Wayne Williams

CMOs and CIOs frequently deal with outdated, legacy intranets that lack the interaction and functionality characteristic of Web 2.0 platforms. It’s no wonder that the intranet has frequently been pronounced dead by industry experts and reporters alike.

But according to IBM, the intranet isn’t dead, only evolving into what the firm calls Intranet 2.0, a new platform that combines social capabilities, data collection and a dynamic infrastructure to help business leaders create a smarter, more effective workforce. I discussed this transition with Larry Bowden, IBM’s Vice President of Portals and Web Experience.

Continue reading →

SlimWare Utilities, makers of SlimCleaner, is hosting a special-access beta for its newest software product, SlimImage, and BetaNews readers are invited to be among the first to try it out.

SlimImage integrates directly with Windows 8 to preserve and safeguard a computer’s operating system, applications, files and documents independently. SlimImage is like a time machine for Windows 8 devices, incrementally backing up personal documents and files through versioning, while simultaneously, but separately, imaging the Windows 8 operating system and installed applications. In this way, SlimImage solves the problem of users losing data and personal documents when reinstalling their operating system in order to correct a system malfunction or crash.

Continue reading →

CloudMagic is a superb search tool that sadly doesn’t get the attention it fully deserves. If you’ve ever complained about how long it takes Google to find a certain message in Gmail, or have wasted far too much time trying to track down a particular tweet or Facebook status update, this is the solution you need (full disclosure: I’m a massive fan and couldn’t imagine life without it).

I spoke to co-founder Rohit Nadhani about his product, how it began, and the company’s plans for the future.

BN: For the benefit of readers who may not be familiar with CloudMagic, can you tell us a bit about it?

Continue reading →

I'll be honest, if I'm ever faced with an emergency such as my house catching alight, my first thought won't be to tweet about it. Neither will I be sending emails or texting anyone. I’ll be phoning the emergency services and speaking to someone. At least that way I’ll know the message has got through. But times change, and maybe using social media will soon become another accepted way to alert the authorities to non-life threatening situations.

The London Fire Brigade currently warns users not to rely on social media when reporting emergencies, as it doesn’t monitor its Twitter feed round the clock. However, that could soon change as the service is looking into new, smartphone-friendly ways for the public to communicate with it.

Continue reading →

In a ruling that will surprise precisely no one -- not even anyone inside Apple’s camp -- U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh has denied Apple’s request for a permanent injunction against the Samsung products which were found to have infringed the Cupertino, Calif.-based corporation's patents, saying there was not enough evidence that the infringement had hurt Apple's North American sales.

In equally unsurprising news judge Koh also rejected Samsung’s request for retrial. The Korean firm had called into question the jury foreman’s impartiality after he failed to disclose he had been sued by his former employer Seagate Technology, a firm Samsung holds a stake in.

Continue reading →

Google’s new mapping app for iPhone was always going to be a hit. People trust Google to get them where they want to go and it’s a great product. The fact the app stormed to the top of the App Store charts less than a day after its release provided a pretty clear clue as to its popularity.

And now Google has revealed just how big a success Google Maps is on iOS, announcing via a Google+ post that the app was downloaded more than 10 million times in less than 48 hours. A staggering number. Google doesn’t usually reveal download figures for its apps, but clearly this is something of a special case. As good as that news is for Google, it’s another slice of bad news for Apple which was probably hoping people’s dislike of its mapping tool had been exaggerated by the media.

Continue reading →

The maker of the popular credit card-sized ARM GNU/Linux computer has launched an online store to enable developers to share their games, applications, and tutorials with other Raspberry Pi users. The device was originally conceived as a way of encouraging youngsters to get into programming, and the store will provide a place for them, and older developers, to share their creations and maybe make a little money at the same time.

At launch the store has 23 free titles, and a paid game (Storm in a Teacup which is priced at £1.99/$3.22). The free content includes utilities such as LibreOffice and Despotify (an open source Spotify client) and classic games including Freeciv and OpenTTD. There’s also an exclusive 3D multiplayer space combat game called Iridium Rising. Winners of the Raspberry Pi Summer Programming Contest are being encouraged to upload their entries to the store, too.

Continue reading →

The micro-blogging site appears to be making good on its promise to allow users to download all of their tweets -- from day one -- in a single archive. Although there’s been no official announcement yet, there have been numerous sightings of the feature which is reportedly being rolled out to a very small percentage of users.

To check if you have the option, go to Settings and look for a ‘Your Twitter archive’ section at the bottom of the page. If it’s there, clicking the ‘Request your archive’ button will set the wheels in motion, and you’ll be emailed a link when your zip is ready to download. Extract the HTML file to view your tweets in calendar format, with the years on the right and the tweets on the left.

Continue reading →

Soon after Apple replaced Google’s aging but accurate mapping solution with its own brand new, but woefully inaccurate alternative, I -- like many disgruntled iOS 6 upgraders -- switched to using the web-version of Google Maps (I briefly toyed with Nokia Here, but it’s not yet as good). The workaround was fine, but I only ever viewed it as a temporary stopgap while awaiting the triumphant return of Google Maps to the App Store, something that finally happened a couple of days ago.

Google Maps shot to the top of the free charts with indecent haste, further embarrassing Apple in the process, as users scrambled to install it. I installed it too, naturally, but held off on reviewing it immediately, as I wanted to make sure my happiness at its arrival wasn’t going to cloud my judgment. And the good news is, having now had plenty of time to play around with it, it’s great. Not perfect, but pretty damn close.

Continue reading →

According to Total Defense, a provider of internet security services and a former division of CA Technologies, the web is the primary vector for malware, with 85 percent of all threats originating there. More than 6,000 websites are infected every day, the company says, and the statistics don’t end there. It’s said that at least 75 percent of the world’s email is spam, and Total Defense estimates over 50 percent of malicious messages take the form of blended  attacks designed to lure recipients into visiting infected web pages.

To prevent firms falling foul of these kind of threats the company has announced what it’s calling the "industry’s first true cloud security platform", offering enterprises and small-to-medium businesses multi-layered cloud-based protection.

Continue reading →

Ofcom’s seventh International Communications Market Report, which examines take-up, availability, price and use of broadband, landlines, mobiles, TV, radio and post across 17 major countries, has discovered that people in the United Kingdom typically spend more on online shopping, watch more TV on the web, and download more data on their mobiles and tablets than any other leading nation.

I’m British, do all my shopping online (even groceries), almost never watch live television and access the web on the go pretty much daily, so this news doesn’t come as any great surprise to me, but even so the gap between my country and other much larger nations is a bit of a revelation (and also slightly suspect in some cases).

Continue reading →

It’s hard to imagine a more keenly anticipated tweet than the first one scheduled to be sent today -- 12/12/12 -- by his holiness Pope Benedict XVI. Shortly after news broke that the Pope had signed up to the micro-blogging site, Twitter users flocked to follow his account, @pontifex and speculation began to grow about what he might say.

Since the Vatican asked for questions of faith to be sent to #askpontifex it was generally assumed his first tweet might address a particular weighty matter of faith. But showing that the 85-year totally gets Twitter, the first message he sent was anything but momentous: "Dear friends, I am pleased to get in touch with you through Twitter. Thank you for your generous response. I bless all of you from my heart."

Continue reading →

When Marissa Mayer took over the reins at Yahoo, it was largely expected that Yahoo Mail would be one of the first services to be revamped. Despite still being hugely popular, it lags behind Gmail in terms of features and has, for a long time, felt rather neglected.

Well, the good news if you’re a Yahoo Mail diehard, is the service has undergone some major changes. Improvements include a redesign made with speed in mind. An easier to navigate, more intuitive and less distracting inbox will apparently allow users to get through their emails much quicker. Recognising the importance of mobile devices, finally, Yahoo is also rolling out new Yahoo Mail apps for Windows 8, iPhone/iPod touch and Android.

Continue reading →

Microsoft might want all users of Windows 8 to use its new tiled interface, but if you really don't like it, or it's the one thing that's preventing you from switching to the new OS full time, there's a clever hack which will disable it for good -- or until you want to switch back, at least.

Ex7ForW8, or "Explorer 7 for Windows 8", is a wrapper created by a developer named Tihiy which basically allows Windows 7's explorer.exe to run on the new OS. Once installed and activated it will take users straight to the Windows 7 desktop upon boot up, and when I say "straight to" I mean it. The new UI doesn't load at all. The wrapper doesn't modify any system files or system protected registry entries, and you can switch back to the Windows 8 UI at any time.

Continue reading →

Just days after Instagram said it would no longer allow the micro-blogging site to display its photos, Twitter has responded by giving users the ability to apply colored filters to pictures they upload.

There are eight Aviary-powered filters to choose from -- Vignette, Black & White, Warm, Cool, Vintage, Cinematic, Happy, and Gritty. A grid view shows how each of the filters will affect your image, and you can tap any of the choices and then scroll left or right to view the alternatives.

Continue reading →