Concerned about sensitive corporate data that lives on employees' iPads finding their way to places they shouldn't? Symantec says it has an answer to that risk, and it won't get in users' way. In early 2012, it plans to deliver an extension to its data loss prevention (DLP) product that enables DLP filtering from the iPad or, more precisely, from files, emails, and any other communication sent via HTTP and HTTPS from an iPad through the network.
Now we know. Microsoft's president for Windows, Steven Sinofsky, today revealed a "reimagined" Windows, which boasts a very different, tile-based user interface called Metro based on Windows Phone that is touch-savvy, runs on ARM processors as well as Intel x86 chips, and yet will also work on traditional keyboard-and-mouse PCs and run anything that runs on Windows 7. The new version, code-named Windows 8, is now in developer preview, with no release date yet set.
Microsoft has been teasing us for months with drips of promises for what the next version of Windows -- code-named Windows 8 -- will offer. It's said that Windows 8 and its radically different user interface will run on both Intel and ARM chips; thus, it will be available not just for traditional desktop and laptop PCs but for iPad-style tablets. Microsoft has said Windows 8 will not run on smartphones, which will use Windows Phone 7 instead. However, the Win8 UI seems to be based on that of Windows Phone.
The iPhone redefined mobile computing four years ago, but several other devices from the BlackBerry pager to the iPaq once enjoyed the same reign.
Apple co-founder and CEO, Steve Jobs, has resigned as CEO from Apple today, after a remarkable career. (He will continue with Apple as chairman of the board.) Jobs is that rare person who truly has transformed an industry -- several times, in fact -- and in many ways changed the daily activities of people throughout the world. He is also a controversial man, reviled by many, loved by many, admired by many, and criticized by many.
It's the neglected stepchild of mobile: the wireless LAN. But businesses can't afford to continue that practice. It's time to rethink the wireless LAN not as a parallel network for casual use but as part of the core network, argues Andrew Borg, a mobile analyst at the Aberdeen Group. He has the numbers to back that up.
Some BlackBerry PlayBook tablets that Research in Motion released last Tuesday are suddenly failing to restart. Some even simply stop working while in use and do not restart. InfoWorld.com experienced this issue with its own review unit after three days of use, and about a dozen users have reported the identical problem on RIM's BlackBerry.com support site.
Mobile device management provider Good Technology's latest quarterly survey of the devices its thousands of customers manage through Good's tool shows clearly that users -- not companies -- select their own smartphones, a strong confirmation that the "bring your own device" (BYOD) trend is not just a temporary trend but is becoming the norm. (Good says the majority of its customers have already adopted BYOD.)
Let's cut to the chase -- the iPad 2 that Apple just released pulls further ahead in the battle with the only real competitor on the market: the Android OS 3.0 "Honeycomb" Xoom tablet from Motorola Mobility. In our previous comparison of the first-gen iPad and the Xoom, the Xoom showed its mettle as a serious contender, beating the iPad in areas such as its inclusion of cameras and ability to mirror its video display.
With all eyes on the iPad 2 that becomes available tomorrow at 5 p.m. in each time zone, Apple has released its iOS 4.3 update for the first-gen iPad, iPhone 3G S, non-Verizon Wireless iPhone 4, and recent iPod Touch models. InfoWorld.com ran the Futuremark Peacekeeper browser tests on a first-gen iPad with iOS 4.2 and with iOS 4.3 to see if Apple's claims of a turbocharged JavaScript engine were justified.
Today at 10 a.m. Pacific time, Apple will reveal the details of the much-rumored iPad 2. The speculation has been rampant for months, with bloggers claiming everything from a double-resolution Retina display to a dual-core A4 (or maybe A5) processor, from new Thunderbolt ports and SD slots to a button-less case. A thinner, lighter design is also predicted. As is typical of these rumors, their factual basis is questionable.
InfoWorld has been putting the major contenders up against Apple's iPhone for several years, and the iPhone handily has won each time. But with Motorola Mobility's new Atrix 4G smartphone, the iPhone's reign may be coming to a close.
The beauty of the cloud is that it makes it easy for people to get technology in place when they need it. The ugliness of the cloud is that it lets employees bring in technology that the business is unaware of, potentially exposing confidential information or worse. Cloud storage provider Box.net is trying to square that circle with a new version of its Box.net service, which begins rolling out today. The rollout to the company's 5 million customers should be complete in 30 days.
CES 2011 was a sea of Android smartphones and tablets, but only a few stand out as the technology innovators
With Apple's iOS 4 supporting corporate security requirements, companies are increasingly saying an explicit yes to iPhone use. Certainly an iPad makes more sense as a lightweight laptop replacement (see InfoWorld's picks for the best iPad office apps), but there are many times you can't easily pull out a laptop or iPad but can use a smartphone. Just as companies typically install a suite of productivity apps (nearly always Microsoft Office), what should the iPhone equivalent be?