IT Insight for Hong Kong's Technology Professionals | Computer World Hong Kong

Macau rides the cloud, big data wave

tleung — Wed, 16 May 2012 10:48:26 +0000

Computerworld Hong Kong and the Macao Computer Society (MCS) co-hosted a late-April event at Macau Tower attended by Macau’s digerati. ICT experts in the fields of telecom, security, predictive analytics, logistics and gaming attended, drawn by the theme: “Securing the new tech trends—Big Data, Cloud and Mobility.”

Stefan Hammond

LifeSize unveils cheaper alternative to telepresence all-in-one HD videoconferencing units

tleung — Wed, 16 May 2012 10:42:44 +0000

LifeSize on Tuesday unveiled two portable, all-in-one videoconferencing units for various work spaces, including home offices, meeting rooms and executive offices.

The Unity 50 is a tabletop or wall-mounted unit with a 24-in. LED display with 720p HD resolution combined with camera, microphone, speakers and endpoint technology.

The Unity 50 is priced at $3,999.

Matt Hamblen

NetSuite launches commerce-as-a-service platform

tleung — Wed, 16 May 2012 10:38:24 +0000

NetSuite is going up against vendors such as Demandware in the market for cloud-based e-commerce platforms, announcing a new product, SuiteCommerce, during the SuiteWorld conference in San Francisco on Tuesday.

While NetSuite has offered e-commerce technologies for some time, this product aims to up the ante and replace first-generation e-commerce platforms, which largely revolve around purchases made through company websites.

Chris Kanaracus

Avira antivirus upgrade cripples Windows PCs

tleung — Wed, 16 May 2012 10:34:37 +0000

Security firm Avira issued a service pack recently for its antivirus software that crippled an unknown number of Windows machines, with one customer calling the gaffe "catastrophic" to his company.

On Tuesday, Avira updated the software to sidestep the problem.

"Following the release of Service Pack 0 (SP0) for Avira Version 2012, the ProActiv feature blocked legitimate Windows applications on customers' PCs," Avira acknowledged on its support site. "We deeply regret any difficulties this has caused you."

Gregg Keizer

Apple iCloud outage hits twice in a week

tleung — Wed, 16 May 2012 10:31:58 +0000

The second iCloud outage in a week left 15 million users unable to access iCloud mail recently.

Apple confirmed that iCloud was experiencing problems in a status update issued Monday, which said that 12 per cent of customers were affected by an outage that left users unable to access iCloud mail.

Ashleigh Allsopp

Faking IT: 5 execs who lied in resumes

tleung — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:19:52 +0000

Just when his plan of revamping Yahoo was gaining steam, the falsified resume (or "Resume-Gate" as it shall forever be known) cut short Scott Thompson’s stint as CEO. In spite of the "lie" being of an inconsequential nature -- Thompson's resume claimed he had a degree in Computer Science when he didn't –Thompson will now have to add "ex-CEO, Yahoo" on his resume.

Nikhil Pradhan

Lenovo working with Intel on Windows 8 tablet

tleung — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:14:28 +0000

Lenovo is working with chip maker Intel on a future ThinkPad tablet based on Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system, a Lenovo executive said.

The release of an Intel-based ThinkPad tablet depends on when Microsoft releases Windows 8, said Dilip Bhatia, vice president and general manager of the ThinkPad business unit, in an interview. He declined to provide a specific date, though Windows 8 is expected to come out later this year.

Agam Shah

Dell, IBM introduce servers with new Intel Xeon chips

tleung — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:10:17 +0000

Dell and IBM recently announced servers with Intel's latest Xeon server chips, which will bring faster throughput and memory allowing servers to take on more complex workloads while reducing data center costs.

Agam Shah

Apple renames new iPad, swapping 4G to Cellular

tleung — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:01:46 +0000

Apple has changed the name of its new iPad on websites worldwide, scrapping '4G' in favor of 'Cellular'. This change was made following accusations in the UK and Australia that Apple had been misleading customers about the tablet's capabilities.

The change has appeared in Online Apple Stores across the globe, including the UK, Australia, US, Canada, Ireland, Hong Kong and more.

In March, Apple changed the small print on its UK store webpage, admitting that 4G is only available in the US and Canada.

Ashleigh Allsopp

Businesses slow to react to mobile security threat

tleung — Tue, 15 May 2012 09:59:14 +0000

Nearly nine in 10 executives and employees are using their personal smartphones or tablets for business and about half are doing so without the permission of their companies, a new study shows.

Making the situation even more precarious, less than half of the more than 4,000 mobile device users surveyed by Juniper Networks in the US, UK, Germany, China and Japan took even the most basic precautions in using mobile applications.

AntoneGonsalves

Survey: Making money becomes a key CIO role

tleung — Tue, 15 May 2012 09:53:33 +0000

CEOs have shifted their position and are releasing funds to CIOs that have innovations for mobile users and revenue generation ideas, finds the CIO Survey 2012 from Harvey Nash, the recruitment and outsource services provider.

Mark Chillingworth