Hamachi 2.1.0.274

LogMeIn Hamachi is a VPN service that easily sets up in 10 minutes, and enables secure remote access to your business network, anywhere there's an Internet connection.

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SUPER v2012 build 54

SUPER is an easy-to-use Multimedia Encoder and Player, requiring only one simple click.

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Rainlendar 2.11 Beta 126

Rainlendar is a customizable calendar that displays the current month. It is a very lightweight application that doesn't use much system resources or take much space on your desktop.

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XBMC Media Center 12.0 Beta 1

XBMC is an award winning media center application for Linux, Mac OS X, Windows and XBox. The ultimate hub for all your media, XBMC is easy to use, looks slick, and has a large helpful community. Try it now!

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Opera 12.11

A full-featured Internet browser, Opera includes pop-up blocking, tabbed browsing, integrated searches, and advanced functions like Opera's groundbreaking E-mail program, RSS Newsfeeds and IRC chat. And because we know that our users have different n...

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"Old Clockmaker's Riddle"

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Over 50 levelsHuge number of puzzlesColorful graphics Absolutely FREE
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"Crusaders of Space"

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100 levelsOriginal music and soundPleasant design Absolutely FREE
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"Tabuleiro Medieval Deluxe"

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Play Puppet Games - Free Online Puppet Games

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HTC Windows Phone 8X and Desire SV available online in India

Related Stories: HTC unveils two Windows Phone 8 devices... HTC Windows Phone 8X, 8S announced for... HTC launches Desire SV in India, priced... 

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Huawei Ascend W2 images leaked online

Related Stories: Microsoft signs up Gwen Stefani, Jay-Z... IDC: Android accounts for 3 of every... Spice partners with Huawei to offer... 

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MapmyIndia CarPad 5 Review

Without a shadow of doubt, the CarPad 5 is a huge improvement over the predecessor. The smaller form factor works wonders, particularly when it is secured in the windshield mount. Navigation quality and the maps are brilliant, and so is the battery life. Display should have been slightly less reflective, but at the moment, it will work well in sunlight with brightness upwards of 80%. We don't think how the call/phone features will appeal to anyone. However, this is an Android tablet essentially, and you have access to the Play Store too!

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Wuala (Colmar)

Have you ever emailed files to yourself or forgotten your memory stick on the go? Do you want to access your files from anywhere? Want to share documents, pictures or large media files with your friends or family? If you've answered one question wit...

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AIMP 3.20.1155

AIMP is a free audio player with support for large number of formats and playlists. It works with multiple playlists immediately, allows creation of bookmarks and also has a playback queue.

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SkyDrive Build 17.0.2003.1112

SkyDrive is Microsoft’s cloud storage solution in response to Dropbox and other similar online services. The SkyDrive application integrates with your desktop and functions like any other folder on your PC or Mac. Files copied or moved to SkyDrive fo...

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ToDoList 6.5

ToDoList is a jack-of-all-trades organizer software that goes far beyond managing shopping lists. The tool allows to create short and precise task lists but also handles complex project flows. ToDoList presents tasks in a tree-view and visualizes the...

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DivX Play 9.0.0

DivX® 8 for Windows is a free download that provides everything you need to enjoy high-quality digital videos on your computer, including HD H.264 (.mkv) videos with AAC audio and videos created using all previous versions of DivX technology. You can...

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Dropbox 1.6.0

Dropbox is the easiest way to store, sync and share files online.

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Fences 2.01

Fences is a program that helps you organize your desktop, and can hide your icons when they're not in use. A "Fence", a term coined by this program, is an icon group on your desktop. Fences is an add-on to your desktop, not a replacement.

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Play Table Tennis Games - Free Online Table Tennis Games

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Play Chor Police Games - Free Online Chor Police Games

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Play Terrorist Games - Free Online Terrorist Games

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"Exorcist"

Features 42 levels to exploreProfessional voiceoversAnimated characters Absolutely FREE System Requirements Windows /XP/Vista/7Processor 1 Ghz or better512 Mb RAMDirectX 9.0

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iOS 4.3.3 Kills iPhone Tracking: Here's Proof

Backup. The file can be opened using the program SQLite Database Browser, which enables you to see all of the location data stored by the iPhone, including points of latitude and longitude for both cellular towers and wireless networks.

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DmC demo coming to PSN and Xbox Live on November 21

Related Stories: Devil May Cry gets a new "naked" trailer PlayStation 3 DLC for Skyrim close:... Super Mario Galaxy 2.5 fan-made DLC... Promotion: Hot deals --

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Twitter now lets you share tweets via e-mail

Related Stories: Israel and Hamas open new warfront on... Twitter unintentionally resets passwords... TweetDeck v2.1 update brings in several... Promotion: Hot deals --

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BlackBerry 10: RIM not playing the number game for apps, focuses on quality

Related Stories: RIM offers premium BlackBerry paid apps... RIM previews BlackBerry 10 at BlackBerry... RIM denies reports of developer trouble Promotion: Hot deals --

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Google Maps app for iOS 6 in final testing stages: Report

Related Stories: Google Maps app for iOS not in development:... iOS 6.0.1 and 6.1 Beta released, jailbreak... Google updates its Search for iOS app... Promotion: Hot deals --

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Need for Speed: Most Wanted Review

Design: PROS Excellent graphicsFun gameplayA real sense of speedOne of the best arcade racing experiences of the year CONS Single-player needs some tweakingSlightly disappointing cop chases Summary Need For Speed: Most Wanted is not pretending to be something it isn't and Criterion has made sure that you are very aware of that. It is an arcade racer and an exceptional one at that, nothing else. The developers have done a superb job in polishing this title and making sure that the game is fun. It is a very polished game that looks gorgeous and plays well. Beware though, this game is a graphical powerhouse and unless your system is up to the challenge, you will be hard-pressed to get playable frame-rates from the game. There are very few games that can fulfil your need for speed the way this game does and is, quite surely, a must-play for any racing fanatic out there. RELATED STORIES NFS: Most Wanted drifts onto Android and iOS devices E3 2012: EA introduces Dead Space 3, Simcity Social, and Most Wanted reboot Related reviews: Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit - Slick rollercoaster

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Borderlands 2 Review

Design: PROS Exhaustive array of guns and lootFunny dialoguesEngaging locationsVery good multiplayer mode CONS Campaign is too short Summary Borderlands 2 has taken everything we love about the original game and made it even better, making some much needed changes to allow players to enjoy the game even more. It is one of the best games you'll play this year and is an experience that must not be missed at any cost. RELATED STORIES Gearbox updates Borderlands 2 to fix sabotage exploits on the Xbox 360 PC version of Borderlands 2 gets a mammoth patch Related reviews: Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition Review Letterpress for iOS Review F1 2012 Review Review Welcome back to Pandora! Borderlands 2 brings you back to your favourite planet to sink yourself in complete shootout mayhem once again. What’s the difference? This time it’s got more guns, more stuff to shoot at, more quests to complete and more of pretty much everything that you loved about the original game, and then some! You get the idea.

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Airtel offers African customers free incoming while roaming in South Asia

Related Stories: Airtel starts taking Apple iPhone 5... Delhi HC stays government order to end... India's GSM subscriber base drops by... Promotion: Hot deals --

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Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition Review

Design: PROS Gameplay is rock-solidOne of the hardest games you'll play this yearExcellent storyA very atmospheric gameExcellent sound effectsEpic boss battles CONS Xbox 360 controller (or similar controller) is a must. Keyboard/mouse control is awfulOne of the hardest games you'll play this yearIssues with graphics on PC (workaround available here Summary Dark Souls is not a game that will appeal to everyone. If you're used to having your hand held at every turn or just generally want to play a game to unwind, this is not for you. This is a game that demands your time and will stress your patience to its limits. With Dark Souls, From software has created one of the most compelling and atmospheric action RPGs ever and it is an experience that must not be missed. RELATED STORIES DmC demo coming to PSN and Xbox Live on November 21 Steve Wozniak to feature in iOS game: Woz with a Coz Related reviews: Borderlands 2 Review Letterpress for iOS Review F1 2012 Review Review Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition is one of the hardest games we’ve played in a long time. You need to be prepared to die and die again and again and again and again and again and you’ll still revel in it.It isn’t that this game has some sort of murderously intelligent AI or that it has an artificially jacked up difficulty level – the enemies re-spawn after every checkpoint (bonfires) and each enemy will always follow its own, but consistent, attack pattern.

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FlashGet 3.7.0.1218

Want faster downloads and easier management of downloaded files? Then you need FlashGet.

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ZoneAlarm Free 11.0.000.018

ZoneAlarm Free Firewall blocks hackers from infiltrating your home PC by hiding your computer from unsolicited network traffic. By detecting and preventing intrusions, ZoneAlarm Free Firewall keeps your PC free from viruses that slow down performance...

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AntiVir Personal 13.0.0.2761

Avira AntiVir Personal - FREE Antivirus is a reliable free antivirus solution, that constantly and rapidly scans your computer for malicious programs such as viruses, Trojans, backdoor programs, hoaxes, worms, dialers etc. Monitors every action execu...

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MediaMonkey 4.0.7.1511

MediaMonkey is a music manager and jukebox for serious music collectors and iPod users. It catalogs your CDs, OGG, WMA, MPC, FLAC, APE, WAV and MP3 audio files. It offers an intelligent tag editor which looks up missing Album Art and track informatio...

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Thunderbird 17.0 Beta 3

Thunderbird is a great email client from the same people who brought you the Firefox browser.

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Foobar2000 1.1.17

foobar2000 is an advanced freeware audio player for the Windows platform. Some of the basic features include full unicode support, ReplayGain support and native support for several popular audio formats.

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NASA Moves to Secure Laptops After Breach

NASA this week informed staffers that a laptop containing their personally identifiable information was stolen from another employee's locked car.

As a result, the space agency is now working to encrypt all employee laptops that contain sensitive information.

The theft occurred on Oct. 31 and included a NASA laptop and official NASA documents issued to an employee who works at the space agency's Washington, D.C. headquarters.

"The laptop contained records of sensitive personally identifiable information (PII) for a large number of NASA employees, contractors, and others," according to a notice posted on spaceref.com. "Although the laptop was password protected, it did not have whole disk encryption software, which means the information on the laptop could be accessible to unauthorized individuals."

NASA did not reveal how many employees the theft might affect, but said it could take up to 60 days to notify all those involved. The agency said it is "thoroughly assessing and investigating the incident, and taking every possible action to mitigate the risk of harm or inconvenience to affected employees."

That includes partnering with ID Experts, a company that specializes in data breaches, to send letters to affected employees. They will have the option to protect their identities at no extra cost through ID Experts.

NASA warned employees not to give out personal information to people who claim - via phone or email - to be NASA staff. "NASA and ID Experts will not be contacting employees to ask for or confirm personal information," NASA said. "If you receive such a communication, please do not provide any personal information."

While this issue is sorted out, NASA has banned employees from removing laptops with sensitive information from its facilities unless whole disk encryption software is enabled or the sensitive files are individually encrypted. NASA's IT staff has been ordered to encrypt a large number of its laptops by Nov. 21 and to complete the process by Dec. 21. NASA ordered workers not to store any sensitive data on smartphones or other mobile devices.

NASA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This is not the first time NASA has lost a laptop with sensitive information. In February testimony before the House, Inspector General Paul Martin informed members of Congress that an unencrypted laptop was stolen from NASA in March 2011. It contained codes to control the International Space Station, and was just one of "5,408 computer security incidents [in 2010 and 2011] that resulted in the installation of malicious software on or unauthorized access to [NASA] systems," Martin said.

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NEC Unveils Facial-Recognition System to Identify Shoppers

The famous scene from Minority Report depicting a consumer walking into a Gap store and being instantly recognized, prompting the system to suggest new purchases based on that customer's purchase history, may have once seemed like an interesting movie fantasy, but it has now become reality. NEC has unveiled a new system in Japan that will allow stores to identify new and returning customers using facial recognition.

NEC's service, called NeoFace, was previewed recently at the C&C User Forum & iEXPO 2012 in Japan. NeoFace allows a retailer to use the system to analyze a shopper's face to determine approximate age, gender, and whether or not that shopper has been to the store before. Using a technique called Adaptive Region Mixed Matching, NeoFace can even identify shoppers regardless of random factors such as changing facial expressions, facial hair, or eyeglasses.

The system is so accurate that it passed a test conducted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), earning it the highest marks for high-volume identification matching. Although NeoFace is not yet a common tool for major retailers, the company says the system has already been deployed at Universal Studios Japan, assisting the company in its efforts to manage the arrivals and departures of the thousands of customers that visit the site on a daily basis.

"This service is mainly intended for retailers that have several stores," an NEC spokesperson said in an interview with Japan's DigInfo. "It provides retailers with customer attributes based on facial images. That information is helpful for sales strategies… Retailers can find out how many customers visit their stores at each time of day, and what customer's attributes are. This enables them to fine-tune their sales strategies. For example, the data could be used to run campaigns targeting men and women in their 20s."

For those concerned about the security of a store holding biometric data, NEC said that although the faces are captured by the system, the biometric data is encrypted, thus preventing it from being inadvertently disclosed to third parties. Despite the sophistication of NeoFace's technology, it is likely to become a staple in many stores, particularly because it is being offered at what some retailers will consider an affordable price: $880 per month.

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Adobe Forum Shut Down After Data Leak

A data breach forced Adobe to temporarily shut down one of its user forums earlier this week.

The Connectusers.com forum, where customers can discuss Adobe's Connect online conferencing service, was at the center of the attack, and is currently being investigated, according to Adobe.

The hacker, hailing from Egypt and hiding behind the alias ViruS_HimA, posted a file dump with more than 150,000 emails and passwords for Adobe employees, the U.S. Military, USAF, Google, and NASA.

"Adobe is a very big company but they don't really take care of them security issues," the hacker wrote in a message on Pastebin. "When someone report vulnerability to them, It take 5-7 days for the notification that they've received your report!! It even takes 3-4 months to patch the vulnerabilities!"

In a Wednesday blog post, Adobe Connect director Guillaume Privat confirmed that the site had been compromised "by an unauthorized third party," though no other Adobe services, including the actual Adobe Connect, were impacted.

Adobe customers were only a part of the hacker's larger leak, which included a screenshot of emails ending with adobe.com, .mil, and .gov, with the promise that the Egyptian hacker is "not looking to ruin Adobe['s] business."

Adobe took the Connectusers forum offline Tuesday evening, and is "working diligently to restore forum services as soon as possible," Privat said. Additionally, the company is in the process of resetting the passwords of those impacted by the hack, and will release instructions on how to set up new passwords once the forum is restored.

Adobe apologized for "the inconvenience this may cause to our forum members."

"Your security is of critical importance to us, and we appreciate your patience as we work towards restoring Connectusers.com forum services," Privat said.

ViruS_HimA may not be finished, though. The hacker warned that a Yahoo leak will be coming soon. "It gonna be very hot leak," the Pastebin document said.

Also this week, NASA revealed that a laptop with sensitive employee information was stolen from a worker's car. The agency is now moving to encrypt all employee machines.

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Move Over, Apple: Amazon Launches Mac Download Store

Today, Amazon launched the Mac Download Store. This new venue offers hundreds of software and games for Macs, and this directly challenges Apple's own Mac store.

Amazon's offerings undercut Apple's products with lower prices. A search in the Apple website for Microsoft Office Home & Student 2011 Family Pack will yield a $149.99 price. The same program is being offered on the Amazon page for $115.00 for immediate download. Apple will ship the program to you.

The Amazon page conveniently separates the software and video games. A click on software yields 201 results, and video games will yield 51 results. In offering these products digitally, Amazon removes the often cumbersome physical aspect of software and video game installation, and there are no CDs to keep track of. Additionally, as with everything digital on Amazon, all purchases are backed up on their servers which means they can be downloaded again at no additional cost, should the need arise.

Amazon has a history of combating existing markets. March saw the introduction of Amazon's Android App Store which has offered discounted games and apps, much to the dismay of the Android Market.

Amazon also faced a lawsuit from Apple earlier this year over the "App Store" moniker. Apple has claimed that it had rights to "App Store" nomenclature, but Amazon countered that it was not doing anything wrong because the name is very generic.

This Mac venture is a bold move on Amazon's part, and time will tell how Apple will respond. Certainly, the Cupertino Kingdom is thoroughly unenthused about this recent development.

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Windows MultiPoint Server 2011

One of the more interesting products displayed at this year's Microsoft TechEd was . MultiPoint server allows multiple users to share one computer at the same time. This is achieved by connecting workstations and thin clients on a LAN via the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). Hardware used to connect to a MultiPoint server can include traditional thin clients like products by Wyse, multiport graphics cards, USB Zero clients and repurposed workstations. There are several economic and admistrative benefits for deploying multipoint client for several users to share over the traditional "one computer to one user" common deployment. Think of large institutions like schools, for example.

MultiPoint Server 2011 has been recently released to manufacturing and includes several new features and upgrades to MultiPoint Server 2010. Desktop Orchestration is a new administration feature. It gives admins a thumbnail view over all MultiPoint desktops in a network. With it, administrators can instantly block a station, close or open a stations's applications, project one station to another and limit website browsing. Software integrators have new capabilities as well with MultiPoint Manager extensibility. They can add new tabs or sub-tabs to the MultiPoint Manager interface and create new controls. MultiPoint Server has a common SDK with both Windows Small Business Server 2011 and Windows Home Server 2011 and is built on the Windows Sever 2008 RS SP1 platform.

Other key features include a Windows 7 desktop experience at each station, multiple language support, private USB and unique IP addresses for each station.

MultiPoint Server comes in two editions: Standard and Premium. Standard gives up to ten simultaneous station connections and Premium, by default, gives 20. Premium also gives the ability to join a domain plus support for Hyper-V. The Standard edition is priced at $330 while the Premium is $817. CALS—which are licenses for the station—are $139 but academic and charity organizations can purchase them for $29.

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Top Google Search Tricks

While the search-engine competition is the hottest it's been since the early days (Remember Alta Vista and Hotbot?), Google remains king and is, arguably, as great as ever.

You don't become synonymous with the term "Internet search" by resting on your laurels, even if some pundits anecdotally believe the quality of Google's search results are declining as the company focuses on its other services.

Nevertheless, you're still using Google for search, right? And do you think you're using it to the best of your—and its—search abilities? Randomly typing in a word or phrase is good way to search. It's even better if you know to put the phrase in quotation marks, so Google will search for the exact term. But there's so much more you can do. Google has spent over a decade fine-tuning crafty tricks to help you search more efficiently.

With these ten tips, you'll be able to dazzle your friends by finding the most obscure information, long lost data, and that maddening bit of trivia no one else can score. Even just everyday information, like what time it is, becomes a power tool in Google search. To complete your search skills tutorial, we'll also show you how to rub your new mutant super-search ability in the faces of those around you.

The Best Google Search Tricks

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Ballmer: Office 365 to Launch in June

Speaking at the Confederation of Indian Industry Cloud Summit last Thursday, Steve Ballmer revealed that Microsoft's Office 365 cloud service will launch in June.

While there is still no firm official launch date from Microsoft, Ballmer said, "We're pushing hard in the productivity space. We'll launch our Office 365 cloud service, which gives you Lync and Exchange and SharePoint and Office and more as a subscribable service that comes from the cloud. That launches in the month of June."

Ballmer also spoke about Skype's position in Microsoft's cloud services. "...if about 200 million people who use Skype today to be able to talk to people at work and vice versa [you have to] be able to count on integration with your corporate systems when you're working inside the enterprise, to count on the security inside the enterprise, but then to be able to reach out in some of the same kinds of scenarios with your customers across Skype."

He stated that Microsoft has done a lot of work on cloud infrastructure particularly with Windows Azure and SQL Azure in the public cloud. He also spoke on the concerns of businesses with the cloud, "Many companies are saying, I can't go to the public cloud exactly yet or I can't go for all of my applications; we have too much concern about privacy and security and reliability." He addressed those concerns by pointing out the advantages of low-cost management and ease of deploying applications in the cloud back to the enterprise datacenter.

Ballmer reinforced Microsoft's focus on cloud computing. "This cloud computing phenomenon will drive growth, it will enable businesses to use IT more productively, and it will enable growth in the IT sector."

PCMag contacted Microsoft representatives to confirm the launch date of Office 365. So far there has been no comment, but representatives promised to look into it. This article will be updated with any new information.

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Survey Finds Cloud Computing Has Matured, But It Can Be a Pain

74 percent of enterprises are using cloud computing; a 25 percent growth since Avanade's September 2009 survey. Of organizations yet to adopt cloud services, three-quarters say it's in future plans.

60 percent of companies say cloud computing is a top IT priority for next year. The sentiment is even higher among C-level executives with 75 percent reporting cloud computing as a top priority.

43 percent of companies surveyed use private cloud services.

The United States has seen steady cloud computing adoption rates with a 19 percent increase since a survey conducted in 2009. The highest cloud adoption rates among those surveyed were in Italy, Canada, France, Germany, and Australia, respectively.

The survey also revealed cloud growing pains. One in five executives reports that it's impossible to manage all of the disparate cloud services within their organizations. About 60 percent are worried about unmanaged cloud sprawl.

The concerns about managing cloud services, especially employee access to public cloud services is well-founded. One in five respondents said they have personally purchased a cloud service without the IT department's knowledge. The reasons given were that many thought it takes too long to go through IT and that it's easier to provision cloud services themselves. About 27 percent say their company's cloud policy actually prohibits the cloud services they want to use.

While 60 percent of these companies do have corporate policies in place to prohibit such actions, those surveyed say there is no real deterrent for purchasing cloud services against policy guidelines. 29 percent reported there were no ramifications whatsoever and 48 percent say it is little more than a warning.

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BlackBerry 10 set for January release; phones will hit stores in February

After a lot of speculation regarding the dates, Research in Motion (RIM) has finally come out and confirmed that January 30, 2013 is when the company will officially release the BlackBerry 10 operating system. The same event will see the unveiling of the two smartphones as well, codenamed BlackBerry London and BlackBerry Nevada. We have already seen the two devices in a number of leaks recently. The release of the Blackberry 10 OS has been delayed quite a bit, and this will be the first major hardware and software announcement since the BlackBerry OS 7 smartphone range came out in late 2011.RIM is confident that the phones unveiled on 30th January will be available in stores within the next 30 days, and that includes the network tie-ups in certain markets. The handset codenamed London (also known as the L-series) is a full touchscreen phone, while the Nevada (also known as the N-series) sports a touchscreen plus QWERTY keypad combo, but does away with the optical trackpad considering the fact that the BB10 OS is meant for the touchscreen environment.In related developments, RIM is confident that the government customers in the U.S. will lead the BlackBerry 10 upgrade wave. RIM currently has more than 1 million government customers in the U.S., and about 400,000 customers got the OS 7 upgrades last year. The company’s BB10 devices were recently awarded the FIPS certification, giving them U.S. government security clearance for the collection, storage, transfer, sharing and dissemination of sensitive information.We believe that the BlackBerry 10 operating system and smartphones are the very last chance for RIM to survive in the smartphone business. Based on the kind of performance and multi-tasking capabilities we saw in the PlayBook OS (which is what the BlackBerry 10 is built upon, step by step), we expect a lot of good things from the new OS. Also, the leaked information about the London and Nevada handsets indicate that RIM’s smartphones will now match the rivals spec for spec, something they had not done till now. We are fairly confident that RIM has used the time well to engage developers, because the app ecosystem needs to be in place at the time of the launch itself, rather than promises of more applications later.

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Citrix Co-Founder Launches VirtualWorks to Combat Data Sprawl

Citrix co-founder and software industry veteran, Edward Iacobucci, along with a seasoned team of executives, have just launched VirtualWorks Group.

The company has developed an innovative enterprise framework, the Virtual Index Architecture (VIA). VIA works by indexing all types of data virtualizing the content amassed by companies. This is to enable employees to securely and quickly retrieve files from any application, location, or device—whether that data is structured, unstructured, resides in the cloud, or is hosted locally. Users are presented with a real-time image of relevant content from across the entirety of the enterprise.

VIA is a pre-integrated, plug-and-play framework that leaves data where it lives with no need for costly system integrations. A huge potential benefit is to increase employee productivity and provide deeper information insight. Uses for it include reporting, auditing, search, or creating new applications based upon a common index.

Engineered to handle both static and dynamic data, VIA is an extensible framework. It works seamlessly with any SQL-based application through Cross-Indexers that plug into the framework with no custom integration required. It's been designed to make it fast and easy for developers to create new Index-Enabled Applications that optimize the value of information for organizations.

"The exponential growth of data is only matched by its value to the enterprise," said Iacobucci, chairman and CEO of VirtualWorks. "With the rise of the mobile workforce, new digital media channels and a ten-fold growth of data in the last five years, organizations of all sizes are overwhelmed by data sprawl. It's clear that a radical new approach is required. Our new VIA framework is radical in that its non-disruptive: it doesn't require end-user or organizational changes or custom system integration efforts. VIA indexes the entire information stack, wherever it lives, to create more productive, nimble and competitive organizations."

VirtualWorks is backed by private and institutional investors. The company raised $8 million in first-round funding, which is being used as operating capital to execute on the company's vision and strategy. The company's technology is currently being used by more than 300 private and public sector organizations in Norway, Sweden, and the United States.

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Windows boss Steven Sinofsky out of Microsoft

Barely two weeks after playing a prominent role in Microsoft's launch of Windows 8 and the Surface tablet, Redmond veteran Steven Sinofsky is out as head of the Windows Division, effective immediately. Sinofsky, who led development and marketing of Microsoft's flagship product for more than three years, joined the company as a software design engineer in July 1989. His departure, announced late Monday, was abrupt and took the tech and business worlds by surprise, with All Things D likening the suddenness of the news to Apple's ouster of iOS chief Scott Forstall late last month.The tech site cited unnamed sources as saying that the Microsoft executive's departure "came amid growing tension between Sinofsky and other top executives." "Sinofsky, though seen as highly talented, was viewed at the top levels as not the kind of team player that the company was looking for," according to All Things D's Ina Fried.Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer addressed Sinofsky's departure in a company statement, describing the move as a "leadership change" without explaining why such a prominent and out-front executive was leaving the company so close to the roll out of its biggest new product in years."I am grateful for the many years of work that Steven has contributed to the company. The products and services we have delivered to the market in the past few months mark the launch of a new era at Microsoft," Ballmer said."We've built an incredible foundation with new releases of Microsoft Office, Windows 8, Windows Phone 8, Microsoft Surface, Windows Server 2012, and 'Halo 4,' and great integration of services such as Bing, Skype, and Xbox across all our products. To continue this success it is imperative that we continue to drive alignment across all Microsoft teams, and have more integrated and rapid development cycles for our offerings."Sinofsky took over the Windows Division in July 2009 after more than a decade contributing to and leading the development of Microsoft's Office products. He was also heavily involved in recruiting talent to Redmond over the years."It is impossible to count the blessings I have received over my years at Microsoft. I am humbled by the professionalism and generosity of everyone I have had the good fortune to work with at this awesome company," Sinofsky said in a statement.Julie Larson-Green has been promoted to lead Windows software and hardware engineering, while chief financial officer and chief marketing officer Tami Reller will lead the business side of the Windows operation while retaining her current positions at the company, Microsoft said."Leading Windows engineering is an incredible challenge and opportunity, and as I looked at the technical and business skills required to continue our Windows trajectory—great communication skills, a proven ability to work across product groups, strong design, deep technical expertise, and a history of anticipating and meeting customer needs—it was clear to me that Julie is the best possible person for this job, and I'm excited to have her in this role," Ballmer said of Larson-Green's new role. 

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Netgear N750 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router (WNDR4000)

Pros Record-fast throughput at the 5 GHz band. Multi-OS support. Stress-free setup. Has USB port for NAS functionality Cons USB support is limited only to storage devices. Lacks robust NAS capabilities. Bottom Line Netgear's N750 is a throughput thoroughbred in the 5 GHz band. Performance at the 2.4 GHz band is slightly above average with other top 2.4 GHz routers on the market. Advanced features and easy setup makes the N750 a router to easily recommend, despite anemic NAS capabilities.

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