Archives for May 2011

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Chatting Cars and Enterprise Software

Today’s big news is Salesforce Teaming up with Toyota to create a private social network where you can befriend your car and it will “tweet” you when it’s thirsty, need a checkup etc..etc..etc – see the details from @Krishnan’s post.  The opportunities are really endless – more on that later.   I have to get something off my chest first.

I admit when Chatter first came out, I did not get it.  Yeah, another activity stream, so what?  I’ve long agreed with Chief Curmudgeon Dennis Howlett that activity streams without business context offer little value in business.  Things started to get interesting when Chatter added the ability to follow documents, opportunities and other business objects.  Aha!  So now we’re getting business context in Chatter!  But why?

 

Continue reading here.

(Cross-posted @ CloudAve » Zoli Erdos)

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The LastNews (!) You Want to Hear is LastPass Hacked. Now What?

Password management service LastPass notified users their servers may have been hacked. I take a minute break, let it sink in.

Yes, this is the one (Last) uber-super secure system you trust with ALL your passwords.  Ouch.  But d

espite the hacking, LastPass says users who had a strong master password in the first place are still safe (and they are forcing users to change that master password now).

I’m not a security expert and don’t pretend to be one, so all you can get from me is some ramblings from a business user:

 

Most of us are at an even higher risk every day: statistics show that over 60% of Internet users

have a favorite set of login credentials …

(Cross-posted @ CloudAve » Zoli Erdos)

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Conspiracy Theory: the Vista-ization of Windows 7 has Started…

I simply don’t get it: Vista is barely out, nobody seems to like it, CIO’s refuse to upgrade, analyst firms tell them to wait, individual users who tried it switch back to XP, others time their new PC purchase so they can still get an XP machine – generally speaking Vista was as poorly received as the ill-fated Windows ME.

Apple is gaining market share, the major computer manufacturers are offering Linux PC’s, the Web OS concept is getting popular, applications are already on the Web – can anyone clearly see the shape of personal computing in 2012? (Yes, I know MS plans for 2010, I’m just adding the customary delay.) Will it still matter what OS we use to get on the Internet? How can Microsoft be so out of touch?

I was right and I was wrong.  Right in the assessment, that Vista’s main competitor was Microsoft’s own solid OS, WinXP – there was simply no reason to upgrade.  Yet as buying new computers with Good Ole Vista became increasingly difficult, many of us got stuck with Vista.  I was wrong in not foreseeing that Vista would turn out to be such a disaster, that millions of Vista victims would end up paying the ransom to get out of the trap and get the version of the OS that actually works: Windows 7.

What followed was two peaceful years when Windows computers simply worked.  Yes, They Just Worked. Almost like a Mac. Smile

Then the unexpected (?) happened…

(Cross-posted @ CloudAve » Zoli Erdos)

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KaaS: Kiss as a Service. Really. Really?

If you think the guy above is slurping down a milk-shake, you’re wrong.  Very, very wrong.   He is French kissing teaching his computer and a remote device to French kiss.    Here’s the formula of kissing digitized:

I can see unlimited prospects for a new Cloud-based Kiss as a Service, where you select your Kiss based on profiles.  Perhaps even sample them first.  iTunes will sell them for 99cents, until Amazon comes along with the 69c price:-)

OK, back to Earth. This is not a prank, it’s serious study conducted by researchers at the University of Electro-Communications in Tokyo.   How long will it take for them to get to Third Base?  (there’s nothing a straw hooked to a PC can’t do…).

But by then.. why bother… who needs feelings anyway?  Let the machines make digital love to each other. :-)

(Cross-posted @ CloudAve » Zoli Erdos)