SAN FRANCISCO: Online groups startup Fridge said that it has been bought by Google+ and will become part of the Internet giant's freshly-launched social network.
New York city-based Fridge is closing and its small staff will become part of the Google+ team, the startup said in a post at its website.
"We look forward to continuing the vision of creating fresh and exciting social group experiences for users across the Web," the Fridge message read.
"We strongly believe in the group social experience and couldn't think of a better place to realize our vision" than at the Google+ Project.
More than 20,000 groups had reportedly been formed at Fridge for sharing pictures, opinions, videos and more. The website boasted more than 40,000 users monthly.
"The Fridge team shares our vision of bringing the nuance and richness of real-life sharing to the web, and we're excited that they'll be joining Google," a spokesperson for the California company said in response to an AFP inquiry.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Google+, a rival to Facebook , launched on June 28 and has been a hit despite the fact that membership is invitation-only while the service remains in a test phase.
Google chief Larry Page said last week that the Google+ social network already has more than 10 million members.
The service allows users to separate online friends and family into different "circles," or networks, and to share information only with members of a particular circle.
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Friday, July 22, 2011
Twitter may buy employee stock with funding
SAN FRANCISCO: Twitter Inc is close to raising $800 million in funding and will use half the money to buy back shares from its employees and backers, according to a person with knowledge of the plan.
The investment, which values Twitter at $8 billion, may be completed in the next two weeks, said the person, who asked not to be named because the funding hasn't been made public.
The deal would give Twitter's about 600 workers the chance to capitalize on their shares through private investors, rather than having to wait for an initial public offering. The company has remained on the sidelines during this year's resurgence in dot-com IPOs.
LinkedIn Corp, a professional-networking site, went public in May. Since then, Pandora Media Inc held an IPO, and Groupon Inc. and Zynga Inc. have both filed for their own offerings.
Twitter's worth has more than doubled since December, when it received a $200 million investment led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers that gave it a $3.7 billion valuation. It was pegged at about $1 billion in 2009, a person familiar with the matter said at the time. SharesPost Inc., an exchange for shares of closely held companies, has assessed Twitter's current worth at $7 billion.
Investors are enticed by the popularity of Twitter's service, which lets users share 140-character messages. Its members include celebrities, executives and President Barack Obama, who together send more than 200 million messages a day. The company is working to make money from those users by selling advertising.
The investment, which values Twitter at $8 billion, may be completed in the next two weeks, said the person, who asked not to be named because the funding hasn't been made public.
The deal would give Twitter's about 600 workers the chance to capitalize on their shares through private investors, rather than having to wait for an initial public offering. The company has remained on the sidelines during this year's resurgence in dot-com IPOs.
LinkedIn Corp, a professional-networking site, went public in May. Since then, Pandora Media Inc held an IPO, and Groupon Inc. and Zynga Inc. have both filed for their own offerings.
Twitter's worth has more than doubled since December, when it received a $200 million investment led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers that gave it a $3.7 billion valuation. It was pegged at about $1 billion in 2009, a person familiar with the matter said at the time. SharesPost Inc., an exchange for shares of closely held companies, has assessed Twitter's current worth at $7 billion.
Investors are enticed by the popularity of Twitter's service, which lets users share 140-character messages. Its members include celebrities, executives and President Barack Obama, who together send more than 200 million messages a day. The company is working to make money from those users by selling advertising.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
G Data launches new product generation suit in Indian market
G Data Software AG , Bochum-based leading German Company and Internet security specialist unveiled its New Product Generation suit for the Indian market. The company has become the first internet security specialist in India to launch 2012 version by introducing G Data Anti Virus Business software product for the SME segment and 2012 version of its product - G Data Internet security 2012 and G Data Total Care 2012 for the end users. The antivirus products of the company will be jointly distributed by ACI TechServ, which is a certified national and SAARC regional distributor for G Data products and Technocrat Infotech, National Distributor for G Data.
G Data Antivirus Business product, an SME focused virus protection software product will offer centrally managed virus protection. The management server deployed will control all clients' desktops, notebooks and file servers. This technology boasts of Self- learning fingerprinting and white-listing, ensuring no loss of PC performance; latest methods for detecting unknown viruses and a new double-scan technology for top virus detection.
G Data Internet Security, a software product for an end user brings to use a new idle scan feature which scans the system when it is idle thus resulting in optimum utilization of system's uptime efficiently. The product's cloud-based technology analyses all the suspicious files and the silent firewall acts as all-round defence against viruses, worms, spam and hacking - without any loss of performance. The cutting-edge technology methods of detecting unknown viruses and new double-scan technology for top virus detection will be advantageous for the end user to avoid unwanted attention from virus attacks on their desktops, net books and mobile phones while using internet. In addition to G Data Internet security 2012 features, G Data TotalCare 2012 offers an all new-image backup module and security tuning, thus offering a holistic approach towards virus protection for an end user.
Commenting on the new product generation suit, Michael Zimmer , Sales Management, G Data Software AG, said, "With the new generation of business and end users products, G Data is setting the standard in terms of operability and transparency, and we are pleased to partner with ACI TechServ & Techno Crat Infotech to make them available in India for SME segment and end users."
"The new generation products offer a variety of security features enabling small businesses and end users to secure their Desktops, notebooks, mobile phones" Zimmer further added.
"Try first and pay later is our new proposition for G data customers in India. We are confident about the product that is the reason for us to offer 30 days free trial to our resellers who in turn can make the product available to small businesses without any expense. The same offering goes for end users as well," said Mr Alok Gupta, CMD, ACI TechServ Private Limited.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Asif Khan, Director, Technocrat Infotech, Private Limited, said, "We are proud to be the partner of G Data and with our distribution experience in Indian market, we will take G Data at a remarkable position in India."
G Data software 2012 version products have made a big impression at the "Whole Product Dynamic Test" by AV Comparatives in May 2011 and was the best performer. The testers put 15 security solutions under the microscope and tested all integrated security technologies for defending against malware. G Data InternetSecurity 2012 stood out as the best virus hunter with a 99.8 percent detection rate and so proved the high quality of its virus protection technology.
G Data Antivirus Business product, an SME focused virus protection software product will offer centrally managed virus protection. The management server deployed will control all clients' desktops, notebooks and file servers. This technology boasts of Self- learning fingerprinting and white-listing, ensuring no loss of PC performance; latest methods for detecting unknown viruses and a new double-scan technology for top virus detection.
G Data Internet Security, a software product for an end user brings to use a new idle scan feature which scans the system when it is idle thus resulting in optimum utilization of system's uptime efficiently. The product's cloud-based technology analyses all the suspicious files and the silent firewall acts as all-round defence against viruses, worms, spam and hacking - without any loss of performance. The cutting-edge technology methods of detecting unknown viruses and new double-scan technology for top virus detection will be advantageous for the end user to avoid unwanted attention from virus attacks on their desktops, net books and mobile phones while using internet. In addition to G Data Internet security 2012 features, G Data TotalCare 2012 offers an all new-image backup module and security tuning, thus offering a holistic approach towards virus protection for an end user.
Commenting on the new product generation suit, Michael Zimmer , Sales Management, G Data Software AG, said, "With the new generation of business and end users products, G Data is setting the standard in terms of operability and transparency, and we are pleased to partner with ACI TechServ & Techno Crat Infotech to make them available in India for SME segment and end users."
"The new generation products offer a variety of security features enabling small businesses and end users to secure their Desktops, notebooks, mobile phones" Zimmer further added.
"Try first and pay later is our new proposition for G data customers in India. We are confident about the product that is the reason for us to offer 30 days free trial to our resellers who in turn can make the product available to small businesses without any expense. The same offering goes for end users as well," said Mr Alok Gupta, CMD, ACI TechServ Private Limited.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Asif Khan, Director, Technocrat Infotech, Private Limited, said, "We are proud to be the partner of G Data and with our distribution experience in Indian market, we will take G Data at a remarkable position in India."
G Data software 2012 version products have made a big impression at the "Whole Product Dynamic Test" by AV Comparatives in May 2011 and was the best performer. The testers put 15 security solutions under the microscope and tested all integrated security technologies for defending against malware. G Data InternetSecurity 2012 stood out as the best virus hunter with a 99.8 percent detection rate and so proved the high quality of its virus protection technology.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Microsoft's Turner Lauds Partners for Cloud Transition
Microsoft Corp.'s chief operating officer, told partners assembled at the company's annual Worldwide Partner Conference in Los Angeles last week that in crafting its cloud computing strategy, the vendor counted on its "partner ecosystem to come with us to the cloud because the cloud was how we were going to re-pivot ourselves."
Turner reminded partners of his remarks at last year's conference when he said that Microsoft had "to find a way to bet our business on cloud services and making this transition to the cloud."
His point, of course, was that in the past year the vendor had gone full bore to the cloud with public and private cloud products--namely Office 365, SQL Azure, Windows Azure, Windows Intune, Dynamics CRM Online, SharePoint Server, Lync Server, Exchange Server, SQL Server, Microsoft Dynamics and Microsoft Server--and wanted most of its partners to follow suit by transitioning their business models in the same direction.
"We still have this big, audacious goal of having a continuous cloud service for every person in every business around the world," he said.
In praising the work of the vendor's product development teams, Turner told partners that "many, many of you in this audience made the jump to come to the cloud with us this past year. And many others are making the transition and making the leap to come to the cloud with us this next year."
As evidence, Turner offered that to date Microsoft has trained some 42,000 partners on Office 365, 30,000 on Windows Azure and 12,000 on Windows Intune, although from his public remarks it was unclear how much overlap resides in those figures.
Still, with its claim of some 650,000 partners under its PartnerNetwork umbrella, Turner acknowledged that Microsoft has some ground to travel before the lion's share of its partners embrace the cloud.
"I want the other 600K partners to get on board," he said.
Turner told partners that the vendor now will turn its attention to the private cloud.
"The focus on FY 12 is about the acceleration of the private cloud," he said. "We've got great momentum with our public cloud, now we're going to get straight away after the private cloud."
Turner reminded partners of his remarks at last year's conference when he said that Microsoft had "to find a way to bet our business on cloud services and making this transition to the cloud."
His point, of course, was that in the past year the vendor had gone full bore to the cloud with public and private cloud products--namely Office 365, SQL Azure, Windows Azure, Windows Intune, Dynamics CRM Online, SharePoint Server, Lync Server, Exchange Server, SQL Server, Microsoft Dynamics and Microsoft Server--and wanted most of its partners to follow suit by transitioning their business models in the same direction.
"We still have this big, audacious goal of having a continuous cloud service for every person in every business around the world," he said.
In praising the work of the vendor's product development teams, Turner told partners that "many, many of you in this audience made the jump to come to the cloud with us this past year. And many others are making the transition and making the leap to come to the cloud with us this next year."
As evidence, Turner offered that to date Microsoft has trained some 42,000 partners on Office 365, 30,000 on Windows Azure and 12,000 on Windows Intune, although from his public remarks it was unclear how much overlap resides in those figures.
Still, with its claim of some 650,000 partners under its PartnerNetwork umbrella, Turner acknowledged that Microsoft has some ground to travel before the lion's share of its partners embrace the cloud.
"I want the other 600K partners to get on board," he said.
Turner told partners that the vendor now will turn its attention to the private cloud.
"The focus on FY 12 is about the acceleration of the private cloud," he said. "We've got great momentum with our public cloud, now we're going to get straight away after the private cloud."
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Google, This Is Why You're Under Investigation
It’s hardly a secret that most big businesses hate regulators—who are often seen as cartoonish villains, meddling in the affairs of others to satisfy their own (bureaucratic) agendas rather than serve the interests of ordinary people.
Sometimes that’s accurate, though not always. Take the decision last year by European officials to launch an antitrust investigation into Google. It was met with howls of derision by those who felt it was sour grapes from competitors (including Microsoft) or simply a misguided attack on a hugely successful foreign company. Those concerns were exacerbated even further last month when the U.S. Federal Trade Commission decided to start its own inquiry, with a confidence no doubt spurred by Europe’s actions.
It’s easy to dismiss the claims against Google as carping by rivals. But for anyone who thinks the EU investigation isn’t warranted, here are a couple of data points worth thinking about.
MARKET DOMINANCE
First, figures from Hitwise suggest Google now accounts for 92 percent of all search traffic in the U.K. That’s an all-time high for the company, signifying complete domination of the market. The figure is actually higher in some other European countries, and it’s significantly more than its North American market share. Google dominates the European market to a degree far greater than its successes at home.
Elsewhere, it emerged over the weekend that the Belgian newspapers locked in a dispute with Google were back in conflict again. A consortium known as Copiepresse famously filed a lawsuit against the company in 2006, claiming Google News should not excerpt their articles without permission or payment. The news group won the case, eventually, but it was pretty acrimonious. Now, however, it appears Google is playing hardball again, saying in order to comply with the court’s wishes it has to remove Copiepresse entirely from its index.
So that’s erasing Copiepresse not just from News, but also from the main Google search engine, too.
Google spokesman William Echikson said the court decision applied to Web search as well as Google News, and the company faced fines of 25,000 euros ($35,359) per infringement if it allowed the newspapers’ websites to keep appearing.
"We regret having to do so," Echikson said. "We would be happy to reinclude Copiepresse if they would indicate their desire to appear in Google Search and waive the potential penalties."
Copiepresse argues that Google’s view is a willful misreading of the court’s decision and that Copiepresse is being punished by Google for standing up to it. Whatever the case, it’s yet another mess caused by Google’s power.
Of course, it’s worth pointing out that it’s entirely possible to become totally dominant in a market by simply being better than anyone else. But it’s also worth saying that being investigated by regulators doesn’t mean the same as being found guilty by them. When it comes to government regulators getting involved in technology businesses, though, the question is not whether it’s possible to control a market—but whether it’s healthy. That is less obvious, and therefore why an investigation on both sides of the Atlantic may be necessary.
Sometimes that’s accurate, though not always. Take the decision last year by European officials to launch an antitrust investigation into Google. It was met with howls of derision by those who felt it was sour grapes from competitors (including Microsoft) or simply a misguided attack on a hugely successful foreign company. Those concerns were exacerbated even further last month when the U.S. Federal Trade Commission decided to start its own inquiry, with a confidence no doubt spurred by Europe’s actions.
It’s easy to dismiss the claims against Google as carping by rivals. But for anyone who thinks the EU investigation isn’t warranted, here are a couple of data points worth thinking about.
MARKET DOMINANCE
First, figures from Hitwise suggest Google now accounts for 92 percent of all search traffic in the U.K. That’s an all-time high for the company, signifying complete domination of the market. The figure is actually higher in some other European countries, and it’s significantly more than its North American market share. Google dominates the European market to a degree far greater than its successes at home.
Elsewhere, it emerged over the weekend that the Belgian newspapers locked in a dispute with Google were back in conflict again. A consortium known as Copiepresse famously filed a lawsuit against the company in 2006, claiming Google News should not excerpt their articles without permission or payment. The news group won the case, eventually, but it was pretty acrimonious. Now, however, it appears Google is playing hardball again, saying in order to comply with the court’s wishes it has to remove Copiepresse entirely from its index.
So that’s erasing Copiepresse not just from News, but also from the main Google search engine, too.
Google spokesman William Echikson said the court decision applied to Web search as well as Google News, and the company faced fines of 25,000 euros ($35,359) per infringement if it allowed the newspapers’ websites to keep appearing.
"We regret having to do so," Echikson said. "We would be happy to reinclude Copiepresse if they would indicate their desire to appear in Google Search and waive the potential penalties."
Copiepresse argues that Google’s view is a willful misreading of the court’s decision and that Copiepresse is being punished by Google for standing up to it. Whatever the case, it’s yet another mess caused by Google’s power.
Of course, it’s worth pointing out that it’s entirely possible to become totally dominant in a market by simply being better than anyone else. But it’s also worth saying that being investigated by regulators doesn’t mean the same as being found guilty by them. When it comes to government regulators getting involved in technology businesses, though, the question is not whether it’s possible to control a market—but whether it’s healthy. That is less obvious, and therefore why an investigation on both sides of the Atlantic may be necessary.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Dell Aims to Ease SMB Asset Management, License Compliance
Dell believes that managing hardware assets and software license compliance is a significant pain point in small business IT, and on Thursday it launched a new appliance, the Dell Kace M300 Asset Management Appliance, intended to soothe that pain.
"What really sets the M300 apart from anything on the market today is its simplicity -- both in terms of ease of use and deployment," said Rob Meinhardt, general manager of Dell Kace (NASDAQ:DELL).
"This new appliance is a true plug-and-play solution that virtually eliminates the repetitive and time-consuming tasks of software and hardware inventory management. The ability to be up and running in less than five minutes -- even for a novice IT professional -- is just the beginning," Meinhardt said. "An intuitive user interface allows IT administrators to streamline IT procedures with just a few points and clicks of a mouse. In this way, the M300 offers a complete systems management solution right out of the box setting a new standard in convenience."
Dell Kace, formerly Kace Networks, was acquired by Dell in February 2010. It is best known for its K-series of appliances for systems management and managing software deployment at mid-sized businesses and enterprises with hundreds to thousands of PCs and servers.
While Marty Kacin, Kace cofounder and vice president of software engineering for Dell Kace, says that business has quadrupled under the Dell umbrella, the M300 is a sign that Dell sees huge potential in the small business market. In fact, the Dell Kace product group has found its home in the Consumer and SMB (CSMB) division at Dell.
"Getting IT costs under control is one of the biggest challenges facing small and medium businesses," Kacin said. "Dell Kace sees an incredible opportunity in the often overlooked and underserviced SMB market. That’s why we’re launching the Dell Kace M300 Asset Management Appliance." Kacin added that this will be the first time that companies with up to 200 employees will have a simple, cost-effective way to manage routine IT chores such as hardware and software inventory, software license compliance and asset tracking and management.
Dell Kace designed the M300 specifically for small businesses, and Kacin said that, for about the price of a laptop computer, IT administrators can now see the state of their computers, servers and peripheral equipment.
The appliance supports up to 200 devices or nodes. Kacin noted that future products in the line might include M-series units dedicated to providing help-desk or security functions to small business. Each function will likely be represented by a discrete M-series unit, allowing small business IT managers to select exactly the functionality they need without paying for functionality they don't need.
The M300 is a box about the size of a router that boasts 16GB of solid-state drive storage, a gigabit Ethernet port, two USB ports and an ARM processor. It runs cool, only drawing about 15 watts, so it doesn't require a fan making it quiet enough to sit unobtrusively on your desk.
The appliance runs on Linux, but currently only supports Windows, Kacin said. It has the capability to support Mac environments, but Kacin noted that Dell is currently deciding whether to offer Mac support through the M300 or as a separate M301 offering.
M300 Asset Management Appliance Features
Device discovery and inventory for real-time assessment of hardware and software on all devices connected to the network
Compliance assessment that gives small business IT administrators the ability to manage multiple software titles with various licensing structures and reconcile software installations with license ownership
Patch inventory that tracks installed security updates and Windows service packs on computers connected to the network
Dell warranty integration that automatically retrieves warranty information for managed Dell computers and alerts administrators of pending expirations
Alerts and notifications of PC inventory and software license compliance issues and the automatic creation of a "to-do" list for achieving compliance
Dashboards that display network activity including recent changes and outstanding tasks
Plug-and-play deployment that allows the appliance to immediately begin providing hardware and software inventories
A Web-based user interface accessible from any desktop, laptop or mobile device
"With the M300, even an overloaded IT generalist can be up and running in less than five minutes, and that’s just the beginning," Kacin said. "An intuitive user interface allows IT administrators to streamline IT procedures with just a few points and clicks of a mouse."
The appliance is available for $2,498.
Thor Olavsrud is a contributor to SmallBusinessComputing.com and a former senior editor at InternetNews.com. He covers operating systems, standards and security, among other technologies.
"What really sets the M300 apart from anything on the market today is its simplicity -- both in terms of ease of use and deployment," said Rob Meinhardt, general manager of Dell Kace (NASDAQ:DELL).
"This new appliance is a true plug-and-play solution that virtually eliminates the repetitive and time-consuming tasks of software and hardware inventory management. The ability to be up and running in less than five minutes -- even for a novice IT professional -- is just the beginning," Meinhardt said. "An intuitive user interface allows IT administrators to streamline IT procedures with just a few points and clicks of a mouse. In this way, the M300 offers a complete systems management solution right out of the box setting a new standard in convenience."
Dell Kace, formerly Kace Networks, was acquired by Dell in February 2010. It is best known for its K-series of appliances for systems management and managing software deployment at mid-sized businesses and enterprises with hundreds to thousands of PCs and servers.
While Marty Kacin, Kace cofounder and vice president of software engineering for Dell Kace, says that business has quadrupled under the Dell umbrella, the M300 is a sign that Dell sees huge potential in the small business market. In fact, the Dell Kace product group has found its home in the Consumer and SMB (CSMB) division at Dell.
"Getting IT costs under control is one of the biggest challenges facing small and medium businesses," Kacin said. "Dell Kace sees an incredible opportunity in the often overlooked and underserviced SMB market. That’s why we’re launching the Dell Kace M300 Asset Management Appliance." Kacin added that this will be the first time that companies with up to 200 employees will have a simple, cost-effective way to manage routine IT chores such as hardware and software inventory, software license compliance and asset tracking and management.
Dell Kace designed the M300 specifically for small businesses, and Kacin said that, for about the price of a laptop computer, IT administrators can now see the state of their computers, servers and peripheral equipment.
The appliance supports up to 200 devices or nodes. Kacin noted that future products in the line might include M-series units dedicated to providing help-desk or security functions to small business. Each function will likely be represented by a discrete M-series unit, allowing small business IT managers to select exactly the functionality they need without paying for functionality they don't need.
The M300 is a box about the size of a router that boasts 16GB of solid-state drive storage, a gigabit Ethernet port, two USB ports and an ARM processor. It runs cool, only drawing about 15 watts, so it doesn't require a fan making it quiet enough to sit unobtrusively on your desk.
The appliance runs on Linux, but currently only supports Windows, Kacin said. It has the capability to support Mac environments, but Kacin noted that Dell is currently deciding whether to offer Mac support through the M300 or as a separate M301 offering.
M300 Asset Management Appliance Features
Device discovery and inventory for real-time assessment of hardware and software on all devices connected to the network
Compliance assessment that gives small business IT administrators the ability to manage multiple software titles with various licensing structures and reconcile software installations with license ownership
Patch inventory that tracks installed security updates and Windows service packs on computers connected to the network
Dell warranty integration that automatically retrieves warranty information for managed Dell computers and alerts administrators of pending expirations
Alerts and notifications of PC inventory and software license compliance issues and the automatic creation of a "to-do" list for achieving compliance
Dashboards that display network activity including recent changes and outstanding tasks
Plug-and-play deployment that allows the appliance to immediately begin providing hardware and software inventories
A Web-based user interface accessible from any desktop, laptop or mobile device
"With the M300, even an overloaded IT generalist can be up and running in less than five minutes, and that’s just the beginning," Kacin said. "An intuitive user interface allows IT administrators to streamline IT procedures with just a few points and clicks of a mouse."
The appliance is available for $2,498.
Thor Olavsrud is a contributor to SmallBusinessComputing.com and a former senior editor at InternetNews.com. He covers operating systems, standards and security, among other technologies.
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