The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is a nice recording of Thelonious Monk's "Brilliant Corners." Yeah I know music is just math with sound, and this is supposed to be one of the greatest jazz compositions ever, or something like that, but Monk's composing has never really grabbed me the way other jazz composers' work has, mainly because it strikes me as overly mathematically precise. Of course I'm almost a complete illiterate when it comes to jazz, I just knows what I likes, but that's how it looks to me:
Youcalc, which sells on-demand analytics apps for online marketing and on-demand CRM, has announced a series of analytics apps which it says are designed to reduce the time it takes analysts and administrators to "analyze sales force and call center activities."
"The term 'analytics' is used so loosely in the cloud communities that their popular definition can be confused with simple reporting," notes Rasmus Madsen, CEO of youcalc correctly.
Youcalc, which sells on-demand analytics apps for online marketing and on-demand CRM, has announced a series of analytics apps which it says are designed to reduce the time it takes analysts and administrators to "analyze sales force and call center activities."
"The term 'analytics' is used so loosely in the cloud communities that their popular definition can be confused with simple reporting," notes Rasmus Madsen, CEO of youcalc correctly.
The real difference between reporting and analytics, Madsen says, since you were wondering, is that while reporting is basically views of data already in the system -- "total sales by region," et al -- analytics lets you play around with the reportage, crunching the data and generating calculated metrics -- "lead conversion ratios," "funnel conversion ratios," et al. What the Salesforce.com analytics apps from youcalc are supposed to do are let you perform custom analysis on the data in your Salesforce.com database, and in the words of company officials, "generate new insight in a fraction of the time it would take to use traditional reporting tools."
It also comes with funky animated 3D Flash chart graphics.
Youcalc currently has more than 25 Salesforce.com analytics apps and promises more are on the way.
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Acteva, a vendor working the online event registration, ticketing and payment management side of the street, has announced its participation in the Salesforce.com Foundation's "Power of Us" Partner Program.
Acteva, a vendor working the online event registration, ticketing and payment management side of the street, has announced its participation in the Salesforce.com Foundation's "Power of Us" Partner Program.
The objective of this corporate philanthropy program is to provide Salesforce.com partners with a model to make contributions to their communities through a donation of time, equity, and products to nonprofits who need their expertise.
Acteva's participation will include donating its RSVP tracking for Salesforce CRM. This functionality lets Salesforce.com's nonprofit customers take registrations and track RSVPs for all types of free events, including meetings, workshops, trainings, seminars, retreats, volunteer programs, parties and what have you.
Acteva's participation will include donating its RSVP tracking for Salesforce CRM. This functionality lets Salesforce.com's nonprofit customers take registrations and track RSVPs for all types of free events, including meetings, workshops, trainings, seminars, retreats, volunteer programs, parties and what have you.
Some nonprofits, such as the National Council on Aging, are already using ActevaRSVP and Salesforce CRM to create and send event invitations to their database, capture event registrations online and update Salesforce campaigns. "NCOA works with thousands of organizations across the country to help seniors find jobs and benefits, improve their health, live independently and remain active in their communities. Our knowledge base of individuals' interests and event attendance grows automatically with each event and is accessible for future campaigns," said Stuart Spector, Senior Vice President, NCOA.
Acteva has developed two special nonprofit editions of ActevaRSVP to address the event registration needs of the Salesforce.com nonprofit community. The ActevaRSVP Nonprofit StarterPack Edition costs $149.00 for a full year of service and includes one organizer user, one event per month and up to 5,000 e-mails per month. The ActevaRSVP Nonprofit Enterprise Edition, a deeply discounted version of ActevaRSVP Enterprise, is $780.00 per year and includes up to five organizer users, an unlimited number of events per month, and up to 15,000 e-mails per month.
Acteva has developed two special nonprofit editions of ActevaRSVP to address the event registration needs of the Salesforce.com nonprofit community. The ActevaRSVP Nonprofit StarterPack Edition costs $149.00 for a full year of service and includes one organizer user, one event per month and up to 5,000 e-mails per month. The ActevaRSVP Nonprofit Enterprise Edition, a deeply discounted version of ActevaRSVP Enterprise, is $780.00 per year and includes up to five organizer users, an unlimited number of events per month, and up to 15,000 e-mails per month.
Both editions include unlimited event registrations and unlimited phone and e-mail support, according to Acteva officials.
Ed Lemire, Acteva's Executive Vice President, said "forty percent of our 14,000 customers are nonprofits and associations. We look forward to continuing this tradition of service alongside the Salesforce.com Foundation."
Salesforce.com Foundation's "Power of Us" Program partner program is designed to increase the number of companies committed to a similar model of corporate social responsibility. The Salesforce.com Foundation mentors companies to successfully incorporate Salesforce.com's 1/1/1 integrated corporate philanthropy model -- 1 percent time, equity, or product -- so that they too can "do well, while doing good."
Ed Lemire, Acteva's Executive Vice President, said "forty percent of our 14,000 customers are nonprofits and associations. We look forward to continuing this tradition of service alongside the Salesforce.com Foundation."
Salesforce.com Foundation's "Power of Us" Program partner program is designed to increase the number of companies committed to a similar model of corporate social responsibility. The Salesforce.com Foundation mentors companies to successfully incorporate Salesforce.com's 1/1/1 integrated corporate philanthropy model -- 1 percent time, equity, or product -- so that they too can "do well, while doing good."
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ManageEngine, makers of a suite of network, systems, applications and security management software products, has announced beta availability of ManageEngine IT360, an integrated business service management product, aligning infrastructure management with business operations.
IT managers are generally in favor of the goal of BSM (mapping infrastructure components to the business services they support), but the expensive software, implementations and staff trainings -- left many feeling BSM was out of reach. ManageEngine IT360 is "designed to offer the benefits of BSM," company officials say, "starting with the business-centric views illustrating the way in which business services are affected when IT resources are underperforming or unavailable," but "without the cost or the headaches."
The ManageEngine IT360's Web-based console is supposed to let IT administrators prioritize problem resolution for network, systems and applications based on the affected business operation. For example, with an understanding of a network segment's support for customer-facing applications, that segment might be assigned greater bandwidth. Or, a problem with an application could be automatically flagged to the service desk with a higher priority. Or it could help application administrators meet their Service Level Agreements.
The product includes an integrated ITIL-ready Service Desk, which has automated trouble ticketing, complete with incident management, problem management, change management, a knowledge base, and more. The idea behind this is simply reducing the complexity of workflows in production, making it easier for IT administrators to run effective operations.
"The reality on the ground today is that most IT teams have their hands full managing the technology side of the business," says Girish Mathrubootham, vice president, ManageEngine, adding that "most competing systems have only business level dashboards, and try to integrate into other monitoring systems using connectors and interfaces, making the whole thing complex and expensive."
ManageEngine, makers of a suite of network, systems, applications and security management software products, has announced beta availability of ManageEngine IT360, an integrated business service management product, aligning infrastructure management with business operations.
IT managers are generally in favor of the goal of BSM (mapping infrastructure components to the business services they support), but the expensive software, implementations and staff trainings -- left many feeling BSM was out of reach. ManageEngine IT360 is "designed to offer the benefits of BSM," company officials say, "starting with the business-centric views illustrating the way in which business services are affected when IT resources are underperforming or unavailable," but "without the cost or the headaches."
The ManageEngine IT360's Web-based console is supposed to let IT administrators prioritize problem resolution for network, systems and applications based on the affected business operation. For example, with an understanding of a network segment's support for customer-facing applications, that segment might be assigned greater bandwidth. Or, a problem with an application could be automatically flagged to the service desk with a higher priority. Or it could help application administrators meet their Service Level Agreements.
The product includes an integrated ITIL-ready Service Desk, which has automated trouble ticketing, complete with incident management, problem management, change management, a knowledge base, and more. The idea behind this is simply reducing the complexity of workflows in production, making it easier for IT administrators to run effective operations.
"The reality on the ground today is that most IT teams have their hands full managing the technology side of the business," says Girish Mathrubootham, vice president, ManageEngine, adding that "most competing systems have only business level dashboards, and try to integrate into other monitoring systems using connectors and interfaces, making the whole thing complex and expensive."
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ProClip USA has announced the launch of new device holders designed to mount an encased iPhone or iPod Touch to car, truck and SUV dashboards and consoles.
These holders, designed and manufactured by Brodit AB in Sweden, attach to vehicle-specific ProClip dashboard mounts. Once this two-part deal -- device holder plus vehicle mount -- is attached to the vehicle dashboard, you're supposed to get "better viewing and easier access." The holders may also be attached to other manufacturers' vehicle mounts or any other flat surface, company officials say.
"Securely and conveniently mounting handheld devices, like the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch, without damaging a vehicle's interior is what we do best," says Bjorn Spilling, president of ProClip USA, and folks, lemme tell you it's pretty refreshing to run into someone who knows what he does best and is doing it.
ProClip USA has announced the launch of new device holders designed to mount an encased iPhone or iPod Touch to car, truck and SUV dashboards and consoles.
These holders, designed and manufactured by Brodit AB in Sweden, attach to vehicle-specific ProClip dashboard mounts. Once this two-part deal -- device holder plus vehicle mount -- is attached to the vehicle dashboard, you're supposed to get "better viewing and easier access." The holders may also be attached to other manufacturers' vehicle mounts or any other flat surface, company officials say.
"Securely and conveniently mounting handheld devices, like the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch, without damaging a vehicle's interior is what we do best," says Bjorn Spilling, president of ProClip USA, and folks, lemme tell you it's pretty refreshing to run into someone who knows what he does best and is doing it.
The Adjustable Holder with Tilt Swivel and Pass-Through Connector is used for docking and undocking. Designed to accommodate your encased iPhone or iPod Touch, this holder will adjust from a width of 2.3" (60mm) to 3.2" (82mm). It allows you to connect your stereo cable, charging cable or other dock connector cable to the base of the holder to create a docking station for your device. See, this way you no longer need to plug and unplug the cable each time. There sits your iPhone on the dash, within easy reach, sliding in and out of the holder with one hand.
The mount clips into the dashboard seams, with an average installation time of two minutes. No dismantling of the dashboard is required and there is no damage to the vehicle's interior.
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LongJump, which sells Platform-as-a-Service software, has unveiled its LongJump Business Applications Platform. The platform can be licensed for use within an enterprise's data center or licensed by independent software vendors to build and host their own multi-tenant Software as a Service applications.
The platform is designed, its makers say, to enterprises that want the capabilities of a PaaS for custom application development but require more control of the data, such as those dealing with government and civil agencies, financial and compliance processes or health and patient related information. The other is Independent Software Vendors and Service Providers that want to launch new, branded SaaS offerings but realize that developing a comprehensive, multi-tenant platform can be cost prohibitive.
Corporate IT loves quick ways to visually assemble information management applications for their divisional users. This is partly because of the recession forcing companies to slash budgets -- and corporate bean counters define "IT budget" as "place to economize." LongJump officials say their app platform approach lets users build a "private cloud" that provides a common foundation for building custom applications which run behind their own firewall. The platform also provides a unified interface, integrates with business data and systems, creates dynamic transactional applications, and can handle the relational information architectures.
According to David Cearley, VP and Gartner fellow in Gartner's Web and Cloud Computing service, "Just as in the early days of the Internet, the cloud definition is best-suited to include a public cloud -- external, like the Internet -- and private clouds, internal, like intranets." Private clouds, Cearley says, will be used by companies who don't want their IT-related services available to external customers, but who like the delivery and acquisition model the cloud enables.
LongJump, which sells Platform-as-a-Service software, has unveiled its LongJump Business Applications Platform. The platform can be licensed for use within an enterprise's data center or licensed by independent software vendors to build and host their own multi-tenant Software as a Service applications.
The platform is designed, its makers say, to enterprises that want the capabilities of a PaaS for custom application development but require more control of the data, such as those dealing with government and civil agencies, financial and compliance processes or health and patient related information. The other is Independent Software Vendors and Service Providers that want to launch new, branded SaaS offerings but realize that developing a comprehensive, multi-tenant platform can be cost prohibitive.
Corporate IT loves quick ways to visually assemble information management applications for their divisional users. This is partly because of the recession forcing companies to slash budgets -- and corporate bean counters define "IT budget" as "place to economize." LongJump officials say their app platform approach lets users build a "private cloud" that provides a common foundation for building custom applications which run behind their own firewall. The platform also provides a unified interface, integrates with business data and systems, creates dynamic transactional applications, and can handle the relational information architectures.
According to David Cearley, VP and Gartner fellow in Gartner's Web and Cloud Computing service, "Just as in the early days of the Internet, the cloud definition is best-suited to include a public cloud -- external, like the Internet -- and private clouds, internal, like intranets." Private clouds, Cearley says, will be used by companies who don't want their IT-related services available to external customers, but who like the delivery and acquisition model the cloud enables.
The product seems aimed at the many ISVs who feel that assigning their customer to a third-party PaaS provider presents too much risk, especially when they become subject to the PaaS providers' delivery services. They need to control the service delivery -- where they host the platform, manage the service levels they deliver, and enforce their own operational policies for their customers. They also want to have more control over how they price their service offering -- as high or as low as their business deems appropriate.
Based in Sunnyvale, LongJump is a service of Relationals, a privately-held vendor of on-demand CRM and SFA business applications.
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HTC has debuted its newest QWERTY smartphone, the HTC Snap, which company officials say is designed with "everything customers need without overwhelming them with things they don't."
A recent study conducted by Harris Interactive and commissioned by HTC found that 44 percent of U.S. adults are "often overwhelmed" by the amount of e-mail they receive, and over half -- 55 percent -- of U.S. adults prioritize five or fewer people with whom they communicate via e-mail.
HTC has debuted its newest QWERTY smartphone, the HTC Snap, which company officials say is designed with "everything customers need without overwhelming them with things they don't."
A recent study conducted by Harris Interactive and commissioned by HTC found that 44 percent of U.S. adults are "often overwhelmed" by the amount of e-mail they receive, and over half -- 55 percent -- of U.S. adults prioritize five or fewer people with whom they communicate via e-mail.
Frankly First Coffee doesn't know what it means to be "overwhelmed" with e-mail. It's not like the stuff piles up on your office floor. Ever heard of a "Delete" key, folks? Handy invention, get somebody to show you where it is on your keyboard.
But for the overwhelmed, HTC's Inner Circle feature lets HTC Snap users press a dekey to bring e-mails from a selected group of people to the top of their Inbox.
The HTC Snap measures less than a half-inch thick, and can give you about eight hours of talk time with the standard 1500mAh battery. The full QWERTY keyboard has "extra-large domed keys" and "responsive tactile feedback," with, presumably, a "Delete" key as well. It also has high-speed 3G HSPA connectivity.
The HTC Snap is expected to be available in select channels during the second quarter of 2009, rolling out in markets around the world throughout the second half of the year. An unlocked version supporting HSDPA at 850/1900MHz for the U.S. market will be made available under the name HTC S522 during the summer. The company is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
