Xpertfeed

Ubuntu: One OS, one interface, all devices Summary:  Canonical believes that Ubuntu can be one operating system and Unity the one interface you need for your PC, your smartphone, and your tablet. Here's how they'll do it. For years,  Ubuntu  and its parent company  Canonical  has been pursuing a single dream: One operating system and one interface,  Unity , for PCs, tablets, and smartphones. That dream is now becoming a reality. Say hello to Canonical's Unity interface vision for PCs, smartphones, and tablets. The recent headlines have been about Canonical's crowd-sourcing of its hybrid smartphone/PC, Ubuntu Edge, but Canonical's plan of one integrated operating system and interface for all platforms predates it by years. While Unity is known better as an easy-to-use Linux desktop interface for beginners, Canonical has been aiming  Unity at the smartphone and tablet market since it was introduced in October 2010 . It's on...

Oracle to halt development of Sun virtualization technologies Summary:  Oracle will soon be announcing that it's discontinuing development of its Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, Sun Ray software and hardware, and Oracle Virtual Desktop Client product lines. Oracle   has decided to stop development on its Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), Sun Ray Software and Hardware, and Oracle Virtual Desktop Client product lines. Some Oracle partners, which received the news over the weekend, are not happy with this change. In a  document detailing the support policies for this virtualization software and hardware (Link requires Oracle support account) , Oracle said, "In an effort to more tightly align Oracle's future desktop virtualization portfolio investments with Oracle Corporation's overall core business strategy, we have ended new feature development for Oracle Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Software , Oracle Virtual Desktop Client (OVDC) Software, Oracle...

New hints on what's coming next for Microsoft Surface, Skype, Windows Phone Summary:  Microsoft is calling its fiscal 2014 its biggest year of innovation ever. Here's the slide that shows why. Microsoft Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner shared some new hints about what's coming during what he called Microsoft's "biggest innovation year ever" during Day 3 of Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference. Turner showed this slide at the end of his remarks on July 10: (Sorry it's a bit blurry; I captured it from Microsoft's video feed. It also is not arranged in chronological order, as far as I can tell; it's just a collection of product launch points.) We already knew Microsoft had committed to launching Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012 R2, Visual Studio 2013, SQL Server 2014, System Center 2012 R2 and a host of other "Blue" wave of products during this coming fiscal year. (Microsoft's FY 14 runs from July 1, 201...

Yahoo acquiring 'smart address book' Xobni Summary:  Yahoo might be looking to take over your mobile phone from every possible angle, including where you store your contacts. Yahoo  can't seem to go one week without adding another startup to the portfolio. Just before everyone takes off for Independence Day, the rejuvenated technology giant is making moves to acquire Xobni , a self-described "smart address book." With products for Microsoft Outlook and Gmail, Xobni ( or "inbox" spelled backwards ) developed a platform that essentially aggregated everyone you have possibly contacted (whether it's via email, text message, phone call, etc.) and tried to unify and organize that data to provide more comprehensive contact files. Those files were also populated with updates from Facebook and Twitter. Xobni also offered  teams and enterprise subscription options  for automatically managing emails, contacts, and folders with little to no ...

Microsoft to add autoscaling, alerts to Windows Azure Summary:  Microsoft is readying previews of two new features for its Windows Azure public-cloud platform: App autoscaling and alerts. Tomorrow, June 27 — in Day 2 of its  Build 2013 developer conference  — Microsoft is on tap to talk about Windows Azure. I'm betting two of the topics on the docket will be the additions of autoscaling and alert notifications to Microsoft's public cloud platform. I'm basing this bet on a couple of new Azure blog posts that went live for a bit and were subsequently pulled. Here's some what I'm expecting Scott Guthrie to announce about these new features during the keynote. On the autoscaling front, Microsoft is building automatic autoscaling into Windows Azure for cloud services, virtual machines and Azure Web sites. This capability will allow Azure to scale users' apps dynamically on their behalf, no manual intervention required. The autoscaling will regu...

BlackBerry issues 'critical' security warning for Z10 phones Summary:  The first flagship BlackBerry 10 phone contains a "critical" bug that could allow hackers to crack open the device and pilfer files and data. (Image: BlackBerry/RIM) BlackBerry has issued a security advisory notice to those who have bought its flagship Z10 touchscreen smartphone — the first BlackBerry 10 device to launch following the company's bid for revival, back in February. The advisory, which was  issued earlier this month , notes a bug that relates to BlackBerry Protect, its security and backup utility, rather than the phone's operating system itself.  According to the advisory, an escalation of privilege vulnerability exists in the software of some Z10 phones that could allow a malicious app to "take advantage" of weak permissions in the in-built security software. This could allow a hacker to gain access to the device's password, and intercept and...

Six ways to protect yourself from the NSA and other eavesdroppers Summary:  Yes, you have many options for protecting your privacy on the Internet. But are these measures worth the time and sacrifice required? That's up to you. Worried sick about the NSA, or someone else, looking over your shoulder? Well, you can do things that will make it harder for someone to eavesdrop on you. That's the good news. The bad news is that all these things require a fair amount of effort, some will cripple your use of the modern Internet, and none of them will stop a sufficiently determined electronic Peeping Tom. 1) Abandon the cloud IT professionals who've resisted moving to a public cloud have never liked the idea of putting their programs and data into someone else's hands. Now, as David S. Linthicum, senior vice-president of Cloud Technology Partners, recently wrote, " Personally, I don't see much of a connection between the NSA and cloud computing , ...

Microsoft: We're adding 7,000 Azure IaaS users per week Summary:  The new Linux and Windows Server virtual machines on Windows Azure are attracting more customers to Microsoft's public cloud. Microsoft's Windows Azure team has typically held its momentum and sales numbers fairly close to the vest. But this week at the TechEd conference, execs did share a couple of interesting data points. First things, first. There's a new Windows Azure General Manager (GM) at Microsoft as of a couple of weeks ago. Steven Martin is the new GM on the business, all up, Microsoft officials told me this week. (Martin previously was GM of Azure Business Operations. He is now also GM of Product Management.) Bill Hilf, the former GM for Azure Product Management -- who also served previously as the GM of Technical Computing, Windows Server and Open Source and Platform Strategy --  left Microsoft rather abruptly to join HP's Cloud Product Management Group, I've heard...