InformationWeek Stories by Jake Widman

InformationWeek Stories by Jake Widmanhttp://www.informationweek.comInformationWeeken-usCopyright 2012, UBM LLC.2011-11-04T10:00:00Z20 Multifunction Printers For Workgroups Multifunction printers, devices that print, copy, scan, and fax, are growing in popularity for workgroups. Here are 20 worth considering.http://www.informationweek.com/news/231902275?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Networking/Comm_smbMultifunction printers--MFPs for short--are becoming increasingly popular. From 3Q 2009 to 3Q 2010, according to IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker, sales of color laser MFPs--machines that print, copy, scan, and fax--grew 21%. And last March, the research firm said in a release that "Overall, the worldwide hardcopy market continues to aggressively transition away from single function into the multifunction space." Not all of those are enterprise-class machines, of course. Consumer-grade MFPs have found a place in many homes and home offices. But the appeal is the same for the enterprise or SMB workgroup--combining four functions in one device saves money, space, and support costs. The challenge is to identify the right machine for your needs since just about every MFP vendor provides the basics. If all you care about is the basics, then price and vendor reputation and stability may be important factors for you to consider. Many IT managers view multifunction printers as commodities, but you will discover that some offer advanced or unique features that should be reviewed to see if they fit your needs or whether you are willing to pay extra for those features. Service and reliability are always important factors. But just what is an "enterprise-class" MFP? It's hard to say. Printers are distributed throughout a site on a departmental or workgroup basis. So in identifying these 20 choices, we looked at their capabilities relative to where they might be deployed. We took into account duty cycle (the number of sheets the printer is rated to be able to churn out a month), paper handling capacity, print speed, and other factors that would take the device out of the home/home office realm. Must-have features includes an automatic document feeder (ADF) for multi-sheet copying and scanning; duplex printing (printing both sides of the sheet); and advanced networking capabilities.Billed as "the world's fastest all-in-one"--by which they mean among inkjets, for 2-sided printing--the <a href="http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/jsp/Product.do?sku=C11CA97201#">WorkForce 840</a> boasts Epson's instant-dry DuraBrite Ultra ink and high-capacity black cartridges for fewer ink changes. With its wireless capabilities, the WorkForce 840 can also print directly from iPhones, BlackBerrys, and other mobile devices. Printing technology: inkjet Price: $299 Paper capacity: 500 sheets Paper trays: 2 Duplex printing: Yes Automatic Document Feeder: 30 sheets Monthly duty cycle: N/A B&W print speed: 15ppm; 7.4 ppm duplex Color print speed: 9.3 ppm; 5.4 duplex Max. print resolution: 5760 x 1440 optimized Scan resolution: 1200x1200, 9600x9600 interpolated Fax memory: Up to 180 pages Speed Dials: 60 Connectivity options: USB 2.0, Wi-Fi, 10/100 Mbps Ethernet Best for: Small to midsize workgroups needing high-quality colorThe venerable office equipment manufacturer delivers a well-rounded option in the <a href="http://www.brother-usa.com/MFC/modeldetail.aspx?PRODUCTID=MFC9970CDW">MFC-9970CDW</a>. It's possible to get high-yield toner cartridges to lower your cost of consumables. You can also use the Brother iPrint&Scan iOS and Android app for wireless printing of JPEGs and PDFs as well as wireless scanning to mobile devices. Printing technology: laser Price: $699.99 Paper capacity: 350 sheets Paper trays: 1, plus 1 50-sheet multipurpose tray Duplex printing: Yes Automatic Document Feeder: 50 pages Monthly duty cycle: 60,000 B&W print speed: 30 ppm Color print speed: 30 ppm Max. print resolution: 2400x600 Scan resolution: 1200x2400; 19,200x19,200 interpolated Fax memory: up to 500 pages Speed Dials: 340 Connectivity options: WiFi, 10/100 Base-TX Ethernet, USB Best for: Small to midsize workgroupSpeedy and compact, the <a href="http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF06b/18972-18972-238444-14638-3328086-3709253-3709257-3709259.html">LaserJet CM3530fs</a> is suited to a relatively small group that does a lot of short-run printing. HP touts its "instant-on" feature that, the company claims, lets it complete a 3-5-page job in 40% less time than average. It also has a built-in stapler. Printing technology: laser Price: $2,999.00 Paper capacity: 350 sheets Paper trays: 1, plus 1 100-sheet multipurpose Duplex printing: Yes Automatic Document Feeder: 50-sheet Monthly duty cycle: 75,000 B&W print speed: 31 ppm Color print speed: 31 ppm Max. print resolution: 1200x600 Scan resolution: 600 Fax Speed: N/A Fax memory: N/A Speed Dials: 100 Connectivity options: USB, HP Jetdirect embedded print server for connecting to a 10/100Base-TX network Best for: Small to midsize workgroup, high demandIn addition to its wireless networking capability, the Brother <a href="http://www.brother-usa.com/MFC/ModelDetail.aspx?ProductID=MFCJ6910dw">MFC-J6910DW</a> also comes with embedded Web support. It uses Super High Yield ink cartridges that print up to 2,400 black and 1,200 color pages before needing replacement. It can also scan and print up to 11-x-17-inch documents. Printing technology: inkjet Price: $349.99 Paper capacity: 500 sheets Paper trays: 2 Duplex printing: Yes Automatic Document Feeder: 35 sheets Monthly duty cycle: 5,000 B&W print speed: 35 ppm, 27 in fast mode Color print speed: 12 ppm, 10 in fast mode Max. print resolution: 6000x1200 Scan resolution: 2400x2400 Fax memory: 400 sheets Speed Dials: 200 Connectivity options: WiFi, (Ethernet) Best for: small workgroupOki packs a lot of functionality into the <a href="http://www.okidata.com/mkt/html/nf/MFP.php?sku=62429007">CX3641 MFP</a> even before you connect it to a computer. Its touch screen lets users scan documents, edit them, and distribute them to network folders, email addresses, or FTP sites, all from the MFP. It also supports virtual printers--preset printing configurations specifying color matching, media selection, and more that can be automatically applied to a print job. Printing technology: laser Price: contact dealer Paper capacity: 2,350 sheets Paper trays: 2, plus 230-sheet manual feed Duplex printing: Yes Automatic Document Feeder: 100 sheets Monthly duty cycle: 150,000 B&W print speed: 40 ppm Color print speed: 36 ppm Max. print resolution: 1200x1200 Scan resolution: 600x600 Fax memory: N/A Speed Dials: N/A Connectivity options: USB, OkiLAN 10/100 Base-T Internal Ethernet Print Server Best for: Large workgroupsAnother inkjet, the <a href="http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF06b/18972-18972-3328064-12004-3328083-3709253-3709254-3709255.html">Officejet Pro 8500A</a> promises to save up to 50% on the cost of a color page compared to a laser printer. It also uses up to 80% less supplies by weight, claims HP. Its wireless connectivity means you can print "from anywhere, anytime" using a mobile device. Printing technology: thermal inkjet Price: $499.99 Paper capacity: 500 sheets Paper trays: 2 Duplex printing: Yes Automatic Document Feeder: 50 sheets Monthly duty cycle: 15,000 B&W print speed: 35ppm draft, 15ppm full Color print speed: 34 ppm draft, 11 ppm full Max. print resolution: 1200x1200 black, 4800x1200 optimized color (on HP Advanced Photo Paper) Scan resolution: 4800 Fax memory: 100 pages Speed Dials: 75 Connectivity options: USB 2.0, Ethernet, WiFi Best for: midsize workgroupsThe <a href="http://www.okidata.com/mkt/html/nf/MFP.php?sku=62431502">Oki CX2633 MFP</a> can handle tabloid-size scanning and printing--Oki claims it's the most compact and affordable wide-format MFP available. It can also print on media ranging from 3-x-5-inch cards to 4-foot-long banners, and the scanner can handle mixed-size originals. The operator panel lets you save scans to a networked PC, a mounted folder, or a USB device, or send them via fax or e-mail. Printing technology: laser/LED Price: Contact dealer Paper capacity: 400 Paper trays: 1, plus 1 100-sheet multipurpose tray Duplex printing: Yes Automatic Document Feeder: 50 letter-size or 25 tabloid sheets Monthly duty cycle: 75,000 B&W print speed: 33 ppm Color print speed: 26 ppm Max. print resolution: 1200x600 Scan resolution: 600 Fax memory: 1,024 pages Speed Dials: 500 Connectivity options: USB 2.0, parallel (printer only) and Ethernet 10/100 Base-T connectivity Best for: mid to large workgroupsCanon bills the <a href="http://usa.canon.com/cusa/office/products/hardware/multifunction_printers_copiers/imageRUNNER_ADVANCE_Series/imagerunner_advance_c5051">ImageRunner Advance C5051</a> as being suitable for small departments and workgroups, but its specs make that sound like an understatement. It's high-speed and high-capacity on both the scanning and the printing end. Canon's Access Management System supports user-based or role-based permissions to limit device access by function, and you can embed tracking information in a document to catch unauthorized copies. Printing technology: laser Price: $18,500 Paper capacity: 1,100m Paper trays: 2, plus 100-sheet Stack Bypass Duplex printing: Yes Automatic Document Feeder: 150 sheets Monthly duty cycle: N/A B&W print speed: 51 ppm Color print speed: 51 ppm Max. print resolution: 1200x1200 Scan resolution: 600x600 Fax memory: 6,000 pages Speed Dials: Connectivity options: USB, 10/100/1000Base-TX Ethernet Best for: Medium to large departments and workgroupsThe <a href="http://usa.canon.com/cusa/office/products/hardware/multifunction_printers_copiers/imageRUNNER_ADVANCE_Series/imagerunner_advance_c7065">ImageRunner Advance C7065</a> would be enough for any large workgroup's printing and scanning needs. It provides two menus for streamlined workflow: a main menu for access to system functions, and a quick menu for customized combinations of routine actions. It also features Advanced Box, which lets you store files and access them from networked PCs or even other networked ImageRunner Advance MFPs. Printing technology: laser Price: $35,000 Paper capacity: 3,300 sheets Paper trays: 2 drawers, 2 cassettes, plus 1 100-sheet Stack Bypass Duplex printing: Yes Automatic Document Feeder: 300 sheets Monthly duty cycle: N/A B&W print speed: 65 ppm Color print speed: 60 ppm Max. print resolution: 1200x1200 Scan resolution: 600x600 Fax memory: 10 GB Speed Dials: N/A Connectivity options: USB, 10/100/1000Base-TX Ethernet Best for: Large workgroupsAt the other end of the scale from the ImageRunner Advance models, Canon's Color <a href="http://usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/products/printers_multifunction/color_laser_multifunction/color_imageclass_mf9220cdn">ImageClass MF9220Cdn</a> puts some high-end features into a modest-size system. Among them is Canon's User ID Management, which lets you monitor and restrict printout put by user. It also supports LDAP for sending scanned documents to networked users. Printing technology: laser Price: $1,495 Paper capacity: 350 sheets Paper trays: 1, plus 1 100-sheet multipurpose Duplex printing: Yes Automatic Document Feeder: 50 sheets Monthly duty cycle: 65,000 B&W print speed: 22 ppm Color print speed: 22 ppm Max. print resolution: 600x600 Scan resolution: 600x600 Fax memory: 1,000 sheets Speed Dials: 200 Connectivity options: USB Device 2.0 Hi-Speed, 10/100 Base-T Ethernet (Network) Best for: small to medium workgroupsThe main attraction of the <a href="http://www.office.xerox.com/product-resources/6400/X/enus.html">WorkCenter 6400/X</a> is its various workflow smoothing features. For example, it lets you copy, scan, and fax even while it's printing other jobs; it also supports "Print Around," which means that a print job that's held up for some reason won't block the entire print queue. It can send scans to email addresses or to a file server. Printing technology: laser Price: $3,999 Paper capacity: 600 sheets Paper trays: 1, plus 100-sheet multipurpose; extra trays optional Duplex printing: Yes Automatic Document Feeder: 50 sheets Monthly duty cycle: 120,000 B&W print speed: 37 ppm Color print speed: 32 ppm Max. print resolution: 2400x600 Scan resolution: 600x600 Fax memory: N/A Speed Dials: 200 Connectivity options: USB (for print only), 10/100/1000 Base-TX Ethernet Best for: Medium size workgroupsThe <a href="http://www.office.xerox.com/multifunction-printer/color-multifunction/phaser-6180mfp/enus.html">Phaser 6180MFP/D</a> is part of Xerox's line of solid-ink printers, which means it doesn't use ink cartridges or toner. Rather, it prints with melted crayon-like blocks, which makes reloading ink easier than with other types of printers. Since the solid ink sits on top of the printed surface, it also means that color is more consistent across media and pages. (It also means the ink can be scraped off the printed surface, so some care is required.) Printing technology: solid ink Price: $949 Paper capacity: 400 sheets Paper trays: 2 Duplex printing: Yes Automatic Document Feeder: 50 Monthly duty cycle: 60,000 B&W print speed: 31 ppm Color print speed: 20 ppm Max. print resolution: 2400x2400 Scan resolution: 600x600 Fax memory: N/A Speed Dials: 200 Connectivity options: 10/100Base-TX Ethernet, USB Best for: Best for high usage for small to medium jobsRicoh's Aficio printers have long been known for their high-quality color reproduction, and the <a href="http://www.ricoh-usa.com/products/product_details.aspx?cid=8&scid=5&pid=1284">MP C5000</a> continues in that tradition. In can print on up to 12-x-18-inch paper and up to 140# card stock. It has a built-in server for storing documents to print on demand, and an optional Mail-to-Print feature that lets you print a PDF or JPEG attachment via email. Printing technology: laser Price: $19,300 Paper capacity: 1,200 sheets Paper trays: 2, plus 1 100-sheet Bypass Tray Duplex printing: Yes Automatic Document Feeder: 100 sheets Monthly duty cycle: 500,000 B&W print speed: 50 ppm Color print speed: 50 ppm Max. print resolution: 1200x1200 Scan resolution: 600x600 Fax memory: 320 pages Speed Dials: 2,000 Connectivity options: 10Base-T/100Base-TX Ethernet, USB Best for: Large workgroups, high demand, high qualityThe <a href="http://www.ricoh-usa.com/products/product_details.aspx?cid=8&scid=5&pid=1931">Aficio MP C400SR</a> is a capable MFP on specs, but its special appeal is its compact size--only 21.7 x 22.4 x 28 inches in its basic configuration. But for all that, it contains a Document Server that can hold up to 3,000 documents for quick retrieval and sharing. It also supports Ricoh's Embedded Software Architecture for creating custom workflows and automating standard processes. Printing technology: laser Price: $7,200 Paper capacity: 650 sheets Paper trays: 1, plus 1 100-sheet bypass tray Duplex printing: Yes Automatic Document Feeder: 50 sheets Monthly duty cycle: N/A B&W print speed: 42 ppm Color print speed: 42 ppm Max. print resolution: 1200x1200 (600x600 for PCL5c) Scan resolution: 600x600 Fax memory: 320 pages Speed Dials: 2,000 Connectivity options: USB, 10/100Base-TX Ethernet Best for: smaller workgroupsLexmark has designed its <a href="http://www1.lexmark.com/US/en/catalog/product.jsp?prodId=6591&catId=cat170005&_requestid=1234506">X548dte</a> for midsize workgroups who are most interested in straightforward productivity. You can distribute a scanned image to one of up to 30 personal or network folders, and store forms and other materials on the hard disk for on-demand printing. Lexmark Rewards members benefit from the Lifetime Pricing Guarantee that the cost of toner for their printer will stay the same for as long as they own it. Printing technology: laser Price: $1,749 Paper capacity: 900 sheets Paper trays: 2, plus 1 100-sheet bypass feeder Duplex printing: Yes Automatic Document Feeder: 50 pages Monthly duty cycle: 85,000 B&W print speed: 25 ppm Color print speed: 25 ppm Max. print resolution: 1200x1200 Scan resolution: 300x300 color, 600x600 black Fax memory: N/A Speed Dials: N/A Connectivity options: USB, 10/100/1000 BaseT Ethernet Best for: midsize workgroupsWith the <a href="http://www1.lexmark.com/US/en/view/Printers%20&%20MultiFunction/Lexmark-X945e/catId=cat170005-category&prodId=4082-product">X945e</a>, Lexmark has focused on capacity first and foremost. You can load it with up to 3,140 sheets of paper, which it can churn through at up to 45 pages a minute. The scanner can send documents to email, FTP, network, a USB drive, or the fax. The company claims that you'll get 13,000 black pages and 12,000 color pages out of the toner cartridges it ships with, with replacement cartridges offering nearly two and three times that capacity. Printing technology: laser Price: $18,999 Paper capacity: 3,140 sheets Paper trays: 4, plus 100-sheet bypass feeder Duplex printing: Yes Automatic Document Feeder: 75 pages Monthly duty cycle: 200,000 B&W print speed: 45 ppm Color print speed: 40 ppm Max. print resolution: "2400 image quality" Scan resolution: 300x300 color, 600x600 black Fax memory: N/A Speed Dials: N/A Connectivity options: USB, 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet Best for: large workgroups, departmentDell makes higher-capacity multifunction printers than the <a href="http://www.dell.com/us/en/enterprise/peripherals/print_3115cn/pd.aspx?refid=print_3115cn&s=biz&cs=555">Color Laser 3115cn</a>, but only in black and white. This system, while not suitable for a large department, will easily serve a small to midsize workgroup that needs color reproduction. It's particularly good as a modest document management front end, with the bundled Nuance PaperPort 10 software. The ColorTrack feature lets you create user or department accounts and enable or restrict printing options per account. Printing technology: laser Price: $899.99 Paper capacity: 400 sheets Paper trays: 2 Duplex printing: Optional, $99 Automatic Document Feeder: 50 sheets Monthly duty cycle: 60,000 B&W print speed: 31 ppm Color print speed: 17 ppm Max. print resolution: 600x600, "2400 image quality" Scan resolution: 600x600 Fax memory: 128 MB Speed Dials: N/A Connectivity options: 10/100 BaseT Ethernet, USB Best for: small to midsize workgroupThe fastest printer in this roundup, the <a href="http://usa.kyoceramita.com/americas/jsp/Kyocera/productdetails.jsp?pid=22822&cid=10570">TASKalfa 7550ci</a> is almost more of a digital press than an office laser printer--it can even print up to a 4-foot banner. It comes with Command Center RX, an embedded Web page that lets you remotely check status, change settings, or access stored files. It also connects to SharePoint to let you scan documents into a SharePoint folder or print stored documents right from the control panel. The Capture2Go software provides mobile printing and scanning from iOS devices. Printing technology: laser Price: $39,545 as shown, including optional paper feeds and finisher Paper capacity: 4,150 sheets Paper trays: 5 Duplex printing: Yes Automatic Document Feeder: 270 sheets Monthly duty cycle: 400,000 B&W print speed: 75 ppm Color print speed: 70 ppm Max. print resolution: 600x600 Scan resolution: 600x600 Fax memory: 12 MB Speed Dials: N/A Connectivity options: 10/100/1000 Base-TX Ethernet, USB Best for: Large workgroups, high demandPart of Kyocera's eCOSYS line of long life, low TCO printers, the <a href="http://usa.kyoceramita.com/americas/jsp/Kyocera/productdetails.jsp?pid=21671&cid=10571">FS-C2126MFP</a> incorporates one of the company's extra-durable drums. Kyocera's print engine separates the toner from the drum--the drum can print up to 300,000 pages, and toner becomes the only consumable. The system incorporates Kyocera's PDF Direct Print software, enabling you to drag and drop a PDF file to the printer without having to open a viewing program. Printing technology: laser Price: $3,395 Paper capacity: 300 sheets Paper trays: 1, plus 1 50-sheet multipurpose tray Duplex printing: Yes Automatic Document Feeder: 50 sheets Monthly duty cycle: 85,000 B&W print speed: 28 ppm Color print speed: 28 ppm Max. print resolution: 600x600 Scan resolution: 600x600 Fax memory: 256 sheets Speed Dials: N/A Connectivity options: 10/100 Base-TX Ethernet, USB Best for: small to midsize workgroupsThe <a href="http://www.sharpusa.com/ForBusiness/DocumentSystems/MFPsPrinters/MX2310U.aspx">Sharp MX-2310U</a> incorporates most of the features users have come to expect from high-end MFPs, making it a solid all-around choice. The ImageSend feature can distribute scanned documents to up to seven different locations. The Send-to-Group function lets you broadcast files simultaneously to email, fax, and Internet fax, while Inbound Fax Routing can convert incoming faxes to e-mail for distribution. Security features include user-number and username/password authentication. Printing technology: laser Price: $8,695 Paper capacity: 600 sheets Paper trays: 1, plus 1 100-sheet bypass Duplex printing: Yes Automatic Document Feeder: 100 sheets Monthly duty cycle: 100,000 B&W print speed: 23 ppm Color print speed: 23 ppm Max. print resolution: 600x600 Scan resolution: 600 Fax memory: 1 GB (shared) Speed Dials: up to 999 Connectivity options: 10/100/1000 BaseT Ethernet, USB Best for: medium to large workgroup2011-08-17T08:00:00ZTop 20 Add-Ons For Microsoft SharePointBoost SharePoint's collaboration and file-sharing powers with third-party add-ons. Here's a visual tour of some favorites.http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/231500073?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Networking/Comm_smbIn its role as a document management system, SharePoint keeps track of who's checked files in and out. But the default procedure requires users to check in each document individually, whether they're adding a new file or returning several that they've been working on--not very convenient. With <a href="http://www.sharepointboost.com/batch-check-in.html" target="_blank">SharePoint Batch Check In</a>, users can check in a group of files all at once, even if they're stored in folders and subfolders. They can also add new documents in bulk as well as change a document's content type during check-in. A single Web Front End server license costs $799, with a year of Premium Support priced at $400, for a total of $1,199 to get started with the product. In addition to being a server product, SharePoint also is a Web application development platform, as seen in its support for websites and workflows. That means it also provides a platform for the integration of third-party add-ons. These add-ons, also sometimes called extensions or Web parts, can extend built-in SharePoint functionality--which is already considerable--or just make it more accessible or easier to use. This customization ability has led to an explosion of add-ons available from various sources, ranging from the free and open-source to the high-priced. Businesses have embraced add-ons as a way to customize Microsoft SharePoint to suit their particular needs. That's why we've scoured developer sites to bring you the 20 top useful add-ons. These extensions will help you do everything from set up SharePoint initially to adding documents as you move between working online and offline as needed. RECOMMENDED READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/231000227">How To Plug SharePoint's Social Holes</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/229700063/newsgator-adds-video-to-sharepoint-social-sites">NewsGator Adds Video To SharePoint Social Sites</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/workgrouping_team_collaboration_workspaces/230800029/making-the-case-for-running-sharepoint-in-parallel">Making The Case For Running SharePoint In Parallel</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/strategy/231001585/realizing-collaborations-value-big-and-small">Realizing Collaboration's Value: Big And Small</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/document_sharing_collaborative_writing/231001901/how-cloud-collaboration-boosts-efficiency">How Cloud Collaboration Boosts Efficiency</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/231000900/how-social-layer-unites-enterprise-applications">How 'Social Layer' Unites Enterprise Applications</a> SharePoint already offers some integration capabilities with Microsoft Outlook. These range from syncing calendar items, task lists, and contacts to a limited ability to link file lists and use Outlook to retrieve and return files. <a href="http://www.sharepointboost.com/outlook-integration.html" target="_blank">SharePointOutlook Integration</a> expands that last function with the ability to directly copy or move messages and attachments to SharePoint lists and libraries and to access libraries from within the Outlook window. You can set up SharePoint to automatically map email data to list columns in SharePoint. (See the screen shot, where the contents of the "Subject" field in Outlook will become the "Title" entry in SharePoint.) SharePoint Outlook Integration costs from $15 to $28 per client access license, depending on how many devices it's licensed for. RECOMMENDED READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/231000227">How To Plug SharePoint's Social Holes</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/229700063/newsgator-adds-video-to-sharepoint-social-sites">NewsGator Adds Video To SharePoint Social Sites</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/workgrouping_team_collaboration_workspaces/230800029/making-the-case-for-running-sharepoint-in-parallel">Making The Case For Running SharePoint In Parallel</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/strategy/231001585/realizing-collaborations-value-big-and-small">Realizing Collaboration's Value: Big And Small</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/document_sharing_collaborative_writing/231001901/how-cloud-collaboration-boosts-efficiency">How Cloud Collaboration Boosts Efficiency</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/231000900/how-social-layer-unites-enterprise-applications">How 'Social Layer' Unites Enterprise Applications</a> MediaRich is a digital asset management and processing software package that maintains an easy-to-search library of image, video, and audio files. <a href="http://www.equilibrium.com/eq-software/mediarich-for-sharepoint/overview/" target="_blank">MediaRich ECM for SharePoint</a> brings the same rich media management features to SharePoint. For example, it replaces SharePoint's file names and icons for image files with large preview thumbnails. It also lets you preview files without having to open them, and without needing the file's creator software or a custom viewer or player. For retrieval and use, MediaRich will convert videos to different formats as needed. Click "instant on" to make any library visually searchable. The company did not respond to inquiries about pricing. RECOMMENDED READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/231000227">How To Plug SharePoint's Social Holes</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/229700063/newsgator-adds-video-to-sharepoint-social-sites">NewsGator Adds Video To SharePoint Social Sites</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/workgrouping_team_collaboration_workspaces/230800029/making-the-case-for-running-sharepoint-in-parallel">Making The Case For Running SharePoint In Parallel</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/strategy/231001585/realizing-collaborations-value-big-and-small">Realizing Collaboration's Value: Big And Small</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/document_sharing_collaborative_writing/231001901/how-cloud-collaboration-boosts-efficiency">How Cloud Collaboration Boosts Efficiency</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/231000900/how-social-layer-unites-enterprise-applications">How 'Social Layer' Unites Enterprise Applications</a>SharePoint makes it easy for almost anyone to whip up an internal website. This decentralization of the process of site creation is part of SharePoint's appeal; it means IT doesn't have to do everything. On the downside, it can make it harder to maintain your organizational standards for websites. With <a href="http://sharepointsolutions.com/SharePoint-Add-ons/2010-products/Pages/SharePoint-Site-Provisioning-and-Governance-Assistant.aspx?productKey=Spga2010" target="_blank">SharePoint Site Provisioning and Governance Assistant</a> (SPGA), administrators can create site request profiles that maintain the company's SharePoint taxonomy, display the proper look and feel, and enforce governance policies, while at the same time giving users an easy way to request sites. Microsoft licenses SPGA by the number of servers in a SharePoint Farm: for one server in a farm, SPGA costs $5,985 for that server. For more than one server in a farm, SPGA is licensed at $4,790 per application server and $1,190 for each Web front-end (WFE) server, including the first year of maintenance and support. RECOMMENDED READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/231000227">How To Plug SharePoint's Social Holes</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/229700063/newsgator-adds-video-to-sharepoint-social-sites">NewsGator Adds Video To SharePoint Social Sites</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/workgrouping_team_collaboration_workspaces/230800029/making-the-case-for-running-sharepoint-in-parallel">Making The Case For Running SharePoint In Parallel</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/strategy/231001585/realizing-collaborations-value-big-and-small">Realizing Collaboration's Value: Big And Small</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/document_sharing_collaborative_writing/231001901/how-cloud-collaboration-boosts-efficiency">How Cloud Collaboration Boosts Efficiency</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/231000900/how-social-layer-unites-enterprise-applications">How 'Social Layer' Unites Enterprise Applications</a>Many enterprises are turning to podcasting as an efficient way to train, communicate corporate goals, and document new procedures. The <a href="http://pks.codeplex.com/" target="_blank">Podcasting Kit for SharePoint</a> (PKS) (free) provides tools for both distributing and consuming podcasts. Users can find podcasts through any of several different means: a rating system, a tag cloud, and a search engine. Once found, they can subscribe to a podcast by series or by person. PKS also provides metrics on the number of podcasts accessed, who the subscribers are, and what ratings or comments they've given, making it easier to determine the ROI of a given podcast series. RECOMMENDED READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/231000227">How To Plug SharePoint's Social Holes</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/229700063/newsgator-adds-video-to-sharepoint-social-sites">NewsGator Adds Video To SharePoint Social Sites</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/workgrouping_team_collaboration_workspaces/230800029/making-the-case-for-running-sharepoint-in-parallel">Making The Case For Running SharePoint In Parallel</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/strategy/231001585/realizing-collaborations-value-big-and-small">Realizing Collaboration's Value: Big And Small</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/document_sharing_collaborative_writing/231001901/how-cloud-collaboration-boosts-efficiency">How Cloud Collaboration Boosts Efficiency</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/231000900/how-social-layer-unites-enterprise-applications">How 'Social Layer' Unites Enterprise Applications</a>The <a href="http://slk.codeplex.com/" target="_blank">SharePoint Learning Kit</a> works with SharePoint Services 3.0 or Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 to provide a Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM)-compatible e-learning system. (SCORM is a set of e-learning standards and specifications.) It lets instructors store and manage their content in SharePoint libraries and set up workflows to support learners or instructors. It also provides ways to make and track assignments and grade them. It's free, as an open-source CodePlex project. RECOMMENDED READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/231000227">How To Plug SharePoint's Social Holes</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/229700063/newsgator-adds-video-to-sharepoint-social-sites">NewsGator Adds Video To SharePoint Social Sites</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/workgrouping_team_collaboration_workspaces/230800029/making-the-case-for-running-sharepoint-in-parallel">Making The Case For Running SharePoint In Parallel</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/strategy/231001585/realizing-collaborations-value-big-and-small">Realizing Collaboration's Value: Big And Small</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/document_sharing_collaborative_writing/231001901/how-cloud-collaboration-boosts-efficiency">How Cloud Collaboration Boosts Efficiency</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/231000900/how-social-layer-unites-enterprise-applications">How 'Social Layer' Unites Enterprise Applications</a>The <a href="http://sptoolbasket.codeplex.com/" target="_blank">SharePoint Tool Basket</a>, another free open-source CodePlex project, provides six useful utilities for administrators and developers of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server. They include SPFeature Explorer, which provides a view of all the features installed on a farm and where they are active, and SPContentTYpe Explorer, which does the same thing for content types across a site collection. The Autocomplete Lookup Field with AJAX is exactly what it sounds like, and the List Columns Manager lets administrators manage the columns of a list and see associated event handlers. The Audience to Groups Converter also does just what it says, and finally, the SharePointPSScript rounds out the package with a set of PowerShell scripts for IT and developers. RECOMMENDED READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/231000227">How To Plug SharePoint's Social Holes</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/229700063/newsgator-adds-video-to-sharepoint-social-sites">NewsGator Adds Video To SharePoint Social Sites</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/workgrouping_team_collaboration_workspaces/230800029/making-the-case-for-running-sharepoint-in-parallel">Making The Case For Running SharePoint In Parallel</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/strategy/231001585/realizing-collaborations-value-big-and-small">Realizing Collaboration's Value: Big And Small</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/document_sharing_collaborative_writing/231001901/how-cloud-collaboration-boosts-efficiency">How Cloud Collaboration Boosts Efficiency</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/231000900/how-social-layer-unites-enterprise-applications">How 'Social Layer' Unites Enterprise Applications</a>Also a free CodePlex project, <a href="http://smarttools.codeplex.com/" target="_blank">SmartTools for SharePoint</a> is another collection of utilities--eight in this batch--that extend SharePoint functions. What's New displays a list of recently added or changed items in a site; Autocomplete Text Field lets users choose terms from a list rather than typing them in every time; and Enhanced Site Actions adds new menu items to the default Site Actions menu. CopyPaste lets you use that method of moving items in Document Libraries; Dock Navigation makes moving around a site's Lists and Libraries easier; and Charts shows animated Silverlight charts based on stored data. Completing the package are jQuery, which integrates the jQuery JavaScript library, and TableRow Highlight, which highlights table rows using jQuery. RECOMMENDED READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/231000227">How To Plug SharePoint's Social Holes</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/229700063/newsgator-adds-video-to-sharepoint-social-sites">NewsGator Adds Video To SharePoint Social Sites</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/workgrouping_team_collaboration_workspaces/230800029/making-the-case-for-running-sharepoint-in-parallel">Making The Case For Running SharePoint In Parallel</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/strategy/231001585/realizing-collaborations-value-big-and-small">Realizing Collaboration's Value: Big And Small</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/document_sharing_collaborative_writing/231001901/how-cloud-collaboration-boosts-efficiency">How Cloud Collaboration Boosts Efficiency</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/231000900/how-social-layer-unites-enterprise-applications">How 'Social Layer' Unites Enterprise Applications</a>SharePoint is a great way to allow access to documents when users are connected to the network, but what about when they're not? <a href="http://www.colligo.com/products/sharepoint/reader_home.asp" target="_blank">Colligo Reader</a> (free for individual use) can download SharePoint content to a portable computer so users can work offline. Documents stay linked, and the content stays organized according to the views defined on the server. Users can download folders, libraries, and even entire sites by simply dragging from their browser. Changes are synced back to the server automatically when the user reconnects. RECOMMENDED READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/231000227">How To Plug SharePoint's Social Holes</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/229700063/newsgator-adds-video-to-sharepoint-social-sites">NewsGator Adds Video To SharePoint Social Sites</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/workgrouping_team_collaboration_workspaces/230800029/making-the-case-for-running-sharepoint-in-parallel">Making The Case For Running SharePoint In Parallel</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/strategy/231001585/realizing-collaborations-value-big-and-small">Realizing Collaboration's Value: Big And Small</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/document_sharing_collaborative_writing/231001901/how-cloud-collaboration-boosts-efficiency">How Cloud Collaboration Boosts Efficiency</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/231000900/how-social-layer-unites-enterprise-applications">How 'Social Layer' Unites Enterprise Applications</a><a href="http://www.crm-sharepoint.com/default.aspx" target="_blank">BPA CRM</a> makes it possible to run a Customer Relations Management system on SharePoint, with tools for sales, marketing, and customer service departments. After copying and pasting existing data into BPA CRM, salespeople can use SharePoint to track calls, tasks, emails, and events. New cases trigger an automatic alert to the team. BPA CRM also has native integration with Microsoft Office and is accessible through mobile devices. The package comes in three versions: Standard, Professional, and Enterprise. The company did not respond to inquiries about pricing. RECOMMENDED READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/231000227">How To Plug SharePoint's Social Holes</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/229700063/newsgator-adds-video-to-sharepoint-social-sites">NewsGator Adds Video To SharePoint Social Sites</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/workgrouping_team_collaboration_workspaces/230800029/making-the-case-for-running-sharepoint-in-parallel">Making The Case For Running SharePoint In Parallel</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/strategy/231001585/realizing-collaborations-value-big-and-small">Realizing Collaboration's Value: Big And Small</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/document_sharing_collaborative_writing/231001901/how-cloud-collaboration-boosts-efficiency">How Cloud Collaboration Boosts Efficiency</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/231000900/how-social-layer-unites-enterprise-applications">How 'Social Layer' Unites Enterprise Applications</a>SharePoint comes with SharePoint Designer, a tool for designing workflows without having to write code. It's rule-based; for example, changes to items in a library or list can trigger a document review process. <a href="http://www.nintex.com/en-US/Products/Pages/NintexWorkflowForProjectServer2010.aspx" target="_blank">Nintex Workflow</a> adds drag-and-drop workflow building to SharePoint Designer, as well as advanced workflow features. It uses a browser-based graphical interface, so it doesn't require separate client software, and sends notifications by email, SMS, or instant messaging. The Enterprise Edition includes LazyApproval for responding to notifications in natural language. The package comes in three versions: Workgroup, Standard, and Enterprise (the latter costs $17,500 per front-end server). The Workgroup version is limited to five team sites, among other workgroup-related features. The Enterprise edition adds user profile management and account provisioning features. RECOMMENDED READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/231000227">How To Plug SharePoint's Social Holes</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/229700063/newsgator-adds-video-to-sharepoint-social-sites">NewsGator Adds Video To SharePoint Social Sites</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/workgrouping_team_collaboration_workspaces/230800029/making-the-case-for-running-sharepoint-in-parallel">Making The Case For Running SharePoint In Parallel</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/strategy/231001585/realizing-collaborations-value-big-and-small">Realizing Collaboration's Value: Big And Small</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/document_sharing_collaborative_writing/231001901/how-cloud-collaboration-boosts-efficiency">How Cloud Collaboration Boosts Efficiency</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/231000900/how-social-layer-unites-enterprise-applications">How 'Social Layer' Unites Enterprise Applications</a>This <a href="http://www.sharepointboost.com/filter-favorites.html" target="_blank">free utility</a> is pretty straightforward: it lets users filter list columns and save the filtered views to a Favorites submenu. For example, a user can filter a task list by the name of the person the task is assigned to and priority and save those criteria in a menu so they don't have to recreate the filter to run it again (see screenshot). Users and administrators can also save filters as publicly available choices. RECOMMENDED READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/231000227">How To Plug SharePoint's Social Holes</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/229700063/newsgator-adds-video-to-sharepoint-social-sites">NewsGator Adds Video To SharePoint Social Sites</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/workgrouping_team_collaboration_workspaces/230800029/making-the-case-for-running-sharepoint-in-parallel">Making The Case For Running SharePoint In Parallel</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/strategy/231001585/realizing-collaborations-value-big-and-small">Realizing Collaboration's Value: Big And Small</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/document_sharing_collaborative_writing/231001901/how-cloud-collaboration-boosts-efficiency">How Cloud Collaboration Boosts Efficiency</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/231000900/how-social-layer-unites-enterprise-applications">How 'Social Layer' Unites Enterprise Applications</a> <a href="http://www.vyapin.com/products/sharepoint/sharepoint-2010/dockit/sharepoint-migration.htm" target="_blank">Document Import Kit</a> (DokKIT) handles the process of moving data from other servers and local hard disks into a SharePoint environment. It can copy file properties to the respective documents, retaining date and author information, and supports custom metadata sets to fill in other fields. It can automate the migration process through rules based on file types, names, sizes, or other properties. DocKIT pricing starts at $1,299 per computer for a perpetual license. RECOMMENDED READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/231000227">How To Plug SharePoint's Social Holes</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/229700063/newsgator-adds-video-to-sharepoint-social-sites">NewsGator Adds Video To SharePoint Social Sites</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/workgrouping_team_collaboration_workspaces/230800029/making-the-case-for-running-sharepoint-in-parallel">Making The Case For Running SharePoint In Parallel</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/strategy/231001585/realizing-collaborations-value-big-and-small">Realizing Collaboration's Value: Big And Small</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/document_sharing_collaborative_writing/231001901/how-cloud-collaboration-boosts-efficiency">How Cloud Collaboration Boosts Efficiency</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/231000900/how-social-layer-unites-enterprise-applications">How 'Social Layer' Unites Enterprise Applications</a>Business continuity--and therefore business survival--can depend on keeping a SharePoint environment constantly available. <a href="http://www.avepoint.com/sharepoint-high-availability-docave/" target="_blank">DocAve High Availability for Microsoft SharePoint</a> addresses that need by maintaining a standby server for disaster recovery. Data is synchronized to the standby server, with a dashboard for monitoring the sync status. A simple DNS switch brings the standby server online, and administrators can customize their own failover plans via a command line. DocAve does not publicly disclose pricing. RECOMMENDED READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/231000227">How To Plug SharePoint's Social Holes</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/229700063/newsgator-adds-video-to-sharepoint-social-sites">NewsGator Adds Video To SharePoint Social Sites</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/workgrouping_team_collaboration_workspaces/230800029/making-the-case-for-running-sharepoint-in-parallel">Making The Case For Running SharePoint In Parallel</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/strategy/231001585/realizing-collaborations-value-big-and-small">Realizing Collaboration's Value: Big And Small</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/document_sharing_collaborative_writing/231001901/how-cloud-collaboration-boosts-efficiency">How Cloud Collaboration Boosts Efficiency</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/231000900/how-social-layer-unites-enterprise-applications">How 'Social Layer' Unites Enterprise Applications</a>Companies with compliance requirements often have critical documents stored in a SharePoint environment. <a href="http://www.avepoint.com/sharepoint-compliance-docave/" target="_blank">DocAve Vault</a> promises to manage those documents without slowing down SharePoint's performance or compromising its collaboration functions. Administrators can establish different retention policies for different documents to make sure that documents that need to be retained are retained (and those that should be discarded get discarded). It also provides search features for retrieving documents necessary for audits or legal discovery purposes. DocAve does not publicly disclose pricing. RECOMMENDED READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/231000227">How To Plug SharePoint's Social Holes</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/229700063/newsgator-adds-video-to-sharepoint-social-sites">NewsGator Adds Video To SharePoint Social Sites</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/workgrouping_team_collaboration_workspaces/230800029/making-the-case-for-running-sharepoint-in-parallel">Making The Case For Running SharePoint In Parallel</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/strategy/231001585/realizing-collaborations-value-big-and-small">Realizing Collaboration's Value: Big And Small</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/document_sharing_collaborative_writing/231001901/how-cloud-collaboration-boosts-efficiency">How Cloud Collaboration Boosts Efficiency</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/231000900/how-social-layer-unites-enterprise-applications">How 'Social Layer' Unites Enterprise Applications</a> SharePoint content sometimes has to be moved to a new platform, whether because of an upgrade to a new version or for basic reorganization purposes. <a href="http://www.metalogix.com/Products/Migration-Manager-for-SharePoint" target="_blank">Migration Manager for SharePoint</a> makes that easier by providing a copy-and-paste-style interface for moving data. It preserves permissions, views, version chains, and metadata while moving data, libraries, and lists. It supports delegation of migration efforts to individual departments and content owners and enables administrators to redefine the site structure during the migration, including splitting and re-templating sites. Priced by volume, Migration Manager starts at $6,995. RECOMMENDED READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/231000227">How To Plug SharePoint's Social Holes</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/229700063/newsgator-adds-video-to-sharepoint-social-sites">NewsGator Adds Video To SharePoint Social Sites</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/workgrouping_team_collaboration_workspaces/230800029/making-the-case-for-running-sharepoint-in-parallel">Making The Case For Running SharePoint In Parallel</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/strategy/231001585/realizing-collaborations-value-big-and-small">Realizing Collaboration's Value: Big And Small</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/document_sharing_collaborative_writing/231001901/how-cloud-collaboration-boosts-efficiency">How Cloud Collaboration Boosts Efficiency</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/231000900/how-social-layer-unites-enterprise-applications">How 'Social Layer' Unites Enterprise Applications</a>As a SharePoint archive becomes larger, heavier use can put a strain on the SQL server that manages the content. <a href="http://www.metalogix.com/Products/StoragePoint.aspx" target="_blank">StoragePoint</a> enables the storage of unstructured data and binary large objects (BLOBs) outside the SQL database--on NAS devices, in the cloud, or via other storage options. StoragePoint Profiles determine what kind of content is offloaded and when and whether it is compressed or encrypted in the process. The process is based on StoragePoint's Endpoint concept--the storage location--and filters can determine what content goes to what Endpoint or even send the same content to multiple Endpoints for disaster recovery purposes. StoragePoint Enterprise Edition is $14,995 per Windows front end. RECOMMENDED READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/231000227">How To Plug SharePoint's Social Holes</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/229700063/newsgator-adds-video-to-sharepoint-social-sites">NewsGator Adds Video To SharePoint Social Sites</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/workgrouping_team_collaboration_workspaces/230800029/making-the-case-for-running-sharepoint-in-parallel">Making The Case For Running SharePoint In Parallel</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/strategy/231001585/realizing-collaborations-value-big-and-small">Realizing Collaboration's Value: Big And Small</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/document_sharing_collaborative_writing/231001901/how-cloud-collaboration-boosts-efficiency">How Cloud Collaboration Boosts Efficiency</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/231000900/how-social-layer-unites-enterprise-applications">How 'Social Layer' Unites Enterprise Applications</a>SharePoint comes with limited meeting management features. <a href="http://www.layer2.de/en/products/Pages/SharePoint-Meeting-Manager.aspx#2" target="_blank">SharePoint Meeting Manager</a> adds significantly better tools, such as the ability to define attendee roles and whether a particular person's attendance is required or optional. It can also manage meeting materials, including versioning, and send out rescheduling notifications. During the meeting, the software can verify attendance, monitor the agenda, and record the minutes. Afterward, it can be used to publish the minutes and action items. The product is free (shareware) with some features limited; a full single-server version costs $1,410, and a year of maintenance and upgrade Software Assurance is $282. RECOMMENDED READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/231000227">How To Plug SharePoint's Social Holes</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/229700063/newsgator-adds-video-to-sharepoint-social-sites">NewsGator Adds Video To SharePoint Social Sites</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/workgrouping_team_collaboration_workspaces/230800029/making-the-case-for-running-sharepoint-in-parallel">Making The Case For Running SharePoint In Parallel</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/strategy/231001585/realizing-collaborations-value-big-and-small">Realizing Collaboration's Value: Big And Small</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/document_sharing_collaborative_writing/231001901/how-cloud-collaboration-boosts-efficiency">How Cloud Collaboration Boosts Efficiency</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/231000900/how-social-layer-unites-enterprise-applications">How 'Social Layer' Unites Enterprise Applications</a>SharePoint 2010 added collaborative knowledge management and social networking features, and the <a href="http://www.layer2.de/en/products/Pages/Knowledge-Management-Suite-SharePoint-2010.aspx" target="_blank">Knowledge Management Suite</a> aims to leverage those to "enable organizational intelligence in the enterprise." The suite focuses on content tagging, browsing, and discovery. It suggests a list of tags for a document based on established taxonomies and properties; it will also tag items automatically in the background. Collaborative tagging feeds into the Tag Navigation Web Part to make content discovery easier. The product is free (shareware) with some features limited; a single-server license is $1,899, and a year of maintenance and upgrade Software Assurance is $379. RECOMMENDED READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/231000227">How To Plug SharePoint's Social Holes</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/229700063/newsgator-adds-video-to-sharepoint-social-sites">NewsGator Adds Video To SharePoint Social Sites</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/workgrouping_team_collaboration_workspaces/230800029/making-the-case-for-running-sharepoint-in-parallel">Making The Case For Running SharePoint In Parallel</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/strategy/231001585/realizing-collaborations-value-big-and-small">Realizing Collaboration's Value: Big And Small</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/document_sharing_collaborative_writing/231001901/how-cloud-collaboration-boosts-efficiency">How Cloud Collaboration Boosts Efficiency</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/231000900/how-social-layer-unites-enterprise-applications">How 'Social Layer' Unites Enterprise Applications</a>The <a href="http://www.repliweb.com/products/ross/index.php" target="_blank">RepliWeb Operations Suite for SharePoint</a> (ROSS) helps developers and administrators deploy new sites and applications. It enables a multi-stage development cycle in SharePoint, with synchronization between production, development, and test versions of a site, so development doesn't have to happen in a live environment. It replicates functional elements as well as contents throughout the three stages and across multiple sites and handles everything from workflows (including Nintex workflows) to the look and feel. The rollback feature lets administrators quickly undo mistakes in deployment. ROSS is priced per SharePoint farm, starting at $2,500 and costing about $2,000 per additional Web front end. Annual developer licensing is also available. RECOMMENDED READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/231000227">How To Plug SharePoint's Social Holes</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/229700063/newsgator-adds-video-to-sharepoint-social-sites">NewsGator Adds Video To SharePoint Social Sites</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/workgrouping_team_collaboration_workspaces/230800029/making-the-case-for-running-sharepoint-in-parallel">Making The Case For Running SharePoint In Parallel</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/strategy/231001585/realizing-collaborations-value-big-and-small">Realizing Collaboration's Value: Big And Small</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/document_sharing_collaborative_writing/231001901/how-cloud-collaboration-boosts-efficiency">How Cloud Collaboration Boosts Efficiency</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_private_platforms/231000900/how-social-layer-unites-enterprise-applications">How 'Social Layer' Unites Enterprise Applications</a>2011-06-29T08:00:00Z8 Great Collaboration Tools For HRIn the era of the "social enterprise," collaborative activities can make a big difference not only in HR efficiency but in employee satisfaction. Take a look at these eight leading HR platforms and examples of what their collaboration features have done for other companies.http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/231000228?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Networking/Comm_smbHuman resources is all about people and how they interact with each other and with the enterprise at large. At the same time, tools for business collaboration and communication over networks are becoming <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/slideshows/preview/229300480/top-15-cloud-collaboration-apps">increasingly important</a>. So it is no surprise that HR software has seen a lot of growth in collaboration-oriented features. Vendors of software for businesses from SMBs to the largest enterprises, in formats from hosted cloud services to installed platforms, are embracing social business functions and extending the ways their software enables collaboration. This is especially true as businesses increasingly rely on remote and mobile workers. "HR departments need more analytical and self-service tools to give their employees, not just for empowerment but to run the business in a smoother, more efficient way," says Yu Yu Din, digital marketing manager for Global Groupware Solutions, maker of the Google App EmployWise. "With smartphones, notebooks, and increased telecom density, anyone practically can be in an office without being inside a physical office--hence the need for more collaborative HR solutions that will help those who are always on-the-go." Collaborative functions in HR software take many forms. One goal is to involve more people in recruiting and on-boarding. HR software can manage and streamline the process of posting jobs and reviewing resumes. These applications also can improve training and access to learning resources. Many platforms feature learning and training modules to enable ongoing employee development. As more companies build a distributed workforce, HR software also can make sure that key applications based in one location can be accessed from other locations. That's especially true for information about the company. By giving employees direct access to information, it can reduce demands on the HR staff. HR staff can spend a lot less time answering questions about policies and benefits, and it can free them up for more important tasks. Another benefit comes in streamlining performance reviews and goal setting. Performance appraisals often require getting input from multiple sources, including peers, as well as an employee self-assessment, and these platforms provide tools for managing that process. In the new era of the "social enterprise," these kinds of collaborative activities can make a big difference not only in HR efficiency but also in employee satisfaction. Here are eight of the top HR platforms and examples of what their collaboration features have done for other companies. RECOMMENDED READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/229402939">SAP Takes Tepid Step On Collaboration</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/ideation_innovation_management/229402210/worksimple-targeting-bigger-firms-with-social-goals-tool">WorkSimple Targeting Bigger Firms With Social Goals Tool</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/workgrouping_team_collaboration_workspaces/229300129/dont-forget-users-when-deploying-new-collaboration-technology">Don't Forget Users When Deploying New Collaboration Technology</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/community_tools/229400715/social-learning-a-hit-at-classic-residence">Social Learning A Hit At Classic Residence</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/voip_audio_conferencing/229400567/businesses-shifting-to-less-formal-communication-methods">Businesses Shifting To 'Less Formal' Communication Methods</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/trends/228701916">10 Steps To Mobile Worker Support</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/soa_webservices/228200406">IBM Boosts Social Media Software, Services</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/personnel/227501112">HR And IT Take On New Talent Challenge</a><a href="http://www.thexpertsinc.com/index.html">The Experts</a> is an IT professional staffing company based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Founded 12 years ago, the company now has 13 offices around the country and works with about 600 contractors. The Experts use <a href="http://www.brightmove.com/">BrightMove</a>, a SaaS system tailored for recruiting agencies, to keep track of their clients' needs and the internal "resource developers" who manage the contracts. "It's very helpful," says The Experts executive vice president Tim McLean. "We post all our requirements to Florida job boards. Through BrightMove, applicants can go to our portal and fill out an application form." But the system doesn't manage only Florida applicants. "Resource developers spend their time searching for candidates, on job boards, at career fairs, and so on. When they find a candidate, they import them into the database. A recruiter in Texas may find someone that a recruiter in Virginia can utilize." The bottom line, says McLean: "BrightMove allows us to work together as a cohesive unit. We can recruit on any position anywhere in the country." RECOMMENDED READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/229402939">SAP Takes Tepid Step On Collaboration</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/ideation_innovation_management/229402210/worksimple-targeting-bigger-firms-with-social-goals-tool">WorkSimple Targeting Bigger Firms With Social Goals Tool</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/workgrouping_team_collaboration_workspaces/229300129/dont-forget-users-when-deploying-new-collaboration-technology">Don't Forget Users When Deploying New Collaboration Technology</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/community_tools/229400715/social-learning-a-hit-at-classic-residence">Social Learning A Hit At Classic Residence</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/voip_audio_conferencing/229400567/businesses-shifting-to-less-formal-communication-methods">Businesses Shifting To 'Less Formal' Communication Methods</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/trends/228701916">10 Steps To Mobile Worker Support</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/soa_webservices/228200406">IBM Boosts Social Media Software, Services</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/personnel/227501112">HR And IT Take On New Talent Challenge</a><a href="http://www.allina.com/ahs/home.nsf/">Allina Health System</a>, a network of hospitals and clinics in Minneapolis, installed <a href="http://www.saba.com/">Saba's</a> "People Systems" software in 2005 in order to meet specific training goals. "When I was hired," says Allina senior business analyst Janice Watrous-McCabe, "it was as an e-learning designer, to put instructor-led training on line." As a health care provider, Allina's employees must undergo a good deal of mandatory training, having to do with compliance and OSHA issues; in addition, the network has its own Excellian project for keeping electronic medical records. In 2007, the group upgraded the software, and at that point started using its community and knowledge center features. "We're using it outside of formal training, for just-in-time training and communication of information inside a unit. For example, the surgical unit needed to review an IV flush technique. They made a video using a Flip camera demonstrating the technique, posted it to their unit's community, and now any nurse can review the video. Everybody affiliated with Allina, whether one of their 25,000 employee or one of the 14,000 affiliated health care providers, can access the Saba network. "Having Saba encourages communication across the system," says Watrous-McCabe. "And central use of resources encourages cross-fertilization of ideas." RECOMMENDED READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/229402939">SAP Takes Tepid Step On Collaboration</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/ideation_innovation_management/229402210/worksimple-targeting-bigger-firms-with-social-goals-tool">WorkSimple Targeting Bigger Firms With Social Goals Tool</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/workgrouping_team_collaboration_workspaces/229300129/dont-forget-users-when-deploying-new-collaboration-technology">Don't Forget Users When Deploying New Collaboration Technology</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/community_tools/229400715/social-learning-a-hit-at-classic-residence">Social Learning A Hit At Classic Residence</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/voip_audio_conferencing/229400567/businesses-shifting-to-less-formal-communication-methods">Businesses Shifting To 'Less Formal' Communication Methods</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/trends/228701916">10 Steps To Mobile Worker Support</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/soa_webservices/228200406">IBM Boosts Social Media Software, Services</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/personnel/227501112">HR And IT Take On New Talent Challenge</a><a href="http://chiquita.com/">Chiquita Brands International</a>--the banana people--employs about 22,000 people worldwide, from farm workers to their managers to the executive staff. And of those, "maybe 4,500 to 5,000 are part of our Workday system," says Jeni Fitzpatrick, the company's human resources director, talent management. "Workday is being rolled out globally--we're about two years into the system's implementation, and about six months into the global rollout." <a href="http://www.workday.com/">Workday</a> lets far-flung managers and Fitzpatrick's department collaborate in ways they couldn't before. "An employee's manager might be in Latin America, and that person's senior manager in North America. Before, to give the employee a salary increase and promotion, the manager would have had to find the right person with the right administrative contact. Now they can instigate the process on their own timeline, and there's much more of a dialog. "What we are able to do now is to get work done in the right time and in the right way," says Fitzpatrick. RECOMMENDED READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/229402939">SAP Takes Tepid Step On Collaboration</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/ideation_innovation_management/229402210/worksimple-targeting-bigger-firms-with-social-goals-tool">WorkSimple Targeting Bigger Firms With Social Goals Tool</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/workgrouping_team_collaboration_workspaces/229300129/dont-forget-users-when-deploying-new-collaboration-technology">Don't Forget Users When Deploying New Collaboration Technology</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/community_tools/229400715/social-learning-a-hit-at-classic-residence">Social Learning A Hit At Classic Residence</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/voip_audio_conferencing/229400567/businesses-shifting-to-less-formal-communication-methods">Businesses Shifting To 'Less Formal' Communication Methods</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/trends/228701916">10 Steps To Mobile Worker Support</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/soa_webservices/228200406">IBM Boosts Social Media Software, Services</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/personnel/227501112">HR And IT Take On New Talent Challenge</a>Diane Johnston is the CEO of <a href="http://www.workway.com/">Workway</a>, a national staffing agency. "We have about 33 people in total, with 20 to 25 of them in the field doing sales and recruiting in branch offices," she says. Workway adopted <a href="http://www.bullhorn.com/">Bullhorn</a>, web-based software for staffing agencies, in 2007. "All our members can log on and share candidates and clients," says Johnston. "It's like a CRM tool--in fact, we use it as our sales software as well. And because it's Web-based, we can get on from anywhere." The software handles email and job posting as well as letting the employees share information. "When we have a job opening, we can enter it into Bullhorn, click a box, and post it on our website," Johnston says. "And one of the best parts about the email function is the archiving feature--we can find any message since we first installed the software." RECOMMENDED READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/229402939">SAP Takes Tepid Step On Collaboration</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/ideation_innovation_management/229402210/worksimple-targeting-bigger-firms-with-social-goals-tool">WorkSimple Targeting Bigger Firms With Social Goals Tool</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/workgrouping_team_collaboration_workspaces/229300129/dont-forget-users-when-deploying-new-collaboration-technology">Don't Forget Users When Deploying New Collaboration Technology</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/community_tools/229400715/social-learning-a-hit-at-classic-residence">Social Learning A Hit At Classic Residence</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/voip_audio_conferencing/229400567/businesses-shifting-to-less-formal-communication-methods">Businesses Shifting To 'Less Formal' Communication Methods</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/trends/228701916">10 Steps To Mobile Worker Support</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/soa_webservices/228200406">IBM Boosts Social Media Software, Services</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/personnel/227501112">HR And IT Take On New Talent Challenge</a>Among LBi Software's suite of offerings is <a href="http://www.lbisoftware.com/casemanager.html">CaseManager</a>, a help desk and workflow management software. Besides handling the flow of help requests, CaseManager creates a knowledgebase out of successfully answered questions and provides employees with a self-service portal for getting their questions answered. LBi's largest client, a multibillion-dollar manufacturer--which will remain nameless--with more than 100,000 employees, uses CaseManager to route calls to the proper resource and manage interaction between HR and employees. "The customer wanted to reduce the number of calls into their help desk by letting employees get the answers themselves so the HR staff could work on other, more strategic tasks," says senior product manager Scott Tiedemann. "As new questions get submitted, they get logged and tracked through the workflow until they're resolved. The customer service representative can assign the questions to a specialist and escalate it to managers if necessary." The answer can also be added to the knowledgebase for quicker service later. "The customer reduced calls the help desk staff and recouped their investment in under two and a half years," says Tiedemann. RECOMMENDED READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/229402939">SAP Takes Tepid Step On Collaboration</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/ideation_innovation_management/229402210/worksimple-targeting-bigger-firms-with-social-goals-tool">WorkSimple Targeting Bigger Firms With Social Goals Tool</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/workgrouping_team_collaboration_workspaces/229300129/dont-forget-users-when-deploying-new-collaboration-technology">Don't Forget Users When Deploying New Collaboration Technology</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/community_tools/229400715/social-learning-a-hit-at-classic-residence">Social Learning A Hit At Classic Residence</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/voip_audio_conferencing/229400567/businesses-shifting-to-less-formal-communication-methods">Businesses Shifting To 'Less Formal' Communication Methods</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/trends/228701916">10 Steps To Mobile Worker Support</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/soa_webservices/228200406">IBM Boosts Social Media Software, Services</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/personnel/227501112">HR And IT Take On New Talent Challenge</a>SuccessFactors promotes its set of business software modules as a "<a href="http://www.successfactors.com/business-execution-software/">Business Execution Suite</a>." Last year, the company acquired the social business and collaboration software company CubeTree and integrated their product into its business suite. CubeTree creates a platform for social networking within an enterprise, enabling a news feed, blogs, wikis, polls, and other activities. For HR purposes, that can speed up the recruiting process by giving stakeholders an easy way to review resume and share their comments and opinions on candidates. Among the companies adopting CubeTree is publishing house <a href="http://www.hmhco.com/">Houghton Mifflin Harcourt</a>, where employees use the software to find subject matter experts and share best practices. "SuccessFactors' CubeTree has rapidly established itself inside our enterprise," says CIO Paul Wilcox. "Employees tell me it's easier to find and connect with colleagues and gain insight into cross-functional activities. It's a wonderfully powerful tool." RECOMMENDED READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/229402939">SAP Takes Tepid Step On Collaboration</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/ideation_innovation_management/229402210/worksimple-targeting-bigger-firms-with-social-goals-tool">WorkSimple Targeting Bigger Firms With Social Goals Tool</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/workgrouping_team_collaboration_workspaces/229300129/dont-forget-users-when-deploying-new-collaboration-technology">Don't Forget Users When Deploying New Collaboration Technology</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/community_tools/229400715/social-learning-a-hit-at-classic-residence">Social Learning A Hit At Classic Residence</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/voip_audio_conferencing/229400567/businesses-shifting-to-less-formal-communication-methods">Businesses Shifting To 'Less Formal' Communication Methods</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/trends/228701916">10 Steps To Mobile Worker Support</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/soa_webservices/228200406">IBM Boosts Social Media Software, Services</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/personnel/227501112">HR And IT Take On New Talent Challenge</a>Before adopting <a href="http://www.taleo.com/">Taleo</a> talent management software, Australia's Hutchison Telecoms (aka the <a href="http://www.three.com.au/">"3" mobile phone carrier</a>) sent candidate resumes around by email. "We were effectively doubling our workload," says Steve Reid, the company's head of HR & Organization Capability. With Taleo, though, recruiters and hiring managers can track information about candidates in real time. "The communication between us and candidates is much faster," says Reid. "We're now seeing a much quicker time to hire." Taleo is helping not only with recruitment and hiring, but with retention. "We also want to ensure we're giving people opportunities for career growth so that they stay with us for longer," Reid says. To that end, the company uses Taleo to provide greater visibility of internal opportunities. With the software, 3 has managed to increase the number of people it hires directly--as opposed to through an agency--from 65% to 80%. And since the company had found that agency hires were three times more likely to leave within a year than direct hires, they've managed to reduce turnover as well. RECOMMENDED READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/229402939">SAP Takes Tepid Step On Collaboration</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/ideation_innovation_management/229402210/worksimple-targeting-bigger-firms-with-social-goals-tool">WorkSimple Targeting Bigger Firms With Social Goals Tool</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/workgrouping_team_collaboration_workspaces/229300129/dont-forget-users-when-deploying-new-collaboration-technology">Don't Forget Users When Deploying New Collaboration Technology</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/community_tools/229400715/social-learning-a-hit-at-classic-residence">Social Learning A Hit At Classic Residence</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/voip_audio_conferencing/229400567/businesses-shifting-to-less-formal-communication-methods">Businesses Shifting To 'Less Formal' Communication Methods</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/trends/228701916">10 Steps To Mobile Worker Support</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/soa_webservices/228200406">IBM Boosts Social Media Software, Services</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/personnel/227501112">HR And IT Take On New Talent Challenge</a>According to Rodney Smoczyk, PHR, CDR at <a href="http://edg.net/">EDG Consulting Engineers</a>, their talent management software has enabled his company to cut hiring time in half. "Posting to hiring used to take 45 to 60 days; we can now do it in 20 to 30 days. For one thing, time from submission of resume to interview used to be a week or two, because of passing around the resume and collecting comments. We can now get that done in a day," he says. The company uses <a href="http://www.hrsmart.com/">HRsmart</a> to handle the routing and commenting process. "If I like an applicant, I can route their resume with highlights and notes," Smoczyk explains. "The system tracks comments and notes and stores them with the resume." Later, he can search resumes in the system, including the notes stored with them. "It speeds the process up immensely." EDG also will soon start using HRsmart for performance appraisals. "The employee can do a self-evaluation, and the manager can do an evaluation, and they can look at them side by side." Since HRsmart is delivered as a service, the comparison can happen from different locations. In remote environments, they can both look at them from anywhere. RECOMMENDED READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/229402939">SAP Takes Tepid Step On Collaboration</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/ideation_innovation_management/229402210/worksimple-targeting-bigger-firms-with-social-goals-tool">WorkSimple Targeting Bigger Firms With Social Goals Tool</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/workgrouping_team_collaboration_workspaces/229300129/dont-forget-users-when-deploying-new-collaboration-technology">Don't Forget Users When Deploying New Collaboration Technology</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/community_tools/229400715/social-learning-a-hit-at-classic-residence">Social Learning A Hit At Classic Residence</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/voip_audio_conferencing/229400567/businesses-shifting-to-less-formal-communication-methods">Businesses Shifting To 'Less Formal' Communication Methods</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/trends/228701916">10 Steps To Mobile Worker Support</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/soa_webservices/228200406">IBM Boosts Social Media Software, Services</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/personnel/227501112">HR And IT Take On New Talent Challenge</a>2011-04-19T16:30:00ZTop 10 Mobile Apps For Business CollaborationCollaboration is one of today's strongest business trends, fueled in part by advances in (and employees' experiences with) social media. The ability to exchange ideas and communicate about activities has proven wildly popular in the social sphere -- why not in the business one as well? And recognizing this demand, vendors are making tools available that enable teams to keep track of each others' progress on a group project, exchange information about tasks and contacts, and otherwise work together more smoothly and conveniently. At the same time, though, the trend toward worker mobility continues to grow. More and more workers find themselves working out of the office, on the road or telecommuting, and keeping in touch via their smartphone. These 10 mobile apps will keep the collaborative momentum going no matter where you are.http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/229300148?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Networking/Comm_smbCisco's WebEx is one of the most popular tools for conducting online meetings -- you've probably attended several yourself. The service combines desktop sharing, whereby every participant sees what's on the host's screen, with phone and/or video conferencing. With <a href="http://www.webex.com/overview/mobile-meetings.html">WebEx Meetings</a> for your smartphone (free, for all three platforms), anyone can join in a WebEx meeting from wherever they are and use the phone's voice capabilities for the audio portion. They can also host a meeting and designate someone else as the presenter. The iPhone and Android versions let you schedule and start a meeting; the BlackBerry version lets you start one, but you need a desktop computer (PC or Mac) to schedule it. The Android version also has a widget that lets you access a meeting right from the home screen. Start by turning to one of these mobile collaboration apps. They don't collaborate directly with each other, for the most part -- they each connect to a central storehouse of information, usually installed on a business's network. Some run on BlackBerrys, some on Android phones, some on the iPhone -- most on more than one. Equip your team members with these and you can extend your business's collaboration potential outside the walls to wherever your workers may roam. The only drawback is that they're not cross compatible. See Also: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/telecom/unified_communications/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229219603">Cisco Announces Multimedia Jabber Software</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/smart-phones/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229200271">Mobilizing Enterprise Apps: The Next Big Leap</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229200114">IBM Takes Social Business Mobile</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000882">RhoSync Brings Salesforce.com Social Apps To iPhone, Android</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000572">Telligent Adds Mobile Features</a>Microsoft SharePoint is the collaboration platform of choice for many businesses, providing a portal for file sharing, communication, and content management. The <a href="http://www.southlabs.com/detail.aspx?id=SharePlus">SharePlus Office Mobile Client</a> (iPhone, $14.99) lets you connect to your SharePoint installation from the road and sync the SharePoint lists and libraries you need. You can share calendars and task lists with your team, as well as edit documents, participate in discussions, and contribute to wiki pages. The software stores accessed data on the phone, so you can work with it offline and then sync it back next time you connect. It works with existing SharePoint credentials and doesn't require any new server-side components. See Also: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/telecom/unified_communications/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229219603">Cisco Announces Multimedia Jabber Software</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/smart-phones/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229200271">Mobilizing Enterprise Apps: The Next Big Leap</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229200114">IBM Takes Social Business Mobile</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000882">RhoSync Brings Salesforce.com Social Apps To iPhone, Android</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000572">Telligent Adds Mobile Features</a>Salesforce Chatter is a sort of intranet Facebook that gives team members a way to update their own status and track the status and activities of their collaborators. They can form and join groups and share information privately and securely. <a href="http://www.salesforce.com/mobile/apps/chatter/">Chatter Mobile</a> (free for the iPhone and BlackBerry) lets you update your status and add comments via your mobile device. You can also take photos with your device and upload them into the Chatter stream for coworkers to peruse. In addition, it gives you the ability to call, e-mail, or even text message a colleague from your phone by accessing that person's Chatter profile. See Also: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/telecom/unified_communications/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229219603">Cisco Announces Multimedia Jabber Software</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/smart-phones/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229200271">Mobilizing Enterprise Apps: The Next Big Leap</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229200114">IBM Takes Social Business Mobile</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000882">RhoSync Brings Salesforce.com Social Apps To iPhone, Android</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000572">Telligent Adds Mobile Features</a>If you need to support Android devices, one option is <a href="http://www.seesmic.com/products/android">Seesmic</a> (free), a longstanding, popular social networking app. Seesmic supports multiple social networks -- Twitter, Google Buzz . . . and Salesforce Chatter. As with the Salesforce app, you can read your feeds, share photos, and get notifications of new messages. See Also: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/telecom/unified_communications/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229219603">Cisco Announces Multimedia Jabber Software</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/smart-phones/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229200271">Mobilizing Enterprise Apps: The Next Big Leap</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229200114">IBM Takes Social Business Mobile</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000882">RhoSync Brings Salesforce.com Social Apps To iPhone, Android</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000572">Telligent Adds Mobile Features</a>Basecamp provides a workgroup-level collaborative project management platform, with dashboards to show the status of projects, access to related files, milestones, and messages. It's not meant as an enterprise-wide organizational tool, but it's good for teams and departments. The company maintains its own mobile site for access through a mobile browser, but you can also get a standalone app called <a href="http://www.encampapp.com/">Insight</a>, formerly called Encamp ($9.99 for the iPhone). Insight provides a dashboard of the latest activity in your account and groups your projects by status, like Basecamp does. You can also email or phone your collaborators right from within Insight, set up to-do lists, and track milestones. See Also: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/telecom/unified_communications/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229219603">Cisco Announces Multimedia Jabber Software</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/smart-phones/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229200271">Mobilizing Enterprise Apps: The Next Big Leap</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229200114">IBM Takes Social Business Mobile</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000882">RhoSync Brings Salesforce.com Social Apps To iPhone, Android</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000572">Telligent Adds Mobile Features</a>Jive's main purpose is to enable managers to form and dissolve groups as needed for specific tasks and projects. It collects the working profile of all the employees in a company to make it easier to find the right people to assemble for a project. It also provides a way for employees to submit ideas and vote for the best ones. Jive's <a href="http://www.jivesoftware.com/products/platform/modules/mobile">Mobile Module</a> (free for the iPhone) lets you browse recent activity, post a response, update your status, and even upload a photo to a new blog post. You can participate in discussion threads and communicate with coworkers through their profiles. You can also download contact info from Jive into your phone's Address Book or transfer contacts to another phone. See Also: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/telecom/unified_communications/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229219603">Cisco Announces Multimedia Jabber Software</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/smart-phones/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229200271">Mobilizing Enterprise Apps: The Next Big Leap</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229200114">IBM Takes Social Business Mobile</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000882">RhoSync Brings Salesforce.com Social Apps To iPhone, Android</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000572">Telligent Adds Mobile Features</a>SAP StreamWork, from the well-known enterprise software giant, is a team-building and team-coordination tool. It lets a business bring together both employees and people outside the company to work on a task and provides communication features to help them work together. It also hooks into SAP business intelligence software as well as third party collaboration apps. The SAP StreamWork <a href="http://www.sapstreamwork.com/mobile">mobile application</a> (free for the iPhone, expected soon for the BlackBerry) lets you create StreamWork activities, add participants, upload content, and establish action items. You can also contact teammates via their StreamWork profiles to call or send them an email. See Also: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/telecom/unified_communications/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229219603">Cisco Announces Multimedia Jabber Software</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/smart-phones/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229200271">Mobilizing Enterprise Apps: The Next Big Leap</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229200114">IBM Takes Social Business Mobile</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000882">RhoSync Brings Salesforce.com Social Apps To iPhone, Android</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000572">Telligent Adds Mobile Features</a>AtTask provides a group project management platform, based on Gantt charts, with a variety of reports and dashboards available to help managers keep track of how things are going. It also offers tools for organizing teams to tackle projects, including the ability to run what-if scenarios to see how assignments will affect everyone's workload. Part of AtTask is TeamHome, a workspace for team members to take on tasks, see what they have to do and what's next, and have access to a communication stream to keep informed about what everyone else is doing. <a href="http://www.attask.com/topics/iphone-project-management">AtTask for the iPhone</a> (free) is a portable version of the TeamHome workspace. It lets you manage work requests and see information about your assignments. You can access updates from teammates and comment on them as well as get notifications when they comment on yours. And you can log the time you spend on each task and let people know when you think you'll be finished. See Also: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/telecom/unified_communications/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229219603">Cisco Announces Multimedia Jabber Software</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/smart-phones/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229200271">Mobilizing Enterprise Apps: The Next Big Leap</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229200114">IBM Takes Social Business Mobile</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000882">RhoSync Brings Salesforce.com Social Apps To iPhone, Android</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000572">Telligent Adds Mobile Features</a>Not every collaboration platform has an associated native app. Some take the alternative approach of building a special mobile Web site and relying on the smartphone's browser to provide access to the collaboration tools. One advantage of this approach is that it's not (phone) platform-specific: It'll work on iPhones, Android devices, and BlackBerrys. Another is that it's free, since it just uses a phone's built-in capabilities. One example is Socialtext (left), an information sharing and team-management platform. <a href="http://www.socialtext.com/products/mobile.php">SocialText Mobile</a> detects a mobile browser and directs you to a special mobile interface. Through the mobile interface, you can track team members' activities, read and add comments, and communicate with colleagues through their profiles. Another example is Central Desktop (right), a cloud-based collaboration platform that offers most of the features of the in-house version: shared workspaces with communication and file sharing features. <a href="https://www.centraldesktop.mobi/">CentralDesktop.MOBI</a>, a third-party Web application, lets you connect to your Central Desktop account by pointing your phone's browser to that address. See Also: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/telecom/unified_communications/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229219603">Cisco Announces Multimedia Jabber Software</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/smart-phones/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229200271">Mobilizing Enterprise Apps: The Next Big Leap</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229200114">IBM Takes Social Business Mobile</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000882">RhoSync Brings Salesforce.com Social Apps To iPhone, Android</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000572">Telligent Adds Mobile Features</a>Sometimes collaboration should be more personal and more fun than simply connecting to the home office's collaboration platform to read messages and update your project status. Collaboration can mean brainstorming while actually sitting together, even on a mobile device. That's what <a href="http://www.greengar.com/apps/whiteboard/">Whiteboard Pro</a> ($2.99 for the iPhone, $1.99 for <a href="http://www.appbrain.com/app/whiteboard-pro/greengar.white.board.pro">Android devices</a>) lets you do: Put a shared whiteboard on two mobile devices that are on the same Wi-Fi network or connected via Bluetooth. What you draw on one will appear on the screen of the other, enabling true real-time collaboration. You can even draw on top of photos you've taken or images you open in the app. See Also: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/telecom/unified_communications/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229219603">Cisco Announces Multimedia Jabber Software</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/smart-phones/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229200271">Mobilizing Enterprise Apps: The Next Big Leap</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229200114">IBM Takes Social Business Mobile</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000882">RhoSync Brings Salesforce.com Social Apps To iPhone, Android</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000572">Telligent Adds Mobile Features</a>2011-03-12T06:00:00Z10 Massive Security BreachesThey make the news on a regular basis: incidents in which a company or government agency's security is breached, leading to a loss of information, personal records, or other data. There are many ways to measure the size or cost of a security breach. Some result in the loss of millions of data records, some affect millions of people, and some wind up costing the affected businesses a lot of money. Not to mention, the questions of you calculate the value of personal medical information vs. credit card numbers. Here are ten security breaches of epic scale, plus one "bonus" incident that ranks among the boneheaded moves of all time.http://www.informationweek.com/news/229300675?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Networking/Comm_smbIn February 2007, TJX, parent company of discount stores T.J. Maxx and Marshalls, disclosed that thieves had stolen information on possibly tens of millions of credit and debit cards. The company first thought its systems had been compromised for about eight months, but it turned out the vulnerability might have lasted for almost a year longer than that. The incident wound up costing TJX millions of dollars paid to the FTC, credit card companies, banks, and consumers. Oh, and 11 hackers were eventually arrested for the break-in. Security breaches have only increased in scope and frequency in recent years, as more businesses store their data in digital files and thieves become increasingly sophisticated in how they gain access to those files. But sometimes the attacks aren't sophisticated at all -- sometimes they just occur because someone got careless with a physical object. That's old-school data theft, no hacking required. See Also <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229201276">Nasdaq Confirms Servers Breached</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229200124">Online Dating Site Breached</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/storage/security/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000863">Two Arrested For AT&T iPad Network Breach</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000160">Schwartz On Security: First, Know You've Been Breached</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228900062">100,000 Credit Cards Compromised By Data Breach</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228801010">Gawker Details Missteps Behind Security Breach</a>In June 2005, MasterCard announced that up to 40 million credit card holders were at risk of having their data stolen -- and 200,000 definitely had -- because of a Trojan on the computers of a credit card processing company. The processor, CardSystems Solutions, had improperly stored the card data, unencrypted, in order to do research on the transactions. The CardSystems chief executive admitted: "We should not have been doing that." See Also <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229201276">Nasdaq Confirms Servers Breached</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229200124">Online Dating Site Breached</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/storage/security/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000863">Two Arrested For AT&T iPad Network Breach</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000160">Schwartz On Security: First, Know You've Been Breached</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228900062">100,000 Credit Cards Compromised By Data Breach</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228801010">Gawker Details Missteps Behind Security Breach</a>Heartland was a credit card payment processor for more than 250,000 businesses in 2009, when the company revealed that tens of millions of transactions might have been compromised. The company's computers were infected with malware that passed the information on to outsiders, information that would enable the thieves to create counterfeit cards with actual user data. The company claimed that Social Security information, PIN numbers, and other personal data were not affected. See Also <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229201276">Nasdaq Confirms Servers Breached</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229200124">Online Dating Site Breached</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/storage/security/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000863">Two Arrested For AT&T iPad Network Breach</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000160">Schwartz On Security: First, Know You've Been Breached</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228900062">100,000 Credit Cards Compromised By Data Breach</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228801010">Gawker Details Missteps Behind Security Breach</a>In one of the instances of a physical security breach rather than an electronic one, the Bank of New York Mellon simply lost a tape. In February 2008, the company sent 10 unencrypted backup tapes to a storage facility. When the storage firm's truck arrived at the facility, however, only nine tapes were still on board. The missing tape contained social security numbers and bank account information on 4.5 million customers. Oops. See Also <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229201276">Nasdaq Confirms Servers Breached</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229200124">Online Dating Site Breached</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/storage/security/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000863">Two Arrested For AT&T iPad Network Breach</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000160">Schwartz On Security: First, Know You've Been Breached</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228900062">100,000 Credit Cards Compromised By Data Breach</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228801010">Gawker Details Missteps Behind Security Breach</a>The Maine-based grocery store chain Hannaford Brothers announced in March 2008 that hackers had gained access to more than 4.2 million credit card transactions. By the time word got out, more than 1,800 of the credit card numbers had already been used at company stores in the Northeast and Florida. Ironically, the chain had passed a PCI assessment not long before the breach was discovered. The breach resulted in two class action lawsuits on behalf of customers, whose outcome is still pending. See Also <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229201276">Nasdaq Confirms Servers Breached</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229200124">Online Dating Site Breached</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/storage/security/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000863">Two Arrested For AT&T iPad Network Breach</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000160">Schwartz On Security: First, Know You've Been Breached</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228900062">100,000 Credit Cards Compromised By Data Breach</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228801010">Gawker Details Missteps Behind Security Breach</a>News broke in November 2007 that two computer discs holding personal information on 25 million British citizens -- all UK families with children under 16 -- had been lost in the mail. The data included the families' names, addresses, National Insurance number, and in some cases bank information. The discs had been sent by courier via the HMRC's internal mail system, and the agency initially tried to blame a worker for not following procedure. The worker argued that sending such packages that way was common, and soon other incidents of data lost the same way were revealed. See Also <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229201276">Nasdaq Confirms Servers Breached</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229200124">Online Dating Site Breached</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/storage/security/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000863">Two Arrested For AT&T iPad Network Breach</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000160">Schwartz On Security: First, Know You've Been Breached</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228900062">100,000 Credit Cards Compromised By Data Breach</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228801010">Gawker Details Missteps Behind Security Breach</a>In 2009, the Department of Veterans Affairs was having trouble with one of the hard drives in a database RAID array. So, naturally, the agency sent the drive out for repair. Unfortunately, it neglected to erase the unencrypted data on the disc. When the contractor was unable to repair the disc, they simply recycled it -- again without erasing -- leaving the personal information for some 76 million veterans accessible to whoever next got the disc. See Also <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229201276">Nasdaq Confirms Servers Breached</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229200124">Online Dating Site Breached</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/storage/security/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000863">Two Arrested For AT&T iPad Network Breach</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000160">Schwartz On Security: First, Know You've Been Breached</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228900062">100,000 Credit Cards Compromised By Data Breach</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228801010">Gawker Details Missteps Behind Security Breach</a>Certegy Check Services, a subsidiary of Fidelity National Information Service, revealed in 2007 that one of its employees had been stealing customer records and selling them to a data broker. The records included credit card, bank account, and other personal information, and Certegy estimated the breach affected 8.5 million customers. The thief got jail time and a multimillion-dollar fine, and Certegy wound up out nearly $1,000,000 in donations and court costs. See Also <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229201276">Nasdaq Confirms Servers Breached</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229200124">Online Dating Site Breached</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/storage/security/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000863">Two Arrested For AT&T iPad Network Breach</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000160">Schwartz On Security: First, Know You've Been Breached</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228900062">100,000 Credit Cards Compromised By Data Breach</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228801010">Gawker Details Missteps Behind Security Breach</a>Somebody at the Oklahoma Department of Human Services left the office in April 2009 with a laptop containing unencrypted client records. They left the laptop in their car, someone broke into the car, and the names, social security numbers, and other sensitive information on about a million Oklahomans went missing. While the data was unencrypted, the laptop itself was password-protected, so the agency deemed the risk of data loss "low." See Also <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229201276">Nasdaq Confirms Servers Breached</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229200124">Online Dating Site Breached</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/storage/security/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000863">Two Arrested For AT&T iPad Network Breach</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000160">Schwartz On Security: First, Know You've Been Breached</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228900062">100,000 Credit Cards Compromised By Data Breach</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228801010">Gawker Details Missteps Behind Security Breach</a>In May 2009, the Connecticut health care provider Health Net reported that an unencrypted portable storage device was missing, containing seven years' worth of financial and medical information on 1.5 million customers. The capper? The device actually went missing six months before the company reported it. The Connecticut attorney general promptly filed suit. Health Net settled for $250,000 and is on the hook for another $500,000 if any of the data is accessed and misused before November 30, 2011. See Also <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229201276">Nasdaq Confirms Servers Breached</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229200124">Online Dating Site Breached</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/storage/security/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000863">Two Arrested For AT&T iPad Network Breach</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000160">Schwartz On Security: First, Know You've Been Breached</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228900062">100,000 Credit Cards Compromised By Data Breach</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228801010">Gawker Details Missteps Behind Security Breach</a>The amount of data actually lost by the Akron Children's Hospital in 2008 wasn't great, but the story's too good to leave out. In February of that year, a man sent an email with spyware to his ex-girlfriend, hoping to monitor what she did on her computer. Unfortunately for him (and the hospital), she opened the email on her work computer. Over the course of ten days, the spyware emailed the miscreant more than a thousand screenshots of confidential data on 62 patients. The man agreed to pay $33,000 to the hospital and faced a five-year prison sentence. See Also <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229201276">Nasdaq Confirms Servers Breached</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229200124">Online Dating Site Breached</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/storage/security/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000863">Two Arrested For AT&T iPad Network Breach</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000160">Schwartz On Security: First, Know You've Been Breached</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228900062">100,000 Credit Cards Compromised By Data Breach</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228801010">Gawker Details Missteps Behind Security Breach</a>2011-02-26T06:00:00ZGreat Lost Software: 16 Gone But Not ForgottenSoftware comes and software goes. Most that fall into the latter category deserve their fate, because either they weren't very good or they were superseded by a better option. Though such also-rans are soon forgotten, some defunct software still holds our affections, whether because nothing as good has come along or because it was our "first love" in a category. Software may seem a funny thing to be sentimental about, but when you use a tool every day, you can grow quite fond of it. We ransacked our own memories of applications past and polled some of our colleagues to formulate this list of 16 fondly remembered programs that are no longer really with us.http://www.informationweek.com/news/229219081?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Networking/Comm_smbFreeHand, a rival to Adobe Illustrator, was a PostScript drawing program developed by Altsys and licensed to Aldus. Graphic artists and designers preferred Illustrator, while technical artists and mapmakers gravitated to FreeHand. Its interface was more discoverable than Illustrator's, which made it more accessible for semi-regular use. When Adobe bought Aldus, the program reverted to Altsys, which later sold it to Macromedia, and the eventual purchase of Macromedia by Adobe spelled the end of FreeHand development. Even though, in some cases, some of this "lost" software is still sold, most of it is long gone -- sometimes the parent company went out of business, sometimes a competitor bought it and killed it (or bought it to kill it), or it becomes a victim of changing standards. Here's to those we miss. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/galleries/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224800086">IT Hall Of Shame</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/galleries/global-cio/trends/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226300189">Top 10 Tech Newsmakers Of 2010</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/services/hosted_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226500105">Computer History Museum Tour</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/ebusiness/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227001126">Top 10 Most Hated Tech Mascots Ever</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/hardware/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227400522">19 Gadgets That Changed The World</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229218884">12 Worst Tech Predictions Of All Time</a>A repository for personal information, Palm Desktop was the desktop program that synced calendar, contacts, and other information with Palm PDAs. But it also worked pretty well as a standalone PIM in its own right. Only recently orphaned, the latest Windows version officially supports Vista (though the company support page says, "many users have successfully installed and run Palm Desktop 6.2 software with Windows 7"), while the latest Mac version does not work with OS X 10.6. The Web is full of desperate pleas from users needing to reluctantly move their data out of Palm Desktop into something else. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/galleries/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224800086">IT Hall Of Shame</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/galleries/global-cio/trends/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226300189">Top 10 Tech Newsmakers Of 2010</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/services/hosted_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226500105">Computer History Museum Tour</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/ebusiness/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227001126">Top 10 Most Hated Tech Mascots Ever</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/hardware/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227400522">19 Gadgets That Changed The World</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229218884">12 Worst Tech Predictions Of All Time</a>There's a place, one would think, for an easy-to-learn basic Web site creator. But in an era dominated by Adobe Flash and Dreamweaver, such a program is hard to find. GoLive, which debuted for the Mac in 1996, has been called "the only advanced Web site creator that non-gear-heads could understand." Users assembled Web sites by dragging and dropping elements in a WYSIWYG environment. Adobe purchased GoLive Cyberstudio in 1999, renamed it Adobe GoLive, and released a Windows version. But once it acquired Macromedia and the more capable Dreamweaver, it no longer had room for CyberStudio. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/galleries/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224800086">IT Hall Of Shame</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/galleries/global-cio/trends/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226300189">Top 10 Tech Newsmakers Of 2010</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/services/hosted_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226500105">Computer History Museum Tour</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/ebusiness/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227001126">Top 10 Most Hated Tech Mascots Ever</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/hardware/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227400522">19 Gadgets That Changed The World</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229218884">12 Worst Tech Predictions Of All Time</a>It might be hard to believe that a contact manager and calendar program could inspire such loyalty and affection, but this software wasn't always part of a standard PC setup. When Now Software came out with Up-To-Date and Contact in the mid-1990s, it opened a new world of possibilities to Mac users. They could view their networked colleagues' calendars and schedule a meeting for everyone at once or drag a contact name onto a calendar to create an appointment. The programs never made a smooth transition to OS X, however, and development finally halted this year. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/galleries/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224800086">IT Hall Of Shame</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/galleries/global-cio/trends/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226300189">Top 10 Tech Newsmakers Of 2010</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/services/hosted_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226500105">Computer History Museum Tour</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/ebusiness/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227001126">Top 10 Most Hated Tech Mascots Ever</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/hardware/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227400522">19 Gadgets That Changed The World</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229218884">12 Worst Tech Predictions Of All Time</a>Another Mac utility, Symmetry Acta started life as a Desk Accessory -- a small program launched from a special menu -- and did what seems like a simple thing: outlining. But as one reviewer said, it "seems to be able to do everything, including jobs unforeseen by its designer," and people used it to organize information of all sorts. The program won multiple awards between 1988 and 1989, and a version for Windows came out in 1993. Now that word processors have outlining built in, there's not much of a market for a separate utility. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/galleries/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224800086">IT Hall Of Shame</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/galleries/global-cio/trends/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226300189">Top 10 Tech Newsmakers Of 2010</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/services/hosted_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226500105">Computer History Museum Tour</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/ebusiness/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227001126">Top 10 Most Hated Tech Mascots Ever</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/hardware/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227400522">19 Gadgets That Changed The World</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229218884">12 Worst Tech Predictions Of All Time</a>Back in 1987, when Apple released HyperCard, it was unlike anything most people had seen. The program was based on the metaphor of a stack of index cards that could be linked to one another, giving most people their first exposure to hypertext and hotlinks. Users created every kind of stack you could think of -- step-by-step instructions, foreign-language flashcards, band names and personnel, even games. Today, people turn to the Web, which wouldn't be what it is without HyperCard. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/galleries/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224800086">IT Hall Of Shame</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/galleries/global-cio/trends/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226300189">Top 10 Tech Newsmakers Of 2010</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/services/hosted_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226500105">Computer History Museum Tour</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/ebusiness/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227001126">Top 10 Most Hated Tech Mascots Ever</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/hardware/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227400522">19 Gadgets That Changed The World</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229218884">12 Worst Tech Predictions Of All Time</a>If there's a theme to this nostalgia, it's that people particularly fell in love with products that helped them manage their personal information -- projects, appointments, contacts, and so on. Ecco combined an outliner with a tagging feature that would eventually be familiar to users of Getting Things Done software or Evernote. You could make up any category tag you needed and then apply it to the entries on your list, which could include Web pages and text. You also could clip things to Ecco from other programs. It's still available from compusol.org/ecco -- but it's the 1997 version. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/galleries/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224800086">IT Hall Of Shame</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/galleries/global-cio/trends/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226300189">Top 10 Tech Newsmakers Of 2010</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/services/hosted_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226500105">Computer History Museum Tour</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/ebusiness/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227001126">Top 10 Most Hated Tech Mascots Ever</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/hardware/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227400522">19 Gadgets That Changed The World</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229218884">12 Worst Tech Predictions Of All Time</a>It was just an email program, but sometimes all you want is to get your email. Compared with its big brother, Outlook, Outlook Express was lightweight and easy to use. The program was included with Windows up through XP, and came with Microsoft Office for the Mac through Office 98. Now people use any of a variety of free and paid email programs, but some of them wish Outlook Express was still around. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/galleries/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224800086">IT Hall Of Shame</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/galleries/global-cio/trends/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226300189">Top 10 Tech Newsmakers Of 2010</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/services/hosted_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226500105">Computer History Museum Tour</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/ebusiness/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227001126">Top 10 Most Hated Tech Mascots Ever</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/hardware/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227400522">19 Gadgets That Changed The World</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229218884">12 Worst Tech Predictions Of All Time</a>XyWrite was a word processor for DOS -- and, eventually, Windows -- modeled on the Atex mainframe text-composition engine in common use at newspapers in the pre-desktop publishing era. A writer would type simple commands into a command line to manage operations ranging from formatting to printing without ever taking his hands off the keyboard. You could also write custom command shortcuts and macros, which were widely shared. The program lives on, sort of, in the academic word processor Nota Bene. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/galleries/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224800086">IT Hall Of Shame</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/galleries/global-cio/trends/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226300189">Top 10 Tech Newsmakers Of 2010</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/services/hosted_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226500105">Computer History Museum Tour</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/ebusiness/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227001126">Top 10 Most Hated Tech Mascots Ever</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/hardware/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227400522">19 Gadgets That Changed The World</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229218884">12 Worst Tech Predictions Of All Time</a>Available starting in 2003 for iTunes 4.1, OurTunes was an open-source Java-based utility for listening to other people's iTunes libraries on the same local network. The problem, but also the fun, was that it was a utility for copying files from those libraries as well. iTunes 7, released in 2006, changed its authentication scheme and broke OurTunes. iTunes has long permitted streaming music from shared libraries, and version 9 added the ability for a limited number of computers on a sub-network to copy each other's files. But the "free for all" nature of OurTunes has not been duplicated -- and isn't likely to be. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/galleries/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224800086">IT Hall Of Shame</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/galleries/global-cio/trends/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226300189">Top 10 Tech Newsmakers Of 2010</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/services/hosted_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226500105">Computer History Museum Tour</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/ebusiness/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227001126">Top 10 Most Hated Tech Mascots Ever</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/hardware/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227400522">19 Gadgets That Changed The World</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229218884">12 Worst Tech Predictions Of All Time</a>Javelin was created in 1984 to be the next-generation spreadsheet. It broke the data free from their cells -- the data were called "variables" and were objects independent of their place in the grid. Variables could be connected to each other as well as to text and images, and actions were performed on the objects, not on the cells. The product won numerous awards, and the story is told that at one software awards ceremony, Javelin's win over Excel caused Bill Gates to storm out in disgust. Javelin was purchased by Oracle in 1994, which spelled the end of the product. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/galleries/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224800086">IT Hall Of Shame</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/galleries/global-cio/trends/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226300189">Top 10 Tech Newsmakers Of 2010</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/services/hosted_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226500105">Computer History Museum Tour</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/ebusiness/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227001126">Top 10 Most Hated Tech Mascots Ever</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/hardware/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227400522">19 Gadgets That Changed The World</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229218884">12 Worst Tech Predictions Of All Time</a>Six Degrees was an email-based productivity and organization tool, based on the idea that the framework of most business communication and collaboration was email. The program would automatically group messages with similar subject lines and attachments with similar keywords and provide a sort of dashboard for tracking messages, files, and people by project. Debuting in 2002, the program was probably slightly ahead of its time; also, it was marketed by Creo, a prepress company not known for standalone productivity software. These days, social networking features in collaboration tools try to fill the same role. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/galleries/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224800086">IT Hall Of Shame</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/galleries/global-cio/trends/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226300189">Top 10 Tech Newsmakers Of 2010</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/services/hosted_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226500105">Computer History Museum Tour</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/ebusiness/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227001126">Top 10 Most Hated Tech Mascots Ever</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/hardware/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227400522">19 Gadgets That Changed The World</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229218884">12 Worst Tech Predictions Of All Time</a>Improv was another attempt to move beyond the basic spreadsheet model. Pioneered by an advanced technology group within Lotus in 1985, the goal was to make spreadsheets not necessarily easier to use, but easier to create. As with Javelin, Lotus developers separated the components of the spreadsheet -- the data from the cells and the formulas. Steve Jobs was an admirer, and Improv became one of the most popular applications on Next computers. A Windows version arrived in 1993, but it was just too different from what people expected from a spreadsheet. Nevertheless, a derivative of Improv called Quantrix is still used in financial environments. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/galleries/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224800086">IT Hall Of Shame</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/galleries/global-cio/trends/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226300189">Top 10 Tech Newsmakers Of 2010</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/services/hosted_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226500105">Computer History Museum Tour</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/ebusiness/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227001126">Top 10 Most Hated Tech Mascots Ever</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/hardware/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227400522">19 Gadgets That Changed The World</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229218884">12 Worst Tech Predictions Of All Time</a>XTree, introduced for DOS in the mid-1980s, was an early attempt to put a graphical interface on PCs. XTree presented a Windows Explorer-like view of the computer's file system and provided -- according to its manual -- "commands to access, delete, rename, view, move, list, or show any and all files within any and all directories on your floppy and hard disks." The software still has an XTree Fan Page containing the product history, tips and tricks, and so on. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/galleries/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224800086">IT Hall Of Shame</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/galleries/global-cio/trends/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226300189">Top 10 Tech Newsmakers Of 2010</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/services/hosted_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226500105">Computer History Museum Tour</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/ebusiness/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227001126">Top 10 Most Hated Tech Mascots Ever</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/hardware/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227400522">19 Gadgets That Changed The World</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229218884">12 Worst Tech Predictions Of All Time</a>Corel still sells Ventura Publisher for Windows, though the latest version dates to 2002. But the one that users remember fondly came out in 1986 and included a run-time copy of Digital Research's GEM graphical interface. It was speedy even on the PCs of the time, in part because rather than building one big file with everything in it, it created chapter files that contained instructions on how to format the source files, which remained in their native formats. Corel acquired the application in 1993, but its versions never caught on, especially as word processors got more page layout features. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/galleries/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224800086">IT Hall Of Shame</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/galleries/global-cio/trends/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226300189">Top 10 Tech Newsmakers Of 2010</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/services/hosted_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226500105">Computer History Museum Tour</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/ebusiness/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227001126">Top 10 Most Hated Tech Mascots Ever</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/hardware/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227400522">19 Gadgets That Changed The World</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229218884">12 Worst Tech Predictions Of All Time</a>Mac users still speak fondly of the word processor WriteNow, which was available soon after the Mac's debut. It was known for its speed, its ability to handle long documents, and the inclusion of then-advanced features such as spell checking and footnotes. The application was eventually ported to the Next and shipped with Next computers until 1991. What finally doomed it was what made it great: It was originally written in Motorola 680x0 assembly language, which is why it was so fast, but it proved difficult to port to the Mac's new processors. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/galleries/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224800086">IT Hall Of Shame</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/galleries/global-cio/trends/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226300189">Top 10 Tech Newsmakers Of 2010</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/services/hosted_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226500105">Computer History Museum Tour</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/ebusiness/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227001126">Top 10 Most Hated Tech Mascots Ever</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/hardware/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227400522">19 Gadgets That Changed The World</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229218884">12 Worst Tech Predictions Of All Time</a>2011-02-12T06:00:00ZBuilding The Mac OfficeBuilding an office around the Apple Macintosh has long been a good business strategy, particularly for SMBs. Macs generally require fewer IT resources and retain their value better than Windows-based PCs -- that's a key consideration for cash- and resource-strapped small and midsize businesses. And the iPhone and iPad, with their strong Mac integration, make it easier for businesses to move into the new era of mobile computing. But before you can Go Mac, you need to know how to get your Mac office up and running. This review of products from Apple and other Mac vendors, will take you on a visual tour of a Mac-centric office that could be your future infrastructure.http://www.informationweek.com/news/229215660?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Networking/Comm_smbThe <a href="http://www.apple.com/imac/" target="new">iMac</a>, the iconic all-in-one computer, is still the foundation of a Mac-based office. For $1,199, your desk workers can get a 21.5-inch screen, a 3.06GHz Intel Core i3 processor, 4 GB of RAM, and a 500 GB hard drive. That's more than enough for most office tasks. Sure, you could spend $1,699 and get a 27-inch screen, a 3.2GHz chip, and a 1TB hard drive -- or heck, $1,999 to get a 2.8GHz Core i5 quad-core chip -- but few people need the extra screen real estate or speed. Getting back to the Mac vs. PC debate, here are just a few of the reasons you may want to consider building your office around the Mac and compatible hardware and software: 1. Macs often require fewer IT resources to maintain than Windows-based PCs do. 2. They're typically not plagued by the malware -- viruses, spyware, etc. -- that Windows machines are. Whether that's due to the inherently more secure nature of Mac OS X or just because the Mac market share is too small to attract attention (there are good arguments on both sides), the result is that you'll spend less time guarding against and cleaning up after attacks. 3. They're not as expensive as you might have heard. Sure, you can find cheaper PCs -- but do you really want to entrust your business to cheap PCs? Windows machines with the same specs as Macs tend to cost about the same amount, and Macs hold their value better over time. 4. They look cool, and the peripherals match. Don't laugh: your office makes a first impression on customers just as your staff does. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229100313">Mac Office 2011 Available For Free Trial</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000430">Global CIO: The PC Is Dying: Long Live The iPad!</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/desktop/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000223">Mac App Store Opens For Business</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/handheld/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228901670">CES 2011: Catching Up With Apple</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/software/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228900096">Top 10 Apple Stories Of 2010</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229100077">Global CIO: Steve Jobs' Legacy: 10 Ways He's Rocked Our World</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000915">Apple Sells 15M iPads In 2010, Dismisses Competition</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000837">Steve Jobs Should Be Apple's Last Rock Star CEO</a>The entry-level model in the Mac laptop line is the 13" MacBook at $999, but it's not recommend that for business use. The 13" <a href="http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/" target="new">MacBook Pro</a>, at just $200 more, gives you twice the RAM (4 GB rather than two), a backlit keyboard, a FireWire port (a real help for performing some maintenance tasks) and an SD card reader -- and it's even lighter. Moving to a larger screen entails a big price jump: the 15" MacBook Pro starts at $1,799. You get more for your money, but it doesn't offers as attractive a price-performance ratio as the 13" model. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229100313">Mac Office 2011 Available For Free Trial</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000430">Global CIO: The PC Is Dying: Long Live The iPad!</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/desktop/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000223">Mac App Store Opens For Business</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/handheld/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228901670">CES 2011: Catching Up With Apple</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/software/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228900096">Top 10 Apple Stories Of 2010</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229100077">Global CIO: Steve Jobs' Legacy: 10 Ways He's Rocked Our World</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000915">Apple Sells 15M iPads In 2010, Dismisses Competition</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000837">Steve Jobs Should Be Apple's Last Rock Star CEO</a>With a new size and lower pricing, the latest iteration of the <a href="http://www.apple.com/macbookair/" target="new">MacBook Air</a> makes it more of a practical choice and less of a luxury purchase. The CPUs aren't the fastest, but that's balanced out somewhat by the speedy solid-state drives. The $999 11-inch model comes with a 1.4GHz Core 2 Duo chip, 2GB of RAM, and a 64 GB SSD, but go-ahead and spend the extra $200 to double the storage. (There's also a 13-inch model for $1,299, but go small or go home.) Pick up the $80 external SuperDrive -- about the size of a CD case -- for installing software. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229100313">Mac Office 2011 Available For Free Trial</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000430">Global CIO: The PC Is Dying: Long Live The iPad!</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/desktop/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000223">Mac App Store Opens For Business</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/handheld/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228901670">CES 2011: Catching Up With Apple</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/software/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228900096">Top 10 Apple Stories Of 2010</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229100077">Global CIO: Steve Jobs' Legacy: 10 Ways He's Rocked Our World</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000915">Apple Sells 15M iPads In 2010, Dismisses Competition</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000837">Steve Jobs Should Be Apple's Last Rock Star CEO</a>The current <a href="http://www.apple.com/macpro/" target="new">Mac Pro</a> is a monster and, frankly, more computer than all but a few have any use for. But anyone doing heavy imaging or video work will benefit from the system's multi-core processors, massive storage capacity, and powerful graphics. Pricing starts at $2,499 for a 2.8GHz quad-core Xeon processor, 3 GB of RAM and 1 TB of storage. Twice that amount buys two 2.66GHz six-core Xeons and doubles the memory. Or max it out with two 2.93GHz six-core processors, 32 GB of RAM, and 6 TB of hard drive storage plus a 512GB SSD, all for less than $12,000. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229100313">Mac Office 2011 Available For Free Trial</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000430">Global CIO: The PC Is Dying: Long Live The iPad!</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/desktop/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000223">Mac App Store Opens For Business</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/handheld/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228901670">CES 2011: Catching Up With Apple</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/software/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228900096">Top 10 Apple Stories Of 2010</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229100077">Global CIO: Steve Jobs' Legacy: 10 Ways He's Rocked Our World</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000915">Apple Sells 15M iPads In 2010, Dismisses Competition</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000837">Steve Jobs Should Be Apple's Last Rock Star CEO</a>The previous iteration of <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206902503">Building The Mac Office</a> recommended Xserve server (soon to be discontinued) or buying the OS X Server and running it on any Intel Mac. But this year, it's impossible not to like the <a href="http://www.apple.com/macmini/server/" target="new">Mac mini with Snow Leopard Server</a> as an off-the-shelf server option. Inside the tiny (7.7-inch-square, 1-1/2-inch-high) box is a 2.66GHz Core 2 Duo processor and 4 GB of RAM. It also comes with two 500GB full-speed hard drives and an unlimited client license for OS X Server, which supplies file and print, email, Web, and other services. At $999, why look further? SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229100313">Mac Office 2011 Available For Free Trial</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000430">Global CIO: The PC Is Dying: Long Live The iPad!</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/desktop/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000223">Mac App Store Opens For Business</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/handheld/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228901670">CES 2011: Catching Up With Apple</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/software/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228900096">Top 10 Apple Stories Of 2010</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229100077">Global CIO: Steve Jobs' Legacy: 10 Ways He's Rocked Our World</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000915">Apple Sells 15M iPads In 2010, Dismisses Competition</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000837">Steve Jobs Should Be Apple's Last Rock Star CEO</a>To enable all the Macs in your office to share an Internet connection, there's still no better option than Apple's own<a href="http://www.apple.com/airportextreme/" target="new">Airport Extreme</a>. (Note that it's a router -- the actual Internet connection is up to you.) The Airport Extreme provides WPA/WPA2 and 128-bit WEP encryption but also lets you create a guest network for temporary access. It also supports remote printing and hard drive sharing. It may sound expensive at $179, but few bargain routers have all of the Airport Extreme's features. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229100313">Mac Office 2011 Available For Free Trial</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000430">Global CIO: The PC Is Dying: Long Live The iPad!</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/desktop/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000223">Mac App Store Opens For Business</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/handheld/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228901670">CES 2011: Catching Up With Apple</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/software/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228900096">Top 10 Apple Stories Of 2010</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229100077">Global CIO: Steve Jobs' Legacy: 10 Ways He's Rocked Our World</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000915">Apple Sells 15M iPads In 2010, Dismisses Competition</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000837">Steve Jobs Should Be Apple's Last Rock Star CEO</a>If you want your router to handle backup as well, pick up the <a href="http://www.apple.com/timecapsule/" target="new">Time Capsule</a> instead of an Airport Extreme. In addition to being a dual-band 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi base station like the Airport Extreme, the Time Capsule has a terabyte or two of storage all ready to work with OS X's Time Machine automatic backup utility. The 1TB Time Capsule costs $299 -- a less attractive number than it used to be, considering the price of terabyte drives these days, but it's still not bad for a terabyte plus a high-end router. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229100313">Mac Office 2011 Available For Free Trial</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000430">Global CIO: The PC Is Dying: Long Live The iPad!</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/desktop/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000223">Mac App Store Opens For Business</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/handheld/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228901670">CES 2011: Catching Up With Apple</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/software/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228900096">Top 10 Apple Stories Of 2010</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229100077">Global CIO: Steve Jobs' Legacy: 10 Ways He's Rocked Our World</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000915">Apple Sells 15M iPads In 2010, Dismisses Competition</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000837">Steve Jobs Should Be Apple's Last Rock Star CEO</a><a href="http://www.apple.com/mobileme/" target="new">MobileMe</a> is not as goofy as it sounds. It's Apple's cloud service and will let you keep your Mail, Address Book, and iCal information synced across multiple Macs, as well as to and from Apple mobile devices. It also provides 20 GB of online storage and backup that can be used to share files with customers and others outside the company. All of that costs $99 per year or $149 for a five-license Family Pack, which adds 5 GB of storage for each sub-account. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229100313">Mac Office 2011 Available For Free Trial</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000430">Global CIO: The PC Is Dying: Long Live The iPad!</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/desktop/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000223">Mac App Store Opens For Business</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/handheld/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228901670">CES 2011: Catching Up With Apple</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/software/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228900096">Top 10 Apple Stories Of 2010</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229100077">Global CIO: Steve Jobs' Legacy: 10 Ways He's Rocked Our World</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000915">Apple Sells 15M iPads In 2010, Dismisses Competition</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000837">Steve Jobs Should Be Apple's Last Rock Star CEO</a>Color laser multifunctions are inexpensive enough these days to be an attractive alternative to an inkjet. Brother has been making Mac-friendly machines for a while, and the previous version of <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206902503">Building The Mac Office</a> recommended the <a href="http://www.brother-usa.com/MFC/modeldetail.aspx?PRODUCTID=mfc9840cdw" target="new">MFC-9840CDW</a>. That's still our top, but unless you're in a hurry, you should wait until January to get the upcoming MFC-9970CDW. For the same $700 price, it will print faster (30ppm, up from 21) and offer a longer duty cycle (60,000 pages per month, up from 35,000). Like its predecessor, it supports wireless printing, does automatic duplexing, and comes with a 50-sheet automatic document feeder. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229100313">Mac Office 2011 Available For Free Trial</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000430">Global CIO: The PC Is Dying: Long Live The iPad!</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/desktop/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000223">Mac App Store Opens For Business</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/handheld/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228901670">CES 2011: Catching Up With Apple</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/software/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228900096">Top 10 Apple Stories Of 2010</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229100077">Global CIO: Steve Jobs' Legacy: 10 Ways He's Rocked Our World</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000915">Apple Sells 15M iPads In 2010, Dismisses Competition</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000837">Steve Jobs Should Be Apple's Last Rock Star CEO</a>Despite reservations about color laser printers, there's still a role in many offices for a printer like the Canon <a href="http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/products/printers_multifunction/corporate_and_graphic_art_printers/pixma_ix7000" target="new">Pixma iX7000 Inkjet Business Printer</a>. For one, it will print up to tabloid size (11" x 17"), invaluable for proofing newsletters and other publications. It can print photos at up to 13" x 19" and uses five pigment inks and a clear ink to make sure they look good. It has Ethernet for networked capability and can handle duplex printing. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229100313">Mac Office 2011 Available For Free Trial</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000430">Global CIO: The PC Is Dying: Long Live The iPad!</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/desktop/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000223">Mac App Store Opens For Business</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/handheld/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228901670">CES 2011: Catching Up With Apple</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/software/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228900096">Top 10 Apple Stories Of 2010</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229100077">Global CIO: Steve Jobs' Legacy: 10 Ways He's Rocked Our World</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000915">Apple Sells 15M iPads In 2010, Dismisses Competition</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000837">Steve Jobs Should Be Apple's Last Rock Star CEO</a>Microsoft Office for Mac seems obvious, but <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/mac/" target="new">Office 2011</a> is faster and has a better interface (reminiscent of Windows Office 2010, but in a good way) than Office 2008 -- it's more Mac-like, believe it or not. The Home and Student Edition, at $150, comes with Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, but it's not licensed for commercial use. For that, $280 gets you the Home and Business Edition, which also includes the new Outlook for Mac, which provides some compatibility with the Windows version. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229100313">Mac Office 2011 Available For Free Trial</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000430">Global CIO: The PC Is Dying: Long Live The iPad!</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/desktop/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000223">Mac App Store Opens For Business</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/handheld/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228901670">CES 2011: Catching Up With Apple</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/software/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228900096">Top 10 Apple Stories Of 2010</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229100077">Global CIO: Steve Jobs' Legacy: 10 Ways He's Rocked Our World</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000915">Apple Sells 15M iPads In 2010, Dismisses Competition</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000837">Steve Jobs Should Be Apple's Last Rock Star CEO</a>Apple's <a href="http://www.apple.com/iwork/" target="new">iWork</a> is a replacement for Microsoft Office, but that doesn't mean you should skip it either. The $79 suite ($99 for a five-user family pack) has three components: the word processor Pages, the spreadsheet Numbers, and the presentation program Keynote. None has all the features of its Office counterparts, but they all offer compensating advantages -- for example, Pages is an easier document design tool than Word. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229100313">Mac Office 2011 Available For Free Trial</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000430">Global CIO: The PC Is Dying: Long Live The iPad!</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/desktop/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000223">Mac App Store Opens For Business</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/handheld/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228901670">CES 2011: Catching Up With Apple</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/software/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228900096">Top 10 Apple Stories Of 2010</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229100077">Global CIO: Steve Jobs' Legacy: 10 Ways He's Rocked Our World</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000915">Apple Sells 15M iPads In 2010, Dismisses Competition</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000837">Steve Jobs Should Be Apple's Last Rock Star CEO</a>The one thing iWork and Office both lack is a true database. For that, look to FileMaker. Version 3 of <a href="http://www.filemaker.com/products/bento/" target="new">Bento</a> ($49), the company's "personal database," has added features that make it a good choice for Mac-based small offices and midsize businesses. Its close integration with existing Mac tools, such as Address Book and iCal, makes it easy to get up and running, and it comes with numerous templates for common business applications. As many as five users on a network can share contact information, notes on phone calls, purchase history, and other customer relations information. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229100313">Mac Office 2011 Available For Free Trial</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000430">Global CIO: The PC Is Dying: Long Live The iPad!</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/desktop/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000223">Mac App Store Opens For Business</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/handheld/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228901670">CES 2011: Catching Up With Apple</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/software/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228900096">Top 10 Apple Stories Of 2010</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229100077">Global CIO: Steve Jobs' Legacy: 10 Ways He's Rocked Our World</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000915">Apple Sells 15M iPads In 2010, Dismisses Competition</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000837">Steve Jobs Should Be Apple's Last Rock Star CEO</a>Businesses with more advanced database needs than Bento can handle can move up to the <a href="http://www.filemaker.com/products/filemaker-pro/" target="new">FileMaker Pro</a> line. (FileMaker Pro 11 can import or convert a Bento file, so you can start there if you're not sure.) The standard program costs $299 a seat, while $1,425 gets five licenses and a year of maintenance; other licensing options are also available. For more flexibility in designing a database, FileMaker Pro Advanced will run you $499 a seat; and to let more than 10 people access a database simultaneously, try FileMaker Server 10 for $999. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229100313">Mac Office 2011 Available For Free Trial</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000430">Global CIO: The PC Is Dying: Long Live The iPad!</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/desktop/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000223">Mac App Store Opens For Business</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/handheld/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228901670">CES 2011: Catching Up With Apple</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/software/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228900096">Top 10 Apple Stories Of 2010</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229100077">Global CIO: Steve Jobs' Legacy: 10 Ways He's Rocked Our World</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000915">Apple Sells 15M iPads In 2010, Dismisses Competition</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000837">Steve Jobs Should Be Apple's Last Rock Star CEO</a>The Mac-based office is in a good position when it comes to the new era of mobile computing. The still-slickest <a href="http://www.apple.com/iphone/" target="new">smartphone</a>, the groundbreaking <a href="http://www.apple.com/ipad/" target="new">tablet</a>, and even the music player (the <a href="http://www.apple.com/ipodtouch/" target="new">iPod Touch</a>) have access to hundreds of thousands of mobile apps that can extend your office's productivity to practically anywhere. Bento and the iWork suite are just two of the many <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=222002639" target="new">iPhone</a> and <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224600024" target="new">iPad apps</a> out there that will keep your business humming. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229100313">Mac Office 2011 Available For Free Trial</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000430">Global CIO: The PC Is Dying: Long Live The iPad!</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/desktop/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000223">Mac App Store Opens For Business</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/handheld/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228901670">CES 2011: Catching Up With Apple</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/software/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228900096">Top 10 Apple Stories Of 2010</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229100077">Global CIO: Steve Jobs' Legacy: 10 Ways He's Rocked Our World</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000915">Apple Sells 15M iPads In 2010, Dismisses Competition</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000837">Steve Jobs Should Be Apple's Last Rock Star CEO</a>Despite the variety of software available for the Mac, sometimes it's still helpful to be able to run Windows and Windows applications. To do so, pick up a copy of <a href="http://www.parallels.com/products/desktop/" target="new">Parallels Desktop 6</a> ($80), which continues to pull ahead of its only commercial rival. The Parallels <a href="http://www.parallels.com/products/desktop/stm/" target="new">Switch to Mac Edition</a> ($100) makes it easy to move existing Windows programs, settings, and files to the Mac for use there, while the new, free <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/parallels-mobile/id295531450?mt=8" target="new">Parallels Mobile</a> app lets you access your virtual Windows machines from any Apple mobile device. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229100313">Mac Office 2011 Available For Free Trial</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000430">Global CIO: The PC Is Dying: Long Live The iPad!</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/desktop/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000223">Mac App Store Opens For Business</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/handheld/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228901670">CES 2011: Catching Up With Apple</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/software/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228900096">Top 10 Apple Stories Of 2010</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229100077">Global CIO: Steve Jobs' Legacy: 10 Ways He's Rocked Our World</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000915">Apple Sells 15M iPads In 2010, Dismisses Competition</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229000837">Steve Jobs Should Be Apple's Last Rock Star CEO</a> 2011-01-21T14:52:47ZSMBs Expanding Marketing Options In 2011According to Ad-ology Research, the numbers of small businesses planning to invest in online video and mobile marketing are both sharply up from last year, part of an overall increase in planned ad spending.http://www.iweek-interim.com/news/229219289?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Networking/Comm_smbAccording to Ad-ology Research, the numbers of small businesses planning to invest in online video and mobile marketing are both sharply up from last year, part of an overall increase in planned ad spending.The figures come from Ad-ology's 2011 Small Business Marketing Forecast, based on a study conducted last November. For the study, the marketing research firm surveyed 752 owners of U.S. businesses with fewer than 100 employees. The results indicate that "small businesses are becoming increasingly savvy on how to market online, and their plans for increased spending on video and mobile show they are ready to try new ways to reach the customer," according to Ad-ology president and CEO C. Lee Smith. Ad-ology found that 45.5 percent of the businesses surveyed plan to spend more on online video and more than 36 percent on mobile apps and advertising -- up from 28 percent and 21 percent, respectively, from the 2010 forecast. This, even though 22 percent said they found it frustrating trying to understand online advertising options. As for more "old school" marketing techniques, 64 percent reported having a website, up from 53 percent last year. Half said they planned to spend more on trade shows, and even direct main and newspapers were expected to see increased resources. Overall, nearly half of those surveyed planned to spend more on advertising this year, up from 20 percent in 2010. The full report is available for $95 from the Ad-ology <a href="http://www.ad-ology.com/index.cfm?page=smallbizrpt" target="new">research store</a>.2010-12-29T04:00:00ZTop 10 Apple Stories Of 2010Apple makes news every year, and ever since Steve Jobs returned to the company in 1997, the news has mostly been good. But any big company will make a few missteps, and Apple is no exception. No company can escape the occasional misstep, but with Apple, the stumbles get the same kind of "generous" coverage that the successes do. Apple is hardly a shy, retiring company that prefers to hide from the spotlight -- even people who've never owned an Apple product can probably name several, whether because of the clever ads, the generous news coverage, or just word of mouth. Here's the 10 Apple moments that made big news this year.http://www.informationweek.com/news/228900096?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Networking/Comm_smbRumors that Apple would soon come out with a tablet computer were everywhere the beginning of 2010, and the rumors were proven accurate in April, when Apple released the iPad. Many doubted whether Apple could succeed where several other computer manufacturers had not, and others dismissed the product as "just" a big iPhone. It turned out that a big iPhone was just fine with more than 4 million people (some observers expect the company to sell 28 million next year). Apple is in the news . . . a lot. And that news is usually good -- in fact, amid all the glitzy product news of this year, the Cupertino company reached a milestone that would have seemed unimaginable not so long ago. Of course, as with any major corporation, all news is not good news. Apple had its share of embarrassments and outright mistakes amid the eye-catching successes. Read on for the top 10 stories involving everyone's favorite fruit-based PC and consumer electronics company from the past year. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228900102">iPad 2 Smaller, Flatter, Boasts More Capable Speaker</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/hardware_software/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228500278">Apple iOS 4.2 For iPad Reviewed</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/storage/systems/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228800307">Tablets Will Replace One In Three PCs, Study Says</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/handheld/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228500219">iPads Hit The Enterprise</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/storage/portable/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228800184">iPad Supplanting Print Newspapers</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/storage/virtualization/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228800046">Entertainment Dominates iPhone/iPad Apps In 2010</a>When the iPhone 4 was introduced in June, buyers soon started complaining about reception problems. As it turned out, they had a point: it was easy to hold the phone in such a way that your hand bridged the two antennas that encircle the case. "Antennagate" generated a lot of attention and even threats of lawsuits, all of which led to a special press conference in which Steve Jobs argued that most smartphones had similar problems and that very few users had complained. Nevertheless, Apple offered all customers a free "bumper" case to keep their hands off the antennas. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/infrastructure/management/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228900159">Apple Boosts iPhone Sales Projections</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/handheld/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226300232">Best Buy Jumps Into 'Antennagate' With Free Shields</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/handheld/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226200268">Smartphone Death Match: iPhone 4 Versus Droid X</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/handheld/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227300336">Piper Jaffray: Antennagate Cost Apple 20% In Sales</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/handheld/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226200152">iPhone 4 Bumper: There's An App For That</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227400367">Consumer Reports Still Thumbs Down On iPhone 4</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/handheld/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=225900074">iPhone 4 Escapes Recall; Apple Offers Free Cases</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/storage/data_protection/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=225800149">5 Ways To Fix The iPhone 4's Antenna Problem</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/handheld/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226100054">Apple Shrugs Off 'Antennagate'</a>Early this year, Adobe was working on an enhancement to the Flash Professional component of its forthcoming CS5 suite that would enable Flash developers to package their applications as iOS apps. Not so fast, said Apple, which was already in a war of words with Adobe over the company's decision not to support Flash content on the iPad. In April, Apple changed its iOS developer's license to limit the types of code that developers could use to write an App -- a limitation that excluded the cross-compiling approach that was to be in Flash. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/operating_systems/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228000097">Apple Won't Push Flash Player Updates</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228000332">Adobe Acknowledges Active Flash Exploit</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/infrastructure/traffic_management/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=225600262">Adobe: Flash On 250 Million Smartphones By 2012</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/mac/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=225300081">Steve Jobs Trashes Flash (Again)</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/soa_webservices/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224700351">Adobe CEO Calls Jobs' Flash Complaint 'Smokescreen'</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/mac/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224700233">Apple CEO Explains Flash Ban </a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/infrastructure/management/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=222600577">iPad Vs Flash: Jobs Calls Adobe Lazy</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/infrastructure/management/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=222601039">Adobe Defends Flash, Again</a>Well, that didn't last long. After Apple banned Flash development tools from use for acceptable iPhone Apps, regulators started looking into whether such a move would violate antitrust laws. Nothing really came of that investigation, but four months later, Apple removed the restrictive language from its developer's license. The company announced that "we are relaxing all restrictions on the development tools used to create iOS apps, as long as the resulting apps do not download any code." SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228900146">Skyfire Browser Brings Flash To iPad</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/infrastructure/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228200217">Skyfire's iPhone Browser Downed By Demand</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228200062">Apple Approves Skyfire Browser With Flash For iPhone</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228200062">Apple Approves Skyfire Browser With Flash For iPhone</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal_tech/iphone/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227500260">Flash Faster Than HTML5, Sometimes</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227400048">Apple Allows Apps Translated From Flash</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/app-security/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226600266">iPhone Gets Unauthorized Flash Support</a>The Mac App store, announced in November and expected to debut early next year, will establish a new approach to selling PC apps. Modeled on the iPhone App Store, Mac owners will be able browse apps online and buy and install them with one click. Besides making it easier to buy applications, the program may also make it cheaper, if only by breaking some software suites (such as Apple's own iWork) into separate purchases. Critics, though, wonder if the need to get Apple's approval will have a chilling effect on the otherwise thriving independent Mac development market. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/privacy/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228800720">Mac App Store Open For Business Jan. 6</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/mac/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228801011">Mac App Store Set To Open Early January</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/mac/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227900419">Apple's Mac App Store Reinvents Software Sales</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/services/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227900513">Apple Digs Grave For DVDs, Java</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/mac/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227900739">Apple's Mac App Store Brings Changes, Worries</a>We know Apple is spending $1 billion to build a 500,000-square-foot data center in Maiden, North Carolina. What we don't know is why. Recent reports suggest that the center is almost ready to open, but Apple hasn't announced what it's for. Speculation includes an expansion of Apple's MobileMe data syncing and online storage service, possibly including a free limited-functionality version for all Mac owners; or the long-anticipated cloud version of iTunes with music subscription and streaming. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/soa_webservices/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228000006">Apple Planning Office Complex With Data Center</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/infrastructure/management/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227900719">Apple 'iDataCenter' Ready To Open</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/data_centers/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=217700432">Apple Awaits Tax Break In Plans For $1 Billion Data Center</a>When the MacBook Air was first introduced in 2008, it set the bar for thin and light portable computers. But at $1,800 for a 13-inch laptop with a smallish hard disk, and a relatively slow processor, it was regarded as something of an executive toy. That changed in 2010, with the debut of an 11-inch model for $999. The Air still lacks an optical drive and has a slow processor, but the new solid-state hard drive makes up some for the speed issue -- and the limitations aren't as noticeable when the price is under a thousand bucks. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/virtual/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228200237">MacBook Air Screen Problems Surface</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/hardware_software/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227900427">Apple Introduces Smaller MacBook Air, OS X Lion</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/soa_webservices/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227900321">Apple 'Back to the Mac' Predictions</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/operating_systems/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227701303">Apple's 'Back To The Mac' Announcement Speculation Rife</a>With iTunes 10, Apple added social networking. The Ping service lets users create their own profiles to share their musical tastes and also follow their favorite artists (the ones that are on Ping, anyway). Ping is integrated into the iTunes store in an awkward way, and it's not clear how many people feel the need for yet another social network. But it's probably the first result of Apple's purchase of the music streaming and sharing service Lala, and it's easy to imagine Ping eventually giving people the ability to actually share songs, which might get them more interested. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228200757">Twitter Friends Apple's Ping</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/ebusiness/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227900144">Apple Woos Facebook For Ping Partnership</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/soa_webservices/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227300210">Apple iTunes Ping Draws Spam, Complaints</a>Remember the old body-building ad featuring the 97-pound weakling getting sand kicked in his face? That ad was actually titled "the insult that made a man out of Mac," and for years it seemed an apt metaphor for the relationship between the forever-about-to-fail Apple and powerhouse Microsoft. That's why it was shocking to learn in May that Apple had passed Microsoft in company valuation: Apple was valued at $222 billion, while Microsoft was stuck a little below a measly $220 billion. Oh, Apple, you are a real computer company after all. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/storage/systems/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=225200354">Apple Overtakes Microsoft As Most Valuable Tech Company</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/windows/microsoft_news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=225200370">Ballmer Unfazed By Apple's Gains</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/mac/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224700595">Apple Shares Surrender iPad Gains</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228800222">Global CIO: Apple, IBM, Or Microsoft: Who Has #1 Most-Valuable Software Product?</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/operating_systems/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227900298">Apple Shares Dip On iPad Numbers</a>Apple got caught in a wave of bad publicity this year about poor working conditions at the Chinese factories that make its products (and those of many other computer vendors). At the Foxconn factory in Shenzhen, where some 300,000 people build computers for Dell and HP in addition to Apple, seven employees had committed suicide by May. Meanwhile, workers Taiwan's Wintek plant claimed that a chemical used in iPhone manufacture was poisoning them. The company also discovered that some contractors had used child labor. Apple vowed to continue inspections and to demand that its contract manufacturers abide by the company's standards. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/desktop/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=225702536">Foxconn Raises May Not Boost Worker Income</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/mac/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=225300229">Foxconn Hikes Wages After Suicides</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal_tech/iphone/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=218600438">Chinese Police Investigate iPhone Worker's Death</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=218600107">Apple Confirms Death Of Man In Missing iPhone Incident</a>2010-12-20T00:34:13ZOffice For Mac 2011: Re-Activation Heck, Part IIThe new activation requirement for Microsoft Office for the Mac means your software might stop working if you upgrade your computer. And that can lead to hours of lost productivity.http://www.iweek-interim.com/news/229200416?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Networking/Comm_smbThe new activation requirement for Microsoft Office for the Mac means your software might stop working if you upgrade your computer. And that can lead to hours of lost productivity.In <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2010/12/office_for_mac.html">part I of this story</a>, I explained how I had a perfectly legal, properly working copy of Microsoft Office 2011 on my MacBook. Properly working, that is, until I replaced the Mac's hard disk. Suddenly the software thought I was trying to run it on a new computer and refused to start up. The first attempt to solve the problem, detailed in part I, resulted in a suggestion to reinstall the software. That proved fruitless, so the next day, I called tech support back to try again. This time I reached a nice woman named Shelley who did a great job of reading the script she'd been handed, though since she acknowledged that she used neither a Mac nor Office, I wasn't sure how much she understood. Her main point, though, seemed sound: she said I needed to thoroughly uninstall the old version before I reinstalled it. That was a step that Steve had neglected to mention the previous day. So Shelley walked me through the process of tearing out Microsoft Office root and branch, telling me which files to delete files /home/Applications, from /home/Library/Application Support and /home/Preferences, from /Library/Application Support and /Library/Preferences, and even from private/var/db/receipts, which I could only get to by typing the path into the Finder's Go To Folder command. (You'd be amazed at how many com.microsoft.~ files there are on your system.) I was able to get her to confirm that I didn't have to delete my Office 2008 Preferences folder, thank goodness -- I didn't want to have to re-create all of those again. Now, with all vestiges of the previous installation wiped away, reinstalling should give me a fresh start, right? Wrong. When I opened Word, I did get an option that wasn't there before -- to use it as a demo for a couple of weeks -- but entering my product key (verified to be legal, remember) still produced the error message that I'd already activated the software once. At this point, Shelley tranferred me to the Activation Department, where I spoke with Suntosh. He had me read him the 54-digit "installation ID" number I'd tried entering the day before, and asked me that trick question about how many computers I'd installed the software on. I explained how I'd installed it on another hard disk but it was really the same computer, and he either accepted my explanation or decided to let it go. In any case, he read me a new 54-digit number to enter. I did, the activation activated, and I was back in business. So all told, I spent about two and a half hours on the phone with Microsoft over two days trying to reactivate software I'd already installed and activated once. Needless to say, this isn't the kind of experience Mac owners are used to. It's easy to understand Microsoft's motivation, though one has to wonder if paying four people to talk me through this process is really cost-effective. But any Mac-based small business is in for an unpleasant surprise if they expect transferring their Office licenses from one Mac to a new one to be a smooth process. This is the kind of issue that basing your business on a Mac is supposed to spare you from. Speaking as a Mac-based small business myself, I spent some of the time between phone calls making sure my copies of NeoOffice and Lotus Symphony were up to date, and now I'm looking forward to iWork '11 even more than I was before.2010-12-18T06:00:00ZTop 10 Google Stories Of 2010Google may be the company of the decade -- the previous one, if not the next one. As such, its actions are closely scrutinized, and its steps and missteps make news. What started as a search engine is now a company that's shaping our technological future, with initiatives in mobile phones, tablet and netbook computing, telephony, and TV. Unburdened by decades of legacy tech and customer expectations, it's proven more nimble at exploiting new niches than its competitors. From successful forays into mobile devices to embarrassing breaches of people's privacy, Google was in the news a lot in 2010, most often for its steps but sometimes for its missteps. Here are the ten top news stories involving Google this year.http://www.informationweek.com/news/228800279?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Networking/Comm_smbGoogle is the 800-pound gorilla of the tech world, or at least the biggest kid in the tech bed: when it moves, everyone else reacts. Despite that influence, Google's operating system for mobile phones got off to a slow start -- in the first year that devices were commercially available, the platform garnered less than three percent of the market. In 2010, though, all that changed. As more handsets came on the market from more carriers, and as the number of Android apps grew, adoption rates shot up. Last summer, Google was activating more than 200,000 phones a day and is now up to 300,000 a day -- in other words, iPhone levels. The OS is also being put on new tablets, which will provide some competition for the iPad. Soon we’ll see whether open really always beats closed. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228800010">Android Sales: It's Time For Nokia To Worry</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228701969">Android Users Gorge On Mobile Data</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228500126">Android 2.1+ On Majority Of Android Smartphones</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228400108">Android Vulnerable To Data Theft Exploit</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228400091">Windows Phone Crushed By Android</a>The Chrome operating system (not to be confused with the Chrome browser) has a very specific target market: people who primarily use their computers to surf the Web and read email. Google happens to think that companies have a lot of such people in their employ. But it remains to be seen whether the Web and Web apps are enough for those who have grown up working with traditional computers. The OS is supposed to start up and get the user online quickly. Much of the OS's story in 2010 has been teasers, though. Google posted images and videos of theoretical Chrome implementations, but didn't actually release a piece of hardware until December, and then only as a test model to a few users. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/hardware_software/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228701966">Slideshow: Google Chrome OS Promises Computing Without Pain</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/storage/security/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228800191">Google Chrome OS CR-48 Notebook Reviewed</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/hosted/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228701974">Google Chrome OS Hardware Vanishes In The Cloud</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228600179">Google Launches Chrome OS Preview</a>People voluntarily entrust Google with a lot of information -- contents of their emails, their contact names, their search habits -- but nobody wants the company to be snooping without permission. Last May, though, word got out that Google's Street View cars -- the ones driving around taking photos for that Google Maps feature -- were also collecting data from people's unsecured Wi-Fi networks. Google claims the data collection was an accident, but various members of Congress, the FCC, and state attorneys general (as well as agencies in other countries) pilloried the company for failing to know what its software was doing and for violating various privacy laws. Google has taken steps to prevent further collection of unauthorized information, and regulators appear to be mostly satisfied, for now. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/storage/data_protection/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228800196">Connecticut AG Demands Google Street View Data </a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228000163">FTC Ends Google Street View Investigation</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/privacy/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227900752">Google 'Mortified' Over WiFi Data Gathering</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/info_management/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228300255">Google Signs Data Handling Agreement</a>Not everything Google touched this year turned to gold. At the beginning of the year, the company introduced its own Android smartphone, the Nexus One, manufactured by HTC Corporation. The device came in T-Mobile and AT&T versions as well as an unlocked one that could run on other networks. Sales were disappointing, though, maybe because the unlocked handset cost more than $500, maybe because of reports of glitches caused by Android updates, maybe because the carriers didn't push it strongly. In July, Google announced they wouldn't be making any more of the phones. Except that the company did, with the help of Samsung, and the Nexus Two is pretty sharp. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/soa_webservices/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=222200331">Google Reveals Nexus One 'Super Phone'</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=223101457">Nexus One Vs. iPhone: Clash Of The Smartphones</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/handheld/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226400011">HTC Droid Incredible Almost Identical To Nexus One</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/handheld/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228000328">Google Nexus Two To Be Made By Samsung? </a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228600077">5 Reasons The Nexus S Isn't Revolutionary </a>In a true clash of the titans, Oracle filed a lawsuit against Google last August, alleging patent and copyright infringement. The database giant's statement charged that "in developing Android, Google knowingly, directly and repeatedly infringed Oracle’s Java-related intellectual property. This lawsuit seeks appropriate remedies for their infringement." At issue are patents dealing with various program methods and security functions. Google, in turn, has claimed that not only did it not violate the patents but also that the patents should be ruled invalid to begin with. Google’s aggressive response to Oracle’s filing suggests we’ll see a pitched battle that will lasts years. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/enterprise_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226700231">Google Denounces 'Baseless' Oracle Lawsuit</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/app_optimization/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227600074">Microsoft Sues Motorola Over Android Phone Patents </a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/government/policy/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227500094">Google Becomes Focus Of Federal Antitrust Hearing</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/enterprise_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226900206">Apple, Google, Nokia Face Mobile Ad Patent Lawsuit </a>Google TV, a project backed by Google, Intel, Sony, and Logitech, puts the Android operating system and Chrome browser inside a Sony TV. The idea is to put Web browsing and TV viewing in the same box. The problem for the networks is that customers could watch the Web streaming versions of shows on their TVs without being exposed to broadcast TV's traditional advertising model; they might also be able to watch pirated content in the comfort of their living rooms. Because of these concerns, Fox, ABC, CBS, NBC, Hulu, and Syfy have all blocked their online content from being accessed by Google TV. (Some other networks are still available.) The unknown factor is whether the arrival of Android apps that work on Google TV hardware will change the situation. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/enterprise_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227900602">Google TV Blocked From Network Web Content </a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/desktop/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227300275">Google TV Goes Worldwide In 2011</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/desktop/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227700007">Google TV Web Site Premieres</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/soa_webservices/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228300056">Samsung Prepping Google TV Powered HDTV</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/storage/systems/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227700269">Logitech Launches First Google TV Hardware</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/desktop/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227701290">Sony Introduces Google-Powered Internet TV</a>First, there was Gmail, a free email service. Then there was Google Voice, a free phone calling and voice mail service. Next came Google voice chat. And as of last August, they're all combined in the new Gmail-based phone calling service. Gmail users with the voice and video plug-in can call any phone right from their browser, through the Gmail chat function. Calls to the U.S. and Canada are free for now, and calls to other countries are about the cheapest around. This surely makes for some awkward moments when Google meets with its mobile carrier partners to discuss Android, companies that can expect to see their voice revenue decline if online telephony continues to appeal to users. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/soa_webservices/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227001098">Gmail Offers Free Phone Calls</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/handheld/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227100019">First Impressions: Making Phone Calls From Gmail</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/handheld/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227000885">Google Testing Voice Calls From Gmail</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227200074">Google Voice Problems Limited</a>In the old days -- before last September -- you had to wait until you typed your entire search term and hit Return before you saw any results. No longer. Now results start popping up while you're still typing, along with suggested completions for your search term. That's Google Instant. Google estimates that the change saves users two to five seconds per search, or about 3.5 billion seconds a day globally. Whether it helps or hurts advertisers isn’t entirely clear. Certainly, it changes things for advertisers with regard to the terms they need to bid on. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/hardware_software/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227300403">Google Instant Makes Search Psychic</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/services/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227400080">Google Instant Demands New Approach To Advertising </a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/storage/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228200463">Google Debuts Instant Previews </a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228200258">Google Instant Goes Mobile</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/soa_webservices/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227800107">Google Adds Instant Search To Chrome 8</a>Google Wave was a product few people understood and, perhaps because of that, few people used. In practice, it was something like a rolling email conversation, IM chat, and Facebook-style news stream all mixed together. Those who could figure out what to use it for tended to like it. Unfortunately, there weren't that many of those, and an August post on the Google Blog said, "Wave has not seen the user adoption we would have liked." The announcement spelled the end of Wave development as a standalone product, though the company promised the technologies used would show up elsewhere. And so they are, in the open source and enterprise worlds. The Apache Foundation, for example, announced in early December that it would bring Wave into its incubator program. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/enterprise_apps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226600016">Google Wave Washed Out</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/infrastructure/traffic_management/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224900288">Google Wave Open To All</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/app-security/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=222002602">Review: Google Wave An Experimental Ride</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/software/soa_webservices/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224600429&pgno=15">Top 16 Google Services</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/hardware_software/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227300168">Google Plans 'Wave in a Box'</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/healthcare/EMR/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226300192">Google Pitches Wave For Health Records</a>Ever since Google established Google China to serve the world's most populous country, there have been strains in the relationship. The Chinese government, for one, frequently blocks its citizens' access to Google sites, including YouTube. In January of 2010, Google and other U.S. tech companies experienced a security breach that was traced to China. That led to a series of cat-and-mouse moves: Google threatened to pull out of China and redirected China-based searches to Google Hong Kong, avoiding the government censors, followed by China blocking Google searches on the mainland altogether. In 2011, Google will have to decide whether to apply for a map service permit from Chinese authorities. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228400079">China Directed Google Attack, Leaked Cable Says</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/soa_webservices/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226300018">Google Cuts Ties With China Ad Agents</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/storage/data_protection/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=225702819">Google's Internet License Renewed In China</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/infrastructure/management/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=225702048">China Snubs Google Maps</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/privacy/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=225701999">Google Search Partially Blocked In China</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/privacy/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=225701805">Google China Redirection To End</a>2010-12-17T14:48:20ZOffice For Mac 2011: Re-Activation Heck, Part IWith the latest version of Office, Microsoft has introduced a requirement to "activate" the software, which ties your copy to your computer. Unfortunately, upgrading your Mac can break that association, requiring a long, complicated reinstallation and reactivation procedure that can grind your business to a halt.http://www.iweek-interim.com/news/229200395?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Networking/Comm_smbWith the latest version of Office, Microsoft has introduced a requirement to "activate" the software, which ties your copy to your computer. Unfortunately, upgrading your Mac can break that association, requiring a long, complicated reinstallation and reactivation procedure that can grind your business to a halt.I got my copy of <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/mac/" target="new">Microsoft Office for Mac 2011</a> back in October, when Microsoft kindly gave me one for a review I was writing. I installed the software from the DVD with no problem, entered my product key on first launch, and was off and running. The product worked fine -- I actually liked it quite a bit, better than Office 2008, and I gave it a good review. The activation requirement was no more an issue than entering a product key ever is -- whatever was going on behind the scenes stayed invisible. Until, that is, I decided to replace my hard disk. (The one I had was getting full, and I got a good Black Friday deal on one twice as big.) I used <a href="http://www.bombich.com/" target="new">Carbon Copy Cloner</a> to transfer the contents of my old disk to the new one and swapped the two without a hitch. But the next time I tried to run Word, it asked me for my product key again. No problem, I figured, and just typed it in. No dice, the program told me -- I'd already used that key the allotted number of times. (I have the Home and Business Edition that permits installation on one, count it "one," computer.) I did some googling and learned that I was hardly the only person with this problem: apparently replacing my hard disk made it appear to the activation gods as though I were trying to run the program on an entirely different computer -- which, of course, my license wouldn't let me do. I did find references to "reassigning" your product key to a new computer, including in the license agreement itself. But I couldn't find anywhere, on the Microsoft support forums or elsewhere, that said how to do that. When an attempt to activate online fails, you get the option to activate by phone. So I tried that. The phone number was answered by a pleasant-sounding recorded woman's voice, which asked me to enter my "installation ID" -- a 54-digit number that's displayed on screen when you click on the Activate by Phone option. After I punched all the numbers in, the voice asked me how many computers I'd installed the software on. "Counting this one the first time?" I asked myself, and told the voice, "One." Apparently that's the wrong answer: it replied, "We can't help you at this time, please call back later, goodbye," and disconnected. No hint as to what the problem was, no suggestion as to when "later" might be, no useful information at all. It did strike me that if the answer to the number of computers was that important, she could have asked *before* I punched in the 54 digits -- but whatever. Next I tried calling customer service, who transferred me to the activation support department. (One positive note: they answered fairly quickly.) There I spoke to Steve, who told me all I had to do was reinstall the software. "Really?" I asked dubiously -- it seemed to me that if the problem was that I'd already used the activation key once, reinstalling the software wasn't going to change that. But Steve said it would definitely work, so I said I'd try it and wrote down my tech support case number. As you can guess, Steve's suggestion didn't work. Thus concludes part I of the great reactivation adventure. Come back for the <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2010/12/office_for_mac_1.html">second round</a> of my attempts to keep using my legally acquired copy of Office for Mac 2011 after a simple computer upgrade, when you'll meet Shelley and Suntosh.2010-12-10T17:21:22ZMarketing Website Builder Adds Analytics, ListsThe SMB- and entrepreneur-oriented web design platform Clover now supports list pages and provides a quick statistical view of a site's traffic. The do-it-yourself website builder offers nice options that do a lot to overcome some of the drawbacks of Flash sites.http://www.iweek-interim.com/news/229200392?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Networking/Comm_smbThe SMB- and entrepreneur-oriented web design platform Clover now supports list pages and provides a quick statistical view of a site's traffic. The do-it-yourself website builder offers nice options that do a lot to overcome some of the drawbacks of Flash sites.<a href="http://www.cloversites.com/" target="new">Clover</a> is one of a handful of website design platforms based on Adobe Flash, joining <a href="http://www.wix.com/" target="new">Wix</a>, <a href="http://www.squarespace.com/" target="new">SquareSpace</a>, and <a href="http://virb.com/" target="new">Virb</a> in the market. These platforms, including Clover, were set up primarily with creative professionals in mind -- some of the options are aimed at artists, photographers, and musicians -- but there's nothing to prevent any small business from taking advantage of them. They all rely on predesigned, customizable templates, and most have at least some suitable for business. Clover's template selection stands out, both in the number available and in their "professional" (not to say staid) appearance. Clover also offers a lot of flexibility in the kinds of pages you can include in a site. When you add a new page, you get a choice of text, media, calendar, or list page, while other platforms might limit you to a particular kind of artist-oriented text or media page. The list page option is new and could provide a useful way to host a product catalog, introduce the staff, detail promotions, or add other promotional material. List items can include a name, description, and image. The other new feature is the ability to monitor site traffic. The stats page lets you track number of visits to your site and view the days with the most and least traffic in the past 3 months, identify the five most visited days in the past month, and get a traffic breakdown by hour. Unfortunately, there isn't a way to see which page drew the most traffic. Clover also automatically generates a mobile version of your site and lets you track traffic there as well. Flash sites in general have some drawbacks. For one, many of them are slow -- I've tried to visit sites hosted by one of Clover's competitors and given up because of the load time. Also, Flash content is generally invisible to search engines, but Clover optimizes the text and images on a site for searching. It also creates "real" URLs to a site's pages: many Flash sites use the same URL for the entire site, just loading new Flash content onto the same page, but Clover gives each page its own URL, increasing its optimization for search engines. Clover's not the cheapest alternative in this space: building a site costs $1,000, and hosting and support runs $20/month. But for businesses that don't already have a website, that's a small price to pay for getting online quickly, easily, attractively -- and searchably.2010-12-08T15:05:35ZIntelius Debuts Reputation Management ServiceThe personal information broker that supplies the data for several people search site is rolling out tools for discovering and managing your online reputation. The service is intended for consumers so far, but it would also be useful for small businesses named after their principals.http://www.iweek-interim.com/news/229200367?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Networking/Comm_smbThe personal information broker that supplies the data for several people search site is rolling out tools for discovering and managing your online reputation. The service is intended for consumers so far, but it would also be useful for small businesses named after their principals.<a href="http://www.intelius.com/" target="new">Intelius</a> calls itself an "information commerce company," drawing on multiple publicly available data sources to power people search services (the company owns <a href="http://www.zabasearch.com/" target="new">Zabasearch</a>, for example) as well as provide background checks, employment screening, and identity theft prevention. The company has now launched the beta version of a new subscription service called TrueRep, which enables people to not only find out what information is available about them on the Web but to exercise some control over it. TrueRep's purpose is "awareness, protection, and promotion" of personal information, according to Intelius senior vice president Prakash Kondepudi. The "awareness" piece comes from a summary of the information available about someone online (after an authentication process to ensure the user is who they say they are). The information comes in five categories: address history, personal information, professional information, criminal records, and civil judgments. The service also provides a "reputation score" that summarizes the subscriber's stability, trustworthiness, and safety (based, of course, on the information publicly available on the Internet). Once a subscriber knows what people can learn about them, TrueRep lets them exert some control over it. For example, you could suppress certain addresses from the information that turns up on Intelius-run people search sites. Or you could add a comment to the record of a civil judgment explaining that you were fleeced by a former partner. Finally, TrueRep provides suggestions for how a subscriber can improve their online image. For example, you could set up a website, hosted on Intelius.com, and display a positive reputation score on the site. The service also provides some SEO tools and tips for increasing your visibility on search engines. Obviously, most of these features would also be of interest to SMBs. According to a recent Harris Interactive survey provided by the company, 78 percent of U.S. adults think it is important to look up information about people and businesses online before deciding to do business with them. At the moment, given the service's consumer orientation, TrueRep would really only be useful for people doing business under their own name. (Besides managing their reputation, for example, they could choose to suppress their home address and phone number from name searches so that people only found their business.) But, says Kondepudi, extension of the service to cover small businesses that don't have just the owner's name is on the Intelius roadmap. The service will be in beta for several months before it launches fully sometime next spring. Interested parties can sign up <a href="http://www.truerep.com/register.php" target="new">here</a>; subscriptions cost $9.95/month or $90/year.2010-12-03T16:33:39ZCasper Goes MobileVersion 8 of JAMF's Casper Suite extends the company's Mac management and provisioning tools to iOS mobile devices.http://www.iweek-interim.com/news/229200413?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Networking/Comm_smbVersion 8 of JAMF's Casper Suite extends the company's Mac management and provisioning tools to iOS mobile devices.The main purpose of the <a href="http://www.jamfsoftware.com/products/casper-suite/" target="new">Casper Suite</a> is centralized management of a company's Macs. The software enables administrators to handle inventory, disk imaging, software distribution, patch management, and so on from a single console. The suite also has supported iOS 3, but the new version extends support to iOS 4. It also works with the new OS's Mobile Device Management capabilities. For example, Casper Suite 8.0 enables self-service distribution of in-house and App Store apps over the air. When a new device gets added to the system, the user can choose from preconfigured sets of apps, depending on the permissions settings for the group the user is a member of. The suite can also inventory all installed apps on connected devices. The new version also adds security features, such as the ability to remotely wipe or lock devices if necessary. Administrators can also restrict WiFi access, disable a device's camera, and revoke access permissions. With JSS Mobile, they can manage iOS mobile devices from other iOS mobile devices. For companies with mixed-platform environments, Casper Suite 8.0 also integrates with Microsoft's System Center Configuration Manager. The suite is priced per managed OS X system or iOS device, and the initial price also includes a year of maintenance. In September, when the new version was first <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2010/09/equinux_jamf_up.html">announced</a>, prerelease prices were $5 per device per year for education and $10 per device per year for commercial enterprises. JAMF said at the time that those prices would double when the product is released, but the company is not now listing final prices.2010-12-01T21:57:23ZSMBs Ignoring Online Reviews At Their PerilAccording to a survey from RatePoint, a customer review management service, small businesses may not be giving as much weight to online reviews as they should, considering what other research has shown about how much consumers pay attention to them.http://www.iweek-interim.com/news/229200390?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Networking/Comm_smbAccording to a survey from RatePoint, a customer review management service, small businesses may not be giving as much weight to online reviews as they should, considering what other research has shown about how much consumers pay attention to them.<a href="http://www.ratepoint.com/" target="new">RatePoint</a> surveyed more than 150 small businesses, most of which had five or fewer employees. The results showed that 39 percent didn't think their customers read online reviews. However, figures from a ChannelAdvisor shopping survey indicate that 92 percent of consumers read reviews and 97 percent felt reviews affected their purchase decisions. SMBs are also disregarding the usefulness of online reviews as a way of getting customer feedback. RatePoint found that 50 percent of businesses surveyed agreed on the value of customer feedback, but only 20 percent considered managing online reviews to be time well spent -- in fact, 38 percent disagreed that it was valuable at all. "Research shows the majority of consumers are reading online reviews and that they play a major role in purchase decisions," said Neal Creighton, co-founder and CEO of RatePoint. "SMBs that are not spending time managing the process are missing out on not only potential customers, but also on valuable consumer feedback that can help them to improve their business." RatePoint also publishes tips for how small businesses can deal with review-oriented customers in a free eBook, <a href="http://www.ratepoint.com/small-business-resources/small-business-tips/2010/08/free-ebook-small-business-owners-guide-to-building-a-great-reputation/" target="new">The Small Business Owner's Guide to Building a Great Reputation</a>. The advice includes: Be visible on your website and pay attention to what's being said about you; make sure potential customers see positive reviews and feedback, using social networks and email newsletters where possible; and follow up with customers that provide feedback, especially negative feedback.2010-11-22T15:59:23ZLaCie Continues USB 3 Rollout, Includes MacsOver the past few weeks, the storage vendor has introduced several new systems that support the new, faster peripheral connection standard, including a pocket drive. LaCie has also made it possible for some Mac users to take advantage of the increased speeds.http://www.iweek-interim.com/news/229200526?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Networking/Comm_smbOver the past few weeks, the storage vendor has introduced several new systems that support the new, faster peripheral connection standard, including a pocket drive. LaCie has also made it possible for some Mac users to take advantage of the increased speeds.<a href="http://www.lacie.com/us/" target="new">LaCie</a> first jumped on the USB 3.0 bandwagon with <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/storage/systems/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=222002825">last year's introduction</a> of its 2big two-drive RAID system with SuperSpeed connector. The company now offers a <a href="http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=11582" target="new">6TB version of the 2big</a>, featuring twin 3TB hard drives. The company claims that the system can achieve transfer rates up to 306 MB/second (with a USB 3.0 connection), 20% faster than the previous model. The single-disk d2 desktop model, using the same 3TB hard drive, can manage 156 MB/second. (The maximum transfer rate for USB 2.0 is about 57 MB/second, while The 3TB d2 is $350, while the 6TB 2big is $750. A few days after that announcement, LaCie introduced a USB 3.0 driver for the Mac. The driver, which works with the company's USB 3.0 expansion cards, provides Mac owners with transfer speeds the company claims are more than twice as fast as FireWire 800 (up to 220 MB/second). The driver requires an expansion card, so the only Macs that can take advantage of it at present are the Mac Pro and the 17-inch MacBook Pro. LaCie's <a href="http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?id=10493" target="new">PCI Express card</a> costs $50, while an <a href="http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?id=10494" target="new">ExpressCard/34</a> card costs $60. Next out was a Philippe Starck-designed USB 3.0 hard disk, the LaCie <a href="http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?id=10530" target="new">Starck Mobile Drive</a>. The drive has an aluminum casing, making it a good match for current MacBooks and MacBook Pros. besides backup software for the PC and Mac, the system also comes with a year of Wuala Online Storage (10 GB worth). The Starck Mobile Drive is available in 500GB capacity for $110. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jwidman/5199573532/" title="Starck Mobile_3-4_front by jakewidman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5089/5199573532_982d4cbdf8.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Starck Mobile_3-4_front" /></a> The LaCie Starck Mobile Drive wraps a USB 3.0 drive in a stylish aluminum enclosure. The newest item is the <a href="http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=11589" target="new">FastKey</a>, a USB 3.0 flash drive, which the company positions as a "real mobile SSD" (solid state drive). Also in a metal case, the device supports AES 256-bit encryption and comes with LaCie software that enables the creation of a private partition on the disk. The FastKey comes in three sizes: 30 GB for $150, 60 GB for $250, and 120 GB for $475.2010-11-06T06:00:00Z15 Mobile Apps For Better HealthFrom helping you monitor your condition to making suggestions for improving it, today's smartphones can become valuable healthcare partners -- with the right apps. The iPhone App Store, the Android Market and the BlackBerry App World are chock full of applications that can help keep you in the pink. The Health, Wellness, and Fitness categories in the various mobile app stores are full of applications that promise to help keep you healthy. Some of them are backed by major pharmaceutical firms, while others are the brainchild of a single person who thinks they've found the solution to a health issue. We've sifted through them to bring you 15 of the best.http://www.informationweek.com/news/227700177?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Networking/Comm_smbThis free iPhone <a href="http://www.migrainesupport.com/headache/tension_headache/consumer/iphone_app.jsp" target="new">app</a> from pharmaceutical giant Merck is intended to help migraine sufferers (numbering 28 million in the U.S., according to Merck) keep track of when and where their headaches occur, how severe they are, and if any treatment worked. The data can help patients identify the triggers for their attacks and provides a basis for discussing treatment plans and options with their doctors. The app also includes general information about migraines. In compiling these 15 mobile apps, we steered clear of apps that were geared more toward exercise and fitness than general wellness. You can find dozens if not hundreds of apps to show you how to do pushups correctly, let you track how much time you spent at the gym, and so on. But which one(s) are best depends on your own personal goals and preferred activities. We did include one, though, because it brought something extra to the party. Similarly, we skipped most of the many, many calorie counting apps on the market. Again, we looked for ones that supplied more than just a diary and calculator. We also stayed away from the really woo-woo "wellness" apps. Oh, and the app that claims to cure acne by making your phone's screen display a red or blue light? It's an intentional joke -- check the company name. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/healthcare/leadership/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227200089">Healthcare Innovators</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/software/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228100051">Zeo Personal Sleep Coach</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/healthcare/patient/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226200097">RFID In Healthcare</a>Based on information from the American Heart Association, this iPhone <a href="http://jive.me/firstaid/" target="new">app</a> ($3.99) features instructions, complete with illustrations and videos, on how to deal with medical emergencies. The app comes with 12 quick reference guides to common emergencies as well specific information on child and infant CPR and choking treatment. It also provides a place for saving you and your family's medical and emergency contact information. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/healthcare/leadership/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227200089">Healthcare Innovators</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/software/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228100051">Zeo Personal Sleep Coach</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/healthcare/patient/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226200097">RFID In Healthcare</a>It's hard to stay healthy when you don't get a good night's sleep -- a particular issue for business travelers -- and that's the problem this <a href="http://www.teslasoftware.com/" target="new">app</a> aims to solve. The $1.99 package of "isochronic and binaural entertainment" includes ambient electronica, three noise tracks (as in white noise, not as in noise pop), and rain and waves soundtracks. It features sleep and deep sleep programs, as well as napping options. And just so you don't sleep through your meeting, it also functions as an alarm clock. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/healthcare/leadership/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227200089">Healthcare Innovators</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/software/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228100051">Zeo Personal Sleep Coach</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/healthcare/patient/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226200097">RFID In Healthcare</a>Keeping track of calories is key to any weight-loss or fitness plan, but few of us eat meals that are made up of discrete amounts of separate ingredients (how much mozzarella was in the portion of lasagna, do you think?) or have time to look at the nutrition label to figure out what we just consumed. With <a href="http://www.myfitnesspal.com/iphonehttp://" target="new">MyFitnessPal</a> for the iPhone (free), you just enter the name of the food ("Stouffer's Lasagne with Meat and Sauce"), and the app records not just the calories but the fat, protein, sodium, and so on. You can also enter exercises for calorie "credits," and the app syncs with your MyFitnessPal.com account to let you enter data either on the web or on your phone. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/healthcare/leadership/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227200089">Healthcare Innovators</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/software/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228100051">Zeo Personal Sleep Coach</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/healthcare/patient/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226200097">RFID In Healthcare</a>This free Android <a href="http://www.appbrain.com/app/first-aid/com.usa.health.ifitness.firstaid" target="new">app</a> (we mean the one from the Health Team) offers quick access to first aid information and warns you against misinformation. The basis of the app is a hierarchical organization: you start with "effects of heat and cold," for example, and then choose from burns and scalds, heatstroke, frostbite, sunburn, and more. Click on the appropriate condition, and you get recommended treatments and general guidelines for how to manage the patient. The app also has a "myths" feature that will tell you some things *not* to do -- for example, rubbing butter on a burn doesn't really help. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/healthcare/leadership/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227200089">Healthcare Innovators</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/software/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228100051">Zeo Personal Sleep Coach</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/healthcare/patient/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226200097">RFID In Healthcare</a>Like MyFitnessPal for the iPhone, this Android <a href="http://www.androidfitness.com/" target="new">app</a> ($4.99) has its own database of foods and exercises and their calorie equivalents. You can also add your own custom foods and meals to supplement what's in the database. You set your profile and dietary goal and record your eating and exercise habits to track how well you're doing -- you can also track body fat, blood pressure, sleep, and other wellness factors. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/healthcare/leadership/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227200089">Healthcare Innovators</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/software/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228100051">Zeo Personal Sleep Coach</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/healthcare/patient/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226200097">RFID In Healthcare</a>This free <a href="http://www.1908media.com/mobile/lightningbug/" target="new">app</a> generates sounds to help you sleep and works as an alarm clock to wake you up. The soundscapes also come with matching visuals to provide a complete, relaxing A/V experience. Scenes include rain, waves, white noise, a lightning storm, and more; and additional scenes, such as forest or city environments, are available at 99 cents each. (Don't laugh -- some people can't sleep without city noises). SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/healthcare/leadership/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227200089">Healthcare Innovators</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/software/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228100051">Zeo Personal Sleep Coach</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/healthcare/patient/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226200097">RFID In Healthcare</a>You may have a record of emergency phone numbers where you live, but what about when you travel? That's where <a href="http://www.appbrain.com/app/com.rwsa.emergency" target="new">Emergency Dial!</a> (99 cents) comes in. this Android app uses GPS to figure out where you are and gives you one-button dialing for the local emergency services. The app contains contact information for services in more than 130 countries, so you'll have to travel far for it not to be of use. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/healthcare/leadership/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227200089">Healthcare Innovators</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/software/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228100051">Zeo Personal Sleep Coach</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/healthcare/patient/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226200097">RFID In Healthcare</a>One of the happiest health conditions (in most cases) is pregnancy, and <a href="http://.alt12.cbabybumpom/" target="new">Baby Bump</a> ($2.99 for Android and the iPhone) can help feed that happiness. The app provides week-by-week info on fetal development, plus a journal and various tools (e.g., a kick counter) to keep track of what's going on. It even lets you send updates on the latest developments via Twitter and Facebook. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/healthcare/leadership/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227200089">Healthcare Innovators</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/software/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228100051">Zeo Personal Sleep Coach</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/healthcare/patient/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226200097">RFID In Healthcare</a>Diabetics need to keep a close eye on their glucose levels, both to be aware of fluctuations during the day and to have a record to review with their doctors. The <a href="http://www.vimukti.com/" target="new">Glucose Tracker</a> BlackBerry app ($4.99) gives you an easy way to maintain a log of your glucose readings and view the results as a graph for the week, month, or quarter. You can also record when you took any medications. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/healthcare/leadership/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227200089">Healthcare Innovators</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/software/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228100051">Zeo Personal Sleep Coach</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/healthcare/patient/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226200097">RFID In Healthcare</a>This BlackBerry <a href="http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/4221" target="new">app</a> ($2.99) is the smartphone equivalent of a MedicAlert bracelet: a place to store your personal and medical information so a paramedic or doctor can quickly find out what they need to know. In addition to your medical history and medications, you can also store your emergency contacts. What's more, Emergency Info associates each contact name with a Call button, so anyone tending to you can easily get in touch with whomever they need. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/healthcare/leadership/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227200089">Healthcare Innovators</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/software/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228100051">Zeo Personal Sleep Coach</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/healthcare/patient/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226200097">RFID In Healthcare</a>Ever wonder what's in those pills your doctor prescribed? Or, perhaps even more relevant, what all those pills your aging parents take are for? <a href="http://www.unboundmedicine.com/store/family_drug_guide" target="new">Family Drug Guide</a> ($4.99) for the BlackBerry, iPhone and Android devices draws on Consumer Reports Health and the American Society for Health-System Pharmacists to provide information about indications, side effects, and so on for both prescription and over-the-counter drugs. It also lets you bookmark the drugs you and your family are taking. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/healthcare/leadership/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227200089">Healthcare Innovators</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/software/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228100051">Zeo Personal Sleep Coach</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/healthcare/patient/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226200097">RFID In Healthcare</a>This <a href="http://www.livestrong.com/calorie-counter-mobile/" target="new">calorie counter</a> lets you enter your age, height, weight and activity level, and set your own goal for weight loss or maintenance. It will then set a daily calorie intake and, equipped with a database of over 525,000 food and restaurant items, give you an easy way to keep track of what you eat. Like any good calorie tracker, it also lets you enter exercises for "credit." The app costs $2.99, but it syncs in both directions with a free account at Livestrong.com. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/healthcare/leadership/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227200089">Healthcare Innovators</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/software/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228100051">Zeo Personal Sleep Coach</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/healthcare/patient/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226200097">RFID In Healthcare</a><a href="http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/4220" target="new">Period Calendar Deluxe</a> ($3.99) for the BlackBerry is not just a way of keeping track of that time of the month, it can also help in pregnancy planning. The app displays a calendar of projected period dates, but also probable fertile dates. (It will even tell you what your baby's Zodiac sign would be if you conceived on those dates.) You can also add notes for any day on the calendar, whether it has anything to do with your cycle or not. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/healthcare/leadership/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227200089">Healthcare Innovators</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/software/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228100051">Zeo Personal Sleep Coach</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/healthcare/patient/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226200097">RFID In Healthcare</a>Like sufferers from other chronic conditions, people with asthma can benefit from tracking their symptoms, triggers, medication schedule and effectiveness, and Peak Flow Numbers. With this <a href="http://www.asthmapulse.com/?q=iphone-homepage" target="new">app</a>, the results are displayed in graphs that make it easy to get an overview of when and how bad the attacks are. The iPhone app ($4.99) also lets you upload your data to Google Health to share with your doctor. SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/healthcare/leadership/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227200089">Healthcare Innovators</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/software/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228100051">Zeo Personal Sleep Coach</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/healthcare/patient/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226200097">RFID In Healthcare</a>2010-11-05T18:02:00ZTrend Micro's 'Worry Free' Protection Covers Macs, EmailVersion 7 of the security company's SMB solution extends the product's coverage to Mac clients and to confidential information in company email.http://www.iweek-interim.com/news/229200477?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Networking/Comm_smbVersion 7 of the security company's SMB solution extends the product's coverage to Mac clients and to confidential information in company email.Trend Micro calls its SMB-oriented security solution <a href="http://us.trendmicro.com/us/home/small-business/?WT.mc_id=2008HP_SB_Tab" target="new">"Worry-Free Business Security"</a> and touts the speed and effectiveness it gets from its client-cloud architecture. Rather than putting the whole protection burden on each computer, Worry-Free Business Security relies on data on a security server communicating with Trend Micro's cloud service to, allegedly, block threats before they reach the end user's PCs. The latest version of the solution adds integrated Mac client protection. That lets companies with a mixed Mac and Windows operating environment configure and manage the security of their Macs from a single console without requiring a separate purchase. The Advanced version of Worry-Free Business Security 7 also adds increased email data loss prevention. (Data loss ranked among SMBs' main security concerns in a <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228200171">recent Trend Micro survey</a>.) In a company with a Microsoft Exchange email server, the product can filter out spam- and malware-bearing messages. And with or without an Exchange server, companies can add webmail URLs to a blacklist to prevent employees from accessing them. Finally, the Advanced version also beef up its control of USB devices. The product could already block malware carried by such devices, but now companies can lock down acess to USB ports altogether to keep sensitive data from being copied to flash drives or other easily-lost devices. Pricing for the Standard Edition ranges from $16.83 to $37.75 per computer per year, depending on the number of computers protected and the length of the license. The Advanced Edition, with email and USB protection, runs from $25.31 to $62.02 per computer per year.2010-10-20T15:01:00ZCloud Legal Service Adds Diagnostic ToolRocket Lawyer, an online legal services solution for small businesses, has launched a free "Legal Health Score" tool with which businesses can assess their level of compliance, extent to which they have all the documents they should, and so on. The company also released the results of a survey of SMBs' legal concerns.http://www.iweek-interim.com/news/229200596?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Networking/Comm_smbRocket Lawyer, an online legal services solution for small businesses, has launched a free "Legal Health Score" tool with which businesses can assess their level of compliance, extent to which they have all the documents they should, and so on. The company also released the results of a survey of SMBs' legal concerns.<a href="http://www.rocketlawyer.com/" target="new">Rocket Lawyer</a> positions itself as a sort of TurboTax for legal assistance. (Some of the company's executives used to be with Intuit.) "We set out to be a cloud computing platform for all small business legal needs," claims founder Charley Moore. The company boasts 125 thousand new accounts every month, with half of those being small businesses. Businesses and individuals can create legal documents -- contracts, employment agreements, incorporation forms, and so on -- by answering a series of questions. The service pulls the necessary language from a database of relevant material and assembles the needed documents to order. Once a document is created, the customer can edit it in Rocket Lawyer's own editor or check it out for offline editing -- Rocket Lawyer's document repository keeps track of the current and previous versions. Customers can also upload documents they may already have created, or new ones created outside the Rocket Lawyer system, into their Rocket document depository. The service provides e-signature capability for both created and imported documents. For followup, the service provides a checklist of what the customer should do after a document is created. It also creates a "Legal Dashboard," with a calendar showing those next steps, an area for setting up permissions-based access to stored documents, and other management tools. A directory of lawyers offers online review of documents or general consultation. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jwidman/5100352874/" title="Rocket Lawyer Starting a Legal Document by jakewidman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1113/5100352874_abca143a64.jpg" width="500" height="452" alt="Rocket Lawyer Starting a Legal Document" /></a> Rocket Lawyer lets you create legal documents by answering a series of questions. The new addition, the Legal Health Score, is available through the dashboard. With it, businesses can answer a series of questions about their legal situation -- what the status of their business is (incorporated or not, for example), what legal documents they have available, what archiving policies are in place, and so on. Based on those answers, the company gets an assessment of their overall legal situation and risk exposure, expressed as a score on a scale of 100. The Legal Health Score is available through any Rocket Lawyer plan, even the free trial one. As a TurboTax user, my impression from the tour is that Rocket Lawyer has addressed a serious need in a really useful way. I've created a couple of legal documents myself, and the best process I could find was to download a prewritten template document and try to edit it to fit my situation (and I'm not a lawyer). In the same way TurboTax breaks down the tax-filing operation into discrete, digestible chunks that don't even require interacting with the actual forms, so does Rocket Lawyer simplify the creation of legal documents. And the need is there, according to a survey the company just released. They polled 1,000 SMBs, and one in four named legal issues as the biggest risk to their companies. At the same time, though, more than half said they might avoid seeking legal counsel because of the expense. Rocket Lawyer not only makes getting legal help simpler, it makes it cheaper. The company also offered five tips for SMBs to protect themselves against legal problems: 1. Look into incorporating your business. 2. Once you've selected a company name, research trademark availability and make it official. Also register your company's domain name and choose social media identities (e.g, Twitter handles). 3. Document your company's operations. 4. Develop an employee handbook that provides a clear guideline for all important issues such as employee/employer rights, HR issues and paid time off policies 5. Leverage a community of entrepreneurs and expert professionals, like lawyers and accountants, who can help guide you through the steps necessary to protecting yourself and setting your business on the path to success. Prospective customers can create one legal document and get a Legal Health Score for free. <a href="http://www.rocketlawyer.com/Landing/business-membership.aspx" target="new">Business plans</a> cost $40/month or $300/year for an unlimited number of documents, plus a discount on lawyer fees.2010-10-16T06:00:00ZBest Mobile Apps For Busy ProfessionalsToday's smartphones have led to the development of hundreds of thousands of mobile apps. Apple's iPhone, RIM's BlackBerry and phones based on Google's Android all have access to extensive libraries of apps that you can download and install for our increasingly mobile world. When you're always on the go, having the right smartphone app makes it easy to transition from business to pleasure and back again without skipping a beat so you can get the most out of every minute. Here we pick 17 of the best apps for pros on the go -- steering clear of the silly and the stupid -- to help you manage your mobile lifestyle.http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/227101752?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Networking/Comm_smbOne of the first requirements for professionals on the go is that you know where you are and where you're going. <a href="http://www.google.com/mobile/maps/">Google Maps</a> will not only show you the former, it'll tell you how to get to the latter. It comes preinstalled on the iPhone and is available as a free download for Android and BlackBerry. Here we've collected 17 mobile apps that will serve any busy professional when they're out and about. These apps may not be purely business, but that doesn't mean they can't do something useful. Whether you need to buy movie tickets, find a restaurant or get home at the end of the evening, these apps will do the job. Most of the apps we've chosen are available for all three major smartphone platforms; in a couple of instances, there are minor difference between versions. On top of that, most of them are free. So download and get out on the town. FURTHER READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/1000to1500/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=225700799">How To Manage Mobile Devices</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224500062">12 Essential Android Apps For SMBs</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224701523">Smartphone And Mobile Device Guide</a>How often does a song start playing and you say, "What *is* that?" All the time, right? Next time, just fire up <a href="http://www.shazam.com/">Shazam Encore</a> ($4.99, for all three platforms) and hold your phone up to the music, and the app will identify the song for you. You can buy the song right then or share it with others. No fair using it in pub trivia contests, though. FURTHER READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/1000to1500/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=225700799">How To Manage Mobile Devices</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224500062">12 Essential Android Apps For SMBs</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224701523">Smartphone And Mobile Device Guide</a>Zipcar is the leading national car share service; members can reserve one of their fleet of cars and pick it up at a designated spot for temporary use. The iPhone <a href="http://www.zipcar.com/iphone/">app</a> (free) lets you find available cars on a map or search for them by type of car or time available and reserve one. You can even make your Zipcar's horn honk via your iPhone so you can find it in a crowd. FURTHER READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/1000to1500/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=225700799">How To Manage Mobile Devices</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224500062">12 Essential Android Apps For SMBs</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224701523">Smartphone And Mobile Device Guide</a>Twitter and other social media updates are almost a requirement today and anything that helps streamline those updates save valuable time. <a href="http://seesmic.com/seesmic_mobile/">Seesmic</a> (free, for all three platforms) supports multiple Twitter accounts; the iPhone version supports not only Twitter, but also Facebook and Ping.fm, which in turn lets you update numerous other social networks at the same time, such as LinkedIn, Flickr, and Blogger. You can also send your tweets to Evernote to save them for later. FURTHER READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/1000to1500/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=225700799">How To Manage Mobile Devices</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224500062">12 Essential Android Apps For SMBs</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224701523">Smartphone And Mobile Device Guide</a>Your smartphone has a microphone, after all -- shouldn't you be able to use it without typing? With the <a href="http://www.google.com/mobile/google-mobile-app/">Google Mobile App</a> (free for all three platforms), you can just speak your search term to instigate a search. It's also location-aware, so when you're searching for nearby bars, it already knows where you are. You can also search email, contacts or any of Google's specific searches (news, shopping, etc.). FURTHER READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/1000to1500/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=225700799">How To Manage Mobile Devices</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224500062">12 Essential Android Apps For SMBs</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224701523">Smartphone And Mobile Device Guide</a>This was only available for Android phones until recently (now on the iPhone too), and it's free. It does visual search: rather than trying to figure out how to describe the thing you're looking at in words, just hold your phone up and take a picture. <a href="http://www.google.com/mobile/goggles/#text">Goggles</a> will try to identify the object and tell you what it is, plus return associated results. It also recognizes five European languages, so you can use it to translate a menu or sign if you need to. FURTHER READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/1000to1500/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=225700799">How To Manage Mobile Devices</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224500062">12 Essential Android Apps For SMBs</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224701523">Smartphone And Mobile Device Guide</a><a href="http://www.evernote.com">Evernote</a> is the mobile extension (free, for all three platforms) of the popular desktop application and cloud memory service. You can upload anything to Evernote -- photos, text, web clips -- tag it, and Evernote will remember it for you. On your phone, you can photograph a person, a business card or a poster, or make a sound memo, and add it to your collection, where it will be available from any computer -- or another smartphone. FURTHER READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/1000to1500/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=225700799">How To Manage Mobile Devices</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224500062">12 Essential Android Apps For SMBs</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224701523">Smartphone And Mobile Device Guide</a><a href="http://www.box.net/features/mobile">Box.net</a> lets you share and sync files to the cloud, and the mobile apps (free for iPhone and BlackBerry) let you not only access them but also share them with others by sending them a link. They can upload files to it too. Box.net is free for personal use, with up to 15 GB of storage and a 25MB file size limit; paid plans are also available. FURTHER READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/1000to1500/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=225700799">How To Manage Mobile Devices</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224500062">12 Essential Android Apps For SMBs</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224701523">Smartphone And Mobile Device Guide</a>Tools to turn what you say into text are very useful when your phone is your digital workspace. With <a href="http://www.dragonmobileapps.com/">Dragon Dictation</a> (free for the iPhone), you can speak to create text files, write emails and send tweets and Facebook updates. With Dragon for Email (free for the BlackBerry), you can dictate emails right. With either, you can speak the contact's name and the subject line, as well as dictate the text. Both are powered by Dragon NaturallySpeaking, the well established speech recognition technology. FURTHER READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/1000to1500/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=225700799">How To Manage Mobile Devices</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224500062">12 Essential Android Apps For SMBs</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224701523">Smartphone And Mobile Device Guide</a>One of the nice things about having a mobile phone with you is the ability to find and connect with friends that are also out on the town. With <a href="http://foursquare.com/">Foursquare's</a> "check-in" function, you can record where you are and add a comment. You link the app (free, for all three platforms) to your address book and Facebook and Twitter friends, and then you can see where they've recently checked in. You can also view others' comments and suggestions for places near you. FURTHER READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/1000to1500/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=225700799">How To Manage Mobile Devices</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224500062">12 Essential Android Apps For SMBs</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224701523">Smartphone And Mobile Device Guide</a>Of course you need to stay connected to <a href="http://www.facebook.com">Facebook</a> to let everyone know what you're up to. You can access Facebook through your device's browser, but it's quicker and more direct to use the Facebook app (free, for all platforms). Note that the BlackBerry version is actually made by RIM and is less highly rated than the iPhone and Android versions. But a recent update has improved it, and it should continue to get better. FURTHER READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/1000to1500/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=225700799">How To Manage Mobile Devices</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224500062">12 Essential Android Apps For SMBs</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224701523">Smartphone And Mobile Device Guide</a>Pandora.com lets you create your own personal radio stations by "seeding" them with particular songs or artists. The <a href="http://www.pandora.com/on-the-go/">app</a> (free, for all three platforms) brings your radio stations to your mobile device, so you can keep listening on the go. Note: the single-tasking model of the iPhone means you can't listen to Pandora while using other apps. FURTHER READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/1000to1500/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=225700799">How To Manage Mobile Devices</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224500062">12 Essential Android Apps For SMBs</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224701523">Smartphone And Mobile Device Guide</a><a href="http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/get-skype/on-your-mobile/other-supported-devices/">Skype</a> is the way to make phone calls all over the world. It's free to call other Skype users and at low rates to numbers outside the Skype system. Rates are the same whether you call landlines or other mobile phones, and they don't count against your wireless minutes. It's free for the iPhone and for certain BlackBerry and Android phones on the Verizon network. FURTHER READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/1000to1500/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=225700799">How To Manage Mobile Devices</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224500062">12 Essential Android Apps For SMBs</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224701523">Smartphone And Mobile Device Guide</a>Time to catch a movie after work? <a href="http://www.fandango.com/mobilemovietickets">Fandango</a> (free, for all three platforms) lets you speak to search for movies or theaters, and use the phone's GPS to find events near you. Once you decide where to go, you can also buy tickets over the phone. FURTHER READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/1000to1500/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=225700799">How To Manage Mobile Devices</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224500062">12 Essential Android Apps For SMBs</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224701523">Smartphone And Mobile Device Guide</a>When it's time to head home, you don't want to spend a long time waiting for a bus. The NextBus service provides real-time updates on not just bus and subway schedules but also on the location of the next bus and how long it will take to reach your stop. The service is available in many cities via a browser, but it's more convenient to have a direct app for it. For Android, you can get <a href="http://www.androidzoom.com/android_developer/bus-brothers_coqf.html">AnyStop</a> (free) for many different cities, all powered by NextBus. There's a NextBus DC app for the BlackBerry and the iPhone ($2.99 each); we can only hope that developers for those devices will get on with building it out for other cities. FURTHER READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/1000to1500/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=225700799">How To Manage Mobile Devices</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224500062">12 Essential Android Apps For SMBs</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224701523">Smartphone And Mobile Device Guide</a>Do we really have to explain what IMDb is? It's the vast database of information about movies, TV shows, actors, directors, plots and anything else you need to know. If you're trying to remember "you know, that movie with that guy who was in that other movie about the giant ants," IMDb is your resource. The IMDb app (free for <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/imdb/id342792528">iPhone</a> and <a href="http://www.appbrain.com/app/com.imdb.mobile">Android</a>) gives you direct access to that information. FURTHER READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/1000to1500/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=225700799">How To Manage Mobile Devices</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224500062">12 Essential Android Apps For SMBs</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224701523">Smartphone And Mobile Device Guide</a>Trying to figure out where to eat? Urbanspoon (free, for the <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/app/urbanspoon/id284708449?mt=8">iPhone</a> and Droid and Nexus One <a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/c/6/SF-Bay-Area-restaurants.html">Android</a> phones) calls itself a "restaurant slot machine." Just shake the phone to spin up a restaurant near your location. Not quite right? Set the neighborhood, kind of food, or price you're looking for, and shake again. Before long you'll be happily sitting down to a good meal. FURTHER READING: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/1000to1500/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=225700799">How To Manage Mobile Devices</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224500062">12 Essential Android Apps For SMBs</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224701523">Smartphone And Mobile Device Guide</a>2010-10-13T17:01:57ZGo Daddy Launches SMB Online Advertising ToolThe new AdSpace service lets business owners fill out a simple form in order to get an advertising webpage and associated search engine marketing campaign.http://www.iweek-interim.com/news/229200619?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Networking/Comm_smbThe new AdSpace service lets business owners fill out a simple form in order to get an advertising webpage and associated search engine marketing campaign.The process starts with the company providing information about the business in a form: name, contact information, location, photos, hours, and so on -- even customer testimonials. That generates a webpage, which the company can tweak with more photos, a map, or other additional information, as well as selecting a color scheme. Then the service creates keyword-based locally targeted ads designed to get placement on search engines. The search ads link to the advertising webpage, which contains forms and e-mail addresses for potential customers to contact the company. The service also provides a dashboard for tracking the email and phone leads generated by the ad page. Phone calls are recorded and can be played back later -- before a followup sales call, for example. The Dashboard also provides time-based tracking functions, so the company can see if the ad campaign is increasing leads or sales and by how much. According to Go Daddy CEO and Founder Bob Parsons. "AdSpace was designed for small businesses wanting to leverage the power of the Internet - businesses that know they need to advertise online, but don't have big budgets or tech experts to feel comfortable taking financial risks." The AdSpace service comes in <a href="http://www.godaddy.com/business/local-advertising.aspx">three levels</a>. the Economy plan costs $50/month and handles one business category at one location. For $70/month, the Deluxe plan allows two business categories and five locations; and the $100/month Premium plan accommodates three business categories and ten locations.2010-10-12T16:59:40ZCampaigner Adds Targeted EmailThe email marketing service now lets SMBs segment their audience and set up filters to send more personalized messages.http://www.iweek-interim.com/news/229200569?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Networking/Comm_smbThe email marketing service now lets SMBs segment their audience and set up filters to send more personalized messages.Protus <a href="http://www.campaigner.com/" target="new">Campaigner</a> gives small businesses tools to manage their e-mail marketing: customizable message templates, list management features, and reporting and analytics functions. Now the company has built on that foundation to enable businesses to tailor their messages based on what they know about the recipients. "It's a way for our customers to better target their customers," says Protus vice president Steve Adams. For example, Campaigner's reporting feature enables a business to see if any of their message recipients aren't bothering to open the message or click on the link, or only open some messages and not others. The new targeting feature lets the business then send a special email blast to just those recipients asking them to confirm that they want to still get messages, without having to extract the names, create a new mailing list, and so on. Conversely, those recipients who do follow links in their emails can get more frequent messages. The targeting can even be more fine-grained than that: Campaigner lets a business see which email subjects drew the most response and follow up accordingly. According to Adams, the first step for a small business looking to take advantage of segmented marketing is to build a mailing list that has the relevant details. Physical businesses with customers who actually come in can capture some of that information on the spot -- for example, whether the customer is male or female, what they bought or what services they showed an interest in, and so on. For e-businesses, Campaigner provides the ability to set up an online form that customers can fill out; another new feature is the ability to embed a form like that onto a business's Facebook fan page. One more new feature worth mentioning to Mac-based businesses: Campaigner can now import up to 500 vCard contacts (the kind of file Address Book exports) at a time. Available with a 30-day free trial, Campaigner's <a href="http://www.campaigner.com/pricing.aspx" target="new">plans</a> range from $10/month for unlimited e-mails to up to 1,000 addresses up to $55/month for up to 10,000 addresses.2010-10-05T18:24:04ZSlideRocket Adds Collaboration, Analytics FeaturesThe online presentation tool lets co-workers comment on and reuse each others' slides, and a new dashboard makes it easier to see who's looked at which slides.http://www.iweek-interim.com/news/229200544?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Networking/Comm_smbThe online presentation tool lets co-workers comment on and reuse each others' slides, and a new dashboard makes it easier to see who's looked at which slides.In its most basic form, <a href="http://www.sliderocket.com/" target="new">SlideRocket</a> -- available on its own or as a <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/hardware_software/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226700188&itc=ref-true" target="new">Google App</a> -- is an online alternative to Microsoft PowerPoint or Apple Keynote. You can use the software to create and save presentations that you can deliver just like a PowerPoint or Keynote presentation. But SlideRocket goes several steps further in leveraging the fact that it's a cloud service. "PowerPoint was built 25 years ago," says CEO Chuck Dietrich. "It wasn't built for the current collaborative working environment, or for new delivery mediums." For example, SlideRocket has always let you create a library of your and your colleagues' presentations. With all the slides stored in the cloud that way, you and your group can re-use slides from one presentation in another one, just by dragging them in. The connections among the re-used slides are maintained, so an update to one automatically updates all the others. "You're always up to date, on message, and on brand," says Dietrich. The latest update to the software lets viewers -- whether colleagues or customers -- "post" comments to a presentation as they're viewing it. The presentation author can then collect those comments and either revise the presentation to make it more effective or answer any questions directly. Further feedback is available from polls and forms that can now be included in a presentation. The responses are available instantly, so the presenter can modify the presentation on the fly to match the audience's needs or expectations. You can also use the tools to create a branching on-demand presentation, in which the viewer's responses determines what other slides they see. A new dashboard presents a view of who has looked at which presentations and how much time they spent on each slide. Presenters can see the totals in aggregate to see what the best-performing parts of a presentation are overall, or they can drill down to a particular viewer, to see what that person is especially interested in. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jwidman/5055214625/" title="analytics-1 by jakewidman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4127/5055214625_fd6ae2aaf0.jpg" width="500" height="337" alt="analytics-1" /></a> The SlideRocket dashboard displays who's looked at a presentation and how much time they spent with each slide. A version of SlideRocket with no analytics or commenting features is available for free. The <a href="http://www.sliderocket.com/pricing/" target="new">paid version</a>, at $24/user/month, includes those features and lets you remove the SlideRocket branding, so viewers only see your company's information. There aren't many applications that come along that I'm happy to call groundbreaking, but this is one. SlideRocket reimagines what a presentation program can do and drags the field into the 21st century.2010-10-04T15:59:32ZiHub Syncs Macs, Mobiles WirelesslyThe new software from Nova Media uses a Mac-based WiFi network (and can create one if necessary) to sync calendars and contacts to iOS mobile devices.http://www.iweek-interim.com/news/229200562?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Networking/Comm_smbThe new software from Nova Media uses a Mac-based WiFi network (and can create one if necessary) to sync calendars and contacts to iOS mobile devices.Usually, getting your calendar and contact list synced between multiple Macs and iPhones, iPod Touches, and iPads requires either a cloud-based solution, such as Apple's own MobileMe, or a direct wired connection to a Mac running iTunes. Nova Media claims, however, that iHub Basic can accomplish the same tasks over a WiFi network. "Thanks to iHub Basic, there is no need to store sensitive data on a far-away cloud service," said Nova Media's Jan Fuellemann. "In addition, the user does not have to use a cable and run iTunes just to add an appointment in the calendar or to change an address." iHub Basic runs on Mac OS X as a server application and can sync data to other Macs via WiFi or Ethernet. Mobile devices sync via WiFi. If you don't already have a WiFi network, you can use Nova's MoHub (integrated into iHub) to set up an ad hoc network for syncing. The software also offers some backup protection: it saves two weeks worth of contact and calendar information, so you can restore something you accidentally deleted even after you synchronized the error. iHub <a href="http://www.novamedia.de/en/software.html" target="new">costs</a> $30 plus VAT (the company's in Germany) and requires Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard on the server machine (and so the server must be an Intel Mac). Syncing contacts requires Snow Leopard on the other Macs and iOS 4 on the mobile devices; syncing calendars is possible with OS X 10.5 Leopard on the client Macs and iOS 3 on the mobiles.