http://www.informationweek.comInformationWeeken-usCopyright 2012, UBM LLC.2011-11-30T12:00:00ZTech companies have created some of the strangest and funniest company and product names in business. Here's the most recent evidence that this trend is only accelerating. http://www.informationweek.com/news/232200467?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_AuthorsStarting a new company can be a tough job in many ways. The founders need to create a compelling product, get investors interested in their business, and find enough customers to make the new company profitable. <P> And then there's the question of what to call the company. Do you go for a serious, descriptive name that is also boring, or should you go the silly but sticks in people's heads route? <P> Looking back over the history of tech, there have been plenty of examples of businesses that took the goofy path all the way to success. Many people remember when there were lots of jokes about a company calling itself Yahoo! When Twitter launched, I wondered if users of the service should be called twits (and if they should compete in Monty Python's Twit of the Year competition). <P> Well, those companies had the last laugh and now serious news anchors regularly say Twitter without batting an eye. And there are plenty of new companies looking to follow the same path. <P> Giving a business a goofy but memorable name can pay off. For startups, having people know about you is half the battle and, if a funny name gets people talking about you, then it did its job. <P> But there can also be a downside. If your product is designed for business, companies may be hesitant to use a goofily-named product. <P> And if the name brings with it negative associations, those associations can stick with the company. <P> Despite these hurdles, plenty of new businesses continue taking the funny name route. Here's our look at 10 company names that stick out in 2011. Let us know about any other firms or products whose names caused you to chuckle. <P>When you hear the word "blekko" what comes to mind? Personally, it makes me think of the sound a little kid makes when confronted with vegetables on a dinner plate (broccoli! Blekko!!). <P> But <a href="http://blekko.com/" target="_blank">Blekko.com</a> is actually an interesting new beta search engine that lets users define groups of sites in order to focus search results and cut down on unhelpful links. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/global-cio/interviews/231000302">My Mistake: 10 CIOs Share Do-Over Worthy Moments</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/global-cio/interviews/229403039">IT Salaries: 9 Ways We've Changed (Or Not) From 2001's Heyday</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231903291">10 Android App Flops</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231901746">10 Epic Android Apps</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231901705">10 Innovative iOS 5 Apps</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/galleries/blogging_microblogging/231900631/10-smart-enterprise-uses-for-twitter">10 Smart Enterprise Uses For Twitter</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/personal-tech/tablets/231602353">Amazon Kindle Fire: Visual Tour</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/windows/operatingsystems/231601529">Windows 8 Visual Tour: Microsoft's New Desktop</a><a href="http://fluxx.io/" target="_blank">Fluxx</a>, from fluxxlabs, is a cloud-based business management platform designed to help businesses manage all of the data that is generated today, which sounds pretty useful. <P> But flux is also what they used to call dysentery, and I'm not sure I'd like for my business to be associated with a terrible disease. <P> Or perhaps it will make you think of the famous flux capacitor in the geek-favorite movie, Back To the Future. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/global-cio/interviews/231000302">My Mistake: 10 CIOs Share Do-Over Worthy Moments</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/global-cio/interviews/229403039">IT Salaries: 9 Ways We've Changed (Or Not) From 2001's Heyday</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231903291">10 Android App Flops</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231901746">10 Epic Android Apps</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231901705">10 Innovative iOS 5 Apps</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/galleries/blogging_microblogging/231900631/10-smart-enterprise-uses-for-twitter">10 Smart Enterprise Uses For Twitter</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/personal-tech/tablets/231602353">Amazon Kindle Fire: Visual Tour</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/windows/operatingsystems/231601529">Windows 8 Visual Tour: Microsoft's New Desktop</a>Ever see those videos of people who can use their feet to eat dinner? It's simultaneously fascinating and disgusting and is, unfortunately, the image that pops up when I see the name Footfeed. <P> <a href="http://footfeed.com/" target="_blank">Footfeed</a> is a startup designed to consolidate all of the services like Foursquare and Facebook that encourage people to check into locations. For example, Footfeed makes it possible to let multiple services know that you've checked into that new cool restaurant. Just remember to keep your shoes on while eating. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/global-cio/interviews/231000302">My Mistake: 10 CIOs Share Do-Over Worthy Moments</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/global-cio/interviews/229403039">IT Salaries: 9 Ways We've Changed (Or Not) From 2001's Heyday</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231903291">10 Android App Flops</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231901746">10 Epic Android Apps</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231901705">10 Innovative iOS 5 Apps</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/galleries/blogging_microblogging/231900631/10-smart-enterprise-uses-for-twitter">10 Smart Enterprise Uses For Twitter</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/personal-tech/tablets/231602353">Amazon Kindle Fire: Visual Tour</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/windows/operatingsystems/231601529">Windows 8 Visual Tour: Microsoft's New Desktop</a> <P>It used to be that characters who walked around saying "gimme" were portrayed as spoiled jerks, such as Veruka Salt in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Today, someone who walks around saying "gimme, gimme" ends up getting his own reality TV show. <P> <a href=" http://www.getgimme.com/" target="_blank">Gimme!</a> is a startup company that is offering a new twist on mobile coupons, making it possible to get cash-back discounts and bonuses on purchases and have them delivered to a personal PayPal account. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/global-cio/interviews/231000302">My Mistake: 10 CIOs Share Do-Over Worthy Moments</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/global-cio/interviews/229403039">IT Salaries: 9 Ways We've Changed (Or Not) From 2001's Heyday</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231903291">10 Android App Flops</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231901746">10 Epic Android Apps</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231901705">10 Innovative iOS 5 Apps</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/galleries/blogging_microblogging/231900631/10-smart-enterprise-uses-for-twitter">10 Smart Enterprise Uses For Twitter</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/personal-tech/tablets/231602353">Amazon Kindle Fire: Visual Tour</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/windows/operatingsystems/231601529">Windows 8 Visual Tour: Microsoft's New Desktop</a>I think I know where the name <a href="http://gnip.com/" target="_blank">Gnip</a> came from. It's Ping backwards, and it kind of makes sense for a company that provides data integration for real time social media feeds from services like Twitter and Facebook. I just can't wait until Gnip integrates with a company called Gnop. And then a friend of mine can use that. And while I'm gnipping, my friend will be gnopping. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/global-cio/interviews/231000302">My Mistake: 10 CIOs Share Do-Over Worthy Moments</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/global-cio/interviews/229403039">IT Salaries: 9 Ways We've Changed (Or Not) From 2001's Heyday</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231903291">10 Android App Flops</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231901746">10 Epic Android Apps</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231901705">10 Innovative iOS 5 Apps</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/galleries/blogging_microblogging/231900631/10-smart-enterprise-uses-for-twitter">10 Smart Enterprise Uses For Twitter</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/personal-tech/tablets/231602353">Amazon Kindle Fire: Visual Tour</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/windows/operatingsystems/231601529">Windows 8 Visual Tour: Microsoft's New Desktop</a>As a company name, <a href="http://www.gwabbit.com" target="_blank">gwabbit</a> fits more in the straight silly but not that embarrassing category of names. The product is an award-winning app to ease contact management in Outlook and Blackberry. But I did witness an occasion where an executive was recommending it to a colleague, who laughed upon hearing the name. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/global-cio/interviews/231000302">My Mistake: 10 CIOs Share Do-Over Worthy Moments</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/global-cio/interviews/229403039">IT Salaries: 9 Ways We've Changed (Or Not) From 2001's Heyday</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231903291">10 Android App Flops</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231901746">10 Epic Android Apps</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231901705">10 Innovative iOS 5 Apps</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/galleries/blogging_microblogging/231900631/10-smart-enterprise-uses-for-twitter">10 Smart Enterprise Uses For Twitter</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/personal-tech/tablets/231602353">Amazon Kindle Fire: Visual Tour</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/windows/operatingsystems/231601529">Windows 8 Visual Tour: Microsoft's New Desktop</a> <P>If you're a fan of Olympic gymnastics, you've probably seen clips of legendary coach Bela Karolyi exhorting his young charges on during training: "Work hard, poosh." Well, that is actually kind of the idea behind <a href="http://www.poosh.com" target="_blank">Poosh</a>. This startup lets users signup to get regular motivational messages from athletes. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/global-cio/interviews/231000302">My Mistake: 10 CIOs Share Do-Over Worthy Moments</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/global-cio/interviews/229403039">IT Salaries: 9 Ways We've Changed (Or Not) From 2001's Heyday</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231903291">10 Android App Flops</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231901746">10 Epic Android Apps</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231901705">10 Innovative iOS 5 Apps</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/galleries/blogging_microblogging/231900631/10-smart-enterprise-uses-for-twitter">10 Smart Enterprise Uses For Twitter</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/personal-tech/tablets/231602353">Amazon Kindle Fire: Visual Tour</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/windows/operatingsystems/231601529">Windows 8 Visual Tour: Microsoft's New Desktop</a>When I saw the product name "Unrabble," I assumed it was something cities would use to clear out Occupy Wall Street camps. "This will get rid of those pesky protesters. Activate Unrabble! Bwahahaha!" <P> Actually, <a href="http://www.unrabble.com/" target="_blank">Unrabble</a> is a human resources product designed to help businesses evaluate potential hires. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/global-cio/interviews/231000302">My Mistake: 10 CIOs Share Do-Over Worthy Moments</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/global-cio/interviews/229403039">IT Salaries: 9 Ways We've Changed (Or Not) From 2001's Heyday</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231903291">10 Android App Flops</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231901746">10 Epic Android Apps</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231901705">10 Innovative iOS 5 Apps</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/galleries/blogging_microblogging/231900631/10-smart-enterprise-uses-for-twitter">10 Smart Enterprise Uses For Twitter</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/personal-tech/tablets/231602353">Amazon Kindle Fire: Visual Tour</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/windows/operatingsystems/231601529">Windows 8 Visual Tour: Microsoft's New Desktop</a> This is my award winner for goofiest company/product name of the year. Isn't the <a href="http://www.winobot.com/" target="_blank">WinoBot</a> a character in Futurama? <P> WinoBot is a mobile app, but it isn't designed to help find which stores have the lowest prices on Night Train. What the app does do is help you pick the best wine based on the wine list available at a given restaurant. Which actually sounds pretty useful, despite the name. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/global-cio/interviews/231000302">My Mistake: 10 CIOs Share Do-Over Worthy Moments</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/global-cio/interviews/229403039">IT Salaries: 9 Ways We've Changed (Or Not) From 2001's Heyday</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231903291">10 Android App Flops</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231901746">10 Epic Android Apps</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231901705">10 Innovative iOS 5 Apps</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/galleries/blogging_microblogging/231900631/10-smart-enterprise-uses-for-twitter">10 Smart Enterprise Uses For Twitter</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/personal-tech/tablets/231602353">Amazon Kindle Fire: Visual Tour</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/windows/operatingsystems/231601529">Windows 8 Visual Tour: Microsoft's New Desktop</a>In the Saturday Night Live skit Boston Teens, which featured Rachel Dratch and Jimmy Fallon, Dratch played Zazu, a partying, often drinking girl with a strong Boston accent. <a href="http://www.getzazu.com/" target="_blank">Zazu</a> is a mobile personal information app that wakes you up with all of the information for your upcoming day. Not sure if it can be configured to wake you up by yelling "Nomahhh!!" <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/global-cio/interviews/231000302">My Mistake: 10 CIOs Share Do-Over Worthy Moments</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/global-cio/interviews/229403039">IT Salaries: 9 Ways We've Changed (Or Not) From 2001's Heyday</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231903291">10 Android App Flops</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231901746">10 Epic Android Apps</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231901705">10 Innovative iOS 5 Apps</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/galleries/blogging_microblogging/231900631/10-smart-enterprise-uses-for-twitter">10 Smart Enterprise Uses For Twitter</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/personal-tech/tablets/231602353">Amazon Kindle Fire: Visual Tour</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/windows/operatingsystems/231601529">Windows 8 Visual Tour: Microsoft's New Desktop</a> <P>2011-11-18T08:30:00ZAmong Android apps, you'll find some jewels--and many stinkers. Here's our top 10 list of Android apps to skip, including a few names you might not expect.http://www.informationweek.com/news/231903291?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_AuthorsWhen it comes to mobile devices, operating systems tend to grab most of the headlines. But it is the apps that can make or break the device--and that tend to be the most helpful to users. As our recent list of <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231901746">10 Epic Android Apps</a> shows, great apps can help you be more productive, assist in travel and communications, and provide fun and diverting entertainment. <P> But for every great app, there are several apps that fail to make the grade. Bad apps can cause frustration, lead to delays in getting things done, and just waste space on your device. <P> What makes for a bad app? Well, apps can fail in a number of ways. <P> They can be apps that you use every day, but also curse constantly, because they make tasks that should be simple tougher than they need to be. A bad app can also be one that causes system instability, uses bandwidth unnecessarily, or is just generally buggy. And an app can fail by being completely useless. <P> In this list of the 10 worst Android apps, we've included some that come pre-installed on every single Android device. These are apps that you often have to use--but probably wish that you didn't. Also included are some apps whose very reason to exist is questionable at best. And in one case, we've included an app that proved to be buggy, unable to deliver on its promise, and unable to withstand the forward movement of technology. <P> Of course, with more than 250,000 apps on the Android Market, and given the fact that Google lets pretty much any developer create apps for the Android, you've probably seen a large number of bad apps available for Android devices. This is our list of the 10 Worst Android Apps. Using our comments section, let us know which bad apps would make your top 10 stinkers list.Almost certainly the ultimate failed mobile application. Early on in the smartphone revolution, <a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.adobe.flashplayer" target="_blank">Flash</a> promised to be the main way that application interfaces and rich media would be delivered to mobile devices--and Android was going to be the showcase platform for Flash. But it consistently failed to deliver anything close to the capabilities of the desktop version of Flash. Plus it was buggy and a resource hog. Even Adobe now recognizes this, and is pulling the plug on mobile Flash. Steve Jobs was right. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231903259">Android Hits 200 Million Activations</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/mobility/231903113">Android Dominates Smartphone Market, Says Gartner</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231902756">Awkward Social Situation? Smartphone To The Rescue</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231902609">Republic Wireless Offers $19 Unlimited Android Plan</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231902422">5 Mobile Apps For Desktop PC Remote Control</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231901746">10 Epic Android Apps</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/mobility/231901659">Android Surpasses iPhone In App Downloads</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/mobile-os/231901463">Android 4.0 Vs. iOS 5 Faceoff</a>The official justification for the <a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=org.icount.beer" target="_blank">Beer Counter</a> app is to help a group of friends figure out the bill at the end of the night. Of course, there's also the idea of knowing how many drinks one person has had during a night of over-indulging. But if you've been drinking so much that you can't keep track, I'm not sure a mobile app will help (and you'll probably forget to use it anyways.) <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231903259">Android Hits 200 Million Activations</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/mobility/231903113">Android Dominates Smartphone Market, Says Gartner</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231902756">Awkward Social Situation? Smartphone To The Rescue</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231902609">Republic Wireless Offers $19 Unlimited Android Plan</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231902422">5 Mobile Apps For Desktop PC Remote Control</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231901746">10 Epic Android Apps</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/mobility/231901659">Android Surpasses iPhone In App Downloads</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/mobile-os/231901463">Android 4.0 Vs. iOS 5 Faceoff</a>To a certain degree, <a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.facebook.katana" target="_blank">Facebook</a> is made for mobile usage. Being able to send status updates, upload photos, and see what your friends are doing is great when you're out and about. But the Android Facebook app itself can turn aggravating. <P> Outside of basic status updates, the app itself is a shadow of using the full Facebook interface in a browser. Navigating Facebook is not the easiest thing in the app. Also, chat is poorly implemented, and uploading images can be tedious. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231903259">Android Hits 200 Million Activations</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/mobility/231903113">Android Dominates Smartphone Market, Says Gartner</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231902756">Awkward Social Situation? Smartphone To The Rescue</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231902609">Republic Wireless Offers $19 Unlimited Android Plan</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231902422">5 Mobile Apps For Desktop PC Remote Control</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231901746">10 Epic Android Apps</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/mobility/231901659">Android Surpasses iPhone In App Downloads</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/mobile-os/231901463">Android 4.0 Vs. iOS 5 Faceoff</a>The Geico commercial starts by asking, "Do people use smartphones to do dumb things?" Well, if you want to act like the guys in that commercial, you can download the <a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.geico.brostache" target="_blank">GEICO BroStache</a> app to add a fake mustache to your face. However, just because you see people do something in a TV commercial doesn't mean that you need to do it real life. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231903259">Android Hits 200 Million Activations</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/mobility/231903113">Android Dominates Smartphone Market, Says Gartner</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231902756">Awkward Social Situation? Smartphone To The Rescue</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231902609">Republic Wireless Offers $19 Unlimited Android Plan</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231902422">5 Mobile Apps For Desktop PC Remote Control</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231901746">10 Epic Android Apps</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/mobility/231901659">Android Surpasses iPhone In App Downloads</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/mobile-os/231901463">Android 4.0 Vs. iOS 5 Faceoff</a>You would think that Google's core email app would be perfect on Google's mobile operating system. And for basic use it probably works fine. But power users of <a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.google.android.gm" target="_blank">Gmail</a> can find the Android app to be disappointing. Think failed syncs, lack of view customization, and limited filtering options. If you have a good mobile browser, it is usually a superior experience to access Gmail from the browser--rather than the app. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231903259">Android Hits 200 Million Activations</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/mobility/231903113">Android Dominates Smartphone Market, Says Gartner</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231902756">Awkward Social Situation? Smartphone To The Rescue</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231902609">Republic Wireless Offers $19 Unlimited Android Plan</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231902422">5 Mobile Apps For Desktop PC Remote Control</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231901746">10 Epic Android Apps</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/mobility/231901659">Android Surpasses iPhone In App Downloads</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/mobile-os/231901463">Android 4.0 Vs. iOS 5 Faceoff</a>You can almost see the thought process behind these apps (and there are few similar ones in the Android Market.) Massagers vibrate, smartphones vibrate, let's turn the smartphone into a massager! I can think of quite a few ways to criticize and make fun of this, but I think we are all pretty clear on why <a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.javoid.G_Massage" target="_blank">this app</a> is on this list. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231903259">Android Hits 200 Million Activations</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/mobility/231903113">Android Dominates Smartphone Market, Says Gartner</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231902756">Awkward Social Situation? Smartphone To The Rescue</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231902609">Republic Wireless Offers $19 Unlimited Android Plan</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231902422">5 Mobile Apps For Desktop PC Remote Control</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231901746">10 Epic Android Apps</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/mobility/231901659">Android Surpasses iPhone In App Downloads</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/mobile-os/231901463">Android 4.0 Vs. iOS 5 Faceoff</a>In the ebook/digital media wars, one of the common arguments involves the superiority of the printed page versus a digital screen. In those arguments, I tend to side with the convenience of ebooks and digital readers. But in this case, I'm going to go out on a limb and argue for the superiority of a printed name badge, compared to hanging my Android smartphone <a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.splittix" target="_blank">around my neck</a>. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231903259">Android Hits 200 Million Activations</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/mobility/231903113">Android Dominates Smartphone Market, Says Gartner</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231902756">Awkward Social Situation? Smartphone To The Rescue</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231902609">Republic Wireless Offers $19 Unlimited Android Plan</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231902422">5 Mobile Apps For Desktop PC Remote Control</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231901746">10 Epic Android Apps</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/mobility/231901659">Android Surpasses iPhone In App Downloads</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/mobile-os/231901463">Android 4.0 Vs. iOS 5 Faceoff</a> <P><a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=simp.IAm.Rich" target="_blank">I Am Rich</a> started out its life as one of the most notorious apps on the Apple Store. It was a $1,000 app that displayed a diamond--and basically that was all it did. It was subsequently banned by Apple. At least in that case, it had a kind of scam crossed with social commentary thing going for it. As a free app in the Android Market, it doesn't make any sense. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231903259">Android Hits 200 Million Activations</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/mobility/231903113">Android Dominates Smartphone Market, Says Gartner</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231902756">Awkward Social Situation? Smartphone To The Rescue</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231902609">Republic Wireless Offers $19 Unlimited Android Plan</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231902422">5 Mobile Apps For Desktop PC Remote Control</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231901746">10 Epic Android Apps</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/mobility/231901659">Android Surpasses iPhone In App Downloads</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/mobile-os/231901463">Android 4.0 Vs. iOS 5 Faceoff</a>Here's an app that every single Android user will have on hand. And nearly all of them will hate it. <a href="https://market.android.com/" target="_blank">Android Market</a> makes it tough to find specific apps, mainly because its search interface makes it hard to figure out if the apps displayed include the one you want, or a bunch of bad copies. Comparing this offering to Apple's clean and well-designed store makes the Market's shortcomings even more obvious. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231903259">Android Hits 200 Million Activations</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/mobility/231903113">Android Dominates Smartphone Market, Says Gartner</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231902756">Awkward Social Situation? Smartphone To The Rescue</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231902609">Republic Wireless Offers $19 Unlimited Android Plan</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231902422">5 Mobile Apps For Desktop PC Remote Control</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231901746">10 Epic Android Apps</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/mobility/231901659">Android Surpasses iPhone In App Downloads</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/mobile-os/231901463">Android 4.0 Vs. iOS 5 Faceoff</a>Amazingly, several apps on the Android Market (and on other mobile platforms) pursue the same goal: Make sure that people brush their teeth for the proper amount of time. But <a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=albr.android.toothbrushlite" target="_blank">this app</a> brings up the funny image of a person with a smartphone in one hand and toothbrush in the other, along with the potentially disgusting image of an Android device covered in water and toothpaste. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231903259">Android Hits 200 Million Activations</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/mobility/231903113">Android Dominates Smartphone Market, Says Gartner</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231902756">Awkward Social Situation? Smartphone To The Rescue</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231902609">Republic Wireless Offers $19 Unlimited Android Plan</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231902422">5 Mobile Apps For Desktop PC Remote Control</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231901746">10 Epic Android Apps</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/mobility/231901659">Android Surpasses iPhone In App Downloads</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/mobile-os/231901463">Android 4.0 Vs. iOS 5 Faceoff</a>2011-11-11T11:21:00ZDropbox lets you do much more than file sharing via its cloud-based storage service. Consider these eight tips to make your life easier.http://www.informationweek.com/news/231902845?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --><div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/galleries/workgrouping_team_collaboration_workspaces/229300480/top-15-cloud-collaboration-apps"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/585/AtTask_tn.jpg" alt="Top 15 Cloud Collaboration Apps" title="Top 15 Cloud Collaboration Apps" class="img175" /></a><br /> <div class="storyImageTitle">Slideshow: Top 15 Cloud Collaboration Apps</div> <span class="inlinelargerView"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229300480">(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</a></span> </div><!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE --> Dropbox has become an extremely popular service for users looking for cloud-based storage and a better way to manage and collaborate on files, keep their many digital collections in sync across systems, and easily share large files. But Dropbox can do lot than simply making it easy to send a large file to a friend. <P> Let us start with the basics for those not that familiar with Dropbox. Available at <a href="http://www.dropbox.com">dropbox.com</a>, it is a cloud-based storage system that also provides file synching across multiple systems. The Dropbox desktop app runs on Linux, Mac, and Windows PCs, and the company also offers apps for Android, Blackberry, and Apple iOS devices (and there is also a browser interface for content access). Dropbox is free for 2 GB of storage, and those looking for more storage space can pay for one of the <a href="http://www.dropbox.com/pricing">subscription plans</a>. <P> Many people simply use Dropbox to share files and keep certain types of content available on all of their different systems and devices. But with a little bit of extra work, Dropbox can be used to improve operating system file management, extend the reach of applications, and improve other Web services and sites. Here are eight ways to get the more out of Dropbox--and share your top tips and tricks in the comments section below. <P> <strong>&#91; The success of Dropbox has drawn many competitors. Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/storage/virtualization/231601571?itc=edit_in_body_cross">VMware Project Octopus: Dropbox Alternative</a>. &#93;</strong> <P> <strong>Browser On The Go</strong> <P> It has been possible for a while to use Dropbox to create a profile folder that can keep your browser settings and history synced across all of your devices. But browsers like Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox already have built-in synching features to handle this. Much better is to use Dropbox to provide a fully functional browser that basically runs from within Dropbox. There are a variety of apps that have been built to run inside of USB drives and these apps will often also work very well running from a Dropbox folder. So, rather than syncing Firefox, download PortableFirefox from <a href=" http://portableapps.com/">PortableApps.com</a> and install it into Dropbox. You can now run that browser from any of your other systems. The site provides many apps customized for this type of usage and a search on an app and USB will probably turn up even more. <P> <strong>Dropping Into The OS</strong> <P> You know that Dropbox makes it possible to sync content within folders across systems. But there's no reason these need to stay Dropbox folders--they can actually become core folders within your operating system. For example, in Windows you can change the folder location of your My Documents folder and actually replace it with a Dropbox folder. Now the My Documents folder will not only sync across your systems but will also keep these important files automatically backed up to Dropbox. <P> <strong>Folders Of Collaboration</strong> <P> Shared folders is one of the core features of Dropbox, making it possible for multiple users to share files while working on a task or project. But, used correctly, these shared folders can become a powerful tool for collaboration and group document management. Even used in its basic mode, shared folders make it easy to share files and to work collaboratively on content--but there are some drawbacks. The shared folder counts against everyone's data limit and with no check-in/check-out controls, you need to keep an eye on versions to avoid conflict. One solution is to install the free Dropbox add-on Notifybox, which adds features such as check-in/check-out notifications and controls. <P> <strong>Host Of Choice</strong> <P> One of the first ways that many people find their way to Dropbox is when they need to email a large file to someone. But that public link that Dropbox provides can be used in many ways outside of email. Along with adding files to social network posts, an image or file publicly visible in Dropbox can also be embedded in other websites and blogs. So, rather than trying to upload an image onto your blog server, you can simply put in Dropbox, get the public URL, and then embed the image in your blog or website. <P> <strong>iTunes Everywhere</strong> <P> Keeping your iTunes music library synced across multiple systems can be a tedious task that is often neglected, until the time you're on the road and realize all the new music you bought isn't on your laptop. Dropbox can be used to easily solve this problem. Simply change the location of your iTunes library to a Dropbox folder and then set up your other systems to use this folder as the iTunes library. Now your music stays synced across systems. Though, chances are your music library is quite a bit larger than 2 GB, meaning that this solution is mainly for paying customers of Dropbox. <P> <strong>Image Galleries At A Drop(box) Of A Hat</strong> <P> Of course, folders in Dropbox are useful for storing, syncing and sharing lots of different types of files. But if those files are images, it can be even more useful. Just add images to a Photo folder within Dropbox and then choose the gallery button. You now have an image gallery link that can be easily shared with friends, family, and colleagues with much less work and effort then is typically required from dedicated photo sharing websites. <P> <strong>Refer For More</strong> <P> By default, the size limit of the free Dropbox account is 2 GB. But with a little effort it is possible to grow this to potentially 8 GB for free. The easiest is to simply go through the tutorial steps after first signing up, which will add 250 MB of space. And then, by referring friends to sign up for Dropbox, you get an additional 250 MB per referral, up to a maximum of 8 GB. <P> <strong>Undelete Master</strong> <P> Nearly everyone lives in constant fear of losing that one file or document that ends up being vital in some way. Or they need information that was in an early version of a document that was removed during multiple revisions. If that important file was stored and synced by Dropbox, chances are it can be recovered. From the browser interface of Dropbox, users can bring up the past versions of files and access them and can view and restore files that had been deleted. <P>2011-11-07T00:08:00ZChoose your mobile device management vendor wisely by focusing on five key areas.http://www.informationweek.com/news/231902409?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_AuthorsMobile device management products promise to give IT control over a company's mobile workforce. However, MDM is still a relatively new category, with a variety of vendors and offerings. Some products focus on one specific mobile platform, such as Apple's iOS. Some are designed for tight security, while others are tuned for inventory, reporting, and tracking. Our MDM Buyer's Guide, available at <a href="http://informationweek.com/reports/mdm">informationweek.com/reports/mdm</a>, provides an overview of the systems from Absolute Software, AirWatch, Fiberlink Communications, JAMF Software, MobileIron, Odyssey Software, Symantec, Tangoe, and Zenprise, as well as guidelines for choosing a system that fits your company's needs.</p> <P> While some features, such as company directory integration and remote wipe, cut across all the products, you'll find differentiation in plenty of areas. The first questions to ask: Which types of mobile devices and platforms do we need to manage? Will our business require a system that supports various Android versions, iOS, BlackBerry, and Windows Phone? Once that's settled, focus on these five areas, which we expand on in our full report.</p> <P> <strong>Security:</strong> When it comes to finding a lost or stolen device, nearly all MDM products use geolocation, great for determining if the phone or tablet has been misplaced or if it's speeding away. If a device can't be recovered, the last line of defense to protect sensitive data is a remote wipe, which cleans all or some data off the device. All the products in our survey have remote wipe capabilities. Several, such as AirWatch's, can also do selective wipes. This feature gives IT the option of destroying only company data and access mechanisms, such as email, leaving personal data on the device untouched. That's a useful level of granularity in an era when employees are bringing their own smartphones and tablets into the office.</p> <P> <strong>Administration:</strong> A bread-and-butter feature of any system management product is the ability to install, update, and remove applications, and to remotely patch and update operating systems. However, MDM products have limitations in this area, particularly around apps. This can be problematic: Just because an app is on the market doesn't mean it's safe (though Apple does a good job of preventing malicious software from getting into its App Store). Seven of the nine vendors in our Buyer's Guide offer whitelists and blacklists for applications and can stop blacklisted apps from accessing corporate resources. This is typically done through a form of network policy enforcement. When it comes to in-house mobile applications, many MDM vendors offer internal app stores that let IT distribute and update corporate software and let users browse for approved apps.</p> <P> <strong>Inventory tracking:</strong> All of the MDM vendors we surveyed offer some form of inventory tracking, but their capabilities vary. Some are highly detailed, showing every bit of information on the device, operating system, and apps, as well as usage history. Some provide basic hardware inventory lists. Another valuable feature lets IT set alerts around, or prevent specific types of, expensive mobile usage, such as roaming or exceeding a bandwidth cap.</p> <P> <strong>Deployment options:</strong> MDM products need to touch the devices, with either a full client or a lightweight agent. A central management platform collects data from the agents and lets administrators monitor the devices, push out policies, update software, and more. Some vendors in our Buyer's Guide offer the choice of either on-premises MDM software or software as a service hosted off site.</p> <P> <strong>Cost:</strong> Starting prices range from as low as $9.95 per device per year and go up to $85. Costs may change based on volume and feature set, and some vendors offer monthly plans. The monthly option will reduce the initial expense but may cost more in the long term.</p> <P> <center>Go to the main story:<br> <strong><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/business/231901741">Mobile Device Management On The Edge</a></strong></p> <P> Visit our<br /><strong><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/tech-center/mobile-security">Mobile Security Tech Center</a></strong></p> </center> <P> <!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <center> <div id="printfeaturePDFpromo"><div class="printfeaturePDFCover"><a href="http://reports.informationweek.com/abstract/18/8536/Mobility-Wireless/informationweek-november-7-2011.html&cid=article_axxe_os"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/1315/smallcov.jpg" alt="InformationWeek: Nov. 7, 2011 Issue" title="InformationWeek: Nov. 7, 2011 Issue" /></a></div> <div class="printfeaturePDFCopy"><strong><a href="http://reports.informationweek.com/abstract/18/8536/Mobility-Wireless/informationweek-november-7-2011.html&cid=article_axxe_os">Download a free PDF of <nobr><em>InformationWeek</em> magazine</nobr></a><br /> (registration required)</strong></div> <div class="clearBoth"></div> </div> </center></p> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <P>2011-11-05T08:30:00ZLeave your worries behind: These 5 mobile apps for smartphones and tablets let you access apps and files on your desktop PC.http://www.informationweek.com/news/231902422?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231901746"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/682/androidmain175.jpg" alt="10 Epic Android Apps " title="10 Epic Android Apps " class="img175" /></a><br /> <div class="storyImageTitle">10 Epic Android Apps </div> <span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</span></div> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE --> One of the main benefits of the modern world of mobile computing and the cloud is how it is designed to free users from their traditional desktop computers. However, sometimes there are specific applications that a person needs that are only available on his or her desktop, and there are certain files that many users would rather not put on cloud-based services. <P> So, how can a user enjoy the freedom of mobile devices while still being able to access the applications and files that are on a desktop system? The answer is through the use of remote control applications. <P> Remote control applications have long been a popular option for connecting laptops and home PCs to remote systems, but typically these have been, for example, accessing a Windows system from another Windows system. But with the rise in power and capabilities of smartphones and mobile operating systems, it is now possible to remotely access and control desktop systems from a smartphone or tablet. These apps range in capability from full-fledged remote control tools to apps designed to consume video and music to programs that turn a smartphone into something akin to a television remote control. <P> For this look at remote control mobile apps, we've focused on fully capable applications that can satisfy the needs of business users and that work on multiple mobile and desktop operating systems. With these apps, users can enjoy the freedom of mobility while still being able to access applications and files on their traditional desktop systems (just make sure to remember to leave those systems on when you are out and about). <P> <strong>LogMeIn Ignition</strong> <P> The <a href="https://secure.logmein.com/products/ignition/">LogMeIn</a> application has long been a popular choice for remote access to desktop computers, in part driven by the company's free basic offering. With the mobile LogMeIn Ignition app, users of both the free and Pro versions of LogMeIn can remotely access and control their Mac or Windows PCs from iOS and Android devices. The app provides full mouse and keyboard control of the remote desktop and, for users of LogMeIn Pro, it has the ability to directly stream audio files. The $29.99 app can be found in the Apple AppStore and Android Market or <a href="https://secure.logmein.com/products/ignition/">here</a>. <P> <strong>Jump Desktop</strong> <P> <a href="http://jumpdesktop.com/">Jump Desktop</a> is a cost effective and powerful option for remotely controlling systems from Android devices, iPhones, and iPads. Along with the option to use the product's own program to install on desktop systems to enable remote control, Jump Desktop can also take advantage of systems using Microsoft's built-in RDP protocol or the popular VNC remote control server. This means that the desktop side of the equation is usually free and on the app side, Jump Desktop is $14.99 on iOS systems and, with the current offer, only 99 cents for Android users. More information on Jump Desktop is available <a href="http://jumpdesktop.com/">here</a>. <P> <strong>Splashtop Remote Desktop</strong> <P> While remote control of a desktop is one of the core functionalities of these applications, many users also want to be able to access rich media from their mobile devices. One of the core elements of <a href="http://www.splashtop.com/remote">Splashtop Remote Desktop</a> is its ability to directly access content from iTunes and Windows Media libraries and to also access online Flash content and some desktop games. Of course, Splashtop also has the traditional remote control capabilities for users looking to access their desktop business applications. The desktop streamer application is free to use and works on Mac and Windows systems. Along with apps for iOS and Android systems, Splashtop is also available for the WebOS based HP Touchpad. The Splashtop Remote Desktop app is 99 cents for iPhones, $2.99 for iPads, $4.99 for Android devices, and $9.99 for Touchpads. More information is available <a href=" http://www.splashtop.com/remote">here</a>. <P> <strong>VNC</strong> <P> The open VNC protocol has long been one of the most popular methods for remotely accessing systems. VNC is available on pretty much every system, from Linux to Macs to Windows to Unix, and free versions of the server are easy to find. However, while some of the other apps mentioned make finding and linking to a remote system very simple, doing so in VNC can take a little more effort, requiring the IP address of the remote system and sometimes special security configurations in firewalls or home routers. Still, the ubiquity of VNC makes this an attractive choice for full remote control of a system. On the mobile app side, a free VNC viewer is <a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=android.androidVNC">available for Android</a> and <a href=" http://www.realvnc.com ">RealVNC offers mobile apps</a> for both Android and iOS priced at $9.99. <P> <strong>Wyse PocketCloud</strong> <P> As one might expect from Wyse, their <a href="http://www.wyse.com/products/software/pocketcloud/index.asp">PocketCloud app</a> is specifically designed to meet the needs of business users. The product provides good options for securing connections to remote systems and works well for remotely using business and enterprise applications. Also, the product does a good job at remotely accessing virtual desktop environments. Along with the free Mac and Windows Companion app, PocketCloud can also connect to VNC and Windows RDP enabled systems. The mobile PocketCloud app is priced at $14.99 and runs on both Android and iOS devices.2011-10-27T10:45:00ZAmong the hundreds of thousands of Android apps, we've rounded up 10 epic, must-have choices. These apps will save your bacon, day in and day out. http://www.informationweek.com/news/231901746?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_AuthorsAccording to the latest statistics, there are more than 250,000 apps available within the Android Market. Of course, the vast majority of these apps will never find their way onto most users' Android devices. The number of apps that most people download onto their smartphones is numbered in tens, and only a handful can be considered truly must-have apps. <P> So just what makes an Android app an epic, must-have app? Criteria could include an app that you use every day, or an app that helps make tasks easier. Business users may point to apps that make it easier to connect to company resources while on the road, or that help them be more productive. Or an epic app can be one that, while not used on a regular basis, comes in very handy to save your bacon in one way or another. <P> For this selection of 10 epic Android apps, we've used all of these criteria to come up with apps that should be considered a part of any user's smartphone. We've left out games, which, while a lot of fun, can't usually be considered vital. And we also haven't included apps that are most likely already bundled on your device, such as Gmail, Google Maps, and Facebook (though in certain cases some of the apps on this list are pre-bundled on devices). <P> The apps on this list span the gamut from basic utilities to tools that make it easier to get things done. But there is one thing they all have in common--if you've installed these apps on your smartphone, at some point in time you will be very glad that you took the time to download them. <P>If you use your Android device for work, at some point you will need to work with Office files such as Word, Excel, and Powerpoint, whether they've been emailed to you or you've downloaded them to the device. That's what makes <a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.dataviz.docstogoapp" target="_blank">Documents To Go</a> a must-have app for most Android users. A basic version provides simple document viewing capabilities while the full $14.99 version offers document editing and can now work with Google Apps documents. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/mobility/231901659">Android Surpasses iPhone In App Downloads</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231901705">10 Innovative iOS 5 Apps</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/mobility/231901571">Windows Phone Marketplace Hits 35,000 App Mark</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/mobile-apps/231901537">Android App Market Reaches 500,000 Submissions</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/development/mobility/231901455">iOS 5 and Andoid 4.0: What Developers Gain</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/mobile-os/231901463">Android 4.0 Vs. iOS 5 Faceoff</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231901316">Galaxy Nexus Vs. RAZR: Android Smackdown</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/mobile-os/231901206">Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich: Brilliant Thievery?</a> <P>While the integrated Android Web browser is fine for basic browsing, anyone who regularly access Web content on their mobile device will quickly find it frustrating and will look for a better browser. Among the alternative browsers for Android, we've found the free <a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=mobi.mgeek.TunnyBrowser" target="_blank">Dolphin Browser HD</a> to be the best, providing a rich and easy to view interface for viewing Web content on the smartphone. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/mobility/231901659">Android Surpasses iPhone In App Downloads</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231901705">10 Innovative iOS 5 Apps</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/mobility/231901571">Windows Phone Marketplace Hits 35,000 App Mark</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/mobile-apps/231901537">Android App Market Reaches 500,000 Submissions</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/development/mobility/231901455">iOS 5 and Andoid 4.0: What Developers Gain</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/mobile-os/231901463">Android 4.0 Vs. iOS 5 Faceoff</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231901316">Galaxy Nexus Vs. RAZR: Android Smackdown</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/mobile-os/231901206">Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich: Brilliant Thievery?</a>It can seem like a pretty simple thing, having an app to turn the screen on your Android device into a bright flashlight. But if you find yourself in a dark parking lot, or, like many of our friends during Hurricane Irene, stuck without power for days, knowing that you always have a flashlight on you in the form of your Android smartphone can literally be a life saver. You need to have <a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.socialnmobile.hd.flashlight" target="_blank">Color Flashlight</a>. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/mobility/231901659">Android Surpasses iPhone In App Downloads</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231901705">10 Innovative iOS 5 Apps</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/mobility/231901571">Windows Phone Marketplace Hits 35,000 App Mark</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/mobile-apps/231901537">Android App Market Reaches 500,000 Submissions</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/development/mobility/231901455">iOS 5 and Andoid 4.0: What Developers Gain</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/mobile-os/231901463">Android 4.0 Vs. iOS 5 Faceoff</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231901316">Galaxy Nexus Vs. RAZR: Android Smackdown</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/mobile-os/231901206">Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich: Brilliant Thievery?</a>With the rising cost of gas today, true road warriors need all the help they can get to cut the costs of constantly filling the tank of their car. And with the simple but extremely useful Android app <a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=gbis.gbandroid" target="_blank">GasBuddy</a>, it is a very simple task to locate the closest cheap gas wherever you might be travelling. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/mobility/231901659">Android Surpasses iPhone In App Downloads</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231901705">10 Innovative iOS 5 Apps</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/mobility/231901571">Windows Phone Marketplace Hits 35,000 App Mark</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/mobile-apps/231901537">Android App Market Reaches 500,000 Submissions</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/development/mobility/231901455">iOS 5 and Andoid 4.0: What Developers Gain</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/mobile-os/231901463">Android 4.0 Vs. iOS 5 Faceoff</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231901316">Galaxy Nexus Vs. RAZR: Android Smackdown</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/mobile-os/231901206">Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich: Brilliant Thievery?</a>For business travelers, mobile devices can help to remove some of the hassle and time constraints of air travel. And one of the best Android apps for air travelers is the free <a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.gateguruapp.android" target="_blank">GateGuru</a>. With this app, users can view information on airport terminals, access information on security gate wait times, view itineraries, and access social information. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/mobility/231901659">Android Surpasses iPhone In App Downloads</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231901705">10 Innovative iOS 5 Apps</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/mobility/231901571">Windows Phone Marketplace Hits 35,000 App Mark</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/mobile-apps/231901537">Android App Market Reaches 500,000 Submissions</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/development/mobility/231901455">iOS 5 and Andoid 4.0: What Developers Gain</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/mobile-os/231901463">Android 4.0 Vs. iOS 5 Faceoff</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231901316">Galaxy Nexus Vs. RAZR: Android Smackdown</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/mobile-os/231901206">Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich: Brilliant Thievery?</a> <P>One of the coolest apps period, Google Translate is the closest thing to a universal translator. <a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.google.android.apps.translate" target="_blank">Google Translate</a> can translate text between nearly all languages, but the coolest thing is its conversation mode, which makes it possible to have a back and forth conversation with someone while the app translates each side of the conversation. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/mobility/231901659">Android Surpasses iPhone In App Downloads</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231901705">10 Innovative iOS 5 Apps</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/mobility/231901571">Windows Phone Marketplace Hits 35,000 App Mark</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/mobile-apps/231901537">Android App Market Reaches 500,000 Submissions</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/development/mobility/231901455">iOS 5 and Andoid 4.0: What Developers Gain</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/mobile-os/231901463">Android 4.0 Vs. iOS 5 Faceoff</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231901316">Galaxy Nexus Vs. RAZR: Android Smackdown</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/mobile-os/231901206">Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich: Brilliant Thievery?</a> <P>For those users concerned about privacy, a smartphone can hold far too much historical data, from call logs to browsing history to text messages. With the free app <a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=mobi.infolife.eraser" target="_blank">History Eraser</a>, Android users can selectively remove this historical data from their device and worry less about putting their smartphone in someone else's hands. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/mobility/231901659">Android Surpasses iPhone In App Downloads</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231901705">10 Innovative iOS 5 Apps</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/mobility/231901571">Windows Phone Marketplace Hits 35,000 App Mark</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/mobile-apps/231901537">Android App Market Reaches 500,000 Submissions</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/development/mobility/231901455">iOS 5 and Andoid 4.0: What Developers Gain</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/mobile-os/231901463">Android 4.0 Vs. iOS 5 Faceoff</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231901316">Galaxy Nexus Vs. RAZR: Android Smackdown</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/mobile-os/231901206">Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich: Brilliant Thievery?</a>E-books have increasingly replaced traditional books, not just for leisure but for business guides, training books, and media publications. With the apps for the <a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.amazon.kindle" target="_blank">Amazon Kindle</a> or <a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=bn.ereader" target="_blank">Barnes and Noble Nook</a> on your Android device, you can access all of these e-books without the need to take a dedicated e-book reader everywhere. And, for those with dedicated Kindle's or Nooks, these apps can sync to make sure you are always at the point where you last stopped reading. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/mobility/231901659">Android Surpasses iPhone In App Downloads</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231901705">10 Innovative iOS 5 Apps</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/mobility/231901571">Windows Phone Marketplace Hits 35,000 App Mark</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/mobile-apps/231901537">Android App Market Reaches 500,000 Submissions</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/development/mobility/231901455">iOS 5 and Andoid 4.0: What Developers Gain</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/mobile-os/231901463">Android 4.0 Vs. iOS 5 Faceoff</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231901316">Galaxy Nexus Vs. RAZR: Android Smackdown</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/mobile-os/231901206">Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich: Brilliant Thievery?</a> <P>While Android devices have a lot going for them, one negative is their attractiveness as a target for malware and other security hacks. Android sees more of these types of attacks than any other mobile operating system. For that reason, a security app is a good thing to have on your device and one of the best is <a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.lookout" target="_blank">Lookout Mobile Security</a>. This app provides antivirus scanning to stop malware from making it onto devices, has features to find lost or stolen phones, and can backup sensitive data. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/mobility/231901659">Android Surpasses iPhone In App Downloads</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231901705">10 Innovative iOS 5 Apps</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/mobility/231901571">Windows Phone Marketplace Hits 35,000 App Mark</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/mobile-apps/231901537">Android App Market Reaches 500,000 Submissions</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/development/mobility/231901455">iOS 5 and Andoid 4.0: What Developers Gain</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/mobile-os/231901463">Android 4.0 Vs. iOS 5 Faceoff</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231901316">Galaxy Nexus Vs. RAZR: Android Smackdown</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/mobile-os/231901206">Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich: Brilliant Thievery?</a>While it is possible to access Microsoft Exchange accounts with the email client on Android, this can quickly become frustrating for a serious business user. However, the app <a href="http://www.nitrodesk.com/" target="_blank">Touchdown</a> comes pretty close to providing an Outlook like experience for Android users, making it much easier for users to access their mail, calendar, contacts and tasks while on their Android device. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/mobility/231901659">Android Surpasses iPhone In App Downloads</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/mobility/smart_phones/231901705">10 Innovative iOS 5 Apps</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/mobility/231901571">Windows Phone Marketplace Hits 35,000 App Mark</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/mobile-apps/231901537">Android App Market Reaches 500,000 Submissions</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/development/mobility/231901455">iOS 5 and Andoid 4.0: What Developers Gain</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/mobile-os/231901463">Android 4.0 Vs. iOS 5 Faceoff</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231901316">Galaxy Nexus Vs. RAZR: Android Smackdown</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/mobile-os/231901206">Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich: Brilliant Thievery?</a>2011-10-18T12:08:00ZMozilla now upgrades Firefox every six weeks. Get up to speed on the most significant changes in the beta of Firefox 8.http://www.informationweek.com/news/231901044?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_AuthorsEver since Mozilla first announced that they, like Google Chrome, were moving to a more frequent upgrade cycle for their Firefox Web browser, there has been a lot of controversy and complaints, especially from business users of the browser. But regular users of the browser can be forgiven if they've wondered what all the fuss is about. That's because ever since Firefox has moved the new-every-six-weeks upgrade cycle, noticeable new features in the user interface of the browser have been rarely sighted. But with the new beta of Firefox 8, that looks to change, as this version finally includes a few small but noticeable changes to the browser interface, especially when it comes to managing add-ons, tabs, and adding search capabilities. <P> Earlier upgrades focused on under-the-hood changes to the browser engine and to standards support. This has often led to problems with add-ons and extensions designed for older versions of the browser. And this has led to many of the complaints from businesses, who often rely on add-ons for additional functionality within the browser. One of the main new focused of Firefox 8 is to improve the notifications for add-ons and give users upfront capabilities to limit problems caused by add-ons, especially third-party ones that a user may not even be aware have been added to their browser. <P>A new feature in Firefox 8 displays an add-ons window the first time the browser runs after the upgrade. This window shows the add-ons currently installed in Firefox and gives the user the option to disable or remove unwanted or unused add-ons. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/strategy/231900519/web-20-expo-web-design-social-data-collide">Web 2.0 Expo: Web Design, Social Data Collide</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/231900062">Google Apps Vs Office 365? It All Depends</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/privacy/231602422">Amazon Silk Browser Prompts Privacy Worries</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/app_optimization/231602080">Firefox Enterprise Support: Mozilla Changes Its Tune</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/231601952">Web App Attacks Rise, Disclosed Bugs Decline</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/231600599">Mozilla Previews Firefox For Tablets</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/231500566">Google Patches Critical Chrome Bug</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/client/231500059">Microsoft IE9 Blocks Malware Best</a> <P>Firefox 8 adds Twitter as an option for the default search engine in the browser's integrated search bar. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/strategy/231900519/web-20-expo-web-design-social-data-collide">Web 2.0 Expo: Web Design, Social Data Collide</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/231900062">Google Apps Vs Office 365? It All Depends</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/privacy/231602422">Amazon Silk Browser Prompts Privacy Worries</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/app_optimization/231602080">Firefox Enterprise Support: Mozilla Changes Its Tune</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/231601952">Web App Attacks Rise, Disclosed Bugs Decline</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/231600599">Mozilla Previews Firefox For Tablets</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/231500566">Google Patches Critical Chrome Bug</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/client/231500059">Microsoft IE9 Blocks Malware Best</a> <P>Now when a search term is entered in the integrated browser search bar, results can be show from live Twitter feeds. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/strategy/231900519/web-20-expo-web-design-social-data-collide">Web 2.0 Expo: Web Design, Social Data Collide</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/231900062">Google Apps Vs Office 365? It All Depends</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/privacy/231602422">Amazon Silk Browser Prompts Privacy Worries</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/app_optimization/231602080">Firefox Enterprise Support: Mozilla Changes Its Tune</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/231601952">Web App Attacks Rise, Disclosed Bugs Decline</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/231600599">Mozilla Previews Firefox For Tablets</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/231500566">Google Patches Critical Chrome Bug</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/client/231500059">Microsoft IE9 Blocks Malware Best</a> <P>Firefox 8 now uses a more visible animated tab when a user drags and drops tabs to reorder them on the browser's tab bar. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/strategy/231900519/web-20-expo-web-design-social-data-collide">Web 2.0 Expo: Web Design, Social Data Collide</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/231900062">Google Apps Vs Office 365? It All Depends</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/privacy/231602422">Amazon Silk Browser Prompts Privacy Worries</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/app_optimization/231602080">Firefox Enterprise Support: Mozilla Changes Its Tune</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/231601952">Web App Attacks Rise, Disclosed Bugs Decline</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/231600599">Mozilla Previews Firefox For Tablets</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/231500566">Google Patches Critical Chrome Bug</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/client/231500059">Microsoft IE9 Blocks Malware Best</a>A new feature in Firefox 8 gives users the option to set the browser to not immediately load tabs upon startup. This is welcome both for users who use a tab group on startup and for recovering from crashes. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/strategy/231900519/web-20-expo-web-design-social-data-collide">Web 2.0 Expo: Web Design, Social Data Collide</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/231900062">Google Apps Vs Office 365? It All Depends</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/privacy/231602422">Amazon Silk Browser Prompts Privacy Worries</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/app_optimization/231602080">Firefox Enterprise Support: Mozilla Changes Its Tune</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/231601952">Web App Attacks Rise, Disclosed Bugs Decline</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/231600599">Mozilla Previews Firefox For Tablets</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/231500566">Google Patches Critical Chrome Bug</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/client/231500059">Microsoft IE9 Blocks Malware Best</a> <P>2011-10-18T10:33:00ZBeta version of Firefox 8 from Mozilla includes new features to better manage Web browser add-ons and handle tabs, as well as under the hood improvements.http://www.informationweek.com/news/231901028?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/internet/browsers/231901044"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/676/ffox_tn.jpg" alt="Firefox 8 Beta: Visual Tour" title="Firefox 8 Beta: Visual Tour" class="img175" /></a><br /> <div class="storyImageTitle">Firefox 8 Beta: Visual Tour</div> <span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</span></div> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE --> Much has been made lately of Mozilla's decision to move to a rapid six-week upgrade cycle for their flagship Firefox Web browser. But regular users can be forgiven if they've wondered about all the fuss, given that the recent new versions of the browser have featured mostly under the hood changes and no new visible features for users. <P> But that looks to finally change with Firefox 8, which was recently released in beta. While the new features in version 8 of the browser can hardly be considered major or groundbreaking, at least there are some new noticeable capabilities for users. <P> One of the main complaints of the rapid upgrade cycle of Firefox is the possibility that new versions of the browser will break add-ons and extensions that users rely on. A welcome new feature in Firefox 8 displays a special add-ons window the first time the browser runs after the upgrade. <P> This window displays the add-ons currently installed in Firefox and gives the user the option to disable or remove unwanted or unused add-ons. I found this to be a nice touch, and useful not just for removing unused add-ons but as a reminder of just which extensions and add-ons other applications had added to your browser. By default, Firefox now disables all of these third-party add-ons at upgrade and in this window, users can choose which ones they want to re-enable. <P> One of the more noticeable changes in this new version is the addition of Twitter as an option for the default search engine in the browser's search bar. In tests this worked fine and is nice as another option for integrated search. <P> Also in this version, Firefox now uses a more visible animated tab action when a user drags and drops tabs to reorder them on the tab bar. This is a feature that Google Chrome has had for a while now and is a case of Firefox catching up with its competitor. <P> Possibly my favorite new feature in Firefox 8 is the option to set the browser to not immediately load tabs upon startup. This is nice both for users who use a tab group on startup and for recovering from crashes. Now, instead of the browser wasting resources trying to load several websites at once, a tab will only load once it has been selected in the tab bar. <P> Like most other Firefox upgrades, this version also includes under the hood engine upgrades and improved standards support. Included in this version is support for HTML 5 context menus. <P> To try out the new beta of Firefox, go to <a href="http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all-beta.html">here</a>.2011-08-12T08:00:00ZPlatform Pro brings drag-and-drop simplicity to laying out and configuring a unique Wordpress website.http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/231001797?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/slideshows/231400108"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/647/pagelines1_tn.JPG" alt="PageLines Makes Wordpress Creation Drag And Drop Easy" title="PageLines Makes Wordpress Creation Drag And Drop Easy" class="img175" /></a><br /> <div class="storyImageTitle">Slideshow: PageLines Makes Wordpress Creation Drag And Drop Easy</div> <span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</span></div> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE --> Wordpress, the open Web publishing system, started out as a popular choice for building blogs, but has since become a very attractive option as a full content management system for traditional websites. Much of this popularity is based on the flexibility of Wordpress and how easy it makes it--for even fairly novice users--to keep website content fresh. <P> But while the general usability of Wordpress is very good, one area where site builders can run into some difficulty is in creating custom site layouts and configurations. Doing this in Wordpress typically requires choosing a theme for your site layout and then manually editing the various php configuration files for the theme. While this isn't difficult for experienced Web developers, it can be a daunting task for those with limited experience with Web scripts. <P> However, a new framework system for Wordpress is designed to make laying out and configuring a website in Wordpress as easy as it is to add content to the site. PageLines Platform Pro runs within Wordpress and provides a new settings configuration that makes it possible to easily set up and drag and drop the layout of a new Wordpress website. <P> Within my Platform Pro-enabled site, I simply logged into the standard Wordpress admin interface. In the left-hand management bar of Wordpress, a new Platform Pro box was available, and clicking the Settings link in the box brought up the main configuration options for PageLines Platform Pro. <P> This settings window offers numerous options for configuring a Wordpress website, from setting up headers and footers to defining how blog posts should display in the site. However, the two most interesting capabilities were the Layout Editor and the Template Setup. <P> From the Layout Editor, I could click a button to choose from six default site layouts, from single column to two types of double column and three kinds of triple column layouts. From there I could then click into the Configure Layout Dimensions box and manually control the width and size of columns, boxes, and margins, simply by using my mouse. This proved to be a very simple and effective method for creating and modifying a site layout exactly to my needs. <P> Using Template Setup, I could configure nearly every page, sidebar, and content area within my site simply by dragging and dropping content modules into each area. This works somewhat like the widget manager in Wordpress, but is quite a bit more powerful. <P> So, for example, to configure the default site page using Template Setup, I simply dragged in a content area, a secondary nav bar, a banner ad section, and an image carousel. I could then reorder the sections with drag and drop as well. This is certainly easier than messing around with the standard configuration files in Wordpress. <P> These were two of the most interesting capabilities in PageLines Platform Pro, but the product also offers multiple other configuration options for a Wordpress site, including support for Web fonts and quick changes to site typography. <P> Pricing for PageLines Platform Pro starts at $95. For more information visit the <a href="http://www.pagelines.com/themes/platformpro/">Platform Pro</a> website. <P> <strong>RECOMMENDED READING: </strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/231000230">WordPress Warns Of Trojanized Plug-Ins, Urges Patching</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/230500138/jahias-javabased-cms-leaps-into-crowded-race">Jahia's Java-Based CMS Leaps Into Crowded Race</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/content_management_systems/231000325/content-management-gets-more-social">Content Management Gets More Social</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/reviews/229218676">Review: Drupal 7 Simplifies Web Content Management</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/content_management_systems/229800005/mediafeedia-offers-content-management-for-facebook">Mediafeedia Offers Content Management For Facebook</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/229000379">Joomla Upgrade Pushes Enterprise 2.0 Features</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/content_management_systems/229400142/box-brings-content-management-to-the-cloud">Box Brings Content Management To The Cloud</a> <P> <i>A service catalog is pivotal in moving IT from an unresponsive mass of corporate overhead to an agile business partner. In this report, we chart the new service-oriented IT landscape and provide a guide to the key components: service catalogs, cost and pricing models, and financial systems integration. <a href="http://private-cloud-tech-center.networkcomputing.com/util/download.jhtml?id=188600007&cat=whitepaper?k=axxe&cid=article_axxe">Read our report now</a>. (Free registration required.)</i>2011-08-12T08:00:00ZRunning a Wordpress website can be a snap for even novices, but many users struggle when it comes to custom site layouts and configurations. For those without web scripting experience, Platform Pro offers an appealing option.http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/231400108?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_AuthorsPageLines Platform Pro, which starts at $95, runs within a standard Wordpress system and is accessible from a new Platform Pro box displayed in the left-hand management bar of the Wordpress administration interface. Clicking on the Settings link in the box brings up the main configuration options for PageLines Platform Pro. From this settings window, PageLines Platform Pro offers numerous options for configuring a Wordpress website, from setting up headers and footers to defining how blog posts should display on the site. <P> The popular open web publishing system Wordpress can be a simple, as Wordpress makes it easy to not only blog, but also to refresh content on standard websites. This ease of deployment and daily management has made Wordpress a very attractive option as a full content management system for traditional websites. However, while the daily usability of Wordpress is very good, one area where less experienced site builders can find difficulty is in creating custom site layouts and configurations. Doing this in Wordpress typically requires choosing a theme for your site layout and then manually editing the various php configuration files for the theme, which can be a daunting task for those with limited web script experience. However, PageLines Platform Pro, a new framework system for Wordpress, makes laying out and configuring a website in Wordpress as easy as adding content to the site. PageLines Platform Pro provides new configuration options that make it possible to easily set up the layout of a new Wordpress website. <P> <strong>RECOMMENDED READING:</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/231000230">WordPress Warns Of Trojanized Plug-Ins, Urges Patching</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/230500138/jahias-javabased-cms-leaps-into-crowded-race">Jahia's Java-Based CMS Leaps Into Crowded Race</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/content_management_systems/231000325/content-management-gets-more-social">Content Management Gets More Social</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/reviews/229218676">Review: Drupal 7 Simplifies Web Content Management</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/content_management_systems/229800005/mediafeedia-offers-content-management-for-facebook">Mediafeedia Offers Content Management For Facebook</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/229000379">Joomla Upgrade Pushes Enterprise 2.0 Features</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/content_management_systems/229400142/box-brings-content-management-to-the-cloud">Box Brings Content Management To The Cloud</a>From the Layout Editor in Platform Pro, site developers can choose from six default site layouts, from single column to two types of double column and three kinds of triple column layouts. <P> <strong>RECOMMENDED READING:</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/231000230">WordPress Warns Of Trojanized Plug-Ins, Urges Patching</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/230500138/jahias-javabased-cms-leaps-into-crowded-race">Jahia's Java-Based CMS Leaps Into Crowded Race</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/content_management_systems/231000325/content-management-gets-more-social">Content Management Gets More Social</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/reviews/229218676">Review: Drupal 7 Simplifies Web Content Management</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/content_management_systems/229800005/mediafeedia-offers-content-management-for-facebook">Mediafeedia Offers Content Management For Facebook</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/229000379">Joomla Upgrade Pushes Enterprise 2.0 Features</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/content_management_systems/229400142/box-brings-content-management-to-the-cloud">Box Brings Content Management To The Cloud</a>To resize the width of columns and content areas within Platform Pro's Layout Editor, simply use the mouse to drag each section to the desired size. <P> <strong>RECOMMENDED READING:</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/231000230">WordPress Warns Of Trojanized Plug-Ins, Urges Patching</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/230500138/jahias-javabased-cms-leaps-into-crowded-race">Jahia's Java-Based CMS Leaps Into Crowded Race</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/content_management_systems/231000325/content-management-gets-more-social">Content Management Gets More Social</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/reviews/229218676">Review: Drupal 7 Simplifies Web Content Management</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/content_management_systems/229800005/mediafeedia-offers-content-management-for-facebook">Mediafeedia Offers Content Management For Facebook</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/229000379">Joomla Upgrade Pushes Enterprise 2.0 Features</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/content_management_systems/229400142/box-brings-content-management-to-the-cloud">Box Brings Content Management To The Cloud</a>The Platform Pro Template Setup makes it possible to configure nearly every page, sidebar, and content area within a site simply by dragging and dropping content modules into each area. <P> <strong>RECOMMENDED READING:</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/231000230">WordPress Warns Of Trojanized Plug-Ins, Urges Patching</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/230500138/jahias-javabased-cms-leaps-into-crowded-race">Jahia's Java-Based CMS Leaps Into Crowded Race</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/content_management_systems/231000325/content-management-gets-more-social">Content Management Gets More Social</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/reviews/229218676">Review: Drupal 7 Simplifies Web Content Management</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/content_management_systems/229800005/mediafeedia-offers-content-management-for-facebook">Mediafeedia Offers Content Management For Facebook</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/229000379">Joomla Upgrade Pushes Enterprise 2.0 Features</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/content_management_systems/229400142/box-brings-content-management-to-the-cloud">Box Brings Content Management To The Cloud</a>To choose which content areas are needed in a page, such as banners, users can simply drag each section into the displayed sections area. <P> <strong>RECOMMENDED READING:</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/231000230">WordPress Warns Of Trojanized Plug-Ins, Urges Patching</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/230500138/jahias-javabased-cms-leaps-into-crowded-race">Jahia's Java-Based CMS Leaps Into Crowded Race</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/content_management_systems/231000325/content-management-gets-more-social">Content Management Gets More Social</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/reviews/229218676">Review: Drupal 7 Simplifies Web Content Management</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/content_management_systems/229800005/mediafeedia-offers-content-management-for-facebook">Mediafeedia Offers Content Management For Facebook</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/229000379">Joomla Upgrade Pushes Enterprise 2.0 Features</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/content_management_systems/229400142/box-brings-content-management-to-the-cloud">Box Brings Content Management To The Cloud</a>The software also includes support for Web fonts to manage a site's typography. <P> <strong>RECOMMENDED READING:</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/231000230">WordPress Warns Of Trojanized Plug-Ins, Urges Patching</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/230500138/jahias-javabased-cms-leaps-into-crowded-race">Jahia's Java-Based CMS Leaps Into Crowded Race</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/content_management_systems/231000325/content-management-gets-more-social">Content Management Gets More Social</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/reviews/229218676">Review: Drupal 7 Simplifies Web Content Management</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/content_management_systems/229800005/mediafeedia-offers-content-management-for-facebook">Mediafeedia Offers Content Management For Facebook</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/229000379">Joomla Upgrade Pushes Enterprise 2.0 Features</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/content_management_systems/229400142/box-brings-content-management-to-the-cloud">Box Brings Content Management To The Cloud</a>2011-08-11T08:00:00ZFluke Networks' ruggedized tablet is expensive and weighty yet offers network engineers a powerful tool to take into the field.http://www.informationweek.com/news/231400068?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/hardware/reviews/229300081?pgno=87"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/605/OptiViewXG1_tn2.jpg" alt="Fluke Networks' OptiView XG Network Analysis Tablet" class="img175" title="Fluke Networks' OptiView XG Network Analysis Tablet" /></a><br /> <span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for larger view)</span><br /> <div class="storyImageTitle">Fluke Networks' OptiView XG Network Analysis Tablet</div> </div> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE -->Network engineers whose jobs require them to go on site to test networks for problems often need a host of tools at their disposal, ranging from testing and monitoring devices to different software applications for analysis and evaluation. If only there were some way to get all this functionality in one portable device. <P> <a href="http://www.flukenetworks.com/enterprise-network/network-testing/optiview-xg-network-analysis-tablet">Fluke Networks' OptiView XG</a> is vying to be that all-in-one device, a tablet designed specifically for networking professionals. The OptiView XG comes with a full set of <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/infrastructure/WAN_optimization/231001885">Fluke Networks'</a> network analysis and testing tools pre-installed, and is configured with all of the hardware needed to monitor, test, and analyze any wired or wireless network. The OptiView XG tablet runs Windows 7 and has a 10.25-inch touch-sensitive screen. <P> Of course, calling this device a tablet is a little misleading; if you're imagining an <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/personal-tech/tablets/229300841">iPad</a>, think again. The OptiView XG is more of a cross between a laptop and a dedicated network-testing device. The large, heavy ruggedized device measures a chunky two inches thick and weighs 5.6 pounds. The OptiView XG is also much pricier than your typical tablet, costing from $25,000 to $30,000, depending on options and where you buy it. This makes it one of the most expensive tablets in the world. Then again, when you add up the cost of buying the separate software apps and network test devices needed approximate the functionality of the OptiView XG, it's not a bad deal. <P> With its responsive touch screen and familiar Windows 7 interface, the OptiView XG is easy to use. With my test unit, I was able to quickly test any kind of network, from Wi-Fi to wired networks up to 10-Gbps Ethernet. Along with all of the traditional Fluke software, the tablet also includes AirMagnet wireless monitoring software and ClearSight testing applications. <P> With this bundle of tools and hardware testing capabilities I could look for systems hogging network bandwidth, discover various devices on the network, and perform simple traffic tests to evaluate network performance, among other things. <P> And while it might not be exactly dainty, the OptiView XG proved portable enough to test on a large campus site. My device came with a nice bag including an adjustable shoulder strap for easy carrying. A built-in handle on the unit itself would have been nice to have, too. At least there is a pop-out stand on the back so you can easily prop it up on a desk or workbench. <P> Battery life is in the three-hour range but the OptiView XG comes with a second battery that can be hot swapped, essentially providing closer to six hours of use. The OptiView XG also includes dual 802.11N (3X3) Wi-Fi radios, an on-board spectrum analysis radio, a 10-Gbps SFP+ port, a gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000 Mbps) port and a 100/1000 Mbps SFP+ port. <P> <strong>RECOMMENDED READING:</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/personal-tech/tablets/231002141">Lenovo Takes On 7 Rivals: Tablet Faceoff</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/personal-tech/tablets/229401902">RIM BlackBerry PlayBook Teardown</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/personal-tech/tablets/231000659">HP TouchPad Tablet: Visual Tour</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/personal-tech/tablets/229300841">Apple iPad 2 3G Teardown</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/personal-tech/tablets/229219390">Motorola Xoom Teardown: Inside The New Android Tablet</a> <P> <i>InformationWeek Analytics has published a report on backing up VM disk files and building a resilient infrastructure that can tolerate hardware and software failures. After all, what's the point of constructing a virtualized infrastructure without a plan to keep systems up and running in case of a glitch--or outright disaster? <a href="http://informationweek.com/tech-center/storage-virtualization/download?id=189200009&cat=whitepape?k=axxe&cid=article_axxe">Download the report now</a>. (Free registration required.) </i>2011-08-04T09:05:00ZFlash, Photoshop, Acrobat, Illustrator, and Dreamweaver are among the updated Adobe Creative Suite bundles. Take a look inside a few along with the latest feature enhancements.http://www.informationweek.com/news/231002217?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_AuthorsAdobe's Creative Suite comes in variety of different bundles (such as Web, design, production, and master collection), and these include popular applications such as Photoshop, Acrobat, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, and Flash. However, not all of the products in Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 have been upgraded in this release. <P> Major applications, such as Acrobat and Photoshop, have received only minimal changes since the previous version 5 release. However, products such as Dreamweaver, InDesign, and the Flash development tools have all added significant new features in this release. <P> The rise of mobile devices and the need to develop applications for the many new smartphones and tablets in use today is addressed by Creative Suite 5.5. Plus, much of the new functionality is geared towards developing applications and websites that take advantage of the emerging HTML 5 standard. Several new capabilities available within Creative Suite 5.5 also take advantage of the touch interfaces available in devices such as Apple's iPad. <P> Although much of Creative Suite 5.5 has improved features for creating content for Apple iOS devices, for the most part these capabilities aren't fully available for Windows-based developers and will often require a Mac version of the suite in order to build and deploy the iOS apps. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/reviews/231000958">Mobile, HTML 5 Headline Adobe CS 5.5 Advances</a> <P> <a href=http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/231000621> Google Debuts Flash-To-HTML5 Converter</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/webdev/231000045"> Adobe Content Platform Banks On Boosting Customer Experience</a> <P> <a href=" http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/tablets/229900149"> Adobe CEO Confident Android Tablets Will Beat iPad</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/webdev/229401290">Adobe Accelerates Release Cycle With CS 5.5</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/bi/229300653">Adobe Joins Social Network Analysis Bandwagon</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/webdev/229300574">Adobe 'Wallaby' Turns Flash Into HTML5</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/reviews/229219081">Great Lost Software: 16 Gone But Not Forgotten</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/ebusiness/229218559">Adobe Launches Web Forms Software</a>A welcome new feature in Flash Professional 5.5 is the inclusion of content scaling capabilities that make it possible to resize content for different screen sizes (such as for smartphones and tablets). <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/reviews/231000958">Mobile, HTML 5 Headline Adobe CS 5.5 Advances</a> <P> <a href=http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/231000621> Google Debuts Flash-To-HTML5 Converter</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/webdev/231000045"> Adobe Content Platform Banks On Boosting Customer Experience</a> <P> <a href=" http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/tablets/229900149"> Adobe CEO Confident Android Tablets Will Beat iPad</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/webdev/229401290">Adobe Accelerates Release Cycle With CS 5.5</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/bi/229300653">Adobe Joins Social Network Analysis Bandwagon</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/webdev/229300574">Adobe 'Wallaby' Turns Flash Into HTML5</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/reviews/229219081">Great Lost Software: 16 Gone But Not Forgotten</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/ebusiness/229218559">Adobe Launches Web Forms Software</a>When creating a Flex mobile project in Flash Builder 4.5, developers can choose the target platform, supported platforms are Android, iOS and Blackberry. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/reviews/231000958">Mobile, HTML 5 Headline Adobe CS 5.5 Advances</a> <P> <a href=http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/231000621> Google Debuts Flash-To-HTML5 Converter</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/webdev/231000045"> Adobe Content Platform Banks On Boosting Customer Experience</a> <P> <a href=" http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/tablets/229900149"> Adobe CEO Confident Android Tablets Will Beat iPad</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/webdev/229401290">Adobe Accelerates Release Cycle With CS 5.5</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/bi/229300653">Adobe Joins Social Network Analysis Bandwagon</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/webdev/229300574">Adobe 'Wallaby' Turns Flash Into HTML5</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/reviews/229219081">Great Lost Software: 16 Gone But Not Forgotten</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/ebusiness/229218559">Adobe Launches Web Forms Software</a>A welcome new feature in Flash Catalyst 5.5, which makes it possible to create graphical content in Photoshop, Fireworks, or Illustrator and then build interactive content for Flash and other Adobe RIA platforms using those graphical components, is the ability to create resizable components for applications. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/reviews/231000958">Mobile, HTML 5 Headline Adobe CS 5.5 Advances</a> <P> <a href=http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/231000621> Google Debuts Flash-To-HTML5 Converter</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/webdev/231000045"> Adobe Content Platform Banks On Boosting Customer Experience</a> <P> <a href=" http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/tablets/229900149"> Adobe CEO Confident Android Tablets Will Beat iPad</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/webdev/229401290">Adobe Accelerates Release Cycle With CS 5.5</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/bi/229300653">Adobe Joins Social Network Analysis Bandwagon</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/webdev/229300574">Adobe 'Wallaby' Turns Flash Into HTML5</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/reviews/229219081">Great Lost Software: 16 Gone But Not Forgotten</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/ebusiness/229218559">Adobe Launches Web Forms Software</a>The new multiscreen support in Dreamweaver 5.5 lets developers get a clean, side-by-side view of how content would display on multiple formats, including desktops, smartphones, and tablets. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/reviews/231000958">Mobile, HTML 5 Headline Adobe CS 5.5 Advances</a> <P> <a href=http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/231000621> Google Debuts Flash-To-HTML5 Converter</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/webdev/231000045"> Adobe Content Platform Banks On Boosting Customer Experience</a> <P> <a href=" http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/tablets/229900149"> Adobe CEO Confident Android Tablets Will Beat iPad</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/webdev/229401290">Adobe Accelerates Release Cycle With CS 5.5</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/bi/229300653">Adobe Joins Social Network Analysis Bandwagon</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/webdev/229300574">Adobe 'Wallaby' Turns Flash Into HTML5</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/reviews/229219081">Great Lost Software: 16 Gone But Not Forgotten</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/ebusiness/229218559">Adobe Launches Web Forms Software</a>Dreamweaver 5.5 now includes improved support for the jQuery Mobile Framework. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/reviews/231000958">Mobile, HTML 5 Headline Adobe CS 5.5 Advances</a> <P> <a href=http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/231000621> Google Debuts Flash-To-HTML5 Converter</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/webdev/231000045"> Adobe Content Platform Banks On Boosting Customer Experience</a> <P> <a href=" http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/tablets/229900149"> Adobe CEO Confident Android Tablets Will Beat iPad</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/webdev/229401290">Adobe Accelerates Release Cycle With CS 5.5</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/bi/229300653">Adobe Joins Social Network Analysis Bandwagon</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/webdev/229300574">Adobe 'Wallaby' Turns Flash Into HTML5</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/reviews/229219081">Great Lost Software: 16 Gone But Not Forgotten</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/ebusiness/229218559">Adobe Launches Web Forms Software</a>Improved features for creating e-books based on the broadly supported EPUB standard are now included for InDesign 5.5. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/reviews/231000958">Mobile, HTML 5 Headline Adobe CS 5.5 Advances</a> <P> <a href=http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/231000621> Google Debuts Flash-To-HTML5 Converter</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/webdev/231000045"> Adobe Content Platform Banks On Boosting Customer Experience</a> <P> <a href=" http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/tablets/229900149"> Adobe CEO Confident Android Tablets Will Beat iPad</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/webdev/229401290">Adobe Accelerates Release Cycle With CS 5.5</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/bi/229300653">Adobe Joins Social Network Analysis Bandwagon</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/webdev/229300574">Adobe 'Wallaby' Turns Flash Into HTML5</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/reviews/229219081">Great Lost Software: 16 Gone But Not Forgotten</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/ebusiness/229218559">Adobe Launches Web Forms Software</a>Device Central 5.5, the tool for creating and testing rich content for multiple devices, now includes increased device emulation profiles and HTML 5 emulation. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/reviews/231000958">Mobile, HTML 5 Headline Adobe CS 5.5 Advances</a> <P> <a href=http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/231000621> Google Debuts Flash-To-HTML5 Converter</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/webdev/231000045"> Adobe Content Platform Banks On Boosting Customer Experience</a> <P> <a href=" http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/tablets/229900149"> Adobe CEO Confident Android Tablets Will Beat iPad</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/webdev/229401290">Adobe Accelerates Release Cycle With CS 5.5</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/bi/229300653">Adobe Joins Social Network Analysis Bandwagon</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/webdev/229300574">Adobe 'Wallaby' Turns Flash Into HTML5</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/reviews/229219081">Great Lost Software: 16 Gone But Not Forgotten</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/ebusiness/229218559">Adobe Launches Web Forms Software</a>The audio editing application Audition now includes improved effects and workflow capabilities. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/reviews/231000958">Mobile, HTML 5 Headline Adobe CS 5.5 Advances</a> <P> <a href=http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/231000621> Google Debuts Flash-To-HTML5 Converter</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/webdev/231000045"> Adobe Content Platform Banks On Boosting Customer Experience</a> <P> <a href=" http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/tablets/229900149"> Adobe CEO Confident Android Tablets Will Beat iPad</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/webdev/229401290">Adobe Accelerates Release Cycle With CS 5.5</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/bi/229300653">Adobe Joins Social Network Analysis Bandwagon</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/webdev/229300574">Adobe 'Wallaby' Turns Flash Into HTML5</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/reviews/229219081">Great Lost Software: 16 Gone But Not Forgotten</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/ebusiness/229218559">Adobe Launches Web Forms Software</a>2011-08-04T09:00:00ZCreative Suite 5.5 includes some significant improvements to Adobe's suite of development and design tools and adopts an accelerated update strategy.http://www.informationweek.com/news/231000958?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/software/reviews/231002217"><img src="http://i.techweb.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/642/2cs55flash1_tn.jpg" alt="Adobe CS 5.5: Evaluating Bundle, Feature Upgrades" title="Adobe CS 5.5: Evaluating Bundle, Feature Upgrades" class="img175" /></a><br /> <div class="storyImageTitle">Slideshow: Adobe CS 5.5: Evaluating Bundle, Feature Upgrades</div> <span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</span></div> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE -->With the release of Creative Suite 5.5, Adobe has added some fairly significant improvements to their suite of development and design tools. However, just as significantly, Creative Suite 5.5 introduces a new Adobe strategy to update their core suite more frequently in order to respond to the rapid changes in technology today. <P> Key among the technologies addressed by Creative Suite 5.5 is the rise of mobile devices and the need to develop applications for the many new smartphones and tablets in use today. Also, much of the new functionality is geared towards developing applications and websites that take advantage of the emerging HTML 5 standard. Several new capabilities available within Creative Suite 5.5 also take advantage of the touch interfaces available in devices such as Apple's iPad. <P> However, this is still a point release and users shouldn't expect to see massive changes in the interfaces of the Adobe products themselves (as is often typical of the larger full version number releases). Also, not every product in Creative Suite has been updated to a full 5.5 version. Major products like Acrobat, Photoshop, Fireworks and Illustrator have only seen minor additions in this release. <P> Another thing to keep in mind is that, while much of Creative Suite 5.5 has improved features for creating content for Apple iOS devices, for the most part these capabilities aren't fully available for Windows-based developers and will often require a Mac version of the suite in order to build and deploy the iOS apps. <P> To test the functionality of the new Adobe product, I evaluated the Creative Suite Master Collection, which includes most of the components of Creative Suite. The Adobe suite comes in several different bundles of components (including Web, Design, and Production) that address different user types. A full listing of the different suite bundles and their pricing can be found <a href="http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/buying-guide.html">here</a>. <P> <strong>Adobe Flash</strong> <P> Many of the most significant changes in Creative Suite 5.5 can be found in the several tools based on development and deployment of Flash applications, along with the related Flex and Air rich Internet application platforms. <P> To a large degree, the new Flash development capabilities are geared towards developing applications for mobile platforms. Chief among these is increased support for Android and Apple iOS devices. <P> A nice feature for mobile developers is the inclusion of content scaling capabilities that makes it possible to resize content for different screen sizes (such as for smartphones and tablets). From the document settings area of Flash Professional 5.5, I could choose to scale content with stage size, which would automatically adjust my application for different screen sizes, making it simpler to develop an app for different devices. <P> In Flash Builder 4.5, along with the Flex SDK 4.5, Adobe as added features to ease the development of mobile applications. When creating a Flex mobile project in Flash Builder, developers can choose the target platform (such as iOS, Blackberry, or Android) and Flash Builder will create optimized settings and configurations for that platform. <P> One of the newest components of Creative Suite is Flash Catalyst, which was introduced in version 5 last year. Catalyst makes it possible to create graphical content in Photoshop, Fireworks, or Illustrator and then build interactive content for Flash and other Adobe RIA platforms using those graphical components. A welcome new feature in Flash Catalyst 5.5 is the ability to create resizable components for applications. <P> <strong>Web</strong> <P> Adobe's Dreamweaver has become probably the dominant Web development tool on the market today. With the 5.5 version, Dreamweaver adds several capabilities to address HTML 5 and other emerging Web standards and also adds some mobile capabilities of its own. <P> Probably the most useful of these was multi-screen support. With this feature, it was possible to get a clean, side-by-side view of how content would display on multiple formats, including desktops, smartphones, and tablets. <P> On the standard side, Dreamweaver 5.5 includes improved jQuery support, with development of code using the jQuery Mobile Framework now simplified. Code hinting for HTML 5 and CSS3 is also now included and Dreamweaver supports the HTML 5 embedded video capabilities. <P> <strong>Design</strong> <P> New features in InDesign 5.5 take into account the increasing popularity of ebooks and both ebook readers and tablets. These include improved capabilities for creating ebooks and interactive digital magazines and other content. <P> Among these are increased capabilities for creating ebooks based on the broadly supported EPUB standard. With these features it was possible to easily build ebooks from PDF and other existing content, utilize interactive HTML 5 features and also make sure that the content displayed well on any device, including older readers and ebook apps. An Articles panel in InDesign made it very easy to create EPUB books by simply dragging and dropping content into the panel. <P> Of course, there are many other enhancements and fixes throughout the entire Creative Suite 5.5. For example, Device Central 5.5, the tool for creating and testing rich content for multiple devices, now includes increased device emulation profiles and HTML 5 emulation. The audio editing application Audition now includes improved workflow capabilities and a native Mac OS version. <P> There are also increased integrations and interactions between all of the products in the suite. You can find more information on Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 <a href="http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite.html">here.</a> <P> <strong>Recommended Reading</strong> <P> <a href=http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/231000621> Google Debuts Flash-To-HTML5 Converter</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/webdev/231000045"> Adobe Content Platform Banks On Boosting Customer Experience</a> <P> <a href=" http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/tablets/229900149"> Adobe CEO Confident Android Tablets Will Beat iPad</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/webdev/229401290">Adobe Accelerates Release Cycle With CS 5.5</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/bi/229300653">Adobe Joins Social Network Analysis Bandwagon</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/webdev/229300574">Adobe 'Wallaby' Turns Flash Into HTML5</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/reviews/229219081">Great Lost Software: 16 Gone But Not Forgotten</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/ebusiness/229218559">Adobe Launches Web Forms Software</a> <P> <i>See the latest IT solutions at Interop New York. Learn to leverage business technology innovations--including cloud, virtualization, security, mobility, and data center advances--that cut costs, increase productivity, and drive business value. Save 25% on Flex and Conference Passes or get a Free Expo Pass with code CPFHNY25. It happens in New York City, Oct. 3-7, 2011. <a href="http://www.interop.com/newyork/?_mc=CPFHNY25">Register now</a>. </i>2011-07-15T08:00:00ZA prototype release of Webian Shell, a Firefox-based operating system layer, offers a look at the future of low-power browsing.http://www.informationweek.com/news/231000889?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/internet/browsers/231001836"><img src="http://i.techweb.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/639/webian4_tn.PNG" alt="Mozilla's Webian Shell: A Web-Only Operating System Layer" title="Mozilla's Webian Shell: A Web-Only Operating System Layer" class="img175" /></a><br /> <div class="storyImageTitle">Slideshow: Mozilla's Web-Only Operating System</div> <span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</span> </div> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE --> Anyone who was around during the original browser wars between Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Netscape might remember the ill-fated 'webtops' that both Microsoft and Netscape attempted to create. In both cases, each company tried to build a kind of operating system shell that centered around the Web browser as the main or only interface. <P> These early <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webtop">webtops</a> were both horrible failures that basically set the whole idea of browser-as-operating system back 10 years. But maybe they were just way ahead of their time. Because now, two of the browser leaders are once again pushing browser-only interfaces. <P> Now the competing visions come from Mozilla (descended from Netscape) and Google. Google's Chrome operating system has a big head start, with systems based on Chrome <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/229500051">now being released</a>. But Mozilla is working on its own vision of an operating interface centered around the browser. And we now have the first glimpse of this in a very <a href="http://webian.org/shell/">early prototype release</a> of the Webian Shell. <P> Like Chrome, the Webian Shell is a stripped-down interface that basically shows websites and applications--and not much else. However, unlike Chrome, which runs as the operating system on a device, the Webian Shell is (not surprisingly) a shell, at least for now, meant to run on top of existing operating systems such as Linux, Apple OS X, and Windows. <P> To a certain degree I like this approach to a browser-based interface. Unlike Chrome, where the browser interface is the only choice, a shell at least offers the option to escape to a more capable operating system. <P> However, what the Mozilla Webian Shell will eventually become is hard to tell from this prototype. That's because this early version is about as simple as can be. Not only does it lack most of the capabilities of an operating system, it lacks most of the capabilities of standard browsers, such as Mozilla's own Firefox. <P> Testing the Webian Shell is pretty simple. To run it on Windows I simply extracted the files to a folder and then ran the executable, which launched the shell without affecting my existing browser installations. <P> The Webian Shell is basically a browser window with a thin black bar at the bottom and at the top of the screen. The bottom bar is where open browser tabs are displayed, along with a Home icon and a clock. <P> Unlike in a regular browser, the Home icon took me to a launch screen from which the only thing I could do (other than return to my browser tabs) was click an off button to shut down the Webian Shell. A plus icon in the bottom bar made it possible to launch additional browser tabs. <P> The top bar in the Webian Shell displayed back and forward icons, the address bar, a reload button, and an X icon to close the current browser tab. <P> That was pretty much it for the Webian Shell. No options or other settings dialogs were available. Right mouse context menus were completely unavailable when inside the shell. And not all sites worked within the Webian Shell, including Twitter. <P> Sites using Flash did appear to work correctly. However, common keyboard controls, such as hitting ctrl-enter to add .com to a term in the address bar, failed. <P> In every sense of the word this is a prototype. The functionality is very basic and it is very hard to draw many strong conclusions for the future of the Webian Shell based on this release. Still, clearly Mozilla is <a href="http://mozillalabs.com/chromeless/2011/05/31/webian-shell-a-full-screen-web-browser-built-on-chromeless/">interested</a> in a Web-only interface and it will be interesting to see how their eventual vision differs from that of Google. <P> <strong>RECOMMENDED READING: </strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/hardware_software/228701966">Google Chrome OS Promises Computing Without Pain</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/228600179">Google Launches Chrome OS Preview</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/229500051">Google 'Chromebooks' Promise Era Of Managed Computing</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/client/228800655">Why Chrome OS Will Succeed</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/notebooks/230400010">Samsung Series 5 Chromebook: Hands-On Review</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/230800190">Google Pleased With Chromebook Sales</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/229300435">Mozilla Web Application Project Debuts</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/mobile/227800064">Mozilla Announces New CEO </a> <P> <i>Security monitoring, incident response, and forensics are essential, even in the cloud. But the cloud by definition implies relinquishing at least some control, which can make these practices problematic. In this report, we identify the challenges of detecting and responding to security issues in the cloud and discuss the most effective ways to address them. <a href="http://www.darkreading.com/CloudSecurity/util/6090/download.html?k=axxe&cid=article_axxe">Download our report now</a>. (Free registration required.) </i>2011-07-15T07:55:00ZEssentially a stripped-down browser, the Mozilla web-only operating system layer has much in common with Google Chrome.http://www.informationweek.com/news/231001836?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_AuthorsSignaling what may be a new front in the browser wars, Mozilla has released a prototype of a web-only operating system layer called the Webian Shell. Like Google's Chrome operating system, the entire interface of the Webian Shell is essentially a stripped-down browser. The only applications and services that can be accessed through the Webian Shell are web-based. However, while the Webian Shell has some things in common with Google Chrome, there are some significant differences. While Chrome is a complete operating system that can be installed on bare-metal systems, the Webian Shell is, as the name implies, a shell that runs on top of existing operating systems such as Apple OS X, Linux, and Windows. But probably most significantly, Mozilla's Webian Shell is a very early prototype with extremely limited functionality, while Google Chrome is much further along and already coming to market in new Chrome-based devices. <P> Released as a very early experimental prototype, Mozilla's Webian Shell displays as a very stripped down browser interface. Currently, the Webian Shell is lacking in quite a bit of functionality, not only when compared to Google Chrome but also when compared to standard browsers such as Mozillas's own Firefox. Keyboard shortcuts failed to work, along with right mouse context menus within the browser. And a number of websites would not display properly, including Google Apps and Twitter. However, this release is meant to simply display some of the ideas behind the Webian Shell; we should expect to see more advances in the near future. <P> <strong>RECOMMENDED READING: </strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/231000889">Mozilla Webian Shell Takes On Google Chrome OS</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/hardware_software/228701966">Google Chrome OS Promises Computing Without Pain</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/228600179">Google Launches Chrome OS Preview</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/229500051">Google 'Chromebooks' Promise Era Of Managed Computing</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/client/228800655">Why Chrome OS Will Succeed</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/notebooks/230400010">Samsung Series 5 Chromebook: Hands-On Review</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/230800190">Google Pleased With Chromebook Sales</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/229300435">Mozilla Web Application Project Debuts</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/mobile/227800064">Mozilla Announces New CEO </a>The lower left-hand section of the Webian Shell displays open tabbed windows, a plus sign for opening new tabs, and a Home icon that does not work in the same way as standard browser home icons. <P> <strong>RECOMMENDED READING: </strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/231000889">Mozilla Webian Shell Takes On Google Chrome OS</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/hardware_software/228701966">Google Chrome OS Promises Computing Without Pain</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/228600179">Google Launches Chrome OS Preview</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/229500051">Google 'Chromebooks' Promise Era Of Managed Computing</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/client/228800655">Why Chrome OS Will Succeed</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/notebooks/230400010">Samsung Series 5 Chromebook: Hands-On Review</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/230800190">Google Pleased With Chromebook Sales</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/229300435">Mozilla Web Application Project Debuts</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/mobile/227800064">Mozilla Announces New CEO </a>Clicking the Home icon brings users to a sparse launch page for the Webian Shell. Besides access to tabbed windows, the only unique function of this screen was the power off button in the upper right-hand corner. <P> <strong>RECOMMENDED READING: </strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/231000889">Mozilla Webian Shell Takes On Google Chrome OS</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/hardware_software/228701966">Google Chrome OS Promises Computing Without Pain</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/228600179">Google Launches Chrome OS Preview</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/229500051">Google 'Chromebooks' Promise Era Of Managed Computing</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/client/228800655">Why Chrome OS Will Succeed</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/notebooks/230400010">Samsung Series 5 Chromebook: Hands-On Review</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/230800190">Google Pleased With Chromebook Sales</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/229300435">Mozilla Web Application Project Debuts</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/mobile/227800064">Mozilla Announces New CEO </a>The upper bar in the Webian Shell provides forward and back buttons, the address bar, a reload button, and an X icon to close the open tab. <P> <strong>RECOMMENDED READING: </strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/231000889">Mozilla Webian Shell Takes On Google Chrome OS</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/hardware_software/228701966">Google Chrome OS Promises Computing Without Pain</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/228600179">Google Launches Chrome OS Preview</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/229500051">Google 'Chromebooks' Promise Era Of Managed Computing</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/client/228800655">Why Chrome OS Will Succeed</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/notebooks/230400010">Samsung Series 5 Chromebook: Hands-On Review</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/230800190">Google Pleased With Chromebook Sales</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/229300435">Mozilla Web Application Project Debuts</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/mobile/227800064">Mozilla Announces New CEO </a>While a number of websites failed to load in the Webian Shell, some types of functionality did work, including Flash-based movies and animations. <P> <strong>RECOMMENDED READING: </strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/231000889">Mozilla Webian Shell Takes On Google Chrome OS</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/hardware_software/228701966">Google Chrome OS Promises Computing Without Pain</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/228600179">Google Launches Chrome OS Preview</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/229500051">Google 'Chromebooks' Promise Era Of Managed Computing</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/client/228800655">Why Chrome OS Will Succeed</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/notebooks/230400010">Samsung Series 5 Chromebook: Hands-On Review</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/230800190">Google Pleased With Chromebook Sales</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/229300435">Mozilla Web Application Project Debuts</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/mobile/227800064">Mozilla Announces New CEO </a>2011-07-14T09:00:00ZWe will look at key characteristics of MDM products, including the ability to handle multiple operating systems and devices, tracking and analysis features, and security capabilities.http://www.informationweek.com/news/231001362?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_AuthorsSay the words "mobile device management" to some IT pros and their response will be, "Sure, we have a system to manage and secure our employees' laptops." If you specify mobile phones, they might refer to the management tools that RIM provides to handle corporate BlackBerrys. <P> Well, a few years ago that might have been enough. But today businesses need tools that enable them to manage and secure not only laptops but also an assortment of company-supported and employee-owned smartphones and tablets. To that end, we're working on an MDM Buyer's Guide that will look at many of the key characteristics of these products, from the ability to handle multiple mobile operating systems and devices to tracking and analysis features. We'll also dig into security capabilities and the ability of these tools to integrate with broader enterprise security applications. <P> Why spend the money? You know the basic drill. These are powerful computers (especially in the case of tablets) that can connect to most any company application or data resource and store and create a wide variety of content. Unfortunately, these powerful computers are easily lost and are targets for theft. Lacking proper security or management capabilities, the keys to your applications, resources, and data could wind up in a stranger's hands. <P> To manage and secure these devices, you need to consider a few factors. While some companies will try to standardize, the reality is that most will need to support multiple platforms, including Android, Apple iOS, BlackBerry, and Windows Mobile. And some of these devices won't be owned by the company, though they will be used to access your applications and resources. This can lead to a high-wire act for IT. <P> Thus we need a mobile device management system that can handle a wide variety of capabilities, from inventory management to security to usage analysis. From a security standpoint, this can involve the ability to enforce security settings and application use on devices that connect to your networks while also managing application patching and updating. It can also call for the ability to remotely control devices and track, lock, or selectively or completely wipe the data from lost or stolen devices. <P> So how can businesses today find the right tools to manage their mobile device infrastructures? That's the focus of our upcoming Buyer's Guide. We've reached out to a number of MDM vendors and asked them to respond to our questionnaire with specific information on their systems. Our report will include a features chart listing important capabilities and features. <P> The RFI has been released to the MDM community, and responses are already rolling in. Watch for updates and our full report coming soon. <P> <i>In the new, all-digital InformationWeek Healthcare: iPads are leading a new wave of devices into the exam room. Are security, tech support, and infection control up to the task? <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/gogreen/052311HC/index.jhtml?k=axxe&cid=article_axxe_os">Download it now</a>. (Free registration required.) </i>2011-06-27T07:00:00ZThe Chrome browser's latest version enhances privacy and security features and supports 3-D CSS.http://www.informationweek.com/news/231000367?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --><div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/personal-tech/notebooks/230500038"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/629/IMG_0413_tn.JPG" alt="Samsung Chromebook: Hands-On Visual Tour" title="Samsung Chromebook: Hands-On Visual Tour" class="img175" /></a><br /> <div class="storyImageTitle">Slideshow: Samsung Chromebook: Hands-On Visual Tour</div> <span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</span></div><!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE -->With Google on a "<a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/229402312">new release every six weeks</a>" schedule for its Chrome Web browser, each new version of Chrome is typically light on new features. And this is certainly the case with the newly released Chrome 12. <P> Still, Chrome 12 does have a couple of interesting new capabilities, especially for those users concerned about keeping their Web activities more private. <P> For regular users, probably one of the most significant new features in Chrome 12 is the ability to easily remove Flash cookies from the browser when clearing your browser history. While it has always been possible to delete Flash cookies, it has not been easiest process and has usually been done within the Flash player rather than in the browser itself. <P> In Chrome 12, when a user chooses to Clear Browsing Data, one of the choices is now "Delete cookies and other site and plug-in data." Selecting this will remove Flash cookies along with standard browser cookies. This is a useful privacy feature, as Flash cookies have become a popular option for sites that are less concerned about visitor privacy and work to keep users from deleting their cookies. <P> Google has also boosted the safe browsing capabilities of their browser in this release. Chrome's safe browsing features warn users when they attempt to go to a site that might contain malware and other malicious code. In Chrome 12, the browser will now also scan downloads (using an online database of malicious apps) and will warn users if their download could be potentially dangerous. <P> <!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <center><div style="width:490;padding:5px;"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/Ben/googlechrome12clearbrowsingdata.jpg" width="575" height="330" alt="Google Chrome 12 Clear Browsing Data" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" style="margin-bottom:7px;" /></a><br ><strong>Users can now remove Flash cookies along with standard browser cookies</strong></div></center> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <P> Chrome 12 also includes support for 3-D cascading style sheets (CSS), which provide rich graphics capabilities for apps and online games by tapping a system's graphics processor. This also enables more interactive capabilities for gaming or manipulating content within a page. There are a number of demos available on the Web, which showcase 3-D CSS, such as this <a href="http://www.chromeexperiments.com/shaunthesheep">Google animation demo</a>. <P> <!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <center><div style="width:490;padding:5px;"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/Ben/googlechrome3DCSSdemo.jpg" width="575" height="464" alt="Google Chrome 12 CSS Demo" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" style="margin-bottom:7px;" /></a><br ><strong>3-D capabilities in Chrome 12 enable more interactive<br>capabilities for manipulating content within a page</strong></div></center> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <P> As is typical, Chrome 12 also includes a number of bug fixes and security enhancements under the hood. If you are a regular Chrome user, your browser has most likely already upgraded to version 12, but if you want to try it out, go here to <a href="http://www.google.com/chrome/intl/en/make/download.html">download the free Google Chrome browser</a>. <P> <em>InformationWeek contributing editor <a href="mailto:mailto:jimrapoza@gmail.com">Jim Rapoza</a> has been using, testing, and writing about the newest technologies in software, enterprise hardware, and the Internet for more than 17 years.</em> <P> <em>Small and midsize businesses are falling prey to cyberattacks that cost them sensitive data, productivity, and corporate accounts cleaned out by sophisticated banking Trojans. In this report, we explain what makes these threats so menacing, and share best practices to defend against them. <a href="http://www.darkreading.com/SMBSecurity/util/6123/download.html">Download it now</a>. (Free registration required.) </em>2011-06-24T14:07:00ZMany common assumptions about enterprise social technology have proven false or become outdated. It's time to reconsider these common myths.http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/231000395?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_AuthorsIt's always interesting to see the progression in both corporate attitudes--and vendor responses to those attitudes--when it comes to enterprise social networking. After attending UBM TechWeb's <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/e2-boston-2011">Enterprise 2.0 Conference</a> the last few years, along with covering enterprise social networking since its beginnings, I've seen regular changes in how enterprise social networking is perceived and what the main challenges facing its adoption are. <P> Part of the challenge is overcoming the myths that get attached to the technology. These myths or assumptions often are tossed around as reasons why a company won't be adopting an <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/229900078/enterprise-social-networking-buyers-guide">enterprise social networking solution</a>. In the end, these are just excuses. <P> In fact, most of the assumptions I hear from companies about <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/231000371">enterprise social networking</a> are either wrong or outdated--they were once somewhat correct, but things have changed. <P> So what are the biggest myths surrounding enterprise social networking and its adoption? Here's my top five: <P> <strong>1. Gen Y workers get it but older workers won't</strong> <P> I'm sure you've heard this comment thrown around many times, by social networking vendors, analysts, and companies looking at enterprise social networking. It generally goes something like, "Young people have grown up using this stuff but the older workers don't understand it and will stick with email and other legacy systems." <P> When I hear this, I usually want to ask, "Have you been on Facebook recently?" I have a split of under 35 and over 35 friends and age seems to play little role in how often they use the network. In fact, some of the busiest users who take advantage of the most Facebook features are over 55. <P> I wouldn't worry about your older users "getting" the enterprise social network. There's actually some evidence that younger people are moving on from Facebook and other social networks. That young people have moved on to the something newer and cooler and will no longer use enterprise social networks may soon be a myth too. <P> <strong>2. It's like Facebook for your company</strong> <P> Speaking of Facebook, another common myth or misconception is that enterprise social networks will work just like Facebook, but with a corporate angle. Of course, there is some truth to this, as many of the interface and feature conventions are similar or directly copied from Facebook. <P> But these are completely different beasts. A corporate training video and The Hangover are both videos of people talking and doing things but no one would call them the same thing. <P> The other problem with the Facebook comparison is that it can lead to unrealistic expectations of usage. <P> Yes, many people spend vast amounts of time on Facebook checking friend's updates and posting their own information. If, however, you expect that level of interaction from employees on your company social network, you will definitely be disappointed. <P> Enterprise social networks are simply the next phase in corporate collaboration and communications and you should expect them to be used in the same fashion. Users may find them to be vital tools for staying in touch with colleagues, collaborating, and maintaining company knowledge. But they won't use it in the same way that they use Facebook. <P> <strong>3. Enterprise social networks need to be sticky</strong> <P> Speaking of systems that users spend a lot of time with, there are probably already applications and systems in your business that employees use on a regular basis. This could be email, a company intranet, Google Apps, or some other enterprise application or interface. Odds are your users aren't going to abandon this interface in order to spend lots of time on the new company social network. <P> Luckily, they probably won't need to. While it was true that in recent years many Enterprise 2.0 products existed as their own separate web interfaces, many are now adopting methods to make it easier to embed their interfaces and information into other tools and interfaces. <P> In this way, users can see status updates, new content, and other communications from the social network while performing their regular day-to-day job. The social network doesn't need to be sticky, but it does need to be well connected. <P> <strong>4. Social networks aren't secure</strong> <P> Another common complaint is that a company can't adopt one of these systems because they aren't <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/security/231000198">secure</a>. Company communications could be compromised, sensitive files could be easily lost or stolen and compliance with regulations will be impossible. <P> All of these concerns are legitimate, but no more so than for any other enterprise application, whether its email, document management, or CRM. The ultimate security of a product depends upon what it offers and how companies implemented it, rather than the product category itself. <P> A look at the current enterprise social networking offerings shows a good base set of security options that one would find in any enterprise product. These include single sign-on, integration with company directories and VPNs, and the option to run the product inside company firewalls and not just in a SaaS mode. <P> Many products also provide more fine-grained control over communications and file sharing that can not only help track how information is created and used, but also make sure that only those with appropriate permissions can access information. <P> <strong>5. Businesses don't need enterprise social networking</strong> <P> It is, of course, completely true that no business <em>needs</em> social networking, but that's probably also true of 80% of the enterprise technologies available today. There are really only a small handful of products that companies absolutely <em>need</em>. <P> But that doesn't mean that enterprise social networks can't be useful or even vital for many businesses. Just as public social networks have changed the way that people connect and interact, enterprise social networks can have a big impact on <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_crm/230500234/inside-nokias-plan-to-break-down-social-silos">worker productivity and collaboration</a>. <P> Having constant knowledge of what people and groups are doing and working on, what the key issues of the day within a company are, and who the most knowledgeable colleagues are on certain topics can pay big dividends. <P> Myths and assumptions won't decide the fate of your company's enterprise social network. In the end, having the right implementation plan and making sure that the network is designed to make it easy and useful for workers will be the deciding factor in the success of your social network and your company. <P> <em>InformationWeek contributing editor <a href="mailto:mailto:jimrapoza@gmail.com">Jim Rapoza</a> has been using, testing, and writing about the newest technologies in software, enterprise hardware, and the Internet for more than 17 years.</em> <P> <i>Virtual Event: Business Mobility Unleashed. Zero in on the top mobile technologies and techniques to ensure your organization thrives in the wireless world. Learn about strategies and products that offer remote user applications support, Wi-Fi management, security features, and device management. Our virtual event happens Thursday, July 14. <a href="http://www.techwebonlineevents.com/ars/eventregistration.do?mode=eventreg&F=1003160&K=7ML">Register now</a>.</i>2011-06-03T00:00:00ZThese tools can improve collaboration and productivity, but only if employees use them. We provide guidance for picking the right product.http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/229900078?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_AuthorsCompanies are increasingly turning to enterprise social networking tools for collaboration, project tracking, and knowledge management, according to our <em>InformationWeek Analytics</em> Enterprise 2.0 Applications Vendor Evaluation Survey. But don't think these systems are just knockoffs of Facebook or Twitter. Yes, they offer user profiles and microblogs, but today's enterprise social networking products are built for business, with powerful tools like wikis, document sharing, and community knowledge spaces. Employees can collaborate on projects, find experts within their companies, and partner easily with colleagues on the daily tasks that constitute business operations.</p> <P> Still, choosing the best system for your company can be a challenge. The market is flush with enterprise-focused social networking startups, such as Socialtext, Jive, and Yammer, looking to win customers with leading-edge features and functions. Meanwhile, the largest technology companies in the world, including Microsoft, IBM, and Cisco Systems, are also playing in this space. But size doesn't always matter: Socialtext and Jive trumped Microsoft and other big rivals in overall performance in our Vendor Evaluation Survey of 619 business technology professionals using or testing enterprise 2.0 products.</p> <P> Before investing in a social networking product, answer two key questions: What features do you need, and how will you deliver the capabilities? Status updates and profile pages are available on just about every platform, but your company may be more interested in document sharing or wikis. And some products are traditional on-premises software, others live in the cloud, and a few offer both options. Moreover, decide whether you want a product that's closely linked with your other applications, such as SharePoint's tight integration with the Office suite, or if a standalone platform is the best bet.</p> <P> To help answer those questions, we examined the state of enterprise social networking, cataloged capabilities top products bring to bear, and analyzed criteria IT should use to determine the best fit for their firms.</p> <P> <strong>The Business Side Of Social Networking</strong></p> <P> Companies are looking to enterprise social networking for a full slate of business value. IT professionals ranked the ability of a social networking product to meet business needs as the No. 1 feature in our InformationWeek Analytics survey--along with data security and authentication. In other words, these products aren't being rolled out just because microblogs are fun, or because it's the in thing to do. Companies want to see a return.</p> <P> The catch is, to see value from enterprise social networking, employees have to use the tools. And that can be a problem: User adoption is the greatest management challenge IT faces when it comes to social networking, according to our InformationWeek Analytics Social Networking in the Enterprise Survey of 624 business technology professionals at companies using these systems. Thus, one common aspect of nearly all the enterprise social networking tools is a striking similarity to the interfaces of Facebook and Twitter. In this case, familiarity breeds adoption.</p> <P> Another way to get employees to collaborate within an enterprise social networking system is to integrate it with tools they already depend on. For example, if your employees use Salesforce.com, then Salesforce's Chatter application is a logical pick to add social networking. Similarly, companies that are heavily invested in Microsoft should evaluate the improved social networking capabilities of SharePoint 2010, which includes news feeds and the ability for users to rate content. And nearly every enterprise social networking system provides some form of API and integration method to tie into other enterprise applications.</p> <P> In addition to feature requirements, know how the social networking platform can be protected and managed. Differentiators to look for include single sign-on and deep analytics that show how employees are collaborating and which features they use most.</p> <P> <center><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/1302/302F2_chart1.gif" width="550" height="250" alt="Are you using any Enterprise 2.0 applications?" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" style="margin-bottom:7px;" /><br /></center></p> <P> <strong>Same, But Different</strong> </p> <P> Twitter-style updates and Facebook-like profile pages are at the core of nearly all these products, but there are variations. For instance, in some systems, users can attach documents and other files to an update. Other systems let users embed content, such as documents, images, and videos, so it's viewable directly from the activity stream, which may increase engagement and make it more likely that others will view this content.</p> <P> Also look for filtering and privacy options within status updates. In a business environment, users won't always want to broadcast their updates to the entire company--and the entire company probably won't want to receive them. Some products can direct status updates only to select communities, groups, or individuals. Thus, a development team working on a new application can keep its members updated on progress without cluttering the message feeds of other groups.</p> <P> Profile pages, in which employees can post content such as contact details, professional interests, and appropriate personal information, also can vary widely in functionality. In some systems these are simply static listings of basic contact data. However, in the best systems, they are highly dynamic pages that show everything a user is doing, from status updates, to content, to areas of expertise. Socialtext and Microsoft SharePoint 2010 do a very good job with profile pages; both platforms let users provide lots of details on their activities and the content they're creating and sharing.</p> <P> <strong>Social Networking Everywhere</strong></p> <P> As with other business applications, enterprise social networking products are increasingly available as mobile apps. This makes good sense because these tools can make it much easier for employees to stay connected to projects and tasks while on the road.</p> <P> Mobile readiness is one area where there's still a lot of differentiation among the products. Some have native mobile apps for access to core features, such as the activity feed. For example, Yammer and Salesforce Chatter both have apps for iPhones and BlackBerrys that let users view status updates from colleagues and adjust their statuses while on the go. However, other products have no native mobile apps. Instead, they rely on a standard browser interface, which often isn't optimized for small screens. Use of HTML 5 to improve mobile access is on the radar of many vendors, but is still limited in use.</p> <P> <center><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/1302/302F2_chart2.gif" width="550" height="192" alt="How important are these Enterprise 2.0 application features?" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" style="margin-bottom:7px;" /><br /></center></p> <P> <strong>Social Communication</strong></p> <P> Enterprise social networking applications are maneuvering to become complete communications portals for users, in part to make these platforms indispensable to companies. This has led to the inclusion of multiple forms of direct communication, including email and integrated chat. An emerging feature in social networking systems is video and voice integration, often via Skype. Given Microsoft's recent acquisition of the application, vendors and customers may be less enthusiastic about relying on Skype to provide live voice and video. At present, however, Skype will remain the most common option for live communications in social networking products.</p> <P> Some vendors are also building in integration with full Web conferencing systems, which can be valuable for initiating and managing meetings, presentations, and training. Cisco Quad, which is being revamped through a collaboration with EMC's Documentum, comes integrated with Cisco's WebEx Web conferencing service to make it simple to engage in conferencing.</p> <P> <strong>Managing The Social Network</strong></p> <P> Administrative features are another area where capabilities in enterprise social networks can vary, from very basic user management features to systems that provide deep analytics and the ability to sync with corporate directories.</p> <P> Analytics can extend the value of a social networking platform. Some products offer very deep analytics geared toward monitoring and gleaning insight from social activities. An early leader in this type of deep social analysis is Socialcast, which can provide data to help administrators see which users are highly valued by other employees, what types of content are being shared or linked to the most, and how important company events are received (or even predicted) by employees. While it's possible to misinterpret this kind of information--lots of status updates doesn't necessarily translate to productivity, for instance--analytics can help detect and replicate effective work processes, find employee expertise, and improve information dissemination.</p> <P> For many companies, integration with company directories and security systems will fall under the "essentials" category because administrators must be able to enforce authentication and access policies. However, while access control is clearly important, it shouldn't get in the way of enhancing productivity. Thus it's unfortunate that many social networking products make it difficult to extend access to third parties, given that collaboration and communication with partners, consultants, and other external personnel are crucial in today's business environments.</p> <P> <center><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/1302/302F2-TABLE.jpg" width="550" height="212" alt="vendor table" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" style="margin-bottom:7px;" /><br /></center></p> <P> How hard is it to collaborate with outsiders? In some cases, only users with the same email domain as the company can be invited to use the social network. Some systems also completely block Gmail and other Web-based email users. We recommend grilling providers on your short list about their ability to extend product capabilities to users both inside and outside the company.</p> <P> Another important management consideration for social networking is content management. IT must ensure that content created or stored on the social networking platform can be archived according to compliance and regulatory requirements. Content also should be retrievable by e-discovery systems, because social networking platforms are fair game in litigation.</p> <P> Pricing is also a concern. In general, software-as-a-service products have a low up-front cost; many vendors charge about $5 per user per month. For an on-premises product such as Jive, prices start around $50,000 and go up based on the number of users and desired features.</p> <P> Many vendors offer free versions that let IT test basic functions, such as activity feeds and user profiles, but lack deeper administration and integration capabilities. However, these lightweight versions may be good enough for small businesses or even departments within larger companies. IT organizations can also use a free version to pilot the product.</p> <P> <center><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/1302/302F2_Chart3.gif" width="550" height="308" alt="The User Hurdle?" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" style="margin-bottom:7px;" /><br /></center></p> <P> <strong>Getting Social</strong></p> <P> In our public lives, social networking has become commonplace. For many people, it's almost impossible to remember how they stayed connected with friends before Facebook. In the business world, social networking has the same potential to become indispensable--but only if your employees find it a useful business tool. Fortunately, we have a wide field of vendors from which to choose a product that meets our needs.</P> <P> <!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <P> <center> <div id="inlineReportPromo"> <div class="inlineReportPromo_headline"><a href="http://analytics.informationweek.com/abstract/10/7179/Social%20Networking-Collaboration/strategy-enterprise-social-network-buyer-s-guide.html" target="_blank" style="color:#ffffff;">Strategy</a></div> <div class="inlineReportPromo_inner"> <center><strong>Enterprise Social Network Buyer's Guide</strong></center><br /> <img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/1302/302F2reportcover_110.jpg" width="110" height="110" class="report110" /> Become an <strong><a href="http://analytics.informationweek.com/abstract/10/7179/Social%20Networking-Collaboration/strategy-enterprise-social-network-buyer-s-guide.html"><i>InformationWeek Analytics</i> subscriber</a></strong> and get our full report, Enterprise Social Network Buyer's Guide.<br /> <br /> This report includes <strong>14</strong> pages of action-oriented analysis. What you'll find: <ul class="normalUL"> <li>Features and pricing for 11 products</li> <li>Guidance on vendor selection</li> <li>Criteria for successful adoption</li> </ul> <center><strong><a href="http://analytics.informationweek.com/abstract/10/7179/Social%20Networking-Collaboration/strategy-enterprise-social-network-buyer-s-guide.html">Get This</a> And <a href="http://analytics.informationweek.com/">All Our Reports</a></strong></center> </div> </div> </center></p><br clear="all"> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <P> </em>Jim Rapoza is an editor at Network Computing. Get more details on 11 top contenders in our full buyer's guide. Write to us at iwletters@techweb.com.</em></p>2011-06-03T00:00:00ZThese tools can improve collaboration and productivity, but only if employees use them. We provide guidance for picking the right product.http://www.informationweek.com/news/229900084?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <!-- Jun. 6, 2011 InformationWeek Digital Issue--> <div id="inlineGreenPromoTop"> <div class="greenBand"></div> <div class="inlineGreenPromoContent"> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/gogreen/060611/index.jhtml?k=axxe&cid=article_axxe_oss"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/1302/smallcov3.jpg" alt="InformationWeek Green - Jun. 6, 2011" title="InformationWeek Green - Mar. 7, 2011" align="left" class="greenIssueImage" /></a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/gogreen/060611/index.jhtml?k=axxe&cid=article_axxe_os"><img src="http://twimgs.com/infoweek/graphics_library/misc/Green_leaf_88x88.jpg" alt="InformationWeek Green" title="InformationWeek Green" align="right" class="greenLeaf" /></a> <div class="greenPromoText"> <strong><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/gogreen/060611/index.jhtml?k=axxe&cid=article_axxe_os">Download the entire Jun. 6, 2011 issue of <em>InformationWeek</em></a></strong>, distributed in an all-digital format as part of our <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/green/">Green Initiative</a><br /> (Registration required.)<br /> <center><div class="innerGreenPromoText" align="center">We will plant a tree for each of the first 5,000 downloads.</div></center> </div> </div> <div class="greenBand"></div> </div> <!-- / Jun. 6, 2011 InformationWeek Digital Issue--> <br /><!-- leave as a br to not interfere w/ the insights boxes --> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/1302/302F2art2_110.jpg" width="110" height="110" alt="SaaS and E-Discovery Dangers" title="SaaS and E-Discovery Dangers" width="110" height="110" class="artInlineTopImage" /> Companies are increasingly turning to enterprise social networking tools for collaboration, project tracking, and knowledge management, according to our <em>InformationWeek Analytics</em> Enterprise 2.0 Applications Vendor Evaluation Survey. But don't think these systems are just knockoffs of Facebook or Twitter. Yes, they offer user profiles and microblogs, but today's enterprise social networking products are built for business, with powerful tools like wikis, document sharing, and community knowledge spaces. Employees can collaborate on projects, find experts within their companies, and partner easily with colleagues on the daily tasks that constitute business operations.</p> <P> Still, choosing the best system for your company can be a challenge. The market is flush with enterprise-focused social networking startups, such as Socialtext, Jive, and Yammer, looking to win customers with leading-edge features and functions. Meanwhile, the largest technology companies in the world, including Microsoft, IBM, and Cisco Systems, are also playing in this space. But size doesn't always matter: Socialtext and Jive trumped Microsoft and other big rivals in overall performance in our Vendor Evaluation Survey of 619 business technology professionals using or testing enterprise 2.0 products.</p> <P> Before investing in a social networking product, answer two key questions: What features do you need, and how will you deliver the capabilities? Status updates and profile pages are available on just about every platform, but your company may be more interested in document sharing or wikis. And some products are traditional on-premises software, others live in the cloud, and a few offer both options. Moreover, decide whether you want a product that's closely linked with your other applications, such as SharePoint's tight integration with the Office suite, or if a standalone platform is the best bet.</p> <P> To help answer those questions, we examined the state of enterprise social networking, cataloged capabilities top products bring to bear, and analyzed criteria IT should use to determine the best fit for their firms.</p> <P> <strong>The Business Side Of Social Networking</strong></p> <P> Companies are looking to enterprise social networking for a full slate of business value. IT professionals ranked the ability of a social networking product to meet business needs as the No. 1 feature in our InformationWeek Analytics survey--along with data security and authentication. In other words, these products aren't being rolled out just because microblogs are fun, or because it's the in thing to do. Companies want to see a return.</p> <P> The catch is, to see value from enterprise social networking, employees have to use the tools. And that can be a problem: User adoption is the greatest management challenge IT faces when it comes to social networking, according to our InformationWeek Analytics Social Networking in the Enterprise Survey of 624 business technology professionals at companies using these systems. Thus, one common aspect of nearly all the enterprise social networking tools is a striking similarity to the interfaces of Facebook and Twitter. In this case, familiarity breeds adoption.</p> <P> <!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <center><strong>To read the rest of the article,<br /><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/gogreen/060611/index.jhtml?k=axxe&cid=article_axxe_os">Download the Jun. 6, 2011 issue of <em>InformationWeek</em></a></strong></center><br clear="all" /></p> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <P> <!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <center> <div id="inlineReportPromo"> <div class="inlineReportPromo_headline"><a href="http://analytics.informationweek.com/abstract/10/7179/Social%20Networking-Collaboration/strategy-enterprise-social-network-buyer-s-guide.html" target="_blank" style="color:#ffffff;">Strategy</a></div> <div class="inlineReportPromo_inner"> <center><strong>Enterprise Social Network Buyer's Guide</strong></center><br /> <img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/1302/302F2reportcover_110.jpg" width="110" height="110" class="report110" /> Become an <strong><a href="http://analytics.informationweek.com/abstract/10/7179/Social%20Networking-Collaboration/strategy-enterprise-social-network-buyer-s-guide.html"><i>InformationWeek Analytics</i> subscriber</a></strong> and get our full report, Enterprise Social Network Buyer's Guide.<br /> <br /> This report includes <strong>14</strong> pages of action-oriented analysis. What you'll find: <ul class="normalUL"> <li>Features and pricing for 11 products</li> <li>Guidance on vendor selection</li> <li>Criteria for successful adoption</li> </ul> <center><strong><a href="http://analytics.informationweek.com/abstract/10/7179/Social%20Networking-Collaboration/strategy-enterprise-social-network-buyer-s-guide.html">Get This</a> And <a href="http://analytics.informationweek.com/">All Our Reports</a></strong></center> </div> </div> </center></p><br clear="all"> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE -->2011-05-30T08:00:00ZThe inexpensive USB docking station accepts both 2.5-inch laptop hard drives and standard 3.5-inch system drives that use a SATA connection.http://www.informationweek.com/news/229500781?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_AuthorsFor those businesses running a small office, remote branch, or home office, storage options tend to be limited. <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/storage/systems/220301364">Cloud storage</a> and conventional enterprise storage can get to be pretty expensive, and while small external network-attached storage devices are helpful, they lack the flexibility of removable media storage. <P> But if you have a typical smaller office, there's a good chance you have a bunch of old systems (laptop and PC) along with unused hard drives sitting around. A new and inexpensive gadget makes it possible to easily use these drives as a form of removable backup media. <P> The $49.99 <a href="http://www.cirago.com/">Cirago</a> CDD2000 is a small USB docking station that accepts both 2.5-inch laptop hard drives and standard 3.5-inch system drives that use a SATA connection. Once connected to a system, any hard drive can be plugged into the dock and the drive becomes available in much the same way that plugging a USB thumb drive into your system works. <P> The CDD2000 supports <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Serial_Bus">USB 3.0</a> for fast data transfers, but it also worked on systems using older USB connections. <P> This gadget is about as simple as can be, and I loved using it. I could instantly see lots of different uses for it. <P> The most obvious is for rescuing data from laptops and other systems that have died, and this is very useful and much easier than cracking open a system in order to plug a drive into a spare <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA">SATA connection</a>. But I also see this device as a great removable storage option for a small office, almost like a much better version of the old Zip drives, especially given that the media you are using (hard drives) is accessible even without the Cirago device. <P> <!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --><center><div style="width:490;padding:5px;"><a href="http://cirago.com/wordpress/products/dockingstations/cdd2000/"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/Ben/CiragoCDD2000.jpg" width="575" height="431" alt="Cirago CDD2000 USB Hard Drive Docking Station" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" style="margin-bottom:7px;" /></a><br ><strong>Cirago CDD2000 USB Hard Drive Docking Station</strong></div></center><!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <P> Of course, you might ask why wouldn't you just use USB thumb drives? Hey, I love USB drives but in the grand scheme of things they aren't that big. Most affordable ones are under 64 GB and those few that are larger than 100 GB can be fairly expensive. <P> However, when I was testing the Cirago, I had six spare drives sitting around that I could use in the device and even the oldest (about five years old) had more than 200 GB of space. For a small office, that provides some pretty nice options for backing up, storing, and sharing large amounts of data. <P> At under $50, it's not a large investment for any small office. And, finally, you can easily rescue data from dead systems and find a use for all of those old drives you have sitting around. You can find more details <a href="http://cirago.com/wordpress/products/dockingstations/cdd2000/">here</a>. <P> <!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <!-- RECOMMENDED READING --> <a name="recommended"></a> <center> <div id="recommendedReadingPromo"> <div class="recommendedReadingPromoHeader"><strong>Recommended Reading:</strong></div> <ul class="normalUL"> <li><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/storage/security/229500683">Dropbox Accused Of Misleading Customers On Security</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/storage/systems/229500139">Technology Can Extend Solid-State Storage's Life</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/services/229500035">Trend Micro Intros File Sharing, Backup For SMBs</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/services/229403165">CA To Offer Cloud-Based Backup, Recovery</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/encryption/229403079">Self-Encrypting Hard Drives Face Perception Challenge</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/encryption/229402923">Cracking Bin Laden's Hard Drives</a></li> <li class="last-li"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/authors/showAuthor.jhtml?authorID=6895">See more by Jim Rapoza</a></li> </ul> </div> </center><br clear="all"> <!-- / RECOMMENDED READING --> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <P> <em>Attend Enterprise 2.0 Boston to see the latest social business tools and technologies. Register with code CPBJEB03 and save $100 off conference passes or for a free expo pass. It happens June 20-23. <a href="http://www.e2conf.com/boston">Find out more</a>. </em>2011-05-20T18:00:00ZSoftware as a service merges all of a user's social, email, and traditional contacts from Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Gmail, and traditional mail clients into a single, easy-to-use application.http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/229403059?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/thebrainyard/email/229503432"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/623/nimble1_tn.jpg" alt="Nimble Contact Integrates Connections Across Mail, Social Networks" title="Nimble Contact Integrates Connections Across Mail, Social Networks" class="img175" /></a><br /> <div class="storyImageTitle">Slideshow: Nimble Contact Integrates Connections Across Mail, Social Networks</div> <span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</span> </div> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE -->For many people, traditional methods of contact management are dying. Being handed a business card can seem a bit anachronistic and few will take the time to enter the personal information in their contacts tools. <P> Today, the way that many people handle contacts (including myself) is to use social networks. If I meet with a person, I'll most likely try to connect with them on LinkedIn (if they are a business contact), Facebook (if they are a social friend), or sometimes both. By using social networks in this way, contacting someone becomes much easier and you can be fairly confident that the contact information is up-to-date. <P> But one weakness to this approach is that, while social networks are great for gathering contacts, they come up a little short on the management side. That's where a new beta service called Nimble Contact comes in. <P> Delivered via software as a service, <a href="http://www.nimble.com">Nimble Contact</a> makes it possible for users to gather all of their social, email, and traditional contacts into a single application that makes it very simple to find, manage, and communicate with their contacts. Nimble Contact does this by connecting to Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Gmail, and traditional mail clients. <P> When you first log in, Nimble Contact asks for login information for the networks that you want to use within the service. For the social networks and Gmail this is as simple as username and password, though for connecting to mail through IMAP, additional server information is required. <P> Once in Nimble Contact, users can access a number of functions by clicking on tabbed areas of the application. These include Contacts, Messages, Activities, and Social. The Social tab provides a combined view of the user's Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn feeds and also lets users post status updates or send messages through these services. This worked well but there are plenty of apps available today that do the same thing. <P> Where the real power of Nimble Contact comes is, not surprisingly, in the <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_crm/229400122/nimble-ceo-outlines-vision-for-social-crm">Contacts area</a> of the app. Within the Contacts area I could import a number of contacts from social networks, Gmail, or by uploading CSV files and vCards. With the Gmail and social network contacts, since all of the activity happens online, Nimble handles the contact imports in the background and notifies the user when the imports are complete. <P> At this point, Nimble Contact provided what is quite possibly the best contact management experience I've ever had. That's because every bit of contact information available on any of my connections was combined and made easily available from within the app. <P> By searching on a contact's name, I could see where the information was pulled from (such as Google, LinkedIn, or Facebook) and could click through to a profile page for each contact. And this profile page offers users a near-perfect window into contact information and any interactions and communications the user has had with that contact. <P> From this profile page I could view every bit of information that the contact has defined on their <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/video/744927792001">social networks</a> (including email addresses and job information) and could also add unique information and tags of my own. If there are other social network profiles that didn't import into the system, Nimble displays these in a right sidebar and offers the ability to merge that information into the profile. A social stream displays any recent activity that the contact has had on their social networks and Twitter. <P> A very nice feature in Nimble displayed all of recent messaging history between the user and the contact, including emails, tweets, Facebook messages, and scheduled meetings. This proved to be an excellent way to view communications with a contact. <P> It was also possible in this area to directly send a message through email or a social network. I could also associate a task or event with a contact and this task would also appear in my Activities tab. <P> The Activities tab in Nimble Contact is essentially a calendar view into scheduled tasks and events. The app does offer the ability to sync with the Google Calendar so that those meetings and events are also included in the Activities view. I was somewhat surprised however that Nimble did not also pull in Facebook events that the user is attending. <P> Within the Messages tab of Nimble Contact, users can see a combined view all correspondence, whether it is from Gmail, other email, or social networks, and it was also possible to send messages directly from Nimble and have them be sent through any of those systems. <P> Nimble Contact is still in beta and, while there are some areas that could use polishing and improvement, overall I was very impressed with this application. There are currently no mobile versions of Nimble, though the company said that an iPhone version is due out in the near future. Along with the free Nimble Contact app I reviewed, the company also plans to release and charge for higher-end team, sales, and customer relationship management versions of the product. <P> <!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <!-- RECOMMENDED READING --> <a name="recommended"></a> <center> <div id="recommendedReadingPromo"> <div class="recommendedReadingPromoHeader"><strong>Recommended Reading:</strong></div> <ul class="normalUL"> <li><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/video/744927792001">CES 2011: Nimble's Social Net Works Internally And With Facebook, Twitter, Etc.</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/229400775">RockMelt Refreshes Social Browser</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/229400780">Review: Firefox 4 Improves Interface, Performance, Privacy Controls</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/229219371">Review: Clearvale Express Free Social Networking For Businesses</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/229301308">Review: IE 9 Is Microsoft's Best Browser Yet</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/229301089">Review: Google Adds Faster Engine To Chrome 10</a></li> <li class="last-li"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/authors/6895">See more by Jim Rapoza</a></li> </ul> </div> </center><br clear="all"> <!-- / RECOMMENDED READING --> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <P> <i>Businesses have myriad technology options for pulling together people and ideas. But getting it right still isn't easy. Also in the new all-digital issue of InformationWeek SMB: A UC champion's survival guide. <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/gogreen/031411SMB?k=axxe&cid=article_axxe_os">Download it now</a>. (Free registration required.) </i>2011-05-20T18:00:00ZLinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks have supplanted business cards for keeping track of important contacts and Nimble Contact utilizes the information and communications in these networks to keep contact info current.http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/229503432?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_AuthorsWhile traditional contact management has focused on integration with Outlook and other business mail systems, many modern users have already moved towards a new method of staying in touch with important contacts. Now, instead of handing out business cards and entering contact information into forms and fields, a business contact will most likely connect with you over a social network such as LinkedIn or Facebook. These modern social networks make it very simple to stay connected to a wide network of contacts without having to maintain data and without having to worry whether a contact's information is correct, since the contacts are maintaining the information on the network. But the component of contact management that these networks lack is management. <P> However, a new beta product, <a href="http://www.nimble.com">Nimble Contact</a>, makes it possible to integrate contacts across mail and social networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. By utilizing the information and communications in these networks, Nimble Contact provides one of the richest, most dynamic, and accurate contact management tools that we've seen. <P> Once Nimble Contact has been integrated with a user's social networks, the Social tab of the application provides a unified view into all of the updates and activities of friends and business contacts. Access to other features of Nimble Contact is also available from this section; for example, clicking on the name of a user in an update brings up the person's full contact profile. Now in beta, Nimble Contact says a free version of the application is planned to remain in place even after a paid enterprise version with higher functionality is released. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading:</strong><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/thebrainyard/social_crm/229403059">Review: Nimble Makes Swift Work Of Contact Management</a><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/video/744927792001">CES 2011: Nimble's Social Net Works Internally And With Facebook, Twitter, Etc.</a><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/229400775">RockMelt Refreshes Social Browser</a><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/229400780">Review: Firefox 4 Improves Interface, Performance, Privacy Controls</a><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/229219371">Review: Clearvale Express Free Social Networking For Businesses</a><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/229301308">Review: IE 9 Is Microsoft's Best Browser Yet</a><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/229301089">Review: Google Adds Faster Engine To Chrome 10</a><br>Users of Nimble Contact can connect the service to social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, as well as Google Gmail. Traditional email systems can be integrated through IMAP. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading:</strong><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/thebrainyard/social_crm/229403059">Review: Nimble Makes Swift Work Of Contact Management</a><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/video/744927792001">CES 2011: Nimble's Social Net Works Internally And With Facebook, Twitter, Etc.</a><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/229400775">RockMelt Refreshes Social Browser</a><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/229400780">Review: Firefox 4 Improves Interface, Performance, Privacy Controls</a><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/229219371">Review: Clearvale Express Free Social Networking For Businesses</a><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/229301308">Review: IE 9 Is Microsoft's Best Browser Yet</a><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/229301089">Review: Google Adds Faster Engine To Chrome 10</a><br>Contact information can be imported into Nimble Contact through CSV files or can be pulled directly from Gmail and social networks. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading:</strong><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/thebrainyard/social_crm/229403059">Review: Nimble Makes Swift Work Of Contact Management</a><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/video/744927792001">CES 2011: Nimble's Social Net Works Internally And With Facebook, Twitter, Etc.</a><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/229400775">RockMelt Refreshes Social Browser</a><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/229400780">Review: Firefox 4 Improves Interface, Performance, Privacy Controls</a><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/229219371">Review: Clearvale Express Free Social Networking For Businesses</a><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/229301308">Review: IE 9 Is Microsoft's Best Browser Yet</a><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/229301089">Review: Google Adds Faster Engine To Chrome 10</a><br>By pulling information from multiple social networks, Nimble Contact is able to instantly build a very detailed and rich profile on each contact imported into the system. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading:</strong><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/thebrainyard/social_crm/229403059">Review: Nimble Makes Swift Work Of Contact Management</a><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/video/744927792001">CES 2011: Nimble's Social Net Works Internally And With Facebook, Twitter, Etc.</a><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/229400775">RockMelt Refreshes Social Browser</a><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/229400780">Review: Firefox 4 Improves Interface, Performance, Privacy Controls</a><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/229219371">Review: Clearvale Express Free Social Networking For Businesses</a><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/229301308">Review: IE 9 Is Microsoft's Best Browser Yet</a><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/229301089">Review: Google Adds Faster Engine To Chrome 10</a><br>The Message section of each Contact Profile shows a list of every communication and appointment between the user and the contact, whether the messages were sent through mail or social networks. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading:</strong><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/thebrainyard/social_crm/229403059">Review: Nimble Makes Swift Work Of Contact Management</a><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/video/744927792001">CES 2011: Nimble's Social Net Works Internally And With Facebook, Twitter, Etc.</a><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/229400775">RockMelt Refreshes Social Browser</a><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/229400780">Review: Firefox 4 Improves Interface, Performance, Privacy Controls</a><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/229219371">Review: Clearvale Express Free Social Networking For Businesses</a><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/229301308">Review: IE 9 Is Microsoft's Best Browser Yet</a><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/229301089">Review: Google Adds Faster Engine To Chrome 10</a><br>The Activities section of Nimble Contact provides a calendar or list view of appointments or events stored in the system. Nimble Contact can also integrate with Google Calendar for appointment and meeting information. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading:</strong><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/thebrainyard/social_crm/229403059">Review: Nimble Makes Swift Work Of Contact Management</a><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/video/744927792001">CES 2011: Nimble's Social Net Works Internally And With Facebook, Twitter, Etc.</a><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/229400775">RockMelt Refreshes Social Browser</a><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/229400780">Review: Firefox 4 Improves Interface, Performance, Privacy Controls</a><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/229219371">Review: Clearvale Express Free Social Networking For Businesses</a><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/229301308">Review: IE 9 Is Microsoft's Best Browser Yet</a><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/229301089">Review: Google Adds Faster Engine To Chrome 10</a><br>Using the Messages section of Nimble Contact, users can see all communications they've received or sent through mail or social networks. <P> <strong>Recommended Reading:</strong><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/thebrainyard/social_crm/229403059">Review: Nimble Makes Swift Work Of Contact Management</a><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/video/744927792001">CES 2011: Nimble's Social Net Works Internally And With Facebook, Twitter, Etc.</a><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/229400775">RockMelt Refreshes Social Browser</a><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/229400780">Review: Firefox 4 Improves Interface, Performance, Privacy Controls</a><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/229219371">Review: Clearvale Express Free Social Networking For Businesses</a><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/229301308">Review: IE 9 Is Microsoft's Best Browser Yet</a><br> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/229301089">Review: Google Adds Faster Engine To Chrome 10</a><br>2011-05-14T06:00:00ZThe Shared Inbox add-on for Google Apps Business accounts is designed to provide improved help desk and customer support ticket features for businesses using Gmail as their main communications platform. http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/229500144?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_AuthorsWeb-based email and productivity solutions such as Gmail and Google Apps have become a welcome option for companies, especially small businesses, who can easily ramp up with email and communications with no upfront cost. However, businesses may find that additional business capabilities are not often easy to add to these systems. While not as robust and feature rich as some of the support and service solutions designed for systems such as Microsoft Exchange, Shared Inbox for Gmail does provide a good base system for organizations to handle support questions and other customer communications and make sure that these requests are assigned to proper staff and addressed in a timely manner. <P> For many SMBs, a big enterprise email program like Microsoft Exchange is overkill. That's why many have turned to Google Apps for business applications and specifically to Gmail as their main email and communications tool. Yet, while Google Gmail is an effective tool for many types of common email tasks, there are a lot of other business tasks it doesn't do, such as help desk and service tickets and some forms of business collaboration. Third-party developers are stepping up to fill the void with add-ons and modules. One useful tool is for Google Apps is Shared Inbox for Gmail, which adds improved help desk and customer support ticket features to Gmail. <P> <strong>See More</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/hardware_software/229402549">Review: Shared Inbox Adds Key Features To Gmail</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/email/229402464/google-gmail-gets-shared-inboxes">Google Gmail Gets Shared Inboxes</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/229400648">Google +1 Adds Social Element To Search</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/privacy/229300677">Google Again Sued Over Gmail Content Scanning</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/229219581">Gmail Disruption Blamed On Storage Software Snafu</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/hardware_software/229001041">The Future of Google Docs</a> <P> <a hre3f="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/soa_webservices/228800194">Top 10 Google Predictions For 2011</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/mobile/228800544">Gmail Creator Bashes Chrome</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/cloud-computing/software/228500124">Microsoft Calls Google Gmail 'Deficient'</a>Like many add-on modules for Google Apps, Shared Inbox for Gmail can be easily installed and configured to work with a firm's Google Apps for Business Account. <P> <strong>See More</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/hardware_software/229402549">Review: Shared Inbox Adds Key Features To Gmail</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/email/229402464/google-gmail-gets-shared-inboxes">Google Gmail Gets Shared Inboxes</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/229400648">Google +1 Adds Social Element To Search</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/privacy/229300677">Google Again Sued Over Gmail Content Scanning</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/229219581">Gmail Disruption Blamed On Storage Software Snafu</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/hardware_software/229001041">The Future of Google Docs</a> <P> <a hre3f="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/soa_webservices/228800194">Top 10 Google Predictions For 2011</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/mobile/228800544">Gmail Creator Bashes Chrome</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/cloud-computing/software/228500124">Microsoft Calls Google Gmail 'Deficient'</a>The core functionality of Shared Inbox for Gmail is simple, an email address (such as a sales or support address) is assigned to a shared inbox, and users within the group have access to that account. Via the graphical box at the bottom of the message, any issue can be assigned to a worker and tracked through its progress. <P> <strong>See More</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/hardware_software/229402549">Review: Shared Inbox Adds Key Features To Gmail</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/email/229402464/google-gmail-gets-shared-inboxes">Google Gmail Gets Shared Inboxes</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/229400648">Google +1 Adds Social Element To Search</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/privacy/229300677">Google Again Sued Over Gmail Content Scanning</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/229219581">Gmail Disruption Blamed On Storage Software Snafu</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/hardware_software/229001041">The Future of Google Docs</a> <P> <a hre3f="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/soa_webservices/228800194">Top 10 Google Predictions For 2011</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/mobile/228800544">Gmail Creator Bashes Chrome</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/cloud-computing/software/228500124">Microsoft Calls Google Gmail 'Deficient'</a>A Shared Inbox section is added to the lower-left bar of Gmail, making it possible for users to view all of the Shared Inboxes that they have access to and view assigned tasks within those inboxes. <P> <strong>See More</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/hardware_software/229402549">Review: Shared Inbox Adds Key Features To Gmail</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/email/229402464/google-gmail-gets-shared-inboxes">Google Gmail Gets Shared Inboxes</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/229400648">Google +1 Adds Social Element To Search</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/privacy/229300677">Google Again Sued Over Gmail Content Scanning</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/229219581">Gmail Disruption Blamed On Storage Software Snafu</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/hardware_software/229001041">The Future of Google Docs</a> <P> <a hre3f="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/soa_webservices/228800194">Top 10 Google Predictions For 2011</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/mobile/228800544">Gmail Creator Bashes Chrome</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/cloud-computing/software/228500124">Microsoft Calls Google Gmail 'Deficient'</a>A simple Web-based administration console lets businesses manage the users and shared inboxes that they have created within the application. <P> <strong>See More</strong> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/hardware_software/229402549">Review: Shared Inbox Adds Key Features To Gmail</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/email/229402464/google-gmail-gets-shared-inboxes">Google Gmail Gets Shared Inboxes</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/229400648">Google +1 Adds Social Element To Search</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/privacy/229300677">Google Again Sued Over Gmail Content Scanning</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/229219581">Gmail Disruption Blamed On Storage Software Snafu</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/hardware_software/229001041">The Future of Google Docs</a> <P> <a hre3f="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/soa_webservices/228800194">Top 10 Google Predictions For 2011</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/mobile/228800544">Gmail Creator Bashes Chrome</a> <P> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/cloud-computing/software/228500124">Microsoft Calls Google Gmail 'Deficient'</a>2011-05-14T06:00:00ZShared Inbox for Google Gmail lets you create multiple shared inboxes for functions such as customer support, general questions, or help desk.http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/229402549?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/hardware_software/229500144"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/622/inbox5_tn.png" alt="Gmail Add-On Boosts Support Features" title="Gmail Add-On Boosts Support Features" class="img175" /></a><br /> <div class="storyImageTitle">Slideshow: Gmail Add-On Boosts Support Features</div> <span class="inlinelargerView">(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</span> </div> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE --> For many businesses, especially those in the small and midsize business bracket, Google Apps has become a very popular business office package. In particular, Gmail has become a common choice as a mail and communications tool in many offices. <P> However, while Google Gmail is an effective tool for many types of <a href="http://www.google.com/support/a/bin/answer.py?answer=167430 ">common email tasks</a>, by itself it isn&#8217;t designed for many other business tasks. In particular, when it comes to certain types of functionality, such as help desk and service tickets and some forms of business collaboration, Gmail doesn&#8217;t tend to have the same level of offerings as popular enterprise systems such as <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/productivity_apps/212900201">Microsoft Exchange</a>. <P> But that doesn&#8217;t mean that there aren&#8217;t plenty of developers rushing to fill this void through add-ons and modules for <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/cloud-computing/software/228300153">Google Apps</a>. One tool that I recently tested, Shared Inbox for Gmail, is specifically designed to add improved help desk and customer support ticket features to Gmail. <P> Shared Inbox for Gmail was created by <a href="http://www.runmyprocess.com">RunMyProcess</a>, providers of a cloud application platform, and the product can be easily installed into a <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/197700137">Google Apps for Business</a> account. <P> In functionality, Shared Inbox for Gmail is pretty simple. It adds a graphic box to the bottom of user emails in Gmail that can be used to assign that email to another user of the Shared Inbox. <P> It is possible to create and maintain multiple shared inboxes, possibly for different types of functionality such as customer support, general questions, or help desk. The inbox is tied to a specific email (for example, support@yourcompanydomain.com) and each user in the related department would have access to that shared Inbox. <P> So, for example, if I received a support request in email, I could assign that email to another support staff worker and include comments in the Shared Inbox. Basically, it works as a very simple support ticket system. <P> The full thread of the support email is shown within the Shared Inbox area. And in the lower-left bar of Gmail, a Shared Inbox task area is shown, which makes it possible to view all of the tasks and, potentially, multiple Shared Inboxes being used. <P> A very basic Web-based administration interface makes it possible to view and create users and shared inboxes. When compared to dedicated help desk and support ticket systems, Shared Inbox for Gmail is a pretty barebones offering. But for many small companies, this type of basic functionality can still fill a need and be a better fit than a full-fledged support system. <P> The standard plan of Shared Inbox for Gmail, priced at $10 per user per year, includes an unlimited number of Shared Inboxes. But email attachments, while available in the original emails, will not be accessible from the Shared Inbox history. The premium plan, priced at $15 per user per year, includes an unlimited number of Shared Inboxes and also includes the storing and transfer of file attachments, which will be accessible from Shared Inbox ticket history. <P> You can find more information on Shared Inbox for Gmail <a href="http://www.runmyprocess.com/en/shared-inbox">here</a>. <P> <!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <!-- RECOMMENDED READING --> <a name="recommended"></a> <center> <div id="recommendedReadingPromo"> <div class="recommendedReadingPromoHeader"><strong>Recommended Reading:</strong></div> <ul class="normalUL"> <li><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/229401015">Google's New Page</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/workgrouping_team_collaboration_workspaces/229300480/top-15-cloud-collaboration-apps">Top 15 Cloud Collaboration Apps</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/229400231">Gmail, Hotmail Pose Government Security Risk</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/229301361">Google Says China Is Hindering Gmail</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/229301089">Review: Google Adds Faster Engine To Chrome 10</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/229301131">Google Apps: A Love Story</a></li> <li class="last-li"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/authors/showAuthor.jhtml?authorID=6895">See more by Jim Rapoza</a></li> </ul> </div> </center><br clear="all"> <!-- / RECOMMENDED READING --> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE -->