Google Introduces Search Engine Apps : Springboard

Springboard is designed and marketed towards business and enterprise users of Google’s productivity apps — particularly those that have to regularly sort and search through large numbers of documents and files.

Within the same announcement Google also announce a significant upgrade to Google Sites, which is a tool designed by the company for creating web pages. The update will allow users to easily pull in information from other Google apps, and features all fully responsive designs for all of its layouts.

Both Springboard and the upgrade to Sites are currently being tested amongst a select group of users in Google’s early adopter program. If you’re interested in getting an early look at Springboard you can sign up here. An official public release date was not mentioned in the announcement.

Step-by-Step guide to Facebook Conversion Tracking

Step 1: Once you log in to your ‘Ads Manager’ tab, click on the Conversion Tracking button on the left side bar.

Step 2: Then click on the ‘Create Conversion Pixel’ tab to begin the process.

Step 3: You will be directed to this pop-up, which will ask you for a:

1. Name: An appropriate name will help you remember what you are tracking. (Example: Lead Generation – GATE Ad)

2. Category: This will help you decide the type of action that you want to track on your site. You can choose from the following:

1. Checkouts

2. Registrations

3. Leads

4. Key Page Views

5. Adds to Cart

6. Other Website Conversions

(For the purpose of this example, we have selected ‘Leads’).

Step 4: You will be able to see a pop-up window with a JavaScript code. This is the code that you will have to add to the page where the conversion will happen. This will let you track the conversions back to ads which you are running on Facebook.

The code should be placed on the page that a user will finally see when the transaction is complete.

Here is the tricky part. The code should not go on all pages. For that matter, it should not even go to the landing page of your product. The code should be placed on the page that a user will finally see when the transaction is complete.

For Example: If you want to track when students register for your GATE coaching, paste the code on the registration confirmation page/thank you page and not on the form that they need to submit.

How do you confirm that your conversion is working properly?

1. Check that the javascript snippet has been placed on the correct conversion page. Visit the page where the pixel has been embedded, right click and go to ‘View Page Source’ to find the pixel. The code should have the tag of the HTML. See image below.

2. Check that Facebook is receiving the conversion events from your website. Go to the conversion tracking tab in your Ads Manager account. There you will see a list of the conversion tracking pixels that you have created. If the conversion tracking pixel has been successfully implemented and a conversion event has been recorded, it will be reflected in the Pixel Status column. If the status shows active, it means that the page which contains the pixel has been viewed by users. If it shows inactive, it means that over the last 24 hours, the page with the pixel has not been viewed.

3.Later, when you  create your Facebook ad , you need to check the track conversions box under the campaign, pricing and schedule tab to enable tracking.

vela vela song Lyrics from Velayudham

ada vela vela vela vela velayudham
nee otha paarva partha podhum nooraayudham

coming down town, coming to the sea
he is the man like shiny bee
breaking to the barriers …..
gonna come and carry us
don shout out
come get some
you cant get down, he is velayutham

ada vela vela vela vela velayutham
nee otha paarva partha podhum nooraayudham

chillax chillax song Lyrics From Velayutham

Image via Wikipedia

chillax chillax chillax chillax chillax..
chillax chillax chillax chillax chillax..

manjanathi marathu katta
maiya vechi mayaki puta
naatu katta townu katta
rendum kalandha semma katta
kaiyu rendum urutu katta
kannu rendum vetta vetta
nenjukulla ratham sotta
eduku vara kitta..

sooriyane thevaiyille vithudalama
rathiriya inga mattum inga vachukalama
thirupachi meesaiyile sikkikalama
neeyachu naanachu paathukalama

manjanathi marathu katta
maiya vechi mayaki puta
naatu katta townu katta
rendum kalandha semma katta
kaiyu rendum urutu katta
kannu rendum vetta vetta
nenjukulla ratham sotta
eduku vara kitta..

dheem dheem thananam dheem dheem thananam
ah ah..ahhaaa..ah ah ahhaa

en odhattu sayathula
ottikolla vaada ulla
patthu veral theekuchiya
pattha veika vaadi pulla
kattabomma peran ne katthi meesa veeran
muthan vechu kuthi kollu sethu poren
mayavi tha neeyum inga mayangiputta nanum
athangara moginiyum vaa nee enna katti pudikka

chillax chillax chillax chillax chillax
chillax chillax chillax chillax chillax
chillax chillax chillax chillax chillax
chillax chillax chillax chillax chillax
chilllllaaaaa….x chillax baby

en odambu panju metha
kitta vandhu kaatu vitha
un iduppu vaazha maata
naa pudicha thaanga maata
sandhu pondhu veedu nee vanthu vilayadu
patta vaanga thevaiyilla kotta podu
vetiya na sethu un marapula korthu
ennanamo pannuriye nenjukitta ketta kanava (ketta kanavu..)

chillax chillax chilla chilla chillax
chillax chillax chilla chilla chillax

manjanathi marathu katta
maiya vechi mayaki puta
naatu katta townu katta
rendum kalandha semma katta
kaiyu rendum urutu katta
kannu rendum vetta vetta
nenjukulla ratham sotta
eduku vara kitta..

sooriyane thevaiyille vithudalama
rathiriya inga mattum inga vachukalama
thirupachi meesaiyile sikkikalama
neeyachu naanachu paathukalama
chillax chillax chillax chillax chillax..
chillax chillax chillax chillax chillax..
chillax chillax chillax chillax chillax..
chillax chillax chillax chillax chillax..
chillax chillax chillax

Add New Twitter Share Button In Your WordPress Blog

Image via CrunchBase

Hi Friends, Recently Twitter has released new twitter share buttons to share stories on twitter like Tweetmeme , So I have integrate it in my wordpress blog via using sharethis service. Today I got one mail by shrethis that they are providing twitter button services, So I have checked their tutorials and integrated twitter tweet button in my blog, You can see that button in this post top in social networking icons area in center. So I thought that It would be good if I share this on my site, So this can help anyone.

First you have to register with sharethis  . After register just login to get your unique publisher key. When you logged in sharethis you will see your unique publisher key at right side top. Just copy it because we need to enter this publisher key to show twitter button. Now below is the code by which you can show new twitter tweet buttons on your website.

<span></span>
<span></span>

// <!–[CDATA[–>
javascript” src=”http://wd.sharethis.com/button/buttons.js”&gt;
// ]]>
<script type=”text/javascript”>
stLight.publisher=”123456″;
</script>

Now as you see in the above code, green part is for facebook  count button, means If you want to show facebook count also then you should have green part else you can remove it. Now number in RED, Just replace it with your publisher key which you got after logged into sharethis.Save your file and enjoy new twitter tweet button.

Let me know if you have any problem with this, I can try to solve it out.

Related Articles

• ShareThis Adds Social Media Analytics (marketingpilgrim.com)
• ShareThis Starts Measuring Social Reach, Facebook And Twitter Account For Nearly Half (techcrunch.com)
• TweetMeme shifts to DataShift as Twitter launches official Tweet button (techvibes.com)
• 7 Easy Ways to Add the Official Twitter Button to Your WordPress Blog (pressography.com)
• Twitter Partners Up With TweetMeme to Offer Tweet Button (readwriteweb.com)
• Best Way to Tweet Pages without Twitter Buttons on Any Browser (quickonlinetips.com)

Vodafone says already launched App Stores in India

With its competitors announcing big plans for App Stores initiative, Vodafone Essar claims that it has already launched its App Stores in India on February 15, 2010.

Branded as Vodafone Mobile Applications Store, the operator claims to have clocked over 10,000 downloads from these App Stores. Presently it offers over 800 applications covering entertainment, utility, finance, social networking, games.

The company has categorized its Apps as Newest Apps, Top Apps and Just for You Apps offering customized set of applications as per consumer’s preference with ‘tabbed browsing’. A search engine simplifies the the process of locating the right Apps for users.

Users keen to avail the App Stores can send a SMS to APP to 111 (toll free) and also access the store through the portal Vodafone live! by clicking a link on the home page. Over 15% of applications are available free of charge while the majority of paid applications are priced in the range of Rs. 5 to Rs. 30. Kumar Ramanathan, Chief Marketing Officer, Vodafone Essar said,

“We are delighted to launch the Vodafone Mobile application store which combines an array of facilities for our customers including easy access to information, utilities and entertainment. The mobile applications are affordable and a significant step forward in the growth of mobile data and the future of Mobile internet in India.”

The new business initiative has been launched in partnership with digital content player, Arvato Mobile.

BSNL rolls out India’s first urban mobile WiMAX service

BSNL today commercially launched the country’s first mobile broadband fourth generation Internet access network–Mobile WiMAX in Kerala.

Union minister of state for Agriculture and Consumer Affairs K V Thomas, launched the facility at a function here today.

BSNL is also the first operator in the country to launch the service, for which technology has been provided by AVIAT, formerly Harris Stratex.

WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) technology, can provide a speed of up to 37 mbps. It is being deployed in Kerala with 900 BTS (Base Transmitting Stations) to cover the entire state, Principal General Manager, BSNL, Ernakulam, E M Abraham said.

In the first phase, 450 BTS would be set up to cover all major cities, district headquarters and important towns at a project cost of about Rs 100 crore.

In the second phase, another 450 BTS would be commissioned to cover the remaining towns.

The technology will provide access to broadband at a cost performance ratio that is far better than any other technology, he said.

It provides features like high speed broad band connectivity anywhere, anytime for devices like Desktop, Laptop on wireless.

It has two tariff plans – Home Plan with a fixed monthly charge of Rs 999 while the Business plan is Rs 1,999 for a band width 512 to 2 mbps.

Open Source and usability: Joomla vs. WordPress

“If Joomla! is Linux, then WordPress is Mac OS X. WordPress might offer only 90% of the features of Joomla!, but in most cases WordPress is both easier to use and faster to get up and running.”

Over the course of the last few years, I’ve been in charge of putting up a number of websites for various companies, often as favors for friends. In most cases, I’ve ended up using one out of two solutions: Joomla! andWordPress. While both of these projects have evolved greatly over the last few years, they are vastly different. Joomla! has always been intended as a ‘fit-all-your-possible-needs’-kind of CMS solution, while WordPress was developed as a blog with CMS capabilities. Recently WordPress has opened up to allow its users to set up a site with static-only material (with the option of a blog-page), without having to hack the code. Hence it’s one step closer to being a direct competitor to Joomla!.

Joomla Control Panel

Wordpress DashBoard

I will probably step on a few peoples feelings here, but I will argue that Joomla! is an example of a poorly managed open source project and that WordPress is a very successfully managed one. Certainly I don’t mean that Joomla! is a useless piece of junk, but that the lead developers have quite a bit to learn from WordPress. The main thing that Joomla! is vastly behind on is usability. While it is true that Joomla! 1.5 is a step in the right direction, it is still light years behind WordPress. Let me illustrate with two examples of common tasks.

Example 1: Create a blog-post with an image

Joomla!

From the ‘Control Panel,’ click ‘Add New Article.’

1. There are two image buttons. If you use the wrong one, you won’t be able to upload an image (as you will only browse the existing images). You must use the one below the text field.
2. Select a ‘Title,’ the right ‘Section’, and then the right ‘Category.’
3. Write the content and save.

WordPress

1. Select QuickPress in the Dashboard.
2. Click on the image icon and upload the image.
3. Select title, write your content and press publish.

'Add New Article' in Joomla!

'Add New Page in WordPress

Example 2: Create a static page accessible from the menu

Joomla!

1. From the ‘Control Panel,’ click ‘Add New Article.’
2. Select a ‘Title,’ the right ‘Section’, and then the right ‘Category.’
3. Write the content and save it.
4. From the top-menu, select ‘Menu’ and ‘Main Menu’ (assuming you want to add it to the main menu.)
5. Click ‘New.’
6. Select ‘Internal link,’ and ‘Articles,’ and then finally ‘Article Layout.’
7. Fill in the title of the object as well as the parent item.
8. In the column to the right, you now need to browse your list of articles and select the desired article.
9. Press ‘Save.’

WordPress

1. From the Dashboard, click ‘Pages.’
2. Select ‘Add New.’
3. Fill in the title and contents.
4. Select the parent item (if other than root.)
5. Click ‘Publish.’

'Add New Article'in Joomla!

'Add New Page' in WordPress

Let’s step back for a minute and imagine the following scenario: you’re in charge of putting up a website for a company. They might want to put up about 10 or so pages with various information. According to my experience this is a pretty common situation. You can do this with either Joomla! or WordPress – both are fully capable of delivering this. Assuming you’re going to buy a template to solve the design issue, it will probably take you about an hour with either of the software to get to the first draft (assuming you’ve been working with them in the past.) So far so good. This is where they start to differ. With WordPress you’re pretty much done by now. However, with Joomla!, you’ll probably have to spend another hour or two just trying to re-organize the different modules to fit the template you bought (in many cases, just to get the basics to work.) Next you will end up spending even more time trying to figure out how to re-organize the different menus. You need to link up a particular document to a particular menu-entry (as illustrated above.) If you want a blog-feed, you need to set up a dedicated section or category (I still don’t really know the difference between the two.) Moreover, you need to select the ‘style’ of blog you want.

'New menu item' in Joomla!

'Modules' in Joomla!

Let’s say you managed to figure all of that out and that you got the site ready. Now it’s time to hand over the site to the customer. There will obviously be some training involved, and here’s another crucial difference between Joomla! and WordPress. Training someone to learn WordPress takes (in my experience) less than 30 minutes, and they truly understand it. Training someone to use Joomla! takes at least an hour, and they still don’t really understand it.

Again, I’m not saying that Joomla! is useless, it’s that WordPress is a more intuitive piece of software. Let me throw an analogy out there that will probably help you better understand my point. If Joomla! is Linux, then WordPress is Mac OS X. WordPress might offer only 90% of the features of Joomla!, but in most cases WordPress is both easier to use and faster to get up and running. I use and love Linux, it just doesn’t have that elegant touch to Mac OS X does.

To Joomla!’s defense, there are at least two scenarios I can think of where Joomla! is a better fit than WordPress. The first one would be eCommerce. If you install VirtueMart on Joomla! you can be up running with an eCommerce site pretty quickly. However, the problem is that it does not feel like it is a part of Joomla!, but rather as a 3rd party module that works in Joomla! (which is pretty much what it is.) The second one would be a site where you need to have multiple levels of permissions (ie. an extranet). WordPress only offers three levels of permission (public, private, and password protected), while Joomla! is much more flexible.

'Global Configuration'in Joomla!

'General Settings' in WordPress

Joomla! is not doomed. It just has a long way to go when it comes to usability. WordPress has really been developed by the KISS-principle, while Joomla! appears to have been developed to solve every problem on Earth (by engineers, for engineers). Going back to the two problems I mentioned above, where Joomla! beats WordPress. I think it would actually be less of a challenge to add support for eCommerce and more permission levels to WordPress, than it would be to improve the usability in Joomla! to reach WordPress’ level.

Just as a side note, a quick line-count on the latest versions of both software reveals that Joomla 1.5.9 has 350,975 lines of codes, while WordPress 2.7.1 has a mere 159,682 (might not be completely accurate, but that’s what ‘wc -l’ said). Hence, even if WordPress only offers 70% of the features of Joomla!, which I am pretty sure it does, their code is written much more efficiently.

New Service Announcement — Expedited Emergency Website Restoration Services.

As website hacking has become rampant on the internet, 911websiterepair created this premium expedited service to restore and repair crashed websites immediately. There is nothing worse for a website owner than to have his site down due to programmatic issues or worse yet, a hacking. Down time not only results in monetary losses, but can affect short term search engine ranking and site traffic. Where other companies need to provide a quote, 911websiterepair offers the premium service for a flat fee, thus reducing the time it takes to get the customers sites restored and back online.

We have all heard clients say “Fix my crashed website now!“ 911websiterepair.com will “Drop Everything” and restore a website on an expedited emergency basis, but this service does have a cost differential, justified by the needs of your emergency to have the work performed immediately.

Recent customer, Brian Smith of North Haven Ct. referred to the Restore-My-Site service as the “I NEED IT NOW” service. Brian stated, “The cost of the service easily outweighed the cost of the site being unavailable. As a “do-it-yourself” webmaster with limited skills, the 911 Restore-My-Site service saved me time and money!”

Microsoft wants Israeli startup 3DV Systems

Emil Protalinski

• Microsoft releases beta tool for fighting DoS attacks
• Internet Explorer 8 to RTM in March 2009?
• Silverlight to power 2009 NCAA hoops tourney
• Microsoft: no change to custom support prices this year

Reuters today pointed to Hebrew-language website TheMarker.com, which reported that Microsoft was currently in talks to buy Israeli startup 3DV Systems, a specialist in three-dimensional video imaging, for $35 million. Other tech websites pointed to Haaretz.com, Israel’s oldest daily newspaper, for the same scoop. Although 3DV Chief Executive Zvika Klier declined to comment, it should be noted that 3DV has so far raised about $38 million in private funding.

3DV Systems develops virtual reality imaging technology for digital cameras that it sells, called ZCams (formerly Z-Sense), which can follow body movements and allow people to control an electronic device with body motions, similar to PlayStation’s EyeToy, Microsoft’s Vision, or Nintendo’s Wii. (We played with a ZCam at CES 2008). 3DV’s main target is the gaming market, which means Microsoft is presumably hoping to use the technology in its Xbox line. 3DV argues that its system is superior because the user does not need to wear special gear to use a ZCam.

The camera’s user-tracking capabilities can also be useful in video-conferencing. For example, the user can project a presentation behind them as a background, or paste in a picture of the office to hide the fact that they are working from home. That could mean added bells and whistles for Microsoft’s RoundTable if it acquires 3DV. Finally, in the automotive industry, the technology can be used for triggering safe deployment of airbags, detecting driver fatigue, and warning about potential collisions. It’s quite possible that Microsoft is also considering using 3DV for improvements in the safety features in Ford Sync, a technology Microsoft helped Ford to develop.

Nvidia Shows Off Android with Tegra

Nvidia worked closely with Open Handset Alliance and came up with new Tegra APX 2600 processor running Android OS at the ongoing Mobile World Congress (MWC). These Tegra APX 2600 application processors are capable of HD video playback from 720p to 1080p.

Aimed at the Android based device development, Nvidia believes that Android sales will surpass Windows Mobile sales by 2012. Hence by working closely with Android, Nvidia’s Tegra APX 2600 chipset promises high-definition video playback, low power consumption and better looking interface. Thus, Nvidia is pushing Android OS with its Tegra APX processors for the portable/mobile devices platform.

In addition to its Tegra APX 2600 applications processors, Nvidia also hinted about two mysteriously named phones S2 and Yulong N8 expected in Q3 and Q4 of this year respectively.

At the MWC, Nvidia showed off the prowess of Tegra APX 2600 chipset on a prototype device that flaunted a 1080p HD video playback. Check the demo of what Tegra APX processors are capable of here.

The Tegra APX 2600 chipset isn’t just for mobile phones; it will be usable in Mobile Internet Devices, Portable Navigation Devices, and Portable Media Players. Doesn’t this remind of what the Creative Zii platform can do? Well it surely does.

So what can users expect from Tegra APX chips? Well, one can expect more handheld devices with HD video playback capabilities and longer battery life. Hopefully, by the end of the year, we’ll get to see working handheld devices spruced with Nvidia’s Tegra APX application processor.

Microsoft Offers $250,000 Bounty For Worm Authors

Beset by malicious worms after failing to convince enough server administrators to take its out-of-band Security Bulletin, MS08-067, seriously, Microsoft is taking computer security to the streets: It has formed a cybersecurity posse to dismantle the Conficker/Downadup worm’s infrastructure and has offered a $250,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the outbreak.Microsoft warned last October that a vulnerability in its Server service could be exploited by a worm. Cybercriminals heard that warning and made the threat real, infecting as many as 9 million computers by mid-January. At that time, Qualys CTO Wolfgang Kandek estimated that between 25% and 30% of vulnerable systems remained unpatched.

And the problem continues more or less unabated today. Symantec said in the past five days it has seen an average of almost 500,000 infections per day with W32.Downadup.A and more than 1.7 million infections per day with W32.Downadup.B.Jose Nazario, manager of security research for Arbor Networks, in a blog post on Thursday, called Conficker/Downadup a “savage Windows worm.”

The total number of machines infected at any given time varies as a consequence of disinfection efforts. But rest assured that the number represents a very large botnet.

So it is that on Thursday, Microsoft announced a partnership with technology companies, academic organizations, and Internet infrastructure companies to fight the worm in the wild. Its partners in this worm hunt include ICANN, Neustar, VeriSign, CNNIC, Afilias, Public Internet Registry, Global Domains International, M1D Global, AOL, Symantec, F-Secure, ISC, researchers from Georgia Tech, Shadowserver Foundation, Arbor Networks, and Support Intelligence.

Together, the coalition is working to seize Internet domains associated with the worm.

“The best way to defeat potential botnets like Conficker/Downadup is by the security and domain name system communities working together,” said Greg Rattray, ICANN’s chief Internet security adviser, in a statement. “ICANN represents a community that’s all about coordinating those kinds of efforts to keep the Internet globally secure and stable.”

In a phone interview, Kevin Haley, director of security response at Symantec (NSDQ: SYMC), said that there had been a lot of independent efforts to deal with the worm. The time was right, he said, to tackle it as a community.

According to Symantec, researchers have reverse-engineered the algorithm used to generate a daily list of 250 domains that the worm depends on to download updates. Armed with that knowledge, the coalition is taking control of the domains registered through coalition partners and using them to log and track infected systems. The group also is investigating domains overseen by registrars that aren’t part of the coalition, though it’s not clear how much leverage can be applied in such cases.

The worm won’t be entirely stopped by such tactics; it also includes a peer-to-peer update mechanism. But it’s a start.

Perhaps in recognition of the difficulty of getting help from registrars outside the coalition, particularly in countries with a tradition of tolerance for cybercrime, Microsoft said that residents of any country are eligible for its $250,000 reward. In many parts of the world, that kind of money will buy just about anything.

The last time the security community acted in unison like this was during the spring and summer of 2008, when several dozen companies and organizations came together to deal with the DNS vulnerability identified by security researcher Dan Kaminsky. But that was a bug fix rather than a worm-hunting posse.

Haley doesn’t expect this sort of community policing of the Internet to happen more frequently, nor would he rule out further actions of this sort. “The groups that stepped in filled a void,” he said. “As long as this is effective, we’ll continue to look for opportunities.”

App Store tally: 20,000 apps in seven months

iPhone and iPod touch users looking to download software from Apple’s App Store now have 20,000 programs to choose from—at least according to one Web site’s count.\ 

Apptism, an iPhone app activity aggregator, says that the 20,000th iPhone app was added to the store some time on Tuesday. Rob Libbey of apptism says his site monitors the App Store hourly and constantly updates the total number of apps available. As this article was posted, apptism’s tracker had already topped 20,150 apps.

 

If apptism’s count is accurate—when contacted for comment, Apple declined to confirm the number of apps available for download—it would mean that 5,000 new programs had arrived on the App Store in less than a month. After all, it was only January 16, when Apple officially announced that it had topped the 15,000 app mark.

Then again, a 5,000 app influx isn’t outside the realm of possibility. On December 5, Apple announced that there were 10,000 apps in the store—meaning it took the company a little more than a month to add the 5,000 apps needed to reach the Apple-confirmed 15,000 mark.

That’s a lot of gas-passing simulators and novelty noisemaker apps.

No matter how many apps are in the store officially, the App Store has seen booming business since it came online nearly seven months ago. The store opened its virtual doors on July 11, 2008, with just 500 apps.

IBM stakes its claim in the cloud with Cloud Labs

First, a mea culpa. Last night I commented on Gordon Haff’s analysis of the Tivoli announcements from IBM Pulse, their big service management conference in Las Vegas this week. I wrote the bulk of that post much earlier in the day, and stand by its contents as it applies to those specific items. However, I should have looked one more time at my Google Reader, as there was much, much more to the IBM announcement. This post is a review of that announcement as a whole.

Oh, and all comments on any of my posts are my own opinion. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions or positions of my employer, Cisco Systems.

IBM greatly strengthened their position in the world of cloud computing this week. What IBM announced, if you haven’t seen it already, is a laundry list of product and service enhancements and extensions aimed at meeting the needs of cloud computing customers. Most of the announcement was more of the same point products and global services offerings we have come to know and love from IBM, and I commented on them last night.

The heart of the announcement, however, was a partnership with Juniper Networks to “demonstrate how a hybrid cloud could allow enterprises to seamlessly extend their private clouds to remote servers in a secure public cloud…” This is the announcement I have been looking for from IBM.

About six months ago, I ruminated to some friends that I thought the industry was waiting for three companies to clearly state their cloud value proposition: IBM, HP and Cisco. I joined one (Cisco), interested in the opportunity to help drive that message. I have to give credit where credit is due, however, as IBM is the first of the three to answer the question “company + cloud = ?”. The “?” is clearly their Cloud Labs and the hybrid cloud services they are poised to offer from those data centers.

Here’s the deal: According to the IBM press release, they wanted to announce four key items related to cloud computing:

• Elizabeth Arden, Nexxera, The United States Golf Association, and Indigo Bio Systems sign on as new IBM cloud computing clients; TOTVS expands cloud project with IBM
• Global Services to offer data protection software “as a service” through the cloud, in addition to a new IBM cloud environment for businesses to safely test applications
• New IBM software manages and secures cloud computing environments
• IBM showcases the first live demonstration of a global “overflow cloud”–IBM and Juniper Networks to install hybrid cloud capabilities across IBM’s worldwide Cloud Labs for customer engagements

That last bullet should catch your eye. Later in the release, IBM states:

IBM and Juniper Networks will demonstrate how a hybrid cloud could allow enterprises to seamlessly extend their private clouds to remote servers in a secure public cloud, as high priority applications are given preference over the lower priority ones when resources become constrained. IBM and Juniper are installing this network capability into IBM’s nine world wide Cloud Labs for customer engagements. Once installed, IBM and Juniper could seamlessly roll client workloads from Beijing to Silicon Valley to Sao Paulo to ensure that clients never miss a service level agreement.

IBM’s staked territory in cloud computing is their own global cloud offering, but with a twist: true cloudbursting not only between their own Cloud Labs, but between the customer’s data center and a Cloud Lab. They won’t be the only ones to do this by any means–Amazon has been rumored for some time to be talking to customers about how to do this with their cloud services, and VMWare made a point of expressing this capability in their vCloud announcement last year–but IBM demoed the concept, which means they have some real technology behind the vision.

(VMWare vCloud partner, Skytap, has claimed support for hybrid clouds based on VMWare virtual machines since at least last September, so I’m not sure if IBM gave the first public demo of this concept or not.)

At the same time, the services have not yet been delivered to the nine targeted Cloud Lab locations, so this is still pretty much a “vision announcement”. No time frame was given for actual availability of the hybrid services, but I would assume that more than 12 months from now would be too long.

Unfortunately, I think the Tivoli and Global Services portions of the press release are more of the same from IBM, as I noted in last night’s post. I continue to harbor the criticism that you can’t just buy IBM SKUs item by item; if you want Tivoli Provisioning Manager, you pretty much have to get Global Services involved to install and configure it, and probably need a variety of other Tivoli management products and Global Services offerings to make the purchase really worth while.

I called this IBM-as-a-Service…that is definitely still the MO with all of the announcements. With IBM, you are either an IBM shop, or by buying one of their data center (or cloud) products, you will be one some day…whether you wish it or not.

I am curious to see if a partner ecosystem evolves around this technology, and if IBM makes it available to other hosting providers trying to push into cloud computing. If this remains IBM’s “turf”, then there is a lot of opportunity to pin the “cloud lock-in” tag on them. If they are generous and open with the technology, then IBM may just have firmly established themselves as one of the primary cloud infrastructure players.

U.S. concerned about Chinese blogger

WASHINGTON — Days before U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton heads to Asia on her first international trip, the State Department Tuesday voiced concern about an imprisoned Chinese blogger whose trial has been indefinitely delayed.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will raise concerns about China’s human rights record on her visit to China.

“We are disturbed that prominent Chinese human rights activist Huang Qi remains in detention,” acting deputy spokesman Gordon Duguid told CNN. “We call on the Chinese government to release Mr. Huang as soon as possible.”

Huang was detained last June after working working to help the families of children killed in the May 12, 2008, Sichuan earthquake because of the collapse of shoddily constructed school buildings, Duguid said. He was charged with illegal possession of state secrets after posting the appeals and complaints of the families online.

Huang’s trial was scheduled for February 3 but was indefinitely postponed a day before it was supposed to start.

Duguid says the United States has raised its concerns about the case several times with Chinese officials in Washington and Beijing and have requested permission to send an official to attend his trial.

In addition to releasing Huang, Duguid called on China to “ensure that all legal and administrative proceedings against him are conducted in a manner that is both transparent and consistent with Chinese law and international human rights norms.

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“Mr. Huang has consistently worked within China’s legal system to protect the rights of his fellow citizens,” Duguid said. “We believe these types of activities support China’s efforts to institute the rule of law.

The U.S. concern about Huang come in advance of Clinton’s visit to China next week, when acting spokesman Robert Wood said she will raise long-standing concerns about China’s poor human rights record.

“On this trip, human rights is going to be an important issue,” Wood said, but declined to give details about any specific cases Clinton would raise with Chinese officials.

The Obama administration is already facing criticism for not making good on its pledge to make human rights a priority, refusing to participate in a United Nations review of the human rights records of several major countries.

The U.N. Human Rights Council is reviewing the records of 16 countries with shoddy human rights records, including China and Indonesia — two countries Clinton will visit on her swing through Asia.

The State Department said Tuesday that U.S. officials are sitting in on the Geneva meetings and taking notes but are not taking part in the discussions, which has prompted criticism from Congress and human rights groups.

“I was shocked and disappointed to learn that for the last week, the U.S. delegation has been silent,” said Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Virginia, a leading advocate of human rights in Congress.

Wolf said the United States “is off to the wrong start on making human rights a priority,” adding he planned to write to Clinton to take a strong stand on the matter when she visits Beijing.

Wood promised that human rights remained a top priority but said that the administration was reviewing its stance toward the human rights council, which was criticized by the Bush administration as coddling countries which abused human rights while focusing on criticizing Israel.

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