R.I.P. Email Newsletters?

No, the email newsletter is not dead. It’s very much alive and still one of the best ways to build trust, generate demand, and regularly stay relevant with your customers and prospects.
In other words, unless you’re blatantly violating anti-spam legislation, your email subscribers have elected—or raised their hand—to receive information from your company. This is not something to take lightly. This is something to take advantage of on a very regular basis.
However, there are things you might be doing to kill your results. So, consult this list of 5 newsletter “don’ts.” In fact, ignore them at your peril.
1.     Don’t start a newsletter unless you can commit.

Your customers and prospects need to know that you’re reliable. If your home page promotes a monthly newsletter, commit to sending it every month like clockwork—on the same day, at the same time—if possible. Oftentimes this is your subscriber’s first indication that your company delivers on its promises, and  
 goes a long way to develop trust.
 2.     Don’t ignore the mobility factor.
According to Forrester, more than a billion people will have smartphones by 2016. And, Worldata Research claims that 87% of C-Level executives check the majority of their email via mobile device. Clearly, if you haven’t designed your newsletter for easy readability on an iPhone, Android, etc., your regular monthly cadence won’t matter. Ensure that your design renders properly in major email clients.
3.     Don’t assume that blogs take the place of newsletters.  
Blogs are not permission-based. Email newsletters are. It’s far more impactful to send content to contacts who have asked for it vs. hoping the same people find your blog on your website. However, the best scenario is to cross-pollinate, or to use both vehicles to convey your message. Point to specific blogs in your newsletter, and refer to a story in your newsletter in your latest blog. These two tactics can work together for optimal results.
4.     Don’t bore your readers.
Your e-mail newsletter is not the place for a stiff, long-winded introduction accompanied by a “glamour shot.” Avoid the “scroll-fest” (causing your readers to page-down unnecessarily through a manifesto in search of valuable content). Today’s newsletter copy should consist of 2-3 teaser sentences, accompanied by a link to a very scannable article or blog, a video, your social media properties, or to a subtle promotional offer. Include a “colorful” mix of content, drawing from a variety of sources, taking multiple forms. Above all, ensure that your content is relatable, concise, and compelling. Avoid fluff at all costs.
5.     Don’t treat your newsletter like a sales tool.
As tempting as it is for Sales to hijack your newsletter at the end of the quarter in a mad dash to make their numbers, this is not the tool for that. Newsletters are best suited for relationship marketing and nurturing contacts (customers and prospects alike) as they travel along the sales cycle. Consider their journey. Put yourself in their shoes. This is the vehicle for reminding them that you exist, for providing value in terms of content that will make their job/lives easier, and for steadily building demand. This is hardly the forum for “the close.”
Maybe you’re completely new to email newsletters? Don’t be afraid to get started. A little bit of discipline goes a long way to establish and sustain customer intimacy. And, aside from the “don’ts” above, you should also consult the mConcierge Newsletter Tactical Marketing Guide. This 2-page “cheat sheet” gives you a basic overview, best practices, tips on measuring your newsletter’s success, as well as a sample timeline.
Again, the email newsletter is not dead. It’s just evolving like every other tactic in your marketing toolbox. In a world seemingly dominated by social media, there’s still nothing more powerful than a database of customers/prospects who have actively opted in to interact with you on a regular basis. Don’t disappoint them.

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What is the Industrial Internet?

Industrial giant GE has been pushing the idea of the Industrial Internet, including publishing a detailed white paper on the concept.  
This is a larger scale variation on the concept of the Internet of Things, first coined back in the late 1990s.
The basic idea behind both concepts is more and more objects are being embedded with sensors and gaining the ability to communicate. And in fact, machine-to-machine communications (which means machines and objects talking to other machines and objects) is outpacing human-to-human communications.
Researchers expect by 2020 there will be over 50 billion machines connected to the Internet.  This, of course, is a lot more than the 7 billion humans expected to be alive then. And these smart machines will generate enormous amounts of big data.  
GE's definition of the Industrial Internet is primarily focused on big machines like aircraft engines and power generators. Their framework consists of three broad elements:

1. Intelligent Machines: embed the world's machines, facilities, fleets and networks with advanced sensors, controls and software applications.

2. Advanced Analytics: combines the power of physics-based analytics, predictive algorithms, automation and deep domain expertise.

3. People at Work: connecting people at work or on the move, any time to support more intelligent design, operations, maintenance and higher quality service and safety.

The concepts and ideas behind the Industrial Internet are not new. They go back at least to the 1980s, when the early work around ubiquitous computing was done.  Also, many firms have already deployed smart machines and objects.
But what is new is after a long gestation period we're at the point where deployments are entering the mainstream and the technology is starting to impact industry in major ways.
Whether you call it the Industrial Internet or the Internet of Things, the growth of smart ojects and machines promises to create new business models, improve business processes, and reduce costs and risks.

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The Power of LinkedIn Groups

We spend a lot of time on social media here at Small Business Labs. Twitter is an important resource for information discovery and, of course, we read of a wide variety of blogs. We're also active on other social media platforms.  
But over the last year or so LinkedIn Groups has emerged as one of our key go to sources for information. We've found the discussions in our favorite groups to be excellent, the content relevant and the networking opportunities outstanding.  
Two examples of the 8-10 groups we regularly follow are:
Gen Y Lounge:  a group with 139 members dedicated to all things Gen Y. One of my favorite aspects of this group is the international flavor. The group is moderated by Martina Mangelsdorf, who is Swiss and the managing director of Gaia Insights, a firm focused on Gen Y and the workplace.
Due to our location and the interests of our clients, we tend to be a bit American-centric in our work. Groups like Gen Y lounge provide us with a broader, multinational perspective.  
If you're interested in Gen Y, it's a great group to join.
AWE: is officially the Alternative Work Environments group. It has about 700 members focused on the future of work and workplaces. It's moderated by Mike Hackett, an HR expert and consultant.
AWE brings together people from a wide range of disciplines and backgrounds who are interested in the future of work. The group has excellent insights on the topic and the diversity of views is really useful.
If you're interested in the future of work or workplaces, join AWE.   
I'd like to say we're consistently happy with LinkedIn Groups, but we're not. Many are worthless.
But the good ones tend to be very good. The key, we think, is to find groups that are tightly focused on a specific topic and are well moderated.  
Most groups don't meet either criteria. This is because moderation is not easy. It takes a lot of time and skill to keep a group conversation going and focused.
But when they're done well - like Martina and Mike have done with their groups - LinkedIn groups are extremely useful.  

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Is Self-Employment Declining?

The BLS recently released their Industry Employment and Output Projections to 2020. One of the more interesting projections is the share of the labor force that is self-employed:  it's projected to fall to 5.9 percent in 2020 from 6.3% in 2010.
At first this seems somewhat counter intuitive. But it becomes a bit more clear once you understand how the BLS defines self-employment.
For most purposes the BLS uses unincorporated self-employment.  These are people who identify themselves as self-employed but don't have a corporate entity. If a self-employed person has a corporate entity (an LLC, S Corp, C Corp, etc.) they are counted as incorporated self-employed.  
For reasons too complex to discuss here, the BLS generally only reports or talks about unincorporated self-employed in their publications. Since a bit more than 35% of the total self-employed are incorporated, the BLS decision to report only the unincorporated self-employed leads to a lot of confusion.
Compounding this confusion is that incorporation is becoming more popular among the self-employed. The cost of incorporating is quite low and there are many potential business, tax, liability and health insurance reasons for doing so. In fact, many have caught wind of these benefits, causing the share of self-employed who are incorporated to increase from under 30% in the 1990s to over 35% today.
If you roll up the unincorporated self-employment numbers with incorporated self-employment, you find that about 10% of the workforce was self-employed in 2010 - not the 6.3% referenced in the report. 
I also suspect if the BLS included incorporated self-employed in their forecast, total self-employment as a percent of the workforce would grow -- not decline -- over the forecast time frame.  
For more on this topic, see our 2009 article Self-Employment Not Falling.  It covers the same ground and provides more detail and links on incorporated and unincorporated self-employment.

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Top 10 Small Business Trends for 2013

Below is our sixth annual Top 10 Small Business Trends list.
Our overall economic outlook for 2013 is for continued moderate growth with U.S. GDP increasing 2.25% to 2.75%.  We expect hiring and the job market to continue to improve with unemployment falling and finishing the year in the 6.8% to 7.2% range.
Technology 
1. Big Data for the Little Guy:  Big data is big news these days. Yet much of the discussion has been about how big data will help big businesses.  But the data and analytics revolution will also benefit small businesses. 2013 will see rapid increases in the number of small businesses using powerful yet inexpensive cloud-based data and analytical tools.  These systems will deliver meaningful insights on customers, markets and competition and will also improve bottom-line business results.  This trend comes from our work with Intuit on The New Data Democracy.  
2. Smartphones, Tablets and the Cloud Rule the World:  The growth of smartphones, tablets and cloud computing – and their impact on business – is hard to overestimate.  In 2013 small businesses will need to do more than just make their websites mobile device friendly (few currently do), they will need to re-think how they operate and serve customers in a world dominated by mobile and cloud computing. 
Economic 
3. The Solo Support Industry Grows Up: 2013 will see the continued growth of products and services designed to make it easier for solopreneurs and the self-employed to start and operate their businesses.  Expect more niche online marketplaces like Elance and Task Rabbit to connect independent workers with the organizations looking to tap their services; more educational programs and government support for starting and operating a self-employed business; more services and tools to help manage a solopreneur business; and more coworking and solopreneur-oriented commercial workspaces.  We borrowed this trend from the 2013 Future Workforce Trends from our friends at MBO Partners.
4. Small Business Hits the Road: One of the most interesting findings from our food truck research project is how quickly other industries are discovering the advantages of taking to the road and going to their customers.  We expect this form of “mobile commerce” will take off in 2013 as personal service firms, retailers of all kinds and even industrial firms take advantage of the lower costs, increased flexibility and high levels of customer satisfaction that mobile business provides. 
5. Go Midwest Young Man (and Woman):  There’s an economic renaissance happening in the Midwest driven by the rising demand for commodities, an energy boom taking place in many Midwestern states and the growth of reshoring of services and manufacturing to the U.S.   Technology now better connects the Midwest to the rest of the world, and the cost of doing business is lower than in many coastal states. These trends are resulting in strong Midwestern economies, low unemployment rates, strong net migration and lots of small business opportunities.  
6. Angels Will Fear to Tread: Over the past few years there’s been a boom in Angel investing.  According to the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire, 66,230 companies received $22.5 billion from Angels in 2011.  They also report 2012 will likely see an increase in these numbers. But at the same time, A and later round funding by traditional VCs has declined, with only about 4,000 firms receiving these rounds in 2012. Traditional funding is expected to be even harder to come by in 2013. This, coupled with intense startup competition, will result in many Angel backed firms failing.  Because of this, Angels will learn how hard it is to make money as a startup investor and the Angel investing frenzy will subside.  
7. Small Manufacturing Gets Big:  2013 will see the continued growth of the small manufacturing sector. Driven by 5 strong trends – (1) technology and variable cost business models are making it easier and cheaper to be a small manufacturer; (2) rising overseas costs are making U.S. manufacturing cost competitive; (3) developing world economic growth is leading to stronger export opportunities; (4) the Internet and online systems are improving the ability of small manufacturers to find, sell and support customers; and (5) growing demand for customized and niche products both locally and globally – small manufacturing will thrive. 
Social 
8. Time is More than Money - Time has become the scarce commodity of the 21st century. Life for both consumers and small businesses has become more connected, complex and on-demand, making it hard to get a day’s tasks done.  The debated work-life balance has morphed into a more realistic discussion of work-life flexibility as we become more aware of a limited hourglass. In 2013, products that help users manage time, life and work effectively will be in demand, as will services targeted to relieve our schedules of mundane tasks and improve personal experience (see trend 4, Small Businesses Hit the Road). Time scarcity will spur growth in the personal services economy and related employment.
9. Consumers Embrace Hyper-Transparency:  2012 was the year showrooming - the trend towards shoppers visiting stores to see a product, but then buying it online or from some other store – reached the mainstream.  2013 will see the showrooming trend gain even more traction and expand beyond price with smart phone and data-powered customers and competitors getting ever-greater, real-time access to information on small business products, services and business performance. 
Health Care 
10. Planning for Obamacare: The election results means Obamacare will be the law of the land for at least the next 4 years.  With most of its major provisions coming online in 2014, 2013 will be a year of health care planning for small businesses.  While most of the focus of the law is on firms with more than 50 employees, owners of smaller firms will also need to review their personal and business health coverage due to changes caused by the law.

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A final thought from The Wisdom of Clouds

As the cloud market matures, James Urquhart changes companies and changes his focus from infrastructure to applications. It's time to say goodbye to one of his great passions, he says.

Three years ago, Matt Asay (then-author of The Open Road) introduced me to Dan Farber, then the CNET editor in chief, who invited me to begin blogging as a member of the CNET Blog Network.

(Credit: Gary Orenstein)

I accepted, and from that day forth, I made it my goal with every post to inform and educate you, my reader, about the varied nuances of this disruptive way of doing IT that we call cloud computing.
Since then, I've written several posts that I am very proud of:

• I covered the tenuous relationship between existing law and cloud computing in several posts, including the impact of an FBI raid in Texas on cloud consumer rights, and an in-depth legal analysis of the impact of cloud on the Fourth Amendment.
• I wrote a three-part series exploring various aspects of cloud interoperability.
• I made a clear, concise argument for why cloud computing is an operations model, not a technology.
• I outlined why cloud analogies to electric utilities miss a key difference between data and electricity.
• I did a five-part series on how cloud and virtualization are making us rethink the IT stack.
• I outlined a proposed "calling card" for applications looking for cloud services.
• I did a three-part series outlining the relationship between cloud computing and "devops."
• I updated my informal "Cloud Computing Bill of Rights," which aims to outline consumer and vendor responsibilities in the cloud relationship.
• I outlined the changing nature of IT operations in a cloud-computing dominated world (which I will be discussing with Bernard Golden at Cloud Expo in Santa Clara, Calif., next week).

There are, of course, many more posts that I am proud of than I could list here.
My ability to share all of this with the CNET readers was only possible because of the excellent support of CNET's editors and staff. I owe all of them a debt of gratitude for their excellent and professional work.
Unfortunately, as of today I must bring The Wisdom of Clouds to a close. There are several reasons for this. The most important reason is a new job that I am taking on as vice president of product strategy for cloud management software provider enStratus. This is a huge opportunity to take on a demanding role in what I believe will be one of the most important pieces of software in the enterprise in coming years.
There are other reasons, however. For one, cloud computing itself is no longer an innovative new field, but a growing marketplace of hundreds or even thousands of technology and service options. Covering cloud overall has become a journalist's job, and I see myself more as an analyst and essayist.
So, I will continue to write. I want to explore how application development and operations is changing in light of cloud computing, as well as understand what cloud service providers are doing right--and wrong. Look for occasional contributions to GigaOm, as well as my own blog, which I plan to resurrect. The best way to keep up with me (and even share your ideas or comments with me) is on Twitter, where I am @jamesurquhart.
Last, but perhaps most importantly, thanks to you, the reader, for making this such an amazing experience. I will always be grateful to CNET, its readers, and the technical community at large for giving me the wisdom of clouds.

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Award-winning IPedge gets even better

Release 1.5 brings smartphone mobility, an even more robust voice mail platform, easier SIP trunk gateway setup and more.

 In June, we launched Release 1.2 of Toshiba IPedge®, the pure IP business communication system built on open protocols and a slim (1U), industry-standard Linux server.  With Release 1.2, IPedge supported video for audio-conferencing and Web collaboration on even the smallest model (IPedge for up to 40 users), and the communications system became more robust than ever.
Not satisfied with rave reviews from analysts and customers plus “Excellence” and “Product of the Year” awards from Internet Telephony and Communications Solutions, Toshiba made a good thing even better.  IPedge Release 1.5, available in January 2013, brings a host of enhancements.  Among the new capabilities, four are particular stand-outs:

• Support for Apple® iOS and Android™ mobile devices
• Voice mail survivability
• Easier set-up of gateways for SIP trunking
• Simpler administration through new wizards and utilities

Use your Apple iOS and Android mobile devices as IPedge extensions.
Toshiba’s IPMobility client application for IPedge provides single-number reach to Apple and Android smartphone devices for both incoming and outgoing calls.  Using the IPedge follow-me feature, calls to your office number can ring either sequentially or simultaneously to your desk phone and mobile phone.  This feature works with most Apple and Android platform mobile devices, including Apple iOS versions 5 and 6, Motorola Droid, Sony Xperia™ and Samsung Galaxy, among others.

Outgoing calls are dialed through the IPedge, displaying the office number caller ID and providing least-cost routing for long distance and international calls.  You can either dial directly through the IPedge or have the IPedge call you back before making the outbound call in order to avoid mobile network long-distance charges. IPMobility works with advanced system calling features such as extension dialing, call transfer, call record and more.  You can also manage and control your voice mail messages, greetings, passwords and recordings from a visual interface on your smartphone.
Keep using voice mail even if a server or network connection goes down.
If the power goes out, a cable is unplugged, or your primary phone system server becomes unavailable, you can still have voice mail.  With Release 1.5, each member of a networked cluster of IPedge servers retains voice mail backup for every other node on the network.  If a user’s primary server becomes unavailable, the voice mail application automatically connects to a secondary server.  When the original server comes back online, the voice mail application reconnects to its original host.  A system or network glitch is invisible to users and customers.
Set up SIP trunking gateways in a snap.
ADTRAN®’s Total Access® 908 and 908e gateways convert SIP to T1/ISDN-PRI and connect native SIP IPedge systems to legacy PRI trunks for cost-effective business communications.  With Release 1.5, it is easier than ever to set up these gateways because you can now use the configuration wizard in IPedge Enterprise Manager.  Once the SIP trunk channel group and service definition information has been entered into the IPedge database, the wizard automatically creates the configuration file.  (There’s also an external gateway configuration wizard tool for AudioCodes gateways).
Wizards and utilities simplify administration at the core.
Release 1.5 brings more wizards and utilities within IPedge Enterprise Manager to simplify administration.  For example, there’s now a wizard for importing and exporting the network directory number (DN) table from Toshiba’s Strata® CIX™ systems to IPedge systems and vice versa.  IPedge also provides default system model database pre-configurations to get the IPedge system up and running within minutes.
In short, Release 1.5 makes the award-winning IPedge business communications system easier to set up, easier to use, and more resilient for better business continuity.

Upgrade to IPedge Release 1.5 today!

  For an Authorized Toshiba Dealer, visit:  www.telecom.toshiba.com                

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Back to linear?

We no longer live in a 'linear' world. Today, people move fluidly and unpredictably between devices and media environments - mobile device to computer to social platforms to TV, all in one day. With new technologies such as Video on-Demand (VOD), Digital Video Recorders (DVRs) and internet video, traditional linear advertising (inserting of promotional messages into programs that are being transmitted in continuous form, like broadcasting or streaming) as in TV, is losing some of its effectiveness.
 Online media and advertising were supposed to be the new formats that would allow for the new, non-linear advertising that the new media paradigm demanded. Targeting became more important than the messaging itself and the domain more of a quaint play than the realm of the old guard marketers. Engagement is driven by the audience at multiple points and on many devices, and audience fragmentation makes targeting even more critical.
However, non-linear ads have not been the godsend they were believed to be. Random banners do not work even if they are interesting. Mobile newspapers and magazines are confirming this painful discovery with dismal ad revenues. According to a recent study, 50 percent of clicks on mobile ads are attributable purely to the "oops" factor.
Today, online video and mobile are changing the pattern of storytelling once again; they are becoming more guided experiences. A much more limited real estate on the mobile device and the current patterns of online video consumption that closely resembles traditional TV are making some of the old honchos pound the tables and scream "I told you so." So — are we going back to linear? Of course it is not really the same, even though it may seem to be. The complexity of multichannel publishing and marketing makes it a far cry from linear.
A key characteristic of a linear video ad, according to IAB, is that it takes over the full video experience for a period of time. Storytelling and targeting are critical. This fact must be remembered by non-linear ad makers as well. Even when making the switch to non-linear story-telling, content is still the king, and is extremely important. High-value or targeted content and context is what will sell.
Similarly marketers will finally have to face-up to real multichannel storytelling, in high volumes. While not linear, per say, they will need to be holistic consumer experiences that can stand on their own or as part of an integrated storyline. This will need to be done in size and diversity that may require the industry to rethink old paradigms. In a way this change may be more dramatic than Search, as it will touch the core creative and media processes. Instead of thinking of this as merely another challenge, it is worth keeping in mind that this new non-linear climate provides for a deeper and longer level of consumer engagement than the typical linear television ads of the past.

                           

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Artificial Intelligence with a human touch!

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is high on the priority list of major enterprises across the world. With the famed futurist, Ray Kurwzeil joining Google last month, the buzz on where artificial intelligence will take us in the near future is everywhere. The focus is on machines replacing humans to deliver better and faster results. Scientists across the world have been working on ways to mimic the human brain in computers. However, when it comes to translating human thought into something that the machines can interpret and act on, experts have always fallen short. This is looked up on as the biggest drawback in machines and something that stops artificial intelligence from taking the next step. Machines might go ahead and decrypt human thought, but how will they interpret the emotion behind the thought?

Twitter has revolutionized the way people share news and interact. By offering ads and sponsored tweets, Twitter faced a challenge- How to instantly identify the tone/meaning of the tweets and deliver them to the right streams? The technical team at Twitter faced the same problem that all artificial intelligence experts experience. Normally, topics trend on Twitter for a short period. The machines can identify a spike in a particular query. How will the system understand what a particular hashtag means and identify the type of ads to place against the tag?

Twitter recently said that the machines don’t interpret the meaning of the hashtag. Twitter, instead turns to real people to understand the meaning. Of course, the process is automated, wherein the system identifies a sudden spike and sends the query for human interpretation. Once the meaning of the hashtag is identified, it is then fed into the backend system which will then automatically decide the ads and streams that will suit that particular hashtag.
Based on the current state of artificial intelligence, technology experts should take cue from this story. Rather than trying to replicate human brain, let the machines do what they do best. The best use of analytics and high performance computing is to churn out the data and break it into something that can be assessed and acted upon by a person. When it comes to complex data, analytics and computing is more about automation than offering insights.
Enterprises should recognize what the human beings and machines do best and let them do that. The practical way to look at artificial intelligences is to have machines and human beings work in tandem, rather than trying to mimic each other.

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UK, NZ to work together on cyber security

New Zealand is joining Britain in the fight against cyber-crime, by signing an agreement that will see the two nations share intelligence, research and development on internet offences.

Foreign Minister Murray McCully made the announcement following bi-lateral talks with Britain's visiting Foreign Secretary William Hague today.
"New Zealand and the United Kingdom have a long history of co-operation on defence and security policy based on our shared values, and cyber space is one of the greatest national, global and strategic challenges now of our time," said Hague.
http://tvnz.co.nz/world-news/nz-joins-britain-in-fight-against-cyber-crime-video-5319150

The agreement means that New Zealand will be able to draw on research and development from a Global Cyber Security Centre being built in the UK.
And cooperation between our countries may go further, with both ministers promising to make strategic talks an annual event.
"We've also put in place a scheme which will allow our officials to be seconded across from each other's ministries which will give us a greater understanding and cooperation," said McCully.
Hagues visit, his second in as many years, confirms that Britain is serious about rekindling economic and diplomatic ties.
"For me one of the most striking recollections of last year was the presence of the Maoris, the Maori waka, at the Diamond Jubilee river pageant, for our shared monarch," Hague said at the meeting.
Earlier, McCully said the meeting was an excellent opportunity to address critical foreign policy issues with a close and valued partner.
He expected the situation in Iran and Syria, the Middle East Peace Process and developments in Afghanistan will feature in the discussions, as will regional issues such as Fiji and Burma.
The Foreign Secretary will later have a meeting with opposition leader David Shearer.
While in Auckland, Hague will also meet New Zealand business leaders and entrepreneurs, young Pacific leaders, academics and non-government organisations.

 Tomorrow, Hague will visit Christchurch for a tour of the Red Zone and to lay a wreath at HMNZS Pegasus naval base in honour of New Zealand service men and women.

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Acer launches Iconia B1 tablet, price Rs 7,999

Acer Iconia B1 tablet is powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core processor and has 512MB RAM

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Acer has announced the launch of Iconia B1 tablet, priced at 7,999.
Acer Iconia B1 features a 7-inch LCD screen with 1024x600p resolution and 182ppi pixel density. It runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.
It is powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 512MB RAM, VGA front camera, Wi-Fi, 2,710mAh battery, Bluetooth 4.0 and microUSB 2.0. The phone has a storage capacity of 8GB expandable upto 32GB using microSD card.
The tablet was unveiled at Consumer Electronics Show 2013.

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Tremendous demand for IT services: Azim Premji

Noting that the overall macro-economic factors were stabilising globally, Azim Premji said the US economy was showing improvement, as evident from growing consumer demand and improvement in employment data

News | by IANS 

BANGALORE, INDIA: With macro-economic factors stabilising globally and the mood improving, there is a lot of demand for IT services, Wipro chairman Azim Premji said on Friday.
"When I talk to business leaders globally, the overall mood appears to be improving. With focus on productivity, there is a lot of demand for IT services, if we are able to show value to the customer," Premji told reporters after his global software major reported better than expected results for third quarter (October-December) of this fiscal.
Noting that the overall macro-economic factors were stabilising globally, Premji said the US economy was showing improvement, as evident from growing consumer demand and improvement in employment data.
"In IT business, we are seeing increase in influence of customer budgets by CXO (chief executives) and our strategy is focused on selling to them in addition to CIOs (chief information officers)," Premji said.
Admitting that this fiscal (2012-13) had seen a temporary slow down across geos (geographies) and segments due to macro-economic conditions, the IT czar said as corporations leverage technology to drive revenue and productivity, his company would invest in aligning its go-to-market strategy growth in line with its revenue guidance.
"In our key growth markets like Brazil, we are poised for high growth trajectory, helped by the $66-billion economic stimulus and localization effort underway in that developing country," he said.
Echoing the general view that the Indian economy had bottomed out, Premji, however, put the onus of revival on the government's fiscal and policy impetus for growth this year.
"Though we are positioned more strongly than ever as a global player and partner of choice, a lot will depend on how things would play out globally and locally for a turnaround in demand to fuel growth," Premji said.
Upbeat on sustaining growth, the company said its flagship global IT services business would grow in the range of $1,585-$1,625 million or sequentially 1.8 percent to $1.61 billion ($1,605 million) in fourth quarter (Jan-March) of this fiscal as per the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS).
In a regulatory filing earlier, the company said it posted net profit of Rs.1,716 crore (Rs.17.16 billion) for the quarter under review (Q3), registering 18 per cent year-on-year (YoY) and 6.5 per cent sequentially.

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US general warns over Iranian cyber-soldiers

Cyber-attacks on Iran are turning it into a "force to be reckoned with" America's top cyber-soldier has warned.

Since 2010, Iran has come under attack many times by malicious viruses written specifically to target key industrial installations in the country.
The repeated attacks have provoked Iran to improve its cyber-capabilities, said Gen William Shelton who oversees US cyber-operations.
It meant Iran was becoming a growing force in web-based attacks, he said.
Gen Shelton issued the warning during a briefing given to reporters about the US Air Force division he heads that includes America's cyber-troops.
He said the 2010 Stuxnet virus attack on Iran's Natanz uranium processing plant had generated a "reaction" by Iran that had led it to rapidly improve its defensive and offensive cyber-capabilities. Since then Iran has been hit again and again by viruses. In December 2012, the Stuxnet virus returned and hit companies in the southern Hormozgan region.
That improved capability had helped it protect itself against subsequent attacks on oil terminals and other manufacturing plants. Its capability might well be turned against Iran's enemies in the coming years, he said.
"They are going to be a force to be reckoned with," said Gen Shelton, "with the potential capabilities that they will develop over the years and the potential threat that will represent to the United States."
Web war Gen Shelton's comments come soon after a senior Iranian commander said it had growing "electronic warfare" capabilities that it planned to use to disrupt what it called enemy communication systems. The nation is known to have carried out web-based military exercises at the same time as other troops were on manoeuvrings.
Currently, said Gen Shelton US cyber-forces were about 6,000 strong but would add another 1,000 people in the next 12 months. These workers were successfully fending off the vast majority of the millions of attacks aimed at military networks every day, he added.
In addition, he said, the cyber-forces could gather intelligence and were developing the ability to carry out hack attacks in support of more traditional military operations.

                                          Iran's nuclear programme has been hit by viruses that                                          targeted industrial machinery

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Nokia Gives 3D Printers Something Fun to Do

Few people have 3D printers, but those who do might want to run right out and get themselves one of Nokia's Lumia 820 smartphones. The company just released a kit with all the specs and info necessary for consumers to print their own cases. At upwards of $2,000, 3D printers are expensive toys, but Nokia is convinced they're the wave of the future. They certainly lend themselves to good marketing today.


Nokia on Friday released a 3D printing kit that will allow users to create their own custom cases for the Lumia 820. The handset, which was unveiled last September, features a removable shell case that lets users change the color of their phone or even enable options such as wireless charging.

 
Now Nokia has taken things a step farther. It is allowing users to customize their phone via a special 3D printing kit. The 3DK is the first such accessory from a major handset manufacturer. Although the market penetration for 3D printers is still in its infancy, this is a way for Nokia, a once-dominant player in the handset arena, to regain the spotlight for doing something different.
"This is very much a marketing initiative," said Ian Fogg, senior principal analyst and head of the IHS mobile sector at IHS iSuppli. This is about getting column inches and getting Nokia talked about in the media."
Nokia did not respond to our request for further details.

Cutting-Edge Props

Even prior to the widespread adoption of mobile smartphones, the handset has been very much a way of showing off some individuality. Primarily this has been through the production of cases, which has grown from a cottage industry to a major market.
Is Nokia killing the cash cow by allowing users to create cases with a printer?
"The reason this is very much a marketing initiative is that Nokia knows accessories have good margins," Fogg told TechNewsWorld.
"Nokia doesn't want to sacrifice that market, and they know 3D printing is a niche market," he explained. "Few people own 3D printers at home, so it won't cannibalize the accessories businesses at all."
It could also help reaffirm that Nokia is still very much on the cutting edge -- even beating Apple with something that could have users thinking and reacting differently.
"Nokia wants and needs to reposition themselves as tech leaders, and this appeals to thought leaders and first adopters," said Glen Hiemstra of Futurist.com. "It will create buzz in the maker community."

Custom Case

The fact that Nokia -- not Apple -- is embracing this technology goes back to Nokia's roots in providing some variety to mobile phone owners.
"Nokia's old advantage was they were the one company that seemed to get that folks didn't want to have identical phones and theirs were designed to have their appearance changed by users," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group. "This would be particularly important if you were competing against a one-size/look-fits-all strategy like Apple has."
There have been many ways to create individualized phone cases, but much of this has resulted in increasing the footprint of the handset in the processes. Nokia could change that.
"It could differentiate Nokia from most handsets on the market," said Fogg. "Instead of customizing the handset, you are actually customizing the casing -- and this isn't adding any bulk or heft to the phone."

Future of 3D

The other notable part of this is that 3D has been a dud as a visual technology, in that consumers aren't liking what they see on a TV screen. However, having a 3D printer to play with could be much more inviting. To date, 3D printers have been expensive, though.
MarkerBot unveiled a 3D printer in September that cost nearly US$2,200, but as with many technologies the price is likely to fall. For people to get excited about adopting the technology, there need to be products worth printing -- and the 3DK could nicely fill that void.
"Nokia sees the future coming, and this is a recognition that 3D printing is on the way to being commercially viable for custom products," added Hiemstra.
This could also be an experiment in the tradition of preferring fast failure over being too cautious, Hiemstra told TechNewsWorld, "a charge [Nokia has] been prone to -- but small risk, pretty big reward."
Of course, for this technology to take root will require that drop in price, but that should happen over time, and 3D printing could be a big game-changing moment -- one that starts now.
"This is likely the future of customization, and it will only be a matter of time before someone figures out how to get the price down so you can have a 3D printer in your home that can customize a lot of stuff ," noted Enderle. "This clearly brings 3D printing one more big step into the mainstream."

 

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Ford drives programmers to hack up vehicle data

Ford has launched its OpenXC vehicle application research platform running on Arduino and Android to allow software programmers to build new in-car apps.
The motor giant says that it wants to "unleash" the power of the open-source programmer (and hacker) community to explore what can be done with vehicle data.
OpenXC is described as a combination of open source hardware and software for developers to build vehicle-centric custom applications and pluggable modules.
"[Developers] can start making vehicle-aware applications that have better interfaces based on context, can minimise distraction while driving, are integrated with other connected services, and can offer you more insight into a car's operation," says Ford.
The company highlights the fact that every new car today is full of computers and electronics, and although many companies are already offering tools to hook into the driver's interface, they have -- for the most part -- limited availability for hobbyists and developers.

       The OpenXC team has envisioned a time when a car will be as easy to program as a smartphone.

Image: http://www.designsmag.com/
"Ford is committed to innovating with the help of software and now hardware developers," said Paul Mascarenas, Ford vice president and chief technical officer. "By connecting cars and trucks to wireless networks, and giving unheard-of access to vehicle data, entirely new application categories and hardware modules can be explored - safety, energy efficiency, sharing, health; the list goes on. OpenXC gives developers and researchers the tools they need to get involved."

The OpenXC kit includes a vehicle interface module based on the popular Arduino platform developers can use to read data from the vehicle's internal communications network. The hardware module provides real-time access to parameters like the vehicle sensors, GPS receiver and vehicle speed. The hardware module is connected to a smartphone or tablet on which apps can be written to consume and use these data.

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