Cloud

Surely it can't be this one, but that's what StatCounter's weekly report would have you believe. Can it be true? Has IE really fallen so low and Chrome come so far? That's my question for you, as we revive our browser usage poll.

For the week May 14-20, IE global usage share is 31.94 percent compared to 32.76 percent for Chrome. This change in leadership comes after a May 1 methodology adjustment that should penalize Chrome. Google's browser pre-renders pages to speed up search, but not all are viewed. StatCounter now adjusts for them. I must say that StatCounter's data dramatically differs from Net Applications', which on May 1 put Chrome third to Firefox and IE usage about three times more.

Halfway through May and the software release schedule shows no sign of abating, and beta releases stand out over the past week. Some of the biggest releases come from security experts Norton, which updated 2013 public betas. Norton AntiVirus 2013 v20.0.0.106 beta, Norton Internet Security 2013 v20.0.0.106 beta and Norton 360 2013 v20.0.0.106 beta provide an early look at what to expect from the upcoming security line, and all of these tools are free during the beta testing period.

But Norton is far from the only name in the security world, and ESET Smart Security 6 Beta (32-bit) includes not only antivirus protection but a firewall and interesting anti-theft features for laptop users; there’s also a 64-bit version of the program available -- ESET Smart Security 6 Beta (64-bit).

Ahead of Facebook's Friday IPO, NPD released usage data for Android smartphones. Unsurprisingly, user reach is quite high. In looking over the data, I honed in on Google+, which makes a surprising showing for a social network not even a year old. But behind early adoption is a lesson for Google and Android developers about the app vs browser.

First, the data NPD highlights: Nearly 75 percent of Android users accessed Facebook, via app or browser, in March. But, separately for both, reach declined from February to March. However, the overall trend for the app is up. By comparison, Twitter: 23 percent web, 16 percent app. Google+ reach is 16 percent web, with the app swinging between 10 percent and 15 percent. For all three social networks, web reach exceeds the app.

Stated differently: Will you invest in Facebook? The third-largest IPO in history begins today. Facebook set a price of $38 share, which values the social network at about $104 billion. Twenty-eight year-old cofounder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg will be super wealthy, if Facebook gets its price (and likely much more) as I post ahead of the market's open.

Facebook makes available 421.2 million shares. Zuckerberg maintains voting majority, 503.6 million, which at $38 is $19.1 billion, making him the 29th richest person -- wealthier than Google's cofounders.

Comcast said Thursday it plans to make changes to its pricing structure to start billing for the amount of data customers use, versus the capped method in place today. The cable company will test two different pricing structures in some markets, while hard enforcement of the 250GB cap put into place in 2008 would end.

Both piloted pricing structures give users 300GB of data at a flat rate. Where they differ is in how this allotment is treated: one solution places this cap across all of Comcast's tiers, while the other carries the 300GB allotment for the Internet Essentials, Economy, and Performance tier and higher allotments for faster tiers above that.

Earthlink this week strengthened its cloud services offerings, debuting a hosted desktop solution that allows customers access regardless of device and via both the Internet and secure MPLS connections. Over 250 applications are supported, and customers may also install their own custom applications.

Since the middle of last year, EarthLink has been transforming its business from an ISP to cloud services provider. In July, the company promoted Brian Fink to executive vice president of managed and cloud services. Fink brought with him two decades of experience in managed services. Since then, the company has continued to make some high profile cloud hires, including the appointment Thursday of former Concentric Cloud president Michael Toplisek to vice president of IT services.

If you're worried about data loss, turn to the cloud. That's what a new survey commissioned by CA suggests. Fifty-five percent of all US businesses expect usage of the cloud to increase to meet continuity objectives. That's an important statistic considering every one of the 300 businesses participating in the study experienced some type of data loss event in the past year.

Among the most common reasons for data loss are IT system failures (76 percent); human error (41 percent); and external threats and attacks (35 percent). An earlier CA study suggests that data loss events cost companies an average $160,000 every year.

You've heard of Platform-as-a-Service, and Infrastructure-as-a-Service; maybe even Gaming-as-a-Service, too, from BetaNews' reporting on Tuesday. Get ready for the latest X-as-a-Service, thanks to a new Commerce-as-a-Service (CaaS) initiative from NetSuite.

The company debuted the initiative on Wednesday, saying CaaS will help partners manage both business-to-business and business-to-consumer transactions regardless of device.

GPUs first revolutionized visual computing, and now may revolutionize cloud computing as well. Nvidia introduced its GPUs for the cloud Tuesday at the annual GPU Technology Conference, an innovation it calls the third important milestone for the industry since the introduction of the GPU in 1993.

Nvidia's cloud GPUs are based on the company's Kepler architecture and has been in development for the past five years. The virtualization capabilities of Kepler make it ideal for use in large datacenters, and allows it to be shared by multiple users at the same time. Lag is reduced by built-in streaming capabilities, and Nvidia claims power efficiency and processing density enhancements will keep costs down.

Red Hat celebrated the 10th anniversary of its flagship Enterprise Linux product, but reaffirmed the decision to shift focus to cloud computing, pledging that open-source roots would be key to success in the new business venture.

The company plans to release Enterprise Linux 7 in in late 2013, but offered little during a Tuesday press conference on what to expect. What may play a large part in the new release is a focus on the cloud. For all intents and purposes, Red Hat believes Linux is in the past and the cloud is the future.

Less than a week after announcing a major Desktop-as-a-Service product in Simplified DaaS, Dell said Tuesday it would offer methods to securely sync sensitive data across disparate cloud services. Called Integration Packs, Dell initially is offering synchronization services between Salesforce CRM and the software version of QuickBooks.

An integration pack for synchronization between the online version of QuickBooks and Salesforce CRM and Microsoft Dynamics and Salesforce CRM is due in June. All three packs have a $65 monthly service charge, Dell says.

Google just pumped out another stable release of its web browser as Chrome 19 sees the light of day. It seems as though new browser releases are becoming an almost daily occurrence these days, so what can you expect from Google’s latest offering? Well the big new feature to be found in this release is tab syncing -- and this is as self-explanatory and awesome as it sounds.

In many regards Chrome is playing catch-up with Firefox here, as Mozilla’s web browser has featured the ability synchronize tabs for some time now. Chrome 19 takes very much the same approach so that whenever you are signed into your Google account any tabs you have open are automatically synced to the cloud. When you switch computers you can then access any tabs you had open on another machine by accessing the Other devices menu of the new tab page.

VMware is known for its work in virtualization. The company aims to change that, and announced on Tuesday a new product to assist in the automation, deployment and management of complex applications on its cloud infrastructure. vFabric Suite 5.1 is a new product that takes code acquired through VMware's acquisition of SpringSource and adds additional functionality to make it more attractive to developers.

Application deployment automation, PostgreSQL and SQLFire support, and enterprise support have been added to the SpringSource code. VMware says that the service will help provide developers with the core application services they need to run Java Spring applications either on-site or in the cloud.

SAP aims to show that it is a serious player in the cloud computing sector today, announcing several new cloud initiatives under what it calls an "accelerated" strategy. The company's deeper commitment to the cloud stems from its $3.4 billion merger with human capital management service provider SuccessFactors several months back.

Former SuccessFactors CEO Lars Dalgaard is now head of SAP's cloud unit, and he is tasked with turning the company's cloud business around. At the Sapphire Now Conference -- SAP's annual gathering in Orlando -- Dalgaard is showing off a line of solutions arranged around four different themes: people, money, customers and suppliers.

Apple execs all follow the same party line: They don't talk about forthcoming products. But somebody often does, perhaps coordinated with public relations folks or even careful disclosure from someone on Apple's board. Whom isn't so much important as someone does. As I've observed for years, leaks' timings are fairly consistent -- either to lift the share price or steal some other company's thunderous announcement. I can't help but see both in several seemingly strategic leaks, starting with today's disclosure about iOS 6 features.

The Wall Street Journal reports that iCloud will get new photo- and video-sharing capabilities, which include comments and availability outside Photo Stream -- meaning people don't have to own a fruit-logo product to view them. Apple reportedly is extending photo capabilities, while adding video-sharing as feature set. Today's leak follows another -- this one from 9to5 Mac, claiming Apple will dump Google Maps for its own service in iOS 6. Both leaks communicate that Apple is serious about social cloud services and search, and I don't believe they're coincidentally timed, given Facebook's imminent IPO.