jenniferleclaire.com » 2009

Salesforce.com Rolls Out the Service Cloud

January 16th, 2009

YouTube Mutes Copyrighted Music

In a move to balance the needs of music copyright holders and its content-generating users, YouTube on Wednesday said it’s offering more options to users who violate copyrights. The result is hundreds of videos without sound.The move seems to be in response to a Warner Music Group demand in December that YouTube cut off access to videos that contain Warner music. The demand came after negotiations on licensing agreements stalled.

At that time, YouTube warned users that they “may notice videos that contain music owned by Warner Music Group being blocked from the site.” YouTube is no longer threatening. It has moved to block the music content while trying to appease users. Many users, however, are up in arms about the change.

Click here to read the rest of my story on NewsFactor.

Add comment January 16th, 2009

IBM Remains Patent King, But U.S. Innovation Is Slipping

IBM is the undisputed patent king, with 4,186 U.S. patents in 2008. The numbers make Big Blue the first company ever to earn more than 4,000 U.S. patents in a single year. But U.S. firms may be giving ground to foreign competitors, according to a new study.IBM’s 2008 patent issuances are nearly triple those of Hewlett-Packard . Big Blue also outpaced Microsoft , Oracle, Apple, EMC, Accenture and Google combined. This is the 16th year IBM has led in U.S. patents.

According to Dr. John E. Kelly III, IBM senior vice president and director of IBM Research, the company’s strategic use of intellectual property is based on balancing proprietary and open innovation.

Click here to read the rest of my story on NewsFactor.

Add comment January 16th, 2009

Blockbuster Joins Forces with Sonic for Online Movies

In a move to compete with Amazon.com, Blockbuster on Wednesday announced a strategic alliance with Sonic Solutions to deliver a library of premium digital content across a variety of home-based and mobile electronic devices.Blockbuster will rely on its brand name to attract consumers while Sonic works behind the scenes to serve the content. By joining forces, the companies expect to have one of the largest video-on-demand and electronic sell-through offerings on the market.

Jim Keyes, Blockbuster chairman and CEO, said one of the goals of the alliance is to make movies instantly available to consumers through a wide range of devices.

To that end, the companies are collaborating with consumer electronic manufacturers, including Sonic’s existing CinemaNow providers, to make available a broader range of devices that work with Blockbuster’s service. Specifically, Blockbuster plans to deliver movies to PCs, portable media players, Blu-ray Disc players, personal video recorders, set-top boxes, mobile phones, and Web-connected television sets.

Click here to read the rest of my story on CIOToday.

Add comment January 16th, 2009

Microsoft Offers Unlimited Copies of Windows 7 Beta

fter being leaked to software pirate sites two weeks before its official debut, software developers and hard-core users who wanted an official copy of Windows 7 beta on Friday were disappointed when they discovered they’d have to wait another day.The Windows 7 beta download site was overloaded by would-be beta users hours before the launch. Microsoft delayed the launch to add additional infrastructure support to the Microsoft.com properties before it posted the public beta.

The Windows 7 beta download site has been up and running smoothly since Saturday morning. Microsoft apologized for the inconvenience and sought to make up for the delays by making the software more broadly available.

“We have clearly heard that many of you want to check out the Windows 7 beta and, as a result, we have decided to remove the initial 2.5 million limit on the public beta for the next two weeks (thru January 24th),” Brandon LeBlanc wrote on the Windows blog. “During that time you will have access to the beta even if the download number exceeds the 2.5 million unit limit.”

Click here to read the rest of my story on NewsFactor.

Add comment January 15th, 2009

Yahoo Names CEO with Strong Track Record

The wait for a Jerry Yang successor is over. Yahoo on Tuesday named Carol Bartz as the next CEO of the troubled Internet company.Bartz, 60, is a veteran technology executive. She most recently served as executive chairman of Autodesk and also served as CEO of Autodesk for 14 years, leading the company to become a powerhouse in computer-aided design software. During her tenure as Autodesk CEO, the company’s revenues climbed from less than $300 million to more than $1.5 billion and its share price increased nearly tenfold.

Bartz’s executive experience also includes hands-on responsibility for leading global operations, engineering, sales and marketing organizations for large technology and engineering companies, including Sun Microsystems, Digital Equipment, and 3M.

“There is no denying that Yahoo has faced enormous challenges over the last year, but I believe there is now an extraordinary opportunity to create value for our shareholders and new possibilities for our customers, partners and employees,” Bartz said. “We will seize that opportunity.”

Click here to read the rest of my story on CIOToday.

Add comment January 15th, 2009

Microsoft Fixes Three Bugs in First 2009 Patch Tuesday

Microsoft released critical fixes on Patch Tuesday for vulnerabilities that could leave the door open for worms that wreak havoc on business networks. In all, Microsoft released one security bulletin that addresses three vulnerabilities, two of them rated critical.”Both vulnerabilities rated as critical by Microsoft are server -side remote code-execution vulnerabilities in the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol,” said Alfred Huger, vice president of Symantec Security Response. “Remote attackers, even without a username and password, can take advantage of this issue and execute any commands they wish on the vulnerable server.”

Click here to read the rest of this story on NewsFactor.

Add comment January 15th, 2009

Archive for January, 2009

Salesforce.com Rolls Out the Service Cloud

YouTube Mutes Copyrighted Music

IBM Remains Patent King, But U.S. Innovation Is Slipping

Blockbuster Joins Forces with Sonic for Online Movies

Microsoft Offers Unlimited Copies of Windows 7 Beta

Yahoo Names CEO with Strong Track Record

Microsoft Fixes Three Bugs in First 2009 Patch Tuesday