Apps, Google's flagship product for enterprise IT, had a minor presence at this week's I/O developer conference, but some announcements at the show and in prior weeks deserve attention from customers of the cloud email and collaboration suite.
Computerworld News
Tag Archives: small
Even without big Apps news at I/O, small changes matter
Posted by Gsurface
on May 18, 2013
No comments
Ask Slashdot: What Is the Best Email Encryption Gateway For a Small Business?
Posted by Gsurface
on May 10, 2013
No comments
Attila Dimedici writes “I am in the process of implementing an Email Encryption Gateway for my company. I checked with my various contacts in the industry and came away with Voltage as the best solution. However, as I have been working with them to implement a solution, I have been sadly disappointed by their lack of professionalism. Every time I think I am one question away from being ready to pull the trigger, I discover something that my contact with them had not mentioned before that has to be ironed out by the various stakeholders on my end. So, my question for Slashdot readers is this: what is your experience with implementing an Email Encryption Gateway for your company and what solution would you recommend?”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
HP redesigns its ProBook laptops for small businesses, prices start at $499
Posted by Gsurface
on May 6, 2013
No comments
Last fall, HP took a small step toward refreshing its ProBook business notebooks when it started offering some of them with AMD Trinity chips. Eight months later, it’s time for a real makeover: the company just announced a handful of new models with a thinner, lighter design and a fresh look. The ProBook 430, 440, 455 and 470 range in size from 13.3 inches to 17.3, and are made of aluminum, with spill-resistant keyboards and a soft-touch paint job. With the exception of the 430, which ships in July with Haswell, they’ll arrive this month with a mix of Ivy Bridge CPUs and AMD Richland chips. (Specifically, only the 14- and 15-inch models will be offered with AMD.)
Other particulars: they all have 1,366 x 768 matte displays (non-touch), with the 17-inch model stepping up to 1,600 x 900. All but the 430 can be had with an optional optical drive; if you skip it, there’s a weighted placeholder sitting where the DVD burner would be. Additionally, the 440, 450 and 470 can be used with a six- or nine-cell user-replaceable battery. Everything comes standard with a hybrid hard drive, but the 430 also has an SSD option. Again, all but the 13-incher will be available this month, for $ 499 and up. So, you can bide your time until then, or you can tide yourself over with that handful of photos below.
Gallery: HP ProBook 430, 440, 450 and 470
Speeding Object Makes Small Hole In the ISS Solar Array
Posted by Gsurface
on April 30, 2013
No comments
New submitter cute_orc writes “The International Space Station has been hit by a small object. Chris Hadfield, an astronaut currently on the ISS, described it in his Twitter feed as ‘a small stone from the universe.’ He also said he was glad it didn’t hit the hull. Jim Scotti, a planetary scientist from the University of Arizona, thinks the object may have had a different origin: ‘It’s unlikely this was caused by a meteor; more likely a piece of man-made space debris in low Earth orbit.’”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Switched On: Microsoft’s small tablet trap
Posted by Gsurface
on April 29, 2013
No comments
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.
More Info
For example, if x86 chips were more competitive with ARM processors from a performance-per-watt perspective, then Microsoft wouldn’t be as reliant on Metro-style apps for functionality. And if more developers were creating Metro-style apps, then consumers wouldn’t have to go to the legacy desktop mode as much to get things done. (Until the company releases a Metro-style Office, Microsoft really can’t wag its finger too much at third parties.)
Soluto Brings Web-Based PC Management To Small Business, Ranks The Best Windows Laptops For SMBs (It’s A Mac)
Posted by Gsurface
on April 25, 2013
No comments
Over the last few years, Israeli IT startup Soluto has morphed from simply being PC software that helps users run diagnostics on their hard drives, to a web-based platform that aims to turn you into a one-person Help Desk. In other words, Soluto now allows anyone to offer remote tech support and run diagnostics, whether that be for your mom’s computer or dozens of customers.
TechCrunch
Apple’s R&D Spending Rises, But It’s Still Small Change
Posted by Gsurface
on April 24, 2013
No comments
Apple plans to keep inventing new product categories without much of a boost from its cash reserves.
As its gross margins shrink and the company casts about for its next hit product categories, Apple is continuing to spend more on research and development than it has in the past (see “Can Apple Still Innovate on a Shoestring?”).
Nike+ FuelBand app for iOS adds friends and sharing, no small amount of bragging
Posted by Gsurface
on April 23, 2013
No comments
Where’s the fun in owning an exercise tracker like the Nike+ FuelBand if you can’t lord your healthiness over others? Nike must have wondered the same thing, as it just updated the FuelBand’s iOS app to add Nike+ Friends. Wearers can now learn where their step count places them relative to their peers and share the results for all to see. Should there be any doubters, owners can attach photos, locations and mentions of nearby friends to back up their boasting. Yes, it’s an upgrade that’s primarily focused on oneupmanship, but it’s good in our book if it makes us walk just a bit further each day.
Filed under: Peripherals, Wearables
Source: App Store
Symantec report finds small businesses battered by cybercrime
Posted by Gsurface
on April 16, 2013
No comments
Cybercriminals are increasingly targeting small businesses due to their less sophisticated defenses, according to a new report from Symantec.
Computerworld News
Justice Dept. to FCC: Give small carriers a chance in next auction
Posted by Gsurface
on April 13, 2013
No comments
The Justice Department tells the FCC that it must make sure smaller players, like Sprint and T-Mobile, get access to low-frequency spectrum to keep competition alive. [Read more]
     |
Facebook’s one small step for mankind
Posted by Gsurface
on April 6, 2013
No comments
commentary The announcement of Facebook Home may not signal the end of the infuriating relationship people have with the technology they use. But it’s a move in the right direction. [Read more]
CNET News
Android Launchers Are A Small Market, Can Facebook Home Change That?
Posted by Gsurface
on April 5, 2013
No comments
Facebook is getting into the “Android launcher” market, the company has confirmed, thanks to its new Facebook Home application announced today. The app, as previously reported, is new software that integrates the Facebook experience deeply into the Android operating system. But Android launchers today aren’t a very large market, relative to the reach Facebook has in mind. Will the Facebook brand be able to change that? Facebook already has an incredible presence on mobile. It’s the most-used application on your phone. And of Facebook’s more than 1 billion active users, 680 million are active on mobile. It only makes sense for Facebook to build something that takes better advantage of this major shift in computing by putting its service front and center in people’s everyday lives. But compared with the enormity of Facebook, the Android launcher market is much smaller. According to Google Play data, Go Launcher EX, the top free Android launcher, has somewhere between 50 million to 100 million installs worldwide. But that includes users who are installing it on multiple devices, or again and again as they change phones. According to app-store analytics firm Distimo, the launcher has actually only been installed on 6 million unique devices in the U.S. since mid-August 2012. Facebook Home To Join The “Android Launcher” Market Launchers are mobile applications popular among Android users that allow you to further customize the look, feel and functionality of the native Android experience, replacing the user interface experience that ships with your phone. They allow you to do things like install themes, customize icon skins, change the way you navigate between screens or access the application drawer, for example, and much more. Some have 3D effects, others include their own widgets, and some offer a variety of widgets, themes and other add-ons for download or sale separately. But the one thing they have had in common is that they’ve generally appealed to a more advanced, more technically inclined crowd that likes to tweak and customize their devices. They appeal to those who feel confined by the locked-down experience on iOS and want more control. This is the competitive market that Facebook Home is joining, and Facebook’s Launcher, though beautifully designed, is an entirely different experience from the launchers available today. Although like the others, Home is about changing the default Android interface, it differs in that it changes it to one of Facebook’s liking, while other launchers are about offering users
TechCrunch
The Twighlight of Small In-House Data Centers
Posted by Gsurface
on March 29, 2013
No comments
dcblogs writes “Virtualization, cloud services and software-as-a-service (SaaS) is making it much easier to shift IT infrastructure operations to service providers, and that is exactly what many users are doing. Of the new data center space being built in the U.S., service providers accounted for about 13% of it last year, but by 2017 they will be responsible for more than 30% of this new space, says IDC. ‘We are definitely seeing a trend away from in-house data centers toward external data centers, external provisioning,’ said Gartner analyst Jon Hardcastle. Among those planning for a transition is the University of Kentucky’s CIO, who wants to reduce his data center footprint by half to two thirds. He expects in three to five years service provider pricing models ‘will be very attractive to us and allow us to take most of our computing off of our data center.’ IT managers says a big reason for the shift is IT pros don’t want to work in data centers at small-to-mid size firms that can’t offer them a career path. Hank Seader, managing principal of the Uptime Institute, said that it takes a ‘certain set of legacy skills, a certain commitment to the less than glorious career fields to make data centers work, and it’s hard to find people to do it.’”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Google updates Nexus 4 design with small nubs, new camera lens
Posted by Gsurface
on March 28, 2013
No comments
Apparently, Nexus 4 owners have been having some issues keeping their new phone from flying off their desk and ending up on the floor. Because of the rear glass panel, the phone can slide around fairly easily depending on the type of surface it’s on. However, Google redesigned the phone just slightly to prevent unnecessary
It’s twilight for small in-house data centers
Posted by Gsurface
on March 28, 2013
No comments
Virtualization, cloud services and SaaS is making it much easier to shift IT infrastructure operations to service providers, and that is exactly what many users are doing.
Computerworld News
Can Small Reactors Ignite a Nuclear Renaissance?
Posted by Gsurface
on March 28, 2013
No comments
Small reactors have some benefits, but they won’t make nuclear as cheap as natural gas.
Small, modular nuclear reactor designs could be relatively cheap to build and safe to operate, and there’s plenty of corporate and government momentum behind a push to develop and license them. But will they be able to offer power cheap enough to compete with natural gas? And will they really help revive the moribund nuclear industry in the United States?
Yelp Announces A New ‘Revenue Estimator’ For Small Businesses
Posted by Gsurface
on March 26, 2013
No comments
Yelp is announcing a new feature intended to highlight and quantify the value that the listing and review site provides for small businesses.
A company spokesperson told me the feature is important for two reasons. First, it helps business owners understand the impact that Yelp is already having on their revenue. Second, it gives them a baseline from which to judge the success of their advertising campaigns — it’s one thing to see an increase in page views after a campaign, and another to put an estimated dollar value on the new business generated by those ads.
TechCrunch
Kiva Piloting Microlending For U.S. Small Biz, Clinton Says It’s ‘A Very Big Deal’
Posted by Gsurface
on March 22, 2013
No comments
Do you have a favorite coffee shop or dressmaker in your neighborhood? Now you can do a lot more than simply rave about your favorite local business to a friend: microloan giant, Kiva, is bringing crowdfunding to U.S. businesses. Normally reserved for struggling, developing-world entrepreneurs, Kiva is piloting a new project, called Zip, to allow small business owners to solicit micro-investments from their neighbors. “This is a very big deal,” said President Bill Clinton, announcing the Zip pilot project in his hometown of Little Rock, Ark. “We have gotten ourselves in a situation now where the only people who can get real money are the people who don’t need to borrow it.” Mass online investing has been an entrepreneurial dream for years, but political hangups at the Securities and Exchange Commission have delayed progress on so-called “crowdfunding”. To this day, there are still regulations about the number of investors a business can have and their minimum personal wealth. Zip cleverly skirts regulation: “Kiva is a nonprofit and makes no money from the loans we facilitate, instead we depend upon optional donations,” explains co-founder Premal Shah. “Kiva lenders make no money from the money they lend, they only expect the money they put in as a loan to be paid back. Because of this model Kiva’s crowdfunding platform falls outside of SEC rules.” Lending money, regardless of regulation, so Kiva requires that small businesses have the confidence of a “Trustee,” on organizations or individuals who vouch for the credibility of the borrowers. Trustees function like any other noteworthy investor in a startup, but in a more public way that permits the masses to invest confidently without an elite network of established investors. To give microlending some viral flare, “When borrowers successfully repay their loan, they too can become Trustees and endorse other small business owners in their community.” Ideally, success begets more success, facilitating a cascade of local consumption and investing. Zip caters especially to local businesses with a social good edge. At Old Skool Cafe, at-risk youth serve piping hot Java, to give them a better future outside the prison system. Mandela Foods Cooperative specializes in cooking up healthy desserts. Loans start out as low as $ 25. You can check out Kiva’s pilot project here.
TechCrunch
Small rural carriers welcome a bigger T-Mobile
Posted by Gsurface
on March 13, 2013
No comments
Some of the smallest mobile operators in the U.S. have lined up behind a deal that would dramatically expand the country's fourth-largest carrier, a twist that has everything to do with the national dominance of AT&T and Verizon Wireless.
Computerworld News
Ask Slashdot: Where to Host Many Small, Related Projects?
Posted by Gsurface
on March 9, 2013
No comments
MellowTigger writes “I work at a non-profit organization. I am looking for a site where we can register an account under our group’s name, then spawn multiple projects to solicit programmer help for our organization. The current projects that we have in mind are small and probably not of interest to the wider world, although one very large project is possible. I need a site that emphasizes our non-profit as the benefactor rather than the wider world, since most projects are so specific that wider applicability seems slim. We would need help with various technologies including at least Powershell and SQL. At the moment, my available options emphasize individual projects of public interest, so we would have to spawn multiple independent projects, seeming to spam the host with ‘pointless’ minor tasks. We already have technical people seeking to donate time. We just need a way to coordinate skill matching, document sharing, and code submission out on the web. What do you suggest?”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
High Returns On A Small Fund Challenge Low Returns On A Big Fund
Posted by Gsurface
on March 2, 2013
No comments
Editor’s note: David Teten is a partner with ff Venture Capital and founder and chairman of Harvard Business School Alumni Angels of Greater New York.
I recently had an extensive debate with Tom Grossi, partner with New Enterprise Associates, about why and whether small funds (like mine) tend to outperform large funds (like his). He and I wanted to share the conversation with you.
TechCrunch
Y Combinator-Backed Zenefits Gives Small Businesses A One-Stop Shop For Finding And Managing Employee Benefits
Posted by Gsurface
on February 19, 2013
No comments
For startups and small businesses, providing and managing benefits can be a huge headache. In the early stages, this responsibility generally falls into the hands of founders, who have to contact insurance brokers and manage the whole enrollment process themselves. It’s distracting and tedious, but it’s also a critical part of ensuring that employees are happy, healthy and productive.
After becoming intimately familiar with this painful process at his two prior companies, Wikinvest and SigFig, Parker Conrad decided to build a solution — the product he says he wishes had been available to him at the time. After recruiting Laks Srini, a software engineer at SigFig, the two co-founded Zenefits — a service that quotes, enrolls and manages benefits for startups and SMBs.
TechCrunch
Do Patent Laws Really Protect Small Inventors?
Posted by Gsurface
on February 18, 2013
No comments
whoever57 writes “Patent trolls like to claim that patent laws provide a way that small inventors can create products and benefit financially from their invention. One such inventor faces selling his house, despite inventing a product that has sold tens of millions worldwide. From the article: ‘Inventor Trevor Baylis says he faces having to sell his house after failing to make money from his wind up radio and is now calling for the government to step into to protect inventors. “I’ve got someone coming around in the next couple of weeks to do a valuation on my house,” says Trevor Baylis, as he walks into the sitting room of his home on Eel Pie Island, in Twickenham, south-west London. “I’m going to have to sell it or remortgage it – I’m totally broke. I’m living in poverty here.”’”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Microsoft-Owned Yammer Hit With Small Round Of Layoffs
Posted by Gsurface
on February 7, 2013
No comments
We’re hearing from multiple sources that there was a small round of layoffs today at enterprise collaboration company Yammer. The number of people let go is around 20 staffers, according to our sources. UPDATE: Yammer has confirmed the layoffs.
TechCrunch
NanoSatisfi Raises $1.2M To Disrupt The Aerospace Industry With Small, Affordable Satellites
Posted by Gsurface
on February 7, 2013
No comments
For years, Peter Platzer was pretty close to a stereotypical rocket scientist on Wall Street — he was trained as a high-energy physicist, but he spent most of his professional career in finance. But he told me he’s always had an interest in space exploration, and now he’s working on an aerospace startup called NanoSatisfi, which just raised $ 1.2 million in seed funding.
Platzer said he avoided the industry in the past because it was slow and government-dominated, with little innovation. It took an enormous amount of time and money to launch satellites, which meant that the technology on those satellites lagged behind what was available on the ground.
TechCrunch
Small turbocharged engines don’t deliver on fuel economy promises says report
Posted by Gsurface
on February 6, 2013
No comments
Automotive manufacturers all around the world are working hard to make their vehicles more fuel-efficient. The US federal government has mandated new fuel economy standards that will go into effect in coming years that require automotive manufacturers to create engines that use significantly less fuel than most vehicles use today. To do this, many automotive
DreamWorks CEO Katzenberg sees big profit in small screens
Posted by Gsurface
on February 6, 2013
No comments
Movie mogul predicts studios will eventually charge less for content destined for smaller devices. [Read more]
CNET News
China Tests a Small Smart Electric Grid
Posted by Gsurface
on January 29, 2013
No comments
As well as making the grid more reliable and efficient, the technology could deliver high-speed Internet, TV, and telephony.
China has begun testing smart-grid technology that could eventually be deployed nationwide to make the delivery of electricity more reliable and efficient. It might also serve as a way to deliver high-speed Internet, TV, and telephony to the farthest reaches of the country.
Researchers build a working tractor beam, on a very small scale
Posted by Gsurface
on January 26, 2013
No comments
We recently saw research that suggested negative radiation pressure in light could lead to a practical tractor beam. A partnership between the Czech Republic’s Institute of Scientific Instruments and Scotland’s University of St. Andrews can show that it’s more than just theory: the two have successfully created an optical field that flipped the usual pressure and started pulling objects toward the light. Their demo only tugged at the particle level — sorry, no spaceships just yet — but it exhibited unique properties that could be useful here on Earth. Scientists discovered that the pull is specific to the size and substance of a given object, and that targets would sometimes reorganize themselves in a way that improved the results. On the current scale, that pickiness could lead to at least medicinal uses, such as sorting cells based on their material. While there’s more experiments and development to go before we ever see a tractor beam at the hospital, the achievement brings us one step closer to the sci-fi future we were always told we’d get, right alongside the personal communicators and jetpacks.
Via: BBC
Source: University of St. Andrews, Nature
“Star Wars” Writ Small
Posted by Gsurface
on January 25, 2013
No comments
Laser defense systems will be coming to fighter jets.
By now you probably heard the massive “Star Wars” news today: word that J.J. Abrams will be helming Episode VII of the beloved sci-fi series hit the Internet with the force of a Category Five hurricane (see “What the ‘Star Wars’ Sale Means for Tech Education”).
Review: The Iomega StorCenter px2-300d NAS Drive Is Heavy Iron For The Small Office
Posted by Gsurface
on January 21, 2013
No comments
Short Version While there is plenty to be said for cloud storage, sometimes it’s nice to have a few terabytes on your local network for backups, document storage, and fun. That said, the Iomega StorCenter px2-300d NAS drive performs all of the functions of a small NAS admirably and, with a bit of tweaking, can become a very usable system for remote access of your files on the road. Features: Multi-protocol support Secure accounts Front LCD screen Full Linux server built-in MSRP: Diskless $ 499, 2TB $ 699 (Product Page) Pros: Intuitive interface Easy set up Built-in antivirus Cons: A little daunting for beginners Cloud connectivity is difficult to finagle Some features are hard to use It’s hard out there for a NAS. You get no respect, you’re ignored most of the time, and people dump files onto you without using your whole feature set. Luckily, NAS devices are getting easier and easier to use and new devices like the StorCenter px2-300d are actually more like mini computers than dumb hard drives on the network. The $ 699 2TB model I tested can be used in two ways. If you’re in a hurry you can easily drop the drive on your network and begin copying files to it. It supports Time Machine backups as well as a number of backup solutions including Atmos, Avamar, and a scripted copy job system that will grab files at certain intervals. DLNA support ensures that your drive pops up on media devices around the house and you can even use the drive as a DVR by connecting webcams to the Axis or Securemind Surveillance systems. Once you really dig into the drive, however, beginning users will be stymied. Remote file access, for example, requires a quick trip to your router’s port forwarding settings, a visit that could turn many users off. The company offers an app called Storage Manager to connect to distant drives and if you’re comfortable with port forwarding it works quite well. If you’re less than comfortable, however, you may want to stick with Pogoplug-compatible devices like Buffalo’s CloudStor solutions. To be clear, Iomega makes it very simple to set up cloud access but it’s just wonky enough that beginning users may not enjoy it. Once you get past those configuration problems, however, the drive is smooth sailing. IT managers will enjoy the built-in anti-virus scanning as well as the system status data that
TechCrunch
Small Factories Give Baxter the Robot a Cautious Once-Over
Posted by Gsurface
on January 16, 2013
No comments
Rethink Robotics invented a $ 22,000 humanoid robot that competes with low-wage workers.
Chris Budnick is head of Vanguard Plastics, a small injection-molding operation in Southington, Connecticut, that makes plastic fixtures, gaskets, and other “stuff no one cares about unless it breaks.” On a computer screen, placed where all his workers can see it, Budnick displays what he considers the company’s key statistic: sales divided by man-hours.
Fusion-io brings Fusion ioScale SSD to small, speedy server clusters
Posted by Gsurface
on January 16, 2013
No comments
Fusion-io has made a name for its Fusion ioScale solid-state drives by selling them to the largest of enterprises — the sort that crave thousands of servers. Not everyone wants that level of computing muscle, though, which is why the pro-grade storage firm is now selling the Fusion ioScale to a much wider audience. Cloud service hosts and other, smaller companies just have to buy a (relatively) paltry 100 or more of the PCI Express-based drives, which include both slim 1.6TB and full-size, 3.2TB versions. Neither will be cheap for datacenters when prices start at $ 3.89 per gigabyte, although Fusion-io is vowing better deals for those buying in buik. We also suspect that the time saved by moving to fast flash storage could be worthwhile in itself.
Continue reading Fusion-io brings Fusion ioScale SSD to small, speedy server clusters
Filed under: Storage
Source: Fusion-io
Zoo count begins: No creature too small to count
Posted by Gsurface
on January 4, 2013
No comments
My Hope for 2013: Some Small Company Successes
Posted by Gsurface
on January 2, 2013
No comments
I’m fed up with the technology industry. As great as some products are from companies like Apple, Samsung, Sony, and Microsoft, there are countless devices and services in the wild that come from no-name firms that have been ignored. There was a time in the technology industry that it didn’t matter how much a company
Origin of Neil Armstrong’s ‘One Small Step’ Line Revealed
Posted by Gsurface
on December 31, 2012
No comments
SchrodingerZ writes “In an upcoming BBC Documentary, Dean Armstrong, the brother of astronaut Neil Armstrong, reveals when the world famous ‘one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind’ line originated. For years, people have argued over when Armstrong came up with the line, whether it was on the spot or planned years ahead. Also debated is whether Armstrong meant to include ‘a’ before man, making the indefinite article ‘man’, which alludes to mankind, into a singular, ‘a man’, himself. According to Dean Armstrong, the quote was shared to him over a board game, months before the mission began. He says, ‘We started playing Risk and then he [Neil] slipped me a piece of paper and said ‘read that’. I did. On that piece of paper there was ‘That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind’. He says ‘what do you think about that?’ I said ‘fabulous’. He said ‘I thought you might like that, but I wanted you to read it’. He then added: ‘It was ‘that is one small step for A man”. Armstrong had always insisted that he had said ‘a’, that that it was lost in communication static. This new story however conflicts with what Neil told James Hansen for his biography, stating he came up with the quote on the lunar surface. More on the historic moon landing and the life of Neil Armstrong in the new documentary Neil Armstrong- First Man on the Moon, on BBC.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Pearson buys a small stake in Nook Media, wants a fast track for digital education
Posted by Gsurface
on December 29, 2012
No comments
Publishers often want to work closely with e-book outlets — possibly a little too closely — but it’s rare that they involve themselves directly. Pearson is taking that uncommon step by making a 5 percent, $ 89.5 million investment in Nook Media, the joint venture between Barnes & Noble and Microsoft. Some of the reasoning won’t be made public until Barnes & Noble provides holiday sales results on January 3rd, but Pearson is clear that it’s furthering its online education plans: it wants Nook Media’s distribution skills to make a “seamless and effective experience for students.” Just when we’ll see this harmony is still up in the air, though. Nook Media has yet to outline what Microsoft’s partnership means for e-books and e-readers, let alone how Pearson factors in. We’re not expecting a sea change until companies start speaking up.
Continue reading Pearson buys a small stake in Nook Media, wants a fast track for digital education
Filed under: Microsoft
Source: PaidContent
MTA app for iPhone offers New Yorkers real-time subway arrivals, a small dose of relief
Posted by Gsurface
on December 28, 2012
No comments
Despite New York City virtually revolving around its mass transit system, local subway riders haven’t had a way to check the next arrival in real-time, even though some smaller cities already take live transit details for granted. At least some harried commuters can assuage their minds now that the MTA has posted its Subway Time app for iOS users. The title does exactly what it says on the tin, taking advantage of MTA’s signalling installations on the 1 through 6 lines (and the 42nd Street Shuttle) to determine train arrival times down to the minute. Subway Time won’t satisfy certain travelers as-is: it doesn’t provide directions, and the earliest expansion to additional routes won’t happen until the L line’s information is linked up in six to 12 months. Passengers running Android and Windows Phone will likewise have to wait for outside developers to finish their own projects. For those of us living in the right areas, however, Subway Time might take away some uncertainty — even if it’s just to confirm that we’ll be late.
Filed under: Cellphones, Transportation
Via: Wall Street Journal
Source: App Store
Samsung Galaxy Note GT-N5100 possibly seen testing, may put quad Exynos in a small tablet
Posted by Gsurface
on December 24, 2012
No comments
Feeling that Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 could use some more grunt? There’s a chance you’ll get your wish. An unannounced Galaxy Note GT-N5100 has popped up in benchmark scores with what looks to be a 1.6GHz Exynos 4412, better known as the Exynos 4 Quad variant that’s used in the speedy Galaxy Note II. We don’t know that it’s a small tablet, but the 1,280 x 800 resolution matches that of the Galaxy Note 10.1 — it’s not very likely that Samsung wants to duplicate its recent design efforts. Whatever the dimensions, the testing shows that the slate is using Android 4.1.2, and it may be a cellular-equipped model with that “kona3g” codename. If the GT-N5100 is more than just a set of benchmarks, the real question may be when we’ll see it; there’s no guarantee of a tinier Galaxy Note in Las Vegas.
Source: GLBenchmark
Redesigned 2013 RAV4 looks to win back the small SUV market for Toyota
Posted by Gsurface
on December 18, 2012
No comments
Toyota has shown off the new 2013 RAV4 mini SUV recently. The little SUV first debuted back in the mid-1990s as a smaller and cheaper alternative to the big full-size SUVs on the market. The small SUV was a hit initially, but its popularity declined as other automakers offer their own small SUVs. The redesigned
Square Register’s Next Frontier In Mobile Payments: Small To Mid-Size Regional Chains
Posted by Gsurface
on December 15, 2012
No comments
With the Starbucks deal in place, there’s no doubt that Square will continue to eye partnerships with large brick and mortar stores and brands to power mobile payments and loyalty. But there’s a point to be made that the major opportunity may not be with the large brands like Starbucks but with the multitude of small to medium sized chains across the U.S. and beyond. These are regional stores that have two or more locations, but aren’t as big as the larger national chains. If Square were to capture marketshare for these regional stores, the company would be able to complete the entire tail of merchants, from the local taco truck to the small chain of wine stores to the Starbucks. Interestingly, we’re told that updates to the the company’s iPad powered register, Square Register, earlier this year has brought more and more small chains to the payments platform.
TechCrunch
Ask Slashdot: Management Software For Small Independent ISP?
Posted by Gsurface
on November 25, 2012
No comments
First time accepted submitter Vorknkx writes “I work in a small ISP. Most of our customers have cable modems but some of them are using Canopy or Ubiquity products. To manage all that, we’re using a number of programs and solutions not necessarily made for such a task that are kept up to date simply using copy and paste. We have an Access database for all our internet customers, an Excel document for our wireless users, The Dude to monitor every user and a custom-made web application to monitor traffic. Needless to say, we’re starting to hit the limit and juggling between all these programs is a complete pain. Is there some kind of all-in-one solution that would allow us to eliminate all the copy and paste while keeping the same functionality?”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Australian scientists undiscover small Pacific island
Posted by Gsurface
on November 25, 2012
No comments
With the modern age of satellite mapping and Google Maps, you might expect that the map of Earth’s landmass, including islands, around the globe is correctly and accurately mapped. However, it appears that errors in mapping do occur as evidenced by a group of geologists from the University of Sydney who undiscovered a small Pacific
Cisco to build small cellular base stations, Chambers says
Posted by Gsurface
on November 14, 2012
No comments
Cisco Systems plans to build small cellular base stations, building upon its fast-growing business in Wi-Fi base stations for mobile operator networks, Chairman and CEO John Chambers said on Tuesday.
Computerworld News
NEC NC900C Digital Cinema Projector for small theaters is $30,000
Posted by Gsurface
on November 9, 2012
No comments
NEC has announced a new digital projector aimed at movie theaters with small screens called the NC900C. This digital cinema projector uses Texas Instruments DLP technology. The projector offers 2K DCI-compliant cinema quality meaning it has a brightness rating of 14-foot lumens for screens up to 30 feet wide. NEC says that the projector uses
Skype launches small business platform SITW
Posted by Gsurface
on November 9, 2012
No comments
Skype has taken its “Skype in the workspace” platform, more commonly referred to as SITW, out of beta, making it available to the general public. The platform is aimed at small businesses, and provides a way to connect with clients and customers worldwide instantly. The platform was in beta for six months. SITW is free
Kobo Mini review: does the world need a small e-reader?
Posted by Gsurface
on November 6, 2012
No comments
More Info
While tablet and smartphone manufacturers battled it out over screen sizes, e-reader makers seem to have settled on an industry standard of 6-inch displays. It’s a trend that Kobo, at least, is trying to buck. The company is supplementing its flagship device with a smaller model, the $ 79 Kobo Mini, which has a more diminutive 5-inch screen, and weighs less, to boot. But how much of a difference does an inch really make? Is smaller necessarily better on an e-reading device? And with so many options for consuming e-books, does the world really need a different, slightly altered form factor? We’ll tackle all of these burning questions and more after the break.
Continue reading Kobo Mini review: does the world need a small e-reader?
Kobo Mini review: does the world need a small e-reader? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Nov 2012 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | Comments
Engadget
iPad Mini gets torn asunder by iFixit, finds very small screws
Posted by Gsurface
on November 1, 2012
No comments
Interested in seeing all the adorable little parts inside Apple’s smallest iPad yet? iFixit’s already got its hands on one and has a currently-in-progress teardown going on, should that be your kinda thing. And what’s the verdict? Well, the teardown is still happening, but as of right now, there are some good signs. For one, the LCD and front glass are separate components, making replacement of individual components a possibility (and making a repair less expensive). And that LCD is once again of the Samsung variety, confirming Apple’s continued relationship with its legal adversary. As iFixit points out, Apple “often relies on multiple supplies for a single component,” so it’s possible that your teardown of another Mini will yield a different LCD manufacturer. More tidbits found inside thus far: confirmation of stereo speakers (a big change from the regular iPad’s mono setup). The teardown points out that the Mini’s Lightning charging port (significantly smaller than the previous 30-pin port) is likely what’s making space for that extra speaker. We’ll have more on repairability and unknown specs when iFixit’s all through.
[Image credit: iFixit]
Filed under: Apple
iPad Mini gets torn asunder by iFixit, finds very small screws originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Nov 2012 08:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
9-gigapixel image of the Milky Way reminds us just how small we truly are
Posted by Gsurface
on October 28, 2012
No comments
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but this just leaves us speechless. Pictured above is a compressed 108,500 x 81,500 pixel image of 84 million stars across central parts of the Milky Way. Taken by the VISTA survey telescope at the ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile, this 9-gigapixel photo is the result of thousands of individual images being meshed together. If it were printed out at the average resolution of a standard book it would measure a mind-boggling 9 x 7 meters. Using three separate infrared filters, VISTA is able to see through dust fields that normally obscure the view of an optical telescope. By studying this monumental image, astronomers hope to gain a better understanding of how galaxies form and evolve. If you’d like to take a look at this galactic work of art in its entirety, you can do so by visiting the source link below.
(Image credit: ESO/VVV Consortium)
Continue reading 9-gigapixel image of the Milky Way reminds us just how small we truly are
9-gigapixel image of the Milky Way reminds us just how small we truly are originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 27 Oct 2012 06:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Samsung-Backed Pivot3 Is Now Powering Samsung’s Push Into Small Business Cloud Serivces
Posted by Gsurface
on October 9, 2012
No comments
Pivot3, the Texas-based data storage company, and Samsung Electronics are entering a new partnership aimed at broadening the pair’s appeal to small and medium-sized enterprises wanting to deploy virtualized desktop infrastructure. Channel partners of the two companies can now offer a starter bundle to SMEs consisting of a Pivot3 VDI starter appliance and Samsung thin-client monitors.
TechCrunch
Recent Comments