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Vol 3, #01, Jan. 4, 2011 |
Six IT technologies to consider for 2011 Businesses have been slow to trust the innovative technologies of the past few years, but according to a new study by Info-Tech Research Group, 2011 will be the year of mass adoption. The growing pains have subsided and newer technologies are now ripe and ready to go main stream. "As budget freezes start to thaw out, end users and businesses are very actively adopting new technologies and maintaining status quo is no longer an option for IT," said Andy Woyzbun, Lead Research Analyst for Info-Tech Research Group. "IT shops will need to push the release of new and innovative technologies in 2011 in order to continue widespread growth." The technologies every IT department should consider in 2011 are: Social Media for business use is here to stay. Marketing departments are integrating social media into their plans without IT participation due to its rapid uptake by prospect and customers. Larger organizations are also utilizing social media platforms to improve the effectiveness of internal communications and employee-to-employee collaboration, driving superior team productivity and knowledge sharing. IT must secure privacy and integrity by creating a policy to manage organizational use of social media. Mobile Applications are a way of life and are rapidly becoming the way to do business. Mobile devices with sophisticated capabilities such as smart phones and tablets will enable organizational differentiation through unique apps. Marketing departments have already adopted the use of mobile apps in their plans and are hiring third-party developers because many internal IT departments lack the expertise to develop and deploy mobile apps. The Cloud is changing everything. Businesses leaders will view cloud-sourcing as a business decision rather than a technology decision. The Cloud will provide an increasing set of lower cost alternatives to in-house services, so organizations facing the need to expand the range of IT services or to add capacity should examine Cloud alternatives to in-house solutions. Whether or not the Cloud makes sense in a particular situation, Cloud solutions will become the benchmark for how management assesses the cost and quality of services provided internally by IT. Simple Analytic Tools will propel businesses forward while saving them some cash. These cost friendly solutions are becoming wildly popular with IT leaders and business leaders alike. IT departments find they get the analytics required by the business without deploying a full Business Intelligence solution thereby putting money back into their pockets to spend on other initiatives. Desktop Virtualization (VDI) will alleviate shoulder pain for commuters and headaches for the IT worker. As an easier to support alternative to the traditional deployment of software on PCs, VDI will allow workers to access their desktop from any computer. Early adopters say VDI payback is mainly operational (ex. Fast provisioning of new desktops and centralized application management), but licensing schemes and technology will make the VDI market ready for the next wave of desktop refreshers. Enterprise Content Management applications will help IT shops avoid chaos in the efficient storage, control and retrieval of documents, e-mails and video. These are growing in volume and business importance. The disciplines, such as control and security, developed around operational databases must be extended to the other data collected by IT. Top of Page This Christmas, readers around the world received new eReaders and iPads and other eReading devices under their tree. Over a million people connected to Kobo, and hundreds of thousands of devices were activated each day since Christmas Eve , fuelling the highest eBook download rate in the company's history. People around the world chose Kobo this Christmas, with the popular easy-to-use Kobo Wireless eReader, dozens of compatible eReaders, top-rated applications for iPad, iPhone, Blackberry, Android, and one of the largest catalogues in the world with over 2.2 million eBooks, newspapers and magazines. "Earlier this month we predicted that Christmas would be a record breaker for Kobo, and we have exceeded our expectations driving several ebook downloads per second since Christmas Eve , or an equivalent number hardcover books stacked as high as 50 Empire State Buildings " said Michael Serbinis, CEO of Kobo. "I would like to thank our customers for choosing Kobo to start building their digital library this Christmas. Our success this holiday season is a pre-cursor to a New Year with people reading more than ever thanks to eBooks and Kobo." Kobo's holiday growth also included:
Kobo became the first eReading service to launch an eBook gifting and gift card program and for the first time in history, eBooks "arrived" digitally in people's email accounts this Christmas morning. The top three most popular eBooks gifted this holiday were:
Privacy, network liability coverage for companies XL Insurance, the global insurance operations of XL Group plc (XL), has announced the availability of cyberliabilty protection for Canadian businesses with the local release of its technology insurance products, XL Eclipse and XL EclipsePro. According to XL Insurance's Canada Country Manager Cindy Guyatt, "Technology is a significant part of business operations today, yet with all of technology's advantages, businesses have to be wary and protect themselves against its associated risks. Especially as Canada looks to strengthen its privacy laws, more businesses are seeking ways to safeguard their information and bottom line against technology risks such as security breaches and media liability. To help, we are pleased to offer both tech and non-tech businesses a complete package of cyberliabilty coverages." "Companies of all sizes and all kinds use technology to perform various business operations - from carrying out business transactions online to storing employee or customer data to marketing via their websites," according to Scott Schleicher , XL Insurance's Technology E&O manager. "When technology fails or stored data gets into the wrong hands, businesses are susceptible to website disruptions, network breaches, lost data or other technological issues." "XL Insurance tailors a client's individual coverage to address the specific technology risks of its industry. Given the amount of stored private client information, these coverages have become particularly valuable to service providers such as lawyers, real estate or insurance agents, and medical offices," explained Mr. Schleicher . Provided by the Canadian branch of XL Insurance Company Limited, XL Eclipse offers a wide range of cyberliabilty coverage under one policy form, including:
XL EclipsePro offers these cyberliabilty coverages but also incorporates technology E&O to address the professional liability needs of technology products and service providers. Independent Games Festival announces finalists The Independent Games Festival (IGF) has announced the Main Competition finalists for the thirteenth annual presentation of its awards, celebrating the brightest and most influential creations to come out of the independent video game development community in the past year. All of the IGF finalists will be playable on the Expo show floor at the historic 25th Game Developers Conference (GDC), to be held at San Francisco's Moscone Center February 28-March 4, 2011. In addition, nearly $50,000 of prizes in various categories, including the $20,000 Seumas McNally Grand Prize will be awarded to these games at the Independent Games Festival Awards on the evening of March 2 immediately preceding the acclaimed Game Developers Choice Awards. This year's finalists for the most prestigious indie game awards are led by multiple nominations for standout titles including Frictional Games' psychological horror game Amnesia: The Dark Descent and Mojang's acclaimed 3D worldbuilding sandbox title Minecraft, which received three nominations each. Other multiple-nominated titles include QCF Design's short playtime 'dungeon crawl' adventure Desktop Dungeons, Messhof's two-player retro fencing game Nidhogg, which received three nominations including its previously-announced Nuovo Award nod, and Supergiant Games' lush isometric adventure title Bastion. In addition, with the integration of the Best Mobile Game award into the IGF Main Competition, there was stiff competition across all categories from games on platforms including iPhone, Android, iPad and beyond, with Best Mobile Game finalists including Ratloop's unique 'line of sight' puzzler Helsing's Fire and former IGF Grand Prize winner Erik Svedang's 'minimalistic dueling game' for iPad Shot Shot Shoot, as well as Mikengreg's popular App Store title Solipskier. Top of Page Mediagrif acquires InterTrade Systems Inc. Mediagrif Interactive Technologies Inc., a world-leading provider of e-commerce solutions, has announced that it has acquired all of the issued and outstanding shares of Laval based InterTrade Systems Inc. for a cash consideration of $8.1 million . InterTrade offers innovative e-commerce solutions that allow its clients to efficiently manage and control their supply chain collaboration. In addition to its complete EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) solutions, InterTrade offers product-data-synchronization (catalogues) between retailers and suppliers. InterTrade's private catalogue solution caters to more than 20 retailers and 2,200 suppliers. Following this acquisition, InterTrade's clientele will continue receiving the same high quality service from InterTrade dedicated staff. Mediagrif's e-commerce expertise and financial strength will help InterTrade accelerate its growth in this fast-growing sector. In parallel, Mediagrif's existing networks will be able to extend their product offerings and have access to a strong EDI platform. This transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to Mediagrif's earnings. Top of Page Bell completes acquisition of xwaveMediagrif Interactive Technologies Inc., a world-leading provider of e-commerce solutions, has announced that it has acquired all of the issued and outstanding shares of Laval-based InterTrade Systems Inc. for a cash consideration of $8.1 million . InterTrade offers innovative e-commerce solutions that allow its clients to efficiently manage and control their supply chain collaboration. In addition to its complete EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) solutions, InterTrade offers product-data-synchronization (catalogues) between retailers and suppliers. InterTrade's private catalogue solution caters to more than 20 retailers and 2,200 suppliers. Following this acquisition, InterTrade's clientele will continue receiving the same high quality service from InterTrade dedicated staff. Mediagrif's e-commerce expertise and financial strength will help InterTrade accelerate its growth in this fast-growing sector. In parallel, Mediagrif's existing networks will be able to extend their product offerings and have access to a strong EDI platform. This transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to Mediagrif's earnings. Top of Page Northcore Technologies Inc. raises $625,000 Northcore Technologies Inc., a global provider of asset management technology solutions, confirmed that it has closed a private placement of $625,000 through the issuance of common shares. Under the terms of the equity private placement, investors purchased units priced at $0.08 . Each unit consists of one common share and one common share purchase warrant. Each full warrant may be converted into a common share at the exercise price of $0.12 at any time prior to December 22, 2012 . As a result of the equity private placement, Northcore issued approximately 7,816,400 common shares and in addition, will issue up to 7,816,400 common shares upon the exercise of related warrants. "We are encouraged by the support received from investors, who share our belief in the value of Northcore's Working Capital Engine. Based on the clear successes in 2010 with strong reference accounts, a key objective going forward is to broaden the use of GE Asset Manager's products by customers of GE and we are better positioned than ever to do so. In parallel to our 50:50 joint venture with GE, we are seeking expansion within the mining industry based on the results we achieved in this sector during the second half of 2010. We are also pleased that a high level of interest being evidenced in our products at multiple levels of government in North America , as well as in European markets that have an urgent need to remarket surplus assets in these recessionary times. This funding will also support the Company's progress from a technology licensing business model, to creating transaction revenues based on its patent portfolio around online Dutch Auctions . We are looking forward to 2011 with clear business and technology development plans. We are also grateful to investors for their statement of faith in the 2011 prospects for the Company and management is committed to delivering the results expected by them," said Duncan Copeland , CEO of Northcore Technologies. Top of Page Privacy Commissioner warns smartphone users While mobile technologies can be useful and fun, it's important that consumers recognize their impact on personal information, Canada's Privacy Commissioner, Jennifer Stoddart, cautions. "A fully-loaded smart phone is like carrying around a tiny little communications satellite, bristling with sensors and antennas," the Commissioner explains. "It's constantly sending and receiving data about your activities and your whereabouts. But where is the data going? What is it saying about you? And what is the effect on your privacy?" In the third quarter of 2010 alone, more than 400 million mobile phones were purchased worldwide, and smart phones accounted for about one-fifth of that market. But, relative to regular cellphones, smart phones are exploding in popularity. While sales of all mobile phones increased by a third from the year before, smart phone sales actually doubled. In fact, industry observers predict that smart phones will comprise the largest share of the mobile phone market by the end of next year. As these devices gain in popularity and sophistication, more and more applications (or apps) are being developed to run on them. These range from quirky quizzes to handy mapping and navigational programs, diet-tracking tools and social networking sites. Location, location, location Increasingly, apps are also capitalizing on the capacity of smart phones to reveal their owner's location. One widely used app, for instance, automatically transmits coupons and other bonuses to the user's mobile device every time the user patronizes certain establishments. But just as apps vary in type and quality, so do their privacy policies and practices. From a technical standpoint, there's little to stop developers from programming apps in a way that enables them to collect, use or share the personal information of users - and often that of their contacts or networks. Users may never even know this is happening, and might not approve of the practice if they did. Indeed, the inappropriate collection, use or disclosure of personal information could expose people to surreptitious surveillance, or unwanted targeting by unscrupulous marketers or swindlers. "Smart phones can do a lot of great things for you," says Commissioner Stoddart. "But when it comes to protecting your personal information, it's up to you to make the first call." MyScreen Mobile launches in Guatemala MyScreen Mobile, Inc. has announced that they have launched with Tigo in Guatemala, "The launch in Guatemala demonstrates our ability to customize the platform and our offering as well as showing the flexibility of our deployment options to meet each mobile operator's needs", stated MyScreen CEO Michael O'Connor. "TIGO decided to launch a full suite of mobile advertising services with a user friendly registration process. We are very pleased that our technology has seamlessly integrated into the Tigo CRM platforms in such a short period of time to deliver this exact experience." O'Connor continued. "MyScreen's Premium End of Call technology was the perfect compliment to the other services we are offering, and allows us to provide a premium user experience to our Smartphone customers" said Alvaro Mendez the Head of Mobile Advertising at TIGO in Guatemala. "We are very pleased with the feedback we are getting from both subscribers to the service, and from Advertisers." MyScreen is now deployed in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Turkey with several countries under development. Top of Page |
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