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Google Play adds Private channel hosting for internal enterprise apps
It's not just IT departments the world over that've adjusted to the burgeoning BYOD (bring your own device) movement, it's Google, too. Responding to the increase in Android handsets now used in the enterprise space, Mountain View's announced the availability of a private Play store channel meant solely for internal apps. To take advantage of this, your corporate overlords will first have to be registered as an Apps for Business, Education or Government administrator, after which they can create a separate channel to host and manage any proprietary applications. On the employee end, a linked corporate email account is all that's required to gain access to this secured area, making the entire affair a breeze to use. And with that, RIM's biz-focused BlackBerry platform takes yet another hit. Click on to the source below for the finer details.
Microsoft's going to make it pricier to bring your iOS device to work
When you can't beat 'em in the tablet and smartphone market, license 'em. That seems to be the tactic that Microsoft will begin using on December 1, 2012 when it starts charging more for user client-access licenses. Many companies are now embracing the BYOD (bring your own device) model, allowing employees to bring their own tablets, smartphones or laptops to work. According to a post on Business Insider, businesses that use Microsoft enterprise software like SharePoint pay for the part that runs on the server and also for the number of clients that are using the software. Companies with more employees pay more than those with fewer people on staff. There are two kinds of client access licenses (CALs) that enterprises can buy: a "Device CAL" that covers each device, and a "User CAL" that covers all devices that a particular employee uses. For companies using the BYOD model, User CALs were a pretty good deal. Well, that's what Microsoft is going to start charging more for on December 1, raising the price of a User CAL by 15 percent. It should be noted that the higher price also pertains to Windows phones and laptops and Surface tablets, although Business Insider does point out that better deals are probably available from Microsoft for an all-Windows environment. The enterprise software affected includes Microsoft Exchange, Project Server, SharePoint Server, Visual Studio Team Foundation Server and multiple CALs for Windows Server.
Star Trek: Enterprise Blu-ray release next year tipped as fans pick box art
As Star Trek franchises go Enterprise may not be TOS or TNG, but it was the first one to be broadcast in HD way back in 2003. The Digital Bits points out that StarTrek.com is letting fans pick box art for Season One and Two sets that will see a release next year, and notes rumors all four seasons could ship before 2014. Since HDTV broadcasts didn't start until the third season this should be an extra treat for devoted followers, however the juiciest rumor listed is the possibility of an X-Files Blu-ray set next year from Fox -- stay tuned.
EarthLink completes fiber broadband rollout in Eastern Tennessee
Anyone familiar with the unglamorous circumstances of Elvis Presley's passing might agree he needed a little more fiber in his diet. That would've been the case if 'the King' was of this generation, as the state he called home is pretty well wired these days, and even more so now EarthLink has completed its "Eastern Tennessee Broadband Project." Over 500 miles of fiber optics have been installed in "underserved areas," offering up to 10 Gbps speeds to businesses and institutions, with some 'last mile' providers already claiming their stake. Bon appétit, Tennessee. [Image credit: Royce DeGrie / Getty Images]
That's an affirmative on BlackBerry 10 security certification, sir
RIM may be falling out of favor with certain government departments, but it's not removing the earpiece or pocketing the shades just yet. The National Institute of Standards and Technology has granted the BlackBerry 10 platform FIPS 140-2 certification, which basically means data security and encryption are top notch throughout. All you need to know is government agencies, and others with confidential info, can brandish BB10 handsets without worry when they launch early next year. Another piece of good news for Obama -- we're pretty sure he's due for an upgrade about now.
Google offers Enterprise Partner Search to help businesses find local tech support
Business-types! Fancy moving your enterprise onto Google's web-apps, but want some local tech support? Well, Mountain View won't be offering you any official hand-holding, its Enterprise Partner Search will point you in the direction of someone who can. The new service will find your location and offer up the listings of your nearest qualified reseller, leaving your employees more time to make papier-mâché statues of you to line the office.
Motorola Solutions outs HC1 head-mounted computer, keeps workers' hands free in sticky situations (update: video)
We're very familiar with Kopin's Golden-i, but it was surprising that an early collaboration with Motorola Solutions didn't immediately lead to Motorola selling the head-mounted computer on its own. That odd discrepancy is being patched up now that Motorola Solutions' HC1 is here. The design keeps its signature micro-display, head tracking and voice commands, but sees a slight repurposing from Kopin's focus on security: Motorola Solutions' attention is on giving construction workers, field technicians and soldiers an always-up computer that keeps their hands free when it would be too dangerous (or just unwieldy) to grab a handheld. We haven't been told if the HC1 has been upgraded to that promised TI OMAP 4 chip, although we do know that there's an optional camera to bring on the Aliens-style video feeds as well as pairing support that offers cellular data, GPS and voice calls when linked to the right phone or hotspot. Whether or not the HC1 keeps the Golden-i's $2,500 price is an unknown as well -- that said, the corporate emphasis is more likely to see bulk sales of the wearable PC than any kind of scrimping and saving. Update: You'll find an official clip for the HC1 after the break. The clip also confirms that there's no OMAP 4 in this version.
Google introduces Maps Tracks and Geolocation APIs, awaits your next location-enabled application
In its never-ending quest to dominate the global mapping scene, Google has just rolled out a new pair of APIs designed to help organizations build their own location-enabled applications. The first is Google Maps Tracks API, which gives developers the ability to concoct apps that can store, display and analyze GPS data on a map. In other words, those in need of a geofencing program -- fleet managers and the like -- need look no further. Secondly, there's the Google Maps Geolocation API, which "enables an application or device to determine its own location without the use of GPS by looking up the locations of nearby WiFi access points and cell towers." It's pretty clear that enterprises are the target here, but it seems like only a matter of time before consumer-facing location apps tap into 'em. After all, the world needs more indoor mall apps. Fact.
iPhone appealing as BYOD smartphone thanks to security warning
When it comes to mobile devices in enterprises, Apple's iOS platform leads the way. But according to an opinion post by Computerworld's Jonny Evans, iOS may become even more dominant in enterprise computing thanks to a security warning about Android devices that came from the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), a Federal task force that includes the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the National White Collar Crime Center and the Bureau of Justice Assistance. That security scare, dealing with Android malware, isn't the only reason why corporate IT departments are welcoming iPhones into companies as "bring your own device" (or BYOD) equipment. As Evans notes, a new system from HID Global brings government-level biometric security to the iPhone, and the next iPhone could feature built-in identification technology from Microlatch and Apple-owned AuthenTec. Evans lists six reasons why Apple provides the most secure BYOD smartphones on the market: Apple's iOS is inherently more secure than Android for a host of reasons, not least device fragmentation and the availability of security updates. Apple's App Store is more secure because it is curated. The FBI and others note the frequency of malware attacks on poorly protected Android devices. BYOD means enterprises are looking to standardize around a set of secure devices, but need to make those decisions sooner, not later. Solutions are already available that allow an iPhone to meet government agency-level security requirements, including secure monitoring of communications sent using that device. With the Lightning data transfer protocol, Apple is already laying the ground for future device security improvements. In conclusion, Evans notes that "the platform's current position as the world's most secure mass market mobile OS makes it the best platform for enterprise deployments." It's a good read for anyone in corporate IT or who is attempting to persuade their employer to allow iOS devices in a BYOD situation.
Box announces new features: improved search, file editing and a more social UI (video)
Skydrive, iCloud and Amazon Cloud Drive users have all been treated to upgrades recently, and now Box has announced a bunch of improvements are coming to its cloud platform for businesses. The portal header has been redesigned with a focus on searching and navigating quickly, and you can find other users at your company that bit easier, too. Additionally, Box Edit is ready to drop its beta suffix and, as long as you've got the relevant program installed, you can create files, edit them and save right back to the cloud from within the system. And, if you didn't think the whole experience was social enough, an added 'like' feature for files will help you keep up with the latest trending process docs. The updates are due to roll out "over the coming weeks," but until then, why not let an extremely sincere Box rep walk you through them in the video below.
Microsoft buys PhoneFactor, adds smartphone authentication to its cloud services
With a hand-in-glove relationship with the world of business, it's key that Microsoft ensures it can keep companies data safe. That's what prompted Steve Ballmer to whip out his checkbook to snap up PhoneFactor, a multi-factor authentication company that uses smartphones instead of code-generating security tokens. With its new toy, Redmond plans to integrate the feature into its services like SharePoint, Azure and Office 365, letting users sign on with their own device as a key element of the signing in process.
Exchange calendar oddity in iOS 6 may trigger meeting cancellations [Updated]
The iPhone's support for Microsoft's dominant email and calendaring Exchange platform is an essential part of iOS's appeal to business users. Integrating MS's ActiveSync mobile device connectivity into Apple's gear, which started back with iPhone OS 2.0 in 2008, helped make the upstart smartphone into a viable alternative to the dominant BlackBerry ecosystem (and look how that worked out). Update: See Thursday's post for more firsthand information on how Exchange and iOS have a history of not playing nicely. Unfortunately, ActiveSync has always been a mite quirky on iOS. While the core email sending and receiving functionality usually does as it should (with sustained support for push email a sometime exception), calendaring doesn't always fare as well. Delegation of calendar rights, access to third-party calendars and meeting invitation handling are among the sore spots that may cause issues for power users. It now looks like iOS 6 may be exacerbating some of these challenges. MacRumors highlights an internal memo from a "very large company" asking employees specifically not to upgrade their devices, as there may be some situations where declining a meeting invitation inadvertently sends a full cancellation notice to all the other attendees. In fact, I've seen this behavior before, only very rarely -- it came up once or twice on both iOS 5.1 and from iCal under OS X Lion over the course of a few months, while working with Exchange 2007 meeting invites -- but the current instantiation seems to be easier to trigger. Meetings with large numbers of attendees may be more problematic, and/or meetings where the organizer and the recipient are not part of the same Exchange organization. What can make this sort of issue more frustrating for both IT and device users is that these issues are usually intermittent, hard to reproduce and may hinge on very particular combinations of circumstances and Exchange microversions. There's a reason Microsoft sells expensive service and support contracts with its infrastructure products, and also plenty of reasons why hosted Exchange and alternatives like Google Apps are gaining ground on traditional in-house installations. You may be eager to try out the latest and greatest version of iOS, but if you're depending on your company's IT department to support your connectivity to the enterprise calendar system (to say nothing of VPN, file services, email and all the rest) then please do yourself a solid and check with your local gaggle of geeks before you upgrade -- not afterward.
Microsoft details its own Windows 8 rollout, lessons learned from 'dogfooding'
If a company won't use its own products, how can it expect others to? Many customers, especially on the enterprise side of the equation, are understandably a little wary of the drastic change that awaits them when upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 8. So, Microsoft decided to share what it has learned from its own experience dogfooding the new OS around the Redmond campus (and likely beyond). While the company is a little light on specifics of the low-volume rollout, it does highlight some of the features available to IT departments that should make transitioning easier. It even offers a few pointers along the way. Sure, there's plenty of back-patting involved, but tips like using IT Easy Installer to automate deployments and trim install times by half shouldn't be dismissed. There's also some information about its support system for early adopters which included a knowledge base called Pointers that helped highlight the most important issues needing to be addressed. For more details hit up the source link and get ready to embrace your inner IT nerd.
Suitable Technologies introduces Beam, the remote presence device (hands-on)
Telepresence is a booming business these days, with high speed wireless networks enabling plenty of folks to enjoy the pleasures of working (or attending class) from the comfort of home. While some such devices leverage the power of tablets or smartphones, the visual and audio quality such systems deliver often isn't up to corporate standards. Enter Suitable Technologies and its Beam remote presence device (RPD). As a spinoff of famed 'bot builder Willow Garage, the folks at Suitable figured they could provide a high-fidelity telepresence experience by building an RPD from scratch, and that's precisely what they've done with Beam. Its brain is a 1.3Ghz Intel Core i3 CPU and it moves around courtesy of dual brushless electric motors driven by an integrated car battery. That battery fills up in right around six hours using the Beam Dock, and the LED lamps underneath the screen shine whenever Beam is being used. Users, or "pilots" see where they're going via two Logitech HD webcams sporting custom lenses that grant near 180-degree views and zoom capability -- one's front-facing, and one points down for easy navigation in tight spaces. Connectivity comes courtesy of four WiFi antennas (two 2.4 GHz and two 5GHz) to ensure a solid connection at all times, while the seven microphones provide top-notch voice quality and noise cancellation. Oh, and there's a 17-inch monitor and a speaker on board to faithfully replicate what pilots look and sound like. We got a chance to meet the Beam's makers and take the RPD for a spin, so join us after the break to see a video of the thing in action and learn more about Beam's development.
Lenovo axes Android App Shop, points you in the direction of Google Play
Business-types, Lenovo pondered, needed their own App Store Shop, dedicated to selling business-only applications to those strutting around looking serious in their polyester suits. It seems that such demand never materialized, however, with the company shuttering the outlet only six months after its launch and pointing users in the direction of Google Play instead. While the bulk of the apps purchased in that time will still work, around 90 that used the store's license management system will cease to function on November 2nd, a list of which you can find at the source link. [Thanks, Hemal]
HP planning to launch an enterprise-friendly tablet 'soon'
Buried in its press release announcing new laptops, desktops, monitors and accessories, HP made an interesting admission: it's not done yet. At the tail end of the PR, even after it broke down the various prices and shipping dates, the company added: "An enterprise-ready tablet will be announced soon." No hint at the specs, though we have to wonder if it's the rumored Windows 8-powered "Slate 8" tablet we've heard about in the rumor mill. And now that HP has announced most of its fall products, we're wondering if that slate is actually the same tablet that made an appearance in those ads that ran during the Olympics this summer -- after all, HP's yet to acknowledge the thing with an official name. We suppose we'll find out soon, whenever that is.
Dell's Latitude 10 tablet and dock, OptiPlex 9010 AIO, Latitude 6430u laptop arrive to tempt business pros
Windows 8 is coming folks, and so is an onslaught of new machines featuring Microsoft's something-for-everyone OS. Dell already showed us some of its fresh consumer Win8 hardware back at IFA 2012, and now it's the enterprise's turn to shine. First up is the Latitude 10 tablet, which packs an Intel Atom SoC, a 10.1-inch IPS 1366 x 768 LCD display covered in Gorilla Glass, 8-megapixel primary camera plus an HD front-facing shooter. It's got 2GB of RAM and up to 128GB of eMMC NAND storage, plus an SD card slot should the integrated storage prove insufficient. Connectivity comes via one full-size USB 2.0 port, a microUSB charging socket, mini-HDMI, a headphone/microphone combo jack, proprietary docking port and a micro-SIM slot for WWAN use. The Latitude 10 packs up to a 60Wh battery, which isn't remarkable in and of itself, but the fact that it's removable is. That means road warriors can travel with a spare cell or two to keep their slate in the juice no matter how long they work on it. While the swappable battery can keep the 10 from being tethered to an outlet, the dock Dell built for it ensures it'll have a stylish place to rest when it is. The dock expands the slate's connectivity with four USB 2.0 sockets, Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI and audio output.%Gallery-165869% Next is the Optiplex 9010 all-in-one desktop we saw earlier this year. It still has the same 23-inch, 1920 x 1080 panel on the front and vPro-equipped Ivy Bridge silicon lurking beneath -- the only change is the upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 8. The Latitude 6430u is an addition to Dell's venerable business laptop line, and is the first to bear the Ultrabook moniker. It's generous to label the 6430u as such, as it's .82 inches thick and weighs 3.7 lbs, but it's still a fairly thin and light laptop -- plus it has the same solid magnesium chassis construction as its Latitude brethren. The 6430u crams a 14-inch, 1366 x 768 matte display into its 13.3-inch chassis, and users have the option of Ivy Bridge Core i3, i5 and i7 silicon with vPro, up to 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB worth of solid state storage. Naturally, there's 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth and mobile broadband available for wireless connectivity. Unfortunately, we can't tell you how much Dell's new business computers will cost, but we do know that they'll be available when Windows 8 is, which is to say late October.%Gallery-165871%
TUAW and MacTech interview: Fiberlink
Fiberlink makes a range of business management tools for devices (company iPhones and Macs and the like) and documents. In this video, Neil Ticktin (Editor-in-Chief, MacTech Magazine) interviews Jatin Malik of Fiberlink at WWDC 2012. Jatin was kind enough to share his thoughts on the announcements on WWDC, and how it will affect Fiberlink's plans moving forward.
Google wins face-to-unlock for multiple users patent, makes us hungry for Android support
Google has won a face-to-unlock patent that seems to let multiple users share one "computing device." Point your face at the built-in camera, and you'll be allowed access to your personal profile -- and when it's time to move, someone else can do the same to take your place. While there's no connection to a real-world product and relates more to biometric ID than consumer technology, it does tickle hopes that we could see the feature included alongside official multi-user support in a future iteration of Android.
Microsoft delivers Windows Server 2012, puts the enterprise on cloud 8
Forget Windows 8, Windows Server 2012 is where it's at... if you're a corporate IT manager, that is. Microsoft has just posted the finished version of its suit-and-tie OS for immediate sale in download form. Not surprisingly given Microsoft's big cloud push, the emphasis with the upgrade is on improving how well the software scales for internet hosting -- the company wants one common backbone that can handle as little as a small e-mail server to large-scale Azure deployments and virtualization. Server 2012 is also defined by what you won't find: while the Metro-style interface from the platform's Windows 8 cousin shows its face in the Essentials version, it's noticeably stripped down and goes away in the more advanced tiers. The real shakeup for some might just be the new price points, which drop the cost by a large amount for offices that don't need more than a slice of what the all-out Datacenter edition has to offer. We'll admit that most of our attention as end users will be focused on what happens several weeks from now, but if you're one of those rare server operators that can't wait to start testing a new OS release almost immediately, you've got a head start on most of us.
