Monday, February 28, 2011

As Profits Dip, Salesforce Exec Talks Up Chatter

Today, at the DEMO Conference in Palm Springs, Salesforce VP of Platform and Marketing George Hu remained markedly confident over Salesforce's future, smiling broadly in the face of rising costs and dipping profits. Hu has good reason to be smiling. Salesforce is the talk of the town these days, and one of the preeminent cloud companies in the market. It had a big fourth quarter, with sales growing 29 percent to $457 million. "It was a monster quarter, and the deal flow in the fourth quarter was just awesome," CEO Marc Benioff gushed in a recent earnings call. In addition to its customer gains, Salesforce has also been in an acquisitions tear. The company acquired Heroku, the Ruby application platform-as-a-service for $212 million in December and DimDim, a web conferencing service for $31 million, in January -- on top of the addition of GroupSwim, a SaaS cloud enterprise service, back in December 2009.

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GameHouse Interview on KIRO with TechFlash

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Demand Side Platform Consolidation

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Ajax.org Debuts Development-As-A-Service Platform For Javascript, HTML5

Ajax.org is today introducing Cloud9 IDE, a fresh cloud-based development platform for JavaScript incorporating HTML5, and supporting Python, Ruby and PHP. The environment aims to enables developers to easily build, test, debug, and deploy Web and mobile applications with a minimum of technical skills and time required. If the name of the project (Cloud9 IDE) rings a bell, you may remember that it merged with Mozilla Skywriter, a Web-based framework for code editing, back in January 2010.

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Citrix? First Seed Investment: Search And Backup Cloud Data With Primadesk

Citrix Systems recently established a Silicon Valley-based seed investment vehicle dubbed Startup Accelerator. Today, the fund is announcing its first investment (PDF) - Citrix has invested an undisclosed sum in Primadesk, which will be touting its wares later today at DEMO 2011. The company basically aims to help users search, manage and backup their personal cloud data from multiple devices and browsers, using a single interface. A beta version of the Primadesk technology will be demonstrated later today, but you can sign up for access at some point in March right here.

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Gates Foundation Invests $70 Million to Help Save World's Food Supply

A wheat killer is on the move from Africa to Australia. The Gates Foundation wants to stop it from wreaking havoc on the world.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has announced that it is investing $70 million into food security initiatives in order to battle one of climate change's looming threats--catastrophic food shortages. The United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) is also jumping on board with a $32 million commitment.

The funds will go toward research on improving crop production, including examining the rise of certain predators, such as Ug99, a stem rust disease affecting wheat crops. The Ug99 strand is spreading, adding numbers to the millions of people who are already fleeing their countries due to agriculturally unstable environments. The disease was originally identified in Uganda in 1998 and has now spread to Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, Yemen, and Iran and variants are now on their way to North and South America, Australia, and South and Central Asia.

Cornell University's Durable Rust Resistance in Wheat (DRRW) project will receive a nice chunk of this philanthropic largesse--$40 million to identify rust-resistant genes in wheat crops and distribute those crops to small farmers, $15 million of which will come from DFID.

?Against the backdrop of rising food prices, and wheat in particular, researchers worldwide will be able to play an increasingly vital role in protecting wheat fields from dangerous new forms of stem rust, particularly in countries whose people can ill afford the economic impact of damage to this vital crop," said Ronnie Coffman, Cornell professor of plant breeding and genetics and director of DRRW.

Cornell works with a number of partners to achieve identification and distribution, including the Mexico-based International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Syria's International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), and a number of the UN's Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) labs around the world.

?It is important that public and private institutions work together to develop long-term, sustainable and effective solutions to make life better for the world in which we live,? said David J. Skorton, president of Cornell University.

Follow Fast Company on Twitter.


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Hyper-V BPA Update

This fixes some issues in the previous BPA and also correctly handles the new Dynamic Memory and RemoteFX features in SP1. No new rules have been added. To install the update, you must already have the Hyper-V BPA installed (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/977238). Note that both the original BPA and this update apply to Windows Server 2008 R2 and Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2.

While I recommend you have SP1 installed, this update also applies to R2 RTM Hyper-V. A quick summary of the fixes:

  • Microsoft Hyper-V Server is no longer flagged as not being a Server Core installation
  • Some ECC RAM machines were reported as non-ECC as some non-ECC firmware RAM was being included in the check
  • We have not included the File Service role feature in the scan. The reason is that we have observed certain products (Data Protection
  • Manager as an example) legitimately creating shares for adminstrative purposes. The BPA no longer flags the presence of a file share as another role being installed. However, please do NOT use your Hyper-V machine as a general purpose file server!
  • If you have SP1 and enable RemoteFX, we won't flag the machine as uncompliant due to another role being installed.
  • In the case of Windows 7 VMs only, we have increased the permitted consolidation ratio to 12:1 and updated the BPA accordingly to check for compliance.

As SP1 changes the minimum supported memory for Windows 7 VMs if DM is enabled, the BPA has been updated accordingly. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2485986 is the place for all the information on the changes and the download link.

Download At Source (via John Howard blog)


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Windows Phone Radio 19 now available

Happy Friday! What a better way to end the week than a new episode of Windows Phone Radio? This week, we welcome Aaron Woodman from the Windows Phone product management to talk about the recent trip to Mobile World Congress, the start of the first phone update and much more. Matt speaks to game news from the Xbox event in San Francisco, and I chat up the new HTC Arrive for Sprint. Tune in, stream or download in Zune or iTunes now!

Brian (@brianseitz)

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Shoppers Combine Search, Social Media to Fuel Decisions

Nearly half of consumers use a combination of search and social media to fuel their purchasing decisions, says a new study.

Search engines such as Google and Bing were the first stop for 58 percent of respondents, while 24 percent visited company sites and just 18 percent started with social media, says the survey, a joint project of comScore and search marketing specialist Group M Search.

Of those who went to search engines first, 40 percent then turn to social media to help make a decision. Meanwhile, 46 percent of those who started with social media then turn to search, says the report, titled "The Virtuous Circle: the Role of Search and Social Media in the Purchase Pathway." Just 1 percent of consumers use only social media before buying—suggesting social media "is not yet a stand-alone conduit for the consumer’s decision-making process," notes the report.

Why do shoppers start out with search engines? Partly habit, partly ease-of-use, and partly because of the sheer scale of information available, the research found. Shoppers also see search engines as an aid for pricing through the entire buying cycle, and as a source for pinpointing where to buy an item. About one-fourth (26 percent) use search only at the start of the purchase process, while 45 percent said they used it throughout. Eighteen percent use it just at the end.

Chris Copeland, CEO of Group M Search, told MediaPost that the relatively large number of people who only use search at the beginning of the purchase process suggests new strategies for marketers. "That’s a surprising data point to us because we would have expected it to be less than those who use it just at the end of the pathway," he said.

More than three-fourths of those surveyed (86 percent) ranked search as very important in their buying process, more so than social media or company web sites. "Consumers at a ratio of 2 to 1 cite quality and depth of information as reasons for using search versus social media," says the report. "Time may alter these responses, but"—and it continues in boldface type—"as brands think about how and from where to best provide content, search continues to make a compelling case as a valid recipient for initial investment of ad dollars and ongoing optimization effort."

Not surprisingly, social media helps people find options. More than a quarter of those surveyed (28 percent) said sites such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter help them learn about new brands and products. Thirty percent said they used social media to eliminate brands from contention.

"There are still many brands who haven't figured out why they're in social media," Copeland said. "We still talk to brands that are trying to determine if they should be in social media. The data suggests the two most important subsets in social are user reviews and category blogs, rather than sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube."



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Shoppers Combine Search, Social Media to Fuel Decisions

Nearly half of consumers use a combination of search and social media to fuel their purchasing decisions, says a new study.

Search engines such as Google and Bing were the first stop for 58 percent of respondents, while 24 percent visited company sites and just 18 percent started with social media, says the survey, a joint project of comScore and search marketing specialist Group M Search.

Of those who went to search engines first, 40 percent then turn to social media to help make a decision. Meanwhile, 46 percent of those who started with social media then turn to search, says the report, titled "The Virtuous Circle: the Role of Search and Social Media in the Purchase Pathway." Just 1 percent of consumers use only social media before buying—suggesting social media "is not yet a stand-alone conduit for the consumer’s decision-making process," notes the report.

Why do shoppers start out with search engines? Partly habit, partly ease-of-use, and partly because of the sheer scale of information available, the research found. Shoppers also see search engines as an aid for pricing through the entire buying cycle, and as a source for pinpointing where to buy an item. About one-fourth (26 percent) use search only at the start of the purchase process, while 45 percent said they used it throughout. Eighteen percent use it just at the end.

Chris Copeland, CEO of Group M Search, told MediaPost that the relatively large number of people who only use search at the beginning of the purchase process suggests new strategies for marketers. "That’s a surprising data point to us because we would have expected it to be less than those who use it just at the end of the pathway," he said.

More than three-fourths of those surveyed (86 percent) ranked search as very important in their buying process, more so than social media or company web sites. "Consumers at a ratio of 2 to 1 cite quality and depth of information as reasons for using search versus social media," says the report. "Time may alter these responses, but"—and it continues in boldface type—"as brands think about how and from where to best provide content, search continues to make a compelling case as a valid recipient for initial investment of ad dollars and ongoing optimization effort."

Not surprisingly, social media helps people find options. More than a quarter of those surveyed (28 percent) said sites such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter help them learn about new brands and products. Thirty percent said they used social media to eliminate brands from contention.

"There are still many brands who haven't figured out why they're in social media," Copeland said. "We still talk to brands that are trying to determine if they should be in social media. The data suggests the two most important subsets in social are user reviews and category blogs, rather than sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube."



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Push Notification Status

There have been a number of discussions about Push Notification connections and in particular the ?OK/Received/Connected/Active? and ?OK/Received/Temporarily Disconnected/Active? states.  We?d like to take a few moments in this blog post to review how the connections work.

As indicated in the MSDN documentation, there are a number of Push Notification Service Response Codes.

The ?OK/Received/Connected/Active? status typically signals that everything is operating normally but you should keep the following points in mind:

  • This status does not mean the device has received the notification.  It only indicates that the server has received the notification and queued it for delivery at the next possible opportunity for the device.
  • The server could respond with this status even though the device is currently transitioning into an unreachable state.  This means the notification would not be delivered until the device returns from the unreachable state.
  • Remember there are different batching intervals you can choose for a notification, so the notifications will arrive based on the batching interval you specified.

The ?OK/Received/Temporarily Disconnected/Active? status can occur for a variety of reasons, including but not limited to:

  • In order to reduce network load and latency, mobile operator network configurations can vary greatly in the amount of time a persistent data connection is allowed to live.  The Push Notification Client attempts to mitigate these persistent data connection limitations, but there is a lower bound after which it is power inefficient to mitigate this situation.  This may lead to devices experiencing the ?OK/Received/Temporarily Disconnected/Active? state as a result of the data connection being interrupted.
  • The device is outside the coverage area of their carrier and the user has chosen to disable data connection when roaming.
  • The device has a Pay-As-You-Go plan and has temporarily disabled the data connection or has a restrictive data plan option.
  • The device is on the edge of a coverage area and the data connection is not reliable.
  • If Wi-Fi is being used and cellular data is not available, the device must have a clear path to the internet in order for push notifications to be received ? this can be problematic on some corporate networks.
  • The device is alternating between cell and Wi-Fi connections and the connection is not in a steady state.

Also note that the Push client cannot work behind a SOCKS proxy.  If your device transitions to a network that requires a SOCKS proxy, you will not be able to use the Push service.

These are all conditions valid in the real world so developers should actively code for the ?Temporarily Disconnected? state in their applications.   One challenge in development is that the emulator is not subject to these real world conditions and will always have a reliable connection.  Therefore notifications that work reliably in the emulator may not work reliably in the real world.  If a connection is not in a reliable state, developers may want to throttle back the number of notifications until a normal state is achieved.   If the DeviceConnectionStatus becomes ?Inactive?, then the web service should only attempt one notification per hour until a normal connection is resumed.  Developers can review the Push Notification Server Side Helper for WP7 article and download the code for some samples of handling the server response codes.

Since the configurations of mobile operator networks are all different, the delivery of Push Notifications may vary.  Microsoft works closely with our mobile operator partners to ensure consistent delivery where possible but developers should test across multiple mobile operator networks when feasible.

By programming defensively around real world connection states, developers can gracefully degrade functionality in their applications.  As we move forward with future versions, we?ll work to make this easier and more reliable for developers.

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Video: Our favorite Spring PCs (and tasty salad!)

It may not feel like it when you step outside, but we?re only a few weeks away from the start of Spring.  To celebrate the end of 6-daylight hour days, freezing temperatures and permanently grey skies (here in the Northwest, at least), Ryan and I wanted to share some of our favorite Spring PCs.  Everything that we?re covering in the video ? the Toshiba Satellite L635 Kids PC, ASUS U36Jc, HP Pavilion dm1z, Acer TimelineX 1830, Dell XPS 14, Sony VAIO Z, Samsung SF 510, and Lenovo U260 ? is stylish, lightweight, and has plenty of power to get you through the day.  Check out the video for the lowdown on each?and be sure to watch the out-takes at the end!

These are just some of the great new PCs on the market right now, and there are a lot more coming in the next few months.  Are you in the market for a new PC?  Which one of these would you want for work, school, or play? 

Have a question about these or any other PCs? Post a comment, hit me on Twitter, or Ask Ben Anything via email. Your question might appear in my Ask Ben Anything Q&A column!

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Sunday, February 27, 2011

Upcoming Events for Startups and Entrepreneurs in Seattle



Upcoming Events for Startups and Entrepreneurs in Seattle:


Recurring
FRIFebruary 25
SATFebruary 26
SUNFebruary 27
MONFebruary 28
TUEMarch 1
WEDMarch 2



THUMarch 3

FRIMarch 4
SATMarch 5
SUNMarch 6
MONMarch 7
TUEMarch 8
WEDMarch 9
THUMarch 10

More Startup Events in Seattle...


Don't see your event? Submit your Startup event to our calendar.





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2011 MacBook Pro specs leak out - featuring Thunderbolt

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2011 MacBook Pro specs leak out - featuring Thunderbolt

UPDATE: The new Apple MacBook Pro line-up is now official.

---

Details of the new MacBook Pro models expected on Thursday have leaked out ahead of the much rumoured launch.

According to photos of the spec sheets, the 13-, 15-, and 17-inch models will all be refreshed with new processors, new hard drive options, new screen options, and the addition of a completely new tech from Intel.

The new tech is expected to be Intel’s Light Peak technology, which Apple is going to be calling Thunderbolt.

Light Peak from Intel is a new high-speed optical cable technology designed to connect your electronic devices to each other. Light Peak delivers high bandwidth starting at 10Gb/s with the potential ability to scale to 100Gb/s over the next decade. At 10Gb/s, you could transfer a full-length Blu-Ray movie in less than 30 seconds – Pretty fast.

Intel coincidentally are holding a Light Peak press event in San Francisco on Thursday to show off the new technology.

Aside from the new connectivity port, which of course will require you to have accessories that are also Thunderbolt (Light peak ready), the new models will be getting a drastic speed boost with the 13-inch model expected, if the rumours turn out to be true, getting a 2.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, 4GB of SDRAM and 320 GB hard drive.? Resolution of the 13.3-inch screen is said to be 1280x800, although the German site fscklog.com says that it expects the resolution to be 1440 x 900, while the 15-inch will get a 1680 x 1050 panel – a boost on the current offering.

Meanwhile MacGeneration, another Mac site, has further details on the possible specs:

- 16 GB SSD mSATA drives on all MBP models to store the system

- A speedy Intel Core i3

- A third USB port on the 13-inch model

- Matte screen option on the higher-end 13-inch

- An option to replace the SuperDrive with a SSD on the 15-inch and 17-inch MBP models

- HD screens on all models with?1440?900 on the 13-inch, 1680?1050 on the 15″

- The 13-inch and 15-inch models are lighter, 200 grams less on both models

- The 17-inch model is heavier at 300 grams more than the current 17-inch model

- Longer battery life: 12 hours on the 13-inch and 10 hours on the 15-inch

- 4 GB of RAM for the 13-inch and 15-inch models, 8 GB of RAM for the 17-inch

The site even has pricing details:

MacBook Pro 13-inch: 1,199 (EUR) for the first models and 1,499 (EUR) for the second model.

MacBook Pro 15-inch: 1,799 (EUR) for the first models and 2,199 (EUR) for the second model.

MacBook Pro 17-inch: 2,449 (EUR) from one of the sources and 2,499 (EUR) is the number from another source.

Hopefully we won’t have too long to wait until the Apple officially announces the new laptops, which many believe are now 99 per cent confirmed.?

UPDATE: More images have appears thanks to Mac4Ever.com

UPDATE 2: Macrumours.com are claiming they have the details confirmed and have a photo of the same 13-inch specs, but in english.

Read

Tags: Laptops Macbook Pro Apple Apple Thunderbolt Light Peak Intel

2011 MacBook Pro specs leak out - featuring Thunderbolt  2011 MacBook Pro specs leak out - featuring Thunderbolt  2011 MacBook Pro specs leak out - featuring Thunderbolt. Laptops, Macbook Pro, Apple, Apple Thunderbolt, intel, Light Peak,  4 

2011 MacBook Pro specs leak out - featuring Thunderbolt originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 23 Feb 2011 11:57:00 +0000

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ES: Bill Gates Esta Matando el Periodismo, Reemplaz�ndolo con Ego�stas Relaciones P�blicas PR

�C�mo los plut�cratas la naci�n l�der, dirigido por Gates, distorsionan al extremo los medios de comunicaci�n y difunden la ilusi�n de que los super-ricos de la poblaci�n se preocupan por la poblaci�n a la que realmente explotan y roban.

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Crush Notifier, From The Makers Of Breakup Notifier, Finds Mutual Crushes

Breakup Notifier creator Dan Lowenhertz should just give up on Crate (his actual job) and just make a whole network of these types of things. After having his wildly popular app Breakup Notifier blocked by Facebook, Lowenhertz has dusted himself off and is back in the game, trying to "turn a negative to a positive" with Crush Notifier. From his blog:
"So what does the popularity of Breakup Notifier tell us? I believe it?s that human beings, above all else, value relationships. I never knew how many people would end up using Breakup Notifier.

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