containerization solution to securing mobile phones and tablets, announced on Wednesday that it has filed <a target="_blank" href="http://www1.good.com/patent-litigation">the legal actions</a> against native mobile management companies MobileIron and AirWatch, shaking the mobile device management space. Security and management for mobile devices have become important as corporate information makes its way onto employees' personal devices. </p> <P> <p>Good is claiming that MobileIron and AirWatch products infringe on four of its patents. The lawsuit against MobileIron claims that its Docs@Work, AppConnect, and AppTunnel products infringe on Good patents. Good complained that AirWatch MDM and related products infringe on its IP. Other companies license and resell AirWatch technology.</p> <P> <p>"Because we hold over 75 patents, many of which are early, highly-cited, foundational patents in the field, and because MobileIron and AirWatch hold only a single patent between them, we believe that this lawsuit will be a bet-the-company case for them and that the court will grant an injunction," Good CEO King Lee said. Good says it has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on research and product development, while claiming that MobileIron and AirWatch don't innovate and have no original technology.</p> <P> <p><b><hr /><blockquote>MobileIron claims that its toolkit <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/byte/mobileiron-its-toolkit-speeds-up-mobile/240005138">speeds up mobile device management</a>.</b></blockquote><hr /></p> <P> <p>Good began in 1996 as Visto Corporation and now has over 520 employees. AirWatch was founded in 2003 and has over 700 employees. MobileIron was founded in 2007 and has over 500 employees. Good began in the day when email was the main security focus, and companies needed to allow workers to access corporate email when they were traveling. Good was officially created in 1999, during the heyday of MP3 players and Blackberry 957 devices. Good was able to purchase more patent protection through acquisitions and litigation settlements, including some nasty ones with Research in Motion (RIM).</p> <P> <p>To beef up security protection on mobile phones, Good acquired AppCentral. As smartphones became more popular, Good shifted its attention to BYOD devices to allow push email, data synchronization, and features such as remote wiping.</p> <P> <p>According to <a target="_blank" href="https://begood.good.com/blogs/good_news/2012/11/14/good-technology-litigation">a blog post</a>, the patents Good filed in the lawsuits include:<ul><li><a target="_blank" href="http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=6,151,606.PN.&OS=PN/6,151,606&RS=PN/6,151,606">United States Patent No. 6,151,606</a> issued for an invention entitled "System and Method for Using a Workspace Data Manager to Access, Manipulate and Synchronize Network Data."</li> <li><a target="_blank" href="http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=8,012,219.PN.&OS=PN/8,012,219&RS=PN/8,012,219">United States Patent No. 8,012,219</a> issued for an invention entitled "System and Method for Preventing Access to Data on a Compromised Remote Device."</li> <li><a target="_blank" href="http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=7,970,386.PN.&OS=PN/7,970,386&RS=PN/7,970,386">United States Patent No. 7,970,386</a> issued for an invention entitled "System and Method for Monitoring and Maintaining a Wireless Device."</li> <li><a target="_blank" href="http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=7,702,322.PN.&OS=PN/7,702,322&RS=PN/7,702,322">United States Patent No. 7,702,322</a> issued for an invention entitled "Method and System for Distributing and Updating Software in Wireless Devices."</li></ul></p> <P> <p>We contacted both AirWatch and MobileIron for comment. "We have not yet seen the complaint and have no comment until we review it," said Clarissa Horowitz, director of communications of MobileIron. AirWatch's Victor Cooper said, "As a corporate policy, we don't comment on legal matters."</p> <P> <img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/news/2012-Nov/good-patent-suit/good-patent-2.png" /><div style="margin:4px 0 0 0; padding:0; color:#999900; font-size:small; ;font-style: italic; text-align:right;">From the '606 patent: "...a flowchart illustrating a method of accessing network data from a remote site in accordance with the present invention."</div>2012-11-13T08:30:00ZAt Cisco, almost 100% of employees' mobile devices are BYOD. Cisco's senior manager of IT mobility services Brett Belding shares the company's BYOD strategy with BYTE's Boonsri Dickinson.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/240049951?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<p>Networking company Cisco has more than 50 different mobile devices on its IT approved list, which allows devices to access corporate e-mail, calendars and contacts. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/sap/2012/03/05/cisco-the-biggest-mobile-byod-deployment-around/">Forbes</a> has even said that the number of mobile devices would soon surpass the number of Cisco employees -- and at the stated rate of adoption, it probably already has. </p> <P> <img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/commentary/2012-Aug/BYOD_Byte.jpg" /> <P> <p>BYTE spoke with Brett Belding, Cisco's senior manager IT mobility services, about consumerization of IT in the enterprise and how they handle employees who bring their own devices.</p> <P> <p><b>BYTE: What is your biggest BYOD concern?</b></p> <p>Brett Belding: Hands down, security is the biggest concern regarding BYOD/mobility. We use an architectural approach to security that includes a clear policy, Cisco AnyConnect, Cisco Identity Services Engine, one of our partner's MDM solutions, and continued communications with our user base. We enforce a PIN, automatic lock, and reserve the right to perform a local and remote wipe of all data if needed, and encryption. We leverage a combination of single sign-on credentials and certificates for authentication.</p> <p><b>BYTE: How much will the Surface/Windows Phone 8 or iPad Mini play a role?</b></p> <p>BB: On average we add about 400 tablets to the environment per month, all BYOD. The large majority of those are iPads, although we do have a small number of Android tablets and BlackBerry PlayBooks as well. We see the iPad Mini as a complementary offering for those who want to stay within Apple's ecosystem but want a more portable device. We haven't yet formed an opinion on the Surface RT because we just got ours delivered. We'll know more after we spend some time with them. Ditto for Windows Phone 8. </p> <p><b>BYTE: What MDM solution does Cisco use to secure the devices?</b></p> <p>BB: We use one of our partner's solutions today. MDM is one component of Cisco IT's overall BYOD security strategy, which includes Cisco AnyConnect and Cisco Identity Services Engine along with a clear, robust policy. </p> <p><b>BYTE: Do you have any BYOD stories? And how was the problem resolved?</b></p> <p>BB: Cisco shuts down most of the company at the end of December to give our employees a much-needed break and to conserve power in locations across the globe. In late 2010, we were preparing for this shutdown, and we realized that we were going to have a bit of a problem with support. </p> <P> <p>We run our support staff on a skeleton crew during that period, which works really well. The challenge arose when we realized lots of our employees would get smartphones and tablets for Christmas. On the one hand this is great -- we encourage our employees to use devices they find helpful -- but on the other hand we didn't want to burden that skeleton crew with a deluge of activation questions. </p> <P> <p>So we leveraged our WebEx Social community and sent out communications to employees telling them where to go to set their devices up on their own. Our employees enabled over 1,000 new mobile devices and only a handful needed to call for help. </p> <P> <p><b>BYTE: How many devices are BYOD vs. company issued?</b></p> <p>BB: Well over 95%. Our policy says that all smartphones and tablets are BYOD. That said, there are some devices that we use for testing our own apps. For example, WebEx Meeting Center, Jabber, AnyConnect, and WebEx Social. And our own products such as Access Points, Identity Services Engine. </p> <P> <p>There are also a few countries where we still have to provide devices, although those are becoming more rare as our service provider partners enable our strategy.</p> <p><b>BYTE: Does BYOD actually save Cisco money? Why allow employees to bring whatever they want? What's going to happen in the future?</b></p> <p>BB: The devices were a small portion of our overall TCO. Since moving to our current BYOD strategy four years ago, we've been able to increase device counts 98%, increase users 51%, reduce support volumes by 53%, and reduce cost per user by 30%. We've seen the biggest cost savings from support; we heavily leverage WebEx Social to simplify setup and help users quickly solve problems. User satisfaction is up 33% as a result. </p> <p>We see device, app and service choice as a clear representation of our culture at Cisco. We encourage employees to "work your way" and use multiple devices for a reason: it's good for them because it means flexibility and work-life balance, and it's good for business because it means added productivity and a happy workforce. </p> <P> <p>Our research, available in the Cisco Connected World Technology Report, reinforces our strategy of employee flexibility; people are demanding it, so companies need to figure it out. As long as you do it right, BYOD is very good for business. </p>2012-11-12T09:02:00ZSocial media savvy has become a success indicator, says Mark Fidelman, author of the new book <em>Socialized! How the Most Successful Businesses Harness The Power of Social</em>. Fidelman shares social tips for businesses in a <em>BYTE</em> Q&A.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/240077523?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<p>Social media is why some companies fail and others succeed, according to author Mark Fidelman. In his new book, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/Socialized-Successful-Businesses-Harness-Century/dp/1937134431/ref=la_B008UT9JL4_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1347289971&sr=1-1">Socialized! How the Most Successful Businesses Harness The Power of Social</a>, due out Nov. 15, Fidelman writes about how successful companies use social media to grow their business.</p> <P> <a target="_blank" href="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/commentary/2012-Aug/markiPad.png"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/commentary/2012-Aug/markiPad-small.png" /></a> <P> <p>Fidelman is a <a target="_blank" href="http://blogs.forbes.com/markfidelman/">Forbes contributor</a> and CEO of Evolved Capital, Inc. BYTE asked Fidelman which businesses are using social media to their advantage, and how BYOD and consumerization of IT is changing the nature of business relationships.</p> <P> <p><b>BYTE: How are businesses using social?</b></p> <p>Mark Fidelman: Most businesses have a Facebook page or Twitter account and hire a social media intern to establish an external social "presence," and they believe that implementing an intranet transforms the organization into a "collaborative" enterprise. </p> <P> <p>The reality? Far from it. With the advent of social, communications have become a two-way street. Brands like Kodak, Zagats and Netflix that don't connect successfully with their customer and employee ecosystems risk bankruptcy.</p> <P> <p><b>BYTE: Why did you decide to write this book?</b> </p> <p>MF: While many senior executives are feeling the stinging sense of urgency that their businesses must adopt a true social business model if they are to remain relevant, sustainable and profitable, most simply don't know how to go about it.</p> <P> <p>I wrote Socialized! to give enterprises a roadmap for capturing the full power of social inside the organization and out. </p> <P> <p><b>BYTE: What's the future of social? How will BYOD and consumerization of IT play a role?</b></p> <p>MF: The future of social connects people with people and people with information -- basically, getting the right person for the right opportunity at the right time to yield the right result. </p> <P> <p>IBM is an excellent example of where we're headed. The company encourages the use of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and blogs to support their sales, communication, marketing and recruiting efforts. While employees' social interactions are not under a microscope, the experiments in social on a massive scale have led to a set of social business conduct guidelines that govern their employees' social interactions.</p> <P> <p>The IBM Social laboratory is also using gamification and crowdsourcing principles to reduce the cost of internal projects, and they use social analytics to make recommendations as to what an organization needs do to better its financial results. IBM also uses predictive analysts to predict social interactions and how people might change. No one wants an explosive reaction; people much prefer to anticipate and negate the negative reactions while promoting the positive.</p> <P> <p>BYOD and consumerization of IT speaks to the recognition that employees are no longer chained to their desks, and they expect that every important application and social resource will be available while walking around with an iPad or smartphone. Employees want a seamless collaborative and social experience across all devices. Without the same information, tools and software on their mobile devices as they have on their desktop, people may be connected but really remain involuntarily out of touch.</p> <P> <p><b>BYTE: What's the most successful use case of a business that has used social for its benefit?</b></p> <p>MF: I write about how IBM has become a social business and as a result, has grown their market more than the total value of Hewlett Packard over the last two years. How's that for a social benefit? </p> <P> <p><b>BYTE: What's a good strategy for going social?</b></p> <p>MF: In the book, I make several recommendations based on interviews with 150 of the world's most successful social businesses, as well as my own experience leading social business transformation. </p> <P> <p>Here are just a few:</p> <p><em>Connect and empower thought leaders.</em> The public relations soapbox doesn't cut it anymore; communications are now a two-way street. I can't say enough about the importance of working with the thought leaders in your industry. Your customers don't trust your advertising as much as they do the individuals they have been following for years, so make it a priority to build a reciprocal relationship with these influencers. Once you've connected with them, you can work together to educate your target customer about the pain they are experiencing, pain that your product can solve.</p> <P> <p><em>Build or join an external community.</em> Building an external community around your brand is one of the most powerful things you can do to positively impact sales, create goodwill, and generate ideas. It's also an effective feedback vehicle. Imagine a community of thousands of people discussing topics related (and sometime unrelated) to your products every day. Your community is answering support questions, helping other members with career aspirations, or just networking. </p> <P> <p>If your brand or product does not yet have enough authority to build a community around it, and if there is already a robust and thriving community where your customers are hanging out, then by all means join it. If your competitor is running it, you'll need to create a community around another subject related to your product.</p> <P> <p><em>Build internal online communities.</em> To support an adaptive organization, employees need to connect, share, and expand on ideas. This is a critical part of becoming a more social, adaptive organization. Your company's employees must have the ability to share insight with each other easily and visibly. Imagine a professional football team that doesn't practice or share information about the opposing team. Indeed, imagine a football team that doesn't review its game tape. How effective would they be long term?</p> <P> <p><b>BYTE: What are some mistakes businesses/or employees make?</b></p> <p>MF: The number-one mistake made by businesses and employees is the failure to recognize the age of social business has already begun.</p> <P> <p>Businesses like Netflix that continue to rely on traditional arm's-length relationships with customers and who try to dictate the relationship rather than participate in it will find it increasingly difficult to succeed. The increased use of social technologies over the past few years has forever changed the relationship between customer and brand. Now, individuals can create viral videos that reach millions, blog posts that embarrass corporations, and Facebook pages that organize citizens to oust dictators. Businesses like Netflix are significantly hurt by social media's effects because they aren't listening to their customers.</p> <P> <p>For employees, ignoring the social trend is equivalent to career suicide. Let's imagine a scenario five years from now in which two company directors are competing for the same position. The first director has years of experience but lacks any social presence either internally or externally. She was "too busy" to deal with social networking or build an internal following. The second director, although less experienced, has taken the time to build an internal following. Whenever he communicates on the organization's internal social platform, hundreds of people read and respond to his messages. Externally, he has built a huge following on Twitter and Google+. He regularly puts out content that is considered valuable to the company's customers and partners. In fact, he has attained a thought leader status in the industry. Which director do you think the company will promote?</p> <P> <p>For me, the answer is obvious. The director who has taken the time to build a community around himself will be more influential and will be able to more easily accomplish his objectives both inside and outside the organization. His large networks will wield tremendous power, collective intelligence, and the ability to influence both employees and customers. In effect, his ability to obtain a large following demonstrates his ability to be an effective leader.</p>2012-11-08T17:36:00ZStartup Lumosity designs games to boost brain function. VP Joe Hardy shares his top 10 list of what you can do to be feel smarter and more productive.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/240062653?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<p>With so much obsession over the latest gadgets, it's easy to think that technology alone can make us more productive. But there's more to just sitting in front of your computer with a big cup of coffee -- especially if you can bring your own device to work.</p> <P> <p>When you combine neuroscience research with game developers you get something like <a target="_blank" href="http://www.lumosity.com/why-lumosity/engaging-exercises">Lumosity</a>, a startup that makes apps and games designed to improve cognitive ability rather than just entertain. The startup works with experts at Harvard, Yale, and Stanford to integrate the latest research in human cognitive performance. Its apps, according to Lumosity, can help improve your memory, attention, flexibility and problem solving.</p> <P> <p><em>BYTE</em> asked Joe Hardy, Ph.D., VP of research and development at Lumosity, for some tips on improving productivity in the workplace:<ol> <P> <li><em>Get a good night's sleep.</em> Sleep plays an important role in memory formation. </li> <li><em>Drink plenty of water.</em> Our brains are approximately 80% water. Dehydration can impair both short- and long-term memory. </li> <li><em>Eat fish and shellfish.</em> Omega-3 fatty acids are important building blocks for the brain.</li> <li><em>Eat fruits and vegetables.</em> Antioxidants such as vitamin C and E prevent cell damage.</li> <li><em>Lay off the sugar.</em> Although our brains need glucose to function, studies have found that consuming too much sugar slows down brains, hampering memory and learning.</li> <li><em>Exercise.</em> Regular physical exercise promotes increased levels of brain chemicals and more efficient blood circulation, which is vital to removing cellular waste and delivering nutrients needed by the brain. Studies have found that physical exercise also can stimulate the production of new brain cells.</li> <li><em>Be social.</em> Studies have reported that an active social life appears to delay age-related memory loss.</li> <li><em>Challenge your brain.</em> Brain training games such as Lumosity's exercise core cognitive abilities such as memory and attention. Lumosity's wide range of challenges are designed specifically to develop brain performance.</li> <li><em>Try new things.</em> Reading, learning new skills and thinking in new ways can help keep your brain flexible and sharp.</li> <li><em>Drink alcohol in moderation.</em> A Lumosity study found that users who had one drink a day outperformed those who had no drinks, but there was a decrease in performance on speed, problem solving and memory with three or more drinks per day.</li></ol> <P> <center><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/commentary/2012-Aug/brainpic.png" /></center> <P> <p>About 25 million people in over 180 countries use Lumosity apps and that gives it a large store of data on human cognitive performance. The apps are available on the iPhone and iPad Touch, so you can try the Lumosity brain teasers anywhere -- including work.</p>2012-11-07T15:48:00ZMicrosoft's decision to integrate Windows Live Messenger with Skype will bring a better instant messaging experience. Users can make video calls and ring contacts on their mobile or land lines, among other new options.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/240062585?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<p>Microsoft announced Tuesday that it is retiring Windows Live Messenger and allowing those customers to instead use Skype, in an effort to make Skype the company's main instant messaging software. </p> <P> <img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/commentary/2012-Aug/facebook-calling-460.jpg" /> <P> <p>This means that consumers can sign in using their Messenger ID and have Messenger, Hotmail and Outlook.com contacts in one central location. Microsoft's shift away from Live Messenger is the first visible result of its $8.5 billion acquisition of Skype. The move will allow consumers to use Skype's features such as chat on all platforms including iPad and Android tablets; send instant messages; make video calls; share their screen; join a group chat; and call contacts on their mobile or land lines.</p> <P> <p>Ditching Messenger and moving to Skype was not a small move. There are a lot of customers on Live Messenger -- 300 million in 2009, according to the BBC -- and it continues to dominate the instant messaging market. But Skype has video calling and even more importantly a better brand, so Microsoft's decision makes sense.</p> <P> <p>Gartner's Brian Blau told the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20222998">BBC</a> that "Messenger doesn't seem like an appropriate communications platform for TVs or the firm's Xbox console -- but Skype does."</p> <P> <p>For instance, last night I was on Facebook chatting with a friend. At one click of a button, we hopped on video chat. The Facebook integration with Skype has proven to be a good extension for Skype users, and I expect a similar effect with Windows Live Messenger.</p> <P> <p>There are, of course, competing messaging services such as Voxer, Facetime and WhatsApp Messenger, but they don't have the interoperability that Skype has across all platforms. Also, with Microsoft's new Windows Phone 8 and the Surface tablet, the deep integration of Skype shows that Microsoft is working to give consumers the ability to make video calls and send messages from whatever device they are on. Skype is becoming a critical communication platform built into Microsoft's line of products and can work across other platforms and devices.</p> <P> <p>Said August Capital partner Howard Hartenbaum, who was the first Skype investor: "When Skype started, we thought to ourselves, 'Wouldn't it be a simpler world if all the messenger services just rolled into Skype and we could power their voice. MS Messenger would be a good one to start with.'"</p>2012-11-05T10:02:00ZOnce again, disaster &mdash; this time Hurricane Sandy &mdash; reminds businesses and consumers that they should be backing up their data. Backblaze, a new online backup service, uses a fully encrypted system to back up your data and safely store it offsite.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/240012732?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<p>Websites such as Huffington Post, Buzzfeed, and Gawker were down temporarily after Sandy's wake, when water flooded their data centers, all of which are located in lower Manhattan. This is a reminder to Internet-based businesses to never have all your data in one location &mdash; or in two locations that could be affected by the same natural disaster.</p> <P> <p>Be sure to get backups in place before disaster strikes. It's important that the backups are at an offsite location, so you don't lose your backup at the same time as your original.</p> <P> <p>Loss of data could mean death to your business. </p> <P> <p>"Obviously much was destroyed in the storm &mdash; buildings, infrastructure, cars, lives," said Gleb Budman, cofounder of Backblaze. Many individuals and businesses will rebuild, but a large proportion lost irreplaceable data: photos of children, music collections, PhD theses, customer lists, and all sorts of other data," </p> <P> <p>"With 90% of people not <a target="_blank" href="http://blog.backblaze.com/2012/06/12/10-now-back-up-daily-90-to-go/">backing up data</a>, this means much of that data is gone forever. For businesses, some will shut down due to this loss of data: 93% of companies that lost their data center for 10 days or more went bankrupt within a year, according to the National Archives & Records Administration. Data loss is often incredibly personal, but it also has a tremendous economic impact," Budman said. </p> <P> <p>Most customers of Backblaze &mdash; both individuals and businesses &mdash; use it to protect all their photos, movies and documents in case they have a drive crash, stolen computer, user error, or any of the other myriad ways data gets lost, said Budman. </p> <P> <p>Backblaze automatically backs up all data on Mac and PC laptops and desktops over the Internet. Backblaze offers a subscription service for $50 a year per computer, $95 for two years, or $5 a month.</p> <P> <img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/news/2012-Nov/NYCFlood.png" /> <P> <p>The company has <a target="_blank" href="http://www.backblaze.com/">a consumer service</a> and a <a target="_blank" href="http://www.backblaze.com/business.html">Backblaze for Business</a>, which provides businesses with central management and reporting. Companies are using it company-wide and also in a BYOD environment, said Budman. Backblaze encrypts the data on your computer and then sends those files over an encrypted connection. The data also is stored encrypted.</p> <P> <p>There are, of course, other ways to back up data. The most popular is the old-fashioned hard drive, but that might not be the best choice, especially now. The Thailand hard drive manufacturing crisis has compounded the problem of hard drive shortages. It was estimated that up to 50% of the worldwide hard drive manufacturing capacity was lost or damaged in the flooding, causing the price of hard drives to triple in price. Then there is DropBox and Box, which enterprises are taking a liking to because of their security standards.</p> <P> Budman says Backblaze has the edge over syncing services like Dropbox because "no one else has access to the data and it cannot be shared. Thus, it's very secure. For example, Crispin Porter+Bogusky, one of the largest ad agencies in the world &mdash; handling advertising for Microsoft, Old Navy, Domino's, Hulu &mdash; uses Backblaze to back up all of their laptops and desktops. So does IDEO, which you probably know as major a product designer for Apple, Samsung, and Walgreens." <P> <p>Initial Backblaze backups take the longest. To see how long it will take you, you can visit <a target="_blank" href="http://blog.backblaze.com/2012/06/12/10-now-back-up-daily-90-to-go//">Speed Test</a>. As a rule, a 1-megabit-per-second connection can do 9 GB in 24 hours. Staying up-to-date after the initial backup is much faster. </p> <P> <p>Pricing is per computer. If you sync two iPhones with one computer, for instance, Backblaze will back up the data for both phones. It also automatically backs up your Dropbox folder, any connected USB or Firewire drives, and your iPhone data that has been synched to your computer via iTunes. It slowed down my Internet connection while my files were uploading, so be sure to back up when it's a down time for Internet use at home or at work.</p> <P> <p>How often do you back up your data? What backup system does your company use? If you have a BYOD device, what do you use? </p>2012-11-01T15:00:00ZSmart phones already have been widely adopted. Tablets are next and the iPad Mini will close that gap, according to the latest report by mobile app analytics firm Flurry.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/240012713?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<p>Tablets soon will have more of a presence at home and at work. Well, duh -- that seems obvious. According to a report by mobile app analytics firm <a target="_blank" href="http://blog.flurry.com/bid/90987/The-Truth-About-Cats-and-Dogs-Smartphone-vs-Tablet-Usage-Differences ">Flurry</a>, consumers will use tablets to connect to their TVs at home and will bring their own tablets in to work.</p> <P> <p>Apple's last earning call forecasts such a future, as it revealed that 14 million iPads were sold in the prior quarter, compared to 26.9 million iPhones. The iPad Mini, which is more competitive in price with the likes of Amazon's Kindle Fire HD and others, will further close that gap between the phone and the tablet, according to the report. The report was based on 30 million consumers who opt in and share data with Flurry.</p> <P> <p>All this predicted iPad adoption seems pretty likely given the trajectory of smart phone adoption, but it definitely will be interesting to see how the iPad Mini influences the sale of iPads and other tablets, and how the connected TV will turn the two-screen experience into a smarter and more fluid one. Microsoft is also betting heavily on TV-tablet synergy with Windows 8/Windows RT and its Xbox services.</p> <P> <p>Look at the chart to see how smart phones and tablets are being used:</p> <P> <img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/commentary/2012-Aug/Flurry_2.png" /> <P> <p>It's clear that consumers are spending their time playing games on tablets more than on anything else. Tablets also are used when consumers are sitting in front of the TV from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Smart phones tend to be used throughout the day, and used for checking Facebook and email and such, probably all things that some people can't check on their work computers.</p> <P> <p>In the workplace, it will be interesting to see what employees choose to bring in: a Surface, an iPad Mini, an iPad, or one of the many Android tablets. There are so many choices, and that's before we get to the phablet category.</p>2012-10-25T19:20:00ZMicrosoft finally makes its mark in the new smartphone and tablet era, but will enterprises adopt the Surface as quickly as they have the iPad, and will developers create apps for it?http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/240010030?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<p>Just days after Apple announced its latest line of products, including the iPad Mini, Microsoft made its own announcement Thursday. It launched its very first hardware product, the Surface tablet, and released three versions of its operating system: Window 8 RT, for tablets with ARM chips including the Surface; Window 8; and Windows 8 Pro for PCs.</p> <P> <p>To catch up to Apple and Google, it appears that Microsoft has changed its PC-focused strategy for the mobile workforce, but the company hasn't traditionally appealed to the BYOD crowd and consumers, which are the driving forces behind IT departments' decisions.</p> <P> <p>The older generation has an almost nostalgic feeling about Microsoft, hopeful that the new Surface tablet and Windows 8 will make Microsoft cool again and save it from becoming irrelevant. I'm less certain that Microsoft can have the same effect on my generation and the ones that follow--we who started our careers in the mobile era. We love iPhones, iPads, and Android phones and tablets so much that we expect to use them at work, and we get frustrated by clunky enterprise software.</p> <P> <p>That's why the major challenge for Microsoft is appealing to the BYOD crowd. Microsoft will have to sell its software and Surface tablet to consumers in such a way that they will demand that IT lets them work on the devices, in the same way the iPad and iPhone forced IT to allow more than just the Blackberry in the work place.</p> <P> <p>I currently use a company-issued iPhone 4S; a personal iPhone 4 (and I'm waiting on an iPhone 5 to arrive in the mail); my own MacBook Pro; and a work-issued MacBook Pro. As an Apple user, it's hard to get excited about the Microsoft Surface and Windows 8 announcements. But undeniably, they could shake up Apple's lead and Android's growing position in the mobile computing era. But how big is the appetite for Microsoft?</p> <P> <p>"BYOD is a huge trend, not a flavor of the week," said Bay McLaughlin, former startup and venture evangelist at Apple. "Technology is shifting to consumer in a big way and it's dictating how IT groups must work. Tim Cook cited a staggering statistic that about 94% of the Fortune 500 are currently testing or have deployed iOS in their companies. Apple has years of work laid in front of Microsoft ... so it's not just consumer, it's also partnership with IT departments and hands-on help for testing and deployment."</p> <P> <p>One of the driving forces of consumerization of IT is the thriving app ecosystem in the Apple App Store. The main complaint about Microsoft's mobile solutions is that the apps can't match those in the Apple store. That is going to be a stumbling block for adoption if Microsoft continues to shift its focus to be consumer centric. For instance, the Surface tablet doesn't even come with the Facebook's app.</p> <P> <p>Surface with Windows 8, as opposed to the ARM-based Windows RT, can access Apple's iTunes because it can run the iTunes Windows application in desktop mode. But in the new UI, Microsoft is pushing Xbox music, video and games, so it has to hope it can drive users to a new system. At Thursday's announcement Microsoft showed how Surface users with an Xbox console at home can transfer the video they are watching on the tablet to the TV through the Xbox with one touch. Surface users also get free streaming access to 30 million songs on Xbox music. (This, along with <a target="_blank" href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-25/apple-s-online-radio-service-to-challenge-pandora-in-2013.html">Apple's plans to launch an iTunes streaming music service</a>, is bad news for Pandora.)</p> <P> <p>As for developers, it makes sense to develop for Windows 8. The apps work on the PC, too, and if enterprises adopt Surface or Windows Phone 8, developers will enjoy massive adoption of their app.</p> <P> <p>At $499, the price of the Surface is also an issue. IDC analyst Bob O'Donnell has complained to various media outlets that the Surface is too expensive. But the price isn't the selling point, it's the features. On the software side of things, businesses would have to upgrade Windows 7 to Windows 8 and it's not clear at this point how many companies are planning on doing that. If you compare the Windows upgrade rate to that of Apple's iOS 6 and Mountain Lion operating systems, Windows is a little bit behind.</p> <P> <p>The old licensing model is dying, so selling directly to enterprise companies might not work in the long run for Microsoft. How are mobile device management (MDM) software vendors going to adapt to the Windows 8 operating system or the Surface? How will the enterprises react? Only time will tell.</p> <P> <p>Microsoft's SkyDrive cloud storage service has a chance to sync together the PCs with the mobile phones and tablets. One of the main reasons why consumers like owning MacBook Pros, iPads, and iPhones is that they all sync up together through iCloud, making it easy to connect to each other. Microsoft will have to convince the public that all its new products are reliable and better than what is currently out there. Then again, if the IT guys start buying in on this, and roll out the devices en masse, then employees will have no choice but to use IT-blessed services.</p> <P> <p>But BYOD seems to be more than the flavor of the day, and shows no signs of subsiding. "I think Microsoft is getting hip to the customization angle that entices consumers to buy with the cover colors and their new commercials, but again, they're years and years behind at this point," said McLaughlin. "It's impossible to cite one thing that Microsoft could tackle and really tip this. They'd have to truly fight a multi-sided war and be good at all of them. This is not really in Microsoft's history, but hey, there's always the chance right?" </p> <P> <p>It does seem that Microsoft is in a unique position to gain some popularity, however, as corporations try to save money by allowing employees to bring their own devices. Microsoft will have to try much harder to appeal to consumers and get them to proudly bring in a Surface to work instead of an iPad.</p>2012-10-22T17:43:00ZSay goodbye to privacy: In the future, advertisers, app makers, the government, and even our employers might be able to assess our personalities and react based on what we do with our phones.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/240009342?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<p>Think Siri is a little spooky? Then you won't like contextual intelligence, a capability researchers are working on to make phones too smart for their own good. </p> <P> <p>Oliver Brdiczka, a manager at PARC, is working on contextual intelligence. The research, he hopes, will allow enterprises and the government to use data that is accumulated as we use our mobile phones. The data mined from our email messages, Facebook conversations, and sensors in the phone can be used for a variety of purposes, including intelligence, marketing and app design, even employee relations. In other words, owning a smart phone with this capability will be like having a spy ratting out your thoughts to the government.</p> <P> <P><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/commentary/2012-Oct/PARC_photo.png" /> <P> <p>For instance, PARC is working on a project that predicts a person's personality through their online behavior. The idea, Brdiczka said, is to market this data to enterprises, who want to know people's intent for targeted advertising or developing content customization. </p> <P> <P>Psychological models also can be extracted from the sentiment of emails and conversations on Facebook, noted Brdiczka. The government could use this information to determine if people are depressed or suicidal or have malicious intent.</p> <P> <p>In one study Brdiczka recently conducted, "Inferring Personality of Online Gamers by Fusing Multiple-View Predictions," researchers used data from World of Warcraft to study players' online behavior. They looked at five personality traits: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness. Using 1,040 game players from WoW forums and social media sites such as Twitter, the researchers found some interesting behaviors. Men tended to die by falling in the game. That trend, Brdiczka said, is associated with risk taking. Females, on the other hand, tend to give more hugs and communicate more in the game.</p> <P> <p>Activity level even can help predict levels of happiness, said Brdiczka. Unhappy people "get much less expressive, so the amount of sentiment goes down--both positive and negative," he said. "This isn't very obvious to the observer. However, this responsiveness is the highest indicator of a behavior."</p> <P> <p>The government could use such information to identify depressed troops, and companies could use it to determine if employees are unhappy. Instead of losing those restless employees to competitors, companies could predict their mood and take preventive action.</p> <P> <p>On the commercial side, advertisers could use the data to give themselves an edge. With a better understanding of potential customers, they could customize ads so they're more likely to be perceived as recommendations than advertisements.</p> <P> <p>"The biggest hurdle today is the silo of information," said Brdiczka, present in Google, LinkedIn and Twitter. "If there was a service to unify this, it could have a lot of commercial value because you have a phone that can draw a lot of conclusions." </p> <P> <p>Brdiczka believes that eventually contextual intelligence capabilities will be built into operating systems and will be able to assist users more than Siri can today. "It may be seen as obtrusive, but it would find out the best way to interact. It will figure out the personality of the person and figure out how to interact with them," he said.</p> <P> <p>Startups such as Cue already are making phones smarter by searching Facebook, Twitter, and emails for places and dates, and putting them on the calendar for you.</p> <P> <p>"Imagine a device that immediately lights up when you hold it in your hand and offers you the five most likely things you were going to do next: call your co-worker, drive to the meeting you're about to have, book a dinner or catch up on that article that you wanted to read," said Cue CEO Daniel Gross. "We'll be able to breathe life into our current phones, which currently only do things when we explicitly tell them every detail of what we want to do."</p> <P> <p>Does anybody really want a phone this smart?</p> <P> <p>"I do indeed believe this is something we want," said Gross.&#160;"Ultimately, I think we all aspire to a similar virtue: to live our life to its fullest, and to spend our time in the best way possible. It's technology's purpose to unlock that kind of experience for all of us."</p> <P> <p>Maybe so, but if this technology becomes mainstream, I hope for the sake of privacy that consumers have the option to turn it off.<p>2012-10-17T16:30:00ZAmazon's new Whispercast for Kindle is expected to help schools and companies buy and distribute apps, books, and other content across a number of Amazon devices. The tool also includes some mobile device management capabilities.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/240009255?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<p>Amazon announced today its free tool Whispercast for Kindle, which gives school and business administrators a way to deploy and manage content at scale on Kindle devices and Kindle reading apps on the iPad, iPhone, Android phones and tablets, PCs, and Macs. Users typically download their own Kindle content. Now, administrators can deploy content to students and employees who are using a Kindle device.</p> <P> <center><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/commentary/2012-Aug/curtis-twoboys_JPR._V393624569_.jpg" /></center> <P> <p>IT should like <a target="_blank" href="https://whispercast.amazon.com/">Whispercast</a> because it gives it a way to centrally manage Kindle devices. It also saves time registering Kindles, and setting up Internet access, and allows IT to block Facebook and Twitter and other functions on the Kindle, much like mobile device management (MDM) tools for smart phones and tablets. The Whispercast tool also allows for massive deployment of device settings including Wi-Fi network and proxy settings, password requirements, and device restrictions. That's on the management side.</p> <P> <p>Coming soon is a <a target="_blank" href="https://whispercast.amazon.com/info/byod/?ref=amb_link_360125922_3&">Bring Your Own Device program from Amazon</a>. Previously the Kindle was designed and marketed purely as a consumer device, but Amazon is working to make it more amenable to business use. Obviously, having an enterprise play can bring in a lot more money when the devices are bought in bulk and content is sold at scale.</p> <P> <p>On the distribution side of things, Whispercast allows for content to be wirelessly purchased and distributed as Kindle books on a number of devices including the iPad, iPhone, and any Kindle device. It also can make it easy to send content to a specific grade level or send a document to a department within the company.</p> <P> <p>In addition, Whispercast supports distribution of applications from the Amazon App store for Android. The apps in the Apple App Store tend to rely on third-party vendors to manage the mobile devices or deploy enterprise applications at scale--usually at a cost, too. The iPad certainly paved the way for technology in the classroom and in businesses; however, with Amazon's move into the space, schools might find less-expensive Kindles preferable to iPads.</p> <P> <p>Amazon's focus at this point is the distribution of content, not apps. This probably means that the applications it envisions are technical manuals, marketing literature, and books that are required reading in classrooms. Clearwater High School was able to manage content for 2,000 individuals. Curtis Fundamental Elementary school in Florida used e-readers to distribute books to entire classrooms within minutes.</p> <P> <p>This seems to show that with devices so powerful, their eventual use in businesses can change a company's efforts to claim that they are consumer devices.</p> <P> <center><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/commentary/2012-Aug/uganda-launch-compressed_JPR._V393624574_.jpg" /></center> <P> <p>Besides educational uses, Amazon sees this as a chance to break into businesses and non-profit organizations. For instance, Worldreader used Whispercast to distribute 200,000 books to students in sub-Saharan Africa. With numbers like this, a tool like Whispercast might be what Amazon needs to whip past iPads as the dominant tool in classrooms. </p> <P> <p>Whispercast will work on Kindle e-readers and Kindle Fire tablets including Kindle, Kindle Paperwhite, Kindle Paperwhite 3G, Kindle Fire, Kindle Fire HD 7", Kindle Fire HD 8.9", and Kindle Fire 8.9" 4G LTE, Kindle Keyboard 3G, and previous generations of Kindle.</p>2012-10-17T12:00:00ZIf you are a small business owner who is clueless about cyber security risks, you're not alone. BYTE spoke to Visa's chief enterprise risk officer to find out 5 things you should know about, so you don't become a fool when you accept payments in our increasingly digital and mobile world.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/240009082?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<p>When starting a small business, the last thing on your mind is probably fending off hackers and cyber criminals. You're not alone. Many businesses believe their data is safe--but don't have security policies in place. </p> <P> <p>Seventy-seven percent of small business owners in the U.S. think their company is safe from cyber criminals, according to a recent study conducted by the National Cyber Security Alliance and Symantec. However, 83% said they don't have a cyber security plan in place. </p> <P> <p>Cyber threats can come from outside organizations, or from within companies when an employee or ex-employee steals data. Small business owners take on a different set of risks when they accept debit and credit card payments over the Internet, said Ellen Richey, chief enterprise risk officer for Visa, Inc. Richey said businesses can be the target of thieves attempting to steal information from their systems, or they can be fooled indirectly when fraudsters steal information from a different merchant and use that information to make purchases. <P> <p>Consumers also can be at risk, especially if they are posting information on social networks. Cyber criminals can use the information that is publicly available to socially engineer their way into the consumer's account, said Richey.</p> <P> <p>Richey gave <a target="_blank" href="http://www.visasecuritysense.com/en_US/for-retailers.jsp">5 tips for establishing a cyber security policy</a>: <ol><li>Not knowing what data you even have and where it is can put you at risk. Know the who, what, where, of your sensitive data and what kind of payment data you actually have, where it is, and who has access to it. This makes it possible to establish where risks are.</li> <li>If you don't need the data, don't keep it. Companies tend to store payment information on laptops. They might even allow employees to access it on their own devices, which becomes more likely with the BYOD trend. However, there are cloud services available for payments and encryption. For instance, Visa is coming out with a way to store secure data, including a point-to-point service and a tokenization service. </li> <li>Outsourcing a secure solution provider can often introduce a vulnerability. For instance, if a company hires a sales person from an outside company, that person might come in and install the payment application on the computer system--without changing the password. The most common mistake is leaving in place the default password. The confusion arises because the project has been outsourced to a reseller, and it's not clear who is responsible for tasks such as changing passwords.</li> <li>Use secure devices and applications when accepting payments. Visa maintains a list of those gadgets on its website where small business owners can check to see what meets the standard. </li> <li>For payments, there are certain practices and tools that small business owners can use for verification. These include the code on the back of the credit card, and an address verification. Companies can even install a physical space upgrade to EMV chip technology that will allow consumers <a target="_blank" href="http://blog.visa.com/2012/08/13/chip-card-london/">to pay with smart cards</a>. </li></ol></p> <P> <p>"We at Visa want to make security important to small businesses by getting data out of their system," Richey said, by moving to a dynamic data system. That way, even if a cyber criminal stole a card number, the person still couldn't use it to commit fraud. </p> <P> <p>"If we had that fully in place that would reduce the opportunity to commit fraud because small businesses wouldn't have valuable data anymore. In the future, only the big aggregators of data--like Visa itself--will have vulnerable data," Richey said. </p> <P> <p>As more consumers begin making payments with Square and new mobile forms of payment, Richey said, it produces new types of risks. </p> <P> <p>"At a high level, the challenges are technical. Mobile phones aren't a secure, payment system--payment information needs to be in a segregated section of the phone; it can't be in the same space as any old application that a consumer can download. The other is an environmental challenge. Unlike a traditional terminal, a mobile phone is traveling all over the place and can be lost or fall into the wrong hands," Richey said.</p> <P> <p>That said, the mobile phone also presents an opportunity to become more secure, she added. For instance, using near field communications (NFC) technology in the phone to make payments is much more secure than depending on the magnetic strip on a credit card. Many Android and Windows Phones support NFC, but Apple chose not to include it in the iPhone 5.</p> <P> <p>Beyond education and awareness of small business owners, technology can help close the gap in security and payment systems. For instance, Intel recently announced a partnership with Mastercard that will <a target="_blank" href="http://www.nfcworld.com/2011/11/14/311284/intel-enters-nfc-market-with-mastercard/">implement PayPass NFC technology in its Ultrabooks</a>, allowing users to make online payments by tapping a card or their phone on their ultrabook. Also, Facebook has a system that allows you to use two devices for authentication. If only the payment systems would catch up to this.</p> <P> <p>The pieces to solve the identification problem are out there. All that's left is putting the pieces together. </p>2012-10-16T06:40:00ZGood Technology announced two new products today, flowing from their Copiun acquisition, that give employees more ways to collaborate on the go, expanding beyond email to instant messaging and file sharing.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/240009087?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<p>In September, Good announced its acquisition of Copiun, as a bold move into the collaboration space. The Copiun TrustShare product has been re-branded as <a target="_blank" href="http://www1.good.com/products/good-share">Good Share</a>, which will enable file sharing within Good Technology's secure environment. </p> <P> <p><div style="margin:0; padding: 0 0 5px 5px; width:190px; float:right; text-align:center;"><a target="_blank" href="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/news/2012-Oct/Good-Share-Big.png"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/news/2012-Oct/Good-Share-180.png" alt="Good Share" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" /></a></div>Good Share allows workers to collaborate and gives IT the option of requiring a five-digit passcode. It also uses military-grade AES encryption for transmitting and storing data. There's also an option to erase stored documents automatically through a connection timeout or remote wipe. </p> <P> <p>Good also announced an instant messaging service called Good Connect, so employees can send instant messages to co-workers while on the road, or email them directly if they are not online. Basically, when employees are in Good, Good wants them to stay there (for good).</p> <P> <p>Chris Webber, a senior product marketing manager at Good, said that even he has his own iPhone, so Good supports the BYOD trend.</p> <P> <p> Webber said when the mobile devices aren't secure, IT folks are worried because of the app store and different applications that can be downloaded onto the devices, especially when workers are trying to do work in Dropbox and Evernote. </p> <P> <p>"They are seeing all they need to do is get out in front of this and provide an end-to-end workflow, to get back into the drivers seat and extend their understanding of network security across 3G and 4G networks," Webber said.</p> <P> <p>It's the difference between enabling a BYOD solution and not. It's not just for email and documents, but extends to instant messages, Webber said, and with all the new collaboration tools available through Good, IT folks can take charge again.</p>2012-10-12T12:58:00ZJive moves into the cloud and empowers social, mobile workers with new announcements, including a partnership with Box. What does the BYOD and consumerization of IT mean for the future of collaboration?http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/240008987?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<p>At <a target="_blank" href="http://www.jivesoftware.com/jiveworld">JiveWorld 2012</a> in Las Vegas, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.jivesoftware.com/">Jive Software</a> made moves in the social collaboration space, announcing a partnership with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.box.com/">Box</a>, a new training sales team productivity application, and a public and private cloud software called Jive 6.</p> <P> <img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/commentary/2012-Aug/Box_jive.png" /> <P> <p>For example, the Box partnership will allow users to access Jive through the Box Embed feature (which we described earlier <a target="_blank" href="http://www.informationweek.com/byte/personal-tech/mobile-applications/box-adds-editing-search-capabilities/240008741">here</a>). Employees can also access files stored in Box via Jive and sync documents across both platforms. The service will be available in the first quarter of 2013, and will allow mobile workers to collaborate more securely.</p> <P> <p>Jive CEO Tony Zingale told BYTE that Jive's focus on the web, social, and mobile -- and the fact that they consider collaboration from inside and outside the organization, is what makes their products unique -- compared to Microsoft, Salesforce, and smaller players like Lithium. </p> <P> <p>Jive is a 12 year old company and went public last year. The company started as an external discussion forum has grown to 500 employees. Its social applications can be accessed through a browser and hosted in a public or private cloud. Jive also offers HTML 5 apps and a native version for iOS. Zingale said Jive creates external customer communities and also develops an employee-facing collaboration system. </p> <P> <p>According to Jive, 16% of employees in the enterprise are using tablets, but they expect that will increase to nearly 50% in the next five years. Not surprisingly, 65% of the tablets used will be iPads. 96 million tablets will be used in the enterprise, mainly to help sales people sell more and be more productive.</p> <P> <p>"What we are seeing is enterprises retooling, looking for new paradigms through social, mobility, cloud, and big data. Knowledge workers use social and mobile, which presents a big data challenge. BYOD is growing and accelerating social collaboration capabilities," Zingale said, "but collaborating must be done in a secure way and the companies need to know how to handle big data. People are using services like Dropbox and IT organizations struggle with that," he said. </p> <P> <p>"We see a lot of organizations trying to shut down applications that are not controlled by the company. It is disruptive in an enterprise perspective," Zingale said. </p> <P> <p>For example, PricewaterhouseCoopers deployed Jive's software to 100,000 of its employees. The IT organization was involved and used third party applications that can secure and back up the data.</p> <P> <p>As far as the future of working goes, Zingale said: "I think it becomes the normal way that work gets done. Enterprise retools and becomes more consumerized to reflect how we live our lives [at home]. We are always plugged in. I think what we will see is that the workforce will morph." </p> <P> "We will no longer will see a 25-person email with a Powerpoint attached. We are going to see a shift in how work gets done and it will mirror how our personal lives got shifted. Work will feel like it does when we are booking an airline reservation or when we are looking up a restaurant review in Yelp," he added.</p>2012-10-11T15:32:00ZPC shipments are down 8%, according to Gartner, because more consumers are choosing tablets and smartphones. Only 87.5 million PCs were sold in the third quarter of 2012.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/240008918?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<p>PCs sales are down, probably because consumers are spending their money on tablets and smartphones instead. According to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=2194017">a Gartner preliminary report</a>, only 87.5 million PCs were sold in the third quarter of 2012, which is 8% down from the third quarter in 2011.</p> <P> <p>Sales this time of year normally are driven by back-to-school shoppers, noted Gartner, but that wasn't the case this quarter. Acer and Toshiba especially suffered due to the poor consumer market. Even Apple saw a 6% decline. Lenovo was the only vendor to see an increase.</p> <P> <p>Here's what the U.S. PC shipment estimates look like:</p> <P> <img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/briefs/gartner-US-2012Q3-PC-Shipments.png" /> <P> <p>"The lack of appeal and innovation in PCs, combined with a challenging economic environment, led the consumer spend to move to other devices," Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner, said in a statment.</p>