Windows 7 smartphone is 'world's smallest PC

Fujitsu says an Intel Atom-powered smartphone that runs Windows 7 will be available in Japan July 23. Touted as the "world's smallest PC," the Loox F-07C includes a four-inch, 1,024 x 600 pixel touchscreen, 1GB of RAM, a 32GB solid state disk, dual cameras, a microSD slot, and an HDMI video output, according to the company.

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Fujitsu's Loox F-07C runs Windows 7 on a 1.2GHz Intel Atom Z600 processor, equipped with 1GB of RAM and 32GB of solid state disk storage. However, it wouldn't quite be accurate to call the device a "Windows-based phone," since the smartphone side of the operation runs the Symbian operating system. Rather, think of this as a very compact Windows 7 tablet that just happens to have a smartphone attached to it.

The Windows environment is apparently suspended when the Loox F-07C is being used as a phone. However, customers of the NTT DoCoMo network -- where the device is initially being offered -- will be able to receive calls when using the device as a computer).

In smartphone mode, the device offers up to 600 hours standby, 370 minutes talk time, and 170 minutes of video calling. However, Windows mode is good for just two hours of operation, according to Fujitsu.

The Loox F-07C's cellular radio works as a modem for Windows data access at up to 7.2Mbps, according to Fujitsu. The device also includes 802.11b/g/n wireless networking and dual cameras -- a five megapixel photo-taker, and a VGA-resolution sensor for videoconferencing.

In addition to its four-inch touchscreen (with 1024 x 600 pixel resolution) the Loox F-07C also has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, a microSD slot that accepts up to 32GB of add-on storage,plus a stand for desktop use and recharging. An included Y-cable allows connecting a USB keyboard and mouse as well as an HDMI-interfaced monitor, Fujitsu says.

Fujitsu's Loox F-07C in smartphone (left) and PC (right) modes
(Click to enlarge)

Fujitsu says the Loox F-07C measures 5.82 x 3.14 x 2.08 inches (148 x 80 x 53mm) and weighs approximately 7.76 ounces (220g). The device comes with a Japanese edition of the Windows 7 Home Premium operating system, plus a two-year license for Word 2010, Excel 2010, and Outlook 2010, the company adds.

Microsoft adds RAW photo file support to Windows

Some welcome news for serious photographers running Windows: Microsoft has added support for the RAW file format from within Windows Explorer as well as Windows Live Photo Gallery 2011.

"Dealing with raw images on Windows hasn't always been easy," admited Brad Weed, group program manager for Microsoft's Windows Live in a blog post emailed to me in advance of its posting.

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Microsoft today announced the release of a Camera Codec Pack that supports more than 120 RAW file formats from Canon, Nikon, Sony, Olympus, Pentax, Leica, Minolta, Panasonic and Epson. Once installed, Explorer windows will be able to generate thumbnail images from RAW files.

RAW files, often called digital negatives, include all the data that a camera captures electronically. That data is usually processed in some way to produce a viewable image, a bit like film negatives need processing to create prints. Many photography enthusiasts prefer shooting with a RAW format because 1) those files include much more data than a JPG and 2) RAW gives them greater control over what the final image will look like, much like doing your own darkroom work instead of sending film out to be processed. (Am I dating myself here?)
RAW files in Windows Explorer before the Codec
RAW files as they appeared in Windows Explorer before the Camera Codec Pack

However, not all software can deal with RAW files, including many low-end image editors. Until today, Windows Explorer didn't, either; Explorer could not generate thumbnail images of RAW files the way it did with JPGs. So, even if you chose to display image thumbnails within Explorer, all you'd get is icons showing the application you've associated with that file type. (I've linked my RAW files to be opened in Photoshop Elements, hence the PSE).
RAW files in Windows Explorer using the Codec
RAW files as they appear in Windows Explorer using the Camera Codec Pack

I'm not sure how many people will be using Windows Live Photo Gallery to edit RAW files. It's hard to imagine that many photographers shooting RAW are using Windows Live to edit their images, as opposed to, say, robust editors such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom or Apple Apeture -- all of which include RAW editors. However, the ability to see RAW thumbnails in Explorer should be useful for hobbyists using the Windows platform. I've already downloaded and installed the Codec on my Windows 7 system at home, and it's nice to see thumbnails of my RAW files instead of icons of the software I use to open them. And I suppose the Windows Live capability could in handy in a pinch, for someone encountering a RAW file who doesn't usually deal with them.

You can download and install the Codec Pack manually from the Microsoft Download Center.

If you're wondering, Mac OS X is already able to generate thumbnails for RAW files, and Apple's consumer-level iPhoto software pulls in RAW files and automatically processes them (unlike Apeture which gives the user more control over that conversion).

The fall and rise of Microsoft Silverlight

InfoWorld - Microsoft Silverlight has had a topsy-turvy year. Apparently doomed or at least marginalized by HTML5, Silverlight found a foothold in Windows Phone and has more recently emerged as a key component of the Jupiter application framework and programming model for Windows 8. If Silverlight has become less important as a rich Internet application (RIA) framework, it has become more important to Microsoft's desktop and mobile platforms overall.

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In the meantime, the cross-platform RIA framework is still kicking -- though development has clearly slowed. More evolutionary than revolutionary, the "new" capabilities in Microsoft's Silverlight 5 beta merely incorporate existing Microsoft technologies and port functionality previously seen in WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation).

[ Also on InfoWorld: Microsoft offers developers early access to Windows Phone "Mango." | Keep up with the latest developer news with InfoWorld's Developer World newsletter. ]

More than a year has gone by without a major Silverlight release, and with none due until late 2011, I expected the forthcoming version 5 to be a major rev that would cement Silverlight's superiority over Adobe Flash. Instead, I was disappointed to find that many promised Silverlight 5 features are still missing or meager. Even the included code previews for satellite projects -- such as Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) RIA Services and Expression Blend -- do little more than gussy up existing capabilities.

In short, the Silverlight 5 beta looks more like a dot revision with feature creep than a major upgrade. Rather than extending Silverlight to continue hammering away at Adobe Flash, Microsoft seems to be working toward a desktop smackdown with itself -- adding Windows-specific platform invocation calls, Component Object Model (COM) support, and untethered file system access that push Silverlight deeper into the domains of .Net and WPF.

This blurring of these lines shouldn't come as a total shock. After all, Silverlight was originally code-named WPF/Everywhere. Plus, it undoubtedly makes good fiscal sense for Microsoft to consolidate internally with Windows 8 and a new version of Windows Phone on the horizon. Microsoft has said that the next version of the Windows Phone OS (aka Mango) will sport the Silverlight 4 runtime, and that there will be no support for running Silverlight applications in the Windows Phone browser.

Silverlight 5: Improved toolsI appreciate that Silverlight 5 is prerelease, and perhaps I shouldn't be looking at it so critically. Stepping in from the big picture, there are a number of improvements to Silverlight's runtime and development tools that shouldn't be ignored.

I installed the Silverlight 5 Tools Beta to Visual Studio 2010 SP 1. The Beta included the Developer Runtime, SDK, and a new preview of WCF RIA Service v1 SP2. Instead of Visual Studio, you could use Visual Web Developer Express 2010 SP1 as the development platform.

Microsoft patching: Still painful after all these years

Network World - The spring of 2011 has seen some of the largest Microsoft Patch Tuesdays ever. In April, Microsoft tied its all-time record with 17 updates that fixed 64 vulnerabilities. In June, the company issued another biggie, with 16 updates that fixed 34 vulnerabilities.

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Microsoft knows that patching Windows, Office and its other software is a hardship on its users. The company says it has tried to limit the pain in a number of ways: setting aside a monthly day to issue patches, alternating months in which it issues many patches with months in which it issues fewer patches, and creating a rating system to help IT professionals know which patches to test and install first and which can wait. It issues a heads up on the patches the week prior to Patch Tuesday, too.

Have its efforts made patching systems any easier? We asked readers to tell us. Short answer: no. Readers say patching is a big a drain on resources as always. And this is true even for companies who have invested in third-party patch management tools. On the other hand, this also means that overall patching hasn't gotten worse.

In a short survey of 171 IT professionals, we gleaned how people are handling patching.

The following series of PDFs includes the full survey responses, as well as some cross sections of the responses by company size and other factors.

Hands on: Mac OS X, iOS morph into Lion

Apple goes all in on multi-touch gestures in its new OS

Computerworld - Apple has finally unleashed OS X 10.7 Lion, the revamped operating system for the company's desktops and laptops. Lion is the latest in a string of major OS revisions released over the past 11 years, and this newest cat borrows some tricks from Apple's mobile lineup.

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Lion also brings email threading to Mail with a new "Conversation" view. In this view, all replies to a message are grouped together by default, with the most recent response shown at the top of the Inbox listing. (The messages are numbered to help you follow the thread.) Clicking on "See More" in a message unfolds the rest of the email thread so you can quickly scan multiple replies to a single message.
Email conversation
Mail now has email threading with a new "Conversation" view of messages. (See full visual tour.)

And Mail picks up the ability to set up Out of Office messages by right-clicking Exchange accounts, as well as support for Exchange 2010.

Safari 5.1 now supports the gestures used in the iOS version, including pinch and tap-to-zoom. Unlike mobile Safari, the Lion version also allows you to swipe back and forth through your Web page history. Swipe to the right with two fingers to go back to the last page you were on, or swipe left to move forward. It makes for fast viewing of Web pages as you flip back and forth with just the flick of two fingers.
Safari downloads
Safari now sports a downloads icon in the upper right-hand corner of the browser window. The button shows the status of a download while it's taking place. (See full visual tour.)

Like other Apple apps, including Mail, Safari gets the scrolling bounce effect to indicate that you've scrolled as far as you can. There's also a new animation that "shoots" a download into the new Downloads button in the upper-right corner of the Safari window. This button shows the progress of your download with a blue status bar that gradually fills. Clicking on it displays a pop-up list of recent downloads. You can click on the magnifying glass to view an item in the Finder, or you can drag the item from the list and put it in any folder you want.


Full coverage: Mac OS X Lion

Safari also gains a new feature called Reading List -- something mobile Safari users can look forward to in iOS 5. This feature allows you to mark items to read later on, not unlike Instapaper, though it doesn't actually save them for later offline reading. It simply saves the link in a panel that slides out from the left when you click on the little eyeglasses icon in Safari's Bookmarks bar.

While Reading List has the advantage of being built into Safari, Instapaper offers more options, such as adjustable fonts, folders for organizing articles and a dark mode for night-time reading. If you try Reading List and like it, you should definitely check out Instapaper, since it's more powerful. It would be smart of Apple to add Reading List syncing when it rolls out iCloud this fall; that way, bookmarks saved on one device could be synced so they showed up on others.

Under the hood, Safari gets graphics acceleration for certain tasks, sandboxing for better protection against malware, added CSS3 standards support, and support for MathML, which can display notations on websites that use it.
Odds and ends

Not all of the changes Apple made in Lion involve glitzy new features or apps. Many fall into the "let's polish the OS" category. Here's a rundown of several that deserve mention:

* The main login screen now offers more information -- battery life percentage and plugged-in status indicator, Wi-Fi signal strength and status, as well as the time -- and the login screen that appears after your screen saver kicks in is now a streamlined box showing your account picture, username and password.
* Since Lion is a download-only update, there's no DVD to use if you need to reboot your computer and troubleshoot problems. So Lion creates a "Recovery HD" partition with everything the Mac needs to repair or restore itself -- even from a Time Machine backup. Plus, it has Safari in case you need access to online support documents. The recovery partition can be accessed by holding down the Option key when booting up.
* Almost every Apple app can go full screen, similar to the way an app on the iPad takes up the whole screen. Just click on the arrows in the upper-right corner of application windows. Strangely, Apple's own TextEdit does not yet have this option. Note: Full-screen mode doesn't work well with multiple monitors, as the feature works only on one screen. If you have two screens, one shows your desktop Spaces and apps; the other is simply blank.
* OS X now supports systemwide autocorrect spelling, something already in iOS.
* Various accounts are now grouped together in a system preference called "Mail, Contacts and Calendars." (It also stores preferences for iChat and third-party apps.)
* The Security & Privacy preference pane gets a few new privacy options, including one that allows you to turn on and off the transmission of diagnostic information to Apple and one that limits which apps use Location Services.

Security & Privacy
Users have more control over security and privacy preferences in Lion, including whether to send data to Apple and enable location services. (See full visual tour.)

Microsoft posts $250K reward for Rustock botnet herders

First bounty since 2009, when Microsoft offered cash for Conficker's makers

Computerworld - Microsoft upped the ante on Monday in its months-long battle against the Rustock botnet by posting a $250,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the hackers who controlled the malware.

It was the first time Microsoft used its malware bounty program since February 2009, when it offered the same amount for the people responsible for the fast-spreading Conficker worm.

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Microsoft announced the reward early Monday in a blog written by Richard Boscovich, a senior attorney with the company's digital crimes unit. Microsoft also posted a reward document (PDF) that included an email address for tipsters.

"We decided to augment our civil discovery efforts to identify those responsible for controlling the notorious Rustock botnet by issuing a monetary reward in the amount of $250,000 for new information that results in the identification, arrest and criminal conviction of such individual(s)," Boscovich wrote.
Cybercrime Watch

Microsoft kicked off a takedown of Rustock in March, when its lawyers, including Boscovich, and U.S. marshals seized the botnet's U.S.-based command-and-control servers.

Since then, the number of Windows PCs infected with the malware has dropped worldwide from 1.6 million to just over 700,000 as of mid-June, Boscovich reported earlier this month.

Although Microsoft published legal notifications in Russian newspapers last month -- a legal formality designed to give potential defendants an opportunity to respond to charges -- it has not identified the "John Does" named in a U.S. federal lawsuit.

In an interview two weeks ago, Boscovich said that Microsoft believes the Rustock operators reside in either St. Petersburg or Moscow.

But Microsoft's hacker bounty program has had mixed results.

Although Microsoft launched the reward program in November 2003 with a $5 million fund, and has offered $250,000 bounties five times in the past, it has paid out only once, in 2005.

In that instance, two people split a reward for identifying a German teenager as the maker of Sasser.

Sven Jaschan, who was arrested in 2004, confessed to crafting the worm during his trial the following year. Jaschan was eventually sentenced to 21 months of probation.

Before Monday, Microsoft had also posted rewards for the makers of the Blaster, Sobig, MyDoom and Conficker worms. Those rewards have gone unclaimed, however.

Two weeks ago, Boscovich refused to guarantee that Microsoft would be able to name those responsible for Rustock, but he said he liked the company's chances. "I believe there's a strong likelihood [that we'll identify someone], but it's not a guarantee," he said.

While Boscovich didn't promise that the new reward would lead authorities to the Rustock botnet herders, he said Microsoft wouldn't give up.

"We will continue to follow this case wherever it leads us and remain committed to working with our partners around the world to help people regain control of their Rustock-infected computers," Boscovich said.

Elgan: What I lost on the Google+ Diet

After using only Google's new social network for a week -- forsaking all others -- here's what I learned

Computerworld - On July 8, I went on the Google+ Diet, using Google's new social network for all my online communication. As part of the diet, I stopped using Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, and several other services. I even stopped using e-mail.

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As I explained in my column last week, the purpose of the experiment was to see if consolidating and streamlining all social activity into Google+ was possible and, if so, desirable. (You can follow my experiment here, even if you're not a Google+ member.)

I was able to answer my two questions on day one of my Google+ Diet. Yes, it's possible, and yes, it's desirable.

More interestingly, however, I found out all kinds of surprising things about Google+ and about using Google+ as the one-and-only medium for online communication. Here's what I learned:
Google Plus

* Elgan: What I lost on the Google+ Diet
* Visual tour: 8 Google+ add-ons, extensions, and downloads
* With 10M users, Google+ is becoming a social competitor
* Google races to create business version of Google+
* Privacy, contact updates added to Google+
* Can Facebook and Google+ coexist?
* Google+ fervor may be making Facebook nervous
* Google to developers: Stay tuned for Google+ tools
* Google+ hit with spam bug
* Visual tour: 10 Google+ tips for beginners

Continuing coverage: Google+

A lot of people want to get on the Google+ Diet

I've been surprised by the number of people who want to get on the Google+ Diet. Social networking fatigue is an epidemic, and people are feeling overwhelmed by all the social networks and social media out there. Dozens of people have told me they're going all-out on the Google+ Diet, and hundreds or thousands have apparently jumped into some version of it.

The most common approach: People are quitting Facebook and Twitter, and replacing them with Google+.

Google+ is the most 'social' social network

The social activity level on Google+ is off the charts. If you have 1,000 followers each on Twitter, Facebook and Google+, and ask a question, you will probably get 10 times the feedback on Google+.

It's the feedback that's motivating A-list bloggers like Digg founder Kevin Rose to shut down their blogs and redirect traffic to their Google+ profiles. I have found the same to be true.

To me, this is what social networking is all about. You share something, then people interact with you about that, giving you additional information, correcting your errors, expressing their opinions and sharing their own related stories. Google+ is by far the most social of all the social networks.

Google+ is highly addictive

I did not expect Google+ to be psychologically addictive. But I have felt the pull myself, and others have, too. It's the only thing I've found online that draws you in like console video gaming.

I say this not to praise Google, but to predict that Google+ addiction may actually become a real problem in the future for some people.

There are two things about Google+ that cause this addiction. The first is the Stream, which is simply a running feed containing the posts of all the people you're following on Google+. While Facebook's News Feed is also a running stream of posts, it's a censored stream. Facebook's EdgeRank algorithm is blocking the majority of posts from your friends from reaching your feed.

Microsoft's Deafening Silence on Windows 8 Tablet Features

Microsoft has been tight-lipped about Windows 8, but the company is finally taking tablets seriously. Here are four reasons why.

Microsoft can't seem to get people to zip it about Windows 8, even its own CEO and its most valued partner.

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At a developers conference in Tokyo this week, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer gaffed by saying that Windows 8 will be called, um, "Windows 8" and that it will "come out next year" according to a transcript posted on Microsoft's site.

Not exactly earth-shattering news. Everyone and their brother has been calling the next version "Windows 8" and it's widely assumed that it will release three years after Windows 7.
Windows 8
A leaked product slide of a Dell Windows 8 tablet, scheduled for an early 2012 release.

Yet skittish Microsoft marketing folk — careful not to reveal anything about Windows 8 — came running with statements that Ballmer may have misspoke about the "timing and naming for the next version of Windows."

This comes a week after skittish Microsoft marketing folk denied the validity of comments by long-time partner, Intel, that Windows 8 will be released in both ARM-based and x86-based versions, and that the ARM version will not run legacy Windows apps.

For all the hullabaloo about product names and release dates, Windows 8 is not under the pressure that the successful Windows 7 was under to redeem a troubled predecessor. But Windows 8 needs to be, in fact has to be, more flexible than Windows 7. Which is another way of saying it needs to work flawlessly on tablet PCs.

Tablets have haunted Microsoft over the past year. There's a booming market out there led by the iPad (19 million units sold to date) and Windows 7 simply cannot be rejiggered into a tablet OS. In its typical fashion, Microsoft will be the last to arrive with tablets if Windows 8 indeed arrives "next year" as Ballmer promised. But after Windows Phone's tardy entrance in mobile, we're all getting used to Microsoft being late.

Windows 8 will not be a major update to Windows 7, except with regards to tablet functionality and compatibility. And tablets are a must for Microsoft if it wants to be a player in the rapidly approaching post-PC era.

Although it has been very tight-lipped about Windows 8 features, Microsoft has revealed enough to know that the company is finally taking tablets seriously. Here are four reasons why.

(Note: These Windows 8 features are not official — except the Windows 8/ARM compatibility — and are based on speculation and leaked slides and videos.)

Windows and ARM Compatibility

The first indication of a tablet affinity was at CES in January when Microsoft announced that Windows 8 will support System on a Chip (SoC) architectures, including ARM-based systems from partners NVIDIA, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments.

ARM-based chips, designed for low power consumption and long battery life, are used in all smartphones and tablets. Microsoft has always run Windows to run on higher-performance x86 chips from Intel and AMD. It has never allowed Windows to port to ARM-based processors ... until now.

A Possible Windows 8 App Store

The rumor mill is hot with Microsoft plans to release an app store with Windows 8. The upcoming "Lion" Apple Mac OS X will release with an app store built in, and newly released Google Chrome OS has its Chrome Web Store. Application stores are a new thing for desktop OSes, but are integral to a tablet OS (Apple App Store for iOS, Android Market for Android, BlackBerry App World for QNX on BlackBerry Playbooks). Windows 8 will definitely need an app store of its own.

Indian Programmers vs. American Programmers: Whose Code Is Best?

Online career development community Gild recently compared Indian programmers' math, logic, software development and communication skills with those of American programmers.
On Gild, which launched September 2010, software developers participate in programming competitions, earn certifications and look for jobs. Through the competitions and certification exams, programmers can assess their math, logic, communication and software development skills, and compare their capabilities to other programmers across the globe. Nearly 500,000 developers have taken more than 1 million assessments, according to Gild.

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CEO Sheeroy Desai says Gild's coding competitions and assessments take the form of a problem statement, followed by a snippet of code. Gild members then have to state whether there's a problem with the code (and what it is), if there's a better solution to the problem (and what it is), or the outcome of the code.

Based on the results of Gild's various assessments, the site recently compared Indian programmers' math, logic, software development and communication skills with those of American programmers. (Gild defines Indian programmers as those living in India and American programmers as those residing in the United States. The career development site asks users to identify where they're from when they register.)

According to Gild's data, Indian programmers appear to be better at math and logic than American programmers. The Indian developers who participated in math and logic assessments outscored their American counterparts by 11 percent.

But Americans lead at software development. They slightly outperformed Indian developers on mainstream programming languages, such as C, Java and SQL, where they scored eight percent higher on C and nine percent higher on Java and SQL.

Gild's data shows that American software developers are particularly good at Web programming. When tested on PHP and HTML, American programmers' scores were respectively 53 and 27 percent higher than their Indian counterparts.

Not surprisingly, American developers also have a better grasp of the English language, as noted in their scores on tests of their English communication skills, which were 33 percent higher than Indian developers.

Desai, who was born in Pakistan, says Gild undertook the comparison of Indian and American programmers for two reasons: One, because the company had enough statistically valid data to compare the two groups, and two, because Gild wanted to see how Indians' and American's technical skills matched up.

"There are lots of perceptions about how good different programmers in different parts of the world are, but there is no hard data," says Desai.

The CEO believes Gild's findings corroborate conventional wisdom regarding the strengths of Indian programmers and American programmers.

When asked if he was concerned about the way the study pits American software developers against Indian software developers, Desai says fanning the flames of competition and animosity was never Gild's intention.

"This is not a way to justify or not justify offshoring," he says. "Our motivation was to collect a remarkable amount of data that we don't think anyone else has and see what we find. This [data] by no means says that any individual programmer in the U.S. is better than any individual programmer in India, and vice versa. These are trends. If I'm a CIO looking to hire programmers in India who are going to be working on mainstream programming languages, I'll find good people there. If I'm looking for Web programmers, I'm better off looking for those people in the U.S."

The 6 Hottest New Jobs in IT

IT job seekers have real reason to hope. No fewer than 10,000 IT jobs were added to payrolls in May alone, according to the Bureau of Labor statistics, reflecting a steady month-over-month increase since January. And in a June survey by the IT jobs site Dice.com, 65 percent of hiring managers and recruiters said they will hire more tech professionals in the second half of 2011 than in the previous six months.

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"Business managers want to choose the technology that best meets their needs and to have the freedom to walk away from that technology to move on to the next thing," says Cullen. In a world where execs will one day have the power to provision cloud-based resources for a new business initiative by clicking through a couple of configuration screens, the need for enterprise architects who are glorified implementers will wane. The job of the business architect is to arm managers with the knowledge they need to choose wisely.

In some organizations, enterprise architects with the right experience and disposition may simply take on the business architect role, whether or not they change titles. Nonetheless, says Cullen, "If you want to know about a hot role for 2012, it's definitely business architect."

Hot IT job No. 2: Data scientist

Big data -- that is, the glut of unstructured or semi-structured information generated by Web clickstreams, system logs, and other event-driven activities -- represents a huge opportunity. Buried in that mountain of data may be invaluable nuggets about customer behavior, security risks, potential system failures, and more. But when you're talking terabytes that double in volume every 18 months, where do you start? That's where the data scientist comes in.

On the business side, data scientists can open up new opportunities by uncovering hidden patterns in unstructured data, such as customer behavior or market cycles. On the dev side, a data scientist can use deep data trends to optimize websites for better customer retention. Within the IT department, a skilled data scientist can spot potential storage cluster failures early or track down security threats through forensic analysis.

"There's now an intellectual consensus in business that the only way to run an enterprise is to use analytics with data scientists to find opportunities," says Norman Nie, CEO of Revolution Analytics, which produces the first commercial application to bring the R data analysis programming language into the business world. Because of the immense opportunity for strategic insight buried in all that data, says Nie, "corporations now have an unlimited demand for people with background in quantitative analysis."

The R programming language is just one tool in the data scientist's toolbox. Others range from business analytics software from established providers like SAS Institute to IBM's (IBM) new InfoSphere platform to analytics technology acquired in EMC's recent acquisitions of Greenplum and Isilon Systems. Just last May, EMC (EMC) Greenplum hosted the first ever Data Scientist Summit.

7 free Windows tune-up tools and tips

You don't need to spend money to keep a Windows computer running in top form. Here's how to fix, clean and maintain Windows using programs you can download now for free.

The following software and tips generally apply to Windows 7, Vista and XP, and are listed in the order you should use them for the first time on a computer you suspect may be infected with malware or running slower than it should.

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1. Update Windows itself with Windows Update.

Though this should be a no-brainer, many Windows users don't install the latest updates for the OS provided by Microsoft (which are usually issued every Tuesday). Either they ignore the update notices that Windows sends them, or their Windows setup doesn't have automatic updating turned on. But ensuring that your installation of Windows has the latest updates and patches is one of the easiest ways to keep it functioning well.

That said, we're partial to not having Windows set to automatically download and install updates. After all, you could be using your computer online when unexpectedly both your Internet connection and computer slow because Windows is downloading and installing updates. Instead, we prefer leaving the automatic updating feature off, and visiting Windows Update once a week to manually check for updates.

2. Scan for malware with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware.

Chances are, if you cannot visit the official Malwarebytes site (either the domain is blocked, or you're forwarded to another domain), then your Windows system has already been infected by malicious code. That is a testament to how effective Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is -- many malware writers try to block you from using this specific tool.

If you're trying to clean out malware from an infected Windows computer that is obviously preventing you from visiting the Malwarebytes site: You'll have to download the tool from another, un-infected computer and copy its installation file onto a USB flash memory stick or USB external drive. We suggest renaming the Malwarebytes Anti-Malware installation file to whatever you like before you run it on the infected Windows computer -- there have been malware known to delete the installation file, recognizing that it's Malwarebytes' tool by its file name.

Furthermore, even if you can successfully install Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, the malware may immediately delete the executable (mbam.exe) before you have a chance to start it. If that's the case, you'll then have to copy over mbam.exe from another computer, renaming it first to another name of your choosing, and then clicking on it directly to run it on the infected computer.

Can't use the USB ports of the infected Windows computer because the malware has blocked access to them? Try copying the installation file to a writable CD or DVD. The malware has managed to prevent you from even accessing the infected computer's media disc drive? Then you'll have to physically take out the hard drive from the infected computer, connect it to another Windows computer as a slave or external drive, and have this second system run Malwarebytes Anti-Malware to scan and clean the drive.

Offering The A-To-Z Of Enterprise Solutions On One Platform

IT’s all about usability and security!

The product offers a completely proprietary environment, developed from the ground up. The platform uses a few open source software applications at the back-end. The service offers a standard SLA (service level agreement) to its customers related to aspects like usability and uptime.

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But how does the platform ensure 100 per cent uptime? Kundu explains: “A2zapps.com has one of the top Level-3+ compliant data centres in India, and owing to its high availability environments, allows the platform the flexibility to commit uptime to customers. We have subscribed to an unusually high bandwidth for higher data flow speed between the Internet and data centres. To date, we have not faced any challenges or outages regarding uptime and availability and our users are usually happy.” The platform has a dedicated team for customer success management (CSM) to monitor customer issues closely and resolve them in the best possible timeframe. The service also provides a basic level of support to each and every user in order to ensure higher satisfaction levels.

Since security is the biggest customer concern when it comes to sharing data over the SaaS platform, Kundu affirms that security is dealt with at various levels. Security need not be a technology challenge alone; it is also a people and process challenge, he feels.

The physical security and security processes are implemented at the host’s side. The company also shares best practices with its clients for customer-controlled security mechanisms. Kundu reveals other security features of the application: “Our data centre servers cannot be used or accessed by anyone and are protected through usage of smart gadgets like any Level-3+ compliant secured data centre. We also use 128-bit encryption technologies to encrypt the data that flows between the server and user’s Web browser. Besides, our employees do not have access to customer data, unless authorised by a customer during the process of issue resolution. So when A2zapps.com personnel log in as the super user, they can only see the configuration and customisation related data (meta data) and can create test data to test out customisation.”

How it all began

What was it that led to the development of this platform? Kundu recalls, “When I was consulting for PeopleSoft for its online CRM (customer relationship management) back in 2000, and later working for Salesforce.com in the US, I wanted to take this online model to the next level by introducing a common business platform instead of providing SMEs with a specific online application. Being an Indian, I knew that SMEs in India could not afford different applications from different vendors. I was looking for a name that would be easy to remember and reflect the business model itself. I wanted to add a dot (.) to the name of the company to reflect the delivery model.”

Kundu and his colleagues undertook an analysis that showed that while there was a huge need for business applications in the SME segment, these requirements differed across organisations and there was no single product that could suit all of them. So the company was formed with the intention of creating a product that could fit every business need for enterprises of every size. The team was aware that this was not an easy job, considering the huge SME base in India, but what drove team members was a belief that a product like A2zapps.com could take it to the next level, and help it create one of the next generation of Indian enterprises.

The A2zapps.com team today comprises, Kantanu Kundu (CEO, chairman and founder), Ranjeet Bhatia (director-Operations & Foundation, and co-founder), Surajit Sinha (chief customer and product strategy officer) and Pranab Bhuyan (COO and EVP-Corporate Policy, Law and Strategy). And they have every reason to be proud of their creation.

The 10 worst cloud outages (and what we can learn from them)

Sending your IT business to the cloud comes with risk, as those affected by these 10 colossal cloud outages can attest

Is that a reason to run, arms flailing, away from anything cloud-connected? Probably not. But it is a reason to look carefully at your own data safeguards and think about setting up a backup or offline-access solution now, before an urgent need arises.

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"When you look at broad averages, the cloud will have a lot more operational success than you would as an individual," says AlertSite's Ken Godskind. "It's just that when you go to Web scale, the impact of failure is amplified in a much greater way."

Colossal cloud outage No. 4: Hotmail's hot mess. Of course, Microsoft hasn't always provided the greatest advertisement for its big push for the cloud, either. Witness Microsoft's Hotmail service, which experienced database errors of its own at the end of 2010, resulting in tens of thousands of empty inboxes at the turn of the new year.

The error, according to Microsoft, stemmed from a script that was meant to delete dummy accounts created for automated testing. The script mistakenly targeted 17,000 real accounts instead.

It took Microsoft three days to restore service for most of those users. An unlucky 8 percent of affected emailers had to wait an extra three days before their data was back where it belonged.

Even Clippy couldn't smile through a headache like that.

Colossal cloud outage No. 5: The Intuit double-down. Intuit hit a rough patch last year when its cloud-connected services, including popular platforms like TurboTax, Quicken, and QuickBooks, went offline twice within a single month. The worst case was a 36-hour outage in June. A power failure evidently caused things to go haywire, with the company's primary and backup systems getting knocked completely off the grid.

It only added insult to injury, then, when another apparent power failure hit Intuit weeks later. Among other issues, the second outage appeared to cause an abnormally high rate of obscenity-laden shouting.

"Twenty-five hours downtime is hard to swallow," one user tweeted at the time. "Passive, opaque and stiff communication from Intuit didn't help."

Ouch.

"The truth is, there are better solutions than a single cloud if you need absolute availability," says Chris Whitener, chief strategist of HP's Secure Advantage program. "It's not necessarily that you have to duplicate everything, but even putting one extra step in there -- maybe backing up crucial data yourself -- can make all the difference."

Colossal cloud outage No. 6: Microsoft's BPOS oops. It's hard to be productive when your cloud-based productivity suite bites the virtual dust. That's what happened to organizations relying on Microsoft's business cloud offering just weeks ago: The service, named -- in true Microsoft style -- Microsoft Business Productivity Online Standard Suite, started to stutter around May 10. Paying customers' email was delayed by as much as nine hours as a result.

Two days later, just when it looked like BPOS was in the clear, the delay returned and outgoing messages started getting stuck in the pipeline, too. If that weren't enough, Microsoft experienced a separate issue that prevented users from logging into its Web-based Outlook portal as well.