Xpertfeed

Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Google: in a month review Summary:  It's been a busy month in the mobile world and this recap pulls all the best coverage into a convenient place. If you missed something big, you'll find it here. From Recently announced Fire phone from Amazon to some new Windows 8 hybrid tablets. I've opined about the myth of the optimal tablet size and shared how to deal with that. All in all it's been a busy month and those interested in the mobile space should find lots of interesting things in the recap. The Big Guys — Apple, Microsoft, Google, Samsung, and Amazon Apple is fun again  — Things have seemed a bit stiff and unsure at Apple events since the passing of Steve Jobs. The WWDC keynote indicates that Apple is back, and fun things are about to happen. Microsoft Office for Android: Pushing Windows even further behind in mobile  — Microsoft came under some heat from Windows customers when it released Office for iPad before ...

Nokia paid millions to protect Symbian from code thieves Summary:  A Finnish television station has discovered that one time mobile phone giant Nokia paid millions in Euros to keep essential software for its Symbian operating system from being used to create malware and rootkills. Nokia  reportedly paid millions of euros  (Finnish) to blackmailers in 2007-2008 to keep a key part of the source code for its Symbian feature phone platform from being used to create malware, according to Finnish broadcaster station MTV. According to the report, which has been confirmed by Finnish police, the code blackmailers had stolen the Symbian's encryption key. With these few kilobytes of code, the code thieves could have created signed applications that would have appeared to have been, not merely legitimate Symbian applications, but Nokia programs and operating system "upgrades." In short, this would have given the cybercriminials the power to create...

It’s a bird, it’s a plane….it’s India's first pizza-delivering drone!   Summary: Mumbai's Francesco's Pizzeria stunned the world by delivering a pizza via a drone. However, the city's cops aren't too pleased about the stunt. Pizza delivery using a drone   Mumbai's Francesco Pizza recently delivered one of their Pizza's using a drone In perhaps the most audacious and value-for-money stunt that the city of Mumbai has yet seen, a once unknown hole-in-the-wall Pizzeria at Kemp's Corner in tony South Mumbai used a drone to delivery a Pizza to a location nearby (Worli), giving further credence to the notion that India can be both way ahead of its time and way behind it. While this is apparently not the first pizza in the world delivered by a drone—a Dominos franchise snagged that badge of honor by doing so in the UK last year—it certainly was the most attention grabbing. The idea was born when Francesco Pizza's owner, Mikhel...

Apple unveils iOS 8 for iPhone, iPad at WWDC 2014  Summary: Project "Okemo" finally has a name. Meet iOS 8.Apple on Monday unveiled its latest mobile operating system for the iPhone and iPad at its Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, kicking off a week's worth of developer events for the app-building community. The new iPhone and iPad software was unveiled almost exactly one year to the day after the release of iOS 7, its immediate predecessor, following a major redesign of its user interface. Apple chief executive Tim Cook described the new software as a story of two fronts, adding that it includes new developer hooks to help app makers build new apps like never before. Senior executive Craig Federighi said on stage that iOS 8 builds on the successes of its predecessor, and lands with a bevy of brand new features. Included with the new software: Enterprise features:  iOS 8 will land with a number of enterprise-focused and manageabili...

Enterprise to act as vanguard for proximity computing Summary: After chasing consumer-led computing for the past few years, enterprises are due to be the opening front in the next change to computing — an experience that depends on where you are, and which device you are using. At the start of this week everything was in a nice, settled place: most peripherals still needed a wire for best performance, saving to the cloud was the state of the art for passing documents between devices, desktop computers never took phone calls on a regular basis, and 2-in-1 convertibles were still a solution looking for a problem. But pairing the announcements out of Apple's WWDC conference, with those emanating from Computex in Taiwan this week, presents a computing future that suddenly cares a lot more about where devices are, and how close those devices are. The biggest switch though, is that once again, enterprises and business users wil...

Self-learning Humanoid Amelia poses existential threat to BPOs Summary:  IPsoft's self-learning computer software algorithm Amelia could be ruinous for the Business Process Outsourcing industry but the company says that it wants to partner with them instead The world of self-learning Bots has finally arrived with IPsoft's Amelia Somewhere up there, both science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke and filmmaker Stanley Kubrick are chuckling upon reading that Robotic engineers, or 'Bots' are finally beginning to threaten the human order. Those who may not be quite so tickled are companies in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) arena who may face extinction if the world of Bots takes over the world of process—stuff like back office accounting and finance to tech support voice calls—which has been their meat and potatoes so far. India has been the heavyweight champ in this area with the Philippines also asserting its dominance. In the same year that audie...

Microsoft makes Azure ExpressRoute,a hybrid-cloud networking technology available Summary:  Microsoft has made its Azure ExpressRoute private-networking service available to enterprise users who want a more secure way to connect their datacenters to Microsoft's cloud. Microsoft is making generally available to enterprise users as of May 12 its  Azure ExpressRoute networking technology . Microsoft is playing up ExpressRoute as a key piece of its hybrid cloud strategy. Officials announced the general availability of ExpressRoute during the kick-off keynote at TechEd 2014 in Houston on May 12. ExpressRoute, codenamed "Golden Gate,"  offers users private and dedicated network connections that don't use the Internet. Microsoft is delivering ExpressRoute via partnerships with telecommunications providers like AT&T, Verizon, BT, Level 3, Equinix, Telecity and  also storage-as-a-service provider Zadara. By circumventing the Internet and making connecti...

Cloud adoption among Indian SMBs to soar Summary: Number of small and midsize businesses heading toward cloud services is expected to climb 20 percent between 2012 and 2016, as the workforce drops in age and more Indian companies embrace technology. More small and midsize businesses (SMBs) in India are heading toward cloud services as the workforce drops in age and companies increasingly turn to technology. According to a report by EY and Assocham, the number of Indian SMBs adopting cloud computing is expected to climb at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20 percent between 2012 and 2016, reported The Times of India . Smaller enterprises in the country were beginning to embrace technology as a business driver, but adoption had remained low compared to other nations with larger SMBs.   The report noted: "SMBs will play a leading role in the adoption of social, mobile, analytics, and cloud (SMAC) in India, giv...

Enterprise cloud spending to hit $235B by 2017: IHS Summary: Expenditure cloud architecture and services will jump by 35 percent from the US$174 billion expected for this year, according to IHS. Architecture and services by 2017 — a 35 percent gain from the US$174 billion projected to be spent this year.  “Enterprises today are trying to create faster, more efficient I.T. environments to ensure more responsive, agile and successful businesses,” said Jagdish Rebello, senior director for information technology at IHS. "In these cloud-based settings, enterprises also want to integrate the deep analytical power of big data, which will give them competitive advantages through insights about present and prospective customers." This year alone, cloud spending is pegged to rise 20 percent from US$145 billion last year, as shown in the attached figure. (source: IHS) Enterprises are simultaneously augmenting their on-site services and capabilities with the...

Microsoft takes control of Nokia's phone business and acquires 25,000 new employees Summary: It's official as of today, April 25: Nokia's Devices and Services business is now owned by Microsoft. Microsoft Mobile Oy Microsoft Mobile Oy is now the subsidiary of Microsoft responsible for Lumia, Asha and Android-based Nokia X phones, and other unspecified devices. The new name and status is the culmination of Microsoft's acquisition of Nokia's handset business, which cost Redmond $5 billion (plus another $2 billion for a 10-year associated patent-licensing agreement). Microsoft Mobile Oy is now part of the Microsoft Devices Group headed by Executive Vice President Stephen Elop. The Mobile Devices Group is now responsible for Lumia smartphones and tablets, Nokia mobile phones, Xbox hardware, Surface, Perceptive Pixel (PPI) products, and accessories. Under the patent piece of the deal, Microsoft acquired 8,500 design patents covering phone manuf...