Social networks
Cloud Computing and Social Networks
Google Cloud TV – And The $70 Billion Dollar TV Advertising Market
Aug 6th
There is a growing and obvious interest in the $70 Billion dollar TV advertising market. And Google is one company that is taking an immediate interest in this area. The Cloud environment has made it possible to stream video much more inexpensively so there are some lucrative opportunities available.
About Google TV
Google TV is based on the Android platform and runs the Google Chrome web browser. Users can access all of their usual TV channels as well as a world of Internet and cloud-based information and applications, including rich Adobe® Flash based content – all from the comfort of their own living room and with the same simplicity as browsing the web. When coupled with the Intel® Atom™ processor CE4100, Intel’s latest system-on-a-chip designed specifically for consumer electronics, the new platform will offer home theatre quality A/V performance. Sony and Logitech said they would be delivering products based on the new Intel Atom processor and running Google TV later this year. While Google TV is designed to work with any TV operator, at launch the user experience will be fully optimized when paired with DISH Network.
Google TV expands video choice from the hundreds of channels available today through a pay TV provider to the vast storehouse of video content available through the web and streaming videos. The Google TV experience is complemented by the ability to watch streaming video from leading content platforms, including Netflix, Amazon Video On Demand, and YouTube. Google TV will also have the capability to run apps from the Android Market. Some major companies partnering with Google TV: Sony, Intel and Logictech
An excellent PDF which goes into more detail regarding the possible setbacks for Google TV can be found at: http://www.ebif.tv/files/google_tv.pdf
Another early adopter and player in the Cloud TV industry is:
ActiveVideo bills its CloudTV platform–which it says now serves around 5 million homes (major customers include Time Warner Cable, as well as Cablevision)–as providing an interactive TV experience that combines traditional broadcast TV and VOD with Web video and Web 2.0 functionality. According to the company, the platform provides viewers with an “intelligent TV environment of linear, on-demand and broadband programming, including rich interfaces, remote control navigation, games, social networking, personal media, niche content, and targeted, actionable advertising.
By CloudTweaks
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Facebook Selects Salesforce.com! As Cloud Computing Provider
Jul 22nd
World’s largest social networking service selects world’s leading enterprise cloud for CRM
SAN FRANCISCO, July 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM), the enterprise cloud computing company, today announced that Facebook (http://www.Facebook.com/facebook) has selected Salesforce CRM (http://www.salesforce.com/crm/sales-force-automation) to manage its fast-growing sales operations.
Facebook Looks to the Cloud to Increase Sales Process Efficiency
- Facebook evaluated the pros and cons of enhancing its own system or selecting a cloud computing CRM system and went with the Sales Cloud 2 for the inherent benefits of cloud computing, particularly its quick implementation time and the ability to scale along with the company’s rapid growth.
- Facebook has deployed the system across its sales operation teams along with its developer relations to automate complex workflow and approval processes. The system integrates with half a dozen existing systems.
Comments on the News:
- Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer, Facebook commented: “Facebook and salesforce.com share a common vision for helping people connect and share information more efficiently. Salesforce.com’s cloud model was the perfect fit for us – with our current growth trajectory and future sales goals, we needed a product that will scale with our growing business.”
- Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO, salesforce.com commented: “Facebook joins the thousands of companies managing their enterprise sales teams in the cloud, enabling them to focus on their fast growing business rather than the hardware and software to support it.”
Additional Resources:
- More information on Sales Cloud 2 is available here: http://www.salesforce.com/crm/sales-force-automation/
- Become a fan of salesforce.com at http://www.facebook.com/SALESFORCE
- Follow @salesforce on Twitter
About salesforce.com
Salesforce.com is the enterprise cloud computing company. Based on salesforce.com’s real-time, multitenant architecture, the company’s platform and CRM applications (http://www.salesforce.com/crm) have revolutionized the way companies collaborate and communicate with their customers, including:
- The Sales Cloud, for sales force automation and contact management
- The Service Cloud, for customer service and support solutions
- Chatter, for social collaboration
- The Force.com platform, for custom application development
- The AppExchange, the world’s leading marketplace for enterprise cloud computing applications
Salesforce.com offers the fastest path to customer success with cloud computing. As of April 30, 2010, salesforce.com manages customer information for approximately 77,300 customers including Allianz Commercial, Dell, Japan Post, Kaiser Permanente, KONE, and SunTrust Banks.
Any unreleased services or features referenced in this or other press releases or public statements are not currently available and may not be delivered on time or at all. Customers who purchase salesforce.com applications should make their purchase decisions based upon features that are currently available. Salesforce.com has headquarters in San Francisco, with offices in Europe and Asia, and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “CRM.” For more information please visit http://www.salesforce.com, or call 1-800-NO-SOFTWARE.
Copyright (c) 2010 salesforce.com, inc. All rights reserved. Salesforce and the “no software” logo are registered trademarks of salesforce.com, inc., and salesforce.com owns other registered and unregistered trademarks. Other names used herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Facebook® is a registered trademark of Facebook Inc. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
SOURCE salesforce.com
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CloudTweaks Update! New Cloud Computing Job Board!!
Jul 8th
CloudTweaks is pleased to offer our visitors the opportunity to find and post jobs related to SaaS and Cloud Computing. Visit: CloudTweaks Jobs for more information.
Companies Currently Hiring
Cloud Computing is one of The Fastest Growing Online Jobs Industries for Q2
Jul 6th
SYDNEY, July 6 /PRNewswire/ — Freelancer.com, the world’s number one outsourcing marketplace, announced today their findings on the fastest growing online outsourcing jobs in Q2 with the release of the Freelancer 50. “We’ve outsourced more projects (725,000) than any other website on the planet. This coupled with the largest user base of 1.6 million professionals allows us to take a look at a look at a large cross section of projects and puts us in the unique position of being able to draw conclusions about what’s hot in the online job market,” said Matt Barrie, Chief Executive of Freelancer.com.
The Freelancer.com Freelancer Fast 50 charts the top 50 rising job categories in the online labor market quarter by quarter. By comparing jobs posted on Freelancer.com in Q1 2010 to those posted in Q2, the site is able to give an accurate assessment of the most in demand skills in online outsourcing.
The past quarter has been a busy one, with the advent of the iPad signaling a new age in mobile devices, the Apple vs. Adobe issue and the crossover of social networking and geolocation dominating the tech headlines. “Be it new products, new technology or new ways of doing business, whenever we have a lot happening in the tech world we always see it reflected in the Freelancer.com job numbers,” said Matt Barrie.
The continued rapid advancement of mobile phone development and the ever growing popularity of cloud computing have also been on everyone’s mind. Cloud computing has become so popular even the US government is getting in on the act claiming they can save 25% to 50% of their IT costs by moving to cloud computing, according to the Brookings Institute.
“What we see time and again is that no matter what the hot tech trend of the day is, ultimately it’s the online worker that benefits,” stated Barrie. “The new global freelance workforce by necessity is incredibly flexible. The combination of seamless adaptability to employers’ needs coupled with incredibly low pricing makes this new breed of liquid labor unstoppable. Any job you can possibly think of can now be outsourced online. For the first time, small businesses can outsource projects as little as $30, and have delivered roughly the equivalent of $300 of western world labour,” Barrie continued.
TOP FOUR TRENDS OF THE FREELANCER FAST 50
- Location Wars: Geolocation grabbed the number one spot this quarter as the location wars heated up. While Foursquare and Twitter battled it out, freelance workers reaped the benefits seeing a whopping 909% increase in geolocation jobs online.
- The Apple Effect: 26% of all web video is available using HTML5 (The Register) and this number is only going to increase as Steve Jobs famously gave Flash the cold shoulder with the release of the iPad and new iPhone. This endorsement gave HTML5 the shot in the arm it needed and lead to a massive 721% boost in HTML5 jobs.
- Head in the Clouds: Amazon Web Services came in as the number three fastest mover in Q3, denoting the continued popularity of cloud computing. Up 446% from the previous quarter, anything related to hosting services over the Internet has seen an impressive increase.
- Appetite for Apps: The global appetite for apps continued unabated as mobile phone jobs rose steadily, up 282% from Q2. Having an app has become an essential tool for any business and SMEs are increasingly looking to online labor to get their apps build more cost effectively.
Press Release Location: DigitalJournal
Find Jobs at: jobs.cloudtweaks.com
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The top 10 most promising cloud computing companies – Structure 2010 LaunchPad
May 24th
The top 10 most promising cloud computing companies, chosen from hundreds of applicants, to be honored at industry’s leading cloud conference, Structure 2010
(PRWEB) May 24, 2010 — GigaOM today announced the winners of Structure 2010 LaunchPad, a high-profile competition that recognizes the 11 most promising cloud companies. From the large number of entries just 11 were chosen as winners based on their forward-thinking vision, and sustainable business models.
The winners will present their companies on stage at Structure 2010, the largest and most influential cloud computing conference in the industry, set to take place June 23-24, 2010 in San Francisco. The winners of the LaunchPad competition are:
• Benguela – A stealth mode startup company founded by Amazon EC2 veterans
• Cloudant – MapReduce based data management with analytics and search
• Cloudswitch – Makes enterprise cloud adoption easy by solving key problems
• Datameer – The Big Data power of Hadoop made accessible through a spreadsheet interface
• Greenqloud – Provider of completely carbon neutral cloud provider
• GridCentric – Turns your compute farm into a high-performance, private cloud in seconds
• nephosity – Allows non programmers to allocate tasks and workflows on the cloud
• Northscale – Provide a simple, fast, schema-free mechanism for storing data objects
• Riptano – Apache Cassandra (Facebook’s data layer) management software and services
• SolidFire – Next-generation block-based storage platform for cloud computing providers and big enterprises
• Zettar Inc – Create secure private storage cloud using commodity storage assets
“Cloud computing has become much more than a buzzword – hardware, software, and communications companies are now successfully leveraging the on-demand, Web-based model to deliver sophisticated enterprise-class products and services in the cloud,” says Stacey Higginbotham, Editor of GigaOM. “It was tough to choose just 11 top cloud companies from all the innovative companies that applied, but we’re confident the 11 winners our editors selected are truly the best of the best.”
Structure 2010 is the largest and most influential cloud computing conference, expected to draw over 1,000 attendees at this year’s expanded two-day event. Dozens of leading cloud industry executives and influencers will take the stage at Structure 2010 to share best practices and real-world strategies for embracing cloud technologies to reduce costs, improve efficiencies, and boost performance. Whether you’re an IT professional, or a cloud entrepreneur looking for funding, Structure 2010 is a must-attend event that will connect you with the industry’s most innovative thinkers.
50 + Cloud Vendors
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5 Video Collaboration Services – SaaS and Cloud Computing Services
May 19th
Top 5 Video Collaboration Services
1. http://www.webex.com/ 
It combines real-time desktop sharing with phone conferencing so everyone sees the same thing while
you talk. It’s far more productive than emailing files and struggling to get everyone on the same page over the phone. And it can often eliminate the need for people to travel and meet on site.
WebEx is a web-based service, so you can use it from any computer (Windows, Mac, Linux, or Solaris) — as well as your iPhone, Blackberry, or any other WiFi or 3G-enabled mobile device. There’s no complicated installation. Just log into your WebEx account to start or schedule a session. Participants don’t need to be WebEx subscribers to join you online.
2. http://www.sightspeed.com/
SightSpeed is the award-winning provider of Internet video chat and voice calling for friends and family, and video conferencing solutions for businesses. We make it easy to install and set up so you can…
• Connect with everyone in your network, face to face, anyplace
• Save time, hassle, and money spent on travel
• Help save our environment by minimizing your carbon footprint!
Our patented video technology ensures you get the best possible video and sound quality every time, unlike other online video services. SightSpeed offers the highest-quality, full-motion 30 frames per second video with clear audio and no annoying delay.
On top of that, you can easily send video email which is much more personal than the traditional email – and text chat endlessly with our integrated instant messaging (IM) service. SightSpeed also offers low-rate worldwide phone calling. And don’t forget, SightSpeed works great on both PCs and Macs!
3. ooVoo 
ooVoo allows free video conferencing with up to six users. It allows supports video mail. It runs its own P2P servers, and can therefore afford to offer good quality.
It might have one of those abstract Web 2.0 names, but ooVoo is a free video conferencing service not to be laughed at. It’s a free download that can run on Windows and Mac OS X (with a Linux version in the offing). The free version of ooVoo lets you video conference with up to 3 people or you can upgrade to chat with up to 6 people. If your contact isn’t online you can also leave a recorded video message, which is a very handy feature. Other non-video features in ooVoo include VoIP calls, IM, text chat and person-to-person file transfer. In all, ooVoo is most definitely worth trying out especially if you can foresee yourself only ever video conferencing with one or maybe two other people at a time.
4. Skype 
Skype is the most popular of VoIP voice and chat applications but still lagging behind in terms of video. Only one to one communication is allowed, unless with some third-party plugins. But Skype comes with all its momentum and popularity.
This ubiquitous softphone offers VoIP, IM and video chat in one application. As this is a post about free video conferencing, I decided to place Skype behind SightSpeed simply because the option to upgrade is not there. Unlike SightSpeed, where you can upgrade and video conference with 4 people simultaneously, Skype is limited to free person-to-person video chat. It is free, however, and does work well on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.
5. Palbee 
The great thing about PalBee is that it is completely web-based, therefore there are no downloads or installs: all you need is an account with PalBee and a webcam connected to your computer. Once you have got your meeting room setup it’s just a matter of sharing the URL with up to five of your friends. The one caveat is that there is a one hour time limit on using the meeting room. PalBee has a great recording capability built right in that lets you record a conference and then embed it on your blog or profile, or simply share with contacts. If you don’t mind the one hour limit and plan on conducting relatively small conferences (< 5 participants), then PalBee is definitely worth a shot.
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Mobile Cloud Computing – iPad Killing Netbooks Already?
May 6th
An interesting chart released from Morgan Stanley Research this morning shows that during the month of April – the month the iPad launched – netbook sales stalled. Did the iPad really have that much impact on an industry that was once the fastest-growing segment of the PC market? Or was the netbook’s fall from grace bound to happen at some point, with or without the Apple tablet’s help, as consumers discovered how hard it is to type on those tiny keyboards?
The netbook market saw incredible growth around this time last year. CNNMoney’s Philip Elmer-DeWitt, who uncovered the chart in a research report about HP’s acquisition of Palm, notes that netbook sales peaked last summer at “an astonishing 641% year-over-year growth rate.”
But in January, coincidentally (or not?) the same month that Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced the forthcoming tablet computer dubbed the iPad, netbook sales took a nose dive. But by nose dive, we mean they only saw 68% year-over-year growth during this time frame, the first month of the new year. That’s not actually all that bad, is it? It only looks bad in comparison to the incredible numbers netbooks saw last summer.
But what’s more telling is that the numbers continued to trend downwards since then. 53% in February, 25% in March and a meager 5% in April.
Did consumers rush out and buy iPads instead of netbooks? Or do they plan to at some point, a decision which is now affecting netbook sales?
Considering that the pre-iPad month of December saw a still respectable 179% year-over-year growth for the netbook market, it’s hard not to draw comparisons between Apple’s news and the netbook market as a whole. Morgan Stanley’s Katy Huberty certainly does, claiming the tanking sales are “collateral damage,” says DeWitt, from Apple’s tablet announcement and launch.
iPad Cannibalizing Other Markets
In case you’re still not convinced that this correlation is also causation, Huberty digs up a Morgan Stanley/Alphawise survey from March focused on consumer buying intent. Here, she found that 44% of U.S. consumers planned to buy an iPad instead of a notebook or netbook computer.
Continue…
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Cloud Computing: 10 Reasons Microsoft Should Buy Facebook Now
May 6th
Facebook April 21 launched several tools to extend its tendrils deeper into the connective tissue of the Web, unveiling social plug-ins and instant personalization capabilities that let users share information between the leading social network and popular third-party Websites. While this effort has stirred the hornet’s nest inhabited by privacy advocates, Facebook is the premier private Internet company for a number of reasons. As such, Microsoft, which is struggling to remain viable in the Internet space, would do well to acquire Facebook before it gets too large and expensive to afford.
1) Microsoft Is Adrift Online
Microsoft’s online business has lost billions of dollars. Its Bing search engine, the new focal point of its online endeavors, has rallied to almost 12 percent share in 11 months. But Google continues to mop the floor with all search comers, commanding 65 percent of the search market.
2) Facebook Is a Social Superpower
With close to 500 million users, Facebook boasts the largest social network in the world. Microsoft has struggled in the social sphere. Microsoft points to MSN as a heavily trafficked social site, but it’s more of a news portal than a social network. Grabbing Facebook, which lets users upload links, photos and videos and share them with users, would give Microsoft instant market share and credibility in this space.
3) Get Facebook at Google’s Expense
Despite Google’s best efforts and intentions with Google Buzz, the search giant, like Microsoft, remains on the outside looking in for the social Web. If Microsoft were to grab Facebook it would give the software giant a major piece of the Internet puzzle, giving Microsoft the upper hand on Google for a change.
4) Facebook Is a Rising Power in Search
Researcherssaid search queries on Facebook grew from 395 million in January 2010 to 436 million in February 2010, a growth of 10 percent. With hundreds of millions of users spending 20 minutes or more on Facebook each day, it’s no shock that these users are doing searches to navigate the social network. Buying Facebook would enable Microsoft to catch more users looking to share and search.
5) This Means More Search for Bing
Facebook and Bing could then form a powerful one-two punch in search, with Bing offering general search results, and Facebook offering powerful social search capabilities. In time, it wouldn’t be hard to envision Microsoft integrating the two, taking care to preserve user privacy.
6) Where There Is Search, There Are Ads
Forrester Research analyst Augie Ray told eWEEK: “A combination of Facebook and a search engine or ad network would create a very interesting opportunity to share more relevant advertising to searchers or surfers based not just on search or surfing history but also consumers true interests as expressed via Facebook Likes, applications, groups, games and other activities.” Of course, Facebook and Microsoft would have to negotiate privacy hurdles.
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