The Associated Press is reporting on a new deal between Yahoo! (20% market share) and Microsoft for searches. Microsoft (8% market share) has been on the warpath to take on Google (65% market share) for advertising revenue generated from searches. With the recent face lift and feature enhancement of the previous Microsoft Live Search now re-incarnated as Bing, it shows Microsoft’s commitment to bring a serious product to the search market. Yahoo!’s ongoing financial issues have brought an about face regarding what their focus will be in the coming quarters with their new CEO Carol Bartz at the helm.
Partnering with Microsoft may bring a stronger marketing and technology effort in order to give healthy competition to Google, while also freeing Yahoo!’s precious development dollars to the enhancement or creation of lucrative products that will rebuild Yahoo! into a place where people once again spend a majority of their web time. With social site competitors like Facebook and MySpace contending with visitors, Yahoo! must re-focus their energies into leveraging their technology and historical presence to sway people back into their portal.
The deal is currently pending anti-trust regulator approvals from the USA and Europe.
Data Center Knowledgeis reporting on Washington state’s IT operations initiative fueled by $300 million in bonds.
The original proposal has plans to build a 160,000 sqft data center with an additional 160,000 sqft for office space. Most interesting, is the argument that instead of building out a large and expensive new data center, to put these operations into the cloud instead. An intriguing prediction from public sector IT experts is in the next few years that up to 50% of government agencies will migrate most data to the cloud.
The immediate savings to a large organization like Washington State are hard to ignore when your faced with the prospect of footing the bill to build out a brand new data center dedicated to the government. Now that viable alternatives that leverage distributed computing are available, it only makes sense to bring cloud as an option to the table.
DENVER, Colo., July 24, 2009 – WBS Connect, a Colorado-based global technology services company, is proud to announce they have been named a Fastest Growing Private Company in the Denver area by the Denver Business Journal (DBJ) for the second consecutive year. The DBJ recognizes companies based on their two-year revenue growth, and ranks them by percentage of growth. Between 2006 and 2008, WBS Connect achieved a revenue growth rate of 317%, which earned them second place in Flight II, which includes companies with 2008 gross revenues between $17.0 million and $46.9 million.
"We're pleased to be recognized again for our company’s growth”, said Mike Hollander, WBS Connect co-founder. "We’ve put tremendous effort into expanding our worldwide data network footprint and adding new solutions to help our customers connect to their worlds. Above all, I’d like to acknowledge our outstanding team of employees, the most important WBS Connect asset.” The WBS Connect services portfolio includes high speed Internet access, point-to-point data networking, Content Delivery Network (CDN) services, data center colocation, network consulting services, and cloud computing. In addition to its extensive technology framework built throughout North America, Europe, and now Asia, WBS Connect has partner relationships with over 35 major carriers across the globe. “We’ve experienced such explosive growth because our number one priority is customer satisfaction. We aim to provide ‘big carrier’ network infrastructure and power with ‘boutique’ customer focus and flexibility. That’s the reason our customer base has grown by over 280% in the last few years,” said Scott Charter, co-founder of WBS Connect. “They may come to us looking for a competitive price, but they stay with us because of our expert knowledge and fierce dedication.”
About WBS Connect Founded in 2002, WBS Connect is a provider of global technology services. They leverage multi-gigabit commitments with IP transit carriers to offer high bandwidth Internet connections and data transport services worldwide. WBS Connect also offers data center colocation, expert managed network services, business video communications services, and cloud computing services. They have a presence in over 60 carrier-neutral data centers across the world, and have access to over 70,000 network nodes. For more information, visit www.wbsconnect.com. .
For ten years Apple has been investing in, not only revolutionizing the personal computer industry, but enhancing the filmmakers editing workflow by providing nonlinear, digital editing software that works seamlessly with Apple computers as well. In the wee hours of the morning, Apple released an update to its Final Cut Studio professional filmmaking suite. Two years earlier the previous version had introduced Color, a revolutionary color enhancement and correction application which made other editing suites seem archaic by comparison. Before, such software had to be purchased separately from editing suites and cost upwards of two grand. Now with more than one hundred new features and with a price tag of only $999 (down from the previous cost of $1299), the editing suite is once again making filmmaking more affordable- it costs half as much as the competition; Avid Media Composer starts at $1999.
Here are some of my favorite new and improved features of Final Cut Pro (the video editing component of Final Cut Studio):
Speed change tools (improved): It used to be awkward to change the speed of a clip and the result was not always as expected. The software now makes it easier to get to the speed change HUD and the result doesn’t affect surrounding clips. Speed changes can now be made right in the timeline, even if a variable speed change is desired.
iChat Theater (new): For the first time, you can collaborate with others via video chat while sharing your footage, even as you make edits, all in real time.
Fully Customizable Interface (fully improved): Previous versions of Final Cut had some interface customization such as saving window layouts. The new interface allows you to change Timeline sizes and even add buttons to your windows.
As they had threatened, Apple just released a software update (iTunes 8.2.1) that takes away the ability for the Palm Pre to sync with iTunes.
The risk Apple takes is in annoying music-buying (and probably iPod-owning) Pre users. Is it worth alienating a user group to make a point? On the other hand, Apple has the right to protect its intellectual property. They no doubt spend a bundle in development, maintenance, support etc. It’s unfair to expect that Palm can take advantage of it for free. Instead of just searching for the next workaround (which I imagine they are), Palm might consider working with Apple on the issue. I’d think with some kind of royalty-paying arrangement, Palm and Apple could play together nicely.
At any rate, this will no doubt be a continuing set of lobs back and forth between Apple and Palm.
Data Center Knowledge has an article about Google’s approach to chiller-less data centers. Google’s facility in Belgium has no chillers at all and banking on advanced weather forecasting to plan load levels from day to day. Immense energy savings are realized when they no longer have to run compressors for the refrigerant units used to cool the water that carries heat away. For a globally distributed company like Google that has a massive virtualized infrastructure, it becomes possible to leverage cloud concepts to not only deliver improved utilization and redundancy, but also seriously help in the goal of power savings.
Google’s team is already accustomed to routing loads away from a downed data center and is likely on the path to fully leverage their cloud’s ability to shift loads from region to region on demand. Using this feature they can operate applications during peak hours in data centers that have a lower external ambient temperature for power savings on a global level. This technique is coined “following the moon” where virtualized instances are shifted regionally as darkness falls upon other data centers peppered around the world.
With power becoming more constrained as technology and the world population increases in consumption it becomes imperative to leverage every efficiency we can muster. Google has once again shown that they are never complacent and delivering innovations that have real and lasting impacts.
MSNBC ran an article citing the top 9 tech gadgets we must have but don’t need. I get a kick out of these types of articles, because despite being in the technology industry, I’m always surprised at what’s out there. I’ll summarize their list for you, but I’m going to reorder them to fit my categories.
These I don’t just want, I need: 1. Apple iPhone 3GS. I’ll argue we need this, at least I think I do, and I know many others that do as well. 2. Flip Ultra HD video camera. I need this too. Especially when you can have it for $200. I remember spending waaaay more on a video camera that weighed probably 6 lbs, had limited battery life and produced video on these silly little tapes that I now can’t play.
These I might need when I’m rich: 1. Kindle 2. This might be interesting, but I’m not sure I can give up the physical book just yet. I read in bed and frequently nod off while doing so. Can this survive the repeated crashes to the floor? 2. Roomba 562 Pet Series. The robot vacuum cleaner is designed to pick up pet hair. My question- how about the not-so-occasional hairball my cat urps up?
These I’ll certainly never need, and hope I don’t ever want: 1. GeForce 3D Vision Kit. These are glasses that allow you to see your video games in true 3-D. I guess you must actually like to play video games to see the value here. Gives me a headache to even think about it. 2. Squeezebox Boom. Gives you access to thousands of Internet radio stations and allows you to stream music directly off your computer’s hard drive for $300. 3. Dream Cat Venus. OK…what the heck? This is a robot cat that purrs when it’s touched, and nuzzles you. Just get a real cat already. 4. Touch Watch Phone. This futuristic watch has a touchscreen interface, video calling and 3G. Did they have these in Star Trek? 5. Transport bed. A picture is worth a thousand words (or $19,000…really). This wombish bed designed by Alberto Frias is a water bed with an LED lighting system, and a state of the art sound system. Claustrophobics need not bother.
Network World is reporting on how billions of dollars in grants from the broadband stimulus will be distributed. A government agency called “The US National Telecommunications and Information Administration” is charged with distributing part of the $7.2 billion that was included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The NTIA is asking for volunteers to help assess grants and submit suggestions to the NTIA board for those programs that are qualified and deserving of funding. It raises questions on the nature of these volunteers and the qualifications of those individuals on the interpretation of a grant proposal. The NTIA call for volunteers document can be found here Broadband USA.
Proponents of the broadband stimulus herald it as a great investment into the economic development of rural areas of the country and create opportunity. Large swaths of the country have either limited or no broadband access. Maturing web technologies that rely on broadband for streaming applications, SaaS, and on demand media are opening new economic opportunities and developing emerging markets.
The question on how billions are distributed to shovel ready projects remains obscure. Allowing the influence of billions to “qualified” volunteers from the broadband industry without a conflict of interest is something that will hopefully be addressed as this program moves forward. Until then, the government needs the help of citizens to figure out who gets what, check it out.
It was quite a coincidence that I began writing a blog last night about netbooks and how their definition was highly controversial due to the fact that some are beginning to have specifications similar to other notebooks, not to mention the fact that users will continue to want more and more, even when the original intent was to just browse the internet. I typed and deleted and became tired and defeated, succumbing to the certainty that my distaste for netbooks and lack of sleep was getting in the way of finishing the task at hand. Then I saw the newsfeed, if you can call a bunch of folks tweeting a newsfeed, “This new Chrome OS sounds like something the Onion would write about,” “Chromedroid (Androme?)” and the serious, “Google Announces Google Chrome OS.” Google markets their open-source, Chrome OS as a lightweight operating system targeted at netbooks. Developers, they say, will write web applications for the operating system, which means those applications could run on any OS, including Windows and Mac. Google says, “Speed, simplicity, and security are the key aspects” of their new operating system. Designed for people who spend most of their time on the web, the Chrome OS is a separate project from Android (there goes the “Chromedroid” theory) which currently runs on mobile phones. Raise your hand if you spend most of your time on the web. Now raise your hand if you feel secure on the web. Okay, that might be a mixed bag, but who doesn’t want to feel more secure on the web? If Google can pull this off, die hard, security-touting Macophiles might be persuaded. That being said, Apple doesn’t have a netbook, nor do they appear intersted in having one, and the majority of netbooks are running Microsoft Windows, which is relentlessly attacked for its security holes. With security a major focus for the Chrome OS, and the popularity of netbooks rapidly growing, Google could take a bite out of Microsoft’s platform dominance, and possibly faster than Apple has gained their market share.
In an attempt to steal market share from search engine giant Google and fend off up-and-coming rival Microsoft Bing, Yahoo launched its new Search Pad feature last night. Search Pad watches your searches and determines whether it’s random or part of a research project. Six or more searches on a similar topic tells Yahoo you are doing research. It automatically saves the links, thumbnails and summaries of the pages you’ve searched to the Search Pad, where you can add comments, or cut and paste text as well. Then you can save, print, or share your research with others via Facebook or Twitter. It is touted as easier to use than the old Microsoft WordPad or Google Notebook, where you have to manually copy and paste URLs and content.
Users in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Brazil, Mexico and Argentina all now have access to the Search Pad feature.
Being in marketing, I frequently do research on the web, so I decided to give Search Pad a test drive. I searched, conveniently, “Yahoo Search Pad.” I gathered my info on the pad, added some verbiage I had copied, and opted to save. I did have to take an extra step and sign up for a Yahoo account, but all-in-all it was simple and helpful.
I actually think I’ll use Yahoo more frequently now, especially because you can also cut and paste information you gathered through other search engines (and Yahoo looks up the URL and adds it for you).
This move might actually help Yahoo gain some more market share, at least until Google, Explorer, and Bing follow suit.
While Firefox has had some features most browsers snub, including its library of add-on third party applications, it finally caught up with many of the features in the recently unleashed Safari 4 with the Firefox 3.5 update. In fact, most features have been available in Safari for years. Give Mozilla credit, however, for upping the ante with a couple of items Safari lacks. Here’s the rundown:
Private Browsing While enabled, no history of your surfing whereabouts is left behind in the browser.
Firefox: New. But Firefox has the ability to forget a single site after it has been visited when the user has not turned on Private Browsing. Safari: First seen in 2005 with the release of Mac OS 10.4 Tiger.
Tab Drag-Out Tabs have been around in most browsers for the last couple of years, but now some have implemented the ability to drag a tab out of a window to create a new browser window.
Firefox: New Safari: Implemented in 2007, though the implementation was much improved this year with Safari 4 when tabs were moved from the very top of the window to below the bookmarks bar.
HTML 5 Web Standard This new media support is not used by many web developers yet, but once developers start implementing HTML 5, they’ll be creating media- rich sites that won’t require you to download additional plug-ins.
Firefox: New Safari: Added in March of 2008 with the release of version 3.1. Improved in Safari 4.
Speed This can be looked at in many different ways. Some folks are touting Firefox 3.5 outperforms Safari 4 by tenths of a second in javascript performance. Apple’s website says javascript performance in Safari 4 blazes past Firefox, though they only include numbers from Firefox
3.5 beta for Windows. Firefox: Speed-demon Safari: Blazing fast
Session Restore If you lose power or quit the browser, it picks up where you left off, even to the last word you may have been typing on a web page.
Firefox: Added in 2006 with version 2.0, and improved in version 3.5. Safari: No comparable feature.
Firefox 3.5 also has a nifty clear recent history option, and though all browsers have this, Firefox allows you to pinpoint a time range to clear, down to the very last hour of browsing, and includes checkboxes for history, downloads, cache and login info so you can choose what you want to clear. Safari 4 added an eye-catching Top Sites feature that lets you see a panoramic of your most frequently added websites.
All-in-all, we can be thankful both Mozilla and Apple are pushing the peanut forward in web browsing. Whether you’re on a Mac or PC, you have two great browsers to choose from, and you can even choose both if you desire. In either case, you’ll be browsing in style and you’ll be one step closer to speeding through the web of the future.
Global Telecom & Technology (GTT) is a new breed of telecom company - the technology and global network integrator. As the
telecommunications management specialists, GTT can provide custom-fit solutions for wide area network services or enterprise mobility solutions. GTT brings telecommunications management with a consultative approach, and over 10 years of experience to back it up.
Throughout our company history, our ultimate goal is to give you leading-edge technology solutions that will help propel your business forward. We also promise to stay on-top of the latest connectivity solutions and keep you in the loop with un-biased guidance.
Get ready, the best is yet to come. www.wbsconnect.com
