Microsoft announces global launch of Windows MultiPoint Server 2010

February 25, 2010 · Filed Under Educational Software, Software News, Utilities and Operating Systems · Comment 

New shared resource computing solution increases access to affordable technology in education.

Microsoft announced the release of Windows MultiPoint Server 2010, a new Windows product that increases access to affordable computing in educational scenarios such as classrooms, labs and libraries by allowing multiple users to simultaneously share one computer using multiple screens. Windows MultiPoint Server 2010 is now globally available to OEMs and will be rolling out to Microsoft academic volume licensing customers on March 1. In addition, Microsoft is announcing new partnerships that create a strong global ecosystem of hardware companies that give customers a breadth of choices to buy and use Windows MultiPoint Server solutions.

“We heard clearly from our customers in education that to help fulfill the amazing promise of technology in the classroom, they needed access to affordable computing that was easy to manage and use,” said Anthony Salcito, vice president of worldwide education at Microsoft. “That’s why we developed Windows MultiPoint Server — a solution that meets these needs and delivers an up-to-date, trusted Windows experience.”

Windows MultiPoint Server 2010 is an operating system that enables multiple people to connect to a single host computer with their own monitor, keyboard and mouse through USB or a video card. Each person individually controls his or her own station with an independent and familiar Windows computing experience. Windows MultiPoint Server 2010 is the flagship product in a family of shared resource computing technologies, the MultiPoint solutions, which provide teachers and students with greater access to educational technology. Shared resource computing is an emerging category that allows a customer to tap into more of a computer’s capability to enable a single host computer to support multiple users simultaneously.

“Shared resource computing can multiply the number of student workstations available to schools, delivering more value while staying within the same budget,” said Bill Rust, research director at Gartner Inc. “Teachers can better align computing resources with instructional strategies while deploying fewer fully configured computers and reducing workstation support liabilities.”

Building an Ecosystem

Helping to fully realize the opportunities created by Windows MultiPoint Server, the solution is launching with strong support from vendors all over the world that have committed to developing creative and effective solutions for the MultiPoint platform. In November 2009, HP became the first OEM to announce support for Windows MultiPoint Server 2010. HP is now rolling out its HP MultiSeat shared resource computing solution to customers worldwide. In addition to HP, Microsoft is pleased to announce partnerships with DisplayLink, NComputing, ThinGlobal, Tritton Technologies Inc. and Wyse Technology Inc. to provide an increasing number of Windows MultiPoint Server hardware options for customers globally. At the local level, Microsoft is working with a broad array of OEMs, such as Howard, Positivo, Seneca Data and Tarox, to deliver even more choices to meet the varied needs of customers.

Software vendors, such as AB Consulting, LanSchool Technologies and NetSupport Ltd., will also be developing applications that extend the Windows MultiPoint platform and provide teachers and students with access to classroom management and other education-focused technology.

Having the support of a broad range of partners makes it easier for customers to purchase Windows MultiPoint Server solutions and content optimized for their individual language, content and curriculum needs. More information on the Windows MultiPoint Server ecosystem is available at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/multipoint/solutions.aspx.

Affordable Access for Schools

Customers from around the world have already endorsed Windows MultiPoint Server 2010 and are experiencing firsthand the benefits this affordable solution can provide. With lower initial hardware acquisition costs, schools can expand access to more students with lower-cost or existing resources. Using the familiar Windows-based interface on the host computer, teachers can establish a consistent Windows experience depending on the needs of the class. Students can work on individual projects and at their own pace, while finding, using and sharing information effectively, enhancing their productivity and learning experience. All this can be done within the classroom, since Windows MultiPoint Server 2010 was designed for nontechnical professionals to set up and manage.

“With Windows MultiPoint Server, we can offer more computer access to more students, even on our tight technology budget,” said Cary Petersen, executive director of information technology, Jefferson County Public Schools. “Teachers can easily distribute tailored curricula to individual students and help them progress at their own level and pace. Students can develop 21st-century skills that will help them with their school projects and prepare them for the next level of schooling and for jobs in the future. Besides, the system is easy to set up and maintain, meaning less work for our IT department.”

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SIIA announces finalists for 2010 CODiE Awards in Education categories

February 24, 2010 · Filed Under Educational Software, Software News · Comment 

Fifty-four companies qualify for second round of prestigious award program

The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) announces the finalists for the prestigious CODiE Awards in the categories relating to education technology. The products that qualified will now be reviewed by members of SIIA, who will vote on winners for all 24 categories. The winners will be announced at a special CODiE Awards Dinner on May 24th, which will be held in conjunction with the 2010 Ed Tech Industry Summit.

Eighty-eight products from 54 companies were selected as finalists from more than 327 nominations submitted by 124 companies. Nominated products underwent an intensive review by subject matter experts, analysts, journalists, and others with deep experience in the field. Pearson has 13 nominations reaching the final stage, the most for one company this year. Five companies have 3 nominations reaching the final stage. The finalists may now be reviewed on the CODiE Awards Website at www.siia.net/CODiEs.

“This is the twenty-fifth year we have recognized excellence through the CODiE Awards program,” noted Ken Wasch, President of SIIA. “The competition is always tough, and in this economic climate, companies are doing even more to innovate. Excellence within the education technology industry shines through in the products selected as finalists, and we are very excited to see how the voting goes this year.”

Originally called the “Excellence in Software Awards,” the CODiEs were established in 1986 by the Software Publishers Association (SPA), which preceded the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA). The program was created so that pioneers of the then-nascent software industry could evaluate and honor each other’s work. Since then, the CODiE Awards program has carried out the same purpose – to showcase the software and information industry’s finest products and services and to honor excellence in corporate achievement and philanthropic efforts.

Source: Software & Information Industry Association

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New Emotional Technology in KODAK Picture Kiosks creates opportunity to tap into trillions of images

February 21, 2010 · Filed Under Digital Photo Software, Productivity Software, Software News, Utilities and Operating Systems · Comment 

New KODAK Picture Kiosk Software v4.0 Unlocks Images from Consumer Video, Social Networks and More

The Eastman Kodak Company  introduced a series of powerful new features and enhancements to its KODAK Picture Kiosk software, including a number of industry firsts. The new features are designed to inspire consumers to create something truly memorable with their most important photos easily and in minutes, through highly-profitable premium at-retail photo products. Utilizing Kodak’s proprietary materials and digital image science, these unique-to-Kodak features are compatible with KODAK Picture Kiosk G4 series – the majority of the KODAK Kiosk fleet.

Hot on the heels of the award winning KODAK SLICE Touchscreen Camera and KODAK PLAYSPORT Video Camera announced at CES, KODAK Picture Kiosk Software v4.0 now debuts Kodak’s Video Snapshots, a first-of-its-kind video-to-still capture application at retail that allows consumers to easily select individual pictures of that “perfect moment” from video clips shot with digital still and point-and-shoot digital video cameras. Other industry firsts include Kodak’s Pet Eye Retouch, Kodak’s Facial Retouch and true one-touch premium products. In addition, onboard workflow enhancements in KODAK Picture Kiosk Software v4.0 make it faster and easier than ever to create popular premium products such as photo enlargements and collages, as well as KODAK Picture CDs, and Photo Books, making this Kodak’s most powerful software release for its kiosk fleet – ever.

“Our new KODAK Picture Kiosk software is the best we’ve introduced. It uses our Emotional Technology Initiative, designed specifically to help consumers tell their life stories quickly and easily,” said Nicoletta Zongrone, General Manager Retail Systems Solutions and Vice President, Eastman Kodak Company. “We’ve had a number of market firsts since Kodak invented the photo kiosk category in 1993, and we’ve now created what we believe is the most satisfying customer experience to date, along with introducing proprietary features, that help our retail partners create vibrant, reliable and highly profitable photo retail destinations.”

New features of KODAK Picture Kiosk Software v4.0 solve real problems for consumers and retailers:

– Solving the problem of capturing that special individual moment locked away in a video, Kodak’s Video Snapshots feature lets consumers review and select individual frames from their video files, convert them into still images, and then use them to create prints, collages, greeting cards, photo books and calendars, or store them on a CD making them easier to share and relive. Consistent with Kodak’s core competency of delivering breakthrough, easy-to-use consumer experiences, the simple and elegant user interface is quick, easy and fun. Kodak’s Video Snapshots will support video formats of top brand digital still and point-and- shoot digital video cameras, including the newest HD models. With consumers in the US alone shooting more than 4 trillion video frames annually, this presents an enormous opportunity for retailers.(1)

– With 71 million pet households in the US alone(2), pets rank in the top four of all captured images.(3) Kodak’s Pet Eye Retouch allows these consumers to fix the very common and problematic pet eye glare caused by flash photography of their furry companions. Consumer research shows that 65 percent of consumers were likely to use this feature, and remarkably, 28 percent would be willing to change where they print to get it. (3)

– Helping people look their best, Kodak’s market-proven Facial Retouch Feature, at the touch of one button smoothes wrinkles, diminishes and/or erases blemishes and improves skin tone for more perfect photo keepsakes. This technology was successfully tested and launched with major European retailers and is now available to all Kodak retail partners around the globe.

– The new Software v4.0 also gives consumers using the KODAK Picture Kiosk the ability to access the photos they have stored or shared on the KODAK Gallery, Facebook® and Picasa(TM) Web Albums, and easily use them to create photo keepsakes in minutes right in the store. With more than 475M active consumers in 180 countries and more than three billion photos uploaded each month to these sites, the software offers retailers a huge opportunity to market their unique in-store services to these users.(4)

– Designed to help consumers become aware of the powerful new sharing solutions, and retailers to increase market basket opportunity, the new software now offers a complete suite of merchandising tools.  Fresh, lively welcome screen messaging offers ideas for new projects right from the start, and the intelligent one-touch premium upsell feature creates animated product suggestions using the consumer’s own images, allowing her to purchase an additional product instantly with the touch of one button.

In addition to exciting new features, KODAK Picture Kiosk Software v4.0 takes work out for the consumer. Consistent with Kodak’s focus on delivering a superior consumer experience in store, the new software requires fewer consumer touches, writes KODAK Picture CDs up to 33 percent faster, and creates KODAK Photo Books faster and more easily than with previous generation solutions. This translates into less queuing, improved customer satisfaction and more profit potential per minute.

“With all these amazing new features and powerful upsells, the KODAK Picture Kiosk is the hardest working employee in the store – always helping and always selling,” said Zongrone. “In the end, this category is not about bits, bytes and pages, it’s about putting technology to work to solve real problems and create opportunities, so that consumers and retailers get what they need. We call it ‘Emotional Technology.’ We’re very proud of our new software and we’re working with our retailer partners around the globe to roll it out as we speak.”

KODAK Picture Kiosk Software v4.0 will begin shipping in the 2nd quarter of 2010. . For more information on this and other exciting solutions come visit the world’s leader in the photo kiosk industry at PMA 2010 – booth 3100, Anaheim Convention Center, California, from February 21-23 2010.

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Cybercriminals continue to show their love for Valentine’s Day

February 13, 2010 · Filed Under Security Software, Software News · Comment 

PandaLabs provides tips for Internet users to protect their PCs from holiday-themed malware

PandaLabs, Panda Security’s malware analysis and detection laboratory, warns that cybercriminals are continuing to exploit Valentine’s Day with holiday-themed malware as a lure to trick users and infect computers.

As in years past, Internet users can expect to see numerous e-mails this weekend with links to malicious downloads, which are often perpetrated through romantic greeting cards or messages with subject lines related to Valentine’s Day. In 2010, cyber-crooks are also exploiting social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter.

Social engineering remains cyber-crooks’ preferred technique for deceiving users. In these cases, cybercriminals obtain confidential information from users by convincing them to take a series of actions: a carefully selected social engineering ploy convinces users to hand over their data or install a malicious program, which captures information and sends it to fraudsters.

“The continued use of social engineering by cyber-crooks is a good indication of the high infection rate that this technique achieves. The technique works well, so criminals will continue to use it until people stop falling for it,” explains Luis Corrons, technical director of PandaLabs.

PandaLabs recommends Internet users follow these guidelines to avoid falling victim to computer threats this Valentine’s Day:

– Don’t open e-mails or messages received on social networks from unknown senders.

– Do not click any links included in e-mail messages, even if they come from reliable sources. This rule applies to messages received through any mail client, as well as those in Facebook, Twitter, or other social networks or messaging applications.

– If you do click on any such links, take a close look at the page you arrive at. If you don’t recognize it, close your browser.

– Do not run attached files that come from unknown sources. Stay on the alert for files that claim to be Valentine’s Day greeting cards, romantic videos or another related ploy.

– If a page seems legitimate but asks you to download something, you should be suspicious and choose not to accept the download.

– If, in any event, you download and install any type of executable file and you begin to see unusual messages on your computer, you have probably been infected with malware.

– If you are making any purchases online related to Valentine’s Day, type the address of the store in the browser, rather than going through any links that have been sent to you.

– Only buy online from sites that have a solid reputation and offer secure transactions, encrypting all information that is entered in the page. To check if a page is secure, look for the security certificate in the form of a small yellow padlock next to the toolbar or in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen.

– Don’t use shared or public computers for making transactions or operations that require you to enter passwords or other personal details.

– Have an effective security solution installed that is capable of detecting both known and new malware strains.

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Tableau launches free software to make data social

February 11, 2010 · Filed Under Communications, Downloads, Internet Software, Productivity Software, Software News · Comment 

New product helps blogs and web sites start conversations with interactive visual data

Tableau Software launched a new product that brings public data to life on the web. Tableau Public, available for free, lets anyone who posts content to the web easily create interactive visualizations and publish them to blogs, web sites, Twitter feeds or anywhere online. Instead of viewing static charts or tables, Tableau Public lets people answer questions and share data interactively on the web.

“Imagine if online data was as fun and accessible as online video,” said Christian Chabot, Tableau’s CEO and co-founder. “We created this product because we want to make data a first class citizen on the web. We want to change the way people interact with data online by letting them tell stories with flexibility and beauty.”

Current alternatives for sharing data online are clumsy. Typically, data is pasted into tables and lists, or posted as files or catalogs that are difficult to use. Available at TableauPublic.com, Tableau Public is helping to solve this challenge – bringing data to life on the web for ordinary people. With its interactive visualizations and dashboards, Tableau Public helps people start conversations based on data that is useful, beautiful and shareable. No special plug-ins are required, all that’s needed to see and use the data is a web browser.

From bloggers and journalists to researchers and students, Tableau is already being used as a tool to create conversations with data. For example, Timothy Ellis at SeattleBubble.com, a community blog focused on the local housing market, is using Tableau to increase the depth of conversations about the changing real estate market.

Robert Kosara, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of North Carolina, recently used Tableau Public to compare temperature data collected from 343 weather stations over twenty years, or 77,172 observations. He was able to show warming trends clearly and posted a blog about global warming. “I was impressed how Tableau helped me create a more analytical visualization that was easy to share on the web. It’s an amazing product, and I regularly use Tableau for my Visual Analytics class,” said Professor Kosara.

Tableau Version 5.1

In conjunction with the general availability of Tableau Public, the company is also releasing today Version 5.1 of its Tableau Desktop and Tableau Server product suite. Version 5.1 provides more analytic richness, better publishing, and increased scalability and performance. Analytical features include reference bands that provide context to a user’s analysis, bullet charts to evaluate related data, and intelligent data labels to call out the most critical data. New publishing features include rich formatting, streamlined toolbar design, more filter options, and a flexible layout.

Source: www.tableaupublic.com

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