Ten Great Strategies For Today’s Climate

This is a challenging time to be in business but there lies the opportunity. I’ve listed 10 specific characteristics of downtimes and 10 positive strategies that embrace and capitalize on them.

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More time to create a focused business: Use this slower paced market to revisit the business you are in – what defines you. This is the perfect time for repositioning, selling off non-core subsidiaries, sharpening up product road maps and value propositions.
Flight to price and quality: Now is the time to revisit your product mix and pricing strategies. Buying behavior changes dramatically in a recession. Lower priced versions of your product or subscription based business models may be relevant to ease customer cash flow pain.
Measuring the signals is vital:> Mistakes made in downtimes can prove fatal.
Convert your Accounts Department into a Metrics Center. Trap and visualize your key performance indicators. Audit the signals and constantly interpret the significance to your strategies.
Acquisitions just got cheap: PE ratios of the majority of public companies are in single digits and the valuations of private companies are low. Consider a proactive approach to acquisitions by building a robust acquisition process that is proven to work.
The “C” level suite just got a free pass to visit their customers: Never has there been a better time for the inner cabinet to visit their customers to understand the specific issues challenging them. It’s not only productive, it’s essential for shaping strategy. Define your engagement strategy and get on site.
Value Propositions must improve a customer’s performance: Receiving a purchase order, confirming a big deal is very satisfying but it’s not enough. You need to be invested in the improved performance that will be achieved because your customer uses your product. Does your sales process achieve this?
Curiosity & Urgency of managers dramatically increased: Well it certainly should have. This new level of alertness (perhaps it’s fear) needs to be channeled to produce results. Difficult projects shelved in better times are prime candidates for this energy. Staff want to be effective and busy to get things moving again. Tap into this momentum.
People and tasks are mis-aligned: Now is the time to think like a start-up. The key –Define Performance Profiles that your company needs to be executed, not job specs but tasks that need to be done well. This will cause old jobs to be merged and new jobs to be created.
Silo Management is broken: Urgent initiatives will fail without cross-functional support. Company visions need to inspire and flow across functions. Build cross functional teams to execute top priorities.
Competition thins out: It might be difficult to create double digit growth but you can grab market share. The best companies don’t just survive bad times; they grow and develop into more robust and valuable businesses.

As an experienced business leader, Ian Smith is passionate about maximizing the potential of fast-growing companies. The Portfolio Partnership offers Corporate Development Services on an advisory, operational or investment model. Specifically we execute growth strategies by repositioning companies organically and/or by acquisition.

Ian was educated in Scotland, earning a BA degree from the University of Strathclyde and qualified as a Chartered Accountant of Scotland with Grant Thornton. Post qualification he joined Thomson the publishing giant and became one of their youngest divisional Finance Directors at 26 and was awarded the prestigious, UK Accountant of the Year ahead of many experienced FDs. From 1988 to 2000 he successfully built up two major boutique M&A advisory firms, Livingstone Guarantee and Capita Corporate Finance. During this period he completed over 40 acquisition, disposal or finance transactions, many cross border, many in the technology sector. He assisted dozens of entrepreneurs execute their vision.

In late 2001 he moved to the states to successfully reposition and grow Teamstudio, an IBM business partner with HQ in Beverly, MA and offices in the UK and Japan. During the next 5 years the top line was grown by over 45% and losses were turned into EBITDA of over $10m. high achiever, Ian expects the highest performance from his staff but always mixed with a Glaswegian sense of humor!

Larger 15-in. MacBook Air 'makes sense' for Apple, say analysts

Apple will launch a 15-in. MacBook Air in the first quarter of 2012, according to a report from a Taiwanese publication that cited unnamed sources in the component supply channel.

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A larger MacBook Air -- Apple currently sells 11.6-in. and 13.3-in. Airs -- makes sense, analysts said today, noting that the company will face competition from new "ultrabooks" next year sold by, among others, Hewlett-Packard (HP).

HP is set to start selling its first ultrabook, the name given by Intel to lightweight, thin laptops that will compete with the MacBook Air, on Dec. 7. The HP Folio, which will sport a 13.3-in. display, will sell at prices starting at $900, or $99 under Apple's cheapest MacBook Air.

"I don't have confirmation on a 15-in. MacBook Air, but logically thinking, it does make sense," said Brian Marshall, an analyst with International Strategy and Investment Group (ISI).

Marshall cited the impending debut of HP's Folio -- and the follow-on systems that others will release in early 2012 -- as one reason why Apple would want to extend the Air lineup.

Taiwan-based DigitTimes claimed that supplier sources hinted Apple will ship a 15-in. MacBook Air in the first three months of 2012.

"The sources noted that related upstream players have already started pilot production of the MacBook Air models and will add a 15-inch model into the product line to expand its reach in the ultra-thin notebook market," said the newspaper.

DigiTimes also said that the same sources maintained that Apple will reduce the price of its existing MacBook Air line to prepare for a refresh next year that would presumably include Intel's newest CPUs from its Ivy Bridge architecture.

Those processors, Intel said in September, will double battery life compared to the current Core chips that power the Air line, combine the CPU with the graphics processor, and provide a performance boost to boot.

Some online retailers aggressively cut prices of the MacBook Air on Black Friday, a possible sign that DigiTimes is on the right track. Amazon.com, for example, sold the 1.6GHz 11-in. Air for $850, 15% under list, last Friday.

Ezra Gottheil, an analyst with Technology Business Research, also thinks a 15-in. MacBook Air is a sure bet.

"The Air's popularity is driven in part by the iPad," argued Gottheil, taking a different tack than Marshall. "Interest in the Air is not just in thin and light, but like tablets, in instant on, portability and longer battery life."

Other factors that make an expanded MacBook Air roster not only smart but inevitable, said Gottheil, is the jump in hard drive prices, which have skyrocketed because of flooding in Thailand, where nearly half the world's hard disk drives are manufactured.

Some small PC makers have had to raise prices as much as 20% to account for the increase in hard drive costs.

Apple is in a good position to shift sales to notebooks based on SSD, or solid-state drives, because it locks in supplies of the flash memory used in SSDs by pre-paying billions to chip makers, said Gottheil. "Apple will definitely do a 15-in. MacBook Air," he said.

If Apple does expand the MacBook Air to a 15-in. model, neither Marshall or Gottheil expect the company to dump the MacBook Pro line, which comes in 13-in., 15-in. and 17-in. screen configurations.

"Personally, I don't think of the MacBook Pro as really portable, but more of a desktop replacement," said Marshall, who added that the audience for the Air and Pro lines are different enough that Apple will retain the latter.

"They'll sell them until the market says, 'No, thank you.' Apple has shown quite a bit of loyalty to their big machine fans," said Gottheil, pointing to the retention of the poor-selling Mac Pro desktop.

Apple's emphasis on online delivery of software -- in July, it launched Mac OS X 10.7, aka Lion, as an online-only upgrade -- also points to more emphasis on the Air, which shuns an optical drive.

"The optical drive is a thing of the past," said Gottheil. "[In computers], they're now used almost exclusively for playing CDs and DVDs."

Apple currently prices the MacBook Air starting at $999 for the 11-in. model and $1,299 for the 13-in. notebook. The least-expensive 15-in. MacBook Pro lists for $1,799.

PSD to HTML conversion is so important

Today PSD to HTML and PSD to XHTML play very significant and critical role in web design and web development. Success and failure of any website or web application can also sometimes depend on these basic PSD to XHTML/CSS conversions. If your XHTML code is not perfect or not up to the mark users will move on to other service provider or may be to your competitor. As web design is important as it shows your customers first impression so its XHTML code to search engines like google and yahoo and not to forget even to your customers. If your site does not look good on your customer’s browser, you could lose a customer forever and even sale.

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There are many tools which automate your PSD to XHTML conversion, but so far none of them could produce good results why? As no tool can read your design, these tools can’t understand importance of HTML tags and parts of your design that can be one of the critical things that search engines may see. It’s always recommended to go for manual PSD to HTML conversion services.Today we even saw automated PSD to Wordpress converters and we did tested one of them and it gave us worst code.

PSD to HTML conversion services are low cost services like $45 for index page and $25 or 50% for each inner page. You don’t redesign your website every day, do you? So this small investment can bring down your SEO cost if done in proper way. Your XHTML code should be valid and more importantly should be search engine friendly, should be all latest and one step down browser compatible. Should have proper comments and CSS should be in separate files, all java script should be in separate files, your code should be neat and easy to understand. There should be no unwanted code or unwanted CSS. Your page loading should be very less and this can be only when your code is perfect. Your page loading has major role to play in search engines, SEO and more to your sales. If your page takes longer to download due to bad coding, your customer will not wait he will move on.

There are number of companies like Convert2xhtml.com which provide low cost high quality PSD to CSS/HTML conversion services. Remember as site owner or designer your job is not just to go online with best design, it has be to best coded as well. If you ignore this at starting stage you will have to pay a lot in terms of SEO, sales, customers and one or other day come back to recode and pay more then what you would have paid initially. Your XHTML code speaks to your customers and it speaks to search engines. It acts like sales person for you and you know a bad sales person not only loses sale for your site but results in customer lost as well. When you select any PSD to HTML Conversion Company like convert2xhtml give them proper details make sure you and Conversion Company are on same track. Don’t rush, as its just initial phase a small delay in coding is acceptable then fast coding with hidden issues.

Learn To Add Bluetooth To Windows 7 Ultimate

The Bluetooth wireless technology is in demand for a range of PC networking products and understanding this demand Microsoft has provided native Bluetooth support to all the operating systems. Windows 7 Ultimate users will find that setting up Bluetooth devices is not a very daunting task. You always can ask for the services of a PC support United Kingdom provider whenever you are unsure of a step or get stuck anywhere while following the steps that are required.

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The first move the user has to make is to get the cable for the Bluetooth adapter connected to the USB port that is available on your system. This is to be done in case the computer does not have an adapter already built into the system. Usually users have to install an adapter in a desktop computer prior to a Bluetooth enabled device being installed. In case of laptops, these devices come with an integrated Bluetooth adapter.

You have to insert the CD with the software driver in your optical drive and then wait for some time; the setup wizard will automatically start and you are just required to go by the on-screen instructions. Now, after the driver has been installed, the computer must be rebooted, if you get a prompt to do so. If there are any problems, you have to get in touch with a computer support United Kingdom provider for help

At the next level, the users have to turn on the Bluetooth device. If you cannot locate the device in the system, you have to press the designated button for it or just set up a switch for positioning the device in the Discovery Mode. You have to go through the product documentation for the instructions pertaining to your Bluetooth device.

Now click on the Start menu at the bottom left side of the screen and go to Devices and Printers. This will open the Devices and Printers window for you. Look for the tab labeled Add a device visible at the top of the screen and click on it. You have to wait for the Windows 7 Ultimate operating system to find the discoverable devices that are near the system or simply connected to the system. From the list, you must click on the Bluetooth device that you want to install. Now click on the button called Next. If you have difficulty in following the instructions, then you can get in touch with the computer repair services United Kingdom.
Now wait for the operating system to configure the Bluetooth device. When you are prompted to enter a passcode, you must look for the default code that is listed in the manual of the owner of the Bluetooth device and enter that code. In majority of the cases, the default code appears to be 0000. Ultimately, try closing the Device and Printers window after the Windows 7 operating system verifies the installation of the Bluetooth enabled device. Whenever you face any problems, and things go wrong, contact a computer tech support United Kingdom provider without hesitation.

There are several Windows support United Kingdom providers offering their assistance to PC users who have issues in using their computers running on Windows operating systems. The Windows 7 upgrade United Kingdom services can offer effective services in the shortest time possible.

Microsoft: We won't update others' Windows apps

Microsoft on Tuesday slammed the door on updating third-party software via Windows Update in the upcoming Windows 8.

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One security expert said the company was missing a big opportunity to improve the overall security of Windows PCs.

The new operating system will not update non-Microsoft software, said Farzana Rahman, the group program manager for Windows Update, in a blog post.

"The wide variety of delivery mechanisms, installation tools, and overall approaches to updates across the full breadth of applications makes it impossible to push all updates through [the Windows Update] mechanism," said Rahman said. "As frustrating as this might be, it is also an important part of the ecosystem that we cannot just revisit for the installed base of software."

Rahman's statement was the clearest ever by Microsoft that it would not take other applications under its update wing.

Currently, the company offers customers updates to Windows drivers -- third-party files required to run the OS -- via Windows Update, and occasionally disables third-party ActiveX controls in Internet Explorer (IE) at vendors' requests. And that's how it's going to stay, Rahman said.

She did add that Microsoft feels its customers' pain.

"People clearly find the experience with multiple updaters on the system less than optimal, and we agree," Rahman said. "Each application updater gives you a different experience, you have to remember to go visit each updater to install updates, you never know when or how updaters will run and what they might do, and so on. People would like one updater for the entire system."

Yes, they would, said Wolfgang Kandek, chief technology officer for Qualys, and an advocate for Microsoft's updating other companies' Windows software.

"I understand the thinking," said Kandek of Microsoft's reasons for not pushing third-party updates, "but at the same time, it's a little disappointing. Microsoft could collect a huge amount of goodwill by doing this, and it would be a huge leap for security."

Kandek argued that although even Microsoft doesn't have the resources to validate every application's update, it could certainly focus on the most important vendors whose products need to be constantly updated. His examples: Adobe's Reader and Flash Player.

"I would argue that there are certain organizations, and Adobe is one of them, where [Microsoft taking on updating duties] would be possible," Kandek continued. "There are only a couple of [vendors] that they would need to address, and they're mature companies with well-tested updates."

Both Flash Player and Adobe Reader have been patched multiple times this year: Adobe has issued nine security updates for the Flash Player and five for the Reader so far in 2011.

Others, including Danish vulnerability tracker Secunia and some readers of Rahman's blog, have called for a unified update mechanism for all Windows software.

Two years ago, Secunia pitched an updating standard but couldn't drum up any support. Instead, Secunia released PSI 2.0, a utility that scans a Windows machine for a wide range of software, detects when that software is out of date, and leads users to relevant update sites where they can download the newest editions.

Rahman's readers weighed in, too.

"You could focus a new third-party update functionality on these relatively few, incredibly common programs," said someone identified as "JustSomeWinGuy" in the blog's comments. "A relatively small bit of new effort by Microsoft could pay huge dividends for many millions of end users."

But Microsoft has spoken.

"Microsoft's doing some great work [with Windows 8]," said Kandek, talking about some update streamlining the company revealed Tuesday. "But it's really too bad they're saying we won't integrate other applications in Windows Update. It would be a real boost to everyone's security."

IBM to build e-commerce research labs for Chinese retailer

IBMhas reached a deal with Chinese electronics retailer Suning Appliance to build research centers in China and the U.S. meant to develop e-commerce products for the company.

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IBM, already a provider of internal management systems for Suning since 2005, will now help the Chinese company expand its e-commerce site and services, said IBM spokeswoman Harriet Ip.

As part of the plan, IBM will build a research center in the Chinese city of Nanjing that will be staffed with 15,000 Suning employees over the next three to five years. Some of the products the center will develop include applications to allow household appliances to connect with the Internet and mobile handsets.

IBM is also establishing a joint development lab with Suning in Silicon Valley. The planning for the lab is still in the preliminary stages, but it will also focus on developing e-commerce services, Ip said.

Suning made the deal as the company is aiming at a greater presence in China's burgeoning e-commerce sector. While Suning has 1,700 physical stores, the company has to compete with the likes of China's Alibaba Group, which operates two of the top online retail sites in the country.

Suning has launched its own business-to-consumer (B2C) site, which now has a 2.4% market share, according to Beijing-based research firm Analysys International. In contrast, Alibaba's Taobao Mall has a 35.5% share.

"There is no question that we live in a time of rapid change that calls for the transformation of organizations in many industries," said Frank Kern, an IBM senior vice president in a speech last Friday.

Suning's goal is to build an e-commerce platform that will better personalize the shopping experience, by recommending appropriate products and providing better search. Financial terms of the detail were not disclosed.

Suning could not be immediately reached for comment. The company's president Zhang Jindong said in a statement that his company was moving to a business model that could leverage both e-commerce and physical retail shopping.

"With this innovative business model, consumers, suppliers and businesses along with society can all benefit," he said.

Where Linux crushes Windows likes a bug: Supercomputers

Linux is tiny on desktops, powerful on servers, mighty on Web servers, and rules over all on supercomputers.

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The faster a computer goes, the more likely is to have Linux at its heart. The most recent Top500 list of supercomputers shows that, if anything, Linux is becoming even more popular at computing’s high end.

In the latest Top500 Supercomputer list, you’ll find when you dig into the supercomputer statistics that Linux runs 457 of the world’s fastest computers. That’s 91.4%. Linux is followed by Unix, with 30 or 6%; mixed operating systems with 11 supercomputers, 2.2%. In the back of the line, you’ll find OpenSolaris and BSD with 1 computer and–oh me, oh my–Windows also with just 1 supercomputer to its credit. That’s a drop from 4 in the last supercomputer round up in June.

Digging deeper, we find that various customized Linux distributions account for 414 of the supercomputers. AIX, IBM’s house brand of Unix, takes a distant second place in individual operating system distributions. It’s followed by various versions of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) and a variety of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) variants including the RHEL clone CentOS. Compute Node Linux is the last significant solo Linux distribution on the list.

Other operating systems that just make the list includes Oracle’s all but dead OpenSolaris with one entry. The sole Windows entry, Windows HPC 2008, placed 58th.

So, while Linux has only a minute share of the desktop, a big chunk of the server market, is the platform for most Web servers, when it comes to one arena: the fastest of the fast, supercomputers, Linux absolutely rules.

Oracle's best-of-breed strategy, as described by president Mark Hurd

It used to be easy journalistic shorthand to write 'database-giant Oracle Corp.', but that labeling no longer fits a company that's now a key player in applications, appliances, servers, development tools, operating systems and, yes, even cloud computing. How do all these components gel into a coherent plan for IT customers? What makes Oracle better than the other big integrated systems players like HP and IBM? In this latest installment of the IDG Enterprise CEO Interview Series, Oracle President Mark Hurd spoke with IDGE Chief Content Officer John Gallant about Oracle's strategy and why the company is uniquely positioned to help IT leaders deal with the difficult challenges they're facing today. Hurd also clarified Oracle's stance on cloud -- a position clouded -- sorry -- by some earlier comments from CEO Larry Ellison -- and what makes Oracle's approach better than 'very old' cloud solutions like salesforce.com. He explained more about customer migrations to Oracle's new Fusion applications and discussed how Oracle plans to win in the evolving server market.

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See all of John Gallant's interviews from this series.

Talk about the unifying strategy at Oracle today. We hear a lot about Oracle wanting to be the 'one-stop shop' or owing the entire computing stack. But put it in your own words: What's Oracle's strategy?

Right now we're working on four things. We're trying to be best-of-breed at every layer of the stack, whether that's at the hardware layer, silicon or storage. We're trying to be best-of-breed in OS's, in databases, in middleware and applications. We want to work in heterogeneous environments and have a high level of enterprise fit -- to be the best at everything we do. And we line up -- engineering to sales -- to do that.

High-Tech Companies Put Selected Patents in Eco-Patent Commons for Open Sharing

Computer giant IBM has announced the launch of a program to place certain patented inventions in the public domain, in the interest of encouraging innovation in the field of environmentally friendlier technology.

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IBM, Sony, Nokia and Pitney Bowes are currently the only companies participating in the Eco-Patent Commons, but they hope to encourage other companies to join in. Between them, the four companies have already placed 31 patents into the commons, freeing them up for use by anyone without the need to pay royalties.

"As has been demonstrated by the open source software community, the free sharing of knowledge can provide a fertile ground for new collaboration and innovation," states the web site of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, which will oversee the commons. "Sharing environmental patents can help others become more eco-efficient and operate in a more environmentally sustainable manner, enabling technology innovation to meet social innovation."

Inspired by the success of open source software, other fields have adopted open content systems, such as the Creative Commons for artistic works or the Open Gaming License for role-playing games. IBM assistant general counsel David Kappos acknowledged the role of the Creative Commons in inspiring the Eco-Patent Commons.

The Eco-Patent Commons hopes to focus on inventions in the fields of energy conservation, pollution prevention, reduction of water use, and improvements in materials and recycling. Some of the inventions already placed in the commons include a method by Nokia for recycling used mobile phones into other electronic devices; an IBM cardboard-based packaging system for electronics; a manufacturing process to reduce volatile compounds; and a coagulant that can be used to purify contaminated water.

Acknowledging that the commons is not intended to cause economic harm to participating companies, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development urges companies to submit "patents that provide environmental benefit and do not represent an essential source of business advantage."

Microsoft: Switch to IE9, get free stuff

Microsoft on Friday launched a promotion to convince more Windows 7 users to adopt Internet Explorer 9 (IE9).

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Windows 7 users who download Microsoft's newest browser, then "pin" any of seven different websites to their taskbars, receive offers that range from a free month of Hulu Plus to a $5-off Fandango movie ticket.

Some of the offers are available immediately, while others launch later this month and during December.

When people running alternate browsers such as Google's Chrome or Mozilla's Firefox on Windows 7 visit the promotional site, they see the message, "Where's the love? ... Upgrade to Internet Explorer to pin these sites and get the free stuff."

Pinning, introduced in IE9, lets users add website shortcuts to the Windows 7 task bar for the same kind of easy access as locally-stored programs.

Users running Mac OS X who visit the free offers site see a different message: "Oh Nooooooo... You're using Mac OS which doesn't support Internet Explorer 9 and Site Pinning."

Windows XP users -- still the most widely-used version of Microsoft's operating system -- cannot upgrade to IE9. Microsoft has defended that ban even as IE's share has continued falling, calling the decade-old OS the "lowest common denominator" and not worthy of future browser development.

Microsoft has been aggressively pushing IE9 as the best browser for Windows 7, and has regularly touted that edition's gains in usage share even as other versions lose ground to Chrome and Apple's Safari.

According to Web metrics company Net Applications, IE9 accounted for 22.5% of the browsers running worldwide on Windows 7 during October, an increase of 1.4 percentage points from the month before. Only Microsoft's own IE8 sported a higher share.

Last month, IE overall lost the largest amount of usage share in three years, falling to 52.6%, putting Microsoft's browser in danger of slipping under the 50% mark as early as January 2012.

Super Mario 3D Land release in Japan skyrockets Nintendo 3DS sales

Some much-needed 3DS sales are taking place in Japan with the release of Super Mario 3D Land. Will Nintendo experience the same breath of life into sales of the handheld in the US once it’s released here as well?

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Along with recent news of Nintendo supposedly working on dual tablet support for the Wii U, there’s good news for the company’s bottom line as the release of Super Mario 3D Land in Japan yields skyrocketed sales not only of the game, but of 3DS units as well.

This doesn’t come as much of a surprise to many gamers, since Nintendo’s flagship games like Mario and Zelda are always the big sellers for them and ultimately help push console sales.

Media Create, a Japanese company that culminates sales data related to consoles/games and releases reports for purchase on weekly, monthly, and annual bases, has had their latest report hit the Internet.

In it, we find sales figures for the 3DS console and Super Mario 3D Land — amongst other platforms and games — from last week, and the numbers bode well for Nintendo, who is predicting its first annual loss in 30 years. Here is a comparison of last week’s 3DS sales to the week prior:

3DS sales from 10/31-11/6: 145,271
3DS sales from 10/24-10/30: 65,041

As you can see, 3DS sales almost tripled for the week. A similar pattern can be seen when comparing the sales of Super Mario 3D Land to the sales of the next highest-selling game for the week:

1 - [3DS] Super Mario 3D Land (Nintendo, 11/03): 343,492
2 - [PS3] Uncharted 3 (Sony, 11/02): 124,989
3 - [PS3] Battlefield 3 (EA, 11/02): 123,379
4 - [PSP] Final Fantasy Type-0 (EA, 10/27): 122,286 (594,540 since release date)
5 - [WII] Kirby Wii (Nintendo, 10/27): 55,779 (192,589 since release date)

The million-dollar question now is if the US will experience a similar boost in 3DS sales when the title is released here on November 13. Personally, I bought a 3DS the day it launched in anticipation of titles that are only just now beginning to make their way to market.

The delay has certainly been an inconvenience to early adopters like me, but even with the rough start to Nintendo’s 3DS game releases and the massive price drop of the handheld earlier, I’m a pretty diehard Nintendo fan who hasn’t had a completely rough go of it with the titles released up through now and the games Nintendo has provided via the Nintendo 3DS Ambassador Program.

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Apple awards senior execs $60 million each

Locks in leadership with stock grants that vest in 2013 and 2016


Computerworld - Apple last week awarded six senior executives $60 million each in stock contingent on them staying with the company through mid-March 2016.

In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last Friday, Apple said it had granted 150,000 restricted stock units to each executive. At the close of trading Friday, the options were worth just over $60 million.

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With Apple shares down slightly on Monday, the options were equivalent to about $59.8 million as of 2 p.m. ET.

Restricted share units are not given at the time of the grant, but instead are awarded when they vest. The shares will be worth their then-current price, which could, of course, be dramatically different than their value Monday.

Half of the shares vest in June 2013 and half in March 2016, assuming the executives remain with Apple.

Those awarded the grants included chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer, general counsel Bruce Sewell and senior vice presidents Scott Forstall, Philip Schiller, Bob Mansfield and Jeffrey Williams.

Forstall heads Apple's iPhone software group, Schiller is Apple's chief marketing officer, Mansfield leads the company's hardware engineering efforts, and Williams is the head of operations, responsible for the work once done by now-CEO Tim Cook.

Eddie Cue, another senior vice president who oversees all online work at Apple -- including the App Store and iCloud -- was awarded 100,000 restricted stock units that vest in September 2014 and September 2016.

In September 2011, Cue was given a grant of 100,000 shares when he was promoted to senior vice president.

CEO Tim Cook already has his stock options: In August, after he took the CEO position when co-founder Steve Jobs stepped down, the Apple board of directors awarded Cook one million shares that vest in August 2015 and August 2021.

Cook's grant is worth approximately $399 million at Monday's stock price.

Anonymous is not attacking Facebook today

Some hackers are looking to kill Facebook today, but the hacktivist group Anonymous has not changed its stance: it still does not support their cause.

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Although I debunked this story some three months ago, many are still asking if Facebook is being attacked today, if it will be taken down, and if their account credentials are safe. November 5 (Guy Fawkes Day) is arguably a more likely date for the social network to be hacked than your average Saturday, but as I’ve already said, if something does happen today, the hacktivist group Anonymous will not be to blame.

This all started on July 16, 2011, when someone created accounts for an “Operation Facebook” on YouTube (FacebookOp) and Twitter (OP_Facebook). The goal was simple: “to bring attention to the fact that Facebook stored the data of user accounts.”

The former account is dead and the latter hasn’t tweeted anything for almost a month. A previous tweet still points to a YouTube video detailing Facebook as the target for November 5, 2011.

Back in August, I quickly figured out that Anonymous did not support the attacks. Only a small number of members thought Facebook deserved to be taken down. This explained why other mediums of communication that Anonymous has used in the past weren’t leveraged and why the released video was not of the usual Anonymous computerized voice and visual production quality.

The timing made me equally suspicious:

The dates are also questionable: why didn’t this news spread like wildfire three weeks ago? Whenever Anonymous or LulzSec declare a new target, the world definitely notices. Furthermore, while Guy Fawkes Day is a perfectly understandable choice, it’s very far away. There are 112 days between July 16, 2011 and November 5, 2011: Anonymous rarely gives more than a few days notice, if at all.

Last but not least, I looked at two Twitter accounts that Anonymous has previously used to talk to the media and the general public (GroupAnon and AnonOps). They have given accurate information regarding the organization and its actions in the past, so I wasn’t as hesitant to believe what they were saying. Comparing their tweets to OP_Facebook and the press released attached to the video made it very evident these were not the same people.

While the former of the two official accounts hasn’t mentioned Facebook recently, the latter, which has much more followers, did send out a message just yesterday. The tweet simply reads: “We told you many times ddosing Facebook was a fake operation.”

Even the Facebook countdown at anonyops.com/Countdown, which ended today, appears to be a dead end. The Twitter account it points to, CabinCr3w, sent out this tweet, also yesterday: “Our tweets have NOTHING to do with FaceBook… this account has nothing to do with it going down if it does.”

It’s of course still possible that Facebook will be attacked today, but it won’t be by Anonymous. I can’t emphasize this enough: do not believe reports saying Anonymous is attacking Facebook on November 5, 2011. Some members are undoubtedly trying, but the larger group has made it clear it’s not interested in killing the social network.

That being said, I have heard whispers that Facebook is indeed being targeted today. Thankfully, without the support of Anonymous, those trying are very few in number. Furthermore, Facebook had a lot of time to prepare for Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks and Structured Query Language (SQL) injection attacks typically favored by hackers nowadays.

To summarize, I would be very surprised if Facebook stopped functioning even for just a few minutes today. It never hurts, of course, to change your password and to pay attention to what you click on, both on the social network and the Internet as a whole.

Microsoft Posts Gain Despite Soft PC Sales

SEATTLE — Microsoft said its net income rose 6 percent in its first fiscal quarter, but the company’s results continued to reflect weak growth in PC sales

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The PC market, especially the part representing the companies using Microsoft’s Windows operating system, has suffered lately as economic uncertainty has crimped spending on information technology. Newer types of devices like tablets and mobile phones have sapped some of the business as well.

Microsoft said net income rose to $5.74 billion, or 68 cents a share, from $5.41 billion, or 62 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue rose 7 percent, to $17.37 billion, from $16.2 billion a year ago.

Analysts estimated that, on average, Microsoft would earn 68 cents a share on revenue of $17.24 billion, according to Thomson Reuters. Microsoft’s shares fell 1 percent after it released the financial results at the close of normal trading.

Microsoft said its revenue from selling Windows rose less than 2 percent during its first quarter, which ended Sept. 30. That reflects the fact that shipments of new PCs grew only 3.6 percent globally in the quarter, which ended Sept. 30, according to the research firm IDC. Apple defied the trend, reporting a 26 percent increase in the number of Macs sold during the same period, the company said on Tuesday.

Brendan Barnicle, an analyst at Pacific Crest Securities, said the company’s revenue from Windows sales was weaker than he had expected. “We’ve now had a year where Windows hasn’t come in in-line with analyst expectations,” he said. “It’s less of a miss than in the past.”

The Microsoft division that includes its Office suit of applications fared better than Windows, with a revenue increase of almost 8 percent. That division — Microsoft’s largest, representing a third of total revenue — got a boost from a new version of Office released last year that continues to sell well for the company, despite competition from free and low-cost online applications from Google and others.

One problem for Microsoft is that some of the stronger sources of growth in the PC business are now in developing markets like China. While that is good news for other players in the PC business, like Intel, that make hardware components, Microsoft has a harder time in those regions because of rampant software piracy and lower average selling prices for its products.

Microsoft’s Windows business is also facing a growing challenger in the iPad. Tech industry executives are divided over the degree to which Apple’s tablet computer is eroding sales of traditional PCs.

This week, Apple’s chief executive, Timothy D. Cook, said he thought that the iPad was cannibalizing some sales of Macs, but that a “materially larger” number of iPad buyers were choosing the tablet device over a Windows PC. Apple sold 11.1 million iPads in its last quarter. “With cannibalization like this, I hope it continues,” Mr. Cook said.

Microsoft intends to tackle the threat from the iPad with a new version of Windows, known currently as Windows 8, that has been redesigned for the touch screens of tablet devices, but that product is not expected to appear for about a year.

Peter Klein, Microsoft’s chief financial officer, said in an interview that the company had greater demand from businesses for Windows than it had from the consumer market, where the iPad has had a big impact on the low-end laptop computers known as netbooks.

Microsoft 83-640 Exam

QUESTION 1
You work as the network administrator at CERTKINGDOM.com. The CERTKINGDOM.com network has a
domain named CERTKINGDOM.com. All servers on the CERTKINGDOM.com network run Windows Server
2008.
Only one Active-Directory integrated zone has been configured in the CERTKINGDOM.com domain.
CERTKINGDOM.com has requested that you configure DNS zone to automatically remove DNS records
that are outdated.
What action should you consider?

A. You should consider running the netsh /Reset DNS command from the Command prompt.
B. You should consider enabling Scavenging in the DNS zone properties page.
C. You should consider reducing the TTL of the SOA record in the DNS zone properties page.
D. You should consider disabling updates in the DNS zone properties page.

Answer: B

Explanation: In the scenario you should enable scavenging through the zone properties because
scavenging removes the outdated DNS records from the DNS zone automatically. You should
additionally note that patience would be required when enabling scavenging as there are some
safety valves built into scavenging which takes long to pop.
Reference: http://www.gilham.org/Blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?List=aab85845-88d2-4091-8088-
a6bbce0a4304&ID=211

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---

QUESTION 2
You work as the network administrator at CERTKINGDOM.com. The CERTKINGDOM.com network has a
domain named CERTKINGDOM.com. All servers on the CERTKINGDOM.com network run Windows Server
2008.
The CERTKINGDOM.com network has a server named CERTKINGDOM-SR15. You install the Active
Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) on CERTKINGDOM-SR15.
Which of the following options can be used for the creation of new Organizational Units (OU’s) in
the application directory partition of the AD LDS?

A. You should run the net start command on CERTKINGDOM-SR15.
B. You should open the ADSI Edit Microsoft Management Console on CERTKINGDOM-SR15.
C. You should run the repadmin /dsaguid command on CERTKINGDOM-SR15.
D. You should open the Active Directory Users and Computers Console on CERTKINGDOM-SR15.

Answer: B

Explanation: You need to use the ADSI Edit snap-in to create new OUs in the AD LDS
application directory partition. You also need to add the snap-in in the Microsoft Management
Console (MMC).

---

QUESTION 3
You work as the network administrator at CERTKINGDOM.com. The CERTKINGDOM.com network has a
domain named CERTKINGDOM.com. All servers on the CERTKINGDOM.com network run Windows Server
2008.
The CERTKINGDOM.com network has two domain controllers CERTKINGDOM-DC01 and CERTKINGDOMDC02.
CERTKINGDOM-DC01 suffers a catastrophic failure but it is causing problems because it was
configured to have Schema Master Operations role. You log on to the CERTKINGDOM.com domain as
a domain administrator but your attempts to transfer the Schema Master Operations role to
CERTKINGDOM-DC02 are unsuccessful.
What action should you take to transfer the Schema Master Operations role to CERTKINGDOMDC02?

A. Your best option would be to have the dcpromo /adv command executed on CERTKINGDOMDC02.
B. Your best option would be to have the Schema Master role seized to CERTKINGDOM-DC02.
C. Your best option would be to have Schmmgmt.dll registered on CERTKINGDOM-DC02.
D. Your best option would be to add your user account to the Schema Administrators group.

Answer: B

Explanation: To ensure that CERTKINGDOM-DC02 holds the Schema Master role you need to seize
the Schema Master role on CERTKINGDOM-DC02. Seizing the schema master role is a drastic step
that should be considered only if the current operations master will never be available again. So to
transfer the schema master operations role, you have to seize it on CERTKINGDOM-DC02.
Reference: http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver/en/library/d4301a14-dd18-4b3c-a3ccec9a773f7ffb1033.
mspx?mfr=true

---

QUESTION 4
You work as the network administrator at CERTKINGDOM.com. The CERTKINGDOM.com network has a
single forest. The forest functional level is set at Windows Server 2008.
The CERTKINGDOM.com network has a Microsoft SQL Server 2005 database server named
CERTKINGDOM-DB04 that hosts the Active Directory Rights Management Service (AD RMS).
You try to access the Active Directory Rights Management Services administration website but
received an error message stating:
“SQL Server does not exist or access is denied.”
How can you access the AD RMS administration website?

A. You need to restart the Internet Information Server (IIS) service and the MSSQLSVC service on
CERTKINGDOM-DB04.
B. You need to install the Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) on
CERTKINGDOM-DB04.
C. You need to reinstall the AD RMS instance on CERTKINGDOM-DB04.
D. You need to reinstall the SQL Server 2005 instance on CERTKINGDOM-DB04.
E. You need to run the DCPRO command on CERTKINGDOM-SR04

Answer: A

Explanation: You need to restart the internet information server (IIS) to correct the problem. The
starting of the MSSQULSVC service will allow you to access the database from AD RMS
administration website.

---

QUESTION 5
You work as an enterprise administrator at CERTKINGDOM.com. The CERTKINGDOM.com network has a
domain named CERTKINGDOM.com. The CERTKINGDOM.com network has a Windows Server 2008
computer named CERTKINGDOM-SR03 that functions as an Enterprise Root certificate authority
(CA).
A new CERTKINGDOM.com security policy requires that revoked certificate information should be
available for examination at all times.
What action should you take adhere to the new policy?

A. This can be accomplished by having a list of trusted certificate authorities published to the
CERTKINGDOM.com domain.
B. This can be accomplished by having the Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) responder
implemented.
C. This can be accomplished by having the OCSP Response Signing certificate imported.
D. This can be accomplished by having the Startup Type of the Certificate Propagation service set
to Automatic.
E. This can be accomplished by having the computer account of CERTKINGDOM-SR03 added to the
PGCertificates group.

Answer: B

Explanation: You should use the network load balancing and publish an OCSP responder. This
will ensure that the revoked certificate information will be available at all times. You do not need to
download the entire CRL to check for revocation of a certificate; the OCSP is an online responder
that can receive a request to check for revocation of a certificate. This will also speed up certificate
revocation checking as well as reducing network bandwidth tremendously.

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After drama, HP to keep its PC business after all

New CEO Meg Whitman has reversed her predecessor's decision to spin out or sell its computer business

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Hewlett-Packard isn't going out of the PC business after all. Today, CEO Meg Whitman announced the company would continue to make and sell PCs, reversing a decision made by her predecessor Léo Apotheker in August -- a decision that riled investors and employees and led to his ouster in late September. Since the August announcement, HP's future has been repeatedly questioned, as has the competence of its senior management. The appointment of board member Whitman as CEO added to the criticisms.

After assuming the CEO role, Whitman promised to assess the PC business's future quickly, to try to end the hand-wringing by employees, shareholders, and the press. A month later, she delivered on that promise.


"HP objectively evaluated the strategic, financial, and operational impact of spinning off PSG [Personal Systems Group]. It's clear after our analysis that keeping PSG within HP is right for customers and partners, right for shareholders, and right for employees," said Whitman in a statement. "HP is committed to PSG, and together we are stronger."

"We intend to make the leading PC business in the world even better," said Todd Bradley, the head of PSG who had expressed interest in running it as a separate company if it were spun off.

HP did not reverse its decision to kill its WebOS smartphone and tablet business, which Apotheker did when he announced the PC business might be sold or spun out as its own company. HP has retained the WebOS software and is looking for ways to use it in other HP products, such as printers.

Microsoft says no more Zunes, it's all about the phone now

Microsoft will make no more Zune music players, building its future music strategy on applications incorporated in its Windows Phone and Xbox platforms, the company has confirmed.

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Rumors circulated in March that Microsoft planned to stop making dedicated music players, but the company ducked the issue then, saying this year's new Zune devices would be mobile phones running Zune software. It went on to release a trickle of applications for the Zune platform later in the year.

The company has now updated a help page at Zune.net to announce: "We will no longer be producing Zune players." Instead, the page said: "Going forward, Windows Phone will be the focus of our mobile music and video strategy."

However, this will make no difference to current Zune users, the company said on the support page: "Your device will continue to work with Zune services just as it does today. And we will continue to honor the warranties of all devices for both current owners and those who buy our very last devices."

Microsoft launched the first Zune players and Zune Marketplace music store on Nov. 14, 2006, as a challenge to Apple's iPod player and iTunes music store.

However, Apple moved the goalposts a couple of months later with its Jan. 9, 2007, announcement of the iPhone, a widescreen iPod that could also make phone calls and surf the Web.

It took Microsoft three years to follow suit. When it announced Windows Phone in February 2010, one of the features of the new mobile OS was a Zune music player app. It's also possible to access Zune music and video via Xbox Live, Microsoft's online service for its Xbox 360 game console.

Sales of the Zune have consistently trailed far behind those of the iPod. While not a definitive ranking, the list of best-selling MP3 players at Amazon.com is telling: Nine of the 10 best sellers are iPods (Sandisk has a $40 Sansa model in eighth place) and the first Zune device now appears at number 24, preceded by 16 iPod variants.

Hewlett Packard will now keep its PC and tablet arm

Hewlett Packard (HP) says it will now keep its personal computer division after reviewing a plan by its former chief executive to sell it.

The decision to retain the personal systems group (PSG) was made by HP's new head, Meg Whitman, who said HP would be a "stronger" firm as a result.

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Her predecessor, Leo Apotheker, said earlier this year the company would look to spin-off the hardware arm.

PSG is the world's biggest maker of personal computers.

Ms Whitman said in a statement: "Keeping PSG within HP is right. HP objectively evaluated the strategic, financial and operational impact of spinning off PSG.

"HP is committed to PSG, and together we are stronger," said Ms Whitman, a former eBay executive who took over in September.

She added: "It's clear after our analysis that keeping PSG within HP is right for customers and partners, right for shareholders, and right for employees."

Analysts welcomed the decision, with Forrester's Frank Gillett saying: "Hopefully this is a beginning of a set of events over the next year that demonstrates the board has a better grip on things."

The plan to sell PSG was part of Mr Apotheker's strategy to refocus HP on software and cloud services.

But within months of being appointed in November last year, shareholders and analysts became uneasy about his planned changes and subsequent acquisition of the UK software company Autonomy.

HP shares fell 20% the day after Mr Apotheker announced the possible spin-off of the PC arm, and lost 40% of their value during his tenure.

Shares in the company rose 4.8% on Thursday....bbc

Microsoft quarter shows continued growth

Microsoft kicked off its first quarter of fiscal 2012 with solid growth, reporting a 7 percent increase in revenue compared to a year ago, and a 6 percent increase in net income.

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Overall, Microsoft reported first-quarter revenue of US$17.37 billion, beating the consensus estimate from financial analysts of $17.24 billion, according to Thomson Reuters. Net income for the quarter ending Sept. 30 was $5.74 billion, or $0.68 per share, in line with analysts' consensus estimate.

As in quarters past, business sales dominated the growth for the company.

The Microsoft Business Division, which oversees Microsoft Office, reported $5.62 billion in revenue, an 8 percent increase from the prior year's first quarter, which itself benefitted from the release of Office 2010.

"We had another strong quarter for Office, SharePoint, Exchange, and Lync, and saw growing demand for our public and private cloud services including Office 365, Dynamics CRM Online, and Windows Azure," said Kevin Turner, chief operating officer at Microsoft, in a statement.

Sales of Microsoft's enterprise support server software -- including Lync, SharePoint, and Exchange -- enjoyed double-digit growth, according to the company. Revenue from the company's Dynamics business grew 17 percent. For the back office, the Server and Tools Division generated $4.25 billion in revenue during the quarter, a 10 percent increase year on year.

Sales of Microsoft's flagship product, Windows, grew as well, although less spectacularly. The Windows and Windows Live Division revenue was $4.87 billion for the period, a 2 percent increase.

Starting next quarter, Microsoft will include financial results of Skype, whose acquisition it completed earlier this month. Because of the successful quarter and the Skype acquisition, Microsoft increased its revenue forecast for its full 2012 fiscal year, from $28.6 billion to $29.2 billion.

During a conference call after the results came out, Bill Koefoed, Microsoft general manager for investor relations, noted that consumer purchases of PCs and netbooks were flat, resulting in the sluggish Windows sales. Overall, business sales of PCs outpaced consumer sales, and sales in emerging markets outpaced those in mature markets.

Microsoft expects to see a rebound in growth with the arrival of the first generation of Intel-based ultraportable laptops, or ultrabooks, which have just started to ship. Thus far, more than 450 million copies of Windows 7 have been sold since its launch.

Another area of concern for the company is its 10-year search and advertising partnership with Yahoo, signed in 2009. The teaming has not produced the expected income for Microsoft or Yahoo, which reported its own financial results Tuesday.

"The number-one priority is to resolve the monetization challenges of the combined ad platform," said Peter Klein, Microsoft chief financial officer, adding that the company is working "very closely" with Yahoo to improve the results. Microsoft's Online Services Division generated $625 million in revenue for the quarter, up from $527 million a year ago.