Profile of Alison Diana

Senior Editor Blog Posts: 371

Alison Diana has written about technology and business for more than 20 years. She was editor, contributors, at Internet Evolution; editor-in-chief of 21st Century IT; and managing editor, sections, at CRN. She has also written for eWeek, Baseline Magazine, Redmond Channel Partner, ZDE's custom group, and CIO Insight, as well as many of the industry's leading vendors and channel organizations. Alison, who lives in Central Florida, is an avid Yankees fan. She enjoys rooting on her daughter's travel softball team and reading mysteries. She can be reached on Twitter at @alisoncdiana; on LinkedIn at AlisonDiana, or Google+.

Obamacare Vs. Patient Data Security: Ponemon Research

3/13/2014
Healthcare professionals worry that healthcare regulations mandating patient data exchange are luring more data thieves, says Ponemon study.
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Mobile Tech Extends Hospitals' Reach Into The Home

3/6/2014
Montefiore Medical Center in The Bronx is texting patients and might use Fitbits to monitor diabetic teens.
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15 Apps For Healthy Living

3/6/2014
A well-equipped smartphone and a little will power can help you stay healthy. Consider these diagnostic and fitness apps.
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As Doctors Embrace Tablets, Management Headaches Grow

3/3/2014
Mobile devices are just what the doctor ordered, but not all healthcare providers' IT departments have the right tools to manage them.
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Healthcare Pros React To Hillary Clinton's HIMSS Speech

2/27/2014
Clinton tells HIMSS conference that it's time to take politics out of healthcare, and many health IT experts in audience agree.
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CMS Won't Budge On ICD-10 Deadline

2/27/2014
Government agency will, however, allow some hardship exemptions for Meaningful Use Stage 2.
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Wearable Health Tech: Many Promises, Few Facts

2/27/2014
Digital fitness devices are the rage -- among healthy people. The healthcare community won't know the value to sedentary patients until unbiased research arrives.
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CPOE Stragglers: One Hospital's Fix

2/24/2014
Computerized physician order entry is mandated by law but some doctors still resist. Christus Health provides CPOE input assistants until docs see the value.
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CMS Reverses Course On ICD-10 Tests

2/21/2014
Medicare bows to pressure from healthcare industry and political heavyweights, agrees to implement end-to-end testing before ICD-10 deadline.
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Toshiba Fuels Healthcare Business With Acquisitions

2/20/2014
Toshiba expects to reach almost $10 billion in healthcare sales by 2018. An aggressive acquisition plan is key to its growth.
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3D Printing Reshapes Healthcare

2/20/2014
Printed livers, ears, hands, and eyes? 3D printing can change and save lives.
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Online Patient Reviews: 6 Strategies For Doctors

2/20/2014
Healthcare practices can't control what patients write, but they can control how they respond to increasingly popular review sites like Yelp and RateMDs.
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States High on Medical Marijuana Technology

2/18/2014
Advocates are optimistic technology will help medical marijuana be more than a pipe dream in a growing number of states.
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10 Waiting Room Apps That Engage Patients

2/14/2014
Waiting room stress raising your patients' blood pressure? Use these apps to keep patients busy and your practice running smoothly.
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ICD-10 May Cost 3X More Than Estimated, AMA Says

2/13/2014
AMA study says ICD-10 transition could cost three times as much as previously estimated and association asks HSS to reconsider mandate.
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Will Most Healthcare Apps Escape FDA Scrutiny?

2/13/2014
PROTECT Act of 2014 proposes that Food and Drug Administration doesn’t need to oversee "low risk" health IT products such as electronic health records and fitness apps.
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Labs Must Protect Newly Portable Patient Data

2/12/2014
Now that the Department of Health and Human Services has ruled that consumers can get their medical test results, labs' IT departments must give security and privacy top priority.
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Business Casual Dress For Job Interviews: Do's And Don'ts

1/8/2014
In an age of business casual, how can you make sure you're wearing correct attire when you earn a sit-down interview at companies like Google, Amazon, and PayPal?
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Harmon.ie, IBM Partner On Microsoft Outlook Integration

3/6/2012
Social email developer focuses on email-based collaboration tools for business users.
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Siemens Suite Upgrade: Better UC In Cloud, Mobile Devices

3/6/2012
OpenScape Unified Communications Suite version 7, due out in June, has "call swipe" feature that lets users switch phones in mid call with one flick.
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Wrike Adds Workload View To Project Management Software

2/22/2012
Managers can view assignment distribution to make better use of employee resources, resolve scheduling conflicts.
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15 Tech Venture Capitalists Worth Knowing

8/17/2011
Venture capitalists, whether part of a firm or independent angel investors, play an important role in financing tech innovation. These movers and shakers dominate venture funding.
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Android Phones Targeted By Trojan

5/3/2011
A new Android Trojan that displays some botnet characteristics has emerged from China, Lookout Mobile Security warns.
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Top 20 Enterprise Laser Printers

4/14/2011
Demand for networked color laser printers continues to grow. They offer high-resolution, crisp text, and vivid colors, and are playing a greater role in businesses. But they face challenges: high-performance and lower cost inkjet printers and a weak economy that caused companies to look for ways to cut print costs or allocate those costs to departments. And there's still a big market for black and white printers. Most printers now meet Energy Star standards, which means energy efficiency isn't a
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SciQuest Refreshes Collaborative eProcurement

4/8/2011
Enterprise-wide spending compliance and aggregate buying are among the features added to the on-demand procurement and supplier-management offering.
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Social Media Influences Website Traffic Indirectly

4/7/2011
Almost 20% of visits to company sites are prompted by social media, whereas less than 1% come via direct links, according to ForeSee study.
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SugarCRM Boosts Social Customer Relationship Management Integration

4/7/2011
The software maker announced it has extended the capabilities of its mobile apps, deepened its relationship with IBM, and acquired iExtensions CRM.
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Facebook App Connects Buyers To Manufacturers' Resellers

4/4/2011
Channel Intelligence's Where to Buy Facebook helps brands use the social network to direct consumers to the retailers that sell their wares.
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Infor SharePoint Interface Connects Enterprise Apps

4/1/2011
Workspace is a standard SharePoint-based user interface that ties together Infor business applications such as enterprise resource planning, business intelligence, and collaboration.
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Telligent Connects With Microsoft Lync

3/31/2011
The beta version of the company's community software includes presence, chat, VoIP, and the capability to initiate videoconferences from inside Lync.
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Google Settles FTC Privacy Suit Over Buzz

3/30/2011
Internet giant agrees to 20 years of third-party audits, as well as implementing programs to protect users' personal data and contacts.
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Consona Adds Social Media To Knowledge Management

3/29/2011
KM v8.0 captures information from a variety of sources such as social media, blogs, office suites, and other repositories to empower customer service to support clients.
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Videoconferencing, Telepresence Spending To Double By 2015

3/28/2011
Cisco-Tandberg, Avaya, Lifesize, and Polycom are focusing on conference room systems, projected as the area of greatest growth, according to Infonetics.
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IBM Intros Social Media Analytics

3/25/2011
The cloud-based Coremetrics Social and Unica email optimization suite help businesses assess the impact of social marketing initiatives.
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Color Labs Offers Location-Based Photo Sharing App

3/24/2011
The software generates a network of users based solely on proximity, and combines users' photographs from the same location and makes them viewable on social media sites such as Twitter.
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14 Leading Social CRM Applications

3/23/2011
Social CRM is a double-edged sword. It gives businesses a tremendous opportunity to easily communicate with consumers, rapidly answering questions and responding to concerns. But it also gives companies more chances to slip-up or to be perceived as being unresponsive or uncaring. That is why a growing number of organizations are stepping beyond the confines of traditional customer relationship management and incorporating social media into the next wave of CRM implementation.
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Box Brings Content Management To The Cloud

3/23/2011
ECM Cloud Connect can move information between more than 40 on-site enterprise content management systems like Microsoft SharePoint and EMC Documentum and Box's cloud platform.
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ON24 Brings Social Media Capabilities To Webcasting Platform

3/22/2011
The development environment uses widgets to add collaboration, training, and social network feed tools to online meetings.
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Binfire Boosts Project Management In Collaboration App

3/21/2011
The cloud-based software gets a real-time, interactive whiteboard, tagging, and free-form search.
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Nuix Integrates E-Discovery With Lotus Notes

3/18/2011
The software pulls data via Domino Extensible Language (DXL), IBM's preferred method of data-extraction for Lotus Notes, across both email and other Lotus Notes databases.
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Executives Flock To LinkedIn

3/17/2011
Corporate leaders are shying away from Twitter, Facebook, and other consumer-oriented sites and embracing LinkedIn and specialty business networks, according to the Society for New Communications Research.
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Seesmic Desktop Adds Yammer Plug-In

3/17/2011
Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are among the social networking content streams available via the Seesmic client due to integration with Yammer.
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SAP Adds OpenSocial API To StreamWork

3/16/2011
Apps built with the social Web development standard can be made available to users of SAP's collaborative decision-making software.
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Oracle Integrates Crowdsourcing Into CRM

3/16/2011
Accept 360's product innovation management app allows companies to capture and share ideas directly within their On Demand customer relationship management software.
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LinkedIn Cites China Censorship As IPO Risk

3/15/2011
The business social networking site said the company's value could be hurt by a ban in China. It also reported revenue of $243 million in 2010.
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Twitter Handles 1 Billion Tweets Per Week

3/15/2011
In honor of the microblogging site's 5th anniversary, co-founder Jack Dorsey is sharing tidbits about the company and its history.
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Facebook Challenges Groupon By Expanding Group Discount Service

3/14/2011
The social media leader is seeking a bigger piece of the daily-deal discount market by expanding its Deals program to more cities.
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Twitter Must Turn Over Records In Wikileaks Case

3/14/2011
ACLU and Electronic Freedom Foundation plan to appeal a judge's ruling, siding with the U.S. government, requiring the microblogging site to release information on three users who had contact with Wikileaks.
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Chrysler Dumps Social Media Firm After Twitter Obscenity

3/11/2011
The automaker ends its contract with New Media Strategies over the controversial tweet and starts looking for a new social-media agency.
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Foursquare, Amex Partner On Offer Program At SXSW

3/11/2011
The pilot program lets South by Southwest Interactive attendees link personal American Express accounts and Foursquare profiles to easily redeem merchant offers without coupons or codes.
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Chrysler Addresses Twitter Foul-Up

3/10/2011
Automaker takes steps to protect its brand after a social media agency employee -- since fired -- posted an offensive tweet on its feed.
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Groupon Sued Over Expiration Dates

3/10/2011
LivingSocial and other group discounting sites may also face legal challenges, a law firm warns.
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Facebook, Warner Bros. Ink Movie Rental Deal

3/9/2011
The Hollywood studio is making feature films available through the social network in exchange for Facebook Credits currency.
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Foursquare Upgrades iPhone, Android Apps

3/9/2011
A BlackBerry refresh is slated for release this week, while updates for Symbian and Windows devices are in the works.
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Skype Adds Advertising To Windows App

3/8/2011
Some users of the paid version of the communications service are objecting to the ads.
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YouTube Acquires Next New Networks

3/8/2011
Google will pay less than $50 million for the company, which has produced viral video hits such as "Bed Intruder" and "Double Rainbow."
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BrightEdge Introduces Social Analytics SEO Tool

3/7/2011
Technology analyzes tweets and Facebook "likes" to help businesses determine the best ways to use social networks to boost search engine optimization and traffic.
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Foursquare Copycat Launched By China's Sina

3/7/2011
WeiLingDi location-based service encourages residents to virtually follow celebrities, in addition to sharing their own whereabouts with friends.
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Top 15 Cloud Collaboration Apps

3/7/2011
Judging by the investments that developers -- both well-established and start-ups -- are making in the collaboration market, software vendors are paying more than lip service to the adage that no man is an island. Certainly, businesses are investigating -- and investing in -- tools that help employees brainstorm, locate each other, schedule meetings, and communicate via social networks. Collaboration technology itself covers a broad spectrum of devices, from instant messaging and email, to cell
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Twitter Updates iPhone, iPad App

3/4/2011
The software simplifies access to photos, links, and communications tools, although some Apple iOS users don't like the new Quick Bar feature.
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Social CRM Rush Projected For Enterprises

3/4/2011
Gartner study finds large businesses are accelerating use of social media for customer service and brand management with 30% planning to adopt it over the next 24 months.
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Facebook Offers Commenting Plug-In To Other Sites

3/1/2011
Many Web sites use Facebook for their comments engine. Now they can easily add user-moderation, user-identity, discussion-threading, and other Facebook tools.
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SAP Takes On Salesforce.com With Sales OnDemand

3/1/2011
Cloud-based software helps SMB sales pros collaborate on opportunities, manage customer information, and improve communication using a social media interface.
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Facebook Adds Share Capabilities To Like Button

2/28/2011
The functionality is expected to bolster page views and traffic for third-party advertisers and content creators.
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Groupon Launches Group Buying Portal In China

2/28/2011
The daily deal company is partnering with Tencent and Yunfeng on GaoPeng.com, hoping to take advantage of a market that could reach $2.4 billion by year's end.
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China Blocks LinkedIn

2/25/2011
The business social media site is the latest to be barred by the government, although partial access seems to have been restored.
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Facebook Tells FTC To Balance Privacy, Innovation

2/25/2011
In commenting on the Federal Trade Commission's plan to protect online privacy, the social media site cautions the agency not to do anything that will hinder business development.
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Consumers Combine Search, Social Media For Purchasing Decisions

2/24/2011
Nearly half of all consumers surveyed used a combination of search and social media sites before making a buying decision, GroupM Search and comScore report.
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Facebook Cracks Down On Third Party Apps

2/24/2011
Software developers say that the social media site is disabling their apps, including Breakup Notifier and a poker game, without warning or clear explanation.
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TeleTech Offers Crowdsourcing, Simulations For Training

2/23/2011
The business process outsourcer says the new educational tools can cut training time and produce better workers.
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Few Businesses Use Social Media For Disaster Recovery

2/23/2011
Only about 25% of businesses have added social media like Facebook or Twitter to their disaster recovery and business continuity plans, a survey by Janco Associates reveals.
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Air Force Seeks Fake Online Social Media Identities

2/22/2011
The military has issued a request for bids on software to let it spread messages and make online friends using non-existent identities on social media sites.
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Google Street View Entering Israel, Despite Security Concerns

2/22/2011
Some fear that terrorists could use information in the mapping service to carry out attacks, while others believe it could enhance the nation's tourism industry.
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Foursquare To Host First Hackathon

2/18/2011
The location service expects the 150 registered developers to build a variety of maps, mashups, and other tools using the company's new APIv2 during the day-long event.
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Facebook Refines Search Tools

2/17/2011
The social networking site makes a move after competitors like Google and Greplin take steps to improve their own search capabilities.
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Social Media Marketing Up 40% Among Local Businesses

2/17/2011
Facebook and Google are the top outlets for promoting products online, while most who've used group buying sites like Groupon say they won't repeat the experience, according to MerchantCircle.
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Telligent Integrates With SharePoint 2010

2/16/2011
The platform, now in beta, unites Telligent's social community software and Microsoft's document collaboration tools to boost enterprise collaboration.
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Twitter Trends Driven By Mainstream Media

2/16/2011
Traditional news outlets are more influential than bloggers and individual tweeters, says an HP Labs analysis of 16.32 million tweets on 3,361 topics sent over 40 days.
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Myriad Launches Text-Based Social Networking Service

2/15/2011
Users of mobile phones without data subscription plans will be able to access email, IM, and social network sites like Facebook and Twitter.
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Hipcricket Adds Facebook Integration To Mobile Ad Platform

2/15/2011
HIP 7.0, the latest iteration of the cloud-based marketing software, also brings enhanced analytics and CRM integration.
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Micro-Funding Site Integrates With LinkedIn, Facebook

2/14/2011
40billion.com lets entrepreneurs connect to social media to seek funding from contacts.
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Internet 'Do Not Track' Bill Introduced In Congress

2/14/2011
Proposed legislation is designed to protect Web users' privacy, prevent advertisers from monitoring online usage.
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Location-Based Apps Prompt Store Visits, Spending

2/11/2011
Foursquare, Groupon, and Facebook hyperlocal offers prompt 20% of mobile users to visit a store and 17% to spend money, a JiWire study reports.
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Facebook Pages Redesign Adds Administrator Features

2/11/2011
The update, mandatory in early March, mirrors recent changes to individual profiles and includes admin notifications when fans interact with or post comments to a page.
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SuccessFactors Reports 4Q Loss On Higher Expenses

2/10/2011
Record quarterly revenue and billings weren't enough to bring the software-as-a-service vendor to profitability.
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Yammer Beefs Up Executive Suite

2/10/2011
Enterprise social networking software developer hires leaders from Alcatel-Lucent and CouchOne, promotes communications director.
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Open Source Approaching 30% Of Enterprise Software

2/9/2011
Flexibility, increased innovation, shorter development times, and faster procurement processes cited as top reasons for using open source options, reports Gartner.
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Facebook Moving Headquarters To Menlo Park

2/9/2011
Social media giant takes over campus formerly owned by Sun Microsystems.
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Facebook Opens Live Commenting To All

2/8/2011
A company engineer details the behind-the-scenes development challenges in creating the new instant messaging-like feature.
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Facebook Tops Social Media Brand Loyalty

2/7/2011
Social media giant dominates all competitors. MySpace a "distant second," Customer Loyalty Index reports.
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OpenText Portal Adds Custom Social Sites

2/7/2011
Users can mashup content from SharePoint and OpenText ECM Suite for use in intranets, extranets, Web sites, and enterprise content management systems.
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15 Influential Tech Board Members

2/3/2011
The board of directors' primary responsibility is to protect the assets of shareholders, trying to ensure they receive a strong return on their investments. In some cases, directors include venture capitalists or angel investors who have invested in a technology business. In others, directors are selected from outside the IT industry, perhaps because of their connections or success in complementary businesses. A board of directors can be a big asset. After all, the board gives a business the opp
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OpenText To Acquire BPM Provider Metastorm

2/3/2011
Demand for its enterprise content management software drove a 57% gain in OpenText's second-quarter earnings, enabling the $182 million purchase of the business process management firm.
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Hearsay Launches Social Media Management For Branch Offices

2/3/2011
Platform helps corporations maintain control over brand, compliance when local representatives use Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter to support customer relationships.
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CSC Launches Dedicated IBM Lotus Consulting Practice

2/2/2011
The integrator will bring Collaboration-as-a-Service to businesses looking to expand use of Lotus Notes/Domino, Sametime, Connections, and Quickr.
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Salesforce.com Acquires Social Productivity Tool Manymoon

2/2/2011
The company will operate as a separate division, with existing staff working to expand the collaboration app's features.
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Jabra Brings Lotus Sametime Unified Communications To Headsets

2/1/2011
The plug-in integrates capabilities such as call answer, call end, volume, mute, and remote ring detection into many of the firm's corded and Bluetooth devices.
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Facebook To Open Comments Platform For External Sites

2/1/2011
The social media site could power the reader feedback sections of news sites, blogs, and other digital publishing outlets.
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Trend Micro Unveils IBM Security Suite

1/31/2011
ScanMail Suite for 64-bit Lotus Domino platforms uses a cloud-based database to detect threats, including those generated by URL-shortening services recently linked to the spread of malware.
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Facebook Expands Places Deals To Europe

1/31/2011
Social network users in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the U.K. can now get discounts by checking in at Starbucks, Mazda, and other partner businesses.
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