DeviceManagement
Latest
Google makes it easy to see every device logged into your account
Between your smartphone, desktop at work, tablet, laptop at home and whatever else in between, keeping track of the devices your Google account is signed into can be a hassle. Next time you notice strange activities occurring with one of them, though, you can see where it's coming from and remotely take a look at what's going on from a browser. How? With the Devices and Activity dashboard that shows off a list of the last platforms where your account's been active in the past 28 days, and what gizmos you're currently signed into as well. As Google tells it, you can even change your password and take steps to secure your account with it too. Officially, it's intended to make the lives of IT managers easier, but we know at least one person who'll probably appreciate this new bit of functionality.
Motorola subsidiary 3LM to offer enterprise-class device management for Android; HTC, Sony Ericsson, others on board
Apple's been working hard to chip away at RIM's lead in the enterprise over the last couple years by beefing up iOS' IT policy management chops in ways that traditionally only BlackBerry (and the now-marginalized Windows Phone 6.5 / Windows Embedded Handheld platform) have excelled at, but Motorola -- a company that's got virtually 100 percent of its skin in the Android game -- would obviously like to see that change. To that end, it acquired a little company called 3LM (that's "Three Laws of Mobility") last year that's been working on an enterprise management platform for Android, and it appears they've pulled off a bit of a coup -- not only will its parent company be supporting it on devices starting in the second quarter of the year, but devices from competitors like HTC, Sharp, Sony Ericsson, and Pantech are on board, too. A standard software package for this sort of thing is just what IT bosses like to see -- and it could be Android's most dangerous strike yet on the enterprise side of the market. Follow the break for Moto's press release.
DVD Jon's DoubleTwist device-management software enters public beta
It's been nearly a year since DVD Jon made some noise about doubleTwist by promising to "liberate" iTunes purchases from their DRM, and while that's no longer particularly relevant in light of Apple's decision to go DRM-free, we're actually really digging this newly refocused public beta of the doubleTwist app, which promises to seamlessly manage all your devices from a single interface. Think of it as iTunes meets Windows 7 Device Stage with a dash of social network integration and you'll get it: you just tell DT where you want your media to go -- your phone, Facebook, your PSP -- and it'll handle all the encoding, conversion, and uploading steps for you. Sadly, the iPod, iPhone, Zune and Windows Mobile aren't supported yet, but the rest of the device list is pretty decent: it includes the BlackBerry Pearl, Storm, and Curve, the G1, Sony Ericsson Cybershot and Walkman phones, the Kindle, Nokia N and E-series phones, and most digital cameras and flash-based camcorders. Of course, iTunes video is still wrapped in DRM, so we'll see if DVD Jon has any tricks left up his sleeve to make it play nice with non-Apple devices, but for a first shot out of the gate it looks like extremely promising -- too bad it's Mac-only for now.[Via Daring Fireball]Read - doubleTwist websiteRead - Supported device list
