Enterprise Software Slideshows
Apotheker Takes The Stage, Paints An HP Cloud Vision
Hewlett-Packard crafted a media and analyst summit where it envisioned the company at the center of cloud, connectivity and software, providing the enabling technology and services on top. New company captain Leo Apotheker, who has been traveling the globe talking to business customers and employees, was expected to talk about bringing HP back to its roots: Innovation, R&D, and engineering, perhaps with a misguided desire for the company to be as hip as Apple. Despite a reliance on buzz words (one more time with the "seamless, secure, context aware," sometimes with no context?), Apotheker provided a bit of a surprise, namely that HP would take a dramatic new direction in the cloud, providing Infrastructure as a Service today, and, soon, Platform as a Service. HP will, he said, also provide other services in the cloud, like analytics through its Vertica acquisition. View the Slideshow |
Great Lost Software: 16 Gone But Not Forgotten
Software comes and software goes. Most that fall into the latter category deserve their fate, because either they weren't very good or they were superseded by a better option. Though such also-rans are soon forgotten, some defunct software still holds our affections, whether because nothing as good has come along or because it was our "first love" in a category. Software may seem a funny thing to be sentimental about, but when you use a tool every day, you can grow quite fond of it. We ransacked our own memories of applications past and polled some of our colleagues to formulate this list of 16 fondly remembered programs that are no longer really with us. View the Slideshow |
Clicking Through Drupal 7's Features
When looking for examples of enterprise applications where open source products have competed effectively against expensive and complex commercial products, a good place to start is content management. Open source content management systems (CMS) have become extremely popular choices for running very large, complex, and busy Web sites. Open source CMS Drupal has made its name on that basis, by managing some very popular Web sites, including many news sites and WhiteHouse.gov. However, in areas such as usability, Drupal has come up a little short when compared against competing open source CMS offerings such as Joomla and Wordpress. With its recent release, Drupal 7 now features a fully revamped administration interface that makes it easier to view and manage content, change the look and feel of sites, and extend the CMS through add-on modules. View the Slideshow |
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NFC, Pico & Audio: Mobile Chips In Full View
Many new mobile technology enhancements, from NFC to 4G to just plain old audio calling, are possible thanks to the silicon that makes it all so. At Mobile World Congress, there are as many chip manufacturers as any other mobile ecosystem player, and we met with everyone from Samsung to Intel to Qualcomm to Texas Instruments. Everyone's heard of them, but some of the most innovative advancements come from companies that are a bit more behind the scenes. Here are a few of our favorites from this year's event. View the Slideshow |
Mobile Wow: NTT Docomo's 3D Touchable Display & More
Mobile World Congress has its fair share of prototype technology, which is always a good way to get inspired about the future of mobile computing. NTT Docomo's advanced technology concepts always bring a big crowd and this year was no exception with its 3D touchable display. We also saw an interesting demonstration of remote printing from HP, and we revisited one of our favorite new technologies, the Motorola Atrix with Laptop Dock. And of course, our slide show wouldn't be complete without a cameo from some of our crew. View the Slideshow |
As Seen At Mobile World Congress, Day 2
It is nearly impossible to see every product spinning through the eight halls that make up the massive Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. But not for us! This event is typically a chance for the entire mobile ecosystem to gather -- mobile operators, handset manufacturers, software providers, mobile service companies, carrier equipment manufacturers and mobile operating system vendors. Most of the new technology is incremental in nature, but it's always fun to see what new ideas pop up. What follows is just a small handful of the products we've seen so far. More to come. View the Slideshow |
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Building The Mac Office
Building an office around the Apple Macintosh has long been a good business strategy, particularly for SMBs. Macs generally require fewer IT resources and retain their value better than Windows-based PCs -- that's a key consideration for cash- and resource-strapped small and midsize businesses. And the iPhone and iPad, with their strong Mac integration, make it easier for businesses to move into the new era of mobile computing. But before you can Go Mac, you need to know how to get your Mac office up and running. This review of products from Apple and other Mac vendors, will take you on a visual tour of a Mac-centric office that could be your future infrastructure. View the Slideshow |
Google Chrome 9 Advances The 3D Graphical Web
With its recently released Chrome 9 Web browser, Google has added several enhancements to provide a more immersive and rich Web experience. Chief among these new capabilities is default support for the emerging WebGL standard. This makes it possible to run 3D animations, games, and other rich interfaces within a browser without the need for third-party plug-ins and extensions such as Adobe Flash or Microsoft Silverlight. View the Slideshow |
10 Tenets Of Enterprise Data Management
Data quality, master data management, metadata management, data warehousing architecture and data integration: These are all pieces of the data management puzzle, but rare is the enterprise that has assembled these pieces into a cohesive and coherent picture. Get it right and you can count on clean and consistent data from transaction systems and reliable insight from business intelligence systems. It doesn't end there. Your data management strategy must also consider business processes and business rules. Then, consider the people factor: How do you harness the expertise of your subject-matter experts and data stewards? Lastly, where do you draw the line on competency centers? This image gallery presents ten tenets of enterprise data management -- best practices illustrated by conceptual images -- that will get you headed in the right direction. View the Slideshow |
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Top Features Absent From Windows 7
From dropping SteadyState to the lack of touch support, universal software updates, or third-party hardware support there's still a great deal missing from the Microsoft operating system. Some, inexplicably, didn't carry over from XP or Vista and others still haven't materialized despite widespread, ongoing demand. Why would Microsoft skimp on offering features that seem in their best interest to provide natively? One possibility is that they don't feel that way -- because they're waiting for someone else to develop their own approach to the same problem. So while the latest OS may be considered a success for Redmond, there remain shortcomings. Here's a look at several notable omissions and a few suggestions for alternatives. View the Slideshow |
Inside Watson, IBM's Jeopardy Computer
IBM has spent four years and untold hundreds of millions of dollars developing Watson, a computer that can play Jeopardy. In fact, Watson answers questions so quickly and accurately that IBM challenged Jeopardy and two of the show's all-time champions to a match. Jeopardy's producers and the human contestants agreed. Taping took place January 14, and the three computer-vs.-human episodes will air February 14-16. Cynics may call it a publicity stunt, but the project has brought real advances in computer science. If IBM's previous (chess-playing) Deep Blue and (genetics-studying) Blue Gene supercomputers are any indication, advances in what IBM calls deep question-and-answer analytics could show up in the real world within three to five years. Here's a look inside the architecture, hardware, and advanced analytics that make Watson tick. View the Slideshow |
12 Money Saving Tech Tips For SMBs
Smaller companies are under constant pressure to maximize their performance with minimal resources. However, you can't do business without technology -- and tech means spending money, something there never seems to be quite enough of for growing businesses. You keep a vigilant eye on costs as a matter of course. So you need to be creative to get what you and your employees need -- from phone service to software to desks and chairs -- without busting the budget. No matter what your business needs, with a bit of effort and due diligence you'll find that you can have your tech and save on it, too. Here are 12 ideas for reducing the budget burden of the business tools you need to succeed. View the Slideshow |
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Inside Joomla 1.6: Improved Access Control, Categories
Open-source content management systems, such as Joomla, have proven to be effective options for many Web sites and businesses and can be found running some of the largest and busiest sites on the Web. With strong content features, the open-source Joomla has been a popular choice, despite some traditional weaknesses, especially when it came to controlling user permissions on site and sorting content. But with the recently released Joomla 1.6, the open source content management system has gone a long way towards addressing these limitations. The new Joomla system now features much stronger user access control features that make it possible to define who can access and change content on a site and do so in a very fine grained and detailed manner. And Joomla 1.6 has ditched its old two-level site organization and added a new Categories system that allows for unlimited nested levels of content. View the Slideshow |
Top 15 Facebook Apps For Business
While many of Facebook's 500 million users waste part of their days growing virtual crops or committing imaginary crimes, there are many Facebook applications designed to actually improve business productivity. There are more than 550,000 active applications on the Facebook platform, according to the social network, with many designed specifically to improve business practices or better-integrate Facebook into a company's operations. Many business apps are free. Often, fee-based apps offer a basic service at no charge. Frequently, only limited support, usually via Facebook, is available. In addition to general-purpose business applications, there are apps for specific verticals and jobs such as real estate, education, the entertainment industry, Web design, and marketing. These 15 are worth a look. View the Slideshow |
NRF Big Show 2011: Breakthrough Technologies For Retailing
The National Retail Federation's "Big Show" in New York highlighted scores of cutting-edge retail technologies, from mobile devices and digital signage to point-of-sale systems and store-management applications. Tablet computers were everywhere, of course, though more often featured as a raffle prize designed to draw booth visitors and gather business card leads. Several exhibitors demonstrated iPad-native "clienteling" apps designed to help salespeople demonstrate and explain complicated (or out-of-stock) products. There were plenty of conventional point-of-sale terminals on display, but with smart phones quickly gaining broad use, many retailers and retail technology suppliers are developing apps and peripherals designed to work with iPhones, Android devices, and other mobile platforms. View the Slideshow |
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15 Green Tech Innovations
Cost-savings and energy efficiencies go hand-in-hand. The poor economy and a collective awareness of the finite resources available to the world are encouraging businesses to invest in green technologies. In fact, 60% of companies now have green criteria for their technology purchases, a Forrester Research study found. Cutting costs is the primary motivator, while real or anticipated regulatory issues and pressure from buyers also ranked high, the report said. Only 30% were driven by their desire for environmental stewardship, Forrester said. Economic realities and environmental commitments have spurred businesses to invest in green technologies and practices to boost the bottom line and appeal to increasingly eco-conscious customers. These 15 leading green technologies that have big potential or are already making an impact. View the Slideshow |
Top 15 Data Visualization Tips
"Excellence in statistical graphics consists of complex ideas communicated with clarity, precision and efficiency," writes information visualization guru and author Edward R. Tufte. Preaching simplicity and offering practical advice, expert Stephen Few decries distorted 3D pie charts and graphics that are too hard to read. This image gallery offers best-practice examples, advice, free resources and insight from experts on the best of data and information visualization. If a picture is worth 1,000 words, then clear and effective data visualizations are worth more than a stack of spreadsheets or reams of reports. Learn from the New York Times, Gapminder, Zillow, Many Eyes, Google, Wordle and other successful practitioners of advanced data visualization. View the Slideshow |
Top 10 Mobile Stories Of 2010
As the workforce became increasingly mobile, developers hustled to ensure their phones, tablets, and notebooks were the products of choice for these increasingly dispersed employees. The smartphone wars heated up, as Apple, Google, Research In Motion, Nokia, and Microsoft battled for dominance. In addition to facing-off over hardware features and capabilities, many phone operating system developers competed over retail outlets and handset manufacturers. They also lured developers to build applications -- both commercial and free -- for their platforms, resulting in tens of thousands of apps addressing everything from business to entertainment to the absurd. The world of mobile computing was on a roll this past year, as vendors vied for unfettered consumers and workers through a slew of increasingly sophisticated devices. Here's are 10 of the biggest mobile stories of the past year. View the Slideshow |
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