Articles about Cloud

With all of the cloud and social apps these days, our content becomes increasingly spread across vast reaches of the Internet. It is a modern-day problem that is less easy to solve than you may believe and accomplishing the feat has generated its own mini-industry within the tech world.

One service aiming to unify our vast web of data is Jolicloud, which uses its Jolidrive app to bring this sprawling mess together in a central location for customers to access. Now the service releases its iOS app, which is built for both iPhone and iPad and brings together much of your cloud-based life.

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Cloud storage locker Mega has turned a blind eye to the ever increasing popularity of mobile devices, offering no official app for Android or iOS (let alone BlackBerry or Windows Phone) to complement its security-oriented service. Now, though, Mega looks to finally fix the oversight.

The cloud storage locker just introduced its first mobile app called Mega which, at least at the moment, is only available for Android devices. The offering, according to the changelog, was "acquired by MEGA and is now being maintainted [sic] by MEGA contractors". Let's take a look at the features.

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Microsoft has released Skype 6.6 for Windows and Mac, which introduces minor updates to the company's popular chat service that "focus on quality by addressing user feedback and improving ease of use".

Version 6.6 concentrates on adopting consistent entry points for sending video messages across all platforms, plus implementing a number of platform-specific fixes.

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The date we dreaded has rolled around -- Google Reader is scheduled to be executed at day's end. Loyal followers must make hard decisions regarding where they wish to take their business. And, in the wake of the original Google announcement, that has become increasingly difficult.

There are big names in this game, with Feedly already an established player and both AOL and Digg entering the market afterwards. I am a Feedly user since the death warrant was served, but I am less than thrilled with the experience and feel forced to begin a search for a less obtrusive alternative.

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Perpetual release cycles. Windows 8.1. The unified Windows ecosystem. If there are any key takeaways to remember from Microsoft's cornerstone keynote at the Build 2013 conference, these three items would sum it up quite well. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer reminded thousands of developers on stage last week that the company isn't getting left in the dust and it has a solid plan going forward.

While most of the tech world was keenly focused solely on Build 2013 as the gateway to the first official peek at Windows 8.1, Ballmer's keynote had a few other important messages to deliver. The Windows update, formerly known as "Blue", may have stole the show but Microsoft had a grander agenda to piggyback at the developer conference.

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Welcome to the cloud. Microsoft hopes it is not a dark and ominous one. The company is in competition with Amazon, Dropbox and others to get your business in today's growing storage market and is trying to get the upper hand by tightly integrating its SkyDrive service into the latest builds of Windows and Office.

Now the company announces further integration with new Pro apps for both Windows 8 and iOS. "We are pleased to announce that the SkyDrive Pro apps for Windows 8 and iOS are now available in the Windows Store and Apple Store respectively for SharePoint Online users in Office 365. After signing in to your Office 365 account, you can access, view, and upload your documents from anywhere", says senior product manager Mark Kashman.

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During day two's keynote at the Microsoft Build 2013 developer conference, Server and Tools Business President Satya Nadella talked about the SaaS (Software as a Service) applications Microsoft runs.

In particular he focused on the scale and diversity of the company’s daily work in the cloud, while a "Battle Tested" slide displayed the all-important numbers for Xbox Live, Skype, Outlook.com, Office 365, SkyDrive and Bing.

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Day two's keynote at the Microsoft Build 2013 developer conference focused on the company's commitment to the Windows Azure mobile development program.

Azure Mobile Services and Azure Web Sites move from preview to general availability status. Mobile Services makes it easier for developers to build connected, scalable apps for Windows, Android and iOS, whilst Web Sites makes it simple to create and run webpages. There were also previews of new Azure technologies including Auto Scale, offering the ability to adjust capacity according to customers' needs. Plus a preview of enhancements for Azure Active Directory.

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In a keynote speech to the TechEd Europe conference in Madrid, Microsoft's Server and Tools Corporate VP Brad Anderson has announced the availability of preview versions of Windows Server 2012 R2, System Center 2012 R2 and SQL Server 2014.

Writing on the company’s blog Anderson says, "These products are going to have a massive impact on companies around the world -- and IT pros are going to see the traditional boundaries between datacenters vanish and a true hybrid cloud emerge".

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Microsoft has announced a tie up with Oracle that will allow customers to run Oracle software on Windows Server Hyper-V and in Windows Azure.

The partnership means that Oracle will certify and support its software -- including Java, Oracle Database and Oracle WebLogic Server -- on the Microsoft cloud platforms. The key elements of the deal are listed on Oracle's corporate blog.

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There's more to the rapidly-approaching Google Reader shutdown than the demise of a popular RSS feed aggregator. The service is used by numerous mobile apps on all major platforms, which will soon be unable to deliver the latest news to insatiable users unless developers embrace an alternative (that, hopefully, will not burst into flames due to a growing following).

For Nextgen Reader -- one of the most popular RSS feed delivery apps on Windows Phone 8, Windows 8 and Windows RT -- the alternative is Feedly. Its maker, Next Matters, announced the move in early-June, and, yesterday, launched an update that adds support for the service in the Windows Phone 8 app.

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Storing important files online is convenient, but it also poses a security risk. Even if your cloud service offers encryption, that won’t necessarily keep your data safe, as if someone manages to obtain your account password then they’ll probably be able to access whatever they like.

If you need real privacy, then, you might want to consider encrypting files before they’re uploaded. This adds a useful extra layer of protection which makes it far more difficult for an attacker to view your files. And it doesn’t have to involve any real extra work, either -- the open source CryptSync makes the process almost automatic.

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As enterprises adopt more cloud applications they’re becoming more reliant on data centers and systems which are outside their control. Performance management hasn't kept up with this trend as existing tools don't see what’s going on outside the corporate network and so can’t reflect the times when cloud apps are slow or down.

San Francisco based ThousandEyes has launched an answer to this problem with a tool that can recognize all of the layers involved and pinpoint where a problem lies. It can be set up as a Linux package or virtual appliance at multiple locations and is able to detect issues in real time.

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A new report from Symantec shows that many small and medium businesses (SMBs) feel that good IT systems can give them a competitive advantage. It seems that confidence in IT can boost business success.

Using results from a survey of almost 2,500 companies the report has established an SMB IT Confidence Index designed to measure how confidently enterprises approach computing and divide them into three tiers. Top tier companies are far more likely to use IT as a strategic business enabler (SBE). These more technically confident SMBs are prone to invest heavily in computing infrastructure and are more inclined to invest in new initiatives like mobile devices and the cloud.

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Popular cloud backup and storage tool Dropbox 2.2.4 FINAL has been released for Windows, Mac and Linux. The app, also available on iOS and Android, allows users to backup, sync and share data across a wide variety of devices via a central Dropbox folder.

Version 2.2 comes with a new notifications badge, a refactored core sync engine, improved memory usage, start-up performance improvements and Finder icon overlay enhancements.

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