Sponsored

Sponsored

Saturday, May 31, 2008

Is there a management exodus at Bebo?

Angel Gambino, the Bebo executive in charge of attracting record labels and musicians to the site, has resigned and she appears to be part of an executive exodus at the company following its $850 million acquisition by AOL.

Gambino, Bebo's global vice president of music and content, follows Bebo's founders Michael and Xochi Birch out the door. A source close to the situation said that at least two other Bebo managers are considering a departure.

Some critics of AOL's deal have worried that Bebo's teen audience may be turned off if the site becomes too buttoned-down as it goes corporate. The news comes as AOL scrambles to defend its purchase price. Earlier this week at the D conference, Time Warner's CEO Jeff Bewkes acknowledged that AOL "may have overpaid."
" (AOL is) focusing on communication tools and integrating them into the platform. Music is on the agenda but it's not tops on the agenda."
-- Angel Gambino, former Bebo exec

In an interview with CNET News.com, Gambino acknowledged that her Bebo stock had fully vested when the all-cash deal closed last week and the extra money will allow her to spend time with her young son.

She said that she jumped to Bebo a year ago from MTV to be part of a start-up and wants to be part of another. Another reason why Gambino said she is leaving is that developing Bebo's music offering was not AOL's highest priority.

"The priorities right now are integrating ICQ and AIM," Gambino said. "They are focusing on communication tools and integrating them into the platform. Music is on the agenda but it's not tops on the agenda."

While MySpace, YouTube, and Imeem have built up their music offerings, Bebo has stood on the sidelines. Imeem has licensed music from all the major recording companies and now offers a free streaming music service. YouTube has deals to offer rock videos and to allow users to insert music into their videos.

MySpace has partnered with the top four recording companies to offer streaming music, sell downloads, offer ad-supported music, as well as sell concert tickets.

"Bebo has been nowhere with music," said one music-industry insider. "They have a very music-hungry community, but they have not done anything with it. They went to the labels a year ago and said they had plans to formalize their approach to music. But nothing has happened."

Gambino said that was due to one thing: money.

"We weren't willing to pay the money that the labels expected for the licensing deals," Gambino said. "We didn't have the cash or the resources of a MySpace. We also didn't think having loads of back catalog would be that beneficial."

Instead, Bebo has gone with a more grassroots approach, catering to unsigned artists who were interested in showcasing their music on the site.

"We tried to be creative in offering new models," Gambino said. "We created some new models."

AOL and Bebo representatives could not be reached for comment.

[More news...]

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9956242-7.html?tag=nefd.top

Sunday, May 25, 2008

The Travan backup data storage technology

The Travan backup data storage technology

With the rise of e-commerce, data repositories and other data-intensive applications, more data must be backed up and stored even more quickly. Now a days, companies related to different fields (science, medicine, broadcasting etc.) all over the world generate huge volume of data every day. Millions of people access this information every day. The government and industry regulators now insist that the organizations should preserve almost all their information, in perfect order, forever. New laws also have been implemented like the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (2002), that requires all public corporations to preserve their email data and financial transactions. Organizations in the financial sector are required to retain every one of their emails. The government records need to be kept for between 20 and 50 years, or simply forever and the copyright records must be kept for at least 95 years.

Users require a backup solution that allows them to. make a snapshot of their full system. Today's small and mid-sized businesses are faced with the ever increasing challenge of choosing a backup solution that will meet the reliability and capacity needs of their business today and tomorrow. The travan backup tape technology provides the backup requirements of computing environments from notebooks and PCs to entry-level servers. The travan backup tape technology offers an the companies an affordable, backward-compatible, data backup solution that meets the current data protection needs of IT in the SMB (small-to-medium business ) environment.The Travan tape drive solutions allow users to protect their entire system and vital information reliably on a single data cartridge.

The travan tape is based on linear recording QIC (quarter inch cartridge). Travan technology provides an efficient backup tape drive and data cartridge design that ensures data integrity, optimizes drive reliability and reduces media stress. Travan tape technology still maintains a favorable edge with considerations, including the price of the tape drive, ease-of-use, and the available backup window. Imation developed the data cartridge belt design and drive technology (as part of 3M) , which played a strong role in the development of Travan technology. Imation, Segate and other manufacturers introduced the higher-capacity Travan drives and data cartridges based on this open-format technology in 1995. The Travan 40 data cartridges have capacity up to 40GB.

The transfer rates of travan backup tape drive has been improved from 4.3GB per hour to 14.4GB per hour, which means that the data transfer rate has increased to 325%. In the new travan40 tape drive, the reliability has also enhanced from 250,000 hours MTBF (20% duty-cycle) to 370,000 hours MTBF. The travan40 tape drive is lightweight,small and one-inch-high tape drive that can be installed in a 3.5inch drive bay or, with mounting rails, into a 5.25-inch by halfheight bay, and weighs-in at one pound.

By: ShawnPaul

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Bullish IT industry must front out hard times

The UK IT sector should be bullish in the face of the credit crunch, say industry leaders, after trade body Intellect issued a report with six recommendations for improving the sector’s prospects.

Experts predict that software and hardware manufacturers will be hardest hit by the worsening economic climate, as outsourcing and systems integration firms continue to see solid demand.

Sean Finnan, president of Intellect and managing director of EDS UK, said some sectors of the industry were worried. “But with the necessary boosters we can help drive spending in the sector,” he said.

A fall in the number of public sector IT projects, as well as ailing balance sheets in UK financial services firms, remain causes for concern, but these factors have declined in importance, said analyst Richard Holway.

“The technology industry is driven now by consumer spending rather than enterprise spending, and I can’t see any evidence that consumer tech spending is any less than a year ago,” he said.

Corporate balance sheet issues have been overplayed in the media, said John Cridland, deputy director general of the CBI.

“The bigger worry for many companies is inflation rather than access to finance,” he said. “The rest of the business community is going to depend on the IT sector to help it build out from here.”

A skills crisis and a recent trend of Asian sub-continental outsourcers making plays for the European market were also causes for concern, said the Intellect report.

To help the industry reach full potential, Intellect recommends:

More skills in the workforce.

Improved trust in the sector, including improved data security.

Better communications infrastructure.

Higher professional standards.

Better exploitation of innovation.

Improved relationships with other sectors.
Further reading:

* Smaller IT suppliers expect to ride out the crunch

* Banking sector IT salaries remain solid

* Jobs feel the crunch

* Intel keeps a firm hand on the tiller

* Demand for IT staff falling

Source: http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/news/2217191/bullish-industry-front-hard-4012455

Please visit related blog: http://cpu-hitech.blogspot.com

Enhance your career learning with Online Computer Courses

ABCO Technology INC is the leading Microsoft Training Company in the Los Angeles, CA. Offer daily public schedule courses for popular programs like Microsoft Excel training. Nowadays, computers are the very first essential thing every working person should know. So people must know how to use and operator computers. To help people in learning computers, there are many online courses available. We have partnered with Microsoft, Oracle, Linux , Cisco Systems, Prometric testing center and as such offer wide variety of computer training that include but are not limited to Microsoft Certification, A+ training, CISCO Certification Course, Oracle Certification Course, Internet and Microsoft Office 2003.

Generally the term computer training comprises everything related to the computer as a whole. This training consists of lessons on the various parts of the computer, their functions and necessities and then the manner to compute or run the computer. Computer training has become a necessity in the workplace, especially in internet related fields. Luckily, there are tips on how to further your career with the right software training.

It has long been universally accepted by education professionals that there are three methods of human learning: video, audio, and physical. Online computer training courses offer all three. The students learning style plays a large role in determining which kind of computer training course to take.

Another great thing about leaning computer skills is that there is usually at least 3 ways to do the same thing, so if you forget one way, there's always another to fall back on. Honestly folks, basic computer skills really are a benefit. Learning the fundamentals on how to use a computer really can make your life easier. These courses can be done at your convenience, especially if you are working at the same tame. The majority of computer training programs allow you to enroll online, and work from the comfort of your own home. With such a huge database of courses, anyone who works hard can succeed. These courses include IT management training and IT project management training. It is great for any employee who wants to manage their company and train others correctly in IT project management. Therefore, it is extremely easy to get your certificate, even if you need to take the classes online.

The importance of the computer training is rapidly increasing as it is required in each and every field in this fast growing world. Even the housewives too need to know the basics of the computer if they want to be an efficient home manager. Shopping, cooking, cleaning everything has become computerized nowadays. If you are interested in attaining some basic computer training, hop online today. The first thing you need to do is look at your career and what it requires. Many companies want their employees to know everything about computers – from Microsoft Word to specific software related to their industry. It can be a daunting task, especially if you know nothing about the field. However, if you do know about these programs, you could get ahead in your career, and perhaps even land a better job. After all, in such a technological age, employees are required to have at least some computer experience.

After attending just a few courses you will begin to develop strategies that can ultimately increase your office's performance drastically. The workflow design that Office allows can help you drive your company into maximum efficiency. After you graduate from a specialized course you can carry a Microsoft certified label that will assist you in gaining the positions you have always dreamed of. So why not jumpstart your new career or give yourself an edge over the competition by signing up for a Microsoft Office training course today!


You can visit this blog for more information about computer
By: Alok Kumar