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Not Your Father's Intranet

Most company intranets are little better than corporate newsletters: static, lifeless, boring. "You know what the most visited corporate intranet page is?" asks Eugene Lee, CEO of Socialtext. "The cafeteria lunch menu."

Socialtext, a nine-year-old company based in Palo Alto, California, aims to make the corporate intranet sexy again. In the process it is changing the way silo-bound corporate citizens collaborate.

Enterprise social technologies often do only a few things well, although many are rapidly adding features and integrating with larger applications to try to be everything to everyone. Employees use popular services like Yammer and Socialcast?often on their own initiative?for Twitter-style microblogging and Facebook-like social networking, for instance. Socialtext wraps that kind of "activity stream" and social network together with a host of others features, including blogs, wikis, document-collaboration workspaces, and tags that help people find information and experts on a topic.

A feature called Socialtext Signals allows employees to post, in an unlimited number of characters, status updates and messages to everyone at the company, to a particular working group, or to an individual. The stream of posts works like Facebook's News Feed, occupying a position front and center on an employee's dashboard-like home page. Each post, or signal, is part of a threaded conversation in which employees can respond to comments, add links to content, and tag information.

Rather than being made up of random posts about what someone ate or read, most Socialtext entries are created automatically as a result of collaboration with other people. These "in the flow of work" updates happen whenever someone does something productive in Socialtext that others in the company should know about?comments on a blog post, responds to a question, edits a wiki page, or tags a profile. The idea is that people demonstrate their value to the company not by what they say about themselves but by what they do.

In addition to traditional information like a person's title, location, and department, tags can display work-related experience, areas of expertise, working-group affiliations, and interests. Employees can tag each other's Socialtext profiles with information as well.

The software isn't staging a popularity contest, however. It's all about productivity: no "friending" at work. Socialtext has adopted Twitter's approach, in which users choose to follow other users. The service works through a Web browser, a desktop application, and mobile devices, and it can be hosted on the cloud or in a company's data center.

Already, Socialtext customers like Getty Images and the American Hospital Association (AHA) have replaced their intranet home pages with a Socialtext dashboard. Before the AHA implemented Socialtext, employees found it hard to collaborate with each other on issues of health-care reform, says Karthikeyan Chakkarapani, director of technology solutions and operations. He says the company was using up to 15 software-as-a-service applications to facilitate collaboration.

Before deciding on Socialtext, Chakkarapani looked at a half-dozen other similar applications, including Yammer, Jive Software, and Salesforce.com Chatter. "The problem is no one had an open architecture," he says. "With Socialtext, we were able to integrate it into our other enterprise applications and build a one-stop platform that people can easily access." The features that AHA employees use most frequently include the activity stream and wikis.

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Making the switch: My Android to iPhone diary.

So here I sit, feeling slightly like a traitor. Only slightly, mind you. I only have this Verizon iPhone 4 for a few days. But, I?m a mobile fanatic and so it?s due diligence for me to try out the world?s most popular smartphone. I?d be remiss if I didn?t eventually get my hands on one so that I could offer you my real thoughts about why I prefer Android.

Until this point, my experience with iOS has been only with the iPod Touch. Granted, minus the phone part, the iPod Touch is nearly an iPhone. But I have a few things that don?t really translate all that well. First, I use Google Voice almost exclusively (I don?t remember the last call that I got on my actual phone number?whatever it is) and I also want to use some of the GPS-enabled applications. Obviously, this doesn?t work very well with the iPod Touch and its lack of GPS.

I?ve heard just about everything that there is to hear about why the iPhone is better. I?ve made just about every argument I can make about why the Android platform is better for me. Somewhere, I need to see if there?s a middle ground. So here I am, day one, setting things up and starting this trip to see where I end up.

First Impressions

It is worth noting, almost immediately, that there?s nothing in the world of tech that feels like an Apple product. The iPhone is no exception. It?s hefty, but not heavy and has a fit and finish that I?ve not seen in other devices. Even my standby favorite, Motorola?s DROID offerings, don?t really match up to how the iPhone is built.

The camera is beautiful, but that?s also no surprise. I have seen people sing its praises ever since it was released. In fact, our own Zee even said that it was the only reason to bother upgrading, when the 4 was first released.

Strangely, even though the phone feels great, it also makes me a bit nervous. Maybe I?ve just seen too many broken screen pictures for my liking, but it really feels as if the thing would shatter into a million pieces if I even dropped it onto the carpet. The fact that I?ve already busted the glass on a 4th generation iPod Touch doesn?t help this matter.

With my Android phones, I?ve beaten the ever-loving crap out of them from time to time. My long-term test unit for the Droid X came to me with a scuff on the screen, but even after my repeated abuse of the phone, it?s none the worse for wear. I don?t feel that sort of durability in the iPhone and that concerns me.

The Differences

What really freaked me out about switching over to the iPhone was the integration of my Google accounts. In Android, it?s second nature. Fire up the device, add your email address and you?re good to go. It will even download all of your previously paid-for apps. There?s no need to tether it to a computer, and I?m especially fond of that fact. For Apple?s post-PC generation, it sure does seem that iOS devices are incredibly reliant on PC?s in order to operate out of the box.

What I have to hand Apple credit for, though, is having a truly unified inbox. Granted, on my Android devices, I use the Gmail application. The actual Mail app does indeed have a unified system, but the Gmail app is so much better than Android?s standard that it?s night and day differences. I do like the fact that I can add multiple Google accounts as Exchange accounts, thus pulling in my contacts, calendars and email. Using a unified system is great, if still a bit lacking.

In order to get the actual phone notifications to work, I need to use the iPhone?s mail app. In order to do that, I have to bypass all of the extra features of using something made by Google for Gmail. Labels work, but not exceptionally well. There is no Priority Inbox either. These are two things that I rely on pretty heavily. I?ll either learn to live without them, or be constantly bugged by their absence.

Speaking of notifications, you full-time iOS supporters have absolutely no idea how bad your notifications are. They are rudimentary, at the absolute best. Android?s system for notifications is unbeaten, as of yet, and Apple could learn a lot by implementing something similar.

There?s also the fact of not having separate audible alerts for each of my Google account emails. I have 3 exchange accounts set up. Why can?t I get 3 different tones to know which one has mail? That would really help.

Other than these things, I don?t have a lot of gripes. Yet. I?m still not very apps-centric in how I use my phone, so that argument about the app availability differences doesn?t really phase me. I?m a big fan of the Google integration of the Android platform, and that?s going to be hard for me to break away from. Otherwise though, it?s still a very nice piece of hardware, with plenty of reason to like it.

Oh, but the keyboard sucks. Apple, get your head out of your tail and allow 3rd-party keyboards. Just check the code to make sure that it?s safe. That?s why you have such rigorous standards for the App Store, right?

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Source: http://thenextweb.com/mobile/2011/03/18/making-the-switch-my-android-to-iphone-diary/

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House Votes to End Money for NPR, and Senate Passes Spending Bill

Across the Rotunda, the Senate approved a short-term spending measure passed earlier in the week by the House that would keep the government financed through April 8. Members of both parties and chambers said the move, which once again averted a government shutdown, should be the last of its kind. The measure, which cut spending by $6 billion for this fiscal year, passed the Senate 87 to 13, with nine Republicans, three Democrats and an independent voting in dissent.

As in the House, some of the Senate?s more conservative members voted against the spending measure, known as a continuing resolution, arguing that its cuts were insufficient. Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, offered his own plan, which he said would balance the federal budget in five years by eliminating the departments of education and energy, among other measures.

Senate Republican leaders backed the stopgap measure, praising the $6 billion in cuts that came on top of $4 billion in reductions contained in the current budget bill, which expires Friday. Jon Kyl of Arizona, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, said that over 10 years, the $10 billion in cuts would amount to $140 billion in savings. ?All in all, a good day?s work,? he said.

But Senator Daniel K. Inouye, the Hawaii Democrat who is chairman of the Appropriations Committee, said the continued cutting was bound to harm federal agencies. ?How much more can we cut before we have no funds to pay employees to monitor our borders and ports?? he asked. ?How much more before we have to cancel the construction of dams, bridges, highways, levees, sewers and transit projects and throw thousands of private sector workers onto the street??

The NPR bill, sponsored by Representative Doug Lamborn, Republican of Colorado, would mean that stations could not buy programming from NPR or any other source using the $22 million they get from the federal government.

?The time has come for us to claw back this money,? said Representative Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee.

This was the second time that the House has moved to defund NPR; a rider was attached to a short-term spending bill passed last month by the House but rejected by the Senate. Thursday?s measure, which House Republicans rushed to the floor before a one-week recess begins, passed 228 to 192 ; all the Democrats who were there and seven Republicans voted against it and one Republican, Representative Justin Amash, voted present.

The bill, should the Senate even bring it to the floor, is almost certain to fail in that chamber. Democrats control the Senate, where members of both parties have expressed skepticism about cutting off NPR because it remains popular among many of their constituents.

The organization, in the crosshairs of Republican lawmakers for years, came under intense fire recently with the release of a video that showed one of its fund-raising executives criticizing members of the Tea Party, and the hasty firing of the commentator Juan Williams for remarks he made on Fox News about Muslims.

Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, the Republican majority leader, said recently that the revelations of the video, made by a conservative advocate who posed as a potential donor to the entity ?makes clear that taxpayer dollars should no longer be appropriated to NPR.?

Democrats said it was politics, not fiscal austerity, that drove the bill. ?Why are we wasting valuable floor time on an ideological battle?? said Representative Louise Slaughter of New York.

The House debated the bill, and the procedure by which it was brought to the floor, for several hours Thursday. Republicans argued that NPR should be able to sustain itself through private donations, and Democrats countered that the cut would have negligible impact on debt reduction or the nation?s fiscal problems. They also accused Republicans of ignoring joblessness in lieu of attacking ?Car Talk? and picking on Elmo.

Mr. Lamborn said that while he personally enjoyed NPR, ?I have long believed it can stand on its own.? He added in a speech on the floor, ?I want NPR to grow on its own, I want to see it thrive. Just remove taxpayers from the equation.?

Democrats objected to how the bill was brought to the floor. On Wednesday, the House Rules Committee held an emergency hearing to expedite the bill, and it went to the floor under a so-called closed rule, which does not allow for amendments, counter to the promise of more openness made by Speaker John A. Boehner. Republicans pointed out that the content of the seven-page bill had already been debated when it was part of the larger spending bill.

NPR expressed grave concern in a statement today about the impact of the bill on the entire public radio system, saying it was a direct effort to weaken it that would ultimately choke local stations? ability to serve their audiences.

?At a time when other news organizations are cutting back and the voices of pundits are drowning out fact-based reporting and thoughtful analysis, NPR and public radio stations are delivering in-depth news and information respectfully and with civility,? Joyce Slocum, interim chief executive officer of NPR, said. ?It would be a tragedy for America to lose this national treasure.?

Carl Hulse contributed reporting.

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HTC is building a 3D smartphone, and it?s coming soon

The 3D craze is showing no signs of letting up, with HTC now throwing its well-designed hat into the ring with a decision to build a smartphone that has a 3D capable screen.

HTC is not the first mobile company to attempt the move in to the realm of three dimensions, as they are following the LG Optiums 3D to the market. The 3D HTC phone, yet unnamed so far as we know, is being regarded as a response to the LG handset.

According to sources, the HTC gadget will be ?lighter, thinner and cheaper than the Optimus 3D? once it hits the market.

Our question is this: who cares? Everyone who has used a three-dimensional television, let alone a small smartphone screen, can attest to the eye strain that they cause. You already have to squint to read from your phone, do you want it to hurt even more? Still, if LG and HTC are diving into the new market niche, there must be at least some demand.

As to when the HTC phone will arrive, there are two camps: the first that the phone will arrive this year, but towards its conclusion, and the other that with the LG Optimus 3D already in the market, HTC has pushed up the release date to the third quarter of 2011.

Sound off in the comments, do you really want a 3D screen on your smartphone?

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Source: http://thenextweb.com/mobile/2011/03/18/htc-is-building-a-3d-smartphone-and-its-coming-soon/

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Alan Turing collection saved

Back in issue 89 of Custom PC, you may remember that our own ex-news hound Gareth Halfacree wrote about his efforts to raise funds in order to purchase a rare collection of Alan Turing's papers. Through the power of Twitter and a generous donation from Google of $100,000, Gareth raised just under £90,000 for the Bletchley Park Trust so that it might purchase the documents for public display.

The collection, originally property of Professor Max Newman, a friend and colleague of Turing's at Bletchley Park, includes offprints of 15 of Turing's 18 published works, along with Newman's annotations. The collections is so significant because very little remains of Turing's work or personal belongings, with much of Bletchley Park's documents and records destroyed after World War II.

However, with a guide price of between £300,000 and £500,000, the collection looked set to end up in the hands of a private collector. Happily, though, this price was not met when the collection went up for auction last November, and the collection sat un-purchased, awaiting later sale.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, the National Heritage Memorial Fund, which aims to save the most outstanding parts of our national heritage at risk of loss to the nation, stepped in with additional funding of £213,437. Once this was added to Bletchley Park's own funds, the group was able to meet the list price and purchase the collection privately.

Simon Greenish, CEO of the Bletchley Park Trust said 'The acquisition of this hugely important collection has been made possible only by the astonishing support demonstrated by the public, the media, Google, the National Heritage Memorial Fund and Christies the auctioneers whose help in brokering the purchase is gratefully acknowledged. We're delighted to have the collection here at Bletchley Park, which is surely its most fitting home, and it will be an incredible addition to the visitor experience.'

The collection with go on display later this year in the Bletchley Park Museum. All of which just goes to show that it's possible for us to make a difference. We'd very much like to congratulate Gareth on this achievement, and also thank the National Heritage Memorial Fund for getting involved with the extra cash.

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Sprint-branded Motorola Xoom spotted, could ship with 4G Wimax

Motorola?s Xoom tablet has been spotted in the wild bearing a Sprint logo, suggesting that the Honeycomb-powered tablet could be on its way to the US carrier before long.

A leaked image surfaced on the SprintUsers forum, posted by user ?r0fl? who is said to be well known for his ability to provide information on new Sprint devices before they are announced.

The Xoom recently launched on Verizon, indicating that the tablet would receive an LTE upgrade shortly after release. With a Sprint-branded Xoom making an appearance, and suggestions that Sprint would be delivering two WIMAX-enabled devices, it is possible that the carrier could release the 4G LTE-equipped Xoom before Verizon.

If you intend on getting a Xoom, it might be best to wait to see what Sprint has planned. With two carriers offering the same tablet, it could result in lower pricing and better deals.

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Source: http://thenextweb.com/mobile/2011/03/18/sprint-branded-motorola-xoom-spotted-could-ship-with-4g-wimax/

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Hardware 20 - What's with all the Kettle Leads?

Hardware 20 - What's with all the Kettle Leads?

Posted on 11th Mar 2011 at 16:10 by Paul Goodhead with 11 comments

After a brief hiatus, we've now returned with another hardware podcast, bringing Paul, James, Clive and Harry together to talk about the latest happenings in the hardware world.

First up on our list of topics is the AMD Radeon HD 6990. The card has firmly cemented itself at the top of the graphics card hierarchy, but how easy is it to live with such a card? We also discuss the unusual overclocking switch, which is a standard feature that also voids your warranty if you actually use it.

Next up on the agenda is Western Digital's takeover of Hitachi's hard drive division, as well as the fact that Sandy Bridge motherboards are finally back on the shelves. As well as this, we also discuss the plague of kettle leads that appears to be taking over our lab.

Finally, we comment on the news story we ran earlier in the week that detailed some purportedly leaked information about AMD's forthcoming processor line-up.


As always, we've also set up our weekly competition. The lucky winner will be able to get their hands on a Mionix Propus 380 mousepad, which will provide the perfect tracking surface for whichever mouse you choose to use.

As ever, the bit-tech hardware podcast features music by Brad Sucks, and was recorded on Shure microphones. You can download the podcast directly, listen to it in your browser or subscribe through iTunes using the links below. Also, be sure to let us know your thoughts about the discussion in the forums.

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Hardware 20 - What's with all the Kettle Leads?

Hardware 20 - What's with all the Kettle Leads?

Posted on 11th Mar 2011 at 16:10 by Paul Goodhead with 11 comments

After a brief hiatus, we've now returned with another hardware podcast, bringing Paul, James, Clive and Harry together to talk about the latest happenings in the hardware world.

First up on our list of topics is the AMD Radeon HD 6990. The card has firmly cemented itself at the top of the graphics card hierarchy, but how easy is it to live with such a card? We also discuss the unusual overclocking switch, which is a standard feature that also voids your warranty if you actually use it.

Next up on the agenda is Western Digital's takeover of Hitachi's hard drive division, as well as the fact that Sandy Bridge motherboards are finally back on the shelves. As well as this, we also discuss the plague of kettle leads that appears to be taking over our lab.

Finally, we comment on the news story we ran earlier in the week that detailed some purportedly leaked information about AMD's forthcoming processor line-up.


As always, we've also set up our weekly competition. The lucky winner will be able to get their hands on a Mionix Propus 380 mousepad, which will provide the perfect tracking surface for whichever mouse you choose to use.

As ever, the bit-tech hardware podcast features music by Brad Sucks, and was recorded on Shure microphones. You can download the podcast directly, listen to it in your browser or subscribe through iTunes using the links below. Also, be sure to let us know your thoughts about the discussion in the forums.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bit-tech/blog/~3/QrjVXap4ljg/

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News Analysis: Interests of Saudi Arabia and Iran Collide, With the U.S. in the Middle

Relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia have chilled to their coldest since the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. Saudi officials, still angry that President Obama abandoned President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt in the face of demonstrations, ignored American requests not to send troops into Bahrain to help crush Shiite-led protests there. A tense telephone call between Mr. Obama and King Abdullah on Wednesday, Arab officials said, failed to ease the tensions.

?King Abdullah has been clear that Saudi Arabia will never allow Shia rule in Bahrain ? never,? an Arab official who was briefed on the talks said. He said King Abdullah?s willingness to listen to the Obama administration had ?evaporated? since Mr. Mubarak was forced from office.

The Saudi position is rooted in the royal family?s belief that a Shiite uprising next door in Bahrain could spread and embolden Saudi Arabia?s own minority Shiite population and increase Iranian influence in the kingdom, a fear that American officials share. But where Mr. Obama and King Abdullah have parted ways, administration officials say, is on how to handle the crisis.

American officials want Saudi Arabia and Bahrain to allow political reforms that could lead to more representation for Shiites under Sunni rule. During his telephone conversation with the Saudi king, Mr. Obama called for an end to the violence that has accelerated in Bahrain over the last few days.

He asked for a ?political process as the only way to peacefully address the legitimate grievances of Bahrainis and to lead to a Bahrain that is stable, just, more unified and responsive to its people,? according to Jay Carney, the White House press secretary.

But ?there?s not too much listening going on,? a senior administration official said, noting that Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton were forced to cancel visits to Saudi Arabia in recent days because the king was not willing to host them. (The official reason given was that he was ill.) ?There appears to be a great deal of annoyance still,? added the official, speaking only on condition of anonymity.

A senior administration official noted Thursday that some Shiite opposition leaders had vowed not to respond in kind to the violent crackdown by the government, and to remain peaceful, raising hopes among members of the Obama administration that the Shiite opposition has not become radicalized and might still be amenable to political dialogue. ?It suggests to me that the radicalization on the part of the moderate Shia has not yet occurred,? the official said.

But, he added, ?Without question, there are people on the extreme end of the opposition who have been in touch with Iran.? He said that the Obama administration had tried to convey to its allies in the Persian Gulf that the governments were most at risk if they approached the unrest only from a standpoint of their own government security.

For the administration, the stakes are higher in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia than in any other Arab country facing unrest now.

?In terms of concrete American national security interests, Bahrain-Saudi Arabia is the place,? said Robert Malley, the Middle East and North Africa program director with the International Crisis Group. Saudi Arabia is the second largest foreign supplier of oil to the United States, and Bahrain is home to the United States Navy?s Fifth Fleet.

Even if the United States could wean itself from dependency on Saudi oil, the kingdom, home to the world?s largest petroleum reserves, still can rock global markets and slow economic recovery in the United States and around the world.

Beyond that, the United States has long viewed Saudi Arabia as a last bulwark against an ascendant Iran in a crucial region, and does not want Tehran stepping in to back Shiites in Bahrain or Saudi Arabia.

But where the United States and the Saudis split is over how to prevent Iran from gaining traction. While American officials say the Saudi and Bahraini governments can head off trouble by making political reforms, the Saudis believe that political reforms would only open the door to greater instability.

?Our message to Saudi Arabia is that if you want to avoid the fate of Mubarak, you need to move toward genuine and gradual reform,? said Mr. Malley of the Crisis Group. ?But what the Saudis are hearing instead is that reform is actually the path to Mubarak?s fate.?

In many ways, Mr. Malley and other Middle East experts say, the crisis in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia makes dealing with Egypt and Tunisia look easy. While Egypt is another crucial American ally, Mr. Obama could publicly side with the protesters in Tahrir Square without roiling global oil markets or inviting in Iran.

The Obama administration has vested a lot of its hopes of resolving the conflict in Bahrain with the crown prince, Sheik Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, who is leading government efforts to start a dialogue with the protesters.

The prince, a 1992 graduate of American University in Washington, was described in a 2009 diplomatic cable made public by WikiLeaks as ?very Western in his approach.?

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