New Google Tool Tackles Android Fragmentation

Google on Thursday expanded its Fragments API to applications running older versions of Android, meaning apps that are compatible with Android 1.6 or higher can tap into Fragments to create apps that work on larger-screened devices like tablets.

Though Android has been growing in popularity recently among handset and tablet makers, the main complaint about the OS has been its fragmented nature. At this point, about 57.6 percent of Android devices are running version 2.2, followed by 2.1 at 31.4 percent. About 6.3 percent are still on Android 1.6, according to the Android Developers site.
To address this, Google introduced the Android Fragments API in early February as part of Android 3.0 Honeycomb.
"Android 3.0 further helps applications adjust their interfaces with a new class called Fragment," Dianne Hackborn, a Google software engineer, wrote in a February 3 blog post. "A Fragment is a self-contained component with its own UI and lifecycle; it can be-reused in different parts of an application's user interface depending on the desired UI flow for a particular device or screen."
At the time, however, the Fragment API was only available for Android 3.0 Honeycomb. Hackborn acknowledged that "the immediate need for many developers today is probably to design applications that they can provide for existing phones while also presenting an improved user interface on tablets." With it only available via 3.0, however, the "shorter-term utility is greatly diminished."
She said Google was working on a static library for older versions of Android, and that library is now available.
"Today we've released a static library that exposes the same Fragments API (as well as the new LoaderManager and a few other classes) so that applications compatible with Android 1.6 or later can use fragments to create tablet-compatible user interfaces," Xavier Ducrohet, Android SDK tech lead, wrote in a separate blog post.
The library is available via SDK Updater under "Android Compatibility package."

SAP adds new analytic applications for industries

In conjunction with its launch of the next generation of analytics, SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) today introduced six new SAP® BusinessObjects™ analytic applications tailored to help address the needs of organizations in the media, oil and gas, healthcare, insurance, life sciences and public sector industries. These new applications join the family of analytic applications launched in fall 2010 that target business intelligence (BI) use cases in specific industries. The announcement was made during the SAP Run Better Tour, being held today in New York City.
SAP worked closely with customers in developing these analytic applications, which can be deployed in as little as eight weeks and start delivering results to customers almost immediately. For example, Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., the largest independent motion picture studio, is among the first SAP customers to pilot the new analytic application for analyzing IP rights and optimizing revenues.
“We have movies, television programs and other entertainment being distributed in hundreds of different ways through a myriad of channels around the globe; tracking all of this intellectual property can be incredibly complex,” said Leo Collins, executive vice president and chief information officer for Lions Gate. “SAP BusinessObjects analytic applications will deliver a unified view of our IP so we can better manage these assets and maximize our return on investment.”
Expanded Industry Focus and Emerging Technology Integration
Now comprising 16 applications for specific industries, SAP BusinessObjects analytic applications encompass a wide range of areas, including customer satisfaction and retention, finance, government, healthcare, insurance, sales and operations planning, life sciences, marketing, media, military planning, oil and gas, patient care management and risk assessment. The six new analytic applications are:

• SAP® BusinessObjects™ IP Rights Analysis: advanced analytics and alerting to enable media companies to optimize the monetization of their intellectual property across multiple distribution channels and geographies
• SAP® BusinessObjects™ Upstream Operations Performance Analysis: enables energy companies to orchestrate production and monitoring for their end-to-end upstream discovery and development operations
• SAP® BusinessObjects™ Staff Productivity Management for Healthcare: helps healthcare providers improve workforce resource optimization and quality of care delivery (see “SAP Helps Healthcare Organizations Improve Workforce Productivity and Patient Care Delivery“)
• SAP® BusinessObjects™ Enterprise Risk and Solvency Management for Insurance: advanced enterprise risk and solvency reporting for insurers to help address the Solvency II regulation in EMEA and Solvency Modernization Initiative in North America
• SAP® BusinessObjects™ Healthcare Practitioner Spend Analysis and Reporting: risk management, increased enterprise transparency and regulatory compliance assistance for life science companies to manage and optimize their sales and marketing operations and help address the new “sunshine” regulatory requirements
• SAP® BusinessObjects™ Planning for Public Sector: financial planning and modeling support to align annual budgets with long-term strategic plans

In the course of this year, SAP plans to continue expanding its family of analytic applications for industries and lines of business as well as strengthening product support for its latest advanced technologies, including the new 4.0 releases of BI and enterprise information management (EIM) solutions, SAP® High-Performance Analytic Appliance (SAP HANA) software and the Sybase Unwired Platform.
Customer and Partner Demand for New Applications and Further Customizations
Since their launch in September 2010, the analytic applications have been well received by customers and partners in North America, Europe and Asia – a testament to the demand for compact and customizable applications that serve up key performance indicators (KPIs), workflows, naming conventions and other process facts that companies need in order to thrive in today’s data-intensive environment.
Designed to fit into any IT landscape, the applications can be further customized, with the help of the SAP Services organization or SAP partners, to address specific business requirements and challenges.
To read more about how partners, such as Cognilytics, and customers including Chico’s FAS and EZCORP plan to address critical business needs with analytic applications from SAP, see: “Customers and Partners Derive Value From Analytic Apps.”
“Many customers and partners are intrigued by business analytics but struggle with knowing where to start,” said Keith Costello, executive vice president, Analytic Solutions, SAP. “Our analytic applications enable companies to deploy solutions that are tailored to their needs in as little as eight weeks, enabling anyone in an organization to use the power of business intelligence to achieve remarkable results.”
For more information about SAP BusinessObjects analytic applications, please visit the Business Analytics newsroom. Follow SAP BusinessObjects on Twitter at @BusinessObjects and join the conversation around the launch of the 4.0 releases of the BI and EIM solutions at#bi4 and #SAPanalytics, and the SAP Run Better Tour at #saprbt.

Hey, Apple! Stop pushing 'new' software via Software Update!

I think that keeping software updated is important if you want to keep the bad guys off your system. But I hate it when companies try to use this as a mechanism for pushing new (and possibly unwanted) software onto a system.
Take Apple’s iTunes. The latest update brings with it 57 bugfixes. That’s the sort of thing that makes me sit up and pay attention, and then reach of the software updater. But look what I find when I run Apple’s Software Updater:


Why is Apple trying to push Safari 5 onto my system? Why is it pre-checked? New software isn’t what I call a software update.
Come on Apple, I know that times are tough and that Safari market share is pretty poor, but this is pretty low. People might start to think that you’re taking advantage of your shoddy code to improve another product’s market share!

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Buying New Business Software is Back in Fashion: CALD, EBIX, LAVA, QLIK

Companies have upgraded their post recession hardware and now its tome to bring on the new business software. Here are four companies providing just that.
Have a look at Callidus Software Inc (NASDAQ:CALD) which was trading in the $3.50 range in August and is currently trading in the $6.05 range, a gain of 72% in six months on a strong run up. Callidus Software tested the $6.50 threshold a couple of times in February. CALD makes and sells sales performance management (SPM) software and services. Callidus Software SPM systems are used to monitor and analyze sales performance and incentive compensation management programs.
And take a look at Ebix Inc (NASDAQ:EBIX) which was trading in the $18 range in August and is currently trading in the $28.90 range, a gain of 60% in six months on another strong run up. Ebix Inc provides software and e-commerce solutions to the insurance industry primarily in North America, Australia, New Zealand, India, and Singapore. EBIX is also involved in the sale, customization, development, implementation, and support of its P&C back-end insurance carrier system platforms.
Then there’s Magma Design Automation Inc (NASDAQ:LAVA) which was trading in the $2.75 range in mid August and is currently trading in the $6.60 range, a gain of 140% in six months on a classic, textbook share valuation ascent. The Magma Design Automation product line includes the Talus family of digital implementation products; the Titan product group for analog/mixed-signal design; the Quartz products for physical verification; FineSim products for circuit simulation; the Tekton static timing analyzer and QCP extractor; SiliconSmart for library characterization; and fab analysis products including Camelot and YieldManager. LAVA software enables chip designers to reduce the time to design and produce integrated circuits used in the communications, computing, consumer electronics, networking, and semiconductor industries.
And finally take a look at Qlik Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:QLIK) which was trading in the $14 range in August and is currently trading in the $23.61 range, a gain of 68% in six months. Qlik Technologies tested the $28 threshold in both December and January. QLIK data analysis software helps customers make decisions based on analytics. Qlik Technologies sells its products and services to consumer packaged goods, financial services, pharmaceuticals, retail, manufacturing, technology, and the healthcare industries.
I like all four of these companies. I’ve written on LAVA in the past and have been a supporter. I like its current $6.60 entry level price and I also like CALD for the same reason at $6.05. QLIK and EBIX have both had terrific six month run ups and I don’t believe that either is done.

IBM Offers New Software For Managing Virtualization, Cloud Systems

IBM is introducing new software to create virtual server images in minutes and to automate the management of virtual environments and hybrid cloud systems. The software is also designed to help better protect data in the cloud. The software giant says this management software will become critical for enterprises, citing an industry forecast that the number of virtual machines under management is expected to grow tenfold between 2008 and 2012.

The product launches coincided with IBM's PULSE 2011 conference that drew 7,000 IBM clients and partners to Las Vegas this week. IBM's virtual deployment software, available as an open beta program, makes it possible for businesses to create a cloud environment by virtualizing servers and deploying the virtual image instantly, deploying a single virtual server in seconds, dozens in a few minutes and hundreds or even thousands in under an hour.

The software also provides ongoing "image management" of the virtual environment to scale up and down the number of virtual machines as computing needs change. IBM notes that the typical virtual image ranges from five to 20Gbytes in size, indicating the scalability potential.

IBM is also introducing Tivoli Provisioning Manager that automates best practices for virtual data center provisioning, including image federation and deployment across heterogeneous environments composed of different brands of hardware. Virtualization was created to control server sprawl, but, ironically, it has created "virtual sprawl," which the Tivoli software also works to contain to reduce costs and make best use of computer resources.

At PULSE 2011, IBM also demonstrated  a centralized management platform for hybrid cloud environments that combines both on-premise and public clouds, as well as traditional data center equipment. The platform extends service management capabilities such as governance, monitoring and security.

New software to provide healthcare solutions

Aiming at cost effective promotion of health care systems, a Central agency has developed a 'decision support system' software attempting to combine the best of Indian medicine systems with modern technology.
The software named 'Cure@Home', developed by Pune-based Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) combines the best practices in Allopath, Ayurveda, Homeopath and Yoga, experts at C-DAC claim.

"Cure@Home is designed as a promotive, preventive and curative health care solution to the common man," said Medha Dhurndhar, Programme Coordinator, C-DAC which comes under the Central government's department of Information and Technology. The software applications cover diet and lifestyle guidelines, analysis and storage of records pertaining to individual constitution and health status, home remedies with holistic solutions for primary care and prevention of symptoms and diseases, C-DAC experts said.
It also has an encyclopedia containing images, audio-video clips and articles to increase health awareness.
The software can be deployed on desktops, laptops, touch screen and can be applied for practical use at home, clinics, hospitals, public places and schools as a health care tool. It is currently available in English, Hindi, Assamese and Bengali and there plans to integrate it into other languages.
Dhurandhar said the response to the software has been encouraging from individual users and health care communit

How I Doubled My Google Adsense Earning

Whenever I talk to bloggers who use Google adsense, many complain that they have not yet received their first cheque. Earning throughGoogle Adsense is possible only if you have decent traffic.

Factors you need to analyze and keep track about your blog to increase your Google Adsense Earnings

Quality Traffic – First and foremost important fact is that you need traffic to get clicks on yourAdsense ads and to get traffic you need good content and valuable user base. You should work on getting more traffic by using different methods like social network marketing, increasing your RSS feed subscribers, etc
Sources of Traffic – There are different sources of traffic, like Search engines, direct traffic, referral traffic. Search engine traffic and the best source of traffic for many reasons. A visitor coming to your website or blog from a search engine could be a new visitor and could even become a regular visitor. The chances of a search engine visitor to click on a Google Adsense ad is more than any other visitor source.
Topic of your blog – Topic of your blog plays a very important role in increasing your eCPM andCTR of your blog. Some keywords are highly priced in Google Adwords, so if your blog has a topic which has keywords which are highly priced, then the earnings per click on your ads could be high and vise versa.
Good quality content – You might be aware of the saying that “Content is King” and its very much true in the case of visitor, traffic and earnings. Keep your blog updated with fresh and unique content, you will surely get more traffic an subsequently increase in Google Adsense earnings.
Theme or Layout of your blog – Ads should be placed well and should be seen well by your blog readers. I cannot say which layout will work well for your blog, so you need to work on this. Do research on this by changing your blog ads placement. I would advice a text ad above the content, below the title of your blog post and one text ad preferably a 336 x 300 size. You should also try the linked units which work very well for me.

To be very frank, Google adsense does not work well on all kinds of blog, you need to do different experiments with colors of the ads, layouts, placement and other settings.

If you have any tested tips on Google Adsense, please feel free to comment.

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