Cloud

It’s no surprise that more and more organizations are using the cloud, but the latest State of the Cloud report from RightScale throws up some interesting trends.

The company surveyed 930 technical professionals across a broad cross-section of organizations about their adoption of cloud computing.

You can easily increase the amount of storage that's available with your OneDrive for free. Bonus space can be unlocked by referring the service to your friends and enabling the auto camera upload feature in the mobile apps. The most that you can get though is 20 GB. Those of us who have been using the service from the early days also get a loyalty bonus of 10 GB. But maybe that's still not enough.

As you may know, Microsoft has recently started to give Bing Rewards users the option to unlock a further 100 GB of free OneDrive storage. The catch? Only folks using the service in US have been welcome. However, now you can get the same treatment worldwide. Here's how.

If a workforce is engaged people will be happy and more productive in their jobs, so it's something that businesses are keen to promote. But a Gallup survey last year found that 87 percent of workers worldwide and 70 percent of employees in the US are either not engaged or are actively disengaged in their jobs.

In order to try to put this right Californian company Glint is launching a real-time cloud solution to help people succeed at work. It's based on attractive and user-friendly pulse surveys that take only two or three minutes to complete.

It feels as if everything is turning to a subscription or "... as-a-service" business model. Just last week I was told about an app that offers (and I kid you not) "Laundry-as-a-Service". To help you and I understand the trend and figure out how your business can take advantage of it I got in contact with Louis Hall, CEO of Cerillion.

In this interview Louis and I get to the bottom of how and why businesses can and should take advantage of the subscription model and exactly why it’s become so popular.

As more businesses want to take advantage of the insights that analysis of big data can offer there's greater demand for the cloud to allow direct access to stored data.

San Francisco-based big data platform specialist Datameer was the first big data analytics platform purpose built for Hadoop. Now the company is first to market with a big data analytics platform designed specifically for the cloud.

One of the most interesting aspects of the "Cloud Computing in 2015" infographic produced by QuoteColo is this: 94 percent of business managers state that security has improved after adopting cloud applications.

While reading this stat on an infographic is comforting, we want to explore the statistic more to discover why and how cloud applications have made businesses more secure. But before we can get into why cloud applications have made businesses more secure, we need to talk about the false illusion of porous cloud security.

Many of the things we do online require an ID and password, but typically whilst this makes things easier for the site it doesn't always do a lot to protect the user, who may be revealing more information than they need.

For example you may have to reveal your full date of birth and address to a video streaming service in order to verify your age and region, running a risk that the information may fall into the wrong hands.

Anywhere from two to three times a week, Cox sends offers to join Flex Watch, which would add $19.99 to my $59.99 Internet service. The cable company guarantees the price for 12 months—no contract—and would provide HD set-top box with access to local networks and some premium, subscription channels. Last year's offer: HBO and Starz. Last month's adds Encore. This week, Cox sweetens by tempting with Cinemax and Flix for just $5 more.

The HD box and local channel access doesn't tempt the slightest. Cox would have to rewire our setup to enable access from the living room, but I'm a believer in the "If it ain't broke don't fix it" approach to networking. I've got 120Mbps Internet pumping down to the bedroom, where there is no TV, and don't want to risk mucking up what we've got. But I am tempted to pay $19.99, or $24.99, for the subscription channels and stream to the tellie content in their apps—which I find offer better benefits. But does that cross the line? Is it still cord-cutting?

The growth in high-speed internet connectivity across Europe, the increasing adoption of cloud services, the consumerization of IT and the move towards mobile working are all trends that, in theory, play to the strengths of SMBs -- allowing them to compete more effectively.

The proliferation towards cloud-based services such as Skype, Google Drive and Salesforce is also making life easier for employees -- allowing staff to access content from anywhere and work collaboratively. However, research of 2,500 European office-based workers recently conducted by ZyXEL, has found that while SMBs are starting to make the most of new technologies and services, there are inconsistencies with the progress being made in each country.

Data security is a big concern for both individuals and businesses. This doesn't only apply to the public face of a business, but to exchange of information and collaboration between employees too.

Canadian company Witkit is launching a new platform that allows the creation of teams and groups within industries, companies, and departments to tackle projects and solve problems collectively, with the safety and security of knowing their data cannot be breached.

Shifting to mobile and cloud solutions has led to expectations that software projects should be delivered faster and more efficiently.

However, according to a recent Mendix survey 71 percent of development teams are unable to keep up with demand.

Microsoft has released its earnings report for Q2 FY2015 (that's Q4 CY2014 for everyone else), revealing figures that closely match analyst expectations. The software giant achieved $26.5 billion in revenue, with operating income coming in at $7.8 billion. Gross margin and diluted earnings per share were $16.3 billion and $0.71, respectively. However, in after-hours trading, Microsoft's shares dropped by $2, or 4.28 percent, to $45 per share.

Microsoft has delivered some good news through its earnings report concerning its Devices and Consumer part of the business. Surface revenue reached $1.1 billion at the end of the quarter, which translates to a healthy increase of 24 percent over Q2 FY2014. Lumia sales topped 10.5 million, which, again, is better than the same quarter from a year prior as well as the previous quarter, Q1 FY2015. And the list goes on.

It is fair to say that Windows Phone still needs quite a few major titles in Store before the so-called app-gap can be considered a thing of the past. Take cloud storage services for example. You can embrace OneDrive if you want to stick with Microsoft services, or, as an alternative, use Box. But neither Dropbox nor Google Drive are an option. Both are hugely popular services, and their availability can be a deal-breaker for prospective Windows Phone users.

The good news is that at least Dropbox's availability on Windows Phone is no longer an issue, as the cloud storage service just launched its app in Store. It's undeniably a major win for the tiled smartphone operating system, which has consistently been criticized for lacking an official Dropbox client.

Windows Phone is the last major mobile platform to receive an official Mega app, following Android, iOS and even BlackBerry. It took quite a long time for the offering to make its public debut in Store, as the cloud storage service, which launched two years ago, first mentioned details surrounding its development in mid-2013.

Expectations are high, also taking into account the fact that Mega currently sits in Windows Phone Store as version 2.0. What does it have to offer? Well, let's take a look at the features it has, and should have.

Increased reliance on systems and data means that downtime and loss of information is a greater problem than ever before.

Disaster recovery specialist Vision Solutions has launched the latest version of its annual State of Resilience report which highlights the trends and challenges for business and IT leaders.