Description: Called file hosting services, these online systems allow documents, images and files to be stored on distant servers rather than on a PC.
Source: NYTimes.com
Date: Jan 28, 2011
In the old days of computing, you could carry only as many files as you had floppy disks. Then came hard drives and thumb drives, allowing those so inclined to carry entire digital encyclopedias in their pockets. Finally, thanks to new services that store data in the cloud, yet another stage of storage evolution (maybe the final one) has been reached: the celestial hard drive, a storage medium that exists solely in the electronic ether.
Called file hosting services, these online systems allow documents, images and files to be stored on distant servers rather than on a PC. Most of these services store a local copy on your own PC or Mac, and many offer a special folder on your computer that will mirror your selected files on multiple computers. Other services are Internet-only and allow you to upload and share files with multiple users in a few minutes without resorting to dropping CDs in the mail. Read rest of story
Questions for discussion:
How helpful are these cloud storage services for work or for home?
What are some applications for business computing that you think would add value to a firm’s technology infrastructure?
Description: Most everybody posts online these days. But in an age of conspicuous opinionation, how does an employer know when an employee has crossed the line?
Source: Globe & Mail.com
Date: Jan 31, 2011
The boundaries between work life and home life are dissolving, just as the difference between public and private communication is becoming fuzzier than ever.
This new reality poses a quandary for employers: On the one hand, free speech is free speech, and the ability to speak in the online medium is a right that few employees want to see circumscribed. On the other, employees act as de facto ambassadors for their company in cyberspace, whether they mean to or not. What can employers do to protect their brand online, and where is the line between free speech and troublesome text? Read rest of story
Questions for discussion:
How does an employer know when an employee has crossed the line in online communication?
What can employers do to protect their brand online, and where is the line between free speech and troublesome text?
What can a business do when offending material turns up online that impacts a business?
Description: The Harper government is stepping into a contentious debate over just how much Canadians should pay for Internet service, as Industry Minister Tony Clement says he will review a federal regulator’s decision that will raise prices for consumers and businesses
Source: Globe & Mail.com
Date: Feb 1, 2011
As people access increasing numbers of documents, video, software and other large files through the Internet, major communications providers such as Shaw Communications Inc. and BCE Inc.’s Bell Canada unit have begun to regulate how much their customers can download – charging them extra when they exceed monthly limits. Many consumers have responded by turning to smaller Internet providers that lease space on networks such as Bell’s and offer popular “unlimited” plans without such caps. Read rest of story
Questions for discussion:
If you were an ISP provider, what arguments would you make that Canada’s rates should be higher than the rest of North America and the world?
As a small business what arguments would you make that Canada finds itself at a competitive disadvantage as a result of these high, almost monopolistics rates that we as Canadians pay?
Description: CNN’s Josh Levs talks about how technology plays a part in protests around the world
Source: CNN.com
Date: Jan 29, 2011
Last week, as demonstrators angry with the policies of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak took to the streets, the government shut down social-media websites, then blacked out all internet access in much of the country.
On Tuesday, as protesters began what’s being called a “march of millions,” which many observers say could be a decisive day in the effort to oust Mubarak, there were fresh reports of the internet being shut off in much of Egypt. Read rest of story
Questions for discussion:
Does the digital age age make it difficult for govermant to control the massage or environment?
What should goverments do to conteract the influence of the internet in cival disobeience?
Description: After another year of plunging music sales, record company executives are starting to contemplate the unthinkable: The digital music business, held out as the future of the industry, may already be as big as it is going to get.
Source: Informationweek
Date: Jan 23 , 2011
In each of the past two years, the rate of increase in digital revenue has approximately halved. If that trend continues, digital sales could top out at less than $5 billion this year, about a third of the overall music market but many billions of dollars short of the amount needed to replace long-gone sales of compact discs.
“Music’s first digital decade is behind us and what do we have?” said Mark Mulligan, an analyst at Forrester Research. “Not a lot of progress.”
“We are at one of the most worrying stages yet for the industry,” he continued. “As things stand now, digital music has failed.”
Music executives disagree, saying there is hope, as long as they can come to grips with piracy, which according to the industry federation accounts for the vast majority of music distributed online Read rest of story
Questions for discussion:
Is the music industry as big as it is going to grow at this point? Why>? or Why not?
What is the biggest impediment to this business growing? Are they using the correct business model?
Where do you see the future of the industry in ten years?
Description: Two years after winning a contract to provide IT services to Hertz, IBM has moved much of that work from the debt-laden car rental giant’s technology center in Oklahoma City to India.
Source: Informationweek
Date: Jan 24 , 2011
About 50 former IBM employees who worked on the Hertz contract in Oklahoma are now seeking assistance under the federal government’s Trade Adjustment Assistance program, according to documents obtained by InformationWeek.
“All production support/technical support for IBM on the Hertz account has been moved to India,” states an application for TAA assistance filed with the Department of Labor on behalf of IBM’s Hertz contract workers on Nov. 12, 2010. The application specifies the total number of workers affected as 50. Read rest of story
Questions for discussion:
Do you feel IS outsourcing is a good policy for Hertz? Why? or Why not?
Do companies need to make theses offshoring decisons with shareholders as the number one stakeholder in mind?
Does this decison to offshore satisfy the shareholders?
Description: New research ranks the countries with the fastest Internet connections, and all 50 U.S. states too.
Source: Fortune.com
Date: Jan 24 , 2011
The speed at which people around the world connect to the Internet is climbing at a 14% annual clip and now averages nearly 2 megabits per second, according Akamai’s “State of the Internet” report that is due out tomorrow.
There remain huge variations around that average speed. South Koreans hook into the Internet at 14 megabits a second, seven times the global average, earning them the top spot on Akamai’s list: Read rest of story
Questions for discussion:
As you look at the list of fastest internet connections, what is the biggest surprize to you? Why?
Why is Canada not near the top of the list?
Should this be a public policy goal of the Canadian Governement? Why? or Why not?
Description: Apple’s iPhone App Store launched in July 2008. In just over two and a half years, iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad users have downloaded 10,000,000,000 applications for their iOS devices.
Source: Informationweek.com
Date: Jan 24 , 2011
“With more than … seven billion apps [downloaded] in the last year alone — the App Store has surpassed our wildest dreams,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide product marketing in a prepared statement. “The App Store has revolutionized how software is created, distributed, discovered, and sold. While others try to copy the App Store, it continues to offer developers and customers the most innovative experience on the planet.”
Apple says that the App Store has more than 350,000 applications buried inside it, with more than 60,000 dedicated to just the iPad. But what of the App Store’s competitors? Google, Research In Motion, Palm/HP, and Microsoft each run their own app stores for their respective smartphone platforms. Do any of them have even the slightest hope of matching Apple’s achievements? Read rest of story
Questions for discussion:
Google, Research In Motion, Palm/HP, and Microsoft each run their own app stores for their respective smart-phone platforms. Do any of them have even the slightest hope of matching Apple’s achievements?
What makes Apple apps different than their competitors? Is this a sustainable competitive advantage?
Description: Hoping to take a bite out of Salesforce.com’s fast growth, Microsoft announced aggressive promotional pricing of $34 per user, per month. That’s well below the cost of Salesforce.com
Source: Informationweek.com
Date: Jan 18 , 2011
We give you full sales, service and marketing functionality in our standard service where Salesforce.com does not offer marketing functionality or real-time intelligence unless you use the Enterprise edition,” explained Bill Patterson, director, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, noting that Dynamics dashboards are continuously refreshed whereas Salesforce.com requires users to hit refresh, something they can do only twice per hour without incurring additional charges.
Salesforce counters that few customers need more than a couple of status updates per hour, and Dynamics CRM and Salesforce.com “aren’t even close to comparable,” said an executive who described the latter as far more social, open and mobile.
“Our Chatter collaboration layer gives users a whole new social way to interact with the application, and that’s something Microsoft isn’t even close to delivering,” said Scott Holden, senior director of product marketing at Salesforce.com. “We also have mobile capabilities running on all the major platforms, including iPhone/iPad, Android and Blackberry. Microsoft is closed off in that respect, so you get what you pay for.” Read rest of story
Questions for discussion:
Which of Porter’s generic strategies is Microsoft trying to utilize to compete with the industry leader Salesforce.com?
Which of Porter’s generic strategies is the industry leader Salesforce.com employing ?
Do you feel MS strategy will be successful in this market? Why? Why not?
