With subscription-based pricing and no server to buy and maintain, GFI Cloud is the affordable IT management console that helps you scale IT operations quickly and easily, to meet business demand. Get antivirus, workstation and server monitoring, remote control and asset tracking. Free 30 day trial.

Reports of the Mouse's Death Are Not Greatly Exaggerated October 09, 2012 The mouse may be running scared. That's the kind with buttons and scroll wheel -- not the tailed, furry variety that elephants are afraid of. How long has the mouse got? Way back in the dark slate ages of 2008, Gartner analyst Steve Prentice made a startling prophecy based on his observations of multiple computer interfaces that used gestures and other interactions.

YouTube Grows Up: The Maturing of a Medium October 03, 2012 Remember Charlie? YouTube isn't just about cat videos and basement productions anymore. Charlie's a big boy now, and YouTube has been growing up too. The site has evolved into a full-fledged social media platform, and entertainment companies and other businesses have begun to take note. "In a world of short attention spans, text is no longer enough," said Phil Starkovich, president of Sincell.

Mobile CRM Gets Gamified October 02, 2012 CRM is a mature software category with a decades-plus history of development and evolution. Still, one important problem remains unsolved: A lot of employees, especially sales staff, just can't be bothered with it. Corporate "solutions" have ranged from bribing to arm-twisting to appeals to corporate loyalty. None, though, have worked so well as building gamification features into the system.

New-Fangled Bicycle Helmets: Not Just Brain Buckets Anymore September 21, 2012 There is no denying that serious cyclists adopt some very specific forms of fashion. The jerseys and shorts are tight-fitting to reduce drag, gloves are worn both to provide padding while gripping the handlebars and to protect hands during a crash, and shoes are a fashion statement all of their own. But one piece of equipment has become somewhat ubiquitous: the helmet.

The Perplexing Carbon Fiber Repurposing Problem September 18, 2012 Today nearly all professional road cyclists have one thing in common: They almost all ride bikes with carbon fiber frames. This space-age material, which is one of the most popular composites in the sporting goods industry, has many features that it make it a popular choice. Carbon fiber, which at its most basic form is carbon graphite, will last virtually forever.

Mobile CRM's Golden B2B Side September 18, 2012 Without a doubt, mobile CRM has become a must-have deployment in the B2C world. Expect that trend to move into the B2B community for similar reasons: The devices are becoming ever more equipped to serve multiple needs, and their uses can soothe a lot of pain points. B2B, more so than B2C, is highly sensitive to screen size and quality.

Your New 2nd Car Could Be an E-Bike September 14, 2012 Interbike, the largest bicycle trade show in North America, remains very much about pedal power, but in addition to the high-end Tour de France-worthy road bikes, go-over-anything mountain bikes, and hipster- and messenger-friendly fixed gear bicycles, there are those that are juiced up with electric motors and batteries.

Holding Your Community Together During a Disaster September 11, 2012 The fires raging across western U.S. states this summer, at times plowing through residences and other structures, might have gotten you thinking: "What if?" That is, what if one of my buildings were destroyed in the 44-square mile California Pondorosa fire in August, which leveled more than 80 structures?

Mobile CRM's Tricky Back End September 11, 2012 Want to extend your company's CRM presence in the mobile world easily and effortlessly? Vendors are lining up to help -- at least with the first part of that sentence. Sales, service and marketing are all categories in which vendors are actively rolling out products aimed at the mobile space. Whether their deployment, though, is "easy and effortless" is an open question.

Mobile CRM: Cost Center or Profit Maker? Part 2 August 28, 2012 Buried in a recent J.D. Power and Associates 2012 U.S. Credit Card Satisfaction study -- which showed consumers' satisfaction with credit cards was at a six-year high -- was this very telling factoid: Only 7 percent of credit card customers use their mobile phones to complete transactions, up from 4 percent in 2011.

No Signal? No Problem - Sat Gadgets Keep You Connected Anywhere, Any Time August 24, 2012 For years, satellite communications devices like satphones and data terminals have been out of reach of the average consumer. Access to voice calls and Internet in remote locales, where mobile phone networks are unavailable, have only been possible for military, media, mining, government and other deep-pocketed sectors. Those satellites, after all, are expensive.

35 Years Later, Earth Finally Returns ET's Phone Call August 22, 2012 Just after 11 p.m. on Aug. 15, 1977, while pointing toward the constellation Sagittarius, Ohio State University's Big Ear radio telescope picked up a mysterious transmission that would very soon make history. For 72 seconds, the Big Ear was able to listen to that signal, which has since come to be known as the "Wow! Signal."

Making Business Sites Work Hand in Glove With Social Media August 22, 2012 It's not enough to have just a website, or just social media profiles. Businesses need to have both, and the traffic needs to flow seamlessly between them. Numerica Credit Union was looking for a way to offer customers a useful tool on its Facebook page while driving traffic from Facebook to its site. When Shastic offered it a chance to test drive Calcubot, the credit union jumped on the opportunity.

Making Linux Work August 21, 2012 The fear of failure factor is one reason why potential newcomers to the Linux operating system never complete the switch. After all, when was the last time you saw a sign in a big-box computer store identifying the aisle labeled "Linux Loaded?" Most desktops and laptops come out of the box with Microsoft Windows preinstalled.

Mobile CRM: Cost Center or Profit Maker? Part 1 August 21, 2012 Jeff Hasen, Hipcricket's CMO, recently had what he called his "10 millionth" bad customer experience with Comcast. It's galling enough to be treated poorly by a company when you buy just about all of its services, as Hasen does with Comcast. Worse, though, is when you are a mobile CRM expert, as Hasen is, and can so plainly see how easy it would be for Comcast to lighten some of its customers' suffering.

A Moveable Feast: Making Sites Mobile-Friendly August 17, 2012 A few years ago, Dave Getty and his wife went on a road trip through Texas. They didn't bring a laptop, so they relied solely on their smartphones to surf the Web. They quickly realized how important it is for sites to be mobile-friendly. "It was an eye-opening experience," said Getty, a spokesperson for One World Hosting.

Tech Tools to Ease the Strain of the Nomadic Life August 15, 2012 Ah, the nomadic life. Nothing beats a handshake and the pressing of flesh in business. Yet a life on the road takes its toll -- but that may be changing. There's a great anecdote about the musician who spent so much time on the road, traveling from town to town, that rather than attempt to make his hotel room homey as he traveled the country, he had his bedroom at home decorated like a motel room.

Why Ham Radio Is Still Handy August 08, 2012 The tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, and Hurricane Katrina in 2005 highlighted two phenomena common in disasters: Network communications tower sites were destroyed, and network traffic overwhelmed systems. Power failures cut off the Internet, and in New York, debris raining down onto ground-based infrastructure destroyed much of any communications left.

Who Loves Hadoop? August 07, 2012 Mention big data and the first thing that might come to mind is Hadoop. The open source software framework has recently enjoyed a great deal of popularity among vendors and enterprise users. However, if it is to really be useful to the enterprise, Hadoop may need to be taken out of open source, argues Brian Christian, chief technology officer of Zettaset.

The Rise of Corporate Blogging August 03, 2012 When Google withdrew from China, it didn't send out a press release or hold a press conference. Instead, it announced the news on its corporate blog. This move proved to be a "milestone event for corporate blogging," said Lou Hoffman, CEO of The Hoffman Agency. "Even though the Google corporate blog mainly covers Google-centric issues, they offer fresh takes and stay away from cheerleading."