Oracle on Tuesday updated its enterprise performance management suite, including Oracle Business Intelligence (OBI) version 11.1.1.5, OBI Applications version 7.9.6.3, and Oracle Real-Time Decisions. Among the improvements to the platform with this release, Oracle has extended online analytical processing (OLAP) and in-memory platform support, improved real-time decision management, added new certifications, and has made it all available to iPad and iPhone users out of the box.

Oracle's eleventh generation of Business Intelligence middleware has expanded in two major ways: improved mobile access and usability and improved support for new data sources.

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OneUp Industries, a company launched by the author of such notable Stardock applications as Fences and ObjectDock, has released a public beta of its first software offering. Bins 0.95 is a Windows 7-only application that allows the user to group taskbar icons into convenient folders, or "bins" (hence the title). It's based on a similar feature that's found in Mac OS X, which supports "stacking" of dock icons in a similar way.

Once installed, Bins sits unobtrusively in the background; the user simply drags one icon onto a related icon and places it in the pop-up balloon that appears above the primary icon to group them together. Additional related programs can be grouped in the same way. Icons can be rearranged by dragging and dropping: the left-most icon becomes the primary icon and, until the next beta release, only the primary icon supports jumplists.

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Apple released new, quad-core iMacs on May 3, indicating continued commitment to desktop computers, even as their sales as a percentage of revenue steadily declines.

The new models are substantial upgrades inside: Intel i5 quad-core processors across the line, switch to AMD graphics and addition of Thunderbolt i/o ports. The previous generation featured i3 dual-core processors (and one model i5 quad-core), nVidia graphics and FireWire and USB 2.0 ports (no Thunderbolt). As with previous iMacs, consumers can choose from 21.5-inch and 27-inch -- priced between $1,119 and $1,999.

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Adobe rolled out the Creative Suite 5.5 family of products on Tuesday, which focuses on development and content creation for the mobile and tablet realm, and introduces a new subscription-based pricing model for the software suite.

Though there were no major version updates to Creative Suite's flagship imaging products Photoshop and Illustrator, CS5.5 introduces new versions of InDesign, Dreamweaver, Audition, Flash Professional, Flash Catalyst, Flex Builder and Device Central. This update, therefore, is specifically targeted at Web and mobile app developers and designers above design professionals.

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You'll have to look real hard to find IE9 in NetApplications April browser user share data. IE9 doesn't even make NetApp's browser-version breakdown chart for all operating systems, although its usage share was 2.41 percent. By comparison, Firefox 4.0, which launched 7 days later, snatched 5.43 percent usage share. Both browsers debuted in March.

The kicker: Windows 7. Microsoft only released IE9 for that operating system and Windows Vista. By comparison, Firefox 4 runs on XP, which is still the majority of the Windows install base. Whoops, Firefox 4 has higher usage share there, too -- 8.40 percent to IE9's 7.46 percent. But don't cry for Microsoft. IE8 has 47.54 percent usage share.

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Sony disclosed on Monday that the continuing investigation into the hack of the PlayStation Network had turned up new problems: its Sony Online Entertainment multiplayer game service was also hacked, and credit card data and bank information obtained.

Monday's news just adds insult to injury for the Japanese company: at a press conference on Sunday PlayStation chief Kaz Hirai disclosed that the credit card details of nearly 10 million PSN users may have been compromised, and today the company admitted that the "encryption" of the credit card data it claimed existed earlier was nothing more than a weak hash algorithm.

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Mac users are once again being warned about malware targeting the operating system, although its spread looks limited and requires interaction by the user in order to be installed. Called "MACDefender," the malware is currently being spread by malicious websites claiming the user's computer is infected.

JavaScript in the page's coding downloads a zip file automatically, which if a user has the option within Safari to automatically open 'safe' files after downloading would decompress and open the installer. The user then must proceed through the installation process which will place a Trojan horse on the user's computer.

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There will be many postmortems written this week about social media's role disseminating news that U.S. special forces killed terrorist Osama bin Laden. For Betanews readers, I'd like to start the process informally, by simply asking how you heard the news. Please answer in comments and take the poll below.

I also think the discussion may be cathartic for some of you. The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that brought down the Twin Towers and destroyed part of the Pentagon were a national trauma. For many people, the death of bin Laden, architect of those attacks, is a moment of national jubilation -- of closure. The spontaneous crowds that gathered on Pennsylvania Ave. outside the White House or Ground Zero in New York overnight show the national euphoria and relief.

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Gathering information online used to mean saving folders full of images or copying and pasting text into a word processing documents, but then web clipping services such as Evernote made it easier than ever to collect together information and organize it however you wanted. Evernote is an undoubtedly powerful tool, but for many people its features may be a little over the top and the interface somewhat overwhelming. Memonic is an alternative tool that keeps things simple and yet retains the most useful note management features.

The service can be used via the Memonics web site, using a Windows program, with browser extensions or by making use of an iOS app. Almost anything you encounter online, from text to images, can be clipped and saved to your notes and organized in a variety of ways in a customisable and searchable database.

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Wuala, the online backup arm of hard-drive manufacturer LaCie, has announced the immediate availability of Wuala for Android, an app for accessing Wuala storage accounts on the Android platform.

Following hot on the heels of Wuala for iPhone and iPad, the Android app allows users to both access files already backed up to their Wuala account, plus upload files to their backup space from the phone. This latter functionality is currently exclusive to the Android app -- iPhone/iPad users can only access existing backups, not add new files from the iOS device.

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The free backup utility EASEUS Todo Backup Home has been updated to version 2.5, seeing the addition of a number of important new features. What started life as a fairly simple disk imaging tool has gradually evolved into a complete backup solution suitable for use by experts and beginners alike. As backing up data is a task that no one can claim to enjoy, anything that helps to simplify the process is to be welcomed, and Todo Backup Home may be just the tool you have been looking for.

Version 2 of the program saw a move to image-only backups to file and folder based backups, and added the option to add to backup incrementally to help speed things up. We took a look at this version of Todo Backup at the end of 2010. New in version 2.5 is the ability to create incremental backups of not only files and folders, but also entire disk and partition backups.

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Today, Sony issued an official statement about the resumption of PlayStation Network services, starting soon. The company also revealed plans to compensate subscribers with some freebees as part of the "Welcome Back" program, which include 30 days free PlayStation Plus and Qriocity music streaming services. Sony will reveal further details about the freebees on a region-by-region basis.

I attempted to log into PSN early this afternoon Eastern Time, and the service was still down. However, instead of the immediate appearance of the "PlaySation is currently undergoing maintenance" screen, about 10 seconds passed first. That could be sign of nothing, but it's the most response I've seen from PSN in about 12 days.

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It's time to publicly pose the question that many of PSN's 77 million subscribers must be asking privately. Should they just give up and buy Xbox 360 and subscribe to Xbox Live, possibly giving up hundreds, even thousands of dollars, in games and peripherals? As the outage goes on -- 10 days now -- and the news grow grimmer, it's not unreasonable to wonder when enough is enough.

Hackers broke into PSN between April 17-19 and stole massive amounts of personally-identifying user data. On April 20, Sony voluntarily took down the network, after discovering the hack. The action may have helped prevent further data losses and allowed Sony, third-party security investigators and law enforcement to begin a forensic analysis of the hack. Meanwhile, Sony works to restore the service with improved security.

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In November 2009, I purchased my first Xbox 360. A year later I bought the Kinect bundle, and I have been more than pleased with my purchase. Recently, PlayStation Network outages got me to reflect about my decision to choose Microsoft's game console -- to appreciate how important Xbox 360 and Xbox Live are to my TV watching habits.

It's by no means picture-perfect entertainment, but awfully good. Here, I share what three things make Xbox and Xbox Live a central element in my living room, and what three things I think Microsoft should change.

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After a quiet start to the week, today saw a rush of new releases and updates to popular software. This week Google Chrome 11 FINAL was introduced to the stable channel. The primary new feature is the addition of speech support, plus a brand new flatter icon. Exciting times. Still, it's good to see healthy competition between the four primary web browsers.

Paragon Software released Hard Disk Manager 11 Professional, and it's our disk management and maintenance suite of choice. Everything you need to backup, copy, partition, restore or manage your drive or disk partition. There's also cheaper Hard Disk Manager 2011 Suite. If you only need to backup your files, EASEUS ToDo Backup 2.5 is a simple free backup tool.

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