Software Pricing Has Changed - But Not All Vendors Know It Just Yet

The traditional commercial software license has, for a long time, come in two flavors. With the advent of Software-as-a-Service, licenses are changing for the better.

End-User License Agreement

There is the standard End-user License Agreement (EULA), also known as a shrink wrap license, which usually gave a consumer a perpetual license to use the product. The EULA usually includes restrictions on copying — typically a consumer could make one backup copy — and transferability of the license. It is intended to serve a single user on a single computer.

This licensing model is difficult to manage beyond a few users. Ensuring compliance with EULAs is a daunting task for IT administrators. It is also a difficult model to scale, either up or down. Administrators have to factor time to purchase new licenses — and sometimes media — when employees are brought on, but find they can’t easily relinquish them when those employees leave.  

Enterprise License Agreements

Then there are enterprise license agreements. These are driven by contracts that vary widely from company to company and vendor to vendor.

In general, an enterprise license agreement gives a company a number of licenses for a defined period of time, although that period may be forever. More often than not, a yearly maintenance fee covers support and upgrades but really is intended to provide an annuity to the vendor.

Administering licenses under these contracts can be complex, requiring that a minimum number of licenses be purchased or that IT forecast the number of licenses ahead of time. IT always runs the risk of predicting wrong with costly results. Periodic audits to ensure compliance with the terms of the contract are also burdensome.

SaaS Changes Licensing for the Better

With the move to Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), often referred to as cloud apps, software licensing has dramatically changed for the better, from the purchaser’s perspective. The most common model is the per-user, per-month subscription.

Unlike the other commercial licensing schemes, users are provisioned or deprovisioned immediately. The monthly subscriber model creates a tremendously elastic system where the number of licenses can fluctuate with the number of users. Monthly subscriber models and SaaS applications make it easy to scale up and down as needed.

The model also allows temporary users such as contractors and seasonal workers to use the same applications as others in the company without a long-term licensing commitment. The sheer flexibility of the model helps create a more flexible and agile environment.

Not only is the monthly subscriber model more flexible, it’s easier too. Licenses are managed automatically and there is no need to perform time-consuming and costly audits for compliance with licensing agreements. The cloud ISV takes responsibility for managing the license pool and billing accordingly.

Ultimately, this makes managing software licenses less costly and distracting with less legal risk.
A lot of the attention given to cloud computing focused on it as a way of turning the infrastructure CAPEX into a monthly OPEX. Another advantage that has been discussed at length is allowing IT to focus on the business of IT and get away from managing data centers. All of that makes sense, but the organizational agility created by the monthly subscriber model is also a major value of the cloud application model. 

Image courtesy of alexscopje (Shutterstock)

Editor's Note: To read more of Tom's thoughts, check out Social Task Management: A View of the Future

 

 

Source : cmswire[dot]com

NetShelter Introduces Earned Advertising Platform, Re-brands

InPowered, a service that helps brands with digital marketing, has launched its Earned Advertising Platform, a platform which allows users to create ad campaigns by themselves without having to work with InPowered professionals.

Inpowered was introduced last December as part of NetShelter, an advertising network. At that time, the cloud based InPowered platform was designed to make advertising easier for companies by curating and promoting favorable content from websites and blogs. It collected this information for the company and showed them how well their product and how well their competitors products were being received. In turn, marketers could use this information to tailor their ads appropriately to help influence consumer response.

What is Earned Advertising?

In a video promoting the product, President and Founder Pirouz Nilforoush said the company’s goal is to: help marketers leverage the trust of earned media in order to influence a broader sense of consumers.”

In using InPowered, companies will have be able to promote the positive aspects and most favorable reviews of their products. Companies will be able to create ads that don’t look like ads, but rather links to articles. They can then pick out what stories they think are the most favorable for a particular product and promote it over a social medium, such as Twitter or Facebook or through the NetShelter network.

This "earned advertising" allows businesses to positively promote their products and allows consumers to see what experts and industry professionals are saying about it — instead of merely relying on what the company’s marketing department is telling them. With the Inpowered system, users are then able to see charts and statistics on how this ‘earned advertising’ has influenced consumers.

Earned media is really a unique beast; it’s really the holy grail of marketing said Jeremiah Owyang, Partner and Industry Strategist for Altimeter Group “because earned media is the most trusted source of information people have between each other and therefore it resonates the most.”

inPowered Video from erica forte on Vimeo.

What’s in a Name?

Along with the launch of the Earned Advertising platform, it’s been also announced that NetShelter will re-brand themselves with a focus on Inpowered and what it offers users. They will now be called Inpowered Inc., but NetShelter isn't disappearing. It's being incorporated into the Inpowered Inc. parent company to be used along side the Inpowered platform.

 

 

Source : cmswire[dot]com

This Week: The ROI on Collaboration + Social Media for Customer Support

Selling & Supporting Via Social Media
Social Media can be used by more than the marketing team. Social is a key avenue for customer service and it is an important tool for sales representatives.

Incorporating built-in customer support in your mobile apps can turn negative reviews and comments into positive ones, leading to happier customers and broader adoption.

Patterns for Successful Collaboration
Check out these 12 strategies for successful collaboration and dive into how to best determine ROI on your collaborative technologies.

Strategic SharePoint
In preparation for the SharePoint 2012 Conference this month, we bring you Work, Play, Tablet, PC: Welcome to the New Microsoft and SharePoint Deployments Increase Despite Rising Costs, Staff Shortages. Watch for our special coverage of the event.

Analyst Report: Why Customer Experience is the New Marketing
Understand the present imperatives of Customer Experience Management and the new role of Web Content Management.
> Download the Report Here

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Source : cmswire[dot]com

Attunity's Cloud Service for Amazon Web Services, CloudBeam, Enters Public Beta

Enterprise software solution-based company Attunity has announced that its cloud service CloudBeam has moved from a Private Beta into Public Beta and incorporates two data movement services: upload to cloud and replication between cloud regions.

Attunity, is a company that creates software solutions which focus on such subjects as data replication, change data capture (CDC), data connectivity. The partnership with Amazon isn't a new one, as it was initially announced upon the creation of the CloudBeam service in July.

What is Attunity CloudBeam?

Attunity CloudBeam is a service that helps business monitor certain initiatives such as big data, analytics, disaster recovery and content availability. The CloudBeam service, aims to make the transfer of large amounts data through the cloud system an easier and more convenient process for its users.

“Attunity CloudBeam helps users realize the promise of cloud computing by alleviating the Big Data bottleneck and infrastructure maintenance challenges,” said Matt Benati, VP Global Marketing at Attunity. “We are excited to move into public beta and offer Attunity CloudBeam to an even broader audience.”

What Does this Change Offer Users?

Attunity has added three services to  the public beta section CloudBeam that are only available from the private beta service: 

• the ability to manage file transfers from the cloud service
• the ability to upload a cloud automation application
• the ability to replicate files to the cloud

Other key features that are offered from Attunity CloudBeam include:

• Automation: Users not only have access to an application level automation, but can also schedule and synchronize data transfer processes on either in a particular pattern or in continuous synchronization.
• Acceleration: Users are able to move quickly and easily, large files to, from and between different clouds.
• Manageability: Users are able to manage when data is moved without having to worry about building or maintaining a cloud infrastructure.
• Reliability: File transfers are not only guaranteed to reach their destination, but are audited and easily recoverable.
• Security: To ensure a top-notch level of security, all transfer and subsequent data files are encrypted.

 

 

Source : cmswire[dot]com

Microsoft Makes a Marketing Automation Play With MarketingPilot Acquisition

Anybody that had doubts about Microsoft’s commitment to service got more proof this week. Only days before its second quarter earnings announcement, the company announced plans to acquire cloud storage vendor StorSimple and that it closed on a deal to buy marketing automation provider MarketingPilot. Should Salesforce be concerned?

Head in the Clouds

Microsoft is using every opportunity it gets to let us know it is no longer just a software company. Microsoft’s most recent annual report, released earlier this month, included a letter from CEO, Steve Ballmer, reiterating to shareholders that it has evolved into a “devices and services company.” This week the software giant has been busy putting its money where its mouth is.

On Tuesday, October 16, Microsoft announced its intent to purchase StorSimple, which provides an appliance for Windows and VMware that integrates cloud and on-premises storage. Microsoft plans to leverage the technology in its hybrid cloud offerings.

The next day, the company announced the closing of a deal to acquire MarketingPilot, a marketing automation software provider.

Microsoft is always buying something, but the latest round of acquisitions signal a significant shift within the company, which has made its fortune selling software. Windows and Office have long been the main contributors to Microsoft’s profitability and growth. These product families aren’t going away any time soon, but Microsoft realizes consumers and companies are increasingly choosing cloud-based solutions instead of locally deployed software. In addition, more businesses are adopting an IT-as-a-service model, which encourages delivering capabilities as discrete units of service that can be aggregated into more sophisticated offerings. This is driving Microsoft to invest heavily in the cloud and service oriented offering.

The terms of the deals have not been disclosed. Microsoft promises to release more details at the Convergence conference in March.

Other Trends

Microsoft’s acquisition of MarketingPilot is also a part of another major trend — customer engagement. Although the cloud technology and marketing automation may seem unrelated from a business perspective, they aren't. Businesses want holistic, highly integrated, flexible solutions that “just work.” They want the same thing in their interactions with customers and leads. 

Many traditional content management and customer relationship management (CRM) vendors have been adding features that allow business to manage content, marketing campaigns and customer engagement from a single platform. Microsoft may be preparing to follow their lead. The MarketingPilot purchase is being handled through Microsoft’s Dynamics CRM, which could mean customers will soon see marketing automation modules be natively integrated in the platform. There is also an opportunity for marketing automation to come to SharePoint.

Oracle, Microsoft and IBM now own all of the components to create their own Salesforce-like offering. However, none of the companies has put the components together in an easy to use, subscription-based package. If Microsoft decides to move in that direction, they could eventually provide a fair amount of competition to Salesforce in the small and medium business sector because of their will established position in the market.

 

 

Source : cmswire[dot]com

Rebuttal: Do Users Want A Self-Service DAM - Or A DAM Servant?

Ed Smith recently wrote an article for CMSWire, "My Other DAM is a Self-Service Intranet Portal," comparing DAM systems to self-service petrol stations where drivers can fill up their cars themselves. While Ed makes some good points, my own experience suggests that self-service isn't a stop and pump solution. 

The examples Ed has given are all good ones, however, in many cases, the range of functionality that DAM is now being put to are extending beyond simply finding assets. When one gets into MRM, or other more sophisticated asset manipulation activities, the process becomes more complex and that can present some new or unexpected challenges.

Technical or Human Challenges

As a consultant, I sometimes get called in to advise on implementations that aren't delivering the anticipated benefits. On a few occasions, an analysis reveals that it is often that euphemistic "PEBKAC (Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair) fault. At this point, the focus of the engagement shifts from away from technical considerations and towards HR (Human Resources) questions.

So, what how do you recognize those problems and avoid them with your own DAM implementations? The issue that I am talking about was briefly touched on in Ed's article where says:

As one DAM attendant recently bemoaned, 'They need my brain to find anything!'"

Many times I find that what end users really want is a "DAM Servant" rather than a "DAM Service."  I will illustrate this with an example from a client I once worked with.

The firm's staff headcount for the marketing department was already at the limit set by senior managers. Spending on productivity enhancements like software were permitted, but new hires would definitely not get approved. So they commenced a search for some DAM/MRM software that could be deployed to enhance productivity.

The objective was to reduce pressure on mid-managers in head office by enabling more of a self-service approach and to delegate the basic work to local users in regional offices. As well as asset searches for static marketing assets like presentations, brochures, etc, they also required facilities to prepare custom print templates and order promotional merchandise. The solution they decided to go with was a system that provided the "one-stop shop" DAM/MRM feature set they needed.

The vendor appeared to do everything by the book. They had a platform that could handle the majority of the required core functionality with minimal customization. They interviewed all of the key stakeholders in the marketing department. Business rules about workflow were documented in some detail. It all looked like textbook stuff.

A specification of both the configuration and customization needed was presented to the client for approval and feedback and the sign-off was delivered. The shortness of the timeframe between submission and sign-off (two business days) without any suggested amendments by the client was the first indicator of a potential problem.

The software was duly configured, custom changes made and it was rolled out. Training was delivered, but using the "cascade" method where head office staff were instructed on the understanding that they would in turn train each region. This was carried out too, but attendance by end users at workshops was optional (and patchy as a result).

When Self-Service Meets Resistance

As is common with new software, the end users were initially upbeat and eager to try it out. About a month or two afterwards, however, they were complaining about processes taking too long and being over-complex. The vendor and the client were also at loggerheads as the vendor's support helpdesk were inundated with requests for assistance which the vendor claimed were well outside their remit.

 

Continue reading this article:

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Source : cmswire[dot]com

Unison Releases 'Room'-Based Enterprise Social Network

There’s a new enterprise social collaboration product out. The New York City-based Unison Technologies has unveiled a new version of its service, a quick-to-launch social network based around virtual rooms. 

The company, which also has an office in St. Petersburg, Russia, is led by CEO Manlio Carrelli and CMO Rurik Bradbury, who founded and sold corporate email hosting company Intermedia. They’ve told news media that their goal is to “fix how people communicate at work, in a way that email can’t.”

Focused Around Rooms

Unison's service is aimed at small- and medium-sized businesses, runs on Windows and Mac computers, Android devices and the iPhone, and is also available as a Web app.

One of its key selling points is that it can be up and running in five minutes, with conversations focused in “rooms” instead of being sifted through streams of updates – a combination of a physical space metaphor with a virtual social network.

A user might create a room for a particular project or team, for instance, for posting documents, updates or comments.  

By entering a room, a user can see who’s there at the time and view the communications between individuals or among the group. Questions and documents can be posted inside the room, issues can be discussed in groups, room occupants can IM or use voice/video chat, and rooms can be open to anyone or closed to room members only. Conversations in each room update themselves, without page refreshes.

Users can easily create a room for a project or team.

External people, such as clients or suppliers, can come into a room, but they will only see content for which they’ve been given access. When you @mention someone, they get an alert about the referring comment. To find rooms where you were mentioned, click News in the side menu.

Room access controls allow users to determine how much content is shared within the group and with external people.

'Rooms' Reduce Clutter

Compared to other enterprise collaboration platforms, Unison said that it is the “only enterprise social network that is simple to set up and simple to use.” Its distinguishing characteristic, the rooms, is intended to create a communications workspace for each project or team, instead of the streams and groups that other business-focused social networking services offer.

By segregating teams and projects into analogues of the physical world’s use of meeting rooms, and by pushing a message directly to a non-room user, the idea is to avoid cluttering a user’s intake of information. 

The enterprise social collaboration space is booming with revived versions of established tools, such as Chatter, Salesforce's continuing social reinvention of its business platform, and a crop of new and newly-acquired companies, including Campfire, Convo, Socialcast (now owned by VMware) and Yammer (owned by Microsoft).

The Unison service uses a “freemium” business model, in that a simple social network is free, while a premium version, which adds administrator controls for adding and removing users or administering room ownership, will be available in fourth quarter at an as-yet-unannounced price.

 

 

Source : cmswire[dot]com

UserVoice CEO Richard White: Users Expect 'Luxury' Customer Experience #UserConf

Businesses are growing up on the Internet, and more and more, customers are used to self-service online. Businesses increasingly handle customer service via chat and social media channels. It's changing how we do business, Richard White, CEO of UserVoice said at the inaugural UserConf this week.

All Your Customer Support Belongs to Us

White pointed out that exceptional customer service is not new — we just call those companies luxury brands. But the majority of companies — who aren't luxury brands — have also seen their customers' expectations of service change.

"43 percent of people we surveyed said they could have solved a problem if they had the tools," White said. 

White's company, UserVoice is a startup that provides online forums and support systems for companies to better understand their customers. White founded the UserConf to gather people — not from the sales management or IT departments — who are focused on customer experience and let them share their ideas.

Traditional customer service is painful, and poor customer service is the #1 cause of customer attrition.

When we call our airlines or wireless companies, we expect to have to enter in our 10-digit account number, wait on hold and then have to give the number again to an agent, White said. In the future, agents will be better equipped to handle multiple channels, nearly all will respond to tweets and it will all be done in less than one day, he said. 

"As companies move to subscription-based models (Saas), customer support begins to look more like sales," White said.

Those customer support people aren't just solving problems but working with current customers to keep them coming back. The sales funnel indeed looks more like a loop in this scenario, but the kinds of problems being solved changes as well. In the subscription model, the more common problems are automated, so customer support is focused on dealing with more complex problems — even if they have fewer to handle overall.

The Digital Marketing Land Rush is Over

Companies can't simply build a Facebook app that tricks 10,000 people into handing over their contact info, and then raise a ton of money based on a gimmick, White said. Google AdWords bring in less money while the keywords cost more, he pointed out. In other words, as the Internet has grown up, it's become harder to bring in new customers in ways no one else has thought of. According to White, that means companies have to go back to old school tactics — like giving great customer service.

Editor's Note: For more insight into customer support strategies, read 5 Ways to Integrate Social Media Into Your Contact Center.

 

 

Source : cmswire[dot]com

Dropbox Improves Mobile Photo Viewing Experience

Document sharing service Dropbox is improving the photo viewing experience for mobile phone browsers.

Dropbox says users can now view photos via mobile phone “as easily and vividly as you would from your computer.” By visiting the Dropbox site from their mobile phone, users can then select the Dropbox icon, click the “Photos” button and see the photos in their “Camera Uploads” folder in what Dropbox is promoting as a “big, shiny gallery format.” Dropbox photos can also be viewed at full size on a mobile phone and mobile users can flip through photos one at a time.

Enhancing Photos for All Mobile Users

One of the most significant aspects of this move by Dropbox is that the mobile site itself has been enhanced. Thus users of mobile platforms that Dropbox has not yet developed an app for (such as Windows) can now get the same enhanced photo-enhanced experience as users of Dropbbox’s iOS and Android apps.

A new article in TweakTown comments on the importance of the latest upgrade to the Dropbox mobile experience. “Dropbox have moved toward a gallery-style image viewer, which is available to anyone with a mobile device,” states the article. “Windows Phone is included, which is great news as there's no official Dropbox application on Microsoft's mobile OS.”

Dropbox Aims at Photos 

Most people with a digital camera or mobile device with a camera installed quickly accumulate a giant collection of digital photos. And photos are also becoming an increasingly important form of corporate content. Recognizing the value of this trove of visual data, Dropbox has been focusing on providing the best photo experience possible as a way to differentiate itself in the document sharing/storage market.

As reported by CMSWire, in April 2012, Dropbox added a new Photos page and the ability to upload those photos from just about any device as part of its Dropbox 1.4 release. The minimalistic layout organizes the photos in a very Flickr-esque way. When new photos are uploaded to Dropbox with Camera Upload, photos are grouped by month, and hovering over them will show the date. Users can see full size versions and share/download them by clicking. As an added bonus, Dropbox is throwing in 500 megabytes of free storage when you upload your first image with the new version.

Additionally, Dropbox will add another 500 megabytes of free storage for every 500 megabytes users upload with Camera Upload (up to three gigabytes extra). Camera Upload will prompt you when a device is plugged in to the computer or if using the newest version of the Android app.

 

 

Source : cmswire[dot]com

My Other DAM is a Self-Service Intranet Portal

Running a digital asset management system without a self-service DAM intranet portal is like buying gas in Oregon — the “drivers” (end users) must rely on an “attendant” (a person in charge of managing digital assets) just to get to work.

It’s illegal to pump your own gas in the US State of Oregon. Anytime you take a pit stop in southern Core Cascadia you must wait for an attendant to come over, grab your cash or plastic, and start pumping. You then wait again for the attendant to come back over, remove the nozzle, and hand you a receipt. God forbid the tank unexpectedly stops pumping mid-refuel. It’s a nice regional perk on a cold and wet Portland day but infuriating when you’re in a hurry.   

Why don’t they just let everyone pump their own gas like the other 48 sane states? (New Jersey has similar laws.) A big reason is security. Back when this legislation passed, there were concerns about equipment safety and so it was decreed that only ordained gas dispensing professionals would be allowed to operate the pumps.

Controlling the Flow

The same concern is also true for the security of your DAM. You don’t want anyone helping themselves to whatever images and videos they find and then blowing themselves or the company up. Someone might pump a high-res TIFF file into their screen-res PowerPoint presentation, similar to putting gasoline into a diesel engine — the thing just isn’t going to run right. Another security concern is someone using something they shouldn’t, perhaps something not properly licensed or released or just plain embarrassing (like putting curb feelers on an Audi R8).

While permissions in DAM provide some security, what works best is an interface designed specifically for the common DAM motorist. Something that is easy to use, provides relevant search options, and connects the end-user and the DAM collection. Most importantly, it should allow users to find what they need on their own without relying on someone else.

Getting Around the Gatekeepers

Let’s take a look at the other role in this analogy: the gas station attendant. They’re pretty busy with other customers, and would rather be doing other things like being inside their warm booth or smoking cigarettes (30 feet away of course).

People in charge of managing digital asset management collections feel the same way. The DAM manager would rather be working on something besides being an asset concierge. Instead, as a gatekeeper they become a bottleneck and are frequently interrupted with requests for assets. As one DAM attendant recently bemoaned, “They need my brain to find anything!”

So what does this DAM intranet thing do? It helps the motorists get to work and helps the attendants work more efficiently while maintaining their sanity (or what’s left of it). A self-service DAM intranet portal usually offers one or more of the following functions:

• A simple user interface, compared to the expert interface of the main DAM application 
• Easily customizable search interfaces that display relevant options, as opposed to all search options
• The ability to pre-filter search results based on metadata rules. For example, only publish assets tagged with the keyword “approved”
• Options for downloading assets in alternative formats. For example, links for downloading JPEGs for PowerPoint and TIFFs for print
• Digital rights management and watermarking capabilities.

As a native Oregonian, it was easy for me to figure out how to pump my own gas when I first traveled out of state. The pump interface was easy enough, I didn’t spill any gas and I didn’t blow myself up. If you’re currently exploring or using DAM, I encourage you to travel outside your state and consider where a self-service DAM intranet can take you.

Title image courtesy of RetroClipArt (Shutterstock)

Editor's Note: Ed knows his DAM. Want to read more?

— Digital Asset Management Trends

About the Author

In his current position at Extensis, Edward Smith is the in-house expert for all things digital asset management related and contributor to the DAM Learning Center.

 

 

Source : cmswire[dot]com

Ben Horowitz Says $15 Million For Rap Genius Will Create "A Talmud For The Internet"

Investing in a service that decodes hip-hop lyrics is, for VC firm Andreessen Horowitz, a way to rethink the way we browse the entire web.

"Huh?!"--Kanye West

When a venture capitalist who begins each of his blog entries with a rap lyric proposes investing in a company called “Rap Genius,” it can seem a little self-indulgent.

“That was the thing that got the most resistance at the firm in making the investment,” Ben Horowitz tells Fast Company about this request. “That I was interested in rap and it was 'Rap Genius.' It was like, 'Ben what are you doing?'”

Eventually, the firm ceded, and Andreessen Horowitz announced on Wednesday that it had invested $15 million in the startup, which allows members to add explanations to their favorite rap lyrics.

Click on the lyric “Clique, clique, clique” from the song, um, "Clique," on the latest album by Kanye West's GOOD Music collective, and you’ll learn the line could be interpreted as referring to a group of friends or the sound of snapping paparazzi cameras or even the sound that guns make when they’re cocked.

Hover over Jay-Z's lyric in the same song, “Yeah, I’m talking B,” and you’ll learn he’s referring to his wife, Beyonce--at least according to "Rap Genius.

Andreessen Horowitz, a firm that has backed Twitter, Zynga, Facebook and Instagram, does not generally invest in its hobbies. As Marc Andreessen explains in a blog post , the idea of annotating the web is something he wanted to build into Mosaic–-the Internet's first popular browser.

“It seemed obvious to us that users would want to annotate all text on the web," he writes. "Our idea was that each web page would be a launchpad for insight and debate about its own contents. So we built a feature called 'group annotations' right into the browser--and it worked great--all users could comment on any page and discussions quickly ensued.”

Eventually, however, the team ran out of time and resources and dropped the feature, changing the Internet as we know it in the process. What if anyone could add context to web pages they read? We’d be looking at a very different type of liability, discussion format, and navigation path for online content.

Horowitz compares the potential of Rap Genius, which already hosts some political speeches, law cases, and The Great Gatsby to a “Talmud for the Internet.” Just as the Talmud is the source of many religious beliefs that aren’t necessarily mentioned directly in the bible, it could one day be the source of “knowledge on the knowledge” online.

Others have dreamed this dream. Google launched a product called Sidewiki in 2009 that allowed anyone to leave notes on webpages that others could read later in a browser sidebar. After failing to take off, it shut down last year.

But if you talk with Horowitz long enough, you might start to believe the missing ingredient was rap.

“The rappers and hip-hop community are the main inventors of the modern culture, not in the U.S. but worldwide,” Horowitz says. “They drive so many things from a culture creation standpoint. If you are a community-based site, starting with the culture creators is genius, to use the term. “

Source : fastcompany[dot]com

Rio SEO Launches Keyword Discovery Tool for Better Landing Pages

When consumers search for a need that could be met by your product or service, what keywords are they actually using? There are a variety of tools and techniques for discovering those magic words, and now Rio SEO has unveiled a new one. 

The company said that its new Keyword Discovery Automation platform is the first of its kind to identify the specific web landing pages that have the highest relevancy for the recommended keywords.

Identifying High-Opportunity Keywords

The idea is that, in addition to suggesting the highest-opportunity keywords for searching, the tool also points to the strongest landing pages on the existing website that correspond to the specific keyword — even if those pages need a complete content overhaul. In this way, the tool is designed to offer the best keyword-to-landing-page flow.

The San Diego, California-based Rio SEO is a provider of software-as-a-service SEO automation solutions. Its modules are designed for organic search and social media analysis, with functionality supporting:

• Content marketing
• Auditing
• Reporting
• Change tracking
• Keyword discovery
• Competitive analysis
• Mobile site optimization
• SEO execution
• Local SEO automation

Pete Dudchenko, Rio SEO’s senior director for product management, said in a statement that the new tool is a “powerful decision-making and workflow management resource that clearly shows what people are saying across the competitive landscape, in various social media conversations, and through traditional search marketing data sources.”

Easier Management and Reporting

To arrive at its keyword discovery, the tool analyzes the competitive landscape, drawing on both social media and traditional search data sources. The workflow guides the user through the steps needed to discover keywords and the most appropriate pages. The user can categorize keywords and pages in multiple categories for easier management and reporting, and can associate keyword and page combinations for analysis.

Keyword Discovery Automation utilizes the patented SEO Audit Score system of Rio SEO’s parent company, Covario, which describes itself as the “nation’s largest independent provider of global search marketing services and technology solutions.” Rio SEO was spun off from the privately-held firm in April 2012.
 

 

 

Source : cmswire[dot]com

Adobe Rolls Out PhoneGap Build for Cloud-Based Mobile Apps

Adobe has rolled out Adobe PhoneGap Build, a service designed to allow development of cloud-based mobile apps.

PhoneGap Build leverages the PhoneGap framework (a distribution of the Apache Cordova open source project) to enable the development of cloud-based mobile apps with standard Web technologies. Adobe says developers can use a single codebase for all major mobile operating systems including iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, Bada, webOS and Symbian — eliminating the need to maintain native software development kits.

Among the PhoneGap Build features Adobe is touting is Hydration, which is designed to speed up debug and build cycles and automatically notify testers when new versions are available. PhoneGap will also feature a share function that allows group reviews of app prototypes via QR code.

Simplifying App Development with the Cloud

According to Computerworld, PhoneGap build aims to change the complex configuration and management process of mobile app development by moving it to the cloud. “Instead of having to configure separate developing environments, and keep them up to date, developers can now upload their code to PhoneGap Build, which returns ready-to-run applications for the targeted operating systems,” says a Computerworld article. The article also quotes an Adobe spokesperson, who said, "We have dramatically simplified the development process.”

Extending PhoneGap Value

Adobe clearly seems interested in expanding PhoneGap’s value proposition. In addition to introducing the new PhoneGap Build service, in July 2012 Adobe released version 2.0 of the main PhoneGap framework. Updates included a new command line interface for building iOS apps, support for Windows Phone 7 and documentation on getting started and the PhoneGap Plugin API.

PhoneGap Build has undergone extensive beta testing, with 90,000 developers compiling more than 200,000 apps. Mobile apps built with PhoneGap include Wikipedia, the BBC London Olympics app, Microsoft Halo Waypoint, Zynga’s Mafia Wars Shakedown, Salesforce Hybrid Mobile SDK and Amanita Designs’ Kooky game app.

PhoneGap Build is now publicly available via the Adobe Creative Cloud membership service. Pricing for Creative Cloud membership for individuals is US$ 49.99 per month based on an annual membership and US$ 74.00 per month (without an annual membership). An introductory offer of US$ 29.99 per month is available to qualified customers for a limited time. A standalone subscription to the PhoneGap Build service is also available for US$ 9.99 per month.

 

 

Source : cmswire[dot]com

Apple Comments On Maps Debacle, Compares Product To Fine Wine

Apple has commented on the furor about its Maps software and has said that the service "will improve." Although some of the more hysterical tech commentators are relishing in the firm's discomfort, it doesn't seem to be threatening today's launch of the iPhone 5-- a Loch Ness Monster-sized queue snaked around the Westfield mall in West London this morning. Anyone who set foot inside the store was left reeling by a deafening roar from a dozen or so cobalt-colored Apple workers. Didn't they have customers to serve?

It's not the first time Apple has run into a negative media storm--remember Antennagate two summers ago? Now, as before, it's the tech naysayers who are, frankly, a bit bored of the iPhone--there have been no dramatic mutations in the five-year life of i for them to write about--and what Tim Cook and the rest of Apple will be waiting for is to see how it pans out with the customers. It's already broken sales records, don't forget.

Anyone who is waiting for Google to bring out an app for its maps might like to re-read yesterday's survival guide on Fast Company, as Mountain View's has a rather vague ETA of sometime before Christmas. Anyway, if you think it's bad, spare a thought for iOS6 users in China. This is the view that they get from Apple Maps.

Source : fastcompany[dot]com

Huddle Cuddles the Feds for Secure Collaboration

 Is there such a thing as secure collaboration? That's what Huddle is aiming for with a new FISMA-approved cloud service for U.S. government agencies to communicate across the web. 

Collaborating Behind Closed Doors

Being certified by the Federal Information Security Management Act is a great way to open doors within government, even if they slam tightly closed again once you're through. Huddle has a version of its popular collaboration platform approved and certified for this level of use, allowing the U.S. intelligence community and other agencies to worth together and share information across the cloud in a secure fashion. 

Already widely used by western European governments, the secure Huddle platform is currently being developed for the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate (DHS S&T) and  the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). This achievement for Huddle is down to a strategic partnership and technology development agreement with In‐Q-­Tel (IQT), a non-­profit, strategic investment firm that identifies solutions to support U.S. intelligence.

Developing for the Man 

Of course, the battle for government money is intense and there are plenty of competitors in the secure space, with IBM's SmartCloud for Government (which is also FISMA compliant) a major player. Of course, this market isn't all hush-hush as Google and Microsoft had a good old argument about the level of accreditation for their products last year. 

While likely a tiny drop in the $78+ trillion Federal IT budget, (you can view more on that mammoth entity at the Federal IT Dashboard), these deals will help raise Huddle's profile and help it secure further government work. 

As government departments move away from developing or contracting for their own costly, non-functional solutions, and start adopting and adapting off-the-shelf products that can be fortified to suitable security levels, more and more cloud services could play a part in helping make the government more agile and communicative among its departments. 

Back in the Enterprise

For the rest of us users, Huddle keeps on updating its core products with new features and improvements. Most recently, we've seen the addition of a single view of files for enterprise users, and the arrival of the inevitable iPad app. 

This comes on the back of a recent funding boost back in May, that gave the company an additional US$ 24 million to work with. As M&A activity starts to rise after Microsoft's acquisition of Yammer, will someone major now be looking at Huddle as a cloud collab partner?

 

 

Source : cmswire[dot]com

Uber: When Innovation Outpaces The Law

While a disruptive service can be created by a couple of geeks with laptops, laws are born within the snarl of slow bureaucracy. They need time to catch up.

Uber, an app that helps connect car drivers with people looking for a ride, has expanded to more than 15 cities since it launched in San Francisco two years ago. But is it legal? Depends who you ask.

Taxi and limousine authorities in San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Boston, and New York City have all started asking questions about Uber's legality, often waving around cease and desist orders in the process. Yet the startup, having worked out these squabbles in one way or another, is still operating in all of the cities in which it has set up shop.

Its legality is simply not clear-cut. There are laws for taxis, which you hail on the street, and there are laws for limousines, which you call in advance. But until Uber came around and gave people the option to schedule cars within a moment’s notice from an app, there was no need for laws governing limousines that sometimes act similarly to taxis--or taxi-type cars that could be digitally hailed. The company operates in a gray area of its own invention.

“A lot of this regulation was written before mobile technology,” says Josh Mohrer, the general manager of Uber in New York City. “In a world where a black car can only be arranged by phone, and you’re calling a phone number and they’re going to radio to the car and they’re going to come pick you up, and that whole process takes a half an hour."

A disruptive service can be created by a couple of geeks with laptops, but new laws are born within the snarl of slow bureaucracy. It takes a while for them to catch up. Uber isn't the only service that is caught in the disparity between the two timetables.

Car-sharing companies such as Getaround and RelayRides let neighbors rent their cars to each other, sometimes by the hour. But when it comes to deciding who should pay if one of those cars gets in an accident, the law is still unclear. A federal law protects car rental and leasing companies from liability in the case of an accident, but what about an individual who has rented her car? With no precedent, it’s hard to tell. Peer-to-peer room renting service Airbnb has also created a new category that lacks straightforward legislation. Earlier this year, San Francisco clarified that it expects the service to pay the same 15% tax hotels pay, something it hadn't been doing. Meanwhile, landlords who prohibit subletting without their consent have taken legal action against tenets who post rooms on the site.

The relationship between innovation and laws has always been this way. Vehicles were sold in the United States for years before the country got its first speed limit.
And airlines were already selling tickets to civilians by the time the first federal aviation act passed in 1926.

Figuring out exactly how a new service fits into existing laws is a cost of doing business when you’re disrupting an industry, and most companies accept that.

“We have found that when policy makers learn more about our business and the economic benefits our platform offers to cities and to individuals trying to make ends meet in this tough economy, they want to help," Airbnb's head of communications Kim Rubey tells Fast Company. "So our goal is to make sure we reach out and educate policy makers so that policies don't inadvertently inhibit the growth of businesses powered by the burgeoning sharing economy.”

In Uber’s case, Mohrer says policies, though difficult to navigate, have not inhibited the company's growth. They’ve hired no outside experts to navigate taxi codes, nor has it become the focus of anyone’s job. It's been a menace, but most disputes are solved quickly.

“We’re in the technology business, not in the lawmaking business,” Mohrer says.

Source : fastcompany[dot]com

Google Acquires VirusTotal, Adds Online Security Capabilities to its Portfolio

Google has acquired VirusTotal, a free service that analyzes suspicious files and URLs and facilitates the detection of viruses, worms, trojans and malware.

According to VirusTotal, two key elements of the acquisition are “great news for (customers), and bad news for malware generators.” Namely, VirusTotal says the quality and power of its malware research tools will keep improving and most likely get faster and Google’s infrastructure will ensure that its tools are always ready when needed.

Google May Have Internal Motives

Some observers think Google is purchasing VirusTotal in an effort to boost the security of its own Internet services, rather than to increase the security of VirusTotal customers. For example, a FirstPost Technology article states Google bought the “fledgling but widely used cyber-security industry player in a move that could beef up protection for its Internet services.”  

The article goes on to say VirusTotal “could significantly shore up the search giant’s ability to weed out infectious content from Gmail, social network Google+ and even the pages it shows search users.”

And stating “Companies like Google have to be especially cautious when it comes to security,” VentureBeat also speculated Google is looking to internally benefit from VirusTotal’s security know how, commenting, “Google plans to keep the technology up and running, and, in return, gain from the employees’ expertise in the security industry.”

So far Google has made minimal public commentary on the acquisition, but did tell VentureBeat it is “delighted to be able to provide (VirusTotal) with the infrastructure they need to ensure that their service continues to improve.”

Google Takes Security Seriously

Even before purchasing VirusTotal, Google made it clear that as a company it takes IT security seriously. In May 2012, Google earned an ISO 27001 information security certification for Google Apps Business. The certification designates that Google is following security best practices for systems, technology, processes and data centers that support Google Apps for Business. ISO certification is well-respected, especially in highly regulated industries, for its rigorousness.

This is not the first security certification for Google. The company obtained FISMA certification for Google Apps Government and has regular third-party audits for SSAE 16/ISAE 3402, a standard similar to the ISO 27001 certification. But as CMSWire pointed out in an article about the certification, “It’s unlikely that Google is seeking a pat on the back for its hard work achieving the certification. This move is about one thing: Wooing customers.” Purchasing VirusTotal is likely another signal to users of Google’s various Internet services that their security is a top priority.

Google is a longtime VirusTotal partner. VirusTotal will continue to operate independently, maintaining partnerships with other antivirus companies and security experts. Financial details were not disclosed.

 

 

Source : cmswire[dot]com

Google Updates Analytics with Real-Time Segmenting

Google updated its Analytics service in August, including a new feature that segments real-time data in reports so that users can track marketing campaigns as they move forward.

The segmenting update allows a user to click on a dimension in a real-time report, in order to track data by that metric. A user could, for instance, click to select referral information, and then segment that information by visitor source or traffic channel. Another possible use is to click on a city name to segment data by that city.

Shortcut to Data

The company said this allows a user, for instance, to measure which content is most popular in a large metropolitan area.

Other use cases include following the results of a geographically-targeted pay-per-click campaign, or seeing how social media might be affecting site traffic after an industry conference.

Another recent update to Analytics provides the ability to create Shortcuts in order to more quickly find a particular path to data. The company noted that, instead of going through a daily process of “find report, add segment, change, sort,” one can do that process once, save it as a Shortcut, and then return to that view on one click.

The Shortcut button is found on the Utility Bar of a standard or custom report in Analytics, and, when clicked, it adds a shortcut to the current configuration of the report on the Home Tab. Shortcuts live in a section in the Home tab, they can be managed from the Overview page, and they can be emailed and exported as if they were standard reports.

API for Multi-Channel Funnels

Google has also introduced a new Multi-Channel Funnels Reporting API. In the fall of 2011, the company added Multi-Channel Funnels, which were a new set of reports tracking the full path that users follow to conversion, rather than just indicating the last click. This can be useful to determine which marketing efforts influenced specific conversions to sales or leads.

The API allows developers to utilize those Funnels, such as querying for Assisted Conversions, First Interactions Conversions or Last Interactions Conversions. This can then be combined with other conversion path data from other sources, in order to automate events like bidding.
 

 

 

Source : cmswire[dot]com

WordPress Aims for Twitter-type Functionality with Liveblog Add-On

Web publishing platform WordPress is attempting to provide users of its VIP service with Twitter-like instant blogging functionality through its new Liveblog Add-on. The add-on enables users to post updates from the front end of their site, without using the WordPress admin dashboard.

In addition, Liveblog viewers will see the new updates automatically, without having to refresh their browsers. Liveblog authors can drag and drop photos into the Liveblog area without needing to navigate to separate browser tabs or windows, and all posts (including existing ones) can be turned into Liveblog posts. Users can preview posts before making them live.

That Familiar Tweety Feeling

In a short promotional video on the WordPress VIP site, the narrator states, “When liveblogging an event you need to report news as quickly as it happens.” A screenshot of a sample Liveblog post reads “We’re entering the building now. The atmosphere is electric!”  And although WordPress does not specify whether there is a character limit or if so how many characters are allowed, the video describes the add-on as enabling “short-form posts” and a screenshot shows a reminder to keep the post short.

Clearly, the add-on is designed to make WordPress competitive with Twitter as a means of providing quick, real-time commentary and updates. This is not necessarily a bad idea, but Twitter has become the second-most-popular social networking platform in a short time period, so WordPress has its work cut out for it if it intends to seriously challenge Twitter for marketshare.

Twitter also has the advantage of the numerous third-party apps that have been developed via the Twitter API that make it easier to manage and use as a promotional tool. However, Twitter recently tightened its API rules to the consternation of many industry participants and observers.

There are also many live blogging third-party plug-ins available for WordPress, and it will be interesting to see how WordPress attempts to either take advantage of or minimize their popularity in spreading the use of the new add-on.

WordPress Acknowledges Bug Issue

One issue which WordPress needs to quickly resolve is a bug in the Liveblog Add-on identified by VentureBeat. According to a VentureBeat article, saving a featured image can eliminate saved liveblog posts without warning or error message. A WordPress spokesperson told VentureBeat a fix will be available shortly. VentureBeat also reports another bug which can make liveblog postings invisible to readers.

WordPress VIP clients GigaOM and Local TV provided feedback and contributions during the beta testing phase for the Liveblog Add-on and the code has been completely open-sourced for self-hosted WordPress. Open source code is available at the WordPress.org plugin repository and on github.

 

 

Source : cmswire[dot]com

Dropbox Tests Two-Factor Authentication

Following a well-publicized security breach that was discovered last month, document sharing service Dropbox is launching a beta test of two-factor authentication with some users. The new security feature, made available on Friday, August 24 to early Dropbox adopters using Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux PC, sends users a one-time mobile security code they must enter in addition to their standard password.

Early Results Suggest Two-Factor Authentication Has Kinks

As reported by Information Week, two-factor authentication has already been previewed by Dropbox VP of Engineering Aditya Agarwal. It comes as a response to the discovery that spam being sent to user email accounts only used for Dropbox originated from hackers who had stolen passwords they had reused from other sites (see more detail below). In addition, an internal Dropbox investigation revealed that hackers stole unencrypted user passwords that were improperly stored in a Dropbox employee’s account.

Dropbox users can receive mobile security codes via text message or mobile app. Information Week reports that early public commentary on the beta test suggests it needs some fine-tuning. For example, one user posted in an online Dropbox forum that despite signing up for two-factor authentication, he could still log into his Dropbox account only using his password.

Another complaint posted online by more than one user is that currently there is no backup option if a mobile phone or the 16-digit mobile security code is lost.

Two-Factor Authentication One of Several Promised Security Fixes

In a public statement on its website, Dropbox previously said it would start requiring two-factor identification. In addition, Dropbox pledged to offer security fixes including a new page that will let users see all logins to their account, and possibly periodically ask users to change their passwords. Internally, Dropbox intends to add automated mechanisms for detecting suspicious activity.

Obviously, it will take some time for Dropbox to launch fully operational versions of all these new and improved security features (and internal features may not be publicized), but considering how quickly the company rolled out a beta test of two-factor authentication, Dropbox seems committed to rectifying the problems caused by this embarrassing security breach.

Dropbox users themselves should also take some steps to help protect not just their Dropbox accounts, but all of their various online accounts. The IT Security Office at Duke University offers some helpful tips on how to select a strong password that will not be easy for a hacker to guess. These include using at least eight characters (some systems allow up to 63), mixing upper and lower-case characters, interspersing punctuation marks and symbols, and using modified versions of words from favorite childhood nursery rhymes or foods. Duke IT Security also advises to never use the same password on more than one account and to avoid dictionary words, phone numbers and anything associated with a name.

 

 

Source : cmswire[dot]com