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About 725 days ago Apps | Business Software | Internet and Online Business | Managing Technology | Smartphones and PDAs | Tablets and eReaders | Telecom and Wireless | Tools on Managing Technology

Startups Tell Tech Experts How They Plan to Disrupt the Real World

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Monday through Wednesday in New York City TechCrunch is holding its Disrupt Battlefield competition in which hopeful founders and entrepreneurs submit their young, unseen start-up companies for the opportunity to try winning a $50,000 prize while launching in front of an all-star panel made up of innovators, angel investors, venture capitalists and tech influencers. Tuesday featured three Battlefields: Disrupting the Real World, Disrupting the Enterprise and Disrupting Streams and Collaborations. These start-ups made presentations in the Disrupting the Real World category: READ MORE »

About 846 days ago Hardware

Liven Up PowerPoint with Interactivity, Touchscreens, and an iPad

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Jonah Sterling is building a suite for interactive presentations that just might transform the way we see the conference room. Sterling, a creative director at Seattle software application development firm IdentityMine (www.identitymine.com), is building a paperless meeting space for a Fortune 100 client that incorporates touch and gesture-enabled interactive whiteboards, interactive video conferencing, and touchscreen tablets. Now, they just need to add popcorn to make users fully engaged. “I think there has been a fundamental shift in the last couple of years that’s starting to show some payoff,” says Sterling, explaining that users are becoming more savvy with technology and there is a greater need for more interactive and engaging presentations. Unfortunately, most boardroom presentations follow a familiar routine: someone talking while PowerPoint slides click by on a big screen, says Mike Fisher, a convergence and new technologies consultant  for Futuresource Consulting (www. futuresource-consulting.com), a technology research firm. IdentityMine’s work is a vanguard for any corporation. Experts argue that businesses must be ready to shift how they view presentations and incorporate collaboration if they want to keep pace with competitors. The introduction of touch tablets, large flat panels, an increased demand for touch technology and the expectation of interactivity by users will change the way even small businesses handle sales pitches, brainstorming sessions, and employee training.  The presentation tool landscapeWhile not widely embraced, there are several high-tech tools available, and they are not reach for most small businesses. Fisher notes that interactivity, collaboration and viewer impact are key areas to consider as you consider how to liven up a presentation. Among the options on the market today: – Interactive whiteboards The use of these boards, connected to computers and projectors, is exploding in educational settings, and the boards have been around in high-level boardrooms for a while.  However, their capabilities are expanding.  For instance, on whiteboards made by Promothean (www.prometheanworld.com), four people might work simultaneously, clicking anywhere on the board. You can edit on the fly, rendering presentations organic and ever-changing as ideas evolve. SMART Technologies (www.smarttech.com) and Promethean are the big players. Price range depends on board size. Expect to pay from $2,000 to $4,500, which is not out of line with traditional conference room projector setups.  If you’re uncertain about making an investment in an interactive whiteboard as presentation technology changes, consider leasing, advises John Byrne, a managing partner with interactive whiteboard seller New Age Learning. “This industry technically is moving very fast,” Byrne says. “Small businesses should be careful to work with resellers that will stay in touch and keep them abreast of updates and keep those systems maintained properly.” – Interactive projectors Projectors from Epson (www.epson.com) and Texas Instruments (www.ti.com) eliminate the need for the whiteboard altogether, notes Fisher. These projectors work on any surface using an interactive pen. This provides some flexibility in screen size, and the open architecture allows interaction with all sorts of software and digital media. Expect to pay around $2,000 for an interactive projector. – Apple iPad You can use iPad, Keynote for iPad and a VGA connector to put together presentations. Sterling recently used his iPad as he toured the office space where the futuristic presentation dashboard will be installed. As he toured, he used an Eye-Fi wireless memory card to load photos from his camera to his iPad. He used an iPad application called Sketchbook Pro to make ‘doodles’ of the office space, and he made annotations on copies of the floor plan. He swiftly assembled a presentation that offered hand-drawn and realistic visuals, and he also had the capability of editing it on the iPad as he presented. Sterling thinks the iPad is a tool that will work well in concert with a more traditional presentation. “I would probably still be doing the laptop and the projector for the core presentation,” he says. “But you’d be able to hand around your iPad with information on it, [such as] sales brochures, during a meeting to involve people.” – Canson PAPERSHOW Want to dabble a toe in the creative presentation pool? Check out PAPERSHOW by Canson for $249 (www.showpapershow.com).  This 2010 Best of Show winner at Macworld Expo uses an interactive pen and special paper. You project an image such as a pie chart onto the screen, and your annotations using the paper and pen show up on the chart. You can save the annotations.   Louise Sattler, owner of a small Maryland business called Signing Families (www.signingfamilies.com), uses it in workshops as she teaches American Sign Language. ”It is easy, and I figured it out for myself in under an hour,” she says. ”I like that it’s affordable. I love that it’s portable.” Sattler finds her students engage more when she uses PAPERSHOW. No matter the business size, keeping your audience or your participants involved is critical. You don’t want surreptitious, under-the-table smartphone use.  “The key thing is, how do you get people to talk more effectively together?” asks Fisher. “And in terms of presenting, how do you get the most impact you can?” In the end, the answer is in moving away from stale PowerPoint slides and adding interactivity, gesture control on the iPad, touchscreens and HD displays, and more digital media.

About 2087 days ago Wireless Networks

What Can Your Business Do with Wibree?

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It’s been more than a decade since Bluetooth was developed and deployed, serving as a wireless link between two compatible devices. But has the short-range radio technology lived up to its potential or is it more-or-less limited to hands-free headsets for cell phones? Enter “Wibree.” Wibree was developed by Nokia as an alternative — and later, complimentary — solution to Bluetooth. Wibree is also a low-power, short-range wireless technology, but it promises to fill a gap left by Bluetooth. “Wibree can be built into products such as watches, toys, wireless keyboards, gaming, healthcare and entertainment devices, and sports sensors,” says Nokia spokesman Charles Chopp. “These devices can then connect to host devices such as mobile phones and personal computers — it is essentially the missing link between small devices and mobile phones and personal computers.” For small and mid-size businesses, the advent of Wibree poses great potential, from changing how employees communicate with each other inside the office to enabling more applications for low-cost voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) to potentially allowing a business to communicate to the wrist watches, gaming devices, or pedometers of potential customers. Key advantages Wibree is said to be up to 10 times more energy-efficient than Bluetooth, but can easily be integrated with the existing technology. In fact, in June 2007 the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) announced that Nokia’s Wibree specification will be merged with the Bluetooth SIG and become part of the Bluetooth specification as an ultra lower power Bluetooth technology. “Because Wibree addresses devices with very low battery capacity and can be easily integrated with Bluetooth technology, it will round out Bluetooth technology’s wireless Personal Area Networking (PAN) offering and strengthen the technology’s ability to provide wireless connectivity for smaller devices,” explains Chopp. “You can think of Wibree as basically low-power Bluetooth,” confirms Gary Chen, senior analyst for Small and Medium Enterprise IT Infrastructure and Applications at the Yankee Group, the Boston-based IT research house. “Because it’s more power efficient, you’ll get longer battery life and it can be put into smaller devices, like a pen or watch.” Chopp says in many cases Wibree makes it possible to operate these devices for more than a year without recharging. “It also looks promising for healthcare,” adds Chen, “as it is able to send body sensor information wirelessly to a monitoring device.” Inherent challenges There are likely going to be adoption challenges for Wibree, as with many new technologies. Chen says it may be “very difficult.” “There are a lot of wireless standards and not-quite-standards already, however, acceptance by the Bluetooth SIG and inclusion in a future Bluetooth spec will help a lot,” says Chen. Others are optimistic that businesses and consumers will embrace Wibree-enabled devices because of their ease of use. “There is always an adoption curve for new industry standards,” Chopp says. He adds that this is why Nokia and the Bluetooth SIG both agreed that the Wibree standard would be best served under the auspices of the Bluetooth SIG, which already has participation and support from more than 8,000 companies that are advancing Bluetooth wireless technology. To date, a handful of companies have contributed to the interoperability specification of Wibree, says Chopp, including Broadcom, Casio, CSR, Epson, ItoM, Logitech, Nordic Semiconductor, ST Microelectronics, Suunto, Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd. and Texas Instruments. “Several new companies — including device, watch and access systems manufacturers — will join the finalization of the specification, and once the specification is finalized, the technology will be made broadly available to the industry via the Bluetooth SIG,” Chopp says. Coming to a business near you Nokia expects the first commercial version of the Wibree/Bluetooth interoperability specification to be available during the first half of 2008. According to internal estimates, Nokia believes they will begin to see the first stand-alone products from a few vendors in the second half of 2008. These are likely to be “small button cell battery powered devices,” says Chopp. Host devices and other dual-mode devices should emerge in first half of 2009. On its initial adoption, Chopp cites an ABI Research report published in March 2007. In it, director Stuart Carlaw predicts Wibree to be a $432 million, 809 million device industry by 2012.

About 3548 days ago PCs, Laptops, and Notebooks

Drives Provide New Electronics Avenue

Consumer electronics may get smaller and cheaper, thanks to a three-year-old company based in Longmont, Colo. Using inexpensive materials and cutting costs in the assembly process, Cornice Inc. has designed circuitry that can fit 1.5 gigabytes of storage onto a one-inch square that sells for about $70. Its drives hold 15,000 MP3 songs — more storage than IBM’s Microdrive at about 40% of the cost. Analysts say they are ideal for hybrid devices — think a cell phone-MP3 player-camera all in one. They also buzz about their potential for a TiVo-inspired car MP3 radio. Currently, dashboards are too crowded for additional circuitry; they could accommodate Cornice’s wee drives, however, enabling car owners to store music files and download radio broadcasts. So far, the company, which partners with Texas Instruments, has deals to put drives in 10 MP3 players (including the RCA LYRA Micro Jukebox and the Rio Eigen Executive) and a Samsung video camera. GPS devices will follow. “You could fit an entire continent on one inch,” says Cornice CEO Kevin Magenis. For the drives to truly succeed, however, they must challenge the dominance of flash memory, a digital storage technology that takes up the same amount of space. But by being considerably cheaper and suitable for brave new gadgets, Cornice drives should find an opening.

About 4827 days ago Mobility Tips and Tricks

Lock Down Your Laptop

Carrying a computer to all corners of the globe can be hard on the nerves. You bought it for thousands of dollars, you have your system configured just the way you like it, and you have vital information stored on your hard drive. The theft of your laptop would cause you more than minor inconvenience. Laptop computers are particularly worrisome because they are a high-value item packed into a very small box that can disappear ever so quickly. Hence, it is no surprise that so many travelers are loath to leave their laptops behind in their rooms – even at the safest luxury hotels. But if you can’t leave the computer behind, it can quickly become your personal ball and chain. This is where portable computer lock systems can help out. These locks, available from several manufacturers, let you attach your computer to an immovable object in your hotel – or elsewhere – so that you can leave your laptop and some of your worries behind. To give readers a better idea how these locks work, we recently tested two such lock systems. Here is our report: Kensington Universal Notebook Security Cable The Kensington system uses a six-foot plastic-coated metal cable. A lock is permanently attached to one end. On the other end, there is a loop. By threading the lock end of the cable through the loop, the cable can be secured to a desk leg, bed frame, or other heavy or immovable object in a hotel room or wherever you may be. The lock end of the cable is then attached to your computer in one of two ways. The first and easiest way is to use the security slot that is built into a majority of laptop computers today. Manufacturers that equip their laptops with these slots include Toshiba, Texas Instruments, Hewlett-Packard, NEC, Digital, Apple, IBM, Compaq, and Dell. The slot is just an eighth of an inch wide and a quarter inch long that is located on the back or side of the computer and is usually marked by a small image of a pad lock or several links in a chain. A prong on the Kensington lock is inserted in this slot. The prong turns when the lock is locked, holding the lock and cable fast to the computer. If your laptop is not equipped with a security slot, you can glue one right on to your computer with the equipment provided. First you select a spot on the back or sides of your computer that is free from drives, ports, and slots and fasten a two-inch long piece of plastic that contains a security slot. Materials are provided to roughen the portion of your laptop where the plate will be attached and alcohol to clean it before gluing. A small tube of fast-acting glue is used to fasten the plate in place. Once dry, the newly installed security slot can be used for locking, just as other preinstalled slots. Qualtec Notebook Kit The Qualtec lock system works on similar principles, but the execution is different. The five-foot Qualtec cable has metal eyelets on both ends of the cable. The cable can be pulled through one of these eyelets to secure the cable around furniture or other objects. The second eyelet can then be secured to your computer with a padlock that is provided. The Qualtec system also works off security slots, if available on your laptop. If your laptop does not have such a slot, Qualtec also gives you the option of gluing a plate with a metal ring directly onto your computer. While both lock systems get the job done, we’ve developed a slight preference for the Qualtec system. Here’s why: Both systems are designed to discourage opportunistic theft. Nothing will stop the most determined thief, but a plainly visible lock will tell would-be felons that stealing your computer may not be worth all the trouble. In this regard, the Qualtec system is somewhat superior, in that its cable is thicker and the sight of the padlock says “lock” in only a brief glance. The Kensington lock does the job, but its innovative design and unusual key don’t send the same immediate and unmistakable message to would-be robbers. The aluminum plate supplied by Qualtec provides a sturdy metal loop that can be glued onto computers without security slots. Significantly, it can be used as an alternative to a security slot, even when a security slot is available. The security slots are convenient, but a metal plate glued to your computer is going to be more resistant to tampering. According to a company spokesman, the glued Qualtec plate gives 1,000 pounds of strength, generally more than you’ll find in a security slot. Qualtec also provides a second, larger plate that you can glue to your desk at the office or elsewhere if you wish to create a permanent anchor for your laptop. Also, there is a small black carrying case for the lock and cable. Contact: The Qualtec lock and cable weigh about 8 ounces and normally retail in the U.S. for about $28. Information is available at http://www.pcsecurity.com, but orders cannot be placed directly with the manufacturer. In the U.S., call 800-628-4413 (outside the US: 510-490-8911) for the location of the nearest dealer. In the U.S., U.K., and elsewhere, the locks are available in major computer and office supply stores, from locksmiths, and through the mail. Mail-order distributors in the U.K. include DN Computer, MISCO, and INMAC. The Kensington lock and cable weigh 5.5 ounces. It has a suggested retail price of $74.95, but sells in the U.S. through discount stores and catalogs for $39.95. Information is available on the Web at http://www.kensington.com. A list of places that sell the lock system is available on the Kensington Web site, or by calling 415-572-2700 (in the U.S. and Canada 800-535-4242). The fax number is 415-572-9675. Kensington has offices around the world. Copyright © 2000 Roadnews.com