http://www.eweek.

com/c/s/eSlideshows/
Google, Apple, Oracle, Others Locked in Android Patent Suit Showdown
These are anxious days for Google, its Android team and Android OEMs. After building up Android into one of the worlds most popular mobile operating system platforms they have to watch as their efforts are threatened by a plethora of patent infringement lawsuits and countersuits. Oracle, Apple and Microsoft are waging a no-holds-barred patent war against the search engine's super -successful Android platform. Launched to open source in 2007, Android poked its head out in phones in 2008 and gained steam in 2009 thanks to the Motorola Droid and the $100 million-plus marketing campaign Verizon Wireless put behind it when it couldn't secure Apple's iPhone. Then 2010 came and Android growth exploded, shooting past Research In Motion's BlackBerry and then Apple's iPhone thanks to the help of a few hundred phone launches by Samsung (the Galaxy S line), the HTC Evo 4G and several other Droid han dsets. Android early this year became the leading smartphone provider in the U.S., with anywhere between 35 and 40 percent market share. Now Apple and Microsoft are hounding Samsung, HTC and Motorola for a cut of what they claim are technologies these OEMs use in their Android handsets. Perhaps the worst lawsuit for Google is the one Oracle is waging against Android for its allegedly unlawful use of Java in the Android codebase. Patent IP expert Florian Mueller believes there are at least 48 Android-related lawsuits wending their way through the court systems. In this slide show, eWEEK highlights some of the core issues, with an assist from Mueller.

Atlantis' Final Flight Ends 30 Years of NASA Shuttle History

The launch of the space shuttle Atlantis marked the end of an era for NASA as the shuttle program draws to a close after 30 years. During t he 12-day mission to the International Space Station, Atlantis and its crew will deliver the Raffaello multipurpose logistics module containing supplies and spare parts for the space station and its crew. The mission will fly the RRM (Robotic Refueling Mission), an experiment designed to demonstrate and test the tools, technologies and techniques needed to robotically refuel satellit es in space, even satellites not designed to be serviced. Atlantis, the fourth orbiter built, flew its maiden voyage Oct. 3, 1985. Later missions included the first docking to the Russian Mir space station in June 1995; the delivery of the De stiny Laborato ry to the space station on in February 2001; the first launch with a camera mounted to the external tank, which captured the shuttle's ascent to orbi t in October 2002; and the final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope on in May 2009. Atlantis is named after the two -masted, primary research ship that operated for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts from 1930 to 1966.

Google+ Grabs Attention: 10 Ways the Social Network Is Making Waves

The most popular high-tech topic since June 28 has easily been Google+, the social network Google launched that day to challenge Facebook for user engagement and social ads on the Web. Google+ is an alternative to Facebook that provides users the ability to gather family, friends, colleagues, acquaintances or just folks users want to follow into Circles of trust. Users may also customize their own Circles, sign up to track topics (called Sparks), and use Hangouts for video chats with up to 10 users. The mobile application includes a group-messaging tool called Huddle and an Instant upload feature to let users zip photos from their Android smartphone to their Goo gle+ accounts. The service appears to be super catchy, with early reports pegging Google+ at 5 to 9 million or more users, though Google isn't commenting on user engagement at this stage. No less than Bill Gross, the serial entrepreneur, said he believed Google+ can reach 100 million users faster than any service in history. "The service is great. It is timely. People are engaging with it like crazy," Gross said. "The next year will tell. Will there be bumps in the road? Sure. Will Facebook and Twitter fight back with more innovation? Of course. But I'm saying that Google+ is already good enough, and the team on Google+ is being so responsive in a way that makes me believe they have a real winner here." That strong praise is one of the many comments swirling around Google+ these days. In this slide show eWEEK looks at more.

Android Faces Barriers to Long-Term Success: 10 Hurdles It Must Overcome

Googles Android platform has grown faster than even the most supportive Google lovers could have imagined over the last coup le years. The mobile operating system, which is currently available on both smartphones and tablets, has easily overshadowed Symbian, BlackBerry OS and Windows Phone. It has even stunted the growth of Apples iOS platform. Simply put, Android has become the most widely deployed mobile operating system. But over the next few years, it will face some hurdles as Google attempts to maintain its current 38 percent market share and ensure that no other companies, including Apple or Microsof t, are able to steal away large chunks of it. Android is doing well now, and most analysts believe its market share figures will continue to grow at least for the next couple of years. But Google cant rest on its laurels. In the coming years, the search giant must overcome hurdles that could either stunt Androids growth or earn Google a black eye in the mobile market. Flip through the following slides to find out what hurdles the search giant must overcome in the next few years:

IBM: Celebrating 100 Years Through Service t o Others

In celebration of its 100 years in business, IBM employees around the world took part in activities in their respective commu nities in one collective IBM Centennial Day of Service last month. At IBM's centennial celebration event at the company's Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, N.Y., on June 16, Stan Litow, vice president of corporate citizenship and corporate affairs at IBM, said, "What happened yesterday was 300,000 IBM employees were involved in specially designed and led community activities in 120 countries around the world where they touched and served millions of people." Known as the IBM Celebration of Service, the project spans more than 120 countries where IBMers live and conduct business. The June 15 eve nt culminated months of volunteering with an official IBM Centennial Day of Service. The IBM Celebration of Service was designed to allow employees, retirees, clients and business partners to donate their time and expertise during the company's centennial year. Indeed, the 300, 000 IBMersalmost three quarters of its global workforce are volunteering in more than 5,000 projects in 120 countries, meeting civic and societal challenges and helping millions of people, Litow said.

Meltwater Buzz Engage Lets Businesses Get Social

The Meltwater Buzz Engage Module from the Meltwater Group fuses social customer relationship management and social -media monitoring to make social conversations actionable and measurable. Announced in June, the Engage module extends Meltwater Buzzs social -media monitoring platform. Engage helps businesses identify relevant social conversations happening in real time and take a targeted eng agement approach, hopefully turning conversations into customers. The goal is to help organizations develop more personal relationships with existing and potential customers. The p latforms detailed social profiles give businesses greater intelligence on a nyone communicating on a given brand or topic over social channels. Engage enables social tagging and houses all inbound social communications for more targeted engagement and immediate action and response. Companies can also take advanta ge of detailed measurement and advanced conversation analysis tools for maximized business value. Focusing on specific individuals within a community rather than a generic topic lets companies create more personal and trusted relationships with customers.

10 Mobile Products Nobody Wants

In today's mobile space, a handful of devices top the list of most consumers around the world. In the smartphone market, Appl e's iPhone 4, Samsung's Galaxy line of smartphones and even some Motorola devices are desired by customers. In the tablet space, the vast majority of people are looking to buy the iPad 2, while the remaining folks opt for an Android-based tablet, such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. But as anyone who has gone to their local big-box retailer knows, there are far more devices on store shelves from a range of companies hoping someone will buy their products. The only trouble is, many of those products aren't appealing, and when it's all said and done, they collect dust on store shelves. This slide show takes a look at those unfortunate mobile products that for various reasons never caught on and nobody wants. Some of the following items are obvious, while others might surpri se some of the folks out there. But in general these devices have earned their way into the sad class of the unwanted.

Tablets Are a Smarter Buy Than E-Readers: 10 Reasons Why

A new study from Pew Research reveals that the number of people who bought e -readers over the last several months easily outpaced those who opted for tablets. The research firm's findings have helped stoke flames that suggest the future of mobile reading might be done on e-readers, rather than on tablets, as some have forecast. However, when it comes to choosing between a tablet and e -reader, it's hard to choose the latter when all the devices' features are taken into account. Tablets, like Apple's iPad 2 and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, boast far more functionality than their counterparts. A s Barnes and Noble has shown by transitioning its Nook Color from an e-reader to a tablet, most hardware vendors realize that table ts are the future. For consumers thinking about buying a new device in the coming months, opting for a tablet rather than an e-reader seems like the best idea. Click through the following slides to find out why tablets, rather than e -readers, should top consumer shopping lists.

Acer AC700 Chromebook Is a Cheaper Alternative to Samsung Series 5

Those users who want to get thei r hands on a notebook running Google's Chrome Operating System but who were put off by the $429 (WiFi -only) and $499 (WiFi+3G radio) price tags of Samsung's Series 5 Chromebooks will soon have a choice: the Acer AC700 Chromebook is wending its way through the Amazon.com sales pipeline and should be ready to ship July 11. Acer has high hopes for this $349.99 notebook, which is WiFi-only. Acer said it would produce a WiFi+3G version later this year. Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) introduced the Acer AC700 and the Serie s 5 Chromebook May 11 at the Google I/O developer event in San Francisco. Chrome OS is the supporting platform for Web applications such as Google Docs, Gmail and Chrome-specific versions of games such as Angry Birds, all of which run on the Chrome Web browser. Chromebooks such as the AC700 and Series 5 boot within 10 seconds and use a verified boot process, sandboxing for applications and data encryption to secure user data. The machines are essentially hardware shells, with the b ulk of data residing in Google's cloud of servers, which provision applications over the Web. If a Chromebook is damaged, it may be easily replaced with no valuable data lost. The 1.66GHz Intel Atom N570 dual-core processor-powered machine weighs only 2.95 pounds (compared with 3.3 pounds for the Series 5). In this slide show, eWEEK runs through the rest of the specs and provides users with a peek at this machine, which resembles the Cr -48 pilot Chromebook in color and shape.

Facebook, Skype, Microsoft Draw Closer Through Video Chat Feature

Facebook made some significant announcements July 6, all important to the company and to the online social networking market. First, Facebook announced that it has surpassed the 750 million-member mark, with a cool 1 billion clearly within reach. The last time Facebook talked about its membership last October, it had just passed 500 million. Secondly, Facebook started up its group chat feature, one that had been requested by users for a long while. Along with that, Facebook made a few site design changes that will make it easier to use the chat and group-chat functions. Finally, the company revealed a new partnership with Skype, the world's largest peer-to-peer video service which is on track to become the property of Microsoft. Finally, Facebook launched its long anticipated video chat service powered, of course, by Skype. The Facebook, Skype and Microsoft (Skype 's future owner) dynamic will be interesting to watch in the coming months and years, since the world's largest software company will have substantial investments in both companie s.

Cloud Computing Security: 10 Ways to Enforce It

Chances are that your organization already has adopted some form of cloud IT. It could be in the form of an internal private cloud, a hosted email package or miscellaneous outside services (such as Salesforce.com). The cloud is here to stay, and the fear and uncertainty associated with any new te chnology is

distracting organizations from securely adopting this IT resource. It's not hard to imagine how a newer technology coul d introduce more security woes; after all, we are constantly seeing news about the latest breaches across the media. However, if we look closely at recent events, the attacks and breaches which build such fear in our minds are often the result of a lack of focus on security fundamentals, not necessarily sophisticated attacks. This is not to say that such attacks can't occur, but the reality is that attackers often focus on the easiest attack route and not the hardest to impleme nt. A criminal will almost always enter a house when no one is home and the door is left open before breaking into a home with the door locked and lights on. When moving IT to the cloud, organizations need to consider basic security practices analogous to locking the door on their home s. In this slide show is a common-sense set of 10 tips for this purpose, provided by Harold Moss, CTO of Cloud Security Strategy at IBM.

HP TouchPad a Solid Platform for webOS

Hewlett-Packards TouchPad is a huge bet for the company, not only with regard to the tablet market (where it will compete with a large number of Google Android devices and Apples bestselling iPad) but also as a testing ground for the companys webOS operating system, which will eventually appear in desktops and laptops. The TouchPads webOS 3.0 will be familiar to anyone whos used Google Android or Apples iOS, although some aspects are unique enough to warrant a learning curve. The operating system places heavy emphasis on multitasking, as well as finger-swiping to navigate the user interface. The initial lineup of baked-in apps includes email, calendar, chat, photos, maps, Adobe Reader, Quickoffice, and a few others; there are also more than 4,450 apps in the HP App Catalog. Unlike other tablets on the market, the TouchPad forgoes the rear -facing camera in favor of a single 1.3-megapixel lens embedded in the front. The interface certainly feels polished, although every applic ation seems to require a few seconds worth of loading time before it actually runssomething HP executives have suggested will be fixed in future over -the-air software and app catalog updates. Overall, though, the TouchPad represents a solid start for HP. In the United States, HP is offering the 16GB version of the TouchPad for $499.99, and the 32GB version for $599.99. It is Wi Fi-only for the moment, although additional connectivity is expected in future versions.

An Amazon Android Tablet as iPad Rival: 10 Burning Questions

Perhaps one of the worst -kept secrets in the high -tech world today is that Amazon.com, the lord of e-commerce, is building a tablet. Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos even told Consumer Reports to "stay tuned" when asked if there was an Amazon device other than a Kindle coming down the pike. Of course, there have been no official confirmations, and gadget blogs are surprisingly in the dark and confined to guesswork on this front. The current rumors have S amsung building the device(s) for Amazon, powering it with Nvidia Kal-el quad-core processors. We don't claim to know better, but considering that Amazon reportedly will launch the tablet(s) later this year, we need to start figuring these things out. Bezos told Amazon's shareholders June 7: "Most of our customers shop with us from desktop or laptop computers, but people have a differ ent posture with tablets. They lean back on their sofa. People leaning back on their sofa, buying things from Amazon is another tailwind for our business, so I'm very excited about that." That's kind of how we feel about Amazon's tablet. Bezos' comment quickly turns the conversation to one not of "if" there will be an Amazon tablet, but "when." Apple has already defined the tabl et market with the iPad. But Amazon has been a prominent tablet player with its Kindle e-reader. Perhaps Bezos and Co. can redefine the playing field with its own offering. So here are 10 burning questions eWEEK has about the predicted Amazon tablet.

PHP Fog Platform as a Service Scales PHP, MySQL Apps

PHP Fog is one of crop of new services that expand Platform as a Service beyond Java, Ruby and Python to accomodate the popul ar PHP language. The service, which became publicly available in May, layers caching, load balancing, database scaling and code version control features atop the Amazon Web Services foundation that the service taps for its underlying infrastructure. PHP Fog provides for elasticity by enabling users to spin up multiple EC2 instances which to serve customer PHP applications from behind a load balancer. For a look at PHP Fog in action, check out the product gallery below, and be sure to read eWEEK Labs full review.

Hadoop Data Analytics: 10 Reasons Why It's Important for Business

Hadoop, the data analytics-for-huge-data-sets invention of Apache Chairman Doug Cutting that found its original home at Yahoo, made some big news this week at the fifth annual Hadoop Summit in Santa Clara, Calif. First, it was revealed that Hadoop officiallybut not "spiritually"will break away from Yahoo and be shepherded by a new VC-funded company called Hortonworks, named after the Dr. Seuss elephant character. Secondly, the Hadoop technology has gone from a science project to mainstream business in five years. Hortonworks is an appropriate name for the new company because i t is congruent with Hadoop itselfwhich is named after the stuffed toy elephant that belongs to Cutting's young son. Apache Hadoop is an open -source software framework built in Java that works with distributed data -intensive applications. It enables applications to scale securely in order to handle thousands of nodes and petabytes of data. More and more businesses are finding out that they need to analyze their stored data to help them make better business decisi ons. A number of Hadoop distributions are now available. Some of them are mentioned in the following slide show, which touches on some of the key points in the five-year development history of this open -source software.

WhatsUp Gold Monitors Physical and Virtual Systems

WhatsUp Gold version 15 is a graphical reboot of the network and system monitoring and reporting tool. The new ribbon interfa ce should ease administrative access to the myriad of monitoring tools while also neatly presenting VMware resources in the improved WhatsVirtual module. WhatsUp Gold version 15 is a tool for traditional IT managers who need information on a single screen but may not have the means to dedicate a staff membe r to a management tool. Thus, WhatsUp Gold focuses on providing performance information in a no-nonsense green -yellow-red console that can now be integrated with Microsoft Windows Active Directory to ease the administration of WhatsUp Gold users. WhatsUp Gold became available on June 9 and costs $1,595 f or a 25-user license. The WhatsVirtual plug-in also became available the same day and costs $1,495 for 25-device license.

IBM Blue Gene: 10 Things to Know About the Supercomputer

IBM's Blue Gene supercomputer ranks among the company's all -time achievements. According to Green500.org, IBM supercomputers are the most energy efficient supercomputers in the world. In fact, the latest Supercompu ting Green500 List announced by Green500.org shows that a prototype of IBM's next generation Blue Gene/Q supercomputer is No. 1 on the list. The Green500 provides rankings of the most energy -efficient supercomputers in the world, and the organization raise s awareness about power consumption, promotes alternative total -cost-of-ownership performance metrics, and works to ensure that supercomputers only simulate climate change and not create it. The latest Green500 list shows that six of the top 10 most ene rgy-efficient supercomputers in the world are built on IBM high-performance computing technology, IBM said. The list includes supercomputers from China to Germany to the United States that are being used for a variety of applications such as astronomy, climat e prediction and life sciences. IBM also holds more than half of the top 100 positions on this list, IBM said. Energy efficiency, including performance per watt for the most computationally demanding workloads, h as long been a core design principle in developing IBM systems, IBM officials say. Energy-efficient supercomputers can allow IBM clients to lower power consumption and reduce expenses associated with cooling. In 2004, the IBM Blue Gene computer became the fastest supercomputer in the world, deliveri ng unprecedented performance in a compact, low-power design. Using Linux software and embedded system-on-a-chip technology, the Blue Gene supercomputer radically reduced the size and cost of highly scalable systems, while dramatically increasing performanc e. Five years later, the Blue Gene project was awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation by President Barack Obama.

Apple Television Poses Serious Challenge to Google TV, Munster Asserts

Every few months, media and analysts revitalize one of the longest -running rumors and debates about Apple: that the company will launch a full, Web-enabled Apple television to compete with Google TV, Roku, Boxee and other Web TV services on the market. The rumor was reincarnated June 21 with this report from DailyTech. Citing an anonymous Apple executive, the blog said Apple will enter the TV business to "blow Netflix and all those other guys away" by bundling the basic Apple TV service and the iTunes music service inside full-sized television sets. Apple will tap a major TV set maker, such as Samsung, for the hardware. That Apple would select Samsung at all given the current acrimonious patent infringement lawsuits over smartphone technology is almost too incredible to believe. However, the notion that Apple would sell a TV set that essentially duplicates the iOS experience and Apple App Store ecosystem to larger screens in millions of peoples' living rooms seems like the next obvious target for expansion. Such a move would enable Apple to put a hurting on Google's fledgling Google TV service, which is struggling to become a serious force in the digital entertainment sphere. In reaction t o the DailyTech blog post, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster put forth his latest argument and his position goes back half a decade nowthat Apple will indeed launch a full TV set in 2012. eWEEK runs through Munster's reasons and adds commentary to each i n this slide show.

Apple iPhone 5: 10 Rival Products That Could Harm Sales

If the recent rumors have any credence, Apple will release the iPhone 5 in September. Most reports suggest that Apple will ship the device either that month or at some point shortly thereafter. Exactly what the iPhone 5 will feature is unknown at this point. However, rumors are swirli ng that the device will come with a bigger, edge-to-edge display, 4G capability and near-field communication, allowing users to pay for purchases with their smartphone. With all those features in tow, most analysts believe the iPhone 5 will perform exceedingly well at retail. But those analysts must also consider that Apple's smartphone will be facing off with a crowd of smartphones and tablets, and that could stymie its growth. The iPhone 5 will undoubtedly sell well, but the following products could hold the device back from fulfilling its full sales potential in both the consumer and enterprise markets.

Google+ Project Emerges as Facebook With More Refined Manners

After more than a year of denials that any major social network initiative was in the works, Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) June 28 unv eiled Google+, the company's take on social networking. Not to be confused with the existing Google+1 search result and ad -sharing services, Google+ is intended to alleviate certain pain points that plagued Facebook as its network grew to 700 million-plus users. For example, while Facebook users added friends, family and colleagues to one big connection pool, Google+ is designed to let users create smaller buckets of contacts that share common interests. Users may create these Circles by dragging and dropping Google Profile pictures of users into separate Circles and sharing information only within those Circles. Users may also strike up conversations around topics, called Sparks; gather in video chat rooms, called Hangouts; and instantly upload photos and videos from their mobile phones to Google+. Google isn't trying to kill Facebook with this launch; it's wisely looking to provide an alternative to the massive info-sharing (and over-sharing) occurring on the world's leading social network today. To check it out, eWEEK received an early invitation to participate in the invitation-only field test. Before we fully battletest it, please check out this walk-through of the service we received from taking an interactive video tour.

10 Promising Mobile IT Startups to Watch

Good new ideas and startup ventures keep coming up through the ranks and making an impact in the constantly evolving IT industry. AlwaysOn Networks' OnMobile 2011 was held recently in Redwood City, Calif., and it featured about 100 of the world's top-rated venture capi tal-backed mobile companiesnew businesses that are lining up to disrupt both the consumer and enterprise IT worlds. The two -day executive event featured high -level debates on what's hot in the emerging mobile market and how these innovations are disruptin g how companies and consumers work, play, advertise and connect. OnMobile also

presented the top 100 emerging mobile companies that are creating new business opportunities in the high -growth mobile markets based on research by VCs, analysts, and AlwaysOn staff members. This slideshow highlights 10 of those companies.

Tracking LulzSec's Career of Hacking Mayhem

Cyber-prankster group LulzSec announced on June 25 via a letter to its followers that it will cease its campaign of Web attacks. The group employed SQL injection and DDOS (distributed denial-of-service) attacks to attack various targets during its 50 -day spree. Some of the attacks highlighted the poor sec urity practices prevalent among senior executives of prominent companies, such as a vice president of Fox Broadcasting reusing a ve ry simple password across multiple services. "Don't use the same password twice. Your laziness will not end well," the group warned on its Twitter feed. Interspersed with trash -talking about the victimized sites and announcements of new targets, the Twitter account contained helpful "lesson of the moment" tip s, such as using prepaid credit cards to make online purchases. The targeted organizations varied from giant conglomerates such as Sony to law enforcement and other government organizations to ATMs and TV networks. LulzSec's stated goal was to have fun, to entertain others as well as themselves, and to share "lulz," the group said repeatedly. From May 6 to June 26, the question was, "Who are they going to go after next?" Below are some of LulzSec's victi ms, in somewhat chronological order.

HTC Evo View 4G Gingerbread Tablet Packs Features Into Compact Frame
The HTC Evo View 4G, which Sprint began selling June 24 for $399.99, is a pretty 7-inch tablet flaunting HTC's classic rounded edges. HTC's first Android tablet, powered by a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, recalls the HTC Thunderbolt 4G smartphone in aesthetics and network speed, boasting a soft gray plastic back with souped up performance on Sprint's meaty 4G WiMax network. However, users who want to make calls will need to do so via Google Voice or the preinstalled Qik video calling app enabled by the tablet's front-facing 1.3 megapixel camera and rear-facing 5 megapixel shutter. Unlike the Samsung Galaxy Tab, which was based on Android 2.2, or the Galaxy Tab 10.1 Android 3.0 "Honeycomb" tablet, this slate is based on Android 2.3 "Gingerbread." Though not optimized for tablets, Gingerbread does a credible job rendering applications, thanks to HTC's Sense 2.1 custom feature l ayer for tablets. Moreover, the HTC will upgrade the View 4G over the air to Honeycomb later. The View also has 32GB of memory to store movies, photos and apps, and a 4,000-mAh lithiumpolymer battery for solid running life. The real treat with the View 4G we reviewed was the HTC Scribe digital pen, which Sprint is kicking in free now, but will cost consumers who wait too long $79.99. The Scribe pen is a great little tool that lets users take freehand notes in the cla ssic blue or black pen-style or with several different colors and drawing modes. Users may also simply just begin writing or drawing on any home screen on the tablet. Notes and annotations may also be instantly saved to a user's Evernote account. Take the tour of this fine tablet with eWEEK.

Must-Have Gadgets to Take on Summer Vacation

With any luck, youll be able to get out of the office this summer and enjoy some leisure time either lying by a beach, hiking through the mountains or just lazing about a resort somewhere. In this day and age, though, no matter how much we like to get away from it all, it seems technology follows us everywhere. In fact, its become so pervasive we cant seem to even relax on vacation unless were somehow connected to the outside world. Well, that seems to be the way it is, so why fight it? Embrace it instead in a positive way that can enhance your vacation. Instead of loading down your suitcase with books, why not take along a snazzy e-reader instead? Take along a waterproof digital camera so that you can surf the waves and snap away at the same time, or swim with the fish and rock out to your favorite tunes with a waterproof MP3 player. And dont forget to bring along a sola r-powered charger to power up all your devices. Heres a list of summer travel gadgets meant to enhance, not to detract from, your well -deserved vacation.

Cisco Cius, AppHQ Online Storefront Make Enterprise Play

Cisco Systems is entering the tablet market in a big way with the enterprise -centric Cius, a 7-inch tablet that runs Android 2.2 and integrates into its user interface a number of Cisco products such as Cisco TelePresence, Cisco WebEx meeting applications, Cisco Quad social software and Cisco Jabbe r messaging. The emphasis here is on video conferencing and social collaboration between colleagues. The device can dock with an of fice phone and display content on large screens, making it useful for meetings and presentations. While the device itself feels thicker and somewhat heavier than oth er tablets on the market, Cisco claims that the extra thickness is necessary for high -quality audio and a removable battery. In addition to the hardware, Cisco will allow businesses to host their own private application store via the AppHQ storefront, which offers a wide selection of enterprise -centric applications and complements Android Market place. Businesses will also have the ability to set up private application stores, customizable down to corporate logos and icons. In keeping with standards of enterprise security, IT managers will have control over which employees within an organization c an download applications, and grant access to those applications based on type, source and category. Every application within the AppHQ storefront will undergo validation testing. The Cius is scheduled for a July 31 global release, with an estimated price point below $750.

iPhone, iPad Apps to Celebrate July 4th

The most American of holidays, the Fourth of Julyor Independence Day is marked by parades, copious flag-waving, barbecues and, of course, fireworks. However you decide to celebrate the long holiday weekend, whether with delayed flights or sitting on jammed highways (we kid, we kid), the wizards who populate Apples App Store with hundreds of thousands of applications have more than enough holiday-appropriate selections to bolster your spirits. From grilling guides to holiday-planning helpers, there are also plenty of adaptable applications that can give you tips to organize parties and figure out where the best place is to celebrate the occasion. While our Founding Fathers may never have imagined an America where digital firework s displays could be held in the palm of your hand or virtual maps could help you find the best place to park your 21st century version of a horse and buggy along the parade route, they would certainly be impressed by the wealth of patriotic ingenuity that still courses through the veins of their American sons and d aughters. Happy Fourth of July!

Google Health, PowerMeter Join Other Failed Web Service Initiatives

Google June 24 quietly announced it will close Google Health and Google PowerMeter, two Web services that failed to catch on among consumers. Health was an ambitious initiative that invited consumers to store their personal health records on Googles cloud system, a prospect th at concerned some people who thought the company might leverage their health care status for targeted ads. PowerMeter was a much more environmentally friendly and seemingly innocuous application. It was a Google.org effort to help consumers gauge their daily power consumption in the home from an iGoogle gadget on their computers. Health and PowerMeter are the first two significant products to be killed off under the aegis of new CEO Larry Page, who took over f or Eric Schmidt in April. The products are also just the latest of several once -prominent Web service initiatives and applications that Google had to sunset because of lack of interest. No interest means no money-making opportunities for Google, which relies on large-scale platforms to serve people ads. The biggest of these failures was arguably Google Wave, the real-time collaboration platform the search engine giant abandoned last August following a super-hyped launch in May 2009. Wave, which let users upload documents, photos, videos and other content and share them with colleagues on the fly, simply never ca ught on beyond its 1 millionplus users. This made it a niche product that Google's management no longer saw fit to dedicate dozens of engineers to. Disillusioned after his baby was terminated early, Wave creator Lars Rasmussen took himself and his consider able real-time programming talents to Facebook. This eWEEK slide show reviews the major cloud services Google has shelved.

Microsoft Launches Office 365, a New Google Competitor

Microsoft launched Office 365 in New York City June 28, very conspicuously choosing the same venue it used for Windows 7s de but in October 2009. And as with Windows 7, Microsoft has a lot riding on this particular launch. If Office 365 succeeds with businesses and consumers, itll help validate the companys choice of an "all in" cloud strategy. If the platform fails, itll provide an opening for other cloud-software producers most notably Google, which already offers a cloud-productivity platform with Google Appsto establish themselves in the space. Office 365 is a rebranding of Microsofts BPOS (Business Productivity Online Suite), and binds Microsoft Office, SharePoint Online, Exchange Online and Lync Online onto a common cloud platform that costs between $2 and $27 per user, per month. On top of that, Microsoft is offering an Office 365 Marketplace with productivity apps and professional services. In sum, Office 365 is meant to provide everything from confere ncing to document editing to video editing in one convenient (and accessible) place. Theres also a focus on interoperability across multiple devices, including smartphones running Microsofts Windows Phone. For this release, Microsof t is particularly targeting SMBs, claiming Office 365 will give them a competitive edge without the burden of complex on-premises systems. The question is whether those businesses will find Office 365 durable enough, and feature -filled enough, to meet their needs.

11 Internet Security Myths That Delude Computer Users

Many surveys have highlighted the fact that end users are not security -conscious and do not think about t he implications of their online activities, making them vulnerable to attack by cyber -criminals. A recent survey of nearly 16,000 users in 11 countries by G Data Software uncovered a startling fact: Users are thinking about security, but what they know is light years out-of-date or completely wrong. "The majority of Internet users, regardless of age, sex or nationality, are aware that there are threats on the Internet," G Data's researchers wrote in the report. However, a lot of w hat they think they know may have been true in the nineties and in the first decade of the new millennium but has not been true for the past several years, the researchers said. As a result, end users are relying on "very out -of-date facts" to protect themselves, the researchers not ed. Only a small percentage understand the nature of current online threats or how to effectively protect themselves from computer malware, the report found. "A high level of awareness here can surely do no harm," they wrote. Below, eWEEK identified the top 11 myths about online security and paired them with up-to-date facts pulled from the "How do users assess threats on the Internet?" report.

SolarWinds Virtualization Manager Uses VM Performance to Estimate Amazon EC2 Costs

The SolarWinds Virtualization Manager 4.0 tracks compute, network and storage resource use to predict capacity limits, answer s what-if planning questions and estimates what it would cost to run your VMware virtual infrastructure on Amazons EC2 public cloud service. The tool doe s not monitor or manage Microsoft Hyper-V or open source hypervisor platforms. The reminted Virtualization Manager (VM ) neatly fits with SolarWinds network and system management tools. Tests at eWEEK Labs showed that VM is well worth adding to any sized organizations management toolkit. SolarWinds VM started shipping on June 7 and is available as a virtual appliance. The product costs $2,995 for 50 powered on VMs under management.

Apple iPad 2 Rivals: 10 Tablets That Can Challenge the Market Leader
Apple's iPad 2 has become an unbridled success in the tablet market. No other mobile device in the space, including the Motorola Xoom, has been able to appeal to consumers and enterprise customers in the same way the iPad 2 has. Looking ahead, most analysts agree that Apple's tablet will dominate that market and fend off Android's growth. But that doesn't mean there aren't compelling alternatives currently available or launc hing soon for consumers and enterprise users who don't necessarily want to get their hands on an iPad 2. Those alternatives, which range from other tablets to lightweight notebooks, offer something unique that might catch a customer's eye. Flip through the following slides to find out which devices, both available now and launching soon, might just suit the fancy of those customers who have balked at the idea of buying an iPad 2 and want to use another mobile device while they're on the road, at home or traveling on a plane.

The Case for Cloud Printing

In an ideal world, "anywhere computing" wouldn't just mean connecting your iPad or notebook to the Internet. It would include the ability to print what you need where you need it anywhere. But in the rush to mobility and the development of the myriad of collaboration and presentation tools that go with it, we may have overlooked the productivity benefits associated with the printed page. In a recent study of mid -sized organizations, Ziff Davis Enterprise Research took a look at the need for, and possible solutions offered by, cloud-based printing services. Here's what we found.

U2 Turns to Dell to Keep Massive Concert Stage Rattling and Humming

As anybody who's experienced a U2 concert knows, these events can fill a sports stadium with light and sound. To match the in tense rock beat of the four musiciansdrummer Larry Mullen Jr., bassist Adam Clayton, guitarist The Edge, and singer Bonothe stage presentation simply has to be huge, and it is. In the case of this year's international U2 360 concert series, the stage is seven stories high and weighs 54 tons. It unfolds to cover most of a major league baseball field, and it carries virtually all the electronics directly above the stage where the band works. To ensure that each show c omes off without a bit of feedback or any type of video hitch, show producer Live Nation Entertainment, which used to build all its own custom IT, now has deployed a purpose-built control package that sits in a control tent opposite the stage. The IT consists of off -the-shelf Dell Precision R5400 rack-mounted workstations and UltraSharp U2711 monitors for concert video control and management, in addition to Precision M6500 17 -inch mobile workstationsused for off-site, on-the-go content creation and rendering. There is not a single customized workstation or monitor in the tent for this concert, and every function is replicated in case something goes down, which is rare. Recently eWEEK had the opportunity to check out the results of a U2 show first hand; the one in this slide sho w was staged June 17 at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, Calif.

HP TouchPad, HTC Evo 3D, Toshiba Thrive Offer Glimpse of Mobile Future
Hewlett-Packards TouchPad loaded with webOS, Sprints HTC Evo 3D with its 3D-shooting capability, Toshibas upcoming Thrive tablet running Google Android 3.0, and a wide variety of other smartphones and tablets were on display at a recent New York City event, underlining how the popularity of mobility is fueling technological evolution at a breakneck pace. As these higher -end devices begin to hit the market over the next few months, users will have the ability to download faster, interact with the latest mobile operating systems (including the aforementioned Goo gle Android 3.0 and webOS, as well as BlackBerry 7 OS), chat via video conference, and maybe shoot a 3D film clip or three. Laptop makers are increasingly taking their cues from thi s newfound interest in mobile, producing devices such as the Lenovo ThinkPa d X1 and Asus UX21 Series Ultra-Slim that emphasize portability, light weight and long battery life. Hybrid devices such as the Eee Pad Transformer TF101, which marries an Android tablet to a physical QWERTY keyboard, are also making appearances. (In a bid to appeal to those road warriors who might want to use their tablet for typing a longer email or document, HPs TouchPad offers a physical keyboard as an accessory.) In any case, the wares on display demonstrate that, for manufacturers, its become an eve r-more-mobile world out there.

HP TouchPad Marks webOS Tablet Debut

Hewlett-Packards 9.7-inch TouchPad has something of a tough road ahead as it attempts to penetrate the tablet market. Not only is Apples iPad franchise continuing to sell millions of units per quarter, but the growing family of Google Android tablets threatens to crowd out man ufacturers t rying for something a little different. And the TouchPad is different: Powered by a 1.2GHz dual -core processor, and offered in 16GB and 32GB models, the tablet runs the webOS operating system that HP acquired along with Palm in 2010. At 1.6 pounds and measuring 13.7mm thick, the TouchPads physical specs are competitive with the latest tablets on the market. HP is pushing its tablet, expected to debut July 1, as an all-in-one device equally capable of surfing the Web as running apps and games. In a brief appearance at a New York City event, HP representatives demonstrated everything from the photo gallery app (whose images seemed pretty crisp, thanks to the tablets 1024 x 768 resolution) to the browser and the 1.3 -megapixel Webcam. (In a change from other tablets on the market, many of which offer a front -and-back dual-camera configuration, the TouchPad only offers one front -embedded camera, which can be used for video conferencing.) HP is also emphasizing the TouchPads accessories, which include a physical keyboard and the HP Touchstone Charging Dock, a way to charge the tablet cord free. Will all those elements allow the TouchPad to triumph where so many other tablets have crashed and burned? Time will tell.

Firefox 5 Browser Launches, Boasting Tweaks, Security, Privacy

Mozilla's new Firefox 5.0 for PCs and Firefox for Android aim to offer users a best -of-class combination of security, privacy and speed. Coming a mere three months after the release of Firefox 4, this latest browser supposedly includes more than 1,000 improvements and performance e nhancements. However, features like "Do Not Track" may do more to draw users increas ingly leery of the Web's rampant data mining. For most consumers, downloading and installing Firefox 5 will only take a few minutes, although larger companies still deploying Firefox 4 could become annoyed at having to switch so soon. Despite those hundreds of improvements, Firefox 5 doesn't seem to offer a radically different experience from its predecessor. Certainly, it addre sses security concerns left over from Firefox 4, whose life essentially ends with this release. But for the most part, Mozilla's latest offering embraces the same streamlined design (with an emphasis on putting the Web's content front -and-center, via shrunk icons and an eliminated "status" bar along the bottom of the screen) and features as before. Firefox 5 will face competition not only from Microsoft's still-enduring Internet Explorer franchise, but also upstarts such as Google Chrome and Safari, both of which have gained market share over the past year. Meanwhile, Firefox for Android aims to extend features like "Do No t Track" acro ss multiple platforms.

Google Search by Image on the Desktop Passes Eye Test With Hiccups
Google used its Inside Search Event June 14 to unveil its Search by Image feature for desktop computers. This feature lets users search for information on photos simply by uploading a still image, adding a link to it, or dragging and dropping the image in a search box and hitting "Enter." There are also Chrome and Firefox extensions to provide shortcuts for this search feature. If this sounds a lot like Google Goggles for the iPhone or A ndroid smartphones, it's because the search engine is using the same software from Goggles to power this n ew feature. Users of Goggles have been able to take pictures of landmarks, locations and some two-dimensional products for the last two years. Well, Google decided to apply this technology to the desktop for times when users can't find words to bring important context to the picture they are seeing. This can be especially useful for pictures users have taken and stored online bu t forgot to add captions to them. This is the latest example of Google building some backward portability, if you will. That is, in stead of taking technologies created on the desktop and expanding them to the mobile domain, the company is taking software tools intended first for mobile users and making them ava ilable to the more sedentary desktop or laptop user. The idea is that Googl e will make its Web services available on as many Web -connected devices as it can to bolster its search and advertising opportunities. Tests of the new tool showed it to be serviceable for pictures dragged and dropped and uploaded fr om our work laptop. The results are in this eWEEK slide Show.

A Geek`s Guide to the San Francisco Bay Area

The City by the Bay is known for its picturesquely painted houses, murderously steep hills, charmingly rickety streetcars and famously fickle weather not to mention infrastructural icons such as the Golden Gate Bridge and Transamerica Tower downtown. However, there is much more to San Francisco than pretty locales and numerous hippies. The city is an epicenter of learning and science, boasting a treasure trove of sights and attractions for t he nerdy at heart. In addition to world-class museums sure to delight any geek worth his or her salt, the city offers an eclectic mix of institutions that provide access to curiosities such as the worlds largest collection of antique arcade machines, a cartoon art museum and stunning modern architecture by s ome of the biggest names in the business. While you certainly wont want to miss a ride on the citys famous cable cars or a winding waddle down Lombard Street, the most crooked street in the world, there is much more to delight the geeks senses inside the city and in the surrounding areas, if you just know whe re to look.

Google Voice Search on Desktop 60% Accurate in First Test

One of the core features Google introduced at its Inside Search event June 14 was a n eat new tool that lets users of Google's Chrome Web browser conduct Google.com voice searches right from their desktop or laptop computers. If this rings a bell it's because it leverages the ex act same speech recognition and application model used for the Google Voice Search for Android smartphones and tablets. Search on the desktop, also known as "search out loud," is rolling o ut gradually to all U.S. English language search users using Chrome 11 and later versions. Look for the little microphone icon to the right of the search box on Google.com. The tool starts working with Chrome 11 because it is the first iteration that leverages the Chrome Speech API. Go ogle Speech Technology manager Mike Cohen said at the Inside Search event that he and his team have l ogged 230 billion words to help Google's English Voice Search system recognize common phrases. Thats an incredible number. But all of those words won't necessarily translate to accurate searches because a lot d epends on how Google's algorithms handle the words when they're paired or strung together with other words. To see how well it works, eWEEK put this software through its paces. Voice Search nailed 6 out of 10 of our variegated search queries. See our test results in this slide show.

HTC Evo 3D 4G 'Gingerbread' Smartphone Boasts Two Cameras for Shutterbugs

Few people expect their smartphones to be equipped with a gr eat camera. The focus of a high-end handset is normally to make calls reliably with mercifully few dropped calls, speedy access to the Web and great applications. Sprint will look to defy those expectations when it begin s selling the HTC Evo ED 4G smartpho ne for $199.99 with a two-year deal June 24. This Google Android 2.3 "Gingerbread" handset didn't wow us out of the box. However, once powered on, the Sense 3.0 user interface on the Evo 3D 4G assured us HTC has become the elite of manufacturer -baked UIs. Moreover, the more stylish Gingerbread build is a joy to use. But the real stars of the Evo 3D 4G are the cameras. There are two 5 -megapixel shutters mounted on the back of this device, which are used together to shoot 3D stills and video content and share them. Moreover, users may view 3D without donning the traditional, hammy 3D glasses with blue and red lenses. Moreover, this phone is fast, sporting a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon dial-core processor to leverage Sprint's 4G WiMax network. Sprint is working with Gameloft to push 3D games on this device, with an application gateway preinstalled to help users purchase and download such titles as "Modern Combat 2: Black Pegasus HD" and "Spiderman: Total Mayhem HD." Since the device landed at our door, eWEEK had a blast playing with this speedy handset, particularly when it came to taking pictures and shooting video.