Samsung unveils new enterprise-safe Android brand, Galaxy S III first to sport it

Samsung SAFE Enterprise Galaxy S III


In the world of Android-powered smartphones, Samsung is the reigning king. It sells approximately 40 percent of all the Android smartphones going to consumers today, and Forrester Research predicts proprietary Android builds (such as Samsung's TouchWiz) will actually surpass Google's Android ecosystem within three years. Of course, this fragments the market and causes trouble for developers and enterprises looking to create and deploy software for Android.

Monday, Samsung unveiled a new brand that will be applied only to Android devices that have been approved for enterprise use: SAFE, or "Samsung Approved for Enterprise." It's similar to Motorola's line of Enterprise Android devices called Motorola Business Ready, which debuted earlier this year.

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LabChirp synthesizes sound effects for games, videos, presentations and more

Musical Notes

When you need sound effects for a game, video, presentation or some other task, then of course there are plenty to be found online. If you’ve very precise ideas about what you need, though, it could take plenty of browsing to locate something suitable, and so it might be easier to use LabChirp to synthesize them for you.

Despite its extremely small size (the program arrives in a 78.5KB download), LabChirp has plenty of power. You can set your effect modulation, shape its envelope, use standard waveforms or create your own, and support for up to eight channels means there’s plenty for creativity here.

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Should Microsoft release a branded tablet?

Steve Ballmer annonces Windows for ARM

It's Microsoft mystery Monday, with some big announcement coming at 6:30 pm EDT. The current rumors all focus on tablets, with the most recent being a partnership with Barnes & Noble. Can you say Windows Nook? (However, after I posted, Barnes & Noble issued a non-participation statement).

There's a broader question: Should Microsoft release a branded tablet? I pose that to you on this fine day. I'm certainly perplexed. The big advantage to such an announcement is timing. Google is expected to debut its own branded Galaxy Nexus tablet at the I/O developer conference next week. Microsoft could steal Google's thunder by doing something first. But would it be, with Windows 8 still in development? Now it would be big if Microsoft said Windows RT is ready now and this tablet , whether made by Barnes & Noble or somebody else, ships imminently. Otherwise, why bother announce June 18, when OEM partners showed off Windows RT models earlier this month at Computex?

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Project management isn't just for big business

Clock

Project management software is usually thought of as being expensive, complex and mainly for big business. Which is a shame, because really the technology is just about documenting some complex task to help you better understand it. And that can be useful in all sorts of situations (as you’ll know if you’ve ever tried to organise a large wedding, say).

It doesn’t have to be that way, though. GanttProject is a compact open source project management tool which is free for anyone to try. Its main focus is ease of use, so previous experience isn’t essential (though it’ll definitely help). And the project is Java-based, running equally happily on Windows, OS X or Debian Linux.

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Using Internet Explorer is more taxing than you think

IE 7 tax

Australian-based online electronics store Kogan has fired off an ingenius web site press stunt. The retailer adds 6.8 percent extra -- the "Internet Explorer 7 Tax" -- to online purchases made using the browser. Note this is only for customers who use IE 7 browser, not version 8 or later.

In a day and age when web standards compliance is king, Kogan comes out swinging. The company states that taking the extra time to develop for IE7 hurts the bottom line -- not just for its operations but for customers. Kogan wants customers to use modern browsers that support web standards. Many older browsers don't support new standards and technology.

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KeyScrambler Personal protects Firefox and Internet Explorer from keyloggers

keyboard

The best way to protect yourself from malware is of course to prevent it ever reaching your PC, but if something does slip through your defences then this doesn’t have to be the end.

KeyScrambler Personal, for instance, will encrypt any keystrokes within Internet Explorer and Firefox. And as a result it’ll keep your logon and other details safe, even if a keylogger breaches your system.

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Windows 8 is like a bad blind date

Windows 8 Release Preview

She's stunning, sexy and sultry. But you can't live with her.

Every day for the last three weeks, I sat down to write this analysis but couldn't bring myself to. I resisted for not having used Windows 8 as much as its predecessors -- typically from public beta to release candidate before offering hard opinion. In October, I requested one of the Samsung tablets handed out to BUILD attendees but Microsoft wouldn't provide one. After several more requests, I got one in April and May for about a month's use and was shocked -- and not "wow, it's good". Windows 8 demos much better than my actual user experience. I blamed myself. Surely the problem is mine -- that Microsoft wouldn't unleash UX worse than Windows Vista. But as I see other users/reviewers sharing similar experience, time has come to break my silence. I wouldn't recommend Windows 8, in its current form, to anyone.

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Add .NET Framework Repair Tool to your kit

laptop hand wrench tool

Microsoft has released the .NET Framework Repair Tool, a compact and portable executable file that aims to detect and resolve some common .NET Framework problems.

The program focuses mainly on issues relating to installation or updates. If its tests don’t reveal anything obvious in this area, though, it can also apply a couple of generic solutions: specifically, stopping, re-registering and restarting the Windows Installer service. And as a result, the Repair Tool may also help to resolve a variety of other Windows Installer-related problems.

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Is there an IT labor shortage in the USA that can only be solved with more H1B visas?

hands shaking computer monitors

My recent series of columns on troubles at IBM brought me many sad stories from customers burned by Big Blue. I could write column after column just on that, but it wouldn’t be any fun so I haven’t. Only now a truly teachable lesson has emerged from a couple of these horror tales and it has to do with US IT labor economics and immigration policy. In short the IT service sector has been shoveling a lot of horseshit about H1B visas.

The story about H1B visas is simple. H1B’s are given for foreign workers to fill US positions that can’t be filled with qualified US citizens or by permanent US residents who hold green cards. H1Bs came into existence because there weren’t enough green cards and now we’re told there aren’t enough H1B’s, either. So there’s a move right now in Washington to increase the H1B limit above the current level of approximately 65,000 because we are told the alternative is IT paralysis without more foreign workers.

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Rev up this week's 20 exciting software downloads

20 twenty

There are a number of worthy highlights this week, including the long awaited Opera 12 release, iTunes support for iOS 6 devices and a relatively major update to Skype for Windows and Mac.

The major release this week must be Opera 12. After months of beta-testing, the browser is finally available, along with an interesting twist, in the form of the first native 64-bit build. Whether a 64-bit version of a web browser makes a huge difference is another matter entirely. Opera 12 ships with numerous speed improvements, including basic support for hardware acceleration. It’s not all good news though as gone are the widgets and other features such as Opera Voice. Download Opera 12Opera 12 (64-bit) and the separate Opera Portable 12, which you can take on the road.

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That Facebook account verification email in your inbox is a scam

Facebook Scam

If the scary email or app notification, and subsequent webpage, is to be believed, you have only a few days to verify your Facebook account or you’ll be out of luck. But don’t worry, a few days later you will magically get a few more days to verify, and so the scam goes.

A Twitter follower with the handle of @chasapple sent us a tip on an app message they received, here’s a screenshot of what happens if you clicked the link.

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Ethiopian government outlaws VOIP, 15-year prison sentences possible

Ethiopian Flag Censored

Troubling news is coming out of East Africa this week. International media site Al Jazeera has just picked up that on May 24th 2012, Ethiopia ratified new legislation called the 'Ethiopian Telecom Service Infringement Law'. The Legislation criminalizes any third-party Internet services not run by the state controlled telecom monopoly, Ethio Telecom, with Skype being a focus. However, the ban affects other services, such as Google Talk.

The new telecom law is meant to impede Internet telephony, with reported punishments of heavy fines and 8 to 15 years in prison if caught. The legislation prohibits all network telephony traffic, along with audio and video data traffic via social media, reports the The Africa Review.

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Microsoft, Symantec team on future disaster recovery solutions for Azure

cloud padlock

Customers of Microsoft's Windows Azure platform will gain disaster recovery features thanks to a partnership with Symantec announced this week. The offering is the first such service for the Azure platform, the two companies say.

While the effort was announced this week during Microsoft's annual TechEd conference in Orlando, Microsoft says the actual service itself will not be available until sometime next year, and is a move that makes sense for Symantec at this point.

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Nokia layoffs = Benefit for US, Sweden. Problem?

Microsoft Business Division President Stephen Elop and Nokia Executive Vice President Kai Öistämö

Last year, when Microsoft announced it was partnering with Nokia in Windows Phone development, it was widely expected to result in significant staff cutbacks in Nokia's research and development department. In fact, it was part of the agreement. Both Nokia and Microsoft said there would be an R&D handoff. Finland's Minister for Economic Affairs, Mauri Pekkarinen went so far as to say it would result in the biggest structural change that Finland has ever seen in the new technology sector.

Yesterday, Nokia CEO Steven Elop announced major R&D cutbacks...these 10,000 layoffs should have surprised no one.

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Will Microsoft's mystery product be 'clap on, clap off' for mobile?

clap

Cue up the rumormill for anyone's guess what Microsoft will announce at 6:30 pm EDT on Monday. I'll throw out one, inspired by software developer Robert Johnson, who occasionally writes for BetaNews (and we wish it was more often).

"If Mashable is correct and Microsoft really is gonna announce a self-manufactured tablet then it could possibly be a further refinement of the laptop that was rumored a few months ago", he speculated. "Remember how there were reports of people who had seen a device made by Asus that contained Kinect cameras?" Yes I do, and replied: "Kinect mobile has limited applications, but they're big for key enterprise markets, such as healthcare. Otherwise what have you got? 'Clap on, clap off' for PCs".

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