Archive for October, 2009
Latitude One is pulling out all the stops in a tough commercial real estate market. Beyond leasing or owning office space in Birckell’s newest Class-A office building, you can now rent executive suites.
Latitude One truly offers a premiere business address. The building features 230,000 square feet of office space, distinguished by an elegant lobby and a wide spectrum of amenities like access to the Miami Riverwalk. With its executive suites, Latitude One will compete against the likes of Regus, Intelligent Office of Miami, 1000 Ponce, X Offices and Smart Space Miami.
aBetterOffice caught up with Karen Fish-Will, vice president of sales and marketing for Peabody Properties, the firm that represents Latitude One, to discuss why the developer chose the executive suites route and what differentiates these serviced offices in a crowded Miami office market.
Read the rest of my story on aBetterOffice.com.
October 30th, 2009
Not only is the Internet just turning 40 years old, it’s truly going global with new extensions that will someday make it possible for entire web-site addresses to be written in every language in the world. On Friday, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers agreed to introduce a number of internationalized domain names. IDNs allow scripts such as Chinese, Korean or Arabic to be used in the last portion of an address name — the part after the dot, such as dot-com and dot-org.
This is a significant milestone in the globalization of the Internet and comes after years of work. ICANN is predicting IDNs could lead to a dramatic increase in the number of global Internet users.
Read the rest of my story on NewsFactor.
October 30th, 2009
On Thursday, Amazon Payments rolled out a new feature that could stir up a new level of competition with PayPal and Google Checkout. Dubbed Amazon PayPhrase, the new service is a shortcut for paying on Amazon.com and other web sites.
Online shoppers can choose a customized phrase — such as Knick Knack, Home Sweet Home, or Jake’s Allowance — and then enter that phrase along with a PIN to quickly preview an order and complete a purchase. PayPhrase uses the preferred payment and shipping methods stored at Amazon.com and consumers don’t have to share sensitive payment information with multiple web sites.
Read the rest of my story on Sci-Tech Today.
October 30th, 2009
With the launch of Windows 7, Microsoft also rolled out a new world of software support. Ironically, installations of the software giant’s flagship operating system are going so smoothly that Microsoft may not be getting much response to its new service.
Traditional live support via the phone, e-mail and chat are still available, but Microsoft has added new resources. For example, there is support through Twitter, a library of software “fix its” that can help consumers solve problems with a single click, and other diagnostic and repair tools available through Windows 7 itself.
“Windows XP had little built-in support, and Windows Vista included some diagnostics to assess network connectivity issues,” said Lori Brownell, general manager of product quality and online support at Microsoft. “But Windows 7 truly reflects broad customer feedback that has enabled us to build a comprehensive set of resources that solve customers’ most pressing problems and even keep them ahead of potential problems.”
Read the rest of my story on NewsFactor.
October 29th, 2009
In a personal-navigation market that’s seeing increased competition, Google on Wednesday rolled out a free navigation system for Android-based smartphones. Google Maps Navigation is the next step in Google Maps for mobile.
With Google Maps Navigation, Google is competing with GPS navigation devices from the likes of TomTom and Garmin, as well as navigation platforms developed by wireless carriers like AT&T, Verizon and Sprint Nextel. The first smartphone with the new service will be the Motorola Droid from Verizon Wireless.
“This new feature comes with everything you’d expect to find in a GPS navigation system, like 3-D views, turn-by-turn voice guidance, and automatic rerouting,” said Google software engineer Keith Ito. “But unlike most navigation systems, Google Maps Navigation was built from the ground up to take advantage of your phone’s Internet connection.”
Read the rest of my story on TopTechNews.
October 29th, 2009
Regus isn’t the only serviced office giant forging strategic alliances. Avanta Managed Offices has inked a deal with ThinkGrid that aims to help businesses moving into serviced office space avoid a large capital investment in IT hardware and software.
ThinkGrid offers hosted business IT services from the cloud on an on-demand basis. That means businesses don’t have to make large up front investments in PCs, servers and supporting software licenses, or dedicate time and resource to managing IT. Customers only pay for what they use on a monthly rolling contract, they are also free to scale the number of users up and down, as well as adding and removing applications.
“Avanta serviced office centers are known for providing outstanding levels of customer service, and this new deal with ThinkGrid extends those levels even further,” says Geraint Evans, Avanta’s sales and marketing director. “Our business service package already includes 4 or 8Mb resilient Internet access and together with telecoms services, the deal with ThinkGrid now completes the menu of services available to Avanta customers.
Read the rest of my story on aBetterOffice.com.
October 28th, 2009
On the heels of a successful Windows 7 launch, Microsofton Friday announced revenue of $12.92 billion for the first quarter — a 14 percent decline from the same period a year ago. However, Microsoft beat the street’s expectations and the company’s stock soared.
Net income for the quarter was $3.57 billion, or 40 cents per share. That’s an 18 percent decline from the year-ago period. But Microsoft said the results reflect a deferral of $1.47 billion in revenue relating to the Windows 7 Upgrade Option program and sales of Windows 7 to OEMs and retailers before general availability. If added back in, Microsoft would have a four percent year-over-year decline in a tough economy.
Read the rest of my story on NewsFactor.
October 23rd, 2009
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